Notes And Lines

Race Report - JCC Independence Day Triathlon

2011-07-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

Fake it till you make it is the theme of this year's tri season. Need to keep up your swim fitness? Do some running. How about improving on the bike? Running might work. I really have NOT done much cross-training, but when the price dropped on this race at the last minute, I couldn't help but to sign up.

Race morning was a little on the warm and humid side, but better than it had been for the last few days. I started the day off with some rookie mistakes, like ALMOST FORGETTING TO GET MY CHIP, but was able to get out of transition with everything ready just before they shut it down. A quick walk down to the pool left me enough time to do 50 yards of warmup...well, call it 48 yards. Someone doing sidestroke kicked me hard just before the wall, so the last couple were more treading water. Anyhow, it was nice to be back on home turf and ready for this short sprint.

We were once again seeded by swim time estimate, and somehow I was number 19. That seemed pretty ambitious, and it was weird to be in the pool before the leaders were even out. But I think it was about right. While the guy ahead of me was off like a shot, I held my own against the swimmers behind me. I swam strong but well under control, and held off any pursuit until the last little angled swim over to the ramp, where I got passed by one guy. I can't claim that it was a "fast" swim for what I'm used to, but it wasn't bad either. I grabbed my stashed shoes for the transition run, which is a little rough to go barefoot.

300 yd Swim (plus long run to transition & T1): 8:05 (5/16 AG)

Last year, I managed to crack a 21 mph average in this race. I didn't have any illusions that I'd be topping that number, but I wanted to at least hold my own and set myself up well for the run. The course is pretty much flat flat flat, with only a few gradual inclines. Once my heart rate settled a bit, I kicked it in the big ring and just got down in aero as much as possible. Yes, this is only a 12 mile course, but it was probably my best effort to date in terms of staying aero. I think I only came up twice during the course. Not bad for me.

During the bike portion of races, I usually watch my cadence more than anything else. It didn't seem to be working, though...it was reading around a 70, which would be crazy slow. As I kept biking, it edged up, and finally I was in the 90s where I should be...and then I was over 100 and still rising. Just when I was ready to shrug it off as the computer flaking out on me, I finally realized that I didn't have it set on cadence at all, but on average pace, and I hadn't reset the computer after walking my bike to transition. It wasn't saying 70 rpm, it was saying 7.0 mph. :) When I switched over the view, voila! I was right at 90 rpm like I should have been.

The bike course ended with a bit of a bang. There's a curb you have to get up on to get onto the last driveway back to transition, and there was a volunteer out there telling you to slow down. I thought, "Sure, slow down before you hit the gravel driveway to be careful". So I did, and POW! I hit the curb hard. There was a wooden ramp, but it had a little too much flex. Fortunately, I stayed upright, but let out a "WHOA" as I made it up and over. Nothing wrong, though, so I pedaled my little feet into T2.

Bike: 35:48 (20.1 mph, 8/16 AG)

Somewhere along the line, I've gotten pretty good at the bike-to-run transition. My fancy new shoelaces that I got for Christmas (and finally got onto my shoes) helped too! The race results confirm it: I won T2. Sadly, they were not handing out awards for such feats.

T2: 0:22 (1/16 AG)

My goal on the run was to improve on last year. While it was a tri run PR for me, I've been working so hard at this sport that it would be a pretty big disappointment to go backwards. My strides were pretty short and choppy coming off the bike, but I just told myself they'd come back. As you come out of the park, there's a quick right turn, then down and back up a quick, steep-ish hill before heading out to the main part of the course. I tried to convince the volunteer to just let me turn left and skip the hill, but he said I was doing too well to allow that. :)

The day was turning a little warm, so I made sure to grab some water at the first stop and dump it over my head. I'd seen the big lead pack (way ahead), and been passed like I was standing still by a couple of guys. I figured it was a long shot to place, so I just concentrated on staying consistent and focused. I never passed a single person on the run - one of the downsides of a time trial start, I guess. As I turned to go back down and up the hill on the way back in, I was happily surprised by Meredith, who had taken time out of her workout to see my finish. I chugged my way back up and into the finish, worn out but feeling like I gave a good effort.

Run: 23:40 (7:37/mile, 5/16 AG)

Not too long after I crossed the line, they put up preliminary results, which had me 4th in my age group. So close! But then, one other guy bested me, so I ended up 5th of 16. Still not too bad. There were about three minutes between me and the podium...quite a bit for a sprint, but maybe if I was actually biking and swimming to go with my improved running...you never know!

Total Time: 1:07:57
5/16 Age Group
24/174 Overall

Race Report - Wendy's Triathlon

2011-06-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

I really debated this one. Just ask my wife. A couple weeks before, I was out. Then I watched Meredith race, and I was in. Then I thought about how little swimming and biking I had done and how busy our weekend would be, and wondered whether the cost of the race was worth it. I was definitely out. But then I thought about how I wanted to enjoy racing short this summer, and how there are only so many chances to do so. I was in.

Good thing, you're thinking. This would be a really boring race report otherwise.

After the aforementioned busy weekend of travel, photo boothing, and about four hours of sleep Saturday night, we were up bright and early to drive to the race site, about half an hour away. My stomach wasn't feeling great, and I was feeling a little dehydrated. Tough to keep up on water when you can't concentrate on it the day before. We were a little later than usual, but still had plenty of time to get set up, forget the aero bottle in the car, think I got the wrong chip, no, it's okay that it's a different number, get lubed up, one last bathroom break, seriously, stall doors would be nice, and down the beach to get ready for the swim!

Now, my swim training this spring has basically been this:

1. Take wetsuit to Meredith's race.
2. Do practice swim with her.

I didn't have high expectations. This race has an 800m swim, straight down the beach, and it's sort of notorious for being short. I lined up in the second row of my wave, a little to the outside. This race is also notorious for having a lot of beginners, and they tend to be toward the beach since you can stand up. In fact, we saw a lot of that during the relay wave, and were wondering "If that's who you chose for the swim..." :)

With the siren, I took off pretty hard. And actually, I was feeling pretty smooth and fast! I passed the guys I had started next to, and I found and kept open water for nearly the whole swim. I actually would have preferred a LITTLE more contact than I had, so I'd have a draft. Maybe I veered too far out, or maybe it was just spread out more than I'm used to. In any event, that fast start turned into "Ohhh...I don't have the swim endurance I'm used to" around the halfway point. My arms were tired, my legs were dragging...at one point I breaststroked a stroke to get my bearings and my foot actually hit the ground! Somehow I kept it together, and when I came out of the water, I was pleasantly surprised with my time.

800m Swim (plus run to transition): 13:17 (1:39/100m, 9/50 AG)

T1 was smooth, got my wetsuit off without a hitch for once! Pretty long run through transition to the mount line.

T1: 1:46

The bike course is pretty easy - just some little roll, a bunch of turns, and one hill at the end. And it went how it usually does: get passed by a bunch of not-so-good-swimmers-but-really-good-bikers in the first couple miles, then start catching the earlier waves and feeling a little better about myself. I tried to stay down in aero as much as I could, though I had to come up a few times to settle my stomach and catch my breath a bit. Overall, I was pretty happy with the averages I was seeing. At some point, I also realized that I didn't know exactly how long the bike course was! At mile ten, I figured I must be over halfway, but that was about it. Finally, I saw the model airplane field that I knew was in the park, and knew I was almost back. And frankly, the big hill was not so big anymore. I chased a couple fast guys up it, passing a bunch of people along the way, and it was back to transition, feeling pretty good.

Bike: 52:42 (19.4 mph, 29/50 AG)

As I coasted down into T2, I mentally went through my checklist. I think this really helped, as I was able to blaze through it in under a minute. Yeah, it's only a few seconds difference, but it was 4th fastest in the age group for what it's worth. :)

T2: 0:53

Finally, it was time for the one sport I actually have been working on hard. And wouldn't you know it, I came out of T2 with a nasty stitch in my left side. "Not again!" was all I could think, as I had flashbacks to the indoor tri this winter. I wanted so badly to walk, but I didn't want to ruin what had so far been a good day. I just shortened my stride and tried to keep my cadence up, in hopes that the stitch would go away.

The course was pretty muddy this year! The first little stretch is on a trail up through the woods, and there was one big puddle where you had the choice of running through it or around it...muddy water or just mud. I tried to go between and got a bit of each. Not that I was thinking too much about passing people, but this was a tough course on which to do so: lots of trail and cross country style grass. By the time I hit the turnaround, I realized this just wasn't going to be my day on the run. Finally, by about mile 2, my stitch started to ease a bit and I was able to run a little more normally. Unfortunately, my legs were just about out of gas at this point, which I'd probably attribute to not enough bike fitness for the pace I rode. I got passed by three guys in my age group in the last half mile, two of them in the parking lot right by the finish. :(

I crossed the finish line thinking it was a really bad run. Turns out it was only bad in comparison to this year's inflated running expectations; it was actually my third best pace in a tri run. I was hoping to go closer to a 7:00 pace, but it was what it was.

Run: 24:03 (7:46/mi, 25/50 AG)

Total Time: 1:32:38
23/50 Age Group
105/500 Overall

Sheesh, fast age group much? Almost a quarter of the people who beat me were in my age group. I really expected to do better; my secret goal was top ten AG, but hey, you can't control the field. My time would have been 13th last year, I believe.

In the end, I'm happy I raced. I definitely have some work cut out for me in two sports, but we'll just see how they fit into the running goals, which are first priority right now. Speaking of which, I've got some track repeats to write down for this afternoon...

Race Report - Cap City Half Marathon

2011-05-09T13:01:00.001-07:00

This race is really where it all started back in 2004. I had run some 5Ks and even a 5. Mile. Race. the year before, but this was the first race I'd consider an endurance race. And it was hard, but I finished. Didn't quite break the 2 hour goal I was shooting for, but I did a respectable 2:02:43.

Seven (!) years later, I was back, toeing the line not just to finish, but to culminate four months of training. And not just training the way I've done for running races in the past, but applying everything I've learned over the last two seasons of Ironman. I'd lost 20 pounds in preparation for it, followed my training plan about as nearly to perfection as I could hope for, and mentally prepared myself for a couple hours of suffering for a goal. Thankfully, race day dawned with a forecast for 50s and no rain, which was a far cry from the week before. Meredith and I met up with Colleen and Tom in the first corral, and...

Wait a sec, the first corral? Yep. Through what HAD to be some clerical oversight, little old me was in the first corral. Crazy.

...anyway, we said our "good luck"s and I wandered over to join the 1:45 pace group for the start. That was my plan. Get into the group and stick like glue for as long as possible. My training plan said 1:46 was my goal, but 1:45 sounded like it just might be doable on a good day. With the gun, we were off on a tour of Columbus. I decided to wear my iPod and have some low-level background music for a change, so without further ado, a sampling of what I heard and saw:

Miles 1-4: Wanted Dead or Alive

What a great song to start out on an adventure! As we headed out west from downtown through some industrial areas, I took stock of how I was feeling. A little humid, and actually a little warmer than I thought I'd be. The gloves I thought I'd need were in my pockets by mile 2. My pace group was doing a great job of keeping even through the sometimes uneven start of a big race, and I was happy to just find a little running room and stick there. Sure, I took (and gave) a few elbows and steps on heels, but overall it wasn't too bad. We curved up onto Olentangy River Road, through a few little dips and climbs, and headed up toward campus. My fears of not being able to come out of the gates at an 8:00/mile pace were dissolved as I found myself holding it pretty effortlessly.

Miles 5-6: Pinch Me

Wow. Not really what I expected...usually this would be about where I start thinking about how far it is to go. Instead, everything was going really smoothly. That is, until I hit the water stop around mile 5 coming up Lane Avenue. They looked pretty understaffed, and what was a flow of runners quickly became a logjam as we all tried to get hydrated. I finally did manage to grab a cup, but when I looked up, I was a good 10 seconds back of my pace leaders. Visions of the 2007 Columbus Marathon flashed before my eyes, as this was about where my pace group pulled away from me. Not willing to have it happen again, I thought of the old triathlon analogy of a book of matches. You only have so many to burn during a race, and it's all about when to spend them. I decided this was one of those times, and visualized myself striking one as I sped up to catch the group. It took maybe a quarter mile, but I was back with them, one match lighter.

Miles 7-8: Hang On Sloopy
Err...I mean, Hang On Sloopy

These miles were very entertaining, as we headed down High Street. If you're not familiar with Columbus, High is sort of the backbone of the city, and it's where almost all the shops, bars, and restaurants are on the OSU campus. As we passed building after building, I was reminiscing and noticing which storefronts were new, and which were still there 10 years later. The nice thing about this year's course is that we got to run the "downhill" direction. It's not a hill in the traditional sense, but it's a looooong gradual incline going the other way. After the impromptu speedwork on Lane, it was nice to settle back into a rhythm and ease back to the target pace. This was also where the quarter marathon rejoined the course, so there was a little bit of bobbing and weaving as we ran through some of the slower runners there. And suddenly, I heard a "Hey!" to my left, and who was there but my lovely wife!

Miles 9-12: 4'33"

Hearing a good song come on right as she caught me, I put the iPod on pause to save it for later. The next thing I noticed was that Meredith was running a little faster than me. I had mentally prepared to break from the pace group around mile 10 if I was feeling good. This was a mile early, but I wasn't just feeling good, I was still feeling effortless. It was time to see what I had. So, I joined Meredith's pace around a 7:50, and we began pulling away from the group. This section was pretty lonely, so I was glad for the company, even if there were a few unintentional elbows thrown (her), and very intentional hand signal demonstrations of how to run a tangent (me). She was having an issue with a stitch, and for the first time I was working harder, so there wasn't much conversation. Somehow, it makes it easier just to be running with someone, though, and this was one of the first races in which we've ever gotten to run together. Fun times. Just before mile 12, there was one of the steeper little uphills of the course, and Meredith fell back just a bit. She told me to go ahead, and so I climbed the hill fairly hard. As I reached the top and the 12 mile marker, I took out the rest of my matches and set them ablaze.

Mile 13: Jump

You can hardly blame me for saving that one till the end, right? I broke the remaining mile down into 400s and thought of all the times I've been around the track this spring. I probably passed fifty people in that last mile, as I gave everything I had left. (And hit rewind one time) It was a far cry from the final mile in 2004, when I just wanted to be done. I guess I wanted to be done this time too, but I was doing it on my terms. One short painful climb left, and we were turning down toward the finish line. I ended up running the last mile somewhere around a 7:04 pace! When I saw the clock, I knew it was good news, and I crossed the finish line with a big new PR. I hardly had time to get my medal before Meredith was with me, and we both celebrated our way out of the chute.

Time: 1:43:42 (7:55/mile)
Place: 436/2466 male, 552/5952 overall, 95/414 age group

You've Got To Learn To Pace Yourself

2011-04-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

Fresh off a great run in Miami, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Hadn't had a bad run in quite some time, PR'ed in DC, and things were looking great for Columbus. And then taper hit me like a truck.

Long run: hit my target paces, but was working HARD to do it. 12 miles felt more like 15.
Sprint workout: had to do it on the treadmill because the rain will never end. Our gym is about 800 degrees, and I could only do 3 of my 5 sprints before my heart rate was out of control.

Yesterday, I got to do my tempo run, which was an easy warmup and cooldown around 3 miles at short tempo pace (7:38 for me). The hard part started out pretty smoothly - I decided on the fly where I'd run, and just kept an eye on my Garmin pace. It started to feel tough as I went uphill, and my pace was falling off on the watch...7:45...8:00. I pushed hard and got my pace back down. Then, I finished my first mile, and the Garmin popped up my average pace: 7:28.

NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

I am officially the worst pacer ever. If there's one thing I think would help me the most right now, that might be it - learning what a given pace feels like so I know when I'm running that speed. Things have just changed so much in the last 6 months pacewise that my internal gauge is waaaay off.

So, the first mile was too fast, and I paid for it in the second mile. That ten second cushion I build was a two second deficit by the time I was done, and the only thing that saved me from a complete collapse on mile 3 was a well-timed stoplight where I had to cross that gave me a breather. As I finished the third mile, I quickly slowed to a walk so I could feel sorry for myself. As I did so, the sky just OPENED UP. All of a sudden, rain was pouring down, and a cold wind was whipping through the field. Even my iPod decided to give a little mood music to the situation.

It was all very melodramatic.

After a minute or two of walking, I decided that I had until I got home to wallow in my self-pity, and then it was time to move on. I got back to a jog to finish up, mostly because the weather was turning from bad to worse. As I turned on to our street, I even saw Meredith driving toward me on a rescue mission! However, I was close enough at that point to finish it out.

I'm hoping this is just the taper blues. I hope I didn't peak too early. I hope I've got what it takes to get this race done the way I want to do it.

Race Report - Miami University Student Foundation Triathlon

2011-04-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

I really tried to screw this one up. Long run two days before the race? Check. Show up too late to drive the bike course? Check. Forget to put my new laces in so I don't have to tie my shoes in T2? Check. Forget my plastic bag to cover my gear in case it rains? Check.

So, just to sum up: DAVE IS A TOTAL ROOKIE.

That said...

We rolled into Oxford with about five minutes to spare in registration on Friday night. You see, Oxford is a pretty small town in the middle of nowhere. There's basically one way in. And that way was blocked by a car that had flipped into a ditch, and was swarmed by college students trying to get the occupants out. When the police showed up, one of those cars of college students drove off quickly. Hmm... Anyway, we did manage to get registered and up to our lodge at Hueston Woods state park. Our room included tickets to the all you can eat fish fry (because what better pre-race food than that?!), but we had missed it. Big props to the park, though, because they said we could get a free breakfast the next day instead, and it was a GOOD treat after a race! But I digress.

Race morning was chilly...low 50s and kind of drizzly. Once we got set up in transition, it was indoors with all of us to get ready for a 400m serpentine pool swim. Meredith and I didn't get seeded together, so I was on the line first, and with an only slightly better entry than last time I did this, I was off. Pretty quickly, I caught up to a girl who had started a few positions ahead of me, and I was faced with the choice of drafting or passing. Since she was moving along pretty well, I chose to stick close behind her, and stayed that way for a few lengths. I attempted to pass a couple times, but she wasn't having it, and I decided I wasn't ready to put in the extra effort to force the issue. When we reached the end, I glanced at my watch, and was a little disappointed to see that my swim pace for that 400m (1:55ish/100m) was actually slower than the 600m pace from the Lifetime tri. Maybe it was the long course format, maybe the drafting, maybe the fact that in this one I had to get straight out and go to the bike rather than having 10 minutes to transition. Whatever was the culprit, I was quickly out the door into the rain and cold.

400m Swim (plus run to transition): 8:06

The rain didn't make things easy in transition. I had brought a long sleeve shirt to throw on because of the temperature, and between pool water and rain water, it took a while to get on. That plus gloves and general rustiness equalled a pretty slow T1.

T1: 2:21

As I mentioned, we didn't get to drive the course, so I didn't much know what to expect on the bike course, other than some hills. I counted about four significant hills in the 12.4 mile course, and a pretty steady wind. By a mile or two in, I had settled into a good cadence, and just went with it. The roads felt a little slippery, so a couple descents felt more treacherous than I liked. Overall, I felt like I was passing about the same number of people that I got passed by, which is pretty normal for me. At least the ones who were passing me seemed to be on fancy bikes and wheel sets this time! After rolling through country roads for the majority of the course, we had one last climb up into town again, and then a gradual descent back to transition that I used to relax and catch my breath. I'd say that maybe I could have pushed a little harder on the bike given better weather, but biking certainly hasn't been my focus this winter, so I was pretty satisfied. Funny enough, I was only seconds off of the last tri I did that included a 20K bike, three years ago. (This was a much tougher course, though)

20k Bike: 41:29 (17.9 mph)

T2 was a little better. I did decide to strip my long sleeved shirt off, despite the chilliness. If I hadn't needed to tie my shoes, I might have been closer to a minute, but that's my own fault.

T2: 1:20

And finally we were on to the sport that I've actually been working. I was anxious to see if and how my training had paid off here. Right out of the gate, my legs felt good - not too much hangover from the bike. And almost immediately, I was passing people. I would see someone ahead, and pick them off. It became a little game of spotting all the people who had passed me on the bike. I had decided not to wear a Garmin, so I was just using my watch to gauge my progress. There weren't mile markings, but there was one water stop, which I figured was probably around the mile mark. So far so good on the pace. And when I reached the turnaround of the out and back course, it started with 11:xx. That was a nice surprise, and I wanted to see if I could keep it up. I thought of the track and tempo workouts I've put so much time into lately, and told myself it was just 6 more laps around the track. I'm not sure I've ever had so much focus during the run of a triathlon. By the time I turned down toward the finish line, I'd been passed by two runners, but I had passed thirteen. And as I crossed the finish line, I hit my watch to see my final time of...

HOO LO LO9T L

Uh, okay. So I had to wait until the next day to see my results, but at least it was a good surprise: I had cut almost a minute off my best 5K to date. Not just in a tri, but any 5K! And not only that, it was my fastest pace for a running race of any distance. Apparently the plan is working.

5K Run: 21:59 (7:04 min/mile)

Total Time: 1:15:18
15/47 Age Group
85/544 Overall

And now it's back to running. Three weeks until my "real" target, the Cap City Half Marathon!

Race Report - National Half Marathon

2011-03-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Our trip to D.C. kind of snuck up on me. I was doing a good job of following my training plan, working away, and then all of a sudden it was here. And I realized that I had a 14 mile training run on my schedule for the weekend. Since we were taking a long weekend, it wasn't really an option to move it a day forward or back. That meant I could either find 14 miles of solo running route in an unfamiliar city, or I could sign up for the half marathon. Spoiler alert - I signed up for the race.

When I finally decided to run it a couple days before we left, I went onto the race site, and online registration had closed. Shoot. However, they said a few spots were still open, first come first serve at the expo. And so, Meredith and I dragged our luggage to the expo, fresh from our train from Baltimore. That was fun to explain and take through the purse check at the entrance, let me tell you. Luckily for me, there were still spots available, and so it was time to gear up for a race the next day. Our hotel room had a full kitchen (!), so we were able to hit Trader Joe's and cook ourselves a good spaghetti dinner.

Race morning, as always, came too early. Staying up late to watch basketball didn't help matters. But we got in our breakfast, bundled up, hopped in a cab for an early morning tour of the lit monuments, and sped over to the start. Unfortunately, though Meredith and I were planning to run a similar pace, we were stuck in different corrals. Back in corral five, it took us six minutes to reach the start line, and we were off! Better that than to be the guy I saw running the other way, asking where the start line was. Since my "A" race isn't until May 7, the intent was to treat this race as a training day with a goal pace of 8:39. I knew my PR pace was only slightly faster than that at 8:35. And so I told myself that if that was in sight toward the end and I felt like I wasn't overtaxing myself, I'd give breaking it a shot.

The beginning of this race winds around the Capitol Hill area, eventually funneling the runners along the north side of the Mall. We got some good views of the Capitol building and the Washington Monument along here. Despite the corral system, there was still a good bit of jockeying for position in the first couple miles, and my splits were a little slow. Not a problem, as I'm used to warming up for the first bit, and making up for it later.

What was a problem is that I wasn't seeing any mile markers. It's a good thing I decided to wear my Garmin for pacing, because the first mile marker I saw (and others reported the same) was at mile 10! I'm not sure I've ever seen a marathon that doesn't have mile markers. The other issue was the water stops. I knew going in that they weren't every mile, but it seemed like they were kind of random, and I never knew which side of the street to expect them on either. I had worn a fuel belt, knowing I'd need the extra water, but a couple times I had just taken a swig from my belt only to find a water stop just ahead.

Once we finished the stretch along the Mall, we turned right and headed up, up, up to the Dupont Circle area. Miles 5, 6, and 7 were mostly uphill. Not gruelingly so, just enough that you could feel the extra effort. When I hit the 10K marker, I was EXACTLY on pace. 8:39/mile. I was feeling pretty good when I finished the climb, so I decided I would push it a bit on the way back down, and see what I could do. The miles started clicking by a little faster; most were in the 8:00-8:15 range. Just. Got. Interesting!

So, I have this one bad habit in racing. In the second to last "thing", whether it's an interval, a set, or a mile, I tend to lose focus. I'm tired, but not "almost done". It was no exception here, as I turned in an 8:30 mile after quite a few faster ones. I looked at my watch, and by its time and distance, I had about 9 minutes not only to PR, but to break 1:50! It would take a big effort in the last mile, and that's what I gave it. All the intervals I've been doing on the track came back to me, and I broke it down into 400s. 1200 left...800 left...400 left...and I started looking for the finish line. It wasn't there. When I finally did see it, I knew I couldn't possibly get there by 1:50. I also knew that I had to keep working hard if I even wanted my PR! It wasn't until I made the last turn and could see the finish line clock that I knew I had it, and I crossed the line (13.27 miles on my watch) with a PR of a little over a minute. For what it's worth, my last mile was sub-8:00 on my Garmin, so there was certainly something left in the tank.

Total: 1:51:08 (8:29/mile)
Overall: 1551/4021
Men: 307/747

I have mixed feelings about this race. I liked the course and getting to see some landmarks, and the crowd support varied from decent to very good. However, the lack of mile markers and insufficient water would make it hard to truly endorse. I'd say it's a good one if you want a race to run for the location, but not so much if you're running for time, especially if you don't have a Garmin.

As for my own effort, I was obviously quite happy. In a sense, though, I already knew I could do this speed based on the training runs I've had over the last few weeks. It was good to know I was able to do it while controlling my pace. The real test will come when I'm not racing "comfortable" for the first half. We'll find out in six weeks...

Marching On...

2011-03-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

From the lack of "I MADE IT INTO LEADVILLE!!!" post, you might guess that I didn't win the lottery. And you would be correct. (Unless you didn't guess. In which case we have some wonderful parting gifts for you.)

I didn't think I was that set on getting in, but when I got the rejection email, I was more disappointed than I realized. For a couple days I sulked about it, but there had to be a "Plan B". The good news is that I'll get to continue the progress I'm making in my running, and that I'll get to do more races this summer. The "big" early season goal will now be the Capital City Half Marathon on May 7, conveniently close by in downtown Columbus. This was actually the very first half marathon I ran, back in 2004. I ran it in 2:02:43, for a 9:23/mile average. This year, I have some bigger goals. I'd like to see if I can run it in 1:45. According to the plan I'm following, that ought to be right around what I have the fitness for. The course is flat and should be fast, with something like 300 feet of total climbing/descending over the whole 13 miles.

This race has grown quite a bit from that inaugural year. When I ran, there were around 2400 participants, and last year there were over 6000! I learned that they've even gone to a corral system this year based on your estimated finish time. And the cutoff for the first corral? 1:45. I swear I didn't know that before I filled it out! And seriously, who let me in the first corral? Pretty sure that's gotta be an oversight.

What else has been going on?

I'm still considering getting back into the Lifetime Indoor Tri that I did a couple years ago. Though I've not worked as much on swimming and biking over the winter, I think I could put in a respectable time. The local one is on April 3, so I need to make a decision pretty soon!

Broke double digit miles on a run for the first time since Cedar Point on Sunday. I'm pretty sure I have some form of Raynaud's, and despite fairly mild weather, my fingers were blocks of ice by the end. Meredith actually had to drive home because I couldn't use them for a good 10 minutes. If I'm going to train in the winter, I guess I need to come up with a better plan for keeping my hands and feet warm.

I've never EVER done as much speedwork as I am right now. Each week, I look at my "fast day" and wonder how I'm going to do it. And so far, I've surprised myself almost every time. This week is the biggest speed workout for the whole half marathon training plan in terms of distance, with a 6x1200 main set. Yikes!

Race Report - Last Chance For Boston 10K

2011-02-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

Or, "Where 10K = 8.2 Miles"

I hemmed and hawed about this race right up until Saturday, when the forecast looked like it was solidly going to be okay, and that Meredith was going to be able to cover her share of their relay. But I did decide to sign up and get ready to shoot for another PR. I had only run one 10K before, this same race in 2009.

Because of the in-between weather, I packed almost two complete running outfits. What do you wear at 35 degrees? I had shorts, pants, short sleeves, long sleeves...you name it and I had it. And just before the race, I changed my mind and peeled off a layer. Meredith was running the marathon relay, which, since this is a 1 mile loop course, started together with my 10K at .2 miles before the finish/lap line. We never heard the 5K/half marathon start, and so we were surprised to hear "3 seconds" right as we stepped into the corral. Well, no time like the present! We just had time to get our watches set, and we were off.

My goal pace, based on the FIRST plan, had me averaging a 7:41 pace. For the first loop, it was tough to keep up a good pace, since there were so many people to dodge. I did my best to have quick, light feet and get in a good rhythm. Since I had forgotten my Garmin, I glanced at my watch at each quarter mile to get a reading on where I was.

During mile 2, I fell in next to a guy who was doing the full marathon. His pace was similar to mine, and we got to talking for the next four miles. In retrospect, I wonder if I wasn't pushing myself hard enough if I could somewhat hold a conversation? But I was running pretty hard, and I thought running with someone would help the race seem shorter. The miles clicked off pretty regularly...7:49...7:56...7:56...7:57. I was missing my splits by just a few seconds each time, but it was adding up. Because of my inexperience at this distance, I didn't know how much to push to catch up to my pace.

When we crossed the lap line for my final lap, I told my running buddy that I was going to see if I could push a little harder during the last mile, but I wasn't sure if I had anything in the tank. (Nice positive self talk there, Dave) My quarter mile splits did fall inside my target this time, and I managed to run a 7:29 for the final mile. I crossed the line and received a plaque for my effort. Because this race doesn't give out age group awards, the overall awards go out to 20 places, and I had snuck in at #19! (20th in the official results, it turned out)

I was a little surprised at how much faster the field was this year, as I had run about 4 minutes slower in 2009, and come in 8th male. But obviously, I was in it for my time, not to place, and was really happy with the result.

Mile 1.2: 9:54
Mile 2: 7:49
Mile 3: 7:56
Mile 4: 7:56
Mile 5: 7:57
Mile 6: 7:29

Total: 48:58 (7:54/mile)
Overall: 22/109
Men: 20/54

After Meredith finished up her section of the relay, I went to get in some dry clothes and watch the rest of the race. That worked great to warm me up, but unfortunately her Dad started getting blisters, and stopped at 8 miles, leaving their team 5 miles short of the finish. Rather than DNF, Meredith stripped down and started running again, and I offered to run a couple miles. So, it was a quick run back to the car, and a change into that second running outfit I had packed. :) I made it back just in time to stretch a bit and head back out on the course. I forgot to wear my watch, so I just went out at a pace I thought I could hold for a couple miles.

And I ran faster for their race than for my own, gosh darn it. I ran a 7:33 mile and a 7:28 mile. Maybe I did have more in the tank than I knew. Next time, Gadget. Next time.

First Chance

2011-02-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

Limbo: any status where a person or project is held up, and nothing can be done until another action happens.

And that's where I am for another week. Until the Leadville lottery comes out, I'm unable to really commit one way or another. But that doesn't mean I can't do some planning and research. Meredith (at my request) bought me the "Run Less, Run Faster" book from the Furman Institute (FIRST) for Valentine's Day, and I've been reading through it for the last few weeks.

My first (heh) impression? I should have run slower during that three miler! It's got some pretty lofty goals for my longer distances based on that race. It says I should be able to run a 1:45-ish half marathon, and a 3:42-ish marathon. Yikes! The training plan uses three days a week of running, with other cross-training days thrown in as well. It looks VERY challenging, but also interesting.

This weekend, the ironically named "Last Chance For Boston" (too late!) marathon is in town on Sunday. Two years ago, I ran my first 10K there, and clocked a 53:05, for an 8:32 pace. The book says I should be able to best that. By a lot. (Yikes, again!)

The pros:

Halfway decent shot at a PR.
I just happen to have a 6 mile tempo run in the books for this weekend anyway.
I'm going to be there anyway, since Meredith and her dad are running a relay for the full marathon.
If I get into Leadville, this will be a last running hurrah for a good portion of the year.

The cons:

The weather looks yucky, and I'm a wuss.

So, do I feel like giving it a shot? Will I man up and run even if it's cold and nasty outside? Stay tuned...

Dear Boston

2011-02-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Boston,

You suck.

Love,
Dave

Link

Boston Marathon organizers today announced adjustments to the qualifying times and registration policies for the 2012 and 2013 Boston Marathons. The marathon will institute a two-week, rolling registration process for 2012, and will tighten the existing time standards — lowering them by five minutes across all age and gender categories — for 2013.

Seriously? I announce that I'm going to work toward a 3:15, and five days later you change the standard to a 3:10?!

And for what it's worth, your new registration system of "if you qualify by more than 20 minutes, you get first dibs" stinks too. You're telling me that I can qualify, register, and then enough people with faster times register after me to bump me out of a spot? That's terrible. Plus, it's even more incentive to run boring, flat courses for the better runners. Run a challenging course, and just make sure I qualify? Nope, gotta run 20 minutes faster - bring on a long flat stretch of interstate!

Race Report - CRRC Winter Run 3 Miler

2011-02-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

~~"I've never even run a 5K at a Boston qualifying pace"~~

Well, that certainly didn't take long. It wasn't a 5K, but 3 miles is pretty darn close.

I've been looking at a few training plans for my running this year, one of which is the Furman plan outlined in "Run Less, Run Faster". They have a half marathon plan as well, which I might use in the spring. And to get your base pace for this plan, it suggests that you do a 3 mile run as a speed test. Well, Meredith was doing the 15 mile run anyway, and what do I discover, but that there is also a 3 miler! Once the weather looked beautiful, it seemed clear that this was the time and place to do it. My biggest decision was whether to wear a watch or not - do I pace myself, or just go? I decided to be brave and go watchless. And soon after I sent her off on the 15 miler, it was time to toe the line and get underway.

This was a small race - maybe 50 people or so? I lined up just a couple rows back at the start, trying to make sure I didn't have too many people to dodge on the way out. Once we got spread out a bit, I found myself about 12 people back from the leader. And then a funny thing started happening...I'd pass one, then another, then another. By half a mile in, I was sitting in 5th place. I've never ever run close to the front of a race, regardless of size, and I didn't really know how to react. The first and second place guys were looking very strong, then there was one more guy maybe 20 meters ahead, one woman, and then me, sitting one place off the podium! By the halfway turnaround, I had caught the woman, but everything else stayed about the same.

Unfortunately, right after the turnaround, another guy came FLYING by, passing myself and the third place runner like we were standing still. That took the wind out of my sails a bit, knowing that I'd have to pass two guys to get in the top three, and feeling like I was redlining already. At that point, I started to accept that a podium finish was probably out of the cards, and I concentrated on just running strong. (With maaaaybe a couple glances over my shoulder, just in case.)

As we climbed the hill back toward the finish, I was definitely giving my all, and when I turned the corner to see the clock, I was shocked to see it almost two minutes earlier than I had estimated. It showed 21:55, and I tried to sprint in the last few meters under 22 minutes, but couldn't quite manage it. Still, I was ecstatic at the time, and pretty darn happy to be in the top 5 guys.

Time: 22:03 (7:21/mile)
Place: 5th male, 6th overall, 1st age group

Yes, I "won" my age group, though there were no awards for it in the 3 miler. I guess that makes sense, since it's so small a race, but it's still too bad!

It still feels bizarre to have run a race where I KNEW what place I was in the whole time. It's a whole different feeling and strategy than I've ever dealt with before. And yes, that pace would qualify me for Boston if I could just hold it for a measly 23.2 miles more.

I find myself wondering what happened in this race. Was it the fact that I didn't check my pace, and just went with it? Is it that I've been doing more core/upper body work? Is it that I've lost 15 pounds from my Ironman weight? This was 21 seconds/mile faster than my best 5K, and that must have come from somewhere. The only scary bit? The Furman plan says to add 35 seconds/mile to get your half marathon goal pace. Um, that's a 7:56. Paces starting with sevens scare me! Here's hoping that dreaming big can pay off...

Confessions Part I

2011-02-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

Confession: I want to run Boston.

There, I said it.

When I signed up for Ironman late in 2008, it was a daunting task. I didn't know what the training would be, what to expect from myself, or how the experience would affect me. But I had my coach's word that if I trusted in the plan, I would get there. Come race day nine months later, was I nervous? Sure. But I knew that I had done the work, and that barring something going wrong on race day, I had a good shot at finishing.

So what's the difference? Why does Ironman feel doable, but Boston seems like a pipe dream? Is it just the fact that I've done 140.6 twice, and never run under four hours in a marathon? After all, I'd have to cut nearly an hour off my marathon PR. Heck, I've never even run a 5K at a Boston qualifying pace.

No, I think the difference is the unknown. Can my body physically do it? Racing for speed is something I've never really seriously attempted. Ironman was all about the distance - the question was "Can I finish?". "When will I finish?" was a very secondary issue. But "Do I have the potential to go a certain speed?" is a whole different animal. Meredith has said in the past that she doesn't want to measure her VO2 Max, because it would tell her what her limits are. This feels almost the same - I'm not sure I want to know the answer.

It scares me to put this goal out there, but it seems like maybe the time is here. I've done three marathons, but my confidence in myself and my attitude toward sport has changed dramatically since that disappointing last 26.2 in 2007. Ironman can do that to you. Maybe it's time to take the leap. We're planning to be in Houston next January to watch a friend run in the Olympic trials, and then the marathon the next day would be my first target. Not to qualify, mind you (barring some huge unforeseen leap in speed), but to serve as an initial milestone in the journey.

So, that about covers it, other than one tiny detail...

Confession: I can't commit to a 2011 race schedule quite yet.

And why? Well, Meredith and I went to see "Race Across The Sky" again this year.

Why are you laughing?

Um, yeah, I might have signed up for the Leadville Trail 100 bike race lottery. Because really, what better race to train for in the flatlands of Ohio than a hilly one at 9000+ feet? The odds seem pretty long that I would actually get in, but if so, that will have to dominate my training for the year, especially given that whole "I haven't ridden my mountain bike in years" detail. It's in August, so it wouldn't necessarily scrap the Houston plan, but it would mean more biking than running for the first half of the year.

So, one way or another, there it is. Unicorn, consider yourself warned.

Race Report - 2010 Bourbon Chase

2010-10-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

After a two year hiatus, it was time to pack up the vans, resign ourselves to no sleep for a couple days, and hit the overnight relay circuit again. This year, the destination was the Bourbon Chase, a 200 mile course crossing Kentucky from Louisville to Lexington. Our little group managed to field two 12-person teams this year, so there was a pretty good caravan on the way down from Columbus. Unfortunately, one of our runners had to drop out last minute due to work, so our team would be going with an 11 runner rotation: less sleep, and extra legs for a few runners.

Once we arrived, we went for a pre-race dinner at the old Olive Garden standby. (One disadvantage of this race vs. Reach the Beach - the neverending pasta bowl had ended. That doesn't seem quite right, does it?) After dinner, it was time to get one last good night of sleep before the long day(s) ahead.

Friday dawned clear and beautiful - a great day to start racing! The first teams started at 8:00 AM, but we wouldn't be starting until 3:00 PM. So, there was plenty of time to hit up the grocery store for in-car snacks and drinks. We even found a rubber chicken at Petsmart to join the crow on top of our van for our team, "Three Old Crows, Nine Spring Chickens". :) Meredith and I were in van 1, so we'd be running fairly early in the rotation. As the time drew near to get underway, we drove to the starting line at the Jim Beam distillery, though we declined the free samples! (Side note: we had followed the Garmin to find a Subway on the way there, and it turned out to be inside a hospital. I'm pretty sure their staff wasn't used to twelve smelly people in shorts and dry-fit in the middle of the day! Somehow we even got free cookies, which are physically impossible to turn down in the middle of a relay.) Our two teams started in a wave with two other teams, who we'd see quite often in the next 24 hours. And with the gun at 3, we were off! We all hopped in the van and began the trek. Meredith took the second leg, and a couple hours in, it was my turn to take the handoff.

My first leg, "Stairway To Heaven Hill", was a 3.9 mile run through the middle of Bardstown. It started off on a pretty narrow road on which I had to duck out of the way of the mirror on an ambulance (ironic, eh?). I was matched up against my father-in-law on this leg, and Meredith handed me about a 3 minute head start. Before the leg, I had predicted that I'd need four minutes to hold him off. I haven't done much running since Cedar Point, so my feel for pace wasn't great, and I took off pretty hard. I managed to hold it together for a couple miles, but by the time I was in town, I was hurting and had to slow it up a bit. And true to my prediction, he caught me with about 3/4 of a mile to go. And what a 3/4 of a mile it was...

I had conserved just enough legs to make a final charge at him on the last hill. Steadily the distance closed...20 steps back...15...10...then my stomach said "no mas" and I was suddenly dry heaving on the side of the road. I walked for a few seconds and then jogged it in to the next handoff at the top of the hill. Oh well. I couldn't have given more effort than I did, so no worries. I ended up with a time of 32:00, for a perfectly acceptable 8:12 pace. That's actually dead even with my 4-mile PR pace, which was on a pancake flat course. So despite the head-to-head loss, I now feel like patting myself on the back a bit. :)

As the rest of our van finished up their legs, afternoon turned to evening, and we pulled into the beautiful (seriously!) campus at the Maker's Mark distillery. Not only was the campus beautiful, their bathrooms were clean - a rare sight on one of these races! We bundled up, as the evening was getting chilly, and our final runner handed off to van 2. Soon, we realized that we were kind of in a sparsely populated area, and asked for a good place to get dinner. That turned out to be Cozy Corner, a local bar/restaurant. We even got hit up by one politician while eating, who was friendly even after he found out we weren't local. My stomach was still a little uneasy, so I just stuck with a grilled cheese. Since our van 2 only had 5 FAST runners, we didn't have much time...had to get back to the course for our second legs!

My second leg was leg 14, "Heart of Danville", and kicked off around midnight. It spanned 5.7 miles, which would officially be my longest run since Cedar Point. The profile didn't look too bad, but not too long into the run, I found myself on a hill that felt like it would never end. Not steep, just long! Even a couple runners that passed me here commented on it, so I knew it wasn't just me. Now that I look back on the profile, it's pretty obvious, so mea culpa on not being mentally ready for it. It was a beautiful night for a run, Orion's belt hung right over the horizon, and I ran steadily for it. And on this leg, I tallied my first roadkill (read: passed a runner) of the trip. She was ahead of me and moving pretty well, but I could tell I was steadily gaining, and when she stopped to tie a shoe, I made my move. Unfortunately, I was also passed by three, putting me at -3 when combined with my first leg. I liked the end of this leg, as you transitioned from dark highway to the streetlights and buildings of Danville and Centre College. I'm pretty sure the "1 Mile Left" sign was a little off here, but regardless, I came into transition just ahead of my predicted pace again. I ran the 5.7 miles in 49:49, for an 8:44 pace.

After the second running leg is always the darkest time for me in these races. There's still one to go, you're soooo tired, and you know you'll get a few hours of sleep maximum. Because of our odd team size, we weren't handing off at the "normal" spots that were set up for sleeping. We pulled into a parking lot around 3:00 AM, dragged our sleeping bags onto the grass a few feet from the car, and crashed on the ground. However, we didn't anticipate problems from our proximity to the bathrooms. "crreeeeaak....SLAM!" doesn't make for great sleep, but it was enough to heed the message that the other team was on the way at 5:30.

I sort of lucked out in that my third leg started right around 8:00, and I didn't have to wear all my reflective gear and lights. It was even warming up a bit! My third leg was leg 25, "High School Reunion". This was a 4.7 mile run, and unlike the previous leg, I was quite aware of the upcoming hills here:

They're not killers by any means, but by your third go-around, you feel them. Luckily, I wasn't the only one on my third leg. As I started out, I'd pass a runner, then get passed by another. This repeated a few times on the first hill, and at mile 1, I was plus 3 and minus 3. As we turned onto the highway that would carry us the last 3+ miles, I was passed again. Dang, back to negative numbers. But then the most wondrous thing happened...the hills were taking their toll on everyone. I passed a runner. Then another. Then one who was walking. Thanks to the open scenery and view from the hills, I could see the runners laid out ahead of me, and realized I could do some damage. I powered up the hills with a quick cadence, and stretched it out going down. Whatever I had left, I gave, and by the time we turned into the handoff, I had passed 12 runners in total! That gave me a final tally of +5 overall for the race, my best to date. I ran the final leg in 40:21, for an 8:35 pace. This was a fun leg with all the runners out there, and it was a good cap to my experience.

Now that I was done, there were still 11 legs to go. It was a pretty relaxing end to the relay, getting to just cheer on my friends, get a couple little bourbon samples, and have a good time in the nice weather. Eventually, we did wind our way into downtown Lexington, and 25 hours and 52 minutes after we started, our team crossed the finish line together. We ended up 20th out of 200 teams - unfortunately behind our other team, but still a good showing! Then, all that was left was sharing stories over pizza back at the hotel, a good night's sleep, and a return to Columbus the next day, tired but happy.

Help me out!

2010-10-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

One of my long standing weaknesses has been my run form. I've developed my run to the point where I can do some long distances, but from the start, I've just run however my little legs carried me. And along the way, I've picked up some bad habits. So I'm calling on you, blog-land! I'll post a video of my "normal" run form, and then my concept of "good" run form. Please give me some feedback on both, and any tips to improve what I've got and make it a fast 2011!

(If the videos don't load inline, try the links)

"Normal":

"Better?":

Race Report - Rev3 Cedar Point FullRev

2010-09-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

After IM Coeur D'Alene last year, it's been reported that I said I didn't need to do another iron distance race. I just couldn't keep myself away, though, and when the opportunity arose to train again, I signed back on for another nine months of training. At times, I kicked myself for it, but I also saw some dramatic growth in my abilities as a triathlete this year. It seemed like September was upon us before I realized it, and with September came my big race for the year!

While I loved, loved, loved CDA, it was also nice to be able to drive to Cedar Point for this year's race. I had gotten to ride a loop of the bike course a few weeks ago, and I know that everything around there is pretty flat, so I felt a little more confident going in. For those who haven't been to Columbus, it's a little easier to emulate northwest Ohio than it is to emulate northern Idaho. :)

We drove up to Cedar Point on Friday, and were able to get in one more drivethrough of the bike course before getting Meredith to her volunteer duties. I had hoped that a couple of the chip sealed roads would be a little more flat by race day, but there were still some pretty rough stretches. There are only a couple hills of any note at all on the course, so I made a mental note where they were located as well. Friday evening brought one of the best perks of this race - Cedar Point opened some of their bigger rides for the athletes and volunteers from 6-9 PM, and it was fantastic! There were really no lines at all, even for the most popular rides. After a quick trip up Top Thrill Dragster, I ran into Carole and the Team Trakkers group, and they let me tag along for a bunch of rides, which was a blast! They really have a good group of people, and a cool product to boot! Eventually (no thanks to our phone service), Meredith managed to find us after she finished volunteering, and we got to hang out until the park closed. Very hungry, we followed a local recommendation to Chet and Matt's Pizza. Highly recommend it!

On Saturday morning, we got up to walk down the beach and go for a practice swim. Now, maybe for you ocean swimmers, it might have been a reasonable day, but for those of us used to swimming in small bodies of water? It was like nothing we'd ever seen. What were those white parts at the top of the waves?! The swim course is fairly shallow, and people were just standing out in the water. Sure, the occasional person tried a few strokes, but mostly just horrified looks all around. Meredith and I did give it a shot for a bit, but it wasn't much of a swim. My fingers were firmly crossed that the weather would change by the next morning. The plan was to get our bikes and bags turned in, then plant ourselves on the couch for an afternoon of OSU-Miami football. At halftime, we went back to Chet and Matt's for some pasta (stick with the pizza, it was pretty bland), and to watch the rest of our Buckeyes finishing off the Hurricanes. There was time for a Gatorade mixing party back at the hotel room, and then it was bedtime.

Sunday morning dawned plenty early, and I concentrated on getting everything put together that still needed to be put on my bike or in my bags. Strangely, I couldn't find the two Luna bars I'd packed, so I figured I must have already stuck them in my bike bag. Got to transition, and nope, they were nowhere to be found. Well, you have to be flexible to do one of these races, right? (Not literally. Thank goodness!) I quickly revised my fueling plan - I had enough EFS shots to make it 7 hours on the bike; I just wouldn't have any leeway if I went longer. And so I mentally prepared myself to grab other nutrition if needed. The rest of setup was pretty easy - I liked the layout of transition, everything was very straightforward and accessible. And so it was time to walk to the swim start and get ready to race! Good news - the water was flat today!

I said goodbye to the family, watched the pros go out, and then got into the mass of people at the starting line. One of my favorite parts of race day is meeting new people, and I chatted with a guy next to me who was doing his first full distance race.

Then, a quick countdown, and we were off! Or...well, we were walking. Slowly. Remember the part about how shallow the beginning of the course is? Lots of people were just walking out as far as they could, and for those of us behind them, there wasn't much we could do but walk as well. Eventually, most people figured out that swimming would be faster, and decided to get the day underway. I followed suit, and stuck my face in the cool, but comfortable, water. For a mass start, this race was significantly smaller than some of the IM starts, but I didn't think it lacked anything in brutality. :) This was probably the roughest swim start I've been in - the plan was to start to the outside, but I never quite made it out there. I never took any direct hits, but there was a lot of grabbing, pulling, and being swum over. The good news is that I've become a pretty confident swimmer, and by the first turn buoy, I'd pulled away from most of the nastiness. The rest of loop one went by pretty uneventfully, save the velcro on the neck of my wetsuit folding in and scraping me. All those one-armed drills paid off, as I must have fixed it 50 times during that swim!

The swim at Rev3 is a little different than most - there are two loops, but they are actually two distinct swim areas. So, after the first loop, you run down the beach a bit before you get back in the water. My family had, unbeknownst to me, made signs for me this year out of a goofy picture we had taken in Italy a few years back, and I couldn't help but laugh at how funny they were.

The second swim loop was almost a little lonely! I've felt like I was by myself in swims before, but I knew I was swimming pretty well, and I figured the loneliness was a good sign. There were certainly plenty of people in front of me, but as another swimmer and I realized on the way back in, there were even more behind!

I did my best to catch bubbles when I could, but most of the second loop was all up to the individual swimmer. The water had gotten a little rougher, but was still fairly nice. For a change, I kept my sighting pretty good until the home stretch. For some reason, I couldn't for the life of me see the exit arch, and I was sighting off the wrong end of the crowd. Eventually, I realized my error, and swung back to the left, swimming as far in as I possibly could before standing and making my way up the beach into T1. (I got teased about this later, but hey, if you can swim in 6" of water, why not? :)) I didn't find out my swim time until later in the day, but it was a 7 minute PR, a little better than I had hoped for!

Swim: 1:16:42
Pace: 1:59/100m
Rank After Swim: 15/35 AG, 91/421 Overall

Let's be honest. From last year's blazing fourteen minute effort, there was nowhere to go but up for my T1 skills. :) I grabbed my bag from the rack, found an empty chair, and did a full change into bike jersey and shorts. After getting badly burnt in CDA, I decided a bike jersey was a better idea since it would cover up the areas that don't see as much sun. It turned out to be even a better idea than I thought, because I missed any sunscreen on the way out of transition. I think I surprised Meredith and my family at how quick I got out of there this year. The only thing I forgot was my brain as I pulled my bike from the rack and swung a leg over it in the middle of transition. Whoops. Back off the bike, running for the exit, and ready to take on the longest part of the day!

T1: 6:03

For the bike, I had made the decision to pack all my hydration with me for the day. CeraSport (the course drink) sits fine with me, but I hadn't done the training with it, and it didn't have as many calories as I was used to. I had four bottles of Gatorade Endurance on my bike to start, and another three waiting in special needs. That gave me 7 hours of bike time, after which I'd need to start grabbing CeraSport from the aid stations. I'd get my water from the course as I used up Gatorade.

The first part of the bike course goes down the peninsula of Cedar Point itself, and is a little older road with some seams and potholes. And wouldn't you know it, three miles in...

Kachunk. Whssshhhh...Thunk. I launched one of my Gatorade bottles from my rear cage at the rider behind me, who was thankfully paying attention. I had to make a split second decision whether to go back or not, and I decided to keep going. Make that 6 hours of Gatorade I had available. The good news was that these were 24 oz bottles, and I usually train with 20. I figured I could space them out a little more to extend my bike time before having to mess with my (at this point, heavily amended) plan. I was mostly alone for a little while, but then the masses caught me on the bike, and I don't think there was another point in the day when I couldn't see another athlete.

I can't lie, this bike course was not as "epic" as CDA, but that also meant it was easier to simulate for a flatlander. Other than a couple short, moderately steep, little hills this was a pretty fast, easy course on paper. The steepest of the little hills brought us up into the town of Milan around mile 23, and I was happily surprised to see my parents and brother had come out to see me there. This was early enough that I was still feeling great, but even then it's a nice boost to see people you know. And if I thought I was feeling great then, the next 15 miles had a dead on tailwind. I was cruising! (Well, for me at least) But what goes east must come back west, and turning back took us straight back into the headwind, as well as onto some rough chip seal for a lot of the winding return trip. This was the biggest mental challenge of the day for me - you never knew which turn would have you on good or bad road, into head or cross wind. The HalfRev course rejoined us at our mile 50 and stayed with us for the next seven miles or so. This was the most crowded stretch, and at one point I started wondering if I had missed a turn since I only saw bikers wearing HalfRev bibs. I did finally find another fellow FullRev athlete and confirm that I hadn't missed it. Frankly, the turn to the second loop would be hard to miss - they had signs, volunteers, and the road chalked. :)

I saw my family again at mile 60, and knew that from there on, the support would be pretty limited on the course. The drag strip section of Route 113 was still there with as much tailwind as ever, but the way back was even more of a slog. It felt like the wind was picking up during the day, and I was just about seeing single digit speeds on some of the stretches. Chip seal, false flats, and a headwind can be a deadly combination to your psyche at that point in the race; I just wanted to be done. At mile 93, we passed the loop turnoff again, and at least had the good news that we were headed home. I took stock of my time and my nutrition - I would be fine on EFS, but would run low on Gatorade. For the last stretch, I diluted down the half aero-bottle I had remaining with water, and survived on that rather than introduce something new. In retrospect, I think I had done well enough on nutrition that it didn't really hurt me. The Cedar Point sign never looked so welcome as when I saw it, but the last few miles still draaaaaagged getting back to the park. They finally came to an end though, and I was back past my cheering group and into T2 with a new best bike time (on a MUCH easier course) by 46 minutes.

Bike: 6:48
Pace: 16.44 MPH
Rank After Bike: 23/35 AG, 199/421 Overall

I've had problems with my right little toe going numb on the bike and then hurting like crazy when the blood comes back. That happened during T2, and I was limping over to the bags. I knew it would be okay in a few minutes, so I took my time doing another full change into my "Run Dave Run" shirt and running gear. Once again, I was the only one out there with my name...someday triathletes will figure out what marathoners already know - spectators love to shout your name if they know it. :)

T2: 6:45

More than anything, I was thrilled to be off the bike. My long runs have been...questionable...this summer in the heat and humidity, so I just wanted to go out and do my best. Doing a quick overview of my body, my HR and stomach were going to be the limiting factors for me, so I decided to start walking water stops early to let them settle and get in nutrition each time. I was wearing my Garmin this year, so I had a good idea of my pace, and put in an effort to keep it around 10 minute miles to start. The Garmin was a great move, because my legs kept gravitating toward paces I knew I couldn't hold long term. The nutrition plan for the run was a Gu gel every 30 minutes or so, with water/sports drink as needed at each aid station. To that, I ended up adding ice under the cap for the first loop, since it was still kind of warm for a marathon.

The run at Cedar Point is two loops, with the first loop coming almost all the way back to the finish line before heading out again. The course starts out with a scenic run across the causeway over to the Sandusky waterfront. While it was technically a "city" run for much of the course, I was surprised by how much was along Lake Erie, and presented a really picturesque backdrop. The only hill of any note at all was one little bridge on the causeway itself. For much of the first loop, I held my pace and nutrition spot on. I got lots of "RUN DAVE RUN!" from the spectators and volunteers. One volunteer in particular had (I assume) her young daughter with her, who loved yelling for me. In general, I was pretty impressed with how many people were on the run course; I had assumed it would be pretty deserted. By the time I got back toward the park at the end of the first loop, my stomach was starting to turn on me a bit. I wasn't about to lose my lunch (er...gels), but it was starting to walk that line between unease and upset. As Meredith jogged with me on the way out again, I told her my pace would probably drop in the second loop, as I didn't want to push past that line and ruin the rest of my day.

In this race, as opposed to CDA, I felt like a "mid-pack" racer. There were plenty of people going in to finish while I was heading out on my second loop, but last year I felt like everyone was finishing while I wasn't even to the finish of the first loop. And so, I never had the down feelings I did during the run of that race. For all the issues my stomach was presenting, my legs were still solidly underneath me, and I knew I was going to finish with a pretty decent time. And those gels I had planned on? Those were turning my stomach more than anything right now. I turned to that best of friends to the triathlete, flat coke. That and the occasional CeraSport and salt tab became my nutrition for the last ten miles of the run, and I think it was the right move. I did begin walking some more stretches, but felt like I was being honest with myself. Run until you're nauseous. Walk till it's under control. Repeat. This still kept me going around an 11 minute pace including water stops. And while there weren't the vast hordes of walkers from IM, I still felt like I was gradually moving up in the ranks. Then, at mile 20-something, I started seeing runners with glowsticks. And I realized that I might not finish before dark, but I was going to finish without a mandatory glowstick this year. :)

The last few miles across the causeway were beautiful. The temperature had dropped to something very close to ideal, and the sun was fading into the lake with all shades of oranges and purples, and the park was silhouetted in the midst of it all. To the end, my legs stayed with me, and I was running sub-10s as long as my stomach could take it. I was offered water at mile 26, and kindly let the volunteer know that I could probably make it from here. :) From there, it was into the park, down the chute into the crowds, and to a final chant of "RUN DAVE RUN" from the announcer and spectators, I finished my second iron distance tri.

Run: 4:46:27
Pace: 10:56/mi
Rank After Run: 19/35 AG, 171/421 Overall

Total: 13:04:45

I'm really feeling happy and content with my effort. Do I wish that I could have found 4 minutes out there and come in under 13 hours? Sure. But I sort of feel like I had the race I wanted, and I can be satisfied with it. Will I do another one? Sigh...probably. Somehow I've found that I really like these things. :) But not next year.

Maybe next year?

NO.

Next year, I plan to focus on the shorter distances. Local sprints, some Olympics, maaaaybe a half if I feel like it. But I think if I want to improve my speed, it's time to learn some technique and focus on that for a while rather than enduring another season of IM training.

And now, the most important part. Thanks to both sides of our family for coming out and spending yet another long day cheering. Thanks to my amazing coach, Elizabeth Waterstraat. Thanks to all the friends, local and remote, who I've met through this sport, and who have supported me throughout the year. Thanks to Team Trakkers for adopting me for the weekend, and for being cool people all around. And the biggest thanks as always go to my wife Meredith, who somehow got me into all this, and without whom I couldn't do it at all.

Mirror, Mirror

2010-07-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

I think I have an evil twin.

Back in college, I wasn't the best at actually keeping in contact with my advisor. Let me rephrase that. I first met my advisor when filing for graduation. Never saw the point in talking to them as long as I was doing okay, I guess. But I was a little shocked when he asked me about all the classes I had failed, and how I had apparently made a big turnaround.

Huh?

After some further investigation, it turned out that there was another David Michael Gordon at Ohio State (go figure!), and he apparently had some issues with actually attending and participating in classes. It got ironed out, and I did graduate on time. What? Lots of people go to school for seven years!

Two David Gordons in this little group? What are the odds?

Fast forward to today. Dave has gotten married, settled down his wild ways, and is trying to refinance his house. But wait! There's a lien on the house. Seems that I've forgotten to pay tens of thousands of dollars in federal and state taxes. Again, I think it will be cleared up since I've never lived in the address where they were field, and I've never even heard of the company who filed one of them. Has evil Dave surfaced again? Will his antics follow me my whole life? If you ever see this man, TURN HIM IN!

Evil Dave (Artist's Rendering)

And bonus points for anyone who gets the title reference. :)

Race Report - JCC Independence Day Triathlon

2010-07-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, first off - I know I still owe an IM Kansas 70.3 report. It wasn't quite what I had wished for, so I've put it off, and now I've gone and done another race. And this one I am excited about, so you get it first. :)

When coach told me the July 4 weekend would be a good one to find a race, I was excited to find out that not only was there a race in Columbus that day, it was right in our backyard! This was the inaugural year for this race, which always carries some risks, but the lure of a race that starts four miles from our house was plenty to get me to sign up. This would be the first sprint tri I'd done in two years, so I had a few nerves the night before. What if I don't remember how to push hard in a race? What if all I have in me is long slow distance?

On race morning, we were able to get up at a leisurely 5:45. (Though it ended up being 5:35 when Meredith asked if I had an alarm set. And then 5:40 when our dog started barking. Fine, I'm up.) I got my stuff gathered, ate a couple quick pieces of toast, and we were off for the LOOONG eight minute drive to transition. The race field was limited to 250 due to parking, so it was a fairly small transition area, and I lucked out with a rack near one of the exits. Since I decided I would swim in my tri jersey, there wasn't too much to set up. Helmet, glasses, shoes and socks, plus a hat for the run. There were no bibs, and I didn't need any nutrition other than my aerobottle. Kind of a far cry from the hyper-organization I'm used to lately on race day!

Once set up, we moseyed down to the pool to get in a little warm-up and test how the tri jersey felt in the water. I got in a quick 100 yards, felt good in the jersey, and so Meredith and I just grabbed a lounge chair, chilled out while everyone finished up in transition, and chatted with some other athletes. For one, this was his first triathlon! It was a nice race for a first timer, I think - pretty laid back vibe to the day. This race had a long run between the pool and T1 that crossed some questionable terrain, so I took a cue from what some others were doing and stashed a pair of shoes to grab on my way out of the pool.

While we lined up, I got to chat with Colleen and husband Tom, as well as new friend Rebecca. The swim was seeded by your own estimate of a 300y swim, and we all happened to be in the same range, so we just lined up together. Better to have a friend run into you in the pool than a stranger, right? :) While the seeding worked well for the most part, we did notice a pack of three swimmers who started among the first 20 athletes or so doing the breaststroke 100 yards in. Not sure what happened there? Regardless, it soon was my turn, and I took a running jump into my swim.

I realized before the swim that it would be difficult to pass people, since it was a serpentine swim with people going both directions in the same lane. So, I decided to swim at a comfortably snappy pace, but not to overdo it, since I would just get in a traffic jam. This worked really well - I caught the guy in front of me around 150 yards in, and drafted off him the rest of the way. We passed one guy standing at the wall, and near the end of the swim I turned on the afterburners briefly to pass another swimmer who got mixed in there somehow. I came out of the water with my watch at 5:07. That's a 1:51/100m pace, which is pretty slow for me over that distance, but with the format, I'm not sure I could have done much better. It also paid off because I came out of the water at a run, not feeling out of breath at all. Next year, maybe I'll seed myself a little higher. The mat wasn't until the entrance to T1, so the official swim time is a lot longer.

Swim: 6:41 (5:07 in water, 1:51/100m pace)

T1 was pretty efficient for me, and I got in and out in a hurry. I thought about going sockless to save a few more seconds, but ended up opting for the socks.

T1: 0:58

The bike course for this race was almost exclusively on roads we ride ALL.THE.TIME in training. For me, I took this as a benefit - I knew the gearing, I knew the corners, I knew which roads were false flats or slight descents. And I rode HARD! The ride started out down a gravel driveway. This was a little scary, with a lot of "Please don't flat!" and "Please don't wipe out!" thoughts going through my head. However, I made it through fine, and was soon out on the roads. The fact that I started fairly early in the time trial start made me a little resigned to getting passed by a ton of people on the bike, but other than jockeying back and forth with one other rider early, this really didn't happen. I started picking off some of the earlier swimmers, and every time I looked back at a corner, there wasn't anyone back there. This was very different for me! I kept the hammer down (at least as far as my hammer goes), and just rode. The inevitable pass from Tom happened about halfway through the course. (Seriously inevitable, he was on the team that won Race Across America, I'm just glad I could hold him off this long!) But that was the last time I'd get passed. Maybe the only time? I can't remember for sure. Part of that was the time trial format, of course, but it felt very different to be toward the front of a race for once. I could get used to that feeling... :) The only other blip in the bike race came when a car turned right in front of me, but he was also right in front of a policeman, who chewed him out pretty well as I rode on. One more safe trip across the gravel, and I was back into transition with what I knew was a speedy time. What I didn't realize at the time was that I broke a 20 mph average for the first time in a race, and that somehow I managed the third best bike split in my age group!

Bike: 33:59 (21.18 mph)

T2 was blazing fast - shoes off, helmet and glasses off, shoes and hat on, GO!

T2: 0:28

My stomach was bothering me a little on the bike, so I was nervous to see where it would go on the run. Didn't end up being an issue. My legs were also pretty tight as I started out on the run. After exiting the park, you go down maybe a quarter mile hill, and then immediately back up. I had to slow my pace a little bit here, as my legs really hadn't loosened up from the bike yet. Once up the hill, I tried to get into a good rhythm - never felt super fast, but just kept on trucking. I did get passed by a few runners, but they were going at speeds I couldn't possibly hang with at the time, so I stayed at my own pace. It was starting to get a little hot by this time, so at mile 2 I dumped some water over my head to cool off. (heard later that someone accidentally did the same with a glass of Heed, hehe!) As we got back toward the park, we had to do the hill one more time, but I think I came up with a little more speed this time, and then it was just a sprint down the entry road and into the finish line! I feel like I ran fairly well here - just on the edge of what I could do. There maaay have been one more gear that was left unused at the end, but I still give myself an A- on the run. This ended up being a PR for me in a 5K triathlon run by about 30 seconds.

Run: 25:56 (8:20/mile)

I was holding out a bit of hope that I might place in my age group here, but I ended up in 6th place out of 16. Speedy people in that 30-34 group! What I was excited about, though, was placing 23rd overall out of 241. Top 10% for the first time! I think I can take a lot of positives out of this race - I have more speed than ever before on the bike and run, I possibly ran my best race to date mentally, and just had a lot of fun doing it!

Now, the real push for Cedar Point begins! First iron distance swim is this week, as well as the first 6+ hour bike ride. Just over two months to go...yikes!

Race Report - Rev3 Knoxville Olympic Triathlon

2010-05-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

Let's just start off by saying kudos to Knoxville for being a great site for a race. It's a nice little city that's completely walkable with plenty of fun local places to eat and see. For Meredith and I, that's exactly how we love to do races - settle in and don't move the car unless we have to.

We arrived on Friday night, and basically just had time to check in and make it up to the restaurant area of town before everything closed down around 9:00. A little early, but still better than most of Columbus' downtown restaurants! We found a little cafe called Trio, and the food was good enough that we'd return the next morning for breakfast. There was also an art show/community gathering going on in the park outside, with lots of hula hooping, dreadlocks, dancing, and the like.

Saturday morning, Meredith had some team obligations for Team Trakkers, so we headed down to the expo/finish area and met up with her team. I met lots of people there, and not knowing names coming into it, I failed big time at remembering them all! Sorry... However, everyone seems really nice and really fast! And thank you Carol for my shiny new Trakkers visor for doing the hard work of hanging around during the photo shoot. :) I was joking with Meredith later that someone should have taken MY picture - while the age group team all lined up on stage, I was lined up on the side with Richie Cunningham, Michael Lovato, and Dede Griesbauer. If you're scoring at home, the four of us hold a combined FOUR Ironman titles AND a top 20 overall finish in the 2009 Last Chance For Boston 10K!

After the shoot and some breakfast, Meredith and I scampered down to the river with fellow ELFlete Rachelle to get in a practice swim.

My "Andre the Giant" Look

Mid-swim picture break!

The water was warmer than expected, but just about as murky as expected. We swam down a couple buoys and back, and realized the only way out of the water was to press yourself up and out onto a floating dock. Not a huge issue, but might be difficult after a hard swim. We figured they would have a ramp, or ladder, or something on race day. After the swim, Meredith got to man the Trakkers booth while I went back to the room and got our bikes packed up and ready to check in to transition. One more trip down to the river, and we were finally all done for the day. Somewhere in all that, I also managed to acquire a decent sunburn. Oops. I was never outside for an extended amount of time, but it all must have added up. We did dinner at Altruda's, a nice local Italian place that was out away from the race atmosphere. Lasagna, ravioli, and some garlic rolls to die for...yum!

Race morning came later than most, since we were only a couple blocks from transition and we didn't have to be out of there until 7:40. The previous morning, we had picked up some homemade bread at a local farmer's market, so we ate some chunks of that (yeah, forgot the plastic silverware), honey, and bananas. Setup was quick and painless, if a little chilly, and before we knew it, we were lined up to hop in the water.

The swim start was an in-water start, a first for me. We all jumped off the landing, treaded water for a couple minutes, and then swam off into the morning sun. The course went upriver for maybe the first 250 meters, then did a u-turn and came straight back down. That first stretch between the start and the turnaround was definitely the roughest swim I've been in so far. No particular hard hits, but I felt like I didn't have much room - always right in between two people, and sometimes getting squeezed out. I felt like I was swimming hard, though, and holding on to a pack from my wave. The good news was that I sighted this course probably better than any other to date. I never felt off line whatsoever, and when I climbed out (nope, no ramp or ladder), my watch verified it. 22 minutes and change! My goal coming in had been to break 30 minutes. Yeah, I guess I did that.

Swim: 23:05 (1:32/100m) (PR)

As I jogged up toward transition, I fumbled for my wetsuit zipper and couldn't quite get it. No problem, I'll just get it once I get up there. But even then...stuck fast. I thought I might be the only one out on the bike course in a wetsuit, but finally another athlete came by and was willing to help me out. So, a slower T1 than I would have liked.

T1: 3:55

I got out on the bike and really didn't feel too hot to start. I might have swum just a little out of my league, and now I was feeling it. Apparently, so was my speedometer, because it didn't start working until about mile 10. I just went on perceived effort and my cadence, which was working. This course was WAY hillier than anything I've ridden. CDA and Maysville had hills that probably outdid anything in Knoxville, but they also had some flat parts. This was pretty much nonstop up or down, and the down was usually twisty. I never really got my bike legs and my mind both in the same place at the same time, and ended up biking a little slower than intended. I kept a high cadence because my legs didn't feel like pushing hard, but couldn't make up the lost speed purely through cadence. I never had a problem getting up any of the hills; I just didn't do it quickly. By the time I rolled back into T2, I was more than ready to do some running. The course was about a mile long, we think, so my time was a little high, but it still wouldn't have been a bike PR.

Bike: 1:29:15 (16.7 mph official, 17.3 mph real)

I had three things to remember in T2. Hat. Race Number. Gel Flask. I remembered two, and my nutrition wasn't one of them. But hey, it was a pretty fast T2 at least!

T2: 1:44

As I started on the run, I realized that I had forgotten my gel and was already overdue for some calories. I also realized that my legs were kind of fried, so I took the good advice of my coach and held back for the first mile. At mile 1, I was running under a 9 minute pace, and I asked the volunteers for "anything except water!" They handed me a cup of Cerasport, which wasn't altogether bad - I've certainly had worse. It tasted kind of like sweet tea, but in looking at their site, that's not a flavor, and I can't figure out what I drank. So Cerasport, maybe your flavoring is a little off. :) Anyhow, I finally had some calories, and my legs started settling into a decent rhythm. At mile 2, I grabbed a Gu, downed it, and was back on track nutritionally.

I was expecting the turnaround around mile 2, but apparently, the course had changed last minute. At an aid station near mile 3, I stopped to ask a volunteer if I was still on course, but she didn't really understand me.

Me: "What mile am I at?"
Her: "3"
Me: "Where is the turnaround?"
Her: *blank stare*
Me: "Am I past the turnaround?"
Her: "3?"

So, somewhere in there, our communication broke down just a bit. It turned out that the turnaround was pretty much just around the corner out of sight, and soon I was headed for home. A few minutes later, I saw Meredith flying down the course, and started doing the math in my head to see if she was going to catch my time. I knew it would be close! I knew I would also be close to a PR time, but as my watch climbed past 9 minutes on mile 5, I figured I would just fall short. However, once it then climbed past 10...11...I knew I had just not seen the last mile marker. As we passed transition, a volunteer let us know that we had half a mile to go, and I realized I still had a chance! I used whatever energy I had left to power up the last hill, into the park, and across the finish line with a big run PR. My goal pace was 8:30s - didn't quite hit that, but still snuck into my goal range for the run of 50-55 minutes.

Run: 54:50 (8:49/mile)

Overall: 2:51:50 (21/31 AG, 165/372 Overall)

In the end, it was good enough for a new overall PR, and I knew it when I hit the line! In all, it was an amazing swim for me, a "meh" bike, and a pretty solid run. I think on a flat course, I would likely give back a little swim time, but I could easily make that back on the bike. (And subtract a few minutes for that extra bike mile) I'm pretty happy with the way everything went. Rev3 has a few glitches to work out, and there were some city construction issues that weren't under their control and impacted the course, but I think Knoxville has a LOT of potential as a destination race. I'd certainly consider going back.

Post-race, we got to catch up with friends old and new about the race, and then refueled with gelato, pizza, and margaritas! (Yes, in that order) It was great to hear all the stories of success and perseverance from the day, and a nice way to cap off a good weekend.

Fitness Is Feeling Great!

2010-04-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

I was always pretty good in school. Maybe not always the hardest worker, but I did just fine on my grades. But every year, there was one test that I dreaded.

(Please, SOMEONE else tell me they remember that commercial?)

The Presidential Physical Fitness Test. My old nemesis. Sit-ups. Shuttle Run. Sit and reach. Mile run. Pull ups.

What am I gonna do?

The other day, I was thinking about it again. Okay, technically that song was running through my head.

Now's the time to ex-er-cise!

That got me wondering...does that test still exist? And could I pass it now?

And it turns out that it DOES still exist! And I found the qualifying standards. Unfortunately, they only go up to a 17 year old standard, so I guess that's what I'll have to qualify as. There's also an adult program that's more of a "get active" thing. I'm signing up for that too.

Favorite activities? Let's look at the list. Definitely "Marching". Ooh, "Nintendo Wii"! And we'll round it out with "Trap/Skeet Shooting" and "Billiards". No? Okay, SwimBikeRun it is. I have 0 points out of 40,000 for my bronze award! We can choose activities from "My Favorites", "The Great Outdoors", "Entire List", or "Adult Favorites". I'm a little scared to click on the last one. So, I have filled out 3 days so far, and I'm up to 2154 points. At that pace, I'll reach 40k in two months. Bronze award, you will be mine!

It's fun to treat your body right!

But the real challenge will be passing the 17-year-old standards for the coveted Presidential Physical Fitness Award that has eluded me since fourth grade.

Now you're looking great!

Seriously, can you deny that face? Come on.

Here's the standards I'll have to meet:

Curl-ups: 55 in one minute
Is that a newfangled word for sit-ups? (Research says "yes"). I think I can do this one. There's also a "partial curl-ups" option that's more like slow crunches.
Shuttle Run: 8.7 seconds
Not a big strength, but seems doable.
Sit & Reach: 41 cm
Uh-oh, this one could be trouble.
One Mile Run: 6:06
Attainable, I think. It would be a PR, but I've never really tried.
Pull-ups: 13
My real nemesis. I couldn't do ANY in 4th grade. Or probably now. There's also an option to do 53 pushups instead.

If I remember right, these weren't all on the same day, but during the same week. So that will be my goal. Pass each part of the test within a one week timeframe, and this will be mine:

So there it is, Mr. Reagan. I'll pass your test yet and make you proud.

And to end this post in true 80's style, let's all high five as the camera freezes and the credits roll!

Marching Onward

2010-03-31T12:59:00.000-07:00

March was a good month. No, not because my decimated bracket still somehow has a chance at 2nd place in our pool. There's no prize anyway! But March was a good month for plans and for progress!

First off, I am now OFFICIALLY signed up for the Rev3 Knoxville Olympic race on May 9th. This will be my third Olympic tri, after Sufferfest '08 and Impromptu '09. This isn't my big target race for the season, but I think a PR might still be a strong possibility. The course will be a little tougher than either oly I've done, but I think I'll be coming into it with better fitness than either prior olympic tri. And that elusive sub-30 swim is still lurking out there...

Next! I got to retest my running fitness last week. I'm pretty happy here. My last run test was in January, and I'm not sure what was up with myself, but it was terrible. Stomach felt bad, heart rate was out of control high, and my pace was all over the place. This time? My mile paces were a whopping 0:02 apart, my HR recovered like it should, and my pace was almost a minute faster per mile! Now, I don't think I ACTUALLY improved that much in two months; I think a lot of it was a bad day during the first test. But it was nice to see my feelings about the January test validated along with the work I've put it. The best part was comparing it to last year's test, which was about the same length of time before IMCDA as this year's test is before Rev3 Cedar Point. I've cut 0:13 off per mile! And that's legit pace gain - same track, similar HR, and all.

I also got to retest my swimming. While this one wasn't as big an improvement as the run test, it still showed some growth. It seems like every time I do a swim test, I tell myself not to go out too hard. I then proceed to go out too hard, and am dying by the end of the test. This time, I reeeealy told myself to hold back, and actually did. Over the whole test, my pace per hundred only varied by 2 seconds! I managed to tie my swim test PR, but I think this one was a stronger effort overall since I didn't have one super-fast (for me) 100m artificially making my average look better.

And finally, in the biking world, spring has finally sprung in the midwest, and I got to do a 2:45 ride in the great outdoors. It's funny how much your race calendar affects your training - this time last year I was busy doing 10 5 (Really? Only 5? Seemed like more) hours on coach's computrainer. Meredith came along for half the ride, and boy did she pick the wrong half. We fought our way through a deceptively strong headwind toward home, and when I rode back to the car, I reaped the benefits. Mentally, I've sort of had a block with 20 mph on the bike. I figure if I'm cracking 20, I'm probably working too hard and I back off. With the aid of a tailwind to get me started, I just decided to see how long I could hold it on this ride, and began to realize that my bike fitness might just be improved over last year. Funny how that works, huh? I'm excited to see if that can translate into some good bike splits. This weekend is supposed to be super-nice in Columbus, so I'm looking forward to a good day, and cracking 3 hours for the first time this year.

So, it's on to April... One month till the outdoor race season kicks in, and I can't wait!

Grady Indoor Triathlon Pics

2010-03-25T08:01:00.001-07:00

Wave 1 on our bikes.

Don't I look like I'm having fun? Bonus points for the hair - maybe next time I'll wear my helmet.

Race Report - GRIT And Bear It Indoor Triathlon

2010-03-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hooray, it's race season! Meredith and I headed up to Delaware EARLY Saturday morning for the first race of the year. We had a wake up time of 5:00 AM, hopped on the road, and rolled into Ohio Wesleyan's campus in plenty of time. We even got a scenic tour of campus, as I read the map wrong and we ended up on the wrong side. Little did we know that we drove right by it. Oops!

This race was a 15 minute swim, 15 minute bike, and 15 minute run format. At the end, your paces for each were extrapolated to a 750y/20K/5K sprint tri format. We got our bikes turned in, our swim suits on, and we were ready to get 2010 underway! Meredith and I were in wave 1, so we got on over to the pool. Maybe it's just our gym, but we're used to some pretty cool water and the OWU pool was nowhere near as cold. Nice surprise on a 14 degree morning. We got in a few warm-up laps and discussed the possibility of drafting since we were in adjacent lanes and we swim a similar speed. And then I almost missed the start since I forgot there's no "Set" in swimming, just "Swimmers take your marks...Go!".

I kicked off at a good pace and almost immediately dropped Meredith, who was being a little more conservative. Oops, guess we should have discussed our pacing strategies too. My stroke felt smooth and strong, and I kept pushing at a "comfortably hard" pace. For some reason, I completely forgot to count laps, so I had no idea where I was in the swim. At some point, I decided to start, thinking there couldn't possibly be time for more than 10 more laps. And there wasn't. I came to the wall, saw Meredith standing up, and realized we were done! I ended up doing 975 yards in 15 minutes, which would be a 1:40/100m pace. For reference, this was exactly the pace I did in last year's indoor tri, but for a 15 minute swim instead of 10 minutes. Very excited by this, I had in my mind that I would be thrilled with 950. It turned out that I finished second in my age group in the swim, and 8/69 overall.

Swim: 975 yards (1:40/100m)

I stopped off at my locker for a quick gel and change, and it was out to the fieldhouse for the bike leg. One thing I really liked about this indoor tri was the chance to ride your own bike! We had a few seconds to warm up here, and I quickly realized that the resistance was a lot higher than what I was used to at home. As we started our ride, I settled in around 18-19 MPH depending on the gear. I played around with gearing a little, but eventually just held a pace for the first half of the ride. Halfway through, I decided to crank up the gearing and held it around 21 MPH. And every minute or two from there out, I increased my speed until I was going around 23 at the end. In retrospect, I might have been able to go a little harder, but compared to the competition here, a few tenths of a MPH wouldn't have made much difference - nobody that finished above me overall averaged under 24 MPH! I ended up 10/16 in my age group on the bike.

Bike: 5.1 miles (20.4 MPH)

After getting off the bikes, I remember commenting to Meredith that my legs didn't feel great. (I know, what else is new coming off the bike?) We had a 5 minute transition, and the 5 people in our wave toed the start line of the indoor track. (Another nice thing about this indoor tri - no treadmills!) Within the first 200m, it was obvious that I'd be running by myself: Meredith and another guy were about a quarter lap ahead, and the other two were well back. Once again, I settled into "comfortably hard", and since I'm not used to running a 200m track, I didn't bother trying to do pacing math, I just ran.

Soo...maybe I should "just run" more often? When we finished up and I sprinted the last few meters to eke out my last half lap, I had done 15.5 laps, or 3100 meters. That was good for a 7:47/mile pace. Um, when was the last time I ran that fast in a race? My 5K PR pace is a 7:42. Interesting. Hopefully that bodes well for the coming year.

Run: 3100m (7:47/mile)

Total: 1:13:05 Predicted Time

I won my wave, but as the day went on my position slid down to 6/16 in my age group, 10/29 men, and 10/69 overall. That's right, I would have been first overall woman. Probably the first time I can say that, actually. :) I would have loved to have placed in my age group, but this year brought some tougher competition than the results we saw from last year. That's fine, though! I was thrilled with my swim, surprised by my run, and have some work cut out for me on the bike. Bring on 2010!

Race Report - Flying Feather Four Miler

2009-12-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

Short one here, since it's long since come and gone. Meredith, her dad, and I met our friend Carrie up in Dublin for the race. We had a few moments to chat before the start, and then we were off for the third year in a row!

Last year, this race was one of my first run trials in my Ironman training, and I averaged just over an 8 minute pace. I wasn't very confident in my ability to break that, but I thought I'd give it an honest try. The weather wasn't too bad compared to some years on Thanksgiving in Ohio, though there was a little on-and-off cold drizzle.

In the first mile, this race is pretty congested. I ended up running just under a 9 minute pace for the first mile, which pretty much shot any hope of a PR right there. For the next three miles, I ran a very consistent 8:30 pace. While it's not the pace I ran last year, I was pretty happy with it, since last year's race was two months into my IM training plan. It seems like I've got a better base than a year ago.

That has also been reinforced with my biking, where I definitely feel stronger on the trainer. I think that's where I have the most room to grow this year, so I'm excited to see my legs responding. I did a late-night trainer session last night, and ended up averaging 16 mph. For me, that's a pretty good pace, and if last year's numbers are any indication, that should translate to a few mph higher out on the roads.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T07:37:00.000-08:00

If you're racing, good luck, and in any case eat some pumpkin pie for me! I'll be at the Flying Feather Four Miler tomorrow morning racing for a bottle of wine and an unlikely PR.

C is for Cooking

2009-11-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

That's good enough for me. This summer, Meredith and I have made an effort to do more cooking at home. Unlike previous attempts, it's been quite a success! Just to give you a rundown of some past adventures:

2006: Chicken and dumplings. Also known as "Chicken, chicken, chicken, and DUMPLING". We attempted this in the crockpot. It looked like chicken soup on the bottom, and one giant gooey mess on top. Pizza was ordered.

2007: Coq au Vin. This actually didn't taste too awful, but the meat ended up sort of a deep burgundy color that wasn't especially appetizing.

But now? Now the tide has turned! Over the last few months, we've had some very good food. We've discovered that we don't NECESSARILY hate fish if done right, and how to cook a pork chop so that it doesn't end up the consistency of running shoe sole. Yesterday was a braised pork chop recipe with apples and potatoes that was a step down from recent efforts, but still rated a solid B+ for "filling, tasty, but a little bland".

Do you have any good recipes, preferably on both the healthy and tasty side? We'd love to hear them.

Yesterday I also tried out some flip turns for the first time since CDA. They didn't turn out quite as well as the food. Maybe a "C". I did flip over every time, and there was no water up the nose, but on no turn did I actually manage to kick off the wall. Oh well. There's no walls in open water, right? :) However, I do have some goals for the indoor tri in February. It's a 300 swim, and I'd like to shoot for sub-5:00 (1:40/100m pace), and maybe even 4:30 (1:30/100m pace). I did a 1:40 pace for 600m in an indoor tri this year, so I'd like to think I can step it up a bit for half that distance. All I know is that the thought of racing is giving me butterflies again, and that's a good thing.

Commitment

2009-11-17T07:42:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Meredith and I were cleaning out some piles of papers, and I came across the training plan from my very first marathon: Columbus 2004. I noticed a couple things.

1. My training plan started with one mile daily runs. One mile! Guess I've come a long way since then. And if you've ever thought about doing a marathon, triathlon, etc...five years ago, I couldn't run more than a mile.

2. My commitment level is a lot different today than it was five years ago. The most striking thing about the papers were the planned weekly miles and actual weekly miles. I saw things like 7 planned (4 actual). 12 planned (5 actual). 15 planned (7 actual). Is it any wonder that I underachieved?

Last year, having a coach definitely ramped up the accountability, and I did a much better job of sticking with my plan. But I think the process of training for Ironman changed my thinking as well. This year, I have a better understanding of what it takes to get to the start line, and then to the finish. My challenge to myself now is to take the next step and be focused and accountable in my training. No, I won't hit every workout from here to September - life will get in the way. But I can sure do my best, and not just go through the motions.

As a preliminary step to this season, I'm trying to slim down a bit. Not a drastic change, but having gone through IM training once, I know that it won't happen once the miles and meals increase. I don't know exactly where my ideal weight lies, but I'm guessing somewhere around 160. To reach this goal, I've been counting calories since I've started base training again. I want to make sure that I'm neither going over nor under the calories I need. So far, no distinct change, but I'm not giving up yet. Meredith and I also took pictures and measurements, but we'll save that for a before and after. And if there isn't a good after picture, we'll forget this conversation ever existed. :)

Race Report - Beat Michigan! Beat Cancer! 5K

2009-11-11T16:59:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I heard from my wife that her boss was sponsoring a local 5K to benefit ovarian cancer research. Shortly afterward, I heard that I was running it! Not one to back out on a promise (even if it was someone else's promise), I was in. Not much training, but a good way to see where I stood after the layoff.

On the morning of the race, it was an early wakeup call after working the photo booth until after midnight the night before. Unlike some overachivers in our household, I hadn't already packed, so I had to grab all my gear that morning. Ever go out for one of those runs where it's just an in between temperature? Everything from shorts to gloves to winter hats went in the bag!

We got over to the race site, got signed in, and met Meredith's coworkers, one of whom lives almost across the street from the race. It was very cute...she had never done a 5K and had a huge spread of oranges, cinnamon rolls, water bottles, juice... she said she had googled for "What to eat before a race". :) We all walked over together and got set for the race. And when I put on my gloves, I noticed something. My left glove fit just fine...but my other left glove didn't fit at all! :P I turned it upside down and just went with one Asics glove and one Nike glove.

There were no chips at this race, so we lined up close to the front, and were off! I hung with Meredith for the first mile (she wasn't racing it), but couldn't quite hang as she dropped her pace in the second mile. Oh, and the other thing about packing that morning? I forgot a watch. Yeah, I was pretty much a mess. But a father in front of me told his son that they were right on their 8 minute pace at mile 2, and I was just fine with that.

As the third mile went by, we caught all the walkers still on the first loop, and the runners got strung out into a single file as we passed them. It was sort of strange, as you didn't see as many people running around you as in an out and back 5K. Finally, we turned back onto the track that held the finish line, and with 100 yards to go a middle school boy decided to sprint by me. I wasn't sure of the etiquette there, so I just let him go and enjoy his moment.

Okay, that was a lie. I outsprinted him to the line. :)

In the end, the results are all jumbled (no chips and people passing in the chute), but my best guess of my actual time is 24:56. That would be good for 5/28 and 49/578 overall. I'll take it! In all, it was a beautiful day to get out for a run and support a good cause! Definitely a race I'd consider again.

Remember Me?

2009-11-02T09:38:00.001-08:00

So... Hi. (Awkward!)

I know, I know... I should have called, I just got busy, it's been a crazy couple weeks. (What? Months? Oh.)

Anyway, I wanted to know if you'll take me back. It's just that I'm going to start training again this afternoon and all, and I thought you might want to be part of that. I totally understand if you're hesitant. After all, I did sort of leave you high and dry. You have been waiting, right? Oh, you've been reading other blogs in the meantime? I guess that's okay.

Broken promises? Oh, the promise I made about a recap of the big hiking trip. Yes, I still will do that. I...um...promise.

Where do I see myself in a year? Well, there's the matter of defending my top 10 finishes at the Last Chance 10K and the Lifetime indoor tri. Yes, I really did finish in the top 10! I have no idea how either. And then maybe a return to Muncie? That's always an electrifying race, but last time left me a little flat. What would really be super is a trip to Cedar Point in September! And if it takes a few hours of riding and running to get there, well...so be it.

So you're back in? You want to travel this journey together one more year?

Let's go.

Race Report - Columbus International Triathlon

2009-07-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

Or, "Charlie Brown vs. City Hall"

They say you can't fight city hall. But you can surely race it! Mayor of Columbus Mike Coleman was on hand for the 2009 Columbus International Triathlon, though he was doing the sprint version. I had officially decided to do this race all of 18 hours beforehand, so it was a little bit of a last minute decision. My PR in the olympic distance triathlon seemed like an easy target, given than I had only raced that distance once, and it was Implode-In-The-Heat-Fest '08 with its 13 minute miles on the run.

Disclaimer: I have done very very little training since Ironman. Intentionally. So when I got this race in my mind, I had time to do all of 1800 meters of swimming, 30 minutes of biking, and about 16 minutes of running. Yes, my entire cumulative training plan was shorter than the actual race. I'm pretty sure that's a good plan, right?

Sunday dawned cool and overcast, with none of the rain from the day before. Perfect! I got on over to the race site, got set up and settled in, and found out that the water was even wetsuit legal! This race is a time trial start (one person every couple seconds), and I also found out that it would start in reverse numerical order. Since I signed up so late, I was going to be about the 15th person into the water. Lots of clear water for me, but no draft, and no one to help me sight.

As we all walked down from transition to the lake, I pulled up my wetsuit zipper, which came up quite easily. And suddenly, I was holding the zipper pull in my hand. Not just the string, the actual part that zips up the wetsuit. Well, that can't be good. Remember how I was 15th in line? I didn't have time to get back to transition and ditch the wetsuit now. I had a couple people try to fix it, but in the end I just stuffed the broken off piece up my sleeve, velcroed the collar, and decided to just go with my open-backed wetsuit. That can't have been good for my aerodynamics. :) Also not good? My decision in goggles. I wore shaded goggles, and they were WAY too dark for me. I had a very tough time seeing the buoys (no fault of the race, they were big, bright, and orange), and combined with my questionable sighting in general, I think I added some significant distance.

If the first loop was fairly smooth, the second loop was anything but. The olympic distance swimmers started first, but by the time I started the second loop, all the sprint distance folks were in. It became a minefield of people doing breaststroke, backstroke, or just treading water. I literally took more hard contact in that half mile than I did in the entire Ironman swim. I made it through, and came out no worse for the wear. My only real time goal for an individual event was to crack 30 minutes in the swim. My time? 30:38. Gosh darn it, that was actually 36 seconds SLOWER than my first olympic race, and I'm a much stronger swimmer now. I'm 100% sure that with a zipped up suit and better sighting I could have shaved off 39 seconds or more. Next time, Gadget.

Swim: 30:38 (72/172)

Transition for this race is split into two parts: the run from the swim to the transition area, and transition itself. That's nice, because it's a long run and includes a nice steep grassy hill that I ended up walking because my heart rate was still high. My little run there was slow, but then...THEN! AN RESPECTABLE T1! Not blazing fast, but this is big news for me. I wore my tri suit under my wetsuit, which helped, and the new socks from my race kit went on no problem with wet feet. My T1 was 81st out of 172, which if I'm not mistaken is officially above average. :)

Swim-to-T1 Run: 1:53
T1: 2:03

The bike course was 5 (!) loops of a 5-ish mile course. Half of it is actually on a major freeway in town, which has the right lane and berm shut down. Definitely a nice fast course! A little congested in the first few laps though, with the sprint and olympic races going on at the same time and only one lane to race in at times. I started off well, doing each lap in about 15 minutes, or about 20 mph. Somewhere in lap 3 or so, I started really feeling some fatigue. Shocking given all my training, I know. :) I held it together as best as I could, and finished out at an 18.7 average, though it was 19 on my bike computer. Much better than the 17.1 I averaged in the Deer Creek race last year, in any case, and 18.7 would equal my best bike average in any triathlon.

Bike: 1:19:39 (18.7 mph, 119/172)

There's no T2 column in the results, so I'm not quite sure what happened there. I do know that I had another pretty smooth, and therefore out of character, transition, though.

T2: ?

I knew from the very start of the run that it wouldn't be pretty. I had a stitch in my side coming out of transition, and not a whole lot of giddy-up in the legs. I skipped the water stop at the beginning of the run and headed around the lake for the first 1.2 miles. I did hit the next water stop, and walked it to get a gel down and some gatorade given my cramping issues. In retrospect, I probably should have taken a salt tab or two during the race, but didn't think it was hot enough to need it at the time. Once the gel was in, it was onward, up over an overpass, and out to the turnaround. Though I was tired, I was able to hold things together pretty well, and only walked a few steps during a couple aid stations to get fluids in. Ironman kind of spoiled me in that regard - 10 seconds here and there are a little more important in a shorter race! By the last mile of the run, my legs were pretty much toast, but my only goal other than the 30 minute swim (grr) was to never "give up" on my race. That one I succeeded at - though my legs told me to walk, I never did, and cruised in at a slow-but-still-a-run pace. Either the mile markers were off, or I ran a strange race, because my mile splits were something like 9:47, 8:30, 9:30,
8:40, etc. Weird. Anyhow, I was neither especially happy nor disappointed with the run, it was pretty much what I expected given the IM legs and lack of training. And it was 17 minutes faster than last year. :)

Run: 59:04 (9:32 average, 120/172)

Overall: 2:53:16 (22/23 Age Group, 119/170 Overall)

My goals going in were:

1. Set a new PR (3:19:20 previous, check!)
2. Break 3 hours (check!)
3. Swim under 30 minutes (no, I'm not easily letting this one go)
4. Don't walk any of the run outside an aid station (check!)

Unexpected extra credit: Good transitions!

So it was a success in that regard. I was surprised at how low I placed in my age group - must have been a fast field, and all the beginners must have been doing the sprint tri. Even the one guy I beat was only 7 seconds back....that's right, every single person in my age group was under 3 hours! Go 30-34 men! (But maybe not so fast next time, k?) It sort of makes me want to do another one, because I think there are probably 10+ minutes there for the taking just by actually training. On the other hand, there's a big gap between where I am now and what I'd need to do to be remotely competitive at this distance, and just finishing doesn't have quite the sense of accomplishment for me as longer races. So I'll give that section an incomplete, but chalk up a successful race personally and a fun day out there, the most important part!

Where's Dave?

2009-07-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been away since the race. So what's been up?

Nothing!

Seriously. I've just been enjoying a couple weeks of cookouts, nice weather, and not dragging myself out to train. But I do have a possibility for a next goal in mind...

In the meantime, happy summer! Sorry, Canadian friends, we're going All-American on this one. :)

Race Report - Ironman Coeur D'Alene

2009-06-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

Or, "Charlie Brown vs. Plate Tectonics"

What an epic day. (Sorry in advance, the report will mirror it!) Nine months of training rolled up into one little will-I-or-won't-I ball of nerves, excitement, anxiety, and hope. I went to bed the night before the race confident that I had done my training far better than any other race to date, but still with the questions of weather, health, bike issues, and anything else that I could come up with. I set the alarm for 4:00 AM, with the intent of getting to transition close to 5:00, when it opened. Remarkably, I only woke up a couple times during the night. And then it wasn't night any more.

3:30 AM. *Blink, blink* Well, I supposed it wasn't worth trying to get back to sleep at that point. My body was ready to get this thing underway. I slipped out of bed, trying to let Meredith sleep a little more (difficult in a studio apartment). First order of business: get in some food. I started with a mini bagel, then a bowl of honey nut cheerios. Also got in one last check of the weather on my phone. The forecast still predicted a mostly cool, dry day until the evening. In the days previous, we had all talked about the fact that with 30% chance of rain all day, we'd probably get wet at some point, so I was prepared for that possibility. I just hoped it wouldn't make the bike course too slippery, as I'm not a great (okay, not at all) technical biker. Enough playing on the phone...time to get ready for the race. Both transitions were to be full changes, so I really just had to worry about three things: a swimsuit and two band-aids. I threw some warm clothes over top and managed to get down one more mini bagel. Nothing left to do now but get down to transition.

Meredith dropped me off as close as she could get, and I walked in the rest of the way with my special needs bags. And my path happened to take me right to body marking. Score. But the woman I ended up with told me I needed to get rid of my sweatshirt. Why? Because it was an Ohio State sweatshirt, and she was a Notre Dame fan. I felt sorry for her, but played along. :) Embossed with 608 on both arms and 33 on my leg, I proceeded on to find Charlie Brown still sitting under a tree and covered in garbage bags to stay dry. With a touch of nerves, I pumped up the tires...no explosions, good. Filled up the aerobottle, packed away the first half of my luna bars, and he was all set. I had a few other assorted things to get into my transition bags, hopped in a still short line to the bathroom, and then off to drop off special needs bags and get changed into my wetsuit! I was glad I showed up early, as it let me not panic too much through all of this.

While I was walking down the sidewalk trying to find Meredith or my parents, I heard a "Dave?". I looked over, thought I recognized the person, and responded, "Molly?". It was a nice surprise to meet Molly for the first time in person before the race and chat for a minute. But time was ticking, and as the pros started their race, I walked down to the beach to prepare for my own. Per coach's instructions, I went nearly all the way down to the end of the beach, and lined myself up somewhere in the middle. Because I was a little early, I even got to do a few strokes of warmup, but couldn't go out far because of the pro race. There weren't quite the wall-to-wall people that I expected, and I struck up a conversation with some guys from Arizona. At least one of them was wearing a neoprene hood, which seemed like overkill to me given the reasonable water temps, but hey, whatever it takes! My watch kept creeping toward 7:00... We were listening for a countdown, or announcement, or

BOOM!

Off we go!

The cannon went off and we all... um, I guess I would call it "briskly walked" into the lake. No one down at that end was sprinting down into the water! Glad I had already acclimated to the water, I stepped in, put my face down, and began my long day.

I felt more excitement than anything at this point. I was finally doing my Ironman! Less than 200 meters in, I was rewarded for my excitement with a left hook to my jaw. Quick assessment: oof, but you're fine, keep going. A strange thing happened on the way out to the first turn: the obvious line of people was hugging the buoys, but another one had formed to my right, some distance from the shortest line. And I was somewhere in the middle, in very clean water! Hey, I'll take it. My swim out to the buoy ended up being quite good, and I even managed to swing wide and avoid the reportedly horrible traffic by the buoy. There was a short stretch between the turns, and then I headed back into shore, waves helping me along. The water is so clear in that lake that you could see the bottom long before the shore, which made for a good estimate of your progress. I had a little more trouble sighting on this stretch due to the waves, but still came out of the water with the volunteers saying "39 minutes". My goal was somewhere in the 1:10-1:30 range, so this put me smack in the middle. Unfortunately, my chip had come loose and was down around my foot, so I took a minute on the beach to kneel down and get it tight and back up under my wetsuit.

Quickly, I got back in the water for the second loop of the swim. Oh, that second loop. If the first loop was "choppier than I'm used to", the second one was "just try to keep making progress". It started off by being much more tightly packed than the start along the beach, since everyone was funneled through a tighter space. The chop had picked up significantly since the start (up to 2-3 feet from what I heard afterward), and the buoys just never seemed to get closer. Sighting also got significantly more difficult, because if you raised up your head between waves, you couldn't see the buoys at all. I'm pretty sure I followed quite the winding path, as evidenced by my proximity to kayaks a couple times. Eventually, though, that red buoy did come into sight, and this time I tried to cut it a little closer. I did get caught up in a little congestion, but not too badly, and I turned back to shore. Here I DEFINITELY went off course, because I looked up at one point and saw the sea plane parked at the resort's dock in close proximity. Closer still was another kayak, pointing me back to the left! I got back on track and marveled in the fact that I was in the last stretch of a 2.4 mile swim, feeling good, and ready to move on! I got out of the water and hit my watch at 1:23. Not my best pace by a long shot when comparing it to a pool swim, but it was a nice relaxed pace in conditions I wasn't used to, and I think it set me up for a good day.

Out of the water, getting my bearings

Swim: 1:23:33
Pace: 2:11/100m
Rank after swim: 1273/2626 overall, 166/264 age group

I came out of the water getting my bearings a little bit, and honestly this part was a bit of a blur. I had to wait for an available stripper (I know, "peeler") to help take off my wetsuit, and it was off in one mighty pull. Somehow I got my transition bag and made my way into the changing tent. A volunteer helped me dump out my bag, and the first order of business was to pull off my swimsuit and get into my bike shorts. I did so, naked but for my two band-aids, and then realized I had managed to set up shop RIGHT in front of the big hole in the tent wall they were using to toss bags back outside. Hi, everyone!

Oh well, no time for modesty. Into my shorts, into my jersey...okay, it's stuck. Off, and now into my jersey...hmm. It took me four or five tries before I finally managed to get it all the way on. Next, my watch. Wait, I need arm warmers. Watch off, arm warmer on. Heart rate strap under the shirt. Chamois buttr...well, you know where. Quick bathroom stop in-tent. I never really practiced this part of the race much, and it showed. It was a little difficult because of the weather uncertainty (I made a game time decision not to wear my jacket. Good move!), but I still could have prepared better. Unexpectedly, my family was able to find me along the fence in transition, and I stopped for a kiss, some high fives, and an emotional boost.

Jogging over to find Charlie Brown

T1: 14:01

Charlie Brown and I crossed the line out of transition and into the most unknown part of the race for me. The bike is definitely my weakest area, especially compared to the field, and this didn't look like an easy course when we drove it a few days earlier. I managed to get clipped in without incident, and it was off to the first leg of the course. This leg is an out-and-back right along the lake, and it doubles as part of the run course later on. Quickly, I was able to settle into a good cadence and get my heart rate in a good place. It was SO exciting seeing all the crowds out there - you can sort of sense them during the last part of the swim, but here you finally got to be a part of it. Once we got out of town, it became quieter, but the course was packed with bikes at this point, so it didn't feel deserted.

Biking down to Higgins Point

There's one steep hill in this section of the course, and per the plan I threw Charlie in his lowest gear to spin my way up. I wasn't passed by quite as many people as expected on the hill, so maybe everyone else was taking it easy too. Or maybe they knew there would be plenty of time later on to pass me. :) On the way up the hill, there was a whole crew of bagpipe players - how cool! And then at the top, a whole squad of cheerleaders cheered us on through the first aid station. After the hill, I turned around to go back up the other side, then cruised back up a gradual slope into town, saw my parents, and got ready for the meat of the course. As we made a very difficult turn to the north (I heard of at least one bike going into the bushes here), Meredith, D, and Molly spotted me for a thumbs up and a smile.

Coming back through town

There are another ten miles or so of gradual uphill as you leave Coeur D'Alene and ride toward Hayden. The support on this section was still good - there was a church having a barbecue and live band, a woman playing drums, some guy with a megaphone...great spectators, probably second only to the Chicago marathon in races I've done! When I passed the country club up in Hayden, I knew it was time for some hills. The very first one is a good introduction to the rest of the day. You do a short steep climb, followed by a quick descent. And then there's another steep hill, but you have to do a 90 degree turn first and lose your momentum. You climb that hill, make a left at the top, and then realize it wasn't the top at all - more climbing! There are two "big" climbs out along the lake, but there is really NO flat for about 20-30 miles in this section. You're either climbing or descending. I concentrated on making sure I got in my bars, salt tabs, and gatorade on time, because I knew that not doing so would set me up for disaster later on. There was a long, twisty descent along the slopes overlooking the lake, and then the real climbing began. I found the big climbs to be tough, but manageable.

Who likes climbing? ME!!!

The hill in Kentucky was tougher than any one of CDA's hills, but it was the cumulative mental and physical effect that got to you here. I'm pretty sure that they even added a couple hills toward the end of the loop between the time we drove the course and race day. I wasn't able to keep my heart rate down as far as I would have liked, but I did stay seated the whole time and spin my way up. Fans had planted a bunch of signs along the hills, and it was a nice distraction to read them as I plowed forward through the "rollers" at the top end of the course. Eventually, I hit the turnaround on Ohio Match Rd., and came back toward town. The good news: this section is the only extended net downhill of the course. The bad news: you are going south, and it was a south wind on race day. Somewhere around mile 50, I decided to take a bathroom break to get my stomach in a good place and stretch my legs for a moment. I wasn't able to gain as much time back on this section as I had hoped, and when I got back into town, I looked at my average, which was sitting at about 15.5 mph. I was aiming for 16, so this was a little slow. In addition, my legs were feeling...not sore or hurting, per se, just...dead. I was pretty sure I COULD make it through another loop thanks to the extra hour I had banked myself on the swim, but I wasn't really looking forward to it. This was probably the darkest mental time for me, as I swung back out to start the second loop of the bike course. I saw my parents, who asked how I was doing, and I said that I'd make it, but it would be slower than expected.

Time for another loop...

My feelings about my legs proved to be right, as my average speed in the first section of the second loop was much worse than the first time around. Still no problem making it up the hill, though. I stopped into special needs as I had to replenish my stock of luna bars, touched up my sunscreen, stuck a few pretzels in my mouth, and grabbed my emergency Chamois Buttr for use at the next bathroom stop. I'm glad I did this, because I ended up with less chafing during the race than in many of my long rides toward the end of training. I did, however, forget to pull the container back out of my bike shorts, so I rode half this loop with a big bump on my right quad. :) The big hills weren't quite as fun this time around, but I started to see people walking their bike, so I took solace in the fact that I was still in my saddle. My heart rate wasn't getting quite as high on this loop, which I figure is probably because of fatigue in my legs - it almost drove me to standing on my pedals, but I did manage to stay seated all the way through this loop as well. On the second loop, there was more chatter between bikers, everything from compliments on how people looked, to complaints and jokes about the hills, to full blown conversations. I chatted for a minute on an uphill with a woman named Kim, who was riding a bike identical to Charlie Brown. She was having some leg cramps and didn't look like she was enjoying herself, so I hope our conversation helped. I also noticed a guy named Adrian on this section of the course, who was pedaling like a madman on downhills, but then slowly weaving all over on the way back up. Not sure what was going on there.

Worst of all, the wind continued to pick up all throughout the second bike loop. It was bordering on scary gusts a couple times, but mostly stayed at "annoying". This was where I was VERY glad that I didn't wear my bike jacket, which would have been like a parachute in this stretch. The wind killed my speed on a couple downhills that I actually could have carried through to the next up, and it was at its worst on the way back into town, where I was going MAYBE 15 on a nice gradual downhill. I wasn't going to fight it at that point...it was time to relax, spin out the legs, and get back into transition. I was amazed at how many spectators were still out on the bike course! At mile 110, I felt the first raindrops of the day, and enjoyed the ONE MILE of the course where there was actually a good tailwind. I saw Meredith and our great crew of spectathletes at the corner, and then my parents just before transition. And at mile 112, I dismounted with a smile and slightly leaking eyes. I saw Once I made it off the bike, I KNEW I could do the run, and I was going to be a finisher.

But then I went and dismounted and unclipped my left foot about 20 feet too early. So I entertained the volunteers by pushing myself with one foot scooter-style down to the line. :)

Bike: 7:34:27
Pace: 14.79 mph
Rank after bike: 1843/2626 overall, 221/264 age group

The transition from bike to run went much more smoothly. I did another full change into my "Run Dave Run" t-shirt from the Chicago marathon and mesh shorts. The only tough decision I had to make was whether to wear a long sleeved shirt over it. I chose not to, despite the cooling temperatures and drizzle. I run better in cool weather, and I wanted to err on the side of being cool. (Again, good move! At least I make good decisions in transition even if I'm not fast.) I put on my hat before my shirt, and then decided to make a bathroom stop here to get my stomach set up for the run, or else this transition would have been a halfway respectable time. Plus, my legs felt remarkably good for being on my bike that long! I was able to enter the run with a smile: half because I was happy to be off the bike and see my family again, and half because I was laughing inside at the absurdity of going out for a marathon after all that.

T2: 9:39

I was almost immediately glad that I put on the "Run Dave Run" shirt. Prior to the race, I was concerned that if I wasn't feeling good, having people yell that at me might not be mentally good. I'm SO glad I took that chance. From the start, people were cheering for me so much more enthusiastically than everyone around me. Yes, I was THAT guy. :)

The first out and back on the run was the only stretch of course I hadn't previewed, but it wasn't bad. It followed the trail down a mile or so, then turned around and came back to the transition area. I ended up missing the first two aid stations because I wasn't ready for them, which was pretty much my only big nutritional error of the day. In the first mile, I saw Shawn for the first time, but far from the last. We were passing each other near every turnaround. Also in this stretch, I fell in with Sam, who was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. We commiserated about the bike hills, of which there are few both in Columbus and in eastern NC! Around mile 3, I saw the next aid station coming and decided to walk it so I could make sure to get my food and drink started. Somewhere in there, I lost Sam, so I was back on my own but also back on track nutritionally.

Two miles in, feeling good!

The course winds down through a residential area on the way out of town, which was right where we were staying. Thus, I'd seen this part of the course quite a few times and was ready for all the twists and turns. We turned out back onto the bike path along the lake, and got into the longest stretch of the run. One really cool thing they did along here was that all the spectators could make signs for their athletes, which were planted by the thousands along the side of the course. I never managed to spot mine, but it was a nice distraction regardless.

At this point, I had pretty much made the decision to walk all the aid stations. It was helping to settle my stomach to walk for a few moments, and made it easier both mentally and physically to eat and drink the right things. I began alternating between gel+water at one aid station, then gatorade at the next, sometimes with coke or chicken broth thrown in there if they sounded good. At a couple stops later in the race, I grabbed a cookie or a few pretzels, but mainly I stuck to my gels for fuel.

Around mile 4, I found another new friend to run with. This was Vicki, who was from Mexico. We had a good stretch of 2 miles or so where we ran together and chatted before she took a restroom stop. I ended up saying hi to her a number of times during the run as well. I loved how social the people around me were during the run. Definitely helped take your mind off of the run. And before I knew it, we were at the hill up to the far turnaround. I tried to run up the hill (this was the same steep hill from the first out and back of the bike), but could feel my effort level going up as well, so I decided not to fight that battle so early in the run, and just to walk up to the top.

On the way back toward town, I could start feeling the miles adding up a little, and I walked briefly on a couple more uphills. While the distance was taking a toll, I never felt like I was cramping up or that I couldn't finish the race. The volunteers were starting to hand out mylar blankets in this section, and it seemed like the majority of the runners were taking them. The temperature was probably down into the low 50s or 40s, and the rain was now coming down steadily. I decided to stick with what I was wearing and hope for the best.

Before the race, there was a station in the expo where people could put in inspirational messages for their athletes, and around mile 9 there was a giant screen where the messages were shown to you on the run course. I crossed the mat, looked up, and saw my message from Meredith: "You run Ryder". I couldn't for the LIFE of me figure out what that meant, but it didn't stop me from thinking over it for the next couple miles. It turned out she had put in "O-H!", which would have made a lot more sense. Maybe someone typed in the wrong number for their athlete?

We came back through town in a heavy rain, but the spectators were still out there and loud. My parents had walked down to the residential part, where it was great to get a lift.

Looking wet and slower just before the halfway point

The toughest part of the run was here as well: just before downtown, where volunteers were splitting the runners on lap 2 from those still on lap 1. This was my worst mile, not by time, but in that I walked unnecessarily, feeling a little sorry for myself. Soon enough, I snapped out of it, because there was Meredith cheering for me. I started the second lap feeling tired, but good - nothing like the second loop of the bike.

Headed out one last time in the dark and rain

The first out and back of the second loop went quickly this time, and I elected not to get anything out of my special needs bag and interrupt what was a pretty good running rhythm. I was walking some uphills at this point, but every time I would pick out a landmark at which I made myself start running again. And with every mile of the second loop, I reminded myself that I'd never have to see that mile again! My mom offered me her coat, which was sweet, but I couldn't legally accept it, and honestly I was still doing okay. The crowd was definitely thinner as we headed back down along the lake, but the wind had died down, and even the rain was slowing. Somewhere near the turnaround, I was running near a girl who saw her boyfriend ("doodlebug" for the record, which was what I mentally named her after that since I never saw her number) We walked up the turnaround hill with a purpose, and I turned around ready for a last stretch to the finish! Doodlebug and I would spend the next 5 miles passing each other probably 20 times as one or the other felt good, and were encouraging each other the whole way.

When I was coming back from the turnaround, the once almost-flat trail felt more like a mild hill, and there was a lot more walking. I wasn't the only one, though - probably 80% of the athletes in sight at any point were walking. It was getting me where I needed to go, and I got one more nice surprise at the inspiration station. Izaac spotted me (we had never met in person), and stopped to shake my hand and say hi. Of course, the girls at the station with the microphone LOVED that, and let out a big "AWWWWWW!!!". They asked if anyone caught that Kodak moment on film. :) I also picked up a couple more pieces to add to my ensemble. One was the mandatory glowstick around the neck for visibility. The other was from a boy at one of the aid stations, who asked if I wanted some "bling". I assured him that I most certainly DID want some bling, and he handed me a red bead necklace. After all, I wasn't trying to win the race or anything...why not enjoy it to its fullest?

As I crested the little hill at mile 24, it was back down into the now dark neighborhoods. There weren't many spectators in here now, just a few athletes (still going both directions, which was tough to watch) and a few aid stations. I pushed myself on to run anything I could, and walk a couple of the last uphills. I thought about taking off my reflective tape, necklace, and glowstick, but I decided "You know what? I want a finish line picture that shows my race how it really was." And then, I saw the volunteer still splitting up the loops. I let him know that this time I was definitely going left, and made my way up to the final turn of the course.

And it was unbelievable.

Coming down Sherman Ave.

After over an hour of swimming, 7+ on the bike, and then 5 dark and rainy hours on the run, Sherman Avenue opened up as a blinding cacophony of sound and light to my once again misty eyes. It's about a half mile stretch, downhill all the way and almost completely lined with crowds. It's amazing how much your legs really have left when you see that spectacle. I noticed a guy to my right with an Ohio State shirt on and gave him an "O-H". He looked surprised, but I got an enthusiastic "I-O" in response. All down Sherman, I heard "RUN DAVE RUN" and "GO DAVID!". I spotted my parents out there one last time. Kids and adults alike had their hands out, and I slapped every high five I could find. And as I approached the finish, it only got louder and brighter! I couldn't find Meredith and Molly, but they said they were right by the finish screaming their heads off! I couldn't even hear Mike Reilly say my name, but I heard the "New Albany, Ohio" and crossed the finish line a newly minted Ironman.

Run: 5:00:35 (Stupid 35 seconds!)
Pace: 11:28/mile
Rank after run: 1592/2626 overall, 201/264 age group

Total: 14:22:15

I was immediately caught by a volunteer, but really didn't need it! I felt remarkably okay - tired, sure, but steady. She helped me through to get my chip turned in, get my medal, finisher's hat and shirt, and go out to the end of the chute. I found my parents there and Molly, but Meredith got caught up in the crowd. Eventually, we found her and got her in for a photo with me in the finisher's area. Molly had brought DELICIOUS cupcakes all the way from California and carried them around all day protecting them from the rain, and I had one right there in the chute. Thanks, Molly! Meredith and I walked over to transition and got all my stuff picked up and turned in, got some warm clothes on me, and we walked back toward the apartment. We followed the course back, and got to cheer on Izaac one last time as he headed toward his first Ironman finish!

After a wonderful, warm shower, we drove up to the only place we knew that would be open: Denny's! I got some pancakes, but after all I had done to my stomach that day, it would only take about 3/4 of a pancake before calling it quits. My parents headed back to their hotel in Spokane, and Meredith and I went back to crash. I actually was up longer than her - poor thing was SO tired and cold.

Ironman was such an amazing and rewarding experience for me. It seems like such a long time ago that I started the journey (okay, it WAS a long time), and it's amazing how far I came. Though my time was a little slower than I hoped, I find that I really don't care. :) All the hours I trained ended up being worthwhile, and I wouldn't trade the day for anything.

Thanks so much to all of you (assuming anyone is still reading this far in!) for joining me along the way. I met so many wonderful people online and in person, and I appreciate all of you.

Thanks to Molly, Dierdre, and everyone else who stood out in the rain as spectathletes! You had just as long a day, and we got to sit for a good portion of ours!

Thanks to Ray for riding with me, joining me for the dinner, and encouraging me to join COTT. Congrats on your first IM finish, Ray!

Thanks to the other racers I met out there: Carrie, Shawn, Marit, Tasha, Angelina, Izaac. Also, all the T3 folks from Austin who let us crash your post-race party. Every one of you was a superstar out there, whatever the result. (Sorry if I'm forgetting anyone! You're awesome too!)

Thanks to my parents who changed their vacation plans around to include a trip to CDA to stand in the rain all day and watch me. I really appreciated you guys being there!

Thanks to all my friends and family who thought about, prayed for, and followed me on race day. I was thinking about you all out on the course.

Thanks to everyone who wrote notes for me to read before the race. They touched me, encouraged me, and made me laugh when I needed it most.

Thanks to my coach, Elizabeth Waterstraat. She was amazing throughout the whole training process, and I wouldn't choose anyone else if I could do it over again. If any athletes reading this are looking for a coach, don't look any further.

And thanks of course to my wife Meredith. Without her, I certainly never would have started this crazy sport. And it was she who had to put up with all those 6...7...8 hour training days leading up to the race. I can't put into words how much I appreciate it, Mer. Love you.

CDA Days 3 and 4

2009-06-20T15:10:00.001-07:00

Thursday was originally to be an off day, but because of the storms the day we arrived, I did the swim I missed. This time, I swam about half a lap of the actual swim course. The water was choppy! I'm not used to waves that big, but I made it, and only breathed in ONE mouthful of water. :)

For lunch, we hit a local coffee shop for some yummy sandwiches and hot chocolate with Carrie and Shawn. It was a blast to finally meet them in person! They are part of the huge Texan contingent here for the race.

And after getting a start on packing my race bags, I met Ray, another Buckeye here in CDA for the welcome banquet. I thought it was pretty fun...they talked to the youngest and oldest racers, brought up three people who had lost 130+ pounds training for the race, and then had the good old rules meeting.

On Friday morning we went down to the swim course again, and this time ran into Marit and her parents. The two of us got in a 10 minute swim, and found the water to be much calmer than before. If it stays that way, it will be just fine for the race.

I got in a quick bike and run, then got a bite to eat and turned in my bike and gear bags. The expo area is just packed now with athletes and families!

Now it's a bit of a waiting game. We're relaxing back at the apartment and I'm drinking gatorade and staying off my feet. I'm very excited to see my parents, who will be coming in this afternoon.

If you are interested in following along with the race, there will be live times posted on ironman.com. My race number is 608. Also, Meredith will be live blogging the race on her blog at http://meredithrunningworld.blogspot.com.

So, that should do it until after the race! I feel ready, and now I am just eager to get out there and see what I can do. Thanks so much for following along in my journey to get here, and for all the support along the way!

CDA Day 2

2009-06-19T07:21:00.001-07:00

Our second day out here began with an early wake up call from the internal clock. Gotta love a 3 hour time difference. Meredith had a tough run workout to knock out, and then we went out to drive the bike course.

It really doesn't start out too badly. Our apartment is very close to the first stretch, which goes out of town on a bike path along the lake. There is one steepish climb in there, but it's a very pretty stretch.

Next, you come back through town and turn north toward the town of Hayden and Hayden lake. It was still looking okay through here, with a few more short climbs. And then, when you come up to the side of the lake, the real climbs begin! There are two big steep hills, and then a lot of rolling terrain. The "rolling" out here is a lot different than "rolling" back home.

Eventually, the hills do end, and you come back into town. Then you get to do it all again. :) I think I can do it, but it will definitely be the toughest course I've ridden.

After we finished driving the course, we decided to grab some lunch at Hudson's Hamburgers, a 100+ year old local burger shop. It's tiny - only a counter with stools. They serve burgers and pie...and that's about it! No fries, chips, or anything else. And the burgers were fantastic! Definitely redeemed the experience at the airport.

Next came the big step of actually signing in for the race! The process was very organized; it probably took 20 minutes. And after picking up a few souveneirs, I was reunited with Charlie Brown. We got back to the apartment so I could get in a quick bike ride and swim. The lake feels great! It was a little choppy, but not awful, and the temperature was perfect.

The last stop of the busy day was a lot of fun - we met up with Marit, Deirdre, and Tasha for dinner at Subway. Unfortunately, Subway was out of bread. (?!) But fortunately, there was an IHOP across the street, and breakfast and good times were had!

CDA Day 1

2009-06-18T06:36:00.001-07:00

We got up Wednesday morning to the alarm clock going off at 3 AM. It was an unwelcome necessity, because our flight left Columbus at 6. Most everything was already packed (or at least we hoped it was), so all we had to do was drag our half-asleep selves to the plane.

We connected first through Chicago, which looked like a cold, cloudy mess, and then out to Seattle. Thanks to the airlines cutting out food, we were both starving by the time we got to the rainy (or lately not so rainy) city. It was a long connection, so we decided to forego the fast food options and hit the "Alaska Lodge" for a sit down meal. The menu had about three things, so we both settled on a cheeseburger.

At this point, I would like to say: NEVER GO TO THE ALASKA LODGE. They (both, so it wasn't a fluke) tasted like someone soaked a sponge in beef juices and served it on a bun. Quite possibly the worst burger I have ever tasted. Despite the $7 price on each, neither Meredith nor I came anywhere close to finishing. We even had to go get candy to cleanse our palates of the nastiness. The good news is that Reese's cups and peanut butter M&M's never let you down.

After that fiasco, we hopped a short and bumpy flight to Spokane, got our rental car, and made the quick drive over to Coeur D'Alene. Quick PSA:

COEUR D'ALENE IS ON PACIFIC TIME, NOT MOUNTAIN!

I got bad info, and we told everyone at home incorrect info. The apartment we are renting here is cute, and only a block from a public beach and the run course, as well as three blocks from the bike course. The city itself is beautiful!

Unfortunately, it started storming shortly after we arrived, so I had to scrap my planned swim. I did get out for a short run, and checked out a bit of the course. It's so fun to finally see the things I've been envisioning for nine months!

Race Week

2009-06-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

Not year, not month...week! To paraphrase Marit, I was okay when June came. I was okay when the race came on my schedule. I was even (mostly) okay when I sent Charlie Brown off to Idaho. But once I started packing for real, it sort of set in. MY RACE IS THIS WEEK! I'm completely anxious, excited, scared, thrilled, and every other conflicting emotion you can think of. More than anything, I want to get out there, if just to see what that course that I've thought about every day for the last 9 months really looks like in person. I want to get settled in our apartment and see what the town is like. I want to meet some new friends that I only know from blog-land. And I want to race!

My taper has been a mixed bag to this point. I've been tired, hungry, energetic, lazy, and everywhere in between. So, a normal taper. My rides have been decent, my swims have been horrid for the most part, but my runs have been fantastic! I'm not sure if and how those three things will reconcile themselves for the race. And mixed in with the normal training have been a few adventures.

After shipping Charlie Brown on Thursday, I had a swim lined up on Friday. Now, while I packed my race goggles in the gear bag that went along with the bike, I made sure to leave out my clear goggles so I'd have them for the remaining swims. All well and good there. The minor detail I left out? I shipped the bag I usually take to the gym. And while my goggles were not in there anymore, they were also not in the bag I DID take to the gym. By the time I realized this, I was already spandex-clad and headed out onto the pool deck. What to do? Cancel the swim? Try and swim eyes-closed or eyes-open-and-ouch?

Instead of either option, I tracked down a lifeguard and asked if they happen to have any loaner goggles. And they did! She went back to look for them, but came back empty handed. Consulting the aquatics head revealed that swimmers had walked off with their stash. But there was one other option:

Well, it was that or nothing, so I gave it a try. Pushing off the wall felt like I was beating my head on a solid wall of water. And once I got to the fast parts of my set, not being able to breathe out through my nose was making it really tough. (Not to mention a little claustrophobic) So at 1100 meters, I decided to call it a day.

The other downside to shipping your bike early? You don't have your bike. On Saturday, I had a brick lined up, and I pulled my mountain bike out of mothballs in the garage. And I learned that a proper fit is really a necessity. Within 30 minutes, I could feel my IT band starting to complain, and I decided again to shorten the workout. No sense in doing ANYTHING to jeopardize the big day at this point. The good news was that my run off the bike felt great! On the last couple runs, I've had to consciously keep my pace slow. The legs are feeling good, and ready to go!

So now the majority of the packing is done, the training is nearly at an end, and the mind is struggling not to be out there already. One more run today, a swim tomorrow, and we'll be off to Idaho by way of Illinois and Washington. What an adventure it will be!

Race Report - Buffalo Trails Triathlon

2009-05-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

Or, "Charlie Brown vs. Big Hiney Hill"

Friday night, Meredith and I made the trip down to the Ohio/Kentucky border for the Buffalo Trails Triathlon (and the 5K for her). After all the work I've done in the pool this winter, sign in pre-race was a little bit of a downer. Because of poor water quality, the swim had been cancelled. Instead, a half mile run was substituted. From previous years' results, I was sort of counting on the swim to pick up a couple minutes on my competition. The best I could do now was to go with the flow and do my best on race day.

We drove the course, both for the run and the bike, and realized that neither would be as easy as we had envisioned. We knew there were steps in the run course, but didn't know that we would be running on grass for half the 5K distance. The bike course had a lot more roll to it than it looked like from tracing the course online, and a couple patches of gravel. And "Big Hiney Hill", the defining feature of the bike course, was indeed imposing in person. It curves up over the Ohio river valley wall up to the farms on top, and thanks to the curve you can't see where it ends until you're almost there.

Since Maysville is a pretty small town, there was no Olive Garden there, so we had to go local for some pasta. The place we found was... well... let's say it was geared to an "older" crowd. The pasta was pretty bland, and the garlic bread may not have actually contained any garlic. I suppose there are worse things to eat pre-race than bland pasta.

On race morning, we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and had a pretty short drive down to transition. Since this race was so small (49 competitors), setting up in transition was a breeze. The host hotel was even open for bathrooms and water fountains - nice change of pace from the usual start line facilities! Meredith's race didn't start until after mine, so I was first to toe the line, and a little after 8, we were off!

Per coach's instructions, I tried to take the first half mile run easy, and not burn myself out. I seemed to be the only one doing that, as everyone else sprinted away. I wound up not last into T1, but not too far from it. No big deal - really, how much time can you gain in half a mile? (Answer: The overall winner gained 1:06) Not really worth flooring it for that amount of time, unless you're trying to win the thing. And I ended up going faster than intended anyway. :)

Run 1 - 3:32 (7:04/mi)

Going from run to bike is really a lot easier than swim to bike. For one, there's no wetsuit!

T1 - 0:47

After a little bit of iffy pavement on the way out of town, the bike course starts out with some long gradual roll along the Ohio river valley. Coach gave me the goal on the bike to pass 10 people, and I had hoped to average somewhere around 20 mph for the course (though that was before actually seeing the course). And in the first 8 miles, I had already passed my 10 people! Another bonus of taking that first run slow - you get to pick off a lot of people who went out too fast. :) My legs felt pretty good coming out of town, and I was excited about what the day might hold.

Around 9 miles in is "Big Hiney Hill". I was glad we had driven the course, because you come down a little bit of a hill, make a sharp left, and then you CLIMB! There's no time to be downshifting, but because I was prepared, I got in my small ring coming down the previous hill. Even so, my gears were grinding a bit as I got down to my smallest gear at the base of the hill. I loved that the organizers had painted messages onto the road all along the hill. At the base was "Welcome to Big Hiney Hill", and shortly into it was "Who loves pain?"

Big Hiney Hill - 1 mile of fun!

I picked off rider number 11 near the base, and as I was passing number 12 on the hill, he asked me if we were almost to the top. I answered honestly that I wasn't sure (it was wooded and a steady curve, so who knew?), and then I noticed out the "Halfway up!" on the road. I don't think he was very happy about that. Eventually, it did end, and I cruised past a thirteenth rider at the top. There was one more guy in view at that point, but that's where he'd stay - too far away to catch, but never quite escaping my vision.

The top part of this course was very beautiful; it curved up and down through farms. Meredith and I had joked before that it was like the Tour De France - a 1 lane road winding up through fields, and I could almost see people out waving flags in my face. Other than a couple steep little rollers, I was able to stay in my big ring for the majority of this part. And then, what goes up must come down! The last major section is a steady wooded downhill, but not so steep that I ever felt out of control or that I couldn't pedal. I just held a nice steady cadence and enjoyed the ride. Finally, the course dumped you back on the first road along the river, and it was a nice smooth ride back into town. I was happy with my effort on the bike, and the legs still felt good!

Bike - 1:17:36 (19.4 mph)

Also an easy T2. I was happy to only see 2 bikes back on the rack, after being the last of 5 out in T1.

T2 - 0:42

I hadn't really thought about it on the bike, but there was really no breeze to be felt. And it was turning into a pretty warm day (Afterward, we saw a bank thermometer at 91) . When I first left transition, everything was feeling pretty good. However, in the first half mile, I started getting some stomach cramps. I had hoped to run under 8 minute miles, but I had to back off the pace a little to keep everything in working order. I had also planned to take a salt tab on the bike, but I think I dropped it, because it wasn't there when I had looked.

So, the run turned into a bit of damage control instead of the strong run I had envisioned. I made it to the turnaround, walked up the stairs, and had to walk a few more times over the last mile and a half. My heart rate just felt through the roof, and I couldn't keep it under control. So, I'd give myself a 10 second walk break to cool down, and then get back to the run. This seemed to work okay, though I wasn't setting any speed records.

When I got in sight of the finish line, I was happy to see that I'd crack 2 hours, which was sort of a goal pre-race. And when they posted the results, I was happier to see that I had placed in my age group!

The big finish. The guy ahead of me was a duathlete, so I had no real reason to try and chase him down. :)

Run 2 - 26:23 (8:39/mi)

Total - 1:49:03
22/49 Overall
2/2 Age Group

I had thought that I placed 3rd out of 5 in my age group, but now that the results are out, I'm actually listed as second in my age group of two total. I see that one of the guys registered as a clydesdale, but I'm not sure what happened to the others. Unfortunately, this race only gives out awards to a certain percentage of finishers for age groups, so only the first place guy got an award. Also unfortunate? The hot pink cotton t-shirts from this race. Not sure I'll be wearing that one anytime soon. Other than that (and obviously the swim), I thought this race was run very well. It was organized, the course was pretty well marked, and there were a lot of volunteers.

I'm really happy about the way I raced, and encouraged by the results. This race was intended as a tune-up for Coeur D'Alene, and I think it served its purpose well!

Pregame

2009-05-22T18:37:00.001-07:00

We made it down to Kentucky, and are hanging out at the hotel after getting some pasta in our bellies.

There was bad news when we arrived: the swim has been cancelled due to bad water conditions. And with it went probably my best event. Just have to make the best of it.

We also had a chance to drive the course. The run has a fair amount of grassy terrain, and a couple flights of steps. The bike course looks a little tougher than anticipated. I knew there was one big hill (and it is big in person), but the rest has some pretty decent roll to it as well. There are even a couple of patches of gravel I'll have to ride through. At least I will know they're coming - glad we drove it.

As for goals, the change in race day have sort of thrown them for a loop. So I'll just leave it at:

1. Finish
2. Have fun
3. Do the best I can under whatever conditions race day brings.

And if all else fails, there's a $25 prize for the last finisher. :)

T-Minus 1 Month

2009-05-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

...and it all comes down to this. Really, it's something less than a month because of the taper, but here we are.

Biggest Challenge This Month:

Peak miles! There have been some really long workouts this month - multiple century rides, including one to 115 miles. Some long runs, some swims beyond IM distance, and one giant bike-run brick last weekend. It's taken some work to fit them all in, especially with Meredith's photo booth business booming and spending time helping with that. Somehow, I managed to get nearly all my workouts in, though a few got shaved down here and there when I just couldn't fit them in.

There was one run in there where I absolutely blew up. It was only a 50 minute run, but I crashed and burned pretty hard. Zone 3 was more like zone 1, and recovery was a slow walk. That was a pretty tough day mentally, but because it was sandwiched in between some pretty successful days, I have laid it aside as an anomaly. There have certainly been other days where I wasn't at my "best", but that one took the cake.

Biggest Success This Month:

It would definitely have to be time management and dedication to get in all those hours. It helped to know that I was in the last full build cycle of training. This week is race week (yay!), and after one more tough week, it'll be time to taper down for the big day!

How I Feel About Training:

Like it's all paying off. Minus a few bad days, I've felt consistently stronger as the month has gone along. I've gone over the full IM distance in both the bike and swim, which has given me some mental confidence in my ability to do a long race.

And on the other hand, I'm SO glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been tough to keep this intensity up, and I'm looking forward to some other activities once the race is through.

How I Feel About The Race:

Ready. I know it'll be tough, and there will be struggles, but I really think I can do this thing.

What's Next?

Racing this weekend at the Buffalo Trails Triathlon! It's just a sprint, since there aren't really any longer races in the area around this time of year. I wanted to get in at least one race where I could work out the pre-race jitters and do a practice run of transitions and such. (Like I'm not going to be nervous on June 21. Hah!)

1 Month Out Theme Song(s):

U2 seemed a little cliche. I can't decide.

The amount of time until the taper?

Some upbeat classical?

Or some more...serious...classical?

Open (Water) Season

2009-05-19T19:26:00.001-07:00

It's not exactly what you'd call "swimming weather" yet here in Ohio, but this week I decided it was good enough to get out and get ready for this weekend's triathlon. I had heard really good things about COTT, the local triathlon club, and so I headed down to their Monday open water swim. Meredith even came along for a piece of the action; she did a short run from the "beach".

The lake where the open water swims take place is large enough to have a 1.2 mile triangle that most of the people were swimming that day. I was scheduled for 2000 meters in the pool, so that was perfect! The water was chilly at the start, but manageable. And it got chillier as I swam into the shade of the cliff...that I wasn't really supposed to be next to. Right turn. Swim for a while. Left turn. Okay, sighting needs work. Good to know.

On the long stretch on the back side of the triangle, I noticed the water get rapidly shallower. I looked up above the water, and there was another cliff wall about two yards from my face. Sighting DEFINITELY needs work.

For being the first time out this year, though, I felt really good. One shoulder was a bit tired from the wetsuit sleeves, but overall it was a strong swim. It wouldn't have been any trouble to do another loop, which was a great feeling!

Caution - May make wide left turns.

Coming in to shore!

Sun salutation, swim-style.

Explosions and Inspiration

2009-05-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

Training is an absolute frenzy right now! Every day feels like a huge step toward this race, and I feel more and more physically ready for the demands I'll be putting on my body. At the same time, I'm realizing more and more details that I need to figure out.

How far apart are the water stops?

Do I need my rear bottle cage?

How many tubes should I carry?

Do I want a separate outfit for the run?

Am I wearing a watch? What about my Garmin?

But I know that I'll have time to settle all these issues. Heck, it might give me something to do when I finally start tapering. (I do get to taper, right? Right?)

On Wednesday, I had what has to be the toughest swim to this point. 4200 meters (that's 2.6 miles, if you're scoring at home), with the majority of it in a descending interval set. It was all based off of my latest swim test: I had 400s a little above my average pace, 300s a little less above it, 200s at my test pace, and then a final 100 of all-out-everything-you've-got effort.

One thing I've learned about Ironman training, at least for your first time, is that very little of it is at max effort. Lots of aerobic, zone 2, sustain a comfortably uncomfortable pace work. But I haven't hit the track, I haven't been sprinting on the bike, and other than swim tests, most of my long swim sets have been at a moderate pace. Not this one. This was a gut-wrencher. And it didn't help that in my IM-addled state, I didn't remember my swim pace time correctly. I was thinking 1:32/100m. And I thought, "Well, instead of doing math in my head for 1:32s, let's just round it to 1:30".

My swim test pace was 1:35/100m.

So now I've just inadvertently made my goal 20 seconds faster per 400. My first 400 came in at 6:55. That's a 1:43 pace, within what I really should have been doing, but too slow for my poor math. So I doubled my efforts for the rest, and brought them all in between 6:42 and 6:46.

Now I was feeling better! (Though a bit tired, those seemed hard! Go figure.)

On to the 300s. Should be shooting for 5:00 flat, but wrote it down as 4:45. And I hit 4:46!

Once.

Then it was 4:57. Then 5:05. Uh-oh. Now I'm supposed to step it up again? I must have been feeling bad, because I couldn't even manage to hit the stopwatch correctly for the first 200, and then the second one was 3:25. Pop! There went my arms. Kerpow! And my legs.

One last 100, and I did manage to bring it in in a 1:35. I'm pretty sure that was 35 seconds for the first 50, and 1:00 for the remainder. I remember making the last turn and not quite knowing if I could even make it back to the other end. :) But other than a little cool down, I was done! A blow up, yes, but another big step in pushing myself and growing.

That wasn't the only explosion this week. After the mishap during last weekend's ride, I had to replace Charlie Brown's tires and tubes. It wasn't fast, but I got the front tire changed, inflated, and set aside. Then, while I worked on the rear tire, POW! The front one exploded, just sitting there! I hadn't even put it on the bike yet! I did realize after the fact that the new tires have a much lower max pressure, so I'm thinking maybe I overinflated this one. Still, a disturbing trend.

And finally, a bit of inspiration. I'm not sure why, but I absolutely love this video. I watch it multiple times per week, and enjoy it more than any IMCDA videos I've found of actual racing. Maybe it just captures the feel of the whole event the best.

Thanks for reading this far, have a great weekend! I'll be off for my longest bike ride of the whole training plan on Sunday - 7 hours!

Second "Century"

2009-05-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, I set out for my second century ride. While the first one was about surviving 100 miles, this one had more purpose. That's a nice way of saying "This one will push me to my limit". Four of the six hours were to be intervals where I'd have to push hard to get my heart rate up.

Hour 1: Warm-up. Little bit of a headwind, but not bad. My legs took a bit of warming up, probably because I had 3 hours of workouts the day before. :)

Hour 2: Start of the intervals. Uphill rollers for a lot of it, but by now my legs were with me, and I was having fun and moving! The wind wasn't bad at all through here, and I was banking a lot of time at a high (for me) speed. Starting to get excited about the day.

Hour 3: Through Mt. Vernon, and onto the bike trail. Lots of folks out, it was a beautiful day for a walk, ride, or anything! Made for a few times I had to slow down to get around people, but that's okay. I hit 50 miles, and still had some time to go before my turnaround! Got really excited, since 100 miles took me well over six hours last time. Pulled out the phone to call Meredith, but no service way out there in the countryside.

Hour 4: Turned around and headed back. Got stuck behind a pair of rollerbladers. I called out "on your left, please", but they didn't hear. Tried again a little closer, and the woman jumped from surprise and almost fell. The guy (who was the one blocking the left side of the trail) said, "Good thing she didn't fall." Well, yeah, good thing. It would have been your fault. :P Back through town, holding my water bottles in over some rough roads, and started the ride back home. Still holding a great average, somewhere around 17.5.

Hour 5: As I climbed out of Mt. Vernon, I noticed that I was finally having trouble holding my speed. I chalked it up to pushing hard on the intervals, and the fact that I was hitting the biggest uphill parts of the course, but it sure came on fast! Then, just before I made the turn to head back downhill for basically the remainder of the day, I heard it.

Pssst.

Pssssst.

PsstPsstPsstPsstPsst...

I pulled off the road, and sure enough, my rear tire was leaking air. Why does it always have to be the rear one? I found the spot and stuck my finger on it, which seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately, it's hard to ride with your finger on your rear wheel, so I figured I better find another way. Before I lost all the air, I managed to limp another quarter mile to a landscaping company and staked out a spot on their lawn, right next to the fence where their animals were kept. I had a very interested crowd (two donkeys, a scary dog, and numerous goats) as I got my old tube out and put in the new one.

First annual meeting of my fan club!

Everything looked good, so I got out the CO2, pushed it down, and the new tire inflated and

BANG!

Oh. That's not good. (The animals didn't like it much either)

I'm no expert, but I think I may have found the issue.

Poor Charlie Brown. :(

That was my only spare, so it was time to call for a rescue. Fortunately, I was back in cell phone range at this point, so Meredith was able to come get me. Coach said maybe I didn't have the tire seated properly...I didn't realize one CO2 cartridge had enough pressure to pop a tube. Guess it's a lesson learned.

After all was said and done, I had done 74.16 miles in 4:19. That's about a 17.2 mph average, which is a big improvement over the 15.7 from my first century! I had looked a little earlier, and it was around 17.4 before the flat issues. Provided that it was, in fact, the flat that was slowing me down and my legs weren't blowing up on me, I think I could have held pretty close to that the rest of the way - most of it was downhill, and I usually cruise through that section. Frustrating to have the day end that way, but sometimes that's the way it goes.

Here's to taking what good we can from days like this, and surviving to train again another day! For me, that day will be Sunday, when I get to bump it up to a 7 hour ride!

Going Long

2009-04-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

One thing that's been different in Ironman training is that I have not put in the number of miles I'm used to for marathon training. I think that's just a necessity, as there aren't enough hours in the day, nor could your body stand up to all that pounding PLUS two other sports.

Yesterday was my longest run so far. I had to run 18 miles, with a good portion of it at race pace, and then a couple miles faster than race pace! I mapped out a route, got my batman utility belt (okay, fuel belt), and took off.

The first mile was just around our neighborhood, which was a good thing, because I forgot my salt tabs. I was assigned to wear long sleeves (it was 65 and drizzly), so I knew I'd be sweating a lot and needed them. A quick stop back home, and then it was off again. I decided to just run one of my short bike routes, since there was a sidewalk most of the way and it wouldn't require any looping. Plus, it takes me by the high school where there's a water fountain for refills.

I got warmed up for a while, and then it was time to kick it into race pace gear. My legs were a little sluggish, but once I kept reminding myself to keep the turnover high, they settled into a good place. The last few miles of the out on this course are a long gradual uphill, so it took a little effort to keep it up, but once I turned around I was glad to get some downhill! I kept every mile in there between 9:15 and 9:45, which is my zone for race day on a "perfect" day.

But then I had to run below that pace, and my legs didn't want any of it. I managed to knock out the next two miles around 8:50, but I was putting in a lot of effort! Never saw my heart rate, but I'm sure it was sky high. When those miles finally ended, I walked a few steps to get the heart rate down and get in some water. And that was it for my legs. They cramped up and never let go for the rest of the run. So my cool down was more of a shuffle/walk combo.

When I finally got home, I wasn't feeling very well. My legs were tight, my stomach didn't feel good, and I was TIRED! And after sitting to stretch for a bit, I had to hop in my assigned ice bath!

Let me tell you, that was loads of fun. The picture is about 7 minutes into the 10 minute bath, so there was a lot more ice when it started! I'm promised that it will help with recovery though, and the science behind it seems reasonable. Today, I'm still sore...just telling myself I would have been more sore!

All in all, it wasn't easy, but it was a confidence builder that I got through it. Good to see you again, long run!

T-Minus 2 Months

2009-04-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been a little short on time lately to post. Wonder why? :) Today, I went out for a ride and my rear water bottle cage snapped off. Um...Profile Designs? This is two that have broken in the past 12 months!

Biggest Challenge This Month:

Time management. The miles are piling up, and so are the hours. Even though the weekdays are reasonable, by the time I'm home from work, train, shower, and get ready for anything else, it's usually 7 or 8 o'clock. My knee has been feeling gradually better, which I think has been helped by raising my bike seat a bit. Still not perfect, but not getting worse!

Biggest Success This Month:

My first century ride was a big step toward having confidence in my biking for the race. What's 12 more miles after going 100? The course will be much tougher than the 100 I did, but adrenaline has got to make up for that somewhat, right?

The other big success was my latest swim test. In a 10x100m test, I averaged 1:35/100m. That's a gain of 9 seconds per 100 over my last test in November! I also threw in a 1:26 for the first 100, which is a new PR!

How I Feel About Training:

I'm pretty confident in where I stand at this point. There's still work to do, but I think I can get there, and with the end in sight, motivation is a little easier to come by.

How I Feel About The Race:

Like it might be real, and I might actually have to run it. (Who knew?)

What's Next?

One last full month of training. Not sure what's in there, but I can only assume a LOT of stuff. :)

2 Months Out Theme Song:

In honor of my wife Meredith's performance in the Boston Marathon and my upcoming Ironman, I think this one is appropriate. She's supported me through all this training, and I really appreciate it.

Century Ride Pics

2009-04-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

Loved this sign. I started a little bit outside Columbus proper, so I had actually only gone about 44 miles at the time.

This train was in a park just before my turnaround. I thought about climbing up on it for a picture, but didn't know the rules. On the way back, I saw kids all over it. Dang it.

Time to head home!

The sunglasses may have seen their last ride.

Fuzzy victory!

Century Ride!

2009-04-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

When coach told me Saturday night that I needed to get in a 6 hour ride next week, I realized I didn't have many options. We'll be in Boston for the marathon, and I certainly won't have a bike there. I can't do 6 hours on a weekday unless I want to be on the trainer forever (no thanks), and so that left one option. That five hour ride on Sunday? Just grew an hour.

Sunday morning, I was up to an alarm, and checked the weather. 30 degrees. Guess I'm waiting for the sun to warm things up a bit before setting out. I busied myself with getting things ready. 3 gels, 4 luna bars (the manliest of energy bars), a baggie of salt tablets, an aerobottle of water, and three gatorade bottles. I'm lucky enough to have family living on the way out to the countryside now, so I stashed some extra gatorade on their porch. And when ten o'clock rolled around, it was finally above 40 degrees, and time to ride!

First problem of the day - I went to put on my sunglasses, and the bridge cracked! Guess the cheap-o ones don't last forever, especially when they're mainly used while jammed under a bike helmet! A quick dose of superglue appeared to take care of the issue. Okay, NOW it's time to ride.

The plan was to head northeast from home, out to Mount Vernon, and then pick up a reportedly nice bike trail for the rest of the distance. I've been averaging around 16 mph on my long rides, which made me think. 5 x 16 = 96. Why would I ride 96, when I could ride 100? So I planned to turn around at mile 50, wherever on the trail I was.

The first piece of the ride, out to my sister-in-law's house, was pretty uneventful save for the wind. It was, of course, out of the northeast. And every single road for the first 50 miles was either north...or east. Those first 20 miles are a slight uphill, and almost exclusively through open farmland, so my average was suffering as I plowed into the wind. Eventually, I got to their house, refilled my bottles, and got ready to climb.

Next up was the road I went down during my last long 3:45 outdoor ride. It's not like any one part of this ride is especially tough. It's nothing compared to so many of the rides I read about. But every little rolling hill is followed by one a little higher, and a little higher. It's a lot of shifting, and not many downhills long enough to catch a breath. Mile 27 or so was about the first time I got to stand up and stretch out the legs while I coasted for a bit. The good news? One particular intersection has a big steep hill right after a stop sign. But this time? By luck, I happened to pick that exact road to make a right turn, and I could smile as I went around the hill. At this point, I was in unridden territory. There was one more steep climb (I saw a sign reading "Sky Ridge Farm" at the top), and I was rewarded with a view of the city of Mt. Vernon. I wound my way down the long hill into town.

I'm always a bit paranoid of getting my wheels caught in a crack or a hole. On the way into town, there were railroad tracks, and they were NOT anywhere close to perpendicular to my road. Thank goodness the traffic there was light, because I swung nice and wide to make sure I didn't slip in there and take a nasty fall. And thank goodness for iPhones, because I needed to check my map once I got into town and make sure I didn't go past my road. Nope, I was still on course, and found my way to the trail. (Actually very well marked) And after the ka-CHUNK ka-CHUNK of mediocre paving jobs in the city, the smooth blacktop felt like heaven. It also added some free speed! The Kokosing Gap trail ended up being a very pretty part of my ride, and I can only imagine that it's even better once the trees fill in. It follows the river through farmland, parks, and next to a few small towns. The only downside I found was a fair number of stop signs as it crossed country roads, but I only truly had to stop for traffic once. And finally, I reached mile 50 and time to turn around!

I was feeling pretty good, but the same couldn't be said of my sunglasses. When I took them off at the turnaround to call home, the superglue job came undone, and I thought the glasses were going with it. The whole way back, I was completely expecting them to fly apart, but thankfully it never happened.

Soon after the turnaround, the BEST THING ALL DAY happened. I was going by a playground, and a family was just getting ready to take their bikes onto the trail. A tween-ish aged boy was warned by his mom to watch out, as I was coming down the path. And as I passed, I heard him exclaim "MAN! How fast was he GOING?!". :) Kid, if you're available, I'd like to hire you to spectate all my rides from now on.

(And around 19 mph at the time, for the record)

I didn't realize until now from looking at the elevation chart just how much I climbed back out of there. It was a long hill, but my legs and mind were feeling good now that I was on the way home. And finally having a tailwind after over three hours of headwind didn't hurt either! Once I finished that climb, I rolled my way up and (mostly) down from the high point. Around 80 miles in, I started feeling like I wanted to be done, but it was mentally manageable. It helped to be back in familiar territory, where I know the roads by heart, and could just put my head down and ride. One more fuel stop for a final bottle of gatorade, and it was time to get home. And I pulled up to our driveway at...

99.8 miles.

Like I'm stopping there! One victory lap around our street made it 100.1, and then it was really time to stop at 6 hours, 21 minutes. I was tired, a little sun or windburnt on my face (every other part of my body was covered), but happy. I never did make up all the time lost at the beginning due to the headwind, but ended up at a 15.76 mph average. That would be just over 7 hours for Ironman distance, which sounds okay to me! And my legs felt like they still had some energy...a marathon wouldn't have been my first choice of things to do, but I think I could have gotten through it.

(I've also got a few pictures from the ride snapped on my iPhone, which I'll post as soon as I get them downloaded)

I've Missed You, Food

2009-04-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hmm...I'm awake. It's Tuesday night around 2:30 AM. And I have a sharp pain in my stomach. Let's roll over and...oh...no, let's just lay still. Or as still as I can when my whole body is shivering and my teeth are chattering. Under 3 layers of blankets.

This...is not good.

Two weeks ago was my scheduled rest week. And rest I did, with a vengeance. Due to VIP Photo Booths' engagement with the Columbus Crew, we had a super busy schedule in the evenings, and my day job wasn't any lighter. I got in what I could, but a few workouts fell by the wayside. No problem, though. That's what rest weeks are for, and a couple missed recovery spins wouldn't kill me.

But then came Tuesday night. That afternoon, I had already nixed a ride because of the recurring knee pain I'd been having. I'd later get to the doctor and be diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome, which I had in college. The verdict? Ice, physical therapy, and raise my bike seat (love having a triathlete as a doctor). But no break in training! That was good news indeed. I'll still have some pain to deal with, but them's the breaks.

Now, my stomach was in rebellion as well. Tuesday became Wednesday. Wednesday turned to Thursday, and then Friday. No solid food to speak of, and not a chance in the world of training. Did I say "one" rest week? Let's make that "two". Sigh. My mental state was really not good. I have a race coming up! It's really kind of long! And I felt completely beat down and unready.

Friday night, the tide finally began to turn, and on Saturday I had an appetite again. I did a 40 minute test ride, and survived, albeit with a light head when I got done. I'll chalk that one up to lack of nourishment and a headwind.

Sunday was the time to really see where I stood. It was back to the pool for a "real" workout again. 2500m of fun and drills. I could feel the lack of endurance brought on by two weeks off, but I still wanted to see where I stood, and what I had lost. I made it through the majority of the workout, and had one "hard" 150m left. Time to let it all go and see where the chips fall. I spun around after touching the wall and found the second hand on the pool clock...2:15. Holy cow, that's the same pace as my best 100m! And I found out that PRs in the pool taste surprisingly like a slice of red velvet cake roll a few hours later.

Guess we might still be on track for that pesky race in June after all.

Weekend Getaway

2009-03-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

What better place than Chicago, under the watchful eye of my coach? On Friday we packed up (for a two week safari, from the look of our bags) and drove to Chicago for a weekend of training. I was going to hit the Computrainer for a long ride, and plenty of other fun would ensue!

Proper nutrition is a bit hard to come by when on the road. I had one water bottle on the way, but probably left myself under-hydrated for what was to come. We got my bike set up Friday night, then hit the bed (and watched the end of the OSU game).

On, Saturday morning, we got an early visitor when our hosts left for masters swim. Boss greeted us with an army crawl into our bedroom, and spent the morning with us lounging around and playing with his squeaky carrot. For the carrot's own good, we had to lock it away from Boss, lest it be furless by the end of the morning. Soon enough, it was time to ride! But first, we measured my weight and hydration to judge my nutrition plan. When that was done, it was on the bike and off to see the course. The first hour was fairly flat and straightforward; a few hills gave me the feel of the trainer. Legs were good, head was good, and all was right with the world.

Hour two - the course heads out of town and up into the hills. On the trainer, some of these hills were nasty. Rather than a gradual build to a hill, it was like hitting a wall. I stayed seated for them, and "spun" my way up in the single digit speeds. Even though my average was suffering, I was still feeling good.

Hour three - Up, down, up, down, repeat. The rolling hills at the top of the CDA course were plentiful, and felt nothing like rollers around home. Still, I was feeling decent. I've done 3+ hour rides before, and though this one was tougher, it was still in my comfort zone.

Hour four - Uh-oh. Somewhere around 3:15 or 3:30, the wheels started coming off. I was putting in about the same effort, but my speed and cadence were dropping. My quads were getting a little tight, and at some point I even got off the bike to stretch them. It was really frustrating to be feeling so bad, and to know that there was still over an hour to go. And it was worse to know that I was on probably the easiest part of the course and still feeling that way.

Hour five - Pure survival. My speed was absolutely shot, and I was just turning the pedals to get done. I think I averaged somewhere around 11 mph for the part where I started the second loop. Hope that's not the case on race day, or I'll be hard pressed to make it to the run!

Once the fun on the trainer was wrapped up, it was time to take my measurements again to see how I did nutritionally. Well, not only did I maintain my weight despite being a heavy sweater, I gained 3 pounds over the course of those 5 hours. Hmm. Not exactly sure how that works, except that I was dehydrated beforehand. Done now? Nope, down to the treadmill for a 10 minute run. The GOOD news: my legs felt absolutely fine once I got to running. I held a 9:40 pace, which is just fine by me after that long a ride. Given some time to get the legs warmed up, I can usually pick it up a bit too.

Meredith and I snuck out for a quick bite to eat after the ride, since we were both starving. She had done some pretty tough strength and speed work while I was riding. And what sounded good to us? Well, when we came back in, Liz had but two accusing sentences: "You went to McDonald's, didn't you? I can see it in your eyes." We couldn't deny the truth. But the truth tasted awfully good.

On Sunday morning, Meredith and I headed to the nearby arboretum for long runs. Despite two cranky knees, my legs felt pretty good. After 30 minutes, the knees were warmed up, and I was able to hold a decent pace. I came in at 10.77 miles in 1:45, right around a 9:45 pace. Not bad for a hilly course and the day after a long ride. After the run, we hit the pool for a few pointers and a welcome soak in the hot tub!

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Liz and Chris (and Boss, who made one last ditch attempt to join us for the return trip) and head home on Sunday. Back to work and normal life, but it was a great weekend! Thanks guys!

T-Minus 3 Months

2009-03-23T05:57:00.000-07:00

Under 100 days to go now. Yikes!

Biggest Challenge This Month:

The bike miles! I'm pretty confident that once I get to the run, I'll be able to finish. Even on a bad day, I think I can drag myself through 26 miles. But ramping up the bike time has been a whole new challenge. I think 3 hours is sort of my limit of being comfortable right now, but I'll be working to change that.

Biggest Success This Month:

Health, maybe? Even with the increased mileage, I've only missed a couple workouts this month. One was due to a sore knee after a long ride, and the other because I had to work some really long hours last week at times.

I also put in a 3:45 outdoor ride, with the first half uphill and generally into a decent headwind. At the time, that was my longest ride, and by far the most challenging one I'd done. The feeling of turning around after struggling along at 13 mph for an hour and suddenly going 23 is a nice one! It's also sort of fun to see the course map from the Garmin zoomed out so far to show the whole thing! The only bad thing about the ride was that when I mapped out my course, I picked a small airport as my turnaround. I finally got to the road that led to it...and it was gravel. Not just chip seal, gravel on dirt. So my ride was a few miles short. :)

How I Feel About Training:

Like I want the race to be here! (No, I don't. Not yet. Forget I said that.) Still enjoying it, but it's getting hard to fit everything in sometimes. I'm thinking I'll be doing some less time-intensive training for a while post-Ironman.

How I Feel About The Race:

Confident about the swim. Feeling pretty good about the run. And I think I can get through the bike. That's definitely the order of confidence.

What's Next?

A big training weekend with coach (okay, it's technically already done, but it wasn't during this month, and I'll blog about it next). Then it's time to continue ramping up the miles!

3 Months Out Theme Song:

I was introduced to this one by my wife this month. Yes, I know it isn't actually a 3. But it has one, just with a bunch of zeroes after it. :) Plus, I like to think the tempo will match the bike course - uphill for a while, then down down down! (Hopefully, I navigate it a bit more successfully than the driver)

Movie Quote Game!

2009-03-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

Well, this has been floating around Facebook and Meredith's blog, so I figure it's time for me to play the game. I'll list 20 quotes from some of my favorite movies. Meredith and I decided it should be movies that you'd leave on the TV if you noticed they were on, and with at least one quote you could recite from memory. (Thus eliminating some favorites like Memento or Schindler's List) There are some pretty obscure ones, some really famous ones, and a lot from my childhood.

Your job is to comment and match the name of the movie to the numbers you know! I put them in roughly what I think is the order of difficulty. :)

So, without further ado:

1. "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?"
Raiders Of The Lost Ark

2. "Well, that is your name, isn't it? Calvin Klein? It's written all over your underwear."
Back To The Future

3. "There was Dallas, from Phoenix; Cleveland - he was from Detroit; and Tex... well, I don't remember where Tex come from. "
Forrest Gump

4. "It's a trap!"
Return Of The Jedi / The Empire Strikes Back

5. "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."
Monty Python and the Quest For the Holy Grail

6. "Surely you can't be serious!"
"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley."
Airplane!

7. "Sam... I'm glad you're with me."
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

8. "Once again, things that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!"
The Wedding Singer

9. "Have fun storming the castle!"
The Princess Bride

10. "How's your wife and my kids?"

11. "So the combination is... one, two, three, four, five?"

12. "Luuuke... Luuuke! I am your father!"

13. "The game starts now. You have to score one thousand points. If you do that, you take home a tank with a big gun. Each day we will announce the scores from that loudspeaker."
Life Is Beautiful

14. "Necktie...Neckturn...Nickel...It's an 'N' word, it's definitely an 'N' word!"

15. "Spatula City, we sell spatulas...And that's all!"
UHF

16. "Communism was just a red herring."
Clue

17. "EASTMAN! He came from the east, to do battle with the amazing RANDO!"

18. "What is that?"
"One grain of sand. It is all that remains of my vast empire."
The Neverending Story

19. "Hey! Hold it right there!"
"Yes."
"What do you mean, 'yes'?"
"Yes."
"Is that all you can say?"
"No."

20. "Tell us everything! Everything!"
"Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life."
The Goonies

T-Minus 4 Months

2009-02-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

Really a few days shorter, since I'm late with the update. That number keeps shrinking! Now we're into month counts I'm more used to from marathon training.

Biggest Challenge This Month:

The fact that neither Meredith nor I can stay healthy! We were doing great until this winter, and now all of a sudden it seems like one or the other of us is sick. Right now, it's me. We're crossing our fingers that it stays that way until after Meredith's race this weekend.

Biggest Success This Month:

Racing! Not only did I take my first top 10 overall spot at a race (8th at Last Chance 10K), I took my second as well! (6th at Lifetime Indoor Tri) Kind of crazy how far things have come since last spring. It's a big mental transition for me to think about pushing myself farther than a comfortable pace; up till now, I've just worried about finishing. I still don't really think much about "how do I compare to others" during the race, but I'm starting to concentrate on being the best I can be on that day.

How I Feel About Training:

When I'm healthy, really good! It was great to actually get to see some results, and know that all these hours are paying off. I'm a little intimidated by breaking 4 hours on a trainer, but I suppose it's only 30 minutes more than I've done to this point.

How I Feel About The Race:

A little more confident than before. The part that still scares me the most are all the hills, since I don't have a lot of experience on them. When the weather breaks, I think it'll be time to find some of the few we have in central Ohio and get to know them intimately. :)

What's Next?

Still need to find a half in the spring. Other than that, no races planned at this point. I was originally going to do the second indoor tri in town here, but I think we'll be out of town. No big deal, as I got the first one in.

4 Months Out Theme Song:

Well, I couldn't come up with anything great, so this one's a bit of a stretch. But I think it might need to go on my iPod. :)

The Results Are In!

2009-02-24T05:43:00.000-08:00

Last night, the results were posted for the indoor tri.

Swim:
24 lengths (600m total)
1:40/100m

5th (tie)/78 overall
3rd (tie)/26 men

I was quite happy with this pace. It happened to be exactly my goal before the race, so here's to knowing what your body is capable on race day!

Bike:
16.4 "miles" (32.8 mph)

3rd/78 overall
3rd/26 men

Yeah, right. :) Going by the place, though, I was surprised and pleased with the result against the field. I don't really consider the bike a strength, but I've had nothing to compare it to since almost all my IM training has been indoors so far.

Run:
1.18 "miles" (16:57/mile)

Umm...

So, I was NOT happy when I saw this result. I had been in 3rd place overall after the swim and bike, and then my official run time beat nobody. Okay, there were two people who didn't do the run; I did beat them. I know this race isn't my target, and it was just to get a good workout, but I felt sort of ripped off that I had worked hard and didn't get the chance to evaluate myself on an even playing field.

I sent off an email to the director asking about it, and he let me know that the "overflow" ellipticals that I was on were supposed to have mileage tacked on to compensate for the difference in difficulty, but the numbers didn't get added in as planned. So, it looks like my actual run will be marked as 2.68 miles, which is probably pretty accurate as to what I could have done. Kudos to the Lifetime Fitness team for being willing to take time to review the results, and for doing as well as they could on race day given the circumstances!

Overall:

Current:
20/78 overall
10/26 men

Don't know exactly where I'll end up once the run is corrected since I wasn't the only one that needed an adjustment, but my guess is somewhere around 6th overall. I really wasn't expecting to do quite that well (I was silently hoping for top 10), so now I'm really excited to get outdoors and see where the training has me for real!

For fun, let's take my paces in this race and see how I'd do in the Ironman if I held them.

Swim: 1:04
Hey, I'd certainly take that!

Bike: 3:24
Hmm...a little over an hour faster than last year's fastest biker in Coeur D'Alene? Yeah, I'd take that too. ;)

Run: 7:24
Hehe! Well, fortunately, the run is last, so thanks to my blazing bike time I'd still make all the cutoffs.

Total: 11:52
An unorthodox way to get under 12 hours to be sure, but if I finished under 12, I wouldn't complain. :)

Maybe I should just trust my training plan instead. Yeah, that might be the way to go.

Race Report - Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon

2009-02-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

Or, "A Comedy Of Errors"

To get the day off to an appropriate start, I woke up before my alarm this morning. The alarm was set for 6:15. I woke up at 12:20. Standing by my alarm clock. It took me a few minutes to convince myself that no, I didn't really need to be up yet. Back to bed. And then it happened again around 1:30. Pre-race nerves, anyone?

At 6:15, I did get up to my alarm, and was up and ready to go. I had already packed up the night before, so it was a pretty simple morning of eating and getting on the road. I got to the gym in plenty of time to register, get set up, and check out the venue. After watching one of the earlier swim heats, I went back out to the desk to make sure my shoes would clip into the bikes. A woman out there confirmed that they would work.

And then, the power went out.

Not a blink, not a light off here or there. The whole gym, and from what I later overheard, the whole street. The staff's faces fell, and from downstairs you could hear a collective groan from the first wave of athletes, who were about two minutes into their 20 minute run. We were informed by a race director that the race would proceed, but we would be moving the run to the ellipticals because they don't require power. Yuck. I know they didn't have a choice, but I can't stand the elliptical. But, it would still be a level playing field, so the best I could do was accept it and go on with the day.

I got changed and made it out to the pool with a few minutes before my heat. There was just enough time to swim down and back for a warm up, and then it was time to go. We all had to share lanes with one other person, and the girl sharing my lane wasn't (by her own statement) much of a swimmer, but she did a perfectly good job of staying on her side. I went out a little harder than intended, but I think I held on pretty well! The swim director was calling out times and when to stop, but I never really heard her. I sort of heard people clap, and then noticed everyone standing at the end of the lanes. Guess we're done. I think I made it somewhere around 24 lengths, or 600m, in the 10 minute swim. That would be a 1:40/100m pace, and a perfectly good start to the day.

On the way out of the pool, a woman was nice enough to hold the locker room door for me.

And I was halfway through the door, thanking her, before I realized that I was walking right into the women's locker room. Oops. The doors at this gym are backwards from the one we go to, and I'm so used to the door on the right, that I just followed the pack. :)

It was certainly the darkest transition ever in the locker room as I got ready for the bike. I must have taken my time, because by the time I got up there, the director called out 90 seconds until the start. I wasn't the only one, as everybody scrambled to get onto the bikes. I got my bike shoes on and got the iPod on my arm, just in time to start up. Then I tried to clip in. Hmm...can't get the right shoe in, let's try the left. No luck there either! I called over the director, who didn't know much about the clips, and said we'd wait for the staff member running the bike portion to check in on me.

So, I started pedaling with bike shoes on, on top of pedals with the wrong kind of clip. Let me tell you, that's no fun. My feet kept slipping off, and since they were spinning bikes, the pedals kept right on going. I'd have to wait for the pedals to stop before I could start up again. Probably 5 minutes of this went on before I had had enough. While pedaling with my right foot, I reached down and undid my left shoe, tossed it to the side, and slipped my foot into my running shoe. I did have to briefly stop to get the other one, and then one of the staff was kind enough to help me get into the toe cages and let me know I was scaring her to death. :) The bike specialist did come by, and informed me that I had the wrong kind of Shimano clips. Sigh. I let him know that the email they sent out just said Shimano. Twenty-five more minutes of running shoe, seat slightly too low cycling ensued, and at the end, it said I had gone 16.4 miles in 30 minutes. Heh. I wish. When I'm finishing the bike portion of Ironman in 3.5 hours, I'll be sure to remember this race. ;)

When they called the finish, I gathered up my stuff and hustled over to the run, intent on having enough time to get settled. I took my gel as planned, went to take a drink, and realized I left my water bottle on the bike. Time for more hustling, as I ran back over, grabbed the bottle, and went back to the ellipticals, which were now all full. A staff member directed the three of us without machines back to some of the older models, which felt more like "stair climber" ellipticals. Nonetheless, it was time to work for 20 more minutes. Before the start, they asked us for our estimated time on a treadmill so they could try and convert the numbers to more run-like distances. I estimated an 8 minute pace, while the guy next to me estimated 10:00s.

Since I didn't really want to know how slow I was going compared to treadmill pace, and so I could just concentrate on working hard, I threw a towel over the machine's display. It had been months since I'd been on an elliptical, so it was a foreign skill to me. I did my best, and just held on as best as I could for 20 minutes. (Of course, 10 minutes in, the power came back on. :P) There wasn't a staff member over by us, and those of us on the leftover ellipticals had started about a minute late, so to make sure it was fair, I hopped off the machine right at 20 minutes so I wouldn't get credited for extra mileage.

And then, before the staff could come mark down our distance, my machine turned off. With my towel still over the distance.

I have no clue how far I went on the "run" during this race. With no way to retrieve the number, they suggested using the distance from the guy next to me. I know I was going faster than him, but I didn't see any other option.

So, it was a comedy of errors. To their credit, I think the Lifetime staff did the best they could given the circumstances, and were very polite and apologetic. That didn't make it less frustrating, though. The good things I took out of this race were:

1. My body was really ready to go - the times all seemed short, and I was able to keep my effort level high the whole way through.

2. Mentally, I was able to calm myself down before the swim and get a pretty efficient stroke going. I believe I led my heat of 10, or came in second at the worst.

3. I didn't have anyone in front of me for most of the bike, so I could watch my form in the mirror. There was certainly less bouncing around going on that most of the other participants. It was hard to judge exactly, but it looked like I had one of the faster cadences, and since all the resistances were set equally, that should mean I had one of the longer distances travelled in my heat.

4. I put together a great, if very eclectic, playlist that kept my mind off the fact that biking and...um...ellipticalling indoors really isn't all that exciting.

This event was scored by your place. 1 point for the shortest distance in an event, 2 for the next shortest, and on up to points equal to the number of competitors for first place in an event. Total the three scores, and that's your overall score. I don't know my official swim or run distances, nor anyone else's, so your guess is as good as mine as to how I placed. Results are supposed to be up by Tuesday at the latest, so I'll post an update when they arrive!

Race Report - Last Chance For Boston 10K

2009-02-16T05:57:00.000-08:00

Well, how about that? An impromptu sign-up for a distance I've never run before, and it turns into my best placing ever in a running race!

Things started off with a 5:45 wake up call. Unfortunately, Meredith was still feeling sick, so it was just me. I wasn't very excited about heading off into the cold, but I didn't really have any excuse not to go. So, I packed up about 4 different combinations of clothes, not knowing how cold it would really be. Got my number picked up, and I headed out to the course. Before the race, I had 30 minutes of easy warm up to get in. Easy was the key word, as I didn't quite even get in three miles.

Before I knew it, it was time to line up. This race has a full marathon, half marathon, 10K, and 5K, and the course is a one mile loop (plus a 0.2 or 0.1 mile spur at the start). The 10K and marathon start together, so I was lined up with Andrea and Helen, who were both doing the marathon, for the start. As much as I wanted to try and hang with them, I knew I needed to stick to the plan and not go out too hard. I even turned my Garmin to only show heart rate so I wouldn't constantly be checking my pace; instead, I'd concentrate on keeping my heart rate in the right zones.

And for the first lap, I did just that. I kept my legs in check, and my heart rate was nicely settled into zone 2. When the Garmin clicked off the first mile, it was around an 8:20 pace. Whoa! Nothing wrong with that. Since things were feeling good, I decided to just hold my pace and see how it went. And though it doesn't make for an interesting race report, I did just that. My fastest and slowest miles were only separated by 28 seconds, which I'm not sure I've ever done before. My heart rate did keep creeping up on me, though. By lap 2 or 3, it was parked in zone 3, and I had to ease up just a couple times. On the last lap, I finally gave myself permission to run a little harder, and went all out with about 1/4 mile remaining. That turned into my fastest mile, an 8:12. I crossed the finish line, and surprise, surprise, I was in the top 20 men!

Post race, there wasn't time to rest. I still had another 27 minutes of cool down. Three more loops around the course, and I could call it a day...until I had to hop on my bike later. :)

Mile 1 (+.2): 10:28
Mile 2: 8:38
Mile 3: 8:40
Mile 4: 8:37
Mile 5: 8:32
Mile 6: 8:12

Total: 53:05 (8:32/mi)
7/30 Men
9/74 Overall

It's Race Season!

2009-02-12T06:07:00.000-08:00

40 minutes of fast run + will be at a race with a 10K anyway = 1st race of 2009!

I convinced coach that I would do my warmup and cooldown as planned around the race, so it's time for the season to kick off with the Last Chance For Boston 10K! Meredith is running the half marathon, so I was going to be there already. Now, I can get in my run and then get to watch her smash her PR! My only instructions are not to go out too hard. I'm 0/1 on that in races so far since I started working with Liz, so I'll try to do better this time around.

Also coming up is my first tri of the season, the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon. It's a 10 minute swim, 30 minute bike, and 20 minute run. I've never done an indoor tri, so it should be a new and interesting experience. It's silly, but I'm getting nervous thinking about it. From looking at last year's numbers and my current fitness, I should stand a decent chance of being in the top half of the field - I'm not used to that, so I think it's making me even more nervous! :) If I like this one, there's another one at the closer Lifetime in town next month that I'll sign up for too.

Other than the upcoming races, training has been pretty steady so far this month. I've missed a couple workouts here and there, but haven't "fallen off the wagon" or anything. I did set a new 100m PR the other day - 1:27! I'd never tried one with a 6-beat kick; I'm more of a 2-beat kick kind of guy. The extra kicking did get me there faster, but I think it would probably tire me out too much in a longer swim.

We also had a huge windstorm last night! Somehow, we acquired a grill cover. It was wrapped around our air conditioner! Our neighbors had one of their patio chairs blown right through their fence, and we got woken up by a car alarm that the storm set off. Here's hoping I can get through a long swim this afternoon on some marginal sleep. :)

I'm An Omelet

2009-02-03T09:22:00.000-08:00

Er...an anomaly. Sorry, the stomach got excited and took over the fingers for a second.

Swimmers, I need your help. I always knew I had a poor kick, but I never quite realized just how bad it was until yesterday. Or, at least, I think so.

Here's the test to try for me:
25m with a kickboard. Not "all-out" gasping for air at the end, but a nice solid effort.
25m of one-arm swimming. NO KICK AT ALL.

I clock in around 40 seconds for the kick, and 30 seconds for the one-arm swimming. My mind says this can't be normal, but I need a better sample size. Give it a try, and let me know which is faster for you!

Yakety Trax (Out and Back)

2009-01-27T18:13:00.000-08:00

You know what I love about running? It's such an easy sport to come home, grab your stuff, and go! Here's a list of the things that went with me on my run today. (In order of appearance)

Undies
Heart Rate Monitor strap
Short sleeve shirt
Socks
Tights
Long sleeve shirt
Track pants
Long sleeve shirt with collar and thumb holes
Winter hat
Running jacket w/hood
Shoes
Reflective vest
Head lamp
Blinky light for my back
Watch
3 8-oz water bottles
3 gels
Baggie to hold gel wrappers
Gloves
Mitten shells to go over gloves
House key
Yaktrax

See, it's amazingly simple! I didn't take my iPod, mainly because I was so tired of grabbing stuff to take with me.

Today was a 95 minute run that ended up being through about 1-4 inches of snow. I think it should count as a strength workout as well, because that much extra resistance really puts a hurting on the quads, and especially on the ankles from the bad footing. Tomorrow may not be pretty, but today I was happy with my effort. Best 10:28s I've ever run!

T-Minus 5 Months

2009-01-21T05:46:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009! The days are getting longer, it's (theoretically) going to get warmer soon...right? Also, happy birthday to my Mom today!

Biggest Challenge This Month:

My headcase of a mind. I don't know if it's because I'm now past the length of a marathon training schedule, the cold, or what, but it's been hard to focus for the last few weeks. I've kept the missed workouts fairly low, but that doesn't mean I've been excited to get on the treadmill or trainer.

I've also started having some issues with my shoulder. These are nothing new, but have been in control for the last couple years. It's just irritation as the tendons cross over, common in swimmers, tennis players, and anyone who swings their arm overhead a lot. To combat this, I've begun to modify my stroke a bit. From what I read, 80% of the strain on one's shoulder is during entry and recovery, and only 20% during pull. So, I now leave my thumb up during the first two, and only rotate it over to catch the water during my pull. Seems to be working pretty well so far - a couple weeks ago, I thought I was going to have to take some significant time off in the pool, and now the worst it's been is a dull ache from time to time.

Biggest Success This Month:

Let's see. I cracked three hours on the trainer (thank you, "Batman Begins"). The time went by pretty fast, but I was really tired at the end of it. Coach assures me that it will be easier outside on the roads. That's good, because I definitely could not have done two of those and then a marathon that day.

I also have continued to improve my swimming. My last timed swim came in at 1:52/100 over 1000m. I had hoped for a little better, but it wasn't supposed to be an all-out test; rather, it was a race pace swim. Since I don't yet have a race pace, I just picked a speed somewhere beyond easy, but not quite hard, and stuck with it. I actually have another swim test today (3x300), so we'll see how that goes!

How I Feel About Training:

Like I said, the indoor stuff is starting to grind on me. What's keeping me going right now is the continued improvement, and the hope that winter will someday end.

How I Feel About The Race:

Yikes! Now that it's 2009, it seems like it's on top of me. I have to keep reminding myself that there's still 5 months to train and improve. That's more than I'd spend training for a marathon from scratch, and I certainly have a nice base built up now.

What's Next?

Coach just approved my participation in the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon on February 22 and/or March 22. Rather than by distance, you're scored by your ranking in each sport. It seems to reward balanced athletes, since even if you beat the field by 5 miles in the run, you'd only get one more point than the second place guy. The event is a 10 minute swim, 30 minute bike, and 20 minute run.

I'm also supposed to find a "warm up" Half Ironman race in the spring, but haven't done so yet.

5 Months Out Theme Song:

"A Flowery Song", Five Iron Frenzy. It's physically impossible not to tap your foot or run along to this song. (Seriously. Scientific studies prove it.) Time to make sure it's on the old iPod!

Dave's Foolproof 12 Step Program For Successful Flip Turns

2009-01-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

Normally a $19.95 value, but free for my readers!

Swim across the pool using your favorite stroke.
When approaching the wall, make sure to get a deep breath.
Take one more breath, just to be sure.
Seriously, one last breath.
Put both arms back and duck your head.
Use your abs to pull your head down and around. Ideally, it should be below the rest of your body at some point.
Push off the wall if you happen to be close enough. (Optional)
Get at least one hand (preferably two) on the floor of the pool to steer. As you get better at this, try keeping your hands out in streamline position. This will allow you to use your chest/belly on the floor instead.
Spin over so you're right side up. Bonus points if you can do a full barrel roll.
While gliding off the wall, count the lane lines to make sure you're still in the same lane.
Apologize to neighbor for intruding on their lane.
Duck the rope, blow the water out that went up your nose, take a big breath, and continue.

Repeat as necessary!

New Swim Milestone!

2009-01-16T07:42:00.000-08:00

To this point, my longest swim has been 2800m. I was supposed to have a 3000 swim a couple weeks ago, but I missed it due to illness. Yesterday, it was time to blow that out of the water, and go straight to 2 miles! (3250m, to be exact)

After a mixed warmup of drills and kicks, it was time for the main set. To start off, I had 4x400, and for a kicker, I had to swim one length of each 100 with my head out of the water! For those who haven't tried it, it's like slamming on your brakes. By the end of the set, my core was too tired to hold both my head and legs up, so I was dragging my feet pretty badly. I wasn't quite able to hit my goal times for these, but I was only a few seconds off.

Next came a 3x200, picking up the pace a little more. And then was the final 4x100, all out, suffer-and-like-it sprint. The goal here was to go at the pace of my last swim test, 1:45/100m.

And not to pat myself on the back too hard, but I knocked it out of the park.

1:37
1:41
1:40
1:36 (!)

My arms were absolutely toast and I was gasping for air at the end, but I was thrilled when I finally saw my times. Plus, I think I had plenty of juice left that I could have finished off the last 0.4 mile (slower) without a problem.

I'm having some issues with my right shoulder, so now the challenge will be to keep it healthy as I go forward. Lots of ice and PT exercises! I do think the core and strength work I'm doing is paying off big time in the pool. And next time my swim test comes up, I'd love to try and crack 1:40/100!

Tri Wars

2009-01-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

Last night, I had a ride on the trainer for two and a half hours. After that, I had to get on the treadmill for another 25 minutes. Lately, I've been timing my long workouts to be during sporting events, so I have something to distract me. Sunday night at 8:00 PM? No interesting sporting events that I could find.

Spike TV to the rescue! They were showing the original Star Wars trilogy, which is probably my favorite series of movies (minus the revisionist scenes they stuck in after the new movies...grr...but I digress). I tuned in around the middle of The Empire Strikes Back, and by the time Meredith and I were drinking our recovery hot chocolates (well, mine was for recovery, hers was just for the sake of hot chocolate), the rebels were assaulting the second Death Star.

So, in honor of last night's training sessions, here are the top 10 Star Wars quotes to use in your triathlon training and races:

10. Would it help if I got out and pushed?
9. We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life.
8. Well why don't you outrun them? I thought you said this thing was fast?
7. How do you get so big eating food of this kind?
6. Rest I need. Yes. Rest.
5. The told me they fixed it! I trusted them to fix it! It's not my fault!
4. Watch your mouth kid, or you're gonna find yourself floating home.
3. You have your moments. Not many of them, but you do have them.
2. Do...or do not. There is no try.
1. One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner.

Don't Call It A Comeback

2009-01-10T13:42:00.001-08:00

The cold is finally on it's way out! As of yesterday, training is back underway at long last.

Meredith and I braved the elements after work for a run in the snow and ice. We were supposed to get up into zone 2, but we pretty much had to run at the pace the ice would allow. Still, it felt great to get outdoors and get the blood pumping a little.

Today, it was back to the pool, and it was an adventure! I had 400 of a mixed warmup, which went fine. Then, I forgot how to swim. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, everything was a struggle.

I fought through the next 1000, and decided to call it a day. 1100 meters short of my target.

But I just couldn't do it. I took a deep breath, gathered myself for a couple minutes, and then set off for my main 1000. The goal was a steady swim at race pace. Since this will be my first Ironman, I don't have a firm grasp of what that is. But it's got to be somewhere between easy and hard, right? Checking my watch every 100, I crawled my way up and down the pool, and somehow, I remembered how to swim again! My times were consistent, and when I finished, I had done it in 18:46, or 1:52/100m. Not my fastest ever, but not bad for not swimming as hard as I can like in a time trial!

Now it's time to stay healthy for a while, and get back to some consistency. Spring is just around the corner, right? Right?

I'm Sick, Ernie!

2009-01-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

Not the way to start the new year.

I helped Meredith work the Columbus Bride show this weekend, which was a smashing success for her new company. My training took a backseat for the weekend, which was fine. But now?

Coach has prohibited me from training until I'm "sparky", so this week is sort of a dud. Here's hoping for a quick recovery so I can get back on track! Other than these issues, the training is going well. I've got a bit of a twinge in my shoulder, so maybe I'll do some PT exercises and ice it down while I'm out of commission.

T-Minus 6 Months

2008-12-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

Hey, we're under half a year until the race! Sorry for the delay in posting...the holidays, training, and life all got in the way.

Biggest Challenge This Month:

Now that I'm pretty used to the multiple workouts a day thing, I'd say it's ramping up the difficulty and length of the training sessions. I'm pretty consistently doing 2800m in the pool, and I'm up to 2:30 on the bike and 1:40 on the run. Fortunately, coach does a great job of giving intervals during those long sessions, and it helps keep my mind off the duration.

Another challenge this month was training during the holiday season. I'm happy to say that I kept going right on through (including a hill run on Christmas!), so I didn't lose any progress going into next month.

Oh, and finding reasonable accommodations in Coeur d'Alene! Happily, I did finally get a place reserved this month, so that's one stress off my mind.

Biggest Success This Month:

I learned to flip turn! Though I'm still awful at it, there have been a few successful ones in there, and I'm not getting water up my nose the majority of the time.

There was also the success at the Thanksgiving race, and a couple runs in the last week where I've really seen the improvement in my fitness.

How I Feel About Training:

Excited to see the change in my results! It also helps that the weather has taken a brief but dramatic turn for the better, and I've gotten to be outside the last couple days.

I also got some pretty cool running and biking gear from my family, so I'm eager to see how it all does. So far, everything I received has been great!

How I Feel About The Race:

Obviously still pretty nervous, as I started thinking about it during my run yesterday, and was completely stressed out by the length. I'm definitely making progress, though, and my training distances are now nearing (or surpassing, in the swim) half the race distance. Mentally, that's a big thing for me to know: even on a training day when I'm already worn out from previous days, I could finish half the race.

What's Next?

More strength work, and continued building of duration and distance. I don't have any races on the horizon right now, so it's just a matter of getting in the hours and staying healthy.

6 Months Out Theme Song:

Swim
Bike
Run
Work
Eat
Sleep

Wild Goose Turkey Chase

2008-12-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

I just got back from my run today. Yes, I ran on my birthday. We just saw a story on Michael Phelps in which his coach said he trains on his birthday, so I figured I'd better get out there if I'm planning on winning any gold medals.

Today called for a hilly run, so I hit the trails at a nearby park. It was a nice, peaceful, snowy run in the woods, and I was just listening to some music and enjoying the afternoon. The trail was slippery, so it was a slow pace, and I was looking down at my feet a lot. I came around a corner, and saw movement on the trail in my peripheral vision. I pulled up, and suddenly saw what it was.

A GIANT wild turkey. Seriously, the thing must have been up to my waist. And after another look, I saw there was another one right behind it. And then I scanned the woods. Three, four...all the way to 17 turkeys surrounding me. I waited until the two on the trail moved away, then slowly walked through. Around the bend, there were another 6, bringing it to 23 turkeys. Good thing it wasn't whatever their version of Thanksgiving is, or I might have been dinner.

On my way back, I usually take another trail, but I looped back that way to see them again. They were gone, leaving nothing but their huge 4-inch turkey tracks in the snow.

Flying Feather Pictures

2008-12-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

Neck and Neck!

Held her off. :)

Race Report - Flying Feather Four Miler

2008-11-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving morning took us out to Dublin again this year for the Flying Feather Four Miler. Last year, we showed up right about as the race started, and had to fight our way through a huge pack. It wasn't chip timed, so our finish times weren't all that accurate.

This year, the race limited the number of entrants, and also decided to use chip timing. Nice moves both, and I thought it was a better race overall.

The plan this year, as dictated by my coach, was to go out easy, then hit the last three miles hard. After a 10 minute warmup, we got in the corral and awaited the start.

For the first mile, I tried to ease into the race, but didn't do a very good job of it. Even so, I felt pretty good until the end of the second mile, where I started to get a stitch in my side. I had to back off until it went away, and then just hung on until the finish. A girl tried to outsprint me at the end, but I managed to hold her off around the corner.

I think I worked pretty hard at this one, and it was about 6 minutes faster than last year. Taking into account the couple minutes we spent getting to the start line in 2007, I'd guess it was about a 4 minute PR. I think this was also my best placement in any good sized race.

Mile 1: 8:17
Mile 2: 7:56
Mile 3: 8:10
Mile 4: 8:06

Total: 32:49
30/112 Age Group
273/1896 Overall

T-Minus 7 Months

2008-11-21T07:38:00.000-08:00

Wow, already time for another monthly update. That seemed quick.

Biggest Challenge This Month:

Getting used to two workouts a day! Even in my heaviest marathon training, I've never had to do more than one session a day, and now that's the norm. I'm averaging about 10 per week right now, with a pretty even mix among the three sports.

Biggest Success This Month:

I was pretty happy with the effort I put out in my heart rate tests. It's been interesting getting used to that style of training, and I think it will pay dividends.

With the early onset of winter around here, my biggest success has probably been getting my bike on the trainer for some long rides, and continuing to go out for runs despite the cold. This will be my first winter with any serious training, since all my marathons have been in the fall.

How I Feel About Training:

My body is a little beat up right now, but I'm in the last few hard days before falling back next week, so that's expected. I don't look forward to the trainer or the cold, but to this point, I'm getting them done. My swimming is coming along - there's another test in the near future there, so it'll be interesting to see if I've improved.

How I Feel About The Race:

Glad that it'll be outdoors, and above freezing. :)

I'm pretty sure I could swim 2.4 miles right now, though it might not be pretty.
I know I can train and do 26.2 miles of running.
It's still tough to visualize biking for that distance, though.

What's Next?

I'm signed up for the 4 miler on Thanksgiving. The plan is to build for the first mile, then go hard for the remainder of the race. It's a fairly big race, so it's not like I'll be competing for a place or anything. My only other 4 miler was this same race last year, and I don't have a time from that one. So, I'm not really sure how to gauge my performance other than "somewhere between my 5K and 5 mile pace".

Edit - Hmm. I guess they did have results last year after all! How about that. I ran a 39:05, for a 9:47 pace. That's a little deceptive, though. It wasn't chip timed, we showed up late, and the start line was a huge bottleneck, so it was some time before I hit the start. Still, it's something to go on. I heard a rumor that this year's is chip timed, but now I can't find anything about that.

Two days later, I've got my second swim test, another 10x100 all-out bundle of fun. It's somewhere in the space between anticipation and dread. :)

I'll also be going past 2 hours on the trainer, and getting close to 3, I'd imagine.

7 Months Out Theme Song:

"You've Got To Make It Through The Winter", from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

If I heard it right, the lyrics go like this:

You've got to make it through the winter
And hope for some racing in the spring.

You've got to make it through the winter
The time will come when cowbells will start to ring

Just be patient till the spring.
(clarinet solo!)
(till the spring)
(till the spring)
(till the spring)

Hurry up, spring. Hurry!

Serenadipity

2008-11-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

Serenadipity (n) - The convergence of life and a random song on one's iPod.

Example: During my hour and a half hill workout on Friday, I had my iPod on shuffle, and this song came on:

Have you ever experienced serenadipity?

2008 CSTM

2008-11-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

My coach posted an excellent summary today of a book arguing that talent takes a back seat to good old fashioned hard work when it comes to athletic achievement.

So, how do we gauge this? Who, I ask, is more naturally talented than a celebrity? Finding this list led me to draw up an inspirational list of famous people I've beaten in a marathon. (Discounting course, condition, age, and other minor details)

So, in no particular order, a partial list of the 2008 Celebrities Slower Than Me:

Katie Holmes
Mario Lopez
Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Oprah Winfrey
Sean Combs
David Lee Roth
Lynn Swann
Al Gore

You're next:

Sarah Palin
Meredith Baxter
Will Ferrell

Who's on your list?

Triditarod

2008-11-10T11:17:00.001-08:00

Cold? Check.
Wind? Check.
Following dogs? Check.

Saturday's ride was debated from the start. Meredith thought I was crazy to ride outdoors, but I really wanted to get out there, since in Ohio, you never know how even remotely reasonable weather will last in this time of the year. So, I bundled up in booties, gloves, mitten covers for the gloves, a coat, a hat, a helmet on top of that...and I went out for my 90 minute ride.

I was supposed to start getting used to nutrition on the bike with this ride. My first nutrition turned out to be a vanilla Clif Shot gel sample from some past race that had gone bad. At least I hope it had gone bad. If that's what they actually taste like... *shudder* I had to spit it out and dump the rest in a trash can.

Once done with that, things were well, and only got better. I hit my first of two low-cadence portions on a nice flat road, and I let my legs loose on it. Quickly, I was up over 20 mph, and feeling good. Also feeling good? The dog on a farm I passed. It decided to run along the road with me (who was hoping there was an invisible fence installed). And the race was on.

At first, Mr. Dog held the advantage. He got about a 10 foot lead on me, and at 22 mph, was holding me off. So, I pedaled a little harder...23...24. The gap narrowed, and he appeared to get tired. Finally, as I passed him and put a few feet in between us, he gave it up. Score one for humanity.

Again, I underestimated the effect of the wind out in the flat farmland. When I turned to come back home, it hit me, and the second low-cadence section was a grind. I wish I had video of one farm's windmill, which was spinning like crazy, and pointing exactly the same direction I was riding. That may have been the same farm with miniature ponies out front. I couldn't figure out a way to have them pull me, but given more time, I think I could come up with something.

Eventually, my 90 minutes came to a close, as evidenced by the joyous little song on my Garmin. The only problem? I was still 20 minutes from home. So, my 90 minutes turned into a 1:51 ride. When I finally got home, I was beat.

On Sunday, I was not looking forward to my 70 minute run. Funny enough, it ended up being a very good, comfortable run in zones 1-2. I wound up covering a little over 7 miles, which isn't bad for me in those zones. Chalk up one good workout for the weekend to bring some positive energy for the week ahead!

Everyone Knows It's Windy

2008-10-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

Except me. I went out for a ride today, and was feeling really good for the first 30 minutes or so. I felt like I was cruising pretty easily, and keeping a good pace.

Then I turned.

Roads that last week were an easy 17-18 mph became 10-11 today. It was all I could do to keep my cadence over 90, like my coach asked me to do. I guess I should have known that the first couple roads were too good to be true.

The other part of the prescribed ride, though? The important part? I did just fine, thank you very much.

On the way home, I was spinning my way along, and passed a guy on a mountain bike wearing a backpack. I didn't think anything of it until a minute later, when he passed me back, pedaling furiously! I'm self confident enough that I didn't feel any need to race him, despite his obvious attempt at it.

But...I did anyway. One big gear later, and he was nowhere to be seen by the next stoplight. :)

T-Minus 8 Months

2008-10-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

I actually missed it yesterday, but I wanted to start a series of these posts so I can look back and see my progress. Yesterday marked 8 months out from Ironman.

Biggest Challenge This Month:

I think the biggest challenge in October was simply getting back to training. After Muncie, I took a fair amount of time off other than a little pre-Reach the Beach training. Swimming, especially, has been tough to recover; my form left me quickly after a couple months of neglect, but is starting to come back a bit now.

Biggest Success This Month:

Since there haven't really been any "epic" workouts or anything so far, one success has been building up a little bit of a base without the usual nagging injuries I seem to get when starting out.

However, the biggest success for me has been finding some mental toughness to get in nearly all my workouts. I'm usually pretty bad at this, but maybe the magnitude of the race has scared me into it. Other than the week I was sick, I've only missed one workout without making it up later.

How I Feel About Training:

Pretty good so far! I'm really excited to be working with my coach Liz, and look forward to seeing what's next. I'm starting to feel my body adapting to the training, and not just by being hungry and sleepy. :)

How I Feel About The Race:

It's still a long way off, and doesn't seem very real at this point. The longest I've ever trained for anything to this point is probably about 4 months. Watching Meredith train hard and speed through her race has inspired me to want to be faster, and not just plod across the line. That said, I'll gladly accept a 16:59:59 finish if that's what it takes.

What's Next?

Heart rate training next week. I've never done anything with a heart rate monitor before, so I'll be really interested to see how it goes. I'm also trying to convince my coach to let me run a 4 mile race on Thanksgiving.

Also very important: finding a place to stay in Coeur D'Alene. If anyone out there has a good recommendation for lodging for two (hopefully not excessively pricey), let me know!

8 Months Out Theme Song:

"Eight Days A Week", The Beatles

Chosen because it is also the answer to the question, "How often will Dave be swimming/biking/running from here on out?"

Cold Play

2008-10-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

No, not the band. The weekend!

It was good news for Meredith this weekend, as the temperature in Columbus fell off a cliff to the 60s. She, after all, was running the Columbus Marathon on Sunday!

Before we got there, we had a Saturday of fun and rest. Our niece was playing in a soccer game conveniently located in a town just over an hour by bike from our house. My scheduled workout? A 75 minute bike ride. Charlie and I got up early and left the house about 7:45 AM. Now, I've never really trained in the winter. And I *certainly* haven't ridden a bike in cold weather before. Just a few minutes out, I found myself wishing that I had more than three layers on, or at least something to break the chilly morning winds. Once I got going, my core was fine, but my fingers and toes were not! (This led to a trip to my local Roll store to pick up some booties for future rides.)

I'd never ridden this way before, so it was sight unseen as to how the little back roads I was taking would look. The course ended up not being too bad, though it was uphill most of the way, and on a one way ride, there's no "at least it'll be downhill on the way back" with which to comfort yourself. One of the roads got a little rough, too, but was more of an "uggityuggityuggityuggity" rough, as opposed to the end of the Muncie race's "ka-CHUNK ka-CHUNK ka-CHUNK" of crack repairs. A few stretches, though, were new blacktop, which just feels like heaven on a bike.

Meredith met me out at the...um...pitch?, and got me some warm clothes (whew, much better) in which to watch the soccer match. After that, it was back home for the first lazy Saturday in a long while, and a chance to watch our Buckeyes beat up on Michigan State.

Sunday was marathon day, and we were downtown really early this year for the 7:30 start. I'll let you read Meredith's report for the details, but suffice it to say that she ran a great race, and hit her goal of 3:30. I was really proud of her for achieving it after putting in so much hard work.

And what better way to celebrate than to go out for a run of my own? I hit the trails at a local park for an hour run. Let's just say that cross country is not my strength, and I may have booed out loud when I came upon a couple flights of unexpected stairs on one of the trails. After an hour, I had gone just over 6 miles, which isn't too bad for the terrain and for trying to keep it at a fairly easy pace.

Today's my first brick (bike-run) of the training plan, which I'm actually looking forward to quite a bit. Next week begins the harder training, as well as heart rate testing. I'm not exactly sure what that will entail, but the words "Here be dragons" from old maps come to mind...

Good Ol' Charlie Brown

2008-10-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

If I said that my race number from Muncie was still on my bike, would that give any indication of how much I've ridden since July? Okay, there were a couple little rides in there, but they involved things like stops at Starbucks for hot chocolate...I'm not sure that counts.

Today, the number came off, the helmet went on, and Charlie and I hit the road again. My first ride of Ironman training was a 60 minute easy ride, and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day for a spin on the bike. The temperature was just a little brisk, the sky was completely blue, and the wind stayed to a minimum. I decided to reprise the course for my first ride in the Muncie training plan and ride out past Abercrombie headquarters.

Since it was just an easy ride, I didn't go into aero position very much; I just took in the day. Other than a few cars starting left turns into me before hitting their brakes, the traffic was light, and I was able to pick a high cadence and stick with it. Because the traffic was a little too light, I had to push my way over one-footed to the crossing buttons for one of the stoplights, or I never would have gotten across. 32 minutes out, I hit my turn and headed back home. My cadence meter decided to flake out on me (18 rpm? Really? That must be the biggest gear ever if I'm going 19 mph on flat ground!), but I tried to keep it light and easy back through town, and hit the driveway at 59 minutes.

One thing I learned today: Cool Mint Chocolate Clif Bars are my new favorite bike fuel. Today's ride wasn't one that really needed a mid-ride bar, but riding at 1:00 without lunch demanded some calories. This flavor will definitely be making the trip with me on all future long rides.

I didn't realize how much I had missed riding. It's so nice to do a workout that isn't in the same 4 miles that most of my runs take place in, or in the pool. Now, if I can just keep enjoying my bike this much, I might just make it through those six hour rides I'll be doing in the spring!

Belated Beginning Report

2008-10-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

I really hope getting back to training keeps me healthy. Ever since Muncie, I haven't been able to make it more than a few weeks without problems.

I'm now working with a coach, Elizabeth (Fedofsky) Waterstraat, who's a pro triathlete based out of Chicago. Very excited to see what her training can push me to accomplish!

On Monday, Ironman training kicked off with a 2200m swim. Close to a mile and a half for the first workout, eh? I was a little worried since I hadn't been in the pool for a while, but it actually went pretty well. Even then, I was starting to feel a little sick, and my stamina tapered off before I finished, but finishing wasn't any problem.

The problem came the next morning, when I woke up with a massive cold, which (as always) turned into sinus issues. Sigh. So, I've been laid up with that until yesterday, and I think today I can finally get back to my plan.

Coeur D'Alene, here I come. Take two.

I'm No Financial Expert...

2008-09-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

But wouldn't a...um...slightly more generous bailout package do more good?

Last Weekend of Freedom

2008-09-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost here. Ironman training officially starts Monday. We've got a wedding to attend and shoot this weekend, so Sunday will be my only day of rest before it gets underway.

Let's hope it goes better than this guy's training:

Race Report - Reach The Beach 2008

2008-09-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

Or, "Piscataway home to Columbus?"

Thursday morning, nine of our twelve teammates gathered at Port Columbus airport to begin our journey to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. We picked up Bob in Cleveland, where we connected for our flight to Manchester. There, Steve joined us by car (he drove 7 hours to meet us), and one van stuck around Manchester to pick up Mandy, our final teammate, that evening. We got some groceries (okay, peanut butter M&Ms), and drove up towards the mountains.

After checking into our home away from home, the beautiful Profile Deluxe hotel (also our namesake), our van went up to Cannon Mountain to get signed in for the race. It was cold up there! We went through the orientation meeting, got our shirts, and got back to the hotel. Usually, we all go out to a bar/restaurant across the street for some pool, darts, and other entertainment. This year, though, we were pretty tired, and just got some dinner and went back to get some rest before the big day.

Morning broke, bringing more cold weather, low overcast skies, and some light rain. The race course changed this year, and actually ran right by our hotel. The team grabbed some plastic chairs and brought them out to the curb to cheer on the early teams. The first waves of runners started at 7:30 AM, while we weren't due to start until 2:40 PM. It's a long time to sit around watching other people run, but we always seem to make it an entertaining time. Unfortunately, Meredith had caught a cold, so she missed some of the entertainment while taking a nap.

Finally, 1:30 rolled around, and we packed up for the long hours ahead. A quick trip back up to Cannon Mountain, and we were ready to cheer Mandy on for the first leg of the race. Each twelve person team is packed into two vans. We were van two, so while van one stuck around for support, we jumped ahead a bit to grab some lunch and fuel up for the evening. We found a Quizno's on the course, and sat outside watching more runners go by. Meredith hadn't brought a sweatshirt, and it was so cold that we bought her one there. (It's got a moose on it, and says "Live Free Or Die!")

I was leg seven, the first runner for van two. So, before I knew it, I was standing at the transition area at the Attitash Ski Resort, ready to take the handoff. (The baton is actually a slap bracelet. Remember those?)

I'm the slowest runner on our team, so I'm always eager to hit my estimated times. It was nearing twilight as I began my run, and it had just begun to drizzle. Leg 7 was a 7.2 mile run that went up through "The Notch", as the locals told me afterward. It was too dark and foggy to see any of the scenery, though. Almost immediately, two men passed me, and were gone. A couple more trickled by within the first couple miles. As we wound around the side of the mountain, a pair of women passed me, and I managed to hold on to their pace for a bit. They would gain on me on the uphills, but I was flying down the downhills while they were playing it safe, and kept I ending up right behind them. Eventually, though, they pulled away, and one other woman passed me as well. The course instructions told me I'd be turning at mile 5, but that turn ended up being more like 6.7 miles into the run. Thank goodness I knew my road names this time! During my run, the drizzle also turned into a steady, heavy rain. It didn't feel too bad, but it's really distracting when you have a headlamp on illuminating the drops right in front of your face. By the finish line, I could see a headlamp behind me, but I managed to hold them off. The transition area was a blur of flashing lights and sound after a dark run in the woods, and it took me a few moments to find Bridget, our next runner.

Leg 7 - 7.2 miles
Pre-race Estimate: 1:04:00
Actual Time: 1:04:00 (8:53/mile)
Roadkill: -7 (+0, -7)

After my first run, I found a slice of pizza at the fundraising stand for the school at which we were handing off. It tasted amazing.

The rest of our van's runs went off without a hitch, and we raced ahead to the next point at which we'd run to try and get some sleep. My next run was estimated to start at 4:00 AM, and we arrived there at 1:30 AM, so we wouldn't get much. I decided to sleep in the van, because I was worried that I wouldn't hear my watch alarm. Soon enough, we got the call from van 1 that they were on their way, and I had to hurry to get ready for my run.

My second run, leg 19, was a 4.4 mile run, with some hills. The first half mile or so began uphill, but then the next three miles were a nice steady downhill. This leg, other than extremely high humidity, was beautiful running weather...felt like mid 50s, and no rain. Again, I was passed twice early, but then it finally happened. Five legs into my RTB career, I finally caught a runner! I'd add two more before that downhill was over. After the descent, though, we took a sharp right and began a sharp uphill. Another runner was in sight ahead of me, and I tried to chase her down on the hill. My stomach, however, decided it had had quite enough, and mutinied. I never (quite) lost my lunch, but had to walk a bit to get everything settled, and got passed by one more guy. After that incident, I managed to coast into the next handoff, and was excited about my time. I had worked hard during that leg, and it showed.

Leg 19 - 4.4 miles
Pre-race Estimate: 40:00
Actual Time: 36:17 (8:14/mile)
Roadkill: 0 (+3, -3)

When I finished, I was informed that one of our runners was missing. They had to leave the last transition area without him to pick me up and drop off our next runner, so we headed back. Eventually, we found him standing with a couple members of our other van. He had overslept, and received quite the abuse for the rest of the race over it. :) Thankfully, the leg after mine was over 9 miles, so we still had time to get down there and do the next handoff without interruption.

The next set of legs are really kind of a blur, as I was dozing off during a few of them. I think sleep deprivation was setting in for all of us.

I do distinctly remember doing a U-Turn and stopping at a Dunkin Donuts during Meredith's run. She was giving us a thumbs up, but after she saw what we were doing, I'm not so sure it was her thumb anymore...

Morning broke again during our legs, and we handed off to the other van in a suddenly hot and sunny day. Far from buying new sweatshirts, now we were all putting on sunscreen and trying to stay hydrated. We all tried to find some shade and get a little rest before we brought the race down to the shore. My last leg was 2.5 miles, and it ended up being a nice flat/slight downhill run for the entire distance. My goal was just to bring it in under 8:00 miles. My calves had cramped up pretty badly from the first two legs, so I had to work at it. I only saw one other runner on this leg of the race, and I passed her pretty easily. The transition area finally appeared, and I handed off just under my goal.

Leg 31 - 2.5 miles
Pre-race Estimate: 20:00
Actual Time: 19:35 (7:50/mile)
Roadkill: +1 (+1, -0)

We wound down through the coastal towns, and before we knew it, we were cheering Nathan in for the last few steps of the entire 200+ miles. Most of us took the opportunity to hop in the ocean (who needs an ice bath?), and enjoy the afternoon before heading back for pizza and some much needed sleep. Our team did very well this year. We finished in 25:45:37, a 7:23/mile average. That was good enough for 29th place out of 356 teams finishing the course.

But then, the adventure really started.

Our Contintental Airlines flight from Manchester went off without a hitch, getting us to Newark around 11:30 on Sunday. We were scheduled to have a connecting flight just before 2:00 PM. The staff informed us that there was a mechanical problem with our airplane, and the flight coming in from Mexico City would now be our plane. So, we waited three more hours in the terminal. Then, they said that the flight crew had been on duty too long, so they were cancelling our flight. Didn't they know that three hours earlier?!

Everyone scrambled to the customer service counter, and our team scattered. Five of our teammates who absolutely had to be home the next morning rented a car and drove the 8+ hours home from Newark...ugh. The rest of us took the hotel vouchers and spent the night in Piscataway, NJ at the Radisson. Down in the lobby, there were a multitude of women in short, short dresses, and had obviously had some...um...work done. We were guessing either prostitutes or adult film stars, but Google says it was a pro wrestling convention/dinner. Everyone but Meredith and I got on a flight to Cleveland at 6:00 AM, while we were back on the same 2:00 flight in the afternoon.

We made sure to use up all our meal vouchers on lunch, ice cream, and anything else we could find. Eventually, we were left with $16, and I went to McDonalds and told them to give me as many bottles of water as it could buy. The cashier didn't look amused, but I got 7 bottles out of it to bring home. :)

At 2:00, the Continental rep announced that some of the flight crew never showed up. We thought sure that we were spending another night in Piscataway, but eventually they found a replacement. Only 28.5 hours after arriving in Newark, we were finally on our way home.

When we got to Columbus, we found that the storms in Ohio had knocked out the power for half the city, including our house. The estimate was potentially a week to get it back, but thankfully, we woke this morning to blinking alarm clocks and a working fan.

Hey, it wouldn't be Reach the Beach without stories. It was another great year!

Beach Bound!

2008-09-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Time for some fun in the sun!

Or maybe rain. And 50 degree weather. And living free and running at 4:29 AM, if the estimated schedule holds true.

Must be time for Reach the Beach! My cold (and then antibiotic-requiring sinus infection) took me completely out of my training plan for about a week and a half, so I'm way behind on the miles I hoped to get in before the race. All those grand plans about speed work? Umm...yeah, not so much.

So, I went out and did 3 miles yesterday, at about an 8:50 pace (without stopping the watch during a couple stretch stops for my stubborn shins). Not a bad pace for my training runs, but I was putting out an awful lot of effort to get there. That has me a little worried for the 7.2 mile run that I kick off with on Friday. At this point, I'll just have to rely on the couple runs longer than that I managed before getting sick. The plan now is just to get in a couple more runs at an easy pace before we leave, and hope for the best.

And if the best includes an OSU victory to cap off Saturday evening, even better! Go Buckeyes!

Ken Lee

2008-08-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know this is a few months old, but I hadn't seen it until yesterday. It's a clip from the Bulgarian version of American Idol. If anyone else out there hasn't seen it...enjoy! (And I actually went to high school with someone named Ken Lee, which made it doubly funny)

On The Road Again

2008-08-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Going places that...well, I've been quite a few times before, actually. I finally got back to a consistent workout schedule. The past week was:

4.5 miles of sprints
The Dogipot 5 Miler
3 mile hard run
8 mile "long" run
A tough swim workout.
1.5 miles of 400s to help keep Meredith going during her long run.

And the reward for all that moderately hard work?

A cold.

Gosh darn it. *blows nose* Here's hoping it goes away before this weekend of OSU alumni band and IM spectating.

I got my tentative leg assignments for Reach the Beach, too. I'll have 7.2, 4.4, and 2.5 mile legs, assuming I decide to actually run the right course this year...

Absence

2008-08-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. An intense work schedule and lack of interesting things to write about have kept me away from the new post button.

This week will be my return to consistent training, as we gear up for Reach the Beach 2008. I'm going to pick up a half marathon plan for the last few weeks. Meredith and I hit the track on Monday, and my legs felt pretty good for not being on a consistent plan right now. I did about 4.5 miles in intervals, and found that I can hit a pretty good 400m speed (for me), but that my endurance at that speed is pretty low compared to last year when I was in marathon training. So, I've got three weeks to get that built up a little bit.

We got to use the King's Island tickets that Meredith won last year this week. Going during the week is definitely the way to go! Pretty much every ride was a 10 minute wait or less. Even better, I didn't get a nasty sunburn this time around like our last trip there. :)

We're also going to try and get down to Louisville for the Ironman in 2 weeks. We've never seen one in person, and I'd love to get a feel for the event before trying it myself!

Don't Taze Me, Bro!

2008-07-31T05:37:00.000-07:00

Last night, Meredith and I went down to one of our favorite cheap dinners: $4 burger night at a local Irish pub. Now that we're on a tighter budget with her quitting her job, we've got to look for those inexpensive ways to get out once in a while. There were a couple people ahead of us on the waiting list, so the hostess handed us one of those little things that buzz when your table is ready. We found a local paper on a bar shelf, and were reading it while we waited.

Fifteen minutes turned out to be more like two. Our pager never buzzed, but a woman came to show us to the table. She never asked for it, and I didn't see another hostess, so I just carried it with me to the table. After she laid down our menus, she turned around and said she'd be back for our drink orders in a second. I replied with, "Great, and I'll just give you this.", and held out the pager for her.

She jumped back.

I held it out again.

With a tinge of panic in her voice, she held up her hands and said "What is that thing?!"

Okay, now I was really getting confused! I held it out a third time and said, "Umm...it's our pager for the table."

Finally, she realized what was going on. It turned out that it was her first day working there, and in her defense, we were just talking last week about how much their pagers look like stun guns.

Pager:

Stun Gun:

She was (quite deservedly) teased mercilessly by both the staff and other patrons the entire time we were there. Afterward, she said she was ready to hand over all her tips when she saw it.

Hmm...

Maybe we have a way to make a little money on the side after all!

Help Me, Bob the Builder!

2008-07-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I was working on our photobooth, and had to go to Home Depot for some wood. I got my 1x2s, came home, did a couple test runs on scrap, and got ready for my real cuts.

I measured twice.

I cut once.

I put it all together, and it didn't fit. Why not? Because I apparently needed to do the math three times first.

So I had to take the walk of shame back to Home Depot. (Fortunately, it's maybe half a mile from our house)

Yes, you just saw me.

Yes, I'm buying more of what I just came in for 15 minutes ago.

*sigh*

I haven't done any training of significance since the race, but I think it's about time to get back in the saddle. My knees are feeling much better, I'm walking like a normal person again, and I'd like to find maybe one more race to do this summer. I'm thinking olympic distance, but haven't ruled out another half completely.

Muncie Pictures!

2008-07-17T12:36:00.001-07:00

Out of the lake, just before the storms hit.

Fuzzy from the rain, but still moving along...

Why do I have knee issues when I run? Oh, maybe because I fling my feet out to the side, apparently?

Race Report - Muncie Endurathon

2008-07-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

Or, "Charlie Brown vs. the Muncie Parks and Rec Department"

So this was it. The culmination of all those hours of training, all the hours in the pool, on the country roads, and around the neighborhood.

We rolled into Muncie around noon on Friday and checked into our hotel after lunch. I'm glad to report that there was no evidence of the "cat pee" report from TripAdvisor. We did, however, get a smoking room. As much as we wanted to light up the day before our race, we wanted more for our room to smell halfway decent. The solution? Our last coconut scented pine tree car air freshener! We hung it off the coat rack, and by Saturday our room smelled like coconut and smoke instead of just smoke.

By order, Meredith (and thus both of us) were to go down to the race site and get in a practice swim, bike, and run. With a little friendly talk, we were able to get into the beach area without paying the admission fee, and walked down to the start location. The only bad part? Only the normal swimming area was open, so our spandex clad warmup swim was in amongst the locals sunning on their inflatable rafts. I'm sure we got a few strange looks. We then got in a 20 minute bike ride down the start of the course, and decided to skip the run because we were starting to feel the sun and needed some water. In the evening, we got some pasta at Olive Garden among flocks of people with numbers on their arms, got our things ready, and got to bed early.

Race day started out fairly uneventfully. The water temperature was 80°, so no wetsuits for us for the first time. We took the back roads in, got all our gear set up, and were about to head back to the car when the director called a meeting in the transition area. The weather, he said, was going to be getting dicey ("special" was his word) in about three hours, and they were going to put the start waves only 3 minutes apart. That meant a quick trip to the car and back, and no time for me to warm up. By the time we got to the beach, the first wave was off, and my fourth wave was lining up. We said our goodbyes and good lucks, and I was down to the beach. This was the most nervous I've probably ever been before a race, both because of the length of the race itself, and the threat of the weather.

I placed myself near the back of my wave, and planned to stay wide at the turns. I still managed to take a kick straight to my goggles (fortunately, it was so direct that they didn't even move), and one to my side (which the other swimmer apologized for - unneeded, but appreciated). The course was a near-triangle, and most of the bumping was just in the first leg. It was also some pretty choppy water thanks to the wind. I took one big wave in the face, which caused the only time I had to flip over and cough it out for a few seconds.

On the middle leg, the wind was at our back, and because I swung wide, I had a really nice clean swim. I really felt like I was moving well here. Because it was such a long stretch, you couldn't see the next buoy at first, so I sighted off the boats that were lined up along the course. I apparently did a really good job of sighting, because at one point I looked up, and I was about 2 yards from a head on collision with a big boat. The captain was standing out on the prow of it (I assume to make sure I was okay if I hit it), and we shared a chuckle as I made my way around the side instead.

At the second turn, I made my only big mistake of the swim. I went too wide, and due to the chop, I caused myself to have to swim against the current most of the way back. I'd sight, think I was going the right way, but then the next time I looked up, I would be off course again. Still, when I finally hit shore, I looked at my watch and saw it at 39 minutes or so! I ran up the long ramp to transition, quite happy and surprised with that time. I'll be a little greedy and wish I had done it 24 seconds faster, so it could start with a 3. :)

Swim: 40:23

As I was running up the ramp, it was drizzling a bit, and during transition, it got heavier. I did a much better job of preparing my things for transition this time, and got in and out probably the best of any race so far.

T1: 2:55

I wasn't on the bike course two minutes before I saw the first lightning bolt of the day. What happened to three hours before the weather hit us? Then, it got worse.

BOOM!

I saw the bolt back and to my right, and the thunder was almost on top of it. All I could think about was Meredith, and that she was probably still in the water since she was a couple waves behind me. I hoped they'd pulled out the swimmers, but I hoped they hadn't, because I didn't want her race day ruined. (Later, we heard secondhand that they did pull people out, but let them continue. Not sure what exactly happened there)

Not knowing what was going on back there, I decided I'd keep on with the ride. However, I felt like I was having trouble getting in the right gear. I was bouncing in the saddle, which usually means I'm in too easy of a gear. I upshifted, and was still bouncing. Tried again...still bouncing. Something wasn't right. My tire didn't look flat, but I pulled over to the side of the trail and dismounted to check it by hand.

Squish.

Uh oh.
Number of times I've changed a tire on Charlie Brown: 0
Number of times I've changed a rear tire on any bike: 0

Fortunately, someone had a camera on me.

The other issue compounding matters was that we were on the local rails-to-trails path, which had zero shoulder room - both sides were ditches. I got as far off as I could, and was still trying to figure out how in the world to change my tire in there when I heard a scraping sound and looked back. Another biker hadn't been paying attention, looked up and saw me, swerved, hit the gravel, and went down into the ditch. I went back with a couple other bikers who stopped and tried to help him out. Thank goodness, he seemed mostly okay - a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing broken. I really hope he made it the rest of the day...I felt awful, but I didn't know what I could have done differently.

Finally, I found a place where someone had laid a couple wood planks across one of the ditches where I could get out to the main road. I set up next to a police officer manning an intersection, and proceeded to teach myself how to change a rear tire (in a thunderstorm). Muncie's rules state that you can have zero outside help on mechanical issues, or else be disqualified. Even the race people can't help you. The sag wagon did stop by and let me know to radio them if I couldn't get it fixed, and they'd come and pick me up. So, there were two ways out. Figure out how to fix it, or go home.

After a little trial and error, I got the wheel off, but I didn't have tools with me, and the tire was too tight to get over the rim by hand. I looked around for a stick or anything else to help. The best I could find was a dead turtle. No, I didn't use that. Then I realized I had my sunglasses. I used one of the ends to pry under the tire, and finally got it off the rim. I got the new one on, hit my first CO2 cartridge, and hoped for the best. With a whoosh, it filled, and seemed to be holding air. I tried a second cartridge, but it just blew out its gasket, so the tire was as full as it was going to get.

While I was over there, I saw Meredith go by, which eased my mind that she had made it out of the water. She did her best Mr. Bill ("Ooohhh Noooooo!"). After the first turnaround for her, she saw me again, and handed off the car key in case I didn't make it. At the time, she hadn't realized that I was still going out on the first leg since I was over on the other road. When I hopped back on, my tire held, and my shifters seemed okay.

So. 40+ minutes into the bike leg, and I had made it maybe 5 miles. I had some serious work to do. By now, the lightning was at least more intermittent, but the wind and rain would keep up for almost the whole bike leg. I grabbed a bottle of gatorade (on the fly, thank you very much!) from the next aid station to replace my aerobottle that had spilled out during the change. I wasn't sure exactly what to do with my nutrition plan since I hadn't been riding continuously, and ended up making the executive decision to postpone everything 30 minutes from the original plan.

My challenge now was to stay positive, knowing very well that my 6 hour goal was out the window. I did my best, singing to myself, aiming to catch people ahead of me, and being as friendly and positive as I could to the volunteers and to everyone I passed. I also tried to race as if my delay hadn't happened, and see if I could hit my 3 hour goal minus that time. Because I didn't hit the split on my watch during the flat episode, I'm not sure if I made it, but I think I worked hard and came darn close. One woman out on the course asked me to tow her back, so I must have looked halfway decent. I said yes, if she ran for me, but she declined. :(

Fun fact: I ended up with the slowest bike split of any (non-wetsuit) finisher!

Bike: 3:34:52 (15.6 MPH)
Bike Minus Delay Estimate: 3:00-ish? (18.6 MPH)

T2 was pretty uneventful other than a quick bathroom stop. Meredith had given the excellent suggestion of putting my run shoes and socks in a plastic bag, so at least I was starting out with somewhat dry feet.

T2: 4:22

As soon as I hit the run course, my stomach tied in knots. I had a tough time getting as much gel down as I was supposed to, but I think I managed three during the run. My pace started off around 9:00-9:30, which was about right. I walked the water stops, and ran in between, which was a pretty successful strategy. Until mile 9 or so, I held onto that, and then I started walking a few of the rolling uphills and chatting with other runners. I imagine that if I was still challenging the 6 hour goal, I would have pushed a little harder, but as it was, I just decided to enjoy myself. My miles on the way back were closer to an 11 minute pace, for the most part.

One little girl at an aid station, after handing me a cold towel, asked the adults there, "Was he the last one?". I looked back with a chuckle and said "No!". Around mile 11 or 12, I passed the first person from my wave I had seen since the beginning of the bike, so I knew I wasn't going to be last after all...one little win in a long day. Finally, I saw Meredith up ahead cheering for me, and I knew I was almost done. I had resolved to run the last hill up to the finish, and I did. It was even the first race that I got my name announced at the finish line.

More than my first marathon, this finish really impacted me. For that race, I had to walk almost half of it because of knee issues, and so it was a little anticlimactic. In Muncie, I had to fight the elements as well as some rotten luck, and I still persevered through it and met 3 of the 4 goals I had set before the race. The only thing that really frustrated me was that the way things ended up, Meredith and I very well might have gotten to finish together, which would have been unexpected and nice. Still, I'm really proud of myself for getting through it, and despite everything, I enjoyed it.

Run: 2:21:22 (10:47/mile)

Total: 6:43:55 (42/44 Age Group, 510/590 overall)

Unofficial Results

2008-07-12T16:29:00.001-07:00

6:43 by my watch, but boy are there stories to tell about it!

I'll try to post a report soon, probably tomorrow after some pizza and sleep. :)

Off To Muncie!

2008-07-11T04:46:00.000-07:00

We're off this morning to make the drive out to Muncie. The plan is to get in a workout on location, and then get some good pasta. (Read: Olive Garden)

My tentative goal is 6 hours, but I totally understand that anything can happen in a race this long, so it's only tentative.

Goals:

1. Have fun! This is a new experience, so make sure to enjoy it.
2. Finish.
3. Finish in 7:00 (0:50 swim, 3:30 bike, 2:30 run)
4. Finish in 6:00 (0:45 swim, 3:00 bike, 2:00 run)

My gut feeling is that the run is the most variable of the three, and it looks like it'll be a hot one. My bottle holder for the bike is as tight as I can get it, so the plan is to have some better hydration and nutrition than in the Deer Creek tri. With any luck, it'll be a fun 13.1 mile victory lap, rather than a death march. :)

Taper Time!

2008-07-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

So...what do you write about when it's time to cut back the miles?

Meredith and I went out for our last big ride last week - a three hour trip out into the countryside. Fifteen minutes in, my IT band was hurting. For anyone new to the blog, that's been my achilles heel in training ever since my first marathon. In fact, why does Achilles get his own body part? From now on, it's the Dave band.

Anyway, I did complete the ride. The soreness let up for a good portion of it, but came back by the end. I took a couple days off with ice, tried a run on Friday, and had to call it off less than a mile in. If I can't run evenly, I figure it's probably doing more harm than good, and I'm not willing to risk my race to get in one last 4 mile run.

Today, I went up to the lake for a last open water swim. It was my first time up there not in a wetsuit, and I was anxious to see how much difference it made. I was happily surprised not to feel all that much change. Maybe I didn't glide quite as much, maybe I need to concentrate a little more on body position, but now I'm more confident that I can do Saturday's swim.

Of course, now that I check their site, the lake temperature is down to 76°. Maybe the wetsuit is making the trip after all?

My swim was supposed to be a continuous swim. One problem, though? I forgot my goggles at home, a 30 minute drive away. To make the best of the situation, I swam with my eyes closed and practiced swimming in a straight line. I wasn't very good at it, ending up out by the buoys at the edge of the swimming area (or maaayybe beyond them if no local lifeguards are reading this) a couple times. Still, I think I got what I needed to out of the workout, which was more mental than physical.

My hope now is to get in a couple more light workouts before Muncie to make sure I feel okay, and to not make my Dave band feel any worse in the process. I know I'm ready - now I just need to make it to the start line in one piece!

IM Lodging Questions + Fencing End Of Season

2008-06-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

So, I'm starting to look at lodging options for Coeur D'Alene next year to get an idea of what's out there. It looks like there are a lot of options, but I'm not really sure what direction to go.

Anyone have any advice?

1. Hotel vs. House rental
2. How critical/preferable is it to be in walking distance of the transition area?
3. How long before/after race day do you like to stay?

(I'll add on if I think of anything else)

In other news, fencing season is over for a while. My club had our season-ending tournament last night, and I managed to take home a very shaky third place medal. I fenced 11 pool bouts, winning 9 of the 11. However, there were four 5-4 nail biters in those nine wins. It's sometimes a thin line between a good draw and a rough draw in the elimination round, and last night I managed to just squeak into the former category. With as little spare energy as I have in my legs right now (this being peak week for Muncie), I was quickly dispatched when I hit the first fencer ranked higher than me in the semis. Third was actually a little better than expected with as little as I've been able to make it to practice lately.

Decisions, Decisions...

2008-06-24T09:46:00.001-07:00

I went online to book us a hotel for Muncie today. Unfortunately, most in town are booked full at this point, but there were still two choices showing on TripAdvisor. Which to choose?

522,213 Minutes

2008-06-23T12:16:00.001-07:00

And so it begins.

Crazy Laps, Neighborhood Style

2008-06-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

8 x (4 min run, 10 min bike, 4 min run)

That doesn't seem so long, right? I completely did the math wrong in my head. Three hours later...

But I'm ahead of myself. I debated where to do this training day, and eventually just settled on putting my bike on the trainer, and transitioning in our foyer. Today, however, was humid. So humid that when I did get on the trainer, my sunglasses fogged up completely (yes, I had my sunglasses on indoors), and my helmet was making me sweat all over the living room. (yes, I had my helmet on indoors)

The point of today was transition practice. And practice it I did. I managed to cut about 30 seconds off from my first transition to my last, and it was changes that can be used on race day. Pretty excited about that.

Since indoors was hot and sweaty, I did the rest of the laps outdoors. Two minutes out one way, hop on the bike for a 3 mile ride around the neighborhood, and then two minutes out the other way on foot. I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what the guy running crazy laps in spandex was up to, but that's their problem. :)

I should also admit that I broke the law. Amidst all the cornering practice and short straightaways of the residential streets, I did see my bike computer hit 25.1 mph at one point. Surprisingly, I'm still a free man.

After I (finally) got done with all those reps, we were off to Meredith's family reunion. Nothing better for a post-race recovery meal than a potluck! And as Meredith will attest, I took full advantage!

That's Gonna Leave A Mark

2008-06-19T09:12:00.001-07:00

What is the one (okay, two) most important thing to remember on a training run?

Shoes? Well, yeah.
iPod? Nice to have.
Watch? Can do without if needed.

Nope, none of those. These.

Let's just say I went straight from my 90 minute tempo run to the laundry room. You'd think one of these days I'd have the whole checklist of things to remember all in my head. Sigh.

(The return trip. I'm the one in yellow.)

Other than those issues, the run was good. I can tell that I'm not as fast on the run as I am during marathon training, but yesterday was probably the strongest long run I've had this summer so far. It was a 20 minute warmup, 10x (3 min tempo, 2 min recovery), and a 20 minute cooldown. Thanks to going a bit faster than expected, my very last tempo interval came on the only uphill on the return trip. Really had to dig in to get to the end of that one.

I'm getting close to completing another piece of furniture for our house, and I'll be sure to post pics of it when I finish. I had made some desks for our loft, and now I'm making a cabinet to go between them.

In another whole level of training craziness, there might be a major announcement on Monday. Stay tuned!