Getting to the Start Line - Team Klopeda

Coming down the Mountain…

2011-11-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

It’s funny the things I’ve never done before, but already knew I’d love the second I tasted it. Like when I bought kayaks before I ever kayaked. I knew I’d love it, so why not. Same with the Grand Ridge Half Marathon race. I’d never done a trail race before, but knew if I talked myself into signing up I’d love it.

Again, like triathlon, I followed after Alley did her first and got the low down. I’ve run at Discovery, Carkeek, Redmond Water Shed, and a few others, but never in race mode.

Alley and I had scouted the course a few weeks before with a close friend and got a real idea of what an ass kicking this was going to be. I quickly noted the 3-4 places I’d have to walk – in the first 2 miles – no joke! I came away from the scout run knowing I’d have to walk plenty and that was just the way it was going to have to be in order to survive. No illusions of powering up the hills, because there was 2200’ of powering that would have to happen in 13.1. Pace yourself Grasshopper!

The morning of it was freezing, temps. in the low 30’s and snow was expected. Crap… I love the snow, but come on now it’s going to be snow bound for the next 8 months, couldn’t it just wait one more day!

Trail running seems more laidback than regular running and I didn’t have the nerves that I usually have before a tri and road race. It was a lot like the first time I did Fat Salmon and all the swimmers were just so easy going and relaxed. OK, I can do this…

Game plan: It was my first so I was pretty open to crashing and burning, but I figured if I had a game plan I might be able to pull this off and have a great time.

Start slow. Walk when it makes sense, don’t force the up hills and conserve your energy until 10 mile.

Easy…

1-2 miles went as planned, I knew from the scouting run that the hardest grade was inside the first 2 miles, about 18% for about 150 yards twice. My thought was if you race the 1^st 2 miles you’d never see the finish. So the race really wouldn’t start until the top of mile 2.

This is where that whole thing about not ever doing something but just knowing comes into play. The aid station was at mile 4ish after the big climb up to 2 you still had some steady climbing but it was rolling and ONLY and 8-9% grade. Small down hills but nothing like what I knew was up ahead. I ran through the aid station without stopping, because I wanted to pass the 2 guys in front of me because the first massive down hill was about 30 yards up the trail.

Hold on to your sh#t cause this is going to be a bumpy ride!

Now for whatever reason I’m lucky to have a fast turnover, I’m light on my feet when I run on uneven terrain, and I trust in my ability to descend. On the first down I passed by about 12 people in about 5 minutes. I was in full flight, zigzagging back and forth, over the mud puddles, over logs, it was beautiful. I must have yelled out a dozen times in excitement. It was a freaking blast! I watched everyone else going down hill and it seemed tense and timid. I wanted noting to do with that, gravity was my bitch finally, I wasn’t slowing down for nothing!

The turn around was at the bottom of what I think was a 1.5 mile drop, which means, yeah, 1.5 miles back up. I walked, as was the plan, most of this and knew I just had to make it back to the aid station. In all I’d only been past once, after mile 2, then again just before getting back to the aid station. But that was OK.

My plan was to be conservative until the turn off back to finish, which was about mile 10. Then it would be game on with about 700 feet of elevation to drop in a about 2.5 miles before the finish.

Unfortunately, that’s when I felt the heat start rolling behind my eyes and the aching start up through the backs of my arms. Are you kidding me, is this a fever I’m feeling? Crap!

I was running with 5 other people starting the downhill and quickly lost two in the first few turns of Mr. Toads Wild Ride. The legs were feeling great and as long as I could keep my balance I was in good shape. It’s pretty amazing carrying that amount of speed through such tight turns over puddles and rocks. My garmin had us at 7:15 pace. I thought that was totally nuts considering there wasn’t a straight section more than 20-25 yards long without having to change direction.

Finally!

There was a really big fallen tree, about 40 ft long, really hard to miss, that I remembered from the scouting run that meant the end was near. Up a tragic little hill, then straight down, hard hard left, into a unavoidable puddle. Then .6 miles of flat, flat, damn flat road to the finish.

I couldn’t of hit the last puddle any worse, pole vaulted with a firm planting of my right leg that put a pretty good jolt through the system. At this point I was only about 2 seconds behind the guy in front of me. I had visions of hitting the last stretch and picking up a 7 minute pace and pulling away from the guy I’d been switching turns with for the last 2 miles. BUT NOOO, that’s actually when the damn fever I’d forgotten about decided to flip me the bird as I grinded to a 10:22 pace and started sweating from every point on my body.

Running on empty...

I kept thinking, ‘you’re doing fine, don’t give in, don’t quit’. Then I almost started laughing while I keep thing at the same time ‘ARE you kidding!?!? A F**king fever now!’ I thought it was all happening in slow motion, but no that was just my pace. The legs just would not move. The two people behind me raced by about 50 yards from the finish and I couldn’t generate anything, full on white wash of emptiness. Sadness…

The up shot was it was an amazing amazing race. It was my first trail run and I had a freaking blast. The down hills rocked and felt like they were part of some insane carnival ride. A guy that I was running with asked how long I’d been trail running because I had great technique. I laughed and said it was my first and he had that ‘shit, wait,what’ look on his face and said ‘I had major crashes on my first four, nice job”

It was a nice job, I grabbed 23rd out of 167 at 2:13:03 I was guessing 2:10 based on last years finishing times and was extremely happy w/ the outcome. I can always tell that “another” is born when I hear them say ‘next time I need to add this or that to my training’ and yes I have plenty to add to my training before this one next year.

Where did the time go?

2011-09-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Last month Alley and I went to volunteer and support up at Ironman Canada. Hard to believe that it’s been a year since we’d been up there under totally different reasons. It’s exciting, nervous; the knowing in less than a night’s sleep you’ll be willingly putting your body through some serious moments, possibly damage, even if the day goes as planned. And wanting to screaming “What the f@#k did I get myself into?” However, we were just up supporting and volunteering this year. Phew!

Driving into town we took the route that the marathon runs. My feelings were mixed, I was happy that Alley got to see the course, but also felt anxious as all the feelings of last year’s ass beating suddenly started to make my leg throb. Driving through the turn-around wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I really didn’t think it would be an issue at all, but was totally wrong. Driving through it, it just felt like this is where the worst could and did happen.

Total meltdown 13 miles away from everything and everyone, and only being able to do 16 minute miles at best to get back. That’s 16 plus 16 for 32, 32 times 2 is 64. Add 2 minutes per mile for Porta Johns and aid stations. That’s 64 plus 8 = 72 minutes for 4 miles. What comes to 4 into 13.1, 3x for 216 minutes and 1 mile at 16 minutes for a grand total of = 232 minutes, plus the few extra minutes ( in case something goes wrong)*(wronger?). So 240 minutes / 60 = 4

From the turnaround I had 4 hours best case scenario.

This crazy math is what I couldn’t shake as I walked last year. Over and over and over and over and over………. and over....

Anyways back to this year…phew

It was great to be up in the atmosphere of the event. Alley and I went to the Peach, of course, and walked around a bit with a giant slushy in the 90+ degree weather. I knew seeing the water that any questions I’d had about not doing this again in 2012 was out the window.

I had Alley’s support in ’10, but this time around I think we both understand the magnitude of this decision. This means months of training 1^st, everything else an unwilling 2^nd. That always seems like some funny bumper sticker saying, however, the truth of the matter is far from funny. Time away on the bike, swim or run means time away from everything else. Everything, everyone. That’s a hard thing to sign up for again. And it’s not like after all the training it’s a given that …. well, nevermind that

Talking w/ Alley she fully understood and even said it before I did. ‘You can’t leave a race knowing you have unfinished business on it…you know you’ll have to go back and own it’ So with that I told her 2012, regardless of the outcome would be the last 140.6 for a long while. And really, last year I got passed by a 79 year old, plenty of time to do another one down the road.

Going Up.....

2011-08-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with my bike again. I know it’s crazy to think that, but hey there are worse things. This last weekend I got to ride in an event called “Ride the Hurricane” only an 18 mile ride. However, you climb 5100’ up to the top of Hurricane Ridge in Port Angeles!

Now, I’ve always been a climber and always loved going up. Yes when the Tours on I get up at 4:30 in the morning to watch the mountain stages and yell, I mean yell at the TV when Lance, Contador, or Andy (well maybe not Andy), maybe Al Val would charge off and attack on a climb.

Photo 2009 Ena/AP

My hill repeat course is a one mile 200ft hill that is over in the Blue Ridge hood that has a few 14-16% thrown in to keep me honest. I’ll be on the 1^st lap and think, as I laugh to myself: think this sucks, wait until the 3^rd & 4th laps. I have this way of compartmentalizing when I’m training. The legs are working down there, focus on what’s important: breathing, nutrition, pace.

Riding up to Hurricane Ridge was something I wanted to do now for the last 4 years and just never had the time to figure out how.

Now I’ve done a few mountain passes like Loop Loop, Richter Pass, Waconda Pass and did 4-6 miles of climbing before, but 18! I was excited and just a bit scared. However, that all changed when we rolled into town and saw the road leading up to the snow packed top. I instantly thought, “This is going to be so cool!”

Starting off that morning, it was Kevin, a friend from TN Multisport, Tony, Alleys brother, and myself. I wanted to stay as paced as possible and not feel too rushed for fear of going out too fast. With a climb you have to remember it never gets easier, it just doesn’t suck as bad in some areas as others.

The mist was heavy at the beginning, but you could tell it was going to burn off pretty quickly as the sun rose. I kept thinking how maybe a compact wasn’t the best idea for the climb. Maybe I should have used my other bike George (Trek) that has a triple on it and is easier to climb, but heavier by 8 pounds. Instead I thought Luke (Specialized) would love the ride and not get me in trouble on the way down. I always look as my bikes as partners on these wild adventures, whether it be training rides, races or riding over crazy ass mountain passes.

Making it to the halfway point was like saying that the halfway point of a marathon is 13.1, not really. Those that have run one will fully understand that. Mile 9 was just where we broke out of the tree line, for the rest of the ride it would be full sun. The views did take off a bit of the sting in the legs, but not much. There was a rabbit that ran out at that point and hopped in front of me for a few yards. Mocking me how easily it pranced up hill…

I wore headphone, cuz I’m a dork like that and didn’t want to hear myself gasp for air, much less hear those around me gasp or even worse, not gasp. However, on a piece of the ride that I remember clearly I recall “The Head and the Heart” playing in just the most amazing setting I could ever imagine hearing them. *Wide sweeping right hand turn with a full view to the south, AMAZING! Blue sky and snowcapped mountains, and over the railing it was STRAIGHT down! With me tucked in behind my sunglasses in my own little world on my bike.

2 hours is a long time to have your rump nailed to the seat so I was standing up to pedal to take the pressure off my butt. On a usual climb it’s not that long so you don’t realize the force you’re putting on the seat. Standing also helps keep the blood flowing to the feet and hands for a few minutes. Yes, still working on bike fit. I feel pretty comfortable standing and can concentrate on turnover and body position. I feel like I can generate more power to the bike and accelerate with a quicker rhythm. Which, I figure if I can use my body weight to produce some of the power that should leave some room for recovery.

Reaching mile 15 the legs were feeling like I’d held back enough and wanted to put in a bit more effort. It’s funny about holding back, you have it in mind that: I’ll use that energy later, I’ll fall into the real work later. Stay with the game plan and you’ll be fine. Critical moments I think, this is when your mind stops bullshitting you and you have the, YES/NO – GO/STAY, cards to play. Training has been solid, the day feels right with the body = GO! Anything else = pace, recover, survive = NO/STAY

Go days are rare and magical, however, some days that are a struggle can be great days of learning, refocusing, and being honest w/ yourself.

Anyways, rounding the next turn people from the aide station were yelling “About 2.4!” “2.4 to the top!” This was GREAT NEWS! I sped up and raised my pace. This was just below lactic acid, I could feel acid slowly build in the stomach and legs and would back off just before anything serious. I’d rise and kick for 5-6 revolutions, then gear back down and spin for 15-20 seconds and repeat. This sped me past lots of people, which it was fun and gratifying to put a hard stack of work in and steadily move past others. At the same time, it was by default. I was switching back and forth because one way was easy, then would turn difficult.

In the end is was a great feeling making it to the summit and seeing the finish. I think it’s always good to keep it simple with events that you’re not sure about. It was 18 miles of climbing, but I wasn’t going to be doing anything different on the bike than I would if I was biking to work. No need stressing yourself out needlessly. The pedals on the bike turn one way and the handle bars go back and forth. Simple. All the rest is connected by training.

The Way Back Down…..

By far, and I’ve had a lot of fun on the bike, but by far the funniest time I’ve ever had on the bike. The way down I told Tony I wasn’t going to push it, because I wanted to enjoy the view, blah, blah, blah…

About 2 minutes in that was out the window. In my head *catch the pace car* 15 riders left the top behind a pace car and the car was fast. I was spotting riders and bridging the gap, then passing, then looking for the next carrot. All while trying to get up to the little red pace car…..at about 35-40 mph coming down the mountain, oh, so much fun!

I ave. 88 rpm going up.

I ave. 100 rpm coming down.

I was cranking all the way down, it was like being on a roller coaster for 34 minutes. It was so exciting the views were a blur, but I remember the focus being so intense and my legs. I was worried about climbing earlier and getting too much lactic acid build up in the legs, On the way down I both stomach and legs were reeling from LA build up, but I didn’t care. Jen’s “Shut up Legs” kept turning over in my head.

I got to the bottom about a minute or two after Tony and just couldn’t get the grin off my face. It was so much fun.

Also, while we were biking Alley had to get 10 miles of run training in and decided to run up to the 5 mile mark on the course. Crazy woman! That was almost 1900’ of elevation gain! Nice work!

Just saying

Still learning...

2011-07-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

It’s been a few weeks since the last entry. A quick recap of the RNR.

The morning was great for running, upper 50’s, no rain or wind. I felt ready. That morning we took the shuttle for the first time and the pressure of years past was non-existent, even when the bus was stopped for several minutes to wait for a train to pass.

My goal was as close to 1:30, my PR was 1:35 and some change so I figured anything under that was fine. The weeks leading up my legs had felt GREAT, pushing the hills and being comfortable at pace. The only drawback was I’d gone swimming about 3 weeks before and for whatever reason that really bothered the foot that was fractured over the winter. ???? Whatever?!?!?

The thing I learned from this race was, if it works in practice/training then FOR F**K SAKE DO IT FOR THE FREAK’N RACE DAY!

I always run a 1.5-2 mile warm up then hit what’s on the days schedule for run training. The morning of the race, about 15 minutes before I ran out from the start line and only did a short jog of about .25 mile. LOSER!

I hit miles 1,2,3 all on time and was on pace at just 6:58 per mile. However, from the start my legs were not happy, not enjoying any of this. Tight and heavy, not willing at all, and my left foot started to cramp. Hey something new, why not!

I was still holding my time through mile 6 along the lake and at mile 8, just before the tunnel I had this clear thought like a bolt of lightning.

“If you don’t walk for 10 seconds RIGHT NOW, you’ll walk the last 4 miles in about 2 minutes”

So for the first time in 6 years I walked during a race – ( well sided from the 4.5 hours at IMC ) D’ho

My legs were killing me! I stopped and shook them out and walked for about 10 seconds, got back in a jog and worked back up to pace. I hit the 11 mile marker and was happy to see that even if I ran 10 minute mile pace I’d still have room to PR. I was looking forward to the big downhill actually training on big downs so I’d be able to take full advantage of, but the legs never let me get below 7:00 pace. Bummer!

I have these talks with myself when I’m racing. They aren’t always pleasant, but they are never sugar coated. I always feel any conversation you have with yourself takes your mind off the suffering for even a little bit.

I had to have one of those “yank your head out” moment’s when at just after the 12 mile marker I started telling myself “ OK, todays just not your day, go ahead a slow up and save your legs. Next time you’ll blah,blah,blah…” Less than a mile to go and I’m having this talk now? I yelled at myself to straighten up my form and put my head out of my azz, and quit feeling sorry for myself because my legs hurt. I was keeping 7:20 pace and still on pace to PR. The last bit I got back to 7 minute pace and finished it off crossing at 1:32:40ish 33ish. I can’t remember. But I PR’d : ) by almost 2 minutes…

What I learned

Warm up the same way before a race as you would before training.

This last weekend I ran a little 10K put on at Magnuson Park and did just that. Put in 2 miles of 9 minutes pace 10 minutes before the race and the legs felt GREAT! See, sometimes all that yelling at yourself in your head pays off….

Don't Call It a Comeback....

2011-05-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

Couldn't help it! Things have been going pretty well in the lead up to RNR Half. Legs are feeling pretty solid and the fractures now seem a thing of the past. I don't really think about them much when I run and the phantom pains have gone for the most part.
During my long run at the Disco this past weekend I was feeling like I had arrived at the next step in life. I put away all the self hate and loathing that I bottled up over the last 8-9 months and felt really free for the first time in such a long time.

Looking back over that time...

I heard or read a quote: Only bring the past if you can build on it.

I thought a lot about what that means to me during my run and came to this:

I survived, not always with my head up or clearest of mind, but I got through it. With the overwhelming support of friends and family. Slumping farther and farther into depression, sport and all the things that use to keep the light on and fires burning were just getting too hard to see on my own.

If anything it was the constant support of everyone, and the selfless friend's helping friends without hesitating that amazed me. Over and over again...

So after months of being somewhere else, and feeling like someone else, I feel that a new chapter has started and is fully underway. Running, after the injury, has a different feel to it mentally. I don't feel like I have the limiters that I had even last year as far as what I think I'm able to achieve. Last year was about endurance and reserve. This year is about speed, rest and fun. AND those other old familiar words...camping, hiking, vacation....

Only bring the past if you can build on it. In other words, Remember what you need to, but don't let it dictate your path.

Running again...

2011-03-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

Back running again after about 14 weeks out of action do to the fractures in my left foot. It’s been hard finding momentum the last 3-4 weeks and the off and on again pain from my foot doesn’t help much. Up to now I’ve gotten 3 runs a week in, ranging from 3-5 miles and averaging 8:50 minute per mile. Not where I was, but I’ll take it.

It’s funny about how relative things are. You go from situation to situation and then only after do you realize how high or low you were before. The other day at track I was running at 9:00 and thinking ‘I hate this, I hate having to start over”. Then about two miles later I was at 9:15 minute miles thinking how I would of loved to be able to run 9:15 back at Canada last year where 15:20 was the max my IT band could handle from mile 8 on.

This year after thinking about it and having to nurse the foot I’ve decided to take the tri season off and just focus on one race, Seattle RNR Half Marathon, and spend more time hiking and camping. This seems like a good time and I had thought about it before signing up for IM last year. Some may think that I got burnt out from all the training last year, but that wouldn’t be true at all. I loved the training and the team that I joined I just want to get back to a few simple things this year and that starts with no schedules or training plans for a few months. Just packing the car and seeing where the road takes us from time to time.

When I think about it I’ve been training for something just around the corner for over 9 years now, adding up to almost 60 races. I love racing and felt stronger last year than any before, so being burnt out isn’t a worry at all. And I’ll still be swimming, biking, and running with the team, I’m just laying low a bit on the competing side.

However, I am signed up for the one half and I do have a goal in mind for that one. I’d like to get as close to 1:30 on the half as possible. 1:34 is my PR, set at the Kirkland Half a few years ago, very unforgiving nasty course, urgh! So I think I can pull a close to 1:30 time off. Training doesn’t truly start until March 27th for that. Right now it’s just getting miles on the foot and slowing back into it without any injuries. So far, so good.

Yesterday I hit the first hills running with the team over at Mercer Island and OH MY GAWD! Dying!!! Heavy, flat, wheezing. And that was just the first hill. I was telling Alley that at one point all I heard was I high pitch sound and my heartbeat. That can’t be good? But it’s a start, with an ave. of 8:48 I can honestly say it can only get better.

I long for...

2011-01-23T18:44:00.000-08:00

I long for the days of sweat running over hills
Cutting through the water, smooth, reach, pull
“This gets you there, you love this!”

I long for power coming from weak, tired legs
Hips forcing and taking the lead, the rest following
Focus on form, open fields, breathe, relax, glide

I long for cringing at the days schedule, anxious
Hills at tempo, flats at race, downs steady and safe
Head down, fuel in, this is just training

I long for seeing the lake as a stepping stone
Water trickles off still as the pedaling begins
Each mornings sunrise builds the machine

I long for limits and friends pushed
Stay on my shoulder, - Stay on their wheel
Out too fast, too far pass gone

I long for the shade beneath the trees
Crushing winds, deep in training
Legs aching for the hunt, begging to fly

I long to build towards that hurt
That place that lives in and behind the reasons
On the faces crossing the line, across our limits

This is what I long for...

Just a few pictures from 2010...

2010-12-31T19:02:00.000-08:00

A little recap of 2010. Mostly some photos that didn't make it in and some I just wanted to see again. I learned so much from family, friends and teammates. This year was pretty crazy and I couldn't have made it through without Alley supporting me and taking care of everything "behind the scenes"if you will. Also, Sara, Karen, Laura and TN Multisport Team/family for putting in all those rainy day training runs and rides! Maybe mini golf next year : )

Great photo of emotion just before the start of IMC

Little did we know how important this place would be

Poor Pen in the Shark Cage

What a fun race with Matt, Tiff, Alley and Miia. 17 minutes late for the start of the race. Shuttle bus next year for sure!

4 days of touring through this on the bikes. Pretty Sweet!

First flat in two years. At least it was scenic!

Sara and Karen making it to Hanging Rock on day 2 of the tour. Intense climb!

Can't even explain what this was like!

First 100 Mile bike ride...

Sara & Karen at IMC

Waves hitting shore during the wind storm.

Caught in a crazy wind storm Friday before IMC

Just drinking it all in...

Definitely one of my best moments of the year!

Lights out after IMC, long, long day...

WHOA! Alley working the slide!

Alley getting ready to win the second game of the night. Argh!

Long day for Alley, x ray would later find a nasty stress fracture in her leg. She felt it bite her way back at mile 13!

Running the Ballard Turkey Trot w/ friends

Playing in the snow with one of our snow beasts

Easier days after tri season is over...

Early X-Mas?

2010-12-15T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well the good news is that I wasn't signed up for anything...

Out for 3-4 weeks then we'll see where we're at.

It's been awhile, again...

2010-12-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

Ok it’s been awhile. I’ve had a few good updates then waited too long and they didn’t seem relevant anymore so I past on them. So I thought with the news I got from the doc this morning I had plenty of time now to update and write a few things down.

The last few months I’ve been fairly busy, nowhere near like the beginning of the year, but that is O K… After a few weeks rest from IMC I started back in with track and a few runs just to start back into it. I.T. Band was never an issue after starting up again, always good.

At track we were doing a 5K so we would know where are splits would be for future track workouts. I was excited about the chance to run a 5K, because the legs had felt good all year and I knew they had to be faster than last year. My PR was 19:43 done in 2008 at the Fleet Foot 5K in Redmond, so I was really interested to see what new time I could post. Especially, with the weeks leading into the 5K I was feeling really good.

It was just over 12 laps and I felt great into lap 8 keeping a steady 6:25 + - 3 seconds. I remember thinking “only 4 more laps, I still feel good.” Then I hit lap 10 and it quickly became real work. The thighs were not happy and they were not shy about letting me know. I floated through the last full lap thinking if I eased up a bit I could get my legs under me again and push the last bit to recover some time. HA! I floated through then pushed it alright, pushed to just keep 6:40 for the last half lap. Argh!!!!

I came in at 20:16, I just couldn’t focus on anything other than the fact that I had not done a sub 20, I was pretty disappointed to say the least. Not sure there alway needs to be a lesson learned around every failure, it just is what it is. I look back on it now and still feel disappointed about it, but what can you do?

A few weeks after that I had a 15K planned over at Magnuson Park, such an odd distance, I was really looking forward to it. It was a small event only about 300 people total for all three event: 5K, 10K, and 15K. It was a windy cold, cold morning, Halloween actually, sunny and no rain. The course was 3 loops of the 5K course, flat w/ only one hill at about the half mile mark that climbs about 2 hundred yards in a stair step pattern. First time up the hill I was thinking not bad, but this is going to suck on lap 3.

By every possible stretch of the word I went out way too fast, hitting mile one at 6:24 with a few dashes of 6:05’s on the opening flat section. Not good! I calmed down telling myself “I will make you walk if you don’t slow it down RIGHT NOW!” My goal was to run it at half marathon pace, so around 7:15, then just throw it all out there for the last half mile.

Lap one was 20:24

Heading into lap two I had a better handle on pacing and kept in within reason, the hill was much more “hilly” the 2^nd time around. However, once at the top the downhill pays for most of the time lost, pushing 6:15 on the down, but making sure it’s backed off effortwise.

Lap two 22:10: - Seems way off from 1^st , but this is where I should have been for the whole race.

At the start of lap three I made the mistake of staying with 3 guys that started to pass, moving me from 7:05 pace to 6:50 pace. When we hit the line to begin lap three I was pissed mildly at myself because the three guys moving pass me were doing so because they were kicking for the line only doing the 10K. My only advice that I ever give to someone is “run your own race” and I totally almost blew up because I didn’t follow my own advice.

The hill on the 3^rd lap ssuucckkeedd! Hit a 9:50 pace at the top! Woo Hoo!!! On the downhill I could only top out at 8:10. I kept yelling in my head, stay in , stay in. only 2 more miles.

I started to focus on the guy in front of me, about 30 yards out. I wanted to close the gap on him and stay close. He was running very light and looked great, like a easy run for him. I was pounding away at 7:00 pace bridging the gap slowly. With a mile to go I let loose on a small down to try and get within 5 yards and as I did he used the down as well to slowly pull away. – so close….

The last mile weaves through the trees at first then pops you out on the road heading south for about a qtr mile then straight back north to the start/finish line in a long half mile stretch. I was still focused on the guy in front, trying again to reach him, but into the turn around he had 15 seconds on me. The last bit was really fun, I wanted to dig and just lay down a full out effort to the line. My pace was 7:00 going into the last turn and I managed 6:24 flat out to the line from just over a qtr mile out.

Finish 1:06:24

I pushed as hard as I could of and felt like the result was above what I thought I could of done going into it. I was hoping for a 7:15 ave. pace and ended with a 7:08 ave. There were plenty of times I wanted to stop because the pain was so much. The pain of racing is obviously different from injury pain, but makes you want to stop just as much. It’s hard to explain, but I’m sure plenty of you know exactly what I’m talking about.

At the end the guy in front thanked me for making him race so hard and I thanked him for the same. And I guess that’s kind of what it comes down to, the sport of it. Whether it’s swimming in crazy white caps, snowboarding in the tree’s, cranking up a mountain pass on your bike or running a race and trying to catch the next person, trying not to let the person back catch you. It’s all for the sport of it.

I’ll write about the Seattle half next, just got back from the doc to see what the damage total on that was. Ugh!!!

The start of what’s next...

2010-10-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well fall is here and tri season has slip on by again. Some years it seems like you can never race enough and other years it’s like the season lasted forever. This was an odd year for me. I only “raced” twice, 3x if you count the relay in Kirkland. And of those I really didn’t see IMC as a race, more of a long days journey. At times this year I really wanted to race more and feel that start to finish pull of faster, stronger, better. However, with schedules and training it just never really happened this year.

I don’t think it was a bad thing, because on the other hand with all the Ironman training if I had forced a bunch of races in I might have easily burned out and stopped training all together. As it was there was a quickly approaching window of time that was about to close and shut out all of the momentum. Towards the last few weeks it was hard to even think of being on the bike for longer than 2 hours or have to run AGAIN afterwards for a few miles. So it’s hard to say, either way it was a long season that I’m extremely happy to look back on.

Over the last couple of months I’ve been supporting Alley in her running season. Unfortunately, she just got back from a bone scan on Friday and the Doc told her that she has some stress fractures in her femora. She was running in the Portland Marathon and felt tightness and shape pain around mile 13 and had to walk by mile 15. Long tough day for a tough lady. So hopefully she’ll be back on her feet in time to get some snowboarding in around February.

I’ve been getting back into track and running 4x a week. It’s been really really hard to get the pace back up after a season of trying to slow the pace down for IMC. Last year I was training everyday comfortable speed around 7:10 pace. The last few weeks I’ve been in around 7:45. last week for my first long run I wanted to run at :15 slower than my intended pace for Seattle half and man was it hard to stay :20 slower. And that was just 8 miles! It’s hard to say where to put that.

So coming up I’ve entered in a few races just to get the feel and pace worked on. Tomorrow I’ve signed up for a 15K out at Magnuson park. I needed to get a 10 miles run in and didn’t think at first it would be a good idea to race 9 miles just yet, but then the more I thought about it I figured “why the hell not” If any thing I’ll pace it out with my half marathon pace and see where that puts my training for Seattle at. Plus I’m a firm believer in the notion that ever once in a while you have to sign up to get your ass handed to you from time to time. It’s good for those “what the fuck have I been doing?” moments that can really push a break through in self limiters.

So coming up I have:
Magnuson 15K, Seattle Turkey Trot 5K, Seattle Half Marathon and then the 12K’s of Christmas in Kirkland.

I’m not sure if I’m ready for tomorrow, but then again that’s the point right!?!?

What a day! IMC

2010-09-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Ironman Canada race report:

The day was finally here! 11 months of waiting and it came down to a 3am wake up call for early breakfast followed by a short nap with another 4:15 wake up call for a 2nd breakfast. Then a let’s get this show on the road!

The feel of an early morning race has it’s own out of body feel to it. You’re focused, it’s dark, cold and very quiet. No different this time. You can see people playing their game plan over and over in their minds across the eyes and that long stare off to nowhere. The whole time I’m thinking - no one has said I can’t do this yet...

The days leading up I don’t think of the day as one long ass day, but rather a morning swim followed with 2 hours of easy spin. Then a fun, but intense 4 hour bike ride with a 30 minute spin and a transition run after. The run would be done at comfort, no pace just comfort. So when I hit the beach I was really excited w/ very little nerves. It was going to be a fun day.

I walked the beach and saw a teammate Laura O., who has done IMC a few times and would by the end of the day qualify for Kona! Amazing! She said something like “You’re here, you trained for this...” I can’t remember exactly, but with that I kind of went into “Holy Crap mode” and realized that bigger than the day, almost, was surviving 11 months of mostly hellish training. From early season swims in freezing waters to mountain passes with severe wind and rain during the EWT. Sunday wasn’t about time, but about simply being able to get to the starting line.

I found other teammates and then found my 3 cohorts Sara, Laura and Karen. We were more excited than nervous and I think all of us just wanted to get the day on with so we could start working off all the food we’d eaten the 3 days leading up. *Burp! But really, I think each of us cried a few times on the beach from the shear joy of knowing that we’d made it to the start. The bag pipers made there way down the beach and then the Canadian anthem was sung and the pro’s took off. 15 minutes to go...

Swim:

My plan was to wait about thirty seconds after the start and then wade in and start swimming when I felt there were gaps enough to really start swimming. Worked out pretty well, I swam at about 70% effort and just kept it nice and easy. My goal was no longer than 1:30 in the water. I felt any longer and I’d be using more energy than if I’d just swum faster.

I don’t get some people in the water? I swim focusing on clean quiet hand and arm entry, with the force coming on the pull. I’ve slowed my stroke rotation down a bit for longer swims this year, feeling like I need to swim with a bigger chain ring ( very Jan U. in the water ) for more of a smoother cadillac ride if you will. Anyways, about 15 minutes in I have a guy just pounding the water right behind me and every 5 seconds or so he’d grab my foot and hold on to it? My first thought was,”that’s got to screw with your stroke” so about a minute of that and about a dozen foot grabs later I sat up and pushed him around me and on his way. I don’t get the whole grabbing and holding on to thing.

However, other than that there was no other real issues in the water. The views or glimpses from under the arms around the turn buoys were not for the faint of heart to say the least. At most swim starts you’re pretty surrounded, but it falls off and by the half way point you have descent open water and can maneuver well enough. Not so much, the line across heading into the first turn seemed to be about 40 yards wide with about 50 yards of humanity wrapped in neoprene thrashing and gasping for air in a terrible Titanic reenactment. I sprinted in the last turn, I figured that would happen a few times and actually trained for that the last few months. I think it’s good so you can get out of trouble and then recover back down to your race pace afterward.

The swim was going well and I kept remembering what Mark had said ‘ the twin towers will never get any closer, so don’t think they will.” That actually helped out because I saw them but didn’t pay attention to them as to when the end would come. You can actually stand up about 40 yards from the end and a lot of people did. We were warned before hand and it was easy enough to swim around. I swam up to about 5 feet of the shore in about 2.5 feet of water because it took no effort and you end up passing 10-15 people with every stroke. I got out and looked back at the route and was just ecstatic.

Swim time - 1:18:26

T1- pretty uneventful so that’s really the best you can ask for.

Bike:

I’d been waiting for the bike all week. I love riding my bike! The last few weeks I’ve been coming away with some pain from the set up, but I knew this day would be great and just wasn’t going to let the thought of the last few weeks creep in. Out on the road I hit the TN Crew and was so excited to see them, the screams about scared me off the bike, it was pretty funny. Nothing compared to what would come on the run later in the day.

At mile 13-15 just before the downhill off of Mclean (sp?) my seat sank down and the nose pointed straight down. “Grrr” What the ..... before I hit the downhill I stopped and fixed and cleared and negative thoughts out. Took about 2 minutes, not a big deal! Pretty steady out to mile forty where the bike course starts to go up and up and up.

My plan, as in training was to stay easy and comfortable on the climbs. So starting Richter Pass was steady and just letting people go. By the time I hit the halfway point I felt great. I was talking without any pause, heart rate at 160, cadence 92, looking around enjoying the view and the day. Then about 50 yards from the top I got a little impatient and told the guy next to me “oh, screw this” I said it very, very jokingly as I was laughing at the same time. I got up and took off.

Now, I mention this only because as I did I realized I had all kinds of energy and was passing people at a really fast rate. I thought I was putting too much effort in, but it felt comfortable and the heart rate only went to 166. Plus, the crowds up at Richter Pass went crazy when I took off. Riding the course before I knew once over the top I had about 2 miles of recovery to get the heart rate back. I down hills coming fall Richter are pretty straight forward. Long sweeping and open, no blind turns. I was hitting about 36 MPH without pedaling and felt really comfortable. The rollers behind were a bit more difficult due to the fierce head wind. Ave. about 20 MPH on steep roller hills that during training camp ave. closer to 34mph. ‘Blah!’

The rollers get you to the out and back and that just sucks, a little kick in the teeth just to make sure you’re awake. However, special needs is at the turn around, a bag you get to put goodies into that might help brighten your day. I had: Icy Hot patch, Snickers, Pringles and a Flat Dr. Pepper. I slapped the Icy/Hot Patch on my neck, down the hatch with the Snickers and took a swig from the Dr.P and off I was. I couldn’t eat the Pringles, but wanted them with so I emptied my bento box thing and loaded it w/ Pringles, mmmm

Heading out of the out and back I saw Sara, then Karen and had a great shot of adrenaline as they looked to be having great days.

Back on the main road from the out and back the head wind was no joke and I could only manage about 13 mph. Urgh!!! I kept telling myself to treat the head wind like a hill climb, spin and keep it steady. I think I read that or seen an interview with Chris Carmichael a few years back and it made sense. The race officials were patrolling the roads really well, any bunches they would ride in on the motorcycles and break up. Telling rides to back off or pass. With that head wind no one was passing, that’s why everyone was bunching up.

I lost a bit of focus in the head wind. It’s like mile 85 and you’ve been on for awhile and that part of the course is hard. I drifted to a pace of about 13-14 mph when I should of been doing maybe 16. It doesn’t seem like a big difference but you have to consider the overall length of the day. I rode slower for only about 20 minutes and was just trying to make my way to Yellow Lake.

Then we hit a right bend in the road and I saw the “Green Road Sign” It’s the back of a highway sign, much more importantly it’s about 300 yards from the place you first see it and once you get to it it’s only another 200 yards to the TOP OF YELLOW LAKE!!!!
I saw it and went from asleep at the wheel to dancing on the pedals. I didn’t mince words this time and it wasn’t for crowd response. I told the rider next to me “ F**k this hill” And with everything I had I just took off and ripped it up the last 400 yards to the crest at Yellow Lake.

It was a few things. I caught myself feeling sorry for myself and was angry? for lack of a better word. That blended with the fact that once you get you butt over Yellow Lake the bike more or less is over. 12 miles of mostly down hill to the transition zone. So it was the excitement of the moment, I didn’t feel anything in the legs saying slow down don’t push this last bit too hard. All that was coming from the legs was - push, keep pushing, keep going, keep pushing go, go , go! We have this covered! I don’t know if I’ve ever-ever been happier on the bike. I knew the down hill was going to be fast and roads were wet, but no standing water. I yanked out my drink straw out and shoved it in a back pocket and was just tucked down flying. I passed more people on the downs than on the climbs. This is a big deal for me because I’m extremely light, and that’s no help on a descent, I spend energy climbing by people on a climb and they go flying by me on the downs without even pedaling. I had a top speed of 46 mph off of Yellow Lake.

When I hit the last down and hit the lake before town my eye’s teared up and I was laughing out loud. 2.4 mile Swim and 112ish mile bike DOWN! Being my first Ironman I have or had no problem admitting that for each milestone tears of joy would need to be wiped away. Rolling back towards transition we hit the Team tent first and seeing the familiar faces was such a shot. A few blocks down was Sara’s girls, Alley and a few other close friends. You can’t explain the feeling, it’s just amazing.

Bike time: 6:37:59

T2 - again, uneventful. Best case scenario!

Run:

I use to be a diehard Seattle Super Sonics fan back in the earlier to late 90’s. The best game I ever watched was a game they lost to the Lakers. The game was everything a basketball game should be. About 20 lead changes in the last 4 minutes of play. 4 players from each team scored at least 2x in the last 4 minutes, teamwork! I didn’t even matter that they lost, it was a great game.

I left T2 and felt really really good. Legs were light and easy to move. Stomach was NEVER an issue and was calm. I knew the training I did would get me to mile 14-16 and from there on it would be work. I was OK with that, I’ve had to scrape it together in a marathon before. I hit the first turn and saw a friend Lauren and was laughing as I waved to her and almost missed and ran into to hard right turn for the small out and back. After that I saw the Girls and Alley again, loud screams and smiles all around.

Then-

Then I hit the TN Multisport Tent! My team! There was no screwing around with this group I could hear them a block up the road as I came into view of them. AMAZING! if you’ve never been part of a team that has that much support I suggest to keep looking. So worth it! I was hitting about 7:30 pace - too fast, but my goal was to run comfortable pace at what ever it was and 7:30 was what was on the menu. I hit the team tent and shot up to 6:40 : ) oops. I was running and having fun at what really felt like a jog. I’d reach a group pass through and run to catch the next pack of runners. Legs felt GREAT! I ran 7:40 pace until mile 6, hit mile 6 at 46 minutes.

For me running is freedom. I’ve been injured before and didn’t know how much I loved to run until I couldn’t for months at a time. Pace, movement, form, breathing. I love the feeling of pushing a good pace and know everything is how it should be. Smooth, comfortable, light.

At mile 6 I felt a pinch on the outside of my right knee, I knew exactly what it was. If you’ve ever had an injury comeback to pay you a visit you know exactly what it is. The last time I really felt this was at the Seattle Rock and Roll marathon 2009 at mile 24.

I just passed the 6 mile mark and got a strike of pain down my right leg across the top of the knee. The day was really about to turn. I walked it out and did a quick stretch, but could only run about a minute and the bolt of pain would fire off again. At this point I figured as long as I can run every once and awhile I was OK. I made it to the turn around at mile 13.1. 2:30 hours even. I broke down at this point and fell way in a hole. My right ankle and shin started to become too painful to walk and the down hills were just killing me.

I got to mile 15 and my mouth was tired from having clenched teeth for so long. I got to 16 and the though of just walking 10 miles and having to walk another 10 was way overwhelming. At 18 I felt terrible, then remembered what Mark and T had said as I saw runners still heading towards the turn around at mile 13.1 “someone would love to be where you are” Thinking about that really pulled my head out. Here I was at mile 18 and there are people still at mile 8.

I saw a few teammates running by and asked them to get word to Alley so she wouldn’t worry that I wasn’t in around 5 hours and just walked and cheered for as many people as I could.

I was at the top if the hour an came up with a new game plan and goal. If I could keep 15 minute miles I could come in under 6 hours for the run. I would shuffle a bit and walk 3/4 mile. I made it to mile 22 in a hour and then from there of course my left hamstring finally gave out from having to swing my right leg forward. This was I think the toughest part of the day. Now walking was painful and I was slowly falling off pace.

Back at 21 you round a corner and can see the lights from downtown and even worse you can clearly hear the announcer calling people into the finish. This gave me the energy to start running again regardless of the pain and it worked for about 2 solid minutes. Then my right leg revolted instantly and I went sprawling out on the road like a rag doll. I remember saying out loud “OK, I know! Not an option.”

Mile 23 was dark and lonely, there were plenty of people around but it was quiet. I’d walk a few, get impatient, stumble to a jog then reach down and grab my leg in pain. i was a freaking mess. I could only manage 18.68 min pace. I had this thought keep replaying in my head - I’m going to get the the finish and Teresa N. was going to tell me “I need the jersey back, I can’t have you represent the team : ( this played over about a dozen times running in the dark. Then out of nowhere I see two people running right at me calling my name from the dark. I couldn’t run and felt ashamed, then before I knew it I was running (jogging) with them. About 10 seconds later there was about 4 more teammates running with me and all the worries and pain of the last 20 miles just seem to disappear. Around the corner I saw T. and she yelled how proud she was and I saw Alley and she said the same. Sara’s girls after that and the crowd from there on out was crazy.

The last mile was dark to the out and back. I had a teammate, yet again, Brent I think, come out of nowhere and talk me through a rough spot. He kept saying “slow and easy, just walk you got all day. You are there, you did it. Just walk” I wanted to walk, but I wanted to get back to the lights and the family, friends and teammates waiting.

Run: 6:11:22

Total - 14:23:47

In the end it was an IT band pull that changed the day for me. Instead of an amazing day I had a GREAT day! I’ve run injured like that before, only for 3-4 miles. Pushing through 20 miles like that I never really thought of anything else but finishing the day out. I’ve also raced w/ team and family support before, but I don’t think I’ve ever leaned on support and been more proud of my supporters than out there on course that day. The TN supporters were/are Amazing, every time I’d pass them on course racers around me would say “Your group totally rocks!”

Well before the race, during training and even before and during Ironman Canada I said with a few others that 1 IM was good enough. However, after IM we sat around at dinner a few nights later and were talking about how ‘the next one will be different’....

Thanks to Teresa, Mark, Alley, Sara, Karen, Laura, Tom, Kirsten, Jeff and Brent for a great day!

Getting closer...

2010-08-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

WOW! 8 days away from CANADA!

How the hell did that happen. Just the other day I was filling in this years race and training schedule having a Hawaiian theme dinner watching the 2009 Ironman from Kona on tv, talking about had we had 9 months to get ready.

I remember my first 50 mile ride at the end of December and having to stop because I was just dead on the bike. Cruising at 8 mph and stopping before I fell over : ) Oh, good times, good times!!!

This year was a bit unexpected as most of you know I’ve never had a goal of doing an Ironman - EVER! A year ago, having just finished up Lake Stevens 70.3 and having that race fall apart on the run. I doubted if I’d ever do anything over an Oly again. However, meeting the people I have and having family support I figured, “What the hell” I was young”ish” and in shape. I could raise my level and do this thing. That lasted until end of February. I looked and found TNMultisport and a few friends were already on board so it was a no brainer.

The months have actually flown by somehow? The last few weeks have had their highs and low’s. At track the other day it was good to hear the nightmare weeks others had been going through. Of course not happy others were having a rough go at it, just that feeling of ‘you’re not the only one’. This last week I’ve rebounded again and have remembered to enjoy what it is I ‘get’ to do.

I’m reading ‘Born to run’ right now and it’s been doing wonders on my outlook of running. I’ve always enjoyed running, the freedom of where your legs can take you. A few weeks ago I was running w/ Karen on a 16 miler and it was amazing how it seemed like 30-45 minutes at most, but it was just about 2 hours. I had a mile swim later in the day and kept thinking, I should do a ..(something).. after the swim. Then laughed as I had to remember - you just ran 16 miles! I year ago I would of never gotten out of bed.

Last weekend was the Lake Steven’s 70.3

It was so much fun to be out on course cheering for everyone this year, having trained with a number of the teammates in the race, it was pretty special to be out supporting them. I love cheering for people at races in general!

The work that they put out, some having great days, some good days, others in their pain cave focusing to finish. I’ve had really bad days and could never had guested what or where the rights words were that lifted me out and back on track.

You see someone go by and they smile and give a wave, a thumbs up. Having a good day and feeling great! Someone else, you know they can hear you, but they don’t or can’t look. Just a flick of the fingers and maybe a dart of the eyes in your direction. You can see, as I’ve been there before plenty, - I can’t look, if I look I’ll stop, I’ll fall, I’ll give in. I can’t lose focus -

That day, a few times I stepped back and looked at the cheering crowds and really soaked in and felt the excitement in the air and really felt alive for IMC. I couldn’t help but wondered what the 29th would bring. Just 8 days away now....

Tired...

2010-08-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weeks have been pretty stacked with workouts. It’s probably fair to say that the closer one gets to and object (target, goal) the harder it may be to see or focus on the reasons why. Three weeks out and tired eyes, legs and neck just continue to scream for a rest. 8.5 months of training and somedays I forget why. I know what I signed up for, but I have to believe that no one truly knows what it is they’ve signed up for.

I told a friend of mine if I’d of heard last weekend’s schedule a year ago I never would of gotten out of bed:

Saturday - 85 mile hilly bike, 4 mile trans run
Sunday - 16 mile run, 40 minute-1 mile swim

It’s hard to say where those miles and hours get placed in the mind. You’re tired, you continue to drive and push. I guess that ‘s the point. At some point in the Ironman your body is going to ask the mind to go on autopilot, lead you home from the hole you’ve fallen into. Training in the last few weeks has gone from physical (being able) to mental, putting it all together for one day. Surviving the day.

I had a bad day out yesterday, injured my knee, my minds not quit where I need it. Tired of trying to figure it out. Tired of tweeking nutrition, heart rate, cadence. Just tire, all the damn time. I know the 29th will come and it’ll be exciting and amazing. I just need to rest...

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

2010-07-27T16:20:00.000-07:00

Just got back from training camp up in Canada for the Ironman. What an amazing time! Aside from being on the course and everything else about traveling off for a weekend, it was the team that really made it worth it. Surrounding yourself with people of like mind and that are there to help you is a great feeling. The team is stacked with great athletes, but you never feel intimidated or overlooked. Great coaching and teammates that know on any day you’ll need a hand no matter how good you are.

It’s odd being surrounded by people of like mind. So often I get tired of explaining why I “need” to get a long swim, bike or run in when on vacation or just over a weekend away from home. being in a place where you could see, not just our team, but hundreds of other people doing the same.

With the team it’s a different feel than I’ve ever been use to before. It seems like no one has an attitude, is condescending or over competitive to the point of being overbearing. Every workout seems to push and raise the level of your our game.

It’s odd waking up knowing that at some point in the day you’re going to be pushed to your limit. Reason enough to hit the snooze button a few extra times. I knew I was going to be in trouble before the bike start if I didn’t approach long rides from a different angle. Up until now the last 10-12 miles of all bike rides have been just trying to hold on. I go out steady, feel good at about 80-85% effort, but at the end....Bam...holding on to make it back to the car.

Mark suggested that “just because you can fly up the hills, maybe you shouldn’t”. I thought about that all week, or the few days before training camp. So my new moto on the bike is, “Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.” So I took the bike out as usual, but as we hit the first hill I slowed, lowered my rate, kept the heart rate down and did a steady climb up a little steep hill about 5 blocks long. It was still early, real early, mile 10 of 112.

Forty miles in we hit a little kicker and the same thing, get to the top and feel OK, steady. At about 45ish we start Richter Pass, I’m looking at the road as we approach and I can’t wait! I’ve been living in fear of this damn piece of road for almost 6 months, bring it on!!! Hard right turn and......

“Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.” I ease up and slow down and pedal nice and easy. On the bottom part of Richter I got pasted 4x and had to just mentally tell myself over and over. “Let them go, not your pace today”. I was feeling amazing when I got to the top, breathing wasn’t labored, heart rate was 135 and down to 93 about a minute after I stopped climbing. I looked around and just noticed how almost everyone else was pretty whipped, both from the heat and the climb. I felt great!

I had a few things I was trying new this day. 1. was the not going up with as much effort as I usually climb with. 2. Was not to pedal on the downhills, unless you needed to so you didn’t have to do much work on the next hill. As I did this I’d see the heart rate ease back to 130 and figured that was saving matches for later.

The out and back hits you around 63 miles or so. You have to keep in mind that the out is hard because it’s hard. Not because your tired. It’s Hard, because it’s Hard! False flats and steep little climbs, solidly kicks your ass. The way back at the turn around, not so bad. Which makes you realize - It’s Hard, because it’s Hard!

Yellow Lake - because I like to look at climb profiles and expect every climb to look like a saw tooth I didn’t realize we were on to climb until about a mile from the top. I may be a little thick when it comes to this. On the EWT, day one I think, I keep waiting for the road to really turn up for the 12 mile climb to Loup Loup and was amazed at the rest stop to hear we were already 6 miles into it. Sweet! So I kept thinking we were always about to start climbing, the rollers were just, well rollers to the approach.

Energy wise I was doing very well, heat wise I was not really doing very well. The last stretch up to Yellow Lake was an oven, I was riding with Kirsten and out of fluids. It seemed the heat was just eating away at any energy. It was very survival mood. I could only really focus on her back tire and felt if I lost that I was cooked. Luckily before things got too critical we hit the top and our great team support car was there with ice cold water and Gatorade...Phew

I iced down and stood off the bike for about 3 minutes and felt back in the game. The rest was about 2 miles of rollers and about 8 miles of descending back down to flat ground. I think everyones face was lit up with this excitement of “ I just did the bike course in 97 degree weather and survived” Holy Shit! 4200 plus feet of elevation gain as well.

The next morning was a long run in the 14-15 mile range, mind you I was doing one of the shorter runs...???? It was hot hot hot, again with amazing support from the team and coaches. Such a strong team, it’s so inspiring to train, work and support along side them. And by the way, the new approach to riding hills and saving energy totally paid off...

Eastern Washington Tour - Catching up...

2010-06-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

Day one of the Eastern Washington Tour (EWT)-

The way things appear from a distance is sometimes always best. This season from a distance seemed to spell it’s self out pretty well. Early foot races that lead to early bike rides that lead to a mix of both before the big event. Until of course the mood changes for a few weeks or the weather stays bad and you don’t want to keep at it. Unfortunately that has come in the form of an injury.

I’ve had this same before for the last few years, last year was the first I didn’t and was hoping to be done with it. But it finally caught up. I was at track a few weeks ago and it came on slowly then after about 20 minutes grabbed pretty good and hasn’t really let go since. The good news is I can still bike and swim. However, running is totally out the window. Which is a bummer because the running was really coming around.

Anyways, I’m never one to play the “what if” game, just never made any sense. So I’m at the EWT and I feel a bit under trained, but I have to look at it as training for Canada and not racing 4 days in the mountains.

This is not a race!

We've been told that a number of times already, tired of hearing it, kind of getting on my nerves now. So tomorrow will be fun, regardless of what happens. It’s all part of the road to Canada and will make for great memories with some really great friends.

---------------------------------

I'm just now getting around to posting about the trip that was about 2 weeks ago. It was a great time with friends and pushing ourselves farther than we thought was possible. Days 3 and a four were such a mystery going into this simply because we'd never done that kind of mileage before pass two days. It was more laughs than anything and such a great group of new people to meet and ride with.

I posted plenty, if not all the photo's on Facebook, so I won't repost here.

On to a general update:

After the EWT I pulled up a bit lame w/ my left knee. Some pretty good pain that I hadn't felt before. Now I've had some pretty good pulls and injuries during training and races and this was by far the most painful. Well, maybe second to the few IT band pulls I've had, but you get the idea. Good thing is I went to a UW Sports Doc and he said it was deep tissue inflammation. Some profin and ice and it would be fine in about a week. I was bummed not to be able to roll on the fitness from the tour, but that was great news. I was in the mind set and really bracing for being told I'd have to have surgery and that Ironman was out the window.

So slow going the last two weeks, but I'll get it back in gear soon enough. If anything this minor set back reminded how much I really enjoy all the training. Well I'll start w/ regular posts again now that I'm back at it...

Bricks and more...

2010-05-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

The time for the brick workouts have started, I know a few have been in it for a while, but I just finally got to the point of doing them. Two a days have been going on for over two months or more and this last week I started adding bricks to the longer workouts. Mostly bikes (spinning) before running or core workouts after running.

More later have to go eat...

And then things turn...

2010-05-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

Crazy how weeks fly by when you really don't want them to. Canada is getting closer and closer and suddenly I'm realizing how serious (how much I could hurt myself) it has become. Working and working and really keeping my head down is kind of how I've been training up until about a month ago. The last few weeks I've gotten out on rides and runs w/ good friends and really started enjoying the longer pulls that training at this point has become.

It's been about reconnecting as well. Reconnecting w/ the form and the mindset, among other things that came at the end of last season. Remembering that my limits are only the limits that I put on myself. With getting back into track and really rolling on the miles I'm interested in seeing how far and injury free this season will go.

I added an odd picture from the pain cave above that looked kind of cool...

A few weeks out

2010-04-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Learning a few lessons from the body and in life I suppose over the last few months. Training is in full gear as of this last week after a 3-4 week disruption through March. It's funny how this is the first year I've really put limits on hours per week getting back up to speed and I feel it has really paid off. Most noticeably, no injuries!

I've learned you have to wait for things or situations to come to you and hope that they do, but be able to move on if they don't. Whether it's endurance, a job, a new bike or something else that's out there for you. On the bike or in a run the last few weeks I've had to stop thinking about where I need to be and just focus on where I'm at and not to rush the process. Training is harder than it needs to be sometimes simply because the long hours give you much too much time to think...

Track and longer bike rides have filled the schedule lately. Core workouts have filled the swim days while I'm in between pools right now. Track is coming along really good, I started off a notch slower and think it's really paid off doing so. Last year and the year before I think I would of already had a few pulls in some not so fun places. I've kept top speed at and around 6:45-7:00 as compared to last years 6:05-6:20 which really was fun, but produced on going injuries throughout the season.

The group I've been running w/ at track has been really fun to work w/ as well. I'm very humbled to be running w/ them, which is a great thing. Well it's windy and a touch nasty out, but I have to go hit some hill repeats over in the Blue Ridge area to start cycle hill training in earnest: Strenuous Hill Interval Training - S.H.I.T is on the menu for the legs and lungs this morning. I love it when people comment that I'm light so I don't have to really work on hill work. It must be that and not the miles and hours of vertical work I put in on the bike every year. My thought to that is gravity is one ones friend, deal with it...

Inspiration...

2010-04-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Spin class today was just kicking my ass, about 20 minutes in I realized I was in trouble, crap.

Mostly (completely) it was my own fault, I stayed up watching Madmen until 1 AM the night before. Ugh… At least I knew what the problem was. I lowered down and looked over and saw this older guy just dying on the hill workout, but holding his own. He looked over at me and said, “stay in there”. Here I was ready to call it a day and this guy, who looked like I felt, tries to throw a line out to me.

From there I focused on pace and got back into the rhythm of the class and had a good, not great, but good workout. I’d never met the guy before, but thanked him after the class. I felt at that point I was falling and no one would notice if I just slowed, got off and left. Bagging a much needed and important part of the days workout.

The plan was:

Spin class -1 hour – treat like a Time Trial
Hill Work – 30 minutes
Run – 30 minutes

Just that half second of “stay in there” was enough to finish the rest of a pretty good workout. From there I went on and did the hill workout that I had planned. I do it on a stairmastertypetorturemachine, it mimics the movement of hill climbing on the bike pretty well. After 30 strong minutes on that thing I put in a solid 30 minute run.

Note to self: if you want to push 90%-95% at the end of a long workout to replicate a strong kick at the end of a race put in a little Rage against the machine on the shuffle.

As this season starts up and training really moves into the next phase I have to start and look into motivation and am currently looking for another Tri Team to join. After last weeks long bike and run, and I know it just goes with the territory, but I was so bored. Not so much from the ride, just from the fact that last week I was solo, the one before that, this weekend solo, next week will probably be solo as well. So I’m looking around for a new team. Also, teams are great for pulling that extra bit of training or extra bit of inspiration during a race.

And you never know where or when you’ll need “some” words or a look to give you that push that gets you through the weak miles or minutes of a workout.

Pretty crazy, but back to normal...

2010-03-21T17:29:00.000-07:00

OK, the last few weeks have been pretty crazy. I know some friends have a busy life and still manage to get there training, but sometimes you have to put things in perspective and do what you can. The last two weeks I’ve had finals in both my classes, one being editing 5 interviews for a final presentation, and the other a final analytical thesis. Ugh! Plus this past week on top of finals I had my parents in town, which I wanted to spend as much time as I could with. CRAZY!

Oh and 40 hours of work!

Needless to say I had to drop a few workouts, well not a few, but most. I had over the last 2 weeks only 4 workouts in a space of when I should have had 10-12. I could feel my base slowly getting away from me. The months of training slipping away…
Not ready – I knew this was a bad 2 weeks for training and tried to get in what I could. It also meant that I had to watch what I ate somewhat closely for the last two weeks. Can’t eat like I’m training 6x a week when I’m clearly not. Also, I knew it was temporary, but two weeks down is still two weeks down. So that week will be a build up, soft week. Then starting Friday I’ll be back in the full routine again. Playing weekend warrior can only last so long, because it’s not sustainable and ONLY leads to injury.

The things I do.

So have you ever just really let yourself down? Did crappy in a race because you knew you didn’t train right for it. Or jump into something at a level you should have known was going to need your “A” game and you suffered. I’ve been doing some great bike training the last few months and I’ve been focusing on flats, because that was my weakness from last year. I threw a rough hill climb in this week knowing I was going to get my ass handed to me because I haven’t been doing a lot of hill work this year. Not compared to other years. And as planned it was painful.

A friend and I started with a loop around Mercer Island then headed over and up to Cougar Mountain. As soon as you make the turn on to Lakemont Blvd. it’s no screwing around, right away you realize ‘ Pace, you will walk if you don’t!’ There are I think 5 steps to the climb, can’t rush because you can’t see the top. Slow, steady. Well not that slow, I wasn’t eating my lunch, but I was careful not to red line. My friend Chris stayed about 40 yards in the lead for the whole climb and that’s what I was wanting and waiting to feel. That feeling of “you’re dying and he’s not”, “you should be loving this, but you’re not”. That voice in your head, my head, saying “this is what you need, get your ass in gear” That same voice saying, “you have nothing, your legs are gone, stop, what are you doing, you can’t handle this, what were you thinking, you’re not ready”

That voice competing with the other voice saying, “Pace, find your rhythm, stay within yourself, don’t panic” Again, “Pace, find your rhythm, stay within yourself, don’t panic”. “Pace, find your rhythm, stay within yourself, don’t panic”. You hit a point where you’re going to listen to one or the other. You’re going to stop and walk or you’re going to fall back on what you know and weather a bad situation on a climb (ride).

I put myself on a hard climb when I wasn’t 100% ready for it for a few reasons.

1. After 2 weeks of missed workouts I needed to get my head back in the game
2. Nothing motivates me like not being in the condition I should be in

It was a good hard ride and it ends March with room to still get a 60+ ride in, which was the over all goal for March. Well, training should get back to normal this week and track workout will start up this week or next week. Those are always fun, ugh….

Great weekend Ride...

2010-03-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

I took the race bike out for a spin on Saturday. It’s funny how even if I haven’t been on him for six months it feels like only a weekend has passed since jumping on for a ride. I’ve done enough training rides on George, my 4 year old Trek, this year to feel like I have my riding legs under me. Meaning that more or less I have the confidence to go out pretty aggressive with a good pace and kept that going for about 3 hours.

Yesterday we started out with two good hill climbs then a long 15 mile flat, followed by a few hill climbs and finishing off with some rolls into the finish. The start up Market and Juanita were taken at a aggressive pace, I wanted to feel plenty worked by the time we got to the top because I knew we’d have time to recover on the long down hill on the back end. I was riding with a friend Chris and he can descend on a down like a rocket, so I knew it would be a challenge to keep up with him and he’s a confident rider so that always makes a difference.

Heading into the flats the trail was getting pretty busy, but I knew once we got about a mile or two past some of the parking lots it would open up. I hadn’t, like I said, been on the race bike this year yet so I was curious to what kind of speed I could maintain over a 10 mile stretch at a hard effort. I usually train at a 80-85% perceived effort, but I wanted to hit the flats closers to 90-95%. I didn’t tell Chris, but he was on my wheel and a strong rider so I knew he was up for it. We averaged 22 MPH through the flats for a distance of about 10 miles, not bad for only being March!

We still had about 22 miles left to go and the hill climbs ahead of us weren’t terrible just the slow constant 2-3% grade up for about 3-4 miles. It was a great day out, lots of sun and an eagle along the water to look at. We finished the day with 42 miles and a welcome ride back to the car. Not bad for still being winter

It's chilly and hilly

2010-03-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the Chilly Hilly, pretty fun. I wanted to ride and have fun and let the day unfold with a few people I thought I'd be riding with, BUT I ended up riding by myself. Oh well.

I started out pretty easy, trying to take in the first climb or two at ease and the legs felt pretty good. I got to the top of the first climb and I figured "what the hell" I took off and turned my easy day into a great hill training day. The legs were feeling so ready for the work, I started the day thinking I was tired and would rest the legs on a easy ride. So I was a bit surprised to finish in 2:08, a few minutes faster than before.

Hill climbing is something else. There is something about cranking up and up and up a hill. Your hips brace for the turning, your legs sit in for the feeling of what pace is possible. There's nothing really mystical about it, just training. And by that I mean train the hills. At the beginning of the year I ride my hill training course and hit it at about 12:30 minutes per lap. By June 1st, just over 10, by end of August I can hit my hill course in under 10 minutes usually even after multiple laps. And I know people love to say "well you lose weight throughout the year so you can climb easier" During the year I only loose about 3 pounds.

Sunday was a good idea about how the years training going so far and I'm pretty happy with it so far.

So in general...

2010-02-24T19:28:00.000-08:00

So in general I've been pretty busy these day's. I started training Dec. 1st and started school and work on the Jan 3rd. So I've been swimming in it lately trying to find a schedule that I can remember and stick to. It hasn't been great, but I've been tired and workouts took a back seat to life for awhile.

Works been a struggle, which puts everything else in a tail spin. I try and remember that in sport I have some control and that true joy mostly comes from hard work. In life away from sport, I have to remember this as well. Just like the first couple workouts of the season you have to know that this chapter will pass. The struggles will lay down and life will be full again.

The last few months I've been working on strength training and cycling. I've entered this year in the best weight I've been at in almost 15 years and feeling healthy. I usually enter training March 1st at about 132-133, this year I've entered at 124 and feel great, not under weight and weak. Controlling my weight was a big focus going into this season, as well as strength training. I've never done longer than 2-3 weeks on strength training before, so being almost three months in I feel like I'm at a different level than past years.

On the bike I've really tried to improve my flat road speed. In past years I always had major slow downs on flat roads. I could pass on hills and downhills, but long flats were where I had problems, mostly because I think I just get bored if the roads not heading up or screaming down : ) Anyways, I feel good abut the last few 50+ mile rides I've done on the flats. I need to bring the pacing that I've learnedin running over the last 8 years to the bike. I ride at a fast comfortable pace, but maybe a bit too fast for the long rides. Often I wait until the legs start to really bark and shutter and feel that that is when the real training starts. I can be a bit brutal to the legs when they think they've hit a wall.

Well training has been on the back burner for a few weeks and needs to switch over to start focusing on the goals of the season:

1. another sub 20 5k
2. sub 1:30 half marathon
3. 3:30ish marathon
4. Ironman of course

I guess you have to remember to lean on friends and loved ones close to you when things start to get out of control. Well I have pizza getting cold so I better go...

A few days since...

2010-02-18T21:33:00.000-08:00

OK, it's been days since I've posted but I've got plenty to start up with again.

I started school and work at the beginning of the year and have just been spinning from both a new job and getting use to school.

So I'll be back on the blog, maybe trying something new, adding some audio when I get time.

2 down, lots more to come...

2009-12-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Two weeks down and feeling good. A little tightness in the right ankle from twisting it a few months back, but that still only bothers after a run and not during. I’ve had a few really good trailish runs, mostly through trails and some road running lately. Going through the local park over here it’s all downhill until it’s very, very much not. It’s about 2 miles to the mouth of the first trail that leads into the park system. You hit the first left and ‘that’s when the fun starts. My goal for the first two weeks was not to stop running until the first set of stairs, next week will be until the second.

Being all downhill for the first 2 miles is a great way to start the run, but of course with only one way in and out, what goes down, must come up. It’s a great course because you get a good hard faast pace to start off with then a good steady swift trail course to really concentrate on and pace yourself. Then you have the climb back out of there to really work the legs. The last two hundred yards climb about 40 feet through a soft switchback and pops you out at the trailhead and parking lot. I’m pretty positive that nothing glamourous has ever come running UP out that exit. It usually sounds something closer to Tom Waits wresting with a treadmill while trying to blow out birthday candles.

Nevertheless I head into that course knowing that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and all the other crap that goes along with that line of thinking. This last weekend I headed in after a pretty hard spin class and run the day before. I was looking for a good tired run to work on running through the tiredness and coming out the other end. First 3 miles I was really not buying it, then at around 3.5 I felt the legs give a bit and I picked it up with a really good pace. It was only 7 miles, but the hills were pretty constant and I didn’t walk or take it easy on the day. Knowing the run was the only workout for the day. Plus, week two, I didn’t feel like I needed to kill it out there and risk injury.

Came in with an ave. of 7:40. In the details of the run the ave. might seem a bit off. The first two miles being downhill I ran at about 5:55. It’s hard to run controlled at that speed, so that’s what I was working on, turnover, control. My heart rate was smooth and calm, about 75% perceived effort. Then the hills hit and of course I just concentrated on light and steady, no extreme burst of energy, again control. Then the long climb out back up to 80th, about 2.5 miles, steady effort, ave. 8:15. Trying to keep plus or minus 15 sec. on 8:00 minute miles. Still at about 80% perceived effort (PE). Then the last mile back to the house, all rollers up and down, I really wanted a good hard effort, so I ran at about 90% PE until I was a block from the house. I ave. about 7:00 minutes per mile on the last and felt really good, controlled.

I’ve been doing a crap load of leg work at the gym, mostly for the bike, but also for added benefit for hill work on runs.

So for the most part I got 2 really good weeks or training started and feel good about weight, fitness and cardio. Weight is the thing that I use as a short guide on something, not sure what. Anything over 130 and I feel too heavy, anything below 124 and I feel too weak. I know it has nothing to do with weight, but still, that’s my metric. So my goal fighting weight is 125.5. I’m starting off this year at 127, in comparison I started last at 133 and the year before at 131.

All this just means that I feel light and ready to start jumping into the buzz saw that training can be. I’ve also really studied and looked over old running logs and calendars to see what worked and what didn’t and to see if there were any patterns that I could just make into routines. For the most part I’m just happy the the first 2 weeks have gone so well.

And we're off...

2009-12-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

December 1st, training for the 2010 Tri Season starts. Ready or not...

I've waited for about 3 months now and feel really good about starting back up. On the plus side I haven't added too much weight on and my fitness never really got lost in the slow down. I've added strength training and core workouts to the off season, as most do. This is the first year I've really tried to stick with it, I try and treat it as I would a swim workout or track workout. I'm not very fond of gym strength workouts....

Anyways, I was hitting the pool about 3x a week there for about 4 weeks and was feeling solid on form, then I started building a roof on our deck and my shoulders started hurting from either the swimming or the building so I stopped the swimming for a few.

Tried over the last few weeks to get a few trail runs in, 1-2 a week of 5 miles or so. Nothing too taxing, but also got some much needed hiking in, first time in about 2 years -CRAZY. I think 5-6 nice big hikes with Alley and the dogs. It's hard to believe that surrounded by all these mountains and volcanoes no less, that it's been two years...

So up first in what is a string of one event to the next until Canada is the 12ks of Kirkland. Should be a really fun race, pacing will be interesting, longer than a 10k, but shorter than a half marathon. Seems like pace could go at around 7:23 for 10k / maybe a bit slower, never know...

Well there will be plenty to report on and plenty to write about in the next several months so hold on and here we go....

Yeah, I could probably do that too...

2009-11-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

I signed up for Iron Man Canada. My goal has never been to do a IM. I don't think to be a triathlete you have to ever do or think of doing an Iron Man. I hate it when you tell someone you're doing a tri and their first reaction is " so you're swimming like 3 miles and biking 200 miles and running a marathon?!?"

I guess it just shows how obscure the sport of triathlon still is. The only real thing the majority of people know about it is what NBC show's in late Dec from Kona. A 9-17 hour plus race in just over two hours...

I always feel odd when I have to tell the person "no, it's a .9 mile swim, 24ish mile bike, 6 mile run" or whatever distance it is. The look goes from - OH, Cool - to - oh, that's nice.
With the overtone of - yeah, I could probably do that too...

A friend of mine asked - so after IM what do you do? Ultra Tri's? 100 mile footraces?
I thought about it for a awhile and pondered whether or not it was worth ranting off my reason's why IM is not the end of the road or the Everest of the sport for me. (for a lot I think)

Instead I just said I'll focus on training before I focus on what's next, after all it is still some 11 months down the road. I don't think that was the answer he wanted. Good thing I'm not doing it for him...

I am doing it, after years of saying I had no interest in doing it because I feel my body is at the point of being able to take the training (no small point) and I have the support group of friends to train with in place to keep the focus over the long road ahead. Two things I didn't have in place that are going to be huge in the small details of getting ready. Just like running a marathon, you have to survive training before you can even think about running 26.2.

For myself I don't really buy the mentality of signing up for a race or event to just survive the day. I want training to be as hard as possible to reflect the race that I'm jumping into. Whether that's a sprint, Oly, 70.3 or IM. Racing at my limit has always been what the long training months have been about.

Always! If not, then what is the point of being away from family and friends and putting up with all the pain and restrictions for.

This next year of training starts soon and w/ out the thought of, for lack of a better term, training to be stronger, faster and better. I don't see the point. So I guess that's just a long way of saying that I don't see IMC as just try and survive the day, but a race.

Don't get me wrong, surviving the day will be I'm guessing 50% of the day, if I'm lucky to have it be that little, but the focus and goal is to be ready for a day of racing. A day that shows all the work in training come forward and all the goals realized. A day of racing like it was your best 5K sub 20....

Looking back at the season...

2009-11-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

This year was a bit different than most I've had. I was looking for my first 70.3 and trying to deal with the added training time in relation to the burnout factor than hits at the end of every season. My plan was to miss the first race of the year, meaning I could postpone training for a month, hoping that I'd also push the burnout factor out a month as well.

Now don't get me wrong, I love all the training and everything that goes into making the machine move, but I also know myself. And planning ahead can save a huge meltdown on the system and to those around you in the long run.

The only thing I was never happy w/ this year was my swim training. I took a class and that improved my stroke and thought process in the water, but getting in the water was were I feel asleep on the job. Last year I did 55 swim workouts - 27 of those open water. This year I only did 18 open water swims, and 4 of those were in races. Argh!

No excuse for that! I was a bit faster than last year and just a bit fresher coming out of the water than last year, but never felt I hit the potential I could of with mroe time in the water.

On the other hand, or leg, my bike had really big improvements. I increased ave speed from 18 plus to just over 20 mph. Of course flat courses are still my down fall, need more stomp! Working on that as we speak or write, hitting the gym pretty hard over the last few weeks. If I can maintain strength and core training over the next 2 months, I should be right where I've never been before.

My running this year was above ave, but again I didn't get the track workouts like I did last year. I believe I was so hot in the run last year because of track and running at the Disco 2-3X a week. This year I just ran the Disco maybe once a week and only did a few track workouts a month. I did maintain longer 6-8 mile runs 3x a week for a larger base than last year. Also, w/ the 70.3 half marathon I didn't really know what pace I should be training at - Half speed - 7:10 / Full speed - 8:30? Didn't really know...

Overall I did as I wanted to, with a few minor notes to self.

Get your head in the game or go home. With tri season, like any other sport, the game is the whole thing. Training/recovery/racing. You can't phone in any one of them and expect to have the results or hit the goals that you sent for yourself. It's hard to remember that at 5:45am when you're leaving for the 3X that week to get to the pool for some laps. Or throw on the shoes to hit the road for your 8th workout that week and it's only Thursday.

Well, of course it wouldn't be worth it if it wasn't so damn fun and rewarding. Those are the things you have to remember, that and the way you felt when you didn't give 100% or didn't train like you knew you should of. Such a fine line...

Great way to end the season...

2009-09-22T15:07:00.000-07:00

There is something about the Kirkland Triathlon that has such a draw for me. The early morning clouds with downtown Seattle skyline glowing in the back ground. I was feeling great and relaxed before the start, energy in the crowd was electric. I saw Chris Tremonte run by my rack and just thought, "this is going to be a great day"...
For this course, the bike is king. The hills and the handling on the descents make or break time loss and gain. Too much energy output or knowing how to sling shot up the kickers so you can leave the max effort for the big pushes and bigger gains.

The swim was by far one of the most brutal swims I've been in. I fought for position starting about 20 yards out and finally had open water with about 100 or so yards left. The middle part of the swim was two on the left, two on the right, one in front and one or two behind grabbing my legs. At about halfway I made a move with two other guys, but was swimming too hard for that part of the swim for myself so I went with them to get out of the pack we were in then let them pass me and settled into my planned pace.

At the last turn for the swim I caught the two I let pass and as planned gave a good estimated 2 minute burst of about 90%. This felt great, I cleared out of all the swimmers around me and started to quickly pass the wave in front of me, seeing a few white caps (my wave) in front and felt close enough to catch in transition.

Why it pays to recon and course, even the swim!

I knew from swimming there before you had to swim right up to the shore because it’s too rocky to run in, with the rocks being about the side of baseballs, up to about 5 feet from the run out. So as I got to shore, about 10 yards their were about 6-8 people walking out trying to balance their way as I, even through just in about 2.5 feet of water, swam up passed them all and ran like hell out of the water.

There is something, and I know I’ve wrote it before, about just running out of the water in an almost sprint. I love that! I must have passed about 15 people from the waters edge to the transition entrance.

My swim time was about 20 seconds off from what I wanted, I was a bit reserved on the swim and also having to fight so much in the water in the beginning took a bit of time out of me. Mostly though I was on the verge of burning out on swim training, only putting in 4 swims in the last 3 weeks.

Swim: 15:07

T1 - pretty uneventful, which is good...

As I jumped on the bike, swinging my leg over as I ran through the mount up area another rider just off to my right totally hit the deck and ate crap on his bike. Missed him by about a foot, whew....

I was feeling great on the bike, last year I lost focus on the bike and I know that cost me my overall goal of last year. However, I had all the focus this year and had been out on the course really pushing it for training.

In previous years I’ve told myself that the bike doesn’t start until the flat at mile 4ish. Before then you have about 4 really good hills, the last one of them being the longest and hardest. However, this year, I wanted to start on the climb before the flat part, so as soon as I passed the railroad tracks, it was on.

I had a good rhythm on the climb and was catching groups of other riders and passing them pretty quickly. At just below the crest I upped the tempo to the top and got in front of the last person in view. At the top there is a good downhill, but it ends with a really shape left hand turn. I figured, force the up hill and recover on the downhill to the flat.

Once on the flat I saw only two riders up and caught one quickly, but couldn’t close on the second. Not a surprise, flats aren’t my strong suit, but was still able to hold 23.5 MPH. I had great speed and was only using about 80% perceived energy, because Slater Rd was just around the corner, very hard uphill.

Going into Slater you have a sharp right turn and can’t carry too much speed with you because you’ll over shoot the lane into oncoming traffic. This was were I was planning to use the hardest effort of the day. I saw this interview with Chris Carmichael a few years back and he said “ You can rest when others rest, but you have to attack when others are struggling” I guess that has always stuck with me during races.

Starting on Slater there were about 15 riders about halfway up, I moved and just kept dancing on the pedals until one other rider and I hit the top before the pack. Legs were burning, but I stood up and forced the flat section to get back up to speed.

I had about two minutes to maintain before reaching the next important part of the bike course, the part I lost focus on last year, ggrrhhh! This time, I stayed tucked and focused, no one passed me, I sprinted the last part to reach the BIG downhill first and just flew down. Top speed 43 MPH

When I’m on the bike I usually have a song running through my head to kept tempo, yesterday was, “Panic Switch” by Silversun Pickups....

Bike: 38:53

T2 - ran into 3 people on the way back to my spot, felt like I was missing something, but headed out on the run...

OK, so the thing that I learned from Lake Stevens was that I didn’t do enough bike to run bricks. The thing that I realized as soon as I got on the run was, “ I haven’t done enough bike to run bricks”
Out on the run I immediately saw Alley and the rest of the posse in full gear running towards me, cheering me on. I was thinking, you’re all running faster than me, one of you finish this up for me : )

The thing I was feeling like I was missing as I left T2 was my inhaler. At mile one I had a crushing feeling in my chest and knew instantly this was going to hurt, at the same time it wasn’t getting any worse. I was running in a group of about 5 people and the guy I targeted as my rabbit was slowly pulling away. I figured, legs hurt, lungs hurt, why the hell not! I went from 7:20 pace up to 6:55 and dropped the group I was with. I held this for about 2 minutes and realized, I can hold this, let’s start hunting : )

I had two friends on bikes meeting me along the run course cheering for me yelling for me to keep bridging the gap and hold pace “you’re reeling him in” my lungs, legs and stomach were completely on fire as I saw my pace steady at 6:25. Had to push, season over in less than a quarter mile, crested the last rolling hill back to the finish and heard my gang “PICK IT UP” “CATCH HIM” - I love it............

Run: 20:09

Overall - 1:17:00 - 71st overall

The race was great, left it ALL out on the course, great friends, family and support. Beautiful day and not one regret about prep or effort used.

I had a goal of placing top 50, but ended up in 71st place. I feel OK about that, because I still PR’d over last year’s time. I had a different focus for the majority of this years training, from sprint to half-iron, so I knew there would be a little rust on the faster harder pace of a sprint.

The most important take away from the day was that I didn’t lose focus on any part of the race and kept pushing even when I wanted to stop because I hurt.

Also, let’s not forget that it’s just so much damn fun! All Photo's by Alley Kloba

Was it really a month ago...

2009-09-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." - Juma Ikangaa

For most this statement means to “compete” or just get to the starting line.

It’s taken a few weeks to really think about the lessons learned from Lake Stevens 70.3. Did the work leading up to the race amount to what I was expecting as a result? Did plans work out w/ energy, nutrition and pacing?

The day before at the expo I was mostly calm, figure I’d have plenty of time the following morning to be really nervous, and trying not to get too excited over helmed. I can’t explain the relief I felt when we made it out to the lake and saw the buoy’s set up of the swim. It seemed small, my first thought was, “I’m going to hit the bike just fine”

Morning of....

Getting to Stevens was fine and the urge to throw up was just below the surface so I just went into an auto pilot mode of steps to get ready. Days before I visualize how transition set up is and how the bike will be set up. I go over it, over and over again in my head so it becomes like a picture, then on race morning instead of trying to figure out transition placement I just recreate the picture w/ very little thought needed. Like coloring by numbers...

Talking w/ the gang before the start was great, several had recently done their first 70.3 so it was very calming to hear their stories and advice before the start. I walked out to the swim w/ Joe Tysoe and he talked about relying on my training and not to panic in the swim. Stay to the outside and not to get caught up in the sprinters at the beginning of the start, that die out in the first half mile...

In short the swim went well and was uneventful, perfect! At one point I was right in the middle of the pack and had to tell myself not to panic. Although with about 20-30 people swimming to my left and right sides and just a sea of caps in front of me I was right where I should never be, right in the middle. I made my way to the left side and tracked by the buoy line about 4 feet under water. The fog had not cleared and you couldn’t really see more than 15 yards ahead of you. Creepy, but kind of calming.

Swim - 40:21

T1 went well, I wanted to slow in up a bit and make sure I didn’t forget anything for the long bike. Coming out of the water the legs felt great and I run hearing the cheers of the gang supporting. So much fun...

T1 - 1:55

The bike had lots of levels to it, I looked at it as the main course to deal w/ for the day. The plan was to ride the first loop like a training ride, no aggressive moves, just steady and make sure to take advantage of the down hills so as not to make too much work for the up hills. Second loop was going to be the same accept I was going to rush the last three hill sets on the course.

Energy was great on the bike, my paper number on the bike came loose early, about mile 3 and started to cut my inner thigh on my right leg. It felt like a razor blade hitting my leg every 3-4 pedal strokes. OUCH!

On the second loop going up the “hill” I guess most people call it I was surprised to see my gang cheering me on up the hill. Cow bells and screaming and even a giant Deviled Egg! I was maybe too focused I seeing them really cracked me up and reminded me what great friends and family I have !

The bike was going well until about mile 52-53, the last kicker hill back to transition. I could feel a change in energy and a feeling in the stomach that this was about to be a long day.

Bike - 3:00:36

T2 I slowed up a bit because I could feel something coming and ready to jump on the system. I was really hot coming off the bike so opted not to put socks on for the run. Figured it was a bad choice, but was willing to live w/ it.

T2 - 1:14

Running across the transition zone to the out gate was where I felt the slipping start. I hit the street and heard my name being yelled and the adrenaline rushes forward and you forget about the aches of the body for a few seconds, it’s great! I got about 10 minutes into the run and was hitting 8 minute pace and just tried to keep my mind off of the meltdown that I knew was going to happen. The legs left heavy and the lack of any shade the run pretty difficult, I hit the 3 mile mark and left a wave of dizziness wash over and wondered at first way it took so long to hit. That sort of left the door open for the wheels to start coming off...

I walked for a few and at mile marker 4 picked up a jog and started again, which was good cause I saw Tony seconds later and told him a was doing OK and about 2 minutes later I rounded the corner and saw the gang screaming and cheering and egging me on. I ran by giving a thumbs up as my stomach was in full revolt and the dizziness was creeping back. Down the road from them only about a half mile was the water station that my team was working.....UGH! Can’t stop and walk here either....Big smile and thumbs up here too...

The run is a loop course so I’d have to go through the same area again, but at least I knew where I could walk and not be seen. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had to walk plenty of hard races before, I just didn’t want to worry any of gang out cheering and having a good time. They come out, early, and cheer for you, that’s amazing, I just don’t want them to worry and have their day of cheers turn to concern and survival reports.
At mile 8 or 9 I saw Tony again and told him I was in bad shape, I joked a bit, but I think he could tell I was down in a hole. I kept tell myself, “energy is coming back, stay in there and this could pass and you’ll get your legs back”. The truth was my legs were feeling better every 5 minutes or so because my pace was down to 10 minute miles and I was walking every 100 yards or so, my stomach just wasn’t giving it up.

I saw joe out on the run about this time and he waved and said something quick like “ stay in there” At mile 11 after the last big hill on the run course and it was just back to the finish. I had a plan to ease down the hill, don’t make the legs work, walk the turn about 20 yards, then let’s see what’s left.

I could see the mile 12 marker coming and went from a walk to a job. I closed my eyes for a while and just told myself to be calm and breathe. I hit the 12 mile mark in full stride, the stomach started revolting the legs felt great, I was focused. I looked at my forerunner (watch) and had pace at 7:40. Legs left light and I was feeling great! ...Just stay in there... I hit the last turn and saw Joe again, done w/ his race walking down the sidewalk w/ a piece of pizza and he said “ hurry before the pizza gets cold “. I cracked up, but seeing Joe and remembering what he’s done for my running over the last year I went into track mode and just focused on leg turn over and form.

I hit the finishing shoot with my forerunner reading 7:04 pace, 7:40 for the last mile. 9:06 ave. for the overall run.

Run - 1:59:05

Overall - 5:44:01

Lessons Learned -

There are plenty of things to learn from and build on.

Swim - just get in the water more, I should of gotten to the point of 1.5-2 mile steady rather than just 1 mile swims 1-2 times a week. Also, more swim/bike bricks...

Bike - Much more time on the bike, no questions. Rode the course 4x and that was my longest rides. never when over 60 miles.

Run - I throw so much at the bike and swim in the last 5-6 weeks that I let the run go down to just 3 runs a week of about 6 miles each. Have to keep the run miles up to at least 30 miles a week.

All in all, it was my first one and I can’t beat myself up too badly. I know where I fell short and where I can be proud of, sometimes they are the same things...Go figure...

Thanks to everyone that came out to support and sent well wishes. Crossing the finish line takes so much more than just you being out there by yourself...

I'll post pictures in a few days...

Getting to the Starting line...

2009-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's Friday and a few days from my first 70.3 half ironman. I guess I have a lot of mixed feelings about this race. Much like last years Olympic distance, but this seems different for some reason. The others seemed personal and my goals were easy and simple. Survival seemed at a better ratio I guess.

Sunday feels a bit like the day could run away and just trying to hold on is going to be the focus of the day. Seafair was fun and training showed to pay off in many many ways, but pacing and holding back wasn't anything that needed to be applied like it will on Sunday.

Holding back in the water: 40+ minutes can be a long time in the water not to start feeling like you need to start sprinting because you're taking too long. - Have to fight the urge to spend large amounts of energy in the water.

Holding back on the bike: The hill getting out of transition will stomp you right out of the gate, " right here is where you know if you wasted too much in the water!" Is what I yelled to a training partner the last time out. Nasty hill about 2 miles into the bike, can't rush there. The loops of the bike don't start until about mile 4-5, you could loose your legs just getting out there.
Once on the course you hit a set of rollers until about 8-9 then get some flats that lead to the first smaller hills of the day. You have to know the course well enough to use the downs to recover the next hills. The back flat at about mile 15 is where refueling will happen, after a set of 3 tough hills. At the end of that small flat you'll see some clear cut to the left. That is the green lite for the first big down hill leading to the next set of hills.
The bike is a monster of sorts, fun, but hard to say that race pace will be above 15 miles per hour. The hardest hill is the one that comes around mile 52 leading back into the transition zone. With those big effort climbs spread so far around the course you have to have a steady plan in place and follow it. Even if it seems everyone is passing you on the first loop.

Holding back on the run: If I can hit the run feeling the same or better than I would at mile 13 of a marathon I should be in good shape. I have a tendency to run a bit too fast until about mile 2 so I'll have to make sure I keep it at marathon pace, which is around 8:15-8:25 minute miles. Mostly if if I stay around 8 minute mile + or - 15 seconds I should be good. I can't feel good early and run in the 6:50-7:15 area because that wouldn't last to the end.

Too much to think about, but that's some of the fun part.

I am looking forward to all the support and friends and family that are going to be out on course to cheer me and my friends on. That totally rocks! You never know how much that helps to get someone to the finish line.

Race day finally here, oh no!

2009-08-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

I felt pretty at ease in the morning, still the morning nerves of course, but not the “ all the training is for this” type of work up. I was nursing a hurt arm so I was really just looking to feel the swim out, work the bike hard and see what the legs had left for the run. After the marathon a few weeks ago I only got 3 runs in of about 5 miles each and hadn’t got any speed work in. Marathon pace is not 5K pace, so I was on “wait and see” mode.

The swim was pretty even I start in the usual spot, back left. I started last year to move to the front, but thought that would be a bad idea for today. I was pretty relaxed at the start, talking w/ Sean K. before the start made it seem pretty much like a training swim. I hit the first buoy feeling pretty steady and even, a gap opened up as I rounded tight on the turn and didn’t hit anyone pulling through. Surprising! The stretch to the second was OK, then I got caught up in the last turn. Feet grabbed a few times, although never got hit, I felt I swam out of that turn a bit too fast and started to pace back down, going from breathing every 3 to every 2 strokes for a bit. The last 100 yards I felt great, I was catching people with about every stroke so it was making the end come faster and faster. The only downside to the swim was I stood up too soon because there was too many people standing and walking in. I got up in just below waist deep water, too much wasted energy, I covered 10 yards in about 5-6 seconds? Would of only needed about 2 seconds and no effort if I didn’t have to stand.

Swim Time- 14:30

T1 - 1:51 Pretty straight forward, I got my wetsuit caught on my Garmin, arrgh!!! I was afraid of that.

All week I was dreaming about the bike, I just needed my arm to get me through the swim so I could jump on Luke (my bike) and fly. I felt great coming out of the water and hit the bike in full stride. The day was amazing and there was no wind. The first part of the bike passes the swim course, so you look down at the chaos you just survived. Sweet! I was full sail on the bike w/ in reason, I love it. As you get on the bridge it really narrows and I saw three riders ahead of me that I didn’t want in front of me on the approach to the bridge so I did a full out sprint to pass and get in front, which totally paid off. As I hit the bridge and looked back there was a small back up riders trying to make it through.

The bridge was just amazing, wind so loud all you can hear is your breathing. Rainier wrapped in sun ready to jump in the lake. Amazing!

I was waiting for the turn around, I stayed steady and relaxed on the way out then once I hit the turn around I just shot up the small hill and did a big effort back to the small down hill of the bridge. So much fun! Off the bridge and back I only got pasted by two riders. I caught one on a small hill just off the bridge and had the other in sight the rest of the way.

Bike - 35:43

T2 - 1:14 I had a bit of trouble getting my right foot in the shoe, but no big deal.

I hit the run and wanted to stay steady until the hill, then work the hill and survive the downhill. As I got on course I saw 2 groups of about eight runners lined up. I focused on the guy in front and worked my way to him. Then the second group, then the third group just pass them. I was in no mans land for a few and that made me speed up until I found more rabbits : ) The hill sucked, but I kept saying the pain will only last a few, just a few more. Then I saw Alley at the top of the hill at the turn around, I figured she had to sprint down a few blocks around a crap load of people and straight up hill to see me there from where I saw her when I was on the bike. That made me happy, crazy, energized, what everyone feels like when they see someone truly supporting them. I grabbed a drink and shot down the course.

At the bottom of the hill I heard fast approaching foot steps, my first thought was great now the flood gate opens of people passing me back up. Sounds about right, however it was a friend Ryan passing me and as soon as I saw him, the back of him, I let out a “GO Ryan!” Almost nothing better than cheering for someone on course. I couldn’t catch him, but I used him as focus to stay close to him, or as close as I could. As I rounded the corner to the finish I was proud in the fact that Ryan was the only one that passed me in the run.

Run - 21:01

Overall - 1:14:19

Pretty good day, things to work on:

More swim training, still need more time in the water.

Flat road bike training, the flats need more work.

Get back to track workouts for speed work.

Rocked and Rolled

2009-06-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon -

What a great event! The support was the best in any race I've been in, by far. Not to say it's always bad, not at all, just that the support of the race yesterday was way over the top - in a good way...

Each water station, lining both sides of the road, had a minimum of about 40-50 volunteers. Some had 100's, mind blowing as you ran by a sea of hands handing out water and CytoMax for what seemed like a full block. Very cool.

The day was clear skies and expected to reach mid 70's - great for pictures, maybe not so much for running. It was amazing to see the sea of humanity stretched out before and behind as far as you could see. Most races have about 5000 runners both 1/2 and full combined, yesterdays had 25,000 combined. It's surprising when you see a familiar face, or even a few in the sea of people.

The day went well until mile 22, then the pain of my IT Ban started to really effect my stride and I slowed from about 8:20 minute miles to about 9:45 and having to walk about 4-5 times to let my right leg stretch out. The goal for yesterday was to finish of course, but was also not to stop moving forward, so no standing or leaning to rest. However, I felt I had plenty of energy and mental focus to stay running in the mean miles (23-26), I just had a blowout that made it physically impossible to stay running the whole time.

If I was a car it would be like both front and back tires on the right side had flats, I still had half a tank and the engine was fine, but I had to bring it in slow.

On the route I did get to see Lynn and Jaime at the turn around on 99, which was great! I can't ever say enough about what a boost emotionally seeing someone you care for show up and cheer for you. You can carry and have a lift for the rest of the race if you see someone for even 15 seconds on the course as you run by. Amazing...

Shell and Lil' K were out there as well supporting Alley, Tony and I. The three of us after 7 odd years of running finally running the same Marathon together, crazy! Alley had a great day despite falling down some stairs two days before and hurting her back and Tony finished strong having to work through some cramps late in the race.

Overall a pretty sweet day, got home had a 3 hours nap, picked up pizza and movie and crashed early. Not bad for a full days work...

Been there, seen that...

2009-06-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a few....

Last weekend I got a chance w/ the group to go and ride the Lake Stevens bike course. Pretty sweet course! Lots of little rollers and some good, at least 3 tasty hills. The course seems like one you can really enjoy and take advantage of the rollers to swing you up the hills.

The goal would be to jump on it at least two more times, hopefully three, before race day comes.

I still need to get in the water w/ some consistency. I've only been able to get in 2x a week over the last 6 weeks. Not acceptable! I don't think I'll be the swimmer this year that I was last year. A little sad, but that's OK. Maybe that will change in a few weeks.

More later, have to run to swim class...

Bodies, rest and motion....

2009-05-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a short easy, but intense training week. Week started w/ a good run ( 8.5 miles ) then a bike followed with a well planned day off. Then Wednesday fresh legs for the track, which I wanted to bury myself in - end in a redline one set out w/ a short rest and a final 400m to end on dead legs. I just wanted to put a little hurt in the room to remember the season had started : )

Then I had a bike hill climb the following day with the group - lots of fun, out and around the Mag Loop, Friday was a bike into and back from work (fake day off from training). Pizza at lunch, mmmm

Saturday was a really good honest 12 mile run. Flat first 8 miles then a nasty climb up to the house for the last four. Felt a bit heavy the first 2 miles, ran really slow and wanted to warm up into the pace that I figured would come soon enough.

I was thinking on the run, last week was heavy this week was short and striking. I read a blog entry from a friend of mine Joe Tysoe that talked about “Hammerfests”. And I guess I was thinking about that this last week in that the basic theme was every big effort needs and big recovery. One big week, one smaller - still intense, focused week.

That also got me to thinking about “Hammerfests” in general. I think they’re a waste of time and is something that only distracts or destroys your training schedule. If you have a light day because you worked yourself the day before, but your buddy wants to challenge you to a “easy” 6 mile run and you end up showing them who owns who, but miss the next two or three days of training, then what’s the point?

I love the huge long run on sentences that I can get myself in : )

Anyways -

Today I had a great day on the bike! I did my Blue Ridge loop course, nasty even for me. The last time I hit the top of Blue Ridge I had to jump off my bike and check if I had a stuck brake. I jumped off and spun front and back, but they rolled fine - %$#^%

Fine.

I wanted to check recovery rate, edge upwards of 85% effort w/ out blowing up on five different hill sets, then all out on the last. I figured the 2-3 minutes back down would give me enough recovery time, without getting cold in between sets.

Result-

About a week or two away from the cardio that I want and know I had last year, but still getting stronger as I warm up.

One of the keys this year will be to not be afraid to have a good solid warm up. Sounds easy.....maybe not.

Well this next week adds a few things: swimming? Pool and open water.

Ok, like Flipper said walking home from the bar “I need to get in the water!”. I picked up a new wetsuit today so there’s no - good excuses left....

Penny of course doesn't see the need for a wetsuit

Checking in...

2009-05-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

It's been a great few weeks of training. I've gotten back into pretty good form and am ready to start full swim training in the next few weeks. I finally feel at the point of giving a good hard effort without thinking I'm going to hurt myself in the long run.

I think a few weeks back I put in a great effort on a 28 mile bike ride w/ about 2400 ft of climbing and ended up not doing anything for the next 2 days.

However, having said that I do think I pulled something in my left inner thigh at track on Tuesday. It nags a bit when I'm running or biking, but mostly when I'm just sitting around.
I think a few light days and ice and heat will take care of that.

Well I have a long bike today, but the weather turn rainy and windy so I might just do a short bike w/ a short run. We'll see : )

Start adding fuel....

2009-03-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I start the direct training and get off the build phases of training. Sort of I'm in shape now to start the real training.

Being sick the last week and a half makes it feel like I'm farther behind than I am. I should of been in shape and healthy enough to race the Carnation TT on Sunday, but you can't lose sleep over what you can't control. I feel close enough to 100% that Sunday I'll start the heavy lifting towards this years goals.

The main focus will be to slow down. I've done three years of Sprints and it's hard to switch gears from 85%-90% to 80%-85%. I have a feeling I'll have to relearn pace all over again and really not ignore feeding and refueling. 2008 was a great year and I think I can learn a lot from mainly not being afraid to push at my limits. However, pushing your limits and not pacing have two very different results.

In 2007 at the Victoria Half Marathon I pushed my limits and had a great result and PR. Whereas, 5 months later at Nookachamps 2008, I didn't pace, ran with the wrong pack that was too fast and just about died 2 minutes from the finish line. Terrible day, once you overextend you can't really fish it back in, the damage has been done. That was the 10k and I knew I'd gone out too fast at mile 3,where the half course splits off. After the split is a nasty hill that just keeps climbing. I could feel my legs dead and flat about 25yards before the climb started. Urgh Argh.....

Anyways, tomorrow starts all the real work and fun! It is work, but come on now, I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't fun.

"I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I am adding fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match."

Tomorrow I start adding fuel....

2 steps forward, 1 step back...

2009-03-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks training have been going really well.

I got in some bike rides of 25-35 miles and had some explosive spin classes that left me a bit weak in the knees, in a good way. The running was feeling on track with a few 6 and 7 mile pushes of 85%-90% efforts, 3 days a week.

And the swim, I've only had 2 swims since the last time I wrote, but one was for 30 minutes and the other was a 50 minute swing doing 8 pace laps, 2 pass laps,1 minute rest, my idea of swim training. I swim at pace for a few, then in passing mode for a few. It's my PISS swim training.

A few years ago Floyd Landis had an interview in a mag and he was talking about hill training or Steep Hill Interval Training - SHIT....

I thought that was GREAT so me and Alley came up with
PISS: Passing In Swim Situation
CRAP: Continual Running At Pace

So in the thick of training to can have your days or hands full PISS, SHIT or CRAP. Sometimes PISS as number one and SHIT or CRAP as number two...

All very messy if you don't fuel or recover properly.

Anyways I've been sick for the last few days and feel pretty rundown. I know I'll get over this soon, but I feel like I'll have to yet again start training over again. It's just the preseason anxiety that happens every year. Last night was the first late night mental check list of all the things I haven't done yet, Grrh Argh...

I do know that after I get over this cold I won't be taking days off or doing token workouts to just cross off the board. Nothing lights a fire like the thought of disappointing yourself and those that support you....

Once again, back at it....

2009-03-12T18:48:00.000-07:00

OK, I've been away for a few - sort of recharging the batteries and seeing what's up for this next year. As always, it seems too early to start training, then too late and you feel behind.

Well this year I'm focusing on the Lake Stevens 70.3, my first of that distance. I think the only others right now I want to say for sure are Federal Way Oly, Seafair Tri and Kirkland. Issaquah may be in there as well, but I need to focus on longer pacing not sprint. Don't get me wrong I'll probably get that first Issaquah in there to calm the racing nerves.

I want to avoid late season burnout that leads to fall-winter stalemate. I love the work and the training and the races, although sometiimes the races are the icing on the cake.

The other thing I want t do this year is race a few TT on the bike. The ones in Carnation should be a lot of fun and a great learning curve for pace and endurance. I was getting excited about the TT when I was re-fitting my aero bars on Luke. I ended up moving them back 3 full inches. I can't believe I was all superman style last year : )

Well, in about 3 weeks training for the Rock and Roll Seattle Marathon starts and I'm looking forward to really getting behind a good training schedule and knocking that down.

Alley as well said she wants to look at PR'ing at RNR. I think that means she's all in for the 26.2. Plus training usually means getting together with Team Cannoli from across the water so that's always fun.....

I think the later start on training is fine this year, mostly cuz there's nothing you can do about losing the last 2 months anyways, but still. The only concern is getting my swim back to where I was last year, if I can focus the next 6 weeks to swim I think the rest will fall into place. Falling in place meaning kicking my ass back into shape : )

Keep in mind....

2009-02-08T20:09:00.001-08:00

This past week the Seattle - Ballard area lost a cyclist in a fatal car/bike accident. I didn’t know him, but know plenty like him, myself included. It’s hard to understand how any day can be your last.

When I’m out running, biking or swimming I always have in mind what can be lost or what I have to get back to. I have to say that it’s never far from my mind, out on a ride or during a swim as to what I need to focus on to get back home. I feel for the mans family and can’t imagine what their days have been like to go through.

Starting another training season hundreds and thousands will be out filling the streets, getting their miles in and it’s a risky part of training. I’ve had cars cut in front of me close enough to smack their side panels and trunks. I’ve been a hood ornament 3x on a car hood while running and when that happens everything in your body wants to scream, ‘this is just not worth it’.

Is doing better in a race worth risking your life during training? I guess you could say the same about paying your bills by driving to work. In the last 2 weeks there have been 3 major fatal car accidents 2 on the freeway and 1 on a major street near by.

I guess I just want to tell all my fellow bike riders out there to be safe and remember there is no guaranties on safe passage.

Also to my car driving peeps: Their bikes, the average bike holds a cars progress up by 3 seconds. Now is 3 seconds worth a brother, sister, son, daughter, mother or father life?

Another week...

2009-02-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

Training started again on the 1st. I've been feeling pretty good on runs and got in the pool for the 1st time in a long time. I think the last time I swam was in the Kirkland Tri.

The water felt good and I actually was reminded at how much I like to swim. It was a short twenty minute swim and the lesson was - Don't swim without ear plugs!

I was a bit dizzy during the swim from getting water in my ear. At first I swam through it then tried to get out of the pool and ended up sitting at the edge trying to focus on staying upright. Walking to the change room I was bumping into the wall then walking too close to the pool, then back hitting the wall. Once I made it back to the locker room and sat for a few I was OK. Which was good because I had to bike home.

Nothing much else right now as far as training, just trying to get back in the swing of things.

Stronging it through the weak miles...

2009-01-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

The last couple weeks have been slow in going in getting the training season started. I blame it on the weather and - well the weather. Cold sucksssss.

Nookachamps went well, I pulled 20th out of 167ish, somewhere around there. It’s funny cause I came in over a minute slower than last year, but with a MUCH better result. I was looking at it as a training run and felt pretty comfortable during the race with the pacing I was keeping, pretty steady.

Over the last week I put in a few good runs to work and this last Saturday around Discovery Park. The run on Saturday was a bit of work, the first 3 miles or so were just real painful and heavy work. Not that it should ever be real easy, but this was just work.

Through the last rough mile I was thinking ‘I can just walk this out and get a good walk in to the top’. Then I started telling myself, ‘ you can run slow, but you can’t stop, because you don’t stop.’ In low gear and pushing up a hill I kept breathing, pace and not letting myself talk me into stopping and walking.

The line “Stronging it through the weak miles” came to mean -Keep moving through the miles you feel weak in and stay with it until you can pull out of it.

Hitting mile 4, the legs started picking up and I felt great rolling through the trails at the Disco. I ended up with a great run that started out flat and almost finishing 30 minutes earlier.

Jumping back into it...

2009-01-16T20:41:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Nookachamps and I’ll use that as a training run and not a race, lesson learned from last year. I’ve put together a few good weeks of running and core workouts, not great but not sitting on the couch either. The legs feel good and ready for this years work load after a few weeks-months of rest.

Also, I signed up for Lake Stevens 70.3, I’m really excited about stretching out to that distance. About as much as I’m looking forward to jumping into more Olympic distances this year, getting into the water will start this next week. Also, biking into work for a start will begin that leg.

Goals...

Complete a 70.3
Improve strength on bike and swim
Log 1000 miles running
Under 3:30 for a Marathon

Things to work on...

Bike fit
New wet suit
Pace for longer bike rides

That’s the happs’ for now...

End of the year review...

2008-12-29T19:03:00.000-08:00

What went well? What worked? What didn’t? What the hell was I thinking?

This past year of races were pretty sweet. I hit all my goals and felt I was getting the returns on all my training. I focused early on my swimming and did on ave. about 4x more a week than last years training. I’m mostly happy about the number of times I got into the open water: 28

The high point of this years swim came the week of the Seafair Tri. I swam the Fat Salmon the day before - 1.2 miles in just under 40 minutes. Then the next day I did the swim leg of the Seafair Tri in 14:20, on a team with Eileen and Alley. EIleen did the bike and Alley finished out with the run. Those two races then a week later was the Escape from Federal Way Olympic Tri with the .9 mile swim. That was an amazing few weeks there of just putting on the hours, miles and wet suit, over and over again.

With the swim coming along well, mid summer I turned my focus over to track running, Something I’d never done before. I’ve run for about 8 years, but never hit the track. With the help of Joe Tysoe and crew from Emerald City Multi-sport, I turned out and pushed down some pretty set walls in my run training. I got to a point of averaging about 5:58 per mile pace on a 4.5-5 mile tempo run. For me that was about 45 seconds faster than I would of ever thought was possible.

The goal heading into the track training was to do my first Sub-20 5K at the Foot Zone in Redmond. I was primed and felt good the morning of and all things went as planned.

The pain of attempting to reach for what you want was pretty heavy on the mind that day before and during the race. I was talking with someone a few days before and she said about her first 70.3, ‘ I have to know the pain is going to come, I have to know how long I can handle it, how I’m going to react. I can’t starting hoping that it doesn’t come.’

Throughout the year I was putting time in on both George and Luke. I started training with George (last years race bike). I had this thought that I didn’t want to start training on Luke and never feel that huge difference between the two bikes. Especially if I was out of shape when first jumping on Luke ( New bike).

Hill training was a big part of my training, mostly because I actually enjoy climbing for some reason. Also, I wanted to compete in a time trial style bike race and managed to talk Eileen and Tony into joining me at the Cougar Mountain Hill Climb. Alley, Shell and Lil’K, were there for support and at one point drove next to me cheering me on. The support is usually what gets me, or us, through the tough parts of any event. It’s always fun during a race to see were they find to cheer you from.

My goals for the year were;

Olympic Distance tri - Federal Way Escape, 5th in age group 30th overall
Sub 20 for a 5K - 19:42
Top 50 in the Kirkland tri - 57th Overall - 50th Males
Improve Open water swim - Totally!

I Hit all my goals for the year and got a marathon added in to boot. The marathon could of been better, but I was happy and satisfied considering the achilles and I.T. problems I had in training.

What I learned?

This year I learned right from the beginning that you can’t limit yourself to what you think you can handle or achieve. That when it comes down to it you’re the only one standing in your way. I wanted to come out this year and just throw it down and feel like a triathlon racing for a place, rather than just trying to survive the day.

I love the race, personal race, that plays in my head during events. Tempting to raise the pace, giving feedback on sustainable efforts, screaming to run my own race. Comparing race effort with training effort and where the “redline” lies for the day.

The support that Alley gave me this year was amazing. Long hours away on the bike and run. Then coming to make sure I made it back to shore during key swim workouts. All the race support and making sure I’m out the door with everything, cheering and explaining to strangers why I kept yelling “mango!” : )

Before every race I still get nervous and wonder what the hell I’m doing. I failed PE once for sure, maybe even twice during high school and always think someone’s going to call me on that before a race, saying something like, ‘Sorry this is the wave for the real athletes’. I’ve just had this feeling like someone was going to realize, ‘hey you can’t start doing this now!’

This year went a long way to change that outlook, not in a cocky, boastful why. I feel confident to push my limits and get up the next day and push again if needed, or in the next leg.

On the first starts a new year and a new tri season. I can go in with plenty to work on from this year. As well as plenty of things that I learned about myself

- I can hold my own, I can compete, I can place, I can tri...

10k at Nookachamps sounds good too...

2008-12-16T21:38:00.000-08:00

So I've decided to do the 10k at Nookachamps next month rather than the half marathon. I wanted to do the half, but I just don't think I can get the training in to hit the time I want. After this last summers races and the times and paces I had, I was thinking a winter race would be a good chance at hitting 1:30 on the half marathon.

Over the last few weeks I've seen and enjoyed the sport around me, either through seeing events first hand, reading other peoples blogs or watching on the tube.

Last weekend watching the Ironman in Kona on TV was a great boost of making it through the winter to get back into the rythem of training again. The thing that kept running through my mind, watching the finishers cross was, 'I want to be there. I want to give that'.

Now, I still have no interest in doing a full Iron Man, not yet. What I mean is, looking at them, I want to be in that space of time, - frame of mind, working it to the finish.

I want to be there, I want to give that.

Seattle Marathon ...all 26.2 this time...

2008-12-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Last week I got to go out and cheer on AK plus thousands of other runners at the Seattle Marathon. This is the first year either of us had anything to do with the full marathon, we’re both run the half a number of time’s over the last several years, but never the full. So this was going to be pretty cool.

The morning started with a light mist that was suppose to burn off by 10-10:30, that was what most the local news stations were reporting. And for the most part that was true.

Except that instead of the fog burning off it doubled in thickness and moved in pretty heavy over the course.

AK was off and running and I had 40 minutes to make it to the I-90 tunnel and cheer her on. Takes about 15 minutes to drive straight there, - about 38 to get there around the course, park and run four blocks down and over, back up under the bridge to see the runners cross the bridge.

I got there, took 2 pics of the crowds and stood up on the jersey barrier and didn’t realize that Shell and Lil’K were standing about 10 ft down the road from me. I laughed and said, “ What are you doing here?”.

TK had joined AK on the opposite side of the tunnel and was going to run with her from the tunnel out and back to Mercer Island, pretty sweet. I know that’s going to be a high light to her 2008 running season.

AK was running on great pace for her would-be finish time of 4:40 and the days weather was perfect for running. After TK left her she was headed out to Seward Park.

I caught back up with her at mile 17 and she was still smiling and looking really strong and steady.

The fog rolled in and got really thick at the bottom of Madison. Mile 21 was at the top of a really nasty hill and AK pushed steady through the hill and was still smiling.

I hung out at mile 26 for about 10 minutes before I saw AK and that was really a special place. The course ducks under Hwy 99 so the runners disappear for about 2 minutes then pop up right at mile 26. So all the support people wait and wait and keep saying he/she should be here, should be here, should be, no...no... not them, close - what time do you have, what were........
“THERE THEY ARE!!!, YOU DID IT, YOU DO IT!!!” RANDOM SCREAMS!!! Cow bells...

The feeling and emotion just about rips your heart out. So many times during the day having to hold back tears from just watching that raw emotion pour out onto the street.

At mile 16 I saw a girl hobbled, in serious pain and fell into her mothers arms saying,”I knew you were waiting and I had to make it to you.” The mother loaded her in a car and kept repeating “I’m so proud of you”

I think the best way to put your sport of choice in perspective is to sit it out and watch it from the sidelines. I always gain more or regain my respect for running/racing/trying by watching and seeing all shapes and sizes just go out and put it on the line. It seems to remind me of how much is needed to reach my own start lines. How much is needed to willingly start the whole process. And how much is needed to remember this is fun, this is work, this is what I want.

What AK wanted was 4:40, what she got was 4:33:06 - Pretty Sweet!

Seattle Marathon tomorrow!!!

2008-11-29T14:54:00.000-08:00

AK will be running the Seattle Marathon tomorrow, I’ll be posting photo updates from my phone on Facebook. The weather should be pretty good, cold but not raining much and no snow. It should be 38-45 degrees at the start and about 50 after the sun comes up.

AK said she feels ready and can’t wait to get on with it. At the Expo on Friday she said she finally got the nervous excitement of realizing you’re about to plunge into another marathon.

I had the same feeling and told her “, but I’m still glad I didn’t sign up : ) “

Ten days til the work starts....

2008-11-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

Have been keeping it pretty low the last few weeks, much to my liking. I wouldn't say I'm a lazy person, but not having to get out of bed at 5:45 to train is really easy to get use to.

I started looking at the 2009 season and started to see what I would smash and grind the body through this next year. I love the time away from "Sport" because after a few weeks of not being active, I get this real surge of the " oh, I can't wait!" Like waiting for Santa 2 weeks out.

I really want to tune up the year with Nookachamps at the beginning of the year with a hard fast half marathon. I'd like to go under 1:30, which isn't out of the question with the way I was running in the summer. I'd really like to start tri-season with the San Francisco Olympic Tri, the run does an out and back over the Golden Gate Bridge, how cool is that!

I want to through a huge effort into this next year and think I could really have fun doing it. This last year I focused on swimming and made what I thought was huge advancements in distance and speed. Making a 1.2 mile swim seem totally fine to start the day or a race : )

Well, talk to you all soon...

Laying low...

2008-11-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

This has been a much needed rest over the last three weeks. I see daily all the people out training for whatever's on their schedule and I can't wait to be back joining them. I get restless and down right grumpy when I don't workout or train in some sort of schedule.
However, I know myself and I knew that "burn out" was just around the corner.

As you can see I haven't signed up for anything and that's probably the first time in a few years I haven't had that carrot out there pushing or pulling me towards the start line.

Feels kind of freeing. I know that this next year will be covering new ground and not doing a lot of the same races and schudules as the last few years. I have a marathon to look forward to and jumping into my first 70.3 race. The training will be more intense and longer, so I can really enjoy this time anyway from all things athletic.

Of course there is still running w/ Penny.

Also, Alley (AK) is a few weeks away from running the Seattle Marathon, first time doing the full in Seattle. She's been out and about on mornings before work putting in her miles, in the dark I might add. She's looking and feeling ready for the hills that Seattle throws at you.

I'll be cheering her on with Penny from the roadside.

Recovery and sunny days

2008-10-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

An easy week of recovery this week from the marathon. A few bike rides and a small run. I think as much as I want to race in a few things over the next couple of weeks. I think I'll just rest up and support AK with her marathon training for Seattle in a few weeks.

She hasn't signed up for it, but I have a feeling she's going to jump in for the full in a few days. Having run a few times this last week already, I know she says she's recovered from Victoria. So why the hell not : )

I got out on the bike today for the first time since Kirkland, oh the work. I hit a few hills and long flats - felt like I was riding on flats...
I think I'm going to start a weekly spin class with some friends from Emerald Multisport to keep up the biking over the winter.

Mostly I was just wanting to enjoy the day and take advantage of the sunny, sunny day. While I was out on that, AK was doing a 13 mile run around the hood and to Green Lake.

After that we took Penny over to Marymoor to the dog park and ran around there for a few hours. Until she just started laying down in the tall grass every time we threw the ball for her.

Look at that tongue!!!
I think we'll all sleep well tonight.

Back from a long run....

2008-10-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

What a cool weekend! Aside from having to leave Penny behind it was a great weekend.

The race was 24.5 miles of really having a good time and being surprised at how well my legs were holding together. I set out planning to hold the pace at around 8:45 - 9:00 per mile. A little slower than usual, but I figured after the last 2 months of training not being so hot, I’d be able to survive 26.2 miles at that pace.

Race morning was great, an 8:30 start meant we got to sleep in about an hour and a half compared to most races. SWEET!

The morning was odd because the temp was s different from morning to evening and that morning was about 48 degrees, but suppose to get about 64. Didn’t want to waer too much and over heat if the sun did come out, but didn’t want to under dress and be freezing before, during and towards the end of the race.I think I changed twice before heading out and AK must have changed just as many, maybe more. However, it wasn’t as cold as in the past and the clouds gave way to clear skies and amazing weather for running. About 53-55 for most of the day.

AK was ready to run and couldn’t wait to get it started. She said she wasn’t nervous this time, just waited to get it on. I felt odd at the start, like I wasn’t really there to do 26.2, just there to do a long run.

From the start of course you get stuck in the massive packs and run really slow trying to wait for the numbers to drop and make it easier to start running at your own pace. My biggest rule and advice is “Run your own race.” Something I follow and never let myself fall out of, except when the finish is in sight of course.

At about mile 2 I fell into a good pace that felt easy and sustainable, around 8:10. I thought of slowing and running a little easier, but it felt comfortable. At this same time I found my friend Karen and thought I’d run with her for a few, but knew she was looking for a 3:40, faster than I was going to be doing. I told her I’ll run with you when I can, but don’t hesitate to drop me to keep your time. That was at mile 2.

I had a great time out on the course and maybe because I knew I was running on borrowed time. I knew around any corner my I.T. band or achilles was going to jump up and rob the day from me. I was OK with that. I’ve never DNF’d and I figured it would happen sooner or later.

Around mile 12 I was still running a strong 8:15 per mile and feeling really good. Mile 13 I was like OK half this may not be that hard of a day. Up through 16 was feeling great, at 18 the group I was running with, including Karen, made a surge and we did a sub 8 minute mile. Not amazing for the truly fast, but I was proud to be there holding my own. At twenty I broke to the front of the group with this guy from South Africa and told him at the top of one of the hills,’ you going?’ he smiled and said ‘ go ‘ We broke from the group and opened a small maybe 15 sec gap on the group at the bottom.

Not the game winning shot of course, but it was really fun talking, joking and supporting each other out there. I ran with about four people through the race at different times in the race and ended up finishing with most of them.

At the 23 mile mark the legs felt great and I was pacing pretty well and the thought, as most do at this point, was to tell myself one lap around Green Lake. I hit 23 at 3:13. Sweet I thought, I’m going to PR.

Then at mile 24.5, I would say that for the second time in my athletic career, the wheels came off. At 24.5 I hit the water stop feel mostly OK then in about 30ft the legs put out the “out to lunch” sign. I walked a few then picked up a painful stab in my right hip and the legs felt heavy as lead. i looked at my watch and saw that I could still make 3:40 if I put my ass in gear and started running again. So I told myself “ just running, walk, then jog, then pick up the pace” About 15 long seconds of that my legs refused.

I made myself walk until I was clearly unable to PR, so I could stop thinking about that. Then I picked it up again, but could only do about 30 yards then walk again. This went on until I saw the one mile to go sign. At that point I was walking with massive cramps in places I wasn’t really expecting or had had before. My legs felt like they wanting to buckle in on themselves. I walked for about a half mile until I saw the green gates that lead to the finish. I held a strong 12:45 for the last .25 miles! CRAZY!

The pain was brief and only came in the last two miles. Although the last few miles seemed to last forever and seemed to crawl by my Forerunner has me at: 8:50, 9:25, 9:50 for the last three, but 5 minutes for the last .2

Over all I enjoyed the race and the amazing setting of Victoria for the race. I still find it funny because I told Alley at the beginning, I don’t really think I’m going to run 26.2 today, we’ll see.

The thing that this did do was make me want to get in the right training to see if I could hit 3:30. I felt great out there and the lack of training caught up with me as excepted. BTW the lack of training came from injury and not laziness. However, I felt I could of run 8:00 even or better per mile up until about mile 23. Endurance from better training could .......................wait a minute!

This sounds like other one could be around the corner soon.......

Also, AK and Karen did an amazing job out there, both getting the times there were looking for.

Long run on Sunday.....

2008-10-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

Off to the Victoria Marathon tomorrow. I feel good and ready for the run. Maybe not 100%, but close enough not to make it brutal.

I guess that is all you can ask sometime. I can't look at all the training I didn't get in for the marathon and have to look at it like this - I can pace and maintain and enjoy the day.

It could be worse, I look at this as a great weekend getaway to celebrate one hell of a year in training and racing. I had such a great year that this is a cool way to just put a good high watermark on it.

The main story for this weekend is AK's run. She has been training and in the zone for the marathon. Knocking off 5 days a week and long runs like water. I can see it's not easy on her, shoving out at 6:30 in the morning to get a morning run in before work. Cold dark mornings, with little shelter from wind or rain.

I can see that she has that look of keeping an eye on down the road. Looking down to the payoff. Looking down to this Sunday. Looking down to seeing mile marker 22 and knowing - totally have this.....

Kirkland rundown.......

2008-09-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

When the announcer calls one minute to go, I stand there in the water staring just over the horizon,breathing, calm. Always thinking how, in just a matter of seconds, at the sound of the horn, all hell will break loose.

I got myself a bit unfocused before the start because I forgot lube for my bike and lost my swim cap on the way to the transition zone from the car. Crazy.

Swim:

I wanted to push in the swim and lined up just one row back on the left, about 15ft closer than I usually do. The water was pretty choppy heading into the first buoy and about 10 yards from the turn I lost a bit of focus and drifted a bit off course by about 15-20 ft.

I swim pretty straight, I’m not faster than a lot of people, but I tend to swim straighter and in a swim that’s less energy and less time to the other side.

I felt great around the first turn and hit the half way point rolling pretty good. A nice long stroke with plenty of room to move. The last turn takes you back to shore, I let off a bit, but kept up a good pace, about 70%. At one point I was swimming shoulder to shoulder with someone thinking I couldn’t lose this guy and thinking I was moving too slow.However, about a minute of that and we caught about 5-6 people, surprisingly passing with some pretty good speed. A bit more closing speed than I thought a few times.

I had a feeling that I had a good swim time and came out of the water clean without having to run around any large groups.

T1:

Pretty smooth, all went as planned

Bike:

Heading out on the bike I wanted to stay calm, but steady at about 80% effort until the 5 mile mark. The first five are hard, but if you hit the corners right with the right speed and use small burst of speed you can really go through some serious hills with very little effort.

The road was pretty littered with glass from the late and early morning rain. I seen about three flats, but even worse heard a crash behind me that I didn’t want to look back at. Most of the way it was wet and slick, but I never got caught out on a slick spot or felt like the bike was out of control at anytime.

I felt good pushing the tempo and started hunting down people once I got to the second hill, it’s a pretty intense stretch that takes you over some railroad tracks then kicks up again through some houses to get you over the freeway. I was keeping about 10-11 mph up that and breathing was calm so I just thought instead of waiting until mile 5 I’d start at four and work the hill.

Looking back even right after the race I felt I didn’t make the best decisions on the bike as far as went to make the biggest efforts or focus on certain parts of the course. On Slater road, a steep long hill that kicks at the end before flattening out, I trained to stand and attack the last 50 yards, knowing I could recover on the two minute flat spot at the top. Although, during the race I sat and just paced up steady and kind of played it safe?
Also, at about mile 9 you finish a nasty climb and hit a flat spot before a big down that rolls you up the last hill, well mostly.

I hit the flat area and started pulling a gel out and taking a drink and arranging stuff from my bike to my back pocket on my jersey. Sitting up to take in a few deep breaths.........and two guys fly by me. Not just edge by, but haul ass in full sprint mode. CRAP!!! I lost focus again on a very easy part of the course and forgot that others came to race and not just ride. I felt that instead of taking it easy on the part that I did I should of quickly refueled and then got back in a tuck position to take advantage of the flat. The two guy’s shot away from me and it took me less than a second to change gears and chase, catching one on the hill and the second on the overpass of the freeway.

Once you cross the freeway it’s all downhill to the finish. You S turn after a steep descent off the overpass into some blind turns, which you can take at speed if you know the course : ) I kept telling myself “don’t over cook the turns”. I shot out of the turns through the enter section at 39 mph and passed one more person before the next big down that sweeps you left back to the start. I felt great and as soon as I hit max speed I rested the legs and took my feet out of my shoes for the last half mile.

T2:

I put new quick release shoe strings on my running shoes the day before and forgot to loosen them back up for the race. Then I got to my station I grabbed my right shoe first and couldn’t get it to fit. Only wasted about 2 seconds.

Heading out for the run I was knew I had to keep a good pace, 7:30-7:45, if I wanted to stay in the hunt for the top 50. I saw AK and Lil’K at the start of the run, along with Penny, cheering me on. That always seems to get me out of my head and kind of remember, “ OK, we’re just out here running” The first part of the course has a hill to it that I always forget about until I’m staring up at it, but I just kept pace and spotted a few people to focus on. At the first turn I was hunting down a guy in blue, but past him there wasn’t anybody we could see. I stretch of about 150 -200 yards until the next turn.

I was telling AK that for some reason when I go to pass someone I look for the next person down the road to focus on, but if there’s not someone else I fall into a “sympathy pace”, for lack of a better name. It’s hard for me during a tri to focus on the pressure of
racing when I get stuck in “no man’s land”. Meaning there’s no one insight, you’ve either run to the front of your pack or got dropped by the pack in front of you. I went from 6:50 pace down to 7:35 in just a few moments and started running with the guy I was about to pass. Obviously, something to work on!

Once we got into the long snake like turn around I spotted enough people to start bridging the gap on and regained my pace. Heading back for the last mile I kept thinking that all the training, all the hours, all the time out on the road this season was about to finish up. I spotted a guy wearing a Live Strong bike jersey about 30 yards ahead of me and wanted to take him before the intersection that lead to the finish line. I can usually put aside pain if I know there’s reason behind it??? I guess meaning I can live with 2 minutes of extreme discomfort, knowing the finish line is around the corner.

I was talking to someone on a group run yesterday who said, “ you have to know when the pain is going to come and if your willing to deal with it. You can’t start hoping it’s not going to come, but be ready for it.”

Passing the guy and rounding the corner I let off a bit, but worked it to the finish. Always knowing how sometimes seconds can make a huge difference.

I felt great about this race, It wasn’t the bike ride that I imagined, but it all felt like a great effort.

Last years times:

98th 35 M 1:21:38 23 17:53 305 1:50 0:39:54 122 1:16 143 0:20:45 80

2008 Times:

57th 36 M 1:17:30 5 15:14 206 1:35 0:39:26 96 1:12 76 0:20:02 71

Over two and a half minutes faster than last years swim, that alone was a great day! I was telling AK I was a little bummed at not getting sum twenty on the run and I sort of lost track of the fact that this was the fast run leg of a tri I’ve ever done.

In the end I didn’t get Top 50

However, I only missed it by 31 seconds and I could of had that in a straighter swim, slightly more focused bike, loosened shoes in T2 and by not hanging with the guy in the run, but just passing him. I’m happy with how I placed and did and of course, think I can do better next year.

Thanks to AK, Shell, TK, Lil’K and Penny of course for their support and encouragement .

Shell’s got a shell of a story to tell about the Kirkland tri, next time......

Again with the numbers......

2008-09-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the last tri event for my 2008 season, unless I decided to do Austin 70.3 in 2 weeks, but not likely : )

Here are some fun numbers on training this year

Swim - 50.57 miles
Bike - 1442.37 miles
Run - 508.61 miles
Other - 35.8 Hours

The coolest number that I’m proud of is that this year I’ve done 28 open water swims, races included. Last year I did a whopping 7 open water swims including races.

What was I thinking?

Pre race preview....

2008-09-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

I don't want to say that this whole season has come down to this next weekend, but I kind of can't wait for this race to start. Maybe because this is only my third and last tri this season and after the last few weeks of cheering on my friends for Iron Man Canada and other local races I feel like it's finally my turn to race.

I get this rush of excitement I have to ignore or I feel I'd never sleep before race day.
I can picture lining up, wave four - left front, not the left back this time.
Thinking in my head, two hard minutes, cut back to 75%, rhythm, breathe, go

You like this, you love this.

10 minutes in: sight because you're going to start catching the people that went out too fast. Pace, control, ease by them, control.

150 yards out: suit, shoes, race belt, helmet, shades - repeat

Last 75 yards - sprint 100%, w/ legs around the crowd, swim till you can run past all the people wading through the water.

Out of the water - MOVE!!!

T1 - calm, steady, smooth

Grab Luke ( my bike) and start the best part of the day..........

Arms up and head down, steady don't over react. You have five miles before this bike split starts. Use the gears and the flats to make small work of the first hills. Steady up the first major hill, race hasn't started yet, one more mile...

Right at the stop sign one 15 second surge and.........

Head tucked arms up, crank the big gear, don't look up. Speed 26.8 miles per hour, flat road one S turn ahead and a sharp right to Slater Rd. Slater's going to hurt. Wait for it, it starts at the inter thighs and jumps to the lungs. Pace. Stand and work the bike, stand and push the tempo. This only hurts for a few minutes, there's the bus stop, burst over the top, head down arms up.

Flat, downhill, big gear.

Back up, the last climb that can hurt you, long steady, cross 85th. Stand and push hard until the right turn, breathe, control. Flat with burst coming up in 60 seconds, pass the school and ramp up then attack 100% for 20 seconds full out, legs are on fire, lungs are on fire. Sit and coast,recover.....THE LAST HILL AHEAD.

Easy on the climb, when you hit the last sign on the right, everything that you can throw, thigh's screaming, standing on the pedals working the crap out of the bike. I want this...

Hit the top sit and gear all the way to the largest gear and let gravity work for about 20 seconds or until you can breathe again. Cross the freeway and once again jump up and give one last burst of 100% for about 15 sec. 39.8 MPH! 2 miles downhill!!!

Tuck and pace nice and strong at 75%, recover on the down and get ready for the run.
I can't think of what the run is going to be like yet, my leg is pretty bad off from the twenty miles on Sunday.

Tomorrow I should be able to tell how it's going to be, however, I don't see running on it until the race. That could be worse than running on it this week sometime, but I know my body and it usually handles pain and stress pretty well during a race.

Wait til yesterday is here...........

2008-09-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

It's funny how when you wait for something for so long it's hard to feel like you're "in the moment" ,for lack of a better term, of being in the middle of it all.

This whole tri season has felt like I've been getting ready, been getting ready, been getting ready for the next build level, the next step in weekly workouts, the next level of intensity. Now with just over one week left in the season it seems odd that it's coming to an end.

Tuesday morning I was swimming across Green Lake before work and I was out in the middle and I just stopped and looked around. The sun just coming up, red clouds fading to white, green yellow evergreens calmly soaking it all in, I had the whole lake to myself. Amazing!

Today I was headed around the Mag Loop after work and the same unreal yellow cast over all the hills, trees and downtown. The mountains just ready to jump over the water and splash in the sound. I can't help but think of all the views and sights I'd miss if it weren't for sport or tri training.

Anyways, after seven months of training with little time off, I've really looked around and have enjoyed the time,places, feelings, pains, confidence and new friends that this season has brought.

Todays ride was a hammerfest from the start with a 3 mile run after, then I grabbed the Penster for a short mile. I love running with her, she's all life.

I kept thinking about Kirkland the last few workouts to keep the intensity up and these words keep crossing across the mind: Relentless, Search and Destroy, All Out.

Back at it..........

2008-09-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

OK, I had an easy week to get my legs back under me and I feel good about the last few weeks of training leading into the Kirkland Tri.

My goal this year for that is to place top 50 in the overall. I'll need to take off almost one and a half minutes in the swim, maybe a minute in the bike and about one minute in the run.

I think it can be done I just need to focus on really working the bike in and out of gear and get my run back to were it was 2 months ago. My swim is strong and I can do about 80% for a half mile and a mile and still feel great coming out of the water. In training I've been doing a slow half in about 16 minutes. About a minute faster than last years Kirkland time.

The transitions I could run faster than last year also and gain a few seconds, it's funny how a few seconds in T1 and T2 can cost you about 5-6 places on the overall standings.

After feeling a bit taxed last week with over training and the leg injury I feel good today having done a 16.5 mile run Sunday and a hour bike yesterday on sore legs. Working through the sore legs yesterday was a treat, but after about 15 minutes they felt great.

The goal for this year was to do a Olympic distance triathlon and I got that covered, so to place top 50 in the Kirkland tri would be a sweet way to end the season.

Well I have a swim this afternoon with a bike after so I better get to work so I can rest before I start hitting it again : )

Going, Going, Gonnneee?

2008-08-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

I've felt a bit burned out lately, training since Dec 1st has finally caught up with me I believe. That and getting the first real injury of the year - Right Achilles tendon has decided to take the winter off.

I was out getting my ass handed to me in the water at Green Lake on Tuesday from the wind and off and on again rain and just kind of thought - A rest. Maybe a few days or a week.

If I take the rest of the week off and start back on Saturday, that might be good. I feel like I have great builds for all swim, bike and run. I just ran out of steam.

Here are some quotes that I thought would help motivated myself and others trying to make it through the last drops of summer.

"I do today what others don't, so I can do tomorrow what others can't." -- Prefontaine

"A life spent defensively, worried, is a life wasted. Life to me is a series of false limits and my challenge as an athlete is to explore those limits." Lance Armstrong

"Obsessive is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated"

"Everybody wants to know what am I on? What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my *** six hours a day. What are you on?" -Lance Armstrong

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal."

"I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I am adding fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match."

"Some dream of great accomplishments, others stay awake and do them."

"Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up," Dean Karnazes

“If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience life, run a marathon." Emil Zatopek

If you are not big enough to lose you are not big enough to win. Anon

Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges, wish for more motivation. Anon

"In order to get things you have never had, you must do things you have never done."

"Triathlon, from the outside looking in you can't understand it....From the inside looking out you can't explain it."

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare".

it's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. ~Author Unknown

By the numbers.......

2008-08-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Some cool numbers to throw out -

Year to date -
Me
Swim - 46.04 miles / 31.24 Hours
Bike - 1324.47 miles / 89.97 Hours
Run - 415.39 Miles / 56.89 Hours
Other - 32.63 Hours

Total Hours 210.74

AK Run Totals -

619 Miles / 98 Hours

Could AK be on her way to breaking 1000 miles for the year?

That would be about one of the coolest milestones ever for either of us since we started running seven or so years ago.

Some of the biggest changes to note in my training this year have been the 23 open water swims. Compared to only seven for last year, races included, has lead to a more relaxed comfort in the water. Instead of thinking about the differences between the open water and the pool I can focus on form, sighting, breathing and pace.

This last weekend capped off a big build week to get back in the thick of training again, after what felt like about two weeks of easy recovery.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday were doubles with Saturday being a half mile swim followed with a 52 mile bike ride. I went from Green Lake around the north end of Lake Washington over to the Kirkland Tri course. Did a loop of that and headed back vie Perkin’s Way, another day of hill climbing.

However, due to the heat of the day, I stopped twice for about ten minutes each to eat and cool off. I only mention because I usually can’t stop longer than 2-3 minutes during a bike because my legs turn to concrete and sometimes I lose interest in finishing, but I thought stopping would prevent cooking myself out on the road in the heat.

After Saturdays three hour ride I still had Sunday’s long run of 13 miles to get through. AK was slated for 16, but due to an eye injury she held out for 10. She was on the phone with the doc hotline saying, “Well, do you think I can go in after my long run?”

AK is “Hardcore!”

What’s 2 miles.....

2008-08-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

This last weekend Eileen, TK and I signed up for and rode the Cougar Mountain Bike Climb 4 Cancer. It was a free Time Trial style race up 2 miles of 7.2% grade out in Issaquah with donations going to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

It was pouring down when we got there, not just raining, but coming down hard. Having a wet suit on wouldn’t have been out of the question.

I arrived with AK and Eileen expecting a hour wait or more, but when we went to check in we were told ‘since it’s raining we want to get people out and up as soon as possible. Your Number 8 and 9’.

WHAT!

So instead of the hour or so we were thinking, we had about 25 minutes. 25 minutes to get our bikes warm up and find some place to whiz. Always a plus.

The good news was it didn’t give us enough time to start freaking out about what we were about to put our bodies through. TK showed up right after and AK, Lil’ K and Shell headed off to the top in the car to cheer us on the last bit.

I was first and told Eileen,’ if you pass me I’m grabbing your seat and you’re going to have to pull me up.’

I started out fast and figured I’d cool it down and get my legs under me and find a good rhythm to move along with. However, after the first two minutes there was really no time to play catch up. The road kept climbing one turn after another. I spotted the rider that went before me and caught him a bit before the hardest turn, about 3/4 of a mile in. I past him, then two other people before the half.

Team support.

There’s something odd about a group of people supporting a person that’s destroying themselves. I heard a car coming up behind me and heard AK yelling out the window. My first thought was ‘ Tell Shell to run me over ‘, I think a second before I heard them I was starting to lose focus and concentrate too much on the pain, almost panicking I guess. Hearing them yelling as they drove by brought back the main things I always focus on during stressful periods: Pace, Form, Breathing

Pace: Is this pace sustainable? Yes/No - Stay or find it.
Form: Is everything from legs to head functioning and set for the right motion?
Breathing: Steady, control the rhythm, I control cadence.

I look to these three things constantly in a race and hard training workouts. Having asthma, I feel that this helps me keep away from the attacks I use to get when I would just go full out on everything, usually with the worst results.

As my team car went by I got pasted by this guy with Snooze Junction stickers on his bike, I recognized him from meeting him a few months before. My thought was ‘GREAT, now everyone’s going to start passing me now!’ I tried to match his pace, but within about 20 seconds of staying on him I knew I’d never make the top if I continued.

So I raised my pace a bit and braced for the rest to start passing. I could see that up ahead was a good size downhill, about 100 yds or so, then a small flat piece that lead to the final climb. A real nasty little sharp hill, I figured I’d throw 100% on the downhill, coast the flat, then let the momentum eat off the first 1/3 of the hill before I had to do any real work.

End the end it felt like that worked, about half way up I lost all steam in my legs and was just going on lunging back and forth on the pedals. I could hear Team Cannoli yelling and screaming and I knew the end was close and was very thankful that it was. The guy that pasted me ended up coming in 4th, wow, and I never got pasted by anyone else.

This pic of me and Luke was less than five feet after the finish line.

Eileen, after she finished actually even talked to me, I think one of the first things she said was," How bout something flat next time Bill!"

TK had a good strong finish, with about four riders at the bottom of the last hill around him he muscled it pass three of them before hitting the finish.

The race of truth is what time trials are called and I guess that goes double for uphill races, there's nowhere to hide or pause. I enjoy pushing and pushing and pushing and I don't lose sight of the fact that I do actually enjoy swimming, biking and running. Separate or all together in one day.

Thanks to Eileen and TK for joining and of course to AK, Shell and Lil'K for cheering in the pouring rain.

Sub, Sub, Sub, Subtastic

2008-08-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the Foot Zone 5K. The race AK stress fractured her leg in last year, for those keeping track. (ouch!!!) Since then she's done the Seafair Half Marathon as well as cranked up her training to 5 days of running a week. She's been knocking that schedule out for the last 3 months now, give or take a week. Pretty damn cool!

AK posted a good time that she was happy with, she was looking for a good steady race and a mark on the calendar to show a years progress. Plus, she did 14 miles in the heat of the day before. How cool is that? Run 14, then work a 5K the next day.

I however was looking for the elusive sub 20. For the last two years I've been in the 20:45, 20:25, 20:15 range. So about 2 months ago I thought this race would be the one, that and the fact that it's a pancake flat course.

I told myself before the race that the next 20 minutes or so are going to be uncomfortable and painful, just deal with it and don't give up.

I went out fast, but caught it in time and pulled back to get everything under control, pace and breathing. I'd run pace for about one minute then push the pace up a bit. Legs felt just a day away from perfect. Might have not rested enough before.

Mile one - 6:22

At the one mile mark the group I'd been running with broke into two groups and the front group started pulling away. I was in front of the second group, the group being left behind. The gap started to grow and I thought 'don't miss the move' I figured I could hang out in the 6:00-5-55 pace for about 1-2 minutes. Enough to catch the surging front group and get to the middle of that pack. I could feel my legs and lungs start to protest.

Mile two - 6:20

I hit the two mile mark and started to fade, I could see the gas tank and the distance to town and knew I'd be hitch-hiking into town. I looked at my pace and I was at 5:45!!! Slow that horse down! No wonder I was dying, I floated down slowly and felt better. I had this picture of Steve Prefontaine in my head every time I started to give up. Now I was giving myself one minute to recover and hit the last half mile as hard as I could. The course is a figure 8 more or less and you finish once you round what was the start line. about .25 from the finish.

Mile three - 6:07

I found someone to watch a keep my focus about 15 yds in front of me, I could catch her, but I knew if I took my eyes off her shoulders I'd fade and stop. My legs were in full strike mode, the screams from them were only drowned out by my lungs burning and demanding to know what the hell are you thinking! 'Can't give up this far in, can't do this again'

I round the corner and see the 3 mile mark, but the 5K is 3.1 miles. I've done 3 miles in under 20 minutes PLENTY! It's the Damn 3.1.

You can't see the clock from the 3 mile mark!!! I didn't want to see it, if I looked and it was too late I think I would of ??? I don't know...... By my forerunner I was moving, but I felt like I wa running in deep thick mud. I couldn't push any harder, I was sprinting, who the hell sprints in a race?

The road straightens out finally, I try not to look, but too late - 19:26!!!!!!!

The finish line is more than close enough, I stop pushing - Take body out of Code Red and finish on a glide rather than a big kick to cross the line. I pointed at the clock as I went by and just wanted to really remember my first sub 20.

5K/3.1 - 19:49 PR (Personal Best)

I ran my first 5K in 2001- 02 I think at a YMCA 5K with AK, TK and Shell in 32:50 stopping twice to walk.

You get to the point during a event when you want to give up and it takes remembering your supporters to get you through that....

By in a blur.........

2008-08-02T18:38:00.000-07:00

My first Olympic Triathlon went by like a blur, in a good way!

I kept telling myself, “clean slate”, I wasn’t here to race, but just take in the experience and set baselines for the future ones. I have no times I’m shooting for, no goals ( times ) that I’m hunting, no expectation. Just go out and let it do what it do!

The swim was comfort and ease, I enjoyed the 2 loop course, being able to swim by the groups cheering from the pier and the beach. I kept telling myself, ’steady and easy, don’t push, not racing the swim. Fast swim will leave you dead on the bike.’ It felt pretty good coming out of the water. I made the mistake of standing up too soon, had to get around two guys in front, that made a slower than wanted exit from the water. When I stood up in the water it was at my waist, I could of had to more strokes and gotten closer. Other than that pretty cool.

T1 - Pretty uneventful - I wanted to take my time, even put on socks for the bike, and made sure I had everything I needed. Headed out with a pretty good feeling.

My plan was easy laps 1 and 3 and hard laps 2 and 4. Not sure why buy that’s what I thought would be best. The course was great, hilly with a few blind turns. The only blind turn that could hurt you speed lose wise was the first one. I remembered from last year and took it easy enough on the first lap, but realized that was a great place to grab back time against the people out of the water before me.

Didn’t I say I wasn’t going to race this one???

I kept the same plan as the last race; spot a group, pace myself up, pass and look for the next group. I didn’t worry about the guy biking next to me, I was after the guy 2 blocks up and the next group after that. I worked the down hills well enough to pass a lot of people on the up hills, short bursts of energy and speed, tuck in the aerobars and sail to the top of the next hill. More or less???

I’d round the front of the course and I’d see Penny and hear AK cheering me on and giving me such a boost of energy. It was great! A friend from Speedy Reedy was cheering on a friend of his, but joined in the yelling “ Go Bill “ It was cool.....

T2 - I got to chat with the supporting crew - Lynn and Jamie rolled in as I was getting off the bike. All I remember saying was ‘ my shoes eating my sock ‘ and off I went. My dismount of the bike was pretty ungraceful!!! I’m glad no one saw. All crane fly action.

The run felt heavy at first, legs slow, but my stomach was in good shape, did take in too much fluids on the bike. After the first 2-3 minutes they came round and I start with an easy pace around 7:30 minute miles. At the 1 mile mark I felt really good and started to push the pace up to 6:45-50ish, but not a full out effort. The course was hilly and I knew the last hill, about 1 mile from the finish was going to be hard to keep steady. By this time the sprint runners were on the course and it made it easier to spot and find a carrot. Again I’d target the back of one person, see a marker ahead of them and set a pace to close the gap. Entering the park there wasn’t anyone in front of me with less than a .25 mile to go, but I saw Lynn, then Jamie, then AK and Penny. I didn’t have a big kick to the finish, but I finished strong and steady to the line. I don’t think or it didn’t feel like I dropped pace the last half mile.

I felt great after the finish line and was glad Lynn and Jamie made it out to enjoy the morning supporting me and my crazy idea of enjoying a morning. Also, for AK supporting me through all the training and believing that I always had a swim partner, of course I did : )

Seafair Tri.....

2008-07-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning came much too early!!!

The Seafair Triathlon awaited team “Klopeder” in Seward park under the clear blue skies with eagles flying low overhead. I was to man the half mile swim leg, Eileen was on the 12 mile bike ride, fresh off her STP ride, and AK was blazing the trail to the finish line on the 5K run split.

We were all pretty excited about the day and the morning luckily went off without any trouble. As we hit the transition area the excitement started to build. We talked about not having any pressure of having to do all three legs and just enjoying the day. Sounded great!

Then Eileen asked if she should run the transition zone once she gets tagged for the bike. Both AK and I jumped into race mode. Totally!!!

I believe AK told Eileen to “Drop to hammer” on the bike leg. I was looking forward to sprinting the half mile swim. I was talking to AK about this. When I looked at the swim buoys marking the half mile course the first thing that went through my mind was ‘ that’s so short, the buoys are so close’. The second thing that crossed my mind was ‘ how much energy do I have left?’.

Fridays 42 mile bike ride, Saturdays 1-2 mile swim, I felt tired below the excitement.

I wanted to start in the front of the pack on the swim, but didn’t want to get five minutes in and totally hit the wall and get stuck in heavy traffic - nightmare situation!!! So I held to the usual plan of back left side and wait just 2-3 seconds after the horn goes off.
About 2 minutes in I upped my pace and caught the five guys in front of me with a clear view of the first buoy. The view over my right shoulder was amazing!!! I was doing 2-2-3 stroke breathing and every time I looked over I’d see about 40 white capped swimmers slashing through the water with the sun blazing through their silhouettes. A quick hard effort around that and I felt my energy explode with plenty in the bank to draw on. I almost started laughing??? I held hard on pace, high 85-90%, but not redlining, felt great rhythm through to the second buoy.

From the 2nd buoy it’s just a straight 200-250 yrds back to the beach. This is a hard area because this is were you start catching packs of groups in the water. Last year I got boxed in by four guys that were swimming in a slow bunch, but kept fanning out so it made it too hard to go around. This year, I paced down a bit for what felt about 20-30 seconds and as soon as I hit the first group and jumped and went “Full On - Mango”!

I love passing people in the last 20 yards of the swim and running out of the water. Running out of the water is one of the best feeling during a race, I wouldn’t understand why anyone would walk. You have hundreds or thousands of people cheering and running gets you closer to your bike!!!

I make it to shore run up the ramp, rip goggles and cap off the tag Eileen for the bike leg.

Time - 14:22 PR : )

Eileen took off fast and I knew that once she got about 1-2 minutes in and got up to speed she was just going to fly. Having ridden with her before it would of be amazing to see the speed she could of reached on the course. The feeling in the transition zone was more party than competitive. Which was great! We figured Eileen would take about 38-40 minutes and that’s about what she thought. So of course when we saw her at 35 minutes we knew she was hauling some serious ass to the finish.

Time - 36:01 Sweet!!!

AK had the longest wait and it was funny because she said she wasn’t looking at it as a race until she saw how fast Eileen was moving. Then she said’ Holy crap, you rocked the swim and Eileen throw the hammer down on the bike, I have to keep up my end!’.
Leenster rolled in and made the tag.

AK sprung out like a shot, this would be her first aggressive run since her stress fracture almost a year ago! She said her legs felt fresh and ready. The up hill to the top is a nasty bump in the road, AK says she enjoys the challenge up the hill. For some reason I just don’t see that???

Eileen and I headed around to the finish to see our anchor cross the line. It’s always great to be at the finish line. All the excitement, cheers, people sprinting in the final seconds to cross the line. Some with in themselves, some hurting, but still pushing. All the stories that everyone has that got them to the start and then the finish.

Along came AK with the sun blasting behind her, moving fast and gaining on the small pack in front of her. Eileen and I yelled as she went by in a flash, not slowing down, but finishing strong to the end.

Time 25:26 - 20 seconds off PR!!! WOW!!!

Total Time - 1:17:34 - 12th out of 65 teams!

What a great way to enjoy the excitement of an event! The relay was so much fun to do. We placed 12th overall for relays and had a great time doing it. Eileen said we should one every year! That would be cool.

............................................................Where's AK? Can you fine her in the crowd on the right?

Giant Dog!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming......

2008-07-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

You know when you need to improve on something so you start making or putting yourself ‘in the line of fire’ to push yourself forward.

That was the thinking about 4 weeks ago behind signing up for the Fat Salmon 1.2 mile swim race this past Saturday and the swim portion of the Seafair Triathlon on Sunday.
Two days of swim racing, I was going to emerge a better swimmer or else......

It was actually pretty fun?!?! AK was my swim support cheering section!!!

I’ve always been good at the swimming part of the tri’s, but the up coming olympic distance is a .9 mile swim and I wanted to do something before, in a group/competitive/pack type situation that had that arms and legs every where feel to it, then bike a bit after to see how that felt.

Fat Salmon was a great event! - aside from only having one bathroom at the finish area and one at the start area. 150 people with just two cans?

I felt great for the race that morning, loose and surprisingly not nervous!!! AK and I couldn’t help but notice the low key, mellow vibe of the whole event. Plus, I had already had the talk with myself about this not being a race, but more of a supported training swim, with 150-300 extra people along, most of which were real full time swimmers. So I was under strict self governing rules not to start racing with someone next to me. My biggest fear was to start doing that at .25 mile mark and run out of gas at .8 miles, with a whole lot of water to still cover : (

So I headed out pretty steady and even for the first 15-20 minutes, also I was kind of worried when the other shoe might fall...........

The day before-

On Friday I set out for a quick 20-24 mile flat workout on the bike, just wanted to get the legs moving and get some time in on the bike. I park at Matthew’s Beach and headed towards Red Hook Brewery, but got lost on the way (Always in the same spot) and ended up off the trail heading east. I crossed a 7 Hills painted direction marker on the road that I knew headed up Norway Hill, I knew it wasn’t flat, but the legs felt good so I thought I’d do a few hills and circle back around. I ended up taking the route out to Willow’s Run and taking 148th up to what I thought would be the south end of Kirkland. By the time I stopped for directions I was at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond miles away from where I thought I’d be.

My 24 mile ride turned into a 42 mile 2.5 hour ride that couldn’t end soon enough, with Juanita Drive in between me and my car no less. It wasn’t the miles that I was worried about, it was where the ride was going to leave me for the following days swim. I had a packed week of training and Friday was a soft day, or was suppose to be, because of Saturdays swim.

......the shoe never seemed to fall as I hit a really comfortable pace and rolling well after each stroke. The water temp was nice and there was only about 2 minutes of heavy waves about mid way that was really hard to swim in.

I kept to my game plan until about the last qtr. mile then I pushed a bit harder until I was about 100 yds out, then I didn’t redline I just upped the pace and swam hard and aggressive to the finish. I popped out of the water and felt really, really good. Finish time was 39:56, 41st out of 88ish? I’ll post actuals later. AK waiting there waving and yelling made it worth it.....

Overall a really great event, one down, one to go.

Heavy days of training

2008-07-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been real work out on the road. Saturday I got in a, roughly, one mile swim at Seward. I felt slow and a bit tired at the first two laps, them really finished strong on the last two.

I think this may be do to the fact that I don't warm up before a swim. I'll have to start working on that.

After the swim I did about a 16 mile flat out TT (Time Trial) style ride, Lake Washington Blvd. was closed to traffic so the roads were empty of cars. SWEET! I pushed hard in the 90-95% range, even up the little cork screw to the Arboretum.

I felt OK when I got back to the car and grabbed my shoes and headed off for a quick 5-10 minute run. Not a full run, but something to give the legs a reminder of what's to come. Instead I went ahead and ran around Seward Park and tried to keep a good effort up, still in the 90% range.

Not sure if that was a good idea, but then again if my body had really thought it was a bad idea I would of cracked on the run and walked back to the car.

One injury of note: ?!?!

When I was taking my wet suit out of the bag, my recovery drink fell out and onto the top part of my foot, only about a 1.5 foot drop. It hurt a bit at the time, but I didn't think too much of it and did the swim and the bike. When I got off the bike and tried to put my running shoes on*&$*#@* OMG I had to let out a few choice words. At that point I figured the shoe went on so I might as well run, but even today it still hurts to put a shoe on.

Yesterday I got a hard six miles in in the morning with a core workout in the afternoon.

Today I went out this morning looking for some easy bike miles to fill about 90 minutes and ended up finding a really cool new hill to climb. Again over in the Blue Ridge area, this one has great views and climbs just over 200 ft in 1.17 miles. One stretch of about 100 yards pulled up to 13% grade on my Forerunner.

I guess if I can start doing laps on the Esplanade Hill doing Beaver Lake Triathlon wouldn't be totally out of the question

OK, have to run out for a swim workout now at Madison Park.

20 Days .....

2008-07-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

These last two weeks I’ve had ready great training with longer workouts. I have to keep in mind that training rides and runs that I did last year or 3 months ago can only count for about half of what I need to do now.

I have to put it this way - the time for the bike course for the olympic distance will be as long as an entire sprint race. I’ll have to pace more than sprint. From a runners point of view I half to look at it as a 10 miler or half marathon rather than a 5K.

Got a good ride around the top of the lake and over to St. Eds a few days ago

20 days out from Federal Way and I feel ready good about the swim, which I didn’t think I’d be saying. I have a mile(ish) swim at Green Lake coming in around 31-33 minutes. And feeling pretty good coming out of the water.

I still need to do a swim/bike brick, probably this weekend, .88 mile swim out at Seward, then I’ll bike a 26 mile route home.

About when Eileen should be hitting Olympia !?!?
Eileen’s riding all hard core this weekend doing the STP(Seattle to Portland) in one day instead of the standard 2 days. ............... Full On! She’ll totally rock the bike this weekend. Good Luck Girl!!!!

Also, wanted to say good luck to the women from my track group racing Hagg Lake in Oregon this weekend also!

Hot, hilly and great views!!!

2008-07-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the Seafair Marathon and Half Marathon. The day started off with temps in the high 50’s as we left the house at 5:30 in the morning. We found parking and made it to the bus lines that took us back to the start by 6:05.

And I have to add that AK and I beat Uli and Trisha Steidl by about 5 minutes.......to the bus line : )

The bus ride was cool and we meet a first time half runner that wanted all the advice we could load on him in the 10 minute ride to the start.

With logging in training miles and hitting workouts you sometimes forget the “why” you do it all. Hitting the bridge Sunday and looking across from Mt. Baker to Rainier and seeing all of the downtown Seattle area with the Cascades bringing up the back it snaps you right back into remembering the “why”. Because of payoffs like this!

It was easy to overlook the danger of the mornings run, I saw 2 people get pulled from the course for heat related issues. One about 10 yards in front of me, the medic’s literally had to grab him and pull him to the side and repeat to him that it was over. He was weaving badly and couldn’t raise his arms, scary.

The hills were brutal with the heat, every water station I grabbed two water, one went on my head and the other down the front of the wick tank top I was wearing. At about mile 9 my shoes were so full of water I was making squishing noises as I ran. Annoying!!!

AK said she faired pretty well with the heat by doing the same with the water and staying pretty even tempo on the hills. She did say at about mile 10-11 the water station ran out of cups so they were just filling peoples mouths directly.

The crowd support was amazing, there wasn’t a two minute stretch it seemed that didn’t have a group or a hand full of people cheering and yelling. I was talking with this guy I was running with for a few miles and we were both surprised at the turn out.

I felt really good and steady. I got caught in the first 2 miles by the crowds, my own fault for not getting closer to the start line, it took me and AK 3:18 to cross the start after the gun went off. After I got out of the crowds my legs felt pretty fresh and it wasn’t until the hills at mile 7-8 that I could tell I just hadn’t trained well enough for the hills. The hill in that part just kept climbing and climbing. I was taxed by the time I got to the top, it had a short downhill, but not enough to recover. Mile ten was back on familiar ground, but was wide open and exposed to the sun.

I was doing really good pace down through the last few miles, found my legs again and started pulling 6:30’s and feeling good, knowing we just had a quick run around the Bellevue Square area. However, every time I looked down the road I could still see runners going straight, were I thought they’d turn??? Finally we turned and I took about four or five steps around the corner and saw the hill we had to climb to get back to the downtown area and stopped almost instantly. Which was funny because at that point I was running with five other people they all did the same thing. We all stopped on a dime and looked at it for about two seconds, did a little swearing and started up. I made it about half way and started walking, I hate walking in the race!!!!

Finally made the top and started up again. I didn’t feel too bad about walking because in about three blocks I caught the group I was running with and past them in the final turn to the finish. I had a good strong kick at the end and crossed the line with some good speed.

I made it around and found a spot and the finish to see AK and her police escort across the line. Since the full and half started at the same time, they finish at the same time. The marathon winner came in about 10 seconds before AK crossed the line, so she got a nice little push across the finish.

All in all it was a really cool event, rough course, but the organizers of the event have really proved over the last few years how to put on a really great event. AK and I have run in some distance for SeaFair for the last four years now.

Picture from Mondays news paper has the winner Edward Kiptum and AK is in the red shorts and pony tail to the right.

And this is how we felt after we got back from the race, Penny some how beat us to it???

Limits !?!?!

2008-06-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

I feel really good about training and being ready for my first Olympic distance race. The last 10 days have had some really great rides, runs and swims. Last Friday I went from the house to St. Edward's State Park and back through Perkins Way for about a 35 mile trip. The sun was up and it was actually hot on the day, weight loss on the day was 2.8 pounds. Remember to keep the fluids going on these hotter days!

Saturday was a AM swim for about .5 mile and then a 16 mile hilly bike ride up around Blue Ridge, legs felt pretty good even with the hard ride from the day before. On Sunday a had 12 miles to do and wanted to take it very slow. I ran steady at 1:30 less per mile slower than usual, it was actually a great feeling of just taking a run in the park.
I ave. about 8:15 per mile which is slower at that length than I’m use to, but with two really rough days before and not resting before like I would of last year, I felt really good about it.

On Tuesday I met with the group at Green Lake and had the best open water swim yet. I went out with a group of three and we did about .75 miles on a big loop course. I had a good 15 minutes of really good form and pace and feeling like I was doing little work to get a really good pay off.

Wednesday was track workout- hot and dusty, but great results. Averaged 6:05 for 4 out of 5 miles and my fourth mile was 5:57! Sweet!!! I was doing 1 miles at 5K training pace with .25 mile rest pace. This was only my 2nd track workout ever, I think I’m sold on it : )

Thursday I’d like to refer to as the day I got my ass handed to me. I went out with two other guys from the group and did a 30 mile loop course. I’m use to doing about 18-20 mph alone and about 20-22 mph with Eileen on some good stretches, but Thursday we started right out the gate at 24 mph and only stopped when we hit the hills over at West Seattle by Lincoln Park. We hit the first hill and off they went up,up,up. I was holding my own doing about 12 mph up the hills, but nothing like what I was watching in front of me, at least for as long as I could see them.

At the end of the day I didn’t feel too bad and I wasn’t shelled or dying on the bike at anytime, I was just playing way over my head, which I could handle for a 30 mile hit. The other two guys race every weekend and do stage races of 4-5 days. Peter was saying he just got back from Oregon from doing 6 days of 100-125 miles a day and some days had 4-5 thousand foot elevation gain.

What it did was show that I need to stop putting limits on what I think I can do.

Tuesdays swim was much farther than I thought I could do in open water, but I finish strong and had plenty of energy out of the water.

Wednesday showed that my running is better than I thought and getting stronger even in the last miles. I still think I run in the 7:10’s, but as per my Garmin it’s 6:15’s.
Thursdays lesson was I can push on the bike and still be alright. I need to stop putting limits on what I think I can do or handle. Can’t be happy with being complacent, complacency breeds boredom what’s the point of that?

Needless to say I scratched Fridays planned swim : ) and I had Saturday off to rest up for the Seafair half marathon that AK and I are running.

More about that later.........

Back at it...

2008-06-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

Finally feeling 100% after a few weeks of being sick, last week was right back in the push for Federal Way on July 26th with 10 hrs of training. I put in 3 open water swims last week, which is funny because that’s the same amount that I did last year for the start of the season to the end, not including races.

I have so far 8 open water workouts this season. I feel a little more at ease with it, not completely, but much better than before. However, on Tuesday, out at Green Lake with a steady wind and feeling the brunt of the fetch out there on the north end, I got a real beating in the water. I wasn’t in survival mode, I found a good rhythm and changed from 3 strokes to 2 strokes, but I was getting thrown around pretty good, seemed like with 2 strokes I was getting slapped in the face more often.

Finished the afternoon with between .675 and .75 at 22 minutes. Another guy and I both had the same thought, we could bag because of the bad conditions or push on because you don’t have a choice on race day.

SO I took the plunge and made the new bike a real tri race bike.....

I took off the Specialized carbon cockpit and added a Profile Design X Aerobar Triathlon cockpit with bar end shifters. I only took it out for a quick 3 mile spin and need to make some adjustments, but it feels really comfortable already. It was a hard choice and it came down to remembering why I bought and upgraded to a bike at that level. It’s for training and racing, period, not for comfort on 3-4 hour rides, but all out, dropping the hammer and going flat out as hard and fast as I can go. So I made the switch.

Today is a bitter sweet day. It’s been one year ago today that we lost our sweet boy and friend Luke. Again he was our cat of 7 years and was just the greatest pal you could ask for. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him and how he would of loved his new sister Penny. We see so much of Luke in Penny, all crazed and amazed and a sweet heart from the time to set eyes on them.

So the new bikes name will be Lucas.

Miss you

2000-2007

Racing on all fours.......

2008-06-12T10:05:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday we went out and ran the Furry 5K with our pup Penny running her first race, first of many I believe. It was a bit cold, of course, but the sun hopped out every once in awhile to remind us what it looked like.

Usually having Penny ago on a run we come across a few dogs here and there and she does pretty good at focusing on running and not being bothered by the other four legged runners. Today however was definitely going to be a test of wills and leashes.

Starting out steady and a bit slow was the game plan, then around mile one we would easy Penny into her regular run pace, around 11 minute miles per hour, give or take the time it takes to chase a few crows or squirrels of course.

We were off and the race was starting to get interesting, left and right, and right in the middle of the course dogs had no time for Honey Bucks or Porta Johns. “Let her fall where she may” was the rule of thumb, or paw??? Now I remember AK and I running the Austin half marathon before and having to “step lightly” on the overpasses because the sand didn’t completely cover the ice and frost on the roads, this was a little different kind of “stepping lightly”. However, unlike the ice and frost you could smell it before is was under foot....

The other dogs that ran in our group were great until one would try to pass Penny, then her tactic was to jump on it’s back and knock it off balance, not sure if I should use that for the next triathlon.
I always said growing up, “nothing like a hip check to make things even”. When you’re 85 pounds wet and playing against kids 100-130 pounds, it seemed fair at the time....

We hit the dreaded hill at Seward Park and all three of us climbed like champs up out away from Lake Washington to the water station at the top.

Neat cool down stations for the pups if they needed a quick cool down.
After we got back on the road Penster had to make a pit stop or was that AK? I think it was Pen it was a quick stop.

Heading into the last mile it was all systems go and the three of us were having a great run and enjoying the spring day, but still

The course was a cool run with water on one side and evergreens around and over head.

Penny was glad to see the 3 mile mark on the road side.

With the finish line insight we crossed with Penny in 35:20 and added the Furry 5k to the record books, a great first race for the Penster!!!

Afterwards to cool the legs down Penny jumped in the lake and played with some other four legged competitors.

All in all a great event and best of all, Penny’s battery got run down a little bit for all of us to catch a much needed cat nap back at the house once we arrived home. Some of us had a good head start however.....

Rain......

2008-06-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, rain.
Today, rain.
Tomorrow, rain...

“AND WE’RE OFF!”

2008-06-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

2008 season is on it’s way and what a great morning for it to start out on! Blue skies and calm winds set the tone for a fast quick race. AK and I woke at 4:45 and had wheels up at 5:45, still not sure why this race needs to be so early?

After two and a half weeks of being sick and not feeling great, race morning I was feeling much better at about 90%. I could maintain effort, but I couldn’t push the tempo like I would of liked. First in the swim I went to pass three swimmers at about the half way mark and I choose to stay at pace and wait for the last turn. After the last turn I hit a burst of speed for about 1 good minute. Enough to get out of and around the crowd there.

T1 was OK, I tried “shoes mounted on the bike” technique. I never actually practiced it, but I kept running it over and over in my head and it went pretty well. The only flaw was my feet were totally frozen and I couldn’t feel where I was cramming my foot. So whatever advantage I had I lost because I could tell what my foot was doing.

The bike was GREAT! I averaged 20.8 mile per hour, again on the bike like the swim I held back a few times, only on the down hills. Instead of stomping all the way down the hills I would push up and over, get to speed then coast to give the legs some recovery. Not training for two weeks I didn’t feel like I had much in the bank for MAX effort, had I been 100% I would of worked the crap out of the down hills : )

T2 was OK, same issues of not feeling my feet. Had my right foot in my shoe, but pulled it back out because it felt like I had gloves or something in it. Then took off about 4 steps away and realized I forgot my Forerunner, Duh!!

When I hit the run I was feeling great, but I knew the course was hot and humid so I kept my enthusiasm in check and ran at a comfortable pace. At about 3-4 minutes in I felt my run legs kick in and just kept telling myself “early morning training run”, “smooth, easy, breath”. I kept an eye on my Forerunner and it kept telling me 6:55 - 7:05 pace! OK, I have my legs under me and I keep thinking’ run down the rabbit’s’???

Starting in the 9 wave I had a lot of people on the course in front of me, more than I’m use to. In the last two seasons I’ve always been wave 2 or 4. I just kept thinking ‘catch that group and find the next’. Also, from running the course the last 2 years I knew I had a tendency to slow up in the turns because you can’t see around the tall grass, but forced myself to maintain speed around corners hoping they would open up, and they did : )

I had one last guy in front of me before the finish line and wanted to kick past him in the last 35-40 yards, but he took off and I tried to go with, but could only maintain and finished steady. I’ve noticed that in foot races I can kick the last 40 yards or so with a big burst, but in tri’s I can only maintain a hard steady pace. OH,WELL!!! I still totally rocked the run with a 19:03 finish!!!
So overall a great start to the season and I wanted to thank Lynn, Jamie, Shell, Lil’ K and Penny for waking up early and hauling their cookies out to Issaquah and cheering us on. Also, of course to AK for support and bringing the Pringles : )

Out there on the course as well was TK, keeping it real and placing in the Top 100 in just his second triathlon!!! Taking minutes off of his first .25 swim and running out of the water! Congratulations on a strong showing.........

Is it time to Tri already????

2008-05-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

This hasn't been the best two weeks leading up to the first race of the year, but hey, you learn from it and roll with it. This weeks training has been done all at 70% or less, which was what was scheduled, but not to still be recovering from the Black Plague. OK, dark grey plague, only hacking and a minor flu like symptom. Still, bad enough...

So I'm not hitting Issaquah at 100% like intended, but that's OK. AK was saying "IT'S ONLY THE FIRST" this season. Which is true, if this was the weeks before Federal Way then I'd be crying like a baby, but it's not so it's cool.

And, even being sick, I can still probably knock some time off of my last Issaquah tri time.......

Still...

2008-05-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Still sick! Two weeks now of not being 100%. Starting to fear that it's chipping away at the base I've been working on for the last 6 months. Only able to hit 6 of last 18 workouts, YIKES!

Enough already with being sick......

2008-05-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Still a little off, with a great cough lasting about a week now. AK has an even worse cough and Penny is bouncing back from her little down turn.

However, no time to be sick, still have to get training in. Last week I was suppose to hit 10 hours, but being sick for the most part I only got to about 7:30. AK said something funny after our run at the Disco last Sunday, mind you we were both sick for about two days at that point. She said " I feel a little better today, not 100%, but I think I turned the corner on being sick" I thought it was funny because she just finished a 4 mile run talking about maybe feeling better about being sick. AK's HARD CORE!!!

This past week Team Cannoli got together for some swim, bike and run training. Shell, TK and I actually swam with the fishes??? We jumped in Green Lake for a pretty good swim and a good reminder of how little pool training relates to open water swim. We all faired pretty well and had about 6-8 2 foot fish swimming around us from time to time.

After we got out TK and AK hit a few laps around the lake with Lil' K following on her bike. While Shell and I biked over to jump on the Mag loop then out to Golden Gardens, before heading up 34th and tackling the Blue Ridge route home. Shell was a good sport and really hung in there on a course she'd never been on before. And what a great day weather wise!!!

OK, have to finish up and go make coffee for the morning.........

...better now than later???

2008-05-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

It was finally sunny Friday, I had planned on taking the day off from work and do a long bike ride and hangout in the yard w/ AK doing much needed yard work. However, Friday morning came w/ a nasty little fever and head cold, so there went that. I went to work and left at 3:00, then hit the couch from 3:30 until 6ish

I bagged on Fridays swim and bike ride, then on Saturdays open water swim and bike ride.

Well, better this week than next week or the week after.

Still at it.......

2008-05-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have felt a bit rushed and far from consistent. It’s been almost two weeks since I hurt my right leg and haven’t been able to run on it. This afternoon I think I’ll take it out for a spin and see where I’m at with it. The bike is coming along, I went on a ride around Lake Washington with Eileen on Sunday and just made it home before having to pull over and crawl into a fetal position in the middle of the road!!!

On Friday, as most you know, we got 12 cubic yards of dirt dropped in the front yard that had to be moved to the back. Roughly 14 hours for each of us shoveling and pushing the wheel barrel up into the backyard. So that was Friday and ALL day Saturday.

So of course a bike ride around the lake sounded like a good idea! I knew I was in trouble when I saw the Boeing hanger at the south end of the lake and couldn’t fell my arms or most of my legs? The tank was running on fumes when we rounded Seward and headed for Husky Stadium, but the wheels really came off on the way up Stone Way.

I can usually find a rhythm and stay steady, even when the lights are dim and the hill is steep, but the head wind hit and Eileen just kept getting smaller and smaller. Not to take anything away from Eileen, she’s in great shape getting ready for the STP, but we’re usually pretty even. I was just dying out there at every corner pass the 30 mile mark.

So a great ride at 57 miles, but I think the next time, without moving a crap load of dirt the two days leading in, we could knock off an easy 30 minutes from our time. Probably more, since it felt like it took me about 30 minutes to go from Eileen’s house to ours after we split off. And we only live about 2 miles from each other???

Goal for the week is to wash my bike.

Weeks totals -

Swim - 2 for 1.37 miles 60 minutes
Bike - 2 for 39 miles 2:16 minutes
Run - 1 for 7 miles for 60 minutes
Other - 3 for 4:40 minutes

Total - 8 workouts for 9 hours

AK totals
5 Runs for 26 miles

It’s crazy that the season starts in a few weeks, here are some other totals that are kind of cool to see.

1st 8 weeks of 2008
Swim 10,04 miles / 7.47Hrs
Bike 100.5 miles / 6.58 Hrs
Run 97.57 miles / 13.2 Hrs
Other 8.42 hours

2nd 8 weeks of 2008
Swim 11.79 miles / 8.63 Hrs
Bike 313.06 miles / 22.08 Hrs
Run 94.27 miles / 13.53 Hrs
Other 8.88 Hrs

1....2....3....

2008-04-30T22:10:00.001-07:00

How do you get green feet?

You GU up

And run..........

I krycky - I forgot this can hurt you!!!

2008-04-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Alright it’s been a few, training last week was really good. I came in just five minutes short of 10 hours even. This week I have another 10 on order then back off to 6 next week.

Highlights from last week: I had a great swim on two days, only 2 swim days, but I knocked out over a mile on each day. SWEET! 1.09 and 1.16.

However, Sunday I felt something that I hadn’t felt in almost 2 years. PAIN! Real stop mid-stride and hop on one leg pain. I finished up just over 6 miles at the Disco and felt a little pinch on my right achilles. That led to some tightness and in about 50 yards the whole calf, ankle, heel area screamed for mercy.

I ran all last year injury free and most of the year before, so this is ??new?? I’m bummed, but at this point I have 5 months of training in and can’t be stupid by ignoring it and letting it effect any upcoming races. I can slide on my running this week and put in more bike and swim. Also, I can throw in a extra core workout. I had Monday off, after a hard weekend, so the rest of the week should be pretty good. And who doesn’t like biking in the rain!!! I wonder if I only breathed every four pedal strokes, could it double as swim training?

Anyways, I’ll have week totals again soon, AK said ‘as the hours of training rise the blog entries drop’. True that!