Trust Your Feelings

Come (go?) to the dark side.

Any of you trail riders who are starting to think your biking needs a swim and a run added might take a look here.

Look, I know WORS has their stuff together for a reasonable price. And, it's tough to want to out of state. I'm just sayin' here it is. If you click, you click.

SoRT 2008 Race Report

Gearing up for this race I was relaxed, but I didn't hold much hope in the PR I claimed to want back in January. My "on" weeks have been good. My "off" weeks have been plenty. And the two weeks prior to the race, I was choosing mostly sleep over workouts. This left a big gap after two good, hard weeks.

Having not done much in two weeks, I relied on the fact that I have done this race every year and just know it. I saw zero evidence of any speed in the workouts I had done. I was concerned about a bust year. As a result, the end goal was "to just have fun".

On the good side, I think I know what I'm doing in transition now. I'm completely relaxed and handle setup from a semi minimalist perspective. I had bags in case it rained, but got rid of them last minute as it appeared to be clearing up. I was calm entirely up to the gun.

During setup everyone was talking about the water temperature. It was reported at 55F (official USAT reading in three spots). That's "numb your feet" cold, folks. Looking out at the lake, I wondered "am I the only one who sees the fog and not the lake?" Shortly after, they announced a rolling delay in the race. Long story short, it was pushed from 7am to 8am to wait for the fog to clear.

About 7:00, I headed down the beach to the start. I got in the water to get acclimated a few times. Yep, it was cold. Though, I discussed with another entrant, "It's going to be a good day."

At 8:15 the horn for my wave goes off. I hit my watch. We were out of there.

It was cold getting in. It was cold on the hands and face. I'm not sure it was worth all the whining I heard. But it's fun to be miserable about something. I'm not small. If I was smaller, maybe it would have felt a lot colder.

I lost count of buoys and wasn't sure how many there were in the first place. The next thing I knew I was going for that final yellow buoy. Whoops, there is another yellow one to go way around out in the lake. I wasn't too far in before I noticed this. A few minutes later I was walking the sandbar and pulling off my stuff. Getting out of the water I glanced at my watch. I see "about 40 minutes" and smile, then I realize the swim was probably short.

Nothing eventful in transition. I'll have to wait for official results. I'll guess "about 2-3 minutes". Maybe 7.

Out on the bike, I took it stupid slow for a while. In the past, I have done this with some success. I break the bike into thirds and follow a slow, medium, harder strategy. And it's much nicer to be passing folks at the end of the bike. I didn't really follow a rigid eating strategy on the bike, and this may have contributed to my pace on the run.

I kept an eye on my likelihood to break three hours. My bladder and my "PR" were fighting each other. Finally at mile 45, I figured it would be a shame to lose on both accounts. I stopped at the aid station. Some guy went by me on the right, just before I went to turn in. He apologized and I was happy to narrowly miss a crash. Right after that I pulled up to the port-o-let and promptly set my foot down on what must have been ice. Next thing I knew I was picking me and my bike up. No big deal, but I don't want to be "one of those guys". Too late. I have a small knee road rash to prove it.

The last miles of the bike are nice and smooth, mostly downhill, and one of the more fun parts of the race. I cruised in somewhere around 3:05 - 3:10.

T2 was also uneventful. Grabbed my shoes, shirt, race number and took off. Hopefully I PR'd that one.

The run. Who turned up the temperature. I think it was warm, but I was overheating. The first loop I broke it down and it didn't even seem that long. That second loop I was falling apart. I was really over heating. My knee started complaining about mile 8-9. In lieu of tweaking it further I opted for more walking than I want to admit. I never completely gave up on running, but my run/walk ratio went way down.

The whole family was waiting down by the lake to see me run in. They are real troopers.

After I finished, I hobbled back to them to tell them I was going to eat. I was very hungry.

I grabbed a few sandwiches, some fruit, beans (the beans guy loaded me up like he was afraid he was going to have leftovers), and a soda pop. Sitting down to eat, I ended up chatting with Ron Ottaway, the reigning world champion at Ironman Hawaii in the 70-74 division. It sounded like he put down a 5:3x at Racine. Wow.

All in all a great day.

Post-OP. I am more sore than I thought I would be.

Last Minute Prep (aka First tri since September)

I figured out sleeveless was the way to go last year at IronMan. Sunday's water is going to be somewhat chillier (last hear 56F). So where exactly did I put my full sleeved wetsuit?

Otherwise I'm pretty much set for Sunday morning. Goals you say? My current favorite goal is to nail the transition time. I would have a sub-3 bike goal, but I'm really not feeling it. As always, my goal is to put my toes in the sand, wait for the gun to go off, and have fun.

Who knows, if I start to dig on mountain biking this could be my last tri for a while. I commit to nothing on this though.

What a Great Week

Taking right off from the momentum of the WORS race at Suamico, I had a great week. Man, I really felt good after Suamico. I put in some good miles and good hours this week. I think I even managed a perfect LSD bike today, though only 2:40 in duration. I got home hit the rainbox. Then we were all off to the boy's tee ball game.

If everyone is good maybe we will see Wall-E later.

Numbers: ~8 hours, 2500 yards, 81 miles, 10 miles. Unless I squeeze in a long slow run in the morning.

See you out there.

Wow! What a Weekend!

I got out for my first single speed mountain bike ride yesterday.. Wow, did we cheat the weatherman in my zip code? Yes!

As for the details on single speed. I have 2x1 gear ratio on the thing. It's easy on pavement. It's quite manageable on flat dirt and/or gravel. Once I try to do anything remotely uphill or technical.. Let's just say that needs tons of work. To be fair, my trail riding skills need mucho work. I'm anxious to do that this year!

Saturday was a two hour road ride. I was convinced I was going to get drenched. Alas, no! Beautiful, if not on the slightly cool side, weather.

I managed to get the kids squeaky clean. I may yet toss in a short run tonight.. Then the neighborhood folks are road riding at o'dark 500. At that rate, I could be back in time for a swim before work! It's either a great week, or I'm going a bit crazy... Could be both.

See you out there.

Update: went with the neighborhood guys for a good 20 miles or so.. 1 hr. Woo, better clean up for the pool. Beautiful morning.

Getting Back at It

Yesterday, I got out with bro-in-law for his first road ride. We did an easy 25 miles in say 1:45. It was my first ride back since pulling some unknown muscle. So far so good.

Today, I decided to chance it and run. Near six miles, I dragged bro-in-law past the beach to see if we could find him a girl. No such luck. But I got my run in.

As if this wasn't enough of a test "getting back at it", when bro-in-law took off the family and I walked the dogs another good 4.5 miles. Great test of the ol' pulled muscles..

See you all at the pool bright and early.

Fighting My Way Back to the Grind

Quick update here.. Mostly running and strength training lately. I'm banking the combo has the greatest fitness effect. I gots me some new shoes, now I run like someone else!

I tried biking on the trainer the other day, and it was horrid. I felt like I had never biked in my life. The proposed (hopefully quick) remedy is to get one of those 2 wheelers outdoors.

On that note, I made it a few more percent toward single speed project completion on the mountain bike. I think I just have to hook up the chain. Maybe one or two other things..

In the pool I'm bobbing back and forth once in a blue moon..

Running is slow, steady and feels right. I have much hope for this season.

Year End Review.. The Numbers

If I'm to believe TrainingPeaks, here is what I covered this year.. Mind you, there is likely a good deal of grease between this and reality (not in my favor). Yet, if these aren't the real ones, better ones don't exist.

Planned Time	337:10
Actual Time	269:48
Swim	87,086 yd
Bike	2,294.39 mi
Run	377.25 mi
Day Off	83 mi
Walk	5.5 mi

Looking it over, how does one cover 83 miles on a day off? And, it's for certain my walk number is likely off by a factor of 10^2.

What is the big gaping hole in these numbers? Strength. I went to the gym today for the first time and pushed weighted plates around with machines. Those numbers were shockingly low. A stark answer as to what my lie into better health in the coming year.

If you're still reading, here's to your new year. May your days be long and meet you well.

Ante Up

Or, "Reason # 347 to sign up for Ironman".

I hit the pool this morning to test the waters on my new plan. It's a few weeks before I have to start my plan, but I wanted to feel ready. Without giving the workout away for free, here's the rough draft.

Warm up 500m of swim, pull and kick.
1100m drills.
700m of "testing out the drills on real swimming".
200m of cool down swimming.

All very do-able. I was just outside 1 hour 10 minutes for the entire workout. Yikes! I guess I have some work to do.

Here's where the ante up comes in. I recall, in high school five page papers were like a death sentence, or just plain pulling teeth. Then, in my first week at college, I was asked to write a paper or two. The new minimum standard was five or more pages in length. For some reason, once I hit week one in college, five page papers were cake. Just do it.

Last year, I bet I didn't swim 2500m in any given day all year. Not even on race day did I hit those totals. This year it's my "first" workout. Welcome to Ironman.

So, if you're reading this and thinking 2500m is too far to swim... Or whatever you have in your life that is too hard. Just sign up for Ironman. It won't seem like such a big deal any more. Or, just do it.