the perfect race - almost

This was the best race ever. Chris and I really cranked it out and were the second team to cross the finish. The first team is an elite East Coast team that does Adventure Racing all the time.

Here is how the day went and there was only one slight problem at the end, that I am trying not to focus on....

Racing is a funny business. There is a lot of planning and thinking going into each race. Each race is filled with so many variables, some you can control, some you can't. Adventure racing is intentionally more unpredictable than road races.

Chris and I went into today's race pretty well prepared, and on our way to the race we reminded each other that we need to be careful not to get over confident because anything can happen.

The race started with the team captains of each team sprinting 200 meters to the lake, and another 25 meters 'into' the water to get our race 'passports' (Chris volunteered me for this task). The passport indicates the order in which you do the 4 legs of the race. There was a small boat that volunteers were throwing our Ziploc baggie encased passports into the water and you had to be pretty aggressive to get one. When I turned around with passport in hand, I had to fight my way past 100 other empty-handed racers to get to shore. I was one of the first racers to shore and Chris and I ran to our transition area while I peeled open the Ziploc bag. Our race order was: Canoe, Special Challenges, Mountain Bike, and Trail Running.

While we were not the first team to get our canoe into the water, we did manage to take the lead almost immediately and kept the lead throughout the leg. Early in the paddling leg, I would turn around and see about 20 boats following. After reaching the first 2 canoe checkpoints, we turned the canoe around and paddled through the other boats on our way to the 3rd checkpoint. At checkpoint 3, another team that decided to do the checkpoints in reverse order, out-sprinted us to the orienteering flag. On our way to check point 4, the wind really picked up and we made good time wave surfing. On the way back to the transition area, we paddled into the waves - great fun - waves splashing and getting a paddling rhythm with the waves and the water.

Coming out of the water I ask the volunteer if he will sign our passport. He tells us to bring the canoe up to the racks. After doing this I run back down to the volunteer and he says he doesn't need to sign the passport. I look around and don't see a tent or table to get the passport signed. I thought we needed to get it signed, but it doesn't look like there is a place to get it signed. I look for someone to help, but everyone looks busy. So we head back to our transition area and continue to scan for a place to get our passport signed on our way to the 'special challenges'.

Our first special challenge is to fill a PVC pipe with lake water until a ping-pong ball comes out of the top - the trick is that there are 2 holes near the bottom of the pipe and each team member has to take a turn filling water while the other plugs the holes with their hands. We knock this out pretty quickly, get our passport signed, and head to the rock wall climb. Chris climbs to the top very quickly and I get our passport signed and we head to the team-mate carry. I go first and carry Chris about 150 meters on my back, then we trade and Chris carries me. After getting our passport signed, I ask the race volunteer if we need to get anymore signatures to finish of this leg of the race. He shrugs and tells me just to go to the next leg.

We run back to transition, get on our mountain bikes and start the 3rd leg of the race. So far, no mistakes (or so we think). The lake was at a very high level and we run into several spots where we have to trudge through several feet of water with our mountain bikes. We arrive at bike CP 1 with little delay and then start the first of many climbs of the day. My legs are cramping due to the cold water, but after a while I warm up and due to Chris's awesome navigation we quickly race through the bike section with few delays. Lots of hills, rocks, mud, switchbacks - way fun.

We ride into the transition area, change our muddy wet shoes, and head out for the final 'running' leg. At this point, I have given up on finding the transition checkpoint - maybe I heard something wrong.

It takes a while to get the blood to the right muscles, but after a while we start picking up the running pace. After the first checkpoint on the run, we have to go through transition again. One of Chris' friends calls him from behind a table and asks if we've checked in yet. We try to quickly explain that we couldn't find the table and asked volunteers. She signs our Passport for the three legs we had already completed. Through the rest of the run, Chris' navigation is flawless and we crank through the run course with no wasted time - perfect and according to plan.

We cross the finish line in 3 hours and 14 minutes to find out there was another team 3 minutes in front of us. The other team is a very high caliber Adventure Racing team in the area and we feel really good about our result. We get congratulated by the race directors and first place team, grab a ginger ale - the perfect race.

When they post our result, we find out they charge us with a 30 minute penalty for not checking in between each leg. As a result, we don't even win our division.

Of course, it was my responsibility to manage the passport while Chris did the navigating, and I'm sure I could have been a bit more attentive at the pre-race meeting or insistent in between legs to ensure the passport was fully signed. One more big adventure racing lesson learned.

In any case, we had a great time and that IS what a race like this is all about.

squeezing in training between races

I swam on Friday evening since I raced a 5K on Thursday night. Swim was good - did a mile. Started off sloppy, but got better as the workout went on, except when I did my 100s - I just couldn't hold form. I finished with 25 hard free, 25 easy stroke - that was a good way to finish.

I got up this morning and the pavement was wet and there was a dense fog, so I decided to ride on the trainer and watch some Tivo recorded shows. Then I did 20 minutes on the eliptical and 25 minutes on the treadmill for a total of 2 hours. I didn't want to over do it since I have a race tomorrow!

The mountain bike was a mess after my last training ride and the gears were sticking, so I spent an hour cleaning it up, then did yard work for a couple of hours, followed up by 3 chili dogs. I'll be paying for that at the race tomorrow ; )

Time to finish the yard work and maybe take a nap!

all systems go

I ran the 5K tonight - held back a bit so I didn't aggrevate my hamstring. I really struggled during the warmup, but once the race started, I had a decent race and finished in 18:11. I finished 30 seconds faster last year, but was pretty happy with the result considering my cold, hamstring, vacations, floods, etc.

There were points in the race where I wanted to surge, but I kept reminding myself that this was a low priority race and I didn't want to re-injure myself, so I held back - I always regret holding back in a race, knowing I could have done a little better.

The finish was particularly interesting, there was a group of 5 of us. One of my corporate team mates was right behind me. He was well in front of me most of the race, but I somehow passed him at about 2.5 miles. The race finishes with a short steep hill, then about 150 meter flat to the chute. On the way up the hill, my team mate passes me, and I tell myself not to chase him or I could get injured (I was very conflicted on this point, but tired enough to let him go). He passed the three guys in front of us. The guy in front of me started to fall off the pace, so I passed him. Then he comes charging from behind, so I start sprinting and end up passing the guy in front of me, who in turn starts sprinting. It was somewhat questionable where the actual finish line was, and the guy at the finish yells something as we pass him (I think he said 'you two are tied'), but in the chute the guy second guy I passed steps in front of me, giving him 10th position overall and I had 11th. I probably shouldn't have started sprinting, or I should have charged the hill sooner so I didn't have to sprint so hard.

Anyway, exciting finish and no injuries.

Time for bed.

already a long week...

I rode into work on Monday - felt pretty good, but it's amazing how much speed you lose - I rode 5 minutes slower each way than my good times last year. That's 20 miles each way. So not terrible, but clearly I'm a bit out of prime shape. That's ok - no point in being in prime shape right now.

Tuesday and Wednesday I had to be in the city for 7:30 workshops - that basically meant that if I wanted to workout in the morning, I would have to give up sleep. So I skipped the morning workouts and ran on the treadmill on Tuesday and swam on Wednesday.

I tried to add some speed on the treadmill in a controlled environment, but I definitely felt the hamstring as I dropped below 8 minute mile pace - not too bad, but wanted to be careful since I have a 5K tomorrow and an adventure race on Sunday. Hopefully I can keep myself in check for the 5K tomorrow night. Stay tuned.

Swim was kind of wierd. There was only 1 lane available for laps and 3 dramatically different swimmers sharing the lane. In the end, I was left with a guy who was a very good swimmer. Nice guy - Matt - likes to swim in the open water. I liked his stroke - kind of a mix between my old stroke and my new stroke. I may try to emulate as he was much faster than me.

In Memory of Jim

Regretfully I learned last night that my brother-in-law passed away on Sunday. His death is a reminder of how fragile life is and how we must live life to it's fullest. Training and racing is one of the ways that I truly experience life up-close. I am honored that Jim accepted my Ironman dedication to his life before he passed. And during those long hours of solitude - running, biking and swimming, I'll smile when I think of Jim and how happy he made my sister and those around him.

back from So. Carolina

I ran an hour and a half this morning down in So. Carolina, spent most of the mid day getting home, then rode 30 miles on the bike, mowed the front yard, cleaned the filter on the pond, yada, yada.

Hamstring was still sore while running so I went really slow - as slow as I'm supposed to on my long runs, but never do.

The bike felt great, wish I could have done a long ride this weekend - oh well, definitely would have preferred to visit my daughter on Parents weekend.

Walking should count for something

After breakfast, my younger daughter and I walk a mile down to the carnival fund raiser that is being held by my older daughter's sorority. We relax for a while in the sun, then walk a mile to lunch, eat way too much spicy BBQ, fried food and a beer. After lunch we walk another mile back to the hotel room and crash.

I get up after an hour or so and head over to the pool for a swim while the family naps. Jogging to the pool is way hard and I can't seem to move very fast. My hamstring is tight, but I'm just feeling tired. I wonder if it has to do with all the walking.

Had the pool to myself - beautiful pool - I felt really good in the water (except for that burping up BBQ indigestion feeling). I get a mile in, keeping stroke count down to 13-15.

I jog back to the hotel and everyone is waiting on me to go to dinner. We go to a college-priced Mexican restaraunt, come back to the hotel and all cuddle up on the bed and watch TV. Good stuff.

Hobo woods

I slept like a rock last night and woke up too late to do a long run and still have time for a nice free breakfast at the Inn (I'm talking, really nice breakfast). So I left the hotel and decided to jog the other side of the river that we walked yesterday. I briefly looked at a map while we were there yesterday and it seemed there were some trails - I must have read it wrong.

I found a very tight single track trail, barely visible from the road. It opened up and tightened down in various spots. There was trash along the trail and a few people fishing the river - one old, black woman gave me a very strange look when I jogged by and I began to question my safety. I saw a saw an old empty shopping cart, then a haggard looking fox, then a small open space with a lean-to and organized mounds of trash - clearly someone 'lives' here. I continued on, hoping I would get to the end of the trail. I saw a huge dirty old white man with an actual tent and a fire - his was the last camp along the trail, although I saw evidence of othe vagrants that had given up a home on the river. I bush wacked my way back to civilization, happy not to have run into trouble and hoping that the indigenous plants were not poisonous.

I made it back to the hotel in time for a big omelette breakfast, with fruit, yogurt, waffle and several different juices, but my teenage daughter slept in and I ate alone.

Live is only an adventure if you try new things, but I'll make sure my daughter doesn't try the same trail.

planes, trains, automobiles... pools, bikes, treadmills

Got up early to ride for an hour on the trainer, followed by 1 mile on the treadmill, jumped in the car to the airport - long-term parking bus to the plane and off to South Carolina. At our destination, my college daughter picked us up at the airport, checked out some housing options for her next year, walked through campus, picked up some bbq port, and took a long walk along the river. When the ladies went shopping I jogged to the pool, swam 2000 meters, then jog back to the hotel. We went for a nice dinner, then to an after dinner party with her sorority and the parents of all of her sorority sisters. When I was in college I would have never predicted that I would have a day like today.

work took over

So I got no cardio workout today and did a minor bit of lifting before bed. Work kept me going full bore from 7am till 8:30pm, with a break for dinner with the mrs.

Tomorrow I'm flying down to SC for Parents day at my daughters college, so unless I get my ass up at 5am, it will be difficult to exercise. The plan: early morning bike on trainer followed by short treadmill run, fly to SC, swim there, go party!

getting back on the horse

In a posting last week 'endo city' I described my penchant for crashing on particular day - I went out with Chris yesterday to Brandywine. He had scouted out several most excellent trails.

I had some mechanical problems at first and my chain was slipping quite a bit, but after we slogged through a couple creek crossings and the mud cleared, things seemed to be better (though not 100%).

Happy to report that I had no crashes. I suspect Chris was just being kind to me and keeping me off the really technical stuff so that I didn't lose confidence before our race - good guy that Chris.

Anyway, at the end of the ride Chris took off full speed and I took chase - loads of fun riding at full speed, especially at dusk - everything seems to be faster.

Hammy Whammy

Looks like a mildly pulled hamstring - only hurts when I run ; )

So I took a slow run on Tuesday (8min mile pace - I was really good holding back) for 6 miles in Valley Forge.

Tuesday night I did an hour on the Eliptical with no real issues.

swimming on ham and beans

Next to getting enough sleep, I find getting to the pool to crank out laps the most difficult part of training. Once I'm at the pool, I seem to be ok, but getting there is another story.

A long day at work (7-5 with no lunch break). On the way home, after hearing about the Virginia Tech Fiasco on the radio, I called my daughter in college just to say 'hi' and hear her voice. All was good.

I ate dinner at 6 (ham and beans), and got to the pool by 7:15 with a nice full stomach. I had to take it easy anyway, since I haven't been swimming much.

It was actually a pretty good workout and I started to get tired after about a mile of repeats, which was just about right. I was able to hold good form for my 25s and 50s, but when I got the the 75s, I started to lose it and my stroke count went up to 17. Ideally I'd like to work up to 400s while maintaining a stroke count of 15-16 for each 25meters. I'm not focused on speed yet, just quality of stroke.

the women didn't show

Pete sets up a run for 8:30am this morning even though the weather is going to be nasty (rain, cold, wind - the usual crap). I invite Chris, since he and I were going to be running anyway.

Pete doesn't show up - the girlie-man, rat-bastard. Ann is also a no-show, but I don't have a good nickname for her yet.

Chris and I had a good run, but it was pretty nasty during the miles we ran into the wind, but the last few miles the wind was at our back, so we picked up the pace. We did cut it short (only 9 miles) and were drenched when we got back to the car.

I'm sure this run wasn't great for my cold recovery and Pete and Ann probably made the right choice and in the past have been there under some pretty daunting conditions, helping me turn those tough-weather days into really good workout days.

Thanks to Chris for being out there - now if it rains for our race in 2 weeks, we'll be better prepared!

My shoes needed a good cleaning anyway.

This ain't golf

I did the taxing metric century ride this morning. Weather was better than expected. The course was very hilly. I tried to ride with a group from the bike club, but there was too much waiting for the slower riders to catch up. For some reason I started feeling the impatience I get when I'm out golfing - too much waiting around and not doing what you came for.

After the first half, I went solo and enjoyed myself much more. I don't mind riding with others as long as we are all riding at the same level.

For the afternoon, I fixed a deadbold lock, fixed a garage door opener, got rid of 100 pounds of cardboard, and filled a very large hole with dirt. Filling the hole took over an hour of heavy labor - it should count as a workout.

Tomorrow, I'll be running in cold, windy, rainy weather - shoot for 13-15 miles.

Tivo training...

worked at home yesterday - had to move a piano around the for the carpet installers - I slept late (6:30) - carpet guys were done pretty early, so used my lunch hour to put furniture back in place. At 4:30 I got on the bike trainer and watched a tivo recorded episode of '24' while doing 15x90sec big gear 60sec rest. I followed it up with a 1 miler on the treadmill, building to 6min/mile pace. I actually felt pretty good for the workout - cold was getting better.

today I ran trails after work, hoping to find the bike pump I lost after crashing the other day - lo and behold, I found it! I also found some new trails and got a better view of the trail system in before the leaves on the trees and bushes block everything out. I did a 2.5 mile tempo run, but my Garmin was on the fritz, so I don't really know how fast I was going. I kept my heart rate between 155 and 162. Felt pretty good, but knew I was pushing it with my cold recovery. Coughed up a lung when I got back to the car, but feel ok now.

thinking about doing a metric century ride tomorrow "taxing metric" - hilly 62 miles right around tax season. Temperatures are going to be in the low 30s with a 10-15mph wind, so I'm not 100% sure I'll do it. See how I feel in the morning.

The week has been terrible for swimming, but swimming would really set my cold back, so I'll just have to wait.

speed work on drugs

Even after claritin, cough medicine, sudafed I still felt like crap, but really wanted to get out and do speedwork. If I was thinking clearly, I'm sure I would have decided it was a bad idea, but I pushed myself out for my lunch hour and ran 7x800 at under 2:50pace. Not my brightest speedworkout, but considering how I felt, it was good enough. Thankfully, I ran out of time, otherwise I would have pushed myself to do 1 more.

My thoughts drifted to my father, and how, in an odd way he helped me be who I am today. At some point in my teen years I decided that I would avoid all the pitfalls that he pursued - basically learn from his mistakes. Without that incentive, I doubt I would have stayed healthy enough over the long haul to be pushing my physical limits in my mid fourties and be on my way to the Ironman world championships. I only wish he could be there to watch - maybe in spirit.

endo city

Took the moutain bike out for the first technical ride this year. I'm always a bit reluctant to do this because I know that I will get banged up pretty good the first few rides. But I have an adventure race in 2 weeks, so I better get my skill level up.

So I'm on the 'warm up loop' - pretty flat, not technical and I'm about 15 minutes into the ride when my foot stops and my body keeps going. Apparently a vine had worked it's way across the trail during the winter months and wrapped my foot to the pedal so I couldn't even get my leg out. My knee swelled up and was black and blue almost instantly. But it was a nice day and I thought of Jim and how short life can be, so I decided to finish my ride and enjoy the day. In just 5 minutes the swelling had gone down and I barely felt any pain.

As I rode longer and was nearing the end of a 75minute ride, my confidence grew beyond my early season skill level, and I started to think about everything except the log paramid across the path, and as I came down the other side I did an end over (endo) and face planted into a ravine. Ouch!

Less than a minute later, as I was wondering how I made such a blunder, I did exactly the same thing! Ouch again!

Fortunately, I only have some scrapes and bruises. See how I feel tomorrow!

Overall a good training day. You only know when your pushing your limits when you fall occassionally!!

no rest for the weary

I did a short swim yesterday after work and my shoulder started getting sore, so I stopped at 1000meters. Pretty lame, but at least I got a swim in - mostly just warm-up and a few drills. Stroke count was around 16 (lower is better). I started with 3x25free/25breast then 3x50free/25breast (no rest during this warmup). I then did 200m of kick drills, then went to the pull bouy and my shoulder got sore, so I cooled down with free/back/free/breast.

After dinner I worked on the house for a couple of hours and tried to get to bed early.

Could not sleep last night. Told some cold medicine, but it kept me awake. Plan was to get up at 5 and bike on the trainer, but when the alarm went off, I thought sleep would be better for me than exercise. I did get up early enough to put the MTB on the car so I can ride after work today at Valley Forge Park.

Lunch Run

5.5miles at Valley Forge Park - 45 degrees and windy.

Took it easy so as not to delay my cold recovery too much.

Wind-in-the-face heading out, which meant a nice relaxed run coming back. Left my glasses behind - it's sometimes good to look at the world differently.

Training Plan

I've learned a lot about training in the past five years since my 'friends' coaxed me into my first marathon. I've studied the "Triathlete's training Bible" and refer to it regularly to further refine my approach. I also read Runnersworld and Triathlete Magazine each month, looking for better approaches. Active.com sends me e-mail with even more information.

In the end, I try to keep it simple and flexible. I have way too many committments to lock myself into a rigid plan. So, I start out with a base, add to it for three weeks, and take it easy on the fourth week. Sometimes, if i feel really worn out, I take my rest week a week early.

I have a few races before Hawaii. My next race is a 'sprint' adventure race in April, then Philly Broadstreet 10 mile run in May, an Olympic distance Philly race in June, Musselman 1/2 Ironman in NY in July. I try to train through most of these races with little taper and limited rest afterward (except for Musselman). I hope to jump into a few other races throughout the year, but have not made commitments to them yet.

So next week I expect to get in 3 bike rides, 3-4 runs, 3 swims, and some weight training.

Bike plan for the week:
Given that my adventure race is coming up, at least one of my bike rides will have to be somewhat technical Mountain Bike (MTB) or I risk injury or delays durin the race. My other 2 bike rides will be endurance (60 miles) and strength (15x90secs with 1min rest) on the trainer. While I was hoping to begin riding into work this week, I'm going to hold off because of my cold and the weather sucks.

Run plan for the week:
I need to do speedwork because I have a 5K coming up (I almost forgot about that) and then Broadstreet next month, so I'll either do a ladder starting with 200 and incrementing 200 until I reach a mile, or I'll do lots of 400s (no more than 20). Last week when visiting Uof Oregon, I ran 8x800 on Hayward field at about 2:50pace for each. Not great, but not bad for this early in the season. I'll run trails at lunch a couple of days, hitting the hills hard one day for strength, then I'll do a longish run of 13-15 miles on the weekend. This will be tough if I ride 60 on Saturday.

Swim plan for the week:
I'm not ready to swim with the Masters yet, since I haven't swum much at all this year. But I need to get started, so I'll get out at least twice this week after work and once on the weekend. I need to focus on Technique for most of each session, but will start with 4x25, followed by 4x50 as the main set on the first day. On the next swim day, I'll jump to 4x50 free, and 4x75 free/stroke/free. On the weekend, I'll do a main set of a ladder of 25/50/100/200/200/100/50/25 - focus will not be on speed, but on holding technique as long as I can.

Weight training / Isometrics:
I'll train in the basement up to 4 nights, focusing on a different muscle group each evening.

Eliptical:
I will do an eliptical / jump rope session one night to replace a run strenght workout.

Sleep:
This is the most important part of my training plan since this is where I actually build strength. I will get at least 8 hours of sleep each day. On weekends after a long run or ride, I will take a short nap as well. Believe it or not, sleep is my most challenging workout in terms of finding time, falling asleep and staying asleep!

Bricks:
I'll start of slowly on my Brick workouts. After my indoor bike workout, I'll jump on treadmill and run 1-2 miles. I'll schedule my Saturday swim so that I can bike afterward. This will be difficult as the Masters meet first thing on Saturday - hopefully there will be an open lane.

So that's it for this week. The following weeks will be like this one. I expect to train 10 hours this week, 12 hours the next week and 13.5 hours after that. I stopped my training log after the flood, and have kept a mental journal of ours, so I should be ok.

One caveat is that I will be going to SC for Erika's Parents weekend which will make that week very difficult to get the training in. They do have a world class gym, but I won't be able to bike much that weekend and will have to be flexible.

For my Brother-in-Law

Recently, my brother-in-law was diagnosed with andvanced stages of cancer without hope for recovery. He is already going through a lot of pain.

My sister invited me to a sweat lodge ceremony after his passing. Under normal circumstances I would probably attend, but there is no way of knowing the timing and physical impact.

So instead, I will celebrate Jim's life as I celebrate mine, through endurance training. The phyical, mental, and emotional pain I will push through will be nothing compared to his, but I will think of him as I dig deep to will myself to go harder and faster. I only hope this will in some way translate into the meaning of the sweat lodge ceremony.

And as I race in Kona, I will honor him by finishing the most gruelling race on the planet with the best athletes in the world.

Training for my First Hawaii Ironman

Last November, at the Florida Ironman, I qualified for the World Championships.

Reading the latest Runnersworld, I stumbed on an article that suggested using a blog as a motivator. Believe me, I need as much motivation as I can find.

So this blog will be about my Hawaii Ironman journey - tomorrow I start training.

My training this year has been sketchy at best. In February we had a pipe burst on the second floor of our home leaving 6 inches of water in the basement. I've spent the better part of the last 2 months attempting to get my house back in order.

My current conditioning isn't too bad. I ran a hilly 1:22:45 half marathon last month, but have done little biking or swimming this year.

We returned home on Friday after looking at colleges (for my younger daughter Rachel) on the West Coast. During the trip, I got up early most days to scout the campus with a 6 mile run. Later, after showers and breakfast, we would tour the campus together.

I came home from the trip with a nasty cold. Not the best way to start Ironman Training, so I'm going to take it easy today, lift some weights, take a walk with my older daughter visiting from College and kick things off tomorrow.