Well its tuesday morning and I swear I feel like im back in HS waiting on the last day of class before summer break. I just want to get out of Dayton and on the way down to Panama City Beach (PCB). Real quick reminder that anyone who wants to can keep track of me on race day via the Ironman website. You should just need to navigate to the Ironmanlive link and that should do it. I would link direct here but it wont be active till Saturday so this is the best I can do right now. Again my race number is #358 and you should be able to use that or my name to find out where I am. Lastly for anyone wanting to invest a wee bit more time they will have a live webcast going all day long with cameras set up at key points of interest. Mostly this includes the exit of transition and the finish line. SOOOO that means anyone on the net should be able to watch me finish if they want to. right now I think I will be finishing in the 13-15 hour range which puts me around 8-10pm CDT or 9 -11 EST.
Last minute prep is going ok. I am starting to stress a bit over all that has to be done before I leave and just worrying that I am going to forget something crucially important like my bike helmet or my bike! I realized last week that I had a tire issue so I went to the shop last night and my coach helped me swap out my tire and mount my spare. That went really well and I was feeling really good about it until this morning when I went out to the garage and the tire was totally flat. I had a 160psi (yes you read that right) in that tire and it was totally flat this morning and that shouldnt be. SO I pumped it up again this morning and we will see how it is when I get home today. Im hoping that its a temp / press change thing but that seems a bit drastic to me. SO im not happy about that. Also I have been trying to get arm warmers for like a month now and my coach finally got some and I forget them at the shop. DOH! SO lisa is going to pick them up for me or I might be making another trip out to the shop to buy a new rear tire. DOUBLE DOH! SO outside of the mechanical issues on the bike things are looking good. Im totally immersed in my taper right now and its driving me crazy! I just want to go out and workout and push hard but heres my schedule for the week
sunday - off
monday - off
tuesday - off
wednesday - 30 min easy ride
thursday - light swim in ocean
friday - 30 min easy run, light swim in ocean
saturday - BIG RACE DAY!
SO yeah im going a bit nuts since im used to working out for like an hour each day and now im just doing nothing. But I know this is very important as its time for my body to recover a bit from the training and re-energize!
Well I think thats it. I dont know if I will blog again before the race. I might who knows take some pre-race pics of the expo and what not and throw a quick post up, we shall see.
Real quick I just want to say thanks to everyone who has supported my journey here. The support from all my friends and family has been really great and despite being told "im totally crazy" more times than I can remember I know everyone is really excited for me with this. I cant believe its almost here. This has been one crazy long year filled with many ups and downs. Im just so thankfull that I am getting this opportunity and that I am healthy and injury free.
See you guys at the finish!
Cheers
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Bring on the Taper! +Take a # please!
I have my race number!!!! I am number 358! SO know you guys can track me online during the race!!!!
Well I did my "mega" workout this past saturday and WOW it was a total test of both physical and mental toughness. I went 5 hours on the bike and 2 hours of running, but its a little more interesting than that. Since I was going for a 7 hour workout and it does not get light here till 8am right now I did not want to start that late as it would put me finishing around 3pm and that would just take up to much of the day. SO I got my butt out of bed and on the indoor trainer at 5am. OITS! I can officially say that is too early to start working out. SO yeah I did 5 hours on the indoor trainer which my coach says that every hour on a trainer is like 1.5 hours on the road. SO that means my bike effort was equivalent to 7.5 hours of riding which is way longer than I project to be riding in the ironman so that is pretty darn cool. But WOW was that boring. I watched a TON of anime on my laptop and that is the only thing that kept me sane. Also I am officially sick and tired of gels, bars, and sports drinks. YUCK! SO that was pretty tough to just get through. I was getting so antsy by the end of the bike. I just wanted to get off that darn thing. SO I went for the run and I have to say my legs feel so fresh off the bike. I love riding a steep 78-80 degree seat angle, it makes a huge difference. SO I decided that I wanted to bonk on the run and test my mental toughness some more so I didnt bring any water or gels or anything. About an hour in I did in fact bonk and I pushed through it and kept running for the whole 2 hours. Do I think I could have kept running for another 3. Probably not but I do plan to keep eating and drinking on the run in the ironman and I do not plan to bonk. But if I do I am prepared.
SO all in all things are going well. Its 10 days to go and I just want to get there. I still have to much to do to pack and prepare and I just got my new wheels in yesterday so I have to get them mounted and take them for a few spins to get used to them. I have a 4.5 hour workout this saturday so that should be a good time for me to get a feel for them and break them in.
Well thats all for now
Cheers!
Well I did my "mega" workout this past saturday and WOW it was a total test of both physical and mental toughness. I went 5 hours on the bike and 2 hours of running, but its a little more interesting than that. Since I was going for a 7 hour workout and it does not get light here till 8am right now I did not want to start that late as it would put me finishing around 3pm and that would just take up to much of the day. SO I got my butt out of bed and on the indoor trainer at 5am. OITS! I can officially say that is too early to start working out. SO yeah I did 5 hours on the indoor trainer which my coach says that every hour on a trainer is like 1.5 hours on the road. SO that means my bike effort was equivalent to 7.5 hours of riding which is way longer than I project to be riding in the ironman so that is pretty darn cool. But WOW was that boring. I watched a TON of anime on my laptop and that is the only thing that kept me sane. Also I am officially sick and tired of gels, bars, and sports drinks. YUCK! SO that was pretty tough to just get through. I was getting so antsy by the end of the bike. I just wanted to get off that darn thing. SO I went for the run and I have to say my legs feel so fresh off the bike. I love riding a steep 78-80 degree seat angle, it makes a huge difference. SO I decided that I wanted to bonk on the run and test my mental toughness some more so I didnt bring any water or gels or anything. About an hour in I did in fact bonk and I pushed through it and kept running for the whole 2 hours. Do I think I could have kept running for another 3. Probably not but I do plan to keep eating and drinking on the run in the ironman and I do not plan to bonk. But if I do I am prepared.
SO all in all things are going well. Its 10 days to go and I just want to get there. I still have to much to do to pack and prepare and I just got my new wheels in yesterday so I have to get them mounted and take them for a few spins to get used to them. I have a 4.5 hour workout this saturday so that should be a good time for me to get a feel for them and break them in.
Well thats all for now
Cheers!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Im almost there!
Well things really feel like they are coming together for me and my first Ironman Experiance. I will in no way be doing anything "Amazing" by other athletes standards but I think this is going to be a really good experience for me. Im really getting excited about doing this event which I have to say is really surprising me b/c a month ago I was in sheer terror about the whole thing. Now im so excited its like X-mas!!!!! SO let me give some highlights of what all has been happening:
Last weekends workout went really well. Despite terribly crappy weather 37 degrees at the start of my bike ride and me with little cold weather clothing I managed to still maintain 15 mph avg for the 3 hour bike and put in a solid 45 miles. Had it been warmer I could have gone a lot faster! Then my coach wanted me to run 4 5k's and negative split them.
5k #1
I started on the first 5k and it was purely awful. My feet were so frozen it was a good 2 miles into the run before I could even feel them so that 5k was pretty rough. A little bit of walking and stopping to try and stretch out my frozen muscles in an attempt to get them warmed up.
time of 38:50ish
5k#2
by this time my feet and legs were back in business and I was just fighting to not run faster. Really watched the HR and tried to stay in control and keep myself in zone 2 which is the zone I will spend most of the Ironman in. I felt great during this 5k and ended up with a time of like 38:30ish first negative split!!!!
5k#3
I decided that if I was going to negative split I needed to step up to zone 3 and turn off my heart rate monitors beep function and just ignore the fact that I was out of my "ideal" zone. I instantly picked up the pace and felt really good. I couldnt believe that I was actually accelerating after biking 45 miles and already running 6 but I was. I went entirely to fast and ended up running a 32:30ish for the 3rd 5k. WOW for super negative split
5k#4
I tried to keep up the pace of the last 5k but I just couldnt do it. By this time I was in the upper limits of zone 5 which is not where you want to be. I realized I really blew myself out in the last 5k and should have toned it down a bit. I could not get my heart rate to settle back down to even zone 4 so the last 5k was really hard but I kept running through it and just pushed through. end time of like 38:10ish -- not a negative split but more inline with what I need to be running.
SO yesterday I went and saw my coach and for the first time he was excited with my results!!! This is how our mtgs usually go.
Coach: Ok so how are your workouts going?
me: well I have gotten a few in but have missed these.
Coach: I cant believe you think your going to do an ironman. Do you realize how underprepared you are. Im sorry but your going to die out there. Do you have a good life insurance plan? Man you are going to be hurting bad I hope your ready for a long painfull day. Hey your about the same size as my wife. Can she have your bike when you die from being so out of shape.
me: ummm I dont....know....I guess.....maybe
SO yeah they are usually pretty depressing and he usually tells me there is no way I will make any of my current time goals and that im going to have a tough time even finishing. But after this past weekends workout he was really getting excited. He was all like WOW your going to do this and we did some figuring and if I can keep up the paces that im shooting for I might just be able to break 14 hours which would be sooooooo amazing. Im still thinking 14-15 is where I will be but if I can transition well I think sub 14 is a real possibility. Provided I have a great day and nothing goes wrong. But hey this is ironman racing what could possibly go wrong!
On another note my wheel situation has resolved itself in quite a wonderfull way. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! Here is the quick rundown. I put basically an SOS message on a tri forum that I frequent (ok I live there) sometimes and got a reply. What I have been offered is a pair of carbon fiber tri spoke wheels that retail for $1500 for the pair. Oh but it gets better. I asked the guy if they came with tyres. Long story about why that is important but it is. He said let me check. Oh yeah they come with Continental Competition tyres. I know that doesnt mean anything to any of you but they go for $85 a tyre. yes for 1. SO thats $170 worth of amazing hand made german rubber. SO thats a grand total of $1670 worth of wheels for the bargain price of $200 yes you heard me right. 2 to the 0 to the big ol 0 SO im sooo excited and I have wanted carbon tri spokes forever!!! SO this is really like the coolest thing ever for me.
Well thats about it. I will probably post again after my next workout. ITs a mega workout. 5 hour bike (on the trainer ZZZZZZ) 2 hour run.
Cheers!
Last weekends workout went really well. Despite terribly crappy weather 37 degrees at the start of my bike ride and me with little cold weather clothing I managed to still maintain 15 mph avg for the 3 hour bike and put in a solid 45 miles. Had it been warmer I could have gone a lot faster! Then my coach wanted me to run 4 5k's and negative split them.
5k #1
I started on the first 5k and it was purely awful. My feet were so frozen it was a good 2 miles into the run before I could even feel them so that 5k was pretty rough. A little bit of walking and stopping to try and stretch out my frozen muscles in an attempt to get them warmed up.
time of 38:50ish
5k#2
by this time my feet and legs were back in business and I was just fighting to not run faster. Really watched the HR and tried to stay in control and keep myself in zone 2 which is the zone I will spend most of the Ironman in. I felt great during this 5k and ended up with a time of like 38:30ish first negative split!!!!
5k#3
I decided that if I was going to negative split I needed to step up to zone 3 and turn off my heart rate monitors beep function and just ignore the fact that I was out of my "ideal" zone. I instantly picked up the pace and felt really good. I couldnt believe that I was actually accelerating after biking 45 miles and already running 6 but I was. I went entirely to fast and ended up running a 32:30ish for the 3rd 5k. WOW for super negative split
5k#4
I tried to keep up the pace of the last 5k but I just couldnt do it. By this time I was in the upper limits of zone 5 which is not where you want to be. I realized I really blew myself out in the last 5k and should have toned it down a bit. I could not get my heart rate to settle back down to even zone 4 so the last 5k was really hard but I kept running through it and just pushed through. end time of like 38:10ish -- not a negative split but more inline with what I need to be running.
SO yesterday I went and saw my coach and for the first time he was excited with my results!!! This is how our mtgs usually go.
Coach: Ok so how are your workouts going?
me: well I have gotten a few in but have missed these.
Coach: I cant believe you think your going to do an ironman. Do you realize how underprepared you are. Im sorry but your going to die out there. Do you have a good life insurance plan? Man you are going to be hurting bad I hope your ready for a long painfull day. Hey your about the same size as my wife. Can she have your bike when you die from being so out of shape.
me: ummm I dont....know....I guess.....maybe
SO yeah they are usually pretty depressing and he usually tells me there is no way I will make any of my current time goals and that im going to have a tough time even finishing. But after this past weekends workout he was really getting excited. He was all like WOW your going to do this and we did some figuring and if I can keep up the paces that im shooting for I might just be able to break 14 hours which would be sooooooo amazing. Im still thinking 14-15 is where I will be but if I can transition well I think sub 14 is a real possibility. Provided I have a great day and nothing goes wrong. But hey this is ironman racing what could possibly go wrong!
On another note my wheel situation has resolved itself in quite a wonderfull way. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! Here is the quick rundown. I put basically an SOS message on a tri forum that I frequent (ok I live there) sometimes and got a reply. What I have been offered is a pair of carbon fiber tri spoke wheels that retail for $1500 for the pair. Oh but it gets better. I asked the guy if they came with tyres. Long story about why that is important but it is. He said let me check. Oh yeah they come with Continental Competition tyres. I know that doesnt mean anything to any of you but they go for $85 a tyre. yes for 1. SO thats $170 worth of amazing hand made german rubber. SO thats a grand total of $1670 worth of wheels for the bargain price of $200 yes you heard me right. 2 to the 0 to the big ol 0 SO im sooo excited and I have wanted carbon tri spokes forever!!! SO this is really like the coolest thing ever for me.
Well thats about it. I will probably post again after my next workout. ITs a mega workout. 5 hour bike (on the trainer ZZZZZZ) 2 hour run.
Cheers!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
T - 24 days and counting!
Well its a little over 24 days till the ironman and I have to admit Im starting to get pretty excited. I watched a video clip this morning from the 1986 ironman and it really helped to put some things in perspective. People have been racing this distance for years without all the high tech gear that we have today. Back then they did it on bananas and water. There were no specially formulated energy drinks, no powerbars, no gu, just normal people making a go of it. I feel that is a pretty good description of me. Just a normal guy making a go of it. SO I wanted to take some time to reflect on the past year. I have realistically done maybe 40% of the training I would have liked to have done. What does that mean? Well it means this is not going to be easy for me. It means I will more than likely be closer to the 15 hour mark of my 13-15 hour time goal. It means this is going to hurt. Im going to feel very alone and Im going to want to quit this more than I have ever wanted to quit anything in my life. But I wont. The Ironman means so much to me. Its a dream I have had for at least the past 10 years and is really symbolic of a lot of things to me. Its a journey that has been going on for a long time and it will be really nice to arrive at the destination. I have read a lot of stuff on positive visualization and I have to say I think its working. About a month ago I was feeling down right freaked out and like there was no way I was going to finish but I have since spent a lot of time just thinking about what its going to be like to be out on the course, how im going to feel and what im going to be focusing on to get to the finish. I think its working and I think I owe some of that to me feeling better about things. I also am starting to realize that I dont have as much to prove as I thought I did. I am not only an athlete but I am a long distance tri-athlete and im learning that my body is really well suited for that. If I had the time and a few less severe injuries in my past I think I could have actually been something maybe not so special but competitive. And im ok with that.
SO in 24 days I will be more than likely somewhere between the bike and the run and thinking about how cool it is that Im doing this. Im going to be hurting, hungry (sick of gels and bars), tired, but most of all I hope im really happy. But the coolest part of the day is going to be when I cross the line and get my congratulations hug and kiss from Lisa and Kaiya!
this is going to be soooo freaking awesome!!!!!
SO in 24 days I will be more than likely somewhere between the bike and the run and thinking about how cool it is that Im doing this. Im going to be hurting, hungry (sick of gels and bars), tired, but most of all I hope im really happy. But the coolest part of the day is going to be when I cross the line and get my congratulations hug and kiss from Lisa and Kaiya!
this is going to be soooo freaking awesome!!!!!
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