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This morning was one of those mornings, 47 days until the big day felt like it might as well have been 47 years. My mood, better yet my brain just wasn’t let me do what I was suppose too, which was to enjoy my first run since my half-ironman. There is a saying in the Ironman circles that you win just by getting to the start line. That’s right not the finish line. I never anticipated the mind games that this goal would place on me. There are dents in my armor.

My mood, my outlook is intertwined to my running. I give you example. Swimming in the past week I swam 4,000 yards and 4,500 yards and nothing. On Sunday I rode 100 miles and nothing. Neither accomplishment made me happy or sad. This morning I ran 7 miles and it was a battle for all 7 and it leaves me asking WHY am I doing this? Boy I hate that feeling! I know it is all mental and it can switch on a dime by having a great run the next morning.

What has been getting is that I am doing this all alone. I swim alone, I bike alone and I run alone. Ironman training is lonely. I know I get support from family and friends but the actual training is wearing on me heavily. Only 47 days, if I get my running in line the mood will change for the better. Just getting to the starting line has proven a bigger challenge than I ever thought it could be. Racing the 140.6 miles on September 12 will be the icing on the cake. The question will be how will be mental state when I get there?

I guess time will tell…

Totals:

Running Miles: 624.30

Number of Hours: 94:30

New shoes: 119.40 miles (for my record keeping)

Biking Miles: 1,563.90

Number of Hours: 91:30

Swimming Miles: 68.98 miles or 121,900 yards

Number of Hours: 28:45

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 4,708 lengths or 2,354 laps

Weightlifting hours: 25:35

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 255 hours and 00 minutes

6:26:11 my time in the Racine 70.3 on Sunday. Then on an airplane off to Hollywood for three days of Harman meetings. Flew back on Thursday and now it is Friday. It has been quite a week. Having the three days off since the race was great. The legs where a bit sore, the mind on meetings instead of training was a good break. Now it is the final push to the day that has been in my mind for almost a year.

Coming back on Thursday it allowed me to hit the gym work off the rust and start the final push. So what did I do? Well something that I never did before, I swam 4,000 yards. How long is 4,000 yards you might say, well that is 160 lengths of the pool or 80 laps or 2.27 miles. Ah that is only 200 yards short of going 2.4 miles. The actual distance of the Ironman swim! Hmmm.

Friday I was suppose to wake up at 6 am for a 50 mile ride. I did get up to check the weather and what I saw was some major storms headed this way, so it was back to bed. I woke up at 8 and you guessed it no storms. I did wake to what would become the hottest day in the Chicagoland area in 4 years. It did get up to 95 degrees with a heat index of 110. So when I am whining about all the bad winter weather coming remind me of this day. Being a light day of work I was able to hit the road (yes I did ride in this stuff) around 1 and boy I have never rode in anything like this. It was hot, humid, windy and sunny. The plan was to go out and see how I felt. I haven’t been on the bike in a few days so there was a little rust. In turn I went 40 miles, 16.3 mph which is slow but considering the weather, not bad. The nutrition seems to be working sucking down all four bottles in the 2:30 ride, plus the Halo sweatband works like a charm keeping ALL my sweat from running down my face and glasses.

I still should go to the gym. Running inside tonight, because it is storming out as we speak. My legs feel pretty good. I did buy some compression tights, which I wore last night while I slept and a foam roller (or as some call the Satan Stick of Pain). The foam roller is great because you simply roll the sore muscle back and forth (yes it hurts, a lot) but after presto the soreness is gone.

So tonight a run on the good old treadmill, probably some weights and maybe a short swim. We will see.

Update:

Plans changed once more. I didn’t go running on Friday night, the legs were to tired. The plan was to wake up early (raining) go to the gym for a run and weights. Well, everything was fuzzy. I tired to run through it but only got 30 minutes in before I had to stop. Kim and I went out for breakfast (#2 for me) and it work on the fuzzies, I am just one big eating machine. The plan was to go back later in the day and resume. The whole afternoon I was highly unmotivated. As the time approached I resorted to an old trick, playing YouTube Ironman videos. IT WORKED! Off to the gym to swim and getting back on the treadmill. Well the swim went incredibly well and increase my record to 4,500 yards or 2.56 miles or 180 lengths or 90 laps in 1:20 (I will not go past that total and probably won’t go that far again until the race.) I put on my workout clothes headed up to the treadmill, stood on the stupid thing for a few moments and just did not get the feeling. I headed to the StairMaster and did 30 minutes instead. I just love that machine.

Sunday’s plan is open. It is suppose to be nice, so I am waking up early 5-5:30 and off on the bike. How far? Well I did map out a 100 mile route, we will see.

Totals:

Running Miles: 617.30

Number of Hours: 93:15

New shoes: 112.40 miles (for my record keeping)

Biking Miles: 1,463.70

Number of Hours: 85:30

Swimming Miles: 68.98 miles or 121,900 yards

Number of Hours: 28:45

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 4,708 lengths or 2,354 laps

Weightlifting hours: 25:35

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 247 hours and 45 minutes

Hello all, I am sorry I haven’t wrote a post about my journey to the Ironman in the past days, but most of my efforts centered around competing in the Racine, WI 70.3 Ironman this past weekend.

To catch you up the term 70.3 is the total distance of the race. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run.

I promised this would be a recap of my experience and I will try to keep it as brief as possible.

The days leading up to the race:

Two items stand out one being I was unusually calm and two I was fighting a cold (not allergies). Timing is everything with colds, they always seem to get you right before something big happens in your life and this was no different. I have to say this has been a pretty small cold, but still facing a big race like this it is best to go into it as healthy as possible. As far as my calmness that was interesting. Maybe I was calm because I had done this distance twice before or 70.3 doesn’t phase me as much when one is training for 140.6.

I got to Racine on Saturday to check in, get my race packet and stage the bike. The bike must be staged the day before because with 2000 people it would be a nightmare to do it the morning of. I went to the Ironman shop looked at all the cool Ironman stuff. I didn’t buy any Ironman stuff yet because I feel until you do one you shouldn’t own stuff that states you are an Ironman. But I did eye some very cool stuff to look at when Madison comes rolling around. I did find a cool 70.3 Racine shirt so that made me happy. It states “determination” on the front and “m” is the MDOT Ironman logo, with the Racine 70.3 logo on the back.

The morning of:

Kim and I got down to the transition around 5:15 in the morning. Kim’s brother Dan also drove down from Milwaukee to watch the day. Thanks Dan for coming because it made Kim’s day go a bit faster and I knew she had someone to talk too making my day a bit less stressful. I walked to my bike to setup a little transition area that included my swim, bike and running stuff. I gave my bike a once over and I noticed that my two spare tubes where missing. The main problem was the Racine bike course is rough and many will experience blow outs. So I thought now what? I walked over to the bike mechanic and asked if they had any extra patches, but instead walked away with a tube. That was unexpected but I felt much better. As far as the missing tubes? I am not sure I like to think no one stole them and I just lost them on a previous bike ride and failed to notice.

Swim:

They clear out the transition area 20 minutes before the swim start, plus we have a 1.2 mile walk to the swim start. I have learned for past experience to put your wetsuit on after the walk. Kim and Dan walked on the sidewalk to the start, I decided to walk along the shore to gather my thoughts. This may have not been the best idea because it gave me plenty of time to look on how far 1.2 miles actually is. Now I swim this in a pool with no problems and think nothing of it, but when 1.2 miles is strung out in front of you that puts a whole new look to the challenge. That calmness disappeared. Meeting up with Kim and Dan I proceeded to put my wet suit on. My biggest fear is the zipper. If it pops or breaks open that mean peeling the stupid thing off fixing the zipper and squeezing in the stupid thing once more. Guess what happened? Yep it popped. Luckily I had time and ran up to the side walk and peeled it off. The zipper itself was not behaving. With the help of a calm wife (aka Triathlon-Sherpa) Kim was able to fix the zipper and I squeezed back in and actually had a few moments to test (pee in) the water.

At 7 22 on the dot my wave was off. As mentioned numerous times swimming in open water versus a pool is totally different. It took me the first 10 minutes of the swim to slowly start to find a rythm, this means semi clear water with no feet, elbows or knees coming after me. The whole swim took just over 40 minutes and I would say it was 50/50 freestyle and breaststoke. I would like to cut down the breaststroke and do more freestyle, because it is quicker.

Transition #1

3:46 not fast not slow and was uneventful. Yes I put my shirt on correctly the first time.

Bike:

The city of Racine really has to fix their roads. Ouch for the first 5 miles or so. Once we started to exit the city the roads were better for the most part. A couple of the country roads were killers but the roads where no worse than what I train on at home. I am training for a 17 mph average in Madison. So the 18.7 mph was a surprise, allowing me to finish the bike under 3 hours. Now before I jump up for joy, this course only had a handful of hills that the Madison course has a ton of. In fact on the suck o meter Racine really nothing worse than a 6. The main problem was the road conditions and the wind. I tucked into the areo position I have been training on and that really helped against the wind. Being in wave 6 of 19 I knew I be passed a lot, but I watched what those folks where doing and hopefully learned from them. I did see numerous people with flats and two accidents. Luckily for me nothing happened. This was also time to try out some new nutrition ideas which all seem to work well. I like to thank Sue Moote for her ideas and the people that make Pop Tarts, which also worked well.

Transition #2 

I came into Transition #2 in very good spirits, Kim and Dan where waiting for me and cheered me on. I sat on my “Move my Ass bucket” (ask Kim) switched shoes, put on my hat and off I went.

Run:

During the bike ride a good portion was cloudy, but as I started the run it was full out sunshine, heat and humidity. When I heard it was 93 with 80% humidity, all of us were in big trouble. The run is a two loop  half-marathon or 13.1 miles. You complete the first 6.5 which takes only a few hundred feet from the finish and shoots you right back out, I guess just running 13.1 is not torture enough. The course only had two hills that came back to back, running each twice. They place a photographer on the second hill, so you really have to run up it unless you want you picture taken with you walking, very unfair. The run takes place mostly along Lake Michigan high on some bluffs, so the breeze coming up really helped in places and there plenty of water stops and quite a few neighbours out there with their sprinklers and hosing us down. Lap one went really good in fact there was a point where I thought I might finish the run under or close to 2 hours. During the first loop you could see a thunderstorm was rolling in, all of us where excited. As the storm passed the breeze really picked up but where I was it just was a sprinkle. After the storm moved on we were all in trouble. The heat picked back up and the HUMIDITY, became unbearable. So lap two is when everything turned bad. The two hills seemed taller, the heat hotter and the water stops seemed farther apart. When I got to one I think I averaged about 8 cups of water, drinking some but mostly pouring it over my head. Around mile 10 the cramps set in and slowly it became more of a walk. I’d run a little but then ended up walking more. One item I was excited about the run was it promised to take through the Racine Zoo. So I thought maybe I could see some interesting animals helping pass the time. As it turned out we only ran on a back trail on zoo property, passing a couple of cages with some birds in them. Well I was nearing the end, mostly walking because of cramps and I was simply tired. I wanted to finish with a “run” so I waited for a downhill section to make my move. The last 100 yards even my arms started to cramp, but I finished with a slow jog. I finished around 2:30.

Final thoughts:

I finished around the 6:30 mark. I was hoping for 6, but that last lap did me in. There was an outside chance because of the bike and maybe if I free styled more on the swim. Oh well…

Sometimes I think this is the craziest thing I have ever attempted to do, but… I think I am going to be OK. Sure the swim is twice as long, but if I approach it like this race by searching for open water and simply take buoy by buoy it is doable and should finish under 1:30. Sure the bike is twice as long, but I have already rode the course three times with a good chance of doing it at least once more, plus the nutrition seemed to help. Really only the marathon scares me. Yes it won’t be as hot and most of the run will be during sunset and night fall BUT IT IS STILL 26.2 MILES! I have 54 days, which 40-45 are still there for training. I will start up again on Thursday my legs feel better, the cold is almost done and 70.3 really doesn’t bother me anymore. I will start to do more brick workouts (run right after a ride), work on the nutrition side some more and remember just to keep on enjoying the journey I am going through. There will never be another first time!

Until next time…Your Fitness Buddy 

Totals:

Running Miles: 612.92

Number of Hours: 92:16

New shoes: 106.1 miles (for my record keeping)

Biking Miles: 1,423.70

Number of Hours: 83:00

Swimming Miles: 64.15 miles or 112,904 yards

Number of Hours: 26:10

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 4,368 lengths or 2,184 laps

Weightlifting hours: 25:35

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 241 hours and 40 minutes

Looking at my totals and how the are growing I think back to the day I signed up for the big race. September 14, 2009 seems so far away and now it is only 60 days until I do my first Ironman! That phrase still sends chills up and down my spine. I am going to be an Ironman! I have had my shares of ups and downs along this journey, I am glad the there have been more ups than downs and I am sure the next 60 days will prove to be the most challenging yet. Going into this my thoughts were this race is going to be the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. What has happened is that I have changed my opinion. The training up to an Ironman is the hardest thing I have ever done. Don’t get me wrong there will be plenty of pain and misery on the day, but what the race is to me is the cherry on top of the sundae. I get on myself for not being the fastest, seeing all my Internet triathlete friends stating what their times are for the swim, bike and run. But I have to remember one thing, I am doing this for myself! Selfish? Maybe. I can’t worry about anyone else, this time it is for me. If/when I consider doing another one of these I then can look back and fine tune things that will make me go faster.

So, Toni this one is for you if you are reading this. As you train for your marathon, these are the toughest days. Even though you make think an Ironman is a harder event than a marathon, it is not. It is different for each person. I marvel on how some people make racing in an Ironman look so easy. I too do the same for those who run marathons. But this Chicago Marathon is all about you. You are doing great and you are stronger than you think. Don’t worry about your time, this is your first. If you choose to do another (most do by the way) that is the time to figure out if you can improve. Enjoy the accomplishment! Not only because you were able to finish 26.2 miles, but for all the hard work and dedication shown just to get to the starting line.  These are the dog days in our training, it is hot, it is humid, we have been training for what seems like forever but our starting lines are quickly approaching. Show that wonderful smile that you have and enjoy something that so few on this planet even have the courage to do!

I am living proof how one can go from a funk to feeling proud and confident in less than a week. I am sure in the next 60 days I will go through this cycle a few more times and that is when I need you and all my other friends and family to help pull me through. I will be there for you and please you be there for me.

Totals:

Running Miles: 599.82

Number of Hours: 89:46

New shoes: 93 miles (for my record keeping)

Biking Miles: 1,367.70

Number of Hours: 84:00

Swimming Miles: 62.95 miles or 110,800 yards

Number of Hours: 25:30

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 4,278 lengths or 2,139 laps

Weightlifting hours: 25:35

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 235 hours and 10 minutes

Well the 2nd race of the season is in the books. Once again in the journey of triathlons I walked away with lessons learned, a smile on my face and some good stories. But first the results:

Finished 308 out of 679 males and 60th out of 111 in my age group.

1/4 miles swim – 8:16 (a bit slower than it should have been)

Transition #1 – 3:42 (slow, very slow I will explain later)

15 mile Bike – 50:26 or 18.5 (not badish, keep in mind I am training for Ironman speed, not sprint speed)

Transition #2 – 1:26 (now we are talking)

3.1 mile Run – 26:48 or 8:38 miles (faster than I thought, still in the running world not exactly fast)

Overall – 1:30:42

OK there they are my totals and I was 2 minutes faster than last year. I remember last year’s race I was coming off a bad cold, so being faster is being faster in my book.

Story #1:

For my brother-in-law Dan this was his first triathlon and finished 1:35, so I beat him this year but it is only  a matter of time. So congrats to Dan on #1 and leading a healthier and fitter life.

My swim:

I am usually a stronger swimmer than most in my group and try to place myself in the front of the wave. I wasn’t so lucky this time, I was near the middle. In retrospect I was OK with this because I will be in the middle of 2,600 swimmers come Madison and needed the practice. I never found a rhythm and my heart rate was up there but again good practice. Open water swimming is sure different than pool swimming.

T1 (Transition #1) Swim to Bike

Question how many times should it take a grown man to put on a shirt? Once? Twice? Three times? How about four! Yep that is right it took me four times before I actually put my shirt on correctly. I tell you there are times when I am a 40-watt light bulb and this was one of those moments. Seriously the first time I put the shirt on inside out. The second time upside down, I know yes I said upside down. The third time arm and head through one hole. Finally the fourth time I got it on right. You know your finish time for the whole race comes down to these stupid mistakes and I usually end up making one. Remind me to tell you the time I almost started the run without my shoes (some other time maybe).

My bike:

I was excited about the bike because it has hills! A few like the hills in Madison! So this was going to be a good test. The first third goes through a subdivision and it was fast. The second third comes the hills. I was pleased with the effort and this race has two hills similar found in Madison. The third third is pretty easy and allows you to get ready for the run. I actually passed people on the hills!?!?

T2 Bike to Run

Uneventful and quick (at least for me.) This doesn’t happen to often.

My run:

If you ever ran right after riding a bike you know it is a unique feeling. It takes a little time to find your running legs so it is more like a shuffle. The first mile and 1/2 is up hill and the best part was I did not stop running! Usually hills mean there is walking in my future. It wasn’t fast and it wasn’t pretty but I did it. So if the first mile and a 1/2 is up, guess what the last mile and a 1/2 is? Yep downhill. I am not sure which is harder running up hill or running down hill. For a flatlander both are a new experience. Overall I was very pleased with the run.

Kim, Dan and family were all waiting for me at the end. Before you think to much I was faster than Dan but his starting wave was #3, I was in wave #21.

Next week is a biggie, it is the 70.3 Racine (1/2 Ironman). Believe or not to be successful I will have to go slower. By holding back I hope to make it through the race without crashing and burning! As far as the running total below I don’t expect it to go up this week. I am resting most of this week for the Half Ironman. If I had to guess there will be a short run or two, maybe a short bike, but mostly swimming and weights.

The journey continues…

Totals:

Running Miles: 599.82

Number of Hours: 89:46

New shoes: 93 miles (for my record keeping)

Biking Miles: 1,367.70

Number of Hours: 84:00

Swimming Miles: 61.25 miles or 107,800 yards

Number of Hours: 24:38

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 4,158 lengths or 2,079 laps

Weightlifting hours: 25:35

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 234 hours and 18 minutes

9 days until the Ironman 70.3 Racine

65 days until the big day in Madison

That is all it takes, 1 RUN! I been in a bit of a funk.

Looking for inspiration.

Tired.

With all this training I feel it the dog days of summer and it is not even August yet!

Maybe it is the first feeling of nerves because the 1/2 Ironman is coming in 9 days and that places some reality on what is coming.

Whatever it is I haven’t been myself for the last few days. That changed tonight!

The day started with me sleeping in. After weeks of getting up at 5:30 out the door at 6 for an hour or two on a run or better yet 3 to 5 hours on the bike it has been getting old. So this morning it was almost noon, OK more like 8. The plan was a swim later in the day followed up by some weights. As I got home around 7:30 pm I noticed the sunset was going to be awesome. So it hit me…

Inspiration.

I ate some dinner, put the shoes on, earbuds on and Ironman in training hat on the noggin and I was ready to go. I could feel right away the humidity was down and the warmth of the day also was starting to ease. I took my normal running route which takes me due west. It was great watching the sun setting behind a big cloud and with the sunglasses on I could see sun rays flaring out in every direction. I turned left (south) up a slow gradual incline (not really a hill) and I noticed how refreshed I was feeling. I reached the turnaround point and started back (north). The sunset was not off to my left and it was pink and purple. It was nice because this portion of the run goes behind a large strip mall so there is little in traffic, but also very little to look at so the sunset helped pass the time. Back running west, the strip mall on my right and a large pond on my left (still not much to see because there are small hills blocking the view). I ran past the Wal Mart, the Lowes, the Dick’s, Kohl’s, Best Buy, Meijer and Bed Bath and Beyond and turned left to make a lap around the pond. Now the pond is full view and the reflection of the sun is clear as day. This was a Forrest Gump moment that was for sure. As I finished the pond lap night was falling and I had an unexpected surprise. Fire Flies! Just as I entered an area that is so brutal during the day time because it is always hotter and more humid, I was treated to a parade of fire flies! I stopped for a moment and took it all in.This will go down as one of my most memorable moments in this Ironman training. As I returned to the house I noticed I had something that has been missing, a smile!

Inspiration. Inspiration comes in many forms and when you least expect it. Will this carry me through until the Ironman, probably not. The inspiration battle will continue all the way until September 12, 2010. But today was a good day. I hope to build on this for awhile. This weekend will also prove to be inspirational because I will be doing a Triathlon with my brother-in-law (his first). I do take pride that in some small part I have had a hand in his turn around to health and fitness. So have a good weekend!

Totals:

Running Miles: 596.72

Number of Hours: 89:20

New shoes: 90 miles (for my record keeping)

Biking Miles: 1,352.70

Number of Hours: 83:10

Swimming Miles: 61 miles or 107,000 yards

Number of Hours: 24:30

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 4,142 lengths or 2,071 laps

Weightlifting hours: 25:35

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 232 hours and 55 minutes

16 days until the half Ironman in Racine, WI

72 days until the biggie in Madison, WI

As many of you know I have been hitting some pretty big milestones lately. Recently I accomplished a feat that I thought may never come by riding 100 miles, followed that up by running 13 miles and today I did my second 2 mile swim. These are distances only a few week’s ago I thought I’d never reach. That being said those numbers will continue inch up from time to time as the days get closer. I am thinking there should be one more 100 miler somewhere down the road, probably a few runs longer than 13 and I made myself a promise I will swim the 2.4 miles at least 2 or 3 times. Sometime around mid-August I will have to start to cut back and let the body heal and gain strength.

On these long sessions more of you seem to be popping into my thoughts and whether you know it or not it really helps. I think of what has happened in my life since I have signed up for this silly thing and all the good people I now consider my friends, it makes me smile and makes the time slide by.

I guess this is part of the mental training I was fearful a few months ago. Yes physically the Ironman is going to be tough and very painful but my biggest fear has been the mental side. How nervous will I be as the date draws closer? When the cannon goes off how am I going to handle those 2600 people with all those elbows, knees and feet going off the same time. What will I do when I meet that first huge hill on the bike? Lastly how am I going to survive 26.2 miles after biking 112 and swimming 2.4? I am convinced one of the way I will survive this day is by thinking of you, yes you.

Sometime during that day thinking of a family member or friend might be just enough to get me through that rough patch. So yes most of my training has been alone, but all of you are always with me as I move forward in my training.

One last item tonight. I made it to the pool tonight, but my heart was not exactly in it. As I was swimming I noticed another gym member watching his kid in the other pool. As the laps went by I started to notice who he was. He is a guy that is in the pool on some weekend afternoons that I swim with. We waved and I proceeded to finish up the laps and was off to the locker room. I put on some workout clothes and it was off to the weights. As I exited the locker room I bumped into him once more. He stopped me and said he had something to say. He mentioned that I was an inspiration to him. Sometimes you just don’t know were the next inspiration is going to be and that statement said to me lit a fire under once more.

Just another thought I can pull out of the bag during all this training.

Thanks everyone!

Running totals:

Running miles treadmill: 209.60

Running hours treadmill: 31:45

Running miles outside: 272.20

Running hours outside: 42:25

New shoes: 73 miles (for my record keeping)

Biking miles: 1,241.20

Biking hours: 69:30

Spinning hours: 7:00

Swimming laps (25 yard pool) : 4,026 lengths or 2,013 laps

Swimming distance: 104,100 yards or 59 miles

Swimming hours: 23:40

Weight lifting hours: 24:55

Stair Master miles: 92.92

Stair Master hours: 11:50

Stairs in Cancun 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 220 hours and 50 minutes