This picture was taken by Dan Hicok - the team photographer who does an amazing job capturing the moment. For the rest of the pictures, check out his website at http://www.danhicok.com/ and click Team Z.

Seeing me like this gets me thinking about an IM in 08. hmmmmmmm, Placid anyone?? TBD

Ironman Race Report

First and foremost there are many thanks in order. Thank you thank you thank you to my wife who sacrificied the most and being patient with me during the hours and hours of training and early weekend nights. And thank you to my parents for coming to Idaho to cheer me on and the endless support from brother Mike and all my friends.

Most of all, I would like to thank Ed Zerkle, Coach of Team Z who guided me to fulfil this dream. Team Z is an incredible Team and I would not have been able to do it without them. Thank you to all the Z'ers and families who organized everything - I am forever greatful!

Okay - here is my race report. I wrote this sitting in Seattle airport on the way back from CDA. Is it very long. I tried to cut it down but realized that I couldn't, as these were my thoughts that day during the race. All I can say is that if you ever have an inclination to do an Ironman, join Team Z, sign up and DO IT! The unimaginable will come true. I hope you enjoy.


My final times for IM:
Swim – 1:16:34
T1 – 10:35
Bike: 7:45:02 (Averaged 14.5 mph)
T2 – 5:33
Run – 5:24:16 (Average 12:20/mile)
Total: 14:41:58 (140.6 miles)
Overall Place 1628/2200

Pre – Race

My day began at 4:00am which wasn’t so bad because my body felt as if it were 7am, still on Eastern Time. I started hydrating around 4:45 or so and found Mark lying on his duffel bag outside my room waiting for a ride. Carol took Mark and I to the start and dropped us off around 5am.

I dropped off my special needs bags, pumped up my tires, put my fluids on the bike and walked around shooting some videos. There were so many athletes it was very impressive. When I was in line for the bathroom there was a man and woman. The woman said this was her 8th IM and the guy said it was his 9th, both were using this as a “training” IM for another later in the year. I turned around and said “you guys are killing me” and smiled. They could tell this was my first IM and congratulated me because they knew I soon would be an IM as well.

I found Carol and we went back to the Team Z tent set up on the hill overlooking the swim start. The wind was blowing strong and the water was very choppy. I wrapped myself in a blanket to keep warm and laid down on the ground next to my teammates, closed my eyes and listened to a little OAR to take me a way for a minute or two.

At 6:30am we took the group picture, got on the wetsuit and headed over to the start. The wind was blowing pretty strong and there were 2’ waves. The air was pretty cold, say around 50 degrees and I found out later the water temperature was 63 degrees.


10 minutes before the start, the MC announces that athletes have a choice to opt out of the swim because of the rough conditions and do a duo. Or, if swimmers make the first lap and want to get out, they can still do the duo. All I thought was NO WAY!!! I’ve come this far and I’m going to do it. The MC finished up his announcement saying that we are all in this together. I found out from Mark later on that they almost cancelled the swim. It was a nice announcement to freak out Carol and the family but they knew I was not going to turn around and skip the swim. I have come too far.

Swim
Dave, Jen and I lined up right on the buoys for the mass swim start. As the National Anthem was playing, I looked around and was amazed at the number of swimmers there were about to go into the water, the majority of which were to the right of me.


The announcer began to announce the start and his microphone went dead, and then I heard the GUN! And then he announced the start. WOW – you talk about an adrenaline rush!!! I was so PUMPED up!

I wore a sleeveless wetsuit with just the swim cap and as soon as I entered the water, I put my head under and came up and did the breath stroke a few times just to catch my breath from the cold. I had to switch to freestyle because the waves were so high I kept taking in water each time I went for air.

There were people everywhere! The first leg out to the buoy was the hardest swim of my life. Between the 2’ waves, the cold water and the swimmers converging on me – it was pretty overwhelming. It took everything I had to remain calm and try to keep somewhat of a swim stroke as people hit me from behind, me hitting people in front of me. I was trying so hard to get a clear spot but could not move. There were hundreds of swimmers around me and they were all converging on the turnaround buoy.

I passed one guy who was panicking in the water and next thing I saw was him grabbing for something – I’m glad it wasn’t me, then I saw him lunge for a buoy and just hold onto it gasping for air. That almost put me into panic mode and I thought if it made sense for me to get to the side and take a break. I looked around and there was no way I could get to the outside as there were way too many people – so I pressed forward.

At the first turn, you could have stood up on someone’s head and just walked straight across the water with no problems as there were so many people just treading water trying to get around that turn. Hundreds and hundreds of people. One guy started panicking and saying we turned too soon.” Come on buddy!! Start swimming as there were hundreds of people coming up on us on the rear!”

Once we made the turn, the waves were coming in on the right side of me and the sun was glaring directly in front of me. The only good part was this was the shortest leg. We rounded the next buoy and headed back to shore. Ahhhhhhhhh, swimming with the current. The packed spread out and I finally got into a groove. My breathing was good and I wasn’t out of breath. Next thing I knew it I was at the shore and as my fingers glazed the sand I stood up, had the biggest smile on my face and ran over the mat, under the canopy, heard my name called several times by Team Z’ers , saw my time for the 1st leg at 37 minutes, (37 minutes – NO WAY, I thought, under those conditions, I thought I would have been around 40+ or so), anyway, a little excited, I took my time going back in for the 2nd lap. I looked around and tried to soak it in.

The 2nd leg had its own set of challenges as the field was pretty spread out and I didn’t have to worry about hitting anyone, however, the waves appeared much bigger. The only way I knew there was a wave is when I would look ahead of me and I would see two swimmers above me, like dark shadows underwater as I was in the trough of the wave. So, I just kept thinking “cut through the wave, stroke by stroke”. Going back out it did seem to take longer.

When we turned left for the short leg, the kayakers were yelling to go right as the current was blowing people downwind of the next turn. So, I cut across several swimmers to get up wind and then drifted into the turn which seemed to work pretty well. As we rounded the last buoy to head to shore, I just rode the waves and started singing to myself “everybody’s gone surfin, surfin USA” from the Beach Boys. The waves were definitely bigger.

As I approached the shore I started to kick my legs because they felt a little cramped but never locked up. Once my hand touched the bottom I jumped up and started to run for the canopy as someone plowed into me from behind and pushed me to the ground. GREAT! It took a lot of energy to get up the first time now I had to do it again, and I did with a HUGE smile on my face! The swim leg was done. The intensity of the crowds cheering and hearing my name from Z’ers was simply amazing.

Transition 1

I ran into the stripping area towards two women that asked if I needed to get stripped. I dropped to my back lifted my legs way up and said “take if off baby”, they both laughed pushed my legs down and yanked my wetsuit off!

I grabbed my transition bag and ran into the changing tent. WOW, hundreds of people in there and it was hard to find a seat. I sat down, got situated and as I was putting on my gear I started talking to a guy next to me who got pulled out of the swim. I felt so bad for him. He was not feeling too well as I tried to encourage him. He actually helped me pack my swim stuff in my bag and I shook his hand wishing him a good ride. Running out of the tent I went right for the bathroom, took a quick wiz and then as I was going to my bike, my number ripped off one corner from the race belt. MAN that always happens. So as I was fumbling with that, I ran past my bike aisle as Carol and my mom were yelling my name. I got a little confused with all the excitement going on. Once I regained my composure, I got my bike situated, waved goodbye and off I went to the bike course.

Bike
112 miles to go……..the bike leg has begun. In the beginning we rode up Lakeside and I knew the Team Z tent would be on my right in about a ½ mile. As I approached the tent I could hear the roar as I pumped my fist in the ear. It was awesome and electrifying!

Overall the bike course was beautiful as we rode the first part along Coeur d’Alene Lake as an out and back. There were two climbs but nothing too bad. My heart rate was hovering in Zone 3 and I knew I had to get it down. In fact, I fought my heart rate the entire ride in which I would be in Zone 2 and then it would creep up into 3 and then 4 on the hills. I tried to slow down thinking of the misery in Lake Anna, but I felt comfortable.
There was a water/Gatorade supplies every 10 miles, along with porta johns and at the 10, 20, 30 miles marks I was off my bike going to the bathroom. Fortunately, I was well hydrated.

There was a nice stretch of flats as we left CDA and headed toward Hayden Lake. I was cruising, but still trying to keep my heart rate in check. I can’t remember how fast I was going but during the flats it had to be 16+, and even still, hundreds of bikers were passing me. No worries I kept thinking, I could not get caught up in their traffic. I had to do my own race.

Hayden Lake is where the hills really began and I think it was between miles 25-50 and 81-106, on the second loop. The hills were short and steep and there were quite a few of them. And then when I got through those hills, they became very long rollers. So I plugged along. Probably the hardest part during the hills was that I knew I had to do it again on the second loop. That was tough!

As I was biking, I remember some Z’ers passing me including, Kerri, Brian and then Casey came zooming by. I also remember when I started the ride Justin came flying by as well – he was having an awesome ride!
As I got through the hills, the first time, I headed back to CDA on the flats, but going INTO the wind so I couldn’t take advantage of the wind. It felt so nice to get through that first loop, but sucked knowing I had to do it again.

During the 2nd loop, I never felt exhausted but was getting a little tired. Some memorable moments include my right nut stinging around mile 80 as I had to stop, get off the bike and readjust. I have never had that happened before! I talked to Mark after the race and he said he had the same thing happen to him. It was weird. On some of the very steep climbs my heart rate shot up to Zone 5 so I jumped off my bike and walked up the hill. It was a good plan because my heart rate dropped down and I actually got up the hill quicker.
Around mile 80, Roy finally caught up to me and we traded places for awhile along with Suzanne as well. In fact Suzanne passed me and later on I zoomed past her around mile 95 because I was getting excited the bike was almost over. I also remember trading places with Kim and Dave. I write this now not because I was competing with team mates, but to remember how nice it was to have familiar faces around as we went
through this grueling event together. It really helped a lot.

I saw Mark when I was around mile 100 and him at 80. He complained to me that he was worried he wasn’t going to make the cutoff. I yelled at him and told him he will make it and to keep pedaling. Then a little later I saw Linda, woooooo, that was another story. I knew she was going to be close. Even Roy was worried as well.
There was no doubt I was going to make the cut off as I rode into town, that last 2 miles did seem endless and the mere thought of going to run 26.2 miles was very overwhelming, even at that point.

Transition 2

As I made it into T2, I believe the time was 4:30pm, 9.5 hours into the race! I averaged about 14.5 on the bike which was pretty impressive for me, but I was really worried that biking out of zone was going to hurt me on the run. However, I knew I had 7.5 hours to complete the marathon. That was doable.
When I got off the bike, it FELT SO DAMN GOOD! All I could do was be thankful that leg was over. A volunteer took my bike and I went right for the bathroom, again. Man, I sure did pee a lot today!
I grabbed my transition bag and into the tent I went. I sat next to Dave as we got ready for the run. This time the tent was pretty empty as I figured it would because the entire field was ahead of me from the bike. It was nice because I actually had a volunteer help me out.

Out of the tent, two women lubed me up with sunscreen and as I ran onto the course I heard my Carol say, “oh good honey, you have your sunscreen on”. Now, here it is 4:30 in the afternoon, I have been going for 9.5 hours and she is still worried about my sunscreen. How can I not love her, she is so cute!

Run

26.2 miles………No doubt, I was tired. I started to run and knew that I would only be able to go so far before I had to walk. I think I ran for about 4 miles and then started to walk/run.

As the run began I realized that I forgot to take off my bike shorts and my hutchie was feeling pretty cramped! So I stripped it off my bike shorts and handed it to a volunteer who put it in my special needs bag. Ahhhhhh, much better. (I had my team z tri shorts underneath).

I remember going up the hill toward the Team Z tent and the roar of the crowd. It was awesome as I swirled my hat in the air above my head, seeing all the people cheering I was all smiles. I saw my parents cheering and it was very exhilarating and uplifting.

I think I made it to about mile 7 where the walking really started to occur. Between miles 8 and 14 I was walking a lot. Around mile 9 I passed the Team Z tent again and Carol interviewed me with the camcorder. I was tired. However, my legs were not sore, they were not locking up. I could not put my finger on it, but realized I still had 17+ miles to go! During Carol’s interview, I told her, “This was it and remind me never to sign up for another IM again”. I was tired, but not in pain! I continued on. I was looking for Ed but couldn’t find him.

As I walked down Lakeside toward the start and back on the path Dave caught up to me. Dave was kind enough to walk with me a little and then he took off. The lowest of the lows was beginning.

Then, each aid station I remembered what Brian said about chicken broth, so I decided what the hell, I had to try something. I had to get some strength back and I couldn’t handle the GU because I was sick of it and pretzels were so dry. So, I think at mile 13 I had some broth and it tasted SO GOOD. It was warm and felt just right. When I hit my special needs bag at mile 14 or so, I stripped off my water bottle belt and grabbed my long sleeve shirt. I knew I was going to need it as I would be running in the dark.

I saw Dave at special needs and walked by him saying hello and he smiled as he was putting on a fresh pair of socks.

It was now time to do the 2nd loop. I felt like my energy was slowly coming back. After special needs I tried to run a little and saw Kathryn, Ilene (Dave’s girlfriend) and then who I thought was Carol. I was confused; I thought Carol was up the hill by the Team Z tent. Oh well, I got so excited that I went to go for a kiss and realized at the very last second it was Kitty! OOPS!!! We all started to laugh. It was pretty funny.

As I continued my walk up the hill I saw Carol again and she walked with me. I told her I felt my strength was getting back and hoped to be running. Then I saw my mom and them Carol left me and did the hand off to my Dad. I had such great support from my family and friends. I needed it at that moment. As I rounded the corner, there was Coach Ed, right there smack in the middle of the street waiting for me. I told him I was tired and he looked me in the eye, grabbed me and said, “Jerry, it’s an Ironman, it’s suppose to hurt, now get to it, get to it!” I got choked up a little bit and that was all I needed it because then my walk became a slow trot and I could hear Ed and my Dad yelling. It was time.

That was around mile 15 and I knew I had 11 to go. My walking now became more running than walking, a
little at a time. At the rest stops I sucked down chicken broth and water and I was able to get a GU down also. As I made it out of town and along the lake I picked landmarks to run to and then walk some. Then I realized that there were some Z’ers ahead of me and I used them as landmarks to run to.

I keep saying this as I was not competing but having people you know that I could run to was what I had to do
to keep going. First there was Suzanne, who I saw several times on the bike and who passed me on the run early on. I said hello as she told me I finally caught her and I told her she would catch me soon, she then told me what I did not believe at that time was that I was on a roll. I then saw Henry with that cool hat and then Justin as the sun began going down. Next thing I knew I passed mile 20 and was walking up the last steep hill. When I got to the turnaround, I ran down the hill knowing that Mile 21 was at that bottom.

I started to tell myself over and over again that “I want to be an Ironman, I want to be an Ironman” as I have done during so many training rides and then it happened, that moment, somewhere around mile 22 I started to say, “I am going to be an Ironman, I am going to be an Ironman”. I was getting pumped up after some 14 hours into the race – it was unreal! It was that moment, that change in thinking. I saw Dave shortly thereafter and I mumbled to him, “It’s gut check time Dave”. He told me the next day that I looked mad, like I was on a mission.

Soon thereafter, I saw Roy, Kim and Mark, going in the opposite direction, and Mark said “look at him, he is still running”. I was running, not very fast but I was running. I was not going to leave any effort behind. I was putting it all right there. My walk breaks were shorter and shorter. As I passed mile 23 I saw my name on the board come up and my message to myself said “Keep Movin Jerry Curl”. I also saw the clock say 14:09. Then, my mind woke up, if I did 14 minutes miles, I could break 15 hours. Now all of a sudden I started thinking about my time. What was happening??

During the water stop at mile 24 I grabbed some water and poured it on my head to straighten out the hair - I wanted to look good for the final picture crossing the finish line! ; ). As I started running again I looked ahead for my next landmark to start walking and then asked myself, why I want to walk, just keep running, there is no reason to walk. So, I ran.

At mile 25 I could not believe that I had 1.2 miles to go to become an Ironman. 1.2 miles to go. All the training, all the sacrifices, all those moments came rushing to me. It was going to happen.
I then made the last turn and a volunteer told me, you’ve got 6 blocks to go. As I ran down the hill I began to cry as I whispered to myself that I was going to be an ironman, I was doing it. It was like tunnel vision watching the finish, I ripped off my long sleeve shirt, fixed my number, played around with my hair. All I could see was that finish line, the lights, the camera flashes, the roar of the crowd and sound of the MC. I was only 4 blocks away and I saw a Team Z cheering crowd, threw them my long sleeve and just kept going. I made sure no one was around me as I approached the chute. I saw Carol in the street jumping up and down waving her hands yelling my name and heard my parents as well. I was so happy!!!!. The crowds were unreal, I lifted my hands up in the air they roared louder, the flashes were coming from everywhere and then I heard it, what I have been looking forward to hearing for 2 years when I began this quest, what I have dreamt about during hours and hours and miles and miles of training, what I have seen in the Ironman videos, that electrifying announcement, “FROM WASHINGTON DC, JERRY RICCIARDI, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!”

There was ED, right there and I gave him a big ass hug. He was so choked up as well as I and he looked at me and said I did it. It was GREAT! He put a medal around my neck and gave me another huge hug. God I hope I remember this moment forever. Please don’t ever take that moment away from me.

After Ed, a volunteer grabbed me and handed me my finishers hat and t-shirt and also some water. He asked me if I needed to go to the medical tent and I told him no way, I was good. I then said to him with a smile – “I am an Ironman” and he replied, “Yes you are!” I waited in line for the picture and then I saw Carol and gave her a huge hug and then my parents. My turn was up for my picture and I adjusted myself with the biggest smile and got my picture. I just can’t get over it, still as I type this now and I’m sure as I read this years from now. How can I top this moment?

Carol had the camcorder going and she asked me if I had any last things to say, so I told her, “Yes, I’m ready to sign up for another”

I AM AN IRONMAN!!!!!!

My time was 14:41:58

I'll be posting my race report soon, there is a lot to tell!! Keep checking back. And thank you for all your support. This was one of my greatest days!!

IT'S TIME!

It's 4:25am and time to go do an Ironman. Last night, we had dinner with the team and families/friends. There were over 90 people there. During the dinner, Coach Ed prepared a great speech, slide presentation and motivation talks. If anyone out there ever wants to do an IM, this is the team to do it with. I walked out of there almost in tears it was such an inspirational. It almost got me to the point where I'm ready to sign up for another IM. I had a pretty good night sleep considering and now I need to go get some food because I have a long day ahead of me.

Thank you for all your support - see you at the finish line!!

Remember to track me online!!

Track me online at www.ironmanlive.com/ironmanlive

My bibb number is 1009.

The race will start at 7am Pacific, 10am Eastern, and will end at 12 midnight, or 3am Eastern.

...

This morning Mark and I drove the bike course and got a reality check by the number of hills out there. Part of me is like do I even want to do this?? The hills will be no harder then what we have done in our training rides, but it seems all the emotions and doubt are all coming at me at once. It's amazing how much energy I am spending today fighting those doubts! I'm ready, I just need to get to the start!

Today, I packed by transition bags (swim to bike bag and bike to run bag) and prepared my bike for the big day. We dropped off the bags and bike at the start. It is incredible how much preparation is needed for an IM as opposed to a marathon where you just show up with shoes and a number. Here, you have transition bags, special needs bags and warm clothing bags.

We have a Team Z dinner tonight and then I will prepare my nutrition bags. Tomorrow we will be waking up around 4am to start nutrition and hydrating.

My right knee is feeling better today, however, my neck popped in my sleep last night so my kink is back, but not to bad. I'm sure all these aches and pains are all in my mind but they sure do hurt!

Well, off to some more relaxing and WAITING!! 4 am will be here before I know it!

Anticipation...

This feels like a game of waiting and keeping busy just to get to the start line. I keep reminding myself it will be here soon enough.



This morning we went down to the lake about 7am and did our brick workout. 15/15/15 - 15 minutes each for the swim/bike/run. The water was still pretty rough as the wind was blowing into the shore and man was it cold. It took me about 5 minutes to get used to the temperature so not to bad. On Sunday, I will need to remember to get in the water before the start and get the "shock" over with. I felt good throughout the workout, however during the day, my right knee started acting up. I'm a little worried because right now it hurts for barely a short workout. I even went to RiteAid tonight and bought a knee brace to put in my goodie bag on the run. I'll get the goodie bag around mile 13 so if my knee really hurts, I'll put the brace on then.



After our workout, CJ and I drove around the lake and looked at the scenery - so beautiful. We came back and I took a 2 hour nap because I felt exhausted. Tonight we went to dinner with my parents.



Right now at this moment, I feel very grateful for all the support I am getting right now. From my wife, parents and friends - your emails and phone messages are great and they will give me something to think and use to get me through on Sunday.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day as we have to rack our bikes at the transition area, pack our bags and drive the bike course. So much to do!!

Coeur d'Alene Idaho - We have arrived!

We have arrived!!!!! We got in last night around 11:00 Pacific time so I was pretty tired. We picked up our low rider station wagon at the Spokane, WA airport and used my new Garmin navigation system (b-day gift), we made our way to the hotel. WOW, I'm finally here!

Today, we did a practice swim in the lake. MAN, was that lake cold, but absolutely beautiful. I warmed up after about 10-minutes in the water. Also, the water was a little choppy with the wind blowin into shore. The course is counterclockwise and two loops in which you swim out (against the waves) turn left and then come back get out of the water briefly to run over a mat and then back in and repeat. So, if this winds keeps up it will be tough going out but nice and easy coming in. I just need to keep reminding myself that no matter what, keep my heart rate and level of exertion down! It's going to be a long day and I certainly don't want to blow it on the swim!

After the swim we went to packet pickup. I cannot remember the last time I went to pick up my packet and smile so much. I was so happy showing my ID, signing my life away with waivers, weighing in (even though I was 10lbs heavier), having a volunteer go through my packet with me and leaving the tent. I was all smiles. I am so excited, so happy at this moment. It is such a good feeling to have. I have worked so hard for so long to get here.

After packet pickup we went through the expo which was okay and then headed over to get a bite to eat at the Coeur d'Alene brewery. After drinking about 5 beers and eating 2 cheeseburgers and fries, we went grocery shopping and stocked up on Gatorade, pop tarts, pretzels and water. Now I'm just chillin in the hotel room trying to remain calm and force myself to take it easy because I really excited!!

p.s. - i really had a chicken wrap for lunch and a coke ; -), what do you think I'm crazy, I've got an ironman to do!

Birthday & PACK!

Today's my 39th birthday!! woohoo. This morning I went to swim and we had a nice easy workout. We swam about 30 minutes and just hung out. It was a nice change from the last 5 months of swim practices pushing it hard every workout. Just to relax, joke around with my teammates I've trained with for so long and enjoy the moment. So close.

As I rushed throughout day going to a zillion meeting and making sure everything is covered before I leave, I got home around 5:30 and met my mom, brother, dad and of course my wife to enjoy a nice birthday dinner. It was nice to have everyone over and it was unexpected. I felt weird about it because I missed mother's and father's day because of all the training and that they took the time to come over for my birthday. In some ways, I felt a little guilty because I couldn't be there for thier days, but it was nice to see them on my b-day.

After everyone left, I was up late packing my bags as we leave for Idaho tomorrow after work!!

NERVES!

NERVES! I am just a bundle of nerves. It finally hit me this morning as I was going to work on what I am about to do this weekend. I can't believe, 6 more days to go. In fact, at the time I am writing this blog, I should be on the run after starting at 7:00am. Unreal - IT IS JUST MIND BOGGLING.

I'll give a recap for last week soon enough. But in the meantime, I skipped the 30 minute run tonight because I have way to much to do. I plan on swimming tomorrow but I'm sure it will be pretty short.

Recap for last week:
Swim: xx miles
Bike: xx miles
Run: xx miles
Total: xx miles, xx hours.

I NEED TO RELAX! Otherwise it is going to be a very long week

Thoughts...

So, what have my thoughts and feelings been and how have I been feeling these last few days as I approach the start?



Well, physically, I'm still fatigued but not as much as before. I have noticed that my energy will come back, then I'll do a hard workout and I'll have no energy for a couple of days. This has been the pattern for the last 2-weeks. My left neck still aches after the swim and my right knee still acts up after a long run. I noticed this week that my quads and hamstrings have been a little sore from the sprints on the bike and run we have been doing, but nothing unusual. I seem to be sleeping better at night and not tossing and turning like I usually do and it seems like it is a deeper sleep. I am still very hungry all the time and it's hard not to eat too much food. The concern here is not to eat to much because the workout volume has decreased and I don't want to be putting on extra weight before IM. In fact, I'm trying to drop a few more pounds before the start. I have been at 169 all through training and I would like to be at 165 at the start.

Thoughts & Feelings

You know, in all honesty, I just keep thinking it's time. It's time to start this race. I am as ready as I am going to be. I feel like the race is calling me. This may sound weird but after all the training that I have done, you just feel it, it's time. You feel that start, on the beach with 2000 other people is just yelling your name to get there and begin. PATIENCE, is all I can think of. I just try to remind myself to be patient as it will happen soon enough. This race will be here before I know and will be over just as quick.

I struggle at times on how I'll just be able to stop after IM, to not workout so hard as my body just craves the workouts. I know time after time I complained about being tired and worn out, but deep inside of me, it calls to keep pushing, keep going, don't stop, this is what I love to do.....You get these feelings and sensations during the long workouts. You feel alive, even though at that moment you may be so tired. It allows me to release all my thoughts and not think about anything. It will be painful and sad not to sign up for IM next year and watch others train for it. Well, this is my time and I'll be soaking it up as much as I can as next year and years to come will be for others as my time will come again soon enough. What will I do after IM? I won't know how to be or what to do to fill that craving, that void inside of me that allows me to be me that I have kept filled all these years in endurance sports??????? IM is not about one race, it is about the journey that has taken me here and will continue for years to come.

Busy week - packing and stuff

Well another week has flown by as we approach the BIG day. I last left off on Monday so let's get you updated for the week.

Tuesday
THIS IS THE LAST 5:00AM SWIM!!!! AMEN! Now I get to sleep in on Tuesday's and get up at 4:30am instead of 4am for swim practice. This morning's swim was BORING! The coach took out all the lane lines and we swam straight for 90 minutes. I felt like I was in a washing machine as the water was really choppy and splashy. Every time I went for air I was swallowing water. It took me about 30 minutes to get used to the choppy water and to get in a sync where I didn't feel I was going to head butt into a swimmer coming at me. It was a good workout but just boring. I swam about 2.3 miles.

Tonight I SKIPPED bike - yes, I actually skipped last night's run and tonight's bike workouts! I actually spent the time packing my 25lb bag with all my gear for Coeur d'Alene (CDA).

Wednesday
Tonight was track workout. Man, it was short and sweet. We only did 4 x 800, 2x400's at Z4 pace with 2' recovery. I averaged about 3:11's on the 800's and 1:32 on the 400's. I was averaging about 3:17's 3 months ago - so a little improvement there.

When I got home I finished packing my big bag and got my bike ready for tomorrow.

Thursday
Swim was fun today. After doing the normal warmup, routine, etc... the coach pulled all the IM folks on one half of the pool and had us swim in heats. The first set was 1x50 all out, the 2x25's all out. The first 50 I think my time was around 32 seconds. The first 25 was at 13 and the last 25 was at 14. I was cruising! I wish we did more of those during swim practice. It changes it up and it gives me a chance to really open it up on the swim which is getting stronger and faster these last couple of months.

Tonight, we did a quick 30 minute ride around Haines point with some sprints. Then we headed to Contee's bike shop in Arlington and dropped off our bikes. Brian in our group rented a hug U-Haul to drive the bikes out to Idaho. I think he is taking some 50 bikes out there plus a 25lb bag. Well, I must say I had the biggest bag as I packed all my gear in there and got picked on about it at Happy Hour. Oh well, better to have the stuff go in a U-haul then to carry it on a plane. Let's just hope the Uhaul makes it safely out do Idaho, otherwise I am going to be spending A LOT of money out there buying new gear!

Friday
This email I wrote to the team says it all:

Okay folks! I have been waiting for a year to be able to do this. Last year I watched each person doing Lake Placid post their bib numbers and was so pumped for those guys. I told myself - one year to go. So now it's time, let's get this ball rolling CDA folks...
MY BIB NUMBER FOR CDA IS 1009 - wooooohoooooooooooo!
Who's next?
Jerry

and the emails from everyone else started to come. I can't wait, we are so close.

Saturday
Today's run was nice and easy. I ran 10 miles in zone 2, took about 91 minutes. However, at around 10 minutes in my vision was acting funky and I felt really weird. The same thing happened to me last week on the run as well. So I stopped, regrouped and started back up again and felt fine. I'm not sure what that is all about but no doubt, this will give my mom something to worry about.

: )

Skipped run

Tonight I decided to skip the run so I will feel fresh tomorrow for our last hard swim. I ran over 30 miles last week and feel I need to taper just a little more on the run, plus I'm pretty tired. The good thing though is physically, my body feels pretty strong, especially after another hard weekend. Tonight I need to start my what if scenarios for the IM. Such as:

• What if I get kicked in the face during the mass start on the swim, do I remain calm or do I bounce the guy that did it?
• What if I throw up on the bike or flat, or even wreck (sorry Mom, I need to think about these things)
• What if I go out to hard on the swim and lost my breath, or take mouth full of water
• What if I can't run during the marathon

Stuff like that....Then I need to begin developing my race plan as well, then I need to pack as my bike is leaving on Friday to be trucked to Idaho. Man, I've got a lot to do!!!

Another weekend of training has come and past!

Massage - finally got my massage on Friday. Man, it felt great. He was able to loosen up the several knots in the left side of my neck and found some knots in my muscles above my right knee. Also, he loosened up my hamstrings, quads and IT band. I need to go back before IM, no doubt.

Saturday's run....hmm, was interesting. We set out to do 14 miles and I got 2.5 miles in and had to stop, walk and regroup. I'm really not sure what happened, maybe I wasn't expecting so much humidity from the forecast the night before or maybe it was the leftover affects from the massage. However, I was able to regroup my thoughts, start back up again and felt pretty good for the rest of the run. I think it took us around 2:05 or so and we ran from Roosevelt Island to Old Town and back.

Sunday - Aquavelo or what I would call Aquavelvet. The Aquavelo is the swim/bike portion of the Eagleman race held in Cambridge, MD. more later.....


Totals for week:

Swim: 4.8 M
Bike: 69 M
Run: 31 M
Totals: 11:15 hours, 105 Miles

TWO WEEKS TO GO!!!!

So, how do you practice for a mass swim start with 2000 others at IM????

http://weshobsonperformance.com/images/video.mpeg


Credits - I got this from one of my teammates Jen M. You can check out her blog at: http://triathlonjen.blogspot.com/

Energy is UP and Down

Well, it's Thursday and I'm getting ready to go bike at Haines point as I continue my "taper week". Let's get you up to speed so far this week.

Tuesday
The swim went pretty good. I feel really comfortable in my new lane and feel I can hold my own. I was keeping with the lead swimmers today and felt pretty good. My neck is still a little tight and I hope to get that worked out this Friday when I get a well needed massage. I skipped the bike tonight because I am feeling pretty worn down. My right knee and hamstring are pretty tight and sore and the massage should help this.

Wednesday
Well as much as I bitched about the 10 x 1200's, I skipped this workout and ran for about 65 minutes with some hills (~ 7.5 miles). Today was interesting because I started to get a little more energy back as I lost some these last few days. During my run I was analyzing my energy levels and although they are still VERY low, I am getting little spurts back and then losing them. I am assuming that as we get closer to IM, the spurts will become more extended and my energy level will be very high at IM - let's hope that is the global plan by the coaches.

Thursday
Today we swam about 2300 yards and had some good 500's at Zone 4 pace. I actually led the lane in the high Zone 4 for 500 and rocked it. I felt solid and kept a pretty good pace going. I did some minor tweaks to my stroke and that maybe making the difference. Although I will not be at Z4 pace on the swim, I'm hoping this will help me with my Z2 pace. We will see how it goes as I am doing Aquaman this weekend which will be a 1.2 mile swim. That will give me a good indication as to what my time could be at CDA for the swim.



By the way, I realized the other day as I was whining to everyone about my aches and pains and knowing that everyone else is going through the same, that I needed to separate how I was feeling physically to not influence my mental preparation. So, it was at that time that I decided mentally I am very strong and that the physical body will catch up the next two weeks. NOW is the time to build my mental preparations as we are only 2-weeks away. Don't get me wrong, every workout has been a mental preparation and now is the time to finalize that preparation into a plan to execute during IM. We are 17 days away!

Taper?? WTF!! When does Taper REALLY begin??

So, last night I told you about how we were waiting for the June schedule to see what the workouts will be. Well, I got to work this morning and they were finally posted and low and behold I see PEAK PEAK for weeks of June 4 and June 11. Then, I looked at some of the workouts! This week, 10 x 1200's at Zone 4 pace - WTF!!?!?!?!!?!?!! I thought we were in taper, not "let's really kill ya". Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the schedule but damn it, when I finish a 20 mile run at the end of an EPIC weekend, don't slap me high five and say 'WELCOME TO TAPER" and then two days later slam me with not so taper workouts.

p.s. I completely support and appreciate everything Team Z has done and have the most respect for the coaches - I'm just getting a little edgy so sorry if I have offended anyone. : )

Tonight, I did a 55 minute run in Zone 2 + 2 x 4 minute Zone 4 afterwards. I also included some hills as well. I went about 7.5 miles.

Finally! I feel awake!!

Man, I feel like I have been in a fog ever since last Sunday and FINALLY, the fog has lifted today. I finally feel awake and actually have energy. I was getting worried that it would not come back. So, it took me a week to recover from last weekend. That will give me a good idea what it will take to get my energy back after IM.

So, let's recap the last two days.

Saturday:
Today we swam at Pohick Bay in VA with Team Z. Ed did a great job organizing this event in which he had buoys and spotters set up in the water for what we thought was a 1/2 mile loop. My motivation for this swim was zilch and it continued when I started up until I finished. I ended up swimming for 1:30 and I estimated it to be about 2.8 miles. My stroke felt smooth and even my sighting was good so I felt that I was keeping a pretty straight line - that is a huge improvement from previous open water swims. After the swim, we ran for 5-miles which felt pretty good.

When we were all done, it was only 11:30am!! WOW, can you believe that? Ed had the grill set up so I stuffed myself with a cheeseburger and potato chips and the time I was done, it was 12:00. I got home around 1:00pm and pretty much laid around all day, slept on the couch and was just plain lazy. My neck was still hurting me and I still felt pretty beat.

Sunday:
After a good night sleep last night, I woke up this morning and was HEALED! My neck did not hurt at all, AMEN, and I had my missing energy back. Today we rode in Rock Creek for only 30 miles. What a treat! To be in my back yard and not have to drive to a workout is always awesome. It rained today so I felt pretty grimy with the road spray but I felt good during the ride. The greatest thing about this ride was it was FLAT and I was home at 11:00am! WOW! To be home at 11:00am on a Sunday it just unheard of. So, I came home, cleaned my bike, which was nasty, and painted the bathroom. OH, one note today was a group of us got pulled over by the Five-O while riding in the park because we ran a red light and were not riding in single file. WHATEVER - there we no cars around and we were being cautious. Anyways!

I'm not sure what the workouts are this week as the coaches have decided to wait until the last minute to post them. I asked them today when the workouts were going to be posted in a joking way and they came back with, "you know what your workout is today, don't you?" I did not appreciate that since all I am trying to do is plan my week. A lot of us have a life outside of training, and they usually post the workouts way in advance. Not sure what the deal is this month. Oh well - no worries....

This week's total for my recovery week are as follows (to be posted):

Swim: 4.2M
Bike: 42M
Run: 9M
Total: 55 miles, 6:25 hours

No energy....

Man, I am beat. My neck is killing me, my body aches and I feel totally fatigued. Tomorrow we are schedule to swim 2.5 miles then run 5. I wish I could just skip the swim and do half the run. I thought I was suppose to get some energy back being on a recovery week. Not so right now, that's for sure.....

Let's get caught up....

Tuesday morning I woke up at 4:00am to go for the swim. WHELP, as soon as I woke up, I reset the alarm clock and went right to bed - It just wasn't happening. That night, I was suppose to bike for 30 minutes. WHELP, I got home from work, looked at my bike and said, NOT HAPPENING tonight!

Wednesday night rolls around and I'm suppose to go for a short run. Well, it was time to stop using this past weekend as an excuse not to work out because it was now 2 days since I went 140 miles for the weekend so I strapped on my NEW running shoes and went for an easy 30 minute run. Man, my legs felt like lead as I trudged through this run with no heart rate monitor or watch. That was the only nice part about the run. My right knee seemed to feel a little sore so I took it really easy.

This morning I dragged my ass out of bed and made it to swim practice. Now I had every intention of moving up a lane because it was time. Well, wouldn't you know before I had a chance to move up, some of my swimming buddies said, what are you doing, you no longer belong in this lane. Man, that was just plain wrong. I guess it was their way of saying, hey, we can't keep up with your cute ass so you need to move on up. Well, and move on up I did! Basically today was called "let's draft off of people in your lane day" as I was just too tired to push hard. Although during one Z4 100yard set, I was nominated to go first. So I did and kept the lane going. We swam about 2500 yards today and as Ed said, "you got some speed work to do today"....

Tonight, I came home from work and fell asleep on the couch. Knowing I had to go bike for 45 minutes easy, I woke myself up, MADE myself put on bike clothes and kicked my ass out the door to go for a nice easy ride. So I rode Rock Creek and wouldn't you know it as I was heading back some guy started tailing me on the bike. Do you think he could have said something to me? I hate when other bikers draft off of you and don't tell you they are behind you in case something were to happen. So this yahoo was on my rear wheel for a few miles when I started to pick it up. Well he started to pick it up as well. Now, let me digress here for a minute, I did not want to workout tonight as you can tell, my legs were extremely tired and I just had no motivation. However, when some yahoo is tailing you, you just have to turn it up a notch. GUT CHECK TIME! So I just cranked it and knew I had this guy. You can just tell and you know it when you got someone. He just could not keep up as I left the guy in the dust. It was a happy moment for me because it is so very rare that I dust someone on the bike. So, I went a little harder on bike today then I was suppose to. Well, whatever - it was worth it.

On another note, I am sitting here on the couch icing my neck again - what is the deal with the neck?????????? nite-

Knees!!!!!

It's the day after our EPIC weekend and after a great night sleep, compliments of Tylenol PM (that stuff works great), I am moving rather slowly. Last night my knees were killing me as I went up and down the stairs. It reminded me of my first marathon days where we would complete a long run and my knees would scream in pain as I took to the stairs. Overall, I am just tired, my knees feel a little better, but nothing else really hurts. We are suppose to run 30 minutes easy today - NOT HAPPENING!

EPIC Weekend - DONE!

Sunday Sunday, what a fun day this was I must say......Man was it tough, you talk about taking everything out of me just to finish the day knowing that this was the PEAK of my training and now I get to taper. So, let me tell you how it went...

Today started out with a 2-mile swim event in Reston, VA. This was a well organized event and I hope to do this next year. Our wave started at 9am which was nice because I got to sleep in a little bit but the downside to it was we were going to start our 20 mile run in the heat. My plan for the event was to swim the 1st mile in Zone 2 and then the 2nd mile in Zone 3. There were several waves that were separated by 30 seconds and it turns out I was in the last wave. I must have put a ridiculously slow estimated finish time to end up in the back. So when I started, I was actually the last person to start, which turned out to be a good thing. As I got into my groove, I started passing a lot of people. It felt great to be doing the passing for once as opposed to being on the bike when the world passes me. It was awesome. The first lap was a nice, steady zone 2, my sighting was good and I seem to keep a straight line, well straighter then usual. I completed the first mile in 31:08.

The second mile I continued to stay in Zone 2 and still feeling pretty good, I picked it up to Zone 3 the remaining 1/2 mile to go and finished the second mile at 30:16. In total, I came in 12 out of 19 in my age group and 93 out of 198 overall.

After the race, I stuffed myself with about 12 Oreo cookies, drank some Gatorade and headed over to the run start which was about 2 miles down the road. I spent about an hour between the swim finish and the start of the run.

A group of us started the run around 11ish and it was hot. The sun was out, it was humid and it had to be close to 90 if not already 90 degrees. I started the run going very slow and was only averaging around 11 minute miles. I was being way conservative because I knew it was going to be brutal. I had a hat on and sunglasses which seemed to help when the sun was out. I seem to run without stopping till about mile 7 where I began to practice my run/walk technique. It was just too damn hot to keep running without intermittent walk breaks so i would run a mile, then walk for about a minute, run to the next mile marker, walk, etc.... I carried this on and at mile 11, I was back at my car and refueled. I threw a bag of ice over my neck just to try and cool off, took another electrolyte, refilled my water bottles and off I went for the remaining 9 miles. Again, it was the same run/walk technique except when I got to about 4.5 miles to go, I was taking walk breaks every 1/2 mile. I actually ran out of fluid around mile 17 and bummed water off this guy who was nice of enough to share. That was all I needed to get back home except for the quick water stop at mile 19. From mile 19 through 20, it was all mental to push myself to finish, thinking how long I have trained and that my EPIC weekend was about to come to an end. I could not believe I did it. When I finished I had the biggest smile on my face being so happy that I pushed myself to go 140+ miles in two days, by far the hardest workouts I have ever done in my life. Now I need to do that in one day in about 4 weeks!!

The one remarkable thing about this run is that during the entire run, in the blazing heat, my legs did not cramp up! This is an amazing break through because always in extreme heat, the legs would cramp up. Just remember that I took an electrolyte before the run and at Mile 10 and I also poured Endurance Liquid in my Gatorade as well. I'm not quite sure if this helped, but I know I will be using it again in a few weeks!

After the run, Coach Ed had the Team Z tent and bbg grill set up and I stuffed my face with two cheeseburgers and two hot dogs. I just ate and sat in the same spot for about an hour, numb to what I accomplished.

By the way, the 20 mile run took me 3:50 minutes! That is the longest 20 miles has ever taken me to complete, but given the fact that I just came off of a 3 week build cycle, biked 118 miles yesterday, swam 2 miles this morning and it was 90+ degrees w/humidity....I'll take it!

I have PEAKED now it is time to TAPER!

Unbelievable totals for the week:

Swim: 5.7M

Bike: 134M

Run: 33.4M

Total: 18:45 hours, 171 miles!

It's time to be an Ironman....

THE PLAINS.....

118 miles! 8:15 minutes! 7100 feet of climb! 90 degrees! 4 electrolyte pills! 1-gallon of sustained/gatorade mix! 8 gu shots! 1/2 gallon of gatorade! 1 gallon of water! and I still lost 4 pounds of fluids on the ride today. EPIC?? No, not yet as we still have to get through tomorrow but pretty damn close. This ride was tough, gut tough. I am beat right now and wonder how I'm going to get through the workouts tomorrow. Thank goodness my wife is gone until tomorrow because I am going to collapse tonight. For the last 30 miles of the ride I was craving Velvetta Mac & Cheese and Corona. So after the ride I drove around and found a grocery store and pick things up, came home at and drank one beer and I was tipsy! Well, let me tell you about today's ride:



I took this picture around 6:30am before the ride began. Look at that sun come up. You just knew it was going to be a hot one when you seen that orange ring just burning around the sun.

Today we started in The Plains, VA and rode all through the country side. I have no idea where we were during the ride but it was hilly and slow. The first loop was about 60 miles and I rode with Mark most of the time. When we made it back to the cars at mile 60, we refueled and headed back out again. The second loop was 58 miles and after 20 miles of the 2nd loop, we were way off course because we took a wrong turn. Well, it turns out several people took wrong turns because the cue sheet wasn't too clear. Well, as Mark and I regained our composure after realizing we screwed up, we headed back to the cars and got there around Mile 93. We refueled and headed back out again for the last leg that just seemed to take forever. I was so tired this last bit and could not wait until we got done. There were hills throughout this ride and they did not stop till the very end. Between the hills and the heat, this was the hardest workout I have ever done in my entire life.

Some thoughts I would like to recall in the future...

• Although I was in Zone 2 during the 1st half and had a great time, I still suffered on the second half because of it. I need to remember during IM to take the 1st half in either high Z1 or low Z2. My goal is to run the marathon and if I am wiped on the 2nd half of the bike, I won't have a chance to do the run in its entirety.
• Either don't use the water bottle in the arrow bars or put a damn bag w/rubberband over the lid. I can't take any more splashing of gatorade all over me and the bike!
• I saw naked girls on the ride.....really, I did!
• Got lost and was cursing the ride coordinator.
• The hills and heat were relentless- but this was great training weather and am glad I did it.
• I got to listen to White Snake over and over again before and after the ride played by two of my tri buddies....
• Saw Coach Ed and Matt at mile 110 and as I fueled up he looked at me and all I said was, dammit, it's time to be an Ironman - well in retrospect, not yet, I need to get through tomorrow and then June 24th. It will happen, just need to be patient.
• Best thing of all....my ASS did not hurt!! Woooohooooo. It's amazing after I got my ASS fitted for my seat by getting the cheek bones measured, my ASS is a new ASS and lovin life when biking. No more pinch nerve, no more uncomfortable feeling. Don't get me wrong, when you ride for 118 miles, the tush will hurt, but not like it did before!!! : )
• Compact cranks ROCK! To train all season with standard cranks and then for this ride to use compact cranks...Man what a treat!!!!!!!! I could definitely tell a difference going up hills with a higher cadence and keeping my heart rate down.

Now, we need to prep for tomorrow......

EPIC Weekend has arrived

For a year now I have been hearing about it. I listened to the folks training for Lake Placid last year and what they had to go through. I knew it would be in the schedule and honed on it right away when the schedule was sent out by the Coach in January. The weekend that will test you and push you BEYOND your limits and then ask for more. EPIC - that is what our coach refers to this weekend. While most people are at the beach or taking it easy, we will be training and reaching our peak before we taper.

EPIC - it begins tomorrow when we start riding at 7 am and go 120 miles. The temperature is suppose to be in the 60's when we start and climb into the 90's throughout the day. Then on Sunday, we are swimming a 2-mile race at a lake in Reston, taking a short break and then at the heat of the day, run 20 miles! EPIC - and so it begins.....

It took me over an hour to prepare for tomorrow's ride. I have a cooler full of the following:

2-poptarts (breakfast)
1-powerbar (breakfast)
10-gu shots
2-gallons of water mixed with gatorade and sustained
1-gallon of water
1-gallon of gatorade
2-12oz cokes
1-bag of pretzels
1-16 oz bottle of Nesquick (recovery)

It will be interesting to see how much I use up. This looks like a chemistry project...

Thursday swim....

Today's swim was all about speed and muscular endurance. We did a lot of short intervals in which we were swimming 50's, 100's and 200's at zone 4 pace. For the 50's I was averaging around 46 seconds, the 100's around 1:38 and the 200's around 3:09. I felt really good and definitely led my lane today. In fact, I lead the lane on Tuesday as well and it's time to make a switch and move up. Before the wedding, I was one lane over for a couple of weeks but after the honeymoon I dropped back a lane because I slowed down some. Well, I think I'm finally back and ready to move up. It's taken over a month to get back where I was before but the training is paying off.

I missed the bike tonight because the bike store did not have my bike ready to pick up. So I had to wait for them to put on my new compact cranks (yes, more $$ spent). Yes, instead of getting a granny gear, I got compact cranks to see if this will help me with the hills. And after reading the write-up for this weekend's ride, there are going to be A LOT of hills.

Gut Check!

So, tonight at track we had to do 8 x 1200's at Zone 4 pace with a 2 minute recovery in between sets. This is the hardest track workout we have had, aside the 5 x 1600's in January training for Miami. I did the track tonight with Chris Wren who is 59 years old and is an awesome athlete. For the first 4 intervals, Chris was tailing just behind me as I could hear where he was by his breathing. For intervals 5 and 6 he ran just in front of me and when we got to 7 I felt pretty good and ran a little ahead of him. GUT CHECK - this is what he tells me before we start the 8th and final one. Well, little did I know that GUT CHECK meant BRING IT ON and that he was going to kick my ass on this one. Damn if he didn't finish about 10 seconds in front of me. The guys is amazing. Here I am trying to stay in my zone and not go anaerobic and he just turns it on. Good for him! Remember Chris - there is always a next time! : 0

My splits for the night were: 5:06, 5:06, 5:05, 5:10, 5:21, 5:12, 5:15 and 5:25 (average is about a 6:57 minute mile) - man, if I could only hold that pace during a 5K or 10K I would crush my current PR's!!

Getting through the week

So, what keeps me going? I really don't know but I know one thing for sure is that I am digging deep to get started and through these workouts. As this weekend approaches, I am trying hard to hit every workout. Last night, being sore and tired from Columbia, I ran for 66 minutes (7.4miles) on a hilly course. I shaved 2 minutes off my time from 3 weeks ago on the same route while staying in Z2.

This morning, tough tough tough getting my ass out of bed. We had a hard workout doing zone 2 and zone 4 workouts and I crushed, I mean crushed the last 5x100's at Z4 averaging 1:35's. In total, we swam for 1.5 hours and went about 4ooo yards. Tonight, it took me about 2 hours to get motivated to bike. My quads are really sore and I had to push my way through this as I rode for 60 minutes on Rock Creek.

Tonight, I watch the Team Z IM video again from Lake Placid last year. That really gets me jacked up to push myself harder through these workouts and I need that momentum right now to get me through tomorrow 's track workout. It's going to be tough, just need to take one split at a time.

Oh, here's a picture of me approaching the finish at Columbia on Sunday (just a mere 2 days ago). Feelin good!

Columbia Tri

Finally!! It is such a good feeling to have a great race. To go into a race, not worry about what my time is going to be, feel good the entire time and do well. The Columbia tri is an Olympic, and the distances are 1M Swim, 26M Bike, 6.2M run.

Overall, it was AWESOME. I swam my fastest mile yet in just under 56 minutes, which is about 10 minutes faster then last year. My first transition time sucked as I could not get myself geared up quick enough (4 -minutes). I think I was still too excited from the swim. On the bike, I was expected to average around 14 mph, but for some crazy reason, I averaged 16.2 mph for a total of 1:34. With all those hills, that is the fastest time I have had on the bike yet to date and still stay in zone 2. Well, for some of the hills I crept up into Z3 and Z4. On the bike I felt like my whole age group passed me except this time, unlike Lake Anna, I did not let it get to me because I had a plan and was going to stick with it. I flew through the transition and took of on the run. This course is super hilly and I took the hills slow and flew on the downhills. I smacked T2 and was in and out of there in only 80 seconds. As my plan continued from the bike, this time I started counting how many people in my age group I passed on the run. I didn't count everyone because I would have lost count. I averaged between 8:15 and 8:45's for the first 4 miles and then I picked it up some and average around 7:30's for the last 2. I was on fire and felt really strong. My time on the run was 51:39 (average 8:19/mile). My final time was 2:57:13 and was 125 out of 186 in my age group.

Well my placing may not reflect I did compared to others, but man, I finally ran a smart race. I stayed in zone 2 for most of the race and know I could have pushed it harder on the bike and the run but I wanted to stay conservative. To do that well during the middle of a build cycle and at the hardest part of our training is a good feeling.

Oh, and by the way, I passed at least 20 people on the run during my little counting game.

So, we have one more week, and then taper. One more HARD week. I feel pretty tired now but at least we got home early so I can rest the remainder of the day. one more week. I'm actually going to miss this but all good things must come to an end.....so they can begin again another time.

Totals for the week:

Swim: 2.8m
Bike: 99 m
Run: 12.2m
Total: 10-hours, 114 Miles

**note, the workouts have been getting less in volume but higher in intensity.

Riley's Lock - Ride Today

So, I had this crazy thought today's ride was going to be easy. Hell, even the Route organizer wrote an email saying, "Honestly, this is an extremely friendly ride location for new riders. There’s some rolling hills but not so much as other places in our area." I SHOULD KNOW BETTER. I guess between this email and Columbia being tomorrow, I was a little naive.

Today, we rode 56 miles and started out at Riley's Ridge which is in Montgomery County right near the Potomac. The ride wasn't too bad, just more hilly then expected, but I am just worn out. I wrote in my training diary, "I feel like my body has been through a meat grinder." I think that sums it up pretty good. I've got one more hard week to go and then taper. I cannot wait. The good thing is that I am not alone and pretty much everyone I talked to training for CDA feels the same way. It's expected, it's just the way it is and this feeling of exhaustion, fatigue and motivation will get better. But for now, just grind it out.

Ride today, 56 miles, 4:02, 14.3 mph. (I can't wait till I get faster on the bike!)

This afternoon we picked up our packet for Columbia and checked in our bike. I just need a good solid race.

Just Plain Exhausted.....

I know I'm suppose to be tired but man I am just plain exhausted. We did a track workout last night, 7 x 1200's at Z4 pace with 2' recovery in between each set. I was doing the splits between 5:00 and 5:19, and averaged around 5:10 - that equates to about a 6:50ish mile. It was so hard to keep going and I could barely keep myself in Z4 as I was at the low end most of the time. If I could have just kept it up at threshold it would have been less then 6:50's.

This morning I made it to swim practice, early, with wetsuit in hand, got to the pool and everyone was standing in the parking lot. SWIM CANCELLED. The pool was emptied yesterday and was not filled up completely so we couldn't swim. That sucked because it could have been an extra hour sleep which I NEED right now! All day I was extremely tired, my right leg/knee was hurting and I could barely walk without a slight limp. I bagged the bike tonight and the HH because I am just worn out.

Time to get some sleep and rest up for the weekend. We got a long bike on Saturday and Columbia tri on Sunday. I've got another week to go before taper

So far this week...

As a treat to myself because I had a great workout this weekend, I skipped Monday's run. I barely made it to the Tuesday swim as I only got 5 hours sleep and tossed and turned all night. I swam for about 75 minutes and went 3300 yards. My timing and breathing were WAY off and I could not get in a groove.

Tuesday night I switched out my bike seat and biked Rock Creek for a hour or so. Man, what a difference with the new seat. Who ever knew you could get fitted for a bike seat. Fascinating.

Skyline + run

WOW!!! What an incredible ride with awesome views. It was absolutely beautiful today to bike skyline. We went 66 miles, starting at Front Royal, into the park and turned around at Panaroma. And you talk about hills..there were some serious hills. The first 5 miles up to Dickey's point I averaged only 7 mph!!!! There were some long SLOW climbs but I managed to stay in Z2 for most of them. (except one hill where I had to pass Roy - sorry Roy couldn't resist!) . Then the downhills, man holding on for dear life as I got up to 38 mph. I could have gone faster but I was a WUSS and braked a little. I hope to avoid the whole braking thing in CDA. In total, it took me 5:21 for the ride.

After the ride, we did a brick and I went for a 35 minute run. My legs were shot during the run but I managed to feel pretty good about 20 minutes in to the run. Good to know what to expect during IM.

Well, this was another great week! Two more weeks until we Peak. Here are the totals for the week:

Swim: 2.5M
Bike: 77M
Run: 25M
Total: 105M, 11:42

Saturday Run

Today's run went pretty well. A few of us broke away from the group and didn't run in Reston and instead we ran the Mt Vernon trail from Roosevelt Island to Old Town Alexandria and back. There were about 8-9 of us and we ran for a total of 18 miles. The weather wasn't so bad when we started but it got pretty hot at the end which is good training for CDA. Last year at CDA the temp was 90 degrees. I figure during IM, I'll start running around 4 or 5pm so hopefully it will be a little cooler at that time.

On average I ran 9:55's which ranged between 9's and 10:15's in Zone 2. I think I overstated by Z2 pace after my heart rate testing as being around an 8:30 minute mile. I guess my body cannot sustain that 8:30-9 minute pace before the heartrate creeps up on me. My main goal today was to stay in Z2 and don't walk. It was pretty tough at the end to not take a few second walk break but I managed. All is well.

Jazzed up!

I'm not sure if it is the caffeine or what but I just walked outside for a little break in my work day and as soon as I opened the door, I felt that warm, humid air and it reminded me of my first Oly 2 years ago, Diamond in the Rough. All these awesome memories came rushing back. I wish I could blow off my day and go run and bike for a few hours as I am pretty jazzed up right now!

Am I only the only person this happens too?

Spending money like crazy...

I went to the bike shop tonight and just dropped another 300 bucks. I am afraid to figure out how much money I have spent in the last year getting ready for IM. Tonight I bought some compact cranks, new bike seat (my ass will thank me), bike shorts, more hammer gel and some other crap. They also adjusted my chain because it was rubbing the derailer.

I rode Hains Point tonight for about 45 minutes. Ahh, the luxury of recover week. However, I had to ride in a higher gear the whole time because the damn bike shop made my chain worse. Great, i need to go back there again on Saturday to get it fixed before I do skyline. As of now, I cannot ride in my lowest gear. That would not be good for Skyline. I'll probably drop more $$ when I go back again. It never ends.......

updated some posts

Just updated my Lake Anna race nightmare and some summaries in April if interested. Again, this is catch up week!

I thought this was a recovery week....

I skipped last night's run as I had to go to the chiropractor to get my neck adjusted. MAN, what a relief. That neck of mine never got better from last week and hurt like hell each morning for several hours until it loosened up. Finally got some relief there.

This morning, thinking we were going to have a leisurely swim turned out to be a 90' straight swim, freestyle. We warmed up for about 10' then got into so it was actually only 80' straight - still a long time but in the end, a good workout. I figure I covered between 2.2 and 2.7 miles in that time frame - not bad.

I feel like this week is catch up week because I need to catch up on everything I have blown off these last two weeks. Last night was doctor, tonight was bills, haircut and blog update, tomorrow will be run and then try and get a laptop and on it goes and spend sometime with my wife who is getting anxious! This should be labeled Catch up week! But, we got a brutal workout ahead this weekend.

Stats for the week

Swim: 2.3 miles
Bike: 141 miles
Run: 17 miles
Total: 158 miles!! 14:15 hours!!

This was an awesome week. Now, time for recovery week! woooohooooooo

Wow!

It's incredible how you push yourself through each workout, day after day, week after week, month after month, some workouts easy, some hard, but mostly fun and feel pretty good after you are done. But then you have that one workout, that one SWEET workout where everything comes together and you get that HIGH, that high that drives you back for more just so you can have that sweet workout one more time. Man, that was today! What an incredible ride. 112 miles!!! It was phenomenal. Don't get me wrong, it was hilly, it was damn windy but everything worked out just right, the right pace, the right nutrition and the right company. This is what it is all about. Taking your body to a place it has never been before and relishing that moment, holding onto it as long as you can because you know the moment will come and go but the desire to get back there will keep you pushing until you get there again and again and again.

We rode from a place called Boyce, VA. Never knew the place existed but the scenery was absolutely beautiful and not much car traffic. Mark and I spent the night at a hotel since it was about 2 hours from my house to get there. We were well rested as part of the team camped. No way was I going to camp before a 112 mile ride. I wanted a bed and get a good night sleep. It was the right decision. We started around 9:15am and the weather was windy and in the 40's. The day warmed up to the 50's by the end of the day. The first 55 miles of the ride were pretty steady and I kept a nice easy pace staying in Z2 averaging ~ 14.5 mph. I did not want to repeat Lake Anna again! After refueling, the next 15 miles were absolutely brutal as I only average about 11mph pedaling into the wind. IT SUCKED! This was the point where every 5 miles was a milestone. However, after mile 70, either the wind eased up or was behind our backs as we picked up the pace and average the last part around 15.3 mph. I knew when I hit 80 that it was in the bag. I just need to have that same feeling at IM. In all, it took us 7:50 minutes and I averages ~ 14.4 mph. I was the last to come in, but no worries, I was happy with that time and l hope to average the same in CDA.

By the way, the group I train with, Team Z, did a phenomenal job in sagging, cheering us on and waiting for us with BBQ at the end! And getting some cookies from my secret pal certainly was a treat as well. It was a great day. I just need to remember, keep the HR down!

Saturday blues....

My neck is killing me. I woke up yesterday and today in which I could barely move my head without cringing in pain. I can't wait until Monday to see my doctor. Between yesterday and today I have been struggling just to stay awake. I feel like I am in a fog right now. I slept in today to about 10am and felt so lazy. I went for a run and ran with Carol for the first time in about a year. That was probably the highlight of my day as I've got the Saturday blues.

I spent about and hour just now preparing for tomorrow's bike ride. Tomorrow's distance-110 miles! Holy Moly - that is a long way. My longest ride to date is 83 miles and that was about 5 weeks ago. For tomorrow, I prepared 4 water bottles and a pitcher of sustained / gatorade mix, 10 shots of gu and 2 bags of pretzels. Man, it's a lot of work just to get ready for this. I can only imagine what is going to be like to prepare the day before for IM!

Off I go and remember, GO EASY!

CDA IM Get together...

Tonight there was just over 20 of us that met at Tracey's apartment for a get together. They served pasta and lasagna, no surprise at all. It was a great opportunity to get to know the others we are training with as we all talked about why we are doing IM. Some are doing it for the 2nd time which is incredible, and the others including myself the 1st time. There were some amazing stories in which people told us they are training for IM because:

• a few stories about people were always athletic and had a serious injury, such as breaking their back, ankles, whatever, and they never knew they would be able to do something like this.
• one gal got divorced from her husband who survived 9/11 and had panic attacks. Were way of coping with those things was to train for IM. This is her second one.
• Some grew up ever in sports and were never athletic and had the desire to accomplish something big
• One was always told that she can't do something like this by her dad so she said screw it and signed up
• A couple were swimmers all their life and got burned out but missed being fit so started up doing triathlons and went for it

....and on and on the stories went. These people ranged in age from their low 20's to mid 50's.

It was nice to hear that everyone is feeling pretty worn out and knowing you are not alone through this. Team Z is a great place to be when training for something like this. I know I could not do it without them. This was an amazing night.

Oh, and why am I doing IM, that answer will come soon enough.....

PAIN!!!! in the neck.....

First, let's talk about track Wed night and then to the PAIN part. Track was pretty good. It took a lot to get going and I was pretty tired throughout the workout. We did 6 x 1200's at Z4 with 2' recovery between sets. I averaged around 5:18's for the workout. Heck, my first 12oo was at 4:50 which if I was to do another lap would have been around a 6:30 mile!! However, my pace slowed down with the other 1200's as they got harder as the night went on.

When I got home that night, my neck was really sore. I first felt my neck cramping up after swim practice last night and it really bothered me when I went to bed. When I woke up this morning, late for practice it really hurt. At swim practice right when I jumped in the pool to get started I felt a twitch and knew that was it. I tried swimming for about 20 minutes and my neck was killing me. I got out 30 minutes early, showered and left in serious pain. I definitely need to goto the chiropractor!

Tonight, we biked around Hains Point. We did 5' w/u, 30' Z4, 5' Recovery, 15' Z4 and cool down. During my Z4's I averaged 19.6 and 19.4 mph, respectively. This week was very tough and I feel pretty warn out. I have a huge ride on Sunday that I need to get ready for. But before that, we had a get together with all the people training for IM. That is worth a separate post.

just another day...

Last night I tried a new hill workout for the bike in my neighborhood. The route is about a 3.5 mile loop in which I go down a steep hill with a lot of bends and turns, into Rock Creek park, then I ride in Rock Creek racing cars so I don't get run over, then back up a mega long hill out of rock creek that has one stretch of a 11% climb. So, I did the loop 3x, tried to stay in Z2 and creeped into low Z3 and finished up in about 51 minutes. Pretty good workout. We will see how it goes week after week and I can improve on that time while keeping the heartrate down.

Tonight is track, ug. Gotta get motivated......

Motivation!

Man, last nights run took everything out of me just to get outside and START! My motivation was so low because I am so worn down. However, Carol said to me as I was about to crash on the bed, "the sooner you get out there, the sooner you will be done". So, I got my ass off the bed, strapped on the shoes and went out for a run. Turns out after the first 10 minutes I was jacked up and ran the same route I did last Monday in the Zone 2 and did it 5 minutes quicker for a total time of 1:07. If I figure 9 minutes miles its about 7.4 miles. by the way, there are some mega hills on this route, one lasting about .3 miles, the other about 1 mile. Great prep for IM.

It's amazing how I think my new Z2 pace varies between 8 and 8:30 minute miles, however what I am finding is that I cannot sustain that pace and after 3 miles into the run, my heart rate shoots up to Z3 and I have to back off. Can you imagine, 8:30 pace, if I could keep that for a 26.2 miles??? That's a 3:43 marathon!!! Hmmmmmmmmm, I have no plans for the fall....Wait, I can't be distracted, I need to finish IM first!

Swim this morning was at 5am! Yes, 5am so I was up at 4:00am and out the door shortly thereafter. We swam 3600 yards today in 1.5 hours. I'm averaging about 1:43/100yards.

Now, off to a hill bike ride if I can get motivated!

Catch up time......

Well, I am having problems with my computer at home so I have been able to update my blog as frequently as I wanted to. Let me try and get up to speed by back dating a few blogs. I will fill in the gaps as I get time. Training is taking up all my time. So hear it goes.

Weekend of 4/28

Saturday we met down at Pierce Mill in Rock Creek, I actually ran down to meet the group since it was so close to home. Today I ran 11 miles and it took me about 1:45. I did not keep track of my pace but it was tough for me to get motivated for the run as I just feel worn out. It took about 6 miles into the run before I started to feel alive again.

Sunday's bike ride was AWESOME! We practiced the Columbia tri course at Centennial Lake and went 55 miles. The ride was ALL hills which is great practice for IM. In fact, rumor has it is that the total elevation climb at the ride we did was about 4000 ft over 55 miles as opposed to 2500 ft over 112 miles at IM CDA. Gotta love that. In any event, after my crap ride last Saturday at Lake Anna in which I pushed way to hard (riding in Z3/4/5), I backed off this week, stayed in zone 2 and finished around 3:55 (14mph avg) and felt FRESH after the bike. Last Saturday at Anna, it was the same distance and way less hills. I finished that ride in 3:40 (14.9 avg), felt like crap after the ride and could barely run/walk the 13.1 miles.

LESSON LEARNED: If I backed off on the ride last week, it would have taken me 15 minutes longer on the bike, but I would have saved 45 minutes on the run (net 30 minutes off my finish time). If I project that for the IM distance, that would be a finish of 1 hour less if I take it easy on the bike). Hmmmmmmmm - this should be an easy decision.

Okay - totals for the week (to come)
Swim: 3.7M
Bike: 87 M
Run: 23 M
118 miles, 12.3 hours.

Lake Anna!! Half Ironman 4-21-07

Lake Anna - what a complete screw up and lesson learned. It is quite obvious this is not the first time I have made this mistake. Here it goes. I did the 5k run in lieu of the swim because I just came off of a bad fever four days ago that knocked me out for a day and a half. Heck, I didn't even decide to do the race until yesterday afternoon when I thought I was feeling better. Hmmmm, going from a 102 fever on Wednesday to a half ironman on Saturday in hindsight is not too smart. FIRST MISTAKE . In any event, I justified my decision because I needed to put the time in since I was off from training the last week and a half.

So, I did the 5k run in about 28 minutes (9 minutes miles) keeping it in Z2 pace. The weather was really hot that day - first hot day this season we worked out in. I got on the bike and started to crank it - SECOND MISTAKE. My heart rate was way high and as I tried to slow down, I kept getting passed, I mean I was passed by A LOT of people. THIRD MISTAKE - me worrying about other people's passing me and beating myself up on how slow I was going. So I continue to crank as people still continued to pass me. I knew I would be in trouble later on but for some reason, I didn't let that deter my irrational thinking. When I hit mile 48 of 55, I was DONE. The last 8 miles were horrible and I suffered dearly. My bike time was 3:40 for 55 miles or 15 mph.

When I started to run, I lasted about 200 yards and from there, it was a run/walk festival for 13 miles. I averaged 12.1 minute miles and it was my worst half marathon time ever (2:39).

So, did I learn anything on this event, you betcha! Don't workout when I am getting over a cold and if I do, for the sake of myOWN sanity, GO EASY AND NOT WORRY ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING!


Week Summary:
Swim: 1.6M
Bike: 64 M
Run: 16 M
Total: 82 Miles, 8.9 hours

2-weeks later....

Well, before I get into my race yesterday of pure pain, I wanted to summarize the past two weeks. As you know, I got married on March 31st and left for Thailand on April 3rd for 10-days. Thailand was beautiful, but this blog is not a travel blog, so I won't go into much detail about the trip. Except, I would like to mention that the Thai people are the nicest people I have ever met in my life. It was very uplifting. Okay, now onto some summaries.

I intended to workout when I was away, well that didn't happen. Words of my coach kept echoing in my mind, "dude, it's your honeymoon, you can take the 10-days off and when you get back, it will be tough for a few weeks but you'll get back into it". As a result, I worked out one day and rode the indoor bike for an hour and swam that evening in a circular pool. Here is the summary for the week of 4/2:
Swim: 1.3M, Bike: 0m, Run 6.5M. Total=7.8M, 2 Hours

Summary for week of 4/9:
Swim:1M, Bike 13M, Run 13M. Total=27M, 3.7 Hours

I'm Married!!!

Well, yesterday I got married to the most beautiful woman I have ever met. This was the most spectacular day of my life. Everything was perfect.

This was a recovery week, so between that and the wedding, my totals for the week were a little light.

Swim: 2.5M, Bike: 14M, Run: 12.5M, Total = 6 hours

It's going to be very difficult these next two weeks to get training in as I am going to Thailand with my wife : ). My main goal is to just maintain my current level of fitness, but I think the reality is it will slip some. My coach says not to worry too much and that it will take a couple of weeks to readjust when I get back. That still leaves me plenty of time before IM!

What a week....

Well, as the week progressed I slowly gained my energy back. At swim practice yesterday I was talking to some fellow teammates and they all had complaints of being run down and tired. Instead of the coach working us hard during swim, he just had us do laps at a nice slow pace. He also pointed out a few tweaks on my stroke which I need to work on as well.

Today I took off work today since I am getting married tomorrow (yeah!) and slept in until 9:30. I can't remember the last time I slept in that late. After waking up next to my bride to be and relaxing for about an hour, I went for a run. At first I was only going to go 10 miles but I wanted to see the Cherry Blossoms along the tidal basin so I extended the run. What a gorgeous day, sunny and in the high 50's. It was so pretty at the tidal basin with all the cherry blossoms blooming. I love going down here each year and Gayle and I are going to run here again on Monday as part of our annual Cherry Blossom run. Today was a nice peaceful run as I thought about Carol and what I was going to say for my little speeches. I think I ended up going just over 12 miles at a nice 8:45-9:00 pace (my new zone 2).

Now, off to my rehearsal and onto the wedding!!