Update.........

Things have been a little slow lately as far as training goes. I have been taking this down time to catch up on a few things around the house - mainly tiling the kitchen floor. What a pain! Never again.

I did learn a valuable lesson - don't do anything you can pay someone else to do. If you can't afford it, it wasn't meant to be.

My training has resorted to running and spending some time on the bike on the trainer. Unfortunately the weather and time change has forced me on to the trainer. I don't feel comfortable riding at night and will never do it. I have made it for about an hour but most of my rides have been between 40-45 minutes. Today's ride lasted me 45 minutes and it went by really fast. I watched the 2008 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater. Those guys and gals can move! It's fun to dream.

Sara and I received some bad news today regarding her stepfather Bill. After a period of time of not feeling well, he is now in the hospital. Apparently he has had a few episodes but this one was much worse. Jeanne was there but could not do anything so she called 911. He has been passing blood and is very weak with very low pulse. The doctors cannot do any tests until he gains some strength back. We are keeping him our prayers and ask that everyone else does the same.

Motivational Quotes

When my motivation is lacking, I need a little nudge. My motivational quotes page from different sources (mostly BT):

• The only easy day was yesterday.

• We are judged by what we finish, not by what we start

• Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. - TS Eliott

• Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!!

• Ironman is journey, first and foremost, inside myself. I wanted to find out what was deep inside me at mile 20 when 134 miles had stripped away all shields of adrenaline, caffeine, and glycogen and I was just left with my inner core, my spirit."- Dgillen- 2008 IMLP RR

• “Live. More than your neighbors. Unleash yourself upon the world and go places. Go now. Giggle. No. Laugh. And bark at the moon like the wild dog that you are. Understand that this is not a dress rehearsal. This is it. Your life. Face your fears and live your dreams and take it all in. Yes, every chance you get. Come close. And by all means, whatever you do, get it on film.” John Blais - 2005 Ironman with ALS (Time: 16:28:58)

• You can quit and they won't care...but you will always remember

• "Ironically enough the difference between possible and impossible is two letters IM" - NBC broadcast refering to Scott Rigsby -2007 Kona finish and double above the knee amputee
• “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” - Lance Armstrong
  
  

Figuring things out

It has now been three weeks since Augusta and things are back to normal. I am back to my normal weight and training schedule has been very, very light. My desire has been very low lately. I can't seem to get going. I think it comes down to structure. For the past eight months, I have lived by a training plan. Now, I have no plan to follow. I'm just kind of winging it, but it is almost time to crank it up again.

I found a winter maintenance plan to follow for biking and plan to start it in November. It should carry me for about three months. This plan is a three day per week plan, so it should give me some time in between for running. I am still trying to figure it all out, but will soon enough.

As for swimming, I am considering moving all swims to a morning routine. Morning, as in before work - like 6am. There is a real good chance I am going to have to do this once I begin my Ironman training plan anyway, so why not get used to it right now. Besides, it's only two to three days per week anyway.

I decided to take a couple days off this weekend for a much needed break. We were able to make a quick trip to the beach to see family. Sara's family (Brett, Susan, Jesse, Erica, and Aiden) came in from Montana and New York, so it real nice seeing them as well as Grandma and Grandpa Trimble. They are all such nice people. Since Myrtle Beach is only an hour away from Wilmington, we usually try to see everyone in that area at once. I was able to make a day trip up to see my mom and check out her new place. It's perfect for her and is only a short walk from Wrightsville Beach. Although it was a short trip, it was good to see everyone. I'll take what opportunities I can get!

Yesterday, I went out with my brother to ride the trails of Paris Mountain on our mountain bikes. That was a good change of pace. I was hoping the leaves would have begun their transformation, but they were not quite ready yet. Maybe in a couple weeks. I will probably head back once a week or so.

Now, I get to head out and go for a run to see if I can find where I left my motivation. I hope it is somewhere on Gibbs Shoals Road so I can reach down and pick it up.

What's next?

The question everyone has been asking me since the finish of Augusta has been "what's next?" I have tossed around a few different ideas in my head - would it be an upcoming 1/2 marathon, full marathon, another half iron, or possibly a full Ironman. I answered this question today. From the very beginning, I had the dream of doing an Ironman race, not just a half, but a full Ironman - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run. Today, I took the next step. I am officially registered for Ironman Louisville.

http://www.ironmanlouisville.com/

The anticipation is already killing me. I have a plan to follow and am really looking forward to the challenge. I have learned so much from my training for Augusta 70.3. The things I found to be most important are: #1- be strong on the bike. In order to have a good race, a strong bike is crucial. For me, this is where I will focus the majority of my time this winter. My plan is to do a bunch of cross training including road riding, mountain biking, trainer rides, and leg strengthening at the gym to name a few. #2 remain consistent. This is the area that is difficult with work and family commitments. Obviously I would not be able to do this without the support of Sara and the rest of my family. I will not let my training affect my work performance and will not sacrifice it for any training. I don't live to work. I work to live and pay the bills.

After completion of this race, my question to myself will be: What's next? My dream was to attempt and complete an Ironman. I don't have the desire or time to be a true competitor in my age group. Marking it off my "list of things to do" will be good enough. I plan on competing in other tri's (sprint, olympic, and possibly half iron distances), but don't have the desire to do another Ironman. Once you become an Ironman, nobody can take that away from you.

Unlike Augusta, I don't have a definitive goal except to finish. I keep tossing around the idea of finishing in the daylight (which means around a 13 hour finish.)

Very cool articles

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/09/23/oth_549212.shtml


http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/09/29/met_549847.shtml

Final consensus

So my first half Ironman event has now passed and everything is beginning to settle in. Other than having some really sore legs, I am feeling pretty good. I can't even begin to describe how happy I am with my results. This race came out of nowhere!

The only area I felt confident in, the swim, was the area that disappointed me. I just never got comfortable.

On the bike, during my normal training rides, I average around 17.5 mph. This would give me a finish time of around 3 hours and 5 - 10 minutes with tired legs.

With running being my weakest area, I can normally hold just under a 10 min/mile time for the 13 miles. This puts me in the 2 hr 10 min range.

Throw in the transitions, and six hours is pretty close to my expected time.

Keep in mind, these are stand alone times, not one event following the other.

I don't know where the strength came from. The only thing I can think of is adrenaline on the bike and seeing my family so many times on the run. It was great having everyone there supporting me. Every time I would see them I would get a little extra spring in my step.

Race report from beginnertriathlete.com

Ironman 70.3 Augusta
2009-09-27
Augusta, GeorgiaUnited States
Premier Event Management
87F / 31C
Sunny
Triathlon - 1/2 Ironman
Total Time = 5h 32m 33s
Overall Rank = 744/1808
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 131/268

Pre-race routine:
After very little sleep the night before I got up just before 5am. I had my bags packed and was ready to go. After showering, I ate 1/2 bagel with pb and 1/2 banana. I left the hotel around 5:30 and headed to the shuttle bus pick up outside another hotel that would take us to transition. Then I waited, and waited. The bus shows up around 6:15. At this point I am getting a little nervous. My swim was goes off at 7:42 and I still have to take another bus back to swim start! We are moving along pretty good the unthinkable happens- we get stuck behind a damn train!!! Seriously??? This is not starting out very well. Finally I walk into transition and the announcer says "For all of you who have the start times before 8:00, you need to make your way to swim start now!" I make it to my bike, have stuff flying everywhere! I grab my wetsuit, googles and make a run to catch a bus back to swim start. Then there are the lines of people. I have to wait for three buses before I can get on one. At this point, I am beginning to panic. I still had to pick up my chip once I got to the start! Luckily I make it on time and get my chip, make my way over to the dock where all of the AG's were getting together. The national anthem plays and the pro men and women go off, followed by the physically challenged athletes - what an awesome sight to see. They are truly inspiring. I get my wetsuit zipped up, then they start the AG's. I was in the second wave. WOW, that was close!

Swim:
Comments:
Swim was not very good. I never felt comfortable in the water. I usually like to swim about 200 to warm up and was never given the chance (not that I would have had time if I did). I'm sure my nerves were a little shot too.
What would you do differently?:Maybe leave a little earlier? I don't know. Just some bad luck with buses.

T1
Comments:
I'll explain why such a long T1 in the bike section. We did have strippers! I like strippers. They are very helpful. Nice people. Fun to be around. Overall, I was making great time. Helmet, sunglass, shoes, etc. Should have been around 2:30.
What would you do differently?:Hmmm..... see the bike.

Bike
Comments:
So, as if I was not stressed enough from showing up right on time for the swim, I had a bunch of extra drama. Coming out of T1, I jump on my bike, make two pedal strokes and......nice, a flat tire!!!!!! I pull over to the side of the road to change it. The lady who is directing people where to go tells me to move because I was in everyones way, even though I was on the side of the road! I had to run with my bike back into T1, (350+ yds), back up to the front of T1, fix my flat and head back out. As I was running down the carpet, the bike tech guys saw my issue and told me they would be ready for me. I run my 1000 yds and get to them. They proceed to tell me that they cannot touch my bike since I had already left T1, but they could give me the supplies I need. I get all of my stuff apart, then put back together, and back out on the course. At this point, I have not had much luck today -hard time getting to the race sight, not a very good swim, bad luck coming out of T1 and all that went through my head, was "wow, eight months worth of training for a horrible race day." Mentally I was out of it. So, after cruising at about 20mph, I get to about mile 5 and I hear a "pssssss" sound and feel my backend kind get a little loose. My first thought was "not again!!" I stop and check my tire and it's fine. I did not even notice, but the wind had picked up and not being used to using 80mm wheels, it was kind of pushing me around a little. So, after I get going again, for some reason, the first thing that pops into my head was seeing Chrissie Wellington in the WC last year getting her flat and then zooming through the bike course. At this point, I say screw it! Let's just bust it's a$$! I was averaging 26 on the flats and just hammering it. I spun up the hills and recovered coming down. I was worrying about my nutrition beforehand, but it was spot on. Everything worked out perfectly. On one of the last sections of flats, I was just hammering it to get it back in and a guy yells "do it dude!" I look down and I am at 26mph flying by people. With about 4 miles to go, I open my bento box to get my last two Endurolytes for the run and off they go, like a kite in the wind - at that point, nothing surprised me. So I get out of the saddle and stretch the legs. Surprisingly, my legs feel great. They are not even tired! Thank goodness for taper week!
What would you do differently?:Umm, not get a flat. That would have been nice.

T2
Comments:
Good T2. With 3300 contestants, it was a huge transition area. I was kind of in the middle.
What would you do differently?:Nothing.

Run
Comments:
The run course was awesome. Coming out of T2, my legs felt great. They were not even fatigued, I knew I had made up some time on the bike that I lost changing flat. If I had a good run, I thought I may still be able to break 6 hours. I am going along for the first couple miles and they seemed to go by pretty quickly. I hear my Garmin go off after the first mile and I look down - 8:36 pace. Whoa, I need to slow down! Mile 2 was around 8:54 pace. During this time, I have my entire support crew (6 people) cheering me on at different points throughout the race. They were easy to spot since they were wearing shirts my wife had made. Check out the pics below. They are really cool! As I get to mile 5, I feel a blister developing on the ball of my right foot. Somehow a couple miles later it goes away, not sure how that happened, but I wasn't asking questions. The course had aid stations every 1.5 miles. They had GE, water, Powerbars, PowerGels, bananas and cold sponges - I love those things. My nutrition was right on. I take my first gel at mile 1.5 since that's where the water was. I take my second at mile 6. Still feeling good. I get to mile 7 and I start to have a slight problem - a blister is developing on my right heel. I was afraid of this, but the lady at the running store told me not to worry about it, I won't get blisters with these shoes. They were made to not wear socks with. Mile 8, left heel starts hurting- pretty badly too. By mile 9, I can't stand it. I'm sure most of it was from the water I was dumping on my head to keep cool, but it really hurts! Now, my quads were beginning to feel the effects of some cramps. At the aid station, I grabbed a banana, GE, water, everthing I could get my hands on. By mile 10, it all hit my stomach - like someone dropped a bowling ball in there. I walked for about 100 yds, then told myself, "you've only got a 5k left, you can do this." I start running again and get to mile 11. At this point, my legs are starting to get numb and I can no longer feel the pain from my blisters and I pick up the pace. Once I get to mile 12 I told myself "give it all you've got. Only one mile left." I can't say I sprinted the last mile, but it sure felt that way. The finish line was awesome. There were people three rows deep for the last 400 yds. I was the only coming down the chute and I hear "Here comes triathlete #278, Chris Dill from Greer, South Carolina" and everyone let's out a loud cheer. It was amazing. The main clock said 5:49 when I crossed the finish line but I knew they had thrown in a few extra minutes right before my wave. I knew I had broken 6 hours.
What would you do differently?:Wear socks!

Post race:
Warm down:
Found my support crew, drank a bunch of water and Gatorade.

What limited your ability to perform faster:
Flat tire, blisters, and late start. Overall being my first HIM, I have thrilled with my results. I was hoping to break 6 hours and to know if I did not get the flat, I could have been around 5:20. To me, that was unthinkable.

Event comments:
Being an inaugural event, there are things that will need adjustments, but with this race the only thing I would have liked to see were more buses race morning. Other than that, I had an amazing experience. Everything was on time. The race crew did a great job organizing the event with the town of Augusta. The volunteers were so helpful. I don't have any other M-Dot race to compare this to, but if they are better, I can't see how. Great job by all.

Neat article about me in the Greenville News

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009909240337

The final day is here... The last day before I get see if my months of training has prepared me for my race. I have come a long way since I orginally signed up - very little experience on a road bike, nevermind a tri-bike, lack of running knowledge and an amount of self doubt. I have learned alot about myself over the past eight months. My main reasons for doing this race was to prove to myself two things: I can make a long term, self fullfiling commitment and keep it and to see how mentally strong I really am. It is very easy to say you are going to do something that's a year away and have it sound good, then during the time leading up quietly back out. I wanted to make sure this did not happen. If I signed up for this race and didn't show up, nobody would know. Nobody would care- except me. All of my training has proved to me that I am a strong person mentally. I did those early morning workouts and even got some in after working for 15 hours. I am ready. I am prepared. I will finish this race. The excitement has been building this entire week and I can't wait to jump in the water at 7:42 on Sunday morning. 6 hours later, I will be half way there.

Here are a few pics some people sent me showing the transition area on Friday:

Swim exit

My next post will be on Monday with a full race report. I will warn you, it will probably be a long one. You can track my progress live at www.ironman.com.

Three days left...

Three days and counting. I just got my bike back from Carolina Triathlon after it's final tune up. It even looks fast! Check out those race wheels!

Final week

I am now entering the final week of preparations for Ironman Augusta 70.3. I am feeling pretty good. Over the past week, my workouts have been getting shorter, but more intense. After my run today, I officially begin my taper. From here on, I will not have any workouts longer than 40 minutes. This is the time to let my body recover and get fully charged up. My diet is also a consideration for this week. I will be eating quite a bit of lean protein and carbs and drinking a ton of water. The biggest change will be the addition of salt to my diet. Adding extra salt allows my body to retain water much easier. After my workout tomorrow, I will be taking my bike to Carolina Triathlon for it's final pre-race tune up. My running shoes should be broken in. I had a great swim yesterday. I felt real strong throughout and great after. From what I have read, the current may be a pretty decent aid in the swim. That is great news.

Less than two weeks

It is now less than two weeks until my race. Thursday was my last long run day. I ran 11 miles and kept a pace under 10 min / mile. Tomorrow is my last long bike ride. My plan is to drive to Augusta and ride the bike course (56 miles). Beginning Wednesday, I shift gears from long training days to shorter, but much more intense speed training sessions.

I have also begun my logistical planning sessions. I need to get my new running shoes in order to break them in enough for race day. While on that side of town, I am going to head to Carolina Triathlon to pick up my raceday nutrition (Strawberry/ Banana Gu, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cliff Bars), look at renting some race wheels, and schedule my final tuneup before the race.

While in Augusta, I am going to check out the transition area, hotel location, run terrain, and just the overall layout of the race.

Neat article on effects of Augusta 70.3

http://metrospirit.com/index.php?cat=1211101074307265&ShowArticle_ID=11010809090404006

Good workouts

Things seem to be coming together. I am feeling really strong right now. I haven't done many long swims lately but might try to get a couple in during the next couple weeks. I have heard about the open water swim groups in Clemson on Wednesday evenings. I might try to catch one of those before the race. This way, I can actually get in another swim in my wetsuit. The shorter, more aggressive swims I have been doing are going well. I can maintain a pretty fast pace even while swimming 1000 meters. I've been able to keep it around 16-17 minutes during my time trials.

I became a little nervous on the bike after reading a few comments about biking on hills vs flats. Most of the terrain in the upstate is fairly hilly. Therefore, there is alot of climbing and some coasting. Knowing this, I try to continue pedaling even on the downhill sections. To make sure I am getting the flatland training in, I have been on my trainer for the past few sessions. This keeps me pedaling the entire time. I have ridden for one hour and one hour, twenty minutes. I was a little concerned at first because I was getting kind of fatigued early on (within that timeframe), but once I got off the bike, I realized that I was actually just getting bored and my legs were fine. That was a relief. The other thing I noticed is that the resistance on the trainer makes it more difficult as well. I can't remember the exact slow down rate after pedaling has stopped, but it seems to slow down pretty quickly, which means the set resistance is higher than that on the road. I'll spend a few more rides on the trainer to make sure I am in where I need to be. I have my last long bike ride (3 hours) scheduled on the 14th. I might try to get in two more. It all depends on what other activities I have scheduled. The long ride might be the Augusta course. We'll see how that turns out.

Running has been going very well. I don't know what it is, but things seem to be improving. Last week, I did a couple shorter runs as well as my long run. The long run was 10 miles and I completed it in 1 hour 30 minutes and felt really good after. Even the next day, my legs were not tight at all. I was extremely surprised. I am attributing this to two things - better fitness (obviously) and cooler weather. When I ran, the temps were around 70 with low humidity. Very nice conditions. I am not expecting this for my race, but we'll see what happens. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Less than 1 month left

It's hard to believe that I am in the final month of preparation for Augusta 70.3. I made the decision to race just over one year ago. The whole process has been a challenge. There are so many different aspects that have to be considered when making the decision to take on a challenge of this magnitude. The training takes up such a large chunk of time, thus affects all areas of life, including work, friends, other social activities, and most importantly family. It is a juggling act to piece this puzzle together. This is where it really helps to know that you have great people supporting you. I was unsure what to believe when I read "there are times you will feel like a walking zombie, going through the motions of life". Whoever wrote that is 100% correct.

Through all of this, I will say, that I am undoubtably in the best shape of my life. My plan for the next three weeks is to continue to hit all workouts, try to really be strict regarding my diet to lose a few pounds, but really keep focused on my day to day life.

I am not sure what the future will hold. I will admit that I do enjoy living this healthy lifestyle. There are times when I would wonder if my training has really prepared me, but the Greenville Tri answered that. My thoughts after this race are shifting in a couple different directions. My plan is to do alot of biking and running. I want to push the century mark on a single bike ride by early spring and get in some longer runs (such as 1/2 marathons and possibly a marathon). Who knows, this may even lead to bigger things, maybe even my dream of a full Ironman in late 2010.

Hard week

I have had some very hard workouts during the week after my race. I did not want my race to interfere with my training on Monday and I made sure it did not. I had a run, bike, run workout that went great. Wednesday was scheduled long run day. Unfortunately the pizza I ate on Tuesday night did not agree with me and I had to cut it short and ended up moving it to Thursday. Thursday came around and I really did not feel like doing a twelve mile run. I was tired and unmotivated. Then I told myself to get out and just do it!! When the run began, it was kind of overcast and really not too hot outside. After the first 1/2 mile, the rain came. It rained for about 45 minutes. I told myself that since I was already wet, I might as well keep going. Needless to say, I finished. It took me just under 2 hours. I was completely soaked. My legs were starting to chafe from the wet clothes. Next time, I will wear my tri shorts instead of running shorts!

Friday called for a swim and bike. I was only able to get in the swim. It was supposed to be an hour, but I made it about 50 minutes. I had no endurance issues. Instead I was just bored. During this time, to change things up a bit, I ended up swimming some breast and fly. 2600 meters.

Saturday and Sunday had my time occupied with work activities. At the club we had our Seniors and Ladies Club Championships. They were both good tournaments. The champions for both are very strong players deserving of the titles.

Monday's workout consisted of a short but hard bike followed by a run. The bike was on 45 min (14.5 miles), but I kept it in the big ring and the cadence low. This was to try to build a little leg strength and to see how I would handle the run after a hard ride. The run went well. I diverted my path and knocked out 3 miles in 26 minutes. Not bad for me.

Today, I had a great workout. It was another hot day, but I prepared well. My plan called for a 2 hour 30 minute ride followed by a 20 minute run. I decided to stretch out the bike to 3 hours but keep the run on time. I went for exactly 3 hours, 0 minutes and 39 seconds covering 52 miles. My quads were on absolute fire! They were burning. There are quite a few hills on my route and they took their toll. After finishing the bike, I threw on the running shoes and went out for my run. I covered 2.3 miles in 19 minutes. My legs were fatigued at first, but loosened up once I got going. My only real issue was my core temperature overheating. I was not able to cool myself down. The water I was drinking on the bike was warm from the sun. I tried throwing some ice cubes in my fuel belt to cool off the water, but it did not work. Next time, I am going to try throwing water on me instead. This always works during the races, so why not use it during training. It was a good day. We'll see how my legs feel tomorrow!

Greenville Sprint Triathlon

Sunday was a great race for me. I competed in the Greenville Sprint Triathlon. Last year, this was my first "on road" tri and second tri ever. I was unfortunate in getting a flat tire with no repair kit. Although the flat tire was unfortunate, it gave me the opportunity to see another why triathlon is such a great sport. It's the people. As I was walking with my bike with the flat tire, almost half of the competitors either asked if I was okay or if they could help. I thought that was amazing. One guy actually stopped and offered to help me, but I told him thanks but I was fine. I was just going to hitch a ride on the truck that brings everyone who can't finish back in.

This year was a pretty uneventful race. I woke up at 4:30am and ate my bagel with pb and drank my coffee. We ended up leaving the house around 6:00am and headed to the Westside Aquatic Center. We arrived around 6:15am. As I was unracking my bike, a lady next to me asked if I could pump up her tires. It was only her second tri and was unsure how to use her pump. Even though I was running a little late, I thought back to all those people that offered to help me last year and said, "Sure, I can do that for you." We got them pumped up, wished each other luck and Sara and I headed to set up transition. I got everything set up and started walking with my goggles to the pool when I realized I was missing something - my timing chip and body markings! Ooops. I ran back into transition to get my race number to prove I was a contestant and got that taken care of.

Swim: My warm up consisted of one two hundred meters. Everything felt great. Just needed to stretch out and wake up the muscles. My number for the race was 55. This means I was seeded as the 55th fastest swimmer out of the 585 competitors, according to the times other turned in. As I waited for my time, I met my lane partner. He was a real nice guy. It was his first tri and he was a little nervous. I told him not to worry about it. He would be fine and gave him a few other pointers. We both thought we may have over-estimated our swim times. Pool swims usually pretty uneventful. This one started off with a bang - almost literally. The swim course was supposed to zig zag. Up one 50m lane, under the rope, and down the next. As I hit the 75m mark, I just happened to look up to sight (I don't know why. I was in a pool!). Right when my face comes out of the water, I see a girl right in front of me, coming right at me, in my lane! She did not go under the lane line! That was a close one! The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful. I pushed it pretty good and caught some guys in front of me which slowed me down a little, but eventually got past them.

Swim: 400 meters - 6 min 56 sec.

Bike: The 15 mile bike portion was pretty uneventful. I really wanted to push it hard to get my average over 20mph for the race. The course was not too hard. It does have some hills that aren't long. They are just in bad places. As in - places you don't have much speed going into. I kept it in the small chainring quite a bit as there were not too many long flat stretches. I probably could have used the big ring a little more, but that works the legs a little more. I did not want to do that. I needed to save some energy for the run. As the ride came to an end, I tried something I had been working on - getting my feet out of my shoes while still on the bike. It actually worked!!

Bike: 15 miles - 42 min 36 sec (21.13 mph!!!!)

Run: The run is a two loop, 5K course. It starts with up a dirt trail then goes on a couple roads behind the finish area. Finishing down the dirt trail. My run started off okay. I was a little concerned because I did push the bike a little harder than normal. I did not know what this was going to do to my legs. For the first 1/2 mile, my calves were so tight. They would not relax. Eventually they let go and I could pick up the pace. I felt pretty good the whole way and really pushed it hard. I gave it all I had during the last mile and sprinted through the finish line.

Run: 3.14 miles - 23 min 20 sec (my fastest 5K time ever!)

Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes 38 seconds

Overall, I am very happy with this race. I beat my goal of 1 hour 20 minutes. I am there to break personal goals and nothing more. It is good to see my training is paying off. The only bad, but exciting thing about this race being over is that I don't have any other races before Augusta. The big one is next and it's coming fast!

Productive couple of days

The past few days have been great morale boosters. After a long run on Thursday, my training plan called for a long swim on Friday and an off day for Saturday. My swim was great. I felt real strong with very little fatigue. My distance was 2600m. My day off could not have come at a better time since I had to run a tournament at Holly Tree. The tournament was very successful. I knew going in my workout on Sunday was going to be a tough one, but as Chris McCormack said, "If it were easy, everyone would be doing it". My day started at 5:45am. I worked from 6:45am - 4:00pm. It was a pretty slow day at the course so I decided to play golf with one of our aspiring tour professionals. I was a little nervous considering I had not played 18 holes of golf since October of 2008. My day turned out better than I anticipated. I shot 76 with 0 birdies, but capped the day off with an eagle on the 18th hole. Things seemed to be going very smooth at the club so I decided to call it a day. After getting home and spending some time with Sara (who was under the weather), I decided to go ahead with my workout. It was supposed to be a 2 hour bike followed immediately by a 30 minute run. All in all, everything was pretty good. It was real hot, so I consumed a bunch of Gatorade Endurance and water. My legs were a little fatigued during the last hour of the bike, but were not as bad as I had expected. The bike portion lasted 1 hour 55 minutes. During this time, I covered around 34 miles. My pace was a little slow, but this does not count for stopping at stop lights, putting my chain back on, as it came off during one of my climbs. I was also able to work on starting my bike portion with my shoes already on the bike as I begin my ride, then sliding them on as I get going. On the back half, I was able to take my feet out of my shoes and run off the bike without any issues. Since the race is measured in time, every second counts.

The run was pretty uneventful. Actually it was pretty good for me. I ran 3.3 miles in 30 minutes with little fatigue. Near the end, I started feeling a little energy deprived. I want to save my Gu's for later workouts, but wanted to see how I felt once it got into my system. Once my body absorbed it, I was as good as new. - Good to know for future workouts.

Upcoming workouts for the week:

Monday: S- 3K
Tuesday: B-45m, R-30m, S-30m
Wednesday: R- 45m
Thursday: B-30m, R-90m
Friday: B-45m, R- 30m
Sat: OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo Hoo for long runs

My training plan for today called for a 1 hour 30 minute run. I decided to stretch it a little longer. My goal was to go for 1 hr 45 min. That would give me about an extra 1 1/2 miles. I made it a total of 10.95 miles. This is my longest run ever both time and distance wise. My legs were pretty fatigued near the end. I did this run following an average day at work where I am on my feet most of the day. Today was no different. I was on my feet from 7:30-4:30. Overall, my pace was a little slower than I had hoped for, but all considering, I am not too disappointed. I know that if I did this run on a full night's rest, I would have been closer to my goal. It's all good. Tomorrow calls for a good swim, then rest......ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

"One of those days"

Unfortunately I had "One of those days" today. The ones where you just never feel right. Nothing feels good. You can't get comfortable. That's the bad news. The good news is that I got in my workout. My training plan called for a brick (1 hour bike immediately followed by a 30 minute run). I decided that on the bike, I was only going in the big ring today and I was going to go hard. Well, that I did and I paid for it on the run. I completed both the bike and the run. The bike lasted for 53 minutes, covering 16.68 miles and the run lasted 28 minutes covering 3.3 miles, but I felt terrible on the run. My body had no energy. I thought I might feel some leg fatigue, but it wasn't that. It was my whole body. By pushing the bike hard, I kept it in the big ring the entire time and did my best to stay in my aerobars as much as possible - even on the 10% grades.

I will just have to chalk today up to inexperience. I have not even been on a road / tri bike for a year. My mountain bike background does little to help me here. Wednesday calls for a rest day, leading up to my longest run ever! (or at least it should be). My training plan calls for 1 hour 30 minute run. Since I missed a couple run workouts, I am going to take it a little longer. I am going 1 hour 45 minutes. This should put me into the 10.5-11 mile mark. It's going to be a long day.

Good run but maybe not good enough

I had a good TT run yesterday. I ran 6.5 miles in 1 hour. That is my "race pace". After looking at my training session for today, my plan calls for a 45 min spin on the bike to loosen up my tight and sore legs. Well, I am a little stiff, but no more than normal after a run. I am starting to think maybe I did not push hard enough. I have a big week coming up with a short spin and a long swim today. I get the day off on Wednesday, which I may throw in an OWS if the group is heading out. Thursday calls for a nice 1.5 hour run followed by a 30 min recovery swim. I might extend the run out to 1 hour 45 minutes since I have not been that far in a long time. This should put me into the 11 mile range. The only problem is that this run will be after a day at work on my feet all day. We'll see.

It is hard to believe that race day is less than two months away. It seems like I just signed up yesterday. Things are going to be interesting in the weeks following my race. I have a few decisions to make as to my "tri future". The decision is between sticking with the shorter races or committing to a full Ironman. The full is my ulimate goal, but don't know how realistic it really is. It requires so much time. It would be an amazing feat if I could complete it. Something less than 1/2% of the people in the world could say - They are an Ironman.

Recovery week is over

It was fun while it last, but my recovery week is now over. It's back to heavy volume. The next six weeks are going to be a killer. I have already looked ahead and man, things are going to be tough - Bring it on! Other than last weekend, things have been going great. I actually got in all my workouts this week without having to move or skip any. Last weekend we had a big golf tournament which forced me to skip two workouts. I worked 12-15 hour days Thurs-Sun, but it was a very successfull event and that's what matters.

My body seems to be holding up pretty well. Hopefully this will continue. It is hard to believe that my race is on seven weeks away! I am feeling pretty confident in all areas. I am still looking to get in a good long brick (60 mile bike / 3-4 mile run). I know it's not far away though. I have a long run coming up in two weeks - 2 hours. This is my goal time for the race. I am still trying to get under that 6 hour mark (30-35min swim, 3 hour bike, 2 hour run). My areas of work include:

Doing some open water swims in my wetsuit

Getting in some good hill work to get stronger on the bike - Riding up Paris Mountain should take care of that.

Reaching the longer mileage on my runs - This is going to be a challenge with my slow recovery and is the area I am most concerned about. I know I could do the full 13.1 miles right now, but could seriously injure myself along the way. I have to modify my workouts to accomodate my achilles, which is unfortunate.

On a more positive note, after doing a little research on Ironman Louisville, people told me that the sign up for this event is usually open longer than other IM events- usually about a month. This gives me time after Augusta to make the big decision - to IM or not to IM.

Time to head out for my run - 10K at race pace.

Good run

I had a pretty good week of training last week. My run on Saturday was a great one. I went 8.63 miles. I cut it just short of 9 to adhere to the 10% rule - trying to be smart. I felt good the entire run and had no fatigue. The weather was perfect. It was in the 70-80's with low humidity. This was a nice change. Also, I was not trying to get in a workout after work when my legs were already fatigued.

Long run tomorrow

My plan calls for a long run tomorrow. I am supposed to go 1.5 hours. This will take me into the 9 mile range. I might cut it off at 8.5, but we'll see. It will be the longest I have run since the beginning of the year. I am a little nervous. I don't want to reinjure myself especially being so close to my race. - Only 70 days left until I travel 70 miles.

I plan to do an easy ride on Sunday of 1 hr 15 min. I plan on getting in some good mileage on Monday. I might even try to hit the 60 mile mark.

Good day

I had two pretty good workouts today. My plan called for a 1 hr 15 min bike and a 1 hr 15 min swim.

The bike went fine. I went out for about 1 hr 20 min and covered about 26.5 miles. My speed was good. My legs were a little fatigued from the past few days, but all in all, I am satisfied.

My swim today was crazy long! I haven't swam that long in a long time. My workout broke down into:

3 x 100m warm up
4x 750m set

This is a total of 3300m.

I am pretty excited about my workouts this week. This is a run focus week. I think I run 4 or 5 days. The distances are starting to get up there. My run tomorrow is 6.5 miles and my run on Thursday is 7 miles. I also have a few other shorter runs (3 miles or 30m) in there as well.

Good swim

I had a good swim workout yesterday. It is good to see that it doesn't just leave and never return. After work, I was able to get in a good 2550 meters. I started to fatigue a little near the end, but all in all, I felt good. I don't think the fatigue will really effect my swim to bike times. It is more muscle (lats) fatigue than anything else.

Strong Workouts

Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were great workout days. I had a really strong brick, run, then bike, then swim. I started on Friday with a short, 15 mile bike ride then transitioned right into a run. I felt real strong for both events and really feel I could have done it twice.

Sunday I was the end of my recovery week. I started back with a long run. It lasted a good 6.5 miles. I felt real good throughout. My pace was quite slow, but right now, that is okay. My HR was also way down which tells me I was right where I wanted to be.

Monday was supposed to be a 1 hour bike, but since I feel the bike is one of my weaker events, I need some extra time and boy did I put it in. I went with Matt and did the Willow Creek to Hwy 101 route. It is a real nice ride. Some hills, some rollers and some flat. Matt had ridden on Saturday and had some tired legs and I was feeling some fatigue from my run the day before, but we still said we were going to go the distance. We wanted 56 miles and got it all. My quads were quite exhausted, but my hamstrings felt remarkably fresh. I guess this is the benefit of a tri-bike. After the ride we stopped by Carolina Triathlon for a few quick adjustments to our bikes.

Today was a decent swim day. I can tell I have not put in a good distance in a while. I went 2,000m and felt pretty good. I need to get back in the pool and stop skipping those workouts. All in all, it has been a pretty good couple of days. Let's see if I can keep it up!

One foot in front of the other

I have been doing my best to really stick to my plan lately. I just don't know how people can commit to doing a full IM when you take into account all of the time dedicated to training. I am having a hard time working my schedule for an HIM. My plan has called for quite a bit of running lately. Most runs are on the short side (in the 3 mile range), but I am currently on my recovery week.

Last Monday, I got in a great workout. My plan called for a 2 hour ride and I was able to get in a full 2hr 38 min ride. This brought me to 48 miles. (Only 8 more miles to go for my race distance.) I wanted to hit the 50 mile mark, but it was really hot, I was out of water, and was starting to feel the effects of the heat, so I didn't chance it. Once I finished, I stopped by a convenient store and grabbed a Gatorade and some water. By the time I got home, I had finished both bottles and was feeling pretty good. Although my legs were a little tired, I could tell they had plenty of life left in them. My plan called for a scheduled 30 min run later, but figured "what the heck - let's do it now." After about 30 min at home, I headed out on my run. - Not a good move. By the 2 mile mark, I had to stop and take a break in a shady patch on the side of the road. It was not a real smart move on my part, but I forgot to grab my Fuel Belt, which carries my water. I was out in 92 degree heat, without any water. That will teach me. After cooling down for a couple minutes, I decided to finish up my run and made it back home.

I really did learn a bunch from this day. I found that I need more water / supplement drink on my bike and to take in more calories as well. Overall it was a pretty good day. Tomorrow (4th of July), the plan is to head out early (on the bike at 6:15am) with Matt and get to that 56 mile mark. My goal for my race is under 3 hours. This is looking like a pretty good possibility.

Tri the Midlands

After a phone call to my friend Rick, I decided to compete in the Tri the Midlands race in Columbia. I was nowhere near prepared for this race since I am training for longer distances and this one is a short one - a sprint. The distances were: 500m OWS, 11 mile bike, and a 5K. One of Rick's selling points about the race was that the bike course was flat and the run only had a few hills. He said I can do my thing during the swim, hammer out the bike, and get in a good run. I thought, "Okay. I can handle that." So, here's how my day went:

3:50am - Wake up. I did not have too much trouble getting up because I was excited for the race. I was a little tired because we ended up going to bed somewhere between 11 and 12. After I woke up, I took a quick shower to help wake myself up. This did a pretty good job. Next was my coffee. I had to have my caffeine if I was going to make it. So, I made the coffee took Colby out, racked up the bike and loaded up the rest of my gear and I was off.

4:50am - Depart for Columbia. The two hour drive down was very uneventful.

6:47am - Arrive at Lake Carolina Development, Columbia, SC. The volunteers were directing everyone to their proper parking spaces and mine happen to be right next to Rick and Mike's. I got out and said hello to them and proceeded to put my bike together and get my gear together. I loaded up my backpack with everything I needed because it was a good mile from the parking area to transition. At this point, my thermometer in my car is reading 84 degrees.

7:05am - Get registered, go through packet pick up, and body marking

7:15am - Rack my bike and start setting up transition. I made the decision to try going sockless today. We'll see how that works out.

7:50am - I make my way down to the lake. I was chatting with the guy next to me in transition. He was from Greenville too. He was a little nervous. It was his first tri. I jumped in the warm water and took a few strokes out and back. The national anthem was played and the waves began. I was in wave 3.

8:05am - Everyone in wave 3 in the water. The air horn blows and we are underway. It is very crowded. There are people everywhere. The course had three legs. It was a 200m swim out, 100 across, and 200 back in. Right at the end of my first leg, I could tell it was not going to be my best swim. I was tired from my 2500m swim the day before. I managed to pull off 9m 14sec. This ranked me 34th out of 255 people. Not a bad finish, but it could have been alot better.

Swim time: 9min 14 sec

8:15am - I was making my way out of the water and into transition. It was a short run and my bike was in the last race going into transition. The only problem was that I had to run the entire length of the transition area, uphill with bike in hand. It was not too bad. I made it out in about 1min 30 sec. This includes putting my shoes on.

8:17am - I am off on the bike for a short 11 mile ride. We are flying through the Lake Carolina Development and head out onto a couple country roads. The road out was pretty flat for the first 3/4 of a mile, then came the climbing. The hills were not steep, just kind of long. I was trying my best to just pound the pedals and keep my cadence up there. I was averaging a good 17.0 mph up the hills. This was a pretty good pace. Finally, we hit a couple flat sections and I started mashing. I looked down at my bike computer and it showed 27mph on the flats. I kept pedaling and looked down another 10min later and it was still at 27. I was moving it. Then, came some more hills. This one a little steeper - 13mph. At this point, my legs were on fire. Knowing that it was hot and getting hotter, I kept saying "make sure you drink." My plan was to finish my fluids around mile 9.5. At mile 8, I was out. I drank way too much, too quick. That is not good. Then I looked down at my computer again and see I only had another mile to go, so I start pushing it real hard. Then comes mile 11, and 12, and 13. Finally just short of 14 miles, we returned to Lake Carolina.

Bike time: 42min 12sec

9:00am - Return to transition with a little mental and physical fatigue. I had some trouble getting my running shoes on. For some reason, they did not want to go on my feet. Finally, I get them on and I'm off. Again the run start was right next to me. This worked out well. The run started out with a short flat section then came the hills. There were hills for the first 1.5 miles. They were steep hills. Many people were walking, but I said that will not be me. At this point, it must have been close to 90 degrees. Finally I make it to the top and make the turn back to town. I picked up the pace going down hill then, I hear this guy yelling from behind me- "Pick it up, I'm going to catch you!" He kept yelling this repeatedly! So, I said, no one is catching me, and I was in an all out sprint for the last 1/2 mile. I passed about 10 guys.

Run time: 26min 16sec.

Right when I crossed the finish line, I had a really bad feeling. A feeling of "Oh my gosh, I'm going to be sick!" I looked for the closest set of trees and walked towards them. Before getting to them, I stopped an hung my head down and began to feel better.

Total time: 1 hour 21 minutes

After the race, I went to find some water and something with some quick sugar. I found both - water and Coke. I looked for Rick as he finished just ahead of me, but could not find him until I started to leave. We talked about how hard that race was and how he had thought about quitting the run himself. It may have been the hardest race thus far in my short tri - life. It was fun though. I'm glad I made the trip down. Even a couple days after, I am still not sore. I am very tired, but not sore. I guess I am getting in better physical shape. I need to keep it up.

"Long" Run today

Well, I have redefined "long" run. My previous description for my long run was almost 11 miles. Today, my new "long" run is 5.2 miles. It took me almost two days, but I finished. Actually I ran 10 min miles. On a normal day, my run pace is around 9:00-9:30/ mile. Race pace is around 8:00-8:30/ mile. Overall, I was looking to stay moving for :50-:55 minutes. I was right in the middle (around :52). The best thing about the entire run was that I proved to myself that I was not exerting alot of effort and my heart rate showed. It did not get above 155 bpm-even on the hills. That is real good news. The bad news is that my Achilles Tendons really bothered me during my first 1/2 mile. This is the first time I have run with pain in a month. Kind of disappointing. The pain did go away after that 1/2 mile, but I wish it never showed up.

I am still considering the race in Columbia on Saturday. I don't know if "fast" is really my thing at this point. I have been training for distance, not time. I might do it just to get another race under my belt before the big day. Also, it is supposed to be 104 degrees in Columbia. Luckily the race starts at 8:00am.

Good day today

After a long bike and swim yesterday, I had another good workout today. I followed my plan and rode for 1 hour (17.5 miles) and ran for 30 minutes (3.3 miles). At this point, my body has had enough. I have a rest day tomorrow and plan to take full advantage of it~ by not doing anything! - Workoutwise at least. I am happy to say that again~ my run was pain- free.

Good couple weeks of training

It has been awhile since I have posted, but I will say that the past few weeks have been great. I have started running again and everything is going real well. I have not had any pain during my last two or three runs. I have gone up to 4.5 miles. Char said once I hit 5 or 6 miles, I can return to my normal program. I am real excited about that. Therapy has been going well. We are working through the strength training phases now.

The bike has been going great too. No problems at all. Actually I had a real good ride today. I went with a friend Matt and he took me on a new route. We made it 40 miles. My legs were fine. Actually I wanted to keep going to 50 be he wanted to cut it off a little early since he did 47 on Saturday. We spent much of the time riding two wide talking. We still averaged 16.75 mph. It took us 2 hours 25 minutes. Since he knew the way, he was in front and I was on his wheel the entire time, often times hitting my brakes to not get to close. My hr is normally in the mid 140's. This ride my average was 130 bpm. That is real low and means I was not using as much effort as usual when I ride. This ride really gives me some positive reinforcement for my time goal of under 3 hours in Augusta.

Back to training

I feel like I have missed quite a bit of my training time with my busy work schedule lately. I have part of it past me, but not all of it. My biggest event is over. Overall it went very well. I managed to get into my training routine for the past couple days. I did my scheduled 90 minute ride on Sunday and my scheduled workouts for both Monday and Tuesday. I decided to do them in the warm SC heat. It was over 90 yesterday but I stuck it out and did my scheduled 3 mile run. Today (Tuesday) called for a bike then run. I decided to make it a brick day. I did the 60 minute ride then did the 30 minute run. The temp today was 88 degrees. Yesterday it pushed 90. I wanted to get it in today because I want to see how I stood on my hydration. As hot as it is here, hydrating is key. I was spot on. During therapy, Char and I both agreed that my shoes could be a major contributor to my AT. Yesterday, I decided to eliminate those from the equation by getting new shoes. I ended up with the Mizuno Wave Elixir 4. I put them on and immediately I knew they were the ones. They fit me like a glove and were extremely light weight. I should have broken them in before running in them, but I read on runnersworld.com that they are good to go right out of the box. I threw them on and sure enough, no blisters. They felt great yesterday and even better today. I even managed to average 9 min/mile today after the bike and in the heat. This was all with very little Achilles pain. Tomorrow calls for an early swim but short swim because of my therapy at 9:00 and work at 11:00. Mentally I am getting back into it and getting real excited about the upcoming weeks. They are only going to get harder, but I am up for the challenge.

Swim / Run day

I had a decent training day today and recognized something of slight importance. I did a 2500m swim today with only a little fatigue near the end. I was getting tired, but overall felt good. After eating dinner, I had a 30 min run planned. I figured it was going to either be 30 or 2.5 miles. Whichever came first. I was hoping it was the 2.5 and it did. It ended up being a 24 minute run. I am trying to ease back into my runs and not overdo it. This is my longest run since my race. I had a little achilles pain in my left foot. Nothing in the right, but a little in the left. That's kind of strange because I had the least amount of flexibility in my right foot.....hmmm. About the "recognition of something of slight importance," I checked my workout today and saw that I was supposed to do a 3000m swim. That was a ton of mileage especially for only being in the second week of training. I looked at my scheduled distances for the rest of the week and they were crazy!!! I mean like swimming another 3000 and riding for 2 hours. Okay, something was not right. I took another look at my plan and realized that I somehow downloaded the "Ironman Training Plan" into my training log. So, I've been doing some Ironman training for a couple weeks. What a relief. There is no way in the world I am ready for anything like that..................YET.

Small milestone

I ran two miles tonight pain free. It's gotta be the old shoes!

Ugh.........

Training has been very difficult to fit in lately. Work has really been getting me frustrated. 12-14 hr+ days. I need to figure out my schedule and get my workouts in. PT has been going pretty well. I am seeing some increased range of motion in my ankles which is allowing me to get a better stretch in my calves and achilles. I feel really good about my swim workouts and can feel I am getting stronger already. The bike and the run are another story. My bike time has been limited for two reasons~ lack of energy and lack of desire to get on the trainer. The run time is mainly due to PT, but that will come. I have found my desire to run seems to effect the rest of my training. I can't wait to get back to it fully. I have a feeling that once that returns, the rest will follow. I did get a little good news from work and that is that we hired another person to work on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Hopefully that will ease some of the load. The next two weeks are going to be very stressful. We have our Member Guest tournament on May 28-30. This typically means very little sleep and lots of work. Hopefully after that is over, things will improve and I can get back to focusing better in all areas.

HIM training has begun

My HIM training has begun. Things seem to be going pretty well. I thought the scheduling of training days may be difficult to work out, but I may have found a solution. My PT, who raced Longhorn 70.3 in Texas last year, told me she followed a plan, but occasionally changed the days. Her main goal was to make sure she reached the total hours per week. She finished the race in 5:40. I think this might work well for me too. That is the plan. I have been following her orders for my run, but have been all in on the swim and bike. The first day called for a 2500 m swim with a 1500m main set! What a way to start. I timed the main set and did it in under 27 minutes.

Augusta Update

I just got an email from the Race Director for Augusta 70.3 stating "Due to on overwhelming response to this inaugural event, we will be expanding the field and are still expecting a sellout." The original field was set at 2,000 competitors. Apparently they will be expanding it to 2,500+. WOW!! That is a ton of people! There are 296 racers in my age group alone! It will be interesting to see how they start everyone. 3000 people for a swim and a two loop bike course is pretty tight. We'll see how that goes.

I was back in the pool today as my first form of exercise since Langley. It was a short 1000m swim. I felt real good the entire time. The only set I timed was my main set of 400. I did that in 7 min 42 sec. 400 is the additional swim portion in a 70.3 vs. an international distance. That would put me at the 35 minute mark for the swim portion for Augusta. I hope to get it down to 30 min or less come race day. Definitely possible. My achilles are still acting up. Actually at times, they hurt. My next PT session is Wednesday morning. I am still stretching. I got in a good stretch today after my swim, while in the hot tub and a little more during my weight training session. My scheduled training begins Sunday, May 10. So, really, I guess it is Monday. (Sunday is Sara's birthday.) She will be 29+2. I am going to get back on the bike tomorrow for a short ride, so we'll see what that holds.

Physical Therapy

I went to my first session yesterday. My therapist Char, really seems to know what she is talking about. We jumped right in and she began by checking my flexibility, which I told her I had none. She said explained to me why my achilles is so tight and how we had to lengthen them. The same was true for my calves. I knew this coming in, but was really unsure how to work on them correctly. After some pushing and pulling, she massaged my achilles and lower parts of my calves looking to increase range of motion. Finally she gave some exercises and told me to try to do them 3-5 times per day. We have about 20 sessions set up, so I should be good to go. Before I left, we discussed my shoes and my current workouts. She told me to take off one week from running but can resume swimming and biking. The shoes were a different story. Next time I buy new shoes, I need to go away from stability and work more towards neutral. She feels they are giving my too much support, which keeps my foot from striking the ground properly. Time to try Fleet Feet for my next pair of shoes. Round 2 tomorrow at 7:30am.

Training begins early - kind of

As my muscles loosen, I am still feeling the pain in my Achilles I had experienced before my race. I can feel tightness in my calves and have a pretty good feeling that is the cause. Weeks before my race, I stretched my calves on a regular basis to help them lengthen and hopefully help the pain subside. Unfortunately it has not helped. I decided today to go see a friend who is a doctor and get his recommendation. I had mentioned my symptoms to him prior to the race and being a triathlete himself, he had a pretty good idea of what it may be. Therefore he called and scheduled me an appointment with a physical therapist in town. He told me she is the best one in the Upstate that I can see for the pain I am having. She is triple board certified and apparently nobody in the Gville area has the qualifications that she does. Not to mention that she is also a triathlete and distance runner. From what Jeff told me, even qualified for Boston - that kind of distance runner. I begin my "training" for Augusta tomorrow at 9:30 am. A few weeks ahead of schedule.

1st International Distance Tri in the Books

Saturday was my first tri of 2009 and my first international distance race ever. For me, it was a great race. I set a goal of 2 hours and 40 minutes. My official finish time was 2 hours 38 minutes and 21 seconds. Needless to say, I was pretty pumped. Here is a quick recap of the events between Friday and Saturday:

It was the day before my race and I had plans to finish up work early so I can leave right at 7:00pm. As usual, things did not go as planned. Since I was able to take off on Saturday, I wanted to make sure everything was in line while I was gone. I had to make teams for a couple groups, put out sign up sheets for upcoming tournaments, regrip some clubs, etc. These were all things I had intended on doing earlier in the day, but was unable to because we were so busy. Therefore, I ended up leaving closer to 7:30pm. Once I got home, Sara was ready to roll but asked if I wanted to eat something before we left or just grab something on the road. My intention was to just grab something, but figured I could do a better job of controlling what I needed to put in my body at home. I really wanted to get some carbs in my system but did not have much around. Poor planning on my part. We just ate some spaghetti on Thursday night so I was not in the mood for marinara sauce. Sara suggested just making some Mac and Cheese since it was carbs and was quick and easy to make. We pretty much inhaled a bowl and hit the road. We arrived in Aiken around 11:30pm. Check in was no big deal. I could tell I was very anxious and tired, but knew I had to get some sleep. 12:15 rolls around and we finally lay down. I did not sleep very well that night. I was hot, then I was cold, then I would look at the clock.

I woke up around 5:35am to the sound of multiple alarm clocks, watch alarms, etc. I was so tired, but the big day was here. In two hours, we will see if the past six months of training had paid off. I got up and jumped in the shower, while Sara slept a little longer. After the shower, I went down to grab some breakfast. I don't normally eat breakfast, so this was different. I have a pretty solid stomach and can handle about anything. I put a little peanut butter on a bagel and tried to force that down. I consumed about half. That was all I could force myself to eat. After breakfast, we headed to Langley Pond.

We arrived at Langley at 6:25am and went directly to the packet and timing chip pick up and body marking. Got through pretty quickly and headed directly to the transition area. In transition, I met up with some friends. Rick, David, Michael and Jane came down from Greenville together. It was good to see familiar faces. After setting up transition, I jumped into my wetsuit and headed down to the water.

I did not plan on doing much of a warm up, but I did want to go in to check out the water temp. I was afraid it was going to be really cold like Uwharrie last year. Actually, it was not cold at all. It was perfect! Now, here we go. Let's see what happens when I have to swim. My first open water swim last year was a complete disaster. Right when my face hit the water, I panicked! I could not see my hand in front of me. I was so nervous that I could not control my breathing! I took a few strokes and realized, I was in trouble. The only way I could maintain control was to swim breaststroke the entire 1000m. I was determined to not let this happen again. I told myself to relax. On my way back in, I was able to get my breathing under control and was much more relaxed. We'll see how I feel with 200 others around me trying to do this. After a few minutes, Wave 2 was told to head to the Swim Start area.

We all corralled in then, "Lose Yourself" by Eminem came through the PA system. This turned all of my fear into adrenaline. As most triathletes will say, "This is my training song". Bring it on! Two seconds later the horn blows and we were underway. It was a little crowded to begin with. I was constantly having people touch my feet. I was touching the person's feet in front of me. We were really bunched for the first 200m then everyone was able to spread out and I was able to find some open water.

From here, I put it on cruise control for the next 20 minutes. I was feeling great. While I was breathing, I began to see some people getting further and further to my left and right. I was concerned so I began sighting. I was right on! No zig zag swimming for me. I was making a beeline for my first green buoy. Heck yeah! This shot my adrenaline through the roof. I made the turn around the first buoy and was feeling great. No fatigue. No panic. Breathing was totally under control. I was now down the backstretch of the swim. I began to pass some of the slower swimmers who went out way too fast. Sighting, no problem. I made the second turn feeling great. At this point, I knew I was more than halfway there and still feeling great. After making the turn, I began to sight again. No issues, just straight swimming. From there, I thought, just swim, don't bother looking up. I did and just cruised to make the final turn and head back to shore. The swim exit was strange. We had to climb onto a dock, then run to the timing mat.

1500 meter swim time: 27 minutes (36th out of 145 people)

After crossing the timing mat, I headed to transition to get on the bike. I decided to take my time getting my wetsuit off. During my XTERRA race, I had a hard time getting it off. I was trying way to hard and rushing myself. I did not want it to get stuck again. Took my time and not problem. Off came the suit. Socks on, shoes on, sunglasses, helmet. Let's roll.

The bike course was fun. It started out with a small climb to a short downhill section then flattened out on the streets of Aiken. After riding the flats for a mile or so, we started a nice three mile climb. I knew this race was a little different for me and I had to consume calories and drink plenty of fluids or I would not make it. The first order was to take a few sips off the Aerobottle. My first reaction was oooh, way too sweet. I mixed it a little too strong, but forced myself to drink to get the electrolytes Cytomax offers. A few minutes later take in some Gu followed by water. I knew I did not want to push it too hard as it was a two loop course and still had to run. I took it pretty easy on the climbs with a few people passing me. It was obvious they were just better cyclist than me. This is one area I will work on for future races. After the climb, there were some nice flat sections where I got down in the aero bars and dropped the hammer. I had it in the big ring and just started flying by a couple people that passed me on the climb. After a nice flat section, there were a few rollers then came the downhill sections. I looked down at my Garmin and it said 42 mph! I continued to pedal as some people just coasted. Following the downhill section, was the flat section that returned back for second loop. I looked at my watch and it said: :35:22. 12 miles in 35 minutes was great for me. The second loop was much of the same. I remembered with 1 mile left that I needed some more calories before the run and took another Gu and washed it down with some water. My nutrition was spot on - two gels, and 52 oz of Cytomax and water. I had a few guys pass me, who were just awesome. I had no chance against them. My goal for the bike was 1 hour 20 minutes.

24 mile bike time 1 hour 12 minutes

I entered transition and ran with my bike to my designated rack.

T2 was pretty uneventful. Got the bike shoes off and exchanged the helmet for a hat and was off to the run course.

When I started the run, I was a little confused coming out of transition, but realized it was not a big deal. Some nice volunteers told me where to go. Heading out, my legs felt pretty good. I know I did not push it too hard on the bike. Actually, I could have gone harder. My goal was to take it really slow and get in a 1 hour run. I needed to take it easy because of the Achilles tendinitis I have been experiencing for the past two months. I did not want to do any permenant damage. This was on my mind the entire day. Starting out, the first mile was kind of tough because it was up a slight incline, but after crossing some train tracks I felt good. I came to my first aid station and took some water. I drank about two sips and unintentionally wore the rest. Then I remembered some thing from BT~ squeeze the top of the cup so it does not go all over you. Luckily it was just water not any kind of sports drink. They were serving HEED instead of Gatorade Endurance as they had done in the other Setup race I had done before. I decided to stick with the water as I had never tried HEED and did not think mile 2 of a six mile run was the right time to test it out. Just before mile three, I had developed at side stitch that really began to hurt. Remembering something I had read on BT, I looked down at my watch. My heart rate was 182! That was the highest I have ever seen! I really needed to slow down and get my hr under control. I made the turn at mile 3.1 and headed back home. At the first aid station, I decided to grab two cups of water. I was getting really hot. I drank one and dumped the other on my head to cool me down. This worked pretty well. My legs were starting to tighten up, but overall I was feeling okay. As I returned across the train tracks, I asked a volunteer if I was almost there and his response was "Yeah, kind of". That was kind of weird. I was pretty sure I only had another mile to go. As I got closer, I started hearing people cheering and cowbells ringing and I thought, "Thank God, I am almost there!" I could see the finish line in the distance. Then I see Sara. What a welcome sight. At that point I was feeling great. I even smiled and waved to her. Then I saw a sign that said to keep going. I figured, it was a small circle around then to the finish. Wrong! I see guy who says "Keep going, you're almost done, just another mile." What??????????

We had to run another 1/2 mile out and back along the dam at Langley Pond. Oh, man. So I kept going. Finally, the same guy on the way back in says "Only 200 meters to go. Push it!" So I kicked it across the finish line.

6.25 mile run time: 51 minutes 52 seconds

1500 meter swim, 24 mile bike, 6.25 mile run

Original goal: 2 hours 40 minutes

Official Finish Time 2 hours 38 minutes 21 seconds

Overall, I was very happy with my performance. I know I could have gone a little harder during the swim and the bike, but being my first longer distance endurance race, I really learned a lot. I feel everything was pretty much spot on from s/b/r to transitions, nutrition, etc. It was great to put in the effort for the past seven months and see it pay off. I am grateful to have a wonderful, supportive wife who never complained when I told her I was going to stop by the pool before I came home from work or would go for a late afternoon run.

Training for Augusta 70.3 begins in 2 weeks

Nervous, excited, or both

Only three days until Langley. I am having a hard time figuring out whether I'm really nervous, really excited, or a combination of both. I don't know how well prepared I am for the swim - bike - run back to back to back, but I do feel good about all three separately. We'll see. I think I need to work on some of the longer brick workouts. Especially the bike to run. The swim is just a good practice for open water swimming which is completely different from swimming in a pool. There is not black line to follow to keep you in a straight line. The thing I like most about this is the swim distance for Augusta is only 400m longer than what I am doing (or approximately 6 minutes). I did something I did not expect to do: I bought my own wet suit. This means I a really sucked in. XTERRA Wetsuits was running a special. I ended up getting a $400 wetsuit for $149.00. Since the water temperature is below 70, I think I will need one. Plus, three total events and it more than pays for itself. I am a little concerned about the run. I have not run since Saturday. That means one week without running. I am trying to keep my Achilles in check. That is the advice I received from quite a few people, so we'll see if it helps.

Less than one week...

I officially have less than one week until my first tri of 2009. SB and I will be traveling to Aiken, SC this coming Friday. I am getting nervous, but really excited. I am excited to see if I my training is paying off. Although moving up to an Olympic distance race is a big deal, it's only a small step in comparison to what lies ahead. In Sept, my first half Ironman. In 2010, my first full distance Ironman race. I am currently dealing with some injury issues regarding my Achilles tendinitis. I don't feel I have put in the miles necessary for this upcoming race, but at the same time know that pushing too hard right now, could further delay my progress in getting ready for Augusta. After Langley, I have two and a half weeks before I get into my set HIM training plan. My plan during this time is to let my body heal by cutting out running completely. As a substitute, the plan is to try "aqua jogging" as many people have recommended. The bike and the swim will still continue. My goal for Langley is 2:40, but with my current injury issues, I will not compromise my legs to set this pace. My real "A" race is Augusta. Speaking of Augusta:
http://www.ironmanaugusta.com/startlistname.php. I will soon be losing my name and will be given a new identity. A number.

Glad this weekend is over

I had a pretty good day of training yesterday. This is considering we had one of our biggest tournaments this past weekend - the Men's Member - Member. I had a couple days working 14 hours. It really wore me out. Even though I typically don't like sleeping in, I decided to do just that yesterday. I was in bed until 9:00. The good thing is that I woke up with some pretty good energy. I cleaned the house, both inside and out. Then went for a run. I got in 5.5 miles. I felt pretty good with the exception of my achilles. They are both hurting me pretty bad. It doesn't seem like stretching is doing enough. My IT Band felt great. It had no problems at all. I found I was missing a spot while using the roller. I worked it out and so far so good. I think it might be time to set up an appointment with the sports doc about the achilles. They just don't seem to be getting any better.

I felt so good after my run I contemplated going for a swim and decided it was worth it and went. It always seems like whenever I don't want to go but force myself to, I always have my best swims. I won't say it was my best, but I did feel pretty strong. Two weeks until my first event!!!

It's now official.........

I have officially signed up for Ironman Augusta 70.3. The nervousness has already set in and it's been less than a minute since registration.

Good week so far

I have had three consecutive days of training that have gone well. Monday was a good swim, totaling 1550, but I felt real strong doing it. Tuesday was a good run. It was supposed to be slow, but ended up being a little above my average pace. I did have IT Band issues. It really started to flare up. I won't say it hurt, but it let me know it was there. Yesterday, I spoke to my sports doc to get his opinion and told me if it continues for another week to let him know and we will start some PT work to loosen up the IT Band. The next step would be to analyze my biomechanics at Furman University and see what we need to change. Overall, I totaled 4.5 miles in 41 minutes. I am certainly no fast runner, but I get the job done. I rode the bike yesterday. I went for 38 miles. It was a good ride. I was in the aerobars the entire and felt real comfortable. I averaged around 17.5 mph. The only trouble I had was on my last loop around Donaldson, I ran out of my fluids. Near the end, I was not feeling great, but still made it. The ride took me just over two hours. Not only was I in need of fluids, but also some calories. Any exercise that involves physical exertion last over two hours, 200 calories should be consumed every 45 minutes. I'll work on that next time.

Light training has resumed

I have resumed my training following my sinus infection. I decided to take it easy as the doc suggested. Wednesday was a 40 minute trainer ride. Thursday I got back in the pool and swam an easy 1500m. I felt real good during and after. Friday was a 3.5 mile run. The ride and the run were both very exhausting. I am still feeling some effects of the short run today~ mostly just being a little fatigued. I officially registered for Langley yesterday. My original goal for this international distance was 2:30. I have decided to scale it back a little to 2:40-2:45. I don't feel I've put in the bike mileage to feel comfortable yet. I also wanted to pick up the pace a little in the run, which may happen. We'll have to see. I haven't done a longer brick yet. That is on the schedule for Tuesday (weather permitting). I very rarely get sick but when I do, it really knocks pretty hard. This is certainly the case this time too.

Sickness............

Sickness is the word of the week. I had symptoms of a cold beginning Friday evening and got progressively worse. I am currently battling a sinus infection. I am taking my meds and waiting. The doc told me I could still do some very light training, but I know myself and I can't go easy with anything. If I am going to do it, I am giving it all I have so I decided to not do anything and let my body recover. I just don't know if I can stand it one more day. Today might call for an easy ride, an easy run, or a long, but easy dog walk.

Only six weeks until my first event of 2009

I have my first event of 2009 on April 25. I can't wait. I feel pretty good about where I stand. I need to do a few bricks to really judge myself. The International distance is 1500m swim, 24 mile bike, and a 6.25 mile run. My biggest fear between the three events is my bike. I just don't get to spend enough time on it. Hopefully with the time change, my time on the bike will change too. I have had a really good week of training. I got in my longest ride to date yesterday. I made it 38 miles. I averaged around 18 mph. My legs were extremely fatigued following, but overall was very happy with the workout. This ride was different because I rode a Specialized Transition tri bike. The main advantage of having a tri bike vs rode bike is it's geometry. The downtube of the frame is a more aggressive 74-78 degrees vs a road bike of 60-65. Although this may not sound like much, I have found that just even a few rides on the road bike, it makes a huge difference. The more upright tube makes the rider use their quads vs. the hamstrings. This is important because the main muscles used for running are the hamstrings. Therefore, when the rider is off the bike and on to the run, their running muscles are not a tired. Although my legs were tired, it was all quads, not hamstrings.

My runs have been going pretty well. I am trying to get my mileage up slowly. My legs have felt pretty good. I did my long run last week of 6.5 miles. It's kind of strange saying that is my long run considering I have done 11 miles in the past. I am trying to follow orders by taking it slow and keeping my distances short and build up.

My swims have been pretty solid lately. I did just under 2500m on Sunday. These were mostly drills with a few longer intervals thrown in. I should be ready come race time. As race season approaches I get more and more excited. I can't wait to see if my training is truly paying off. For me, my race season is me against the clock, not any other competitor. Again, it's all about seeing what I can do.

Some crazy Upstate weather......

Last weekend, we had a total of three inches of rain. It was in the forties. Sunday, all the rain changed to snow. When it was all said and done, we had four inches on the ground. Sara and I had some fun making snow balls and trying to get the kids out in it. Colby was game until she heard thundersnow and bolted in the house. Oscar may have been the only warm one choosing to stay inside. The snow doesn't go well with the training, but to this day, I have not missed a day since last Saturday. I have done something everyday and have felt pretty good. I had my bike adjusted and that helped eliminate some of the leg pain I was feeling in my hamstring tendon.

Running has been a little strange. It has been going well, but when I try to run at different speeds, meaning a little faster, or a little slower, my speed always seems to average about the same. That is not necessarily a bad thing, because I am not completely unhappy with the pace I have been running. I am going to slowly start to build up my distances again after backing way off for a couple months. I would like to hit up to 7.5-8 miles by the end of April.

Biking has been going well. I have made it a point to specifically get on the bike more often. Even if that means getting on the trainer. Since my second round of bike fitting, it has been great. After riding a quick 17 miles yesterday, my legs felt great. No fatigue at all. Unfortunately my route became very crowded with cars since it was close to the 3:30-4:00 range and BMW employees were leaving. I figured it is better to be safe than sorry and called it a day. I plan to go out today and get in a ride at Donaldson Center. I'm looking to go about 30-35 miles or so.

Swimming has been pretty uneventful. Since my first race is in six weeks, I'm going to spend some more time in the pool. The race is 1500m. I plan on it taking me about 30 minutes or less.

This first race will be a great benchmark to see where I really am training wise. The swim distance is comparable to my HIM. The bike and the run are about half the distances. I don't know how I will fare in reaching my goal of 2.5 hours but that's all it is there for ~ give me something to shoot for.