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.