Mary's 32nd Birthday present!

No it was not some useless rock on a ring or necklace, it was way more priceless.

She received something you can't buy, a "PR"!!! Thats right, we got up nice and early for Mary's special day and went to Scottsdale to run The Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon. That is the way we prefer to celebrate special days in our lives, instead of going out and eating a $100 meal that we should not have eaten any way.

My present to Mary was that I would, (like it or not) pace her through the entire 13.1, or in this case 13.3 miles. With the simple goal of getting her that new 1/2 marathon PR. I was exactly three weeks out from Ironman AZ, and had not done any real training since, as for running I had only ran one run over 8miles (11miler easy) in the last 21days. So knowing that (A) It would be pointless for me to race, and (B) it woud be sooo much more fun actually helping Mary get that fast time, that off we went.

As usual we went through mile 1 too fast for the day (6:48), so that is when I decide that I had better take over at this point and keep her in check, and make the day successful. I am sure that she could have PR"D without me, but seeing that I was with her we where without a question gonna PR, or else. So we settled in to a nice comfy 7:15ish pace pretty much the next 9 miles, each time I would hear her breathing pick up and the pace quicken I would make her hold back some. It was like holding the reins on a young colt, she just wanted to go. In my mind I wanted her to enjoy finishing strong and not strugling to the line. It is so much more of a positive to finish passing, then it is being passed, and after all, this day was a training race, the BIG PICTURE is keeping our eyes on the prize Jan 18th. So I had not told her, but was thinking hold her back until mile 10 or so and then let her set the pace. The only catch was that if she slowed down I would make her pick it up, but she could go as fast as felt comfortable. So as we approached the 10 mile mark I told her this, and I kinda just dropped back a step or two and let her go. Mary just stayed consistent another 7:15ish for mile 11. So I explained to her that it would be ok to start to build little by little from here on out, just pick it up a little bit at a time, again she would set the pace not me, and she did at just after mile12 she started to push it more up the one hill on the course, and I could tell she was starting to feel it now. GOOD, that was the point see what you can do the back end of the race. She started pushing it just a little too much to soon (6:40's pace) and we backed it off just a little again for about 50 yards so she recover for the last .25 of a mile. Then I picked out a row of trees and said when we hit them you are gonna puc to the line, and Bam she is off, so I just stayed with her we are now under 7:00 pace again and stuggling too keep it, with the last turn we can see the clock and I tell her she has 30 seconds to break 1:36:00, and she says Shit!! and picks it up to an all out sprint to the line 1:36:07!!!!

and a new PR by over 2 minutes from just 4 weeks ago!!!!!

Way to go Babe, very proud of you, and can't think of a better way to spend your birthday!!!~!

Blah, blah, blah

so you can tell by the frequency of my blogs that I haven't had a lot of excitement going on recently. I am in the 3rd week of my recovery from Ironman Arizona, and Just started this week getting serious and structured workouts again. Well kinda!!
I actually woke up on monday and had a bike and a run on my schedule, but because Mary had the day off and didn't have to be out running at 5am I decided to stay in bed with her and enjoy not having to actually be somewhere. So I skipped my ride and just went for my run 1 1/2 later. So nice to be able to do that.
I have been feeling really motivated with my running, but not so much with the bike or swim. There is One thing I have know for sometime about myself, and that is I NEED to have some goal ahead of me, I don't do well with too much rest and without direction. Seeing that I don't have any tri's until April, but with several larger runs before hand I guess I have just migrated towards running, that and the fact that I enjoy running the most!!! Also up until tuesday of this week I have been able to swim outside, but as of tuesday the 60 degree water was not any fun for swim workouts without my wetsuit, so now I am inside swimming until spring, and I HATE SWIMMING INSIDE!!!!! I hate it so much that I actually swam 750 meters in that water on tuesday before giving up and going inside to finish my workout. Just for the record I may have been a little chilled from my early morning ride in the cool & dark. So I may try it outside yet again this week on saturday!!

Sunday is a BIG day in our house, it is Mary's B-day and she is racing a half marathon,(The Fiesta Bowl 1/2), which I am attempting to pace her through. She has been running well and has came such a long way. I am so excited for her and the big day in just over 5 weeks. Look out Boston we are on our way!!!!

For now that is it, Remember Ironman world championship is on NBC this saturday, I will be there next year! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Athlete of theYear!!!

I want to congradulate my very own true love, Mary!!! As voted on by the memebers of our Tri club (Phoenix Triathlon Club) Mary was named the Female Athlete of The Year!!! She has had a fabulous racing season, finishing at the top of her age group in every race this year, all the hard work and focus she has but forth is starting to really pay off. She so deserves this and I am soooooo very proud of her.
The scariest part is that Mary is just now starting to scratch the surface of her abilities. Watch out for what she has coming up over the next 12 months if you think she had a good year in 2008!!! Look out 2009!!!!!!!!!!
I love you darlin, keep up the hard work.

IRONMAN ARIZONA Race REPORT!!!

Ironman Arizona Part II 2008: I have put off for several days now actually sitting down and putting fingers to keyboard. Not because I didn't want to, but because I wanted it to all set in. I wanted to convey all of the thoughts and feelings that I have experienced over the last week. So here it goes...Nov 23rd I awoke at 4:15am. Feeling very calm, with a great desire to just get out there and test myself. Unlike any other Ironman or Marathon that I have ever done before I had an amazing feeling of comfort and silent confidence. I never felt like I had to double and triple check my equipment and bags of gear. Just a really strange feeling to have. Normally I am so type "A" that i must pack and unpack, and then repack my bags several times. I ate my normal pre race breakfast of oatmeal and bagel with honey on both. Then after putting on my oh so comfy TRISCOTTSDALE one piece race suit, and a few layers to keep warm off Mary and I headed from our hotel 1/2 mile walk down Ash St. to Tempe Lake and the transition area.Upon arriving at the transistion area all went smoothly, air in the tires, water in the bottles of INFINIT,then just relax before putting the wetsuit on. I did try one new thing and that was to throw my running shoes on and do about a 10 minute warm up jog just before heading to the water, thought this might help me in the start of the swim.***The Swim**The cannon fires and all 2000 plus of us are off, let the elbows and feet begin!! After about 10-15 minutes it started to thin out a bit and i could actually find my own water, trying to take the straightest line to the 1st turn buoy, felt good at the turn and just wanted to keep it straight all the way back. I maybe for the first time ever in an Ironman found someones feet that I could stay on for most off the way back. (still need lots of practice at this). When I went unde the last Mill st. bridge I heard my watch beep indicating 8:00am seeing that we started at almost 7:02 I know that I would be close to the time I was shooting for 1:04-1:05. I exited the water and my watch said 1:04, ok right where I need to be.After a little problem getting my wetsuit over my size 14 feet I was up and running to T1, In and out pretty well, I saw my buddies Brian Folts, and Marc Rubin changing beside me and knew I had a good swim for me. Where is my Felt time to go hammer the Bee-Line for a while!!!***The Bike**Off onto the bike and feeling real good, just wanted to stay steady to the turn around and fly back down the road back to town. As usual there was my old friend I had worried about not seeing today (the wind), though it was very mild you could still feel it in your face. My bike goal was to try and keep my average pace for the day always at or above 21mph. so when I hit the turn around at about 20.5 I was extremely happy, because know I get to take the down hill into Tempe and up that overall average.after loop one my 21.5 average was stellar for me, now just keep it here the next two loops and you will be golden. Honeslty I just tried to stay focused out there and look for calves with 40-44 on them. On my start of my 2nd loop I saw Marc Rubin and Billy Dean Johnson in the penalty tent, and could tell Marc wasn't happy if you know what I mean?! Just as I passed them Marc comes past me still pissed off and hammer the bike like a mad man, so I decided to see how long i could stay close to him know Marc is a much stronger biker than I am, so I thought I might help me up my average pace if i could hold onto him as long as possible. Of course Marc and Dean where trying to be very careful at this point and trying to stay clear of other riders so this made for a challenge as a big group of about 10-15 guys riding in a pack came by us, Marc and I are trying to stay honest and they are just cheating their asses off! It made for a nervous 2nd loop as the ref. was right next to us the entire way out the Bee-Line waiting to give you a card, and he gave out plenty, but we killed ourselves to stay out of trouble. At the 20nd turn around marc and I where off the front and pushing it, finally Marc dropped my and I was on my own. No problem still way ahead of where I need to be. Off to the 3rd loop still feeling great average is at 21.5.Then like a light switch going on i realized that i had probably just bike to hard for my abilities and would end up being sorry on the run. So at the 84 mile mark I had to decide if i should back it off some to save for the run or just go with it, and try to get as much time as possible on the bike. I went with the later figuring that at this point the damage was probably already done i might as well just hammer the last 25miles and just survive the run. Most of this last loop was back and forth with another of out boys Brian Henry. He was doing his first Ironman and was having a really solid race. I kept trying to encourage him each tme I saw him!! The 3rd loop was my best and I came in with a 21.9mph average heading to T2. Brain and I came in together off the bike and now it was time to see what I was made of!***The Run**I can out of T2 and the clock read 6:28:00, I was like what? That can't be right, where did I lose 10minutes? I had a great T2!!! By the time I reached 1/2 mile of the run I realized that the time was the pro time and i was actually out of T2 at 6:18:00! Ok, just take it easy and run a conservative 26.2 miles and you are going to have the day you dreamed of. (Sub 10hrs and a Kona slot). My Ironman math told me that if I just ran my pace I trained for (7:30pace/ 3:16 marathon) I would be somewhere in the 9:30's. I repeated to add and subtract this equation for about 4 miles becasue I couldn't believe it, and because my Ironman math has been off before and has cost me on the run several times. As I passed mile 1 I also passed Marc, and told him to just keep it focused and steady. Before I knew it I was at mile 4 and realized i needed to slow down badly. I had went out running 6:30pace and only needed to go 7:30's. The next 8 miles where great, I passed alot of pros (male and female0 and just kept it solid at 7:30's. I went through the Phoenix Tri Club aide station at the marina where my biggest supporters where hanging out. My BEST half Mary Knott was as crazy nervous as I have ever seen her, taking the microphone and screaming my name as I ran through the station. Everyone working the aid station was so great. screaming for me and encouraging me with all their energy. Thanks guys!!! A special shout out to my 10 year old little girl Megan, and Hillary Biscay who where yelling for me as I came through, when Hillary yells something at you, it is a good idea to listen, who is stronger than her when it comes to Ironman racing? So onto my next 8 miles (12-20) not pretty, just after I passed the transition area at mile 12 things started to come unraveled. I was losin energy, my stomach was starting to hate me,a dn i was starting to panic!!! No, not again, I kept trying to figure out how to fix things. I tried some more Powergel, No way !! So I went to cola, Nope!!! I walked a minute, shit don't do this, start running!!! I did everything and anything possible for those 8 miles. Finally at the 20mile mark I said THAT IS IT!!! you are going to run through whatever happens until you cross that finish line. Remember how bad it sucked in April when you didn't get to Kona becasue of 11 seconds, remember watching Hillary Biscay come back from done and win her first Ironman in Wisconsin. She should have been dropped but somehow dug in and went to that place that few of us every visit, that place where the suffering is so bad that you just kinda leave your body and get through it. remember all those days running when it was 115 degrees!!! So I went to that place, so focused that I couldn't talk out loud when i tried a couple of times. I could see everything and nothing at all, It was if I was watching this all happen 2nd hand. When I hit that Curry Hill for the 3rd time and the people where laying on the ground, and walking, and i was the only one running, my legs where screaming at me, but i promised no matter how slow it was, I must keep running, just get to the top and it is home free down hill. Through the PTC water station again, up onto Rural bridge back down onto the dirt trail. Mile 25, this is where I got pushed out of my slot in April. Do not let up, matter of fact, pick it up damn it, pass everyone you can form here to the line, passed one, and then another guy with a 40 and 41 on their calves, ok there is the Mill bridge you are almost there, keep pushing to the line, just then I see someone ahead of me make the final turn at the 26 mile mark into the parking lot, shit doe she have a 40 on his calf? I can't tell, damn it, this is where you got dropped and beat by 11 seconds in April, you have to pass him with all you have, do not let him have a chance to stay with you, go with all you have in you. Just as I get to him I see a 41 on his right calf, and go by with all my might, as I pass he shouts out " thats right, run it on in", before he finishes his sentence he sees my age and attempts to go with me, no way, not this time do not let him past you, I can hear him breathing soooo hard on my neck, but I am not giving in, just push a little longer he must break before you. we make the final turn onto Rio Salado and probably about 50 yards to go, All of a sudden I notice that his breath on my neck is gone, I figure I have to look over my shoulder, because If I have to go to black out for this finish I will, but he is dropped!! Yes I look at the clock for the first time and realize i have beat him and it is 9:53 ish, I have broken 10hrs and gave myself every chance possible for that Kona slot!!! As I cross the line, I am totally freakin done, finished, cooked, spent. I am non verbal and put into a wheel chair(not my 1st time for this). Mary is there to take care of me and get me through that first hour after I finish where I can do nothing but lay on the ground in the fetal position. I have given all I had and them some, all I can do know is sit a wait to see where I finished and how many slots there are. Sometime in that first hour someone texted Mary that I was 11th. We knew this would be very, very close, but didn't think I would know until monday morning for sure.After a very slow walk to the hotel to shower, and cry a little, we headed back to the finsh line to see everyone else suffer!!! HA!! Sitting in the vip tent with some friends someone says that the slots for the 40-44 agre group ended up going 11 deep! What, how do you know this, where is this info for sure???I hobble over to the registrayion area and there it is, the slot allocation, in bold black age 40-44(11 slots). I am in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! grap Paul Huddle as he is walking by, and make him translate for me, does this say what I think it says? He confirms for me and after a big hug I call Mary who has went back to work the aid station. No answer. Damn! Call my buddy Jason to see if he is there with her. No he is headed back home, I try Mary again, she finally answers and I give her the news!!! Mary puts me on hold and grabs the mircophone one last time and anounces to all our friends at the aid station that I have qualified!!! Wow!!! What a day.I want to thank everyone out there screaming and cheering for me all day, all of the little words helped.also every voluteer on the course was fantastic, we couldn't do it with out you. Thanks to Hillary Biscay for helping me find that other place. Big thanks to TRISCOTTSDALE, INFINIT NUTRITION, FELT BIKES, FOCUS CYCYLERY, FIRST ENDURANCE, PHOENIX TRI CLUB, RUNAZ, all in no paticular order!!!Most importantly my little girl Megan, and Mary Knott for believing in me, loving me, pushing me to be all I can be, and for being there to support my crazyness. I love you girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Cheers, and i will see you in KONA,Beaver

Time for the Sufferfest!!! Finally

1st off I would like to throw a shout out to my beautiful Mary. Big "PR" at the Tulsa half marathon last weekend. (1:38:00). On top of that it was the third week out of the last month that she was traveling,(Hawaii, Napa,and Tulsa) and she did it with zero taper. Someone is gonna freakin kill it at PF Changs in Jan.

Oh, and by the way, this is race week for me. 2008 Ironman Arizona part II. This will be my third Ironman of 2008, and this will be the one I have been dreaming about for the last year. I don't normally like to make public statements about my race predictions, (bad luck, and all that stuff) So I will just say I have several goals going into sunday. A) Most importantly to get a Kona slot for next Oct. B) Go under 10hrs for the first time. C) Place myself on the podium for my age group. Rest assured I will give it to myself all day and hope to grab hold of those goals I have set for myself.

This week is normally the worst week of training for me. My training is so tiny that I get weird.

This time around I know that I am the most prepared that I have ever been for an Ironman race. That is all I could ask of myself. Now I am ready to go out sunday with an inner confidence

that I have have never felt. So keep your fingers crossed for me, and about 3pm on sunday throw me a little extra energy, thats when I will need it the most (about the half way mark of the marathon)!!

Cheers

Finally, NOVEMBER!!!

After months of training and dreaming about getting to Nov. for Ironman Arizona part II, I am actually here. Now I am trying to just put in the finishing touches on my training, and start my official taper (taper starts the 10th). I have really been putting in some stellar training sessions with very promising results, but must say my body is begging for the taper to start. See mentally I love the suffering, but my body is saying ok already, you have suffered enough for a while, lets get to the rest and the race!!!

This weekend I will swim the OPen water 2.4 mile swim down at Tempe Town Lake (the site of the Ironman swim start), at 10:30 sunday, and that will really signify the beginning of the end.

I woudl of course love to put up this super fast time, but because you never know the accuracy of the course distance I will not get to concerned with the out come on my watch, but will pay more attention to how I feel and what kind of effort I put in.

Mary heads to Napa on thursday to celebrate her fathers 60th B-day (HAPPY B_DAY JIMBO), and will return on sunday, just intime to see me come out of the water. Then I am getting a kick ass massage from Christina, and relaxing this old body!!!

The picture at the top is my bike computer, with my new fastest speed I have hit on my bike

That is 52.6MPH!!!!!

Just Focusing!!!!!

Yes I have been away from the blog for a while.

It has been a very crazy and productive couple of weeks.

Mary has went and came back from a week in Hawaii with the girls. I missed her horribly but needed to be here with my mind focused on Nov 23rd. and the suffering that needed to happen to get me prepared for the big day. Funny how the one week that I actually got to recover I felt much worse than when I am out there giving to myself everyday. Note to self, No more recovery weeks!! HA!

This week has been very eventful, I had Meg's big 10th B-day on tuesday, but not until I spent 8 1/2 hours on the bike and running first. Today I turned around and had my long run for the week of 19miles. Ran the first 7ish miles with Mary while she was doing her Tempo portion of her morning run. It was awesome to not only run with someone, but to have it be with my Mary made it even that much more sweet. See I Never ever ever get to run with anyone. The only recent time I can remember actually running with someone more that a mile was April IMAZ when I came up :11 seconds short of qualifying for Kona. (Needless to say this will NOT happen again), I have spent months with myself and finding that next level of suffering i needed to find. Being able to suffer beyond the point of suffering. It is that last 2% or so of suffering that makes all the difference. Just watch, check back here after Nov 23rd and I WILL show everyone!!!

Anyway back to this mornings run, One wish I have always had is that as I get older (slower), and Mary gets faster, that we will actually be able to spend my later years running together. It was so cool to see how far she has come with her running. I prefer to look at it only as Mary getting faster, instead of me actually getting slower. Mary has worked soooo hard for this marathon, she is without question going to rock the shit out of the Rock n Roll marathon in

Jan.

Well this weekend is kinda of a bonus weekend, I get to add a little extra mileage and intensity to my week. Soma 1/2 Ironman is sunday, i will plan on trying to really focus on the swim and the bike, the run will be a hard effort not a race effort. Need to save that for the day 4 weeks later!

On my run this morning I actually counted 4 or 5 niggles that I have going on when i run from my achilles on one side to my hip flexor on the other. So I must be smart enough to save it on the run!! ONE more big week next week, and then I can start to look towards the long awaited taper!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Happy Anniversary Babe!!!

So today is a very happy special day in my mind and heart. It is Mary and my anniversary.

It has been 4 years today that Mary and I finally got to know each other at the 2004 Chicago marathon. The Chicago Marathon needless to say, holds a very special spot in our hearts.

So tonight we will go have so Pizza at Mary's favorite place (NYPD), and just relax for a little while. I know it sounds very low key and simple for an anniversary celebration, but thats the way we like it. Hell, tomorrow we both have to do our long runs, and mine is a 22miler!!! Yikes.

So a little carbs will be helpful.

The down side of today is that tomorrow my beautiful bride leaves me for Hawaii for a week.

I know she will have fun will her sis, and mom, so i am happy for her, but I will be lonely without my Mary!!! I mean come on, who else will listen to my mindless talk about training paces and sore this and that!!! Not to mention the last time she was gone I had the worst bike ride of my life. You can read about that in my past blogs.

As for my training, well I am at the end of a VERY long three week cycle. by 3pm on sunday I will have done almost 900miles on the bike, 25miles in the pool, and 150miles running in just 21 days. I am feeling so strong, but am ready for a little recovery week next week before my final push to the taper.

Keep you posted!!

The Hunt for October!!

Oh Yes!!! It is finally hear. OCTOBER!!!!
What a great time of the year. I look forward to October every year. There are just many awesome things gong on this time of the year.
All of he great Fall Marathons are in October, Chicago being my personal favorite. You see Mary and I first got to know each other at the Chicago Marathon. If it wasn't for the fabulous fall weekend who knows if we would be together today!! Hawaii Ironman is in October, and is the pinnacle of the Triathlon world, the greatest Ironman athletes in the world show up in Kona for 140.6 miles of total hell on earth. Temps in the high 90's, humidity to match, and winds of up to 60mph. Not bad if you are going sailing, but hell if you are covering 140.6miles with nothing but your own body power and strength!!!
October also brings us the baseball playoffs and the World Series, which have always been very near and dear to my heart and always will hold a very special place inside me!!! Go Reds!!! Shit maybe next year (again)!!!
October is the month my one and only child was born (Megan), it is so fun to see her light up on October 1st, knowing her birthday month is finally here!
In addition the weather finally starts to break and in Arizona we have made it through another summer and can look forward to 7 months of near perfect days and nights, while the rest of the country, especially our families start winterizing the houses and getting the snow blowers ready for a long, cold, dark winter!!! Did I mention COLD!!! Ha! I lived in Wisconsin for 15 years, I know cold.
Now this time of the year finally means that here in Az we are only about 7 weeks away from our Ironman race, for Dan his 3rd Ironman of 2008!!!
This is gonna be the one that makes next October even more special than most of the others. I will be in Kona next October (Fingers Crossed)
Stay tuned.....

The Pain!!!

Yep thats right, I knew going into sundays olympic distance race (Nathans) that it was going to hurt if I raced it all out. Seeing that I have been training ONLY for Ironman distance races for 2 solid years now. That means going short + fast = PAIN!!!
I also knew that going in at this distance there was zero chance I would be able to run up to my standards with it taking at least 1-1/2 miles for my achilles to stop hurting every time I run. With this in mind and the fact that we wouldn't be using wetsuits (water temp 82) meant that my swim & my run wouldn't be very good bench marks of where my fitness and hard work is paying off. If you are at all familiar with triathlon that means I only had one other leg to really challenge myself (the bike). I have been really been focusing on my bike leg for about 9 months, and have been really been feeling stronger each week, being able to do climbs that I used to really struggle with. So anyway i was a little disappointed that the bike course was going to be 28miles instead of the standard 24.9 miles that most olympic races are. So I wouldn't be able to compare my previous times, but could campare my speed and my competition. I was very happy to hammer out a 1:07 bike split averaging over 24mph for the entire ride. After comparing this to some of my normal competition, I actually closed some time on them and beat some of the guys that normallt out split me. YEA!!!!!
So I ended up going 2:18:00, 15th overall and 4th in my age group. My swim was wayyyyy slower than normal, but even the very best swimmers where about 2 minutes off their normal swim times so that made me feel a little better, Seems the swim course was about 150 meters long! and my run was so so, but that is ok my eye is on the big day in NOV. where I break 10hrs for the first time in an Ironman!!!!
Great job by my best half Mary. she rocked it as usual coming in as the 4th overall woman, and 1st Age group. Not bad for someone that has bike all of about 50 miles since June!

10 Weeks and counting!!!!!!!!

So riding such a high all last week after witnessing Hillary Biscay's first Ironman Victory. read her report @ http://hillarybiscay.wordpress.com/ ,I went through a week of unbelievable mental focus, I was so on it was scary, I actually had to dial myself back a few times, I was just smashing myself every workout!! Thanks Hillary!!!
I wrapped up my week with a trail 10K race. Now I had to be smart here, my achilles is still shit and that course is totally not good for me, so my plan was to just treat it as a tempo run, and no faster than 6:00 miles. I was very happy to see I was between 5:56 and 6:05 ish the entire race, I never let me self get caught up in things and felt so good. Amazing how much better you feel when you don't cross over into that last 5-10% of your limits. Afterwards I just keep running to complete my 12miles on my schedule. then off I dashed to my Felt to ride back to gilbert lifetime ((40miles) ,to meet Mary at the pool for our sprint swim workout (3000 meters), we finished up in time to get some luch and head home for a nap, I got 30minutes before leaving for my massage, and Mary got to sleep for about an 1 1/2hrs.
Mary starts her Official marathon training today. Got get em girl, I will be there to help when you need me, (just ask)!!!
Peace out!!!

What a trip!!!!!!!!

So last friday Mary and myself headed off to Wisconsin for IM MOOO!
We arrived friday evening, and my friends John, Rhonda & Katie meet us at the airport for the short drive to State street. We where to meet up with some Skirts at State Street Brat House. There we had a local brew, and headed across the street for a surprise cocktail. See It has been a few years since I have been on the state st. drinking seen, but wanted to get Mary a drink (cherry bomb) that I used to enjoy at an underground bar named The Pink Flamingo, well it has changed names and apparently drinks. For $14 we received something with not resemblance of the old cherry bombs of the past. Needless to say, I ended up drinking mine and most of Mary's. Sorry about that sweetheart!
Saturday a.m. we where off to the IM venue to check in for our volunteering job, and then we where off to the lake for one loop of the IM swim course. The water was so perfect. We swam 30min and headed off to get our hour run in. I took Mary to one of my old running routes. Howard Temlin trail, along the beautiful Lake Mendota. It was so nice to share such a great place with my loved one. It is amazing sharing things with Mary that mean so much to us, and that most people just don't understand. Running along a lake, with shade, on a dirt path, with tons of other runners and bikers! Does it get better?
Yes, it actually does. Sunday morning we arose a like 7am ish, which is sleeping in very late for us. We headed to my favorite place to run, The UW arboretum! Mary and I ran our 2hr run through some of the best running you could ask for, it just flew right by. We bot just really enjoyed the scene, and the 100's of runners and bikers out there with us. At this point we are getting very spoiled. 68degrees and beautiful yet again. Does it get any better than this?
After our run we headed for coffee and bagels and a shower. We relaxed for a little while watching the start of the IRONMAN online. Our friend Hillary Biscay was leading the entire swim and bike portions of the race, and we started getting extremely excited for her. So we couldn't sit still any longer, and decided to head to the run course so we could catch up with some of our many friends doing the race, and to cheer Hillary on for the final stretch. We did see all of our friends on the run from our position on State st. We camped out at about the 25.5 mark of the marathon. Finally we hear the crowds screaming and we jumped to our feet, fingers crossed that the cheers where for the 1st place women, and wishing deep down for it to be Hillary. As the 1st place female lead bike came around the corner and Hillary was right behind it we just about flipped out!!! We started screaming and running down State St. right next to her, what an amazing moment. We realize that if we want to see her finish we have to hammer up hill with all our shit to beat her there. So Mary and I take off, It was not pretty but we got there just as she was coming down the final 50 yards. SO Amazing!!! Now after Hillary finishes and does her interviews and etc... I get to hang out with her for a few and talk to her about the race and what she is feeling. To give you an idea of how competitive she is, when Mary and I where running beside her on State St. she said she could see us out of the corner of her eye and was thinking, "I can't let them run faster than I am" So she kicked it in one last time. How crazy?!
Now to give you an idea of how determined Hillary was, she had been in the lead the entire race until she was passed at 19 miles of the run, and was dropped to a minute back at 23miles. At that point she said to herself, "bullshit, I promised to myself I was going to win this race today"! So she started pushing it. She closed the gap back to :30 seconds at 24miles , and then realized that she could do it. She took back the lead at 25miles, and ended up winning by 2:30! That is called dropping the hammer, to put 3minutes on her competition at that point of an Ironman within 1mile is nothing short of impossible! DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So anyway Mary and I worked the finish line catch and seeing almost all of our friends, and our last catch of the shift was truly that! We had to carry our last person to the medic tent because she was coming in and out of it, and was white as a ghost. What a day!!!
Does it get any better than that?
Well!!!!! We wake up sunday morning early and head down to sign up for the 2009 IM MOO. After about and hour or so of standing in 55 degrees and rain we get it done, and have just enough time to get our hour run before the airport.
I once again took Mary to one of my old trails for runners and bikers only. It is 54 degrees and raining, YES!!!! Finally a run in the rain, my most favorite thing!!! It has been at least 2 years since I have had a chance to do it. So we just rain and enjoyed ourselves wishing that it would never end!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing this great weekend with me Mary. There is no one in the world I would have wanted to be there with me other than you!!!
I won't go into the horrible flight back you had! HA!!
We hope to head back to the land of MOOO sometime next spring for a week long training block.
Until then!!!!

ON to Wisconsin!!!!!!

Not alot report from the home front for me, just training solid and trying to get closer to the big day.
I have a couple of things to side track me which is good, I am so excited about Ironman Arizona in Nov I just want to get there already. Until then the little things keep my mind off it. This weekend we head to the land of Mooo's and beer for a little thing called Ironman Wisconsin. In the mean time Mary and I will volunteer at the finish line, meet up with some old friends, and get some good hill training running through the Arb.,as it is called in Madison.
Today I had my 1 1/2 tempo run. I have been feeling stronger by the week with my running, the achilles still is the same, but I have just learned to deal with it and the bright side (knock on wood) is that it isn't getting worse!!!! So I started off on my normal tempo run route, I felt decent from the start, not great but decent. As usual I do my two mile warm up and then starts the suffering. I was able to keep my tempo pace at between 6 and 6:15, so within my range of acceptance. finishing up keeping everything else at as close to 7:00 min pace as possible, so alittle faster some a little slower, but again decent. My range I shoot for is 6-6:09 pace.
Then it was off to bike ez for an hour, my 5th day in a row on the bike, with yet one more day tomorrow before leaving town. from sunday through today I have logged about 250miles on the bike, so the legs are ready for a little break.
I will check back in next week after Wisconsin!!
Cheers to all!!

Proper alignment...

Well after not having Mary around for the better half of 5 days while she was in KC,
It was so comforting to have her body next to mine last night! Now I will just leave that stone unturned so as not to embarrass her, which I have been known to do!
This past weekend was a very out of alignment type of weekend of workouts. With Mary gone things where just a little off. I have been running for years, and have come up with all sorts of injuries, sprains, tears, etc... but on my saturday long run last weekend I actually injured my elbow while running! Yes, my elbow, and no, it wasn't from falling on it during my run (Mary)! LOL. No, what I did was come around a tight corner flying at the end of my run, and bamm, my elbow was kinda sticking out and I ran into a parked truck. It made a horrible sound and took my breath away with the instant pain. It had to ice it for two days to get it to stop hurting!!
Then on sunday, my long bike/run brick I made my 5hr ride turn into 7+ hours because of flat tires. I ran all out of tubes and co2, and still was farrrr from being home, actually anyones home. I was out in the desert all by my self. This is where the crazyness started. I bike about 10miles with a total flat on my front until I reached civilization again, racking my brain for ideas, I remember that a couple from our Triclub lived only about three miles out of my way, so i would head there get a tube and be on my way. Not so easy!!! First they live in a gated community so I had my bike, and my bike shoes on me and am trying to climb the fence so I can get to their house. finally I get in and nobody is en casa!! So know I am 3 more miles farther from home and still no tube, so i start down the road flat and all 13 miles an hour, first I try Walgreens, no tubes, did I mention the are ZERO bike shops open on sundays??? I was only a couple of miles from three differnt shops!!! Next I try Walmart, in I go with my bike, find what I think should work, and head out front to fix the tire. Stip the tire off tear out the old stupid tube and damn it, the valve is too thick, so it won't work, I put my bike back together and head back into Walmart. Did I mention that it is also 110 degrees outside and I still have a 40minute run ahead of me if and when I get home. So I go into Walmart the 2nd time, and they tell me I must go wait in that line of 10 people over there in the corner to exchange my fucking tube! Well I figure out they don't have my size tube and the last ditch effort is to try the instant flat sealer with air can thingy. Back out I good tear down my bike tire again, and this thing is shit, it just blew crap all over the place and doesn't fix it either. Damn!! Next I flag down a truck that has a lady driving that has a bike in the back, so i figure she might have a tube. Well she is on a freakin recumbent bike with 20in tires, but assures me her husband must have the correct size at home and he is only a mile or so away, so I throw my bike in thetruck and off we go to their place, after another half hour out in the hot as hell garage we come to the conclusion, no tube that will fit. So now I have no more choices, just suck it up and bike the rest of the way home on the flat, at this point it is 12:30 and I have been out for 6.5 hours, so I realize I am going close to another friends house Jason, and I know he has tubes, so I call on my cell going 13 miles an hour, he is actually about 3 miles away and coming my way, he picks me up and takes me to his house where I finally fix the tube!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, So I know only have about 6 miles to home and am just thinking to myself, that if ever I had an excuse not to run this was it, but then I said to myslef, there are no excuses, and that I can't do what most people would do, and pussy out and just call it a day. So I get home at 1:34 pm, the middle of the afternoon, at the hottest point of the day (112 degress), I throw on my running shoes and head out, within less then a mile I realized that I made the correct decision, as I am flying down the trail, but still to pissed off to even look at my pace, some where around the half way mark I finally check my garmin and I am flying along effortlessly at a 6:30 pace, I end up my last mile at 6:08. Of course Mary's not in town, so off to the grocery I go without any lunch, I am now on a mission and am going to do everything, after the store I head home and spend an hour Ironing all of Marys work pants. Finally I must eat and sleep, to bed i go at 6:30.
What a crazy weekend, I am so glad my balance is home THANK YOU MARY!!!!!

No!! I didn't fall off the face of the earth.

I guess I have just been so busy training, I haven't had time to blog. Actually the truth of it is I have been crazy busy at work. So no time for the blog.
I have really been seeing continued success in my swim/bike/run thing!!
Mostly a little concerned that I may be hitting my stride a little soon. IMWI is in like two weeks, and it just so happens that the time between IMCDA and IMWI is exactly the same amount of time I had between IMAZ and IMCDA, so my body is saying come on dude, its time for another Ironman. It is going to be tough being at IMWI and not be racing. I am trying to bide my time until I can do an OLY distance in a few weeks to get my race fix on. Then I will have several more BIG BOY training weeks to put in before I get to throw it down at the Soma half IM.
Just all small stepping stones toward my BIG day at IMAZ part 2 at the end of NOV.
I WILL put up a qualifying time and a new PR!!! It is just a question of whether or not I will also win my age group!!! How is that for positive thoughts???
Any way, gotta figure a way to make it through the weekend without my Mary who is in KC for work!!! LOVE U BABE!!!

My newest Photo press release?!

So I am not sure exactly why, but all of a sudden (the last 2 weeks) I have gotten much faster in the pool!?
Yesterday I swam the 2nd day in a row, monday i did a nice aerobic workout of 3600meters, and then yesterday Mary swam with me for my 3600meter Anaerobic swim. She always pushes me when we swim together, and makes it hurt so good. Well for the first time in a long time, and actually maybe ever, I swam all of the long sets below 1:30 per 100 pace! Now of course I wake up this morning, kinda excited because I get to swim my third workout in a row this week, and then I have my favorite cycle class at the gym. So happens that both the swim and bike class today are sprint workouts. Meaning, anaerobic, I love that word! With Ironman training you get kinda tired of aerobic long this and aerobic long that! So anyway, I was very suprised to find myself doing my swim workout at 1:21-1:24 per 100meters. That is all out for me, but I haven't hit those numbers in a super long time, and that was probably with totally rested arms. Whatever I am doing in the water I just want to get doing it. LOOK OUT IRONMAN AZ!!!
As for the cycle class, well it was my favorite class with my NEW favorite instructor (Julie Ann)
she really is great a motivating, she gets in my head and challenges me to push myself. Today she basically challenged the entire class to try to keep up with me, and do what I did, when I did it! Needless to say, that was a green light to hammer the piss out of the rest of the class! Sorry cycle class, it is not my fault!!! Blame Julie Ann!!! I basically came out of the saddle and made everyone push the pace, at the same time adding load every 20 seconds until their heads popped off. Man it was fun! Did I mention it was also my 4th day in a row of biking? My bike legs are getting stronger everyday. Damn! I can't wait until November!!!

"Moderation is the key to mediocrity."

So if you talk to anyone that doesn't do what I do, Ironman , Marathons, and anything that seems extreme. You will get the old standard , moderation is the key speech.


Do you think that Michael Phelps and the rest of the mens 4 x100 relay team practiced moderation the last 4 years?! HELL NO!!! As stated above "moderation is the key to mediocrity"
If you are going to put in the time, money, and effort why not put in that extra 10% or so.
This blog isn't directed to anyone in particular, but all of us in general!!! When you are out there training, don't make excuses or find ways to be mediocre, find a way to be your own gold metal winner.
GO USA!!!

Getting my shit back to normal!?

Well I am 3 days into my 1st recovery week in my training cycle for Ironman Arizona Part Duex.
After a couple of months of not be quite right, I have really started to feel more like my self the last 2 weeks or so. Little things that mean big things are starting to show themselves. Knock on wood I have learned how to manage my achilles issue. It is not great, but it is use able. I just have to do the smart things. My bike legs are feeling extremely strong, I had been thinking this for about a month or so, but because I haven't raced or rode with anyone since IMCDA it is hard to really compare myself to others, but last weekend I did my 1st group ride in around a year with the Triclub guys, and I pulled for the entire day, never once having any of the guys that I used to have to struggle to just stay up with come to the front. That was fine with me, one of my issues with group rides is "I DO NOT " want to sit on someone else's wheel, you can't do it in Ironman so why get lazy and into bad habits in training?
In addition my running legs have FINALLY came around in the last 14 days or so. Funny, it seems like once I made myself get out of my comfort zone and push my pace to where it wasn't so much fun, I finally started seeing improvements in my pace at all distances short and long.
About Damn time!!!
So now what about the swim thing? Well, it kinda comes and goes, I have been tinkering with my stroke (as usual) trying to become more efficient. Mary continues to kick my ass, but I realized she is actually getting MUCH faster, so if I just stay where I am than that means I also have improved. RIGHT? Well I will keep working on it and just try to not cost myself my race in Nov because of a horrible 1st leg!
I will continue to enjoy my recovery week, and I look forward to giving it to myself again next week. The fact that I am looking forward to the next training phase in a good mental sign!!!
XO BEAV

The State of Triathlon is Alive and well!!!!!!!!

This weekend was a great indicator of how far triathlon has come and bodes well for the future of all of us addicts!!
This weekend on prime time tv we had The IronGirl Las Vegas Triathlon, this race is a womans only event full of world class female athletes. Great champions such as Miranda Carfrae, Samantha Mcglone, Karen Smyers, Pip Taylor, and many other top notch racers to also include your average age group athlete. This was on NBC on saturday afternoon!!! YES
Then on sunday afternoon on NBC, we had the Hyvee Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa. This race has the largest single race pay out in the sport. (the winner takes home $200,000). It also included the best Olympic distance athletes in the world. In addition in marked the final spot to be won for the USA Mens Olympic team in Beijing next month. Hunter Kemper secured the final spot on the team fighting back from career threatening injuries to secure his spot on his third olympic team, just edging out Andy Potts.
How exciting to see our sport on tv on the weekend on normal tv stations.
Tell your friends, wife, boyfriend, children, whoever, that it is time to get involved in triathlon right now, you don't know what you have been missing.

I may be getting closer!?

37 days till the BUCKEYES KICK off the season!!!!
Today was the day I have been trying to not look at on the calender for several weeks now.
Not because it is an old girlfriends birthday or anything like that!
The reason is because today was the first "Tempoish" run on my training schedule in almost 8 weeks. I have been really struggling with my running since Ironman Coeur D Alene. If it isn't my Achilles it is just the fact that I feel REALLY slow. So earlier this week I decided I had better get my shit together. I forced myself to do a fartlek type run on tuesday. with the knowledge that today I needed to be able to run some tempo miles today.
As I started out this morning, as usual it was 10000 degrees and humid. What is new? Just making me stronger. What if come race day the temps are like IMAZ this April? Then I will be so much tougher than everyone else out there. (and it is a good chance that it will be 100 degrees come race day in Nov). Anyway as I started out today I didn't feel to bad, as normal it takes about a mile for my Achilles to stop killing me and just go to a dull ache. So by the time I hit 1 1/2 miles into my 10 mile "tempo" run I was starting to believe. I figured if i could keep a even 7:00 pace for the warm up and cool down and get myself into the low 6's for the tempo portion I would have to accept it. Low and behold, tempo pace ended up being 6:19. WAY off from where I would normally be, but in my mind for today acceptable. It is a start in the right direction.
I will say that my swim felt like total shit afterwards, but hey I always swim like shit!!!
Cheers!

Allez! Allez!!!

Ok! I have been watching to much of the Tour, other than watching the Tour and training through some of the worst weeks in Phoenix to do so, not much else has been inspiring enough for me to blog about!
You see my blogging tends to go along with my work out mood. that is if my work outs are going well then I tend to blog more, and if my work outs are sucking then I am not motivated to blog!!
So based on my blogging the last several weeks in is apparent that my mind has not been just right. I have several toughts on why, but no excuses. The truth is that my achilles injury has really concerned me, but it is time to just suck it up and put it out of my mind. The other problem has been that there is too much time in between my last Ironman and my next. I know that sounds crazy, but I had been getting used to racing more frequently.
Well the inspiration to blog came very unexpectedly today. I awoke with a hotter than hell 7 mile run, that I actually was able to get some of the miles back down to around 6;20pace. Still a long way from where I want to be , but looking up a little. Then I jumped on the bike for a hot,windy , and fairly uneventful 2hr ride. That is until about half way through the ride I am out in the desert in a fairly rural area when I notice a taxi go flying past me, then about 50yards ahead of me he pulls off the road into the dirt and jumps out of his cab. I thinking what the hell, is this guy lost and looking for directions? Just as I get close to him, he runs over to the side of the road stands like a statue with his arm out. He is holding out an ICE cold bottle of water for me to grabas I pass him! I grabityellout a thank you, he jumps back in his taxi and off he goes!!!
How damn random can you get??? It made my ride though, I laughed about it the entire way home and told Mary when I got home and she just about wet her pants laughing!!!
So here is to the AAA taxi driver that has been watching the Tour also!!!
Thanks Dude!!!!!!!!!!

No Excuses!

So I wake up this morning somewhat excited , but a little concerned about my run that lay ahead of me!
You see, I am at the last day of my recovery period after Ironman Coeur D Alene, and I have been really itching to get out there and start running long again. The problem is my achilles is not getting better, so even though my energy levels, my legs, and my mind all are ready to hammer, it still hurts like hell after I do so.
I am not one to make excuses of why I can't work out, I actually find excuses for why I should workout, but the concern of the unknown keeps digging at me, should I take two weeks off from running? If I do and that doesn't help then I am two weeks behind in my training for my next Ironman, but if I keep training and it doesn't get better or actually gets worse then I am really screwed. See I don't have a true prolonged rest period scheduled until December of 2009. Lots of important races in between now and then.
So anyway, It kills me when I hear people with all their bullshit excuses of why they can't or won't exercise. So here I am with this beautiful summer morning in Phoenix out for my run, thinking about all this stuff with every step I take, and I turn down one of the streets on my saturday morning route, and on the other side of the street passes 1,2,3,4 kids on bikes, followed by a lady running with two German Sheppards, and I think to myself, shit if anyone has a good reason for not doing their workout it is her. I am sure it would be much more convenient for her to stay home on a hot, humid saturday morning, then to get 4 very young kids, and two hyper dogs together so she can go do her run around the neighborhood. In addition, seeing that we live in a large Mormon community, she likely has another 4 or 5 kids that she left at home! HA!!
So I guess the moral of this story is; quit making excuses and just get out there!!! You will be so much happier that you did!!!!

The Ironman Gods want me back!!!!!!!!!!

Thats right. I am supposed to be in a 3 week active recovery period after my 2nd Ironman of the season. The problem is, the Ironman gods don't want me to rest!!
I know this because, if I sleep in and don't at least go do two (easy) workouts each morning I wake up the next morning with a head ache. Just like those days years ago when I finally cut cafine out of my diet. I guess I just replaced that drug with another one, and even though i knew that I have an addiction to working out and pumping up my endorphines, I hadn't realized that it actually caused my body to revolt if I tried to skip out on a workout.
I also know that the gods are trying to trick me to come back to soon, because all of a sudden my legs aren't cashed 24/7. Hell I was able to jump into a spin class yesterday with Claudia, it happened to be one of my favorite classes, (Anerobic threshold intervals), this means you get to go as hard as you can for basically an hour!! Ok, well that may not be what the entire class was to do, the word interval indicates taking a break before going like hell again, but with the gods talking to me and my fresh legs I decided to see if I could stay above my threshold (174ish) for the entire class. Well Claudia, who is from Mexico and has a very strong accent (so you basically can't understand anything she is saying with the music blarring) brought out her tunes, which are always old school tunes that I love, I knew it was gonna be an awesome workout. I rocked the class and everyone thought i was a total freak (I love this) It started with AC/DC, and ended with Quiet Riot (bang your Head), she pulled that one out of her ass, what a great tune.
I burned 757 calories and keep my avg heart rate for the class (including the warm up of 5 minutes) at 167bpm. It felt so damn good!!!!!!!!
I know the Ironman Gods where pleased with themselves!!!!!!!
This weekend the most beautiful women in the world, (Mary) and myself are taking 3 days away from the 115 degree weather, (we have already had 13 days over 110 degrees this summer, and it is only July 3rd) and are heading north to Sedona and then on to Flagstaff , where the temps are only high of 80. This will mark only the 2nd time in 4 years we have taken any type of vacation that didn't include traveling to a race of some sort. Even though we are not "In training"
we will still run everyday at 7000ft of elevation (oopps, I forgot to tell Mary about that part)
and we will feel a little guilty, but we will get over it. Ha!!! Ha!!! Ironman Gods!
Everyone have a awesome celebration of this great country this weekend. Also take a minute to throw a little positive vibe towards my buddy Kyle Alcorn whose is racing i Eugene Oregon this weekend at the olympic trials. If he finished top three at the finals of the 3000m Steeple Chase on saturday he is heading to his first Olympics!!!!!!!! GO KYLE!!!!!!!
Happy 4th everyone.

IMCDA Race Report~~ Gotta get that Metal!!!

What can I say about Ironman Coeur D Alene Idaho? Well to start, "it is a beautiful course", what that really means, it is a tough ass course!!!

I should really start by giving props to everyone out there that made it to the finish line that day.
Especially my beautiful and amazing MARY! She once again killed it out there. Smiling all day long and ending with an almost 7 minute personal best race time, on by far the toughest Ironman couse she has ever done. She is a ROCK STAR!!!!!!!!!

Now for my day.

As Mary and I stood on the beach counting down to the swim start, I was determined to give it all out there, especially on the swim , which I sometimes feel like I let myself get to comfortable, instead of getting out of my comfort zone and going for it.
The cannon went off and 2000 of us ran into the balmy 59 degree water to start the first of two loops equaling 2.4 miles. On the way out I could see Mary next to me for about 200 or so meters and then it got conjested and it was all about survival. All in all I felt like I swam really well, it wasn't my fastest clocking, but based on the chop and the slower than usual times for even the top pros I guess I can't complain much, not to mention I still had about 9 hours still ahead of me, after a 1:08 swim time. I flew into the changing tent and off to get my bike.
I was feeling pretty good about myself throught the first loop of the the two loop bike course, averaging 21 mph for the first loop. As I started the 2nd loop I noticed the wind conditions had changed and not for the better. I felt ok through about mile 75 or so and then just about ended my day after taking a sharp down hill corner to fast and running off course and up the side of a big hill. Al was good with the bike and off I went, but within about 15 minutes my right need started aching something terrible, and this became problematic as there where lots of hills still to be climbed. Also at this point I heard a noise, looked back and it was the remaining two hours of my bike nutrition falling and rolling down one of those big ass hills. SHIT!!! I am not going back down to get it, I will just go with plan B, use powerbars. (That decision would come back to bite me in the ass later) So I finished up the bike in 5:35, 10 minutes slower than Ironman Arizona 10weeks ago, but on a MUCH tougher course, so not bad!
I did some real fast and not fully accurate math, and reasoned that i needed to run sub 3:15 to get that Kona slot. I decided to go for it!! I would either run 3:15 or I would blow up and run 4:15. I did't care what my time was if I couldn't go fast enough to qualify. In otherwords in my mind 10:15:00 was what I needed to finish at, 10:25:00 was no better than 10:52:00.
So off I went flying by hundreds of people, and feeling great, (I hit the half at 1:37:02) that is until about the 14 mile mark when I started to feel a little off, but I gathered myslef and pushed on. Once again at about 18miles It all came to a head. Come to find out, that last bottle I lost on the bike was vital, and my stomach had not been absorbing anything I had put into it from mile 90 of the bike to mile 18 of the run, so i had gotten basically zero calories, zero sodium, and very little water. Even though i had put it into my mouth, my stomach did nothing with any of it. So two big problems, 1-no power left, 2-Horrible bloating and stomach cramps.
So there I sat at mile 18 or so, for almost 21minutes, trying to get my stomach to work again, and when the EMT started talking like she was going to pull me from the course I jumped up and started running again, no way in hell I wasn't getting that metal at the finish line. So I put one foot in front of the other and was actually alot better, not 100%, but at least I was able to keep about a 8:30 or so pace most of the way to the final turn, as usual when you finally see that finish line everything feels better, and I was able to pick up the pace and pass 3 more guys in the last half mile, running the last mile at 7:04 pace, and having that metal placed around my neck felt just as good as every other race I have done!!! Even if I did end up short of my goal, with a 10:52:00 finish, by far my slowest Ironman ever, but I will sit down and dissect the day and take the positives and negatives out of the day and move forward

Thanks to all the well wishers and I will be back, look out Ironman Arizona in NOVEMBER!!!

T- Minus...???

Yes the count down I have been trying not to do for the last couple of weeks has started. I figured if I acted like I wasn't counting the days to go then I would stay more focused on the here and now!!!
Guess what? That ended today. I officially started thinking about the days, hours, minutes to race morning? Probably because we leave tomorrow at like 6am for Idaho. 24hrs from this moment i should be @ the race site checking out the course, and dipping my big toe into the ice bath we are calling "the swim leg of the Ironman".
Not only will I not have access to any blogs or facebook or any other computer games, but frankly I wouldn't be apt to use them anyway over the next 5days. I have only one thing on my mind, and that is can I find those 11seconds?!
I have done everything I can do to keep myself together for this race, I feel like I have trained harder on the bike than ever before, my swim feels strong, and my secret weapon (the run), well lets just say I have used duct tape, stitches, rubber bands, and super glue to just keep myself and my achilles on the road. I know come about 6 1/2 hours into the race on sunday when I start my run, I will not feel anything and I will be thinking of only one thing... Kona baby!!!
Keep your fingers crosssed for Mary and I, and check back here next tuesday or wednesday to see if we survived!!!
GO MARY!!!!!! GO DAN!!!!!!!

You say its your birthday, its my birthday too!!

The most amazing thing happened today, I woke up 40 years old, and I am sure at least 11 seconds faster in the Ironman!!!

Yes when some people go buy themselves something expensive or even go out a drink themselve into a tizzy, I gave myself a birthday present of biking 40 miles for my age and then running 4 miles today. I know most people just look at me like they feel sorry for me, that is the best you could do for a gift? They just don't get it! It is an exciting thing because it allows me to be outside in 105 degree weather doing what I love. It also marks the last real bike ride before my next Ironman race. Mary and I took our bikes to the local shop to prepare them to be shipped tomorrow to Idaho for the big day next weekend. http://www.ironmancda.com/, come check us out online June 22nd!

Anyway, in addition to that I gave myself the gift of leaving work two hours early tonight so as to have a nice romantic dinner with my TRUE LOVE, (Mary). We couldn't go after work, because birthday or not, we have to be in bed by 8pm as usual!!!

In closing, I must say, I kinda have that feeling of "the cat that ate the mouse", the "I have a secret that know one else knows about", feeling.

Yes I am 40 now, and I must say, I really do feel different, I feel so much faster and stronger than I did yesterday. I can't wait to get to Idaho!!!!!!!!!! Even if the water temp is only 49 degrees...

Stay tuned!!!!!!!!

Loving the Taper & Turning 40 tomorrow!!

Wow! Slept in until after 6am two days in a row. It is nice to feel a little lazy and now it is actually part of your training cycle. Yesterday was 105 degrees here in the Valley of the Sun, but the real news was that it was snowing, and sticking in Idaho where Mary and I have our Ironman in 11days. I am so excited, I love extreme conditions!!!
Anyway, yesterday Mary and I did I nice little hour or so spin on the bike, I needed to test out one of my sets of race wheels, and then we headed out to One of the few lakes here in the desert for an open water swim in our race day gear. After two nice loops around the bay (30mins) we wher out of those damn wetsuits and headed for lunch. So refreshing to have in two workouts and be showered and at lunch before 11:30a.m.
We are getting dangerously close now. Our bikes get shipped friday!! Hope I have everything ready to crush that bike course!!! I will be 40years young tomorrow, and my gift to myself is my last bike/run brick before heading to Coeur d' Alene for the big day!!! Fingers crossed, I will be in Kona in Oct.

Bike/Run Brick Naked!!!

Now that I have your attention!
It is 13 days from Ironman CDA, and as unsure about my health as i was just 2 days ago, I am now very confident. Saturday I did a faster paced 13 miler as part of my taper, and the achilles actually didn't suck!! The real test though was to be sunday, because running on back to back days for the last three weeks has been are REAL problem. Mary and I awoke later than normal (6:20a.m.) man is it nice to sleep in. We where to do about a 4hr bike at higher heart rate, followed by a 30 minute run also at a higher intensity. Mary and I did a warm up of about an hour until we got out into the Indian Res. where we could really cut loose and not have to worry about cars. At that point I did the next 2:45:00 at 22-23 mph. It felt sooooo good to be flying again instead of crawling up another mountain, which is all we have been doing for about 8 weeks. We arrived home within about 5 or so minutes of each other and Mary was off on her run just as I was pulling in the drive, she was look sexy as usual, so my goal was change fast and take off after her. I was to try to catch her by the time we got back home. 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back. When I exited the neighborhood she was already about 1.25 miles ahead of me, and amazingly enough my Achilles stopped hurting within about .25 of a mile, so I figured I would push it a little harder and try to catch her, but when we passed each other, (Mary coming back, and me still 1 mile behind her with only 1.25 miles for her to get home I decided to ease up a little, no way to catch her even at my fastest pace, and I was enjoying running pain free for the first time in about three weeks, so why hurry. I rolled in about 4 minute behind as Mary was still stretching (and still after 5hrs in 102 degree temps, look at as beautiful as if she just got out of the shower), what a lucky man I am. Fingers crossed i will wake up Monday and my Achilles will still be attached!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Duct tape it!!

That is exactly what I am doing, trying to keep my achilles together day by day, trying to get through the terrible pain when running knowing that i am one more day closer to race day where I can just give it to myself and not worry about being able to run again the next day or the day after that. This is what I used to look like without injuries.

I will get back there, only ??? is when.

Survival in the Mountains

Well, I survivded a weekend of racing at 6500 ft of elevation, and camping in a tent with my girls
(Mary & Meg).
We had a beautiful, and actually quite easy drive up to Show Low, Az on friday a.m., the only real hitch in the getty up being Meg getting a little white faced from riding in the back seat of the car on very hilly roads. A little pit stop to change to the front seat and to get some dramamine, ( I tried to tell Mary before we left to give her some) and everything was peachy again.
We arrived around 10am after a three hour tour, and went to work setting up camp. 1hr later we where swimming in the 54 degree lake for a shake out swim before the race. We went followed that up with the typical packet pick up thing and then a little get together with the Phoenix Tri Club for Pasta and all the fixins, (especially Marys famous mint/chocalate brownies) and we where headed to bed by 8pm for a 4:10 a.m. wake up call.
Race morning went as planned in transistion by 5:10 a.m. all set up and ready to answer the bell at 6:30 to start the 1.2 mile swim. (not my best swim) exited the water at 33:00 minutes, oh well, gotta go hammer the bike. because of my achilles injury for the last three weeks, my plan was to go hard on the bike and just be smart on the run. "Dan this is not your "A" race".
After a very brutal bike leg with LOTS of climbing and more than your fair share of cross winds,
I dismounted with a respectable 2:41:00 split, considering that the course was long and ended up measuring 58.1 mile and not 56, I was fairly happy, only being passed by two people the entire ride. And with that off I went on the run, telling myself just take it easy and don't push it beyond about 80%. Right out of transition I heard a scream of "GO DADDY", and that always helps pick up your spirits. Lets just say I am glad that I wasn't trying to race the run leg, it was yet again very hilly. I still was only passed for good by one person the entire run, I so wanted to run him down, but stuck to my plan. BE SMART DAN!!! So I just stayed with him from mile 6 all the way to mile 12. At that point we where passing people that had went to hard early and we had run ourselves into the top 10 for sure. I told him to drop the hammer and go for it, seeing he was only 26 I wasn't really competing with him (Jesse) on that day. After one last mile of mostly down hill, with one last climb (the killer that most people have to walk up), I was through the Finish line and greated with my finishers metal (by Megan) who had volunteered the entire hot, sunny day over 6 straight hours. Mary was quickly at my side to take care of me post race. If you haven't seen me after a race, especially one at 6500ft, I generally need a little aid. Mary took care of me with water and popsicles for the next half hour or so. THANKS BABE!!!
I finished up with the 6th fastest run time even after all that, 1:38:00, not a very fast run time for me, but considering the day I was just glad to be done and with an 8th place finish overall!!
See you again next year Show Low!!!

Feeling Old...?

Or maybe it is just that I am just over 3 weeks from my next Ironman, on top of the fact that I just did an Ironman 6 1/2 weeks ago. I think I was ready to race about 10days ago, now I have to be smart get healthy and rested and be ready again in 3 weeks. My shoulder hurts when I swim, my quads are shot from doing 6-7 hr bike rides with nothing but climbing more hills/mountans than I ever have before, and my achilles is sore whether I am running or not!!!
Yes I do turn 40 in like two weeks, so maybe it isn't that I have been training/racing Ironman without a break for over a year and half. (Nah, can't be that), maybe I am not training hard enough!!!!
The last couple days have been pretty typical! Sunday I ran 20miles @ a slower pace than normal (7:20), because of my achilles issue. Then yesterday I did a bike/run brick workout, which is a 6hr ride through the mountains, followed by a 7mile run. This morning woke up and did a killer anaerobic swim workout of 4100 meters and a short 6mile run before work.
So at this point I am sitting at work using an ultrsound machine on my achilles (thanks to my PT friend Carson).
maybe tomorrow I will take and easy day? Probably not!!!

Achilles Heal

"Well its not so good". That was the first thing I said to my self when I awoke this a.m.
The Achilles is still killing me. So now I run into the question, what to do about my 22 mile run tomorrow? On top of that I have a 1/2 Ironman next weekend, and my "A" race, Ironman CDA in 4 weeks. Do I not run for several days, and cross my fingers or do I go ahead and run anyway, and cross my fingers? I know what I would tell someone else to do, but for some reason i can't seam to tell myself the same thing! Damn it!
I could live vicariously through my better half Mary. She has the same schedule as I.
Well keep positive thoughts and your fingers crossed!!

Skirtschaser's very 1st blog day!!!

Yes its true. Mark it on your calender, post it on your fridge door. This is the start of my blogging. I have joined the computer age. (well kinda).
Today was a real exciting day, I started off with a 13 mile tempo run in 25 mph winds with my very sore Achilles tendon. This Achilles thing really started acting up about two weeks ago, but normally after about a mile it warms up and I don't notice it until I finish. Well not today it hurt like hell the entire run, which actually turned into a 12.5 mile tempo run.
I limped over to my neighbor, Nicole (our local PT). She proceeded to scrap my Achilles with a torture device she called ASTYM. Shit!! Lets hope that pain was worth while. Stay tuned...