Oceanside 70.3

For the past 4 years Mary and I have set our season kick off for Oceanside, Cali.

I simply LOVE this race and location. I mean come on, no matter how your day goes you end up on the beach!

So on Friday morning at 6am we are on the I-10 heading west towards the Pacific Ocean, after fairly uneventful 6 hours we pull in to The Pier over looking the fabulous ocean that I love soooooo much. We run through the registration process (much faster this year), and after a quick pass through the expo we head to our awesome condo actually 50 yards from the beach and 75 yards from T1 and the swim start. This is our 3rd year staying here and it just doesn't get any better than this spot.

Now this year there where some changes to the run course and T2 was actually in a different locale from T1. Meaning that we needed to check in our run bags on friday the day before the race. No big deal a quick unpack and repack job and we are back at T2 to drop off our stuff. From here it is time to eat. A new little place opened up right in the little Oceanside Harbour out our back door. Nice little place and fairly reasonable for the area. Then it is back to the condo to get the remainder of our gear ready for race morning. An hour later we decide it is time to eat again, so off we go back to the Harbour for our traditional pizza restaurant that we have eaten our pre race meal & beer at every year. After polishing off our meal its back to rest a little and an early to bed for the early morning ahead.

RACE DAY****

We are up at 5:15, do our normal pre race routines and head to drop off our bikes and get ready to hit the water. Because it is a wave start I actually start 28 minutes before Mary, so at 7:02 (22 minutes after the pro men's start) the cannon sounds and we are off. I quickly fell into a very nice pace and felt stronger and more confident than I have ever before. I was flying by the earlier waves like they where just standing still, which just helped to build my confidence even more and make me push harder. Once we hit the open part of the ocean we start to see some good waves and current, but I just stayed strong picking people off left and right all the way back to the shore, i jump up and check my watch 31:34, that is my best swim at this event. Yes!!!

Now I have a super long run in transition to my bike, and it has started to rain and only in the 50's (which is chilly for us Arizonians) so I take extra time to put on socks, arm warmers, and to stick a plastic bag down the front off my race kit to block the wind and cold. This results in a shockingly slow T1. but I'm on the bike now, lets see what we can do in the rain on this course. Well not 2 minutes in I hear a horrible noise coming from my bike and get off to figure it out, after a couple minutes I realize someones helmet stick had come off and stuck to my front forks resulting in a loud rubbing on my front tire. Fixed and moving again.

I know the first 24ish miles of this course is very fast so I decide to go with it along the ocean and keep a nice high cadence. During this first hour we pass Tank crossings, sand, ride though a pitch dark tunnel and have several very tight turns a high speed, throw in the rain and this made for several people on the ground. I just wanted to stay upright and get into a groove, which I managed, then we basically make a couple turns and are in the midst of some real climbs. Nothing stupid, but fairly steep and around a mile or so long. This is caused many a biker to get off and walk their bike up the first of the big hills. I actually felt good, and stayed seated and pushed on up, the next 20 miles are basically up and down a few good climbs until we hit mile 45ish where we turn back towards the water and into the sand. Just about this time a guy that I passed on the side of the road with a flat about 10 miles back comes flying past me. At first I am like damn, he is strong, go get it son, but just as i said this I decided to try and go with him as long as possible (staying 4 bike lengths behind him) Instantly my speed went up two miles an hour and I just pushed it thinking he will drop me at any minute here, to my surprise I actually get stronger and stay right with him, with about 3-4 miles to go I go past him and thank him for pushing me, and I hammer all the way into T2. As a result of my Ironman St George training and all the major hills I have been riding I come off feeling really strong and knock off 7 minutes from last years ride. I'll take it.

Now as I enter T2 and try to get ready for the run I realize that my hands are so cold that I can't use my fingers, that makes it very interesting. Lucky for me a volunteer is standing right next to me and helps me get my running shoes on and off I go. This is what I live for baby!! Run time!!!

Now I know I'm a little behind on calories so right out of transition I take a gel and off we go. I start to settle into a few comfortable pace and I am flying by people. Mile one 6:25, perfect, right where I wanted to be. Now the best part of this run course is that it is a two loop out and back, so you get to see all of the pros and all of your friends that are racing at several points if you are in the first few waves, you get to see the pro race play out right in front of you. As I hit mile two here comes the lead male (Andy Potts) with less than a mile to go to the finish. A couple minutes back are #2 & 3, Ritchie Cunningham and Jesse Thomas side by side fighting it out. So awesome, wish I could have watched them sprint it in, but I had my own work to do. All the way out to the turn around I get to see all the pro men smashing themselves for points and $$$. This keeps me distracted for a couple of miles, then I make the turn and get to see everyone on their way out. I yell at a couple friends and high five a couple as well. I am feeling strong and an really clicking the miles off. At this point everything between 6:15 -6:25. At about mile 4 I pick up and run with for a few minutes the lead female pro (Mel Mcquaid), I try to get her to stay with me but she is on her 2nd loop and starting to hurt a bit, so I just pushed on without her. Then I pass the remainder of the pro women places 2-8 or so as the are about 2 miles from the finish for them. As I start my 2nd loop I am looking now for my beautiful wife to be coming the other way, and sure enough boom, Mary, so now my goal is to keep pushing the pace and to catch up with her and encourage her to keep up the great race that she has going. About a mile later I catch up to her, pat her on the ass and tell her to stay focused and not to give up until the finish line. I know at the pace she is running that she has to be hurting and it becomes a mental and physical battle at points to make yourself keep hurting yourself. As I cruise back out to the last turn around I get passed for the first time on the run the entire day, and he is in my age group!!! Oh no you don't, I'm not giving in that easily. I have no real idea where I am at in my age group, but I know I'm not letting this guy run away from me, but he is, I keep upping the pace but he is freaking strong, i tell myself you are just as strong, go get him, don't give up, run like Sally would, balls to the wall until you can't go anymore. I start to see him coming back to me, little by little, This is all i needed, even though he was about 30 seconds up on me, I knew deep in my heart that I would catch him. There goes mile 12, (6:04 mile) , mile 12.5 and he is just about 10 yards in front, I decide to close to him right here and just go by with all I can so he doesn't even have time to respond. Boom, I'm past him and in the last .2 to the finish, I push it with all I have, as hard as I can to the line, he is not catching me at the line, no way!!!! I cross the finish and no one passes me. i quickly turn around to see him finish, and nothing, no one, not another person in sight as far back as I can see. Come to find out this guy was still on his first loop when I was on my second!!!

Damn, I closed with a 5:41 pace for no reason???

I feel so great, I can't believe it. Sure I ready to be done, but my confidence is soaring. I ran so strong to close this race out, and felt like I could have gone for ever!!! I can't wait until Ironman Arizona in Nov. :))))

All that is left now is to get some warm cloths on, eat some chow, and wait at the line to cheer on and congratulate my wife when she finishes with a smoking day and takes 4th in her age group making the awards podium. I am soooooo super excited and proud of her. She dug deep and totally smashed herself. LOVE IT!!!

This was a great training day for our next race (Ironman ST George in 5 weeks), and a great confidence builder for us both, but especially Mary.

Thanks to Focus Cycles for taking care of all of our bike needs, and Endurance Rehab for getting us to the starting and finish lines, and to Triscottsdale for taking such good care of us, what a great group of people, so positive and lots of fun to hang with.

Until next time, Please be safe out there!!!!!!!!

Boston baby, Part Deux!!!

Hell Yes!!! My badass wife laid it down. 26.2 miles of smashing it. She smashed herself, she smashed that course, and best of all she smashed her PR. can you say 3:32???

Mary's new (fast) marathon Pr. and we are going back to run Boston next April (2013)

I am sooooooo happy for her, and now she can breathe and start to focus on Ironman St George.

Can you believe it is 10 weeks away! Damn.

So next up we get to make our annual trip to Oceanside for the 70.3 and our little getaway to cali.

Until then, I will keep smashing myself to get tougher!!!

Ramblings and early season training

Since the last time I left you I have been a little busy with training, and trying to get myself back into proper shape. Amazingly the older I have gotten, the harder it is for me to recover after races and the harder it is to come back from time off. So my plan going forward is to make sure I don't have to take any more forced time off due to stupid injuries. i.e. broken clavicle, broken foot !!!

So as usual in January our local Rock N Roll Arizona marathon rolled around. Due to Mary and my 2012 race schedule for Ironman, etc... we decided that if we where to go back and run Boston in 2013 that this would be the race to qualify at. Well life threw us several curve balls and when race day rolled around I had only been running for a few weeks and in NO kind of shape to be running, let alone racing a marathon. The simple goal was for both of us to run just fast enough to hit our Boston Qualifying times. Well to make a long story short, Mary for her 2nd time at this race had to pull out half way through due to a knee injury. After walking with her and talking about it, I decided to go ahead and finish the race up. Good news is I qualified, bad news is I ran a slow (for me) 3:07 marathon, also bad was that Mary didn't qualify, thus leaving us with the issue of getting her healthy again and picking out a new 26.2 to get her BQ. I will update you on this topic next week :))))

Then because of said lack of training miles, as Feb approached and the Pemberton 50k, we had to make a painful decision to not race the 50k option that we had planned on doing since doing it last year.

We instead made a wiser choice of doing the relay option. I started the team off with a 1:44 loop and an overall pace of 6:49 per mile. I slapped Mary's hand and she took off and smashed her loop with a 8ish minute PR of 2:08!!!!

Team Knott-Beaver took second in the relay division. A solid training day for the bigger picture ahead.

In between the two races we took a little trip to St George to preview and do a training weekend on the Ironman course. After two days driving and three days of training we all knew what we needed to do to prep for race day. GET ON OUR BIKES and ride BIG HILLS!!!

Its going to be an epic race day come May. I'm getting excited just thinking about suffering for 140.6 miles again, and the french fries afterwards!

For now it is time to smash myself on the bike and hit MT. Lemmon and Sunflower as often as possible.

I hope to have some great news next week to share. Fingers Crossed.

until then, Be Safe out there!!

What? it's 2012 already???

I know it has been a LOOOOOng time between blog post. I must get better I know.

So a little 2011 review:

Swam- 539,700 meters

Biked- 7935 miles

Ran- 2013 miles

(Next Year will be better on the bike and the run)!!!

Raced:

3 - 1/2 marathons

1- 50K Trail race (1st ultra, at night)

3- 1/2 Ironman (70.3)

2- Ironman (140.6)

2-5k's

(This to, will be much better next year) Smallest amount of racing in a decade!!!

Travel:

Oceanside, Ca

Monterey, Ca

San Diego, Ca (Meg's first trip to Cali and the ocean)

Coeur D Alene, ID

Show Low, AZ

Flagstaff, AZ

Kona, HI

I saw my wife and myself run our first ultra distance trail races (50k), also cheered from home as Mary completed her first 50Mile trail race.

Then had the joy of watching my women set new PR's at 5k, 4mile, 1/2 marathon, 1/2 Ironman, & marathon distances!!! Freaking Amazing. So proud of Mary :))))

There where so many great times in 2011, but now I say bye-bye!! Last year is so..., last year.

On to 2012:

No resolutions, just a few cool things I hope to see happen:

Jan- qualify again for the Boston Marathon with Mary at Rock N Roll Arizona Marathon

Feb- Set a PR and win the masters division at the Pemberton 50K trail race.

March- Set a course PR at Oceanside 70.3

April- Train my ass off on hills

May- Win the "Knott family throw down" divison at Ironman St. George

May- Recover enough from IM StGeorge to be able to run Rim2rim2rim at The Grand Canyon

June - Keep Smashing myself in 115 degrees in prep for Ironman Arizona

July- same as June in addition to traveling to Tahoe to watch/pace Mary for the 50 miler

August- Set a course PR at the Mountain Man 1/2 Ironman in Flagstaff, AZ

Sept - Set a course PR at Deusec Wild 1/2 IM in Show low, AZ Oct- Finish the smashing of ones self for said IMAZ

Nov- Set a new Ironman PR at IMAZ (weather permitting) :)))) & get that Kona slot for 2013!!!

Dec- Celebrate the off season and our 3rd wedding anniversary (Not in Gilbert)!!!

That is it for now. See you on the race course!!!

The Big Hula in The Lava Fields

I sit here typing this race report just after Mary took off 18 minutes ago on her night time trail race, I conjure up the details from this time last week (shortly after 3 pm Hawaii time) and think how fleeting the pain of that day disappears. (Except for my foot), that is for later in the story.

I will skip over the details of getting to the Islands, luckily there wasn't anything to talk about. We had a seamless trip, non-stop flight into Kona from Phoenix arriving at 2pm, simply perfect! The few days leading up to race day where full of the usual. Watching everyone and their brother and sister swim/bike/run 24/7 up and down Alii Drive and Dig Me Beach. I tried to stay under the radar as much as possible. I had nothing to prove, and decided to save as much energy both mentally and physically as humanly possible. Mostly spent my time doing the "have to's"

Have to register, have to pick up my bike from Tribike Transport, have to check in my bike and T1 & T2 bags.

We swam from the pier twice, did a little bike, and ran just enough to not feel bloated and fat :)

One highlight was watching Mary make her debut on the SUP. After quite a fiasco the first morning with said SUP, she got really good at it. Going out everyday for at least and hour or so.

Race morning dawned at 3:30am. I woke up feeling rested and ready to race.

I had my pre race breakfast of oatmeal, bagel, water & EFS drink and we headed to the pier.

Through body marking smoothly (with a lucky #888), and then after the crew secured their spot

on the sea wall over looking the swim start, Mary and I hung out in the hall way of the King K

hotel, just relaxing and chillin before the craziness of the day would start. The pro field was called to the water at 6am for their 6:30 start, and that pretty much was my sign to start making my way

closer to the ocean. Mary and I said our I love you's and shared a few kisses and then she headed

back to her spot on the sea wall as I headed over to the transition area to collect my thoughts and get good and body glided for that salt water swim. The chaffing caused by salt water under your

speedsuit is instant and painful for the remainder of the day if you don't catch it before it starts.

At 6:20 I finally entered the Pacific Ocean with 1900 would be Ironmen and Ironwomen.

6:30 a.m., No count down just the cannon blast and we are off. Elbows and feet ass deep for

2.4 miles. I had decided that I would line up on the most inside line heading the straightest line

to the buoys. Well this was an interesting decision. I'm not sure it was better or worse than the other lines, but it was definitely frustrating. Once you pick the inside there is nowhere to hide. You are stuck there for good, no pulling off to the side to stop the pounding for even a second. So

about every 250 meters there is a pile up at the red buoys as everyone is forced around the outside by the paddle and SUP boarders. Frustrating, more elbows and feet and knees than before. Finally We make it to the turn around buoy and start out way back to the pier. By this time you have swallowed so much salt water that your tongue and mouth are swollen and your stomach is not so happy either. Now this year was a very choppy year in the water with some nice

strong currents on the way back in. With about 1000 meters to go I swear it was just like swimming in a spinning drum. No going forward,no going side ways, just staying in the same spot going nowhere. I just dug in deep here and gave my last bit of real effort to break loose and then before I knew it I was standing in the sand again. Hell yes, get me out of this water,

Swim Time 1:12, T1 3:00

Onto the pink steed, a.k.a. the Bike

Once through the long ass transition area of Kona and onto the bike I didn't feel like I had brought my legs out of my T1 bag. I was being passed like I was standing still one after another, but I tried to stick to my plan and not blow up in the first 30 minutes of the bike. I passed my crew around mile 8ish, I think? They where screaming and yelling their heads off (Loved it), so out to the turn around and then knowing I would pass them again I blew a big kiss as I went by again ( I knew they needed some energy from me as much as I needed it from them)

At this point we head up Palani Hill and out onto the Queen K. Hwy, My main focus for the section out to Hawi (the bike turnaround) was to stay on top of my hydration and nutrition, and to stay within myself, one thing a pro friend told me once was to go one gear easier here than you think you can go all day long. This paid off big time as we started our 19 mile climb up to Hawi I was starting to pass EVERYONE! It was crazy cross winds and I was loving it. This is what Kona is all about :)))) Loved it!!!

During this section is when I get to see all the pros heading back to town, and we get to see how the race is playing out. As usual Chris Lieto was the first bike to pass me going the other way, but

a big surprise, he only had a small lead on a pack of about 5. This race is going to be exciting!

Then after counting about 15 men I see the hammer known as Julie Dibens go flying by me! Are you kidding me? Holy crap, I check my watch and count for the next lady 8 minutes and it is Caroline Steffen, and then Leanda Cave and finally 12 minutes after Julie comes Chrissie. Damn, this is going to be very exciting, I can't wait to get back onto the run to watch it play out first hand. A few minutes and ladies later I see my good friend Linsey Corbin come by and I figure she is in the top ten which is awesome because she will bring back some girls on the run.

Finally I reach Hawi and the turn around and start the crazy descent for 19 miles at 30+ mph into a major cross wind. Love it!!!

Finally we get back to the Queen K and I know I have somewhere around 2ish hours of serious concentrating to get me back. This is the hardest section for me, this is where the winds become head winds and the fatigue and humidity starts to take a toll. Just keep it together and stay focused. I take water at every aid station (every 7 miles) and either drink it or pour it on me.

Somewhere in here my right knee starts to really hurt. Are you kidding me? I bike 100 plus mile bike rides every week of the year and no knee pain, what the hell is this? So I try to minimize then pain of pushing to hard with my right leg, I change positions, everything but no good, just get off this bike and onto the run ASAP! I end up losing about 10 minutes in this last two hours, but still within reach of my goal to be running before 7hrs. Into T2 and start running away from that bike so happy to be running, even if it is only into the change tent. Another very speed transition and we are off.

Bike 5:39, T2 3:00

Out onto the run and instantly my foot is in pain. No, this is what I dream of all day, time to smash the run, my foot just is asleep from the bike, it will go away just keep running. Well mile 1

I stop and take the shoe off, there has to be a nail in my shoe or maybe a beach ball. Nope, nothing in there. Well just keep moving, it will go away, just forget about it, block it out and get running.

So mile 1 1/2 I come up on my crew, they are screaming and cheering and jumping up and down,

some great energy from them, I give Mary a kiss and keep moving. Just 3 ish miles and I get to turn around and head back to them. That was a long section, I keep feeling my foot with each foot fall and tried to think about everything and anything else. I finally stopped for my first pee of the day? What, I have been drinking non-stop and it is now 7 1/2 hrs late and only one pee. Not good.

Also along this section I have a hell of a time keeping my race number belt up around my waist, I must have lost some major weight on the bike because it won't stay up. Finally I stop and a spectator takes it from me and tries to tighten it up. No go, well lets go old school and just pin the

damn thing. Finally I hit the turnaround and head back towards town. a few miles later I get a lift

from the drunken part of the crew screaming out from the bar as I ran by "Beaver" the Buckeye's are winning. This preoccupies me late for a few miles trying to figure out if they where telling me a lie to make me feel better or where they really winning?

So I finally turn off Alli Dr at about mile 9 and there is my crew again Mary high fives me and tells me Crowie set a new course record and that Chrissie is just around the corner in first with less than a mile to go. Now we made a semi deal that when we passed each other she would high five me, so I stopped and put my hand out, and instantly could read her face and eyes. She was out of it and totally focused on getting to that finish line first, I slapped her on the butt and keep on running. Wow, chills go up my arms and a tear in the eyes at seeing this amazing sight. It can't be put into words, you had to be there to see and feel the strength and internal fortitude that women

exudes. Simply AMAZING!!! Just two minutes later I pass Rinny she is hammering and I yell over to her as well. What a freaking race. They both break the old run course record on a day that

many a pro blew up on that hot run. As I head up Palani Mountain and make the turn onto the Queen K again, I pass Leanda Cave, she is in 3rd place and digging very deep. I send her some energy and keep on trucking. At this point the women's race has and is playing out just two feet away from me. So Stellar, I Loved it!!! Unfortunately my foot still is killing me and I just can't land on it or push off normally. This is a loooooooong section out to the Energy lab, never seems to end. Finally at about mile 15 I am forced to walk for a minute through an aid station and my teammate Erica "Hank" Mcclurg passes me. So happy for her, she is having a nice day. As much as I try to pick up the pace to run with her I can't get another gear. My mind says your strong go, my body and partially my foot says you don't have another gear. Come on, get to that Energy lab.

I pass Linsey around this point and give her some encouragement and her me. Later I found out that L.C. had some major issues for over her last 6 hours and it wasn't her day, but I assure you she will be ready to win IMAZ in November!!

Now I have Michelle Simmons come up and start running with me and we keep each other company for several miles. Finally up ahead it is The Natural Energy Lab, I make the left turn and enter. It is just a little out and back in there but seems to go on forever, I make the turn around and start back out, no special needs bags for me just keep on moving. On a side note, probably the funniest thing ever found in a Special needs run bag at an Ironman, Michelle's daughter pack her a shovel, you know the little sand shovels for the beach! So Michelle picked it up at mile 18.5 and carried it all the way to the finish line. Love it!!!

Anyway, finally we hit that last climb out of the energy lab past mile 19 and back out on the Queen K for our return trip to Kona. By this point my foot is on FIRE, and this is really the first time I start to question if I could keep running. I kinda ran/walk here for about a mile or so. Finally I remembered what Samantha Mcglone once said, "the fastest way to the finish line is to keep running" and I am ready to be done. So I start making deals with myself at this point. Just run to that aid station, and then once I get there then I pick another small goal, anything to keep me going. I even make a deal with myself that I only have to get to mile 25 miles and then it is just a 1.2 mile victory lap. When I hit mile marker 20 I can not carry my water bottle any further and I drop it right onto of mile 20. Ok only 5 miles to go and a 1.2 mile victory lap. I keep running and

promise myself no matter how much it hurts I am going to run that last hill before turning right onto Palani at mile 25. Finally there it is mile 25, now that down hill is a major quad buster at this point of an Ironman, especially when you are on a screwed up foot, but I just suck it up and finally make the last turn onto Alii Drive, I have nothing left, I wanted to pick it up the final 400 meters or so, and I could not. I see my crew and Mary and barely can manage a low five. There is the finish line and I just want to get there. I climb the last little incline ,raise my hands and after about 5 seconds give myself over to the medical staff.

Finish Time 11:00:50

I am finally handed over to Mary for about :30 seconds before I am then taken to see the medial

tent for an hour. That is another blog, for another day.

Stay tuned:

Butterflies, Already! WTF?

I hate to start my blog post the way I started my last one, but...

I know is has been forever!!

OK, Now that is out of the way.

AS I sit here typing this , I have this really crazy feeling of confidence and excitement.

For what you ask? Today is Sept 1st, meaning as soon as this month fades into the distance I will be 4 days away from heading back to Kona to get my pay backs from last time.

The strangest thing is that I started training for this years trip to the Big Dance without any pressure or really any illusion that I could go over and do anything special on Oct 8th. I mean come on, I can just go to Hawaii, have a very average day and still come out a winner. After my last appearance in 2009 (following my bike/car accident) and resulting in a surgery, 8 screws, a metal plate, and shit for training, I could go over, have fun, not push myself and still come out with a 1-2hr faster performance than the last time. That would be winning in most people's book.

A funny thing happened on my may to training for an average day Oct 8th!

I started getting extra motivated, starting getting (unofficially )some coaching advice, and I have found my sweet spot when it comes to suffering in the heat.

Yep, I am actually getting that feeling I have had right before the two best Ironman races that I have ever had (both Kona qualifiers). That feeling of peace and inner harmony. Sounds corny,but the best way for me to explain it!

Don't worry, we are still going to have a TON of fun, just this time I will have that feeling of total accomplishment! 37 days and a wake up call :))))

It's that time again!!

I know it has been for ever, and ever since I have blogged. Too be very honest 5 days after my last blog all of our lives where changed forever here in Arizona and all over the world! The day of Sally's death still seems to be beyond words. I just could not bring myself to blog about anything else because nothing else seemed as important as her death, and I felt like blogging about something else would be as if I had just went on with life like nothing even happened, like I had just swept in under the rug and ignored it. The other problem was that I just couldn't bring myself to talk about that day and that horrible feeling in a blog.
Today, I felt it was time. As I prepare for the week leading up to my next Ironman, Sal is so fresh in my mind. She was to be my training partner this summer, we where to spend endless miles biking and running together as we where preparing for Kona. We where to go there and suffer on the lava fields together, and she was about to snap some necks as she came from nowhere to set a new run course record, and make her name in the sport of triathlon.
Well, now I carry her memory, her strength, her passion with me. I will be channelling her as I go to that dark place when the real suffering starts. June 26th will be Sally's first full Ironman, as I race IMCDA with her. It will be a great day for us to get used to each other over a 9-10hr day, because when Oct8th gets here we need to be 100% on the same page as we SMASH the Lava fields and Alii drive together. This will just be a great first step towards that day.
I'm not making any predictions on time or finish place, but I have a feeling it will be a special day out there.
Check back to see how we do:))))