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!!!