Turning off the Frontage Road and on to the on Ramp

That's where I am now. I'm not quite on that highway, the Road to IM CDA 09, but I'm on the on ramp. After a welcome break I'm starting to ramp up the training a bit. Making sure I make it to yoga 2x week, getting on the treadmill (or outside when it's not in the single digits) and starting back on the trainer
Here's the form that has gotten me to this point. I hooked up with Larry and Sophie at The Fix Studio and have a new position. I don't have a photo of it yet. Here's the scoop, raised the seat (increasing leg angle to 141), lowered the bars (hip angle down to 98.8), shortened the cockpit (elbow angle down to 90.1). It's slightly more aggressive, but also more efficient as my upper arm should carry more weight instead of back and lats. I've ridden it a couple of times and it seems good. If you really want to see the new position send me an email. I can send you a file and a viewer and you can see it in motion. I can almost feel the excitement.

I'm anxious to get on the Computrainer but that will have to wait until next week, once we get back from Rockford.

Minneapolis Marathon - I've signed up to run the Minneapolis Marathon 1/2 on May 31. I'm scheduled for a 2 hr 40 minute run that weekend so I may have to run to the start or something. Brian, accross the street has also registered and I think NS Rob too.

Have a great Christmas and may achieve all your race goals in the new year (or at least learn from missing them).

Better Late Than Never . . . Maybe

So my sister Tracy, and the rest of my mom's side of the family (the Tracy Tribe) came into town for Thanksgiving weekend plus. I dubbed it our clown car Thanksgiving since our little story and a 1/2 house wasn't really designed for having 14 for dinner and lodging. We stashed half of them up at the lake and kicked Zman and JRose upstairs to the Doc's and my room.

Anyhow, I told Tracy she was going to have to run the Turkey Day 5k with me. It was surprisingly easy to convince her - especially when compared to the arm twisting it took to get her to do the run leg of the Rockman 1/2 IM with Team Lack of Enthusiasm (thus the name).

I even found this sweet hat online to get ready for it.

We had no idea what we were getting into. Sure Lifetime had several packet pick up opportunities, but we don't live by a Lifetime (and I didn't want a Friends episode type sales pitch).

We left the house 50 minutes before the race. It takes about 5 minutes to get downtown so we had 45 minutes to pick up our packets and warm up by jogging to the start. WRONG!

Downtown was a zoo. The Target Center was packed. They were out of shirt sizes XS, S, M, XL, XXL. This was on the level for pre-registration. It's hard to figure how you run out of shirts for pre-registered athletes, but they did.

We ended up getting to the line about 12 minutes after the start. That was far enough back to be behind ALL of the walkers, dogs, and strollers. I've never passed so many people in a race. We quickly abandoned running together. It was every runner for themselves trying to negotiate the crowd. Tracy and I were running about the same for the first 2 1/2 miles. At that point I started to get a little tired and wasn't willing to dive for every opening in the crowd. Tracy left me behind.



















I thought I'd include this pick of us before Childress finally found someone he could out coach. Lovie - you've tried 3 times from the 1. Take the 3 points on the road to go up 7. Oh well, at least now it looks like the Queens will be saddled with Chilly for another year.

San Antonio Recap

Decent weather, good food, great friends. Sounds like a recipe for a sweet weekend. Combine it with the energy and excitement from 30,000 runners and you've got it!

What would any trip to San Antonio be without a visit to the Alamo. I particularly appreciated the unbiased and evenhanded presentation of the factors leading up to the conflict. Texas - it really is like a whole other country. Having read Michener's Texas as a kid it was cool to see the site of the battle.

Here's Angie at around mile 2.5. Getting ready to hand off her extra hat and gloves. Her sherpa's were glad to have the gloves.

So this is what it feels like to stand on the side and cheer. I was glad I had brought my Turtleman cowbell. It was pretty quiet early in the race.

I was suprised at how little interest I had in running the race. Even going to the expo didn't cause any regret.

Here's the whole crew celebrating Angie's 15 minute PR. Wow! She was even so considerate as to run 3 seconds slower than my Grandma's time this year. Whew!

Here she is - Injured Runner Report #992-1. They document everything at the medical tent - even just needing a bandaid for a blister.

The Doc had to document putting a whippet in an ambulance to warm up at mile 20 of the Twin Cities Marathon one particularly cold year. That was their first (and perhaps only) veterinary incident at TCM.

Neither Anne nor I slept very well and we had an o-dark 30 flight out on Monday so the trip wasn't as restful as a weekend away usually is. Back to the hockey grind!

For those of you who have had concerns about a certain dietary anomoly of mine - never fear changes have been made. Stay tuned.

Quickly from San Antonio

Just a quick note from San Antonio. We got in late afternoon yesterday. Here's the view from our room down to the Riverwalk.

As some of you know, I'm not planning on running the race. I will go out with Mike tomorrow and get a good run in. I decided that I needed to keep focused on CDA and not risk putting my tired body through a late season 1/2.

Since I'm not running the race, it's Katy bar the door! Last night the Doc and I hit Coyote Ugly (at her suggestion). The Doc didn't make it up onto the bar last night, but it was close at times. We had watched a few episodes of the Making Coyote Ugly show so it was interesting to see it live. We were out of there by 10 and it was a Thursday. Maybe we'll get back there tonight with the OBs - should be even more lively. If there's a bartop dance I'll be sure to post pics here!

It's going to be 80 degrees down here today! Sweet! After that it cools off a bit. I can feel your sympathy streaming my way!

Just got an email from Zman's coach that they came back and tied in their first game of the season. It was a bummer missing his first game (and the next 2) but did I mention it was going to be 80 degrees today?

Texas - it's like a whole other country!

Prerace Press Conference - Squinting in the Bright Lights

Having emerged from my self imposed training cave (the "TC") it was time to sit down and fulfill my prerace media obligations. After having spent the last 8 days in the TC the bright lights of the cameras from the assembled media throng (the "AMT") were a bit harsh, but I'm no longer seeing stars. The following is a mostly unedited transcript from the press conference.

AMT: When last we heard from you, you were trying to determine your goals for SA Rock n Roll 1/2. What have you been doing in the interim?

Me: I've spent a great deal of time in my training cave ("TC"). I've undergone complete body composition, VO2 Max, Anerobic Threshold, pinky strength and intestinal fortitude testing. The results have not been pretty. I've been deemed category FSAW - fat, slow and weak. FSAW is not something that can be overcome in 8 days. Although I have given it my best shot.

AMT: What about training?

Me: Well, during those 8 days I've started multiple runs. I even finished a couple of them. Thanks to NS Rob I just finished an 11 mile run in just under 2 hours. Not pretty.

AMT: Will it be enough to beat the lovely Angela?

Me: Thats a great question! No.

AMT: What is your plan for SA Rock n Roll?

Me: I'm going to go down to SA, walk the River Walk with my wife of excessive hotness, check out the Alamo, enjoy a ton of TexMex, have some cervesa on Friday evening and I suppose on Sunday morning I'll tie my shoes and run 13.1 miles (or some part thereof).

AMT: Specifically what's your plan for the race? What will you do about Angela?

Me: I'm going to go out in around 10/min miles and hopefully pick it up a bit in the second half of the half. Finish prediction anywhere from 2:05 to 2:15.

AMT: Is it true that you've been seen at your computer next to a pile of fun sized wrappers?

Me: That wasn't me unless you have photographic evidence and even then those weren't my wrappers. I mean that's my kids' candy - like I would eat that candy one sweet mini snickers bar after another followed by mini twix - damn why are these individually wrapped it really slows me down (although not enough).

At this point the Doc ripped the microphone out of my hands shouting "NO MORE Questions, can't you see he needs help."

Thanks again for the run today NS Rob. I think part of my deal is that I've been out there alone too much, I'm too tired. Couple that with FSAW and it's not good.

Rhetorical Question: Can I call it a taper if I had about 10 days of training, somehow threw in a couple of long runs - 9 and 11 miles and am now resting?

Going Dark

That's right folks. I'm going dark. No that doesn't mean I'm shutting down the blog (how could I disappoint both of you so close to Halloween). It just means I'm taking my training underground. I figure it works for the pros so it should work for me. Based on the information the PR machine in Dallas has been sending my way there's a good chance that OB's wife, Ang, could not only beat me on race day, but also beat my 1/2 PR. I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it but I'm going to try. I've got a plan. The two weeks I had to take off while I was sick aren't helping.

There's 2 things this could mean:

1. I don't want to tip my hand to Ang regarding my fitness or race plans for San Antonio; or,
2. My pace and distances are so embarrasing after my hiatus that I'm not willing to blog about them or even twitter them.

Here are some pictures from last Friday's neighbor Halloween gathering:

Shane

For those of you who didn't go to movie night every week at Sullivan's during law school (and maybe even for those of you who did) that post title is a pretty obscure reference. As in "Come Back Shane. Shane Come back!" from the ending of the movie Shane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane That's a long way to go to my comeback. But it came to mind, so it came to blog.

I may be back. This morning I woke up and felt like I could breathe for the first time in about 12 days. I ran 3 miles at a 9:33 pace and it feels pretty good. I'm not hacking up a lung or feeling feverish so it's all good. Now I need to figure out how to go from essentially zero to 13.1 in 26 days. We'll see what I can do for a long run this weekend and go from there. I think the legs probably enjoyed the break, but the lungs need some work.

Looking back it's pretty easy to see how I got here. Sometimes we get sick because we're exposed to a nasty bug. Other times we get sick because we were stupid. This is one of those times. In the week leading up to my illness I had 3 really poor nights of sleep, thanks to the Doc having deliveries in the night. No I didn't have to go with her but I don't sleep much when she's gone and I know she's coming back. I was also training pretty hard - probably too hard. The new spin classes were pretty fun and I was getting back into yoga and training for a possible PR in San Antonio. To top it all off, I hit Oktoberfest pretty hard despite already having the start of a cold. Truth be told, I'd do it all again. I guess that just proves I can be too stupid to gain wisdom from my mistakes. Life's too short to skip Oktoberfest or go about it half heartedly.

Plus I got all the inside dope I need to motivate me to keep The Turtle next year - sorry Jim.

Lost

This week has been a complete loss (at least from a training perspective). I still can hardly speak and have enough congestion that I can't contemplate running.

And the rest of you in the blogosphere - I'm done with you! All your marathons, mountain biking, pie rides, 5k's and duathlons make me sick. Actually, I'm already sick. Next week though, I'll be right there with you, cheering on your latest adventure or training drudgery. Hopefully I'll be out there too - moving again.

Anyone have any good "4 Weeks to your Best 1/2 Marathon" programs?

Convalescing

The Doc hanging in the garage at Oktoberfest. Note the permanent beer can collection display. No those cans are not stacked on one another. They rest upon custom made stadium style shelves. Only Jim.

Speaking of Jim, here he is with the lederhosen t-shirt and Oktoberfest beads. Dave is sporting the fuzzy beer mug hat. Is that a paisley shirt Dave? You've been living in Uptown too long!

As predicted Oktoberfest did not improve my cold. I've completely lost my voice. It didn't help that the Doc had a delivery cooking all night involving several calls in the night. That made about the 3rd night of bad sleep that week. Combined with an ambitious training schedule I had the perfect set up to get sick. I'm feeling a little better today, but still can't speak and the phlegm is on the move.



As a result I didn't get in a long run last week. I got in plenty of cardio, but really needed a long run to get the endurance up before San Antonio.



Right now I am so looking forward to taking a break. Granted, I haven't exercised for 4 days now and that makes me edgy too, but my body and mind needs a break from training. It's been 9 months of pretty solid training.



5 weeks until San Antonio. I think that's enough time assuming I can get over this cold and get back out there soon.

Oktoberfest Time

Tonight is Tall Jim's Oktoberfest. I just spent the morning helping convert his spacious double deep garage into Shoreview's best bierhall. I'll be playing injured tonight as I'm fighting a cold, but I think I'll be up to the task. The Doc may have to leave me unsupervised for a while tonight as she's inducing a patient and may have to go in for the delivery tonight if it doesn't happen today. What could go wrong (with me being unsupervised not with the delivery)?

I was hoping to get out for a run this afternoon (man it's beautiful outside) but I think that would send me into a major decline and I can't risk it. Sunday I'll get in a long run assuming I feel better. (I don't think Oktoberfest is going to help) - Paulaner Oktoberfest and brats. What's the saying feed a fever, drown a cold . . . I should have it covered.

Anyone want to drive Zman to hockey at 6:45 a.m. on Saturday? Bueller? Anyone?

It's beginning to sound like the third option is off the table for San Antonio - Angie just ran over 6 miles at 8:30 pace. With a little rest 9:00's for 13 should be doable for her. It's looking like I'm going to have to run sub 2 just to stick with her. The first option is also off the table - 1:55 just isn't there either. I'm shooting for a hybrid. Nice dinner and a couple beers on Friday. Near complete rest on Saturday, pasta dinner, the whole pre race routine. Angie and I will head out and attempt to break 1:59:40 (and if one or both of us can avoid peeing on ourselves so much the better). If I don't wet myself at the finish OB will think I left some time out on the course.

Obligatory Post

Hello:

I realized it has been over 1 week since I last posted and even that one was just some pics from a previous race.

I've been flailing a bit this past week. Diet isn't on track - although I may be down to 220 so at least I'm not going the wrong direction. The running seems to be going ok - although I'm concerned that my pace goal is over ambitious. The last thing I want to do is develop some injury at the end of this season that will hurt my chances at IM CDA next year. Right now I'm focusing on my right achilles tendon. It always gets a little touchy when I pick up the pace a little. I decided to just do a base run today instead of the hill workout I was contemplating.

I do a tempo run tomorrow and my 8 miler on Friday. After that I'll have a good idea where my goals should be. Right now I see 3 possibilities: 1) go for it - 1:55 or less; 2) scale it back but still shoot for under 1:59:40 - a PR; or 3) coast - put in enough miles to finish comfortably, practically eliminate the speed work, eat and drink my way through San Antonio leading up to the race, run with Angie as she shoots for 2:10.

That third option is looking better and better. I know the Doc would like it. This is our first trip to San Antonio and she would rather be there with the relaxed, just having a good time, up for anything me as opposed to the more tightly wound than usual, resting, inwardly focused, going for a PR pre-race me.

Doc, OB and Ang who should I bring? Fun Rich or Focused Rich (those terms being relative of course)?

I'm hoping to get out and cheer on Capt Brian, Caroline and XT4 at TCM Sunday. The day looks perfect. It'll be wierd not doing the 10 mile - I've done it 4 times in a row.

Since I'm Not Training Anyhow

I might as well throw some pictures from Square Lake. Compare the first running picture to the last ones. I see a difference - do you?

Reset Button

Where is the darn reset button on this thing? This thing being . . . me. Apparently my decision to cut my run short on Friday was a good decision. It took until the middle of the night on Saturday before I came down with the full cold. Woke up to completely stuffed sinuses. Sat around yesterday. Started to feel better last night. Felt great this morning, but after running a couple of ERRANDS (not miles), I'm starting to feel ick again.

Depending upon how long this lasts I may have to rethink my goals for San Antonio.

Hopefully I can get a short run in tomorrow and go from there.

To Get Fast(er) - I Must Get Lean(er)

The Sibs weekend was a nice break. I didn't train at all (although I did have a couple of strange Ironman dreams - so I didn't get completely away from it). Skiing, fishing, poker, football, hanging and the younger crowd wakeboarded.



Now I'm back at it. If I'm going to go under 1:54 in San Antonio, I'm going to have to get serious about it. I know I can put in the miles, hills and speedwork. Where I'm going to have to make some changes is on the front end - the intake. The only way I seem to be able to change my diet - no more massive handfuls of M&Ms, is if I'm logging my calories. I use a calorie counter at http://www.fitday.com/ . They've updated it since I last used it (not a good sign) and it seems even more user friendly.

One advantage to being in the Clydesdale division is that I burn a lot of calories. If I limit my calories to 3,500 a day I'll lose weight. You wouldn't think that would be much of a challenge. Did you know that 1/4 cup of plain M&M's has 220 calories? That's about one small handfull. Now take one of those every trip through the kitchen and I'll have 1,000 calories that do nothing for me. That's why I have to log. When I'm logging my food I have to budget the calories. I generally will choose a quality food over the quick handful of candy coated chocolatey goodness.

We'll see how it goes. I'm on day 2.

My tempo run this morning didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped. It's not supposed to be comfortable, but I really struggled to get to 8:30s and came up a bit short. I believe two factors made it tough:

1. I'm still just 9 days out from the Square Lake 1/2 IM. It took almost the full 2 weeks between Rockman and Grandma's before I had my legs back.
2. I weigh 222 lbs. As I shed a few pounds it will get easier to make the pace goals.

I'm actually looking forward to more of a run focus for a while. I'll still bike and swim at least once a week, but just for kicks.

Thursday planning a big ride with the Doc. It (and she) should be gorgeous. Not many days like that left (for the weather, not the Doc - she's got a lot of gorgeous days left). I'm thinking gateway from 694 to Pine Point Park, up to Scandia, lunch, and then back.

Sibs Weekend Crashes Video

Here's a video montage of crashes by James and Mike. The one segment where the music drops out so you can hear the laughter and derision is Mike trying to slalom. What you can't really see is him supermanning holding on to the rope as his ski trails behind him through the water.




Enjoy.

Sibs Weekend

My brothers and their wives are coming to the cabin this weekend. Should be legen . . . (wait for it) . . .dary. Hopefully I'll get some videos of some sick wakeboard crashes to share. Until next week I leave you with the profile from last weekends run (thanks Steve).

Critical Eye

So the Doc is reading the Square Lake Report Monday night when she looks over at me and says "Do you think people really want to read all this stuff?" Ok, I'll admit the race report was long winded - I gave you a shorter version at the beginning. My answer to her, that I'll now share with you was . . . "maybe they do, but not everything I write is necessarily for you, the audience, some of it is for me."

While I try to interject some humor where I can, I really want to be able to use the entries as a reference. To look back on mistakes I made or the occassional triumph and see if I can fix it or for the triumph duplicate it, that's a big reason for this.

For, though a "presidential campaign isn't supposed to be a jouney of self discovery" (I'm sure Mindy will stop reading now that I've quoted Palin) what else is signing up for an Ironman, putting in the long and often lonely training hours, toeing the sand with 2500 other nutjobs for 14 hours of pushing yourself, but a journey of self discovery.

Recent Discoveries

Eventually the aches in my quads and knee from Sunday's race will go away, any fitness gains will also fade, but hopefully the lessons learned under the crucible of race day will be remembered and applied to future endeavors.

So you're saying - enough preamble Rich what are these self discoveries and lessons learned on Sunday?

Drumroll . . . . (I'd have a real drumroll here for your listening pleasure but it got unbelievably complicated so you'll have to just imagine your own.)

• Get some arm warmers (taken care of thanks to Capt Brian) , and probably some leg warmers too.
• Do some run training on a similar profile to the race course (hilly, flat etc.)
• Don't go into a half iron man (HIM) with your only run over 7.5 miles some 2 1/2 months prior to the race.
• Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition - know how many bottle stops there are going to be on the bike, don't rely on just the big aero bottle. Put a cage and extra bottle on your seat tube. That way you're not trying to get and dump one bottle into your aero bottle and then grab another to fill it up (unsuccessfully). Continue to take in fuel on the run - 4 oz of gatorade every 2 miles (or even one mile) is NOT going to get you there. Bring some gels/beans/blocks.
• If you don't get what you need at a bottle stop - pullover and STOP - 30 seconds to grab that second bottle could save you, oh . . . 14 minutes on the back of the out and back run.
• Electronics - make sure you've got your time alarm set to help you stick to your nutrition plan.
• Don't gain 5-10 pounds in the weeks leading up to the race - they won't help.

You might think that I had a bad day, but really most everything went well. I stayed within myself on the bike hitting my time goal and keeping my legs relatively fresh. With better nutrition and better run training I think MJs PR would have been in play. Maybe next year.

Square Lake Half Ironman Race Report

I'm back baby - well at least my blog is.

Race Report

Short version - 6:01:16 fast swim, reasonable bike, 1/2 of a good run, rain, vertical, pain, ice.

Longer version

Weather considerations. The forecast called for 50s with possible showers throughout the race. That’s a tricky forecast - 50 degrees with the sun shining is pleasant on a bike, 50 and cloudy is chilly and 50 and raining is downright cold. Checking the radar before leaving in the morning it looked like there was a small band of showers in western Minnesota. I didn’t think it would rain until late in the bike or maybe the run. I decided to wear a long sleeve compression shirt with a short sleeve shirt with a rear pocket over it. I had a self storing coat with a waist belt but I decided not to take it on the bike.

THE SWIM

Square Lake is a real gem. Crystal clear water - think Lake Geneva. The wind was calm so it was like swimming in a pool with 50 of your best friends. The water temp was slightly warmer than the air so no problems there either. The first swim in a while I haven’t started to heat up in my wetsuit. It was a 2 lap swim counterclockwise. I was happy to hear that we didn’t have to come out of the water in between laps (some races do this so you cross a timing mat and they can make sure you swim both laps).

I was in the first wave with the elites, men 29 and under and the clydesdales. In which category do you think I was? Ordinarily (when I’m not in with the elites and young bucks) I try and go out hard in the swim to get some open water and then settle in to a rythm I can maintain for the distance. With these guys though, I just needed to focus on getting into a rythm, maybe finding some feet to follow and letting the open water come to me. Why follow feet? Drafting (swimming closely behind someone) reduces the effort required to maintain the pace by up to 10%. In other words, I could theoretically take 3 minutes off my time just by following someone who swims a little faster than me or I could save that energy and use it later in the day.

I did find someone to follow for quite a ways on the return during the first lap. He tired so I went around. For most of the second lap I was by myself. There was a group in front of my but it turned out they were from a later wave, on their first lap, and considerably slower.

I left the water in 32:54 (1:34/100 pace). That compares to 36:20 for my Rockman swim. In order to get to the transition area you have to go up about 40 steps. I thought I’d take my wetsuit off before going up the steps. Unfortunately, after about 30 seconds of fumbling for the pull cord I finally just started up the steps. Eventually I found the cord as I got to the top of the steps.

T1

Now the weather was going to impact my transition time. I didn’t want to swim with the long sleeve compression shirt on (too restrictive) so I had to put on both shirts while wet and then do my regular routine. Socks, shoes, helmet, glasses, on the road. Between the fumbling for the wetsuit cord and the extra dressing - 4:07. (This easily cost me the 1:16 I was over 6hrs - or a good chunck of it)

Bike

The bike was good preparation for Coeur D’Alene in a couple of ways. 1) vertical profile - Square Lake has around 2400 feet of elevation gain in 54 miles, CDA has, ugh, around 6000 in 112 miles. Ok, so this bike isn’t quite as tough as CDA. It’s still the most climbing I’ve done in a half ironman and required me to hold back the whole time. 2) getting passed - the first lap (the bike was also 2 laps) I spent getting passed at regular intervals by cyclists of all shapes and sizes on all kinds of rides. At least no one passed me on a hybrid but there were a few aluminum road bikes with or without aerobars streaming past me. I was trying to keep my heart rate at 130 when cruising and limit the increase on the hills. For the most part I was successful and felt decent getting off the bike for the run.

Time 3:00:26. Note, this is course is just over 54 miles instead of the full 56 so this time is slight misleading. Even with the short distance it’s my slowest bike split in a half IM. It was supposed to be, I was hoping to save my legs to have a good run.

The long sleeve/short sleeve combo was perfect for the bike. At one point I thought I was going to be too warm but then it clouded up and started to sprinkle.

T2

I knew I didn’t want to run in the long sleeve shirt. This meant I needed to take off both shirts in transition, carefully so I could easily put the short sleeve shirt back on. I probably should have had a 3rd shirt so I didn’t have to worry about seperating the 2 shirts I was wearing.

Time 1:32

Run

All in all my legs felt pretty good at the start of the run. My left foot was pretty numb and every now and then I’d get a little shock as it came back to life. My quads and calves were sore but it was at a manageable level. A couple of miles into the run it started to rain pretty steadily. Fine with me, I don’t mind a little rain - helps keep my large mass cool. The run is also very hilly - around 2500 feet of climbing. I made it to the turn around in 1 hour 4 minutes. The turn around is at the top of huge hill. It was on that hill that my quads and calves completely revolted. At this precise point, halfway through the run it became a real battle to keep moving. The second half took me 1:18. That’s over 2 minutes per mile slower. On the last hill it came down to running to the next “no parking” sign and then walking to the next. I knew I was close to breaking 6 hours but also knew I wasn’t going to do it. My heart rate wasn’t coming down when I was walking, I was sweating more profusely than I should have been when walking, and it felt really good to close my eyes both while walking and running. I didn’t have any energy to reply in kind to the encouragement from other racers.

Time 2:22:19. That compares favorably with Rockman at 2:36:56 especially given the difficulty of the course.

Total Time 6:01:16. You might think I’d be disappointed with not breaking 6 hours. I’m not. I feel like I raced a smart race and didn’t leave anything in reserve. I’ve got the ice on my knee right now to prove it. I’m more sore than I was after my marathon.

I’m still not sure how I’m going to double all of those distances. At least the run at CDA isn’t quite as vertical. (I hope)

Tri season’s over. Now it’s time to recover and focus on the San Antonio Half Marathon. NS Rob’s time is going down!

Square Lake Preview Ride

Looking for a place to ride on Saturday a.m.? I'm heading out on the Square Lake long course at 8 a.m. and doing 2 loops. Park at Square Lake Park ($5 fee) and head out into the rolling hills. Stop at the park after 1 loop and replenish your water bottles for the 2nd loop. Self supported ride.

Here's the route:



The weather looks like it should be fabulous. Probably a little cool at the start but warming up nicely.

Vacation Takes It's Toll

I'm sitting here blogging and icing down the arch of my left foot. This won't suprise any of you runners out there - it's a way to help prevent/heal the dreaded plantar fasciitis. No, that's not what I'm doing here. I'm icing down the spot where a yellowjacket somehow got between my sandal and my foot. It didn't want to be there any more than I wanted it there and it let me know! It's much better this morning than it was last night but I don't think I want to head out for a run. Maybe tomorrow.

Aside from the human/animal interaction, vacation left a mark in another way too. I'm up a few pounds. I could blame myself and my lack of self control, but I blame the Doc. She likes to have snacks around, have 1/2 a serving herself and then sit back and watch me eat the rest. It started with a ginormous (yes that's actually a word and I'm lobbying for hugantic (which is actually bigger than ginormous)) http://http//www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hugantic batch of gorp. We're talking about at least 1 gallon of gorp which is perhaps the most calorie dense substance known to man. The gorp disappeared after a couple of days and was followed by Special K bars, rice krispie treats and cookies (including those frosted sugar ones that don't fill you up at all but have like a thousand calories a piece). Fortunately she's tucked back into work and can no longer wreak havoc on my dietary intake.

Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to lug these extra 7 pounds (based upon my Rockman weight) around Square Lake. Good thing it's a hilly course - because that's exactly what you want when you're above your ideal race weight. (that's sarcasm people).

Managed to pack on the pounds despite biking 175 miles, running 13 miles and about an hour of swimming in 10 days plus all the projecting around the cabin. The cabin residing is nearly complete. Now for the big ol garage.

Vacation

Lest any of you think that my life is empty, but for triathlons, I thought I'd share a few pictures from our time at the cabin. (We're still there). But don't worry too much, I'm currently alone, blogging from our "bonus room" (formerly the guest house before a friendly neighbor called the City of East Bethel) above the detached garage waiting for the coverage of the Women's Olympic Triathlon to start. It's 11 now and I'm not sure I'm going to make it as the local news is starting first.

Anyhow - here are the pics. Click on a photo to see it MUCH bigger.

Where is my driver when I need her most? Look at that butter! Oh yeah, there are a couple of kids catching sunnies and putting them in a big Rubbermaid (tm) bin. My driver (the "Doc") was wrapping things up at work before her week off.
















The weather is supposed to be picture perfect all week.
















The dog chilled between sets during this after dinner ski/boarding session.





















JRose taking a break from tubing. But in case you think it's all sunsets, full moon rising, chilling in the sun. Here's an action shot from the tubers:

















On a training note - I did go for my first run since Turtleman this morning. 3 miles - whoo hoo. Tomorrow I'm planning a long ride. Next Sunday the Minnesota Tri Club's August Century Ride conveniently goes very close to the cabin. I'll jump in and get 60 - 70 miles in.

Turtleman

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm new to this blogging thing. Perhaps if I had more experience with this thing, I'd have a picture of Jim unveiling his Secret Weapon race morning, a picture of my reaction to said Secret Weapon, a picture of the presentation of THE Turtle.



As it is, you'll just have to settle for a few pictures of me from behind. That's right folks, I was so fast all day that they couldn't get the pictures of me from the front.



I know, I know, the suspense is killing you (or not). Yes, I did win THE Turtle. That makes me the first multiple Turtle winner. Yes Rob, I'm counting 2006 - it's not my fault Jim fainted prior to the start and couldn't go. I still beat Rob that year.



Rob won last year and added a plaque to THE Turtle. He put his name on it, but failed to add mine for 2006. In putting my name on it for this year I added the 2006 victory too.



I'm getting a bit ahead of myself though.

We all met at Rob's house before heading over to the race. Instead of pulling his gold Bianchi road bike with clip on aero bars from his truck, Jim gets out the SECRET WEAPON. A racing red fully tricked out tri bike complete with Zipp racing wheels and tubular tires. It was a pretty bike! How the heck did he talk Mindy into that? Oh . . . it was borrowed. I'm sure the look on my face was priceless. Worrisome? Slightly. The new bike looked fast, but was not without some risk. Jim would be in a completely new body position. I wondered how his back would hold up and how the bike to run would go.

This year Turtleman was again a time trial start (one person every 3-5 seconds). This year they went oldest to youngest. This meant both Rob and Jim were starting before me. Rob about 5 minutes and Jim about 2. This meant psychologically I would start out as the hunter instead of the prey. A pleasant change.

I was somewhat secretly hoping to be the first out of the water despite starting so far back. Jim swam in high school and our times are usually pretty similar. Rob dreads the swim. As I came out of the water I heard the Doc yell "Rob's waaaay in front of you." What she actually said was "Rob's right in front of you." He was just about getting ready to head out when I got to our rack. Jim's bike was still there too. Apparently he saw me pass him "before the first buoy." How he saw me go by I don't know. I think a small nuclear submarine could go past me and I wouldn't notice.

I stripped off my wetsuit and got my shoes on as quick as I could. I headed off chasing Rob on the bike. I should note that I was operating on very limited information. When we got to the rack that morning I discovered I had neglected to charge my Garmin. Fortunately, I had decided to use my Polar heart rate monitor since the Garmin has been acting up (something to do with the 2 inch crack in the face). On the ride I didn't have any information about cadence, speed, distance. I've ridden the course about 50 times so I know it pretty well. It actually was kind of nice to just focus on keeping my heart rate in the zone and not worry about whether I was going fast enough or what my cadence was.

I caught Rob about halfway through the bike. He tried to stay with me for a while. Cha, like that's going to happen. It'd be like me trying to hang with him on the run. The thought never crossed my mind when he passed me a mile and a half into the run. I was too busy trying to figure out if he could make up 5 minutes in the remaining 3.5 miles.


I saw Jim for the first time since the start about 3 1/2 minutes into the run. He was coming in on the bike. This put him about 6 minutes back. I thought I might see him at around mile 4, but he struggled on the run and I didn't see him until after the finish.

The whole last couple of miles I kept telling myself. "You don't want to lose to Rob by 3 seconds - keep moving." And I did. My mile splits were - 8:41, 8:49, 9:08, 9:11, and 8:47. That last mile is mostly uphill (not steep, but still up) so I'm especially pleased that I was able to drop the pace back under 9. I was really concentrating. I didn't react to the Doc or Mindy and the kids until the Doc yelled at me to "RUN FASTER." That's a joke between us and isn't something people usually yell. I did manage to smile and give a little wave after that. As I came to the finish there was a women a little ahead of me. I think she thought I was kicking to try and get by her. I didn't care about her, I just didn't want to lose to Rob by 3 seconds. She sped up to stay in front. At the line I eased up as if to say - it's all yours.

The day was beautiful. Great to hang out in the park eating free hotdogs and hoping to win some awesome prizes. No one in our group won anything this year.

Here are the numbers. I don't think they could have been much better. I would have liked to have broken one hour on the bike, but overall I'm pleased:


Time
2:13:34
Overall Place
269 / 795
Gender Place
214 / 494
Swimtime
25:51
Swimpace
1:35
Swimplace
160
Tran1
1:46
Biketime
1:00:47
Bikemph
21.1
Bikeplace
276
Tran2
0:38
Runtime
44:34
Runpace
8:45
Runplace
449
Penalty

Sometimes Inspiring Others Hurts

So a couple of you have told me you've signed up for races because my signing up for CDA inspired you. (Wow if signing up inspired you, just imagine what actually running the race might do). One of those two, neighbor Brian, signed up for his first 5k - the Villagefest 5k. I told him I'd run it with him. Brian's a big guy. He's down to just under 250 (or an eighth of a ton as I used to describe myself back in the day).

He told me his goal was 31 minutes. We were planning on being at the lake that weekend. I thought cool - the race doesn't start until 8. I'll ride my bike down (28 miles), change and go for a short training run with Brian. Then I'd ride back up to the lake and go about my day. Fortunately the Doc had to round that morning so she offered to give me a ride back to the lake. I thought about it and said sure. I probably didn't need to ride my bike back.

The race starts and we're off. A half mile into it I look at the Garmin and we're doing an 8:50 pace. Uh, Brian . . . you're starting off a little fast here. I'm worried he's going to fry himself in the first mile and we're going to be walking it in. I've done it before, I recognize the signs. He says he feels pretty good. We slow a little and finish the first mile in 8:55. We come to a couple of small hills in the second mile which slow us a little more.

Brian's huffing and puffing pretty good. As I said he's a big guy. I start thinking that his wife probably blames me for Brian's bike purchase and everything that goes with that. A fact that she confirmed after the race. I decide if he drops over she's going to blame me. Good thing I didn't find out until after the race that his mom died from a massive coronary during an aerobics class. He really hasn't slowed down too much but I can tell he's running near his limit.

I had stashed an extra shirt at the start. It was about 50 feet off the course with 200 yards left to go. I was thinking about diving over and getting it when all the sudden Brian kicks it in. Guess I'll get the shirt after the race.

We cross the line at 29:15 which worked out to around 9:15/mi. So much for 10:30s. I go home get cleaned up and immediately take a nap while waiting for the Doc. I'm really glad I didn't have to ride back up to the lake. I would have been toast.

Shameless Plug

Hey

Just wanted to point you to one of my new "sponsors." I met Colleen through Stomper Rob at a swim class. She was preparing for her first triathlon - Turtleman - a 1 mile swim, 22 mile bike and 10k. No small task.

Anyhow, she's started a business selling tri related picture frames, jewelry and stuff. Here's her description from her website:

Our purpose is to offer you fun and affordable keepsakes that mark your athletic accomplishments. Trinity Designs was created by someone who, after participating in her first triathlon in 2006, wanted to find a way to mark this achievement, but had little luck finding a way to do so.
At Trinity Designs we offer creative keepsakes for you to recognize your hard work and discipline.
At this site you will find products such as picture frames, plaques, necklaces, bracelets, key chains and zipper pulls that give you the opportunity to celebrate your athletic achievements.
You are able to choose from the products on this website or work with Trinity Designs to custom design a keepsake of your own. Thank you for taking time to see what we can offer you!

Check out her products at http://www.trinitydesigns.org. She'll also be at the Turtleman packet pick up this week. If you get something from her tell her "Rich sent me" No I don't get any kickbacks or anything.

Chisago Kids and Sprint Tri

I know both of you have been anxiously awaiting a race report for the Chisago Lakes Kids and Sprint Triathlon. Well here it is. Saturday was an early morning as I had to get everything loaded up (including the dog) for both the tri and the weekend at the cabin. Then I had to run it all up to the lake, drop off the dog and the non-tri stuff, load the fridge and drive to Forest Lake to meet Doc and the kids. Anyhow, we got to the transition area with plenty of time for the kids to mug for the camera: Zach finished in the top three the first year he did the race (this is his third). The event wasn't nearly as big, but it's set the bar pretty high. At first they put him in with the 10 year olds because of his size. At the last minute he told them he was 9 and moved up to that wave. Unfortunately it was too late for him to get to the front of the wave. He's a good swimmer and would have rocked it. He came out of the water way behind the leaders and had no chance to podium. Fortunately he has a good time whether he places or not. (A lot like his dad that way!)
Jenna wants to win a trophy like Zach's and was pretty disappointed when she didn't.


I recognize this look. The pain at the finish. Plus, they're too young to have a Leinie's Summer Shandy - the unkindest cut. Zach crashed TWICE on the bike. The first time he clipped some one's rear wheel and the second time he got squeezed into the curb. Knowing how crazy it can get in the adult race, I can only imagine what it was like with kids flitting around.

Here's a short video of Jenna coming off the beach, washing off her feet and heading into T1. She needs to work on her turnover!

And one of Zach dismounting the bike. The doc says he'd been practicing. I wish I could get down that technique.

Sorry about the size. I know Youtube embedded videos are bigger, but I wasn't able to get the full code blah blah blah.

We went to the Swedish Inn in Lindstrom after the race to kill time before I could get my packet for Sunday's sprint. Sorry no pictures. If you want to see pictures of postrace food check out http://iwannagetphysical.blogspot.com/ for Steve in a Speedo's race report.

Chisago Sprint Report

The Chisago Sprint - also known as the Golden Globes of the Ex-Neighbor Tri Battle
(it's nice to win it, but everyone only remembers the Oscar (Turtleman) winner. New bike course this year - shorter and less hilly. In previous years, the longer bike course has helped me. Jim and I are in the same wave - which is nice. Stomper Rob signed up the day before the race so he's a ways back.

We're the ninth sprint wave to go. Standing waist deep in the water looking out at the swim course it looks like there was a shipwreck. I've never seen so many heads just bobbing in the water. What the heck people, it's 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile - keep it moving out there. The tattooed guy next to Jim starts talking about needing his space. We joke with him a bit, but I'm not sure he's kidding.

The gun goes off and I take off fast, not wanting to get caught up with the space needing tatman. I feel somebody hit my right side a couple of times. I figure it's Jim - sorry - turns out it was probably tatman. Almost immediately I'm dodging to bobbers, sidestrokers and backstrokers from the earlier waves. I stayed waaaaaay to the outside and it wasn't too bad. It took me a while to recover from the fast start. My watch said just over 7 minutes when I hit the beach. It took a bit to get up the hill to transition.

The Bike

I feel bad about the bike. I think I may have ruined some one's day. There were 4 of us riding at about the same speed. One guy was doing the half and had the full aero kit. He was faster on the downhills but in trying to keep his watts down was slower on the uphill. He had a guy on a roadbike drafting off him in the most blatant fashion I'd ever seen. We hit a flat stretch so the aero guy started pulling away from me slowly. I watched the other guy sit 6 inches off his wheel for at least 2 miles. We got to some hills again and I started to pass them. I commented to another guy that we were all passing that it was the shortest 3 bike lengths I'd ever seen. As I passed the aero guy I told him "he had an achor" - what I meant was a remora sucking on his tail. I think he thought I was pissed that he was going slow on the hill or something. Right before the sprint turnoff he passed me and said something I didn't catch. I hope he didn't fry himself passing me. I had two other courses of action - both of which would have been better than my passive aggressive actions. 1. Shrug it off. If some guy wants to suck wheel in a race that's his deal. 2. Take it up with the drafter, not those around the drafter. Hopefully aero guy had a great race and doesn't even remember me.

Running Scared

Spent most of the run doing math in my head. As I was coming out of the park I saw Jim riding on Stinson heading towards the park. Looking at my watch it read 2:24 into the run. I figure I have about 3 minutes on him. Can I hold him off for 3.1 miles? At the turn I check my time, and then when I see Jim again I do some quick calculations. He's gained a little. I pick up the pace knowing he's going to haul trying to catch me. Not today!

The numbers:

Me Swim 8:29.9 T1 1:39.6 Bike 47:06.3 T2 40.7 Run 27:13.8 Total 01:25:10.5

Jim 9:45.7 1:20.2 49:33.9 1:23.7 25:00.4 01:27:04.2

Stomper 10:13.9 2:28.8 50:33.8 01:28.3 25:51.5 01:30:36.5

It looks like Stomper Rob may have a tough time defending the Turtle. We'll know in two weeks.

If you've made it this far in the post - wow do you have a lot of spare time!

You can now post comments without registering. Feel free.

Rolling Alone No More

It's been a different week for me. Last Thursday I rode with Jim and Stomper Rob, did the group ride on Saturday in Rockford, on Tuesday I did an open water swim followed by a ride with NS Rob (not Stomper Rob). Hit a spin class with Neighbor Brian Wednesday, and Thursday I ran 6 miles with Cpt. Brian (freshly back from Iraq).

That's more group workouts than I've had in the last 3 months and it was refreshing. I'm not sure how great it was for my training since on the group rides you often find yourself sitting up chatting. That's the point of a group ride though - otherwise it would just be a couple (or more) guys who happen to be riding in the vicinity of one another.

Cpt. Brian is training for the Twin Cities Marathon, lost 30 pounds in Iraq (I should consider moving my kitchen 1/2 mile down the road) and pretty much could have dusted me at any point. After 2 miles I was struggling, but after another mile or so at a slower pace I came back and started to feel good.

Not to worry all of you who know me as the somewhat antisocial curmudgeon - I'm sure I'll be swimming, rolling, and running on my own next week.

My next post should contain some wildly different triathlon pictures - the triathletes will be much shorter! Zman and JRose will be doing the Chisago Kids Tri tomorrow a.m. Well Zman will be, I can't promise that JRose will toe the line. How did I end up with such a non-gung-ho daughter; I'll never know.

One of the Many Benefits of the Trilife

Returned to Rockford for our 21 year (yeah well, it took an extra year to organize) high school reunion. We had a great time. Drank a great many beers. I recognized most of the guys. I generally had no clue who the women were. You know it's not the easiest thing to discreetly check out some women's name tag when she's wearing a low cut cocktail dress. Then to make it harder, they throw on their current name so you've got to sort that out from the maiden name and the next thing you know they're slapping you for staring at their cleavage. But anyhow, I digress.

The benefit of the tri-life. I must have heard at least 100 times that I looked exactly the same as I did the day we graduated, "except for a few lines around the eyes."

I realize how lucky I am in a lot of respects - still have my hair, my schedule allows me to undertake significant training schedules without sacrificing family or sleep (much). I have a supportive spouse (the Doc).

It's triathlons and the lifestyle that goes along with it that has me within 10 pounds of my playing weight senior year. It's what had me going down quiet country roads on the Lemond (I'll have to introduce you to the Lemond some day - I was a freshman in high school when it was born) with MJ, his dad, the Doc and a small group from the Blackhawk Cycling Club Saturday morning. It's why we could have dropped MJ if the other Mike had taken a pull at the front after we broke from the pack. It's why I'm down 45 pounds from my zenith.

I can only wonder what they'll think 9 years from now after I have 5 or 6 Ironmans (Ironmen?) under my belt. (Don't tell the Doc that or she'll freak!)

This coming weekend the kids are in the Chisago Kids Tri. Zman got a brick workout in last night. He finished 2nd a couple years ago. The race has grown by leaps and bounds. JRose is just hoping her chain doesn't fall off again this year. She walked her bike the entire course last year, but finished. She's got a new ride so it shouldn't be a problem. Apparently the Disney Princess bike from Walmart isn't the most durable - and don't even get me started on the aerodynamics.

Lifetime Fitness Pics

These pictures are WAAAAY different than the Minneman pictures. See, there was no balloon arch at Minneman; I'm actually TURNING in one of the bike pictures and I have a WHITE hat on the run (not orange). WAAAAAAAY different.

A Short Breather

Hey All,

Took a short break after Lifetime. I was pretty sore until Tuesday. I did try and get a swim in Monday night - had goggles, swimcap, shower shoes, towel, watch . . . no suit. They're pretty flexible at LA Fitness, but not that flexible. It was already pretty late when I headed over there so I decided to bag it.

Got a quick ski set in yesterday - thanks Wendy! It was a great day at the lake with the kids. J-Rose got up on two without the skis being tied together (not for long). Zman continues to ratchet up his slalom. I'm resisting the temptation to start talking to him about technique, just letting him get more aggressive. The day will come when we can talk about head position, one armed turns, hip position etc.

Hit up a spin class this morning. It's a nice break from riding the roads, usually alone. Tomorrow I've got a training ride with my rivals for the Turtle - Jim and Stomper Rob. They both did the full marathon at Grandma's so they haven't spent as much time on the bike as they'd like. That suits me fine as they're both faster runners than me. The Turtleman organizers did me a favor by dropping from the 10k back to 5 miles on the run. I think I'll need about 7 1/2 minutes going into the run. May be time to pick up that aero bike helmet (ok, ok I don't want the Turtle that bad).

This weekend the family is headed down to Rockford for our high school reunion. Training will continue to take a bit of a backseat for now. Next week the kids have day camp and I'm planning on getting in a great week of training - assuming I don't spend the whole time painting window trim at the lake.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. It looks like we've got the lodging issue resolved for Coeur D'alene. I wasn't getting much response from the homeowners (I think they've been overwhelmed) but I did find something very close to the start. It should work out great for race day. Mom and the kids can see some of the race and then go back and hang out at the house. The Doc and OB will have their bikes and be spread out on the course. Now I need to come up with a catchy theme for their matching shirts. Suggestions?

Lifetime Fitness Report

As promised, here are some pics of the pros from Lifetime Fitness. Sorry about the quality. We weren't racked right around the pros so it was tough to get close. To the left, Greg Bennett is walking. Below, Kevin from GearWest is helping Craig Alexander inflate his rear tire.

To the left, TJ Tollackson (in red) and a couple other guys discuss either where the run exit is or where to find a Biffy. I think that's Matt Reed drinking the Red Bull on the far right.

My race report:

I know I said I wouldn't make a long post like I did for Minneman. And I won't. My bike computer died so I couldn't give you too much information even if I wanted to (see earlier post about equipment issues - HEED plus cracked face = dead computer). I did have the 2nd fastest swim in Clydes 30-39. The bike went well (the pace in the results is wrong - for some reason they figured the pace based upon a 22.3 mile ride rather than a 24.8 mile ride). I wanted to run the 10k in under an hour and I did. I took almost 14 1/2 minutes off my time from last year!

Year Swim T1 Bike T2 Run Total

2008 26:01 3:03 1:15:57 1:46 58:51 2:45:40

2007 28:20 3:48 1:16:45 2:13 1:09:07 3:00:15

Got faster in every phase - how can you not be happy with that?

Pacing information for OB

1:44/100, 20.1 mph (per revised official distance), 9:30/mi

Olympian Sighting

So I'm pedaling the Lemond down to the Convention Center to pick up my packet for Lifetime tomorrow. After crossing the Stone Arch bridge, I see this guy coming towards me on a tribike. Solid disc rear wheel, aero helmet, USA bodysuit. Clearly one of the elites who flew into town and is making sure the bike travelled ok. Did I think to pull out my phone and snap a picture? Noooo. For purposes of this story I will swear it was Andy Potts (or maybe Hunter Kemper or Matt Reed). I should be racked right by the elites tomorrow. I'm going to take my camera. So instead of a boring race report with my heart rate, cadence, splits, blah blah blah; I hope to share some pics of sweet rides and real athletes!

More Pics

I know, I know. These triathlon pics all start to look the same. Oh, well. And in case you haven't seen the Guru before - yes those are flames. It was a great deal what can I say. I really should try to relax my shoulders on the run.