Wednesday 10.31.12

Back at it.....slowly.  Today, I went for a run.  Three miles and lasted about 30 minutes.  Yesterday, I would have told you to get lost.  I seem to be lost for the past few days.  Waking up at 5am and not doing anything.  Once my feet hit the floor, there is a steady reminder of why I need the time off.  I only averaged about 10 minute miles today.  Slow and steady.  Jeff wants me to take it easy for about another week and I should be feeling more normal again.  Good to see Andy Brown park again today from my Asics Gel Cumulus shoes.

Ironman Austin Race Recap

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Day Before the Race:  Check in went pretty fast despite the horror stories of how long the lines can be.  I had to sign a bunch of releases saying I wouldn't sue anyone if I died.  Picked up my race stickers, timing chip, and race t-shirt.  It was the same as some races and completely different because it's an ironman race.  They shuttle you out of the pickup area into the ironman store.  You gotta load up on some stuff there.  I bought a tri jersey, bike jersey, bike shorts, some car stickers, and a few things for Patty and Lance.  They got an Ironman Support Crew t-shirt and a few other things.  Got stung at the register but it's worth it.  Walked around the expo for awhile checking out the stuff for sale.  They give you bags to put your gear in.  We went back to the truck and sorted all of my stuff into bike gear and run gear bags.  I went to the T2 transition area and hung my bag on my designated rack position.  I was on the very end of the aisle which was really cool.  There is lots of room to work with on the end.  After dropping the run gear, we had to drive to the lake where the T1 transition area was located.  I unloaded my bike and bike gear bag and put everything in the transition area.  My spot would be tougher to find and there wasn't much room to manuever in there.  My bike gear back was really packed.  It was going to be cold and I loaded up several layer options depending on the weather.  There were lots of stickers in the grass and someone was letting everyone know to carry your bike and check the tires for stickers.  Good thing I checked, there were alot of thorns in my tires.  After dropping the bike, we drove the bike course.  Lots of rolling hills but it was not any different than my rides through Argyle and Bartonville.  The roads were really bad in spots and there was some chipseal to deal with.  More than anything, it was really windy on Saturday from the north but things were supposed to calm down for the race.  We got some BBQ at a little hole in the wall place and then headed back to the hotel.  I rested for a few hours and then Patty and I went to Texas Land and Cattle for dinner at 5pm.  Jeff suggested I finish dinner by 5 or 6.  I had steak and a baked sweet potato.  Protein and carbs.  Alabama was on TV at 7:45 and I watched about half the game and then fell asleep.  I did not sleep well at all.  The hotel was having a halloween party and drunks were roaming the halls.  I don't think it would have mattered.  I was pretty nervous.

RACE DAY:  I finally fell asleep where you sleep hard at 2am and woke up at 4:45.  I intended to be up by 4:30.  Jeff said to try and get about 3 Clif bars in my system.  I was only able to eat one.  My stomach was not willing to take food in.  I took my arthritis medication along with a potassium pill.  Anyone that races understands the importance of emptying your system.  I tried to get that done as well.  We left for the race site at about 5:30am.  It was about 40 degrees outside and fairly calm winds.  We had to park at the expo center where T2 was located and the finish at the arena.  I went to the portolet one more time and we had to catch a bus to the lake.  They give you a morning bag that includes dry clothes and whatever you need after the race.  I thought we dropped that at the T2 area but they said to take it to the lake.  We caught the bus and I rode next to a guy from Dallas who was 63 and doing his first HIM as well.  Nice guy.  Once we got to the lake and unloaded, I checked my bike tires one more time and then put my two bottles of Accelerade on the bike.  I was wearing my triathlon shorts and a hoodie.  It was really cold.  Patty and Lance grabbed a few breakfast burritos.  The smell of the grease and the eggs was making me sick so we had to find somewhere to go.  Eventually, we found a group of people holed up in the back of a truck like a bunch of hobos.  It was out of the wind and warmer than standing outside.  I got into my wetsuit in the truck.  Here I am inside the truck:

My stomach was a nervous wreck and I made one more run to the bathroom and then headed to the lake.  I found my group in our flourescent green caps.  We were set to start at 7:45.

 



I didn't have shoes on and my feet were going numb waiting to get in the water.  You have to go through a specific gate to get in the water and have your timing chip register.  Everyone was really wanting to get in the water.  The water temperature was 71 degrees.  Typically, 71 degree water is cold.  When it is 40 degrees outside, the water felt awesome.  Everyone was so happy when we got in the water.  The sun had just come up and you couldn't see the red buoy where you turn from the water.  It was just a long string of yellow buoys.  There were about 150-175 in my wave.  It was all of the 45-49 year old men.  The guys around me were all really cool.  I lined up close to the front but on the right, farthest away from the buoys.  I figured most of the really fast guys would go there and I would stay outside hoping to find clean water and stay out of the washing machine.  This was the most civil start to any race I have done.  I put my head down and started swimming.  All of the buoys were on my left.  I have a tendency to vere to the right.  I sighted every 20 strokes or so.  I used the kayaks to sight.  I breathe to the right so I wasn't watching the buoys at all.  I definitely added distance to my swim by doing it this way, but I stayed away from people for the most part.  It seemed like the first red buoy was never going to come.  Right before I got to the first turn, I started picking up quite a few red hats from the wave before mine.  It was a little crowded from the first to second turn.  I was passing lots of people.  Once I hit the second red buoy, it was time to head for home.  The sun was behind me so I could see the shore clearly.  I passed a few Lt. Blue caps which were two waves ahead of me on the last leg.  I got passed by a few people in the wave behind me in the last few hundred yards.  I was making pretty good time by my standard.  It was a little hard to find the swim exit but I got out ok.  My legs were a little wobbly.  One of the volunteers unzipped my wetsuit for me and I headed to the wetsuit strippers.  The guy pulled the wetsuit off my legs and I immediately cramped in my right hamstring.  Not what I really expected and I was definitely worried about it getting on the bike.  By the time I got to my bike I could not feel my feet at all.  They were numb.  I decided to put everything I had in the bag on.  I hate being cold and I wasn't all the interested in transition times, I just wanted to be comfortable.

Minding the thorns in the ground, I carried my bike to the road.  I think I was in transition for about 10 minutes.  Some hard core guys were not putting much on, but if they wanted to suffer so be it.  The winds had actually picked up alot.  It had to be blowing 10-15 from the north.  Another reason to be warm.  I hit the mount line and it was on.

When the wind blows, it feels like you fight it, no matter which direction you travel.  Jeff cautioned me to conserve energy on the ride and resist the temptation to stay with people who would be passing me.  The first thing I did was have a gel and started drinking the accelerade.  I was worried about the hamstring cramp.  I could have ridden much faster but I was conservative.  It was hard to do.  I rolled through the first aid station and didn't need anything yet.  Jeff asked me to take a gel every 25 minutes, and I stayed right on that plan for the entire ride.  I took a bottle of water at the second aid station and threw away one of my bottles.  The mess at these aid stations is really hard to vision unless you are there.  They only had water and Ironman Perform.  I haven't trained with Ironman Perform so I didn't have any.  I drank the second bottle of Accelerade and traded the water for an Ironman Perform at the next aid station.  I drank a little of that stuff but it sucked.  At about 30-40 miles, things really bogged from a mental perspective.  I started doing calculations in my mind about how far and how long.  Dumb stuff like that.  Things that provide no benefit to the ride.  I also started to get sick of eating honey stingers.  Eating that often was starting to make me dread every 25 minutes, which was good and bad.  Instead of worrying about how far I had to go, I was more concerned with how long until the next gel.  The Ginsting variety was killing me.  Vanilla was good and my pomegranate was gone early.  The Gold was ok too.  The other odd thing was the consistency.  In the cold weather, it was thicker like a GU instead of a stinger.  The last rest stop was at about mile 48.  I had to stop and pee.  Just couldn't make it until T2.  One bonus of stopping was getting a GU.  They had some Roctane there and it really boosted my spirits to not have to eat another stinger.  I was very happy.  It was a steady climb into the wind back to the expo center.  They put us on circuitous route back to T2.  Every time you thought you were close, there was another twist and turn.  I could see the runners and we passed a section of the run course on the way in.  I was very happy to get off that bike.  My run bag was the farthest away as you can get but I was right next to the run out.  Patty and Lance were right next to my rack spot so it was good to see them again.  My mind wasn't exactly right so they were able to help me get out of my bike gear.  I forgot a few things and they were able to help me.

676 is me so I am on the end of the rack.  Here are some shots of me getting out of my bike gear.  Lots of layers.

Transformation into a runner was complete.  I was ready to roll.  I had to clean up my stuff and put it back in the bag first.

On the way out they had people ready to lather you up with sunscreen.  Good thing as my face was getting sunburned and I was looking at a couple hours on the road running.

Out on the road now on my first lap of three.  There were alot of people lining the barrier close to the arena.  Really cool.  Your name is on your number so many are calling you by name.  Once I hit the first hill, my stomach felt a little funky.  I dove into one of the portolets for a minute.  Nothing there, it was just my gut starting to ache from the effort.  Jeff wanted me to take the first lap very slow and see how I felt from there.  I took his advice.  I had intended on running five minutes and walking one minute until the first lap was complete.  However, my pace was slow and I didn't feel like walking so I didn't.  I had honey stingers with me but I couldn't bear the thought of opening one.  I did walk through the aid stations and drank water.  I was careful to get water in my system.  I didn't want a melt down like the race in Waco.  The aid stations had GU.  Thank god.  The aid stations were almost every mile.  I figured I was running about 10 minute miles so I would eat a GU every 3 miles and water every mile.  The first loop really hurt alot.  When I entered the run course, alot of the faster people were on the course and I was getting passed alot.  It was a little defeating but I had to stay within myself and run the way I needed to.  When I reached the arena I was looking for Lance and Patty.  They asked me how I was doing and I told them it hurt alot.  Seeing all of the people at the barriers by the arena was nice.  Everyone was yelling and it gives you a little boost.  Here I am on the first lap:

After I cleared the barriers and started the second lap, a funny thing happened.  I settled in nicely and got into a very good rhythm.  I didn't really hurt that bad and I was turning 9:00-9:30 miles.  I kept the gel plan and water plan in motion.  I started to get a cramp in my calf coming up the big hills on the second lap.  At that point, I decided to drink water and Gatorade at every stop.  The second lap was definitely good.  I was holding pace with everyone out there and was starting to pass quite a few people.  Since everyone follows the same route coming and going, there are certain people that stick in your memory and you see them twice per loop.  Strange as to who sticks out in your mind and who doesn't.  When I got back to the arena, there was this tall guy in a green wig, green cape and a green speedo giving out performance enhancing hugs.  He was busy on my second lap but I was definitely getting one on my last lap into the arena.  I knew where Patty and Lance were from my first lap but I definitely needed to see them again and was looking all over for them.  They were in the same place, of course.  Here is a few shots of me on the second lap.

As I started the third lap, I knew I was going to make it.  My stomach hurt deep down.  I have never really felt like that.  I was not going to stop and walk.  Never, at this point.  I was going to fight through it.  I was drinking water and Gatorade.  Pouring water on my head and eating GU.  I stuck to the ones with the Cherry Lime.  It was really good for some reason.  When you hit the park on the run, you run some jeep trails.  There is a section that looks like the turn around, but it isn't.  This was definitely painful on the third lap.  Right about there, I really started to hurt alot.  The signs mark each mile.  I remember seeing the 8 mile marker but not the 9th.  I couldn't remember where I was for awhile.  There were alot of people walking or going slow at this point.  I was passing people at a pretty good pace.  I was hoping to see a mile sign and looking at my watch to calculate the remaining distance.  I pretty much skipped the last two aid stations.  I wanted this over.  In the 12th mile there are two very large uphill climbs.  I knew once I topped the last one, it was in the bag.  My last mile was slow (probably 11 minutes) and mile 12 took alot out of me.  I thought about what it would be like to go into the arena.  It made me choke up a little bit and I had to get control of myself.  It was important that I finish this right.  I thought I had a chance at 6:15:00 at one point.  That was gone but 6:30:00 was a reality.  In mile 13, I didn't really care.  I got a hug from performance enhancing hug guy.  Felt great and I wish I had a picture of that.  It was really nice to stay to the right and go to the arena instead of going left.  I went right and looped around to the back of the arena.  I could see the big Ironman arch with the time on it.  I thought about this alot over the past 8 months.  I slowed up a little to find a spot where I would be by myself going across the line.  Once I entered the arena, I heard the PA guy announce my name.

My watch said around 6:25 but my race time was 6:34:23.  Maybe my autopause was enabled for some reason or maybe I was just seeing things.  Doesn't really matter.  I was very happy and the time was irrelevant.  The people at the finish were very cool.  I got a finishers medal, a headsweat hat, and one of those space age looking blankets.  They work by the way. 

I felt like Rocky looking for Adrienne after the race.  I was looking for Patty and Lance and couldn't find them.  Suddenly, I turned around and there they were.  It was great to get a hug from them.  I went to get a BBQ sandwich but was barely able to eat it.  My jaws would cramp up when I took a bite.  It took awhile to gather everything up and get out of there.  It was real painful walking everywhere.  When we were finally able to get in the truck and leave, it was a big relief.  I had enough forethought to bring a trash bag, in case I had to throw up on the way home.  I didn't need it though.  I checked my phone about halfway home.  It was great to get the texts, phone calls and facebook posts from everyone.  It is a solitary sport but you can't really do this on your own.  It truly takes alot of help from many people to do this kind of thing.  You have to dedicate your heart and soul to many months of training to do this right.  I learned a lot from this.  I don't know where I go from here.  I'll probably do another half for sure.  I don't know about a full.  Jeff says you need a solid 9 months to adequately train for a full.  I'm not really going to concern myself with that right now.  I will take a full week off.  I woke up at 5:00am just like every day but I wasn't moving today.  In the end, it was a great experience.  You learn alot about yourself in something like this.  Character isn't built when things are going good.  Character is built when you have to react to times of crisis.  It is the true measure of what you are about.  I feel great about me today.  I planned, prepared, and fought through this.  I had alot help and it is important to honor those that help you along the way.  I took an old white bracelet I received at a race somewhere.  I turned it over and wrote the names of my family and friends that helped me get ready for this.  I posted it on facebook and looked at it alot during the run.  I reminded myself to not let them down even though they would be ok with the outcome, no matter how it ended.  Anything that gives you motivation is a good thing.  So one last thank you to my wife Patty, my daughter Meghan, my son Lance, my triathlon sensei Jeff, my neighbor Justin, my Northshore running buddies Joe and the Matrix.  Their names were all on here.  I had one other bracelet that Joe gave me when his wife was battling breast cancer.  There is probably nothing tougher than battling cancer and that is motivation all by itself.  So, I carry Joe's wife Kim with me as well.  This is nothing compared to what she has gone through.  The only bad thing about today is giving back my race wheels.  They are so bad ass!

Sunday 10.28.12

Race Day!  Just got home from Austin.  Finished in about 6 hours and 30 minutes.  I need to assemble my thoughts and write out a proper accounting of the days activities tomorrow.  For now, I am beat up and tired.  Need to go to bed.

Friday 10.26.12

2 days to go.......Last day in Dallas.  We are leaving this afternoon when my son gets home from school.  I swam a short 1600 yard today.  Felt really good.  All of my 100s were about 1:50 pace.  It is cold today and is getting colder.  After meeting with Jeff yesterday, he suggested using today for decision making on what to wear on the ride.  I rode easy for about an hour.  Tight on the legs, foot warmers, arm warmers, and a bike jacket.  My T1 time is going to be brutal.  I think I have dialed in a good plan.  It was 50 degrees this morning and very windy.  It will be cold in Austin but not as windy.  I checked the weather and the low on Sunday morning is going to be 38.  I hate cold weather.  A real test to my will.  The last workout is complete and now it's time to race.  I will spend most of the day tomorrow getting my bike and myself checked in.  I will have to see what kind of cool stuff they have in the Ironman store.  I'm sure I'll spend a little there.  The weather has me a little more freaked out than before.  I wonder if they would consider delaying the start for about an hour or so.  Probably not.  I will try to make a few more posts before the race.  If you have interest in tracking my progress, you can to go to ironman.com.  In the upper right hand corner is a Athlete Tracker, click on that and you can find me by name or bib number.  I am number 676.  Should be interesting.

Thursday 10.25.12

3 days to go.......This marked my last training run before the race.  I thought about that alot this morning.  All of the early days, running around in the dark avoiding busted concrete, mud on sidewalks, dogs, etc.  It's truly been a long road.  It was an easy 4 miles today with four 1 minute hard efforts.  I guess it didn't quite seem effortless but I think the weight of what lies ahead is putting stress on me.  My body was fine.  I didn't hurt and my aerobic fitness was good.  I tried to think about what it would be like trying to finish those 13.1 miles on Sunday.  It's really hard to know without having done this before.  We will leave for Austin tomorrow.  I will swim in the morning and maybe do a short ride before leaving.  I was hoping to get to Austin in time for check in but that may not be possible.  I will try to check in with some pictures.  I am meeting with Jeff this afternoon to go over my race strategy.  I don't know if Jeff is going to Austin or not.  It would be cool if he could be there for this.  Ironman.com has an athlete tracker so anyone who wants to follow me can do so there.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/236899093

Wednesday 10.24.12

4 days to go........The time is clicking by really fast.  I'm having weird dreams.  I dreamed after the swim, I started the run and skipped the bike.  After about a mile or two, I realized my mistake and started back to transition.  A golf cart gave me a ride and they wouldn't let me get my bike because they thought I was cheating.  Strange dreams indeed.  Today, I had a 2200 yard swim this morning.  No kickboard.  Just swimming and a few sets with the pull buoy.  I felt a little tight at first and then loosened up.  May be the nerves of the impending event.  This evening I rode my bike.  I have been looking forward to getting on the bike with my race wheels.  It looks awesome and it is faster.  Once you get up to speed, it's easier to maintain that speed.  The brakes are different.  Not as much play so that will be different, kind of like driving a different car.  The bike has a little more chatter in the frame and the geometry seems a little different.  I don't think it will be a problem at all.  I have three more workouts until the race.  I found out Chris McCormack is going to be in Austin for the race.  It would be really cool to see him out there.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/236801014

Tuesday 10.23.12

5 days to go.......For the first time, the workout seemed like a taper.  One mile warmup, 4x800 at 10k pace, and a 1 mile cool down.  My 800s were all 5k paced.  I felt good and the pace was comfortable so I just went with it.  I bought new running shoes and they felt nice.  Still the same crappy blue and orange color.  I was hoping for change of color pattern.  The 800s were at 7:59, 8:08, 8:06, and 7:52 pace.  The warm up and cool down was done at the track instead of running there and back.  I wanted to protect my legs as much as possible.  I may do the Thursday run at the track as well for the same reason.  Some interesting numbers looking at my stats for the year.

Running: 753.41 miles/128hours:3 minutes:56seconds
Bike: 2613.86 miles/167hours:24minutes:7seconds
Swimming: 240045 yards/94hours:34minutes:48seconds

Total:  3508 miles  390 hours

Thats alot of time and mileage but pales in comparison to others that do full ironman training.  Still, for me, its a big step up from last year.  If I'm not ready now, then when?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/236406946

Monday 10.22.12

6 days to go......Monday is the usual light day.  Jeff sent me the plan for the week yesterday evening.  I think he forgot I already had a swim plan for today so I went off last week's plan.  It was an hour swim covering 2550 yards.  The whole swim across Lake Grapevine thing has taken a toll on me.  My shoulders and body are still sore today after the swim this morning.  My wetsuit rubbed me raw on the back of my neck.  At least I know where to liberally apply some body glide now.  I am going to have to take it easy for the rest of the week.  The workout today had a lot of speed work in it with sprints and recoveries.  I fouled up the plan in the main set and missed the 200 pulls to break up the speed drills.  No wonder I was a little tired on those.  They were coming too fast.  The weather forecast has changed again for Austin.  68 for the high and 49 for the low with winds out of the north at 7mph.  I have no idea how to prepare for really cool temperatures.  I'm sure it will be great for the running portion but coming out of the water and on to the bike could be tough.  If your soaking wet with temps in the 50s, I'm guessing that won't be comfortable.  Maybe Jeff will have some words of wisdom on this front.  My wife says not to worry about anything the weather guys say until at least 5 days out.  I'll have to keep my eye on it.

Sunday 10.21.12

7 days to go.....I met Joe this morning at his house at 8am.  He ran 24 miles yesterday on the trails and I rode the bike and swam the lake yesterday.  Neither of us were really feeling great this morning.  My legs were a little sore to start but I settled into a decent pace and held on to that.  I felt pretty good for the first half the run.  I turned around at the halfway point and headed back.  I tried to remind myself to be careful.  I didn't want to get hurt on the trails today.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, I stubbed my big toe on my right foot on a rock and went down.  The toe hurt for rest of the run.  Joe and I decided to run the park road back home.  Sort of a wheels off day for running.  We ended up covering about 6.5 miles for 76 minutes.  The goal for today was 80 minutes.  I picked up new running shoes today and got my race wheels at the bike shop.  I'm renting race wheels for the week.  I'm looking forward to getting a ride in on them and see how fast they are.  We are leaving on Friday so I have about 5 days or taper work before the race.  It's getting exciting.

 

 

 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/235813683



Saturday 10.20.12

8 days to race day.......First signs of a taper came today.  Jeff wanted me to do no more than a 2 hour 30 minute ride today.  I went over by 4 minutes.  It was really windy today so I decided to go south first around the airport into the wind, through Irving, Las Colinas and back home.  I have done this ride a few time with Justin and Jeff.  I got lost in Irving and had to check google maps on my phone to get back on track.  The ride went well and I wasn't really tired when I got home.  I had the wind at my back on the way back to the house.  I covered around 42 miles.  When I got home, I made some lunch and rested for a few hours.  Joe was going to follow me on one of my Seadoos today while I swam across Lake Grapevine.  The wind this afternoon was whipping at least 25mph so the chop was really heavy.  I thought about packing it in after a few minutes but decided I needed to check out the new wetsuit and fight the chop.  At the halfway point across the lake, I was able to maintain a steady swim.  It appears to be about 1.5 miles across the lake.  It was good to fight through it and make it across.  I'm glad Joe was able to help me out today.  We are running in the morning.  Wea are only going 80 minutes in the morning.

Bike:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/235259501

Swim:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/235405836

Friday 10.19.12

9 days to go.  Back to the pool today for 2700 yards.  Lots of kickboard in the first quarter of the workout.  I dislike the kickboard more than anything in the pool but it is good for you.  My legs were a little sore yesterday but the pool always seems to right the ship with my legs.  I blazed through the yardage today.  It only took a little over an hour to complete the workout.  Usually, that much distance is at least 70 minutes.  I don't know if I was faster today or what.  We keep the bottled water in the fridge in the garage.  My water bottle was frozen solid today.  It melted as the workout went on which kept it nice and cold.  I was basically by myself in the pool today for the first 45 minutes.  I'm not sure where all the people have gone.  Maybe its the season change.  The weekend is coming and I would like to swim across Lake Grapevine tomorrow.  Joe said he will lead me on my Seadoo.  I have no idea how far it is across the lake.  It has to be a couple miles.  If it's too far, I'll stop when I'm tired.  I am supposed to either ride the bike easy for an hour tonight or run easy for 30 minutes.  I think Coppell is playing in Flower Mound tonight so that should be fairly easy to get in.

Thursday 10.18.12

I set my alarm last night, just in case.  Didn't matter, I woke up at 5am like always.  Checked the weather and it was supposed to be 50 this morning.  Running tights and a long sleeve shirt for today.  Probably could have gone with shorts but I really don't like being cold at all.  Six mile run this morning.  One mile warm up, two miles at half marathon pace, recovery mile, another half marathon paced mile, and a cool down mile.  All of my half marathon paced miles were in the 8:45-8:55 range.  All of the other miles were in the mid 9s.  It is dark when I run now and gets dark at night as well.  My eyes aren't great in the dark so this is not my favorite training time of year.  I rode the bike last night for almost 80 minutes and it was dark for about the last 30 minutes.  I stayed in Coppell and did not venture out to Flower Mound.  There is only one more taper week before the race.  After that, I can find a better way to do some maintenance training.  I saw Justin this morning after I finished the run today.  Good to see him.  Jeff is in California so hopefully I can get some time with him next week to go over the race plan for the 28th.  Ten days to the race.  Tomorrow, it goes to single digits.  It's coming fast now.  The weather changed again for Austin.  It's showing 68/48.  I guess it needs to get a little closer before you can trust the weather guys.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/234616115

Wednesday 10.17.12

11 days or approximately 260 hours until the race......Back and forth watching tiles on the bottom of a pool.  I can tell you where every discoloration is on the bottom of the pool at the Coppell Aquatic Center.  I know where every grate and silver ring are.  I can tell you how many strokes I have covered or how many to go from looking at the lifeguard stand or the slide on the other side of the pool.  When the "T" arrives at the end of the lane, the wall will come up in three strokes.  I know all of the lifeguards by name now and they know me.  When I'm late, they ask me where I have been?  I have covered 232,000 yards in that pool this year.  Thats 136.5 miles in a 25 yard pool.  9,280 lengths of the pool.  The pool has four lanes and I can tell you anything you want to know about any of them.  Like an animal at the zoo, I go back and forth.  It isn't as horrible as this sounds.  Some days, it's the most enjoyable training I do.  It's just the staggering amount of cummulative time I have spent there.  It's the work that went into this for the year.  I will probably knock out 300k yards this year.  When you think of it in those terms, why would anyone worry about one single 1.2 mile swim in Austin, Texas.  Open water is completely different.  You can't see more than about a foot or two in the lake.  It's dark in the water.  People are grabbing your legs, elbowing you in the head, swimming on top of you.  It causes your heart rate to rise and makes you tired mentally.  It's swimming out into the middle of a large body of water without lane ropes and walls.  It's different.  The plan was for 2100 yards today.  Kind of an abbreviated workout.  Good, I woke up at 5am again today but hit the mental snooze button till 6:15am.  The swim only took 45 minutes.  I may have rushed a little.  One of the main guys with the Dallas Athletes was at the pool this morning.  His name is Tom.  I asked him where his group has been.  They usually have a group of 10-12 that swim there on Wednesday.  He said they are coming in around 8am.  No wonder it has been kind of quiet lately on Wednesday.  Hopefully, I can get home from work early today.  I have a 70-90 minute bike ride to do tonight.

Tuesday 10.16.12

12 days to go.....so this is a taper, huh.  Jeff says this is a taper so I'll take his word for it.  The track run today seemed as tough as any other track run.  6x800 at 5k pace with 400 recovery jogs in between.  I ran the 1.5 miles to the track as the warm up and then back home.  Close to 7.3 miles this morning at about 70 minutes.  All of the 800s were between 7:57 and 8:11 pace.  I didn't want the pace to slip into the mid 8s.  Jeff said the first 4 should be easy.  Really, the first 4.75 were pretty easy.  The last 200 of the fifth 800 was hard and I really fought through the sixth interval.  I stopped to drink some water and take a gel between interval three and four.  Tougher day than I expected today.  At this point, I am anxious to get to the race.  The number of people at the track are now dwindling by the week.  I don't know if most of the Dallas Athletes crew are done for the season or what.  I would say the numbers are probably a third of what they were a month ago.  Only the die hards left, I guess.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/234024396

Monday 10.15.12

T minus 13 days to the race.  There is only one weekend that separates me from the race now.  I will start to pay a little more attention to the weather forcast on accuweather.  It has been changing quite a bit over the past week or so.  Right now it's showing 85/57 for the temperatures.  October is typically a windy month in Texas.  I will hope for lighter winds for the race.  Monday is my slow day.  I got up and did a 2800 yard swim this morning.  One of the longer swims by distance.  Very smooth and I felt good throughout.  I used to fear the long open water swim.  It went well in Waco and I feel a little more confident now.  I just hope the hand to hand combat in the water is not too rough.  Looks like there are about 150 in my age group.  I am set to go off in one of the earlier waves.  I think 7:45am, from memory, if the schedule doesn't change.  I got the plan for the week from Jeff.  The taper begins this week.  The plan isn't significantly different during the week but definitely lighter on the weekend.  As Jeff says, the hay is in the barn now.  It's about resting up and healing before October 28.

Sunday 10.14.12

Plan called for a steady 2 hour run today.  I drove over to Joe's house for an 8am start to the run.  Rich was confused and missed us at 8am and showed up at 10am when we finished.  Joe and I couldn't run the trails today.  We had big rain last night and the trails were really muddy.  We ran down to Murrell Park and covered alot of the park roads by the lake and returned back to Joe's house.  I took a gel every 30 minutes and had a full fuel belt of water.  Didn't really need that much water.  The temps were cool and there was a nice breeze blowing.  It started to warm up as we finished but the conditions were good.  Best weekend day in a month.  We weren't really pushing the pace.  My legs were a little tired from the workouts this week and Joe ran 14 yesterday in the crappy weather.  We covered 11 miles in the 2 hours.  I should get next week's plan from Jeff tomorrow or Tuesday.  I expect the taper to begin so the mileage should reduce over the next few weeks.  Good day overall.  It was good to see Joe and Rich again on a Sunday morning.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233385964

Saturday 10.13.12

We'll start with the run last night.  I ran 4 miles last night starting at around 6:30pm.  I definitely didn't feel great through the first two miles before the turnaround.  The last two miles were steady and I settled in nicely.  It was a little humid and in the low 80s for the run.  I didn't bother taking any water or gel.  It was a short run.  I think the run was about 36 minutes which equates to about 9 minute miles.

When I woke up this morning my right hip was a little sore.  The temps were in the low 70s.  I left the house at 7:54am.  The plan today called for 3 hours and 30 minutes on the bike.  The winds were from the south at 11-13 when I started and were easily 15+ by the time I finished.  I decided to head out to the Whitehouse with a detour through Murrell Park at Lake Grapevine.  I knew it would be slower coming home with the wind in my face.  I made to the turnaround in an 1:40.  My plan worked out perfectly and I hit the garage at exactly 3 hours and 30 minutes.  The weather looked pretty rough at times.  I had a few sprinkles but the rain held off.  It's supposed to storm this afternoon and tonight.  I was very diligent about the gel intake every 30 minutes and water or Accelerade every 15 minutes.  I came across two other guys in Bartonville and we played leap frog on the bike for about 10 miles.  We finally split apart in Flower Mound.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232952268

After the ride today, I met the guy I bought my wetsuit from.  Looks good.  I brought it home but haven't tried it on yet.  I have been watching my mighty Crimson Tide and Ironman Kona on the laptop.

Friday 10.12.12

Two more weekends left before Austin.  The Ironman World Championships in Kona are tomorrow.  I will probably never make it to Kona unless I finish a full Ironman somewhere when I'm 70, but you can always dream.  Therefore, Austin is my Kona for now.  It means alot to me.  Not a little bit but a lot.  I never embarked on this mission with this race in mind.  18 months ago I was working like crazy, sitting on the couch and eating too much.  I was at least 30 pounds heavier than I am today.  I decided I had to do something.  At first, it was going to be racing a few sprints and see where it went.  I have a fraternity brother in Mobile that sent me a message last year and asked if I was considering Austin.  70.3 miles might as well have been like a mission to mars.  No way.  I realized that things were going better with my fitness but I was kind of stuck in the mud when it came to preparation.  Enter my neighbor Justin.  I was on a ride with him last winter and happened to meet Jeff.  Jeff was riding a few miles back with me through Coppell when I asked him if he helped guys like me.  He said he takes on about 10 athletes a year at all skill levels and helps them along.  At the time, Justin was trying to convince me to do the Galveston half ironman race in April.  I just couldn't commit to it that point.  It just didn't feel right.  In February, I hooked on with Jeff and away we went.  Through the good times and the hard times with training, Jeff does a good job of knowing what to do next and make you comfortable with the results.  I know he is spread pretty thin but the time you get with him is valuable.  I will owe him alot on October 28.  There is no doubt in my mind I would not be considering this today if it wasn't for him.  There are others.  I am not a good runner.  My arthritis makes running painful and the least favorite of the disciplines.  As the weight began to fall off, the running became easier.  Sunday's are always my long run days.  Enter Rich "Matrix" Wessels and Joe Currens.  I have played hockey with them for years.  Long runs by yourself are not fun, at least not for me.  They usually follow a grueling day on the bike and hurt a little.  Running with Rich and Joe makes me laugh and they keep me company.  I don't even really think about the miles and the time on my watch when we run.  Good times.  I miss the days we don't run together.  Of course, my wife puts up with the wacky hours when I stumble around in the dark getting ready each morning and some of the afternoons or evenings that I workout.  If she doesn't get this, I can't do it.  I don't know where this goes from here.  In two weeks, I am effectively done with the season until the spring.  I think more half ironmans are probably in the equation but I don't know about a full.  The time commitment may be too great.  I know it has been worth it.  The crazy thing is the organizers call this a race and they do keep score.  However, the vast majority of people race for themselves and not against each others.  Much different than other sports where your goal is to actually beat an opponent.  In triathlon, the opponent is your own capabilities and defeating the negative thoughts that creep into your brain when your body is pleading for a break.  Can you go faster and break your own records is usually the mind set for 99% of the people at every race.  Just some random thoughts.  I am meeting a guy to pick up a wetsuit tomorrow I bought off of ebay.  I will have my own which will be great.  No rentals.

As for today, I swam 2600 yards this morning and felt really good.  After a kicking drill, I always seem really fast when I get back to regular swimming.  I may actually be swimming like a three legged dog but it seems fast.  I covered the distance quick and didn't take too many breaks.  I was running short on time.  I woke up at 5am but fell back to sleep and woke up again at 6:20.  I had to swim this morning because I have an easy 4 mile run to do tonight.  After this weekend the taper should begin.  At least I get to run with Joe and maybe the Matrix on Sunday.  Life is good again.

Thursday 10.11.12

Jeff threw me a little bit of a curve ball for today's workout.  Hill intervals.  I ran about 2 mile to Heartz Rd. in Coppell.  Going south between Parkway and Sandy Lake.  There is a fairly steep hill toward Sandy Lake.  I didn't know if this would work or not but it ended up being perfect.  The steeper section took about 1 minute to climb.  The plan was to run 1 minute hard up the hill, recover for a minute, and repeat 10 times.  I ended up doing about 75 seconds down the hill to recover and get to the same starting point.  It hurt but I made it fine.  I don't mind the pain that much.  I hurt every day due to the arthritis so I probably have a higher tolerance for the pain side of training.  Time are really irrelevant today.  Most of the miles were between 9:30-10:00 but this was more about the hills.  It came after alot of work yesterday.  I thought my legs may not have responded very well but to my surprise, I felt pretty good.  I think it is about 16 days to Austin.  Jeff asked me if I had questions or anything I wanted to go over.  I told him to give me a few days.  I have so many questions, I need time to gather my thoughts.  Thinking about it has my mind racing in so many directions I can't think straight.  The only thing that would crush me is not to finish.  I don't want to put this much effort in and bonk somewhere on the run.  I checked weather and it looks like a high of 72 and a low of 47.  I'm confused as to what to do on the bike coming out of the water when it's 47 degrees.  If the forecast doesn't change, it should be very nice for the run.  Some of the many things that rumble around in my brain.  Thanks to old school Joe Jackson and "Pretty Girls" for the song that sent me home.  By the way, the Ironman Championships in Kona are this weekend and can be seen at ironman.com.  That will be pretty cool.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232285529

Wednesday 10.10.12

I had a little bit of everything today.  This morning was my swim.  The workout was 2700 yards and took about 68 minutes.  I did alot of shorter intervals today.  5x100s and 4x50s.  Not very long sets but multiples of the shorter sets.  I did have a longer set without walls.  Very unusual to be in a pool and not use the wall.  One of the shorter sets was a single arm drill.  I thought that would be really hard but I didn't have that much trouble with it.  This evening was a 90 minute bike ride.  I took some time to warm up and then did a ladder interval of hard efforts 1-5 minutes and then reverse the times.  Each hard effort was accompanied by a easy set of the same time interval.  When I got home, I was to do an easy run for 15 minutes.  I averaged about 8:55 pace for the 15 minutes.  Not too bad.  The rest of the week is pretty busy.  It looks like the taper starts this weekend as the time is falling back some.  I finished up everything in the dark tonight.  The shorter days are starting to be a problem.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232189529

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232189533

Tuesday 10.9.12

Jeff was pretty busy at work so I only got the track run from him for today.  I should get the rest of the week later today.  I ran to the track this morning.  I kept the pace a little higher than usual out of the gate.  I probably ran at a 9:40 pace for the 1.5 miles to the track.  Once there, I was to run two miles at 5k pace, rest for a couple of minutes, and another mile as fast as possible at a steady pace.  I ran the first two miles at 7:57 and 7:56.  Nice pace for me.  I rested, grabbed a gel and a drink of water.  I ran the last track mile at 7:54.  I walked a lap around the track and then headed home.  I ran the 1.5 miles home at around 9:50 pace.  Not too bad today.  I didn't know how things would go after the weekend but I felt really good actually.  I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the plan for the week.  I like to know what is ahead of me.  I work better that way.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/231678856

Denton County Bike Landmarks

I had taken some more pictures on my Sunday bike ride.  The Whitehouse is a familiar landmark but so is Hilltop Road.  There are alot of bike teams that use Hilltop Rd for climbing intervals.  Ask anyone who rides around Denton County and they will all know about Hilltop.  It is very pretty there and is actually accented by some noticable hills.  One side is a more gradual climb and the other side is a more leg crushing ascent.  I usually plan my 4 hour rides utilizing the more difficult climb.  Here is the turn to Hilltop.  It pretty much starts right away.

Once your on the hill, someone has painted some nice encouragement along the way.  Always nice, since I am usually by myself.  The paint is fairly evenly placed but I took the pictures on the way up, since you can't see the lettering in one shot.  You see them in this order going up the hill.  By the way, stopping to take the pictures and trying to clip back in to move up the hill was something I won't do again.  The hill is too steep.

Monday 10.8.12

I woke up this morning at 5am and it was a little hard to get moving.  My legs were a little sore from the 12 mile run on Saturday and the 4.5 hour ride yesterday.  Swimming is pretty good for getting everything loose and getting some soreness out so I headed to the pool.  Jeff had suggested maybe taking today off but I decided to get some work in.  The race is 20 days out so I don't want to get lazy now.  The 2550 yard swim today had a little bit of speed work in it today.  It feels good to go all out even if it is slow on the recovery side.  I was turning 45 second 50s today which would translate to 1:30 hundreds, if I could maintain the pace.  When I got to the pool, I was the only one there today.  I don't know if everyone else had motivation problems or not.  The lifeguard scrambled to her station when I got there and away I went.  I bought a vanilla honey stinger and tried that today along with a bottle of water.  Vanilla was a good change of pace.  Much better than fruit smoothie.  I think I will stick with chocalate, vanilla, and pomegranate for the race.  I should get this week's plan from Jeff today.  Should be another build week before tapering the last two weeks.  Weather is supposed to get better during the week with a chance of rain towards the end of the week.  Can we please get a decent weekend to work with?  The miserable weekend weather has been a real character builder.

Sunday 10.7.12

It's the end of another miserable weekend for working out.  Last week was cold and rainy.  This week was cold but not much rain.  The weather this morning was in the 40s.  I forgot my biking winter jacket and never got warm today.  It was hard to fight through.  The wind was at least 10mph from the northeast which is the worst direction for my long route today.  Very little of my time today was spent with the wind.  At one point, I considered calling for a pickup but I fought through it.  Although I covered 66 miles, it was very slow going.  Four hours and twenty minutes to cover the entire distance.  It seemed to get colder as the day wore on.  I left a little later than usual.  First, I was hoping it would warm up.  Second, I wanted to check on Rich and see if he finished the 100 mile race in Arkansas.  I got a text from Joe saying he made around 8:30 this morning.  I am very excited for him.  I wonder if he will want to run next Sunday or if he is going to take about a month off.  I guess we'll find out.  As for me, I am happy I got the work in this weekend despite the conditions.  You gotta do what you gotta do and I need to keep the training train moving.  I didn't see many people out training today or yesterday.  I don't blame them.  If I didn't have this race, it would have been real easy to stay in that warm bed today.  I did see a nice 8 point buck today crossing a dirt road today.  Couldn't get a picture before he disappeared in the woods.  First deer I have seen out in the middle of nowhere.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/231113723

If you ride a bike in Denton County, one of the major landmarks is the Whitehouse.  These people probably have no idea they are a popular landmark.  The house actually used to be white and was just painted.  Maybe they painted it to try and throw everyone off.  I don't think that will work and everyone still calls it the Whitehouse.  It's about 28 miles from my house to here.  Here it is:





Saturday 10.6.12

My wife was doing the Dirty Girl Mud Run this morning and we had to get out of the house around 9am.  I had to decide whether to run before or later this afternoon.  I woke up at 5am this morning and my body wouldn't let me go back to sleep.  It was like withdrawals.  I didn't do anything yesterday and I just had to go.  I got all of my stuff together and ended up hitting the road at around 6:15am.  I had good incentive to get back to the house before we had to leave.  I was reading a race report from someone the other day.  She mentioned on the run portion of the Ironman to run slow at the beginning and if you think you are running slow, then run slower.  I definitely could have dialed it up early but did not.  My first 6-8 miles were all in the 10 minute range.  After that, I began to slowly speed the pace.  My last 2 miles were 9:26 and 9:09.  I really wanted to crack the 2 hour mark on the 12 miles.  Mission accomplished at something like 1:59:30.  I took honey gels for every thirty minutes and a loaded fuel belt with water.  The weather was right at 50 degrees this morning.  I donned the running tights for the first time this fall and a long sleeve shirt.  A little cool for my taste but very nice running conditions.  Knocking out the 12 miles was not hard today.  I paused a few times to throw away empty gel packets, eat a gel, or get through a stop light.  I added very little pause time today.  I pretty much ran straight through.  It might be a little cool tomorrow for the 4 hour bike ride.  My wife did great on the mud run and my running compadres, Joe and the Matrix, are in Arkansas this weekend.  Rich is running the Arkansas Traveler 100 Miler.  As of this entry, Rich has passed through mile 48 and is almost halfway there.  Joe is crewing for him and will do some pacing tonight.  I can't imagine what Rich is going through trying to cover 100 miles running.  Amazing.  Jimmy Buffett brought me home today with a little steel drum action from the great Robert Greenidge.  Very nice.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230637587

Friday 10.5.12

No training today.  I told Jeff what was going on for the past few days and he recommended a day off today.  It was very hard.  I woke up at 5:30am and my body was telling me to get in gear.  It was almost like I had to go do something.  I resisted the urge and went back to sleep until about 7.  The rest feels great.  It was the right call.  Jeff says my training is right on target and a few days to get right is not a problem.  The weather is going to be strange this weekend.  It's going to be in the 50s tomorrrow as a high and then warmer on Sunday.  Jeff suggested turning the workouts around.  I will run the 12 mile workout tomorrow and ride the bike on Sunday.  Looks like it might rain tomorrow as well.  Another good reason to ride on Sunday.  The race is 23 days away and seems to be barrelling down on me at this point.  I feel a little anxious still.  I'm trying to find a wetsuit right now.  I may have found one on ebay.  We'll have to see how that works out.  Joe and the Matrix are in Arkansas this weekend so I'm running on my own tomorrow.  The Matrix is doing a 100 mile ultra race.  If I didn't have Ironman Austin coming this quick, I would have loved to help him out in Arkansas.  Sounds like a really cool event.  Tomorrow I get back at it again.

Thursday 10.4.12

Sometimes life gets in the way.  I have had a brutal 48 hours.  I work in IT and we do production deployments in the middle of the night.  Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I worked all night.  I got maybe 3-4 hours of sleep before going to the office.  It usually works out well actually, Jeff will give me a fairly full plate of training and I can get most of it done from home the next day.  Tuesday morning after loading my data from my Garmin into my laptop, I stood up but the power cord was wrapped around my chair and the laptop crashed into the fireplace.  It was hosed.  I took it into the help desk and just now got it back.  I wasn't able to save anything.  The overnight deployment wasn't entirely successful.  I got home around 10:30am.  I did head to the pool and got my 2800 yard swim in before heading home to get some sleep.  As soon as I walked in the house, our Network Operations Center called me and we were having huge problems.  I was up another hours or so on a conference call.  So much for the evening bike ride and run.  I tossed in the towel on that and fell asleep in my chair around 9pm.  I set my watch to get up this morning around 5am and run.  I was to run to the track (1.5 miles), do 12x400 with 1-2 minute rest between and then run home.  The 400s were to be run a little faster than 8 minute mile pace.  When I don't get sleep, my arthritis is particulary bad and my body just doesn't respond well.  I was able to do the 400s anywhere from 7:07-7:30 pace.  It was very hard to do that many sets.  The whole run was around 6.5 miles but very high intensity.  I hope this doesn't mess anything up.  I need at least 2 more good nights of sleep.  Hopefully, I can configure my laptop and get my Garmin data uploaded tonight.  Bummer (sad face).

Tuesday 10.2.12

I woke up at around 5am this morning but wasn't feeling great.  Started to move around and load up my water, gel, and iPod for the Tuesday track run.  I got out of the house right around 6am.  It was really cool outside.  Temp was about 61 when I left with a little wind from the north.  I ran to the track and was making pretty good time, around 9:40 pace.  There were not too many people at the track today.  Usually, the Dallas Athletes have a fairly large crew there on Tuesday morning and I would say it was at least half the normal contigent.  The good news is everyone was running the right direction today.  The workout today at the track was 6x800 with 1-2 minute rest between 800s.  The goal was 7:30-7:50 pace or 3:45-3:55.  The first three were fairly comfortable.  I grabbed my gel and some water at that point and finished the last three.  The last three were a little more difficult.  There seems to be a no man's land at about the half way point that wears on me mentally.  Once I get to the last few, it's easier to see the end and keep focus.  The run home was pretty close to the same pace as the run to the track.  Covered 6.25 miles overall in 56:50.  Short on mileage but very intense effort.  My 800s in order were 3:48, 3:51, 3:47, 3:51, 3:52, and 3:48.  I made time for all six and had a good return effort for the cool down.  The last two song on the iPod today were a double AC/DC selection of Going Down and Hell's Bells.  I can tell you what doesn't work on a run.  Jimi Hendrix and the Star Spangled Banner.  I love Jimi but his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner is not conducive to running at all.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/229206983

Monday 10.1.12

The workout today was 2500 yard swim.  Took the usual honey stinger gel and and a bottle of water.  Felt a little fatigued at first but it didn't last long.  The last few sets of the day were 3x100s.  I tried to time the last set of 100s.  The first was 1:58, the second was 1:52 and the third was 1:40.  Fairly happy with the times at the end of a long swim.  Monday is a rest from running and biking.  A day to let the legs heal a little bit.  The coming week is another build week so the distances and times will be much tougher.  I got the plan from Jeff this afternoon.  Two more tough weeks before tapering for the race.