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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
2012
During my down time I've been making event plans for 2012 (and a little beyond). I don't have a firm plan yet (more of a compass than a map) but here are my thoughts:
- Long Island Half Marathon on May 6. This is part of my quest of actually learning how to run. I figure that if I train to have a strong run during this race could validate my progress. I fully expect that there will be some races added as supported training runs including some of the NYRR Central Park runs.
- Harpoon Brewery to Brewery Ride on June 16. The website describes this event as "a tough, bare bones ride with the reward of great beer at the finish. This ride is for cyclists who enjoy great beer, are physically and mentally tough, take pleasure in the fellowship of others, don’t whine, excel in the face of challenges, play by the rules, and can ride 148 miles to the finish safely and without their hands being held." Also it notes that "there are a lot more cyclists than there are spots in the ride. Doing the ride isn’t easy, and neither is getting in." If I get in, great and I'll probably need Gran Fondo NY as a 100mile training ride on May 20. If not, the option will be do do an Olympic Triathlon in June. Leading candidates are Rev3 Quassy , RJA memorial Mighty Montauk Triathlon or perhaps Pat Griskus Olympic Triathlon.
- Musselman 70.3 on July 15. This is dependent on family obligations. My children will be performing a lot this summer and the probability exists that there will be a concert this weekend that would take precedence over racing. This might turn into the Montauk Lighthouse sprint triathlon instead or perhaps even nothing.
- Runner's Edge TOBAY Sprint Triathlon on August 26. Last year's version of this race was supposed to be my oldest's first grown up triathlon. She was ready but it got cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. This year she is a year faster and I am a year slower. Even so, bragging rights are at stake so this race is important.
- Shoreman 70.3 on September 8. Last year I did this race as a training day to simulate my Ironman pacing and nutrition. I had a poor run (as I expected going in) but I realized that this race has an opportunity to get a good time. I could do this race or perhaps FIRMman 70.3 in Rhode Island instead if I want a new race experience.
- NYC Marathon on November 4. I've never run a stand alone marathon and don't really feel that I need to. However, NYC is an epic event and if I'm ever going to do a marathon this one would be it. I'm going to apply for the lottery and if I get in I will rock this race. If not I may do El Tour de Tucson later in November or adjust my September HIM.
- Disney Half Marathon. January 12, 2013. Again bragging rights at stake but I have little hope of victory except against myself. I've done this race twice already and my daughter wants to do a half marathon. This race is fun and doesn't conflict too much (we hope) with school stuff. Won't need to decide for a while though but our intention is to race Disney if possible.
- All this may set me up for another iron quest in 2013 but let's not get too ahead of ourselves.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Game on.
I got medical clearance to resume any and all activities last week. DrFeets said it would take a few more weeks for all the healing to complete but everything looks good enough to go. For some strange reason he doubts that I have the ability to stop doing something just because it hurts a little so he advised me to be overly cautious.
Even though I had clearance, I didn't do any training this weekend since Mrs Rockstar and I went away for the weekend (without the kids) to celebrate our anniversary. We went to Connecticut, stayed in a B&B, did some Christmas shopping, ate way too much food, and generally enjoyed just being together. We need to make "us time" more of a priority.
A downside to not training is that I feel fat. Fatter than normal fatness. I haven't been on a scale in a while and it won't be a good number. I've been eating horribly and I'm making up for it in volume (a bad combination). That all ends tomorrow morning when I start my, to steal from Carolina John, Monday Morning Naked Weight. I need to be accountable with logging my food and tracking my weight since you can't manage something unless you measure it. I may sign up for Weight Watchers but I may not right away. I doubt that they can understand that someone with my body composition can finish an Ironman let alone gain weight while training for it. Now that my activity level has gone down my caloric intake needs to decline on at least a corresponding basis. This blog won't turn completely into a weight loss blog but it will be a focus of mine for a while.
Just as important, my body and mind wants to start training again. No, it wasn't due to my coach texting my wife (mistakenly instead of me) to join him for a 3 hour ride this morning but it is time to get back in the game. I'm not going to go crazy with training and focus initially on technique. I won't be afraid to take an extra day off here and there. Training at some level needs to be enjoyable and getting back to that state is yet another of my goals.
Game on.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Quote of the week.
"It's a helicopter, and it's coming this way. It's flying something behind it, I can't quite make it out, it's a large banner and it says, uh - Happy... Thaaaaanksss... giving! ... From ... W ... K ... R ... P!! What a sight, ladies and gentlemen, what a sight. The ‘copter seems to be circling the parking area now, I guess it's looking for a place to land. No! Something just came out of the back of the helicopter! It's, uh, a dark object. Perhaps a skydiver. Plummeting to the earth from only two thousand feet in the air. A second, a third! No parachutes yet. Can't be skydivers... I can't tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, they're turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they're plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, this is just terrible! The crowd is running around pushing each other! Oh, my goodness! Oh, the humanity! People are running about! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Honestly, folks I don't know how much longer... the crowd is running for their lives."
[The radio transmission cuts off.]
[The radio transmission cuts off.]
Saturday, November 19, 2011
The art of doing nothing.
Somewhere, sometime I read that the only thing harder than training for a marathon is not training for a marathon. Since my ironman two weeks ago. I have done no training. Zero. Nada. Zip.
Some of this has been due to the condition of my feet. They are healing quickly and don't really bother me so much any more. I went to the "feets" doctor earlier this week and he pronounced my left foot OK to the point where I could start doing stuff without limitation. Unfortunately I have two feet and he recommended that I take another week off to let my right foot heal a bit more. The healing is well ahead of schedule.
My brain, limited as it is, really doesn't understand this and feels that I should be training. I'm thinking that going for a swim wouldn't suck. I dusted off my mountain bike with the expectation of hitting the trails a little soon. I even felt that I should go for a run (gasp) the other night. I hate running.
The lack of training has giving me a lot of time. Time is typically my most precious commodity and I am not used to having free time. I've filled that time mostly with crappy eating (which I excel at) but I realized that is coming to an end when I almost wanted a salad for lunch instead of the buffalo chicken pizza. I got the pizza.
This morning I was taking my younger daughter to her orchestra rehearsal (she was selected for a Long Island wide school orchestra). She commented that I seem to be very energetic these days. I commented that this was probably because I haven't been working out so I'm not as tired. Don't ya think, don't ya think, don't ya think? My daughter, who is not a morning person, said that maybe I should start training again to resist the dark side of being annoying. Not that I was actually annoying but she, as a public service announcement, was advising me on the trend she saw.
Wonder what she meant? Time for a nap.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Quote of the week
Saturday, November 12, 2011
IMFL: Next Steps
It is said that you learn a lot about yourself while training and competing in endurance events and I agree with this statement. My experiences for IMFL2012 showed me parts of myself that I was proud of and parts of me that I was not. Overall I am glad that I attempted this quest and that I was able to succeed.
Is there another Ironman in my future? My wife had a tee shirt made for the event that read "140.6 miles, Now can I have my husband back?" While she said it was tongue in cheek, I'm sure there is some fact in it. The heavy training volume the last few months has been intrusive to our family. While they are proud of me for my accomplishment, I am proud of them for the sacrifices that they made to allow me to do this.
Immediately after the race I told them that there were three things that needed to happen for me to do another Iron distance race (and I doubt it would be a return to Panama City):
So what's next? I hear there are things called football games on a thing called a TV during the weekend and there is a beverage called a beer. I've been told that my "honey do" list is quite extensive. I do not have any events that I have signed up for in the future and I can't remember the last time that happened. I was asked if I was signing up for a local winter run series that I've done in the past and I said no. My friends are pushing for IMLP2013 but I don't know if I can get the things done that I need to before then or if it will fit in with the family activities. I expect to do some events in 2012, perhaps some cycling events and a tri or two (or 4 perhaps) with maybe one HIM in the fall. I might do a marathon, I might not. I might do El Tour de Tucson again as I like that race but haven't done it in a while. I don't know if I'm going to do any TNT events. My wife has already told me that my level of sarcasm raises inversely to my training load so there needs to be some balance to retain household sanity.
I am having some issues walking still but I expect that will heal within the next few weeks. My plan is to take the rest of November off from training, start unstructured training in December, and re-engage my coach once I figure out the event goals for the 2012. I have to decide if I want to recertify my USAT/L1 coaching certificate or to let it lapse. I'm on the fence there as I do not anticipate formally coaching beyond charity or volunteer opportunities.
There were many people that I couldn't have done this without besides my family. My coach Mike who I probably drove nuts from time to time and made him think of too many odd what if situations. Danielle who focused my swim the right way. My EagleCrew - the six of us who got together with this silly idea of us doing a half ironman in 2009 and now 4 of us have completed the 140.6 distance. Other friends who helped me train like Mr26point2, KathyK, the TNT faithful, and many of the folks in the social media world who kept me accountable. It is odd that I haven't met many of you but some know parts of me well and care so much. The few I've met personally have revalidated that thought as well.
The slow journey continues......Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.
PS: I didn't get the tattoo and don't expect to. It might be the right thing for some people but I'm not a tattoo type of guy. The memories I'll have forever and that's enough for me.
Is there another Ironman in my future? My wife had a tee shirt made for the event that read "140.6 miles, Now can I have my husband back?" While she said it was tongue in cheek, I'm sure there is some fact in it. The heavy training volume the last few months has been intrusive to our family. While they are proud of me for my accomplishment, I am proud of them for the sacrifices that they made to allow me to do this.
Immediately after the race I told them that there were three things that needed to happen for me to do another Iron distance race (and I doubt it would be a return to Panama City):
- I need to be able to run effectively. This was my biggest limiter in both training and racing. I kept getting injured. I don't need to run a stand alone marathon to prove this to myself but I need to be confident in my ability to train and race. I don't expect to instantly be a fast runner (those days were over 30 years ago) but I can't be targeting a 6:30 or so marathon, miss even that by a lot, and have a bike split faster than my run split (at my current bike speed). During my race I had a lot of time to do a mental debate on would it count getting it done just up against the time limit (the answer was yes) and the anger I felt when I realized I should have been done (but was not and had miles to go).
- I need to get my body composition under control. I think that point #1 is directly caused by this. Even now when I look at pictures of "real" triathletes with me, I look like I'm the answer to what doesn't belong and why. I'm down a lot of weight from my heaviest but I need to still drop a serious amount of poundage. Additionally I need to actually do some strength work (that again might help #1)
- I need to have the support of my family. We didn't really know what we were in for while training for an Ironman. Yes, we had some beliefs but reality is sometimes better than the beliefs but sometimes worse. While not an expert after doing one Ironman, we are a little smarter as to what it will impact. I don't expect the family demands on my time being reduced for some time as college visits are on the horizon and other miscellany will come up (it always does).
So what's next? I hear there are things called football games on a thing called a TV during the weekend and there is a beverage called a beer. I've been told that my "honey do" list is quite extensive. I do not have any events that I have signed up for in the future and I can't remember the last time that happened. I was asked if I was signing up for a local winter run series that I've done in the past and I said no. My friends are pushing for IMLP2013 but I don't know if I can get the things done that I need to before then or if it will fit in with the family activities. I expect to do some events in 2012, perhaps some cycling events and a tri or two (or 4 perhaps) with maybe one HIM in the fall. I might do a marathon, I might not. I might do El Tour de Tucson again as I like that race but haven't done it in a while. I don't know if I'm going to do any TNT events. My wife has already told me that my level of sarcasm raises inversely to my training load so there needs to be some balance to retain household sanity.
I am having some issues walking still but I expect that will heal within the next few weeks. My plan is to take the rest of November off from training, start unstructured training in December, and re-engage my coach once I figure out the event goals for the 2012. I have to decide if I want to recertify my USAT/L1 coaching certificate or to let it lapse. I'm on the fence there as I do not anticipate formally coaching beyond charity or volunteer opportunities.
There were many people that I couldn't have done this without besides my family. My coach Mike who I probably drove nuts from time to time and made him think of too many odd what if situations. Danielle who focused my swim the right way. My EagleCrew - the six of us who got together with this silly idea of us doing a half ironman in 2009 and now 4 of us have completed the 140.6 distance. Other friends who helped me train like Mr26point2, KathyK, the TNT faithful, and many of the folks in the social media world who kept me accountable. It is odd that I haven't met many of you but some know parts of me well and care so much. The few I've met personally have revalidated that thought as well.
The slow journey continues......Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.
PS: I didn't get the tattoo and don't expect to. It might be the right thing for some people but I'm not a tattoo type of guy. The memories I'll have forever and that's enough for me.
Friday, November 11, 2011
IMFL: The aftermath
When you finishing an Ironman there are volunteers who act as "catchers" to walk you through the maze after the finish line. I was immediately grabbed, they put a medal around my neck and a hat (not a visor) on my head, wrapped me in foil and were walking me over to take my finisher picture. I saw my family on the other side of the fence so I went over for a hug and a kiss from them. We took this picture. Then my catcher took me to a food (pizza) area, gave me a water bottle, and asked me to sit down. I may have forgotten to thank her but my brain was fried.
I almost missed the chair.
I had two slices (not pieces) while I listened to the remaining finishers come down the chute. The crowd was in a frenzy. I felt a pain in my side that I blamed on Florida pizza not being the same as New York pizza and we decided to head back to the hotel. When I got up I was very wobbly and my feet were killing me. We made it back to the room intact.
I was debating to take a shower or not but after I looked at my feet I thought I should. My feet had really bad blisters covering the front half of both feet (and I wear size 14EEE). Walking barefoot was concerning but I got to the shower and was amazed that I still had sand on me from during the swim. I was debating cold shower vs. warm shower but did it somewhere in the middle. When I got out I immediately got the shivers and couldn't stop. I limped back to the bed and when I dove under the covers my shivers stopped. I fell asleep about 1:30.
I woke up before 4AM wired. My family had to leave on Sunday due to the kids not being able to miss school (sometimes I wish my wife and I wouldn't care about education so much) but we ate breakfast before they left. Walking was an issue and even standing was an issue. None the less, I had to get my finisher stuff - my badges of honor so I waiting on line and bought some stuff because, well, you have to. I checked my bike back in with TriBike and was in the room resting when Fran called and said he found a place with an all you can eat lunch special.
We put on an eating clinic. IronTim and IronFran went for seafood and I went for prime rib. I had 4 steaks and I think they had more food than I did. The waitress was amazed. We decided not to ask for the dessert menu.
They dropped me off back at my hotel and by now I couldn't walk at all. The amazing part was that except for the bottoms of my feet I was fine. I rested, packed up all my stuff by crawling around the room on my stomach. My wife called and said that they landed safely but she was really not feeling well. It was a quiet night but not with a lot of sleep.
Monday morning my wife called and said she was feeling so bad that she had to see a doctor. She had a rash and her glands were swollen. She said that she really didn't feel great while the race was happening but she wasn't going to tell me how watching an Ironman was really tiring for her. IronTim and Deb picked me up in the rental car and we went to the airport. I was walking very, very slow as it felt that I was walking on broken glass.
Our flight had a change over in Orlando. Once I landed my wife texted me that the doctor told her she had shingles and wanted her to see a specialist to make sure her eyes were ok (the rash was near her eye). I decided to call the foot doctor to see if there was an appointment available just it case it got worse. The office said they would stay late for me.
It got worse. When I landed in NY my wife told me that her eyes were clear, good news. I was walking in the airport like a cripple to the point where one of the airport people asked if I needed a wheelchair. I declined (but probably should have taken them up). Deb's car was at the airport and she drove me home rather than having my sick wife come to pick me up. When we got to my house it was really hard to walk up the driveway.
I didn't know if I could drive. My wife demanded that she drive me to the doctor and she wasn't in so good shape herself. When we got there he looked at my left foot and asked me how I could walk. Then he looked at my right foot which was worse. He commented that I always seem to make him think and I only call if things were really bad which was why he said he would stay late and he wasn't disappointed. He said that people with blisters like I have on one foot really can't walk for about 3 weeks. Since I had it on both feet, he predicted a month. He gave me some surgical boots to wear in case I couldn't fit my feet into shoes and gave me some drugs to fight potential infections. He had nothing for the pain besides saying it was really going to hurt for a while. Oh, goody. He also recommended that I stay home from work the following day (which I did).
Now we are almost a week later. I am still walking slow but am improving. My wife is getting better very slowly (shingles is very painful). What a pair we are.
I almost missed the chair.
I had two slices (not pieces) while I listened to the remaining finishers come down the chute. The crowd was in a frenzy. I felt a pain in my side that I blamed on Florida pizza not being the same as New York pizza and we decided to head back to the hotel. When I got up I was very wobbly and my feet were killing me. We made it back to the room intact.
I was debating to take a shower or not but after I looked at my feet I thought I should. My feet had really bad blisters covering the front half of both feet (and I wear size 14EEE). Walking barefoot was concerning but I got to the shower and was amazed that I still had sand on me from during the swim. I was debating cold shower vs. warm shower but did it somewhere in the middle. When I got out I immediately got the shivers and couldn't stop. I limped back to the bed and when I dove under the covers my shivers stopped. I fell asleep about 1:30.
I woke up before 4AM wired. My family had to leave on Sunday due to the kids not being able to miss school (sometimes I wish my wife and I wouldn't care about education so much) but we ate breakfast before they left. Walking was an issue and even standing was an issue. None the less, I had to get my finisher stuff - my badges of honor so I waiting on line and bought some stuff because, well, you have to. I checked my bike back in with TriBike and was in the room resting when Fran called and said he found a place with an all you can eat lunch special.
We put on an eating clinic. IronTim and IronFran went for seafood and I went for prime rib. I had 4 steaks and I think they had more food than I did. The waitress was amazed. We decided not to ask for the dessert menu.
They dropped me off back at my hotel and by now I couldn't walk at all. The amazing part was that except for the bottoms of my feet I was fine. I rested, packed up all my stuff by crawling around the room on my stomach. My wife called and said that they landed safely but she was really not feeling well. It was a quiet night but not with a lot of sleep.
Monday morning my wife called and said she was feeling so bad that she had to see a doctor. She had a rash and her glands were swollen. She said that she really didn't feel great while the race was happening but she wasn't going to tell me how watching an Ironman was really tiring for her. IronTim and Deb picked me up in the rental car and we went to the airport. I was walking very, very slow as it felt that I was walking on broken glass.
Our flight had a change over in Orlando. Once I landed my wife texted me that the doctor told her she had shingles and wanted her to see a specialist to make sure her eyes were ok (the rash was near her eye). I decided to call the foot doctor to see if there was an appointment available just it case it got worse. The office said they would stay late for me.
It got worse. When I landed in NY my wife told me that her eyes were clear, good news. I was walking in the airport like a cripple to the point where one of the airport people asked if I needed a wheelchair. I declined (but probably should have taken them up). Deb's car was at the airport and she drove me home rather than having my sick wife come to pick me up. When we got to my house it was really hard to walk up the driveway.
I didn't know if I could drive. My wife demanded that she drive me to the doctor and she wasn't in so good shape herself. When we got there he looked at my left foot and asked me how I could walk. Then he looked at my right foot which was worse. He commented that I always seem to make him think and I only call if things were really bad which was why he said he would stay late and he wasn't disappointed. He said that people with blisters like I have on one foot really can't walk for about 3 weeks. Since I had it on both feet, he predicted a month. He gave me some surgical boots to wear in case I couldn't fit my feet into shoes and gave me some drugs to fight potential infections. He had nothing for the pain besides saying it was really going to hurt for a while. Oh, goody. He also recommended that I stay home from work the following day (which I did).
Now we are almost a week later. I am still walking slow but am improving. My wife is getting better very slowly (shingles is very painful). What a pair we are.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
IMFL: The event itself.
Race day I woke up before my alarm clock went off. I stayed in bed for a while before deciding to get the show on the road. The weather report said that the wind was now from the NW but would change to be from the east at 10-20mph with gusts to 25. At least it wasn't from the south as a north wind normally means calm seas. I put on my tri shorts that I planned on wearing during the swim and then sweats above them. Ate a quick breakfast and since my daughter Amanda was also already up, I asked if she wanted to help me drop off special needs bags and load nutrition on the bike and for T1 and T2. We grabbed the stuff and headed down. I was most concerned about forgetting my orthotics in my sneakers but I realized when I got to my bike to pump up my tires that something was amiss: I didn't have any bottles with me. Duh.
I didn't expect a fast swim. My PR for a HIM swim was just under 43 minutes so I was expecting somewhere between 1:30 and 1:45. I decided to let the crazies go when the cannon went off and held back about a minute. I swam to the sand bar, walked a bit as it was crowded, and then headed out. I tried to get in a rhythm but there were so many people packed in I was getting hit almost constantly. I would look for a little bit of clear water to avoid the battles but didn't even bother siting since I figured that once the school of swimmers I was in turned it would be right (the lemming theory). When I looked down in the clear water I saw more jellyfish than my earlier swim and a bunch of little rays scooting along the bottom. I was proven correct when I felt the school of triathletes start to turn. I turned then looked for the far turn buoy which was found right into the sun (thank goodness for smoked goggles) so I sighted off the sun. When I got close to the far buoy I saw people were still swimming straight and the kayakeers were yelling at them to turn. I headed back in siting off my hotel not even looking for a buoy once and siting infrequently. I was most proud of that I kept swimming at the sand bar while others were walking and I passed about 30 people just on the sand bar. When I hit the beach and saw 40:5X on my watch, I was ecstatic.
At the end of the second lap I did a physical assessment. I swam the swim very easy (per plan). I felt I could do another lap with no problem but had a bike ride to do. Even though I felt my second lap was faster, it was not. My final swim time was 1:25:59. I was way ahead of schedule.
Out of the water, up the beach, got stripped, ran into the parking lot, got my stuff, and headed into the changing room. There was no room anywhere. People where changing in the hallway but the volunteers said there was more room inside. I fought to get inside but it was butt crack to butt crack, not a pleasant sight nor feeling. It took a while to get a few spare inches, dropped my stuff on the floor to stake my claim, put my glasses on and they immediately fogged up. I got dressed. I decided to wear the jacket and not the tights. I wasted a lot of time just getting space to change and was disappointed with my T1 time.
T2 was much less crowded than T1. I got a spot, changed, hit the porta-potty and was out about in the time where I needed to be. It was about 4pm and I knew even if I had to walk I was good on time. I've walked half marathons in 3:40 so double that and I was still good. I decided to walk the first 10 minutes or so to get my legs back and then go into my run/walk plan. I saw my family and saw they were wearing tee shirts with my number on it. I asked if they had it made before they came down and they said that Fran helped get their luggage because amazingly the guy from Southwest couldn't get to the hotel. Fran was a super hero for my family as he schlepped the luggage from one side of the race course to the other for them. Of course, he had to comment why my family packed dead bodies or bricks in the luggage but that is another story.
I remembered that the bottles were on the counter awaiting cold water to be added (not with the rest of the pre-race stuff). As we headed back to the condo I was so nervous I felt I was going to puke before the race even started!(No pukie for me though). As we were going upstairs I was patting myself on the back for getting a condo so close to the start. The bottles were where I expected, we filled them and headed back down to transition to put them on the bike.
Rather than get caught up in the nervousness and pre-race hysteria around transition, I went back to the room, rested under the covers a little, put on my wetsuit in the condo (very civilized) and went down to the start at 6:35 with my wife and girls. It was chilly and I jumped in the water just as the announcer was asking for every to get out of the water. I quickly swam about 100 yards and the water was like glass (yea!). I said good bye to my family and entered the corral just as the pro cannon went off.
I didn't expect a fast swim. My PR for a HIM swim was just under 43 minutes so I was expecting somewhere between 1:30 and 1:45. I decided to let the crazies go when the cannon went off and held back about a minute. I swam to the sand bar, walked a bit as it was crowded, and then headed out. I tried to get in a rhythm but there were so many people packed in I was getting hit almost constantly. I would look for a little bit of clear water to avoid the battles but didn't even bother siting since I figured that once the school of swimmers I was in turned it would be right (the lemming theory). When I looked down in the clear water I saw more jellyfish than my earlier swim and a bunch of little rays scooting along the bottom. I was proven correct when I felt the school of triathletes start to turn. I turned then looked for the far turn buoy which was found right into the sun (thank goodness for smoked goggles) so I sighted off the sun. When I got close to the far buoy I saw people were still swimming straight and the kayakeers were yelling at them to turn. I headed back in siting off my hotel not even looking for a buoy once and siting infrequently. I was most proud of that I kept swimming at the sand bar while others were walking and I passed about 30 people just on the sand bar. When I hit the beach and saw 40:5X on my watch, I was ecstatic.
I saw my wife along the chute and yelled sub41! I fought through the crowd at the buffet table (aka water stop for the swim) and back into the drink for lap two. There were no crowds now so I decided to just swim steady. There were more "friends" swimming and then I saw a jelly that looked like this guy. I decided to swim around him rather than get stung. That would hurt for a long time.
At the end of the second lap I did a physical assessment. I swam the swim very easy (per plan). I felt I could do another lap with no problem but had a bike ride to do. Even though I felt my second lap was faster, it was not. My final swim time was 1:25:59. I was way ahead of schedule.
Out of the water, up the beach, got stripped, ran into the parking lot, got my stuff, and headed into the changing room. There was no room anywhere. People where changing in the hallway but the volunteers said there was more room inside. I fought to get inside but it was butt crack to butt crack, not a pleasant sight nor feeling. It took a while to get a few spare inches, dropped my stuff on the floor to stake my claim, put my glasses on and they immediately fogged up. I got dressed. I decided to wear the jacket and not the tights. I wasted a lot of time just getting space to change and was disappointed with my T1 time.
I got my bike with everyone screaming. The first part of the course headed west. Into the wind. My goal was to keep between 160-180 watts. I realized that I could run a little hot into the wind as I should have the wind on the return so I pushed it a little. It seemed like I was fighting the wind the whole first half of the bike. Everyone riding was moping about the wind but I focused on my power, drinking, and eating.. At the first turn around we got some relief and was able to open it up a bit but the wind was shifting. Reloaded nutrition at special needs and I cut the power a little bit to get in my zone. I started feeling hot spots on my feet at about the 100mile mark and realized this could get bad (I had no idea though of how bad). The last leg, that we fought the wind on the way out, we again fought the wind going the other way on the way in. My final average power was 169w with a NP of 179W (aka dialed in), I gained about 15 minutes over my goal and felt good off the bike.
T2 was much less crowded than T1. I got a spot, changed, hit the porta-potty and was out about in the time where I needed to be. It was about 4pm and I knew even if I had to walk I was good on time. I've walked half marathons in 3:40 so double that and I was still good. I decided to walk the first 10 minutes or so to get my legs back and then go into my run/walk plan. I saw my family and saw they were wearing tee shirts with my number on it. I asked if they had it made before they came down and they said that Fran helped get their luggage because amazingly the guy from Southwest couldn't get to the hotel. Fran was a super hero for my family as he schlepped the luggage from one side of the race course to the other for them. Of course, he had to comment why my family packed dead bodies or bricks in the luggage but that is another story.
I settled into my run/walk but my feet started barking. The hot spots that I felt on the bike were now certified blisters. I had most of the marathon to go. I realized this was not going to be pretty. I kept going. IronFran, Deb and Tim's boys were at the 4mile mark. I kept walking. I went through the park and the blisters were getting worse. I kept going. I saw Fran again and asked his medical advice (in real life he is a doctor). I had new socks at run special needs, extra sneakers, I could put body glide on my feet, etc. He said, "Dude, you are going to be an Ironman. You are a monster. Just get it done and worry about it later. You've got this." I told him that was why he wasn't my doctor.
At the halfway mark I decided fresh socks and sneakers was the right way to go. I flopped down and people/medical staff immediately came over to see if I was ok. After I convinced them I was, I had another lap to do. I couldn't help but think that one lap would have been perfect and there will be damage from another lap. I chose damage.
I was limping a bit now but still walking steadily. The people around me were wondering if they were going to make it. Luckily I did the math much earlier when I had a brain so I knew I was ok as long as I kept going at this pace. Fran was still out there waiting for me and walked a bit to help me out. It helped a lot. I kept going. It was now zombie time. Many were limping along. There was carnage. I kept going. Drink the soup. Drink some water. Don't stop. Keep going. Knock off another mile. Keep going. Then we came to the end. I asked the guy next to me if he wanted to go in alone for the video or should I go. He told me to go. I ran it in. My feet hurt. A lot. I am an Ironman.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
IMFL: The prelude
This race report will be done in multiple parts. Let me apologize now for the verbosity but this is a narrative which must be told to educate others who may try to emulate my insanity.
Tim, henceforth known as IronTim, and I got on the plane on Long Island Wednesday afternoon to head down to Panama City Beach and the flight was without major incident (I'm not going to go into the ice cream fiasco at MCO). We arrived on time, got our luggage, hopped into the rental car and headed to our hotels. We were staying at different condo/hotels where mine was right at transition and his was just a short walk down the road. After checking in we went food shopping for the week and for the event itself. I though I personally bought too much but there was some stuff that the store was already out of. When I asked if they had croissants, the supermarket bakery guy said that the Ironman people bought them out already but they expected more later in the week. Our shopping was not complete. Dinner at Margaritaville put us in a celebration mindset (even though no alcohol was consumed).
Thursday morning we wanted to swim at about 7:00 to get a sense of the light for the race and how to sight. It was chilly out and the water was nasty with swells of 4-6 feet due to the wind (which was also nasty). During the swim it felt that we weren't moving at all but then you looked up and you were a few hundred yards past where you expected. Also coming in we fought a bit if a rip current so you wouldn't move at all for a few seconds then flew in with the waves. I practiced body surfing. The water temperature was perfect and the water crystal clear to the point where we saw a huge school of fish (yea) and a few jellyfish (boo). I have been stung by jellyfish during a race before and had no desire to be stung again. As we got out of the water, we saw the water conditions were getting worse. There were a lot of athletes swimming and many were grumbling. I didn't feel concerned except for the fact that nasty water would hurt my swim time.
After we got out of the water we checked in for the race and picked up our bikes from TriBike Transport (which was in the parking lot of my hotel). The wind was coming out of the east so to tested out our bikes we did a short ride into the wind (slow) and with the wind at our back (fast). It was cool going 24mph with virtually no effort but we realized that wind could have a dramatic impact on the bike. The ride was a success as everything on the bike worked.
After some down time I was able to meet John and his wife. His blog was one of the first I ever followed and it was great meeting him face to face. His wife, like most triathlete's wives, seems to be a saint. Good people and I'm glad we finally met. His wife took this picture of us:
IronTim and I did the rest of our food shopping at Walmart. I spent the rest of the day as quiet time. Getting my bags sorted and checking in the bike waiting for my family to arrive as their plane was scheduled to land at 5:30pm. Originally I was going to get my own dinner but I decided to go with them so waited a while.
More to come.......
Tim, henceforth known as IronTim, and I got on the plane on Long Island Wednesday afternoon to head down to Panama City Beach and the flight was without major incident (I'm not going to go into the ice cream fiasco at MCO). We arrived on time, got our luggage, hopped into the rental car and headed to our hotels. We were staying at different condo/hotels where mine was right at transition and his was just a short walk down the road. After checking in we went food shopping for the week and for the event itself. I though I personally bought too much but there was some stuff that the store was already out of. When I asked if they had croissants, the supermarket bakery guy said that the Ironman people bought them out already but they expected more later in the week. Our shopping was not complete. Dinner at Margaritaville put us in a celebration mindset (even though no alcohol was consumed).
Thursday morning we wanted to swim at about 7:00 to get a sense of the light for the race and how to sight. It was chilly out and the water was nasty with swells of 4-6 feet due to the wind (which was also nasty). During the swim it felt that we weren't moving at all but then you looked up and you were a few hundred yards past where you expected. Also coming in we fought a bit if a rip current so you wouldn't move at all for a few seconds then flew in with the waves. I practiced body surfing. The water temperature was perfect and the water crystal clear to the point where we saw a huge school of fish (yea) and a few jellyfish (boo). I have been stung by jellyfish during a race before and had no desire to be stung again. As we got out of the water, we saw the water conditions were getting worse. There were a lot of athletes swimming and many were grumbling. I didn't feel concerned except for the fact that nasty water would hurt my swim time.
After we got out of the water we checked in for the race and picked up our bikes from TriBike Transport (which was in the parking lot of my hotel). The wind was coming out of the east so to tested out our bikes we did a short ride into the wind (slow) and with the wind at our back (fast). It was cool going 24mph with virtually no effort but we realized that wind could have a dramatic impact on the bike. The ride was a success as everything on the bike worked.
After some down time I was able to meet John and his wife. His blog was one of the first I ever followed and it was great meeting him face to face. His wife, like most triathlete's wives, seems to be a saint. Good people and I'm glad we finally met. His wife took this picture of us:
Thursday ended with the athlete dinner and mandatory race meeting. The best line was from the race doctor who said that all of the other folks kept saying they wanted to see everyone after they cross the finish line and he said he really didn't want to see anyone then at all! IronTim went to the airport to fetch his family and I tried to get to sleep early.
Friday:
I was supposed to swim and ride again but I decided to get a big breakfast at the Waffle House and recon the bike course instead. I wasn't able to drive the whole course but did most of it and got landmarks before I picked up IronFran at the airport. He was coming down just to cheer us on (note that we cheered him on when he did IMLP last summer).
Friday:
I was supposed to swim and ride again but I decided to get a big breakfast at the Waffle House and recon the bike course instead. I wasn't able to drive the whole course but did most of it and got landmarks before I picked up IronFran at the airport. He was coming down just to cheer us on (note that we cheered him on when he did IMLP last summer).
IronTim and I did the rest of our food shopping at Walmart. I spent the rest of the day as quiet time. Getting my bags sorted and checking in the bike waiting for my family to arrive as their plane was scheduled to land at 5:30pm. Originally I was going to get my own dinner but I decided to go with them so waited a while.
When they landed it was discovered that their luggage was in Orlando. Southwest said they would deliver it the next day to the hotel. My wife explained that there was this race going on and all the roads would be closed. The agent said not to worry since the delivery guy was very resourceful. We had to get dinner quickly and some more supplies (toothpaste,etc) for them at Walgreens and to sleep early. They only had the clothes on their back (and, of course, the text books that they were studying from during the flight).
How resourceful do you think he could be in delivering the luggage at the hotel overlooking transition during an Ironman? Confidence was low.
More to come.......
Monday, November 7, 2011
IMFL: The Executive Summary
Thursday, November 3, 2011
You say stalker like it is a bad thing.
There are three recommended ways to stalk me on Saturday during IMFL. So, if you have the inclination (knowing it will be a long day and you might get caught up in the drama):
1 - The traditional method:
At Timberman in 2009 I tried the myathletegps device to help my family with knowing where I was on the course during a race. Unfortunately we found out (at the same time as the myathletegpsfolks) that the cell coverage was so poor both at transition and out on the course that these devices were rendered useless. Myathletegps did the right thing and refunded all of the rental fees without our even asking at that race.
I read that they were renting these devices at IMFL and decided to try it again after they assured me that the experience at IMFL would be good. The caveat is that there is a few spots on the bike that have limited coverage but they said that they have had many positive experiences in the Panama City vicinity. So to track me you can:
3 - The "groupie" method. Yes there will be groupies at IMFL. I can't express my appreciation enough for you. In case you are having a problem picking me out - I'm the old, slow, fat guy wearing #2486.
1 - The traditional method:
- Go to http://ironmanlive.com/
- Click on Tracking
- Enter my bib number: #2486
At Timberman in 2009 I tried the myathletegps device to help my family with knowing where I was on the course during a race. Unfortunately we found out (at the same time as the myathletegpsfolks) that the cell coverage was so poor both at transition and out on the course that these devices were rendered useless. Myathletegps did the right thing and refunded all of the rental fees without our even asking at that race.
I read that they were renting these devices at IMFL and decided to try it again after they assured me that the experience at IMFL would be good. The caveat is that there is a few spots on the bike that have limited coverage but they said that they have had many positive experiences in the Panama City vicinity. So to track me you can:
- On Web Browsers & iphones: http://track.MyAthleteLive.com/vemap.aspx?name=035977
- Handheld PDA/Blackberry/Palm: http://track.MyAthleteLive.com/pda.aspx?name=035977
3 - The "groupie" method. Yes there will be groupies at IMFL. I can't express my appreciation enough for you. In case you are having a problem picking me out - I'm the old, slow, fat guy wearing #2486.
Additionally I've asked one of the prime stalkers (aka my daughter) to update my Facebook ( Joe Rockstri) and Twitter ( @JoeRockstri ) from time to time while I toil the Panama City course.
Thanks, everyone, for all the support!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Quote of the week.
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