Searching for that Silver Linning

The thing about Ironman is sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. Going into yesterday I was in the best shape I've ever been in both physically and mentally. Then on top of that the weather was perfect! Unfortunetly though the week leading up to the race I wasn't feeling right. Extreme fatigue and light headedness seemed to persist daily without ever getting better or worse. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon when things went downhill. It was likely the stress of the race made things worse. By Saturday evening I had a light grade fever and major aches and pains. I thought for sure I was going to wake up with a full blown cold or flu. Instead I woke up at about 2 am after a really hard sleep and soaked in sweat. I think the slight fever I had broke and I was actually feeling better. At 4 am when the alarm went off I felt a pretty good. So off to the race we went.

So fast forward to the race start... The swim was good. I found a spot towards the outside and in the very front. I normally wouldn't start in the front but no one else was stepping up. So I figured I would go for out. Right before the gun went off I turned around and there wasn't very many people behind me. The cannonn blew and I jumped in and went hard. Within seconds a wall of people washed over me. Not sure why they didn't start in front but I would rather get pushed out of the way then try to climb over people. The swim went by fast and wasn't too physical. My time was almost identical to AZ. I was very happy with that based on how Lake Stevens went.

On to the bike I was feeling pretty good. My HR was lower then usually out of T1 which has always been a big issue for me. About an hour in I started getting blurred vision just before the headache set in. It was a good one! Not sure what brought it on, but it hung around in my temples and eyes well past Richter (The first major climb). Shortly after the climb I took a little caffine gu to see if that would help and it did. The pain dulled a bit and became much more tollerable but never fully went away. Just before mile 60 I was cruising feeling good. It was looking like I was on track for about a 5:20 bike split until I heard that dreaded noise. The sound of 130 psi of air leaving your tire in less then 10 seconds. I quickly came to a stop and assesed the situation. I managed to stay pretty calm, but I knew this would have a major impact on my bike split. I quickly pulled the wheel off and went to work. One leeson learned here, make sure your valve extender on your spare is long enough for your deepest wheel. I didn't realize mine was too short until I got the tire on. So I had to pull it off and take the one off the flat tire. Unfotrunetly I had broke it when I ripped the flat tire off the wheel. With some tweaking and a little luck I was able to get it too work. So 8 minutes later I was up and rolling. Since I was on a downhill it felt like 500 people passed me while I was fixing it though. Needless to say I was a little pissed. My first instinct was "screw it, I'm going to push the rest of the bike as hard as I can". Then I did the math and realized I still had 52 miles to go. So I backed off a little but did keep a steady pace. My legs felt good, but my nutrition started to fail toward the end. I would take a drink of water or Infinite and it would come right back up.

Off the bike I actually felt pretty good. I laid off the nutrtion until mile one and things were going well. Mile 1 was a 7:45 and my HR was right on. This was the one! Things went well the first 5 miles. Then I started to slow a bit as the headwind really picked up. At times it was strong enough to almost blow my visor off. Just before the turn around the wheels came off. My stomache cramped and my jog turned into a walk, then a sloooow walk. This is when the emotions flood in. It's a mix of falling short of personal expetations, the bitter sweet of seeing all of your friends and team mates excel around you, and the months of prep that go into these races feeling wasted. Needless to say it was a long lonely 8 mile walk in the rain. But it gave me time to quit feeling sorry for myself and put things in perspective. I had thoughts of dropping out, but I'm sooo glad I didn't. It pretty much came down to finishing what I started. I thought of how Jen pushed through her race in AZ and was out there a hell of a lot longer then I was. I felt like I would be letting her down if I gave up. So I started trying to jog off and on as much as I could. As I passed the mile 25 marker I saw Jen and got a little choked up. Then there was Chris V with a A&W Chicken bucket on his head! This was exactly what I needed! He handed me the bucket and I put it on my head. The last mile is an out and back so it is packed with people. Needless to say when you have a chicken bucket on your head that says "Chubby Chicken" you get a lot of attention. These cheers pushed me to run the entire last mile.

So in the end it was a tough and somewhat dissapointing day, but it is what it is. Number 7 done!

BIG congrats to all of my Ironhead team mates that kicked ass out there!

Here's another random picture of me hanging with the locals in Levenworth on the way to Penticton:

Here we go

Lucky #7? Guess we'll find out soon enough! IMC starts in 16 hrs. Not too sure how it's going to go at this point. All week I have been feeling like a turd. Very tired, no energy. Not sure whats up. I am hoping it is just the taper, but I've never had this issue before. I figure if I was getting sick it would have hit me by now. So I am going to go out there tomorrow and give it everything I have. Hopefully I snap out of it once I jump into the water. I guess there always has to be something. After all, this is Ironman. Thanks to everyone that has wished me luck and supported me along the way! It's time to get it done.

Life's a beach

Well, after a tough couple weeks of training Murphy and I thought we would treat ourselves to a little R&R today. We woke up this morning and decided to take a little impromptu trip to the beach. We loaded up and headed out. We ended up at Delray Beach just north of Seaside. One of the few beaches in Oregon that you can still drive on. After much ball playing and hole digging we made a quick stop in Cannon Beach for salt water taffy and caramel corn before making the quick trip home. There are times when I am driving to work and I think to myself "I would sure love to pass the exit off hwy 26 to work and keep on going to the beach". Today was that day. These are the types of things I wanted to do on Sabbatical. So far so good!

Like I said, the last few weeks have been pretty good training. Last week was the last "big" one. A few notable highlights were my long run. It was 2 laps around Hagg Lake (~21 miles) after a 2800-ish yard open water swim with Christian. What a great place to run in the early morning during the week. Lots of hills and wildlife (4 deer and a coyote), and very few cars. The day before that was another 5 hour ride. I went into this ride with tired legs, but ended feeling pretty good. Then on Sunday morning bright and early I had an 11 mile run with 3x10min threshold intervals. I hate running early in the morning, then to have to do threshold repeats?!? I had been dreading this workout but it ended up going very well. I managed to finish up in time to make it to Salem for my Niece's 3 year old birthday party!

This week is still some good volume, but a little lighter on the interval side. I still have some threshold stuff and 5 swims scheduled though. Next week we head north! I am really looking forward to toeing the line for IMC! I don't think I have ever felt this prepared both mentally and physically. Now if I could just figure out how to not go back to work...

Blue Lake Oly Tri and Fishing Report

Yesterday was the Blue Lake Triathlon. This is the same course that the June race covers. This race is usually a good bench mark since it is a flat course and the conditions are usually pretty consistent from race to race. In June I went 2hrs & 7mins and change. My goal this time was to break 2hrs & 5mins, improve on my bike split and push the swim as hard as I could. Finally I was able to do all of the above. The only downside to this race was loosing 3rd place with less then a tenth of a mile to go. Chris Bell passed me (again) and surged hard enough that I couldn't stay with him. He is a strong runner and ended up beating me by 14 seconds. Oh well, not much I can about that. But this is the second race he has done this. Lesson learned, I need to push the bike extra hard when he is in the race. Here's the whole story:

Leading up to the race I have had some big weeks with some tough workouts. On Saturday before the race I was a little concerned because my legs were tired and heavy. With a couple easy workouts and a long ice bath that Jen forced me to take I was able to bounce back by Sunday.
Race morning we arrived at the venue early. After a warm up run with Grant F. (the overall winner) I suited up and headed to the water.
The swim started out good and I was off the front with the lead pack to the first buoy. Around the first buoy I lost the pack and ended up with no feet to draft on. I really tried to focus on my form and pushing as hard as I could. There were a few times I would let up a little, but I was able to catch myself more quickly and stay on track. After talking with others is likely the swim course was a little longer then it was in June. This race has the reputation for inconsistent swim courses. Oh well, ether way it was a PR, 24:17.
T1 was good, no issues. As usual Trevor was in out much quicker then I was and we headed out on the bike together. In the past I have always feared that while mounting my bike I would catch my crotch on the back of the seat. Well... guess what happened yesterday... Yep, the crotch of shorts got caught but my feet managed to clip in. Not good, especially with a hundred spectators standing around. Fortunately I unclipped my foot just before I fell over. So I didn't go down, but I'm sure I looked pretty darn stupid.
The bike was pretty much the same as June. The only difference was my HR was a little lower and my legs never really felt tired. At both turn arounds There was Trevor, on my ass. In the end this is likely the reason I pr'd the bike. I was a little frustrated actually because I didn't want to push as hard as I did. Mentally I think I was feeling a little lazy I guess. I'm glad he was there though, I needed that. In the end though he ended up beating my bike split by one second and taking the "fastest Ironhead Oly bike split" record. Well deserved though, he has been racing very well this year. My time was 57:20.
T2 - I sat down, as I usually do, to put on my socks. With numb feet I struggled a little get them on. It didn't help that Trevor was running out of T2 already. Crap! I got my shoe on and took off after him. I caught up quickly and surged ahead in an attempt to control the pace a little. Within the first half mile my feet warmed up and I clicked into a groove. This never happens this early! My legs felt like springs and I felt my stride relax and stretch out. What a great feeling, FINALLY! About a mile in I saw someone ahead and realized it was Dave Campbell. This guy is fast when he's having a good day. He started in the wave before me so I knew I had a minute on him if I could finish with him. I managed to get within 20 yrds, but could never completely catch up. My goal within the last mile changed to "just keep him in sight". As I stayed with him he begin to push. I think I negative split most of my miles thanks to him. As we passed the mile 6 marker I began to hear foot steps. I tried to push but my HR was maxed and my breathing and form began to fall apart. Chris passed and I tried to hang on but had nothing left. I did managed to stay within 30 seconds of Dave though so 4th was were I ended up. My run time was 39:53.

Ironheads kicked ass as usual. Grant "g-funk" Folske smoked the race and won overall. In the process of pushing me Trevor came in 3rd in our age group with a great race. Jason K, AJ, and Taylor also raced well out there. Congrats to Taylor on his first Oly distance. In the Sprint race Darrin Smith had a huge PR and Aleck once again dominated by defending his overall win from last year (when he kicked my ass in the swim and held me off on the bike and the run). Amazing how much he's improved over this last year! I'm anxious to see how he does at IM AZ in November. I have a feeling he is going to murder it!

Jen also raced the Olympic distance for the first time. After not feeling very good for the last week she toughed it out on race day and finished strong. She's really become a seasoned pro out there. I'm very proud of her toughness and strength.

On the fishing front... No "big" news to report, but I did catch my first fish! Size isn't supposed to matter right? I'm going to go with no this time. My fish wasn't very big in size, but he had a lot of fight! I caught him on the Clackamas last Monday with Rob P. my fishing mentor. Thursday we headed out to the Wilson and did some fishing there too. Great scenery, but not many fish that were hungry. The water was clear enough that you could see some of them though. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. I'm looking forward to getting back out there soon. The fall run of cut throat should be heading up the Wilson next month. I may have to take a sick day or two...