Sabbatical Summary

So I've been trying to think of the best way to summarize my sabbatical. I've come up with a couple ways to quantify it. Pictures and numbers. The numbers are the best way to wrap up the training I was able to do. The pictures below are from my many adventures over the last 8 weeks. It sucks to come back, but at the same time it was a great opportunity that most people never get. This is what I keep telling myself today anyway. So far it's working OK...

So here's sabbatical by the numbers:

Training:

Miles Swam - 39

Mile Biked - 1057

Miles Ran - 236

Amount spent at Starbucks - $226

Miles put on the Jeep - 3014 (mostly to and from Starbucks)

Pictures:

#1 - Murphy on one of our many adventures together...

#2 - Training in Penticton the month before the race with Scott. One of the few places I could live other then Portland

#3 - Chris V in Canada the day before the race. Chris is great to have around when you need to lighten things up.

#4 - The best post race meal to date! The Rusty burger (2 patties, double cheese, double bacon).

#5 - What better way to commemorate a shitty race then by getting a tattoo of it, and no it's not on my ass (but in hind sight...)

#6 - The hardtop hoist project. Much more time consuming then first planned, but well worth it!

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...

Week #3 - Almost half way...

Ahh, the end of another big week of training. 4 weeks until Canada. Last week ended up being just over 20 hrs and 15 workouts. This week ended up being 22 hrs in 14 workouts. Lots off biking and running over the last two weeks with a total of 435 miles on the bike and 89 miles on in the running shoes. For the most part the workouts have been feeling good. This coming week is a bit lighter and will allow for a little fishing. Next weekend is the Blue Lake Olympic tri. I'm anxious to see where my fitness is for this race after a light week. This will be my last race before IMC.

Other then that not much new. The sabbatical life is a good one. It does have me contemplating what I want to do career wise. Realistically I will likely stick with Intel for a while, but I think I will start to monitor the Nike postings and see if anything interesting pops up. I guess it never hurts to look.

In other news Jen and I made it out to see a movie last week. We saw Step Brothers with Will Ferrell. I would suggest saving this one for a rental. It would be perfect for a rainy day trainer ride. I think that's it for now. I hope to have an update soon with some fishing pics. I have yet to catch a fish on a fly rode. This could be the week! Stay tuned...

Tales From Penticton

Well, I've been in Penticton BC since Thursday. We rode the course on Saturday at a blistering pace (105 miles in 5hrs) then ran a total of 2hrs and 50 mins today. And did I mention the swimming? This has to be one of the best places on earth to swim. This morning was perfect! The water is perfect temp, calm, and clear and there are no sharks! I have one last swim tomorrow before I head back home on Tuesday. Overall it's been a really good trip. I've met some very cool and very fit folks here. The number of elite triathlete's in this town is amazing. We watched a "local" Olympic distance race this morning. Wow, these guys and girls are fast! But they know how to put on a race here. Prize money for the top 3 finishers and a really good announcer. It was the same guy that is known as the "voice of IM Canada". Overall a much different experience then say, a race at Blue Lake or Hagg Lake. I guess that's all for now!

Sabbatical - Week 1 Done

What a week! It started with spending a few hours at my Mom's house for her birthday. On Wednesday my Hard Top hoist was delivered by the UPS guy. Within 2hrs the top was off the Jeep and hanging from the ceiling of the garage.

Friday was spent at the Portland International Raceway with Rob P. We went to watch the Historic Car Races. The highlight was getting to ride in the passenger seat of a brand new BMW M3 for two laps around the track. It was $20 that was in support of a local charity. On the back side of the lap we hit 108 mph. It was amazing how fast it could take the turns. Rob was the VW R32 in front of us. Here are a couple pictures.

After that it was Bud Light and classic stock cars. I've always wanted to check these races out. It was a good day. I felt very manly!

Saturday was spent spectating at the Hagg Lake Triathlon where as usual the Ironheads kicked ass. It was fun to be out on the course and cheer people on. Sunday was my fly fishing class on the Clackamas river. No pun intended here, but I think I'm hooked. I didn't actually catch anything, but I had a few strikes, and that's enough to keep my coming back for more. It's cool to go do something new like that and notice things going on that have always been there but I've never noticed. For example when we first got there we had to check out what the fish were feeding on. This required us to flip over some rocks in the river and see what types of bugs were developing. Also, we watched what types of bugs were flying around above the water. Then the key is matching up a fly in your fly box to what is in the water. It reminds me of 8th grade science class.

Mixed in all of these activities there were of course a few workouts. Not too many this week because of Lake Steven last weekend, but there were a few. I did a 12 mile run on Friday morning before the car races and was able to avg a 7:30 pace with my HR in zone 1. My fitness is good right now. Next week I head to Penticton to train with Coach Scott on the IMC race course. I'm really looking forward to that. So, back to business! two heavy training weeks coming up. It's to focus more on resting betweens workouts. Of course I'll need to sneak in some fishing now and then... Fortunately the rivers are cold so its good for soaking the tired legs.

Lake Steven's

Lake Steven's Half Ironman was this last Sunday. We drove up with Rob and Erin early Saturday morning. We hit the expo... the expo was a booth to buy parking passes and a booth selling bike jerseys, that's it. We attended the mandatory meeting and picked up our packets. From there we headed out to the lake to get in a 30 min spin and drop off the bikes. As Erin and I were out riding my bike started having issues. It kept skipping between gears and the rear cassette was rattling. I assumed it was loose. When we got back I headed over to the local bike shop and had them take a look. Apparently I wasn't the only person with bike issues. The shop was SLAMMED. Total chaos! So I dropped it off and we went to get some lunch. I came back an hour later and it was more crowded then when I dropped it off. Even Sister Madonna (the 78 year old nun) was there trying to get her tires glued up. Fortunately for me my bike was fixed and ready to go. I took it for one last spin up and down the street before checking it in.
Sunday morning came early. We were up at 4 and to the race site by 5. I got everything setup and was ready to go by race start at 6:38. The water was warm and pretty clear. The swim start was a little crowded. You had to jump off a dock and tread water, but we were packed into a pretty small area. When the gun went off it took a few strokes to get some space. Once out I found the underwater rope that runs the length of the course. This was nice because you didn't have to look up to sight much. The down side was I kept running into to slower folks from the wave that started in front of me. Overall the swim felt good. I felt like I was actually racing it for the first half rather then just getting through it. After making the last turn I started to get tired and lost focus for a couple minutes. This definitely cost me some time. Once I realized and snapped out of it I picked it up again to the finish.
Through T1 and on to the bike was smooth, no issues. Once I got going on the bike I noticed my heart rate was still pretty high as it usually is out of the swim. I decided to focus on my watts and not to worry about my HR. As expected after about 20 mins it started to come down. I had heard this course was hilly, but wasn't sure exactly what to expect. There were a lot of short steep hills with a couple longer sustained climbs. Scott had given me power ranges to stay in when hitting the hills and this was key on this race. It was frustrating on the first lap as people would fly by me on the hills, but I always caught them on the flats. Usually once I passed them back that was the last I saw of them. The entire ride I kept coming up on team mate Jason K. I would get within 50 yards of him then we would hit a hill and he would take off again. This happened up until about mile 52 when I finally caught him. He passed me back right away and that would be the last time I would see him until the out and backs on the run. Overall the bike went very good. I got in all of my nutrition and my pacing allowed me to run better then I have in the past.
Off the bike my feet were numb and they hurt as I tried to run through T2. Once out on the run they warmed up quickly. The run went by really fast on this course. I had a bit of a side cramp for the first 3 miles, but it went away after I backed off the amount of water I was taking through the aid stations. At about mile 6 another team mate, Jake, caught me and passed me easily. I knew he was coming and I knew he is a much faster runner then I am, so I accepted it and encouraged him as he went by. Right after that another guy in my age group passed me as well. This sent me into a mini pity party. I was in a funk for about 2 miles before I got my second wind. I think I was between miles 8 and 9 when I decided to push it for a while and see what happens. At this point in the race I had not met any of my goals. I had not broken 2:30 on the ride, I had not swam under 32 mins, and I was likely not going to break 4:40 over all. The only remaining goal was a PR. I knew I needed to pick it up if I was going to do this. The last 4 miles felt outstanding. I pushed my heart rate into zone 5 and my legs wanted more. In the last 5k I managed to catch back up to Jake. This gave me that little extra boost I needed to push the last hill. I came in at 4:43:33. This was a 1 minute PR over Hula man last year. I think this course was much tougher though. Overall the race went very well for me. Except for the couple of little things I am pretty happy with how I executed my plan. As always though I wanted to go faster...
Props to the entire Ironheads team! Congrats to Kaytee as the overall female age group winner. Also congrats to Jake B on his 45 min pr, and Heather R with her 56 min PR! Also, thanks to Jake and Jason K for keeping me motivated out there. These events are so much more fun when you have that comradery and friendly competition. I am so lucky to be part of such a great group of people.

Free at last, free at last...

Well, off I go. I just finished packing my office (It's moving to a different area of the building while I'm out). My email inbox is down to two messages, it's typically over 30. I guess it's almost time to take the victory walk out the door. It still hasn't totally hit me that I don't have to think about work at all for 8 weeks. I think Sunday afternoon it will set in. I'm pretty focused on Lake Stevens HIM right now. I really want to have a good race. I'm ready for one. No excuses this time. I'm recovered, well rested, and feeling good. My swimming "feels" better. I think watching the Olympic trials has helped. The visual images in my head when I'm swimming of Michael Phelps hauling ass definitely make me feel faster. I hope to use this on Sunday during the race. That guy is a machine! I love watching good swimmers, it makes me want to become a better swimmer. I guess the same goes with the running and biking. I can't wait for the Olympics!

Ok, I'm outta here. I'll post a race report next week. Have a fun 4th of July!