Top of the Key

Friday: 2000 yd swim
Back to the pool for a solid workout.  Had Jess take some video, I look awful.  I hate the way my stroke looks.  Need lots of work there.

Saturday: 1 hour run
Met up at the SolePepper Saturday run that Tim leads.  Ended up running with Bob (met him a while back at one of Tim’s open track workouts), he’s an endurance runner, 50k/100k type races.  We tried to find the Monarch track where Jeff was performing a MAF test, but never could quite find it.  So we ran around Louisville for an hour.

I started to break down physically a bit as it’s the first real run since Ironman.  And this morning (Sunday), my ankles and feet are feeling it.

Wednesday:
Nothing.  No exercise whatsoever.  Work, meetings, too much to catch up on.  I’m trying to hold off on forcing myself to workout.  If it fits in, then I’m doing it.  But after months and months of pushing myself out the door, I need a break.  I did set a plan for 09, well, a tentative plan.  It could go one of two ways.  A. Race Timberman and Kansas and try and qualify for Clearwater OR B. Race local, no travel, and make 5430 Long Course my A race.  Still deciding.

Thursday:
Snowed a ton, last night, all day, and night.  It’s really cold too.  But the dogs are loving it!  I’ve taken some video which I’ll post shortly, but here’s a photo or two.  And one from the other night before the storm, the moon over the foothills.  And finally, a photo from pre-race day, in my SkirtChaser gear.

Once Jess got home last night, I went to the gym. I worked all day and was crawling the walls to get outside.  Or at least somewhere other than home for once. Ran 2 miles on the treadmill, 9min pace.  Felt pretty good actually.  Started with an easy full body weight workout.  I’ve done this so many times, and started way harder than you should, and been sore for weeks.  So I always underestimate my weight/reps to ease into the program.  Even though I was swimming, biking and running a ton, the muscles that don’t get used somehow always do get used with the weights, and you feel the soreness.  I find that I’m also prone to getting shoulder strains when I start lifting.  So taking it easy on those is crucial.  Some core work after that.  Got in about an hour’s worth of training.  Pretty good these days for this guy.

Tuesday: swim, run and lifting

Sounds like i’m doing alot, but not really.  Jess and I headed to the pool this morning, first time since IM.  So it took me a little over a week to swim and run..still haven’t biked yet.  I swam about 1200 yards, just to see how i felt…and I felt really good.  A little out of breath at points, but that could be the extra weight I’ve packed on over the past week.  5 lbs to be exact.  Tried swimming with paddles, a pull buoy and the rubber band around your feet.  Shows you where you are really weak, at least for me.

Ran 1 mile.  Had all the motivation to do more, but quit.  It was getting dark, didn’t want to slap on the headlamp and gear.  So returned home and jumped rope for 5 min., throwing a few one-legged sessions in there, only about 15 sec.  Starting out slow with these.

Short workout in my basement, where i have a fit ball, a medicine ball, 2 pairs of dumbells (10lbs and 20lbs) and that’s about it.  When we can’t make it to the gym, this gets us by just fine.  Worked the core after about a 30 min session of mixed upper/lower body stuff.

Also gearing up for 2010, Jess and I are planning to do CDA again.  And I think we’ve found our rental already!

Ironman was a little over a week ago.  I’ve totally settled into middle-america’s way of life.  Eating when  I’m not hungry, drinking move this past week then I have in the past year.  Sat on my butt alot, and I mean alot.  But it’s good.  Time to break away from the focused training and let the mind wander.  Last week I did nothing.  Thursday I ate a ton with the Freisem’s and Suzy and the 6 dogs and 1 cat in our house.

Saturday was our 6 year anniversary, and couldn’t believe that at this time 1 year ago, we were in Kauai!  See the video below, this was me a year ago in Hanalei Bay.  The year went by so fast.  I wish we could be back there every year if it was possible.  We love that place. Instead, we headed up to our condo in Winter Park for the weekend.  Had dinner at the Ranch House Restaurant at Devil’s Thumb Ranch.  I’m not big on going out to  dinner, experiementing with new foods, but every now and then it’s an adventure.  This restaurant is really good too, so if you are ever up there, check it out.

Planned to cross country ski for the first time on Sunday, but the trails aren’t open. AND, it seems everytime we go up to the condo, we just relax and hang out.  We did hit the rec center gym and hot tub on Sunday, so it wasn’t totally lost.  Second day in a row for weights and core work.  I’m feeling rested, and ready to train again.  But I’m giving it another 2 weeks.  My mind was jello after this last training block, so it needs to be more than 100% recovered.

Played handyman this past weekend too.  Although I come from a very ‘handy’ family, I seem to have lost motivation to be Tim the tool man type.  I did however replace a bathroom fan, replace a curtain pulley and fix the vacuum at the condo.  So i’m not completely a tool.

Here’s what I can recount from the day, a great day in my triathlon life.  Ironman Arizona was the finale in a year of PR’s, and 54 weeks of training.  Would I do 2 Ironman’s in one year again?  Probably not, unless it was Kona.  There’s just too much time needed to get yourself prepared.  I felt a mental test late in the training leading up to IMAZ, but I also felt a mental toughness that I had never seen before.  With that said, here’s how it went down.

Photos:

The Night Before:
Rested well the night before.  Ate a good solid meal.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Had all my gear checked, and ready.

Race Morning:
Woke up at 3:30.  I could have totally slept till 6am, and walked down to the race start to do what I had to do and still have time to sit and chill.  That’s how close we were. But with Jess getting up at that time to go down and volunteer (she did body marking - and highly recommends it for anyone considering volunteer opps at an Ironman), I figured I’d get up too.  That way, I could eat, drink coffee, and let everything have time to go through the system and empty out.

Ate the race day morning breakfast of oatmeal with soy milk, raisins, banana and walnuts.  2 cups of coffee too.  Hung around till transition opened at 5am.  I walked over and was done with bags, got tires inflated, body marking and a bathroom break by 5:15 I think.   At about 5:50, the lines were piling up at the bathrooms, so I jogged home in 4 min, and back by 6:05.  A good warm up.  Really, really pays to have a rental so close to the start.  We didn’t rent a car either.

Swim:
This race I decided to skip a jog, and get in the water as soon as possible.  Jess was with me leading up to the gates opening to let us get one step closer to the docks.  I was close to the gate, and positioned myself on the dock right at the edge.  The pro’s entered…and about 2 min. after that, the announcer said that the age groupers could jump in, or wait till they absolutely had to go in which was 5 min. away.  I was probably the 10th person in the water.  It’s a deep water start, so you jump off the dock and have to swim about 100-200 yards to the actual starting line.  I loosened up, then hammered a few hard efforts.  This opened up my lungs, and think it’s a good reason why i was not nervous starting in the front.  I put myself center right, 2nd row.  And stayed there for 5 min. until the gun went off.  I was bumping into others, but it was the same for everyone.

The gun went off, and I was into a good flow trailing these 3 guys that were obvisouly better swimmers than me.  I soon lost them..and was getting trampled on.  Getting slapped with hands, kicked, and the most annoying swimmer next to me splashing his hand in the water with each stroke, and spewing water into my face and mouth with each breath.  But since I’ve trained to breath both sides, I just switched it up for a few strokes…then he was gone.  Swam well for a while, then got my goggles jostled a little, and had to put them right.  It was totally my fault, I got lazy and wasn’t protecting my face.  I started up again, and the panick arose…but the mind is stronger than the body…THE MIND IS STRONGER THAN THE BODY.  Remember that.  It’s key.  So in my mind, I just flipped the switch and said this is normal, just keep swimming, breath easy, you’re going to get kicked again and again, and there’s nothing you can do.  Just keep moving.  How bad do you want to PR in the swim?  A few strokes later, I’m back into it, swimming strong.  Got to the turn around, and again, goggles got a little jarred.  Fixed them again, and made the turn.  Then whack, someone kicked my calf, and it seized.  Had to swim with no kicking for a few strokes.  It soon left, but I was conscious of it the rest of the swim.

Return trip was much more open.  However, in trying to draft, I chose the wrong people.  Zig zaggers…Non-Sighters…what’s the deal?  Everyone now and then, take a breath and look at where your going.  It’s not that tough.  I swam breathing to the left, and it soon was catching up with me as my right neck and shoulder were getting strained.  Held on for the rest of the swim, and pushed it some more than I normally do.  Rounded the last buoy, and started to breath every 4.  How is that possible after swimming for an hour?  Training.  I was prepared to do this when I needed to.  And I needed to because in my mind, I wanted to push it all the way to see just what time I could put down.  It paid off.  Finished in 1:12!   A new PR for me.

Exited the water up the stairs, used a stripper, and off running to T1 where most people were jogging.  Grabbed my bag and since the  tent looked full, just sat on the ground, threw my bike shoes on my frozen feet, bike helmet, shades, ran through the tent to drop my bag and get smothered with sunscreen.  Ran to my bike, off to the exit and for me, I always run with the bike longer because it’s such a cluster at the start, I take it further down the path and then jump on.

Bike:
Off on the bike, my plan was to ride the first 10 miles in z2, even if I saw 16-18 mph, it’s ok.  And boy, did i get passed.  This lady was 55 and rode past me, and tons of other fitter guys, some in my age group, others just hammering away.  So I just let it ride, enjoy this time, I told myself.  Nice and easy, after 10 miles, I was averaging 18mph.  Not bad.  I then kept my bike computer on Average for the entire ride.  The ride is 3 loops.  Going out you had wind in your face, coming back it was fast.

My plan was to negative split each loop.  Most riders will fade come mile 80, and they struggle 80-110, so my focus was to do what I could to nail this section.  With each loop I was feeling better.  I have to say that my bike fitness was spot on.  I was never in distress, or pushing too hard.  And each return trip, I would pass tons of competitors.  I think they were all recovering or something from the wind in their face on the way out.  Which of course I’m used to riding here in Boulder, this past Spring and even Fall were really windy.  I stopped at the turn around on lap 2 to pee.  I had gone on my shorts twice already, but needed to go for a much longer time.  This was a good stop, because i didn’t stop again after that.  Made it all the way back to town, and then another lap before I had to pee again.  Tim mentioned to me that I may be taking in too much water, and it’s filtering through my system.  So i drank more Infinit with the electrolytes and salt to retain the water.

The last bike loop I felt awesome.  Especially on the way back.  I was doing the math in my head, hoping for a 5:25…but finished with a 5:16.  Another big, big PR.  30 min. faster than my time on this course last year.  I was shocked at how many people were drafting though.  And more shocked that I only saw one referee on my first lap, and not again after that.  Oh well, Karma baby.

Nutrition on the bike was perfect.  At special needs, I stopped to get my Infinit bottles, and drank down a RedBull and ate my peppermint patty.  Worked wonders.  Rode the final lap with the goal of mid-high z3.  Came into town feeling great.  The crowds have so much energy, and get you fired up.  I took it easy to T2. The dismount has put me out of commission for a few months, so I don’t need that again.  I make sure to stop completely, then dismount.

Ran through T2, grabbed my bag from a volunteer, and hit the tent before 4 or 5 other guys who came in with me could.  I place a good amount of importance on transitions.  Into the tent, a volunteer emptied my bag, spread everything out in front of me so i could pick and choose what i needed.  I threw on socks, shoes hat and my gel flasks, stopped again at the sun screen girls, and then off on the run.

Run:
Off to the run, where i started to drink my defizzed red bull for the first mile.  I peed in my shorts right away, and that was a good sign that I was hydrated, and that I can pee while running.  I find that skill especially useful.  I immediately hit a 7:40 mile, and thought, whoa…need to slow way down for the next mile.  Tim told me to stop if I need to in order to get down to 8 min miles, at least for the first few.

Again, I felt awesome off the bike.  I am very fortunate to have this feeling everytime I get off the bike.  This season I have had all good runs off the bike.  Could be because of my Infinit drink, or being fitter on the bike, or fitter on the run off the bike, not sure, but maybe a combination of all things.  Cruising through the first 13 miles in 1:42:42, I was fired up.  But after that, it sort of went downhill.  My pace slowed, my stomach siezed up some.  I started drinking coke at mile 15, and missed my special needs bag which had another red bull.  I think back now, and I should have taken in more nutrition on the run earlier, as well as my red bull for the energy kick.  But I hung on and didn’t stop much.  Had to use the bathroom once, and then really didn’t stop after that.  Pushed through some small cramps, and then really focused on getting in under 10:30.

Rounding the corner to the finish, I saw the time and was in awe.  With the run issues i battled, and still putting in a 10:20, I was fired up.  Right away I knew I had a big PR, and a smile when across my face.  Felt like shit though after the finish.  My aunt was in the stands screaming for me, but didn’t see her till later.  Jess was nowhere to be found.  I think our paths crossed just at the right time where we didn’t see each other.  Finally she came up to me as I was huddled on the grass by myself with a space blanket wrapped around me, and drinking chicken broth and coke.

Overall:
I had a really good day, and if I had raced the perfect race, and came in around 10 hours,  I still would not have been fast enough to get a spot for Kona.  I put it out there though, and that’s what got me this far.  I set a new PR for the Ironman distance by 45 min, and a new PR on this course from 1 year ago by 1 hour and 20 min.  This being my 4th Ironman, I continue to improve. And if I wasn’t getting faster, something would definitely change.

I had some great help this year.  Craig Howie, Tim Luchinske and Jeff Keil.  All offered advice and tips that you just never can figure out for yourself.  Thanks guys for everything!

Thanks to all my suppporters on my blog and those that tracked me on race day.  It helped keep me going knowing you were out there following my times.

Thanks to the CDA crew, Craig and Chris, Mike and Kristina, Brian and Petra, Craig and Jen.

Thanks to my mom and dad.  Probably the hardest workers I know, and who gave me the work ethic that pushes me to succeed in sport and life - everyday!

Thanks to my wife, Jess, who is just truly the best person in the world, I think, but I’m biased, and don’t leave the house much, so there may be way cooler people out there…just kidding Jess.  She supported me each and every day leading up to IMAZ, pushing me out the door, prepping meals for me when I was too brain dead to think, working my body each and every week with massage, listening to my constant talk about heart rates, pacing, nutrition, and just thoughts on training and Ironman.  I’m sure she has had enough of that talk for a while.  But most of all, I thank her for being my best friend and knowing who I am, and how I function.  There is absolutely no way I could have pulled off this big a PR without her help.

What I Learned:
1. Believe in yourself, and set your goals higher than you could ever imagine.  They may come true.  And if they don’t, at least you gave it more than you ever thought you could.

2. If you think your training hard, there’s always one level higher.  I returned from training workouts broken down, collapsing on the floor in our living room, and breaking down crying because i had exhausted everything I had.

3. Follow the plan.  If you follow the plan, you will succeed.  Getting workouts done, eating right, and getting plenty of rest.  Taking a step back to take 3 steps forward.

4. Practice in training how you want to perform race day.

5. Take a chance once in a while, and get out of your comfort zone.  Starting an Ironman with 2500 athletes, and your in the 2nd row, knowing you’ll be beat up a bit.  Why not?  I learned so much from that swim and the only way I would get anything out of it was to put myself in a position where i was NOT comfortable.

6. Race your race.  If you trained to ride a 6 hour Ironman bike, why would you try and do 5:30?  Your not trained for it.  Stick to the plan.  I felt like I was trained for what  I put down at IMAZ.  I wasn’t trained for a 9:45 where the qualifying times were.

7. A few random ones:
I can pee on the run fine, while running.
Infinit drink is the best when you have it dialed in.
Eat what you normally eat during Ironman week.
Vaseline is your best friend, use lots of it on race day.
When a volunteer asks what you need, don’t say your name, tell her what you want.  At aid station 1 on the run, this volunteer asked me what I needed, but i thought she asked my name, and I said ‘BJ’.  She sort of was turned off by it, and didn’t really think about what I said until I was at the next aid station…

What’s Next?
Good question.  I’ve decided to pass on an Ironman in 2009.  I had many opportunites to sign up for IMAZ 09, but didn’t.  I think I’m going to race some shorter distances.  The plan is to do Ironman Kansas 70.3 and Timberman 70.3.  Then anything I can find locally here in Colorado.  I’ve never really had a big racing season in the 5 years I’ve been doing triathlon.  So 09 will be it.

Then sign up for Ironman CDA 2010.  Another big family trip to Couer D’Alene where we just love it there.  The dogs love it, Jess can do it again, and it gives me a 1-1/2 years to prepare.

That’s it!  An end to the season has come at last.  Rest, drink, eat, sleep, work, and spend time with my family.

 Here’s the plan…no Ironman in 09, decided to pass on Arizona, and the only other one open is Louisville - no desire to do that one.  So it’s a year of racing shorter distances and possibly back to New Hampshire for Timberman…which Jess is pretty excited about.

Ironman CDA 2010 is the next one.

———————

Here’s the short version:

Finished in 10:20:51 (44th in Age Group / 216 Overall)

Swim: 1:12:18 (new PR)
Bike: 5:16:17 (new PR)
Run: 3:45:49 (new PR)

Although not even close to the times necessary for qualifying for Kona in my age group, I was trained to do a 10:00/10:15, and I came pretty dame close.  A great day to be racing, learned a ton from my experience, and had the best support anyone can ask for - Jess.

Thanks to all of you who supported me, tracked me throughout the day and helped me achieve my goals.  More on this later.

Now I need to decide what to do for 09, Ironman….No Ironman?

Here we go, it’s about time.  Just finished breakfast, getting dressed, and feeling good.  Great night’s sleep too.  Jess just left for her volunteer job, body marking.  So I’ll see her in a bit. 

The goal is to race hard & KEEP MOVING forward…more on that later today!

Most important day of rest today.  But we ended up going down to swim for 10 min, i missed the swim on Thursday.  Jess was with me, she loves the water…it was choppy for a small lake, the wind had picked up strong.  Came back home and chillaxed.

Jess took some video, hope you all can view this, it’s my first attempt at it.  It’s in three part.  It requires a Quicktime download, which is FREE, but you should already have it if you have a clue (PC folks, heads up), but here’s a link for download in case you can’t navigate Google and find it for yourself (Susanne!) http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Video #1

Video #2

Video #3