Time to Go Oly

I'm kicking around the idea of doing an olympic length triathlon at the end of next season. That's the next step up from the sprint tri. Just to refresh your memory, a sprint tri has a swim of around 500 yards, a bike of around 15 miles, and a 5K run - 3.1 miles. Olympic distance is a 1.5K swim, which is around a mile, a 40K bike - around 25 miles, and a 10K run - 6.2 miles. It's double the run, which will be the toughest part for me, and three times the swim, which may just work in my favor! I know I can do a 25 mile bike, as I've done a few in training for the sprints.

Tonight I went for a swim. When I arrived at the pool, both were completely empty and as I had my choice of the two, I decided to warm up in the warmer pool. I swam the first hundred, adjusted the goggles, and started out again. 300 yards later I was feeling quite warm and decided that after another hundred (completing a 500) I'd shift over to the other pool and do a couple more 500's.
I hopped into the cooler pool, took note of the time clock and started at the top of the nearest minute. About 400 yards in I felt pretty good, and decided I'd shoot for a full mile and see what my time would be. I kept waiting for the weary to set in, but I kept a solid, comfortable pace and felt good through the entire swim! As I finished the 1650, I did a time check. 28:50. Not speedy, but not too bad. The best part was I felt that I could keep on swimming. But since this was my third time in the water since August, I decided to leave it at a mile and work up from here.
28:50 is about 1:45 per 100 yards. Not too shabby. Not too shabby. My race pace for the sprint tri's is around 1:30, so I have some room for improvement. But I now have a baseline time to work with and the confidence that I can swim pretty much indefinitely should the need arise. And I am a solid third of the way to doing an olympic length tri. Now if I can bike 40K and run 10K, and do all three together... everything will be peachy! So, yeah. I think I can be ready for an "Oly" sometime next season.
More Later

October Goals, and Bye Bye Dragonfly

Dragonfly Season is coming to a close. We had a frosty morning today, and I doubt I'll see many more this year. It kinda bums me out, but I am really looking forward to getting out next season.

Speaking of next season. I was terribly lazy in the month of September pertaining to triathlon training. I went for a couple of runs, did a couple swims, and did some good test driving of the new bike. But nothing too serious.

Last year I didn't start training again until January, and all heck broke loose shortly after. So I'm setting some new goals for the year, and I'm going to do them month by month.

October is now my starting point for doing some events next season. That gives me a good nine months until the Pigman tri, seven or eight until Ode Hunting Season starts up. My goal for this month is to bike 100 miles total and run 30 miles total for the month. This may not seem like much, but it is a good starting point for goals and a good baseline for training. Besides, this is probably the last month for being on the bike for awhile. Then I'll switch to hitting some heavy swimming goals and figure out an indoor training program.

By Spring I hope to be a bit more svelte, faster in the water, on the bike and on my feet, and ready for some fun in the warmer weather.

There are also a few other changes coming down the pike. Not sure where I'm being led, or what exactly I'm supposed to do with it all, but the potential is exciting and a little overwhelming.  I'll keep you posted.

More Later

My New Ride

Upgrades, baby.  Sometimes they come at the weirdest times. I missed summer this year. Between Dad's adventures in Cardiology and exploring the afterlife, and Mom's adventures in Brain Injuries and regaining her life, and what seemed like hours at the various hospitals that were actually days and weeks... well, the summer flew by. 

Today, after about a year of learning all about bikes and doing some serious comparison shopping for months, a brand new Motobecane Nemisis showed up on my doorstep with my name on it!

(NM)

It is a tri-specific bike, and rather than bore you with the myriad of details, I will say this... It is ten or twelve pounds lighter than my Big Yellow Beast, with rail thin tires about two thirds the width of the BYB tires. All of this to say it should be a rocket! I'm pretty pumped up to take it for a spin.  Maybe tomorrow when the Wife returns from work.

I am a little giddy at how light it is. Giddy, I tell you. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

More Later.

Hickory Grove Triathlon (Duathlon) - 8/28/11

It was a beautiful day for an outdoor event, but we'll get to that in a minute.

A couple of days ago we got an e-mail from the organizer of the HGT saying...
"The DNR requires signs warning the public of ecoli levels in two situations. One if the 30 day average rises above 126 ecoli colonies per 100ml of water. Two if any single reading rises above 235 ecoli colonies per 100ml of water.
The latest water test for Hickory Grove is 790 ecoli colonies per 100ml of water."
 
The high levels were caused by goose poop. Lots and lots of goose poop. They cancelled the swim portion of the race and changed it into a duathlon. Instead of starting with a nice 500 yard swim, it would start with a 1.1 mile run, then the normal 15.5 mile bike, and finish up with a 2 mile run. I was a little bummed because the swim is my strong event. But there was nothing for the swimmer in me today. I've never run before a bike, so at least it would be a new experience. 
 
One interesting side effect of this was that I had very few nerves before the race. I was all psyched up to compete against last year me, and when the swim was eliminated, all the stress of beating last year me went right out the window. I didn't have to worry about where I would leave my glasses for the swim, or anything!
 
So I pondered how a run before a bike followed by a run would be. Honestly, I was a little interested to see if I could even do that! I hastily made some new goals for the race. I wanted to run the first leg without stopping to walk. I wanted to improve my bike time from the year before. And I wanted to finish the race. With these goals in mind I got ready to race. Mom, Dad, the Wife and the Kiddos all attended and cheered my friend Matt and me on. Lots of people seemed thrown off by the change in plans. I had no worries though, I just wanted to do the best I could. I was hoping to finish around 1:45, preferably faster rather than slower than that mark.
 
Run leg 1 - 1.1 miles, 11:26
 
We were to start in our swim waves, but on the road instead of the beach. At 8:20 my group started. I was in the middle off the pack, but was quickly passed by just about everybody.
 (picture by the Wife)

Group Start... that's me in the blue, about to get passed by nearly everyone behind me.

 Did I mention that the run is my very weakest thing? While I am improving with every run, I still have sore knees and bothersome shin splints. Not to mention carrying a bit too much extra weight around. I was able to keep running through the entire mile, and even ran through the transition area to my bike, and later ran my bike out of transition! First goal accomplished! I was feeling pretty good!  

T1- 2:11 Out of my running shorts and into my bike shorts. And of course trying to catch my breath as much as possible.
 
Bike 15.5 miles (though both Matt and I had 15.7 miles on our bike computers) - 55:26

(picture by the Wife)

Look at me... running my bike out of T1 like a real triathlete!

 I had a lot of fun on the bike. Not just because I maintained a higher speed than I ever have before, (16.8 mph at 15.5 miles or 17 mph for the 15.7 I had recorded!) but I actually passed quite a few people! Including a guy on a really expensive tri bike with a teardrop helmet. The course went three laps, and although the wind kicked up a bit when I was on my third lap, I was able to stay in almost my highest gear for most of the ride. I say almost the highest gear because when I tried to shift into the top two, the chain would skip and jump on and off the sprockets. Not the best thing to mess with on race day. So I left it a couple of gears below the top gear as much as possible and really pushed as much as I could.

(picture by the Wife)

One more time on my Big Yellow Beast



 In short, it was a very good ride for me. And since my new tri bike is on it's way here, this was the last race for my Big Yellow Beast. It held up like a champ, but now it is time to put it out to pasture. The best part of the bike was passing the viewing area and hearing my little ones cheering me on!

 I raced right up to the dismount area where Mom and Dad were located, and hopped off the bike and into T2.
 
T2 - 2:22 Out of the bike shorts and back into the running shorts. Tired, jelly legs and my right leg started feeling... twingy.
 
Run leg 2, 2 miles - 28:52
 
 (picture by the Wife)

Heading out.
VERY small stride,
Fighting a cramp in the leg.

 I knew I was in trouble when I started running out of the transition area. The twinge in my right calf muscle seemed to be preparing to knot into a very painful cramp. I have had zero trouble with cramps in this 13 months of tri training, and can only remember two other times in my life when my legs cramped up. Once in a high school swim practice, and once during a run in boot camp. I remembered the pain very well and was more than worried that my calf would turn into a rubber pretzel and stop me completely. I hobble/ran as far as I could past the crowds, willing myself to keep jogging and try to appear as if all was well. My stride felt more like a short shuffle as I ran past my Wife and Kids again who cheered me wildly. The Wife later said that I looked like I was hurting when I went past, and indeed I was. So much for my acting skills. I went about a third of a mile before the calf threats turned extra painful and I needed to stop to stretch that pesky muscle. I walked and shook my leg and stretched the calf, and jogged a bit again. To no avail for the whole first half of the run. Finally by the turn around, my leg relaxed and I felt like I could run again. So while I spent the first mile limping along and walking more than I would have liked, I spent the great majority of the second mile actually running!
 (picture by the Wife)

feeling MUCH better! I'm actually running with a little speed.

 As I approached the finish, I saw the Wife and my kiddos cheering me on, my parents and friend Matt cheering me on, and I turned on the speed! ... Seriously, I have GOT to work on my run. I had NO speed left, so I kept up my jogging pace and finished with my hands in the air and a smile on my face.
 
1:40:19 was my finish time.  When I compare it to last years performance it comes out a little like this. Matt and I decided that adding 10 minutes for a swim portion would be fair, as the swim itself would be faster, but the extra time would account for transition and energy lost during the swim. So adding 10 mikes to my time would be around 1:50. That's a full 13 minutes faster than last year! More directly, if we compare the two bike portions, I went from 1:03:00, or 14.7 MPH, to a 55:26, or 16.8 mph! That is a huge improvement from last year! I also shaved a few minutes off my run time, but probably because it was broken into the two sections.
(picture by Mom)



Matt and I in our spiffy new HGT shirts.

 
I can't compare these two years very well. But I did have a very fun day with friends and family in a beautiful location. This was my last tri of the season. Soon I will be posting some goals for the next season. I am hooked on this tri thing!

More Later

Tour de Kirkwood

Or - my first DNF. That's right, Did Not Finish.

I'm sure there are many reasons for my first DNF. Lack of training for the past couple of weeks as I've been sitting with Mom at Mayo, the ease with which I could go to bed and not do my workouts on those days. Maybe it was the 90 degree weather with the heat index of 102 and the humidity of a sauna that I had not prepared for. Maybe I really was hit by a super heated metal bar as I felt...

Here's the "race report", judge for yourself, but don't be too harsh, I'm pretty disappointed.

Tour de Kirkwood, Kirkwood, MO (suburb of St. Louis)
I woke at 5am, ready to face the day. As I headed out the door of my brothers house, the heat/humidity physically slapped me in the face. But it's been hot up north, and I did do a couple of runs and bikes in the early morning heat back home - though pretty short.

As we loaded up the bikes and headed for the venue, I felt as ready as I could be. Mom had come to Mayo a day over two weeks ago, and I've spent most of that time with Dad at the hospital. I missed many, many of the workouts I had planned, but did do a few. I wasn't too worried, as the bike was 12 miles and the swim was a pool swim of 400 yards. I've done more than those distances before, so I had no stress about the distances.

We were nearly the first ones there, and literally the first to park in the competitor area, so my brother Jason wisely parked under a tree and we got excellent transition spots very near both the bike in and out and run out areas. After setting up our transition areas we headed up to check out the pool. After a while they opened up the pool to warm up should anyone desire. And I did!

I hopped in and was shocked, SHOCKED, at how warm the water was. It was like a hot tub with no bubbles. The air had become warm and humid, and I thought a quick swim would be just the thing to cool down, but the water was so hot that it actually felt better getting out of the water. I have only swam in that warm of water once before, at a high school swim meet in Rock Island twenty years ago. And it was slow, slow water. So warm that everybody had times slower than ever. The water today was too warm from a week of solar heating at 110 degrees, and I thought it would be slow. Jason had beat me by 8 seconds during our practice swims, so he would be in front of me to start. I decided to keep up with him as best I could.

There was no timing mat between the swim and T1, which was strange, so the whole swim/T1 time would be mixed into one. We would have to hustle through T1 to get a decent time, but our transition spots were really close to the timing mat on the bike out.

Jason's wife and kiddos came out around 7:15, along with Dad, who was there to cheer on his boys. He was registered to do the TdK, but the heart attack in March was a bit of a deterrent, and while he held out hope that maybe he'd do the swim and walk today, it was so stinking hot and humid, that he wisely decided to just watch and cheer.

To be honest, as the morning progressed, I wondered how I would do with the heat. I knew I'd need to go a little slower than usual and be careful. So noted in my head, the National Anthem was sung and we all headed for the pool to line up by time for the start. Jason and I blended in to the six minute group, noting that there were a few people lined up in front of us that we had seen warming up in the pool that were apparently wildly optimistic about their swim times. Jason told me his goal for the day was to break six minutes on the swim. I jokingly told him that my goal was to pass him and the person in front of him! As the race started and the six minute clump formed into a line, a couple of push guys decided they would out swim us and got in front of us. No big deal, as Jason had an excellent idea. Since time did not start until we crossed the timing mat as we jumped (feet first) into the pool, when the timer told us to go, we would wait a few extra seconds to give those in front of us a little more time to swim, so perhaps we wouldn't have to pass. Then we could just swim and go as fast as the water would allow.

Jason got the go ahead from the timing official and after a few seconds was on his way. I noted that he looked strong and fluid in the water. He'd be hard to catch. Then the official told me to go. I took a few extra breaths and jumped. The hot water greeted me like a nice bath, but it was time to swim.

I usually count my strokes while I swim in a pool by counting each time I breathe. In training, it has taken seven and a half or eight strokes to cross the pool once. This time I was pleasantly surprised to find myself starting my flip turn at six! I was so happy that as I counted on the way back I hit six, looked up at the wall (which seemed to be just a shade farther away this time) and did my flip turn. And completely missed the wall. I sheepishly stood up and went back to touch the wall, hoping that nobody saw me, but pretty sure there were snickers and guffaws all around. GRR!

Now I was mad at myself (and a bit embarrassed) so I focused on my stroke and my turns with laser like attention. The swim was going swimmingly. Pretty soon I looked up and saw that Jason was right in front of me. I had a brief thought of just drafting behind him for the rest of the swim, but since he bikes as well as, if not faster than me, and he can out run me any day and twice on Sunday (which this was), then I'd better get as far past him as I could! I tapped his foot to let him know I'd be passing, and on the next turn he took an extra breath as I went around. It was great to pass him, but only because he knew how to be passed (by waiting an extra second or two at the end) rather than making me pass him in the middle of the lane.

There were only a few lengths left, but I noticed that ahead of Jason were two or three people starting to clump together as the faster swimmers caught the optimistic, but slower swimmers. As I started the final length, I could see at least three people in the lane ahead of me and pushed a bit to try and catch them. Much to my delight, I was able to finish right next to one of them as two others were splashing their way out of the pool.

I jumped out of the pool with Jason about two seconds behind me, trotted over to grab my glasses on the thoughtfully provided table, and jogged into the transition area. I walked the last fifty feet to my bike to catch my breath a little. It was much more humid than I was accustomed to, and I decided then and there that I wouldn't worry about keeping up with Jason because this heat and humidity would be dangerous to me if I pushed it too hard. There was just no way to prepare for these conditions up north without training in a sauna. But I was determined to do the best that I could.

My transition was very smooth, and I was out before Jason by a few seconds. I hopped on my bike and headed out, keenly aware of the heat. The course was well marked and lots of volunteers ensured our safety. I kept it in a lower gear and at a lower speed than normal for me, but I still felt strong. I was having a little trouble catching my breath, as every inhalation was like sucking in a hot mist.

After the first half mile my legs felt pretty good again, and I knew I was getting into the groove. Jason passed me at some point, but I could keep pace with him OK, and my plan became to try and keep him in view. There was a steep hill where I sped up to over 30 MPH, which felt great! After a turn at the end of the hill, we headed up a long, medium steep hill. I could feel my body heating up, and took a drink. I could also feel my head heating up, so I dumped a little water into my helmet to cool off a bit. Nearing the top of the hill, my head felt really hot. There was a right turn and another shorter, steeper hill to climb before a nice level spot. I decided to gear up a little and push up the short hill, then rest on the long flat area. But I couldn't seem to get the shifters to work. It was very frustrating. I felt like my hand was just slipping on the sweat and I couldn't get the traction to crank the shifters. I got very agitated and started cursing at the shifters. At the time this didn't seem odd to yell at my shifters, but it is very unlike me when I ride. Also in hindsight I don't think the shifters were too wet to turn, I think my hands lacked the strength to squeeze the grips tight enough to turn them.

As I reached the top of the hill, my head felt like it was on fire. Suddenly I got very, very dizzy. As if I had been spun around too many times, like that dizzy izzy game where you put your forehead on one end of a baseball bat with the other end on the ground, spin around a dozen times and try to run a straight line. Very funny on foot, not so much on a bike. I blinked a few times to try and clear my head, and noted that I was getting a mighty powerful headache. I had not eaten much for breakfast, just the usual Clif bar, energy gel and lots of water, but felt like at any moment I would be throwing them up as I rode. I blinked a few more times, and when I opened my eyes again found myself in a strange way. I was sitting on the grass in the shade of a tree, my bike in the grass next to me, and my helmet on the grass on the other side off me.

It was very confusing. Very confusing. I had just been on my bike. Then I blinked and here I was relaxing on the grass. Several passing bikers asked me if I was OK. "Yes" I answered, still a bit confused. I wasn't scraped up or hurting anywhere, so I don't think I fell of my bike. My head was pounding and hot, so I knew I wasn't dreaming. I poured half of my water bottle over my head and felt a little refreshed. I also knew that if I sat here much longer, some well meaning triathlete would tell an official, who would send an ambulance, who would probably pull me from the race. If I wanted to finish, I had to get going. As I stood, my legs felt a little shaky, but I got on my trusty yellow beast and pedaled slowly on.

There were a few gentle hills ahead, and I decided that if I still felt dizzy and weak after those, I'd consider dropping from the race. It was not an option I particularly cared to consider, but as my head cleared a little more, I realized that blacking out would not be too helpful during the race either. But as I entered the shallow rollers on the downhill, I was feeling not too bad. Then came the uphill. With the slightest effort cranking the wheels around I got really dizzy and nauseous again and my headache throbbed. By the second little uphill, my head was feeling really, really hot again, and I knew what I had to do.

The hills led back to the park again, and I saw an official waving people into the second lap. The debate in my head seemed to go on for a lot longer than it actually did, because I really wanted to at least finish. But the paramedic in me was yelling that if I picked up a person in my condition I would strongly advise them to get some place cool, drink plenty of fluids and rest and recover. Not to mention the voice of my wife calmly telling me that if I had a heat stroke, she would not be pleased with my decision making abilities.

I stopped at the official and she sent me over to a driveway leading back around the pool to the transition area. Dad just happened to be stationed right at the driveway to get shots of us going past. I rode over to him and told him what was going on. Then started walking my bike back to the transition area, trying to get my head around what I had just done.

I was soaked to the bone, but my skin and especially my head felt as hot as a griddle. Maybe I should just sit for a few minutes and get back out there, I thought. But when I turned my head to look back at the course, a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over me. I went back and racked my bike, changed into my running shorts and sandals and called it a day. If I sat in the shade I felt OK, and had many, many second thoughts that I was just being a wuss and needed to get back on the course. So I'd stand up to get going again and get dizzy and nauseous. It was very, very frustrating.

When I could stand without feeling like I would fall over, I started making my way back to Dad along the bike route. I saw Jason coming in to finish and cheered for him, taking him completely by surprise as evidenced by the look on his face. He was soaked to the bone, too, but still going strong. I decided that if he could keep going, I should keep going. So I turned around and started to jog back to the transition area to get back on the bike. My time would suck, but I could finish. I got two steps before I stumbled and dropped. Yeah, I was done.

I entered the transition area as Jason was jogging out. All he had left was the 5K. I was so proud of him and disappointed with myself. I saw Dad coming around the other end of the pool, and we got me a chair from the van and we set up right next to the finish line. It took another twenty minutes of sitting before the dizziness finally went away, and as I cheered the people finishing, I noted very few smiles, and nobody cheered for their finish. Most looked downright miserable and a few went right to the medical tent to lie down.

Jason came across the uphill finish strong, the only one I saw raising his arms in victory, and shouting "I am a magnificent beast!" He was doing OK until he stopped and the guy grabbed his ankle to take of his timing chip. Then he got dizzy and nauseous too, and we headed him over to the medical tent for some cooling and rehydration.

It had been a brutal race for everybody, and I was kicking myself for wimping out because of the heat. Jenny, Dad and the kiddos headed for home, and Jason and I packed up our gear and followed. As we drove back to Jason's house, I told him what had happened. He was confused as to where I had stopped, because I told him that I remembered reaching a landmark at the top of the hill before I started feeling crappy, but was describing a place a couple miles down the road as the place where I was lounging on the grass. It took me a little while to believe what he was saying, but it slowly dawned on me that I had no memory of riding a couple of miles past the top of that hill, including past a fire station, and an entire high school campus. It was a little scary to think that my body had been on autopilot for that long, especially since there was a spot in there where we bikers had to merge into what little traffic there was to cross a street. I'd describe it better, but you see, I can't remember it.

I spent the rest of the day, the entire trip back to Minnesota, and much of the next day racking my brain to remember anything I could about those two miles which probably lasted around ten or twenty minutes. I have a snippet of a memory of a little kid, or maybe two kids, in a stroller waving at me, and my front tire bumped the curb a few times, which when I remember it I think at the time I thought it was supremely funny. I must have stopped at some point to climb off my bike, as I had no scrapes or bruises, though I have no recollection of that.

The decision to stop had been the right choice. The smart choice. Even though I had agonized over it at the time, and still do to some extent. To continue would have been to court a hospital stay or worse. It was very disappointing to have to stop, but I have to keep reminding myself that it was a good call. Sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest, and this was one of those cases.

Jason and Jenny called last night as Dad and I were driving back to my house to tell us they had found time stamps on the pictures Jenny took of our swim. According to those time stamps, Jason swam a 6:12. Not bad considering he had to wait a few second for me to pass him. I had a very nice swim of around 5:55! A new PB for me and one happy thing I can take from the TdK. That is one of the most difficult things to grasp over this whole thing. Up until the heat got me, I was having a pretty decent race. GRRR.

So. My first DNF in a triathlon. Hopefully my last. In the future I will try to be more aware of the weather conditions at the venue, though I don't know how I could train for uncomfortably high humidity and temperatures.

My final triathlon this year is in five weeks. The Hickory Grove Triathlon. I'll be training hard for it, as it will be the first time I race against myself from a previous triathlon. I won't let the TdK worry me too much, but I don't want another DNF... Ever.

More Later

Rochesterfest Triathlon 6/19/11

Father's Day 2011.  Rochester, MN.  My friend Matt Russell joined me for the 4th annual Rochesterfest Triathlon.  It was a cool, overcast day.  Temps in the low 70's.  It was an excellent day for the race!  I was not nearly as anxious or nervous about this one as I have been in the past.  Perhaps because I'm gaining experience.  It was going to be a tough race, because I didn't get much sleep the night before.  The Boyo slept in the bed with the Wife and I and he sleeps like an octopus - arms and legs all over the place.  With Mom having a stroke a week ago and I developing a juicy sinus infection and ear infection, and the blooming allergies, well... I just didn't get much training done between the Pigman and today.  Two runs, 4.5 miles.  That was it!  The last time I had been for a swim was the Pigman.  Same with the biking. I figured that I'd just do the best I could, try to keep breathing, and avoid the DNF.

The Olympic distance athletes went first.  They waited to start the sprint folks until the last wave of Oly's had done a lap.  The Wife and Kiddos had come to watch along with a friend of ours, and I had given my glasses to them to hold.  Turns out I did that way early. I was standing at the start line a good twenty minutes before I got to go, relying on my goggles to see. Turns out this is not such a great thing, and I was a little dizzy when they told us we had five minutes to the start of our wave.

My wave had the Clydesdales and Athenas (Those of us over 200 lbs) along with the team swimmers and the elite athletes.  Quite a mix of body types and skill levels all entering the water at once.  I was talking with another guy as we stood there. It was his first Rochesterfest, too.  Then it was tie for the group start.

Swim - 6:46 29/243 overall, 21/127 mens, 2/16 Division

I think I like group starts better than time trials like we did at the Pigman.  As our group of thirty or so splashed out and people started diving and swimming, I kept running through the water until I was chest deep and not too far behind a clump of swimmers.  I was waiting to see if there would be a good opening.  Sure enough, there was, and I dove for a space between two bodies and within a few strokes had passed the clump.  As I did my spy-hopping to spot out in front of me, I saw perhaps ten other people ahead of me.  The course was laid out to favor those who breathed on the right side, and I didn't need to spot too often because I kept myself about fifteen feet from the markers.  This kept me out of the pack trying to swim close to them, and allowed me to relax into my stroke and get some good glide!  This was the first race in which I didn't collide with anyone, which was awfully nice!  Though I did stop once to flip my wetsuit zipper pull back behind me, because I thought that was important for some reason.  The swim was going smoothly, though I was having some breathing troubles from allergies and the sinus infection.  But I felt very comfortable and relaxed.  Perhaps too relaxed.  As I turned the last pylon and headed for the beach I stopped, literally stopped, to look for the Wife and Kiddos on shore to wave to them.  I had been thinking that it would be really cool to wave to them from the water, as if I needed to prove that I really was way out in the middle of the lake!  After a few seconds it dawned on me that perhaps since this was race day I should put my face down and get going. I mentally kicked myself for the delay, but figured it was no big deal, since I still had a bike and a run to go before I was finished.

As I came out of the water I tried to unzip my wetsuit, but it was stuck for some reason.  I spent much of the morning zipping and unzipping it to practice, and now it was stuck!  Fortunately, there was my family, cheering me on!  They handed me my glasses and helped with the zipper and I was on my way to the transition.  Turns out that if I had swam just a little harder, I would have been 1st in my swim division.  The guy who beat me crossed the timing mat literally a step ahead of me.  Our times are both 6:46, his a few hundredths of a second above mine.  Ah well.  It was off to T-1!

T-1 5:15
This has been my slowest transition to date.  There were several factors, the main one being that I just could not seem to breathe! As I entered the transition area, my chest felt clogged and junky, as if I had cotton in my lungs.  Thanks allergies!  So I walked the transition area, took my time stripping off the wetsuit and getting on the bike gear.  I had planned on sucking down a gel and some water too, but didn't feel like I should block my mouth too much and inhibit my already wheezy breathing any more.  I gave a brief thought to just stopping.  Really.  My hands were resting on my bike saddle and I thought "What if I just call it a day now?  I just finished my good event and can't breathe.  What will the bike and run be like?"  Then I figured that I could take the bike easy and just treat today like a big brick workout if nothing else.  If I felt too lousy I'd just come on home and call it a day.  So I walked my bike out to the timing mat and jogged it up to the mount up line.  It was time to ride.

Bike - 10 miles, 41:39  201/234 Overall, 123/127 Mens, 15/16 Division
The bike path is pretty interesting.  A five mile series of mostly going uphill, but then five miles of coming mostly downhill!  The five miles out was painfully slow for me, as I was going slower than I normally would just to give my lungs a break.  By the turn around I was still pretty wheezy, and was thinking that unless I could breathe better by T-2. that 5K was going to be a walk instead of any running.  Thankfully the long slow and steady uphills went the other way and I was cruising along at top speed for much of the way home.  I even passed a couple of people.  But mostly spent the ride getting passed.  I noted a serious difference between my $99 Denali and the much higher priced tri bikes out there.  On the stretches that were pretty flat but with a slight downhill trend, I could get my bike up to its highest gear and be pedalling furiously until there was no way to add power to the speed.  My max speed is 25 mph like that.  As I was doing this on one stretch, I was passed by a VERY fast biker.  I noted that his pedals were rotating much slower than mine, so he could still add power to his speed.  I just couldn't.  I'm not sure Lance Armstrong could get my bike much past 25 mph.  The gearing just isn't there.  So I may have to do some upgrading on the bike next season, or when my fitness level warrants a speedier bike! 

As I approached the dismount, I saw my family cheering me on again.  It was very fun and motivating to see them smiling and encouraging me to keep going.  So I jogged my bike most of the way back to my transition spot and got ready for my run.

T-2 2:25
As I pulled off my bike shorts and slipped on my run shorts I took stock of my lungs.  Still cottony, and a deep breath triggered a coughing jag that brought up globs of goo.  But I was only a 5K away from finishing.  Heck, I can WALK a 5K if I have too! I tore open the vanilla gel I had meant to eat before my bike and swallowed most of it, followed by water and Gatorade.  It was time to get running.

Run - 42:02  220/234 Overall, 115/127 Men, 14/16 Division
As I jogged over the timing mat, I saw my happy, cheering faces again and that boosted me quite a bit.  I ran out of the park.  I ran down the street.  I ran much farther than I thought I could!  Then I realized that I was inhaling and exhaling with every stride.  Way too fast, and it sounded way too wheezy.  So I slowed to a walk and wheezed for a minute until my respiratory rate was below 50 breaths per minute again.  It was going to be a LONG 5K!  Once my breathing was somewhat better, I took off again.  Interestingly, my jelly legs were not my greatest concern, as I was keeping close tabs on y breathing!  By mile 1 though, I was starting to feel OK, and jogged more than I walked for the second mile.  At the turn around I saw a medic that I had worked with at Zumbrota Ambulance cheering people on. It was fun to hear him cheering me on by name!  Then everybody around me knew just who they were passing!

I usually try to walk the water stations, but I was feeling good in my jog and didn't want to stop.  In fact, for over a half mile in that second mile, I actually felt good and able to keep on going.  I wasn't thinking about anything about controlling my breathing, and when I realized that I had run probably 3/4 mile I suddenly wanted to remember what I was thinking about or doing or whatever that let me just keep going.  This of course led me to focus on my stride, breathing, lungs, hips, shinsplints, and I was soon walking again.  I split the remaining mile into jogs and walks, sure that I was going to be crossing the finish around two hours anyway and mostly just wanting to be able to breathe when I did it.  As I approached the corner that led to the park I decided to just run and see how far I could get.  Turns out I could get all the way to the finish.

About 50 yards from that beautiful inflatable arch I decided to "turn on the speed" and sprint to the finish line!  My brain called for full speed ahead.  My body went no faster.  A little voice came back from wherever the engineering room is in my body, speaking with a Scottish accent. "We're givin' it all we've got, Ca'ptin!"  Meh.  So this was my top speed.  OK, so be it.  I saw my beautiful wife and kids cheering for me and my smile got even bigger!  I crossed the finish line in 1:38:06, smiling and breathing!
I improved my swim time from the Pigman (based on time to swim 100 yards, I went from 1:37 per 100 yds, to 1:32 per 100 today.) And I actually shaved 42 seconds off of my run!  Improvement in two of the disciplines!

I am pleased with my time, as I had been wanting to be around 1:45:00.  And considering the allergies and the illness, it was a pretty good performance.  A fun race, well worth doing again next year!

More Later

Tri Through the Sick

The Rochesterfest Tri is coming up in a few days. I have done little to train for it in the two weeks that separate it from the Pigman.  I went on a short run, 1.5 miles a couple of days ago. 


During and after the Pigman, my allergies decided to activate.  Leaving me in a constant state of wheezing for air and watery, itchy eyes, nose and throat.  Allergies are a joy I tell you.  Last week I also started coughing and according to the Wife, I looked more like I was experiencing a sinus infection rather than just battling allergies.  So after a few more days of trying to convince myself that I was just recovering from the Pigman and fighting allergy symptoms, I gave in an went to see the doc.  Sure enough, the Wife was correct again, and I had not only a sinus infection, but an ear infection and "something funky going on" in my throat.  Nothing a high dose of antibiotics wouldn't clear up in ten days or so, said the doc.

Then I mentioned that I had a triathlon to do in nine days.

"Well," she said. "See how you feel."

It's three and a wake up to the tri.  I am still hacking globs of yellow goo from my lungs.  I have not been in the water or on my bike since the Pigman.  Time to concede defeat and drop out of this next one? 

I don't think so.  Now before you get all judgey and tsk-tskey, hear me out.

The swim and bike portions are short.  A 440 yard swim and a 10 mile bike.  I should be able to do those no problem.  The run is another 5K or 3.1 miles.  I have no illusions that I will miraculously RUN the whole thing.  But I can self ambulate for a 5K.  Besides, I am feeling a little better, and hopefully the next few days will see even more improvement.  I'm not expecting to win anyway, so avoiding the DNF moniker is my main goal.  (That's Did Not Finish, in case you are interested.)

So.  I will compete in the Rochesterfest Tri this weekend, because I like doing them, and because I don't want something like a sinus infection to keep me from it.  I'll do tri's in sickness or in health!  Hopefully more in health...  Besides, I've already paid for it!

More Later

The Pigman Triathlon 6/5/11

The day started like my first triathlon.  I woke well before my alarm and got ready to head to the venue. I showered, put my swim suit on and did a final check of my gear. The new wetsuit I bought the day before was the last thing packed and I was glad to have it.  A swim in the lake where I usually train a few days before had been so bone chilling that I actually had to stop and get out, feeling dizzy and getting hit with waves of nausea.  I practiced for a grand total of around 300 yards with the wetsuit on Saturday, but was hit with that nausea and dizziness again.  The wetsuit did raise my hips and legs farther out of the water, and I practiced running out of the lake and getting out of the suit a few times, just to get the feel of it.

I headed out from my folks new house, which sits only a few blocks away from the road leading to Palo, Iowa.  I had to wait for a line of cars, almost all of which had bikes attached to them, and squeezed into a gap in the parade.  As I turned onto the road leading to the park, I was able to look in my rear view mirror and see the line of cars behind me stretching nearly to the horizon, all headed this way.  It was awesome!

For whatever reason, I lucked out and got a parking space in the row next to the transition area.  I unloaded my bike, checked the tire pressure, and set my two bags of gear next to it.  Heading for the transition entrance, I was greeted by an army of race volunteers, one of whom marked my arms and legs for the race.  Lucky number 431!  I walked my bike up to a table that held the timing chips and was given mine.  Entering the transition area I noted that each wave had it's own rack section.  If I had been racing in the individual 40-45 division, I would have been in the last wave, wave 10, like my friend Matt.  But I figured if I had to carry around this extra weight, I may as well race this season in the Clydesdale division.  As a bonus, the Clydesdale/Athena division was in wave 3!  I got a nice spot five rows from the entrance and set up my gear.  A good friend from high school found me as I was setting up and we had a nice chat.  He had been a Warrior Swimmer too and did the 500 free like I did.  An injury was keeping him out of today's event.  As I finished setting up, Matt arrived and hiked up to the end of the transition area where wave 10 was camped.

It was shaping up to be a perfect day for a triathlon.  Temperature was in the low 80's with little humidity.  A patchy cloud cover kept the sun off of us until the run, and the wind was just enough for a cool, refreshing breeze, but left the water like glass and the bike and run resistance free.

I met Matt again at the long line leading to the port-a-potties and after evacuating all remaining excess weight, we headed for the start to scout it out.  It was a pretty long run from the beach to the bikes, and I wondered what I should do with my glasses while I swam.  We headed back to the transition area for a final check and to get into our wetsuits.  I slid mine on to my waist and met Matt again down on the beach.  We went for a swim and I toyed with the idea of swimming with my glasses in my wetsuit. The experiment worked somewhat, but I was a bit hesitant. The solution to my problem presented itself moments later as my brother Jason came down to get some pictures of us. He would station himself along the course up to the transition area and hand me my glasses as I passed.  My Dad was set up across the beach ready to cheer me on and get pictures. As Matt and I stood ankle deep in the water, and Jason waited on the shore, the Elite triathletes started their waves.  We watched and clapped as the men headed out, then the women. Then the team swimmers left.  I was still standing there when Matt pointed out that the triathletes entering the water next were the Clydesdale/Athena division.

Whoops!  I handed my glasses to Jason, who headed for his spot, and jogged up to the line, squeezing my way into the back of the Clydesdale/Athena section.  It was a time trial start, with a racer leaving every two or three seconds, so I actually had plenty of time.  But my dilly dallying meant I was fourth from the last Clydesdale to start.

As the line moved up, I was anxious about the swim.  How would the wetsuit work?  Would I get nauseated and dizzy like my last two swims?  Could I get out of this seal skin fast enough for a good transition?  Soon I was standing at the starting mat.

"431....GO!" I was off.

Swim: 8:55 106/648 overall, 81/387 men, 7/66 Clydesdale

I ran out and dove into the water.  Within seconds I was passing the guy who started just before me.  A few seconds later I passed a couple more.  Immediately evident was that the wetsuit held my hips and legs much higher in the water than I was used to.  As a result, my head was a little lower in the water, and it took a few strokes to realize I had to rotate more to get a breath.  Of course, I was motivated by missing three of the first four breaths I tried to take and choking back some of the water I had sucked in instead.  I adapted quickly to the new breathing style and felt pretty good until I got to a spot where one of the boats patrolling the course was stationed. They had their engine idling and the surface of the water was covered with exhaust fumes. That made me gag and swim faster to try and escape the fumes. I had to stop twice to fix my goggles. For whatever reaeson the left side was leaking. After a firm jab to the eye to keep it in place, I had no more troubles with it. I was tracking pretty well when an unusual thing happened. Some guy had decided to roll onto his back to float for a bit, leaving only his face breaking the surface. When I lifted my head to spot, I failed to notice his little nose poking up. Suddenly I swam right onto him like a landing craft hits a beach. We pushed away from each other with a few "sorries" and "are you ok?"  As I took off again I wondered why he would choose to float so close to the buoys where everyone was swimming. Apparently that is how breaks are taken at the Pigman, because no sooner had I left him behind than I landed on another back floater!  I spent the rest of the swim dodging floaters and passing other swimmers.  The wave behind mine was full of 18-24 year olds, but I wasn't passed by too many of them.  I finished the swim strong and ran out of the water grasping at the zipper cord for my wetsuit.  Jason was right where he said he would be and I grabbed my glasses as he cheered me on. I peeled of my swim cap and started extricating myself from the neoprene.

T1 4:48

By the time I entered the transition area I had the wetsuit down to my thighs.  It came off with no problem. I found that I was only a little dizzy and had hardly any nausea. But I took the transition slowly and methodically to let my head clear as much as I could before I peddled off.  Jason appeared at the transition edge to get more pictures and cheer me on. After dressing, I grabbed my trusty yellow $99 Wal-Mart special and headed for the exit.  I planned on jogging out and made it half way there, but the dizziness returned a bit and I decided that finishing was more important than running my bike out!  But no problems in the transition other than being a bit slow.

Bike 1:01:55 595/648 overall, 376/387 men, 63/66 Clydesdale

The bike started out with a nice ride through the park, a small hill to climb and a few little rollers in the park.  As we exited the park, the road led down a long hill heading for the town of Palo.  As I was exiting, someone yelled "ON YOUR LEFT! ON YOUR LEFT!" in a very shrill voice.  Now, it was a right turn out of the park, and she was passing as we took the turn.  I had slowed slightly so as not to shoot out to the left on the turn, but she chose that moment to pass.  She was about 90 pounds soaking wet and was pedaling furiously as she passed me.  She then cut right in front of me, forcing me to hit the brakes or hit her.  Then we came to the hill.  "She has no concept of physics," I thought to myself as I started gaining speed.  She was still pedaling comically for all she was worth, and I was coasting, but I was still gaining on her pretty quickly.  So as I approached I called out "On your left!" and steered that way to pass her.  I saw her look into her little rear view mirror and then... SHE MOVED LEFT AND CUT ME OFF!  I hit the brakes and fell back, a little stunned that she had done that.  I pedaled a little to regain my speed and once again caught up with her. "ON YOUR LEFT!" I yelled, thinking that perhaps she didn't see me.  But again she looked into her mirror, made eye contact and saw it was me and veered left to cut me off.  I braked again.  Now I was a little peeved.  Amazed by her rudeness I tried one last time to pass her, and as she veered left I veered right to try and cut around her but she whipped her bike to the right to cut me off again.  Finally we were at the bottom of the hill and I thought for sure that she would pull away from me and I could be rid of her.  No such luck though.  She continued to pedal at top speed, but it just wasn't my top speed.  So after being passed by a few speedier bikers, I veered wide to the left and moved on by her.  The urge to teach her a lesson in physics by making my mass bounce into her mass and observe the results was brief, but satisfying. I didn't see her again for the rest of the race.

After the big downhill, the course became as flat as a pancake, and I felt pretty good pedaling into and around Palo and heading back to the hill.  From a distance the hill looks long and steep.  It is not an optical illusion though, and even up close it looks long and steep.  Some people were walking their bikes up, and I had a brief pang of fear about having to stop and walk.  But I downshifted and powered through it.  I think I averaged about 5 or 6 MPH climbing that hill, but I did it!  Then it was another long, steep downhill on the other side. Ahhh, gravity! My bike, in it's top gear with me pedalling as hard and fast as I can tops out around 25 MPH, so I was coasting at well over 30 MPH in no time.  After the steep descent there was a long shallow downhill followed by more very flat road.  I felt like I was making really great time, and had hopes of breaking an hour.  Then we turned around and in no time that long shallow downhill became a long shallow uphill, and that excellent steep, long descent became just the opposite.  Ahhh, gravity... you heartless wench.  My speed dropped drastically, but I did manage to pedal that entire hill also.  Heading back into the park, I was wiped out.  My legs were achy and tired, and I knew that the run would be grim.  I passed Dad and Jason, who cheered me on loudly and bolstered my courage for what was about to come.

As I approached the transition area, they announced my name and mentioned that this was my second triathlon ever.  That got a little cheer from the crowd, which boosted my spirits even more. 

T2 2:08

I racked my bike and patted her seat, thanking her for staying in one piece for the ride.  After quickly stripping out of my bike shorts and helmet and into my running shorts, I was off.  I skipped the gel experience this time.  I hobbled up the hill that was the transition area and headed for the open road.

Run 42:44 634/648 overall,  383/387 men,  62/66, Clydesdale

As expected, my legs revolted before the first turn onto the long street leading across the dam.  It was sheer willpower that kept me jogging past Dad and Jason and around the corner, but then they gave up the ghost.  I just about collapsed, and slowed to a walk.  The sun was shining brightly now, and the temperature was climbing.  But almost everyone else was running, so I figured I'd better get to it.  The run course was hilly and all on pavement.  I have been running on flat land, so the hills were the challenge.  I'd run up as far as I could get, walk to the top, and run on the downhills.  My calves felt like tennis balls and my quads were burning through the whole thing.  My friend Matt passed me just after the turn around, on his way to a 1:29:10 finish 214/648 overall.  And I kept on going. At the water station I grabbed a cup and walked a bit.  As I emptied the cup over my head, my foot found the edge of the blacktop and I went down hard, scraping my hand a little.  Embarrassment brought me to my feet in an instant, and I walked off the turned ankle, shaking my head.  I passed Dad somewhere along the final stretch but was so focused on getting to the finish that I missed him.  Finally that big red inflatable arch came into view, and it was literally downhill to the finish!  I picked up the pace as much as I could, which wasn't much, and finished as hard as I could go.

I did not make my goal of breaking the 2 hour mark.  Missed it by :30 seconds.  But the race was very well organized, and I felt like I did the best that I could on this day.  Considering the interruptions to my training that I've had, with Dad's heart attack, Mom being in the hospital, and life in general, I was pleased with the results.  I got personal bests in every event.  I finished the longest triathlon I will do this season.  I am motivated to continue my training.  And I got to hang out with some excellent people!

Rochesterfest Triathlon is in two weeks.  I'm going to try and shed a dozen pounds by then, and work on my biking and running and the transition from one to the next.  My swim is pretty dang strong for a guy my size.  Now I need to improve those other two.

All in all, a fun race that I will do again next year!

Adventures in Shoe Shopping

I needed new shoes.  That wasn't in question.  My old shoes were purchased to train for my first triathlon last year, and while they were not top of the line, they served me quite well.  After all, when I started I ran from one telephone pole to the next and nearly passed out.  So footwear built for mileage was not all that important.

Fast forward to this year.  I'm running farther and faster than I have in over a decade, and my old "go fasters" as they called them in boot camp, are just not cutting the mustard. They are stretched out a bit, which has led to some growing concerns about foot and shin problems.  And worst of all, they stink to high heaven!  There are at least three full locker rooms of smell in each shoe, which makes peeling them off my feet at the end of a run rather noxious.  So yes, they must be retired.

I've done lots of reading on buying running shoes, talked to some runners for suggestions, and today went out to take the plunge.  I stopped at a couple of places to try on shoes by myself, but after a dozen different shoes in two stores, I was befuddled about what to get.

I decided to bite the bullet and go to our local running/walking store.  I knew they would analyze my stride and be able to tell me what shoes I should get, but I was gun shy about the prices they would no doubt charge.  From the moment I walked in I saw the guy watching my feet.  Sure enough he instructed me to take my shoes of and walk across the floor a few times.  After he gave me the diagnosis, he took the time to explain it to me, and he asked a dozen questions about my running, stretching, any pain in my legs or back.  He really did an amazing job of getting to know me before he even went to the back for a pair of shoes!

He brought out a half dozen pairs of shoes for me to try, and we compared one to another until we had it narrowed down to just the right pair.  Perfectly comfortable, and built not only for mileage, but for my foot problems (they are a little flat).  Then I asked about the price and was more than pleasantly surprised to find they were really not that much more than the other places I had been looking!  And for the service I received, it was well worth the extra $20!

I also asked him what could be done for the pain in my shins, which I am sure are the beginnings of shin splints.  He ran me through a few stretches and recommended a foam roller for my calves.  I am anxious to try it all out so that I can actually feel good while I run!  I am certain that my old skids are the cause of my current leg problems.  So I am hopeful, hopeful, hopeful that my experience in shoe shopping today will alleviate those problems and help me train.

Mostly I wanted to post about what a wonderful experience it was going to a locally owned store for my shoes.  Their friendly attitude and professional knowledge made me feel very comfortable with my purchase, and I feel like they have earned my patronage in the future!  I'd also recommend it to my friends.

For those of you out there toying with the idea of a triathlon (or some other sport) I'd encourage you to go to a locally owned store and get their expert help.  It was well worth it for me! 

More Later

Swim Boy, Swim

Triathlons aren't cheap.  At least, if you really wanna get the cool gear, you'll have to spend some coin.  For example, a good pair of running shoes can set you back $60 - $80.  But then you'll need the running togs as well... a couple of shirts, shorts, and sweats if you plan on running in the cold - like here in Minnesota.  So maybe $150 - $200 for running stuff.  I wanted to do my first tri using as little dinero as possible, so I got an OK pair of running shoes for $30 and used the shorts and shirts I had.  I did splurge close to race day and bought myself a couple of $16 "exercise shirts".

Biking is where the real money goes. After the padded diper like bike shorts to protect the "boys" and the running tights that I use for biking and a helmet, I can upgrade to clipless pedals and add accessories that will increase the value of the bike to that of a two door car.  That's without even purchasing the bike itself!  Google triathlon bikes and you'll find a dizzying array of techno-bikes for the triathlete.  Most are between $700 and $2000.  Though I did find one once for a mere $12,000.  Again I did not feel like dropping a few months worth of food budget on a bike, so I headed to Wal Mart and got a road bike for $99.  It is heavy and a little slow, but so am I, so I didn't mind too much.  It was rated as a 21 speed and is geared for it, though really it is good for around 16 or 18 and that was plenty for me.  The only upgrade it can accomodate is a different water bottle, so options are limited.  Now that I am a little better and faster, I have given some thought to upgrading this season to a Tri-specific bike that I found for $500.  That would be a lighter and therefore faster bike for triathlons and have aero bars and such.  But... well... read on.

Swimming shouldn't be too bad, right?  Just a suit and some goggles and a towel.  My racing suit cost me $30.  Goggles were $20.  And I have towels galore.  So $50 all together.  The trouble is, I wear glasses.  Right now I have a pair of Speedo Vanquisher goggles that I love.  But they are not, nor can they be, prescription.  So after about twenty minutes of wearing them I get a good headache going and develop quite a bit of nausea.  Now I like feeling pukey in the pool as much as the next guy.  But I would really like to be able to swim for an hour or so without losing my lunch.  Not to mention that there is a great deal of standing around before the start of a triathlon and after the transition area closes.  I could leave my glasses in the transition area, but spending a half hour to 45 minutes without glasses would ensure nausea and headache before I even enter the water.  Not a great way to do triathlons.  I was fortunate to be able to leave my glasses next to the water exit during my first tri, but even then I spent a good fifteen minutes without them, and had the headache and nausea when the horn blared.  I may not be so lucky at all of the triathlons.

So I looked into prescription goggles.  There are some called step diopters, but those are for people with really weak prescriptions.  Unfortunately my astigmatism is such that step diopters are not an option.  So custom prescriptions it would have to be.  The closest thing to racing goggles are made by Barracuda, and will cost me $290.  Now, for me to spend almost $300 on goggles and another $500 on a bike... well.  I just can't bring myself to drop that much in one season, especially after I've already racked up a few hundred bucks in race fees. 

I ordered the prescription goggles without a prescription in them to see if I liked them or not.  They came today and it turns out that I don't.  They have foam around the eyes, which is comfortable, but I've never had luck keeping the foam attached to the goggle.  Not only that, the goggles and the foam are so big that it looks like I have neon white glasses from the 80's on while I swim.  It would be a sure thing for my fans to see me in the water from the shore if I wear them.  I'm just not sure I want to go all Elton John while I'm swimming.

Even Elton is shocked ...SHOCKED by the whiteness.

 It was while I was adjusting the nose piece of these goggles that I had an idea.

A couple of years ago when I got my glasses, I got an extra pair for the shop made of safety plastic.  I have worn them three times since then, and they were gathering dust in the shop waiting for my next trip to the optometrist to donate them.  I decided that I had nothing to lose by popping the lenses out and grinding them to fit my well loved Vanquishers.

Well, after a little grinding and fitting and grinding and fitting and just a dab of glue... Behold -

Prescription Vanquishers!  I actually bought a brand new pair to mount the lenses in, and will use my old goggles as a back up.  Total cost - $20!  And you know what that means... I won't feel nearly as bad while I consider investing $500 on a new bike!

I'm off to the pool on Wednesday to test them out and see if they will work.  If they do, the new bike just might become a reality!

More Later

Hickory Grove Triathlon

Well. I got the first one under my belt. The official times are in. Here are mine...

Swim 9m 17s
T1 3m 41s
Bike 1h 03m
T2 2m 06s
Run 43m 20s

Total Time 2h 01m 23s
189th place in the men's division (out of 192)
32nd in my age group (out of 32)

It wasn't fast. (well, the swim was pretty good) But I finished, and I didn't take three hours. Ten weeks ago I was ballooning up towards a weight I had not seen since before I joined the Corps. I really didn't want to get into the third century weight wise. In the 9 1/2 weeks since I began my training, I shed 25 pounds. I improved my endurance in swimming, biking and yes, even running. Ten weeks ago doing any one of these distances alone would have probably put me in the hospital. But I did all three in a smidge over two hours.



Race Report:

I warmed up with a very short swim before most others got to the beach. Being my first tri, I was getting jumpy and nervous as more and more and more people crowded onto the beach. There must have been a hundred other guys with blue swim caps like mine. And we'd all be starting in the second wave! I moved off a ways and dipped my feet back in the water and looked out over the very peaceful lake in the early morning. I took a deep breath and thought about how far I had come to get here. 9 1/2 weeks of training as hard as I could. Dropping 1/12 of my weight in the process. When I started training I was only able to swim 200 yards in ten minutes, mostly a slow breast stroke and side stroke with little stretches of freestyle. My first actual bike ride was 7 weeks ago, lasted five miles, took a half hour, and I almost passed out when I returned home. My first "run" was a mile long and took nearly twenty minutes. Most of which I walked and watched my six year old son run ahead of me and tell me to "come on and run, daddy!" Yet here I was on race day. Actually feeling ready to swim the 500 yards, bike the 15.5 miles, and run the 3.1 miles and do them all in a row. Just finishing would be worth all of the hard work I had put in. My wife and kids were here to cheer me on, as were my parents. All I had to do was the best I could, and have some fun. With that I turned around and headed for the crowd, no longer nervous or anxious.


I'm the one in the blue swim cap.

I was able to leave my glasses on the announcer table right near the water exit, so I could pick them up a few steps from the water after the swim. But I spent a long fifteen or twenty minutes before my wave standing and watching the blurry people around me press in. The first wave left and I had six more minutes until my start. It went fast, and somebody from the first wave was exiting the water as they gave us the ten seconds to start call. The horn blared and I was off! I ran into the water and dove, feeling fast and sleek with my shaved body. Yes, I shaved. I was a swimmer in high school twenty years back and I like feeling slippery in the water when I race. Besides, it'll grow back. I was bunched up with what seemed like a hoard of other people. I remember catching a mouth full of water on one breath that choked me a little. But I have not panicked in the water for decades, so just coughed it out and took a breath on the other side. I caught an elbow in the forehead, thrown by the very guy who talked me into doing this in the first place. I was going to smack him back a little, but then somebody cut across behind me, grabbing my ankle and then my butt. I worked my way to the outside of the pack and gave myself about a ten foot buffer from then on. I did cut into the buoys a bit on the turns, but otherwise swam out on my own. I remember rounding the first buoy and spotting the one at the far end. It seemed so very far away. But I got into my groove and just had a fun swim. Before it really registered, I was approaching the second buoy. I passed a lot of people on that long second leg of the triangle, and by the time I turned the second buoy and headed for the finish, the pack had stretched out enough that there were only a few people around me. Before I knew it, my fingers were scraping sand. I popped up and ran up the beach, stopping to grab my glasses. There was a nice hill to climb and a road to cross to get to the transition area, and there were people lining both sides and cheering. I was so startled and pleased by this that I actually ran up the hill smiling! My wife and kids had found an open spot along there to cheer me, and that boosted me even more. I had not really expected to be able to run up that hill. But I did!


Just out of the water, looking for my glasses.

I had been practicing my T1 for a couple of weeks. Rinse feet in my special foot bucket, bike shorts on, shirt on, shoes on, helmet on, grab bike, go, go, go. It had been a mantra in my head before bedtime. Yet somehow when I got there, I couldn't remember what I wanted to do. I rinsed my feet then grabbed a shoe and slid it on. Then remembered that I wanted to put the bike shorts on first. Off came the shoe, on went the shorts. OK. Now the shoes. On went one shoe. NO WAIT! my brain yelled. YOU WANTED TO DO YOUR SHIRT BEFORE YOUR SHOES! OK, off came the shoe again. I had my shirt halfway on when the thought struck that it really didn't matter if I had a shoe on to put my shirt on. Duh! So I bent down and put the shoe back on. By this time I noticed that my once cleanly rinsed feet now had grass clippings on them. Shoe off. Rinse feet. Pull the dumb shirt down for Pete's sake. Shoes back on. Right feet? Yes, right feet. Let's see, where was I? Rinse, shorts, shirt, shoes... Ah yes, the helmet. On and fastened. Bike off the rack. What am I forgetting? Why are all those people running by me with their bikes? Oh yes... GO, GO, GO! And so what should have taken just a minute or two ended up taking nearly four.


Starting the second lap.

Finally got onto my bike and pedaled off past cheering crowds and out onto the road. First thing up was a nice downhill glide. I could have pedaled, but there was a 90 degree turn to the left at the bottom that we had been warned about. It turned out that there was plenty of road before the turn, and I could make the turn at speed with no problem. Then an immediate climb of the corresponding length and grade hit us. Another left turn at the top of that and a gradual climb over the next mile or so on a winding road. All of this time the power bikers were speeding past me. That's ok though. Ride my race, ride my pace. There was a nice long straightaway with some shallow rollers. I was surprised to look at my computer and see that I was going around 20 - 25 mph! I realized why when I reached the turn around. The wind that had been nudging me along now hit me almost like a fist. It slowed me considerably, and those shallow rollers turned out to be pretty mean to a big guy on a bike riding into the wind! Fortunately the return ride was half as long before we turned right to head back to the park entrance and start another lap. As I rode past the park entrance I saw and heard my cheering section rooting for me. I managed a smile and a wave. Two laps to go. I picked up the pace a little on my second lap, as I was familiar with the course now. Down hill, up hill, long climb, long straightaway with the tailwind where I left it in the highest gear and maintained 22- 25 mph, once even hitting 30 mph on a downhill stretch! Then back into that miserable headwind that ate up all of that time I had gained. As I passed the start again and heard my cheering section again, I waved and smiled again. Some guy on the sidelines then yelled at me "NO! GET DOWN! GET AERO!" And I had to giggle. As if that extra second or two of "getting aero" would make a huge difference between where I would likely finish (back of the pack) and the winners podium. I almost turned around to say "Dude, chill. I just want to have fun and finish!" But by then I was at that sweet, sweet downhill again, which I pedaled. In fact, the whole last lap I pedaled constantly, not wanting to coast down the few hills I had coasted before. I was still feeling pretty good! I passed probably a half dozen people on the bike. But mostly just stayed left and watched others zoom around me!

Into T2 my legs were doing the jelly thing. I hung the bike up but noticed that I was on the wrong side of the rack. At least it was not where I had stood to do my first transition. For some reason this was very important to me, so I crawled under my bike to stand on the "right" side. I dropped my helmet and slipped off the bike shorts. Then I grabbed the energy gel the race sponsors had generously provided in the race packet. I have never had an energy gel before, and since they only gave us one, I decided to try it before the run. I squirted a large dollop into my mouth and immediately regretted it. I felt as if a Rainbow Brite doll had crapped raspberry in my mouth. It stuck to every crevice and gummed up my throat. I tried to wash it down with the remainder of my home brew gatorade, but ended up leaving the transition area feeling like I was hacking up raspberry poo.


Ten feet from the finish line!

I jogged out onto the trail and was guided by very helpful volunteers. My cheering section had moved again to watch me hobble by. I gave them a smile and a thumbs up and told them I'd see them in an hour or two. I had hoped to run a good majority of the run. In training, I was able to motate for the entire distance, but I couldn't seem to actually run for more than a half mile to a mile at a stretch. And it always seemed to take a mile and a half of walking and jogging to get up to that. I had a few other things working against me though. Two days before the race after my last swim practice, I decided to try a race start from the beach to make sure my suit would stay in place. I ran into the water and on the last step before I dove I stepped down hard onto a rock. It left a quarter size purple bruise in the arch of my right foot. When I walked or jogged on flat surface it didn't bother me too much. But our race was run about half on grass trails and a couple of stretches on a gravel road. Whenever the uneven surface or gravel poked up into my arch, it was like stepping down hard onto an electrified spike. Pain shot up my leg and into my back. I could only go so far doing this before I needed to stop and walk or risk falling down and sobbing like a baby at the pain. The other thing going against me was that 9 1/2 weeks of training was not enough to build the endurance I needed to run non-stop. Especially since the last 3 mile run I did was my last physical fitness test in the Marine Corps well over a decade ago. But I kept going. I tried to ignore the knife in the sole of my foot. And the other triathletes were incredibly supportive! I can't count how many others spoke words of encouragement as they passed me. Nobody was harsh or condescending. Just supportive. It really did help! My time ended up about ten seconds faster than the 5K I had run for practice a week and a half back. But considering this was the third time I had gone an entire 3.1 miles, I was OK with that.

The pictures don't show it, but I felt like I was grinning from ear to ear when I crossed that finish line. And before you ask, yes I crossed running, and no I didn't have much energy left. They gave me a water bottle filled with water and took the little timer chip off my ankle. I staggered over to my cheering section and was congratulated by all, with wonderful kisses from very excited kids. My buddy who got me into this was there, too. He had finished a half hour before me. It was his third tri, and he weighs about half what I do. I had accomplished my goal - training for and finishing a sprint triathlon. I felt like a million bucks, even though I finished pretty close to last. The bug has bitten and I know I will do others. The training is actually fun. The races are a blast! I have lots of room to improve, and know exactly what I need to do to get there. I am a triathlete!

More Later

I Did It!

What a day it was. I'll go into more detail later, as I am quite exhausted now. But I finished without incident. I did quite well on the swim, pretty ok on the bike and got through the run.

I am now able to say with pride that I am a triathlete!

Thanks go to Mom and Dad, the Wife and the Kiddos for being there to cheer me on. It made everything so much better.

More Later

This Is It, Here We Go!

Today I had my last workout, and hopefully experienced all of the things that could go wrong, before my first triathlon.

The plan was simple. An easy swim, a short bike, a mile run. Practice the transitions most of all.

The swim went fine, I felt great. Then after I decided to try a running start into the water just to make sure my suit would stay in place. On my last step before I dove in, my right foot found a rock. That has developed into a nice light purple, quarter size bruise right in the middle of the bottom of my foot! It's a little puffy and VERY tender. Should be fun to bike and run on!

I didn't sweat it though. I just went up to practice my T1. Got the bike of it's spiffy new bike rack that hangs it on the back of our SUV, and noticed the rear tire was a bit low. Well, I just got a spiffy new tire pump WITH a gauge, too! So I hooked it up and sure enough, it was mighty low. I pumped it up to recommended levels and removed the pump... and was greeted by a great rushing of air and flattening of the rear tire! I fiddled with it for a few moments, but quickly realized that it was not going to hold air for me anymore, and I am not a bike mechanic. Fortunately the bike shop that tuned it up so well was only a few miles away, and I was sure they could have me back on the road in no time. So I opened up the back and tossed my stuff in, then closed it to put my bike back on the rack.

What I did not count on was the bike rack arm swinging down and leaving a three inch gash in my forehead! It started bleeding immediately, of course. Thankfully it wasn't deep, but will leave a visible reminder in all of the pictures from this weekend to pay attention to what I'm doing when I load up!

I went to the bike shop and the bleeding was stopped by the time the tire was finished. I bought a spare tube in case the front tire poops out on me on race day and headed out the door. I briefly considered going for my bike and swim, but the wife is working an overnight tonight and we are headed for the Triathlon tomorrow. So I wanted to get home and let her sleep some before her shift.

Tonight I decided to do something I have not done since my last race in high school. I shaved down. When I was a Warrior Swimmer, we shaved our bodies and heads to show just how committed we were to going our very fastest. It was Warrior Pride at its finest, as most other swimmers would wear swim caps. But we were state champs for all four of the years I was there, and national champs twice, so there may have been something to it.

I didn't shave my head or beard this time, as the Boyo was worried that he would not recognize me without those. But I did everything else not covered by my suit. I remember way back when that swimming after the shave always felt REALLY fast. I felt closest to a dolphin on those days. What I did not remember was how long it took. I also have a considerably larger amount of hair this time!

But, I will feel fast in the water again. And maybe even on the bike a bit. Which will help me feel good for the run. And I need all the help I can get on this one! I've trained hard for 9 1/2 weeks. Now it is time to go do it!

Wish me luck!

More Later