Was extremely tired after work but went to the gym and swam 1600m, focused on technique.

All in all the day turned out very good.

Race time:

Swim: 38:23 Bike: 2:55:06 Run: 2:47:55 Total 6:28:19

Swim-29:42 T1-3:25 Bike-1:04:34 T2-2:07 Run-1:01:11 Final-2:40:56

I am jumping back into this blog on my 3rd week in and things are going very well so far. Mostly at this point I feel like I have to get more focused on my fluid intake and my nutrition. I am quite comfortable doing the work it’s the other details I need to focus on.

Anyone following my blog can expect regular updates throughout my training with status and comments so feel free to subscribe or check in from time to time.

Finish time: 2:14:30.1 Pace: 10:17

The preparation for this race was a mess to say the least. I was sick with a stomach flu, traditional flu and a cold in the 2 months leading up to the race and to top it off my daughter was diagnosed with pneumonia the week before the race. My long runs above 15 miles were all done in the gym on a treadmill and my longest run prior to the race was around 19.5 miles (yes in the gym); however I did come into this race as an experienced triathlete and that helped me a great deal. I used a nutrition plan designed by my nutritionist Monique Ryan. My carb loading plan was 800g of carbs each day and I feel pretty good about that aspect of my race. I wore tri-shorts under my running shorts to avoid chafing, I put glide on my feet (as I no longer wear socks after Ironman Racine 2010), I used “nip guards”, and I had my race gels planned out.

The night before the race was quiet in the hotel, I ate pasta delivered from pizza hut and I went to bed about 9 pm (thoughI did not sleep very well). I woke up at 2:55 without an alarm, I had coffee and oatmeal for breakfast and I took a travel cup of coffee for the car ride over to epcot. I gave Jessica a kiss and thanked her for being there to support me and I started the 20 min walk to the corrals. When I got to the E corral I stretched out as much as I could and then sat on the pavement very calmly and waited for the race to start.

As I crossed the start line I turned on the Garmin, took a deep breath and started out in the mass of people as I’m used to from other running races around an 11 min pace. I was quite surprised at how many people I saw running off the course to stop at bathrooms or just peeing in the bushes during this race. Thankfully managing the fluids in my body during races is something else I can chalk up to experience with 5-6 hour races.

There were quite a few characters around the course that runners were stopping to take pictures with, but I just wanted to run the race myself. I was surprisingly relaxed for the majority of the race, I chatted with a few people around me but for the most part I stayed in my own world listening to music and navigating in and out of people who were running slower. The music I listened to was a mix of Pretty Lights and some harder dubstep music then I wrapped up with my workout playlist.

Around my 18 my ankles started hurting really bad so I slowed my pace a little, and then a little more and then began intermittently walking and running. By mile 23 I was in serious pain even to walk which is a shame because the rest of my body wanted to go but it felt like I was running on sprained ankles. I also noticed that my Garmin was chiming about .3 miles ahead of the course markers so I knew that it was not going to be exactly 26.2 to the finish and I started to get anxious about hitting my 5 hour goal. At mile 24 I was looking over my shoulder for the 5 hour pacer that I passed near the start but I never saw him.

As we came back through epcot and I knew the finish was close I pushed harder through the pain and just wanted to be finished… I knew that I would make it now and I wasn’t concerned about burning out. As my garmin reached 26.2 (4:53:00) I had to walk again, it was so much pain… and then a man came up next to me and said “come on you can do it” and I smiled at him. He then reached out and touched my arm as if to pull me and said “I had someone help me a long time ago and now I’m helping you. Come on lets run, you didn’t come this far today to walk the finish.” So I started jogging. “Just think how many people in the world are not doing this today… or will ever do this for that matter. You are about to finish a marathon man doesn’t that feel awesome?” Then we rounded the corner to the finish and I took a deep breath and said out loud “Okay lets do this” and lit it up as I always do for the finish. I stopped and thanked the man for helping me at the end and he said your welcome.

After I got my medal I went over to the medical tent and had them throw some ice on my ankles before I walked over to meet the family. When I got to them my ankles hurt so much that I had tolay down and put my feet in the air. I know this is a bad idea in general but I was concerned I had done some damage. After a short while of laying with Morgan on top of me we got up to make our way to the monorail and I got very dizzy. I stopped for a couple minutes and sat down with my head between my knees. Jess gave me and energy bar and then I felt better. While we were on the monorail I was talking to some other runners who had run this race several times who said the reason my ankles hurt so bad is because most of the race is run on an angle for water run off. The key to not ripping up your ankles is to run at the apex where there is usually flat spots or grass to run in.

So in summary I loved the race, I am quite satisfied with my ability to run 26.2 and I will definitely be registering for the Chicago Marathon 2011, most likely the Goofy at Disney for next year… and most importantly… I’m quite confident that the finish on my first full Ironman is achievable.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/62838862

I got up at 3 am as I usually do, I stretched in the dark for about 10 mins and then ate my oatmeal for breakfast along with a cup of coffee. This time I neglected to eat my toast and a banana. There was a slight increase in pre-race stress as I was leaving from the race to go on vacation but not too bad (usual pre vacation inventory before leaving). Dan rode over with Jess and Steph and I (Mom and daughter came later). We left at 4:30 and got there around 5:15 and parked 1 block west of main st just off the first turn of the course.

Transition set up was business as usual, checked my bike, put my socks in my shoes, shoes in a plastic bag, gels in all the right places etc. The one thing I forgot to do was take my straw extension for my aero bottle out of my pack. (This was realized about 2 miles into the bike). We took the mile walk down the beach and then sat and waited for what seemed like an eternity.

Swim start was good, there is a long entry (shallow water) so I did a combination of 3 step dive, 3 step dive action until I was about waist deep then started swimming.  I swan to the first buoy mostly with my head up to gauge the other swimmers around me. At first most of my wave seemed evenly paced though after the 2-3rd buoy many of them fell off pace and I began passing people on both sides of me. Even though I take great care in not getting kicked in the face someone managed to get me in the forehead this time with a heel… Ouch! Luckily it did not slow me down but it still didn’t feel very good. My breathing pattern on the swim was stroke x3 glide and breathe which worked very well and I was comfortable the whole swim. The run from the beach to transition was pretty long but I used it to clear my head and prepare for the bike.

I came to the mount line with about 4 other people  but had my pedals staged correctly (left pedal forward) so I just hopped on with no problems and I was already in a nice low gear so I just spun up the hill (as I have done many times before). No sooner had I turned the corner out on to main I noticed two problems; my straw was in my bag under my seat, and there was a repetitive clicking sound like something was wrong. I figured out that the clicking was my cadences sensor which must have been bumped on the mount so that was a relief however I think it annoyed all the riders around me as it pretty much sounded like a turn signal the whole ride. As for the straw I managed to reach back, open the zipper, pull out the straw and close the zipper again but it was challenging and I’m sure it cost me some seconds. Next challenge I had on the bike was that I must have gotten gel in my right hand because it got extremely sticky and I had to fight with my water bottles to try and wash off both my hand and the aero bar but eventually got it to a tolerable point. It began to rain very hard for the last mile or so and I was getting pelted very hard and some guy came up next to me and said “kinda stings right?” I thought this was the universe smiling on me as I was dreading the run in the hot weather… yeah right! The guy in front of me at the dismount line fell down and I had to jump to not crash into him.

T2 was smooth, except that it was pouring rain and my shoes we soaking wet from the downpour so that wasn’t a good way to start the run, although it was still raining and overcast so I was hopeful! Fat chance though, the rain not only stopped about 1/4 mile into the run but the clouds parted and the sun came out BLAZING! (Car said 93 degrees after the race) So now it is KILLER hot and I have wet socks and shoes! My goal was a 10:30 pace and the heat made that absolutely impossible this time around. There we people cramping up, laying on the ground, stopping under trees all over the place; I was all too aware from my EFR training of heat exhaustion, stroke etc so grabbed as many cups of water as I could get my hands on at every aid station and dumped them on my head, down my back etc. I talked to several people on the course who have PRs in the low 5 hour range that were walking along side of me saying “I”m not even trying for a time at this point I just want to finish without passing out”. But as usual I just refused to quit and ran as much as I could while thinking to myself … it’s definitely time to get a running coach.

As I entered the finishing shoot I saw Jess and Morgan on the sidelines cheering so I reached out and ^5′d both of them and then unloaded everything I could muster up to cross the line. Last year at this race my legs cramped and I almost fell down to the ground but this year I felt nothing but relief to be done. I immediately took off my soaking wet socks and shoes (took my shoes several days to dry) and stayed barefoot for the rest of the day. I did some minor stretches and waited for Dan to come around for his first 70.3 race; we screamed and cheered for him as he came through the shoot and then I handed him his 70.3 sticker that Jess had ordered for him weeks in advance.

Swim: 40:45 (2:07)     T1: 2:57     Bike: 2:52 (19.5)     T2: 2:15     Run: 3:02 (13:57)     Total: 6:40

Full Gallery HERE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRRNtbc7FfQ

I followed my nutrition plan for Racine 70.3 from last year to carb load 2 days before this race and for breakfast on race day I had 2 packets of oatmeal, 1 piece of toast with strawberry jelly and 12 oz of orange juice. Then 90 min before the race I drank an Ironman sports drink and ate 1 packet of sport beans.

The swim went pretty smooth, I was able to distance myself from the majority of my wave and I passed quite a few people in the wave ahead of me. The water temp was around 75 degrees and the wind was out of the north. I ended up a bit slower than I wanted but not by much.

The bike was a bit more challenging than my warm up sets as the wind was much stronger on race day. I was shooting for 21 mph average as I have done this course at 20.9 without preparation but considering the weather and the swim before the ride I’ll settle for a 20.5 mph avg. Unfortunately I was monitoring my performance during the ride and I pushed way to hard on the last couple miles to try and bring my avg up to 21 which ultimately hurt me on the run. The mount and dismount on the bike were great for this race also, no problems getting my feet into my shoes, no balance issues and no other racers were in my way.

The run started out with a 9:21 pace and seemed to fizzle out from there. My pace fell below 10 min about 1/2 way through mile 2 and though my heart rate was around 145 I could not seem to dig down and find any more speed. So I was not out breath I just couldn’t push my legs to move any faster. I will definitely have work on my run before the Racine 70.3 this year.

Swim -- 29:44    T1 -- 1:56  Bike -- 1:13:26   T-2 1:45  Run -- 1:03:59  Final -- 2:50:47

none the less this one is for the Chicago Spring 1/2. I have greatly improved my running since last year (somehow) without really running that many miles. If there was one thing I wish I had done more of in preparation for this race it would have been more 10+ mile sessions.

The goal with Dan this year was a 9:45 pace which I held up through mile 7, I actually told Dan we should ease back several times. Miles 8-11 I slowed to a low 10 min pace and felt really tired for some reason. I am not sure why this happened as I was well rested, had taken a couple gels although I did keep ending up with gatorade at the water stations in stead of water. So perhaps I should have followed my own rule of alternating back and forth at each station. As mile 11 passed my energy started to return and I picked up the pace again and finished strong carrying a 5:30 sprint over the line but it wasn’t a long enough sprint to offset the slow miles and I finished with a 10:00 min pace 2:12 time.

The good news is that I felt fine afterwards, I was not exhausted or in pain and I escaped this race with no blisters. We went out to Sola in Lincoln Park for breakfast after the race and I had steak n eggs as I love to do after races. And I was on my bike back to training doing 20 miles the next day.

Next up Pleasant Prairie Olympic Tri.

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a race. It started at 3:30 as planned, ate my usual bowl of oatmeal and drank a cup of coffee while watching youtube clips of various ironman races. Jess and I left the house on time by 4:15. Was a bit confused driving around looking for the split transitions but eventually found both. Dropped my running gear at T2 and drove over to T1 and parked where Jess could easily get in the car. I had a funny issue before the race started as my big toenail was falling off from the 1/2 marathon I did last month and it was lifting off my toe while I was doing my warm up swim; so both Jess and I looked around for medical tape to wrap my toe in and eventually found it about 2 mins before the race started.

The horn went off and I was in the first wave and as usual I kept my face above water for a good part of the first leg just paying attention to everyone around me. I am still very conscious  that if I get a heel in the face it would ruin my race, even though there is a lot of bumping side to side and the occasional hand collision with other swimmers. I felt okay but not great through the swim, I have not been training with my wetsuit which forces me to use some additional muscles to overcome the buoyancy of the neoprene. My shoulders were definitely still sore from the 1k m I did to warm up 2 days earlier. I am pretty satisfied with my ability to maintain a semi straight line though according to my garmin tracking.

I got caught behind someone in the narrow isles of transition wadling in their bike shoes so that slowed me down a bit (2 min transition time) and hopped on the bike at the mount line. About 50 yds into the bike was a hill I didn’t anticipate and I was not in the right gear; lesson learned the hardwayI could not make it up with my feet out of my shoes and possibly even in the wrong chain rung. I had to dismount and run up the hill with my bike and re-mount at the top, needless to say this was not a feel good way to start the bike. It was a very nice ride through the town of Lake in the Hills, a couple rollers and then a few really steep hills which were challenging but all in all fun.

As I came into T2 the path to get into the corral was long and winding so I probably lost a few seconds coasting in and trying to figure out where I was supposed to go, but my T2 time was 38 seconds so I’m satisfied with that. The run was extremely challenging for me and proved that I certainly need more hill work. During the run I heard several first time participants complain to the effect of “what is up with these hills, up down up down … I just can’t get in a comfortable rhythm”. I was hoping for a much better run time on this race as most of my 4-5 mile training runs are in the low 8′s but I ended up with a 9:39 pace on the run. I only used one gel on this race and it was about 10 mins into the run.

After the race we ate at a breakfast restaurant called “Burnt Toast” which was very good food and there were quite a few racers in there sharing stories. So… chalk another one up, with more lessons learned and an overall good experience.

Photo album – http://digiternal.net/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=6074

Swim: 15:06  T1: 2:01  Bike: 47:21  T2: 0:38  Run: 38:15 Total: 1:43:19