thanks

I really do think that one of the hardest parts of getting to the starting line is the challenge of balancing work, friends, family, travel, and everything else. I simply wanted to give my thanks to many, many people who have helped me along the way. I am greatly appreciative of my colleagues at work who have been able to switch shifts to allow for my travel, race, and training schedule to fit in with my work schedule. I also can’t forget the egging on that I got about 2 years ago from another one of my colleagues that got me on this crazy journey in the first place. I am thrilled that my family has been able to come to races and join me as well. Being able to spend the race knowing your family is at the sidelines and then going to get brunch afterwards really makes racing a lot more fun. Specifically it has been fantastic to be able to race with my uncle this year…and by race with him I mean to be on the same course at the same time, because in reality while we might be on the same course he is clearly in a different league. My friends have also been far more understanding than I could have ever expected, from going home early on nights out to get up early the next day and go on another long day of training. Thanks for your understanding. Well there is one more race to go, one more big push, one more big chance to show that the extra training, the extra time away from everything, the extra time spent getting ready for the race is going to pay off. I’m really looking forward to the start, thanks for all of the support along the way. And bring your sunglasses on Sunday…..it looks like you are going to need them J

getting ready to race

so today was one of the first days when it really hit me that the race is coming up...and by coming up...it is this weekend. i feel ready, i am excited for the race, really hoping to throw together a fantastic day. i have prepared physically, i am resting this week, i have gone through the entire course in my mind. i have a nutrition plan that worked last year. i have legs that are stronger. i have race experience. i am planning on a great day.

in other news the weather just took a change today....um...well how do i put this....i guess, without sounding too happy, i am pretty excited. now i know that it is still 4 days out, and a lot can change, but there aren't any remnants of hurricanes coming our way....and well, the chance of precipitation just went down to 0%. hey, i'll take that, even with a slightly higher chance of rain, say 20 or 30%. granted it will be a little warmer but the winds aren't forecast to be that strong...i'll believe it when i experience it on race day.

in the meantime, more rest and getting ready to head to madison for the big race.

as I get closer to the starting line and am spending less time training I have plenty of time to think about other things. Instead of trying to figure out how far, and where, and when I am going to run, ride, or swim, I have instead been thinking about the past year of training. There is no doubt that I have covered some amazing distances this year. clearly not to the level of a pro, but a lot of distance none the less.

Totals so far

75 miles swimming

2750 miles bicycling

645 miles running

total: 3470 miles

so what does this mean…it is about the equivalent of ORD to LHR, or just short of the round trip from ORD to LAX, or almost from Chicago to anchorage on the ground…yea it’s a long way, but there is still another 140.6 miles to go.

motivation

There are really just 2 types of people, those who say I can’t, and those who say I can. These people have been summoned here, by themselves for their 1700 different reasons. Their unity comes from their mantra, I can. And their destination, a place they absolutely have to get to. What they will do to get there is monumental by anyone’s standards, even their own. The unknown we all fear it, and right now there is an ocean full of it. This is also about limits, reaching them, exploring them, exceeding what you thought yours were, or maybe, coming to the conclusion that there aren’t any limits.

This is the Ironman.

Ironman is a swim, a bike, a run, its what I do every day of my life. It becomes almost addictive once you’ve done it once you want to do it again. Sort of like a drug in a way, Ironman is the drug.

Limits, what limits. There is no can’t in Ironman. Anything is possible, I can, I know I can.

A 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles on the bike, then a marathon. The man who started this said, you can quit and they don’t care, but you will always know. This is the Ironman.

t-10 days

well, i am getting closer and closer to the start date. they released our racer numbers yesterday and i am racer #503. i like the low number, but then again it is only a number. it is the area code for portland and refers to a http error code. it appears as if the numbering started again with the youngest age groupers and then progressed up to the older people....clearly not based on expected finish order.

so tomorrow the 1st weather prediction arrives on the 10 day forecast. friday and saturday look nice, hopefully the trend will hold out. those couple of days will be cool, so the prospect of a huge heatwave coming in overnight is unlikely, and hopefully no rain. it might juset be a perfect day for racing.

i got my bike back from the shop after its pre-race tune-up. as expected i needed a new chain. i also found out that when i bought my bike they installed the "wrong" front derailleur which is why i have been throwing my chain and having trouble shifting as of late. my guess is that it worked for a while but the combination of the tired chain, the loosening or stretching cables made the incompatibility more pronounced. oh well, another small cost that was slightly unexpected but will hopefully the bike will run better. after the tune-up i had my race wheels installed, brakes fine tuned and and the shifting dialed in. i know that it is not all about the bike....but it helps to have a bike in sweet working order. tomorrow i will take it out for a ride, all decked out in race wheels and new gear. it looks ready to go, hopefully it will feel nice and smooth on the ride tomorrow. it needs to ready to go 112 miles in 10 days.

i am well into my taper at this point. i have gone on some short quick runs, some more swims and a shorter bike ride. this weekend and the week ahead has another medium swim, a medium/short ride, and a short run. then just a couple more quick bursts at the beginning of the week, an opportunity to let the legs rest, and yet stay focused and ready to race.

keep your fingers crossed for the weather

T-36 Days

today i accomplished a big feat. i ran 20 miles in the heat, humidity, and slight misting rain at the start. the run started off at a nice and even pace with a little mist in the first 2-3 miles and I finished in the first 10 miles in around 1:32 and change with a couple of short stops for water. i turned around, the clouds broke the sun started to shine and the heat index kept rising. i kept pushing myself, trying to hold a steady pace and not let my heart rate blow up in the heat. i drank about 32 oz of gatorade, 2/3 of a cliff bar and lots of water from the water fountains. at the end of the run, 20 miles later i made it back home

the difference a year makes - this year compared to the same time last year i have run 122 miles more. an what a difference a year makes. last years 20 mile run was about 3:36 with 20 more minutes of stopping at water fountains, stretching, etc. this year - 3:08 with about 15-20 minutes of stopping at water fountains. there is no doubt that the extra running has had a difference, my run times at all the races i have done this year have been faster than before. with any luck the faster run today will pay off in another 5 weeks...

T-52 days

Today I got out for a great ride. 101 miles in total. The week has had its ups and downs. Fantastic race last weekend, good day of training on tuesday with 70 miles and 2 miles swimming. yesterday was a complete waste of a run. wanted to run 8-10 miles, got to 3 and turned around to go home, ended up walking the majority of the way back. i usually have about one or two of those days a year when i think that i should go for a run but my body has other ideas. oh well, it was a nice walk.

today's ride made up for yesterday. 101 miles and I negative split the second 50. its not so much that i went faster the second half, but rather that i had a game plan to go out smart, and leave enough in the tank to get home feeling good. mission accomplished. notes when compared to last year's century ride around the same time - no knee pain, went faster this year. while going faster is nice, i am more excited about how my knees feel right now. last year at the end of the 100 miles every stroke was painful....fast forward to the ironman last year....every pedal stroke after about mile 70 was irritatingly painful. maybe this is a good sign.

i have spent the past hour eating and rehydrating...i love these long work outs. i'll try to run again tomorrow.

Spirit of Racine

This race was the fourth half Ironman distance I have raced in the past three years and my third time completing Racine. Overall, I thought the race was spectacular, I cut some pretty impressive time off of my prior races, and raced a pretty well balanced race.

Overall: 4:54:11 46/102 in age group, 316/1174 total participants
Swim: 26:55 - 30/102 age, 317 overall
Bike: 2:34:53 21.7 MPH - 48/102 age, 355 overall
Run: 1:47:23 - 49/102 age, 328 overall

I woke up on race morning to mostly cloudy skies, almost no wind, and a temperature in the low to mid 60's. Perfect condiions for some quick times. I put on an extra layer to stay warm, packed up the car and drive from the hotel t the race site. My bike had been checked in the night before so I just had to re-inflate tires and get the rest of my gear set up in transition.



The swim in Racine is a point to point, which means a nice long mile walk along the beach to get to the swim start. Once there I tried to get used to the water and waited for my heat with the rest of the competitors.



I was in the third heat and 6 minutes after the first wave left we got up to the start line to begin the race covering 70.3 miles.



After the siren fired we ran into the water and began the swim.



I will have to admit, although the water was reported to be 64 degrees on race morning those first couple of strokes felt a lot cooler. Really I doubt there was any way that the temp was really 64. I think there was a nice little current pushing us along as well. I stood up from the swim in the shallow water and looked at my watch ~ 25 minutes. I thought 1.2 miles highly unlikely but oh well on to transition.



Change out of wetsuit, into bike shoes, etc and onto the bike.



The ride was pretty uneventful. 56 mikes basically through the county roads surrounding Racine. Most were genearlly smooth, although some bumps here and there. The best part of the bike course is the incredible police presence at every single intersection. It really was quite impressive. The winds stayed at bay for the majority if the race and really only started to pick up in the last 10 miles or so. At that time it was generally a north wind which just helped to push me back. There were a couplebof big packs out there this year. I think I did a pretty good job of riding my own race and not being sucked into the draft fest. 56 miles later and a new PR on the bike I was back to transition. Compared to last year i took off about 2:30 from my overall bike time and my speed increased by 0.4 mph and compared to the Florida half earlier this yesr my speed also increased by 1.2 mph. It is probably due to a couple of key factors. 1. More miles this year. 2. absolutely perfect conditions with minimal wind and perfect racing temps. 3. I hear this rumor that race wheels help people go faster as well.



I was able to get through transition and despite riding faster my legs felt pretty fresh. I start on the run thinking that the lack of heat, mostly cloudy skies and and legs that felt better than expects might turn into a great run.



I ran the first 5 miles at about an 8:05 pace which I thought was spectacular. I slowed every other aid station to hydrate. I felt great making the turn at the half way point if the run.



I looked down at my watch and saw 4:00:00 at the turn around. With this and the first 6.55 miles behind me I started to think that there was going to be a great probability of breaking 5 hours and destroying my best prior half marathon time. I kept running and surprisingly felt much better for the last 6.55 miles than I had expected. My pace slowed a little as I made sure to keep hydrating at the aid stations. I ran through the last aid station with my sights set on the finish line and a sub 5 hour finish. Overall run was 1:47:23 at a pace of 8:12 minute/mile, by far the fastest I have ran that distance. That is just over 7 minutes faster than the year prior and almost 20 minutes faster than my Florida time from this year. While I can clearly thank the cool weather and the cloud cover, I think the biggest factor is the nearly 100 more miles that I have run this year compared to the same point the year before.

I got to the finish line with arms up in the air very excited for improvement on the run as well as the overall race.



I packed everything back up and headed back down to Chicago. It really is fun to go fast, and to go faster than prior years. Thanks to my parents for driving up for dinner the night before despite having some conflicts the day of the race and to Evan for being the support crew and and usual taking fantastic pictures. Now, a day of rest and then the last final assault before the big race.

For more pictures from the race go to:

http://salz.smugmug.com/gallery/8974533_KntpX#596459720_5rHNZ

8 more weeks until Madison. See you there.

all dressed and ready to go

here is the bike with its newest addition. a couple of weeks ago i got myself a brand spanking new pair of race wheels. the aerodynamic profile of the wheels is supposed to help me go faster. 2 weeks ago I raced an olympic distance and it felt as if i was going faster. maybe that is part of the advantage...just thinking that you are going faster.

but i think that there might really be something to these wheels. this morning i cleaned the bike. i wanted to get the chain nice and clean and re-lubricated and in the process took off a nice layer of dirt from the rest of the frame. once everything was nice and clean and put the new wheels on just to make sure they would rotate smootly. and smooth they were. i didn't time, but the bearings have very little resistance compared to my regular training wheels and just kept on spinning, and spinning, and spinning.

this weekend i will have another opportunity to see how these wheels work. i am racing up in Racine, wi at the spirit of racine half ironman. this race, like florida earlier in the year, is flat and fast. it looks like i am starting in the 3rd wave, which is nice because it is early, but it looks like there will be some serious potential for massive groups of people because all of the men under 40 are starting within 9 minutes of each other. my guess is that it is going to be rough to find some clean road for the first 20 miles or so...unless of course these wheels have some built in rocket boosters....

i'm looking forward to this race. its my last big race before wisconsin which follows 8 weeks later. i had a great week of training last week with 1.4 miles of swimming, 243 miles on the bike and 26 miles running for a total time of 19:30. this week has been a little slower, as i have tried to cut down the mileage today, and tomorrow will be an off day in preparation for the race. however, i will get some more miles on sunday with the race. then i hope for one more big week next week before going away for a week when ineveitably the numbers will be down.

well i have been a little derelict in posting updates to this blog. it is really hard work to be on vacation. hopefully an update from the race to come next week with pictures and then some intermittent updates leading up to madison part II.

a picture perfect day for a ride

the hardest part about the chicago weather this year, apart from being demoralizing, has been the lack of good days to train when i am not working. that all changed today. low and behold, i come home from a weekend of working overnights and all of a sudden it is summer. not just any old summer, but high 80's with massive humidity. ahhh, the chicago summer that i have missed...

anyway, came home from work this morning and got a quick 4 hour nap. then packed the nutrition onto the bike and off to the lakefront path for a 60 mile ride. i couldn't quite decide if it was going to be a run or a ride today, but when i woke up the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and it was absolutely beautiful outside. the winds were calm and it was wonderful to feel the sun and the warmth again. i can do this, another couple months training in weather like this will be completely tolerable. 3:13 for the 60 miles. sweet. i might have been a little faster but the last 5 or so miles i was starting to feel the heat, i thought i had planned my liquids well, but my guess is that it was just a little hotter out there than i am used to for training.

in other good news the pool is open for swimming. by pool i mean lake michigan. and by open i mean the water is conducive to swimming. the lake officially opened several weeks ago but it looked just too damn cold. first i knew it was cold by watching the weather sites, but more importantly i saw people getting out of the water. there is nothing better to tell you that the water is cold that watching 2 guys wearing sleeveless wetsuits get out of the water with very red/purple arms...and it wasn't sunburn. anyway, the water was perfect yesterday, minimal waves, hardly any current to fight. a trip out to the bouy plus another 400m for 2000 meters made for a nice evening swim before going to work.

my running is really feeling good right now. i am consistently running faster and feeling good. the next objectives are not only to continue to increase the mileage but also to increase the frequency. slowly of course.

this upcoming weekend is the second race of the year - the bigfoot triathlon in lake geneva wisconsin. 6 days out the weather looks good, i'll keep my fingers crossed that it will hold true.

this week marks the last week of residency. 5 more shifts to go.

july will be a big training month, lots of miles, lots of hours, lots of improvement to be had.

oh yea, i got new race wheels. i opted for the flashpoint 60 front, 80 rear. they look pretty sweet. mounted the tires tonight. hopefully will take them out for a quick spin later in the week just to get a feel for the wheels before racing on them next weekend. pictures eventually.

welcome back summer!

really????

the weather this summer has been sub-optimal. rained yesterday, wasn't supposed to rain today, just be cloudy and overcast but instead i was greeted with a nice wet sheen over everything when i woke-up and it is still misting. throw yet another wrench in the training plan. looks like it is swim this morning and if i get lucky and have time and the weather is any better i'll ride later.

the upside is that i am running more. in the last 3 days i ran 23 miles. might have overdone it a a little but suprisingly my legs feel alright today. maybe giving them a little rest and delaying the ride until this afternoon is a good thing.

last week i managed to make it up to madison to ride the course again. i rode the loop. the 1st 2/3rds were tolerable. the last portion i started to get hungy, tired, and just wanted to get off of my bike. my legs felt fine, i think i was just run down. unfortunately it is not too easy to just "turn around" on that course and go home. overall i felt pretty good, better than i thought i would. not a couple more months of training and i will feel even better.

graduation is tomorrow night. i am hoping to keep up my tradition of going on a long bike ride the day of graduation. but oh wait, what is the forecast for tomorrow? yup you guessed it. rain.

yea, its still raining, even delaying just a little by trying to write this didn't really seem to help. oh well. maybe later. i guess i'll do a nice rainy day activity and try to sort through some of my pictures from my last trip.