Ironman

Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles, and brag for the rest of your life. I had seen the commercial long before I ever dreamed of doing an Ironman. Just three years ago when I started experimenting with sprint triathlons, I hadn’t ever dreamed of what it would take to prepare myself for such a test. Triathlon was a way to stay in shape during the summer by mixing up my training. Well, the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and I was out of college. Suddenly I realized triathlon was not just a hobby but a way of life. I now dream of being one of the best triathletes, a bold goal but my hope is that my stubbornness over the next 10 years of training can lead to great things.
When I look at the best triathletes in the world, it is easy to see they are not in their twenties but instead their thirties. So now here I am trying to make my mark, get my start and see what I am made of. I decided back in January that I wanted to complete at least one full ironman soon. Not trying to say I want to pick the full ironman as my distance, but instead I want to see who I am. An ironman is more than just a race, it is a test. It is said that the toughest test a human can put his body through is a full ironman. Sounds good to me, I enjoy pain, I enjoy a challenge, I enjoy showing people just how crazy I am. So once I moved back to Colorado I began my training at elevation and training for the Vineman Ironman: 60 days at elevation, 28 miles of swimming, just over 1,000 miles of cycling, and 386 miles of running.
The day of reckoning is here, and I have now finished my first ironman. To be completely honest, I am very bummed with how slow my time was. At just 10 miles into the bike section of the race, I was going through an aid station when a man dropped a water bottle right in front of me causing me to hit it and lose control. I swerved to the left and unclipped but just enough to twist my ankle a bit, then turned the bike right where I fully lost balance and fell around just 18 mph. I sacrificed my knee and right side of my body to protect the bike to ensure I could finish the race. With the help of another man I was able to get up but took about 10 minutes to get going again because I was bleeding/bruised/and had managed to crush my boys into the bike. I keep thinking back to how I crashed during the bike race, and how much it took out of me.
Finishing an Ironman is a huge deal, and that in itself is enough to make me smile. What really makes me smile are a few things: my mom came all the way out to California, and at one point when I had started to walk, I saw my mom and she walked with me till I could run again; next was the older gentlemen who stopped when I wrecked, picked my bike off of me, and waited around till I was able to get my wind back; after that, I watched another guy wreck, and I waited for him and we finished the bike and much of the run together bleeding and just talking; and the final thing was God. They say to make sure you are following God and not the other way around. Well, today I saw him all over the course, and at one point I was quoting scripture aloud to kind of stay sane. 12+ hours is a long time to be alone with one’s thoughts. After my finish, I collapsed and they immediately took me away on a stretcher to look after my wounds and to rehydrate me. Once again my mom was there, and I was so truly blessed to have her along. This race did not go according to plan, it went much longer. However, I now can say I am an Ironman, and I had to go through the toughest day of my life to accomplish it. 58 days of training in Colorado, 30 miles of swimming, over 1000 miles on the bike, and 385 miles of running for just one race. I can’t wait to sleep!

4 Minute PR

When it comes to personal records, it is very hard to be discouraged when there is improvement. With a four minute PR, I would be pleased, but I realistically believe I am another five minutes faster than I showed today. My actual bike split was over a minute slower than last year and with the amount of time I have spent cycling compared to last year I find myself very discouraged. In workouts I am putting in more miles, faster times in all of them and feel as fit for triathlons as I ever have.
After my past two races I have felt recovered within just a few minutes as though I am ready to start over and do it again. My conclusion is that training for a full Ironman and competing in Olympic distance triathlons are not a good mix to see success. July 31st I believe with all the hours on the bike, the two-a-day runs, and the smell of chlorine coming off my skin even after I shower due to how much time I am spending in the pool will all pay off with a great race. Even though I am looking forward to the Vineman Ironman, I also look forward to next summer where I can focus on more than one race while bringing home some much needed success. I owe a special thanks to Jim Hallberg for once again allowing me to stay at his house and his coaching has helped me to another personal record.

Qualified

My birthday came and went without much of a celebration, but instead a weight of another race on my mind. With two bad races in a row, I was hoping that the Loveland Lake to Lake Triathlon would be the start of the season I had hoped to have.
As the race began, I felt very relaxed in the ankle deep water. I knew my parents were there to support me, my great friend Adriane had come up to the race to support me as well. Along with the support, I had also been having great workouts leading up to the race. The swim was not as fast as I would have liked, but it was still a PR for 1500 m. This was due in part to more time in the pool, but also my amazing Xterra Vendetta wetsuit contributed. As I took to the bike, I never truly got into a rhythm that felt really comfortable, although my time was also a PR for this course. True Olympic Distance triathlons have a 24 mile bike portion, but this one has a 30 mile bike course. The run went well, not great, just good. My run is becoming less of a blowout for me because my training has divided up my time, and I am becoming better at the other two disciplines. As a whole, with a long bike course, my time was not an Olympic Distance PR for me, but for this course it was a PR. My final time was 2:33.19. When the race was over, I placed 4th in my division which secured the last qualification spot for USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. Whether I compete in the race or not will be determined after my full Ironman, I am still excited to have a qualifying mark. The next race on my schedule will be the Boulder Peak, which I finished previously in 2:24. I hope to drop that time by 10 or more minutes.

That Hurt a Little

I survived the Kansas Half Ironman, but it was not what I had hoped. Going into the race, I felt very prepared. At first, I was nervous about taking several days off after my fall on Pikes Peak, but then realized I had been almost over training and could use the rest. I thought with a time of 4:42 last year, that this year I would have a much better race since I had been actually training for it. My hopes of breaking 4:20 failed miserably. The swim went great in the new Exterra Wetsuit; the Vendetta is a fantastic wetsuit. Getting onto the bike, I felt fine until mile 35ish when the nausea crept in. During the rest of the bike ride, I felt exhausted and like I was on the verge of throwing up. As I started the run, I thought things were turning around. I averaged 6 minutes flat for 7 miles; then, I began dry heaving about 4 times per mile. Anytime I tried to drink water or Gatorade I would throw it up about 100m down the course. From then on, I fell to over 9 minute miles and sucked on ice chips between dry heaves and poured water on me to try and keep cool. When the finish line finally approached, I was limping because of my knee and barely staying up with the cramps and dry heaves. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I collapsed in pain and was carried off. The Navy Medical officers who were working the med tent were concerned that I was shivering so much that it was the start of a heat stroke. They immediately hooked me up to an IV and tried to warm me up. After the first IV drained into my arm, I became warm and they then had to try and keep me cool. After over two hours in the med tent, I finally started feeling good again. The drive home was far from fun, but I made it home and had never been so happy.
Two races down- the first one involved mechanical error, the second one was my error. I am not fond of making excuses for bad races, so I will put it plain and simple. I had a bad day; I truly hope my season turns around at my next race in Loveland. Thanks for all the support.

Summer

Summer is here, and I am in Colorado! I wasn’t here three days before I was on Pike's Peak doing a workout. After the workout was over, I headed down from Bar Camp. On the way down, a dog without a leash jumped out in front of me causing me to trip and rip open my knee and palm. I lucked out by not getting stitches, but I was unable to run or really bend my leg in any way for four days. Yesterday I got out and ran 5 miles and did an hour bike ride with a bit of discomfort. Each day brings more healing as I get closer to the Kansas Half Ironman this Sunday.
Christmas morning?!! Nope, it's just June 2nd but today I received a package from Xterra Wetsuits. It was a few shirts and the Vendetta Wet Suit! It is a lot like Christmas when you know what toy you will be getting, but you cant play with it for a few days. I already know it is one of the fastest tri suits on the market or if not, awful close. As I am a sub par swimmer, I always have to make up time in the bike and a lot in the run. With another year of swimming under my belt and the best wet suit, I hope to get myself out of the whole that I tend to dig. Thank you Xterra for the wetsuit, and I look forward to a great Half Ironman this weekend.

Gain of Confidence

This past weekend I decided to test my fitness. After having such terrible luck in Richmond, I wanted to see how ready I was physically for the upcoming summer race season. So, I decided Friday night that I would wake up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday and drive to Wichita to run the 10K River Run. Although there were around 3,000 runners, I managed to get out and run a 33:40 which placed me third. It was a very windy race, and I ran a somewhat stupid race, blocking the wind for over a mile for the guy who ended up getting second. I was very pleased to realize that with a bit of peaking, I would have run in the 32's, and if I wasn't dividing my training time with swimming and cycling, and if instead I just focused on running, I would be under 32 min for 10K. That thought made me very happy. If I can run under 34 minutes and hit 60+miles of running, 150+ miles of cycling and 4 swim workouts in a week, I am ready to have a great summer!

Hard Work is No Match for Bad Luck

The trip had been made from Kansas to Richmond, Virginia. As the evening rolled on, I had checked my bicycle in and headed to Panera for my pre-race ritual of eating a nice big soup in a bread bowl. I placed my order, only to have them tell me they were out of bread bowls... wouldn't say I am superstitious, but I really wanted a bread bowl. So I smiled and threw some charm at them, and they decided they could cut a hole in a loaf of sour dough bread, making me the largest bread bowl in the history of Panera. Success!
Beep... Beep... Beep... my alarm is going off, and I am out of bed ready to race. The race wasn't scheduled to take place until 9:30 a.m., so it wasn't an early morning. I double checked the bike and got everything set up and felt like today was my day.
The race is on, and I am off with the leaders. Knowing that my strength is my running, I wanted to get a little gap from the top cyclists. I came into the first transition at 16:34 feeling really relaxed in a pack of 8 guys. I hopped onto my bike and was rolling... BUMP!!! and my aero water bottle bracket cracked.... BUMP!!! lost my water bottle within the first mile. Hope I don't get thirsty. As the race went on, I was in my first lap still and hit the crease where the bridge comes together and got a squish flat on the front wheel. Hopped off the bike and got it changed in under five minutest and went from 4th place till nearly last. As the race went on, I saw more and more people walking with bikes who were getting flats. I was using so much energy trying to work my way back into the race slowly catching guys. POP! on the third lap, same bridge I got a SECOND flat tire on the front wheel. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! Luckily I had two tubes and two CO2 canisters. Hopped off and began fixing the second flat knowing I was nearly done. I decided to keep the tube not that it would probably do any good, but who knows with my luck. I finished the bike with a time of 1:12, knowing the flats alone cost around 11 minutes, not counting the effort wasted trying to catch up and just mentally being Destroyed!
Finally, I was off the bike and running again. Running, not really catching anyone, made it very hard to stay competitive. I ran a 18:55 for the last 5k. All I could think about was finishing. As I came to the finish line still with my tube, I held it up praying that this was the last of my bad luck.
All in all, the race was a success. It was my first duathlon national championship. I also learned that without the 11 minutes spent changing tubes, that would have been the difference in qualifying for Worlds in Scotland. I came, I saw, I learned, I gave everything I had, but most importantly I finished! Thanks to Brooks for giving me shoes to rock my run, another special thanks to ONETRI.com for hooking me up with the coolest uniform and the most comfortable cycling shorts. One more thanks to everyone who cheered and prayed for me. Without the support of my friends and my brother being here today, I would have most likely walked off the course. Thanks!