Mock Triathlon @ my house!

I love triathlon, I love to swim, bike and run and if I could I would like to do it every weekend. "If I could", but I can't, I just don't have the time to travel to all of the locations and on top of that gas is $4 bucks a gallon and then many times hotels are involved and well it can get expensive. But the real underlying truth is I just can spare the time away from the family.

So what am I going to do…

I've decided to put on my own triathlon in my own backyard.

My neighborhood has a lap pool, so I got the swim thing covered and that always the hardest part. I've got endless rides and run courses, so I can pick all of the hills and complain about them during the race. Post race I can drink my own beer and eat my own hamburgers and float around the pool (quick shower before implied). And best of all I get some of my pals to come race it with me, some that have raced before, and better yet I might get a few newbie's.

Because of commitments to family plans I cannot attempt the first annual "Fat B(astards or itches)'s tri club" (borrowed from Wes, as he coined the phrase) triathlon until June 14 or 15.

If anyone would like to join me for a free backyard triathlon and beers in two weeks let me know. I am open to all suggested distances but I can tell you Iron might be out of the question this time.

Post a comment or email me at try2tri@gmail.com.

Train smart, race strong,

-Brian

Wave pool:

Not too much going on here, I am still recovering from my race. LOL.

I took it easy this weekend, I got in two runs and some weight training and that's about it for active recovery.

This weekend was a bit crazy, we took it easy on Saturday, but Sunday we headed to the local water park for some big time waves in the ol' wave pool.

We always have fun at the water park. Last summer we went about 10 times, and Emily my 9 year (8 year old then) old and I would bring the swim goggles and float around in the deep end of the wave pool and dive for whatever we could find.

I know this year Emily is starting to discover life as a per-teen, I get a roll of the eyes from time to time, and when I can't find the phone I know who to see. This is the time in her life where she will discover new things for good and bad, she will learn about money, and how it's made and spent. She will learn about things that we've tried so hard to protect her from, (mostly from the boys and the mall), and she will start growing up, and this scares the heck out of me. Just the thought of my sweet little girl being turned into a teenager keeps me up at nights.

But the wave pool is a great place; it's a magical place where time stands still.

Emily is very much like me in so many ways and it's kind of funny to see myself in a 9 year old girl (you know what I'm trying to say), but I can and love it. We both love the wave pool, and for some reason, not too many people like to be in the very deep end of the wave pool, so it's just the two of us many times, performing ticks for the tourists. No tubes, no noodles, no vests and no flooties, but just us, swimming and diving and floating on our backs, floating on the big ones. I can see Emily feels some big time pride for swimming in the deep end with dear old dad, diving for quarters and being bounced around like cork while the crowd looks on. She grabs me around my neck and we dive below to grab a quarters and swim around making faces at each other. She will get older and discover those darn boys and the mall (I know she found the mall, thank her mother for that one), but for now we have the wave pool.

I cannot forget my little one Mary, she's 5 and she will swim with me in between the wave sets without a vest from the shallow end to the deep end and back giggling all the way. She too will be a terrific wave pool swimming doing tricks for the tourists in the years to come.

Watch out boys, because my pair of girls are pretty and tough.

Folks, it's not about the race, it's about the journey.

-Brian

Back to business:

OK the 'A' race is over and I had a blast, but it's time to start picking out the rest of the season.

I've been trying to feel out the wife to see that her pain threshold might be for my race and training schedule to come. So for now I am going to pick one race per month and make a calendar where I can pin it up in the house so that there will be no surprises.

So what I do I think I want to do for distances and events? Well I think I would like to do some Olympics, I think that I might be suited to this distance for a number of reasons.

• Training, I think for the next 6 weeks or so I can keep training hard and still have plenty of time for the family vacations and obligations.
  
• Distance, I know I could race next weekend and not have to taper down or spend too much time recovering.
  
• Day trips, The Olympic events are more popular that half iron races and I should be able to find a few that are close to home.
  
• Cost, 70.3 Florida was an 'A' race on my wallet, and with summer here my wallet needed to recover.
  

Events that might work for me:

• June 14, 2008 -Olympic- The West Point Lake Triathlon, LaGrange, Georgia
  
• July 13, 2008 -Olympic- Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon, Chattanooga, Tennessee
  
• Aug 31, 2008 -1k/30k/8k- Callaway Gardens Triathlon, Callaway Gardens, Georgia
  
• Sept 28, 2008 -Half Iron- South Carolina Half, Ninety Six, South Carolina
  

This is a quick list, and subject to change, pending the spousal approval. LOL.

I think I might be able to one more for some time in August, so if you know of any good races let me know.

So in my immediate plans, I would like to find a new HIM training plan, something with some longer bricks and maybe a little more run focused then most. I need to also be able to work in at least two full body workouts per week and a real stretching program. I also see a need to drop a few pounds, I've been pretty stable with my thyroid so I really have no more excuses, and so if someone wants to buddy up for the biggest looser contest let me know.

That's all for now, have a nice long weekend.

Train smart, race strong,

-Brian

Ironman 70.3 Florida Race Report Part 1:

I'm going to write my race report in stages because I'm sure I'll forget something the first time and want to make an update.

It was Thursday May 15; I'm still a little sick and a little tired. I washed my bike and made a few final adjustments then packed the car. I went over my large check list to make sure I packed everything. I felt good about having everything so I headed off to bed.

It was Friday May 16 at 05:30 when my alarm went off, as I laid in my bed the fact that my race was just a few days away started to scare me. Not that I was afraid of it, but that it was so close and I'd have to put up or shut up. I've trained for 18 weeks and it was time to go, so I jumped out of bed and showered as quietly as I could. I tip toed into the kids room and gave them a kiss on the forehead, kissed my wife and left for my 500 mile drive. I was going to meet Eric at the Orlando Airport @ 02:00pm. Jumped in the car and started on my way, I had one small traffic issue, a car had knocked down a power pole and Rt. 78 was closed! The police had to divert us thru a parking lot, so I lost a few minutes but I was still on schedule. I made the dive in a good time and got to the airport as planned, I picked up Eric out front and we headed to the hotel so we could drop of all of our stuff. As we drove to the hotel we got to catch up a little, it had been a year since we got to hang out.

We unpacked the car and headed over to Disney to check in and pick up our race packets. Because it was Friday and the masses hadn't arrived yet check in was smooth and I we got to check out most of the tents. I picked up a new Zoot tri top and race belt and checked out the many Ironman branded nick knacks they had for sale. While we were looking at all of the tri crud I got Wes on the phone and got his location and made plans for dinner. We had a very nice dinner at Carrabba's with Wes, Dee Dee, Eric any myself. I think we were all excited about the race and a little spent because of all the travel. We said goodnight to Wes and Dee Dee and we headed back to the hotel to unpack and get some sleep.

Saturday May 17^th, We woke up and got some breakfast and just hung out and catching up on current events and reminiscing about the old times. I should also add that Eric and his wife Sara are both training for Ironman Lake Placid on July 20^th, so much of the time I was asking questions about training and was training going. After breakfast we drove the bike course to get a firsthand look at the route and see where these hills where. I did not see anything that look too tall just a from miles of rollers, so I felt much better, I have been training on much bigger hills. We finished up the drive and got to the Ironman village. Eric had shipped his bike so we went over to pick it up and get in a small 30 minute ride to work the legs a little and make sure the bikes where ready for the race. Once we got back into the village Wes had called and asked if we wanted to meet for lunch, we were both hungry so we checked out bikes into transition and we met Wes, Dee Dee and Kate for lunch at Davey Crockett's Tavern for a large lunch. After a nice lunch I looked at my watch and it was only like 3:00, but it felt like bed time, I think the long drive was getting too me. Soon we parted ways and Eric and I headed back to the hotel to drop our stuff off and get ready for a short run. We both got in a run, me 25 minutes and Eric ran 45 minutes, we headed to the hotel pool for some time to float around and just relax. After an hour or so at the pool we got cleaned up and went out for dinner and one beer (you know for good luck). We got back to the hotel and laid our transition bags, watched a little TV and just took it easy.

Sunday May 18^th, We woke got ready and drove to Disney parking lot and took the bus over to where the race was, the line for the busses about a 500 people deep, but it moved quickly. Once on site we headed to transition dropped our bags and got body marked. We got back to transition and set up all of our stuff and made our way to the beach. Once we got down to the beach we found Wes and Dee Dee, I was glad to see them, Wes and I have been training and looking forward for a longtime. So we all hung out on the beach and got to see the pros go and a few waves take off. With about 10 – 15 minutes to go I started getting butterflies in my stomach about the swim, I knew I could make it, but my head was starting to play tricks on me. I needed to clear my head and focus, so I stepped away from Wes and Eric to try to center myself and watch the swim. This is the point where I lost Wes (sorry bro I didn't mean to), but they were calling my wave (red caps) and I need to get into the staging area.

The Swim:
I looked ahead and the furthest buoy looked real far, the water was dark, it still was a little dark, fear was trying to get a grip. The poor person that didn't make it out of the water at last week's Gulf Coast was on my mind and I could feel myself tighten up. With a quick blast of the horn I decided to Hardened The F%^& Up and jumped in the water and swam my butt of. I swam in the back and off to the side for most of the first leg, it took 300 meters or so before I felt my rhythm. The more I swam the better I was feeling, so I pulled inside a little more and started to swim more with the other swimmer and not in the boonies. I bumped a few times but nothing that caused me to lose my focus so I just kept going. I swam freestyle 100% of the time and only had to stop once for 1 or 2 seconds so a traffic jam could clear, I was real proud of my swim, this was a huge improvement from last year. I got out of the water in 41:19ish (my watch time) and made my way to T1, with a big smile on my face.

T1:
I got into transition and dried myself off a bit, my feet were covered with filth from the run up, it would have been nice if they had some trays with water for dunk and go. I had remembered to bring a bottle of water in past races but I left this off my list. I sat down and while I was cleaning my feet I called home and left a message I was out of the water, I know Maria was worried about the swim, so I didn't care about the extra minute in T1 if it made her feel better. Everything else was fine, but I forgot put out my chest strap and I had to search my bag for it. I grabbed my bike and ran to the mount line.

The Bike:
I mounted up and started riding, having fun, thinking about the swim still, boy I thought I swam good. I made my way out on the course and started drinking and eating as much as I could. This was my first time riding with my aero bottle and I found it real easy to drink from and refill. At about 5 miles into the ride my pedal or bottom bracket was making some noise, everything felt tight but the sounds where not that calming, I had the thought that if the BB was toast I would be done. The noise continued for another 10 miles or so and just worked itself out; I thought that was nice of my bike not to toss its cookies. I hit the first mile maker, mile 15 and I had 15.2 on my computer, I thought that was close enough, and I found that at every 15 miles or so I was that same .2 miles off, so first I was off .2 then .4 and then .6. During the first 30 minutes life was pretty good on the bike, but after that my lower back muscles started to get real sore and I could not ride in the aero position. If I rode up right my back felt better, so much of the last 2 ½ hours where spent in a less than ideal position. It was getting warm I had some sweat dripping of my head but just about when it was hot the rain rolled in and boy I started smiling. I knew the rain would make things a little messy, but it would cool it down and that's what we all needed. Once I got past the hilly section the rain stopped and I felt like I was on the home stretch. I think the bike was about 1 to 1.5 miles long, my computer was accurate for the other mile markers but in the end I was over, I had it as 58+. Eric passed me on the bike, said he was doing good and took off, I got to see he once more on an out and back section. I missed Wes all together, I guess he got out of T1 before me.

T2:

Once I got to T2, I ditched the bike, changed my socks and shoes, I was happy to have my long packing list that said extra socks for the run, drank some and grabbed a GU flask, my visor and headed out. I wish I grabbed some sun screen because I got a little toasted.

The Run from hell:
I ran out of T2 and needed to stop for a quick bathroom break, after that I ran for about 5 minutes and my right calf started to act up. I knew the run was going to be bad, and I knew I was going to have to walk part of the run so I hit the aid station and started to fill up, water, Gatorade, gels and cold sponges and ice. After 2 or 3 miles of walking with a few short runs tosses in Eric ran past me, he was on his seconds loop and said he was doing great. I was glad for him I knew he was training hard and he would just rip this race, he chatted for a bit and I said GO! Don't waste any time. My calf started to relax and my back was started to feel a little better so I started to mix in a few 2-3 minute run in with my much longer walks. Most people like to run and walk the aid stations, but I guess I like to walk and run the aid stations. I was really starting to feel a little sad that I wasn't running, I was feeling like a bit of a failure. But that didn't last long, I trained pretty hard, I gave up a lot to train, I gave up soccer games, lunch with the family and the list goes on, so I wasn't going to walk if I didn't have to. It was hot and I spent all on the swim and bike so I was ok with letting myself walk. I got past my time on the grass and got to the last paved section and ran most of the way into the finishing area.

The finish: I dug down and found a little for the end, not much, but enough to motor to the end. Thank you Wes and Dee Dee to waiting for me, when I turned the corner and say you two it felt great, it's been a long road bro. I got to slap hands and as soon as I left Wes and Dee Dee I could hear Eric yelling BMAC, or that's what I thing he was yelling, got another hand slap from Eric and headed down the last few meters to the finish. Hands raises for Joy, for the hard work, for the suffering, for the misses time with the family and for knowing that I can do anything if I work towards it.

Final thoughts:
I had a fear of the open water swim, so I focused much of my training on swimming and running was last on the list. I think I've put to rest my fear of OWS and my bike may not be 100% but I feel like I can really start to work on my running.

Thank you Maria, Emily and Maryelizabeth, without you guys none of this would have been possible. Thanks Wes and Dee Dee, thanks Eric I had a great weekend, and a race of my life (up to this point). Thanks to everyone at the office for putting up with me making them swim and run at lunch and listen to me blather on about triathlon.

-Brian

70.3 Florida is in the books:

I'm home (after a 7 hour drive).
I had a great weekend.
I'll write a post tomorrow and post up a few pictures tomorrow, but for now I need a shower and my pillow.

-Brian

70.3 Florida T-Minus 2 days:

As I write this post I'm looking at my countdown timer for the race and it shows 2 days 20 hours.

WOW, the excitement of it all is starting to set in and I'm starting to get really wired and the double strength Starbucks might be helping.

I've been sick much of the last 8 days but today I feel like I'm starting to come out of my coma!

So much to do and so little time, I need to start making my lists.

I can tell you I was starting to have some real doubts of just how I was going to finish my race. I've missed so many of my workouts in the last two weeks because of the cold it started playing with my mind a bit, you know the mental games your head can play with you. Do I have enough training in, how am I going to make the swim with a head cold, the bike, hell I might not make the swim and all the crazy thought that run through your mind subconsciously.

Now that my cold is breaking up and I'm feeling better each day, my outlook on the race is improving. I know I've got my training in (17 weeks) and sure I might have a little rust because of the last week or so but I know I'll get in some light workouts to break it up. My body is feeling good, I do not have that over trained "I can taste blood" feeling, and by Sunday morning I hope to be close to 100%.

Last night I washed my bike, dried it with a nice clean towel, lubed it up, made a few small adjustments and took it for a quick spin. Once I got back from my spin around the block I start on laundry patrol and washed every bit of workout gear I own, I'm still not sure what's going to get packed.

So today I'm working on printing out all of my directions, making my packing list and creating my schedule.

My race plan, this is something of guess and it's been changing day by day, but here goes.

The swim:

I am going to start the swim in the back and off the main line. It's my plan to take it in thirds, 1/3 go out slow and warm up, 2/3 work up to race pace and keep clear of any trouble, building some speed, the field should be broken up by then, last 3rd go for it, take it up a notch and finish smart.

The bike:

On the bike I'm going to try and stick to the same thirds theme. 1/3 get into my rhythm and get my heart rate under control, eat drink and be merry. 2/3 more of the same but if I'm feeling good start to turn it up a little when I can. I know around mike 30ish I might have some hills but that's ok, hills have been in all my training rides. And the last 3^rd, eat and drink, turn up the speed and start to mentally prepare for T2 and the run. I think the last mile or two I will slow it down a little and work on getting the legs loose.

The run:

This is where the unknowns are, I can run off the bike, but this will be my first time running this distance off a 56 mile bike and a 1.2 mile swim. Will the weather be the projected 91 degrees and humid. My hopes for the run are to run what I can and do whatever I need to finish the race. I know the course is going to be hard because of the heat and running surface and the fatigue that I'm sure to have, but I love a challenge.

When I cross the line I want to do it with a smile, knowing that I I gave it my all and I left it all on the course.

Good luck to all my fellow triathletes, I hope we all have a good and safe race.

Wish me luck.

-Brian

Five more days!

I've got FIVE more days until my race, oh how I've waited to this week to come, and now it's here.

I'm sick this week and I can't believe it, not just sick, but I need a pillow sick.

I when to see my doctor today and I have sinus infection, WTF doesn't my sinuses know I've got 5 days until my race.

So my Doc put me on Zithromax, Singulair and Claritin and an afternoon nap.

It's been a hard few days I missed my last three days of workouts and I feeling a little sad about it.

All this sickness came from my Brother in-law, dip shit, comes to my house for a week and tells me after I start with the runny nose he just kicked a cold.

I hope I've kept it contained, I do like to share but not this stuff.

Someone please say a prayer for me.

Ok, I'm off too bed.

Happy Mothers Day:

Happy Mothers Day Mom (Moms),
Thank you for teaching me to walk and run.
Buying me my first bike, and letting go that first time.
Cleaning all of my bloodied knees, elbows, hands and chin and that one time when I hit the fire hydrant and hit the stem of the bike with my manhood.
For teaching me to swim.
For the smiles I still smile.
For giving me life.

So Mom, thank you.

I love you,

Brian

Taper Time::

Monday was the official start to my taper and was to be a day off so I decided to run my hill 5 mile loop.

I know what you saying, I am a jackass, but this week I am having scheduling issues and I have to swap things around a little.

Life does not run on my training schedule I know this and I have had to swap something around each week, but I have made most of my workouts.

I'm still married, and my kids remember my name, so being flexible is the key to life, and I hope triathlon.LOL.

This week I'm working on the todo list:

• Clean bike
  
• Check out bike to stem to stern.
  
• Purchase new tubs and air cartridges aero drink bottle.
  
• Print out directions to Orlando and to the hotel, print out registration info and create an organized folder.
  
• Create my packing check lists for everything and a transition list.
  
• Relax
  

So my taper looks like this:

WK-17	Begin Taper	Begin Taper	Begin Taper
Mon			60 min p.m
Tue	(#15) 2500 yds a.m.
Wed		30 miles p.m.
Thur	(#9) 1500 yds a.m.		40 min p.m
Fri		20 miles p.m.
Sat	(choice) 1000 yds.		75 min p.m
Sun		50 miles a.m.
WK-18
Mon	(#7) 1500 yds a.m.		40 min p.m
Tue		40 miles p.m.
Wed	(choice) 1000 yds		30 min p.m.
Thur		20 miles p.m.
Fri	(Travel Day)	(Travel Day)	(Travel Day)
Sat	15 min. easy	15 min. spin	30 min walk
Sun	Race Day	Race Day	Race Day

The only thing that will be an issue is getting in a pre race swim it's not allowed.

But I think I might have found an answer to that issue and found a cult classic at the same time.

Check out: http://luckyslakeswim.com/

Train smart, finish strong,

-Brian

Sunday in Acworth:

Today was a great day, I met Wes and Dee Dee at Dallas Landing, but the park closed today, not sure what was going on. Wes knew of another place we could swim, so we turned it around and headed over to Acworth Beach.

We pulled in and I was psyched to about 30 TNT (Team in Training) triathletes doing a mock tri.

While at the beach I saw someone wearing the Zoot/GU tri top, so I introduced myself as a Zoot/GU team member, so out of the blue I got to meet Brian R.

We got to talking and Brian said he is going to race Escape from Alcatraz and Chattanooga River front tri and a few others, I told him my plans for 70.3 FLA, and that I Chattanooga looked like a race I needed to do.

So Wes, Dee Dee and I got our wetsuits on and jumped and started swimming, what a good time.

We all had a good swim, I really enjoyed the new wetsuit, it fit great and I was faster in it.

We got out of the water; I pulled off the wetsuit without any issues, dried off a bit, and got ready.

Got the bike out of the trunk and put the front wheel on, I got to talk to Brian a little more about racing, it turns out Brian raced IM Florida so Wes and Brian started talking about the race.

Dee Dee had to take off, so Wes and I got started, we rode the 12.5 miles loop 3 times and headed back. I liked most of the loop, there is a long section that's on Cobb Parkway this road is a little too busy for me, but when in Rome.

I stayed in the aero position most of the time and had a good time on the bike as Wes proceeded to kick my A$$, that guy can swim, bike and run.

Jumped off the bike stowed the bike and swapped out shoes and a bike jersey for a tank and started a slow run / walk.

This was the end of a great workout, and a great build up to the race, 16 week punched and 2 weeks taper, as I write this its 13 days to race day.

So here are the number:
0:20:00 Swim

0:10:00 T1

2:02:00 Bike

0:10:00 T2

0:30:00 Run

3:12:00 Total

I'll sleep good tonight.

Train smart, race strong,

-Brian

April 08 is in the books:

I started catching up on a few blogs, namely Wes and Kevin, and I saw that they were posting up number their number for April.

I like this, public record, keep me honest post, so here goes.

So my recap for April, the way I recollect it:

The big thing for me way my thyroid levels, I have had a little up and down with it, I was real low for awhile and it was hard to get going. Not that its 100% the fault of my low thyroid but I gained weight during March and the first half April. Add the increased volume of training and the fact that my thyroid was too low, I could add 3 lbs a week, and I just could not control it.

The last part of the Month we had out of town guests come for a week, good times. I did have to cut back on my training because I wanted to spend time with them and enjoy catching up. We spent much of the time dining out, and eating a little on the rich side, see my friends love steak (me too), and there on vacation so what the hell. With the cut back on the training and increased steak intake I've put on 2 lbs and it took me a week to get back to even.

I caught a cold, yup, didn't think I could at this late date, but I got one, and it knocked me down for a few days. It cost me a few key training sessions, but at the same time I was able to recover, so I like to look at it as a bye week.

I learnt a lot about stretching and what things I can do to speed recovery.

My Run, I finished my half mary on March 30, the Georgia ING, had a good race, but I was a little run spent afterwards. I've been fighting shin splints; so I've been stretching and trying to run on a treadmill when I can and keep things light. My running has been very lax, and I need to be a little more run focuses.

My bike was good, I had a couple of long rides and I feel like I'm starting the get some legs. Missing a long ride killed my numbers, but you got to do what you've got to do, and that's keeping balance in the house.

My swim, I can say I feel pretty good about the swim numbers. A few of my planned workouts got changed from drills to just straight swims; I did not have the energy to do a lot of the drills.

This month I got to swim 2.5k straight a few times and It really makes me feel good about myself and raises my confidence levels for the 1.2 mile OWS I've got coming.

So in recap, I need to thank the wife and kids, they have been very understanding of my quest to be a half ironman.

Bike: 13h 18m 26s - 255.5 Mi
Run: 11h 46m 21s - 54 Mi
Swim: 6h 32m 18s - 21300 M or 13.23 Miles

Train smart and finish strong,

-Brian