My Lame Triathlon Blog

CycleOps Power Sponsorship

2012-02-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce that I am now sponsored by CycleOps Power. My PowerTap has long been my favorite thing in the world and I have 3 CycleOps trainers. I am very happy to be sponsored by one of my favorite companies. Here is a picture of me and my family loving our cycleops products. 2 mats 3 trainers and 1 powertap.

The Seed and The Giver

2011-12-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

The seed starts out so small and frail
With so much potential, will he grow or fail
It’s a struggle form the start an all out fight
He needs soil, nutrients, water and light
He cannot do it on his own
To be a tall tree full grown
He needs the giver to straighten and build him up
To shine her light and feed him from her cup
The giver gives her whole life through
Serving is what she knows how to do
Never a thought for her own needs
Always involved in the noblest of deeds
Guiding the seed from the earliest age
It’s coach, it’s hero, it’s guide, it’s sage
The seed loves the giver for all she’s done
She is his soil, his nutrients, his water, his sun
Thank you giver for being so nice
I would never have grown without your sacrifice

It is Marilyn Woolston's (my Mom) 70th birthday today. She has spent those entire 70 years serving others. I am thankful for her, she is an amazing AMAZING lady. I am so glad that she raised me. My Father, my brothers and sisters and myself are all very blessed to have her in our lives. Thanks Mom for being The Giver!

Swimming focus paying off

2011-12-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

I have continued to have swimming as my primary focus, and I feel like it is paying off. I was happy to swim 4000 yards in 59:40 today (with a pull buoy of course), a significant improvement over my old PR. I happened to arrive at the pool today at the same time as David Warden. (David and I have a history with our swimming. We are pretty much exactly the same speed in the water and we are both competitive so some of my best ever workouts have come when I swim with Dave. A year or so ago we did a long set of 100’s killing ourselves side by side trying to beat each other only to touch the wall simultaneously on almost every 100. We looked like synchronized swimmers. Thrashing, exhausted, learned how to swim in our thirties, can’t catch our breath synchronized swimmers.) I told Dave I was doing a 4000 time trial and I wanted to break an hour. Dave offered to swim behind me for the first part of my 4000 today and I definitely swam faster with him right behind me pushing me. I looked at my watch after every 200 or 300 and I was going faster than I had planned, I thought I might be blowing myself up trying to pull away from David and I thought I might have started to fast. But luckily even though I did slow down after the first 15-20 minutes I was able to hold it together just enough to finish under an hour. Thanks David, you bring out the Mr. Hyde in me.

Iron War by Matt Fitzgerald: Book Review

2011-11-18T12:27:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Iron War by Matt Fitzgerald. I enjoyed the book.
It did not focus only on Mark Allen and Dave Scott’s great attributes. It showed their weaknesses as well as their strengths. For instance I had always heard about Dave Scott’s amazing discipline with his workouts and with his diet (like rinsing his cottage cheese). I was surprised to hear that he would go through depressive low points when he would stop working out and sit in his bean bag chair for days at a time and gorge himself on food. He once called Scott Molina to tell him that he skipped a workout sat down in his bean bag chair and ate 12 power bars.

Mark Allen is CRAZY, literally crazy. He sees visions, hears voices and he once had a nice chit chat with a deer while he was meditating by himself in the wilderness.

Dave Scott is CRAZY, literally crazy. He has an intense physical mental and emotional addiction to large amounts of intense exercise.

I will never even sniff the level of success of the two greatest Ironman athletes of all time, but I did see some of their less desirable attributes in me. I’ve never had a conversation with a deer but I can see a bit of Mark Allens weirdness in me. I also have Dave Scott’s addiction problem, the difference being that my addiction has taken different forms throughout my life. (I have been addicted to football, missionary service, my job and now triathlon.) The biggest difference between myself and these two amazing athletes is they got paid a lot to do what they did. I on the other hand pay a lot to do what I do. I guess that makes me the crazier (less intelligent) one.

I recommend Iron War, it’s a very good book.

Swimming: I do not love it

2011-11-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

I need to improve a lot on my swim. Since Kona I have been steadily increasing my weekly yardage. This week I did 32,000 yards. I peaked out on Friday with a 10,000 yard day. For good swimmers that really isn’t that much but for me 10,000 is the farthest I have ever swam at one time. I started by doing 4,000 steady in 1:07:45, I was pretty slow for the first 1,000 but then I stayed just under 1:40 per hundred for the rest. I then did the main part of my workout, a 4,000 yard time trial as fast as I could go. I did it in 1:02:50. I ended up averaging about a 1:34 per hundred for the whole time. I was pretty tired at this point. I then did 5 200’s on a 4 minute send off. I averaged 3:00 per 200. Then I did an easy 1,000 to finish it off. I hope that doing a lot of yardage at a fast pace (fast pace relative to my ability) will help me find that elusive “feel” for the water. I’m also trying a psychological trick. I have never really loved swimming. For a long time I felt that I needed to develop a love or a passion for swimming in order to get better, so I have tried to mentally force myself to fall in love with swimming but it just is not going to happen. I don’t love to swim but I think I have figured out a way to capture the next best thing to loving swimming. I do love to go down to my corner room of my basement and get on my bike. I love the feeling of pushing the limits of what I can do and I love to see the quantification of my improvement. When I think of doing a really challenging bike workout I can get that feeling like I will bash my head into a brick wall trying to break through. So before key swim workouts I imagine getting on my bike and I focus on that feeling and I try to apply that feeling to my swim workout. I hope that this will help me to have a swim breakthrough this winter. I am sick and tired of being so far behind after the swim. I am doing IronMan St George again in 2012 and if I don’t come out of the water before 59:59 I will be disappointed.

IronMan World Championships race report 2011

2011-10-09T01:14:00.000-07:00

Swim: I was disappointed in my swim I thought I should have been at least 2-3 minutes faster. I felt fast in the water so I was surprised to see the time 1:12 when I got out.

Bike: I felt great on the bike. My hip did not hurt at all. My heart rate was in the right range. I pushed hard for the first 4 hours and then took it down a notch for the last bit to get ready for the marathon. I biked a 4:44:14. This was the highlight of the day for me as things turned south on the run. I am happy that my bike is continuing to improve. I was glad to have a comparable bike split to some of the pros that I have looked up to.

Run: I felt really good running. My plan was to ease into the run and see how my hip handled it. It was working great and I was feeling like I could start to really get going down to a pace of around 7:00-7:15. But then I got to the hill on Palani. Running up hill must have really engaged the damaged tissue because it absolutely zapped my hip. My hip was painful, but the worst part of it was my glute. Where my glute connects to my hip was giving out. So after 12 miles I quit.

This is my 5th Ironman and the only one that I have not finished. It was tough not finishing. I thought about trying to walk the last 14 miles just to finish, but walking hurt my hip as well and I thought it would be better to not aggravate whatever I have hurt in my hip. I came into the race in the best run shape I have ever been in, but then last week I fell off my bike and banged up my hip. It is very disappointing to have my race end this way but luckily I let things go pretty easily. When I played football I played to win like the world would end if we lost, but when we did lose it never really destroyed me. I remember losing a game and our star player was crying on the bus and I didn’t understand. To me it’s like we lost it stinks but it’s over it’s done let’s learn from it and move on. That’s how I feel about this. I am not devastated. In the grand scheme of things it means nothing at all. Megan and I are excited to get home, be with our kids and attend to the more important things of life.

IronMan World Championships Race Plan

2011-10-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

I like words. I have special words that I repeat over and over to myself. They all mean basically the same thing. My words that I use change over time and they vary quite a bit. “Fight” is a word I have used a lot along with “die, Kill and death”. (My youngest girl gets mad at me when she catches me saying these words, she tells me “you only say that downstairs” meaning when I am downstairs training). Now fight, die, kill and death are not pleasant words but I also have nice words, I have used the words “peace” and “sometimes” quite a bit. These words all have a similar meaning to me. In different ways they all mean GO! Lately I have liked the words super massive and supersonic. My race plan for The Ironman World Championships is to go harder and faster than I have gone in the past. This poem describes how I want my race to go.

It is time to go supersonic
Time to kill like the plague bubonic
From deep inside feel the sonic boom
Bursting out with a humming zoom
Let it come, allow it to flow
Hear it whisper,” it’s time to GO!”
Clear the mind, no need to think
Finding speed beyond the brink

It’s Time to go super massive
Be insane reject the passive
Lose your mind breaking through
Destroying limits is what to do
Push the brain past what it accepts
Making smoke of its past precepts
Emerging through the ashes all brand new
The super massive breakthrough is part of you

The big question mark for me in this race is my hip. I fell off my bike a week ago and bruised my left hip. It hurts a little to run but I hope it’s the kind of thing that will go away as I run rather than the type of thing that gets worse as I run. So my expectations are very broad. I can see myself having a very fast race but I can also see myself having to drop out of the run if my hip is bad. I hope to go super massive and supersonic the whole race, hopefully it works out.

Dreams and Reality

2011-10-05T15:44:00.001-07:00

For me I have seen the most success in my life when I can simultaneously accept the reality of a situation while still believing that I can conquer that reality and Improve. In working with others I have noticed that the Dreamers usually fail because they do not accept the reality, they just focus only on their belief. The Realists fail because they focus on the dire situation of reality and aren’t inspired by what could be. I believe that to achieve a high level of success in any endeavor you must max out both your realist side and you dreamer side. I don’t think that the word “balance” is any good in describing the relationship between these two concepts. Balance denotes giving up a little bit of one thing to “balance” the other. Just do both of these things to your best ability. Max out your belief while embracing your life’s reality. I was thinking about this concept on my flight to the Ironman World Championships. I was really bored so I wrote this poem to describe how I feel about the dynamic between Dreams and Reality

Two truths I present to you
Radically different in their view
First: Our universe has laws by which its run
Nothing goes faster than the light of the sun
I can’t flap my arms and fly
Never, no matter how hard I try
Second: Dreams inspire and lift us higher
They make impossible an ugly liar
Using broken laws to fuel dreams fire
Overcoming the Universe by Pure Desire
But what happens when Dreams and Reality collide
When Laws face off against our believing side
Just embrace and accept the laws present state
Still believing in your dreams triumphal fate
Because reality is law but can be bent a bit
We can twist and mold it to make dreams fit
But where’s the line tween laws failure and dreams glory?
............. You decide, ......... this is your lifes story

Kona's Call

2011-10-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Kona's calling us to its fight
Whispering its song day and night
Listen to its pide piper tune
Leading us back it's coming soon
Hopes and dreams will either rise or fall
As we march to the beat of Konas call

I leave tomorrow for the Ironman world championships in Kona Hawaii. I hope my "hopes and dreams" will rise not fall.

Utah Half Race Report

2011-08-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

I decided to do the Utah Half at the last minute. Kona is only six weeks after the Utah Half so I chose to just train through this race and not taper, as this is the prime time to put in the big training weeks for Kona. I was surprised that I felt great the whole day. I felt really good and never had a time in the race where I felt crappy. (Maybe I should not taper anymore). Heath Thurston and I started 2 minutes apart. He was in the Elite wave and I was in the first Age Group wave. (Heath was not allowed to wear a wetsuit but I was, not very fair to Heath). Someone told me that I was 9 minutes behind Heath after the swim. At the time I thought we started 5 minutes after them so I was stoked. (I later learned it was only 2 minutes, I have great time perception), Heath had a very fast bike ride and I came in around 2 or 3 minutes behind him. I ate into his lead slightly on the run and at the halfway point, I picked up my pace and was running between a 5:55 and 6:25 pace most of the last half of the run. Heath slowed the last few miles and I passed him at an Aid Station. I was able to win the race in 3:58. Heath is such an awesome guy, He has been very generous helping me develop over the last two years, it’s ironic but I probably would not have won if he hadn’t been helping me to get better. I wish B.J. Christensen would have done the race, he very well could have beat me but I would like to have seen how close it would be. Great job to everyone who participated, It was a hot day and I saw a lot of folks who really pushed themselves. My most wonderful wife Megan brought our 3 kids to watch the race and it was really awesome to give them all fives as I finished. Having my kids be proud of me was the biggest highlight of the race. They kept saying “Dad you won”.

Lisa Forsey's Flame

2011-08-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

My neighbor Lisa Forsey passed away yesterday. She was a wonderful lady who battled brain cancer. She left a great family including two teenage children. I thought about her all day today. She was very kind and loving. She was a good friend to my wife and I remember her being so pleasant to be around. She was and is a great example to me of how to live your life. I started writing this poem years ago and have changed it from time to time but the poem summarizes my thoughts of her life. This season is over for her and she moves on toward a never ending Spring. She has a bonfire of a flame that continues to burn bright, powerful, confident, strong and true.

The flickering flame burns small but bright
Its little glow surrounded by autumns night
The flame must either die or grow
Which it will do we don’t yet know
The winds will attempt to blow it out
And rain will try to drench it with doubt
Its fate is uncertain but in its control
If it wishes it will grow strong and full
It can burn as a bonfire in the deep, dead of night
Not a flickering flame but powerful strong and bright
Your flame may be small but it’s up to you
To flicker out or to burn strong and true
As you pass through this tough season
Remember we're all here for a reason
Build up your own personal inner light
Keep it strong through the dark of night
Feed your flame with positive thought
Press forward and give life all you’ve got
And when this short season fades away
The warmth of the fire will always stay
In a never ending spring it will be with you
Burning powerful confident strong and true.

Struggling for the big breakthrough

2011-07-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

Green Grass

I need to reap the harvest of that great green grass
But it’s on the other side and need to bridge that pass
In the end it’s what you sow that you’ll reap
So I have been putting in the effort but I keep
Waiting for that breakthrough that hasn’t come
Like the freezing grass hoping for the morning sun
That touches grass like skin by a surgeon’s knife
Turns it a deep shade of green and brings new life
Wanting to see performance jump through the roof
But so far I can’t find a whole lot of proof
That would lead me to belief that I’ve got it in me
Keeping faith in the harvest though I can’t yet see
The reaping of green grass, and the improvement that follows
Swinging for the fences, feels like I’m swinging from gallows
Faith and hope make me think that I’ll make it
But the facts are facts and dreaming can’t fake it
Believing I can do it won’t bring it to pass
Reality can be a total pain in the grass
Cause it’s always greener on the other side
And from here to there the gap’s pretty wide

I need to have a big breakthrough soon or I am going to be really sad

Ironman 70.3 Boise Race Report

2011-06-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

I had the best swim of my life, a disappointing Bike, A disappointing first half of my run and then a good second half of my run.

Coming into this race I had a lot of really fast swim workouts so I thought I would have a good swim. I was lucky as I drafted off of the same guy the whole swim. I touched his toes one to many times and he did a quick turn to yell at me so I was careful not to touch his toes after that. Thanks whoever you are for helping me have a good swim. Sorry for touching your toes so much. I swam 31:10

After looking at my ASI photo's for IM St. George I thought that my bike position was pretty non-aero so I changed it for this race. I dropped my elbows down about 1 1/4 inch. I thought this would help me get faster, in reality I think it slowed me down, I guess the added aero benefit did not outweigh the loss of power due to the more aggressive position. I pushed it hard on the bike but I felt I should have been faster than the 2:15 I got. I don't know why I was slower than what I thought I should do, but I think my new position may have something to do with it. I’m going back to the old position.

I came into t2 first in my age group but was passed in the first 50 meters of the run. The dude was flying. I did not feel great and tried to keep him in my view but he kept pulling away. About halfway through the run I started to feel better and I really started pushing it. At the turn around with a little over 3 miles left I saw that I had gained on him, I kept my pace really fast and I got close to him just after mile 12. I decided to increase my speed and pass him as fast as I could so he would not try to stay with me, I ran past him at a sub 6:00 minute mile pace and he did not try to respond. I ended up beating him by 50 seconds. I talked to him afterwards and he told me what I thought, that he saw how fast I passed him and he thought there was no way of going with me. By passing this guy I won my age group. It was nice to run someone down at the end of a race rather than being on the receiving end like I have in the past. I ran 1:27:something.

So I had a great beginning to my race, a disappointing middle and a happy ending.

Triathageek Rap

2011-06-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

You are the pinnacle in endurance perfection
A three sport dork with a mental disconnection
Swim bike run, your Macca’s witness
Worshiping the idol of trifecta fitness
You are the One! The Only! The Triathageek!
Swim smooth , run fast and yo watts aint weak!
You wear spandex cuz you’re oh so fit
The ladies love it yeah every little itty bit
You shave your legs and unzip that chest
Cuz for ASI photo, gotta look your best
So far your midlife crisis is going just great
Don’t eat no treats gotta watch that weight
Cuz you’re the Tan the Titan the Triathageek
Swim smooth, run fast and yo watts aint weak!
You ride with deep dish rims, they’re pretty sick
You won’t settle for Hed, You’ll only roll ZIPP
You’ll blow a few G’s for 10 grams of drag
Yeah, your bike is phat, don’t mean to brag
You just don’t care, burn your money for time
Raid your kids college fund yeah they’ll be fine
You are The Pious! The Prudent! The Triathageek!
Swim smooth , run fast and yo watts aint weak!
Your wife’s so very lucky to have you for a mate
Been over two years since she’s gone on a date
The whole wide world just revolves around you
How you crushed the competition and P.R.’d to
Your massive midlife crisis is going just great
Not tonight, in bed early, got masters, can’t be late
You are The Soft! The Selfless! The Triathageek!
Swim smooth , run fast and yo watts aint weak!
You’ve got an ailment, An endurance addiction
Going big to fulfill your performance prediction
The sickness pushes you to the very edge
Give 100 percent right on thresholds ledge
It’s a major case of slow twitch Tunnel vision
A three trick killa, on a Kona collision
The top of the podium is what you seek
You got it brotha.... cuz you’re the Triathageek

I hope I did not offend anyone with this poem, I'm not mocking anyone but myself. I have to laugh at some of our triathlete culture. I love Triathlon and at the same time I have to be careful to keep perspective on what is most important.

I am very lucky, and I am an Idiot

2011-05-07T21:12:00.001-07:00

I am Happy with my IronMan ST George race, I have two dominating feelings first I feel incredibly Lucky, Second I realize that I was an Idiot in 3 instances.

I am so lucky. I’m lucky because when I got into Triathlon the first big time triathlete I ever met happened to be David Warden, I met David at a class he did previewing my first race, Icebreaker. David led me to people who could help me with my swim. Keena did such a great job of helping me to change my mechanics and made things make sense to me. Heath filmed me and showed me my glaring problems, It helped me progress by seeing how I needed to improve. Diane also helped me to push myself harder. There are many others that have given me great tips, Jason, Natalie and others gave me specific pointers that made a difference.

I am so lucky to have Power Tri as a sponsor. They made a world of difference for me in this race. They helped me get the 808 which handled the wind with ease and cut through it like a knife. They helped me get the perfect wetsuit. Nathan went above and beyond the call of duty optimizing my bike for the race. They are awesome people who are great friends and love this sport.

I am lucky to have great friends in triathlon, it was heartening to have you cheering me on at the race, it made a difference for me. Thank you for the cheers!

I am lucky to have a great employer. Thank You, Pinnacle Security for a great job that lets me be flexible, and be able to train the way that I do.

I am insanely, amazingly, wonderfully lucky to be married to Megan. It’s like this “Hey honey…um… I don’t want to work very much, I want to spend most of my time training for triathlon. It won’t make us any money in fact it will cost us an awful lot, so…. you….um… need to stop spending money”. She sacrifices in many different ways and I would not do this if she ever asked me not to, but she loves me doing it just as much as I love to do it. Thank You so much Megan!

Idiocy times 3

Idiocy #1 I pulled an Andy Schleck and dropped my chain. That’s what you get for never riding outside and slamming you shifter down. Confession: I swore. (I only swear when I race).

Idiocy #2 I got diarrhea on the run again, just like every other Ironman I have done. I had 7 months since Kona to experiment with anti diarrhea medicine and I just plain never did it so race day comes and I thought about it but I figured if I hadn’t tried it I shouldn’t do it. I only had one porta potty stop but it still made me mad. I don’t think I swore though. (I still felt bad about swearing with the chain drop.)

Idiocy #3 I forgot to cut my stupid toe nails, so my third toe dug into my second crooked toe the whole run and I finished with a bloody shoe.

Ok here’s my report

Swim: Felt great. Wish I could have consistently drafted, I got on some feet a few times but not for long. Wetsuit was great, water was perfect, Happy with my time 1:04:15

Transition 1: I ran as fast as I could the whole time, happy with my time, it was 2:40something I think.

Bike: Biked as hard and as fast as I could the whole time until the last part of snow canyon where I took it down just a notch. Came into t2 as the first amateur time 4:58 something

Transition 2: Same as T1 ran as fast as I could, I think I got a 1:48, happy with it.
Run: I led all amatuerss till about mile 6.5 I was passed in the porta potty. I caught the guy at about mile 13 and led again till about mile 19.5 when 2 guys passed me, then with less than 3 miles to go 2 more guys passed, 2 other guys were gaining on me quick, with one mile to go I picked my pace up, it hurt real bad but I held them off by less than a minute. At 95 degrees the heat got me, the second half of the marathon was tough. Time 3:26:26

GOOD: I won my age group and I took 5th overall for all amateurs. Only 12 pro's beat me.

BAD: I wanted to be 1st overall for all age groupers. Jason told me after the race that I was only 3 minutes behind the winner. (I want to swear right now!)

I actually am really happy with how it all went, crossing the finish line was like no other IronMan before, I felt like I had pushed myself better than my previous 3 IronMans. I am happy with the progress I am making.

Happy Anniversary Megan

2011-05-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

We're on this planet earth three rocks from the sun
Just little specks trying to get who knows what done
In a Universe that's 10 billion light years wide
With our lifetimes ticking and no where to hide
We're just here trying to figure it all out
How did it all start and what's it all about
Through it all I do know that something is true
I'm the luckiest little speck because I have you
I do not know how on earth I got you to be with me for this ride
Forever and ever two specks with love 10 billion light years wide

I am the luckiest guy in the world. My wife is willing to spend our anniversary helping me get ready for an IronMan in two days. Thank you Megan for the best 11 years of my life. You are the most amazing person. Thank you for everything. I love you a whole lot.

IronMan St. George Expectations

2011-05-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

As a kid my older brother and sister just above me in age were runners. Neither of them had the perfect build for it but they worked really hard and were good at it. My mom and dad ran for exercise and I was encouraged to run as a kid. My parents put me in a few 5k’s and 10k’s but I didn’t like running, in fact I had no desire to run, and I chose instead to play football. I loved Football and it became my singular focus, but I wasn’t that great at football. When I was 13-14 years old I decided that I needed to have really strong legs in order to get better so I started doing massive sets of squats2- 3 times per week. I would do 10 sets of 10 and then 5 sets of 5. In retrospect this was not the best protocol. I am lucky that I have good knees after putting myself through that (My Mom claims I would be taller if I hadn’t done it). Luckily my legs responded to this by getting strong, (I squatted 525 while in high school and eventually hit 705 in college). Football was everything to me and I was obsessed with the dream of making it in College and even the NFL. This dream drove and consumed me, and I loved the pursuit of it. I failed in my ultimate goal of playing in the NFL so my pursuit ended with the end of my college career. I took the singular focus that I had for football and pointed it towards my job until I did the St. George Marathon in 2008. I did OK finishing in 3 hours. I captured a little bit of the fire that I had as I had pursued my football dreams. I wanted to be really good at something athletic again, but I was too big to be a great runner being 200 pounds at the time. I looked at IronMan and thought “I might be good at that”. I thought, I can run but what about swimming and biking. I knew I could not swim but this was after the 08 Olympics with Michael Phelps and they talked about his size 14 feet and how they were his flippers. I thought well I have size 14 feet so if I learn how to swim I’ll be just like him. With biking I thought back to my days of squatting and even though my legs had atrophied, they were still big so I thought the strength would come back quickly. I started swimming and biking December of 08 and have loved the pursuit of becoming really good at IronMan racing. I love the training and tracking my progress towards becoming better. I hope to have a break-through performance on Saturday. I have high expectations for IronMan St. George, and I hope to meet those expectations.

140.6 naaaa 176.8

2011-05-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

The scale said 176.8 this morning. The last time a scale registered my weight at this level: I had not yet kissed a girl, I was desperately trying to gain weight, I was 2 inches shorter, my zits were a major concern to me, football and females were the two thoughts that dominated my mind and I never not in a million years thought that 18 years later I would be obsessed with getting lighter in order to perform better in an Ironman.

Bad News: I really won't weigh this much on race day. This was my morning post-major bowel movement pre-breakfast weight. My real race weight will be low 180's

Good News: I have still lost a chunk since Kona and I hope it makes a difference.

5 days till blastoff.

Goals:Failure Success Excuses Disclaimers

2011-04-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

In laying out my training plan for Ironman St George, I directed my training toward the accomplishment of some goals. I failed with some goals and succeeded in others. Here is how I did.

Swimming FAIL: Goal 1650 Yards in 23:59: April 20th I attempted this and only mustered up a 25:10. 25:10 is still a PR for me but not what I set out to do.
Excuse #1 I was tired. I swam 4000 epic meters each of the previous 2 days.
Excuse #2 I didn't shave my hairy face so the friction slowed me down.
Excuse #3 My swim cap split as I went to put it on so the no swim cap cost me many seconds per hundred.
Excuse #4 I don't have floppy ankles.
Excuse #5 I am a loser
On the bright side I have improved my long endurance. I have done a lot of continuous intense swims. It isn't great but I have worked it down to where I can hold a 1:45 per 100 meter for 3400 Meters with a pull buoy.

Bike 2 hour power Success: Goal: 2 hour average power of 345: February 11th I got 348. I got this one early, since then I have consistently had rides with good power.
Disclaimer: I am addicted to my trainer and don't know how to ride outside.

Bike 20 minute power FAIL: Goal: 20 minute average power of 400: My best effort was 389 on February 4th
Excuse #1 20 minutes all out is really hard
Excuse #2 Doing fast run workouts tears me up and makes it difficult for me to hit big numbers on efforts over threshold.
Excuse #3 The 389 that I got came as the best 20 minutes of an all out 30 minute effort. I could have done better had I just done 20 not the 30.
Excuse #4 This was a secondary goal to my running goals and my 2 hour power goal. My legs can only handle so much intensity and I had to cut something, so I cut out a lot of my real high power efforts.
I can't think of anymore bogus excuses, I just didn't get it.

Running Speed Success(mostly): Goal: 5x 1 mile repeats at 11 mph on the treadmill. April 20th I finally got this.
Disclaimer: I was supposed to jog a 1/4 mile between each mile. I did this jogging a 1/4 mile between each mile until after mile 4 I was wasted and I walked instead of jogged the last 1/4 mile before doing mile 5.

Running Endurance Success: Goal: 15 treadmill miles in 90 minutes. April 23 (with IM St George 14 days away)the last possible day I could attempt this I got it.
Disclaimer #1 It was on a treadmill and I just stuck it on 10 mph and held that.
Disclaimer #2 Near perfect conditions.I had the room temperature at 55 to start and it only raised 5 degrees.
Disclaimer #3 I had a system of 4 fans blowing on me. One of them a 650 watt blower used to blow up large inflatable slides.
Disclaimer #4 I stopped once (very briefly) to go poop.
This was my #1 goal, my highest priority. About 30 minutes into it I didn't feel great but the fans helped a lot to keep me from overheating and though it was very tough when I finished I was OK and not completely fried.

Weight: Goal Weigh 177 FAIL: I will probably get the scale to say 177 before May 7th but it will not be my true weight. It will be in the morning before I eat or drink and after my bowels have been completely emptied. I will probably have to spit in the toilet a few times to finally get it to say 177, but then I will be up over 180 after breakfast and a tall glass of water. I have lost some weight though.
Excuse #1 My body just does not want to get any smaller. I lost weight easily until I hit around the 190ish range and every pound lost after 190ish is a gazillion times harder than the weight lost before.
Excuse #2 It is a hard balance between fueling for performance and also cutting weight.
Excuse #3 I get hungry............and......I..eat.

St George Ironman 3 Weeks Away

2011-04-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

I procrastinated doing the St. George course this year until the last minute. I dislike traveling and I like the consistency of doing my workouts in my basement. I finally collected all my courage and spent last Friday and Saturday biking and running on the course in St George. It was good and I came away with a few thoughts.

#1 I still don’t know how to ride a bike. This was my first outdoor riding since I raced in Kona last October. It is a lot different than the trainer. I fell off of my bike only once in the two days so that is encouraging. I will get in some more outdoor rides here in the next two weeks to better adjust to actually riding a bike as opposed to the unchanging resistance, no steering, no bumps, smooth consistency of my trainer.

#2 I like my Zipp Firecrest 808. Thank you Power Tri for your help in getting me this very fast/stable wheel. It is the perfect front wheel for the St George course.

#3 Watch out for Heath Thurston. I spent some time biking with Heath and he is looking strong. I think that he is due for a great race. He’ll be way ahead after the swim; He is strong enough to still be in contention after the bike; He did a really fast 50 mile ultra run a month ago so the marathon should be a piece of cake for him; All together Heath is in a good spot to have a great day.

#4 I hope to do well on May 7th. My bike has improved since last year. My run has improved more than my bike has. I am hoping for a breakthrough race.

St. George Ironman four weeks away

2011-04-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

May seventh comes like a thug in the night

Will I be ready to throw down and fight

I hope that I can have a really great run

That I can handle the hills and the hot sun

Unlike before my three other Ironman Races

I have pushed the run at much higher paces

My bike has improved by around 20 watts

I realize that 20 is not really lots and lots

But I hope my drop in weight will help on the hills

I am still quite heavy, 20 pounds under two bills

My swim is better and my plan for icy sand hollow

Is a warmer wetsuit and to find fast feet to follow

I hope for a breakthrough race but we’ll see

Just what May seventh has in store for me

I obsess about results but they mean so little in the big view

It is a joy just to line up, give my all and through fire renew

My Lame Threshold Poem

2011-03-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

Every last fiber is firing right up to the brink
Try to turn off my brain I don’t want to think
Struggling to sustain the effort level
Wrestling with my inner quit devil
But, amid the pain I find my peace
Yet this elation has a short lease
For a time I am one with the swords edge
I’m close to the limit right at the cliffs ledge
My stay in this place is of terse duration
Its filled with both misery and exaltation
Then, I stop, the effort ends, and I leave this place
This abode, where I’m at one with time and space
Why do we love to see how far we can go
If you never feel it, you never will know

Yes, I have completley lost my mind. I just wrote a poem about doing 1x60 minute interval at 100% of FTP. What is wrong with me. I was just really happy about averaging 362 for the 60 minutes today. But seriously I truly have major mental problems. I can't believe my wife allows this type of behavior.

Seven Weeks Till St. George

2011-03-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

St George is now seven weeks away
I hope to do well but I can’t yet say
I dropped my miles and feel fresh not spent
I’ve cut my bike hours by about 30 percent
My swim is still really really bad
If Im close to an hour I’ll be glad
My run is where I hope to cut a chunk of time
I hope that you have liked this lame-O rhyme

Keena is smart I am stupid

2011-02-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

As we all know Coach Keena Schaerrer is immensely intelligent concerning all things triathlon. I have received and followed many nuggets of wisdom from her over the last 20 months. As a new triathlete her pearls of foresight have helped to straighten my crooked triathlon path. She has always harped on the importance of core strength. This is one nugget that I stubbornly ignored (thinking that improved core strength would not improve my performance) until a few months ago when I started to do upward leg lift exercises that target my core and hip flexors. I feel like the added strength has helped the upward lift of my pedal stroke. I believe that this is a contributing factor to my power improvement on the bike. I should have followed her abdominal admonition earlier. Keena’s smart I am stupidly stubborn.

Supersonic Quantum Breakthrough

2011-02-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

Well.... not quite supersonic or quantum but I did improve my 30 minute power by around 2%. I finally broke the 375 barrier with a 382 watts average for 30 minutes today. I also set new 15 (393) and 20 (389) minute records. It was nice. I hope that I can continue to improve my power. In other news Heath, and everyone else at Power Tri, are Awesome. I brought my bike in to get a 55 tooth chain ring put on for the downhill sections of ironman St George. Heath not only did a great job of putting on my chain ring but he also did a brilliant piece of work mounting a bottle cage to the back of my saddle. He saved me a bunch of grams and I am sure he improved my aerodynamics. I bet it saves me at least 37 1/3 seconds at St George. Everyone at Power Tri goes the extra mile, sooooo go online right now and buy lots of stuff from them. Even if you don’t need it just do it because they are really great people and I am sure you could always use an extra wetsuit or two.

The Onion-Mushroom-Green Bean Diet

2011-01-26T06:50:00.000-08:00

I weighed around 188 for World Championships. After Kona I adjusted my diet in hopes of getting to 180 or perhaps even lower than that. A good chunk of my food intake consists of a mixture of onions, mushrooms and green beans jumbled up with either chicken, shrimp or fish. (My family disdains this hodgepodge calling it “Dad’s concoction”). This Diet has caused changes in my body but it has changed my body odor more than my body weight. I imagine I am known by some people at the pool as “that guy who smells like rotten vegetables” and my Wife (who abhors mushrooms and onions) finds my odiferous aroma to be repugnant. BUT I have slowly lost some weight. This morning marks a major milestone as I broke 180 tipping the scales at 179.8. If I can get to 177 it will be the first time I have weighed that little since I was 2 inches shorter and 18 years younger as a zit faced 16 year old. If I lose those last pounds it will be due to the infinite patience of my ever enduring Wife’s olfactory sense.

Looking for marital tension? Get a Power Tap.

2011-01-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

My wife is jealous of my Power Tap. It is the love of my cycling life. I think that training with power is the best way to improve your cycling. I would forgo getting the new bike or race wheels and get the Power Tap first. It makes workouts measurable and when workouts are measureable you can track progress and have an accurate assessment of your fitness. Because of my Power Tap I know that today was one of my best ever workouts. I was able to set 4 peak power records today. I started by doing 90 minutes all out and in the process set 40 minute, 90 minute and most importantly 60 minute records. I average 357 for 60 minutes. (I have a special place in my heart for the 30 minute average power. I wish I would have just gone after the 30 minute record from the beginning because I definitely would have got it with the way I felt today. My best 30 minute average within today’s 90 minutes was 364 which is only 11 watts away from my 30 minute record.) I recovered from the 90 minutes of pain and then did some max efforts and hit 1268 watts and set a new 5 second record with 1193. Without my power tap I would have no idea that today was any better than any other day, and I would not be able to see that my power has improved a lot since Kona. Since Hawaii I have set new records for 5 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes. I would not know that I am improving without the Power Tap. Without the feedback from the Power Tap you really have no idea if your training program is or is not working. Sooo if you want to improve on your bike call Power Tri (866-601-4445) and get a Power Tap. They have a great deal on them plus give them the code “spencer10” and get another 10% off. Start tracking your progress. Just don't let it come between you and your spouse.

The 400 Watt Dream

2011-01-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

I started riding when I got a bike for Christmas is 2008. After riding without power for two months I began riding with power on February 13th 2009. As I was new to cycling I saw rapid, improvement in my power. For a while I was setting new power records each week. It was nice to set records for the different time periods from 5 seconds all the way to 2 hours, but to me the most important record became the 30 minute average power. I saw it rise from 315 my first test on Feb 16th 2009 up to 368 on May 22nd of 2009. At that point I thought if I could get to 368 in three months then it was only a matter of time before I hit the big 400 for 30 minutes. But I stalled at that level. My power actually dropped for a few months. I matched the 368 again in October. Then on January 7th of 2010 I hit 375. In this past year my overall cycling has continued to improve and I have set new average power records for most of the designated times from 5 seconds to 2 hours but I haven’t improved on my 375 for 30 minutes. It looks like 400 watts for 30 minutes might never happen, and I will be fine if it never does but I really want to hit it. I have adjusted my training a bit and I hope the changes eventually translate to 400 for 30. In the whole scheme of things my power level on the bike doesn’t really matter, when I step back and look at how obsessed I am with my watts I am a little disturbed with myself, but to go down to my basement, get on my bike, have a 30 minute suffer fest, and then plug my power tap into my computer and confirm 400 watts for 30 minutes would be pure joy. The increase from 375 to 400 comes out to an increase of 6.68% ....I hope that it happens.

Christmas Eve Testing

2010-12-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

I am quite the scrooge. I told my kids there is no Santa Claus, (the parents of my children’s friends just love me for that one), I don’t buy anybody but my wife and parents presents, and I am annoyed that the pool is closed Christmas Day. So to be true to my scrooge nature I decided to spend Christmas Eve doing some swim and bike testing to see where I am at. My swim speed and bike power have gotten better so I wanted to test exactly how much better.

At Masters I did a 1000 yard time trial in 14:46. That is the fastest I have ever done 1000 yards, but about 10 seconds slower than what I expected. I am lucky to have some great friends who have helped me to get my form better over the last few months. I need to cut another 3 seconds off per hundred before St George. If I can do that I should be able to do the swim in about an hour. I finished my swim with around 3500 yards on the day.

I ate a lot of food and waited about two hours and then I got on my bike. I did a 5 hour bike ride. I warmed up for a half an hour then I started with a 10 minute interval then I did my test interval, 20 minutes all out. I had good power. I was able to increase it throughout the 20 minutes. My first 5 minutes were 369 watts and my last 5 were 399. I averaged 380 watts over the 20 minutes which is my most ever by a few watts. The real good news is even though it was very tough it was not overwhelmingly difficult. My heart rate reached only 173. That is 5 beats lower than my max. This gives me some hope for the future as I think I have room to push myself harder. After my 20 minute test I continued for a total of 2 hours of intervals. Including rest my average power was 310 for 2 hours and my normalized power was 325. Those are good numbers for me considering I started with the hard 20 minute test.

I have major mental problems as this is the stuff I think about all the time. I wish I were more like Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa and thought about how I could make the world a better place. I do think about that stuff as well, but for some reason I am just compelled to think about getting faster, maybe I just need a triathlon intervention.

Ironman World Championship Race Report

2010-10-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

Swim
Good: I got really lucky on the swim. I put myself in the middle pretty far back and I didn’t get too caught up in the thrashing. I took a few elbows but I felt like I was able to get some room pretty quick. I took both of the right turns as tight as I could right around the buoy and very strangely everyone else was taking the turns wide so I gained some time and missed the trashing scrum. On the way back in I got on a guys feet and just hung with him for a long time. Then a girl came whizzing by me and I wondered if I should jump on her feet, I decided to jump and hung on her slipstream for dear life till about 100 meters to go when the arch of my left foot cramped and seized up. I just thought I was very lucky it did not seize up earlier. Time 1:10. I’m happy with it.

Bad: Despite my lucky swim it still put me way, way behind.

Ugly: My torque swimskin helped me swim faster. Unfortunately it tore the skin of my arms and lats up pretty good as well. I would recommend anyone thinking of getting a torque to get the pro version not the elite like I had. The elite’s Fabric is closer to sandpaper and the Pro is closer to neoprene.

Bike
Good: I felt in control and under my limit the whole Bike. I think I rode the right pace. The last 2/3rds of the bike were very windy. A lot of people were really struggling to keep their bikes upright. I was bombing down a hill about to pass a guy when we got hit by a huge gust of cross wind. The guy in front of me came very close to biffing it on the bike but pulled out some evasive maneuvers to keep himself up right. If he had gone down I would have nailed him and we both would have been really jacked up. I biked a 4:51 slower that what I thought I could do but considering the wind I am ok with it.

Bad: It felt very hot and I got stung by a bee. The bee got stuck in my race bracelet and stung me. It hurt…Bad.

Ugly: I normally POUND the calories on the bike and I did that in this race also but it was hard. My stomach did not want anything in it. I had to force down the Gu and Ironman’s new drink called perform. My stomach bothered me a lot and kept telling me to stop putting things in it but it was so hot that I thought I really needed to drink a lot in order to keep from dehydrating. I ended up taking in too much and paid for it on the run:

Run
Good: I felt great I was able to run fast and my heart rate was lower than what I expected. I was able to cruise a majority of the time (other than the steeper hills) at between 6:30 and 7:30 miles. The Heat didn’t bother me too much. My time was just under 3:27

Bad: I had some major Gastro Intestinal distress. At mile 3 I stopped at a Porta potty. After that I was ok until around mile 12-14 I suddenly had to go again. I was between aid stations and I slowed way down to see if I could keep myself from going but then it just came. I diarrhea’d myself right there on the Queen K. I walked for a little bit and thought about what I should do and then I thought “Duh stupid” I better just keep running. A few miles later it happened again. I was close to a porta potty but didn’t make it. I got about half in my shorts and half in the porta potty. I kept running and I think it happened one more time… maybe not...I can’t remember for sure. Looking back I could have pushed myself harder on the run. I had gas left in the tank at the end and I guess I paced myself too conservatively. I would like to have changed two things on the run. First I would have liked to push myself to my limit and held a faster pace. Second I would have been wiser with my calorie intake on the bike thus avoiding the GI problems on the run. I think with these two changes I could have had a better run time.

Ugly: My shorts and Socks. I started the run with white socks and ended it with brown socks.

Overall My time was just under 9:35. It was an awesome experience. Racing against the best in the world was really cool. It was neat to be here with my friends. Keena, Jay, B.J. and Doug all had great races. Sean and Michelle also came to support us. It was great to have the support from all my friends at Power Tri. My final overall feeling when it was done is that I need to improve. I hope that I can get better at this whole thing.

Kona Outlook

2010-09-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Body Weight: I have been eating a lot of cucumbers and green beans and I’ve lost some pounds. I’ll try to lose a bit more before the race.

Bike: I am in good bike shape. I had a good indicator workout Friday the 24th, I did a ride with a two hour average power of 335 w.

Run: Hooray, my calves are not injured. I have gotten in 3 months of solid running so my run is looking better than before either of my other Ironman races. I had a good indicator run Saturday the 25th, I did 10 miles in 60:45.

Swim: Please pray for lightning because I will probably be 1,756th out of the water. Unless I suddenly gain Michael Phelps type ankle flexibility I am going to be way behind.

Overall: I have a broad expectation range. I think that if things go my way then I could have a good day. If I can minimize my losses on the swim, really hammer the bike and deal with the heat ok on the run then hopefully I’ll do good.

Utah Half Race Report

2010-08-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

I was very excited for this race mainly because of the competitors that were racing. Going into the race B.J. Christensen was definitely the guy to beat. He has established himself as the top over all Utah triathlete. He wins almost every event he enters and is close to untouchable at the Ironman and Half Ironman distance. Also in the mix to win were Heath Thurston and Dantley Young who both have their pro cards and race professionally. My buddy Casey Robles is another competitor that had a shot if he had a good day.

I swam as hard as I could, when I came out of the water my boy Grant told me I was 9:30 behind Heath. That is a LOT of time to make up on the bike. Heath is a strong biker. (The only other time I have raced Heath was at Ironman Florida and over that 112 miles on the bike I only gained 5 minutes on him.) I got out on the bike and started pushing it. I was surprised to catch Casey within about 5-6 miles. I caught Dantley just before the overpass at about mile 9-11 then I didn’t see a soul until just before the turnaround I caught B.J. I was happy with that. I know that the only way I had a chance to beat B.J. was to have a huge lead off the bike and then have a fast run. I didn’t catch Heath until I got back into town. I caught him on the last turn with just a mile or two to go. He had a faster T2 and so we basically started the run together. We were running right about my planned pace. I ran a 1:27 last year on this course averaging 6:40. I wanted to average a 6:27 and be under a 1:25 this year. Unfortunately I just couldn’t hold that pace. After about a mile I watched Heath steadily pull away from me as he held a 6:33 average and ran a 1:25. B.J. caught me around about mile 8 or 9 on the dirt road. At that point I knew that I wasn’t going to catch Heath or B.J., I had a tendon in my right calf that hurt and I knew that no one else was close to catching me so I didn’t want to risk that tendon so I saw no point in pushing hard to the finish. I ended up having a disappointing half Iron run split averaging 7:00 minute miles. I finished 3rd 5:45 behind the winner which I thought would be B.J. but when I crossed the finish line I found out Heath had been able to hold him off and win by a minute.

The win was great for Heath. He has been a good friend of mine and has helped me with my swim and given me some valuable advice. He raced a smart race and had a lot of grit to finish with his fastest career half Ironman run split. He also had his fastest overall half iron time. It shows that he is improving and is doing some things right.

I wanted to win this race real bad but…..oh well.

Utah Half Testing

2010-08-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

I've done my Utah half test workouts:
Bike Friday 13th: I did the Utah half bike course as part of my long bike. I pushed real hard for 30.5 miles of it and was happy with it. I had an average power of 336 over those miles and had good speed as well.
Swim Wednesday 18th: I did a 1000 meter time trial at masters. Diane put me as the first person in the second lane instead of being the last person in the fast lane so "bummer" no drafting for me. I wanted to do between 16:40 and 17:00 and ended up doing a 17:03 so I guess that is OK.
Run Wednesday 18th: I did a 10 mile descending tempo run as part of my 19 mile long run. miles 1-4 at 6:00 pace, mile 5 at 6:27, mile 6 at 6:40, miles 7-8 at 6:53, and miles 9-10 at 7:03. Miles 1-4 were really hard but the rest was cruising. I wanted to do 6 miles at 6:00 pace but didn't have it in me.
Conclusion: I think I have an outside chance at the Utah half. I would love to come in first. But Heath and B.J. are both such awesome, complete triathletes that it makes me a long shot.

Swim lots and lots and cross my fingers

2010-08-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

I am a terrible swimmer. My swimming used to fall in the category of "is that person drowning?" but luckily with the help of some of my friends like Keena, Heath, Diane, and others I have drastically improved my form and raised my swimming ability up to the "stinks" level. Without their help I would still be drowning. In an effort to raise my game above the "stink" level I have decided to increase my swim volume. Last week I got in 27,000 meters/yards with 15,000 of the 27,000 being high intensity. I plan to do between 27,000 and 32,000 for the next few weeks and see if I improve. (Previous to this I would do between 15,000 and 20,000 a week). I hope that this will jump start my swimming and boost me up to the "average" level.

Stansbury Triathlon

2010-07-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

I raced the Stansbury Tri this last Saturday.
Swim: I was happy with my swim. I came out of the water in 10th place which is new for me (I am usually much further back than that). Time 21:35? I think. It was probably a little short.
t1: My wetsuit came off surprisingly easy so I had a fast transition
Bike: flat course with only 288 ft of climbing, the course did however have a lot of turns and had two around the cone u turns. I was able to catch everybody on the bike and came in to t2 a few seconds behind the leader. The course was short at less than 21 miles. Bike was 46:10? I think. I was happy with my bike speed. It makes me feel like I will have a good Utah half bike split.
t2: With the orthotics that I am using I had to put on socks but despite that tremendous obstacle I had another surprisingly fast transition.
Run: right out of t2 as I went to put on my Garmin it exploded in my hands and fell to the ground, luckily Jameson was close by and I astutely spat out "JAMESON MY WATCH!". He understood and picked it up and had it for me at the finish. Thanks Jameson. Two guys passed me on the run so I ended up 4th. I did a 39:10? I think.
Overall was 1:48:something. I'm happy with the race. I look at it as a great high intensity workout while practicing my pre race routine and transitions.

Utah Half Course Ride

2010-07-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to Coach Keena for setting up a Utah Half ride today. It went well. I was able to average 304 watts and 25 mph on the flat fast course, with a heart rate of 148. I hope that when I add the MAGICAL powers of race wheels, aero helmet, a bit of a taper and no slowing down for lights/stop signs that I can have a good Utah half bike split.

Feeling Good, Hoping for a Breakthrough

2010-07-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

My Heart rate is completely back to normal, and I am not feeling tired at all. My thyroid problems are long gone. I am able to run fast now in training, and have no calf trouble at all. I am swimming much faster than ever. My power on the bike is on the rise; I did 12 minute intervals yesterday and ended it with 12 minutes at 370 watts. It was a hard effort but when the 12 minutes were up my heart rate wasn’t that high and I was able to continue the rest of my workout doing shorter intervals without trouble. I am feeling good about the direction my training is headed in and I am hoping for breakthroughs in all 3 disciplines in the coming months.

Back to running and Thyroid update.

2010-06-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

I ran 3 really slow miles each of the last two days and will try to run another 3 today. This is the first running I have done since injuring my calf a little over two weeks ago. Hopefully I can keep doing 2 or 3 easy miles each day this week and then start some longer and faster runs next week. The doctor thinks my thyroid should sort itself out soon. He thinks that a virus zapped it but that I am on my way to recovery now. I'll have my blood retested at the end of the month to see if I am back to normal. I still feel really tired and my heart rate is about 20 beats higher than normal. It is a great excuse though. I just blame everything on my thyroid. If Megan asks me "why arent the dishes washed"? I just point to my thyroid, give a sad look and shake my head.

Thyroid trouble

2010-06-09T16:11:00.000-07:00

About a week ago I felt a pain in my neck and it has continued to get worse so I went into the doctor yesterday. He had some blood work done and called me back today and said that I have an overactive thyroid......weird.

2010-05-29T12:37:00.000-07:00

I hurt my calf with about a mile to go in the daybreak triathlon. I didn’t put on my compression socks because I thought it would take too much time. Bad idea. With a mile to go my calf started hurting. I thought I would just push through till the end. Bad idea. My body gave me warning and I didn’t head it. So then my lower calf hurt real real bad. I was forced to stop and it even hurt to limp to the end. I’m a loser baby….so why don’t you kill me.

St George Ironman

2010-05-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

My swim started off great, I felt like I was at a really good pace until after the second turn buoy at about the halfway point in the swim. I began to feel very very cold. My jaw started to shake and I felt my body shutting down. My pace slowed and I started to get passed by a lot of people. I ended up swimming a lot slower than I had planned and came out at 1:12. When I got out of the water I was extremely cold my body was shaking uncontrollably. I had planned very poorly and didn’t have a jacket or anything else to put on to keep warm. I got on my bike and the wind blowing on my already freezing body took me to a whole new level of cold. For the next hour and a half I shivered and shook and thought about how stupid I was to not have a jacket and/or arm warmers and hoping for a flat tire so I could stop and get warm. The other problem the cold created was my hamstrings started to cramp. I am a big time wuss when it comes to cold water. I think I’ll wear two wetsuits in my next cold water tri and then a giant winter coat on the bike. At around mile 30 of the bike I noticed I wasn’t shaking anymore. I was able to start pushing it on the bike and I was able to pick up my heart rate. By the halfway point I felt great and the rest of the bike ride felt almost effortless. My only issue being that my hamstrings started cramping when I got out of the aero position to punch up a hill. I finished the bike in 5:09, a disappointment as I had planned on being under 5:00. On the run I settled into a pace just a little slower than my planned pace. I was worried about my hamstrings cramping on the run. They felt like they were on the verge of cramping but luckily they never actually seized up during the marathon. The run was definitely tough but I never felt black hole terrible. I ended up with a 3:40 marathon. Overall I wanted to go under 9:45 and ended up at 10:07. I didn’t manage my race as well as I could have. My mistakes dealing with the cold water cost me some energy and time. On a positive note I think that my nutrition worked out great and really saved my race. I was able to take in about 3300 GU calories and probably around another 2000 liquid calories. I think that this was the reason that I always felt like I had enough energy. Post race I felt ok. I thought my legs would be thrashed after the tough course but I actually felt pretty good. Towards the end of the marathon I had the thoughts of “why” “why am I doing this stupid, painful, pointless race” but it only took an hour or two after I finished before I was already getting excited about my areas of improvement and my training for my next race. The triathlon addiction continues, it’s a hungry beast that can’t be satisfied.