Ironman Wisconsin - Race Report

Well I haven't had many forced reasons to write this season.  IM MOO as it is known is my second and last race of 2011

My little buddy (hint: she's fast!)

So MOO (Ironman Wisconsin, it's in dairy cow country), my friend Barb was doing it for her first and my buddy and Tepper classmate Chris was doing it.  It was on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 where I lived and worked at Ground  Zero.  The second plane flew over my head into the south tower.  I also decided to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the war on cancer.  When I was 16, I held my mom's hand while she died of this wretched disease.  I decided on a $5 thousand fundraising goal and have since passed that goal (if you want to push me  further over the limit...http://tinyurl.com/2d6d9kk).

Yeah my world was emotional this day, but you dig deep in this life...period end of sentence.  There are no ifs, second chances, redos, mulligans, this is it.  So go big or go home.  That's our household motto.  Creates its fair share of physical therapy and other problems, but well worth it.

Swim 1 hour 21 minutes: yeah I learned on my way in the water that we would not be exiting.  The flipside of being the mellow calm fellow, is um yeah you don't know what's going on sometimes.  I confirmed with Barb and 10 other people that yeah just swim 2 laps and then exit.  I did and it was fine sans some of the people I clubbed in the head with my paws.  I was hoping for closer to 1:15 given the work I had done on the swim, but I think I just went too light, I did not feel my normal tired, groggy self after the swim and that is a good thing, with 138 miles to go.  6 minute PR so that will work.

T1, like 10 minutes, MOO transition sucks!

Bike 6 hours 38 minutes: Ouch, wind, heat and humidity are not a 185 pound man's friend for 112 (btw my Garmin said 113) miles.  I have discipline and held back till mile 70.  But man I wanted to bail in the heat.  Then I remembered, 10 years ago living and working at Ground Zero and watching people jump from the heat.  It wasn't that hot.  I think like 1 minute slower than Placid.  No complaining!

T2 I think around 5 or 6 minutes.  MOO Transition SUCKS!

Run: I train for the run, no worries.  I just plowed through it, soaking in all the emotions and the experience.  It was great seeing Barb and Chris out on the run course too.  Made it more friendly.  The crowds were awesome in Madison.  I got to give my wife and friend Joe a high five on the run, which was sweet!  Always great to see support out there!  4:16 ish and another PR about 4 minutes.  So you will recall 6 on the swim, 4 on the run and -1 on the bike.  But only 1 minute faster overall vs Lake Placid at 12:29.  And I repeat transitions SUCK @ MOO!!!  But whatever, its all for charity and the war on cancer in my book.  And I nailed that goal to the wall!!!

3X Ironman Finisher, Jason Bezon, I like the ring!

Banzo of course nailed a Kona spot first try.  Awesome job for her first IM.  She and her awesome family made it that much more fun.

And my awesome family makes it all possible year in and year out.  Thank you Ironmate!

A special shout out to my buddy Joe Doucas and his family.  He had no business driving the 140.6 (yeah we raced the same distance) from Chicago to Madison on a Sunday with work to do on Monday, but he did it.  He also took most of these awesome pictures. Thanks Joe, you're a good friend!

The whole crew!

Happy Training

Xterra Lory - Race Report

Ok so yeah pretty lazy writing this report.  It's been almost 2 weeks and I have a half Ironman tomorrow, so I figured I better write it.  This was a last minute race I signed up for before Ironman Lake Placid, just for fun.  It was only 5 weeks after Ironman so I didn't have high expectations.  The race was up in Fort Collins, often voted one of the best places to live in America.  We went up Saturday and checked into the Residence Inn.  Honestly, it reminded me of Highlands Ranch.  We went out for sushi very similar to restaurant by our house but a little worse.

I woke up at 5:45am and had my pre race breakfast of about 600 calories, carbs, protein.  I did not feel particularly great and this would be a prelude to my race and next two weeks.  Bad sinus infection has been the result.  We headed over to the race site to get checked in.

Swim half mile 16:09 (that's my watch time, long run up the beach and cleaning off the mud my net time was about 17:00).  The swim was a wave start and siting was very difficult as the sun was rising right in our eyes on the out and back.  Coming in was much easier.  I was satisfied with my swim since I didn't really work on it since Lake Placid.

T1 - 3:31 - kind of fumbled my way through this.

Mountain Bike 10.5 miles - 1 hour 10 minutes.

The mountain bike was challenging, with a solid 2 mile climb to start and then leading into rollers.  It was difficult to pass or allow people to pass.  I tried my best to get over when approached and tried to yell out when I needed to pass, but very different from a road tri.  Overall I was about 10 minutes slower than I hoped but I did my best and was feeling ok afterwards.

T2 - 2:17 - both transitions were relatively slow, I was definitely feeling sluggish

Trail Run 4.8 miles - 47:57

Per my heart rate monitor I ran this 1 second faster than my Ironman marathon pace with a heart rate 30 beats higher.  Something definitely felt off.  Granted it was the same 2 mile climb to start from the bike, but I struggled.

Overall I finished in the middle of the pack which is better than all my prior Xterra races.  I just don't train for that interval style effort.  I have a pretty good middle gear, but that high end zone 4 and 5 heart rate is just not really there.  I may try to work on this more over the winter.  We'll see.  Overall the race served it's point.  It was fun and got me out doing something.  That night I never slept.  My nose was completely clogged with no reprieve.  Sleeping with your mouth open in Colorado is awful completely dry out every 20 minutes and wake up to drink water.  So last night I slept 11.5 hours.  We'll see how I hold up for Harvest Moon Half Ironman tomorrow.

BTW - 9/11/2010 Never forget!

Happy Training!

Harvest Moon Half Ironman Race Report

Sept 11, 2009...8 year anniversary of 9/11 and the day before my race. Having lived and worked at ground zero that day and watched the horror fly over my head into the South Tower, the day is a stark anniversary of various emotions. Today I was pretty relaxed and focused for the day. I woke up at 5 and did 15 minutes each of swimming, biking and running with a couple of quick pickups in each. I kept my nutrition plan well. Nothing too fibrous. No caffeine (3rd day in a row...yikes). Lots of water to sip. I was looking forward to the first race this season (and my last tri of this season) in particular because I got to sleep in my bed the night before. I picked up my race packet after work at the Red Lion Hotel with no particular fanfare. At home I prepared a dinner of salmon and mashed potatoes. Nothing fancy and washed down with some water. I got the 4-runner packed and headed to bed at 9:30pm.



Sept 12, 2009...Race Day. I slept very soundly, a true benefit of a very local race. I woke up sharply just before 5 and headed downstairs to get coffee and breakfast. 2 cups of black coffee, 3 poached eggs, 2 bananas and a peach. A good mix of macronutrients and my first caffeine in 4 days. I felt good. I grabbed my prepacked nutrition from the fridge (1500 calories of Heed and one water bottle). I ran back upstairs and kissed Dana goodbye and headed out in the dark. I arrived at the Aurora Reservoir at 6:15 with a good hour and a half before my wave started. I methodically set up my transition and was pleased to again find the rear tire bike racks. After getting set up I headed over to the reservoir to check out the swim course. It was chilly so I headed back to transition and put my wetsuit on and a long sleeve shirt over it and waited. About 7:30 we all headed toward the water. I decided to get in and warm up a little. Being that the water was about 16 degrees warmer than the air (66 vs 50) I decided to stay in the water while the 3 waves in front of mine took off. I ate a Hammer gel and headed toward the start area.



Swim 1.2 miles - 35:20 - Perfect. Funny thing is I started out and felt strong. Then as the swim leg wore on I felt like man this is really taking long. I didn't want to look at my watch as I felt the impending disappointment. Alas I stepped out of the water and saw 35 on the big numbers of my watch and was very I happy. The 4 weeks of work I had done at Swimlabs www.swimlabs.com had paid off. 9 minutes faster than my swim a month earlier at the Boulder 5430 Half Ironman. I quickly ran up toward transition.

T1 - 3:03 - getting there. I am finally starting to get some rhythm in transitions. I decided this race to not take in gels in transition. I would rely on 1,000 calories of Heed on the bike and take some gels out on the run. I peeled the wetsuit quickly and got the bike gear on. For the sake of caution I sprayed my shoulders with sunscreen and headed out for the bike.

Bike 56 miles - 2:50:50 - 19.7 mph. I was worried about the bike. It was considered tougher than Boulder with the hills and wind. Here I would find out if I was fitter and if the long mountain bike rides in my legs would provide meaningful benefit. Also I was 5 pound lighter and hoping to get the 15 extra watts. My weakness would be whether my knee would hold up as it had really been bothering me the last 2 weeks and some massage work I had done was quite holding. Well it was windy and cold. My feet were freezing. Fortunately, I was able to keep in aero position most of the flats and downhills and really came up only for the tougher climbs. I methodically took in calories every 20 minutes. My knee held up great and I had no problems until after mile 41. Then the started to ache and the climbs really got tougher. But I gritted out and finished with the same time as Boulder. Definitely fitter on the bike and didn't give up my swim victory. Now time to run.

T2 - 1:38 - Awesome - except not. I put Yankz in my racing shoes for this race. So I quickly got out of my bike gear took a big 250-300 calorie gulp from my Heed bottle in transition and slid on my easy shoes. I grabbed my hat and was off. Buuuuuut 150 yards out I realized no race number belt. There was a strict warning that no number at the run turnaround = DNF. I changed direction and sprinted back to transition. I told the gate keeper I needed my racing belt number, she smiled. So from the looks of things on this transition time and my forthcoming run time this minute lost was stuck onto my run.

Run 13.1 miles - 2:01:15 - Great. I was really hoping to break 2 hours. I am certain my forgotten belt was worth a minute maybe not a minute 15, but given the stomach problems I encountered the final 4 miles and the aching knee the whole run, I don't really care. It was a solid performance and given the effort I put out on the bike everything held up including my psyche. I met a guy named Josh on the run who said he was aiming for under 2 hours about a mile into the run. We were spot on in terms of pacing so we just went with it. I was figuring if I could keep up with him I'd be good. He said the same. So we chatted and dealt with our individual pain. He had a nasty gash on his foot from the swim and cramping legs. I had a bad knee and some soon to be strongly felt stomach issue. Anyway we chatted occasionally and just hammered it out. My wife was out on the run course and took our picture. With 4 miles to go I was cramping and feeling the pain in my stomach. Burping helped a little and water helped a wee bit. But I figured I'd just keep pushing. Finally with the finish line in site I felt a little burst of strength and was able to give a little at the end, but not much. Josh and I shared congratulations. He thanked me for running with him, and I told his wife he did great. Then I went in search of a bathroom and to figure out what was going on in my stomach.

Total time - 5:32:05 - ECSTATIC. A month after shattering my PR, I raced a tougher half ironman and took 9 more minutes off my PR. 1 minute lost for not being mindful but all in all a very solid effort for my last triathlon of 2009. I look forward to the offseason, with a few run races, skiing and base building. 2010 looks to be quite promising. I'll need to figure out that issue with my stomach. Maybe too many calories taken in. Maybe not enough water since I backed off as it was cold. I'll figure it out. I give this race and 2009 an A for triathlongs. 1 full Ironman, 2 half Ironmans, 1 Xterra World Cup and 1 Xterra America's Cup offroad triathlon.

Happy Training!