99 days

Wow 99 days that's it. Just looked at the race count down clock and we are into double figures for days left and not triple digits. So that leaves 90 days of training until I need to be ready for this race and attack those hills.
After the run on the weekend I plan on keeping the mileage up each week and do a lot of 13+ mile runs to get me ready, plus yay it's time to start my swimming and hit that pool. I know these 99 days are going to fly by but with Dr.Jeff having the St. George bike course on his computer I'll be able to ride the course a lot before race day.

Made it

Yay another marathon in the books and a PB also so that's a little bonus for the day. The day got off to a rocky start with the stomach kicking up in the morning but by race time it had settled down and it was ready to go. I got down to the ASU basketball Stadium with plenty of time to catch the bus for the race start. Some how the bus driver got a little lost and we did a couple of circles around the hood to find the right place. So I arrived at the race start with 12 minutes to go before start time.

Off with the warm clothes and into little running out fit for the day. The U.O.P shirt was bright bright bright yellow and we could be seen for miles by anyone. By the time I got ready the race had started and I was one of the last to run under the timer and start my day off. I caught up to a team mate who was doing his first marathon and we ran together for the first 12 miles which made them go a little faster. Thanks to his wife for having some treats during the run at certain locations and it was really needed for the day.

Ran the first 13.1 miles in 2:19 and although the legs killed I was not out of breath and could go a lot more. Around mile 16 I felt the legs go a bit so I speed walked for about 3/4 of a mile to calm then down and get back to running. This helped a lot and for mile 19 to 20 I busted out a 9;20 mile some how and I knew I was going to pay for that in the up coming miles. The family was waiting for me at around mile 25 and it was great to see them, I walked with them back to their car and I was onto the last mile for the day. Jana tried to make it to the finish but traffic is nasty for the race and no way she was making it.

With about .4 miles to go was able to see a pro Ironman triathlete and her boyfriend, I follow her blog ( Hillary Biscay) and gave a shout out to her BF which she calls the GCM (German coffee machine) top 15 at Kona this past year. After that it was a quick run up to the finish and got my name called out which was great.

Crossed the line in 5:07:34 which is not fast but hey it's a PB by 57 minutes so I'm happy to be under 6 hours for the first time. Happy with the time also since no running happened since November and the broke ribs so I look forward to the next one when I train for it. hahahha maybe sub four if I'm lucky.

Thanks to the family for coming out yet again and watch me, and thanks to UOP for paying for the race. So now it's onto Ironman St George and a amazing day of 140.6 miles. Can't wait. :)

2010, Really!

Wow it's 2010 and what just happened the last decade, crazy how different you life is just 10 years later. Back in 2000 i would have told you I would still be playing basketball and traveling the world still from it. Funny how one knee injury can change things so fast from the life of a professional athlete living in two different countries each year, to settling down and working 50+ hours each week. But I have nothing to complain about and the life I have is amazing, could not think of a better one then what i have right now.

Since I walked away from basketball back in 2004, I was looking for something athletic to do in my life and some how triathlon found me and I love it. Ever since the first day I did that little sprint years ago I knew I found exactly what i was looking for. I'm not looking to be the best in the sport, I'm looking for it to challenge me when I wake up those race mornings. I love to push my body on race days and see what it can do, funny how far it can go when you push the pain aside and just keep going. Nothing like dragging yourself through a long distance race and crossing that line knowing you did it by yourself and the best you could on that given day.

So what dose 2010 have ahead for me. Next week I run the Phoenix marathon which should be another great slow, very slow race. Then on May first hit the Ironman once again and see if I can beat my last time on a lot harder course then my first one. After that I hope to do Silverman later in the year along with a 50 mile running race over a mountain range. Hope I'm able to get into these two races and it's going to take a lot of sweet talk to the wife to make it happen (love you honey :) The plan still for the year is to build towards ironman New Zealand in March 2011 so lets hope for an injury free year and that I can get fast on the run to make my races go just a little bit faster. LOL

Now Come's The Fun

I should not say fun but now comes the pain of long hour's in the saddle up and down hills to get ready for the Ironman. Now only 18 weeks away it's time for those 3 and 4 hour rides to get ready for the 6 hour rides closer to the race. Also once the new year starts it's time to start looking at the bottom of a pool and do lap after lap after lap, hope the ribs will come around and let me start that aspect of my training. So long to my weekends and hello to waking up early to hit the long runs and rides, it comes with excitement from me and bad looks from the wife but sorry honey it's IRONMAN time. YAY.

Weight is still dropping, a little slower over the x-mass season but back on diet and ready to go. At 19lbs lost with a bunch to go but it's a great start and I'll take it. Every pound I lose is one less pound I have to take over that bike course on May first and I need to be as little as possible so I can make the run also.

Speaking of running I'm still planning on doing the marathon on the 17th of January, no run training but I'm in better shape then last year (that's not to hard to beat) and what else am I going to do that day. Might as well go run a quick 26.2 miles, ha see if I can break 6 hours for the first time and enjoy the day. Be a good jump start again for St. George.

Amazing Quote

It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man
stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit
belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust
and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again
and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends
himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of
high achievement, and who at the worst at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither
victory nor defeat."
-- Teddy Roosevelt

Enough time in the day

Jeez, what happens to all the time in the day. This time of year seems to fly by, and hard to think about training when family comes first this time of the year. Each day it's a fight to fit in a training ride as I can't get to it any sooner then 8:30 at night, and after a long day it's hard to put on the bike shorts and sit on the trainer for an hour that late. But I guess that's the joy of doing ironman and what comes with it to get you across that finish line once again.

On a side note the weight loss is going really good and I'm down 16lbs from last Monday, so just a couple of lbs from the 250's. next goal is the 240 range. Would love to be low 250's by x-mas next week.

Broken Ribs Again.

So a couple of weeks ago was the turkey bowl on Thanks giving morning as we do each year with about 25 of us. About an hour in I went over the top of a guy and landed squarely on my right ribs and new I had broken some again. This is way worse then the one I broke snow boarding and I'm still having trouble sleeping with them.

So with the injury I can't run at all, I take two steps and the ribs start to hurt from the movement. So I think the marathon in January is off which sucks but need to get over this and get ready for The Ironman. So my training now consists of the StairMaster each day and 5-6 days on the bike, the StairMaster is building the leg strength up so happy with that and it adds an extra workout during the day to help with the fitness and the weight loss. Really watching what i eat now and on my way to my goal race day weight which I can't wait for.

I'll be patient while these ribs hurt and hit the bike harder then I would have. I guess with the course we have ahead of us on May 1st, I need to have a lot of bike miles under me so I'm able to run/walk the marathon. I never biked on a course with so much climbing and being a big boy I need to get ready for it as best I can.

Wow 24 Weeks

Wow is it really only 24 weeks of training before taper, I tell people this and they look at me so funny sometimes. But in our world of Ironman that's only 24 long bike rides to get ready for our long day in the saddle and at Ironman St. George it could be a very long day for some.

So over the last 5 weeks I've really started to run a lot in part getting ready for the marathon in January but the real motivation is to build up a massive base for Ironman. it's coming along and this weekend I have a 12 mile run lined up, not fast but just staying in the heart rate zone the whole time. Besides the running and biking which I still love, I've been hitting the gym 4 to 5 days a week during my lunch hour. I'm really starting to notice a difference and really trying to get stronger before race day with out adding a lot of muscle. I'm already a big guy for Ironman and I'm spending the time in the gym to build the endurance of my muscles and not buff up like all the guys around me. I still have the goal of getting around 205 lbs for the race, going to take time but will to do the work for it.

Go Behind a Tree

We have all almost had this happen while on training runs, heck even in Ironman but don't do this.

Running Slow is Hard

Went out for the heart Rate training last night and have 8 to 10 weeks of it ahead of me. It's just so hard to run slow, not that I'm fast but this is really slow. Talking about 10:50 miles which I almost walk but always need to remember build the engine for my A race. I feel like a slacker running on the road cause I must look lip a hippo to them, i expect someone to yell just walk to me soon.
Basketball tonight after our dramatic 1 pt win last week, look forward to it and get that extra little bit of fitness out of it. Hope to have a part to the treadmill in the next day or two so I can start hill workouts on that also. Can get some great fitness form this machine and enjoy running on them. I know some people it sucks but I get more out of it when I can control the speed and make me run at it.

UOP Marathon Team

Today was committee day for the UOP marathon team. I got on the committee to help new runners out and really push myself to run as hard as I can. We are trying to get 600 people from work to either run/walk the half or full in January. Last years race was a lot of fun even though I had the worlds slowest time but plan to smash that this year. Lets hope for a good day and have a 4 hour run, keep those fingers crossed.

Tonight is the first day of cross training since city league basketball starts again. All good for a fast tempo run for the next 8 weeks and look forward to the legs hurting tomorrow. Almost to old to play the stupid game but nothing like getting between the boys and pushing each other around. Last season we came 2nd so lets hope we get to first this time around.

Change to blog and mind set.

As some of you may see I've changed the name of my blog and have named it sub 10 since that's the time I'm going to do in a Ironman with in the year and a half. I figure I can do this time at Ironman New Zealand in 2011 so that gives me this time to turn myself in a 3:30:00 marathoner and bring my bike time down to around 5:15:00 for the 112 miles. Swimming is the easy part and I know I can go sub 1 hour for the swim.
So what am I going to do so I can reach this goal. The big thing is going to be weight lose and stripping my body of this fat while turning it into 205 lbs from my current 265lbs. I started a new diet today, will not really a diet like most but it's called the Palio diet for athletes. It cuts out a few food groups but you can eat as much fruits and vegetables as you like, many triathletes are using this and after some reading decided this would best fit me also. I hope to be in the 210-215 range time Ironman St. George comes around. I'll be joining the gym at work so each day I can hit the weights during lunch time and get extra cross training in.
Now we all know that I suck at running and I need a lot of training in it. The funny thing is I use to run cross country when I was younger so I know how to run and do it fast yet at this weight it's hard pushing through the pain of things. So coming up will be a lot of drills, long distance running and plenty of hills to turn me in a faster runner. I know I can run a 3:30:00 marathon so I need to train hard for it now.
The bike i just need saddle time and hit the hills also. I can bike a 5:30:00 split but need to drop this down to around 5:15:00 to allow a little more time on the run. More speed will come with less weight on the bike and building the legs up with all the hill work on the bike. I don't plan to bike to many flat rides over the next year so I should be able to go faster once I hit the flat in Ironman New Zealand.
I don't know if I can really do it but think I'm a good enough athlete to try and pull it off. I just need to keep focus and have goals along the way. It seems like a huge mountain at the moment but I will slowly get to the top of it.

Tri In The Pines 2009

OS last Monday I decided to enter into a little sprint up in Pinetop Arizona for the first race of the year and dust the race day jitters off. We drove up to Pine on Friday evening and got there just in time for check in so I didn't have to work about it in the morning. This race was a 625 yard swim in the pool, then 13 miles on the bike followed by 3.5 miles on the run.

Since it was a pool swim they needed to know swim time so i said about 10 minutes for it which placed me in the second wave of the day. We had two people to the lane with 12 people in each wave and he wave behind would not start until the wave before was finished. Got the count down and we were off, I knew I had to get free meters in the pool so I really pushed hard off the wall and made the laps shorter each time with it. Half way through I dropped the guy in my lane and I was leading the group. I set my goal to lap the guy in the lane next to me as he was talking a bit of smack before the start so I did that about 20 laps in. With one lap to go they stick a yellow kick board into the water to signal one last lap, made the turn and swam down. At this point I saw a guy kick a little hard to beat me out of the water which he did but I wanted to save my lungs a little for the big. Made the run out of the pool with the family yelling which is always great and then into transition. Swim time 9:45

I already had the bike shoes on the bike so I simply threw the helmet on and I was off, no need for socks as it would just waste time in this event. I beat the guy out of transition by a good 30 sec or so so happy with T1. About a mile into the bike I was going down hill and had the feet into the shoes by now so it was time to knuckle down and push hard for the two loop course. Having the race at 7000 ft was hard and I paid a little on the second loop with it but went as hard as I could. The course had a couple hard climbs in it and I was not ready in the lags to fly up them so I simply pushed up them each time. Bike time was 37:30

Went past the family and into T2 with the feet out of the shoes and ready to run. I felt great and thought I would have a good 3.5 mile run. Shoes on fast and I was out and onto the trail, about 1/4 way into the first lap of three I felt the leg muscles fire and cramp hit the quads and calfs. I had to stop and stretch them out for a few minutes between the fast walk. I hit the run again but lost good time to this, I made the first lap in around 14 minutes which sucked for the i.17 mile loop. Then my legs got under me and I started to run again, came by the family each time on the loops and was able to run the next two loops in 17 minutes which I was happy with.

My total time for the race was 1:18:55 which was good for 12th male and 14th overall. I'm happy with the race and it's a great start to the season since I've not run at all in the last two months and was able to run great for the last two laps. Now I have to buckle down and get ready for IMAZ in 14 weeks with one race before that.

Thanks to the whole family who came up and yelled for me while out on course and look forward to doing this race each year.

Friday Funny

So this guy replies to aids on craigslist. They are so funny if you read some of them. Enjoy.


http://www.dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=56

http://www.dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=46

http://www.dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=36