Keep Moving Forward

Great News....

2012-02-01T17:41:00.000-05:00

I'm shocked to have been chosen, but still uber proud to announce that I will be representing PowerBar Team elite for 2012 thru 2013 seasons! Can't have been aligned with a better company and product that I use on a daily basis. So excited!

2011 by the numbers

2012-01-12T09:22:00.000-05:00

It's pretty silly, but anyone that truly knows me, understands how overtly anal I am about my training logs and numbers. I try to throw a post like this up shortly after the new year to document what type of training I've done in the year prior.

2011 was a little bit different. I was able to do two Ironman races and countless other races and my season totals might be a tad higher because of such. But without further adieu, here are the totals for my 2011 multisport year:

2011 totals:
Swimming - 260 miles of swimming for a total of 141 hours
Cycling - 6,852 miles of cycling for a total of 389 hours
Running - 1,571 miles of running for a total of 193 hours
Core (situp and push up routine) for a total of 16 hours
And all that comes together for a grand total of 741 hours of working out and racing in 2011.

Not too shabby if you compare them against my 2010 totals (remember that I didn't race an Ironman event in 2010, but was able to do a lot more running races)

2010 totals:
Swimming – 214 miles of swimming for a total of 113 hours
Cycling – 3,506 miles of cycling for a total of 183 hours
Running – 1,457 miles of running for a total of 172.5 hours
Core (sit-ups and push-ups) 19 hours
And that all comes together for a grand total of 487 hours of working out and racing in 2010

Overall it was kind of stepping to a new level. I'm getting used to doing at least 700 hours of work a season and it looks like in 2011 an average week was about 14-15 hours of working out. I maxed out just shy of 27 total hours of working out in a single week and that was pretty exciting. I feel like year over year if I keep this up, big things are ahead.

Here's looking toward the future. Get out there and train friends, now is the time to put in the work. I know I will be. Cheers.

2011 Urine Review (Year-In-Review...)

2011-12-30T15:23:00.001-05:00

I've tried to do one of these posts at the end of every year just to see if I've learned anything and to sum up what's happened in the past year. Most folks that remember last years post for 2010, will recall that I had a pretty bang up year in 2010 and I wanted to capitalize on that in 2011.

As far as racing went, I had a very productive year. The season started off like normal with a few choice snowshoe races in the mix and then I raced as part of a team once more for the uber fun Cast-a-shadow 6 hour snowshoe relay where I was able to pull off the anchor leg in blazing speed and propel us to a 2nd place overall finish (behind the crazy speedsters from Brighton). January capped off with a dip in the pool to test my meddle in the one hour postal and was able to somehow bury myself to get to 4,800 yards!!! (best time yet! and 1:15/100yd SCY if anyone was wondering) I missed my goal of hitting top ten in my age group nationally, but I was pretty close at 15th.

Spring time came and I was hitting the roads and trails once more and running well. First up is the milestone test of the Spring Forward 15k in Mendon. That is the yearly measuring stick of my base fitness and I had a decent race there (nothing too fast, nothing too pedestrian) The real kicker of the running year came in spring though when someone put a bug in my ear and told me I might be able to do pretty well in this years Muddy Sneaker 20k trail race in Rochester. This is a prestigious race in the Rochester Running Community and is so sought after that they hold a lottery every year for the 150 slots to be able to race. Somehow, the stars aligned and I was able to sneak out a win there, I fell short of my goal time of breaking 1:30 there, but was pretty pleased considering the crazy wet conditions. I'm actually humbled to have the title of 2011 Muddy Sneaker Champion and I'm gonna try to go back in 2012 and see what I can do there again.

We put together a rag tag group of fun folks to do the Seneca 7 relay around Seneca Lake, but as we never do anything the "correct" way, decided to do it all via bikes instead of driving from checkpoint to checkpoint, which earned us the distinction of "most eco friendly team" and we actually were in contention for too 3 teams, but had a wrong turn in there as well...no worries, we all had a blast and have plent of stories to tell from that one! The next day I was able to share an experience that I never thought I would get to, I would run a half marathon side-by-side with my sister! Such a great experience and I was elated to share that with her!

June came around and I raced to the podium at the Keuka Lake Triathlon on DEAD legs after a 20+ hour training week for IMLP and also got in some great training up in Placid again while tryign to conquer my fear of the downhill section. I popped one last little 5k prior to my launch in Placid and that was just to test fitness and see where I was. Fun, demanding and exhausting...but I was able to see some college buddies who I rarely run into.

July came and I had all of my eggs into one basket. I was gunning for that great Ironman race that I know I was capable of. I had some serious training under my belt and was ready to rip it. I just needed to keep the rubber side down on the downhill. I had a good race and got REALLY lucky in July. There were tears of joy in the gym and I was literally in shock. Not many people know what it's like to have your wildest dreams come to fruition, but I did. In that moment I saw the piece of paper in the gym, I was floored.

I blogged a lot in the days/weeks/months after that and even put up a race report for IMLP and one for the day after. I tried to capture everything I was feeling, the difficulties of doing two IM's only 12 weeks apart and get everything down on paper so I could look at it for years to come or give someone else a proverbial "leg up" if they were in the same situation as I was. I was getting emails from everyone and words of congrats and support from SO many people it was incredible! My parents even sent an article into the local newspaper on my journey from 2009-2011.

Then came time for the BIG DANCE. I had a LOT of help to get there and I cannot convey how much on paper it meant to me. Everyone that gave me support was in my thoughts and in my heart on the big island and helped to propel me to that most famous finish line. It took me a while to write THIS, but I finally got it down on paper. Kim and I had a BLAST for the remainder of our trip and took a TON of photos. It was an incredible experience and I can't believe I'm now in the same club as these folks!

But after the multisport season came the best thing that happened in 2011. As I've mentioned above, those were all huge things that happened in the year, but none could've trumped what occured in December. I didn't write a "race report" for this big event in my life, because it can't be quantified as such. A race report means it's done and over with, completed, finished and this is just beginning. I asked my best friend and the one that has been behind the scenes and right by my side for the last several years to marry me...(Don't worry, I made her work for it! - sent her on a scavenger hunt all around Rochester :o) hehehe!)....and she said YES!!!!!!!! :o) :o)

So with that, comes the biggest and best part of 2011 - the ability to look foward to an even better 2012 and know that the woman I love will be right by my side. It's going to be a heck of a year, with MANY more to come :o) Cheers! Celebrate responsibly my friends and I'll see you all on the roads and trails...happy 2011!

Ironman Hawaii on NBC

2011-12-09T08:58:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, the Ironman World Championships are going to be broadcast tomorrow on NBC from 4:30pm-6pm. You can bet your sweet behind that I'll be watching and trying to mentally relive every swim stroke, pedal revolution and footfall from this past October.
Above is a short little preview clip of the coverage forthcoming tomorrow. Hope everyone is laying down a solid base for 2012 currently. I know I am...I'm finally getting back into the groove and getting the miles underneath me and it feels good. I had some hiccups in the previous few weeks and I'm hoping they've been smoothed out.

Get out there and train friends. Remember:

Cheers.

Vacation photos

2011-11-29T10:55:00.000-05:00

This is why the trip to Hawaii didn't suck. There were SO many more photos, but these were just some of the good shots that were taken from our trip :o) Enjoy!

Kona Bike nutrition

2011-11-23T14:15:00.000-05:00

So I know that everyone's nutritional intake is completely different, but I kind of changed things up prior to the launch in Hawaii this year. For one, I knew that with temps in the 80's all day that I couldn't mix 2 x 750 calorie bottles and have them last 4+ hours. They would be warm by the time I got to them and I decided it would probably be best to get cold nutrition at every aid station.

My nutrition on the bike was going to consist of Ironman Perform (available on course) and then Powerbar Strawberry Banana powergels and also Suceed Salt tabs. I had two bottles on my bike of powdered Perform that I had mixed pre ride and I knew based on my training that I would be downing 2 bottles per hour, so that was going to be the first hour.

Here is my nutrition plan for JUST the bike (obviously I had more calories on the run) but I wanted to chart out after the fact my caloric intake and sodium consumption during the ride because hindsight is 20/20 and looking back on things, I probably took in too much sodium.

Turns out I had about 1700-1800mg of sodium each hour and about 500 calories. I was a little top heavy in the calories early in the bike because you can do that in the heat, I was just cautious not to ride too hard and have my stomach shut down.

The recommended sodium intake is about 1,000mg per hour and I was WELL above that, but I didn't cramp, so I suppose that I had enough in me. My tri shorts had white salt stains all over them so I was replacing what I was losing, but in hindsight it might have been too much.

I suffered some GI issues and had to stop at a porto-potty along Ali'i Drive twice on the run course and as soon as I stopped taking in sodium (about 9 miles into the run - I'm apparently a slow learner) I felt fine and was able to continue without stopping every few miles.

Good stuff to know for next time on the island (if I can make it back) but it just looks like I got shaken with everyone's talk about how hot it is and sweat rate, etc. If you make it to Kona in the future, please let this be a lesson to you, plot out your sodium intake prior to the start of the race and refine it if necessary. I probably would have dialed it back to between 1200mg-1500mg fo rrace day. Lesson learned.

Be safe out there friends, train and race smartly. Cheers.

Kona Race Report

2011-11-10T14:10:00.003-05:00

It's been over a month since Ironman Hawaii and I feel like it's finally started to sink in that I've actually done it. Truth be told, I kind of put off writing this because I feel that as soon as I write this race report, it's over. I can't revel in my accomplishment anymore and it's over....and that makes me really sad. But moving on is part of life I suppose (triathlon teaches you SO many life lessons...)

Hawaii was such an amazing experience and I honestly felt blessed to have been part of it all. Quite a spectacle and what I want to convey to you all is how much I respected the distance, the course and the place. It was all I ever dreamed of and so much more wrapped in itself. Quite honestly, I had to choke back a few tears on the plane as we took off from the Kona airport en route home and I said a silent prayer to myself that I might be lucky enough again to come back some day. (Please Lord, let that come true!)
Hawaii is hallowed ground. I know that. I have had a healthy fear and fascination for the race for years. When I started this sport, I quickly realized it was the pinnacle of Ironman and without getting too deep into this subject on this post (I'll post another entry in a little while....ooooh the suspense!) but just to give you all an understanding, a few years ago I started buying Kona coffee and drinking it regularly. I don't really even enjoy the bitterness of Kona coffee, but I wanted to surround myself with everything that had to do with Kona and the race. So needless to say, I was pretty stoked to be finally living out a dream that I had been chasing down for the past 7 years (did my first tri in 2004)

But I digress, that's another blog entry. This one's supposed to be about the trip to Hawaii!! There's probably going to be a "vacation report" in a little bit as well with a lot of pictures and fun stories (we stayed HERE), but for now let's get right into the nitty gritty...
The plan was to hop a plane from ROC, head to ATL, transfer to LAX, then it was just a hop, skip and a jump across the Pacific Ocean to KOA. Only problem was there were a few mechanical problems with our transfer plane to Kona and that caused a 5 hour delay in the LAX airport. That was weird, because there was a lot of compression gear and M-dot merchandise in that terminal. I met a guy from Michigan who was a lottery winner there as well and he was one of two I met this trip.

Kim and I on the seawall on Ali'i Drive

I only had a certain amount of vacation saved up so the plan was arrive on Wednesday afternoon/evening and then leave Wednesday night of the following week and come back to Rochester on Thursday. This left us 3 days of "business" to take care of before Kim and I had our "fun" after the race. With the delay, we missed the famed Underpants run, but that's something that I'm looking forward to on the return journey. There were cool things to do at the expo like get pics taken and see a lot of crazy new products while grabbing freebies. People bend over backwards for you as soon as they see the orange wristband that says "athlete" on it. I didn't bring a visor, but I stopped at the Timex tent and they gave me a free one that I raced in.

Kswiss tent at the expo

I wasn't sure if it was the time changes or travel or what, but I was feeling pretty sluggish on Thursday and Friday prior to the race and was hoping to pop a good one this time, we had a lot of running around with registration, picking up race wheels, mandatory lunch at Lava Java, so I didn't do any running or biking leading up to the race. Honestly, I only rode my bike for about 3 minutes just to make sure that I put it together correctly from the bike box. My body needed rest and I listened.

Friday swim with R.Barnett - cloud obscuring volcano in background

The one cool thing before the race was bike check in. You've seen the #'s that every bike manufacturer or anyone else in the bike industry drools over each year, how many of the top age group athletes use your products. It's a big deal and I was geeked to be in the middle of it all. Kim got some good photos of Crowie and Chrissie at bike check in and she said it was like the paparazzi with long lensed cameras and people shouting "Chrissie, can you look over here for a quick picture with your bike?" It was so cool...

How to transport a $5k bike when you have a convertible rental

I took my bike past the hoards of people with clipboards and pens tallying up all the equipment and I heard things like "vision bars, Zipp wheels, Cobb saddle, etc" and those were all the pieces of MY bike. It was SO neat. I even got a Cervelo shirt with a few hibiscus flowers on it that reads "kona 2011" just for riding a Cervelo. The guy that handed it to me from the boxes just simply said, "thank you for choosing Cervelo". It was awesome.

Bike check in

Race morning - Sweeeeeeet!

There was a lot of other cool stuff that happened in the days leading up to the race, but race morning came and I was stoked to have it finally here. Kim and I gathered the things we needed at the condo and I greased myself up with sunscreen and we hit up body marking. One of my goals for triathlon was to compete in a race where they had to stamp on your race numbers. I got a huge kick out of this and made the woman actually stop after applying the "1" in "1760" so it looked like I was the defending champion. Just my touch to ease the nerves on race morning.

You have to know how to have fun!

I checked my bike, things were all systems go and I climbed into my speedsuit. Of course I stopped by the pro section on the pier and snapped a few blurry photos with my camera phone. I told Michael Lovato to "bring back the win for the Americans" and he gave me a fist bump before heading off to his start.

Swim 2.4 miles - 59:23 / 12th in M25-29AG
This was absolutely insane. Honestly one of the coolest things was that I was floating in the ocean ready to begin a journey that I've dreamed about for the previous 7 years...I swam out to the start with about 15 minutes before the cannon fired and the plan was to start to the left to get a little more "clean" water and be out of the melee a bit more. I got a chance to hang on the Ford Edge that was floating and then with like 5 minutes to the start, I swam over to the line and got behind all the surfboards. They were doing a good job of reigning us back to the line, but you could just tell we were floating out and there was a current.

Then without warning, the cannon fired and I had a pretty good jump off the line. It was a non-wetsuit swim like it is every year in Hawaii, so I was wearing my Blue Seventy ZP3TX skin suit for some extra "go". It worked wonderful, minus the chaffing that I got on the outside of my pecs from the suit rubbing with the salt water. When I hit the turn around, it was burning so much that I almost stopped and re-adjusted. But I figured the damage was already done and if I had stopped, I would've been swam over. It's the world championships, so almost everyone swims between that :55 to 1:05 range and it's pretty crowded. I was right in the mix.

400m into the swim I noticed I was still with clean water and wondered why everyone was telling me prior to the race how crazy the swim was. It was at that point that we blended in with the other people to the right and things got crazy. The "stream" of people was only about 6 bodies across and I was on the left hand side of that stream and wanting to catch a good draft. I had a goal of a sub 1 hour swim in Kona and I knew I was capable of that considering the 56 I swam without a wetsuit in Placid (as long as the currents were nice)

The mele of the swim start

Basically you can't see where you're going and you just kind of get sucked along with everyone and there's flailing arms, legs, etc all over the place. The underwater shots are JUST like they are on TV and I got my own views of those while trying to breathe during the race. (You'd look over and see someone swimming next to you and it'd be exactly the same type of shot as is on the NBC broadcast) But it was very physical as I was still getting punched in the face (that was a good shot once prior to the turn around) and swam on top of all the way out to turn around boat.

The trip into the shore was uneventful, but since it's a world class race, if you let up for a split second...about 5 people pass you and I tried to keep the pressure on all the way back home to shore. The crowds were intense as I climbed the stairs and I tried so hard not to slip on the astroturf. (didn't want to come this far only to be taken out by some green mats!) Regardless I made it out alive and was headed to T1 with the digital clock reading that coveted sub 60 time.

T1 - 3:10
It was cool to be on the pier and as soon as you get out of the water, you run thru some showers to rinse off the salt water from your suit. I took some extra seconds making sure my suit was rinsed because with the way my arms/pecs felt from the chaffing in the water, I didn't want any more of that.

Running towards T1

I found my bag, ran to the tent and as I was exiting, saw none other than Ryan Barnett in front of me as we rounded the end of the pier. I gave him some congrats on a great bike, landed a big old slap on the ass and went to grab my bike. Later on I would find that we only swam 2 seconds apart (I beat him out of the water...just sayin'!) and it was cool to be able to share that part of the race with a friend.

Bike 112 miles - 5:15:44 / 21.28mph avg spd - 50th M25-29AG
The bike was something that I've been working hard on this year and this split was like the culmination of hard work of the past year pouring out onto the lava fields. Some reliable people told me that it's smart to bike a LITTLE bit above your pace in the first 10 miles or so (prior to heading up Palani and taking that left on the Queen Ka'ahumanu) just so you get out of the wind that little bit faster than everyone else behind you. I was trying to do that, but also was cautious enough not to blow myself up in the opening miles and have to walk the marathon. This is where the powermeter/HR monitor came in handy.

White hibiscus sticker near seatpost and the phoenix was ready to roll

The ride down the Kuakini Highway was fun and fast and there is a little bit of a climb out to the turn around. I opted to save my legs for the lava fields and sat up and small ringed it here. I'm not proud and as I passed a guy (who was obviously small ringing it too - we were getting passed like CRAZY by people tearing thru this part of the course) that guy said to me, "don't worry, they'll all be walking the marathon" and that gave me a little hope. We turned around, got some speed and then took a right hander up Palani Road.

Climbing up Palani Road hill

Palani is a pretty solid hill (not too bad...but not flat) and I was able to see my parents, Kim and my sister on the sides of the road cheering their fool heads off for me. It was great and I jus tsat up and spun up the hill and tried to soak it all in. I crested Palani feeling good and we took a left on the Queen K.

The course can be described as rolling up to about mile 53, then it starts a nice 7 mile climb up to Hawi (pronounced Hah-vee - Hawaiians pronounce W's as V's in their language). They say if you can see whitecaps on the ocean to your left at the little town of Kawaihae, you're gonna be in for a windy and sketchy descent. Long story short, it was windy. CRAZY windy. Like the most extreme wind I have ever felt while on a bicycle. I can only correlate it to the wind that is produced when an 18 wheeler tears by you on your bike and you are only feet away....it's kind of like a semi going by you on your right side and then going by you on your left within seconds of eachother. It's nuts.

On the climb up to Hawi, I chatted with a few people who were passing me and I was pretty chatty on the bike. There were sometimes when I would come up on someone and because it's the WORLD championships, you don't know if they speak English or not, so they just give you a blank stare and smile. I realized during this section that the only reason that bike companies do wind tunnel testing is for this part of the race. The wind...was....intense! Crazy amount of headwind on the climb up and once we turned around it got a little gusty for a tail wind as well. People said that the winds were light this year and that made the bike fast, but since this was the first time on the island. I didn't know any different.

Coming down from Hawi was a little dicey, but I survived, caught a little wobble on the downhill section due to some serious wind, but was able to keep it straight and on the road this time. The scene was crazy, you saw a string of cyclists in front of you and one would wobble from the wind, then the next and the next until you thought to yourself, "brace for it....here it comes" and it would hit you like a Mack truck.

Regardless of the wind, I feel like I paced this ride about the BEST I've EVER done an Ironman bike. Generally, despite the variety of courses, I spit out a 5:4X bike split and this time around it was a 5:15. My Garmin file can be found HERE for the bike for those wondering about pacing, etc. I drank a ton on the bike, every hour I would consume 2 bottles of Ironman Perform, a gel and 2 Suceed salt tablets. In hindsight it MIGHT have been a little too much sodium, but my shorts were covered in salt lines, so I was rinsing off with 2 bottles of water at every aid station. Despite the asphalt temperatures reading 130F that day, I was still keeping cool (or at least I thought)

The last 40 miles I felt strong and was passing SO many folks who were sitting up on their brake pads obviously having blown up from going out too hard. I know my HR climbed and pace dropped a little bit (I believe the scientific term is "decoupling") in the last segment, but all in all it was a fun ride and so much fun to be powering thru the lava fields and picking people off in the last few miles of the bike. I cruised into T2 and I was feeling like this might be a good race.

T2 - 2:52
Nothing really special to report here, just in and out and I made sure to get a fresh coating of extra sunscreen.
Run - 26.2miles - 3:47:43 - 57th in M25-29 AG
The run in Hawaii is fantastic. I mean it's the part of the NBC coverage that is totally glorified and it is ALL that it is cracked up to be. You take a right out of transition and run down and back on Ali'i Drive right by the ocean. You pass all the little shops, there are tons of people out and there are even a few shady sections that you can get a little respite from the intense sun. The weird thing is that you are cooled so much on the bike by the winds that when you stop and get to the run, it gets a lot hotter.

I came blazing out of T2 and I checked my watch and realized that I just had to run a sub 3:40 marathon and I had broken the elusive 10 hour barrier! My mind started racing and I was getting excited at that thought because I popped a 3:27 in Placid and that was MUCH hillier. Thoughts of besting a time set by LEGENDS in the Rochester area (Dennis Moriarty and Erik Grimm) bounced thru my head and I was flying high. But the odd thing was that I couldn't get my HR to come under 138bpm during the first 5 miles of the run. I don't know if it was nerves, adrenaline, heat or excitement thinking about that sub10 time, but I couldn't make it drop. So it stayed about 140-141bpm for the first few miles.

Then at about mile 6 or so, Hawaii threw the first of many challenges at me and I was forced to make a quick stop in the hottest place on the entire planet. Those of you that have used them, know that porta-potties on the Big Island in the heat of the day are about the worst things in the world. That little brown plastic box is like an oven. I was in an out as fast as possible, but I was hoping that was it. One and done, right?....wrong.

Mile 10 was a repeat offense and I was fearing I was going to be running from porta potty to porta potty from then on. I was still popping salt pills and I stopped after this stop. But I did realize that the sponges work really well inside the porta potties and they are easily disposed of inside as well. Now my pace was slowing to mid 8's on the run (including those stops) and I was about to take a right and climb up Palani to the Queen K.

Running up Palani Road after porta potty stops

I saw my parents, sister and Kim on Palani cheering wildly and that made me smile, but the situation happening in my belly was causing some serious discomfort and pain on my face. I told them of the GI issues and soldiered on. I turned onto the Queen K and Pat was right, "shit got real". It was a string of runners and a variable death march thru the lava fields. I was headed to the Energy Lab and fought thru what I thought was going to be another porta potty stop at around mile 13, but fought off that urge. It was hot and I was watching my pace slide northward.

Been waiting YEARS to see this sign

Drawing on past experiences, I knew I just needed to keep on putting one foot in front of the other and "Keep Moving Forward". I did that and grabbed whatever sponges, gels, water I could from the aid stations. When running along, you saw the heat lines in the road which were a little disconcerting as you were heading into them, but the miles past along and I saw the solar panels of the Energy Lab up ahead and knew that was going to be a tough section.

No spectators are allowed in the Energy Lab and the only people there are the other volunteers and runners. You basically enter and take a downhill to the ocean and run right along the coast before hitting a turn around and climbing back out. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but by the time I was climbing out, I was ready to be done with the race. I was hurting and I knew that my sub10 dreams had evaporated and turned into the salt stains that were all over my clothing at this point.

Not as burned as I thought I was going to be...

Once back up on the Queen Ka'ahumanu highway and headed back to town, I was just focused on what I could get at the next aide station. I stopped and peed in a bush like thing on the way back into town shortly after the E lab, but other than that it was all business. There were some English speaking folks around me at this time that I chatted with and they made the suffering a little easier. The sentiments of our group was basically "lets finish this thing up" and people would scatter at each aide station, but we had a little pack here.

At mile 24, there was a pretty long and slow climb about a half mile long. There's a grassy median and some spectators out there too which was great, but a young male coach with a clipboard was yelling at a female competitor behind me saying, "she's only 45 seconds ahead and this is the last uphill, NOW is the time to go AFTER HER!" and somehow that gave me some motivation to realize that as soon as I got up this last incline, it would be flat or downhill to the finsh...I couldn't wait for that. My garmin file can he found HERE for those people who want to geek out with HR and paces.

Run analysis graph - HR + Pace per mile

I started to pick up the pace a tad and when you come down Palani hill, you can see and hear the finish line to your right and ALL you want to do is just take a right in there, but the course takes you left AWAY from the finish, down another street and then you take that most famous right hander in all of triathlon and the pain magically goes away. (The hair is literally standing up on the back of my neck as I type this, it's that magical) But backing up a tad - as I took the left turn after Palani away from the finish line, I saw my sister and she was running alongside for a few paces and gave me a completely missed fist bump and yelled, "I am so goddamn proud of you!". It chokes me up to think about it now, but at the time I could only think to say, "go to the finish, just go to the finish..." Sorry for yelling at you Jenna!

TOTAL TIME - 10:08.52 - 537th overall and 57th in M25-29 AG
Taking that right hander onto Ali'i is something I've envisioned in training runs for YEARS. It was nothing like what I thought it would be like, but you head down a finishing chute with flags from all over the world lining the way. There are TONS of people and the street is as packed as the Tour de France is on those mountain top sections. It's absolutely wild and I tried to soak it all in. I was screaming a primal scream at the top of my lungs and was exhausted thoroughly when I finished, but it was all totally worth it. I had made it to the line and my name could be added to that exclusive club.

They say that those people who accomplish monumental feats never do so alone, and I had an exceptional support crew in my parents and sister that flew out to watch me race in person, Kim for being there as well and putting up with the long training hours and the general triathlon ridiculousness (including forgetfulness and freakouts) and to Kim's family for giving me nothing but wholehearted support on this journey. Along with so many others who I will not list all here...

Kim and I - finally done!

So glad mom and dad could be there!

Post race with an uber excited Jenna!

I will think about this finish line for years to come and the reason that this report is so long is that I don't want the memories to fade. I want to try and recall every slight detail for as long as I can. Mahalo to everyone for your support and I got a chance to see my parents under the huge banyan tree after the finish. I didn't even get a massage, but I didn't care. I wasn't planning on any more physical activity for a while. That evening Kim and I went to Quinns - almost by the sea with none other than Ryan Barnett and had some Kona brews and we wore our lei's. We were too pooped to stick around for the midnight hour, but I'll catch that on TV next month :o)

I'm going to put a vacation report with tons of pics in a future entry, but don't hold your breath (it took me long enough to put this up!) Thank you to everyone for reading and I'll see you on the roads and trails again real soonish. Cheers.

Road to Kona

2011-10-27T14:41:00.000-05:00

So I've had this on my phone for a while and was FINALLY able to figure out how to get it off and uploaded to YouTube.com. It actually cuts off before I cross, but I just barely come into view around the corner.

I'm in the process of getting the Kona race report set up right now, so hold tight. It'll be up before you know it. Cheers friends.

Mass email (failed to send)

2011-10-19T11:47:00.000-05:00

So to hold everyone over that is still waiting for my Kona race report (I'm in the process of collecting pics, videos, links, etc) I'm going to share a large email that I was SUPPOSED to send out to everyone in my address book (300+ contacts) but since there were so many, Yahoo mail decided to flag it as SPAM and lock down my account for the duration of the time I was in Hawaii.

So I apologize if I didn't reply to any emails promptly, but in my defense my account was locked out (and I was in Hawaii on vacation, give me a break! haha) so here is the email I was going to send from my phone upon touching down on the Big Island:

Hello all,

I have been waiting 7 long years to be able to write this email and I apologize if you have not heard from me in a long time (I don't really care....I'm sending this to EVERYONE in my address book...friends, acquaintences, co-workers, etc.) I'm so happy, I'm telling everybody! :o) I honestly feel like I won the lottery and this is all a dream as I've been chasing down this dream for a long time.

After almost 24 hours of travel yesterday and 5 hours of delayed flights at LAX, we made it to this magestical place. I'm registered, had lunch at Lava Java today, and even went for a short swim in the ocean. Life is good!

But to the point of this email; On Saturday, October 8th I will be toeing the line for the 2011 Ironman World Championships in beautiful Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i (yes it's the one that's broadcast on NBC every year). This will be my 6th Ironman start and it's taken many miles and miles of trials to get here and I truly know that I have not done it alone. This is simply an email to say "thank you" to anyone that has supported me in my crazy quest to get to the Big Island (state #45 out of 50, woo-hoo!) and offered words of encouragement, gone on long rides/runs/swims with me, listened to my crazed talks about triathlons, offered any type of support along the way and just been there as family or a friend.

Most of you might have seen the NBC coverage at one time, and I can tell you that the lava is blacker, the winds are stronger and the sun is hotter than what they show on TV. I can't believe that I'm actually here (hallowed ground for Ironman competitors) and I have an incredible support crew here with me to make my day a little brighter. Just know that when the times get tough (running in and out of the Energy Lab, or climbing Palani Hill) and I'm literally baking in the Hawaiian sun out on the Queen Ka'ahumanu highway on the bike and the run course, I'll think of all the kind words and support and it will help me push thru.

If you'd like to track my progress during the day, (remember Hawaii is 6 hours earlier time change from most of you folks on EST) you can head to www.ironman.com and view the live athlete tracker from there. My bib # is 1763 and the race starts at 7am and ends at midnight and my only goal is to finish in the daylight hours. Feel free to pass this on to anyone else that might be interested (I'm thinking Team Big Pants list, Morning swimmers from Patty's house, GTA, RAMS swimmers, Employment Store, etc) as well.

Mahalo (thank you) from the bottom of my heart for all of your support. I'll try to do Rochester proud and race as hard as I possibly can on Saturday. Then it's time to relax and FINALLY have an off-season! (can't wait to go cliff-jumping, and stand up paddle boarding, along with relaxing on the beach with a few cold brews!) :o) Thanks again for all your support and encouragement. It means the world to me...cheers!

~Travis

In retrospect, we tried to cliff jump, but the ocean swells were too rough and stand up paddleboarding didn't happen because I was too lazy and cheap (I didn't want to fork over $65 for a 45 minute rental and short lesson) but it was a fantastic trip. I'm in the process of getting the report together, so as soon as I can, I'll get that stuff up. I'll be back soon, I promise. Cheers.

Whirlwind

2011-10-15T09:59:00.007-05:00

So the past week and a half has been an absolute whirlwind. First of all, I'm still alive, I survived the trip of a lifetime and am back in Rochester, NY after a long stint in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. I can now say that I've joined the elite club of being an Ironman World Championship finisher, which is incredibly humbling and amazing. I'm in the process of putting together a detailed and formal race report, but for now I just wanted to touch on a few things that were pretty darn cool as well:

1 - I got a chance to spell out a message with white corral on the black lava rocks! It wasn't until after the race, but that allowed me the cool opportunity to "recycle" my finishers lei and give it back to the 'Aina (land) without upsetting Madame Pele by taking anything from the island. I thought of it as a way to complete the full circle, she produced the flowers that created the lei and I was returning it to her. The lei is actually the "O" in the word forward (that was Kim's idea - mine was to lay the lei in the lava fields, but this killed two birds with one stone)

2 - I got interviewed by a writer for Triathelete magazine and Inside Triathlon magazine. (they are owned by the same company, the Competitor Group) about my story on how I got to Kona and the article can be found HERE. It's only a short little blurb, but it was still cool to be sitting in the condo in Kona and reading on their website about MY story as I was prepping for the race...so neat!

3 - Lots of pics from the race were taken by the professional photographers at FinisherPix.com and they can be found by clicking HERE and entering in my bib # of 1763. But some friends and my family also captured photos and I've been tagged on Facebook as well. There is one in particular that I really enjoy and it was posted on my FB page from my friend Greg Horrocks, who I met this year (formally) at Keuka as we were running into transition together. That pic is above and I think it captures the emotion of how I felt crossing that sacred finish line.

3- But one of the neatest things is that since everyone was watching back home in Rochester, NY that some folks decided it would be super cool to be able to capture the finish line video from the live feed that was going on. This video here was captured by my buddy Edwin Figueroa and it was SO cool to be able to convey what was going thru my head as I crossed the line.

But really that's it, I have a TON of more photos and such to post up here and a crazy race report to write (spoiler alert - I finished with my BEST time ever at the Ironman distance in Hawaii - don't ask me how) and I was REALLY pleased with my race. (again, it wasn't perfect, but I'll take it!) I'll have an analysis full on with Garmin file data and charts and graphs and whatnot for everyone to enjoy.

Good stuff. But until then, rest up, enjoy the off season friends and I'll be recovering from a teeny amount of jet-lag that's still ravashing my body after traveling a quarter of the way around the world :o) Take care friends and thank you ALL SO much for the support and kind words of encouragement along the way. It meant a ton. Cheers!

Dreams DO come true...

2011-10-03T08:49:00.000-05:00

Rochester Ironman Hawaii veterans

2011-09-30T10:43:00.000-05:00

Several years ago when I first entered the world of multisport, I had this wild idea that I wanted to collect each name of anyone that has ever been to the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. I thought to myself that this would be quite the project and with a little help from a few friends over at the RATS website here in Rochester and a few other veterans (thanks Rauni!) I've come up with this "comprehensive" list. (Editors note: If I forgot anyone or missed times/years/etc. PLEASE email me as I would like to keep this as an all inclusive and on-going list)

I feel honored to be joining this incredibly elite crew from Rochester, NY and I'm so thankful for everyone who has helped me be a part of this. I still don't think I should be included in the same sentence as some of these folks, but I'll hopefully be able to add my name to the mix in a little over a week. If you look at some of the names, it's crazy that it's a variable "who's who" of triathletes in the Upstate NY area. Some have moved away (K. Bergkessel - also the youngest female to go) some have gone multiple times to compete (check out Heidi Grimm, Buzz Schild - local legend, and Denise Everett-lottery and qualifier several times over) and it's cool to see the history.

There have been only 2 folks that have ever podiumed at the Big Dance and they have received those covetted wooden bowls. (I KNOW I will not be anywhere near that, so don't get any ideas) But some other folks in my AG are shooting for that I'm sure.

I've included some out of town friends that have headed there in the past and a few are from Buffalo and all over. There are only 4 of us that are heading there this year (some are already there!) and my list of people I know who are competing is VERY small. The list is myself, Pat Wheeler, Chad Holderbaum and Ryan Barnett. I hope to see them all out there on the Queen K and around town before and maybe after the race, but it will be nice to see some familiar faces in the lava fields. They have been an excellent resource for me as I feel as if I'm a small fish heading into the freaking ocean (pun intended!)

The arrival at the island is on Wednesday of next week and the race is in a week and a day. I have a deep tissue massage treatment today with Bruce Merla for my calves, glutes and quads and I'm hoping that gets some pop back into my legs. I'm not feeling spunky yet, but I just know I have to trust in my taper and rest and by the time I get to the island, I know I'll be starting to feel good. The beer intake has been halted and I've told myself the next brew I have will taste amazing because it will be DIRECTLY from the Kona Brewing Company on Ali'i Drive. I have a lot to pack and take care of and 2.5 more days of work to get thru before I leave, so until then friends, rest well. See you on the lava fields! Cheers.

The extra 1%....

2011-09-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

A lot of folks talk about the extra 1% that separates the good athletes from the really good athletes. I consider myself a good athlete, not a great one. I've always told folks that I liked triathlon because you could be mediocre in all three disciplines and still be a really good overall triathlete. I'm not a standout runner or swimmer (but I can hold my own...) and I'm CERTAINLY not a standout cyclist, but I really don't have a weak leg when it comes to tri's and I feel like that's a benefit.

So we all generally try to follow the same type of outline/plan and (shocker) since there is no secret workout that will ultimately make you faster, we're all doing the same thing. We're slowly building hours up and making our bodies more durable to the training and acclimating them to be able to handle the crazy workload that we put them thru. After 7 years of long course racing (first season for me was 2005) I've had the consistency piece down, but wanted every single legal advantage that I could over my friends and competition.

Just like life choices, it's not the macro level stuff (that stuff obviously matters) but I'd like to focus on the micro level choices that add up and give you an advantage in the long run. Maybe it's all psychological, but if it helps you when times get rough, then it's A-okay in my books. These are some of the things I've done in the past few years that I'd like to share:

1. I take the stairs every day at work. I work on the third floor of an office in Downtown Rochester and there are some days when I wish I worked on the ground floor. But I made a new years resolution to take the stairs every day at work of 2011 and I'm still going strong. Whether it's to get a soda from the vending machines in the basement at 3pm, whether I have to go out for lunch, do a run, head to a meeting, whatever...I take the stairs.

2. I watch my diet. I'm not a food nazi and I don't count calories (I've been known to house an entire pizza by myself), but if it's a choice between white rice and brown rice, I'm going with brown. I love cookies too and sweets, but I try to keep things in moderation. Those who know me know that coffee and Mountain Dew are staples in my diet, but come race time, I just try to limit my intake of those two vices in an effort to clean up my food intake. Remember garbage in = garbage out. Same thing goes for beer, I'm limiting my intake on that right now and I actually can't remember the last time I had one...which makes me sad, but I know the next one I have will taste sweet as it will likely be directly at the Kona Brew Pub! :o)

3. Core exercises - I try to do about 3 sessions of 10 minutes each per week. It's nothing special, just a bunch of situps, pushups, back extensions, leg raises and planks. I've done this since my high school cross country days and I feel its benefitted me greatly.

4. Sports massage - never done this until recently, can say that I was expecting a LOT more, but nothing comes and can undo a decade worth of damage from not stretching. I went to a guy by the name of Bruce Merla who owns Merla Massage and he's a great guys with a WEALTH of knowledge. It's definitely super pricey to do this and I can see why pro-athletes get this done regularly, but I wouldn't be able to afford food on the table if I went as much as I needed to. It's a trigger point massage and is very deep tissue (which hurts like hell) But I have insanely tight calf muscles and it's recently been causing some plantar fascitis issues in my feet and after going to him one session about a week or two pre IMLP this year, it loosened everything up. I'm trying to get into him again by next Friday and hopefully he can squeeze me in again.

5. Foam rolling/ice/stretching/advil - This was something that I have a really hard time with, but when your partner in crime is injured as well, it helps! :o) We started this routine religiously a month out from IMLP and boy did it keep me loose and I thought it helped a ton. You often forget the benefits of this and I'm the first person to neglect a stretching routine, but MAN can it help you out. Keep at it.

6. Train on the course you are trying to tackle - It might not be feasable for every big race you do, but it helps drastically to know thy course. I can't count how many times I have ridden the bike course for IMLP, or how many miles I've done on the out and back section of River Road for the run course up there. When it came to race day, I knew that course like the back of my hand and I feel like that gave me a little bit of an edge over everyone else. It's my "home course" Ironman and I've been up there pretty much every year since 2005 for numerous training weekends and reconnisance missions. I also have a route that's a 56 miler around Canandaigua Lake that mimicks the elevation of the hills in LP as well that I did all my long rides on prior to race day. It sucks, but it got me where I wanted to go...

Overall it's the culmination of the little things and adapting them to fit your lifestyle. I know that I will never make this crazy triathlon business a career, but I wanted to see how far I could go in this chapter of life and every little advantage helps as everyone is super competitive. That and coming back from a crazy accident with something to prove every time I toed the line was a big help too!

So the point of this is; there are no magic workouts, we're all doing crazy hours, big intervals and training our hardest every single time we get out there. Every little edge can help in such a long day, so look at where you can tweak your life and make those small changes. I guarantee it will help in the long run. Take care friends. Train hard and don't forget to relax too, cheers.

2 weeks until lift off....

2011-09-21T10:08:00.000-05:00

This will be my view 2 weeks from today after 12 long hours of travelling......and it will be TOTALLY worth it. Cheers.

Suburban News article

2011-09-20T13:55:00.000-05:00

So my parents decided it would be a good idea to write up an article for a local newspaper in my hometown (the Suburban News) about my ironman experiences (apparently it was a slow news day!) Here is the article written by my mom, Judy Earley:

"Our son, Travis, is an athlete. At Churchville-Chili High School, he participated in three sports for all four years, earning 12 varsity letters. At Geneseo College, he continued by being on the cross-country team. While watching Lance Armstrong compete in the Tour de France, an interest in bicycle racing was born. He also began swimming again, and found out that he could combine all three sports, swimming, biking and running, by training for triathlons.

Thus began a six-year self-imposed program to gain strength and speed. While working a full time job, he continued a routine of biking, running and swimming approximately 25 hours a week. He read everything he could get his hands on for how to train and what to do.

Three times a week, Travis swam at 5 a.m. before working an eight-hour day. He participated in every race, 5 and 10 Ks, musselman competitions and half-marathons he could. In a few years, he felt ready to enter an Ironman triathlon.

He finished three ironmans; Florida, Lake Placid and Wisconsin with above average times. His dream, he informed us, was to compete in Kona, Hawaii someday. In 2009, he again competed at Lake Placid. This time, the scoreboard read, “dnf” – did not finish. While descending a hill at 55 miles per hour, he caught a crosswind, and was unable to control the shaking of the bike. Before he knew it, he had been thrown over the handlebars and went tumbling down the embankment.

The accident was severe. His collarbone was badly broken, and he sustained road rash over 60 per cent of his body. The jersey, like his skin, was in shreds from scraping the pavement. His bicycle was broken. The sunglasses he was wearing cut into his face right above the eye requiring several stitches. He even popped a contact lens. But thank God for helmets – his saved his life. Despite being broken into three pieces, that helmet performed at it should.

It took surgery and several months before he could return to work and his training. He started slowly to regain his strength and speed, and spent a year working up to his previous athletic condition.

In July of this year, he again entered the Ironman held in Lake Placid. When I asked him if he thought he was ready, he informed me that he had some “unfinished business with a hill”.

This time, the results were much different. His training, determination, and strong will paid off. Not only did he finish the race, he also placed 4th in his age group, qualifying for the World Champion Ironman Competition this October in Kona, Hawaii.

I don’t know if he realizes how extraordinary he is. To come back from an injury, face and conquer his fear, and do it all by himself – no personal trainer, or professional help in any way – is an incredible accomplishment. It is with great pride and love that we watch our son fulfill a dream. Our hearts will be with you every step of the way. You are the definition of the word athlete – “one trained to great physical skill and strength”.

Travis, you are truly an “Ironman!”

They are making the trip to Hawaii with me and I can't wait to celebrate on the Big Island with them, their support means much more than they know. Cheers.

Swimsuit contest time!

2011-09-09T10:37:00.000-05:00

So with the crazy training that I've been putting in lately, I can barely know my own name, let alone come up with some funny and great ideas. But a gem popped into my head the other day and it kind of killed two birds with one stone...

I want to get a new fancy speedo for looking good on Dig Me Beach in Hawaii and I got the great idea to come up with a contest to see who could come up with the best design! If you check out: http://www.splish.com/ or just use this LINK it will take you to their design page to help design me a new suit. Probably a choice between the "mens briefs" or "mens drag suit" (not a big fan of the jammers)

I'm thinking that the funniest slogan or theme will win and friends of mine always thought it would be funny to design a Summers Eve douche or Tampax suit for me in bright pink. Now is your chance (I'm looking at you Tim for something hysterical) There's a spot where you can upload your design and email the link to me - travisjearley at yahoo dot com or just leave the link in the comments section so everyone can enjoy!

Get those creative juices flowing and let's see some good designs!! I'll make a decision by Friday of next week! :o) Cheers.

It's official....

2011-09-02T12:13:00.000-05:00

Welp, it's on the website so it must be official :o) Wahoo!!!

This is absolutely insane, I can't believe MY name is on this list. Tomorrow is 5 weeks until the Big Dance. Gotta get those last little bits of training in. Cheers friends!

The calm has been restored....

2011-08-26T16:07:00.000-05:00

So I wanted to apologize for the whiny little bitch fest that I had in the previous post. What I am going thru is COMPLETELY and uttely new to me. I have never gone thru two ironmans in a single year, let alone two in such short of a time and one being Kona.

When trying to explain my conundrum, I have equated it to playing tee-ball and suddenly getting called up to the Major Leagues and expected to be able to hit with a decent batting average. (what is with me and all of these SPORTS analogies lately? Who AM I??!?! - haha)

I wanted to let you all know that the decision to rest this week and recover was probably about the best thing I have ever decided (you know, other than my decision to wear clean underwear every day of the week...) Today is Friday and my legs feel good. Not 100% yet as I still have a teeny bit of muscle soreness if I bound up the stairs, but nothing major feeling like my legs are going to snap in half and not support me.

I've got the fire back and I'm chomping at the bit to get back to training. I've got a HUGE tempo block for the next two weeks that I'm looking forward to suffering thru and then it's a rest week, one more sharpening week, then taper for the big dance. The links are all falling into place and I'm feeling good about this again. Good stuff. Just wanted to give you some semblance of an update before the weekend. I'm having a beer tonight with dinner (just because I can...) and then we'll get back to business next week. Stay calm friends. See you on the roads, cheers.

Oh and PS - If you all didn't notice I have a fun little TWITTER feed (@TravisEarley) to the right that I've been "cracking wise" on lately. Fun times, I initially got it to stave off the inevitable boredom before IMLP, but it's kinda fun now. Follow me if you like! Cheers.

The great unknown...the double!

2011-08-23T10:28:00.000-05:00

It’s the great unknown. I can honestly say that I feel as though I am going into my first Ironman and I feel like my head is below the surface of the water right now. It’s a very weird feeling and it’s been mixed bag since July. There have obviously been feelings of pure elation that I had worked so hard for so long and finally seen the fruits of my labor, but then came the pangs of fear of, “wait, I have to do another ironman in only 10 weeks?!?!?” I feel like I’ve been thru the wringer in terms of emotions for this and I just want to apologize for anyone who has been caught in the collateral crossfire.

As a self coached athlete, I tend to rely on several folks to kind of bounce ideas off of and mimic what I have seen works for me/them. Unfortunately for me, I only know of one other person who has done Ironman Lake Placid – Kona double in the same season. Most folks whom I have come in contact with have qualified at late season races like Wisconsin and Florida and those have slotted them entry for the following year, allowing them the time to adequately train for such a big endeavor. Or they have done so at Texas which is early season, allowing them time to come down from IM and rest before going back at it.

So what do you do? You play with the cards that you’re dealt and you map out a plan. My loose plan was to take a week of recovery after IMLP and then just kind of get right back to it and into the swing of 20+ hour training weeks. I’m calling an “audible” this week and swapping stuff around though to make this a rest week. I’m in need of a breather and I feel like I’m just going thru the motions if I don’t rest this week. My legs have that dull ache that reminds me that I probably haven’t recovered from IMLP yet.

Again, it’s the big unknown. I’ve never done two Ironman’s in one season, let alone two so close together. Friends that have doubled in a single season have always had adequate time in between so I can’t even lean on them for support/advice. It’s very daunting to be heading to the Ironman World Championships and wanting to perform at your very best, while also trying to figure out heat acclimation strategies, drop those last few pounds to get to race weight, navigate workout schedules, uniform choices, equipment issues, finding places to swim over the summertime and also adjusting to using a different nutrition strategy (solely using the crappy Ironman Perform drink mix rather than my tried and true Gatorade and CarboPro mixture) prior to the big dance. That combined with a more intense workload and a 40 hour work week, puts my stress budget thru the roof. Sorry friends if I have been a little “off” lately… I think I’m just nervous and anxious and ready to get this thing on the road.

So with that being said, I’m taking a rest week this week and that will free up my schedule a little bit. I’m going to re-collect myself and take care of some of the little things this week to get those out of the way. I know I’ve been a little bit negative lately to those that have been around and I apologize. My roommate last night said to me, “I’m done with this pity party, don’t bitch about having to get on your bike, you’re going to Hawaii” and that kind of slapped me in the face and back to reality. I know that I am incredibly grateful that I am headed to the Big Island and MANY folks would kill to be in my spot right now, so I have to make the best decision about training I can. And that means resting this week, pushing thru the next few weeks and then getting ready for race day. We had a discussion about how I could just do nothing for the next few weeks and I’m still going to Hawaii, but that’s not my style. If I’m going to race against the worlds best in the toughest course around, then I want to be in peak physical condition to do so. Besides, I think the Ironman gods would smite me if I just took it as a 17 hour pleasure cruise. Madame Pele would be pissed and no one needs that…

Anyway, the point of this post was that the last few weeks I have lacked the real motivation to get out there and get stuff done with a purpose. I felt like I was going out for rides because I HAD to not because I wanted to get it done. That’s not right. I mentioned how I can’t even use visualizations about running down Ali’i drive or hitting the energy lab as motivation to get me going because I don’t want to fuzzy those visualizations with the real memories I will be making in only a few weeks. So a rest week is needed to recharge the batteries and then get after it. There’s only 45 days left to the big dance and I will be prepared. Rest assured. Now I just need to let my body heal some, get some SOLID amounts of sleep and be ready to attack the next few weeks with a vengeance.

Rest hard friends, the season isn't over yet....see you on the roads in a little bit. Cheers.

Luck can change your outcome

2011-08-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

Day after Ironman Lake Placid in 2009

I keep on using the below picture in every single post that I've done since IMLP this year. Needless to say I've waited a long time to be able to have a photo like that and I'm pretty stoked about it. To say that I got a little lucky this year would be an intense understatement.

Day after Ironman Lake Placid in 2011

Luck was NOT on my side in 2009, but I feel like I caught the winning lottery ticket this year. I'm sorry to keep blogging about it, I just can't shut up about it and stop smiling!!! It's been a hell of a way to come back from the crash and while I didn't have the race I thought I was going to, it still worked out.

Plane ticket is booked and the acommodations are almost solidified so it's becomming all too real. :o) I'm just hoping I don't wake up tomorrow from this huge dream...Big training block starts again today. 9 weeks until the big dance! Cheers.

Day after IM race report (Kona slot)

2011-08-02T12:57:00.000-05:00

So, I've heard that each Ironman has it's story and there was another good tale that came out of last weekend up in the Adirondacks.

I went to bed on Sunday night, not knowing if I had qualified for Kona or not. See the way roll down is calculated, they take the percentage of your age group vs. the # of starters at the race and that's the percentage of the 65 slots that are divvy'ed up per age group. Per my "rough" calculations the M25-29 age group would get between 3-4 slots. (I think the actual # was 3.68 or something like that) Now I had no idea if they would round up or down, or what the procedure was. So I went to bed on Sunday, knowing that I was going to hit one of my goals (get on the podium again in a more competitive age group) and not really knowing if I was going to auto-qualify or have to go to roll down.

Rumor around the casa was that #3 in my age group had already taken a Kona slot at a previous race this year, so was going to pass it down anyway. As with anything with Ironman, I wasn't ready to believe that until I had that slip of paper in my hand... Call me a doubting Thomas, but I wanted to be sure before I got excited.

So, I wake up from the Ironman insomnia at about 4:30am in my hotel. Maybe the Advil had worn off, or dad was snoring too loudly, I don't know. Either way I went over the roll down procedure in the Athlete Guide to make sure I wasn't missing anything one more time. Dad and I woke up around 8:30am or so and I knew that auto-qualifiers had from 9am until 11am to sign up at the high school gym. We were at breakfast (attached to our hotel) at 9am and sat with Jochen and a few other folks that morning. As we finished up at around 9:50am or so, I said, "Dad, we gotta get going!" as I knew it was a good 20 minute drive MAX to get to the high school. I wanted some time to spare.

We hopped in the car and had a few things with us like a wheel to return to Racedaywheels.com and all and started driving West on Route 86. It was about 10am now and we had a good hour to drive 20 minutes, no big deal, right?

5-10 minutes down the road we are stopped in a line of cars. It looks like there's construction up ahead, but I'm thinking maybe it will be a one way road and our side is stopped. We sit for a few minutes and then the cyclists who are in the road start turning around. I roll down the window and asked one and he said, "roads closed, take the detour..."

Internally, I immediately start to panic...

I know that there are 3 main roads in Lake Placid: 73, 9N, and 86...If 86 is closed, we would have to do the bike course in reverse to get to the high school. That was close to 40 miles of driving in about as many minutes now....

I turned the car around and Dad looked at me and said, "whatever you have to do, just get to the High School!" I began to drive, and we switched on the GPS just to give us an ETA...it was not pretty. ETA said 10:56am and we were on some windy roads with lots of no passing zones. I'm not going to say I've never broken any laws in my time, but I'm REALLY REALLY thankful that no police were out on the detour that morning. I was driving approximately 70-80mph and passing people on the double yellows to get there (Dad was being an excellent spotter as well) but other than that no words were really said.

The only thing I could think about was a message I got from a buddy, Pat Wheeler that morning that read, "You better get your ass to the high school and get your slot!" I have never been more nervous in my years on this earth. It was a challenge to race an Ironman finally and now IM was throwing this monkey wrench in my plans to get to Hawaii! NOTHING is ever easy with Ironman....NOTHING.

We screamed up to the high school with 9 minutes to spare. I threw the car in neutral, slammed on the emergency brake and hobbled as fast as I could into the high school as the parking guy said, "You can't park here" and my dad got out of the passenger seat and proceeded to move my car (thank you dad!) I ran into the high school and had to weave thru throngs of people to get to the table, but as I looked down, I saw a red line right under my name and my name was highlighted. Along with 3 others....

And I lost it, I cried, I collapsed on the table and I smiled to myself.

The woman at the table told me congratulations, asked to see my wristband and I obliged. She gave me a sheet of paper that I've been waiting for YEARS to get. It read, "Aloha, and congratulations on qualifying for the 2011 Ford Ironman World Championships in beautiful Kailua-Kona....".

I don't think I have ever held onto a sheet of paper so tightly. I had it with me all day too. I went over and they swiped my credit card in the machine, I sloppily signed my name and it was the easiest $675 I have ever spent. The rest of the time in the gym was a whirlwind. Ryan Barnett (fellow qualifier and 2x finisher in Kona) came over and talked with Kim and I about the coolest things about Hawaii. He gave us some great information and some websites to try and find a condo. He also regaled us with stories from his visits and congratulated me immensely.

We got ushered out by the volunteer coordinator, Derek Spain, who we met last year and I had to return a wheel to the bus, and high tail it to get to the awards by noon-thirty and buy a ticket for my dad. (see how unprepared I was for this?) The awards were great, I got up on stage and it was just me and the first place guy (who was 3rd overall amateur and is going to take his pro card by the way!) We each held our slabs of rock above our heads and it was another uber proud moment in my triathlon life.

Looking back this story still gives me chills. I feel like I won the lottery a week ago and I don't really know what to do. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of congratulations I've received and pats on the back. (It's kind of awesome to open up Facebook and see "46 of your friends like your status". I know I got really really REALLY REALLY REALLY lucky this year because a 10:10 probably shouldn't have qualified me. In 2009 a 10:00 was the last one to go and I think last year was a 9:43 to take the last slot. I'm humbled that I was able to auto qualify and just haven't really stopped smiling since I was given this chance. You best bet, I'm going to go as hard as I can on the Big Island and make you all proud!

My whole goal a few years ago was to attempt to try and qualify without the assistance of a coach (my thought process was that I was the one that knew my body the best) and to say that I did it alone would be COMPLETE and utter falsification of the facts. I just didn't have someone writing my workouts each week. I know it is incredibly cliche to talk about how no one succeeds in anything without the help and support of friends, family and everyone else around, but it is totally true. Thank you all for putting up with my triathlon ramblings and all over the last few years (I know I can go on and on and on...) Thank you to everyone that has lent ideas, taken me under their wing, told me I was crazy for doing too much in a given season, let me fall flat on my face, lended assistance, kept me focused and believed in me.

This is just like a freaking dream come true and I can't really put what I'm feeling into words. It's an incredible feeling to chase a goal for 6 long years and then finally get a chance to reach it and I couldn't have done it without the overwhelming amount of support. Mahalo, I'll be sure to make you proud at the World Championships. Cheers.

2011 Ironman Lake Placid race report

2011-08-02T11:24:00.001-05:00

I wanted to write this one a little bit after the fact because I wanted to let this one sink in a little bit before dropping my thoughts on paper. As evidenced by prior posts, I had an inkling that I was going to rip a solid race and had put a lot of hours in this year so far leading up to it. (editors note: I do not believe I had a GREAT race, I had a good race and was able to turn around a few mistakes I made during the day)

But leading up to this race, I was feeling pretty confident. I had been using the same race day nutrition that I used on race day since November of 2010 on every single trainer ride in my basement and every other ride to get my body used to breaking down that many calories and the specific concentrations of my drink mixtures. As far as training hours go, since January 1, 2011 - I had put in close to 470 hours of training. I won't bore you all with the details, but it was 243 hours of cycling and 1,000+ miles of running and 88 hours of swimming. (Basically I had maintained my swim distances from 2009, increased 38 hours of cycling and then 209 more miles of running as compared to 2009) That was a lot of time and I'm not going to lie, I was stretched pretty thin at times. (I thought I was stretched thin before....) But I had about 8 weeks over 20 hours total and had an average of 16.5 hours for each week in 2011 (that's including my 8-9 hour rest weeks) Needless to say I had put in the training...

The days leading up to the race were pretty status quo for me, I had a good taper going, wasn't really feeling too awful fresh, but starting to get that bounce back in my step and I was getting everything organized. One thing that was weird was that Kim kept on talking about how this was going to be a "non-wetsuit" swim. And I have heard all the chatter on slowtwitch before and people "freak out" that the water's too warm and everything and I didn't want to accept it. Kim decided to order us Blue Seventy ZP3TX swim skins in the unlikely occurence that it would be non-wetsuit. She ordered them and told me, if we don't use them, we return them, if we do - they'll help and hopefully you can wear it at another race this season that's also a non-wetsuit swim. I am VERY glad she was persistent enough to order one. :o)

Other than that, the days leading up to the race were good, dad and I travelled up to the ADK's and we had a hotel at the Adirondack Holiday Lodge in Wilmington (better than "the Ritz") and we had kind of a "home base" with Kim's family who had rented a condo place on the run course. This would prove integral to eliminating the stress leading up to race day by either just having meals there or just having a place to crash and not staring at each other wondering what to do next in a hotel somewhere. Dad and I hung out there for the two days leading up to the race and he hung there on race day. Kim's dad had the great idea of creaing "Team Ammon and Earley" t-shirts and everyone wore them for the race, which was really cool.

Race morning came and I really don't remember too much from that. Weird. I heard as I was dropping sunglasses off in my T1 bag that it would be a "non-wetsuit swim for those age groupers going for awards and Kona slots" and I smiled as I walked into transition. A non-wetsuit swim would help me (the stronger swimmer) and also I had the swim skin. I was hoping to do pretty well in the swim. Kim and I got dressed in the suits, walked down to the water and sat with a few friends for a few minutes before I got antsy and got up.

I got in the water and the pro's went off, I was still hanging on the dock and I treaded water over to the start line and was about 5-7 people to the right of the dock and RIGHT on the line. There was a bigger guy next to me in a full wetsuit who was breaststroke kicking the hell out of me as I was in the swim skin which had no bouyancy. Regardless, the next 10 minutes were really long as I treaded water and tried to maintain my position on the line. But as "Christmas Day" drew nearer, I knew I would be ready.

Swim - 2.4 miles - 56:27 - 4th in the AG

The cannon fired and it was physical. I knew that going into this, it's a variable washing machine of bodies all around and not having the extra float of a wetsuit made this a little daunting. Regardless, I got out and hooked onto a pair of feet, loop one was really uneventful other than just trying to get on faster feet each corner. (as was everyone else, which made loop one pretty physical) As I drew near shore and saw the timing mats upon exiting the water, the clock read 37:XX which to me shocked me, for a brief second, I didn't know if I had swam really slowly, or if they hadn't changed it over from the pro's. It would be the second of my two ideas that was true. I hit the mat in 27 minutes. Phew.

But after going thru the arch and hearing the names being called, I heard Ken Koppenhaven and then another name, then Travis Earley! So I yelled, "Ken!!!" as I dove back in and sprinted to catch up to him. I caught him as we were rounding the dock and I put my hand right into his armpit as swam up to him (Don't ask, I think he was actually going straight and I hadn't turned yet, plus he had a wetsuit on...he had a GREAT swim) but he gave me a thumbs up sign on his next stroke and I swore I saw a smile :o) It was a good feeling as in 2009, I had done pretty much the same thing with my buddy Bruce. Good times. But anyway, the rest of the loop was good, I would spot Ken a few more times and we would exit around each other. I goofed off on the way to transition and I was having a fun start to the day.

Bike - 112 miles - 5:41:23 - 9th in AG

After heading thru transition, I grabbed my bike from another friend volunteering, Jeremy Hammond. He gave me some words of encouragement and ushered me onto the course. I started riding and immediately noticed my Garmin wasn't picking up HR or power. This scared me, but I knew I could do it without. However on the rollers out of town, I played with it a bit and eventually shut it off and turned it back on and they were detected immedaitely. Phew, disaster averted!

Loop one was really nothing special, just what I had practiced and nutrition was going in smoothly and I was hitting all of my numbers. I made it down the descent in one piece and fellow awesome triathlete Ryan Barnett, dropped like a stone next to me down the descent and was whizzing by so fast I couldn't even call his name out! Loop two the descent was a little more shaky for me, but I survived. On a side note, I checked my brakes as I got my bike home and they were almost completely worn thru because of how much I was braking on that downhill...scary. But nothing special really happened other than a little squirrell going across my path on one of the out and backs which made me smile.

About 3:30 into the bike I re-evaluated my nutrition that I still had on me. I had a 600 calorie bottle of gatorade and carbo pro and 2 gels each being about 100 calories a piece. I knew that I could digest about 400 calories an hour on the bike and mentally split this bottle in half for the remainder of my ride (one half this hour and then one half the next hour) About 45 minutes later, I reached back to have a drink and squeezed into my mouth and it was empty... Whoa.... NOT good! I immediately thought my race was over, that I had screwed up again and it was completely my fault. But then experience reared it's sly head and said, "no, you know what to do, you've overdrank calories before, just slow down, sip a little wate and take a salt pill. It took about 1.5 hours for my gut to calm down, but I dug myself out.

I ran into Nick Brodnicki in the last 11 miles of the course and he helped me to maintain a steady speed and play a little cat and mouse with him. He entered T2 faster than I did, but as we exited he was right in front of me.

Run - 26.2 miles - 3:27:05 - 4th in AG

The run was what I knew I had faith in. I had been putting in some GOOD miles leading up to IMLP and I was prepared to unleash my secret that I'd kept hidden for so long. I caught Nick and our other friend Andy Burke on the down hill heading out of transition and didn't look back. I was motoring. I had some folks on the run course that were being spotters for me and telling me how far back I was in the AG and I didn't hear anyone on loop one. I just knew that when I saw the leaders coming back towards me on River Road, I could just count those folks in my age group based upon their bib #s (I knew the range was approximately #760-#960) The first loop, I did an approximate count and I was about 7th according to my calculations. It was time to start cranking.

I floated the first loop and was feeling good, I climbed Rich Clark hill and slapped a bunch of fives and then by the time I got back to transition, my watch read 1:35 for the marathon. By this time it was getting a little hot out and muggy. I was picking folks off and by the time I hit River Road on loop 2 I was in what I thought was 5th. The race was now mine to lose. I only got passed by about 3 people the entire 3rd loop (that I saw...) and one was a 50 year old dude that did an "airplane" around the last River Road turnaround.

Mile 16 came and I started to walk the aid stations to ensure that I was getting all the nutrients that I needed. My mile splits were going north pretty quick and the 7:15's and 7:30's that I was holding on the first loop gave way to 8:00's and I even saw a 9 on the screen at one mile. I was taking salt like it was my job and probably ate about 10 tabs over the course of the marathon. Meanwhile, I kept on looking at calves and checking to see if anyone was coming up on me quick. By this time the lap traffic of the first loop athletes were mixing in to the 2nd loopers and it was getting harder and harder to find out who was on what loop.

By the time I hit the River Road turn around, I mentally made note that it was about a 10k back to the finish line. I thought to myself, how many times have you run a 10k in training, just get this done! I hit 4.2 to go and I envisioned that I was in my neighborhood doing my normal loop. Climbing the "Rich Clark hill" the second time, there were no high fives to folks, it was ALL business. I made it to the last little out and back before the oval and I thought, "I'll be damned if someone passes me right now and knocks me off the podium" so I gave it my all and halfway back to the oval, I started to run out of gas...but was able to power thru the downhill and towards the finish line. I hit the oval and looked over my shoulder and thought I saw someone, so I started sprinting. (there was no one there)

FINAL TIME - 10:10:31 - 4th in the AG and 62nd overall (including pros)

The aftermath is that it didn't sink in that I had just done a 17 minute PR, the only thing I wanted to do was sit down, or lie down. I started to dry heave a bit and as I let my body go limp and have a few good hurls over a garbage can, they moved me into the med tent. Upon getting weighed on the scale, I was 13 pounds lighter than when I initially was weighed at registration. That was enough for them to administer an IV for me to get some fluids in me. As I was laying there with the IV, I saw Ryan and he told me, "Stop being a little bitch and let's go get a beer at the brew pub." He apparently had some blood blisters in his shoes that broke open near the line that looked a whole lot worse than they were.

I scared the hell out of my dad (which is to be expected after the ridiculousness of 2009) by being in the med tent, but I knew if I got an IV, I would be better recovered in the chance that I might be punching my ticket this year. A little more than 30 mintues later, I discharged myself from medical and started wandering around looking for dad. I felt like a lost puppy dog and I couldn't find him for the life of me. He apparently was busy wrangling my bike out of transition, grabbing my bags meanwhile looking for me as well. We were just missing each other. 2 hours later I found him and we watched Kim finish and it was a good afternoon. I tried to post as many pics as I could here, but there are some more right HERE if you want to check all the shots. (I think there's even an almost video of me coming towards the finish line - It cuts off)

I'm going to post another one about how everything with Ironman is hard....even going to get a Kona slot (long story) I'll try to post that before the weekend as I have some good photos to get up as well. But thank you to everyone on course cheering me on (seriously it seemed like all of Rochester was there!) and to everyone I saw and yelled at on race day. Every Ironman has a story and this one was a pretty good one...Cheers.

Still in shock....

2011-07-26T12:01:00.000-05:00

So this is a quick little post to say that Ironman Lake Placid is done and over with and I had a good race (not a great race - which I will explain in detail later) but prior experiences helped me out a TON on Sunday.

Enough so that I was able to get on the podium for the 2nd time in the 6 years I've been racing Ironman and this was for 4th place in the M25-29 age group. (that's me on the left end) And was finally able to punch a ticket to the big island of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii for the Ironman World Championships in October.

I'm still pretty much in shock with the entire thing because this has been something I have tried to chase down and DREAMED about for the last 6 years and I finally get a chance to get to Hawaii. I mean, I didn't even think it weas really possible for me to qualify, and here I am heading to race. I thought it was realistically a really big pipe dream. You know when you are a little kid and you pretend that you are rounding the final turn of the track and breaking the tape at the Olympics? For the last 6 years, I've dreamed about running down Ali'i drive and stepping foot on Dig Me beach to swim in the crystal clear waters without a wetsuit. (it will be a welcome change from the brown lake water around here!) But for me, this is my Olympic dream being realized and I cannot believe it...

A later report will be for my race report and I'll throw that up as soon as I get some good pictures sent to me. But a heart felt thank-you goes to everyone that was there cheering me on, helped me out in the days prior, sent a text, tweeted, emailed and said HI out on course and gave words of encouragement along the way. They were all heard and appreciated immensely. It sounds cliche, but I couldn't have done it without everyone's support. ~~Thank you~~ Mahalo. Cheers and I'll get the report up soon.

Support

2011-07-21T10:19:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly starting to get the jitters about competing this weekend and I think it's mainly from the amount of support that has been pouring in from everyone. I got to work this morning at The Employment Store and our homepage (that we use internally) was revamped with a little "good luck message" just for me, which was awesome!

I cannot tell you all how much I just want Sunday to come and to actually be out on the course. I can tell already that it will be an incredible day and a good friend and training partner commented to me, "just worry about getting to T2 this year and the rest will fall in place" Sunday fun-day is almost upon us and I cannot wait to get out there and execute on race day :o) Just gotta tie up some loose ends at work before we head up to the North Country...see you up there friends! Cheers.

Operation: Try not to become a fat ass

2011-07-15T10:35:00.001-05:00

So the title of this post was coined by a good friend Steve Gonser a while ago and it was in reference to taper time. In the years past I've always inevitably gained some pounds over the weeks of taper. Maybe this is just me relaxing and my body knowing that it would soon be finished, or maybe it was me over-indulging in several things (ie - food, beer, etc) but I've always come to the starting line a few pounds over my fighting weight. (not necessarily a bad thing, but you work so hard to thin out over the year that it seems counter productive to gain it back in a 3 week taper.

But this year, I'm cutting the length of my taper down a little bit, I'm existing on about a 10-12 day taper and I'm finally feeling pretty good about it. I know that the work has been done and I'm just ready to get to race day and execute the plan that I've worked so hard to perfect over the last year or so. (Really started training in about November of 2010 for IMLP) So race day is always a fun one in my books.

The other cool thing is that I haven't really gained a bunch of weight back. I've been watching what I've been eating and keeping tabs on the scale and even with this crazy weather that we've been having lately (hot and humid) the scale's been really nice to me and I haven't seen that increase. I'm thinking that maybe this has something to do with portion control, but also with the shorter taper. Maybe my furnace is still running hot. Regardless, I'm not complaining.

I'm still waiting to feel that pop in my legs, but I know with the schedule really low for next week and a solid weekend of sleep ahead of me, I'll feel that they'll come around in no time. A weird thing for me is that I haven't gotten those Ironman freakout dreams quite yet. I mean I had a good one last night that was IM related and I just haven't had those nightmares (you know the ones where you forgot to put your tri suit on under your wetsuit, or forgot your bike shoes...) yet this year. I'm thinking it has a little to do with the confidence that I am bringing into this years race. This is going to be a good year and I'm anxious to get it under me. No taper city blues for me yet, just anxiously waiting for next Sunday to come.

So that's pretty much it, I know that I'm going to rip the race of my life if I just stick with what I've been doing over the last few months and just execute come race day. It's going to be a good day and I already have friends apparently betting on my finishing time. (Seriously they have a pool with a $5 buy in set up...ridiculous) I've got some lofty goals, but as my good buddy Tim (who has been incredibly ABSENT from blog comments lately.....ahem.....) replied in an email yesterday, "I think Earley is going to uncork one this year....Solid bike followed by a smokin' fast marathon"

But until then, the name of the game is #1 SLEEP, #2 rest, #3 get everything situated and organized, and #4 EXECUTE on race day. My big nemesis has been sleep lately because of the Tour de France being on later at night, but I'm going to start recording them so I can just watch whenever. So here's the decree and competition; See who can sleep the most from now until race day. Since there's only 9 more wakeups until race day and average people get 8 hours a night, that works out to 72 hours of sleep from now until race day. I'm going to try and make a goal of ~80 hours of sleep over the next 9 nights and I'll check back and see how I do. Until then friends, limit the food intake, wait for taper to take effect, rest and get some good sleep, cheers!

Brighton 5K race report

2011-07-07T11:50:00.000-05:00

I hate 5k's....I haven't actually raced a 5k in about a decade on the roads and I'm just not a short course athlete. I've popped into road 5k's in the last 10 years, but according to the results I can find online I haven't actually raced a good one since 2001. (as a disclaimer, the ones I have done in the last decade, I've been dressed in a SUMO suit and also in a 3 piece suit holding a briefcase - or they've been snowshoe races)

Either way, I'm not a big fan of going out fast, holding onto a pace and hoping not to fade in the final miles of a race. I'm not a big fan of "red lining" let's say... I've always had an idea that's struck a chord with me in the past several years - "the longer the race, the better" and maybe that's why I've delved into Ironman training so much and gotten myself mixed up in the endurance aspect of racing? Who knows...

Regardless, I wanted to test the legs one last time before Ironman Lake Placid and I just kind of came up with the zany idea to hop into this local 5k a few days before the race. The start was literally 2.1 miles from my house, so I knew I could wake up, roll out of bed, and run down to the start as a warm up. I was coming off a rest week and feeling a little spry so this would be the perfect opportunity to see what I could pull out of my butt and see what kind of time I could post. Secretly, I wanted to get back down to sub 17 and I think I could've done that if I raced a little smarter, just things didn't work out exaclty right this race.

I knew that a sub 17 performance would require an average of ~5:30/mile pace, but my calculations were a little off. The gun went off and we were blazing. I spied an old racing buddy from my high school days in the 800m on the starting line and chatted with Steve for a minute before the race. He's got a little one on the way in August, so I congratulated him and we were off. I checked my Garmin as we were about a half mile in to the race and it read 4:40/mile pace and I knew I needed to back down.

We split thru the first mile in 5:11 and I knew this would hurt. The leader was already 15-20 seconds up on me and I was sitting about 7th or 8th in line. I backed off the pace, got immediately passed by a few runners and started to feel a little bad. I hit mile 2 in about 10:55 and that split out a 5:44 for the 2nd mile and I knew I was racing this wrong. Anytime you positive split by 30+ seconds in a 5k, either means that the elephant has jumped on your back, or you started out too strong.

I momentarily had the thoughts of, "maybe I should just bag this race, stop and do another test again later" but as with any short races, you are going to have moments of doubt. But the thing is, they pass. Moments of doubt are fleeting and if you can just hang on thru them, you will be okay. I did just that. Powered thru and kept on trucking. I wasn't feeling great, but I had just been passed by the 1st overall female and focused just on catching up to her.

I split the final mile in 5:36 and caught the 1st female and zipped past her in the last 1/4 mile. I hit the line exhausted and my effort was good for a 17:09 total time for the day. I know if I had raced it a little slower in the first mile, I probably could've been closer to 17:00 or maybe possibly under. But that will have to wait for another day as that was the last test before Placid.

I had a chance to cool down with an old roommate and his brother and got to cheer on another SUNY G roommate to the finish line. It was a good day overall and I feel like I just have to get thru this week and then it's to the taper for IMLP. Big ride this weekend and then REST is the name of the game. Train hard, race smart my friends and I'll see you on the roads. Cheers.

Cumulative Fatigue

2011-06-29T08:35:00.000-05:00

So a close training buddy and I were chatting many years ago on one of our trips up to the North Country about this common phenomenon in endurance athletics and athletes. The phrase "cumulative fatigue" came up in conversation and I asked him to elaborate on what he meant. Basically what he meant was that this is the residual fatigue of the relentless breaking down of your bodys muscles over time in training for an endurance type event. Even though we take "rest weeks" and train with periodization, we never FULLY recover from weeks past as the season goes on. So what we are left with is a phenomenon that cannot be measured, but still lingers - cumulative fatigue.

So let's shoot an example out there to see how this would affect John Doe Athlete. John is training for an ironman and he's putting in some good hours every week. He typically abides by the traditional 4 week build structure to enable him to do 3 weeks "on" and 1 week "off" of reduced volume. Generally he tracks his progress by total # of workout hours and over the course of the year, will typically start off with 15 hours per week for his "on" weeks and then drop down about 40% when he has a rest week to about 8-9 hours on those rest weeks. John's goal is to work up to a consistent 20-25 hours per week over the course of the season, eventually peaking only a few weeks before he races to ensure that his taper will take effect.

In years past, John previously thought that 15 hours were "maxing" him out and he wasn't able to get much more done in his normal life because of his 40+ hour work week and other committments. This year, John was pretty comfortable with the 15 hour base to start and began his training program at that level with a keen eye on his "Stress Budget" and recovery among other factors. Triathlon Coach Jesse Kropelnicki wrote a solid article a while ago about the potenial "Stress budget" that an athlete has when training for a race. We all know that "life" gets in the way of training and we all have commitments and other things that would keep us occupied when we're not swimming/biking/running. Jesse goes on in the article to define the Stress Budget as "the maximum level of stress that can be added to your system, without it becoming counterproductive"

John realized that his body was able to handle the 15 hour weeks pretty well and he was able to recover properly and then also have a little extra "spare time" to get things done outside of training. John started his training in January for a late summer Ironman. As the season drew on, he was increasing his longer rides and runs inside that 15 hour week and eventually pushing it towards 20 hours and ultimately peaking out at about 25 hours. As this season drew on, John realized that he wasn't feeling peppy and his legs weren't coming back around until later and later in his rest weeks. This is a prime example of cumulative fatigue.

As John's season drew on, he was pouring on the hours and while he was able to handle a 15 hour week with relative ease, when he got to 20, he was getting cramped for time and sacrificing things like rest, down time, and stretching. This creates kind of a snowball effect and as type-A athletes that are incredibly numbers driven, we all want that massive XX hour training week in our logs. So by the time John got up to 25 hours per week, he was feeling pretty smoked and wasn't really recovering to 100% on his rest weeks because he was digging himself into a hole with other training. John might have been able to previously handle one or two 20 hour training weeks, but throw 3-4 of them in a row on top of eachother and week over week, John was feeling rather sluggish and pretty much at the end of his rope.

This is how I explain cumulative fatigue. It happens that when you are doing 3x15 hour training weeks and then you have a rest week, you could probably do that all year and recover fully to 100% after each training block and have no problems at all. But once you start increasing hourage, increasing the stress budget and life gets in the way, you might only recover to 95% after a build, then 90%, then 85%, and maybe as low as 80% of your max. I know my speeds and paces as of late have been a little low because of this. The good thing is though that a solid taper will fix this problem. Taper comes, you reduce volume for a few weeks, rest, recover and your body gets back from the cumulative fatigue that has been plaguing it for the weeks past and you're ready for race day, like a man being shot out of a cannon. A caged animal ready to attack, you're ready to roll.

It's a good feeling to taper and that's a no brainer. You've been trashing your body for a good 8-9 months prior to your race and it's time to let it heal up and get ready. Keep it sharp my friends, watch your stress budget and know that your taper will take effect and you'll be ready to roll when the time comes. Get after it. Cheers!

MORE POWER!!!

2011-06-29T07:36:00.000-05:00

So I know this is a ridiculously cool picture from back in the day of a guy with some seriously LARGE pants (think Big Pants Racing...) but I wanted to just shoot up a quick little note about power and cranking on the bike. (amongst other ramblings...so hang on this one might get convoluted)

With the last post I got a lot of positive feedback and vibes coming from everyone I knew about the massive downhill into Keene on the IMLP course. As discussed previously, I went up there over Father's Day weekend again with the idea of dropping down the descent several times until I was comfortable enough with going down it at a good enough speed for race day. In retrospect, I only went down it 4 times total the entire weekend, but after being nervous as all hell about my initial drop in, I went down the first time and realized about halfway down that none of the research that I did on speed wobbles was helping. None of the antecdotes that were online helped my wobble, other than peddaling thru it, riding the brakes a little and telling myself it was going to be okay.

I dropped down the first time and got to the bottom and felt good, not really solid about the speed that I just did reach (never crested 35mph) but I had complete control of the bike by peddalling thru and riding the brakes a bit. I never truly felt wobbly and the bike did NOT feel like jello underneath me...score. I went on to do 2 loops on the bike course on Saturday and then another loop on Sunday before we left and by Sunday's downhill I was looking over my shoulders for cars coming down the hill, arms and shoulders were loose and I was feeling really in control of my bike. It was like I had conquered the hill. I know I will never really be up to 100% again "speed-wise" on that downhill stretch, but I could at least get going pretty smoothly down it and feel in control (which is what I wanted to achieve)

As for the other training that I've been doing, I've been putting in some SERIOUS miles lately. Last week capped off at 24.9 hours of training and I'm on a rest week now. I've been meticulous about the amount of miles and keeping track of training since 2005 (if you want to see my excel spreadsheets that I have saved, just ask!) and compared to my lead-up for 2009 IMLP, this year I'm about 200 miles ahead of schedule for running and about 30 hours ahead of time on the bike. So I'm hoping to be a little bit faster indeed. I've been rocking some sweet really long back to back long rides and the heavy training is almost done. Now I'm just on a rest week and absorbing the training that I've been doing over the last few weeks, then it's 3 weeks of taper then the big dance. Should be a good show if all goes well :o)

I'm resting and starting to feel a little bit better today, so that's a good sign. This is the first time this year I've snagged a rest week after only a two week build (traditionally I've done 3-4 weeks of build and one week of rest) so I'm feeling rather good in the early portion of this rest week. This year's IM race is plotting out to be a good one, so be prepared. There's been a lot of fireworks already this year and I've got a lot to prove out there on the course. I'm just itching to get out there and get this puppy underway. The big thing is going to be to try and curb the overeating that inevitably comes with taper and rest weeks. I'm a culprit of the old "eat the entire box of pasta" and chalk it off as a carbo-load. I've worked hard to get down to the slender 155-160lbs that I currently am at right now, but I can already see the scale creeping up towards the high end of that according to my workout logs. So, just something to keep in check.

Other than that, things have been going well. It's about 4 weeks to race day and I'm trying to prepare a mental list of all the things that I have to get taken care of before race day. (it's a long list) But I know that it's the little things that will help on race day and I want to make sure that I focus on my mental state of things too in order to keep things sharp. This race is so long that I need to hone in on the mental focus to keep me going and on the right track. I know what I'm capable of and I just want to get after it now. It just can't come soon enough. Sorry that was such a jumbled post. I have a lot of ideas that I wanted to cover but as of right now I'm patiently waiting for race day to come. Rest hard my friends, cheers.

Face your fears - the downhill

2011-06-15T13:50:00.001-05:00

de·scend /dɪˈsɛnd/ verb (used without object)
1. to go or pass from a higher to a lower place; move or come down: to descend from the mountaintop.
2. to pass from higher to lower in any scale or series

This weekend I will be facing my biggest fears on the bike and hopefully coming out alive on the other side. Kind of like "shock therapy" I am heading up to Lake Placid for the 2nd time this year to hit up the course and get some more miles in on the bike and run routes (while probably swimming a few loops in calm Mirror Lake as well)

I made the trek up to the North Country a few weeks ago and did a grand total of 3 loops on the course over the Memorial Day weekend and did okay. My nerves have really been wrecked since the accident in 2009 and I've had some big troubles mentally with downhills that I cannot see the bottom of. Most of the hills around Rochester I've gotten fairly confident on because as I head down them I just internalize my thoughts of, "you're gonna be okay, this is fine, just keep the bike in a straight line"

Now, I've gotten fairly good about not riding the brakes at the hills around here and even on our standard loop around Canandaigua Lake, I've gotten okay with just sitting up and coasting on the descent into Naples, NY. However, that hill is only a fraction as long as the descent in Placid and I've been able to mentally push thru the few minutes of discomfort and made it down in one piece. Mainly I've realized that the reason I'm able to handle some of these smaller type hills around here is being able to pedal on the downhill sections and that makes me feel more in control of the bike and not so squeamish on it.

But, when up in LP a few weeks ago, I hit the downhill signs my hands start sweating and I automatically tense up at the sight of those awful yellow diamond signs. The hill is so damn steep in some sections that you cannot even pedal, you just kind of spin out and that causes me to freak out. The first time down the descent, I actually dismounted my bike along the river section and made sure that my skewers were tight enough because it felt like my bike was freaking jello underneath me (not the feeling you want when going 30mph downhill). I was wobbling all over the jagged shoulder of the road. I think each time I went down the hill, I rode my brakes, got a speed wobble that was controllable and took longer each time I made my way down. I mean I came out at the bottom and I had cramps in my hands from squeezing the brakes so hard...

So this weekend is my shock therapy. I'm heading back up to Lake Placid for another large training weekend and will be boarding my bike immediately upon unpacking the car and heading over to the 7 mile downhill section on the bike course. I will be descending as many times as needed until I feel comfortable on the course. I've researched some methods that should help me to stabilize the bike (lean a knee against the top tube, stand up a fraction on the pedals and get your butt off the seat to lower your center of gravity on the pedals instead of keeping it high on the saddle, etc) and I will be conquering this downhill. I'm going to be followed by a car to block traffic around me and hopefully that will simulate race like conditions. All in all it's just an exercise to get me more comfortable on the same area that scares the bejeezus out of me on that course. I WILL get this...it's my last weekend to before race day. Oh and I've got some massive training to do while up there, but I'm not too concerned with that, that's the fun part. First priority is the downhill...

So, I'll write back with a report after the weekend, but keep the rubber side down my friends, I'll be doing my positive visualization exercises of me zipping down the hill with no problems up until race day comes (and maybe even after!) but get out there, scare yourself and do whatever it takes to get it done. Cheers.

Keuka Lake Triathlon Race Report

2011-06-09T08:18:00.004-05:00

This past Sunday marked the 6th year that I have done the Keuka Lake Triathlon in Penn Yan, NY. I'd done the Olympic (International) distance race since 2005 and this one holds a dear spot in my heart as being the first triathlon I had ever run in 2004 (I did the sprint tri that year and that's the one that got me hooked)

This year was going to be a little bit different. I knew going into this race that I wanted to do well, as I had won it overall last year, but I also knew that would be a fairly lofty goal considering the condition that my legs were in from all of the training over the last few weeks/months. My legs definitely did not have the "spring" to their step as they had in years past, but regardless I was bound to put in my best effort of the day and see what transpired.

Getting down to Keuka College nice and early this year was a good start to the day. Most of the time if the race starts at 7:30am, I sneak in at 7:20am and scramble to get my stuff set up, chip on the ankle and down to the water before the gun goes off. This year was a nice relaxing change of pace. Our wave was the male under 35 wave and we went off first. Most of my big competition was in wave#2 and starting 5 minutes back and I knew I was going to get chased down, just didn't know it was going to happen so quickly!

Race morning came and I was putting on my wetsuit leisurely and ripped my right heel COMPLETELY thru the back of the right knee. We were waiting for a sherriff to show up for the race to begin and cracking wise at the waters edge and there were several funny comments about my "new-vented-wetsuit". I told folks that I'm probably going to just duct tape it for Lake Placid, and that's the truth.

Regardless, the sherriff finally arrived and I hadn't even braved the extremely cold waters to warm up yet, so as the race started and I dove in, my shoulders were very tight and not quite ready for the shock of 1500 fast meters. They were more used to the last several years of doing a little warm up at MCC, then stretching deck side and having some coffee while we waited for the main set at Masters swim practice. I led around the first bouy and there were some fingertips tickling my feet. I made it about halfway around the "triangle" before I felt them again and I knew we had pulled a group of three of us separated from the main pack of swimmers in our wave. (I knew it was three of us because I flipped on my back and did a few strokes of backstroke about midway to catch a glimpse)

Around the last swim bouy, the guy that was in third place in the water, just completely sling shotted (is that a word?) around us all and into the lead. He was wearing a white cap. I tried to get on his feet, but he went wide and I decided to keep the straight line. He exited about 20-30 seconds in front and the guy that was tapping my feet all swim (who I would later find out was Greg Horrocks) came around and we hit the stairs about even.

That's me being really dainty on the stairs with half of a wetsuit ripped off trying not to slip on the wet wooden stairs. I think Greg passed me up the stairs and as we neared the timing mats, I slyly looked over at him and sprinted towards the mats trying to get my chip to signal first. As we ran towards our bikes in transition, I apologized for the "veteran move" of getting the better swim time and Greg was cool with it. We introduced ourselves too right then and there while sucking wind. But as karma would have it, even though we had the same swim time in the results, they listed Greg as the 4th fastest swim and me as the 5th, blast! :o)

Transition was nothing special, other than the first guy out of the water seemed to take forever and I ended up being the first one on the bike course. I was right behind the lead vehicle and my legs were feeling not-so-fresh this day. Maybe it was the prior three weeks (including this current week) of over 760 miles of cycling (230, 310, and 230 miles respectively), maybe it was the massive hours that I've been putting in, I don't know. I don't want to sound like a douche, but I went into this race last year at the end of a rest week (kinda tapered) and had something to prove (with it being my first triathlon after the accident). This year, it was the last day of a MASSIVE three week build and my body was pretty beaten up. As I've said, I've never really raced on dead legs and this was my shot at it. I still wanted to go after it 100% though becuase as I've said in many conversations before "your body is capable of MUCH more than you actually think it is...".

My goal for the race was to just bike with COMPLETE disregard for the run as I have in years past and just ignore my FTP and my power meter watts and just go by feel. I turned the pedals round and round with high hopes, however the first uphill section, I knew that I was in for a long day. I kept on trying to produce higher watts, but my legs were truly flat and I wasn't able to get anything else out of them. About 10 miles into the bike, I got passed like I was standing still and it was Nick Brodnicki who rode by me. I mentioned something about needing to borrow some of his extra gears (as I was tapped out) but I don't know if he knew what I meant. He just completely rode away from me too, I mean I looked up and he was GONE. At both turn around sections on the course I saw resident fast-guy, Jeff Henderson tearing it up on the bike too. Oh and did I mention that he started in the 2nd wave? Yeah, he was about a solid minute behind me on the course (meaning he had already made up 4 minutes) and looked like he was gaining speed. Crazy fast...

I got done with the bike portion and tried to wrap my head around the 10k that I had to now run. I had a little bit of problems putting on the new Pearl Izumi Iso Transition tri shoes in transition, but that might have been because I didn't body glide them prior to leaving them out in transition and the laces were a little tight. I went out and thought for a minute that the training I had done in the days/weeks/months prior wouldn't catch up to me. As I hit the first mile in 5:38, I honestly thought maybe I could pull this off?? Nearing the turn around (and STILL not catching up to Nick) I started to realize that even a "best effort" run wouldn't pull off the win today. I was already in 3rd place overall (Jeff had made up that 5 minutes from wave#2 and Nick was in front of me) and the only thing I could do was maintain.

Hitting the 5k mark in 18:20, I pulled a spin move for the little kids there watching and they all cheered :o) However that time would come as a dissappointment to me because I've always chased down the ellusive 36 minute 10k at this flat and fast course and today (with the way my legs were feeling) that was just NOT happening... I decided to dial my efforts back and not really turn myself inside out for the rest of the run and the proverbial wheels kind of fell off at mile 4. So I started cheering everyone on around me and getting folks to come with me as I passed the sprint tri folks turning around at the cone. I made it to the line in a little over 2:10 and I knew that was far off from my PR of a 2:06 last year. Regardless I was happy and had no idea how I had placed. (turns out I'm glad I didn't ease up any more as there was a guy 2 seconds behind me in wave#2!)

I eventually hit the line and got a 3rd place overall finish, behind Jeff and Nick respectively. Above is a shot of us on the podium each with our etched wine glasses, race logoed steel nalgenes and belt buckles and gels for the top 3 overall. Not a great performance by me, but I will take it for being as trashed as I was at the start line. My times in years past have been pretty consistent at this race and are as follows:

Year	Time	Place
2006	2:14:28	3rd
2007	2:10:07	2nd
2008	2:17:34	4th
2009	n/a	n/a
2010	2:06:27	1st
2011	2:10:13	3rd

I didn't race in 2009 as I was holding off and stoking the fire for IMLP, but I've been consistently on the podium or JUST off of it every year that I've raced this race. Which I'm uber proud of. It was a good fun day with lots of busting chops with friends (whoooomp whoooomp whooomp) and seemed to be exactly what I needed to get my racing fix started this year. Congrats goes out to Matt Curbeau for nabbing his first overall win in the Sprint tri against some seriously old dudes :o) No more racing until the big dance in July and I'm hoping my nerves will be as settled as they can be so I can get down the descent appropriately without any issue this year. But right now there's a HUGE rest week and I cannot look more forward to it. I'm putting my feet up and getting some sleep because after all that training, it's MUCH needed. So feet up friends and rest hard, cheers!

Flour City half with Jenna

2011-05-23T12:00:00.002-05:00

I've said it before that I used to be the only one in my family that really did anything remotely athletic. I've always felt like the black sheep and when I tell my parents that I'm gonna go for a 100+ mile ride, I never really know if they understand or not. But it's not the case anymore. My sister has in the past year or so, started to do all sorts of running races and I've been super proud of what she's doing.

See, Jenna wants to set an awesome example for her two little boys (my nephews, Jakob and Noah) that you can do whatever you put your mind to as long as you follow a plan and execute it. What she's doing now is what I can only hope to do later on in life for my own children. She ran the Rochester half marathon last fall after training all summer and did really well. This year, for her birthday, I signed us both up for the Flour City Half Marathon and told her I would run it with her. Thing was it was the day after running the S7 and I was pooped!

Regardless, we had a blast and I talked to her the entire way, trying to distract my sister from the running that was taking place. The photographers seemed to catch us goofing around and the photo at the finish line is the only shot that has both of us in the same frame. Her boys came to the finish with their dad and they had little signs that read "go mommy!" scribbled on the backs of cereal boxes. It was so cool and my parents even came too in order to show their support. I really wish though we had gotten a post race pic of us with our medals because that would've been cool. Maybe next time :o)

Jenna didn't really have the race that I know that she is capable of, (she had some GI and blister issues) but it definitely sparked the fire and motivated her to purchase a heart rate monitor and start speaking about signing up for the Rochester FULL Marathon in September! I couldn't be more proud. :o) She'll have that wicked fast half marathon someday, but the course and the heat/hills were a little much for an early season race for a lot of people (just as the woman that was passed out in Mt. Hope as we passed who the medics were running towards....) Jenna'll be in tip top shape for September and I can't wait to see how she does. I'm excited about NOT being the only one in my immediate family who's done these crazy endurance races anmymore though :o)

I have much more to tell about the last few weeks of training and what's coming up in the next few, but I wanted to get this one up to show her how proud I am of her. Now sit back Jenna, relax and let the blisters heal, and enjoy some cookies! :o) Cheers!

Seneca 7 Race Report

2011-05-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

So this report is long overdue, I wanted to get everything situated before putting this one down on paper and I think everything is in place. This race actually took place about 3 weeks ago and I wanted to collect the pictures, articles, results and get everything in one place before posting it.

This race was a first year iteration from the mind of Jeff Henderson who is the race director of several awesome local races including Musselman and Fly By Night Duathlon. He's come up with some ridiculously cool race ideas and when he sent out an April Fools Day email several years ago about a self supported race around Seneca Lake, it apparently got some positive response, so they decided to brainchild the Seneca 7. The whole idea of the race was a running relay around Seneca Lake (which ironically is 77.7 miles around) and have 7 people on each team and each relay member run about 10-14 miles total. They kind of ran with the idea of 7 and had a bunch of other stuff that had to do with that number too.

The idea was born from my friend Tim H. who thought that instead of using a van to transport runners from check point to checkpoint, we should ride bikes around the lake and only take 6 bikes (as one person would be running at all times) So, I amassed a crackpot team of guys that I thought would be a blast to race with, bust chops with, and just generally folks who I wouldn't mind spending 9+ hours with. Turns out I was dead on. :o) This was about the most fun I've had in a race in a LONG time.

Our team of hooligans consisted of myself, Joey Meyers, Pete Cerny, Matt Curbeau, Tim Howland, Steve Gosner, and Charlie Watson. In my own mind, I equated us to the 2008 Boston Red Sox who declared themselves "just a bunch of morons that like to play baseball" - They won the World Series that year.... Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a better team and we just kind of threw everyone together. The start was pretty cold and we all tried to affix the "official team vehicle" sign to a bike, but I ended up just throwing it in my backpack for the entire ride. (here's me in front of a GIANT waterfall on the course with our sign)

We got a chance thru the whole day to wait for teammates, cheer them on as we biked by them and then hurry up and switch bikes before the next exchange. There were MANY laughs and everyone was so mellow that we just meshed well together. Everyone being good friends of mine made it easy for me and I know all the guys personally just like to bust chops, so it was a good fit all around. About in Watkins Glen, the south end of the lake and about 1/2 way thru the relay, we had a slight misfortune and a teammate went the wrong direction, and subsequently off course. This sprung the voice that our team name needs to be "Turn left at 414" next year. (For those who wonder, we were "Dude where's my car?!?!?" or "Shoes and Chamois" depending on when you looked at our teamname)

Regardless, no one got pissed, Charlie and I biked up the road to the exchange points that we needed to be at, in case Matt was there and eventually he found his way back on course. I received one of the funniest voicemail messages ever from a laughing Joe Meyers that said something like, "Dude, you're lost, we're lost, I have NO idea where Pete is and I hope we can find you guys on bikes. Give me a call when you get this". After playing that message (and being several miles up the road at our respective exchange points, Charlie and I just sat out in the sun and BS'ed for about 60 minutes while everyone else got back on course behind us. (we both kind of looked at eachother and said "I'm not going back down that hill to look for Matt") It was great, so for the rest of the race, we introduced ourselves as the team that got blatantly lost. (Disclaimer: several other teams went off course RIGHT where we did and that turn was NOT marked)

But regardless, we still had a blast and climbed our way back from like 15th or 20th overall after getting lost to like 9th at the finish. It ended at the lakefront which is the flattest part of the musselman course and we came within about 2 minutes of catching the team in front of us, but even with throwing down sub - 6's for my last leg, the anchor, we still fell a little short. On the positive side of things, we had a birthday celebration for Joe including candles, twinkies and us all singing for him at the lakefront and ordered pizza and wings. Not a bad day at all and even had some surprise visitors on the lakefront who brought beers (never a bad thing, thanks!)

We missed the awards as we were gnawing on pizza and wings, but we ended up getting the "Most eco-friendly" team and getting a recycling box full of SWAG. Turns out we were the fastest team on bikes and got the prize for that! Sweet....we ended up each getting a pair of sandals, bottle of wine, artisan cheese, shampoo and conditioner, a t-shirt, cooking oil and some local juice too. It was great. And thank you to Alexis for grabbing our awards in our absence. :o) We got some good press HERE, results HERE and lots of shots as well. It was probably the most fun I've had in a race and I'm hoping the guys want to do it again next year. Lots more to come, but I'll get those up soonish. Cheers.

10K in page views???!!!

2011-05-02T11:48:00.000-05:00

10,000 page views? Are you kidding me?!?!? Apparently not...

The ticker that's installed on the sidebar has confirmed that this page has been viewed over 10,000 times. (It's probably mostly just me making sure that the formatting is correct or clicking on links in the sidebar) But I'll take it. This was mainly just used as a vehicle for race reports, etc when I first started it, but it's turned into a little more than that. I had a great weekend racing with friends and family and need to get up some solid race reports and pictures as we had a blast all around. One more week until rest week, but I'll be back soonish. Cheers friends, train hard....

Muddy Sneaker 20k race report

2011-04-21T12:24:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday was a day that I will remember for quite some time. I woke up that morning feeling good and was headed down to the Hi Tor Wildlife Management Area to do my 2nd race of the Muddy Sneaker 20k trail run. This race is a homegrown oddity that friends of mine dreamed up 11 years ago and it's not for the faint of heart.

It's a prestigious race in the upstate NY area and it one of the very few races that so many people try to enter each year that they were forced to do a lottery system and limit the number of people that can get in. Ussually on a random night in February, hopefuls crowd the Otter Lodge in Brighton for the lottery. For 5 long years prior to 2010, I was "blacklisted" from the lottery and would pay my fee every year, send in my registration forms, only to be sent home disappointed year after year. But I made do, I became extremely adept at running the chaos that is aid stations #1 and #3 year after year and I would regularly watch the carnage that unfolded during the race, secretly hoping that someday I could test my legs against the course and fantastic competitiors.

You see, with this race being as technical and as difficult as it is, it attracts some of the regions best trail runners (and just straight runners in general) Past champions have included; Al Evans, Zach Rivers, Jeff Beck, Scott Bagley and Carl Johnston and the record board is littered with their accomplishments. So when the lottery night came and went this year (I got in for the 2nd year in a row...I smell a streak!) and none of the "studs" or "big dogs" were on the list, there began rumblings about who might walk away witht he victory. I honestly didn't think twice about it because in chatting with Mort Nace at the bar, he mentioned that past course record holders could hop in and avoid the lottery, no questions asked.

Fast forward 2 months and the quick runners on the list were starting to drop like flies. I was told via text that Jeff wasn't going to be racing this year and it looked like the front runners were myself, Jason Urkfitz, Alan Powers and Jim Oberst. With another note about a week later that Jim had pulled out of the race, suddenly my mind began to wander.

I was running with a few buddies along the river on lunch about 3 weeks before the race and it casually came up in conversation that I was a ringer for the win. I really could have stopped there in my tracks and picked my jaw off the pavement, becuase in no way was I thinking about a W... this was reinforced chatting with a few more folks (and the RD himself) about people coming and favorites, etc. I guess it started to sink in that I might have a chance at the overall spot about 2 weeks before the race. Talk about letting your nerves stew for a bit. That was a lot of pressure. In my mind there was no way I was capable of pulling the win out and having my name be synonomous with the other past champions. It was starting to eat at me...

Race week came and I was a little jittery to say the least. I knew I needed a new pair of trail shoes and I stopped by Medved to grab a new light pair and was directed over to the Saucony ProGrid Peregrine's. A minimalistic trail shoe with treads on the bottom that looked like shark teeth. With the weather forecast for Saturday being cold, rainy, and muddy, I thought these would be a good choice. Ironically I was helped by Jeff Beck and chatted with him about the race and reminisced about times at Geneseo where we ran together. Regardless of equipment and ability, I still wasn't convinced. It was going to be a tough battle as I know that Jason had gone a 1:30 on that course in years past and I'd also gone about 30 seconds slower than that last year. I expected it to be a tight race with him (amongst others)

Race day came and the heavens just barfed on the course for the few days leading up to the race making the WMA a soupy and muddy mess. Less than ideal conditions, but I was feeling a little spry so I went with it. I worked out my hourage for the week and still put in a 19+ hour training week and had even thrown in a little bit of a taper (easy days) leading up to Saturday in an effort to get my legs back under me. Besides I'd even had a Good Luck cake baked for me the day before from Kim and I ended up eating the entire G the night before the race. :o)

But we meandered around the start line waiting for Mort to finish up his pre-race logistics and also trying not to freeze. It was about 35 degrees out and rain was drizzling down and when the wind picked up, it would blow sideways at us. I am in the bottom right of the above photo wearing arm warmers and some yellow sunglasses that I eventually threw to the wayside. I chatted briefly with J. Urckfitz at the start and he mentioned that he saw a former XC coach of mine at a track meet for his son that week. That gave me the motivation to do what I did next.

The race starts off and goes immediately uphill before entering some single track. I had run thru about every scenario in my head in the prior week about how I thought the race would go, how I wanted it to go, etc. None of which actually played out. The race started and I just kind of took off up the hill. I was feeling good and I took off. I didn't necessarily want to "front run" but it just kind of happened and I went with it. I remember crossing the creek and not wanting to look back because I knew everyone was on my tail. I made it to aid #1 and saw Rob and felt okay. (I probably didn't look okay, but I was still going) I remember thinking to myself, "okay, now just settle in" when I hit mile 3. I crossed by the chicken (and this year a penguin) at aid #2 and threw off my sunglasses as I hit the left turn again and went downhill a bit. I was afraid to look behind me to see where anyone was and as I hit 6 miles, I honestly didn't think I could maintain that pace for the remainder of the race.

Miles 7-9 were kind of a blur, me taking a gel somewhere there and not wanting to slow down over the terrain. I was running well and I knew I just needed to hang on. I popped out of the singletrack at the base of the climb up to aid #3 and I sped along the flats to the climb. As I ran up the hill I noticed Ian and Rob were frantically setting tape and tables and filling cups for the aid station. As I drew near, I yelled out, "how far is Jason back?" and Ian replied, "why are you out here running alone?"...

I then stopped and as I drank a glass of water, turned around for the first time that day (turning around shows weakness on the run) and couldn't see anyone as far back as the singletrack. My heart must've skipped a beat, I was so happy. Here I was 3/4 of the way into the race and there was no one to be seen behind me. It was truly now my race to lose. I had to keep telling myself in the woods to be careful and watch my "flow" in order to be as smooth as possible and not trip myself up and bust an ankle or anything.

Hitting the massive descent (you can see that on the elevation profile) I didn't even look at the gorge for fear that I might fall, but I got to the bottom, navigated thru the river and started the long haul back up to the finish. I was powerwalking for the majority of the steep section (I don't know if ANYONE has ever run up that section) and topped out and knew I was okay. There was a downed sign around the base of the last climb, but I figured out the correct course and started pushing it up the big hill to the line. I knew I had it wrapped up, but wanted to keep my emotions in check. I also wanted to hit the line in under 1:30, but even though my watch said I did, the stupid "auto-pause" feature on it shut off the timer for a bit which caused me to barely go over the 1:30 mark.

I'm still kind of shocked at the victory that day even though the results have been posted HERE. And since I wore the fancy new Garmin, my garmin file can be found HERE. Not bad for a ridiculous 20k with over 2k worth of climbing in it! (I don't know what happened to my HR in the middle of that, I'll call it a garmin glitch) Thank you to everyone that supported/believed in me and gave me words of encouragement. It was a great race and the beers were cold (as were we) afterwards. The next adventure is a relay around Seneca Lake, so I'm looking forward to that after Easter. Until then friends, train hard, race harder and I'll see you on the roads and trails. Cheers!

USAT All American Honorable Mention

2011-04-21T07:17:00.001-05:00

Well the rankings issue of Triathlon Life arrived in the mail just the other day and it solidified my status (yet again) of being a bridesmaid and not a bride in the triathlon world. I was bestowed with the prestigious honor of being named a USAT All American Honorable Mention for another year.

I’ve been chasing after a solid All-American Status (top 5% in the AG nationally) instead of the AAHM status (which is top 10% of the age group nationally) but I think I would’ve had to race a lot faster in 2010 :o) Apparently winning 2 of the three triathlons that I raced in 2010 wasn’t enough to get to AA status! (I jest….I know it’s a crazy point system that they use for the rankings based on pace setters, etc)

But that’s a quick update for you all, I hope that the training is going well and I’ll be getting up a Muddy Sneaker race report in the next few days. Train hard my friends and I’ll see you out on the roads, cheers!

Top 3 Seasonal beers (per season)

2011-04-08T20:29:00.005-05:00

I've been meaning to get this post up for a while (well ever since I wrote the initial "Top 10" post back a few months ago) and have a pretty good idea of how it's gonna go, but as it always is, lets see where this one leads to.

Most of these beers could probably realistically be on my Top 10 list, but their availability and brewing season offerings make them a "well-kept" secret and unfortunately unavailable during the entire year for consumption. They are all exceptional brews and could probably stand on their own, but it took a lot to narrow it down to my favorite three varieties per season. And as this is my blog and I'm the one writing it, I'm going to get started with my most favorite season of them all, which was so nice, they named it twice: Autumn/Fall.

AUTUMN/FALL

#1 - Ayinger - Oktoberfest-Marzen This was a wonderful discovery and I have to lay credit to my father on this one. He collects beer caps or crowns as they are more often referred to. The cap of this beer actually is depicted in the foreground of the photo to the right and shows a family with a Bavarian-esque tablecloth (blue and white checkered) sitting outside in the orchard having a beer. As Ayinger is a privately owned German brewery located just outside of Munich. Because it's a German brewery, they have to abide by the German purity laws of the early 1500's (otherwise known as Reinheitsgebot - Thank you Wikipedia for the spelling on that one) The purity laws regulate what can go in the beer and basically strip it down to it's most basic ingredients. This beer is exceptional in the fact that it is in the pleasing burnt sienna color and smells just like an Oktoberfest should. It's not overpoweringly malty or hoppy as the balance is pristine. It can be found locally in Wegmans (if I don't buy them all during the season) and is well worth the price tag. It goes down smoothly and is just the most exceptional Oktoberfest beer I have ever tasted. I defy someone to find its equal!

#2 - Custom Brewcrafters Oktoberfest Lager

Located right down Route 65 in Honeoye Falls, NY is a small little brewery which has gained quite a following in the recent years. If you haven't been to CB's recently, I implore you to go pay them a visit (and preferably go during the fall season so you can taste this beauty). CB's Oktoberfest lager is a well balanced a little darker colored Oktoberfest which you can purchase in a growler during the months of September and October (and maybe November if you get lucky and they still have some left over) But light and crisp might be two good words to describe this solid lager. It has a slightly higher alcohol content at 6.2% ABV, but the recipe has stayed the course over the years and this is brewed in the Oktoberfest tradition. Exceptionally balanced and fresh as well, Custom Brewcrafters Oktoberfest Lager makes the middle of my seasonal list as a solid favorite that I can drink a TON of before it ever gets old. I implore you to give it a whirl if you haven't. If you enjoy Oktoberfest beers, this one will not disappoint!

#3 - JW Dundees - Oktoberfest
With the surge of all of the microbreweries in the recent years, that has really given a wide variety of choices to beer connoisseur worldwide. This particular beer comes straight from my hometown of Rochester and is a wonderful fall season offering as well. Brewed right on St. Paul Street in Rochester, this marzen style lager is dark auburn in color and crisp too. It's brewed with a variety of fall spices that give this beer a unique flavoring that I have not come across in any other styles of Oktoberfest. Additionally, the fact that it is brewed right here in Rochester from a "hometown proud" brewery and I feel like I am supporting jobs in my city definitely helps. Priced very reasonably at $6.99 per six pack this lager is on that I look forward to and given any choice, will always go for this beer over a mainstream Samuel Adams or other similar varieties. Smooth and with a fizzy spicy head on it, the head retention is middle of the road and it definitely makes the top 3 list as a fine specimen of the fall season. Definitely worth the taste.

WINTER - The winter season always is a great season for drinking beer, the weather is getting colder, the beers are darker in coloring and often a little more intense and although the autumn season has passed, winter always has you coming back for more. Here are my choices for the top 3 beers of winter.

#1 - Michelob's Winters Bourbon Cask Ale

This heavenly creation was initially consumed by me at Cobbs Hill in Rochester during a midnight sledding run a few winters ago. We piled several of these in a snowbank and then hit the hill and enjoyed these beers post sledding run. It was a chilly night, but these kept us all very warm. As any of you that read this might have asked for a recommendation for a good solid winter beer during the "off season", undoubtedly this was likely my first utterance to you. Plus it's got a sweet snowman on the label and you can't go wrong with that! :o) Well, not to get too technical right away, but let's dive into the divine details of this delectable offering. First thing you notice about this beer is the fact that it is aged in old wooden bourbon barrels. This gives is a "warming sensation" that you can definitely taste throughout the entire beer. Coupled with the Madagascar Vanilla Beans that this fine "winter warmer" is brewed with, that takes the bourbon edge off of this beer and makes it go down SO smoothly. Much to my chagrin though, I received word this spring from one the account managers of Anheuser-Busch that they will no longer be producing this beer due to not being able to brew without variations in the recpie/taste. So it is with a heavy heart that I say RIP Bourbon Cask Ale, you will
be missed...

#2 - Dogfish Head - Chickory Stout

Dogfish Head is a small microbrewery that prides itself on some unique beers that it creates. When I think of Dogfish, I often relate it to the same category as Goose Island brewery becuase they are trying stuff that none of the other breweries around want to venture out and give a shot. I came across this creation and it almost ended up on my traditional top ten list. The only reason that it did not was that I found out after the fact that it is only available during the winter months. This beer as you can see in the picture to the right, is a deep dark brown in color and not translucent at all. It has a foamy head with larger bubbles and good head retention and legs on the glass. The chickory flavor makes this a nutty flavored brew that you cannot afford to miss. Smooth to the finish with a pleasing aftertaste on the palate, Chickory Stout is a very close 2nd place as a wonderful beer that you could curl up next to a warm winter fire and enjoy all evening long. The only drawback that I have is that sometimes the Dogfish varieties can be a little pricey, but then again in the words of a famously funny former co-worker...good hooch don't come cheap. This will not disappoint.

#3 Saranac - Carmel Porter

Recently re-discovered at the Roc City Brew Fest that happened in Rochester, NY in the last month or so, Carmel Porter is a treat that to me, as it tastes like candy. I'm a big fan of porters and stouts and as far as beers go, I consider them the bees knees. My rule of thumb is: the darker the better. Saranac is brewed right down the thruway at the FX Matt plant in Utica, NY, which makes this another hometown style beer. Initially turned on to this delectable treat from a college beer lover, I got several text messages when the fire ravaged the Saranac plant several years ago to which I replied, "better stock up on Caramel Porter!" As a darker maltier offering from Saranac, Carmel porter balances the dark malts with a sweet caramel flavoring that is even evident in the creamy head. After talking with the rep at length at the Roc City Brewfest, I found that this beverage is only available on limited release every year during the snowy months and is one that if I am in the mood to have a brew with friends and be able to have several in the evening, this is a "go to" beer for me. Not overpoweringly sweet to taste and with a nice balance, I almost wish this porter was available year round. But maybe my desire for this one is what makes it so good and to claim the last spot on the seasonal list!

SPRING - Spring time is a time of rejuvenation, a time for celebration, the snow has melted, the grass is finally turning green again, the temps are (hopefully) rising and there is a certain rebirth in the land and peoples attitudes around town. Additionally, to add to the awesomeness of springtime, almost every brewery that I know of offers a spring season and most often they are Bock beers (Bock is the German word for goat) and that is why there are goats on the labels of most spring beers!

#1 - Genesee Brewing Company - Bock Beer

I cannot say enough about the creation that is Genny Bock Beer. I honestly look forward to seeing the massive cases and displays of bright green Genesee Bock beer. Only sold in 12 packs cans and available for a short period of time (from about late February to early April) this malty treat is best experienced with 2 beers the first time it's consumed. I only say this because the initial taste is a little shocking, but after you get thru the first can and onto the second, it is absolutely wonderful! There is a certain stigma in the Rochester area about Genesee and if people could drink two of these bocks, I think we could put those all to rest. Dark brown in color and deeply malty with just enough of a hint and balance of hops, Genny Bock is light on the wallet (as most Wegmans have it priced at the uber reasonable $6.99 per 12-er. As I type this though, I am in search of the final cases of this around town as I think I need to stock up because it's selling out everywhere!! Don't let the 70's-esque label fool you, this is GOOD, no wait, strike that, GREAT beer!

#2 Anchor Steam Brewing Company - Bock Beer

Anchor Steam makes some amazing middle of the road, what I refer to as, drinkability beers. Their spring offering has never let me down. As you can see from the label with a prominent goat head, this bock is brewed in the traditional spring fashion and has the malty characteristics that a genuine bock would carry. Brewed in SanFrancisco, California, this beer is a tad pricey, but if you are out at a fine dining establishment and obviously don't want to buy into the Miller/Bud/Coors crap-o-la out there, this one is a fine choice. Dancing around your tongue, bock beers have a very complex taste that often cannot be described in such a short time. Initially hitting your tongue at the sides to blast your buds with the malty goodness, this one is a little paler in color, but finishes smoothly and is a nice end to a meal out on the town, or a good companion to have while having drinks out with friends. Bottled in a stout, squatty bottle, the cap signifies the trademark anchor that is prevelent in this brand of beer and as the spring season goes, this one is definitely worth a few swallows!

#3 - Unknown beer - unknown brewing company

As the picture displays, this third choice in the spring season is a tough one. I"ve tried beers from all over and really haven't come up with something that I can find as an acceptable 3rd beer for my list. So in that vein, I'm leaving it up to my readers to send me a comment on the blog and tell me what spring seasonal beers I should try. I feel it imperitive though that I point out that I'm not too big of a fan of hoppy beers and I've sampled the Sierra Nevada - Glissade, the Samuel Adams - Noble Pils, and about the closest I can come to something that MIGHT make the list is the old Sam Adams - White Ale (but I'm not sure if that's even made any more...) So with that being said, I implore you to send me your suggestions (ideally as a comment to this post) and I will definitely give them a try, if I can find them and report back with my findings. As anyone that read the "top 10 list" can attest to, this is an ever changing list and up to my discretion, so if you don't like my choices, you can stop reading and go drink your Miller Lite :o)

SUMMER - Ahhhhhh, one of the best seasons around. In Rochester, NY it only lasts for about as quick as you can say, "Oh my God, it's actually WARM out!" but it's good while it lasts. There are a lot of beers that you can booze with during the summertime, but since this is my list and I drink almost anything (except for Ram's piss - shameless Beerfest reference) I'm only going to give you my top #1 of summer (because I already gave you 10 on the last post!)

#1 - Sierra Nevada - Summerfest Lager

I came across this delectable offering from Sierra Nevada whilst wandering the aisles of Beers of the World in Rochester, NY a few summers ago. I was looking for that "easy drinkability" beer and one that I could bring with me in a 6-pack to a friends house, have 5 and still have an excellent time, while not being too sick of the "lime" or "lemon" or "cirtus" flavorings that are so prevalent in summertime beers. This one has none of the above. Sierra Nevada hit the nail on the head, so much so that it is my ONLY choice for a seasonal beer during the summer months. Now I'm not saying that it's the only thing I'll drink during the summer months, because anyone who knows me knows that ain't true....but it's a great summer lager and it's exceptionally well balanced and one that I can rip thru a 6 pack and not even really notice. It's light, but not too light - as I really enjoy the darker varieties of beer, and drisp and refreshing when served really cold during the summer months. I don't know what it is about this brew, but I'm excited for the sun to shine so I can crack a few bottles.

And there you have it. A comprehensive list of top ten beers and additionally 3 extra credit beers that you can only get during the appropriate brewing seasons. Tastes change thru the year and if you're doing it right, your beer choices should as well. So I hope you've enjoyed this post, feel free to comment on your own favorites and if you see me around, lets have a beer :o) Cheers!

Spring Forward Race Report

2011-04-05T12:10:00.002-05:00

Sunday was the 5th time that I've race the Spring Forward course out in Mendon Ponds Park here in Rochester. I love the race and it's pretty darn hilly, but a very fair course. In years past it's been a Rochester Runner of the Year series race which always drags out some impressive competition, but this year it was not on the dockett. Still solid competition though. All the usual suspects were there, Matt Kellman, Timmy Dwyer, Charlie Andrews, Mike Insler, Marcus Gage, Matt Roberts and Dave Rappleyea.

We were all milling around the start and I was feeling a little toasted from the weeks prior build that was culminating with the race on Sunday. I topped out close to 19 hours (not the 20 like I had thought) and that was week 3 of a three week build up (weeks one and two had been at 16 and 18 hours respectively). My legs honestly felt a little heavy during the warm up, but I was bound and determined to race this one as hard as I could and see what happened. Kind of like an experimental race. I knew that I was not going to be anywhere near the 53:28 that I popped last year when doing speedwork and focusing on running, but I was going to try and be as close as possible.

The start went off with a bang and this is basically what happened (David Rappleyea ran away from us all and took the easy victory - he's the one in the Saucony bright orange kit below)

We all happily chased him down and knew that we weren't going to be anywhere close to him, but we split off a nice little front pack in the early stages of the race. The pack consisted of myself, Mike Insler, Marcus Gage, Matt Roberts and one other guy that after looking at the results, looks like it was Craig Coon and there was one other gun in a RKR jersey too. I was tucking in the back of this happy little pack and as you can see from the photo below, I had to race all "thug like" with only one calf sleeve on. The day prior my left calf was twinging something fierce while on the bike and I knew that the hills might compromise it with the race today. Regardless of looking silly, I still trudged on tucked in the back of the pack.

We split thru the first mile in about 5:30 and David R. was about 30 seconds up the road. We all chatted a little bit and settled in and I was wondering how long I was going to be able to hang on to this pace. I wanted to go out strong, but also NOT blow up. After about 1.5 miles I watched the group of Insler, Roberts, Coon and Gage just pull away from me as I settled in to my own pace. I was kind of running in no mans land and they were a good 50-100m up the road as I watched them kind of just pull away. I split thru the 5k mark on the road in about 17:45 or so and knew I was holding a good pace.

I wanted to split about 5:50-5:55/mile for this race and definitely keep it anywhere within the 54-55 range for total time. I was running well and noticing that I was catching up to Marcus as we hit the hills, but he would press on the downhills and flats and get farther away. He was coming back to me though and as I looked up after a few miles at mile 5 or 6, I noticed he was right in front of me about 5-10m ahead. I put in a little surge on a downhill to catch him and passed as we bottomed out and started an uphill again. I almost forgot to say "nice job" to him as I went by, because I was feeling good and threw in another little soft pass to see what would happen. (I did say nice job by the way...) and also ultimately gapped him a little and was running scared.

Mile 8 came and that was the big elevation change to get back into the park. I crossed over the road with the marshalls and knew that the finish would be popping up in no time at all. I began to become a little complacent though because I neared the 9 mile mark and did a quick check over my shoulder thinking I was going to see Marcus blazing back to catch me and he was no where to be seen, and neither was anyone else. So that made me ease up a bit and I lost some impotence on pushing myself until I puked.

I cruised in for a respectable 5th place overall and 2nd in the age group (even though I neglected to stay for the awards) and ran a cool down with my college roommate and recent dad, Jake and his brother Jon and with warm up totalled out to 16 miles for day. My time was a little less than 1:45 slower than last year, but at this point of the build and my season, I'll take it... Next up is Muddy Sneaker which should be a fun mess in the next few weeks and there will be undoubtedly lots of miles out on the roads now that the weather is a little warmer now and the snow seems to be gone. But, I'm on a rest week, so it's R+R and a few beers for me. :o) Until the next time friends, train hard and get out there and test the legs. Cheers.

One Hour Postal final results

2011-04-05T09:40:00.000-05:00

So the final results are in and have been tabulated HERE for the one hour postal swim that was completed by me in January. If interested in reading about my "race report" you can find that HERE as well. All in all it was a good swim that I am proud of. It will only get faster too. Oh as an added bonus, if you look at the 4th name in the 30-34 AG, you can see a former teammate and now professional triathlete, Jordan Rapp who has apparently been doing his homework on the swim rocking out more than 5150 yards. For those of you keeping track at home, that's a blazing 1:09/100yd pace. Sick. Alright, more to come later on, but get out there and train friends, cheers!

Spring Cleaning

2011-04-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

So Springtime has finally arrived in the northeast and I'm slowly getting the bike up to snuff to be able to ride outside again. The Lunar Phoenix has been good to me so far and was built up with some of the older stuff that the BEAST left behind. So some of the parts are needing to be replaced/upgraded/etc.

Yesterday was a solid "bike day" in the fact that I finally got 2 new tires delivered to me in the mail and the new chain that I had ordered finally came in as well. That along with the fact that I picked up a new helmet recently (to replace the one the moron stole at Musselman) and also ordered a new 12/25 cassette as well, means that my drivetrain and bike will be pretty speedy in the next few weeks once all the options get installed on the bike (I might not put the chain on until the cassette arrives because I'm kind of anal about abnormal wear. I like everything to be on the same page.

So with the cassette that I ordered today, I went with a Shimano Ultegra CS-6700 12/25 cassette. I’m a big fan of the Ultegra components because they don’t cost an arm and a leg like the Dura Ace stuff does, but they hold up a lot better than the 105 garbage that Shimano produces. Currently installed on the LP is a really old Ultegra 11/23 which is what I have ridden on every single Ironman that I have ever completed. Some of the pure cyclists out there might be laughing at me, but I was a newbie in the bike thing about 6 years ago and that was the stock cassette that came with my bike, so I just kept on using it. I knew nothing about changing out cassettes. Hell, I didn’t even own a chain whip or lock key to get the cassette off.

I’ve never really felt like I needed more gears during a race, I’ve always been able to grind up pretty much any hill that I’ve been on. But with the addition of power this year and the amazing watt-o-meter, I’m thinking that it might be solid to be able to save the legs and spin a little bit more to regulate power up a hill. Still maintain the same watts, just be able to spin at an easier and higher cadence, therefore saving some leg speed for the run. Freshness has never really been a problem with racing, but 2 extra teeth on my back cog might not be all too bad to lean on, especially when fatigue is something that creeps up in the longer distances. Truth is, it’s worth a try and I’ll see how it works and if I don’t like it, I can always revert back to the 11/23 again. No worries. (Since I know have upgraded to a chain whip and lock tool as of last year)

But that’s been the bike upgrades and spring cleaning that I’ve done this year so far. Yesterday was a good bike day and I’ll be pretty stoked when the cassette comes in to get that laced up and ready to roll (pun intended). It’s also the end of a 3 week build for me and next week is a much needed rest week. I’ve been breaking down my body pretty well this year and I genuinely look forward to the recuperation periods (more or less….I NEED them) Sunday is the Spring Forward 15K and that will be a big test to blast the rust and cobwebs out of the legs and see how long I can hold sub 6 pace. I’ll report more on that next week I’m sure. But until then friends, get the bikes tuned up, because the snow seems to be gone and the rubber needs to hit the road. Get out there and JFT friends, cheers!

Washing your bike shoes

2011-03-23T12:17:00.000-05:00

As most of you triathletes out there and just plain old cyclist will attest, bike shoes become a little raunchy after several months and/or seasons of racing in them. And as my roommate or anyone else who recently came within about a mile from my bike shoes in the recent months, they know that mine are no exception.

So a few weeks ago, I put up a post, half jokingly, on Facebook stating that anyone that knows how to wash a paid or cycling shoes without having them clang around in the washing machine or become sudsy anytime that it rains in the future, please let me know. I got some interesting suggestions that ranged from “just go buy new ones” to “put them in the dishwasher on the top rack”.

Now, good cycling shoes cost around $200+ per pair and I really wasn’t willing to shell out that kind of cash when I just got these shoes at the beginning of last year, so I inquired with the person that said to use the dishwasher. He said it really worked, but don’t do it all the time as I’m sure it’s not too good for the shoes integrity. I figured I would give it a whirl (and make sure that the “drying heat” button was turned off as to not burn or melt the shoes) Turns out, this was a good idea, and after scrubbing the insoles in the sink and washing another pair, my shoes came out the other side really hot, but remarkably - un-stinkylike. It was a miracle!

Above is a shot of them "smoking" in my windowsill after being removed from the top rack. I had concerns about the carbon melting on them, but then I thought that if a thin tupperware can withstand the top rack in my dishwasher, my bike shoes should be able to do the same. So this will be how I clean my shoes after IM this year as I'm sure more bodily fluids than I care to admit will end up on them during the long race. Just thought I would share a tidbit I learned after many years of long course racing and having to deal with smelly shoes. Hopefully this new snow melts and we can all get out on the roads soonish. Train hard friends and see you all out there. Cheers!

First outdoor ride of the year!

2011-03-18T09:32:00.001-05:00

Last night I was able to go for my first outdoor ride of the year. Had a nice 35+mile ride outside as the sun was setting. Didn't move an inch, but it was nice to get out in the fresh air and have a breeze and a little change of pace.

It became pitch black by the time I got finished with the ride, but honestly that’s no different than when the lights turn off after about 15 minutes in the basement when I’m riding. So it was a good ride and I only got a few weird stares from motorists passing by (I was right next to the parking lot) and it was a good ride. Normally when I’m riding in the basement and the lights are on, this is the view that I have:

Yesterday, I took advantage of the weather though and brought the entire set up outside and got my ride in outside :o) That was partly because I was lacking the time to get my entire ride in and also partly because I still have to get a new helmet after some moron decided he would walk out of the transition area with mine at Musselman last year. I’ll be picking one up this evening on my way home from work, don’t you worry!

So with that, get outside, enjoy this unseasonably warm weather and train my friends. The spring is right around the corner (actually this weekend) and I expect to see you all on the roads and trails, training hard. Cheers!

More ramblings...

2011-03-15T12:03:00.000-05:00

Well I have a little bit of extra time at work here today and I thought I would add on to the post from yesterday with a few new tidbits of stuff going on in the land of Keep Moving Forward. Things are still going okay and I'm getting back into the big training once more and getting back into the groove once more.

This past block of training was good, I was beat afterwards, which tells me I need to focus a little longer on rest, recovery and nutrition between key workouts and thru the day (so maybe giving up the Dew isn't a bad idea after all) The only thing that was different about this last block is that I didn't race and I think I missed that. Maybe it's the fact that I didn't race last weekend that has made my mood quite melancholy, but it's something. I enjoy racing and I know I have a lot of it coming up on the horizon, but I've been missing seeing the gains from all the labor that I've been putting in this year. (and that's been a lot over the last few weeks) But after this new block of training (3-4 weeks) I'll be racing a lot, so that will hopefully scratch the itch.

I didn't give up coffee this year and I vowed to never again after that Chicago race report (as Tim pointed out) so hopefully the above hyper caffienated situation will not apply. :o) That was a totally random picture and thought to put down here, but I really just wanted to add the picture to the blog.

In other news, the prelimiary rankings came out for the One Hour Postal Swim that I did back in January and it was some fierce competition with places 1-10 getting medals in each age group. After busting my hump and swimming faster than I ever have before and covering 4800yards, I ended up 15th overall in my age group. Not too shabby and I'll take it. Realistically, next year I'd love to be in and around that 5k mark as I think that is a solid barrier to be around. Preliminary rankings can be found: HERE

I also know that I owe you all the "seasonal" listing of my beer offerings from the top ten list and here is a solid picture to depict that from my buddy who comments on this blog so much, Tim.

Tim, your comments and squirrelly pictures amuse me much, so thank you so much for making my day brighter. (I'm just actually glad you gave up the ribbing about pulling out of Cast-A-Shadow several years ago!) But in the light of the picture above, I will NOT be adding Budweiser to my list of seasonals, and will put a solid focus on Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter beers that make my "top 3 seasonal" lists each year. So when those seasons come along, you all can enjoy like I do, if you prefer. Or just try some new and exciting tastes.

So with that, I'll close this post. I feel a lot better about how "up-to-date" the blog is now and I got a chance to use two funny photos to boot! :o) See you all in the dungeon, on the trainer, on the roads and hopefully on the trails soon after the snow melt friends. Train hard and cheers!

Earl(e)y season BIG training

2011-03-14T11:33:00.000-05:00

So it's been another solid block of training and I just came off a rest week last week feeling okay. (note - not feeling fantastic, just okay) But that might have something to do with the fact that I've been pushing some hours that I didn't quite know I was capable of in mid February/early March. You see, the last three week build that I did went (in total hours) 16 hours, 17.5 hours and then a whopping 18 hour week before I kind of broke down and went onto a rest week. (and only 30 minutes of those were core work - abs, pushups, etc...the rest was good old fashioned S/B/R)

I woke up on that Monday of the rest week and felt like my body had been broken. I ended the 3 week build with a solid 3 hour ride and it had some intense tempo efforts in it in an effort to increase FTP and also muscular endurance. I'e been ending all of my long trainer rides with tempo at the very end to "finish strong" and I can feel it's going well. But I know that the hours took their toll and I was teetering on that fine line of just overdoing it and getting sick for the beginning part of the week. So sleep, liquids and OJ were on the dockett and I felt quasi-normal by mid week.

This block though I am concentrating on more "strength" type work on the bike and will be breaking my muscles down a lot more than they have been in the past, so I don't expect to see my weekly hour totals go up as high as they were in that last block. This will be more quality work that will tax me physically and I'll need more protein to rebuild and recover to go after the next workout.

On that note though, the Garmin that I got is pretty swanky. I'm a big fan of the charts and graphs and seeing the power lines and #'s mid ride is a definite bonus. It's taught me to let go of the speed #'s that I chased after for years and to focus on staying within my wattage (and riding within myself) It's also pretty slick for runs too, not having to guess at how long I ran or anything. Good stuff that makes my mileage and logs much more accurate.

So on a side note, I gave up Mountain Dew for Lent. This might not seem like a big deal, but that was one of the perks that I looked forward to slamming when I was low on energy. Now this wasn't by any means a daily thing, but I would often have one maybe 2x per week and it would be a special treat for me. It's gonna be a long haul until Easter, but I think I can manage. I might just have to replace one vice with another...we'll see how it works out.

Other than that, things have been going well here in the land of Keep Moving Forward. The next race on the horizon for me is Spring Forward 15K and that will be a fun way to blast the rust out of my legs as a start to the season. It's gonna come at the end of this 3 week block for me, so we'll see how it pans out. That's really all I got going over here, nothing new, just training lots and getting stuff ready for this years season. See you out on the roads, the trails (when they melt) and in the pool friends. Cheers.

Cast-A-Shadow Race report

2011-02-15T13:03:00.000-05:00

So I eluded to the fact that I owed it to myself and the two readers that I have for this blog that I needed to put a race report in writing for the Cast-a-shadow 6 hour snowshoe relay that occurred last weekend. This race is always a blast and we scraped up a team consisting of myself, Brian Matthews and Tim Howland for the weekend. In years past, we’ve been vying for the overall win and to win some of those sweet Mountain Hardware fleeces that they give out to the division winners. This year, it was rumored that Mr. Jeff Beck and Nate Huckle would have a team and our delusions of going for the overall win was shattered as quickly as it tried to poke thru. Needless to say, the team wasn’t too stoked about slogging around in the snow for six hours, but we begrudgingly got our entry form in and were ready to roll for the race.

Race day came and we got dumped on pretty good the days prior. The atmosphere in the lodge at Black Creek was just electric and buzzing with folks getting ready and seeing everyone that they hadn’t seen in a while. It’s fun times. I got there, stashed my gear on a bench and decided to lead off the opening leg. (Bad idea…) I completely forgot that the opening leg was required to basically blaze a path thru the snow and “cut trail” for the 2.25-2.50 mile course. Needless to say that the opening leg was my slowest leg of the day. About 400 yards in, I actually stopped and started walking because I didn’t want to lead and the front pack bunched up a bit. By the time we got to the single track it got a little better and we were able to actually run the trails the way they were intended.

The whole race is kind of wild, there's a lot of commotion going around and people are everywhere. Relay teams are all over and it's just like organized chaos. The whole race has an "old school" feel to it as there are no timing chips, everything is timed by hand with a stopwatch and pencil and paper. I think this year was actually the first year that they had handed out actual bib numbers. It's one of those races where the race directors know pretty much everyone running and you just call your name or your team name out as you come up to the line and they handwrite your splits on their sheets.

One of the coolest parts of this race is the fact that it starts at 2pm in February and goes for 6 hours, so about half of the race is in the dark and headlamps are required. That and the fact that everyone running is in a pretty good mood and it's kind of like a party atmosphere in the lodge between legs for the folks that aren't getting ready to run. It's fun all around. This year was no different. I was taking it as kind of a training run as I had to get in 15 miles that day anyway and it was the last thing I had to do before a rest week. I had spun on the trainer for 3 hours the night prior and made up a swim at the WAC that morning, so I wasn't sure how much pain my legs would handle.

I've blown up spectactularly in the past in this race (because as you can see, it's all about pacing) and I didn't want a repeat of that sordid fate. So this year, I took it out conservatively each time I ran and we were doing pretty well. We had no chance of pulling out the win and I really thought we'd be like 5th overall or so. Turns out by about the midway point of the race (right around when headlamps were required) a sleuthy teammate of mine pictured above looking at the split sheets realized we were in about 4th place overall, but still holding the same amount of laps as about 3 other teams.

Now this year, the groundhog saw his little furry shadow, so the rules were that once the 6 hour mark hit, only FULL laps got counted. Hence, if you were finishing up your last lap and were 100 yards from the finish and the clock read 6:00:00, that lap did not count. So a little bit before the third to last exchange came up for Tim and then me, we realized that we might be able to sneak in one more lap if we all just ran REALLY hard. So Tim leaves for his loop and runs great, I get out there for the exchange and run a solid lap, eventually passing Tim Dwyer and putting us a position ahead. The only problem was that when I got to the rellay exchange tent, my teammate Brian Matthews was no where to be seen! He popped out of the lodge though when I bellowed his name and managed to remove his jacket on the run and fling it to the side as he started his loop.

So time was running out, Brian came back from his loop and exchanged to Tim, I get ready for my second to last loop as Tim is out and we realize that it's going to be close if we can get this last lap in, like down to minutes or seconds. Tim comes back from his loop HOLDING HIS SNOWSHOE in his HAND...I don't know if all of you are familiar with shoeing or not, but snowshoes are NOT supposed to go on your hands! I used that as fuel to get my adrenaline going and bolted off for my 2nd to last loop. We all were running strong and it was fast. I came back in about 17:3X and had been running consistent 18's all day, Brian went out and ran REALLY strong as I urged him to get me as much of a cushion as possible. He came back strong and there was about 37 minutes left of the race when Timmy got his last exchange. (Tim had to borrow a pair of snowshoes from someone because of his broken cleat/strap on his own pair and these were direct mounted Dion's that had no insoles in them...unlucky for him) Anyway, Tim runs out of his head too and hands off to me with about 19 minutes left of the race.

I just take off, not wanting to spoil it for the team, the only thing I can think about is coming up to the line and having time run out and never crossing the line...so I'm cooking thru the darkened woods with a headlamp bobbing around and I can barely see where I'm going. Most of the Ultra runners are done and in for the night, so it's fairly lonely out there as I'm huffing and puffing to get every last second out of my legs. I only passed one other guy out there and finally got to the clearing and the last hill. I could tell I was motoring and my legs were screaming. That all subsided when I hit the line and was done. We made it with less than 2.5 minutes to spare....thank goodness! :o)

The tie-breaker for when teams have the same number of laps is that the fastest last lap wins (so that was motivating me as well...) As we all got dinner and a post race feast (one of the many great things about the race) Fetch came by and slyly told me, "you know you did it, don't you?" and I had no idea until that comment that I had run the fastest last lap of the day and vaulted us from about 4th overall to 2nd place :o) I was beaming and it was a good feeling. We all had dinner and beers at the lodge and I stuck around to help break down camp and load up the trucks for Mort and Tim. Final results are up HERE for the mens division and HERE for everyone else. All in all, it was a great evening and I'm glad my team convinced me to have a blast. Wear your Mountain Hardwear beanies with pride guys. Great work and none of it could have been done with out all of us running out of our heads. Good times.

So that's it. I gave you this race report as promised, told you all about the MS 20K lottery and the new toys (the Garmin) and that's been about it. I'm just coming off a rest week last week for me and I'm getting into another solid 3 weeks of build and strength, so bring it on! See you on the roads, trails, on the trainer and anywhere else friends. Enjoy yourselves, cheers!

Happenings...

2011-02-11T14:28:00.000-05:00

So I know I owe you all a race report from Cast-a-Shadow which happened last weekend and I've got a few fun pictures in store for that report, but I wanted to drop a short post here because the past few days have been pretty solid in my little multisport world.

I've been waiting since last year sometime over the summer to finally get a Garmin Forerunner 310xt. I grabbed a powertap SL+ hub from my buddy Matt who upgraded his gear recently and had it installed in a Velocity deep V rim last fall by the wonderful folks over at Mendon Cyclesmith (great shop by the way). All it's really been is a fairly expensive hub that's done nothing for me over the past few months. Since I got a Tacx trainer a while back, I've been using that to measure my power on my rides and I've been jonsing to get a head unit for the PowerTap.

In comes the Forerunner 310xt. As most of you remember, I travelled to Chicago last fall to run a silly race and stopped by the Garmin showroom there on the main strip. (also a classic waste of store space...that place was HUGE and their products can fit into your hand) I picked up a quick release kit and have installed the mount on my bike in heavy anticipation as of last fall as soon as I got back. Tonight, I will be finally attaching and pairing up a headunit that measures power. This weekend I will also take it on my long run and use it to track mileage/pace/speed/and HR! Needless to say I'm trying to hold back my excitement, this thing is AWESOME...and I've never had anything like it. As a numbers kind of guy, I've always estimated my distance on my training routes and this will give me MUCH more exact data.

So as it charges at work, I'm sitting here in anticipation of getting to play with it once I get home and set up the quick release kit! Oh and the best part is, I bought it with my HSA and it was all pre-tax deductions from my work account. So, the thing was pretty much "free" as I didn’t see the cash, so it was like “fake money”. I know it was money deducted from my paycheck, but it seems like it was never mine to begin with. Which makes it that much easier of a pill to swallow.

But alas, that’s not the ONLY good news in the past few days. The Muddy Sneaker lottery was held last night at the Otter Lodge and I won't keep you in suspense, it was a great night overall, only made better by the fact that #32 that was called was yours truly. So for the scond year in a row, I get to haul butt thru the woods and HUGE hills down at Hi Tor WMA during April. Some good fast folks are signed up, so this will be a good race this year! Getting in super early in the night allowed me to relax and enjoy myself rather than sweat it out and keep my fingers crossed hoping that I was going to get in. It was good times, good beer and good food with good friends last night. Great seeing everyone out and about and a PERFECT night to spend on a solid rest week.

And that's it, just a short little update. I'm super stoked to see how the Garmin power #'s compare to the tacx and play around with it all this weekend! So I hope you all are staying warm and enjoying your winter. see you on the roads and trails friends. Cheers!

OHP - one hour postal swim

2011-02-04T12:58:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday was the National USMS one hour postal swim (actually you can do it any day in the month of January, but entries have to be in by 1/31). Basically it's a timed race where you swim as far as you can in a pool in an hour. It hurts like hell....I am the postal coordinator for the Rochester Area Masters Swimmers (RAMS) and with that comes the inevitable headache of organizing who is swimming in what lane and who is volunteering for whom...sounds easy, but not when you have to juggle 20+ people and work their schedules. Regardless, it went fairly smoothly.

Saturday was my day to swim and I had done this race in 2009 and managed to struggle thru 4,650 yards or so which averaged out to 1:17.X/100yard pace. This year I know I'm swimming faster and I set a fairly loft goal up there of 4800 yards in an hour. (1:15 pace) We had done a 10 x 10's on 1:15 workout set earlier in the year and I got thru it, but it was painful and I really wasn't sure how I was going to do in this one.

So, Saturday. We start and I took the first 500 out in 6:00.00 - exactly 1:12 pace.....a TAD too quick, but I was settling in. At about the 2,000 yard mark I had amassed about a 20-30 second buffer of time faster than the predicted 1:15pace that I wanted to go. I really thought I was doing the first 2k fairly comfortably. At about the 3k mark, I had seen that buffer completely vanish and I hit a really low point in the hour of pain that I was going thru. I kind of lost count (good thing we have counters on deck!) and started day dreaming a bit. Once I saw that the clock read about 10 mintues left, I started to pick it up and push it....a lot.

By the time I hit the wall, I honestly only thought I had gone about 4650 or 4700 yards total and was shocked to hear that as the whistle blew, my hand hit the wall for a total of 4,800 yards in an hour! I was dead-nuts on my pace of 1:15 pace. Not too shabby for this time in the year. So this squirrelly kid managed to shock himself and pull off a decent swim and breakfast at Charbroil afterwards too. (I think that was Kim's favorite part!) Next up this weekend is the always fun Cast-a-shadow 6 hour snowshoe relay at Black Creek Park and that should be a blast. I've been training hard and I have much to say about that, so until next time, see you on the roads and trails (or spinning in my basement) Cheers!

J.F.T. - "Just........Train"

2011-01-18T14:51:00.001-05:00

I made the conscious decision (with a little help from some folks poking and prodding me) to not do a bike test today. I know that may come as a surprise for those who know me well, but it’s a decision that I’m sticking by and one that I ultimately know will make me better. As a numbers guru, I’ve always been one to stick to the numbers. So this year with me riding with specific wattage goals and an intensely accurate gauge of how to test and/or complete workouts is extremely beneficial. I’m not going to say I’m a slave to the numbers, but when you put an accurate reflection of my effort in front of me, the “type A” personality takes over and my competitiveness strives me to constantly try and best my prior efforts.

So, I’m of the mindset that the watt-o-meter has made me a more mature athlete (because Lord knows, I’m rarely mature in any other aspect of my life!) I’m actually sticking to my plan that I’ve set out this year (hours per week, when workouts are, etc) and completing a basic week to build on week over week. I actually feel like I have a plan for this year, as opposed to just kind of following a loosely structured outline of a plan. This will be my 7th season of long course racing and I feel like I almost know what the hell I’m doing. With that being said I want to point out an awesome article written by a triathlete in Minnesota about the differences between being self-coached and un-coached.

Coached vs. Uncoached

Honestly, this article pretty much sums my training up to a “tee” before I realized what I was doing. The points that he makes about him changing training rides mid-ride and not really doing too much interval work and just generally being completely unfocused and scatter brained with his training resonated with me. I think we’ve all fallen into the trap of heading out for a moderate ride and feeling good, so upping the tempo into a fast paced ride and then having another workout later on in the week suffer. It’s a vicious cycle and not a good one to fall prey to.

So, today I will not be testing. As my own coach, and hopefully being SELF coached and not UN coached, I know that the zones that I have set up are not too far out of whack right now. Additionally the recovery from testing highly outweighs the fine tweaking of my zones for the time being. (that’s not to say after another 3-4 week build, I won’t be ready to change) But for now, I’m going to focus on just getting the miles in, introducing some tempo styled efforts and having the vast majority of my ride be in that endurance zone so that I can grow my aerobic base and be more than ready for the 2011 season. There is no doubt in my mind that my bike will be where it needs to be come July. And if I train the way I know I should on the run, that marathon that I know I am capable of is well within reach. So as the title and picture depicts, JFT my friends, just get out there and train. Cheers.

Frozen Assets 5k snowshoe report

2011-01-12T13:05:00.000-05:00

Saturday marked the opening of the winter snowshoe season for me with the jaunt down route 65 to Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation area for the 10th anniversary of this wonderful little 5k called Frozen Assets. This was the 5th time I've done this race and it was a brisk day out and there were rumours that this was going to be a trail race due to lack of snow, but Mother Nature prevailed and dumped JUST enough on us the day or two before that there was snow cover to race with the shoes on. Winds were light and the main "highway" thru the park that we share with the XC skiiers had a pretty solid base, so the conditions were ideal.

The usual suspects all come out for this race on the snowshoe circuit, in addition to some new faces (always nice to see) Tim Dwyer even ventured out into the tundra for his 2nd time on snowshoes and did remarkably well for his virgin race! I'm not gonna lie, one of the main reasons I do this race is because they hold the awards at "the Brewery" in Honeyoye Falls and we all stick around, tell stupid stories and have a few beers. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday in January with friends....and the beer selection is solid as well!

Anyway, gun goes off and I really don't have the "killer instinct" that I've had in races in the past. I don't know what it is, but I'm just not feeling like pushing myself to the edge and beyond today. (now don't get me wrong, I was still going to run hard, just wasn't willing to turn myself inside out for this race...) We hit the single track a little later than normal (because they had to re-route the course due to the apparent lack of snow) and I was right behind Jeff Beck (not really the position you want to be in if you are going to "cruise" a race) and we made the climb up Little Marcy and into a little more powder.

5k's are pretty hard for me because as soon as you find your groove and place to run, the race is over. I've been doing a lot more slower stuff this year since Chicago and I wasn't in the mood to red line it today. I kinda raced a LOT last year and wanted to take some time off of running really hard to focus on the bike. But anyway, we got some scenic views in during the race of Hemlock Lake, I got passed a few times in the woods and I held off Nate Huckle coming down the final stretch for 6th place overall. It was a good race and I was pleased with the result. I even nabbed a nice black fleece Mountain Hardwear beanie in the give-aways at the award ceremony. But for some reason when I race in the winter time I sneeze a TON afterwards. Not sure if it is because my sinuses were opened up, or just the exertion or what, but I'm talking about uncontrollable and violent sneezes. These seemed to last for about 2 days as well and didn't put me into the nicest of moods that evening. I apologize to anyone that I grossed out at the Brewery by sneezing so much and having to blow my nose every two seconds...

But, I got over the sneezesm and it's on to a rest week for me now. Which means only recovery rides and runs and some EASY peasy training over the next few days. I'm starting tempo and strength training (big gear) work on the bike next week and want to be as rested as possible for that. I'm signed up for the Mendon Winterfest 10k snowshoe on Sunday, but I'm just planning on casually running that one, not really racing it. Just maybe using it as a tempo effort run and adding a long warm up and cool down too to call it a day.

I'll be on the trails this weekend at MPP and I've got some other good plans in the works in the near future, so stay tuned! Good stuff all around. So get those base miles in friends and get out there and have some fun. Now's the time to get those fun runs in with people that you normally don't get to train with. (I've had the pleasure to cruise the roads with Mr. Matt Curbeau and Steve Gonser in the recent weeks, on separate runs) Enjoy it while it lasts, the base phase is gone as quick as it comes! See you on the snowy roads and trails friends, cheers!

2010 Year in Review

2011-01-07T13:01:00.001-05:00

So I’ve felt the need to get a 2010 “year in review” post up for a while. This was the first year since 2005 where I didn’t race an Ironman (that was a decision on my part that was put into effect LONG before I crashed up in Placid in 2009) and it was a pretty solid year and one where I thought overall volume would be decreased without the presence of a weekly long bike/run. Turns out I was wrong, my total number of workout hours was just 13 hours shy of their 2009 value. I don’t know if that means that I took off a lot of time after IMLP 2009 or if I just kept a constant pace of hourage throughout the year in 2010. Either way, I had some good ups and downs this year in the multi sport world

I started the year running strong several local races and I truly felt like I got my running legs back. There was a stretch that ended in July where every time I raced on roads, I was going sub-6 minute miles. That was definitely not a bad streak to hold! I teamed up with my buddy Tim for my first adventure race and we stole the win away on that one. I got the chance to mix it up on a national level for the USSRA Snowshoe National Championship race. I bested my college PR for the 5 mile distance in a road race at the Johnny’s Running of the Green. One of my goals this year was to get faster on the bike and I don’t know if I did that or not, but I hopped in a few cycling races here and there and had a blast. I podiumed at my first time back racing bikes since 2006 and got an opportunity to test out the TT legs at 2 different time trials this year (including a TTT, loads of fun)

One of my A races I had marked was the Buffalo Half Marathon and I finally got a solid PR in the Half Marathon Distance. Of the three triathlons that I did this year, I won two of them (Keuka Lake Intermediate, and Summer Sizzler formula one), I bagged 6 more peaks putting me up to the twenties on the way to all 46 in the ADK’s, raced another really hot half IM (got a small PR) and even lowered my beer mile PR on a trail course that was a little long. It was a good season and I made the trek with some friends to Hell, Michigan again for a blast of a time, and then raced the Chicago Marathon on 10-10-10. Chicago was not the day to get a best time, but it was still a fun trip.

Overall, I think my fitness on the run and swim portions increased and I took an emotional win in a triathlon by racing the right way, very smartly (Keuka I was 6th out of the water, 4th after the bike and won it on the run) in my first go in a triathlon since the accident. I’m hoping those lessons and fitness carry over to 2011 because I’m gearing up to have another great year. This year the big goal is IMLP 2011 and getting down that descent from Keene to Jay in one piece. Basically I just want to get a chance to start the run this year, because I know I can run a good marathon there. The idea is to run the marathon that I know I am capable of. I’m sure the brand spanking new P3 frameset that I bought in order to build up and spawn the Lunar Phoenix won’t hurt with that goal.

But you all ask about the numbers so as the year broke down, here were the total numbers for the 2010 calendar year:

Swimming – 214 miles of swimming for a total of 113 hours
Cycling – 3,506 miles of cycling for a total of 183 hours
Running – 1,457 miles of running for a total of 172.5 hours
Core (sit-ups and push-ups) 19 hours of that

And that all comes together for a grand total of 487 hours of working out in 2011. I’m a little anal about my training log and here is a screen shot of the hours by week for 2010. Another season is in the books friends and January started my 7th full season of multisport racing.

So there you have it, 2010 is in the books and the training log has been locked for editing. Now starts a brand new year of racing, training, and just getting out there and having fun with friends. So if you see me out there on the roads or trails stop by and say HI. 2011 is looking like a bright year and lets hope that lucky season #7 of long course racing will live up to it’s hopes and dreams. Train hard my friends, and build a HUGE base right now. But more importantly, get out there and have some fun! Cheers.

Why I'm racing IMLP in 2011

2010-12-13T12:27:00.000-05:00

This was what I sent in to Active.com when I filled out the registration for 2011. I wonder if they'll even notice... I'm training this winter with a fire in my belly as I have unfinished business on this course. So watch out Lake Placid. I'm coming for you....

WATTS UP?!?! - Power is here...

2010-12-03T15:26:00.000-05:00

I had hinted a while back that the Lunar Phoenix was getting some new additions and more upgrades this season, but I hadn't gotten around to posting anything about it yet. (probably had something to do with my solidification of my "top-10" list in the post prior!...I had to sample them all again JUST to make sure they were worthy, heh heh!)

Well this year I broke down and had one of those you-can't-really-pass-this-up type of deals put in front of me and I had to jump on it! Many thanks to my buddy Turbeau Curbeau who was the one getting rid of a spiffy new-to-me wireless PowerTap SL+ hub. Here it is installed on a brand new rim that I just got back the other night. It's a 32 hole hub and it was originally installed on a 16 spoke rim (actually a Bontrager Race X Lite rim) but being that I am about 155-160lbs, I got a little sketched out with it being on such a light rim that I had it swapped over to a sturdier one.

I've been riding for about a month now in the dungeon and been racking up the base mileage. I have a Tacx trainer for the time being and that's giving me a really good and accurate depiction of my current level of fitness. I'm also reading "Training and Racing with a power meter" by Allen Cogan and Hunter Allen as suggested over a few beers up in Lake Placid by my buddy Ryan. (he just got back from Kona for the 2nd year in a row...so I listen extra careful to what he has to say - all the while trying to weed out the uber metro-sexual dribble that he often injects into his conversations!) But he's more than legit, so I listen. This book should be the freaking power-bible, it's got so much information. Honestly, I knew that power=watts when I started riding and that was a fun little factoid, but this is written in a very scientific, easy to read approach that kind of spells out how to use and interpret data from power files in order to make you a more complete rider. It's just great and I feel like I'm learning a lot about myself as a rider and where I can improve mainly.

Normally, when I bike (or run) I have a tendency to go out MUCH too hard and fade over the course of the race. I mean, I hang on for dear life, but it's not always the most effective way to pace a race. With a powermeter, I feel like I can almost keep myself in check and make sure I have the much needed gas left in the tank for the latter stages of the marathon and the latter stages of the bike. I have a feeling this will be a very valuable tool as my fastest stand alone marathon is a 2:53 and my fastest Ironman marathon is only a 3:41. Ideally these should be MUCH closer together and I feel like if I pace the bike a little better, I can run the marathon that I know that I am capable of.

Plus as a bonus, it’s really cool to see your wattage displayed on a screen and when you ease up on the pedals, your watts INSTANTLY decrease. There is virtually no lag time. I am so used to racing with heart rate, which always keeps me in check, but the lag time is about 30-45 seconds and your heart rate can be influenced by a variety of other factors (wind, temperature, hydration, etc) Have you ever had a ride into a headwind and been pushing on the pedals all ride long, only to come home, enter it into your training log and then forget that it was windy that day when you look at the ride 3 weeks later? A powermeter will eliminate that, because as a head wind increases, so do your watts and it’s just a more accurate depiction of your ride.

All in all, I’m stoked to do my FTP testing at the end of this weekend and get my base zones so I can gauge fitness levels and gains over the course of the season. After all, I’m kind of a numbers guy and I’m just pretty excited to have the ability to coach myself more accurately and remove another x-factor from my self made training plan.

So, a new blog entry will be written in the near future about seasonal beer offerings (since there was an over whelming response to the top 10 list) but I just wanted to get a new one up about the watt-o-meter and my newfound accuracy of bike training this season. Watch out friends, I’m coming for you in 2011. See you down in the dungeon while I’m crushing cranks! Cheers.

Top 10 beer list

2010-11-23T16:33:00.006-05:00

I've talked of this post for a while now and casually mention it whenever I have a really good beer. (DISCLAIMER: this is an ever fluctuating list and nothing is written in stone with it. It is all personal opinion and probably will change by the time I finish my final edit)

The basis of this list was to create a virual "top ten" list of beers. The concept came about because over my years, I've gleaned a lot of knowledge about the beverage industry and have come to appreciate the finer brews out there. Slowly I realized that this post might become enormous and I would have to split it into seasonal beers there as well because most breweries offer limited release beers that coincide with the seasons that sometimes are better tasting than their flagship offerings. However on the flip side of things, those seasonal offerings are very strong and not always a standard normal drinking beer. That's why I have split out the seasonal section (it will follow in another post). But anyway, without further adieu, here is my rendition of my top-10 all time drinkability beers:

#1 - Unibroue - La Fin Du Monde

Literally translating to "the end of the world", if you have too many of these special beers, you might feel like doomsday is near the next morning. This beer is probably my absolute all time favorite brew. It's brewed by a company in Canada called Unibroue and their offerings are all supreme in my books. All of these beers are bottle fermented which means that when you pour it, the fizzy head is exhorbent and you get a small amount of sediment in the bottom of your glass/bottle. It's sold in 4 packs because the alcohol content is up around 9% ABV and it is a little bit pricey. It's a belgian white beer, so the head is tiny compact bubbles and the appearance is cloudy in nature. To anyone that I tell this well kept secret about, I always tell them it's comparable to a stronger version of Blue Moon or Shock Top (without the overpowering citrus aftertaste to it) All in all, this one tops out my list.

#2 - Ommegang Brewery - Rare Vos

This amazing creation is bottled and brewed right down the Thruway from our hometown here in Rochester in nearby Syracuse at the Ommegang Brewery. A rich amber beer in color, Rare Vos is a middle of the road drinkable beer for me. I originally sampled this for the first time at the Flour City Brewers fest back in 2005 or 2006. It was in Fronteir Field at the time and the guy that was pouring samples at the Ommegang table told me I was going to need a "frequent flyer" card because I was coming back so often for a refill! I thought it would just be a regular amber ale, but there is some distinct characteristic that I can't place my finger on that makes this one special. So it snuck up on my list after years and years of going back and trying it. Rare Vos scores very high on my list and I would recommend it to anyone.

#3 - Lake Placid Brewery - Ubu Ale

Lake Placid holds a special place in my heart as most of you know. Their flagship beer is no different. With a rich malty flavor and an exceptionally dark color, once I was introduced to the "nectar of the gods" as it is referred to in several circles, I was hooked. Combine this beer with the relaxing atmosphere of Lake Placid and the fact that usually when it is consumed, I'm up there doing what I love (training for triathlons, hiking high peaks, etc) this beer has risen to a high ranking on my top ten list. Recently pushing it up into a higher ranking has been my appreciation for this fine concoction during the winter months (typically when real malty beers should be appreciated, but I don't discriminate) after snowshoe races. My rule of thumb is that "the darker the better" for beers and the Brew Pub got it right. Tipping the scales at a stout (no pun intended) 7% ABV, this beer was named after the breweries Chocolate Lab that is depicted on the 6-pack case. Great beer.

#4 Franziskaner - Weissbier

I suppose with all of the talk of hefty malty beers, we should lighten the load a little bit. I definitely don't discriminate between malty or hoppy, but this beer is one that I kind of stumbled upon and grew to love. First off it has a taste kind of like a more dry Blue Moon (only without the fruity overpowering aftertaste) and to boot in most bars that you can find it on draft, it's served in those 22oz glasses as depicted on the left. It's a great drinkable beer that you can have 5 of and still be okay with the taste after you're done.

#5 Warsteiner - Dunkel

I came across this beer when at a trail race in Hell, Michigan many many moons ago. Well not exactly the Warsteiner brand of beer, but the Dunkel brewing style was discovered for me then. Something about it just clicked with me as a solid drinkable everyday beer. We were at a local brewery outside of some town in the southeast quadrant of Michigan and were tasting flights of beer and a dunkel came up in the flight and it was hands down the best beer we had out of the bunch. There are a lot of other brands of dunkel-beer that have been brewed recently including varieties from larger breweries such as Michelob down to the small town guys such as the Genesee Brewery here in Rochester that just came out with their own JW Dundees Dunkel. Not a bad dark brown ale to have around the house, a little more malty in flavor, but with a good balance of hops on it as well. Overall a dunkel variety will always make my top ten list.

#6 Troegs - Dreamweaver Wheat Normally I don't buy beer because of the labels, but when walking down the aisles of a local beer distribution store (B.O.T.W. - for those of you who are reading in Rochester) but this one, I couldn't resist. Most of you that know me, know I have an affinity for trees. Hell, I cultivate bonsais and have a tree tattooed on my back. So upon seeing a label as such and the name dreamweaver just caught my eye, I had to try it. Turns out it was a good choice. A little pricier than most beers (around $12 per 6 pack) but definitely worth the cost, dreamweaver is an unfiltered goodness in a bottle. A hefeweissen by category, this one has a faint citrus aftertaste, but overall a solid brew. One that can definitely be drank over and over thru the day. Not overly hoppy, Troegs does a great job at perfecting their beers for the niche craft market

#7 Guinness brewing company - Guinness Stout

It's about time we had a stout added to the list, eh? Brewed at the St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, Arthur Guinness had the great idea many years ago to roast the barley that is used to brew this beer. This gave it the essential dark color and malty aroma. I became a big fan of Guinness in college when we used to play open mic nights at the Idle Hour and get absolutely hammered on the $2/pint specials of Guinness. That combination only strengthened my resolve towards loving the malty characteristics that make up this fine nectar. It also gave me the confidence to get on stage and sing and play some original songs for people that probably didn't care what I was playing anyway. Overall a great brew!

#8 Samuel Adams – Imperial Pilsner

Now many of you can probably come up with better ideas on a solid “hoppy” beer for this list, but since this is my list and it looks like I’m a big fan of dark brown beers and Hefeweissen’s. The Sam Adams Imperial Pilsner has a delicate but not overpowering bitterness that is balanced quite nicely with the smooth barley and malt to form a solid pilsner style beer. It’s smooth, but not overly sharp and has a nice clear and aromatic flavor.

#9 Leffe – Brown Ale
This beer was first discovered by me at Acme Bar located on Monroe Ave in Rochester, NY. Obviously the lesser known of the Leffe family of beers (most folks are at least familiar with Leffe blond) It was discovered one night while having pizza in the bar (yes they make pizza and serve it in the bar…it’s amazing) that this one is a generally good solid brown ale. Comparable to Ithaca Brewing Company’s Nut Brown, I haven’t come across a Leffe Brown that I haven’t enjoyed.

#10 Dogfish Head – Miles Davis Bitches Brew

No list could be complete without some type of offering from the wonderful craft brewers at Dogfish Head brewery. The first brand I tried from them was their aprihop and while I do not generally enjoy overpowering fruity beers, this one wasn’t bad. So when recently a bunch of friends were out at a local tavern and we (whilst intoxicated) noticed this sitting on the shelf, felt compelled to give it a try. I was just stoked because it had Miles Davis on it! This one poured as dark as they come and had a nice chocolate aroma on the head. It dissipated quickly, but then again, so did my drink. It was delish. It was a prime example of a solid stout that held some chocolate characteristics to it as well. A fine example.

So there you have it, since it’s off season, go grab yourself an assorted 6-pack and sit on the couch relishing your past accomplishments this year. I know my season’s been extra long and I could use a rest too, so kick back for a few weeks, enjoy some choice drinks that you normally wouldn’t have, indulge yourself and I’ll be back to report on my favorite seasonal brands and varieties in the near future. (Because some of those seasonal one’s almost made it onto the top ten! – the only reason I didn’t include them in the top ten is because you can’t get them year round!!) But this is a good time for beer friends. My top three seasons are either upon us or will be soon, (Autumn, Winter and Spring) so get out there, grab a cold one and relax, you’ve earned it. Cheers!

The evolution of my ride...

2010-11-19T09:41:00.000-05:00

Over the years I've had some solid bikes and I just thought it would be a pretty cool post to chronicle the evolution of my bikes over the years. I started out doing multisport in 2004 when my buddy Phil convinced me to do the first annual Penn Yann/Keuka Lake triathlon. I was a newbie and had no idea what I was getting myself into. It was the only race I did that entire year. I rode it on this bike below:

It was a FILA bicycle (I know, right? Fila makes bikes?!?!? I thought they just made crappy shoes!) But I was hooked and came back the next year to try the Olympic distance race. In between that time, I got hired on to work for a large insurance company and was sent down to Georgia to live for a little over a month. I shipped the bike down via UPS in a cardboard box and reattached the pedals (I had shimano SPD's on it) and rode ALL over the Atlanta suburbs. It was amazing and I felt as though I was a little kid again. The shifters on the down tube and the swan neck stem didn't even deter me. Neither did the fact that when I climbed, my knees hit the handlebars. I was elated, I had a bike (given to me by my now roommate Erin Varley, thank you!) and I was riding...everywhere.

But there comes a time that you realize you need to upgrade. Not really knowing what I was doing, I chose a Trek 1500 bike from a local bike shop that was an aluminum frame. I don't have a pic of it for here, but I still own it and actually raced on it this past year in several bike races. I finished 5th in the Bloomfield RR this year and some guy stated as we rolled around for cooldown, "props to the guy in the lead pack on the steel frame bike!" Made me feel a little proud inside and that bike was adequately named "the TANK" because I used to ride it long and I loaded it down with bottles. Also it is jokingly called "old ironsides" as well, but that's a little known name. I rode that bike out in Missouri for the US Halfmax National Championships which are now called the UltraMax or something like that.

But I rode on and with the decision to race an Ironman in 2006, I decided it was time to buy a big boy bike and rubbed my pennies together to purchase, "the BEAST". (see above, that's her hanging out a few days prior to IM Florida where she took me for a 20.7 mph bike split) She was a solid, solid machine and the first time I rode her, we travelled along the streets of Buffalo at blazing speeds and I knew it was a match made in heaven! :o) I was seeing speeds on the odometer that I hadn't EVER seen. She was sleek, full carbon and FAST. I got her several upgrades over the years and actually a lot before IM Wisconsin in 2008. She came to IMLP in 2009 with a full carbon cockpit (stem, basebar, aerobars and brakes) and was as light as a feather. She lived a good life. Tragically though, it came to an end on 7/26/2009 as we had a minor mishap halfway thru the bike course at IM Lake Placid. I still have her cracked frameset in my storage space in the basement and I don't really know what to do with her. We've shared so many miles that I can't see just tossing her in the garbage just yet. We've won races, had the worst things happen mid race, had bad rides, shared many a laugh over the years. But with every disaster comes a silver lining:

With the death of the Beast, came a new creation that rose up from her smoldering ashes. The Lunar Phoenix (see above) was born and resurrected several key components from the Beast to make her a whole bike. I'm still working on getting everything back to where it was in 2009, but those components sure are pricey and my pocketbook will not allow me to be as frivolous as I would like to be. But as the keen observer might notice, the LP is a P3 frame and the Beast was a P2C, both are carbon, but good old LP was a slight upgrade (why not, right?) LP is certainly fast and she'll be a solid steed. She hasn't gone thru the rigors of a long course season yet though, so I'll have to break her in gently. The beast was a pro at that. She'd ridden herself thru 3.5 Ironmans (I say 0.5 because she only got thru half the bike the 2nd time I did Placid) But as always, there are upgrades to be had and instead of getting her fancy handlebars and such, I chose a more frugal and hopefully beneficial route this year. For my b-day this year, I was given a wonderful Tacx trainer which I affectionatively refer to as the "watt meter" and it's awesome. I've never trained with power and it definitely showcases your weaknesses as a cyclist out there.

This is the current set up that I have right now in the "dungeon" at my apartment. I ride in the basement laundry room next to the circuit breakers and most of the time it's in the darkness. The lights are actually on a motion detector thing and they shut off after 16 minutes and 2 seconds exactly (I timed it last night...) but it's nice because no one really bothers me (other than my neighbors that come to change over their laundry and they already think I'm crazy, so I suppose it's no shock to see me spinning in the basement too)

But the Tacx isn't the only power meter that I've been in contact this year. See my good buddy Matt upgraded his bike and had a spare PowerTap SL+ hub to sell, so I took that off his hands really quickly and am currently having it installed into a new rim (with the proper amount of spokes) by Craig down at the Mendon CycleSmith. I'm stoked to be able to ride outside and keep myself in check with power because I have an affinity to go out too hard and then die in the latter miles of the bike. I don't have a picture up of it yet, but will take one in the next few upcoming weeks.

Now the only problem for me was that I didn't have a head unit to have the hub send the signal to. This was a definite problem as I didn't just want a really expensive hub on my bike. I wanted to be able to utilize it. This problem will be rectified hopefully this February when I purchase a Garmin Forerunner 310xt. This little beauty is just like the GPS running watches in th past, but it has the ability to pick up a ANT+ signal from a PT hub and display power. Plus it has a handy little quick release kit that allows this to be mounted to your bike and then twisted off and snapped onto your wrist for running. BAM. This thing is gonna be sweet for an Ironman. It is basically a bike computer that is detachable and can be used to pace a marathon correctly. And the kicker is, if I purchase the one with a HR strap on it, I can use my health savings account from work and buy this baby pre-tax and it's a qualified purchase because HR monitors are "necessary for the treatment/prevention of heart disease" according to the folks that manage our HSA's. So that's why it's not coming into my possession until February, I have to still pour cash into my HSA for it. But the wait will be worth it to have power on the bike and a GPS for the run. Sweet.

Well friends, I hope you have enjoyed my evolution from a steel framed bike that was too small for me with shifters on the down tube, all the way up to a full carbon rocketship with a powertap that is being installed. Now I must say this, the bike is only as fast as the rider, so I'm gonna be training my @$$ off over this winter and will hopefully be able to rip it up next season. So until then, train hard my friends and I'll be the one crushing cranks with the lights off. Cheers.

Competitive Eating challenge 2010

2010-11-16T13:01:00.001-05:00

So those of you that have known me for years know that I have a knack for taking down eating competitions. Usually I try to prepare for these and the original one that I did many moons ago was to eat a whole large pizza by myself (piece of cake!) when I was in college. Over the year, the challenges have increased in intensity (I think close to 2005 was to eat one of everything on the McDonald Dollar Menu - thanks Dave for suggesting that one, but I finished it...) And just recently my sister Jenna, brother in law Dave, and myself conquered the Cheeburger Cheeburger challenge of eating a one lb burger with 4 toppings on it up in Charlotte. We got our pictures taken with this large stuffed burger and got on the wall of fame up there. That was all childs play in comparison to what went down last night.

As I type this, the only thing I have eaten since the 6:15pm start last night, has been a single 1/2 cup of coffee and a yogurt and quite honestly I still feel full. This was insane and the details are located here but I don't believe they do it justice. From my calculations this is what was included:

0.5 lb burger with 0.25lb cheese

8 strips of bacon (0.5 lbs as bacon is 1oz per strip)

4 sets of (lettuce, 2 slices of tomato and onion and mayo)

1 lb of pulled pork

1 lb of seasoned french fries with 0.5lbs of meat sauce on the fries as well

--------------------------------------------
~5lbs of food is the approximate grand total of food to be consumed. Picture below is what was delivered to our table:

Now the reasoning behind all of this was that I originally just wanted to get my name up on the marquee outside of Sticky Lips and wanted to get a picture of myself underneath it. That would have been fun, but last night was not my night. To give you all a little insight on how ridiculous this challenge is, they make you sign a waiver prior to starting that basically says that you will not hold Sticky Lips BBQ responsible for any "harm done to myself or others" from this contest. It's the real deal. And you have 30 minutes to complete it or else you don't win...

Thats my bro-in-law, Dave above signing away his life on the waiver. There were 3 of us brave souls who tried to accomplish this monumental task that night. It was me, Dave and my buddy Matt who was just coming off of IM Florida and ripped off a 10:13!! So he had the post Ironman metabolism in his favor. I do have to thank my sister, Jenna for shooting all of these pictures of the night as a picture is worth a thousand words. I'll let them do the talking though...Enjoy

The image above is me tearing thru about midway done with the time limit

Dave threw in the towel about 22 minutes in when he realized that although he had an AMAZINGLY strong start and had finished all of the burgers and pulled pork, he wasn't going to finish in the allotted timeframe.

It took me a little longer to realize that I probably wasn't going to be able to accomplish this mammoth task. I felt good thru about 15 minutes, but honestly the hot meat sauce mixed in with the french fries just really took it's toll on me. It wasn't necessarily a mental thing (I kind of assumed it would be a mind over matter type of deal) but it was strictly a CAPACITY issue and my stomach wouldn't stretch enough to hold the remainder. The picture directly above is what I left behind....I'm not proud either.

Matt got bested by the challenge as well, although he kept on powering thru after the time limit expired and he "won" the challenge out of the 3 of us fools because he eventually ate the most food. I think the best quote of the night came from Matt when he said something to the effect of, "I don't even want to WATCH Man vs. Food on the Travel channel anymore, I think I'm just completely done with eating challenges". And I absolutely agree with him.

My whole deal was that after I was done competing in Ironmans that I was going to try my hand in competitive eating. There is absolutely NO way that is going to happen now. I'm just not cut out for it in any way, shape or form. So there you have it. The final tally was Food 3, Man 0...So instead of a solid message on the marquee, I'm left with a full stomach (still), lots of indigestion, and this:

So that's it. I'll be cranking extra miles on the roads and trails and on the trainer to work that big guy off, but hopefully I'll see you all out there on the roads and trails. Take care, eat well and cheers.

Chicago Marathon race report

2010-10-15T14:24:00.000-05:00

So as most of you now know, this was an interesting race for me. I was in really really good shape and ripping off the fastest training runs and workouts I've done since college. As I enjoy doing late summer, early fall marathons, I signed up for Chicago with the intentions of seeing how fast my PR could get down to on a pancake flat course. As alluded to in the previous posts, my PR at this distance was a 2:53 from Boston a few years back and I was excited to see how far I could drop it. Sunday would not be the day to do so...

I arrived in Chicago with high hopes and fully tapered for 2 weeks. Life stresses aside, I was focused and had given up caffeine and alcohol for over 3 weeks now and wanted to see how that would affect my performance. Spoiler alert...I'm never doing that again. The expo was fun (the pic above is of a giant wall they had at the expo with everyone's names listed on it) and the fact that the Kona Ironman World Championships were streaming live in our hotel room via laptop, helped to keep me off of my feet and otherwise occupied for Saturday.

The weather forecast kept creeping up and up for Chicago in the days leading up to the marathon and even though the race started at 7:30am CST, I was planning on it being a reasonable temperature and maybe chilly. So, I purchased a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt from a Goodwill store on the way to the Buffalo airport and had an extra pair of arm warmers on that were too small for me and good to wear and throw away. I walked out of the hotel on race morning with a coffee, bagel and water bottle to get to the race start and instantly, I was warm. That should've been a good indication of what was to come. I walked about 2 blocks and ditched the pants and sweatshirt in a dumpster. Not a good idea to have those on today. I made my way to my corral race morning and saw Tim Dwyer before the race and we chatted a bit. I took off my arm warmers before the race even started too. But being in corral A, right behind the elites has it's perks as we got to see them all warming up and heading to the start line. But after the national anthem and some intros the race was on.

It took me a whole 3 seconds to cross the starting line, which was pretty cool seeing as how there were 45k runners in the race and there were craploads of people out cheering for us all. It was kind of intense, and I was trying to get amped up for it, but I checked my HR monitor a few minutes before the gun went off and it read 68. I honestly don't know if I was excited to race. I was nervous, just not sure I wanted to get out there and suffer. I knew the paces that I wanted to hit to have a PR day and I was planning on ripping thru the half in about 1:22-1:23 (6:15-6:19/mile pace) I saw Kim and her friend Megan at mile 3 and was already looking for them when I passed by (not a good sign) I felt okay, just the pace was fast and I don't know if I was ready for it that particular day. At 3 miles I was about 30 seconds ahead of where I needed to be for my predicted 6:15pace. Not that big of a deal, but I'll get into why that matters later.

At mile 5 you head thru a park type place with a few turns and I was chatting with some folks around me and I made mention to the guy in the blue singlet and white sunglasses above that I'd just like it to be mile 20 and still be travelling at this same pace (another good indication that this really just wasn't my day). The pace was high and I hit 5 miles in about 30:45 (still 30 seconds ahead of what I should have been goin, but at least I was being consistent now) I had no idea if I could hold this pace for the entire marathon, I just wanted to get to the half on schedule and maybe that would give me some sort of mental boost?

At around mile 8, I started to get some pain in the forefront of my right foot...I was getting a blister, not cool. By the time I had gotten to mile 12, it had burst and it was painful every footfall. I was coping and trying to block the pain and just keep it moving. I saw Kim and Megan again at about mile 13 and struggled out a smile (later Kim would tell me that I looked like absolute shit) and I slogged thru the halfway mark in about 1:22:4X so I was at least right on pace. (I had lost that 30 second buffer though) At this point, I don't know what happened to me, I suddenly got really hot (so much so that I took off my hat) and couldn't get my heart rate down to normal. It was seriously thru thr roof and I felt like I was exerting WAY more than I should have been for this point in the race. My 1:22 half marathon that I had just run felt similar to the 1:17:10 I ran in Buffalo earlier this year, only I had another half to go!

I'm not proud of this, but I did what I had to at this point in the race. Legs were burning and I was watching my race fall apart. I got to the next aid station and I grabbed water and gatorade and started briskly walking thru it. For the remainder of the race, between miles 13 and 20, I walked a total of 3 times for about 30-45 seconds a piece, just to clear the HR and get it down to a reasonable number. This made me slump into a pretty bad patch thru this section. We ran thru a neighborhood that looked very similar to the brownstones of NYC and then we went thru Chinatown and I just wasn't excited about any of it. At least in the NYC marathon, I was stoked to be heading thru areas and burroughs that I had never been to. For Chicago, I was struggling and uninspired. (I know this sounds like a lot of excuses, but it was freaking hot out)

I was drinking and eating enough (ate 3 gels and numerous cups of gatorade during the marathon) so I know nutrition wasn't off, I think the heat just got to me that day. I had put so many self imposed expectations on myself that I tend to crumble under those stressors (anyone reading remember me swimming my senior year in HS and the 20 year old backstroke school record that I missed by 0.03 seconds?...'nuff said!) So, miles 13-20 were rough, but I was done walking and definitely NOT giving up. I hit the 20 mark in God knows what time, but in calculating in my head, I thought I might be able to sneak under 3 hours if I just keep on running and moving and NOT walking.

I slently made a vow to NOT walk the last 10k (6.2 miles) and luckily, I kept that promise to myself. I was tempted every aid station to hoof it thru, but I kept on slugging along. I hit the 23 mile mark and started to come around. It was still a long way to the finish, but I knew I could keep running. At mile 25 you round a corner and see the finish line in the FAR distance. It never seemed like it would come. Finally I hit thru mile 26 at around that 3hr mark and it took me 7:25 to run the last mile. Mile 26 comes at a little hill and I looked over to see Kim and Megan in the crowd to the left and I just kinda shrugged my shoulders at them. I didn't really know what else to do but finish it up and call it a day.

Hitting the line, it just felt good to stop. I was trashed and drank copious amounts of liquid post race as I waited to find Brian and Liz (they must've walked by me or I left before they got in) I grabbed a Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat ale and a weird thing happened, my left shoulder siezed up....I'm talking, couldn't swing it without feeling like a knife was slicing thru it. It was so strange, but I didn't want to tell anyone about it for fear that they might take me to a hospital again (flashback - IMLP 2009) so I just had the massage team work on it and it loosened up. I just think I wrenched something over swinging my arms to get my legs moving during the race (my legs did not react...)

My total time was a 3:02:43 and everyone I spoke with said their times were about 15-20 minutes slower than anticipated due to the temps being in the mid 80's at 10:30am when we finished. Sunday just wasn't the day to go after a PR, simple as that. I'm not salty with my time, I know it was a valiant effort for so hot of a day, I just know I was in shape to run a best time. I know I can do better. It's kind of like the feeling I have after IMLP 2009 when I crashed. I had worked REALLY hard that year and now for the second time, I still have nothing to show from it. I know I can run faster than 2:53 and can rip off a faster IM than a 10:27...I just have to go ahead and get it done. I know there are a lot of cheesy photos in this post, but if you want to view the entire album of suffering, they can be found here.

We toured the Goose Island Brewery in Lincoln Park after the race before heading to the airport and I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone heading to Chicago. It was gourmet food in a bar setting with beers that tasted so complex and different that I was genuinely surprised and pleased. I guess that started off my rest period for me to get re-charged and taking at a MINIMUM of 2 weeks off will be much needed. I need to rekindle my fire and get myself amped up for bigger fish to fry next year. I've got some new toys coming in and stuff to announce in the near future, so check back often. But until then, train and rest hard my friends. Recover well, cheers.