The longest ten days ever

Well folks, it's been a while since I've blogged to you all and it's been a long and hard ten days. For those of you who don't know, I completed IMFL and was able to post some stellar splits. (in my mind) and was pleased having done the following:

TRAVIS EARLEY
BIB #169
AGE 24
ROCHESTER NY USA

SWIM      BIKE     RUN      OVERALL     POSITION
1:01:50   5:24:40  3:58:01  10:31:22    211


RACE LEG          DISTANCE               PACE        POSITION
TOTAL SWIM        2.4 mi. (1:01:50)      1:37/100m   158

TOTAL BIKE        112 mi. (5:24:40)      20.70 mph   176

FIRST RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi.(1:50:07)      8:24/mile
RUN FINISH        13.1 mi.(2:07:54)      9:45/mile
TOTAL RUN         26.2 mi.(3:58:01)      9:05/mile   211

TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 4:09
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 2:42

PENALTY TIME
TOTAL PENALTIES --:--

So there you have it, I hit 5 out of my top seven goals and placed 6th in the 18-24 age group. I am very pleased and will write up a race report later on.

If you follow this linky you can type in my bib # and see a yellow bar that reads "watch me finish" and check out Mike Reily calling me an IRONMAN :) very cool, I had the whole shoot to myself :)

I'll give a detailed race report later on. Till then, cheers

Bib # 169

So, as the ticker to the right creeps down into the single digits today...we officially get our BIB numbers for IM Florida. This is a big day for many reasons...

1. it's finally beginning to sink in that I am going to do an ironman

2. This is the bib number that I will eventually put on my wall in my apartment, maybe along with the swim cap and wristband

3. This is the race # that I have been waiting for to tell everyone about so they can keep track of me on 11/4/06 from points all over the world.

Kinda cool huh? So there it is. Number 169. Wow. Cool :)

I leave in less than a week and the taper and rest are finally beginning to kick in. Stay tuned to see what happens next Saturday :) I won't dissappoint.

2 weeks away and goals

So, IMFL is about 2 weeks away now. I can say things have been going well and I am right on schedule, but now seems to be the time that I am doubting myself and my abilities and training program.

I think the big thing was that I don't have a coach. It's not like I have anyone to tell me what to do or when to schedule the correct workouts, I have just been increasing volume steadily over time while taking rest weeks in there every 4 weeks and throwing in monster bike rides and runs to keep the sword sharp. I guess it is the fear (healthy fear though) of never having done an Ironman that is banging me out a bit. I'm sure if I think hard enough back to the first half ironman I ever did. (Musselman 2005) There I was in 36th place overall having run a 5:05, but the last 3 miles felt like absolute poop. I don't want to feel like poop coming to the line in 2 weeks in Florida, but I'm sure I will have a lot of the same fears and aprehensions now about the distance just like I did slightly over a year ago. Now, the thought of a half ironman seems like it is normal. I am planning on doing 3 next year and maybe even another full if I can qualify for a slot for Placid in 2007.

I'm sure what I need to do is relax a little more and let the taper sink in. I took a rest week last week which topped out at about 8 hours from the previous week to that was at 17... but this week is back up to about 12 and I'm not really feeling the taper quite yet. I'm sure next week I will begin to feel a little fresher and the legs won't feel as dead as they have lately.

I have all the time in the world right now to train and get everything situated. It's a lot nicer to be able to have the hours in the day to, A.) clean your apartment B.) Do your dishes C.) get the laundry done. I can say right now honestly, there are NO dirty dishes in my apartment, there is one day worth of dirty laundry in my basket and I just cleaned, swiftered, and dusted my apartment this week. It's nice not to have to live in filth :-p

Anyway, training is coming along. I think I just need to relax about it and let the taper run its course. I have to believe in the training program that I have put together and know that it will bring me to the line on November 4th... But anyway, I thought aditionally I would throw some goals out there for my first ironman experience in Florida 2006. First thing first, the absolute first goal of mine is to have fun.

1. Have fun
2. Finish
3. Finish and stay out of the medical tent
4. Finish in less than 12 hours
5. Finish in less than 10:45 and place in top ten in my age group
6. Finish in less than 10:30 and place top five to get a plaque in my age group
7. Finish in less than 10 hours and get top three in my age group to grab a rolldown slot for Kona

The last one there is kind of a "pipe dreams" goal, although I would like to think I could rock a top five finish in my 18-24 age group and come away with some hardware. But there are so many factors that could go wrong, we'll have to wait the 14 days and see what happens.

I just wanted to kind of get those out there and on paper (kind of) to get them off my chest. I have absolutely NO IDEA how I will do in Florida, but I just want to have fun and post a good time. They say you can double your HIM time and add a little bit for fatigue and since I have gone a 4:43 at timberman this year, that comes to a 9:26 doubling it and adding 30-60 minutes for fatigue that is about a 10:15 or so. Just saying :) About a year ago (actually on 11/2/05) I worked it out that I think it would be do-able that I could snag a 10:50 at IMFL. I thought I would do a 1:10 swim, 5 minute T1, a 5:30 bike ride - for 20.5 mph, a 5 minute T2, and a 4 hour marathon - 9minute pace. Looking back on that, I definitely gave myself some extra room for the marathon seeing as I did a 1:34 at Timberman and I smoked a 22 mph avg split there as well on the bike. And with the wetsuit and salt water and HUGE amounts of people to draft in the swim, 1:10 is generous as well, but I guess we'll see.

Maybe that is what Ironman is all about, the unknown. The X factors that can affect your race in so many ways. The unknowns, no one knows how they will do until it's over. Sprint races I could pretty well predict down to the minute, but an IM, there are so many factors. Nutrition being one of them. I'm hoping the stomach holds up. But that is more for another post.

Sorry to bombard this one with a large post, but I guess it needed to be written. Rocking the taper and enjoying this free time, till next time, train hard and I'll see you on the roads.

The IMFL Bible is here!!!

The 2006 Athlete guide is now posted to the Ironman Florida site.

The guide can be found here. Enjoy. I've already printed my copy and I'm rip roaring ready to go. Not a lot of time to post, but I'll write a race report of the Rizzo's BTC du later on this week or next. I'm enjoying the fruits of a rest week too much right now :)

Score-This!!! Series banquet is this weekend at Rizzo's Bachietti italian restraunt and I will be coming home with some hardware. I'll tell you more later. Cheers.

Trying to get over the last big hump

Well my peeples,

This has been a long and hard last 4 weeks. I know I had left you all with the promise of getting to this every week during my last 4 week build period, but I've been slipping... I know, it's the curse of the triathlete. Try to fit as many things into such a small amount of time. There are only so many hours of the day and something had to give, and guess what? It was updating you all on my progresses.

But, I'm back and I'm alive. I survived a 12 hour week (the usual) a 14 hour week, a 15 hour week (just barely survived that, more on that later though) and this will cap off what is looking to be a 16 hour week (if I can get my shit in line - literally and figureatively of course!...ANYWAY)

There have been some big workouts since the last post, some hard swimmings been done. Alone, I finally broke the 13:00 barrier in the 1000. I hit a 12:53 and almost had my head explode from not enough oxygen to my brain. There was a 110 mile ride to Letchworth State Park where I felt like I was bonking on the way home, but only took 6 hours to complete, so that's looking up. The next day after that though i tried for a 20 mile run and my muscles were fine. My insides revolted is all...Luckily I stayed close to my apartment and after two stops to "evacuate" I halted my forward progress at mile 10 and called it a day. I think it may have something to do with increasing run mileage too fast and the extra stressors on my body from increased training.

Well anyway, it's been hairy, but the end is in sight. I just have to get thru Sunday and then it is a glorious rest week, then a 3 week taper down to the big dance. Sunday I have a planned 3 hour ride in the morning and then will be running with an old high school friend back home near my parents place for 17 miles at 3pm. All of this of course is after the Champagne Party on Friday night at Greg's place that I convinced everyone to dress up in uber formal wear for. I'll post pictures if anyone has them.

Well, THE RACE is only 28 days away and I am freaking a little bit. I'm scared, but not in fear of the distance. It's a healthy fear I think....I hope. It's just hard to trust in a plan you have built for yourself and you find yourself second guessing EVERYTHING too. I don't have a fancy coach, so I've been just increasing mileage and hourage and doing the whole 3 weeks on and one rest week a month. It's worked, we'll see if it was enough in about a month....28 days to be exact.

Well tomorrow is the last chance to dance at the shorter distances and I am hoping to have fun at the Rizzos Buffalo Triathlon Club duathlon in Grand Island, NY. There are good names racing and my family is finally coming to watch me so I know I won't dissappoint. I need to do well to hang on to my 2nd place overall standing in the Score-This multisport series. I'm hoping to podium and race really well one last time as a BIG confidence booster for Florida. It's a 2.5 mile run/16 mile out and back bike/2.5 mile run, so it's simple and should be wicked fast. I'll have my parents there which will make me push for everything I'm worth too. Wish me luck guys.

Anyway, I'll post a report and results as per usual on Monday, but until then, train hard and see you on the course. Cheers.

Fall Frolic Race Report - review of week

Well, my peeples this was an interesting week for training/racing/life for me. It is the first of four in the the last 4 week build before Ironman Florida and also the Danforth Fall Frolic sprint triathlon and my best friends wedding. Crazy.

First off it was a solid training week which capped out at slightly over 12 hours. It was a little rushed to get everything in as I was leaving for Buffalo, NY on Thursday night after work. (I was also leaving work 2 hours early in order to do a 16 mile run before I went to Buffalo) I was running late (as usual) and had like 30 minutes to pack for a wedding, a long weekend and a triathlon that Sunday in Barker, NY. I packed up the beast and headed out the door en route to Buffalo after a nice 16 miler in which I linked a lot of short runs together because I lacked the time to plot out a nice 16 mile route.

In Buffalo, we drink. We drink each night and since I was 150lbs after the run, it takes me about 0.5 beers before I start acting silly. We drank every night that I was there. Not heavily (at least I tried not to) but still nonetheless, my system was not used to the abnormal eating and drinking each day. Josh and his wife Melissa are in Aruba as I type this and they didn't want rotting groceries in their fridge so they ate out the last few nights before leaving, which since I was also up, forced me to eat out at chain restaurants...ewww. Anyway, needless to say, when I stepped on the scale back at the apartment, I was 158lbs...Not cool.

So, the wedding goes great, I was the best man, things are good, I have a triathlon the next morning and I stop drinking at like 8pm. Go to sleep, wake up a little later than expected and realize on the drive over to the race site (about 45 minutes from the hotel) that the mapquest directions are mental...not really getting me to the race site. I'm freaking a little, and when I finally get there it's t minus 30 minutes till my wave goes off.

I'm running around with the bike in a muddy field and bare feet (yes it is a trend, just like Timberman) since it was a mudfest, my corduroys are smattered in mud and I am pushing the bike and all my gear til I find the race registration table to pickup the bag, race# and timing chip. (I almost ran to transition without my chip...that wouldn't have been fun) I get there, set up everything in the mud and off to the lake to warm up, I'm slamming on the wetsuit, get it all zipped up and as soon as I am waist deep, I hear, "alright, everyone out of the water, we've gotta get you all counted, back thru the corral." damn, no warm up, again.

We get set and find out there are only 4 men and 5 women in the eliminator wave. For the men, it's Joe Niezgoda, Joe Meyers, Daryl Clarke, and myself. Good talent. Daryl is joking around and the mood is light. We see the women go off 4:48 in front of us and then take off at the second siren to chase them down. I exit the water in first place for the men with Mr. Niezgoda on my heels and Meyers and Clarke behind him. For the 400m swim I was 6:52.

We hit transition and I get everything going and head out to the bike course. About a mile in I hear what seems to be a car, but it was Niezgoda and his disc wheel floating by me. I was watching him pull away from me the whole time, but we both managed to catch all the women before the turn around. So much for the equalizer... The bike was 12 miles and ended in 34 minutes on the dot for me and I held off a fast charging Joe Meyer. I was 21.9mph average.

The 5k run was nice and flat, and had a bunch of turn arounds which was nice to be able to see where the competition was. I was hurting near the end REAL bad and was trying my damndest not to get passed by Joe M. I didn't realize how much Joe N. was fading up front. He crossed the line 28 seconds in front of me and I was able to hang on for the runner up (first loser!) haha. Meyer was about 30 seconds back on me and we all were caked in mud after the final 400 meters of the run was thru a field. Fun times. I ran an 18:38 5k which was 6:01 pace/mile. Not bad. No one broke the elusive hour, but the course really wasn't suited for it this year. Too much mud. I was happy with another nice podium finish.

At the awards I snagged a nice tech top from Mizuno and a large tub of the worst tasting stuff in the world...Mandarin orange HEED. Bleh. since we were a special wave and not considered in the race, there were no Score-This!!! plaques for us. Bummerooski. Better luck next time.

Next week (this week) is a 3 miles of swimming, 8.5 hours in the saddle and 28-30 miles running. With a 100 mile ride and a 18 mile run, wish me luck. It's crunch time. I'll write another report next week. Mentally, this is do-able :)

Oh GLORIOUS rest week! / FLT report

Well, last week was the week that every tired and hurting triathlete looks for in his training schedule. It was a rest week. These are the weeks when training is cut down to (for me) 6-8 hours instead of the usual double that amount and you let your body heal and get to see all of the friends/family that you have neglected and also get a chance to clean up your abode and get your life in order for a minute.

My rest week was nothing short of that. I tipped the scales at a nice even 8 hours of training and even raced on Sunday at the Finger Lakes Intermediate Triathlon. I always thought I could do better than the 2:14 that I posted at Keuka earlier this year and this was going to be the last chance to bury that time. The registration confirmation list was out and Mr. Travis Money kept on emailing me and letting me know that none of the big names for Rochester triathlon (Eggers, Niezgoda, Meyers, Phipps, Moriarty, Johnson, etc...) were registered. (I advised him that there was still race day registration, but I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't thinking about a potential win...)

5am came and I was on the road packed and ready to go at 5:30, I arrived at 6:15am to find all the prime spots gone in transition, but settled my things and noticed how cold the air felt. I was sure glad that I had put on the toe covers on my bike shoes the night before. I said HI to a few friends, pulled up the neoprene and headed down to the lake.

We huddled in our wetsuits together to keep warm and I was in the second wave to go off. I lined up next to Jeff Henderson, director of the Musselman half ironman triathlon and the Fly by Night duathlon at Watkins Glen race track. Our wave started 3 minutes behind the previous one and I thought to myself, "why not try and draft off Jeff? I bet he is fast and I could push the swim with him..." I know realize, those were naive thoughts...

The gun goes off and I look to my left and Jeff is dolphin diving off of the bottom (because for like 100 yards it is really shallow) and he is pulling away from me. 30 seconds later, I realize that he is 50 yards in front of me. I pushed to try and catch up, but he was rocketting off and apparently was a good swimmer. (I find out later that he was a division one swimmer for Princeton in college...Graduated in 1997) Apparently he beat everyone out of the water that morning. I mean EVERYONE, the entire first wave included that had a 3 minute head start. I was the third fastest time out of the water with a 24:16 and I exited the water in around 23 minutes, but the time doesn't stop until you cross the mat in T1.

I hopped on the bike after some chain troubles in what felt like the slowest transition yet and I headed out hoping to hunt down Mr. Henderson. I never saw him over the 24 miles on the bike. Looking at the results after the race, I see that we split about the same time on the bike, so it makes sense. 23.2 mph and there were some nasty hills, especially about 5 minutes into the bike course. Had me huffing and puffing, but overall I was fast and not hurting too much.

I hurl myself into T2 off the bike and get out of there in a hurry. I begin the run, 2 loops of a 10k course (it was more than 10k I think, a little bit long...) I begin the pursuit and since this was kind of an out and back run course, I would get to see where Jeff was. I was hauling it pretty good and was about 18 minutes thru 3 miles, so I knew I was about 6 minute pace. I finally saw Jeff after 3 miles and began to reel him in. He was about 3/8ths of a mile in front of me and I was running out of room to catch him. I made sure to have fun on the course too as I did a spin move around the barrel at the turnaround and the volunteer lady looked at me like I was crazy.

I was gaining on Jeff and I could smell it, I pushed for all I had the last mile, but as I crossed the line in 2:07:27, he was still 31 seconds in front of me. It was a good race and I think he might be a M PRO, but I'm not sure. After the dust settled, I was the FLT runner up with a respectable 2nd place overall and a 7 minute PR from my time at Keuka. I was very pleased. I like racing at the end of a rest week, because it is kind of like a mini taper :) It was another podium spot and a good race in my mind. I think if there were more miles on the run, I might have been able to catch Jeff, but who knows. At least I learned that my body is capable of hauling it during the swim and not feeling too bad on the bike afterwards. Good to know :)

Well, this week is the first of the last 4 build weeks before IRONMAN Florida. These will be the biggest training weeks to date, every workout counts. I have 4 runs scheduled between 16 and 20 miles, 2 century rides and a few more 60-80 mile rides in there. Along with some monster swim workouts too (Just last night I did 20x100's on 1:30 and held between 1:16-1:19 and the last one was 1:13...rough, but good)

So there it is, I have a nice 12 hour training week scheduled and a wedding for my best friend Josh Mee in Buffalo on Saturday and the Danforth Fall Frolic triathlon on Sunday after the wedding. (should be interesting as this is a BIG race with an eliminator wave - which equalizes out the top men and women) My goal at that race is to place top 3 and break 1 hour. We shall see how that goes as there will be a star studded field there and I will likely be in rough shape after the wedding. And that is it, FL tri race report and review of the rest week. Good luck training and thanks for reading. I'll give a review of the Fall Frolic next week sometime. Cheers.