2 weeks out...

I love to taper...I love to have all of that training sink in and finally benefit you. I love just being able to go out and say, "hey, I ONLY need to do a 2 hour ride and a 4 mile run today". If you haven't noticed, I'm in the middle of the taper for Ironman Wisconsin. I had a good build (had a 17 hour week in there - most I've ever done) and I'm feeling ok about the training that I've put in. I guess time will tell and on race day the results will be posted.

Believe me, I still have my concerns though. The dreams are still there, and yes, they wake me out of a sound sleep about 2-3 times a week (just part of the game I guess.) I think the real reason that they are there is because I have put several really high goals on myself to attain. We'll see what happens. I'll post a good one later about my goals for this race. Luckily the ATHLETE GUIDE has shown up, but the bib #'s still aren't up on the website due to a technical difficulty. They should be soon as we are two weeks out. I leave in 1.5 weeks and still have a butt load of stuff to get done before I go.

Taper city blues (population - me) as I'm just getting more and more anxious to get this race started. I just want to "do what I do" and get out there and play. 2 weeks left. Hope I can make it.... cheers.

The dreams have started again...

So they've started again, and I think that's probably a good thing, but it still makes me wake up in a panic every time I have one. You know what I'm talking about. Everyone that's had a large race (cough, cough, IRONMAN, cough, cough) in the foreseeable future knows what I'm talking about....

Yes, the panic dreams.

You are exiting the swim in an Ironman and running into transition only to find that you are missing a certain piece of equipment that is VITAL to you finishing the race (last night it was the bike shoes and before that my helmet) Or it might even be that you are running towards transition and you realize that you have forgotten to put your uniform underneath your wetsuit, or various other silly things that probably wouldn't likely happen in real life but still cause you to wake up in a cold sweat. Hell, I had one the other day I dreamt that I had completely forgotten to drop off my transition bags and had stolen someone’s backpack en route to running to the transition tent and grabbed whatever I could out of it to help me finish (somehow they had bike shoes in it? I don’t know)

But yes, the dreams have returned. In a way it's good to know that they have returned, as that means that it is getting painfully close to the big dance in Wisconsin. But also, it just sucks to be woken out of a SOUND sleep and have your heart be beating out of your chest in a panic because you think that you were a dumbass and forgot that vital piece of equipment...(ironically most of my dreams have to do with bike equipment - don't know if that is a good/bad thing)

I would be worried if I didn't have the dreams most every week because that would mean that I really didn't care too much about the race and wasn't at all anxious, but I can say with a straight face that I'll be relieved when they are gone. I had them for a SOLID year before IMFL in 2006 and I hated it. It was like clockwork, every week I would wake up at the very minimum, in a panic once a week. I'm happy that getting thru 2 IM's has given me the foresight to only have them occasionally now, but they are still an annoyance.

So here's to crazy dreams, I hope they come for you, but then I hope they leave as quickly as they arrived. And I hope that they are replaced with thoughts of you attaining all of the most out of reach goals that you can think of and I hope that you envision yourself just doing what you do. Those thoughts are the ones that will get me to sleep over the next few weeks. Just do what you love to do. Just do what you do. Just do what you do. Just do.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Cheers folks.

"Dress her in black...."

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention with the last post. I got my bars rewrapped at Berts when I got the new Carbon 1.5X integrated aero bars installed on THE BEAST. Jim Costello asked me what color bar tape I wanted and I told him (in Bold fashion): "Dress her in black... it's game day"

That one was for you Bold. Thanks for the good reads over the years. Cheers mate. You'll be with me in spirit in IM Wisconsin.

Thats all, take care folks. Talk to you soon.

UPGRADEs :o)

So I've made a few upgrades to my equipment and as most of you know I am a huge gear junkie. Especially when it comes to triathlon. So without further delay I'm going to showcase here some tri "bling" that I will be sporting in Ironman Wisconsin next month in September.

Bontrager aero water bottle. Holds 20 ounces and is super aero helping smooth the airflow over the middle section of the bike. H20 bottle cage is carbon and this thing I refer to affectionatively as "the chalupa".It's pretty slim, but it really looks like a soft taco from Taco Bell. :o) Next in line, just got installed about a week ago thanks to the BRAND new sponsor for 2008 Berts Bikes in Buffalo, NY. Jim Costello was so nice to swap out my old aluminum handlebar set and hook me up with these bad boys. It sports an integrated stem, basebar, and aero bars that are FULL carbon. It's sick. I spoke with a few friends and called it silly fast after smoking a 100 mile ride in 4:37 from Buffalo to Rochester and back to Buffalo. I'm taking them around Canandaigua Lake tomorrow to see how the climb. Since they are so light, I'm thinking it will be fast :o)The new bars also dropped my front end by like 3 inches and I feel like I can generate SO much more power being down low, so we'll see how it plays out in Wisconsin. The next upgrade hasn't come yet, but I ordered it today online.

I've officially joined the ceramic revolution and have broken down and gotten a pair of 11 tooth (I know the pic is wrong) FSA ceramic bearing derailler pulleys. They spin smoother and reduce drag and wear much slower than typical steel bearings. I don't know if I will be able to feel the difference, but hell, it's worth a shot.

This is the last upgrade that I made to the bike. It's a 53 tooth carbon aero chainring by FSA. 53 teeth of ramped and pinned aluminum that will smooth the airflow and just look really cool :o) Now, here's something that will definitely up the "dork factor" of my game in Wisconsin.Yes, I've broken down and gotten a pair of Zensah compression calf sleeves because of the nagging tightness in my calfs. (I almost got ART before the Philly Marathon last year and they are still notoriously tight) I took them out today on a 8 mile run and they felt good. They just provide a little support and feel like someone is hugging your calves. Not bad.

So those are the upgrades that I have made. Who knows if they will help at all, but I would feel bad if I didn't at least have all the right equipment to perform at my best. I've trained hard, the engine is hot and ready and I'll see you folks at the starting line in a little less than a month :o) Cheers.

Musselman Race report

So this one is a little late, but better late than never....right?

I had high hopes for Musselman this year, because I've had aforementioned "beef" with the course. To let you all know my true goal was to be in the 4:3X range. I had a rough race for a variety of reasons. First, the weather was crazy, second, I made a ROOKIE mistake by cramming 600 calories down my gullet in the first hour on the bike and it just wasn't m day i guess. The one thing that I wanted to do though was to have a solid run because I have always felt that I've fallen apart on that course.

Swim - my goal was a 28:xx because I thought I could pull a sub 30 out of my butt. The weather and the waves had another thing in mind I guess. there were 2-3 foot waves and one of the middle bouys came loose and drifted causing many people to get a little confused on the swim. Also they sent the pink capped wave out first and in conjunction with the waves, that made it hard to appropriately sight where we were all going. I hit the beach and was happy to be on dry land. I was 32:xx something so a little displeased, but happy to have that portion over.

Bike - there was this new course that they made this year. It's good, got one solid hill in it and a terribbly rough section thru the park in Geneva. I borrowed a pair of Zipp 303's from my buddy Alan and they helped a ton, but since I had drank 600 calories in the first hour and jammed up my stomach, I was bloated and threw up about 2-3 times on the bike. (You know how hard it is to vomit to the side and still control your bike??!!) No fun. My good friend Joe Meyer passed me with about 5 miles to go when it began raining and he was a wave behind me (4 minute deficit). I limped back to T2.

Run - All I wanted was a good run, Joe and I went out together and ran shoulder to shoulder for a few miles. I told Joe of my woes of vomiting on the bike and he told me that one of his shifting cables had popped causing him to ride the course in the small ring up front. Not fun. JOe was yelling and trying to encourage me to HTFU and keep it going on the run, but I was actually feeling a little ok. 5 miles in, I had pulled away from Joe a little and slammed a Gu at the aid station to see what would happen. The gu went in, then imediately out, along with the remaining contents of my stomach... I think I may have hit Joe with a little of it as he ran by. Ewwww. He yelled at me some more and suddenly I felt great. I had nothing in my stomach and had cleared everythign in my system. I began to drop the hammer. There were 8 miles left and I just ran like I wanted to. I ended up ripping off a sub 6 mile and putting in 6 minutes into Joe (thereby beating him by 2 minutes overall with the wave differential) and closing with a 1:24 half marathon (good enough to be in the top 4 half marathon times that day)

Overall I still had a 2minute PR, but it was not how I wanted it to go. I was pleased to have ran a 4:41, and winning my age group (ran down the first place guy in the AG in the last mile) and got a really nice bottle of wine for it :o) This was a rough race and it was definitely a stupid mistake that caused me to vomit everywhere.

Well enough of that, I went up to Placid the next weekend and watched the race in the rain and registered with Joe for IMLP 2009. I saw some amazing results there too! congrats again! and can't wait to go head-to-head with Joe there in 2009. (Last time he raced it, he went a 10:23, I went a 10:27 last year) He's the only guy around my age that's gone faster than me and it willbe a good showdown next summer. I know we both are already looking forward to it! Alright I'm gona ost some good pics in the next one of upgrades I've gotten (think bike Pr0n) so I have to go grab those photos.

Tomorrow is a 6 hour ride followed by a 4 mile run and 2 mile swim, Sunday is a 20 mile run folowed by a 2 mile swim. This will cap out an 18 hr training week. I'm tapering after this! Woo-hoo, see you on the flip side folks. Cheers.

Second week in a row..... QuakerMan/ATITB race reports

Well, it's been a good few weeks here at "Keep moving forward" with the last two races that I entered in resulting in the big W....check the sidebar, it's legit :o)

Last week was a rest week and I was feeling pretty spry. There was word of this new sprint distance triathlon in Orchard Park, NY that was called the QuakerMan. There was pretty good competition there (Joe Meyers, Kevin Patterson, most of my old Handlebars teammates) I wasn't really nervous about the race at all, just ready to get out there and "play". The swim started with a 600m jaunt in seaweedy, but clear waters. The gun went off and I had pretty much immediately gapped the field. I exited and made it to the transition mats in about 8 minutes or so. I hopped on THE BEAST and was off. For some reason or another, I was cycling like a man possessed and ready to win. I knew that I had some good legs and wanted to test the out. I split at 25.2mph for the entire 22 mile course.

The run came and I didn't know if I could hold the pace. I began the run and was chasing down Daryl Clarke (who is a good runner) and I knew he would bring me a good time. I hit the finish line and was the first one to cross it. (I actually started in the 3rd wave - ten minutes back) and they barely had the finish line arch set up when I crossed. I was really stoked to hit my first triathlon win of the year, and equally exited to win the inaugural edition of a race! :o) Good times.

Today however was a real shock. I'm still kind of reeling from it. Today was A Tri in the Buff (no not a naked triathlon, but a triathlon in Buffalo, NY) I had recently on the 4th of July done a solo session around Canandaigua Lake on my bike and for the first time ever I split above 20mph busting thru in 20.7mph average for the 56 mile route. So I was nervous that I didn't have a lot left in my legs today. Turns out I was wrong..

The swim was calm and I gapped the field again pretty quickly in the water. I hit the bike and was hoping that I packed my bike legs in my transition bag. Well, I amazingly somehow was able to split the fastest average speed for the bike of both the Olympic and the Sprint races. Crazyness.... I ended up looking at my pointer finger which I had written something on in Sharpie marker (as a friend advised me to do once....you know who you are...thanks!) I was doing well and feeling good too, next came the run which I knew would hurt. I like to think of this as the "no fun zone" because I usually dip into that zone on the run.

My second of the two loops was a little bit slower than expected, but I held on to best the 2nd place person by about 7 minutes. I was shocked and even PR'ed by about 2 minutes. I'm just hoping that I saved enough in my legs for next week at musselman. I'm completely excited to have won 2 races in a row and I'm just hoping to take this momentum into the half iron next weekend.

I actually have to run, but take care folks, I wanted to get a few race reports to you all before I forgot the details. A huge thanks to Berts Bikes for the sponsorship and taking care of some of the race fees for me. I'll be writing later on, but take care and I'll see you out on the roads. Cheers folks :o)

Foot in mouth...Keuka Lake Tri report

I know, I know... I said a while ago that I was back in the saddle and going to be blogging regularly (yadda, yadda, yadda...) but the truth is, I haven't. In case you couldn't tell the last post I had was from April. The general lack of a computer at my apartment has contributed greatly to the lack of posts. All of the fun things that I've been doing have also helped in keeping away the posts.

For those of you that didn't know (I was trying kinda to keep it a little secret) I joined the Rochester Area Master Swimmers back in March and have been swimming with them for a while and loving it. I knew a while ago that I needed some extra help coaching in swimming (because I self-coach) and this was just what I needed to get into the pool 3 times a week. I've been doing about 4-5k per practice and hitting about 8-12k/week in yards. And it shows. I did a 4x1km set the other day and held all 4 under 14:10 with only 1 minute between 1000m swims. It was sick because the last time I tried that (in Feb.) I was only able to average like 14:50's or so. So that's been really good and my swim time at Keuka dropped by about 2 minutes for a 1.5k swim from last year. Not bad (more on Keuka later)

I've been training a lot, staying pretty much healthy (minus the occasional hangover...) and hitting some good training. (Last week was a 13 hour week) Memorial Day weekend we had the obligatory training camp in Lake Placid and I headed up with Joe Meyers to do some monster miles. We did 100miles on the bike course on Saturday followed by a 30 minute run (oh yeah and we did one loop forwards and then one in reverse on the bike course causing us to do the 7 mile uphill climb at around mile 90 of that ride...) Sunday was a 15-18 mile run followed by climbing up Giant Mountain to cross another off of my 46er list.

I've been running lots and hitting up some good races and taking the base from Boston and riding that out as long as I can. My friend Greg has been organizing the Fleet Feet Dirt Cheap series which is really stripped down trail race series that is on Wednesday's (one in 2 days) and is low key and inexpensive. It allows me to go out and "play" mid week and I guess I'm kinda partial to it because I won the first one that I did. Good times and fun races with beers afterwards!

Keuka Tri was really hot. Let me preface everything with that... I had salt stains on my arm pads of my aerobars. I didn't have the best race that I could've but thats bound to happen. I was still pleased that I hung on to 4th overall (but pissed that I got passed with 2 miles to go like I was standing still - shows how much I was hurting) I just never felt good on the bike and never really got into a rhythm. The first mile in the run was done in 6:37 and was no where near the 5:56 that I popped the first mile in last year. Maybe this long course stuff is really getting to me... But I digress, I had a really good swim and that is my take away. A good friend told me to Sharpie on my finger a mantra for next race, so I'm going to give that a try. I'm thinking HTFU...

Next up is the dirt cheap race #3 and then the Quakerman triathlon which is a new one in Orchard Park. We'll see how that goes. But I gotta run, so have some fun on the roads out there, be safe and train hard kids. Hopefully see you sooner than 2 months from now...cheers.