June 2005 Archives

Contrary to the post title. Everything is fine.

June was my Biggest, Bestest month yet. I emphasized the bike and it is paying dividends. My run totals are half of what they were in May, but me and my body are OK with that. Plus, I was training for the Mad-City half marathon then. I may be swimming too much, but I like doing it; running, notsomuch.

Overall, there's only 2.5 hour increase in effort from May, but more than 111 miles in distance. Translation, I'm riding the bike more, which is basically doing more, faster. (1.1 mph faster, in fact.) This data supports that what I'm feeling in the field further fuels the fire to get out there and do more (within limits of course).

July promises to be another big month. I've got a sprint tri in Pardeeville this Saturday, and a half ironman three weeks later. That one will provide plenty of feedback for what will happen on the Big Day.

A wake up this week. The high of Sunday's race wore off at 5 AM Tuesday morning. The legs were just not there for the first ten miles. Even spinning in the easy gears. But, the body bounced back immediately and we set ourselves up for some milestones. First, on Friday, I swam a 3000 yard (1.7 miles) for time. I swam it in 37:58 for a 1:16/100y pace. Extrapolate that to a full 2.4 miles, that's a 53:46 split.

Second, I biked from Madison to Verona and around the the loop once on Saturday. Seventy-one miles. In mid-summer heat & humidity. Within the first tenth of a mile, I'd lost the thing to hold my fluid in the aero bottle. In the rapid stop to pick it up, I clipped out with the wrong foot, and gently fell into grass. Fresh Gatorade flowed out of the bottle, over the handlebars, and onto my leg. Great, some ride this is going to be. Turned out, the rest of ride went swimmingly, but the thing fell out at least a dozen more times. By the end, I was anticipating it, and caught it twice before it hit the ground, all the while I stayed upright.

Finally, Kris, my coach, rented a kayak while I swam along side in Lake Mendota. It was a nice open water swim. I swam, with some rests, for 55:31, covering about 2 miles, matching approximately the same pace set in the pool on Friday.

This week is the final of the 10-week Build section, meaning I'm eleven weeks away from IM Wisconsin. It features the Pardeeville Sprint Triathlon, on Saturday. I will be training through this one, meaning no easy workouts and taper, and even additional workouts Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

This week was all about the race. I was worried about hurting myself by training. Am I resting enough? What should I pack? Will I look like a dork? Turns out, everything went just fine.

I'm kicking up the mileage again this week and will continue it through the next. A week from Saturday (July 2) is the Pardeeville Sprint Tri. I doubt it will be as successful, and I don't plan on resting before or after it. (The weekly summary table includes the race distances.)

Having Fun and Looking Cool.

The site, Verona's Fireman's Park, normally serves as a rest stop on my training rides. When I stop by on Saturday mornings, three and four year olds dominate the field playing "bee-hive soccer," with dads/coaches chasing them chasing miniature balls on miniature fields with miniature goals. Today, rows of bike racks dominated the scene, fenced off in blue with labeled gates, "BIKE IN," "BIKE OUT," and "RUN OUT." It was so cool! Walking in, I got marked: 70 on the left upper arm for my race number and 29 on my right calf for my age group. We'd discussed getting "Happy Father's Day" on the chest, but figured that might take some time to wear off and decided against it.

I found #70 on the racks, set the bike and got my towel and shoes set up. Not finding anything in the rules, I didn't know if I needed the race number for the bike or not. Just then a voice from above,

"Numbers are needed only for the run. You can wear them on the bike, but you'll look like a fool, Rob, so I wouldn't do it if I were you. You want to look cool, don't you?"

Okay, maybe that's exaggerated, but that's what I heard, I swear. After getting organized, reorganized, I then double checked and then re-double-checked all of my stuff. I was left with a half-hour to kill before the pre-race meeting. So, I went on a warm-up jog. Just as I was leaving, they announced that the water was 77.9999 degrees, barely cold enough to allow wetsuits.

The warm-up was okay, just enough to sweat a touch. My calf was still tight, so I did some extra stretching. I followed everyone's lead and "slipped" my brand new wetsuit on, took pictures with the family on the way to the water, and jumped in to warm the swim. On the way out, the sun was just rising over the trees at the far end of the water, providing for super-squinting, no-sight-whatsoever conditions. I struggled to make out the red buoys marking the course. How was I going to do this with 95 of my soon-to-be closest friends? The mumbling over the PA concluded. I guess that was the pre-race meeting.

SWIM
"Sprint ladies and relays - in the water, please."

And just like that, they're off. And we're in. The rush to the start line in the water surprised me, and I ended up near the back of the pack, right in the middle. The starter struggled to get everyone behind the line. I held my ground.

"Ten seconds."

Just then, a chute of clear space opened right in front of me. On the sound of the beep, I took off through the open water, headed for the turn buoy at the far side of the lake. I felt really strong and continued to plow through bodies. But that was short lived. I saw feet, took a peek ahead, and I saw about twenty red buoys. Wha? Turns out, in the blinding sun, the orange and pink caps the ladies wore looked red and about the same size as the buoys. I guess I'll keep swimming through the feet and hope I hit the beach. As the feet turned, so did I. The number of feet started to shrink, and I started to look. By now, I was looking away from the sun, sighted actual buoys, and headed for shore. I couldn't see a white cap ahead of me. Maybe I'm in front? Nah...there's got to be someone ahead of me. I sight the cones on beach, dig in and head for home. I hit sand, stand up and promptly get yelled at, "Over there! That buoy! Go around that buoy!" I dove directly to my right, got around the buoy, and up the beach. I saw no white caps around me. Could I be first out of the water? I wonder if I missed a buoy, or was that a swimmer

Split: 6:50 on the swim, first overall, which includes a long run to T1. (7:00 was goal, but didn't include any run.)

T1
Before I get on the bike, there's a lot to do:

"Let's see...top half of the wetsuit down. Tongue out and thumb up for the cameras. Cap & goggles off. Find my bike: one-two-three racks in there it is! Left leg free. Right leg free. Wipe bottom of feet. Sock one on. Sock two on. Whoa, just a bit dizzy. Stand up. Breath deep. Shoes: Velcro one, Velcro two, buckle, rinse, repeat. Sunglasses. Helmet. BUCKLE! Everything check? Yup. Grab bike and go. Wheee! That was fun! Smile! You look cool!"

Split: 0:51 (Goal: 2:00. This is where I thought all the running would take place after the swim.)

BIKE
The event advertises the bike course as hilly, sharing some of the same roads as Ironman Wisconsin. There's some truth in advertising. Up and down we went, 15 miles per hour to 38 miles per hour to 13 miles per hour (feel the burn), back to 35 miles per hour. Up and down we go. There were no aid stations on the bike, so I brought one water bottle for the 10 mile ride. I took some after the first hill, and tried to continue the pattern throughout the course. The only thing I'd change would be to use Gatorade instead. I was really feeling good, so I decided to push it. Ahead of me, two guys were out of their saddles on the fourth hill, really struggling to the top. Knowing the course, I had my gears set, and passed them while sitting down:

"That felt good. Really good. Let's keep going. Onward we pressed. There's the leader. Man, he looks fast. A while to the second, then third, and right near the turnaround, the fourth place guy goes by. Then me. I'm in fifth overall!?! Cool! I'm having fun now!"

However, the way back home had a brief interlude of not-so-much-fun:

"There's the guy in fourth, go get him! Hey! Didn't he just skid on sand going around that turn? I'm in aero position, let's sit up. There's the sand. Whoops! There's my tire skidding on the sand. Yikes! Let's make this turn wider. Yo! There's more sand. More skidding, and now were heading towards the outbound bikers. Can't hit them, turn front wheel. Stop on dime, place foot down. Hey! We're still upright! Pick up dime. Cool! Go, man, go! Yell at volunteer to warn others of sand. Whew! That's enough excitement. Let's just cruise it in."

Split: 31:10, seventh overall. Fastest bike split in age group. (Goal: 34:00, not knowing how tired my legs would be. They weren't as bad as anticipated.)

T2
The Olympic distance leaders were just heading out while we were heading in, so it was a bit crowded at the driveway, but not too bad. Local observers said the race crew learned real quickly after the first near miss that they'd need a way to delineate the outbound and the inbound bikers. I was seventh in after the skidding excitement, so the sprint racks were nearly empty. I found my spot, threw the bike on rack, unVelcro once, twice, de-buckle, rinse, repeat. Shoe on. Shoe on. Helmet. Hat. Race belt. Run!

Split: 0:53 (Goal: 1:00. Right on!)

RUN
My problematic calf loosened on the bike and gave me no grief. My breath and heart rate were a bit on the high side, however. The course route showed something about going up a hill, but I didn't know we had to go all the way up. At the top, my breath and heart were now out of control. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to slow down, walk a short ways, and get things under control. It paid off, and I slowly built up my effort from there to the finish. Kudos to the 58-year old dude that passed me, "Beautiful day out, no?" on his way to a 21:00 run. Now that's having fun.

Split: 24:04 Fifty-seventh overall. Seventh of eight in age group. (Goal: 27:00, thinking I'd have nothing left.)

The finish chute was awesome. They announced butchered my name, and I could see and hear my family yelling, and then put my head down to finish. Big smile. It was so much fun.

Final Time: 1:03:46, seventeenth overall, second in age group.

For my first time, I had a blast. Many thanks to Kris, Beth, Aunt Romayne, Mom & Dad for waking up early to cheer me on.

Here's Beth's Pictures of the event

Now that's what I call a week! Seven straight days of workouts, all of them quality.

I made up for the unplanned rest day and worked out twice on Monday, swimming in the morning and then biking to Verona and back after work. It started off well. On Wednesday, I again ventured out to Verona to practice the Triterium course. I did the bike course twice, and ran around for just over the 5K required in the race. It felt slow, but my times were right on. Thursday morning I was out to Verona and back, this time on the full Ironcourse (I had been using the Capitol City Trail to get to Syene Road.) Using Rimrock cuts off about five minutes total. I stayed out a bit late Thrusday night, discussing politics with Jess, and Friday suffered. My fault, totally, not drinking or eating properly beforehand. I pulled out of the water a bit early swimming due to a lack of energy. Friday was stressful at work, so I stayed home Friday night and packed for the weekend away from home.

Saturday started with a simple 45-minute run. We packed the bikes, got ready for a wedding and headed to my Aunt's in Palmyra. There, we dropped the bikes off, and continued to Franklin and Milwaukee for Jill & Jeremy's wedding. I tried to save my legs and not dance, but then I got challenged. Can you turn down a challenge? I didn't think so. Wild, uncontrolled, white-man wedding dancing ensued. It was fun.

Sunday we headed back to Palmyra and got set for a day of training. The weather was perfect - about 80°F and partly cloudy. I shoe-horned myself into the new wetsuit while Kris and family climbed into the pontoon, my support craft. The plan was to swim a bit around the lake and see how the wetsuit worked. I started off a bit quick, dodged some other boats, and got in about 25 minutes of swimming. A rough guess of 2000 yards. Before hand, I had got my bike set for a transition quick bike around the lake. I was feeling the swim, and didn't feel like running, but a loud "Go Rob! Go!" from Kris got the legs working, and about 45 seconds later, I was off around the lake. About six minutes later, I was back. It took about two minutes for my legs to really start working, but they came around. Later, I cooled down, changed gear, picked a route, and headed out for a nice 36-mile ride through the Kettle Moraine countryside.

It was an epic week in time, mileage and effort. This week will be a slight taper for my first triathon Sunday. I've set a goal of 1:12:30. Stay tuned to see how it turns out. Better yet, come to it and cheer me on.

What a quick week! That sure went fast. I'm now officially freaking out with less than 100 days left. That just doesn't seem like enough. Why can't I win the lottery and quit work for a little while?

The week started with a not-so-lazy day wesuit shopping on Monday. It was great to sleep in, but I find my "rest days" are really busy catching up with everything else that falls to the wayside during the week. After swimming Tuesday, I got a call from work saying they needed someone to fill in at a golf outing. Ummm...just twist my arm. With that, Wednesday turned out to be a good day. I swam in the morning, stopped at work for a half-hour, and then went golfing. I even packed the bike and running shoes just in case I could sneak out to get a brick workout in Verona. I got in only about half of what I wanted to do, but that was a blessing in disguise. The two burgers and three cookies I snarfed down at the course had a curious way of stating their existance when I was running. It wasn't pleasant. I then ran Thursday morning, now training on the roads the Ironman course will follow. However, I don't think the issues with the right calf have cleared up just yet, so I'll hold back on running, concentrate on my exercises, and slowly work back the running while filling the extra time with biking.

We spent the weekend in Milwaukee celebrating a very special birthday and riding the "50-mile" course in the Miller Lite Ride for the Arts. I quote "50-miles" because the route covered about 57 miles, not the fifty as advertised. But Kris did awesome in the hot sun, and we know have the bike short tan (which has to gain membership to some sort of club). Got in an unplanned rest day on Saturday, highlighted by a nice two-hour nap. Then took another one Sunday after the ride. I think I really needed it. This week: bike, swim, and then bike again. Throw in some exercises, maybe a wetsuit, and top it all off with wedding Saturday.