It has been a while since I have updated this thing. Honestly nothing that exciting has happened as of late and when I wrote about my training I read it over and thought I had developed a sudden case of narcolepsy! Seriously, nobody needs to hear what I have been doing. I mean, I won't have any numbers to give you and the only people that actually enjoy hearing about training are the UBER number geeks. Shit, I haven't even timed my long rides lately LOL...I just do em.
So what should I write about? The DNC? My mother didn't watch Obama's speech and I nearly ripped her a new one. (As much as a son can truly rip their mother a new one, which isn't much!) I'll just say that I think it is "Un-American" (I love that lame ass term) to not watch both candidates speak. For the last 8 years we have watched G-Dubb's try and talk. The least we can do is watch both of these guys say their thing....But I am not going to ramble on about politics other than saying you need to make sure you are registered and just get out there this November and do it. I don't care if you vote for Gramps and the Tina Fey look-a-like (even though that is a horrible mistake and only a fool would).....JUST VOTE!
The highlight of my recent weeks has actually been regarding my mother. She had come to visit about a month ago and we got to talking about her health and well being as she enters the next phase of her life- 60 and up! She was such a great runner in her day and had all sorts of things go wrong with her feet that led to surgery's and ultimately the end of her running. I have a whole differnt opinion of what happened in the last 20 years that is too long and complicated to go into. Ultimately she had developed some "ideas" in her head that over time led to her getting out of shape.
I used the word "ideas" because that is really all they are. The biggest idea that she had was that she can't loose weight. The second biggest is that she will never run again. We sat and talked about what she does to stay active and what she eats (I am eating a burger from Wendy's right now- Do as I say not as I do!) and came to the conclusion that the ideas in her head were holding her back and that she needed to tweak what she was doing. I promised her that if she did what I said, she would loose weight. Her goal is 20 pounds and it has only been a few weeks thus far and she is already at a 7 pound loss!
One of my favorite quotes that I shared with her is "He who argues his limitations gets to keep them." People do that all the time!!! I can't do this. I can't do that. It's because of this. It's because of that....
Watching her make this shift that is both physical and mental has been very inspiring to me. Success in Ironman doesn't come over night and if it does you either were a kick ass short course guy in the past or have some of that "flax seed" that seems to work so well. My mothers success will not come over night either because she didn't get to where she is now over night. It was a build up of the last 10 years. As I see her make the smaller changes in her life to reach a long term goal it makes me reflect on my own training and lifestyle to see if there are things I can do to continue myself forward as well. I know- PUT DOWN THE WENDY'S BAG!!!!
My mom is my new project. I told her that if she looses 20 pounds we will talk running. She has had some really bad surgerys on her feet and ankles but I refuse to believe that she can't run again. From my own experience with injury I think I can build her up to something. She seems to have the fire now. I will keep my blog posted on her success. I see a marathon in her future at the age of 65! How kick as would that be!!!
Well I talked about my mom this round. And here I thought I was going to talk about how I think there should be category's in Volley Ball LOL. I decided that there should be a division of V-Ball that is for teams with people 5'9" and below with a lower net. Maybe I will get into that next time....Or maybe I will just spare everyone.
later,
bdc
Monday, September 1, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
Fitness Update
I haven't really had anything exciting happen in my life lately that is worth Blogging about so I thought I might actually do a real update.
I have not raced since Hawaii 70.3 and have been focusing 100% on getting my fitness where it needs to be and the left side of my body back in balance. I had a minor setback with my foot but patient and smart training has shown to pay off.
The best way to describe what is happening with me is simply a major shift in fitness. In the last few months I have gone from feeling injured and out of shape to quite healthy and fit. I decided to go back to solo training (no coach) after Hawaii because my injury has been so complex that coaching me is a bit of a challenge and ultimately I am the only one who truly knows how I feel. As well, I came to the realization that I know what I need to do. Getting fit is not rocket science.
Today I ran the furthest I have run since the the Hawaii Ironman 07. For me that was a huge milestone. Not only was it the furthest but it was also the most enjoyable. I was off by myself utilizing both trail and road holding a nice sub 7 min pace for the entire run. The best part is that my fitness is 100% on the way and my leg/ankle/foot is only a small step behind. Each time I bump my long run up I do get a tired foot for about the last 15 minutes but after the run it seems to be okay and retains strength that allows me to up the distance for the next one. Distance is one thing that I have added to my training. I run for a specific mileage rather than time.
I am excited to have the itch to race. I still have an entire month before I get to a start line but that itch is going to be great motivation for this next month.
Cheers,
bdc
I have not raced since Hawaii 70.3 and have been focusing 100% on getting my fitness where it needs to be and the left side of my body back in balance. I had a minor setback with my foot but patient and smart training has shown to pay off.
The best way to describe what is happening with me is simply a major shift in fitness. In the last few months I have gone from feeling injured and out of shape to quite healthy and fit. I decided to go back to solo training (no coach) after Hawaii because my injury has been so complex that coaching me is a bit of a challenge and ultimately I am the only one who truly knows how I feel. As well, I came to the realization that I know what I need to do. Getting fit is not rocket science.
Today I ran the furthest I have run since the the Hawaii Ironman 07. For me that was a huge milestone. Not only was it the furthest but it was also the most enjoyable. I was off by myself utilizing both trail and road holding a nice sub 7 min pace for the entire run. The best part is that my fitness is 100% on the way and my leg/ankle/foot is only a small step behind. Each time I bump my long run up I do get a tired foot for about the last 15 minutes but after the run it seems to be okay and retains strength that allows me to up the distance for the next one. Distance is one thing that I have added to my training. I run for a specific mileage rather than time.
I am excited to have the itch to race. I still have an entire month before I get to a start line but that itch is going to be great motivation for this next month.
Cheers,
bdc
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Fun Shway!
I was going to continue with my "BDC in The City" postings as I had a few more things come up that seem blog worthy. However, I was sent this link from the Slow Twitch forum that was pure comedy! I am not a frequent visitor to the site and a posting like this could be part of the reason.
http://www.forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Thinking_about_a_fern_for_my_workout_space_P1882194/
Hmmm...I guess you will have to cut and paste. ENJOY!
P.S. Parts of this conversation was described as "gay" and I totally get where that is coming from but I gotta say in all my years of being a gay (31) and all the gays I have known, we have never had a dialogue about ferns LOL. I think the real word we are looking for here is NERDS! And I don't mean the kind that get branded "Nerds are Hot". I mean the old school definition of Nerd. Similar to the new school definition of gay. haha.
Okay, enough of this blogging, I better get back to tending to my house plants so that when I ride inside I can increase my wattage and normalized power.......NOT.
cheers,
bdc
http://www.forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Thinking_about_a_fern_for_my_workout_space_P1882194/
Hmmm...I guess you will have to cut and paste. ENJOY!
P.S. Parts of this conversation was described as "gay" and I totally get where that is coming from but I gotta say in all my years of being a gay (31) and all the gays I have known, we have never had a dialogue about ferns LOL. I think the real word we are looking for here is NERDS! And I don't mean the kind that get branded "Nerds are Hot". I mean the old school definition of Nerd. Similar to the new school definition of gay. haha.
Okay, enough of this blogging, I better get back to tending to my house plants so that when I ride inside I can increase my wattage and normalized power.......NOT.
cheers,
bdc
Saturday, July 12, 2008
BDC in The City: OOOMMMM My God!
It was my first real day in the city. I could hear all the honking cars, sirens and construction that had been going on since about 7am. Coming from Boulder I am used to birds chirping, squirrels climbing on trees and the occasional dog bark. I decided to jump start the day with one of those yoga classes I had found on line the night before. According to the map it was just an elevator ride and one block down the way.
Walking to class made me realize why there were so many yoga classes in the area, There was so much foot traffic that no doubt everyone on the side walk was a constant stress case. I was in awe of how many people there were. I have been to the city many times before but this just seemed unusually high. Maybe it was because Martha Stewart films her show just across the street? Although, who really wants to go see her? "And now we will be making a beautiful and tasty center piece out of fruits and chocolates" *SNORE*
The Yoga studio was on the third floor. It was Beikram yoga like I had been doing back in Boulder which means the room should be around 100-103 degrees. I had become so addicted to it in Boulder that I couldn't wait to get my sweat on! When I got to the studio it seemed really nice inside. Everything was zen as usual and the woman at the front, who was also going to be the instructor, seemed very pleasant as well. She asked me if I had done hot yoga before and I told her I had and was really enjoying it etc. She also asked me if I would like to buy a water for the class. Normally I don't drink water during the class. I seem to be fine and just hydrate after. I told her I would pass. She looked at me as if I was one of those guys who has to do everything the "macho" way and prove themselves. Really I wasn't, I just don't drink water in classes.
Once I was signed in she went over a very strict policy that the studio has. It says ONCE IN THE ROOM YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THE ROOM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. Basically they want you to stay in the room and go into child's pose or something if it gets too hot. I was like "fine whatever". I wasn't planning on leaving anyway. I signed the notice and went to change into my shorts.
The class was just about to start and I walked into the room directly followed by the instructor who proceeded to close the door. "HOLY HELL! WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO!!!!" I had not been in the room yet but when I did the smell was seriously making me want to vomit. Literally I had some dry heaves and developed a minor moment of panic. I looked down and saw that the room was carpeted. How can a hot yoga studio have carpet!!! There were about 7 others in the room. As I tried my best to breathe though my mouth I looked around trying to make some eye contact with anyone that might share my issue with the smell in the room. Nobody seemed to have issue but me. All these crazy bitches were breathing hard through their noses and exhaling with that "HAAAAAAAAAAA" sound. The room was extra hot as well. I was used to hot but the temp in here was CRAZY hot. Honestly you could have baked a pizza in there.
My manly pride did get the best of me and I missed my chance to run out of there before the class started. I set my mat up and quickly went over to get some water in the spray bottles that you use on the soft matt to help you from slipping. I didn't pay attention to the bottle I was grabbing and before I knew it I was spraying matt cleanser all over the place. Honestly I didn't care because it was the best smelling thing in the room. I sprayed the shit out of my matt. Sure I would probably have soap bubbles on the mat by mid class but I didn't care! I even managed a quick spray on my finger and rubbed it on my nose to try and kill the smell of the room! The girl next to me saw me do that and moved her matt over a bit LOL. I think people in the room could sense my discomfort. How was I going to make it for an hour 30 of this. I was in Yoga HELL.
Once we all got to the top off our mats for the opening breathing exercises I was getting a bit acclimated to the smell. Or maybe it was the ammonia in my nose? Anyway, as soon as the class started, the instructor who had put on a Madonna like headset was now shouting out commands at mach one to us. Was this really happening? She sounded like a yogi auctioneer. "SHiiiiiivasinavasinavasinavasinavasina, DOWNWARD DOG, UP DOG, DOWNWARD DOG going once, twice SOLD to the lady doing Cobra in the back row!" It was the most uncalled for way to run a yoga class. She kept telling us to "stretch, go further, FURTHER, feel the pain, go beyond the pain, pain is good" etc. Since when is pain a good idea in a yoga class?
My past experience in yoga has been that time can go by rather fast. Classes for me in Boulder are over before I know it. It was no wonder that when I looked up and saw the clock I only had about 45 min to go. Thank the lord! I was already dying of the heat and smell. My matt was soaked and in fact did have a few bubbles on it from the soap spray. Of course the room stank like bad booty as most of my sweat was rolling onto the carpet.
We were doing some poses that had us facing the front mirror for most of the time. But finally the yoga auction was going to take a break and she had us turn around and face the back wall for some seated stuff. My relief of all the standing pose came to a halt when I realized that all this time, which I thought was a lot, was in fact almost nothing. I had been looking at the clock in the mirror. In reality only about 15 min had gone by. How can one mistake 45 min when it is actually only 15? It must have been the heat. I don't know. All I did know was that hope was fading away and I had well over an hour left in the room. I was so thirsty, so hot, so miserable and so annoyed! There wasn't even anyone hot to look at in the room. In fact there was only one guy who was in front of me. He was mid 30's, somewhat over weight and needed a good back waxing. I didn't care. I was desperate. I gave him a mental make over LOL Not bad.
As I cleaned up Mr. Big (We'll call him that to stay in line with the Sex and The CITY theme. Besides he was in fact "big") I noticed he had two bottles of water with him. Only one had been opened and the other was totally full with delicious beads of moisture running down it like it was about to be shot for an Aquafina add. I wanted it bad. I needed it! I MUST HAVE IT! We were all down on all fours doing some easier stuff and I was trying as best I could to get "Big's" attention. All I needed to do was make him understand that I had to have that water and that I would get him a new one when it was over. That is alot harder to do with just your the eyes. I suppose I could have said something as Miss Crazy teaching the class was so loud that you probably wouldn't hear me whisper. Alas I couldn't make contact. I thought about just grabbing the bottle and acting like it was mine but I could totally see myself grabbing it and running to a corner in the room screaming "IT'S MINE! IT'S MINE!" A heat induced tantrum.
I was screwed. I had exhausted everything at this point and was stuck in the room for another 50 min with no water and no hope. We were in triangle pose and I was looking up at my hand as hoards of water came running down my arm at my face. It was at that moment that my inner Miagi kicked in. "You want race Kona! You need deal better with heat!" This whole class was in many ways like my 5 miles of crap on the run last year in Kona. When I realized that I decided that this was my lesson for the class. Sure I was uncomfortable and things stunk (literally). The only thing I could control now was my mind and holding poses. Everything else was out of my control. I decided to go deep within and stay centered for the rest of this class. I focused more on the poses and less on everything else. Of course Miss Crazy had to add one more element and turned up the heat a notch. As if we weren't all dying already! I figured at some point I would stop sweating all together. I mean how much water can I actually have in my body.
We got down to the last 5 min in class. I had made it!!! I felt so much better and really think that if anything this class was mental training for Hawaii. Well it was training for any situation in life that is beyond uncomfortable. When I picked my mat up water went everywhere. I really didn't give a shit. That studio deserved to have a giant puddle left from me. I was leaving my mark!
I took the biggest breath of my life when I got out of there and ran for the shower. I had thought for a while that I would buy several waters and chug them but now I was kinda interested to see how much water weight I had lost. I held back and stumbled my way back to cliffs. He had a scale at the Apt and when I got on I was 152 pounds! Normally I weigh around 161-164! Even if it read low, that was still some decent water loss. I grabbed a huge jug and even found some Salt stick pills and took it all in while again having a nice ice cold shower.
Later that day we were going to head out on a ride into the park. It is about 20 blocks from Cliffs place which would mean some serious city riding for me. I can only imagine what kind of blog worthy stuff it will bring!
Walking to class made me realize why there were so many yoga classes in the area, There was so much foot traffic that no doubt everyone on the side walk was a constant stress case. I was in awe of how many people there were. I have been to the city many times before but this just seemed unusually high. Maybe it was because Martha Stewart films her show just across the street? Although, who really wants to go see her? "And now we will be making a beautiful and tasty center piece out of fruits and chocolates" *SNORE*
The Yoga studio was on the third floor. It was Beikram yoga like I had been doing back in Boulder which means the room should be around 100-103 degrees. I had become so addicted to it in Boulder that I couldn't wait to get my sweat on! When I got to the studio it seemed really nice inside. Everything was zen as usual and the woman at the front, who was also going to be the instructor, seemed very pleasant as well. She asked me if I had done hot yoga before and I told her I had and was really enjoying it etc. She also asked me if I would like to buy a water for the class. Normally I don't drink water during the class. I seem to be fine and just hydrate after. I told her I would pass. She looked at me as if I was one of those guys who has to do everything the "macho" way and prove themselves. Really I wasn't, I just don't drink water in classes.
Once I was signed in she went over a very strict policy that the studio has. It says ONCE IN THE ROOM YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THE ROOM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. Basically they want you to stay in the room and go into child's pose or something if it gets too hot. I was like "fine whatever". I wasn't planning on leaving anyway. I signed the notice and went to change into my shorts.
The class was just about to start and I walked into the room directly followed by the instructor who proceeded to close the door. "HOLY HELL! WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO!!!!" I had not been in the room yet but when I did the smell was seriously making me want to vomit. Literally I had some dry heaves and developed a minor moment of panic. I looked down and saw that the room was carpeted. How can a hot yoga studio have carpet!!! There were about 7 others in the room. As I tried my best to breathe though my mouth I looked around trying to make some eye contact with anyone that might share my issue with the smell in the room. Nobody seemed to have issue but me. All these crazy bitches were breathing hard through their noses and exhaling with that "HAAAAAAAAAAA" sound. The room was extra hot as well. I was used to hot but the temp in here was CRAZY hot. Honestly you could have baked a pizza in there.
My manly pride did get the best of me and I missed my chance to run out of there before the class started. I set my mat up and quickly went over to get some water in the spray bottles that you use on the soft matt to help you from slipping. I didn't pay attention to the bottle I was grabbing and before I knew it I was spraying matt cleanser all over the place. Honestly I didn't care because it was the best smelling thing in the room. I sprayed the shit out of my matt. Sure I would probably have soap bubbles on the mat by mid class but I didn't care! I even managed a quick spray on my finger and rubbed it on my nose to try and kill the smell of the room! The girl next to me saw me do that and moved her matt over a bit LOL. I think people in the room could sense my discomfort. How was I going to make it for an hour 30 of this. I was in Yoga HELL.
Once we all got to the top off our mats for the opening breathing exercises I was getting a bit acclimated to the smell. Or maybe it was the ammonia in my nose? Anyway, as soon as the class started, the instructor who had put on a Madonna like headset was now shouting out commands at mach one to us. Was this really happening? She sounded like a yogi auctioneer. "SHiiiiiivasinavasinavasinavasinavasina, DOWNWARD DOG, UP DOG, DOWNWARD DOG going once, twice SOLD to the lady doing Cobra in the back row!" It was the most uncalled for way to run a yoga class. She kept telling us to "stretch, go further, FURTHER, feel the pain, go beyond the pain, pain is good" etc. Since when is pain a good idea in a yoga class?
My past experience in yoga has been that time can go by rather fast. Classes for me in Boulder are over before I know it. It was no wonder that when I looked up and saw the clock I only had about 45 min to go. Thank the lord! I was already dying of the heat and smell. My matt was soaked and in fact did have a few bubbles on it from the soap spray. Of course the room stank like bad booty as most of my sweat was rolling onto the carpet.
We were doing some poses that had us facing the front mirror for most of the time. But finally the yoga auction was going to take a break and she had us turn around and face the back wall for some seated stuff. My relief of all the standing pose came to a halt when I realized that all this time, which I thought was a lot, was in fact almost nothing. I had been looking at the clock in the mirror. In reality only about 15 min had gone by. How can one mistake 45 min when it is actually only 15? It must have been the heat. I don't know. All I did know was that hope was fading away and I had well over an hour left in the room. I was so thirsty, so hot, so miserable and so annoyed! There wasn't even anyone hot to look at in the room. In fact there was only one guy who was in front of me. He was mid 30's, somewhat over weight and needed a good back waxing. I didn't care. I was desperate. I gave him a mental make over LOL Not bad.
As I cleaned up Mr. Big (We'll call him that to stay in line with the Sex and The CITY theme. Besides he was in fact "big") I noticed he had two bottles of water with him. Only one had been opened and the other was totally full with delicious beads of moisture running down it like it was about to be shot for an Aquafina add. I wanted it bad. I needed it! I MUST HAVE IT! We were all down on all fours doing some easier stuff and I was trying as best I could to get "Big's" attention. All I needed to do was make him understand that I had to have that water and that I would get him a new one when it was over. That is alot harder to do with just your the eyes. I suppose I could have said something as Miss Crazy teaching the class was so loud that you probably wouldn't hear me whisper. Alas I couldn't make contact. I thought about just grabbing the bottle and acting like it was mine but I could totally see myself grabbing it and running to a corner in the room screaming "IT'S MINE! IT'S MINE!" A heat induced tantrum.
I was screwed. I had exhausted everything at this point and was stuck in the room for another 50 min with no water and no hope. We were in triangle pose and I was looking up at my hand as hoards of water came running down my arm at my face. It was at that moment that my inner Miagi kicked in. "You want race Kona! You need deal better with heat!" This whole class was in many ways like my 5 miles of crap on the run last year in Kona. When I realized that I decided that this was my lesson for the class. Sure I was uncomfortable and things stunk (literally). The only thing I could control now was my mind and holding poses. Everything else was out of my control. I decided to go deep within and stay centered for the rest of this class. I focused more on the poses and less on everything else. Of course Miss Crazy had to add one more element and turned up the heat a notch. As if we weren't all dying already! I figured at some point I would stop sweating all together. I mean how much water can I actually have in my body.
We got down to the last 5 min in class. I had made it!!! I felt so much better and really think that if anything this class was mental training for Hawaii. Well it was training for any situation in life that is beyond uncomfortable. When I picked my mat up water went everywhere. I really didn't give a shit. That studio deserved to have a giant puddle left from me. I was leaving my mark!
I took the biggest breath of my life when I got out of there and ran for the shower. I had thought for a while that I would buy several waters and chug them but now I was kinda interested to see how much water weight I had lost. I held back and stumbled my way back to cliffs. He had a scale at the Apt and when I got on I was 152 pounds! Normally I weigh around 161-164! Even if it read low, that was still some decent water loss. I grabbed a huge jug and even found some Salt stick pills and took it all in while again having a nice ice cold shower.
Later that day we were going to head out on a ride into the park. It is about 20 blocks from Cliffs place which would mean some serious city riding for me. I can only imagine what kind of blog worthy stuff it will bring!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
BDC in The City.
A while back I agreed to take some time away from my Boulder life and go to The Big Apple to train a bit with my buddy Cliff Scherb (a.k.a Cliff Bar, but I guess now that I have the Power Bar Sponsorship I should just go back to calling him Cliff). Cliff started an online coaching company called Tri Star Athletes ( www.tristarathlete.com ) and we thought it would be fun to do an inner city camp for all the die hards he coaches here in Manhattan.
I was very excited to go on this trip especially because I wasn't going to bring my bike. Cliff has and extra Scott road bike that he was going to let me use. The last time I came into the city with my bike was a complete nightmare! Not having to deal with all that and save on the added costs got my trip off to a very enjoyable start.
When I got on the plane I could tell right away that it was a NY based crew. Everything is very "to the point", efficient and has just a hint of friendliness so that they don't come off rude. It was very impressive the way they can say "All you's people needs ta sit down now!" and not be rude. True skill.
Anyway, somehow I got stuck sitting in front of this woman that had two over grown monkeys...I mean kids...that decided to scream and climb all over the seats for the entire flight. When the flight attendant came by with her cart there was no hint of friendliness but instead a rather large dose of an "un friendly" hint. "Lady your kids cant be climbing all overs the seats and screaming bloody murder while the captains got the seat belt sign on! Are you crazy or something?.....Pretzels?" Okay she didn't say all that but when she got to me I gave her the eye roll and wink letting her now that all of us passengers would back her up if she decided to go off on this women. She didn't and I just got my usual extra snack, a shoulder squeeze and wink back from her. *Sigh*
I of course forgot my headphones and with the new airline crunch they weren't giving any out for free. Jet Blue had the Wimbledon Final on so at least I could watch something that really didn't need the sound. The match between Federer and Nadal was so good it took my mind off the screaming, chair rocking and occasionally peanut flying over my seat. I really wanted Nadal to win. I love Roger and think he is an awesome Tennis player but I go for the underdog 99% of the time. When Nadal took it in the 5th set I found out how many people were watching the match. The entire plane made this huge gasp. You would have thought we were going down. The lady sitting in the aisle across from me was a real hoot as well. She was a blonde (dyed for sure) in her 40's (total cougar) that looked as if she may have been trying to make it in LA for a few years and finally realized Tinsel Town wasn't calling and decided to cart her ass back to NYC. She was watching as Nadal gave his speech and she had her head set on and I am assuming that her ears were a bit clogged because she kept going "AWWWWEEEEEEEE...." followed by a lip smack sound that was so freaking loud you could no doubt hear it from both ends of the plane. Literally every 5 seconds "AWWWEEEEEEEE.....*lip smack*" I couldn't control myself and started laughing. I was so embarrassed because she could tell I was laughing at her. Luckily the captian started the final descent although I would have liked to get up and go to the can so I could stop my laughing. "Awwwwweeeeee *lip Smack*"
I will admit that I felt a little displaced when I got into the airport. I have become so accustomed to traveling in smaller cities except for LAX where I really know where I am going. Here it is like a zoo. Actually it is a public zoo like Lincoln Park. What a dump! But I guess that is part of the lure to NYC.
Cliff had given me two choices to get to his place. I could either take a cab or hop on the train. I only had one bag so I decided to catch the subway. Honestly, taking a cab is like doping. It is expensive and totally cheating! Getting the train was no big deal but when I got off at 23rd st. I soon found out that I was in Queens rather than Manhattan. A cab was tempting but I just got back on the train and took one that was headed towards Manhattan. The great thing about NYC is that you have plenty of landmarks to go off. Cliff was right down the street form the Empire State Building so I just got off when I was in Manhattan and walked towards that.
When I made it to the apt I was quite impressed with the pad. The last time I stayed at a friends in NYC, the bed took up the whole place. cliffs was more like Jerry Seinfeld's place. I can do this for a week!
I settled in and got on line to see if I could find some Yoga classes in the area. Sure enough I found plenty and figured I could go all week for free. Then cliff and I walked downstairs to Whole Foods. It was just like being in Boulder but I was trapped in cement! Hopefully I won't die when we go on some rides. I'm sure there will be plenty to write about in the next few days.
Cheers,
bdc
I was very excited to go on this trip especially because I wasn't going to bring my bike. Cliff has and extra Scott road bike that he was going to let me use. The last time I came into the city with my bike was a complete nightmare! Not having to deal with all that and save on the added costs got my trip off to a very enjoyable start.
When I got on the plane I could tell right away that it was a NY based crew. Everything is very "to the point", efficient and has just a hint of friendliness so that they don't come off rude. It was very impressive the way they can say "All you's people needs ta sit down now!" and not be rude. True skill.
Anyway, somehow I got stuck sitting in front of this woman that had two over grown monkeys...I mean kids...that decided to scream and climb all over the seats for the entire flight. When the flight attendant came by with her cart there was no hint of friendliness but instead a rather large dose of an "un friendly" hint. "Lady your kids cant be climbing all overs the seats and screaming bloody murder while the captains got the seat belt sign on! Are you crazy or something?.....Pretzels?" Okay she didn't say all that but when she got to me I gave her the eye roll and wink letting her now that all of us passengers would back her up if she decided to go off on this women. She didn't and I just got my usual extra snack, a shoulder squeeze and wink back from her. *Sigh*
I of course forgot my headphones and with the new airline crunch they weren't giving any out for free. Jet Blue had the Wimbledon Final on so at least I could watch something that really didn't need the sound. The match between Federer and Nadal was so good it took my mind off the screaming, chair rocking and occasionally peanut flying over my seat. I really wanted Nadal to win. I love Roger and think he is an awesome Tennis player but I go for the underdog 99% of the time. When Nadal took it in the 5th set I found out how many people were watching the match. The entire plane made this huge gasp. You would have thought we were going down. The lady sitting in the aisle across from me was a real hoot as well. She was a blonde (dyed for sure) in her 40's (total cougar) that looked as if she may have been trying to make it in LA for a few years and finally realized Tinsel Town wasn't calling and decided to cart her ass back to NYC. She was watching as Nadal gave his speech and she had her head set on and I am assuming that her ears were a bit clogged because she kept going "AWWWWEEEEEEEE...." followed by a lip smack sound that was so freaking loud you could no doubt hear it from both ends of the plane. Literally every 5 seconds "AWWWEEEEEEEE.....*lip smack*" I couldn't control myself and started laughing. I was so embarrassed because she could tell I was laughing at her. Luckily the captian started the final descent although I would have liked to get up and go to the can so I could stop my laughing. "Awwwwweeeeee *lip Smack*"
I will admit that I felt a little displaced when I got into the airport. I have become so accustomed to traveling in smaller cities except for LAX where I really know where I am going. Here it is like a zoo. Actually it is a public zoo like Lincoln Park. What a dump! But I guess that is part of the lure to NYC.
Cliff had given me two choices to get to his place. I could either take a cab or hop on the train. I only had one bag so I decided to catch the subway. Honestly, taking a cab is like doping. It is expensive and totally cheating! Getting the train was no big deal but when I got off at 23rd st. I soon found out that I was in Queens rather than Manhattan. A cab was tempting but I just got back on the train and took one that was headed towards Manhattan. The great thing about NYC is that you have plenty of landmarks to go off. Cliff was right down the street form the Empire State Building so I just got off when I was in Manhattan and walked towards that.
When I made it to the apt I was quite impressed with the pad. The last time I stayed at a friends in NYC, the bed took up the whole place. cliffs was more like Jerry Seinfeld's place. I can do this for a week!
I settled in and got on line to see if I could find some Yoga classes in the area. Sure enough I found plenty and figured I could go all week for free. Then cliff and I walked downstairs to Whole Foods. It was just like being in Boulder but I was trapped in cement! Hopefully I won't die when we go on some rides. I'm sure there will be plenty to write about in the next few days.
Cheers,
bdc
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Half Naked Cougar Spotted In South Boulder.
Well I am back in Boulder after a week of really "bummer" weather in Canada. Ben and I went to watch the ITU World Cup race in Vancouver which was pretty awesome. I have never been to an ITU race before. Matt Reed was racing and I was stoked on that as I have never seen him race in person either. Fifth over all and a damn gutsy effort our there! I hooked up with Kelly (his wife) to watch the race and got a little race of my own helping her run after her very energetic two year old!
Anyway, when I got back to Boulder I was very excited to see my peeps. Teressa Rider who is abandoning us all for a, get this, "MAN" was going to come over to my house for a run before she flew off to be with that "MAN"! Teressa of course had on one of her super cute Jagged running outfits. A nice spandex bottom with a very small jog bra top thingie-ma-whats-it. Shit, if I was rocking her body you can bet I would have something cute like that on too...
The run was nice. I went her pace which is a bit slower than mine and that afforded me to run a tad longer time wise with her. She was complaining that she had a stomach ache when we turned around. Apparently she had a decent amount of beets for lunch. Who hasn't gone for a run where you had a little too much in the belly? Normally when I have these problems my running companion gets blasted with some pretty toxic farts of mine. I'm a little notorious....
We got to about 33 min into it and Teressa wanted to run further before we went back. I had been having issues with my foot again since the race and didn't want to go further so I told her that I would just wait on this bridge near the East Boulder Rec Center while she ran out and back to a parking lot. Teressa has been known to get lost on her way to the bathroom in her own house so I thought it would be safe sending her on this out and back. "Just follow the stream and turn around when you get to the parking lot". She looked around as if to get the land marks in her head before she took off. "OUT AND BACK! GO!"
I waited patiently on the bridge stretching, enjoying the views, finding my inner zen so that I don't go into freak out mode if my foot decided to hurt the next morning. When I noticed that I was feeling quite calm I also noticed that it was because so much time had passed and the Cougar was taking a really long time to do this out and back. "I swear to god....if she got lost....."
A little more time goes by and this women comes running over to me. "Are you Brandon?" she says. "Yeah I am." I must say I was concerned now. Something was definitely wrong because this woman seemed very nervous about whatever she was about to tell me.
"Well your friend is in a bit of distress." Oh shit she's probably hurt I thought. "Ummm she is down by the creek and is bottomless." I don't think my mind registered what she said right away but then I got it and thought, has Teressa pulled a Margo Kidder (Lois Lane) and gone nuts, taken her bottoms off and started running around South Boulder? I know she has been a bit stressed these days but...
"Actually she was going to the bathroom by the creek and some man startled her and she dropped her bottoms and they went down the creek and she couldn't get them. So she is just naked by the side of the creek." When I stopped laughing I had to actually grab the woman's arm and ask her if she was serious. "For REAL!?!" There was no joke here. Teressa was somewhere down South Boulder Creek trying to get it renamed to Beaver Creek. I hoped to god she wasn't running towards the bridge with her hands over her WHO HA. I was fully prepared to pretend I didn't know her and run off! But then I realized how "real" this situation was and that her bottoms were not coming back. I started running down the trail calling out her name. I figured she wouldn't be easy to see so I was looking near bushes and stuff. The women had told me that she was trying to hide near a bridge.
I ran all the way to the parking lot and couldn't find her. It was funny because for some reason when I was calling out her name I was whispering. I was waiting for a "Psst. BDC, I am over here and I lost my knickers." That didn't happen so I started to ask a few people if they had possible seen a small, fit, 1/2 naked Aussie women running around. Most said no, key word MOST, and after I told them why she was 1/2 naked they gave me this look like "That's what you get for having sex with your girlfriend down by the creek!" Now I was getting embaraced. Well, okay I wasn't. I admit, I was feeling like a stud. "uhhh yeah, that's it, she couldn't resist me and made me take her right here on the trail." Everyday I understand the straight male mentality a little bit better...
So when I didn't find her and had asked every person around me if they had seen her, and quite a few had, it gave me the idea that she had gotten help from someone. With that I decided to run back to the house and hope she was there.
When I got back my roommate Lindsay was home and I asked her if Teressa was here and she said no. When I told her what happened she immediately went into "nurse" mode (she's a nurse) and got some shorts a towel and grabbed her car keys STAT! "Come ON! She can't be left out there with no bottoms!" I explained that I didn't know where we should look so she said that we should go to the parking lot. That was where Miss Godiva was spotted last.
Lindsay who is a runner as well couldn't understand why she would take off her bottoms all the way to go to the bathroom. I was dumbfounded as well. I mean Teressa is a veteran athlete, multiple Kona Age Group Champion and was 17th overall at the LA Marathon in her FIFTIES. There is no way this is the first time she has pulled a road side service dump. I was really looking forward to an explanation on this one. We couldn't come up with anything.
Lindsay and I decided to split up when we got to the parking lot. She took the towel and drove over to East Boulder Rec and I took the shorts and ran the track. I couldn't find her again and when I made to East Boulder Rec I went inside and asked the front desk if anyone nude had come in lately. They looked at me like I was nuts but I really didn't want to explain the story. So I left and sat outside waiting for Lindsay to come here. Hopefully she had found her.
Lindsay rolls up in the car and sure enough the cougar had been caged. They were both laughing hysterically. When I got to the car I looked down and she had a United Airlines blanket wrapped around her waist. Apparently some guy ran back to his car and gave it to her. He later saw her running up and down the trail looking for me. His exact words were "Oh, good job. You are going to finish your run."
Teressa was in shock at how many people had been on the trail. "Bloody HELL. There were couples, baby joggers, dog walkers FRICKEN HECK! I just said "Hi" and pretended nothing was wrong. It wasn't until some man offered me some help by getting this blanket." Then she proceded to talk about how cute the blanket was with her top LOL!!! You should have seen how she had it on. It looked taylored!
The only thing left was to get the scoop on why she had taken her bottoms off. Well, she did have stomach problems and went to use a Port-A-potty but, well, just didn't get there fast enough. DOOH! Don't laugh, we have all been there. When she saw the creek she thought "Oh I can just walk down and rinse them out." While in the process of this some man said hi to her and she freaked and dropped them and the current took them away. I guess this actually leads to another question. "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUMP IN AFTER THEM!!!!" With my little Cougar, we may never know.
Fear not Boulderites. The 1/2 Naked Cougar spotted in South Boulder has been caught and transferred to Seattle for the next week. She will be released back into the Boulder wildlife for another two months when she returns so make sure you keep on the lookout!
P.S.- In order for me to get permission to tell this story I had to ad that I am the only one that gets to call her "Cougar". All others must refer to her as Kitten.
Cheers,
bdc
Anyway, when I got back to Boulder I was very excited to see my peeps. Teressa Rider who is abandoning us all for a, get this, "MAN" was going to come over to my house for a run before she flew off to be with that "MAN"! Teressa of course had on one of her super cute Jagged running outfits. A nice spandex bottom with a very small jog bra top thingie-ma-whats-it. Shit, if I was rocking her body you can bet I would have something cute like that on too...
The run was nice. I went her pace which is a bit slower than mine and that afforded me to run a tad longer time wise with her. She was complaining that she had a stomach ache when we turned around. Apparently she had a decent amount of beets for lunch. Who hasn't gone for a run where you had a little too much in the belly? Normally when I have these problems my running companion gets blasted with some pretty toxic farts of mine. I'm a little notorious....
We got to about 33 min into it and Teressa wanted to run further before we went back. I had been having issues with my foot again since the race and didn't want to go further so I told her that I would just wait on this bridge near the East Boulder Rec Center while she ran out and back to a parking lot. Teressa has been known to get lost on her way to the bathroom in her own house so I thought it would be safe sending her on this out and back. "Just follow the stream and turn around when you get to the parking lot". She looked around as if to get the land marks in her head before she took off. "OUT AND BACK! GO!"
I waited patiently on the bridge stretching, enjoying the views, finding my inner zen so that I don't go into freak out mode if my foot decided to hurt the next morning. When I noticed that I was feeling quite calm I also noticed that it was because so much time had passed and the Cougar was taking a really long time to do this out and back. "I swear to god....if she got lost....."
A little more time goes by and this women comes running over to me. "Are you Brandon?" she says. "Yeah I am." I must say I was concerned now. Something was definitely wrong because this woman seemed very nervous about whatever she was about to tell me.
"Well your friend is in a bit of distress." Oh shit she's probably hurt I thought. "Ummm she is down by the creek and is bottomless." I don't think my mind registered what she said right away but then I got it and thought, has Teressa pulled a Margo Kidder (Lois Lane) and gone nuts, taken her bottoms off and started running around South Boulder? I know she has been a bit stressed these days but...
"Actually she was going to the bathroom by the creek and some man startled her and she dropped her bottoms and they went down the creek and she couldn't get them. So she is just naked by the side of the creek." When I stopped laughing I had to actually grab the woman's arm and ask her if she was serious. "For REAL!?!" There was no joke here. Teressa was somewhere down South Boulder Creek trying to get it renamed to Beaver Creek. I hoped to god she wasn't running towards the bridge with her hands over her WHO HA. I was fully prepared to pretend I didn't know her and run off! But then I realized how "real" this situation was and that her bottoms were not coming back. I started running down the trail calling out her name. I figured she wouldn't be easy to see so I was looking near bushes and stuff. The women had told me that she was trying to hide near a bridge.
I ran all the way to the parking lot and couldn't find her. It was funny because for some reason when I was calling out her name I was whispering. I was waiting for a "Psst. BDC, I am over here and I lost my knickers." That didn't happen so I started to ask a few people if they had possible seen a small, fit, 1/2 naked Aussie women running around. Most said no, key word MOST, and after I told them why she was 1/2 naked they gave me this look like "That's what you get for having sex with your girlfriend down by the creek!" Now I was getting embaraced. Well, okay I wasn't. I admit, I was feeling like a stud. "uhhh yeah, that's it, she couldn't resist me and made me take her right here on the trail." Everyday I understand the straight male mentality a little bit better...
So when I didn't find her and had asked every person around me if they had seen her, and quite a few had, it gave me the idea that she had gotten help from someone. With that I decided to run back to the house and hope she was there.
When I got back my roommate Lindsay was home and I asked her if Teressa was here and she said no. When I told her what happened she immediately went into "nurse" mode (she's a nurse) and got some shorts a towel and grabbed her car keys STAT! "Come ON! She can't be left out there with no bottoms!" I explained that I didn't know where we should look so she said that we should go to the parking lot. That was where Miss Godiva was spotted last.
Lindsay who is a runner as well couldn't understand why she would take off her bottoms all the way to go to the bathroom. I was dumbfounded as well. I mean Teressa is a veteran athlete, multiple Kona Age Group Champion and was 17th overall at the LA Marathon in her FIFTIES. There is no way this is the first time she has pulled a road side service dump. I was really looking forward to an explanation on this one. We couldn't come up with anything.
Lindsay and I decided to split up when we got to the parking lot. She took the towel and drove over to East Boulder Rec and I took the shorts and ran the track. I couldn't find her again and when I made to East Boulder Rec I went inside and asked the front desk if anyone nude had come in lately. They looked at me like I was nuts but I really didn't want to explain the story. So I left and sat outside waiting for Lindsay to come here. Hopefully she had found her.
Lindsay rolls up in the car and sure enough the cougar had been caged. They were both laughing hysterically. When I got to the car I looked down and she had a United Airlines blanket wrapped around her waist. Apparently some guy ran back to his car and gave it to her. He later saw her running up and down the trail looking for me. His exact words were "Oh, good job. You are going to finish your run."
Teressa was in shock at how many people had been on the trail. "Bloody HELL. There were couples, baby joggers, dog walkers FRICKEN HECK! I just said "Hi" and pretended nothing was wrong. It wasn't until some man offered me some help by getting this blanket." Then she proceded to talk about how cute the blanket was with her top LOL!!! You should have seen how she had it on. It looked taylored!
The only thing left was to get the scoop on why she had taken her bottoms off. Well, she did have stomach problems and went to use a Port-A-potty but, well, just didn't get there fast enough. DOOH! Don't laugh, we have all been there. When she saw the creek she thought "Oh I can just walk down and rinse them out." While in the process of this some man said hi to her and she freaked and dropped them and the current took them away. I guess this actually leads to another question. "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUMP IN AFTER THEM!!!!" With my little Cougar, we may never know.
Fear not Boulderites. The 1/2 Naked Cougar spotted in South Boulder has been caught and transferred to Seattle for the next week. She will be released back into the Boulder wildlife for another two months when she returns so make sure you keep on the lookout!
P.S.- In order for me to get permission to tell this story I had to ad that I am the only one that gets to call her "Cougar". All others must refer to her as Kitten.
Cheers,
bdc
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Hawaii 70.3 HONU Race Report 2008
Well the first race of the season is under my belt and I have some really good information on where I stand physically and mentally. I had two goals for this race which were to grab a Kona slot and not get chicked. I know that sounds a bit lame but there were some top notch females in the race and I felt that if I could hold them off, my day wouldn't be too bad. However, as you will see, both goals were just barley met!
The week leading into the race did not consist of much. My training had just started to come around and I didn't want to do anyting the week leading up that would make me tired. The mind set was still focused on health and not doing anything that was going to upset my foot. The race would be enough.
The days leading into the race were really windy down by Hapuna Beach. I wasn't too excited about that because I knew deep down that a windy day for me was going to be a hard day. Granted, all windy days are hard, but I knew where my bike strenght was and for me to ride strong I was going to need a calm day with favorable winds. Race morning was anything but that.
I had to accept what I was in for and try and go at this with a positive attitude. I had been swimming much better lately and thought I might be in the position for one of my all time top swims. Unfortunately that did not happen and the swim was in many ways a wash. The race changed its venue to a deep water start rather than a beach run in because last year certain people decided to run along the beach and cheat. Stuff like that just gets me. Anyway, the set up was that all swimmers needed to be between two orange bouys. I decided to line up towards the deepest one to avoid the merge of people as much as possible. The problem was that all swimmers on the line were shooting for one bouy that was about 600 meters away and then will have to make a 90 degree turn. With the Hawaii IM start you have such a long way to go before you merge that things thin out a bit. This was looking like it was going to be pure chaos.
It actually got worse before the gun. It seemed that more and more people were coming over to the section that I was in. The pro filed was over here as well and they kept inching forward. To be fair, the current was pulling us all past the line and the swim crew kept trying to push us back. I of course decided to grab the bouy so I would stop drifting. That was dumb. I should have stayed on the front line and just got yelled at like everyone else. There were several people with surf boards and a guy on a jet ski right in front of us screaming that they would not start the race until people got back. There was no way that the race would start with this entire section blocked by officials. "BANG!"
I couldn't believe the race gun just went off. I was about two rows back and had a jet ski right in front of me. I got stuck so far back and was getting kicked and whacked more than I ever had in any triathlon. It was so bad that it was just stupid! There wasn't a damn thing I could do. When we got to the first buoy I thought I might have a chance to get out of it. But no, I was with people that felt a break was needed when they hit the buoy. I stoped being nice and started pushing people under. I was the jerk grabbing legs and heads and literally crawling over you. Even that didn't work. I was just stuck. The swim was going to be a write off at this point. I just put my head down and smacked feet for the rest of the way. It felt like we were going so slow. It was like a Dave Scott workout on a hot summer day!
At least I wasn't expending that much energy on the swim. When I finally got out of the water the time was a high 28 min. Bad but not horrific. When I saw some of the people that I came out of the water with I knew that it was most likely that way for everyone unless of course you can swim sub 26 min. I don't care that much about my swim times though. They are what they are...
The run to T1 is a bit long and up a decent hill. It is best that you don't run up it like Carl Lewis. Of course some people do and it just makes me smile.....well laugh. Another thing that makes me laugh is my transition times! What the hell was I doing? I must have sat down and had a coffee or something as I checked them against other peoples and I was 2 min slower than everyone. TWO MIN!!! That is so lame. At least I know I have some "free speed" for my next race. That could have moved me up a few places overall in the race.
Once out on the bike I tried to find a rhythm. Ben Cotter and Mike Montgomery were in T1 with me and I know that both of them are very strong riders. I wanted to see if I could keep them in site. That so did not happen. I did move up a bit but then we turned around to head up towards Hawi and the wind was taking it's toll on me. I actually got passed by quite a few people on the bike. There was a group ahead of me that I figured had Sam McGlone in it and I couldn't make any ground on them to save my life. Johnathin Toker passed me on the climb as if I was standing still. I think I have ridden longer and harder in training rides. But none the less it was where I was at. I thought that I would get a break when we turned back down but it seemed that we only got a brief tail wind and then it was back to a cross wind. I just wanted off the climb at that point.
When we got back on the Queen K I was passed by a good number of people including a female pro. But wait it gets better. I couldn't even sit legal and keep up with her LOL! Mitch and a bunch of others rolled by too. I was now getting a bit discouraged. Even if I could pull off a good run I was now pretty far back. I think there was a bit of concern on my part about the run as last year it was my slowest run in my entire triathlon endeavor. This was going to suck if we had a repeat of that.
When I finally made it to T2 and got off the bike the legs felt like I rode all out. My quads were heavy and running through T2 was not pretty. I had a really hard time finding my rack number and had to stop and get someone to find it for me. I was in super lame mode at this point. But none the less the shoes went on and off I went.
Mitch was stepping out of the porta potty as I ran by and he said something to me. I think he wanted me to run with him but the way things were going I needed all the time I could get and just ran off. I had my Garmin 305 on for the first time and the damn thing didn't pick up the satellite until about 2 miles into the run. Part of the reason I am not a gadget guy is that when they don't work it frustrates the hell out of me and causes my mind to think about things other than running. My goal on the run is to get to that point of ultimate discomfort as fast as possible so that I can acclimate to the feeling. One of the keys to running fast for me is to get as uncomfortable as possible and then bank on my fitness to tolerate it. If you are in shape then each mile should feel a bit better and you can push the level of discomfort. Hence my ability to run negative splits on the run. I don't recommend that in an IM though...It doesn't work!
I achieved that level of discomfort from step one and when the watch finally kicked in I couldn't believe how slow my pace was for the perceived effort I was putting out. There was still a part of me holding back though because I really didn't want to bonk on this course like I did last year. I just kept focusing on the next person in front of me and roped them in. It wasn't until some guy with a 43 on his leg passed me that the fire really got lit. I know I wasn't having my best day but I rarely get passed on a run and to have it be by some 43 year old guy was just not gonna happen. Not that 43 year old guys can't run.....
He was moving at a good clip when I caught back up to him but I could tell by the way that he was breathing that he had bitten off way more than he could chew with his pace. I used him for a bit to get my own pace up and then took off. I saw the pace on my watch start to drop and began to feel the best I felt all day. I was now on parts of the course that was pure hell to me last year. Feeling good at that point was the green light to turn it on. I had about 3 miles to go and I was able to drop sub 6's for all of them. My last mile and a 1/2 felt really good. I now had people insight that I thougth were out of my reach. Sam and Jonathin Toker were two of them. I really did not want to get beat by Sam today and knew that JT was in my age group. At this point it wasn't a matter of "Can I?", It was a matter of "Do you want it bad enough?" My body wasn't going to fail but it would be hard to convince the mind to go to a place that is that uncomfortable. I didn't have much time left so I really had to treat this like I was in a 5K road race.
I passed 2 others on my way up to them, all of which were in my own age group, and then saw Sam take off away from JT. There were two aid stations left and I had to blow them all. In fact, I should mention that this race was somehow done on almost nothing. I had a Power Gel before the swim and on the bike I had one Gel and a bottle of sports drink with a few chugs of water. I think the wind was one of the main things that prevented me from getting more. But on the run all I had was coke at every other aid station. I had JT's salt stick pills with me and never took any and only had a sip of water. Not sure why, but I never felt like I needed anything. So by this point skipping an aid station was no biggie.
I didn't catch Sam until the last 400 meters. As I ran in I could hear "And here she is. Defending champion....". All I wanted was to get to the finish and get out of there. I felt like a dick passing her at the end and didn't want to be in the way of her glory moment LOL. None the less my fast last 1/2 got me my Kona slot. I would have been about 4th in my age had I not got motivated to pick it up. I didn't win but finished second and luckily first place was from Hawaii so he got an island slot and I got the international one. His name is Flanagan and he swam something crazy like 23 min. I think he went to the Olympics for swimming. Anyway, he and I were on the bus to the airport and he said this was his first 1/2 and that Kona will be his first full. I think you will see something special by him on his first go at it.....just a hunch.
It was a great trip and if you look at the results our entire crew there took a good number of the Kona slots! Ben Cotter (25-29) Myself (30-34) Mike Montgomery (35-39) Mark Peitrofessa (40-45) Scott Davis (40-45) Linea Alford (35-39)
Great job to all that raced!
The week leading into the race did not consist of much. My training had just started to come around and I didn't want to do anyting the week leading up that would make me tired. The mind set was still focused on health and not doing anything that was going to upset my foot. The race would be enough.
The days leading into the race were really windy down by Hapuna Beach. I wasn't too excited about that because I knew deep down that a windy day for me was going to be a hard day. Granted, all windy days are hard, but I knew where my bike strenght was and for me to ride strong I was going to need a calm day with favorable winds. Race morning was anything but that.
I had to accept what I was in for and try and go at this with a positive attitude. I had been swimming much better lately and thought I might be in the position for one of my all time top swims. Unfortunately that did not happen and the swim was in many ways a wash. The race changed its venue to a deep water start rather than a beach run in because last year certain people decided to run along the beach and cheat. Stuff like that just gets me. Anyway, the set up was that all swimmers needed to be between two orange bouys. I decided to line up towards the deepest one to avoid the merge of people as much as possible. The problem was that all swimmers on the line were shooting for one bouy that was about 600 meters away and then will have to make a 90 degree turn. With the Hawaii IM start you have such a long way to go before you merge that things thin out a bit. This was looking like it was going to be pure chaos.
It actually got worse before the gun. It seemed that more and more people were coming over to the section that I was in. The pro filed was over here as well and they kept inching forward. To be fair, the current was pulling us all past the line and the swim crew kept trying to push us back. I of course decided to grab the bouy so I would stop drifting. That was dumb. I should have stayed on the front line and just got yelled at like everyone else. There were several people with surf boards and a guy on a jet ski right in front of us screaming that they would not start the race until people got back. There was no way that the race would start with this entire section blocked by officials. "BANG!"
I couldn't believe the race gun just went off. I was about two rows back and had a jet ski right in front of me. I got stuck so far back and was getting kicked and whacked more than I ever had in any triathlon. It was so bad that it was just stupid! There wasn't a damn thing I could do. When we got to the first buoy I thought I might have a chance to get out of it. But no, I was with people that felt a break was needed when they hit the buoy. I stoped being nice and started pushing people under. I was the jerk grabbing legs and heads and literally crawling over you. Even that didn't work. I was just stuck. The swim was going to be a write off at this point. I just put my head down and smacked feet for the rest of the way. It felt like we were going so slow. It was like a Dave Scott workout on a hot summer day!
At least I wasn't expending that much energy on the swim. When I finally got out of the water the time was a high 28 min. Bad but not horrific. When I saw some of the people that I came out of the water with I knew that it was most likely that way for everyone unless of course you can swim sub 26 min. I don't care that much about my swim times though. They are what they are...
The run to T1 is a bit long and up a decent hill. It is best that you don't run up it like Carl Lewis. Of course some people do and it just makes me smile.....well laugh. Another thing that makes me laugh is my transition times! What the hell was I doing? I must have sat down and had a coffee or something as I checked them against other peoples and I was 2 min slower than everyone. TWO MIN!!! That is so lame. At least I know I have some "free speed" for my next race. That could have moved me up a few places overall in the race.
Once out on the bike I tried to find a rhythm. Ben Cotter and Mike Montgomery were in T1 with me and I know that both of them are very strong riders. I wanted to see if I could keep them in site. That so did not happen. I did move up a bit but then we turned around to head up towards Hawi and the wind was taking it's toll on me. I actually got passed by quite a few people on the bike. There was a group ahead of me that I figured had Sam McGlone in it and I couldn't make any ground on them to save my life. Johnathin Toker passed me on the climb as if I was standing still. I think I have ridden longer and harder in training rides. But none the less it was where I was at. I thought that I would get a break when we turned back down but it seemed that we only got a brief tail wind and then it was back to a cross wind. I just wanted off the climb at that point.
When we got back on the Queen K I was passed by a good number of people including a female pro. But wait it gets better. I couldn't even sit legal and keep up with her LOL! Mitch and a bunch of others rolled by too. I was now getting a bit discouraged. Even if I could pull off a good run I was now pretty far back. I think there was a bit of concern on my part about the run as last year it was my slowest run in my entire triathlon endeavor. This was going to suck if we had a repeat of that.
When I finally made it to T2 and got off the bike the legs felt like I rode all out. My quads were heavy and running through T2 was not pretty. I had a really hard time finding my rack number and had to stop and get someone to find it for me. I was in super lame mode at this point. But none the less the shoes went on and off I went.
Mitch was stepping out of the porta potty as I ran by and he said something to me. I think he wanted me to run with him but the way things were going I needed all the time I could get and just ran off. I had my Garmin 305 on for the first time and the damn thing didn't pick up the satellite until about 2 miles into the run. Part of the reason I am not a gadget guy is that when they don't work it frustrates the hell out of me and causes my mind to think about things other than running. My goal on the run is to get to that point of ultimate discomfort as fast as possible so that I can acclimate to the feeling. One of the keys to running fast for me is to get as uncomfortable as possible and then bank on my fitness to tolerate it. If you are in shape then each mile should feel a bit better and you can push the level of discomfort. Hence my ability to run negative splits on the run. I don't recommend that in an IM though...It doesn't work!
I achieved that level of discomfort from step one and when the watch finally kicked in I couldn't believe how slow my pace was for the perceived effort I was putting out. There was still a part of me holding back though because I really didn't want to bonk on this course like I did last year. I just kept focusing on the next person in front of me and roped them in. It wasn't until some guy with a 43 on his leg passed me that the fire really got lit. I know I wasn't having my best day but I rarely get passed on a run and to have it be by some 43 year old guy was just not gonna happen. Not that 43 year old guys can't run.....
He was moving at a good clip when I caught back up to him but I could tell by the way that he was breathing that he had bitten off way more than he could chew with his pace. I used him for a bit to get my own pace up and then took off. I saw the pace on my watch start to drop and began to feel the best I felt all day. I was now on parts of the course that was pure hell to me last year. Feeling good at that point was the green light to turn it on. I had about 3 miles to go and I was able to drop sub 6's for all of them. My last mile and a 1/2 felt really good. I now had people insight that I thougth were out of my reach. Sam and Jonathin Toker were two of them. I really did not want to get beat by Sam today and knew that JT was in my age group. At this point it wasn't a matter of "Can I?", It was a matter of "Do you want it bad enough?" My body wasn't going to fail but it would be hard to convince the mind to go to a place that is that uncomfortable. I didn't have much time left so I really had to treat this like I was in a 5K road race.
I passed 2 others on my way up to them, all of which were in my own age group, and then saw Sam take off away from JT. There were two aid stations left and I had to blow them all. In fact, I should mention that this race was somehow done on almost nothing. I had a Power Gel before the swim and on the bike I had one Gel and a bottle of sports drink with a few chugs of water. I think the wind was one of the main things that prevented me from getting more. But on the run all I had was coke at every other aid station. I had JT's salt stick pills with me and never took any and only had a sip of water. Not sure why, but I never felt like I needed anything. So by this point skipping an aid station was no biggie.
I didn't catch Sam until the last 400 meters. As I ran in I could hear "And here she is. Defending champion....". All I wanted was to get to the finish and get out of there. I felt like a dick passing her at the end and didn't want to be in the way of her glory moment LOL. None the less my fast last 1/2 got me my Kona slot. I would have been about 4th in my age had I not got motivated to pick it up. I didn't win but finished second and luckily first place was from Hawaii so he got an island slot and I got the international one. His name is Flanagan and he swam something crazy like 23 min. I think he went to the Olympics for swimming. Anyway, he and I were on the bus to the airport and he said this was his first 1/2 and that Kona will be his first full. I think you will see something special by him on his first go at it.....just a hunch.
It was a great trip and if you look at the results our entire crew there took a good number of the Kona slots! Ben Cotter (25-29) Myself (30-34) Mike Montgomery (35-39) Mark Peitrofessa (40-45) Scott Davis (40-45) Linea Alford (35-39)
Great job to all that raced!
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