Team work

Me: "Hey, it's nice to see everyone again."
You: "Yeah, it sure is nice you finally decided to return to your blog and start blogging again..."
Me: "Shut up, I have been busy."
You: "Sure you have, if you are busy now, how do you expect to blog when you are in full on ironman training next year!?"
Me: "That is a good question... you will just have to wait and see!"
You: "I've been waiting more than 2 months since you last posted!"
Me: "I know, I know... hang in there though I promise I will update more. But I am not going to promise grammatical accuracy!"

Welcome back to my journey! As you can probably tell, I haven't been on here much lately. Sitting in front of a computer for 9+ hours a day at the office does not make me all that enthusiastic about coming home and getting back on the computer to blog for the better part of 30 minutes. Now if I could only make a billing group for blogging to bill my time at the office... Not going to happen.

It is not that I have had nothing to blog about. Actually I have had lots of things to blog about since I last posted. Most importantly being signing up for Ironman Wisconsin 2012, joining the Endurance House Becoming an Ironman Team, and starting my pretraining training this week. It is finally time to put the pedal to the metal and get back in the swing of training.

The team seems like it is going to be pretty cool. Right now we are just focusing on core strength (which pairs well with my physical therapy on my right hip flexor, the one that was causing me ALL that pain earlier in the year) and doing small amounts of swimming, biking, and running. Oh yeah, I am running again, though I feel like an old man since I have to do my 5 minute walk warm up, then stretch for 5 minutes, then run at a super slow pace. Nonetheless, I am running again and it feels good.

Our first team meeting was more or less a meet and greet a few weeks ago where the coaches introduced themselves and gave us a run through of what we could expect. One of the coaches and co-owners of Endurance, Jamie Osbourne, said it best when describing what we would be going through in the next year, "They don't call it Easyman... They call it Ironman." I thought that was really appropriate and reminded me of an old marching band slogan, "If it was easy, anyone could do it." It all boils down to working hard to be rewarded at the end for putting in the hours of preparation.

There will be various group workshops (monthly) and group workouts (at least once a week) that are part of the team. The first group workshop is in 2 weeks and focuses on core strength. I am always looking for different core exercises. There seem to be an endless array of ways to strengthen your core, and I feel that the more of them you know, the more you will do, and the better off you will be. I have finally started focusing more on my core strength as a result of the PT I am doing, and I really feel like it is paying off. I have had much less back pain than before and I just feel more stable in my core. I need to make sure that I continue to work my core even when I am doing 20 hour workout weeks when the last thing I want to do after a 6 hour bike ride is planks or whatever crazy exercise I learn between now and then.

Being part of the team we get a lot of "free" perks. I use "free" since we paid for the team, but they are still sweet perks. I just picked up my team shirt tonight and it is a really nice long sleeve wicking shirt. I will also be getting a Endurance House tri top and shorts for being on the team.

Last thing, real quick. Check out the bike I will be getting before the end of the year. Laura will be getting the exact same model, but in the women's specific (basically girly colors and a female saddle). I can't wait to mount this baby up and get out on the road!

Speed Concept 7.8. Beautiful. Can't wait. Hell yeah!

Landscaping vs. Training

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since the Chisago Lakes Half and I have yet to do a swim, bike, or run workout. I was planning in getting a few workouts in this week, but it has just been too crazy between work, Laura's birthday, and helping with the planning for this weekends wedding in hell, I mean Devil's Head (don't ask unless you want a long story...).

I have, however, been going to town on landscaping the past 2 weeks. Laura and I had effectively forgotten that flowers and much look nice in your yard to this point as we had been busy training and everything else. Last weekend we planted 23 potted plants (perennials, yes!) and got two truckloads of free City of Madison mulch. All the pots were planted in the front yard last weekend and I started on the back yard this weekend.

The back yard needed/still needs a lot of work. But hey the veggie garden looks damn good so I got that going for me. The picture is what I did today and last night. There was only grass next to the deck  before for reference so I was busy.

Anyways I thought it would be funny to highlight differences between training and landscaping.

- Drinking beer while landscaping will not get you killed.
- I still sweat and stink regardless of whether I'm training or landscaping.
- Being covered in gnats after a sweaty bike ride is only slightly more gross than all the dirt I seem to accumulate in the weirdest places when in the yard.
- Miley can help in the yard!
- People don't look at you like your crazy if you spent the entire day landscaping.
- Once the yard work is done I don't have to wake up again the next morning at 5am and do it again.
- Training makes me healthier, landscaping just ruins my back.
- Drivers don't hate landscapers when they are landscaping down the shoulder of the highway and obeying all rules of the road. Stupid drivers...
- Spandex is not a frowned upon when out biking or running.

That's all I got for now. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

By the way, Laura and I are signing up for the Endurance House 2012 Ironman Team tomorrow. Should be cool. I'll update later.

2011 Chisago Lakes Race Report Part II

I realized after publishing Part I that I didn't even post my times for the swim and T1! Here they are official (race chip) and unofficial (my watch minus the toilet stop still on my official swim time):

Swim: 41:24.7 (official) / 40:04.9 (my watch)
T1: 2:32.6 (official) 3:54.3 (my watch)

So there it is. My official pee time was 1:32! Holy crap that was a long time.

Anyways, here is the rest of the race report, enjoy!

Bike
After I manage to clip into my pedals after what seemed like 10 tries at the "mount-line" I head off on the bike course. The first quarter mile of the course is weird in that you have to cross over a grass area to get to the paved path, then go through a tunnel underpass, and then take a hard left to get onto a real road. I didn't realize this was a cyclocross half-ironman. Anyways, it was cloudy and kind of cool for most of the bike ride. There were times were I actually wished I had a long sleeve shirt on to warm up. I ate three cliff blocks right away on the course, which was better than trying to stomach a whole cliff bar which I tried to do last year (gave me GI problems later in the bike).

Like I mentioned before, there were a lot of people doing this race. This fact seemed even more exacerbated during the first 20 miles of the bike course. From 0-20 miles all of the sprint and half racers are all together. It is very easy to tell who is doing the sprint (25 miles) and half (56 miles) by the way that person is approaching the first 20 miles of the bike until the sprint/half split. If you are doing the half (and not trying to win the race) you are most likely trying to get your legs warmed up and not hammer away. The sprinters on the other hand are like a bunch of bats out of hell and ride without regard for anyone else on the course. This is very annoying when you are trying to get into a nice rhythm and keep a straight line only to be cut off by someone weaving in and out of all the bike traffic. Not safe. To further this point, this event is supposedly USAT sanctioned. I did not see one course marshal on the bike course. There were tons of people out there that should have had time penalties added to their overall times. You are not supposed to ride in groups or draft, and this rule was very  much lost on a lot of racers.

Mile 20 was the split from the sprint racers (thank God...) and the first of three bottle exchanges. They only had one bottle exchange on the bike in 2010, and I really liked the fact that they had three this year. It is pretty slick, the volunteers have full bottles and will run along side of you to hand you one. I can only imagine how beat they were after having to do hundreds of 50 meter sprints to hand over bottles to triathletes who then gulp the water, dump it on their heads, and throw the bottles to the ground. Thanks for you support volunteers it was not in vain! The split was a left turn directly into the wind. Not what I expected at all.

The rest of the bike course was ok. The course itself was different from the previous year, and it seemed like they took 10 miles of good roads and replaced it with 10 miles of pot holes and poorly patched asphalt. It is so psychologically draining to be riding on the crappy roads. You continue pushing the same cadence and effort, but your average speed drops by 2-3 mph. It is very frustrating.

The biggest hurdle I encountered during the bike was back pain. Right around mile 37 after turning a corner to climb a slight hill is when my back really started to hurt. I attribute it to being in the aero position for all that time and not doing enough core exercises to help stabilize my back when riding like that. This was one of this things I learned after this race: DO SITUPS AND CORE WORK!!! It was really painful at times, and just annoying at others. The worst part was that it forced me to get out of the aero position and sit upright. I can't say how much time this added or how much extra energy I had to use, but I am sure it was not insignificant.

My nutrition was pretty good on the bike, I did start taking blocks every 20-25 minutes after mile 40. The original plan was to eat every 30 minutes, but I had to change it to accommodate what my body was telling me. I had plenty of food with me so it was not an issue. I do get tired of eating those blocks after a while...

The course was marked with a cone at every mile. Yes, every mile of the 56 mile bike course had a number for it. I went from being indifferent, to annoyed, back to indifferent, and finally just plain pissed that every mile I was seeing where I was. The final few miles seemed to drag on forever, but I was super excited to make the sharp left turn to go back under the tunnel, through the grass, and into transition.

Bike times: 2:54:0.3 Pace: 19.3 mph

I was very happy with this bike split. Especially after the crappy stretches of road and the back pain. If I had better roads and a better back, I think I might be able to crank our an average over 20mph.

T2
After I got off my bike at the dismount line and worked my way back through the labyrinth like transition area to my spot, I proceeded to waste all sorts of time. I don't know what in the world I was doing in transition, but it should not take 3:03.9 to rack your bike, switch shoes, and put on a visor, race belt, and fuel belt. I think I must have been trying to buy time before the impending run...

Run
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was very concerned about the run. I felt decent getting out of transition and starting the course. My first 2 or 3 miles seemed to go by pretty fast. I was averaging about 9:30/miles during my 4 minute run portions and was having no groin pain. Plus I got to see Mom, Dad, and Miley at mile 2 and Dan around mile 2.5. That was a huge boost.

Then my groin started getting tight, and my pace quickly slowed. The first 3 miles of so of the run are on residential streets and through residential neighborhoods, which are great. The families are out to support the runners and there are trees to provide shade. From mile 3-6, the course follows the shoulder of a highway that seems to be either going up a hill or down a hill the whole time. The hills aren't super steep, but they are continuous. And remember all that great shade in the residential neighborhoods? Gone. I might as well have been running in the Sahara (Okay, it wasn't that bad, but still who designed the course?!).

The whole time I am on the rolley highway from hell my pace has dropped significantly and I am averaging around 10:30-11:00/mile pace. There were times when I wanted to quit because I knew I wasn't going to be anywhere close to matching or beating my time from last year. I had to tell myself that it was about finishing this year and not to be in a rush. It is hard when you have expectations and you know you are not going to meet them. So much of endurance training and racing is mental. You have to know when to just tell your brain to shut up and keep moving your legs.

The turn around for the run came and went, slowly... I did see Laura at around mile 8 or so and her knees had started hurting pretty bad so that was killing her run time too. She was about 15 minutes behind me. Most of the water stations had ice and I generously helped myself to it. I saw Mom, Dad, Miley, and Dan again a couple times on the way back. By mile 10 my back was hurting from the run too. Again do situps and core exercises.

By mile 12 I knew the end was near and I was trying to summon everything I could think of to get going a little faster. I eventually started singing On Wisconsin in my head. This transitioned into going through a whole pregame show in my head (no park and blow though, for those of you who know what I am talking about, I couldn't think of any tunes). It was making me pretty emotional going through On Wisconsin and Wisconsin Forward Forever. Eventually I started On Wisconsin Finale. That almost put me over the edge emotionally. It is really weird how your body reacts to emotions when it has been pushed so far physically. But, the good thing about doing all of this was that it got my adrenaline pumping, made my groin pain disappear, and actually made me run faster.

I rounded the final corner in the residential area to see the park down the street on the right. I saw Dad and Dan again as I ran through the final chute. I ditched my fuel belt as I ran up the final hill in the park (bogus by the way to put a hill right at the finish) and crossed the finish line. I was very relieved to be done. All I wanted to do now was walk around, cool down, and get some food.

Run time was 2:20:50.7 for a pace of 10:45/miles which was far and away my slowest half marathon time. Hopefully, I won't ever have to run on a bum groin again.

My overall time was 6:01:52.3. I was hoping to at least break 6 hours, but it was not in the cards. I did get the experience of having to push through the pain and doing the 70.3 distance again.

Laura finished 6:16:58 and was just glad to be done like I was.

 Laura finishing the race.

Both of us after the race, probably complaining about the roads on the bike.

Miley being in hog heaven with all the salty sweat left on my legs after the race.

We both agreed that next year we are going to do a different 70.3 race. Door County and IM Racine 70.3 are the weekend before Chisago Lakes next year and those both get good reviews. The 10 miles or so of beat up roads on the bike, the poorly laid out run course, and the general organization and professionalism of the overall race including the lack of USAT official presence are the main reasons I will not be doing the race again. However, the entry fee, centrally located transition/race area, and the scenic bike course are good points to the race. It was a good introductory race for me, but I think I am at the point where I want a well run and well organized professional quality race.

I took this last week off from training to catch up on yard work, the garden, and sleep. Some training will be done this week with the idea of getting base work in for Ironman. Laura and I will be signing up for the Endurance House Ironman Team later this week so that will be exciting/terrifying.

Ironman Wisconsin signup is Monday September 12... Getting closer everyday.

2011 Chisago Lakes Race Report Part I

Well, I made it through the race. I was telling people afterward Sunday that I had 2/3 of a good race. I was really happy with my swim and bike times. The other 1/3 being the run was sad. I have never run a half marathon that slow. Overall there were some good things and some bad things I experienced at the event itself. After doing it two years in a row, I will be looking at either the Door County half or Racine 70.3 for next year.

Sunday Morning
We got up around 4:15 on Sunday morning, after about 5 hours of total sleep time. There were storms and fireworks rolling through the Twin Cities area Saturday night into Sunday morning, so Miley was anxious, which made Laura and I not sleep well. We had our breakfast, I had my coffee, dropped Miley off with Mom, Dad, and Dan, and packed up the car for the race site. I always like driving to events at 5:30 am, because you know all the other yahoos you see out with bikes on their cars are going the same place you are. It is kind of like a masochistic migration.

Pulling into Chisago City, we parked at the same bank as last year about 2 blocks from the transition area in Paradise Park. At first it looked like we were way behind schedule, but there were just a lot more racers this year. I think the total number of entrants was around 1700. This was boosted by the fact that the race was picked as Minnesota Long Distance Championship event for the year. We got the bikes off the car, pumped up the tires, lubed the chains, and saddled up to get to the transition area.

Transition was buzzing by 6:15 when we pulled in. I felt a little rushed. Laura and I were next to each other in transition (as an aside, I really liked how transition and waves were set up by age group at the Capitol View Olympic race, for this one it was seemingly based on when you signed up. Not that I dont like being by Laura, but it is just kind of weird.). Laura realized she didn't have her chip when we were packing up the night before, but it was waiting for her in her spot. Thanks to Midwest Sports Events for that.

I had enough room in transition, which is an anomaly. After I got all my gear set up how I wanted, it was time to apply the body glide and sunscreen, and move toward the porta-potties for the pre-race nervous poops. As usual at any event, there were not enough toilets. So, I waited for 5 minutes or so to take a nervous poop.

The lake looked like an image straight out of a horror flick. The rain and cold front from the night before made this eery fog over the water, and made it impossible to see the bouys. The race director held off the start for about 10 or 15 minutes, but it didn't help. So here I am waiting in the beach with the rest of wave 10 staring out into the fog, waiting for the countdown to get into the water. It's go time.

Swim
I got into the water with Laura and the rest of my wave. It felt pretty good. It wasn't to warm or too cold. The horn went off and I started a slow run until I dove in and started swimming. I always laugh at the people who do the dolphin dive several times in the water before they finally start swimming. Does it really give you that much of advantage to expel that much energy in the first 15 seconds of an hours long race? I don't think so.

I started getting into a groove in the water, but the hardest part was that I couldn't see a damn thing! The fog was impossible to see through. I would have loved to have a GPS unit to see my path along the course, it would have been a crazy zig-zag across the lake and back. The swim was a straight line out and back. I felt like I kept going from the bouys on my left to the guards on my right over and over again. I wouldn't be surprised if I added on at least another 100 or 200 yards to my swim time.

Luckily this year, I didn't try to drink the entire lake in one gulp. I had that going for me. One problem was that I had to pee like a race horse. If you have every worn a wetsuit you know that they are made to be very form fitting. They make it really difficult to pee. Not to mention that trying to pee while still swimming is not easy. So about the time I got to the turnaround, I really had to go. Last year I was able to, somehow pee in the water while swimming. This year not so much. My plan became to hit the porta-potty after getting out of the water.

T1
I hit the beach, and see Laura about 10-15 seconds ahead of me on the beach. My plan is in full effect to hit the porta-john, but first, to have the wetsuit strippers strip this beast off of me. If you have the chance to use wetsuit strippers at a race do it. They are so awesome. You get your wetsuit to your waist. They say lay down, lean back, and pull it right off of you. So much better than doing the weird dance to get the slippery form fitting eel off of your legs in transition.

I grab my wetsuit and run toward the toilet. I throw the wetsuit on the ground and get inside not locking it figuring no one will be peeing now. I thought this was going to be a normal pee, but I must have drained 5 gallons of water from my body because it felt like I was in there for 5 minutes. Oh yeah, and some lady walked in on me. Oops.

The worst part about my now epic pee plan was that the toilet was before the timing mat! So my swim time was 1.5 minutes longer than it actually was! Bogus. Luckily, I did my own splits and didn't have to rely on the chip. Still bogus. I ran up the hill after losing 5 pounds of water weight to get on the bike.

I saw Laura back at the bikes as she was heading out, and you will not believe what she told me! I tell her how epic my pee was and she says, "yeah, I just popped a squat next to my bike and peed on the grass." I about died laughing, and am still laughing about it now as I type. Major props to Laura for peeing in the grass in transition with no regard to anyone else. Way to go honey! I love you even more for not caring who sees you pee on the grass!

All my gear on, I ran my way through the maze of transition and out to the bike mount area. Hop awkwardly onto my bike and start the 56 mile ride...

I'll finish up the bike, T2, run, and post race info in another post later this week. Enjoy this tidbit for now. Hopefully too, I should have some pictures from Dan and Dad to post along with the rest.

Chisago Lakes Half Pre Race do nothing night

We made it! After a long car ride from Madison today, by way of Sauk City for lunch (subway), somewhere along I-94 for gas and bathroom, Turtle Lake for food (country, and I mean country supermarket) and a site visit (work), and the race site in Chisago City on the shores of Chisago Lake for packet pickup, we checked in to the Homewood Suites in New Brighton, MN.

Miley made the trip with us and will be cheering us along tomorrow in addition to my parents and brother. They will all be staying at the hotel in the room next to us.  Laura and I are both super excited to have people that we KNOW cheering for us this year! It makes a huge difference.

It has been 18 weeks worth of training, and I don't feel as prepared as I did last year. But having the experience of completing this distance last year gives me a mental leg up. Various factors played into being less prepared, but mostly it was having more non-triathlon commitments and responsibilities taking up more time. Life happens. It makes me realize how important it is to have everything in place work/life/otherwise when doing this sort of training. There are only 24 hours in the day and at least 8 of them need to be used for sleep for me to be effective.

It will  be interesting to compare to last years times since the weather will be nearly identical if a little cooler this year. The run is what scares me a little bit. Again, I have the experience of running the distance, but my longest run this year has been only 7 miles. That was in Colorado back in May. Since then my longest run has been 5 miles over 4th of July. I am banking on everything being all warmed up and ready to go (slowly) and not have any pain. Laura and I both do a run/walk technique when running. 4 minutes running and 1 minute walking. It helps break up the monotony of the run, and helps keep my legs fresh. Hopefully that little bit of rest will help my groin.

I am anticipating my run split to be around 2 hours 10 minutes.

Here are my splits from last year at this race:
Swim: 41:04.9 Pace: 2:07/100 yards
T1: 1:56.6
Bike: 2:58:42 Pace: 18.8 mph
T2: 1:28.7
Run: 2:02:39.6 Pace 9:21/mile
Overall: 5:45:52.1 

I feel really good about my swim and bike, and hope that I can beat the times from last year. I should be able to break 40 on the swim based on my pace from the Capitol View Olympic (1:38/100 yards). If I can average 1:45/100 yards on the swim that would be sweet. If I can average 19mph on the bike that would drop my bike time down to 2 hours 56 minutes. Not a huge gain, but still appreciable. If I can go faster, even better. It is possible since the Capitol View bike course was much hillier and I was average 19.2 on that course. The Chisago Lakes course is super flat and fast with some nice downhill sections. Again, the run is what scares me...

It is about time to start cooking up some pasta and chicken breast for our pre race dinner. I made some fresh pesto with basil bought this morning at the Dane County Farmers Market, which is going to be delicious. After that, Mom, Dad, and Dan should be getting in around 8 or so, hang out until 9, walk the dog and go to bed. Up at 4 for a hearty breakfast and onto the race.

I will post a race report after tomorrow so look for that! I promise it won't take for ever!

Getting back on the wagon

After nearly 2 months of not blogging it is finally time to get back at it. This is not going to be a world changing post or anything so don't get your hopes up. But it will (hopefully) be a good start at getting going again.

So much has happened the the last 2 months so I can't even begin to go through it all now, but suffice it to say I have been busy. Between a trip to Colorado, being an usher in my good friend Ryan's wedding, helping Laura with her weddings, work, and training I have not had much free time to blog.

At present Laura and I are less than 5 weeks away from the Chisago Lakes Half Ironman on July 24. Our training is currently in the "build" phase so we are packing on miles and doing speedwork to make us faster. I have not been running much the last 3 weeks or so due to a groin injury. I was able to run a 10k at the Capital View Olympic Triathlon 2 weekends ago (race report to follow) and for 20 minutes on Sunday for a brick. I was definitely taking it easy and it helped that both times I was warmed up from a bike ride before. It is really frustrating to not be running, but it is probably the best thing to be doing along with icing at this point. I have never had an injury like this during training where I am almost entirely unable to do one of the three tri disciplines. Hopefully it will teach me something and make me faster in the water and on the bike.

One big gripe. THE RAIN! Is it ever going to be consistently nice or will Madison soon be the Midwestern Seattle? Seriously, stop raining mother nature I have had enough.

Happy Wednesday! It's almost Friday! Until next time...

One quick plug... if you are in Madison this weekend stop by Endurance House for a sweet sale on running, swimming, biking, and tri gear. They have a lot of great stuff. Laura and I will be buying new bike helmets for each other as anniversary gifts. How romantic right?

Yet another reason why smart phones are the sh!t!

I am waiting in the dressing room area of the Limited while Laura tries on some clothes. Yes smartphones are awesome! What an exceptional way to pass the time!

I have been (really) slacking in the blogging department the past two weeks. I blame it on more work, increasing workout load, and computer fatigue. Sorry but the last thing I want to do after sitting and staring at a screen all day at the office is get back on the computer and write about the workout(s) I squeezed in that day.

We did a 1250 yard swim this morning and a 60 min run tonight. Tomorrow will be a 40 mile bike and 15 min brick run after. I did my first brick workout last weekend and holy crap how I forgot what a slog those first few minutes of the run are. I am hoping tomorrows brick is better but I won't be surprised if it isn't.

We are hosting Easter tomorrow so we need to get our workout in early so we can finish prepping food. Especially the deep fried turkey! I can't wait. My brother Dan has waited more than a year for deep fried turkey, which is an Ursin family delicacy and tradition. It should be awesome. We bought 2 breasts so we better have leftovers...

I stole this picture from another blog I follow, Steve in a Speedo. It's funny check it out. This is the food pyramid when it comes to tri training. Sooooo good.... until next time.