Missing In Action

It has come to my attention that folks have wondered at my absence. I apologize for that. Life has a habit of injecting it’s way into some tight spots… like my free time. A new schedule at work and the start of a new semester has almost eliminated my ability to train. I could conceivably fit in seven training sessions in each week, but after starting work at 6 a.m and hitting the sack at 11 p.m. after classes all week, I’m exhausted. Have faith, though, that I will bounce back. I mean, I did spend $500 on my entrance into Ironman CdA next June! I had better get a move on because I fear that all of my fitness has abandoned me, though the weight certainly hasn’t!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Our ride Sunday morning saw an earlier start then last week since I made sure to go over my bike the night before the ride. Regardless of our earlier start, though, it was still incredibly hot. A nice wind provided a bit of cooling, but that was quickly overshadowed once we turned into it to ride uphill. I had mentioned that we would be riding around Pinnacle Peak; instead we rode the Mayo area and then headed West into Paradise Valley. At just about our halfway point, we came to Sanctuary and ground out this hill that had me close to puking. It’s probably the steepest climb I’ve gone up since getting my bike last month.

We stopped at a Circle K and got ice and Slurpees, loitered for a bit too long and then started to head back home. I started to cramp after our pit stop and had a really hard time keeping pace with my buddies. Eventually, I dropped and kept chugging along with intermittent calf seizures. After about four more miles, I made it back to our start point where the guys were waiting. We ended up completing 34 miles and averaged 17 mph. That is now my longest ride, and I’ve got some things I need to work on. The cramps were probably the worst part about the ride and I had a really hard time driving my car for a while, as I couldn’t push in the clutch without seizing up. I’m sure I looked pretty funny as I stalled my car and dropped in my seat to try and straighten my legs. Eventually things settled down and I made it home safely.

Today, I had an appointment to get a follow up fitting on my bike to make any adjustments. I had been feeling like I was too far back to maintain a correct aero position, but it ended up being all in my head. My stem got dropped a bit and I’m in a lower position now but that’s about it. We talked about training aides and I’ve got some research to do before I shell out another couple hundred of dollars.

Blown Out of the Water

Last night I had just gotten into the pool and started my warm up when the wind kicked up. It started gusting so bad the flags were ripped from their posts. I finished a couple hundred more while waiting for the coach to show up; when he did, he canked practice. It was probably a good decision, as a huge dust storm rolled in just after, but I was selfishly disappointed.

Tonight I went for a run and promptly hit a headwind with the same gusts as last night. Oh, and I was doing hill repeats. I warmed up and then completed 5 x 5:00 with downhill (and tailwind) walking recovery. It was a nice workout and supposed thunderstorm rolling in made it a beautiful evening to be outside. Arizona is awesome like that, but can obviously present some frustrations.

Tomorrow morning, I am heading off to do the Pinnacle Peak ride I mentioned this past week. We will be starting from a different point and most likely including a lot more of the steeper hills in the area; we might even drop over the other side and ride through Fountain Hills, but we’ll see.  I really do enjoy the area, so maybe I’ll tuck away the camera and share a few pictures with you tomorrow. Happy training.

Triathletes Bare It All

Athletes that compete in triathlons or any multisport event represent a small percentage of the World’s population. Many of us are probably considered by other non-athletes as curious: we get up in the wee hours of the morning, we come to work smelling like chlorine, we speak of foreign acronyms and abbreviations, and as Tracy Korn observed in her blog Through th3 Wall, we obsess over data in order to determine our success or failure. This behavior is weird to normal (lazy) people. I just became a part of this monster called triathlon, but already my coworkers and friends consider it a major part of my lifestyle. What can I say? I made a commitment.

Interestingly enough, I’ve found a curious little niche of triathletes. Maybe.

August 11, 2007 will see the inaugural Bare Hare Sprint Triathlon taking place within the luscious confines of the Bar-S Ranch. My very first reaction was a schoolboy giggle, as I pictured the sport’s most beautiful women competing. And then reality set in and my mind shot off out of control. I wondered, “Is this some kind of circus?” “How many triathletes are actually going to compete, or will it just be the residents doing their thing?” “Is it really that different from an underwear run or a naked mile?” “Would I?” I haven’t really come to a decision as of yet.

The swim would be no big deal, most of us have probably skinny dipped at some point. But the bike could be bad news in a lot of wrong ways and the run would just be a whole lotta floppin’ goin’ on. I know, I know, I read the part about ‘clothing optional’ too,  but would YOU sign up for something like this and NOT do it nude? I’m just not one for games like JTT, it’s all or nothing for me. It’s just too easy to sign up and run it Faris-style.

So, to those of you that go through with this race, let us know how it goes. But know this, I think you’re curious.

Temperature Rising, Swimmer Dropping

After taking three days off, including an extra one due to sunburn, I jumped in the pool last night. I managed a meager 2100 yards before getting out. There was probably a combination of factors that contributed to my early exit: it was an extremely hot day and the pool was very warm, it was the start of a long and hard workout, and I had been rear-ended in post-fireworks traffic the night before (which has most likely aggravated an injury I mentioned in Why Ironman? Here’s Why). It was disappointing to leave early because of a massive head/neck ache, but it won’t do me any good in getting to Ironman Coeur d’Alene next year if I put myself at risk.

So that’s what I’m dealing with right now. I was going to try a run tonight, but we’ll see how that goes. It was 95 degrees F when I left for work at 5:10 AM, I’m guessing that today is going to be another scorcher and so I might go to another pool workout and hope I don’t repeat last night’s fiasco.

I’ll post again later today regarding motivation as I’m currently watching a pretty cool “blogumentary” I found mentioned by Jonathan Starlight in his blog, Jonathan in the Distance. Some of what he says mirrors what I’ve found on YouTube and I’ll make mention of that later. Keep checking back.

Why Ironman? Here’s why.

When I considered what it was that I wanted to accomplish when entering the multisport world of triathlon, the very first thing that came to mind was Ironman. That may seem obvious to some and not so much to others, but it seemed to be the only option for me because it was the very first race I’d heard about or seen as a child. I was old enough when I first saw athletes competing in Kona to understand the distance and the difficulty, but naive enough to think, “I want to do that!” I guess late childhood slash early adolescence represents a period in life where fantasies blend with ambitions and youth start to shape their own reality. Ironman stayed in the recesses for me.

Fast forward to college. I’ve spent some time in the Marine Corps Reserve, been deployed, worked several jobs, and managed to finish two years of school. Triathlon started to rear it’s head again. I wanted to start swimming, the Marine Corps had me running, so all I needed was a bike. For financial reasons, I started spinning classes and earned the snickers from folks at the gym when I walked past wearing lycra. I didn’t mind it so much; I had already discovered I didn’t have the taint of steel I thought I might. That went on for about a month and then school started, I pledged a fraternity and you can use your imagination about the rest of the semester. Triathlon was again filed away… until last year.

I’d been in the Marines for almost five years and seen active duty for about half of that. I found myself sitting in Iraq again, but this time the place is hooked up. When we came in from missions, we find awesome chow and a PX. Sweet! Lo and behold, Triathlete Magazine is sitting on the shelf (and it’s the swimsuit edition, bonus!) so I buy it. We headed back to our FOB, I read it, I loved it. Each month I tried to get the newest edition. During any free time, I surfed the web searching for triathlon related content, and again I started to imagine myself competing in a triathlon.

Maybe it was the distance and separation from normalcy and I needed an anchor to keep sane, but I really wanted to do this and my childhood fantasy became the obsession of my free time. By the time I got home in October of 2006, the triathlon season was almost done but I wanted to start my workup. As a lot of you know, Camp Pendleton is an amazing location and I was sitting in Del Mar, just off the shore. I was running daily, working in runs around Oceanside Harbor and the Del Mar Beach. I started swimming again in the 14 Area pool. I went to Nytro and shopped for bikes. (Note: Nytro hosted a release party for the Felt DA and B2 and I won a Zipp transition bag!) North County is probably the most fitness-minded community I’ve come across and it’s addictive! I faced two challenges, though: an injury I sustained in an IED blast impeded my workouts and I started doing the drinking thing…every night. So I was pretty much building myself up during the day in order to undo myself at night in the bars but, hey, it’s “Esprit de Corps,” right? And San Diego can definitely party. I left active duty and returned home to Arizona. I tried school again, but that didn’t work out, then I slipped into a very lazy routine: go to work, come home, play video games, drink beer, go to sleep, wake up and repeat.

I really don’t know what it was that snapped me out of that funk, but it was enough to get a grip. My friends were riding mountian bikes, so I bought a Specialized Rockhopper. Soon, I was riding as much as I could and wanting more. I seriously reduced the beer intake. I got a new job that I didn’t despise. My girlfriend and I were going strong and saying “I love you.” Life was good. So I said, (pardon me) “Fuck it!” I got rid of my stocks, paid my bills, jumped back into the pool, bought a tri bike and life continues to improve exponentially. It’s a nice high.

So here I am, chronicling my success and failure while I attempt to finally compete in a Ironman triathlon. I’ve signed up for Coeur d’Alene 2008 mostly because of family in the Spokane area and I remember summers spent at the lakes in Idaho. It’s probably good that I combine childhood memories with childhood fantasies. Some have asked why not Ironman Arizona? Honestly, I’ve considered doing both; two months might be enough time for a recovery, short build, and taper, but I doubt it. It’d be nice to do the hometown race in order to pop my cherry, though. We will see. Until then, I’m feeling my way through workouts I loosely describe as a “base-building” and having one helluva time enjoying life.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hot Weather Training

I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon in the neighborhood pool, refereeing games of Marco Polo and Capture the Flag. Regrettably, three hours in the sun has turned me into a salmon-like pink version of my former self, radiating heat and a soft glow wherever I go. I felt like I had been keelhauled and then rolled in fresh sod when I woke up this morning; I’ve inevitably started to scratch and this really hurts. So I’m caught in a Catch-22: scratch the itch and cause more pain, yet satiate the itch; or ignore the itch thereby saving myself from more pain but facing an excruciating itch, which I could relieve myself of if only I were to itch and subject myself to more pain. Currently, Life is a Bitch.

As my dilemma progressed through the morning, I began to wonder how this could affect my training, as I had read somewhere that sunburn affects our ability to sweat and cool. I Googled it and found an amazing article on Hot Weather Training. It definitely deserves a link, and will give you a heads up when it comes to preparation for Ironman Arizona, Timex Triathlon, Soma Half or other such desert adventures in triathlon, marathon, hiking, biking… or Marco Polo. I’m not looking forward to the master’s workout tonight; this might become another day of rest.

Sunday’s “Long” Ride

Following a nice 4.5 mile run and a little bout with wings and beer Saturday night, I woke up early Sunday to join my friend and his buddy for their regular jaunt around the Pinnacle Peak area in North Scottsdale.

The morning of, I found my rear wheel was flat. I was disappointed, as I had recently replaced that tube and had only ridden home on it; I learned then that it’s necessary to reinflate the tube with a pump once you return from a ride in which you used CO2. I made the obligatory cruise around the local Starbucks so all the roadies and runners posted up on the patio could check out my ride, and with my Iced Quad Venti No Whip Two Pump Mocha in hand, I made my way to the other side of town.

Things degraded once we hit our point of departure. As I was pulling my bike off the rack, my buddy noticed a nice size gash in the sidewall of my rear tire that I had missed after handling the tire three times! The tube was pushing out like a cyst on a pubescent teenager’s face. NICE. Luckily, the aquaintance just so happened to have a spare tire laying around and our/my ride was saved, if not a little late and a lot warmer. We pushed off, made our rounds, and in less than two hours (including a lengthy stay at the Circle K turnaround. Read: don’t drink Iced Quad Venti No Whip Two Pump Mochas before a ride) and 27 miles later, we were back with no major issues to speak of. I was really surprised at the distance and my average of around 16 mph. It was my longest ride to date and I felt great. We plan on making that ride a weekly occurance now and I look forward to next Sunday.

On a side note, after cleaning up I picked up my girlfriend and her little sister and we went to go see Ratatouille. It was pretty cute and I would recommend it (the Pixar short, Lifted, was hilarious and had us rolling in the aisles). Overall, it was an awesome Sunday despite my technical ineptitude, the opressive heat, and my gastrointestinal tantrums.

Friday Night’s Pyramid

 Tonight, I got to do my first pyramid since starting this whole swim thing again. My coach described a workout he used to do in college that approached 12,000 yards. Yikes! The version he had me swim was a mere 4,100. I worked my warm-up into the first set and went from there. Lately, I’ve been really trying to improve my stroke. There is quite a bit of material out there describing the “catch and pull,” whereas I’ve known nothing but the “S” since I began organized swimming. You’ll often hear an analogy, described as swimming over a sea of barrels. I tried to keep that image in my head for most of the workout, but I reverted to the archaic “S” as soon as I got tired. I’m going to guess that I swam over the assinged 4,100 yards because as I kept trying to focus on my stroke, I kept losing count of which lap I was on. Therefore, I assume that the 1×400 turned into something more like the 1×500, the 2×300 into something like the 2×350; I might try and recruit one of the young tadpoles to start counting my laps for me.

 One of the benefits of participating in DTACs Master’s workout is that there are very few of us swimming in the evening; I’ve counted four (including myself). I haven’t been to a morning workout, so there may be some more there. Needless to say, I’ve got my own lane and it’s awesome! I’m never waiting for anyone in front of me, and no little speed demon is ever tapping my feet or bullying me into a lane line in an attempt to set a PR in the 25. I was humbled by a woman in the lane next to me, though. I mentioned that my plan was to race Ironman Coeur d’Alene in 2008. She said she was going to race IM Arizona in 2008. She asked if I had run a marathon. I said no. She said, “I’ve run eight.” That’s nice. Then she wasted me on the workout, and I got out of the pool standing not as tall and proud as I was when I got in. She was already dry. Such is the way of triathlon, I suppose. Lesson learned.

Master’s Isn’t So Masterful

Today I showed up for a master’s session again with Desert Thunder Aquatics Club (DTAC), what used to be the teams: Arizona Thunder Aquatics Clubs, Mesa, and DAC (which I think was Desert Aquatics Club? p.s. I swam for ATAC) . I’ve only been back in the pool for a couple of weeks now, which equals five or six practices. Gauging my performance during those last workouts, it would seem that the muscle memory from years of competitive swimming is serving me well. The fitness isn’t there though, and I find it difficult to finish 100s on the 1:45. But it gets better every time and I nearly hit 4000 yards this evening. I say nearly because just before my last set, a father of one of the little tadpoles hit the deck on the grass. Dunno if it was a seizure, stroke, or just dehydration, but the coaches responded well and I was left as the only adult near the pool. It fell upon me to keep the kids out of the way of the paramedics, so I handed them a challenging set of 5×50 on the 1:00. LOL! They took it in stride, setting their curiosity aside and finishing their last set for the night. I never did get to finish mine. Oh well, I’ll make it tomorrow night.

 UPDATE on DADDY: I followed up with Coach Bryan today, inquiring about the health of our victim. Apparently, an insect of some sort was the culprit. All’s well that ends well and Dad is back to normal. Grats!