BSLT 2006 : Swim and Bike

Part 2 of my race recap. But first, a few Bonus Links:

• My technical Race Report
• Another Round Rock Racer who had a much more difficult time than I.
• Tri-Greyhound's Race Recap
  
• An Ironman CDA Race Report that will make you cry. I have so much respect for this guy. More on this later...

The swim began with the normal bumping, pushing, splashing, etc. The course started in a small cove then opened up into a wider section of the lake. This made for some congestion, but I came through OK. I had made a conservative decision to stay near the back, knowing that I would spend most of the trip to the first buoy moving through traffic. Honestly, I did this out of respect for the folks with larger dreams than mine. There was no reason for me to go head-to-head with some Kona-bound Iron-kid. My big picture goals didn't call for that.

By the first buoy, I was already starting to see different colored swim caps. I cut the turn close in and swung wide to the outside. I sighted the farthest buoy I could find, set a direct course and dug in. The back side of the course felt very long and straight - I tried to use the open water to move out ahead of the pack from the previous wave. The last turn came up and I could see the swim finish in the distance. At this point I felt really strong and I went into full sprint mode. Suddenly I found myself standing on the other side of the swim finish mat pulling my wetsuit down.

The swim exit is always so disorienting. After spending nearly a half-hour on my belly listening to only bubbles and splashing it always surprises me to see 35 - 40 people yelling and running in every direction. I made my way over to my bike at the far end of transition. I tried to slow myself down mentally as to not forget anything. Forgotten nutrition at this stage would be race ending for me.

The next thing I know I am bombing down the first hill. I checked my watch - 41.XX. Holy crap - I was planning to be in transition at 40.XX not on the bike! I knew the swim had been fast. Then my mind started to catch up with me - I could hear my family yelling for me as I exited T1 - I even saw my kid in the replay in my mind. Wow! I was already 4 miles into the bike!!

The first 15 miles or so were cake. I settled in and started executing the nutrition plan. Then the hills began. I had skipped driving the course on Saturday because, well, because I'm a wuss. I'm glad I did. I would have been scared as hell if I knew what was waiting for me. I after the first 3 hills I started to get worried about finishing. By hill #4 I pulled out the Granny Gear and took a conservative approach to climbing the rest of the way. I also, apparently, hung a sign on my back that said "Pass me as fast as possible". I spent a good portion of the bike course watching a parade of the some of the finest bike hardware on earth go by. It was beautiful.

I focused in on hydration and nutrition which passed the time. (Mental image: Pedaling up hills while balancing multiple spinning plates in the air.) I did manage to take in some of the scenery along the way. Yes, folks Ransom Canyon was very pretty. I also settled into a pace without about 6 other racers that allowed us to play leap frog through most of the course. One racer I nicknamed "Dragon Lady" because of the giant Dragon Tattoo on her back and Pinkie because of her pink bike.

At mile 40, I was tired. But, we had made it back to the flats and I was relieved. We turned the corner and WHAM. I was hit by a stiff wind that felt like 20 mph sustained. The next 5 miles were brutal. Then we turned and I finally had the wind at my back. I dropped into a low gear pushed up to cruising at about 25 mph. I was finally doing some passing! I lost both Dragon Lady and Pinkie during this flat and never saw them again. I assume they blew by me on the run.

I actually swerved to RUN OVER the 50 mile marker painted on the street. We were only 6 miles and two big hills away. I wanted off the bike in the worst way. We had turned back into the wind, but I knew I would meet two goals: 1) Finish the Bike 2) Average 17 MPH.
Finally the last downhill. I was so happy to see the transition area.

Only 13.1 miles left...

BSLT 2006 : To Lubbock through the Swim Start

Ok folks. It's taken some time to get this all out. I'll break it into a couple of posts for dramatic effect, er, brevity.

We left out early-freakin-burley on Saturday morning for Lubbock. By 5:30 AM we were on the road. We made it just in time for a torrential downpour in north Williamson County. It was so bad that I actually considered stopping several times. After about 30 minutes of rain we cleared the storm and it was a nice ride the rest of the way to Lubbock. We managed to arrive around 11:30 AM. The hotel room wasn't ready, so we headed out to grab lunch and take in some of the Tech campus. Mom and I took a couple of great shots of T exploring (More Pictures, and More Pictures).

By 2:00 the room was ready. We unloaded and I headed out with Mom and Amers to the expo. It was a pretty quiet expo but we did manage to see a few pros (Jamie Cleveland and Andrea Fischer). I also signed up for USAT. I figured it was about time. The packet was a bit wimpy, but whatever. The day has long passed where I get really excited about the contents of a race packet. We headed over to Target to get supplies for our stay. By the time we finished, it was time to head back to the expo for the race discussion. There was some pretty good information during the session but it kind of degraded into a bunch of folks dissecting the rules toward the end. We left early.

Next, we headed out to grab some grub. We had the whole clan in tow: Mom, M, T, Amers, Poppy, Nana and Amers friend Brianna. Quite a crew. We picked up meals from United and headed back to the hotel. After dinner, I spent several hours expending nervous energy over my pre-packed tri bag, my bike, and my bottles for race day. I headed off to bed around 9:00 PM for a restless night sleep.

The alarm went off at 3:30. I got dressed ate a Clif Bar and drank a bunch of fluids. By 4:00 AM I had the car packed. I swung by the hotel lobby and picked up a cup of coffee for the road. By 4:45 I had parked and I was making my way down the giant hill toward the bodymarking and transition area. There was a storm brewing with some lightning and wind. I thought: "Oh great, here we go again." I milled around the transition area and tried to meet the guys in the racks around me. Everyone was really nice and it eased a lot of the pre-race jitters to talk with some folks. The storm completely missed the race course and we started on time.

I caught up with M and crew shortly before the race, got in a few kisses and waves then got lined up for the start.

6:40 AM : The horn sounded and the day began.

More to come...

A quick update

I'm just getting around to my e-mail and such -- we drove back from Lubbock today.

Thank you all for your well wishes. Things went VERY well for me. This event was life changing.

I was bib 271 - my stats below:

SWIM: 31:09
BIKE : 3:17:35
RUN: 2:36:06

OVERALL: 6:32:08

It's going to take a couple posts to get it all out. More to come.

See ya out there...

It is done.

I officially finished my self-made training plan this evening. Whew. I'm planning on a celebratory jog around the 'hood in the morning - to give my training plan a proper send off. Then, everything gets packed up as we start preparing for the trip to Lubbock.

I was looking over the Ironman Live site tonight, and noticed that they are advertising athlete tracking for BSLT. Pretty cool.

Click here for the BSLT 70.3 tracking page.

Ironman CDA is on Sunday as well. Good luck to everybody.

I'm not sure if I'll have a bunch of time to blog over the next few days - but I'm going to try to do a few audio posts to capture the moment. It'll be fun to look back and hear the excitement someday.

See ya out there...

The Final Countdown

2 full days till BSLT.

Weather Forecast:

93*
Chance of Thunder (30%)
East wind - 13 mph


My last "official" training day for BSLT is today. I have a short swim / bike brick on the plan. I'll probably throw in a short fun run afterward or in the morning.

Today is also my last day of work before the big event. Tomorrow is a big prep day with lots of packing and a trip to the airport to pick up my Mom.

I also need a haircut REALLY bad.

See ya out there...

Voices in my head

Have you ever noticed how the subconscious mind seems to keep you on track? Mine tends to nag quietly all day or while I’m sleeping. It can range from little things like trimming the crazy man-eating bushes out front of our house (which may take over the house while we’re gone one day) to important stuff like setting the DVR to record “Deadliest Catch”.

Side Bar: Deadliest Catch is the coolest show on TV. I found it while I was recovering from my piriformis injury last month and now I can’t stop watching it. I sat in front of the tube for almost an entire day watching these guys raise big metal cages (pots) full of ugly crustaceans (crab) from the sea and dump them into a big tank. This all takes place as they try not to die in the freezing Bearing Sea. Fascinating.

Occasionally I’ll get something really important stuck in my mind and, try as I might, it won’t be ignored. It builds and builds as I sidestep the warning signs of not dealing with it and before you know it I’ve let it develop into a real situation. They say life is a balancing act. Sometimes I think the most successful people have learned how to listen effectively to that inner voice to know when it is time to deal or if it can slide few hours more.

Part of triathlon training is that you must learn quickly to tune into that inner voice – or pay the consequences. 8 weeks ago, the voice started letting me know that I was running on fumes. 6 weeks of hard training had taken its toll and it was time to recover. I ignored it. One morning the alarm went off for a 4 AM swim and it told me stay in bed. I ignored it. That night my shoulder started to hurt and I had the sniffles. The next day – a ten mile run. The voice said – cut this one short. I pushed on. The next day my back was so tight I could hardly move. You know the rest.

So what have I learned? Tune in. Find a quiet place in life to listen to your inner voice. Then, reflect and act. I think this holds true in many aspects of life.

See ya out there…

... and then there were 2...

... workouts left before BSLT.

4 full days.

Race day forecast: 95* / possible Thunderstorms. Eek.

I had a really great brick this afternoon. Everything felt dialed in and secure. Swimming was on fire.

I stopped in at ATC this afternoon. My last gear pickup before the race. I got a new pair of tri-shorts, goggles, and a small flask for some Perpetuum paste during the run. I also was able to finally find the Oatmeal Raisin Clif Bars I've been searching for. I'm ready.

See ya out there...

Tale of the Tape

My OCD kicked into overdrive tonight after reading this post on the BSLT message board.

Here's the result - an estimated breakdown of the BSLT course...

Race Begins
1.2 - Exit T1
2.2 - 7.5% Up / 8.9% Down
4.2 - 6.7% Up
11.2 - 4.5% Down
12.2 - 4.9% Up
15.2 - 4.9% Down
18.2 - 4.5% Up (7)
25.2 - 2.9% Down
28.2 - 6.1% Up
30.2 - 6.1% Down
31.2 - 6.0% Up (11)
39.2 - 6.0% Down
43.2 - 2.9% Up
54.2 - 6.7% Down
56.2 - 8.9% Up
57.2 - 7.5% Down
Exit T2
58.2 - Mile 1
60.2 - Mile 3 - 7.6% Up
61.2 - Mile 4 - 6.5% Down
62.2 - Mile 5 - 6.4% Up
63.7 - Turn Around
64.2 - Mile 7 - 6.4% Down
65.2 - Mile 8 - 6.5% Up
67.2 - Mile 10 - 7.6% Down
70.3 - Mile 13.1 - Finish

Looks like fun.

See ya out there...

My Shadow

T has been following me around the house lately - like my little new shadow. He is constantly talking away and occasionally an intelligible word will make its way out in the form of a question: "dhd askasd askuasd cookie? Yes."

This morning we all piled in the car to head out to a Father's Day breakfast in Georgetown. I headed out to the car a few minutes early to get T all strapped in and he immediately took off out the garage door, around the corner, up to the porch and stopped at the doorbell. I trotted along behind to corral him back to the car. By the time I caught up, he was already pressing on the doorbell.

I reached out and took his hand -he still can only comfortably hold two of my fingers - and we slowly walked back to the garage, stopping along the way to inspect every leaf and bug. As we rounded the corner into the sunlight, our shadow appeared on the ground before us. T stopped, pointed, looked up at me and babbled something.

He was right, of course. All these weeks of training had left my legs looking fantastic! Uh, wait. Maybe that's not what he meant.

The image of the shadow stirred me and has been stuck in my head all day. A father and son holding hands - how appropriate for Father's Day. It suddenly hit me how much my life had changed in the past few years... A new baby, another new baby on the way, turning 30, getting in shape, changing my life for the better. I suddenly felt very happy and a good sense of accomplishment. I'm a really lucky guy to have such a great, supportive family. It was an honor and a blessing to spend Father's Day with my son and beautiful (and pregnant) wife.

Time stood still for that one instant. It was awesome to appreciate one of those instant milestones that will be with me forever. I hope your Father's Day was as great as mine.

Now go call your dad.

See ya out there...

Wha?!

T says: "In 6 days your going how far?!"

M made team shirts for the whole crew for the big race next weekend. Pretty cool stuff. Actually, very cool stuff!! Just a few more days to obsess over the whole event. By this time next week it will all be over.

Another easy taper week this week. Gotta love that.

Today was Father's Day. Officially my second - or third depending on if I am supposed to count the Father's Day where M was pregnant. I started the day with a really nice short brick workout at an easy pace 1200 yd Swim / 8 mi bike / 2mi run : 1h:05m. Running felt great today - a first in a long while. After my workout, we headed north to Georgetown for breakfast. We stumbled on a really great little place in downtown Georgetown. If you're ever in Georgetown, you have to try the County Seat Cafe on the square. Afterward we took T to the park to play. This afternoon we headed to the Dell Diamond to catch some baseball. Great times.

I have a busy work week this week. Time to get to it.

See ya out there...

Overdrive

7 full days left till BSLT.

Most of the weather stations are now predicting mid 90's for race day. One is predicting a 21mph northerly wind. Ouch.

My brick this morning was cancelled due to a 3-hour morning thunderstorm. I ended up making up the run this afternoon. I have another short three-sport workout scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Start time : 6:30 AM.

We made a quick trip down to Jack and Adam's today to pick up the last few items for the race.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. We have plans to grab a light breakfast after my early brick and take T to play someplace in town. It should be fun. We are also planning to go to the afternoon Round Rock Express game. I'm looking forward to spending time with the fam.

See ya out there...

Form

Do you ever get a really good look at the form of the swimmer in the lane next to you? This happened to me this morning in the pool. It was actually pretty interesting. I'm a unilateral breather - at least, that is what I'm labeled because I can only breath on my right side (without inhaling water and dying). So, I always get an interesting change in scenery after each turn at the wall.

This morning I had a guy with relatively poor form on one side and woman with EXCELLENT form on the other. So, off I went on my 3x500's. At each 25 I turned and was able to catch a glimpse of the swimmer next to me. I tried hard to focus on form and body position of each swimmer. I saw some interesting things.

It was actually quite beautiful. The guy was visibly exerting himself splashing, kicking and turning in wild motions. This also effected his pace. He got slower and slower until I had lapped him. Twice. His ankles we dragging behind him and each time he took a breath he would kick so hard his entire head would shoot up out of the water. The woman on the other hand seemed to float on top of the water. She had a very shallow, quick kick and her arms seemed to move in and out of the water with robotic ease. She was also a bit faster than I was. It took a little bit of effort to keep up - but I tried to pace her for as long as I could. I only realized after I was out of the pool that she obviously was doing drills and was capable of speeds that would probably rival Olympians.

Anyway, it was a good workout because it helped me to visualize my swim form and remember the importance of minimizing effort and maximizing efficiency. The differences were as clear as night and day.

See ya out there...

BSLT Weather

Can this be anywhere close to correct????

AccuWeather.com 15-day Forecast for Lubbock, TX

Sunday, Jun 25
Sunny intervals
High: 88° F
Low: 62° F

Yeah, baby.

Thoughts

9 full days to BSLT.

Training is going well. Well, Tapering is going well. It stings a little to see the volume drop when I know I'm capable of more. I have a lot of excess energy these days. It's funny. Excess Energy + More Free Time = Trouble. Last night I cleaned up my office. I filed paper work that has been building for months, threw out a bunch of trash, etc. I also spent an extreme amount of time ironing my shirt. Ironing? Please.

What will the next few months bring?

I've already started to plan for the next 6 months or so. Here's how it looks now:

New training plan to begin sometime in mid July. This one will be Sprint/Oly focused training and last only a few months.

I think that means :
~ 1500 - 2000M swims :: 500-800M speed drills :: 2 x week
~ 20 - 50 mile bike rides :: 20 miles TT :: 1 long ride / 1 short ride / week
~ 6 - 8 mile long runs :: at least 2 short speed runs / week :: 3 runs / week

I want to try to implement some (all?!) of the things learned from the training bible in this plan. I'd love to feel like my workouts are more than just items to check off. It would be great to have a specific goal for each one. What does that mean? varied intensity; Time trials to measure progress; Drills;

Racing looks like this:

August 6 - Austin Muddy Buddy (w/ Party Pat)
September 3 (4?!) - Jack's Generic Tri & maybe SeaWorld again? (Amers - you up for it?)
October ? - Sprint or Oly in Dallas
November - Turkey Trot and various other 5K / 10K's

There are a couple of Half IM's late in the season lurking out there. Maybe?

Longer term - I have a couple of cool goals to get me through early 2007.

Marathon Finish ~ 4h:00m - 4h:30m

This will most likely be the ball-freezing, Freescale (Freezescale) next February (2/18/2007). I'm seriously considering joining a training group for this. Even M was supportive of the cost. My guess is that most training groups will start up in August / September timeframe? Anyone have any thoughts on a good training group in Austin / Round Rock? This would be a real opportunity for me to get my running on track.

Century Ride ~ RR Outlaw Century (October 21)

I did the 100K last year and had a ball. This would be a great opportunity to do a century ride close to home.

Ironman is lurking on the horizon out there. M and I have already started the negotiation. Looks like 2008 might be a possibility. Arizona? Florida? Early on, it sounds like Florida might be a good possibility with a vacation at Disney afterward. We shall see.

See ya out there...

Copy Cat

So...

I picked up a geeky new way to wear my HRM watch. I'm nearly certain I picked it up watching Jamie Cleveland on the TV coverage of the CapTexTri. (Which was fantastic, by the way.) It's silly really, but it works. And, I thought I'd pass it along...

Turn. It. Over.

Yep. it's that simple. I now wear my Polar S150 with face under my left wrist, instead of on top of my wrist. It raises the usability factor by a full five points. Check it out...

• In the aero position, I no longer have to rotate my arm over the top of the bar to read the time or HR.
• It is much easier to hit the lap button in a transition using my thumb instead of pinching my whole wrist and pressing with my right index finger.
• It feels soooo much better while swimming. I'm mean really. I used to feel like I was swimming with a brick on my arm until I flipped it. It kind of feels like there is less drag!?

So, give it a shot and let me know how it works for you.

I finished my short tempo run in the heat a short time ago. I opted for a 4:45 run in 94* heat to work on the acclimation factor. Not bad - my fastest run in over a month. I'm going to keep this up for each of my runs through BSLT.

I also have had an eye on the 10- 15 day outlook for the weather in Lubbock. Looks like we may get a slight break from the 103* heat. Holy Huckleberries lets hope so.

See ya out there...

Grinding it out

Back to the grind again today. This weekend was amazing. We spent the whole day yesterday doing the family thing. We shuttled T around Austin like he was some kind of out of town visitor. We basically toured all the cool playgrounds in downtown and finished out the day swimming at LTF. He loved swimming and even better - fell asleep around 7:30!

A truly great weekend.

Back to work and tapering today. I have a 20 minute run scheduled - which almost made me laugh out loud when I read it from my dwindling schedule. I haven't been out for a 20 minute workout in at least 3 months. I may try to knock this out in the middle of the afternoon heat to work on my HR/heat issues. Or wait until later and crank out a tempo run? We'll see.

I finished up a big writing project at work on Friday. Whew. I have real respect for people who can sit and write for 8 hours a day straight. Holy smokes - I was crushed mentally after doing this for 3 weeks straight. It felt good to get that off my plate and get back to some "regular" work.

BSLT plans are coming along. We have almost everything planned out now. Almost time to execute. 12 full days left. After this weekend, I have a sense of calm. It was great to restore some confidence in my body - to know it can withstand the pressures of the day to come. Thanks to everyone (Amers!) for the support lately. It's been wonderful.

Also - a shout out to Carrie on a sub 6-hour Half Ironman finish! Way to go! You're an inspiration!!

See ya out there...

Race Sim

I woke up early this morning. 4:30 AM. For whatever reason I was nervous - butterflies in the rib cage nervous. For a training day? This was anything but a regular training day - this was race simulation day. I had gone through all the pre-race prep yesterday. Good eating, lots of water, all my shtuff in a big pile on the kitchen counter.

Goggles - Check; Endurance Gatorade - Check; Perpetuum - Check; Clif bar - Dang! / substitute with Marathon bar; Endurolytes - Check; Helmet, Gloves, Shoes, Computer, Sunglasses - Check; Sunscreen - Check;Running shoes & Socks - Check; Enervite, Shot Bloks - Check; Water - Check; Running Hat - Check; HRM - Check; Tri-shorts, Singlet - Check; Ok.

Whew. I hadn't even left yet. But, I was psyched.

I left for the pool around 6:40. I opted for a swim at our neighborhood pool. It was locked up when I arrived. What the?!? Luckily I found the keys laying nearby and let myself in. Pretty secure, eh? By 6:45, I was swimming. It was a fantastic swim. A great start. I transitioned well and headed out for a stort loop around my 'hood making a quick stop at the house to drop off my swim gear. No need to take goggles with me for 40+ miles, right? Then I left for the long loop through Georgetown. A good ride. I focused on keeping good form and rigidly following the nutrition plan. (Salt every hour, Perpetuum every 15 minutes, gatorade as needed) I arrived home in 90* heat. I felt great. Running in good form, I quickly clicked off 2 miles and rounded the corner to my water stop in the driveway. My only concern at this point was my sky high HR. I kept running slower and slower trying to bring it back into the 150's - it never really got there. I finished out 4.25 miles with an average HR in the mid 160's with an 11+ pace. Ouch.

Here's the recap:
Swim - 2500 yds / 45h:42m
Bike - 42.5mi / 2h:23m (Check out the Bikely.com route - review of this tool to follow...)
Run - 4.25mi / 50m:32s

Very good workout. No piriformis pain, good form, good nutrition. This workout really helped me build confidence for BSLT. Now the real taper begins. Two weeks of easy training. 14 days left ... and is a break in the heat possible (LBB 6/21 - 96*)??

See ya out there...

HRM

M and I had our second appointment for the new baby today. They used a Heart Rate Monitor of some sort to let us hear the heartbeat. 160ish - which, the doctor informed us, can be a sign of a boy?! Cool. Everything is going along well. I hope to get some cool media posted of the next visit. I'll keep you posted.

See ya out there...

Where the sidewalk ends

I was updating my training plan this morning with the outcome of recent training and I actually found the end. The last day on the plan: June 26th. Race Day. It's shaded in a nice light green color.

What to do? What to do?! I don't even have any more races on the calendar after BSLT.

Eek.

I had a great swim this morning. Today was all about building confidence. 2000M time trial in the LTF pool. I started with a quick 200M warm up - I recently read that you should warm up with a set that is around 10% of your goal for the day. It worked. I finished 2000M in 37 minutes flat / 1:51 per 100M. For grins I looked back at my times from last year at this time : 650M - 2:55/100 yards!

I had physical therapy this afternoon. Turns out I don't need to make any further appointments. Ariel was very pleased with my progress and didn't see the need to keep coming in. She said that I should call if I felt I needed an adjustment or that the exercises weren't working on my trouble spots. Woo Hoo!

See ya out there...

Bikely?

Anybody checked this out yet?

http://www.bikely.com/

Add this to the list of route mapping websites around the web. Pretty cool stuff.

Now we just need an enterprising triathlete to create a site that does run routes, bike routes, and good swim spots all on one site so I don't have to manage 55 user id's and passwords. Gah!

Make the Turn

17 days now.

The excitement is building - almost to the point of exhaustion. I just want it to be over. I can't think about the day any longer. It is consuming - the idea of 6+ hours and 70.3 miles. I'd lost some perspective and respect for the distance during my recovery period. That all returned last night.

I dropped of my bike at the LBS around 6:30. The 'helpful' associate found $125 worth of things that needed to be fixed or replaced including a new chain, new rear tire, full component cleaning, new rear brake pads. I actually left there thinking - "it's a wonder I didn't die on that death machine I call a bike". Then I got home, broke the news to the official sponsor and began to think about the pending work. Actually it is good timing and I hadn't taken my bike in for service in over 6 months. It hadn't been cleaned during that period either. It's probably good to get all this out of the way a few weeks before BSLT and have good equipment under me for 3 hours.

I headed out for a run (my second in about 3 weeks) a little later. Boy howdy did I feel the 3 week layoff. I was sucking wind after just 20 minutes. My HR was out of control and I just could not find a stride. At first, I whipped out my mental freakout list and began to assess the impact of this set back to my pending race. As I continued to run, I realized 1) it is about 15* hotter now than a month ago - I need to acclimate 2) I'm still healing - give it time 3) I suck at running anyway - what's the big surprise here?

I still have 2.5 weeks. Suddenly that time feels both very long and very short at the same time. I have this underlying belief that the whole world is cyclical. You know, like one big trigonometric curve of time and 'pain' (not necessarily in the literal sense). The comfort in believing in this is that no matter how bad something gets it will 1) get better at some point 2) always return to balanced state at some point 3) be really good some day.

This general theory seems to apply in some form to just about everything in my life. The amplitude changes as does the time. But balance does return.

Work: Sometimes it is insane other times I just can't get enough of a good thing.

My son was born: 1) the highest high I could imagine 2) no sleep for 6 weeks - a pretty low low 3) playing with him on the floor each night before bed - a pretty high high.

Injury: 1) Pain - Low 2) recovery - a balance (I guess) 3) New found strength - A high

The weather: It is supposed to be 101 in Lubbock today. Draw your own conclusions.

And finally in training. How many Triathlete Magazine articles have you read about some elite that just rebuilt everything from the ground up? The articles always talk about how they finally hit the low, turned that corner and came back to win big.

I went back and read through the last year of my BT workout log last night. High's and lows were all over. The fact that right now

• my running is crazy-weird,
• my swim stroke looks like I have water-wings attached to my ears and 50 pound weights to my toes,
• and my bike is clearly one pebble away from catching fire and sinking

means that I am about to turn a corner. I can only hope the timing is spot on for the big day.

You see, the only thing we can't directly control in the whole equation is time. You get no more than 24 hours a day and no less. If you withstand the pain and make the decision to bear down and perceiver the turn will come.

My turn is at hand. Until race day I'll make good decisions and prepare. Worst case, I'm closer to a balanced state, best case I'm beating my goal time by 30 minutes.

Form. Focus. Finish.

See ya out there...

Worth your salt

18 full days left now.

Today is a freakout day. I woke up this AM pretty sore from the ride last night. I took a modified long trip up Parmer and back in about 80 minutes. It was pretty hot out and the wind was blowing in my face the whole way back. I averaged about 19.5 out and about 14.8 on the way back. Wind Blows.

Am I prepared for the nutrition part of this?

I've been focused recently on being very disciplined in fueling during the longer bike rides. Last night I finished off a bottle of Endurance Gatorade and a bottle of water in just over an hour. I felt a little dehydrated afterward. Really I felt more drained than dehydrated. I did a little research and it sounded like symptoms of low electrolytes / salt. I'm thinking that I will really need to address salt intake during the bike to make sure I have juice for the half marathon during the race.

Weather forecast for Lubbock, TX today: High 101; Wind 15mph.

Freakout.

I used some of the freebee salts from a goodie bag a few weeks ago during a long brick - Endurolytes maybe? It seemed to work well and I had some kick'n salt lines afterward, but I'm not sure if there is a better brand out there. I think IronBenny (or was it TriDaddy?) used LavaSalts (?) for his IM a few weeks back. Perhaps I should try those out.

Anybody have thoughts on a good salt product?

It's time to get down to brass tacks here. Time to pick up the final items for race day and get them broken in. I've put together a nice shopping list for later this week:

Perpetuum - This stuff tastes like playdough (play-doh!), but seemed to work great during Red Poppy a few weeks ago.

Tri Shorts - I've put some pretty big miles on mine. It's time for a new pair.

Body Glide - Love this stuff. I've been using the free sample from the Half Marathon for about 4 months. Time to get a new supply.

Bento Box - A nice to have. Not sure if I really need this.

Aero Bottle - I'm freakin out that I don't have enough fluid with me on the bike. I'm thinking this might be a good water supply to have.

Lava Salts - For the heat.

Water Bottles - I just need a few new ones.

Shot Blocs - I just can't stomach the Gu's in the heat of the moment. I gotta have something to chew on.

Goggles - Mine are fogging, again. I saw some sweet goggles at the CapTex expo, but I decided to wait. Soon they'll be mine.

Freakout #3 - Lubbock.

I love Lubbock. Yeah, Yeah. Don't hate it because it's beautiful - because it's not. I have some of the best memories there. It is a really great college town. M and I scored a great place for the race. The Marriott Residence Inn. We have a penthouse room with 2 king beds, a pull out couch, and a kitchen. Plenty of room for the the three (and a half) of us plus my Mom. I'm digg'in on the kitchen. I won't have to fish around for something to eat the night before at some restaurant.

The down side - I really don't think Lubbock will have 1) a Bagel shop open at 5 AM for a pre-race power bagel with peanut butter or 2) a coffee shop open that early either. What the heck am I going to do for some pre-race fuel? Oatmeal and hotel room coffee. Freakout.

Side note: That's a great idea for a little business venture. Set up a small cart in front of the transition area before a race - sell all the essentials and the pre race fuel needs: coffee (that's, good coffee), bagels, gatorade, etc. I think I'll name it T-Zero. Ok - I need a investor with some cash. E-mail me.

Carrie has a great post today. She always knows of the coolest places to go in and around Austin. Her Half IM is this weekend. Can't wait to read about the experience.

So, tonight I have a quick trip to the LBS to drop off my ride for a tune up and wash. Then I'm headed over to LTF for a short swim. And finally, if I have the energy, a medium run. But me thinks the run will be moved to tomorrow... there just isn't enough time in the day for all of this.

See ya out there...

Stay Cool

Full training weekend in the books. Including... a run!

I rode 26+ miles with Party Pat on Saturday. It was a great morning for a ride. The wind gods were smiling and gave us a nice easy push on the return trip down Parmer. Makes for a nice 28mph cruise. It felt great to be out on the bike in the early morning again.

Sunday morning I woke up early and headed down to Barton Springs for a wetsuit swim. Not too many folks out at 6:30 AM on a Sunday. I felt like I had the whole town to myself. After about 6 laps or so I stopped for 10 minutes and watched the sun come up over the city. Beautiful. I finished off another 2 laps and headed to the car to don the running shoes.

I decided to start off slow with about 10-15 minutes of walking. If I had any pain I was going to scrap the run and just enjoy the nice morning stroll and company of Austin's fittest. At ten minutes I could no longer hold my shoes back. Beep, I started the HRM and took off east bound toward the bridge. I ran past the Stevie Ray statue and crossed over the river on the (Lamar?) bridge. I turned east and ran up to the Congress bridge, crossed back over the river and turned west back to the car. All in all I clocked about 30 minutes ~ 3.1 miles.

Good run.

I met up with T and M for some breakfast tacos at Rudy's afterward then headed home for a nap. Ahhh. My back feels great. I have some soreness but no pain.

Taper is now in full swing for BSLT - 19 full days left. I guess I really started tapering last month but whatever. Nothing heavy this week. I have one big workout this weekend. I plan to execute the race nutrition plan and cover about 45 miles or so in about 4 hours. Should be a good test.

See ya out there...

BSLT Countdown - 22 full days remaining

22 days left until the 2006 Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon.

My Thoughts: I feel confident in my training. If I have a really great day, 6 hours is within reach. I have the miles behind me, I have the speed, I have the gear.

Swim:

My strongest sport.

Bike:

Hills. Could I ever really be ready for the 8% grade hills? I need to make it out to Kittie Hill for some repeats.

Run:

I really need to get in a couple of good long runs before the big day to build some confidence in that area. Nearly a month of no running has me a little scared, but I know I can do it.

Nutrition:

My biggest concern. How will I hold up in the heat? I have a couple more workouts to try out the nutrition plan and make changes. Then, we'll just have to see.

See ya out there...

No Pain - All Gain

Last night started out pretty rough. Really rough. I fell asleep around 10 PM only to wake up at 11:30 with some serious back pain. I'm not talking tight muscles - I'm talking PAIN. Worse, I couldn't find a position sitting, standing, laying, crawling, hanging or otherwise that was comfortable.

About 12:10 AM I started exploring the very edges of my "adult" vocabulary. This impressive display of universal tongue promptly woke the dog. I knew it was time for drugs. I hobbled over to the Motrin and quickly took a few. My mind started to spiral out of control as my dreams of a BSLT finish started to fade into the cloud of pain in my head. I finally dosed off around 12:30.

5:30 AM -

M: "Hey, do you want me to reset the alarm or are you getting up."

She's teaching summer school and has Fridays off. In her pregnant condition, she resents the fact that I wake up early enough to feed chickens and milk the cows on her day off. Sorry, hon.

Me: "I'm up."
In my head: "Hey, wait a minute. I'm up!"

NO PAIN. None. Nadda. Zip.

Wait, I actually feel good. Really good. What time is it again? Maybe the Motrin is still in full force? 5:30 - well maybe. I better take the Motrin bottle with me today - just in case.

I got ready, no pain.

Put on pants - No Pain.
Put on socks - No Pain.
Put on shoes - No Pain.
Tie my shoes - No Pain.
Brush my teeth - No Pain.
Pick up T - No Pain.

Wait, I actually feel good today. Like 98% good. Perhaps these PT exercises are working?? Maybe it's the new mattress we purchased? What's better? I feel rested - I haven't slept that soundly in a long while.

I'm now focused on a solid weekend of training. Swimming, Biking and *GASP* a run or *DOUBLE GASP* two!

See ya out there...