Overall 2012 was a pretty darn good year on many fronts. The kids are all doing well in school and related activities. Business has been good. The weinerschnitzels are healthy and Carla is happy.....What more to life is there? Good question and the answers lie below :)
Winter Death Race Finisher - 33 hours (So cold, went in injured but persevered)
Summer Death Race Finisher - 60 hours (Very hard due to cross fit style of race)
Ironman St George Finisher - 15:40 (Windy/rough swim & hot & windy Bike!)
Dirty 30 Trail Run Finisher - 7:29 (very hard track)
Country Music Marathon Finisher - Top 2%- 1:39
Cedars of Lebanon - 6th place overall - 46:39
Leadville Marathon - 2X Finisher - 6:00 (elevations reach 13,150 feet)
Leadville Silver Rush 50 Mile Trail Run - 3X Finisher -11:16 (Toughest 50 miler)
UTMB Finisher - 24:19 (Weather was awful sleet, snow, rain, wind & mud)
Clarksville Century Ride Finisher - 5:10
Berlin Marathon 3:25:45 (Course was 26.68 miles..so much for German precision)
Fiesta Marathon - 1st place division, 5th overall - 3:38 (Ran 27 miles+)
Ironman Arizona Finisher - 12:51 (Hot day, wrecked on bike at mile 15 but persevered)
2012 was by far my most active year in endurance sports. The highlighted races above are what I would consider "A" races. Most people would attempt only 1 or at best 2 of them in a given year. Completing 6 major endurance races over the course of 2012 is a great feeling and sense of accomplishment. What you don't see is the amount of training that went into being able to finish all of theses races along with the family sacrifice of my training. As I reflect back on 2012, it was a really good year but I have many things to improve upon and look forward to 2013 as it approaches. It's nice to look back at the past and forward to the future, but more important to live in the present....Cheers!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Merry Christmas
Today there will be no training. Instead I will spend the day playing games with the kids (me included) and stuffing as much food down my pie hole as possible. Like the great grizzly bear, I need to pack on some winter fat before heading to the Yukon Territories in 5 1/2 weeks. The only difference is that I won't be going into hibernation, I'll be working off the fat over 300+ miles of some pretty gnarly terrain. Body fat currently is less than 10%, probably close to 7-8% with the heavy training and race schedule over the past 6 weeks. IM Phoenix and Fiesta Marathon jump started the metabolism and my daily 12 mile treks with my 30 pound tire and 10 pound backpack have only continued to burn fat calories.
Overall I'm feeling pretty good. I must say that pulling a tire for 12 miles across pavement beats up the hip flexors, quads, calves, achilles, foot arch and core. I'm hoping and praying that the sled will be much easier to pull across snow than a tire on pavement. I've been toying around with the idea of putting a blow up inter tube sledding device in one of my drop bags to place under my sled to reduce friction and make it easier to actually pull the sled. I've got to check it out and give it some thought as to how I would jerry rig this to my sled or if it'll even help.
It's a little concerning that if I'm sore after pulling a tire 12 miles, exactly how I'll feel after the first 100 miles of pulling sled. Still plenty of time to get in some good training....but today will be a day of "rest".
Santa has already come to Brentwood, TN and while the kids sleep I'm sitting in front of the fire sipping coffee with my little ole pal Oliver. Very peaceful.........Merry Christmas.
Overall I'm feeling pretty good. I must say that pulling a tire for 12 miles across pavement beats up the hip flexors, quads, calves, achilles, foot arch and core. I'm hoping and praying that the sled will be much easier to pull across snow than a tire on pavement. I've been toying around with the idea of putting a blow up inter tube sledding device in one of my drop bags to place under my sled to reduce friction and make it easier to actually pull the sled. I've got to check it out and give it some thought as to how I would jerry rig this to my sled or if it'll even help.
It's a little concerning that if I'm sore after pulling a tire 12 miles, exactly how I'll feel after the first 100 miles of pulling sled. Still plenty of time to get in some good training....but today will be a day of "rest".
Santa has already come to Brentwood, TN and while the kids sleep I'm sitting in front of the fire sipping coffee with my little ole pal Oliver. Very peaceful.........Merry Christmas.
Monday, December 24, 2012
The Fiesta Marathon Results.....
Where to start....? I guess the real question of the day was, where to go? The gun went off at 6:45AM on a 65F cloudy morning in McAllen, TX. It was nice to have a warm start for a change. Most IM starts are cold and require the athlete to jump into cold water. Every ultra running event that I've ever sone has had a chilly start as well, if not down right cold. So, a 65F start was a nice and welcomed change.
Francisco, Ray, Greg, Andy and I all got off to a good start with a preset pace of 7:35/Mile. The first 2 miles were a loop around the convention center and then the course took us out 12+ miles for an out and back type of a loop for the 26.2 miles. The goal of the day is always to finish, but for Ray and I we were looking to win a spot in the 2014 Boston Marathon. To accomplish this we had to both run an average of a 7:49/Mile or better, which equates to a sub 3:25 marathon. Doable, right? WRONG!
The race conditions, I thought were perfect. A warm start, humid..but not crazy humidity, a flat course, well trained, weighed in at 176-177lbs, lots of rest and 5 experienced runners supporting each other to nab a Boston qualifying time. Things went awry after the first 2 mile of the race when we were directed to do the initial 2 mile loop twice by the race officials on the course. When we got out onto the course and passed the 7 mile marker my Garmin read 9 miles.....Damn! Evidently all of the marathoners were given the wrong directions and did the first loop twice. This meant that in order to get a sub 3:25 finish that Ray and I were going to have to run an average of a 7:15/Mile pace. That wasn't happening.
With the support of Andy he was able to guide me to a spot on the course where I could make up some time/miles...about 1.25 miles to be exact, but it didn't matter. My legs felt really heavy at mile 18-19 and my pace began to slow down and I didn't have it mentally/physically to get a sub 3:25 marathon. Andy's wife was great as she handed me 2 bottles of gatorade at two critical points for me during the race that extended my hopes of a sub 3:25 finish. My finish time was 3:38. Not my best. Not my worst.
The race overall was a success in my book. Without the extra 3/4 mile my time would've been around a 3:28. While I didn't qualify for Boston, there will be many more opportunities. It was a great training session to beat up my legs and build up my speed training for the Yukon Arctic Ultra 300 mile race in 6 weeks. It was also great to spend a weekend with a bunch of guys that love to run and compete as much as I do, with great attitudes and don't take things too seriously. Andy took 1st place (4th overall) in his division 50-54 while Ray and I (5th overall) took 2nd and 1st place in the 45-49 division. Greg grabbed 7th place in the 35-39 division and Francisco got 6th in the 50-54 division. Not too bad.
It's been one week since the marathon finish and I'm back in full training for the YAU 300 in 6 weeks. This past week I managed to get in two 11+ mile hikes with my 30lb tire. Legs are feeling beat up in unusual places. Taking epsom salt baths for recovery along with rest in general and trying to eat right. Big training week ahead. Going to get in a 40 mile hike with my tire which should take about 10-11 hours, I'm guessing. More to follow.....Cheers!
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| Where's Andy?? |
The race conditions, I thought were perfect. A warm start, humid..but not crazy humidity, a flat course, well trained, weighed in at 176-177lbs, lots of rest and 5 experienced runners supporting each other to nab a Boston qualifying time. Things went awry after the first 2 mile of the race when we were directed to do the initial 2 mile loop twice by the race officials on the course. When we got out onto the course and passed the 7 mile marker my Garmin read 9 miles.....Damn! Evidently all of the marathoners were given the wrong directions and did the first loop twice. This meant that in order to get a sub 3:25 finish that Ray and I were going to have to run an average of a 7:15/Mile pace. That wasn't happening.
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| Hawaiian Ray Pre-Race Meditating |
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| This came with Geritol & a tube of Bengay |
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Last Chance to Qualify for Boston in 2012.....
Ray, Greg and I all arrived in McAllen Texas yesterday in pursuit of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Ray and I each have to run a sub 3:25 marathon, which is doable if we have a good race. Greg has a larger hurdle with a sub 3:15 time as he is 39 versus Ray and I at 45 years of age.
Francisco picked us up at the airport, while Greg drove in from Austin...which is abut a 5 hour trip. Francisco made us a nice dinner and we we took it easy and rented Ted, with Mark Wahlberg. Very very funny flick. I got to bed at a reasonable hour and got in about 8 hours of sleep. This morning we enjoyed a nice light breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee before heading up to the local running store to pick up some gear and then our race bibs. We all have pretty low numbers as I believe that there are less than 150 marathoners. There is a sporting chance that if we run a 3:20 race that we could win our age division.
The weather in the morning is suppose to be in the low 60's and creep into the mid 70's by the time we finish. The gun goes off at 6:45AM CST, which means if all goes well then we should be crossing the finish line by 10:05AM CST. McAllen is at sea level and is a very flat course. There are a couple of Francisco's local friends that will be running the race as well. The aid stations are at every two miles and should have Gatorade and water. I'm bringing along hammer gels and a pack of shot blocks as well.
Getting ready to chow down some pasta right now and then off to bed early. Read a little and then up at 4AM for a egg sandwich and coffee before the race.
Gotta run........Cheers!
Francisco picked us up at the airport, while Greg drove in from Austin...which is abut a 5 hour trip. Francisco made us a nice dinner and we we took it easy and rented Ted, with Mark Wahlberg. Very very funny flick. I got to bed at a reasonable hour and got in about 8 hours of sleep. This morning we enjoyed a nice light breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee before heading up to the local running store to pick up some gear and then our race bibs. We all have pretty low numbers as I believe that there are less than 150 marathoners. There is a sporting chance that if we run a 3:20 race that we could win our age division.
The weather in the morning is suppose to be in the low 60's and creep into the mid 70's by the time we finish. The gun goes off at 6:45AM CST, which means if all goes well then we should be crossing the finish line by 10:05AM CST. McAllen is at sea level and is a very flat course. There are a couple of Francisco's local friends that will be running the race as well. The aid stations are at every two miles and should have Gatorade and water. I'm bringing along hammer gels and a pack of shot blocks as well.
Getting ready to chow down some pasta right now and then off to bed early. Read a little and then up at 4AM for a egg sandwich and coffee before the race.
Gotta run........Cheers!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Fiesta Marathon...
In one week I will be in McAllen, TX racing in the Fiesta Marathon. It is the last opportunity in 2012 to qualify for Boston. After missing the BQ cutoff in Berlin by 45 seconds I am anxious to get that monkey off of my back. I haven't specifically trained to race to qualify, I am in good overall shape post IM PHX and have been getting in the miles. My training has been more race specific for the Yukon Arctic Ultra race in February about 7 weeks out.
Hawaiian Ray and Francisco will be racing as well. Thinking that I will try to hang with Ray, hoping that he runs a 7:30-7:40 mile pace. Looking forward to getting this race done and focusing on YAU. The weather for the race in McAllen will be cloudy with a low of 60F and high of 79F. Francisco is claiming that this course is pancake flat....hoping he's right...otherwise Ray and I may be making a call to INS :).
Unfortunately I won't be "tapering" into this race given the fact that YAU is only 7 weeks out. I will only run a couple of miles on Friday and Saturday to just stay loose, but other wise will plan on logging at least 40 miles this week prior to the marathon.
Time to hit the rack....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Hawaiian Ray and Francisco will be racing as well. Thinking that I will try to hang with Ray, hoping that he runs a 7:30-7:40 mile pace. Looking forward to getting this race done and focusing on YAU. The weather for the race in McAllen will be cloudy with a low of 60F and high of 79F. Francisco is claiming that this course is pancake flat....hoping he's right...otherwise Ray and I may be making a call to INS :).
Unfortunately I won't be "tapering" into this race given the fact that YAU is only 7 weeks out. I will only run a couple of miles on Friday and Saturday to just stay loose, but other wise will plan on logging at least 40 miles this week prior to the marathon.
Time to hit the rack....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Saturday, November 24, 2012
IRONMAN ARIZONA RACE REPORT
It was a perfect day for a race. The weather in the morning was in the upper 50's, the water temperature was 63F and there wasn't a cloud in the sky as sun snuck up over the horizon. We all stayed about 3 miles from the race start at the HGI to get a good nights rest. We got up at about 4AM and left the hotel around 5:15AM.
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| Dropping off Bike Bags |
The bike area was a busy place at 5:30AM. Both Timmy and I got our tires pumped with air and made the last adjustments to our bikes, nutrition and hydration needs for the day before making our way down to the water for the swim.
The swim took place in Tempe Town Lake, a stretch of brown water that is only about 200 yards wide which made for a crowded, body slapping 2.4 miles. Timmy kicked ass on the swim finishing in 1:00 or 11th out of the water, a pretty damn good start to the day. I came out in 1:26 which I considered a good performance, one upon which I will build. I need to take about 10 minutes off of that time for Texas, Louisville and Placid in 2013. My T-1 transition time was 10 minutes, not great but not terrible. I have 2 minutes that I need to shave off of that with a little more focus and preparation.
The pre-race dinner the athletes gathered in the park to load up on carbs and listen to the IM host introduce a number of athletes and announce some statistics. One of those statistics was the out of the 2,500 competitors approximately 950 were first time ironman athletes. When they made this announcement and leaned over to Timmy and told him that this meant that we need to be careful on the bike, due to the number of rookies on the course, words that would come back to haunt me.
Out of the T1 transition I saw Carla who told me that I was 28 minutes behind Timmy, which I had projected to give up 30 minutes so I was pretty pleased. I knew that I could make up time on the bike and cut this lead by at least 10-15 minutes. Plans are good, but execution is what really matters. As a result of coming out of the water in the bottom 40% of the pack and being a stronger cyclist I usually have a lot of fun passing people on the bike. Conversely, Timmy being a strong swimmer and not as strong on the bike ends up getting passed. For the first 14 miles I was sling shotting around a ton of cyclists that had beat me out of the water but couldn't match that performance on the bike. At mile 15 as I was attempting to pass a string of competitors a newby in the passing lane reached back to grab his water bottle (why? because he was a rookie) lost control and took out one bike that skidded into the passing lane while he laid his bike down and the racer in front of me attempting to pass as well hit the two downed bikes. I was last to the pile up in aero position hitting the group at about 18-20MPH.
Upon hitting the cluster of bikes and bodies I jack-knifed over the top and hit the pavement head and right shoulder first and then getting body slammed into the pavement knocking the wind out of me. At initial impact I heard a crunching sound thinking, damn is that my head? Fortunately it was my helmet that took the impact from the blow. I need to write to the engineers that designed that helmet because it worked and did its job. My right should didn't fair quite as well. I had previously separated my right shoulder, fractured my right scapula and cracked 2 ribs on that side. As a police officer sat me up to help me take inventory of my injuries a bike mechanic was looking over my bike. On my left forearm I had a contusion sticking up at least an inch and a half, which looked bad. The police officer told me it was broken, I told him it was just a "monkey bump" and It was fine. My left wrist got jammed and sprained. My right shoulder had a nice scrape on it where the initial impact was absorbed. It was immediately swollen and a knot had formed where it bone lifted up from the shoulder socket. It was most likely a class 2 separation. My scapula and ribs posterior 2 through 5 hurt a lot.
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| Bike Crash....... |
After being helped up I made my way out of the middle of the rode to the guard rail on the side of the rode, where the bike mechanic was looking over my bike. Unfortunately my bike was fine, eliminating my excuse for not being able to finish the race. So with a 97 miles to go on the bike and a marathon to run I clipped into my bike and told the medics that had just arrived in the ambulance to cart off the 3rd cyclist (due to a gash in his quad) that I was fine and had a 26 year old nephew to catch. As you can see from my splits below the adrenaline must've been pumping as i made up the 10 minutes lost from the crash and finished in 6:06, the same time as my nephew, so no time lost or gained on this segment. In the back of my mind I knew that running was going to be an issue with my injuries but held out hope that Timmy was going to bonk on the run and if I just held a steady pace that I would catch him. Neither of that happened.
T2 transition was 6 minutes. That's 4 minutes worse than my average T2 transition times. I couldn't reach down to take off my bike shoes or sneakers. I had a hard time pulling off my bike shorts and putting on my running shorts during T2. This left me with about a 28 minute deficit as I left for the first lap of 3. The afternoon sun was hot, but felt good. After lap 1 I had cut 6 minutes from Timmy's lead which was now 22 minutes, still manageable. I wasn't feeling good at all going into lap 2 and decided to slow it down a bit and load up on nutrition and hydration in preparing for a final lap, which I was still hoping for a bonk from Timmy. As I approached Carla and Heather before the last lap they told me that I was now 24 minutes behind and more importantly that Timmy was looking strong. With 8.5 miles to go I would have to run a 7 min/mile to catch Timmy which in a 1/2 IM I could muster up but not the full distance and a jacked up shoulder and ribs. Timmy ran a great race and I was very proud of his performance.
I walked for 5 of the 8.5 miles of the last lap with a few other competitors. I decided to run with about 3 miles to go when the oldest guy in the race, a 78 year old, shuffled past me. That was simply too much for me to take so I picked up the pace and ran the last few miles in. The finishing chute at IM AZ was pretty lame compared to the previous 5 that I've run down. Normally the chute is about 1/4 mile long with people lining it. This chute was probably 75-100 yards at best, but it did have a lot of people cheering us on. I saw Carla in the crowd near the finish line snapping photos. It was a long day for both of us. There is no better feeling than coming down the finisher chute at the end of the race. This was number six on my journey for twelve and an entry into Kona. I must say, doing another IM was a thought that I couldn't even begin to entertain right then. However, its been 6 days post race and I am signed up for IM Lake Placid, IM Louisville and thinking about IM Texas in May. In addition, I signed up for the Leadman in Tempe on April 14, 2013. A 1.5M swim, 68 mile bike, 7 mile run, good training fro IM Texas and a rematch.........
Cheers!
Rank: 132
Overall Rank: 1149
| BIB: | 422 |
| Division: | M45-49 |
| Age: | 45 |
| State: | Brentwood TN |
| Country: | USA |
| Profession: | Business Owner |
| Swim: | 1:26:23 |
| Bike: | 6:06:33 |
| Run: | 5:01:24 |
| Overall: | 12:51:11 |
CONGRATULATIONS, PHILLIP, ON YOUR FINISH!
| Split Name | Distance | Split Time | Race Time | Pace | Div. Rank | Overall Rank | Gender Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 2.4 mi | 1:26:23 | 1:26:23 | 2:14/100m | 169 | 1511 | 1195 |
| Split Name | Distance | Split Time | Race Time | Pace | Div. Rank | Overall Rank | Gender Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.4 mi | 9.4 mi | 31:53 | 2:08:32 | 17.76 mi/h | |||
| 18.8 mi | 9.3 mi | 37:48 | 2:46:20 | 14.78 mi/h | |||
| 28.1 mi | 9.3 mi | 21:58 | 3:08:18 | 25.43 mi/h | |||
| 37.4 mi | 9.3 mi | 25:40 | 3:33:58 | 21.76 mi/h | |||
| 46.7 mi | 9.3 mi | 29:40 | 4:03:38 | 18.85 mi/h | |||
| 56 mi | 9.3 mi | 31:04 | 4:34:42 | 17.98 mi/h | |||
| 65.3 mi | 9.3 mi | 32:09 | 5:06:51 | 17.37 mi/h | |||
| 74.6 mi | 9.3 mi | 28:06 | 5:34:57 | 19.90 mi/h | |||
| 83.9 mi | 9.3 mi | 30:55 | 6:05:52 | 18.07 mi/h | |||
| 93.3 mi | 9.3 mi | 33:24 | 6:39:16 | 16.72 mi/h | |||
| 102.6 mi | 9.3 mi | 32:23 | 7:11:39 | 17.25 mi/h | |||
| 112 mi | 9.4 mi | 31:33 | 7:43:12 | 17.95 mi/h | |||
| Total | 112 mi | 6:06:33 | 7:43:12 | 18.33 mi/h | 146 | 1282 | 1055 |
| Split Name | Distance | Split Time | Race Time | Pace | Div. Rank | Overall Rank | Gender Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 mi | 1.5 mi | 12:05 | 8:01:52 | 8:09/mi | |||
| 3.1 mi | 1.6 mi | 15:01 | 8:16:53 | 9:30/mi | |||
| 4.6 mi | 1.6 mi | 15:47 | 8:32:40 | 10:07/mi | |||
| 5.9 mi | 1.3 mi | 15:38 | 8:48:18 | 11:50/mi | |||
| 7 mi | 1.1 mi | 10:36 | 8:58:54 | 9:43/mi | |||
| 8.6 mi | 1.6 mi | 16:06 | 9:15:00 | 9:59/mi | |||
| 10.1 mi | 1.5 mi | 13:08 | 9:28:08 | 8:52/mi | |||
| 11.7 mi | 1.6 mi | 16:40 | 9:44:48 | 10:28/mi | |||
| 13.3 mi | 1.6 mi | 18:02 | 10:02:50 | 11:38/mi | |||
| 14.6 mi | 1.3 mi | 16:23 | 10:19:13 | 12:24/mi | |||
| 15.7 mi | 1.1 mi | 9:50 | 10:29:03 | 9:01/mi | |||
| 17.3 mi | 1.6 mi | 19:41 | 10:48:44 | 12:13/mi | |||
| 18.8 mi | 1.5 mi | 22:15 | 11:10:59 | 15:02/mi | |||
| 20.4 mi | 1.6 mi | 26:38 | 11:37:37 | 16:45/mi | |||
| 21.9 mi | 1.6 mi | 23:33 | 12:01:10 | 15:11/mi | |||
| 23.2 mi | 1.3 mi | 16:59 | 12:18:09 | 12:51/mi | |||
| 24.3 mi | 1.1 mi | 11:43 | 12:29:52 | 10:39/mi | |||
| 26.2 mi | 1.9 mi | 21:19 | 12:51:11 | 11:20/mi | |||
| Total | 26.2 mi | 5:01:24 | 12:51:11 | 11:30/mi | 132 | 1149 | 927 |
| T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE | 10:16 |
| T2: BIKE-TO-RUN | 6:35 |
Saturday, November 17, 2012
24.5 Hours...Countdown to IM AZ!!
I'm a packin up my bags and gonna head out west where real women come with scripts, equipped with fake breasts......I wanna be a Cowboy bay bay.
Arrived in PHX yesterday am. Carla and I met Timmy at the airport, flight was on time. We headed over to the athlete village and got checked in grabbed my bib #422 along with the other race paraphernalia. We shopped a little at the IM store and then hit the strip for a relaxing lunch.
After lunch we drove the bike course, which was very helpful. It looks like a relatively flat course so the bike should be ok. We then headed out to Timmy's place and began to get our race day gear organized before heading back to Tempe for the IM dinner. The dinner was good, met some first timers as well as a 60 year old that's done this race every year in PHX (a total of 9 here). Post dinner we made it back to the house where we found Carla and Heather drinking, watching some Male Strip Movie with Matthew Mcconaughey and giggling like two little high school girls.
I got up at 4:45AM today and figured I'd get in my last blog update before the race tomorrow. This morning Timmy is taking me to his local lake for a morning swim and then a light run. Later this am we'll be headed back to Tempe to check our bikes in and drop off our race bags. Planning on chilling to the rest of the day, before grabbing an early light dinner.
The weather forecast is looking great. Low 50's in the am and high 70's and sunny all day. The sun rise is at 7AmM which is when the gun goes off. We'll be swimming into the sun for about 25 minutes and then we'll have it tour our backs the remainder. Water temps are about 62F, which is a little chilly but we'll warm up fast in the wetsuits. I've got my neoprene cap that I'll be sporting as well.
I'm rather certain that my feet will be numb getting onto the bike, but should warm up after about 3 hours into the bike ride. They are predicting a ENE 4MPH wind tomorrow. This means the ride only on the bike loop will be slightly uphill and into a mild breeze and the return (18 miles) we'll have the wind to our backs on a slight downhill grade. This should make for about a 16MPH out and a 22MPH return for a 19MPH average speed - if I can hold it. My plan is to push the bike hard so that I don't lose much time to Timmy, given he'll have a 30 minute lead on me out of the water.
I think that I've got my nutrition dialed in for the race. I will be taking in 250 calories per hour on the bike and run via cookies, Gatorade, pretzels, PB sandwich, potato chips and Reese's PB cups. I'm saving my gels and shot blocks for the run. I plan on sucking down 25oz per hour on the bike and 30oz the last hour heading into the run. I'll need to be well hydrated and have my caloric intake under control coming off of the bike.
The run will be very interesting. My goal is simple, run a sub 4 hour marathon, which is anything but simple. This means I'll have to average a 9 minute mile.
My weight is about 176-177lbs and I've been getting my rest. Really have no excuses. Looking forward to racing on a flat course. Timmy is well trained and has dropped a bunch of weight. He'll be a lot to handle but I like to chase the carrot. Much better than being chased.
It's been 363 days since I signed up for this race. I cannot wait to be in the water in Sunday. All is good......
Shhhh...did you hear that? We all know what that was...........
Arrived in PHX yesterday am. Carla and I met Timmy at the airport, flight was on time. We headed over to the athlete village and got checked in grabbed my bib #422 along with the other race paraphernalia. We shopped a little at the IM store and then hit the strip for a relaxing lunch. After lunch we drove the bike course, which was very helpful. It looks like a relatively flat course so the bike should be ok. We then headed out to Timmy's place and began to get our race day gear organized before heading back to Tempe for the IM dinner. The dinner was good, met some first timers as well as a 60 year old that's done this race every year in PHX (a total of 9 here). Post dinner we made it back to the house where we found Carla and Heather drinking, watching some Male Strip Movie with Matthew Mcconaughey and giggling like two little high school girls.
I got up at 4:45AM today and figured I'd get in my last blog update before the race tomorrow. This morning Timmy is taking me to his local lake for a morning swim and then a light run. Later this am we'll be headed back to Tempe to check our bikes in and drop off our race bags. Planning on chilling to the rest of the day, before grabbing an early light dinner.
The weather forecast is looking great. Low 50's in the am and high 70's and sunny all day. The sun rise is at 7AmM which is when the gun goes off. We'll be swimming into the sun for about 25 minutes and then we'll have it tour our backs the remainder. Water temps are about 62F, which is a little chilly but we'll warm up fast in the wetsuits. I've got my neoprene cap that I'll be sporting as well.
I'm rather certain that my feet will be numb getting onto the bike, but should warm up after about 3 hours into the bike ride. They are predicting a ENE 4MPH wind tomorrow. This means the ride only on the bike loop will be slightly uphill and into a mild breeze and the return (18 miles) we'll have the wind to our backs on a slight downhill grade. This should make for about a 16MPH out and a 22MPH return for a 19MPH average speed - if I can hold it. My plan is to push the bike hard so that I don't lose much time to Timmy, given he'll have a 30 minute lead on me out of the water. I think that I've got my nutrition dialed in for the race. I will be taking in 250 calories per hour on the bike and run via cookies, Gatorade, pretzels, PB sandwich, potato chips and Reese's PB cups. I'm saving my gels and shot blocks for the run. I plan on sucking down 25oz per hour on the bike and 30oz the last hour heading into the run. I'll need to be well hydrated and have my caloric intake under control coming off of the bike.
The run will be very interesting. My goal is simple, run a sub 4 hour marathon, which is anything but simple. This means I'll have to average a 9 minute mile.
My weight is about 176-177lbs and I've been getting my rest. Really have no excuses. Looking forward to racing on a flat course. Timmy is well trained and has dropped a bunch of weight. He'll be a lot to handle but I like to chase the carrot. Much better than being chased.
It's been 363 days since I signed up for this race. I cannot wait to be in the water in Sunday. All is good......
Shhhh...did you hear that? We all know what that was...........
Sunday, November 11, 2012
One Week out from the "Duel in the Desert"!!
It's been a long long season. Leading up to IM Arizona I have been diligent in my preparation. In March 2012 I traveled up to Pittsfield, VT to compete in the Winter Death Race, after 30 hours I finished in 10th place overall.
In May, I ventured out to compete in an early season IM in St George UTAH. It was a great day of training, forcing me to start my training and development of my base endurance levels early. The weather was brutal. A high desert where altitude, heat and wind punished the athletes, causing the highest DNF in the history of Ironman racing.
The first week of June, I raced in the "Dirty 30" trail run in the Canyons of Rocky Mts in Colorado. It was a tough race with about 8,000 feet of elevation gain. Violent thunderstorms hit us in the last 5 miles of the race at about 7,500 feet of altitude. When we finished this race, we were done. A great training course for the UTMB.
A few weeks after completing IM STG and 1 week post Dirty 30, I went back to Pittsfield, VT to compete in the Summer Death Race. 300 people entered the race and about 40 or so actually finished. Once again, I was able to finish within the top 10. It was a 60 hour race and a test of physical and mental endurance. Fatigue was redefined for me during this race. I learned about hallucinations and managing through extreme conditions. Training for this race was much different than for an IM. Strength played a role, mental and physical.
In July, I traveled back to Leadville, CO for the Leadville marathon and the Silver Rush 50 mile trail run. These two events are very tough. The 50 mile run is equivalent to doing an Ironman. Running at an average altitude of 11,000 feet is tough. Another good endurance base building event leading up to UTMB.
Five weeks later I was off to Chamonix, France to compete in the UTMB. This was a race for the ages. The weather was awful and my early season training paid dividends. I was able to manage through this race with relative ease.
A month post UTMB, I ventured back to Europe, to Berlin for the Marathon, missing qualifying for Boston by 45 seconds. Having not seriously trained to go sub 3:25 my performance was good. I was beat up post race, with sore achilles. Speed hurts.
For the past 11 weeks I have tailored my training for IM Phoenix. I haven't spent a ton of time on the bike, but have been able to get in some long bike rides. My swim has come along quite nicely and getting out of the water and through T-1 in 1:30 should not be a problem. My run, well, is everything. I expect to finish the run in under 4 hours, something I have yet to do in an Ironman. The bike is the wild card....
The good news is that I am actually "racing" this event. I have never really raced a full distance IM before. I raced many 70.3's against buddies of mine, but never a full distance IM. When I "race" my mindset is much different than just "finishing". While "just finishing" should not be taken for granted in a 140.6 race, it is always the very goal of the day...to finish.
Fortunately I have completed 5-140.6's, 8-70.3's, 5-50 mile trail runs, attempted 4-100 mile trail runs and have successfully finished 2 of them (UTMB was actually only 70 Miles). I have pushed myself to the hospital twice, because of poor nutrition and simple lack of experience in these events which resulted in 2 DNF's (Both on 100 mile trail runs). I have learned the signs of dehydration, glycogen deficits and mental lapses. I know what an extreme bonk feels like and i know how to fight to get to the other side of the bonk, which you can only learn by touching the stove. I have wandered around in the darkest corners of my mind during a race, but I have found the light...that light is experience, experience that my young bull competitor lacks as he enters his very first Ironman.
So here's a tale of the tape:
1. Knowledge of the course: Timmy's home turf and he has trained on the race course. ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
2. Training: Timmy has been very disciplined and has trained specifically for this IM while I have been focused on multiple types of endurance events. ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
3. I am 45 and Timmy is 26: ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
4. Timmy is an excellent swimmer, I am not: ADVANTAGE TIMMY
5. Timmy has many more hours logged on the bike: ADVANTAGE TIMMY
6. Timmy's best and only EVER marathon run time was 3:58. ADVANTAGE PT
7. Course management: Timmy has NEVER completed a full distance IM. I have completed 5 and at least 20 other triathlons. ADVANTAGE PT
8. Mental discipline and toughness: Not even close.....ADVANTAGE PT
9. Ability to endure: ADVANTAGE PT
10. Overall Experience: HANDS DOWN....ADVANTAGE PT
My race day predictions as follows:
Young Bull Old Bull
Swim 1:00 1:25
T-1 :07 :07
Bike lap 1 1:55 2:00
Bike lap 2 1:55 2:05
Bike lap 3 1:55 2:10
Total Bike 5:45 6:15
T-2 :03 :03
Run lap 1 1:30 1:20
Run lap 2 1:45 1:15
Run lap 3 2:00 1:20
Total Run 5:15 3:55
Total Time 12:10 11:45
In May, I ventured out to compete in an early season IM in St George UTAH. It was a great day of training, forcing me to start my training and development of my base endurance levels early. The weather was brutal. A high desert where altitude, heat and wind punished the athletes, causing the highest DNF in the history of Ironman racing.
The first week of June, I raced in the "Dirty 30" trail run in the Canyons of Rocky Mts in Colorado. It was a tough race with about 8,000 feet of elevation gain. Violent thunderstorms hit us in the last 5 miles of the race at about 7,500 feet of altitude. When we finished this race, we were done. A great training course for the UTMB.
A few weeks after completing IM STG and 1 week post Dirty 30, I went back to Pittsfield, VT to compete in the Summer Death Race. 300 people entered the race and about 40 or so actually finished. Once again, I was able to finish within the top 10. It was a 60 hour race and a test of physical and mental endurance. Fatigue was redefined for me during this race. I learned about hallucinations and managing through extreme conditions. Training for this race was much different than for an IM. Strength played a role, mental and physical.
In July, I traveled back to Leadville, CO for the Leadville marathon and the Silver Rush 50 mile trail run. These two events are very tough. The 50 mile run is equivalent to doing an Ironman. Running at an average altitude of 11,000 feet is tough. Another good endurance base building event leading up to UTMB.
Five weeks later I was off to Chamonix, France to compete in the UTMB. This was a race for the ages. The weather was awful and my early season training paid dividends. I was able to manage through this race with relative ease.
A month post UTMB, I ventured back to Europe, to Berlin for the Marathon, missing qualifying for Boston by 45 seconds. Having not seriously trained to go sub 3:25 my performance was good. I was beat up post race, with sore achilles. Speed hurts.
For the past 11 weeks I have tailored my training for IM Phoenix. I haven't spent a ton of time on the bike, but have been able to get in some long bike rides. My swim has come along quite nicely and getting out of the water and through T-1 in 1:30 should not be a problem. My run, well, is everything. I expect to finish the run in under 4 hours, something I have yet to do in an Ironman. The bike is the wild card....
The good news is that I am actually "racing" this event. I have never really raced a full distance IM before. I raced many 70.3's against buddies of mine, but never a full distance IM. When I "race" my mindset is much different than just "finishing". While "just finishing" should not be taken for granted in a 140.6 race, it is always the very goal of the day...to finish.
Fortunately I have completed 5-140.6's, 8-70.3's, 5-50 mile trail runs, attempted 4-100 mile trail runs and have successfully finished 2 of them (UTMB was actually only 70 Miles). I have pushed myself to the hospital twice, because of poor nutrition and simple lack of experience in these events which resulted in 2 DNF's (Both on 100 mile trail runs). I have learned the signs of dehydration, glycogen deficits and mental lapses. I know what an extreme bonk feels like and i know how to fight to get to the other side of the bonk, which you can only learn by touching the stove. I have wandered around in the darkest corners of my mind during a race, but I have found the light...that light is experience, experience that my young bull competitor lacks as he enters his very first Ironman.
So here's a tale of the tape:
1. Knowledge of the course: Timmy's home turf and he has trained on the race course. ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
2. Training: Timmy has been very disciplined and has trained specifically for this IM while I have been focused on multiple types of endurance events. ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
3. I am 45 and Timmy is 26: ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
4. Timmy is an excellent swimmer, I am not: ADVANTAGE TIMMY
5. Timmy has many more hours logged on the bike: ADVANTAGE TIMMY
6. Timmy's best and only EVER marathon run time was 3:58. ADVANTAGE PT
7. Course management: Timmy has NEVER completed a full distance IM. I have completed 5 and at least 20 other triathlons. ADVANTAGE PT
8. Mental discipline and toughness: Not even close.....ADVANTAGE PT
9. Ability to endure: ADVANTAGE PT
10. Overall Experience: HANDS DOWN....ADVANTAGE PT
My race day predictions as follows:
Young Bull Old Bull
Swim 1:00 1:25
T-1 :07 :07
Bike lap 1 1:55 2:00
Bike lap 2 1:55 2:05
Bike lap 3 1:55 2:10
Total Bike 5:45 6:15
T-2 :03 :03
Run lap 1 1:30 1:20
Run lap 2 1:45 1:15
Run lap 3 2:00 1:20
Total Run 5:15 3:55
Total Time 12:10 11:45
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