Thursday, December 27, 2007

2007 - What a wonderful year!

We sure got a lot accomplished this year, everyone is healthy and strong and ready for the new year.

Bike to School and Bike to Work Day



IRONMAN!



Jacob Triathlon



Kitchen ready for demolishion



More Demo



Cleaned up and ready for Cabinets



Tree House



New and old Doors



the finished kitchen



Finished Tree House



Attachmate Holiday Party



All (and more!) photos can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ggtriguy/Gervais2007

Saturday, December 15, 2007

WOOO HOOO!!! I won the lottery!!!!!!

I entered the lottery two weeks ago and today was the drawing and I got an email this evening to congratulate me on winning the chance to enter the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon on June 8, 2008!!!

WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

I get to swim about 1.5 miles from Alcatraz in 55 degree water to the San Francisco waterfront, run about 1 mile from swim exit to the bike transition area, bicycle 18 miles around the hills of San Francisco finishing with an 8 mile run which includes a beach section and the famous sand stairs!

WOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!

Check it out

Monday, December 10, 2007

Whats the difference?

Last Thursday I had what I thought was surgery to remove a small bump from my neck. The doctor and nurses kept calling it a procedure. I've had this lump drained a few times over the past three years and my family doc suggested surgery to get rid of the infection completely. Basically it was an ingrown hair on the back of my neck that got infected and due to the extra tough skin on the back of your neck prevents the natural secretion of oil through the skin and the oil just collects forming a small lump. I missed running one of my favorite races, the Bellingham Jingle Bell run this weekend but I'm recovering just fine, back at work the next day. My only real problem is the bandages and sticky tape starts to annoy my neck.

So whats the difference between surgery and a surgical procedure?

Monday, November 26, 2007

Weekend of rides

Finally got out on a outdoor winter 'long' ride with Mike and friend (Jim). We met near the Vet clinic in Fairhaven and road out the interurban trail and then up, up, up Cleator road to the top. I put on two pairs of socks, leg warmers, three shirts, thick skull cap covering my ears, toasty warm gloves and I was still cold. Once underway, I was able to warm up by working hard, and boy was it hard. Climbing the 3.6 mile Cleator road we climbed about 1500 feet in the 3.6 miles, which is tough, but still a bit deceiving as about 1 mile of this is a flat section about half way up. I ended up having to walk a bit just to gather some more strength.

Once at the top Mike took a couple photos and we ate an then after getting cold, started back down. This was not nearly as fun, lots of pot holes and pretty fast going downhill so had to keep on the brakes and this was tough as I got colder and colder as we descended as I did not need to pedal, nor could I really as I was pretty much just standing and holding onto the handlebars and brakes as I rattled over the many small divots.

Back on the interurban it was nice to be able to pedal and start to warm up again. All in all a very nice 2 and half hour ride from home to top of Cleator and home again.

Road with Jacob on Sunday, we left mid morning and road to the bike jump park near the skate park. We road along some roads, but road the trails through Whatcom Falls park and really did not have much traffic to deal with, Jacob did great staying to the side and on the sidewalk when necessary. Jacob wore his fingerless bike gloves and within a mile asked for the full finger gloves I offered at the beginning.

The bike jump park wasn't really as much fun as we expected as it was quite muddy and actually the jumps were too big for Jacob and I to jump. So we tried to ride a couple of the smaller jumps but just ended up getting mud all over our shoes and tires.

The ride back home we got most the mud off our tires as it spun off and up our backsides and some onto our fronts as we gained speed on a couple downhill sections on the way home.

Great weekend of cold riding!

Monday, November 19, 2007

Cyclocross and more

I went and raced another cyclocross race this weekend. This weeks race was up in Lynden racing on the fairgrounds. Ryan, from cyclocrazed.com, really setup another great course. This course felt much more like my first cyclocross race (at WWU) with lots of tight turns around trees, zig zagging back and forth over slick wet grass and under big pine trees and all the nice soft (slippery) pine needles underneath. The course also included a fast (long) descent on a gravel road transitioning (at speed) onto some long unkempt grass, with more twisting and turning under big trees. The run-up was very tough run up loose dirt with the final 15 feet or so at a much steeper pitch than the first 75 feet. Had to use a big push to get up and over the top each time.

BUT, the course include two unique sections that helped to make this course very memorable. Ryan sent us on a twisting loop with a hairpin turn at one end through some soupy mud in the grandstand area where they hold concerts and the demolition derby during the fair. This section went from soupy mud to more solid ground and back and forth until your bike was just caked in mud and dirt to a short section with a small spiral to ride into one of the barns. This was not just a way to get from one side to the other, this barn has a skateboard park setup inside and Ryan sent us up and over one of the jumps. Very fun!

This was the last event of the 2007 season for Ryan and cyclocrazed.com. I hope he can find more venues and open weekends in future seasons, cyclocross is a lot of fun, you can ride on a moutainbike if you want, so come on out and get some exercise and get a bit dirty next fall.

Drove out with good friend Mike and he took some pictures and wrote about his experience at the race too, check out his blog here: http://mcqview.blogspot.com/2007/11/tractor-cross_17.html

I also worked on a cabinet I'm making for my parents, I got most of my dado's and rabbit cuts done and was able to dry assemble the cabinet, it is looking good. It has been a lot of work, but hopefully be done before Christmas. Still need to cut slots for the sliding doors and assemble the doors themselves. I did stain up a couple scrap pieces to show my parents over thanksgiving to see what they like. I like the no stain area, this mahogany is very nice wood.

I was also able to finally get the roofing on the tree house (I'll post a blog with lots of pics soon now that I'm done). Jacob, Alex and the rest of the neighborhood seem to like the tree house. I may need to rework the ladder as the current rope ladder is tough to climb.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Great weekend of fun exercise!

Had a busy weekend, it all started out with the Cyclocrazed cycle cross event at Cornwall Park in Bellingham. I had lots of fun, great weather, one mechanical issue (twig from a tree got stuck in my derailleur and had to stop and get off to 'fix' my wheel so I could pedal), one crash (complete endo over the front handle bars as I attempted to ride over one of the log barriers - needless to say I ran and carried the bike every other time).

I raced in the Mens C category and we did five laps all around Cornwall park, including a large circle of death on the big grass field where we spiralled around and around getting closer to the center to a hairpin turn at the center to spiral all the way back out. This was very cool, we had maybe 20 - 30 riders in this same spiral on the first lap and was neat having riders going both in and out at the same time. Kind of an optical illusion, some riders passing you but were really still behind or in front of you.

The course went through a lot of underbrush under all the tall evergreens. Not much underbrush, but more tons of pine needles, small tree twigs, some big twigs, but this soft surface also caused the twigs and such to kick up and I got some in my derailleur a couple times. One worked itself out and another was big enough to cause my chain to not even move, which made it tough to pedal, had to stop for that one.

One run up which you could ride if you had a lead up ride to get some momentum, but the course creator forces you up the side of the hill, hitting the pathway used for the run up about a quarter of the way up. By doing it this way, made it tough to start riding your bike in the middle of a pretty steep hill. I ran/pushed my bike every time, my friend Mike rode up a couple times, but it worked out to be about the same.

After the race I made my way out to the soccer fields for Jacobs game. We stopped on the way back to get a couple birthday gifts (Jacob had two parties this weekend) and home in time to eat and wrap gifts and finally relax a bit.

Sunday morning I ran with the trail runners, we had a great run, about 15+ miles just under 3 hours of moving time. We ran out past Lost Lake, which made me wish I had brought my camera, it was perfectly still, not a ripple, very black looking. I wonder how deep it is. After running past Lost Lake we got to our destination, a trail called 'So Easy', well it is not much of a run at this point because it is pretty much straight up.

We wait for each other at major intersections, or key locations and at the top of 'So Easy' we regrouped and decided to complete the loop around Chuckanut by running down past Fragrance Lake and the $2 (two dollar) trail, dumping out onto Cleator road and down to the Interurban back to the Vet and our cars. My knee started hurting, so started getting farther and farther behind the group. We met up on Cleator road I doing more of the down hill stuff it kept on hurting, but once on the flat Interurban I was able to run. It hurt some at the beginning, but towards the final mile or so was able to run without much pain. I did take a shortcut as I was pretty far off the back and actually finished a bit a head of half the group.

Halloween costumes were part of Jacobs birthday party today, so after ice on my knee and lunch helped Jacob and Alex get all dressed up. Man was I glad to just have to drop them off, 10-15 kids all dressed up with no place to go, it was quite hectic over at Jimmy's house.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Runningshoes.com MTB Duathlon

This is the third time I've done this event and first time we had no rain, there was still a bit o mud up on some of the trail but it was a great day.

As always I arrived quite early to pickup my packet and shirt. Got settled, road one lap around the lake to warm up and then setup my transition, great spot near the entry/exit. Lots of friends do this race so it is a great time chatting and releasing the pre race tension.

The race starts with one lap running around the lake, then we mountain bike followed by another run around the lake. They changed the bike loop from two laps of the 'beginner' course to one lap of the 'expert' course. The expert course adds some serious hills, some pretty easy switchbacks and then hooks up onto the beginner course and doing only one lap makes this a slightly shorter event than in the past.

Lance was being Lance at the start and held up the starting gun and yelled 'GO', then about 10 seconds into the run he fired the starting gun, put a big smile on my face at least. I always seem to start my runs a bit fast, but with a bike and then another run, I wanted to go a bit slower than a fast run, maybe tempo pace. Thought I was in pretty good company and felt good throughout, carried my bike gloves and during the final quarter mile or so, ate a gel and put on my gloves.

My mountain biking shoes are just my running shoes so quickly put on the helmet and was off, nice quick transition. This was maybe my 5th ride on my new bike (well new to me) and I think it's great. I was able to climb and coming back down hardly felt the drops and bumps. very nice, very quick. I did get passed by more than a few going up, but was not passed on the way back down. I did catch up with someone and was happy to stay a bit behind as I was also thinking about the run after.

Back into transition I again had a 20 second stop to park bike, take off helmet and grab my running hat. I think I gained ground in the transition area on more than a few competitors.

The second run is the opposite way around the lake and starts with a bit of a hill (not really anything to talk about) making the transition from biking to running a bit of work, but once at the top of the crest starting feeling like running. Shortly after though my stomach started saying when are you going to stop running, so I slowed a bit, took the better part of the lake before I felt like really running fast again. Coming around the lake past the play structure (about a quarter mile from the finish) I see Debbie and Alex and Alex was ready for a high five, but after the high five he wanted to run with me, so I slowed (a bit) and he kept up for the final quarter mile and got lots of cheers.

About an hour after the adult race they do a kids duathlon and Jacob did it again for the third time, he did the 'long course' with about a half mile run, bike around the lake and then the same half mile run. He did great. I think he could bike faster, but completed everything with a look of determination and trademark tongue stickin out, working hard!

Great event and great day.

Great race and event overall

Monday, October 01, 2007

On the Trail again...

Finally got back on the trail again this weekend, running with the same group I was before. Boy o boy did I miss this. Didn't realize how much till out running this weekend with the group.

Rained the whole time, nice easy pace, catching up on the news (no gossip at all ;-), what a great time. The time/distance just melted away, before I knew it we were back at the cars.

Its great to be on the trail again
Running with the best of friends
Just can't wait to get on the trail again

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Black Diamond Half Iron

Sometimes I actually like being a slow swimmer...

Came down on Friday to stay with Debbie's parents, nice easy and relaxing. Up early to get the worm, or at least a good parking spot within the state park. As usual I'm an early bird and got there before the park gate was open, but not first in line (second).

Sat and read and eventually someone came an opened the gate to let us (1o or so) early arrivers in. I probably could of slept in a bit more as I noticed some spots as late as 6:30 but I was up anyway so oh well.

Got my packet and put the numbers in the correct spots and went to get body marked and find my transition spot. They provide lots of bike racks, but put about 20 per 20 feet and they are numbered in 20's so I try to find a kinda open spot in my grouping, but not much bigger than a postage stamp.

With the great parking I was able to leave some stuff in the car and not use up as much space in transition anyway. There must of been 200 bikes on 15 or so racks and about 20 more unused racks. I (along with quite a few others) asked about spreading out into an unused area so I ended up moving and had a whole rack to myself, it was great.

I had some stomach issues going on too, just a bit unsettled, gurgling and such. Wasn't sure if I was going to have to stick close to the porto-lets or actually get to race, maybe it was just nerves because as once I started getting my wetsuit on and fully ready to go my stomach settled down.

The swim is a two lap course and I hadn't done much swimming since Coeur d'Alene so was just hoping for anything under 45 and as it turns out I only missed last years time by about 20 seconds or so. I was a little worried on the second lap as I swam and pretty much only saw the pink swim caps of the second wave of all women, not many green (men's wave) caps. Once I saw my time coming up to transition I was happy.
Swim: 43:32 (1.2 miles - 2:04/100 yards)

It was great to have the whole rack to myself, I was able to stomp my wetsuit off, dry my feet, get socks and shoes on, jersey, sunglasses and helmet and was off, faster than last year.
T1 - 2:40

They changed the bike course this year (from 62 miles to proper Half Iron 56 miles) so I knew I was going to improve on my time, but I started out strong and started passing people right away. This is where I really like being a slow swimmer, I had the 180th fastest swim (out of 219). I like having these rabbits to catch, so I count them, helps keeps me focused, plus one for everyone I pass, minus one for when someone passes me.

They added two out and backs to the loop to the north we have done in the past for this course, this turned the north loop into 24.75 miles (same course they use for the Olympic tri) and the middle loop to the south was cut considerably shorter and skipped the Mud Mountain road (2 mile uphill).

I had ridden most of this course in previous years, but wasn't sure what to expect on the new out and backs and part of the south loop. The first out and back was on a dead end and nice and wide and a little uphill, but we got to come right back down that. The second out and back was a turnaround on a busy main road. I was a little worried on how they would work this, but it was great, they had two police officers with stop signs and only letting cars through if there were no bicyclist, the gap between was a couple football fields of wide open road and we had the whole width to turn around, didn't loose too much speed.

I finished the first loop of 25 miles in 1:13 and change and knew I was flying (for me at least). I was up 39 positions by then, still feeling good and not tired or anything. My goal for the bike was to hopefully break 3 hours and my quick math told me had a good shot if I get the south loop done in 20 and 1:20 for the repeated north loop.

We head south and it got a bit windy, but not too bad, my pace of counting slowed quite a bit on the south loop and the repeat of the north. We were getting further strung out and the space between riders was much larger. We stayed on the main road for a couple miles with no protection from the wind, finally turning over to a side road for the route back and got to use some of that (now a tail) wind.

Passing back in front of the state park at 1:33 meant I was still on pace and I hit the 1:33 right on, just need to keep the pace for the final 25 miles.

My right knee started to talk to me about mile 40 or so. I started to ease off just a bit. I had been leap frogging one rider. I'd pass on the hill, she'd pass me back, then another rolling hill and I'd get my spot back and then finally she was able to get away as I just had to slow a bit to not hurt as much.

There is a long straight before the first out and back and generally downhill, but rolling and I was able to fully hammer through this without any pain and the hill on the out and back was fine too. My number had gotten as high as 48, but with the knee pain and easing I got back down to 41, I kept thinking I gotta keep going, I can't give these all back, I earned it. I was happy to be able to ride pain free all the way back to the state park and in doing so, got my final number back up to finish at 49. Very happy, what a great ride!
Bike - 2:54:24 (56 miles - 19.27 MPH)

Coming back into T2 I stopped and used the porto-lets and still had a pretty quick T2. I did a test run this week with bungee laces and (thankfully) decided to stick with regular laces and run a comfortable half marathon. Changed the shoes, got rid of the helmet and grabbed the race belt and took off for an afternoon run.
T2 - 2:08

I had one goal for the run and that was to run and not walk. The previous two times I did this event I ended up walking a good portion of the half marathon. I know I can run a pretty decent half marathon, but after swimming and biking it just had not come together.

I started out slow, a secondary goal was to break 2 hours, so I tried to stick to 9 minute miles and hope for the best. The course was not as well marked as previous years, but the few mile markers I saw, I was ahead of the 9 minute pace.

I keep count on the run too, I think mostly to keep my mind on something other than my feet and body. So I look and count other peoples feet and bodies.
I kept picking off the miles and before I knew it I was at the furthest turn around and headed back, its all downhill from here , right? head home now! gotta keep going as its the only way back. I was still feeling good at this point, I had some water at every aid station alternating my own gels or thermolyte tablets. On the way back though I started to not want to eat, I tried my clif blocks and started chew, but just ended up spitting it out as it didn't want to go down.

No problem, I'm almost home, I can make it. There is a section of a dirt road that is not gravel and not really dirt. I'd say it is mostly fist to shoe sized rocks, not the best or most fun to run on, but I kept on keepin on passing a few more in this section as I think my trail running helped some through here.

Back on the road you have to run past the state park to enter through a back trail and then you are so close you can hear the music, hear the announcer calling peoples name at the finish, but they send us on the final 1.4 mile loop around the lake.
I had gotten up to plus 18 at the start of the lake loop, but I was hurting, I kept on running though. very slowly. It is not like running around Green Lake (flat paved trail) not like running around Lake Padden (wide well groomed gravel with ups and downs). This is more like an extra wide single track you might find while out mountain biking. The path is exposed root after exposed root, they do mark them, but the ground is almost all powdery white from all the roots that are marked. not to mention to brutal ups and downs (not too bad, but at mile 70 of this 70.3 adventure) I was hurting and they felt brutal.

8 people passed me in the final 1.4 to finish at plus 10. I had no energy, I usually have something to kick it in and across the finish line, but I had nothing. I did get a smile and thumbs up in for the photographer, but was happy to be done. I even had the volunteer taking my timing strap off open my water bottle for me.

Run 1:57:55 (13.1 miles - 9:00/mile)
Total 5:40:39 (83/202 Overall - 22/26 Male 35-39)

I went down and soaked in the nice cool lake for a bit while I thought about the great race I just had. I actually felt like a raced it too, first time I felt like I raced a triathlon of this distance. I hit all my goals and then some. I was hoping to break 6 hours and smashed that out the door, broke 3 on the bike, sub 2 on the run, ran the entire run. all in all a great race.

Weird tidbit of info: final place of 83 matched my race number of 83

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Boys day out



Mountain biking with the boys up on Galbraith mountain was great! We started early and did get some rain, but finished before the heavy stuff started. Great riding with friends, great riding on new trails, great all around!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Ride 542 (Mt Baker Hill Climb)


What a great day, not a cloud anywhere on the way up or down.

We met before 6 to carpool up and arrived in plenty of time to get fully dressed and bikes all ready. It was cold because there were no clouds overnite either. We wanted to get going to warm the legs and body up.

There were lots and lots of riders, they roll us west on SR542 back out of downtown Glacier to the mile post 33 "starting line". Kevin, Joel and I were towards the back of the group, but once we started we were able to use both sides of the road and I was able to move up quickly. By about a mile into the ride I was within 100 yards of the leaders and on the first downhill section of the uphill ride we were crusin along at better than 30 MPH.

The ride is 24 plus miles from Glacier up to Artist Point which is about 5k past the Mt Baker ski area. The lower first 11 miles or so is the steepest section past Nooksack River Falls. I was about 5 minutes faster up this section than the recon ride last week.

Just past here we get a false flat up past the DOT station to the real climb. It is not as steep but it is much longer, the final 12 miles is just up, go around a corner and then its more up. next switchback, more up, up, up.

You go past the lower ski lodge and you need to either not know the road or gather your mental strength as it seems like forever to get to Heather Meadows and the upper ski lodge. After multiple switchbacks and passing the sign (about 1 mile before the real Heather Meadows) you finally get to the upper ski area.

Now it gets interesting as you turn up the final 5k ascent. This uppper section is what you think of in the Alps of the Tour de France, above the tree line and lots of switchbacks that you can see above you (and below you). This part is tough for me too as once you pass the Austin Pass parking lot you got a big, long switchback and you think your close, but once around the upper part of this you hit the Lake Ann trailhead parking lot and you see a repeat of what looks like the same big, long switchback, but this is great too as you start to see many more spectators, hear the cowbells and it helps get you up to the top.

They mark each kilometer of the final 5k and in between 2k and 1k to go I start to fell real sluggish, I thought it might just be because of my location (riding up the side of a mountain), but as it got worse I noticed some give to my rear tire, yeah I had a slow leaking flat. I started to feel my rim on the ground, so stood up over the handlebars and got a bit better, but couldn't stand the final 1.5k. Once I sat back down I realized I had to stop, ug!

Got my wheel off the bike, got out my tire levers, was about to release the final bits of air to get the tire off the rim, but noticed it still had a good amount of air, so decided to simply fill with my CO2 cartridge. Filled it up, loaded up my gear, and back underway. It was a slow leak and I was able to finish with just the refill of air. (I did a full change before riding back down)

I was close to the 2 hour mark I've been hoping to get, still a personal best on my third time in this event. If I had no flat I still wouldn't of made it under 2 hours.

Great ride, highly recommend to everyone.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Hill Climb recon

Met a couple friends and we drove up to the Glacier park and ride. We parked and then rode the bikes to rest of the 24 or so miles to the top ending at Artist Point. Great weather today, very little traffic, Mike and Mark are much better riders than me and as such mike was able to get a repeat of the final 3 (toughest) miles from the ski area to the top. Both are ready for the actual event next weekend. I'm ready too! Just hope for decent weather.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

RSVP

Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party

Kevin and I started this little bike ride on Thursday as we made our way to Seattle via a couple different cars and two wonderful drivers (our wifes).



Spent the night at my parents and got up early to ride to the start line at Sand Point, got settled and we were off in the right direction (south). The ride heads south for about .25 mile before turning around onto the Burke Gilman trail and we had a grand time. The weather cooperated and the food stops were awesome. Saw some other riders and friends we know along the way. Got into the stop in Bellingham and rode home for a first day total of about 112 miles.



Since the kids were with the grandparents, Debbie and I went out for dinner and watched a movie we picked out. Got to bed and was up again early as Kevin and I wanted to head out about 6:30, rode up to Kevin's and we were off.



We should of not had breakfast as once we went into the Dutch Mothers bakery in Lynden we found out they put on a special buffet for the riders, we both just ordered a scone and was it ever good! Next time get the breakfast buffet.

Hit the border at 8:04 am just after they opened and continued north through farmland and lots of horse country. Went past an equestrian show and got some pictures for Debbie and pretty soon we were at the ferry for a very short ride across the river. Back on the bikes and another 5 miles we made it to the only food stop on the second day ride.



After some food and a short rest we got back at it, Kevin was hurting a bit but once we hit the outskirts of Vancouver and going through neighborhood after neighborhood I think he got distracted and didn't notice the shooting pain in his knee as much, He was our navigator and got us through all the twists and turns.

We totally lucked out and had NO RAIN for the whole two day ride... we did have some snow though, yep snow on August 18 in downtown Vancouver where they were filming a movie, pretty neat.



The end was a little of a let down, after all that way, we turn into a parking garage, an underground parking garage, so we head down, down, down to the depths and find a nice security lady guarding the bike coral who took our finish picture. We went upstairs and found the 'party' (yeah small p) and it was not much to write home about, or blog about other than we made it! had our free burger and paid for a beer and visited with some other riders, while a DJ played the radio in the background.

Rode the 1k to our hotel, checked in, showered and then went for a great afternoon/evening out on a double date night, took the subway, water taxi, walked around Granville Island, dinner there, back to downtown via water taxi and subway, and went for drinks at our hotel lounge, which was on the 42nd floor and rotates like the Space Needle, and did I mention the weather was awesome! had a great view all around as we sat, visited and spent way too much on way too little to drink.



Woke up Sunday morning and went for a run in Stanley Park, I couldn't pass it up and ran all around the seawall except for a section under repair due to storm damage, cleaned up and went for Starbucks and then we made our way to check-out and found an IKEA, about an hour wait at the border back and then Kevin and Robin dropped us off in time to relax and get settled.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Whistler










We went to Whistler last weekend with Debbie's parents and her brothers family. What a great time. Second year we have been, second year of rain, we will go again and hopefully get some sunny weather. All photos can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ggtriguy/WhistlerJuly2007

Monday, July 16, 2007

Clear Lake Race Report

We had planned on getting up early to go watch some of the Tour de France down at The Mount Bakery - a local Belgian bakery, but skipped it for a little extra sleep before we headed south. I loaded up and then got the kids fed and loaded and we were off.

Clear Lake is about 30-40 minutes south of Bellingham, just east of Mount Vernon and I thought we were late, but as it turns out the race started at 9:00 instead of the 8:30 I had thought, so we had plenty of time to get setup and relax and play a bit.

My parents same up from Seattle to watch Jacob do the kids race which starts after the adults race. They arrived early enough to watch me race too, very nice! The lake has a very nice small park with a great play structure for the kids, some slides to slide into the water, nice sandy beach and it was turning out to be a beautiful day.

The race got underway a bout 5 minutes late to allow cleaning up some of the road construction. The swim is basically a 1/3 mile triangle and the start in between the swim docks was a little tight. I think I hit and got hit just as much as my Ironman swim. Once around the two turns and coming back into shore, it did clear up a bit. I got out of the water in just under 12 minutes, right where I was hoping.

I decided to try to race with no socks to see if I could save some time, so my swim to bike transition was very fast, just sunglasses, helmet and shoes and was off, no drying , no stopping to put on socks. I was able to bike without socks without any pain or blisters. This is a short sprint race and was only a 15 mile ride, out and back so you get to see all the leaders and who is coming up behind you. Pretty flat too, one hill and I really didn't even notice how big the hill was until I was coming back down. I passed 14 people on the bike and had two pass me, I know one very well as I ride with him most weekends, the other was wearing the new Bellingham Tri Club gear but I did not recognize him. Even though it was so short I was happy to finish as I was going VERY hard the whole way, finishing in 42:17 (or 21.3 MPH and averaged 154 HR which is a lot higher than I train at).

My bike to run transition was very fast too, I had transitioned to bare feet on top of my bike shoes on the last 200 yards of the bike so just needed to run to my spot, set bike and helmet down and put on my running shoes, this was a little harder than I expected as my feet were still a little damp, but got them on, grabbed my race number and hat and was headed out.

I could feel that I wished I had socks on, it was rubbing me the wrong way, but I made it through with only a couple cuts on one foot, no blisters, so no complaints. I checked my watch at the mile marker and saw 6:45 so I was moving along pretty good. Kept picking off people too, one at a time here and there and hit the turn around at 13:13 still moving fast. Finally got passed by one faster runner just after the turn around, but I kept on trucking along and pretty soon I saw the 1 mile to go sign. The first part of the last mile was a bit tough, but after a couple turns you can see how close you are getting and before I knew it was around the last turn and turned it up a bit more and then the final 150 yard dash was a nice sprint to finish it off. I passed 6 on the run and had 1 pass me. not bad at all! 26:39 run or 6:40 per mile 160 HR!

Final time of 1:22:20 and 13th overall position!

Relaxed a bit and then got Jacobs transition all set, He wanted me to swim/bike/run with him so I did a second triathlon and it was just as much fun as the first. Jacob used a kick board and I swam along side, his swim was about 100 yards and he did great, ran quickly up and out of the water and I helped rinse off his feet. He was going sock less as well, got on his shoes and helmet and I set him off while I got my shoes and helmet on too. I quickly caught up and we rode the 1.5 mile ride having a nice conversation. Back at transition, we ran to drop off our bikes and I told him just to set it down and I would catch up after I set the bikes in place. He ran most all the .6 mile course with only one walk section this year. He really wanted to improve on his time from last year and was about 3-4 minutes faster. He was very happy!

After his race I found out that I actually finished my race in first place for my age group (Male 35-39) so that was a nice surprise. They do a great raffle for all sorts of stuff, but Jacob was a little disappointed again this year, two years in a row and our names were not called (75 or more prizes on the table to choose from).

After, my parents took us all out for lunch and treats at Dairy Queen, so I think Jacob's disappointment did not last long! Great day and very happy to have my parents come watch Jacob and I race. Alex had fun playing and I was able to swim and catch him coming down the slide. Great Day!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

IRONMAN Coeur d'Alene Race Report

IRONMAN Coeur d’Alene
June 24, 2007

I got an ok night of sleep, got up about 4 am to eat and load up the car while the kids slept. Jacob woke up and got dressed and I carried Alex out to the car in his pajamas and we were off about 4:35 or so.

I dropped off my special needs bags, put my nutrition mix and gels on my bike and found someone to pump up my tires, and then finally got body marked. I met up with Debbie and the kids and we went to check out the swim start area and walked towards the Coeur d’Alene Resort. After many hugs, kisses and good wishes I went back towards transition and sat down to relax a bit.

About 6:20 or so I started to get my wetsuit on and dropped my dry clothes bag off and was on the beach with about 15 – 20 minutes to go. I moved to the far right got my cap and goggles on and then heard the national anthem and was ready to go.

SWIM 2.4 Miles – 1:29:12 – 2:21 per 100 meters
Before I knew it I heard the cannon and I slowly walked down behind the runners. It took me about 15 seconds before I was in and deep enough to start swimming.

The oncoming whitecaps and rollers from the wind were tough to get a good stroke going, the waves had no regularity so you could not get a rhythm as to know when to breathe and when to sight. I was pretty much following the swimmers in front of me.

The real mess was at the first turn buoy. I planned to swim a bit wide but didn’t go wide enough and was caught in the mess. The swim section parallel to the beach was extra tough as the whitecaps kept pushing everyone in and that made the second turn buoy tougher than the first as not many were able to swim wide. I made it around and the waves kind of pushed us towards the shore but it didn’t help too much as I found it harder to know when to breathe and when to sight.

I was amazed when I saw the timing clock at 41 minutes as I got out of the water. The wind and associated whitecaps were just as bad on the second lap and I did not have nearly as many people in front to block and use for sighting. Not nearly as many people at the turn, but was still a tight turn with lots of people.

My calf cramped up tight once around the buoy, so I had to stop swimming and rolled over onto my back for almost half a minute while I tried to stretch and not get hit or swam over. I worked through it and got back into the beach with a total of 1:29:12 and boy was I happy. Under my goal of 1:30!

T1 - 6:47
I walked up the beach past over a 1000 people lining the barriers, awesome! I picked an open pair of wetsuit peelers and they pulled and tugged and within a couple seconds my wetsuit was off.

I found an empty chair in the changing tent. Once dry and bike gear on, I was out the door to the next set of volunteers and had two nice lades slather my arms and neck with sunscreen before I jogged off to grab my bike. I saw Debbie and the kids at the fence near my bicycle and they cheered for me and it felt great to be sent off like that.

BIKE 112 Miles – 6:38:58 – 16.8 mph
I exited the bike transition and the town streets were packed full of people cheering you on. I tried to settle into a nice and easy rhythm to keep my heart rate down. Coming back through town after first out and back in about 45 minutes I Debbie and the kids and got a little misty eyed as I made my way up and onto the middle 40 mile loop that had most all the hills.

I hardly noticed the first hill and before I knew it I was up and over the steepest hill section and ready for the rolling hills and again before I knew it was out at the furthest north turn around, about 35 miles into the course in under two hours, man I thought I was going too fast.

Back into town over the few more rollers and the final 10 miles or so is generally downhill and then you do get to ride through the barriers and tons of people cheering for you, it was awesome!

First loop done in 3:08 and change and I was off for the second loop, repeating the exact same route out and along the lake. I stopped at one of the vault toilets along the lake and at the bike special needs drop bags to reload my nutrition mix. I walked a bit to stretch my legs and toes.

The section through town was once again awesome and then up into the hill loop. Even the outer sections of the hilly area had lots of people, each aid station was like a party zone, people had parties in their driveways, some major intersections, and at the furthest turnaround was a large group all dressed in red cheering everyone on, I saw someone dressed up as Elmo way out here too, man it was great.

I got off the bike at the start of the aid station at mile 96 and walked through as if it was a run course aid station to stretch, get off the bike and use the facilities.

The short two mile out and back was great as I knew I was so close to being done and hammered out and back to make the second loop in about 3:30.

T2 - 4:53
I went straight to one of the porta potties then got my bag from the volunteer and back into the changing tent. This was quicker as I just had to take the bike shoes off and put the running shoes on.

It felt great to get the bike shoes off and the running shoes on. I stopped at the sun screeners again and got slathered, they got my ears and face this time in addition to my arms and shoulders, it was like a great mid race massage.

RUN 26.2 Miles - 4:56:22 – 11:19 per mile
I was now on my strongest portion of the triathlon and I was off and running towards the first short out and back section along the river. After the turn around, I checked my watch at the 1 mile marker and saw 8:30, not a bad pace at all maybe a bit fast but I was feeling ok and shortly after, just before getting back near the transition area, I saw Debbie and kids and they saw me and started to cheer and boy oh boy was it great. What a lift, each time I saw them my pace quickened a bit and I’m sure my smile got bigger.

The tunnel of people on each side of the barriers as you run past the transition area was like what you see when you watch the Tour de France, it was packed full of people on each side and lots and lots of them are calling out your name and man it was awesome. Just past this, you run through downtown Coeur d’Alene and the streets are closed and each side of the street is packed. You get this feeling for about 5 or 6 blocks before the turn towards the residential section before you get to the lake area.

I was able to run pretty much the first 10 miles, but after that I settled into a run/walk and made it back into town and the crowd helped me run, how could you walk when thousands of people are cheering for you and calling your name. I made it past the transition area in about 2:08 for the first half marathon.

Once past the river dike section and downtown and the residential section and back along the lake I was starting to turn into a walk/run. I had plenty of energy to run, but was too sore all over my legs and feet so wanted to walk so I did. I did run the hill up the turnaround because I knew I would walk back down so I ran up, felt great!

The way back was more walk than run and back through the residential section I tried to run and was starting to turn back into a run/walker and once past the last aid station about mile 25 I ran the final mile plus all the way home.

Coming down the final 5 blocks is all downhill and packed with 2000-3000 people all cheering for me and lots would read my name and call out “Go Glenn!” or “Way to go Glenn”, man it was awesome. About two blocks from the finish chute I started to slow as I was looking for Debbie and the kids as I wanted to finish with Jacob and Alex. Some people said don’t slow down now, you can do it, but I finally found the kids, or Jacob found me and ran out of the kids corral area and I asked if Alex was coming. Debbie got him out of the stroller and we all ran down the finish chute and I even heard Mike Reilly call my name (correctly too) and where I was from and most importantly that “YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!”

SWIM: 2.4 Miles – 1:29:12
T1: 6:47
BIKE: 112 Miles – 6:38:58
T2: 4:53
RUN: 26.2 Miles – 4:56:12
FINAL: 13:16:11
PLACE: 217/344
AGPLACE: 1108/2085 OA

Sunday, June 24, 2007

It's Offical, I am an IRONMAN!


Man I'm tired, no long post tonight, it was long, it was hard, but it was FUN!

I uploaded pics to my Picasa web album, so check that out for now. Full report coming soon once we get home and I can gather all my thoughts.

Thanks to all to helped support me through all of this, Thanks to all you kept me in their thoughts and prayers today, I know it helped (especially out on the run)

Today is the day!!!!!!

Up early to get some calories and then we will leave soon.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

The calm before the storm

Time to relax and take it easy for the rest of today.

After enjoying breakfast at the hotel, the whole family went down and found a new place to park (on the Idaho college campus) and it should be a good place for race day too. I went for a short bike ride followed by an even shorter run while Debbie and the kids went to the park.

We met after and all went to the expo and the kids got some IRONMAN souvenirs and left messages for me at the Ford display. These inspirational messages are triggered by the timing chip and show up on large reader board during the Ford Motivational Mile (yeah everything is sponsored).

We walked around and looked at bike entry/exit area and the run exit and then over to the finish line (almost all setup) before meeting Aunt Pam and Uncle Pat for lunch. We had a nice visit and then took our time back to the hotel by driving up past Silverwood and then drove part of the furthest northern part of the bike course.

Back at the hotel we are now relaxing and hope to get to bed early.

Live video and athlete tracking is up on www.ironman.com

Friday, June 22, 2007

Friday Fun Day

The only 'events' I planned on doing today was the morning swim and the evening banquet and athlete meeting, so once done swimming (another day of wind and whitecaps) I drove back to the hotel and went to the continental breakfast with everyone.


After, we drove to CdA and drove out part of the bike/run course along the lake and then went for a hike in Tubbs Hill Park. Near the trail head is a memorial to Hydroplane drivers. (In the back of the local awesome hamburger joint -Hudsons - is a little Hydroplane museum that we stumbled upon at lunch on Thursday). What great views, the trail was a little bumpy, but we made it and went to play at the park toy structures for a while. We went for lunch at a San Francisco Sourdough sandwich shop and they were great and even better, next door was a Cold Stone Creamery.


A little rest at the hotel and I organized my transition bags and now we are headed out to swim in Hayden Lake!
I also uploaded more images to my Picasa web album, check the links on the side of the blog

Thursday, June 21, 2007

IRONKIDS race!

Jacob and Alex did the Iron Kids fun run tonight and it was great. I ran with Alex and he did the full 1K run without walking. They got medals and water bottles when they crossed the line.


The kids also made signs, went swimming, walked on the boardwalk and we had dinner before running the kids race, after the race we came back to the hotel and went on the bumper boats and played in the arcade. What a long, GREAT day!




Thursday Morning Swim

I may have to rethink my estimates... Swimming into whitecaps sure changes how long it takes to swim. 1 lap this morning took over 48 minutes and boy o boy was it tough headed out. Coming back in was just a little easier but not much. No fun hitting a wave when you're trying to breathe.



Looking down the middle of the course.

Time for lunch!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

We Made It!

We got up early loaded, robeks, starbucks and on road by 7 am. The kids did great, first stop was almost 3 hoursin up on top of Snoqualamie Pass, just a quick break and back on the road, next stop was not until Moses Lake for lunch. We found a great park right off the freeway.



Next stop was a great visit with Uncle Pat at RiversidePark in downtown Spokane, Aunt Pam came by after work and we got underway. Getting settled in. Dinner and soon will hit the wave pool and water slides that are part of the hotel.




Some fun at the park

Monday, June 18, 2007

Final countdown

Jacob, Alex and I set out on Friday for a boys only camp out, we didn't go far, about 7 miles south of Bellingham is Larabee State Park but even so Alex fell asleep in the car on the way. That turned out to be a good thing as Jacob and I were able to setup the tent and tarp over the picnic table. Alex woke up about the time we were finishing and I started to inflate our air mattresses.

We had nice fireside chats, hot dogs on a stick, s'mores, scary stories, hikes and a visit from mom on Saturday too. Lots of fun!

It was nice to relax with the kids and not spend half the weekend exercising. Not much planned this week, just a couple real short quick runs, swims and bikes just to keep loose and also to ease some stomach nerves as it gets closer.

We depart early Wednesday morning and please do keep checking the blog as I plan to update most every day.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

844

is my lucky number for June 24th at least! You can use it to track me online during the race, more details to follow including URLs for the live video feed so you can watch me too!

Less than 10 days left, I'm ready, just need to get some rest and travel in.

Jacob, Alex and I are going camping this weekend and then 2 days of work and we are off for Coeur d'Alene!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Time to TAPER!

I did my last long ride yesterday in the sun, what a great day!


I rode with Kevin out to meet Pat and we did a nice loop back into Bellingham and south to ride around Lake Samish before heading up and over Yew street back past Lake Whatcom, dropping Kevin off and refilling water, I continued with Pat to drop him off near his place and then I repeated the first loop.


I wanted to ride a two loop ride and it worked out great as Kevin was looking to get in about 3 hours and Pat 3-4 hours and I was hoping for 6. I think we all got real close to our goals for the ride.


I finished my last long ride at 5:50 and 94 miles followed by a short 30 minute run. It was sunny and hot. I expect some heat for the IRONMAN so this is good. I took my electrolyte tablets and had no issues on the bike or (more importantly) the run. The last hour and half of the bike I was ready to be done biking.


Now I taper, over the next 3 weeks I will reduce the lengths of my training sessions, but not the intensity, if anything I might pickup the intensity a bit.

Friday, June 01, 2007

May was my biggest month ever

This past month I swam almost 15 miles, ran another 115 and biked almost 600 miles all in about 65 hours of training.


Spending a few days in Couer d'Alene with others was awesome and the business trip made for a slight recovery week, but I feel ready. One last long ride this Sunday and then I will officially begin my taper.


Got an email from North America Sports (The people who run the IRONMAN in Couer d'Alene) that the bib numbers will be announced on June 8th!


Monday, May 28, 2007

Weekend to Remember

Got back real late from Pismo Beach on Friday night, so naturally stayed up a bit later getting settled.

Went in Lake Whatcom for the first time on Saturday morning and boy o boy was it cold, I have no idea what the temp was, but think it will be close to what we get in Lake Coeur d'Alene. I wore my new swim booties and it certainly did help and once I got moving and generating some heat it wasn't too bad. I'm sure the guys fishing were looking at me a bit funny, but I got training to do. The condos out at the end of the lake tore down the gazebo but I still swam two loops to the gazebo and back. Actually, you can see the old railroad bed at the bottom of the lake and that is where I turn around, so don't need the gazebo anymore, but it was nice to site off of.

Saturday afternoon had me riding the Ski to Sea mountain bike course as it is only open to pre ride the one day from noon to 4:00 and we got to Hovander Park about 3:30 so we had to hurry, at least to get past the one section that goes over private land. Very nice flat course, with three bridges that you have to get off and push, carry, pull, or whatever to get your bike under and over the obstacles. Once past the bridges the course goes down to the beach and is a combination of river sized rocks and sandy sections, not a spot to ride, so I carried a bit and pushed through the sandy sections. Back on dry land, we weave our way through the waterfront area to Zuanich Park to tag our kayaker, but today was just a test run. I get to do the real thing on Sunday.

I was planning a run Sunday morning, but slept in and took it easy for a little while. I left about 11 am to meet John and carpool out to Hovander for the biker meeting at noon. Got my bike inspected and got the low down on the ins and outs and the rules of the race.

Then I waited... and waited... and waited...

While I was waiting, I was able to hold John's bike as his canoe team came in pretty early and he was off, I held another acquaintances bike for him and as I was waiting around a bit more I saw a couple co-workers doing the mountain bike course for their teams. Jody was going to hold my bike as I heard my number called (that meant Nancy and Wendy were already under the Fairhaven bridge WOW!).

As I got my bike up to the loading area, Jody was going to hold it but once I was on the beach I heard his number called, so per our agreement he was going to leave it where I set it down.

Before I knew it Nancy and Wendy were in sight, I went to the beaching area and they had another team in the way but they came right in and I stepped into my mid calf deep and grabbed the boat and pulled it up onto the beach as Wendy and Nancy got out. Per our pre race talk I started running with the boat and they were going to carry the back, but they just got finished rowing for two hours and I was running a bit fast, so we had a couple missteps and drops, and Nancy actually fell right at the end, but I was under the exchange banner so I was off and running to my bike.

Swiped the timing chip and off on the course. The first part is on grass through Hovander park to get up onto the river dike which is part gravel and part packed dirt, with overgrown side grasses and bushes the whole way. I had passed a couple and was about to pass another but the first bridge came up so is kinda first in and no passing while under, once under and back up on the dike you have to lift your bike over a cable blocking access to the dike, not fun with a 35-40 pound monster steel mountain bike.

Back underway I quickly made a couple more passes and then there were a few diversions to avoid some sink holes and then the next bridge, this bridge has huge rocks underneath so I carried my bike over my head this time, ug!

Passed a couple more as we transitioned from this bridge to through the private property up onto Marine drive and back towards Bellingham, this road section can be fast, but it felt like I had a flat, it didn't look like a flat, so I kept on slugging away, man it was hard. I kept this up for about 5 minutes (maybe one mile) and had most all those people I passed come up and pass me. I started to hear some noises so I stopped and as it turns out my rear brakes were rubbing and that is tough to do with cantilever brakes, once side got lodged under (over?) the rim and up next to the spokes. It took a couple really tough tugs and pulls but I got it loose and was off and underway again.

I passed about 5 or 6 people on the road section, but we were only on the road for a bit and then we had to carry our bikes over a road barrier and back under a bridge, this bridge has a 14 inch pipe you need to lift your bike over and then onto a short (100 yard) section of gravel path down to the beach section and I was actually able to pass a few on this section as well.

Back on solid ground I was off and into the parking lot and pulled out the timing chip to hand to my kayaker and man was it fun!

Not counting the time I was stopped I don't think anyone passed me and I counted a total of about 10 that I passed. Looking at the results online, our team was 212th out of 425+ teams, we were 12th out of 49 in our division (recreational mixed - rec and must have 4 women). I was 4th out of those 49 mountain bikers, not bad for my first experience with the Ski to Sea!

What a weekend to remember!

Oh yeah, I got a 90 mile 5:30 ride today with John, Mike and Scott! Great ride as we rode Chuckanut Drive south to Samish Island and then headed towards Laconner to turn before we go there to head east and north up Colony road towards Lake Samish and then back into town as we all split up and headed home.

Pismo Beach pics

I put a few of my pictures from my business trip to Pismo Beach here

Monday, May 21, 2007

Hello from Pismo!

I'm in Pismo Beach this week for work. I hope to get in some workouts, mostly swimming and running as there is no bike available.

I did get in a good bike ride with my friend Pat on Sunday, we did the loop out to Birch Bay, Semiahmoo, Blaine and into Lynden. It was tough as I was still feeling tired from my training camp, it was a tough 79 miles in just over 5 hours.

No pool here at the hotel in Pismo, so I drove up to San Luis Obispo and swam in an outdoor pool, pretty neat. I'll post some pictures of the beach and the Hearst castle soon.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Ironman Training Camp Day 4 and Wrap up

Today is the day, the day to see the entire bike course all 112 miles of it. I got up about 6:30 and started loading up some stuff into my car as I was planning on checking out and driving home after the long bike ride. Took a little while because I brought way to much stuff, mostly all my wet riding gear that went unused as the weather was great for the entire camp. Left the gear I was going to ride in inside the room and went to breakfast. (its still worth what we pay for it)

Got underway about 8:20 or so to all drive to CDA this time (no riding the 40 minute ride there to start a 112 mile ride).

Everyone got their bikes out and shoes on and were just generally getting ready to go. We took a group photo and set out just after 9 am (9:08 to be exact).

What a beautiful morning, not too much wind but it was warm and getting hotter. We were pretty close on the first section through a residential area, but once on the centenial trail out to the first turn around it started getting thinned out. Made the turn around and started back into town. Cal and Luke (our coaches) were great they were out chalking the course and setting up aid stations for us throughout the day.

Once back in town we made a little detour to the official route because Government Way is so busy, we turned up 15th street and made out way north. What a great decision, very little traffic and only a couple of lights and stop signs.

Now out into Hayden Lake area we started the climbs again. I was riding close to a few fast riders and would see them up the hill ahead of me and then once I'd make it to the top it seemed like they were gone, but I'd see them on the next climb (way up in front of me).


I skipped a couple aid stations and stopped 4 times during the ride. I passed some faster riders at an aid station and they'd get me after a while.

After completing the loop once and back along the lake I made a facility stop and then passed the faster riders taking a break at the higgins point turn around, they caught me at the next aid station where our special needs bags were. I switched out my bottles for the couple I had in my special needs bag and took a little break. I think these breaks will help in the race too as I found myself a little refreshed and could feel my toes once again. After about 4-5 minutes I was back on course and headed up 15th street back into the county.

The hills hurt a little more the second loop but I was still going up them at an ok pace, until my toes started to hurt too much, I'd really feel it on the climb and then wouldn't really want to pedal on the downside, so I lost some time there. I'm going to do my next long ride in my other bike shoes and see if it makes a difference.

Finally made it out the where Lukes aid station was and took another nice 5 minute rest, refueled, re-filled my water, and had some good conversation. Both Cal and Luke are great!

Luke was at the corner where we go on an out and back section about 15-17 miles long and my feet were fine for the first 10-12 miles, but really started up again coming back up the hill to the aid station so I stopped again for another 5 minute stop and some coke.

Back underway felt great as I saw 93 miles at the aid station so it meant I had less than 20 to go and it is south which is always downhill right? My feet/toes did ok all the way back into town. I had to make one stop though as I stopped when my GPS hit the 100 mile mark. My first century so I had to take a picture, what a great feeling.


Rolled into the parking lot and was off the bike and had my running shoes on pretty quick. Boy o boy was it a nice feeling to be in the running shoes and not the cycling shoes anymore and I think I ran a bit too quick for my tranistion run, but I'm not complaining.

Total bike ride was 106.4 miles and 6:18:25 moving time (does not include the muliple rests).
Extrapolatingg out I think I can do the 112 in 6:30 moving time (with my race wheels) and add 15-20 minutes of breaks so am thinking a 6:45-7:00 IRONMAN bike ride is in the cards for me.
I was extremly salty looking but felt great, so think my nutrition was good.

I jumped in the lake and wipped off most the salt and changed and was in the car for the next six hours, found the perfect exit for coming west, exit 221 in Ritzville has a Shell, McDonalds and a Starbucks so I stopped at all three. Made one more stop along the way and got home right at 11 pm, what a great long day!

I must say that Cal ran an awesome camp, excellent training and on course support, marking the route making sure no one got too lost. It really was great, I hope to do it again someday.

If anyone has a chance to go to a Critical Speed training camp (he puts on a few a year) do it, you will get good training, great support and meet some awesome people. http://www.criticalspeed.com/

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Ironman Training Camp Day 3

Another day to sleep in was nice. We didn't meet this morning until 9 am to carpool up to Liberty Lake. We met at the swimming pool to get into even bigger cars because of limited parking. We went to someones house on the lake and all got ready and wet suited up and pretty soon we were all wet. It wasn't too cold but it was a little choppy due to some wind. We followed the shore line and at the south end turned and followed some bouys towards a little county park where we all stopped and rested a bit. It took me about 29 minutes to get there and the wind and chop was much worse on the way back as we were going into it now. I cut off a big corner and it even with that it took longer to get back. A nice good hour and 5 minute swim. I was happy to get back in some open water as it is different than in a pool.

We took a short rest and not a lot of lunch because we were meeting to do a long run on the course. We all met out front to carpool down to the transistion area and then we set off.


I'm glad we had a guide because the run does wind itself through a residential area in a wierd way. We actually run west towards Spokane first and then back, this little out and back took about 16 minutes and is going to be great in the event because I get to run around the city park so often and the beach was great I think the kids will have lots to do during the day.



Back in downtown CDA we head out through the residential area and finally onto the lakeshore drive that winds its way around Lake Coeur d'Alene. We had our first aid station and refilled my water and got a baggie of gummy worms to take along on the run. It was hot and I drank plenty of water and took my electrolyte tablets on the half hour and was feeling fine, so fine I think it may of bugged some other runners as my heart rate alarm kept going off as I wanted to run abit faster. Getting the alarm helps to keep me at the correct training level so I would back off until the alarm stopped. We hit a second aid station along the lake just about where we did the mile repeats and I ran past because I was still good on fluids.


I hit the turn around and back to the aid station along the lake and refueled and was off into the heat again. Back past the other aid station they had setup for us and through the residential area into the city park where the transistion will be was exactly 13.1 miles.

I skipped the first out and back and just turned around and ran back to the first aid station and back to downtown for a 17.75 mile run on a very hot day. I think this will help come race day.


I soaked in the lake for a bit and then we all walked to a nice italian restaurant and then back for the evening presentation from the medical director of the race (he has also been the med director for other IRONMAN races around the world, works for the Seahawks and has done 9 IRONMAN races himself)


WHAT A GREAT PRESENTATION!


He talked about what to watch out for and that we actually drink too much on the course and to not take anti inflamitories on race day as well as how much and when we should be drinking. He also said it would be better to finish a little dehydrated rather than having too much water in your system.


Tomorrow is a big day, we ride the full course and it is supposed to be hot!