So let me tell you about my weekend!!

Let's start with the funny part. The part about me not being able to read a calender. For the second time this year I have looked at a calender, and just completely missed something by a day.

So I show up at Saguaro lake, new wetsuit in hand, to do an open water swim (my first) with my swimming coach. After I walk around for a while I looked at my phone/pda and realize that Saturday, March 17 was actually yesterday, Saturday March 17. Nice. I'm such a bonehead.

Don't know if this should be filed under funny, tragic, or lucky: About two hours after I left the area that I was supposed to swim at someone was shot over a pickup football game. I did see a couple guys throwing a football around.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/0319abrk-FootballShooting0319-ON.html

Now to the cool stuff.

Saturday. 130 mile ride to Coolidge, AZ and back. A little tour of the economically depressed areas of Arizona.

After last weeks successful ride, Doug and I got a little cocky and didn't show this ride the respect it probably deserved. It was very windy going Southeast. Mostly in the face but a bit of a crosswind as well. So we figure, this will be great going home. WRONG! The wind changed direction and we had in in the face for 45 of the 65 miles coming back. Very nice.

It took us about 7 1/2 to complete. Getting hot in Phoenix. Lots of sweat. Drank lots of water and didn't have to make any pit stops on the way home.





Sunday: 3 hour run.

Stopped for 2 minutes to take these pictures.













Hmmmm. I don't think I felt real confident here. My knee had not recovered completely so I wrapped it up so tight that I'm not sure my foot was getting any blood.



The fist 30 minutes went OK. I could feel that the knee wasn't 100% but I decided to keep going. Next hour or so I definitely knew that this run was a mistake. The hour after that was pretty much excruciating pain with every step but then the pain pretty much went away for the last half hour.

Aerobically I felt fantastic! No fatigue, no breathing problems. I actually felt great! Leg hurt a lot! I had to help with Paige's Sunday School class an hour after I got home. That wasn't a whole lot of fun. All standing and sitting and walking and playing. Jeez. I sound like a real wussy.

Result: Better than 10 minute miles but not much better. I wanted to get 20 miles in but I ended up just shy of 19.

So that's pretty much it. This is a rest week. Then a taper. I'm really not sure what's involved there other than I have to get my ass in the water.

As long as my knee heals I'll do OK.

Who's that fat guy?

I was looking at my blog from this summer and I was thinking, "Am I going to look like that a couple months after Ironman or maybe Alcatraz?"

I'm not saying that I'm big in that picture, but you can see some fat under my chin and a bit of a belly that is no longer there. Any fat that used to be on my forearms is gone as well. All you see are a lot of veins.

I'm not sure I'm the healthiest person in the world.

10 - SPEED!!!!!

I may have mentioned in the past that my bike is in rotten shape.

No longer true. Last night I purchased a Dura-ace 10 speed group. Very nice. I wonder how long it will take me to wreck it! :)

33 Days of the Condor

So let me tell you about my AWESOME WEEKEND OF TRAINING!

On Saturday Doug and I set out to go to Wickenburg. It's a little town about 60 miles from my house. Turned out to be 60 to the click! Very cool. 120.5 out and back.

Anyway we took a road that we'd never been on before that far west. It was increadible. 4 lanes, paved, and no stoplights for like 70 miles.

I pulled pretty much the whole way. We crossed the century mark at around 5 1/2 hours which is not too bad for that course. The rest of the ride is pretty much steady uphill and straight. I yelled back to Doug that I wanted to make it home in an hour. A hard 20 mph 1 hour pull is tough enough but doing it after 100 miles seems even tougher. So I hammerred away and even though I never let my pulse stray above level 3 and we stopped to look at my new house, and I slowed the last 4 miles for a 10 minute cool down, we were home in 55 minutes.

We did a 20 minute run after to check nutrician. No problems. I no longer get shin splints there but my achiles tendon bothered me a bit. Need to keep stretching.

Next day was another story.

I was scheduled for a 2:50 run. I got 1:25 away from my house and I started experiencing what can be best described as a little weakness in my right knee. I ran through it and then it started to hurt. By the time I reached my house at 2:50 (I ran slower but it was downhill home) every step seemed like torture. Then I stopped running and immediately my leg felt like it locked up. An awful lot of pain there.

I skipped my Tuesday run. I was hoping to do it today but I'm not 100% yet and my bike isn't quite ride ready. Really need to be healthy for the weekend. 7 hour ride to Florence and back and a 3 hour run on Sunday. Sunday afternoon I'm doing an open water 2.4 mile swim in Saguaro Lake. Water is 50 degrees. I guess I only have a couple days to get a wetsuit.

100th Post

Lent

Back in the early 90's I used to own a bar and pool hall. One of my customers and good friends, Larry Lavorgna, announced in 1990 that he quits drinking and smoking during lent. Now I hadn't given up anything for Lent since 8th grade when my Mom made me give up comic books so I pretty much laughed at him.

By late winter of 1991 I decided that maybe I too needed a break from all the alcohol I was consuming and so I decided to give it up as well. That was what, 16 years ago?

So each year around this time I give up booze for 40 + days and nights. I never allow myself the Sunday or St. Patrick's Day exemptions although I have rescheduled my sobriety for my Brother's bachelor party and my friend Carl's 40th birthday party.

Anyway, Lent started a week and a half ago. I would say that for the first time in years I really miss drinking. Fortunately Easter Sunday is the week before Ironman. I hope I sober for the race. : )

The home stretch...

Today started the final two hard weeks of training. Ken was screaming at 3:00 am this morning so I got up and went out riding early.

I did a big loop and found out that our new house is exactly 4.25 miles further from my office than our current house if I take Cave Creek Road north instead of Tatum. Cave Creek is a busier street most of the time but it has a pretty big bike lane. I was thinking that taking Tatum would be faster but I think the distance is just about the same and you feel like you take your life in your hands every time your ride it and that's when the sun is out. It's kind of creepy to try and ride it at night or in the early morning before sun up.

Swam 2,900 yards at lunch. I really should have eaten first. I think I would feel better if I did. As it was it took me about 1,800 yards to start to feel good in the water. I'm very slow in the water. Don't know if I've mentioned that.

A Great Weekend!!!

Saturday we got out at around 6:00 am. The sun was just starting to come up.

The plan was to ride 125 miles and do Usery Pass, a popular ride in Phoenix if you live on the far east side.

The plan got completely changed after we rode for 20 miles into a nasty headwind and we decided just to change the route. I ended up getting 105 miles in just over the required 6 1/2 hours. That seems like a long time in the saddle but there were red lights and a couple water stops and did I mention the wind?

We were going down 9-mile hill, a stretch of road which usually we can average 30 - 32 mph down. I was barely able to turn 20 mph and as usual nobody really wanted to take the front from me. At one point a truck went past us going the other direction and the wind blast from it felt like a glaucoma test. BOOM!!!

Got home and threw my shoes on for a 20 minute nutrition check/run. No worries. Slight shin splint pain that went away on the way back.

On Sunday I got up and did a 2:30 run. I held an average 9 minute mile pace. For a change no real leg pain either during the run or after. I was tired and sore, don't get me wrong. But usually there's some real healing that is necessary. Sunday I just felt good.

That is until Paige announced that she wanted to go for a hike after church. So I got another 2 miles with her on my shoulders.

Funny story: Last weekend I had just finished a 2:20 minute run. I was in the bathroom weighing myself. I came in at 144. Paige walked in and wanted me to weigh her as well so I picked her up and got back on the scale. She weighs 27 pounds for a total weight of 171 lbs. Paige is pretty skinny. Anyway I started thinking that maybe a year ago I weighted about as much as the two of us. To say nothing of 2000 when I reached my high of 189 lbs. Anyway I was thinking that there was no way I could have run 16 miles with Paige in my arms.

An answer

I talked to Bill Wilson over at Camelback Coaching and he said that 30% of the time you can do everything right and still have your body break down nutrician-wise. He said that you can pace yourself correctly, take in the right nutrients, drink the right amount of water, and still your digestive system shuts down and you walk the marathon.

That would definitely suck!

While I don't like the idea of bringing the "X" factor into this I don't mind the odds.

46 days and counting

So here's my question:

If I can swim 2.4 miles in 1:30:00 and I've ridden 112 miles sub 6:00:00 more times than I can count and it seems like I can maintain a 10 minute mile pace forever (this is a 4:20:00 marathon) why in the world won't I do a sub 12:00:00 Ironman?

None of those times individually is particularly impressive. In fact the 1:30 swim is pretty f-ing slow but if you look at the results from last year a 12:00 race puts me 94th out of 354 entrants in my age group and 459 out of the 1944 total entrants.

I guess I'll answer that question myself either way in 46 days.

AWOL

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately.

The past two weeks have been an absolute bear! I had auditors in the office and I was starting my workdays a 6:00 am and finishing at 9:00 pm. I've done a whole bunch of rides where I watched the sun come up and set while I was on the road. That sure beats watching the sun rise and set from my office.

Last 3 weeks of intense training have started. 3 hour runs and 7 hour rides are as long as it gets with 2:30 rides, 1:20 runs and 2 hour swims during the week.

After that a rest week and I'm 3 weeks out from the race. I have no idea what the training will be like for those weeks.

I keep wanting to write a lot of personal stuff but I just keep running out of time. I'll try and get to that tonight.

Batman Sighting Puts Schools on Lockdown

My friend Carl sent this to me. I wonder if this guy is related to the freak I encountered a few months back.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- To an Arizona middle school, Batman! Three schools in the north Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek were on lockdown for about 45 minutes Wednesday morning after a student at Desert Arroyo Middle School reported seeing a person dressed as Batman run across campus, jump a fence and disappear into the desert, Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said.

The student described the person as 6 feet 3 inches tall and possibly male.

"We're assuming it was male, although they did have a mask on," Clark said.

Officers combed the desert around the middle school. A nearby elementary school and high school also were on lockdown as officers sought the caped crusader.

The result - no Batman.

"It's just one of those interesting little stories that we looked into but we couldn't find anyone," Clark said.

Nedda Shafir, a spokeswoman for the Cave Creek Unified School District, said putting all the schools on lockdown was a precautionary measure.

"We didn't want to take any chances," Shafir said. "We just don't want to put anyone at risk."

Cool video

Where have I been!!!!???

I just looked and it's been like 9 days since I wrote anything.

Two Saturdays ago I was real concerned about my ride. This past Saturday I did 112 miles in 6 hours almost exactly! That included the usual red lights and stops for water during which the clock just kept running so I feel a little better about it. If the workout gods (small g) look kindly upon me I should be able to come in somewhere around 5:30. I'll be happy at 6:00.

Runs have been great! I did a little over 16 miles on Sunday and then Tuesday morning I ran over 8 with 4 really hard 7 minute efforts. 10 minute miles bring you in at 4:20. I can run 9 minute miles all day but I'm not that fast after riding. I get shin splints for the first mile and then I start to feel better. They say it takes a couple miles before you start to feel normal running. Prediction: 4:10

Swims? What can I say about the swims? My math is bad. I kept thinking I was on target for a 1:20 swim but it turns out there is a difference between meters and yards. It's not a real significant difference unless you are talking about 3,600 of them then you have to add quite a few yards to equal that. Prediction 1:35. Chad says just under 1:30 with the wetsuit.

So with a WHOLE BUNCH of luck and another 59 DAYS of prep I could wrap this thing up sub 12:00. I feel like such a schmuck writing that down because I'm going to feel like crap when I crawl in at 16 hours and I won't enjoy the idea that I just finished.

Confront the brutal facts but never lose sight of your ultimate goal.

Worry worry worry

If I told you that the thing I'm most worried about right now is the ride would you believe me?

Seriously.

I did a century Saturday. Kept it in level two for almost the whole ride except for 45 minutes during the last hour when I needed to be in level three. It took almost 6 hours!!!! I haven't analyzed the whole ride yet but I can't help but be disappointed in that time. WITH AERO BARS NO LESS!!!

After that I did the usual 2 + mile run just to make sure the nutrician is in check. Check! Felt a slight shin splint in only one leg and it went away pretty fast.

68 days to go. Very concerned right now.

Goofy Day

I have kept one of my New Year's resolutions. I got a haircut the other day.

So today I think we bought a new house. Add to my list of things to do: Get my house ready to sell. Welcome to the land of high mortgage payments for a while.

Second. Today has been all over the place. I was supposed to ride today but it turns out I forgot that I had to sign Paige up for preschool so I ran 8 miles this morning instead. Good time although I couldn't seem to push my heart rate up to where it needed to be. I think all the chicken wings I ate and beer I drank at Keith's last night got in the way.

Third, I was going to do a long swim this afternoon at lunch but I got over to LA Fitness and discovered I had forgotten my suit. I walked back and got the suit but when I got back to the gym they had started a swim aerobics class so I couldn't do any laps.

Ironman lecture tonight on equipment selection.

June 3.....

Not to get ahead of myself, but... It doesn't look like that far a swim does it?

A couple good articles

Pictures of 2006 World Championship

http://www.ironman.com/columns/gruenfeld/lee-and-cherie-gruenfeld-look-back-at-the-2006-ford-ironman-world-championship-in-kona

Some funny stuff here:

http://www.ironman.com/columns/gruenfeld/lee-gruenfeld-explores-the-wealth-of-vocabulary-in-triathlon.

Article about how to raise your kids:

http://www.ironman.com/columns/gruenfeld/lee-gruenfeld-offers-up-yet-another-hilarious-column-parents-take-note

Hilarious if you haven't seen this

72 days and counting...

I can't believe that it's February already.

Swimming is progressing, nicely I think. I swam 2,500 meters in 56:30. I think that gets me out of the lake somewhere around 1:22. I'm thinking I'll probably get in another 40 swim workouts between now and April. I don't think I'm going to do much in terms of increasing strength by then so pretty much all time savings will come from form and interval training.

Still need to get a wetsuit.

The run Tuesday was an absolute blast! 4 x 7 minute efforts into level 5 after a long warm up. My total time out there was about 1:20. It was excellent. I really like running.

Lots of rain yesterday and today. It really better stop before Saturday. Doug, Ken, and I have a long ride ahead of us.

Anyway, lots happening in my life right now. Maybe I'll do a little personal stuff here tomorrow.