646

My race number for tomorrow. Drove both the run and the bike course, fairly shaded which was nice. The bike is pretty flat but had some decent long hills. The run is up and down not too bad but it has its own crazyness, miles 11 and 13 have two big hills right after the marker, what a way to close it out eh? Well getting up super early to make it over to the race and get ready. I will try to update tomorrow let people know that I am alive but if not call me I might answer.

Wrapping my head around it all

So I have not updated since last week but there is a very valid reason, I have no idea what to say because this race is so close and 6 months of my life have been dedicated to making this all possible. This past weekend was a race simulation weekend pretty much. Saturday started with a nice 4 hour bike ride covering just over 71 miles, and then a 50 minute 2000 meter swim. The rest of the day I had planned to just relax and try to plan out what I was going to do to get my bike back home for the race but that didn’t happen. I ended up going to the water park the Beach just north of the city and had a great time, it helped me keep my mind clear and not really focus on the race. Sunday kicked off right with a great 2 hour 12.5 mile run. I felt great afterward and everything just went to happiness especially because of the whole runner’s high I was kicking with from miles 7-11.

This week I have been beginning a taper and that has been extremely hard because all I have wanted to do is run or bike as hard as I could and let loose. But I have restrained myself and held back. But yesterday and today have been a much higher intensity because starting tomorrow I will not have my bike until the day before my race. I am nervous about not having my bike for that long but I figure running and spinning on the bikes in the gym.

With 10 days left till race day I do not know what to think really, my head is spinning and I am trying to wrap my head around that everything is coming down to this one day, this one race to kick start the rest of my life. This training has really changed my life and I cannot be happier. Crossing that finish line will not be the end of something in my life but the breaking open of something brand new that I never knew I could be possible but something that I know cannot see how I lived without it.

This is a quote that I have heard from the movie “Any Given Sunday” a few times but it had been a while and then I heard it again in a GYGO podcast and it really kicked me into high gear. Here it is:
“I don’t know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell... one inch at a time. Now I can't do it for ya, I'm too old. I look around, I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I've made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I, uh, I've pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me. And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know, when you get old, in life, things get taken from you. I mean, that's... that's... that's a part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losin' stuff. You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this, in any fight it's the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I'm gonna have any life anymore it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think ya going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. Your gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it your gonna do the same for him. That's a team, gentlemen, and either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys, that's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?”

Race Report plus a few days

So I have been slacking on getting more entries up and on here. The race went really well even though the timing seems to be extremely messed up, according to the official race results everyone had close to 12 minute T1's I find that highly unlikely considering I know mine was just over 2 minutes because I fell on wet grass.

The Swim:
First time ever swimming in open water was right before the race began as a quick warm up. First time swimming with a swim cap was then as well. Both new sensations were not as crazy as I thought but I would have killed to have a wet suit. This was a training race so i knew all I wanted to do was get out of the water and move on to the next part of the race. I was number 75 and they did a time trial start so I started 75th out of however many people competed about 200 I would say. As I am in my second lap around this 0.75km course I look back to see where I am in respect to everyone and realize holy crap I am only third to last. Ooops I think I went a little too easy and I wish I had a wet suit. Other than getting kicked in the head and inhaling this nasty lake water which as you can see from the pictures following died my nice new tri top from white to brown. The swim went really well i did not have to stop and my sighting was solid never very far off. As I am coming out of the water there are bleachers placed in the water to climb out on because there was no beach to this lake. And go me I miss a step and slam my right quad right into the bleacher, I felt that for the remainder of the day.

T1
How depressing is it that when you are finally getting into T1 the first bikers are returning for their T2, granted they were the sprint racers not the international but come on thats just like damn. Everything went smoothly changing quickly into my bike gear, I should have dried my feet off though because the wet sock sensation meant cold feet for the first couple miles. I get suited up and go to run to the mount line turn out of my row of bike stands and boom down I go flat on my face up faster than I knew what happened though. The only advantage to being in the very back of the pack transition was pretty empty and easy to navigate.

Bike
HOLY SHIT! I rode the course the day before and knew it was nice and hilly but god I did not think that it would be soo bad. During my training ride I hit about 50 mph going down one of the hills, that was probably the most fun I had. During the race I could not get my computer to work so that was just pissing me off. Something is wrong with my magnet in front or something. But I was again training so I walked up one of the huge hills at the half way point just to not blow up and die. It took me a little bit longer than I wanted to because I couldn't pace that well without a computer. But I hydrated well and used some succeed caps to replace my Na and K. I avoided cramps and felt pretty good other than my quad.

T2
Wow that was quick. Before I knew it I was out and running, almost with my helmet on but I remembered to take it off before I left. the only issue that I had was because of how far back i was bikes were everywhere so I had some trouble getting my bike into place.

Run
It was soo nice to have some friends there to cheer me on when I was heading out of the run. I was able to convince JinJoo and Lindsay to come out and spend the morning watching a triathlon and cheer me on so I didn't die. I took water at all 4 of the water stations to make sure I was solid and took Gatorade at one and another succeed cap. The turn around point did not seem like it wanted to come but when it finally did I was soo happy. There were some other runners on the course still and they were very encouraging telling me I was almost there and to keep going. It was really nice. Some of the athletes who had already finished were actually back out on the course and were cheering people on it was a really nice thing. I finished the run strong and feeling pretty good.

Over all I am feeling great today. The only issue that I had this week was Monday and coughing up phlegm and stuff because of inhaling that water. So my morning swim was cut short but the afternoon run felt good and at a quick pace. My swim this morning was super strong I was averaging under a minute for every 50m for a full 1500m.

So there is my race report the fans were not that may but the other athletes were very cool and encouraging. The fat rabbit racing group who put on the race was a little disorganized but the race shirts were technical brooks shirts and really nice. If you have any questions let me know and I can try to answer them for you about the race.

Quick Race Report

SO it went pretty well, almost last out of the water, bike course was very hilly and the run wasn't too bad. All and all I would call it a success more detail and pictures to come tomorrow.

Nerves

So I am packing up my bag and getting ready for tomorrow and I am shaking with anticipation and nerves trying to wrap my head around what I am about to do in under 12 hours from now. From not being able to swim 50 meters in January to tackling a 1.5 km open water swim tomorrow morning. I will probably post at some point tomorrow afternoon with a minor race report and than a full one on Monday. Thanks to everyone who has stood by me, maybe they haven't completely believed me when I told them what I was doing but they were there. And to the people who have been there and completely believed and new that I could get this far, thanks so much more you do not know what it means to me. Time to clear my head, get some sleep, and wake up ready to fly.

First race weekend

So I am up getting ready to go scout out the race area and pick up my packet. I am a little bit nervous about tomorrow but not too worried i think the nerves will calm down soon. I have developed a little bit more of a race plan but will have a final one as of this afternoon when i get back from scouting. Good luck toe everyone racing or just intense bricking this weekend.

Race Info

Cincinnati International Triathlon & Sports Festival

Race Strategy as of right now: FINISH!

Oly Tri

So how about deciding to registar for an Oly distance this coming Sunday. I did spur of the moment decided I need the open water practice and the tranistion practice to be as efficent as possible. this is going to be an interesting experience to say the least.

This past Saturday I went to a party and felt completly out of place. I guess my mind set about partys and everything has drastically changed since I began this training, I mean ya they can be fun but everyone seemed to be there just to get hammered and that was all. There was not any music and I dont know it was just wierd but a good friend went outside and talked with me for a bit which was nice even though she decided to call me a socially inept person. I think if there was music and more life the party would have been more fun but I did have my last beer before raceday and of course I shotgunned it; demolishing everyone as usual. I left at like midnight becuase I just was not having that much fun.

Anywho I need to keep working and plan my training around this new race, i plan to train through it so not race intensity but close to it. Wish me luck or even better come cheer me on I will post race details later.

One month to go...

So ya here it comes, 5 months of training down and 1 month to go before the race, all I have to say is this is getting crazy. I bought the shoes I am going to be running the race for because I ran all the way through my old ones and that killed my knees and feet so I am glad to be in some new shoes. They are the Brooks Adrenaline if you were curious. My training is going really well right now and I am having this strange nervous/excited feeling throughout the entire week, even when just sitting at the desk or playing with chemicals in the lab. All I can think about is this race and now I am looking at planning the rest of my season I have no idea what I will be able to do because registration is closing all around for every race that I look at.

Today my brick went really well I was able to keep above an 18 pace the entire time (95 minutes) and then the run was 4.75 mi in 45 minutes so not as fast as I wanted to be but breaking in new shoes did slow me down I think. It was really fun today to get comments like you are crazy and how can you be smiling going along like this, all I could say is that I love what I am doing and can no longer see myself doing anything else.

I am currently listening to and catching up on the GYGO podcasts so I am going to get back to that but as for now train safe and race hard.