Holy Crap

So I am sitting at work today, yes I am working on a Sunday, its not too bad double time but anyways. I am thinking about my interview tomorrow which could be the first interview that starts my career with GE and that is kinda freaking me out. I do not feel old enough to be starting a career. And I am slightly nervous which is a completly new feeling going into an interview. I do not know what I am going to do.

Anyways marathon training is going well had a nice 10 mi run this morning and it felt pretty solid after working out some kinks in the first half mile (wierd quad twinge, shoe tightness.) I bought another pair of the same shoes to start rotating shoes in and be ready to swithc my shoes and socks at the 13.1 mi marker of the race to feel fresh even if I am not all that fresh.

Where did the summer go?

Warning this entry is really scattered kinda how my head is right now.

So I am sitting here pretending to work thinking about this summer and am shocked as to how fast it has gone. It really feels like I started working here only a couple days ago and now I only have 14 days left including today, well really like 13 because my last day is aparently a softball tournement. I really cannot believe what I have accomplished this summer, an International Tri, a Half-Ironman and marathon training, who the hell could have ever predicted this. Certainly not me. I am approaching the infamous 200 lbs mark right now something I have not been below probably since early high school sometime.

I cannot wait to get home in just under 3 weeks now, getting to see everyone I have not seen for an exteneded period of time in a long time will be really nice. Hopefully get the old beach crew together to just catch up and have a few drinks, something we have been doing together for a very long time which is just hillarious.

I am sad that the Harry Potter series is now over I finished the last book on Sunday and now do not know what to do with myself. once all of the movies are done I will truly be at a loss.

Since noone really reads this I can say this without anyone really finding out, I met a really cool young lady the other day it just sucks that I am leaving so soon and met her this late so nothing can really happen at least not yet. Oh well thats just my luck right?

I have to start packing up my apartment and figure out what I am going to do with all of my crap and how I am going to fit it all in the car considering it was a tight fit coming here and then I had to buy stuff to live in an apartment. Such is life I guess.

Okay that is all for now maybe more will come later who knows depends on how busy we get today in teh Jet Engine Factory.

ya so i havent been around

Ya so alot had been going on since my racew which was fantastic I wanted to post a race report but the time for that has really come and gone. I finished my first half-ironman ever in 6:33:36 and that set of numbers is something that will stick with me forever. I rode in the MS 150 last weekend which was a blast and something that anyone can really do. I have decided that the next step along my road to becoming iron is to run a marathon. And what better time to train for one than when I am in great physical condition with a solid base already. The marathon I will most likely be racing in is the Quad Cities Marathon on September 23rd. 10 weeks from tomorrow. People keep asking me if I will be ready and I just look at them smile and say the plan will get me there I have to trust it. It really isnt about the race anyways, it is about the training. Putting in the long hours and early weekend morning when I have friends who are finishing their last beer as I hit the pavement to go run. Its about loving what I am doing not just for the physical changes but for the mental changes. I have written alot that I have changed and tonight I realized that alot people outside of this world of endurance sport just dont get what it takes and what it means to each one of us individually. Cest le vie.

So here are my next steps goals and stretches:
Finish the marathon, stretch - 4 hours
192lbs, stretch - 185lbs

Have a good one everyone, I am trying to update more but my computer is broken so I am updating from my friends right now.

Today is the day

Today is the day, now is the time. Give it all you have got and show them all what you can do!

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.