It's been a little over three weeks since the race and I wanted to write one more post for 2009. The end of the double iron was the official end to my 2009 season.
It has been a long year of training and it has been nice to have some time to myself these past few weeks. I have gotten a chance to catch up with some friends, meet some new people, and spend quality time with my dog. As my body has been resting and repairing itself I have been job searching. Since I haven't really been employed in 2009, my whole year revolved around training for two races, now that the second race is over I've begun the job searching process. Believe it or not it is harder to get a phone call from a company then it is training for a ridiculous race. There are so many people out of work that there is so much competition even for the most entry level of jobs. Employers have it made...the unemployed have a tough road ahead. I am job searching with the same level of dedication as I gave my triathlon training and am hoping that something will happen soon.
It only took a few days for the muscle pain to go away but my heart rate is still pretty high. I've swam a few times, biked a few times and even run some. It has been nice going out for an hour bike ride or a five mile run. The 200+ mile bike rides and the 30+ mile runs were getting old. I've found the joy I have been missing in working out. It's good to know that I still enjoy this multi sport lifestyle after my race. As I sit here searching the job boards and writing this post I am thinking about what the 2010 season will hold for me. I have some ideas but I made a promise to someone that I would not commit to anything until after I found a job and got settled in there. I took a year off from my professional career to focus on something personal. Now it's time to shift that focus back to my professional career and personal relationships. Training is now on the back burner.
I wanted to share a video created by Sam Pasceri of his triple iron race this year. Though I did not personally meet Sam (since his race started 24 hours before mine) during my 29+ hours of racing we shared the same battlefield. Every time I watch this video I get choked up and I wanted to share it with all of you. I've spent a whole year trying to explain to people why I would want to attempt something so ridiculous and Sam captured my thoughts and feelings at the beginning of his video. It is nice to know that there are more people out there that feel the same as I do. We come from different walks of life but we all share the same desire to discover something deep within ourselves. It truly was an experience that forever has changed my life.
Enjoy the video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lienORgckOo
Thanks again for all of your support this past year. I would not have made it through my training without the support of my friends and family.
Thank you Tracy, Becky, Melissa and Bob for literally being there every step of the way.
Thank you Peter for your coaching and guidance and showing me that anything is possible.
Everyone has been asking me what is next. What is my next physical accomplishment going to be? I spent the last 12 hours of my race telling my crew that there is no way I would ever attempt the triple iron. I kept saying, "why would you do that to your body". When I woke up Monday morning, 18 hours after I finished my race, my first thought was- I wonder if I could finish the triple. That said, go back and watch the beginning of Sam's video again and you'll understand.
Congrats to Sam Pasceri and all the finishers of the triple iron and to all the finishers of the double iron. It was such an honor to share the battlefield with such an amazing group of people.
See you next year!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Race Report
Sorry for the delay in getting this written but I was waiting for the official results to be posted on the website. It was a long race and as a result this may be a long race report. I will try to keep the details to a minimum so we'll see what happens.
First off, I want to thank my support crew. Without the help of Tracy, Becky, Melissa and Bob there is no way I would have finished in such good spirits nor would I have had the same race experience. These four individuals made it possible for me to achieve my goal of completeing the 2009 Virginia Double Iron. I owe them more then I could ever repay and forever will be in their debt. Secondly, I need to thank my coach, Peter Kotland. There were many times during the past few months that I questioned why he had me doing such long workouts. I said many times over the past few months that he was crazy and trying to kill me. I now see why he had me doing what I did. He told me the race would seem easier than the training was- he was right. The race was certainly not easy but it was so much easier than the past few months of training. Thanks to him for preparing me the way he did. A big thanks also goes to the race director, the volunteers and all the other athletes. It was an honor to share the field of battle with such a talented group of people.
As a result of Peter's training, on my first attempt at the 281.2 mile distance, I placed 7th overall. My official finishing time was 29 hours and 30 minutes. I didn't know this until it was to late but I was 27 minutes from finishing in 5th place. My goal was to finish between 32 and 33 hours and secretly I was hoping to do it in 30 hours. I finished 30 minutes faster then I even dreamed possible. Wow...I am still in shock and disbelief. Maybe I am cut out for this longer stuff. Enough rambling- lets get to the race.
Thanks!
First off, I want to thank my support crew. Without the help of Tracy, Becky, Melissa and Bob there is no way I would have finished in such good spirits nor would I have had the same race experience. These four individuals made it possible for me to achieve my goal of completeing the 2009 Virginia Double Iron. I owe them more then I could ever repay and forever will be in their debt. Secondly, I need to thank my coach, Peter Kotland. There were many times during the past few months that I questioned why he had me doing such long workouts. I said many times over the past few months that he was crazy and trying to kill me. I now see why he had me doing what I did. He told me the race would seem easier than the training was- he was right. The race was certainly not easy but it was so much easier than the past few months of training. Thanks to him for preparing me the way he did. A big thanks also goes to the race director, the volunteers and all the other athletes. It was an honor to share the field of battle with such a talented group of people.
As a result of Peter's training, on my first attempt at the 281.2 mile distance, I placed 7th overall. My official finishing time was 29 hours and 30 minutes. I didn't know this until it was to late but I was 27 minutes from finishing in 5th place. My goal was to finish between 32 and 33 hours and secretly I was hoping to do it in 30 hours. I finished 30 minutes faster then I even dreamed possible. Wow...I am still in shock and disbelief. Maybe I am cut out for this longer stuff. Enough rambling- lets get to the race.
Race Morning
As you would expect I didn't sleep well on Friday night. There were so many thoughts going through my head. The race is so long and there was so much to think about. I got up a few times to pee throughout the night and had a hard time falling back asleep each time. The alarm finally went off at 4:45am and immediately the coffee pot started to brew. I laid in bed for a few minutes taking some deep breaths to try and calm myself. The cabin was silent, the entire state park was silent, and I was two short hours away from the longest day of my life. I had a cup of coffee but breakfast wasn't going so well. Looking at my bagel made me sick. As did the smell of the peanut butter and the smell of the banana. I was however able to eat part of it, then a banana and then a yogurt. Nowhere near enough food but at least it was something. I've raced enough to know what the pre-race jitters are like and this was jitters hoped up on speed.
We packed up the car, met Melissa and Bob and made our way down to the race site. As we drove through the campground and turned onto the main road through the park (aka the bike course) I was able to get my first glimpse of the triple iron athletes who had already been racing for 23 hours. They were already on their first night of no sleep and had many miles left on the bike. My stomach turned even more. I found a place to set my bike and transition bag and then sat down. My stomach was shot already. I peed every few minutes from nerves and used the bathroom several times more. I just wanted the gun to go off so the nerves would go away. The sky was dark, the other athletes sat in silence, we were all in the same boat. Coming face to face with the unknown was truly intimidating.
Wetsuit, body glide, an e-gel then headed towards the water.
The Swim
I wish I could say, "Then the gun went off" but realistically the race director said, "Um, ok go". Not everybody was in the water ready to go but we all heard him say it. It was a mass start of 18 people. So much more enjoyable then an ironman start. The swim was 12 laps of a 644 meter out and back. The first three laps went by pretty quick. I focused on staying relaxed and taking nice long strokes, trying to cover as much distance as I could with each one. So far the swim felt effortless. At the end of lap four Melissa waded out to me to bring me some water and my nutrition. She said to me, "I almost missed you. You are swimming so fast. I'm impressed". Those words coming from her changed my swim. For those of you who don't know Melissa, she is a swimmer and a pretty impressive swimmer at that. For her to say that to me lit a fire in me and brought my confidence to a whole new level. I still have eight more laps to go in the water so I tried to remain relaxed and keep my strokes long. When I got to lap number nine I saw Matej, who later crossed the finish line first, swim past me like I was motionless. I was pretty happy that it took a full eight laps for someone to pass me. Then something else happened- I swam by someone like they were motionless. I was shocked. I am not a strong swimmer and I passed someone. I started to swim faster. On lap 10 I swam passed a group of five people and looked back at the turn around and only one person was behind me. He was drafting off me and held on. By the start of the 11th lap I had dropped him too. On the 12th lap I decided to pick up my pace even more since I was feeling so good. I got to the end of the lap and looked up at the volunteer who was timing me and asked him what my time was. My goal was 3 hours but I was secretly hoping for 2:45. He said, "Good job Kevin- 2 hours 35 minutes". I about fell over. I turned to my crew and they all yelled that I was 5th out of the water. Holy crap- are you kidding me. I was 5th out of the water? I not only shocked myself but I don't think my support crew expected that either. I walked out of the water and up to the locker room to change. There was no rushing to get on the bike so I dried off completely and changed into my cycling clothes. One sport down and two to go.
The Bike
Being the bike leg of the race is 224 miles this was by far the longest part of the race. The bike course is a series of 45 2.44 mile out and backs with an orange cone at each end that you need to navigate around. The first 30 miles I went to hard. I was on such a high from my swim that I let it get the best of me. At least I was cognizant of what I was doing so I slowed down my pace considerably. From mile 30 to mile 80 it was pretty much uneventful. Just back and forth, back and forth. I remember starting to get tired around mile 90 and had a Pay Day candy bar. Suddenly I was on top of the world and sped through a few more laps before I realized the rush was gone. I sat down for five minutes to relax at mile 110. I had almost completed half of the bike course. So far I was on track with my nutrition plan and was feeling pretty good considering that I had already been racing for almost 10 hours. At mile 130 my stomach started to shut down. This was expected but it usually doesn't happen on my rides until mile 140-150. This was a race though and a whole other game. I took some Pepto from my crew and continued on. At about 6pm it started getting dark so I pulled back in for a few minutes to get the lights put on my bike. There are no lights in the state park so from about 7:00pm until the end of the bike 6.5 hours later the only thing I could see was two small white dots about 10 feet in front of the bike. As it got darker it got colder and then it got lonelier. Most of the triple iron athletes were off the bike at this point so you now had to contend with the darkness and people running toward and away from you sharing the same road.
I'll spare some of the details in an effort to keep this race report moving along but let me just tell you that from about 9:00pm until I finished the bike leg at 1:30am things went from bad to worse. I was beyond cold, falling back further each lap on my nutrition plan and I experienced some GI issues unlike those I have ever had before. Each lap got slower and I felt worse with each one. Between 11:30pm and 1:30am I visited the bathroom 4 or 5 times and it was not pretty. Ugh...I shutter to think about those times. Melissa made me drink some broth sometime in the night and that made a marked improvement but only for so long. The last 50 miles on the bike honestly were just torture. If it wasn't for my crew I would not have finished the bike. They were motivating and encouraging and would not let me stop. Finally at 1:00am I crossed the timing mat for the last bike loop. My spirits lifted as I pedaled the last 4.88 miles.
I had never been so glad to be off the bike. Even now as I look at it sitting in the living room I cringe. I knew it was going to be tough but it certainly was tougher then I imagined. I didn't expect the cold nor did I expect the darkness to make me feel so lonely and vulnerable. My goal was to get off the bike in 15 hours but I was secretly hoping for 14 hours. The bike leg took me 15.5 hours. Despite feeling so bad I still finished the bike close to my goal time. I changed clothes from cycling to running, ate some food and headed out for the run. The time was 1:37am and the temp had dropped into the 40's. Two sports down and one to go.
The Run
It's amazing how you can go from bad to good in a matter of moments. The bike was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life and just a few shorts minutes after getting off the bike I felt renewed. The run was 52.4 miles and on this course is a series of 26 1.01mile out and backs. There was only two back to back marathons standing between me and the finish line. The run was the most amazing part of the race. It was this way for one reason- my support crew. Of the 52.4 miles I had to run I only ran 2 miles by myself. My crew ran with me all night and into the day. Not only did they run with me but they carried my Nathan fuel belt and all of my nutrition. My job was pretty simple. I just had to run until I saw an orange cone, turn around and repeat. Melissa ran the first 14 miles with me non-stop. I can't tell you what it felt like to have her by my side. She covered the first 7 laps with me and did so from 1:30am until 4:00am before she went to the cabin to get a few hours of sleep. I felt pretty good for these first few miles except my stomach was still having some serious issues. I finally took a 1/2 of an Imodium and within a lap my stomach felt much better. Tracy, my sister, who had never ran more than 5 miles in her life logged 18 of the next 38 miles with me. She ran with me for a few laps, then Becky ran a few with me and then Melissa and Bob came back from resting and ran some more with me. As the dawn approached I went from feeling pretty good, considering, to complete crap. Here was another low. Miles 18-28 were tough. I was getting tired and just wanted to stop. If it wasn't for Tracy and Becky I might not have continued, but again, they were by my side for every step and that kept me going. Everyone tells you that once the sun comes up you feel re-energized. I didn't want to believe that though. In my head when the sun came up that was going to set in for me the reality that I had been racing for over 24 hours. Fortunately I was wrong and when the sky lightened and the sun came up I started to feel dramatically better. Breakfast was being served for the crews so Becky asked if I wanted a cold pancake. I thought I'd give it a try and to my surprise it was pretty easy to get down, so I had another one. Over the next few miles I ate a pancake, at this point they were about frozen, every time I ran passed my crew. It's amazing what food will do for you. I would never had thought a frozen pancake would make me feel so good and be so filling. Miles 30-40 were good and I was running almost the same pace as I was when I had started 6 hours prior. As the sun kept getting higher in the sky so did my spirits. Each lap I made by the timing mat I made a joke, I was my normal sarcastic self. I had such a good time. Before the race I asked my crew to remind me that I was having fun and now that I had been racing for over 27 hours I was pleased to still be having fun. Miles 40-52.4 just hurt. There was no way around that. No nutrition was going to make me feel good at this point. It was fatigue that was setting in. It was at this time when I felt the most tested. It would have been easy to stop and walk the rest of the race. I was in good shape and could have walked the last 12 miles and still finished in under the cut-off time. The problem with that though...you don't train to walk. Regardless of my finishing time I didn't want to walk the end of the race. The goal was to finish but it is still a race, a race against yourself. My crew alternated laps with me for the last four laps and the last lap I ran with my sister. This was her 16th-18th mile on the day. More than triple the length of her longest run ever. She was by my side step by step. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. Never once did she, or anyone in my crew, complain about anything throughout the day and a half. The last few hundred meters felt so good. I was only moments away from sitting down. I wanted to stop moving forward so badly. I rounded the last corner, grabbed the American flag, crossed the timing mat one last time and made a dash for the finisher's banner. A few quick photos with the race director and my crew, a congrats to my friend Adam for finishing second in the triple iron race, and then I sat down. Oh dear god did it feel good to sit down.
I wanted to finish the run in 12 hours but was hoping it would be closer to 10-11 hours. I crossed the timing map for the last time close to 12:45pm on Sunday afternoon. My run time was 11 hours and 10 minutes. I started my journey 29 and a half hours prior to that moment. I did it. It took everything I had and the amazing support for my crew but I did it. I was a double iron distance finisher. I was to tired to be emotional and enjoy my accomplishment at this point though.
Monday Morning
I slept pretty well on Sunday night and as soon as my eyes opened on Monday morning I started crying. I pretty much cried on and off all day on Monday. I can't put into words how it feels to have accomplished this goal and to have done it with my sister, cousin and two of my best friends by my side. If you could have seen the looks on the faces of the triple iron athletes as they were walking in the dark after being awake for over 40 hours you would better understand why it means so much. When I was at the most vulnerable point in my life, broken both physically and mentally, I had the love and support of these four people. I still tear up thinking about it. A few years ago Tracy and I weren't that close. When we were in college we might have spoken once every few months but over the past few years we've grown closer. The older I get the more I understand and value the importance of family- to have her running miles 50-52 with me on Sunday afternoon meant more to me then my actual accomplishment. It was a testament for the love of family and friends.
Its been a few days now and my body is starting to come back around. I'd worked so hard all year and made many sacrifices along the way. I am excited to start the next chapter in my life. What will 2010 and beyond bring me? What crazy challenge will I set out to conquer next? Only time will tell.
Thank you Tracy, Becky, Melissa and Bob for helping to get me through the longest day of my life. You helped me achieve a goal that I set for myself that I had questioned and doubted many times over the past few months. I am so fortunate to have such good people in my life. My life truly does get better every day.
For those of you who are interested here is a link to the pictures that my sister took: Photos
Friday, October 9, 2009
Its the final countdown
It's to late to turn back now- the race starts in less than 21 hours.
Yesterday I drove up to Lake Anna and after 6 hours in the car I finally reached my destination. I forgot how beautiful it was up here. Some of the leaves are starting to change and the park is located in the middle of nowhere. It is so quiet and so peaceful. I am staying in a camp cabin in the state park for the four nights I am up here. Of course I will not be sleeping on Saturday night so make that 3 nights! The campground is completely empty except for the other athletes. I have seen a few of them around their campers and cabins. They all look so focused. Most of them waved and said hello but a few of them just stared at me when I waved to them. This certainly is a different caliber of athletes than I am used to being around. With only four Double Iron distances races in the world the 20 competitors have come from all over the world for this race.
As I sit in a Panera Bread using the free Wi-Fi I have a million emotions and thoughts going through my mind and body. I didn't sleep well last night despite taking a Unisom sleep melt (thanks for the recommendation Scott) and drinking a beer. I kept hearing sounds outside the cabin. It kept waking me up because the state park is so quiet except for these sounds coming from nearby. It sounded like someone was dragging something across the floor of the cabin. I thought something might be underneath the bed and my heart raced. Finally at about 1:00am I got the courage to get out of bed and investigate.
Lesson #1- never leave your cooler outside on the porch. I was robbed by some four legged creature in the night! He passed up the milk, beer, and cottage cheese but did take (and I am thinking consumed) a sandwich, a package of cheese slices, 2 packages of Hormel Canadian bacon, and started molesting the Half-n-Half. Bastard!!! Now I have to drive 40 minutes away from the park to the closest grocery store- hence me finding a place with free Wi-Fi.
Once I got the cooler into the cabin I laid back down but kept tossing and turning. At 1:30am my cell phone started ringing. The number read "Restricted". It rang 3 times between 1:30 and 1:39am so I just shut it off and threw it across the cabin. Forget falling back asleep now! I must have tossed and turned until about 3:00am before falling back asleep only to wake up again at 5:20am and then decided to just stay awake. As soon as the sun rose I was out on the bike riding the course. I have way to much nervous energy.
I have a few more items to pick up at the grocery store this morning, including the items that were taken by my midnight visitor, then I am heading back to the cabin. Tracy and Becky should be there between 2:00 and 3:00 this afternoon and then Melissa and Bob will be up here later this evening. Yesterday I was excited and ready to have fun this weekend...right now I am so sick to my stomach I could barely eat breakfast and have been staring at this blueberry muffin for the past 30 minutes. "What was I thinking" keeps repeating in my head.
Today is sunny and suppose to be close to 80...the weekend...not so much. Let's just hope the 50% chance of rain doesn't mean 24+ hours of rain. There is nothing I can do about it though so I've instructed my crew to constantly remind me that I am having fun.
Time to make my way back to the state park so I can watch the triple iron racers finish their 7.2 mile swim and start their 336 mile bike leg. At least I am not doing the triple iron race (this year at least)!
Tomorrow at 7:00am it begins: Swim 4.8 miles, bike 224 miles, run 52.4 miles. Thanks to everyone for their constant support these past few months. I would not have made it here without you. Here goes nothing...
Yesterday I drove up to Lake Anna and after 6 hours in the car I finally reached my destination. I forgot how beautiful it was up here. Some of the leaves are starting to change and the park is located in the middle of nowhere. It is so quiet and so peaceful. I am staying in a camp cabin in the state park for the four nights I am up here. Of course I will not be sleeping on Saturday night so make that 3 nights! The campground is completely empty except for the other athletes. I have seen a few of them around their campers and cabins. They all look so focused. Most of them waved and said hello but a few of them just stared at me when I waved to them. This certainly is a different caliber of athletes than I am used to being around. With only four Double Iron distances races in the world the 20 competitors have come from all over the world for this race.
As I sit in a Panera Bread using the free Wi-Fi I have a million emotions and thoughts going through my mind and body. I didn't sleep well last night despite taking a Unisom sleep melt (thanks for the recommendation Scott) and drinking a beer. I kept hearing sounds outside the cabin. It kept waking me up because the state park is so quiet except for these sounds coming from nearby. It sounded like someone was dragging something across the floor of the cabin. I thought something might be underneath the bed and my heart raced. Finally at about 1:00am I got the courage to get out of bed and investigate.
Lesson #1- never leave your cooler outside on the porch. I was robbed by some four legged creature in the night! He passed up the milk, beer, and cottage cheese but did take (and I am thinking consumed) a sandwich, a package of cheese slices, 2 packages of Hormel Canadian bacon, and started molesting the Half-n-Half. Bastard!!! Now I have to drive 40 minutes away from the park to the closest grocery store- hence me finding a place with free Wi-Fi.
Once I got the cooler into the cabin I laid back down but kept tossing and turning. At 1:30am my cell phone started ringing. The number read "Restricted". It rang 3 times between 1:30 and 1:39am so I just shut it off and threw it across the cabin. Forget falling back asleep now! I must have tossed and turned until about 3:00am before falling back asleep only to wake up again at 5:20am and then decided to just stay awake. As soon as the sun rose I was out on the bike riding the course. I have way to much nervous energy.
I have a few more items to pick up at the grocery store this morning, including the items that were taken by my midnight visitor, then I am heading back to the cabin. Tracy and Becky should be there between 2:00 and 3:00 this afternoon and then Melissa and Bob will be up here later this evening. Yesterday I was excited and ready to have fun this weekend...right now I am so sick to my stomach I could barely eat breakfast and have been staring at this blueberry muffin for the past 30 minutes. "What was I thinking" keeps repeating in my head.
Today is sunny and suppose to be close to 80...the weekend...not so much. Let's just hope the 50% chance of rain doesn't mean 24+ hours of rain. There is nothing I can do about it though so I've instructed my crew to constantly remind me that I am having fun.
Time to make my way back to the state park so I can watch the triple iron racers finish their 7.2 mile swim and start their 336 mile bike leg. At least I am not doing the triple iron race (this year at least)!
Tomorrow at 7:00am it begins: Swim 4.8 miles, bike 224 miles, run 52.4 miles. Thanks to everyone for their constant support these past few months. I would not have made it here without you. Here goes nothing...
Monday, October 5, 2009
What we're afraid of; we find out what we're made of
If you would have told me back in May that the result of all my training could best be summarized by the above lyric to an Everything But The Girl song I would have laughed at you. Not so much because of the band who's lyric I've quoted but more so because of the concept that I am doing all of this out of fear. Why would I subject myself to this out of fear and more importantly- what am I scared of? It has taken me three years of living and five months of absolutely ridiculous training to come to a conclusion. I've thought long and hard about this from every angle and am now ready to admit it as a truth.
My biggest fear in life is being alone.
It has taken a while to come to that conclusion but the more I thought about it the more it all made sense. I fear being alone and have for as long as I can remember. I fear living a life without that special person to share experiences with. That said, why would I make the decision to train for an event that:
a) puts me in a situation that I do most of the training alone, by myself for hours on end
b) use training as a way to push people away, an excuse not to get involved with someone
Essentially- the more I train the more I feel alone. Nice way to live huh! Go back now to the quote, "What we're afraid of; we find out what we're made of." I now am cognizant of what I am afraid of so it is time to find out what I'm made of. What better way to face that fear than being on the verge of starting a multi-day endurance event. Five days from this very moment the gun will go off and I will begin the swim portion of my race. Once I enter the water there will be no turning back. My only option is to move forward. Over the course of the 281.2 miles I will be tested, both physically and mentally, like never before. When I cross the finish line sometime on Sunday afternoon I will have faced this fear and will explored a new part of myself. In essence, I will emerge from this experience a changed person.
The race is so close now but without even starting the race I've found the answer to the question I've been wanting to know. I know what I am afraid of- I simply don't want to be alone. As I sit here typing this post and thinking about the race I feel at peace with what lies ahead of me, both the race next weekend and what comes after that. I smile and kind of chuckle to myself when thinking about what I am about to do. What I am about to put my body through and for why...
Despite all of this I have no regrets, life keeps getting better every day, and I'm ready to take on this race and begin a new chapter in my life.
5 days...5 days
My biggest fear in life is being alone.
It has taken a while to come to that conclusion but the more I thought about it the more it all made sense. I fear being alone and have for as long as I can remember. I fear living a life without that special person to share experiences with. That said, why would I make the decision to train for an event that:
a) puts me in a situation that I do most of the training alone, by myself for hours on end
b) use training as a way to push people away, an excuse not to get involved with someone
Essentially- the more I train the more I feel alone. Nice way to live huh! Go back now to the quote, "What we're afraid of; we find out what we're made of." I now am cognizant of what I am afraid of so it is time to find out what I'm made of. What better way to face that fear than being on the verge of starting a multi-day endurance event. Five days from this very moment the gun will go off and I will begin the swim portion of my race. Once I enter the water there will be no turning back. My only option is to move forward. Over the course of the 281.2 miles I will be tested, both physically and mentally, like never before. When I cross the finish line sometime on Sunday afternoon I will have faced this fear and will explored a new part of myself. In essence, I will emerge from this experience a changed person.
The race is so close now but without even starting the race I've found the answer to the question I've been wanting to know. I know what I am afraid of- I simply don't want to be alone. As I sit here typing this post and thinking about the race I feel at peace with what lies ahead of me, both the race next weekend and what comes after that. I smile and kind of chuckle to myself when thinking about what I am about to do. What I am about to put my body through and for why...
Despite all of this I have no regrets, life keeps getting better every day, and I'm ready to take on this race and begin a new chapter in my life.
5 days...5 days
Friday, October 2, 2009
Something is out there...in the darkness
I think that most of us would agree that lakes are scary places. The water is dark, there are creatures swimming about, and the bottoms are typically covered with slimy vegetation. You are anxious to get in because you just don't know what's out there. *Hold that thought*
I'm now eight days away from the race. In just over a week I will be standing on the edge of a lake staring down the buoy line. It will be 7:00am and the sun will barely be up which will make the lake appear even darker. As I sit here now and close my eyes visualizing the swim portion of the race I can only think one thing- I just don't know what's out there. I don't know what is the water but more importantly I don't know what this race holds for me. I don't know what is going to happen during the course of the 281.2 miles. It will be a long day and a half and I am full of uncertainty. It is the uncertainty that has been waking me up at night and keeping me from sleeping in the mornings. That is the allure of this race for me. The uncertainty is what made me sign up for it. It is the uncertainty that has fueled my motivation to stick with the training day in and day out. It is what has helped me to discover new things about myself each time I push myself close to my physical limits. Next Saturday when the gun goes off and we make our way into the water the journey of self discovery continues. I don't know what will happen out there nor do I know what I will learn along the way. It will be uncharted territory and everything will be new.
This coming Sunday I will be driving up to a local sprint triathlon to cheer on some friends. This will be the first race I have been to in months and the first one in a years that I have been to but not participated in. While most people have been training and racing pretty regularly throughout the year I have been on my bicycle week in and week out preparing for just one day. I am so excited to be able to cheer on friends and just be around the excitement and the energy of a race. I feel that this will really help with my motivation and the anxiety I am experiencing about my race. It is so powerful to see people cross the finish line and achieve their goals. I am getting misty-eyed just thinking about it. Side note- If anyone in Charlotte wants to head up there with me on Sunday morning let me know!
Go Sarah and Jocelyn!
My training volume is substantially reduced, I've cut out the alcohol until after the race and will start my caffeine taper tomorrow. The time is drawing near...
I'm now eight days away from the race. In just over a week I will be standing on the edge of a lake staring down the buoy line. It will be 7:00am and the sun will barely be up which will make the lake appear even darker. As I sit here now and close my eyes visualizing the swim portion of the race I can only think one thing- I just don't know what's out there. I don't know what is the water but more importantly I don't know what this race holds for me. I don't know what is going to happen during the course of the 281.2 miles. It will be a long day and a half and I am full of uncertainty. It is the uncertainty that has been waking me up at night and keeping me from sleeping in the mornings. That is the allure of this race for me. The uncertainty is what made me sign up for it. It is the uncertainty that has fueled my motivation to stick with the training day in and day out. It is what has helped me to discover new things about myself each time I push myself close to my physical limits. Next Saturday when the gun goes off and we make our way into the water the journey of self discovery continues. I don't know what will happen out there nor do I know what I will learn along the way. It will be uncharted territory and everything will be new.
This coming Sunday I will be driving up to a local sprint triathlon to cheer on some friends. This will be the first race I have been to in months and the first one in a years that I have been to but not participated in. While most people have been training and racing pretty regularly throughout the year I have been on my bicycle week in and week out preparing for just one day. I am so excited to be able to cheer on friends and just be around the excitement and the energy of a race. I feel that this will really help with my motivation and the anxiety I am experiencing about my race. It is so powerful to see people cross the finish line and achieve their goals. I am getting misty-eyed just thinking about it. Side note- If anyone in Charlotte wants to head up there with me on Sunday morning let me know!
Go Sarah and Jocelyn!
My training volume is substantially reduced, I've cut out the alcohol until after the race and will start my caffeine taper tomorrow. The time is drawing near...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Where is my edge?
Here I am 12 days away from what will be the most physically ridiculous thing I have done to date. There are so many emotions and thoughts running through my head. From the moment I wake up in the morning until the last second before I fall asleep I think about this race. Each day that passes brings me one day closer to the start line and also makes my nerves a little more tense.
The other day while working at the store I overheard a customer talking about his first ironman experience. It made me think back to the night before my first iron distance race. I remember being so nervous. I didn't know if I'd be able to do it. Would it be possible to cover the distances of all three sports in one day and before the cut-off time? I'd never done that before and was full of uncertainty. Two years and several races later I am still nervous and still full of uncertainty. This time is a little different though. This time I am not worried about covering the distances of all three sports. Peter has turned me into a machine and I am confident in my ability to get out of the water and off the bike. The run will be a different story but I think it will be manageable. What I am worried about this time is how my body is going to react to 30+ ,or so, hours of constant motion and no sleep. I've never been up for 24 hours intentionally before and I certainly haven't been in constant motion for that long either.
I have been told many times in the past few months that the human body is not designed to be doing what I am doing. I am in total agreement with that statement. It has taken me a while to come to terms with that but I do agree that this is just not normal. What I am subjecting my body to is not healthy and not what it is intended to do. Still, I push further and keep going. A few years ago at Death Camp I first heard Steve Watkins say, "You don't know where the edge is until you step over it." Since then that quote has stuck with me. Where is my edge? At what point will I totally break down and not be able to continue moving forward?
Do I really want to know the answers to those last two questions? Well you know what- in 12 days I will be one step closer to finding my edge. However, I am hoping I do not step over it.
The other day while working at the store I overheard a customer talking about his first ironman experience. It made me think back to the night before my first iron distance race. I remember being so nervous. I didn't know if I'd be able to do it. Would it be possible to cover the distances of all three sports in one day and before the cut-off time? I'd never done that before and was full of uncertainty. Two years and several races later I am still nervous and still full of uncertainty. This time is a little different though. This time I am not worried about covering the distances of all three sports. Peter has turned me into a machine and I am confident in my ability to get out of the water and off the bike. The run will be a different story but I think it will be manageable. What I am worried about this time is how my body is going to react to 30+ ,or so, hours of constant motion and no sleep. I've never been up for 24 hours intentionally before and I certainly haven't been in constant motion for that long either.
I have been told many times in the past few months that the human body is not designed to be doing what I am doing. I am in total agreement with that statement. It has taken me a while to come to terms with that but I do agree that this is just not normal. What I am subjecting my body to is not healthy and not what it is intended to do. Still, I push further and keep going. A few years ago at Death Camp I first heard Steve Watkins say, "You don't know where the edge is until you step over it." Since then that quote has stuck with me. Where is my edge? At what point will I totally break down and not be able to continue moving forward?
Do I really want to know the answers to those last two questions? Well you know what- in 12 days I will be one step closer to finding my edge. However, I am hoping I do not step over it.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Let's do this!
This past week has been a much needed recovery week. It has been a long time since I've had a week and weekend that wasn't totally consumed by training. One week ago today I didn't want to continue. I was ready to throw in the towel. As I sit here typing tonight I feel refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to move forward. What a difference a week can make huh!
I got my schedule from Peter tonight and this coming week's training looks tough but doable. I have to work this coming weekend so we scheduled my workouts around it. This week's schedule continues with reduced volume but has much more intensity then I am used to. I think I may actually be starting to taper. Woohoo! With the exception of one accidental drunken night on Wednesday I took full advantage of my recovery week. I ate well and slept as much as possible. I am looking forward to the coming week and haven't been this optimistic and peppy in weeks.
It has been a good week but even better than that - it has been a fantastic weekend. My mood is elated, my body rested and my mind renewed. Let's do this!!! 20 days to go and feeling good.
I got my schedule from Peter tonight and this coming week's training looks tough but doable. I have to work this coming weekend so we scheduled my workouts around it. This week's schedule continues with reduced volume but has much more intensity then I am used to. I think I may actually be starting to taper. Woohoo! With the exception of one accidental drunken night on Wednesday I took full advantage of my recovery week. I ate well and slept as much as possible. I am looking forward to the coming week and haven't been this optimistic and peppy in weeks.
It has been a good week but even better than that - it has been a fantastic weekend. My mood is elated, my body rested and my mind renewed. Let's do this!!! 20 days to go and feeling good.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Welcome to the Squirrel Cage!
A few months ago when searching for race reports and information about a double iron distance race I stumbled upon an article titled, "Beyond Iron." The article was written by Shane Eversfield who had completed the Virginia Double Iron a few years ago. I read the article and marked it as a favorite knowing that over the course of my training I would keep coming back to it. I would suggest reading it if you have a few minutes since it does a great job explaining the history of races longer than the ironman, describes some of the different types of races, and explains some of the why and how.
http://www.zendurance.net/beyondiron.htm
I want to use part of Shane's article in my post, and yes I did contact him asking if I could do so, because now that the race is getting closer I want you to see how the race is set up. Pretty much all of the following paragraph comes directly from Shane's article since he did such a good job of explaining it.
Most ultra-triathlons are called “squirrel cage races”. They consist of multiple swim, bike and run laps, over a short, gently rolling or flat course. In my race, the Virginia Double Iron, the course consists of 12 out-and-back swim laps, followed by 45 out-and-back bike laps and 26 out-and-back run laps. You might think such a short course for such long races might make a multi-day race monotonous. However, the course is quite beautiful, on quiet roads in a state park. The short out-and-back repetitions allow each athlete to return to the race center every 20-60 minutes This provides the athletes with access to his/her “pit area” for food, clothing, equipment changes and crew support. This frequent “check-in” offers a sense of security, as the athlete endures such a daunting task. Unlike most conventional races on longer courses, ultra-triathlons allow pacers to accompany athletes. The short laps make it easy for spouses and other crew members to take turns accompanying their athletes. Over multiple laps, the athlete gains intimate familiarity with the course, honing a perfect strategy for the greatest efficiency and economy. The age-old expression, “Practice makes perfect” really holds true for such courses. Short lap lengths also mean the athlete has an accurate, continuous measure of progress.
When I explain the course to people they think that is even crazier then the event itself. To prepare myself for the course I have finished up the majority of my long rides around Charlotte's own 2.97 mile Booty Loop. I try to get between 30 and 50 miles in on the Booty Loop at the end of my Saturday rides. It sounds boring but Shane was right about a sense of security. I find it comforting when I am completely fatigued to know exactly where I am and where I am going.
Three weeks from this very day I will make the drive up to Lake Anna. I've already started packing some items and making many different lists. Since this is an unsupported race and I have a support crew coming with me I don't want to forget anything. I want to take good care of my support crew since they will be taking good care of me. So who are these people who are willing to devote an entire sleepless weekend to helping me achieve my goal? My support crew is my sister, one of my cousins, and two of my favorite people/BFF's (ha ha...I just had to use BFF).
Tracy, Becky, Bob and Melissa will be there for me through each and every lap of the three sports. Melissa says she's just going to the race to drink beer and watch me suffer but I think she'll probably run a few laps with me. I can't thank these four enough for being willing to help me through this. I think we all know its not going to be pretty. The race will be tough and I am sure I will hit some extreme lows during both the bike and run. Knowing I have such an amazing crew with me will certainly make a huge difference and help to set my mind at ease. Thanks crew! Your hard work will be rewarded at the winery during the award ceremony on Sunday night.
23 days until race day. My stomach turns more and more quickly each time I think about it.
http://www.zendurance.net/beyondiron.htm
I want to use part of Shane's article in my post, and yes I did contact him asking if I could do so, because now that the race is getting closer I want you to see how the race is set up. Pretty much all of the following paragraph comes directly from Shane's article since he did such a good job of explaining it.
Most ultra-triathlons are called “squirrel cage races”. They consist of multiple swim, bike and run laps, over a short, gently rolling or flat course. In my race, the Virginia Double Iron, the course consists of 12 out-and-back swim laps, followed by 45 out-and-back bike laps and 26 out-and-back run laps. You might think such a short course for such long races might make a multi-day race monotonous. However, the course is quite beautiful, on quiet roads in a state park. The short out-and-back repetitions allow each athlete to return to the race center every 20-60 minutes This provides the athletes with access to his/her “pit area” for food, clothing, equipment changes and crew support. This frequent “check-in” offers a sense of security, as the athlete endures such a daunting task. Unlike most conventional races on longer courses, ultra-triathlons allow pacers to accompany athletes. The short laps make it easy for spouses and other crew members to take turns accompanying their athletes. Over multiple laps, the athlete gains intimate familiarity with the course, honing a perfect strategy for the greatest efficiency and economy. The age-old expression, “Practice makes perfect” really holds true for such courses. Short lap lengths also mean the athlete has an accurate, continuous measure of progress.
When I explain the course to people they think that is even crazier then the event itself. To prepare myself for the course I have finished up the majority of my long rides around Charlotte's own 2.97 mile Booty Loop. I try to get between 30 and 50 miles in on the Booty Loop at the end of my Saturday rides. It sounds boring but Shane was right about a sense of security. I find it comforting when I am completely fatigued to know exactly where I am and where I am going.
Three weeks from this very day I will make the drive up to Lake Anna. I've already started packing some items and making many different lists. Since this is an unsupported race and I have a support crew coming with me I don't want to forget anything. I want to take good care of my support crew since they will be taking good care of me. So who are these people who are willing to devote an entire sleepless weekend to helping me achieve my goal? My support crew is my sister, one of my cousins, and two of my favorite people/BFF's (ha ha...I just had to use BFF).
Tracy, Becky, Bob and Melissa will be there for me through each and every lap of the three sports. Melissa says she's just going to the race to drink beer and watch me suffer but I think she'll probably run a few laps with me. I can't thank these four enough for being willing to help me through this. I think we all know its not going to be pretty. The race will be tough and I am sure I will hit some extreme lows during both the bike and run. Knowing I have such an amazing crew with me will certainly make a huge difference and help to set my mind at ease. Thanks crew! Your hard work will be rewarded at the winery during the award ceremony on Sunday night.
23 days until race day. My stomach turns more and more quickly each time I think about it.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Failure and Success
I'm sure you've heard the term "bible belt" when referring to the deeply religious people in the southeast. Well I happen to live in the bible belt and those of you who are familiar with the rural parts of North Carolina surely have seen the sayings and quotations that are written on the signs outside of churches. More often then not they crack me up. They are usually cleverly written with a nice play on words. I always read them and they usually make me smile. This weekend I came across one that really inspired me at a time when I needed it most. To say it was a "sign" would be corny but lets just say it was the perfect saying at the perfect time.
First let me explain why it had such an impact. When the alarm went off on Saturday morning the first thing I said to myself was, "damn I'm tired". I should have known better and gone back to sleep but I stuck with my routine and got up. I was out on the bike by 4:00am and within the first hour knew it was going to be a tough day. I just didn't have anything to give. My legs were tired, they felt so heavy and I was moving slower then I ever have on the bike. To make things worse it was dark and I was cold. I just wanted to quit. At 8:00am I headed over to the store to lead the group ride and was hoping nobody would be there. I had decided I was going to call it a day if nobody showed up. There was someone in the parking lot...one person...I guess the ride was on. I led (from behind I might add) a 60 mile ride and was struggling to hold on. I watched my speed drop with each hour. Nothing was working to get me moving faster or feeling better. I got back from that ride and had only ridden 120 miles. I was done. I went home and laid down for 30 minutes until the guilt got the best of me and I headed out the door to try it again. I made it another 30 miles and felt like I couldn't even turn over the pedals. I tried to push on but I was done...completely over being on the bike and could think of nothing more then stopping, so I did. I made it 150 miles (cutting the ride 70 miles short) before I went for my run. This is where the day got worse. Peter wanted me to run a quick 5 miles off the bike but since I cut the ride short my goal was 4 miles. I headed out the door and ran the fastest 4 miles I've run in months. I was so upset. What did that mean??? It's not fatigue, it's not nutrition, but instead it was something mental. It wasn't my body not able to pedal my bike...it was my mind not allowing me to do so. I know how to fix being tired, I know how to fix bonking but I don't know how to fix a mental barrier that has been developed related to cycling.
So where does the church sign come in...well on the group bike ride there was a sign in front of a church right outside of Gastonia that read,
"Failure is a success if you learn from the experience"
I felt like a complete failure on Saturday. I didn't even make it close to my goal mileage for the day and when I ran off the bike I felt fresh. That was not the type of workout I needed so close to my race. If the church sign was correct then I needed to learn from this failure and turn it into a success. I struggle with figuring out how to learn from this failure since it isn't anything tangible. It is something in my mind that needs to be identified and worked through.
The more I think about where I went wrong and why I was not mentally ready to ride this week I start to realize where I can make some changes this coming week. Last week I was housesitting/dogsitting so I wasn't at home and had three dogs to watch. That took me out of my element and routine. I'm back at home this week and have a recovery week in front of me. What I need to do this week to be sure I am ready for the next few weeks of training is as follows:
First let me explain why it had such an impact. When the alarm went off on Saturday morning the first thing I said to myself was, "damn I'm tired". I should have known better and gone back to sleep but I stuck with my routine and got up. I was out on the bike by 4:00am and within the first hour knew it was going to be a tough day. I just didn't have anything to give. My legs were tired, they felt so heavy and I was moving slower then I ever have on the bike. To make things worse it was dark and I was cold. I just wanted to quit. At 8:00am I headed over to the store to lead the group ride and was hoping nobody would be there. I had decided I was going to call it a day if nobody showed up. There was someone in the parking lot...one person...I guess the ride was on. I led (from behind I might add) a 60 mile ride and was struggling to hold on. I watched my speed drop with each hour. Nothing was working to get me moving faster or feeling better. I got back from that ride and had only ridden 120 miles. I was done. I went home and laid down for 30 minutes until the guilt got the best of me and I headed out the door to try it again. I made it another 30 miles and felt like I couldn't even turn over the pedals. I tried to push on but I was done...completely over being on the bike and could think of nothing more then stopping, so I did. I made it 150 miles (cutting the ride 70 miles short) before I went for my run. This is where the day got worse. Peter wanted me to run a quick 5 miles off the bike but since I cut the ride short my goal was 4 miles. I headed out the door and ran the fastest 4 miles I've run in months. I was so upset. What did that mean??? It's not fatigue, it's not nutrition, but instead it was something mental. It wasn't my body not able to pedal my bike...it was my mind not allowing me to do so. I know how to fix being tired, I know how to fix bonking but I don't know how to fix a mental barrier that has been developed related to cycling.
So where does the church sign come in...well on the group bike ride there was a sign in front of a church right outside of Gastonia that read,
"Failure is a success if you learn from the experience"
I felt like a complete failure on Saturday. I didn't even make it close to my goal mileage for the day and when I ran off the bike I felt fresh. That was not the type of workout I needed so close to my race. If the church sign was correct then I needed to learn from this failure and turn it into a success. I struggle with figuring out how to learn from this failure since it isn't anything tangible. It is something in my mind that needs to be identified and worked through.
The more I think about where I went wrong and why I was not mentally ready to ride this week I start to realize where I can make some changes this coming week. Last week I was housesitting/dogsitting so I wasn't at home and had three dogs to watch. That took me out of my element and routine. I'm back at home this week and have a recovery week in front of me. What I need to do this week to be sure I am ready for the next few weeks of training is as follows:
- Sleep more and take naps. I've been staying up later at night- partly due to reading a new book and partly due to not being able to sleep. I need to put the book down and do some Yoga before bed each night to ease my tension.
- Eat better. Since I don't have a job I can workout anytime of the day and as a result I eat meals at different times each day. I need to get back on a schedule and stick to it. My calorie count has been dropping because of shifting these meal times around.
- Stop obsessing about being unemployed. For someone who doesn't have a job I am way to stressed out all the time. This has effected both my sleeping and eating as well as my mood. Things will work out and I just need to have faith and focus on the task at hand.
There it is. Three simple things to do over the coming weeks. I have under a month now and my nerves are becoming more unsettled every day...
Friday, September 11, 2009
Just got paid, Friday night, Party huntin', feelin' right
You know the song so sing along!
As much as I would like to say that this is the theme song of my life it couldn't be any further from the truth. In fact, if it were my life's theme song it would sound more like this:
Got no job, Friday night, 8:00pm bedtime, Legs feel tight
Bottles made up, Gel flasks too
Alarm is set for, a lil after 2
That sounds more like the Friday nights of late. I was hoping that last weekend was going to be the last of the really long workouts and the taper would begin. I was hoping that I'd be able to stay up a little later on a Friday night and sleep in a little more on Saturday (or should I say Friday night). Unfortunately that is not the case. Tomorrow is another long training day. I will start by 3:45am and hope to finish by 8:00pm. Just enough time to eat, go back to sleep and do it again on Sunday.
The race is four weeks from tomorrow. 29 days from this very moment I will be 14 hours into the race and it will not even be halfway complete. 29 days sounds far away right? Well to me it is close enough that I get sick to my stomach thinking about it but far enough away for me to say, "I've got plenty of time!" Part of me wants the race to be here now but the other part of me never wants the race to get here. One minute I say, "I am so excited about this race" and the next I'm saying, "What the heck was I thinking?"
The reality is my race is right around the corner. Over the past few months I have put in some serious training time. My weekends are completely devoted to training. If I were employed full time there would be no way I would have made it this far. Along the way I've made plenty of sacrifices and have justified things many times over. I've had good times and bad times. I've smiled and cried. I've ridden my bike through both sunrises and sunsets, and lately they have been on the same day. Through all of this I have learned a lot about myself. That is partly why I did this. To test myself and put me into unfamiliar territory where I would need to dig deep inside myself. Deep down I am optimistic about this race and hope to come out of this experience a better person. I have so much more to give in life. Lately I've been feeling as if my life is just now ready to begin. That everything I've done in the past has molded me into what I am today. Each and every experience, both positive and negative, has impacted me and helped me to find myself. I feel like I am so close to finding the answers I am looking for. I feel as if I am ready to live and ready to give. I've made it to this point in my life with only one regret and that, more then anything, has helped fuel this fire inside of me to figure out who I am and why I'm here.
The clock is about to strike 8:00pm. The dog is fast asleep and I am not to far behind her. A few hours from now I will be back out on the bike, in the dark, alone with my thoughts. Good night!
As much as I would like to say that this is the theme song of my life it couldn't be any further from the truth. In fact, if it were my life's theme song it would sound more like this:
Got no job, Friday night, 8:00pm bedtime, Legs feel tight
Bottles made up, Gel flasks too
Alarm is set for, a lil after 2
That sounds more like the Friday nights of late. I was hoping that last weekend was going to be the last of the really long workouts and the taper would begin. I was hoping that I'd be able to stay up a little later on a Friday night and sleep in a little more on Saturday (or should I say Friday night). Unfortunately that is not the case. Tomorrow is another long training day. I will start by 3:45am and hope to finish by 8:00pm. Just enough time to eat, go back to sleep and do it again on Sunday.
The race is four weeks from tomorrow. 29 days from this very moment I will be 14 hours into the race and it will not even be halfway complete. 29 days sounds far away right? Well to me it is close enough that I get sick to my stomach thinking about it but far enough away for me to say, "I've got plenty of time!" Part of me wants the race to be here now but the other part of me never wants the race to get here. One minute I say, "I am so excited about this race" and the next I'm saying, "What the heck was I thinking?"
The reality is my race is right around the corner. Over the past few months I have put in some serious training time. My weekends are completely devoted to training. If I were employed full time there would be no way I would have made it this far. Along the way I've made plenty of sacrifices and have justified things many times over. I've had good times and bad times. I've smiled and cried. I've ridden my bike through both sunrises and sunsets, and lately they have been on the same day. Through all of this I have learned a lot about myself. That is partly why I did this. To test myself and put me into unfamiliar territory where I would need to dig deep inside myself. Deep down I am optimistic about this race and hope to come out of this experience a better person. I have so much more to give in life. Lately I've been feeling as if my life is just now ready to begin. That everything I've done in the past has molded me into what I am today. Each and every experience, both positive and negative, has impacted me and helped me to find myself. I feel like I am so close to finding the answers I am looking for. I feel as if I am ready to live and ready to give. I've made it to this point in my life with only one regret and that, more then anything, has helped fuel this fire inside of me to figure out who I am and why I'm here.
The clock is about to strike 8:00pm. The dog is fast asleep and I am not to far behind her. A few hours from now I will be back out on the bike, in the dark, alone with my thoughts. Good night!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Food Glorious Food - A Case Study
I get asked all the time how much food do I eat. I can't really answer that question because I don't really pay attention to what I eat all day. I literally eat all day. The best I can tell you is that when I am awake I am eating and when I wake up at night to use the bathroom I eat then too. I'd also like to say, "if I'm not working out then I am eating" but the truth is when I am working out I am actually eating even more. I thought it might be interesting, and fun, to walk you through a typical Saturday's bike workout menu.
It has taken me a few months to refine my nutrition plan for the bike portion of my race. With a little over a month until race day I still have some more refining to do. I have my eating schedule in place but I need to make some more food substitutions and still want to try some new things. Before I tell you what I eat I think it is important to first explain when I eat because that took just as much work to figure out. Every workout for the past few months has been an experiment. Whether I am swimming, biking or running I am always trying new foods, new gels, new liquids and new drugs (Imodium, Pepto and so forth). I feel like my life is an experiment. I am the scientist and the subject! That is why this is a case study.
The subject (me!) is a 34 year old male training for a double iron distance triathlon. His current weight is 152 pounds and he trains, on average, approximately 30-40 hours per week. His rough estimate for a daily calorie consumption (from meals and snacks) is at least 5000 calories and water consumption is at least 150 ounces a day.
The current bike nutritional plan is timed on the hourly clock and not on the workout clock. That may sound confusing so let me explain. Instead of eating and drinking at intervals from the start of the workout (the time I press Start on my watch at the beginning of the workout) I now eat and drink at intervals based on the time of day. I decided to do this because there are times when I need to take breaks during the workouts and when I am not moving forward I still need to be eating and drinking so that I don't get behind. The time in between calorie consumption is the same but is easier to follow and will make it much easier for my crew during the race since they will just need to look at the time of day to figure out what I need to be eating and drinking.
Here is the breakdown:
It has taken me a few months to refine my nutrition plan for the bike portion of my race. With a little over a month until race day I still have some more refining to do. I have my eating schedule in place but I need to make some more food substitutions and still want to try some new things. Before I tell you what I eat I think it is important to first explain when I eat because that took just as much work to figure out. Every workout for the past few months has been an experiment. Whether I am swimming, biking or running I am always trying new foods, new gels, new liquids and new drugs (Imodium, Pepto and so forth). I feel like my life is an experiment. I am the scientist and the subject! That is why this is a case study.
The subject (me!) is a 34 year old male training for a double iron distance triathlon. His current weight is 152 pounds and he trains, on average, approximately 30-40 hours per week. His rough estimate for a daily calorie consumption (from meals and snacks) is at least 5000 calories and water consumption is at least 150 ounces a day.
The current bike nutritional plan is timed on the hourly clock and not on the workout clock. That may sound confusing so let me explain. Instead of eating and drinking at intervals from the start of the workout (the time I press Start on my watch at the beginning of the workout) I now eat and drink at intervals based on the time of day. I decided to do this because there are times when I need to take breaks during the workouts and when I am not moving forward I still need to be eating and drinking so that I don't get behind. The time in between calorie consumption is the same but is easier to follow and will make it much easier for my crew during the race since they will just need to look at the time of day to figure out what I need to be eating and drinking.
Here is the breakdown:
- On the top of each hour (60 min mark) I take some E-gel
- Every 15 minutes (15, 30, 45 and 60) I drink plain water
- Every 20 minutes (20, 40, 60) I drink a Sustained Energy mix (my secret)
- At the bottom of each hour (30 min mark) I eat some solid food
- Depending on the conditions salt tabs are consumed on the 30 and 60 min marks
As you can see I pretty much am eating or drinking something every 10 minutes while on the bike. I will plan to do this for the entire 224 mile bike portion of my race. I am aiming to consume at least 400-450 calories an hour. That may not sound like a lot but I am figuring to be on the bike for 14 or so hours so that adds up quickly.
Here is the case study- Last Saturday my bike ride was 210 miles (I actually cut it shorter then what I was suppose to do believe it or not). I started riding a little before 4:00am and finished a little after 7:00pm. I did eat breakfast at 3:00am before I started working out and I ate dinner at 9:00pm after my run. The list of food below is only what I consumed on the bike and not in meals for the day. This is what I consumed while on the bike.
- 10 E-gels, 1500 calories
- 14 scoops of Sustained Energy, 1554 calories
- 3 Sandwiches (Canadian Bacon and cheddar on a potato roll), 495 calories
- 2 Powerbars, 480 calories
- 4 Nature Valley Granola Bars, 560 calories
- 2 Uncrustable sandwiches, 420 calories
- 6 Fig Newton bars, 600 calories
- 2 Pay Day and 1 Snickers bars, 750 calories
- 1 banana, approx 80 calories
- 2 cups (16 oz) of sweetened apple sauce (I gots the Motts!), 400 calories
- Gatorade, 290 calories
I think that pretty much sums up my day on the bike last Saturday. Now for our total calorie count...drum roll please....7129 calories consumed while sitting on my bike seat. Yummy! There you have it. I'll admit that I'm even a little surprised to see the total number. Add is the calories from the meals I ate and I consumed almost 10,000 calories last Saturday. Michael Phelps has nothing on my diet! 31 days until race day...but who's counting right!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A bee sting, a bloody toe, Beth Orton and The Be Good Tanyas
That pretty much sums up the last week and a half since I've blogged last. It has been too long since I have written but I am back and ready to write. For the past week I have been up in Connecticut visiting the family. I made an impromptu decision last week to make the drive up there and spend some time away from Charlotte. I haven't been out of town since December nor have I had anything resembling a vacation in 2009. My parents had a beach cottage for the weekend so Luna and I made the long drive up there. It was Luna's first trip ever to the beach so it was fun to see her run around in the sand, and of course, be fearful of the water. Ahh...dogs...they crack me up. I really enjoyed spending time with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and my twin nephews. It was the perfect trip except for the bee sting and the bloody toe.
First, the bee sting- I am pretty allergic to bees but haven't been stung in a few years. On Monday I was 2 (count them...2) miles into my bike ride when I rode right into a bee at about 30 miles an hour. I am coasting down the back side of a hill and I saw him come right at me. He hit my left cheek right below where my sunglasses were. If I had not been wearing my sunglasses he probably would have stung me in the eye and it would have been much worse. Thank you Tifosi sunglasses! The picture doesn't do the sting justice. My eye was completely swollen shut for a few hours making riding and running a tad more challenging without proper depth perception. Two days later my face is swollen and I am wondering if I will be able to put on swim goggles today or if my face is to puffy.
On to the bloody toe. I should mention that for the first time since 2007 I have all ten toenails. Marathon running, ironman training then ultra running have pretty much destroyed my feet. This year though all my toenails have all grown back and my feet look almost normal...until now. So after the bike ride Monday I was suppose to get off the bike and run for 4 hours. It was already challenging enough to run with only one eye but those of you that know Portland CT know that there is no such thing as flat! I choose some loops that I would consider to be less hilly but apparently the downhill running and the feet slamming into the front of the shoe resulted into the ripping off of a toenail and a bloody mess. Now I am down to 9 toenails. Oh well...
Now you are probably asking why (or even who) Beth Orton and The Be Good Tanyas are and how they fit into this blog post. When I began the run portion of my workout on Monday my legs were completely fatigued from the workout I did on Sunday. Thanks to Andy and Tracy for running with me. If it wasn't for them I might not have had the motivation to finish the run portion on Sunday. Andy ran the whole run with me, his longest ever, and Tracy ran the last 4.9 miles with us which was her longest non-stop run to date as well. It was fun running with the family. Back to the B's- as I was saying I was completely fatigued and overall just upset about my swollen face. I was on vacation and haven't relaxed at all. I just wanted to stop running and not move anymore. I had my ipod on (sorry Melissa and Melinda) for the run and a Beth Orton song came on followed by one from The Be Good Tanyas. I should probably mention that it is NOT safe to run with an ipod, or similar mp3 player, but since there isn't any traffic in the rural part of CT I was running I opted for some company. Over the past few months I have been working out with an ipod. I know it isn't safe but when some of your workouts are 15+ hours long it gets a little boring. I have added and removed artists so many times from my ipod since my mood is so unstable when I get tired. Who would have thought that I would only find the motivation to continue moving forward while listening to Beth Orton and The Be Good Tanyas- passing up mood lifting music like rock n roll or dance music. I guess when the going gets tough the music gets folk! I am not ashamed to admit that these two bands are amongst my favorites and it is all that I am listening to now. Thanks ladies!
There is a little more than five weeks to go until race day and my nerves are starting to get the best of me. More to come...time to unpack from my trip.
Monday, August 24, 2009
I am a fat ass!
Yup, you've read it correctly. I am officially a fat ass. Whoever said that titanium has the strongest strength to weight ratio is just simply incorrect!
On Saturday morning at 5:05am I was riding the bike when all of a sudden the left side of my bike seat dropped down slightly. I reached down and pulled it up. I thought to myself, "that was weird maybe the seat is loose." About a minute later it dropped down again, so I reached down again and fixed it. This went on for about three miles until I got really frustrated. I was meeting a friend at 5:45am to ride so I made the decision to sprint home and tighten the seat before I met her. Luckily I was about four miles from my house.
When I got into my apartment and turned on the light I realized that the seat wasn't loose. I broke one of the rails on the seat. The seat has titanium rails for goodness sake. Titanium is suppose to be one of the lightest and strongest metals. I know I've gained a pound or two this week, I tipped the scale at 154 on Saturday, but seriously I don't think that I should be breaking bike seats. This is just more proof that I am covering distances that bikes aren't designed for. Man 1 Machine 0. Man beats machine!
Since I had to meet Shenna in about 10 minutes I had to switch bikes. I took all the bottles, the lights and the food off of my triathlon bike and put it on my road bike. Sometimes it is nice to have more than one bike. People need options! Here's the catch though- about a month ago I cracked the rear rim on my road bike. Not because I am a fat ass but because the Bontrager wheels on it are crap. Sorry Bontrager...they are crap! So when I was swapping all of the stuff from bike to bike I also had to swap the rear wheel. Because Bontrager uses a "special" spacer on the rear cassette the spacing is slightly different. What does that mean you ask??? It means that when I am in 5 of the 10 gears in the back and stand up to pedal the bike shifts on it's own. Since the spacing is slightly off the bike rides in between gears and shifts automatically. So now I have a bike with a broken seat and a bike that shifts at the most inopportune time. What a way to start off a Saturday huh!
This actually worked to my benefit though. I had two options at this point. I could be stressed out and upset that things weren't going according to plan or just adapt and roll with the punches. It is no surprise that I am a planner and have a schedule so I am not one to adapt to change well. I used this as an opportunity to work on my patience and ability to adapt in these types of situations. If something were to happen in my race I would need to adapt so this was good practice. I took some deep breaths and back out the door I went...
Each weekend I learn and discover something new about myself. Training for this race truly has been a great experience. Once the race is over and I can get back to a more normal existence I will have more than just the satisfaction of completing my goal. I will have a deeper and more clear understanding of myself.
48 days and 281.2 miles until that moment though...
On Saturday morning at 5:05am I was riding the bike when all of a sudden the left side of my bike seat dropped down slightly. I reached down and pulled it up. I thought to myself, "that was weird maybe the seat is loose." About a minute later it dropped down again, so I reached down again and fixed it. This went on for about three miles until I got really frustrated. I was meeting a friend at 5:45am to ride so I made the decision to sprint home and tighten the seat before I met her. Luckily I was about four miles from my house.
When I got into my apartment and turned on the light I realized that the seat wasn't loose. I broke one of the rails on the seat. The seat has titanium rails for goodness sake. Titanium is suppose to be one of the lightest and strongest metals. I know I've gained a pound or two this week, I tipped the scale at 154 on Saturday, but seriously I don't think that I should be breaking bike seats. This is just more proof that I am covering distances that bikes aren't designed for. Man 1 Machine 0. Man beats machine!
Since I had to meet Shenna in about 10 minutes I had to switch bikes. I took all the bottles, the lights and the food off of my triathlon bike and put it on my road bike. Sometimes it is nice to have more than one bike. People need options! Here's the catch though- about a month ago I cracked the rear rim on my road bike. Not because I am a fat ass but because the Bontrager wheels on it are crap. Sorry Bontrager...they are crap! So when I was swapping all of the stuff from bike to bike I also had to swap the rear wheel. Because Bontrager uses a "special" spacer on the rear cassette the spacing is slightly different. What does that mean you ask??? It means that when I am in 5 of the 10 gears in the back and stand up to pedal the bike shifts on it's own. Since the spacing is slightly off the bike rides in between gears and shifts automatically. So now I have a bike with a broken seat and a bike that shifts at the most inopportune time. What a way to start off a Saturday huh!
This actually worked to my benefit though. I had two options at this point. I could be stressed out and upset that things weren't going according to plan or just adapt and roll with the punches. It is no surprise that I am a planner and have a schedule so I am not one to adapt to change well. I used this as an opportunity to work on my patience and ability to adapt in these types of situations. If something were to happen in my race I would need to adapt so this was good practice. I took some deep breaths and back out the door I went...
Each weekend I learn and discover something new about myself. Training for this race truly has been a great experience. Once the race is over and I can get back to a more normal existence I will have more than just the satisfaction of completing my goal. I will have a deeper and more clear understanding of myself.
48 days and 281.2 miles until that moment though...
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Hoping for a "Faster Tomorrow"
It has been six hours and I don't feel any different.
I wouldn't expect to yet but I needed a good starting sentence for my blog today.
Last Thursday I had a few hours where I had a complete lack of confidence in my ability to do this race. During this time I started doubting myself and my willingness to continue training. I know it sounds a tad dramatic but I wasn't feeling well at all. If I wasn't being held accountable by my coach and my increasing number of supporters I might have just thrown away the last few months of training. I know that backing out now would probably be one of the worst decisions I have made in life, one that I would always regret, so I started looking for help.
My focus was on supplementation. I take a multi-vitamin every day but started looking into my other options. Since EPO and HGH are out of the question I started looking at other products. Some of you may have heard of Optygen- I have friends who use this product and give it great reviews but I wanted to try something different and, to be honest, a little cheaper. I stumbled on a review of a product by Healthy Directions called ARX. It is an all natural product which satisfied one of my criteria and their opening line on the website grabbed my attention as well:
"ARX’s unique combination of ingredients helps to clear lactate from the bloodstream faster and circulate it to the rest of the body so that it can be used as an additional fuel source for exercise and other energy demands, improving your performance and reducing muscle recovery time."
Here is a link to their site: http://www.fastertomorrow.com/
It was important to me that whatever I decided to take was made only from natural ingredients. Since I am cutting out highly processed and chemically enhanced foods from my diet (as best I can) it didn't make sense to purchase a product that was nothing but chemicals. I need to be able to pronounce all the ingredients in the product! ARX is a blend of mushroom extracts, eleuthero root extract, tangerine peel extract, and Asian ginseng root extract. No chemicals, no fillers, nothing that I normally wouldn't eat (though I am not sure what eleuthero root is). My mind was made up- I would try ARX. If it works for Terenzo Bozzone maybe it would work for Kevin Johnson!
I ordered a two month supply and it arrived in the mail yesterday. I took the first dose of it this morning when I woke up. All of the product documentation states that it typically takes a few weeks to feel the products benefits so only time will tell if I will feel any performance improvement with this product or if my recovery time will decrease. I don't really care about the performance improvement but am really hoping that I notice a decrease in recovery time. With my training about to be at it's longest and most intense any additional help I can get will be welcomed. If it doesn't make a noticeable difference that is OK too. Since it is an all natural product and I will not feel guilty about taking it.
I also solicited some additional help from Sarah Neumann, a fantastic nutritionist and superb athlete, and with her help I will be looking for new multi-vitamin and mineral supplements as well. This will probably have to wait until after my race since I don't want to make to many changes at once with less then two months to go. Perhaps with Sarah's advice I will find the right products for me for the 2010 season...provided I don't retire after this race.
My confidence sways back and forth like the wind but I still have some time to get in the right frame of mind. I am so fortunate to have the support of so many different people. People from all over the country, and now all over the world! Who would have thought people from other countries would stumble on to my blog. Thanks everyone!
Happy training!!!
I wouldn't expect to yet but I needed a good starting sentence for my blog today.
Last Thursday I had a few hours where I had a complete lack of confidence in my ability to do this race. During this time I started doubting myself and my willingness to continue training. I know it sounds a tad dramatic but I wasn't feeling well at all. If I wasn't being held accountable by my coach and my increasing number of supporters I might have just thrown away the last few months of training. I know that backing out now would probably be one of the worst decisions I have made in life, one that I would always regret, so I started looking for help.
My focus was on supplementation. I take a multi-vitamin every day but started looking into my other options. Since EPO and HGH are out of the question I started looking at other products. Some of you may have heard of Optygen- I have friends who use this product and give it great reviews but I wanted to try something different and, to be honest, a little cheaper. I stumbled on a review of a product by Healthy Directions called ARX. It is an all natural product which satisfied one of my criteria and their opening line on the website grabbed my attention as well:
"ARX’s unique combination of ingredients helps to clear lactate from the bloodstream faster and circulate it to the rest of the body so that it can be used as an additional fuel source for exercise and other energy demands, improving your performance and reducing muscle recovery time."
Here is a link to their site: http://www.fastertomorrow.com/
It was important to me that whatever I decided to take was made only from natural ingredients. Since I am cutting out highly processed and chemically enhanced foods from my diet (as best I can) it didn't make sense to purchase a product that was nothing but chemicals. I need to be able to pronounce all the ingredients in the product! ARX is a blend of mushroom extracts, eleuthero root extract, tangerine peel extract, and Asian ginseng root extract. No chemicals, no fillers, nothing that I normally wouldn't eat (though I am not sure what eleuthero root is). My mind was made up- I would try ARX. If it works for Terenzo Bozzone maybe it would work for Kevin Johnson!
I ordered a two month supply and it arrived in the mail yesterday. I took the first dose of it this morning when I woke up. All of the product documentation states that it typically takes a few weeks to feel the products benefits so only time will tell if I will feel any performance improvement with this product or if my recovery time will decrease. I don't really care about the performance improvement but am really hoping that I notice a decrease in recovery time. With my training about to be at it's longest and most intense any additional help I can get will be welcomed. If it doesn't make a noticeable difference that is OK too. Since it is an all natural product and I will not feel guilty about taking it.
I also solicited some additional help from Sarah Neumann, a fantastic nutritionist and superb athlete, and with her help I will be looking for new multi-vitamin and mineral supplements as well. This will probably have to wait until after my race since I don't want to make to many changes at once with less then two months to go. Perhaps with Sarah's advice I will find the right products for me for the 2010 season...provided I don't retire after this race.
My confidence sways back and forth like the wind but I still have some time to get in the right frame of mind. I am so fortunate to have the support of so many different people. People from all over the country, and now all over the world! Who would have thought people from other countries would stumble on to my blog. Thanks everyone!
Happy training!!!
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