“They were what we (I) thought they were” – Dennis Green

I have run many races and over time I have done a pretty good job of standing on the start line and having a real good idea of who will be contending for the win. Unfortunately, yesterday was no different. I was standing in the pouring rain looking around and two things became perfectly clear to me.

There was not a guy in the field that could beat me.

There were 2 or 3 women who looked like they could.

The race started and a within a hundred yards there were 3 of us out front. My instincts were right on, I was running with two women. Within a half mile the lead women took off and gapped us. A few minutes later number 2 would give chase. I tried to stay calm, run my race and hope they might come back to me. Three miles in I saw my first mile marker and it was 19:30ish. I wondered if it was right. If it was I was running an over 40 10K. It was about here that I started to think of all my regrets:

I regretted not yet starting that 5 pound weight loss plan

I regretted the every other speed work.

I regretted the hill work on Thursday.
I regretted my little ménage a trio this summer with my bike and wetsuit.

I regretted my shoe choice.

I regretted that nice big dinner the night before.

I still had second place in my sight and I tried to close the gap. I had no idea if the time at 3 miles was right but I was not about to run a 10K in 40+. I pushed hard in the pouring rain finally reaching mile 5 in 31.xx and knew now was not the time to slow down. Sadly what had been a very well marked course all along all of a sudden became unmarked. I ran into an intersection saying which way and was told toward the water. This did not help. I slowed and screamed some more and was finally told how to go. I hit the long straight and managed to finish in 39:41. I told the finish people they needed someone out on the last 2 corners and they said the last runner said the same thing.

"They were what we (I) thought they were" – Dennis Green

I was third overall and first male. I did win a $30 gift certificate to the local running store and in my current shape was not going anywhere near a 37:xx that the winner ran. A few minutes later I headed back out to the course to run in my sister who was doing her first every 10K. She did great finishing in a bit over an hour and smiling the whole way in the rain.

--
Joe B

IMRI70.3

You may have noticed I do not race often. To me racing is a time to measure myself, my fitness, and where I stand with my competition. I race on the knife edge. Sometimes that leads to breakthrough performances slicing time off the clock. Other times it leads to a puncture wound letting all the air out prematurely.

My first hint of things not going my way occurred around 5:30 PM Saturday night. I started putting my numbers together and pulled out my tri suit to find my bike jersey. Hmm….tear apart my gear and realize I have no tri suit or tri bottoms. I have base layer Craft shorts or Speedo jammers.

We quickly mobilized and started calling around. Two local bike shops had closed at 5. The surf shop had nothing that would help. We found an Olympia sports that had 3 bike shorts (as in 3 total bike shorts in the place) 2 were xl and one was large. I bought the large. On the way to dinner Mike (of Mike and Mary Arnold) saw a local bike shop Stedman's just closing. They stayed open for me and I bought a pair of nice Pearl Izumi’s. I knew I couldn’t run in the bike shorts and swimming in them would not be ideal either so during dinner we decided I should wear the Craft’s under my wetsuit and put on the bike shorts for the bike and drop the bike shorts for the run. As Mary said, fortunately, they were black.

Woke up and the rain was over but it was still windy. Got to transition and they delayed the start by 15 minutes (which became 25 minutes) because the buoys were being blown all over the place. The conditions were so bad they offered a du-athlon option if people didn’t feel comfortable in the conditions. Did a short warm up swim and thought it might get better after the rollers. I was in the 8th wave and watched the buoys still blowing all over. The cannon sounded and I was off. I jumped in and tried to swim. The swim started out okay we got by the rollers and it seemed like it was starting to calm down. I was focused and sighting well. After the third buoy it started to get crazy. The swells had to be at least a foot. I almost had to sight every stroke because we were getting thrown all over the place. When I made the turn out by the break wall it was near impossible to get across to the next turn buoy. Finally, got around it and it was easier coming in. About 200 yards from shore my right calf cramped. Bad. I focused, tried to relax and kick gently. Probably a minute later I started to feel a bit better but it was still twitching. Reached close to shore and tried to stripe off my wet suit in the water which normally is very easy for me. Today I fell over. Finally, out and on to the bike. I was surprised to see my swim time was close to last year only 2 minutes slower. The conditions were much worse and last year they were bad.

My bike transition was about 3 minutes which wasn’t great but wasn’t bad either considering I needed to put on my bike shirt and shorts. Immediately I felt good on the bike. I had been having some derailleur issues but John Young had given me a good website and I had worked on it so I was only missing 1 gear. My aero helmet has a face shield and it started fogging up. I kept wiping it clean but I was still moving strong. About 3 miles in I took my first sip of my ultra fuel bottle and set it back in the down cage only it didn’t go in. It was gone, 3 miles in and my 300 calorie drink was gone. I had extra gu / blocks so I knew I would need to be more diligent and eat more often. I opened my first pack of clif shots and started eating them. About halfway through the bike I started to have stomach issues. I took 2 more salt tablets and ate another gel. It was weird. On bike descents I will get in a tight tuck resting my shoulders on my aero bar pads. I have done it for years without it every being a problem. Today it was making my stomach worse. I tried to ignore it and pressed on. After the fact I think the swim might have given me a bit of seasickness.

Lots of other weird stuff happened on the bike. Almost hit a car that stopped dead in the road. I had to wait while an official gave another guy a drafting penalty but blocked the road so I couldn’t get by. About 40 miles into the bike (making it around 10 AM) two raccoons ran across the road in front of me. I lost two more gears on the bike. Hit 44mph a new PR on one of the down hills. About 45 miles in I started channeling my inner Gatens. I knew that if I pushed the bike home I had a shot at sub 5. I was riding strong and just kept right on pushing and passing people. It was funny I was hammering the bike and felt my legs getting stronger and knew I would be able to run off the bike. My legs would not be the problem today. Hit transition 3:25 into the day (2:42 bike split) ready to run. I knew I needed 1:35 and thought it would be close but I had a shot. Got through transition fast even with taking off the bike shots. It was time to run in my underwear.

Took off and felt okay. My stomach was still upset but I seemed to be running okay. Climbed the hill the firs time and missed the 1 mile mark hit 2 in 14:24 and smiled. I thought to myself about the sprinters in the indoor meets wearing sunglasses. My wife asked “why do they wear sunglasses?” “Because they can” I answered. This is my day. Why can he wear those shorts, because he can (or at least I could at the time)? My quad started cramping and I changed my stride to more like marching and it settled down. I thought to myself just keep it going. I was looking out for DC who started 15 minutes ahead of me and trying to be smooth. I was taking coke and pouring water over my head. I saw him and thought he is not far enough ahead. I am catching him. Passed a few people I knew and one lady who looked much younger then she was so I said excuse me ma’am but I think they made a mistake with your age. She smiled and thanked me the next women in front of her said hey I get no love. But she looked her age. I smiled and went faster.

I knew I was running a fine line and just tried to keep going. It is a 2 loop course so every time I saw the second set of mile markers I said just get back here. I made the turn around 44 minutes and saw mile 8 and took my split 53.xx. I felt slower then that and hoped I could keep going. I knew I was getting closer to the edge. I said to DC’s wife is it time to take up golf. She laughed. I started up the hill the second time and my friends were screaming like crazy. At this point my stomach was screaming it was completely empty. I started to feel hungry and sick at the same time. I tried to take a few orange slices but you could stick a fork in me I was done. I visited a little blue box but nothing was coming out or up. Mary who I had passed on the bike caught me and said oh no what is wrong. I said you just wanted to see me in my underwear she laughed and kept going. I ran when I could and walked the water stopped. I just kept moving. Finally, at mile 11 my legs started to feel the finish and took over control and ran to the finis. My final time was 5:25:16. My last 5.1 miles were 1:03.xx.

I finished, mentally and physically spent. For over 5 hours I had focused all my effort all my attention going as fast as I could. I swam biked and ran on the edge. Ultimately, the little cuts along the way lead to the crash. Sometimes that happens. At the end of the day I knew I had left it all out on the road. I gave it my best shot and mixed it up. Am I disappointed in my time? No doubt but I can sleep easily because I knew I put myself in position to compete. Today I am more mentally tired then physically tired. The two spots that cramped (my right calf and left quad) are both sore but otherwise physically I am okay.

There is more work to do to make sure next time is better.

The stages of the Taper

Stage 1 – Exhaustion: there is nothing like reaching taper time. You have worked and built for months. Your entire being has been worked to the breaking point and usually beyond. You almost look forward to the taper with this sense of longing when it is a ways off. Once you get there your body just wants to collapse. You are not sure if you will even be awake come race day.

Stage 2 – Pain: You have moved past exhaustion and now your body is starting to understand that the workouts have become less and maybe you will not be putting yourself through the same punishment in the future. Your fight or flight muscles start to relax just a little bit and everything hurts. Places you long ago stopped feeling are screaming at you. You begin to wonder if you can even make it to the start line. You begin to check the weather, if the forecast is good you don't believe it.. You view anyone remotely sick as someone to be avoided at all costs yet expect to catch every disease known to man before race day.

Stage 3 – Awkward: You are no longer screaming out in pain but your body still doesn't feel right. Workouts are sluggish and uncoordinated. You feel famished but are afraid to eat anything because you will put on the 5 pounds you worked the last 5 months to take off. You find yourself standing in a room wondering what you are supposed to do. You start semi limping even though you don't have to. You have a vague feeling that you really should be working out more then you are and start to think, maybe I should ride 50 miles tomorrow to make sure I still can. You check the weather often and are convinced it will be worse then forecast. At this point you are pretty sure you will be able to race but certain it will be ugly.

Stage 4 - Nervous and jerky: You are starting to feel better and stating to go faster in your workouts. You have more energy then you know what to do with but are nervous that you will use it all up before race day. You start listening to faster and louder music. You are inclined to race anything you see. You start to believe you can do anything. Your co-workers are ready to kill you. You are starting to think you might be able to actually do ok on race day you are constantly checking the weather and no matter what it is don't trust it. However, are afraid to speak of the race in fear you might jinx it.

Stage 5 – Calm: Hopefully this comes a day before the race. You feel strong; know what you can do and now just need to execute. The exhaustion and pain are gone. The awkwardness from earlier is also gone. The nervousness that you feel now is different it is more about anticipation and excitement. The hay is in the barn. It is time to do those same rituals you do. Eat the same thing. Wear the special socks or lucky shirt. You are ready to go but in no rush to get there. You can visualize your race and know it is too late to change anything now. You are beyond wondering how the race will unfold you will know soon enough.

to many choices

Do I blog? Twitter? Facebook?

It is touch to decide. I think twitter needs to figure out how to allow people to comment. If they cna do that it could be bigger then facebook.

Community fishing

This is something that we signed up for. It made the WSJ. It is a fishing co-op. We get 12 weeks of fresh fish most likely caught that day. They get a fair price for the summer.

Anyone want to come over Monday nights for fresh fish?

The dull ache of effort

There is nothing like sitting with the feeling of effort in your legs. It doesn't happen over night. It sneaks up on you.

It is all about contradictions. It is a feeling that comes from a series of hard efforts. Your legs adapt, adjust, and ache. It is a feeling that you can do anything you want long, short, slow, fast, up, down it doesn't matter. At the same time just sitting you can feel your legs throbbing almost like they are working to repair the micro muscle tears. Walking takes effort yet sprinting up a hill seems effortless.

It is usually the feeling as your body adjusts to the new workload. Most people can't take it. They stop and rest. Yet if they could fight their way through it the transformation on the other side is unmistakable.

Just Saying