Man of the Year IRONMANS UP!

Week of Thanks!

2010-11-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving week! Time to my face and enjoy family. We had Thanksgiving at my house for the first time ever. We usually would go to my parents house or to Amy's grandfathers place. But with Grump gone we hosted Thanksgiving and had Amy's family come here. I had all my kids with me as Zack and Hayley flew in from Seattle for a long weekend visit and to see their little brother. As I am stuffing my face I need to stay on top of the workouts.

Monday was a core workout with some strength training. I noticed this week that my core is already getting stronger and the situps are getting easier as I can do them longer. Tuesday night was my date with Kezar. It was raining Tuesday AM so I decided I would go at night instead--wrong choice. A cold front moved in with some wind as I hit the track. After a 10 minute warmup and some plyometric drills it was time to do 6x800's at Threshold pace (7:24/mile pace) with 3 minute walking recoveries. My first 4 were all at 3:30 or 7:00/mile pace and was feeling good. Then the last two I ran at 3:25 and 3:21. I am not sure if I should be slowing down to the Threshold pace or keep cranking since I'm not blowing up. Email to Simon to find out.

Wednesday I did a quick core workout and then hit the pool for a pyramid swim of 50/100/150/200/300/400/300/200/150/100/50. In total swam 2,000 yards in the brisk cold weather.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and the only workout I got was taking the kids and dogs on a walk in Stern Grove and catching up on things with them. Friday I hit GG Park for a 6 miler (with 3 miles at Marathon Goal Pace) in the early morning and boy was it cold. I forgot my gloves and I paid for it with some frozen fingers. Saturday the weather was unpredictable as it was raining and then would clear. I took a chance while it cleared to get a 6 miler at Marathon Goal pace in with Noah. I chose to do Stern Grove because I could cut the run short if it started to rain. Noah and I got one loop in which was about a mile and then was on the second loop when it started to sprinkle. We got to the car just before it started to come down so 2 miles is all we could crank out. Oh well.

Sunday I dropped the kids at the airport and got ready for a 12 miler. Lake Merced out the Great Hwy and back. The first several miles along the lake I was well below the 8:52 target pace and feeling good when I came around and started hitting a headwind which was especially strong on the Great Hwy and slowed me down considerably. Once I turned around I had the wind at my back and I was flying. I am trying a new fueling strategy of taking a Bee Stinger chew every 10 minutes and so far seems to be working. I finished in just over 1:45 or 8:47/mile pace. I felt strong and like I could have done more miles. 28.5M week.

I am mentally focused on these runs always thinking about race day and how each mile I put in is for a purpose. Purpose--to PR and try to qualify for Boston.

Week 1--First Marker for the season

2010-11-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

On Monday my training for the Napa Marathon 2011 officially started. So what did I do on Monday--rested! I ran both Saturday and Sunday with Noah so I took the day off and ended up working a long day.

Tuesday brought the first marker of the season--a 2 mile time trial all out on the track to determine my starting VDOT score. The VDOT score is a training tool used by Coach Simon. It's been 4 months since I have done any speedwork and Kezar track will be my date for Tuesday's throughout the marathon training season. I did my 10 minute warmup followed by a few plyometrics to loosen up the legs. Then it was time to get to it. I took a few deep breaths started my watch and started to pound out the 2 mile time trial. My first mile was 6:45, so far feeling pretty good. My mentor from IronTeam Arlene is also doing Napa and showed up to do her time trial and said she'd be right behind me as I cruised by on lap #5. I just kept focused on the task at hand and my second mile was 6:51 for a total time of 13:36. This puts me at a VDOT of 45 and puts my training zone right now at a 3:33 marathon for all my pacings. Much better than I expected and means I'm fitter than I thought (and well fatter but I already knew that). I cooled down on the track with 2 laps the other way and then caught up with Arlene on things.

Wednesday I did a strength workout (about 20 mins), some core work for 15 mins and then hit the pool. I swam a 100 warmup, 200 worth of drills and then did 10x100's and a 100 cooldown. All my times were pretty consistent. I want to stay in the pool as much as I can for cross training and Coach Yosh said she would give me a workout plan once she is back from IMAZ.

Thursday I did a 5 miler with 3 miles at marathon goal pace which is 8:08/miler based on my VDOT. I ran the bay trails by the PJCC and cruised out for one mile warming up (9:06 pace) and then proceeded to do 3 miles at goal pace. I put together a 7:58, 8:04 and 7:49--all below my target and cooled down with another 9:05 mile. Did some stretching and was satisfied with my effort.

Friday I repeated Wednesday's strength and core routine and hit the pool again. This time I did a 100 warmup and 3x400's with a 100 cooldown. My first swim marker for a 400 for IronTeam was 10 minutes. I put together negative splits with a 7:55, 7:43 and 7:40. I still swim like barge in the water and have a lot of improvement I could make in my stroke but I was happy with the negative splits.

Saturday brought a wet and rainy day. Because of how the weekend was playing out with things to do I decided to swap my Sat/Sun workouts and did my 10 miler on Saturday. Once Amy got home from the ranch we traded taking care of Noah so I could run while the weather was holding up. I chose to do GG Park and started by the carousel and headed west into the park. I had no set path of where I was going and just started running towards Stow Lake and around and then down JFK before I split off onto some trails. I meandered my way down and finally ended up on JFK again heading for the Beach Chalet. Once I hit the Great Hwy and Lincoln I turned around and knew I had some climbing to do back to my car. I decided I would just head straight back up JFK to the turn at Stow Lake and would then figure out how much distance I had cut by not retracing my exact course. A total of 1:29:05--pace of 8:55/mile (target was 8:52/mile) and was my first long run in quite a while.

http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=770041

Sunday 4PM I hit Lake Merced for a 5 miler at marathon goal pace. I felt strong and ran an average pace 8:05/mile. Today I was 3 seconds ahead of pace while yesterday I was 3 seconds over.

Overall a good first week. 23.5Miles and VDOT of 45.

Here we go again--I signed up for Napa!

2010-11-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

A little over 3 Months has passed since I did Vineman on July 31, 2010 when I was in PEAK shape. Since then my son Noah was born on August 12th and well when you have a new child, you don't sleep much and workouts are hard to come by. I have been running more than anything else, followed by swimming about once a week and then biking very infrequently. I did two Olympic Distance Tri's the past few months just to stay in some kind of shape and challenge myself. Funny to think a year ago I couldn't swim a lick and I can and love it now.

I finished the Santa Cruz Tri right at 3 hours. Then on October 31st I did the Marin County Olympic Tri which I found to be just a tad more challenging than Santa Cruz with a hillier bike course. TNT had a Tri team there coached by fellow IronTeammate Haakon so I felt right at home. His son Andreas (15) demolished me that day with a 2:28 finish. I was in at 3:05 with swim ( 0:31:11.2 ) T1 ( 0:03:32.4 ) bike ( 1:28:56.5 ) T2 ( 0:02:33.9 ) run ( 0:58:46.4 ). Not bad for not training.

Coach Simon has been on me to run a marathon and qualify for Boston. Hmm. My best marathon time is 4:15 in Portland in 2004. I was running really strong during IronTeam so I guess he thinks I can do it so why not try. Got to do what SIMON SAYS right? I signed up for the Napa Marathon to be held on March 6, 2011 to give it a go. Luckily I turn 44 in January and that is the age at which the Boston 2012 Marathon qualifying time is based on. I jump from the 43 age group and get a 5 minute drop to have to qualify in a mere 3:30 instead of 3:25--GULP! That's basically an 8 minute mile pace. My goal has always been to be sub 4 hours. A 4:00 hour is 9:09 pace and I haven't been able to get er done at that pace. I have trained for marathons but not like I did for my Ironman. I was very dedicated to my training and didn't skip workouts. Same goes this time for Napa. I follow the calendar and I do the workouts and I follow the calendar to a T which means actually running the right paces for the workouts to get the most out of my training and do the best time I can. We'll be using the VDOTs like we did for IronTeam and that really seemed to work for me. I've got to drop a few pounds as I've ballooned up to near 200 lbs and I am not sure where it is on my body but my guess is all over the place evenly spread fatness.

Training for Napa officially starts on Monday November 15th. I dropped into RoadRunner Sports and bought new shoes (a pair of the newer Brooks Adrenaline and a pair of lighter Asics for speedwork) to gear up for the season. I broke in the new Brooks on Thursday AM with a 45 minute run on the trails by the PJCC. I did some core work on Monday/Wednesday as well as got into the pool on Tuesday.

Saturday morning Noah and I went for a run with the BOB stroller. I have been taking him to Lake Merced for the 4.5M loop but decided to change it up today. We went to GG Park and headed out and ran through the Panhandle and back and to Stow Lake and back for a 5 miler. He was awake the entire time looking at all the trees as I pushed him by. He's going to be my Saturday running buddy so I have started to come up with a list of places to run together:

GreatHwy
Chrissy Field
Crystal Springs
Embarcadero
More parts of GG Park
Parts of Lands End
Berkeley Marina
San Mateo Bay Trail

Monday it all starts with core workouts Monday/Wed (and a swim probably on Monday), speed work on Tuesdays, maintenance/tempo runs Thursday, marathon goal pace runs on Sat and long runs on Sunday. This Tuesday I have a 2 mile marker run to do to determine my initial VDOT. I started IronTeam season with a VDOT of 38, jumped to 42 pretty quickly and then ended up at 46. Should be interesting to see where I end up this week because I am not in Ironman shape but still feel fast on the runs.

Santa Cruz Tri--Olympic Distance

2010-09-26T21:01:00.001-07:00

I have been itching to do another triathlon and decided it was time to suck it up and get back into the murky water. These past 8 weeks I have been attempting to get some workouts in. One time on the bike, several swims (all in the pool) and several runs. I found the Santa Cruz Olympic Distance Tri online and begged Amy to let me sign up and do something. Of course I haven't trained for it but I figured that I still have some fitness from Vineman--right?

I drove down on Saturday afternoon for packet pickup and ran into Ironman Bill Shen who was doing the race. Then as I was driving back to SF I got a text message from Ironwoman Melissa Cappetti that she was doing it as well. Amy had asked me if I knew anyone doing the race and I said well I do know! When I picked up my packet they gave me a PINK swim cap for the 40-49 male group. Are you kidding me? I asked the girl um what--her response was well "real men" wear Pink! Yeah. Barb Smalley says it is given to the folks they want to keep track of in the water--great vote of confidence. I drove by the wharf and didn't see any huge waves so that made me feel better as I have never done an Ocean swim and the last open water swim I did was at Vineman--gulp!

I was up early Sunday am at 4:15AM to get breakfast and cruise down to Santa Cruz--there was absolutely no traffic and I was there before 6AM. I rode my bike down to the transition area and heard Cappetti so I yelled at her. Got a hug and we walked into transition together and got body marked. Set up transition and then waited, waited so more and waited some more. Saw Bill Shen and then Bill Fanning as well. At about 7:30AM we got on our wetsuits and started down to the beach for instructions. I kept watching the waves because Coach Yosh said swim under the waves and come out the back and not to swim over them. I was a bit nervous about dealing with the waves but not too overwhelmed. I jumped into warmup a bit and there was seal around us just looking at us thinking--I'm pretty sure was what's with the pink caps? When we got to the beach it was foggy and you couldn't see the orange bouys so the race got delayed until the fog lifted. At about 8:30AM the race started and we watched the younger groups go out. I watched where they were going and kept loose. Finaly at 8:55AM it was the old men's turn to get in and do the damn thing. I hit the water and a few waves came in but nothing bad. I was bouncing off other guys and getting smacked around and I had to find my space and pretty soon I was alone. I couldn't spot the bouy because of the waves but I did pass the white marker and knew I was headed somewhat the right direction. Soon I noticed than when I breathed to the left that there were Pink caps EVERYWHRE but when I breathed right--um there were none and just the pier. Hmm--was I that far off line? The waves were much more than I'd ever experienced and I began wishing for the friendly confines of Aquatic Park. I finally spotted the orange bouy and made a beeline to it and I was around it. I could hear the seals barking as we proceeded to the next bouy and the turn back to land. Someone at the start said to spot the tower at the Dream Inn so I picked that up and kept it in sight. I was getting tired and sucking quite a bit of a combination of salt water and seal piss--not so yummy. Over time land got bigger and bigger and the little specks that were people became discernable. I stopped and a wave came along and I just rode it in and got my feet and wanted to bad to just kiss the ground. I tried a Tri in 2004 and couldn't get out of the water and that was a bay swim. Not ever again. I'm a swimmer now! I hit my timer as soon as I hit the beach and my time was 30:31 and I had hoped to be right around 30 minutes--I'll take it. Up the hill to T1 (5:56 per my watch) and time for a bike ride.

I have ridden my bike once since Vineman so I haven't had much time in the saddle but what is a 25 mile ride but a warmup anyways. I settled into my fueling strategy of carbopro/electrolyte mix, water, salt tablets and Bee Stinger chews every 20 minutes. The ride takes you to Davenport where you make a little turn in and around the town and back to Santa Cruz. It's a lot of rollers mostly but I figured I could stay ahead of 15MPH on this course and hammer a bit harder that I would on an Ironman. At one point I almost crashed on the way out when I rode into a grate and hit some bushes. I got distracted for some reason and woke up when I noticed the grate and stayed upright and didn't wreck anything. There was a headwind heading to Davenport which I liked having at my back coming back into Santa Cruz. Overall a good ride and 17.2 MPH Avg or 1 hour 23 minutes so I'm ahead still. I thought the run would be where I kicked it up a notch! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50685253

Quick transition and I'm off. Um yeah my legs were like lead. I haven't done a brick for sometime and I could tell. This was one of the most beautiful runs I've done in a long time along the coast with some amazing view of the ocean and caves along the coast. I as thinking that the run would be where I kicked ass but oh was I sorely mistaken. I never really got into a groove and just kept plodding along and I finished in less than an hour but far slower than I thought I would. Oh well it was hot and I hadn't trained so I'll take it. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50685057

Overall I'm happy with my first Olympic Distance Tri in 3 Hours on the nose. It's a good distance as you get about a mile swim, a nice 25 mile ride and a 10K at the end. This is a distance you can train for and I'm going to work on it and getting my times down for future races. Two triathlons in the book in 2010. I might try to do the Marin Olympic Distance in October but we'll see as I'd rather make sure I've done some bricks and a bit more biking.

http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20100926_Santa_Cruz_Triathlon.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Bib=&Firstname=&Lastname=kinion

An IronBaby Arrives

2010-09-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

After Vineman it was time to focus recovering and getting ready for the birth of my 3rd child. I recovered pretty quickly from the race and felt well enough to get in a few swims/runs in the week following the big race. The Saturday after Vineman I took a short 1 hour ride and ended up sleeping for 2 hours on the couch after I got back. Definitely was still feeling the effects of a 13 and half hour endurance event and, well I think my body was telling me I was going to need to rest up before Noah got here because I was going to not be getting a ton of sleep when he arrived.

On Wednesday July 11th, two days before my wife's due date, we went to the hospital to have Amy induced. However, when we got there she was already starting early labor. Wednesday night we slept in the hospital with Amy having some contractions through the night into Thursday AM and the pain was getting worse. We got her an epidural early in the morning on Thursday which took the edge off and she couldn't feel the pain but still the pressure of the contractions. The nurses were moving Amy from side to side every half hour or so and on one particular turn Noah's heart rate decelerated. The nurses started pulling plugs out of the wall and pushing buttons to prep the OR and told Amy to get on her hands and knees. Talk about a freak out moment. All I could do was open the door to help so they could wheel the bed out quickly to the OR and the nurses told me stay put in the room. I stood there in the doorway with my head in my hands squatting on my knees literally shaking with fear. I got a hold of Amy's mom to get to the hospital now. I had told not to worry about coming anytime soon because he wasn't supposed to be born until later in the day based on the timeline of contractions and dilation's. I ran down the hall to tell my parents who were in the waiting room that they had just rushed Amy in for an emergency C section. Eventually the nurses came down and gave me some scrubs and told me that they had stabilized Noah's heart rate and they didn't know what caused it to drop but they would bring me in when they were ready to get him out. What a relief! On July 12th and 12:21PM Noah Brooks Kinion was born. One of the nurses that was helping with Noah saw me the next day as I was wearing my Vineman shirt and what do you know small world--she had done the race and finished about 10 minutes ahead of me. Belinda also noticed that my finish line photo and the first photo I took of him we both have our arms raised and one leg up and a timing chip/bracelet! IRONTEAM 2030 LOOK OUT!

Since Noah arrived I've been getting a few workouts in here or there--mostly runs when I can. My body has craved the workouts from doing them so long and I was going through withdrawals. I've traded in my water bottles full or carbopro/electroylte mix for baby bottles. I've been on the bike once since Vineman and traded for a stroller for the time being. Instead of packing a Tri bag I'm packing a Diaper bag. We've settled in at home and he's a pretty good sleeper but we still aren't getting great nights of sleep with feedings every 2 to 3 hours. But he is growing and doing very well--in fact he can roll over from his stomach to his back which he has done multiple times. He gets his arm under him and rolls his big head to one side and does a leg kick and woooop over he goes. Can't wait to get him in a jog stroller and have him join me on some runs and to take him for swim lessons. I want him to learn how to swim and ride a bike as soon as he can. If he so chooses to do triathlons he'll have a head start. I don't know why it took me so long to finally do an Ironman as I've always wanted to do one. Most likely this will be the only one I do because having a newborn won't allow for that amount of training. I'm still deciding on what to do next--most likely a marathon for a PR and some short tri's in 2011 between the sprint and half ironman distances. I really want to keep up on the swimming and keep doing tri's and in shape.

I wanted to write Noah a note and this is what I came up with:

Oh Noah! The Places You’ll Go!
(A note to you from your dad using the outline from Oh! The Places You’ll Go! By Dr Seuss)

Congratulations Noah!
Today, August 12, 2010, is your birthday.
You arrived and gave us quite a scare!
You came into this world white, pale and bare.

But that was because you decided to arrive on your own terms after your heart rate decreased in the womb.
Weighing in at 7 pounds 9 ounces and 19 and ½ inches long you were a beautiful baby boy who eventually started wailing in the room.

You’re here and life has just begun!

You have your mommy’s brains in your head so you’ll be very smart.You have your daddy’s feet in your shoes so you’ll be running and biking many distances far apart.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
Someday you’ll be on your own. And you’ll know what to do. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go. But always know that your parents will always support you and be there as you grow.

You’ll be presented with choices your entire life to go there or here. Please look them over with care and some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your mom’s head full of brains and your daddy’s shoes full of feet, you’re too smart and too fast to go down a not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In which case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town to the ocean, country or mountains. Why? Well because it’s opener there in that wide open air. Maybe it will be at the ranch feeling a horse run beneath you. Maybe it will on your own two feet running in the open trails or on a bike with the wind whipping in your hair.

Just know that the world is waiting for you to experience it and that you can do whatever it is you want to do. There are no limits to your life Noah--WOOHOO.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just put your head down and go right along and you’ll start happening too. Learn to experience life and roll with the punches as it will throw them at you every day. The more you can roll, the happier you will be, and the more you’ll see and the more your life will be whole.

Oh Noah! The Places You’ll Go!
You’ll be on your way up as you grow!
You’ll be seeing all kinds of great sights as you explore this great big globe!You can be a high flier who soars to high heights as this world is limitless as to what you want to probe. You can do and be anything you want.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have your daddy’s speed and stubborness. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead without much huff and puffness. Wherever you fly, you’ll be one of the best. Wherever you go, you can top all the rest with your zest.

Except sometimes you won’t. I am sorry to say but life is just that way. It is full of road blocks, speed bumps and hills to climb. You can sit there, stew and cry boohoo and your gang will fly on by and leave you in a lurch. Often that will result in you coming down with a bump and you may end up in the dumps or in a slump. Slumps are not fun and un-slumping yourself is not easily done. But if you search deep down you can find a perch to launch you out of that lurch.

You’ll have every opportunity to succeed or fail but always remember that failing is how you learn to succeed. So never give up, take the lead and keep at it until you get it right. There is no trying. You either do or you don’t! So never give up the fight.

You will face challenges every day of your life and have to make choices. You may come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows may be lighted and others dark. A place where you could sprain both snout and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win? And if you choose to go in, should you turn left or right…or do a 180 degree turn and take flight? You should always do what’s right. Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper like you to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you’ll start to race down long winding roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across wild open space, headed, I fear, toward possibly a strange place. If you choose to do triathlons like your dad has picked up then you will find that you will be challenged mentally and physically as a part of your chase and learn so much about yourself that you will be an ace.

Now you will not always make the right choice and end up in a waiting place…for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the fog to go or the phone to buzz, or the rain to rain or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their brain to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

No! That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where the sun is shining and music is thumping. With banners flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the big blue sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

Oh Noah, the places you’ll go! There is so much fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games and races to be won. And the magical things you can do with a ball, horse or anything you choose to play with will make you the winning-est winner of all. You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t. I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you. Or you will play against the clock.

All Alone and feeling like you are behind a big ole rock! Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your britches. There are some, down the road between here and there, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather may be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the dogs may howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You’ll get mixed up, of course. You’ll get mixed up with many strange things as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed!
Yes! You will, indeed! (a million percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you’ll move mountains!

Your name is Noah Brooks Kinion and Oh Noah, you’re off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your life is waiting.

So…get on your way!

I AM IRON!!!!

2010-08-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ozzy Osbourne—“I AM IRONMAN”
You don’t Try—you either Do or you Don’t!

On November 3, 2009 I sat in a room in Berkeley with my new IronTeammates hearing what we would be going through over the next 9 months training for a full IronMan Triathlon distance of 140.6 miles (2.4M Swim/112M Bike/26.2M Run). I was excited about the season but also very nervous as I couldn’t swim a lick. On the application for IronTeam I put down I could swim 400 yards when in reality I could probably swim 40 yards. I knew I had the bike/run thing down but the swimming was the thing I was extremely concerned about. My goals going into the season were 1) learn how to swim and get out of an open water swim in one piece and not drown, 2) finish an IronMan as I had that goal since I was young and 3) reach my fundraising goal of $10K.

Almost 9 months later on July 31, 2010 I DID IT! I AM AN IRONMAN!! I completed my first ever triathlon. Why not start big? I tried a Tri, as I like to say, in 2004 and I didn’t train in open water and I had a bay swim as part of an Olympic Distance Tri. I floundered in the water, hung onto the piers which were the course markers and when I got to the last one I didn’t have the strength to get back to shore and DNF’d. I hated swimming so much as it bored me to tears, I sucked at it and I couldn’t stand staring at the bottom of a pool for more than 10 laps and 10 laps was a workout in itself. The swim has kept me from doing Tri’s because of my hatred and fear of swimming and drowning. I started the season in G1 (Group 1) which is for beginning swimmers. Our coaches looked at me the first day of swim practice and looked at me in awe. However, that look of awe was how pathetic in the water could I really be. I struggled to do a 400 yard swim marker which was a lot of floating on my back, breast stroke, a bit of freestyle and doggie paddling. But I worked very hard on my swim stroke and technique throughout the season and improved enough to become a G3 which are the advanced swimmers.

In these past 9 months I did 3,300 miles and 390 hours of training. It all culminated on July 31st at the Vineman Ironman Distance Triathlon in Sonoma County. The task at hand was a 2.4 mile swim in the Russian River in Guernville, transition to the bike and ride 112 miles from Guernville to Geyserville/Healdsburg up Chalk Hill into Santa Rosa/Windsor Area and loop around again, then transition to the run and do a full marathon of 26.2 miles. The swim is two loops, the bike is also two loops and the run is 3 out and backs on a fairly hilly course.

Now how did I get here? Last year at the Marin Century ride on August 1, 2009 I had a great day on the bike and ran into my TNT friend Phil Lee (aka IRONPHIL). He said he really wanted to do IronTeam and that he was heading to see our friends Haakon, Belinda, Tina and Kristi finish Vineman that night. He planted a seed about doing an IronTeam in 2010. I knew how to run a marathon and was a good cyclist and Phil got me at a weak moment and I said what the heck. My buddy Chris challenged me to the DeathRide in 2009 and he owed me a challenge. He had given up running so what better way to make him pay then to have to run a marathon at the end of an IronMan? Chris was in after a bit of arm twisting. Then Phil and I worked on getting Rocky to join us and I got Jim to join as well. The 5 of us are known as the IronBoy Band and entertainment for the rest of the Team in all of the games we play on one another and abuse we dish out. You can see our album cover here:

Race Day July 31, 2010: I was up at 4AM already smiling!It is very overwhelming the amount of information to try to take in before the race and make sure you are well hydrated, fueled up during the day and have all your gear and nutrion with you. There are special needs areas and how much you can carry on your own to think about. At some point Friday I couldn’t take any more information into my brain. I just relaxed and went to bed and it was the best night sleep I have had in weeks. I was up early Saturday and took a shower to get the blood flowing and put on a layer of sunscreen. I went to the registration office and they accommodated frying my egg in a microwave since the rooms didn’t have one. My morning fueling has been a whole wheat bagel, fried egg, bacon and cheese plus a banana and you don’t do anything new race day so I had to make sure I could get that egg fried up. Jim and I grabbed a ride with Haakon and his family to the start with our bikes and all our gear. I sipped my electrolyte drink and took in some salt tablets. We got to the start about 5:30AM and dropped of our special needs bags and I got body marked with #408 written on my arms, my quads and my age 43 written on my left calf. I got my transition set up, visited the porta-potty and at 6:05 I took in a gel with water and started to get ready for the swim. Only athletes were allowed in the transition area but friends and family stood on the outside and I visited with my teammates who are doing Louisville and Canada on Aug 29th.

Swim: At 6:30 the first wave of elite and under 35 men went off. I was in the next wave of 36-44 men with white caps. Our wave was huge and I had talked to our swim Coach Yosh prior to the swim and she said that it would thin out pretty quickly. I have not been in an open water swim with so many people and from the start it was a full on scrum and I felt like I was a salmon swimming upstream. It was crazy and it never thinned out. I tried to stay as close to the buoys as possible on the way out and middle coming back with the current at my back. There were guys swimming over the top of you, bouncing off you and I took a foot kick under the chin which really woke me up. But I didn't panic and I just swam as smooth and efficiently as I could. On the way out on the first loop I felt a twinge in my left hamstring. I injured it during the Triple Brick and been nursing it back to health for weeks. I got through the first loop and was just turning the corner to start the second loop when BAM the hamstring cramped and knotted up. Oh no—all I could think is my Ironday is over. Am I going to be able to ride a bike which is high hamstring usage. I got on my back and floated while trying to massage out the hammy. I decided all I could do was try to swim with no use of my legs at all. So I just let my legs and feet drag behind me while I used only my arms to swim the last loop and that did the trick. I finished my IronMan swim in 1 hour and 20 minutes and was out of the water nervous about the bike and how the hammy would react. I slammed down a V8 juice with extra sodium and took in some more salt tablets to stay in front of cramping which had already started. I transitioned in 5:34 and was on the bike. I had hoped to be out of the water and on the bike in 1 hour and 35 minutes and was ahead by 10 minutes—woohoo.

Bike: When you leave transition you go up a short hill which isn’t significant so I had my bike in a low gear to get up and over. As I rode up the hill I saw Coach Dave who told me to GO KICK THE COURSES ASS. I passed my parents who were looking for me. I settled in on the bike and knew I needed to save my legs for the run and monitor the hammy. Other athletes were passing me but I didn’t care as I had my own race strategy. Some of the bikes that passed me were crazy. Some had disc wheels which make a ton of noise and they scare the crap out of you because all of sudden they are on you and you hear this wuuu wuuu wuuu. When I got out of the water I had to really go to the bathroom but I just got on the bike and the first 18 miles there are some bumpy roads so that was a bit uncomfortable. My fueling strategy was to drink enough water to stay hydrated and drink my 2 hour bottle of carbo pro/electrolytes and every half hour take in a salt tablet and either 2 Bee Stinger Energy Chews or ¼ of a Mojo Bar for about 350 calories an hour. Along the first part of the ride on WestSide Road I saw some of my DeathRide teammates doing a training ride and yelled GO TEAM and Vern and Jim yelled back way to go. TNT IS EVERYWHERE. I hit the first water stop and was ready to explode and had to wait in line for the porta-potty. My only complaint on this course is that there were only 2 porta-potties at each water stop and that wasn’t enough of them because I spent about 20 minutes in porta-potty lines. Chris rode up behind me at this first stop and he got ahead of me out of the stop. I rode very strong and at a good pace. Either I was over-hyrdating and/or I have the smallest bladder known to man because I had to hit the next 3 water stops as well to go to the bathroom. I’ll take the overhydrating so that I didn’t dehydrate and cramp. I saw Jim at the second water stop and he looked good. As we rode up Chalk Hill I had to laugh because the South Bay Coach said it’s not really a hill as much as a “sustained up”. I saw my parents several times on the loop. As I rode up Chalk Hill I could hear the cow bell that Honoree Laura was shaking and I started yelling to her before I could even see her. She gave me a high five as I rode by and told her I'd see her on Round #2 in a bit. I saw Coach Simon, MDOT and Liz doing a run just before I hit special needs. At mile 57 I swapped out my water bottles with new bottles that had the powder premixed and could just throw water in and stay on my nutrition plan. I saw Chris at this area and it appeared he was having some issues and I found out later he flatted twice at the special needs. Soon we were back on Westside Road again doing the second loop. I just cruised and got stronger mile by mile. I got a new Profile Aero Water bottle on my bike this week so I would always have water and it was a great purchase as water was always there and when you hit a pot hole or go over train tracks you get a nice spritz where the water shoots out the top—ah how refreshing. I had taped photos of 6 of our honorees from a past run season and it said I RUN FOR and then had a picture of each and their name. Over time the laminated photo got wet and the ink started to bleed. The I RUN became IRON on the photo and I knew I was getting a message from our honorees that I’d be IRON. I also had taped a photo of Cole Regan (who passed away 6 years on July 28th at the age of 21 months) on the frame of my bike. Cole took a long ride with me today. Up Chalk Hill one more time and this time it got interesting. I’m riding along when a bee or yellow jacket (not sure which) flew in my jersey and started stinging the crap out of my right shoulder. I could feel this intense fire as it stung me repeatedly and kept trying to get it out. I dropped a bunch of stuff out of my jersey pocket in the process and thought I got him out. I went back and got my stuff and started riding when again—sting! Finally I lifted my jersey and he flew out. I had been eating Bee Stinger Energy chews all day so I guess I must have tasted good to him. Soon I was on my way to finishing the ride. I rode into transition with a ton of TNT folks cheering us on—Lindsay, Oliver, J, Meenu, Claudia, Martin, Cynthia, etc. Their cheers gave my legs added power. I hit the dismount line in a skid because I was going so fast and the volunteers yelled slow down and dismount now! I rode the 112 miles in 7 hours and 8 minutes. It’s a long walk to T2 with your bike and it took me 9 minutes to transition to the run. I had estimated a bike with transition of 7 hours 30 minutes and again just ahead. Woohoo #2

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42783397

RUN: Now the fun begins. I’ve run 7 standalone marathons and now I was doing one at the end of an IronMan—oh boy. As I headed out for the first loop I saw all my friends cheering and that gave my legs the wings it needed. As I came around to mile 1 there was a huge IronTeam cheering squad on the corner with all our coaches and teammates that are doing Louisville/Canada. I high fived Coach Yosh and Coach Simon ran with me for a while. I was able to run the first 2.5 miles before my legs started getting heavy and I started my run/walk. Every hill I walked up and when it was downhill I ran (I am paying for that now because it fried up my quads and hips going downhill) and on the flats I ran when I could and walked when I had to. My fueling strategy for the run was to take in a salt tablet every mile and an energy chew every mile with some Gatorade and water. I had put my salt tablets in a tick tac container and later in the race I figured out why the salt tablets tasted so minty fresh! The run course was HARD. It had 3 major hills on the way out to 4.4 miles to the turnaround. My tourettes (as I predicted) started on the first loop. As I came by all my friends near the turnaround I said this is F’ing HARD! My second loop it was Mother F’ing Hard! On the second loop Lindsay gave me a photo of Cole to carry with me and to focus on. On the third loop it was a photo of Brenda. On the third loop I said you know what this is like F’ing Ground Hog day as I keep seeing the same things over and over! The great thing about the 3 loops was you got to see everyone several times and get to give them a slap on the hand and a GO TEAM. My buddy and TNT Coach Bill Shen was on the run course and I saw him each time I came by and we ran together for a while and chatted each time--he is doing IronMan Canada in 4 weeks. On the last loop I started to drink coke only with no other fueling but water—coke is the nectar and elixir of the gods! I don’t know what it is but it settles the tummy and a gives you a kick from the caffeine and sugar. When I hit mile 20 I knew my warm up of 2.4M swim, 112M bike and 20M run was over and all I had left was a 10K (6.2M). The coke was kicking in and I was feeling good with no cramps and started running more and more. I realized at some point during the last several miles that I could finish the marathon in less than 5 hours (I’ve never ran a marathon over 5 hours and I wasn’t about to start). I also realized that I could finish in less than 14 hours and wanted that 13 hour something time. Simon and I saw a guy with the #15 on and I knew he was an elite athlete and said to Simon--"I'm going to beat that guy? Oh we are cranking now!" I ran the last 2 miles in a pretty fast pace as I was cruising at 8:30/mile pace feeling good (the coke was the trick) and came through the final time to cheers from my friends, my parents, my teammates and I flew through the finish with my arms thrust high in the air in a big V for Victory. I finished the run in 4:56 with total time of 13 hours and 38 minutes. I had predicted a 5 hour run and a high 13 hour range finish and I was right on target. Everything came together as planned other than the slight hammy twinge. Teammate Sara (aka Flo) was behind me, then Rocky, and then Chris/Jim finished together. We had several other teammates out on the course that finished within the cutoff times. Tiffany and Mary were behind the cutoff and they closed the course but they signed a waiver and went back out in the pitch dark to Do the Damn Thing and finish the last loop even though they had pulled the water stations and the race was officially closed. At about 1AM they crossed the finish line with all of us still there to rooting them on. They put in a 20+ hour day and was great to see the smiles as they crossed the finish line. We are IRONTEAM and we support one another and don't leave anyone behind and wait until the last person finishes before we go home. It had been a long day and time for bed but I know it will be a long night of tossing and turning as I was sore and amped up from the day.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42783629 If you look at the Garmin stats you'll see my avg hr at 198? Um yeah something is amiss as all day during the run it said it was over 200. It's malfunctiong for sure.

An IronMan will test you in every way possible--physically and mentally. This happens not just on race day but also during training. You often have to dig deep and push yourself in ways you didn't think were possible. Similar to someone going through chemo or radiation--they have to dig deep and a fight their battle with cancer and have mental toughness and help their body fight physically. My getting over the fear of swimming and then the fear of swimming in open water were big steps for me as were getting your body ready for transitiong from swim to bike and bike to run during brick workouts. Learning how to properly hydrate and fuel were also key learnings this season.

# 408
Kinion, Brian
San Francisco, CA
Age Group M40-44
Full Vineman : Individuals
Start 06:35:23.0
Official Finish 13:38:50.7
Chip Finish Overall 283
Men 241
M40-44 43
Swim: 01:20:28.5
T1: 00:05:33.7
Bike: 07:07:26.1
T2: 00:07:33.7
Run1: 01:35:04.6
Run2: 01:43:13.3
Run3: 01:39:30.7 (Note the Coke working its magic on the last loop!)

As I said my goals going into the season were:

1) learn how to swim and get out of the water in one piece and not drown

2) finish the IronMan

3) reach fundraising goal of $10K.

I accomplished every goal---I learned how to swim and actually became one of our teams faster swimmers--who woulda thunk. I finished and there was nothing that was going to stop me from finishing. I had a well thought out fueling strategy and I stuck to it and it worked perfectly. I raised over $10K thanks to wonderful donors. I had an amazing 9 months of training and made some new friends. All day I thought about 2 things to keep me going. One, I had deposited a whole lot of training in bank and was just withdrawing all those early morning and long weekend workouts in the pool, on the bike and on the pavement. Second I was driven by our honorees who inspire and motivate what I do for LLS. Some have lost their battle to cancer like Brenda, Cole, Hank, Louie, Dana and Shira and we honor and remember them at these events. Then there are those that are alive because of the research that has been funded by LLS like Frankie, Laura, Kathleen, Christie, Gordy, etc. They are our heroes and we continue to raise the funds to be relentless for a cure. GO TEAM IRONTEAM. My stomach is know growling for more food as I've eaten 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and now 2 dinners today. I burned a bit of calories yesterday and its time for dessert.

Race Day Strategy--I just got write it down!!!

2010-07-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

During our last long ride (aka Tour of the East Bay Alps) we saw Bill Fanning, who is a long time TNT coach and friend, and some other great volunteers from the 2009 IronTeam. They asked how we were feeling and to enjoy the taper. One comment they made was during taper to expect to feel sluggish and not worry about it because on race day it would all come together. I felt a bit tight in my upper body in my swim workouts including an open water swim with teammate Flo at Aquatic Park but not sluggish. I stayed off the bike per the schedule recovering from the long ride and my chamois didn't agree with my buttocks on the last long ride (I sound like Forrest Gump all of a sudden). I did get back on my bike for class mid week and when I started the workout I was struggling at 50 watts and could barely get to 20MPH and I thought well this is what they mean by sluggish. Then I realized I hadn't calibrated and it was set at 5 instead of the required setting of between 2.2 and 2.8. Readjusted and wow what a difference--problem solved no sluggishness. During my runs I have felt really strong lately. I did 7.5M in an hour around Lake Merced. Jimbo and I met the Lou/Canada folks on Saturday for their triple brick around 2pm in the afternoon. The plan was to do an 8 mile run but Jim and I brought our bikes just in case. Well instead we ended up doing one of the bricks with Captain Nick and pacing and keeping him moving along. A nice 28 mile ride and then a 5 mile run and I felt like I could have done a Triple Brick today and been in great shape. Nick was kicking our butts on the run which was his 3rd Brick. So where is that sluggishness they were talking about? I sure hope it doesn't show up race day!

SendOff: On Sunday July 18th we did an Open Water Swim at Aquatic Park before our Vineman Sendoff. We got into our wetsuits at 8AM and crawled into the water for an hour swim. Chris, Jim, Sara and I ventured off into the water and did one lap along the buoys and we were already bored with that. It was time to swim the perimeter a couple times and then hit the buoys one more time. We still had time left so we swam with Coach Yosh to the green boat and back to shore for a nice hour swim. Coach Yosh said I looked really good in the water. Wooohooo. I got the technique down and swimming long and smooth. As we got out of the water the PacGrove Tri Team was there doing their first open water swim. It was surreal to see all those nervous faces staring at the water and their coach speaking to them. I have some friends on the team and I said hello and good luck and they just said yeah we need it. I know how they feel. It is scary to swim in that open water at first and get used to it. I told my buddies believe me you'll get there because I did. It was off to SportsBasement for our Send-Off where our Coaches went through packing lists, what to expect, etc. It was a ton of information to absorb and I was staring at a few weeks of craziness at work during our taper. Let's just say I've been stressed with a lot going on in my life. I went to bed Sunday night and had the craziest dream that I forgot everything and was standing at the swim start and was told jump in and go and that I'd have to do the race without any water, carbopro, salt tablets, etc. When I asked other participants if they had anything they all said no and hugged their stuff not letting me have any? Now that's just a nightmare. Hence, I need to get my head on straight.

Race Strategy
There is so much you have to remember for race day and I am afraid I might forget something. So I decided it was time to put to paper my goals and strategy for race day and read it, tweak it and get it ingrained in my memory banks for race day so it will just flow naturally. At least that's what I hope. We received our race jerseys on Saturday July 24th and oh boy the pockets are tiny so that means some tweaks to what and how to carry things.

Friday night will be a last minute preparations for race day and topping off the tank with hydration and some recovery drink before hitting the hay early cause 3AM comes fast Saturday AM. Up at 3AM and eating my normal race day breakfast of a banana and whole wheat bagel with bacon, egg and cheese with salt/pepper, another recovery drink and then sipping an electrolyte drink. A quick shower to get the blood flowing and time to put on some sunscreen. Going to shuttle it to the start with my bike on the truck. On the way to the swim area sip more electrolytes and take in a few salt tablets. Get bike set up and ready to go with tires pumped and bike gear all laid out. Half hour before (or 6:05AM) start of swim take in a Hammer Gel with water and another couple salt tablets. Hit the water at 6:35AM with Rocky (Chris/Jim and Haakon to be 5 mins behind as well they are old men) and settle into my groove in the water with long/strong strokes and focus on relaxing and swimming smooth and finishing my full stroke. Chris/Jim and I swam the Russian River at 8AM on Sunday July 25th so I know the course and how the water feels. It gets shallow in some parts and I noticed today that I wasn't following through on my stroke and will have to remember to get that full pull through on race day. My plan is to be out of the water in at least 1 hour and 25 minutes and get my wetsuit stripped off and ready to bike and get out of transition within 10 minutes or faster.

At T1--drink a V8 Juice full of yummy sodium goodness and take in another couple salt tablets as well as a full bottle of water while getting gear on and ready for the bike. Reapply sunscreen and pack belongings into bag. If I can I will give to Meenu/Claudia or my peeps my bag to get later. On the bike I will have a water in my new Profile Aero Bottle that holds 32 ounces and have that right there to drink one bottle every hour and a half. I will have a 2 hour bottle of electrolytes/carbopro in one cage premixed with water and ice and the other 2 hour bottle will be powder which I'll mix after 2 hours. In my bento some Bee Stinger Chews in zip lock bag with mixed flavors to take in through the ride. I'll have also some nutrition in my back pockets/bento box of MoJo bars and ClifBars as well as a container of salt tabs. My plan is to take in a salt tablet every 30 minutes, drink enough water to stay hydrated, take in some chews and nutrition every 30 minutes and drink the carbopro/electrolyte mix over the 2 hours and rinse/repeat including the special needs location with some treats (thinking Pringles and some gummy bears). I know that Ironman is not won on the bike and not the place I need to leave it all out on the course. I have to keep my ego in check and ride easy the first 50-60 miles and then start to pick up a bit to easy and then to steady to prepare for the run which is where the rubber meets the road. I estimate I can ride this course in about 15 miles per hour which is a 7 hour 30 minute ride. I looked at what some folks did last year and I probably can be ahead of this but will monitor how I feel and make sure I am not killing myself. Kill it on the bike and the run will suck!

T2--I am going to change out my pants at T2 to Tri shorts that have pockets so I can carry some stuff. Or I might actually wear them on the swim all day--TBD.

My goal for the marathon portion of our program is to run as much as possible and only walk when I have to. So that means pacing and running a nice steady slow pace. I have 3 bags of Bee Stinger Chews and I plan to carry one per lap as there are three of them along with another container of salt tabs to take in on the course. I decided to not wear my fuel belt as there are water stops every mile and I can get water (with my nifty new hydropouch) and Gatorade then. Gonna be where the rubber meets the road and gonna channel every honoree I know. Coach Simon has my run IM pace at 9:40/mile. Hmm, we'll see about that. My goal is to be in less than 5 hours.

If I can stick to my fueling plan, don't have any mechanical issues I am looking at a 13 hour range finish time--1:30 or so swim, 7 to 7:30 bike, 4:45 run. I doubt I could break 13 hours but you never know I could have a really great day as Jim says?

Tour of the East Bay Alps Brings Taper Time

2010-07-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 10th. I asked my wife Amy on Friday night what tomorrow was. She answered back--yes, it was the day of our first date 6 years ago. Being the smart ass I am and messing with her I said--no, its the DeathRide (DR) tomorrow and one year since I did it! That didn't go over so well and I believe there was some comment I could sleep in the garage. When I look back on training this year for Ironman and our training for the DR last year I think the actual training for the DR was harder. DR training started with 50 mile rides from the beginning and we were doing every mountain and hill in the Bay Area and I lost count of the number of 100+ mile rides we did. It was a tough season but got me well prepared for the DR and to do 5 passes. Several of my DR teammates were going back to do the DR again this year as well as some first timers. Below is a photo of Chris and I at Markleeville last year. At this point we had finished 4 passes and had Carson ahead of us. We were having lunch and refueling (notice the death skull ice cream being held in the photo?)I was sending them good vibes all day as we took on what is called the Tour of the East Bay Alps. I am not even close to the shape I was in for the DR last year on the bike but I am fitter in general from all the swimming and running on top of the biking. Funny thing is as Jim and I drove to Walnut Creek to start the ride I said to Jim we'll be riding over the top of the Caldecott Tunnel and he looked at me shocked. I said remember we are riding close to a 100 miles so yeah we got to cover some distance buddy.

Two weeks ago I got dehydrated and sweated out on the Triple Brick and have spent the last two weeks trying to get my hamstring healed as it had balled up into a knot. It was time to really give it the test on this ride as this was the last long ride of the season before our taper to our event 3 weeks away and was the last chance to really test the fueling or nutrition plan. On Friday morning I decided to do a "sweat test" on an hour run to see how much I actually sweated because I am a heavy sweater. I was shocked to find that I lost 2 pounds in an hour on a fairly cool morning. This was a wake up call that I haven't been drinking enough water to hydrate during the trainings and I needed to stay on top of that. My plan for this ride was to stay properly fueled all day. I stuck with concept of a 2 hour bottle of carbopro/electrolyte mix and would aim to drink a bottle of water an hour or more to offset the loss of fluid. Also I would take in salt tablets every 1/2 hour and would snack on something every 1/2 hour as well to get some solids or chews as nutrition. We rolled out at 7:30AM. Our group consisted of myself, Jim, Chris, Rocky, Nate, Carolyn, Josh and Sara. I led the group out as I knew the course from growing up in the East Bay. Our first climb was the North Side of Mt Diablo to the junction. Nate and Carolyn were gone before we knew it and we settled into groups climbing to the junction at just over 2,000 feet. I've been up to the junction at Mt Diablo several times and to the summit 3 times. (Below is a photo of Chris and I last year at the junction during DR training back when I had quads of steel.)

After we reloaded our water bottles it was time for a screaming descent. Chris and I were gone as we zoomed down the South Side of Diablo and had to wait for our teammates to catch us at the bottom. We cruised through Danville/San Ramon to another water stop to refuel. Then it was off to Dublin and we might a right up Cull Canyon Road. We got into a good headwind and our group pushed through it. As we came up one portion of the hill we rolled through a stop sign--at that very moment a motorcycle cop fired up his bike and I thought oh boy we are screwed because this guy just made his quota with 6 cyclists getting a big fat ticket. But he rode back down the hill and didn't bother with us---phew. We rolled down to Castro Valley and got ready to take on Redwood Road and ascend to Skyline. I had done this ride last year on my own and 4 wild turkeys stopped in front of me on the road and just stared at me--man they are dumb. Redwood is a fun ride as it starts on the backside of Lake Chabot and you climb and descend and when you cross Pinehurst you go into the redwoods and cooler temperatures. As we were climbing Mama Lisa passed us and yelled GO BOYS!!! Mama Lisa has been a friend and our run coach for many years. Chris, Rocky, Phil and I cut our teeth on running marathons under the tutelage of Mama Lisa and Coach Al. It was on January 1st of this year when we did Mama Lisa's New Years Day run and she shocked us with the news that she had breast cancer. If anyone, I mean anyone, could whoop cancer it is Mama Lisa. She's a tough lady and she emailed me today to tell me she is cancer free after several months of some nasty treatment and a surgery. It was great to see her as she zoomed by with that unmistakable smile on her face. She was coaching the Ultra Team who was running Lake Chabot for their last long run. As we zoomed down a hill I saw a water stop they had set up and Gina Clemens was there doing cartwheels and yelling GO TEAM. We hit the top of Skyline to another water stop where Coach Dave and Simon and Honoree Laura Warren were working. Jim met "Father Nelson" at this water stop. Next up was the ride along Skyline/Grizzly Peak with the amazing views of the SF Bay--I never get sick of this ride. It is undulating as you ride along the crest and down to where you enter Wildcat Canyon/Tilden Park area. After descending Wildcat Canyon it was time to take on Three Bears in reverse. I started to fade a bit on Three Bears. Sara/Josh were first ahead and Chris/Jim were next and Rocky and I followed. Soon Rocky was pulling away from me. I was pedaling but my legs just didn't have the strength in them. It was really warming up and I was feeling a bit sick. All of a sudden BURRRRPPPP. Ah, relief. That's the side affect of CarboPro--it gives you gas. At about mile 76 was the best water stop ever!!! Meenu and Claudia brought out all the works--Cokes, Magic Meenu Bars, Water, Towels on Ice, Some Tunes---ah yeahhh. Perfect timing. Good news I had to pee as well meaning I was taking in fluids well. I had to go at the junction about 12 miles in and again now. All we had left was about 25 miles and all the big climbs were done. Next up was Pig Farm--it's just a steep short ride but I was feeling it. Josh/Sara/Chris were off and away and Jim/Rocky were just ahead of me. Once we got to the top of a climb I'd zoom by Jim/Rocky--well because I outweigh them both and heavier dudes go faster down hill.

As we cruised through the outskirts of Pleasant Hill and Martinez I pointed out to the boys how you know a horse is relaxed to which Rocky said that this was a very educational ride. Next up was Reliez Valley Road which at this point seemed like a long climb. I was sweating (again a good sign I was taking in fluids right) and staying on top of my nutrition. At the bottom of Pleasant Hill Blvd we came upon the last water stop which Bill Fanning was at. It was great to see Bill and chat with him for a few moments and 12 miles left to finish up. I started to feel a slight cramp in my quad on Tice Valley so I went to grab my salt tablets. I had packed my salt tablets in a Tums plastic container. When I grabbed it out all I got was the lid and the container and all its contents hit the ground. I turned and went back to find 3 salt tablets on the ground and the container and what was left in the storm drain--3 second rule--scooped up the salt tablets and swallowed them with some fluids. The next few miles were flat as a pancake and we finished up a hot hilly ride in just over 7 hours feeling good. Only bad part was my bike shorts didn't agree with my bum and well I'm using some of my baby boys diaper rash medicine right now. The nutrition plan worked and the hammy held up to the climbing and I stayed hydrated enough. Had a few moments of not feeling well but it was the CarboPro gassiness that just had to get out. A Tums or Coke help with that.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39949762

Sunday AM I went out for a 10 mile run from Lake Merced. I never looked at my watch until I was at the Beach Chalet to see how far I was as I was just cruising along. I turned into GG Park to get to 5 miles, turned around and headed back to refill my water at the Beach Chalet as I headed back to Lake Merced. Along the Great Highway here comes Jim doing his long run. We slapped hands and chatted for a moment before heading opposite directions again. I finished feeling strong in just over 90 minutes for 10 miles and the legs still worked after yesterday's long ride. TIME TO TAPER...In 35 weeks I have put in:

3,067 miles (137 swimming, 2,338 biking and 592 running)

360 hours (104 in the water, 146 in the saddle, 109 on the road)

I AM READY TO DO THE DAMN THING!!

Hammy Not So Happy!

2010-07-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Week #33 brought Week #2 of the FINAL (yes FINAL?) Race Cycle. Unbelievable that the season is coming towards and end and Taper time is in sight. This week we ramped up a little and finished off the week with a really challenging workout called a Triple Brick where we tested our final race day nutrition plan. Note this was a test and well I failed and in the process made my Hammy Not So Happy!!!

The week leading up to the Triple Brick--Monday was an off day and after the 18 Mile Long Run on Sunday I gladly took the rest day. Tuesday was a ladder swim of 3,600 yards and Thursday was a mid distance swim of 3,800 yards. Now that's a little over 2 miles in each swim workout in the pool and I am really enjoying the swimming. Like running I can completely zone out in the water and swimming has become a place where I can relax and its like a sanctuary away from the world. Who woulda thunk? Wednesday I did a ride in the late afternoon which I'll call Tour De Neighborhood. I took off from home and rode the streets near my house to the bottom of Oshaunessy and then up to Twin Peaks and down to Clarendon and back the same way. In just over an hour I got in over 2,000 feet of climbing. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38281370

Friday I did a 9 mile run at Lake Merced. I went around one direction to the my starting point and when I hit 4.5 miles I turned around and went the opposite direction. It was supposed to be a tempo run but I decided to just cruise and run how I felt. Overall it was a great run at 8:17/Mile pace. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38281195 I went to the Giants game on Friday night with Chris and Meenu as the RedSox were in town and Chris is HUGE Red Sox fan and we needed to hydrate for the weekend (just a couple beers followed by several waters). Giants won thank you very much! But it was the only game they won over the weekend and to watch Chris cry about his Bosox losing to my team was well worth it. Saturday my wife and I had a baby care class and we had to hold a plastic baby through the entire class and never put it down because well it was supposed to prepare us for the real thing? Ok? Then it was off to take care of her horse Dakota. He was being a good boy until he reared when Thunder decided to run free. He freaked a bit and when he reared I pulled hard on the rope to get him down. I didn't think much of it at the time but later in the day I noticed some unusual pain in my ribcage. Just a little tweak but it was starting to bother me Saturday night.

Sunday it was game on! Triple Brick in Yountville! 3x30 mile or 2 Hour Bike followed by 5 mile or 1 Hour Run while testing out our final nutrition plans. I decided to try something new today based on my ClearLake bike experience which was to put together a 2 hour mixed bottle of carbo pro and electrolytes and a bottle of water that would last me the two hours. My heart rate monitor stopped working on Friday for some unknown reason. That was a bummer for the day because I watch my heart rate as the day goes on to monitor if I'm going too hard and I didn't have that in my bag of tricks today. So off we went about 8AM and we were instructed to take it easy on the first and second brick and then to pick it up on the third brick. We rolled through the quaint little town of Yountville and then headed for Dry Creek Road. The first ride was pretty easy and Chris, Jim and I stuck together. Captain Nick and Mentor Margeret were near us but they were like rabbits as they were doing a Double Brick and were pushing it a bit more and we needed to not get sucked into their pace. As we came back into Yountville I noticed the entrance to Domain Chandone. My wife and I got married in Sonoma at the Beltane Ranch almost 4 years ago and we spent a very short honeymoon at the Auberge De Soleil. One of the night we were there we had an amazing dinner at the Domain Chandone. What great memories. That first bike took us about an hour and 45 minutes and it was time to shift gears for a 5 mile run. Coach Yosh said to keep my heart rate down on this first run--damn heart monitor not working!!! My Garmin watch couldn't locate a satellite for whatever reason---maybe because we were so far off the grid in Yountville or there were ghosts in the nearby cemetery blocking the satellites. Jim and I headed out on the run and we were able to run the entire 5 miles in about 45 minutes which was way too fast. The goal was to take it easy and although I felt good it was a bit too fast. I chugged water and took in my carbopro/electrolyte mix in my fuel belt. When I changed from my running shoes to my cycling shoes to start the next brick I realized how hot it was because my body was en fuego. BRICK #1 DONE. Feeling good but a muy caliente.

I took in some salt tablets and got some fresh bottles that were in my cooler as Jim and I rolled out for Brick #2 just ahead of Chris. This ride seemed easier because we had just did it hours before and were familiar with all the turns. As we approached the top of Dry Creek we came upon some sort of photo shoot. I still am not sure what they were photographing because a model had her foot in a high heel shoe propped up on an open car engine. On the way back we stopped at the water stop to get some ice and refresh our waters as it was starting to really warm up. We got back again in a little less than 2 hours and it was time to do another run. This is where the wheels started to fall off the wagon. That little pain in my rib cage that cropped up Saturday night started to flare up and between the heat and a stitch developing in my side I was doing a run/walk which I had not planned. I kept trying to stretch out my side but I couldn't get the stitch to go away. This time the 5 mile stretch took me an hour and I was trying to stay cool so I could prepare for the last and nastiest Brick #3. BRICK #2 DONE and the heat is starting to take its toll on me. Mama and Papa Yosh had these amazing icy cold towels which I threw on my head and neck to cool down. They are the best just like Coach Yosh to be out there supporting us all day in the heat. At this point we have completed 60 miles on the bike and 10 miles by foot. One more brick and we call it a day. Well at least that's the plan but my legs had other ideas.

Chris, Jim and I took off and started discussing how there was no way in hell Brick 3 was going to be where we picked it up! Then not long after that we all determined that we had stopped sweating which is not a good sign and meant we were dehydrated and not drinking enough water. Along Linda Vista suddenly my quads and hib abducters completely locked up in cramps. I told Chris and Jim I needed to stretch and get the muscles to relax. As I got off my bike my left quad was in full spasm and dancing and Jim kept asking if he could rub my legs? I told him um no thanks. You could see the muscle going nuts and that wasn't a good sign. A few minutes later Meenu rolled up and we got reloaded on ice and water and I ate something that didn't want to go down. I had the same thing happen during the DeathRide where you are so cotton mouthed that you just chew and chew and chew and try to swallow and get some food in your system but your body doesn't want to accept it. I had been snacking on protein bites and Lara Bars during the day and relying on my liquid strategy to be my calories for most of the day. Once I swallowed the Lara Bar and some salty chips all mushed together because I couldn't seem to swallow I immediately felt like I was going to hurl. I had to sit down in the shade and drink some nectar of the gods--that would be a Coke. Once I burped I felt like Charlie from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory coming down the silo with Grandpa and was immediately relieved and not feeling like I had to blow chunks. I felt better and like I could get back on the bike and keep moving. We started off again and not more than a mile later the quads started freezing up again. I told Jim to ride ahead with Chris and I would nurse my way to the water stop and probably head back after the water stop. I got off my bike and sat down in the shade and my right leg was completely locked up and I couldn't even bend my knee. This guy who lived across the street from where I was sitting asked if I needed some water. I told him some salt would be great and he came out with his salt shaker and I poured some in my hand and I licked it like a little cow hitting a salt lick and immediately the cramps subsided. I saw Tiff and Kathryn and told them I was having some cramps but would be ok. Meenu then rolled up and gave me the you are done and get in the car sign--that would be the finger across the neck sign. Meenu has been amazing support through both IronTeam and DeathRide supporting Chris, myself and the entire Team. I told her I was going to nurse my way to the water stop and reload there and then head back. She said ok but I'm going to follow you all the way there. Well my best laid plans went awry less than a mile later when my pedal stroke started getting shorter and shorter---or in other words my left hamstring started raveling tighter and tighter not allowing me to get a full pedal stroke. At this point I knew I was done for the day and it was best that I call it a day and not push it. My legs were cramping and they wouldn't stop. I fought cramps at the DeathRide on Carson Pass and I got threw them but that was event day and this was a training day. No reason to make it worse. We loaded my bike up and Meenu drove me back to Yountville. At this point I realized how hot it was. It was over 95 degrees and by the time we got back to Yountville it was 100 degrees! I was actually considering trying to head out on the 5 mile run/walk to get a few miles in once I got some salt/water in my system. When I got out of the car my hamstring seized up and I had to try to stand up straight so it would relax--again my best laid plans of doing some more was done. I cooled down (although I was on a slow burn from having to be SAGged in). What does SAG stand for anyways--SORRY ASS GRUMP? I know it stands for Support and Gear but today it's Sorry Ass Grump. I started to rehydrate and discuss where I failed in my fueling plan with the coaches and diagnosing what went wrong.

I didn't finish the Triple Brick but I did learn some valuable lessons that I will take with me for future workouts and for race day. It was extremely hot and I'm a heavy sweater and I need to take in salt more frequently than I do. I usually take them in bulk after an hour or more and I need to take one or two tablets every 20 to 30 minutes so I always have sodium in my system and don't deplete. I also didn't drink enough water as I dehydrated for sure. I didn't realize how hot it was and how much I was sweating. Those two factors were my downfall and why I cramped so sudden and couldn't recover fast enough plus I was a complete numnut and didn't carry any salt tablets with me. I went to the bathroom at 10AM when we got back from the first bike but then I didn't have to pee until nearly 7PM. Not a good sign as I obviously didn't drink enough water. I also didn't start sweating again until 6PM back at the transition area. I grew up in Concord and the heat used to never bother me much but I moved to SF 6 years ago and I'm just a wussy now when it comes to the heat. The 2 Hour bottle of fuel was a good idea but it was very sweet and when it got hot it tasted like--well like hot syrup which isn't so yummy on a hot day. I also need to get more solid food in sooner than I was. It was a humbling day for sure but you live and you learn. My confidence did take a hit initially from not finishing the Triple Brick but I eventually came around that it was a learning experience and it wasn't race day so I would learn and apply those lessons to Vineman. I took my ice bath Sunday evening and crashed.

Monday was definitely a rest day and my legs were a bit sore where I had cramped up. By Monday night my left hamstring was starting to get tighter and tighter and was tender to the touch. By Tuesday it was full on sore as a MF'er and HAMMY NOT SO HAPPY. I had planned ahead knowing this would be a tough weekend workout and I would need some adjustments from my chiropractor. Every time I sat for any length of time on Tuesday my hamstring would knot up and I couldn't walk without a limp. At 6PM it was time to have some John Cougar treatment--you know Hurts So Good. My chiro could see where the hamstring was tweaked and knotted and I could feel it. He worked on trying to get the muscle to release and lengthen. After 20 minutes of excruciating pain I took some very deep breaths. He told me to go ahead and take an easy spin on it as that would help to flesh it out some. He said I could run too as running is upright and not bent over shortening the muscle. And oh yeah he said I can swim all I want which is what I had already done on Tuesday AM for a Speed Workout of 3,800 yards in the pool. I was planning to spin/run on Wednesday but work got in the way and I was still feeling the deep tissue work he had done on it. Most of the day I sat on a hard ball moving it around frequently to get into all the tight spots. I iced it and then put heat on it and did some light stretching. Thursday AM I tested it along the San Mateo Bay with about an hour run and overall it was hanging in there and I could run without significant pain. I jumped on a Spin bike for about 15 minutes to try it out and I could still feel the tightness. I stretched and most of the day it was feeling much better but the tightness was still there. Friday AM I had another Chiro appointment scheduled and this one hurt even more than the one on Tuesday. Where my hamstring/IT Band and calf intersect was extremely tight and that is where he focused on working. The treatment was very very painful and I had to hold my breath through several of the passes on the leg. I said I wonder if this is how a contraction feels and he said he'd had a woman patient who had two kids say that yes it was more painful than contractions? I'm not so sure that is true but it really hurt. He asked me if I was nauseous, seeing spots or ready to pass out as apparently that happens. The Active Release Technique (ART) work hurts really intensely and burns but I don't get to that point of passing out. His advice was to jumble the schedule and not do a long run on Saturday to let it heal more from all the deep tissue work. Jumbling schedules is always so much fun to make sure you can get in all the workouts. Off I went to try to figure out how to squeeze everything in.

I joined up with the Shadow Cliffs Swim group on Friday night to get an open water swim in. I met up with Training Captain Nick (a la no wetsuit), Kristie, Phil, Carolyn and Kathryn. The looks I got of what the hell was I doing in Pleasanton on a Friday night when I live in SF were classic. But this was part of the juggling as I wanted to get in an OW Swim. I had only swam at Shadow Cliffs once and we had to swim in the buoy lanes during the Do As Many Sprint Tri's As You Can In 5 Hour Workout. Today I got to actually swim in the OW. The crew told me swim to that cove way over there which I couldn't even see. We regrouped there and then swam to the rock piles, regrouped and then swam back to shore. Overall a nice 2 mile swim in the OW and a change from the freezing and salty Aquatic Park.

Saturday AM I hit the pool for what was Friday's swim workout of 4,200 yards. I had a great consistent swim. I kept thinking to myself how Coach Yosh after seeing me swim for the first time that I had to keep my options open like doing the relay at Vineman. Ha, I'd could be the swimmer in that relay now! :) I went to La Honda and spent 4 hours mowing the lawns at a property my wife and I own. Someone is renting it but they hadn't fired up the mower in over a year and well some of the weeds were taller than me. The damn mower shuts down when too much grass gets in the bag. I didn't count but I am pretty sure that I had to empty the bag out more times than the 168 laps in the pool this morning. After 4 hours I was done. It was hot and I definitely got a work out in pushing that damn lawnmower around. I'll be buying a John Deere mower soon so that I can relax, drink a beer and let the machine do all the work next time.

Sunday was a big test on the hammy--a long run. After helping my wife with her horse and watching our nieces do a lesson I set off. I wanted to do a longer run than the 18 I did 2 weeks ago but was cognizant of making sure I didn't blow up my leg. I ran from Moss Beach Ranch and settled into a nice easy pace of around 9 to 9:15 per mile. Overall I felt good and the leg was holding up. Before I knew it I was on the bluffs near the Ritz in Half Moon Bay and 9 miles out. I decided that I'd go to 1 hour and 30 minutes and turn around for a 3 hour run to get a bit more distance as the hammy was holding up to that point. The last 3 miles were the hard ones and I was almost to the entrance of the ranch when I hit 19 miles and 3 hours and stopped. I'll take it. This was a bit slower than my 18 miler two weeks ago on the same course but wanted to be extra cautious on the leg. Off to grill some steaks and enjoy the 4th with our nieces. We built a fire up in the Sobe and did Smores--yummy.

Monday was another test on the hammy. I hadn't ridden since last Sunday except for a short spin at the gym. Coach Dave advised me to take it easy and do short loops so I had a bail out option and pack it in at the first sign of pain, twinging, etc. I headed from my house down towards Lake Merced where I would ride around the Lake, grab the Great Hwy, turn right into GG Park and then ride back up Sunset to Lake Merced. It is fairly flat with very little incline and is the flattest ride I could find in SF other than doing the Embarcadero but that's a pain because there are so many people out. I did 2 loops and felt no twinge, no pain, no tightness and got in a little over 30 miles in 2 hours. Wooohoo!! HAMMY BACK TO BEING HAPPY. Have another chiro appointment Tuesday PM to get a bit more treatment and work out any final issues.

How the heck can there just be 6 weeks left?

2010-06-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh nice to be home from ClearLake and away from the Riff Raff/Camouflaged Bass Fisherman with CrossBows and the smell of incense and other funky spices. I slept hard on Sunday night and took advantage of sleeping in just a bit. It was time to reload the body on some calories like on Sunday night when I ate two pizzas. So I had my big Toast (on corner of Day and Church) breakfast. I am a usual customer there and they know my order of Toast Scramble with Wheat Toast and Iced Tea. Yummy yummy in my tummy. I was given the honor of awarding the LLS Chairman's Citation Award to the UCSF Heme Unit for outstanding service to blood cancer patients. It was really neat to see the patient services side of LLS as I see the fundraising side so much and sometimes the research but this was the actual patients being served. UCSF was where Brenda went for her bone marrow transplant and her stem cell transplant and Lisa Dunn was nurse coordinator and she was there for the award presentation along with the UCSF CEO, many doctors and nurses of UCSF. As the SF BOT President it was nice to honor them, say thanks and present them with the award from LLS. I quickly dashed home and out of my nice suit into some more casual clothes for work and a quick stop at the Chiropractor for an adjustment. I was surprised to hear that I was in pretty good shape--nice.

Tuesday it was time to get back at it. A nice little Mid Distance swim of 3,400 yards. I got into the pool around 2:30PM before I had to get my car out of the shop. I need to put some sunscreen on during these swim as I ended up with a small sunburn on my back. Either that or start swimming early in the AM or late at night instead of when the sun is there shining brightly. Wednesday it was back to class and I was welcomed with some zone 4/zone 5? Yes Zone 5 work. The main intervals were two 20 minute intervals with 2 minutes active recovery in zone 2 with a minute on increasing from high zone 2 to zone 5. Then it was onto 30 seconds and zone 5 with some recoveries to end the day. Overall felt pretty good and had to strap on my running shoes for a brick. This time I ran down to PacBell and back for a 30 minute brick. Thursday was mile repeats on the track. After a 10 minute warm up I got at it and my VDOT goal was 7:20/mile pace. I settled in and ran 6:59, then 7:00 and my last was 6:53. The recovery between the mile repeats was a 400 jog. I'm loving these speed workouts as it really is translating to being stronger and faster on the runs.

Friday AM Jim and I rolled at 7:30AM for a long ride from my house. I couldn't do the Saturday team ride up Mt Diablo because we had a baby shower at my mom's for my new baby boy who is due in mid August. So off Jim and I went down Sloat to the Great Highway, up over Seal Rock through Baker Beach to the GG Bridge. We descended into Sausolito and towards Mill Valley and then the fun begins. Jim had never ridden Mt Tam before so he was in for a surprise. We started to climb out of Mill Valley up to the turn into Muir Woods but we headed straight towards Stinson Beach which has a nice descent and then some rollers down to Stinson. We were treated to some amazing weather and views of the Pacific Ocean. We reloaded on water at a market at Stinson. As we were reloading our water bottles we noticed a mama bird flying up and feeding her baby birds. Every time mama bird came close the baby birds they would squawk--so cute. Then it was back towards Panoramic Hwy and the climb from sea level up up up and away. Such a great ride from the beach where you are exposed with no shade and then about a 1,000 feet up you get into the redwoods and shade until Pantoll at about 1,500 feet and turn towards RidgeCrest with great views of SF along the way. As we got to RidgeCrest we continued to the summit and the amazing views of a variety of counties including Marin, SF, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo from the top. I told Jim it would only take us about 20 minutes to get from the top back down to Mill Valley. I outweigh Jim by a good 40-50lbs so I'm much faster on the descents and well I like to go fast (hey I sound like Ricky Bobby from Talledega Nights). On the downhill I was coming along at 35MPG when some numnut decided to due a u turn in the middle of two lane road---arrghhhhh emergency skid slide. I came within 5 feet of hitting the car while yelling you idiotttttt. Jim comes along and yells nice stop!!! There is another descent from Muir Woods down to Mill Valley and of course a bunch of cars got in the way. I was pissed as the cars just kept me from moving down the hill. Once we got to the bottom of the hill I noticed my Garmin said we had rode over 600 miles? A slight malfunction. Made our way home and 5 and half hours later my garmin said we covered almost 700 miles for an average speed of 126MPH but yet my max speed was only 40MPH? Hmm. OK.http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=199584

Saturday we had the baby shower for my baby boy and I got to hang out with my family, kids and some of my friends. My only workout was a swim with the kids in my parent's pool and loading all the presents in the car and up into his room when we got home. Sunday I got in a 14 mile run in 2:02 from Lake Merced, down the Grt Hwy just past the Beach Chalet and turned around at 7 miles and headed back. I felt good and the run went really well with a nice long run at 8:45/mile pace. Then it was off to hang with the kids and we did early lunch, the Disney Family Museum in the Presidio and a movie before they had to board a plane back home.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/37629869

Monday I went to class and my legs were a bit heavy from the 14 miler on Sunday and I was definitely feeling the long run. But I got through class and decided that going forward that I need to make sure I'm recovered from these long runs before jumping into class. I had to get a TDAP shot on Monday afternoon as this no highly recommended when having a child. I had a tetnus shot probably 8 years ago but they added the whooping cough (P) part of it. Tuesday was a Swim Marker. I sent Coach Yosh the following update:

So, I swam the 3x1000's this am. I felt good and like I was going pretty efficiently and fast in the pool. I was surprised to see my first time at 19:03 and thought hmm did I miscount the laps because I tend to zone out (kind of like at Lake Del Valle and Jim having to yank my ankle) and sometimes do lose count and my recent 1000's have been in the 18 minute range. Second 19:16-ok again did I miscount but I glanced at my watch at the 500 split and I was at 9:45 so that makes sense to be around that time. Third time 19:30 and I know I didn't miscount as I really focused on counting the laps. So I'm a bit bummed as a) slower than I thought I'd be and slower than past swims and b) not as consistent as I usually am on the swims as I tend to be within seconds of each repeat. I guess 27 seconds differential isn't bad but still not consistent as I hoped. So I'm on the pool deck ledge!!! I didn't feel tired but I guess my body is. Ok on the plus side: I know I can do the damn swim now and get out of the water which was my goal from the beginning. But I had so much improvement early that when you plateau it sucks but I feel like I went a bit backwards with today's swim. I think I'm actually a better open water swimmer than I am in the pool because of the wetsuit buoyancy and I can sight pretty well and stay on course. And even better I weighed myself and I'm at my lowest weight in years-a buck 90.

Coach Yosh talked me off the ledge. She wasn't surprised by my times and wasn't worried at all. We had a back and forth via email and I came to the conclusion that the TDAP shot has side affects--makes you swim slow. :) I took Wednesday and Thursday off to really recover and work was getting in the way.

Friday I wanted to watch the US/Slovenia World Cup Match and figured it would be on TV at the gym. It was a bit windy out so the better to run on the dreadmill and watch the match. But the game wasn't on the channels they had so I had to watch ESPN for match updates. After the US got down 2 nil at half I decided it was time to go outside and finish off the run. 3 miles on the dreadmill was so boring and then hit the pavement for 5 miles. I just didn't have it today. I ran about 9 minute pace on average but I was really tired and fatigued. Good news was the US came back to tie 2-2.

Saturday Coach Yosh met Jim, Chris and I at Aquatic Park at 8AM for a swim. Jim said that he heard somebody come out of the water and say it was the choppiest he'd ever seen it and he wasn't kidding. I wanted to swim the perimeter and away we went. We swam from the last buoy to the blue boat, white boat and back to the final buoy and did 3 loops. As we turned from the blue boat to the white boat and back to the final buoy I could really feel the waves and how the wind was making the water choppy. I swallowed some salt water on a few strokes and well that just isn't fun. At one point I stopped with Jim to wait for Chris and the current almost slammed me into a boat. Yeah, it was that strong. Coach Yosh said I need to work on a few things like being longer in my stroke (which could explain my slower markers) and putting my chest into the water and rolling and gliding more. Our swim was just over an hour and we hopped out as our teammates were coming for a bike ride. We rode through Chrissy Field, over the GG Bridge and towards Mill Valley and continued on part of the Paradise Loop until we got to 15 miles and turned around and came back. It was so windy that on the GG Bridge my bike and I got blown sideways and almost went down. Someone pissed in Mother Nature's Wheaties?

Sunday I helped Amy with Dakota at the ranch and then got out for a run on the coast. 9 miles out/9 miles back. I felt really strong the first 14 miles. I started to fatigue a bit after 14 and when I hit the headwind at mile 16 is when things got a bit rough. There was a nasty headwind on Airport Road. When we ran the 16 at ClearLake I struggled after 14. Today it was at 16 that I started to struggle. I got through 18 miles in 2:44 and just over 9 minute pace. My heart race was nice and low for the early part of the run and started to sneak up on me as the day progressed. Overall good 18 miler. I drove down to Pillar Point and walked into the water for a nice ice bath and then consumed some Fish and Chips and a beer. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/37629856

And here we go with 6 weeks left.

ClearLake 3/4 IRON WEEKEND

2010-06-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Week 30 and 3/4 IRON WEEKEND--I started out the week feeling really gunky with a cold. It all started on Friday when I could feel a cold coming on. I trained on Saturday and felt ok through the swim and run we did at Lake Del Valle but I was stuffed up. Then I definitely started feeling it on my Sunday long ride. Well I paid for it because it hit me full force on Monday night. Tuesday I woke up feeling horrible and decided it was best to lay low and work from home and take the day off from IronTeam. I had partially lost my voice and I slept until 8:30 when I finally was able to drag my butt out of bed. Then by noon I was wiped out again and laid down and slept for 3 hours which is unlike me. I was groggy the rest of the day but I needed the rest as we had a big weekend ahead and I wanted to be as healthy as possible. Wednesday I went to class and was welcomed with a new training phase and it was a lot of zone 4 work--What a great way to clear the pipes and blow the gunk out of your system. In 90 minutes I rode 34 miles on the trainer and came away feeling pretty good. Thursday AM would be my last chance to train before the weekend and it was 10 Yasso 800's day. My VDOT target was 3:20 or 6:40/mile pace. I was able to keep my 800's between 3:11 and 3:20 for an average of 3:15. Coach Simon put me down for VDOT 46 for rest of the year. I was happy with the consistency and for being sick to be able to hold on and finish these up strong. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35992380

Friday was a travel day to ClearLake. I had a nutty work morning and was still trying to get packed up until the moment I had to leave to pick Jim up. On the way up my Tahoe decided that I needed to get a little HEAT. My air conditioning starting blowing HOT air on my side of the car while Jim's was cool and I couldn't get it reset so I had to roll down my window to stave off the heat. We arrived around 5PM and Jim kept commenting with "Damn that's a big lake" and "Man its choppy out there." We dropped off our bikes at the Shaw's residence and made our way to Lakeport where we would be staying. Jim and I met up with Rocky/Claudia/Phil/Dana/Rowena and eventually Chris and Meenu for dinner at Main Street Pizza for a carbo load dinner. I had a cup of Potato Chowder, a Salad and Spaghetti and Meatballs and a ton of water. For Lakeport I would guess that this was fine cuisine but what are you going to do when you don't know where the good food is. We saw a bunch of our teammates walking down the street as we headed for the Inn and found out that there was another pasta place that was better and that's where they went--figures. Chris/Meenu/Phil/Jim and I shared a suite--and well suite is a generous description. We unloaded our cars and started playing mixologist of our potions for Saturday. We all have different products that we use (although we all use CarboPro) and mix in a variety of volumes and we all have different breakfast preferences. We watched the Giant's finish off the Pirates and hit the hay to get prepared for a big day ahead. I didn't sleep well because the hillbillies that rented the RV out our window were having a good time getting drunk. At 4:45AM the damn alarm went off and the march of the penguins began. It was time to get fueled for the day ahead. My fuel of choice is a whole wheat bagel with egg, a slice of bacon and some cheese, a little bit of Iced Tea, a banana, some electrolytes and some salt tablets. Yummy. We were at the Shaw's by 6:00AM for the talk of the day and to get transition set up for our bikes and shimmy into our wetsuits. The ladies were first off at 6:40AM and 7AM in two waves. The course was to swim to a yellow buoy that was so far off in the distance it was just a speck. At the buoy we were to turn and swim across the open water to a pier in the distance (which was even a smaller speck than the yellow ball) and then turn back towards the cove where we started to complete a 2 mile swim. Coach Mike told us he had a surprise for us when we went at 7:20AM. Below is my training buddies--Jim, Chris, Me, Rocky and Phil.Well hot damn if at 7:15 if the sun didn't come right over the water and blind us---wonderful that's the surprise? At 7:20AM away we went--Haakon, Nate, Jim, Chris, Rocky, Phil, Tony, Josh and I were off. Chris and I did a bit of trading paint in the water as we got going but eventually we got into the groove and spaced out. When we hit the first buoy Chris was just ahead of me and Haakon and Nate were long gone. I noticed Chris veering way out into the open water and I know how he is with directions so I proceeded to swim a straight line and not follow him. Someone had to go track Chris down and put him on the right course and he got behind me in the process. I felt fine in the water as it wasn't that cold and I just kept grooving with my stroke. The weird thing about swimming in the lake was the amount of undergrowth and grass that we got into. I got grass on my goggles and tangled in my arms and it was like I was going to be taken under by the creature from the black lagoon. I made my way into the cove and out of the water and 2 miles was done in 1 hour and 5 minutes. I had to piss like a racehorse so I hit the bathroom as part of my transition. My transition was about 5 minutes and 30 seconds where I got out of my wetsuit and into biking clothes and hammered a V8 juice for some sodium. Swim--done.

Then it was time to crank out a 102 mile ride and it was starting to warm up now. Coach Mike advised us to take it easy the first 15 miles or so before the climbs started and then settle in. I went out easy and settled into my aero bars to start the day. I passed some of the ladies on the road out and caught up to Mentor Margaret who had already had two flat tires. She's a good cyclist and we ended up sticking together the rest of the day leapfroggin one another. I felt pretty good the first 53 miles and Margaret wasn't feeling it for a while so I pulled her for about 10 miles. When we got to the 53 Mile rest stop they decided to hose me down with some pesticide business as you can see! I was panting like a dog so they were attempting to cool me down. I was feeling pretty good the next 17 miles and as we headed back to the Special Needs stop I was starting to fade a bit. The heat, the amount of carbo pro I had ingested with electrolytes and not eating enough solids was getting to me. As we headed out from the last rest stop we had about 15 miles to go and my body was complaining. I decided to take in some Bee Stinger Chews and I got a burst of energy that lasted me about 10 miles. The last turn towards the Shaw residence were just keeping the pedals moving. I finished the ride in just under 7 hours which I was happy about. In total I was finished in 8 hours and 9 minutes of elapsed time for the 104 miles of the day. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35992455

After the ride we jumped into the lake for a nice ice bath and I sucked down my recovery drink. It was really hard to stomach any food initially. Over time I was able to get some water in my system along with some turkey and cheese and then some minestrone soup and by the time we had the team BBQ is was hungry and drinking beer and back to normal.

Sunday AM we had to get up at 5:45AM and I was out and had a good night sleep. As I was heading out the door with my pre race breakfast a bass fisherman who was also staying at the Inn saw and smelled my sandwich and commented on how good it looked and he might have to take it away from me. Now, I'm tired and it's early and I've got a 16 mile run ahead of me and just did 104 miles the day before. My comment to him was "Go ahead and try and I'll punch you in the throat" and I think I surprised him with that comment but the look on my face said it all-don't go there or I will actually punch you in the throat. At 7AM we headed out for a 16 mile run. We were told by Coach Simon to run at our IM Vdot pace and then pick it up the last 8 miles if you felt like it. My pace was targeted at 9:40 and Josh and I were put together and we chatted it up as we ran about the season, teammates, World Cup, the weekend, our events, you name it. I was amazed how well I felt after Saturday's mileage and was able to stick right around 9:30 pace going out and able to pick it up just a smidge coming back. I was feeling pretty good until mile 14 when my heart rate started sneaking up on me. So I decided to do a bit of run/walk the last 2 miles to keep my heart rate in check and see how it felt to run/walk. I finished in 2 hours and 25 minutes and it was now time to go back and jump in the lake for ice bath #2 of the weekend and suck on some recovery drink. We packed up our cars and said goodbye to our teammates who accomplished a ton of great mileage this weekend and some personal milestones of reaching new distances in their training. It was a really amazing weekend and we were honored and blessed to have Laura Warren and Frankie Andrews there to support us and inspire us as honorees. We had the best support all weekend from the IronWifey's as well as all the volunteers. Our coaches/captains/mentors are the best. I can't remember what season this is for me but it's got to be close to 15 and this is by far the funnest and best team I've been on. It's a long season and we gel very well together and we love and support one another in this journey that is IronMan.

Monday AM I had the honor of presenting UCSF with the LLS Chairman's Citation for their outstanding achievements in treating blood cancer patients. It was really neat to present this award to the nurses, MD's, caregivers, CEO, etc. at UCSF. In attendance was Lisa Dunn who came in second place in the Man/Woman of the Year campaign raising $65K. She was Brenda Donato's nurse so it was great to recognize her achievements and also present this much deserved award and see the Patient Services side of LLS. Then it was off to my Chiropractor for some adjustments since I had beaten my body up over the weekend. Amazingly enough I wasn't too sore from the weekend and he said I help up pretty good. Woohooo. Bring it on WEEK 31.

Central Park and Lake Del Valle--Man Time Flies!

2010-05-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

On Monday I flew to New York for some investor meetings on Tuesday. I got in early enough that I was able to get a run in. I was staying at the W which is only 10 or so blocks from Central Park. After playing frogger dodging people, cabs, horse carriages and whatever else got in the way over 10 blocks I got to Central Park. I entered the park right where the Pond is. I proceeded into the Park with no set agenda for my run other than to explore and check it out. I ran into a ton of runners, bikers, walkers and bladers. I ran up past the Boat House which I've seen in so many movies, down Bridle Path and eventually past Metropolitan Museum of Art before I turned and headed back past the Castle and found my way to the softball fields and back towards the Pond. I didn't have my Garmin with me so I don't know my time or distance but looking at the map I wish I had kept going to get the full length of the Park ran. Oh well. I was gone for about an hour from the Hotel as I know what time I left and got back. I went to the gym for a 30 minute Lifecycle spin and some stretching before hooking up with some folks from work at Dinner. Tuesday got wiped out with being in meetings all day and then flying back from NY to SFO. I got back in about midnight and was really tired.

Wednesday at lunch I got out for a swim. This was short distance reps of 4,100 yards and basically was 5x600's again but in lengths going from 50's/100's/150's/200's to 300's. I got a bit of a sunburn as it was noon but had a good swim. Thursday got wiped out as I was still tired from the trip and wanted to make sure I was rested for the weekend's events.

Friday I met Sara at Aquatic Park and we got in an hour open water swim. She was headed out of town and was going to be gone for this weekends workout so she was totally up for an Open Water swim before going to LA. It was just her and I and the sea lions today.

Saturday we got together as a Team for a 1 Hour Open Water Swim at Lake Del Valle followed by a 2:15 trail run. I put on my sleeveless wet suit as Lake Del Valle was a nice 60+ degrees and damn it felt like a hot tub compared to Aquatic Park. As soon as IronMaria hit the water we were off for a one hour swim back and forth from cigarette buoy to the big yellow buoy and back as many times in an hour. Chris was smokin in the water along with Carolyn/Sue and Maureen who swim very fast. I was behind Jim and trying to keep up with the dolphins. I was just cruising along for the the third lap when I felt a tug on my ankle. I stopped and Jim caught me because apparently Coach Yosh was saying time to head back as an hour was approaching. I had earplugs in and I didn't hear a thing plus I was totally zoned out cruising in the water. Now when Jim got me I was just about to swim into a big tree branch in the water---phewww.

After a quick presto chango into running gear it was time for a 2 hour and 15 minute trail run. The course was out and back--again and again and again and well hell again. We ran out about 1.2 miles to the cattle guard and went back and rinse/repeat as long as you could. Jim and I did 5 out and backs. On the last 2 we started to walk the hills as they were starting to fry up the quads a bit. As soon as we finished the run we took a dip in the lake to get an ice bath done right there right now.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35143212

On Sunday I helped Amy with Dakota and packed all my cycling gear to ride home from Moss Beach to home in SF. I took the long route (as opposed to over Devils Slide) heading South on Hwy 1 to Verde and then through Los Lobitos Creek, up Tunitas Creek (which is a good 2K climb) to Skyline, down Kings Mountain to Roberts Market in Woodside. Reloaded on water and heading on down Canada Road to find Skyline again which took me several times as 280 cuts it several times but eventually I found my way to the Crystal Springs connection and was on my way back to Skyline and home. All in 60 miles and felt pretty good even though I've got some sort of gunky head cold going on. Longer than the 30 miles on the calendar and much harder but I felt like I needed the long ride and felt pretty good the entire way even with the nasty wind coming home off Skyline.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35133933

This wraps up Week 29 with just 9 weeks to go to the Big Dance. Man how time flies! It just seems like yesterday we had kickoff and now we are nearing the end of another great season with great friends. It all started on August 1 last year when I completed the Marin Century ride and ran into IronPhil that day. He was heading up to Vineman to see Haakon, Tina Chan, Kristi and Belinda doing Vineman that day. IronPhil kept saying--join IronTeam I want to do a FULL! That planted a seed with me. Since Chris owed me a challenge IronPhil caught me at a weak moment. I was feeling very strong on the bike after finishing up the DeathRide and 3 weeks later smoking the Marin Century ride. My running needed some work as I had been biking so much and well I had to learn to swim but if this meant making Chris run a marathon again--well I was game. I started working on Chris, Rocky and Jim to join with me. I met IronMaria and Princess Tiff via email through IronPhil and they joined the team. TNT brings together the best folks--awesome coaches, great teammates, amazing honorees and such a wonderful experience. GO TEAM IRONTEAM!

Taking Advantage of These Recovery Weeks and Smokin Markers

2010-05-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that 28 weeks of training has passed already leaving 10 weeks until Event Day. My wife has been paralelling my training and is now 28 weeks pregnant with 12 weeks to GO TIME! As stressful as my job is, it is nice to have an outlet of IronTeam to balance my wacky and wild life. Between work, my involvment with LLS in a variety roles, 2 kids, 2 dogs and a horse and a kid on the way--things can get a little crazy trying to cram it all in and still survive and get some sleep. With Ironteam there is no slacking or I know I'll pay for it race day. My goal has been to finish but also finish without struggling too much. These recovery weeks are time to let the body heal, catch up on some sleep and let the body recover. In the past recovery weeks I have felt tired and like I needed the recovery week. This week however I wasn't feeling as tired. I took off the usual Monday rest day because of my work schedule with SuccessConnect in SF. On Tuesday it was time to start Marker Tests. First up was a Swim Marker of 5x600's. I had a great swim and my times were very consistent and always love to have enough in my tank to finish strong with the fastest marker being the last one! My times were: 11:39, 11:36, 11:40, 11:44, 11:29. Coach Yosh got the results and said:

PUUUUURRRRRFECT!!!! Holy smoley! If I could get everyone to have consistency like that I'd consider wearing my glitterific under-roos for my actual IM race!!! Oh and don't let Mike Kyle hear you refer to yourself as an old man....I'm pretty sure he's got a couple years on you! Great work BK! You are going to rock the swim at Vineman and it will set you up ready to attack the bike and crush the run! I'm SO excited to watch you race!! Thanks for sending me your results and please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to help you reach your goals!! Rock on BK!! Cheers, Yosh

I was having some right shoulder/upper back tightness/soreness and my right quad was bugging me from the bike ride and run the past weekend. Solution--a nice Thai Massage at Suchada. 90 minutes and came out all worked out and feeling good.

Wednesday was bike class and it was a pretty tough 90 minute workout but I felt really strong and did the entire workout without any problems. Funny thing is that coming into the season I was worried about the swim, the run maybe a smidge (well you've got to run a marathon at the end right?) and the bike was the thing I wasn't worried about. Well now I am a bit worried about the bike I haven't put in the miles on the bike and I've missed some of the bike classes and I have 10 weeks to be ready. Not much I can do now but stay the course and pace myself race day.

Thursday brought a run Marker. A 10K Marker at that. The last time I did this run wasn't a marker and I cruised feeling strong at just over 50 minutes. My 10K PR in recent years was a 48:55 in June 2007 at a race in Sonoma. I ran early in the morning along the San Mateo Bay trail and after a 10 minute warmup I got at it. There was a slight headwind that I noticed but I was able to settle in at a nice pace and at the turn around I knew I had some wind to blow me back but I was really sucking wind when I finished and what do you know--a PR of 46:45 cutting over 2 minutes off my previous best. I am feeling stronger than ever on the run thanks to Coach Simon's run program. Woohoooo. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34131580

Friday I met Jim and Sara at Aquatic Park for an Open Water Swim. We jumped in and did 5 loops in the chilly bay. I'm starting to really like these Friday AM dips in the bay. It could become a weekly thing. Too bad Josh and Patty missed out.

Saturday my kids were in town so I got out early for a long run. I started at Lake Merced and headed down the Great Hwy. When I got to Beach Chalet I had two choices--1) turn into GG park and do some miles on the flat terrain or 2) head north up by the Cliff House into Lands End for some not so flat terrain. I chose #2 and was rewarded by an amazing run and views of the GG Bridge, a cruise ship coming in and a few container ships coming and going. 13 Miles in the books and ready for the Giant's/A's game that didn't turn out so good. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34131580

11 WEEKS TO GO????? How'd that sneak up on me?

2010-05-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

Week 26 was week 2 of a build and Week 27 brought the final heavy and 3rd week of a build phase. I was a tired from the weekend after doing the long ride on Saturday and a 2 hour long run on Sunday. I decided it made sense to take the Team rest day on Monday and got some sleep and rest for the remainder of the week. Tuesday AM I did the longest swim workout of my life!! It was 4,250 yards (170 laps) Middle Distance Reps of basically 8x200's at L5, a 200 recovery and back at 8x200's at L5+. It was a long workout but I got through it and was ready to eat any food in my vicinity. Our bike class was cancelled Wed AM so I did hill repeats instead planning on doing the class on Thursday instead. I went down to Lake Merced and ran down towards Fort Funston for a 15 minute warm up. Then I ran 5 x Quarter Mile Hill repeats up towards the top of the beach area. I was sucking wind by the 5th hill repeat. I am not sure if Bernal Heights Hill repeats are harder or Fort Funston's. Ran back to my car at Thresh hold pace for a total of 5 miles. My great intentions for Thursday cycle class got wiped out by work and meetings. I have been pretty good about keeping work out of my training but it got me today. Friday AM I met Jimbo for an Open Water Swim at Aquatic Park. Teammate Patty couldn't make it so it was just Jim and I. He took this photo just before we got our wetsuits on. Now if you look carefully you'll see some water missing. Missing--yes that is what I said. The water was extremely low compared to last week or any other time we've met at Aquatic Park. As we walked down to the shore we were welcomed with the smell of some sort of nasty poo smell that reminded me of baby poop. Very low tide and water was way down the beach. In we went and damn it is so cold when you hit that water. The first lap Jim was ahead of me and got to the last buoy. When I got there he was standing there looking at me. Yes, standing with his hands out like WTF? The water so was low that we could actually stand up in waist deep water. Jim said when he went to turn around his foot touched something (yeah, the bottom) but he thought a shark was getting him--hence the new nickname of Shark Boy. We proceeded to do a total of 6 loops and our total 2+ mile swim was in the books at 1:15 (4 minutes faster than last week). The water being low was quite strange in that every once in a while the water would raise and we'd go with it and then drop. I'm getting better at sighting and swimming straight and we'll continue to do Friday AM AP swims on a regular basis. I peer pressured the rest of the group into joining us so we'll have Flo (that would be Sara and her robe), Jim (Shark Boy), Josh (Gene "The Family Jewel's"Simmons), and Patricia (Tourettes Potty Mouth) at the next swim.

Saturday IRONTEAM descended on Santa Rosa for an 80 mile ride through Occidental, Healdsburg, Geyersville, Windsor and Santa Rosa. My longest ride to date this season was a 70 miler. We rolled at around 8 am and rode out as a pack for the first 20 or so miles. Coach Dave wanted us to warm up and then ride the last 50-60 miles at race pace. We got to ride part of the VineMan bike course and it is mostly rollers with one hill of any significance (Chalk Hill). Nate and Carolyn were gone once we hit the race pace. Chris, Simon, Will, Jim, Josh and I were the next group and by the end Rocky and Sara had caught up to us. Chris and Josh pushed ahead and Simon/Rocky/Sara/Jim and I came in not much later. I felt like I suffered a bit on the bike today. I am not sure quite why though. My guess is that I went harder than race pace and I haven't quite built my endurance for a long ride yet. During bike focus week I was gone and missed out on the back to back long rides and I think that was missing in my training. I had a right quad cramp again just like the 70 miler I had done a few weeks before which I haven't quite diagnosed. It wasn't bad but worried me in that I know race day I have to really pace myself on the ride and not push it too much because I have to still run a marathon and I'll need my legs.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33399994

Sunday was Bay to Breakers Day in SF so getting to an Open Water Swim was going to prove difficult. After helping Amy with Dakota I got home and went out for a 1:10 run with a 10 minute warm up and then 45 minutes at tempo pace which I was targeting to be about 7:45/mi pace. I was surprised how fast I got around Lake Merced which is about 4.5M around and I was done the first time around in about 38 minutes and kept going. After the 45 minutes of tempo work I turned around and cruised back for 15 minutes to my car for 8 miles in 1:07.

Coach Dave sent us our weekly email which said:

Well team, here we are, it's crunch time for the Vineman folks. With 11 weeks remaining until race day we will be entering our last two training periodization cycles called the "Race Phase". We will cap them off with a focused three week taper into your event. Race Phase has continued longer efforts and some interval sets to maximize your training potential while keeping you fresh and ready for your next workout.

I was really shocked to see 11 weeks left. WOW. I know I can do the swim today. I know I can do the bike ride today with good pacing. I could run a marathon but I need to get into marathon shape which means some more long runs planned in the coming weeks. I am looking forward to wrapping up the training and doing the DAMN THING on July 31. My plan is A) FINISH, B) FINISH WITHOUT SUFFERING TOO MUCH and C) FINISH IN 13 HOURS.

A Half IronMan (in chunks) Weekend

2010-05-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend did a 2 mile open water swim, then a 56M bike ride and a 14 mile run--not all in one day but over 3 days so got a Half Ironman done in chunks!

Friday AM I met Ironteammates Jim and Patty at Aquatic Park at 6:30AM for an open water swim. A little dip in the bay and man it was cold and my face was freezing initially. Once we got to the first buoy I was warmed up. On tap for today was 6 full loops or 2 miles. Jim and I swam together and finished off 6 loops plus getting from shore to buoy and buoy to shore when we were done in just under 1 hour and 20 minutes. What a way to start a Friday and the weekend. This is my 7th open water swim and each time it just gets easier. Part 1 of the Weekend IronMan in the books.

Saturday we met IronTeam at Soscal and Trancas in Napa to attack the Silverado Trail for a long bike ride. I have a lot of memories of the Silverado Trail as when I was a kid both of my grandmothers lived near the Trail and in Calistoga and we used to drive it all the time to visit them. I also have ran the Napa Marathon 3 times which runs from Calistoga down the Trail to mile 22 or so before you turn on Oak Knoll Road. My wife and I got married in Sonoma and we did a quick honeymoon at the Auberge De Soleil which is right off the Trail just past Conn Dam Road. Funny I have driven the Trail I don't know how many times but I have never ridden my bike on it. I was excited to give it a go because I always wanted to. We headed out with a 15 minute warm up and then we were supposed to go race pace the rest of the way to mile 28 and turn around and come back. Haakon, Captain Tony, Chris, Jim, Les and I were together at the front and when we hit 15 minutes Haakon's engine ignited and he took off. Tony chased him and I chased Tony. Haakon and Tony got ahead of me but I had them in my sight the entire time and they kept leapfroggin one another so that was entertaining to watch from a distance. We rode into a headwind the entire time and most of the way we could go at 20+MPH and then when the wind got heavier and more forceful it got down to pushing the pedals as hard as I could but could only manage 14MPH. So you would think that there was wind in your face going down the Trail that you'd get it at your back on the way back? Yeah, well welcome to the Twilight Zone because it sure felt like the wind was blowing in my face coming back although we did have a slight tailwind because at first I was up over 25MPH at certain points. I stayed down in my aerobars most of the ride so I could be aerodynamic and not be fighting the wind. Finished up just under 56 miles in 2 hours and 47 minutes for a pretty fast ride. Part 2 of the Weekend Ironman in the books. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32784448
We did a quick brick run of 20 minutes and boy that hurt as we were going pretty hard on the ride and will have to make sure on Vineman day that we pace ourselves on the bike and not fry up the legs so we can run a marathon.

Sunday was a 2 hour run. I passed an Arby's on Sloat when I drove to Lake Merced and all I could think about is that haven't had that in a while and it sounded really good. I took off from Lake Merced and ran around towards Daly City and then past the shooting range and then onto the Great Highway towards the Cliff House. I felt really strong today and it wasn't too windy and the rain stayed away. I got to the Beach Chalet in just under an hour and was just short of 7 miles. I refilled my water at Beach Chalet and took a quick Bio break and took in a gel. I decided that I'd go for 14 miles even if it was over 2 hours just because I like running a distance on the dot, not like 13.56 miles. The entire run I was craving that Arby's--a Hot Ham n Cheese with Arby's and Horsey Sauce, some Crispy Onion Rings and a Hot Apple Turnover with a Diet Coke. I finished the 14 miles in 2:02:53 for an average pace of 8:46/mile--just about dead on where my VDOT of 8:48/mile was. Nice easy run and didn't feel any of the impact of yesterday's ride in my legs and was able to run smooth--must of been that Arby's craving. And yes I did hit Arby's. Tasted so good and my tummy was a bit upset afterwards but I blame that on the recovery drink.....Part 3 of the Weekend Ironman in the books.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32784166

Crazy Couple of Weeks

2010-05-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

Things got a bit crazy with work wrapping up a quarterly review with a new audit firm, earnings release, an S8 filing, announcing another acquisition and a 10Q filing and as a result training took somewhat a back seat. On May 1 and 2 a bunch of my Ironteammates and friends did a variety of events from the St George Ironman, Wildflower Long Course, Escape from Alcatraz and century rides. My confidence took a bit of a beating over these past few weeks as I was coming off a high a few weeks back after my open water swim at Aquatic Park. That day I came out of the water knowing that I could swim 2.4 miles in open water. Goal #1 accomplished because that was the gating factor/critical path to me doing an Ironman distance tri. I know how to ride 112 miles as I've done it before. I did a fairly tough 70 mile ride a few weekends ago when my teammates had done back to back long rides that I couldn't do. I did the 70 mile ride while I was sick and after that weekend I was sitting on top of the world thinking all I have to do know is get into marathon shape as our longest run to date has been 13.1 miles on the Wildflower course.

Well life or really work got in the way and April 26th brought Week 25 of training. I had just finished a recovery week and PR'd my 5K time. All cylinders were firing and feeling mentally in a great place. Monday 26th/Wednesday 28th I did my cycling class and felt really strong at both workouts including a brick run on the 28th. I swam a pacing workout on the 27th of 3,250 yards and felt really great in the water. Thursday the 29th I had a horrible day at work and I was so glad I had saved my run for the afternoon because I needed to burn off some steam. But working in San Mateo in April/May time period you really get punished if you go out for a run by the extreme wind that blows down south. I could see the branches and leaves blowing when I left the office and knew I was in for a rough run. On the calendar was a 10 minute warm up followed by a 60 minute run with 2 20 minute thresh hold pick up runs. The first 10 minutes weren't bad as I was sheltered a bit from the wind but once I hit the trail on the San Mateo Bay it was game on and I was getting hammered by winds that had to be blowing between 30-40 MPH. I started my first pick up for 20 minutes running right into the wind and I was literally trying to stay upright because the wind was pretty constant and once in a while it would let up and then smack me again. I couldn't hold the 7:25 thresh hold pace because I was just getting killed by the winds. I managed to get 4 miles out and turned around and it was time to get the wind at my back. It was really strange because again the wind would be constant and then drop off and then a gust would push me like someone was telling me to get moving. Obviously running back I was much faster but the wind did its damage on me but I did get in 8 miles. Friday AM I swam the 3,400 pyramid workout and was feeling good. I wanted to swim at Aquatic Park but I couldn't get anyone to join me so it was another boring swim workout.

Then this is when the wheels started falling off and the confidence took a hit. My kids came down from Seattle on Friday night and I took Saturday off to spend time with them while a bunch of my teammates were off conquering courses all over the place. Sunday AM I got in a 80 minute run of 8.5 miles and I somewhat struggled through the run for some reason. I had to pick up a moving van that morning and my son and I moved a bunch of stuff to storage so we were pretty busy that day and I think I didn't really recover from the run well. I was exhausted Sunday night and Monday AM I just couldn't get my butt out of bed for class so I slept in to allow my body to recover. Tuesday AM I went to biking class and it was a tough 80 minute ride and I felt like I struggled through the class a bit. Tuesday PM I did the ladder swim of 2,450 yards for my second workout of the day and I was dragging after the swim. I think the combination of work, stress, the weekend moving project, you name it--all caught up to me and I was dead on Wednesday even though I had planned to go to class. Two rest days in one week is not like me and that's when the confidence went a bit sideways. I feel like I wasn't recovering as I had been. But Thursday morning I went down to Kezar for a 10 minute warm up followed by a 3 x 2 mile repeats at thresh hold pace of 7:20 with 5 minute recovery between. I told my wife this would be a good test of where I was and if I ran strong that I would feel better. I set out at 1:50 per lap pace and just worked on being consistent per lap with a goal of 1:50, 3:40, 5:30, 7:20, 9:10, 11:00, 12:50, 14:40. I finished the first 2 mile in 14:42 and it was only the last lap that I fell off a bit. A 5 minute recovery and back at it and finished in 14:36. Another 5 minute recovery and the last one. I immediately noticed after the first lap I was ahead of 1:50 and each lap I was staying ahead of the goal pace and sure enough I stayed strong doing a 14:20 or 7:10 pace. It's always great to stay strong and consistent and faster on the last interval. This was a huge confidence boost. As I was running I kept thinking I really feel strong in the water, my running is fast but I need to build some more endurance and I feel like I've slacked on the bike because everyone else has been doing long 100+ rides and I hadn't done one yet this season. This weekend we have about a 60 mile ride on the Silverado trail as a time trial ride so this will be another good test of where I am. I plan to bring my running shoes so I can lace up and do a brick since I didn't get that in this week. Gotta get to bed as tomorrow morning meeting Jim and Patricia at Aquatic Park for an Open Water Swim. I am really looking forward to that, the long ride on Saturday, brick run and Sunday's long run as a good test of where I am mentally. I need to start getting more sleep and start stretching more.

Aquatic Park and Remembering Brenda

2010-04-28T21:39:00.001-07:00

Saturday AM I met Coach Yosh and Coach Mike at Aquatic Park at 6:45AM for an open water swim. It was supposed to be me and IronWu but she overslept so it was just me to do the swim with Yosh. Mike was there to witness and aid in my drowning apparently. I had an LLS Board Retreat at 9AM so Yosh was a ROCK STAR coach that she is and got there early to swim with me because you are not supposed to swim by yourself in open water for safety reasons. Once we were suited up the agenda was swim 1 hour or 7 loops, whatever came first. Also warned me if I got cold to cut it short but I have a layer of blubber and run hot so no worries there. I've gotten very comfortable in open water now and I can just get in and go and get my breathing under control. My weakness and my fears are gone now. I can swim finally and I actually do enjoy it. Open water is a bit of a twist because you have more elements to deal with--such as others who are off course and swim into you or swimming into your swim partner and the waves. My one fear in open water is that I'll swim into something like a buoy and knock myself silly so I probably spot/sight more than I should but better safe than sorry. Swimming with Yosh is humbling. She is such a strong swimmer and while she backstroked, swam with one foot up (apparently she was doing a core routine), texting, filing her nails, etc. I was getting my workout in. We did the swim from shore to the buoy and then got in 5 full loops. On the 6th loop we got to the final buoy when Yosh said ok here's what we'll do as we are nearly at an hour. We'll swim back to complete the 6th loop then come back half way to and then to shore for a cool down. Ok here's the catch--swim L7 for the length. Yooowza. I did it but I was toast at the end. It was a nice swim in just over an hour for 2 miles and had great views from water level of GG Bridge, Alcatraz, Ghiradhelli, etc. and could see the Team assembling on the shore. They thought it was pretty funny was Yosh was swimming circles around me. I had to jam and grab a shower and continue my day as an LLS volunteer at the Board Retreat. Since IronWu slept in I was tempted to bring in my wetsuit for a cleaning but I didn't.

Sunday AM IronTeam showed up to remember Brenda Donato at the 3rd Annual Run/Walk in Walnut Creek. This was the first year I actually got to run the race as I was the race director in 2008 and 2009 for this race. It was really great to have IronTeam there to support Coach Carolyn Balling who is running for Woman of the Year. We got there early to do a 3.1M warm up which we ran in just under 29 minutes. Then it was onto the race. In 2006 I ran 22:20 and 22:11 for two 5K's when I was getting ready for the Napa Marathon in March 2007. In Feb this year we ran an official 5K marker (after doing a 2,000 yard swim marker) and I did that in 22:10. I've been running very strong lately and felt like I could bust through 22 minutes. The gun went off and I settled in behind Coach Al (my original TNT Run Coach who is a speedy demon), Ironteammate Carolyn and another one of Coaches Speedy Demons. There was some dude who was ahead of us all and all I wanted to do was keep Coach and Carolyn in my sight. The first mile was the fastest at about 6:45. At the turnaround we weren't separated by too much. As we turned back into HeatherFarms from the trail I was starting to suck wind but focused on relaxing and finishing strong. As we came through the finish line I could see Coach turning on the jets on Carolyn. As IronTeam crossed the finish line we had to keep going because the course was a bit short and we needed to get a 3.1M marker in. I did a full loop in the parking lot and then got about 1/2 way around as my watch approached 3.1M and I clicked stop at 21:36. Ay yeah crushed the marker. Coach Simon's response to me marker was:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/31303968

Yeah! You didn’t just break 22…you crushed it. Nice job. I’ll bump you up to a 45 on the VDOT chart…let me know how the next couple of long runs go. We might try 45 for all of your shorter distances and 46 for your long runs. Then, after this Ironman nonsense is over, we’ll have to get you to sign up for another marathon (I can write you a training plan) so you can go run a huge PR = )

I got to see a lot of former teammates at the Brenda Run as well as Mama Lisa who is battling Breast Cancer. She is one of my heroes and is an amazing individual. I was asked to speak about Brenda after the race and told her story to those that didn't know her.

Monday AM brought the end of recovery week and it was time to get back at it into the build phase all over again. I dragged my butt out of bed and did my cycling class and today brought basically a warm up with a 75 minute continuous ride with active recovery. It wasn't too bad I felt really good as I got in 33 miles in 90 minutes. Tuesday was a Pacing Swim Workout of basically 3x800's with 200 L4-L6 Build, 200 L5, 100 L7 and then 300 L5. In total was 3,250 yards. There was a duck on the pool deck watching me--I think he thought I stole his swim lane or something? Wednesday was another cycling class and this was a beattchhh of a workout. 36 miles of pain. A lot of high cadence/high power with 4 main intervals of 10, 8, 8 and 6 minutes with nice recoveries. We worked up to Zone 4 at Base plus 4 so we were dancing on the pedals and my HR got up into the low 160's and I was sweating like a fiend. Once we got done I got on my shoes and did my 20 minute brick run. I got in 2.5 miles down to Pier 39 and back.

Why am I relentless for a cure?

2010-04-22T21:06:00.001-07:00

When I joined TNT back in 2002--I had no connection to blood cancers whatsoever. I just wanted to run a marathon. I met Laura Warren my first season and it has been great to have her as one of our honorees for IronTeam this season. She's had her challenges with secondary cancers these past few years. I was blown away by the donations that I got that first season and the number of friends/family that I knew that been touched by blood cancers. I returned to TNT the following Winter Season to do another marathon and be a mentor. My mentor my first season was Dave Shinksy and his wife Brooke was our web captain. Dave and Brooke got involved in IronTeam not long after that season and kept trying to get me to do an Ironman and well I finally sucked it up. During my second season I met some of the most amazing people in the world including Jeanette, Lindsay, Amanda, Olivia and Ironteammate Rocky Reyes wife Claudia. We became fast friends and became a core group that were mentors/captains for many East Bay Run teams from 2003 to 2008. During this time a young boy named Cole Regan became an honoree on our team. At the age of 21 months Cole passed away and this was a devastating blow to the Team. His passing really showed how nasty cancer could be as he was born with it and he lived an amazing 21 months and touched so many people and reminded us why we train to find a cure. His mom Brandy joined TNT a few years later to do an event. She did RNR Arizona Half (same year as Brenda--see below) and I was given the privilege and honor of being her mentor. A few years later on what would have been Cole's 5th birthday Brandy completed the Nike FULL Marathon. That season I was one of the Team Captains and when I heard Brandy was back on the Team I told them she was my mentee before and she was my mentee now. I ran the Nike Half that year and then headed out to support Brandy in finishing a full marathon as a gift to her son. She did the DAMN thing and I am so proud of her and what she's accomplished in training to be a nurse. She's going to be a great nurse!! Picture below of Brandy and me along the Nike Course--I am carrying her lipstick, some chocolate from the Ghiradelli Spot and keeping her going.In early 2005 Brenda Donato was diagnosed with AML and had a stem cell transplant. Brenda lived in Concord where I lived and her boys played at JOBL where my son played baseball and we were on the Board together. She also worked at Pacer International and I knew the CFO there as I had played soccer with his son growing up. Brenda was also a trainer at Mavericks where I worked out. We knew each other but more as acquaintances but we were connected in so many ways. Not long after her stem cell transplant I was at a party for my daughters softball team at the Behmlanders house and Brenda showed up. I talked to her about TNT and the honoree program. Brenda was always very active and had been a trainer and this interested her. A couple months later I received an email that we had a new honoree on our Team and her name was Brenda Donato. I couldn't be happier that she was joining us. Brenda bounced back with a vengeance as she set out and ran the Nike Half marathon in October 2005, then ran the Arizona RNR marathon in January 2006 and did the Wildflower Triathlon in May 2006. She was planning to do the Anchorage Half Marathon in June 2006 when she relapsed. She was at UCSF which is just about 3 miles from where I live in SF so I dropped in from time to time to visit her. Everyone loved Brenda because she always had a smile on her face and never said "Why me?" She never asked for pity and she took it day by day and we kept in touch via her MySpace posts which she did regularly. With this relapse she needed a bone marrow transplant and they found a match that she affectionately nicknamed Danny Bonaduci. She had the transplant and soon after developed graft vs. host disease. Over time her lung capacity diminished to less than 20% and the doctors could not reverse the damage. She stayed with Ironteammate Carol Wu and her partner at their house but she eventually ended up at John Muir hospital as she deteriorated and family and friends came to care for her. Lindsay took amazing care of Brenda and put her life on hold to care for her friend. A few days before Brenda passed away she asked to be taken outside and sitting there in her wheelchair she saw a rainbow. But not any ordinary rainbow--this one was upside down and smiling at her :) (Picture at top of blog). It was at that moment that she said I'm ready. I know God is ready for me and I'm ready to die. On April 14, 2007 she became an Angel. Ultimately it wasn’t cancer that killed her but the complications of the transplant and her body fighting the incoming marrow. Before she was diagnosed with AML she was an athletic and fit person. I watched her go from someone who could do endurance events to someone who could barely breathe. Brenda was only 36, the loving mother of two boys ages 10 and 8 and was a huge part of our TNT family. She was an amazing lady who was so strong, so positive and was a true inspiration to so many. This picture of Brenda was taken at Inspiration Point.

Brenda Donato (July 6, 1970 - April 14, 2007)
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamonds glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awake in the morning's hush
I am the soft uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there. I did not die.

In early 2008 I was asked to run for Man of the Year with LLS and I didn't even hesitate. Most candidates do events to supplement their fundraising. I came up with the idea of organizing a 5K run/walk race around the one year anniversary of Brenda's passing to bring people together in a fun way to remember her. In April 2008 we held the inaugural Brenda Rainbow Fun Run/Walk 5K held at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek with over 200 participants. What a great way to remember. We held this in Walnut Creek not far from John Muir hospital where she passed and along the trails of Heather Farms where we trained a lot. I won Man of the Year and I dedicated this to Brenda. In 2009 East Bay Run Coach Alphonzo Jackson took the challenge to run for Man of the Year (well after I did some major arm twisting) and we held the Second annual race and again we had over 200 people to participate and remember Brenda and be there for all our honorees. In those two years we raised over $16K for LLS. In 2010 TNT Coach Carolyn Balling took the challenge of running for Woman of the Year and also took ownership of making this race happen for the 3rd year. I am so pleased that she is doing this and I will run the race for the first time (besides marking it the 1st year) and remember my friend Brenda.

This is why I am relentless for a CURE! Anyone can get a blood cancer! It doesn’t discriminate—age, race, ethnicity—it doesn’t care it impacts us all. In 2010, 1 million North American’s will be dealing with a blood cancer. Every 5 minutes someone will be diagnosed and every 10 minutes someone will die. Since I joined TNT back in 2002 I’ve been lucky to have met some wonderful people who have battled and whooped blood cancer (some many times over). I’ve also been touched and blessed to have known some that lost their battle to a blood cancer. LLS is currently funding two (2) preclinical/discovery trials, four (4) Phase I clinical trials, one (1) Phase II clinical trial and one (1) Phase III clinical trial. 75% of what is raised goes to this very research and patient services and to help find a cure. When I have to get up at o' dark thirty to train or train in some nasty weather--I think of the honorees and what they have to go through. That gives me the kick in the ass I need and I'm out the door. If you ever want an amazing experience--join TNT.

Thursday was a run workout. Originally this was to be a 10K Marker but because IronTeam will be doing the Brenda Rainbow Run 5K on Sunday we were told to run this at marathon goal pace after a 10 minute warm up. I started my run at 6:30AM from the PJCC and once I got to the San Mateo Bay Trail after the warm up I was ready to get at it. My target based on my VDOT was 8:17/mile pace (marathon goal pace). I am still clearing my system of this cold but I felt really fast and good today. My heart rate averaged 149 (I always try to keep it under 150 as above that I start to break down) and I was able to maintain a strong pace at 8:13/mile. At mile 3 there was this funny looking dog with a Mohawk and I stopped to give him a pet (on the Garmin charts you can see my HR drop as well as my time slow for that mile). I didn't push it very hard and was extremely happy with my time. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/30933302

LLS Leadership Conference, Okie Blows and Swimming Plateau

2010-04-21T21:06:00.001-07:00

Well I got behind so time to catch up on the blog. After BootCamp I took Monday off as a rest day at the insistence of my wife. I wanted to go because it was Bike Focus week and knew I'd be out of town later in the week but I wanted to stay married so skipped it--but not happy about it. Tuesday was back in the pool for a Speed Workout of 2,400 yards. This was a pretty hard workout coming off the weekend and sure got my heart rate up. Wednesday was back to cycling class and my legs were really heavy and I wasn't sure if the CompuTrainer I was on was just being difficult or if it was me. Thursday AM was a Long Swim Workout of 3,600 yards. After a fairly short warm up of 200 yards and drills of just 500 yards it was time for the main set. I didn't really focus on the workout until I was doing it when I realized we were basically doing 1,000 yards 3 times but broken up as 4x250, 2x500 and 1,000--man that Coach Yosh is sneaky. I timed my 1,000 just to see how I was doing and came in at 18:36. Now this wasn't much of an improvement over my 1,000 yard splits from the last 2,000 yard marker and I was kind of surprised. I figured I'd ask Coach Yosh WTF? Basically she told me to chillllll.

Markers were swam when I was fairly fresh where this 1,000 was at the end of a long workout. Considering this was technically my 3rd 1000 of the day, being within 25 seconds of my fastest 1000 marker is not bad! Especially considering I was 18:47 on my second 1000 when we did the 2000 marker (today I was 11 seconds faster on my 3rd). Additionally, there is always a little extra adrenaline when you are doing markers...that "I gotta beat last time" voice inside your head...so the tendency is to go a little harder than intended...even if you're trying to stay at a L5. Lastly, the previous markers have been placed mid week of a recovery week. Right now we are on our 3rd hard week AND we are just post boot camp...your body is TIRED...it is itchin' for that recovery week next week...so considering where your fatigue level is right now...it is very unlikely to see huge jumps in improvement.The typical Ironman training "improvement curve" is steep in the beginning and usually begins to slow around month 4-5 and then when the build phase really starts to hit (right around now) it begins to plateau (for most people). Ok, I'll chill a bit but seeing I have a 2,000 yard marker next week and I'll be timing and comparing

Thursday afternoon I flew to Orlando, Florida for the LLS Leadership Conference. I had breakfast with our SF Executive Director Friday morning and then went for a run. The gym was full and I really didn't want to run on a treadmill but was looking to do a quick spin on the lifecycle and then run. Well the lifecycle was taken. Improvise--I found a small track on the top of the 11th floor of a parking garage which also was the helipad. Kind of an interesting place to run because all I saw was people making out and smoking while I cranked out a 35 minute (32 loops) run in the humidity. The conference kicked off Friday afternoon after lunch. In attendance at the conference were many of the LLS Executive Team including CEO (John Walter), Chief Revenue Officer (Nancy Klein), Chief Mission Officer (Lou DeGennaro) and SVP Volunteer Engagement (David Timko) and the BOD and the BOR. Also in attendance were a majority of the LLS Chapter Executive Directors, Field Directors and incumbent/or incoming Presidents. I am very impressed with the leadership of this organization and glad that I am involved with this organization. There were a lot of great discussions and information shared amongst the chapters including Best Practices. One of the key themes discussed was Volunteer Engagement and how we get as many volunteers engaged and supporting LLS’s goals. Saturday AM it was more meetings and then time to grab a plane back home. I missed the Team's long ride on Saturday and was bummed to miss it but watched on Facebook as the team posted their successful rides. Now this was a quick trip and I didn't get much sleep as of the time change, meetings and I started to come down with some sort of gunky cold/congestion. The plane ride home my nose was running like crazy and I kept sneezing. I kept thinking tomorrow's long bike ride on my own is going to be a ton of fun. I got in late Saturday night and went to bed early to be ready for Sunday.

After helping my wife with Dakota at the ranch and getting home I got on the bike at noon for a long ride as this is Bike Focus week. I left SF and did my usual warm up as I cruised down and around Lake Merced and down the Great Hwy up Seal Rock and Clement and then through Baker Beach to the GG Bridge. It takes me about an hour to get to the other side of the bridge and my goal was to go up Mt Tam today. My nose was running and I was okie blowing all over the place but it was helping to clear this cold from my system. Rode into Sausolito and then into Mill Valley and then the fun begins. I headed out HWY 1 which climbs to where you can enter into Muir Woods, etc. and cruised down HWY 1 towards Stinson Beach. As I cruised into Stinson I completely blew by the turn on Panoramic. I reloaded on water at a market at Stinson and continued North for about 4 miles when I realized something didn't look right. I turned around and went back and sure enough there was Panoramic that I missed. At the bottom you are at about 100 feet of elevation. I did this climb during DeathRide training and had a really bad ride that day and blew up on Marshall Grade later in the day. I just plugged along the climb that takes you from 100 feet to 1,600 feet to Pantoll. I reloaded again on water at Pantoll and started looking at what time it was. I decided to climb to RidgeCrest which is 2,000 feet but not go to the top of Tam today. I love the descent out of Mt Tam as I got down to Mill Valley in 30 minutes. As I was cruising towards Sausalito I got a cramp in my right quad that made me stop. I realized I properly wasn't fueled enough and a bit dehydrated from the trip, etc. so I found another market reloaded the water and my carbopro/cytomax mix. I was fine heading back home until I was about 2 miles from home when the cramp hit again. I sucked down the rest of what I had and stretched it out and proceeded home. 70 miles/5 hours. Okie Blew from SF to Marin and Back. Done! Here is a link to my stats with a nice little climb around mile 40. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/30924905

Week 23 over and recovery week coming.

Monday I took off as a rest day and recover as the cold was still there but starting to break. Smart move because by Wed it was almost gone. Tuesday was our 2,000 yard swim marker. I swam the first 1,000 in 18:50 and when I looked at the split I was pissed. How the hell did I get slower and I cranked up the second 1,000 in 18:25 for a total time of 37:15. This was just a mere 11 seconds faster than the last 2,000 yard marker on Feb 27th. I've been swimming G3 workouts since that marker in Feb. I figured I'd be much faster--nope! Again I needed to seek out Coach Yosh for some TLC and advice. I sent her my times and how I was surprised by being slower but was happy with the negative splits. Her response was:

First, consistency at this point in the season is a GOOD thing!!! It is true that your "improvement curve" may plateau...but that does NOT mean that your actual fitness and ability has hit a plateau. You must realize that your "performance" (or what you are able to do today...ie your marker) is dictated by your emotional, physical, and mental state at that given time. Your actual fitness and ability is what will dictate what will happen in the future and I am confident that is continuing to improve. That's a lot of words...I know... But basically, right now you are tired, jet lagged, gunked up etc...plus the program has intensified dramatically over that past few weeks. This has a compounded your fatigue level and inhibits your ability to perform at your best. However, when taper hits and your body is able to fully recoup, recover and rest you will be SO ready to tear up that Vineman course. So, if you consider the fact that you are performing on a "half empty tank", yet set able to maintain (and actually improve slightly) just think what will happen when that tank is all topped of!!! Second, the fact that you were able to negative split reinforces the fact that your base is strong and your fitness is there. Focus on getting healthy. Keep your fluids up, your food clean (nothing fried or over processed) and your sleep high.

Wednesday I got in my cycling class and felt recovered on the bike. Rode about 30 miles in an hour and a half. We did intervals that focused on opening up the legs and then doing zone 2 up to zone 4 and back to zone 2 for recovery. Felt strong and back to normal. Tied on the shoes and did a 20 minute brick at 7:50 or so pace and felt strong again. I'm back and the gunk is leaving the body.

This week is Brenda Donato Week. More later on that.

BootCamp Part Deux---Tourettes Again and New Aerobars

2010-04-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is Week 2 of a Build. I came into this week with a sore ankle from running several days in a row last week. I had also been debating adding aerobars to my road bike. I kept getting a 50/50 response on aerobars and I was on the fence. When I talked to the folks at the bike shop they said well your bike is already made to be comfortable so we'd say no. Monday AM I went to Ecycling class and we did a 60 minute interval after warming up with some shorter intervals and the spinning actually helped loosen up the ankle a bit. I made an emergency appointment with my chiro who does ART and he worked on my ankle/calves and it was a bit restricted and after some deep tissue work it loosened up. As we wrapped up class on Monday my classes Coach Chris asked what bike I was planning to ride at Vineman and I said that one right there and he asked--"you getting aerobars?" What timing--after a discussion with him I was back to thinking I should add them. I went to the bike shop and when I told them I was training for an Ironman distance tri they said--oh yeah you should definitely add them. Well add them on for petes's sake and while I was at it I had the front stem replaced with a 90mm vs. the 110mm I had based on my previous bike fit and got a 705 Garmin Bike Computer as the 405 wasn't cutting it. Tuesday AM I got in the pool at the PJCC and did the 2,400 yard Ladder workout. Wasn't too bad a workout and felt pretty good in the water. Wednesday AM it was back into class and the first time using the aerobars and the new bike computer and it was great. I could get down into a new position and get comfortable and crank out the workout. We got into some zone 4 during two intervals where we rode at high zone 2 and into zone 3 and spent 60 seconds at that nasty zone 4. Now that my bike computer works I know how far we are riding in class and put in 30 miles in and hour and a half and could monitor my cadence. If and when I want to add Power Meter to my bike this bike computer will pick it up. Thursday PM I headed down to Kezar for a track workout of Speed Fartleks--ha ha he said Fart. No I said Fartleks--its a Swedish term for speed play where you change pace during a run. I met Jim and he wasn't happy to be there but I told him if he didn't show up I'd make him wear grannie panties on Saturday. After a 10 minute warm up and the running drills we humped it up and did 5x1200 yards with the first and third lap at tempo pace and the second at 5K pace. I was feeling good and was running under my VDOT as my target was 7:10 5K and 7:50 Tempo. We were actually under 7 minute pace for the intervals. Friday AM I took a Lactate Thresh hold Test at Velo. I had my first test back in March 2009, another right before the DeathRide and one in late 2009. I've been self dosing on the power meter at Vedo and riding above my current zones so I'm interested to see how the test came out. After warming up for about 15 minutes it was time to do the test. The idea is to start at low watts, add 30 watts every 4 minutes and they take blood samples from your ear, take your heart rate and perceived RPE (perceived effort) and they can measure when you start to build lactic acid and breakdown. Based on this you can determine your zones and where to train to extend that point where you breakdown or start to build the lactic acid. Starting at 70 watts I felt like I could go all day and my heart rate was down around 118BPM. Every 4 minutes the power wattage went up by 30 watts. I just stayed in my aerobars sipping water when I needed it and when I got to 280 watts I was at a 10 and made it through those 4 minutes but I was done and my heart rate was around 170. I'll get my new results and zones on Monday afternoon and I assume they will be above what I've got right now.

Saturday AM was our first IronTeam Coached Workout since Wildflower Weekend and it felt strange to be away from the Team for so long and was great to see everyone. Chris was MIA being sick so we missed him and his new bike and several other folks were MIA. Today's agenda was to do Sprint Distance Tri's---not one, but 3 back to back or as many as you could in 5 hours. We hopped into the ShadowLakes Quarry Open Water and it wasn't too bad--around 58 degrees. We had to swim the 150 yard lane and then back to shore and run back to the beginning and do it again 3 more times. I did the swim in about 21:30 and then transitioned to the bike. Our amazingly generous Coaches flatted every one's back tire to give us some practice changing the tube. The total transition took me just under 13 minutes including changing my clothes and doing the tube, pumping it back up and getting it on the bike. This really didn't phase me much and I heard a lot of whining going on around me. Off I was on the bike for a ride that took me about 29 minutes (just under 9 miles). My transition to the run was 3:38 and then ran 3.1 miles in 28:25. Surprisingly I was the first one through this first Sprint Tri as I changed my tire quickly and got ahead and had a good bike/run. We met Coach Simon for a quick core workout and transitioned back to the swim again which took 16:44. Putting on the wet wetsuit wasn't so much fun but the plastic grocery bag trick was like putting a knife through butter. This time we had more room in the swim lanes so we swam 6 lengths (900 yards) and I was done in 18:31. This time the transition to the bike was faster as there was no flats but I lost a contact when the wind blew it off my finger and I couldn't find it. Great!!! Time to wear glasses for the rest of the day. Transition of 6:43 and back on the bike FOUR EYES. I was a bit faster on the second bike loop at 28:18 (I guess I was pissed about the glasses). My transition was less than 2 minutes to the run and finished the loop in 30:31 with Jim joining me during the run. At this point--2 Sprint Tri's done and feeling good. Back into the water again and I put on my sleeveless wetsuit this time to try it out as I had never used it before. It was starting to get cold but I wanted to try it and it was just fine. Mentor Margaret, Jim and I got into the water about the same time and my swim was a bit slower at 20:58 even though I felt good and was getting better and not zig zagging in the swim lane and wasting time. Each swim I kept having this issue with some sort of throat problem--like phlegm or something and that wasn't fun as I kept having to hack it up and leave it for the birds or fish to snack on. I did a quick transition of 4:17 to the bike did the loop once more and Jim and I hit the run loop one more time together. Jim and I finished the 3 Sprint Tri's in 4:57 (under 5 hours) and I felt really good all day long--no cramps, no major issues and like I could do more. We did a foam rolling session and I gave up the Spirit Cape. My addition to it was putting a rainbow from one of the Brenda 5K shirts onto the cape with a race bib from the race with some stickers of swimming, running, biking and a finish line sticker at the bottom of the rainbow. Every time I see a rainbow it's Brenda. She got me through the DeathRide and is always a motivating force to get me through my tough times. The cape reminds me of a boxing robe so I bought boxing glove and put KNOCK OUT CANCER on the gloves.

Sunday AM brought Day 2 of BootCamp down south in San Jose with the South Bay Team. So the agenda was swim drills, a 30+ mile ride, a 60 minute run, 30 min spin/30 min track and an endurance swim. Another long day and I knew I'd be developing Tourette's like last time. In the water at 8AM and we did the following drills after about 10 minutes of warm up:

Side Kicks (which I suck at)

Slow Arm Recovery

Finger Tip Drag

Fist Drill

Eyes Closed (which I zig zag and kept hittin lane ropes)

Black line to black line

Underwater for 3 blacklines holding your breath and then swim rest of way

Tennis ball under the chin (basically you can call this sucking water because you can't breath)

One Arm with Opposite Breathing

Catchup using a tennis ball

3 Switches

I don't have a clue how much we swam but it was probably a good 2,000+ yards.

We hopped on our bikes for a very interesting bike ride. I was layered up with a rain jacket and warm clothes including my booties to keep my little piggies as dry and warm as possible. We had been listening to weather reports saying it was going to be wet and windy. Wet and Windy? Um how about like 45MPH wind gusts. Not fun while on a bike. The first 10 miles or so it started to rain and Jim and I took turns pulling on a stretch where it was just blowing right in our faces. I dropped into the aerobars and kept cranking the pedals. We got some relief on Bailey Road from the wind as we approached Metcalf. Now about the time we were approaching Metcalf Jim realized this was the climb we did during the Armstrong Challenge ride a few years ago. This is a brutal climb that just switches back and forth and is about a 1,000 foot climb in about a mile. Now we did this climb a few years ago in 100 degree heat and at the top I yelled "WHAT HILL". 90% of the riders that day were walking their bikes but Jim and I cranked it out and didn't stop. Well back to Sunday and as we turned onto Metcalf I yelled to the Team gear down and get ready for this BEAATCCCH of a climb. Now today's climb was much worse than the last time because the wind gusts were so bad they actually knocked some of our Team off their bikes--good thing I'm a BadunkadunK because I'm not going anywhere. Jim and I caught Coach Dave at the top and he said this was the hardest Metcalf ride he'd ever done. After a nice descent and back to Gunderson High School it was time to get into running gear. The Coaches decided to make it a 30 minute brick run and then a recovery swim. Good call! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/30924908

When I got back from my run I was more than happy to get into the warm pool. I got in and Coach Mike said I should race Jim with his new found stroke they had improved so we raced and I think we tied but when we got there Jim showed me he was wearing fins!! After doing the workout of 100 back, 200L5, 100L7, 50L8, 100 Recovery a few times we had some fun. The Coaches threw a kickboard into the pool and there was games of one on one kicking trying to push each other. I won JIM!!!! Boot Camp Part Deux in the books. Good weekend, a few F bombs here and there and by the end of the day I was in need of food. I love the new aerobars and bike computer. Onto week 23.

My Left Ankle Hurts and I Don't Like IT!

2010-04-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

Wed AM I was welcomed to a new rotation at Velo. Thank god we are done with the hills and muscle tension work as every time I had to do a brick run after frying my quads up was getting old. So we now have moved into the Rollers/Power phase with increasing intensity over longer times with technique improvement on rolling terrain. Matt Hirschey was filling in today for Coach Chris and Mack and this class was a lot of interval work at high cadence and increasing power up into zone 4. I felt really strong and finally fully recovered from Wildflower and was able to crank it up in class all day long. Thursday I snuck off to Kezar in the afternoon (working from home) to do the Speed Ladder Track workout we've been doing the past 4 weeks. My times are getting slightly faster on the intervals each week and on the last 400 I always try to go all out and see what happens. The week of Wildflower I ran a 1:25 which translates to a 5:40 mile pace. Today I relaxed my body and just went with it on the last 400 and running smooth to put out a 1:26. Not bad for an Old Man. Friday was another run. My left ankle has been flaring up after the runs lately for some reason and I can really feel it when I foam roll so I will need to monitor it. Knowing that I had a run Thursday, a run on Friday and Saturday I need to watch how it goes. Friday was a 10 minute warm up followed by a 60 minutes run of 10 minutes at Threshold pickup pace (my VDOT translates to around 7:30 pace) followed by 10 minutes of easy long (9min pace) and alternating for 3 intervals. In total I ran 8.3 miles in the 1:10 for an average pace of 8:30. I felt really strong the first two pickups but that third was a beaattcchh. Got through it but it was tough. I stretched out while sipping my recovery drink at the PJCC. Ankle is a bit sore and foam rolled the calf muscles and legs on Friday night to work out some kinks knowing I've got a swim/run tomorrow.

Saturday I helped my wife Amy with Dakota before doing my thang. We went to the ranch and I lunged Dakota and I've gotten the hang of that finally. He still rears and acts like a butthead at times but it doesn't freak me out so I just let him do his thing and he eventually calms down and does what he is supposed to do and not what he is not supposed to do (like run me over). I got to the PJCC about 11AM and hit the water for a 3,300 yard swim. The meat of the swim was 2,200 yards of 800 yards, then 4x150 builds and then another 800 yards. I timed my 800's to see how I was doing. My first was at 14:26 and my second was at 14:32. My first 800 yard marker on December 3 was 15:30. I'm very pleased with the improvement on the swim as I have gotten more efficient and faster as the season has gone on. The swim is the shortest part of the Ironman both in distance and time. My goal was "just get me out of the water in one piece and not drowned and I'll be able to finish the rest on the bike/run." I am not looking for a kick ass swim time just to be out the water in good shape so I can focus on really cranking out good times on the bike and run. I quickly changed and hit the trails for a 12 mile run. The run was supposed to be 1:40 but I like to run a rounded distance like 12 miles versus 11.4 or whatever. On the way out I noticed a headwind nailing me. I settled into my Easy/Long Pace of 9 minute miles even with the wind blowing my my face knowing that I'd have it at my back coming back. Hit 6 miles in just around 54 minutes and right where I wanted to be and feeling good as my heart rate the entire way out was right around 150BPM. On the way back I had that nice tailwind and I noticed my heart rate was coming up into the mid 150's and it was because I had picked up some steam and was running between 8:30 and 8:50 pace. By the time I finished my heart rate had snuck up to 160 and 12 miles were in the book 1:46:37 or 8:53 pace. Need to keep the heart rate down on the long runs as that is what blows me up as I go above that lactate thresh hold and that's all she wrote. Damn my ankle really hurts now!

Sunday AM same drill as yesterday--Dakota doody duty then time for a flat 30 mile ride. Ok, where do you find a 30 mile flat ride in SF? Doesn't exist. I did my best to find one and headed out on some tender quads but they felt fine on the ride and I was hammering pretty strongly the entire ride. I rode down to Lake Merced, did the loop with the wind in my face blowing very strongly, hit the Great Hwy with a nice tailwind, then proceeded up through GG Park back to Sunset and headed back (into a headwind) to Lake Merced. Each time I hit the Great Hwy I was smoking at over 25 MPH. After the second loop I came up through GG Park on JFK Drive and was welcomed with a repaved road--woohooo. For years I've bounced my ass around on my bike seat on this road and muttered when are they ever going to fix this--finally. All told 26.5 miles in 1:34 or almost 17MPH. My ankle didn't mind the ride much and my legs actually got flushed out from the run yesterday. On to Week 22.

Honoree Inspiration--I've been slacking on this and April is a big LLS month for me so I need to get back on it. On top of IronTeam I am heading to Orlando for the LLS Leadership Conference on April 15-17, we have our Chapter Board Retreat on April 24th and hope I can make the Brenda 5K race on April 25th.

This Honoree was passed along by Coach Rudy Van Pelt who I have known for many years. Rudy and I co captained many Run teams together and this is one of his personal honorees and Week 22 will be for Colette Jaycox. Per Rudy: I first met her and her family about 10 years ago when I was coaching my daughter's soccer team. She is now a senior in high school in Fremont. She was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in October 2008, spent most of her junior year in treatment at Stanford (a week at Stanford, then three weeks at home throughout the school year), and continued to take classes on a home-study program. Now she is in the maintenance phase of her treatment and attending school again. The Make-a-Wish Foundation gave her family a trip to Washington DC. Of all the things a kid could wish for, can you believe she asked for a chance to meet Jim Lerher? The link has a brief note about the visit. The latest chapter in this story is that one of the teachers at her high school is the Honoree Capt for the walk team this spring. Colette agreed to be a team honoree for the East Bay Walk Team this spring. Next fall, Colette will be attending Columbia University.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/speakout/us/july-dec09/healthcare_09-17.html

Gotta love them GAELS and Recovery Week

2010-03-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

I went to Saint Mary's College in Moraga for both undergrad from 1985-1989 and then for my MBA from 1994-1996 and will forever be a GAEL. SMC was ranked 10th in their bracket and pulled out a win over Richmond last Thursday and then beat Villanova, the #2 seed on the Saturday we did Wildflower therefore advancing to the Sweet 16 and Baylor. But on Friday night our boys just didn't have it and got beat up pretty bad by Baylor. I watched the game at AT&T park with about 2,000 of my fellow Gaels including IronMaria. Great season and I'm proud of my alma mater.

After Half Way to Iron we were welcomed by a recovery week--ahh yeah. Sunday morning we left Monterey County and hit In n Out Burger in Salinas along with half of the IronTeam. It was good to be home and sleep in my own bed. I took some Alleve on Saturday and Sunday to alleviate some back pain I was having from Saturday. Monday morning I don't know what I was thinking but I got up at 5:20AM to do more cycling class and what was on tap but Hills and a lot of them. What wasn't fried off my quads from the weekend got fried up in class. I did what I could out of the saddle for the first two intervals and the last interval was just too much for me to take. I did one minute out, one minute in for 15 minutes and then I just ended up spinning on my own in class. It was actually good that I went because I was able to flush out my legs a bit. Tuesday was a Long Slow Distance swim of 2,600 yards and felt pretty good in the water. Swimming has become something I actually enjoy and I just get er done in the water. Wednesday I had every intention of going to class but sleep prevailed and I slept in and I took a rest day. Thursday it was back in the pool for a Ladder Swim of 2,700 yards. The G3 workouts are what I'm doing now and they aren't bad as I've gotten much stronger at swimming but still need to work on my form and technique. Friday I snuck over to Kezar in the late morning after some conference calls for the speed ladder of 600/800/1,000/800/600 and 4x400's with 60 second rest in between. By the end of the workout I was wiped out and my lungs were bursting. I wasn't able to push out a 1.25 400 like last week but finished very consistent around 1.35 per 400. My kids arrived Friday night from Seattle and I got to tell them that they were going to be a big brother and big sister. I got a cool and a wow! On Saturday morning I did a long run from my house to Golden Gate Park and back. I live near the highest point in SF so anytime I run or bike from home means going dowhill for a ways. Today I decided to run down to GG Park on 7th Avenue and do some miles in the park before heading home. I did a loop around Stow Lake and found a trail that I'd never seen before and ran it around as it wound around the hill by Stow Lake and after I finished the climb I found a really cool spot at the top with some great views of GG Bridge. Whenever I run I tend to be very curious and take trails or routes just for fun to find new things. I took a look at my watch and I was just about where I needed to be on time and started heading back down and for home. I retraced my route and once I hit 7th Avenue it was time to start the climb back home. I finished 11 miles in 1:45 or around 9:30 pace. My left ankle has been giving me problems so I've got to start stretching/foam rolling and icing it to get it to back off. With my kids in town and helping Amy with Dakota I took Sunday off and passed on the bike marker. I started having some major allergy issues on Sunday and was very congested Sunday night. Monday is our typical rest day and well I was going to do the bike class but slept in which is not like me but the allergies were killing me. I was feeling grumpy on Monday because I hadn't worked out in a couple days so Tuesday I knew I had to get in the pool for a swim. 2,600 yard Speed work. Are you kidding me? This was a short warmup of 200 yards and 300 yards of drills? I felt like I was back in G1 and then the fun began: 5 times of 100 at L6, 75 at L7, 50 at L8, 25 at L9 and then 150 L3 recovery. The 150 yards of going hard were pretty tough but I stayed consistent on my times and 45 minutes later I was done with the hard part of the workout. Feeling good that I got my work in today and ready to get back on the horse of riding Wednesday, running Thurs/Fri and swim/run Sat and bike on Sunday!

Wildflower Course--Is that all you got!!

2010-03-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

Friday morning Jim and I hit the road in our RV which oddly resembled an Ice Cream Truck. When we pulled into camp at Wildflower everyone cam running for treats. We hung out with Chris and Meenu, Rocky and Claudia, and IronPhil. We had a great lunch and dinner that the Ironwives cooked up for us. Coach Mike took a look at my shifting and got it dialed in so that the chain stopped jumping. We were well fueled and our equipment was set for Saturday. We wandered around and I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. Rocky with his paper plate and grabbing food from different camp sites and the conversation about tri suits and Chris and his Buddha belly had us rolling. Sleeping in the top section of the RV wasn't exactly comfy and we left a few windows open and it was cold.

At 5AM Saturday morning Head Coach Dave came through the campground blaring some Scottish music and he was greeted with my middle finger by the window and he yelled good morning sunshine! I grabbed my usual pre-workout meal of a whole wheat bagel, fried egg, cheese and bacon, a banana, some iced tea and some electrolytes. The boys and I had to ride our bikes down to the transition area at 6am and it was damn cold. It reminded me of the DeathRide where we headed out at 5am as the further we descended to the lake the colder it seemed to get. By the time we got to transition my hands were frozen. I got body marked and Meenu gave me my marking with my number 750 and added BadunkadunK to my left calf. It was really a nice boost to see we were using the Brenda Race Bibs I gave to the team. I got on my wetsuit and slammed down a final fuel topper--A Banana Hammer Gel.

The water was much warmer in the lake than any of our prior swims and it felt like bath water. I didn't have any issue getting my breath and was ready to go. Once the ambulance arrived we were able to get swimming and we got started at 7:12AM. The siren sounded and it was a wave of arms and legs thrashing through the water. I got bounced around a bit as I hit some arms and legs but was able to ignore and find my rhythm in the water as we swam along the cigarette buoys to the turn around. I kept thinking to myself that this was like a 1000 yard swim in the pool or 40 laps to the turnaround. I noticed someone heading back and in no time I spotted the turnaround buoy and knew I had done half the swim and I felt great. I had a harder time spotting returning to the boat dock. I saw Nick in the water and he was floating there and gave me a thumbs up. I could see the folks on the boat dock and every time I spotted they never seemed to be getting closer but I just kept breathing every 3 and taking many strokes and then spotting again. Soon enough I was at the boat dock. I lifted myself out of the water and onto the dock. I didn't have any dizziness but the dock was moving. As I walked off the boat dock I had hiccup/burp and I puked in my mouth a bit. Nice, I just spit it out on the shore and headed up the rocky terrain to the transition area. Jim was right ahead of me and he is a really good swimmer so I was thrilled to be out at the same time as him. Chris was also just getting out of the water as we were leaving the boat dock. I somehow cut the palm of my right hand on the boat dock and was bleeding. At transition I got my wetsuit stripped off and then got my hand cleaned up. 1.2M swim in 35 minutes, 12 minute transition to get all the way up from the dock to the area and get changed into bike gear and clean up my hand.

Chris was ahead of me. Jim was ahead of me but had to come back as he forgot his sunglasses. The bike course takes you up a pretty nasty hill about 2 miles in and I started passing the faster swimmers that had gotten ahead of me in the transition area. At about mile 6 you exit the property and head out on Interlake Road which rolls to Jolon Rd where the first water stop was at mile 19. I had to pee so bad and Jolon had some major bumps and finally I was able to find a place to relieve myself and I was a new man. At mile 34 Jennifer Jay and her husband were working a water stop. I asked them if they'd seen Chris and they said no--I knew then Chris made a wrong turn. I grabbed a few potatoes they had cooked up and hit the road for Nasty Grade. Along the way I saw Nate and Coach Doug. Nate had pulled a calf muscle and unfortunately his day was done. He put in a valiant effort because it had been bothering him since the beginning of the ride but the rollers were killing him. Good thing is today was not race day. I cruised across the steel bridge and remember the Coaches saying you make a left right after the bridge. My bike had some rattling noise going on and I was trying to diagnose the vibration noise and finally realized it was my bike pump. Along the bike course it is well marked and all of a sudden I wasn't seeing those markings. I thought "oh crap" when I was dinking with my bike pump I missed the left turn. So I turned around and went back a 1/2 mile or so when I saw a South Bay Ironteam member and he looked at me confused. I had to ask him I was going the right way and he said yeah Nasty Grade was ahead. So I wasted a mile and probably 4 minutes going backwards. Nice. Got to Nasty Grade and up I went no problem. It has some steepness but it isn't that long and at the top someone had spray painted--WHAT HILL? at the top. That's right WHAT HILL! Coach Sedonia's parents were at the next water stop and loaded me up with some nice ice cold water. After a few more climbs it was time to descend the backside where I was able to get up to 44 MPH. One more right turn and back into the camp area. 56 Miles done in 3 Hours 41 minutes with a 6 minute transition.

On the bike I kept my heart rate down to around 140 because I knew I still had a half marathon to run and not just any half marathon--a brutal one from what I'd heard. So I wanted to save my legs as much as I could for the run. I set out on the run course knowing that I needed to keep my heart rate down and run at below marathon goal pace. I settled into a 9:30/mile pace for the first 3 miles until the hills started. At mile 4 there is a few climbs that I walked because I was listening to Mama Lisa's advice to walk the hills and run the flats and take it easy on the downhills. My goal was to finish in less than 7 hours and on the run I kept running calculations in my head if I could make it under. At mile 7 or so I saw Meenu and Claudia. I just kept plugging along as I was completely alone on the run course. As I started to drop into the Pit I saw Josh which was the first person I'd see on the run course all day. Now the Pit. No kidding you just kept going and going down, down, down and finally you hit a turnaround point and there was a water stop there. Honoree Laura Warren was there and I gave her a big hug. She asked me what I wanted--I said a beer but she told me no. Damn. 3.1 more miles and I can have that beer. Climbed out of the Pit and as I emerged I saw Jim, then Sara, then Mentor Margaret. The last part of the run is straight downhill (the hill that we had ridden our bikes down early in the morning). I stayed cramp free, well hydrated and fueled the entire day and had a great day. For my first real Tri I was very happy and was the 4th person on our team to finish behind Carolyn, Haakon and Josh who are all very fast. My buddy's were giving me crap saying I've been doping or taken roids because I have been improving and getting faster. All I can say is hard work and getting all the workouts in boys!! Don't hate the Old Man BadunkadunK! I finished the 13.1 mile run in 2 hours 15 minutes for a total time of 6:49 below my goal of 7 hours. Half way to IRON and feeling really good. The Coaches said this was the second hardest Half Ironman in the Nation and that our IronMan will be harder than this course.

Saturday night IronTeam celebrated our accomplishments of the day. I am very proud to be part of this team. After Honoree Captain Liz spoke about our honorees and Laura Warren spoke I asked to speak about Brenda because I didn't think everyone knew the genesis of the Brenda Donata Rainbow Run bibs they had worn at the Louie Tri and at today's event. I thought I laughed hard on Friday night, well Saturday night was even more hilarity but that could have been the number of beers but the dancing by IronTeam members by the campfire had us rolling and I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.

Sunday morning the Staff cooked up a delicious breakfast for us. We had a team meeting and I was awarded the Spirit Cape. I will have the Spirit Cape for a few weeks and will decorate it and try to Man It Up a bit! Recovery week and week #20---here we come.

Half Way To IRON Couldn't Come Soon Enough because Cancer SUCKS

2010-03-16T22:13:00.001-07:00

I came off a great weekend of training. We enter Week 19 and Half Way to Iron. Hard to believe that we are more than 4 months into training and have put in 1,458 miles and 189 hours of training (67 miles in the water, 1,131 on the bike and 260 on the run). I am so ready for the Wildflower Long Course and to make that course mine. In early 2005 I joined the Tri Team to do this event and I just couldn't pull it off as work wasn't cooperating, I had just wrapped up my divorce, my kids were younger and I wimped out on how much work the the swim would be. I jumped back to safety which was the East Bay Run team and did my 4th marathon instead. I am actually glad that I did skip it because I have become much stronger on the bike over the years and well work has just become even more complicated but training for Vineman is a huge stress relief and keeps my balanced.

On Monday morning I learned that someone I used to work with had passed away at the age of 42 which is way too young and just shows you how short life is and that you need to live it to the fullest. On Monday night I learned that my dear run Coach Mama Lisa was starting her chemo on Wednesday for Breast Cancer that was diagnosed earlier this year. Then on Tuesday night I found out on facebook that one of out TNT honorees, Hank Brock, had passed away. I heard Hank speak at the DeathRide kickoff in 2009 and what an inspiration. I was told that Hank was always at the Vineman Run course at the turnaround and I was looking forward to seeing him on the course. I was one of Hank's facebook friends and kept tabs on him and know that he had been in and out of the hospital for sometime. Over my time with TNT we've lost several honorees to cancer and it never gets easier--in fact it gets harder every time. I will train this week in memory of Hank and devote Wildflower Day to him and to Mama Lisa.

Sea Lions, Lovers Lane, Turkeys and Peacocks

2010-03-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday we met at Aquatic Park for another open water swim. At least this time it was close to home in SF and I didn't have a long drive. When I pulled up I was surprised how big Aquatic Park is. I have ran by this swimmin hole many times but it always seems smaller. Somehow it got bigger, maybe all the water made it swell up? I put on my not so happy face and threw a fit which Helen caught in this photo or maybe I was flexing--not sure.As I walked to put on my wetsuit I just kept thinking damn that is a big swimming pool and someone thought they saw a dog in the water--um yeah a sea lion. Then someone said don't pee in your wetsuit because they'll come get you. That's just great because Chris kept saying to pee or not to pee? It was a cool 42 degrees when I left home and thinking that the water was gonna be cold. All my teammates kept saying that the water would be warmer then outside. Well sure enough I dove in and although cold I got comfortable right away today and a tad warmer than Lake Del Valle. I just started to swim and got my breathing under control right away. We swam to one bouy from the shore then along the bouys to another bouy turnaround and back to shore for a .33 mile loop. When we made it to shore the 1st time it was 20 pushups and then another lap, the second time was wheelbarrows which Sedonia did with me, the third time was crabwalks and sumo walks and then a final lap around. Suprisingly I was the first out of the water? How the heck did that happen? I must have had a headstart or the coaches blindfolded the others because I was first out of the water. I told Josh my motto for swimming is--get me the f*** out of the water as f***ing fast as f***ing possible! In total we swam about 1.33 miles and I feel ready for next weeks 1.2M Wildflower lake swim. After all my teammates were out of the water we helped Coach Dave load up a kayak and off to Sports Basement to meet for a run.

The run was a 5 mile loop through the Presidio. I ran with Nate, Josh and Tony the first loop. This was a fairly nasty run which started off up hill and up Lovers Lane to Pacific, down to the Presidio golf course and along Mountain Lake past a hospital that is being made into apartments, up a hill at Battery Cauffield and back downhill. On the first loop we missed a turn and ended up running a 1/2 mile more. The second loop around Nate and Josh were gone and I mean gone. I could see Tony ahead and a I finally caught him at the end. 10.5 miles in the book and boy my feet and hips hurt from all the ups and downs.

Sunday we rode the Marin Metric Century Course. I rode the full Marin Century in 2008 and 2009. In 2008 I trained for about 8 weeks with Jim for this ride and I wasn't ready but I got through it. It was a long day and I suffered in the last 20 miles or so. In 2009 I had just come off the DeathRide so I was in great shape and I rode this ride into the ground. I finished it in about 7 hours. We traced the full century course but instead of making a left on Marshall Wall we went straight--yeah straight up another wall that I rode all the way out of the saddle. In total we put in 60 miles and Jim and I finished in 4 hours on the button in pedal time. We lost a little time early in the ride when Sara flatted out twice. On the ride we saw Turkeys, goats, cows, horses, sheep and even saw a Peacock.

Monday back to the grind and up early for an ecycling class. Our teacher Chris says "good morning Captain Jack" when I walked in. So he's seen Facebook posts and he's aware of our long run and photo on Sunday and snickers because we are doing some major hill climbing today--oh great. We got into some warmup drills and the class ended with a 26 minute interval with 8 minutes out of the saddle, 1 minute in the saddle and somewhat a recovery, 8 minutes out of the saddle, 1 minute recovery and 8 minutes out of the saddle. I was able to do the first two 8 minutes out of the saddle but the 11.5 mile run on Sunday got to me so I alternated between 30 seconds out of saddle and back to recovery on the last 8 minutes. What--my legs were tired!

Tuesday I took a swim lesson at 7AM at the PJCC. I did my usual 400 warmup broken up into 100's so that Cheryl could check my stroke and tweak it. We worked on drills for kicking including side kicks and switches and body balancing followed by one arm catchups. In summary, I don't roll enough, my hand is not entering the water correctly and I'm not getting a good pull so I have to work on those. I also don't kick very well but by the end of the drills I had that a bit better and wasn't kicking myself as much and was doing nice flutter kicks. After a bit over an hour of lesson I jumped into the outdoor pool and cranked out the set workout--a 600, 100DPS, 800, 100DPS, 600 and 100 cool down. I was really pooped out from the lesson and then doing the workout while I was trying to make sure I was kicking properly and rolling.

Wednesday was back to ecycling class and it was a long interval that was over an hour long of pulling at base+2, out of the saddle work pulling, etc. The recovery's were active at low zone 2 but at high cadence. I got changed and did a brick run of 20 minutes and actually felt really great on the run. The transition from bike to run is getting easier.

Thursday morning I should have got up and done the track workout but it was a bit nippy out and I had some early meetings so I decided I would do it in the afternoon. Big mistake. I get to Kezar Stadium and what do I find--a kids track meet taking up every lane. Ok, off to the High School near home and when I get there what do I find--a high school track meet taking up every lane. Um, now I'm pissed. Well I guess the dogs get a walk now. I chose to go to City College and try that track and sure enough what do I see--open lanes!! There was lacrosse practice going on but open lanes. 10 minute warmup, skiperoo, side to side, buttkicker drills and all warmed up for the 600, 800, 1000, 800, 600, 4x400 (all with 60 seconds rest). My target pace was 6:48 per mile. Ended up doing 6:17, 6:40, 6:41, 6:26, 6:38, 6:27, 6:38, 6:35, 6:34 6:25 and felt strong on these intervals. I saw a guy wearing an IronTeam long sleeve shirt and yelled GO TEAM during one of my intervals. I talked to him briefly and he had done 2006 Lake Placid with the Team.

Friday afternoon I hit the pool. It was raining1,000 yards of warmup and drills and then into the main set of 10 by 200's for time. I was pretty consistent with all of my 200's falling between 3:29 (with the 3:29 being my last one) and 3:39. Coach Sedonia said this is what she wants to see as I am managing my pace and effort in a manner that is allowing me to sustain speed while keeping in mind when I get out of the water on race day I'll still have 138.2 miles to go!

Marathon Reflections

2010-03-07T18:09:00.000-08:00

On tap today was a 1 hour 45 minute run. I hooked up with Rocky, Jim and RonYalon at Lake Merced at 9AM . RonYalon had to peel off early and that left Rocky and I to take Jim on his first run over 10+ miles. We ran around Lake Merced and then onto the Great Highway out for 52:30 (I was trying to calculate the right turn around and we all had to concur that this was the right turn around time--duh). At this point we took some gels and cruised back the same way we came. On the way back I cranked up the speed a bit and Jim stuck with me but I don't think he was happy with my heating up the pace on him at the end. All in we did the run in 1:46 on time for 11.5 miles. My average heart rate was 141 for the run.

Today Coach Sedonia was running the Napa Marathon. As we ran today we were sending her good vibes and strength for her run (like she needed it as she rocked at 4:32 marathon today). My old running buddy Amanda P and I used to do this all the time. If one of us was running a marathon in a different city, the other would go out and run at the same time and send good vibes to the other one.

Napa was my 1st, 2nd and 6th marathon and holds a special place in my heart. When I started with TNT in 2002 I had no idea what I was getting myself into and what a journey it would take me on. I just wanted to run a half marathon and full marathon and accomplish that goal. 8 years later I've ran 7 marathons, 15 half marathons, did the DeathRide, won 2008 LLS Greater Bay Area Man of the Year, joined the Board of Trustees in SF and became the BOT President in 2009. And now here I am in the middle of another TNT season but a season like no other--IRONTEAM. This will be earn me a Triple Crown with TNT. Over these 8 years I have raised over $75K for LLS. I've gotten so much in return by being part of TNT. The friendships I have made are second to none as TNT attracts the best people in the world with the biggest hearts. I've been a participant, a mentor and a captain and the joy of seeing you're teammate accomplish something they didn't think they could do is a worth a million bucks! We all train and endure for these events to raise the funds to find a cure for cancer.

Napa 2003 was the inaugural BK marathon and ran it in 4:35. I got significant calf cramps in the outer miles and after finishing this marathon I knew I would do another one. Unfortunately I tore the meniscus in my right knee not long after my first marathon. I had surgery in October 2003 and after 4 weeks was back running and my first run was with the Team. I dropped my time to 4:21 in Napa in 2004 with those damn calf cramps again in the late miles. In October 2004 I ran Portland and PR'd at 4:15. I had a great race up until mile 21 or so when we started downhill and that just fried the quads. Then I fell off the training wagon so to say. I was working a new job and it wasn't allowing me the time to train. I signed up to do WildFlower in early 2005 but just knew I wouldn't find the time to train so I went back to the run team and did RNR San Diego with my dear friend Lindsay. She dropped me about mile 23 or so and due to my lack of training and came in hobbling at 4:41 and then I followed that up with a 4:52 at RNR Arizona in early 2006 (which I ran with Lindsay, Ironteammate Rocky and J). In 2007 I went back to Napa and I trained hard and got back on the wagon. I got my time back down to 4:25 and what yep again cramps and well not only the legs but also my stomach was not good that day. I got escorted in my J, Lindsay, Coach Mama Lisa, my daughter Hayley and my wife Amy. I took some endurolytes during the race and I finally discovered during DR training that they don't sit well with me and I tend to retain water and that would explain the slushiness in my belly. In 2008 I ran Nike which was my first marathon in SF where I live. I had ran 14 half marathons and all but 1 in SF at that point. I didn't train hard enough for Nike and came in at 4:44 on a pretty nasty course. In all my marathons I've cramped up in my legs. I've never hit THE WALL during a marathon and been very solid mentally other than the bouts of tourettes that do develop. Its one of my ways of getting through the run. My goal for Vineman is to stay cramp free and I've been working on developing the right mix of carbs, electrolytes, hydration and food intake.

This weeks honoree is a little lady I met during the 2008 Man/Woman Campaign--Lauren Bishopp. After being diagnosed with Leukemia in February 2005 when she was only five-years-old, Lauren completed two years and two months of treatment in April 2007. According to Emma Bishopp, Lauren’s mother, sharing Lauren’s story is a vivid reminder of what Lauren has been through and is a constant reminder that this is what many other families are now going through as well with their newly diagnosed children. The Bishopp family understands all too well the pain, fear and worry these families are experiencing, and it is for this reason that they themselves fundraise for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “Our involvement with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will continue to be an important part of our lives going forward. We will continue with our fundraising to help find a cure for blood cancer and, hopefully, to eventually find ways to prevent other children from having to go through this. This is not the end of the story, but simply a move to the next chapter and it’s wonderful to be able to say that,” Emma states. “We hope that you will continue to join us along the way.”

This week is for you Lauren....

It's all about finding your rhythm.

2010-03-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

Monday AM I actually got up and did my usual (well lately hasn't been so usual because by Monday AM I am wiped out from the weekend's IronTeam training) cycling class. But last week was a recovery week so I was feeling good. My classmates gave me crap because I had been MIA for 3 weeks. We are on hills so I got another good hill workout with muscle tension. Was good to be back in class. Tuesday I did my first G3 Swim workout. I soon found out that G3 workouts are tougher and longer. The warm up is 100 yards more than a G2, the drills are 250 yards more than a G2 and the main set was 200 yards more for this particular workout. In total I swam 3,100 yards of Middle Distance Rep Workout. Wednesday AM I actually got up AGAIN for my usual cycling class. Wow, both classes in a week-my classmates were really on me. This was a tough workout with a 44 minute interval as the last interval of the day. It was broken up into 11 minute sets with the last 4 minutes of each set out of the saddle. Finished up the class and hit the Embarcadero for a 20 minute brick run. I felt great and the going from bike to run is something I've got to embrace. Thursday brought a track workout with 4x1600 (mile) repeats. My target VDOT was to run 7:10 pace. I settled into a groove and ran 6:53, 6:53, 6:45 and 6:50 at Kezar feeling very strong. I was surprised on the weekend that my 5K marker didn't improve. I told Coach Simon well I had to swim a 2,000 yard marker and then follow that up with a run so my arms were tired and that slowed me down.

I chatted with Coach Sedonia on Thursday PM for a mid season check in on how the season is going and reflected on the season to date and what I expected for the rest of the season. At this point we are 4 full months into IronTeam and I've learned that I actually like the water and can swim. It was a huge fear for me especially open water and I have to remind myself that I can swim and I'm actually a somewhat strong swimmer now when I start to panic. I've always joked with the Coaches to just get me out of the water at Vineman and get me on my bike because I know how to bike and run. I can tell by my markers that my run and bike have also improved but the swim has been the big surprise. In 4 months I hit my fundraising minimum and I'm at $8K with half the season still to go. I've learned a lot more about fueling my body for the endurance of these events. Carbopro is a nice add to my bag of tricks. So far I've been able to stave off cramps which have always gotten me on marathons and longer bike rides. Mixing the Carbopro with my electrolytes and not diluting it too much with water intake I believe is my key to success but time will tell. I'm still bouncing time goals around in my head for Half Way to Iron (at Wildflower) in two weeks. The Half Ironman will be a great test of nutrition, how mentally prepared I am and how well I've trained to get ready for the big daddy on July 31st. Stay tuned for more on this.

Friday back in the pool for another G3 Pyramid Swim of 3,500 yards. There were a lot of builds from Level 4 to Level 7 and it was a tough workout. I did a quick core/stretch routine and it was time to fuel up and hydrate for the weekends shenanigans.

Saturday AM it was back to Lake Del Valle and an open water swim. Back into the wetsuit and into the cold water. As I was driving to Livermore I kept thinking about the swim and open water and trying to think positive as I was having a bit of doubt creeping in. What if I flipped out in the water, what would I do. Ok Mental Training 101---tell my mind to Shut the F*** UP! I kept reminding myself ok I can swim. I just swam nearly 4 miles this week in the pool. Yes open water is different but I know how to swim. I have a wetsuit--I'm buoyant. I'll be fine once I find my rhythm and can zone. When I arrived at the Lake we were instructed to set up our bikes on the trainers and get into our wetsuits. Shep helped me make sure my neck was good and lubed up for the wetsuit because last time well my wetsuit gave me a nice hickey on my neck. I squeezed into my giant black prophylactic, I mean wetsuit. We hit the water and were told to swim from the shore to the cigar looking buoy and then to the yellow buoy a ways a way and repeat until 45 minutes was up. Ok, so when you hit the cold water it literally takes your breath away. I swam towards the cigar buoy with my head out of the water as I couldn't get my breath. I proceeded to try to get my head in the water but I couldn't get my rhythm and I couldn't get my breathing under control. Coach Sedonia to the rescue. She showed up and asked how I was doing. Not good. Can't breathe. Worked on swimming 10 strokes and then stopping to recollect myself. Then 12, then 14 but I couldn't get my breathing in control. I was holding my breath and not breathing out which was making it worse. Sedonia told me to breath out under water and grab air on every other stroke and BING! The light bulb went on and it was smooth sailing the rest of the swim. I found my rhythm, found my stroke, found the buoys and swam strong the rest of the day. As we finished up at shore Chris and Rocky were there. I stood up and Chris yells high five and I went to high five him and fell backwards in the water because I was lightheaded--duh!! Gotta learn to kick more to shore to get the blood flowing.

Next up a double brick of bike/run. Started with a 40 minute on the bike trainer doing high cadence and high threshold work. After the 40 minutes time to strap on the running shoes and do a 20 minute trail run. Then back on the bikes but this time no trainer. Time for hill repeats. We rode down to the bridge and then climbed back up to the top and repeated for 40 minutes. On the first climb I dropped my chain---frick, crap, pissed! Jim, Rocky and Chris all went whizzing ahead of me. I got the chain back on and proceeded to repeat the down the hill, up the hill. Like a swim I found my rhythm on the hills. I learned during DeathRide training to find your climbing rhythm and that's what I did. I eventually caught Chris, Rocky and Jim and did 6 hill repeats. On the 6th Nate and Rocky went flying by me as they did the last climb and I just said um yeah have fun because there was no way I was going to hammer up that last hill because well I still got a 20 minute run left. On the last 20 minute run Ron Yalon and I were next to each other. He started to pick up the pace. So I matched it and called his pace with a bit more speed. Next thing he said was this on? Yep, it's on. To the bikes! I took off and I was gone. I had to show this whipper snapper who's boss and beat him up the hill and to the bikes. Thank god we are done for the day--I'm pooped and time to suck up the recovery drink. Time to rest up for a long run tomorrow.

From 0 to Group 3--a guppy graduates

2010-02-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

Week 16--RECOVERY WEEK!!! Ah yeahhhhhh. After Sat/Sun Kick My IronButt BootCamp I was so glad to have a recovery week. I was crankier than a bear on Monday at work and my team knew to stay clear. I was exhausted and still in a bad mood. Tuesday morning I hit the pool for a ladder swim. My upper body was still feeling the weekend which is kind of funny because we really didn't swim that much on the weekend but my shoulders were sore. I got through the 2,250 yard swim and was still a bit cranky and tired. By Wednesday morning I was starting to feel a bit better and somewhat recovered. My wife and I took the dogs to Bernal Heights and while she walked them at their old stomping grounds I did hill repeats. One mile warm up followed by 6 1/4 mile repeats. I was definitely feeling the climbs and was averaging about 2 minute per 1/4 mile climb and was sucking wind by the time I got to to the top. Thursday I chose to do a swim as my athlete's choice workout. After the usual 300 yard warm up, I did a variety of drills and did a 400 followed by several 100's. I was not having a great day and was thinking oh no because we had a swim marker coming on Saturday of 2,000 yards. I timed the 400 and it was at 7:42. I got a Thai massage on Thursday night which was much needed and I had them focus on my shoulders and back to loosen up for the weekend.

Saturday AM brought Swim and Run Markers. Every 4 weeks we have markers to see how we are progressing. After some warm up and a few drills it was time to do the damn thing and swim a 2,000 yard marker. IronPhil and I shared a lane. Sedonia said go and away we went. 80 laps! 4 months ago I struggled through a 400 (16 laps) in 10 minutes and I thought I was going to drown. I finally learned how to breathe while swimming and how to pace myself as well as my stroke has improved. If I can find a groove and get into a zone then I can swim like a fish. I found that zone today. Counting laps is never fun but I found a new way to count after a while--lap 21 Deion Sanders, lap 22 Will Clark, lap 23 Shaun Dawnston, lap 24 Willie Mays, lap 25 Barry Bonds, etc. I got to 40 laps and well started counting back from 1 again. I figured it was going to take me 40+ minutes to do the marker as my 400 on Thursday was just under 8 minutes and well 5 times that would be 40 minutes. I grooved my way to a 37:26 swim marker! My first 1,000 was 18:35 and my second was 18:47. Not negative splits but pretty consistent. Sedonia said you just moved up to G3 buddy. Imagine that. A guy who couldn't swim a lick and was basically a zero moving through G1 to G2 to G3. The Group 3 workouts are longer and I welcome the challenge. A guppy graduates!

We then hit the track for a warm up, some running drills and 5K marker set. I finished in 22:15. My first mile was 6:58 followed by 7:17 and 7:22 which just means I went out way too fast and couldn't hold on to the pace. My final time is dead on with my two other 5K times I did in 2006 when I was training for the 2007 Napa Marathon when I ran a 22:20 and 22:11. At least I haven't slowed down and got my speed back.

I took my bike in for some maintenance and it was much needed. My back tire had taken some major wear since training for the DeathRide and had a little bubble in it so it was due for a change. New back brakes, a new chain, some spiffy new handlebar tape, a drive train clean and they found the noise I'd been hearing in the front of the bike and fixed it. My baby Ruby is happy.

Sunday AM I got to test out Ruby on a bike marker in Orinda. Captain Tony, Mentor Erin Kenyon (who bumped elbows with me in the pool on Saturday and called WonderTwin Powers Activate--form of a dolphin), IronJim, RonYALON, Rocky, Dana, Haakon and I met for the marker. Typical ride out 7 miles and turn around a Tri lane for a 5 mile marker. I took off after Ron and Rocky and into the first climb Tony passed me and I passed Ron and Rocky. I got to the top of the 1 mile climb and started to shift to my big ring and wham my chain comes clean off and I can't get it back on while on my bike--PISSED!!! I must have shifted while pedaling too fast and it just came off. I got off my bike and as I am trying to get the chain back on Jim flies by me as does Rocky. I spent at least 30 seconds getting the chain back on and I was not a happy camper. I jumped back on and put the pedal to the metal. I caught up to Rocky and he stayed with me for a while. I could see Jim in the distance and he was my rabbit. I kept seeing Jim looking back every now and then. He said that when he looked back he saw a purple jersey and wondered if it was me. Well every now and then Jim would look back and soon he was taking double takes because here I come. As we got to the last climb of the 5 mile marker I was on him he said--"you've got to be kidding me" and I said nope and passed him just before the top. My marker was 16:32 improving over my prior time of 17:03. My garmin stopped when my chain jumped so even with it off I would have been around the same time but pedal time was 16:32. My average heart rate was 156 and I was pushing it because I was mad that the chain had jumped. Don't piss me off because I just get mad and hammer. Note to self--Race Day find someone to make me mad. We did a quick 20 minute brick run around Orinda and done for the day. Week 17 and back to the grind as we stat another 3 week build with a Half Ironman 3 weeks away at Wildflower.

During the week I reached my fundraising minimum for VineMan but that is the TNT minimum and I am still charging for $10K and more. The donation that put me over my minimum was very generous and was in memory of Dana Berkow. This week I train for Dana and here is his story:

At 6'2", 280 pounds, Dana Berkow was larger than life. When he entered a room, heads turned and all eyes immediately focused on him. Yet, it was only when he began to speak that you realized all he possessed in size and stature, he matched in wit, positivity and personality. Dana worked for both Apple and Adobe, and divided his free time among his love for music, computers, and most importantly, his wife of 16 years, Fran Mottie, and their four cats, Nip, Tuck, Izzy and Murray.

In June 2005, Dana visited his doctor because he had been feeling a bit sluggish and not quite like himself. What began as a routine visit for what seemed nothing more than the flu resulted in a diagnosis of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), and the beginning of continuous doctor visits and grueling treatments.

With Fran by his side, Dana waged an uphill battle against this mysterious disease that seemingly came out of nowhere to turn his world upside down. While it would have been easy to give up or feel defeated, that wasn't an option for Dana. He faced his disease head on, his sense of humor and the unparalleled support of his family and friends as his strongest defense.

On May 15, 2006, Dana Berkow couldn't fight anymore. He passed away at age 56, leaving behind a legacy that is carried on by the countless family and friends that continue to honor him by participating on his behalf in events dedicated to funding cancer research.

Instead of Sexy Phase-- I Hit the Grumpy Stage at Boot Camp.

2010-02-20T20:46:00.000-08:00

This weekend was IronTeam Boot Camp where the SouthBay IronTeam crew joined us for workouts. On the way to Lake Del Valle Jim and I saw to Marine vehciles in full fatigue gear on the road. Looking back that was a sign of what lay ahead or what was called Boot Camp or should be renamed Kick Ass or Kick IronButt BootCamp. We met at Lake Del Valle in Livermore on Saturday for an open water swim, bike ride, trail run and stretching. The day started out by putting on our wetsuits and getting into the lake for open water swimming 101. I have swam in open water only a twice before. One time in Lake Tahoe back in the late 90's when I was on vacation with my kids. I swam to a dock that looked oh so close from the beach and well I just about died getting to the dock. Then I had to figure out how to swim back to shore without drowning. I made it but I was so scared and thought I was going to drown. The second time was at Alameda Ferry Bay Landing at a Tri I tried. I had a wetsuit and had done some swimming (but only in a pool) to prep for it. I made it to the first pier, hugged it for dear life until I could calm myself down. Repeated to the second pier and then tried to get to the shore but I was wiped out and the current was killing me and I had never practice sighting, etc. and well I found someone on a surfboard to bring me back to shore. It was a very humbling experience and turned me off the whole Tri thing because well swimming was something I hated and feared.

Today I had to conquer a major fear. I am a better swimmer now then I have ever been and I had to get over being cold, not being able to see the bottom and dealing with some minor waves. Chris and I got in first with Coach Mike because you just gotta suck it up sometimes and just jump in. We got some of the lake water into our wetsuits and it took me a few minutes to acclimate to how cold it felt and get my breathing to calm down. I had a lycra swim cap as a first layer to keep my head warm and put on a white USA (in honor of the Olympics that are going on now and so I could be seen in the water) cap on top of it. When I first got in I had a moment of oh god what am I doing because I couldn't see the bottom. I swam with my head up out of the water like a water polo swimmer initially. Finally I put my head down and started to swim the bouys back and forth and over time I became more and more comfortable with just seeing green ugly murky water below me and no bottom in sight. The wetsuit bouyancy is a big plus and as I got moving I warmed up. IronWu and I ended up headbutting in the water--note to self--learn to sight better. The one thing that bothered me was a bit dizziness. After 30 minutes in the water Coach Sedonia said to Phil and I--you can swim to shore or do one more back and forth and Phil answered with we've already swam quite a bit. Sedonia threw down on us--well you can either IronMan up or go to shore. What do you think we did--yep one more back and forth. As I swam to shore I noticed that I was really dizzy again. I got out and felt like I had been drinking. I didn't know that Lake Del Valle water was full of so much booze? It took me about 5 minutes to get my legs. Apparently being cold and not using your legs much makes this happen and I also think the waves got me a bit lightheaded too. So I survived the open water swim which I had dreaded so much and conquered that fear. Some nice warm chicken broth brought my Coach Dave and time to get the hell out of the wetsuit and into our biking gear.

We headed out of Lake Del Valle and that basically means going straight up for about a mile and a half and then a fun descent on Mines Road to Tesla Road. Jim and I rode together and I tried a new fueling strategy today with Carbopro mixed with my electrolytes and well it worked great. I still had a few bites of fig newtons along the way but this stuff works great. It was really windy along the Altamont pass area which explains all the windmill turbines which make a lot of noise. We saw cows, goats, horses, etc. on the ride today. The last 3 miles of the ride were back into Lake Del Valle and a nice little climb before a screaming descent. Every time we came around a corner I thought we were at the top--nope. Once we got to the top it was time to be rewarded with the what goes up must come down and I got up to 44 mph on the way down. It was great to see our teammates finish this pretty tough ride. Props to Shep for getting er done and Maria for hoping back on the bike after a crash last week. Meenu brought her Magic Bars which are a taste of heaven. Yummy.

Time to change into our running gear for a 30 minutes out/3o minutes back trail run around the Lake. I did an Adventure Race at Lake Del Valle in January 2009 and we rode our mountain bikes on the trails we ran today. It was a lot of up and down and my quads were really feeling it. Jim and I ran together until about 1 mile left as we caught Chris. At this point Jim said he was fading and I was ready to be done so I put the gas pedal down and just started powering through the remainder of the run. This was a solid 7 hour workout. An open water swim, 33 mile ride and a 6 mile run in the bank. Time for stretching and some fun foam rolling to end the day. Off to In and Out Burger to refuel.

Sunday AM we met in San Jose with the South Bay Team for another day of Kick IronButt Camp. Started out in the pool at 8AM for about a 1,200 yard swim at Level 5 with some Leve 7 and 8 work. We swam for a bit more than 45 minutes. We got on our cycling gear and hit the road for a very wet 18 mile ride. It rained pretty much the entire ride and all my clothes were soaked. I was with the lead group that got back first so we had some time to get on our run gear and fuel up some. By the time we got on the trail I was getting a bit chilly. We hit the trail for another 30 minute out/30 minute back run. Every 10 minutes we had to stop and do 5 burpees and 10 crunches. This was not enjoyable as your legs reacted like WTF are you doing here. I got in 6.5 miles and felt pretty strong on the run. Then we climbed onto your bikes in the trainers and did some high cadence work followed by some climbing. I think we were on the bikes for a little over 30 minutes and then we strapped on our running shoes and hit the track from some interval work. We ran for 5 minutes, then did 5 minutes of squat jumps/crunches followed by 5 minutes of running, 5 minutes of lunges/crunches, 5 minutes of running and some stairs followed by dips/reverse crunches. This was a lot of core work and after doing a bit more running we were back on the bike trainers for more cadence/climbing for about 30 minutes. One more track visit for 5 minutes of running (1 lap at Level 5, 1 lap at Level 7) then 2 minute recovery including 30 crunches. Lather, rinse and repeat until 30 minutes was up. During the bike trainer/track part of the workout I started to develop a bit of tourette's and dropping some F bombs as I was getting grumpy. I felt really good physically and mentally I was feeling very strong but two long boot camp days were starting to get to me. The South Bay Team would yell Yours after the South Bay Coach will yell Up. He started saying Go and I came up with my own response--TO HELL! Several of my North Bay Teammates joined in on that fun.

Are we done yet? No, because we still have a swim recovery? What? Swim? Recovery? It actually felt good to get into the water but my legs were finally starting to cramp a bit. I felt a few twinges during the bike training work but I didn't bring enough CarboPro/Cytomax and started feeling it. The recovery swim was a total of about 800-1000 yards with some drills and swimming with a bouy and a 100 of your choice so I did 25 breast/25 back twice. We helped get the cover back on the pool and called it a day on a 8 hour full workout day. A bowl of clam chowder soup was a yummy end to the day. Home for a big steak sandwich, a baked potato and a onion rings followed by a 20 minute ice bath for some sore legs. Ah a recovery week is here. I think it need it GOD DAMN IT (oops--there is that tourettes again). I'm staring at the foam roller right now as it is staring back at me saying come on you know you want to!!

Mentor Arlene snapped this photo before the workout on Sunday. She labeled it--You need a tan whitey! Can someone grab a sharpie as a plastic surgeon would have field day on that gut and lack of pectoral muscles. So I need a bit of bondo, sanding and new paint (a tan). But under that blob of a body fires a pretty strong V8 engine tuned from years of running marathons and doing century rides. That engine is pretty strong when I keep it fueled. My fueling strategy worked out pretty well this weekend. After Saturday I had a bit of tightness in my inner thighs and on Sunday felt a few twinges in my calves during the spins but kept on the nutrition. Overall it worked out pretty well.

On a long day like yesterday and today (15 hours of workouts) I often have to go to my inspiration and those that motivate me. Our honorees, past and present, are why we do this and I am not giving up because they didn't. They fought and continue to fight blood cancers so I'll continue the fight in my way which is training and doing these events while fundraising for needed research and patient services support.

What's my fueling strategy? Why do I feel like a NASCAR?

2010-02-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

Monday was President's day and a holiday from work. I ran 3 miles out and back at Lake Merced for a 6 mile run in 52 minutes. I felt strong and the bike ride from the day before was already out of my legs. I decided another round of Yoga would do me good so I grabbed the 7PM 90 minutes Hatha yoga and got my hips and shoulders stretched out.

Tuesday was a Pyramid Swim Workout of 2,550 yards. I swam in the afternoon and tried out my new SMOKE colored goggles to see how it would help my eyes in the water with the sun. It was much better than the clear goggles.

Wednesday morning I overslept and didn't make my cycling class. Coach Simon offered to hook up with us SF folks and run hill repeats in SOMA. Um, there are no hills in SOMA so I offered up Bernal Heights Hill as an option. I ran Lake Merced the week before and well that didn't seem like a steep enough grade (next time I'm keeping my mouth shut). My wife and I had lived on Folsom right outside of Bernal Heights in 2008 while our house was being remodeled and we would walk the dogs up the hill and I remembered it as not being too steep (yeah its like a 6 or 7 % grade). I rode my mountain bike over to Bernal which is about 5 miles and met up with Jim and Simon. When I got there the mosquito's decided to feast on me. Jim says oh they don't bother me and then they started biting him too. We did a 1 mile warmup and I had already figured out where a 1/4 mile was on the hill. After the warmup we began the workout of hauling ass up the 1/4 mile hill, turning around and recovering on the way down and repeated 4 more times. Simon was flying up the hill and I could see him in the darkness as he flew and I sucked wind. I then hopped on my mountain bike and rode home which oh by the way is pretty much all uphill. I got in my hills on the run and the bike tonight.

Thursday Am was a Short Distance Rep Swim workout of 3,050 yards. I was in the pool for a good 90 minutes as there was a lot of drill work, DPS, and trying to swim an entire lap with less than 2 breaths. I was able to do some of the laps with just one breath.

Most of my swim I was thinking ahead to Saturday and our first open water swim. I've gotten to the point that I'm comfortable in the pool and need to test my new found swimming stroke and confidence in a new environment---wish me luck!

This weekend's workout just looks downright nasty.

Saturday--Open Water swim at Lake Del Valle from 8 to 9:30AM, a 33 mile bike ride that won't be flat as coming out of Lake Del Valle and back is all uphill, an hour run followed by a stretch/foam rolling session.

Sunday--Swim, 17 mile ride, an hour run, bike trainer workout, track, bike trainer workout, track (not a typo-2 sessions of bike trainers/track) followed by a swim recovery. A swim recovery?? Ok!

The fun part is now trying to figure out my FUELING strategy (hence I feel like a NASCAR). How do I stay on top of my caloric intake, hydration, etc. so I can maintain and not bonk? Can I get a fuel cell added to my body now? Coach Dave says for "a guy my size" because, well I'm not a 90 lb girl, and I'm a bigger dude that I need more calories. So I need to take in about 220/250 and maybe up to 280 calories an hour with a mixture of solid foods and liquid nutrition such as electrolytes and CarboPro. Time to experiment and on top of physically pushing my body in the water, on the bike and on the run I've got to keep my wits about me to make sure I'm taking enough fuel to keep the furnace burning to get through these workouts and not crash in between turn 2 and 3.

Week #15 Honoree Inspiration--Michelle Maykin

2010-02-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

I met Michelle Maykin during the 2009 Man/Woman of the Year Campaign when she was one of our adult honorees. I got to speak to her a few times over the campaign. Unfortunately she lost here battle with AML on July 25, 2009. It is so hard every time we have an honoree that we train and raise money for and then they are taken from us. The first for me was Cole, then Brenda and then Michelle. If you'd like to learn more about Michelle and her courageous battle please see her website.

This was the post just after she passed:

Michelle is in peace. (Update from Mabel)
Surrounded by Van, her family and close friends, Michelle left us this morning at 2:08am.
Despite the tightness in her chest and difficulty breathing, Michelle still cracked jokes and put smiles on our faces until the very end. Always putting others before herself, her final wish was for us to love and care for one another. After so many setbacks and so much pain, she was finally able to close her eyes and find the relief that she could never attain during the past two years.
Words can’t express how proud we are of Michelle and all that she has accomplished during her short lifetime. She fought so hard—not just for herself, but for her family, friends and countless others who faced the same struggles. She shared her story candidly with the world in order to empower patients with more resources and to spread her message of hope. Before her cough and infection became severe, we were fortunate enough to enjoy a weekend in Carmel with Michelle. The home we stayed at was beautifully secluded on a forested hill and provided us with amazing views of the Pacific coastline. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect setting to share in laughter, memories and unspoken goodbyes.

THIS WEEKS IRONTEAM TRAINING IS FOR YOU MICHELLE!

My New Part Time Job Isn't Paying Much

2010-02-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

I've realized this week that training for an Ironman Distance Tri event is like having a part time job. A part time job that doesn't pay you that is! Well one thing good I did notice my pants aren't fitting me anymore. I had to wear a suit for a meeting on Monday and well I had to get to notch the belt shorter. However I know this part time job will pay for itself in the health benefits and when I cross the finish line. That's when I'll be cashing in all that "money in the bank" of training. After last weekend's workouts I was thouroughly beat. I started coming down with a cold on Sunday morning and sneezed throughout the afternoon watching the SuperBowl and sniffling through the game. I slept in on Monday and skipped the Velo eycling class which was a wise move. My wife told me that under no circumstances was I to get up and work out on Monday and I conceded unwillingly but was the best move. I was feeling this cold and worked from home to try to keep it to myself and not infect anyone else. I was good and sore from the past 13 weeks of training and my calves and feet were really hurting. So what to do? YOGA!!! I did a 90 minute yoga at Kiko Yo in Glen Park on Monday evening. I was doing yoga there during my DeathRide training and had done quite a bit of yoga when I was running more. Man did I need it. We focused on hip openers and shoulders which were both bugging me. I came out of Yoga yogied and Namaste'd. I've got to keep going as it does help with flexibility but its one more task to add into my part time job.

Tuesday I met with Coach Mike at 24Hour Fitness in San Ramon for a private swimming tutorial because as he put it I had an ugly swim stroke and it needed some work. We worked on drills that I had not been doing correctly including the side drill and 3 switches. He took the videos below and gave the following feedback:

Before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5uaWAkSqBk
You can see really well here, especially on your right arm, how your elbow is low and pulls through ahead of your hand and forearm. Also notice how your pull is almost complete before your recovery hand enters the water. Definitely not front quadrant swimming. Look at your head position. Too high, especially when breathing. I can definitely see both goggles when you breathe. Your lower goggle should be under water after you rotate your head for air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXvaHgkJ0aI
Same comments as above. From this view, you can really see the head lifting when breathing and can see both goggles clearly.

After: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBEGUmpU-zg
You are a little closer to front quadrant swimming here, but there’s still room for improvement. Catch-up drill is good for working on this. Just make sure you don’t start crossing over with your hands. Your pull looks much better here. Also, your head position is much improved here. It’s not so low that you are creating extra drag, but low enough to keep your body better balanced with your hips up near the surface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiyuLw8McXE
Same comments as above.

SBB Drill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYbRjf7t_84
This is one of your earlier attempts at the SBB drill. Here your head is too high. Your hand on your hip is a bit tense. When you roll to sweet spot, your head lifts and your are looking back – not up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WacUcyzZVM
Good body position. Much better roll to air, but make sure you are looking up. Nice and relaxed.

Switch Drill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85pKRYSbEIo
Make sure you do the switch with your head down in the water. Don’t lift your head when you roll for air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlG_BXa2_dY
Very nice. Excellent drill for working on a strong pull. Make sure you set your front elbow before you switch. Head still looking back when you roll to air.

After we worked for about an hour on fixing my stroke I did the 3x600's on the schedule trying to make sure I was keeping my head down, butt up, better balancing, pulling and rolling. I joined the Team at the SportsBasement Walnut Creek for an hour spin which was cadence work. I earned my Blues Brother Burger (burger with blue cheese, bacon and mushrooms) and sweet potato fries for sure.

Wednesday morning I ran hill repeats at Lake Merced. Try finding a hill in San Francisco that is 1/4 mile long and isn't more than a 4% grade. I have been raking my brain trying to think of one but they all seem to be too short or too steep. I knew Lake Merced from the bottom up to the parking lot is at least a 1/2 mile and might be close on the grade. So that sounded like a good option. I jogged down the hill trying to figure out a good place to start the repeats. After a 10 minute warmup (a mile) I decided to start from the very bottom and then hit my watch at 1/4 mile and I'd repeat 4 more times with the goal of running at thresshold or 7:30/mile pace. The hill starts of steep and flattens out a bit and then gets back up a bit. I felt pretty good and was able to run faster than threshhold pace. A total of about 3.5 miles and off to work. I got a call from my wife, Amy, that her grandfather had passed away not long after I got to work. Grump was a great man. He was funny, loving, a charachter and a half and treated me as if I was his own grandkid. You'll be missed Grump.

Thursday AM I was up at the butt crack of dawn to hit the pool and run. Today's swim was a short distance workout of 2,750 yards. After the usual warm up I did the side drills, switches, etc. before proceeding into the meat of the workout of 15x100's for time which were pretty consistent. 1:47, 1:50, 1:50,1:49,1:50,1:48,1:48,1:48, 1:48,1:48, 1:45, 1:48, 1:49,1:47,1:47. Out of the pool and on the trail for a 40 minute run. After cranking through some work at the office I hit the road for Cameron Park to spend time with Amy's family and drink to Grump (a few Jack's and Gingers were drank in honor of him).

Friday AM I hit the trail around Cameron Park. Afer 10 minute warm up followed by running drills on tap for today was 6x800's at 5K pace (7:10/Mile). When I set out on my warm up I marked a spot on the trail where 1/2 mile was and proceeded to run hard to that spot, recover for 3 minutes and repeat. I've been fighting this cold all week and I was still able to zone in and keep a good pace partially because I was zoned out thinking about Grump and the time I got to spend with him in Cameron Park. I was averaging 3:30 per 800 so I was ahead of pace by 10 seconds per mile. 4.5 miles in the bank.

Saturday AM I had Dakota Duty (that's my wife's horse). He was a good boy and he lunged both ways (a first for me) and was well behaved. I then jumped into the pool for a 2,800 Pacing Ladder. The workout was 2x25's at increasing speed followed by Distance Per Stroke of 100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200 and 100. This was a rough week. Didn't sleep well, stressed out and well that part time job-well it didn't pay me well this week as I'm sore, tired and need some damn sleep.

Sunday AM Jim and I joined the Team in Benecia for the Team Ride to Jelly Belly Factory at around the Suisun Valley. It was foggy when we got there and Haakon on his tri bike was ready to go go go. Chris, Jim and I rode together and Chris kept saying I can't keep this pace all day and then he'd speed up? Dude! We made it to the Jelly Belly Factory (20 miles) in just over an hour. Met up with Haakon and Yusi. Used the facilities and got our picture taken with the blown up Jelly Belly blob and off we went. Jim, Chris, Yusi and I rode together chasing Haakon and as longa s we were in a pace line we kept Haakon in our sight. All was good until Yusi got a flat. We got some air in it but it went flat again and we had to change her tube at Lake Herman. She lasted a few more miles before it went flat again so obviously there is something in her tire that we didn't find. We got back to the start in a little over 3 hours for a nice flat 47 mile ride. Jim went back to SAG Yusi and we were going to run for 40 minutes when he got back. But Jimmy can't crack corn, Jimmy can't lock our bikes up and Jimmy can't open the door to his Jeep so we can't lock up the bikes to run and we didn't want to chance bikes a go missing. Oh well. Will have to run later in the day or Monday as I got Dakota Duty again. Today he wasn't as behaved but he was alright.

Week #13--Base Rounded and Building the BadunkadunK

2010-02-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

Week #13 was filled with craziness at work finishing up our year-end audit, preparing and leading an Audit Committee Meeting, announcing an acquisition I've been working on and then earnings release on Thursday 2/4/10--all this while trying to stay on top of IronMan training. It was a mentally draining week but I got most of the workouts in. I was feeling great as last week came to an end with the improvement in all my marker sets. Week 12 ended the "Base Phase" where we laid the foundation for the rest of the season. The Build Phase is the next step in the progression of our training where we continue to tap into our aerobic training capacity but at times we'll be stressing our anaerobic capacity so we can increase stamina and ability to race at a higher power output. That means--some hill repeats which I love to run to burn the quads and glutes, more yardage in the pool and our rides will get longer and we'll have some intervals to develop the lungs and heart more.

The timing worked our perfectly in the season because at Velo Collective we moved into Hills--Hill Climbing emphasis with focus on strength and climbing technique. Monday was a Hill Climbing base training with lots of muscle tension pedaling in Z1 through 3. On these days we ride less mileage (around 20 miles) because it is lower cadence (less MPH) but they are tough workouts. I hit the pool Tuesday night for a Pyramid Workout. Swam 2,150 yards and felt really good in the water. Wednesday it was back to Velo for more hill work with seated/standing mix. The last interval was a beast of 25 minutes with quite a bit of out of the saddle work. We increased from high zone 2 into high zone 3 over the 25 minues with a build at base minus 3 down to minus 5 with a 4 1/2 minutes out of the saddle and did this twice through the interval. My legs were burned after this workout and today I had a run following the bike or a "brick". I headed out onto the Embarcedero for a run while all my classmates were taking showers or heading off to work. Out 10 minutes to Pier 39 and back for a little over 2 miles. The bricks are always interesting to see how the legs react to the change. That night on the way home I started to get a migrane and basically crashed and slept in Thursday morning (well if you can call 6:30AM sleeping in). I was at work late due to earnings so I took my rest day and skipped the hill repeats. I considered doing them Friday morning but I listened to my body and passed knowing I had a swim on tap for Friday. I hit the pool for a brutal (I mean brutal) workout. This was a 9x200 (1,800 yards) with 50 Single Arm Recovery with a 10 second rest, 50 Distance Per Stroke with a 10 second rest and a 100 at Level 8 and you get a 30 second rest before the next interval. Level 8 is hammering, hard effort, ready to blow chunks in the water pace. Coach Sedonia noted to keep your times and try to keep them within 10 seconds of each other. I surprised myself because my 100's were within 3 seconds of each other at 1:33, 1:34, 1:35, 1:34, 1:34, 1:35, 1:35, 1:35, and 1:36. But I did feel like I was ready to blow chunks at the end of this Level 8 pace.

Saturday morning we had a Coached Workout with a simulated open water swim in the pool. So we put on our wetsuits and jumped in to check it out. It was my first time in this wetsuit and it fit nicely (that's right Amy--nicely). We swam around the pool doing a variety of simulated open water swims, starts, drafting and well beating the crap out of each other to get a sense of what it might feel like in open water during an event. There were buoys in the water to swim around and all the lane ropes were removed. I felt great and the bouyancy from the wetsuit was an added plus. One of the drills was to swim with our eyes shut and see how much we veered off course. I was matched up with Rocky and Jim and we had to stop each other before we swam into a wall so there was some nice smacing on the skull to stop the swimmer before they went too far. I tend to swim straight which is nice to know because I don't want to be swimming zig zag or in circles during Vineman.

We hit the track for some drills--skipping, side to sides, buttkickers, something that looked like we had serious running problems and some builds where we ran a good pace and built to a sprint at the end. Next up was Indian drills. I remember doing this as a kid during soccer practice. Basically the person at the end of the line has to sprint to the front while the rest of group maintains pace. Your recovery is the group pace. We did 5 x 1200's (3 laps) at 8 minute pace and I was with Josh, Nate, Catherine, Kristen, Tony and Nick. We were group D and we nicknamed ourselves Group Death for these intervals. After a one lap cooldown it was off too do some fun core work. I have no idea where our coaches come up with some of this stuff but it hurts. Done at noon and time for some In and Out Burger baby.

Sunday AM Captain Tony treated us to a nice 31 mile bike ride through the Berkeley hills (including a nasty 3 mile climb to start the day up to Grizzly Peak, through Tilden to Wildcat Canyon to Orinda/Moraga, up Pinehurst to Skyline and back down Claremont. Jim and I rode together and on the descent down Claremont I was screaming down with my new IRONTEAM Flames on display. Jim actually lost sight of me and stopped because he thought he missed a turn. Asked someone on the road if they seen someone in a green outfit and the dude's jaw dropped and said--yeah and he was absolutely flying down this hill! Ha. 40+ MPH on a bike is fun.

I am $15 from meeting my fundraising minium of $5.8K but that is not my goal--$10K here we come. Thank you so much to all those that have donated to LLS and that are relentless for a cure. I truly appreciate it.

This week's Honoree is Amaey Shah. I met Amaey's mother Purvi in 2009 during the LLS Man/Woman of the Year Campaign. A day after we had the kickoff for the campaign Amaey went back into the hospital and he has been in and out since. Purvi won the title of Woman of the Year in 2009 with a great event KidsandArtauction. Here is Amaey's story.

Amaey was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in November 2005 when he was 3 years old. He went through intense phases of chemo and had to get several blood and platelet transfusions. Once he was in maintenance treatment, Amaey got chemo called Vincristine every 4 weeks. This drug affected his muscles. He became really weak and lethargic. They also gave him a steroid called Dexamethasone for 5 days a month when they gave him the chemo. This drug made him very moody and emotional. This drug sometimes made him too hungry or killed his appetite. During this phase, he would get forgetful, moody, and highly emotional. Amaey was cancer free for 2 months because in March 2008 he had a relapse. This phase of his treatment is really intense. Amaey is hospitalized for all his chemo. Over the last 6 months he has been more in the hospital then at home. Whenever he is home he is neutropenic which means his counts are very low and his immunity has dropped down massively. He has undergone radiation, transfusions, and some severe side effects. His little body is almost shutting down as a reflex to all this medication. Amaey is 7 years old now and we are homeschooling Amaey at the moment. He still has a year more on this treatment.

Purvi has been a TNT participant and has raised funds for the same. As a parent she cannot urge us enough to support TNT. The research and outreach that they support may not benefit her son and her family but it will at least help the future generation. We cannot have our children suffering in this way. We are a nation of progress we can definitely do better. Every dollar counts. Please support the cause. From Purvi Shah, mother of Amaey Shah

Can I Be Called a Triathlete Yet? Marker come and marker go.

2010-01-29T20:34:00.001-08:00

Week 12 brought a much deserved recovery week and marker sets (tests for time). In the first 11 weeks of IronTeam I had raised just over $5K for LLS on my way to my personal goal of $10K.

On average, over the first 11 weeks I had spent 3 hours a week in the pool (about 3 miles of swimming), 3 hours on the road running (about 15 miles) and 4 hours on my bike (about 62 miles) which averages out to about 10 hours a week of swimming, biking, running and doing core/strength work. I am very strong on the bike still because of my recent DeathRide training. I’ve always been a fairly good runner but I am actually getting faster with the Ironman training. The big surprise has been my swimming. The first week we had to do a swim marker of 400 yards (16 laps). I flailed through the water for 10 minutes to complete this task including doing some freestyle, some breaststroke, some floating on my back, doggy paddling and a lot of praying. It's interesting in that I can actually swim which was a surprise to me. I always hated swimming as it bored me to death as all you see is the bottom of a pool and I had a healthy fear of the water. The aha moment for me was a discussion with my son. I was telling him about my struggles with breathing and he said something so simple that it just clicked. Both my kids swam competitively for years and when my son told me dad you just take enough of a breath that you need to get to the next breath and you exhale all that out in the water. That’s when it clicked for me that I had been taking these huge breaths of air that I was basically hyperventilating. Nice that my 16 year old provided that aha moment.

I was so jazzed after the Louie Tri because I guess I can be called a TRIATHLETE now?? Hmm, well when I complete the WildFlower Half in mid-March is when I'll really feel like it because we swim in open water. In 3 weeks we do our first open water swim which should be interesting.

Week 11 had quite a bit of swimming and well what did Tuesday bring after a much deserved rest day on Monday--of course a swim. This was a ladder workout with a break down of the stroke for a total of 1,750 yards. I felt pretty good in the pool as the Louie Tri really hammered it home that I can swim. Wednesday morning it was back onto the bike in class and we rode 4 intervals building to 2 10 minute time trials. I was riding comfortably in high zone 3/low zone 4 during the time trials based on my zones that I have. I think it's time to get retested because I have been riding between 20-30 watts higher in each zone. I am improving on the bike based on where my power zones are.

Thursday was a marker run--10x800's with 3 minute recovery in between. These were labeled as Yasso 800's and I have done them before training for marathons. The idea is to run the 800 at your marathon goal pace. But today we were to run the 800's at our VDOT 800/mile pace which I double confirmed with Coach Simon because I have misread the chart before. My target was to run 7:04 mile/pace or 3:32 per 800 with a 3 minute recovery (not jogging but walking around). I went to Kezar Stadium and did my 10 minute warmup on the upper part of the track watching all the folks doing their bootcamps and kickboxing, etc. I had a flashback to a few years back when I was doing a bootcamp and I tore my left hamstring. I can't begin to tell you how much that hurts. I hit the ground immediately and was in some significant pain and couldn't run for a good 4-6 weeks. Injuries suck. Luckily I had a minor tear and didn't do any significant damage. Meanwhile back at the ranch it was time to hammer out these bad boys. I took off and my first lap was at 1:40 which was a bit ahead of my 3:32 target but oh well. I cruised through my first 800 at 3:25. I always learned from Coach Al that what you run your first lap at becomes the basis for the rest of your laps and you try to stay consistent. The next 8 800's my first 400 was pretty much dead on at 1:40 and I did 3:26, 3:22, 3:21, 3:21, 3:21, 3:22, 3:24, and 3:21 for my 800's. At about interval number 7 recovering was getting really hard and I wondered if I could keep going. My legs were getting heavy and my breathing was more labored during the second lap of the interval. With interval #10 is up. I decided to channel my 18 year old cross country days and I find Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train on the IPOD. This song was my pre race pump me up song. I cranked it up and hit the lap as hard as I could leaving everything I had on the track and came across for the fastest interval of the day at 3:18. My average was 3:22 or 6:44/mile pace for the 10X800's. I sent Coach Simon my results and for running as strong as I have been I get the reward of a new and improved VDOT score of 44. Improvement on the run--check.

Friday night back in the pool. On tap for tonight was a 1,000 yard marker. The last time I did a 1,000 yard marker on December 29th I had a bit of a"freak out" in the pool and had to flip on my back for a while to get my breathing dialed back in. That night it was a 19:11 swim. Tonight I felt very at ease in the water especially coming off the Louie Tri swim where I did 60 laps so 40 is a piece o'cake now. I did the marker in 18:11 cutting off a minute in one month. Improvement in the pool--check.

Saturday brought us an IRONTEAM run, a wetsuit clinic, a core/stretch and then a nutrition clinic. I love getting together with IRONTEAM as we have become a family. I came into training with my buddies Phil, Chris, Rocky, Jim , Haakonand IronWu (all of us had done marathon teams together) and had recently become friends over email with MdotMaria and Tiffany. I knew a few other folks from the marathon team and have met some really great people as TNT brings together some amazing folks. Typically during the week I train on my own so its nice to join the TEAM. The run was an hour and 1/2 with the goal with time on your feet no matter how far you went. I settled in running with Chris, Rocky, Phil and Sara at the start. We ran out from the Presidio SportsBasement to the Fort Mason monkey bars and then turned around and ran to Fort Point to Hoppers Hands. Then it was back to the Fort Mason monkey bars and back to Fort Point and back to SportsBasement. On the second turnaround from Fort Mason Chris was with me and then he wasn't. I thought I heard him behind me grunting and smashing gravel and when I looked it to see how he was doing Chris was a young lady? Seems I dropped him. Ok, that ain't Chris. So I decided to push the rest of the run. I finished 10 miles in 1:31 for 9:05/mile pace feeling very strong at the end of the run.

Coach Sedonia and Coach Doug gave us a wetsuit clinic which was quite entertaining to watch Doug slither into the wetsuit but was good to know where to use BodyGlide and how to get a wetsuit on and off and what kind to buy. Back outside for a TRX stretch (well that's what Doug called it but it sure seemed to be more of a workout). I have no idea where Doug comes up with these workouts but they work muscles I didn't know I had. Back inside for a very informative nutrition clinic. Very important as nutrition is key to all of our success. What I took away was I need to take a daily multivitamin, drink more water, figure out what to take in during workouts that will fuel the exercise and figure out how I get more sodium/magnesium into my diet because I do tend to cramp.

Sunday AM met with the East Bay homies for a marker ride in Orinda. We've done this marker twice before on Dec 6th (17:45) and Jan 2nd (17:57). It's a 14 mile ride in total with a 7 mile out, 5 mile time trial and 2 mile recovery. I took off first of the group and I started out of the saddle getting up to speed until I hit the first incline which is bascially right away. 5 miles later I crossed in 17 minutes flat cutting more time off my bike marker. A clean sweep of the Markers with improvement in every sport. I had a great week. The Coaches talked about the fact that some folks had a great week and others struggled. I know my day will come when I hit a plateua but right now my body is responding very well to the training.

Honoree Inspiration for the Week 12:

During the week I heard about a little guy named Liam who one of my IRONTEAMMATES (Janice Lisle) knows and also is one of my high school classmates best friend's nephew. Liam is 17 months old and has a rare blood disorder called HLH (Haemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis). It is treated like a cancer but is not cancer. His only chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant, which he just had last week. The disease is very rare and hard to diagnose, but there is a lot more awareness of it now so doctors are finding that what they thought was a 1 to 2 in a million disease is more like a 1 in 200,000.

This week is for you Liam--Get well!

Check the box--Olympic Tri DONE

2010-01-24T20:32:00.001-08:00

Sunday January 24th was the 9th Annual Louie Bonpua Memorial Tri. Louie passed away in 2002. 2002 was the year I finally got off my fat ass and started exercising. As you can see from this lovely photo (at age 30) I was well as Meenu coined it a badunkadunk. I weighed 225 lbs and was way out of shape. I started exercising in mid 2002 after years of basically doing nothing but coaching my son's baseball and soccer teams and playing softball (which means lots of pizza and beer and a beer gut). My first season with TNT was in late 2002 and the Napa Marathon in March 2003 was my event. I was finally sucking it up and doing my first tri. It was a practice and a pool swim but still a tri. Handsdown TNT has the best coaches who get us prepared for these events not only physically but mentally. We also have the best support system with our captains, mentors and most importantly our honorees. We had great support on the course today too.

I got to Pleasant Hill with my kids at 7:30AM. I put my bike next to Chris and started to set up and then Phil, Rocky and Jim started giving me hell for taking up to much space so I had to redo my set up for the transition area. Whatever!! Coach Dave gave us instructions on the course and it was time to put on the big boy britches or I guess you call it Tri shorts.

We were on the pool deck just before 9am and Group 1 was in the water. I started in G1 but moved up to G2 during the season. I had a time constraint and Coach Sedonia took care of me and put me in the lane when Haakon was done. I stood on the pool deck trying to stay warm but it was a chilly 43 when we showed up at 7:30AM. Haakon slammed out the swim and in I went. The water was very warm and it was my turn to do 60 laps (1,500 yards). Usually I need the 300 warmup and 450 yard drills to warm up but not today I immediately felt great. I did the 1,500 yards in 28 minutes 48 seconds. My parents, my wife Amy and my kids were there to see me hammer this out and I could hear Lindsay and others cheering. Out of the water and onto the bike. I'm guessing my transition time was around 10 minutes. I slammed a V8 juice for sodium and pottasium and ate the rest of an energy bar and hopped on the bike.

I feel so strong on the bike. Our ride today was an out and back from Pleasant Hill to Pinole with a pass up and over Pig Farm Hill. I had ridden this before doing the Cruella Challenge but didn't realize it. After riding the DeathRide Pig Farm Hill is a bump in the road. I passed Shep along the way and she was a happy camper for a few moments. ): My family drove along the route and my son Zack tooks photos. The ride took me 1 hour and 43 minutes (pace of 3:44 per mile and average HR was 151). Transitioned to the run with Tina Chan giving me crap on how slow I was transitioning. I guess I need to work on that. I'm guessing my transition was 7 minutes.

On the last leg for the run. I felt very good from the first steps and started out faster than I thought at about 8:45/mile pace. I ended up running the 5.5 mile course in 48:45 or 8:54/mile pace. I have this damn wheezing sound going on when I run and I can't quite figure out what it is but it is really annoying. It doesn't damper my performance and bother me physically but its irratating. It was great to come in and finish with everyone cheering and breaking the caution tape (I mean finish line).

I've said it before and I'll say it again--The Coaches are awesome and they prepared us so well. The support on the course today was amazing so thank you to the volunteers. Thank you to the honorees for sharing their stories with us and being there today. I saw several of them including Laura Warren and Frankie Andrews and of course Louie was with us. I was also proud to see everyone wearing the Brenda Donato 5K Race Bibs which I provided for the race so B was there with us too.

In summary:
Swim 1,500 yards in 28:48, Transition 10 minutes, Bike 27.45 miles in 1:42:42, Transition 7 minutes, run 5.5 miles in 48:45. That puts my time at 3 hours 20 minutes and I'm a happy camper as faster than I thought. I've got a bit of work today as the world record in the World Championship triathlon (Olympic distance) is a time of 1 hour, 39 minutes, 50 seconds---gulp!

Gearing up for Louie Memorial Tri--Can't set an alarm, can't read a VDOT Chart

2010-01-22T19:46:00.001-08:00

Monday morning I had every intention of getting up and riding in my Monday class but apparently I don't know how to set an alarm (strike 2 as I can't count laps in a pool). But I did get my swim in at the PJCC in the afternoon of 2,500 yards. Tonight was a ladder of Distance Per Stroke (DPS) with 50's at L7. Good workout and felt awesome in the water.

Tuesday it was raining like cats and dogs so I did the 8x800's on the dreadmill. Did the usual 10 minutes warmup and then hammered out the 8x800's at about 7:47 per mile pace. Now strike 3 because I realized that last time we did 8x800's I did that at 800/mile pace which was 7:04 pace instead of the threshhold pace. Strike 3, can't count, can't set an alarm, can't read a VDOT chart. Running 800's on the treadmill is torture but its a good mental test. Halfway through the workout I realized I didn't do the running drills (skips, side to sides and buttkickers). But um someone needs to show me how you do these on a treadmill?

Wednesday I managed to set my alarm and got up and got to cycling class. It was day of pulling with higher cadence or out of the saddle for an good sweaty hour and half class.

Thursday well too much going on to get workout in so rest day. Still did work for LLS as we had a Fund Development Committee meeting, a Board of Trustee meeting I needed to run and a Man/Woman Happy Hour afterwards.

Friday well it was still raining, is it ever going to stop? I ran on the dreadmill for 7 miles doing the normal 10 minute warmup and then an hour which was again challenging. I usually don't mind running in the rain but wanted to stay healthy and not have my shoes soaked thru for Sunday. I was back in the pool on Friday afternoon to do the 2,850 yard swim. It was a long swim with 6 200's and 2 400's but felt ready for Sunday. Bring on the Louie TRI.

Louie Bonpua Memorial Tri

2010-01-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

On Sunday January 24th, 2010, IRONTEAM will remember Louie Bonpua who was an IronTeam member. At the age of 32, Louie was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) and battled it for 4 1/2 years of his life.

Chemotherapy was able to keep the cancer in check. He was able to live his life, but was forced to stay on maintenance chemo. After building his strength back, Louie joined TNT in 1999 and was an IronTeam participant in 2001. When asked why? "Because I want to show people that you can still live, even when they tell you you're going to die" he responded. He finished IronMan Canada in 2001 with only 3.5 minutes left before the official cutoff with the crowd chanting "Louie, Louie, Louie."In January 2002, his condition accelerated, but Louie willed his way to carry the Olympic Torch. He pulled up to the Golden Gate Bridge in an ambulance and carried the torch for 0.2 miles... on his own power. After he passed the torch, he got back into the ambulance and made his way back to the hospital. Later that night, he would slip into a coma. He died 2 days later on January 22, 2002. This weeks training is for Louie.

This is Week 11 of training with 28 weeks until VineMan. This weekend is the first test--an Olympic distance practice tri. We'll swim in a pool (not yet in open water and that will be the next big test) for 66 laps (1.5KM), then we will ride 26.8 miles from the Adult Ed Center (route goes up Gregory Rd. to Alhambra valley Rd. Up Alhambra Valley Rd, over "Pig Farm Hill" and down the back side. To Alhambra Valley Rd to Wright Ave Park in Pinole (rest stop). Turn around and return to the adult education center. This will be followed by about a 10K run. I am looking forward to it, I'm excited but I'm also nervous as this is the longest swim so far by adding on 26 laps to our longest swim to date.

10 Weeks down: 800 Miles, 100 Hours of swimming, biking, running and doing core work. $4K raised for LLS with $6K to meet my personal goal.

Wrapped up Week 10 with a bike workout at Velo Collective. Ian Charles hosted the class to get us out of the rain and it was a tough workout. Intervals of 20, 15, 10 and 5 minutes going at base cadence, dropping down to base minus 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cadence, out of the saddle and then up to base plus 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cadence (20 minute interval was 1 minute each, 15 minutes at 45 seconds each, 10 minutes at 30 seconds each and 5 minutes at 15 seconds each). All of this was done from low zone 2 moving up each interval (5 of them) to mid zone 3. After that we did a 10 minute steady state interval, a 15 minute interval (base cadence moving to base + 2 to base + 4 cadence) and wrapped it up with 5 on/5 off of zone 5 at 120%. At this point my legs were fried and a two hour workout was done with a ton of hard work focusing on full pedal strokes and making sure there were no dead spots and each muscle was recruited (from quads, hamstrings, glutes and hip flexor).

What's a teres minor you ask? Well it hurts.

2010-01-16T19:29:00.000-08:00

I missed out on the Sunday ride which I didn't like doing but with traveling back from Portland and getting back and helping Amy with Bicks it just wasn't going to happen. But up early Monday for the usual cycling class and got in an hour and half or about 25 miles of zone 2 work. Monday night it was in the pool for the second workout of the day--a 1,950 yard swim which was rather difficult because we had to swim by breathing every 9 strokes to start and then every 7 and then every 5 back to 3. Um, that is friggin difficult for sure. I've gotten comfortable with the every 3 so going to 9 was like holding my breath and panicking. Not fun.

Tuesday morning I did a tempo run. A nice 10 minute warmup and then a 20 minute tempo run at 8:10 pace and I was cruising that I got out 2.5 miles to the turnaround with a 3 minute recovery and then back on a 20 minute tempo. I got in 7 miles and the last 20 minute tempo was kicking my butt but I stayed with it. Jumped into the gym for a quick core routine.

Back in class on Wednesday morning. Funny thing is that I had a hell of time getting out of bed and had to literally drag my butt out the door. When I got to class late it was just Mack and I. Hmm, but then my fellow "sweating to the oldies" crew of Mark and Tom showed up so it was just us today. Long intervals with active recovery. Double duty called again on Wednesday night for another swim. A 2,350 yard swim which included 12 x 100's for time with 10 second recovery. My times ranged from 1:44 to 1:52 which was nice to see consistency.

Ahh rest day calling. Took Thursday off and Friday as well. I had a chiro appointment in the AM and found that my left rotator cuff was restricted. My teres minor was the culprit. Yeah, what the heck is a teres minor. Well its a small muscle that intercepts where the lat meets the tricep and well it hurts now from all the Active Release work. Such a small muscle but what a pain as it was causing my left arm to be short which explains why my right arm goes so much better in the water. So a new thing to foam roll along with my tight calves--oh joy.

Saturday I coulnd't make the Team Ride. The Team decided to ride Saturday because of the impending storm coming in Saturday night and would have washed out Sunday's ride. I made arrangements to ride in class for 2 hours on Sunday at Velo so I'm set. I swam 2,350 yards and hit the pavement for a 7 mile run. and then hit the gym for core. A good 3 hour workout. Week 10 comes to an end with a bike ride (indoors tomorrow) and preparing next week for the Louie Bompua Memorial Tri. Next Sunday January 24th our Team will do an Olympic Distance Tri in his memory. Louie passed away on January 22nd (which happens to be my bday) in 2002. My next post tomorrow will be about Louie who will be my honoree for Week 11.

An ok training week but the best part was going over $4K in fundraising.

Week 10 already?

2010-01-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

Amy and I went to Portland, OR on Friday after I got in the track workout. Now it was a bit cold here in SF but jeez Portland was like unbelievably cold and rainy. Lovely, can't wait to swim and run. On Friday night I found a great restaurant (Higgins) and we were able to get in on short notice and we had a great dinner so I could load up for my Saturday workout.

I found a 25 yard indoor pool at the Riverplace Athletic Club to swim in so I was able to crank out a 2,650 yard workout. The Hilton where we stayed had an indoor pool but it was 18 yards? Um yeah and I discovered that there weren't many indoor 25 yard pools downtown. Either it was find a normal 25 yard lap pool or get dizzy having to turn around so much. This was a tough swim workout and Coach Sedonia is putting the hammer to us with intervals in the pool which will make us faster swimmer. The workout was:

Warmup 300
Drills:
Kick on back 3x25 150
Catchup 3x25 150
Scull 3x25 150
3x50 Build L4-L6 150
100 L7 100
400 Steady L5 400
3x50 Build L4-L6 150
100 L7 100
3x50 Build L4-L6 150
100 L7 100
400 Steady L5 400
3x50 Build L4-L6 150
100 L7 100
Cooldown 100

The builds weren't that bad. But doing a hard 100 at L7 exertion after the builds your heart feels like it is going to explode and your arms are very tired and then what--a steady 400? Great. I was wiped out this workout and my upper body was feeling it. The swimming is, I dare say, is starting to change my upper body. Hmm is the s _ _ y phase coming? I don't want to peak too early! Amy told me on the plane on Friday that I was getting more muscular in my upper body (well I only had one way to go and that was up so woohoo).

Quick presto chango and onto the road for a run. After a 10 minute warmup I cruised a 6 mile run along the Willamette River crossing a couple bridges. I love running in Portland. The weather is great and its the place where I ran my fastest marathon in 2004.

Sunday turned into a rest day as we got back too late from Portland and had to take care of Bics.

Week 10 is here already? Yep, sneaks up on you but we've been training for 2 and 1/2 months now. I'm actually enjoying the swimming--who woulda thunk? My running is improving as well as my VDOT improved already and I feel very strong on the run workouts. The biking has maintained where I was and we'll start to get into some longer rides soon which I really enjoy. It's a matter of putting them all together that is the next big challenge. We have the Louie Bompua Memorial Tri on January 24th. An Olympic Distance--.92M swim, 20 or so mile bike and about a 10k run. First time to practice dong transitions and seeing how you put them all together as well as swimming for the longest distance I've ever swam continously--about 66 laps. Training has been great but even better is that I've gotten some generous donations from a bunch of wonderful people and just crossed over the $4K mark on my way to $10K.

Week 10 Honoree: Jon Withrington. Jon was a participant on my DeathRide team and this week he'll be my inspiration for training. Jon was in my ride group for most of the season and is an amazing rider with the argyle socks :). On March 30, 2009 the following article was in the SF Chronicle:

Couples battles cancer with biking running

March 30, 2009By Edward Guthmann, Chronicle Staff Writer

It's just two months since his last chemo treatment, but cancer patient Jon Withrington is already in training for an insanely ambitious cycling epic in July. The Tour of the California Alps, better known as "The Death Ride," takes place July 11 in Alpine County.
It's a 129-mile grind that starts at 5,000 feet, crosses five mountain passes and demands 15,000 feet of climbing. The Web site, www.deathride.com, shows the logo: a scowling skull and crossbones.

"I think 60 percent of all the people who enter the event actually finish," says Withrington, 37, a design manager for the integrated-circuits group at Proteus Biomedical in Redwood City. "The people I've met on the team - 'crazy' is a good way to describe them."
"He's a bit like Lance Armstrong," says Withrington's wife, Catherine. "He's just crazy on a bike. ... He's obsessed." Before his diagnosis, Jon says, "I went out every weekend and rode from home about 55 miles with 3,500 feet of climbing. On Friday nights I'd go out mountain biking with friends after work."
Good health and fitness were constants in his life. But in late August, on the way home from England, where both he and Catherine were born and reared, Withrington felt a pain in his side.
"He thought he'd pulled a muscle in his stomach from picking up some luggage," Catherine, 35, remembers. It turned out that Jon's spleen was enlarged - "the size of a brick, 10 times its normal size," he recalled. The spleen was removed Sept. 19 at Stanford Medical Center. Subsequent tests discovered a rare case of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Another family might have panicked. The Withrington's son, Oscar, was 2 and hadn't started preschool. Their baby, Rosie, was 4 months. But Jon and Catherine - who met 14 years ago when they both were working in Hong Kong, and moved to California in 2000 - didn't waste time. They researched, gathered their resources and started a proactive regimen that kept them focused, upbeat and panic-free.
"Jon must have read absolutely everything on the disease," Catherine said on a rainy morning at the couple's two-bedroom home on a cul-de-sac near the Mission District. "Book after book after book." Online, he discovered the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and joined the organization's First Connection program, which pairs newly diagnosed patients with someone who survived the same cancer.

"They'll give you a call and you can talk to them about what you're going to be in for for the next few months," Jon said. "It was really good, 'cause my odds were looking pretty poor at the time. The guy I spoke to was in a worse state than I was and seven years later he's still cancer-free."
"That program was brilliant," Catherine, said. "It just really gave John hope."

On Oct. 7 at the Palo Alto Medical Center, Jon was given the first of six cycles of R-CHOP, a combination of drugs that includes rituximab. It's the current standard chemotherapy regimen against aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. The cycles were administered at three-week intervals, and by the end of the second, a PET/CT scan showed that he was cancer-free.
"I think the oncologist was very impressed with how I was responding - going from Stage IV to that (so quickly)," Jon said. "What I had going for me was the fact that I'm relatively young and fit." The four remaining cycles were necessary, he says, to minimize the possibility of a relapse.
From the onset, Jon approached the threat and challenge of cancer like an athlete. In a Sept. 25 e-mail to friends and family he described the treatments he was about to endure and ended the letter with a cheeky, macho "Bring it on!"
"If you met Jon you'd realize he doesn't worry about anything," Catherine said. "He never once moaned about his situation or complained or felt sorry for himself. He never said, 'Oh, I just feel terrible.' "
It helped that Jon's parents flew in from Italy, cutting short a Mediterranean sailing vacation to be with their son. They arrived in September in time for the spleen-removal surgery. They stayed through Jan. 21, two days after the last chemotherapy cycle.
At home, Jon set up a bicycle trainer and exercised up to 45 minutes per day the first two months. Later, when the remaining chemo sessions left him extremely fatigued, he still managed five minutes per day on the bicycle trainer. "He was just pretty much in bed," Catherine said. "He didn't have any energy to deal with the children or anything like that."
Catherine, who has worked as an interior designer and a high school art teacher, found her own way of addressing the crisis. She volunteered for Team in Training, a nationwide sports program that raises funds for the lymphoma society through marathons, half marathons, triathlons, bike rides and other sports challenges.

On Feb. 1 Catherine ran the Kaiser Half-Marathon (13.1 miles), which loops through Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach and along The Great Highway, in two hours and 10 minutes. She raised an unusually high $12,300 in pledges.
"Typically LLS wants you to reach the target minimum, which for Cathie was about $2,000," Jon said.
Catherine's father, Graham, 61, flew in from England to run with her. On his Facebook page Jon wrote: "Oscar was there shouting, 'Go! Mommy Go!' as Cathie ran past mile 12."

"I'm one of those people who needs exercise to just keep going, to keep my mind healthy if nothing else," Catherine said. "And I thought, 'Well, this is such a good opportunity, because it's going to be a very stressful, nasty time ahead.' And it worked. I mean, it was fantastic."
Catherine started training in October, one week after Jon's first chemo cycle, and finished one week after Jon's last cycle. "You train with a team and you have coach runs every Saturday and go to different places in Marin on these gorgeous runs. Then you have track training Wednesday evenings at Kezar Stadium. You get a schedule every week. It's brilliantly organized."
"It was pretty crazy around here," she said. "Pretty busy. The only time I got any space at all, like my own space, was when I was running. That really helped me through it."
Catherine gives her in-laws full credit. "The only way I could do it was because my parents-in-law came out here and stayed for five months while Jon was getting better. And that meant that they could cook the meals and look after the kids. I hate cooking!"
Jon returned to work Feb. 17, a month earlier than his doctors had anticipated, and started training for the Death Ride the following weekend with a 25-mile bike ride through Mill Valley. The next week he twice cycled the 32 miles from San Francisco to his job in Redwood City - a ride that takes two hours - and went home on Caltrain.
Because of the weight and muscle mass he lost during the chemo treatments, Jon said, he was motivated to regain his fitness level as soon as possible.
According to Catherine, he had also read Lance Armstrong's book, "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life," and found a cautionary tale therein.
"Lance Armstrong actually says that when he finished his chemo and was feeling better, he kind of went off the rails and started drinking a bit," Catherine said. "Because he didn't have that goal to aim for. So it's really great that Jon has got this goal of this 'Death Ride' to aim for and train toward."

Catherine, currently a stay-at-home mom, hopes to return to teaching art in just over a year, when Rosie starts preschool. I just got my green card through the mail today, so I can work without hassle. Hoorah!"
When her in-laws returned to England in late January, she said, she wasn't been able to run as much. "I miss it!" Two months later, Catherine was back in her fitness groove: "The evenings are lighter so I can run when Jon gets home from work," she said in an e-mail. "I'm running four times a week and training for the Bay to Breakers. I also swim once or twice a week."

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma facts What is it?Jon Withrington's form of cancer is known as T-cell/Histiocyte-rich B-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma (T/HRBCL), an uncommon variant of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). According to Dr. Sandra J. Horning, oncologist at the Stanford Cancer Center and professor of medicine at Stanford School of Medicine, it is "a type of aggressive lymphoma with a distinct microscopic appearance in which the malignant B-cells are surrounded by non-malignant T-cells. This subtype is relatively rare but commonly presents with an enlarged spleen and bone marrow and liver involvement. The cause is unknown." Who gets it?Typically, patients are younger than those contracting other forms of DLBCL, says Dr. Priya Chakravarthi, medical oncologist at Palo Alto Medical Foundation. "[Patients are] very often in their early 40s. It also tends to be more common in men. For the other diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, there is no such sex predilection." Course of action? At the moment, T/HRBCL is treated like any other aggressive B-cell lymphoma with R-CHOP. CHOP is a combination of three chemotherapy agents and a steroid. More recently, rituximab (brand name Rituxan) was added, creating the acronym R-CHOP. "Rituximab is an antibody to a protein on the surface of the lymphoma cell," says Chakravarthi. "It works by binding to CD20, a molecule on the surface of almost all B-cell lymphomas and in normal B cells. It has been shown to be very effective in combination with chemotherapy, and has shown improved survival in patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma." - Edward Guthmann
E-mail Edward Guthmann at eguthmann@sfchronicle.com.
(C) San Francisco Chronicle 2009

Seems I have lost my ability to count...

2010-01-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

Who needs a Rest day on Monday after a 5 Hour Workout on Sunday--Not ME! I did my normal cycling class on Monday and I was feeling the Sunday workout by the end of the workout as we rode in zone 2 all day with active recovery. Tuesday it was in the pool for a 2,350 yard workout with the primary workout being a series of 100's at different exertion levels followed by 200's or 300's at lower exertion levels. By Wednesday morning all the workouts had caught up to me so it was a much needed rest day.

Thursday night back in the pool for another 2,350 yard workout. Tonights workout was a series of 300 yard intervals. The first was at Distance Per Stroke, the second every 3 strokes breathing, the 3rd a build from L3-L5, the 4th every 3 and then the 5th was L4-L6. I normally count laps every 25 yards so a 300 is 12 laps. For whatever reason I decided to start counting a lap as a back/forth or a 50 yard. I got into a groove and was up to 10 when I realized that I have swam more than 300 yards but actually 500 becauase I can't count--What an idiot and even better yet I'm an accountant and I can't count.

On tap for Friday AM was a run workout on the track at Kezar. 8 x 800's (2 laps) at 3:32 pace (or 7:04 per mile pace) after a warmup and drills. I am pretty good and dialing in a run pace on the track. But man 8 800's is brutal at that pace with 3 minute recoveries. I lost count again like last night in the pool. Was that 800 number 5 or 6? I figured it out eventually but jeez my brain isn't working right. My laps were 3:33, 3:33, 3:36, 3:29, 3:29, 3:30, 3:30; 3:28. Pretty damn consistent but damn tiring. Did a quick core workout. Off to Portland.

What a way to start out the New Year--Iron UP!

2010-01-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

New Years Day did a 9 mile trail run organized by two of my favorite people in the world--Mama Lisa and Coach Alphonzo Jackson. Of course I find out from Meenu that I have a badunkadunk. Well know I looked that up just to check it out and well hmm:

a round, plump incenibly juicy derrierre so phat that it jiggles more than a cup of jello puddin around Bill Cosby;an noun describing the large size of one's "ghetto booty"; junk in da trunk; or
a Big Fat Ass

Well thank you very much Meenu. I just have a bunch of muscle in my hiney region. All because I was picking on Chris and his buddha belly (aka beer belly).

Saturday afternoon did a bike marker with Jim--7 miles out as a warmup, 5 mile bike marker followed by 2 mile recovery. My bike marker was 17:57 which was a mere 12 seconds slower than my previous marker. But there was a headwind, my legs were still tired from the 9 mile run, Jim slowed me down, ah forget it I was just a bit slower fine!

Sunday Morning IronTeam Training Calling!! Had to get up about 6AM so I could fuel up (including a stop at Starbucks for an Iced Tea and the Sunday paper) and get on the road to San Ramon and pick up Jim en route. I always have to pack the night before for a workout but with the IronTeam it is on overload because you've got swim gear (goggles, trunks, cap, towel, my glasses/contacts), cycle gear (bike, helmet, glasses, jersey, chamois, gloves, water bottles, pump, arm and leg warmers, Garmin watch, etc.), run gear (shoes, shorts, water bottle) and all the fuel (turkey w swiss cheese sandwich, fig newtons, banana, etc). This is why the night before a workout making sure I don't forget something and cram it all into my tri bag that nearly drags the ground when I sling it over my back.

We kicked off the workout at 8am and hit the pool and yahoo it was a warm pool. About 400 yards of warmup to get the muscles moving followed by 3x75 (kick, catchup, free build from L3-L7) and 2x100 focusing in my case on getting new water and elongating my stroke. Then the main set which wasn't as bad as I thought it sounded. 2x50 L3, 2x100 L4, 3x150 L5, 2x100 L6, 2x50 L7 with 15 second rest in between. By the L7's I felt like I was skimming the top of the water as I pulled hard. We did another 100 to wait for the other groups and then did some breathing drills. Tried swimming the entire length of the pool without having to breath. First and second attempt, 1 time. Third attempt, 2 times. Ok, take some deep breaths and breath out slowly and sure enough I got within inches of the wall before I had to take a breath. Another 100 of crowding with 4 in a lane and then 100 cooldown. All in all 2,500 yards in the bank. Coach Dave said get moving as you are on the bike next.

After a transition it was on the bike for an approximate 18 mile ride. We headed out in a group and I got behind Chris and Will with Jim in tow. After a while Will pulled ahead and Jim and I went with him and started taking turns pulling on Highland which was really windy. Coach Simon told us to do another loop if we felt like it and well you know me I'm going to take that extra credit when I can and after doing the 4 mile loop with a fast descent I dragged Jim for another loop and then back to the High School we had started from. IronPhil took a spill but he knew he was going down so he "supermanned" it into the grass and came away unhurt fortunately. 22 miles in the bank.

We got back and strapped on our running shoes and hit the pavement for a 30 minute run. It was a 2.5 mile loop and the first mile my left foot was still frozen from being on the bike but after a mile it came back. Jim and I covered the 2.5 mile loop in about 24 minutes so we ran out another 3 minutes and back another 3 to get in the full 30 minutes. Bring on Core and Doug!

Yeah, we got Core now. Doug is a sadist and he comes up with some crazy ass core workouts. Such as plank with a partner and play slap hands? Yeah. As I type I think my abs just spasmed again. Oh and then Jim mouths off about with "Is that all you got?". Note--add to packing list--Duct Tape for Jim's mouth.

All in all nice recovery week with a simulated tri today (kind of) because we have an olympic distance tri in 3 weeks.

Inventory: This week Run 13 miles, 2.25 hours, Bike 61 miles, 4 hours, Swim 2.75 miles, 2.5 hours. In total 107.5 miles ran (22.7 Hours), 22 miles swam (25 hours), 511 miles rode (30.5 hours).

Honoree for Week #9 for which I'll train--I met this young lady about 3 years ago on the Run Team and she is an ultimate "kick butt take names" kind of person. She was an honoree on our run team but also the 2007 and 2009 Girl of the Year in the Man/Woman Campaign. This week I train for Adrianna and this is a note from her mom.

Adrianna Tucker was diagnosed on November 3, 2005 with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) at the age of 9. She was a brown belt in karate, about to begin black belt school when she was diagnosed. She was a competitive soccer player, and an avid dirt bike rider. We were told by the doctors at Children's Hospital Oakland (CHO), that her treatment would take between 6 and 9 months. She began chemotherapy on November 3 and her final treatment was on April 28 2006 (just shy of 6 months). We lived at CHO for 5 months with the exception of 14 days. Adrianna did not cry one time while in the hospital and ALWAYS had a positive attitude. Adrianna said that God gave her cancer because He knew that she could handle it, and she believed she was saving another kids life because another child might not be as mentally and physically strong as she is and might not survive it.

For those of you that don't know, AML is a much more aggressive form of leukemia which requires very harsh rounds of chemotherapy. Adrianna had hair down to her butt, and after 6 days of being in the hospital and on treatment, she was completely bald.

Adrianna is currently 3 1/2 years in remission. She is in the 8th grade and a 4.0 student. She got her black belt in karate the year after being out of the hospital, and is a D-1 soccer player.

We thank the IronTeam so much for doing what you're doing! I hope you can gain strength when you need it from Adrianna and other victims of cancer, when you hit a tough spot in your race. They never gave up and neither should you!!!

All our support, The Tucker Family

Good-Bye 2009, COME ON 20 10

2009-12-29T20:29:00.000-08:00

My massage on Sunday night was heaven. I so needed it after the last 3 weeks and Sunday's run at Inspiration Point. My legs were barking but my back (especially my lats from swimming were sore). I got well stretched out and totally relaxed. So relaxed I slept through my alarm on Monday morning--whooops. Oh well Monday is a rest day anyways and this is a recovery week (the second one so far in the season). Per Coach Dave--rest week means REST WEEK. We need to scale back our volume on rest weeks to allow our bodies to recover from three weeks of progressive loading. If we don’t reduce our training volumes, we will be burning the candle at both ends and before we know it we will be teetering on overtraining. Overtraining requires a substantial reduction or elimination of workouts to recover from and will put a hefty dent in any progress we have made thus far. So REST is in order with a lighter training week ahead.

Swim Marker--Tuesday: This was our 3rd swim marker this season. Today's swim was 300 Warmup, the usual 3x50 kick on back, scull and catchup and then the fun began--a 1,000 (40 lap) marker for time. For whatever reason I started to feel out of breath and almost like a "panic attack" was coming on early in the marker. I had to float to my back for about half a lap and collect myself as I was feeling off. Once I collected myself and got my breathing back to semi normalcy I got into a rythym of breathing every 3 strokes with bilateral breathing and before I knew it 40 laps was done. My marker was 19:11. My original 400 marker was 10 minutes which would have predicted a swim time for 2.4 miles of 1 hour and 46 minutes. My 800 marker was 15:30 predicting a 1 hour and 22 minute swim my (a substantial improvement) my 1,000 marker took off another minute to predict 1 hour and 21 minutes. Coach Sedonia said "although a 2 second improvement per 100 yards only translates into a 1 minute improvement in your overall predicted 2.4 mi swim, the fact that you are able to hold a pace that is as fast or faster than before for a longer amount of time is huge! Great work! I'm even more impressed to see that although you started out with a bit of a "freak out", you were able to keep it under control and work yourself out of it. That shows immense growth and knowing how to deal with situations like that will only make you a better open water swimmer and triathlete." I'll take whatever I can get as this swimming stuff is hard work.

Bike--Wednesday: I did my usual cycle class at 6AM and found out that our teacher's wife had her baby the night before so Mack was filling in. We did 4 intervals all in zone 2 with fast cadence, climbing, out of the saddle and pulls. Great workout as usual.

Headache--Thursday: Well I started off the new year 2009 with the flu. Why not end it with another day of not feeling well. I woke on new year's eve with a massive headache. After putting together the crock pot for some pot roast I headed to the gym figuring that the headache would go away. By the time I got to San Mateo it wasn't better, it was worst. So what does a fool do--workout anyway. I ran for 10 minutes and that helped but the minute I stopped it was back with a vengenance. Stumbled through the core workout and called it quits. Tried to get some breakfast and I knew it was time to head home instead of work. Fortunately 2 extra strength Excedrin and a power nap did the trick and "walla" it was gone. I worked from home the rest of the day to rest up for 2010. Started 2009 with the flu and ended it with a headache--jeez good riddance 2009.

Happy New Year Trail Run--Friday: Well last year I woke up on New Year's with the flu and missed Mama Lisa/Coach Al's Happy New Year Trail Run. Not this year. I felt great. Picked up Jim and headed for Lake Chabot. Lake Chabot was the site of my very first TNT training run so it holds a special place in my heart and is a fun run with lots of trails, scenery and elevation changes. Mama Lisa announced that she had been diagnosed breast cancer the week before which was a blow to all of us who were there. Mama Lisa has been a godsend. She is an absolutely amazing lady with the biggest heart who has coached me for years. If anyone can beat cancer it is her. She has done hundreds (I mean like near 300) marathons and ultramarathons. When I ran RNR San Diego in 2005 it was her 200th and I was proud to say hey that's my coach. With that news we went out and did the Damn Thing with Mama Lisa right there with us smiling and laughing as only she can.

Coach Rudy went out ahead to mark the course and we headed out about 9AM. Chris was running with Haakon and Rocky, Phil, Jim and I were not far behind. About a mile in we found Chris who wisely decided not to run with Haakon. We hit the 2 mile mark and made a right onto some fire trails that I had never ran before. Mama Lisa was telling us to walk the hills and we gladly did as some of these were nasty. We covered new ground for me as we ran along trails and mud, through creek beds and finally looped back around to the 2 mile mark back to base camp. All in all we (Rocky, Jim and I) did 9 miles in about 1 hour 34 minutes. We ran the last 5 miles or so with one of Mama Lisa's ultra runners. She was telling us how easy this run was compared to last week when they did Mt. Tam. Gee thanks!!

Looking forward to 20 10 and VINEMAN. Happy New Year to ALL

Lions, Coyotes and Cows-Oh My.....

2009-12-26T18:25:00.000-08:00

After the 6 hour workout on Saturday and a 30 mile ride on Sunday I was ready for a rest day and I took it (with pleasure)! Zack and Hayley got into town on Sunday evening and I picked them up Monday morning. I visited my mom on Monday morning and she was recovering nicely and able to come home later that day. The kids and I hung out for the day and I went and saw Wicked with Hayley (that's where the Lion comes in). It was a great show and we got home pretty late. Tuesday morning called for a swim workout and well I gotta practice so I headed down to San Mateo PJCC and did my workout of 2,350 yards or 94 laps (300 WU, 3x50 Kick on Back, 3X50 Catchup, 3X50 Scull, 2x100 L5, 300 L5, 2x100 L6, 300 L5, 2x100 L7, 300 L5, 100 EZ CD). When I jump in the pool and start with the warmup I really feel it in my lats and triceps so obviously I must be working those muscles when I swim. The 2 by 100's at different paces was tough and made the 300's harder. The kids and I drove over to the Marin Headlands so Zack could take some photos of the GG Bridge and as we were coming out of the Headlands we saw a coyote cross the road. He stared at us like what are you doing? Tuesday night I dropped off the kids as I had to get back to work on Wednesday. I got back on the bike on Wednesday in class with some long intervals at high zone 2 for most of the workout.

Thursday morning back in the pool on Xmas eve. Another long swim workout of 2,150 yards or 86 laps (300WU, 3x50 Kick on Back, 3X50 Catchup, 3X50 Scull, 50 CU L4, 150 DPS L4, 250 1/2 CU L4, 400 Perfect Stroke L5, 250 1/2 CU L4, 150 DPS L4, 50 CU L4, 100 EZ CD).

For both swim workouts this week is was darn cold. On Tuesday morning it was so windy in San Mateo that the flags at the 5 yard marks were horizontal instead of being the normal vertical. On Thursday is was in the high 30's and well you gotta Ironman up and get in the pool. The worst part is getting out of the pool as it is so cold but my past winter training for marathons has come in handy as well you just gotta suck it up.

Amy and I headed up to Cameron Park for Xmas with Grump (Amy's grandfather) and family. We had a nice relaxing day. I headed out early Friday morning for a run/core workout around the lake at Cameron Park. It was about 38 degrees out and there was some ice on the ground. After a 10 minute warmup around the lake and some skips, side by sides and buttkickers I jumped on the workout of 4X1200's (3 laps around a track) at threshold pace followed by a 3 minute recovery. I had to look up my new VDOT pace as I am now a 42 and it called for a 7:47 per mile pace for the 1200's. I had measured out a .75 mile marker on my warmup run so I knew where to pull the parachute. I ran out .75 miles, recovered for 3 minutes and then ran back the opposite direction to my starting point and repeated until I was done. The coming back on interval 2 and 4 was a bit harder because the lake has some slight uphill on the path but I got in my times and around 7:45 pace. I did a quick core routine and was done for the day and ready to eat some more.

Saturday called for a 3 hour 45 mile flat ride. Ok, so where in SF do you find a flat ride--see elevation map from my ride? Cause well I haven't found it yet so I decided to head for the Marin Headlands. This is one of my favorite rides as it is about an hour or 16 miles to the other side of the GG Bridge from my house. On the way to the bridge along the Lincoln Park Golf Course what do I see except for golfers--a coyote. Yes a coyote right here in SF. I love this ride because I get warmed up and then get in some climbing. Heading up the Headlands is so cool because you can see the whole city and the bridge is right there. Descending down the back side of the Headlands is a steep descent that you almost look like you could fly off the road into the Pacific Ocean. I rode down and then over to Rodeo Beach and found some new running trails at Fort Cronkite. There were folks surfing there and several runners on the trails which I need to come back and run some time. As I was leaving I noticed a sign that I took a picture from my cell phone with--SLOW--FROGS ON ROAD WHEN WET! I climbed out of the backside of the Headlands and across the bridge to GG Park and on tired legs climbed up Clarendon and Twin Peaks and back home for a 39 mile ride in just over 3 hours. Time to open XMAS presents with my kids and parents.

Sunday morning called for a run. I met up with the Team (Haakon, Rocky, Phil, Tiffany, Michelle and a few other folks) at Inspiration Point. Inspiration Point is one of my favorite runs as you run along the Berkeley Hills and on a clear day you can see all the city but not today--it was fogged in. The other thing I love about Inspiration Point is the terrain as you are doing a lot of ups and downs (as you can see from the elevation chart) and you also are running next to the Cows. Yes I said Cows. About mile 2 you cross a cattle guard and there they are grazing and paying no attention to you. inspiration Point is also the place where the photo of Brenda was taken. We did a 4 mile out 4 mile back for a total of 8 miles that took me 1 hour 16 minutes and felt really good. Coach Mike put us through a quick core workout of one legged squats, dips, pushups, stepups and then lunges around the parking lot. I'm done for the day and ready for my thai massage.

Inventory: 564 Miles, 70 Hours of Training in the Book over 7 weeks. 95 Miles (20Hrs) Running, 20 Miles (22 Hours) Swimming and 450 Miles (27 Hours) on the Bike.

This weeks Honoree is another Board of Trustee--Christie White She just got married recently so I'd like to honor her this week. In 2007 I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. For someone who was a runner and did all the “healthy” things, it was quite a shock for me and my family! It was tough year of chemo and radiation, no hair and no energy, but I got through it and have been in remission for almost 2 years. In 2008 I joined the Board for LLS and it’s been an amazing experience. I really wanted to be able to give back and help others who might be going through the same ordeal. Brian is one of the committed and dedicated bunch of folks that I have the pleasure of working with and I am thrilled to help him on his journey for doing IRONTEAM.

Stressful week--IRONTEAM WORKOUT TO THE RESCUE!

2009-12-18T21:05:00.001-08:00

I started Week 6 off with my usual bike class at 6AM on Monday morning. Early Tuesday morning I took a swim lesson at the PJCC to work on the things that Coach Sedonia pointed out on Sunday. My lesson was an hour and we worked on keeping my cocked up more which is actually harder than you think. It changes your body position because I had been pushing my head so low in the water that I was creating well, a "Tug Boat" effect. We worked on kicking and I am sorry but I am just pathetic when it comes to kicking during swimming. The swim teacher kept telling me to use my leg like a whip with my ankle being the last part. I did a variety of kicking drills and well it just doesn't come naturally. Then worked on more rotation with my body (while kicking) as well as some sculling. I had been doing sculls all wrong and now they make much more sense. One hour was up before I knew it and I had to get to work so I decided to come back at night and put in some laps. Back at the pool in the afternoon and cranked out several 100's working on keeping my head up, more rotation and ugh kicking. I was back on the bike early Wed am because I am sick of taking heat from my fellow 6am'ers for missing class once in a while because well IRONTEAM training is tiring. I could only do class until 7am because I had a meeting in SF at 7:45AM so I cut the workout short but got in 3 of the intervals we were doing. On Thursday morning I was back in the pool for a workout working on the usual drills (kick on back, catchup, sculls) and then 2x100's followed by 300's. I had an hour to get the swim done and then it was a change of clothes for a 5 mile run and then off to work. I felt like my swimming had plateued this week and I was feeling a bit frustrated.

My aunt Pat had surgery on Thursday at Stanford Hospital and then my mom had colon surgery on Friday at John Muir. I took Friday as my rest day to spend the day in the hospital with my family as my mom was having her surgery. Talk about a stressful week culminating in worrying about my family. So IRONTEAM training to the rescue!

I spent the night with my Pops in Concord on Friday night. I got up Saturday morning to load up my Tahoe for the trip to San Anselmo. In the process of taking my bike to the car I stepped on a rock in my parents front yard and twisted my ankle and there I lay on the ground with my bike on top of me. Well good morning. I got my bike loaded and started to walk around to get my ankle back to feeling right. My dad comes wandering outside in his robe scratching his butt. I am in the street walking around and we look at each other and he says "what the hell are you doing walking around the street?" and I ask "well what the hell are you doing walking around in your robe? Looking for his newspaper which I already put in his chair.

Saturday's workout looked ominous. Run/Core/Swim/Bike all in one day! We started at 8AM and ended at 2PM for 6 hours (that is not a typo). We started off with a run. We had another 2 mile marker test on the track. After a few warmup laps we did some skips, side to side and butt kickers and then it was time to line up. The goal of the 2 mile marker is to run it as fast as you can. So away we go and I tagged along with the leaders and the first lap was 1:30 (umm way too fast). I settled into my pace and my first mile was 6:50 and I finished the 2 miles in 14:10 which was 1:10 faster than my original marker test. My VDOT score moves from 38 to 42 which just means my run workouts get harder and faster. We then rolled into a core workout led by Coach Doug who was not in a good mood and he whooped us so bad that Chris and I actually fell asleep (look closely at the picture) doing hamstring bridges. We did crunches, pushups, squats, dips and whatever else Coach Doug could come up with to punish us. But I know that come race day I'll be thanking him for the punishment.

Then it was off to the pool for an 1 and 1/2 workout. Started with a warmup of about 10 laps and then we were into working on breaking down our swim stroke. We did a variety of sculls for 6 laps. During this Maria says "Ladies first and then says--go ahead." Nice. Payback is a bitch and will come when least expected. Then we worked on our pull for 4 laps and follow through for 4 laps. We swam some ugly laps on crossing over and short arming to see how we should not be swimming for 4 laps and then 2 laps of perfect stroke. Then did a pyramid--50, 75, 100, 150, 100, 75, 50 all with perfect stroke. At this point they stuck me with Chris in my lane--like oil and water. Sedonia then gave us instructions on how to go from Level 3 (easy pace) to Level 7 (hammering) which is key to getting faster (just like speed work). Time for a 75 cool down. I felt really good in the pool today other than my upper body was screaming from the Core workout still--thanks Coach Doug!

Time to change again and get on the bike trainer. Chris and I were decked out in our DeathRide jerseys and we got some teasing about coordinating in advance which we didn't. Everyone is just jealous because we have done the Damn Thing. Don't hate!! Spinning away we did single leg drills and some simulated climbs. Then Coach Mike says off your bike and grab your running shoes you are doing a run--huh? 4 minutes out and 4 minutes back and um I couldn't feel my legs but they were working. Climbed back on the bike and continued to work on drills. I was sweating like a beast and had a puddle of sweat under my bike. We did a quick bike tire changing training and wrapped up the day. 6 Hour Workout--WOOF! GO TEAM IRONTEAM

Sunday morning I headed out the door for a bike ride. Where to go. I usually ride north to the GG Bridge but today I decided to go south towards Daly City and got the itch to do the San Bruno Mountains which I had never done before. The view from our house is of the San Bruno Mountains. It's about a mile and half climb to the top and then you can scream down the other side. I got to the bottom of the east side and turned around and headed back up the west side for another climb followed by an even faster screaming downhill (topped out at about 42 MPH and actually passed a "Student Driver" car). Can you picture me just smiling at the driver as I flew by on my bike? 30 miles in 2 hours.

I'm absorbing this training like a "sponge". Kind of like ta da---SpongeBrian IronPants! This week 110 miles and 14 hours or training. Money in the bank baby. I'm over $3K in my fundraising and I've only just begun.

This week's honoree is Kathleen Golden. She's fresh in my mind because she got got engaged. Kathleen and I are on the LLS SF Board of Trustees and saw her/talked to her several times this week.

My story started when I was 25, a few years out of college living in New York City and leading a very normal 25-year-old life. Great friends, great family, pretty not-great near-entry-level job, but still, things were going along well. But I developed a cough, and it stuck around for a few months. During that time I also was very fatigued, to the point where I would come home from work and just collapse on the couch until it was time to go to bed. And I had itchy skin. All things in and of themselves that wouldn’t sound terribly serious. But I learned in August of 2005 that those things, together, after getting a chest x-ray to understand what was making me cough, meant that I had Hodgkin’s disease – a cancer of the lymph and blood systems.

Things quickly went into high gear. I immediately was sent for a CAT scan, was told that evening that I likely had cancer, and would be treated with chemotherapy and radiation, and then within days I was getting a biopsy to make sure of the diagnosis. It was a lot for anyone to take in, and a complete shock to me and my family, where there was never any history of cancer. The sickest we got was the rare broken bone!

But right from the beginning of treatment I knew I’d be fine. In fact my oncologist said to me, “Next year is going to be tough, but you’re going to be okay.” And that’s because Hodgkin’s disease is one of the lymphomas that has the highest treatment success rate. Over time, through research, the remission rates have raised to over 85%. It’s the reason I stay involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society – I want everyone who’s diagnosed with one of these diseases to have as successful an outcome as I’ve had.

Fifteen years later I’ve had no recurrence, and at one point my oncologist told me I was healthier than he was! A cancer diagnosis, six months of chemotherapy, five weeks of radiation, and all the ups and downs along the way was all an incredible experience for my family and me to go through. I’ll be forever grateful for their support during that time, for the incredible care I received from my doctors and nurses, and for the researchers, who years ago, figured out how to successfully treat this disease. Let’s now cure all the rest of them!

Water (Swim), Water (Bike in the Rain), Water (Run in the Rain), Water, Water, Water!

2009-12-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

It seems like there is a rain cloud following me or something. Friday afternoon I decided to get in a ride before the storm hit. I headed out at 2:30PM and the minute I started pedaling from my house it started to rain. It rained the entire 20 mile ride and when I got home I couldn't feel my toes as they were frozen. Not only was it raining but it was also chilly out. I wore my booties, rain jacket and layered up but came back soaked.

Saturday I went out and did a run workout at Kezar Stadium. Now when I got there it wasn't raining at all. Obvioulsy it was waiting for me because it started the minute I hit the track and by the time I finished it was a torrential downpour and the track was like a lake. On tap for today was 6x800's with 3 minute recoveries. Did a 10 minute warmup and then did some skipping drills, side to sides and buttkickers. For the workout my target lap times were 1:51 based on my VDOT and I did 1:50, 1:52 (3 min recovery on a 400), 1:52, 1:53, recovery, 1:54, 1:51, recovery, 1:48, 1:52, recovery, 1:48, 1:52, recovery 1:50, 1:48. I was saoked and it wasn't from working up a sweat. I had to get home and head to Lafayette for Raji's service. The church was packed and there was an overflow room with a video feed and that room was packed. Just goes to show you what a great friend and person she was because so many came out to remember her. She was an amazing lady and I was fortunate to have had her touch my life in some way. There were many TNT folks there and Coach Carolyn Balling gave a great speech.

On Sunday morning we had a Swim Coached Workout in Novato. The goal of today was to work in different groups through a variety of skills, drills and get videotaped. I swam with three of the gals on my team and drill #1 (with Margaret) was to work on some open water skills. So learning how to site and we practiced that in the pool. Then we did something very interesting. Close your eyes and swim for 10 strokes or so and see where you end up. I ended up swimming right into a lane rope. Sandy said you looked great and then all of a sudden you went completely off course just like that--my answer was I guess I blew a tire then. We then did swimming as a group to simulate what open water might feel like so we all swam together in the lane bouncing off each other which was interesting. Drill #2 station (with Coach Dave) was drafting skills. We worked on one person leading and then the rest of us falling in behind to draft off the other swimmers. Every once in a while we'd touch the persons toes in front of us to let them know we were there. I know how to draft on a bike and how much that helps you save energy and let the group pull you (of course you can't do that in a Tri so that's out) but you can draft in the swim. Drill #3 (led by Tracy) was skills like side balance, catchups, etc. I am the most inefficient kicker and my legs and ass drag through the water. I really have to work on that. Drill #4 (led by Mentor Michelle) was sculls and treading water. Um I hate sculls by the way. Its a way to work on how the water feels on your arms so you can feel how much you can use the resistance of the water during the swim. During the sculls I moved over into lane #2 and got videotaped. Sedonia then watched the video with us and gave us advice. It was nice to hear how to improve but also Sedonia said hey it's Mister 180 meaning I had really turned around my swimming from the beginning to now. I've really been focusing and working on it so I'm glad it shows.

Video is attached of my swim (notice my Mom Swim Cap?) and the advice I got from Sedonia.

Your head is a little low. Cock it up slightly.
When breathing, look straight to the side.
Your arm is slightly short in front. Reach out a little further.
Start your rotation from the hips to transfer energy to the front, and power through the water.

Here’s the video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLTFgbnbpJ8

After the workout we had our first honoree potluck. Laura Warren, Frankie Andrews and Christophe Job spoke and inspired us. Laura has had Hodgkins disease twice and breast cancer twice. The breast cancer is most likely a secondary cancer due to radiation she received in her late teens for the Hodkgins disease. This is something LLS is looking at with researchers on how future treatments limit the side affects as this also happens in children who have Leukemia and are treated and then develop cognitive issues.

This weeks honoree is someone I never met but wish that I had. Julia Gay Kinion was my grandmother and she passed away on December 17, 1950 at the age of 43 from cancer. I turn 43 next month in January. Back in the 1950's cancer was cancer and its hard to say what type it was. She had eight children of which one was my dad. My dad was 11 years old when she passed away. It has been 59 years since my grandmother passed away. Both my mom and my aunt are having surgery this week so my thoughts and prayers are with them for successful and speedy recoveries and I train thinking of them and for the grandmother I never got to meet.

Money in the Bank! Head Coach Dave has a saying--we are making deposits along the way with our training and it's called "money in the bank" which we will withdraw on race day. In the past 5 weeks since Kickoff I've put in 374 miles and 47 hours of training (75 miles running/15 hours, 13.5 miles swimming/13 hours, 286 miles biking/16 hours).

Be like Mike--Michael Phelps that is!

2009-12-09T22:10:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to be like Mike--Mr. Michael Phelps and his multiple gold medals that is. That dude swims like a dolphin and I swim like a tugboat or a big old barge--your pick!

Swim swim swim and swim some more. Week 5 was welcomed by some chilly chilly weather and this week we had what, of course, SWIM FOCUS (yeahhhhhhhh, ughhhhhh). Swim Focus – the first of several “focus” weeks we will have throughout the year. It is a week where we will have the opportunity to dig deep into our skill set and practice our technique repeatedly. Well good thing because I need some practice. I know I have to work at it and I am seeing some dramatic improvements already which is really exciting because those first swim workouts were ugly. It is still ugly but endurance is coming along. It dawned on me that I must have thought I trying to be like a fish because I had tuna on Tuesday, salmon on Wednesday and Mahi Mahi tacos on Thursday. Didn't seem to help though!

It's been a very cold week with temp's in the 30's-40s'. Fortunately I have done multiple Winter Run Seasons with TNT and know how to layer up and deal with the bad weather. There are NO WIMPS on IRONTEAM including me.

Monday was a rest day and I took full advantage of that. Saturday I had a thai massage at Suchada for 90 minutes which helped to loosen up some tender muscles. I hadn't realized how tight my legs were especially my calves until I had the massage. It's amazing what a little thai dude can do while standing on your back and legs. But you have to pamper yourself now and then because we are beating up our bodies with swimming, running, biking and doing core work. There was a TNT night at SportsBasement Presidio with 20% percent discounts so I picked up some items (swim fins, a new backpack, some biking gear and fuel and recovery drinks and one of my favorites--BeeStinger Energy Chews).

Tuesday morning when I got up there was ice on my windshield as it was in the low 30's and where do I have to go--to the pool. I went with the G2 level workout and swam 2,050 yards (101 laps). Thiw was labeled as a Long workout because I did a lot of longer swims (100's, 200's, etc). It wasn't so bad getting in the pool but getting out into the 30 degree weather wasn't so much fun. But I wasn't the only crazy one in the pool. We also had the LLS Holiday Party and got to hang out with all the LLS staff and Board of Trustees in the evening.

Wednesday morning I usually do my cycling class. Well apparently I was so tired from the swim workouts that I slept right through my alarm. It went off, I turned it off and went back to sleep to wake up several hours later when Amy said "I guess you aren't going to class". AH crap. So after packing to get up and cycle the night before I had to repack for a swim/run workout instead. I got back in the pool again on Wednesday afternoon and did another 1,750 yards working on short distance reps. I even got practice at bilateral breathing every 3 strokes which is starting to get easier. I feel like my technique is getting better with my arms and rolling my upper body but I feel like I'm dragging my fat ass through the water. When we did the "float" test the first week my upper body stays on the water but my legs sink towards the bottom of the pool. Big surprise--my dad used to say if I ever grew into my ass I'd be a big guy! My big ass likes to sink with my legs to the bottom of the pool. So of course what does that mean I need to work on my core and getting my lower body up in the water. So that will be interesting as right now I'm dragging my lower body through the water. I jumped out of the pool and got on my running gear. I had to go with a long sleeve shirt and a core jacket and my running gloves because it was downright chilly out. I somehow left my socks at home so had to run sans socks which wasn't too comfortable. I hammered out a 4 mile run for 40 minutes and then got in acore workout at the nice and toasty PJCC. All I can say is BRRRRRRRRR.

I managed to get out of bed and actually makeup my cycling workout Thursday morning. I joined Matt Dixons class which was a very full class. Today's workout was working on building our aerobic base. It was a 12 minute interval working on rolling hills (base -4/base +4). Then onto a 15 minute interval at a high zone 2 and just settling in and staying at a good cadence. Bac to a 12 minute interval rolling hills followed by 4 big daddies. Big daddies are 15 seconds of high spinning/cadence at a very high wattage. They make your heart come through your throat because it is high intensity. After a bike workout I'm downright pooped but feeling good that by 7:30AM I've ridden between 25-30 miles and my workout is done for the day.

Back in the pool early Friday morning for a 1,850 yard swim. A 300 Warmup, drills for 450 and then a pyramid (100, 200, 400, 200, 100) with a 100 cooldown. Woof! I timed my 400 for fun and it was right under 8 minutes so I was doing a good job of pacing myself and not hammering it. Much better than my all out 10 minute flailing, flogging, splashing several weeks ago.

Decided to sneak in a bike ride today because the forecast calls for high winds and rain on Saturday and I have to help Amy with Bics. So I headed out around 2:30PM and all it did was rain, rain and rain some more. I was layered up and wearing my booties but my feet still got soaked and my feet were frozen when I got home. I got in a 20 miler in about 1 1/2 hours. Up for a run tomorrow and a swim (are you kidding me another swim) on Sunday. What will be cool about Sunday is that we are getting videotaped so we can see our stroke and work on it.