Larry Creswell's Blog

Philadelphia Marathon

2011-12-01T08:01:00.001-08:00

You know what they say about try, try, and try again. Well, on a crisp, cool day in Philadelphia last weekend, I finally got it right at the marathon. What a day!

The First Try: Marine Corps Marathon, 10/30/11

But the story really started 3 weeks earlier in Washington, D.C. When I finished the 2010 season at Ironman Western Australia and was thinking about 2012, I really wanted to give another try at a stand-alone marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon was the obvious choice. I had the experience of racing in the marathon there in 2006 and had raced in the Nation's Tri in 2009 over some of the same terrain. The course was familiar and it was convenient to stay with my sister, Lori, who lives in the D.C. area. And there's no better cheering section than Lori on race day.

Things got off track a bit when I sprained my left ankle at the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in June and wasn't able to run for about 2 months. I wasn't deterred, but there would obviously be an abbreviated period of run training. Along with coach Justin, we settled on a plan that included a lot of running (by my standards), but spread out during the week. By the time of the Marine Corps Marathon, we'd done several weeks of about 35 miles, but the longest single run was about 13 miles or so.

Race day in D.C. brought cold temperatures (and snow the day before!) but bright sunshine. Perfect weather for the run. My plan was to stick with the 4:30 pace group, using a 9-minute run/1-minute walk pattern, and see if I could accelerate the pace later in the race. As it played out, running with/near the pace group went well, but by mile 4 I felt sick to my stomach,
by mile 9 I was pretty nauseated, and by mile 15 I had to stop because I felt so sick. I was a pretty pitiful sight. Within minutes of stopping I was shivering uncontrolably in the cold, my legs were pretty stiff, and I could just hobble along to meet up with my sister, head to the Metro, and make it home. A pretty sad day, really. I had higher hopes, for sure.

The Second Try: Philadelphia Marathon, 11/20/11

When we were talking after the D.C. race, Justin took me a bit by surprise when he suggested finding another marathon in the next 2-4 weeks and giving it another try. By the time we talked, I had already turned the page mentally....and was ready to get back to triathlon training to get ready for the March, 2012 Ironman New Zealand race. But I slept on the idea and it grew on me. I took a look at the upcoming marathon options and settled on giving it a go in Philadelphia, 3 weeks later.

Several things drew me to the Philadelphia race. First, I went to college at Penn, so Philadelphia was certainly familiar. I wasn't a runner in college, but whenever I've been to Philadelphia on business in recent years, I've done a bit of running....and had covered a good portion of the marathon course at some point. Second, I knew the weather would be cool (which is the ONLY way things would be OK). And third, Lori could take the train up from D.C. and cheer. The marathon was sold out and I gained entry through a charity spot offered by Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, a good cause.

We stayed downtown, near City Hall and made the walk up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway toward the Art Museum with 1000's of other runners and cheerers on race morning. Again, it was a sunny, cool day, with a bit of breeze. Perfect weather. Once again, I started with the 4:30 pace group and got off to a good start.

They call it the "Race Through History," and that's probably true. The course makes a big loop around Center City Philadelphia, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, before making 2 separate out-and-back loops on either side of the Schuylkill River before finishing in front of the Art Museum where the race began.

I followed a 9-minute run/1-minute walk pattern for almost the entire race, keeping right at ~10:00 per mile overall. This put me a little in front of the 4:30 pace group. Because of the crowd and the narrow downtown streets, I did much of the downtown portion of the race on the sidewalk where there was more room to run (and especially to walk for the walk breaks). In retrospect, I missed the 10 km timing mat because I was on the sidewalk. But I promise I was there! I saw Lori at the 6.5-mile mark, on 21st and Chestnut and then again at the 12.8-mile mark, just west of the Art Museum. I stopped each time for a snack item from Lori and told her at my 2nd meeting that I'd plan to slow down a bit for the 2nd half. I crossed the 13.1-mile mark in 2:09:30 and felt great.

I was able to keep at that same pace until just before mile 24...and sadly, had troubles with thigh cramping at that point. I chaned to a 2-minute run/1-minute walk pattern for the remainder of the race, promising myself that I wouldn't walk for more than a minute this close to the finish.

I was SO excited at the finish. Around the corner, up over the little hill, and down the Parkway to the finish. Big smile, some happy tears, and a bunch of high-5's with the kids along the finishing chute. And across the line in 4:30:11. Never happier at a race finish. Like I said, what a day!

Next up: Disney Half Marathon in January and Ironman New Zealand in March.

EC Tucson 2011: The People

2011-04-05T07:43:00.001-07:00

I'm finally catching up on things here. March was busy! So here's a "better late than never" post about the Endurance Corner EC Tucson 2011 training camp from last month. Most of the photos here are from Sherry Daerr's collection of camp photos.

First, let me say that the camp was GREAT! No surprise there. You'll know from my previous blog entries that I had a good time in 2009 and 2010. The 2011 edition of EC Tucson was the best yet.

On a bright note, I turned in a more athletic performance this year--on the bike, at the pool, and even on the run (if I exclude the mid-day meltdown in the desert). This was a pleasant surprise given a rather long off-season after the IMWA race in December. I may have been the slowest rider at the camp, but I managed to:

* finish the Madera Canyon ride done 35 minutes faster than last year

* ride the double Gates ride 30+W stronger

* ride 10% stronger up Mt. Lemon

* ride 10% stronger on the Ajo/Sandario/Gates loop ride

* finish 30 minutes faster for the Kitt Peak ride than last year.

At the pool, things were also better than in 2010. It might not have been the best Monday workout, but I had 2 good days at the pool with some faster company. And, like I said, I was running much better than last year, too.

The basic design and schedule for the camp were much the same as in 2010--and I wrote in detail about the daily activities at EC Tucson 2010 last year--so I won't write about this year's camp day-by-day. While I was at the camp, I thought that instead, I'd write about the people this time. It's really the people who make this camp special.

We had dinner at Chili's on the last night of the camp and I was fortunate to grab a seat near JD, Brooke, Gail (Brooke's mom), Sherry, and Marilyn and Chris McDonald. My seat was at the end of the long table for 36, so I had a great view down the table of all of the campers, coaches, and staff. I remember sitting there thinking what a remarkable group of people this was.

Sherry and Gail

Once again, JD invited his Aunt Sherry Daerr and his mother-in-law, Gail Hughes, to help at the camp. As I mentioned above, Sherry was the camp photographer in addition to her duties with shopping, cleaning, tending to the break room, and serving as camp "mom," in a way. Gail handled the camp registration, tended to the EC gear sales, and kept the attendance roster for the group starts each day. Gail joined for a couple of the rides and at least one of the run workouts. I'll particularly remember the spirited chase up Sandario. Great to see both Sherry and Gail again this year.

Gordo

Sadly, there was no airport greeting at the airport with a Monsy muffin this year, but Gordo and the Sportsmobile figured prominently as usual. I may have missed out on the muffins in Tucson, but Gordo brough a supply to Jackson last week to make up.

I'll cherish the memories of the workout moments with Gordo this year....riding the return from Madera Canyon with Gordo and Todd (repeating a similar experience from 2009)....and swimming with Gordo during the 1st and 3rd swim workouts.

Like usual, we shared some breakfast moments, too. Bacon, Gordo, bacon.

Gordo talked me into doing an after-dinner talk for the campers one night about athletes and heart disease. I'm ordinarily a reluctant speaker, but I had fun talking with the group about some of the heart-related issues that have caught my attention these past couple years. I was probably the biggest introvert at the camp (among a collection of MAJOR extroverts), so I can only chuckle at Gordo and EC having me totally out of my comfort zone--on the road AND back at the hotel.

KP, Jeff, Alan

Three cheers for Alan again this year. He kept me smiling during the dark moments of the double Gates ride and he was great riding company on the return from Kitt Peak. There was no stop (and no Twitter or lottery tickets, either) at the store this year--just nice, steady riding with good company. I still need a lesson from Alan about logging swim training in WKO.

I was glad to see KP again at the camp and happy to serve as navigator for his mini-van. We got to spend a bunch of time riding together and I enjoyed that time immensely. I was sad to hear that he was still bothered by an arrhythmia problem and perhaps we can work to get that fixed up somehow.

I didn't spend much time with Jeff at the camp, I realize now. Too bad. If only I could ride faster.... What I remember most about Jeff this year was his positive perspective on athletes and medical problems. He shared a nice story about sorting out Chris McDonald's issue with light-headedness/dizziness at the end of long (race) rides....and finding that the problem was with vertebral/basilar artery insufficiency. This was obviously great news for Chris, who could work out an easy solution to the nagging problem. I appreciated Jeff's suggestions to the group about the value of having a doctor to look after you. He's right.

Marilyn and Chris McDonald

It was great to have Marilyn and Chris at the camp this year. I had a chance to meet Marilyn and visit with her for a short time one afternoon during the 2009 camp, but I'd never met Chris. My awareness of them both during the past couple years came mainly from Twitter, the EC website, or some other online source. They're great friends of JD, so it shouldn't be a surprise that they're the kindest, most down-to-earth folks you could hope to meet.

Marilyn would get to be the coach/leader for several of my group's rides during the camp. That was a treat. It's not often that I get to ride with a professional cyclist or Ironman champion. How cool is that? I'll remember a couple funny moments on the road....a spirited stretch to catch up with the group after Giancarlo flatted on Ajo....the time when Marilyn let somebody else lead on the way to Kitt Peak (and I groaned!)....and Marilyn watching me try SIX times to get started from a standing stop on the climb up the backside of Gates Pass. She'd later admit that she considered riding down to help! Pretty funny. One of the embarrassing moments.

I wish I'd spent more time with Chris during the camp. Like some of the other speedy folks at the camp, though, he was simply in another zip code during the daytime. Our paths did cross on the ascent to Kitt Peak and I appreciated his encouragement at about the 8-mile marker. Chris gave the first after-dinner talk at the camp, talking about being a bigger athlete in search of Ironman succes. It was an interesting talk and discussion to follow. You can tell that he truly enjoys talking about triathlon. He was also a great host for trivia night, passing out lots of good stuff from First Endurance.

The Mechanics

Once againi this year, the mechanics were awesome. Jake was the new addition, helping with bike shipping/assembly as well as the daily activities. And nothing better than a shove up the hill on Kitt Peak day!

Chuckie V

I was excited to learn that Chuckie V would be the on-deck coach for the swim workouts this year. Of course, I'd never met (or even seen) Chuckie V before, but my pre-conceived visual notion was based entirely on the picture above. Sadly, a much tamer haircut showed up at the pool--or the knit cap kept things well-concealed! But Chuckie V was every bit as hysterical in person as he seems from his writing. The 3 swim workouts were a lot of fun. One night after dinner at the camp, JD gave Chuckie V some credit for helping with our (JD and me) overall approach to swim training last year--3 workouts per week, with 1 focusing on strength, 1 focusing on threshold pace swimming, and 1 focusing on fast swimming. That was also the design for the week's swim workouts at the Tucson camp. These workouts could have been a page out of JD's playbook for me last year:

Workout #1--Threshold

400 choice w/u

1000 (400 free/300 non-free/200 pull/100 kick)

16 x 50 @ 1:00, desc. 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16

10 x 300 @4:20

4 x 25 @1:00

100 c/d

Workout #2--Strength

500 w/u

4 x (

25 fast/25 EZ

50 fast/25 EZ

75 fast/25 EZ

100 fast/25 EZ)

250 paddles (100-75-50-25)

500 pull/paddles (200-150-100-50)

1000 pull/paddles/band (400-300-200-100)

500 buoy/band (200-150-100-50)

250 buoy (100-75-50-25)

4 x 25 band only

16 x 25 @0:35

100 c/d

Workout #3--Speed

900 w/u

12 x 25 IMO for photos

8 x (

75 @1:00

50 hard @1:00

25 fly @1:00)

100 EZ

20 x 25 @0:30, every 5th fly @0:40

50 EZ

16 x 25 @0:30, every 4th fly @0:40

50 EZ

12 x 25 @0:30, every 3rd fly @0:40

50 EZ

4 x 25 fly @0:45

100 c/d

Chuckie V was a smart addition to the camp. Having the on-deck coach kept the workout in order (for a large group of swimmers) and enabled the rest of the coaches to swim the workout with the campers. He also brought along Angela Naeth and it was fun to say hello to her. She's had a great start to her 2011 season. You have to think that big things lie ahead for Angela.

The Campers

I started at the top of the post talking about the campers gathered around the table at Chili's. Of course, the next day most would return to their hometowns and resume their "regular" lives. You just had to have the sense that these are successful people in many ways--not only sport, but also family, business, etc. It's fun to spend time with people like that.

The campers really made the camp: Tony, Nina, Mimi, Heath, Todd, Jeff, Kyle, Ron, Harold, Jen, Sharon, Simon, Brett, Max, Slater, Giancarlo, John, Dietrich, Mark, Kevin (the fighter pilot), Paul, Brian, Wyman, Craig. Hopefully I didn't leave anybody out!

This was a mix of alumni and newcomers, from all over the country. All were able triathletes, for sure. I did well-wishing on Twitter for the Tucson campers and EC folks who raced last weekend at the California 70.3. A terrific day for the EC Tucson 2011 alumni!

And lastly, JD. I can't say enough about how well-organized this year's camp was. Most people won't stop to think about the many (MANY!) pieces that go into a camp this complex. And that's what's so nice about being a camper with EC! But the reality is that JD made it happen. Unlike the previous Tucson editions, JD was busy this year with a very early start to his own training season....with many weeks away from home leading up to this camp. So, for JD....a BIG job well-done!

EC Tucson 2012

I won't be back for EC Tucson 2012, but I know that it will be successful nonetheless. I'll be there in spirit. Instead, I've registered for IM New Zealand which is being held on Saturday, March 3, 2012. For me, this will be a repeat visit to Taupo, where I did my first Ironman race in 2007. It's been an unbelievable five years. I can't wait.

Endurance Corner Meets Mississippi Heat!

2011-03-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday evening I had dinner at Mint with 4 of my very favorite people....Lori, George and Stephanie Russell, and Justin Daerr. We were celebrating a successful conclusion to the Mississippi Heat Tri Camp. What a weekend!

Like I mentioned in my last blog post, I had the pleasure of serving as Camp Director for a weekend triathlon training camp hosted by our local triathlon club, the Mississippi Heat Triathlon Team. It was almost a year ago that I sat down at Sweet Peppers Deli with Matt and Amanda Cassell, officers of the club, and Kendrick Gibson to brainstorm about the possibility of organizing the camp. At the time, we had already secured the commitment of Gordo Byrn of EnduranceCorner to visit with the club for the weekend. Gordo had suggested that a weekend training camp might hold interest for a wide range of athletes on the Team and this idea appealed to us.

The Mississippi Heat has produced a local triathlon called the Soak Up the Sun Triathlon for several years now, so there was some experience in event production. We've also had invited speakers on occasion, including big turnouts for dinners with professional triathletes, Justin Daerr and Heather Gollnick. But we had never hosted a single-day yet alone multi-day clinic or training camp, so I knew at the outset that we'd have our hands full getting this organized.

The concept here was to bring a high-quality training camp to our own backyard. There are very few triathletes who can afford--either in time or money--to travel to the typical weeklong spring training camp held in the warm climates of the desert Southwest. We thought that we could create a high-value opportunity not only for members of our own Team, but for other triathletes in the Jackson area and even throughout the south central U.S. I'm actually surprised there aren't more events like this.

At the very beginning, we decided to aim for an event that would take place on Friday evening, all day Saturday, and a half day on Sunday morning. Our goal was to create a program that would draw 75 athletes for a weekend of swim, bike, and run training combined with educational sessions in each sport. It was important to us that the camp hold interest for the entire spectrum of ability levels since this would reflect the membership of our Team. We settled early on that we would have a special camp-within-the-camp called Triathlon 101 for beginners.

We were quick to announce our plans on Twitter and Justin Daerr was the first to "sign up." I seem to recall that it took only minutes for JD to let me know that he wanted to come along. Knowing that I could count on JD and Gordo made it easy for me to agree to be Camp Director for the weekend. I was certain that, with some careful planning, we could put on an event that we would be proud of. Endurance Corner meets Mississippi Heat!

We gathered a small staff of volunteers to help with organizing the event. Stephanie Russell would be in charge of the Friday night session, Matt Johnson and Darryl Lehtola would be in charge of the Saturday/Sunday sessions, Martha Davis would be in charge of food for the weekend, and Kendrick Gibson would serve as Head Coach. I recruited my sister, Lori, to help with photography and all sorts of other things. That small group of people, along with help and encouragement from Matt and Amanda, would make it happen.

We met on several occasions to work on developing the program for the weekend. You can find the details at the event website. There were many considerations, but we worked hard to find a balance between training and didactic sessions....and we worked hard to develop a program that would suit all ability levels. This was probably the biggest challenge in planning the event. Gordo and JD helped with ideas and we recruited Jeff Fejfar of Midsouth Multi-Sport Endurance Coaching when we saw the need for at least four coaches.

The selection of venues for the camp was both easy and hard. The pool at the Lakeland Branch of Courthouse Racquet & Fitness is the only pool in town large enough to host a group this large. We were fortunate that Johnny Black and the kind folks at the Courthouse welcomed us at their facility. The selection of the Saturday/Sunday venue was more difficult and we considered many options from hotel meeting rooms, to neighborhood clubhouses, to my own home. In the end, David Seago, the co-owner of StinkyFeet Athletics, helped us make arrangements to use the clubhouse at Arbor Landing on the Brandon side of the Reservoir. This would turn out to be a great choice.

We would enlist the help from four great local sponsors: Courthouse Racquet & Fitness, StinkyFeet Athletics, The Bike Rack, and Fleet Feet Jackson. We couldn't have done it without the kind help from these folks.

We'd go on to gather the help from a long list of other local and national sponsors: Rudy Project, FuelBelt, Polar Bottle, Xterra Wetsuits, Larabar, All3sports.com, GU Energy Systems, Little Red Wagon Granola, VeloPress, Yurbuds, Coffees of Hawaii, QuickQuakes, Clean Bottle, Smoothie King, Infinit Nutrition, Bonk Breaker, CycleOps, Resource Revival, Skeese Greets, Yankz!, SBR Sports, Spibelt, PerfectFoods Bars, Sal & Mookie's Chik-Fil-A, Skin Sake, Tri4Life Triathlon, Race of Grace Triathlon, Heatwave Triathlon and the City of Ridgeland, and our own Soak Up the Sun Triathlon. In total, these great sponsors contributed more than $11,500 of goods and services to our event. BIG thanks to all of the sponsors.

The Mississippi Heat generously agreed to contribue up to $5500 to the training camp. With that in mind, we developed a budget and pricing strategy that would allow us to operate this first edition of the camp at a loss. We settled on a price of $240 and offered a discounted registration price of $185 to Team members. We also offered a more modest discount to various friends of the Team and gave free registration to the core group of camp staff and key local sponsors.

The camp was almost a year in the planning. I took at look back yesterday and saw that I had sent or received almost 1200 emails about the camp during that year. Wow! And there were more than a few calls, letters, meetings, Tweets, texts, etc. along the way, too.

The camp was over in a flash, but we had a terrific weekend. There were 66 athletes and coaches for the event....and there were lots of smiles. A large collection of photographs from the weekend can be found at our SmugMug site, but I'll share a few photos here....

Head Coach Kendrick Gibson surveying the registration activities at the pool on Friday night.

Supper after the workout would be from Newks.

Campers in the water for the swim workout.

Coach Jeff Fejfar working with some swimmers.

The night concluded with a swim relay race. JD powered his team to victory!

Saturday morning began with a bike workout and mechanic Andrew was working hard to get the bikes ready.

The bikes before the group ride.

A prized photo....the only photo I have of me, Gordo, and Justin. Thanks, guys!

The group ride was organized into 20-, 30-, and 40-mile groups. Larkin was sporting the King of the Mountain jersey. I think we had a 50-foot climb.

After dinner on Saturday night, Gordo autographed copies of his book, Going Long.

The thunderstorms cleared on Sunday morning, just in time for a group photo and long run.

....with Gordo leading the charge!

Some Lessons Along the Way:

1. Good people guarantee success. A training camp is inherently a "people event." Choose the right people to plan and conduct the camp and you can't lose. The collection of coaches for the camp--Gordo, JD, Kendrick, and Jeff--are exceptional athletes, but they're also great teachers. That's key. I was thrilled about how the educational sessions turned out....and that has everything to do with choosing the right coaches.

I can't thank Gordo and JD enough for coming to the camp. I know that our event came at a busy time for both of them, so we owe them our special gratitude. I wish them both well with their races this weekend....JD at the Kemah Olympic-distance race and Gordo at California 70.3.

Good people were also essential with the event planning. It was a terrific group. And I think we honored our promise to Amanda and Matt that we'd get the job done with little help from the club's officers.

2. Be prepared. I thought we were well-prepared for potential emergencies. But you never expect the emergency. As it turned out, we had a camper suffer a heart attack on Sunday. I've written about the event at my Athletes Heart Blog. He's recovering after being treated with a coronary stent for a severe blockage in one of his coronary arteries. If I did this again, I'd redouble our efforts on safety. You just can't be too prepared.

I've spoken and written about the issue of athletes and heart disease many times over the past couple years. Our event on Sunday just reinforces the importance of taking warning signs of heart disease seriously; of careful event planning in terms of safety; and remembering that heart disease is a common problem, even among "healthy" athletes.

3. Inspiration. Lastly, a couple thoughts about the lasting effects of the camp. We didn't change the campers' fitness levels appreciably with a few hours of group training over the weekend. And I'm sure that many of the coaches' tips and messages will be forgotten with time. But I'm certain that the campers left inspired. You could see it in their faces. That will be the lasting effect of the camp.

Mississippi Heat Tri Camp 2011

2011-01-20T12:32:00.001-08:00

The Mississippi Heat Triathlon Team is hosting a weekend triathlon training camp for area athletes on March 25-27, 2011. Check out all of the details at www.msheattricamp.com.

The Camp includes 7+ hours of group training plus 10 hours of educational sessions in all 3 sports.

Guest coaches include: Gordo Byrn, 2002 Ultraman World Champion, Founder of Endurance Corner, and co-author of the best-selling triathlon book, Going Long; Justin Daerr, professional Ironman triathlete and Endurance Corner Coach; and Jeff Fejfar, Founder of Mid-South Multisport Endurance Coaching.

Registration is limited to 75 athletes, so reserve your spot now!

Hope to see you at the Camp in March!

The New Year: 2011

2011-01-05T08:06:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

I had intentions on writing something here at the blog IN ADVANCE OF the new year, but the holidays got the best of me. A little late....and probably a little bit shorter, as well.

In the aftermath of the Ironman Western Australia race....On the injury front, I can report that my left foot got better pretty quickly and within a couple weeks I was back to running. Sadly, though, within 48 hours of getting back to the U.S., my right elbow was hurting, and I couldn't even recall a specific injury. Nonetheless, my elbow was soon swollen to twice its normal size and, despite the passage of 4 more weeks, it's still not completely back to normal. It's taken those 4 weeks to be able to get back to: holding a telephone to my ear with my right arm, buttoning the top buttons of my shirt, tying a tie, and brushing my teeth right-handed again. Pretty remarkable, really. On the road to recovery.

BTW, I have a new appreciation for those with elbow injuries. I think back to the spring of 2008 when my mother broke her elbow. As she was rehabbing from that injury (on the trip to S. Africa to cheer for me), I can recall having little understanding for how it was impossible to use a fork with that arm. NOW I KNOW!

With the foot and elbow problems, December became nearly a complete month of rest from exercise. It was a long year of training and so that was probably a good thing, both physically and mentally.

In the past couple weeks, I've had a chance to read a handful of articles about "taking stock" and "looking ahead." It's that time of year.

Thinking about the "multisport experience" of 2010, by the numbers it was:

5 triathlon races

1 running race

2 swim races

1 training camp

~675,000 yards of swimming

~6400 miles of riding

~965 miles of running

59 hours at the gym

~40,000 miles of air travel for training and races

It was a lot. And I had a great time!

Thanks to everybody on "the team"--the friends and training partners, my family who came to cheer at the races, coach JD, the folks at work. For people on the outside looking in, it's hard to appreciate the team that's needed to support 750 hours of training and even a very modest racing schedule.

I was reminded recently by a colleague about the words of a visiting professor of surgery who joined us here in Jackson last summer:

"We don't learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience."

That's true. I won't bore any readers here with my refections on the past season, but there was a lot of experience AND a lot to learn from the experiences. I'll try to put it to use in 2011.

So looking forward to the rest of 2011....it IS about being prepared. Although the season's race schedule hasn't completely crystallized in my mind, we'll set about preparing for:

Feb Running race in Hilton Head Island, SC

Feb/March Endurance Corner Tucson Training Camp

March Mississippi Heat Tri Camp (check out www.msheattricamp.com)

April N. Orleans 70.3

May Memphis in May (in Tunica, at the casino, this year!)

June Escape from Alcatraz

So there's a start.....

Down Under--Part 2

2010-12-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

I’m back home in Jackson now, trying to get back into the ordinary routine. These first few days have been difficult with the big time change, but I’m hoping that I can back on a regular sleep schedule for the coming week. Let’s pick up where I left off….

Friday

Justin granted an off day for Friday, a chance to continue to rest up for the race. I went with Lori to the registration area for her to start her shift of volunteering at 8:00 am. I went to the race office to get tickets for the welcome dinner and went for a quick walk through the Ironman store. There really wasn’t an expo in the traditional sense, just an Ironman merchandise store that was pretty small. I think back to IM Brazil last year….there were probably 100+ vendors in a HUGE expo. Surprising that the Ironman expos aren’t more similar. But perhaps Busselton is at the far reaches of civilization. I biked back to the apartment while Lori worked.

Lori would end up working at registration, for the lowest numbered athletes. As a result, she got to handle registration for many of the pros. She enjoyed that and recalled that Kate Bevilaqua, who would go on to win the women’s race, was the kindest of all the pros she met that morning.

The parents and I visited an art shop near the apartment and I commissioned a painting of the Busselton jetty as a souvenir. It won’t be ready until February, but it will be nice to hang on the wall with the other Ironman and other race memorabilia. The rest of the afternoon was entirely restful.

Friday evening I went with the family to the pre-race dinner. This was probably the best of the pre-race dinners I’ve attended at the Ironman events. The dinner was held in a large tent across the street from the swim start, in Barnard Park. The food and drink was actually good this time….and the program had the traditional elements to help motivate the crowd for race day. There was even a native dance. Something inspirational for everybody.

Saturday

Lori accompanied me to the swim practice area for a short, 20-minute swim on Saturday morning. Not many swimmers, surprisingly, at 6:00 am. I followed this up with a 40-minute ride, easily, along the multi-use trail from the apartment to town and back. Training was DONE! I would remember for JD that it worked out to 369 days of training to get ready.

Back at the apartment, I gathered up all the gear and we were among the first in line for check-in at 11:00 am. There was light rain then….and there was some light rain off and on for the rest of the day. I can remember thinking that this could be great weather for the race.

We all hopped in the car and headed off to Dunsborough, for a drive along Caves Road. We went to the Serazens Brewery for lunch, but were turned away because we didn’t have a reservation. Not too far away, though, was another pub where we enjoyed a lunch in the backyard of the pub. The setting was nice, but the flies were pretty annoying. I was the first one chased back to the car to seek refuge.

I took a nap on Saturday afternoon and got the remaining gear ready for the race. We had dinner at the apartment and everybody was in bed early for the big day on Sunday.

Sunday

Race day! I can’t remember ever waking on race day feeling more excited about the day ahead. The weather was ideal….mostly clear skies, cool temperatures, and little humidity. At the start there was little wind, but this built to 10-15 mph as the morning went along. Really couldn’t ask for anything more in the weather department.

After getting my bike set up, I spent the pre-race hour with my family at the seawall overlooking the swim start. We talked briefly with Mike Reilly who was here for his 99th race as announcer. He guaranteed a good day.

I’ll save a traditional race report for another day, but I’ll share some of the highlights here. The swim was a lot of fun. Calm seas made for a pretty quick single-lap swim out along 1 side of the mile-long jetty and then back along the other side. I cut my left heel pretty bad on something at the start….and that would have a major impact as the day progressed. The bike was a 3-lap course. I had a pretty good go of things for the first 2 laps and slowed a bit on the third lap. Through T2, it was my best-ever race. Unfortunately, when I hopped off the bike at T2 I could barely walk, my left foot hurt so much. I actually had to be helped into the tent by a volunteer. I tried to make the best of the run, but after a start/stop run/walk for the first 2 laps, I ended up walking (and limping!) to the finish.

It was a long day. I was never better prepared and I had high hopes for the race. I had thought this would be the last Ironman race, but now I’m not so sure. It would still be nice to have a solid day at the races before retiring.

We stopped at McDonald’s (along with many ofther finishers) for a bite to eat on the way home and had a chance to visit for a short while before I needed to sleep.

Monday

Since we elected to leave the bike and gear at transition on Sunday night, we had to return early Monday morning to pick things up. Then it was home to pack, and at about 10:30 am, we left Busselton to return to Perth. It’s not my usual MO, but this time we were doing the 3-hour drive (11,000 miles from home) with no map and no cellphone GPS. We got lost a couple times, but eventually made our way to our motel near the Perth airport.

The folks at the motel made a good suggestion for lunch and we headed into downtown Perth to have lunch at the Lucky Shag, a pub on the Perth waterfront, near the bell tower. It was our chance to sit and talk about the race and reflect on the trip. We all agreed that we’d had a great time. And time had flown by. It seemed like just yesterday that we were arriving in Sydney for the beginning of the trip.

Back at the motel, I re-packed the bike and re-packed all of the gear. The parents napped and Lori and I visited in our room. We all turned in early.

Tuesday

We were up at 3:00 am to make our way to the airport for the long trip home. Our flight to Sydney left at 5:45 am. For the return trip, the travel worked just like the trip down….just in reverse. First to Sydney, then transfer to the International terminal for the long flight to LA. We parted ways in LA and each headed our own way. I returned to Dallas and then on to Jackson, arriving near midnight on Tuesday, but after some 24 hours in a plane plus many more hours of layover time. This was, by far, the longest trip I’ve ever made in a day (or two!).

And that’s how it was….

Going Down Under

2010-11-30T18:51:00.000-08:00

With a bunch of free time here before the race, I thought I’d write about the trip….as the trip was happening (or at least not too long after each day’s events had happened). Not much time for editing here, so my recollections may be a bit rambling.

I’m here in Australia getting ready for Sunday’s Ironman Western Australia triathlon. This has been almost a year in the making. As I recall, it was around Christmastime 2009 that I decided to enter this race. If I’d had my druthers, I’d probably have entered Ironman Florida instead, but a conflict in my work schedule made that impossible. Left to choose between end-of-the-year Ironman races in Arizona, Cozumel, or Western Australia, you see what I chose. Australia is great, the course is flat, and most years there is reasonable weather. But it's 11,000 miles from home....

My sister and parents are along for the trip. Company and a cheering section. They’re the best.

Wednesday

The trip started on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, with me travelling to Dallas and on to Los Angeles on American Airlines and meeting up with the family there. Things got off to a great start when the American agent at the Jackson airport couldn’t figure out how to charge me for excess luggage (I had the bike and a large duffel that, together, weighed 110 pounds)….and so he didn’t! I don’t think I’ve ever paid extra for a bike when I’ve left from Jackson.

Everybody made it to Los Angeles okay. I hooked up with the family in the gate for the Qantas flight to Sydney. We were originally going to travel on the Airbus A380, but the engine explosion a couple weeks earlier grounded the Qantas A380 fleet. I was actually looking forward to riding on the big plane. Maybe they’ll be back in service for the return trip. As it turned out, there were a bunch of empty seats in our area on the 747 and we had a little room to spread out. Not like business class, mind you, but still better than usual.

Leaving on Wednesday afternoon (and arriving on Friday morning) meant that we missed Thanksgiving in the traditional sense. I suppose that being with family is what’s important, even if the airplane meal wasn’t the traditional turkey fare.

There’s nothing quite like a 15-hour flight. I don’t like to sit for longer than about 30 minutes, so a trip like this is pretty stressful. I was up and about as much as possible while I was awake. I managed a little bit of sleep, which was good. Despite JD’s warning otherwise, I watched a couple movies as well. Thankfully, GPS was working properly and the plane found the southeast coast of Australia right on time.

Friday

We had arranged for a private transfer from the airport to the hotel, so that worked out pretty well. We returned to the Four Seasons Hotel downtown where we had stayed the last time we were in Sydney. Familiar surroundings are always good. The rooms were available for check-in at 10 am and we had to draw straws for who got the first shower. I opted for a 4-hour nap while the family headed out to do some shopping.

The nap was rejuvenating and the rest of the afternoon was devoted to some EZ workouts. Lori and I headed out for a walk across the Sydney Harbor Bridge (~1 mile or so) to the North Sydney Olympic Pool just on the other side. I can’t imagine a more beautiful setting for an outdoor pool than under the Harbor Bridge, with a view of the Opera House and all of downtown Sydney. I hopped in for a 20-minute swim in the 50-meter pool. We retraced our steps back to the hotel and I had a short spin on an exercise bike and a short run from the hotel. Everything was a little stiff after the lengthy travel.

The run brought back memories. It was here in January, 2005 that I did my first-ever 1-mile run, beginning the 2-year journey (proposed by George) that would end in Taupo for Ironman New Zealand in March, 2007. I was pleased that I could run better now! It really has been an amazing 5 years. Back in 2005 I could never imagine….

We had dinner at a restaurant across the street from the hotel and retired early for the evening.

Saturday

We were all up early on Saturday, thanks to the time change. I headed out for another run around the Circular Quay area, first with an out-and-back over to the Park Hyatt Hotel at the edge of the bridge, then another out-and-back past the Opera House. I can’t help but conclude that Sydney Harbor might be the most beautiful big-city harbor in the world. I suppose I haven’t been everywhere, and I know that the harbors in Vancouver, San Francisco, and Auckland are also beautiful, but for now Sydney is my favorite. We had breakfast on the 32nd floor of the hotel, overlooking the harbor. Two cruise ships were in port this morning.
After the run, I walked over to the North Sydney Olympic Pool for a 30-minute swim. The pool was a little more crowded today. Lots of lap swimmers.

In the afternoon, Lori and I went for a sailing excursion in the Harbor on an America’s Cup boat. The boat was actually a New Zealand syndicate boat from the 1995 San Diego challenge, about 75 feet in length with a 115 foot mast. About 20 tourists joined a “real” crew of 5 for a 3-hour sail up the length of Sydney Harbor, to Manley, and back. There were about 20 knots of wind, so we were only able to use the jib. Nonetheless, our boat was the fastest boat around, it seemed. And there must have been hundreds of sailboats out that afternoon. We took turns helping the crew and I got a turn as helmsman which was fun.

Back at the hotel, I squeezed in a quick spin at the fitness center and then had a quick bite to eat for supper. That evening, we enjoyed a performance by the Sydney Symphony at the Opera House. Back in 2005 when we were here, we went on a tour of the Opera House and I said then that, if I ever got back, I’d like to see a performance there. It’s an amazing building, stunning both inside and out. And when you think about it, it’s probably one of the most recognizable manmade structures in history….in modern times, perhaps only the Eifel Tower is in the same category. A great day!

Sunday

After breakfast at the hotel, the parents headed off for an all-day wine tour in the Hunter Valley. This was a birthday gift to both of them. They would end up having a fun day of wine tasting (and buying), lunch, and a little shopping as well.

In the meantime, Lori and I headed out for Sydney Olympic Park, taking the Paramatta River ferry from Circular Quay. Our ferry ride would take about an hour, with short stops at a bunch of riverside locales as we worked our way up the river to Homebush. I’ll guess that in 2000, the Olympic Park was built in a relatively undeveloped location….but now there’s development all around it. At the ferry terminal there, you transfer to a bus that winds its way around the Park. We hopped off at the Aquatic Center and I enjoyed a 1-hour workout there. It was fun to see the competition pool (I can remember it vividly from the TV broadcasts), but there was a swim meet going on, so I had to do my workout in the adjacent training pool. There was a huge crowd at the pool and water park. Sunday is FamilyFun day in Sydney, it turns out. We took the train back downtown. The ferry was certainly more scenic.

I did a bike workout at the hotel and then a run outside.

The parents had eaten a big lunch, so they passed on dinner. Lori and I had a quick bite at a harborside cafe, watching the sun set on the Harbor. Beautiful view and great people watching.

Monday

I was up early for an hour-long walk around downtown Sydney. It was time to say good-bye because today was travel day again. Off to Busselton! We packed up, headed back to the airport, and flew to Perth, a ~5-hour flight (Australia is BIG!). We rented a van and made the 3-hour drive down the southwest coast of Australia to the town of Busselton, home of the Ironman Western Australia race. The countryside was mostly farmland until we got to the town of Bunbury and then things changed to a more beach tourist-oriented look.

I was paying attention to the race at Ironman Cozumel as the day went by. JD got off to a terrific start at the race but had stomach troubles and dropped out early in the run. Brooke’s mom, Gail, was doing her first Ironman race and I was excited to see that she had a solid day. Ironman Gail!

We got to the Abbey Beach Resort, our home for the week, in the late afternoon. This is a combination hotel and rental condo property located about 6 km from the race start/finish. We’re in a 3-bedroom condo that overlooks the pools. The property’s right on the beach (the Indian Ocean!), but there are also 2 outdoor pools and a 25-meter (3-lane) indoor pool. We settled in, went for a grocery shopping trip to Woolworth’s, grabbed dinner from KFC, and were in bed early again (it was a 3-hour time change from Sydney).

Tuesday

After a light breakfast at the condo, I went for a run on the multi-use trail that runs along the beach. Pretty scenery as I headed out-and-back in the direction of the town center. I was out running at about 6 am and I was surprised at how many other runners, walkers, and cyclists were already out. When I finished the run, I went for a short swim workout at the hotel’s indoor pool. There were no lane lines, so when a few other hotel guests hopped in and started playing ball, it was like swimming in the open ocean. I swallowed more than a couple mouthfuls of pool water.

Next, the whole family piled in the van and we went for a lap around the bike course. On race day we’ll do 3 laps of the course to make 180 km. The course is totally flat. After leaving the transition area, the course heads out through a neighborhood, with a couple turns, and then gets onto a highway of sorts for almost the entire ride. The route meanders around the water’s edge and, with a couple hairpin out-and-backs, through a nature preserve and a national forest. The whole route is pretty scenic. For the most part, the road is newly paved asphalt, but there is one stretch of chip seal. Hopefully I won’t vibrate the bike apart on race day.
The afternoon was time for bike assembly (and thankfully no extra parts!). I was happy that everything seemed to be in working order with the bike. I took it for a test spin around the hotel parking lot. Then it was nap time!

We had dinner at the condo and then Lori and I headed back to the transition area. Lori has volunteered to help with registration on Friday. Apparently the race is VERY short of volunteers….hundreds short. Amazing. WTC bought the race….and now no volunteers. Hmmm. Maybe the aid stations will be self serve on Sunday. At any rate, there was a collection of registration volunteers at the meeting and we had a chance to meet the race director. They seem totally committed to putting a good face on the event. Seems like there was little love for WTC and a bunch of new procedures for the race.

Tomorrow, it's a ride around the course. Looking forward to that.

The race is getting close!

Highlights from Hawaii

2010-09-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a terrific vacation trip to Hawaii with my sister and parents. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and I can't recall a more relaxing vacation in recent times. Mind you, I thought the family was crazy when they thought that we should travel to Hawaii in August....but as it turned out, the weather in Hawaii was MUCH cooler than here in Mississippi. And for that reason alone, the trip was also a relief. It had been 40 years since I was in Hawaii the last time and memories had faded a bit.

Day #1--Travel to Hawaii--Friday

We met in Atlanta for the flight to Honolulu, a ~10-hour flight during the daytime that got us to Honolulu mid-afternoon. I'll give Delta credit for a safe, on-time, enjoyable flight with a super-friendly cabin crew.

My initial impression of Honolulu was: crowded! We stayed the night at the Hale Koa Hotel, a hotel run by the Army for military folks. What a great place....right on Waikiki Beach at Fort Derussy (70+ green acres in the middle of Waikiki, the only "open" space in sight). The photo above is from our 13th floor balcony, looking down on the surfers. We had a quiet, restful afternoon and Lori and I had a bite to eat at an outdoor eatery right on the beach, next door at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. After the long day of travel, it was no trouble getting to sleep.

Day #2--Honolulu and Embarkation--Saturday

On Saturday morning, I headed out for a run down Waikiki, up and around Diamond Head, then back to the hotel (~8 miles), my first outside run in a while. I felt like there were about a 1,000 other tourists doing the same thing. Pretty funny. After breakfast, we headed out for an early morning tour of Iolane Palace, the palace once used by Hawaii's royal family. In modern times, the stair steps are probably better known from the original version of Hawaii 5-0.

The "real" purpose of the trip was a cruise on the Norweigan Cruise Line's Pride of America....a 7-night cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. We set sail on Saturday afternoon, bound for Maui.

For the cruise-minded, this was a typical large ship cruise. Nothing terribly unusual....good or bad. If I had any complaint, I'd say that the service in general might have been better. But there's probably no easier way to get a glimpse of the islands than to have the ship take you to the next stop each night. The fitness center was good and I logged more than a few miles on the ship's treadmills.

Day #3--Maui--Sunday

We awoke as the ship was arriving in Kahului Harbor in Maui. From the ship, you could see the nearby airport. After a pre-docking run on the treadmill and a quick breakfast, I headed off with the family to pick up a rental car. Today it was Enterprise. Then, it was off on the drive to the top of Haleakala, the island's extinct volcano. The drive took about 90 minutes and topped out about 10,000 feet.

One sight along the way was the many silversword plants, found only here. The picture here is of one of the plants that was flowering.

The view from the top was great. You could see over to the island of Hawaii, with it's Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and over to Lanai in the other direction. We passed a few hardy cyclists making the uphill journey....and more than a few cyclists making the downhill trip on fat-tire bikes.

After our excursion to Haleakala, we returned to Kahului and then headed out the Road to Hana....at least as far as our lunch stop at Mama's Fish House. This was awesome. Beautiful setting, totally peaceful, and great food. No wonder that several of the Twitter friends wrote back quickly about having loved Mama's, too. We spent the late afternoon and evening on the ship which remained docked for the night in Maui.

Day #4--Maui--Monday

After another early session on the treadmill, my sister and I left for a day-long snorkeling excursion to the Molokini Crater, a couple miles off the shore of Maui. The parents joined a shopping excursion from the ship that headed to Lahaina. We would catch up with them in the late afternoon back at the ship.

Our snorkeling excursion was with Trilogy Excursions on a large catamaran. There were about 20 folks along for the trip. We made stops at the Molokini Crater and also along the reef off the shore of Wailea. This was my first time to try SNUBA and I thought this was great. We had 20-foot oxygen lines, so it was possible to dive down and really have a close look at the fish and coral. The best sighting was a large sea turtle. We had fun chasing after some dolphins between the 2 stops and we used the sails for about an hour on the return trip.

While we were at Molokini, I could look over at Lanai and eye up the Lanai Channel. Each October there is a relay (or solo) swim of the 9-mile channel. With each island's coast climbing to (very) tall volcanos, the 9 miles didn't look very far. There'd be no problem sighting, given the volcanos. I'd like to return some day to do that swim. It'd be fun to be part of a relay, but it'd be even more fun to tackle the swim solo.

Back on the ship that evening, I went to a spin class. It was more like a tutorial....just me, 1 other cylist, and the instructor. We had a good time, though. With the ship under sail, I got a little sea sick as I was spinning. There was a lot of up and down and I was happy that to see the class end.

Day #5--Hil0--Tuesday

Tuesday was Hilo day. After a treadmill run and breakfast, we picked up a rental car and drove to Volcanoes National Park to see the Kilauae Volcano. Pictures won't do this justice, but the picture below is from one of the observation areas at the rim road. The volcano has been erupting continuously for more than 20 years now.

Our excursion stopped at the visitors centers along the rim road and then again for a walk through the Thurston lava tube, one of the "tubes" that once carried molten lava toward the sea. Our ship departed Hilo in the late afternoon and at about 10 pm we got close to shore and slowed up to cruise by the seashore (at least from binocular distance) where the lava is currently flowing into the sea. Amazing, really. There were about 8 areas where molten lava was putting on a display as it hit the cold ocean water.

Day #6--Kona--Wednesday

I'd been looking forward to Kona day for a long time. We had met a fellow triathlete, Gerd Weber, on our trip to Brazil last year and it turns out that he lives in Kona. I made plans to meet Gerd on the pier and go for a swim and bike. Mom rested and Lori and Dad went on a snorkeling excursion south of Kona.

Gerd was waiting on the pier and it was fun to catch up with him. He's done 6 Ironman races this past year to celebrate his 60th birthday. Wow! At any rate, we stored our gear bags and went for a swim on the course. It's different than I had imagined from TV....didn't realize that the course parallels the left shoreline (on the way out). It's really beautiful. Crystal clear water with big visibility. Lots of fish and a couple manta rays. Plenty of swimmers, too.

After the swim, we picked up my rental bike at BikeWorks and headed out for a long ride. We had a quick tour of town, then got onto the Queen K Highway and went north as far as Waikoloa. Like everybody says, the scenery is on the bleak side with the lava fields on each side of the highway. There's a little bit of greenery at the turnoff to head to the Four Seasons Hotel (and Lance's Kona home) and then no greenery until Waikoloa. We turned off there, went on a lap around the resort, checked out the beach, then grabbed an ice cream. The guys at the Waikoloa branch of BikeWorks watched our bikes. The return ride featured a headwind and the afternoon heat. I can see why this ride would be a challenge on Ironman day.

Back in Kona, we stopped at Lava Java for a smoothie and Lori joined us there. It was fun people watching as we sat outside on Alii Drive. We returned the bike and returned to the ship. An awesome day. After seeing Kona for so many years on the TV, it was great to see the place in person.

Day #7--Kauii--Thursday

Thursday morning we arrived in Kauii as I was finishing up a treadmill run on the ship. Nawiliwili Harbor was my favorite place name. Almost everybody has seen Nawiliwili Harbor....even if they haven't been there. Picture the opening pictures from the TV series MASH. The twin peak hillside where the choppers fly around is actually the hillside along the pier at Nawiliwili Harbor. Small world.

Here, we rented a car and drove to Waimea Canyon, Hawaii's version of the Grand Canyon. I must admit it looks very similar, if only on a smaller scale.

We had a restful afternoon on the ship and then went (with the masses from the ship) to a luau at a local plantation. The show was fun and I thought the pineapple juice was great. Couldn't make a trip to Hawaii without a luau, I suppose.

Day #8--Kauii--Friday

The ship overnighted in Kauii. We didn't plan any activities for Friday morning. I went for a long run off the ship, heading up the hill, down to the airport, and back to the ship. There was a mini-hurricane, it seemed, but it only lasted as long as my run!

The ship left port at 2 pm and cruised toward the Na Pali coast, the setting or backdrop for many movies--most notably, Jurassic Park. The scenery was just beautiful in the afternoon sun.

Day #9--Honolulu Again--Saturday

The ship arrived back in Honolulu early on Saturday morning. I think I was the last remaining passenger in the fitness center as everybody was getting ready to disembark.

We spent the day on a bus tour of Honolulu. The highlight was the stop at Pearl Harbor. We had a chance to visit the exhibits and movie at the Visitors Center and then take the short boat ride out the USS Arizona memorial.

It's just so hard to imagine that there was a world war in our parents' lifetime. The tour also included a drive through the Punchbowl cemetery and a quick drive to Oahu's north shore. We got dropped off at the airport, where we picked up a rental car and returned to the Hale Koa Hotel.

Day #10--Honolulu--Sunday

Sunday was a recover day. I went for a short run, but we spent most of the day just lounging at the hotel pool. We took a breat to have Sunday brunch a couple doors down at the Halekulani. Great food. Great setting. And a waiter who offered to take the family photo....

We ate an early dinner at the hotel and went to bed early so we could be up early the next day.

Day #11--Honolulu--Monday

Monday was race day. The 2010 Waikiki Roughwater Swim. I'd been looking forward to this for a long time, too. The 2.4-mi swim is the original Ironman swim. This day, there were 965 swimmers, organized into 4 waves by seeding time. I was in the 2nd wave, with the 437th fastest seeding time. There were a lot of fast swimmers! There were a couple entire college swim teams in the first wave.

The race starts on the beach in front of the New Otani Hotel, heads out about 700m through the boat channel, then parallels Waikiki Beach, heading to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The final leg toward shore happens in the boat channel there, with a finish on the beach. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was awesome.

The swim went well and I reached the final turning buoy, with 670m to go in ~51 minutes. I thought that was a great effort in just a bathing suit (no wetsuit!), but with the surf and undertow, it took me nearly 16 minutes to do the last 670m. Wow! I finished 256th. I thought it was my best-ever open water swim. Solid from start to finish. My folks and sister were there to cheer me across the finish line. I picked up my t-shirt and cap and we enjoyed a celebration lunch at Cheesecake Factory down the street.

After lunch, Lori and I took a trip to the Ala Moana Mall, where we had a smoothie and took in a belly dancing show. The rest of the afternoon was spent just resting at the hotel. What a week!

Day #12--Depart--Tuesday

Tuesday, departure day, came all too quickly. It was a great vacation. We left on Tuesday afternoon for the afternoon flight back to Atlanta, then the short flights to our own hometowns. All I could think of was....the flight to Australia is 6 hours longer!

A Blast in Boulder

2010-09-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

Last month I had the chance to visit in Boulder with Brooke Burger and Justin Daerr. It was a super short weekend trip, but I had a blast.

I managed to get away from work at lunchtime on Friday and was pleased that afternoon thunderstorms had not yet developed here in Jackson. I'd be traveling on Delta Airlines, first from Jackson to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to Denver, arriving at about 9 pm. The trip was complete with complimentary upgrades to first class on both flights....and a "real" dinner on the Atlanta to Denver leg.

Some of you will know that I don't have the best luck with Delta and, sure enough, the illusion of a perfect trip came to an end at the Delta Baggage Office when my bike didn't show up. The agent could tell that the bike had made it to Atlanta, but not to Denver. It'd probably be in Denver later that night, he told me. Oh, well. So off I went to pick up the rental car and head to Brooke and JD's place.

The drive from DIA to North Boulder isn't very long. It was dark, though, and I couldn't really appreciate the scenery. It was great to see JD again. And it had been last November, at Ironman Florida, since I had seen Brooke. We probably could have spent the entire night talking, but we needed to get an early start on Saturday. Even still, it was a short night!

Saturday morning arrived with some bright sunshine. The picture above is the view from their balcony, looking south toward Boulder, I think. JD has often tweeted pictures from the balcony, usually to show the weather, snow, etc. The sunshine was welcome for the day's activities....a 2-mile swim race at the Boulder Reservoir and then a bike ride.

We headed out on Saturday morning to the Boulder Reservoir for the Bare Bones swim race that was organized by the Boulder Aquatic Masters (BAM) swim club. BAM apparently organizes a series of these no frills swim races each summer. Swimmers could choose between 1- or 2-mile distances and could enter wetsuit or no-wetsuit divisions. I chose the 2-mile swim without a wetsuit, thinking that this would be good preparation for the upcoming Waikiki swim race that would also be a no-wetsuit event. It was fun to see so many people gathered for the swim race....and the Reservoir seemed to be a terrific venue. From the results, it looks like there were about 130 swimmers. We ran into Dennis Meeker before the race and it was nice to see him again. He was heading to IM Canada the following weekend. Laura Tingle apparently made an appearance, too, but I missed seeing her.

All of the swimmers started at the same time, but the race thinned out pretty quickly. I can remember thinking that the race started off pretty fast (like always), but then I settled into a steady swim for the rest of the race. I thought the race was pretty uneventful, which was great. I swam alone for most of the way. I remember looking at my watch at the 20-minute mark and thinking that either: 1) I was going very slowly or 2) this was going to be more than 2 miles. As it turns out, speculation after the race had the 1-lap distance at 1.35 miles or so. I was pleased that I didn't seem to notice any adverse effects of the mile-high altitude. I had worried that I'd feel like a fish out of water.

I finished in 1:10. I had a strong 2nd lap, I thought, and I caught up to a group of swimmers who had been out in front of me. As I got to the finishing "chute," I saw JD and Brooke standing on the pier cheering. I was a little surprised to see that JD had already changed. I rolled over in the water, laughing, thinking that it really HAD been slow! Hmmm. It turned out that JD had stopped after 1 lap. No wonder he was already dry. Among the 2-mile non-wetsuit folks, I finished 13th out of 18. On the bright side, I managed to finish ahead of 13 of the 26 folks in a wetsuit. Matt Reed was the winner, in 52:36. Wow!

We headed into Boulder for a hearty breakfast at Foolish Craig's Cafe. That was a fun choice and we got to see a bit of Boulder on the way.

Delta came through in the end and my bike made its way to JD's place around noon on Satuday. Just in time for the bike ride. JD helped assemble the bike....and we were off for a ride to Ward and back. JD deserves an award for patience for this. In contrast to the swim race earlier, it took me only 2-3 minutes of riding (essentially riding in the driveway behind JD's place) to realize that there was almost no oxygen here. At any rate, I told myself to stick with it and see what comes. I can only laugh now that JD told me it'd be no different than skiing at altitude. I assured him that skiing was a downhill sport....and riding to Ward would be almost entirely an uphill sport.

Living on the edge of North Boulder puts JD right at the foothills. Our ride would take us north on Hwy 36, then up Lefthand Canyon Drive to the little town of Ward. This was about 44 miles, with a climb of 16 miles up Lefthand Canyon Drive to an elevation of about 9200 feet. The climb was a pretty slow effort. JD probably had trouble going so slowly. I had a great time, though. The scenery was great. The ride was a challenge. And eventually--after a very steep last mile--reached the town of Ward and a welcome rest stop at the general store. JD bought me a cookie (the traditional fare) and we sat and rested for a bit. My photo of the store doesn't do the scene justice. Ward really looks like something out of another time (decades ago).

The 16 miles downhill went more quickly. It's the first time I've gone downhill that far (or long). These past 2 years in Tucson I was afraid (of heights, going fast, etc.) to do the descents. On this descent, there weren't big drop-offs, so I wasn't worried about heights. It was fun to go fast.

For dinner on Saturday, we headed to The Med. This was a great choice. Brooke, JD, and I had a chance to talk about so many things. And enjoy the tappas menu items as we did. I had pizza (I was SO hungry!) and they had salads. After dinner we went for a walk along Pearl Street. It was fun to see so many people out strolling, enjoying the shops and street performers. The most surprising finding was stumbling across Into the Wind Kites. As it turns out, my family has ordered many kites from Into the Wind over the past 20 years....and never really thought about the location of their "real" store. And here it was. They had a great collection of kites on display, including many Hawaiian, Spin-off, Revolution, etc. stunt kites.

On Sunday, JD and I got a very early start to the day. We headed out for a 5-hour hike in the mountains to the west of Boulder. I'd be hard pressed to describe the route now, but we figured our route was about 12 miles or so. There was plenty of climbing, too....and portions were as much vertical as horizontal. The views were great, the weather was great....and it was just great to be outdoors. Once again, I could have used more oxygen. JD made it all look pretty easy (as you might imagine), but this was pretty strenuous. I figure the hike equated to about 10,000 squats at the gym!

Sunday afternoon found the 3 of us lounging at home, recovering from the weekend's activities. We re-packed the bike and decided to visit FedEx to send it back to Jackson instead of trusting Delta again. Cheaper, too.

We finished up the weekend with dinner at Cantina Laredo. Brooke and JD described this as part of the "new" Boulder. Everybody chose fajitas. And a few chips, too. Bedtime came early because I needed to be up at 3 am for the trip back to Jackson.

It'd be impossible to do justice to the story here, but the Monday morning trip back to the Denver airport was pretty amazing. My rental car broke down within sight of JD's place, it took 4 hours for the tow truck to arrive (pressed into service by the Longmont police and then ran out of gas on the way to Boulder), and I made the trip to DIA in style with my rental car on the back of a flatbed truck! I had planned to be back at work by noon, but instead I got back to Jackson at about 8 pm. I can laugh now....

This was a super weekend. Good friends, good times, great memories.

Celebrating the Little Victories: Rah!

2010-08-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a particularly busy spring and early summer here. And oh, so hot! I don't think I've ever wanted so badly for winter to come.

At any rate, I've been on hiatus (for too long) from the blog and I thought that I'd try to catch up. I did another blog entry about my recent races and upcoming plans and I thought I'd write today about a topic that's been on my mind for a few weeks now: celebrating the little victories.

An event at the swimming pool a few weeks ago and a suggestion from coach Justin got me to thinking once again about motivation--not only MY motivation but motivation for athletes in general. I'm sure this topic that has received ample attention from sports psychologists, but I haven't done any relevant reading on the topic. So today, I'm just sharing some of my thoughts and observations.

Event #1--The swim TT

A couple weeks ago, Justin had me do a 1000 yard TT at the pool. In our time working together, we hadn't really done much benchmarking at the pool, but I had suggested that we do some TT's at various distances to see where things stood with swimming. Starting with the EC Swim Camp in late November, it's been a great 8 months of swim training. In part because of a schedule change at work and in part because of a recognition that our masters' workouts weren't very specific for long-course tri swimming, we took a new approach with swimming this year. For the time being, we've ditched masters practice entirely and I've done 3 workouts each week on my own. It's worked out well. I've probably made more progress these past 8 months than in the previous 2 years.

Which gets us to the time trial. For the 1000 yard TT, I was at the pool all by myself one day. Not another person in sight at the 50m by 25y pool....20 SCY lanes to myself. I think it's pretty hard to do a long swim TT alone, but I finished the ~1200 yard warm-up and off I went. The TT swim went well and the time was a PR. I got to the wall, looked at the clock, and gave a big fist pump. But, as it turns out, I wasn't alone after all. There was a lifeguard sitting quietly on the bleachers who stood up and applauded. He took me by surprise and I could only chuckle, perhaps a little bit embarrassed about my celebration at the wall.

If he only knew....

Event #2--Race Schedule

The second thing that got me to thinking was a suggestion from Justin. We were talking about my potential to improve with short-course racing in the 2011 season and we both had some ideas. But one of Justin's suggestions was to do more low-priority races. He's clearly right. Frequent racing undoubtedly helps develop the "racing nuts and bolts" that it takes to excel....over and above whatever conditioning (from training) is also needed. This got me to thinking about my schedule for this year....and then last year, too.

In 2009, I attended the EC Tucson camp, did 7 triathlons (including 4 sprint races, 1 Olympic distance race, and 2 Ironman races), raced a relay leg (swim) at another triathlon, and swam in 1 open water swim race. In all, 12 weekends with racing or camp. All but 1 of the triathlons involved out-of-town, overnight (or longer trips).

This year, I attended the EC Tucson camp and scheduled 5 triathlons (including 1 sprint, 2 intermediate distance, 1 70.3, and 1 Ironman race), 2 open water swim races, and 1 running race. If I don't add anything else to the schedule, 11 weekends with racing or camp. Again, a lot of out-of-town travel to support the race schedule.

I completely realize that, in many circles, that's a very modest racing schedule. But by the same token, it's still a lot of time devoted to the hobby of triathlon. In the end, there are a handful of races among hundreds of days of training--for me and for most every other triathlete I know.

The Point!

I've taken a round-about way of getting to the point. But here it is. Race day is fun for so many reasons. Probably more so than anything else, it's a chance to challenge ourselves--to see what we can do.

For most of us, though, the opportunities to celebrate "big" victories on race day are few. No doubt, race day comes with the opportunity to excel in one or another aspect of the race, or to improve upon one's performance from a previous edition of the race, or complete a longer distance race than ever before. But there's only 1 race winner, 3 people on the podium, 1 age group winner, a small number of qualifiers, etc. So when there's a "big" victory, there's ample reason to celebrate.

But what sustains triathletes during the season....or even from season to season? For me--and for many others, I do believe--it's the "little" victories. Not only on race day, but each and every day.

Like I said: if the lifeguard only knew.... My neighbors will know that when I finish a run at the bottom of my driveway, my arms are almost always over my head, like at the finish line of a race. And when the run is a negative split, the finish is usually accompanied by a "Rah!" on my part. When I'm running outside, I celebrate at the top of every hill. When I'm inside, I cheer when I see that I outlasted everybody else on the treadmill. At the pool, I cheer every time the last 100 is as quick as the first, every time there's a new PR for a longer distance swim, and I cheer really hard when I manage to string together dozens of flipturns in a single workout. And I cheer for nearly every little victory on the bike....every new season-best or all-time best cp1 or cp5 or cp20 or cp60, any time I "win" the impromptu sprint, and certainly any time I'm fortunate to keep up with faster company. Even out-racing the occasional stray dog deserves a cheer.

There's almost NEVER a day when I don't have the chance to celebrate a little victory along the way. And that's what sustains me.

Celebrate the little victories!

Larry

Catching Up

2010-07-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

Time has totally gotten away from me this summer. So much to do....and so little time to do it! After a long absence from the blog, I'll try to get caught up--quickly. At least on the racing front. And I'll work hard to get my next post about "Celebrating the Little Victories" up soon.

Memphis in May Triathlon

I had a terrific time at the Memphis in May Triathlon Olympic-distance race this year. My sister, Lori, visited for the weekend and we had a chance to spend both Friday and Saturday nights in Memphis. On top of that, I got a chance to see Justin who came to do the race, see Blake Becker and Dennis Meeker again, and to meet Laura Tingle.

The race itself was....HOT. That will be the lasting memory, I think. Hot at the start, hot on the bike, and miserably hot on the run. Since I had done the race in 2008 and had visited recently for some training with my friends, Alisha and Brandon, the course was very familiar this time around. All in all, it was a solid day at the race, capped off by a steady--if slow--run at the end. I about equalled by time from 2008, but I'll give myself credit for a better race this time considering the weather.

I managed to reach the finish line before the pros started, so I got to cheer for Justin, Blake, and Laura as they started their race. It was fun to see them race and great to see Blake finish 4th, Laura finish 4th, and Justin finish 6th. I haven't done much spectating at triathlons, but it is always fun to see the speedy folks race--and particularly in transition.

After 25 years or so in Millington, TN, this race is moving to Tunica, MS next year, to the Harrah's Casino there. I've promised my financial advisor, Ted Isaacs, from St. Louis, that I'd do the race next year as he makes his triathlon debut. So it appears there will be a 2011 season of some sort.

Heatwave Classic Triathlon

Next up on the racing calendar was the hometown race, the Heatwave Classic....a 1/2 mile swim, 40K bike, and 10K run. This race draws essentially all of the local triathletes, so it's always a fun day. There were about 500 athletes this year. Like the Memphis race, it was also HOT for this race. We were blessed that we had cloud cover, but it was still warm and very humid.

The race started in 4 waves and I was in the 3rd. I swam well, but just missed winning the swim for my wave. I might have done better if each wave had a different color swim cap, but I lost track of the swimmer in front of me since we were all wearing bright yellow. I had a pretty good bike, improving on the power output from the Memphis race, and ran better, too. Again, for a hot weather day, I was happy with the effort.

Watermelon 5-K

I've been doing more run training lately and Justin and I decided to have a go at a local 5K race, the Watermelon Classic on the 4th of July weekend. It's been a while since my last running race, but I don't think I've ever run a race in hotter and more humid conditions. I enjoy the atmosphere at running races, though. It's fun to see people of all sorts come out for the event. I gave it my all....finished with a heart rate of 181....but managed only 26:14. I'm so ready for cooler weather.

This race brought up an interesting question, a question that I've shared with my Twitter friends already. Which event can you do faster: a 1650 yard swim? or a 5K run? For me, it's the swim. I did the swim recently in 21:14. I've come across only 1 other athlete (Alan Couzens, a coach from EnduranceCorner) who's in the same swim-faster-than-run camp. EVERYBODY else runs the 5K faster than swimming the 1650. Even if I never change camps, I'd like to get closer with the run. I'll continue to view this as an opportunity!

Beach Bum Triathlon

A couple weeks ago, I raced in the Beach Bum Triathlon at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for the 6th time. I combined this with a visit with my parents who live there at the beach. This is always a fun race....a 500m swim, 6-mi bike, and 3-mi run--ALL on the beach. Something a little different. And with a mass start with ~200 competitors, it sets up nicely (at least at the outset) for me. I'm not very good with the running-into-the-surf start (short legs, limited jump, etc.), but I got off to a good start.

Even before I reached the first turning buoy (~50m from shore), I had a pain in my left side that I attributed to a rough edge on my tri-top. I rounded the first buoy in about 15th position and settled into a steady rhythm for the 400m length along the shoreline. In no time at all, though, I had a searing pain in my right forearm and another behind my right knee, both due to jellyfish stings. This was a first. And at first, I wasn't even sure what was going on. Thankfully, there were no more stings. I managed to work up to 5th position leaving the water....and at least 1 swimmer ahead of me was on a relay team, so I was in great position to start the bike.

I did the bike leg on a Trek 4300 mountain bike, wearing running shoes. The ride is short enough that it can be an all-out effort, and that's what I did. Even before the first turn-around at 1.5 miles, I had moved into 4th position! For me, it really doesn't get any better than that. It's FUN to be at the front, for sure. All good things come to an end, though. I was in about 12th or 13th position at T2 and allowed an even bigger group to get by me on the run. But all-in-all, it was a fun morning at the beach.

Next Up....

The next triathlon will be Ironman Western Australia on December 5th. My folks and sister will be making the trip as well and we're just finishing up with the travel plans. It's hard to believe that the race is only 4 months away now. Time flies.

Between now and IM Western Australia, I'll be trying my hand at a couple swim races--a 2-mi race in Boulder on August 21st and the 2.4-mi Waikiki Rough Water Swim in Hawaii on September 6th. I'm looking forward to the Hawaii trip. I haven't visited there since I was a kid. The trip to Hawaii will include a 7-day cruise around the islands, so a chance to see a little of each of the islands. I'm particularly excited to be hooking up with Gerd Weber, a friend from last year's IM Brazil trip, who lives in Kona. We're planning a swim and bike ride on the Kona racecourse. Should be fun.

Larry

Determined Again

2010-04-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Happiest race: Susan Komen 5-K Race for the Cure, spring, 2005. Tears at the finish after a sprint for ~27:00. Couldn't believe I ran that far.

Saddest race: 2010 N. Orleans 70.3, the Sunday before last. Sprinted at the finish (just so that my run time would be faster than my bike time). Might have cried, but I was probably too dehydrated for tears.

The N. Orleans 70.3 was the weekend before last. My folks and sister made the trip to cheer. My best friends, George and Stephanie, were there to race. And 40+ other Mississippi Heat tri club members were there competing as well. I had a terrific weekend with friends and family. But the race was a bit of a trainwreck, I'm afraid.

It was a windy, warm, and very humid day. I was reminded, more than once, that I should be thankful it wasn't as warm as the 2009 edition. Nonetheless.... The race started off with a swim in Lake Pontchartrain, with transition adjacent to the Univ. of N. Orleans campus. The water conditions were pretty choppy....more like the Gulf at IM Florida than a typical lake swim. I had a good swim, out of the water in 30:15 and across the timing mat at 30:58. I even had a better than usual T1 time as I got headed out onto the bike. The bike was an out-and-back, with a couple hairpin loops to add length, along the southern edge of the Lake. It was pretty windy for the outbound and there was a moderate tailwind on the return. I had hoped to manage a steady 190-210W for the ride, but fell a little short. I eased up a bit in the 3rd hour, but with the help of the tailwind finished up in 2:56. I felt good in T2, but it didn't take long before the hot weather got the best of me. The temps were only in the 70's, but the N. Orleans humidity and bright sunshine were rough. By mile 2 of the run I didn't feel well and by miles 4-5 I was having leg cramps that made it hard to walk, yet alone run. It would be a long 2:54 "run" to the finish line. And once again I was left wondering if I wouldn't have done better if it had been a 1.2 mile run and 13.1 mile swim!

It wasn't a pretty sight at the finish line. It was all I could do to make the few steps and sit down on a box of Gatorade at the side of the finishing chute. And I sat there for probably 15-20 minutes just collecting myself. Somebody leaned over the fence (?my sister) and asked if I needed the medical tent, but I deferred. At that moment I probably would have needed to be carried there. This is as close to a "real" medical problem as I'd like to get at a race.

I enjoyed dinner that evening with the family, George and Stephanie, and George's friends, Paula and Paul. Paul, as it turns out, is an orthopedic surgeon at Tulane. And, as luck would have it, he would turn out to be the surgeon for Robin (another Mississippi Heat member), who had a bike crash and broke his hip. So, just when you think you had a bad day....

But it was a bad day at the race. I had high expectations. I thought I was never more ready for a triathlon and that prospects were good for PR's at each leg of the race. I had told Coach Justin that I expected to finish in 5:50 (0:30, 2:50, 2:20, plus some transition time). And there was virtually no doubt in my mind that I would make that happen on race day. But that's why they have the race, isn't it?

The aftermath of a bad race is never good. And this time it was awful. I think that in the 10 days after the race, I experienced every emotion possible. I questioned everything: my motivation, my ability, my nutrition, my training, my mindset, my outfit. Just everything. I was disappointed, discouraged, upset, frustrated, aggravated. And so on.

There were some lighter moments, though. I shared with Coach Justin some of the funny comments from folks about my race. Always good to have friends.

From folks who don't really know me very well:

Comment: How did you swim so fast? Did you skip 1 of the buoys?

Me: Hmmm....What do you say? Right arm, left arm, repeat.....

Comment: Did you train for this race?

Me: Hmmm....I seem to recall some training.

Comment: Did you consider stopping after the bike?

Me: Hmmm....It was billed as a triathlon. Should've had the candy bar in T2!

From the few folks who know me well enough to know about my training, etc.:

Comment: What did Justin say? What did Gordo say?

Me: Justin said that if I ran, it would speed things up considerably.

I think that's the funniest thing I've heard since the race. And it's SO TRUE. Next time....

Comment: When I saw your bike time, I was sure you had a flat.

Me: Actually, this was finally a race WITHOUT a flat.

Comment: When we saw you at the finish, we thought you'd need the medical tent.

Me: Perhaps I did. Instead I sat down on the box of Gatorade at the finish....and couldn't move for 20 minutes. Interestingly, nobody (including you!) offered assistance to the medical tent. The finish line workers didn't seem to notice me on the Gatorade.

Justin told me, "well at least you didn't get 'good race.' That's the worst!" So I've got that going for me!

And then there was some constructive thinking about what went wrong. In the end, I think there was dehydration and possibly some electrolyte problems that we will work out before the next race. I can already see, from measuring sweat loss during this past week's workouts, that I probably underestimated the fluid requirements for race day in N. Orleans. I appreciate the helpful suggestions from some of my colleages here at work, from Dr. Bob at Endurance Corner, and also my own doctor. We'll work that out and be better prepared for the next race. The hot weather's not going away.

But in the midst of thinking about the positive steps we could take for the next race was a whole lot of anguish about preparation and execution of this race. In trying to put together a good day at the races, I likened myself to Charlie Brown trying to kick the football....or Linus waiting each year in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to come. I'm promising myself that I'll never get this worked up about a race result again. Ever. Coach Justin got the brunt of my rantings about self-doubt. He deserves a medal for listening and my thanks for not firing me.

Some things worth remembering.... Justin has had some thoughtful advice on previous occasions. Even with a bad race, we've built up some fitness that we can carry forward. Can't take that away. That should be comforting. And he's told me before that there are always bad races to go with the good ones....and sometimes more bad ones than good ones. Even for the best athletes. So I've got some company. And that's always comforting. And this time he reminded me of one of the observations by Coach Bobby McGee....that 90% of the time athletes underperform, 9% of the time they perform as they should, and just 1% of the time do they overperform. There's company there, too. We'll work toward getting out of the first group at the next race!

And one more thing worth remembering.... Coach Gordo reminded me that it's important to remember the "why" of racing....what got you out there to do the race or be involved in triathlon in the first place. For me, that motivation was better health and the fellowship with the other athletes. And I'm certain I've got those things going for me....even on a bad race day.

I have a couple photos to share. My last blog post was about the Endurance Corner Tucson training camp. I had a busy week at work leading up to that trip and my Thursday of that week included a heart transplant in a 72 year old man with a failing heart. I ran into him and his wife at the hospital earlier this week and they wanted to share this photo with me.....the photo that they call "the tin man and the thin man" about a month after his transplant.

Helps keep things in perspective.

And one last photo to share. I was at one of our teaching conferences yesterday and one of the residents included a slide that I liked:

It's taken 11 days now to get over the bad race. But at the next race, Memphis in May on 5/23, it's "DO!" Can't wait.

Endurance Corner Tucson Camp, March 2010

2010-03-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the chance to go to Tucson for the Endurance Corner training camp. You'll recall that I went to the camp last year and had a great time. There are still folks here in Jackson who can't believe I went to a tri camp. I'll have to admit that, last year, it was a little out of my comfort zone. This year, I wouldn't miss the trip.

Last year, the combination of the first 2 days' riding and the effects of a bout of food poisoning left me some unfinished business for this year. Just thankful that Gordo and JD let me return.

I thought I'd recap the weeks's activities.... I don't have the best collection of photographs--just ones that I took with the iPhone. Sherry was the camp photographer and when she shares her photos, I'll borrow some to supplement mine. Anyway....

Pre-Camp

I traveled to Tucson on Saturday, getting there mid-afternoon. I used American Airlines for the trip, connecting through Dallas. The day started off great, with the bonus of NOT being charged extra $$ for the bike baggage! I rented a car and headed toward Tucson. You realize, from the very outset, that this is the desert. Even the landscaping at the airport includes the beautiful Saguaro cactus.

My first stop was at Trisports....the store, not the website. It's located between the airport and downtown. They were having a packet pickup for some sort of event the following day, so there were several booths set up outside. The store itself was much smaller than I expected, though. It's amazing what a website will do for expectations. I picked up some CO2 cartridges and was on my way.

The home base for the camp this year was again the Hotel Arizona, located in downtown Tucson near I-10 and adjacent to the Tucson Convention Center. Not the fanciest digs, but comfortable and conveniently located for the week's activities.

I had a great corner room on the 11th floor, with views to the west and north.

I headed out to pick up some snack foods for the week....conscious of the fact that there'd be MANY calories expended as the week went by. After stops at Whole Foods and CVS, it was back to the hotel to assemble the bike. I was pleased that the bike made the trip without damage.

I brought my new road bike, a 2010 Trek Madone, complete with electronic shifting. I knew from last year's experience that having the correct gearing would be important (particularly for one of the less capable cyclists!), so I brought 50/34 and 12-27 for the trip. Good choice.

I checked in with JD and Alan, who had made the 2-day drive from Boulder in the SportsMobile. I also met Gail, Brooke's mom, who was along to help Sherry during the week. I couldn't help but see a lot of Brooke in Gail. And once again, I thought it was really nice that JD brought "the family" along.

I went out to dinner with good friends from my days as a surgical resident in St. Louis....Michael and Mary Lee Moulton. He's now a surgeon at the Univ. of Arizona. They also brought along their youngest daughter....an avid swimmer, so we had something to talk about. We ate at the Arizona Inn, a lovely dinner and a great chance to catch up with Mike. I hadn't seen them since my unhealthier days....and both were surprised that I had taken up triathlon.

Day #0--Sunday--Arrival Day

Sunday was the arrival day for the camp, but JD and I were up early for breakfast at the hotel and then a long trail run in Saguaro Park East. This is about a 25-min drive from downtown, but worth it. The weather was nice and cool and the scenery in the park is great for a run. Mind you, I didn't run WITH JD, but just AT THE SAME TIME as JD! Best sight was a desert hare. I was amazed by how large it was....and how large its ears were.

After we got back to the hotel, I drove my rental car back to the airport, dropped it off, and met JD for a ride back to the hotel. We picked up Kevin Boucher (a repeat camper from Chattanooga, TN) and JD's Aunt Sherry for the ride back. Good to catch up with both of them. I was flattered that Sherry pointed out in the first couple minutes that I looked skinnier....true, I was about 8-10 pounds lighter than last year. And that would turn out to be helpful on the bike, for sure.

The whole group met for a welcome buffet dinner at 6 pm in a private room off the dining room. This would be our "evening home" for the week. We would eat at 4 tables set for 9, changing dinner companions each night. Great setting for informal conversation about the day's activities.

The coaches this year included JD, Gordo, Kevin Purcell (KP), Jeff Shilt (Dr. J), and Jonas Colting. A bunch of the campers from last year were back, but the group included about 12 new faces and was about 24 total campers this year. We had the usual introductions, enjoyed dinner and some conversation, and JD and Gordo layed down the rules for the week....starting with plans for Monday's long ride.

Monday--Day #1--Madera Canyon

One workout today. We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then assembled into 3 groups (A, B, C) according to self-declared cycling ability. I joined the C group, which included about 12 riders plus coaches. We got our stuff together and headed out for a long ride to Madera Canyon. Coach Alan would later join our group after he drove the SportsMobile to its position at ~30 miles into the ride (he rode back to meet the group). It was a cold and rainy morning....pretty dreary, actually. I was bundled up, complete with rain jacket. The rain let up after the first hour or so, but it was pretty cool for the whole day.

The ride heads out to the south on Mission Road for about 30 miles of gradual uphill to a designated re-grouping point just before Green Valley. After a stop for a Pepsi, a snack, and a bathroom break, we headed out through Green Valley and on to Madera Canyon Park. From this point, there was a moderate grade 7-mile climb to the Park entrance, the next stopping point. Some of the campers chose to continue into the park for a steep 3-mile climb to the turnaround, but elected to turn back from the Park entrance. The return ride headed home along the same route and, for me, it was 92 miles on the day. My best power numbers ever for a long ride. A great start to the camp!

Back at the hotel, the bike mechanics, Scott and Marcus, collected the bikes and would have them cleaned and tuned up for the next day's ride. Doesn't get any better than that!

I had a massage at 4pm on Monday. Each of the campers would have a 1-hour massage appointment on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday afternoon. I think I was more sore after the massage than before.

The group dinner featured a talk by Gordo. I could listen to (or read) Gordo for hours on end. Always interesting. Always insightful.

Tuesday--Day #2--40K or 40-Mile

After Monday's long ride, Tuesday was designed to be a lighter day. After breakfast at the hotel, we all headed out by van to the Oro Valley municipal pool (heated, and open year-round), about a 25-minute drive north of downtown. It's a great pool in a beautiful setting....mountainside backdrop.

After some discussion on Monday, Gordo was elected to construct the workout:

400 EZ (1st 25 of each 100 = back)

4 x 100 (25 back, 25 breast, 50 free)

4 x 50 IMO/free by 25's

Main set (long swims moderate, 100's on 1:20):

500, 5 x 100

400, 4 x 100

300, 3 x 100

200, 2 x 100

100, 1 x 100

I was happy to swim in a lane with JD, Gordo, Nina, and Tony. The water was pretty warm, so I was happy they agreed to 1:20 intervals instead of 1:15. Even at that, I chose to use paddles/buoy. Left to their own, JD and Gordo would probably have chosen 1:05 or 1:10, so I appreciate that they went slow to satisfy the campers! The adjacent lane that included Jonas, David, Max, and Flip used the same intervals, but swam the longer swims even quicker. And I noticed that they included a break on deck between each part of the main set. Me? I just stayed in the water.

We had breakfast snacks in the park adjacent to the pool before heading back to the hotel.

Lunch was served in Room 102 at the hotel, a hospitality room that would be open for use all week long. Morning coffee, mid-day lunch, snacks at other times. Sandwiches, chips, drinks for lunch. Good stuff. Even peanut M&M's!

The afternoon ride was broken into 2 groups: a 40K group and a 40-mile group. I joined the 40K group for an out-and-back ride from the hotel, across Gates Pass to a turn-around point, then back across Gates Pass from the west side and back to the hotel. From the east (hotel side), there is a moderate climb, but from the west there is about a 1-mile climb that is very steep. Out of the saddle for a 400W+ effort to get to the top. Last year I had to walk my bike up one of the small hills on the way to the Pass....but not this year! It was another strong effort.

For me (JD's plan), it was a 20-minute transition run off the bike, along the sidewalks of downtown Tucson. Not too scenic and it took a while to get my legs going, but I was pretty happy with the effort.

The group dinner at the hotel included a talk by Alan Couzens on sport-specific strength training. He talked about use of gear for swimming and big-gear low cadence work on the bike. I was pleased that JD and I had been working on all of these things in addition to our gym work.

Wednesday--Day #3--Mt. Lemmon

Mt.Lemmon day! JD had me up early for a pre-breakfast 30-minute run along the streets of Tucson. I felt surprisingly strong given the previous 2 days' activities. I was a little worried, though, that this pre-stress might affect my ability to get up the mountain on the bike.

After breakfast at the hotel, we got a late start with a van ride out to Udall Park, where we caught up with our bicycles. We got ourselves together and headed out for a 42-mile roundrip ride up Mt. Lemmon. The first 7 miles to the base of the mountain were pretty uneventful, but a couple folks made a wrong turn and took a while to catch up. We regrouped at the base and had sendoffs in groups according to ability. I was one of the first to depart and made a very steady effort of the climb, holding things right at HR=140 and power~195W. At mile 7, I stopped at the van to get a drink and then started up again. We were able to ride only as far as Windy Point, at the 14-mile marker, because of snow on the road. A little sad that we weren't able to go to the top, but I was really pleased about effort on the day. The descent was terribly (and surprisingly) cold and at some point I bummed a ride in the SportsMobile to the bottom.

Lunch was served in the Park and we sat out on the grass in the warm sunshine to unwind.

Back at the hotel, Nina and I headed over to the YMCA for a recovery swim and found David and Kevin Farley there already. Nina and I joined David for some spirited 200's and some IM stuff. It worked out to ~2000 yards for me and felt nice after the morning's cycling.

Dinner at the hotel included a talk by Dr. J about shoulder mechanics and injury, featuring his own problems with shoulder injury these past couple years. Best advice? Avoid injury.

Thursday--Day #4--Big Swim Day

Big swim day! After breakfast we headed back to the Oro Valley pool for a long swim. Today's workout was:

60 x 100 Free on intervals of 1:35/1:30/1:25/1:20, with so-called Monsy 100 pattern....

1111, 2222, 3333, 4444, 5555 of each.

Gordo left our lane to join the faster guys (swimming to 1:15), but Flip joined the lane for extra company. I used paddles/buoy and made it a pretty easy, if long, effort. I swam 5th and JD didn't like me creeping on Tony....but I couldn't help it! When JD hopped out (first to talk with another coach and later, for good), the group slowed down. We needed JD for better pacing.

We had some snacks on the park lawn adjacent to the pool before returning to the hotel.

After lunch, we headed out for a 70K ride loop, south on Mission, then Ajo Hwy, then Sandoria Road, Kinnley, Gates Pass, then back to the hotel. The B group got lost, but we were joined by the A group just before the climb up Gates Pass. JD's offer of a beanie to the KOM resulted in a VERY spirited effort to reach the top. Perhaps less spirited for Larry, but a pretty good effort, nonetheless. Max (25-yr old stud) won the beanie. Enjoyed the downhill back to the hotel with JD and John Fell, another athlete that JD coaches (and also President of Advantage Packaging, Inc., 1 of JD's sponsors). JD once again pointed out that coasting is not cool....must always pedal. You'd think I'd have learned that lesson from Panama City Beach when I was taught the first time.

There was a late-afternoon trail run at Starr Pass. Only 1 vanful of campers went. I went, but walked for 45 minutes instead of running. I don't think I was made to run on rocky trail. The scenery was beautiful, though, and the weather was great. I was thankful I didn't get lost....I kept thinking of Vince, who went on and on and on about how the trails were confusing! Sherry was there to take photos, so I ran for a short distance....you know, must look good for the camera.

At the end of the run we had a chance to watch a mountain biker ride down the side of a large hill and making a big jump at the bottom. Some suggested that we should Tweet a photo of the guy....and show the world what EC camp day #5 was really like!

Dinner at the hotel included a talk by Jonas Colting, visiting coach from Sweden. He's had a long (~20-year) history in triathlon and is a 2-time winner of the Hawaii Ultraman race. Tonight, he talked about his approach to training (and life) that has allowed for such a long career. Totally entertaining. We were introduced to the "primal walk" and learned that "I don't do misery."

Friday--Day #5--Long Run Day

After 4 days of riding, this would be a ride-free day. We headed out before breakfast to Saguaro Park East for a long trail run. Recall that JD and I had run there on Sunday. For some reason, I was 1 of the last to get started with the run and I followed Trip, Laura, and Max. Nina and Gail also followed and soon we were lost....obviously headed the wrong direction. So.......we had a 12-min out-and-back before joining the correct trail for the run. Nina and I ended up running together, using 15 min run/1 min walk pattern for 1 hour 20 minutes total. Got back to the vans running strong. Nice effort. Again, great weather and scenery. No desert hare this time, but the coyotes were howling. Fun!

After breakfast we headed back to the Oro Valley pool for another swim session. Today's workout was designed by Jonas Colting....he promised something different....and delivered:

500 SKIPS (by 100's)

4 x 50 kick 1-2-3 @1:00

4 x (3 x 25 hypoxic/fast/EZ)

8 x 50 1-arm/fist drill by 25's

Main set:

4 x (12 x 25 Free @0:30--targeting 0:15 for swim) with 50 EZ between

Post set:

4 x 50 Navy Seals (12.5 scull/somersault/12.5 free/flip turn/12.5 polo swim/touch bottom/12.5 fly) on long rest

4 x 25 wheelbarrow with JD (1 pulls, other kicks and holds onto front swimmers leg)

Swam with JD, Nina, and Tony. Good crew again. Didn't live up to the 0:15 target, but gave a pretty good effort. Didn't want to give it all at the pool today and have regrets on the Kitt Peak ride on Saturday.

Dinner at the hotel included a talk by Gordo, maybe best titled, "The Best of Gordo." I can totally identify with the Gordo "before" photo on the dock. Still working to emulate the Gordo "after" photos.

Saturday--Day #6--Kitt Peak

Terrific last day for the camp. Breakfast at the hotel, then early rollout for an epic 100+ mile roundtrip ride to the Kitt Peak Observatory. The C group got a half-hour head start. The ride took us ~40 miles out along Mission Road, then the Ajo Highway to the base of Kitt Peak. There was a gradual climb to this portion of the ride, and the elevation gain was probably about ~1000 feet or so. We were caught by the B group and eventually the A group and everybody could re-group at the SportsMobile at the base of Kitt Peak. Gail and Sherry had set up a mini-kitchen, with all sorts of snacks and beverages. They would be sunbathing while the riders headed up the mountain. A couple riders turned back to Tucson at this point, but most everybody made the climb.

The climb up the mountain is just over 12 miles, to a final elevation of 6750 feet. Pretty steep by Larry's standards. I was 1 of the last to depart and worked hard to close up a big gap to John Fell. Coach Alan and Jason were behind, but all 4 of us gathered at the top for photos after a successful climb. I was pretty excited since I could only make it to the 4-mile marker last year. Progress!

I decided to sag down the mountain instead of ride. Again, I'm not much on heights. After a snack, John, Alan, Jason, and I gathered for the return ride to Tucson. We made good time on the slightly downhill return, helped by a tailwind for much of the trip. We stopped at a local convenience store about half-way back, enjoyed a drink there, and John treated me and Alan to lottery tickets (mine was a loser!).

Back at the hotel, I gathered up Nina, Kevin Boucher, and Kevin Farley for a recovery swim at the YMCA. Just 1000 yards for me. A more spirited swim for Kevin F.

Dinner the last night was both fun and sad. Fun to celebrate the day's and the week's accomplishments....but sad that the camp was drawing to a close. Gordo asked each of the coaches to toss out 3 benchmarking ideas....and there were a variety of ideas.

Post-Camp

Sunday was departure day. Up early for a 6:15 departure to the airport. Was happy to ride to the airport with JD, Alan, and Ron in the SportsMobile. We talked about Ironman China which had wrapped up overnight. Sad to see, at the time, that JD's friend, Chris McDonald hadn't started the race....learned a couple days later that he entered the 70.3 instead and finished 2nd. Congrats to Chris.

Sad to be leaving Tucson, but it was a GREAT week of training and fellowship. I'll miss the other campers, but I'll particularly miss the EC coaches, especially JD. I hope that, with a better performance this year, that I'll be invited back.

It was, by far, the biggest week of training EVER for me. For the week:

29 hours, 58 minutes of training

15,900 yards of swimming

298 miles of riding

22 miles of running

So, I'm tired. But a good tired. Until next year....

Natchez Bike Weekend, February 2010

2010-02-21T18:22:00.002-08:00

Last weekend we had the 2nd edition of the Jackson-Natchez-Jackson bike ride. It's sure to become a classic.

You'll recall that I wrote about the 1st edition, back in the fall. Bobby S., Brandon W., and I made the trip along with a cheering section that included Lori C., Julie S., and Alisha W. At the time, we were in the homestretch of the IM Florida training and everybody was strong. Well, except poor Alisha, who was hurt and couldn't ride. We had a great time and said we'd do it again sometime in 2010.

Justin Daerr must have been talking to Bobby and Brancon when he visited with us in November, because after that visit, Justin was pretty excited about having us organize the next Natchez bike weekend for President's Day weekend. He couldn't have known at the time that we'd have temperatures 30 degrees colder than normal....and the biggest snowstorm for Jackson in 25 years.

At any rate, we aimed higher this time, and organized the ride under the auspices of the Mississippi Heat Triathlon Team. And there was a fair amount of interest. At one point or another, more than 20 riders expressed interest. The cold weather ended up affecting people's motivation level, I think, and we ended up with a hardy group of 9 riders for day #1: me, Brandon, Alisha, Charlie, Melanie, April Palmer, John Wofford, Martha, and Matt Johnson.

The support crew included my sister, Lori, Bobby (who is still recovering from recent left hamstring surgery), and Colin Blanchard, a mechanic from The Bike Rack. Good company and great ride support.

We awoke on our departure day to several inches of snow on the ground from the day before....and temperatures just below freezing. We decided to delay our start until 10:00 am to allow the temperatures to get above freezing, out of a concern for icing on the overpasses along the Natchez Trace. We sat around my kitchen for a couple hours, telling stories, and staying warm.

Then, after a group photo, it was off!

I've lived here for nearly 7 years now and I've never seen snow on the ground like this before. Amazing. Thankfully, the roads were mostly dry....and the overpasses turned out to be safe. But it was cold, in the 30's for the morning and in the low 40's for the afternoon. There were a couple hours of nice sunshine in the afternoon which made the temperature feel much warmer.

The ride broke up into several groups and people made their way south at their own pace. We had "major" rest stops at Rocky Springs (~50 miles in) and again at Coles Creek (about 87 miles in). I spent the day riding with Brandon, Alisha, and Matt. We put in a solid day's ride, I thought....perhaps a little slower than in the fall edition, but we had a (cold) wind against this time. We pulled into Natchez about 5:00 pm. The other riders got close, but got picked up by the sag vehicles as darkfall approached.

We spent the night at the Natchez Grand Hotel, an improvement over the Eola Hotel from the fall edition. Perhaps not as much character, but better lighting and great cookies in the lobby! It was Pearl Street Pasta again for dinner, where we were joined by April's husband. There was much talk about the day's ride and eager anticipation about the return ride to Jackson.

We were up early for a 7:00 am breakfast at the hotel and an 8:00 (or nearly 8:00 am) departure. Oh, and another group photo....minus Charlie and Melanie who returned to Jackson to get ready for baptism, birthday, Valentine's Day.

We rode back to Rocky Springs before the cold weather (and tired legs) got the best of people's determination. We called it a day there and drove back to Jackson.

We celebrated the adventure with pizza from Soulshine. And there was quick talk about the "next time." We'll see....

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-04T13:47:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe that 2010 is here.

It's been a busy few weeks here. Since I last updated the blog, my sister and parents visited for Christmas. I had to work, but it was great to have the family here for the holiday.

This past week was a relaxing New Year's week....a short work week and another long holiday weekend. This time, there was just some unwinding.

People keep asking me when the next race will be. It's only been a few weeks since the last race! But it's nice to know people are interested. I'm thinking the 2010 season will include:

Feb. 6th: Hilton Head Island Half Marathon
March 7th - 14th: Endurance Corner Tucson Training Camp
April 18th: N. Orleans 70.3
May 23rd: Memphis in May Triathlon
June 5th: Heatwave Classic Triathlon
Sept. 6th: Waikiki 2.4-mile Roughwater Swim. I'll be combining this with a week-long Hawaii cruise with the family that includes a day in Kona for a swim and bike at "ground zero"
Dec. 5th: Ironman Western Australia

Looking forward to 2010!

Endurance Corner Swim Camp

2009-12-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

It's been 4 weeks now since Ironman Florida and it already feels like a lifetime ago. I've certainly had a chance to rest up a bit and get re-connected with some people and things that were back-burnered during the lead-up to the race.

I had a great time last week, spending the Thanksgiving weekend with the family at Disney World.

I thought I'd write today about the Endurance Corner Swim Camp that finished up today. Well, for me it finished up on Thanksgiving because I got an early start. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but Gordo, Jan, and Scott seem to have been the organizers for the 2-week virtual camp.

About 35 triathletes located all over the U.S., and the globe, for that matter, participated. There was an Internet-based tally sheet for the athletes to report their daily swim yardage, so that all the participants could see how the others were doing. Score was kept as follows:

For each day's swim: 1 point if >=2000 meters or 2 points if >=4000 meters.

1 bonus point each week if >= 5 swims that week.

1 bonus point if >=10 swims over the 2-week camp.

1 bonus point for each of 10 "bonus sets" that could be included anywhere along the way:
1. 5 x 400m on 20 sec rest, descending
2. 2 x 100m, descending, choice of rest
3. 4000m, without stopping, breathing every 3rd stroke
4. 10 x 200m, grouped 4/3/2/1, each group faster, on 15 sec rest
5. 8 x 250, first 25 fly, last 225 choice, choice of rest
6. 2000m, without stopping, with pull buoy and band
7. 2000m time trial
8. 20 x 100m on avg 100m pace from 2000m TT plus 0:10.

I managed to get all 41 points and logged ~69,000 yards at the pool. For me, that was the most ever for a 2-week period, by far. There are still a few hours left today and it looks like ~9-10 people will finish with 50,000+meters. Wow. Gordo promised new EC swim caps to everybody who reached 50,000 meters, so there was some incentive! I'll bet that most folks did 2x to 4x their usual swimming volume during the camp.

Gordo and JD posted the details of their daily workouts at the EC Forum and it was interesting to see how the elites go about swim training. It's sometimes easy to gloss over the various #'s, split times, etc., but they swim FAST and LONG, day after day. Again, wow.

For me, it was back to training this week. It's amazing how de-tuned things become with a 3-week break. My quads have been burning all week from Monday evening's trip to the gym. And the 2:15 ride yesterday seemed like it would never end. Today was an appreciated rest day....and back at it tomorrow.

Thinking about the 2010 season....
February...............Hilton Head Island Half Marathon
...................Natchez bike weekend
March....................Endurance Corner Tucson training camp
April.......................N. Orleans 70.3
May........................Memphis in May
June.......................Heatwave Classic

Ironman Florida 2009

2009-11-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Jackson after a long weekend in Panama City Beach, Florida, for the 2009 Ironman Florida triathlon.

Lori flew to Jackson on Tuesday of race week and we headed down to PCB on Wednesday. We picked up Justin Daerr at the Pensacola airport on the way and we were glad that he decided to stay with us at the Creswell family headquarters, as he called it. We lucked out with a great 10th floor penthouse condo with a huge balcony and great views of the gulf. We enjoyed dinner at Carrabas Grill and a shopping trip to Publix and called it a day.

On Thursday, I went for a short ride with Justin, registered for the race, and visited the expo. The family went to the pro press conference to hear Justin and the other men and women pros talk about the upcoming race. Justin and I went for a short afternoon swim in the beautiful Gulf water. The family and I went to the Welcome Dinner and hooked up with Nicholas Whipple, one of our medical students who was doing his first Ironman race. We enjoyed the videos, the music, and the pasta dinner. And we let Justin have some quiet time!

Friday was a pretty uneventful day. Went on another short ride with Justin, did a short EZ run, and then another swim with Justin. We checked in the gear and lounged. Justin's girlfriend, Brooke, arrived in the afternoon and it was great to meet the (better) half of Team JD. She turned out to be lots of fun. Lori and I made a quick trip to visit Alisha, Brandon, Charlie, Mel, and Brandon's parents at their condo at the Shores of Panama. We enjoyed the well-wishing. We had dinner back at the condo and turned in early.

The race had both good and bad. I swam well in rough water and biked steadily (if not fast). But once again, I struggled with the run. It took a rather spirited effort in the last mile to reach the finish line just shy of 14 hours. As always, it was great to arrive to the cheers of family and friends. Justin and Brooke also came back to cheer and it was great to be able to celebrate with them, too.

I think my fondest memories of my two tries at IM Florida came in the same place in 2007 and again this year.....the family and friends cheering at the 13-mile mark of the run.

I thought that training had gone well and so, at this point, I'm not sure what I could have done differently. I'll have to think hard about this before giving it another go. You can't help but be inspired at these IM races.

On Monday, we headed home, bringing Justin for his first real visit to Mississippi. I had the Mississippi Heat Triathlon Team over to my house for dinner and a talk by Justin. Justin offered up suggestions for how to approach the offseason, how to get organized for next year, and how to find and work with a coach. There were plenty of questions and answers to follow....and I think that people had a good time. We all agreed that we should do things like this more often.

It's time for some rest now.....catch up on some things that have been on back burner for a while, holidays with the family, etc. I've been thinking a lot about next year, though, and I'm thinking now about doing the Blues Half Marathon here in Jackson in January, the Hilton Head Island Half Marathon in February, making a repeat trip to the Endurance Corner training camp in Tucson in March, and racing in the N. Orleans 70.3 in April. That's a start....

One Week to Go!

2009-11-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

One week to go 'til Ironman Florida!

I see that it's been a while since I've written anything here at the blog. Since the Great Natchez Ride, I've been busy at work, busy finishing up training, and working to get some content up at my other blog, the Athlete's Heart Blog.

I had a good time yesterday morning at the Du It For Heather Duathlon here in Ridgeland. This is the 2nd annual running of this event, albeit with a different name this year. Once again, we had clear, sunny skies and ideal cool temperatures for the race. I was on hand to cheer for George and Stephanie this year....and a handful of others that I knew who were doing the race. Both Stephanie and George had a good race....and Stephanie came from behind to win the overall women's race! Good for her. And on her new bike!

I stood for a long while with Darryl, who is also racing at Ironman Florida next weekend. We shared stories about training and thoughts about the upcoming race. Training has gone well. No significant injuries and pretty consistent efforts, I'd say. There are several people from town who are headed to Panama City Beach for the race next weekend....me, Darryl, Brandon, Mike, Toby, Jim, and Nicholas, I think. And some people to cheer as well, including Charlie, Mel, Alisha, George, Stephanie, and my family.

Lori's traveling to Jackson on Tuesday evening and we'll be driving down to PCB on Wednesday. We're stopping in Pensacola to pick up Coach Justin (and say hello to the parents who are also traveling to Pensacola), then it's on to PCB! We're staying once again at the Grandview condos....this was a great home base for the 2007 race.

After the race, Coach Justin is coming back to Jackson for a short stay. We've planned a dinner and evening of TriTalk with Justin on Monday, Nov. 9th at my place, for the Mississippi Heat tri club. I think this will lots of fun....and probably educational, too. I really appreciate Justin's willingness to do this.

That's it for now. More in the coming days from Panama City Beach!

Great Natchez Ride

2009-10-04T16:56:00.001-07:00

Had a great weekend with our Great Natchez Ride. Off and on for the past couple years, we've talked about doing an overnight bike ride to Natchez and back (~100 miles each way) on the Natchez Trace....but like many adventures, it's sometimes hard to get a critical mass together. But it really happened this weekend. We put this on the calendar a couple months ago, hoping to talk a crowd into joining in....but in the end, it was just me, Bobby, and Brandon. Alisha, Brandon's girlfriend was also going to ride, but a nagging foot injury turned her into a support person at the last minute.

We met at my house early Saturday morning....the riders, plus the support crew of Lori (my sister), Alisha (Brandon's girlfriend), and Julie (Bobby's girlfriend). We loaded up Bobby's Tahoe with the luggage and support gear and we were off!

The Natchez Trace is a gem for bicyclists. It's a 2-lane road, entirely through National Park, that stretches from Natchez, MS in the south to Nashville, TN in the north. The road surface is great and there is little traffic. On the stretch between here and Natchez, the road is gently rolling for the first 80 miles or so, then has bigger hills for the last 25 miles. All in all, there's about 2000 feet of elevation gain for the entire route.

Day #1

We had terrific weather....sunny, 70's to low 80's, little wind....perfect conditions for a long bike ride. We headed out from my house for the 3-mile ride to the Trace and the girls headed out in the SUV. We hopped on the Trace and headed south, each taking rotating 5-10 minute turns at the front.

The girls played leapfrog with us, stopping at each upcoming rest stop along the Trace. They'd be there, cheering and taking photos as we rode by.

We made 2 stops on the way to Natchez, first at Rocky Mount (~50 miles in) and then Mount Locust (~88 miles in)....bathroom break, stretching, snacks, etc. The biggest mishap on day #1 came at Mount Locust....but for the support vehicle, not the riders! The girls rode over a metal bolt which found its way into a rear tire, causing a flat. And, interestingly, we had a dickens of a time getting the tire changed. Eventually, a local US mailwoman had to change the tire. Go figure! We turned the girls loose to head for the hotel and be there when we arrived.

We stayed at the historic Eola hotel in downtown Natchez. It is Fall Pilgrimage season in Natchez, so our choice of accomodations was limited, but this worked out pretty well. The rooms were comfortable and had a balcony looking toward the Mississippi River.

I headed out for a short transition run along the River and then crashed at the room for a couple hours. Some of the others made their way to Biscuit and Blues for a snack and libation.

We ate at the Pearl Street Pasta Co., just across the street from the hotel. Good food, good company, and a TV to keep an eye on the Georgia/LSU and then Ole Miss games. Lori and I turned in early (I couldn't pass up the opportunity for 9 hours of sleep....I can't remember the last time). Others headed for the Mighty Martini or a local bar to watch more of the football.

Day #2

We were up early on day #2 to check on the weather forecast. It would be a windy, cooler, and wet day and we worried that rain would get the best of us. As it turned out, there were a couple periods of light rain, but the heavens didn't open up until we were back in Jackson.

For me, the ride was tough on day #2. The first 25 miles of the ride were pretty hilly....and the other guys were feeling too peppy for me. Every time we were headed uphill, I needed to crank out 300+W to keep up....and I knew early on that this was a recipe for failure later in the day. And I was right.

We stopped at Coles Creek (~20 miles in) for a bathroom break, then at Mount Locust (~60 miles in) for another break. I decided to take an hour break and ride in the car, meeting the guys at Battle of Raymond (~80 miles in) and ride to the finish. I felt stronger after the break and it wasn't quite the problem to keep up for the final 20 miles or so....despite the gusty headwind.

Brandon and I went for a short transition run from my house and then we enjoyed pizza from Soulshine. We had a great time this year and are looking forward to doing it again....perhaps spring, 2010. Julie texts tonight that she wants to get a bike. What could be better?

For me, the totals were:

Day #1

110.6 miles (106.3 miles steady on the Trace)

19.2 mph (19.8 mph on the Trace), avg. cadence 89, avg HR 131

power 148W, 173NP, TSS 360, 3061kJ

Day #2

76.2 miles (74.0 miles steady on the Trace)

17.2 mph, avg cadence 89, avg HR 123

power 147W, 169NP, TSS 262, 2620kJ

For me, this was the most-ever cycling over 2 days. And the short transition runs went well, too....providing some confidence for the upcoming IM Florida race.

Next up for me (and Brandon, with Lori and Alisha cheering again)....Ironman Florida on November 7th.

Yosemite National Park

2009-09-28T15:49:00.001-07:00

We celebrated my dad’s 75th birthday with a 5-day trip to San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. The trip was planned nearly a year ago….and for a long time, the destination was kept secret from dad. But like many surprises, this surprise was hard to keep.

Like many family trips, we traveled through Atlanta, where the family met up on the way out to California. We left early on Wednesday morning and, thanks to the time change, were in San Francisco by noon. We picked up our rental SUV and headed east for the 3 ½ hour drive to Yosemite. We would have surprisinigly warm, sunny weather for the entire weekend.

We stayed at the Chateau du Sureau, a terrific bed and breakfast in the town of Oakhurst, just outside the south entrance to Yosemite. With only 10 rooms, this was a quaint place. The accommodations and service at the Chateau were fantastic. We ate dinner Wednesday at the adjacent Erna’s Elderberry House. There was a beautiful dining room and great food. Erna stopped by to say hello and welcome us to her Chateau! I went for a short run in Oakhurst before dinner….probably the hilliest run I’ve ever done, but thankfully we were only at 2000 feet!

Yosemite, Day #1. On Thursday, we were up early. I joined the family for breakfast at the Chateau and then went for another short run in Oakhurst. Then it was off for an all-day private tour with Crossroads Travel. Ralph, our guide, picked us up at the Chateau in a Hummer at 8 am sharp and we headed north to Yosemite. Our first stop was at the Mariposa Grove, right near the south entrance. This is a grove with a large stand of sequoia trees. These trees are amazing really, growing to 300 feet tall and living as long as 3000 years. They’re just enormous. Dad, Lori, and I went on a 2-mile hike to see the Grizzly Giant Tree and the California Tree (with a hollowed out trunk that you could walk through). Mom waited at the trailhead but joined another ranger-led tour group for an introductory talk about the trees. Next it was off toward Yosemite Valley. We stopped at the Tunnel View overlook to see the common view of Half Dome and El Capitan. Amazing to think that Greg Vadasdi, who we met in Brazil, was climbing El Capitan just 2 weeks ago. We also stopped for a short hike to a viewing area to see Bridal Veil Falls. At this time of year, not so much water, but the scenery was still magnificent. We ate lunch in the dining room at the Ahwanee Hotel. We enjoyed the meal and the view out the window was beautiful. After lunch we headed to Glacier Point and this was a bit of a drive. But it was worth the time. The view from Glacier Point was awesome….the Valley below and Half Dome in the distance. Ralph set up his telescope and we sighted in on the waterfalls, hikers on various trails, and the many rock formations. It was a really nice day at the Park. We got back to the Chateau at about 5 pm and that evening we went out for pizza at Pizza Factory, the local pizza joint.

Yosemite, Day #2. Friday started off with a 1-hour run in Oakhurst, followed by breakfast at the Chateau, and then the second day of touring with Ralph. Today’s first stop was a walk through the Yosemite Village. We stopped at a couple shops, had something to drink, and visited the Ansel Adams gallery. We bought some postcards and mailed them right away at the Yosemite Post Office. Then it was off toward Tuolemne Meadows. This would be a long drive. We stopped at Olmstead’s Overlook, where we could watch (with Ralph’s telescope) the hikers on the final ascent up the cabling system to the top of Half Dome. I’d like to do the 12-hour hike the next time I’m here. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Lake Tenaya. The Chateau had packed a pretty special picnic lunch for us and the setting was nice. I waded out into the lake….and, boy, it was nippy! Elevation ~10,000 feet. We continued the drive up to the Meadows. We had a short look around there and then headed home. Another great day at the Park. Dinner was at Erna’s again--the “official” birthday dinner for Dad.

S. Francisco. On Saturday morning, I went for a run, we had breakfast at the Chateau, and then we headed back to San Francisco. We got to our hotel at by noon and went for lunch at one of our favorite outside restaurants at Pier 39. It’s always fun to see the sea lions and look out at Alcatraz. I’m hoping to get a lottery spot and be able to race again in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in May 2010. There was some quiet time at the hotel in the afternoon and I went for a swim at the Embarcadero YMCA. That evening we went to Union Square and had dinner at Cheesecake Factory….perhaps not a San Francisco original, but a family favorite nonetheless.

I’m sitting on the plane now, headed home on Sunday afternoon. I think everybody enjoyed the trip. There’s an hour or so to go to Atlanta, then the trip home to Jackson. Back to reality bright and early tomorrow!

Lori’s coming to visit next weekend. We’re celebrating my birthday with an overnight bike ride to Natchez and back. Bobby Stephenson, Alisha Wingerter, Brandon Wilmoth and I are riding and Lori is driving the support car. Looking forward to it. Back next week about the Natchez adventure!

Nation's Tri 2009

2009-09-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

I had a great weekend in Washington, DC. I visited with my sister and raced yesterday in the 4th edition of the Nation’s Tri.

One interesting happening on Saturday….we were walking down the street in DC and ran into Mark Hoover, a triathlete we had met in Taupo at Ironman New Zealand 2007. He had moved from Phoenix to DC and was just out for a morning run with his girlfriend. It was fun to do a little catching up with Mark. He raced at IM CDA last year and is preparing now for SOMA half.

The Nation’s Tri was my 6th triathlon this year. And for those of you who have been following along, you’ll know that the first 5 races have been challenging, let’s say. So, while I didn’t set any speed records yesterday, it was clearly a nice, steady effort from start to finish—and obviously the most solid effort this year.

In many ways, this race reminded me of the Chicago Triathlon. There were ~4000 participants, a 1500 m swim in the Potomac River with an in-water start, a gently rolling 40K bike course, and a mostly flat 10K run around Haines Point and the Jefferson Memorial area.

I was in wave 24 of 31 to start the race, so I started more than an hour after the race began. The water was 72 degrees, so I chose to use a wetsuit. I had a very steady swim….no troubles with other swimmers, but once again I managed to goof up. I turned for the exit 1 buoy too soon! I had put in a good 100 yards before realizing the mistake (where are the other swimmers?) and had to return to the course to round the last buoy before heading to the exit. This was probably amusing to the spectators. The swim was 25:12. Good start….and some bonus swimming, too!

There was a long run to transition, just because the transition area was so large. Orderly T1, then off on the bike. The HR was in the low 160’s to start and settled into the 140’s for the ride, which was comfortable territory. There were 2 out-and-backs on closed highway, with a tailwind for the return portions. I passed 100’s of people on the bike (and was passed by only 25, I think)….good for the psyche. At 20.3 mph (1:14, 165W avg, 180W NP), this was the fastest and strongest bike leg of the year for me. Solid for me if not spectacular. I was looking forward to the run.

I had an orderly T2 and was off on the run. It turned out to be difficult starting out, but I settled into a slow, steady pace by the 2nd mile and continued this way to the finish. I took a 1-minute walk break each 10 minutes and stopped to get a drink at each of the aid stations. It took 1:03….really wish I could run better. The last time I ran on Haines Point was during the 2006 Marine Corps Marathon, the only marathon I’ve done. This portion of the marathon was miles 15-18 or so….and my memories were of many people alongside the road cramped up or vomiting (or both). Much better scene this time.

Looking at the results, I was 6/290 in my age group after the swim, ~60/290 after the bike, and 139/290 after the run. For me, this was the first time to finish in the top half of the age group for an Olympic distance race or longer (and I’ve had 4 Olympic, 3 half Ironman, and 4 Ironman races to try!). Perhaps this is progress.

Most interesting event of the day….My sister was watching the race from the swim exit and she saw an athlete get out of the water before I had started. He couldn’t get his wetsuit unzipped for some reason….and neither could a couple spectators who offered to help. He was frantic….so a fireman/paramedic came with scissors and cut him out of the wetsuit! I always worry about using the wetsuit. It’s just one more thing that can go wrong!

After the race, we returned to the hotel to shower and gather our stuff before heading back to my sister’s place in Fairfax. We tuned into Ironman Wisconsin online and cheered hard for Chris MacDonald and Justin Daerr who finished 5th and 6th. Way to go! Justin thought he was racing under the radar, but we had it figured from the go!

For me, next up is Ironman Florida on November 7th. Just 7 weeks to go and I can’t wait. Next weekend, I’m taking a break from training, though, to travel to Yosemite to celebrate my dad’s 75th birthday. Looking forward to the trip. And the following weekend, I’m doing an overnight round-trip bike trip to Natchez with friends who are also racing at Ironman Florida. Should be fun.

New Athlete's Heart Blog

2009-09-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

For my ongoing series about the Athlete's Heart, I'm going to migrate things to a separate blog, The Athlete's Heart Blog.

Join me there at www.athletesheart.blogspot.com.

See you there!

The Athlete's Heart: Syncope--Part 2

2009-09-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

Last week we talked about the problem of syncope and described the various causes. This week we’ll talk about the medical evaluation and treatment for the athlete with syncope. As I explained last week, syncope can sometimes be explained simply by benign problems such as dehydration, but the majority of individuals should be evaluated carefully for an explanation. This is particularly true for the athlete because of the demands placed upon his cardiovascular system and the potential risk of sudden death from unrecognized underlying heart disease.

MEDICAL EVALUATION

In general, the medical evaluation of patients with syncope should seek to determine a specific cause, with a special emphasis on distinguishing heart-related (cardiac) from non-cardiac causes. And, as for the evaluation of most medical problems, your physician will want to gather information from a careful medical history, including the syncopal event itself, a physical examination, and then one or more diagnostic tests. Because syncope is a common problem in the general population, most primary care physicians are knowledgeable about the evaluation of patients with syncope, but sometimes referral to a cardiologist, neurologist, or other medical specialist may be necessary.

Medical History

Much information can be gathered from a careful medical history. Your physician will be particularly interested in the events leading up to, and immediately after, your episode of syncope. In some cases, information provided by bystanders may be very important. This is particularly true if you have experienced a loss of memory (amnesia) for the events immediately preceding the syncopal event. Syncope should be distinguished from near-syncope, or “almost blacking out.” For our purposes here, we’re considering only syncope, characterized by a true loss of consciousness. Your physician will also want to know about any previous episodes of syncope, about any medications you may be taking (especially beta-blockers or inhaled bronchodilators for asthma), and about any personal or family history of heart disease.

Athletes with neurocardiogenic syncope typically report that their syncope occurred in the standing position, often after exercise, and often in the setting of some degree of dehydration. The syncope is usually preceded by feelings of light-headedness, a warm feeling, or nausea. Athletes may have experienced episodes of near-syncope previously and learned that prolonged standing after exercise should be avoided.

Athletes with situational syncope often relate a history of a causative symptom that reproducibly produces syncope.

Athletes with orthostatic syncope typically report the development of syncope when they change from the sitting to standing position. Upon reflection, they may admit to some degree of dehydration.

Athletes with neurologic syncope often report neurologic symptoms (eg, vertigo, visual changes, or muscle movement clumsiness) that precede their syncopal event. These athletes might be well served by referral to a neurologist for further evaluation and treatment.

More worrisome is syncope that occurs during exertion or in the sitting or lying positions. Syncope that is preceded by palpitations or chest pain or discomfort is also worrisome. All of these features suggest a cardiac cause and merit a more thorough search for a cardiac cause.

Physical Examination

In many cases, the physical examination will be unremarkable and offer no clues to the cause of syncope. Nonetheless, in some small number of cases, though, there will be specific clues from the physical examination that point to an underlying condition that might be the cause of syncope.

Patients should have their vital signs (heart rate and blood pressure) measured in the supine, sitting, and standing positions. Findings here may point to orthostatic hypotension as a cause of syncope.

The body habitus (height and shape) may suggest Marfan’s syndrome and this can be evaluated further with genetic testing. Your physician may hear bruits (or turbulent blood flow) in the carotid arteries, suggesting underlying vascular disease. The heart sounds may be abnormal, including the presence of an S3 or S4 gallup, but these findings are common in athletes even without a history of syncope. A careful examination should be made for evidence of heart valve disease because specific murmurs may suggest a cause of syncope and prompt further testing.

Diagnostic Tests

Athletes with syncope should have a complete medical history and physical examination and then have an electrocardiogram (ECG) and echocardiogram to complete the initial evaluation. The resting ECG and echocardiogram will identify or exclude many of the potential cardiac causes of syncope. The information gathered from these tests will then be used to determine if any additional diagnostic testing is needed.

Electrocardiogram (ECG). The ECG is usually done in the physician’s office and the results are immediately available. Electrodes are attached to the chest, arms, and legs and are used to make recordings of the heart’s electrical activity measured at the skin surface. In athletes with syncope, the ECG may be abnormal in 50% of cases, but will point to a specific cause of syncope in only a very small number of cases. Abnormalities that can be identified on the ECG that may be responsible for syncope include: long QT interval, pre-excitation or Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, pauses in the electrical activity, or heart block. It’s not so important that the athlete understand each of these possibilities; instead, any of these findings will prompt your physician to do additional diagnostic testing or to provide a specific treatment.

Echocardiogram. The echocardiogram is usually ordered by the physician and done in a cardiologist’s office or at the hospital. With the use of ultrasound, images are made of the heart that show the anatomy (structure) of the heart in great detail. The size of the heart chambers and heart walls can be made, the structure and function of the heart valves (aortic valve, mitral valve, pulmonary valve, tricuspid valve) can be determined, and estimates of the pressures in each of the heart chambers can be made. In the athlete without a history or physical findings that suggest cardiac disease, the chances of finding an abnormality with echocardiography are low, but not zero. Cardiac conditions that may cause syncope and which can be diagnosed with echocardiography include: aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve), benign tumors of the heart (eg, myxomas that obstruct blood flow in the heart), or hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM).

Holter monitoring. If the athlete reports an abnormal history of palpitations or if palpitations have immediately preceded the syncopal event—and if the ECG and echocardiogram do not suggest other cardiac diseases—holter monitoring may be useful to diagnose arrhtyhmias (abnormal heart rhythms) that may be responsible for syncope. With this test, the patient wears a tape recorder and several electrodes for a period of 24-72 hours and a recording is made of the heart’s electrical activity. The patient can often press a button to indicate symptoms such as palpitations that may later be correlated to the heart’s electrical activity at that moment. The Holter monitor may uncover atrial arrhythmias (often responsible for near-syncope) or ventricular arrhythmias (often responsible for syncope). This test may also show periods of heart block or pauses in the electrical activity that are not evident on the resting ECG.

Tilt-testing. For the athlete with syncope, and for whom the ECG and echocardiogram do not suggest a cardiac cause, tilt testing is the next appropriate diagnostic test. This test is used to establish the diagnosis of neurocardiogenic syncope and is done in a cardiologist’s office or at the hospital. The patient is strapped to a tilt table and measurements are made of the vital signs in various positions. Intravenous medications may be given to exaggerate the effects of the test and help the physician establish a diagnosis.

Other cardiac tests. A variety of additional diagnostic tests are available for patients in whom a cause for syncope cannot be determined on the basis of history, physical examination, ECG, echocardiogram, Holter monitoring, and tilt-table testing alone. Additional underlying cardiac diseases (that may be responsible for syncope) can be identified or excluded using: stress testing, cardiac catheterization, more extensive electrophysiologic testing, or the use of an implantable loop recorder (to make more extensive recordings of the heart’s electrical activity). If an athlete’s cause of syncope remains uncertain after the more basic tests—and particularly if syncope occurs with exertion—he should be referred to a cardiologist for evaluation and, possibly, one or more of these additional diagnostic tests.

TREATMENT

The treatment for athletes with syncope will be individualized and targeted at the underlying cause. The goal of treatment will be to prevent (or reduce the frequency of) future episodes. For athletes in whom a cardiac cause is determined, there will be specific treatments for any of the myriad of responsible cardiac causes. We’ll discuss these treatments at another time and consider whether continued participation in athletic activity is prudent.
For athletes with situational syncope, the inciting cause should be avoided. For athletes with orthostatic syncope, dehydration should be avoided and medicines such as beta-blockers should be discontinued. For patients with neurologic syncope, further diagnostic testing under the direction of a neurologist may be needed.

Most commonly, however, athletes will be found to have neurocardiogenic syncope and there is a variety of treatment options.

Avoidance. The most important “treatment” will be to avoid situations that predispose the athlete to developing syncope. And the most common situation to avoid is prolonged standing after exercise—particularly strenuous exercise. It is important for the athlete to recognize their own specific premonitory symptoms (eg, light-headedness, nausea) and remember to sit down or lie down to prevent a syncopal episode.

Blood volume. Anything that produces a relative or absolute decrease in the circulating blood volume (eg, dehydration, certain medications) should be avoided. Compression stockings in the post-exercise period may be helpful in this regard.

Drugs. Many different medications have been used to treat patients with neurocardiogenic syncope, including beta-blockers (eg, propranolol, atenolol), alpha-agonists (eg, midodrine), and calcium channel blockers (eg, disopyramide). Unfortunately, long-term studies have often failed to show a convincing benefit. Importantly, beta-blockers may be poor choice in athletes because these medications limit the heart rate.

NEXT WEEK

Next week, I'll be back to talk about what I've called the athlete's cardiac paradox. Until then....

VSA Open Water Swim Race

2009-08-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

I traveled to Eagle Lake, north of Vicksburg, for the 1st annual Vicksburg Swim Association (VSA) Open Water Swim Race. It turns out this is Mississippi's first-ever open water swim race.

Congrats to VSA and coach Mathew Mixon for making this event happen. I know that it's hard sometimes to get good ideas off the drawing board and into action. The event was well-organized and I heard many positive comments from the participants and the spectators.

It turns out that Eagle Lake is a fair drive from Jackson....152 miles round-trip for me! But the lake was a beautiful setting for the race. Actually, 3 races: a 1-mile (1600 m) swim, a 1/2-mile swim, and a 1/4-mile swim. The event was sanctioned by USA Swimming and there were probably equal numbers of adults and children participating. It was mostly sunny, with high overcast clouds, the lake was calm, and there was no boating activity to mess things up!

Each of the 3 races featured a time-trial start from the end of a pier....from the seated position. That's a first! The course was triangular. I started 9th, following 8 children. I tried to gain ground from the get-go, but even the little kids were too quick, it turned out. We struggled on the backstretch to see the far turning buoy....and on the inbound leg we probably added 300m to the course....when I couldn't see the buoys (or the starting/finishing pier) I just followed the people in front. Stupid!

Finished in about 28 minutes. Almost hard to believe it took that long, but I'm sure we swam a fair distance more than 1600m! Finished 7th overall and 1st for the adults.

I hope there is a 2nd annual edition of this race. I heard from Mathew Mixon today that he was pleased with yesterday's races and already looking forward to next year. They've tentatively scheduled the event for August 28, 2010. Perhaps it will become a tradition. I also spoke with the Makos coach, Eddie, yesterday about the possibility of a similar race here in Jackson next year. For the triathlete community, it would be great to have an open water swim race sometime in advance of the major local triathlons next summer. We'll see.

Next up for me....Nation's Tri (olympic distance) in Washington, D.C., in 2 weeks. Combining race with visit with my sister, Lori. Looking forward to the trip.

The Athlete's Heart: Syncope--Part 1

2009-08-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Some of you will know about professional triathlete Joanna Zeiger’s recent troubles with syncope. Her trials and tribulations with race-related dizziness are summarized in a nice article at Slowtwitch, “Zeiger sidelined by dizziness.” Her story is typical. This week and next week, we’ll talk about the causes, medical evaluation, and treatment options for syncope.

Syncope (syn' ko pee) is the medical term used to describe a brief period of loss of consciousness (either partial or complete) that is due to insufficient blood flow to the brain. This process is temporary and followed by spontaneous recovery. Patients often use different terms such as “dizziness”, “light-headedness”, “blacking out”, “passing out”, or “falling out” to describe this problem. This is a common medical condition that affects approximately 3% of the population at some point during life. It is increasingly common as we age, affecting 6% of individuals over the age of 75. It’s not surprising, then, that this is a fairly common problem among athletes.

Syncope may occur without warning or may be preceded by warning signs that are called premonitory symptoms. Typical premonitory symptoms include palpitations, light-headedness, grogginess, feeling warm, or experiencing nausea.

Types of Syncope

There are many types or causes of syncope and it can be useful to categorize the types as: 1) cardiac (heart-related), 2) non-cardiac, or 3) unknown. This framework helps the physician sort out an individual’s cause among the many possibilities and then provide any needed treatment.

Cardiac syncope

A variety of cardiac disorders can produce syncope, but cardiac causes account for the explanation in only 10% of cases. As patients age, it is more likely that a cardiac cause is responsible for their syncope. Some of the cardiac causes are potentially life-threatening, but most are less serious; all can be treated.

Life-threatening cardiac causes. Acute myocardial infarction (“heart attack”) or aortic dissection (tearing apart of the layers of the aorta) can produce syncope or other changes in the level of consciousness. Both of these conditions are usually accompanied by chest or back pain and can also be associated with shortness of breath. In these situations, syncope is the result of decreased blood pressure and/or decreased blood flow to the brain. Both of these conditions can result in sudden death and affected individuals require urgent medical attention.

Arrhythmias. The most common cardiac cause of syncope, though, is an abnormal heartbeat, or arrhythmia—either atrial (from the upper heart chamber) or ventricular (from the pumping chamber of the heart). Syncope can be the result of an abnormally fast (tachy-) or slow (brady-) arrhythmia. Bradyarrhythmias are usually found in patients with known, pre-existing heart disease, but they sometimes occur because of unwanted side effects of medicines (eg, beta-blockers for high blood pressure). It’s important to remember that the well-trained athlete typically has a baseline slow heart rate and this can sometimes confuse the picture. Syncope is more common with atrial or ventricular tachyarrhythmias, though. The atrial tachyarrhythmias include atrial fibrillation (A-fib), atrial flutter (A-flutter), and supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). These arrhythmias may be accompanied by chest discomfort, palpitations, or shortness of breath. With persistent arrhythmias, syncope often occurs when moving from the sitting to standing position (postural) due to decreased blood pressure. Ventricular tachyarrhythmias include ventricular fibrillation (V-fib) and ventricular tachycardia (V-tach). These arrhythmias are usually associated with known, pre-existing heart disease. Syncope due to ventricular tachyarrhythmias is not usually related to posture.

Cardiac blood flow obstruction. A third set of cardiac causes of syncope are due to obstruction to blood flow in the heart. This can be due to narrowing (stenosis) of the aortic, mitral, or pulmonary valves, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM, one of the most common causes of sudden death in athletes), or to tumors of the heart. With these conditions, syncope is often sudden, without any preceding symptoms.

Low cardiac output. The last set of cardiac causes are those due to decreased pumping function, or cardiac output, from the heart. Long-standing congestive heart failure (CHF) or leaking (regurgitant) heart valves may lead to a low blood pressure that limits blood flow to the brain.

Non-cardiac syncope

Neurocardiogenic syncope. The most common type of syncope is termed neurocardiogenic, or vasovagal syncope. The term vasovagal conveys the association of “vaso,” for vasodilation of arterial system (leading to a decrease in blood pressure) and “vagal,” for the accompanying slow heart rate (sometimes produced by decreased activity in the vagal nerves). This type of syncope usually occurs in the standing position and is usually preceded by symptoms such as light-headedness, nausea, or sweating.

Situational syncope. A variety of precipitating factors, such as emotional stress, anxiety, pain, cough, urination, or defecation can lead to syncope. In this situation, the resulting syncope is thought to be due to a reflex, sudden decrease in heart rate that produces a transient reduction in blood flow to the brain.

Orthostatic syncope. Syncope can be caused by a sudden drop in the blood pressure as we rise from a sitting to standing position. The medical terms for this situation are orthostasis, or orthostatic hypotension (reduced blood pressure). Ordinarily, the body adjusts to this change in position by increasing the heart rate and increasing motor tone in the blood vessels to keep the blood pressure constant. When these mechanisms fail, the sudden (relative) drop in heart rate and blood pressure may produce syncope. This problem can be made worse by dehydration or medications that reduce the circulating blood volume or by medications that limit the blood pressure response (eg, beta-blockers).

Neurologic syncope. One last, unusual category of causes is termed neurologic. In this situation, the syncope is caused by a sudden decrease in blood flow to the brain in conditions such as stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA, or “near-stroke”), or seizures. In one variant, syncope is due to a sudden decrease in blood flow to the posterior portion of the brain called the cerebellum. This is often due to pre-existing vascular disease in the vertebral arteries that supply this portion of the brain. Patients with neurologic syncope often experience other neurologic symptoms such as vertigo, visual changes, or muscle movement clumsiness immediately before the syncopal event.

Medical Evaluation

Syncope can sometimes easily be explained by benign problems such as dehydration, but the majority of individuals with syncope should be evaluated carefully for an explanation. Because of the demands on the athlete’s cardiovascular system during exercise, it is particularly important for the athlete with syncope to be evaluated completely.

Next week, we’ll talk about the medical evaluation of patients with syncope and discuss the various treatment options.

The Athlete's Heart

2009-08-16T16:45:00.001-07:00

Over the past few weeks, I've done a bit of reading about heart disease in athletes. And you'll recall that I promised to be back to report what I learned.

I could probably write a book....so if anybody out there wants to share their literary agent with me, drop me a line!

The outline would look like:

I. Introduction

II. Your Cardiovascular System

III. Symptoms of Cardiovascular Disease

IV. Cardiovascular Diseases

V. Diagnosis and Screening for Cardiovascular Disease

VI. Nutrition and the Cardiovascular System

VII. Vitamins, Supplements, and Alternative Therapies

VIII. Athletes Living with Cardiovascular Disease

IX. Resources

In the absence of a book deal, I'll serialize things here at the blog. I'll try to write a short section weekly about one specific topic. I'll even take suggestions about which topic to do next. Again, drop me a line with suggetions or questions.

Back next week with the first report!

Triathlon Overhead

2009-08-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day about the "overhead" associated with triathlon.

A few weeks ago, I finished up my first 12 months with Justin Daerr as my coach....and I was reflecting on the year. A year ago, we planned to devote 750 hours per year to training, or ~15 hours per week. As it turns out, we spent 655 hours on training....logging 540,000 yards of swimming, 4900 miles of riding, and 780 miles of running. I was sidelined for several weeks last summer and again this January because of running injuries or we might have reached the goal of 750 hours. Along the way, there were 5 triathlons (1 sprint, 3 Olympic, 1 IM), 1 duathlon, 1 tri relay (as the swimmer), 1 long open water swim race, and 1 training camp with Endurance Corner. There were 151 swim workouts, 175 bike workouts, 197 run workouts, 66 strength workouts, and 23 days off. A modest amount of time and training by Ironman standards, I suppose, but that's not what I was thinking about.....

Today, I'm thinking about the overhead....the additional time and energy that were needed to support those 655 hours. By my reckoning, the overhead for this past year included:

Showers. I like to get up and shower even before the first workout of the day, but I won't count this in the overhead....just the showers after the workouts (9x/week @ 10 minutes each = 78 hours/year).

Laundry. I've got a housekeeper to do the regular laundry, but I do all of the workout laundry (9x/week @10 minutes each time = 78 hours/year).

Race trip planning. Won't count any time for the local races....after all, it only takes a moment to fill out the registration form, etc. But the out-of-town trips took some time to plan....Hilton Head (1 hour), Chicago (3 hours), Disney World (twice, 2 hours each), Tucson (2 hours), Maryland (1 hour), Brazil (10 hours)....21 hours total.

Race travel. 80 hours total. The Brazil trip was a long one!

Buying triathlon supplies/equipment online. About 20 minutes each week (17 hours/year).

Buying triathlon supplies/equipment locally. About 10 hours for the new bike and ~17 hours total for everything else.

Bike maintenance/cleaning. About 20 minutes/week (17 hours/year).

Logging the workouts into TrainingPeaks (without technical difficulties....8 minutes per day, or 48 hours/year).

Talking with JD....phone/email/Twitter, etc....10 minutes/week, or 9 hours/year.

Volunteering at a couple triathlons. 3 hours for the local race, 8 hours for IM Florida 2008.

Driving to/from workouts. Jackson is small, so thankfully nothing's too far away. But the pool is a 20-minute drive and the closest of my gyms is an 8-minute drive. Usually ride from home. Conservatively, 1 hour 40 minutes each week, or 86 hours per year.

Tri Club. Not a big time consumer, but a couple meetings and social events, ~8 hours per year.

Reading magazines. Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, Bicycling, Runners World. About 25 minutes per week. Add in some online reading for another 15 minutes per weeek. About 35 hours/year.

Post-race celebration. There's some of this after every race, but I won't add this into the total. We'll say that celebration is just part of life!

And God only knows what I've left out....

So....getting out the calculator....that works out to 329 hours for the past year....or an overhead rate of about 50%. The tables in the triathlon books never seem to take this into account. So the next time you're talking to somebody about the 600 or 700 or 800 hours of training you've planned for the coming year, take a moment to think about the overhead.

At the Endurance Corner Tucson training camp in March, Jeff Shilt offered the advice that success in triathlon was related to one's ability in the area of "crap management." He's right! For the busy working triathlete, perhaps nothing is more important than managing the overhead. Something to keep in mind!

Toward more efficient management of triathlon overhead....

Mississippi Heat Triathlon Team 2009

2009-08-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Team photo!

Beach Bum Triathlon 2009

2009-08-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

I raced in the Beach Bum Triathlon last Saturday in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I combined this with a trip to visit the parents....mom's birthday & dad recovering from eye surgery. Lori was also along, so we had a great weekend.

The race is produced by the local tri shop on Hilton Head, GoTriSports, and takes place two or three times each summer. The race seems to attract a fair number of out-of-town visitors in addition to the local triathletes. It's ultra-short: 500m swim in the ocean, 6 mi bike on the beach, and a 3 mi run on the beach. I'm calling it Ironman 9.3. Perhaps this is another brand that WTC could adopt!

This year I see that 215 people (or teams) completed the race. I finished 69th. But for a while, it looked like the prospects were much brighter....

The race starts with a mass start at the water's edge. As usual, I had a lackluster run into the waves and ended up behind ~50 people at the first turning buoy (only 50 meters from shore). I managed a good "backstretch" leg along the beach of ~400 meters, and got back to shore, and T1, in about 15th position.

I decided to use my moutain bike for the bike leg....and this was the most popular choice. I recall that Michael Lovato did the race (and won) the first time I did this race....and I seem to recall he used a tri bike. I did well on the bike, maintaining my position at about 15th in the race. I passed a couple people and was passed by a couple people. I was pretty happy. It's great to be near the front of the race!

I faded a bit in the run, though, losing 54 positions. In the end, I was 15th out of 45 men who were older than 40. I need to run better!

I've shared this already on Twitter, but this was my favorite bike at the race. Stylish and plenty of room for the athlete's nutritional products!

Next race....Nation's Tri in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13th. Hoping for cooler weather and looking to have a better run.

Interesting Photos

2009-07-31T13:57:00.001-07:00

The friends have captured on film some of my interesting moments from the past couple triathlons....I thought I'd share!

Sam Self captured this moment. I can only ask...."At what point during the bike leg are you supposed to be stopped, looking around?" Go figure!

There have been some good pre-race and post-race meals. I'm not sure that Subway in Louisville, MS qualifies....but don't let that stop the photos....

You really can't have too many watches or Garmins! Can you?

And my favorite. This is how Larry looks after a hot, humid day at the races. Seeing stars while the friends celebrate. Little Jessica looks on, worried!

Heart O' Dixie Triathlon 2009

2009-07-27T14:31:00.001-07:00

Interesting weekend at the races.

I traveled to Louisville, MS for the 30th edition of the Heart O' Dixie Triathlon this past weekend. I spent Friday night at the Lake Tiak O' Khata Inn, on the shores of Lake Tiak O' Khata....a "resort" in the middle of nowhere in east central Mississippi. I had pre-race dinner with Stephanie R. (who would finish 4th in AG), Alisha W. (who dropped out after bike because of ankle injury) , Brandon W. (who would finish 8th OA), Melanie H. (who finished 6th in AG), Richard Y. (who finished 2nd in AG), and Patrick A (who would finish 3rd OA). None of that rubbed off on Larry, though!

The race would be from point-to-point-(to-point-to-point)....1/2 mile horseshoe shaped swim in Lake Tiak O' Khata, a 27.5-mile bike south on Hwy 15 (through the town of Noxapater) to Philadelphia, then a 7-mile run to the finish.

The notable feature of this race is that it finishes at the Neshoba County Fair, already in progress. The run actually enters the fairground, snakes around the various cabins (yes, the Neshoba County Fair is apparently a 2-week destination vacation for some!), then onto a ~3/4 mile dirt horse track, complete with grandstands and livestock on the infield! It's something!

There was a big crowd for the race, perhaps the largest field ever. The weather was hot!

For me....a good swim (tried to keep things in check). The bike ride went well....~20 mph over rolling hills....fastest bike leg in a while for me. As it turned out, though, I was happy with 20 mph as the race was going along, but nearly everybody else went faster than 22 mph. Too bad! Heat got the best of me on the hilly run. Familiar tale. I told Coach Justin to speak up and say "NO" the next time I get to talking about a hot weather race.

Next up....Beach Bum Triathlon in Hilton Head Island, SC next weekend. Surely, I can do better at 500m swim, 6-mile bike, 3-mile run! I'm going to call it Ironman 9.3.

Sunfish Triathlon 2009

2009-07-12T15:35:00.001-07:00

I went to Meridian, Mississippi yesterday for the Sunfish Triathlon. This was the 23rd running of the race....and this year there were a record 330 entrants (including 60 from the Jackson area). Great turn-out by the Mississippi Heat.

We took this photo after the race, waiting for the awards ceremony. In the front row are Brandon Wilmoth, Alisha Wingerter, and Melanie Harrell. In the back row are Amanda Cassell, Matt Cassell, Matt Johnson, me, Sam Self, and Charlie Murray.

I spent the night in Meridian before the race and had pre-race dinner with Mel, Charlie, Alisha, and Brandon. Saw several others from Jackson at the Cresent City Grill, too.

The race took place at Bonita Lakes Park....1/3 mile swim, 17 mile bike, 5K run. The swim was a time trial start (I started 251st) in a triangle shape. The bike left the park and headed out-and-back over big rolling hills to the north of the park. The run happened around one of the lakes in the park, partly on the road and partly on paved running trail. It was typically hot and humid, but didn't seem nearly so bad as 2 weeks ago at the Race of Grace.

For me, it was a much better effort than 2 weeks ago. The swim was uneventful and intentionally slow. The bike got off to a poor start, though, with a rear flat in mile #2. Once again, it was a struggle to get the tubular off the wheel! I suppose I'm learning. My biggest worry as I was changing the tire was....I started 251st, there are only 330 racers, 12 racers started the swim each minute....and I could be LAST on the road if I don't hurry up! The rest of the bike ride was steady. The run was also pretty steady. Thankfully, no total meltdown in the heat today!

Like I said 2 weeks ago, it ought to be easier to put together an ultra-short swim, 17 mile bike, and 5K run. Someday! Soon? Next up....Heart O' Dixie Triathlon on July 25th. Back to the training routine....

Cardiac Risk in Athletes

2009-07-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

Gordo Byrn asked on Twitter a few days ago: "What are the top markers for preventable early death in athletic populations?" I offered some off-the-cuff thoughts about cardiac risk....and heard some thoughts by other EC folks on Twitter.

There have been a couple notable medical problems among elite triathletes in the past couple months.

We recalled the recent death of Steve Larsen who died earlier this year, collapsing during a workout. Initial reports suggested heart disease, but follow-up reports noted that an autopsy failed to demonstrate a cardiac cause of death.

More recently, Torbjorn Sinballe retired from triathlon when he and his physicians decided that further training would be detrimental because of his underlying cardiac conditions (bicuspid aortic valve and enlargement of the ascending aorta).

Gordo's question is a good one. It gets at the very important issue of preventable death in athletes of all types. I've done a little reading over the past few days and I'll offer my findings here. I'll continue to do some more reading/research and report back with any new, useful information that I dig up. I've borrowed the pictures....and listed some references for the material I present.

How big is the problem of nontraumatic death in athletes?

This is a rare event. A recent study reported <100>

This is not something new. Recall that in 490 BC, the young Greek soldier, Phidipides, ran from Marathon to Athens and fell dead at the finish.

But there are some sobering observations.... Sudden death occurs instantaneously and usually occurs during training or competition, suggesting that exercise plays a causative role. More than 90% of events occur in men. Warning signs are seldom present and a correct diagnosis is rarely made before death.

Van Camp et al. studied the issue of nontraumatic deaths in high school and college athletes in the U.S. based on information at the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research during 1983 to 1993. There were 126 deaths among high school athletes and 34 among college athletes. The authors estimated death rates at 7.47 per million for men and 1.33 per million for women (1).

Maron et al. examined sudden death due to cardiovascular disease among Minnesota high school athletes from 1985 to 1997. There were 1,453,280 sports participations and 651,695 student participants. There were 3 sudden cardiac deaths, yielding a calculated risk for sudden cardiac death of 1 per 500,000 participants or 1 per 217,400 participants per academic year. This would translate to a risk of 1 per 72,5000 for a typical 3-year student athlete over his/her high school career (2).

What are the causes of sudden death in athletes?

A variety of studies have tried to answer this question. The following is a list of the most common cardiovascular abnormalities found in young athletes with sudden cardiac death, in decreasing order of frequency (3):

1. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HCM) (in 36%): Hank Gathers, Reggie Lewis

2. Unexplained increase in cardiac mass (in 10%)

3. Aberrant coronary arteries (in 13%): Pete Marovich

4. Other coronary anomalies (in 6%)

5. Ruptured aortic aneurysm (all others, <=5%)

6. Tunneled LAD coronary artery

7. Aortic valve stenosis

8. Lesion consistent with myocarditis

9. Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

10. Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia

11. Idiopathic myocardial scarring

12. Mitral valve prolapse

13. Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease: Jim Fixx

14. Other congenital heart disease

15. Long QT syndrome

16. Sarcoidosis

17. Sickle cell trait

18. "Normal" heart

What is noteworthy is that this list would look very similar to the list of causes of sudden cardiac death in a similarly young but NONATHLETIC popoulation.

How do we screen for athletes at risk for sudden cardiovascular death(4)?

There have been 2 sets of recommendations for proper preparticipation physical examinations for young athletes: 1 ) A monograph (5) from 5 medical specialties (Aerican Medical Society for Sports Medicine, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine); and 2) A consensus statement (6) from the American Heart Association (AHA). Often, the preparticipation physical examination takes place before participation in school athletics, but this examination can be a portion of an annual examination for athletes outside of the school setting.

The AHA guidelines suggest that the examination include:

1. Detailed cardiovascular history with attention to:

a. Exertional chest pain or discomfort

b. Syncope or near syncope

c. Excessive, unexpected and unexplained shortness of breath with exercise

d. The past detection of a heart murmur or elevated blood pressure

e. A family history of premature death (sudden or otherwise)

f. Significant disability from cardiovascular disease in close relatives younger than 50 years

g. Specific knowledge of the occurence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Marfan syndrome, arrhythmias, long QT syndrome, or dilated cardiomyopathy

2. Cardiac physical examination with attention to:

a. Femoral artery pulses to exclude coarctation of the aorta

b. Precordial auscultation in the supine and standing positions to identify heart murmurs consistent with dynamic left ventricular outflow obstruction
c. Recognition of the stigmata of the Marfan syndrome

d. Brachial blood pressure measurement in the sitting position

Unfortunately, there are no prospective studies on whether the preparticipation physical examination effectively screens out conditions that predispose the young athlete to sudden cardiac death. The AHA admits, though, that screening by history-taking and physical examination alone (without additional testing) is not sufficient to guarantee detection of many cardiovascular conditions responsible for sudden cardiac death in athletes.

Is additional noninvasive testing helpful?

Some authorities have suggested the addition of noninvasive testing (eg, electrocardiogram and/or echocardiography) to help identify young athletes at risk for sudden cardiac death.

It seems almost intuitive that one or the other of these noninvasive tests might identify some underlying cardiac conditions.

Unfortunately, there are few data to suggest that either of these tests, when incorporated with the physical examination, results in a lower rate of sudden cardiac death among athletes. Moreover, the tests are (relatively) expensive and the AHA suggests that they are not cost-effective. As an example.....if the underlying prevalence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy among young athletes is 1 per 500, and if an echocardiogram cost $500, it would cost $250,000 to detect a single unsuspected case of HCM.

Recommendations

I'd like to do some additional reading....and I promise to report back. From what I've learned so far, though, I would suggest that adult triathletes have an annual physical examination with attention to the cardiac issues listed above. I would also lean toward recommending an ECG and an echocardiogram, despite their cost, and despite a lack of evidence to confirm their effectiveness.

Some References

1. Van Camp SP et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1995; 27:641-647.

2. Maron BJ et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 1998; 32:1881-1884.

3. Maron BJ. Cardiac Electrophys Rev 1997; 1/2:274-277.

4. Mick TM et al. Cleveland Clin Rev 2004; 71:587-597.

5. Am Acad of Family Physicians et al. Preparticipation Physical Evaluation, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

6. Maron BJ et al. Circulation 1998; 97:2294.

7. Maron BJ et al. Circulation 2009; 119:1085-1092.

Race of Grace

2009-06-30T07:54:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday I raced in the Race of Grace Triathlon in Philadelphia, MS. I entered at the last minute, thinking this would be more fun than doing the regular long run in the heat back in Jackson. Of course, it was also hot in Philadelphia!

This was the 5th running of this race and featured a new out-and back bike course and a new out-and-back run course. So really, a "new" race this year. The swim was a point-to-point 1/4 mile swim in a private lake, nicely marked with frequent left and right buoys (almost like lane lines at the pool!). The bike course was rolling terrain through the countryside and the run course was a series of short hills....both courses were very reminiscent of the Memphis in May course.

I snapped this photo with the iPhone. I was among the first to arrive. I got a kick out of the transition area located in the hay field.

It wasn't my best day at the races. You think ahead of time....How difficult could it be to swim 400m, bike 17 mi, and run 5k? And I think the same thing afterwards. But, yet....

There were some funny moments at the race. It was a time trial start, according to self-estimated swim times. I was #4....but there were no #1 or #2 (they reserved those #'s for last year's winners who failed to show). We get lined up before the start, in numerical order. The guy who's #5 looks at me (sort of up and down) and asks incredulously, "YOU'RE #4?" I sheepishly said yes. It turned out that he swam past me rather effortlessly. I'm sure he felt like the hero.

Beware the green carpet! The embankment at the swim exit was pretty steep....only 10-15 feet or so, but pretty steep. And the race people decided to have the green indoor-outdoor carpet stretch from in the water to the top of the embankment. Only 2 swimmers got out before me, but the carpet was totally wet for my exit. I started running up the carpet, fell, and slid on my belly back into the water. It created a bit of a stir....and the volunteers did their best to help. Glad no photos were taken.

It was tremendously hot and humid for the race. The first (and only) aid station for the run was at the 1-mile mark, at the top of a hill. By this point, I had already walked up the hill and concluded that I would be unable to eke out the 5k run. The volunteers were handing out water in the sunny street. Even though it was an extra 50 feet to walk, I took refuge under the aid station tent to regroup. Again, much attention from the volunteers....I just wanted to find an air conditioned vehicle to recover fromthe 1st mile of running. Hmmm....

I'm still hoping that one day I'll be able to show up at these races....and have a solid day. It ought to be easier. Next try....the Sunfish Triathlon in Meridian, MS, on July 11th.

Great Chesapeake Bay Swim 2009

2009-06-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

Put the 2009 edition of the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim in the record book! I had a great weekend in DC and Annapolis with the family....and a great swim today to boot.

Recall, I did the 2008 race here as well. Immediately after the race, I told my family that I wouldn't make plans to do this again any time soon. But, with the passing of weeks (and eventually, months) you remember the good....and forget the bad. Once again I entered the lottery....and got a spot! Why can't this happen with the Kona lottery?

This year's race comes 2 weeks on the heels of a "crash and burn" performance at Ironman Brazil. There's been little training since then, but I did have a good short swim to lead-off a sprint tri relay with some friends back in Mississippi last Saturday. I didn't quite know what to expect for the 4.4 mile swim this year. Thinking back, my longest swim in the past year was 5200 yards....and I've logged about 40% less swim training than before last year's race. I was hoping to finish.

The weather was great this year....sunny skies, temps in the 70's, tolerable humidity. But there was a stiff breeze and the water was very rough. Not quite like the rough waters at IM Brazil, but close....and certainly rougher than at this race last year. Got off to a good start, settled into an aerobic pace, and tried to cruise from start to finish. Finished the miles (at least as they were marked!) in 19 min, 29 min, 30 min, 30 min, and the last 0.4 miles in 19 min. Not entirely sure things were marked correctly. Finished in 2:07, a few minutes slower than last year....and finished in 151st place, a few places better than last year. A great day in the water, I'd say.

In a 2-hour swim, there's ample time to think. I spent a lot of time thinking about coach Justin who raced yesterday in the Boise 70.3. He had a tough day at the races....mirroring my efforts 2 weeks ago at IM Brazil. He was very kind after my meltdown, finding just the right words....and he sounded so discouraged after his race yesterday. I thought again and again....need to have a good race here to get Team JD back on track. Don't let the team down again! I should talk Gordo into doing an article or blog piece about the aftermath of a bad race.

I had celebration dinner with my sister and folks at Cheesecake Factory, where I couldn't get enough food to eat!

Lori tells me to add that I'm laying now on her living room floor with the laptop while the others are eating dessert (that we took home from the Cheesecake Factory).

Looking forward to getting back to training. Next up....the Heart O' Dixie Triathlon on July 25th.

Heatwave Classic 2009

2009-06-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

Great day at the races this past Saturday!

Nice, cool weather and the biggest crowd (athletes and spectators) ever for the 2009 edition of the Heatwave Classic here in Ridgeland, MS. I was recovering from the IM Brazil race the previous weekend and was thinking that I'd just come and cheer....but Bobby S. and Lesley R. talked me into doing the swim leg for their mixed relay team.

I had a great time. Compared to the previous week's race, it was pretty sweet to swim for just a few minutes, get out, and then cheer for our team and my many friends doing the race. We managed a 2nd place finish in the not-so-competitive mixed relay division. I stuck around for the awards after lunch....it was great to applaud the efforts of the friends who ended up on the podium. Congrats to friend and neighbor, Hastings P., for his 2nd consecutive win at the Heatwave! Awesome!

Back to some light training this week. Next up....Chesapeake Bay swim on Sunday!

Long Day at the Races

2009-06-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

IM Brazil 2009 is in the record book!

It was a long day at the races, though....and I set new personal bests for slowest IM run and slowest IM race....and came pretty close to slowest IM bike, too! It's always a little sad when the highlight of your Ironman race day was a strong T1!

I truly appreciate all the well-wishes before and after the race. I told coach Justin on race night that it would take a while for my spirit to recover, but having ample encouragement from family and friends has helped.

I've shared some of the race day stories already, and any short account is an over-simplification, but here's how it went down....

The swim went reasonably well. The conditions were very rough, though (the worst I've ever tried to swim in, really). Because of the conditions, the race probably got off to a rather slow start....and this helped to avoid some of the typical fray at the beginning. I made it around the 2 loops in 1:02, thankful I didn't drown, but having spent much more energy than the swim usually takes....and much more energy than I'd like to have spent.

There was intermittent rain on the bike ride, the skies were cloudy, and the temps were in the 60's. It turned out to be a record-setting bike split for the winner, though, so conditions were pretty good. I got off to a rough start with a flat in mile #2....and it took me (and eventually, a mechanic) forever to change the tubular. I had troubles with high HR and low power output for the entire ride. The ride took 6:46 and finished with a 2nd flat. Looking back at the PT and Garmin files, it was a constantly decelerating ride, with ever-lower HR, too. I didn't have specific nutrition problems, but Justin and I were wondering now about dehydration. Who knows?

I set out on the run, determined to run to the finish, but lasted only the first hour or so before having to walk. I really wanted to finish, though, so it was a long (and eventually pretty lonely) evening on the run course. When I spotted the clock at the finish line, I had to sprint the final 50 yards to make it just under 15 hours.

Sometimes after a poor race, it's easy to point at one factor or another that was responsible. I'm not sure that's the case here, though. Training had gone well, I felt well rested at the start, conditions were good, nutrition seemed to work out OK, but somehow it didn't all come together at the race. So....I'm not sure yet what to learn from the IM Brazil experience.

We enjoyed a celebration dinner with the EST group at a Brazilian steakhouse on Monday after the race. Good food and good company....Gerd from Kona and Ron & Dina from Portland.

Looking ahead....

On Saturday, I'm doing the swim leg for a relay with Bobby S. and Lesley R. at the Heatwave Triathlon here in Ridgeland. I haven't been in town for this race the past 2 years, so it should be fun to race AND cheer for my friends as they finish the race.

And next Sunday, I'll be doing the Great Chesapeake Bay 4.4 mile swim. I'm looking forward to the weekend with family in DC/Annapolis and the chance to do a great open water swim on Sunday.

Then it's back to the training routine. I'm planning to do 3 shorter triathlons and finish the season with IM Florida in November.

Onward....

Racing Tomorrow

2009-05-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

Race day is tomorrow!

I'm back at the hotel now after doing bike and gear check-in. It's been another rainy day here. The forecast calls for rain off/on through the night and into tomorrow morning. May be a wet start to the race. On the positive side, the daytime high will only be 69 degrees....my kind of weather!

Here's the game plan for tomorrow....I'm aiming for a smooth, efficient, quiet, uneventful swim at a steady pace. I'll be thinking about swim practice warm-up pace. On the bike, again I'll be aiming for a steady effort, with few ups/downs. I'll be looking for average power in the 160-170W range and HR in the 130's. Plan to take in ~400 cal/hour on the bike using Infinit and PowerBars. For the run, I plan to use a 9 min run/1 min walk strategy (with an additional short walk at the aid stations). I'll be looking to settle into a pace that yields a HR of ~135-140 or so. Again, I'll be looking to avoid ups/downs. For me, the whole day will be about pacing the swim and bike so that I have the best chance to run well.

Many thank-you's are due, so I'll do them in advance. Big thanks to the family for traveling to Brazil and for cheering all day tomorrow. Nothing's better on race day. Thanks to the various training partners....the Catfish (this ROCK will make good tomorrow!), the running group, and all the riding partners these past few months. Special thanks to George and Stephanie for the ample encouragement...wish you two were here. Thanks, too, to Michael, Tom, Collin, & the others at the Bike Rack. The new bike is awesome....and much credit to you all for making it happen. Thanks to Gordo and all the folks I've met through Endurance Corner. I have really appreciated the well-wishes along the way. And lastly, heaping thanks to JD, who's been at the coaching helm for the past year....you've been a terrific help.

Follow along at IronmanLive or check in with Lori, who'll have my cell phone during the race tomorrow. Remember, we're 2 hours ahead of CDT.

Back on Monday with a race recap....

Midweek at IM Brazil

2009-05-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

It's been a relaxing few days here in Florianopolis. Nothing beats being 6000 miles away from the beeper! We went on an afternoon tour of the island on Tuesday. There are ~400,000 people who live on the island year-round and the population swells to ~1,000,000 in the summertime with tourists. This will clearly be the most urban of the IM races I've done. Parts of the bike course have a Formula One feel.

The training routine has included bike/run on Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday and swim only on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Planning short SBR on Saturday. Weather's been cool and cloudy, with periods of rain each day, but we've managed to squeeze in the training during the dry spells. Forecast for race day: occasional shower early, winds at 16 mph, 67 degrees high, partly cloudy almost all day.

Visited the expo yesterday and again today. Nice assortment of local vendors. By comparison, very little IM or IM Brazil merchandise. Surprised.

Race registraation was today. I think that, for me, registration day is the most stressful day of IM week. Not entirely sure why, but perhaps patience is lagging....and who wants to stand in line? After registration, we had the English version of the pre-race briefing. Probably 150 people were there--most with our tour group. I think most entrants are Brazilian or S. American.

Planning a 30-min swim at the course tomorrow morning....1 lap around. Water's been much calmer these past couple days. Massage again tomorrow. Pasta party tomorrow night. Saturday includes short SBR for training, then afternoon gear check-in, early dinner, and early to bed!

I'll check in again on Saturday with some thoughts about the race and some thank-you's. Looking forward to the race!

Settling In

2009-05-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but we're getting settled into the routine here in Florianopolis, Brazil. It's my first time to S. America. I've never even been as far south as Mexico before!

The travel went well. Met up with my sister and parents in Miami and made the trip south to Brazil on Saturday night. Long day/night of travel, but no mishaps, so we're thankful. All of the luggage/bike/gear made it safely to Florianopolis. Met up with Ken, Greg, Ty, and Stacey from EST at the Florianopolis airport....it was great to see a couple familiar faces. They arrived just about the same time as us, but from Rio instead. We made the ride to the hotels with the EST folks and it was nice to get caught up on how everybody was doing.

Our hotel is great. It's a block from the beach and about 1/2 mile from the start/finish/transition for the race. It's sort of like a Gulf Coast condo building....we're in adjoining 1-bedroom units....a lot of space, nice balcony views of the water. Had dinner in a small group at an Italian restaurant not too far from our hotel. Went to Brazil for Italian food!

Went on a 1-lap bike around the course (~56 mi) yesterday morning in a group of 7 people who had arrived this early. The course is mostly flat, scenic, and mostly good road surface. I suppose no course is as flat as Florida, but the road surface here is better than any of the previous races I've done. I suspect that, if there's good weather, the bike leg will be fast. There are a couple hills that are encountered 4 times on race day. Not too long, but steep enough for the guys to reach 55 mph on the downhill! Went on a short run yesterday after the bike ride. Ran to the transition area and back along a beachside promenade. Other athletes were out doing the same thing.

Had wine & cheese last night and then a group dinner at another hotel. EST has 560 people coming to the race. Amazing.

Went for an open water swim this morning with Gerd Weber, another athlete staying at our hotel. Water's probably 70 degrees, moderate chop, some swells, and about 8-10 feet of visibility. Gulped more sea water than I'd have liked!

Lounging now at the hotel with the family. Nap later. More to come as the week goes along. Can't wait 'til race day!

Reflections

2009-05-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

I'm in a reflective mood.

The IM Brazil race is just a few days (and a 6000-mi trip) away. The preparations for the trip and for the race are nearly complete. And so there's some time to reflect....on the training for this race and on triathlon in general.

The other day I was over at the Ridgeland public parking and boat launch for the Ross Barnett Reservoir. The local triathletes will know this as the site for the Heatwave triathlon each June.

This is where the improbable journey started.

Thinking back to 2004....I met my (now) good friend, George, at his birthday party in April, 2004. And George talked me into getting a bike. That chance meeting....and following through on his suggestion to get a bike....really did end up changing my life for the better.

A few weeks later I decided to go watch the Heatwave triathlon in early June. I don't recall now what motivated me, but I remember seeing an announcement in the newspaper or magazine. I went alone....didn't know anybody there. But I'll never, ever forget that day.

My lasting impression from that day is how "ordinary" people were making it happen....swimming, biking, running....cheered on by friends and family.

I've made a habit of returning to this spot before each of my triathlon races....to reflect. I reflect on the good times I had at the 2005 and 2006 Heatwave races, but also on the many new friends I've met along the way and the other races since then. It's good to pause and reflect, I think.

I leave for Brazil tomorrow. I'm looking forward to spending the week with my family and I'm excited about my prospects at the race. I've promised updates by email, Twitter, Facebook, and also here at the blog....and I'll do my best.

Why wait?

2009-05-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Learned today of the tragic death of 39-year-old Steve Larsen, former professional cyclist and long course triathlete, leaving his wife and 5 children.

Another sad example of how life is so precious....and often too short.

I'm reminded today of the recent blog piece by Gordo Byrn, entitled "Why Wait?" Steve Larsen is somebody who DIDN'T wait....It makes you think.

Ironman Brazil Trip

2009-05-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everybody for the many well wishes for my upcoming Ironman Brazil trip. Many of you have asked about the trip details....

The race is on Sunday, May 31st.

I'm traveling to the race with the help of Endurance Sports Travel (EST), a tour group that specializes in travel to triathlons....along with a large group of triathletes from all over the U.S. EST handled our ground arrangements for last year's Ironman S. Africa trip and they did a terrific job.

The trip is long....but not nearly as long as the trips to N. Zealand or S. Africa for the previous Ironman races. I'm heading from Jackson to Charlotte, then on to Miami to hook up with my sister, Lori (from Washington, DC), and parents, Larry and Lee (from Hilton Head Island, SC). Then it's the long overnight flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil where we'll clear customs and connect for a short 1-hour flight to Florianopolis. With any luck, the luggage--especially the gear bag and bike box--will also make the trip!

Florianopolis is a resort island off the southeast coast of Brazil, nearly as far south as Uraguay. We're staying at a new hotel, the Il Campanario Resort, right on the beach, about 1km from the race swim course, transition area, and finish line.

It's May....but May in the Southern Hemisphere is approaching winter. Temps should be in the 70's and humidity should be in the 70% range on race day.

During race week, EST will provide support in a variety of ways:

b At each of 4 hotels, there is daily breakfast and dinner

b Bike mechanical support

b Daily group swim, bike, and run workouts on the course

b Translators!

b Activities for the non-athlete members of the group

b Local transportation

The race course sounds relatively easy. The swim is 2 separate laps (picture swimming in the shape of a capital "M" shape, with a short turn-around on the beach). The swim takes place in the relatively calm waters off Jurere Beach. The bike also has 2 laps along the western side of the island. The course is nearly flat, with only 4 short hills of about 100-150 feet. The run course has 3 laps: a first lap of 21km followed by 2 shorter laps of 10.5km on the same course (with a closer turn-around). The run is also essentially flat, with only 2 hills of ~85 feet during the first lap.

We're planning for a recovery day on Monday following the race and then the trip home on Tuesday, June 2nd. On the return overnight trip, we have stops in Rio de Janeiro, then Miami. And it's back to Jackson on June 3rd.

On race day you can follow my progress at IronmanLive. If the cell signal permits, we'll also provide some race-day Twitter updates. And I'll do my best to provide periodic updates here at the blog.

Looking forward to the trip!

Embracing Technology 2009: A Work in Progress

2009-04-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

I told myself last year that I'd try to do better with technology adoption. And, although I'm not really fond of New Year's resolutions (in part, because of fear of failure), I promised myself that I'd continue down that road and "embrace technology" in 2009. So here's a status report....

It's not that I'm a technology hater. Perhaps I'm just a late adopter. Not a technophobe, but more a dinosaur, I suppose. Even in the remote past, I can remember being excited about the family's electric typewriter, the Texas Instruments "computer," the dot matrix printer, etc. But family and friends in recent years will know what I'm talking about. I'm the last person to get wireless broadband or cable TV at home....and I still make out an index card each day with the day's schedule and "to do" list.

I think that my love of "athletic electronics" has helped me see the light. I can remember how silly it sounded when my running friends were first describing their GPS watches and how important it was to get them synchronized with the satellites before an out-of-town marathon. At the time, I couldn't imagine ANYTHING less important for a good run than a GPS watch! But of course, now I can't imagine leaving home for a run without the Garmin. Or the iPod. Or a bike ride without a Garmin AND a PowerTap computer....and so on. And now all of the files need to be downloaded for post-workout analysis on the computer. If only there were electronics for swimming!

In the past year or so, I've embraced everything Mac. I now have a virtual museum of iPod's....the Classic, the video iPod, the Nano, the Touch....each for certain, very specific uses, I told myself. And again, I remember how silly it sounded when the first person suggested that I needed an mp3 player. Who, me? I've also taken a liking to the AppleTV for home theater (movies, podcasts, music, slideshows) and Apple Airport Express/iTunes for whole-home audio. Perhaps I'll need to trade in the Dell computers for Macs.

So, here's what's happening on the technology front in 2009....

The iPhone (another Mac item!) must be the single best new item of technology that I've come across in recent years. A few years ago, I had a PDA (in fact, it's sitting on the corner of my back credenza at the office....like I might actually use it!), but it wasn't very useful. The way that the iPhone combines cell phone, email, various apps, and calendar is awesome. Now I don't go anywhere without it. If I get to work on better arranging the music collection on iTunes, I'll probably ditch the iPods....and just use the iPhone.

Twitter. For the past few weeks, I've been a part of the Twitter community, TwitterSphere, Twitteropolis, etc. This, too, sounded silly, but a few other athletes coached by Endurance Corner wanted to exchange Tweets about their workouts. And that's what got me started. And it's easy to use with the iPhone....a touch of a button and there are the updated Tweets! For the past 6 weeks, I've dutifully shared info about my workouts....and even a little info about my professional and personal life in general. I've actually "met" a couple people with similar interests and I've enjoyed hearing from them from time to time. I've also enjoyed the voyeuristic aspect of listening in on the Tweets from famous people that you wouldn't ordinarily hear from (e.g., Lance Armstrong) and from businesses/organizations that are of interest (e.g., USA Triathlon). But it seems to me that, without a critical mass of family and friends who are also embracing Twitter, one eventually becomes more of a "listener" rather than an active participant. After just 6 weeks, I'm headed that way.

Facebook. It seems that many friends and co-workers use Facebook as their primary social networking site. I have a growing inventory of "Friends," but it seems just a bit weird to hear from high school classmates from nearly 30 years ago (that I haven't seen or heard from since). And I get the sense that some people spend an awful lot of time posting comments, photos, etc. IMHO, anybody spending more than an hour a day on Facebook ought to get out more....and live a "real" life. I'll go to my home page occasionally to see what the Friends have posted, but I don't see myself really embracing Facebook in 2009. Twitter seems so much simpler.

And, lastly, the blog. In recent times, several people have told me that they had a blog....and they'd invite me to have a look. I'm not ordinarily fond of reading at the computer...and I don't think I'd ever be online searching for just the right blog. But some folks with a blog really do have useful things to say....to teach, remind us, etc. My sense is that this is most useful for collecting information about hobbies (for me, think triathlon). And from my standpoint, the blog may be the perfect place to sharie the stories that my group of friends may want to hear. That's what motivated my last post about the Endurance Corner training camp. I think I'll have a go at periodic posts here at the blog and see how it goes. I'm intrigued that the little gadget at the bottom of my blog tells me that people have actually tuned in. And I don't know anybody in Mexico or Hong Kong! Go figure.

Like I say, I'm working hard to embrace technology this year. I think that my closest friends are in disbelief. I'm not sure where things will end up, though, and I fully expect to reach New Year's Day in 2010 having been successful in some ways and unsuccessful in others. Embracing technology....a work in progress.

Endurance Corner Tucson Training Camp

2009-04-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

A few days have passed now since I returned from the Endurance Corner (EC) training camp in Tucson, Arizona. I had a great time and thought I’d share the itinerary and some of my thoughts….

Sunday, March 29th

I flew to Tucson and I worked on some office-related homework on the plane to pass the time. I had shipped my bike by UPS to avoid the hassle of traveling with the bike case….always a good decision, in my mind. I was met at the airport by Coach Justin Daerr (JD) and we drove to the airport’s cell phone lot to hook up with Gordo Byrn. Gordo was parked in his Sportsmobile (picture something from Scooby Do) in the deserted parking lot, playing host and serving up Monzie muffins (baked by his wife, Monica). It was great to finally meet Justin and Gordo who I’d known only by phone and email these past 9 months.

We checked in to the Hotel Arizona in downtown Tucson. I went for a walk, talked with my sister, Lori, by phone, and unpacked my gear. I hadn't spent any time in the desert southwest previously and I was struck by how little (or no) moisture there was anywhere. I wonder if it ever rains.

We met for a group dinner at 6 pm at the hotel. In all, there were 15 campers, 5 coaches (Gordo, JD, Kevin Purcell--from San Diego, Alan Couzens--also with EC, and Jeff Shilt--a pediatric orthopedic surgeon from Boise), 2 bike guys from Wheels on Wheels (Dan and Scott), and Sherry Daerr, JD's aunt, who would fill a variety of roles as the week passed. Introductions confirmed that everybody was a veteran of long-course triathlon. A couple campers had attended the 2008 camp and were back for more fun....I took that as a good sign.

Monday, March 30th

After breakfast at the hotel, the group self-seeded into a Peppy group (10:30 IM finishers and better) and a Friendly group (11:30 IM finishers and slower) for the day’s ride. The Peppy group began the day with an early swim, then rolled out for the ride at 9:00 am. The Friendly group (Larry, Gordo, Jeff, KP, Craig, Tim, Michelle, Chuck, Richard, Celina) rolled out with a head start, at 7:45 am.

The ride was 150K out-and-back to Madera Canyon. The ride began with a 50K ride out Mission Road, slightly uphill for most of the way. The Friendly group was led by Gordo and practiced team time-trialing….and with inexperience (and perhaps riding with strangers), there was one crash pretty quickly. I had 2 flats in the first couple hours…..not too bad except that extra energy was needed to bridge back up to the group. The route continued through Green Valley and then to Madera Canyon Park. At the park, there was an 8-mi gradual climb, then a steeper 3-mi climb to the turnaround. The downhill return through the park was fast, but the climb back out of Green Valley was a slow grind. I got a second wind on the return, and with ample encouragement from Gordo, put in a strong 2nd half of the return. The bike mechanics from Wheels on Wheels were terrific. It was like having the team car at a stage race….they traded out wheels when somebody had a flat and got the rider back on the road quickly. At the end of the day, the guys washed the bikes and had them ready to go for the next day’s rollout.

After lunch at our group’s hospitality suite at the hotel, JD took 3 of the Friendly group (Larry, Tim, and Craig) to the pool for a “recovery” swim after the ride. Unfortunately for Larry, there were leg cramps with each push off the wall, but we finished off an easy 3000 yard swim: 400 free; 4 x 100 free @1:45; 4 x 50 free ( ½ hard, ½ easy) @1:00; 500 free easy; 5 x 100 free @1:45 (descend 1-5); 5 x 50 free @1:00; 750 free pull (250-200-150-100-50). It was great to swim outdoors!

There was a group dinner at the hotel each night, followed by an informal talk by one of the coaches.

Tuesday, March 31st

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove as a group over to Udall Park, a short ride from the base of Mt. Lemmon. Wheels on Wheels had the bikes ready to go and we headed off as a group for a 7-mile ride to the base of the climb. We gathered there for a quick snack and a bathroom break, then began the 21-mile climb up Mt. Lemmon….a scenic ride that rose ~6000 ft. to the 8000 ft. summit. Marilyn McDonald, who was in town training, joined us for the ride.

For the hardy, there was a short transition run at the park before enjoying lunch in the canopied shade of the Wheels on Wheel trailer.

After lunch, the group headed over to Catalina pool for an afternoon swim in the sunshine. I hear that we apparently created a bit of a stir at an otherwise tranquil pool. I swam a 2400 yard workout with JD, Anthony, and Richard: 600 warm-up; 18 x 100 free pull with paddles on changing intervals. Like the previous day’s swim, JD chose comfortable intervals to keep us in the game.

Again, we ate dinner as a group at the hotel.

Wednesday, April 1st

Wednesday was planned as a “light” day to follow the first two days of riding. We headed out to the Archer pool for an early swim. I swam a 3500 yard workout with JD, Anthony (complete with swim skin!), and Flip (former UNH distance freestyler): 550 free; 4 x 100 free @1:45; 4 x 50 free ( ½ hard, ½ easy) @1:00; 6 x 100 free (2 cruise – 1 hard – 2 cruise – 1 hard) @1:35; 8 x 100 free pull/paddles @1:20; 12 x 25 free w/0:10 rest. I finished by swimming 100 free for Gordo to videotape. He was apparently pleased with my style of arm recovery. It would have been fun to see the video. We ran into Samantha McGlone swimming in a nearby lane….maybe greatness will rub off?

After breakfast at the hotel, the Peppy and Friendly groups headed out for separate 40-mi and 40K rides, respectively. The Friendly group did an out-and-back ride over/back across Gates Pass. The outbound climb was gradual, the return climb was steep! Of course, from Larry’s perspective even the “rollers” seemed steep. Sad to say….on one short, steep pitch, I had to get off and walk the bike up.

I did a short 20-min transition run through downtown Tucson after we returned to the hotel, then enjoyed lunch with the group in the hospitality suite. Sherry had become the camp photographer and was already doing slideshow on the laptop in the dining area. It was fun to see the photos.

Wednesday afternoon was “laundry day.” Sherry washed all of our dirty things and returned them to us at dinner later. It was also rest time. I enjoyed a 1-hour massage in the late afternoon that helped to resuscitate the tired legs.

Group dinner included a talk by Jeff about IT band syndrome and other common triathlete ailments.

Thursday, April 2nd

I was feeling sick on Thursday morning, but I accompanied the group out to Starr Pass for a trail run (I walked). The trail was pretty steep, but stretched through a very pretty divide that had large fields of cactus. The cool morning air felt great.

I skipped the remainder of the day’s athletic activities, but the other campers had a busy day. After breakfast, the group headed to the Oro Valley pool for a long, 5500 yard swim, lunch at the pool, then a 50+ mile ride back to the hotel crossing back over Gates Pass.

I spent the day with considerable GI upset....one of six athletes who was sick for some portion of the week. Thankfully, I was able to take in some soup by dinnertime and I rejoined the group for the after-dinner talk by Jeff on bike fitting.

Friday, April 3rd

Friday was our 2nd “light” day. We began the day by driving to Saguaro Park East for an early-morning trail run (I walked vigorously, with Michelle). This was as much as a 90-minute out-and-back run for some of the campers. Again, the scenery was beautiful with the many varieties of cactus….and particularly the large Saguaros.

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to the Oro Valley pool for a spirited swim. I swam 3100 yards with JD, Anthony, and Dave today: 600 warm-up; 500 (as 25 hard/75 easy); 5 x 100 @1:35 (#3 = IM); 10 x 50 free @0:45; 5 x 100 @1:35 (#3 = IM); 500 free pull/paddles. This pool was as nice as it gets….sunshine, breeze, mountain scenery.

The afternoon was free to rest up for the next day. Again, it was “laundry day” and there were massages for some of the campers. Before dinner I enjoyed visiting with JD, Marilyn McDonald, and Sherry. I’m really struck by how down-to-earth JD and Marilyn were.

There was a group dinner at the hotel, followed by a talk by Alan about muscle fiber physiology.

Saturday, April 4th

After breakfast, we headed out for a 170K ride out-and-back to Kitt Peak. The first 40 miles were gradually uphill (and into a pretty stiff breeze) and the group broke up into several small packs. We regrouped at that point, had a snack, and refilled the water bottles for the 12-mile climb (8% grade). I left some unfinished business this day, reaching only the 4-mile mark of the climb. The return trip to Tucson was helped by a nice tailwind, though, and there was ample time to spend on the aero bars.

After lunch at the hotel, a few hardy souls (JD, Larry, Richard, Kevin) headed back to Archer pool for a 2000 yard recovery swim. Again, we took some inspiration from Samantha McGlone in a nearby lane.

Farewell dinner at the hotel included a talk by KP about race-day bike strategy/pacing. There were some prizes (I got a JFT cap), closing remarks by Gordo, and farewells. I hope our paths will cross again.

Sunday, April 5th

People hit the road or went to the airport throughout the morning. I enjoyed the final breakfast with JD, Gordo, Dan, Tatiana, and Alan. I’m going to miss the group.

JD took me to the airport. We hugged at the curb and said good-bye. JD and Gordo did an awesome job organizing the camp and I’m so glad I got to meet JD. I knew, months ago, when JD suggested coming to the camp, that this would be a stretch ability-wise….and it was. But in a good way. I left with many fond memories….and a desire to do it again.