Rockin Around The Christmas Tree

Saturday I did my last big day of training before I attempt the Ironman again - 4 hour bike, 2 hour run. It does seem a bit short when compared to what it is I am training for. There's only one way to see if my training is enough, and that test will come in 2 weeks. Sure I could have spent 7 hours on my bike and then ran 5 hours, all after spending an hour in the pool swimming around, but there wouldn't have been a crowd watching, cheering and no finisher's shirt and medal if I even did do it all.

A big question I am asked is what do you think about the whole time training? Random stuff. This past run I couldn't get Rockin Around The Christmas Tree out of my head.

Modifications

It is a little bit funny that my bike up until this point has had 1 water bottle holder. I am preparing for battle. Now I have 3.

Saturday Sight Seer

Saturday I woke up and went on a 3 hour run, about 20 miles. I love being able to run far and for a long time. You get to see so many different things that you can't get to in a car while still covering about the same amount of ground. Then I caught a plane and got in a small jog around there too. Here are some of my Saturday sights:

You run early enough and long enough and things start to not make sense. 

I love bridges.

Dangerously close to a moving train. I should have got video, this train was going like 20 mph.

This just looked cool/odd from the street.

Who dat?

Why Does This Happen?

Does this happen to anyone else?

Unprimed

I rode my bike for a little over 4 hours, 65 miles, and then set out for a run. I ran 30 minutes then rethought life in a bathroom. The real problem with training on your own, rather then in races as I did last year, is your training sessions aren't catered. I had about 2 bottles of water, 1 gatorade and 2 granola bars during the bike and I got a sharp reminder of the fastest way to end your day. I was really a bit of a mess and it hit me despite hammering a gatorade and some bread during the bike/run transition. It is fascinating learning from your body and my real red flag came when I wasn't thirsty or hungry, normally in a race I am both. It is very odd to experience a disgust for water and food, when my body should have loved to have both.

I walked for 30 minutes trying to get back to neutral. If it was a race I would have pushed but at that point I took the training day as more of a lesson than getting in milage. I ran for 30 more minutes and jumped in the gulf for a quick 5 minute swim.

I felt good on the bike, which was really the goal, and the small waves in the gulf calmed my nerves a bit about the Ironman Florida start. Sadly, I forgot to drink the Gatorade Prime before my workout.

Exorcism

Earlier this year Galveston was the site of my worst race ever. It is also perhaps the best training for Florida I can get. It is right on the gulf, flat and hot. Florida will hopefully be kinder in the heat department. Sunday I put my gear in my car and set out to get back some tri dignity I lost there in April.

Top Level Biking

My brother, Alan, sent me this email:


Here is the final race from a 1990 world cycling thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkkTSVVrPYk

these are the best, top level athletes....

made me think of you.

Into the Wind

It is awesome to hear of crazy super human stories that happened and you have no idea. Terry Fox ran 3,339 miles in 143 days in an attempt to run across Canada raising money for cancer research.

Oh also, he only had one leg.

Here is his story on ESPN 30 for 30

I think about the Ironman, the people who I tell and can't believe how crazy it is - doesn't seem that crazy really. I kind of think, if I want to, if anyone wants to, how can you not do it?

Night Rider

Prime

I am going to find out just what this does.

That Guy

This is an awesome editorial if you are thinking about a race or if you have done one before.

Ooh La La

Tough

The toughest part of the Ironman training for me, is the training part. Once, I mentally think I can do it, I basically check out. I would love to enter the Ironman where each participant is monitored and time is awarded off of your official finish time based on lack of training. For me it is tough to get better or improve when I think I can just do it. That is the main reason I am not an athlete, just athletic. I question if I am over confident because I have done this once before. I don't remember the event being impossibly tough looking back on it - happier memories have probably filled in that dark 15 hour spot in my memory.

The hardest part of the Ironman isn't something really easy to train for. It is remembering you want to finish the race and relaying that message to your body. My brain and body know that fight is coming, now I just have to convince my body it is in our best interest to finish faster than it wants to.

Early Retirement

I am going to retire. Not retire, retire, boxing retire. The kind of retirement where the champ gets beat half to death and then says he's retiring. But, they all come back for more.

Still, there are some races I want to do. I have never done the Marathons of Texas - Dallas, Houston and Austin all in the same season, 3 marathons in 3 months. And more of a scar than anything, there is only one race I have signed up for that I didn't complete, the MS 50. I had knee surgery 2 months before the race and had to walk the 10k instead of running the 50 miler. That was 3 years ago. This year, sandwiched between 2 Ironman races, I'm going to complete them all.

Nov. 6 - Ironman Florida
Dec. 5 - Dallas White Rock - 26.2 Miles
Jan. 30 - Houston Marathon - 26.2 Miles
Feb. 20 - Austin Marathon - 26.2 Miles
Feb. 27 - Ft. Worth Cowtown Ultra - 31 Miles
March 5 - Mississippi 50 - 50 Miles
May 21 - Ironman Texas

What am I going to do in "retirement?" You already know.

The Gift Catalog

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkyy9pvjU2Y