Things That Go Bump In The Night

It is embarrassing to have self inflicted injuries. A week ago I got
up in the middle if the night and went to the bathroom. I almost made
it. I was half dazed and found myself sitting up on the ground. I
think I ran right into the door frame, it is hard to say but my
injuries included a knot on the left side of my head, a bruised right
thumb and a bruise feeling in the left side of ribs.

My head and thumb healed quickly but the pain in my ribs got worse.
Shoveling hurt bad and breathing was ok but noticeable on a deep
breath. I went swimming for an hour on Friday and no pain. Saturday it
was clear something was really wrong with me.

I went to the doctor yesterday to see if I was dying. If my ribs were
cracked or fractured I would have noticed a lot early she said. It is
probably a bad bruise that got worse because of all I was doing last
week. She said an injury like this takes 6-8 weeks to heal. I have 4
weeks.

I asked many times if I was going to kill myself if I did this race
with the injury and she said besides pain I'm not doing any
significant damage. Obviously other than the 'regular' damage that
comes from such an event. That's what I needed to hear. I can mentally
prepare for pain, I have 17 hours to finish, and making each cut off
staying on the course is basically the goal for any race of this
distance. It's all about just getting to the finish.

Getting To The Finish

A month to go before my 3rd Ironman in less than 2 years and I can see the finish line. I don't want to do another, maybe not for a decade or two. It is hard to find motivation after being what seems like permanently signed up for a race for the past 5 years.

I am swimming and biking and running, at distances that are almost laughable with a month to go before an Ironman. I can swim for 30 mins great, bike for 2 hours no problem, and run 3 miles at under an 8 minute pace easy. That is seriously where my training is at. Experts say to gradually add distance, that's great, but I'm about to load on some serious mileage just to hope to make it across this one more finish line. I'll have decades to taper after this ride.

Bike

So that crazy Trek ninja tri bike cost $9,000. That's the most frustrating thing about triathlons, it is expensive, and price can translate to performance. I have no idea what type of space technology is on that bike or just how much faster it can go, but I don't think there is any other sport that has such a pay for performance trade off. It doesn't seem fair.

Consider that bike costs nearly 7x as much as my bike, and my bike came with shoes and a helmet. Factor in that of the 140.6 miles in a triathlon 112 are biking. In a time breakdown it is about 60% of your tri day sitting on a bike. If I bought the best swim goggles it might cost $30 more dollars. If I bought the best running shoes it might cost $75 more dollars. Even Lance Armstrong says it is not about the bike. I say it is a little bit about the bike.

The Race

2008 Big 10 Indoor Track Championships

Guess How Much

For Jeff

I haven't been posting a lot because I haven't been working out a lot.
And my ironman is next month.

Here is the thing about my 3rd ironman - mentally I need 2 weeks,
physically I should have started 3 months ago. Work, life and other
activities have taken the place of what in my first ironman would have
been nerves and fear, training for an unknown monster race. I know
this race. More importantly, I know my body. I can do this race now
based on will, one month of crazy mountain training and I can do this
race right.

As for having a phenomenal day and
race, I need God more than I need to be training to do it on my own.

If you haven't seen "The Book of Eli" it's got a great message - "It's
not just a book, it's a WEAPON!"

Insane Downhill Bike Race in Chile

Insane Downhill Bike Race in Chile

You Never Forget How

The stickers and tags? I haven't ridden since Ironman Florida. That's
going to change. I'm turning my weakness into my strength.

IRONMAN TEXAS

HELP ME

Seriously Fast Food

I am doing my best to get a Chick-fil-A sponsorship. Here is my latest effort.

http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Story/Stories?ID=426

2011 Houston Marathon

There is one race photo that I love more than any of my others, my first Ironman finish photo. It is just an awesome display of emotion. But, I have never had a group of photos from one specific race display so much of the struggle. In every one of my photos, none of them am I making this race look easy. I was pushing the entire race, apparently that's how you annihilate your personal best time.

Making the Paper

I didn't get first place, but I am really excited to get 449!

Record Breaking

I had never run under 4 hours in a marathon. Today, I broke the 4 hour mark for the first time, with a couple minutes to spare, half an hour to spare.

I finished 3:30:27!

Mega Mind

Tomorrow is the marathon. This will be my 3rd Houston Marathon and 10th 26 or + mile running race. Tomorrow my body won't be my greatest strength, it's my mind. Running is the only sport I feel I can use that to my advantage, when you make up your mind you don't want to quit, what the body wants becomes irrelevant. But, only for so long.

The Houston Marathon is generally a flat, fast course and pace runners are out there, meaning a guy with a stick showing his pace lets everyone know how fast he is running the marathon. I'm going to do what I've never done, do what made Prefontaine famous, start out way too fast. I'm going to start running with the 3 hour marathon pace group, an hour faster pace than my fastest marathon ever.

My body can't last the entire marathon at that pace, no way. But to give up on that pace I'll have to fall back and watch as they run past. As soon as the race starts I'll have a 3 hour timer counting down and it's up to my mind to put off self preservation as long as it can.

Quick Who is This Guy?

He is the first US runner to break 1 hr (59:43) in the half marathon. He also has the fastest time ever by an American at the Boston Marathon, and that only got him 4th place. I can get his autograph at the Houston Marathon Expo, but I really don't want to wait in line with 3 other people. Poor guy is at the top of his sport, I wonder if he ever thought about football or basketball?