One Hour Ironman (bob shuler)

LANCE .... 70.3 Panama

2012-02-13T10:52:00.001-05:00

There was plenty of speculation about how the 41-year-old would do in his first race as a pro, but at least two things were certain as the starting gun sounded to begin the point-to-point swim in the warm waters of the Pacific.
It was pretty certain that Lance would be close to the top after the swim as he has a strong swimming background and there was no doubt he would make quite an impact out on the 56-mile bike course.
However nobody was quite sure how he would hold up with all the much younger speedsters out on the run course.

THE SWIM

Lance came out with a large pack and was 34 seconds behind the leader Matty Reed. As the pro men left the bike transiton, Lance was sitting in 11th spot.
His past history as a competitive swimmer kept him in close contact with all the major players in the race.

THE BIKE

As expected Lance made a move on the bike course and at the 15k mark had moved from 11th to 5th place.
At the half-way point he made his move toward the leader and soon he was riding at the front of the main chase pack along with Chris Lieto, but it was still Billard Betrand of France leading the way as the cyclists headed into Panama City and the bike/run transition.
Very near transition Chris Lieto takes the lead with Lance right behind him waiting to pounce as Betrand slips to third.
At this point it was certainly shaping up to be an interesting run.

THE RUN

As the first pros reached the run transition area the top four were Chris Lieto, Lance Armstrong 6 seconds back, Bertrand Billard 9 seconds back, and Oscar Galindez 1:29 off the pace.
At 2k into the run Chris Lieto looks very strong in the lead and Lance Armstrong is 10 seconds back with Billard close to Lance in 3rd spot.
At the four mile mark Lance is just 5 seconds off the front and Chris Lieto, but Oscar Galindez and Bevan Docherty are making a charge and are just 1:39 and 2:46 behind.
Lance! Didn't know you could run so fast! In the blink of an eye Lance is leading Ironman Panama 70.3 by 26 seconds.
There is a very good possibility that Lance used up far less of his energy reserves on the bike course as opposed to the other cyclists.
If that's the case, it might just be next to impossible to catch him at this point.
It really appears that Lance will be either 1st or 2nd in Ironman Panama 70.3 and it all hinges on how much Bevan Docherty has left in the tank as he closes to within 1:15 of Lance Armstrong.
All the other main contenders have fallen off the pace. Either way it will be a sensational result for Lance.
What a finish it's going to be as Lance holds a 55 second lead over Docherty with just 4 miles to go. Apparenty it's a media frenzy at the finish line that rivals Kona.
Small wonder. This is one of the greatest moments in the history of the sport.
In order to catch Lance, Bevan will have to run about 15 seconds per mile faster and that's asking a lot of even this great runner.
45 seconds now.
Lance hanging tough and Bevan only made up 10 seconds and that most likely will not be enough but in the last few miles Docherty seems to be really picking up the pace.
A race for the ages. This will be very close.
Bevan Docherty wins Ironman Panama 70.3 2012!

Lance Armstrong finishes second in an incredible race.

That from Ray Fauteux... Endurance Sports Examiner

Wow... if I am still in Florida in May, I think I will head over the Ironman 70.3 in Haines City to race with Lance..... otherwise I may just have to ride with him in Austin.... Yes, it looks like we are heading to Austin to live..... maybe

Week in training...
Usual shit... bunch of 4 milers, a couple 6 milers.... OH and this weather...at 50F I can crank out a 51 minute 10K.... sweet..
Saturday ride of 50 miles (because Sunday was so damn cold!)

Arnie? Somewhere in Australia....

Cheers!!

Life in the Rain Forest and Other ramblings

2012-02-05T17:22:00.000-05:00

For those of you that have not been to Florida, it is a unique place. We have summer weather virtually all year round. When we first got here there were these gecos running all over the place. You are taken aback when you first see these things for fear that they will jump on you. Then you realize they just want to reduce your car insurance rates and all things are good.

The other thing that we have are mosquitos. Mosquitos in February? You bet. It has been warm this past week (80F) and with that comes mosquitos. Annoying as hell. But I can say one thing, our mosquitos don't hold a candle to the mosquitos we ran into in Maine this past summer. But none the less, we have year round mosquitos.

We got a contract on our house. After 3 years on the market we finally have one. If you all haven't heard, the Tampa market sucks. Values have plummeted 50% in 4 years. We were a little luckier at 15% after realtor fees. So now what? I can live anywhere I want with my job, so where to go? We were serious about going back to Houston but it takes 3 years to establish residence for college so our eldest would be out of state in both Florida and Texas if we made the move. About a $20K per year delta. Not to mention that the Houston market didn't suffer like Tampa, so we take a bath on the exchange. So it looks like we are looking for a foreclosure in South Tampa, which is a change of around 12 miles for us. We will see how the search goes. Luckily we don't close until April 30 allowing time to look.

Week in training? (1) 4 miler
                             (2) Treadmill 3 milers
                             (2) 6 milers
                             (1) 50 mile ride.

Chewbacca Legs

2012-02-01T10:26:00.000-05:00

I was on a flight from Chicago to Dulles (Washington) the other day. The lady that sat next to me had long pants on but I noticed some stringy things pertruding from the small gap between her pant leg and socks. I did a quick glance to assess the young lady and she appeared to be somewhat of a granola eater. Not that there is anything wrong with eating granola, but it is the best way to explain the situation, and confirmation of what I suspected. As the flight progressed the gap between the pants and socks grew, and so did my assessment that I was sitting next to Little Ms. Chewbacca legs.

Have you ever been talking to someone that has a mole or bugger hanging out of their nose and all you can do, as much as you try not to, is stare at them? Well, that's what I found myself doing that whole 1.5 hour flight.

At first I was trying to determine the length of each hair. My best estimation is 1 inch. How long does it take to grow leg hair 1 inch? I defer that question to my lady bloggers out there. I just don't know. And then came hair count. Like a fine persian rug is measured in thread count per inch, I was trying to determine the hair count. I really never came up with a fair estimate on this one because it appeared to be a wide range.

As I continued to do my study.... yes, by 30 minutes into the flight I decided to make this a full college level study with the deadline for the thesis being the landing in Dulles. I wanted to ask her questions but I felt she might not be too receptive to the questions I needed to ask. So I kept the fact finding to the information at hand or should I say leg...

She must have wondered why I continued to look downward and when I reached over to use my index finger as a measuring tool (I forgot my micrometer) I think I was beginning to upset her. So I took a 5 minute break to act like I was doing some actual work. The diversion worked.

Then the next step was to calculate how long it had been since Ms. Chewbacca actually used a razor. Since the plane did not have internet I was unable to go on line to research the growth pattern for leg hair. Without this all I could do is put together was an educated guess. Since this wasn't gong to be that scientific, I decided to forgo the study, pop in my 2010 Kona tape and enjoy the last 20 minutes of the flight.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER !!

2012-01-31T16:01:00.001-05:00

And the answer is James Blake's mom Betty.
Born in England, she came to the States and met her future husband Thomas while playing tennis in New York.

James was 13 when he was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and for five years as a teenager he was forced to wear a full-length back brace for 18 hours a day, though not while playing tennis. Blake attended Fairfield High School in Fairfield, Connecticut, where a schoolmate and childhood friend was future musician John Mayer. Blake was inspired to pursue tennis after hearing his role model Arthur Ashe speak to the Harlem Junior Tennis Program.

Our official pull a name out of the hat... an Ironman hat at that, was the first guesser who actually did all the research if you read the comments, Ms. Duffy. Please email me your mail to address.

Now Kovas, who has a copy of my book said the tennis match must have taken place at Saddlebrook. And he is correct in saying that is where the three tennis players listed train. Actually it was in Avila where I live that I played with Betty. Mardy Fish used to live in the hood but moved away. I believe he is in California now. John Isner moved into Derek Jeter's old house down the block from us when Derek moved into his 20,000 sq ft mansion on Tampa Bay.

So that's it, thanks for playing.
Now back to triathlon...

Whos MOM is this?

2012-01-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

As part of my cross training in triathlon I like to throw in a little tennis. Friday night at the club was the Super Bowl kickoff tennis mixed doubles. It is a round robin tourny where you play with a different partner every four games. All fun, we don't even keep track of who gets the most points. I had a chance to play with this young lady who was born in England and is related to one of the sports celebrities that lives in the hood. For a copy of my world famous and New York Times best seller book, OneHourIronmen, who is this lady? Is she: The mother of Mardy Fish, who has climbed as high as no. 8 in the world rankings...

The Mother of Nick Swisher, who plays in the outfield for the Yankees..

The wife of Lou Pinella who played for a variety of teams and coached for several also. There is no holding Lou back...
.

The mother of James Blake who rose to no. 4 in the world rankings in 2006..

Or the grandmother of 6' 9" John Isner, who set the world record at Wimbledon with an 11 hour match that ended in a 70 to 68 tie break...

Put your guess in and I will put the winning entries into an official Ironman hat and pick a winner...

As for the week in training it consisted of (2) 4 mile runs (1) 6 miler (1) 10 miler, and 55 mile bike followed by 4 mile run

OH, and an update from the English Channel training. Just when you think this thing is easy given how Arnie whips through these sick 12 mile swims in 59F water... he told me today when I ran 4 miles with him that his training partner (coach) only made 3 hours in the water last weekend and then was pulled from the water due to hypothermia.

NAME THAT TRIATHLETE

2012-01-25T09:09:00.001-05:00

This guy and I ride the same bike (his is actually tricked out about $3000 more than mine though)

And I will have to emulate his race style in New York to have a chance to get my golden ticket to Kona..

Who is this pro?

Oh, since he told me to...... "I BELIEVE"

I think Jeff the Carrott boy can't play in this particular challenge....

11 THINGS

2012-01-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

Jenn Small at MilesMuscles and Mommyhood tagged me on this little diddy..
Here are the rules:

1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. There is some other rule but we will skip it...

RANDOM STUFF
1. TriMOEng was playing this same contest and I read this "I have not traveled extensively, but would like to. It would definitely be how I'd spend some serious lottery winnings (if I ever played and if I ever won). Top ten destinations right off the bat: Spain, Germany, Australia, Hawaii, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls, Southern California, Orlando, and Austin. Some because I think everyone should see certain places at least once and some because I have friends near there plus I think they would be cool places to visit.".... I just wanted to say that they are all great... :)

2. I love going to the grocery store to take advantage of their 2 for 1 sales

3. Our local grocery now has a deal I love even more.... buy $25 of food and get a $50 gas card for $40. Works even better with the 2 for 1 stuff.

4. When I was 35 I knew I couldn't do an Ironman

5. When I was 52 I became too senile in the afternoon to remember what I did in the morning so doing an Ironman was a natural fit.

6. I have 3 sons that I am very proud of

7. I wrote a book "OneHourIronman" to help people that feel like I did when I was 35.

8. My wife loves to lie on the beach, I hate it

9. I was a lifeguard for 5 years in a row in the summer which helped mold my hatred of lying around on a beach.

10. I was born in Ohio and spent teen years through college in West Virginia..... GO MOUNTAINEERS!!

11. I will make it to Kona some day... hopefully in early October, with a race number..

THE QUESTIONS

You are stranded on a deserted island. Tell me

1. What are the 5 foods you would pick to have with you?
The important ones... honey (it never goes bad), peanut butter, beef jerky, tostitos and salsa
2. What 2 things would you pick to drink?
Cold beer and fresh water
3. What book would you want to have?
Bible... I probably would have a little time on my hand
4. You are visited by ONE person for 24 hours only, who is it?
Les Stoud (Survivorman)
5. You can have ONE skill that you do not currently posses? What is it?
Teleportation

You just won 5 million dollars! Tell me

1. What is the first thing you do?
Call my wife
2. What is the first thing you buy?
A three week vacation to somewhere to be decided
3. Who is the first person you share your winnings with?
Yah....Right!!
4. Would you relocate? Where?
Houston
5. Would you donate to charity?
Oh, I guess so..... if I must
6. You must buy me a gift, what do you get me?
A brand new water bottle!!!!

MY QUESTIONS

1. Marathon or Ironman?
2. Biggest Loser or Survivor?
3. Cheeseburger or Turkey burger?
4. Mansion or Townhouse?
5. Kids or no kids?
6. Beach or mountains?
7. Michael Jackson or Paul McCartney?
8. The Voice or American Idol?
9. Barrack Obama or Newt?
10. Tennis or Golf?
11. Dogs or cats?

And since I am the elder statesman here, I am going to modify the rules.... Let me know by responding that you want to be tagged for the whole thing, or if you just want to answer the questions, have at it...
(Let's face it folks, it is a small blogger world and everyone has been tagged already)

English Channel update

2012-01-22T19:16:00.001-05:00

Since Arnie has not done any tri stuff for the last 1.5 months I thought I would devote the first part of this post to my buddy "Crash"

Today he did an English Channel qualifying swim. That consists of swimming in water under 61F for 6 hours. No big deal, right? Wrong. Try it some time without a wetsuit.   I can't imagine that having done St George (54F with a wetsuit) and Alcatraz (57 -59F with a wetsuit). He says you "get used" to it.   No you don't. Only sick people "get used to it".   I am not saying Arnie is sick..... but........

He made it and went 12 miles. The water was 58F in Tampa Bay today according to the official spotter. Sick.... His finishing the English Channel is in the bag the way I look at it now. He will be in an elite group too. Less than 50 people over 50 years of age have ever done it...    SICK !! ...

So my back  is about back to normal.... the old 2x4 it used to be before the injury.    I will work on making it gumbylike in the next few months..

Well, I am mixing up the old "OneHourIronmen" training program for my upcoming race to get faster. The key to my success at IMNYC will be the addition of running speed work , the addition of an extra bike ride per week followed by a run (BRICK) and longer rides for the Sunday ride leading up to the race.   The speed work will commence this week and the BRICKS started this weekend.   Saturday was a 30 miler in the hood followed by a 6 mile run. The run pace was 9 min/mile and I truly see how this is going to speed me up come August. I don't promote this for the normal one hour ironman/woman dude/dude ess, but if you want to get faster, they are needed. Today was 75 miles because it was so nice out... I was going to go 50 and then decided for 60 and then at the turn point for 60 I saw a group of roadies so I had to blitz them, which I did and that meant I had to go up to the turn that made it 75.   I paid the price too. About 3 hours in I bonked because I had no fuel for the ride since I originally didn't intend on going that far.

Blogger comments have been acting up so I played with some settings.   Try leaving a comment, I would like to see if I fixed it..... If not, Word Press might be looking pretty good...

Oh, and totally off of tri stuff..   Jack Black dead? There have been other times where he was reported deceased and was in fact not. This latest report happened today that he fell off a cliff in New Zealand while filming. Director to Jack while filming... "Ok Jack back up just a little bit more... more.... more.... OH SHIT !!" I think that might be a fair reenactment... Hopefully it is a false report...

ZED AND THE ART OF TRI BIKE MAINTENANCE

2012-01-20T09:20:00.002-05:00

There was a book a few years back called "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". After riding with Arnie for a number of years, I decided to write a new book to go along with "OneHourIronmen" and I was going to call it "Zed and the art of triathlon bike handling". For some reason, Arnie "Crash" Bellini has a problem handling the triathlon bike. I am usually following him when these mishaps happen, so he keeps me on my toes in honing my skills of triathlon bike handling. For that I thank him since I have been able to professionally navigate his little land mines making me a true Zen amongst "Zeds".The term "Zed" might need a little explanation. For some reason Arnie started calling me "Zed" a few years back. He said it meant "zero" in Spanish... the reason he was calling me a zero is still unclear, other than we were having a argument over whether zero was a number (it obviously is, but when you are brain dead after 70 miles of riding... discussion topics resort to this). What I didn't want to tell him is that "zed" does not mean zero in Spanish... (I am saving that one for another time). It would make a lot more sense if he were calling me Zed in reference to the movie "Men in Black" and Rip Torn's character of Chief Zed, making me an obvious Zen leader amongst triathlon bike handlers. If you aren't completely confused by now, you should be so I will move on.Well it has been well over a year since CRASH had his last mishap on a bike... in fact it was Thanksgiving week 2010 that he decided to see if 23mm tires can navigate a railroad crossing that was at a 45 degree angle to the road. If you haven't guessed the answer in NO. Things break when that happens (collar bone), but true studs finish the ride anyway, which he did.So Zed is still alive and well but losing valuable input for his book since CRASH is no longer supplying information.So I need to work on a new title.... ZED AND THE ART OF TRI BIKE MAINTENANCE... which is totally appropriate because triathletes tend to confuse cassettes with cranks and have no idea what compact refers to when that chain thingy wraps around that big sprocket gizmo. So I leave it to you...Tell me things triathletes have no clue about on their bikes that is second nature to a roadie. All this will find its way into my new book which will be available at a bookstore near you....or not..

Word Press?

2012-01-16T19:26:00.005-05:00

OK, I'll be honest here. Originally I was going to talk about the difference in times between a straight up marathon and the IM marathon. You know, the delta and why it exists and how we can minimize it.. The goals of the post were to be two fold.... first, to depart some ideas on the subject and the second was to extract ideas from you all...

But it changed with KCs post this week. She is bailing on Blogger!! DAMN! That's it... comments welcome.... She can't do this!!

But blog world, I do have an out on this recent bail... I can at least go ride with "The Original" 140 Point 6 Miles of Awesome!" and get updates on what's up..

Last year we had another famous bail... THE ORIGINAL CARRATUCK GIRL and that was after I went to Carratunk to meet Mandy...

This all leads me to a question... IS IT ME, after these IronWoMan meet me??? Then they bail on blogger and get as far away as possible??

Back to Normal

2012-01-15T10:57:00.003-05:00

After the murders in the hood last Monday, things have somewhat become normal again. The neighborhood is still buzzing about the events of that day. We even ran into a friend that lives across the street from the victims and his account is chilling at best. He said he heard four muffled pops in succession, then a pause of around 3 seconds and then a loud bang, a pause of two seconds and another loud bang. As the case has been pieced together those muffled shots were fired from inside the house at Dr Rivera running out of the house. One or more struck Dr Rivera and as he lay in his front yard Florez walked up to him and shot him twice in the head, those being the loud bangs. Very chilling indeed.

As I run in the hood CSI is still very present at the house with up to 10 vehicles and one crime unit van on the scene.

Did I say "As I run in the hood?"... Well I believe I did. The back is still bothering me but I decided to slowly introduce tri stuff to my gym routine. Monday was a 2.5 mile run at which point it was bothering me so I walked 1.5 miles. Tuesday was 4 mile run. Friday was 6 mile run. And most days find me at the gym for 30 minutes or so stretching.

Today? Well it was a brisk 40F at 7am this morning but I decided to bundle up and go for a ride of an undetermined distance. It ended up being 40 miles. I stayed aero for around half of it and it was sore afterwards but that was to be expected.

What else? The magic disappeared from the Broncos.. It will be interesting to see if Denver sticks with Tebow as the starter next year. From what I saw they need to draft an offensive line...

Arnie? In Puerto Rico... I haven't ridden with that boy in 5 weeks.

Texans? Hope they keep it going

Withdrawl? Yep, It is Houston Marathon day and having run 12 of them, I always go through marathon envy on this day...

Cheers and keep your head down... at least if you live around here!!

BUSTED !!

2012-01-11T08:01:00.004-05:00

Here is the whole story on the double murder in my neighborhood..

About 7;53pm on Monday night the homicides occurred. Neighbors heard shots and 911 was called. A call also originated from the crime scene home from a person that worked for the Riveras. Upon arrival deputies saw one dead body on the front lawn (Dr. Rivera) and one inside. The worker that called the police told deputies that an intruder had enterred the house and tied him up and shot the Riveras. No belongings had been taken from the house. The worker was a personal assistant and driver for Mrs. Rivera in her high end jewelry and hand bag business that she ran out of her home..

Time to flash back a week... A week earlier the Riveras had reported a theft of a large quantity of their business goods from their home.. A mystery that was still unsolved but as we were to find out, the suspicions pointed to the personal assistant, Julian Flores (who is a naturalized citizen from Medellin, Columbia... no less).

The day of the murders, Mrs. Rivera (not sure of Dr. Rivera) had traveled to Sarasota with Flores to a trade show and had returned to Tampa shortly before the murders. Then at 7:50 (or so) as Flores tells the story, a perp enterred the home and tied him up. He then shot Mrs. Rivera multiple times in the face with a 9mm hand gun. Dr. Flores was at a friends house and was returning with some sushi for his wife at the exact same time of the shooting when he walked in on the scene. As he was trying to escape out the front door he was shot multiple times in the back and lay dead on the front lawn. Flores then says the perp left and he was able to wrestle free of the hand ties and call the police.

Upon arrival on the scene law officials assessed the crime scene, questioned Flores and determined they needed a search warrant to thoroughly go through the home and grounds. They got the search warrant several hours later and found the 9mm in a drawer in the home.

The hand gun was found to be registered to Flores. They also uncovered evidence that Flores had purchased 9mm shells at Walmart two days prior to the murders.

Although he isn't being fully cooperative with police, Flores has been charged with first degree pre meditated murder. It is suspected that the Riveras had confronted Flores about the thefts.

Case closed...

Oh, my wife has met Flores at one of the jewelry shows she attended at the Riveras

Scary..

Hug your kids

2012-01-10T08:20:00.003-05:00

No tri stuff on this post...
For you old time followers you know we live in a fairly upscale community...
You know, the kind with security guards and roving patrols..
They cost a bunch per year (think real nice tri bike kind of expensive)
But at least we know we are secure...

Or so we thought.
We became a true "hood" last night when a neighbor that lives about a mile from us and essentially three houses down from Arnie and his wife were apparently murdered in their house. Obviously the investigation is still going on.

Gated community... Walls around the whole subdivision, you have to check in to get in..

I am trying to picture the scene at the gate at 7:30 last night.....
Security guard "Name and who are you here to see?"

Perp "Joe hit man to visit the Riveras"

Security guard "Are they expecting you?"

Perp " I hope not"

Security guard "Oh, a surprse visit, they will love that.. go right in"

I thnk I want a refund. The money would be better spent on the tri bike.....

The Body Fragile

2012-01-09T09:22:00.004-05:00

One doesn't realize how lucky we are to be relatively healthy individuals to train, blog and live our lives as "iron" distance triathletes... until something happens that pulls us out of training.

Having pulled the muscle in my back, I am starting to have a little more empathy for people that aren't able to do what we do.

For the past week my back injury has been completely debilitating. I have been able to get on the elliptical at the gym but that is about it.

I know there are many out there (maybe not the readers of this blog) that have one ailment or another that just keeps them away from exercise. For them, I have found a new level of understanding.

I should be back in action this week and I am definitely going to add something into my program that has been lacking... that being stretching. It is time for the guy that is about as flexible as a 2 by 4 to aspire to be a "Gumby"

TO

My Aching Back

2012-01-06T09:58:00.002-05:00

A New Year
And with the new year comes putting up Christmas ornaments.
And when you put up Christmas ornaments you sometimes have to reorganize the storage room
And when you rearrange the storage room
Sometimes you have to pick up boxes
And when you have to pick up boxes
You occasionally fail to use proper lifting techniques
And when you fail to use proper lifting techniques
You pull muscles in your back
And when you pull muscles in your back
You can't train anymore..

First week of training and I am out of commission...

REALLY ?

2012-01-03T12:03:00.002-05:00

Seems that a blog post titled FU _ _ YOU !! doesn't play too well in Peoria. Well actually I'm not sure if I lost readership in Peoria, but that was just a figure of speech anyway..

Readership dropped from 125 to 123 after yesterday's post.

I have a new goal for 2012.. I am going to see if I can write anymore offensive blogs that will piss so many people off I can get down to 10 or 15 followers by year's end!!

FU YOU !!

2012-01-01T12:04:00.005-05:00

I always wondered how much a title would capture readership, we will see... The title has nothing to do with the post..

New Years!!

Resolutions, right? Well, maybe not so much. I tend not to make them. I read Carol Sharpless blog yesterday and she sits back and reflects on the year that has just past. I do the same.

It wasn't a big year for racing (none of my years are except 2010)with just one "official" race. That was IMTX in May. My goal for that race was to finish in day light. I have never done that in 5 other outings. Goal was reached and much to the chagrin of Arnie, I finished in 13hrs and a few seconds. He still hasn't forgiven me for not going under 13. To tell you the truth, it just wasn't that important at the time... and that time was exactly 8:00pm and some seconds that hot day in May.

I went into that race with nothing aero. No aero wheels, no aero helmet and still was able to be 6th overall on the bike. In true "onehourironman" fashion I crashed on the run but was still able to hold off Jeff Irvin until mile mark 8 or so on the run. Some of his "stalkers" on the course caught this great shot of us on the run.

I had no "stalkers". I was a loner for this race. No Arnie to hang around with and no wife (my 18yr old had his prom that night and we decided adult supervision at home was more important). Jeff (Annie) and I were able to hang out with the "upper class" of IM racing one night though. We had dinner with Ryan "White Hot" Barnett. Ryan of course cranked out a 9:30 or something to get his Kona slot. I am still not sure how a 6'5" 215 pound guy does that..

So this year? I have the inaugural IM New York City on the docket. I would like to qualify for Kona at this race, but truth be told, trying to knock 90 minutes off my PR to have a chance might be a little too much to ask. I will certainly give it my best shot but if it doesn't happen, I will be happy with the finish and if I can top my 13th place finish at TX, then that will be icing on the cake.

Other things for the year? Stay fit and healthy. No injuries is key at my age.

So how do we get started? Last night was spent at home with no "real" drinking. I was up at 6am for my solo ride (Arnie spent the night out until 5am). It was chilly in Tampa this morning (43F) so I waited until 8am to start (55F). I went 45 miles and ran 6 yesterday. Having taken 2 weeks off, this is a good start to 2012.

Today's ride had a few revellers coming home from a hard night of partying. They looked at me like I was crazy...

Happy New Year! Train smart, train safe and may all your expectations come true!

Cheers!

Measuring up the competition

2011-12-28T16:40:00.005-05:00

I was looking for a picture to use for this post and ran across this under "measuring up".... Is that Osama BinLaden measuring her tits?? or just an ordinary Muslin checking out one of his future virgins? (she has to be a virgin... look at how happy she is she finally gets a guy..)
I KNOW... Politically incorrect as usual... just call me a PIG...

Several months ago I tried to size up my competition for IMNYC next August. I painstakingly went through all the people signed up and then checked every IM race in the world for a potential match with anyone doing a race in less than 12hr 30min

There are going to be two slots in the 55/59 AG

And here is the competition as I see it...

Boylan... IMLP (2011) 12hr02min 1:25 swim 6:30 bike 3:46 run

Mozena... IMFL (2011) 11hr23min 1:12 swim 5:25 bike 4:32 run

Tanaka .... KONA (2011) 12hr09min 1:13 swim 5:47 bike 5:00 run (cant find how he qualified)

Trudgian... IMSG (2011) 11hr53min 1:01 swim 5:58 bike 4:40 run

All strong but the runner Boylan is the one that scares me.. I am hoping one or two of these guys have qualified prior to IMNYC..

I better stop researching and start training....

Cheers!

Time off

2011-12-23T11:24:00.004-05:00

Christmas time...
Four stops in 11 days...

Day 1: Travel from Tampa to Augusta Georgia... Anita's Moms for stop over on way to Jefferson North Carolina.

Day 2: Drive to North Carolina

We stayed at my brother in laws deceased uncle's mountain house. He was a very wealthy eye doctor from Raliegh that died of cancer several years ago. The estate now owns the house and it is used by family members throughout the year. It is at the top of Phoenix mountain in Jefferson with only two other houses.

Day 3: Ski at Sugar Mountain. Luckily the slopes still had snow although is was mainly man made. Temperatures at night were in the 20s which allowed snow making and during the day it got up to 55F. Not the best of conditions but for novices it was just fine.

Day 4: The rich uncle also has a lot on Little Phoenix mountain with no homes, so it makes for a great place to shoot guns. I have several guns from my youth so I brought along my Remington Nylon 66 which is a 45 year old semi automatic 22 rifle. My brother in law brought his 9mm pistol and stage coach 12 guage shotgun (sawed off). We all had a great time shooting in the afternoon.

Then I decided to do a little training. So I ran 1.4 miles down the mountain and then back up. I don't know the exact elevation change but I would guess it to be 1300 feet or so. The run down was difficult and the run up was a walk. I am paying the price now with totally trashed quads.

Day 5: Drive to my Mom and Dad's in Pinehurst NC. Dad will be released from the hospital on Day 6 so we wanted to be around to help.

Day 6: Dad comes home. He has made great progress since his stroke 3 weeks ago and is fairly mobile with a walker. Good to have him home.

Day 7: The rest of the family is headed back to Augusta for Xmas and I will be sticking around Pinehurst for a few days.

That's about it. The quads actually feel like they do after an Ironman. Who would have guessed. Let's me know that I need to put some quad work in the mix....

Biggest Loser

2011-12-14T12:32:00.002-05:00

I am sorry, I watch BL.. that's my confession and today's blog post..

I must say, this season was a bit of a disappointment for me..
The finalists being Ramon, Anton and John. Not enough goodies this year. And Anna Kournikova? What's with that? Get a few hotties on board to boost viewership? I think we need to see Jenna Jameson next year training on the proper way to squat... "Up down,, up down.... That's it girls, feel the burn"

What's with this Ramon? Is he on crack or something?

And John? The worst comb over I have ever seen. Looks like that spray on hair stuff to me. The hair went ear to ear. Poor old John won... I think mostly because this was his only source of income. The way he was talking about his past failures, I got the impression this win was needed to keep feeding his family. And that family... nice looking people. As Rodney Dangerfield would say "Now I know why lions eat their young"... I know I know.... too low, too mean..

But I do hope he gets some help for his wife. She needs some help... but I fear we may have another Eric Chopin (Biggest Loser winner) on our hands and he gains most of his weight back... Hope not, but just saying...

Anton? Certainly didn't need the money... but he was my favorite..

Slow blog day when you have to write about BL....

Saturday at Kona

2011-12-12T08:10:00.002-05:00

OK,
I know everyone watched the World Championships on Saturday. Even though everyone knew the final outcome, NBC always does a great job of producing a show that you still have to watch.

Notables: Pete Jacobs... Aussie.... 30 years old.. If he stays healthy, he is my 2012 pick. How's that for an early prediction. Why? He is an Aussie. Hot weather kind of guy. Andreas is not. Andreas is a fantastic cold weather guy. World record kind of guy in the cold. Actually, my kind of guy. I perform terrible (IMTX exception) in the heat. Andreas just doesn't have that last push in the heat that it takes. Yep, you heard it here. Pete Jacobs 2012 IM World champ.

Wellington? I don't think anyone will touch her for the next 4 years. How the hell do you do what she did with the road rash she had? She spotted the field 7 minutes in the water. And you know she had to be hurting on the bike. And she herself said she was at 80%. Scary for the other girls in the years to come.

Alexander? The boy learns well. The tag team smack down MACCA put on Alexander last year on the bike was not to be repeated. Alexander besides picking up the training went for faster equipment. Dumped the Orbea for a Specialized (any coincidence that was MACCAs brand?). Horizontal aero bottle. But I think this will be the last we see of Alexander at the World Championships. He will do what MACCA did and go out on top.

Personal interest stories? They were good and not too much this year. NBC improved things here. Last year did I really want to spend 4 minutes of TV time taking a tour of Kathleen Allen's house and meeting her family? Not on Ironman NBC Saturday...

This was all watched from Arnie's house where we had our own version of T1 working. He had the beer outside in the fridge. Since he wasn't drinking, he acted as my sherpa for beer transition. I would run out to the fridge, grab a Becks, run into his kitchen where he was waiting with a bottle opener, I would do the hand off in full stride, he would pop it, hand back to me and I would be drinking by the time I hit the couch. It took several of these before we finally perfected T1.

Sunday ride?
Arnie was a no show. Too much T1 bottle lid removal practice the day before I guess.. I went solo and rode 60. I joined up at mile 5 with two guys that were IMers. One 29 and the other 42. The 29 year old does 2hr 20 minute half IM bike splits so he was the puller into the wind for the first 30 miles. On the way back we just lifted our sails and coasted back at 24 mph.

OLD STOMPING GROUNDS

2011-12-09T18:12:00.003-05:00

On my way back from Mexico I had a one day layover in Houston.
One of my goals for the day on Thursday was to head over to Memorial Park and try for 3 loops. One loop around the park is 2.9 miles.

In the old days (1990 to 2003) I used to make it around the park in 23 minutes for one loop and could average around 24.5 minutes/lap if I went for 3 or 4 loops.

Since the weather was prime (55F) I decided to do a loop and see how I felt.. 24 minutes. OK I thought. Let's try another.... 23minutes 30 seconds... nice Alright, one more..... 23 min 45 sec. 8:15 first 8:05 second and 8:10 third...

Made my day...

Until I went to Starbucks and visited the Tri shop next door. They were having their annual "red dress" run and I got this shot. Actually ran into an old friend from the Bayou city Road Runners...

Cheers !!!

Who do you think is going to win the race tomorrow on NBC?? I am going for Alexander and Wellington.... but I could be wrong...

Count your blessings

2011-12-08T14:15:00.001-05:00

I am always humbled when I go to Mexico..
We have so much when others have so little..
Typical scene from when I visit Xoxtla which is 15 miles from Puebla..

I love coming home.... every time..

Cheers

STROKE !!

2011-12-03T20:39:00.005-05:00

No, I am not talking about what a coxswain says when he is commanding a crew boat.
(by the way, I was the Stroke Man in high school.... the guy who sits ahead or behind the coxswain depending on how you look at the shell) but I digress...and we are talking about the wrong stroke...

My Dad had a stroke on Wednesday. He is doing fine all things considered. It affected his left side.... his arm and mouth.. Legs are OK. Poor guy has had an aortic valve replaced, broken hip and this stroke all in the course of 2 years....

Talking about years... check out this picture.... This is the fine hospital in Pinehurst Dad is at... medical care is great.... spelling not so much...

Cheers and here's to Dad's speedy recovery and no more incidents...

OFF SEASON?

2011-11-29T07:54:00.003-05:00

I have a question... What is an off season? To me, an off season is one where you don't perform up to expectations. This would be contrary to what most triathletes think of an "off season". As I write this I think back to Saturday Night Live and the "Roseanne Roseannadanna" skit performed by one of the best female comedians ever Gilda Radner (who died way too young). To refresh your memory she would say "What's all this talk about an off season? I had a pretty good season last year and so did most people I know, yet everyone is talking about their off season".... and on and on it would go. Finally the news commentator next to her would say "Roseanne, they are talking about taking a few months off" to which Roseanne would say "Never mind"..

Well, maybe it's the Florida lifestyle, but I don't have an off season. Maybe it's because I don't really push the training into hyper zones of 15 - 20 hours per week in the "on season" which facilitates not having an "off season"..

What's the best way to keep on keeping on with this crazy thing we do? Should we have an "off season" or have a routine that instead is a continuous lifestyle where you do what you do day in and day out?

What do you think? How can you keep it going year in and year out until you're an old man like me? By the way, I actually don't consider myself "old", but compared to my readership, I am. Lew Hollander (21 time Kona finisher) is "old" and my plan is to "keep on keeping on" until I am Lew's age (which is 81 in case you wondered).

Black Friday Ninja Shopping

2011-11-26T12:15:00.006-05:00

Maybe it is age that makes me a wise old BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING NINJA... maybe its just stupidity.... your choice..

After the stellar debut of my book "OneHourIronmen"... throngs of people have asked for a repeat book. If R. K. Rowling can do it with Harry Potter books, why not me with a line of "one hour" books?

So look for it soon at Amazon.... "The One Hour Black Friday Ninja" Just to show what you will get for your money, let me demonstrate with a few examples of this year's exploits.

Needs for this year were 1)cheap cruiser bikes for the wife and kids 2) ski gear for our Xmas ski trip in North Carolina (OK, stop laughing... they do ski in NC) 3) jeans for the boys 4) fire pit for the wife..

First tip: Make a list and check it twice...(maybe I should trade mark that saying...)
Second tip: Get a paper that shows where the sales are

First up, Walmart for bikes at 10pm on Thursday night. Now this is scary because normally people in Walmart are scary, so I wasn't sure what Black Thursday night would be like.... new territory for the BLACK NINJA.. I got to Walmart at 9:30. Picked out my wife’s cruiser bike ($69… normally $139) Stood second person in the check out line (most were waiting for the electronics that required waiting in separate lines). No. 1 in line was a guy buying two pair of jeans....error on his part... they will be available next morning.... I was out of Walmart by 10:10pm. The hardest part was getting out of the parking lot… In bed by 11pm for the next stop... Sports Authority in the morning for boys bike..

Sports Authority opened at 5am. I knew bikes would still be here around at 7am. So I leisurely went there at 7. Picked up swim goggles (2 for 1), Long sleeve fleece shirts for the boys for our North Carolina ski trip (2 for 1) and another bike ($100…. normally $200)

Then off to Burlington Coat factory to pick up the rest of the boys ski clothes. Three sets of jackets, water proof ski pants, hats… $250 (not sure what I saved here over normal costs but I believe it may have been $100 savings).

Then back to Walmart to return a purchase I made by mistake (lights for tree). Surprisingly Walmart was dead at 8:30am. I asked the clerk about the madhouse at 10pm the night before…. he told me there were two fights over stuff they had plenty of and still had at 8:30am… nice…. Then I bought some jeans for the boys…. 4 pair for $9.95 each.

Next stop... Lowes. They opened at 5am or so too. I figured fire pits would be around for a few hours and they were. I got the last one. $39 on sale....normally $79.

Not bad and the worst part? The 15 minutes it took to get OUT of the Walmart at 10:15pm the night before..

Look for the book "One Hour Black Friday Ninja" It is sure to be a best seller..

Cheers!

Determination

2011-11-23T18:27:00.001-05:00

Look at the determination in the eyes of this 7 year old.. "Yea, I beat the old guy"
And yes, I am on my knees and still taller...

Turkey Trot

2011-11-19T11:09:00.008-05:00

Right at the top of my race schedule is the annual AVILA (our neighborhood name) 5K turkey trot. I do two races a year... one Ironman and the Avila turkey trot..

Last year we didn't have a turkey trot... I was depressed for months.. The two time defending champion was my 18 year old son and I knew I would get revenge in 2010. It wasn't to be.. they didn't even schedule the race due to a shake up in the management at the health club

This year my 18 year old was working so I knew I had my opportunity, although it wouldn't be as sweet with his absence. He has gotten somewhat out of shape so I really didn't even think of him as my main competition anyway. My 15 year old has been working out hard at the gym and has good 1 mile speed so I thought he would be the one to beat anyway.

Race day (Saturday): I got up at 6:15am. Had a bowl of Cheerios and cup of coffee. I woke up the competition at 7am so he would have plenty of time (hee hee) to get ready for the 7:30 start. After a quick 3 minute drive to the starting line, we were prepared to size up the competition. 5 guys in the over 20 division and 8 in the under 20. Tough field this year...

When the gun when off (actually there was no gun, just someone saying "GO"), my 15 year old, a 7 year old, and I quickly went to the lead. Now this 7 year old must have been all of 3 feet tall and I knew he would only last about 300 yards before burning out. Did he? Hell no (I think you see where this is going). By the first turn at .7 miles it was still the three of us with the rest of the field strung out in packs at 100 yards and 200 yards back.

Surprisingly, as we passed by the starting line at mile 1.4 on our way to the other side of the subdivision, it was my son, me, and this pesky little 7 year old. Couldn't shake the little bugger.

At mile 1.8 or so, my 15 year old son dropped off the pace. Now it is just me and this little energizer bunny of a kid staying stride for stride. At the next turn around at mile mark 2.2, I saw an opportunity. The kid was getting real tired. In my mind I am thinking, should I drop the kid? Well, the DAD in me (or since I am 50 years older than him... grandDAD?) took over. I suggested to the kid that we walk for 10 seconds and then take off again, which we did. I also suggested to him that we cross the finish line together since we had run stride for stride the whole way.

By the time we got to mile mark 3, he started sprinting!! It was all I could do to keep up with this kid. He actually crossed the unofficial finish a nose ahead of me (I guess he didn't understand the "deal" at mile mark 2.2) but since the official timer was in a golf cart on the course about a minute behind us, I told her we finished at the same time (tee hee). Can't let the kid get all the glory you know....

Time? 24 minutes on the button and I measured the course with my Garmin... 3.12 miles. Not bad, I haven't run a 24 mile 5K in 20 years. Of course, I haven't run a 5K in 20 years, so maybe that explains it... (the past year's races were approximate distances... where the new management nailed the distance).

So the oldest and the youngest tied (that's my story and I am sticking to it). Wish I had pictures of the group to point him out, maybe next post.

In other activities our company had their annual sales meeting in Clearwater Beach and I got to spend 4 nights away from home just 30 miles from where I live. Wednesday being a free day we could golf, get a massage, or go fishing. I picked the massage. 90 minutes was $230. Do you believe that? I get 5.5 hours at Massage Envy for that.

Luckily I got to run this week and capped it off with a 60 miler today with Arnie.

Cheers and train smart!!

I've got nothing

2011-11-13T11:39:00.003-05:00

Yep,

I have nothing today or this week in the conveyence of words of wisdom.
Zip, nada... well maybe not quite...

Arnie had his big "partners" meeting this week in Orlando. 1600 people came for the multi day event. As always he gave the key note speech and aparently did quite well... or at least that's what he told me...:). I put together what I called my Knute Rockne speech that was published in our companies newsletter that I told him he should use but he declined..

So that's what I have today.... here's Knute...

Lessons in life can sometimes be learned in the strangest places. In my case, I developed three key areas to focus on while honing those necessary for the success of my hobby, triathlon. Maybe it was the endless hours of training it takes to prepare for a 140.6 mile Ironman race that allowed for the pensive thoughts and ultimately the “Aha” moment that formed these three keys. All I know, though, is the analogies between what it takes to succeed in endurance racing and life in general is extremely similar. I exercise these three keys on a daily basis whether it is at work, at home, or with my chosen hobby.

Key1 – Preparation: In Ironman racing, it would be foolhardy to just go out and attempt 140.6 miles with no preparation. In fact, at any given race nearly 15% of the people that start the race don't finish. These are people that have put in countless hours training. They are satisfying one of the Keys, hard work, but won't be able to satisfy the third, execution, because they didn't prepare correctly. They spent 15 to 20 hours per week training for months and months only to fail. So what happened? Why didn't they finish? The simple answer is they prepared incorrectly. They focused on things that really didn't matter. They may have thought that Ironman is all about the swim, the bike, and the run. It is not. Ironman involves preparation in nutrition, gear, and even mental toughness. Although physically prepared, they lacked other crucial elements of preparation.
Do we do that in our professional or personal lives? Do we prepare wrong or fail to prepare enough? Take a close look at how you prepare and then look deeper. Are you missing something else during the preparation phase that can affect the third key to success, that being execution? Louis Pasteur once said "By chance, you will say, but chance only favors the mind that is prepared". INDEED !

Key 2 - Hard Work: The bottom line is you cannot finish a 140.6 mile race without putting hard work in the form of training. This involves at a minimum 7 to 10 hours per week for 6 to 9 months getting your body ready. On the preparation front, you can have nutrition figured out, the gear that will get you through the day and all the mental toughness in the world, but if you have not put in the hours training, you will fail.
The same is true in life. There are no shortcuts to success. Hard work is what it takes to succeed at most of life's ventures, both personally and professionally. There is a saying in the United States, "there is no such thing as a free lunch", which means you have to work hard for what you want in life. I am sure most countries in the world have a similar saying because the meaning is universal. It definitely takes hard work in today's competitive market place to succeed, because there is no free lunch.

Key 3 – Execution: Ironman racers are a funny lot. I have read countless blogs of people preparing for upwards of 12 months for a race, putting in nearly 500 hours training and then failing to finish the race. Why? They didn't execute the plan. They satisfied the preparation and hard work stages but they changed something during the execution stage. It may have been new shoes a week or so before the race. Or it could have been different nutrition on race day. The point is they didn't execute the plan.

Do we do that in our personal or professional lives? Do we not execute the plan?
At our companies, I am sure many people feel they are running an Ironman daily with all the challenges and opportunities that are presented. But we must remember that by breaking down each of our tasks into smaller manageable parts and utilizing these three keys we will achieve greater success in both our personal and professional lives.

week in training
(2) 6 milers
(1) 8 miler (8:30 pace)
(1) 46 miler

Cheers!

HEART

2011-11-06T12:38:00.003-05:00

I dont know how many of you had a chance to watch Ironman Florida yesterday but there were a couple of performances that deserved noting.

KC had a great race. When I saw her half way split on the bike at around 18.6 mph it brought back memories for me of last years race. That was about my halfway split time. Having seen the split time I know she was probably thinking "Oh shit" because that split time doubled would mean a 6 hour ride and I know she was thinking of being in the 5:30 TO 5:45 range. Then she caught the wind coming back, just like last year for me. It makes you feel a lot better looking down at your computer seeing 22mph speeds and the average climbing. She came in at 5:43 something. Stellar!!

Her run? Going out with a sub 2 hour first half, I was hoping she would hold on and she did. Marathon time was 4:08 for a total time of 11:25. A great first WTC Ironman (the mass start and shear number of people make these events a little different than other IM distance races.... not harder, not better... just different).

My big story is Bree Wee. Fellow blogger although she doesn't frequent the site much anymore, seems emails is our preferred mode of correspondance.
Her day could have been made with just the swim. 54:57. Good enough for first place. On the bike she was caught by Sophie Goos and I thought that might be the end of Bree's story for the day in terms of remarkable occurences. It was not. She held on and eventually took over first place from Sophie and held it into the run. Her bike split you ask? 4:56. Only the eventual winner, Jessica Jacobs topped it. Oh, as a side note... Jacobs went on the break 9 hours being one of the few women to ever go under 9 at any IM.

The biggest inspirational thing, at least for me, was when Bree was caught at mile 4 of the marathon by Jacobs. Usually in most events if you ever watch Ironman events on TV (or computer), the person over taking the first place person might have kind words for that person. You never see it the other way around. I was in awe when watching on Ironman Live the pass. Bree went out of her way to congratulate Jacobs on the pass. Knowing Bree, I could see the sincere outpouring of love for the other competitor. I saw her do it one more time on TV and I am sure she did it all 5 times she was passed.
Bree, you, hands down, win the sportsmanship award. I am proud to call you my friend.
Oh, and congratulation of being in first place for most of the event.

What else? Ronnie Schildknecht became the first man at a North American event to go under 8 hours.. WOW!!

My week in training?
4 mile run
6 mile run
7.5 mile run
60 mile bike... nice winds.. 18.3 out and average of 20mph

Cheers!!

How Bad Do You Want It?

2011-11-04T08:26:00.003-04:00

To all my IM buddies getting ready to tackle IMFL this weekend and all others who have been to the finish of an IM or want to get there...

Three quotes of this YouTube..

"When you get to the point where all you want to do is be successful as bad as you want to breath, then you will be successful"
"You don't want it, you just kind of want it"
"If you go to sleep, you might miss the opportunity to be successful"

Enjoy and kick ass and take no prisoners!!

Ironman Florida - note to residents

2011-11-01T06:11:00.002-04:00

If you live in Panama City Florida, how do you know it is Ironman week?

1) Your favorite store, Walmart, has no bottled water
2) Not that you eat bananas, unless they are fried, but Walmart is out of them too
3) People have tattoos, just like you, but they seem to be associated with some cult featuring the letter "M"
4) There are lines at your Subway and you are worried they are going to run out of meatball sandwiches with extra cheese, but luckily everyone is having the vegetable and chicken sandwiches.
5) You have heard of something called anorexia and after looking up the meaning, you are wondering if there is a convention in town.

We can go on forever.... and please do..

How do you know Ironman is in town???

Ironman envy

2011-10-31T10:40:00.005-04:00

I must admit it.. when Ironman race week comes around, no matter where it is, I get envious.

The problem is exaserbated if it happens to be Ironman Florida. Yes, this coming weekend is Ironman Flordia in Panama City. I raced IMFL in 2009 and 2010 and it rates right up there as a favorite, probably because it sits right on the beach, lodging is cheap and convenient and because I have come to know the course like the back of my hand.

I don't know what I am going to do on race day. If my eye starts twitching from withdrawl symptoms, will a nice 100 mile bike ride be the cure? Maybe I will go out and run 20 or so miles?

All I know is I will be envious...

Who's going to be there? KC and Bree Wee
After my mini IM training session in the morning, I guess I will do my usual IronmanLive stalking. Good luck to all!!... especially those I forgot to mention (sorry, I'm old)

My week in training you ask? I was in Vegas all last week on business... yep I know..... you figure out the training...

But I did run 6 on Saturday and rode 50 on Sunday if that counts...

Catching Joe

2011-10-23T12:36:00.002-04:00

For the next 9 months I will be chasing Joe. Joe won the 2010 Kona race with some ridiculous time. I have met Joe several times at IMFL and he is a quiet unassuming guy and he probably weighs 150 pounds. That is 40 pounds on me and 57 more IM finishes. If you remember the saying "Be like Mike" referring to I believe Michael Jordan from several years back I am borrowing the saying.. .mine is "Be like Joe".

I may go into the race in New York 30 pounds heavier than Joe (Joe's not racing there) but at least I can have the attitude of Joe and just maybe I can only be 1.5 hours behind what his time would be. 1.5 hours for 30 pounds sounds like a fair trade.... 3 minutes per pound..

So since I "have the need for speed" Arnie and I hammered out 60 miles today with a very unusual situation... I was doing the bulk of the pulling. 19.8 mph out and and overall average of 20.3. You would think we had a heck of a tail wind coming in and we did for 20 or so but then it switched to cross slightly in our face.. didn't matter, still at 20 to 21 at that point.

And since I want to "be like Joe" I followed it up when we got home with a 3 mile run at 8:45 pace..

These are the days that boost the confidence level....

Now to work on that last 10 pounds.....

Tools in Action

2011-10-21T15:17:00.002-04:00

I am finally figuring out how to use my new tool, that being the Garmin 405.

With that new knowledge, it is amazing how much more you want to push it or maintain a pace.

Today's run of 9 miles was sweet at 8:40 pace and HR of 135 to 140. I am still looking for my zone on HR, but at my age I think this will be close.

TOYS OR TOOLS?

2011-10-18T10:18:00.003-04:00

Do you own a Garmin GPS ? Do you use it as a training tool or trainng toy?

I own one but haven't used it in years. Too much trouble setting it up and getting it to do what I want... (and I'm an engineer... go figure)

But I have dusted it off, pulled out the users manual and am going to use it for training the next 10 months and ultimately at IMNYC. Coupled with it will be my NEW Timex watch and heart rate monitor (does that show 54??).

Power meter you ask? Nope. Don't have one of those nor do I really think I need one. Call me old fashioned but isn't your heart rate the best indicator of your engines output? I was watching the pros power outputs online during the World Championships and they were all over the board. To me, you find your target heart rate and keep it there. If you are climbing a hill, it may go up so on the down side of the hill you would want to bring it down so it is back in the target zone. Right? Don't you do the same with a power meter?

So what do you do? Heart rate monitors? GPS devices? power meters? altimeters? % grade calculators? Thermometers? Relative humididty devices? Remote tire pressure indication?

I'm pulling out all the toys, tools, and urban legends for this race in New York and need your input..

Has anyone seen whether it is a full moon the night before the IMNY race? I need to know whether or not to pack my lead padded lunar cap....

THE FLORIDA HAMMER

2011-10-17T09:44:00.002-04:00

When fall hits Florida, the hammer comes down..
We suffer down here for 6 months with 90+F days and 110% humidity... Heat indexes off the charts..
But from now until April 2012.... smooth sailing on all fronts...

No swimming in a hot tub
No biking in a sauna
No running in an oven...

Heaven on earth..

So it isn't at all surprising that on Sunday, with mid 60s starting temperatures that Arnie and I can HAMMER 20+ mph into a head wind and then make the turn and CRUISE effortlessly at 24+ on the return trip.

60 milers are BE U TEE FULL..

And then a massage in the afternoon..??

I have died and gone to HEAVEN...

THANK YOU !!

2011-10-14T08:11:00.005-04:00

From a post on MILES, MUSCLES, AND MOMMYHOOD...
WTC CEO Andrew Messick announced that you can now get a Kona slot if you complete 12 or more Ironman races. The more IM's you do, you will move to the top of the lottery list.

“We’re changing how our lottery works,” Messick explained. “For athletes who have done 12 or more Ironman over their career – and who are still racing – we are going to make sure that they have a chance to race Kona.

“It might take a little bit of time to cycle them all in but we feel that you should have an opportunity to race Kona once in your life if you’re a serious triathlete, are serious about the sport, are dedicated and are loyal but you just happen not to be fast. I believe that being a long term triathlete and demonstrating by doing twelve or more fulls…you deserve it as much as people who are super quick.

“We’ll start by the people who have done the most and start ticking them off every year and eventually we’ll get through all of them."

I AM going to open this up for comment later, but first I would like to review a few points. First, the history of what this race is..

1) Started in 1978 as "good old boys" challenge to see who was fitter... Swimmers, cyclists, or runners..

2) In 1981 you had to have your own support crew.

3) The cutoff of 17 hours was established in 1983

4) Dr. Gills bought rights to Ironman and formed WTC in 1990.

5) Only 20 years ago there were only 1379 participants in 1991. NBC starts broadcast and the event grew exponentially..

Through the years WTC has added new things. These things are change and you know the saying.... CHANGE IS GOOD.

What are they you ask? Here are a few...

1) Qualification for race
2) Lottery system
3) Passport system for lottery to give preference to USA residents
4) Auctions on Ebay for charity
5) Slots for "special interest" individuals to spark viewership on TV
6) Point system for pros cutting pro field by one half.

So what is happening now with this new lottery twist? CHANGE. And change is good. The race has CHANGED through the years..

I am going to make an analogy. What if you owned a business selling sandwiches. To spark interest in your store you had a jar that people could come by and put a business card in to get a free sandwich, but they didn't need to buy a sandwich to participate. Wouldn't it make sense to have two jars, so your regular patrons who bought 12 sandwiches per year could put their cards in one jar and would have a better chance at the free sandwich as compared to those that only bought one sandwich in their life from your store? Quite frankly, I would have more sandwiches available for the people that actually frequented my store.

WTC is a business. If you own a business, it only makes sense to favor your PATRONS. That is what WTC is doing.. Favoring their patrons. They are in business to make money. I am actually amazed that they have taken so long to come up with this GREAT idea !!

BRAVO Andrew Messick !!

Fire away now... but make it good...

WOW !!!

2011-10-09T10:15:00.002-04:00

I just couldn't stay away..
How about that World Championship race?

It is 12 hours later here in Germany, so I tried to stay up as long as I could given the jet lag to watch the race.

WOW !!

Unbelievable performance by Chrissie Wellington. Here is a girl that crashes two weeks ago in training and decides to race anyway..
Her swim split is 1:01 or something like that and she is 8 minutes off her last swim time and some 4 minutes down on her chief competition Mirinda Carfrae.
Most would just pack it in and give up.
Chrissie? No way. Let's keep plugging away and maybe some good things will happen.
And that's what she did mounting about a 3 minute or so lead on Mirinda on the bike.
Now we have a problem Houston... 3 minutes on Mirinda is not enough. Mirinda is a 2:53 marathoner and the best Chrissie has done is just under 3. So what does Chrissie do? Matches Mirinda's time of 2:52 and wins.

Unbelievable...

My men's choice, Vanhoenacker.... DNF.... Oh well.

Dancing in the streets of Frankfurt? Not so much due to two Aussies.

Craig Alexander can't bike? Isn't that what MACCA says? Funny how a book and hype about your bad cycling can motivate you. Alexander the Great? I think so...

Unbelievable...

Ryan Barnett? Stellar performance. He texted me that he wanted to take it easy on the bike and then run a 3:15 marathon. How did that work out for him? Not so good.. well on the 3:15 front that is. I jest a little here because he hammered the bike to a 4:58 or so and followed that up with a 3:25 marathon for an overall 9:30 race. STELLAR !! And then of course the 1 hour I.V. afterwards.

I think there is no doubt he was the first place finisher for anyone over 210 pounds.
A World Champion in his own right.

That's about it from here in Frankfurt...

Congratulations to all the finishers... I will see you next year...

Cheers!!

OFF LINE

2011-10-06T15:58:00.002-04:00

I will be off line for the next week.
Heading to Frankfurt on business and mixing a little pleasure over this weekend.
Maybe they will be dancing in the streets if Raelert wins, we will see.

Cheers!

GO USA !!!

2011-10-04T09:34:00.002-04:00

Mary Beth Ellis

OK, I have picked Carfrae in the woman's race, but for all you USA fans out there, we finally have a contender. Out of essentially no where, we have a hope.

Mary Beth Ellis won Austria this year in 8:43. One of very few woman to go under 9.

Five weeks later she won Ironman Regensburg...

She still lacked enough points for Kona. As a side line, how can you win two races in the same year and not have enough Kona points? System needs to be polished a little bit.

So, she raced Ironman Canada and won that too. A 9:03 set a course record that was held by Erin Baker for many years. Also, to show how good she is, the next pro woman was 31 minutes behind.

As a first time Kona racer her attitude is not to have a good day and have a touchy feely day with the course, it is, and I quote “I want to crush it"...

GO USA!!

RYAN BARNETT

2011-10-04T08:48:00.004-04:00

With the World Championships right around the corner, all the hype is typically centered around the pros. Will Crowie win again.?... (not). Can Chrissie come back and re take her crown as the Queen of Kona? Will Andreas Raelert finish what he almost completed last year? Will a relative no name (Vanhoenacker) make Belgium proud?

A couple of fellow bloggers that aren't toeing the line this year that have in the past are Bree Wee and Charisa Wernick. Bree is a professional from the Big Island and has raced there in October for the past 4 races. This year due to the WTC new point system, she elected not to play in the point game. And she is the defending Hawaii 70.3 champion, ironically. Charisa always found her way to Kona as an age grouper. This past year she went pro while still holding down her 9 to 5 job. That is a real "tough putt" to try and qualify as a pro.

So who the heck is there to root for in the age group ranks?

Why RYAN "White Hot" BARNETT of course.

Ryan is not your typical Ironman competitor. Guys that go 200+ pounds do not qualify for Kona nor do they go sub 10 hours in an IM race. Ryan does both. Now it certainly helps that Ryan is 6'5" tall and has these huge piston legs for pumping his bike. And that is probably his strongest discipline. Hammer the bike, vis a vis Chris Leito, and then try and hang on in the run.

So if you are looking for someone to root for on Saturday, Ryan is your guy... Race number 1304.

Go get 'em Ryan !!! And try tubulars... they don't flat..

Ryan getting ready to make the pass....

FINALLY !!

2011-10-02T15:38:00.004-04:00

Fall has come to Florida. It took until October 1 but autumn is finally here.

And how do we celebrate fall in Florida? We RIDE !!

Yesterday it was 40 miles in the hills of San Antonio (30 miles north of Tampa) with KC. She is doing her final preps for IMFL next month.

And today, it was 75 miles with Arnie on the flats of the SunCoast parkway. In the 50s both days at the start and I was actually cold during the starts. And what a difference temperature makes. Today's ride was around 20mph average with not a whole lot of exertion.

This is why we live in Florida. It should be like this for the next 6 months and I am sure you will see the ocassional post on how damn damp, cold and windy it is but the good thing is.... 100% of year round training outside. This boy doesn't even own a trainer.

I LOVE IT !!

CARFRAE WINS KONA

2011-09-30T07:04:00.003-04:00

I'm going out on a limb here, but I pick Mirinda Carfrae to beat Chrissie Wellington at Kona this year..

Why?

A couple reasons..

First, she runs like a guy.. Now women, don't turn off my blog now. I am not a sexist, but guys just run faster than woman in distance races and Rinny... runs like a guy. Watch the video. As many of you know she had a better marathon time than all but 12 or so of the pro men in the field last year. Chrissie runs like a woman, a fast woman, but not as good form compared to Rinny. That will be the reason she bridges the gap Chrissie will open up on the bike. Sorry Chrissie.

Second, she was at IMTX this year rooting on her boy friend Tim O'Donnell and I went up to thank her for coming out and she wished me good luck. So, since I have never met Chrissie, my pick is Rinny.

I do have a suggestion for Rinny though. Get rid of all the crap on the back of her bike she was carrying last year (bottles, tubes, sandwiches, kitchen sink). OK, there wasn't a kitchen sink or sandwiches but she had a lot of crap back there. I figure the aerodynamic drag cost her 2 or 3 minutes.

WHOOPS!!!

2011-09-29T15:46:00.003-04:00

Ironbob having a post that is wrong?
Say it isn't so...

I am still sticking by my last predicion of a Marino win, BUT... he isn't the world record holder...

Andreas Raelert is...
Vanhoenacker had it for one week... Raelert set the new one (7:41....) in Roth

Now my prediction is Vanhoenacher catches Raelert in a sprint finish to the dismay of MACCA who thought he was going to keep the title of being in the premier epic battle of Kona for at least the next 10 years....
So sorry MACCA....

Vanhoenacker wins Kona

2011-09-28T22:21:00.007-04:00

That will be the headline in every Belgium paper in about a week and a half.

I know many of you are going, who? Who is Marino Vanhoenacker? He is the guy that will win at Kona this year. Period.

Why?

Age: He is only 35. Prime age to win at Kona.
World record: He set the world record this year by 4 minutes in Austria (7:45)
Past Kona finishes: 3rd place last year
Heat: Many fast guys can't perform in the Kona heat. Last year Marino proved he's a player.
Swim: Same time as the big boys
Bike: Same time as the big boys
Run: Same time as the big boys

Therefore....Marino is a big boy.

Prediction: Marino takes a play from the MACCA game book and opens a 3 minute lead on Raelert enterring the run. Raelert spends all his energy catching Marino by the Energy Lab and they run together for several miles. After the Energy Lab, Marino starts opening the gap and wins by 2 minutes.

OBSESSION

2011-09-28T09:56:00.003-04:00

We are obsessed. Ironman competitors are obsessed. No two ways about it, we are obsessed.

Am I obsessed? Yep, I'm obsessed.

Example of my obsession: I have the CD of the 2010 NBC broadcast of the World Championships. How many times have I watched this? Let's see.... how many flights have I taken in the past 8 months since it has been out? 50 times conservatively.

I can tell you everything about this CD. Examples of my attention to detail after 50 viewings...

1) At 9:30 into the CD they show a swimmer in slow motion. It is Andy Potts. His form? Perfect..

2) They are interviewing T J Tollakson at one point and he is talking about how Craig Alexander can figure out how much time he has to make up on the run. But the example TJ uses on how Craig can quickly figure these things out (seconds per mile)doesn't add up to the correct total time to bridge the gap and would leave Craig 5 minutes short of catching the leader. And TJ is an engineer (industrial engineering degree to be exact)? Hmmmmmm, triathlon better work out for old TJ or he better have a good calulator if he goes into engineering.

3) In MACCAs book he talks about how he didn't cramp as in past years on the run in this race... but on the CD they show him cramping on three separate occasions.... Must have been MACCA faking it to confuse the competition, you think?

4) Early on the bike they show Rinny riding and say she is 10 minutes down on the leader, Dibens.... At that point she was no more than 5 minutes down..

Do you get the idea? I'm obsessed...

5) Chris Leito has his aero bottles on the back of his bike parallel to the ground. This is obviously for aerodynamic reasons.

6) Macca is passing someone coming back from Hawi and I think it is Tollakson. Go to the CD and check out TJs aero bar configuration. They aren't parallel to the ground like most pros but at a 45 degree angle upward.... just wierd looking but he is still fast...

More later from...

OBSESSED!!!

PUKIE

2011-09-26T19:35:00.002-04:00

My good friend the Diesel man has an award he calls the PUKIE. It is for the intentional or unintentional barf while training or racing.

No, I have never had one (I never push myself hard enough, I guess) but Arnie got one on Sunday. An intentional, I am going to stop at mile 18 of our ride and stick my finger down my throat PUKIE.

What brought this on? 3 hours sleep each of the previous 3 nights, 6.5 mile swim in Tampa Bay the day before, and the real kicker.... sushi and sake the night before.

Like a true trooper he got back on the bike and finished our 60 miler..

KONA RAMP UP

2011-09-23T08:55:00.005-04:00

I love this time of year...
There is a bit of a nip in the air (it's only 90F in Tampa today)
The leaves are starting to change colors (if you live in Minnesota)
And it is two weeks away from the Ironman World Championships.
One day, I will get there.
As a side line, I kick myself because 20 years ago when I started doing triathlons (Escape for Alcatraz being the longest), you could basically just sign up for Kona. Or at the outside the lottery would be a 50/50 shot.

So anyway, up until this year WTC would let the past champions do the race. So you would see the Normann Stadlers, Tim DeBooms, Karen Smyers doing the race. The men's pro field would be 100 deep and the female 50 deep. This year they changed it all up. 51 men and 33 women.

And in the past, you win or come in second or third at a full IM race as a pro, your in...

Not this year.

They have a point system to qualify.

And race numbers. In the past, last year's champ got 1. Second place 2, etc. I can't quite figure this year out. MACCA isn't showing up, so you would think Raelert would be 1. Wrong... Alexander is 1. OK, he won in 2009 so that's alright. Raelert will be no. 2, then. Wrong. Raynard Tissink is 2. What is Raelert? no. 10. Go figure.

Women numbering? Makes more sense... Rinny no. 101, Chrissie no. 102, Steffan no. 103.

So what do you think of the new look WTC? Don't you think past champs should just show up and race if they want to? Kind of like the Masters in golf? Wouldn't it add a little flavor to see a 70 something Scott Tinley racing if he wanted to?

TOUGH QUESTIONS

2011-09-20T08:52:00.002-04:00

I am not one to shy away from the tough questions. In life it is always too simple to take the easy way out and say "Oh, you did your best" or "How could you have known you were going to get hurt 3 weeks before the race".. Cop outs all.... Mamby pamby... You have to ask the tough questions if you are going to get anywhere and improve and bust though barriers. Example: Why did Raelert work so hard to catch Macca last year running 22 miles before over taking him to let it slip away in the last mile? "Oh, Andreas, you did so good to catch him, you should be so proud" Wimps. That sounds like his mom talking.... So here I am going to pose the toughest question of all. One that is going to make you dig deep into your souls to find the answer..... Ashton Kutcher or Charlie Sheen?

Pre Race Hype

2011-09-18T21:20:00.002-04:00

Triathlon is a small world. Isn't that the sport where you kayak,snowshoe and shoot a moose?

Michael Vick goes back to play in Atlanta and all you hear about in the media is "will Atlanta embrace him?" Who cares? We want triathlon on TV.

You never hear about the good stuff on sports talk radio. The epic battles that you know will be coming, but no one talks about them.. because they think triathlon is the sport referred to above..... now that I think about it, you shoot a caribou not a moose... Funny me... ha ha, not THAT triathlon but the other one.... the one that has the World Championships in Kona in October. And what epic battle should the sports talk guys be talking about, you ask? Why none other than Chrissie versus Mirinda.

I know.. watching an Ironman live is close to watching paint dry but when NBC edits, slices and dices it sure is entertaining 3 months later.

But Chrissie vs. Mirinda? I think I could watch all 8hr 50some minutes of that live.

Ironman Wales

2011-09-13T09:56:00.002-04:00

OK, what's the deal. I was checking out the times for Ironman Wales this weekend and was shocked at the bike splits.

Pro times: 5 hour 10 min best where Leito does 4hr 20min at USA races
55 - 59 AG: 6 hour 34 min best.... where the best at St George is an hour faster.

What's the deal with Ironman Wales? The toughest bike course on the circuit? Or just crappy roads??

Fighting Father Time

2011-09-10T14:54:00.002-04:00

My good friend KC posted the other day about not having a great enthusiasm about going out for an 18 mile training run. I have total empathy for her, especially in the heat we are now experiencing in Florida.

But regardless, she got my juices flowing to go out for my version of a long run... 10 miles.

So off I went at high noon, 79F and 100% humidity... heat index 100.

I am beginning to think I am like my Dad. He is now 83 years old and he tells me his mind tells him he can do certain things but his body just fails him. That's me, only 27 years younger. My mind tells me I can do something, but my body says NO.

The first 6 miles were pretty good. Just under a 9 minute pace. The last 4... not so much. The mind was willing but the body had nothing. Turns out I had around a 10 minute pace for the total 10, but you can see that things went South real quick.

Oh well, "knock knock"..... "who's there?"...... "Father Time"...

I am sure a nice 50 to 60 miler on the bike tomorrow will make everything better... right...

Shout out to my good buddy Harvey Thorleifson who is tackling IM Wisconsin tomorrow. Harvey is featured in my book and is the kind soul that got me through my first IM in Arizona 3 years ago by walking the entire marathon with me (7 hours)

Cheers!!

Performance vs. Weight

2011-08-31T13:26:00.003-04:00

What is the optimum weight to race IM?

Is it possible to perform well at elevated weights? My good friend Ryan Barnett (While Hot) is an example of this type of enigma and does 9:40 IMs at 215 pounds.

That is what I will be trying to figure out in the course of the next year. What is the optimum weight...

I am 5'11" tall and currently weigh 190. 12% body fat. What's optimum? At what point do you get too light and bonk because there just isn't anything to draw on?

MACCA (Chris McCormack) races around 175. He has actually gone to 170 and raced and doesn't perform as well as he does at 175. He is the heaviest winner of the race in Kona, by the way. Most others male winners in Kona were 10 pounds lighter, at least. So, why is that? Why do most IM World Champions weigh between 150 and 165?

And what does 15 pounds do to your performance?

What do you think?

JEALOUS

2011-08-26T08:13:00.003-04:00

My neighbor bought his 15 year old son a Ferrari yesterday. Granted it is a 2005 model, but still.
I mean, doesn't this kid look like he is 13? Don't we over indulge our kids a little too much? Really.... a Ferrari?
When I was 14 I was mowing grass to save up the $3 per lawn I made so I could buy an 8 year old 1965 Ford Custom.
Ferrari? Really?
If you are reading this and your blood is boiling, it should be..
What was your first car? and what did you have to do to get it?
I think Jr. here did his homework for a year and that got him the car.

This actually didn't happen. And the kid is indeed 13 or 14. The Dad bought it for himself, but the way our society works today, this could have been true.

20 years ago you would have known I was joking.... not today..

Cheers!

EARTHQUAKE!!!

2011-08-24T07:22:00.002-04:00

I was at our Baltimore facility yesterday afternoon when things started shaking.. At first I thought one of our chemical transport trailers had run into the building. Then I thought we were having an earthquake. Then I remembered that the Northeast does not have earthquakes. Then I got scared. I know what you are thinking. TERRORIST ATTACK! Nope. I was thinking my chemical plant blew up which is a possibility.

Obviously I was probably the only person on the East Coast besides my plant manager that was relieved that it was an earthquake.

Now they may have to dodge a hurricane...

Mother nature... can't live with her, can't live without her!!!

cheers!

Winning the Lotto

2011-08-20T19:38:00.009-04:00

I was reading my blogs for the day and when I got to Jason's blog and it was on the WTCs appointment of Andrew Messick CEO and the potential for him to shake things up in terms of the Kona lottery system.

That sparked my thought process so I commented to Jason and decided to send an email off to Andrew to also let him know my thoughts. The email content is below:

Andrew,

Congratulations on your new position at WTC. I heard through the blog rumor mill that WTC is looking for ways to expand the Kona experience to "everyday" IM participants like myself that just don't possess the genes to qualify. Thank you if that is true.

If I can be so bold, let me present my idea. It consists of three ways besides qualification to receive a slot for Kona.

The first way would be total number of IMs participated in a lifetime. WTC would offer slots to say, 50 participants a year that have the most IMs completed but haven't been to Kona through another method. So if you have been doing IM for 10 years and have 15 races under your belt but haven't been to Kona, you might have a shot depending on where you fall in the pecking order. Once you have accepted a Kona slot through this program you won't be able to use this method again.

The second way would be based on number of IMs raced in a calendar year with a point system for place finished. So if you are brave enough to do 4 IMs in a year you get points for each race. 1 point for completing. 2 points for 20th place. 3 points for 21st place. Continue this on until you get to the first Kona qualifying slot. Add the points up for the year and each AG would have slots for anywhere from 5 for the bigger age groups (35 - 39) to 1 for groups like 60 -64 men. There might be 50 slot offered in this manner. The angle here is if you just aren't quite good enough to get in the conventional way but are a diehard border line IMer, you might get a slot.

Lastly, WTC saves 100 lottery slots for the conventional lottery program or potentially increase this number to 150.

Regards
Bob Shuler

And to Andrew's credit, he responded within 2 hours.. His response is below:

Bob, thanks for he feedback. You've obviously thought about this a great deal. Thanks for your dedication. Best, Andrew

I must say that I have always been impressed with the employees of WTC and their responsiveness to inquiries and comments. I know the message was short but still he took the time to let me know something (that he read it) and that's really all that matters. Too many times in business such things are blown off and your not sure if you were heard or not... Kudos to Andrew for at least letting me know he got it.

On the training front, Sunday's ride was held today (Saturday) and Arnie and I went 46 miles. Other training for the week consisted of 5 runs for a total of 20 or so miles and an actual appearance in our local 87F pool for not quite 1/2 mile.

Cheers!

ANALITY

2011-08-18T18:45:00.003-04:00

Anality..

Booking a hotel for IMNYC that is 51 weeks away...??

Gotta plan...and I'm sticking to it, right?

IT STARTS

2011-08-14T20:07:00.002-04:00

Today was the first day of the one year training program.

Yep, I went out and biked 110 miles in 6 hours, followed that up with a 7 mile run.

And on the nutrition front I consumed 1500 calories in order to get down to 175 by Sept 30th. Now I burned 1600 during today's training, so I am minus 100 calories for the day... I feel lighter already...

Nahhh, just kidding.

But Arnie and I did bike 40 and I did mow the lawn (1.5 hours of additional sweating).

We noticed something on these Sunday summer rides. When we get out to the trail it is typically 78 to 80 degrees. This is around 7:30am when we start (we would start earlier but you know who can't get to my house in time). We have until around 9:30am for the temp to stay under 84F. Between 9:30am and 10:15 the temp will climb to the low 90s and the difference is quite noticeable. A little trivia from Tampa Florida.

Calorie intake for the day you ask? Not too bad. I haven't started counting, but I think I will in the next few weeks. After all, we have to be serious about this, right??

Cheers!!

VOW

2011-08-12T12:49:00.004-04:00

Have you ever made a vow? A committment forever? This is a very tough thing to do and more times than not, vows are broken because they oppose an ingrained routine.

Example: 20 years ago I was married to a woman named Connie Ritter. Our relationship didn't mix too well, kind of like oil and water. Or maybe a better analogy would be scotch and gin. I remember making a "vow" that I would never drink again after several particularly upsetting episodes. In esssence I was making a deal with God to make everything better by sacrificing alcohol. Well, he answered my prayers and "better" ended up being a divorce... The morale to this story you ask? I made a vow to stop drinking and that only lasted one and a half years. So, as I enter this year of training for Ironman New York I need to be realistic in my vows.

I have 363 days to train for IMNYC. You have seen prior posts where I talk about attempting to qualify for the World Championships at this race. In order to make this dream happen I would need to vow a bunch of things...

Weight loss.... I figure 170 to 175 or 17 to 22 pounds less than I am now. I vow to get to 175 and see if I am indeed faster and have more endurance. If not, then this vow is off.

Training.... I am lucky to keep to my one hour a day (average) training as things are now. I am probably closer to 5 hours a week. This has to pick up starting now and peak around 20 hours per week next summer. I vow to make that happen.

Travel... Unfortunately, it is real tough to train while traveling on business. I will have to come up with some routines in each city I visit and just like Sunday rides with Arnie, they will have to be a habit.

Precision... Everything race day will have to move like a Swiss time piece. Transitions will have to be practiced and honed. Every segment of the race will have to sharp. I vow to have no lost time on the course.

So there it is... a partial list of what I vow to change in this next year. I consider these the big ones, though, that will give me the best shot at Kona.

I will keep you posted!

Cheers!

T minus 365 (again)

2011-08-12T08:31:00.002-04:00

It's like a present.
Yes, today I have 365 days.
Not yesterday.
2012 is a leap year.
24 hours more to train.... or celebrate and enjoy that Jack Daniels on the plane back to Tampa.
Yes, after being bumped to First Class, I passed on the fattening hot turkey and cheese sandwich at 9:30pm and said yes to the two Jack and diet Cokes..
Yes, Diet Coke..
The Jack may have 150 calories apiece but no need to make it 250..
Yes, my training and weight loss is well on the way.........
Ahhhhhhhhh
Only 365 days to go...

T minus 365 days..

2011-08-11T15:06:00.004-04:00

One year until August 11, 2012 and IMNYC...
Guess it is time to get serious about training...
Therefore, only two drinks on the plane back from Chicago today...

One step at a time

2011-08-07T14:50:00.002-04:00

If you blog long enough you are able to run across different people that although they may not have a huge blogland following and they may not even make comments on your own blog posts, you just feel a connection.

Duane Newton is such a person.

Duane is about my age and 25 years ago if you stood us side by side, you probably would have mistaken me as the heavier of the two.

My life went in one direction and Duane's went in another. Duane ended up somewhere well over 400 pounds but decided several years back that he needed to do something about it. He set a lofty goal of finishing an Ironman race and has actually signed up for several but has never toed the line race day, mainly due to weight, which he continues to battle.

I don't know what Duane weighs today, but it is far less than what he was at the start of his Ironman journey...

Duane enterred in the 70.3 race in Boulder this weekend. Like the 140.6 races he had signed up for he had thoughts of pulling out of this race. Most of his blog following encouraged him to do it, including me...

It is 3pm East coast time and it appears that Duane did not finish the bike.

But Duane has taken a huge step in finishing his Ironman journey by having the courage to start the race. This 70.3 and 140.6 stuff becomes second nature to many who have done enough of them, but to the Duane's of the World, it is an absolute Mt. Everest and every bit of information that he can gather on the path of this journey is critical and today was that first step.

I congratulate Duane on his attempt and hope he views it in the most positive light he can, because it truly is a learning experience.. and this was the first step.

Now if Ironman Live is doing its typical fine job of not covering the race properly and Duane is still out there..... whoops!

Believe it or not, it is 95 or so here today with a heat index of 113F.

Arnie and I did 40 miles on the bike today and about died so I was going to chill (sort to speak) inside all day. But Duane's effort today has encouraged me to go run 6 miles... because I can..

Cheers!!

IF I KNEW THEN... WHAT I KNOW NOW..

2011-07-30T09:43:00.007-04:00

I have a friend that lives in Clermont Florida that is going through some rough times in her marriage. In fact, I have several people close to me that are going through the same thing..

It started me thinking about all the "If I knew then... what I know now" angles of every portion of our lives.

For example... back in 1986 if you had a chance to invest $10,000 in Microsoft, think what it would be worth today.

"If I knew then... what I know now" angles touch every part of our lives.. Relationships, jobs, kids, family, choices made early in life, and also our hobbies... And of course since this is primarily an endurance (specifically triathlon) blog... the triathlon hobby.

Since I am an elder statesman of the sport, I probably have more of these "If I knew" stories than most of the readership of this blog... so I am going to reflect on a few of them and maybe they will spark some thought in the younger readership.

Reflection 1: Back in the early 90s I was a 3:52 marathoner (best) and short course triathlete. The reason I was a short course triathlete was I hated to bike. After several Escape from Alcatraz triathlons, an Ironman friend who had done 2 Kona races (by enterring through the lottery...twice)told me I had the ability to do Kona. She said I should enter the lottery since the odds were around 30% of getting in and just do it. I didn't believe she was right. I questioned her faith in my abilities.

And now that I am 20 years older, less physically able and KNOW I CAN finish Kona? What are the odds now of getting in now? Probably 1% through the lottery.

The point is Believe in yourself when others don't... and especially when others do.

Reflection 2: Be careful what you wish for. What if I had done what my friend suggested and worked hard on training for Kona back in the early 90s, developed a real love for biking (like the one that I now have), gotten into the race in Kona? All that would have taken its toll on family time, money, work... and then I would have had a whole new set of "What if I knew then" stories to refect on now. The path I took back then was more moderate which allowed time for everything. I'm not so sure I would have what I have today (family, marriage, career) had I become fanatical about the sport back then..

Reflection 3: Moderation... I touched upon it in reflection 2. Maybe that's why I probably won't get to Kona at IMNYC next year. I am to moderate in what I do. Today was a prime example. I wanted to bike both today and tomorrow. But then moderation stepped in and my mind told me the lawn needs mowing, we have some honey do projects in the house, and quite frankly, it is hot out. So I guess I was moderate back in the 90s and I still am and that's OK. Don't get me wrong, I am still going to give it my best effort at IMNYC.... and that leads to reflection 4..

Reflection 4: Accept reality... At 16 I was in great shape and weighed 180. At 16 Joe Bonness (55/59 AG world champ) weighed 140. Today I weigh 190 and the Joe Bonness' of the world weigh 145. What chance do I have against that? Reality would tell you not much... Over the course of time that has not been a "What if I knew" lesson for me, I have always known that... but it might be a good reflection for you..

And since there is always hope.... (with a little hard work)... Reflection 5..

Reflection 5: I didn't know 20 years ago that guys like Ryan Barnett existed. Ryan (White Hot) Barnett gives a West Virginian good old boy hope that the Bob Shulers of the world... specifically this Bob Shuler does stand a chance against the Joe Bonness' of the world. At 215 pounds Ryan is probably the heaviest qualifier for Kona. He competes against the 140 pounds guys and wins... he is the one that shows me that YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE UP TRIING... and I won't..

What do you "Know now... that you didn't know then"??

FAT TAX... another angle

2011-07-28T17:41:00.005-04:00

OK, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone here. Usually I talk about mundane stuff as exhibited by the stellar number of comments I get on my posts. Well not today. Today we are heading into controversial territory.

A couple days ago JASON did a post about taxing the fat people of America. Well not exactly taxing the fat, although this would be an interesting angle....hmmmm let's speculate how this would work.... "Mr. Smith, this is the IRS. I'm here for your yearly weigh in. Let's see 280 pounds...hmmm.. since you are 36 years old you get a 10 pound age deduction. You are 5'11" tall so we need to add 15 pounds back on to get your adjusted weight. Oh, and I see from the Obama physical you took that you have diabetes. Sorry, we need to add another 20 pounds on to your adjustment. Let's see... that's 280 minus 10 plus 15 plus 20. Your adjusted weight is 305."

"Alright, now if I go to my Pelosi chart I see that at your income level you owe Uncle Sam an additional $2434 this year. Now we can deduct that from your salary or if you choose we can exchange your $300 per month food stamps for $100 in McDonald's dollar menu coupons".

No, Jason's angle was taxing the food that makes you fat. Kind of like taxing cigarettes or alcohol. Definitely an angle, that being to curb the eating of unhealthy food. Representing the opposing side was JEFF who thinks the government gets too involved in the public's lives. I tend to agree with this, less government is good. But then we are still left with the problem of too many fat people. This drives up our health care costs because we, the general public, ends up picking up the bill when they get sick. On this, I believe both JEFF and JASON agree.

So what do you do?

Here's my angle and it doesn't involve the government. At least directly.

A health credit. At tax time you get a tax credit from the government for showing completion of a sporting event (running race, bike race, triathlon, cross country skiing, etc etc). Each event would have a point system and the credit would slide on the number and difficulty of the events you finished.

OK, let's see if I can get over 5 comments..... Your thoughts??

Happy Birthday

2011-07-27T09:51:00.002-04:00

59 years ago Thomas Scott Shuler was born (July 28)
Happy birthday bro....

Like Father.... Like Son

2011-07-25T18:13:00.009-04:00

My son Mat became the first son to take on an "official" triathlon. This weekend was supposed to be both son's Mat (15) and Keith (13) first triathlon at IronKid Raliegh but the night before we were to leave for Raliegh, Keith got a virus and started throwing up. So he scratched and didn't make the trip.

This was really too bad because he was the first one to really express an interest in triathlon and Mat was more or less a "tag along" so little brother wouldn't have one up on him. But since the glass was still half full, I decided that a little one on one time with Mat would be good father/son bonding. Come Thursday morning we were to take off by 8am and arrive at Grandma/Grandpa's by 6pm (1 hr south of Raliegh). But at 7am Mat said since Keith wasn't going he really didn't want to go. (The glass was quickly becoming half empty). So, I used the best strategies I could to convince him it would be fun and somehow I convinced him. I figured I had about 30 minutes to get as far out of town with Mat as possible before he changed his mind. We were doing 80mph on I75 by 8:05.

The race was on Sunday at 7am and we were to stay at G&Gs for two nights and then head up to my sister's house which was about 9 miles from the race venue. When we got to the race site, the bike course turned out to be a lot more hilly than I had anticipated. It was only a 2 mile loop and I thought it would be flat but I was sorely mistaken. Mat was riding my new Trek and I had previously changed the stock cassette from 12/23 to 12/27 so I still figured he would be fine in the big chain ring... or at least I hoped he would.

Training: My son has not read my book "OneHourIronmen". If you are unfamiliar with it, I detail on how to do an Ironman on one hour(average) per day training. He came up with his own program for IronKids Raliegh. It was called, "Let's not train at all for this race". I am not sure when his book comes out. I explained to him that his endurance would probably suffer with this progressive program he had used. But he is still in pretty good shape. It's just that he is not in edurance training shape. He bench presses 280 pounds and is a 140 pound guy. Yep, he's a muscle head.

I figured since the race was 300 yard swim... 8 mile bike.... 2 mile run, he shouldn't die (that would look bad on Dad). And with his lack of training he might develop an appreciation for the little skinny assed kids that beat him.

When we got to transition Sunday morning we had a good time sizing up the competition. I probably had more fun than Mat. It was fun to guess who you thought would win the whole thing and then watch who actually did. (My first choice came in 4th) And equipment? It was great to see everything in the senior division (12 to 15yr olds) from bikes tricked out with Zipps to mountain bikes.

Results you ask?

He was in the 12 to 15 year olds. There were only six 15 year olds males.

The winner did a 44:39
Mat was 4th of 6 at 57:36 (30 seconds out of 3rd)
He had the 2nd fastest bike.
Overall in the 12/15 AG he was 32nd out of 70.

Had I taught him how to use the little chain ring I think 1st would have been a real possibility on the bike.

With some endurance training I think we have a real contender on our hands.

Oh, a couple more things. Mandy (Caratunk Girl) completed her first Ironman at Lake Placid this weekend. She experienced all the emotions that go along with it ("hell, I'm never doing this again" to "where do I sign up for the next one") which is completely natural. But the bottom line is she had a huge smile on her face for most of the race and was smiling during the most important part.... the finish... CONGRATULATIONS!

Also, my buddy Ryan Barnett wasn't on his A game on the bike at LP but still pulled a 4th place finish in his age group and his second invitation to Kona this year. Too bad you can't give those things away...... if you could, he would be my REALLY good buddy...

On that note... I continued to update my 2012 IMNYC competitor list from those that finished in under 12 hours at LP looking for matches to the NYC entrant list. After getting through the first 5 or 6 and seeing that they all matched I was thinking "Shit, all these LP finishers are coming to NYC? And their times are 10:51 to 11:35" I was not feeling very good. I was thinking "I really need to step up everything to be in that league"... but then I looked again at the NYC participant list I brought up on Google.. I brought up the 2011 Lake Placid participant list... duh..... No wonder they were all on there...

I am better now...

Cheers!!

And before I forget... Thanks to JASON for coming up with his HALL of FAME and my induction. You know you have been doing this too long when you get "Too many to count" for your race times.

Actually I can't remember all my exact times myself (I am getting old) but to sum them up:
2004 BigFoot Iron distance in British Columbia DNF
2008 IMAZ: 16:52
(you would have thought I would have hung it up after these two)
2009 IMFL 13:0X (X, cant remember and don't want to look)
2010 IMSG 15:4Y (Y, same story)
2010 IMLOU DNF
2010 IMFL 12:47 (I think)
2011 IMTX 13:00 (I am going to make a point of doing all future races on the top of the hour so they are easier to remember)

Besides people, it is not the time... IT IS THE JOURNEY!!! EMBRACE AND ENJOY THE DAY.

Stepping it up...

2011-07-20T08:08:00.003-04:00

In my last post concerning scouting out the competition, MARK was kind enough to point out that I was going to swim in the Hudson River...

This started me thinking that I needed to find an appropriate training ground for the swim...

Luckily we have Bushwood Country Club (club from the movie Caddyshack) right near our house so I was able to talk to Judge Smails and get a couple passes to train in their pool....

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.... I feel much better about the swim now..

TOO EARLY?? or Just ANAL?

2011-07-16T20:51:00.006-04:00

OK.. Mister analytical here..

Is it too early to size up the competition for IMNYC?

I mean, come on... who 13 months away starts checking to see who is in his age group?

Well, me for one..

And then you might ask, how the hell do you know who your competition is once you have a list of names?

Well, that is actually pretty easy.. (of course it is... Mr. Anal)

I go to the NYC website and print out the list of current athletes signed up. It shows age and City participants are from. By the way, there are around 2200 already.

Then I go to each domestic IM race website and look at the top finishers in 55 - 60 AG that go under 12 hours and look for matches.

I do the same for 50 - 54 AG and look for 53 and 54 year olds that did the same sub 12 hour. (since they will be 55 in 2012)

Results?

My TARGET 11:15 should be right on.
I could only find two sub 12 hour guys... although, I am still looking...

One guy does LP in 11:23... that one will be tough. Another is a 11:54 St George guy... another toughie.

My hopes... they go three deep in my AG. Without a doubt no one will look at the 12:47 IMFL and 13:00 IMTX guy and I am hoping to fly low under the radar... (I just have to keep my blog readership low... should be no problem)

I was in Houston after Mexico this past week. As it would turn out on my birthday I am having a Starbucks and right next door a tri shop is having a sale on road shoes. These are just what I was looking for to upgrade my Sidi Zephrs... Sidi Gen 6.6 Carbons... around 200gm lighter than what I am wearing now.... cool. Price? $200 on $400 retail shoes..

week in training?

4 runs at Memorial Park in Houston. Two 6 milers and two 3 milers with the last at 8:15 pace.

46 miler on the bike today with NO Arnie... Not sure where that boy is..

Hot? Texas is just as hot as Florida and maybe a tad more...

Popocatépetl

2011-07-13T14:22:00.002-04:00

I am doing a little high altitude training in Mexico this week.

I am in Puebla which is 40 miles from Mexico City and 20 miles from the Popocatepetl volcano. This is the volcano that if it were to totally blow would totally wipe out the city of Puebla and its 2 million or so residents.

Training consists of margarita drinking followed by Modelo chugging.

Back to the real world tomorrow...

Training tip for homeowners

2011-07-10T13:26:00.004-04:00

This post only applies to aspiring Ironman triathletes that might own a home. As you know, besides career, family and other commitments, we have to take care of our homes, lawns, etc.

Given that here is a quiz:
What happens when a Ryobi hedge trimmer (below)

Meets your knee? (rendering is of the good one, unshaven as you should notice)

Hmmmmmm...

Your choices for this multiple choice question are:

1) Nothing... (after all you are made of iron)
2) Nothing (you think) as you gaze down at your knee with many sharp lacerations and nothing is coming out of them..
3) Blood pours down your leg
4) No. 2 and no. 3

The correct answer? No. 4.. It is kind of watching a movie in slow motion when for the first 2 or 3 seconds nothing happens... and then the flood gates open.

Hospital you ask? Heck no, I'm an Ironman, right? And I have to ride on Sunday...the inaugural ride of trusty steed BIKE..

Home remedy for dumb shit act? ICE.... and those little closure splint things you buy at the pharmacy... some alcohol both topical and internal... bandaids, gauze, and compression sock..... good to go...

BIKE's first outing.... It was a get to know you kind of ride... She needs a little more adjustment and will be good to go. They say carbon rides smoother than aluminum. I think "they" are right. Faster? Too early to tell. I want to put on my PURE aero wheel and 160# Vredestein tires next week and do a little 60 mile time trial...

That's about it... got to take some more internal alcohol....doctor's orders..

Cheers!

BIKE

2011-07-07T22:05:00.002-04:00

Bike came home today.
Can't wait to see what she can do this weekend..

FINALLY !!

2011-07-06T08:08:00.003-04:00

My "new" old bike finally arrived. I was beginning to wonder if the guy took my PayPal money and ran, since it was been nearly two weeks since I bought her.

She (Bike) is at the shop getting a new hairdo and her nails done... I would have done it myself (put her together) but I'm a triathlete.... need I say more?

Oh, and I think that will be her name.... "Bike"... catchy, huh?

Unveiling will be soon..

I will probably have to go borrow Arnie's Zipps to do a proper runway show....

PUSH IT !!

2011-07-03T12:54:00.003-04:00

If you want to get better at anything in life, you have to push it...

In triathlon that applies to a multitude of different things.. swimming, biking, and running being the obvious big three.

But you also have to push it in transition, the mental game, and nutrition.

What do I mean by "push it"?

The first example we will address here is cycling. If you have always been one to go out and ride with your buddies on a Saturday or Sunday and you historically go 18 mph for various distances... guess what? Come race day I would bet that your pace will be 18mph.

When I first started training for IMs back in 2007/08, I was going to be quite pleased with a 7 hour bike finish... 16mph sounded pretty good to me.. I had no training partner, just me and rides at 16mph. Distance didn't matter... 16mph. So what happened come race day (IMAZ 08)? Well it would be nice to say I rode at 16mph, but in fact the average was closer to 14mph that day in Arizona... probably because some of the other areas were lacking that "push".

What has happened since 2008? I found a training partner that "pushes" me. When we first started training together we would average 18 to 19mph. Today, on a good day (today was one of those days) we can average 21mph. 60 miles in under 3 hours.... back in 2007 that would have taken closer to 4 hours.

Push it! Find someone that will extract that little extra out of you. You may not see dividends immediately, but I guarantee that you will over time.

Sadly, I fear that if my IMNYC goal of qualifying for Kona will involve finding a "new" Arnie to push me. He will be focusing on the English Channel and I will be wanting to extract that last 15 minutes out of the bike course... and that will involve being PUSHED..

How do you push yourselves?

Week in training:
Monday: 4 mile run
Friday: 4 mile run
Sunday: 60 mile bike

Cheers!

Focus!

2011-07-01T19:13:00.002-04:00

I have gone astray and it is time to focus..

I need to focus for say....the next 14 months..

No more, "oh yes, I will have another white wine" while sitting in 1st class on flights after being upgraded.

No more, "oh sure, give me a loaded baked potato" when ordering dinner on the road..

No more, "I think I will just take a few days off from training"

No more, "I think 11hr 45 will get me that IMNYC slot... I think I will skip the run today"

No more... no more

OK, I'm better now...

Sponsor an NFL player

2011-06-30T22:09:00.002-04:00

As a tag along to Jeff's post on sponsoring an NFL player.... here is my choice.. the guy I am going to go mow the lawn for, if all things go south on the upcoming season... the FUC*in SOLDIER himself... K2...

And he makes more in two seasons that I will make in a life time???

BIKE FOR SALE

2011-06-22T23:22:00.003-04:00

If you have read my book, you know that I preach selling your bike after each season and buying a "new" used bike. Something I have not done for 2 seasons. Well, it is time.

My 2008 Cervelo P2SL is for sale. Stock components (as opposed to photo) so we won't get into the litany of listing everything.

My P2s claim to fame? (Her name is P2 by the way).

She place 6th in her rider's AG at IMTX.

She complained that had her rider brought Arnie's Zipps (as in the photo), she would have been closer to 2nd place. Oh well, women... can't live with them, can't live without them...

If you know anyone looking for a 56cm bike (5'9" to 6'1" rider), I know where you can get one for a good price...

OH, ZIPPs not included... just stock wheels.
The photo has the outfit P2 wanted to wear at IMTX but was only allowed at IMFL....

Cheers!
TARGET 11:15

DAY 1

2011-06-22T09:51:00.004-04:00

I started my Kona journey today.
It just so happened there was a race in the area today so I entered it.
I was caught near the beginning of the race in this photo..
I think the 20 pounds I plan on losing will do wonders for my speed.
What do you think?

TARGET 11:15

IRONMAN NYC

2011-06-21T10:08:00.005-04:00

It is done. WTC is $1585 richer.
I guess it is time to change my name..
For the next 14 months I will no longer be known as OneHourIronman
I am now TARGET 11:15
During the next 6 months, I will morph into a "skinny assed" triathlete
Then I will become the energizer bunny with no slowing down when I exit my bike..
And with the Kona gods helping... October 2012 will see me in Hawaii...

I FEEL THE NEED..... THE NEED FOR SPEED!

2011-06-20T11:42:00.016-04:00

I feel the need…. the need for speed….

When I took on this "OneHourIronman" persona, I truly had no visions of my mindset becoming that of a “skinny assed” triathlete. As Jerry Seinfeld would say “not that there is anything wrong with skinny assed triathletes”, but being a 55+ year old guy looking like he just got back from 38 days on Survivor just wasn’t my purpose for doing Ironman. My reasoning for doing one of these events per year was to have an “end” motivation to stay in shape. Racing in one IM per year was that motivation. The measuring stick of success or failure would the finishing of the race. My logic for this is rooted in my history of doing one marathon per year from 1992 to 2004 when I lived in Houston. Same thought process …seeking the same results. No Boston Marathon qualifying attempts in those 12 years… and therefore no “skinny assed” Bob.

The last time I weighed in the 170s was 8th grade. I am 192 today. I am what I (and most guys my size) like to refer to as “big boned”. To tell you the truth it is a bunch of crap. This is the "big boned" guys excuse to have that extra piece of cake or pie.

How do you shave off 1.5 hours in an Ironman event? Let me tell you from experience, it isn’t as easy as it might sound. Some people are just pre disposed for speed in either swim… bike …. or run. I was looking at some of the top 55/59 age group (AG) finishers at various IM events. It is amazing to see that most have THEIR event. Only a few have ALL events. Joe Bonness (World champion in 55/59 AG)is a guy that has ALL events. Looking at the IMTX results, I was right there after the bike with the eventual winner. Actually I was quite amazed with this fact after racing for 7.5 hours. What was the end difference? A 3:41 marathon vs. my 5:30….

I feel the need for speed…

How do you get to Kona? Well, you can go on EBAY and buy a slot for the price of your kid’s college education ($25,000 or so). You can win a lottery slot that has about the same odds of winning as the POWER BALL jackpot. Or you can qualify. Qualification is tough.. About 1.5 to 2% of all people entering an IM race have a shot at a slot.

I have always wondered if a guy that was “big boned” lost 20 pounds if his times would drop significantly. Isn’t it logical that if someone shed 10% of their body weight that the trip around 140 miles would be made a little simpler?...

I rode with Arnie yesterday for the first time in 6 weeks. As you know, he is training for crossing of the English Channel next year. We were talking about previous IMs we have done and I didn’t know it before but he actually beats some of the pros out of the water.. even though they have a 10 minute head start. It is scary, but he says he has been taking swim lessons and is now even faster…. The better news is he says he can train me on how to save 15 minutes on the swim with no more effort…..

Hmmm, down to 1 hour 15 minutes….

Zipp wheels shave 10 minutes…

1 hour 5 minutes and counting…

20 pounds over 138 miles. I am an engineer and I should be able to calculate the power (wattage) it takes to move that additional weight. I can’t (and not sure I want to know)… but I can tell you this… once you hop off that bike and start the run…. you don’t need to calculate what the extra effort is to move that 20 pounds. Your body tells you, post haste.

I feel the need for speed….

They say inaugural Ironman New York City race being held next year filled up (general entry) in 12 minutes. 75 Kona slots. That is nearly twice what most races have. There are probably 2 slots in the 55/59 AG. Since the race is in August most of the top participants have already qualified for Kona .. so the “drop downs” may go to 4th place. I figure that will be a 11hr 30minute finishing time. 1hr 30 minutes off my IMTX time. Only the more expensive $1500 entry fees are left though….and they are filling fast..

Don’t you hate to ask for money? I asked an old boss for $1000 to wear his company logo across the finish line of IMTX. He sent the money willingly and I sent back the finish photo..

Dare I go to the “well” of money again? Let him know that he has a chance to sponsor the potential recipient of a Kona World Championship slot.. one of ONLY 60 guys in the WORLD in the 55/59 AG divison?

I feel the need for speed….

What does it feel like to run with a 20 pound weight taken off your back?

I think I need to find out….

IF IT BITES....BOB'S THE TARGET!

2011-06-14T19:31:00.010-04:00

Our week long trip to Maine is coming to an end.

One week of no training.... nada, no anything...

As we are driving up to our lodging in the middle of no where Maine last Thursday (no cell service, imagine that)I see a sign for the metropolis of Caratunk. A few moments later (literally) at the corner of Highway 201 and Caratunk Blvd (not really Caratunk Blvd... I don't think it had a name) I saw a sign for the Forestry Ranger station. Now I am a smart guy, I think, (but you will question that later) so I started thinking MANDY has to be in there! Right? She's a forester, this is a Forestry building, it is in Caratunk, there are only 100 people in Caratunk.... 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 has to be 4, right? Guess what? No Mandy. In fact the guy that was in Forestry building had to do a double take to think that there might be a Mandy that lives down the road.... Hmmmm (I thought). Is Mandy really a forester that lives in Caratunk? Or is this a fake blog and she is really a pearl diver that lives in the Phillipines wishing she lives in Caratunk? I was beginning to get worried...

After checking into the Hawks Nest Inn near the corner of the Dead River and Kennebec, I found out there really is a Mandy Farrar that lives in Caratunk and does train for Ironman races. Good.. I was beginning to think I took the family on a wild goose chase into the wilderness.

So what do you do in the metropolis' of The Forks, West Forks, Caratunk (FWFC)? After spending 4 hours riding ATVs, 4 hours of river rafting, 2 hours of moose watching, 3 hours of driving to the grocery store.. twice... out of a total of 5 days and 5 nights.... I decided the simple answer is, you TRAIN for Ironman races!! Yes, I can see why Mandy trains for IM. I'm not quite sure why more FWFC people don't

Actually except for the lack of places to swim in the winter (she drives 1.5 hours each way for a swimming pool), it actually has some great stretches of road with nice climbs to train on.

Back to the vacation...

With a lack of things to do I decided to entertain the family and become a science project to see how many mosquito and black fly bites it takes to go into anaphylactic shock. The answer? Around 10 on the back of the head, 4 or so on top of the head, 12 to 15 on my face and 6 or 7 on my ankles.

So with 13 hours of great fun in 5 days (let's review them again.... rafting, ATVing, moose watching, grocery shopping), some nice visits with Mandy, actually running into John during rafting on the Kennebec (we don't hear much about John in Mandy's blog so I will keep the secret) , the family decided it was time to cut the FWFC visit short by one night and head to the coast for our last night...

So from Belfast Maine, good night blogland and thanks FWFC for a memorable trip.....

My 5 bottles of Benadryl are starting to kick in.... time to go to bed..

Cheers!

Ho Hum

2011-06-05T08:49:00.004-04:00

I am currently in the "ho hums" after an IM. Those that have done one know what I am talking about. You kind of feel like you have the flu. You want to go out and bike 80 miles, but when you try, you quit after 50.

Standard fare... coupled with road rash from the local tri last weekend makes it all the more ho hummy..

But I have a solution... you go to Maine on vacation!! Yes, on Thursday the family flies up to Maine for a little lobstering, white water rafting, ATVing, boating, and definitely a visit to the famous town of Caratunk. That's right Mandy, we will increase the population of Caratunk by 5% when we show up and we expect to see that medal from your finish today at Quassay half REV. Way to go.

Charisa Wernick did my most favorite race today... Escape from Alcatraz. She placed 6th. Good job Charisa. Looked like it was a fierce battle with the 5th place pro based on the times.

Bree Wee made history by becoming the first person from Hawaii to win Rohto Ironman Hawaii 70.3 on Saturday. The story of her day can be found HERE.

Ho'omaika'i 'ana Bree...

Sure am glad I am on the 4 year training program for Kona....

Cheers!

BE THE BALL

2011-06-01T12:53:00.003-04:00

Back in the 80's there was a great movie called "Caddyshack". It was a golf comedy and had several great comedians in it (Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield to name a few) .

There was a line in the movie by Chevy Chase where he said "Be the ball". The meaning in the movie was literally to feel what the ball is feeling when struck and through some Zen magic this higher power would help the ball find its way into the hole. It had its comedic impact in the movie but there really is a lesson to be learned from the line.

As most approach their triathlon season (mine's over) we should "be the ball" with our equipment and nutrition. We should be "one" with all equipment/nutrition we plan to use that day some 30 to 60 days out. There should be no surprises. We should know everything we are going to wear on the swim, bike and run (including alternate weather condition clothes), assessories for our bike (tubes, CO2, wrenches, etc.). We should be quite familiar with how to work on our bikes (set up, changing tires, etc.). We should know how we are going to fuel during the race and whether or not weather conditions are going to effect that nutrition.

The reason I believe we should be doing this 6 to 8 weeks prior to the race is, we need to practice, so that if there is something flawed, we have time to change it.

Let me reflect on one of my experiences as an example:

A couple years ago I bought Vittoria Open Corsa Evos about 6 weeks before a race. I have never used these tires before and since they have one of the lowest rolling resistances of any clinchers out there (plus I can air to 140psi) I decided these were going to be my tire of choice for IM races.

After an initial 105 mile ride on the Corsas, I loved them. I was actually going to take them off and save them for two weeks prior to the race and reinstall them, but I got lazy and decided not to.

About 95 miles into a ride a week later, "POP". Front flat. No problem, I will fix it.... I thought. So in went the first tube. It never aired up. Seemed to be flat prior to inflating. No problem. Arnie came back and had a tube. I started to inflate and all seemed to be going well when Arnie noticed a bubble on the side wall. He said it was the tube, I thought it was a bubble in the tire. Well anyway, before we could get to the bottom of it, "POP". So now I have had 3 flats in 10 minutes and no more tubes. Luckily I was only 1/2 mile from a pick up spot so Arnie could come back and got me.

Moral of this story. I thought I had all my sh*t together. This included new tires all the way to HOW to change a frickin tube. I guess not.

BE THE BALL!!

FINALLY!!

2011-05-30T10:12:00.004-04:00

Probably 8000 miles logged in the last 4 years on the bike...

6 IM attempts

5 IM finishes

Countless early morning rides where the sun isn't quite up and seeing the trail is difficult.

Dodging Arnie land mines in front of me to test my bike handling skills.

And what finally gets me??

A local community triathlon with only a 3 mile bike leg...

This is our annual community bragging rights tri. I have won one year, Arnie another and my son another.

The bike course is extremely technical.... The course has a total of (6) 180 degree "go around a cone" turns, (12) 90 degree turns on roads, and 18 speed bumps to maneuver. Someone has gone down every year we have had this race....

The "go fast" people try and go around the speed bumps. I am no exception...

Well that didn't work out too well for me today.

As I went to cut the speed bump out (as I was in first place), local sprinklers put a nice pool of water next to the curb of the road. Just as I went around the bump and tried to get back into the road my front tire slid out from under me at 22mph. I slid on the asphalt for about 10 feet and about 15 seconds later, the second place person (a neighbor 18yr old who did the 70.3 in Orlando 2 weeks ago) passed me along with my 15 year old son. I quickly assessed the situation and saw that the bike wasn't damaged so I hopped back on in pursuit. The incident cost me probably 45seconds. This was on the return leg of the first loop.

By the third loop I had caught the leaders and re-passed them.

Needless to say the youngsters were going to get me on the run. Well, almost all of them. The neighbor won, I was second and my son was 3rd.

Arnie and my 18 year old son were no shows this year. Arnie is on vacation and my son is working.

Cheers!!

OK...... what's next?

2011-05-24T10:59:00.005-04:00

Above is one of only two shots of me on the course... running with JEFF (Dangle the Carrott). Jeff had a regular entourage out there with photographers, on scene reporters... etc. Anyway this was snapped by one of the poperotzy on course.

Several months ago I was riding with Ryan "White Hot" Barnett and he asked me "why don't you give up this One Hour Ironman training routine and try and qualify for Kona?" I responded, "Because then I wouldn't be the OneHourIronman... duh...."

But after Saturday's race in Texas the wheels starting turning in my head as I reflected back on that conversation.

Why don't I try and qualify for Kona?

The kids are getting older and running off to school. I am actually kind of getting used to these crazy events. I am getting better, with the same training regime.

Hmmmmm.

The 55 to 59 AG is pretty competitive. Since attrition takes its toll as you move up in the age groups, qualifying in the 60 to 64 AG would be a nice 4 year goal to shoot for.

Let's review the top finishing times at the USA based races in 2010 for 60/64 (one slot is awarded):

Florida: 11:38
Louisville: 12:32 (hot last year)
TX: 11:32
Lake Placid: 11:42
Arizona: 11:59
St George: 12:12 (2010) 11:36 (2011)
CDA: 11:36
WIS: 11:32

So the angle would be to get to know Joe Bonness (current 55/59 AG World Champ) who is a local Florida guy and find out what races he ISN'T doing and enter in those. You see Joe is a 9.5 hour guy now and he knows Kevin Moats who is the other 9.5 hour guy. If I have the inside scoop on what races to avoid (the ones their in), then a training program to get to 11.5 hours could pay dividends.

First: Drop 20 pounds. My lean body mass is around 165 right now so I will have to go through a kind of a metamorphosis over the next few years

Second: Take some swim lessons (maybe with Arnie). I used to be a better swimmer and I know taking 15 minutes off my current swim time is very doable.

Third: Drop the OneHourIronman training program and start training like a "real" Ironman.... I will have to write a new book I guess...

Fourth: Better gear. A better bike and wheels will shave 15 minutes off by themselves.

That's the long term plan and I'm sticking to it....

Cheers!!

RACE REPORT

2011-05-23T08:02:00.003-04:00

Before we get to the race report, let's review how the goals went....

1)Catch up with my old friend Cheryl who was the first to tell me IM was easily within my reach 20 years ago..... CHECK
2) Don’t eat too much at Grottos Wednesday night... CHECK
3) Don’t spend more than $100 at the IM store....CHECK
4) Find the right “line” in the swim that minimizes “ultimate fighting” activity.... CHECK
5) Swim time under 1hr 20min...... NOPE
6) Don’t swallow any duck shit on the swim...... CHECK
7) T1 in under 5 minutes..... NOPE
8) Do not flat on the bike.... CHECK
9) Pass at least 500 people on the bike.... NOPE
10) Proper hydration, nutrition on bike (indicator being no nausea or cramping).... CHECK
11) Do not crash on the bike.... CHECK
12) Bike time of under 6hr 15min.... CHECK
13) Wave and smile to the crowd.... CHECK
14) T2 in under 4 minutes.....NOPE
15) No blisters on run.... CHECK
16) Run time of under 5 hrs.... NOPE
17) Do not let more than 499 people re-pass me on the run... CHECK18) No sunburn.... CHECK
19) Finish in daylight.... CHECK
20) Finish in top 25% of age group.... CHECK
21) Enjoy a beer at the finish…. when JEFF hands it to me…... NOPE22) Sit in the stands and cheer for the other athletes that are finishing.... NOPE
23) Be able to walk with minimal limp on Sunday.... CHECK
24) Go to 9:45 service at my old church on Sunday.... CHECK
25) Tell people on plane on the way home when they ask (and they always ask)….” Yeh, I’ve been blessed with the ability to want and do these crazy things and I have NEVER felt better or younger”.... CHECK

18 out of 25. Not bad and the important ones were checked...

Without going into the gory details of what I had for breakfast each day of the week I will try and keep this race report spot on as to what you need to know about IMTX, my experiences with it, and my editorial opinion of whether this is an ultimate destination for your race calendar.

The Venue

The Woodlands is a city about 25 miles north of Houston. It was established a number of years ago and has continued to grow because it is a family oriented community, has massive green belts, and basically has all the benefits of a “smaller” neighborhood with the positive attributes of a mega city just 30 minutes away.

Going into this race I knew the ability to get an inexpensive hotel on the I45 corridor with many restaurant options all within a couple miles of the race was going to be easy. I picked the Days Inn which was a bit further than I had remembered (about 2 miles) but still quite convenient and only $80 per night.

Check In / Race Expo / Pre race dinner

The host hotel was the Marriott. This hotel was probably less than a quarter mile from the transition zone and finish line area. For ease of navigating a race layout, dropping off bike and gear bags, retrieving them after the race, and general just getting around…. this race was right up there with IMFL.

Check in was not in the hotel which was kind of confusing when I arrived on Wednesday. The expo was set up outside across the street from the Marriott and that is also where the check in was located. Tri Bike Transport was also located at the expo which was extremely convenient. At other races Tri Bike has been located at less than convenient locations. After the race, it was a simple quarter mile walk from transition to Tri Bike to drop the bike off.

The race expo was the typical WTC expo. Nothing better, nothing worse. I did keep the spending under $100 at $97 with my cycling jersey, 2 water bottles and an IMTX sticker for the car.

The pre-race dinner was in the Marriott. They did this one very well. Plenty of room, great food, fantastic wait staff (at least at my table) and the standard WTC fare for pumping the crowd up and special interest stories.

Company

Wednesday night Jeff and Annie Irvin, Ryan Barnett and I got together for dinner at Grotto (Italian fare). Whenever you get together with Ryan Barnett it is a very entertaining evening. Most world class triathletes are dry and humorless. Not Ryan. At 6’5” and 210 pounds he is not the text book picture of a triathlete and the stories he has surrounding his adventures as the “outlier” in the tri community keep you laughing all night long.

The lead up

I didn’t have a chance to ride any of the bike course. I had to rely on my 40 mile drive of part of it 3 months ago and my many MapMyRide breakdowns of segments of it.

I did participate in the Friday morning swim which was from 8 until 10. What can I say? Lake swim. 78F. Murky water. Only one or two snake sightings (not by me).
IMTX suggestion: About 9am the announcer says the cops are towing cars that are parked along the roadway. I am thinking to myself, “as well organized as these WTC events tend to be, how could you screw up something like this?” Aren’t you supposed to get together with the local government and police organizations to let them know there may be 200 cars parked along the roadway leading into the park between 8 and 10 on Friday? And if they say “You can’t do that” …. Then you announce at the pre-race dinner that participants CAN NOT park along the road and here are the other plans we have made for your pre-race swim… This one was check mark one against this race…

Bikes and gear bags had to be checked in between 9 and 3 on Friday. My nutrition for this race was easy as I have written before. 450 calories of Infinit with 2 Saltstick in 3 bottles for the bike. 700 calories worth of PayDay candy bars for the bike. These weren’t put into any of the drop off bags or on the bike…. that would be done race morning. Two bottles of Infinit as just described for the run and 500 calories of PayDay candy bars. A change of socks for the bike and run and one extra change of socks for the midpoint of the marathon. Plenty of Sportslick for the feet at T1, T2 and marathon mid-point (actually 2/3). Of course the run and bike gear bags had all that other stuff needed for the bike or run (helmet, shoes…. etc. etc. )

I ate dinner at 5pm at a soup and salad place and got to bed at 8pm. Believe it or not I actually went to sleep. I use eye blinders and ear plugs and they work like a charm for me.

Race morning

I was going to get up at 4am but my internal alarm clock woke me up at 3:30. That was OK with me. I snapped into action. Oatmeal in the microwave…… check. Cup of strong coffee….. check. In morning clothes bag I put the needs of the day… the (3) Infinit bottles for the bike along with PayDay bars. Swim goggles, cap…. Timing chip was already on my ankle (I do this the day before since it is so easy to forget).

About the time all this stuff was organized around 4am, my system told me it was time to go to the bathroom…. Check.

Donned my 2XU trisuit after applying copious amounts of Sportslick to everyplace you can think of and some you haven’t. Applied sunscreen to everywhere they wouldn’t be body marking and took some extra of the waterproof/sweat proof sunscreen in a plastic baggie to apply after being body marked.

They had said that the parking garage right next to transition would be open in the morning so I decided to get there at 4:30 to secure a good place and not be subject to finding somewhere else because I had heard that they tow from the mall parking which was the only other real alternative. When I got there the parking garage was blocked off. The only way in was through the exit. So, I went in the exit. But I was wondering all day long if by having it blocked off they were trying to tell us they were going to tow whatever was in the garage. Turns out it was OK but… another suggestion for the race officials. If you say it is OK to park in the garage at the pre-race meeting but then have barriers up, you may want to not put the barriers up until around 7am when the race starts or let people know at pre-race to not pay attention to barriers if they happen to be there…

I got everything taken care of in transition…. Air tires, bottles, paydays etc. etc. and had a lot of time to kill. So I decided to spend the time worrying if my car was going to be towed….. I texted Annie Irvin the location of my car, key, hotel key…. Etc. in case she got the call from my wife that I died on the course. (My wife stayed home to make sure all went well with my son’s senior prom). Oh….. I didn’t die by the way.

It was a mile walk to the swim start so I got there just before 6am. Since it is a nice park, I found a bench by the water and just chilled for around 30 minutes.

THE RACE

Just prior to the race I had a Mirinda Carfrae sighting (she was there supporting her boyfriend in his first 140.6 attempt) so the IRONBOB had to go up and say hi. She looked at me and said “The OneHourIronman himself, Bob Shuler , how you doing?”…… nah, not really…. but she seems like a real nice World Champion…

I got in the water about 10 minutes prior to the gun and found a dock to sit on so I could avoid treading water for 10 minutes.

Swim: Typical “egg beater” start. Sorry Jeff, that is a standard start with 2400+ athletes. I stuck to my plan to knock out as much of my competition with my 190 pound body as a could…. Nah just kidding (or am I?) Jeff, how did it feel? Seriously, my plan was to hug the right shore and I found this an excellent place to be. Minimal ultimate fighting activity and it only picked up as we neared the turn buoy some .9 miles or so down the lake. Standard fare. After the turn back, the activity was a little more pronounced since the race organizers made this section a little less wide. As we got to the channel leading to transition (1.8 miles) it was even narrower and the fighting activity was prevalent but less brutal since at that point everyone was swimming basically the same pace and not swimming over you.

Swim time: 1hr 23min 13sec.

T1: 7min 25 sec. I did this outside the tent since I was staying in my trisuit and wanted to avoid traffic

Bike: I found the bike course much simpler that I had anticipated. I won’t get into the gory details of where there was chip seal , asphalt, concrete etc. There was a little bit of all kinds of road, but mostly good. The rollers weren’t as “rolly” as I had expected. I held 19.9mph all the way to mile mark 50 which had a tail wind. That’s when I expected all hell to break loose with wind in the face and mph plummeting. It didn’t happen to the degree I had expected. There was a head wind but not so bad.

The saving grace of the ride was it stayed cloudy the whole time. Sure, it was hot and humid but there is a huge difference if the sun is out. That saved the ride.
Now Jeff had some traffic horror stories he will disclose, I am sure, in his blog, but since I was about 5 minutes ahead of him, I missed the horror. As we compared notes later, we held about the same speed all day long but I had him by 9 minutes on the bike mainly due to the cops I paid to stop him at the highway crossings. …
Not sure what they can do about this because this is definitely a problem in an Ironman event. They need to find a way to keep the athletes flowing… (of course I won’t be paying them next year……wink, wink)

Bike Time: 5hr 52min 30sec. (ps. Chris Leito had a 4hr 15min bike split so it is indeed a fast course)

T2: 6min 26sec.

Run: I knew this would be fun (not). Hot day and three loop course. The punishment is passing by the finish line twice and watching finishers coming in on each loop you make. I had visions of 4:30 something and a 12 hour finish but I threw those thoughts out less than a mile into it. So then I started to think that Arnie’s 12hr 28min IMFL ’09 record was in play. That would take a 5 hr marathon. I threw those thoughts out after the first loop. The sun was in and out all day and the difference was noticeable when it was showing.

I got the update from Annie Irvin at the Kingwood Tri Club tent (mile mark 6 or so) that I had 10 minutes on Jeff. So I knew he was coming and I didn’t pay the cops enough on the bike course to hold him back. He got me within the next 2 miles. That boy can certainly run. Great job Jeff…

A couple notes from the run. My right foot was killing me. Not on the bottom but on the top by the three last toes. I did a sock change at mile mark 17 and re greased. As bad as they felt I was thinking I had black toes…. Nope, lucky me. I was so busy working on my feet I forgot to exchange my Infinit bottle so my last 9 miles was done with whatever they had on the course.

I saw a runner with a run jersey from a local bike shop in Tampa so it was kind of cool seeing someone from the home town. Turns out we bike train in the same places.
I didn’t really start feeling the old quad and hamstring cramps until mile mark 24 or so. So all in all pretty good planning on everything…. Nutrition, speed, etc. I was quite happy.

The finish was great. It rivals Louisville from a hoopla standpoint (I only can project what Louisville was like having DNFd it). Big crowd. Great for finishing but too big to just hang around and watch people come in. I hate crowds if I am in the middle of them…

Run time: 5hr 30min58sec

Total time: 13hr 32 seconds

It was good enough for 13th in my age group. Given the weather, I couldn’t be more pleased.

Post-race: No massage tents (that I could find)… not sure I would have used one anyway. The bag drop pick up was a mess! They put both bike and run bags in the same area. This is an area that was intended for just one bag, not both. So 5000 bags versus 2500… hmm. so I wonder if anyone else lost a bag? I found one bag, the one that counts with bike gear but couldn’t find the other. Luckily the lost bag only had goggles in them. If it had a wetsuit I would really be pissed.

Overall thoughts:

WTC needs better logistics communication with community organizers (swim practice). They need to work on the bike course to avoid making athletes wait for more than 30 seconds or so. They need to work on bag pick up. That was ridiculous.

IRONBOB rating: B

On the ONEHOURIRONMAN approved to do lists….

Thanks for reading and your support.

Cheers!!

Book it Danno

2011-05-21T23:00:00.003-04:00

I had a pretty decent day at IMTX today.
13hr and 30 or 40 seconds (whatever).
Good enough for 13th in my age group which I am extremely pleased about.

More race report stuff when I get back to Tampa

Cheers!!!

Dont want to take the Carrot man's thunder away (Jeff) but he had a very nice first Ironman. I was able to hold him off until mile 7 or so of the marathon but that 150 pound running fiend was just too much for this old fart to fight off.. Great marathon Jeff!!

My buddy Chris

2011-05-20T18:57:00.002-04:00

"So Chris, you wearing all white on Saturday?"

"Probably Bob, but there will be logo stuff on the outfit so it won't be all white"

"OK Chris.... I didn't want the crowd confusing the two of us on the course.."

That was the conversation we had.... and if you look closely, you can see Ryan "White Hot" in the right hand corner of the picture..

6pm (as I write this) and getting ready for bed at 8. Up at 4 and start the routine..

Weather you ask? Because it wouldn't be an IRONBOB pre race post without a weather update...

87F
Heat index 95
winds at 14mph from the south with 31mph gusts
Rain chances likely

Racer number 2603 over and out....

Cheers!

MISC. RAMBLINGS

2011-05-18T11:43:00.001-04:00

At 130 beats per minute times 60 minutes per hour times 13 hours my heart will have beat 101,400 times.

If I can finish quicker or keep the heart rate down, I get under 100,000. How will I know if I achieve this goal? I won't.

As other IMTXers have posted it is going to be a "steamy" day on Saturday. Hmmmm, who would have guessed it..

Why show up to an expo with IM stuff on when everyone there is an IMer??

I was wearing ear plugs last night testing to see if they would help me sleep.... they did and I couldn't hear my watch alarm..... maybe not so good for Saturday morning...

I wonder if Northerners have any clue what they are in store for on Saturday.. weather wise that is...

Do you think Mike Reilly will be announcing "You are an Ironman"? He has in most of my races but missed IMFL last year....

I hope there is a place to park Saturday morning so I can drive from the Days Inn at 5am to pump my tires up and drop of bike supplies...

I bet Chris Leito takes 1st place...

They better have massage specialists after the race..

Why do I do these things again??

100,000

2011-05-17T07:55:00.002-04:00

Although tough to measure there is one number I would like to stay under for IMTX. The number you ask? 100,000.

For a free copy of my book (a New York Times worst seller I might add). What is that number?

IMTX nutrition

2011-05-16T16:46:00.005-04:00

My buddy JEFF just posted his nutrition for IMTX race day, so I thought I would also. It is interesting to see everyone's take on nutrition. I guarantee of the 2500 people lining up on Saturday, no two people will do "exactly" the same thing.

Personally I am a fan of INFINIT so it is my main ingredient that I tweak every race..

Starting today I cut caffeine totally out of the diet.

I let my supply of RACE DAY BOOST (Hammer product) run low in the house but I have enough to do it for three days starting on Wednesday.

I am still on Optygen HP (for the past month) and the bottle I have will run out on Wednesday. We will see how this new addition to the diet goes..

Starting today, I try and force the drinking of 1 gallon of water per day.

On Wednesday I will start adding 1 Saltstick at lunch and dinner for the next 3 days.

Friday is lights out at 8:30pm (I hope)

I will wake up around 4am and have some oatmeal and another Saltstick. Coffee is a must and I will spike it with a couple caffeine tablets.

About 45 minutes from the start I will have a ZipVit that CHARISA sent me. 200 calories and a whopping 51gm of carbs

Nutrition on the bike is modified this year. In my past races I have been blessed with an upset stomach during the run. The kind that you constantly are thinking are shart worthy. Hmmmm, not a pretty sight. This is because my past races I have had no solid food during the race. This year the secret weapon will be PAYDAY candy bars. 600 calories worth on the bike (120 per hour) and an equal amount on the run (120 calories/hr).

Infinit is pre mixed to 500 calories per bottle and 3 bottles on the bike. So that is 2100 calories for the bike or 420 calories per hour (if I were doing a 5 hour ride).... but since I will be lucky for 6 hours that is 350 per hour. Electrolytes are dialed to around 750mg per hour. To get that high I had to "spike" the Infinit mix with Saltstick (pre done).

On the run I have (1) 22 oz bottle of dry powder in the run bag at T2 (the exact same mix as the bike bottles). I mix it with water at T2. The Payday bars are in my fuel belt. I have a second dry mix bottle in the Run Aid bag for mid way through the run.

Sounds complicated but actually all the pre work calculating this stuff is the tough part. Race day needs to be simple, because you will forget...... your nutrition, the city you are in, what day it is, your wife's name, heck, your name....

One bottle lasts 2 hours so I drink half a bottle every hour on the hour. A piece of Payday bar every half hour on the half hour. That's it...

What do I have in reserve, just in case?..... extra Saltstick if needed..... Advil for near the end of the bike and on the run

And plenty of water... every 10 miles there will be bike aid... they usually hand us a 20oz. or so bottle of water. Take it and fill up the aero bottle. That with the 10 oz. of Infinit per hour should be close to proper hydration.

As for the run, I need around 5 oz of water every mile minimum and the cups they hand out usually means drink 2 of them.

If there is beer around mile 25.....

IMTX GOALS

2011-05-13T13:36:00.003-04:00

What happened to the Wednesday posts?? GONE!!
Anyway... to recap the "lost" post.... Arnie is a scratch. IMTX went from a Arnie/Bob showdown with wives in tow .... to Lauren won't make it because of family committments to Anita won't make it because of son's Senior prom to the latest Arnie scratches due to plantar fasciitis....

SOLO time..... although I do have the JEFF support contingent to count on...

To today's post..... GOALS..

Goals for IMTX...

Most people come up with several goals for a race…. To PR, a certain swim, bike or run time, an overall time, to beat someone….. etc.

I am going to list a set of goals that is a little different than most…. And here they are…

1) Catch up with my old friend Cheryl who was the first to tell me IM was easily within my reach 20 years ago
2) Don’t eat too much at Grottos Wednesday night..
3) Don’t spend more than $100 at the IM store
4) Find the right “line” in the swim that minimizes “ultimate fighting” activity
5) Swim time under 1hr 20min
6) Don’t swallow and duck shit on the swim
7) T1 in under 5 minutes
8) Do not flat on the bike
9) Pass at least 500 people on the bike
10) Proper hydration, nutrition on bike (indicator being no nausea or cramping)
11) Do not crash on the bike
12) Bike time of under 6hr 15min
13) Wave and smile to the crowd
14) T2 in under 4 minutes
15) No blisters on run
16) Run time of under 5 hrs
17) Do not let more than 499 people re-pass me on the run
18) No sunburn
19) Finish in daylight
20) Finish in top 25% of age group
21) Enjoy a beer at the finish…. when JEFF hands it to me…
22) Sit in the stands and cheer for the other athletes that are finishing
23) Be able to walk with minimal limp on Sunday
24) Go to 9:45 service at my old church on Sunday
25) Tell people on plane on the way home when they ask (and they always ask)….” Yeh, I’ve been blessed with the ability to want and do these crazy things and I have NEVER felt better or younger”

SCRATCH

2011-05-12T08:58:00.000-04:00

News flash...
Racer number 2338 for IMTX will be a scratch....

The big showdown between the English Channel gonnabe and the slimmed down biking hill maniac will not happen...

It brings back memories of last year's World Championships when Chrissie Wellington scratched the morning of the race....

The showdown that will not happen.... the "Iron War" between Dave Scott and Mark Allen that occurred in 1989... the one that has been THE epic battle in Ironman history... by which all other battles are measured.... The new buzz in the Ironman community was that this showdown on May 21 in Texas was easily going to replace the 1989 Kona race.... an anticipated sprint to the finish... the new cornerstone for rival races.... will not happen...

The phone is starting to ring off the hook at the IronBob "crib" from local and national television stations wanting to get an exclusive interview... With the Casey Anthony murder trial taking place in near by St Petersburg, multi national news crews are starting to leave St Pete to congregate outside our guarded gated community (reminiscent of the Tiger Woods scenario several years ago) all with hopes of getting a glimpse of the two famed rivals...

The showdown that will not happen on May 21??

Of course I am talking about IronBob versus "English Channel Arnie".

Was it truly plantar fasciitis that made Arnie scratch from this epic race, or was it something more subconscious?

We will never know... but the other 2600+ competitors realize the race is now wide open..... because IronBob just doesn't have the same motivation as he would have...

SIGH......

BADASS

2011-05-11T07:52:00.006-04:00

For everyone out there that has done their Ironman race this year or are getting ready to do it in the upcoming weeks or months, visual appearance to the crowd is really not that important. If you are riding a beach cruiser on the 112 mile bike, you might think you are looking "dorky" but rest assured you are "badass". Same goes if you are riding a "stock" bike with no aero wheels. If on the run you are wearing clothes that gives you the most comfort but might look "un hip", that's OK, because after 114.4 miles of biking and swimming, you KNOW you are still "badass". Most of the crowd "gets" this but if not, and you get that look of "WTF?" from someone in the crowd, stare back with that confident glare of "I'm a badass" and YOU ARE NOT!!

After all.... YOU CAN WEAR A LIFE JACKET AND GARDEN GLOVES TO A WAR AND STILL LOOK.... BADASS!!

AND THE REST OF THE STORY.....

2011-05-08T17:25:00.002-04:00

I understand from my good friend KOVAS that I was once again in print in the "letters to the editor" section of Triathlete magazine. I wouldn't have known since I let my subscription lapse last month. Anyway, here is what was printed....

"Kudos on the Hillary Biscay story, "Diary of a globetrotting triathlete", April 2011). The general public has no idea of the sacrifices of a "journeyman" triathlete. Well done. Personally, I think a great follow up article would be on the professional triathlete that holds down a regular 9 to 5 job."

And here is what they left off..... " Charisa Wernick comes to mind. She also has to be one of the few professionals to have raced iron distance with her dad."

If you don't follow CHARISA's blog... click on her name..

So I guess subscribers might see something in the future on the triathlete that holds down a 9 to 5 job??..... Charisa, I bet they contact you..

What else??

Ironman St. George was yesterday. 90F heat and all. KACIE did the race in 14hr 49min. On that course, in that heat...... GREAT job. I thought I had it bad with 53F water last year.... I will take what I endured last year to what they had this year..

Well, the bike is awaiting TRI BIKE TRANSPORT pick up so this whole thing 2 weeks from now is starting to feel real... I must say, I actually have not checked the forecast today.... I must be slipping.

Great week in training.. I can't remember which days I did what but the distances were...

Ran 10 miles
Ran 4 miles
Swam 1 mile
Swam .5 miles
Biked 95 miles with 45 miles of hills (19mph... but nice tail wind at end)
Swam 1 mile and ran 10 miles

Arnie has been MIA... can't seem to get a hold of that boy.... not sure what's up...

That's about it...

Cheers!!

YOU ARE

2011-05-06T07:53:00.003-04:00

You are one to break from the crowd
You are driven
You are persistant
You are one that wakes at 4am
You are obsessed at times
You are healthy
You are in tune with body and mind
You are one in 100,000
You are wondering why TV avoids your hobby
You are a swimmer
You are always wanting to improve
You are a family man
You are a housewife
You are a professional
You are a blue collar worker
You are a brother
You are a sister
You are a father
You are a wife
You are a husband
You are a mother
You are a runner
You are a speed freak
You are confident
Your are doubtful
You are one to find new gadgets
You are a nutritionist
You are not understood by you neighbors
You are proud
Your are a cyclist
You are wondering how long you can do this
You are in awe of those that go fast
You are young
You are old

You are seeking IRON
You are ready

But most of all

You are BLESSED...

What are you??

RECORD HIGH

2011-05-05T11:24:00.003-04:00

IMTX is just outside Conroe, Texas.

Accuweather forecast for Conroe 15 days out.... 94F

Record high for that date 1933....... 94F

Sorry other IMTX competitors.... BLACK CLOUD BOB

But I am still going to EMBRACE AND ENJOY THE DAY....I don't care if it is 100F!!

You gotta love it!!

(the photo has nothing to do with any of this... by the way)

BLACK CLOUD BOB

2011-05-04T06:55:00.004-04:00

Yes!!

Here it is.... my obsession!! The weather...

Not only my weather for IMTX but weather across the world of IM races. Next up on the IM docket? IM St George.

One hell of a brutal IM in the best of conditions. The best of conditions you ask? Well, for me and 99% of all IMers that would be cool and not windy.

What is in store for this weekend in the beautiful venue of St George?? 59F low (not bad).... nightly winds of 29 gusting to 50 (very bad) 90F as the high (very very bad) and 21 mph daily winds with gusts to 41 (bad). WOW!! This race got a bad rep last year.... wait until this one! If you are reading this and doing the race I have one suggestion... take it really slow! In fact after you do the first bike loop and are at the bottom getting ready to tackle the second... I would actually stop for 5 or 10 minutes and regroup and rest. I would do this again about midway up the back side of the mountain. Take it for what it is worth...

Next up.... accuweather forecast for IMTX. Well, we still don't get to race day on the 15 day forecast but we are getting closer. What does Wednesday 18th have in store?? Quite nice 59F low and 77F high. Winds out of the north at 16 and gusts to 34. In fact the forecast on the 16th, 17th are about the same...

Now we are talking about IronBob here, aren't we? The "black cloud" magnet of IM weather if he is racing. The guy that if it says it is going to be snowing on race day, Satan shows up with hell and fury. Sorry IMTX peeps, it is not going to be 77F on race day with winds out of the north.... but we can wish can't we??? And you know what....it is OK (at least for me) because I am going to "embrace and enjoy the day" no matter what it has to offer

Cheers!

Ps: What the hell was I doing? Of course you know I check forecasts every 10 minutes. I must have clicked the wrong Conroe TX accuweather because when I just checked it was 88 and winds out of the south on the 18th. Now that's more like it!! I thought "BLACK CLOUD BOB" was slipping.....

IMTX blogger get together

2011-05-03T10:35:00.005-04:00

With 2.5 weeks to go, I thought it time to post where this year's IM "du jour" pre race blog party will be.

At JEFF's suggestion..... GROTTO
Great restaurant I used to go to while living in Houston and just a perfect place to eat tons of food and put our "drunk on" :) a couple days before the race.

The Grotto is just off Six Pines right near transition.

Let me know via post, email or carrier pigeon if you plan on attending so I can make reservations.

TIME: 6:45pm
DATE: Wednesday

The Ho Hum Ironman

2011-05-01T18:10:00.002-04:00

I think I am going to have to take full credit for the "ho hum Ironman". I am talking about Arnie. Three weeks to go and he hasn't ridden since April 17.

So today's 100 miler coupled with next week's would be an acceptable "tune up" before the race.

Well, he spent all night working on a "deal". Company business, "big thing" in the works. That is the trouble with owning your own business.

So I get my text today to either go without him or he could try riding from the "hood" and would go as far as he could and then turn around.

The "ho hum Ironman" got 35 miles in. I got in 80 and ran 3.

Sad thing is, I would put good money on the fact that he will still beat my bike time..

Yesterday was a trip out to the "Batten Death Ride" area. I did 5 loops of 5 miles (around 1700' of gain) and averaged 16.5. The beautiful thing was it was all done with the big ring. The best I could muster up to this point was 1.5 loops before clicking down to the small ring.

I am still checking the weather forecast but it still doesn't quite get to the 21st yet. What I do see is an 80% chance of hot and humid based on history and the forecast that presently is in place for the next 15 days. And that's OK, because no matter what I am going to "embrace and enjoy the day"

Monday: 6 mile run
Tuesday: 7 mile run
Wednesday: 4 mile run 1/2 mile swim
Thurday: 1 mile swim
Friday: 7 mile run
Saturday: 25 mile bike, 1/2 mile swim
Sunday: 80 mile bike, 3 mile run

One Hour Ironman (bob shuler)

LANCE .... 70.3 Panama

Life in the Rain Forest and Other ramblings

Chewbacca Legs

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER !!

Whos MOM is this?

NAME THAT TRIATHLETE

11 THINGS

English Channel update

ZED AND THE ART OF TRI BIKE MAINTENANCE

Word Press?

Back to Normal

BUSTED !!

Hug your kids

The Body Fragile

My Aching Back

REALLY ?

FU__ __ YOU !!

Measuring up the competition

Time off

Biggest Loser

Saturday at Kona

OLD STOMPING GROUNDS

Count your blessings

STROKE !!

OFF SEASON?

Black Friday Ninja Shopping

Determination

Turkey Trot

I've got nothing

HEART

How Bad Do You Want It?

Ironman Florida - note to residents

Ironman envy

Catching Joe

Tools in Action

TOYS OR TOOLS?

THE FLORIDA HAMMER

THANK YOU !!

WOW !!!

OFF LINE

GO USA !!!

RYAN BARNETT

FINALLY !!

CARFRAE WINS KONA

WHOOPS!!!

Vanhoenacker wins Kona

OBSESSION

PUKIE

KONA RAMP UP

TOUGH QUESTIONS

Pre Race Hype

Ironman Wales

Fighting Father Time

Performance vs. Weight

JEALOUS

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Winning the Lotto

ANALITY

IT STARTS

VOW

T minus 365 (again)

T minus 365 days..

One step at a time

IF I KNEW THEN... WHAT I KNOW NOW..

FAT TAX... another angle

Happy Birthday

Like Father.... Like Son

Stepping it up...

TOO EARLY?? or Just ANAL?

Popocatépetl

Training tip for homeowners

BIKE

FINALLY !!

PUSH IT !!

Focus!

Sponsor an NFL player

BIKE FOR SALE

DAY 1

IRONMAN NYC

FU YOU !!