Onionman Race Report

Considering the events of yesterday, my first race of the season certainly promised to be an interesting one. Onionman has been the kick-off to my racing the past 2 years, and based on my training this year, I was really looking forward to seeing what I could do down in Walla Walla in '08. But yesterday's crash threw all that up in the air.

It is sort of a tradition to make this race a one-day affair, which means that the day begins darn early. Like 3am early. I made it out of bed pretty quickly (for me) and felt ready to go. A quick check of my hands and legs, and they looked not so bad...maybe this IS do-able!

Time for breakfast.......whew!
Loading the car....Andy is smiling now, but very soon, she'd be back asleep :)
We picked up Kirk at precisely 3:45am, which was exactly on schedule. Then it was off to pick up Virginia, who wasn't racing, but is such a great supporter she agreed to the early drive down. Oh yeah, and she braved the rain to cheer us on. Nice!!
As we pulled onto Virginia's street, we were greeted by a HUGE American flag. It was amazing. Apparently one of her neighbors hangs this flag by hand on Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc to honor America. A very inspiring sight to see, especially at 4am, and a great reminder of the many sacrifices from our nation's heros. Thanks to Virginia's neighbor and to all of my fellow service men and women, past, current, and future.
As we headed down to meet up with Johnny B, we were a bit ahead of schedule, which for guys like Kirk and me, is always good news. Once we had Johnny's stuff loaded, it was on to Walla Walla! As the sun came up, the weather was looking good, and the temps slowly rising thru the 50's and approaching 60. Good news. I was feeling confident, ready to tough out my injuries and race.

30 miles north of Walla Walla, it all changed. The rains came, and only got heavier as we kept getting closer to the race site. Ugh. We stopped at a gas station for our last pit stops at 7:15am in a driving rain storm, and I had a decision to make. I was very worried about racing in these conditions, most especially about the bike. If I raced and took another spill, I would never forgive myself. For some reason, the thought of racing very conservatively never entered my mind, maybe because I know how my competitive juices get going when I have a race number on. I decided that if it was still raining at 8am (1 hour prior to race start) I would back out. It just wouldn't be worth the risk, with Ironman coming up in a month. I felt comfortable that it was the right call.

We get to the race sight, still raining. Hard. I decide to get my race packet and get body marked, just in case, although I am now telling people that I probably won't race. Its about this time that I start showing off my hands and legs to prove to people that I'm not just wussing out. :)
I showed my A+ teammate Jessi my awesome wounds, and tell her that I don't think I'm going to risk it and race today. She smiles, says "yes you are", and then leaves me with my thoughts. At this point, I think "yeah right, you don't know me. Once I've made up my mind, its over. I'm out" The rain lets up a bit, and a few more Tri Fusion folks give me the same message: wow, that looks bad...you better get your transition set up. My thinking gradually changes from "crap, maybe I won't be able to back out of this after all" to "hmmm, maybe I actually CAN do this"

So, I go get my bike and transition bag and go start setting up, still in the "just in case mode". Jessi asked me a few more times if I was going for it, and I say "I think maybe I'll give it a go", but she isn't convinced just yet, because I used the words "I think".

Here's me "thinking" it over :) "It looks like I'm going to do this, but am I crazy???"
30 minutes to go, and the rain mercifully stops, even though I have now set up my entire transition in a steady rain. That was fun. I walk by Jessi, she gives me an inquiring look, and I scream out "LETS DO THIS THING!!!" Its on. I am committed. Oh boy.......

Jessi is probably now feeling victorious at this point, having beaten me at my own game. I think it was her recommendation that I just give it a shot and go really easy and conservatively on the bike that put me over the top. Yeah, I can live with that.

Rick Phillips was also working on me throughout this half hour, but maybe a bit less subtly. Instead of curious glances my way, its more along the lines of "You big wimp, put your freaking wetsuit on" With friends like this.... :) Thanks, buddy.

Wetsuit is on....no turning back now. But still, a shred of doubt lingers.....
The first genuine smile of the day. I am ready!

My warmup went pretty well, and the water wasn't terribly cold. The first few minutes of submerged hands were fairly painful, but I tried to block it out and get down to business.

Once the gun sounded, I stayed back and way out to the left, trying to stay out of trouble and avoid any contact with anyone. I only hit one set of feet, and it was painful enough to force me even farther out to the left. The visibility was absolutely zero, but I was pretty pleased with my sighting and managed to not swim too much extra. Overall, my swim was a good, steady, easy effort, and I attribute alot of that to my new wetsuit. It was awesome!!! I was a little nervous about the fact that this would be my second swim ever in it, but it felt great from the first stroke. My beat up hands made it thru the swim ok, and I proceeded to jog slowly up to transition. Still in easy race mode.....

My T1 was surprisingly calm and collected, and may have even been one of my best in recent memory. Even my time wasn't all that slow, even though I didn't feel like I was moving all that fast. Once out on the bike, I took it really easy the first mile, since its uphill on a twisty, bumpy road complete with some awesome speed bumps. I really felt all the bumps in my hands, since I wasn't in aero yet, and it was tough. I took it super-easy around all the corners, and let the other folks I was riding with take all the risks. Once we got out onto the highway, though, I settled into a nice rhythm, and I started picking riders off pretty quickly. It was kind of weird. I purposely didn't have my watch on (thinking this would keep me from trying to "race"), and I felt I was going easy, but I was moving past these people pretty quickly. Hmmm... The road was wet, but I tried to block out my negative thoughts of crashing again and just focused on riding a good cadence. Just before the turn, I caught up to Jessi and for the first time all day, I realized that maybe I was doing ok. I've seen Jessi swim and bike, so to be up there with her was a real confidence boost. Not to mention seeing a friendly face and rocking it A+ style!! Once I hit the turn around, I kicked it up to the big chainring and powered away. No more thoughts of going easy....I was in true race mode now!! A few miles from the transition, Jessi and Rick caught up to me and provided good motivation not to slack off. We ended up coming into transition together, even though the last mile was sheer torture. I couldn't be in aero much, but the bumps totally killed my right arm/hand. I even had to ride one-handed a few times, just to get a break. Ugh.

I had a really good T2 (my one and only strength in triathlon) and sailed off on the run.

Headin' out on the run....

My poor feet were totally numb for the first 2 miles of the run, but I pushed through it pretty well. The first mile of the run was also very muddy, which made for some interesting footing. The combo of numb feet, mud caked on the bottom of my shoes, and the trail condition was tough to deal with. But I just powered through it as best I could, and even closed on and passed some people. Once I got to the paved trail, I settled into a more steady effort, not pushing too hard, but not laying back either. Without a watch on, I was forced into just running on feel, which I think helped me over the long haul. I was shocked to see my run time after I finished..."somehow" I was able to run 43 and change, which averaged to sub-7s. Whoa! Considering where my day started, I'll certainly take that!!

Adrenaline wearing off after the race....wow, I feel pretty beat up! But still happy with my performance.After a stop in the Tri Cities for a milkshake, I started feeling better....

One of the best parts of this annual road trip with Johnny B: the signs tempting us to go visit Kahlotus! We are not really sure what a Kahlotus is, but we bet its pretty interesting.....

Me and my biggest supporter. Always a good day when Andy is there at the finish!

All in all, it really was a good day. Certainly a roller coaster of emotions and decisions, but super-fun. And that is always my bottom line goal for any race: to have fun! Thanks to everyone who helped me get thru the day, Andy, Kirk, Johnny, Virginia, Jessi, Rick, and the rest of the Tri Fusion team. Now, its off to heal up and get ready for the next race!!

CRASH!!!

Well, now I know why I don't train the day before a race. Ok, ok, I know that a crash can happen any time, but this was probably my worst bike crash. And, yes, it happened exactly one day before my first tri of the season. The bottom line is, I am an idiot.

Here's the great (but long) story: After riding with Andy while she did her 7m run, I was going to do a quick, easy BLT loop on the bike, just to spin out the legs and get everything all warmed up. As I exited our neighborhood and approached the semi-sharp right hand turn to get up onto AL White Parkway, I checked to see if any traffic was coming up behind me. I do this at every corner, but especially this one, because it is a tricky, uphill corner that always is very full of gravel from the winter. I saw there was a big truck pulling a camper coming up behind me, so I kept my speed up a bit more than normal, trying to stay ahead of him. Mistake #1. Because I knew he was back there, I didn't want to go wide around the corner and cut him off, lest I contribute to any cyclist vs. auto anger. So, even though I was slowing down, I headed straight into the gravel. Mistake #2. Not really sure what happened next, but it doesn't really matter, because WHAM suddenly the right side of my body met the road in a very dramatic looking and sounding flurry of gravel, dust and bike. I didn't even have time to unclip, although I did have time to think "hey, it would be a good idea if I took my hands off the bike right now and give the road a high five".

As I lay there making sure that nothing was broken (bike first, then bones), friendly Mr. Guy-in-Truck pulls up to the stop sign. He sits there for awhile, staring at me, probably wishing I'd get up and get out of the road so he can get off to claim his awesome camping spot. Doesn't get out, doesn't roll down the window to ask if I'm ok. Nope. Just sits there. Could he maybe have not seen me go down, I wonder? Perhaps, but if that were the case, then that was the longest stop at a stop sign in history. Fortunately, a gentleman and his daughter who were out on their tandem bike came over to help me up and make sure I was going to be ok. Right about the time I start spraying massive amounts of water on my now bloody hands, the truck and camper pull away....uh, bye, thanks for the help, buddy. I chatted with the friendly cyclist for a bit, he asks if I can make it home. I say, yes, thank goodness I live a half mile from here. He says he's glad I appear to be ok, and I thank him for checking on me and not making me feel too much like an idiot. Then I say something like "ugh, this is going to make this race I'm doing tomorrow pretty interesting". He says something like "yeah, buddy, have fun with that". Then we go our separate ways.

I made it home ok, and surprised Andy who doesn't expect to see me for a little while yet. Then she went into full-on crisis support mode when she saw the blood, and started grabbing towels and the hydrogen peroxide. I scrubbed and scrubbed at my various scrapes, knowing that getting them cleaned up was priority number one if there was any hope for me racing the next day. Amazingly, I was pretty calm throughout all this, a fact that Andy pointed out numerous times. Normally, with something like this, I'd be going crazy with frustration, embarassment, and anger. Turns out, I may have been in "a bit" of shock still at this point. Anyway, as more and more clothes came off, we discovered more and more road rash, which required more and more scrubbing. Yipee!! After about 20 minutes, I decided it was time to get the rest of me cleaned up, so I headed for the shower. It was, as expected, painful, but I managed to gut through it ok. The weird thing is, I was feeling so ok at this point, I was already thinking about getting the blog post written soon after I got out of the shower. In fact, I had Andy take some pictures, to "spice up" the blog.

Next stop was the bathroom to get things bandaged up and get on with the day. Hmmmm....not so much. After pouring some hydrogen peroxide directly on my hands and leg, we started getting the bandages on. That's about the time when I said "Uh, Andy, I think I need to sit down". Next thing I know, I'm sitting on the toilet seat and my head is spinning and feeling very weird. Yep, passed out. Niiiiicccceee!!! Poor Andy then went into freak out mode, after slapping me back to the real world, and advised me to put my head between my legs. I followed orders, and then the sweating began. Whoa. Not feeling too hot now. Maybe I'll wait on that blog thing. I made it to a lying down position on the bathroom floor, and ever so slowly began to feel better. Meanwhile, Andy called Kirk for a consult, and true to form, he sped over to assess the situation. Immediately after seeing me on the floor, he mentioned that he wasn't sure how it was possible, but that I looked whiter than normal. Thanks, buddy. Then he asked how the bike was. I told him I thought is was ok, so we proceeded to more mundane things like maybe getting some sugar/calories in my system. A glass of Gatorade, one of lemonade, a handful of pretzels, and a PowerBar Triple Threat bar later, I was able to sit up slowly. Kirk did an amazing job of calming both me and Andy down, and not making me feel like an idiot (although I did...its hard not to when you are laying on the bathroom floor). Once we were all convinced that I was going to live and didn't need to go to urgent care or anything, we discussed plans for the race the next day. I of course really wanted to race, but knew that it might not happen. At the end of the night, we decided to make the call in the morning. I did a wetsuit test, just to see if I could get it on and off without too much trouble. It went well, which buoyed my spirits a bit, but I knew that alot would depend on how I felt when I woke up the next morning.

I find it amazing how fast your brain moves when you are in crisis mode, and more so when you are in pain/passed out. I am also very thankful that I had a good support team who rallied to my aid when I needed it. Andy was amazingly calm (or at least she appeared to be) and her concern for me was very sweet. She was probably pretty beat after her hard 7 mile run, but she totally put all of that aside to take care of me. And Kirk again stepped up as only a good friend who's "been there" could, and helped take care of both me and Andy.

As I went to bed, I was feeling pretty good, but also pretty dumb too. It was probably a much more dramatic few hours than it needed to be, and it really shouldn't have even happened anyway. Well, I guess you live and learn. Tomorrow should certainly be interesting......that story is next up! :)

Although there were many more pictures, this is the best "suitable for public display" one. Those should work really well in the swim tomorrow, eh? :D

Catching up...."weekend" training

How wonderful would it be if our weekends actually ran from Thursday through Tuesday?

Even if that's just wishful thinking, for some reason, my Thurs-Tues stretch sort of felt like a long weekend of workouts.

Thursday was one of those damn tough workout days that I am confident I will be going back to mentally during races to give me a little bit of inner motivation. At least my psyche was helped by the fact that the weather was gorgeous, sunny and in the 80s with very little wind. After work, a few of the EWU Tri Club guys showed me thru the bike course for the upcoming EWU IronEagle sprint race, and we knocked out 10m at a nice 21.4mph average. I then headed out solo onto the Troika bike course bound for home. I was interested in seeing if I could keep my average from dropping too much over the next 44 miles, but decided to focus on my effort level rather than obsessing over the numbers. When I arrived home, a quick check of my bike computer showed that my overall average for 54.5 miles was still 20.2...woo hoo! My legs felt surprisingly fresh as I went out for a 10k brick run, and again, I decided against looking at my watch and just tried to run an even effort. When all was said and done, "somehow" (shout out to Tiffany :) I averaged sub-8s on my run. I won't lie and say it was easy, but I managed to get through it ok. It was when I stopped that I started to fall apart. For the rest of the night, I was totally wasted. It was all I could do to eat a bean and turkey burrito, and then find my way to bed. It was an exhausting day, but looking back, it was definitely a confidence booster.

After a glorious off day Friday, on Saturday I woke up early and met (crazy) Joe for a long run. We tried to get out early, because the forecast for the day was highs near 90. Now that's what I'm talking about!! Lets get a few more weeks of heat! Andy was nice enough to get up early and head out on her bike with us, to be our mobile aid station. We ran the reverse of the BLT loop, thinking that since its easier that way on the bike, it must make for an "easier" run. Uh, not so much. I worked a bit on some downhill running techniques that Joe and Steve have been showing me, but I still felt like I was painfully slow on the descents. My legs really started to feel it with about 4 miles to go, and by the time we hit the last 3, the heat was on and I was toast. It was a major-league struggle to not walk during that last 5k, but fortunately Joe (he, of the sub-48 Bloomsday) took pity on me and didn't dust me too badly. I suspect that he was waiting for me, but it was nice motivation not to slack off and finish the run. Afterward, I knew that an ice bath would seriouly help my recovery and aid my legs in getting through my planned ride the next day. They are never fun, but I am a big believer in ice baths. This one was no different....brrrrrr and no fun at all!

Saturday afternoon, Andy and I cleaned the house in anticipation of our friend Lisa's arrival, who was visiting us for a few days from Germany. We hadn't seen Lisa since she left Spokane last July, and it promised to be a crazy fun weekend of catching up. Saturday night, we hosted a fun BBQ dinner with Lisa, her sister and Zach and Jen. Way fun!!

Sunday morning, I again got up early and picked up Kirk and Joe just after 8am, and we headed out to CDA to do a long bike workout on the course. My plan was to do about 80-90m, and get in the Higgens Point section in for the first time this year. After a nice warmup, Kirk left Joe and I in the dust (as planned) as we hit the northern/hilly part of the course. I was feeling surprisingly good through the first 40 miles, especially considering my hard run yesterday. We stopped at a gas station in Hayden so Joe could get some more water, then we spun around and headed out to hit the northern part of the loop again. Literally within the span of 5 miles, POOF!! My legs went totally dead. Later, Joe commented how he saw it all happen and how surprising it was to watch. I don't ever recall a feeling like that, having it all come apart so fast. It was very strange. After I slowed the pace way down, I decided I really needed to tackle the 2 big hills for a second time, so I gutted it out for a few more miles. At the next opportunity, however, we cut the loop short and headed back to CDA. The last 10 miles, we were heading into a fairly good headwind, so I pretty much just pedaled really easy and cruised it on in. The weird thing about the last part of the ride was this: in the past, in this situation, I would have become very frustrated and angry at the state of things. But today, I just sort of let it go, and decided, hey, it just isn't going to happen today. Incredibly, the headwind didn't even get to me! Now, while I won't call this a breakthrough, it was a good opportunity for me to practice staying positive (or, rather, not get negative) on the bike. Because, who knows, I may have very similar conditions on race day. So what would have been a frustrating day, actually turned into a good day. So what if I didn't get my 90 miles in? Actually, when I mapped it out, I realized that I had made it 70, which made me feel even better! We ended up finishing before Kirk, and he graciously postponed his planned run so we could hit the road and get home. But not before we made a stop at Paul Bunyan's for milkshakes. I got a large....or, more like a GALLON!!! It was damn good though :)

Sunday evening, I headed up to Deer Lake w/ the Tri Fusion Kids Race crew to plan and scout the course. It was a super-fun time, and we made a ton of great progress toward pulling off what I truly believe will be an awesome event. The highlight for me was when we took over one corner of the World Famous Clayton Burger and spread out all of our papers to talk and plan more while we ate. We definitely got some funny looks from the "locals", because we were all totally engrossed in "talking tri". I am fairly certain that it sounded like we were speaking a totally different language. We were definitely "in the zone" :)

Monday was supposed to be an off day, but Steve has somehow figured out that it is pretty easy for him to talk me into a run no matter what my schedule says. What is more, this time he crafted this sneaky little 6m, kick-me-in-the-ass workout. Now, of course I had every opportunity to back out and just do a 10k recovery run, but, come on...would I ever do that?!? :) No way!! So, I suffered through Steve's hard-ass tempo run, and only got beat by about 1 mile. Not bad, considering what I had done the past few days. Seriously, though, it was a freaking awesome workout, and I'm really glad that I didn't bow to the inner voice begging me to wuss out. Later in the evening, we rewarded ourselves by consuming massive amounts of Coldstone, all in record time.

Tuesday I finally allowed my body some recovery, as I decided just to do an easy swim. I did a descending mile with the EWU Tri guys, and as predicted, my time wasn't anything to shout about. But I was (again) totally ok with it, all things considered.

I am really looking forward to this weekend, as it is my first race of the season, OnionMan Olympic down in Walla Walla. I'm curious to see how my body responds to the higher volume of training I've been doing, and I think it will be interesting to see if I still remember how to put on a wetsuit. I think the last time I had it on (and, curiously, the last time I swam in open water) was last August....uh oh :) Either way, it should be a fun time.

The Blah's

Since my awesome, but intense Bloomsday weekend, I have felt sort of blah about my training. I could tell after Bloomsday that my body needed a bit of a rest, but its been hard to get back into it full force.

I think it may have started last Wednesday. Kirk and I had planned on doing another afternoon CDA workout, but the weather was crappy and Kirk had to back out at the last minute. Because I had already put in for time off, I decided to leave at 10:30 anyway and headed home to ride on the trainer. I did get 40m in on the trainer in the afternoon, but I think the combination of it being May 7th and a Wednesday afternoon, it just felt weird. I planned it out to finish my ride about the time Andy got home so we could run together, so before my ride, I did some stuff around the house. Nothing like cleaning bathrooms at noon on a Wednesday to scramble your circadian rhythm!!

Then, over the weekend, Andy and I went down to Disneyland in search of warmth and better weather...and because we seriously needed a Disney fix! I decided not to bring any workout gear down, thinking that an "off weekend" would be just what my body needed. What I stupidly failed to remember, however, is how we can't do Disneyland "easy", and how many good things there are to eat there. We are go go go, all the time...hmmm, the park is open until midnight? Better stay until it closes!! Oooh, a churro stand and ice cream? Better get some of that!! Oh, we only have 3 days? Better get the latest flight possible out of LA so we can maximize our time!! Anyway, the trip was a ton of fun, and both Saturday and Sunday afternoons were beautiful and sunny. We didn't get home until after midnight on Sunday, and we were so tired on the plane that we both did something sort of resembling sleep the whole way. We must have looked so silly trying to find semi-comfortable sleeping positions!! Eventually, we both ended up with our heads down on the tray tables :)

Well, so much for an "off weekend"!!

Since we have been back, I've done a few workouts, but they have felt very sluggish. Monday, I somehow made it through an 8m run with Steve...fortunately he wasn't pushing the pace, otherwise, I'd have been toast. Tuesday's ride was rainy and chilly, but I'm glad I went. I found it a bit ironic that the guy who always complains about only riding in ideal conditions (me) rode in the rain...breakthrough! Well, maybe not. :) Yesterday, my grand plan to ride home from work fell apart at about 6:45am, as I found myself unable to figure out the logistics. So I just threw up my hands and said "screw it!". I did manage to get in a 4m run after work, even though I felt like crap. Andy had a hard run too, and we decided that our bodies must not be fully recovered from Disneyland. Either that, or our brains are still sad about leaving Disneyland :)

The weather the first half of the week has also been crappy, which I think is also keeping me down. Fortunately, today is gorgeous, and this weekend its supposed to be up in the 80s. Already I can feel myself being more energized and ready to get some good quality workouts in.

Today I am test-riding the IronEagle sprint tri bike course w/ the EWU Tri guys, and then riding home. I am really looking forward to getting out there and hopefully sweating out some of this negative-ness and blahs....... I also have a big weekend of long workouts planned, with some more awesome weather. Sweet!! And we get to hang out with our friend Lisa, who is visiting Spokane from Germany....yipee!!!

Bloomsday Weekend

Well, as promised, the weather turned around this weekend for the annual rite of spring in the Inland Northwest, Bloomsday. My spirits were buoyed when, for the first time this year, I noticed a flowering cherry tree in full bloom while I was on the bus home Friday afternoon. It was definitely a welcome sight.

Saturday, I decided against driving all the way out to CDA to ride the course, because we had to meet up with Jessi, Emma and Steve in the afternoon to pick up Bloomsday numbers. So, I headed out on the road for a solo 75 mile bike. I knew it would be a tough effort, because I always find it hard to motivate myself and stay positive when I'm riding by myself. But, I knew that it had to be done! I rode the reverse of the Troika course out to Medical Lake, then took a quick spin around Clear Lake before heading home. The first half was tough, because it was mostly uphill, so I decided not to look at my speed and just focus on keeping a good, high cadence. As always, the Coulee Hite section was the hardest on me mentally, but I felt like I handled the hills pretty good. Out in Medical Lake, I saw Amanda Berquist who was just finishing up her ride, and we chatted for a bit...always nice to see some friendly faces out on the road when you feel like you are a million miles from home. After a quick stop at the lake to refuel, I looked at my average, just to see how much I could bump it up on the inward half. I was only at 17.3mph at this point. The next time I looked, 3 miles from home, my average was up to 18.1mph. Excellent. I tried pushing the second half a bit harder, and it was nice to see the payoff. After just over 4 hours in the saddle and 75 miles, I felt amazingly fresh. Usually, efforts like this would have sent me straight to the couch for the rest of the day. So I was pretty happy that I felt energized and ready to go after a quick shower and my trusty can of FRS. It was a good day on the bike...almost too good? :) We'll see.....

Andy and I headed out to pick up Jessi, Emma and Steve, then we headed down to the Bloomsday trade show to pick up our numbers (yellow for all!!!) We had a really fun afternoon trying on sunglasses, having breath holding competitions (warning: do not enter one of these competitions with Emma...she knows a secret and will beat you soundly :), and a well-deserved pre-race meal at Pita Pit. The trade show was kind of weird, with alot of non-running-related booths, but oh well, Bloomsday isn't about the trade show for me. Saturday night ended early, after setting out my gear for the morning. It was kind of nice and weird at the same time to just get running stuff together.

Sunday morning dawned sunny, but cool: perfect racing weather. We picked up Steve at 7:15am and headed downtown. I felt very relaxed, since I really didn't have a goal time I was going for, and I knew I had a second loop to look forward to. After finding a parking spot, we grabbed our pre-race FRS's for an energy boost, then set off for Starbucks to meet up with Zach.

After finding Zach and waiting for the first of Steve's many bathroom breaks, we found our spot in the corral. About an hour later, we started our slow walk to the line and the bedlam began. Steve was shooting for a sub-52, and our plan was for me to pace him. Having seen him run, I knew that plan wouldn't last long, and it didn't, as he was off like a bullet once we hit the starting line. My first mile felt a bit sluggish, and I knew early on that the race was going to be more of a struggle than the last 2 years. I hit Mile 1 at 6:33, with Steve still in sight, but just barely. I actually thought that if I could keep up that pace, I'd have a chance to beat my time from last year...funny what a race will do to rational thought! After tearing down the hill to Latah Creek with Zach and Cameron in tow, I attempted to settle into a comfortable pace, and felt relatively good going up the first hill. I got a nice boost of energy from Jessi who still had the energy to scream some words of encouragement to me...I could only glance back and smile weakly. Probably not a good sign. Just before the first water stop, Steve suddenly appeared at my shoulder, and I guessed correctly that he had relented and made the pit stop he had been begging for back in the corral. We ran together up Cemetary Hill, and then Steve put on a surge down the slight incline that I didn't have the legs to cover. Game over, at Mile 3. Up past the college, Steve was still within striking distance, but my mind wandered backward and forward: backward to my 75 miles on the bike yesterday, and forward to the second loop that I had stupidly agreed to. So I decided not to push the pace. Well, actually, it was my quads that made that decision :) As I watched Steve set off in search of Eric as he glided down the hill to TJ Meenach Bridge, I tried to let gravity do its thing. Fortunately the hill was short, so my weakness wasn't exposed too much. Unfortunately, Doomsday loomed ahead. I struggled up Doomsday much more this year than the past 2 years, but I was still able to pass quite a few people. However, when I got to the top, I didn't have the energy in my legs to drop my pace to the finish, so I just tried to keep my pace even and wait until the last few blocks to start my kick. When I looked at my watch at 10k, I knew that sub-52 was out the window, but I wasn't really concerned. Somehow, though, when I made the last turn to the finish, I was still under 52, and if I had really kicked all out those last 2 blocks, I might have made it. But, since I wasn't really concerned about it, I cruised in to finish in 52:12.

After meeting up with Steve and Jessi, we waited to say hi to some of our other Tri-Fusion friends, and recount our awesome days. Like Jessi's 6 min PR. And like Tiffany's 11 min PR!!! Andy came in shortly after, having another great day, and we then set off to gather our coveted finishers shirts (red this year...not too bad). We met up with Joe, and after a quick stop at the car to refuel, Joe and I set off for our second loop.

We didn't catch the end of the field until about Mile 2, and then the re-energizing comments began from behind us as we passed people. Like "Oh my goodness, I think they are doing it again!" The crowd this year was much more spread out, and we were able to pretty much run full-stride the whole way. From Doomsday on, though we were forced to run on the sidewalks, and had to do a bit of weaving, but we still finished in a respectable time (1:06:00). Joe practically dragged me in the last 2 miles, but I was very pleased with my effort and how my body managed the second loop. Perhaps it was the Guinness that was waiting for me at the bar....it has now become tradition to meet up at O'Doherty's after a second loop for a beer. Nice recovery drink!! It took me a while to get thru the beer though, because I was spent. A hard weekend had finally caught up with me. Joe and Meredith kindly gave me a ride home, and then I discovered a wonderful treat Andy had for me in the freezer...it seems that she and Steve didn't forget about me while they were at Maggie Moo's and I was out still running. A HUGE shake awaited me, and it was damn good.

Later that afternoon, we picked up Steve and headed up to the Gallagher's for a nice, relaxing BBQ and a recovery soak in their hot tub. It felt really good to just sit around and do nothing. It was the perfect end to a really productive and super fun weekend! Congrats to everyone on their awesome races, and thanks to Andy, Steve, Jessi, Emma, Greg, and Natalie for lots of laughs, fun and friendship!

Thursday triathlon

Happy May Day! The weather may (ha ha ha, no pun intended :) have finally turned the corner, as today was a sunny, warm day. And this weekend, being Bloomsday, temps are supposed to approach 70. Whoa!!!

Today's workouts started out with a swim at lunch. After doing 10 x 50s for a warmup, I believe that a pool-gnome secretly began moving the wall in my lane back toward the parking lot, because my 10 x 150s took forever! Sometimes 200s seem to zoom by as if they were 25s, and sometimes 50s feel like 500s. Today's swim was definitely in the latter category. But, I'm glad I toughed it out mentally and got my 2000m in. Maybe it was because I was so looking forward to my evening workouts.....

....which began with a fun group meeting up at Thompson's house. Jessi and I had coordinated ahead of time to do a brick/transition practice, so I was excited to see just how much about T2 I had forgotten since last year :) Turns out, it was ALOT. I was also excited that Andy decided to join the group and do her last 5m run before Bloomsday while we were out on the bikes. She didn't know this before she committed, but every direction from Thompson's house includes a hill, so I was proud of her for tackling those hills and toughing out her 5 miles. My other 2 pieces of excitement were a) the arrival of my speedy new aero helmet, and b) the reuniting of Team A+ and the long-awaited A+ photo shoot.

After getting changed and ready to go, our cycling group hit the road for an hour ride. As we turned the first corner, I found myself second wheel, which could only mean one thing: I was stuck and bascially forced into keeping up with Roger. Yikes. Of course I suppose I could have always pulled out of line and hung back, but, come on, really, would I ever let myself do that? :) So it was Roger, me, Jessi, Steve and Eric and we quickly approached warp speed as we tore across Hwy 2 and out toward the Peone loop. By the time I dared take my eyes off Roger's wheel, it was just us two and Jessi, who almost got taken out by a wonderful Spokane driver. The hammer never came up, and before I knew what hit me, we were heading back and I had somehow survived. I even somehow ended up in front as we went past Mead HS on our way in, and I'm sure that Roger and Jessi appreciated the easy pace I was doing :) As I was gasping for breath and screaming down the hill toward the house, it was time to start thinking about T2, so I got out of my shoes ok and hit my "transition area" (aka, a towel, running shoes and visor in the garage). Of course Jessi smoked me in transition, and she absolutely tore out onto the "run course" so I just had to chase her down. :) Super, lets just get anaerobic right out of the gate and get it over with. I finally caught her and we proceeded to scream down the hill towards St Georges, convinced that my legs would fall off at any moment. Fortunately for me, the road finally pitched up and I was able to test out my uphill running legs. Amazingly, they were there, and I actually felt better going up the hills than down. But in reality, that happens alot. I even think that "Tim" is Latin for "can go uphill great, can't go downhill for crap". Anyway, after a leg- and lung-searing mile or so, I turned around and headed back. I tried to keep the pace high, and it was a struggle, but fortunately it wasn't too far back to the house. The overall damage for the brick was as follows:

Bike: 20.6m in 57:15, 21.6mph average (!)

T2: painfully slow

Run: 2.35m in 15:53, 6:45 pace

Here's Jessi before the brick. This smile means "I'm going to beat Tim like a drum and the poor sucker has no idea....he he he he"

After I retreived my legs and lungs from the side of the road, we all hung around for an awesome meal and then the real fun began. I will direct you to the blogs of my A+ teammates for their perspective, but here's my take: thank goodness I got to be the '+' and just got to lay on the floor with my arms out. In reality, it was alot like many of my post-workout sessions: lay on the floor for awhile and try to recover.

The main difference was that we were laughing our butts off while everyone else was standing around either a) taking thousands of pictures or b) wondering why they chose to hang out with such crazy people. In the end (yes, pun intended, A+) we did get a good shot. I'm happy we finally got our symbol on film, though I must admit that the process wore me out. Again, good thing all I had to do was lay on the floor!! :)

It was a wonderful evening of workouts, friends, laughing and food. Definitely the kind of night that makes me glad to be a triathlete.

Lilac Century

The weekend started with a nice Saturday of sleeping in and running some errands with Andy, bracketed around a 3000yd swim, and ending with a fun wine party at the Flowers'. My swim went very well, even though I was all alone :( I made it thru the whole workout in under 55 min, including breaks, which I felt very good about. I was even doing my 100s on the 1:40 and my 150s on the 2:30. I think I was more motivated to get the workout over than to get some extra rest, so I constantly heard Roger's voice in my head saying "READY??....OK, HERE WE GO" After looking at the Sunday swim workout that some crazy person put together, maybe it was best for me to do my own thing! :) Really, I did miss my Sunday swimming-mates, especially when I saw their handstand contest! But they did put together a super-nice tribute to me...its nice to be thought of and missed. You guys are awesome!!

After probably a bit too much wine the evening prior, Sunday dawned with a beautiful sunrise at about 5:30am while I was eating breakfast and getting my gear together. Kirk picked me up at precisely 6:28am, and we were off to SFCC for the Lilac Century 100 mile ride. It was a bit chilly waiting around for the start, but I handled it ok leading up to the 7:30am start. The first 20 miles were, for me, damn cold. But fortunately I had some Tri-Fusion teammates, Kathi, Katie, Matt, Dave, Tasha to chat with and take my mind off my frozen fingers. My plan was to ride conservatively thru the first 2 rest stops, hoping to save my legs for the mentally tough last 30 miles and my post-ride run, and I think I managed to do just that. I linked up with a few different riders and groups occasionally, but I really felt like I was riding my own ride. At the first rest stop, Matt Cusack and I joined up and rode most of the remainder of the ride together, and it was nice to have someone to ride and chat with, especially as the miles wore on and the pack thinned out. It can get quite lonely out there, unlike the 112 miles of the Ironman. We found Dave Lawrence at the bottom of the hill to Reardan, and the 3 of us powered our way up, up, up until we pulled into Reardan. The last 2 years, this section has been a struggle for me, so it was a very nice feeling to have lots of energy under me and feel like I was really moving well up the hill. Except for the guy who was climbing this long hill in the big chainring (!), I don't think we got passed by anyone.

After Reardan, it was into the headwinds, although mercifully they weren't too stiff. Matt dropped back a bit, so I was left to fight out the last 30 miles solo, which, even though it meant I wouldn't be able to get any drafting help, turned out to be a good test of my mental strength. I am not a cyclist by nature, so any long efforts usually turn into a test of my mind as much as my legs. Today, I felt great the whole way, never really got frustrated or "down", and didn't let my pace slack off. Of course my butt and shoulders and neck and legs were feeling worn down when I rolled into the finish line, but nowhere near as bad as the last 2 years. It was a good day in the saddle, to be sure. Total damage: 101.67 miles, 5:49:14 in the saddle, avg 17.4mph. I was not concerned about going fast today, and it showed :) Oh well, this ride was all about time on the bike, so...mission accomplished! I also did some nutritional experimenting during this ride, and was happy to find a good PowerBar option that seemed to set well in my system.

After I got back to SFCC, I roused Kirk from his post-ride and potato nap, and grabbed my running stuff from the truck. Secretly, I was hoping that since he had been done with his ride and run for about 6 hours (ok, maybe 2, but sheesh he's fast!) he would tell me that he really needed to get back home, which would've meant I didn't need to run. But, really, would Kirk ever let me get out of a workout? Ha! So, off I went for what I hoped was 2 of the 5k loops the ride organizers had generously marked out. It appears that a baked potato and salsa are really good for brick recovery, because Kirk quickly finished his potato and joined me on my first loop. So, lets see...Kirk does 100+ miles on the bike at over 20mph average, then runs 10k, then has a potato, and still wants to run 5k more with me??? Are you kidding me? As I watched him run away from me quickly up the hills, I was reminded once again how freaking hard core this guy is. But I am really thankful for all the workouts he's dragged me thru over the past 3 years, because I know they have made me so much stronger. I limped in to the finish of my first loop, and this time actually begged Kirk to please, please, please tell me that he really did have to get going and couldn't wait around any longer for me to finish my workout. As I descended the hill away from the college, I realized how silly this request was. I darn near crawled up the steepest parts of the hills, but absolutely refused to walk. I'm not sure why, since if this was in any way an IM prep day, I would have been walking at every aid station, but I kept my legs moving at just slightly above walking speed. In hindsight, I am happy that I didn't give in...I think I may be recalling those 2 miles at some point in time while I'm out on the IM course. :) I finished up my run and was absolutely spent. Kirk and a few others stood around watching me get changed and packed up "very quickly" (a.k.a. "Geez, Tim, could you move any slower???") Then I looked at my watch and realized why I was moving so darn slow. I had somehow managed to run 10k in 8:07 pace. Damn. After riding 100 miles. I think my watch may have been on someone else's wrist, but if it really was me, I'll take that any day!!! I certainly don't think I'll be anywhere close to that at Ironman, but I secretly think this may bode well for things to come in, oh, say, 55 days? :)

Andy and I ended the day with what has become sort of a tradition for me after a long workout or race, a burger and beer at The Onion. Matt, Jessie and Steve joined us, and we had fun recapping our day. And in yet another testament to why she is the worlds greatest IronSherpa, Andy again wonderfully put up with me and my tri friends going on and on endlessly about triathlons. All in all...a good day!!!