112

Testees on the testes.

I miss my boys. On any ride more than an hour, there ceases to be a there there. It has become necessary to replace the stock saddle that came with my Cervelo, and I have been putting off the decision because I’m getting stingy and am quite tired of buying Stuff. The Stuff never seems to end, especially after the horror that was my return from Boise. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that in my race report: when I brought the bike box back to Tri Zombies on Tuesday Scott informed me that a hole had been punched into his disk wheel. Ironman bikes didn’t see any damage when they packed it, the box was undamaged, so obviously someone opened it, broke the wheel, and closed it up hoping not to get caught.

20:49 at the Culver City 5K!

How the hell did I PR that race? Yesterday was crazy long: up at 5:30am, then all morning with the CHLA team meeting and helping with the ocean 101 clinic, then a two hour workout and two birthday parties. Didn’t get to bed until 1am, then up again at 6:30am for today’s race. Let’s just say I was pretty tired.

2009 Boise Ironman 70.3, HTFU

On the phone with coach Brian the morning of the race he asked if I could figure out how to do this race just for fun to let him know. He’s doing Vineman soon, “just for fun” and has serious doubts that he can get his head away from the numbers to focus on the joy of the journey. Here’s a way: do your swim in a lake that slaps you around the way Jack Nicholson treated Faye Dunaway at the end of Chinatown, do your bike inside a car wash during a tornado for 56 miles, and then do your run in a kiddie pool. After a while you’ll stop caring about the numbers, your watch, the race clock, and you’ll just think one thing: HTFU. Harden The Fuck Up.

Centenarians

It should be obvious that the second fifty miles of a century ride are harder than the first. However, knowing that intellectually doesn’t prepare you for the magnitude of difference. Eight of us began the ride, two of us did the whole thing. Eight people were kind enough, enthusiastic enough, and energized enough to do 50. Two of us were crazy enough to do the full 100. There was something both gratifying and heartbreaking about pulling into the parking lot after riding 50 miles and seeing my friends cooling off and racking their bikes while I stopped, reloaded water bottles, bumped fists with friends, and then rolled out to do the 50 mile course again.

T minus 6 months.

Today is May 22, exactly six months from Ironman Arizona 11/22. I officially start my IMAZ plan. Well, actually tomorrow. Today is an off day. It’s a good thing, because here is what the next six months have in store for me:

100 miles of swimming
3,000 miles of biking
1,000 miles of running

TRAINING GOALS:

1) My first non-stop 112 mile bike ride on the tri bike
2) An 8,000 meter swim session
3) A 300 mile bike week
4) Race a 95 minute 13.1 mile half marathon
5) Do a 112 mile ride followed by a 1 hour run

RACE GOALS:

1) Finish
2) Finish injury-free
3) Finish injury-free while honoring my role in my partnership
4) Finish injury-free while honoring my role in my partnership and not becoming an asshole
5) Time is not a goal.

Six months from today I will be yet another person, someone I can’t quite visualize. The person who has done everything in those goals. The person who will swim 2.5 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a marathon. In one day. Non-stop. I cannot control what happens on race day so I have goals and milestones for incremental success along the way. Six months from today I want to wake up feeling like I’ve already accomplished more than I expected.

The race should be the icing on the training cake.

An IRONCAKE.

How to make a puddle.

Fantastic workout today – set up the bike trainers next to the track at Santa Monica High School and did the following workout while sharing the track with physically and mentally challenged kids giving their track and field workouts all their heart. It made our day to see them totally enjoying themselves while we shared their field and happiness.

I, conoclast.

I, conoclast.

I have been comfortable with being “that guy” my whole life. I like to think that I serve as an end point to a spectrum, whatever spectrum that may be. My father in-law frequently says, in exasperated response to me making a crass comment, “you went there”. My reply, always my reply, is, “I live there.” I don’t beat jokes to death, I carry them as far as I can take them wherever the stream leads. For example, two days ago I was IM’ing with a friend. All she said was, “I am like a wall”. Here is my reply:

On competing.

On competing

Thursday Brian had me scheduled to swim forty 100 meter reps with ten seconds of rest in between each rep. It should have taken 90 minutes. My regular pool was closed for repair so I decided to finally go to the Culver Plunge for their nighttime lap swim. The Plunge is a 5 minute walk from my front door but since I’m a cheapskate I’ve always driven the 10 minutes to the free pool at my in-law’s place. Last week I promised Coach Brian that I’d switch to the plunge because it’s a 50 meter pool and that will greatly expand my aerobic fitness for Ironman distance. First, switching from yards to meters, and second, not pausing for 3 seconds at the wall to turn will help a lot. As I walked to the Plunge I spotted a familiar face prepping to run with a small group of people.

1:41:27 half marathon!

Thanks to Brian’s coaching and putting in the miles I finished today in 1:41:27 at a 7:45 pace. An awesome run for which I am thankful to my cousin Chris who set the ambitious goal time and to Coach Brian for setting up workouts to get me faster.
Woo!
248th place out of 4548 finishers.
199 out of 1888 Men.
M 30-34 30 out of 282.
Age/Grade 58.61% Place: 666 (seriously)