Austin Marathon: 2009

Sunday, February 15, 2009
7:00 AM, Austin, Texas
http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=50501213&rsID=75103&pubID=3

My Goal:

• Wanted: <>
• Did: 3:51:23
  

My Rankings:

• Overall: 1076 / 4053
  
• Gender: 791 / 2459
  
• Division: 107 / 334
  

Ever have one of those days where you wake up and feel as if you could conquer the world? You feel as if you could parachute out of a jet, land on a surfboard surrounded by great whites while holding a bucket of chum and ride the fiercest wave back to shore! This race morning was definitely not one of those days. Wednesday I ran 12 miles and the knee pain, I suffered through, at Bandera had begun to return around mile 11. With two weeks off due to injury and still lacking a long run since Bandera, I realistically didn't have much hope of finishing this marathon. Despite believing my chances were slim, I still wanted to run part of it... too at least cross the starting line amidst the electrifying energy of thousands of anxious runners. I decided that my timing chip was to remain at home because I would rather have a DNS (did not start) than a DNF (did not finish) on my record.

But then I saw something that changed my mind... a video of David Goggins talking about his first 100 mile ultra-marathon. David ran his 100 miler on a 1 mile track and by mile 70 he had broken, most of, the bones in his feet. To make matters worse, he even had to take a shit on himself because he couldn't make it to the bathroom! With broken feet and crap crusted shorts he then ran the remaining 30 miles to the finish! Talk about determination. I may never reach that level of determination but I want to come closer too it, not only for the sake of my running but for my life in general. Running this marathon without my timing chip will only make it easier for me to quit when that little voice inside my head is yelling at me to do so. If a person can run 30 miles on cracked feet, surely I can run 26 miles with sore knees. I'm no David Goggins but... baby steps. With that I decided I would wear my timing chip and complete the race.

My brother and Matt were also running the race so they stayed over, at my place, the night before. We woke up early, stretched and ate a breakfast which consisted of oatmeal, cliff bars and bananas. We made it to the race early, with enough time for two restroom breaks. It was fairly cold that morning so it was a relief to take one of our breaks in the nearby warm hotel. So many runners were packed into the toasty lobby, of this hotel, passing the time that I'm surprised they didn't start kicking people out. The second restroom stop was at a porta-potty and I remembered to bring a roll of toilet paper but ended up not having to use it. Supplies were already running low though, in the stall, so I kindly left my roll for the winding line of people.

We positioned ourselves close to the 3:30 pacers and waited for the race start. If I remember correctly, the race started 10-15 minutes late but it didn't bother me a bit. The upcoming hours promised pain and for now it was nice to relax, talk and bask in the sunrise amongst the thousands of other racers. Last year I remembered an ebullient fireworks display at the onset of the race. Fireworks normally crown the end to a celebratory event and yet here they seemed to be highlighting the start. In a way, it was a celebration of all the training, resolve and courage it took to even be standing here. Months of preparation and sacrifice had led up to this day and now all I had to do was simply run it. For whatever reason I didn't see the fireworks today but I imagined them and felt my legs get a little lighter...

The miles went by quickly; me, Ty and Matt stayed together and were running about a 7:20 to 8:20 minute mile. Occasionally I would do a knee check to see if the pain had returned but nope... no pain, not even in the slightest. Around mile 15, Ty and I stopped for a restroom break while Matt kept running. We thought we could catch back up to Matt but it turned out that that was the last time we would see him during the race. I brought two gu packs along with me and ate one of them at mile 17. I should have brought more to eat because my stomach was roaring by mile 23. Luckily, Ty had brought a pack of shot bloks, which he shared with me, and I stole some oranges from the nice people on the side of the road. Love those oranges on a run, wish I could find a good way to pack some along so I could eat 'em when I need 'em!

Ty had been having some quad pain which started around mile 16 and by mile 23 it was really bothering him so we stopped and walked at a couple of the aid stations. Walking during a race is very uncharacteristic of Ty so I knew the pain had to be pretty substantial. Though I could have forged on, I also stopped and walked the aid stations with him. On one hand I stopped and walked for support and on the other I'm still a pansy that can't pass up a good excuse at a chance to walk after already running 23 miles. With a few more bouts of running / walking the finish line was in sight and we bolted for it, crossing in a sub six minute pace.

Ty and I finished in 3:51 which was roughly three minutes faster than my previous marathon. Matt finished with an outstanding time of 3:39. For my next marathon, I'm going to try my hardest to ensure that I'm committed to doing as well as I can in it. These past two marathons were essentially "on the side" races that I did just to get some marathon experience under my belt. My first marathon was hindered by an injury I received from running a half-ironman the weekend before and this one was hindered by an injury I received at my first ultra-marathon. I considered both the half-ironman and the ultra-marathon more important than the marathons and it shows in my results. Given my current fitness level I believe I can achieve a marathon time of less than 3:30 and possible less than 3:15 if I really push it. Next marathon season, I hope to put this theory to the test but for now, I have some triathlons to train for!

Bandera 50K Ultramarathon

Saturday, January 10, 2009
7:30 AM, Bandera, Texas
results
photos

My Goal:

• Wanted: <>
• Did: 6:32:19
  

My Rankings:

• Overall: 48 / 125
  
• Division: 6 / 19

Finished my first ultra-marathon and it wore me out so much that I'm just now finding the energy to write up this report. Har! I have been uncharacteristically lazy since the race though. Running for six and a half hours in the gorgeous Bandera hill country was such an exciting adventure that it makes normal, everyday, life feel... well, a bit normal and routine. Towards the end of the race I was cursing every rock and praying to whatever god would listen that the next step I took would be across the finish line. For 2-3 days after the race it felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my knees and I could barely walk, I was so stiff and sore. It's funny how despite all the pain and cursing all I really remember, when I look back on that day, are the high points and I wish I were out there racing again.

Since I've procrastinated so long in writing this race report, it's going to be a short one. Events from the race have begun to congeal together and what took me six and a half hours to accomplish now, upon remembering, only seems like about two hours. As I mentioned above, I'm left with only the good feelings of that day sprinkled with a dash of the negative thoughts that dominated my mind when I was out on the trail. I'll do my best to recap and share my thoughts from the race.

I slept great the night before the race despite some heartburn from the ginormous sour cream & cheese potato I ate (supposedly there were > 2300 calories in this bastard). On race morning it was cold enough to freeze a hairless caribou and windy enough to fly a one ton kite. Woke up around 5:30 ate a bit, froze, drank some water, froze, stretched, thawed out (just kidding, I froze) and ate some more. Still dressed in my "goddamn it's cold" clothing, I got in line at the toilet a little after 7:00 thinking I would have enough time to make it back to camp before the race started at 7:30. The line was long and people were moving slow and by the time I finished, I had barely walked out the door when the 50k race started. Being a little over half a mile away from the start line I sprinted back to camp, took off my winter clothes strapped on my garmin and dashed towards the starting line.

I was the last one in the pack at this point and by the time I caught up to the other runners, the trail had narrowed down to the point were everyone had to run in single-file. My brother, Ty, and friend, Matt, had made it through the potty lines earlier and had started at the front of the race. I was trying to catch up to them while dodging sotol, ankle twisting rocks and maneuvering around other runners on the narrow trail. In all, I think my late start extended my finishing time by about 10-15 minutes. The extra push I was taking to catch up to Matt and Ty surely didn't help the knee problems I would develop later in the race either.

Bandera is an incredibly rocky and harsh trail with very few flat sections and it is steep enough in many places to force anyone to walk or power hike. In fact all the real steep climbs are given names which include, Cairn's Climb, Boyle's Bump, Sky Island, Ice Cream Hill, Three Sisters and Lucky Peak. This way when the race is over you can curse these names and other runners will know full well what you're talking about. I don't remember the race well enough anymore to recall how I felt going up and down each of these hills so the safe bet is to just assume I was in pain!

By mile 10 my knees were already starting to hurt since I had not given them enough time to recover from my training runs and plus, I was taking the downhills too hard. At this point I slowed the pace down some and even began to walk the occasional steep downhill. Around mile 15 I came to the first aid station (Chappa's) and saw Matt! We talked for a moment but he was on his way out just as I was on my way in. I found my drop bag ate a cliff bar, downed some perpetuum and was on my way again. The next 5-6 miles went by really fast, my knees hurt but they weren't too bad and before I knew it, I was at the second aid station (X-Roads). Matt and I entered this aid station at about the same time and talked for a bit while we ate and drank something. He left the aid station before me and I headed out about three minutes later.

The next 5-6 miles didn't go by so fast. After about two miles on this section of trail, my knees began to hurt a lot more and the pain was all I could think about. Remembering some quote I read that went: "it's not the destination but the journey", I tried to simply enjoy being out on the trail and focus on the gorgeous scenery and great weather to distract myself. Almost as soon as I shifted my focus, I tripped on a root! A root! There were plenty of rocks to trip over but I tripped on, probably, the only exposed root in all 50 kilometers of trail! There was no one around to witness my fumble but I kind of wish there would have been. I fell so expertly that I missed all the rocks and rolled back up onto my feet! All those years of being a klutz finally paid off! Despite my skills at fall recovery I figured knee pain was better than the risk of a broken ankle so I decided to stay focused on my footing and push through the pain. Somewhere around mile 25 I came to the X-Roads aid station again and briefly talked to Matt as he was leaving. He was in much better shape than I was!

The last 6-7 miles seemed to drag on for eternity. I ran the first 2-3 miles but then my knee pain became so bad that I had no choice but to walk the rest of the way. The uphill climbs weren't so bad but on the downhills I could feel my knee bones grinding against other knee bones! Finally, after what seemed like forever, I knew I was getting close with probably about a half mile to go. I pooled together my last drops of determination and jogged the rest of the way to the finish line! After crossing the finish line, the magnitude of what I had accomplished that day didn't hit me right away, all I could think about was finding some place to sit down! Both Matt and Ty finished ahead of me. Matt finished 16 minutes ahead and Ty finished a whole hour and 18 minutes faster!

Here are the conclusions I've made after running my first ultra:

1. Ultra-marathons and trail running is just plain fun! I'm definitely going to do some more, maybe even work my way up to a 100 miler! o_O
   
2. I went way overboard in packing my drop bags. A bottle of perpetuum, one gu pack, socks and a blister kit is probably all I need in the bags, anything else I could find at the aid stations.
3. Ultra-marathoners are probably the happiest people you will ever meet! Which is weird because most of the time, there is very little to be happy for when running 31+ miles. Your legs hurt, bones ache and you're mentally fatigued. Yet despite this, people keep going and if you talk to people on the trail, no one sounds bitter or angry, everyone is very upbeat and positive. I was almost tempted to search through their drop bags to find the pain killers and whiskey I was sure would be there.
4. I'm not that happy of a person yet. When my knees really began to hurt, towards the end, I got fire breathing mad! People's upbeat comments, as they passed me on the trail, that were meant to cheer me up just annoyed and pissed me off even more. My anger, determination and pride are what got me to the finish line. Thinking and focusing more on the positive is something I really need to work on.

Preparing for Bandera 50k

Trail running is fun, it's everything you love about running but with rocks... lots of rocks! Trail running forces your mind to stay active which can be invaluable when running long distances. When running long distances on a road, one of the things I've come to dread is not so-much the physical fatigue but the mental fatigue. Rarely, besides car-swallowing potholes or kamikaze squirrels, is there anything that requires your full attention to navigate. When trail running, there are ankle-breaking rocks nearly every step of the way and it's similar to driving a car during heavy traffic. When driving, if you take your eyes off the road for too long, you're going to crash! On the trail, if you zone out or think about something else for too long, you're going to headbutt a rock. Traversing the rocks is fun, it gives my mind something to do and with the proper shoes you will barely feel the rocks. On top of this, trail running may even boost your immune system, as discussed here:

You may finally have a legitimate reason to hug a tree. A hike in the woods can boost your immunity, say Japanese researchers. They found that men who walked through a forest for a total of 6 hours over 2 days eperienced a 46% spoke in their blood levels of natural killer cells, which are part of your body's SWAT team against invading viruses. Apparently, all trees release airborne chemicals called phytoncides that not only protect their foliage from microbes, but also help to stimulate our own immunity systems.

In six days I'm running the Bandera 50k (~31.1 miles) ultra-marathon in the Hill Country State Park. This run will all be done on trails with steep elevation changes and enough rocks to fill the Grand Canyon. The furthest I've run so far is the marathon distance but that was on relatively flat ground and my legs still don't feel conditioned for the pounding they're going to be taking over the 31 mile course. I ran 28 miles two weeks ago but I had some knee pains at mile 26, so I decided to walk the remainder so that I would not exacerbate the pain and turn it into something that would take weeks to heal. Not making it through the entire 28 miles worries me and I'm also worried that the knee pain will return on race day.

We (me, my brother and a friend) drove out to Bandera this weekend and ran 14 miles of the course. The first six miles of the course are the hardest and the trail is incredibly steep in some parts to say the least! We, maybe, could have ran up the inclines but knowing that we still had a long journey, we walked them and that is what I plan to do during the race. We were all super-tired by the time we finished but I believe that had to do with the, "it's winter, why is it so freaking hot!?", heat and being slightly dehydrated. I ran out of water at mile 9.5 (they ran out 2-3 miles later) so we walked most of the way back to play it safe. After this test, I feel that, as far as cardiovascular-fitness goes, I'm ready for the race but I'm not sure if my legs can take the beating for 50 kilometers. I'll be happy with a finishing time under seven hours; best case scenario is probably five hours.

It's going to be a fun, painful, weekend and I can't wait. We're going down on Friday and will be camping in tents all through Sunday! We'll probably sit by the campfire listening to all the vets tell horror stories about how they've broken bones and crawled like a slug, covered in salt, to the finish line. Then the following morning I'll start off on the hardest race I've done to date! Hopefully I'll come back with some horror stories of my own! ;)

Santa Speedo & Jingle Bell 5k

Sunday, December 14, 2008
9:00 AM, Austin, Texas
http://mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=3441

My Goal:

• Wanted: under 19:57 minutes
  
• Did: 20:54
  

My Rankings:

• Overall: 40 / 555
  
• Gender: 30 / 247
  
• Division: 3 / 28

This past weekend I ran the Trail of Lights Santa Speedo and the Jingle Bell 5k. The speedo run was on Saturday night and was done to raise awareness and funds for Out Youth here in Austin. From the Out Youth website:

Out Youth is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support and provide services to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth ages 12 to 19 in Austin and Central Texas.

As Mark, so very well put it, "you don't have to have cancer to raise money for it". I'm not gay but in this day and age, we all probably know someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender and if you don't then you will very shortly. And you won't just know them, they will be a good friend of yours. It's nice to know that there is a place out there that helps confused teenagers accept their sexuality and I was glad to help the cause in any way I could. This time it meant running in a speedo!

There were somewhere between 2,000 - 4,000 people out for the Trail of Lights 5k this year! There were a lot of great costumes: people wrapped head-to-toe in christmas lights, Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and elves but nothing could beat the santa speedo runners! In addition to my red speedo and santa hat, I brought along some green, battery powered, christmas lights and two lighted ornaments. I figured, why not up the humility and draw even more attention to myself!? I wrapped the lights around my torso, tucked in the battery pack and hung the ornaments from my speedo.

In total, there were around 20 people running in speedos and it was a blast! My ornaments broke off, from my speedo, as soon as I started running but the christmas lights stayed on for the entire run. I was a little worried about the battery pack, for the christmas lights, since it rested precariously close to my cojones. Sweating too much could have been quite the shock! I received a lot of cheers from the crowds and I had no less than three women yell out "you can be the light of my life"! I might have to run in a speedo more often...

This race wasn't timed but I finished somewhere in the top 50. I know this because they were giving awards to the first 50 finishers and I received a hat when I crossed the finish line. What a fun race and I was glad to help out a great cause! I look forward to running in it next year!

The Jingle Bell 5k was the following morning and I was still feeling tired from the speedo run and the wind was blowing fiercely. This was a timed race so I was trying to beat my Brown Santa time of 19:57 but didn't feel like I would be setting any new PRs this morning. I tried working my way to the front but people were too tightly packed and I couldn't get close to the starting line. When the whistle blew I was juking my way through the crowd avoiding walkers and people with strollers. I danced my way through the maze of people and soon I was able to settle into a speedy pace but I lost a good chunk of time there. The wind also proved to be a rough obstacle as at one point, on a long stretch of road, we were running head-long into it. Despite the wind I was knocking out a steady pace and soon the finish line was in sight!

Up ahead of me was a kid, who couldn't have been older than 11, blazing down the course. I had been catching up to him but he decided to sprint, for the finish, at the same time I did. Some people on the sidelines were cheering him on but a few of the rabble-rousers were yelling "Are you going to let that kid beat you?" at me! Well... yes... NOOO! He was now gaining ground on me! I summoned up every ounce of speed I had left but it was no use, he matched my speed an then laughed at it! Who the hell was this kid! My legs are longer than his... he is breaking the laws of physics by running faster than me! Convinced, now, that he must be some freak of nature I accepted defeat.

I crossed the finish line at 20:54, good enough for third place in my age group! I didn't beat my previous 5k time and I got smoked by an 11 year old, freak of nature, but getting third place helped make up for it!

Brown Santa 5k

Sunday, December 7, 2008
8:15 AM, Austin, Texas
http://www.mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=3456

My Goal:

• Wanted: under 20 minutes
  
• Did: 19:57
  

My Rankings:

• Overall: 7 / 95
  
• Gender: 7 / 51
  
• Division: 1 / 5

Three weeks had passed since my first marathon and the swelling and knotted muscles in my calf had subsided. I had been doing some running to test my legs and all seemed well so I decided to put myself to the test and run a 5k! I convinced my brother to run the 5k with me and we arrived around 7:30, race day morning and did a half mile run to warm up. After the warm-up we hung around for a bit, watched the Decker half-marathoners start and I tried some of the ZICO coconut water they were handing out. Goddamn that coconut water is nasty, makes me feel like I'm drinking tepid bath water!

Soon it was about time to begin so we worked our way to almost the front of the pack. The gun went off and we dashed across the starting line at a lung bleeding pace! My brother was pushing a bit harder than me at the onset so I let him go and hung back because I was fairly certain he could not maintain that pace and I would eventually catch up to him. About a half mile into the race I passed a runner who, shortly after, caught back up to me and began to match my speed. Looks like I had found a new best friend and a pacer! Chris was the name of my new friend and every time I would begin to slow down I would see Chris gaining ground on me which would motivate me to catch back up. Chris would falter occassionaly also but it didn't take long for him to catch back up and match my speed once again.

Chris and I passed around seven people, on our run, and around mile 2.6 we caught up with my brother. The runners up ahead of us were too far gone and there was noone behind us that was in distance to catch us before the finish line so we maintained a steady pace and ran as a group. After a sharp turn, I noticed Chris' nose was bleeding! He denies it but I'm almost certain my brother elbowed Chris in the face (accidently?) when we were coming around that sharp turn because they were both running extremely close together! And here I thought I was competitive...

Chris turned out to be a hardcore dude, he was wiping blood away every few seconds while also still maintaining the same running pace! Soon the finish line was in sight and all three of us sprinted for the end hoping for a mini-victory against the other two! Chris' bloody nose got the best of him during the sprint and he fell a few seconds behind. My brother and I battled it out, for the finish, and I'm pretty sure he was throwing elbows at me whenever I got too close! My brother won this battle (but not the war) by a WHOLE second! Chris crossed the finish line four seconds behind me and we all congratulated each other and I thanked him for pacing me.

Checking the results showed that me and my brother got first place in our respective age groups! Hell yeah! This was the first time either of us had placed in a race and we even got a medal at the awards ceremony! We left for home, happy with our medals and some coconut water that was forced upon us. I don't know if it was the passion fruit or if nothing could bring me down from this high but even the coconut water tasted great!

San Antonio: Rock & Roll Marathon

Sunday, November 16, 2008
7:30 AM, San Antonio, Texas
http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=48026560&rsID=72893

My Goal:

• Wanted: between 3:15 - 3:30
• Did: 3:54:29
  

My Rankings:

• Overall: 1452 / 7618
• Gender: 1084 / 4070
  
• Division: 103 / 405
  

It's been two days now since my first marathon run and I'm still barely able to walk. My left calf is swollen, to the size of my thigh, and terrible, shooting, pains coarse up and down it whenever I try to put any weight on it. Supplies are running low; the only edible items left in my cupboard are beans and a can of seasoned cabbage I never had any intention of ever eating... and still don't. I must find a way to get food soon or my only option will be to amputate! I could call a friend or call for carry-out but that involves walking to a door which now seems further than the 26.2 miles I had already ran. The situation seems hopeless. "How did it come to this?", I ask myself as a hollow echo rumbles through my belly and I eye my lame leg in anguish.

It all started the Wednesday after the Iron Star Half Ironman. I was resting to give myself some time to recover and by Wednesday my legs were feeling almost back to 90%. It felt like a slow run would do my legs good so I decided to go out for a slow five mile run that afternoon. Halfway through the run, my thirst for speed took hold of my better judgment and I decided to throw some fartleks into my workout. Seemingly, everything went well with the run and I quit that night happy with the time I had finished in.

An hour after the run I could tell something was wrong because my left calf muscle was cramped up into a perpetual knot. Over the next few days leading up to the marathon I tried massage, ice and heat packs, herbal remedies and anything else I thought might help. By race day the knotted muscle had loosened up and, though I could still feel it was there, I decided to go through with the race.

That morning, I arrived at the race early and my brother, Ty, came along to bandit run part of it with me. Special note to all future marathoners: bring a roll of TP with you! With 20,000+ people waiting to get that last stop in before the race, your chance of finding a stall with TP are slim to none. I had to use my gloves...

Corral #1 was were I was to start from (right behind the elite runners) which seemed like a good idea when I was registering but today I felt out of place. There was no way I was going to keep up with the other runners in corral #1 after heavily lacking in training, due to a hip problem which sidelined me for over a month, and a knotted calf muscle. A blast from the starting gun rang out and my first marathon had begun! As expected everyone in corral #1 passed me up (even some dude who was speed walking)!

For the first five miles I felt great and was keeping up with the 3:15 pacer. Soon after the five mile mark, my knotted calf muscle woke up and began making sure I knew it was there. By mile ten, the pain was bad... to the point where I could not maintain my normal running form and the pacers began to pass me up. At the expo the day before, I had stopped and listened to the Rock Doc who was giving tips to all the runners about how to take care of themselves before, during and after the race. One thing he had said was now playing over and over in my head as I continued to run; he said "you should continue running only as long as you can maintain your run form". Well I could no longer maintain my running form and I was honestly thinking about dropping out of the race at this point because the pain was so bad.

The thought of dropping out lasted for maybe a quarter mile and then, being the stubborn person I am, I decided that if I could not maintain my normal running form then I would adopt a new running form. There was no way I wasn't going to finish today, I had been looking forward to this race for far too long to quit now! If I reduced my speed, pronated my left foot, landed slightly more on the heel and put less weight on my left leg, the calf pain was severely reduced and bearable. My new running form seemed to be working well until another three miles had passed at which point I noticed I was developing a large blister on my left foot. I tried making some further adjustments to my running form and though I found some relief there was no way around it... I was going to have a huge blister when I was finished!

At mile 17 I had a major crap attack and needed to stop and use the restroom; perhaps eating an entire large pizza, the night before the race, wasn't as good an idea as I thought it was! At mile 20 I noticed a very sharp, biting pain at the top of my left hip but compared to the other pains I was feeling, it was mild and I didn't pay much attention to it. At mile 23 I had to use the restroom again; definitely want to stay away from that pizza the night before a marathon! Around mile 25 I saw Ty again and he ran with me for the last mile and then ducked off the course for the final .2 miles. My legs may have been hurting but my upper body felt incredible and I felt as though I had barely pushed my cardio fitness level so I sprinted the final .15 miles. I crossed the finish line at 3:54:29... much slower than I had wanted but what an incredible rush and a relief to be finished. I'll be damned if my time was going to bring down my spirits at this point! It took a whole 20-30 minutes before my elated mood and the endorphins began to subside and I began to notice the pain in my leg again.

Damage Report: Three hours after the race, there was a knot on my calf about the size of a ping-pong ball and I had a blood-blister on my left foot the size of a quarter! That biting pain on my hip, I noticed at mile 20, was from the gel packs I was carrying on the inside of my shorts. The tops of the gel packs were sticking out the top of my inner pocket and rubbing against my hip. They had rubbed off all the skin on my hip in an area the size of a quarter and I had blood all on the inside of my shorts from it!

Despite all the pains I went through during this race, words cannot describe how happy I am to have finished in spite of these obstacles! In retrospect, the physical pain I was now enduring was nothing to the emotional pain I could imagine if I would have quit at mile 10 or anywhere afterwards. This race has taught me that if I want something, I'm going to make it happen and I'm going to get it. That is part of my stubborn nature and so far it is a character trait that I'm glad to possess.

I can't wait till February when I get to run the Austin marathon! That is, if I manage not to starve to death before then! I may have to eat that seasoned cabbage...

IronStar Half-Ironman Triathlon

Sunday, November 9, 2008
7:00 AM, Conroe, Texas
http://www.eztoregister.com/results/Ironstar08.htm

My Goals:

• Swim
• Wanted: under 40 minutes
• Did: 33:53.3
• Bike:
• Wanted: under 3 hours
• Did: 3:01:29.5
• Run:
• Wanted: under 2 hours
• Did: 1:50:17.7
• T1:
• Wanted: under 9 Minutes
• Did: 7:54.5
• T2:
• Wanted: under 9 minutes
• Did: 6:05.3
• Overall:
• Wanted: under 6 hours
• Did: 5:39:40.4

My Ranking:

• Age Group: 5th of 14
• Swim (Age Group): 3rd
• Bike (Age Group): 5th
• Run (Age Group): 4th

The IronStar Half-Ironman was my first half-iron to compete in and I had a ton of fun! I rode along with Patrick and Amy, on Saturday, to Conroe. They rented a not so mini mini-van that was big enough for all three bikes and a bunch of bags. It was a short two and a half hour trip to the packet pickup at the La Torretta Del Lago Resort. The resort was undergoing heavy construction but it's going to be a really nice place when it's all finished up. It did have some crazy mind-altering carpet though (check out the photos)!

There were less than 500 people entered into this race, I think, so the packet pick-up expo was pretty small. We didn't have to wait in any lines, to get our packets, and we were in-n-out fast (which was good since we were all getting motion sickness just from staring at the carpet)! After the expo we went to Target because I needed to pickup a throw away pair of flip-flops. It was a 1/4 mile walk from our transition area to the swim start (over construction areas no less) so I needed something to walk in since they were not guaranteeing that our shoes would still be there when we finished.

After picking up some shoes we went to the hotel, in Montgomery, and unloaded all of our gear. By this point it was already getting late so we hurried off to an Italian restaurant.

Race Nutrition:

Personally, I've found pizza to be the perfect meal the night before the race. Lots of carbs, protein and fat... what more could I ask for? Maybe it's not in the perfect proportions but it seems to work for me and I digest it easily. I ordered a veggie pizza and some soup. Race morning I had a pancake and two cliff bars. After the swim I downed a pack of shot bloks. While on the bike I took a bottle of perpetuum that contained 7 scoops which works out to about 910 calories. I also took a salt tablet during the bike and had my camel back on and filled with water. After the bike I ate another pack of shot bloks and took another salt tablet. During the run I had a GU every 6 miles and took a bunch more salt tablets for reasons I will explain below.

Race Morning:

I managed a good 5-6 hours of sleep, the night before, which was surprising because I wasn't worried or nervous at all and I fell asleep easily. We awoke at about 5:00am, packed our gear and drove down to the race. The parking for the race was 1/2 mile away from the transition area so it was a bit of workout lugging all of our crap down there (plus I wore a pair of uncomfortable flip-flops like a moron).

At the transition area, I got all my stuff organized fast and before I knew it, it was time to head down to the swim start. We walked the 1/4 mile down to the start and even when I was in the water about to begin, I didn't have an ounce of nervousness. I think this is because I'm becoming more confident in my physical abilities. It never once crossed my mind that I wouldn't be able to finish or that I would have trouble finishing it. I see myself at the finish line, happy and in good spirits. The only thing that slightly worries me is getting the finish times I want but that doesn't make me nervous, it gets me motivated.

Swim:

This was the best swim I've ever had during a race! Normally I have a few minutes of panic or trouble breathing until I can get a rhythm going but this time I fell into a groove right away. I was in the "zone" and felt very relaxed the entire time. In fact, looking back, I wish I would have pushed myself harder during this portion since my breathing and heart rate felt like it was running at an idle instead of a pedal to the floor racing speed! The other reason I did good on the swim had a lot to do with my new wetsuit. It was my first race with a wetsuit and boy does it make a difference! I'll definitely try to make more use of it next season!

T1:

I cut myself a lot of slack when it came to transitions. When I left the transition area I wanted to feel comfortable and ready to tackle the next leg of the race and as long as that took less than 9 minutes I would be happy with it. After the swim I had a major crap attack so I ran to the porta-potty. By the time I had finished and got all my bike gear ready to go, almost 8 minutes had passed. I beat my goal and I felt great so all was well!

Bike:

I was a bit worried about the bike since I had just got a new tri bike and had only ridden it 4-5 times. I wasn't sure how comfortable it would be but it worked out great and I didn't have any position related pains the entire time! It was a cool day and a perfect temperature for riding! The ride was very scenic, winding through pine forests and as an added bonus it was mostly flat with a few small rollers! I saw Amy at around mile 18 and we chatted for awhile. Around mile 46 I developed a bad case of mental boredom and lost a lot of motivation and my pace slowed down considerably. After 3-4 miles though i became bored of being bored and gave myself a pep-talk and was able to get out of my funk. The remaining miles went by fast and before I knew it I was off the bike and into T2!

T2:

I really need to learn how to do a moving dismount off of the bike... I didn't fall but my dismount was none too grace full. After fighting my way off the bike I put all my run gear on and went to the porta-potty again! I was out faster this time, at 6 minutes, and I felt good and ready to run.

Run:

My legs felt surprisingly strong after the bike and I took off down the road feeling full of energy. Even though I felt great, I decided to pace myself and keep a 8 1/2 - 9 minute pace going. If I still felt good after mile 6 I was planning to ramp up the speed. Around mile four, my left leg went numb which was a relief in a way because I was developing a few muscle cramps but it was also pretty scary since I had never had that happen before. I ran on my numb leg for two miles and then decided I should stop at the next aid station. At the aid station I took two salt tablets and stretched my leg out for about two minutes. Almost as soon as I began stretching the numbness went away.

I got moving again at a cautious pace just in case the numbness should return. After a few minutes I was still feeling great and decided to pick up my pace but with the promise to grab a drink at each aid station in hopes of avoiding further numbness or muscle cramps. At this point, in the race, I zoned out and the next six miles went by very fast. I met Patrick along the way and he was looking strong and feeling good! By mile 12 the cool air was losing the battle against the blazing sun and the heat started to get to me. It was a long, hard and hot (that's what she said?) 1.1 remaining miles to the finish that felt further than the previous six I had done. Finally I saw the finish line and sprinted for it like a... well, like a person that wanted to be finished with a long ass race!

It felt great to finish my first half-ironman! I quickly grabbed two water bottles and my eye spotted a mountain of pizza boxes off in the distance! I scarfed down three pieces of pizza and headed back over to the finish line to watch for Patrick and Amy. Patrick finished in 6:00:54 and Amy finished in 6:21! It was incredibly fun race and I'm glad that I did my first half-ironman here since the venue and the smaller number of participants helped to make the whole experience more enjoyable! Special thanks to Patrick and Amy for asking me to go and for making the trip so much fun! Hopefully we'll get to race here again next year!


P.S. Don't carry a camera with you when running 13.1 miles! Not fully thinking things through, like I normally do, I thought it would be a genius move to run with my camera in my pocket and take pictures of Patrick and Amy as they crossed the finish line. The finish line was a long ways away from the transition area (they had to shuttle us back) so carrying my camera seemed like the only option if I wanted to take pictures. Well, as most people with common sense know, when you race you sweat a lot and you lose salt through your sweat. When I reached the finish line I took out my camera only to discover that it was covered in salt! Every little crevice was crusted over with salt! I was able to snap one final picture but then it died on me. I tried fixing it once I got home but it was already too far gone... it was a great camera. R.I.P.

Learning from my mistakes & remembering what I've done right

This season I'll be going on my third year of competing in triathlons. This season will also be my last year in the 25-29 age group and I plan on going out big by placing top 2 in at least one race this year. Yep, that's top 2... third place won't cut it! I don't care if I have to enter into a race where I'm the only competitor in my age group or if I have to create my own race, it's going to happen! I placed in, or near, the top 10 in most races this season and also placed in the top 5 during a couple of races. I have the right mental drive and motivation, I just need to perfect my training.

Competing against others, for those top 2 spots, will be new to me this year since I've only been inadvertently competing against others for the past two seasons. My motto has always been "you're not racing against anyone but yourself". This motto has held true for the past two season. In the past, I've only cared about beating my past times with little care as to where I placed. Now I'll be looking at old races to get the times of the top racers and it will be their times that I'm competing against and not my own. Should be fun to see if I enjoy the sport more, with this new competitive motto, or if I get burned out trying to push myself too fast beyond my current limits.

This season, I'll also be competing in a couple of ultra and regular 26.2 marathons. Finding a balance between going long distances and running so fast my lungs bleed is going to be difficult. That is where this blog comes in. I feel that I should have been keeping a log of my training, the past two years, so I could determine what I've done right and what I've done wrong.

This blog may not help all that much this season but I'm thinking long term here. I'll be posting race reports, general thoughts and weekly recaps of the training I've done. Hopefully I'll be able to review this later and learn what I've been doing right and what I need to improve upon. Cheers to the 2009 race season!