The JetBlog

Summer catchup

2009-05-27T15:20:00.007-06:00

So it's been awhile since I've reported anything and I'm guessing you've moved on to better things. Well, I'm back. Can't say with a vengeance, but I'm back.

Spring time turned out to be a challenge for me w/ training. In February I managed to separate the AC joint in my shoulder while skiing, which was totally stupid. I'm a fairly good skier, but I had no business being out there the night of the accident. After five good falls I should have known better to half-ass a 360 off some foriegn jump and wind up throwing my shoulder into a cement-like landing. It wasn't good, but I got plenty of laughs from my PA-to-be friends and some good whisky in the chalet from a couple guys who have felt my pain. I was just happy to not have to drive down the mountain that night. It could have gotten worse. With it being nearly June now I have full mobility in the shoulder, but I lost a lot of strength in these already fairly wimpy shoulders. I also have one kickass of a notch/lump near my clavicle. Such as life.

The shoulder injury set me back for marathon training then I somehow pulled my left calf muscle while out on a 10-mile run. It took weeks to recover from it and I thought the marathon would never happen. While up in Coeur d'Alene I managed to throw a few good weeks of longer runs in so I had some confidence back. but the body felt like a rock. It really showed how inconsiderate I was towards my body during the winter/spring months after the shoulder incident. One thing led to another and the body was just clunky. The right knee started giving me problems and I can pretty much attribute it to a lack of flexibility. When my quads get tight they pull on my lower back. When my lower back is sore I try to compensate then things like my calves go to hell. Then the IT bands start to act up, which then farts w/ my knee. I have been an endurance athlete now for quite some time, but I swear there's times I act like I know jack squat. And since I'm not exactly a spring chicken some philosophies needed adjusting and that has begun again.

Ogden Marathon
Ogden Utah is a beautiful mountain town, and it was Kate and I along with my brother and his youngest daughter, my niece, Britney there to enjoy it. They drove from Wisconsin since Brit is staying with us for the summer. We had a lot of fun checking out the sites and catching up and I would head back to Ogden anytime. I'm a sucker for scenery, it never gets old.

Getting ready for this race I took a look at what I could hold on a good day and trained my paces based on that. The course itself has a lot of downhill with an overall elevation loss of around 1000 feet (starts at 5400ft). You'd think it would be a fast course, but there's also plenty of rollers for a good 10-miles that'll make or break you. The elevation alone may also mess w/ you though it's not too bad at that height.

The start of the race is pretty cool where they bus us to the starting line. We then hang out w/ everyone at the fire barrels to keep warm while the sun works its way up. When we got up there it was around 28F at 5500ft elevation. Pretty chilly, but those barrels were toasty and once the sun came up it warmed up fairly quickly. Kate moved herself to her pace zone and I got to mine then the gun goes off.

The first five or six miles are a pretty good shot downhill and I stayed conservative and hit my paces on each mile. At mile eight the rollers start with some longer grinds until you get to mile 14 which is the significant hill. Miles 13 to 15 I slowed some, but life was still going good and I made it back until mile 18. The flats felt fine and going up was no problem. I trained on a lot of hills so going up is never a problem for me these days. At mile 18 the big downhill starts. It's about 4-miles downhill at around 5-7% and though you might think "sweet", it requires some pretty fresh legs.

Once I hit that downhill at 18 the IT band in my left leg just locked up. There were times I was skipping downhill just to keep momentum. Then the stopping started. For the next five miles I sucked it up and just dealt with what I had to do. By mile-23 and a half I mentally couldn't hurdle the pain and pulled over and sat n this park kind of pissed. If I would have walked 12-min miles the last 2+ miles I would have PRd, but it was so short of what I wanted I didn't care. So for the next 90-mins I sat in the park, massaging the legs, waiting for Kate to make it through. I didn't care about a marathon time, I didn't care about what people might think of me running a 5hr marathon, I just wanted to get over myself and try to turn this into something positive. So for those 90mins I thought about my attitude over the winter, the mishaps, the missed opportunities and found once again you get out of it what you put into it. And what I put into this race didn't jive with what I was trying to get out of it. You don't HOPE for things to happen you MAKE them happen.

After those 90mins I see my wife and she's in a lot of pain as well. When she saw me she figured I was already done, but I let her know I'm still at it and it made her happy we could do this together. Her and I ran the last couple miles together, encouraging each other, finding reference points to run to before having to walk it. It was a hell of grind to get to the finish line, but we did it and we finished together, hands together, arms up up high, big smiles. Now the funny thing is Kate crossed the starting line after me and since this is all chip timed she actually beat me by a couple mins. She has yet to let me forget that!!! :)

Kate was happy w/ her marathon experience despite the very minimal time she had to prepare for it. School for her is at the top of the list so it leaves very little time for anything else. My brother ran the 5K race and did quite well. Britney ran the half marathon and of the 60 women in her age group she took 1st with a 1:37 run. Very impressive. We're proud of ya, chica!

Now that the marathon is done and I think I'm near full recovery I've got my sights on the Boise 70.3 in a couple weeks. Then I'll get into full endurance mode for the Newton 24 race in September. I've got a few races in between like the Bogus Time Trial on Labor Day and a couple Olympic distance triathlons. The Bogus TT is a 15-mile mountain climb TT, which I'm very excited about though it will require to go deep into the well, which is nice. I need it.

That's all for now.

Train smart (and smarter than my Spring training) !!! :)
Drew.

In with the New Year

2009-01-11T19:44:00.017-07:00

Hey all, hope everyone is finding 2009 to be a good year so far.

January is nearly complete and my body is finally starting to get over the "I've taken time off" fitness hump. Mentally I'm completely refreshed from the 2008 Ironman year (hey, I only did one this time, right?) and starting to get some good miles into my legs. Most of the miles these days are coming in the form of running and last week alone I think I put more running miles in than my heaviest week last summer. That's from a pure quantity standpoint though, I think most of my running miles logged last year had some serious quality, but just making the point that I'm going all "Gump" on my ass! I'm also getting a fair share of biking in, which equates to about 4+hrs/week on the CompuTrainer. My Saturday trips over to the RHOP (Rob's House of Pain) began last week and it left me realizing I've got some work to do to get my high-end fitness back in gear. Saturday's workout consisted of mostly 90-110% efforts for two hours followed w/ a nice 40-min run afterwords. I'll be doing those types of workouts until March then getting outside on the bike to get some longer endurance in. I'm feeling very focused at this point, which feels great since I tend to slack when I don't have goals.

A couple weeks back before all the consistent training begun we had the Frozen Dog triathlon, which was a 1st annual race put on by our local Boise Aeros tri-club. The race consisted of a 500yard swim at the pool on Friday then a 10-mile bike / 3.4mile run the next day at the House of Pain. The 10-mile bike was on a rolling CompuTrainer course while the run was outside on our local Green Belt. On Friday I got into the pool in the morning, got a good warm-up in then pushed out my 500 yards. I thought if I could be under 7:20 I'd be happy since I'm not swimming much these days. When it was done I hit the wall in 6:42 so that wasn't all bad. On Saturday I knew there would be plenty of people to keep it interesting. I was in the 2nd group of 8-people and there were a couple people with faster swim times than me. Basically, the clock started at 0:00 and when it hit your swim time you started pedaling. Within a mile of the ride I was leading the race, but it was hurting so I was somewhat banking on that fact that those guys were hurting too and they'd have to suffer on the run as well. I knew the guy next to me, Josh, could outrun me so there was no point in backing off too much. Off the bike I had about a 40 to 60-second cushion so I tried to push what I could, but the pace was brutally slow. I also thought the race was supposed to be three miles and not 3.4 so I found myself worrying that I missed the "X" out on the course to turn-around. So just before the turn-around I hear footsteps and it's Josh just motoring along. I had to ask him if he knew where he was going and he knew the "X" was coming up. I was thinking, "Damn, that is the longest 1.5 miles ever...I must be WAY out of shape.". Anyways, I kept him in my sites for awhile, but he eventually disappeared and I hung on for 2nd place overall. Not exactly a bad way to start your season, but it was definitely an indicator that it's time to put my head down and train.

From a non-training side of things, everything is going pretty well. My wife continues to chip away at her clinical rotations and she's about half done at this point. In six months she'll be completely done and for the first time as a couple she'll have one job and no school. At one time she had her full time gig at State Farm, part time (15hrs) as an CNA on the weekends along w/ at least one night class during the week. Talk about mental endurance, she's a fricken neuro-Kenyan! Anyways, we're both anxious to turn the page at this point so we can start doing some of the things we were used to doing (like travel) before school started.

Over the holidays we managed to put new ceramic in the last two bathrooms floors and completely changed out the floor in the kitchen. Apparently, we have a thing for floors. Tiling the bathrooms is actually kind of fun, but changing out the floor in the Kitchen sucked like nothing has ever sucked before. Talk about your well planned fustercluck! My God Mon! We consider ourselves fairly savvy in the home repair department, but this little project swept in and kicked our butts. Basically the big problem was part of the floor wasn't level in our brand new home. We needed to level it, but made a bit of a purchasing mistake by buying floor patch rather than the thinner floor leveling compound. This made the job a bit long and exhausting. After three days of hair-pulling life is once again grand. The kitchen floor looks nice and the dogs love making it dirty.

Well, that's all for now. In February the training steps up a bit more and hopefully I'll have something more interesting to report.

Peath out!

End of Year Reflections

2008-12-18T15:15:00.014-07:00

Hey all,
It's been awhile since I've blogged out my noggin thoughts so it seems fitting to get something out before the new year. 2008 was a pretty good year for me in athletic achievements, but mainly my goals were geared towards mental hurdles. I've been fortunate enough to be given some genetic gifts that allow me to do these big Ironman races a little easier and perhaps a little quicker than the average population. I didn't have to work too hard to get long legs, and other than some natural habits growing up I've never had to deal with weight issues. I'm lucky that way. I'm certainly no where near the most talented out there, but I also never take for granted what I've been given. It can be taken away like that! Take a long hard look at yourself and point out the mental and physical assets you have. Whether it's great strength, good looks, a 150+ I.Q., artistically gifted, etc., none of them are secure so you should feel lucky you have what you have. Throw in the fact I'm not one of the 5-billion people who can't get a clean drink of water I tend to knock on wood daily. There, I just didn't it again.

So with the end of the year I'm thankful yet again for my health, my family, my friends, and how the lottery of life chose me to be one of those people who CAN pour a clean glass of h2o whenever I want. In 2008, we had an election and our country made history by electing Mr. Obama. I am thankful. Though skin color is completely irrelevant in my book, history is being made and I couldn't be happier. I just wish Kate and I could have been in Grant Park that night to witness what we saw on CNN that night. The sigh of relief I had after this extremely long process was incredible. And this president-elect is already showing how embracing all societies (black, white, gay, straight, you name it) and making wise choices in my book will make this country and this world a better place. I'm not one to strut my political views too much (so please no political comments), especially when I know members in my own family have opinions that don't exactly reflect my own. But I have been passionate about this round of politics and I feel like we got it right. Time will tell of course, but it feels apparent to me these next four to eight years won't involve a president with a personal agenda. "W" is on his way out and the door couldn't hit him in the ass any faster!

In 2008, my wife and I have settled into Idaho and are comfortable calling it home. When you first move anywhere it feels as if you're only visiting. The newness of it all is very exciting and you can't help but think how much friends and family would dig this place. Countless times I'd be running in the foothills on my own thinking, "Damn, my brother would love this.", "Mark and Adrian would love this downtown", "The GFOQ boys would be awe inspired with these climbs.". It was sort of like I was physically living in Idaho, but my thoughts and emotions were in another timezone. 2008 settled some of that down, especially since a lot of family and some friends made the trip to visit us. They sort of reconfirmed my suspicion that they would love this place. Them being out here also slowly let me start putting my thoughts and emotions into Idaho's timezone. I don't think so much anymore about how people from where I used to live would enjoy this. The door is always open for them so whenever they're ready they can always visit. Until then I'll be in the foothills not thinking about how they would dig this, but how much I'm digging this right now. Whenever Kate and I would head with our friends to Chicago to do some clubbing (one of our occassional treats), the wrist-watches stayed at home and there would only be one time...NOW. As the night went on, we'd ask, "What time is it?" The time was always now. This is how life should be lived. Learn from the past, live in the now, and that's what I'm trying to do.

So what does 2009 bring? Athletically, I have two major challenges lined up. In January I will start gearing up for a marathon in May. Kate and I looked at a very nice marathon to do in Eugene, OR, but due to some class time conflicts we had to change the location to Ogden, UT. The Eugene marathon looked to be a much faster marathon since I could train at elevation in the foothills then bust ass on a flat trail at 400ft elevation. Such as life. The Ogden Marathon starts at roughly 5500 ft and ends at 4500ft. So that could still be a speedy race (in theory), but obviously elevation over 5000ft has its affects. Anyways, I will put 5 hard months of training to get ready for this marathon. It'll be my first marathon without a swim/bike warm-up since 2002 and I'd really like to test the body out. My goal is also get my long distance running geared up for 2010 when I'll be back at the Ironman distance. I'm pretty stoked!

My other big race for 2009 is in September over in Aurora, CO. This is the Newton 24hr Race and it'll be a team event with my friends Eric and Brent from the mid-west. The course distance is a tenth of an Ironman and you do loops for 24hrs straight. The team with the most loops wins, pretty sweet. The catch is you have to do three complete loops (swim/bike/run) at the beginning then you can switch it up. Since the swim course closes at sunset and re-opens at sunrise you have to bank up your swim before the sun sets then bike/run all night until the sun comes back up. It is going to test the mind and body wonderfully and I'm excited to get the body ready for the challenge. It should be fun.

If you read Kate's Blog you'll know that her and I have been very excited to get back to downhill skiing. Our local resort opened yesterday so I cleared the work calendar and we bombed up there with our two good friends. This is also part of my 2009 workouts. I love to ski and it's a great workout (though Nordic skiing is the real ass-kicker) so I'm very excited for the season. The snow is flying around here, more so than normal so I imagine the Valley will melt away soon enough. But the mountains will remain white and it's awesome to have something so cool so close.

That's about it for 2008. Everyone stay safe, give hugs to the family during the holidays, and steer clear of the amateurs during New Years Eve. I'll be back to being an Ironman blogger in January.

Take care,
Drew.

Ironman Mooooo

2008-09-10T20:32:00.051-06:00

So the big dance has come and gone and what's left are a boat load of positive memories that I won't ever soon forget. From the training experiences in Idaho w/ new friends, to the family and long time friend visits during the summer, to the 100% unconditional support from my wife. It's been an awesome ride and I can say without a doubt that this has been by far the most pleasurable Ironman experience I've had in the nine races of this distance I've finished. As I write this I find myself going back through pictures and videos my niece took during the race, reliving the experience and trying to jog my memory on things that happened. I'm not quite ready to let go and start looking for the next big thing on my athletic plate. It was one of those experiences that felt too good to let go. The only thing that could have made the experience better is if Kate was there in person to get me home. She's half the reason why I got to the starting line in the first place so that would have been sweet. She was online all day though, following my progress as well as getting updates from friends who were on the course. So it was about as close to the real thing as she could get. I imagined while racing that after each event (e.g, swim/bike/run) she would see how I was giving it my all and would be screaming like crazy, which I found afterward was exactly the case. For instance, when I popped out of the swim and saw my time I thought, "Hehehehe, Kate's gonna dig that time!!!!" From the phone conversations to the Face Book chat, I had her and friends everywhere cheering for me. Pretty kickass!!!

Taper Time

During the last week of June and heavy training month of July I was having a terrible time sleeping. Man, when I can't sleep everything and everyone around me suffers. My mind was everywhere. From trying to gear up for the Half in Bend, to my new bike frame cracking and going through the replacement process, to making sure I had all my ducks in the row for when my brother arrived, to making sure my responsibilities w/ work were on track. All of these things were causing some sleep issues and I just needed to relax. Once the sleep sucks so does the training, mainly the long runs for me. Without good sleep it was really hard to push through the long 2+hr runs up in the foothills so I tended to come home feeling like a failure. What a mind-job! After the Emmett Olympic race, the sleep started to come around and I was actually stringing big hours each night. It was fantastic and couldn't have come at a better time now that I was in taper mode. Every workout once again had purpose, focus, and confidence. I felt everything was coming together and I was ready to take my mind to a new level. Pretty kickass!

Wednesday, 4-Days Out

Early on when figuring out my flight schedule to Wisconsin I wanted to get there a little earlier than I would typically arrive for a race. Doing what I can to make sure the travel was completely out of the system before the race was key along with being able to relax and enjoy myself. So that ended up being the plan, which worked out great. My other travel situation was I had a sponsorship with Bike Sherpa, which is a company that will ship your bike to these Ironman events without ever disassembling your bike. I got accepted on the team last January so I figured the crazy bike expense portion of my budget was handled. Once the gas prices skyrocketed there was no longer a justification for the company to handle a few bikes in the PAC North West so that plan fell through. Rather than shipping my bike I decided to take a chance and bring the bike case. The case itself weighs 30lbs so to get it under the required 50lbs meant I had to only pack the bike and nothing else. I used to pack everything in it back when there was only one fee. To keep'er low, the chain, pedals, bike bag, and anything else that could be easily detached got thrown in the other bag. When it was said and done the bike case weighed 49lbs and my other bag weighed 48lbs. I even managed to somehow talk/confuse/eyebrow-wiggle the check-in lady to not charge me the $50.00 for the bike case/oversize fee so the bike went through for free. How friggin cool is that considering she could have charged me $200 for the whole thing? OK, so enough about prices, I might end up jinxing myself.

The flight to Milwaukee was easy/uneventful and my brother and his oldest daughter, Andrea, was there to greet me. Ahhh...with family again! And not to mention Andrea's fiance', Mike, who just returned from a year-long stint in Iraq was in town. He came to hang with family as well, but also to get inspired so he could stand in line on Monday and sign up for next year. Which, of course, he did so I'll be back as a spectator next year to scream his ass to the finish line. Kate and I sent him a little care-package while he was in Iraq, which of course included a box of Crank Sports Gels! He sent me a slew a pics that are totally cool and funny. Strapping a bunch a gels to the barrel of an M-16 like one would to a bike frame is pretty friggin funny!

With a quick drive over to Madison and a quick run to the grocery store we were finally settled in and ready to begin the waiting.

Thursday or Rainday, 3-Days Out

Yeah, it flippin rained all day on Thursday. There was hardly any wind so the clouds just sat there and dumped. Bla! The plan was to get down to the lake for a swim then head out on the bike course for a quick bike and run. The plan totally fell through so we just pushed the workouts to Friday and did plenty of relaxing. We still managed to get a little 20-min run in the rain on Thursday, which was fun considering I hadn't seen rain since early June. Anyway, we got all checked in to the event, got our cattle wristband attached, then spent a couple bucks at the merchanise tent before all the crazies bought everything out. Seeing that half the field (1000+ people) were doing an Ironman for their first time, stuff just sells out quick.

Thursday night we met up with friends for a good dinner. My buddy, Keith aka Kona Dog, got me a replacement GFOQ (Get fast or Quit) bracelet for the black HTFU bracelet we got over the winter. HTFU (Harden the fck up) got so overused thanks to SlowTwitch (or Pantytwitch as I like to call it because everyone in that forum seems to have their panties in a bunch) that it lost its luster. By May, every time I'd hear or see an HTFU I wanted to say STFU (Shut the ## up). Just one of those things. Anyway, the new wristband has that LiveStrong look, but with GFOQ on one side and "Don't Suck" on the other. A perfect progression in motivational wristbands, I must say. It stayed on me for the race and I looked at it several times for a small pump.

Friday, 2-Days Out

Two days out is always my big rest day. It's the day I warn family about ahead of time so they realize that I'll be a log pretty much all day with the feet usually pointing up. Sort of like a Vegas showgirl without the feathers, and heels, and flexibility, and well ok, nothing like a Vegas showgirl, but I try to keep those feet up. Just maintaining my Dork Card there is all. Flipper and I were able to get down to the lake for a good swim then get back to the condo and relax for a bit...well a lot. So much, it drove us crazy since we did plenty of relaxing during our rain day. We eventually made it back downtown for the Ironman pasta meal and to meet up with the Bloomington gang. Seeing everyone again was great. The food really sucked and I seldom complain about stand-in-line food; however, this time, wow, not good, which sucks for the athletes paying for the extra tickets to get in there. I do have to say that the food for the awards ceremony hit the spot. Redemption meal! With all that said though, most meals can be graded based on the company you're with. In that case, the meal was perfect. Hanging w/ close friends is always a beautiful thing.

Saturday, 24 hours Out

Flip and I headed down with Britney to the swim a little earlier today so we could meet up with the gang. Britney wanted to get a good run in so that worked out well since the path along Lake Menona is right there. The big crew from Bloomington was there who's doing the race along with a close buddy of mine, CD, who was there to train. He came here last year, had the race of his life, and now is gearing up for Kona this year. Seeing this is the only year Kate and I couldn't go to Kona to spectate it's a bit of a bummer. We have three friends from Bloomington racing Kona this year. It would have been amazing to go, but we'll just head back to the big island another time. I doubt any of those guys are done going and I'm not exactly giving up on the dream myself anytime soon.

After the swim we threw the bikes in Flip's truck and headed out to the bike course for a quick test and make sure all is good with the legs. We went out to the section where two of the bigger climbs are at, which tend take a little out of you by the 2nd loop of the race. I hadn't been on the hills of Madison since way before moving out to Boise so I wanted to see how they felt after training around here. I have to say, when you get to the base of climb and can clearly see the top it's not too bad. The bike was feeling comfortable and my legs were feeling phenomenal. As long as the sleep holds up and I nail everything else (nutrition/hydration/etc) I think I'm going to have a good day.

Flipper and I got the bikes checked in and got our gear dropped off in typical fashion. The rest of the day and night was spent with family and I managed to sneak downtown in the evening to get one traditional beer w/ my friends from Bloomington. It's tradition in Madison that if you're not racing you head to the German restaurant, Essen Haus, for beers and some good German food. Seeing not even the Germans eat German food the night before an Ironman you can almost guarantee you'll get a seat fairly quickly! I got my pre-race meal in me prior so I was there for the beer and company. It was so great to see everyone together again and I was able to hang there for a good chunk of time before returning back to the condo. I got myself settled into bed and had a great night sleep. It's time to get this thing going.

RACE DAY

The race morning alarm goes off at 3:45am and the entire family is up and ready to go. The nerves are totally in check and I can see my brother is ready to get this thing going as well. After nine of these bee-otches I think I've become a little more calm or have at least learned to keep the nerves at bay a little better than back in the early days. We head down to the transition area and start getting the bikes prepped and ready to go.

As I'm getting things ready I realize the very first thing I always do was never done. Strap my damn chip to my ankle. Stupid thing is sitting on my dresser back at the condo. No chip, no problem. I'll get another one, but it could have added to the drama if I wasn't so happy to be there. My mood was great and a lot of it had to do with the environment and the presents of family and friends. No other race of this size could there be so many people I know. Once again, kickass!!!

We all head down to the lake and I head over to the chip timer dude. He assigns a new chip to me and says, "You're #18". Whatever that means, but I asked if it would get assigned to my bib and he said no problem. Flip kind of disappears after that so I imagine he was strapping his game-face on. I run into Dr. Dennis and Dr. Mark and we chat a little before the start of this thing and get the "good luck" hugs in. I think these guys are all going to rock this course today. The weather turned perfect and winds were nice for the swim. The winds will get a little crazier later in the race, but nothing to worry about now. It's time to get wet.

Swim 2.4 Miles

Swimming out on the course to bob around was an indicator that I was feeling good. Sometimes you just know it, other times that powerful feeling comes later. Today, it jumped out at me. Tonto says, "Hmmm Kemosabi..taper good!" The canon finally goes off and it is time to go. I'm out a little wider so I take my sweet time to eventually get aligned w/ the course buoys. In fact, it takes me almost the entire first stretch before I was directly on course. The line getting there was perfect so I don't think I lost any time w/ that approach. When I hit the last corner buoy to start the 2nd loop the watch read 29mins and change so I knew I was having a good swim. But in typical fashion something during that 2nd loop slowed me down. When I finally popped out of the water the clock read 1:02 something with a final time of 1:03 and I was quite pleased with that. The approach I took towards swimming this year had me in the pool three times a week w/ 75% focused on nothing but drills. I swam roughly 5000 yards a week and had nearly the same swim I did back in Germany when the coach I was using (some De Boom guy) had me swimming 12-15000 yards a week. Obviously there was nothing wrong with my endurance and much more to correct w/ my form. So like the flippin Republicans like to chant these days, "Drill baby drill!!!"

Bike 112 Miles

My transition went pretty smoothly and I was off on the bike. Seeing I got out a little earlier this time I didn't have nearly the draft packs I've had in the past. In fact, I can't recall a single instance where I was upset/concerned/frustrated by the typical draft packs I normally see. The Moo course is so rolling though that perhaps that had something to do with it. Other than that bitch-stretch from Verona to Mt. Horeb I think it's hard for draft mongers to get their peloton on.

I'm feeling pretty good on the bike and I'm also keeping a very positive attitude. I must have said "thank you" a thousand times to the volunteers and got some great laughs seeing some of the characters out on the course (e.g, pirates, Eric the Devil, etc). Around mile-45 we begin the series of climbs that help define this bike course as challenging. As I'm heading up the first climb, which is around a half-mile long I see my family just getting ready to begin their cheering section. I probably surprised them a bit though. The times I gave them for when I'd be coming through was way off so I'm early. My bad! They see me and give out some good cheers and then I'm off to the top. At the next climb I see a lot of the Bloomington gang and get a great boost from them. I couldn't wait to get back around to see everyone again.

On the last big climb a dude out of nowhere pops out and it's the Devil. Except I know this Devil who happens to be none other than Eric the Eeeeeeel who's chanting, "HEY DREWBIE, HOW YOU DO'N MAN????" and all the other positive stuff. Eric and his wife, Naomi, are like the Super Fans of Ironman. You can always count on them to help you get to the finish line. And now they've created a little addition to the family so I'm sure the little guy will be raised in the ways of Kung Fu Ironman Super Fan-dome! Eric runs with me the entire climb and before you know it the climb is done. Man, I hope he's around for the 2nd loop when I'll need it even more! Thanks dude!

Somewhere near the end of the first loop the wind changed direction and got a little stronger. We had wind to our back on the bigger climbs, but the next loop those climbs would feel a bit steeper with the wind in our face. However, they were still very manageable for me. All that saddle time in the foothills and mountains paid off for me this year. Getting up the first climb on the 2nd loop and seeing the family again was great. I even had Mr. McCarthy run me up a bit. He asked me if I blew a tire, which was news to me. Apparently that happened to Dr. Dennis so there was some confusion. All is good with my ride (knock on wood). The 2nd steep climb didn't have anyone I knew so I figured I'd see them on the run. It's a quick steep burst that's there just to piss your legs off until you get to the last big climb. On the last dandy the Bloomington gang appears, which was a totally cool surprise and awakening. They cheer for me and then out pops the Devil again. Ahhhh, awesome! I don't recall saying much to Eric just because I was keeping my quads at bay, but he talked to me the whole way up again and before I knew it the climb was once again done. Once again, Beelzebub, thanks!

Riding from Verona back to Madison was friggin sweet. We had a tail and crosswind the entire way home so it was easy to spin out the legs and get them ready for the marathon. When it was all said and done, I got back to T2 in 5hr 20mins w/ a 21mph average. Given how good my legs felt off the bike, I'm pretty stoked about how the ride went. Now it's just a matter of seeing what kind of guts I've got to make a run for a Kona slot since almost all slots are earned on the run.

Run 26.2 Miles

T2 went through smoothly as well, which consisted of a quick change, a quick stretch, and quick unloading of the liquids I consumed. Everything was in check. Hydration was good and the legs felt very good. Time to run.

In true Quentin Tarantino style, lets go back to Wednesday when I arrived at the airport. When you fly with those large bike cases they usually get unloaded last since everything gets piled on top of them. While waiting I noticed a couple other guys waiting who appeared to be in for the Ironman. I started talking to them and found they're from Portland. Every day up to the race I would bump into these two guys. I'm thinking I'm starting to creep these guys out since it just seemed like everywhere I went I'd run into those two. We'd get a good laugh then I'd top it with a more sadistic, over-the-top laugh. Well, OK, in my head anyways.

Fast-foward back to the marathon. A couple miles into the run a guy gets next to me and we start running together. We're chatting a bit and he's keeping splits for us. Around mile-4 he says we ran that last mile in 6:53. What the hell? I'm going to blow at mile 10 at this pace so I'm slowing'er down. I guess you just lose yourself in those early miles while being a chatty Kathy. After a bit I ask him where he's from and he says Portland so I finally look over to see this guys (I've been looking straight ahead the whole time). Shit, same guy from Portland! I say to him, "You're kidding me, man, I'm the guy from the airport." We both start laughing and shake our heads. What are the freakin odds???? Anyways, later in the run he dropped back and finished about 10-mins behind me. This was his first Ironman so he's off to a good start in this crazy sport.

The miles continue to click away, but I'm constantly keeping my quads at bay. It appears I'm slightly dehydrated, but it's slowly getting better. When I finally hit State Street the crowds got huge and that was a big pump. It's such a crazy-cool section for spectators, but it always goes by too fast. Next thing I know I'm out of the crowds and running along the lake. On the back part of the course I see the entire Sweet gang cheering people on. That was a cool surprise since I figured I wouldn't see anyone for awhile. With a couple miles left in the first loop I once again run into The Eeeel. He's cheering me on and checks to see if Kate was being updated. I had no idea so he took care of it. The guy has like teleporation powers! Near the end of the first 13-mile loop I see my brother and he's looking good. No matter how focused I get on a race I still look for the people I know, especially when my bro is there. It's good to know they're off the bike and now it's just a matter of will that'll get them home.

So I got through the first loop in 1:48, which isn't too bad, but I really need to pickup the pace. A few more miles click by and I'm starting to slow down some. Crap! The mood is still great, I'm still seeing family, friends, the big crowds, life is good, but the pace is beginning to drop. Then the paranoia starts to creep in. I started thinking about the chip I had replaced this morning with the #18. Was that a Pro chip? Are my splits off by 10-mins? Watch I miss I Hawaii slot by 10-mins because of the chip and can't prove my case. All of this crap started to bug me because of stories of blown tires and people telling me times that just didn't seem right. OK, I'm just shutting it out and get back to task at hand. Man, I can be a headcase sometimes!

Once again I'm back through the State Street section, which is around mile-19 and see the family. The girls are wearing Boise State shirts their Dad got for them when he was out here. They were quite easy to spot. It looks like they're having a great time! I can't really say much to them at this point because frankly, I was starting to want to get this thing done and get a beer. I managed to catch up to my brother who was on his first loop and he was doing just fine. I knew he'd be right behind me and finish his second Ironman. He gives me some encouragement to get this thing done and I'm off for the final stretch.

With about 2-miles left I'm looking at the watch I'm not exactly pleased w/ my splits. I've slowed down miserably, but that's how it goes. I dig a bit deeper and suck it up to get to the crowds. The crowds could then get me home. Once again, Eric flies out of the crowds to cheer me up the last oooph to the capital. He says, "Mark's just up there. Go get him." I see Dr. Temple and give him a healthy spank. He gives me a good cheer and finally...FINALLY...there's the finish line. I take a quick glance back to see if anyone was trying to run me down. The coast is clear to have a great time before I hit the tape. Reily is calling out my name and naming out all the Ironman races I've done. I'M SOOOO HAPPY!!! I see CD and Sloan in the bleachers and CD comes down to give me a high-five. I literally leap through the finish line in pure joy. I'm so pleased with today and feeling...well...reborn.

When I finally got my finishers stuff, confirmed that my chip was OK (and it was), and got through the finish chute, there's my niece, Britney. It was a total surprise since I thought I'd be alone during this time. She snuck away from the aid-station to see me finish and that was so cool. Having her there brought out all of those emotions that buildup throughout the day that I would have otherwise sucked up, which would have come out at some random (most likely embarrassing) time later. Thanks Chica! Brit hands me her phone and I give Kate a call. Kate is screaming over the phone she's so happy. We talk a bit more, Brit helps me gather up some stuff so I can get out of these nasties and into something a bit more comfortable. Now it's time to start cheering everyone in.

Britney heads back to the aid-station to get the rest of the family so they can all get back to see Flip finish. I hang with the gang as they come in and its just great to see everyone having great races. As people are coming in so are the friends who were out there cheering me on all day. I couldn't have thanked them enough. After a little bit, my brother finds the finish line as well and he's so happy with himself. Wisconsin is such a hard course and he kicked some butt. Way to go dude!!!!!

As you can tell I'm pretty happy with how this race went. I didn't get the Kona slot I was going for, but that's OK. I'm getting closer and this was by far my strongest race. I was a couple minutes quicker at Ironman Florida back in 2006, but Kona slots are based on how you place, not by some time. I moved up nearly 20-slots so there will be a day when I get my Kona day and when it happens you can guarantee you're all invited to the party!

Now it's time for some well deserved rest.

Train Smart,
Drew.

The Gang

Last Blast before Moo

2008-08-11T10:55:00.012-06:00

A couple weekends back I did an Olympic distance race, Emmett's "Most Excellent" Triathlon. This race is hosted by the local tri-club I belong to here in Boise (The Boise Aeros). My buddy, Ken Runyan (who was actually a very fast runner back in his day so it's not just a clever last name), directs this race and did a fantastic job as did all the Aeros out there supporting. I've heard many good things about this race and the timing seemed fitting as the intensity of my workouts seem to be in full force these days. I had a very soft half-iron in Bend so I really wanted to come into this with some pain on the brain.

This is another point-2-point race, which is the only kind of racing I've done all year. It's going to be strange in Madison biking to the same place I started. Anyways, we start out at Black Canyon Reservoir, which is about 30-mins from my house. Nice close race this time. It's a beautiful little area back there, but surprisingly the water is rather dark (or black). It's not dirty, just has that dark color from the rocks/minerals in the water. So the sense of knowing where the field is during the swim should be a bit more acute. This race also has more familiar faces so it was nice to have that this year. Not being at Tri-Shark, where I know just about everyone, this race helped sooth my tri-stranger-pain.

I have to say, it's been awhile since I've prepped up for an Olympic distance race. My habits are in tune to go long-long-long so I think I made my race week prep a bit overcomplicated. I didn't come into this race rested (actually sleep deprived), but I put in my normal prep time with a full day's rest two days out (typical stuff). I just didn't have the strategy figured out and made some dumb mistakes during the race. Sort of goes with not racing as much this year too, I suppose.

The swim kicks off to a good start. Two strokes into my race I take a full-force heel to the face, totally knocking my goggles off. Damn, that was quick and what a nice star-gazing session it was for a few seconds! Whoof! I got my lid reattached and goggles back on, did a quick blood/tooth check, all is good so I got clear and into a groove. The goggles continued to fill up so I had to finally stop, empty them out and adjust the swim cap. When it was all said and done the swim went pretty well despite having to stop those couple times.

My transitions have sucked this year. I can't say it enough, SUCKED to the nth! I had a heck of time getting out of my wetsuit (need some spray) and getting that point-2-point gear bag packed was awfully slow. Ken was standing there taking pictures, asking if I was planning to read a book. Man, I'm supposed to be good at this stuff and that was embarrassing. On the way out Kate yells out that my nutrition had fallen out of my back pocket. Looking back, I can't see where it dropped so now I'm stuck with the just the fluids. I have a gel waiting for me in T2 so we'll see if that's enough, but SCREW ME DUDE....too much freakin drama!

The bike course is surprisingly flat with some gentle rollers and one short-steep hill. If you know the course and can hammer then breaking an hour is certainly in the cards if you can back it up w/ a run. I hadn't ridden the course so I kept a steady groove since I really wanted to run a hard 10K and finish strong. I was redlining for the first couple of miles and eventually got my heart down so a bit more warm-up on the bike would have helped. I ended up swapping places w/ a couple guys during the ride and a couple caught me near the end. I wasn't hammering too hard so that was fine, coming in around 1:02 for the 25-mile ride.

Quick Summary

The second transition went a little better, but still some big room for improvements. I guess it's time to start practicing transitions again. I thought I had those down about 5-years ago. Blame it on age, laziness, your mom, I don't know. When I got into the run I felt pretty good, but not awesome. I figured it would take a mile then I could put my head down and run. Well, it never happened. I never could get enough air in my lungs and let enough C02 out. It guess it was just one of those days...again! I was also found myself in no-man's land during the run. The PROs and some elites were ahead of me and everyone else was behind so I was pretty much out there alone with the people from the Sprint race and no one to push me. Not trying to make up excuses, but it didn't help during my time of badness. On the second lap of the course I was cooked. I probably stopped three or four times to get my lungs back and it ended up being the worst 10K of my life (PW!). The finish came and I ended up 18th out of the 216 and 3rd in my age group. So I actually won $10 for that effort, but could have really given 1st place a run if my run would have cooperated. I was around six minutes slower than my typical 10K if that says anything. DANG IT (said w/ Star Wars Robot Chicken voice)!

So I've got some things to think about and do until Moo. I had my last big week of training (hell of a ride last Saturday) and now into a good taper. I've had a rough go with sleep these last few weeks, but that's coming around again. I'm sure that had a lot to do with my sub-par race performance, but I'll own it and happily take a good HTFU slap to the head.

So with some positive mantras....

Harden the fck up, Drew.
Harden the fck up, Drew.
Harden the fck up, Drew.
Harden the fck up, Drew.....SSSSSSSSLAP!

OK, enough for now. Time for bed.

Taking July by the Horns

2008-07-29T11:27:00.007-06:00

It seems as if July disappeared as fast as June. I'm still sort of shaking my head about the whole thing. Kate and I enjoyed our 4th of July in Boise though we both had some subtle setbacks on missing our families. Everyone was doing something and we really didn't have much for plans since Kater had an epic week of school starting that Monday. We got to see some great fireworks from our backyard and seeing it doesn't get dark-dark in early July until about 11pm everyone tends to start late and end late w/ the firecrackers. Such as life, it's once a year. I had a big ride planned that next day so I was hoping for some good sleep, but once 12:30am hit I don't think a blackcat Atom bomb could have woken me.

My brother was arriving the week after the 4th for some good family time and training. I had a 95-mile route planned out so I decided to ride it before we tackled it together. It started w/ some short killer hills after 10-miles then off to some longer climbs of around 2+ miles after 30-miles, then off to climb the Bogus Basin Summit starting at mile 40. You've probably heard me talk about Bogus in the past, but it's a great 16-mile climb and since it's very close by it's very convenient to get big training in without having to go forever to get there. I ended up hitting the route well and even tooks splits on the bogus climb. Knocking 22-mins off my previous attempt made for a very smiley descent back down the mountain. I think the legs are starting to enjoy the tilting-up roads of Idaho.

Having my brother arrive was exciting and I couldn't wait to show him around in the car, but mostly on the bike. Besides the mentioned route I also planned to take him up to the Mores Creek Summit, which crests about 13-miles past Idaho City and is around a 108-mile route. This route has three summit climbs since it's a down and back. Once again, it starts all innocent for about 11-miles then on to a 4+ mile climb up over Highland Valley Summit or Hilltop as the locals call it. From mile-23 you slowly gain elevation for 30-miles w/ the last 10 getting pretty steep. With about three miles left the road begins the switchbacks. The pic to the right shows the first switchback. It's an absolutely beautiful ride. I knew Flipper had his own demons to conquer going up so I went ahead and tackled my own. Reaching the top is always a kickass experience.

When I got to the top I waited for Flipper to arrive. It wasn't long before I could hear his grunts up the switchbacks. I got a good laugh out of it, but I knew he put in a hard effort to get to the top of that beast. We snapped some shots then turned around and enjoyed a very fast 13-miles back to Idaho City. Other than the Highland Summit being an absolute beeotch after 90-miles in the saddle we felt like life was once again fantastic. The beer that night tasted quite good.

It was great having my brother here and I can't wait until he comes back. He even managed to design up and build a huge shelving unit in my garage. He was the mastermind and I played the grunt dude. We had a blast and the house now has a ton more storage space. Something it was running a bit short on.

The day after Flipper left I had to fly out to Columbia, MO for work. I'm a geek who supports a lot of other geeks at State Farm so we had to present a bunch of the new technology coming their way. It was great to see everyone I work with again face-2-face. Being a teleworker you lose some of the that personal 1-on-1 contact. The conversations and more importantly, jokes!, that come up when we're all together is priceless. You just can't get that on the phone and email. Anyways, the presentations all went pretty well and I managed to get one good run in on Columbia's Katy Trail. Columbia is a very green, woodsy city so the run on the trail and along the river was quite nice. It also reminded me how dry Boise is and how humid the midwest is. Sheesh, my workout clothes never dried the entire time I was there. It was a nice reminder though since there's always a good chance that Ironman Moo is going to be nasty.

Other than that, training has gone exceptionally well in July despite not having my tri-bike for nearly the entire month (I've got the new frame now). These last six weeks will be nailing the longer runs and hitting my FTP efforts on the bike. I have an Olympic distance race on August 9th so that'll be my last FTP effort. Then it's one last big weekend and off to the psychotic taper. Whooya!

Take'r easy,
Drew.

Jeeeese Focker, where did June go?

2008-07-10T20:00:00.000-06:00

Seems as if June came and went with a blink of an eye, a turn in the pool, some crazy-ass ride on the trainer, and the list goes on and on. Where the flippin heck did June go? I don't know. I do know it was eventful so I guess that explains it, time flies when you're having fun. As I mentioned in my May blog, the Boise 70.3 half-Ironman kicked off the beginning of the month with some positive feedback and also some "what not to-dooz". Recovering from that race could have been a little quicker, but I came back in full force w/o any injuries to speak of so knock on wood there. The month built up nicely and ended with a Half Ironman in Bend, Oregon. I'll get into that race in a bit.

June has been the month of family and friends and it felt damn good. My parents made it here in early June, driving their little yellow corvette all the way out here from Wisconsin. It was so nice having them in Boise and they can relate to all the great things we've been talking about when it comes to living in Idaho.

My buddy Brian made it out here so we could drive up to Coeur d'Alene and meet up with CD and Kdog for Ironman CDA and our annual "guys trip". Man, I didn't think a Guys trip was going to happen this year, but we made it work. Kdog was there to kick some butt and he left Idaho a butt-kicker. He did fantastic as did the rest of the Bloomington gang. Ya'll certainly didn't' suck! :) Rossi, CD, and I also got some good training in. We managed to get one lap on the Ironman swim course (1.2 miles) and roughly three laps of the bike course plus a little running. The new bike course at CDA is a huge improvement over the older course. I had no idea how beautiful the riding up by Hayden Lake was going to be so that was a pleasant surprise. There's also a few more challenging hills on that course so it helped us all get our legs better prepared for Wisconsin (Ross and I) and Kona (CD). Yes, there are hills in Kona! It was also simply great to be riding with the guys again. It didn't take much to realize how much I missed that.

By the time Rossi and I drove back to Boise (7-1/2hr drive), him flying back, and with everyone now gone I think I sunk into a small depression. I think it's typical when there's so much build up to see everyone then you have such a great time. Once they're gone you're sort of empty. So the entire week after CDA and leading up to the half Ironman in Bend I felt sapped of energy, tired, bored, and pretty unmotivated to race. I really considered bagging the race since all I wanted was to just get out the door and train w/o the headaches of racing. I also wasn't too excited about being in the car again, but I really wanted to go experience Bend. Besides, the race and cabin were paid for so we're going! I've been told by plenty of locals how beautiful Bend is. It's a dry climate like Boise, but there's a few monster mountains and miles and miles of huge pines. Another thing putting a damper on heading to Bend was Kate couldn't get out of class until late so we wouldn't be strolling into our cabin until late. It turned out she was able to leave class early so that helped a lot.

Race morning was a bit as expected for me. I felt ok, but I was really unmotivated to kick ass on the course, which was too bad. Its just how it is when your low on go-go juice, but I was still happy to be in Bend and at this venue. The Pacific Crest venue is pretty cool. There's about every distance race and types going on all weekend. There was a marathon, half-marathon, half-iron, and endurance duathlon (bike/run only) all going on at the same time. So during the run you see all sorts of different bibs on the course. It also has that small race feel to it, which I have really missed since I've only been to WTC sponsored events lately. Ironman brand races don't exactly have that laid back feeling.

I went ahead and got warmed up in the water and ready to go. The water was warmer this time around so no need for the thermal cap. It was actually about perfect, at around 63F. When I got done I came back out of th water to hang with Kate and all the spectators started to show up. There was a few people who looked like they were ready to have a good time. I'm pretty sure they were half in the bag. The picture kind of says it all, but from the time my wave went out and when I got done they changed into some band of Indians. It was pretty funny and those guys got a lot of stares. They ate it right up.

The swim went fairly well though I was feeling fatigued from the get-go. Yes, more whining about feeling tired. I expected the water to be clearer, but like everywhere else out West, there has been so much snow run-off from the mountains the lakes were a bit murky. The only weird thing that happened to me was on the way back in, say about halfway through the swim, I hit a "slick" of fish spawn. It was this huge load of fish eggs on the surface that I had to get through for about 20-30yards. It was pretty gross, but I survived. I have noticed a strange ability to stay underwater longer now though...hmmmm....

The bike course is pretty cool. There's only five turns to be made in the 58-miles (this was a non-standard distance race). Once we turned out of the park we had about 10-miles of riding until the next turn. Then it was nearly 40-miles of straight highway and the roads were fantastic. There were three major climbs to do, two of which were actual mountain passes, topping off at around 6300ft. On the mountain passes the temps rose pretty high, but there was still tons of snow on the ground. Only the roads didn't have snow and they just opened a couple weeks prior. It was a pretty cool sight to see. On the way up one of the climbs I saw a dude fling himself off his bike into a snow bank. I said to him, "Dude, you OK?" He laid in the snow, "Cramp, leg cramp." So no big whoop, he was going to survive. The climbs themselves weren't too bad since I've had my fair share of long grinds this year. Nothing crazy-steep, but if you weren't used to zoning out for 6 to 7-miles at a time going up it might become tough. I ended up having a fair bike, but nothing outstanding. I really tried to be conservative in hopes that this lack of energy would turn into something positive, but it never did. Such as life. Lets go for a nice hot run.

I was warned by club members that the 13.1-mile run was a hot one. And they were right, temps got to 100F (if not more) on the run, but it was nothing like running at Moo in 2005. With only 20% humidity it was tolerable and you'd catch a good breeze from time to time to help. I just couldn't muster up a run. So I played the walk-run-walk walk game, had a few bouts of uselessness then finally see Kate around the 10mile marker. I needed to vent to her about my lack of desire, but she pepped me and I was able to muster up enough to run most of the last 5K (slowly) to the finish line. Man, whatapisser! And not a pisser that I finished a bit slower than I'm used too, but more that I was in such negative spirits doing it. Stuff's supposed to be fun and this time around not so much. However, my lovely bride always refreshes my noggin about how I need to put things in perspective and enjoy the moment. Afterall, we're in flipp'n Bend, for Pete's sake.
After a little recovery we headed to the beer tent to collect my prize liquid. Mmmmmm......Beeeeeer!!!! Then it was off to the grocery store to get some salmon steaks and head back to the cabin. There's nothing like cooking up your own meals in a cabin on a lake. Heck, the next morning we treated ourselves to some home cooked eggs/bacon/toast and coffee. Life is grand!

Recovery from the Bend race went quickly since I didn't hammer out the run. So I was right back on the horse w/ a refreshed attitude on getting prepped for Ironman. Other than needing my tri-bike back things are looking good. The next race is in August, which is a local Olympic distance race. That'll be my last Vo2 max effort before I start calming it down for the big dance. Man, this mother is right around the corner and I'm getting hungry.

Well, that's about everything. Train smart and be safe.

Drew.

May Stuff

2008-06-01T21:16:00.007-06:00

Well I got through May training fairly well. It was one of those months where the bike volume started to crank. Managed to get in 95+ mile rides every Saturday except for this last one since I had the Boise 70.3 to race. I'll get into that fun soon. Swimming is coming along at this point. I continue to improve by drilling tons, but I'm also putting in at least one day of hard sets for strength. I'm still very motivated to get to the pool as well as get to the several choice ponds for open water swimming. The ponds are clean/clear so it's not much of a gross experience. My running continues to improve on the hills despite the lack of volume. I get my long runs done up in the foothills so that's not a problem and I get plenty of climbing in, but I think it's time to get at least one more day on my feet. June/July will be big months for me.

Two weeks ago I took on the Boise Aeros annual bike ride from Boise to Stanley (check out the terrain view). This is a 130-mile trek, covering a slew of elevation gain (about 11,000ft of climbing) and three major mountain passes. Once you leave Boise and head up highway 21 the scenery goes green and mountainous. It's truly a beautiful ride. Around miles 80 to 90 I had a small rough patch, but I pretty much tuned it out and just listened to the surroundings. Nearly the entire ride you go along the south fork of the Payette river. The river is currently running very high due to all the snow runoff from the mountains. If you tune everything else out and just listen to the river the pain you talked yourself into miles back pretty much disappears.

Experiencing the mountain passes on the bike was a trip. The first pass (Moore's Summit) was a 10-mile doozy, with some big switchbacks and steep grades. I had my tri-bike for this ride so that makes it interesting since you don't spend much time in the aerobars when climbing these honkers. The second pass (Beaver Creek), which is only about 5-miles later is another dandy, but the easiest of the three. Then at mile 90 the climb up over Banner Creek Summit is a 15-mile straight shot up and over. Not only are you zonked from the 90-miles of continuous UP, you're now faced with this big climb that continues to give you this false hope that you've reached the top. Every time you think you're over...WHAM...it just keeps working it's way back up. I had my Garmin with me so I knew 7200ft was the magic elevation marker. After 90mins of climbing though you just sort of want it to end. I had fun climbing the other summits, but I was pretty much ready for this one to be done. Half way up my supplies went dry and was basically recycling spit. That's when Super Wife arrives (insert superhero theme music here). Kater was driving up separately so she could get some studying done. When she asked me if I needed anything I was like "OH BABY!". She packed the cooler full of everything and I went for the coke. I slammed one can, threw two more in my aerobottle, proceeded to drink over half while gabbing with her so threw another in. So now I'm buzzed up and ready to go. Once I reached the summit I think I threw two more cokes down me. Cheeze ballz dude!!! I'm surprised I didn't jitter-vibrate myself off the road. Once we got over that last summit it's about 25-miles to get down into Stanley. This was 25-miles of rollers, elevation LOSS, and wind to our backs. And with all the cokes in me I think I averaged 25+ getting there. Also, once you're over that last mountain pass you see the Sawtooth Mountain range. "Damn", is all I can say. It's a spectacular view and after being in the saddle for nearly 7hrs it's a very welcome site. It was just a kickass experience, to say the least.

I took'r a little easier this week to get prepped for the Boise 70.3 half-Ironman. This was our 1st annual event here and it turned out to be an event I'd recommend to anyone. Logistically, it's a bit of a challenge since it's a point-2-point race. So it's one of those deals where you have to get your bike out to the Lucky Peak reservoir before-hand then get your running gear over to T2. I think there's some things they can do to make it a little easier for everyone, which always improves over time. I also didn't witness any first-hand whiners, which was a surprise. I was actually impressed by the lack of whining from the athletes as it always seems to be a case of "please me please me". Dude, just harden the f#@k up and race! Anyway, quick rant.

The race itself for me was pretty good. This was the first half IM where I got to sleep in my own bed the night before, which is a new/strange experience. And to have it as an Official Ironman sponsored race in my backyard that made it even stranger. Ironman also did a fantastic job of bringing in some top-notch pro athletes. Chris Leito, Desiree Ficker, and Kate Major to name a few. Once again, weird having these athletic icons in our backyard.

So though the race is local it didn't change the wakeup call. At 3:45am I'm up in the shower to induce "wake up" then down for my pre-race meal. Kate and I were then off to our friend's place to pick them up (more support crew) then off to downtown. We then get shuttled out to Lucky Peak to start the race. By 7:30am my wave finally goes out and we hit the friggid choppy waters. I'm guessing it was around 55F. It's cold, but tolerable, especially with the thermal hoody on. Some guys had little wetsuit booties on and i think I'd opt for that next time at this race. When I got out of the water it was a bit of a challenge running with stiff ankles on a stoney path. The swim itself went pretty well. Times were slow due to the conditions, but I ended up 9th in my AG for the swim. That's a rather large step up from the usual 3rd of way down the list.

T1 was a slow slow slow. The point-2-point thing changes plans so you have to pack all your crap in a bag before you head out so they can take it downtown for later. Not only that, all of the crap you plan to wear on the bike has to be in that bag before the race. So it's unload the bag, reload the bag. It's an even playing field for everyone so that's cool, but I get impatient in the transition area. Blame the A.D.D.!

The Giant is starting to mold to my frame. I still have some tweaking to do so I can hold pace for 112-miles, but it's coming around. The bike today felt pretty good and the couple bigger climbs we had I think I handled with "running 13.1" in mind. Very conservative up them things. The rest of the ride went well other than dropping the chain once and loosing my gel (off to plan B). I still have some impatience I need to take care of, which is all things to expect in early June. The ride itself was good enough for 5th in my AG so I was happy with that.

T2 was once again slow slow slow. I had to pack my bag again, but I also had to rip it open since I tied it the night before so my shoes wouldn't get wet. After ripping the bag open then trying to throw my aero helmet in there, the force of me squeezing the helmet in broke the side ear piece. Arg!!!! We'll see if crazy-glue can fix it. Otherwise, you might be seeing a new lid on me soon. Whattapisser!

My legs felt great going into the run. I had to stop the first mile to pee, but then got into a groove of 7:00-7:10 splits. I eventually slowed down a bit which shows to me that nutrition is still a factor on the bike and perhaps requires little more conservation. But I also think adding some more high quality volume to the run will help as well. I know I have it me, just requires some work. During the run I was able to see Kate and the gang several times. The run is pretty much a pancake other than the "here and theres" and today there was overcast with periodic drizzle. If you can run fast, today was the day to prove it. The crowd support for the run is worth it alone to do this race. It has an Ironman Wisc feel to it, but a much more scaled down version of it. And it's only going to get better. When it was all said and done I had the 9th fastest run in my AG and it was good enough for an 8th place AG finish. Not bad. I'm happy with that and it gives me some things to work on.

Well, your basic race report stuff.

Train smart, keep your nose clean, don't f@$k up! :)

Drew.

Bike Love

2008-05-04T19:41:00.005-06:00

I love bikes, I love my bikes, however, my bikes can also be those bratty little kids you want to put into a headlock, give them a couple big noogies, and follow it up with a wet-willy! Since I got the new TT bike I rebuilt my Van Dessel as a road bike and it's been mainly my power bike on the CompuTrainer. The seatpost clamp has always been dumb on that bike. Close tri-geek buddies who have traveled with me to races can attest that it's given me some grief. It's dumb. VD designed a frame with a slightly larger (2mm) than standard seatpost. So if you go with a standard post then you have to crank down on it, which puts a lot of strain on the frame. At some point in 2005 the frame started to crack in that area, but has been holding until now.

Last Tuesday I'm 20-mins into my ride and "CRACK!". What a nice lovely sound the bike just made followed with the dropping of my saddle. The internal metal of the clamp within the frame completely shattered. So in the last month the bike has seen a cracked deraullur hanger and now this. Nothing another trip to Lowe's can solve. Since I don't care what the frame looks like there's now a nice fatty bolt, nut, and washer going through the frame to snug up the seatpost. Mission complete, but I don't know how much more time the ol' VD has left. She's just gotta hang on until the end of the 2009 season. After that my Sugaaa Momma (aka wife with job...he he) arrives and perhaps I could swing a new road setup. Until then, HOLD ON YOU LITTLE BEE-OTCH!!!

OK, on to the new Giant TT bike. Last year I used some cash I made from my little software app to purchase some new kickass Easton DeltaForce TT drops. They're all carbon, they're sexy, and they're 100+ grams lighter than the VisionTech drops I had prior. Well, I installed them on the VD back in it's days and they kept slipping at the stem. They slipped enough where the bars got slightly chewed up. I tried everything at the time then eventually gave up. Well, those $200 bars just sat in my little bike shop and the guilt factor was building. I finally decided to give it another try. I did some research and found that using a little piece of aluminum oxide sandpaper would keep them from slipping. So I tried that and they still slipped. Then I changed out the bolts in my Syntace F99 stem and reversed the side the sand is on and Viola! That took care of it. I got over a 100-miles on them in the last couple of days and no slip. I think the guilt is starting to wear off. We'll see.

So I think that's everything other than blowing a tire on my ride yesterday. No big deal of course since that happens to everyone, but it was another thing to think about. I had to order some new tires that can handle some of the debris around here, which is just another slight adjustment in my new bike surroundings.

Ok, final thing. I'm two weeks out from perhaps the toughest and longest ride I've ever done. I'm biking with some of the Boise Aeros from Boise up to Stanley. This is a 130-mile trip with well over 20,000ft of climbing with the elevation topping out around 7300ft. I'm pretty pumped to take it on and also a little nerveous. One cool thing is Kate is helping out that weekend and will drive with us in case we need anything. So she'll throw the doogies in with her and we'll spend the night up in Stanley when it's done. We then have a nice long trail run scheduled the next day. Should be a great time and I'll tell ya all about it when it's done. It should be beautiful (follow link) so we'll take plenty of pics.

Later gators,
Drew.

A Right of Passage...to Your Mom!

2008-04-20T06:34:00.000-06:00

Yeah, sorry about that. I've got "your mom" jokes in my head lately. If I'm doing anything lately it's usually with your mom! :)

So Kate and I and a couple of our good friends put our idiot caps on and ran this crazy-ass 1/2-Marathon called The Race to Robie Creek. It was their 31st annual race so it has some deep tradition. Mostly a Scottish tradition so when guys in their kilts get up on stage before the race and start saying Scottish "stuff", which apparently they always do, they sound like they put a 5th of whiskey down and tried to tell a joke with a mouthful of marbles. I looked like my dog with this confused head-tilted look. "Ummmm....huh?" Anyway, it was all in good fun and we had a blast. There were plenty of runners in kilts with shirts that read, "Plaid is Rad" or "Plaid is Raid" which doesn't make any sense, but makes for a better designed shirt. There was also the "Robie Kilt Me", which is my favorite. But from the veterans it appeared that Robie is a Right of Passage with the end result being apart of this large group of athletes. Seems if you run races, live in Boise, and not run this race well then...pussy!

Robie was my Spring mass-hill running test. I actually haven't run a 1/2-marathon without a 56-mile bike warmup since 2002. I believe it was the Green Bay half marathon. I suppose I could go do a flatter half (or full) at some point to see if I could run under a certain time, but really it's more about making the body stronger (not the strongest hill runner) and experiencing something a bit more unique. I think I tend to gravitate more towards the harder stuff, mainly just to impress my wife. And of course, mainly to over dramatize the situation so that people will like me...especially your mom!!!

We had pretty good weather for a couple weeks, but then it went downhill some. Forecast for the race wasn't so hot. There was a chance of snow actually and it was 78F and sunny the week before. O'well. The weather turned out pretty good, but I think a lot of people overdressed for the occasion. Pretty nipply at the start, but once things point up it tends to get toasty under all of those layers. I was in shorts and a longsleeve so I was comfortable, just in case you were concerned.

So the race starts all nice and innocent for about a mile then the fun begins. The next couple of miles are on pavement and goes up at a consistant grade. Then around mile-3 the road goes to dirt and gets steeper. From there it's steep, but manageable until mile-7. At mile-7 it becomes rather UNmanagable. Lot of people walking, shuffling, scooting, pooping, etc at this point. It's a nasty steep father-mother-sister-brother for 1.7miles.

Near the top of the summit is an aid-station that serves up a bit more than wasser. Beer and whiskey dominates this aid-station. I was told beforehand about this area and it all sounded good and fun at the time, but after hiking a mountain for over an hour it suddenly doesn't sound so yummy. When I got there I went for the a cup that looked like water. Lady says, "Hey, it's whiskey...it's whiskey!" I looked at it, but just couldn't do it. I handed it to the next lady. I'm sure it found a suitable donor.

So it took me something like 1:12 to get to the 8.7mile marker, which is also the summit. Man, you get to the top and you feel like a tour rider that's been climbing all day. I wanted throw the newspaper in the jersey, zip up, and big-ring down. Just felt that way, but now I can shift gears and muscle groups and head down hill for the next 4+ miles. The first part of this descent is pretty technical. We're at around 4900 feet elevation at the summit so it's bit chillier and there's still snowbanks along the road. The roads are a bit icey mixed with mud so you were never sure if your feet would hold. I never had any major slips, but it sure made you tippy-toe a lot in this section. About a mile down you can relax a little more about falling and just work on not destroying your knees. I also found that there's guys that run a hell of a lot faster than me downhill. Guys that I passed fairly quickly going uphill blew by me going down like they were free-balling. I thought they were evil, but I could clearly see their nuts!

Anyways, moving on from that rant, the finish tape came and I crossed in something like 1:41:40. Chip times were all messed up, but that was the official time. Not bad. I think I ran a smart race and the focus was pretty good. My only worst-critic-self-criticism is I still had a lot in the tank at the end. Something I need to mentally prepare for a little better. I want the tank on "E" at the tape, which has always been a challenge for me. Such as life!

More pictures of the gang in action

OK, I also did an official 10-mile time trial today, but I'll get to that soon. Good times...good times...with your mom!

April. More Training and a Spring Sprint Tri

2008-04-06T22:46:00.000-06:00

Hey all,
March has come and gone and for the most part it was a solid month for training. All areas are progressing, but I also had some setbacks in volume due to work-related travel. It was a small sacrifice to the company that makes this triathlon thing possible. A couple weeks ago work sent me back to the corporate office in Illinois where I worked for over 13yrs. As a tele-worker, there will always be times when it's best I'm there face-2-face with my bosses and fellow workers. This was one of those times, but unfortunately it was a short 48hr visit so I couldn't see all of my close friends. I made due and was able to hang with a few and even managed to get a swim workout in with Kona Dog and Eric the Eeeeeeeeel as well as Mr. Rossi and MD. So this segways into a swimming thought....

I think I've mentioned I've pretty much been a Driller in the pool. Meaning, not a lot of hard sets, just tons and tons of yards drilling, drilling, and drilling. So the form is progressing incrementally well though I'm due for some video analysis. However, I got the eye-opener when I got with the Bloomington boys. These guys have been hard at it now for awhile, getting ready for Ironman CDA in a couple months. I had to struggle my ass off to hang with these guys. I shared a lane with KDog and the tall glass of water would pretty much drown my ace once he lead enough where his feet were by my lid. After that it was just a matter of getting through the set without being labeled as driftwood. It ended up being a great workout and probably the most yards I've done since pre-Ironman Arizona a year ago. I think it inspired me to get with the masters team a little sooner so I can be pushed when it comes time to push.

Last week I was in San Francisco for a work related Microsoft Conference. I've been to this conference six or seven times now and mostly in San Fran (once in NYC). I decided to pack the bike so I could get a couple rides in the evening. I really wanted to go climb Mt. Tam again and now that daylight saving kicks in earlier it worked out pretty well. Flying the bike with United is pretty much a scam these days and I urge anyone who's willing to complain to write United Airlines some hate mail on their new bike policy. They charged me $85.00 one way then tagged an additional $50.00 for being overweight. $135 to ship my bike one way, which was slightly cheaper than the ticket itself. The case itself is 35lbs and the bike is 20lbs so I'm screwed from the get-go. In May the overweight fee goes up to $100 so I don't think I'll be flying United with the bike again...ever. F#$kers! OK, I've vented, anyways, I got the bike out there and was able to find the top of Mt. Tam again. If I can get the pics off of my phone I'll post them. I had my Garmin with me, which I can import into my software (PerfPro):

The Ride

Google Earth File

I don't have a power meter on the Garmin so it really only shows speed/rpms, but it does show the course profile along with total feet climbed. Not a bad amount of climbing in the first 24-miles. Anyways, you can get a 3D look of the ride in Google Earth by launching that KML file. Kinda sweet.

I got back from San Fran last Thursday and the next day was the swim portion of my first triathlon of the year. The local YMCA puts on a sprint triathlon for the entire Treasure Valley area. It's an interesting way to have an outdoor triathlon in Idaho in early April when there's still plenty of snow on the nearby mountains. You basically predict your time for the Friday swim so they know where to seed you. After your swim they mark your time so it can be carried into the Bike/Run portion on Saturday. On Saturday, the clock starts at 00:00 and everyone lines up behind a transition line (also the chip mat). When the clock hits your swim time from Friday you briskly walk to your bike then head out on the 12.5 mile down and back course. It's then pretty much like a normal triathlon.

When I signed up for this race last month I really didn't have a good idea where to seed myself so I shot high. It's a 750yard swim in the pool so I put an aggressive time for me at 10:00 flat. After a couple moderate tests at that distance I realized that was way too aggressive for me. I think I was around 11:20 for one of them, but so be it. I get the lane to myself so it didn't really matter what I got. When the gun went off for me I felt pretty good. Laps where clicking off and I thought of a couple things. Keep the form and remember a couple weeks ago when KDog was kicking my ass. That workout was much harder than this 750yard test. Anyways, I lost count of the laps and kept pushing the long strokes until I saw the sign for the last lap. When it was all said and done I hit the mat in 10:10. I was stoked!!! It seems like it's been forever where I had a swim I was happy with. After the swim a lady asked me if was happy with my time. Not being one to ever answer a question like that directly I just said, "Was I happy? I'm always happy!" So I was excited now about getting the bike/run in the next day.

Saturday morning I gathered all my bike/run stuff and headed down to Camels Back park where all the festivities were at. It was a brisk 36F out, but the wind was mild so I kept the clothing light. I figured it would get a little warmer and it I think it got to around 45F. Still, a little chilly so it had a lot of people confused on what to wear. When my 10:10 time on the clock hit I ran to my bike and took off on the course. The course is a 12.5 mile (12.6 according to my GPS) course on Hill Road, which is a well traveled bike road going out of the city. There's not a lot of climbing really, just some gradual stuff that'll slow you down some. I felt like the whole ride I played it conservative. That will be my theme for the entire year. Back it off some and save it for the run. When I got off the bike I felt like I had plently left in the tank.

The run is a 5K course out in the trails where I run frequently so I kind of knew what to expect. The first half of the run is a gradual uphill so it tends to sap you a bit and it kept me from building up any kind of groove, but I kept at it. Only one guy passed me at the beginning and I passed one other guy. At the turn-around I see a whole bunch of dudes, but the course goes flat so I poured it on the best I could. With about half mile or so left one of the local short distance studs past me like I was running backwards, but he was it. I managed to hold off the rest and came in feeling pretty good. Good enough for a 2nd 30-39 AG placing and 6th overall (excluding the three relay teams) out of some 240 plus people. So it was a nice start to the season and appears to be a good sign that things are progressing well.

Well, I think that's all for now. I have a very tough half-marathon in a couple weeks. I'll report back on that. I'm sure the beer will help wash down the taste of lungs!

Aloha,
Drew.

March, It's-a-On Like-a-Donkey-Kong

2008-03-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

Sup Homebrews??

So it's March, which means the road to September has begun. My swimming is on a mission from a total tactical sense. I've ripped apart my form and slowly piecing it all back together. It's kind of funny, I've been doing workouts in the pool steadily since 2000 yet it takes this long to finally listen to what the experts have to say, "form first, workouts last". It's true, I have made more gains in the pool these last few months than I have in the seven years prior. I suppose experience and a level of faith in oneself helps a bit. If you keep doing the same old shit over and over and over again its pretty hard to complain about those reoccurring results. I guess it doesn't hurt that I'm not totally burnt out from swimming either. It's a fresh look so I'm rolling with it. Those hard vomit-sessions can come later, like August!

Overall, my fitness is coming around. I've been doing my long runs in the hills, which has been a real challenge, but this half marathon coming up mid-April is sort of scaring me into it. I have a pretty kickass 12-mile route that has over 2000 feet of climbing and I'm usually a full MPH slower than I would be on the flats. It's been a good test to get adjusted to all of the long steep running and it's also exposed some weaknesses in my lower back and core. And I am definitely my worst critic when it comes to my core. It'll never be strong enough. At least with the lower back I finally invested in a real nice desk chair since I spend so much time being a geek. Within the first week of having my new swivel-saddle my lower back pain has nearly diminished. Today was my first run test on the flats to get an overall idea of how well the base training went and I think I'm happy. It was rainy and windy today and made for a good HTFU 6-mile run.

Biking has been up and down, which can be expected for March. I have logged a lot of hours on the CompuTrainer in February and so far March is going well too. Though my ride today got cut short because my rear derailur hanger snapped and about sent the rear der through my wheel. A story for another time, just glad it was on a trainer. The group indoor rides have finally come to an end since everyone is migrating outdoors, but I managed to get over there for 5-weeks straight where we did some tough 2.5hr rides followed up with a 30-min transition run. Those workouts have been great and last weekend I managed to the same workout from home. So here's the first posting of data from that workout, which is also showing off my new workout feature of Performance Pro:

- The Workout

- Overall Summary

- Stats for each segment from the workout above.

Yeah, it can be data overload, but the stats become extremely useful when you look at the easy and hard parts of a workout. You can see if you actually hit your marks and if you paced well throughout the entire ride. As an Ironman, pacing is somewhat important, no?

The down part of biking lately is adjusting to my new surroundings. I'm finding that climbing is not a problem around here. I've already done a few rides on the new TT bike and hit some major climbs. However, since I'm still discovering where to ride around here I also need to get to some areas where I can be in the aero position for hours at a time. Being in an aero position around here on big climbs is nearly impossible. It's too steep for too long so you have to be on your drops to breath. I'm sure the early fitness and too many layers of clothing doesn't help either, and once I can get with the group and get better orientated I'm sure things will be fine. Heading south there's plenty forever-flat riding so it's just a matter of time before I figure out where to go when.

Well, I think that's all for now. I haven't posted anything in awhile so I'll try to be more frequent. Spring is right around the corner, we got our daylight back, and tri-season for me begins April 5th. Looking forward to it all.

Foshizzle Monizzle Patizzle,
Drew.

February, Pre-Training, and Caffeine Free

2008-02-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I'm over all the sickness I had in January and managed to string a few good weeks of training in. Nothing completely structured as of yet, but I'm starting to feel like a triathlete again. The volume is starting to pick up, but is still around half the time I normally put in a week during the summer. It's a kickass feeling though to get the gears going and think about what's to come. I love to train, pure and simple. Kate and I have also managed to get some more skiing in and love to get up there on the mountain. We're getting season passes that'll cover this year and next so we'll be heading up there a lot more.

Two Sundays ago I finished a run that may have been one of the tougher weather runs I've done. There's a real tough section of road over in Hidden Springs that a lot of bikers including myself like to hit. They call it the Dump Loop. It's an 18-mile loop with some steep long climbs that you keep doing over and over until you dump off. I decided I wanted to run around 10-miles of that loop to get some hills in on a hard surface. I don't think I'll do my body justice if I solely stick to trails. There's a noticeable difference in the legs after 10-miles on the buttphalt compared to packed gravel and grass so it's just best to mix it up. Anyways, I had planned to do this run pretty much all week. I wake up Sunday and the weather is nasty. Rain mixed with sleet and 30+mph winds. I'd have to cut that HTFU bracelet off if I didn't at least give it a go. So, I drove over to Hidden Springs and got my run on.

When I finally got into the hills it was a direct headwind with all the nasty sleet. Pretty fricken sweet! I was going up hill on the flats and climbing stairs on any hill. That's what it felt like, anyway. It was really a matter of convincing myself that at the turn-around things will get better. And it did. You have about 4-miles of tailwind coming home (my ass froze though) then finally one big ass hill to get up and over, which was of course back into the wind. So it was cool to get it done and I'm glad I didn't bail. I also got some good stares from cars going by and some thumbs-up from cars I knew were into what I was doing.

I started doing the group-ride thing with the fellow Boise Aeros club. A couple of the club members really take care of everyone during the winter. One guy, Ken, supplies six CompuTrainers (CTs) plus a few trainers with PowerTaps, and the other guy, Rob, volunteers his garage so we can all come over and train. I donated a copy of my Performance Pro software to the club and Ken uses it to get all of the analysis done for the members. He's also provided some nice feedback to help the software mature. Both of these guys are also Kona qualifiers/finishers so it's not too hard to notice their passion for the sport.

Last Saturday we rode 2.5hrs on the CTs and had a nice 30min brick to follow. Getting there I was thinking it was going to be nothing more than an endurance ride, but these guys had other plans. They had threshold power stats listed and we had to follow those watts throughout the ride. Chunks were at Ironman pace, while other times it was a nice build up to 110% of our threshold pace. There were also times we would go one-legged so it was mixed up and the time flew by. And the ride was nothing that left me thinking "too hard too soon". Just a nice mix of stuff.

I'm starting to get to know a few more triathletes at the pool now as well. I tend to show up near the tail-end of their structured Masters workouts, but they've been trying to get me in there sooner. My mindset is, "I'll get there soon enough". It's still February so I'm enjoying my sleep time which segue ways into another thought...

My goal for life is to get more sleep. I've been a caffeine junky for about 35 of my 38-years and my sleep always suffers. I was a Mt Dew kid growing up and I've consistently taken 200mg in pill form every morning for who knows how long. Part of that mindset is that caffeine is a proven stimulant for endurance sports and I enjoy the smack-in-the-face alert feeling I get in the morning before I head to the pool or on the bike. I suppose we all have our weaknesses, that's one of mine (along with Swedish fish and gummi bears!). So at this point I've been off the stuff for 8-days solid now and yesterday was the first day without the headaches. Shit, I feel like a recovering drug addict, but in many ways that's what it is to a small degree. I'll keep at it and if I find I can get more sleep then that'll supersede any buzz I get from the caf.

OK, final thought. My new sponsor, Bike Sherpa, recently put the Team Page together. You can check it out here. The entire team is chalked with some incredible backgrounds and experience. Check it out!

Peace out home brews,
Drew.

January, Cold Season, and Chinese Downhill!

2008-01-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

I got sick last week and still shaking off some of the garbage. You know, that nice hacking congestion and clogged shnoz. With all the travel over the holidays it's no surprise one of us would catch something. Just glad it was me and not Kate since she starts her schooling back up. It's been awhile since I've gotten sick, but such as life. It's January, so I'm not whining too much about it. Below is the weekly log which is basically nothing, but with today's first visit to our local ski mountain I have a little reflecting to do.

Ok, lets get the log out of the way:
- 2000yds straight in the pool,
- 6-mile run through the snow along the Boise river.
- Two 45-min rides on the trainer. Heart through roof at half power. Cut it short.
- Full day of Skiing today.

Yeah, Kate and I hit the slopes today. We were planning to head up the mountain on Saturday, but I still wasn't quite up for it because of the cold. We got there today to find some perfect weather and some beautiful slopes. Head out to Kate's blog for some kick-ace pictures and such.

Skiing was my passion as a kid, yet growing up in Northern Wisconsin you had such "iffy" snow conditions that if you got 2-months of skiing it was good. As a kid I was on the local ski team and did pretty well at slalom, giant slalom, and jumping; however, my true love in skiing was downhill. Fast fast fast. Once again, living in Wisc you have some limitations to downhill courses, but you make due. I'm sure I have the unofficial record for the most runs at our local ski hill in one day. The second I was at the top I would rip into a full tuck to get down then head right back up. Franz Klamer was my skiing idol (also checkout his 1976 gold medal run at YouTube) so I would mimic him the best I could. Franz was a downhill god back in the 70s and 80s. If my tuck-run took 30-seconds it was probably too long. Up down up down...all day. Pretty friggin sweet.

To make and save money, my Mom was the head kitchen cook at the ski hill so her boys could ski free. Then she was off to some other job (e.g., waitressing, cleaning, etc.) just so her boys could have some of the same things the other local boys could have. I look back and it's pretty amazing how my parents made the hardships so transparent. As an adult now I can only admire and hope I can do the same for my rug-rats some day (scary thought).

It had been since 1995 since I last skied and that was a quick trip to Cascade in southern Wisconsin. Don't ask me why it's taken so long to get back into the sport. I suppose it's easy to phase out when you don't live anywhere near a ski hill in Illinois. When I lived in Wisconsin you could drive 2hrs north to some of the best skiing in the midwest. From Bloomington it was just too hard to plan a trip and I never hooked up with people that showed much interest. Over time I guess I just phased it out and replaced it with running and eventually triathlon.

Oh yeah, so you ask, how'd I do after coming out of retirement? I was a freakin rockstar homies!!!! :) Actually, I'm not ashamed to admit that I did pretty well considering the time away and on new equipment. I seemed to fall right back into things though I did crash and burn on one of the double-diamonds. That was humbling to say the least, but a ton of fun. I'm ready to head back!

Peath out-th,
Drew.

Ready for the 2008 Tri-Season

2008-01-08T12:46:00.001-07:00

This begins my 2008 year of blogging. Look for training updates, equipment updates, training hints and tips, and possible my training log. I haven't decided if I want to share all my secrets, but of course there's really nothing to hide. Just shut up and ride, right? Ha!

Well I have to say that I'm excited for the 2008 triathlon season and all the challenges that will get thrown my way. Kate and I are getting settled into our new surroundings here in Boise and she's hard at it with school and doing exceptionally well. She had eight classes this semester and I think she got more A's than I got during my entire college stint. Everyone has their special mental wiring and I'm just happy she chose a profession to save lives rather than me. The world is a safer place because of it! I just help doctors find detached fingers at triathlons from time to time (another story) and whatever else I can assist with. So anyways...

My 2008 race schedule is about 75% complete at this point, but everything revolves around Ironman Wisconsin, which has some hefty goals wrapped around it. My biggest goal is just having a perfect race, that's it. All of the other jive like qualifying for Kona, doing this, doing that is fine, but those things I cannot control so having a perfect race goal I can achieve by being as prepared as possible on race day. That's what it's all about and as long as I'm satisfied with my training then everything else is gravy. You can find my current schedule at my website.

For 2008, I have a new TT bike so its bye-bye to my Van Dessel, which has been so good to me since the 2004 season. The VD is actually my road bike now so it's still within the family and will get plenty of miles in and outside. My niece, Andrea, scored me a great deal with the bike shop "In Competition" out of Green Bay, WI. The new ride is a Giant Trinity C0. In all reality, I had my heart set on a new Felt, but it was hard to pass up this ride for the price and with all my customized equipment from my VD it's quite nice. What's funny is it's also the same new bike my brother got last summer so we'll be a pair of Twinkies for IM Moo.

I'm really digging my new surroundings here in Boise. My running options are pretty much endless and if I suck at running hills by September then it's my own damn fault. The hill running around here is amazing. It's taken a little adjustment driving to these locations since I'm used to stepping out the door and running on the Bloomington constitution trail and such. The 10-25min drive is worth it though and I usually come back pretty whooped. I've also become quite the trail runner, running in pretty much any type of weather. Back in Bloomington I would usually hop on the treadmill when weather got bad/cold/snowy/raining/whatever, but I've really learned to embrace the harder days. "Harden the f@*k up, Drew" is basically my mantra for 2008.

Biking in the area is interesting and for the most part requires some driving to get to the start location, especially when riding with groups. If I decide to tackle traffic from my house there's a pretty good 100 mile ride that has a couple 4-6 mile climbs. Yes, I said miles. Not jamming on Illinois too much, but it's pretty hard to find a 4-minute climb. Anything north of Boise has roads that tend to point UP. Go South and it's flatter than Illinois by a long shot, consisting of Sage brush (tumbleweed) and rattlesnakes. There's also Bogus Basin where Kate and I will get some good skiing in this winter. If I leave from my house it's about a 25-mile ride to the base, which consists of around 4000-feet of climbing before you get there. Then it's a 16-mile climb to the top with a couple small flat and down sections on the way there. Those will be my epic century rides to get ready for Moo. I'm pretty pumped to take it on. I've climbed both sections of this ride individually, but haven't thrown it all together yet. It'll hurt like a mutha, but should get the system prepared.

Kate and I joined the local YMCA, which gets us into six different gyms here. Our closest "Y" has a very nice pool and is by far the biggest pool I've been too. There's 16 swim lanes then other lanes/areas for aqua aerobics and such. I'm yet to wait or share a lane. It's pretty incredible. The Downtown YMCA has most of the triathletes and masters swimmer programs so I'll try to hit that from time to time. I'm also told this pool doesn't have any chlorine and is a salt pool. I've heard of these types of pools, but yet to swim in one. I'll try to hit it soon and let you know how it goes. Swimming for me since I've been to Boise has been great. I haven't been this consistent with swimming in years and really taking a liking to a lot of drills drills drills. I then do a lot of straight distance swimming and try to apply those drills. It's been working and my times are currently faster than any previous times I've had, even the shorter efforts like the 50 and 100. We'll see if I can apply it to the races, which is a whole other animal as most of you tri-geeks know.