Ayerd{dot}com :: Triathlon

Let’s get to it:

Swim: 1:02:07
Bike: 6:31:47
Run: 5:35:27
Total Time: 13:19:06

Long race, very long. Finished and with no ambulance, so I have that going for me.

Now that a few days have passed by and I've had a chance to think a bit more about Ironman Florida, I thought I'd post those thoughts. If you missed the initial report, it is below.

First up, damn, that was a cool race. When you wake up on race day, you really feel like you're going to be overwhelmed by the event, but once you get moving all the practice, prep, and other race day experiences come into play and it just all works.

The swim was beyond cool. I've done some two mile swims in the past. They all seemed a bit long. The Ironman swim felt short. I don't know if it was me focused on the bike and run or if it was just a perfect day. I think it was a little of both. I did see two jellies on the swim but it was near the end and by then I was so focused on the transition and getting on the bike, they didn't faze me.

The bike course at IMF is pretty sweet. Nice and flat and not as long as you'd think. Getting the flat tire was a bit disappointing, but it happens. That 21 minutes will be gravy to take off on the next IM. The start of the course is through town and then across the bridge. Pretty neat, really. Then you settle into a chip seal road with a generous shoulder. I'll admit the bits in the middle are somewhat a blur. I remember the people I talked to on the course more than the course itself. Near the end, the road got bumpy and broken up. Not too bad by any stretch, but after the smooth sailing of the first 70 miles it really sticks out. It also started to get a tad lonely. Not the end of the world by any stretch, but I see why everyone said to get some long rides in solo. On race day, you're alone and practicing that mental toughness really paid off.

If I could change anything, it would have to be on the run. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty pleased with my time, but as with Eagleman and Timberman, I kind of let myself down during the run. I had a good pace the first loop, but by the middle of the second my legs felt shot. I'm not sure how much of this was mental and how much was physical. I know 125 or so miles tends to cost your body in terms of effort, but I keep thinking I should have had more in the tank. Since this is the "Off Season of the Run™", I hope to build up that run endurance. At least on this run I never, not even for one second, felt I wouldn't finish. It was just a matter of how far I could push myself between walks. Bah, no matter how well I could have ran that marathon, I would be bitch'in that it should have been faster. I suppose that is a Type A side effect that is both good and bad. (Aren't all triathletes Type A by default? Yea, I thought so too.)

Recovery from IMF was easier than I ever expected. Sunday I was up at 7:00 AM and didn't feel too bad. A little sore around the lower back and my feet hurt. I had a few people tell me that the IM marathon was easier than a stand alone marathon. I didn't believe them, but now I do. After the NJ Marathon, I could barely walk for three days. The day after IMF I was moving, two days later I spent the afternoon drinking beer and eating fried foods. No way that was happening after the run at the shore.

Commodore asked about hotels. The hotel we stayed at was about 30 minutes from the host hotel. It wasn't 5-stars, but it was clean and had a good price point. Staying away from the other athletes was a goal, and this place made it happen. If you're heading down there for IMF-06, call around. There were about a dozen of mega-hotels being built between where we stayed and the host hotel. They should be open by IMF-06. Since IMF falls during the off season in PCB, there were also lots of houses for rent. I'm not sure who you could call about them, but a local real estate agent could probably hook you up. Get a place with a kitchen! Food stuffs in the area tended to be closed, close very early in the afternoon, or be not as family friendly as you'd like. I know Bretta didn't mind when Bill and I went to Hooters on Sunday — we got great seats where we could see 4 different football games and the wait-staff wasn't too bad on the eyes (What more could you ask for?), but the fried wouldn't have worked before the race.

We did find one breakfast place that completely kicked buttocks. It was a little hole in the wall that had... I hope you are sitting down... bacon pancakes. Yes, there were hunks of crispy bacon in the pancake! OMG, it was yummy. You knew it was bad for you as you dumped a few pounds of butter and syrup on them, but it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo worth it.

If anyone has any questions about or would like more information about my hotel stay, my email address is in the upper right of the header. Don't be shy!

Two more things about the Ironman, and then I'm done: (1) Don't pre-pay for photos. The line to get the pre-paid photos was HUGE. The line to score the pics without the pre-pay was short. You do the math. And, you can always buy the photos online after the fact. (2) I cannot wait for IM-CDA!

Okay, Ironman done. Did nothing for about 14 days and by nothing I mean that number just before one. If even that much. This weekend it was time to think about starting to move again and get ready for IM-CDA. 216 days to get ready, plenty of time.

This weekend I went to for an easy 1-hour run with friends on Saturday morning. After the run, it was off to the pool for a cool down swim. I started my swim with the masters group and switched to a 100 cool down after their 1600 warm-up. Didn't feel too bad but my legs were a tad tired during the kicking bits.

Sunday was a 7-mile run around/through Princeton. That went pretty well even with the 30° temperature. Got to see running friends I've not jogged with since before the IM taper started. It was great to see everyone again! After the run Karen, Drew, Bill, Bretta and I headed to Philly to see the Body Worlds exhibit. It was coooooooool.

This week I start to get in shape for the Disney Half Marathon. The goal for this race isn't speed, it is good running form. Got to get that cadenance up and work on leaning forward when running. My running form sucks pretty hard but this Off Season of the Run™ will fix it! At least I hope it will.

Goals for the upcoming season:

1. Run the whole 13.1 without walking at the White Lake Half Ironman
2. 12-hour Ironman at Coeur d'Alene
3. 4:30 or better at the Marine Corps Marathon

To go along with the race goal, there are also some training objectives:

1. Comfortable run cadence of 180 by 26 Feb.
2. Complete every scheduled core workout
3. 55-minute 2.4 mile swim
4. Achieve racing weight of 180 by 07 May
5. Bike and run workouts completed with heart rate monitor – understand and work with the numbers!

All in all, those goals and objectives should be with in my reach. I think the hardest things listed will be the 12 hour IM and the core workouts. Last season the core workouts were like a rest period and I think that was the cause of the sore lower back and shoulders after IM-F. I've already talked to my trainer at the gym and on the 29th we're going to lay out a core, upper-body, and lower-body workout. The core will be done three times a week. Once at the gym followed by upper-body, again two days later at the gym followed by lower-body, and once on the weekend before the Saturday run (between 3-5 miles).

To help with the heartrate stuff, I've upgraded my Polar monitor with a spiffy new Timex 5E671 Ironman Triathlon Bodylink Performance Monitor and I got the data recorder so that, if everything goes well, I can post charts a long the lines of those posted by The Commodore. The monitor was less than I thought it would be and came with free next day shipping. Sweet.

I've updated my workout schedule over there on the right with a new file and have roughly outlined the hours that I'll be spending during the 23 weeks getting ready for IM-CDA. This Sunday I'll sit down with Chris and we'll see what needs to be adjusted.

If you need an office type program to open and work with Excel files, I highly recommend Open Office 2.0. IMHO, it is far superior to Microsoft Office and has a much better price point. Make the switch, you'll thank me later.

I found this Running Pace Calculator buried in my bookmarks.

Share and enjoy.

I got my new toy in the mail the other day. The fine folks at HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com did a fine job of providing the watch at a reasonable price and super-fast delivery.

Thanksgiving morning I strapped on the parts and headed out the door for an easy run as if I didn't have the technology in effect. This the chart that software produced at the end:

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The chart shows that at a comfortable 160 beats per minute I can crank out a comfortable pace of 9:30-9:40 (where is this pace on race day?!). Not bad.

Saturday I huffed down the road with the goal to keep the heart rate under control. To help out, I ran with Bretta on her run:

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Sunday was a little different. I kept the heart rate goal but was running with Karen, Angela, Nora, and Sara. They were running further — Ang and Nora are getting ready for the Disney Marathon — so I jumped in for the last 90 minutes. You can see the red heart rate was fairly consistant, but the pace reflect the traffic running through Princeton, the bathroom break at the 30-minute mark, and the water breaks. I was a pretty good run that left me feel strong!

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Cool huh?