Tough day, many issues but I could not quit.  That would be completely unacceptable to me.

Results:       14:40:36      Overall

Swim          1:24:58 –     PR by 3:37

Bike           8:07:31 –     multiple mechanicals (5 flats, burred rim, cut tire)

Run            4:53:45 –     Gut issue and cold (shivering near hypothermic)

T1             0:07:33 –     under 8 minute goal

T2             0:06:49 –     no longer racing after 87 minutes of mechanicals

Executive summary:

• Had a good swim, liked the new rolling start, happy with the results.  Peed 3 times.
• Bike was a mental challenge – double flat on the decent, 3 more flats before Ausable due to cut in the tire. Blown gasket in my inflator. New tire at beginning of lap 2.  Peed 3 times. 
• Run started fine but between the minor GI issues and getting cold from the rain I walked about an hour from 17.5 to 22.4 trying to fix my gut and metabolism.  Ran strong the last 4 miles. Peed 2 times. Finished with a big smile.

Ø  Post-race weight was 1.2 lbs under pre-race, i.e. good hydration management.

Ø  No cramping or other muscular issues from fatigue &/or sodium.

Ø  Stayed in my box and managed the day as it came, kept a positive attitude.

Ø  Need to find a better calorie solution for the run to avoid GI issues and bonking.

_____________________________

Extended version:
Pre Race: 3:15 AM wakeup. PBJ @ 3:30. 20 oz Infinite w/ 250 cal @ 6 AM

T0

My dumb mistake of the day was putting my wetsuit on backwards!  In my rush to get ready, I somehow got my suit on wrong and didn’t notice, nor did anyone point it out.  Not even the team as we gathered for the team photo.  It wasn’t till I was at the lake and tried to zip up that it became blatantly obvious.  No harm done but I sure felt STUPID!! 

Swim @ 1:24:58 (goal: 1:21)  PR by 3:57

Lined up just behind the 1:10 – 1:20 sign thinking I was @ 1:22ish.  As the wave was staged to go next I realized I was behind the wrong sign.  I should be 10 minutes further back behind the 1:21-1:30 sign.  Doh!  I slid back to near the back of the group and went off with them anyway. 

Most contact was harmless and incidental although I did have to deal with several zigzag swimmers.  If they could only swim straight…. The only contact of significance was half way back on the first lap I was getting lapped by the fast peeps &/or pros.  I felt this paw the size of a catchers mitt grab my shoulder and pull so hard it felt like I went backwards… the guy goes “Sorry dude” and blew by me.   

I swam comfortable most of the way realizing it was going to be a long day and killing myself early for 4 minutes wasn’t worth it.  I also paused to pee 3 times while swimming.

T1 @ 7:33 (goal: 08:00)

Helmet (glasses mounted like visor), convertible jacket, shoes, guzzle 20 oz Infinite w/ 250 cal and go.  Felt smooth.  A volunteer packed my swim gear for me, thanks!

Bike 8:07:31 (goal: 6:25)

Not the bike I planned on but I dealt with the mechanical issues with a smile and focused determination.  Start with 900 cal/1200 Na in 40 oz. SpeedFill and 24 oz. H2O between the bars.

Leaving T1 and the ride out of town was uneventful.  Chatted with Jeff Sullivan a bit about the “Ricky Racers” standing and hammering up the ski jump hill to Adirondack Lodge Rd.  The decent to Keene started fine, roads not too wet.  Didn’t want to get too aggressive and ended up with a top speed of 44.7 on the first big hill.

Between the first big drop and the last big drop where the grade eases off is where my day really started.  I had just dipped my head for a second to stretch my neck and when I look up, something black the size of a brick (pavement?) was right there and unavoidable.  I ran it over and got 2 flats!.  Both tires in a millisecond doing 29.5 mph @ mile 12.3.  Good thing is I least I didn’t crash or hit another cyclist.

I think OK, no PR today, just fix the flats and get back to work.  Pull the front wheel and look over the tire – no noticeable cuts or anything, change the tube and inflate.  Pull the back wheel, look it over, seems fine.  Second tube on and inflated.  Back on the road.  Both spare tubes gone but still have 2 CO2 cartridges.  Time lost: 17:21

Round the corner in Keene and start up the first roller (mile 16.6) and Bangsssssshhhhh … again!  Front wheel, I’m thinking it must have been a bad install and a pinch flat.  First bike by me is a French gent – asks if I need anything, gives me a long stem tube – perfect, thanks!   Change the tube and go to inflate – PSSSSHHHHhhhhhhhssss.  WFT?  The gaskets in my inflator blew out!  Totally non-repairable out there.  One minute later Woody pulls up and helps me out and I get rolling again.  Time lost 13:11

As I pass the first aid station (mile 17.4) and Bangsssssshhhhh! For real?  This time it takes awhile to get a tube.  Waiting for support, I spend my time trying find the reason my tires keep blowing – spokes, rim tape etc..  Eventually I find a dimple in the rim and a burr on the inside from the what ever I hit on the decent.  Get a volunteers Leatherman and file the burr smooth.  Support truck shows up, gives me a tube and a pump to get me rolling again.  Time lost 26:36

Just past Jay heading for Ausable Forks and it happens again (mile 25.8).  Off the bike, pull the wheel and since I need to wait for assistance (no tubes, CO2 or inflator) I am determined to find the cause of all my flats.  Pull the tire off completely and go over it inch by inch – inside and out, until I find the angled cut, not visible on the tire unless it is flexed or inflated.  At least now I am certain I know the cause and proceed to get ready with a boot for when the support truck shows up.  I get the tire booted and inflate to only 100lb and start off again.  Time lost: 18:15

In hindsight I should have looked at the tire after inflation the first time. I would have seen the blister on the shoulder of the tread.  Also of concern was using the front brake.  There was just enough contact that it might contribute to another blowout.  At this point I know I cannot chance a second decent into Keene unless I replace the tire. Support truck suggested I stop outside the transition and ask for bike-tech, so that’s the plan.

Quick stop (1:49) in Jay (mile 35.3) to pee before the climb back to Placid.  Despite all the stops and waiting, I stay on my nutrition/hydration plan for the time I am riding.  Five sips Infinite every 15 minutes, water in-between.  Before each aid station I try to drain my water bottle, toss it and get a fresh one.  I holler to the EN tent on my way by to let my wife know I had 5 flats but was otherwise OK.  The GroupMe app is an awesome tool for team updates!  Quick stop at BSN (1:08) refill my SpeedFill with 900 cal/1200 Na.

Back at Transition I call for bike-tech but was told there were no bike-techs there.  Next stop is my condo @ mile 56.7 to get a new tire I had there.  Wife Carole is heartbroken at my run of bad luck but admires my up-beat disposition and determination to go on. She was concerned I would be DQed for stopping but I knew I could not chance the decent to Keene without a new tire, so I had to stop. With a new tire on, I am rolling again.  Time lost: 12:16

The rest of the ride is un-eventful.  Stay focused on my watts, keep up on the nutrition and hydration.  One stop in Jay before the return climb to pee again (2:00).

Ø  Looking at my official clock splits and subtracting the flat related stopped time, my splits were very good.  Comparing the ‘out’ sections from Transition to Ausable my adjusted splits were within +1:29 @ 1:29:51 vs 1:31:20.  The ‘return’ sections from Ausable to Transition were within +0:23 @ 1:49:09 vs 1:49:32.  While not a negative split between full laps, it was minimal @ +1:52! 

Ø  The total adjusted numbers show a 6:39:52 bike split but it does not take into account the time taken to accelerate from zero to 18ish mph after each flat stop.  More importantly, because of all the delays, I basically had a solo ride.  I rode without any kind of competitive influence from other cyclists.  The only bikes near me for most of the day were slower riders.  I think a 6:30 was possible had circumstances been different. 

Ø  In the end, I did well to stay in my box and work the problems as they happened and let the day come to me.

Power stats:

Garmin 500 (includes all stopped time)    Time: 8:08:10

NP: 146      VI: 1.15        IF: 0.683     AP: 127       TSS: 346

Joule 2.0    (excludes speed = 0)        Time: 6:45:14 (8:08:02)    

NP: 150      VI: 1.07        IF: 0.7       AP: 140       TSS: 330

Peak 1 min   @ 201 (0.83)                    Papa Bear               2^nd lap

Peak 5 min   @ 167 (0.78) [4^th gear]     The Bears                     1^st lap

Peak 10 min @ 165 (0.77)              Ski Jumps past ADK Lodge Rd    2^nd lap

Peak 20 min @ 160 (0.75) [3^rd gear]     Condo past ADK Lodge Rd       2^nd lap

Peak 60 min @ 152 (0.72) [2^nd gear]     turn on Hazelton to Mirror Lake Dr 1^st lap

T2 @ 6:49 (goal: 03:00)  After all the mechanicals I no longer felt I was racing so no urgency.

Took a minute to change from Tri shorts to run shorts, then sock and shoes.  Also changed from convertible jacket to dry vest.  Hat had glasses and Gu in a bag to carry out of T1.

Run @ 4:53:45 (goal 3:59 to 4:10 @ 9:09 – 9:30)

The run was comparatively more mundane although I did have some issues.  Out of the transition all was good, pace slightly fast but going stupid slow on the downhill is tough.  Pace for miles 1 thru 6 was @ 9:12, not quite goal + 30 but I felt relaxed.  Plan was to Gu every 4 miles and walked all the aid stations (usually 30 steps, left foot). 

Removed the vest after less than a mile – too hot.  Stopped at mile 8 to pee (1:13) The gut felt fine till turn-around on Mirror Lake Dr.  Nothing bad but knew I had to fix it soon.  My first walk was at mile 12.5, just past Lisa G’s and up to the condo where Carole was, I stopped to chat and stretch (4:10).  I was getting chilled and realized not only was my gut shutting down, but I was getting behind on calories.  One mile later at the fairgrounds it started to rain making me colder.  Turning onto the River Rd all I could think of was getting a plastic bag or something to warm me up – I was beginning to shiver while running.  I was happy to see a volunteer with space blankets by the foot bridge.  With the blanket wrapped around me I continued to run, stopping to get coke and water and thought I was doing OK. 

Just past the turn-around (mile 18) I bonked.  Shivering with cold, light headed, a sour gut, and walking.  Not good.  I go for the chicken soup and have trouble keeping it down – I didn’t barf but sure felt like it was close.  More Coke and water.   Next I try a banana – nope.  Coke and Coke.  More chicken soup with Coke.  Peed at mile 19.

It seemed like such a long walk from the turn-around to the ski jumps.  Eventually I got my gut and metabolism back up and functioning near the turn on 73.  I was determined to get running again, starting at the top or the ski jump hill.  I unwrap from the blanket and get going.  Drop the blanket at the next aid station, 2 cokes and go. 

I was back.  Running strong and focused.  Only walked 20 seconds at the aid stations and the middle section of the ‘townie’ hill.  The rest of the time I tuned out the crowd and just ran, felt good too.

Run Stats:

Miles 1 – 6         @ 09:12

Miles 7 – 18        @ 10:56

Miles 19 – 22.4     @ 15:30

Miles 22.4 – 26.2   @ 09:30

Run nutrition likely needs some work.  While this plan has always been fine for stand alone marathons where I was fully fueled at the start, in an Ironman run I am not.  I absolutely needed more calories this time and was not able to get them in.  I did manage to Gu @ 4, 8 and 13 but I could tell I was running behind on calorie.  Getting cold compounded the calorie deficit.  Cole helped a lot but took a while to kick in.

I don’t’ think I had a sodium imbalance from a neuromuscular perspective as I had no cramping or twitching during or after the event.  There may have been a need for some Na for GI related needs.  I will definitely have to work on finding a calorie solution that includes more Na for the run.  Chicken soup may have helped here but both times I drank it, I felt like projectile vomiting was inevitable.  Fortunately that didn’t happen.

Overall I think I did well in execution.  I had many challenges thru the day but I didn’t let any of them interfere with my state of mind.  I did not let the setbacks cause me to force the day, I just kept moving and let the day come to me.  After all my motto is:

 “Go until you stop.  If you’re not done, go some more.”

Why can't I get this right?

It's update season at work and while much of the tedious digitizing and data entry are done by my colleague, other demands have kept me off balance for far too long.  When I first began doing this work for Seven Islands, I would spend 3 or 4 weeks in the summer getting the winter cuts completed.  Near Christmas I would start to get the rest of the year's cut updates which demanded most if not all my time.  By early January I typically would be working 60+ hours a week and that would continue right up to January 31 - the day before the reports were to be at the State offices. 

Back then, it was much more time consuming and mind numbing than now.  Over the years I used my programming and scripting skills to build tools to automate a great deal of typing on a command line.  For those who are unfamiliar with the command line, it is a plain black screen that you type program commands to interact with software and data.  You may know what a DOS prompt is.... it's like that, kind of. 

The process would start with map of a township (about 36 square miles) attached to a 36" x 48" digitizing tablet.  To that I'd tape a smaller hand drawn map created by one of the foresters that depicts the harvest blocks.  Using a puck (mouse like device with 16 buttons) to trace the blocks. I would capture the size, configuration, spatial location and scale of the areas to be updated.  If there was a fun and easy part it would be that.  The data entry is the mind numbing part.  Entering information like harvest prescription, equipment used, residual stand type and anticipated next treatment gets old quick.  Especially since typing errors would cause fatal errors at some point in the process.

Now instead of typing commands to select, each polygon then another command to enter each attribute, of which there are 16 for every polygon, the program asks question and puts the responses in the proper attribute fields.  At the same time each entry is validated against a list of acceptable entries and refuses anything not on the lists.  This guarantees only the integrity of the data.

As of tonight, all updates have been completed and processed.  The reports needed by the Chief Forester for the purpose of reporting to the State of Maine have been submitted. 

Now I can finally take a breath and relax...... tonight it took me 6 miles on the deadmill before I felt like all the cob-webs in my head were swept clear..... There are a number of other projects that need attention, but the big one is gone for now.... looking forward to getting some quality time on the bike trainer and deadmill. 

My first prep race before Boston will be a new local half marathon called the MidCoast 13.1 on March 11.  Check it out.  Looks fun.  http://www.midcoasthalfmarathon.com/Home_Page.php

Run Strong

Wash, Rinse, Repeat...

Time rolled along and, like last year, I jumped into the NovOS along with nearly 100 other EN athletes.  I was feeling good and really focused.  My initial FTP test on the bike went well but the results were less than I was expecting.  I had expected to see a 205w or maybe even a 210w but WKO said otherwise - the test result was 197 watts NP.  Close enough I could have fudged it up to 200 but I didn't.

Being under 200 watts got me registered in the "Under 200 Club" - not a place to brag about but a great bunch of peeps to commiserate with.  All in all, a decent place to start.  I was hitting all my bike and run sessions at or just above my threshold paces.  No problems with fatigue lingering into the next session at first.  But as the holiday season came into view, I started to notice a lack of motivation.  Sure, I was doing the work and getting my shopping and planning done but I could tell something wasn't quite right.  By mid December I took a break from doing bike sessions and had begun to skip some of the runs.  I justified it as OK due to the holidays.  Mom was soon to be here and it was much more important to get things ready than spending 'me' time in the pain-cave.

Once mom did arrive, I tried to get most of my runs in but didn't care about the bike.  Christmas week I ran every day as part of the EN Holiday Run Challenge.  Nick and Sierra made it home too, in part for their cousin Tyler's wedding.  Kyle and Maria wanted to come but work-travel-money logistics made that hard to justify.

Now that all have gone home and the holidays are long past, I've been able to get more focused on training.  I reset my NovOS back a few weeks and started the marathon hack as well.  My next big race is Boston (4/16) and since I am not training for an Ironman (doing a half iron in June) I am free to be more run focused.  My goal is to beat my qualifying time and set a new PR.  Right now I am thinking 3:25 is possible.  We'll see how training - especially hill work goes over the next 10+ weeks before I really know were my fitness will be on race day.

Run Strong

Waiting for something...

It has been a very long time since my last post.  Much has happened yet nothing has changed.  

After Ironman Lake Placid I took a few weeks off from everything except eating and sleeping.  No runs and no bike for a couple of weeks.  Felt good actually.  It had been over a year since my last break in training.  But with the Mt Desert Island Marathon looming in October, I knew I needed to get started again. 

It didn’t take long for me to start wanting to skip workouts.  That was disappointing to say the least.  One of my teammates at EN started a 30 runs in 30 days challenge so I joined in the fun.  The first week of daily runs included mostly easy miles and some walking as I tried to rehab a tight calf.  By the second week things were going well.  The MDI marathon came near the end of week 3 and up to that point my longest run was 16 miles.  I had never run a marathon on so few miles and I was very unsure how it would go.  The run challenge ended at 30 days with me only missing 2 days – the first was in the first week and the second was the day after the marathon.  In all I ran 28 times in 30 days and accumulated 214 miles. 

The MDI marathon went much better than I ever would have imagined.  I did a good job of holding back the first 5 miles or so but then decided to go hard and see if I could maintain thru the end and I did.  Overall time was 3:34 – my 3^rd fastest finish out of 17 marathons run so far.  Not bad for only doing random runs and no real plan.

Run Strong