Stanford Treeathlon

Not only was I bummed because I did not get to race the ITU San Diego race, but I also was a bit worried for my preparation for Wildflower. I lost some much needed speed work that was to be the San Diego race, and I missed three days of proper training. After a brief consultation with this guy, I decided to add a last minute sprint race this past Sunday. The day prior to the race, I rode 78 miles at a solid pace, and ran 7 miles off the bike, with three miles at half-ironman pace. I'll come clean and say that I'm not so great at taking care of the little things like ice baths. But with a race the following day, I forced myself to sit in the ice bath; and I have to tell, I really think it was the difference between having semi-fresh feeling legs rather than bricks for the race.

For the first time this season, my arms did not burn, and I did not feel hypoxic during the first 200 meters of the swim. I wouldn't say it was a great swim, but it was solid. T1 from swim to bike was almost a half mile run and I took advantage of this and passed several people. The 20K bike was 3 loops and pancake flat. I felt great on the bike, and my legs had no memory of the prior day's training. The only problem is that it's been so long that I've raced a flat course, that at times, I had no idea what to do. Should I mash the gears and do low cadence? Should I try to keep my RPMs up instead? Sit forward? Sit back? I vacillated between decisions, but what remained constant was the hard effort. I kept telling myself, make it uncomfortable and hurt!

Approaching the last loop of the bike, this relay cyclist went flying by me, and tucked in right behind him was a guy from my wave. That bastard! About 5 minutes down the road, a USAT marshall appeared in sight, and the drafter jumped off the train. Without the draft, I was slowly reeling him back in. As I came up on him to make the past, I thought, this guy wouldn't have the audacity to draft off me would he? Well, he sure did have the audacity. So I quickly swerved right to communicate to him I would have none of that. About a minute later, I looked to my left to make another pass, and guess who was right there? I was so pissed I shouted, "Get the F___ off my wheel!" He responded by bolting away from me with his huge quads. I knew he was stronger, I just had more endurance. I vowed at that point that I was going to beat this guy. As I entered T2, I saw him slipping his shoes on, and I said, "You better run fast with those fresh legs because I'm coming after you." Ha ha, I was just so mad, I wanted him to feel like he was being hunted down. I mean why do amateurs blatantly draft? I understand loop courses get crowded, and the whole timed passing rule is hard sometimes, but blatantly tucking in and sitting there, unacceptable. I made the pass within the first 400 meters of the run, and I decided not to say anything. My passing him was the only statement I need to make. He knew. In fact, he knew he drafted because post race, he avoided me like the plague. He's not the only guy drafting out there, drafting pervades our sport, and it's the main reason why I don't enjoy racing. My inclination is to print his first and last name right here, and the club that he races with, so that he'll think twice about doing that again. I thought about emailing Gina Kehr, who is coaching his team, and asking her to do what she can about educating her athletes. But just like my lack of attention to things like ice baths, I'll probably just let it go. Too funny, Gina's personal website used to say "Let It Go".

Well, the anger must have fueled me for the run because I ran an 18:59 5K off the bike. Finally, a decent run! I got the age-group W, and finished 7th overall. I had a great time racing with my high school students and their parents, and I was so thankful that my body cooperated and allowed me to push myself into the hurt box! Onward to Wildflower!

Kaiser SF Half Marathon

The last two times I did this race, I had very bad cases of "race day illusion". As the name implies, race day illusion is a distorted view of what you can actually do verses what you want to do. For example, it's race day illusion that makes you blaze from the start trying to hold 6:00 minute pace for 13.1 miles, even though you haven't run any faster than 6:40 pace for only 7 miles. It's race day illusion that makes you try to beat that girl just because she is a girl, even though she is running at a ridiculously fast pace. The previous example also holds true for people you consider to look less fit than you, not wearing an outfit that looks as fast as yours, or people who don't look as pretty as you running. Race day illusion caused me to cramp at mile 9 the last time two times I did this race, forcing me to hobble the last 4 miles to the finish. It would not happen a third time.

From the start, I held a pace that I believe I could hold for the entire 13.1 miles. I floated when I could on the flats and the downhills, and I pushed, but not too hard, when I needed to during the uphills. I let girls pass me, unfit looking people pass me, people with weird painful looking gaits pass me, and I never let my ego sabotage my goal of properly pacing the 13.1 miles. Mile 8 was my first benchmark to tell me if I had properly paced the race. No cramping, right on, see ya later alligator. Mile 9 was the next hurdle, and still no cramping, I think I'm in the clear, no race day illusion here. Even with proper pacing, at some point, the race is going to hurt. It's a race. That point came at mile 10. As I felt the hurt come on, I started to take myself out of the race, out of the hurt. And I immediately heard Charisa's voice (and a faint Ian too) telling me it's supposed to hurt. And just like that, I got my mind back into the race, into the hurt. It felt good to be able to do this, to make the correct decision at a pivotal point, something I've not necessarily been able to do in the past. I stayed in the hurt and pushed myself to run the last 3.1 miles as fast as I could. A little after mile 11, I felt my calves twitch, uh oh. I switched my gait up a bit to put less pressure on the calves. After several tries of different gaits, nothing was really working. At mile 12, both calves seized up, but I kept running, as funny and weird as it might have looked to the spectators. One good thing to come from making those pacing errors in my previous two races, is that I learned how to run with cramped legs. Even with both calves cramped, I managed to re-pass two people, and finish the final mile (an uphill mile) in 6:35 or so. I'll gladly accept kudos.

My finish time was 1:23:47, only 7 seconds slower than my time from when I was 34 years-old, and in similar shape. I'm very happy with my result, considering that I've only been running three times per week and no speed work. I'm going to turn 42 this year and for the past several years, I've been using my age as an excuse for not running faster. I now realize that allowing myself to use that excuse the past several years has kept me from running faster. I may get faster running this year, or I may not, but I certainly am not going to continue holding onto that excuse. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I scoured but I couldn't find any from the race.

Creative Outlet

Years ago, I stumbled upon Simon Whitfield's blog and though he is a pro and way faster than I'll ever be, I felt a kinship with the Canuck. For whatever reason, we both need a creative outlet. I really enjoy looking at life behind a camera lens or sharing my life through videos. The whole post production process is fun, and I can spend hours immersed in editing. Is my stuff any good? I'll let Simon speak for me:

Having fun with whatmyphonesaw.com, to be honest, it's for me, not really concerned if people like it or don't like it, it's my creative outlet, not sure exactly how creative I really am but it's an outlet, a subtle and easy distraction that I enjoy.

This kinship now extends to others, including two of my favorite pro triathletes.

Spooked

I haven't run since the bloody piss incident more than two weeks ago, and to be honest, I'm a bit spooked to start back up. In the days and weeks following the incident, I've experienced some anomalies around pissing. I've been pissing...A LOT, like 10-12 times during the day, and 5-8 times per night. I finally went to the doctor where I was probed and checked, including urine analysis, and everything seems to be in working order...except for the excessive pissing. I was told to give it another two weeks to see if it goes away and if not, we go to another round of probing and testing.

I was even more spooked when I engaged in what I thought to be a casual conversation with my co-worker, who also happens to be a former Olympian for the Nigerian soccer team. At some point in our "casual" conversation, we covered the topic of the "mind over matter" attitude, and at what point is this philosophy harmful. If your mental limits surpass your physical limits, is it healthy to push your body to such limits? My co-worker lived this philosophy on his way to becoming an Olympian, but he now lives with regret. The years he spent pushing his body beyond its limits have left him with an enlarged heart, and joints that move far from an agile athlete. As I sat and listened, I realized that I covet this philosophy, and I recalled with pride the times that I successfully won the battle of mind over matter. My thoughts drifted to the past couple of years filled with pushing pass my physical limits: racing multiple ironmans, puking during races, pre-, post-, and nausea during the race, IV's, 50-mile run, and finally culminating in the pissing blood incident. But listening to a former Olympian express regret further spooked me.

All I know is that I'm now a middle-aged man whose pushed his body for 30+ years as an athlete. Though there are many middle-aged men and women who continue to kick ass and push their bodies way pass their physical limits, maybe I'm just not one of them. My results this year sure seem to indicate this may be the case, and with this recent health issue, I'm more inclined to think this may be true. When I see the results that athletes like Charisa and Ian are pulling off, it inspires me to get out there, work hard, and put out some big results too. But right now, I'm thinking maybe my time has passed, and rather than aspiring to do what they do, I should just appreciate what they can do. I haven't made any solid decisions, but come turkey day tomorrow morning, I plan to slip on my running shoes, push aside the spooked feelings, and attempt a run.

My Body

My body tells me no but I won't quit
Cause I want more, cause I want more

Crush dreams in Kona y'all! Though I can't be there, I'll be suffering with you because I just realized my 50-miler is on the very same day on October 8. My goal is to finish faster than the first place pro male at Kona, and to help me get there, this tune has served me well in training and will be on replay in my head come race day. I hope it serves you well too!

10 Questions with Ian Mikelson

Sports Background before triathlons?

Youth: Surfing and Jr. Lifeguards
High School: Football
College: Sport Drinking

Pre-race ritual?

Powerbar and Banana immediately upon rising 3hrs 10mins before race gun sounds

Strange place you bodyglide?

Toes

What are the two most played songs on your ipod?

Eminem- Lose Yourself, Metalica- Master of Puppets

What do you crave when you are bonking?

Soda and Salty chips

How many #2's pre-race?

2- minimum

What is an obscure website you visit?

Your blog. Obscure enough?

What's in your special needs bag?

Bike: Red Bull, 2 PowerBars chopped in half
Run: 2 Fuel Belt flasks: 1 Red Bull, 1 w/ 4 PowerGels and water

Team Macca or Team Crowie?

Neither, I like them both.

What's your ride (pic would be cool)?
Specialized Transition Pro.

*You can learn more about Ian at his website: http://www.ianmikelsonracing.com/

Get the Work Done

During my sabbatical, the Aussies and the Kiwis taught me about HTFU; this past weekend, Ian taught me GTWD, or get the work done. Saturday was my longest ride of the season, 96 hilly miles, followed by an 8 mile brick run. Then it was off to the pool for 3200 yards of swimming. But one long day is not that hard, it's backing up that long day with more training, that there is the ironman training secret. It's the second day that you gain iron fitness. The second day involved a 12-mile run followed by 2 hours on the bike. By the time yoga came around that evening, my legs were thrashed and I suffered in chair pose. My yoga teacher, oblivious to what I do over the weekends, kept pushing me to sit lower, too funny. I really need to clue my teacher in as to what I really do before I hit her class. I also really need to do these things:

Take an ice bath after a long day-my legs were very sore the next day.
Refuel properly after a long day-I was calorie deficient starting my workouts the day after.
Always bring an emergency gel-on both runs I kept thinking to myself, "A gel would really improve my mood right now."

I started my coaching season last week which meant my training day started at 5:00 AM and ended between 7:30-8:45 PM depending on the day. After one week, there is no way I can sustain this schedule. Charisa to the rescue. She suggested I try an 8-2 schedule. Eight days where the focus is bike-run with some swimming and yoga thrown in as maintenance. Then two day recovery where I do weights and swim. The first two cycles are speed emphasis and the third cycle is volume. This schedule is much more sustainable, even leaving me some time to do things like clean my house and hang out with friends. The change-up is nice and there is reprieve every eight days.

And finally, the Libster gave me a pretty nice gift on Sunday. I was sitting at home thrashed after my 12-mile run, and opened my email to this picture. She ran her half-mary in memory of my mom, and seeing the picture made me realize how awesome sport can be. Simply put, you rock Libster!

From Burnout to Two Ironmans

I was hopping on the trainer at 5:15 AM and thought to myself, two years ago I was on the verge of burnout. I was only doing olympic distance races, my training was riddled with missed workouts due to lack of motivation, and forget about getting up for a 6 AM swim workout (been there, done that...ever since I was a kid). I didn't even race the first half of the year and only came back to racing after some teammates urged me to in order to get some points for a team race. After 17 years in the sport, and doing my first triathlon at 19 years-old, I wasn't sure how much longer I wanted to race. After several failed attempts at the ironman distance, I gave up and decided I would come back when I was 60 and most of my competitors were either playing golf or having reconstructive knee surgeries. Then I stumbled onto the blogosphere.

I can't remember how but I came across Bree Wee's blog and well, it was like a breath of fresh air. Her energy and enthusiasm for the sport was inspiring and contagious. As I followed, I started reading comments on her blog and from there, I was guided to other blogs, like Ian and Charisa. Over a rather short period of time, I was feeling inspired and motivated. As I kept following these blogs, and adding several more, I was stoking the fire within to race, and specifically to race the ironman distance. I had unfinished business. The whole process back was pretty organic and organic is good. Since then, I've armed myself with a gaggle of blogs for motivation and inspiration. Thus, when I'm up at 5 AM, I feel like I have company knowing that Libby was 30 minutes ahead of me (actually 3 hours and 30 minutes since she is in Florida), and several others whose day of training begins well before sunrise. It's funny how I went from burnout to two ironmans in one year, and if I'm lucky, I'll get a bonus ironman in October.