Clydesdales have big...bikes

Bigun FatAss 50K Ultra

2012-01-22T16:54:00.000-05:00

I"m still not sure this was a good idea. 265lbs, and 31 miles do not, in general, make for a nice day. But, I was looking for the next challenge, after 2 Ironman finishes, and quite a few of my bloggy, Facebooky triathlon friends have gone over to the dark side of Ultra, and lets face it, I'm easily influenced.

So how do you complete an Ultra? I really had no idea, 12 or so weeks ago when I first started getting the itch. I did the online research. I got a couple books. I self-coached. I signed up for an event - perhaps a bit overreaching, but you all know the way these things work - you have to put an event on the calendar. It's the rules.

So I signed up for Iron Horse 100k Ultra (Feb 18) back in November, and most of the sample training programs say that, at a minimum for a 62-mile run, you should really do half of that at some point before the race. Now I've also read that there's not much reason to have a long run much longer than 20 miles, a plan I like a whole lot better - but I really wanted to some point of reference under my belt before February.

I had a couple of choices - Gator Ultra and Everglades Ultra both had 50k runs, but Gator was a 2.5hr drive away, and the Everglades Ultra wanted $155 to go run. Seemed a bit excessive - so in my infinite wisdom, I decided to do a self supported, lonely 50k right here in Flatwoods, 20 min from my front door. A last minute suggestion was a good one - go and pace someone at the Long Haul 100 mile Ultra being held about 30 min from my house. This whole thing was such an unknown to me, however, I don't know, it just didn't seem fair to go out there and run-walk when my agenda was something other than helping out another runner.

So I packed up my gear - just my Camelbak Delany DC

and some gels, I loaded one bottle with Gatorade, the other with water, and off I went. Lesson #1: It's dark in the woods at 5:15 with no moon. I'm used to running out on Bayshore; the lights of Tampa and the streetlights are such I could read a book at midnight. I'd forgotten how scary the woods are at night. Alone. I figured out at mile 5 something I used to know - I run slower in the dark. In this instance, perhaps that's a good thing, but those first rays of dawn were a welcome sight! Bottom line, the Bigun needs a running light. It was still 9 miles before I saw another (real) human being - my first inkling of a eureka discovery.

One full lap at Flatwoods, Gate-Gate is almost exactly 13 miles. I ran back to my truck, and lubed up with some Body Glide - lesson #2: Lube up BEFORE starting up the run. I've got some nice NIKE lycra under-garments, but I still had some chafing issues not even half way into this thing. Out I went on lap 2, and into the unknown. Once past 26.2 miles, I had no idea what to expect (yes, the Body Glide cured the issue, and I was good to go to the finish)...

My Dad rode by on his bike, in the opposite direction, a bit later at the 18 mile mark. I was in the midst of some really bad pain at that point, so a short break was ok - but stopping even for a minute just made it hurt more.. had to keep moving! Dad rolled back around at 21 miles, so I turned back on the loop and welcomed his company for the two miles back to his car. The eureka moment is coming into focus now...

At that point, I just couldn't keep my shirt on any longer. My nips were rubbed raw, the simple act of removing my shirt meant one less painful piece of this strange new puzzle. Hard lesson #3: Bandaids become a part of the pack! A nice reminder of taking my shirt off - today I've got a bit of sunburn. I was still running a bit, even at +22 miles when my Dad was with me, but once I left his car, I really had a hard time doing anything but walk. I did the "just run to that fence" and "run to that trail up there" for darn near 7 miles! Here's how the pace looked by mile:

My goal was to stay at 5 miles per hour for as long as I could. I walked .15 and ran .85 almost to the 20th mile. Each time I do a long run, I can maintain that cadence longer and longer. I think it's a valid way to eat this elephant - at least until at some point where I just can't run any longer. Like those last 9 over 15-min miles. So maybe I'm going out too hard still, for me.

I got back to my truck at mile 30... how cruel is that?!? I turned around, walked back down the trail a half mile and then walked back in for the full 31 miles. How was that mile faster than the one before it? I saw a runner that I saw on one of the laps walking it in. I walked in faster. Eureka knowledge comes completely into focus!

Eureka: Doing these things alone, on your own, is NOT the way to do it! The camaraderie of fellow runners. Their support and the support of volunteers and of pacers, even on bikes. Seeing that person you've been chasing, or that passed you, who is now hurting and passable - that's what these events should be about, and that's how I'll do better than 7:23:10 next time. I learned a lot about my self and ultra running with this exercise, but I missed all of the fun things about running and ultras - all those things centered around other people.

The next day, I'm sore, but not crippled. By tomorrow, Monday, I'll be walking fine, and on Tuesday I'll be back on my training schedule, with any luck. My feet, in the way of blisters or hot spots, are clear with the exception of a small area on one toe that almost always blisters (duh, I really need to get preventive with that as well). I truly have NO IDEA how I'm gonna go double that distance in 4 weeks. This workout was NOT a confidence booster - more like a reality check. Gulp.

A year gone by!

2012-01-08T10:55:00.001-05:00

Holy crap! A whole year since I've posted... Facebook sure has killed my blog, at least.

Major happenings in 2011... lets see...

I got promoted at work - kind of a big deal.
got back on the training wagon - did some runs, did some tri's, lost some weight...
I'm now a multiple Ironman finisher... IMAZ is in the books.
Did a "clean" cycle - almost like a cleanse, but without the supplements. I liked it.

So here we are in 2012. I've already signed up for a new, different endurance event - Iron Horse Ultra. I'm pretty sure at some point I said I'd NEVER do another stand-alone marathon, let alone attempt a 62 mile run - but as they say, "never say never". I'm pretty fed up with one horrible Ironman run after another, so I'm taking 2012 and concentrating on my running abilities. Sure, I'm signed up for a couple of half IM's already - Gator and Florida Challenge - but I'm also mixing in some running events to spice it up.

Iron Horse 62m Ultra - Feb
Gasparilla Michelob Ultra Challenge (15k/5k on Sat, 13.1/8k on Sunday) - March
Gator Half IM - March
Sunrise to Sunset cross-Florida 180 mile Relay - March (hard time fielding a team of 4... but getting close)
Florida Challenge Half IM- April
Gulf Coast Half IM - May (might have a work conflict...)
Wickam Park Ultra - May
Mad Beach Sprint Tri - Jun
Morton Plant Meese Sprint Tri - July
IM Louisville - August (not signed up yet... still saving, still debating)
Hinson Lake 24h Ultra - Sep

So it's a diverse year; I may get bit by the Ultra bug, I might hate it. I've got a 50K (32mile) training run in 2 weeks, that will be my first official unofficial Ultra - I'm just running it on my own around the house. As they say in Ultra world, a Fat Ass 50K. Hopefully I'll learn a bit that day - I'm pretty clueless as to what to expect, and I'm sure at the Iron Horse (don't you just love that name?) I'll be trying to simply follow the masses. Start out slow and taper off.

They say that Ultra people are the friendliest athletes out there - other than my Tri friends that also do Ultras, I've only met one other guy - the RD for Hinson Lake 24HR Ultra - Tom Gabell and his wife Donna who went to school with Tri-Sherpa Di. What a great couple, and everything I read in blogs about his race makes me want to go there and do it all the more.

So, a different sort of year this year - we'll see how it goes. Perhaps I'll have a different flavor to my blog - an ultra flavor - lamenting on my many mistakes as I figure out how to run further than I've ever gone before. Do you hear the theme to Star Trek now, or is it just me?

January!

2011-01-30T09:36:00.000-05:00

January was a pretty damn good month. Start of the year. Hit it hard. Oh, yea!

Finally, work was good. Had a great month. One of my best since selling RV's. Is the economy back on track? Well, some folks think that the RV industry leads the country OUT of a recession, and I can tell you that it sure as heck lead us INTO the recession as well! People are buying RV's again, that's all I know, and that's a good thing.

January was Run Month for the Bigun. One day left, but overall I'm getting in 4 - 6 runs a week, and I peaked at 30 miles for the week. I'll wind up with 87 miles for the month - for me, that's a pretty good month. Especially since prior to that, I was getting in single-digit run weeks. My run pace has dropped pretty dramatically in this time - on Dec 15th I did a 9 mile run at an 11:07 pace. Last week I did an 8 mile run (not as my "long run", either) at a 10:00 pace. So 5 weeks to drop 1:07 off my longer run pace is "a good month".

I've been participating in the Dev's 100 / 100 on Slowtwitch. It's a goal of 100 runs in 100 days - I knew darn well I wouldn't run every day, and most of the folks in the competition don't either. I'm shooting for 70 - that would be about 5 runs a week. I think the added emphasis on running is doing me pretty good. I've got 31 runs in 47 days...so I'm just about on track.

The cold weather has my biking in the toilet. I will, for the first time since I started biking, run further in a month than I biked. I'm ok with that, actually. Next week starts a 3-week training block that has some days off scheduled to help me bike at least 2x per week. I'm still concentrating on running - Gasparilla Half Marathon is 4 weeks away - but I need to bike since 3 weeks later I've got a Half IM on the schedule.

I'll also start swimming again next week. That will be fun... not. It's a necessary evil, isn't it?

On top of all of that, we are moving next week. So lots of lugging boxes and furniture to pile on top of SBR. If it were easy, they'd call it "bowling" and not triathlon, right?

Oh yea, my weight. That's just like a red-hot poker sticking in my eye, every time I step on the scale. On a good note, this past week, my "off" recover week, my weight stayed pretty consistent, where normally I balloon up and gain back any weight lost the weeks prior. I'm at 267 - down about 5 lbs from Jan 1. I guess a pound a week isn't a bad thing. My 250lb goal for the Gasparilla Half is fading... looks like 260 will be a bit more realistic for 28 days from now. I'll run like the wind - albeit a wind loaded with leaves, trees and small cars - heads up!

2011 is here!

2011-01-09T11:05:00.001-05:00

Wow - it's been since October since I wrote last. Sorry, my one remaining reader. All I can say, is that the Bigun is back! I'm actually signed up for an Ironman race this year, and an early season "A race". I'm running, and getting ready for a half marathon in 2 months. Life is a lot better this year.

Yea, we sorta got kicked in the nuts last year. Di and I both are glad to have all "that" behind us, and looking undistracted to the future. Work, for both of us, looks surprisingly optimistic - we just might be starting to get control of our lives again!

So for 2011, if I can get this straight:

Gasparilla Half Marathon, Febuary 27
Gator Half Iron Tri, March 10 20th
Strawberry Century, March 27
St. Anthony's Olympic Tri, May 1
Mad Beach Sprint Tri, May 20
Florida Challenge Half Iron Tri, June 12
Morton Plant Meese Sprint Tri, June 26
Sand Key Sprint Tri, Sept.
Great Floridian Aquabike (Iron Distance), October 22
Ironman Arizona! Nov 20

There's a great little monthly Time Trial Series at Ft. Desoto that I'll be trying to do as well, on Thursday nights - a 15k bike after work. I'm trying to recruit some guys from work to go out, chiefly, my CEO - this way, leaving work a little early one day a month won't be quite so frowned upon! Plus, we might have something else to read about in the flyer that comes with our paycheck besides the company bowling league.

Of course the season's A-race is IMAZ - but my early focus is on St. Anthony's Olympic. One of these years I'll kick ass that day - and this year just could be that day.

Hope to see some of ya'll out there -

Flatwoods Bike-Run #1

2010-10-19T10:19:00.000-04:00

I enjoy getting people riled up. It's what I do. So before the big day, I threw out an e-mail to all the participants of our little schin-dig giving my prediction of thier performance. Yes, very dickish. It wasn't totally my idea - one of the guys in the adjacent cubicle (we call them offices, but really, they are glorified cubicles...) put odds on everyone racing, and I thought he was off a bit.

Anyway - the e-mail worked like a charm, and a couple of the guys, now, were much more emotionally involved than they were in the days and weeks prior. We done had ourselves a race!

So the deal was, we all start off on our bikes, roll 24.65 miles, transition back at our cars, and head out to run 6 miles. Not everyone was going to run. Our CEO, John, is a great biker, but has back and knee issues and decided last minute that he'd give the bike part a go. The rabbit had arrived. Greg "Bacon" isn't a runner either, and was all in for a fast ride. The rest of us would slug it out. Sort-of.

Lee brought a buddy from his church with him, Sean, whom we had ridden with before. He's a stud, and he came ready to throw it down. We put John and Sean up front, the strongest bikers of the group, along with Christian - the young guy - who's also got wheels, and the rest of us took up stance behind them and waited for 7:30am to start'er up. When we all looked ready, I said "go", rather ingloriously, and off we went.

We must have all eaten our Wheaties this morning, because at 4 miles we were averaging 21.5mph, which I knew was much faster than I had the heartbeats for! I started to back it down, John, Sean and Christian drove away, and the rest of us settled into a decent game of "losing your concentration". That's where you're cruising along at a certain speed, everyone's got the right 3 bike lengths to stay draft legal, and then the guy up front slows down. No reason really, but now the second guy is forced to pass or slow, but you didn't lose your concentration, so you pass - waking the previous now second leader up, and the leap-frogging continues. We were all guilty of this.

Greg and Tom hung in there with us, granted, with a little bit of drafting, but it was nice to see them with us for the whole ride. Both of them are getting better and better, and to their well deserved credit, they both tried to find clean air and even got out front for parts of the day. It took about 13 miles to drop the average to 21mph, and at the end, we all came in between 20.6 and 20.7mph.

At one point, Markle was feeling his oats, and made an unanswered acceleration. I tried to keep him in my sights, but just pulled away, and I lost him in the turning circle that is Flatwoods. Until the last mile. Smelling the barn, and seeing Markle free-wheeling it in was all Lee needed to rally up some finishing horsepower. Plus I egged him on, "go get him, Lee!" I chided. And he did - with a quarter mile to go, everyone (Lee, Greg, Tom) flew past me chasing Markle, while I continued at my pace, spinning in to transition. Oh yea, guys, we still have this little run to go...

Alas, poor Lee - his final effort left him pulling up with a blown hammie. But he did beat Markle in. Sean and Chris were both out on the run already; we crossed paths with about 200yds to go into "transition". I roared into the parking lot, threw down my tailgate, chucked my bike into the bed, and sat on the tailgate. Now THAT's what transitions should all be like! Bike shoes off, running shoes on, switch the Garmin over to "run" while walking back over the trail, and for a brief, tiny flash of a second, I was kicking it on the run, ahead of Lee, Markle and Tom! I crushed that transition, and then sped off at my blistering 11:00min/mile pace.

I held Markle off for about half a mile as he screamed by me trying to chase down the leaders. Markle's one of those natural athletic types (read young and skinny). I had given him some guff before the race since he hasn't been training much, so he had to prove me wrong. He did.

I kept looking for Lee. Where's Lee? I heard footsteps closing on me fast, and said over my shoulder, "there's Big Lee" - but it wasn't him. When I hit the 3 mile turnaround and still no Lee, I knew something was wrong and Lee didn't start the run. But there was Tom. Tom had gained on me the whole way, and was, as I predicted, right on my ass. I was sure he'd pass me, but I wasn't going to give it up without a fight. After all, I'd just watched Kona, and was ready for some shoulder to shoulder - mono a mono run down action. It never happened.

Tom had him a little cramping issue shortly thereafter, and stopped at the one water spot at mile 4. I had no idea, and was still running scared, so I didn't stop, nor did I look back. Never look back, right? Even when you are running 11's, you still don't look back. Since Tom and I were the last two back in, everyone was waiting for us and cheering us in. It was pretty cool, and a great benchmark test of fitness for everyone who participated.

My average run came in at 10:59 - right where I was hoping it would be. I've got 7 weeks until the Key West Olympic Tri, so I'll have a good chance to see how much better I can get my running before then. I think we'll try and do another of these brick races in 4 weeks, just to gauge the progress. It was a ton of fun, and I think everyone that participated had a blast and learned a bit about themselves. Tom and Chris still have never done an Olympic, and now have the confidence, minus the swim of course, to enter one someday soon. Markle's got the Tri-bug again. And for me, I can see an average of 21mph again in my sights, and know with some weight loss (I'm still about 273lbs) and a bit of run focus in these next 5 training weeks, I can get my run down to the mid 10's at least.

Good times!

Stairs

2010-10-06T19:32:00.000-04:00

Here's what 4 sets of stairs looks like on a Garmin:

I promise you I didn't run in the water! That was my first time since High School Wrestling running stairs - I kinda like it!

Progress Report

2010-09-30T14:51:00.000-04:00

So we know I'm having fun again. I'm not sure if today's workout was fun, well, parts of it is. I keep hearing young Ricky Bobby saying over and over, "I wanna go fast, I wanna go fast".

Today we went fast for 1 mile intervals. It's fun to hit 24mph, even if only for 3/4 a mile. 2 hours worth of intervals. Nice.

But I gotta tell ya, this workout smoked me. Something about all-out efforts times 10 - I used to do these, and I used to be pretty fast on the bike. So hopefully this will bring about the old Bigun.

Heart Rate over 10 intervals

Of course, the old Bigun is still hiding inside the current Bigun. I was 276lbs yesterday - 5 lbs over my target weight for this week. I'm pretty sure that 5 lbs on me is well within acceptable survey error... +/- 2% on any pundit poll certainly never made or broke a candidate - so I shouldn't be too worried yet. If I can keep the progress within 2%, I'm technically only 2 weeks or so away from my goal weight. Look on the bright-side, right? So I'm down 12.5 lbs since I started keeping the record 72 days ago. All this fat was 2 years putting on, and it's got a firm hold on me now. Imagine how hard it will be to drop once I hit my old IMCdA weight of 2 years ago!

Probably not going to race at Longleaf this year. I have the day off work, but I'll probably just do a private Olympic with some buddies over at Flatwoods that day (with or without the swim). No matter how you slice it, $105 clams for a triathlon after a bad sales month fails to make much sense. Especially when I'm saving my pennies for IMAZ11.

Having Fun Again

2010-09-23T18:03:00.000-04:00

I'm really not doing anything special or different, but I am starting to feel better about training again. Sure, I know I've got a long way to go just to get back to 2008 fitness levels, but there has been clear progress in these past couple of months, and that's encouraging.

Next on the board is another Olympic - the Longleaf Triathlon. This looks to be an awesome race - perfectly flat bike and run, along with typically cooler weather, and a fairly uncrowded field should all prove to be awesome. Plus, the swim doesn't really look to be, based on last year's times, a full 1500 meters. Since I'm a horrible swimmer, that's a good thing.

I've broken out of a fairly strict "base" phase and have started putting in some intervals into my training. It is pleasantly surprising to see the bike speed where it is now, and I'm sure the swim and run will start to come around too. I've got this weekend and 2 more hard weeks of training to make some gains before Longleaf - even the weight has been coming off a little bit at a time (the good way).

We've got our reservations for a B&B down in the Keys for early December - and I've registered for the first ever Key West Triathlon. Not only do we really need a vacation... this is my defacto A-race for 2010 (because it's the last one) and I think it's really gonna be cool. It already has about 200 people signed up for it - it's shaping up nicely!

Florida Challenge Short Course

2010-09-13T14:02:00.011-04:00

So here we are - RACING AGAIN! Yea, pretty exciting - it's been a while, and not being a stranger for overreaching, I scheduled an Olympic Distance Triathlon to announce my presence with authority!

Crash: Why are you shaking me off?
Nuke: I want to bring the heater. Announce my presence with authority.
Crash: To announce what?
Nuke: My presence with authority.
Crash: To announce your presence with authority?! This guy's a first ball fastball hitter, looking for the heat.
Nuke: So what? He ain't seen my heat.
Crash: All right, Meat. Give him your heat. [He walks back to his place behind the plate.]
Nuke: Why's he always calling me Meat? I'm the guy driving a Porsche.
Crash: [to the batter at the plate] Fastball.
[Nuke throws it and the batter hits a home run. The batter stands there, watching.]
Crash: What are you doing standing here? I gave you a gift. You stand here showing up my pitcher? Run, dummy

It didn't work out too good for Nuke, nor for the Bigun. I feel like I got hit with the fastball square in the noggin, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

This trip was predicated with a grand Bloggie Meet-up and reunion. Epic. A long time coming. Commodore first showed up on the Bigun's radar in April 2007 - a simple comment on a simple post. From simple beginnings, we've exchanged phone numbers and over the years have become good friends - still having never met face-to-face. Until this weekend. Creepy Internet Friend no more, neither us nor him wound up buried in a shallow grave or coaxed into a overseas investment scam. We had a great weekend!!!!

Tri-Sherpa Di also got to get into picture-taking mode, which she loves to do. Check out this great picture she took of by buddy Lee getting out of the the water... if you look close, you can actually see Lee...

We rented a cabin at Lake Louisa near Clermont, the site of the race, and shared it with Commodore and our long-lost racing companions (we do more than just race socially, btw...) GEL (Green-Eyed-Lady) and Excel Man (...well, Excel Man..). It was great to reminisce and talk of training and race schedules, while Tri-Sherpa Di and GEL drank some wine and laughed! Excel Man had a stress fracture in his foot, keeping him from running, so he "only" did the Half-Iron Distance Aqua-bike.

Because the RD's were adjusting the swim buoys for 1500m from 1.2M, we had to wait for everyone racing the long distance before we could go. We didn't start our wave until about 8:20 or so - with a water temp reportedly at 85 degrees, and an air temp of about 80 degrees, climbing fast now that the sun was over the horizon. Lee, a buddy from work, was also racing the Olympic with me, and we toed the line together and went out as the countdown from 5 reached zero!

Here's Curt aka Excel Man getting ready for T2 - look, he's got his feet out of his shoes getting ready for a quick change into his running shoes. In the Aqua-bike. Ya see, it was HOT, and none of us were thinking very clearly...

(oh, and what's with people and the National Anthem? Even if you are from another country, racing in the US, the right thing to do is stand while the anthem is being played, just in case you didn't know. Americans: stop talking. Take off your hat. Put your right hand over your heart. Face toward the flag, if there is one. C'mon folks...)

So... um... I was the last one out of the water (well, not LAST - there were 6 people slower than me), I mean, for the Clydesdales with a time of 49:28. I think there was something interesting on the bottom of the lake I was trying to see. At least my transition wasn't bad at 3:36 (nice little jog from the lake to T1).

The bike was hilly, and even though it seems like I didn't try hard, I was at an elevated effort level after the swim, so I was slow to get moving - all that combined to give me a 1:34:33 (15.7mph) bike time. Yippers!

3:37 later, I was out walking on the run course. That wasn't the plan, of course, but that was the reality. By then it was over 85 degrees, and the sun was beating me down. I was beginning to think that a sprint would have been a much better idea. I decided to walk the first 3 miles, and then run back in. I actually started to feel good enough at the 2 mile aid station to start run-walking, and then on the way back in, I passed a couple of guys I thought were Clydesdales, which motivated me to keep up the pace. Then my bro Commodore met up with me and we ran most of the last 1.5 miles back in, giving me a whopping 1:29:13 10k time and a 14:22 per mile pace.

Yes, it was gruesome. 4:00:34 is my official time, but it wasn't as gruesome as 3 other big guys that I passed on the bike and run. Lee finished at 3:38 - a great time under those conditions! Congrats Lee!

It's hard to believe my Olympic PR is 2:48. 30 lbs lighter. Cooler and flatter. A full minute per 100 yds faster (1:57 vs 3:01/100yds). 5.2mph faster (20.9 vs 15.7) and 4:30 per mile faster (14:22 vs 9:48). That was only 3.5 years ago! An hour and 12 min off my PR... now there's some room for improvement!

The next race is in 4 weeks - the Longleaf Olympic Tri. Much flatter. Hopefully much cooler. Potentially 8 - 10 lbs lighter. This is going to be a long road back, no doubt.

Training Log

2010-09-02T15:59:00.002-04:00

One of the benifits of having a anal-retentive training log is that when you have the worst coach in the world, ie, yourself, you can look back and try to see what you did good and what you did poorly to help with writing your own training calendar. Of course, a professional coach would be able to see in a second the "rights" and the "wrongs" of anything silly the M-Dot Bigun is up to, but with the economy and what-not, who can afford a coach these days?

I find myself, this morning, absolutely whacked out bushed - slept waaaay in, and had no desire to hit my scheduled 2-hr bike ride. So I got to thinking (yea, Tri-Sherpa Di had to ask what that burning smell was...) - what did I do last year differently? So I looked!

Lo and behold, I more often than not trained at a 2 week "on", 1 week "recover" cycle. I just automatically dove into a 3 on - 1 off cycle this time around, and it's no wonder, after 2 cycles, why I'm dragging ass! Now don't get me wrong, I can see the merits of 3-1, the main one being that over time, there's a whole lot more training and a bit less recovery. Which begs the question, is there enough recovery? Well for a guy like me - and perhaps the average MOP age grouper, there might need to be some middle ground.

So I think going forward I'll try and adjust the schedule to go 3-1 and then 2-1. I'm the kind of person that would really like to try for the harder schedule and only go to 2-1 if I need to, but it becomes really hard to schedule races and optimum recovery before races if you just play it by ear. Or, I could keep it the way I have it, and not feel bad if I miss a workout or two in that last week of the second 3-week block... oh the humanity!

DC Giveaway!

2010-09-02T11:28:00.001-04:00

He's doing it again. Another Forerunner. Yummy. DCRainmaker, you go!

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/09/september-garmin-forerunner-310xt.html

Dark Tunnel

2010-08-26T15:38:00.003-04:00

If there's light at the end of that tunnel, I still can't see it. For those of you who are in shape right now, and getting tired or burned out of all the running, swimming and biking and are thinking of just taking a little time off...

Forgetaboutit!

Going from "Iron-fit" to "not at all fit" takes about a millisecond, just in case you were wondering. The real depressing part is that me, being the anal-retentive record keeper that I am, happened upon Buckeye Outdoors where I had kept all of my pre-Ironman CdA08 training logs... and even though those records are over 2 years old now, lucky me - they are all still in there!

It's not bad having a point of reference, really. I can look back and see what I did, and the results that I got from all that effort. I can use that to gauge my next buildup to IMAZ11, and although I'm 2 years older, I can see what I need to do to reasonably hit my goal for that race.

It's just the darn evidence is there! I used to be fit! Now look at me; fat, slow, and did I mention slow? Muscle memory my ass! That's a myth. Probably started by perpetually skinny people who never would have dreamed of taking 2 years off.

My first Tri of the season, of my return to fitness, is in less than 2 weeks. A nice Olympic up in Clermont Fl, called the Florida Challenge. In the past this was typically only a Half Iron distance race, but I guess to up the attendance, they included an Oly this year. Good for me! Of course I can only look forward to racing and finishing - this is a "one foot in front of the other" day, make no mistake. It's gonna be awesome to be out racing again, though, you know?

The last time I was out here was in '08, right before IMCdA. Didn't PR then, my best Oly coming in '07 at St Anthony's. 32:08 on the swim - a 1:57 per 100 yard effort. Since swimming again, I've been at 2:10 or so per 100 yard, so I'm hoping I can push out about a 36 min swim.

My SA bike PR was 20.9mph average, and in Clermont, I averaged 19mph in the hills. I've got my base rides up in the 18.5mph range, so with the hills, pushing it, lets shoot for 18mph, putting me at 1:23.

Oh, the run. The run will be ugly for sure! My PR is 1:00:51 for a 9:51 pace. Of course, that was at 245lbs, and I'll be running at least at 275 on race day. I'm gonna be very real, here, folks - averaging 11:00 per mile after the swim and bike will be all out. 1:07 or so is the probable outcome, with an extra what, 7 min in transitions? Total time for my first Oly of 2010 - 3:14

The really cool thing is that I've got two more Oly's for '10; Longleaf and Key West - with plenty of time to improve and progress. That's actually gonna be neat to see!

Diet

2010-08-19T17:10:00.004-04:00

I'm not talking about "Atkins" or "Paleo" or any one of a hundred specialized diets - I'm talking about eating better. Having a better diet. This time around (I'm talking about specific Ironman training) I want to be leaner and lighter come race day, and I know I'm not going to get there simply by training hard. I've got to start eating better.

I was reading Slowtwitch (I know, right?) and was intrigued by a pro athlete talking about eating gluten free. Additionally he was championing probiotics in the form of specialized yogurts and supplements. Now I'm not one to just jump on a particular diet, so I'm researching this stuff.

Gluten Free is a diet generally brought on by folks who are allergic to gluten. Gluten is, essentially, paste - food glue - made by bleaching wheat, and is also made by barley and rye (nooooo, not barley!). Generally, folks diagnosed with Celiac disease go Gluten free. Since Celiac Desease is reported to effect only 1% of the population, even if 75% are undiagnosed, chances are I'm ok. So why go gluten free?

Well, Gluten foods are processed foods, plain and simple. Now I'm getting back to the Paleo diet principles; no processed foods. I'm sure more research needs to be done, but in the one article I read (yea, lazy, just one...) the test group used (200) had 25% of them showed adverse effects of gluten proteins in the intestines. Some studies have shown that 100% of test groups show anti-body response to gluten proteins in the digestive track - meaning what? Wheat Gluten probably causes damage at some level to our digestive track. Means what to me - I'll digest more nutrients and cause less damage by eating non-processed foods (wheat). Sounds kinda like a no brainer. A quick Google search of "positive effects of Gluten" found only article after article of the reasons to eliminate it from the diet. So I'll work on that, for sure!

I was gonna list out some foods that had Gluten, ones to avoid... but at this website, I see that a simple list is way too long! Very dissapointed to see that beer is on list. Fortunately, there are some Gluten Free beers - made from grains like sorghum, millet, rice or buckwheat - all "safe" grains. I don't know on this one - the whole point is to move from processed foods - and I'm not (at least I don't know it yet) Celiac diagnosed, so I guess I could drink a "normal" beer, right?

The other point to this new diet for me is the probiotics piece. Holy moly! A quick wiki search of probiotics shows me that the different types of these buggers is staggering! Looks like there are many benefits to having them in you, and unless I'm dying, no real detriment. The benefits, of course are specific to individual "brands" (strains) of microorganism, so what's a unhealthy eater like me to do? I've only seen ONE non-paid-for recommendation of a "general pro-biotic" supplement - Floragen 3 - so now really, I don't know. I get that the supplimet needs to be coated to make it to the intestines, past the stomach. I also get that probiotics are pretty specific in form and benefit. I just want it to be simple. I don't think, based on this reasoning, that yogurts or other non-coated supplements have much of a chance of making it to where it will do much good. But I could be wrong, no, I'm probably wrong!

So my next project will be to start looking at what I eat and getting rid of the processed foods. That's relatively easy to identify, not very easy to execute. This probiotic piece is gonna take some more looking into. Any of you have any ideas, recommendations, experiences? Thanks!

Garmin Giveaway!

2010-08-05T13:28:00.001-04:00

Hope this is for real - Garmin 310XT giveaway contest at this blog - go and check it out!

Fitness Measure

2010-08-03T13:51:00.008-04:00

I don't like to re-invent the wheel. There's so much research out there, and while fitness studies can often contradict and the terminology can often change or warp, some things seem to stay pretty constant.

One constant seems to be the concept of "Base Training". Now I'm not a coach, and I don't play one on TV or on podcasts, but to me, Base Training is the active pursuit of increased aerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness / aerobic training is when you MOVE in such a way as not to push your heart rate and corresponding metabolic engines into oxygen depletion. I'm guessing (since I've probably read it and forgotten) that the point in which your movement becomes anaerobic corresponds not only to the build up of lactic acids but also to the thresholds of metabolizing glycogen (carbs) in the majority rather than fat.

You can get this measured for yourself at a place that actually measures your blood lactic acid levels and a few other things to come up with your own, personal hear rate zones, or you can use any one of a dozen or so formulas to derive not-as-accurate, but useful HR zones.

Why is this important? Well, popular research puts your glycogen stores at about 2 hrs (at anaerobic efforts) for well trained athletes, right? When the carbs run out, we bonk, plain and simple. We fight to replenish these stores on long efforts, and that fight is hit and miss, mostly miss, for many of us. We get a few gels in us, some Gatorade or what-not, cookies or bananas - and what happens? We get sick or our stomach shuts down and we push that 2 hrs to 3 or 4, maybe if we are lucky; so unless you're an animal and can finish a half Ironman under 4 hrs, or insanely good with your nutrition plan - flawless might be a better word - we need to condition our fat-burning anaerobic metabolism and fitness.

So what's the problem? WE ARE! We got these huge egos that make us want to ride or run or swim as hard as we can all the time and push, push push! How friggin' boring is it to ride in your aerobic zones for hours and hours? How sucky is it to stop and walk when the HR alarm goes off? Who really swims "within themselves"? The first time those riders zoom by on their fancy-schmancy bikes and you know they ain't really moving that fast, but you also know they are thinking about what a loser slow fat ass you are! Can't we just wear a sign that says, "BASE TRAINING TODAY"?

The payoff is huge, but the path is long. Big guys like me might have even more at stake with quality BASE workouts. Staying in the lower Heart Rate "fat-burning" zone (and yes, I know that in any HR zone, the body still metabolizes carbs for energy, but the thought is that the majority of energy comes from fat up to a certain threshold...) drops the pounds even faster. Keeping the workouts at lower intensities also, theoretically, lowers the chance of injury. Because I want to concentrate on my running in the months to come, but also know that at 280lbs, my running workouts are a roll of the dice as to which body part will fall apart first, I really need to concentrate on weight loss!

So, what we measure we can manage and what we manage we can improve, right? I like to look at my base training as a measure of heart beats per miles per hour. If you train with a power meter, you can get even more accurate (beats per watt) and it won't matter what terrain you train on or the wind conditions... but I've only got a HR monitor and a flat course to base train on. I stay in a base HR zone, these days for an hour, later it will be longer, and I then divide my average heart rate by my average speed - that give me my heart beats per mile an hour.

Six weeks ago, when I started training again, my base HB/MPH was 8.76 - today it was down to 8.16 - nice - I can see the fitness gain. I'll feel more like the "old" Bigun when I get that down to more like 7.6, and can do that for a 2hr ride instead of just one. But I'll shoot for one hr first. I don't want you to get the wrong impression - speed work is important even in this Base Phase! I get my speed work in after the hour of strict base work with a few Fartliks or intervals, but I know my priority right now is getting my metabolism better and more efficient at burning fat!

Lost 8 lbs in 4 weeks as well. 2 lbs a week - right according to plan! Oh, yea!

Eye on the Prize

2010-07-29T13:50:00.004-04:00

I'm back in the saddle again. It's great to be back, actually. It's funny how much you forget when you've been gone from training so long. All the laundry, for one... running shorts and shirts, socks, biking pants - the hamper fills up fast these days!

Getting the bike back up to speed is also fun. Everyone loves bike part shopping, and I'm no exception. Tires, tubes, brake cables, chain lube, chamois butter, sunglasses, etc, etc, it seems the list hardly ends. But that's part of it.

Also part of it is figuring out the training/racing schedule. Not over-doing it. Preventing injury. Goal setting. All good stuff. I guess after doing it since '05, when I ran my first triathlon, it all comes back pretty quickly. Not the fitness, mind you - the process. Yea, coaching yourself is probably not the best idea - and we all know I've got some different ideas when it comes to training for Ironman - but I got my 255lb ass to the finish line in 14:36 last time - I might just know enough to be dangerous.

So now there's an Ironman in Houston. Who'd a thunk it? Quite possibly the hottest, most humid place on earth - more power to you Texans for selling out the race so quickly - May '11 could quite possibly bring the hardest IM on the planet for those of you toeing the line.

There's oil in the water for IM Florida swimmers this year, and possibly for years to come. Ocean swimming is bad enough without the oil slick. I remember the Chicago Triathlon, and the taste of diesel fuel in my mouth for the rest of the day after that short swim - I wonder if there ever is enough Gatorade after an oily Panama City swim?

IM Arizona '10 now has it's challenges - like the swim venue springing a leak. Everything I read tells me that it's doubtful that Tempe Town Lake will be fixed by November. I'm sure the show will go on - be it somewhere else to swim (is there?) or an Iron-duathlon of some sort.

Hey, every other business entity and industry is having their share of troubles, it's time the WTC has a challenge or two to overcome. Good for them. I'll tell ya, I really enjoyed the absence of PNF on IronmanLive's broadcast of IMUSA last week. Lisa Bently was fresh, interesting, and enthusiastic, and actually had some inflection in her voice throughout the program. I hope to see more of her co-hosting at other races.

I'm gonna bet that Tempe Town Lake is fixed by November 2011. I've started my Ironman Bank Account - not the "fitness bank" that we make deposits into after a century ride, but an actual savings account just for IMAZ11. The darn thing is about 68 weeks away, which means we have to sign up in 16 weeks. Probably will need about $600 to register when it's all said and done - and that isn't as painful if you throw money in an account weekly as it is if you just pay it - well, it's the same, sure, but somehow it's easier for me. The $33 a week I'm saving now is the money I'm not spending on Cokes and Sweet Teas and vending machine snacks. All that stuff is done, and I think I'm easily saving that much.

IMAZ'11. Eye on the prize. Not just "finishing" this time. Been there, done that. Need to up the stakes a little bit...

Athletic Tourettes

2010-07-15T21:32:00.004-04:00

So here we are. Again.

Yes, we've been down this road before. Starts and Stops. Athletic Tourettes. I finally had the courage to step on a scale a week ago. 286. About 35 lbs gained from IMCDA08. Resting heart rate that morning? An alarming 72 bpm. Something needs to be done. ASAP.

When it comes to training, I'm one of those people that need a goal. Something tangible to look forward to. Tangible, as in, an event or an accomplishment. Something to hang on the wall. It makes sense really. I read once that there are, in general, two kinds of salespeople - those that can can sell "things" and those that sell "ideas". Stocks, insurance - those are examples of "ideas", where cars, RVs, houses, boats - those are "things". I read that rarely does someone do well at selling both, and once you find out which "type" you are, you should stick with that. Having tried both, I can assure you that I'm a "thing" guy.

Being healthy and having fitness would be "ideas". Something you get as a result of something else. Finishing an Ironman or other race is a thing. An accomplishment. Perhaps I'm splitting hairs, but I've also tried to exercise, and I don't do that well. I do, however, train well. I'd argue that you exercise for general fitness but you train for a specific event. I'm a trainer (whatever gets you out the door, right?).

So short term, my goal is a nice Olympic in 8 weeks over in Clermont Florida, the Florida Challenge. They do a half IM as well that day, but starting, essentially, from scratch like I am, even an Olympic is a hearty goal to say the least. It's a "just finish" race, but the venue is great, and it will be a nice re-entry to the sport. We have a cabin lined up nearby, TriSherpaDi will be kayaking on a lake that day with her pal Linda; the whole affair will be pretty low key.

No PR's, no worry of a PW. Just getter-done. What's down the road? Some more "things"....

Echo, echo, echo

2010-02-11T08:00:00.002-05:00

Sorry gang - been doing too much Facebook (is that really possible?) and not enough blogging - but isn't that the going trend?

I've been getting slammed with Anonymous spam to my comments, so I'm going to take away the ability for Anon folks to comment, and require the word box. Sorry, I've fought that for a while, but it's getting noticeable in my comment sections.

I've been getting about 5hrs a week in training - which really kinda sucks. I know it's the time of year, and this is technically the "off" season, but 5 hrs isn't enough for me to lose any weight. I've been plagued by a deep right hip pain that shows up when running - so I took a couple weeks off from it and have so far, this week, been pain free - so we'll see.

The only highlight to my training as of late has been swimming. Nothing great, mind you, but I've seen progress and am up to 2k at lunch instead of a drowning, splashing, punishing failure of 1k ugliness.

I don't know. The Gator Half is screaming up at me - early March - and I fear it's gonna be uglier than it should be. Meah... I'll take my time and try and have fun, right?

Ok, enough of the ramble. Enjoy the break, and I'll look forward to reading of your '10 season success soon enough!

Season 2010

2009-12-15T16:43:00.003-05:00

So this is the time of year when the typical triathlete (or person in general) gets excited and makes plans for 2010. Training schedules need to be made, goals for the year dreampt up, and friends and family talked into competing with us.

2009 was a bust for me triathlon-wise. I did get out and get one done though - make that two. Nothing like a couple of sprints to keep the interest up. Got a couple of Centuries under my belt as well, and even snuck in a half marathon before the year closed out. Nice.

So what's in store for 2010? I'm looking at a Oly to start - one up in Gainsville, FL - just a few weeks away, and glutton for punishment that I am, I know up front it's gonna be cold as all get-out. But my boy Lee hasn't ever done an Olympic Tri, and this one is more of a confidence builder than anything else. For sure a "C" race.

Gasparilla is next, in late February. Just planning on doing the half marathon - even though this is the last running of the full Marathon here in Tampa, I just don't see myself recovering fast enough for my next race 3-weeks later. I know me. But one thing I'm shooting for is at least getting back down to my Ironman weight by then, and being able to match my PR at that distance of 1:57. You should "reach" for goals, right?

So after that, in March, I plan on doing the Gator Half Marathon down in Sarasota - signing up before New Years Day keeps the price down to $155 - a bargain considering St. Anthony's Oly was that exact same price! Krimeny! The Gator Half has my eye as an early "A" race. My boys Curt and Lee are already planning on coming down with, and I'd like to put in a good showing. PR time. It will be cool, flat as a pancake, and cheap - all of my favorite race-type things.

Next is the typical triathlon season opener - St. Anthony's Olympic. I plan on being in great shape by then - having just PR'd in a Half IM a month earlier (the power of positive thinking at work here). I have a full 4-week training cycle to get some serious speed work in at the OLY distances, and for once I plan on having a great St. Antony. So that's April.

St. Anthony's marks the end of my "regular season", and the beginning of the MNB2B train-up. Yes, you've heard it all before, but this year is going to be different. We are, according to our President and all his Czars, screaming headlong out of this Recession, and what are the first industries to leave the recession? The luxury, big-ticket sales industries - like the RV industry, where I have suffered for the last 12 months, and am ready for the whirlwind of commissions that await me. By March (the deadline for the less-expensive entry fee for MNB2B) I'll need to have saved a benchmark amount of cashola to qualify for the ever-so-trendy "trigger-pull", but I'm pretty confident for this year's economic rebound in the Bigun household.

What's so irregular about the MNB2B you ask? The mighty CANOE! I'll have about 12 weeks to go from zero to hero in the shadow of a 50-mile 2-man canoe jaunt planned for the end of the MNB2B race. I also have to figure out the training specifics for the crazy distances and relay-induced time-trial sets that this race calls for. Fun stuff ahead.

So the MNB2B is at the end of June. 12 weeks away, or so, from the illustrious Beach to Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon. I can't see how that will happen, but if the stars align and the injuries all stay away, the money doesn't run out and we can fit a MUCH NEEDED week long absolutely nothing to do with triathlon or training VACATION (like a cruise or whatnot) in before-hand, like in the summer, around July or August - then there's a chance of signing up for the B2B, if on the off chance that registration hasn't filled up yet. Phew. See that, I committed to a VACATION and was totally uncommitted to the prospect of an Ironman in 2010. But I want to do one.

But I (we, as in Tri-Sherpa Di and I) really, really need a vacation.

Scared of a 'lil bike ride...

2009-11-12T13:08:00.002-05:00

So Sunday is the Horrible Hundred. I don't think it got it's name by being a walk in the park. I've ridden on part of it in the past, and it's no joke. The area around Clairmont, FL has some decent hills, and they wind this course around to make sure you climb most of them. I took the day off work so that I could enjoy the day and not worry about making it back in. Get-her-done.

Gasparilla is right around the corner. Feb 28th. It marks the last running of the Marathon for that day - it seems the Mary has been decreasing in number of participants, while the Half-Mary, run the same day, is the preferred venue, and has seen growth. I'd like to say I'm running the full, but two things - getting the training in (which, so far, so good), and only having 4 weeks until a nice half-Iron-distance race down here in Sarasota - the Gator Half. Now some of you sprite, skinny runners may be able to recover from a marathon in a month, but me - Herr Bigun - I'm not built that way. So we'll see.

I'm also staying psyched for the '10 Minnesota Border to Border. I'm thinking of a 2 person relay with Blink - and of course it would be cool for other teams of friends to compete with and against - but that's still a little ways off for next year. Lots of "life" between now and then, and life sure is complicated these days!

Hilly Hundred

2009-10-20T10:09:00.002-04:00

So much for the Hundred! Disclaimer up front - I only managed 87 miles - so I did more then the 100k, but not the whole 100 miles. I feel like giving the t-shirt back! I've never done that before - cut a race short like that. Oh yea, its not a race, it's an organized ride. Right...

The cold front went through the day before, so it was kinda freaky waking up to temps in the 50's! I got in the truck after loading everything up and while it was calm outside, it was 53 degrees. Well below my previously stated limit of 60 degrees for bike ride low temps. Driving north to the start of this event, the thermometer crept steadily downward. By the time I got to the college where we were to head out, it was 48 degrees! Now I'm really breaking the Bigun's rules.

Of course I've got nothing extra special for this ride. No arm warmers, no leg warmers, no toe warmers or hat thingy. I did bring a long-sleeve shirt which I kept on for the whole ride - it was the only thing good about being the biggest guy there - everyone else was shivering, while I was ok. I met John and Lee there; I think if John would have brought a winter parka, he'd have worn it. He had everything else on - you have to keep in mind - last Sunday, we started our ride at 77 degrees and finished at 93. Today's ride would not even get up to 77. Our blood is a bit thin this time of year...

Just what I thought would happen - did. The Bigun, at 280lbs, was dropped at the third big hill, about 5 miles in. I watched the peloton ride away, and I settled in to my pace and my alone-time. The course was essentially a North-South out and back, with a couple of East-West loops thrown in for good measure. The East-West's on this day were welcome, as out of the north came a staunch headwind steady at 5-6 mph, gusting 10-15mph. For drama's sake, I'll say it was mostly gusting.

So not only did I lose the draft-pack, but now I had to fight the wind and the hills all by my lonesome. Sucked to be me. I made it to the 3rd SAG stop before stopping, and that was at 62 miles or so. By then my average speed had dropped to below 16mph, and with the stop, I was firmly in the 15's. I knew my buddies in the draft would be averaging 18 at least, so to keep them from having to wait an hour for me at the finish, and since I had to work and was already late, I hatched a plan to cut the ride short. I knew one of the loops was a 6 mile out and back, and as I struggled to keep my average above 15.5mph, I cut that "Trilby Loop" and rode to the finish. It wasn't an easy decision, but looking back, I'm glad I did - we all finished within 10 minutes of each other, and I saved them some worrying and an extra hour of lateness at work.

Packing this extra 30 lbs is a bear. I'm hoping that adding the running now will start to whittle away at it - I sure do miss the spryness of 250lbs! Ha! That even sounds funny to me.

Four weeks until the Clairmont ride - the Horrible Hundred. I've got the day off from work, so I can ride slow and guilt free that day. It's got at least a thousand more feet of elevation change in it; upwards of 8k feet in climbing, as opposed to this Hilly Hundred that is about 6.5k feet. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be a calm day!

No BAF

2009-10-15T14:36:00.001-04:00

So the Bike Across Florida is out. The website for the ride is disabled, although it still shows up in Active.com - I'm even more suspect about this ride then ever, and glad I made the decision with our "team" of work bikers to not do this ride.

Looking forward to the big weather change that is supposed to happen this weekend - on Sunday, for the Hilly Hundred Century here in the San Antonio area of Florida, we are supposed to wake up to 58-degree weather! I'm used to starting my rides in the high 70's, and finishing in the 90's, so this will be oh-so-nice!

I've put together a tentative schedule for next year - now all I have to do is FUND it! MRS Lana wants us to come up and do the Gulf Coast Half IM in May, which is cool, but of course it's not super cheap. That's after the early season Gator Half Ironman in March, a race that Excel Man turned me on to. Looking for tune up races to get back into the swing of things, I found two inexpensive lake-swim Olympics just outside Gainsville in January and February - so I'm excited about that.

No, I'm not doing the full Marathon at Gasparilla - just gonna do the Half. Three weeks later is that Gator Half Ironman, and I'd like to do well at that, which would be impossible on barely-recovered marathon legs.

If all goes well (and Tri-Sherpa Di agrees) May will bring the beginning of the trainup for '10 Minnesota Border to Border. I know, I know, you've heard that one before! I'd really, really like to do that race - spend a week riding and running hard, and the cool thing, really, is that the whole race is spent with your SHERPAs! I mean, how often do you get to do a big race and see your spouse the entire time? Usually a long-course race is a pretty lonely affair, even with the hundreds of other racers. B2B is a sprint relay, and the Sherpas are more vital than ever to the success of the racers.

The B2B is at the end of July - then the summer is firmly entrenched in the year-round-outdoor-training-center. I'm kinda intrigued by the Beach to Battleship race in Wilmington - and will be interested to see weather reports from this year's race. Last year the whole deal got mixed reviews from folks I know, but that's pretty normal for most races. Half? Full? We'll have to see...

Yet another Podcast

2009-10-06T20:57:00.001-04:00

If you'll notice to your right, in case you can't get it in I-Tunes yet, you can listen to Episode 19 on the player in the sidebar. Enjoy!

cough, cough

2009-10-02T22:57:00.003-04:00

Cough, cough - the dust is bad in here! Sorry folks, it's been a while. I've been putting in some long hours at work, and I think it's paying off. There are indicators that we are at the bottom of whatever economic crisis we are in right now, and heading up. Good news for RV salesmen. Seems that we are the first to dive into the recession, and the first to get our noses up. The season for RV sales is the winter time - folks from the barren tundra you call the Northern States head south to escape the snow. These folks who still have money, hopefully will let some of it out of their bank accounts this winter and trickle it's way into my bill collector's hands. Bypassing me completely. Funny how that works.

A little success in that regard goes a long way toward motivating me to shed some weight and get back in shape. I'm 20 weeks away from the Gasparilla Marathon - this will be the last year the city of Tampa runs this race, and I think I'll run it. Two weeks later is the Gator Half Ironman down here in Sarasota in early March. It bills itself as the fastest half Ironman in the country - so I'm guessing it will be pretty flat.

Coming up soon will be the Hilly Hundred (Oct 18th) and Horrible Hundred (Nov 15th). Nothing like a hilly century or two to get the legs pumped up. The trick after those will be to balance the run volume with some bike maintenance so that the Gator can be a good race, and I can PR the Marathon.

Next May will bring the Cross Florida Bike ride - this one run by a bike club, and better organized and less greedy. I've got a good feeling about the organization, and feel like it would be important to tackle that event.

This is way premature, but the Minnesota B2B - abandoned this year due completely to finances - could be back on the table for the end of July '10. It's early to say if this RV season will be a good one, but if it is, I'd really like to try and convince a couple of wack'os like me to hit it.

Then what? Who knows? Firmly entrenched in summer, any training after July I've come to learn, is pretty much torture. This week marks the first break in days above 90 degrees since they started at the beginning of the summer. I won't plan any further out. I'm not signed up for any Ironman races for '10, although my buddy Lee seems to want to put IMFL10 on the schedule. But that's just not going to happen.

The long bike

2009-08-09T18:19:00.003-04:00

It's still all about the bike. Our dear friend Bolder said it a long time ago, and it holds true today. Folks, you HAVE to be able to bike, my triathlon brothers and sisters. If you can't hardly swim, you can breast stroke, back stroke and side stroke your way through just about any distance swim. If you can't run, you can walk. But you have to be able to bike, no if's and's or butt's.

Regardless, I'm training guilt-free for the Bike Across Florida, and if I get some running and swimming in, well, that's a bonus. I have been getting some swims in. Do you realize how much fun it is going to the pool for a 20 - 30 min swim??? 1000 meters (yawn) and you're done. Read, "sprint triathlon, baby". 'Cause really, what's worse than staring down the lane looking at a 3k or a 4k swim session? Root canal?

Today was the long bike day. Funny how plans get thrown out the window - even training plans I make myself! Today was supposed to be an easy 50 to 60 mile bike ride. 78 miles later, there was nothing easy about the day. Oh sure, you can scroll back to the days of yore, when the M-Dot Bigun would laugh at a 78 miles. Today, I missed those days.

You know what's cool though? I'm training with 4 other guys now for this long bike, and we do these rides together, full on draft. That's right, I said it - FULL ON DRAFT is in effect. You'd think it would be easier, but two flats and a dozen or two pulls at the front at a pace I assure you would not be my long-ride pace, and the group ride thingy takes on a whole new meaning. Marc-y Like-y.

Now if I could just get one of the guys, Markel, to quit taking the gosh-darn pictures! Kriminy! I know I'm fat now. I know, I know! Then he posts my fat pictures on facebook. I hate him. 280 lbs does not look good on me, no matter what angle he shoots from. It looks even worse in spandex. Don't even ask...

A good week...

2009-08-03T20:47:00.004-04:00

I had forgotten what it's like to be so tired, physically, that you can't keep your eyes open. Shuttling around like a zombie, ravenous but still too queasy to really eat. Conscious of the diet, drinking water but wanting a coke, or a beer.

Feels good.

I went out with my Lazydays bike team for a 53 miler in the hills of San Antonio. This was not my first time venturing into these parts... I'd ridden once out here for the Hilly Hundred two years ago (it was mercifully the 100k ride) and then I came out with some billy goats to ride one Sunday about a year ago, hammered up one of these hills (I was in Iron Shape then) and blew a spoke on the 2nd or 3rd really steep hill. Had to limp about 20 miles back with a wobbly rear tire. That was a scary ride.

So five of us set out for a Sunday morning jaunt, wheels up at 7am. The meet-up is 40 miles from my home (the things you do to find hills in Florida), so I almost drove farther than the ride was long. It looks pretty certain that the five person "team" for the Bike Across Florida will be myself, Lee, Markle, John and Mark.

We launched out without a hitch, but shortly into the ride, I downshifted into my small chainring for the first little climb and "snap"; the front derailleur cable breaks. Fortunately, the front derailleur's spring pulls the chain to the smaller ring without the cable tension, or else I'm telling you, I would have been walking up a few of those steep hills!

John flatted. Lee flatted. Lee ejected his water bottles twice out of his X-Lab. We stopped for water at mile 36. They stopped - and waited for me. I had just enough time to run in the store, buy up some Gatorade, fill my bottles and hop back on for the last 17 miles. Seemed like a lot of rigor morale for an hour of riding, but at that point, I was really sucking down the fluids. It was after 9am, and it was hot in the Florida sun (and it was longer than an hour...).

We climbed about 3,700 feet in 52 miles. Took us about 3:25 - yea, I was the anchor. I weighed in at 280 when I got home. Dropping at least 20 by the Bike Across Florida is a must. Two weeks into this train-up, I'm confident things will improve. As hard as that ride was, it was an awe full lot of fun. Hearing my back spokes ping and groan with each climb was cool. I was kinda scared to stand up in the pedals; that little bit extra force with the added weight might have been too much for those skinny strands of aluminum to bear!

Bike Across Florida 09

2009-07-21T14:01:00.004-04:00

This week starts the official (well, my official) 16-week train-up for the Bike Across Florida 2009, forever more referred to as BAF. Think of it as a 16-week bike focus. This does a couple of things for me:

1) Gives me a big event to look forward to and train for - a goal.

2) Allows me to lose weight with physical activity that won't hurt me due to the added weight I put on (what a vicious cycle that is!), like running.

3) Puts another cool feather in my physical achievement cap.

4) Acts as a springboard event for a potential Ironman in '10 !!!!

It's difficult to nail down, but it looks like this is an 11 hr event, max, that is a 171 miles long. Last years' event was 165 miles on a Garmin downloaded to Motionpeaks. So I'd say its a good possibility that the distance is accurate. At one point it was advertised as a 155 mile event. Any way you slice it, it will be a long day in the saddle.

So the intial plan will include a hotel stay on the East Coast, an early wake up call, an all day ride to the Gulf, and an almost 2 hr drive home from Crystal River. So far, a good group of fellows from Lazydays, my workplace, have agreed to train for this bad boy. John, our CEO, is built like Lance Armstrong and is a strong rider already. Mark (with a "k") is our Inventory Manager and will be strong in the flats as he's a hoss, like me. Markle is the young guy, and is really strong on the bike. New to cycling, the distance will be his challenge - managing fluids, calories - stuff like that. Marc - me - the Bigun - well, I've got some challenges myself, but it was my big mouth that suggested this whole thing to begin with!

Some wild-cards will include Chris and Lee - more salesmen at Lazydays who are kinda-sorta "in". They are hooked on Tri's but realize the added commitment to training for a big event like this and may not be able to put the time in. I'm not sure if my buddy Greg will step up, although he's expressed interest. I think I want him to do it more than he does. Tom did his first triathlon 2 weeks ago, and while I'm sure he'll be enthused, I'm not sure he'll have the distance in his legs. It would be cool if he does though! Jason just bought a bike and may give it a go, and Don, well, he seems to just keep on coming up with excuses but still wants to be kept in the loop. You all know that guy, right?

So we have 4 "highly probables" and another 6 that might jump in there. Mark has already volunteered his wife to drive the Suburban as a SAG vehicle, and while it's not required, it will be nice - and save us all the trip back over to the east coast. We might even get some spectators to see us finish...

Of course, any one else wanting to jump in is welcome, and I know sometimes these kinds of events are avoided 'cause you don't know anyone. If you ever had an inkling, you are welcome in our small pace-line.

Terrorists amongst us

2009-07-20T08:51:00.001-04:00

Ok, this isn't a Tri-post. And, it's not a rant! Just a FYI to anyone still hanging on to my blog - my good friend of 25 years (Roger Carstens) actually has his own TV show! It's on network TV, no less - NBC - and it's on tonight - Monday. It's called "The Wanted" and it's about accused terrorist living safely in countries who don't care to prosecute them. I'm sure I butchered the description, but it promices to be exciting, factual and a bit controvercial, as these sort of programs tend to be.

I'm not sure of the political swing - here is a writeup from the media:

http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/television/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1185891

I'm excited, obviously, for my buddy, doing great things and being successful. Please watch the show if you're not out training tonight. And by all means, let me know what you think!

Morton Plant Meese

2009-07-14T11:36:00.001-04:00

Just a little update for YOU, the reader - this Morton Plant Meese is quite possibly the hardest sprint Tri I've ever done. Partially because I'm so far out of shape and mostly because of the extra 40 I have around my waist. This race takes the bike up 3 gnarly bridges in the Clearwater area - you know those climbers you see on the Tour De France? Yea, I'm not looking like any of them. Well, maybe two of them.

So I made the mistake of looking at the last time I did this race. The course was identical, and I'll bet it was just as hot in '07 as it was this year.

Swim: 12:03 vs 14:02 this year. Two minutes over 600 yards is 20 seconds per hundred. Yuck.

Bike: 37:04 vs 43:42 this year. That's 20.24 mph vs. 17.15 mph. Losing 3mph is pretty huge on a 12.5 mile course.

Run: 27:46 vs 39:41 this year. Add 12 minutes to 3.1 miles - oh yea, that's like 4 min per mile! I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. I walked the first .6 mile of this course - I was really feeling sick when I got off the bike. That Steak the night before was not a great idea, as great as it tasted.

So when you look at it that way, why, there's a ton of room for improvement. Next Tri on the schedule is the Sand Key Tri - the bike is a bit shorter, but still has the bridge work. Run is in the same place. It's about 8 weeks out- so I have 2 good training cycles to improve for it.

The guys at work here are starting to really enjoy doing these races as well. I think we'll have me and 4 others from work here participating in Sand Key. Makes it fun, although I haven't been real sociable after the past two races. When you are out of shape, even these sprints smoke you good for the rest of the day.

Maybe by Sand Key I'll be able to get into my XL Sugoi shorts and top that I got to test out. I hope so... I feel kinda bad, and I see them still sitting there with the tags on, calling me - "Bigun.....Bigun.... lose weight!!!!"

a rambling rag -

2009-07-07T18:32:00.004-04:00

No, not a new job.

Just a regime change at work. The beast is gone. It's a long time coming. Sales is a hard thing. The stars have to align, it seems, to make a good sale these days. Find the right RV. Get the right price. Hope the customer doesn't have a trade that they owe money on. Hope they have a good credit score. Scratch that - excellent credit score. Hope that the bank is feeling like lending that day. And then, after all that, hope the RV makes it though the shop and on to the delivery site with nothing broken and on time for the delivery. Oh, and through all that....hope the customer doesn't get cold feet or find a different RV somewhere else.

The mechanics of the sale are brutal sometimes. To have to then, on top of all that, deal with an absolute tyrant who is completely engaged in his own agenda which has nothing to do with selling coaches or helping a salesperson sell a coach - the process just became infinitely harder.

So he's gone now. Retired. Or so they say. Whatever, good riddance to the guy. Him and Michael Jackson. Good grief; as long as I'm ranting - this country sure has a short memory. Michael Jackson - they guy who held his baby over a balcony (for publicity - what an ass)? The guy who bribed some kids parents ($20,000,000...that's 20 million dollars, folks) to make that whole "molestation" thingy go away? The freak show guy who is absolutely unrecognizable if you took a picture of him a week ago and one 20 years ago and put them side by side? Yes. He could sing and dance, but there are kids and their parents in the neighborhood surrounding Never Never Land who are sleeping a lot easier tonight, now that he's gone.

So the new boss at work, in my opinion, is a good guy. I trust him. The very cool thing about him is that he's a student of leadership. He reads about management and leadership and sales - and constantly tries to improve himself and his understanding of how people tick. In the sales world - particularly the sales of cars and RVs, since that's all I know, management and leadership development is a rarity....at the peril of the salesperson.

Now if people would just get to buying again. Another rant: Biden. What an ass. I'm sorry, but to have him say that no one thought the economy was THAT bad and that no one could foresee the ill effects of throwing trillions at corporate America is just so asinine. Ok everyone, get in step here...and follow along...Obama is great, yea! He's the best, yea! No matter what, no matter how stupid or wrong, we'll all still love him in the morning, yea! There were plenty of people who thought is was the wrong idea - he just didn't listen. I saw a poll the other day - yes a lovely poll - less than 50% of Americans thought the country was heading in the right direction. Under 40% thought the economy was improving. Obama's approval rating, on the same page - over 60%. I just don't get it. Please, please, please - don't try to explain it to me either. Thanks.

Was it just me, or did anyone else read how the FBI interrogated Saddam Hussein before his neck stretching (just trying to be PC here), and it was revealed that he let on to having WMD's because he was afraid of Iran and needed them to believe he had them. Um. Hello! Everyone! Ok, I can see it coming - "that's just fabricated to make us (the people of the US) try and believe that we were justified into war with Iraq"... Yea, and N. Korea doesn't REALLY have nukes, or a viable long range missile, so we should ignore those little bastards, and we're never really gonna find Bin Laden so why keep messing around in Afghanistan... Taliban - Schmaliban?

I'm not in love with the guy - he's not my "personal hero", and I'm not awestruck with him like the insane 60% of Americans still hypnotized by Obama, but I'm convinced that the real history of Bush's administration is not yet fully written. He's taken it between the eyes...he's taking one for the team - until all the intelligence get cleared, if it ever does, he's the fall guy for the war, the economy, the unfavorable world view of Americans, the shortcomings of the city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana, etc, etc. But just like that FBI report, things will eventually come out, and we won't be reading silly comments about Bush being the worst president in American history anymore.

I know, ya'll don't read my blog for my uneducated political ramblings-on. Sorry guys and gals.

I got a nice little sprint tri coming up on Sunday. The Morton Plant Mease Tri, here in Clearwater, FL. I'm sticking to my plan of starting out slow and finishing even slower. Hopefully I can stomach a beer or two this time around...

The draft

2009-07-01T11:27:00.001-04:00

I did the unthinkable yesterday - I participated in a draft festivle. I met John and Mark out at Flatwoods after work and tried to hang. Really, I did!

But I couldn't; not without sucking on some back wheel. I feel so guilty!

Update

2009-06-24T23:47:00.001-04:00

So what's going on with the biggun? I've actually been training a little. Averaging about 5 hrs a week or so. Next race coming up in 2.5 weeks - Morton Plant Meese Sprint Tri - I should do a bit better than the last one!

I've lost 7 lbs thus far on my way back down to 250. My goal for this race was to be at 275 - there's a chance I'll get there. The bike has been coming back fast, andy swimming feels good too. Carrying around all these lbs makes for some challenging runs, but even those are getting better.

I could have a pretty big bike event coming up in November - I'll write more as that firms up. The more, the merrier...

Mad Beach Tri Race Review

2009-06-01T20:08:00.003-04:00

Good grief! What an eye opener. Well, first things first. This race is sponsored and run by the Mad Dog Tri Club - the largest Tri club in the world, so sayeth our lovely and talented race day color commenter.

Now really, do you need someone to fill in the time between 5:00am and 7:00am? I can just hear the Race Director talking to this woman, "so, I need you to talk, non-stop, for the entire race". And she did. At one point she actually used the words, "you know, what us ELITES do with our transition layout....blah blah blah" - oh, yes she did. Nope, not a Pro. An Elite. And now we know.

So other than that strange ringing in my ear and ensuing neck twitch, I got my crap laid out as usual without a hitch - like I've only done it dozens of times before, albeit minus elite status - and went off to check on my new-be compatriots. More or less, they/we got their act together and off we went to the swim start, a half-mile down the beach.

You know, when you walk it off, it sure seems like a long way. Is it bad when you are already breathing heavy just from walking to the swim start? Rhetorical question...

So my wave, the mighty 3rd wave of Clydesdales, kicks off, and within seconds I'm realizing that everyone else is running out to the water, and I'm casually walking. Excel Man says it best, "My race strategy is to start out slow and finish slower...". By the first turn buoy, I was pretty much all alone, except for annoying breast stroke guy swimming to my left. Every time I took a breath to the left, there he was, looking ahead, and I could see his chubby legs frog kicking out and brushing my arm from time to time. Sadly, he was swimming at my pace. If I picked up my pace. The great thing was that with him breast stroking, and doing a bang up job of sighting, I didn't have to. One of the straightest open water swims I ever did.

Finally completing the first straight 800 meters I'd swam since June '08 (yes, this is May 31'st), I run straight at my bike (why follow the lanes, my bike's like the only one still in there...) and in decent transition time, I'm turning my pedals. Slowly. I mean, crap! This is my shtick, right? Folks, it's all gone, I'm sorry to say. I worked it from seeing my first mile averaging around 15mph to finally finishing up at 19.3mph. Seriously. I know!

If you thought that was bad, it gets worse. I'm pretty sure I could have walked darn near as fast as I was shuffling along. It was a slug-fest, and I lost. Well, I didn't stop and "officially" walk. I continued on at what could sorta be construed as a run and without fanfare or major injury I crossed the finish line. Yay.

There was Beer. There was Pizza. There was an Expo with flashy, shiny things to buy. I felt sick after 1 Beer. I tried to feel better with a second beer, but I was having none of it. There was only one thing left to do. Leave. Excel Man and I hopped back in his car and went home. No pictures. At least none I want posted this time around.

Six weeks of training exist between now and Morton Plant Mease Triathlon on Sand Key here in Florida. It's a sprint, with 3 bridge climbs that are actually pretty major. The run is very sandy, making this race a good, tough test of character. I'm looking forward to it. I can safely lose about 12 lbs between now and then, maybe 15 if I push it. That would drop me down to... wait for it.... 275. And what did I race CdA at a year ago? 250. The race after that will be another sprint at Sand Key. I'm hoping to be able to fit into the awesome Sugoi tri gear I was graciously given to test and write about. I'll sure try it out again before Morton Plan Mease to see if it fits...but the prognosis doesn't look too good.

No Pics on this one...

2009-05-25T16:00:00.002-04:00

Ug.

I tried on my new Sugoi Velocity Tri top this morning. The first thing I noticed was how cool the fabric felt in my hand before I slipped it on. I ogled the big rear pocket and ventilation panels sewn in to it.

Then, as I zipped it up I could tell, pretty quickly, that there was no way I was going out in public with it on until I lose at least 20 lbs.

For fear of ruining the shorts, I spared them the agony of trying them on. They look cool as hell, but Sugoi's largest size, the XL - well, it's just ain't XL enough for the M-dot Bigun.

Remember the scene from "A Christmas Story" - when the little guy had been bundled up and was on the ground and couldn't get up? That top was so tight, I felt the same way as I tried to get it back over my head. I almost had to call Di for help.

I really should have brought some of that awesome GU I got with the bundle of goodies on my bike ride this morning. I totally bonked having not eaten any breakfast before the 10am ride. It wasn't 8 miles in when I absolutely knew it was time to pack it up.

The Bigun did not have a great training/triathlon day.

Happy Memorial Day to all my brothers and sisters who have served and are serving this fine country of ours. Thanks to all of you!

Sugoi and me

2009-05-23T18:33:00.004-04:00

I've got some cool stuff from "My" Sugoi Rep, Devon - you can see what I got to the right:

I'll be trying out his garb and the gu's over the next couple of weeks, and especially at my next tri, coming up in a week, and let you all know what I think.

What I really think.

I'm excited about it.

This past week was kinda crummy training wise. I'll try and make up for it tomorrow on my bike ride - and even try and get in a run afterward some time during the day. It rained and rained every day here, and not just a few drops here and there. Buckets. Lightning. Not good for outdoor training.

Tac's really been wanting some Sugoi stuff - too bad he doesn't blog anymore...

Training Cobwebs

2009-05-15T21:26:00.003-04:00

Well, I waited about 11 months to get back in the pool, and of course, it shows. I went to the "Y" close to work, and was pleasantly surprised that the pool was refurbished while I was gone. All new surfaces along the bottom and sides. Brandon Family YMCA - kudos to ya!

But I got yelled at today for diving headfirst into my swim lane. "Soon there will be kids here in the summer, and if you do it, they all will think they can do it". Gotcha, lady. I didn't need the lecture, really - a simple don't dive in would have sufficed. I'd probably dove into that pool 40 times in the past...

I feel the swimming muscles coming back to life. Chest, biceps, lats, core... it's awesome. My crummy 600 yards and die wasn't awesome, but 2 days later getting in 800 yards in the same time was a boost to the swim spirit.

Guys and Gals - ya really don't want to take that much time off. Yes, life gets in the way. But more reality was that laziness and depression got in the way much, much more.

I've gotten word that there's a good chance I'll be testing some Sugoi products for review on my Blog and in our podcast. Tac didn't get the initial invite, because as we all know, Tac doesn't really blog. Yes, there is still the TacBoy and Bigun Podcast - it's just so hard to be funny when so much of your financial life swings in the balance. Things are looking up though, and it will be fun to get back into making our friends laugh with our auditory antics. Don't worry, folks, I'll try to avoid scaring the kids with any pictures of me in Sugoi trunks. Lets just say that I'm coming down off of my post-Ironman-post-market-depression-depression-eating-disorder-weight-gain high of 282 lbs (that's 32lbs over my IM weight...).

I'm racing in a couple of weeks. 15 days from now in fact. I'm of course way too heavy and way too undertrained for anything other than haveing some fun and getting it done. Having a race on the calandar makes the training real. I'm such a goal oriented person... for some reason I can't get myself out of bed just to run. I have to be training. There is a difference.

I've got a few newbee triathletes doing first tri's at this same race. Lee and Chris will be toeing the line for the first time at a tri - I'm trying to help them out as best I can - it's been so long since I've raced, I keep going back to their offices to give them another piece of advice that I all of a sudden remember. You know, like start your swim wave as close to the front and center of the pack as you can.

Yes, I'm still a bastard...

First Tri of the Year

2009-05-05T08:42:00.002-04:00

Oh yea, I did it. Pulled the trigger. Perspective is a funny thing. After non-stop training for 3 years, the big "pull the trigger" event was IMCdA. After an 8 month layoff, the big deal is signing up for the local sprint. And being worried about it!

This is the banner sprint event in the Tampa area for the Triathlon Community. The Mad Beach Triathlon. This will be my 4th running of it. It all boils down to two words. Say it with me now.

Beer Tent.

Mojo

2009-04-30T22:07:00.004-04:00

You know, it's getting to be about that time.

I've been spreading myself pretty thin lately. Working at the RV place full time, 7:30 - 6:00 nearly every day. Installing blinds. Finding "the" job. Even trying to also do Taxes for a while there. Putting energy into all these things.

Not being very successful at any of them.

So it's time to put some concentrated effort in. The blinds installing thing is done. Kaput. Finneeto. That got to be a $300 a week distraction that caused $1000 a week in stress. Maybe more. Some money, it turns out, is just not worth it.

I've spent hours - yes HOURS - every day for the past 4 months on Careerbuilder.com and TheLadders.com and Monster.com in search of that J.O.B. I've applied, applied and re-applied. All for nothing. I've got no interviews from all those hours in front of the computer, and I have to think that it too, was a distraction from things I should be doing. I still want to find "the JOB" - but I'm not sure that Carrerbuilder is the place to be looking. I'm sure its not.

May is "sell some RV's" month. I've been operating in crisis mode for months now. I'm no rookie salesperson. I know you can't sell effectively in crisis mode. So I'm putting all that other stuff aside and going to do one thing, one piece of work, well.

May is also "start looking good again" month. I've gained 30 lbs since June of last year. 30 lbs! I'm fat. I'm sick all the time. I'm sick of it. I've adjusted my days off schedule (day off - haven't had one in months!) to my old, healthy days of Tuesdays and Thursdays - facilitating a great bike workout week.

I need to join the YMCA again. ASAP - and get back into the pool a few times a week. I used to do it on my lunch break. Instead of just eating that Pizza or Cuban Sandwich.

Maybe if I can get to feeling good - or great - about myself again, that will translate into the other parts of my life. It's worked before - it worked when I first started training for triathlon, back when I was over 300 lbs, short of breath and tired all the time. We can't get back to that. I won't.

I know there are things out there that I've talked of doing or participating in - sales related, things friends have set up, things I'm trying to make fit or work out that really require some time and effort. Even something like the podcast. I'm sorry. I don't have the resources right now. I just need to get the "house" back in order. I need to get back to kicking ass instead of getting my ass kicked.

I'm preaching to the choir here, but training now is more important, with all this stress, than it ever was. The fitness, the energy, the self confidence - the STRESS RELIEF - Little helps me get there like hammering into the wind in a big gear with my head down and a line of scrawny roadies on my back tire.

The Bigun's gonna get his mojo back.

Me at the WTC?

2009-03-28T21:16:00.004-04:00

Edit: No, WTC in this instance is not the World Trade Center. In the Triathlon community, it stands for World Triathlon Corporation.

Wouldn't that be interesting! Roman posted about the opening, and good ol' Spokane Al sent me an e-mail (luckily, since I hadn't seen Roman's post yet) with the link in it. Not having a degree in Journalism or any PR experience, it was difficult to fathom having the qualifications necessary for the position.

But I'm an all-round good guy with some time on my hands, and it got me to thinking...I've got plenty of journalism experience. There are people out there who like what I write, right? Of course, I imagine that writing in "blog" style would be different from writing for a magazine or a company PR program, but as far as the content, perhaps not so much.

So I applied -

Interestingly, I applied just a few minutes ago thinking how great it would be to work in the world of fitness, but that I don't have a degree in Journalism nor have I worked in public relations for the specified times set out in the job requirements. Then I remembered http://clydesdaleshavebigbikes.blogspot.com – my blog of nearly 3 years, where I’ve wrote consistently about our great sport of triathlon, and of life in general. I also nearly forgot about the podcast I’ve co-chaired for just over a year, The Tacboy and Bigun Podcast (http://bigun86.podbean.com/ ), in which we also cover topics in the world of fitness and triathlon, albeit with a bit of tongue and cheek. So while my “work” resume hasn’t changed, perhaps my years of relating to the public – my “creepy internet friends” – would act as either an internship or on the job training in the world of journalism and multi-media entertainment.

One of my most read blog postings was a review of the Zipps I rode at IMCdA:
http://clydesdaleshavebigbikes.blogspot.com/2008/07/clydesdale-zipp-808-review.html

and my second submission is a bit of comedy about flip turns:

http://clydesdaleshavebigbikes.blogspot.com/2006/12/flip-turns.html

Thanks again for considering me for this position. I know I can be an asset to your organization!

Yes, as is customary with the M-dot Bigun, I acted before really thinking, and sent out my resume without so much as a cover letter or the required 2 pieces of material. Duh. It's difficult to go back into your own blog and pick something that you think is good and that others think might be good too. From the other world. The "real" world. We all read each other's crap all the time, and aside from boring dribble that occasionally passes by our fingertips, we find interest because we are FRIENDS with the person writing. It's all "I" and "me" and a lot of "we" - where I doubt that's accepted much in official journalistic prose.

They also asked about salary requirements. How much do you think a PR Coordinator makes these days? After all, I can't pay my car note with free IM entries....although it would be fun to try!

The Race is ON

2009-03-22T22:40:00.002-04:00

Yep, IMUT10 is the place to be in 2010 - and I would like nothing more than to hop in that lake with 2000 of my best new and creepy Internet friends for IM #2.

So the race is on. Bigun gets a career job before the race sells out, and I'm IN. That's the deal. That's me being responsible.

Human Resources can kiss me right in the middle

2009-03-21T20:23:00.004-04:00

What is this country coming to?

"I liked him in the interview, but his psych profile test that he did, well, he really scored low and we just didn't think he'd be a good fit...".

Crimeny! Hows that for a blow to the self esteem? A friggen on-line HR 350 question test that I somehow scored badly on, according to their criteria. But I aced the interview. You gotta be kidding me.

That was the Las Vegas deal. Seems like a big 'oh well' for that one. Now we still have the New Orleans thing going on. I think I did really well in that interview, but I also had to take a quick on-line personality test for that job. I'm scared to even think about it.... It hires by April 6th, so I've got time to agonize over this one too.

Personality tests. Crap! Am I doomed to flip burgers for the rest of my life? I pretty much suck on the grill - as anyone who's been over to the Bigun's for a cookout can attest to. Bad, Bad, very Bad. The only thing left is the guy who holds the stop sign at construction sites. I hope they don't require a personality test for one of those. How I got into West Point and somehow made it into Special Forces... I'll never know.

If you're scared...

2009-03-13T20:13:00.003-04:00

(warning, this post has very little to do with Triathlon. I mention the word once, but that's it - oh, and I say, "Ironman" too...)

say you're scared. I'm scared. Not about the economy. I know that's tit's up. Foregone conclusion. I'm scared 'cause I know what I want to do, and it seems reckless. Even for the M-dot Bigun.

I want to go West. The Mountains. The Rock. The weather. Things in my own country I've never seen before. The Grand Canyon. Yosemite. Salt Lake. Deserts and high mountains. Low humidity. Ghost towns. Stuff like that.

Weirdly, at 45 (in a few days) I'm at a reset point in my life. I can go anywhere and do anything without any more (read MORE) negative effect on my career or financial standing. A big giant ditto for my wife's situation. Together, we have little to lose no matter where we go. It's sad and exciting at the same time.

At 45 you'd hope to be in cruise mode. You'd hope to be on the career path with the train having left the station, all the cars lined up in a row. Safe. Not so much. What's even worse is that in a highly specialized world (if you don't believe that it is, just try to look for a job these days) I'm a very un-specialized guy.

It's a bad habit formed from my military days. Every two years or so, sometimes less, in the Army you change jobs. I'm not talking a quick change from, say being the guy making the widgets to being the guy supervising the guy making the widgets. An Army infantry officer could one day be leading a platoon of dudes specialized at firing mortars to the next day being the head Human Resources (S1) honcho of the "Corporation". The next year you could be the maintenance HMFIC (BMO) and then spend a year managing logistics (S4). Just enough time to get good at the job they throw at you, but not long enough to become an expert.

That was cool, back then. I never got sick of a job. Since leaving the Army, my resume is splattered with varying jobs and duty descriptions. My sales career of 7 years is the longest I've ever done anything on a consistent basis - oddly, it's the least favorite job I've ever had. What a dumb ass!

I've been asked, "what do I want to do"? I struggle with that daily. The best job I ever had I gave up 12 years ago, and nothing since has come close to it's coolness. To say, "I miss the Army" is an understatement. But that's all water under the bridge.

I've tried to supplement my lack of satisfaction in my work life with challenges in my free time. Triathlon. Ironman. These things were (are) awesome and were great achievements but unfortunately do not put bread on the table. The fiddler is on the doorstep, and he's got his hand OUT! And you know what, it's not about becoming rich for me. I'm not looking for the crazy huge house or expensive cars or whatnot. I think it boils down to three things: Be challenged, make a difference, and do it honorably with honorable people around me. With that, pay me fairly for what I do.

If I keep looking, something like that will come up. I'm pretty sure of it. Just not here in Tampa. Lets face it, I don't fish. I don't lie on the beach. I don't sunbathe. I'm not a boater. I hate lawn work. Exactly - what in the heck am I doing here? Uggg. As spontaneous and as carefree as Di and I seem to be, I'm still one to have a plan. At least a fall back plan. In the past, I've been places that I was able to stay with family while we regrouped. In the past, Di's expertise was highly sought after - now, it's not. I think that Di's efforts at her career and passion for what she did made just doing the "sales thing" tolerable for me. True, there are lot's of "I's" up there, but it is not all about me. I have a feeling that Di does like it here, and that adds a dimension of suckitude to the moving equation.

Perhaps I'm over thinking all this. "Just do it", right? Can I get a big, "quit 'cher bitchin' Bigun and do something" from the crowd? Gosh, when did I become such a puss?

Shots heard round the World

2009-02-10T18:40:00.002-05:00

Bullet comments. First you think they are harmless. Trite. Succinct. Not so much. Interestingly enough, I got hood-winked (read...I'm a dumb-ass). Turns out that my work's IT department has a Google search going for any time the company's name is mentioned over the World Wide Web. NICE. In a prior post I had written that I wasn't entirely happy about going back to work with this former employer. If you can imagine, a large and distasteful amount of crow was eaten by the M-Dot Bigun before, during and now after reapplying, re interviewing and then reaffirming my reentry into the world of luxury sales. Oh yea. The CEO of the company read my comments, forwarded them to my manager, and a conversation ensued that was not easy to take part in. So a word to the wise: never mention your company in the same post that you mention a job hunt. For all I know, my CEO now reads my Blog. Voluntarily. Egads.

Did you happen to watch Obama's address the other night? Remember Elkhart, Indiana? RV production capitol of the world. The whole city unemployed. Looting and rioting in the streets. I couldn't have gotten back into selling RV's a moment too soon. I got my brand spanking new Name Badge this morning before going home with a fever, so I guess I'm officially "in" again. Nothing like a name badge to make you feel like you belong. Lovely.

So, do you think they will actually have a 2010 May Ironman in St. George, UTAH? I checked it out on Google Maps, and I could hardly find a body of water big enough to support a 2.4 mile swim. Perhaps at the reservoir north east of the city? It's just too bad it's so far away, way out there near Las Vegas, all the way across the country from where I WORK. You folks out west, like in Phoenix and in Salt Lake and Ogden, ya'll have fun with that one. I'm really, really jealous.

Bullet Update

2009-02-01T10:35:00.003-05:00

Working on Episode 18 of the Tacboy and Bigun Podcast. We got a coaching lab rat. We got Otterbox reviews. We start the new new year with some good 'ol fashioned jib-jab.
Still looking ahead to the Minnesota Border to Border. Every other race is crap-shoot as to my participation or not. Actually, so is MN B2B...
Which brings me to my next note: Still Job Hunting. If I land a job, particularly the one I want out in Las Vegas, then the race schedule will REALLY be up in the air. Who knows what kind of time I'll have off then, especially for a week-long race.
In the mean time, still working the Installation Biz. It's been reduced to part-time since that's about all the business I get from all my sources. Unbelievable, but then I hear of friends in other industries losing 75% of their business, and I guess it makes sense.
As a fail safe, I've started working at the RV place again. Selling RV's. 100% Commission. Not at all what I ever wanted to do again, but these are tough times.
Training is an afterthought at this point. Getting in about one hour of running a week. Can't really call that training. 4 weeks until the Gasparilla half-marathon.
Blink and Christie will be here (gosh, I'm sure I spelled her name wrong... crap...) for Gasparilla, as will my Mom and her husband Bob, and who knows, maybe even the Tac and Trimama. At least I've got the spare bedrooms ready! I'll be mostly concerned with jogging the half mary, and having a great weekend with friends and family. Gosh, maybe my Mom will beat me! I'd better get out there and run a bit more....
Still lurve the Facebook.

Episode 17 - 2008 Wrap

2009-01-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

Somehow we did it... we wrapped up 2008 on New Years day, and I'm just now getting it edited and published on Itunes. Hope you enjoy our last show of the year - we hope to do more in '09 and keep the laughs coming. Sometimes it's hard to find stuff to laugh about. But when you're good, you're good, right?

MN B2B is shaping up!

2009-01-04T17:53:00.004-05:00

Holy Moley! The Minnesota Border to Border, or MNB2B, is turning out to be quite the hotspot in the world of Blog-land. Ok, it's got a few folks coming at least. The teams are far from confirmed, but organization of the teams is developing. Tentatively (and please please please read that last word - TENTATIVELY) it looks a bit like this so far:

Girls Team:

TriMama

Iron Jenny

Momo (who is still unconfirmed)

****open****

Boys Team:

Bigun (that'd be me)

Taconite Boy

Blink

***open***

Minnesota Mixed:

Jumper 2.0

Iron Girl Nyhus

Borsch

***open***

So there you have it. 3 teams so far with open spots on each one of them. I'm sure there will be others wanting "in", and some who may have life get in the way. It happens. Some concern of logistics and transportation was mentioned...I'm sure that we'll be able to keep the "Team Vans" or RV grouped - I mean, how far apart will the teams get? Plus, we'll be staying in the same hotel as each other each night - so the festivities will be very much a group thing.

I don't know. TriSherpaDi will undoubtedly be Super Sherpa-ing one team. Perhaps with help from none-other-than Commodore. Big J will undoubtedly cater the girls team. Not sure who will Sherpa the Minnesota crew. Obviously the names of these teams will need to be determined - they need to make a statement. They need to be Bold!

Speaking of Bold, wouldn't it be a coup if perhaps the legend.....ary Bolder came out of retirement and joined a team? I really hope we get enough interest to put more teams together. Keep in mind, the teams can be 2, 3 or 4 man teams. Just how big a stud or studette are you?

Base Canoe II

2009-01-03T07:49:00.002-05:00

You guys think I'm funny! This canoe shizzle is some serious stuff. There are, like, races - marathon and ultra type races - across the country in canoes and kayaks. There's an event that takes you AROUND FLORIDA....seriously, all around Florida - at the top, you have to do a 40 mile portage. Portage, btw, is when you carry the boat, not paddle it. Oh yea, I'm "in the know" now.

Since it turns out that this canoe aspect of my multisport career brings so much hilarity and entertainment to my triathlete brethren, I'll continue to enlighten you with exploits of my dry water exercise. I think I've found a one stop shop for all my canoe training questions - believe it or not, there is a web site called Fitness Paddling. I'm just excited to have yet another thing to train on - three just wasn't enough. Sure, I could have picked darts, or horse shoes - but now that I don't have my lawn business anymore, I need to spend more time outdoors.

And for those of you just tuning in - what is the need to do this canoe training? Well I'll tell ya - the Minnesota Border to Border. At the end of that 4 day relay, we have a 50 mile canoe leg. And by "we" I mean - Me, Taconite Boy, someone else and someone else. Yes! That's right. It turns out the girls we had on our team had decided to go "ladies only" (I know what your thinking - yes, I'm thinking it too...but stop). TriMama and Iron Jenny may be teaming up with Momo and some other yet to be unnammed tri-hawtie. Of course, there is no limit to the number of teams - the more the merrier. I'm not in charge - I'm just bringing YOU, the interested reader, all the latest and greatest on what is sure to be an epically fun week.

If by fun, you think I mean lots of racing AND drinking / eating - you'd be right! TriSherpaDi will be showing off her mixology AND driving skills as LEAD Sherpa of one of the teams. If Momo throws her hat in the ring then Big J would likely bring the RV and head up the Sherpa duties of the all girl squad. Lucky bastard. Now I've heard rumblings of other folks that would be heading up and joining the fun (like Blink - who's not joining a team; he's just riding and running with us), but there has to be some semblance of rumor control (by control, I mean the only rumor will be of Momo and Big J's participation so far...) so I'll wait for more rumors before I leak any more possible participants.

Base Canoe

2009-01-01T20:17:00.004-05:00

Today's workout: 4 mile Canoe on the Hillsborough River. Did the same thing last year, but not with the foreboding B2B 25-mile canoe leg on the horizon. Averaged 2 miles per hour today. Took it waaaaay easy. Call it a "base" canoe workout.

Ol' Excel Man actually took his heart-rate monitor with him on this trip. Sure, the Garmin is bad enough. But he actually wore his Polar as well. I was seriously out-teched today. I gotta get a carbon-fiber paddle or something....

09 Season Map

2008-12-27T15:16:00.010-05:00

Well, it looks like I'm finally getting back into it. I'm looking at races and schedules and calendars and getting excited again. This wasn't the case a few weeks / months ago. I've started to put together 2009. It looks good so far. I'm not trying to think past the Minnesota Border to Border - although perhaps a half IM like the Florida Challenge would cap off the year nicely.

What's changed? I don't know. Maybe looking at myself in the mirror. I'm afraid to step on the scale. Yesterday I gave up sodas. Completely. No more sodas - it will probably cut my daily calorie intake by a minimum of 1000 calories. No kidding. I'm also done with fast food lunches. No more Mickie D's quarter pounders for lunch. No more fries. Goodness. I've been pumping myself with that crap for too long.

Goals? Well, that's a tough one. My "A" race this year is a relay, with a strange series of events and distances. I'll most likely be doing 4 x 24 mile bikes, 13 x 1 mile runs, and 25 miles in a tandem canoe. I'll tell ya, training for that will be different - very much a speed oriented training plan. I'd like to think I can work up to 21mph average on the bikes, and 8:30's for the runs. We'll see how much training I can actually get in!

So the plan is set. Not in stone, of course, but a working schedule is out there. Except for MnB2B - everything is local around Tampa and Orlando this year. We are trying to keep it very much on the cheap. There are so many cool races Nationally, I hope things change through '09 so that we can get out and do more across the country - and visit our great friends!

IMCOZ

2008-12-25T17:44:00.001-05:00

WHAT? Nooooo! It's sold out! I was just going to.... crap! Oh well, maybe next time.

Facebook killed the bloggie star...

2008-12-15T14:27:00.002-05:00

Well, not just Facebook - I've just not a lot to say. This blog has been mostly about Triathlon and training, and some humorous other stuff along the way. Not a lot of funny stuff going on lately. Even less triathlon or training! At least for me. Some of you are training like crazy and getting ready for first Ironmans and what-not. That's completely awesome...I lurk on your blogs and love to read your latest adventures.

This isn't a farewell post by any means. Just an explanation as to wassup in the life of Bigun. The blog life. My writing motivation is just diminished. Sorry folks. I do spend a ton of time on Facebook, and for those of you making the Facebook rounds, well, we know. Facebooking is 10 times easier than blogging. At least when you have just a little bit to say.

In time I'll be back. I enjoyed blogging at one point, and will again. I'll be training again, and getting ready for some new race. In the mean time - you guys and gals keep up the good training and racing - and blogging!

POP

2008-11-24T22:31:00.004-05:00

Important Edit: I totally messed up and made this sound like there was only one person, one friend that I'd talked to who mentioned this idea. Actually, after I had heard it from 3 multi-sport friends, I thought I'd dig in deeper. I'm by far NOT the expert on this, and I welcome some opposing thoughts and ideas. To my good friend, you know who you are, I'm very sorry for my one-sided post.

I hate to burst your bubble. I really do. There are folks out there that have and are planning to enter an Ironman event through a Community Slot and then write off all of their travel and training expenses, as well as the entry fee, as a charitable donation. Sounds good on the surface, and their CPA says it's perfectly ok.

Of course they do. And of course, the IRS audit is all on you.

Other than actual cash or non-cash donations given directly to a qualified charitable organization, like the NAS Community Fund, a registered 503 (c) charitable organization, it is possible to also deduct unreimbursed Out of Pocket Expenses. It is stipulated in IRS Publication 526, however, howthese expenses must be incurred: "you may be able to deduct some amounts you pay in giving services to a qualified organization". It is in that stipulation that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around.

What service to any organization is served in competing in an Ironman? The list of recipients of Community Funds is long and genuine, but no physical 'serving' is accomplished in the 17hrs or less of Ironman toil. When you donate money to church, for example, do you write off your job expenses because you were using that job to raise the money you donated? No, and you couldn't if you wanted to. Could you write off expenses you incurred while volunteering at a church function? To some degree, yes. The service must be directly related to the charitable contribution, not as a result of it.

Put it this way: your church service example is such that your actions while volunteering directly contribute to the raising of money for the charitable organization. Your actions at Ironman are a byproduct of your initial charitable contribution. If you contributed and didn't race, the charity would not suffer in the least.

Perhaps it is a subtle distinction, and I'm sure someone with more accounting and tax experience than I, like a CPA, could argue for the deductions. I'd be curious to see how the deductions held up to the scrutiny of an IRS agent, however.

One of the interesting documentation requirements of the deduction is that in addition to keeping the appropriate record of the expenses, the taxpayer MUST also obtain acknowledgement from the charitable organization that contains:

a description of the service you provided
a statement of anything you received as reimbursement (if any) for your expenses
a valuation of any goods or services you received
a statement that only intangible benefits were received.

Good luck getting that statement before filing your taxes. Oh yea, and try and put a value on the benefits of Community Slot entry - the fleece, the visor and backpack. Oh, and entry into an otherwise sold-out event. So what is the value of entry to an event otherwise unable to enter? Does that move into the realm of "Tangible benefit" vs. intangible? Good question.

The $775 donation is, of course, charitable and deductible (of course, only if you use a Schedule A - do you have a mortgage? If not, then you probably don't itemize your deductions, and therefor, disregard this whole post - you can't deduct your charitable donations period). Please, someone, shed some light on how the expenses can also be deductible!

Sorry, btw, for the boring tax-related post.

Edit: I don't know how often this has happened in the past, but I was inspired to write this when a friend said his CPA had already said it was ok. I looked at the IRS Pub that covers this part of Tax law, and of course it was clear as mud. Getting the documentation, for those out there that are still going by what their CPA "who has done taxes for years" says is ok, will be the kicker - as is the general argument that the act of racing is not a service to a charity. Perhaps something like the MS ride series - where you personally solicit donations and those are based on your completion of the event - could be a valid example of training and travel expenses that are deductible. I doubt the IRS Agent completing your audit will be so impressed with your IRONMAN finisher's medal that he or she will overlook your $5k in Charitable Iron Expenses.

Wake UP!

Episode 16 is out!

2008-11-22T15:23:00.002-05:00

Oh yea...that's right....Episode 16 - the Tampa Reunion show is out. Good stuff. Our shortest episode yet.

The Rundown

2008-11-10T07:46:00.006-05:00

Picked up Tri Rob and his buddy on Wednesday. Ate a healthy dinner. Dude dislocated his shoulder doing the Airport Shuffle. I brought him a sling. It was very sexy.

Tacboy rolled in on Friday night. Turns out that not only do we have similar senses of humor and comedic timing, we both have no problem lying around and watching movies instead of going out. Translation: we are old men.

Spectated the 70.3 Championships in Clearwater Saturday. Met up with a pro's wife and cheered for her hubby too. Tac knew many more people there than I did. Watched Tri-Rob finish his race, went home and took naps. Affirmed: We are old men.

Sunday morning Tac dragged me out of my own house for a 5.5 mile run. Everything now hurts. I hope everything now hurts him too. Guess it's time to start training again. Also, Tac wears more IM schwag than any 3 people. Shamelessly adorns himself with layer upon layer of overpriced finisher clothing. There has to be some sort of therapy group he can go to....

Met Tri-Rob at his hotel and did the dinner thing with his buddy and his coach...Coach Liz. Cool chick - she says it like it is. I instantly liked her. Met Brian Dunn (super stud) and his mom (super studdette) pool-side at Rob's Hotel. Turns out their heritage of "redneck dutch" is the same as mine. They just hail from the side of Holland with the smaller, crazy fast folks. My ancestors stuck their finger in the dike and held it together while his ancestors ran and got help. Small, yet important distinction.

Got Rob to the airport on time, hoping that he didn't break anything getting to his flight. Overall, a great weekend.

Perfect end to a political discussion

2008-11-03T23:06:00.002-05:00

Other than it being a clearly Obama-biased show, this was the perfect end to any political discussion amongst friends...

Great Weekend

2008-11-03T20:59:00.003-05:00

No longer cutting grass for a living.
Saw a bunch of new Ironman finishers this weekend
Am crazy-busy installing blinds and window treatments
Picking up Tri-Rob and his friend on Wednesday for the Clearwater 70.3 Champs...
Possibly having Taconite Boy over for the race - we'll see
Time for a mezzo-schedule motivational training plan!
Did you see the cheater at IMFL? I'll dedicate a full post to that yahoo....
What do we name our team for the Minnesota Border to Border?

MN B2B "on the cheap" Deadline approaches

2008-10-26T14:38:00.003-04:00

The Minnesota Border to Border's entry fee goes up fifty dollars on 10/30/08 , so it's time to count my pennies and sign up! Any of you out there thinking of putting a team together...it could be a good time to put it on your '09 schedule here soon as well. We'd certainly look forward to having you out there with us. Us being TriSherpaDi, TacBoy, Trimama, and Iron Jenny. Blink will be there to pace as well, and perhaps we'll have Jumper 2.0 starting up a team as well. What about you other northerners?

oops

2008-10-20T21:13:00.002-04:00

Um...IMFL is not next weekend, but the weekend after. My bad. Hope I didn't cause panic in the likes of Excel Man, Ryan or Lana - no stress, you still have two weeks!

Pulling Hair

2008-10-20T08:35:00.003-04:00

Arrg! Just got back from a 22-hour driving ordeal to and from Greensboro, NC to participate in my Gram's service. Tons of family there, lots of great tasting food and beer - if it weren't for all the daggum Democrats in my family, it would have been the perfect weekend! Who knew? Just kidding, btw...it was a great weekend - even the service. Gram wasn't so much mourned as remembered - and I believe that is what the purpose was this weekend.

I've got a stack of business, generated from my personal money printer - my fax machine - waiting to be called and serviced. I've got installs scheduled for every day, and I have to still cut grass every day this week. I HAVE to get it all done by Friday, since TriSherpaDi and I are heading to Panama City Beach to cheer for all the IMFL participants this coming weekend. Another mad-dash weekend on the road to look forward to.

If all goes well, I WILL sign up for a couple of races here before the end of the month, and get busy training again on the 1st. Next month I start cutting every other week, slicing my work load in half, giving more of an opportunity to run, bike, swim, and now canoe to my hearts content. I certainly need it. And miss it.

Gram

2008-10-10T06:53:00.004-04:00

When I was a kid - maybe 8 or 9 years old, Gram and I used to drink tea together. It may have only been a few times, but I remember boiling up the water and putting some bread in the toaster. One night, sitting in her kitchen, one of the roller shades just flew open, as roller shades were prone to do back then, and scared the you-know-what out of us! After a few seconds, we both broke into laughter, humored by the silliness of the moment.

Gram took us all in after my folks separated. I think back to the small upstairs house that was no bigger than most of the apartments I've lived in as an adult, and understand what it must have been like for Gram - taking in family. As big a pain in the butt it is, that's what family does. I even had my own room. It barely could take a bed in it, but it had a closet and a window and it was mine.

I remember her perfect yard. The barn converted to a garage, with places that were off limits, making them even creepier to a young kid. My great-grandfather's black caddie always covered in blankets, only occasionally being driven into town and then quickly tucked away and re-covered. I even drove in that car once or twice, I think.

Her basement was full of hidden treasures for a kid. It flooded nearly every year - and for kids, floods are cool. I climbed the trees in her yard. I got in fights there. Went to summer camp in the park down the street. Got into loads of trouble. All while living there with Gram.

Gram never remarried, and was single for as long as I can remember. She smoked like the day is long, and I constantly harassed her for it. I worked, for a very short time, at a pharmacy in town (Stanton's Drugs - the things you all of a sudden remember...), and in came Gram while I was behind the counter. She was pretty upset with me for not selling her cigarettes that day - as was the manager. I lost that job not too long after that incident. 20years later, she quit smoking....but she often reminded me of that day.

She sold that great house while I was in College and moved to a retirement area near the Jersey Shore. A much smaller place with no yard that she could manage by herself. One day a buddy of mine, Eric and I, plus two passengers (one of which was my sister, Leslie), visited Gram on our two new motorcycles. Oh what a day that was. They still speak of the day those two loud motorcycles came roaring up the road to visit Madeline. Towards the end, Gram didn't remember much, but she reminded me of that day.

Edit: I thought up some more stuff today. Her favorite cocktail was the Manhattan. I'll never forget - gosh, it was yesterday, my Uncle Mel (her brother) and me sneaking her Manhattans to my Mom's chagrin. Being born in the Netherlands, Gram would really turn on the Dutch when she was mad. Good thing we couldn't understand her! She used to sing to us in Dutch as well. That was much more pleasant. Dust pan and broom - that's the "Faagud and Blinky" - at least, according to Gram.

As I hasten to put some memories to paper, it's alarming that there's not more. When I got the news that she had passed, it had come as no surprise. Her health had been failing for quite some time, and the last time we visited her I was pretty sure it would be the last time I'd see her. I'm thankful now for that last visit, hopeful that she recognized and remembered being surrounded by loved ones on that beautiful summer day.

Almost Fall

2008-09-27T07:47:00.005-04:00

The temps are plummeting here in Tampa - 2 or 3 days in a row of sub-90 degree weather has me hopeful and anticipating Fall. Ah yes, fall in Tampa. Where the only thing turning color is the grass - from green to brown. Where you finally can't wring your shirt out after an hour of working outside. And most importantly, where the year-round-outdoor-training-center truly becomes year round again.

Things are looking up for the family d' Bigun. The installation biz is looking good. Of course, going from zero to anything is good at this point, so really, time will tell. Only one more month of weekly grass cuts for my lawn customers - then the nice 6-month break of every-other-week cuts. Time to do other things. Like train.

And train, we must. The interesting thing about a mega-relay like Border to Border is the added pressure of not letting your teammates down. An Ironman, generally, is all on you. DNF, and you've only got your own pride to deal with. Fail to pull your weight in a relay - even amongst friends (or especially amongst friends?) and the consequences are far more guilt ridden. I like the carrot this race provides me - it may force me to train even harder than I did for IM CdA. This is really gonna be a cool race.

The big question for the back half of the '09 Tri Season is, "which Ironman"? Ironman Arizona seems to have fallen flat - lackluster blogger/friend interest in this race has taken it off the radar. Ironman Florida is now a consideration. Cheap accommodations, no plane fare, cool temps, flat and fast, IMFL has it appeal. It's still an hour and a half in salt water, however, and the entry fee is sure to be in the $600 range. Gulp.

Beach to Battleship is gaining some steam in this community - all predicated by positive race reports from this race coming up on Nov 1st. Interesting point-to-point down-current swim, flat bike on newly paved roads, and a flat run, taking place in an area with affordable hotels to which we can drive to. It's close to my NC-based family. Oh, and did I mention that last year's entry fee was $250! I'd be very interested to see how much LESS you get for that entry fee vs. an M-Dot race, if it's even less at all.

Ironman Cozumel has a foothold and continues to gain ground. I wouldn't be surprised if it's close to sold out already, since they are only allowing 1,500 athletes. And, it's $525. Now there are, allegedly, inexpensive packages heading that way - it is a tourist (trap) hot spot, after all. I'm not sure how much longer the window will be open to consider this race for '09, but it too, is out there. Not sure how I feel about having fish for Thanksgiving though (packet pickup is on Turkey Day...).

So there you have it. I'm pretty sure I'm not doing St. Anthony's Olympic this year - $150+ for a mega-crowded race that I have yet to eat at or do well in - and having to wait in the sun for an hour in line to get into transition - well, I used to love this race, now, not so much. Smaller and cheaper is the way I think I'm going now...and different. I enjoy multisport - and I enjoy a new and interesting challenge from time to time. The whole endurance canoe/kayak sport is intriguing to me, and it's something I think Di might enjoy as well, at some participatory level. Ultra running or biking may catch me napping and grab hold of me before I come to my senses. Who knows?

In the mean time, I gotta figure out a way to pay for all...all THIS! These "hard" times will turn, I'm sure, and priorities will change again. Change like the seasons.

AZ now tentative

2008-09-22T08:26:00.003-04:00

Aaaaak! We had to pull the plug on IMAZ'08 this weekend. After careful consideration of the bank accounts and air fares, we decided it wasn't in our mortgage's best interest to fly to Phoenix in 9 weeks. We are very disappointed, and while we are still working towards a business windfall which will enable us to make a last minute trek to Tempe, we just cannot commit to it at this time. Perhaps we have a boxed up item worth thousands on e-bay in the garage?

That does, of course put a monkey wrench in our '09 race plans. I was just looking at the Beach to Battleship again...$250 entry fee for '08, we can drive there (no airfare)...I don't know, it's a possibility as a late-season Iron-distance event. Our race dollar priority for next year is still the Minnesota Border to Border - having just learned that my boy Blink and the Blinkettes may come up and ride with us, not as race participants, but as a long training weekend. Very cool.

IMAZ may have to take a raincheck until 2010.... Craaaap!

Decisions, Decisions

2008-09-13T13:07:00.003-04:00

Well, it's coming down to the wire. Well, sort of. Pretty soon we have to decide whether or not to go to Arizona to cheer on our bloggie peeps cranking it out at IMAZ08. That would then lead to "pulling a slip" for IMAZ09 - something that I really want to do, yet I see the crowd participation fading fast. Blink is out. Johnny Tri is out. Greyhound is out. Iron Shane is out. Baboo and Misty are out. Momo, who surprised the world with her IMAZ08 bid, is out for '09. I know there are many more bloggers and potential participants out there...these were just folks that have been swept away for one reason or another.

IMCOZ09 - looks like many will be traveling over to the dark side and hitting the beaches of Cozumel in '09. That's cool - it looks to be great race. Hope we don't get any late season hurricanes...

IMCanada'09 - Those crazy Canuks have done the unspeakable and, yes, opened up registration on-line for an undisclosed number of slots. I know of two who got in...Blink - taking him out of IMAZ...AND...MN B2B! My step-sister in-law also got in, and is VERY excited about racing next year. Truly...good for them both!

So now what with the MN B2B? Looks like there has been interest garnered in an unlikely, yet very likely place - in the heart of Minnesota itself! Yes, Tacboy and his super-hot Trimama have quietly mentioned to Heir Bigun that they'd like to participate in a 4-person Relay. This leaves one more slot open - perhaps for the likes of another smoking hot, uber-fit, fem'd triathlete extraordinaire...none other than Iron Jenny? Doing this race for the first time as part of a 4-person relay sounds a bit more fun (Bigun says, hiking up his skirt...) than the 2-person variety. The registration price goes up at the end of next month, me thinks, so we still have time to hem and haw.

I actually started running again - 4 times so far this week (it's Saturday...I'm wanting to run tonight and do a little longer run tomorrow...) and while I thought I had two giant, fat sandbags for legs on Monday, by Thursday things felt a whole lot better. Bike and Pool...soon, grasshopper, soon....

Minnesota Border to Border Triathlon

2008-09-06T18:47:00.006-04:00

The Minnesota Border to Border. 4 days. Biking. Running. Canoeing. Yes, it's a Triathlon. No, there's no swimming. No, there's no whining.

Blink's got me brainwashed into believing we can do this as a 2 person relay. Last year, one out of 2 relay teams made it in. Teams of the 2-person variety, that is.

This sucker's taking place in July. I'm 90% in, although, not much (ok, any) discussion with TrisherpaDi has taken place yet. Oh yea, a little thing called, how-we-gonna-pay-for-all-dat is also a factor. But...it's nice to dream, isn't it?

Any one else think this looks like fun and want to consider entering against Blink and I in the 2-person (or even a 4 person) relay?

Oh, and Blink promised that he would actually get out of the canoe during the portages....I was sorta wondering why he'd pick a 250-lb Clydesdale as his Relay Partner.

Unretouched Picture of Taconite Boy

2008-09-03T21:39:00.005-04:00

They say that superhero's are immortal. Now Taconite Boy may just be that. Just as I pictured him, Tacboy was once a German General pushing military symbols around a lighted war board with long sticks. This photograph is proof-positive.

Tacboy seems to have turned and in a rare uber-race moment, smiled for the camera. World Domination! We are lucky to have his experience for our new planning center up in the Hallowed Hall.

Oh, and if you don't listen to the TacBoy and Bigun Podcast, you totally won't get any of this. In fact, there's a good chance you are slightly offended. Sorry about that!

Episode 13 - Picasso Blue

2008-09-01T19:09:00.000-04:00

New podcast is out.

Blerbs...

2008-08-29T08:21:00.002-04:00

I liked Tacboy's format...a few blerbs about his goings on, just to keep folks updated.

No, I didn't watch the conventions (not tonight's either). Please. The VP? Talk about bloated media hype. It's all sycophantic - these jerks tore each other up a few months ago and now they drip with praise for each other. Unity....right. I may not have ever posted this, but my feeling is that we will NEVER see a true man, or woman, of character, leadership, strong ethics and great ability run for the Presidency again, simply because the process to get there is so sickening. What person of any mettle AND integrity would run for office? And please don't list any of the current running candidates or recent presidents.

Those conventions are just giant pep rallies anyway. Cram as many people as you can into an auditorium and prompt them to cheer and go wild and use that to say, "wow - look - the "people" really support this guy". No different than a sitcom's fake studio audience laugh.

Won't Clinton ever just go away (Bill, I mean. I feel the same about Hillary, but we're stuck listening to her for a long time to come)?

Aaaaaaagh - I'm writing about my least favorite topic - Politics - someone shoot me!

No, still no training - not since June 22nd. I've got to change that.

I have a promising business lead - will know more in 2 - 3 weeks. Keeping fingers crossed - it will be just what the doctor ordered.

Space Raiders on Facebook is awesome. Could be why I haven't trained since June. Or not.

It is sooooo hot here. A few hours out cutting grass in 95 degrees and high humidity is really taking its toll.

Simply Media is also very cool...echoing Tac's post. Streaming files from friends music and video libraries is neat - of course, I've only got Taconite Boy's music to sort through, and well, remember how Trimama is really into Folk Music (Podcast Episode 1)?

Looks like an active hurricane season this year again. I'm finding that Weather Underground is a great source for information on these storms, and there is a cool feature - the Wunder Map - well, you need to see it yourself and if you are at all a weather-geek, like me, you'll dig it.

The next podcast episode will be dark. Your triathlon super heroes haven't been feeling "it" lately, so if you want to commiserate with us, by all means, look forward to our Picasso Blue Period piece.

I need a new Blog feed reader - something that tells me when blogs have changed or been posted on. The last 2 I've used no longer work, and I really like not having to peck through every one's blog to find a new post...any suggestions would be welcome.

CDA 08 Picture Review

2008-08-22T17:42:00.005-04:00

Hope you like this....obviously been working on it for a long time. Off and on. The song, in an effort to acknowledge, is called "Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance. It ran through my head a lot during training and the actual race, I thought it fitting for this collage of pictures of the week. I know there are many that were left out, and probably a bunch of pics that go by too quickly. If you can believe it, in retrospect, the race itself, all 14 and a half hours of it, went by way to quickly as well.

After making, finishing this - I am easily reminded of why I hold such a fondness for triathlon, "blogdom" and now Ironman. All these people in this video were awesome, and from all over the country, they are my friends. Who knows if we can ever put a week like this together again - the number of new faces, the dinners, the party, the race - but it certainly is worth the effort!

I hope the quality of the video is worthy of the fantastic photography of my lovely bride, TrisherpaDi, and of the photos I stole from various blogs. Thanks in advance, if you see a picture here that belongs to you. I miss training for Ironman. I miss the becoming. If you are thinking of undertaking the journey to M-dot-ed-ness, by all means, find the means, and find your way. It's worth every minute of it.

Cozumel???

2008-08-13T07:33:00.003-04:00

I will certainly be jealous of you studs and studetts opening your wallets and purses to hit Ironman Cozumel next Thanksgiving. "Back in the day" I would say, "of course!" and hit the registration button along with you, logistics be damned. But this year...

Flight to Cozumel: $717 (each)

4.5 star hotel: $100+ per night

Bike transport: ??$200??

Doing and Ironman on an Island with all your creepy Internet friends: Priceless.

One thing I noticed that really is a no-go in my book - a one-lap ocean swim with no wetsuit. Last time I swam 2.4 miles at Clearwater Beach for the Hurricane Man with no mid-point break and no wetsuit, I was rubbed raw in my armpits. Granted, I could have used more body glide...but my distain for ocean water in my mouth is well documented. I'll take the toxins in Tempe Town Lake over salt water any day and twice on Sunday.

Sorry, I'll be staying stateside for a while, and keeping my eye on IMAZ09...

Handi-work

2008-08-08T20:29:00.004-04:00

Di scored some free window treatments - the place that made them (the workroom for all you non-decorators or installers out there) screwed them up, so now they are in our office.

I did all the hanging. Di showed me how to "dress" them up, and I even did the pretty work. They were not at all made for our windows, so we did our best to make them work. Took the pic with my web cam, so it's not the best quality...sorry.

You know, along those lines, I saw some really gorgeous shoes the other day out at Dillards....

Dark Running

2008-08-06T07:00:00.003-04:00

Oh the joys of running in the dark.

We all know that cobwebs = spiders. Number of webs I ran through this morning....countless. My least favorite insect - spiders. Sure, wasps are a close second.

Lazy dog owners. Gotta love them. Let them dogs out unattended. Out the front door, no less. Meeting up with 2 medium sized dogs on your bike is one thing. You've got a buffer. 2 dogs, in the dark, while running - not much fun. Especially when one's getting behind you! Luckily they were barkers, and I had a moment to prepare. I didn't run, I turned and faced them, and yelled "NO!" as loud and as mean as I could. They still came - crossed the street - at a full run and barked and growled waaaay too close for comfort. I backed further away from their home, still yelling at them and trying to keep both in front of me. I got out to a main street with some traffic on it, and they did not continue the chase. Nice adrenalin rush in the first mile of the day!

Being a tall runner. Being a sidewalk runner. These things don't' mix well. I have to duck for every branch, bush and creepy vine that the city workers, in their infinite shortness, fail to trim away. Night running only makes it even more fun to negotiate this maze of eye-hunting twigs and leaves.

Oncoming traffic. Why do people think it's a GOOD thing to turn on their bright lights when they see a runner? I've got crappy night vision to begin with - sometimes I like to run with no contacts or glasses, so essentially I'm running by feel more than anything. It gives me an excuse to run slowly...like I really needed another one. Lights head on only make the ground surface that much more a mystery.

Humidity. Ah, the morning humidity. Sure it's cooler before sunrise. My lungs feel like I just got done swimming.

The alternative in August in Tampa - run when the sun comes out. Not a very good alternative. I guess there's always a dreadmill inside. How much fun could that be?

Rain

2008-08-02T07:29:00.004-04:00

You know, if I were training, I'd probably be even more pissed. As it is, this current system over Florida is giving me fits! It looks like this every day, now, since Tuesday. I work for about 2 - 3 hrs, then get deluged with the accompanying lightning. The rain isn't quite as limiting as the lightning, but really, heavy lawn mowers and wet, water-soaked ground don't mix very well.

Today looks to be even worse. It's Saturday - so do you really get started on someones lawn before 9am? If I was sleeping in on Saturday and my lawn guy showed up at 8am, well, I'd be a bit miffed, right? Oh yea, we are all triathletes...sleeping in is like, sleeping to 6am....

Tampa's forecast for next week is more of the same if not worse. Great. The phone calls aught to be hitting here pretty soon. See...this is where an I-phone would be perfect. These rain cells come in, sometimes only in one part of town - but how can I know that driving around in my truck? The answer - an I-phone with 3G digital service and the trusty "Weather Underground for I-Phone" application (my buddy Greg has it on his phone). Pull up a map with the radar on it, and bamb! I know if it's a thunderstorm or an all day "cats and dogs" work-buster.

No, I'm not paid by Apple or representatives of I-phone....I just lust after one. Oh, and yes, this would be another one of those, "it's your blog, dammit, and it's all about YOU - so go ahead make another negative post, why don't you....".

Low Motivation

2008-08-01T14:23:00.003-04:00

It's funny just how accurate this little triangle can be some times. I can barely remember discussing it in college psychology 101 class: Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs. In a nutshell, (as if I truly understand it, shaaah...) lower needs in the pyramid take priority over higher ones. Until a pressing problem in a lower level need gets fulfilled, it's dang hard to focus on needs in a higher level.

Now again, I'm not expert, but I'd put fitness and racing in the "Esteem" level of this pyramid. I'm sure one can make an argument that fitness is very much physiological, but it would take a lot of convincing to make me a believer. I've been fortunate in life that my own personal physiological needs tend to be pretty "healthy". I've never been in such dire straits that my sole focus has been at that level. Thankfully!

But very easily, I believe, one can find themselves in the "Safety" needs level. Get yourself short of cash - I mean really short, like "how in the heck are we gonna pay the rent this month" short, and when your diet consists of Ramean noodles and PB&J's for 2 out of 3 meals or worse, and you are there. Unfortunately there are many important things that take a back seat when you sink to that level. Friendships, family relationships, spousal interaction...and it's weird. It's not like you don't have the time, you just don't have the energy....

Of course, these "levels" are not absolute, and a person will devote energy and resources to areas that need attending to while still operating at a higher level. Hence, a relationship may get strained while you put more hours in at work, but one wouldn't give up the relationship totally, for example.

Maslow calls the "love/belonging" level a Social level. It's interesting to me that as important to many the relationships formed in "blog-land" and even the therapeutic effect that maintaining a blog has for some, there will still come time in all of our lives when the blog - the relationships - will take a back seat to more pressing needs. That's just natural - unfortunate - but it's the way things are.

So, for whatever reason - perhaps it's the echo in the bank account, or the lack of satisfaction with my business, or wanting to spend more time at home with my wife - or - I'm just dang burned out from all the training...I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to train. It's been 5 weeks now since Iroman CdA...and I've only run once for all of 2 miles. Sure, I sweat my ba**&ack off every day out cutting grass, and fortunately I've only gained 6 lbs in 5 weeks, but somewhere I need to find the motivation. Or get all those other damn needs taking care of. And quick!

Iron Guilt

2008-07-29T14:34:00.003-04:00

You know, I've been feeling guilty as of late.

I see the results of my bloggie peep's toils - their training volumes posted in their buildup to Ironman, and mine sooooo pales in comparison. The first step in the "healing" process is to fess up, right? I started the whole process a bit earlier than some, but not all - I was 30 weeks of Ironman focused training. Yea, you can question the "focus" part. Here goes:

Average swim volume per week: 3,545 yards. Result: 2.4 mile swim in 1:34 for a 2:29 per 100 meter pace, which I think is a 2:13 per 100 yd pace. I have a hard time complaining about that. I didn't even average the length of the Ironman swim per week! I wouldn't recommend that to everyone. Or, maybe I would. I did do 3 swims of 2.4 miles or more leading up to the race, however.

Average bike volume per week: 77.1 miles. I know, I know - "its all about the bike" - right. Result: 112 mile bike at a 17.4 mph pace. I passed 679 people on that ride. I did 5 centuries in 9 weeks - I'm sure that helped my bike a lot. Of course my advise is to ride long...often.

Average run volume per week: 16.6 miles. That there was my downfall. Not that I didn't finish. Result: 14:18 min/mile "pace" - where 749 people passed me back on the run. It was ugly, partly due to my stomach issues, but more probably due to my lack of run volume leading up to the race. Most of that 16.6 mile volume took place MONTHS before the race during my marathon train up. If you were to see my volume for the last, say, 12 weeks leading to CdA...you'd laugh. Longest "long" run between Feb and June - 11 miles.

Average Total Training Time per week: 8.5 hrs. Result: 14:32:23 We'll do better next time. Not that I could have had more fun. Weight for Ironman: 254 lbs. I'd really like to get that down to 225 lbs for the next one. I just have to want it bad enough...that's the big question...do I?

A lot of nothun

2008-07-26T18:18:00.005-04:00

So there's a lot of nuthun going on in the life of the M-Dot Bigun. Yes, we've podcasted. Yes, we did an Ironman. But after that...well -

No workouts yet. I miscalculated, and Monday coming up marks the 18-week start of the Marathon trainup. So I've got that to look forward to. That was a healthy 5 week break from all things run, bike and swim. Can we say, "burned-out"? Bigtime.

Work sucks. Royally. It's so blooming hot, and humid, that by 3pm I'm absolutely smoked. Unfortunately, I need a couple more hours to get them all done. Hence working on Saturday and Sunday this week. Crap.

I get to do my first "install" this Monday. It's something akin to hanging a picture, but I'll take it. Ya gotta start somewhere. It just so happens the "economy" has a strangle hold on every one's money these days, and window treatments tend to be one of the things put off 'till later. Now why couldn't that be the yard work instead?

Yes, the bike is still in the box. It's doubtful I'll do another Tri this season. I just don't see it as being in the cards. I saw some folks on their bike today...and was jealous that I had to cut grass and they were out pedaling. I wonder if you heard a loud and resounding "FU&^!" this morning at around 9:30am? That was me.

I'm escared to step on the scale. No workouts = a rounder M-Dot Bigun. Granted, I've been sweating my ass off every day outside. So, it may not be as bad as I think. I'm just not checking...

On the good side, TriSherpaDi's started her new J.O.B. this week and seems to be hitting it off famously with her co-workers and boss. Lets hope this economy turns around soon so we can all go back to making money and spending it on fitness instead of having it all go to pay for the lights. Can I get a "here, here!"?

I've got my resume out and about. I'm looking. I'm looking for something interesting. I don't want to settle, and I'm afraid that I'm gonna get into desperation mode sooner rather than later. The fingers are crossed, and the feelers are out. More on that as it develops, I promise.

What else? You all know that IMAZ'09 is shaping up to be the next IM for me. I'd like to go and Volunteer at the '08 race, but that's only 4 months off, and financially it's not looking good right now. We'll see. If worse comes to worse, I'll try and sign up on-line - it's scary to think that IMUSA sold out on site - but whatever happens, happens. We really, really, really want to go and spend the weekend in Scottsdale, however.

Jenny and Brent are heading to Tampa tomorrow night and will join us at the casa d' bigun for some eats and drinks - looking forward to that! Trisherpadi ususally pulls out all the stops cooking-wise when visitors are coming over....mmmmmmm....dinner-guests......some pictures of the food should be forthcoming.

Episode 11 - IMCdA Race Report Published

2008-07-21T13:23:00.003-04:00

Our latest podcast is out! Enjoy the show, if you can...it's a bit on the - boring - side, if you ask me, but there are some funny parts in there. Like when we talk about poop.

Knee Deep

2008-07-20T07:36:00.002-04:00

I'm knee deep in the Post-Ironman Non-working-out Blues these days. It's a self-imposed moratorium on working out - and it was necessary! In case you are wondering, I still, to this day, have yet to break a sweat in a fun, workout-type activity, since CdA. That's a long time between workouts.

Tomorrow, Monday, begins my 18 week Marathon Training Plan. It couldn't come too soon. Of course, looking at the plan, Mondays are cross training days. So I guess I'm swimming tomorrow, which I also miss. I guess, if I plan on biking any time soon, I'd better take it out of the shipping box and put it back together. Is that bad karma? I'm sure my bike needed a break too.

I'm working on a montage using a slew of pictures from CdA using Microsoft Movie Maker. It worked fine to a point...now I have so many pictures in it, I think, that it locks up if I try to add any more. Friggin Gates....

Oh, and the TB&B Podcast...um...sorry folks - Tacboy and I talk about calling each other - the conversations go something like this:

Taconite: We really need to finish up this episode....
Bigun: Yea, when do you want to do it?
Taconite: Any night this week is good for me...oh wait, I've got a thing on Wednesday and Thursday, so I guess Tuesday, or maybe over the weekend.
Bigun: Na, Tuesday's no good for me, I've got a really long day that day. Maybe Sunday then...
TriSherpaDi in the background: Don't forget about going over to Dawns Sunday night for Mexican....
Bigun: Oh crap, that's right - dude, we need to get this done.....

And it plays like that week, after week, after week. Please! Don't hate us!

This skirt feels kinda...sexy

2008-07-15T17:18:00.006-04:00

Oh yea, I'm knee deep in skirt-wear now. High heels t'boot. Check out my new business card. No, not my business socks - I'm sure I'll need some - or perhaps some good pantie hose.

I'm just using them all up before ya'll can sling them.

Yes, I'm still cutting lawns. Still have my man card from that. This is my kinder, gentler side coming out. Coming out, like from the closet. Yea, that was too easy...

I'm feeling behind the times...I saw, with TriSherpaDi last night, Super Troopers, made in 2001. How did I miss that one? Great flick - rent it if you feel like laughing for an hour or so. BearFu*&ers.

Wassup?

2008-07-12T19:26:00.003-04:00

It's been far too long. Sorry...been doing some training. Learning how to hang window treatments. Yes, it requires wearing a skirt and some high heels. Good thing I shave my legs!

We are pretty excited here in the casa d' Bigun. TriSherpaDi and I signed up to be volunteers at IMAZ08. We are looking forward to cheering and meeting up with our bloggie peeps, again - albeit 6 months from now!

Oh, and read between the lines, can you? That's right...IM #2 - IMAZ09! I'm already excited about it. Another shot. Better. Stronger. Faster.

What else? I'm pretty psyched for another shot at the SpaceCoast Marathon on November 30th. Goal: Lose a ton of weight, and go sub 4:30 with an eye toward 4:15. That's the plan right now...I'll start an 18 week marathon trainup in 2 weeks. So that's the short term plan. I'll keep you posted on that.

Hopefully Tac and I will have time this week to finish up episode 11 of the Show. We owe you guys a great one!

Amazing Adventures of Taconite Boy!

2008-07-04T08:21:00.004-04:00

Another Amazing Adventure of Taconite Boy

Announcer: We bring you now to another Amazing adventure of Taconite Boy! A new evil nemesis wreaks havoc in the universe as our heroes rush to the scene...

...loud sucking whirring, like a vacuum cleaner....

Taconite Boy - I can't take it, Bigun, he's got me in his evil clutches and I can't get away!

Bigun - Fight it, Tac - here, take my hand!

TB - (grunting) .....got 'cha!

Announcer - a huge swirling tornado of idea-sucking vacuum is being directed at our SuperHeros. All who enter are rendered blogless! A dark, sinister being is at the helm of this device which seems to suck ideas and motivation right out of it's victim's skull!

Bigun - Resist Tac, Resist - Don't fall down the path of Bolder, FE Lady, the Kahuna and now even Nytro! Look, there goes Tea! (yelling to the evil one...) Whoever you are....you'll pay for that!

Unknown Evil One: ...Sinister laugh...

Announcer: Swirling out of control in a mass of legs, arms and a cordless computer keyboard, Tea spins headlong into the vortex...

Tac Boy: (with effort) I....can't....hold....on....Bigun! I'm slipping!

Bigun: Don't let go, TacBoy, the blogger world needs you to keep on putting pen to paper! There are even more devious evildoers than this insidious character out there...I can't do this alone!

TB: I'm slipping.....(echo off)....aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....

Bigun: Noooooooooo!

Announcer: Diving into the vortex after Taconite Boy, The.Bigun races, without a plan, to save his podcasting partner from impending doom. Tune in next time to see what happens next!

Clydesdale Zipp 808 Review

2008-07-03T16:28:00.008-04:00

Ok, this is really a two part review. Sure, the Zipps are part of it. But also, I'm gonna say a few words about RaceDayWheels.com.

RaceDayWheels suffers from a bit of low technology - they require a the use of a printer and a fax to reserve wheels. No up-to-date web serving "registration" or ability to pay on line to reserve your wheels. With that, I was a bit sceptical when I first contacted them. They were, however, quick to e-mail me back with answers to questions regarding their service and available wheels. I even called once, and talked to an actual person! I was assured that my Zipp Clydesdale 808's would be waiting for me on the Wednesday before the big race, and for $140, which was not taken until I grabbed the wheels at the Ironman Expo, I thought I was getting a good deal.

A large, black trailer emboldened with their logo was setting up on the Wednesday before Ironman. I found Marc, my only point of contact, and he stopped what he was doing and grabbed my wheels. It was effortless. The wheels were not brand new - but they were in great shape. Well, little did I know that the "cassette lockring" was stripped, but a quick trip back and an new hub installed by their mechanics was all it took to be back in business. RaceDayWheels had 2 mechanics on site to change out cassettes and flats for those less mechanically inclined - or if you just didn't feel like doing it yourself. This service was included in the wheel rental.

My wheels came with Continental GP2000 tires - they seemed to be of high quality and could be pumped to 120 psi - which is good for a clincher in my limited experience. The seemed to roll nicely - and they did not flat, which is more important than anything.

808's hold the wind. With the breeze at the beginning of the ride, and then the wind at the end, I could really feel the sailing effects of the wheel - cross winds pushed even me a bit to where I had to make steering adjustments to keep a straight line. At 250lbs, I usually scoff at any and all but gale-force hurricane winds.

808's are the stiffest wheel I've ridden. Again, limited experience, however, I own a deep dish HED Jet 90 front wheel. The difference between HED Jet and Zipp is that the spokes on the HED Jet go from the hub all the way to the rim. On the Zipps, the spoke attaches to the carbon faring - which on the 808 is just a bit smaller than the HED Jet 90. This does not cut the spokes quite in half on the Zipps - but close.

Spokes act as just one of the vibration and shock absorbing devises between you and the road when you are riding. The shorter the spoke, (given that the spokes are all the same thickness, material and tension - oh I can just hear all you vibration engineers socking it to me....) generally the less shock absorption it can provide. It's kinda like a diving board - a longer board, and you get more spring and bounce. Ok, if you've never tried to do a flip off a diving board, then I lost you too. Anyway.

Those Zipp 808's beat me up a bit on that ride. Whenever the road got rough, I felt it in my hands, arms and shoulders. Big bumps in the road really hit the front and rear wheel hard, which translated through my aluminum-framed bike and into me like I was getting slugged with an aluminum baseball bat. On a perfectly smooth road the 808's are no doubt the fastest, bestest things you can ride on -the bumps become a non issue. On a 112 mile ride on mixed surfaced roads - you are gonna feel them.

I've been on a 82 mile ride with my HED Jet 90 on the front - on a mixed surface road and did not even notice the bumps and vibrations like I did, from the start, with the Zipps. Unfortunately, RaceDayWheels seems to sponsored by Zipp (a Zipp rep was present at their display to answer questions and help with sales) and nary a HED was to be found nor available for rental.

Looking forward, as a 2nd choice, the Zipp 808's are certainly within the realm of "tolerable". Without a choice for race wheels another way, I had a great bike (for me) and was happy with the Zipps. They were silky smooth, they looked AWESOME, and I felt like a rock-star riding them. Oh, and I felt fast, which is the most important thing.

I just would have preferred to ride HED Jet 90's. I'm just sayin...

RaceDayWheels were breaking down their site on Monday after the race...a bit problematic for a "weekly" rental. Sure you have the option to mail the wheels back to them, incurring postage costs, or you can Iron-walk back to get your wheels and hurry to catch them before they pulled up the tailgate and left, like I did. I'm sure watching me limp quickly, yet gingerly, with a pair of Zipps in my hands was comical to the citizens of Coeur d' Alene - but at the time I wasn't laughing. I would have liked to know ahead of time when those guys were leaving - it was a bit of luck, really, that I caught them still at the Expo. Just some FYI....

You are an Ironman!

2008-06-28T18:22:00.003-04:00

So the finish. Just so you know, there will be many posts that I make regarding this whole experience. The people of this week are sorely missing from my posts - our bloggie peeps - our creepy internet friends - as well as photos and video that needs to be compiled. This is really just the down and dirty. The way Blink likes it.

The aid station with two miles to go was packed with a group of college kids drinking their brains out and yelling and screaming and high-fiving us through the aid station. I knew this would be the last aid station I would partake in, so I downed a "double" of coke, and stopped to walk only long enough to swallow. The mile to the next aid station was a long one. I could hear the finish line, but it was getting dark and lonely. I took advantage of a particularly long stretch to walk for a minute (I'd count to 60) and collect myself for the final push. No more walks. No more coke.

I doubt many folks were using the first/last aid station much any more - it was pretty well packed up for folks bringing it home. I ran through it and said thanks to the few remaining volunteers. Around the corner I knew the route separated for folks finishing and folks needing to do one more lap. Oh the secret pleasure I took in scootching over to the left side of the road - the finisher's side! This new ground snaked through the streets of Coeur d' Alene where volunteers informed me of an 8 block run to the finish line. Hanging a final left at the top of finishing street, I could see the two bright spotlights that shone the way to Ironman. They were now close.

Coeur d' Alene proper converged on these 8 blocks. Because of the spotlights in my eyes, it was difficult to see just how many folks there were, but I could feel them just the same. "Great job, Marc!" and "Keep it going - your only 3 blocks away!" filled my ears and hands outstretched for high-fives were laid out in front of me. These spectators filled the shadows of my peripheral vision, and that shadow bottle necked to the finisher's shoot. I thought it was loud running those last 8 blocks - the noise was nothing compared to the final 100 meters.

I was all alone entering the shoot, but as soon as I came into view, the stands went bonkers. These folks, with a few exceptions, didn't know me from Adam, yet they screamed for me like I was a family member. I couldn't hear the announcer calling my name, but like on the bike, I had some more High-fives to give. I caught sight of Di on the right side surrounded by "creepy Internet friends". I went left and slapped hands with folks I didn't know, then right again, then left. At last, the Ironman tape lay stretched out before me. I tried to lift it over my head, but one of the holders had more strength then me - still, I held it, and in that instant, became an Ironman. It felt awesome.

My insanely long run split of 6:14:33 doesn't even make me all that mad, even today. I've certainly got a goal now for my next run at Ironman, with my finishing time of 14:32:23, shoot, so many things were great about that day, it would be silly to be upset about 6 hrs of it. Very quickly after finishing, collecting my medal, t-shirt and hat, I spied Di and collected my finisher's kiss and hug. Mmmmmmmmwaaaah! Even though she could have, I'm glad she didn't have to hold me up.

Impressions of Ironman

2008-06-27T17:45:00.006-04:00

It's hard to know where to start, now that it's done. How many times can I reiterate the fact that Coeur d'Alene is drop-dead beautiful? I doubt, with the race day conditions, there is a better place to do the Ironman. I'm sure, however, I'll look for a place over the years to come.

So I swam the thing in 1:34 - what makes that incredible is that, folks, I really didn't do much swim training. I had an open water swim of 1:52, and then a pool swim of 1:41 at the distance - I really was hoping for a 1:45 or better - how it happened I have no idea. The draft? Probably. Not sighting, ever? Probably helped too. Oh, don't get me wrong, I had plenty of activity in the scrum - just because I was "the.bigun", I didn't get any respect. I even had my swim cap knocked off. That's NEVER happened before. It was rough out there, but really, in my pea brain I knew that as long as it was rough, I was catching a draft - even though my tendency was to swim out away from the scrum line, I fought that urge and stayed in the mix. Probably helped my split.

The last 1k meters I totally had to go. #2. That also may have helped my swim split. I didn't hear any announcement of my name as I exited. All I wanted was out of my suit and into a port-o-potty. I was dying thinking of the minutes wasting away but I finally emerged, victorious, and off to the changing tent I ran. Nekked Bigun. Oh, and there was some serious shrinkage - but other than Bolder, I really wasn't out to impress anyone. I seriously - read "very, very much" - over-chamois-creamed my bibs, and it really did not feel that great once the shorts were in position. The sacrifices we make....

My bike was LONELY on its rack, as usual after any triathlon swim that I participate in - which brings me to my first IMCDA gripe - a total lack of race clocks on the course. I would have been AMPED had I known I crushed my swim goal, but instead, my lonely self was just content to be done with it. A surprising 9:54 T1 (I really thought I took more time purging) on a goal of 5 min, and I was off on the bike.

Now I was certainly ready for the CdA bike course. I put in 5 Century Rides in the months leading up to the race - confidence was high. Perhaps a bit too high! It took my Garmin 1 mile to finally read the satellites, and after all the stats finally popped up, my HR was about 155. Way higher than I planned! It was flat, and usually after the swim my HR is elevated, so I worked to bring it down by calming myself, taking deep breaths and slowing a bit. Just in time for the first hill. Now I'm looking at HR's over 160 - and I had told myself that I just would not do that no matter what. Oops.

I really didn't do much hill riding - ok, lets call it what it is - mountain climbing - here in Florida. Even in the hillier parts of the area I live in, there is little that resembles the 5 or 6 major "climbs" of the CdA course. On one of those climbs, one of the crowd cheered, "great work, there, big guy!" - and it made me think... "hey, this is Ironman! I'm supposed to be WORKING at this, not sitting back and taking it easy!". By the end of the first 56 mile loop, I was feeling it. I probably went out way too hard. Coming back into town, I totally planned on taking it easier on the 2nd loop. Then, almost exactly 1 mile from the bike special needs turnaround spot, something interesting happened. I saw Taconite Boy. He was "merely" 2 miles ahead of me. I stopped real quick to pee (no, I just could not get myself to squeeze it out while riding....) and put myself into chase mode.

Now I know that's kinda uber competitive of me, 254lb Bigun, to pick on skinny little 180lb TacBoy like that. But truthfully, at that point, I needed a spark. I didn't pick up my pace, I just didn't fade. Well....fade much that is. Those climbs the second time around were done in the smallest rings possible, and I'm sure they were slower than the first go-around. I did not spike my HR this lap and kept myself under 160 for most of the ride, even on the big efforts. Up at the next turnaround, Tac was about the same distance from me, maybe a quarter-mile closer. "He has to fade sometime" was all I could think, and my strength, the flats that were also into the wind, were coming up.

I passed a bunch of folks in those last 12 miles heading into town, folks shaking their heads as the wind beat them after 6 or 7 hrs of riding. But I did not pass Taconite. He entered T2 4:46 ahead of me - I certainly gained ground, but couldn't catch my podcasting partner. Great ride, Tac, and thanks for that 2nd loop! I got'er done in 6:26:59 for an average speed of 17.37 mph. Goal was to be "better than 7 hrs", and a 6:30 was my ultimate best-ever, all great day. Wow.

Sitting down to change into my run gear, all I could wonder was, "where am I gonna find 26 miles in me?". Another truth: I'd never run off of my centuries - I was venturing into uncharted territories (as well as that 112 mile ride was my longest ever) and a little bit worried. I looked left and right and saw lots of dudes just sitting there, holding their heads in their hands, resting or thinking the same thoughts. That catalyzed me, and I just methodically put my run clothes on with the help of a volunteer (who put my shirt on backwards....way!) and got the hell out of that tent....into another port-o-pottie. Only #1 this time. T2: 6:51

The first 13 miles sucked royally. After 2 miles, my stomach went south, and stayed there no matter what I tried. I walked. Lots and lots of walking. Momo caught me right away at mile 3. Then Bolder and Spokane Al smacked me down at mile 10. Greyhound zoomed by at mile 11 or so. I tried bananas, pretzels, water, Gatorade - none worked. I stumbled into run special needs and grabbed my long sleeve shirt, knowing that it would get cold, especially if I was still walking. I remembered, all of a sudden, advise from Bolder - drink Coke at mile 13 and never go back - it will help. So I started drinking Coke and taking in a gel or two. Ta-da!!!! My tummy was all better! Strange how fast it took. Should I have started with it earlier? Don't know - but you can bet that next time I'll try it!

So shortly after mile 13 (pun intended), Greyhound runs by me again and he says, "You're reeling me in, Bigun!" - and he's about 2 miles ahead of me, and for the first time I feel great. I thought, "you know, you can turn this around. you can negative split this marathon. you may even catch Grey....". I vowed then and there to only walk the aid stations. Weird thing - I started to pass people. After 13 miles of getting passed by EVERYONE - the.bigun now has a wake. I certainly was not moving fast, just faster than before. There was pain, but I had energy. Energy is everything - you can overcome pain with energy.

I really wish I had a 13 mile split for you, but IMCdA did not post run splits. Gripe #2. Along with gripe #1, ie, not having any clocks on the course, my only timepiece was the sun - and sunset was around 8:30. The sun was getting low in the sky - I knew I wouldn't finish in daylight. But running I still was, and ticking off the miles better than in any back half of a marathon I'd ever run. The feeling of only 5, then 4, THEN 3 miles to go is almost indescribable. Elation is a good word for it. Relief. Psyched out of your mind. I started seeing folks heading out for their 2nd laps with glow-rings around their necks - for a second there I was wondering if I was going to get one....

At 2 miles I could hear Mike Reilly announcing finishers in the distance. Since the finish line was one of the coolest experiences ever in the history of "HARD THINGS THAT MARC aka BIGUN HAS DONE" - I'll save that for later.

Iron Prelude

2008-06-26T16:43:00.004-04:00

Before I try and describe the experience that was Ironman Coeur d'Alene, I must first thank, from the bottom of my heart, my wife and greatest fan, Di, or TrisherpaDi as she's come to be known.

Di stood by me through all the training, all the gadget buying and fretting over reservations and plane fares. She waited nervously for me when my IM run went to shit, worried that something horrible had happened to me.

She put up with my daily obsessing over trinkets and splits and sunglasses without hardly a word of complaint. She was there for me. I love her more than she knows.

She was my first friendly face in the finish shoot - her hug and kiss was the validation of a year of training. For over 14 hrs she found me on the course and lifted me from whatever funk I was in at the time.

I couldn't ask for a better partner, lover, friend - if I haven't said it enough - Thanks, Di - I love you!

Twas the Night...

2008-06-21T19:58:00.002-04:00

So here we are at our awesome house in CdA, getting ready to carbo-load for tomorrow's big event. We've met everyone...just as planned, so far it's been a very social trip. If it were not for Tri-Rob's company computer with his AIRCARD - I'd not be blogging this.

The weather is going to be perfect. The water temp has risen to manageable levels. The bike course looks challenging, the run course is absolutely gorgeous. I can't imagine a more beautiful Ironman course.

So I - we - all of us are ready. Tomorrow, I attack at dawn. Looking around at all these uber-fit, mostly little, svelte, hard-bodied people, I have to keep reminding myself that I've done the work too. Pace...Nutrition...Attitude. Almost time for my game face.

Ironman CdA Spectators...

2008-06-16T16:55:00.003-04:00

I know there are a bunch of folks who won't be in CdA that are watching and thinking good thoughts for us...so I thought I'd try and make it easier for ya.

First. On Sunday morning you'll want to go to IronmanLive. From that site you'll be able to watch a live feed from Coeur d'Alene. That feed has interviews with VIP's from the race (no, not Tacboy or Bigun...yes, hard to believe...) and usually shows views from the transition area or other parts of the course. The quality of this broadcast in terms of content and just plain old staying "up" is dubious at best. I've seen them do a fantastic job - Ironman Wisconsin for example, and a horrible job - like for the recent Ironman Arizona. The swim starts up at 7am local on Sunday morning - and that's really cool to watch - so try and tune in for that at least.

Second. On IronmanLive there will be a link to track an athlete. When you go there, you can enter in bib numbers or athlete's last names to get split times for various parts of the course. The quality of this feature is also troublesome - it is delayed, and sometimes it goes out, but you'll never know it. When it's not getting updated properly, you'd think your athlete has not yet, for example, transitioned from the bike to the run - when in actuality they are already out there pounding the pavement. So use the tool, but don't get worried if it gets late and people are not yet where you think they'd be.

Third. We'll do everything we can to keep you updated with our blogs. Hopefully we'll have internet access and have time to post while in CdA. There are at least 29 of us racing, with more of us bloggers there in support - so someones gonna be posting while all this is going on.

I thank everyone who has wished me luck and want to let you know that I appreciate your well wishes! It's nice to know that you'll be looking out for me on race day. Dad wanted me to post this dashboard view of the bike course just to see what we are up against out there. I hope I didn't miss anyone who's racing in my number's picture above!

It's getting close now.

Leaving soon...

2008-06-15T19:07:00.004-04:00

Well, tomorrow we start packing for our 3:36 flight on Tuesday out of Tampa. Of course, we gots loads of laundry to do, 9 days clothing to plan, cold weather clothes to find and pack, plus the whole race layout....Monday's gonna be a big day!

Gotta Shave Rave for sure. That will entail some sheers to the legs - I've let them get pretty long again. I need a fresh flattop too. Get them ears lowered.

Need to make another trip to the bike shop. Dumb Bigun forgot to take off my cassette from my training wheel before I packed the tools to put it on my rental Zipp 808 (did I mention that I'll be riding 808's yet....yea, I thought so...) - so hopefully they will loosen the screw up for me post haste on Monday.

Some decisions were made. Red top from the Chicago Triathlon will be my run shirt. It's seen a marathon and worked well. Why mess with success? Blue Nike bike jersey and bibs for the bike. Long sleeve cool max shirt to combat the cold morning air - 47 degrees overnight lows - and I'll even start the bike with my cycling gloves. I'm 99.9% sure I'm going to adjust the screens on my Garmin to only show Heart Rate, Average Heart rate, and Miles - no speed. I'm thinking I'll be pleasantly surprised with the cool temps, riding with my aero helmet and race wheels (which I have yet to do on a long ride), and aid stations every 10 miles - plus the excitement of IRONMAN - no predictions of bike splits, I just think I'll be happy.

As will the run be a happy jaunt. Training in high heat and humidity adds significant stress in the form of raised heart rates for any particular pace. Mid 70's temps during the run is a 15 to 25 degree drop from my normal training temps, and a 55% humidity is going to feel awesome. The trick for the.bigun will be to arrive at the waters' edge without being sick, as significant temperature changes tend to bring on the sniffles. Lots of OJ.

It's also time to cash in the piggy bank. That's right - the CDA Fun Bank will be converted to green tomorrow at the credit union. We didn't fill up the jar as much as I'd hoped in a year, but whatever is in there will surely buy a few beers!

CdA Plans

2008-06-14T06:35:00.005-04:00

I was chatting with my Dad a day or so ago, and he asked me what we were gonna do besides race up in Coeur d' Alene - good question! After thinking a moment, I responded that the thing we will do most of is socialize! Everything has been so hectic here at the year round outdoor training center - it will be most awesome just to get away from it all. The moving, the cutting, the training, all that...all behind us as the plane takes off on Tuesday.

I'm sure there are things to do and places to see once we get there. I and perhaps we (TrisherpaDi included) miss the mountains so much living here in the swamps and land of the giant rat, that just being amongst them and their majesty might be enough. The lake, the cool temps, different vegetation and building structures will all be so different to make it a great enough escape.

Truly, however, the infinite meets, hugs, hello's, conversations, and get togethers that will take place from this coming Wednesday and continuing on for nearly a week will make the trip. Physically getting out and doing what we love to do - swim, bike and run - with our virtual friends is an opportunity of a lifetime. Spending time with people that I know, possibly, better than friends I have locally but because they don't blog, our friendship is somewhat superficial in comparison.

I'm not saying all my non-blogger friendships are weak relationships and that just because a person blogs then they are my BFF. All I'm saying is that, well, when it comes to YOU ALL, I know things. I know fears. I know triumphs. I know family troubles. I know of trials and graduations and birthdays and new births. I was there, in my living room, watching you cross the finish line in Wisconsin, sharing, even that little bit, the glory of that moment with you. Thank you, BTW. I know things you probably don't talk about with your local friends and family - how do I know this? Because I don't talk about most of what I blog about with my local friends and family.

But then again, I'm a dude.

See many of you soon!

The Coolest Number!

2008-06-12T07:12:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I'm biased. I have to say, however, that mine...not YOURS...is the coolest number ever for the race. Better than number 1 - well, not really. But close!

1234

Yes, that's right - the easiest 4 digit number to remember in the entire world - I'll bet even a few of you lazy folks even use it as your PIN on your debit card. You know who you are!

Now that bib numbers are issued...dang this thing is getting close. Did you see the lake temps plummet in the last 2 days? Crimeny! We'll be darn lucky to see 55 degrees come race day. And what's with the cold evening lows? 47 degrees - basically, the water will be warmer, if you can believe it, than the air temperature on race day. Now that's a comforting thought!

So assuming I make the swim time cutoff of 2 hrs and 20 minutes, we'll exit the water to a happy 50 degrees and jump, water-logged and frozen, on to our bikes for some 17 - 30 mph (remember, there are downhills too...) riding through cold air. What you say? Highs for the day could reach 81 or so? Nice...just in time for the run, we'll hit the day's high - which is still 15 degrees cooler than temps at the year-round-outdoor-training-center.

And NO, I'm not complaining about 81 degrees - luv that! The question is...how quickly, once the sun does down, does it cool off around there? I'm guessing it's pretty quick - and since I'm 99.9% sure that if all goes well and I make the bike cutoff - I'll be running in the dark, and the cold. TriSherpDi - bring a jacket!

1234

Too bad I don't have a 12:34 Ironman in me....

Triblogger CdA T-shirts!

2008-06-11T20:06:00.001-04:00

These came out really, really cool.

The fabric is nice - it's called anvil dri-release. It's got a little bit of cotton in it to make it soft.

Of course there are some without the Sherpa on the back too.

Dang there are a lot of t-shirts in this box! We are gonna seriously represent in Idaho (who you calling a ho?) this year!

Maybe we should have had them done on sweatshirts?

(the.bigun apologizes for the lack of photographic quality in the representation of these fine, fine T-shirts. These pics were not taken with TrisherpaDi's high-speed camera, nor with her trained eyeballs. Sorry.)

Good things

2008-06-10T07:39:00.002-04:00

Those sunglasses I got, the frameless Tufosi's - worked awesomely. Great optics, just enough shading, they look good, and the only piece of the glasses I can see is the nose piece. Thumbs up for sure from the.bigun.

The new aerobottle - great as well. no splashing with the new lid means that I can fill it up to the top now. It also means no face full's of Gatorade when I hit a bump! Refills easy with a standard waterbottle - really, no negatives and all positives.

I tried the new Roc Gu - contains extra amino acids and caffeine. Good stuff actually. Used 2 on my last 50m ride, on an empty stomach, and I really liked them. Maybe Gu will have some at CdA...

I also bought a pair of the cheepo booties that Spokane Al recommended on the CdA blogger site. $18 with shipping; it's hard to go wrong there.

My taper has been a bit less than textbook. I've been really, really taking it easy - aside from work, my workouts are lacking. Now that I'm shipping my bike out today, I'll be really avoiding any temptation (however slight) to get on the trail and ride. I have been getting in some heavy lifting - moving TrisherpaDi out of her studio, and then moving all the "stuff" into the house. Fun stuff.

I shipped my bike today to Spokane! $53 to ship it. For all you shippers out there....some tid bits:

If you can get the box under 7" wide, you can save around $10 on Fedex ground. My box was 8" - I may have been able to take an inch off - but with the crank on, it makes the bike a bit wide.
My box height was 28". I didn't change that dimension (or the width) - and with my seat removed, the top of my seat tube and the bottom of my crank took up the whole box. My bike is a 58 cm.
The box length was 43" - even if it was smaller, that would not have effected the price much. I believe that under 50" is where you want to be. I shortened the box to match my bike's length. The whole orig. box by itself would have been over $80 - so by shortening the length, I saved a bunch. I was able to do this by not shipping my wheels. I'm renting Zipp 808's, so I figured that sending the extra weight and lengths were not necessary. The whole thing, with the tools to put it together, weighed 28lbs.
I took off the rear derailleur and hanger - to protect it - and that helped the length . I had to loosen and bend in my aerobar grips, and take off the elbow pads, to make that whole contraption less than 8 inches wide...that was a pain in the neck. I just hope I used enough Styrofoam to pad it all. I guess we'll see in a week!

IM Shipments

2008-06-07T14:53:00.007-04:00

Got some good stuff in today. I'll be testing these out on my last long-ish ride this weekend; they seem way better optically than these cheepo's I train in. I bought some more of the cheepos too - after all, they do work.

I got some new cleats for my shoes. Nothing like a nice set of cleats. I've taken out my liners on my bike shoes - the largest size of tri-cycling shoes is still just a bit too small for my feet, and taking out the liners went a long way to preventing hot foot. Yes, it was hard on the feet for those first few long rides, but I'm used to it now. Makes it nice in transition. Oh yea, my last long ride I noticed one spot on the bottom of my foot felt like a nail being driven through it. Well, actually, it was a screw. One of the screws to my cleats, on both shoes, goes in so far that I can feel it inside the shoe. So, I'll be using a washer or something to try to make sure that screw can't be felt inside the shoe anymore. I'm sure that with the liners in there'd be no problems, but that just won't work for me in a long ride.

I also got a new Profile Design aerobottle. Mine was (is) 3 years old, and kinda nasty looking. The new ones come with a top, of all things - so we'll put that to the test, refilling and whatnot, tomorrow as well.

Got my bike back from the shop. They did a tune up, replaced the shifter cables, trued the wheels, lubed it all up - definitely a whole new bike it seems. I had the bottom bracket bearings replaced - before you could pull on the pedals away from the bike and there was some play to them. Not good. Now there is absolutely no play at all. The mechanic said he had to take blow torch to it to get the bearings off the tube. Nice. He also said that it was the last set of bearings he would be able to replace on that Bottom Bracket. This set was the second replacement. Guess I should start shopping for a new BB.

Also got a box to ship my bike in from the LBS. This has to be done on Monday or Tuesday. That's gonna be a reality check. The big day is upon us! I'm really looking forward to strapping on those Zipp 808's (rented from http://www.racedaywheels.com/) and seeing what I'm made of on that course. Bring it!

Focus

2008-06-04T22:27:00.003-04:00

Man, what a couple of weeks. Not sure I really want to get into the ongoing saga's of Team Bigun, or Team Big Bikes for that matter. Lets just say that if you go over to Di's blog, you can get an earful, or eyeful - anyway. Don't ya wish it could all be pigtails and butterflies this close to the big show? Alas...it wouldn't be Ironman if it were easy.

I'm sure things will work out. I'm sure they will get better. Months, even weeks ago, it was easy to put my head down and get out the door without much fanfare. Now there's a lot of "shaking off the cobwebs" before one foot goes in front of the other...and even then, there's not a lot of enthusiasm involved. Of course it being 97 today didn't help matters much.

I'm psyched - really, I am. I am so wanting to hit that beach and get this show on the road. I'm looking forward to meeting so many great people, and sharing this event - dare I say "life altering" event - with everyone there. Not to mention the parting. Did I mention the partying? It would be nice to have some things settled by then. But that, my friends, may be cutting it a bit close. If you see me, in 2 weeks and 4 days, not quite in a place I should be....PLEASE...feel free to snap me out if it. I'll welcome the help. Trust me, I'll be working on ME as well. I know all too well that I'll need to be above and beyond the black cloud that surrounds us at this moment in time.

And no, Nytro, that doesn't include a swift kick in the bells...and I don't mean cowbells either.

Tom

2008-06-02T20:35:00.004-04:00

The past 7 or 8 days were nuts. Peak training week. Ungodly high temps. Serious business "developments". And to top it all off, a friend died.

I'm kind of mad about the friend dying thing. Being as young as I am, even with my military background, I haven't had that many people that I know, family or friends, die. My friend was only a year older than me. I say friend, yet I'm positive I did not know him well enough.

Tom and his wife Lisa started as customers of Diana - she did some design work for them, including a remodel of his restaurant where I first met Tom, "McHale's Chophouse". It was absolutely the best food I've ever eaten. Tom cared about every plate that was ever served, and came out to check on his customers often. Oh, the calamari, and prime rib...it was all just awesome! He grew tired of his time away from family (he had 3 young boys) and the headaches of owning a restaurant (and a bar, and another restaurant) and closed down my beloved McHale's! I was NOT the only one in Brandon who was angry that day for sure.

But that's not why I'm mad now.

We had dinner at Tom and Lisa's house once, maybe twice, and met them out as well - Di continued to have a business relationship with Tom and a friendship with Lisa, but for some reason I never really had time (or made time?) for Tom. Now he was a busy man too - it's not like he called me, ever, or I called him and tried to get together for a beer. It just never...happened.

We had some things in common, Tom and I - he went to Cornell the same time that I went to West Point. He was riding a bike a couple years ago... actually he stopped riding just as I was starting to. We both struggled with our weight and size, and talked of diet and exersize. We both loved food. Tom was a lineman - played for the Bucs, the Eagles and the Dolphins. He still weighed-in close to 300 on a good day, and I don't know....big guys just seem to get along. He had way about him - he was just great to be around.

I'm not sure when I learned, but Di told me one day that Tom was in rehab. He was in constant pain as a result of his injuries earned during his football days, and had succumbed to a habit he was working to break. When I heard, I thought, "Tom's a strong dude - he'll be ok soon enough", and I really didn't give it much more thought. I got updates from Diana through his wife Lisa, and it seemed like he was struggling more than I would have figured, but not so much that it caused me concern. Why wasn't I concerned? I don't know, really I don't. I guess I just thought so highly of Tom that I figured he'd fix it.

So I missed out. That's what I'm mad about. I had a chance over the last 5 or 6 years to get to know a really great man and I blew it. No, I don't think I could have influenced him in any way to change the circumstances causing his death. He had plenty of friends - good one's in fact - and his family was loving and there for him as well. Selfishly - I just wish I'd have known him better. I know he would have added to my life.

Tom will be missed. If it's possible, or makes sense, I wish I could be missing him more.

Ironweek 4

2008-06-01T14:38:00.004-04:00

I think I trained all this time so that I'd be in shape enough for last week. Barely. Some highlights of the week:

203 miles of biking, Longest Ride: 102, Average Total Speed: 18.25, Avg HR: 134bpm.

Day after 103 mile ride, I did a sprint tri with a 15 mile bike, average speed: 22.64 mph. Nice....and the first time over 22 in a triathlon!

I'm happy with my biking. I'm taking my bike to the shop tomorrow to get a tuneup, and make this my last big bike week. The following week I have to ship the bike to Spokane, so this is the last chance I'll have to make sure everything works. I've noticed my bottom bracket not turning as round as I'd like - it seems to flair too much when I push with the right leg. So that's just one thing I'll be having them check (replace with new bearings...).

26.11 miles of running, averaging 10:46 pace and 144 bpm for the HR. I'm not as happy with my running, so this week, while my bike is in the shop, I'll spend some more time running, and getting at volume up over 30. I need a longer run too - but if it starts feeling squirley, I'll cease and desist.

The wheels totally fell off - my legs exploded after the bike on my sprint tri today. I actually WALKED some on a 5k - I.had.nothing.

I should have seen it coming. No breakfast. 5 hrs sleep the night before. No nutrition like Gatorade or Gel's before or on the course. I raced like a total newbie in that regard, and bonked - if that's what you want to call it - half a mile into the run.

8097 yards of swimming, with a long swim of 4k and, well, the pace is so slow as to just leave it all at that. I was very happy with my 4k swim, in that I lowered my 2.4 mile swim time to 1:41 - that's 11 min faster than my last 2.4 mile continuous swim.

Luke still whooped me in the water today on the sprint tri - good grief, I suck! Oh well....

So all that amounted to 18.78 hrs of training for the week. Phew. I'm beat. Done. Ready to call it a day! Three weeks left until the big show. One week of swimming and running. I'm very ready to be done with all this....

Of course we celebrated at the race (beer tent) and the Daiquiri Shack across the street after the race. $12 Margarita pitchers are just way too good a special to pass up.

Peaking

2008-05-29T19:26:00.004-04:00

NO, not through Momo's new front door....well, not that I wouldn't...but I digress (as usual).

I'm frigging beat! I've got to get some serious sleep tonight. 8.5 hours done trained (and I took Monday off) this week, with lots on the horizon - and it's been damn HOT too!

Sorry all you podcasters out there; I've been doing all my training this week, and next, sans I-Pod. I need to get back in touch with my own thoughts - "train like you race" and all that. Century this weekend with whatever I can do runoff will be just me and my own mind. Don't you feel sorry for me already?

Ohh...almost forgot - racing this Sunday in our favorite sprint tri - Mad Beach. Best thing, besides racing....BEER TENT!

Unfortunately, to "round out" my training week, I may have to get in a little workout after we get home - I'm figuring on needing a little more running and a little more swimming. NOT MUCH...just a little...

Hey, look at how much fun we had last year at this event. Too bad "Li'l Clyde" isn't coming down for a rematch!

Poll

2008-05-26T07:16:00.003-04:00

TrisherpaDi, whom we all love dearly, didn't like what she saw when returning home from a week in North Carolina.

No, the bathroom was spit shined...

No, the floors were vacuumed...

The.Bigun has a tendency NOT to shave whilst the wifey is away, and managed, with his meager facial hair growing abilities, to get to here:

Now at first I kinda liked it, and was going to poll the illustrious readers of CHBB as to whether or not the next "shave rave" should include the face.

Then I did that long ride, and noticed something weird about facial hair...your sweat kinda builds up in it. Just that little amount I have there in that picture, held enough water to keep me hydrated for 30 minutes.

Well, it was freaky, so yesterday when I got back from the ride (and finished my Arby's Reuben Sandwich...), much to TriSherpaDi's delight - I shaved it off. So no poll necessary. It was fun to look sorta "bad" for a week. Another week of growth and people may have been able to actually see the hair!

Trained Anyway

2008-05-25T19:40:00.003-04:00

Yea, yea, I know I said this would be a recovery week - hey, I guess my training this weekend would be recovery for some of you. I just got tired of hanging around while all my bloggie peeps busted their asses this weekend! 10 mile run Saturday, 77 mile bike on Sunday. Both in scorching 92 degree, high humidity and heat. Pools' closed.

Some CdA developments:

I flipped my stem - it raised my elbow pads a solid 2 inches. Wow! I'm not entirely sure it's less aerodynamic, but I was able to hold the position for the majority of my 78 mile bike this weekend. Bigun likey.

Thinking of renting wheels for CdA. Ship my bike sans wheels, hopefully in a smaller box, thus saving some shipping money. Maybe get some Zip 808's. Clydesdale version. Jetpack graciously offered to let me borrow his 404's, but if I broke one, I'd never forgive myself. In the hills, with my MASS, Clydesdales are the way to go.

The lake is still cold. And for the cold water uninitiated, yes - get the insulated swim cap thingy. Also, swim, even for short durations, as many times as you can at CdA before the race. You definitely get used to the cold water. The race guide said no footwear on the swim, BTW. Another thing - get some big goggles. Cover as much of your face as possible. It works. Trust the Bigun (who happens to be an Alcatraz vet...).

Well, under 30 days now. 4 more weeks. 2 training weekends. I'll tell you. For me, it's an advantage training in the heat (90's) like this. If race day temps are warm, I'll be ready. If they are cold, I'll do that much better. I trained all summer for my first Marathon. Race day, in November, was the first weekend cold snap of the year. I ran at a pace that was way faster than I ever did in training, or that I could have expected. Big guys have a harder time cooling themselves than smaller folks - any help I can get is welcome!

TriSherpaDi - Where are you?

2008-05-23T23:04:00.003-04:00

Sniff, Sniff....

Bigun miss TriSherpaDi!

We all know TriSherpaDi
She's married to a really great guy...
She sets out a tip jar
and her 6-pack man-sack bar
Then mixes drinks at the next local tri!

Have a safe drive home tomorrow, honey!

12 Like Me

2008-05-22T16:07:00.006-04:00

Here I was, minding my own business, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Supalinds sends me a Yahoo instant message. It was all down hill after that.

We talked about Benny's "pee-color hydration plan", alternative methods for obtaining triathlon gear (ie, putting out), and Greyhounds' constant haranguing of our inability to get the "meter" right on our limericks.

We realized that we definitely have something in common: we act like we're 12 years old. Most of the time. She posted the present I made for her on her blog, and since she's still new to all this, I thought more of you might like to see the Bigun acting "the fool".

I guess I just had to show Supa that the meter was A-OK. Sorry about the lapse in the audio to video. And if you are offended. Well, not so much that.

Mom....Dad - you probably don't want to watch this. Or read below the video for that matter.

It may be hard to understand:

There once was a girl named Lindsay
Who was having trouble with her kidney
Her Hubby said from the rear,
"...I'll make you pee clear!"
...he had a big one, didn't he?