This skirt feels kinda...sexy

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?

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!

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

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!

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

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

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...

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...

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.