Mad Beach Tri Race Review

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.

Hurricane Man 2008 Swim Race Report

I promise...I tried to keep my HR for this past ride at or under 140bpm. Then the evilness of these disgustingly strong winds kicked in, not to mention the thermometer rising above 90 degrees (every day so far since April 30th!)...I wish I would have gotten up early and started this ride at 6:30 or so. Nice and calm then. No, I had to start at 9:30 and finish at 12:30. 3hrs was all I had to give today - 58 miles of fun in the sun!



This is gonna take some getting used to. And just when I do, I'll be going to Idaho where the high will likely be 80. Water Temps in the low 50's.


Which reminds me. Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing the Hurricane Man Swim - 2.4 mile point to point swim in the Gulf of Mexico. Water was 79 degrees. Winds were steady, 10 mph, giving us a 2 to 4 foot chop.


So I'm thinking 2-4 feet, no big deal, right? Well, 2.4 miles in that crap makes for an upset stomach to say the least. Why anyone would want to suck down 2.4 miles of sea water is beyond me. Note to self: IM Florida, um...no thanks.


My intention yesterday was to swim it at a pace I felt comfortable for IM CDA - right? Kind of a practice run. Going point to point is kinda freaky, especially when it's the first time. I could not see the finish from where we started, and even at what I thought was the half way point, I still could not see the finish. Bummer. So I just swam, until finally I could see the little orange ball in the water, which, after seeing took forever to reach, and moseyed up on shore to the lightning quick time of 1:50:20. Yea, I know. (BTW...I beat 2 men and 10 women with that time; the cutoff was 2 hrs.)

Couple of Open Water Ocean Swim Lessons Learnt:

1. grease up...salt water under the arms starts to rub raw after a while. Excel Man didn't have problems at all, so it may be a "body type" issue. If you are massive, like the.bigun, then lube up before getting in salt water. If you are puny, like Excel Man, disregard.
2. being able to swim bi-lateral was an awesome help, as the non-looping swim kept the waves coming from the right the whole time. If you could only breath to the right, well, you were S.O.L.
3. any knots (or bumps) in your goggle strap, if placed under your swim cap, feels like a nail being driven into your head after an hour. In an hour and a half, your ready to tell the world who really shot JFK. Not sure how to fix that....other than to try.
4. Once you get salt water up your nose - that's it. Your done. No amount of blowing, squeezing, squinting or swallowing will get that burn our of your sinuses. Maybe those gay looking nose plugs aren't such a bad idea after all....

So after this "race", The.Bigun, Excel Man (1:32:27) and Huah Ben (1:28:10) went to the Hurricane Grill for their post-race breakfast buffet. Bleahch! The race was well organized, with shuttles to the start (do ya think we walked 2.4 miles in bare feet on the beach?), kayakers along the way, diesel-spewing police boat off shore, water and Gatorade at the finish line, good check-in and timing, but that breakfast was pretty dang rough. TriSherpaDi and GEL were at a different race doing kayak support (yea, they were having a tri-affair) so there aren't any pictures of this colossal achievement in aquatic endeavors. Nor was there any cowbell. Pout.

Greensboro Half Marathon

Mom and The.Bigun did the Greensboro Half Marathon together this past Saturday. This whole weekend was a whirlwind - I guess it's best to start at the beginning.

My 89 year old Grandma has pretty bad Alzheimer's and was just recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Ug. An even more recent trip to the hospital with severe bleeding made it pretty clear that we needed to see her again soon! Mom coordinated the weekend in which my Gram's Brother and his kids would drive down (note: Video is family stuff - definately NOT triathlon or running related - most will find it boring...)

from Ohio, while TriSherpaDi and I would drive up from Tampa. We met at the Nursing Home for lunch with that whole crew and my Uncle and his wife - the time we spent was really fantastic. I think Gram was "with us" for a good majority of the time we were there; she seemed to know everyone, and although she was typically quite, her eyes were following the conversation around the table. That time alone was worth 22 hrs in the car over the weekend.

So before the main event...lunch with Gram...TriSherpaDi, Me, Big Bob and Moms got up at 5am for the start of a long day: The inaugural Greensboro Marathon/Half Marathon. Mom's goal was to finish under 2:30, but she really didn't count on the relentless hills. Crimeny! Motion Based has the course pegged at 1050 feet of elevation in 13.6 miles - yes, the course was long - this sucker was never, ever flat.

Disappointingly, the aid stations were few and far between. At least 2.5 miles separated the start and the first two aid stations, and it wasn't until the middle and end of the course until they started to space them a mile apart. By mile 5 we were ready for some fluids...luckily it wasn't hot out, or we would have been in a world of hurt. The extra half mile or so at the end, with an up-hill finish, really let some of the wind out of Moms' sails - but she finished strong and coming in 8 min over her goal on that course was a real accomplishment.

I got in a nice long run for the week at what I can only hope would be my Ironman pace and heart rate. I averaged 135bpm at our pace of 11:40 per mile.

After the race we did the lunch with Gram and then went to my Sister's house for some awesome dinner. The whole darn family was there again - kids included this time. (Again, family video...b.o.r.i.n.g.)

I'll admit that the beer and the great chow helped the time pass; I fell off that wagon before I even got on it! It was dark before we got back to my Mom's, and it was about 10 seconds before our heads hit the pillow. Mom cooked up some awesome pancakes in the morning, and at 10am, we said our goodbyes for the 11 hr trip back home.

Driving still sucks. Just in case you were wondering.

St. Anthony's 2008 "race" report.

Everything about St. Anthony's Olympic Triathlon this year was awesome. With very low expectations going into the race, it was nice and laid back, low key, and non-stressful from check-in to the post-race Coronas. SA really does a good job with everything...this year was no exception.

Luke and I headed over on Saturday morning to check our bikes in (that's Luke standing next to the Bigun - he's the "normal" sized triathlete). Just prior to that...I have to finally give props...I took my bike over to the LBS...the DREADED LBS...for a brake lever plug. The owner was a one-man-show in there, and I waited, patiently, for all his customers to leave before I hit him up for some help with the plug. He got right on it! He crafted a plug that worked, and then I told him I probably needed a new rear derailleur hanger, thinking mine was bent, and could he order one? He put it up on the rack, did a couple of adjustments, and it worked fine. All for no charge. My faith hath been restorethed!

So we only saw Matt Reed getting out of the water as we were going in for a warm-up swim. Man, that guy is nothing but skin, muscle and bone! We didn't spend any time at the expo - ogling stuff you can't afford is getting less and less fun for either of us, so we probably missed our chance to see any other famous triathletes. On our wetsuit-less 400 meter swim, we both left the water sweating - the local water buoy said it was 79 degrees - so we made the decision to bag the wetsuits. There were spots of cooler water and spots of really warm water - I had a feeling it would be wetsuit-legal, but I'd done the 78 degree wetsuit thing before and I know I just hate it.

Sure enough...almost everyone was wearing their wetsuits. The wind had picked up a little from the day before, so I'm sure the RD was taking no chances as the SA swim is notoriously hard (due to waves). My first 500 meters went surprisingly well - I was right on track, with a pack of swimmers and staying in line with the buoys. Making the first turn, I think I forgot how ocean swim currents effect you - and before I knew it, a kayaker inside of the buoys was shooing me back out. I tried to sight a couple of times but every time I'd look up, a wave was blocking my view of the buoys....so I just kept swimming. Not the best plan. I had two major corrections like that until I rounded the final buoy and headed for home. The last leg cuts further back on itself, with the current pushing us away from the buoy line. I'm still clueless about the current, wondering why I keep having to do major corrections and still am not even close to the line of buoys. I finally get to the exit stairs where my college buddy Rob is volunteering to pull us all out of the water (Rob is a fantastic swimmer...I was wondering where he was today). While I swam "strong" the whole 1500m, I had the worst SA time I've ever had - 37:25. I know, I know.

I motored through T1, blissfully unaware of my horrid swim (of course, my lonely bike was a major reality check), in 2:30 and off I went on my bike. As you can imagine, with that swim, I was passing EVERYONE - which I guess was pretty cool. Until, of course, all the really fast 50+ dudes came zooming by, one by one. It was weird; I felt like I had no "top end". I was hammering along at 21 just fine...but I just don't have the 22+ speed I did a year ago. On the flip side, in the last 4 miles of the bike, I kept my pace and felt I still had plenty of pedaling on tap - verses last year where the last 4 miles were a suffer fest and my average MPH dropped from 22.3 to 20.9 - yea, it was bad. So, I averaged 20.9 mph (1:11:17) and was happy not to have crashed, cramped or otherwise did any damage to myself or others.

T2 was also speedy, for me, at 2:08 - but it was there I met with my first challenge; a cramp. Usually I get my cramps in the calves...but this was a side-stitch. Jetpack was running out with me for a quarter mile or so (thanks to the Jet for some of these photos), and in that amount of time I did some deep breathing and hard exhales which worked like a charm - the cramp went away and never came back. I went out very easy on the run - at the 3 mile turnaround I was averaging over 9:30 on the Garmin. I kicked it into gear, hunting down Clydesdales and trying to keep my pace under 9 in the process. That lasted about a mile. I still passed a few Clydes, and coming down the shoot I heard TriSherpaDi and my Dad (along with Luke's wife and young-in) cheering me on to a final pace of 9:26 (58:32) - an Olympic distance PR for me.

My takeaway's from the race -

1. Just use the damn wetsuit like everyone else. I'm sure part of that 5 minute swim PW was due to swimming nekked.


2. Remember the effects of tides and currents when in the ocean...be quicker to adjust.


3. Make sure the front laces on your shoes are at the right tension. I "installed" my quick-laces and while they are great for slipping the shoe on and going, they leave a bit to be desired for constant tension across all the laces. I've got the blisters to show for it.
   
4. Get a timing chip ankle "belt". This year SA issued a very new, very hard Velcro strip which did a great job of securing the chip but cut right through the back of my ankle. This is not the first race where the timing chip had a crappy attachment strap. They can't be that expensive, right?
   
5. If I want to bike fast, I have to train fast. If I want to run fast, I have to run fast in training too. I've got gobs more training volume on the bike prior to this SA race, with the same bike set up and fairly similar wind and heat conditions, and still rode the same speed - actually, could not ride nearly as fast (albeit for a sorter duration) than last year. Fartleks are the ticket.
   

With the take-away's, I'm not really complaining about the race. It might have well had been a "C" race, that I raced hard but did not train specifically for. I'm convinced that IM type training totally changes your physique in such a way as to make you (me) slower, but able to go longer and recover quicker. Either that, or I'm just getting old. You can see from the chart above, I had a 4 second PR on the bike, 9 second PR in T2, and 2:19 PR on the run. Not really a bad day after all. Interestingly, the number of 40+ Clydesdales finishing the race is up to 95 - 28 more than when I started doing tri's. And while I'm getting slower, the Top 10 are getting faster - 6:12 faster to get into the Top 10 this year compared to '06. Well, enough about St. Anthony's for one year. One more short sprint race left (and a self-run Half IM sometime in the next couple weeks...) and it's on to CdA...

Oh, and the really insane, crazy thing about this race....look at my race numbers in the last running picture. Click on it so it enlarges for you. YES! The same woman applied all of my numbers. The "4"s and the "5"s are different on either side, but same arm to leg. Maybe Sweet Baboo knows what psychological disorder causes Sybil-like number writing by a Volunteer Body Marker. I'm still a bit shook up over it. Fortunately I didn't even notice until Corona #5 in the hot tub....

Race Report: Great Clermont Olympic

There's a lot to say for specificity of training. Leading up to this race, I've trained more than I ever have in my triathlon career. The vast majority of my training, however, has been at Ironman pace - long and slow. Emphasis on the slow - I am The.Bigun. Which brings me to the race.

First of all, we stayed in an awesome hotel! The Fairfield Inn in Clermont, minutes from the race - for 89 clams we had a suite, with a couch and flat screen TV separate from the "bedroom" area. Good stuff. Excel Man still doesn't believe me that our room was WAAAAAY nicer than theirs, but if it makes him feel better, than fine.

Pre-race mistakes. You'd think I'd done this enough to not make many mistakes anymore...and you are right. I forgot nothing. Drank plenty. Salt tablets. Body Glide. Oh yea, breakfast...turns out we rarely do stay in a hotel, and since we had to be the first one's at the race (Excel Man's MO...we are late if we are NOT there at least 2 hrs prior to the start of a race - I kid you not), I totally forgot about eating prior to this race. Behold...what do we see? Yes! The Golden Arches of diet defilement. Two, count'em two Egg McMuffins and a large OJ later, I had my pre-race nourishment IN MY BELLY! Excel Man wisely opted out of the Arch d' Golden plan. His big pre-race mistake...leaving his bike on the back of his car all night. Did anyone else at the motel leave their bike on the rack all night? NOooooo! Did we know it was going to pour down rain all night? YESsssss! Guess who's bike computer didn't work until mile 25. That's right. Excel Man. His bike computer started working just after I was fighting off the urge to release Egg McMuffin #2.

Conditions were perfect for racing. Water temp was 74.5 - and it was still wetsuit legal. Morning temps were a little chilly, but once the sun came up, it was T-shirt weather. A slight breeze kicked up just prior to the start of the race. No biggie. After 2 hrs of setting up, stretching, warming up, stretching some more, meeting Moonpie and Cindy Jo, writing my thesis, watching the entire LOTR trilogy (ok, just being obnoxious about getting the race a little bit early), we lined up at water's edge and waited for the start.

I was psyched for a race. I had my race plan in my head - go hard as long as I can. That starts at the water's edge. I did something I rarely do. I ran out into the water. I did 2 - yes 2 dolphin water kickie things and started swimming hard. I quickly tried, successfully, the "two-right, two-left" Blink-approved breathing plan. I really thought I was swimming fast. I was around other yellow cap'ers at the first turn, and then, well, old habits reared their ugly head. I found myself swimming out to the middle of the lake, all alone - CRAP! After triangulating back to the 2nd (last) turn, I don't know how much time I lost - but I didn't gain any, that's for sure. I made an awesome line coming back in, scraping my left arm on TWO water buoys on the way in. All that effort got me a 35:30 swim. Disappointing, but interestingly, I was not waisted as usual leaving the H2O.

3:47 later, I was heading out on the bike. Good grief. I've had it! I'm cutting the legs completely off my wet suit. Ok, not totally off, but I'm gonna take a good 4 to 6 inches off the ankle, and see if I can get my big feet out of there any easier. I got pinned, yet again, by my Ironman wetsuit. Tacboy might have something to do with this....hmmm.....

The bike course is a crazy steep, up and down, crappy surface 24.8 miles. 1800' of elevation gain does not make for a course suited for this 249 lb'er. I didn't' get my wheel covers as I'd hoped, which would have added 1lb to my total bike/rider weight - after those 2 Egg McMuffins, however, I'd have hardly noticed. My average speed for this little jaunt was dead-on 19mph. So I guess I've gotten faster in the past 2 years - 1.5 mph faster over 40k - but for some reason I thought I could do 20. Interestingly, after the bike was over, I wasn't totally baked like I usually am after a 40k and a 1.5k swim.

1:27 in T2 - I had to go back a couple steps for my Garmin - thinking back, other than maybe rushing a bit more, it was a successful, stress-free transition. At least I didn't have to wrestle anything.

I got to running at a 9:30 pace, and fluctuated with the hills and my attention span. I should have worn the HR monitor - I made a conscious decision not to wear it, as it was just "one more thing, right -" but it would have probably told me that I didn't work hard enough on the run. It was a hilly run - a good 850' of elevation in 10k...so to go 58:30, or a 9:37 pace probably wasn't that bad. I had some knee issue at the 2.5 mile mark - took a couple of walking steps and did a quick stretch - it still worked, but just a little twinge of pain. Other than the water at the aid stations being ICE cold - crimeny! Pouring a cup over my head at every station - my common practice - was absolutely frightful after the first one.

Good grief, if the only thing I can complain about for this race was water at aid stations being TOO cold, well, I can tell you - this was a spectacularly well-run race. I'm getting to really enjoy Sommersports' races - think Great Floridian Iron Distance - someday....

Overall, a lackluster 2:57:44 put me 5th of 6 Clydesdales over 40. Certainly this was a "C" race, and I will not change my Iron Focus over the upcoming weeks to try and get ready for St. Anthony's (SA) Olympic - it's just kind of weird getting done with a race I used to get smoked at, and still not even come close to a PR. I've got a big 2-week training block between now and SA's...then another recovery week before the race. SA is a flat bike and very flat run - and my wheel covers have arrived - things will be different in 3 weeks.

Post Race - Outback. Mmmmmmm. After Excel Man and Green Eyed Lady had enough of Trisherpa Di and me, we hung around another hour for the arrival of Cindy Jo and Moonpie, who waited at the race for a friend's trophy. I don't know what it is right now, but I don't have a taste for beer. I mean, I tried a bunch of different ones, and finished them to "give them a chance" - but I just didn't like a one of them. We had an awesome time getting to know both of them, and look forward to seeing them again in 3 weeks when we all do SA together. Coolness!

Oh - pictures are coming....and of course, Di's blog will have the best ones.

Strawberry Century (Ironweek 13)

I learn't my lesson yesterday at the Strawberry Century - keep the HR down, or pay the price!

The event itself was very similar to last year's - same course, same SAG's, pretty much the same windy end as well. So you can look to the link of the description of the '07 race to get the picture. The difference was...my race-buddy Excel Man showed up this year.

If you don't already know, Excel Man is the consummate over-distance trainer. 130 mile weekly bike rides are nothing to this guy. This Century - yawn... So I was a little bit apprehensive as to what he was going to do to me on Sunday, and all I can say is, well, he done it. Yes, I will blame him for my woe's.

We started out in the realm of sanity. HR was under 140, actually in low 130s some, and we were not drafting at around 19 - 20mph. Cool. Then we get to the first SAG at around 19 miles, and we are all alone for a while. I say a while, cause in a couple miles, along comes this train of 20 riders hauling serious butt. Curt jumps on and I tag along for the ride.

These yahoos were cranking along at 23 - 24mph, in a fairly organized draft line. The problem was that this course has many, many 4 way stops, Rail Road crossings, and major intersections with street lights - so lots of slowing (to like 19) and then mad sprints to bring the line back together. The accordion effect was insane! Every time the sprinting would ease off, and we'd get into a draft rhythm, with my HR back into the low 150's (yea, I know, way too high even), we'd find another track or turn or stop sign and do it all over again. This was my world from mile 20 to mile 63. By the time we got to that SAG, I was TOASTed.

Nice...those 63 mile roadies went in to get some chow, most of them done for the day. Curt gave me that look - like, "you aren't really gonna quit on this century, are you?" - honestly, if he wasn't there, I probably would have called it a day. 38 miles to go, already wasted, was not the day I was looking forward to. With stops, we had averaged 19.8 to that point - it felt a LOT faster.

Nicely, the wind picked up and it was pretty lonely out on the course for the final part of the ride. I tried to lead out, but after 5 miles or so, Curt got tired of my slowness, and jumped ahead of me. Of course he didn't say anything, but I wasn't arguing either - I was grateful for the wheel! I'm admitting for the world to hear - I sucked that wheel for the rest of the ride - had I not, I may still be out there! 101 miles total and with stops we averaged around 17.5 mph. So, lesson learned, by all means, keep that HR down below 150, heck even the low 140s for the Ironman ride, no matter how good I feel! Hey, it's done, as is IronWeek 13.

Speaking of Ironweek 13 - I had my highest training volume week ever this past week, with a total of 14hrs and 40 minutes of swimming, biking and running. The only negative was some serious knee pain on my "long" 9 mile run on Saturday. It didn't hurt when I ran, only after, and hurt it did - enough to wake me up a few times that night! I was fine to bike in the Century the next day, but it does give me cause for concern for future long runs.

As March comes to a close, I think I also had my biggest bike volume month ever, with over 500 miles logged. I'll have to look to confirm, but going into St. Anthony's I feel pretty good about my training for a change. Top 10 - it could happen!

Escape to Alcatraz Florida Race Report

Fun times! On the way over to Clermont for this sprint, TriSherpaDi and I watched the thermometer on the truck go from 44 at my door to 38 at one point, then miraculously back up to 44 once we reached Lake Louisa State Park. With the time change, we had an 8am start - the presence of daylight did little to help the temps!

We had 324 Finishers, and for $100, would you believe there were no finisher's medals? Yes, we got t-shirts, and they are a nice, tight weave cool-max, but for the most expensive sprint I've ever done, I kinda expected a medal. Pizza at the finish line - nope. Some poor kid flipping hot dogs that we waited in line for - I'm not sure what's worse for you, hotdogs or pizza? Shoot - the Mad Dog Sprint is $85, and they have Pizza, a live band, and a BEER TRUCK! Race Officials? Must have been too cold - there wasn't a single one that I saw, and since it was a 2 lap bike, I had most of the pros and elites racing zoom by me. Only saw one pack - but then again, there were only 324 people racing.

The RD (same one who stole my $5) may have overlooked a few things you'd expect in a $100 sprint, but he sure can sing. He belted out the National Anthem at the start. After I got kicked out of transition, I sauntered down to the water's edge in the face of a serious wind coming in directly over the lake. Going out - some nasty in-your-face waves that reduced more than me to some breast and side strokes in order to get some air that didn't come with a wave chaser. It was about 400m out, 100 m 'over' and then 400m back. I came in at 21:48 for 1000m - I must have made up some time swimming with the wind.

I struggled getting my suit off, as usual, and then dressing up for the bike ride, putting a dry long sleeve shirt on to a wet body - not fun. Even the gloves gave me fits. T1 was all of 4:06, an insanely long time to be putzing around with clothes!

The bike ride in Louisa Park is hilly and wind exposed. They cut back much of the trees - it looks barren for most of the ride. Barren means no trees blocking the wind. All I could muster was 18.3 mph average on a 17.09 mile course with 642' of climbing according to my Garmin. Over an Ironman distance, that would be about 4220 feet of climbing - not really that hilly compared to Coeur d'Alene....

I got off the bike with frozen solid feet - I was surprised that they were all that was uncomfortably cold on that ride. I couldn't shift to my smallest gear (I thought I had that fixed...) so on down hills and flats I really didn't get the speed I could have. No biggie - it was all for fun. T2 was actually pretty speedy - 1:35 - I didn't try to take off the long-sleeves or the gloves - so I probably looked silly on the run course for a while. I did see a bike helmit about a quarter mile into the run course on the ground...that brought a little chuckle.

I never got into a groove on the run. It wasn't bad really, just not even as fast as my last 10k pace. Lots of sand and ruts on part of the off-road course. A couple of hills, but not bad, really. I was 26:41 for what they said was a 5k - actually, my Garmin has it as 2.9 miles. I took 4th in the Over-40 Clydesdales - missed 3rd by a good 10 minutes. I've got some work to do before St. Anthony's Olympic!

On a good note (yea, this report is very negative so far...sorry about that!), we waited until the end of awards because Excel Man wanted to get in the raffle for the Alcatraz race - they asked how many folks wanted to go and 27 raised their hands. All 27 got a slot, and now Excel Man's pretty excited about going to San Fransisco! No, the Bigun can't afford it this year - once is enough for a while.

So, good grief, no police needed in a closed-Park bike course and run Course. No aid stations on the bike, one on the run. One coming in to T1 off the swim. No race medals. No officials. No after-race party or eats to speak of. If it were a $30 or $40 sprint, it would have been great. For a hundo....if I didn't feel ripped off before, I really feel like it now! Fortunately, that was my last "Z" race.

No get off the computer and train, Bigun.

Gasparilla '08 Marathon

Ug. It was Clobberin Time alright...'sept the Bigun was the one gettin' clobbered. Super-huge thanks to Diana and Bob for getting up early with us and coming to watch and Sherpa. I'm sure watching a Marathon is about as exciting as watching paint dry. My Sis Allie and her hubby Sam came out later to watch the finish as well. Thanks!

It was pretty ugly. All notions of sub-4:30 were out the window at mile 18. At that point, I was just hoping to come in under 5hrs - which I didn't do. 5:05 was my time. It was a long day.

I guess there's a difference between just getting over a cold, and being better from a cold. So lesson #1 from this experience - when your HR is in the hight 150's and your only running 10:30's - you may still have some lingering problems. Before I got sick, I could run 10:30 - 11:00 at a HR of under 130 in warmer temps than we had on Sunday. So that was a red flag that I should not have ignored.

Lesson #2: Don't try to make up time on a Marathon. There were NO porto-potties at the start of the race, so at mile 1 I had to wait in line 3 back for the first blue bucket I saw. I had hydrated well enough. Mom kept running, and I told her I'd catch up. I didn't think I'd have to wait so long! When I got out of the john, my average pace had dropped to 12:00. I cought back up to my Mom in around a mile and a half, right at the 10:45 pace I had left her at. But I had to run hard to catch her. So that was dumb.

Lesson #3: Even when sick, use your HR as your tachomoter. I should have seen right away that my high 150's and 160's HR was gonna keep me from getting that 4:30 goal and I should have adjusted. Instead I plowed ahead, from mile 7 to mile 13, running sub 10's to try and get my average pace down to 10 per mile; the pace needed to reach my goal. I got down to somewhere around 10:11 average pace, but I really paid the price. I was cooked, done, stick a fork in me, kaput, shoot me in the face at mile 20. It was a suffer fest for the last 10k....and for what? A crummy 5:05, when I could have slowed it down early and possibly had the same outcome but without the agony for the last 10k.

Lesson #4: Landmark running. When it really got bad, I was walk-running for as long as I could stand the running, and I think sometimes I walked too far. For the last 2 miles, I remembered to pick a light pole and run to it, then walk the next set of poles....I made some serious ground on the group of fellow sufferors I had been walking with by doing that, and concentrating on the landmarks instead of the pain was a great help.

Lesson #5: More run volume. I was averaging just at 30 miles of running a week in the 10 weeks prior to this race (not counting recovery weeks), and I don't think that was enough. In the time I have left for CdA, I'm going to try to up that to 40 miles per week. On the flip side, it is very true that of the three events, the run is the one event in an Ironman that if you have to, you can walk. You still have to bike the whole bike, and swim the whole swim.




Mama Bigun did great - busted her 2:30 half marathon goal with a time 2:27. I took some video along the way - of course it's disjointed and hard to understand...I wanted to film more at the end, but just didn't have the heart left for anything but finishing. I'll tell you what - half marathons are WAY more fun than the full. I've heard from more than one person that running the marathon after swimming and biking, for some reason, is easier than a stand-alone marathon. We'll see about that....

Fishhawk Ranch 10k Race Report

Ta-daa! 2008's first race for the Bigun on the chart. Done. Completed. A nifty little 10K road race with a couple hundred competitors - a great way to start a Saturday morning. Temps in the 50's....while that breaks my biking rule, running has a much lower temperature threshold before the Bigun says no.

No need to really get into too much detail. My goal for the race was a PR and sub-50. PR - check. Sub-50....not so much. Garmin time was 50:12 - we'll soon see what the chip time was. I went out WAY.TOO.FAST! But it was fun...my Dad and nephew came out to cheer, and Excel Man's wife Green Eyed Lady (GEL) ran the 10k as well to her own PR. So it was a great race all around.

What I found most horrific about the whole experience was that GEL actually grabbed a couple safety pins for her race number. I know! Excel Man has to have a couple of extra race number belts floating around the casa, don't ya think? If' I'd have known, I'd have grabbed one for her, but in the registration line, it's a bit too late. Now in his defense, Excel Man is in Iraq for a week, so he may have intended to take care of her before his hasty departure thwarted his plan. Right.

So, it's good to know my HR can get above 147 and I won't explode. Base Training is still awesome - even pure base training, at a heavier weight (I was 250 lbs this morning...) than my previous 10k PR - netted a 1:35 improvement at this distance. On legs with an 11.6 mile long run and 2 bikes totalling 75 miles in them. I feel pretty good about the whole experience.

Edit: Chip time was 50:08. I ran nearly the last 3 miles with a guy who beat me in the last mile...well, came across the finish line 3 seconds ahead of me. But my chip time was faster then his. Yea, baby yea.

Turkey Trot 10k

Happy Turkey Day! It's still early today, so none of the normal Turkey Day vittles have yet to be consumed at the Bigun house. We did, however, get up a the crack of dawn to make the hour drive out to Clearwater to run the St. Pete Times Turkey Trot 10K.

This race was a giant mess! The 5k went off at 7:45, then the 1-mile walk/run at 8:30, and then finally our race, the 10k, at 8:45. There were thousands of folks in each race - parking was problematic at best. Granted, it was not a "Marine Corps Marathon" or "PF Changs", but the whole street was blocked off, and it was wall to wall runners across 4 lanes for at least a half a mile.

The plan was to run with Mom - Mama Bigun - for the whole run, and it was a good thing since I needed a recovery day after my 8-mile run yesterday. "The best laid plans..." - It turns out the Chinese Food here in Brandon is high-test...and Mama Bigun is used to putting regular in the tank. About 1.5 miles into the run, General Tso started screaming obscenities, and while I wanted to help, what's a son to do in a situation like that? I was told to go ahead, and while I protested, I was assured I didn't want to be around.

Soooo, my Ego-check valve now fully open, and lots of people ahead of me, I started to up the pace. Right up until that calf cramp, I was feeling really good about myself. I'll never learn.

My 10k splits:

Mile 1: 10:50

Mile 2: 9:59

Mile 3: 9:27

Mile 4: 9:00

Mile 5: 9:00

Mile 6: 8:48

Last .2: 8:06

Total Time: 58:56

The calf cramp worked itself out, and I finished fine, turned around and went searching for Mom. She really wasn't that far back, and we got to finish together as planned, sorta. Mama Bigun came in at around 1:18 - She's on her way to a great Half Mary in February.

Now I'm hungry!

2007 - a really cool year

I'm not sure if we'll ever have a triathlon year like this past one again. The year was sculpted, and probably like a sculptor, this new triathlete didn't really appreciate the process; looking back, I can certainly appreciate the journey.

We started back in February with a half mary PR at Gasperilla of 1:57. It was fun including our friend Hope in the race, as she lives above the finish line. It was a cold day, and Di still talks of how luckily she and Hope emerged from the Condo building just in time to see me run in front of them to the finish line.

A St. Patty's day 10k with our friends Greg and Dominique saw another run PR of 51:42, and the Bigun was on his way to a big tri-season. Or so he thought.

Crushing downpours met Jetpack, Luke and I as we gave the new 3k/60k/15k format a try in Clermont back in early April. This was my first meet-up with the Jet, and a successful race by any standard. My St. Anthony top 10 goal seemed to be within my grasp.

But, 2:48:31 later, my St. Anthony 07 hopes were smashed to bits with a nasty cramp and, in hindsight, some residual fatigue from racing hard and long just 2 weeks prior. Ah, the mistakes of a newbee triathlete. Yes, it was a PR, but even my goal of 2:36 wouldn't have been enough to break into the top 10 this past year. This was our first race with Excel Man and GEL - first of many. Luke raced with us too, and even Jetpack was there to spectate.

A week later Di and I traveled the hour down to Bradenton for what would the first and ONLY One-O-One Triathlon (1.86m/80.6m/18.6m) where a tired Bigun finished 3/4's of an Ironman. The race was well-organized and supported...too bad it folded. Nevertheless, we are part of history, and hold the world record for the 40+, 225+ Category at 10:09:37.

Finishing up 4 races in 5 weeks, the Bigun and crew head over to Madeira Beach for the favorite sprint of the season - the Mad Dog Tri, where the highlight is the beer truck and band, and what turns out to be a pretty fast course, year after year. At 1:28:03, I'm calling that race my Sprint PR - and the whole crew had a blast: Lil' Clyde who came down for his first Tri, Excel Man, GEL, Luke and family, Jetpack as a spectator again, my college classmate Rob, Di and the Bigun finally found an open restaurant and finished up an awesome race day. It wasn't until later that we found out Luke popped a hernia carrying Boo across the sand-laden finish line, and was TKO'd for the rest of the season.

With the help of Di's brother's Sky Miles and Tri-Bike Transport, Di and I took an early June vacation and visited San Fransisco after a Lottery slot found me lucky and willing to tackle the Escape to Alcatraz. The race was epic, and although we both got seriously ill from the drop in temps to 50 degrees and overcast skys (it was already in the 90's in Tampa), I'm sure we'd both do it again. Someday.

A huge milestone in all this was the decision to hit the "registration" button for IMCdA'08, and in June, our Ironman journey began.

Needing a break, the Bigun just played around during the summer, doing some open water one mile swims at Clearwater beach with Excel Man, and a nasty little bike time trial - well, the time trial did cause a little stir. GEL posted the now-infamous "Beat Bigun" poster on my trailer, merely spurring me on to crush her husband (Excel Man) in 15k of time-trial fury, averaging a respectable 23.9mph and beating the venerable Excel Man by a solid minute. To be continued.

We raced the Morton Plant Meese sprint in July, leading up to the big meet-up in August - the Chicago Olympic Tri. Di and I drove...yes drove the Mini in a 3-day family and friend meet-up prelude to racing in the largest triathlon in the world. It was as exhausting then, as it is now just thinking about it! We met up with some great bloggie peeps - Roman, Mike and J-Wimm, and Tim, plus some old friends Andy and Brittany, and of course, new friend Dr. Dave (...pinch to pass...). The sheer size of the race, coupled with a HORRIFICALLY painful bike course and a RD with no concept of integrity will keep us from competing there again any time soon.

Fitness slipped away over the summer, slowly but surely as the transition from RV salesman to Lawn Maintenance Entrepreneur took hold, and 7hr days in the sun left nothing in the tank for the necessary swim, ride or run. Life happens. We watched, and Diana volunteered as kayak support, at Curt aka Excel Man's Sand Key Tri. That was fun, watching a race and helping out.

The '07 Triathlon season culminated, as it traditionally has for the Bigun, with an epic race - epic for me at least - the Florida Challenge Half. A horribly claustrophobic swim followed by a hilly bike regrouping lead to a minute per mile run PR and a salvaged race. Overall, a phenomenal weekend, set in a beautiful lakeside cabin, surrounded by good friends and family - it was the perfect season ender.

I've learned a lot this year about racing and training.

• Diana (Mrs Bigun) is the best fan a man could have. And partner. And wife. etc. etc. etc.
• Don't expect to perform well over and over and over again - great performances only come once or twice a season, and rarely back to back.
• Pizza, Coke and Chocolate (oh, and Donuts) do not a skinny Bigun make. Get serious.
• I'm a good biker...time to shift focus and get better at swimming and running.
• Electrolytes = no cramps = fun race.
• Eat on the bike, dammit
• Racing with friends is better than racing alone. Way better.
• The days of end-of-summer "A" races are gone...anything after June, for now on, are for fun only (the Bigun's outdoor business nature just makes serious summer training impractical).
• Keep talking smack with Excel Man...he races better mad.

So we'll put this year behind us, and start gearing up for next year. Ironman is calling, and there is no busy signal. Looking back, it was a pretty cool year after all.

Florida Challenge Half Iron-Distance

Well folks, I broke the first rule of triathlon - "never, ever, take your bike to the shop the week before a race". Rule two - "see rule number one". Long story short, the day before the race was a stressful one of the shop opening late, no call to explain extra work needed, and a simple chain replacement turned into cables and drilling out broken/corroded gimble-thingies - instead of leaving at 10am for Clermont, we left at 3pm.

Excel Man and GEL had set us up with a cabin on Lake Louisa - this was the bomb! Beautiful location, 10 miles from the race - serene, quiet, better than any hotel option or driving the hour and a half on race morning from the house. I'm sure Di will post some of her awesome pictures of the area and cabin. After checking in, we all went out to Bruno's for some awesome Italian cuisine (highly recommended if you are at Disney or racing in Clermont) where Curt had a balloon-Kenny of South-Park fame made for him. No one killed Kenny as he was tied to Excel Man's rack and made the absolute best Transition Marker ever, in the history of T-markers.

I had decided to go with gels (Accelerade) instead of the fig newtons as planned. I would be wearing my new Inside Triathlon Age Group Team tri-top, and it's pocket was not conducive to a sleeve of Fig Newtons. So I taped, with Duct Tape (electrical tape, when warm, stretches, and sometimes won't tear off the top of a gel...lesson learned race past), 6 gels to my top tube - plan for 1 every ten miles. I filled a Nuun container with Endourolytes - it held 18 of them - for the max recommended dosage of 3 per hour in a planned 6 hr event.

They announced that the swim would be wetsuit legal about an hour before the race (it was all of 78 degrees) - so I went and got some body glide, about which time it began to pour down rain. I was under a expo tent, and happy to be there, but as people started to head to the beach in their wetsuits, I decided to leave the comfort of the tent and get wet. It was no-holds-barred time with the body glide and the sunscreen - and I'll say this, I had no chaffing or welts from the wetsuit for the first time - lesson learned; lather up! The full distance folks were heading out first, with 10 min between waves, and we were wave #4, so we hung out for a while and watched them all go way off course - first clue that it was hard to see out there. Folks without wetsuits on were shivering at the shoreline - the rain made it pretty nasty at the start. You've probably read my Swim Thoughts post, so you know how my swim went. Ug.

As a race just slips though your fingers in the opening 10 minutes you can easily get disheartened about the whole thing. I know I did. But fortunately it is a 3 event race, and the swim is far from my best event, so I chugged through it, for a 48:28. The strippers did an awesome job, as did every volunteer. This race, and I know that years past it got some heat for it, was excellently staffed, organized and aid-stationed. Great Job SummerSports! T1 went ok, but a bit slow, as I was probably licking my swim wounds for 4:06 - but, I was on my way.

Now I knew this would be a hilly bike ride. Hills and 250lbs of Bigun do not a great combination make. But, since the bike is my one "fun" event, I wasn't going to let a little thing like weight stop me from cranking out some bike. 2,700 ft of elevation change. Sugarloaf at mile 23 or so - 300 ft up to nearly the tallest point in Florida - fun stuff. The rain had stopped, there was just a light breeze, and still there was cloud cover....perfect biking conditions. I went back and forth with the same folks pretty much the whole way - I'd pass on the downhills, and they'd pass me going up. It was fun. It was relentless. I clocked the 3rd best over 40 Clyde bike split of 18.3mph - number 2 and 1 were at 19.3mph. I'd love to say I was saving something for the run, but in reality, I pushed pretty hard, going for an 18.5 goal pace. Sugarloaf had dropped me to about 17mph, so I worked hard in the back half of the 58 mile bike. T2 was better at 2:48 - and that with putting socks on even...my business socks.

The run was painful at best. My left Achilles was tight for the whole deal - on the verge of cramping if you can imagine that. I had kept with the nutrition plan on the bike better than any race I'd ever done - I had 5 gels, every 10 miles I popped a couple Endourolytes, and drank Gatorade and water like it was going out of style....at least 150 oz of Gatorade and another 32 oz of water.

The run course is pretty flat - about 450 feet of elevation change is all. That trip around the lake is a long one though. Again, the aid stations were great - all the goodies and liquids you could want. I stuck to my plan, which was to run the whole course - but I just had to stop at a port-o-potty for a little relief at mile 6. I didn't take in any gels or other nutrition during the run, which I regret a bit, as I ran out of steam with 2 miles to go. I was having some serious stomach issues though; every time I'd take in some Endourolytes, my insides would rebel for a while, then the pains would go away and I'd be fine. I was so afraid of that Achilles cramping, however, that the stomach pain was worth it to get down some sodium.

As I started the run around the lake, I ran into Di and the cheering crew of my Mom, Sister, GEL and Excel Man's folks. I was glad they found such a good spot - on that note, if you are looking for a race with lots of spectator support and such, this one is not it. Out on the bike and run course, it's pretty much just you and your fellow competitors except for the aid stations. Of course, I had to ham it up a bit for the camera...

I finally ran into Trifeist at the last aid station - she was volunteering with the Mad Dog Tri Club's aid station. She was full of encouragement, and after a quick high and bye, it was on to the finish. That last mile and a half or so hurt the most - but I kept on running, trying to keep my pace to an average under 12. Diana and the family cheering crew were right there at the turn to the finish, and Di actually ran behind me as I crossed the line at 6:40:48 for a run pace of 11:51 and 6th overall for the old Clydesdales. The first place guy came in at 5:59:43 - I kinda figured it would take an "under 6hr" time to win it for the big guys.

Excel Man (who finished his first half at 5:50:36 - awesome) and I both got some hardware the next day at the awards ceremony (not enough seating, btw). This race was off the charts harder than the Miami Man half I did a year ago - the hilly bike puts the race into a whole different category. Still, I ran 1:04 per mile faster in this race, at about the same weight, so there's a positive to come out of it after all. That's it for my 2007 Tri-Season - I'm cooked. Stick a fork in me.

Edit: you know, Sugarloaf wasn't that bad, really - it took me 4:37 to climb 210 feet, according to Motion Based. It's about .42 miles of climbing, for an average of 9.5% grade. According to a bike power calculator, I averaged 306 watts on that climb.

Swim Thoughts

Well, it's raining...jeesh I can barely see the first turn! What color is that, orange? Ok... shoot - from down at the water line, I can't see shit! These tinted goggles don't help much. Well, that tree line across the lake stops just to the right of the buoy...ok, I'll use that. Here we go! This lake is pretty shallow - I'm still walking; hey, there goes Curt swimming...still walking, ok, lets go! Wow, this is one BLACK lake!

Find your rhythm now...I can't breath. This wetsuit must have shrank two sizes, or I've gotten huge...feels so tight. C'mon, find your rhythm...you're gonna have to slow down, your breathing too hard. Can't breath in...this suit is so tight...

Ow! What was that? Damn, that's gonna leave a mark - kicked me right in the lip, not two hundred meters off shore. Well, keep going...sight, you're still ok, damn wetsuit - you should have not worn it. Can't breathe. What is going on? Ok, side stroke for a few, catch your breath. There go a few more past me. Turn over, slow down. Crap, if I slow down any more, I'll be swimming backwards! Just swim within yourself, and find that rhythm. Sight. Don't worry, you'll fall into a rhythm soon.

Sight....and there they go. All those green caps, I can hardly see them now. So much for a good swim today. A little bit farther to the first turn. What was that? Where's she going?

Hey....Hey! It's that way! Jeesh, now I'm swimming with all the crazies! What the...?

Hey (point and gesture with arm) - that way! Crap, she swam across me again!

Great, the turn, finally! Lots of yellow caps now - could the full distance guys be passing me, really? These waves are pushing me in, crap, I'm going the wrong way again, turn right! Sight. Again with the swimming left - c'mon man! Ok, past another buoy. Here's another yellow buoy - what...is this the turn...guess so, thanks for the punch, there, fella - that's weird, one turn orange, the next yellow.

Ahhh, waves pushing us in now, still every one's passing me. I can see the shore. Just keep moving forward. You never did find a rhythm did you? Every one's way ahead of you - I'll bet this took an hour. Sight - what was that? Another green cap?!? NO WAY! Well, I'm not the only one, I guess. I can't wait for this swim to be done, just a little farther. Was that...yes, fingers on sand - now stand up...ugh! Man I'm off balance....run...ok, walk fast. Hey, there's Diana...what? Yea, I'm ok. - jeesh, was I that slow? I guess Curt's way ahead of me...maybe you can catch him on the bike. Strippers....ah....love the strippers. Thank you very much! Now get on that bike and salvage this race.

This was the start of this weekends' Florida Challenge Half IM Distance Tri, held here in Clermont, Florida. My swim time was 48:28 on a 40 min goal. 9th Clyde out of the water - the Clyde who finished the race first was 6 min ahead of me. Out of 246 men that finished the race...my swim put me at 206th. It was a rough one for the Bigun.

edit: Never fear - this is not a "three event, three report race report - just got that all out before I forgot...

Chicago Pics

I'm sure that Di's got some good shots coming on her blog, but I found a few that I like. Of course, it's all about me on my blog.

Pre-race: Here's a shot of Tim, the Bigun, Roman and Dr. Dave.

Swim: This is the long leg I was talking about - that's probably me swimming into the boat up there to the left...

and here is a tired-looking Bigun - damn, I look OLD!

Bike: It's all about the bike!

Here's a haggard looking, non face shaven, but great leg-shaven thirsty Bigun...

Run: Yep, I beat her in the shute. I love beating up on women and small children. Woop up an #6 on them.

"That's when you go riding into town, a woop'en and a womp'in every living thing to within an inch of it's life...sparing the women of course." - Blazing Saddles

Post race: Look at all these burned up lobsters!

Brittany, Bigun, Di and Andy:

Mike, Bigun, Di and J-Wimm:

Here's a shot of me holding back Roman after he got sheister'd out of his 1st Place Medal. This guy shouldn't have messed with the Clydesdales!

Chicago Triathlon

A good time was had by all. Here it is Tuesday and we are still exhausted, but only because of the driving - today and Monday we logged over 1200 miles getting home from the Windy City, thankfully without incident! We really couldn't wait to get home to get online and read about IMKY finishers. Congrats go to all of you, Di and I are really very proud of you!

Ok - pre-race. That was one huge expo! Biggest I've ever seen - indoors, loads of vendors and every kind of bike, wetsuit, and gadget you could imagine. Even saw one of my favorite bikes - the Roarke Custom Titanium - on display for the first time. Thump-thump, thump-thump. For some reason I thought we had to have our bikes racked on Saturday, but that wasn't true. After getting registered and meeting up with friends and Sherpas Andy and Brittany, we walked down to the swim course and transition - this was an unexpected few city blocks from the Expo - we didn't quite make it to Transition, and head back, pretty tired from driving and walking, to follow Andy home. That evening I put the bike together, made up my hydration and hit the sackat around 10pm, beat from nearly 3 days of driving. Note to self: don't put yourself through all that ever again...wow, that was a hard way to get to a race and then try to expect to do well...

Race Morning: Had to leave Andy's at 3:45 since transition closed at 5:45 and he lives about an hour away from the race. Good thing he's not shy about his driving speed...They dropped me off to go find parking, and I walked the bike in...right there next to me walking in to transition was Roman and his buddy Dr. Dave from Omaha. Good timing. In the sea of 8,500 competitors and 52 bike racks, we get there at the exact same time. We all set up our equipment and head out of a closing transition with nary a care in the world - our wave doesn't leave until 9:41am. Accenture made the Clydes all go last. Oh well.

We meet up with Di and Andy and Brittany, drop our stuff and watch for a while. We watch Dave kick off and then go get ready ourselves. There we finally get to meet Mike and J-wimm, who've braved Chicago traffic to come and see us race (Mike's got NASCAR-like driving skills, btw, but that's a story for another time). The whole time, the waterfront is a complete zoo, with competitors and spectators coming and going. No chance for a warm-up swim, btw - this will be a rolling easy start.

Swim: We big guys all pile in the pretty cold water - it's around 60 degrees; not quite as cold as Alcatraz - actually, not even close...but it was still cold. It's a "in-water" start, and Roman and I seed ourselves at the front (he's in front...I'm right behind him, with a dastardly plan to swat his feet for as long as I can). It was a good seed - I didn't get trampled and only had some mild jostling at the start. It was pretty pleasant actually. I was just touching Roman's toes when some big dude body slammed me from the left side a good 200 or 300 yards into the swim, and that broke Roman free of me, never to be seen or heard from again except in passing on the bike and run course. Shoot!

The water was very clear - and only twice did I notice the "taste" of diesel fuel. With the swim along the concrete walkway, I hardly lifted my head up to sight, and since I'm bilateral, I got a really good line, right up until I slammed headlong into an anchored safety-guy in a rowboat. I guess I was too far to the right after all, but really, I think they could have been out a little bit wider. I found the 1200 meter straight swim a bit much - I like having the swim broken up into shorter legs - it was difficult to judge how much more you had left to go. I pretty much just kept my head down and swam. I noticed something you don't see standing on the shoreline - along the sidewalk there were ropes and buoys that competitors were hanging on pretty much the whole way...poor folks. Finally the buoy marking the end was THERE and I was stumbling up the stairs with the help of some volunteers to make my way to T1. The LONG way to T1. My time including the run to T1 was 34:30. At this point, Roman was 29:51 - it was all over but the cryin'....my prior best OLY swim was 32:08 - but the timing mat was at the water exit - I'm really not sure how long the time was for this run to T1.

Speaking of T1 - my wetsuit won the wrestling match, but I didn't let it pin me. 3:15 vs. Roman's 2:24...it truly felt a LOT slower than that even.

It's all about...The Bike: I wish. The Chicago bike is insane. Period. It's a never-ending pound-fest of potholes, expansion joints, and ejected/discarded trash. It's flat, but not flat-flat. There are overpasses with a little elevation change just to make it easy. I really felt great, once I got clipped in - what a spazz I was after the mount line trying to clip in. NO, I didn't have my shoes in the clips first....still need more practice at that, and with a "steep" uphill start, I didn't want do do anything too different.

I had poured about 3/4's of one water-bottle full of Gatorade into my Profile Design aero-bottle, knowing that if you fill those things, the fluid just shakes out before you can drink it anyway...well, I hit the first filled expansion joint and got a face full of lemon-lime Gatorade - it kinda stings in your eyes, btw. After the second big bump, I looked in the bottle...empty...so I reach back and grab the bottle that had just a little left and drank that from the water-bottle. That would be my only fluid intake since the start of the race. The other, nice and full water bottle, was the one that came up missing when I reached back to look for it - so while I remember an average speed of over 23 mph at one point - yes, probably a bit too fast anyway - my dehydration and fear of warming run temps dropped my average bike speed on the last bit officially to 21.6mph. Roman, on his shiny black and red BMC rocket, cranked the bike at 22.5mph. Awesome job, Roman! Making my way through the myriad of bikes and people cost me 3:26 in T2, vs Roman's speedy 2:24 - while not accounting for a minute, I really wish I had walked the route from the "bike-in" to my rack location instead of the casual, "you just come in up there" brush off. We all know this is what we are supposed to do, so why blow this stuff off? While not my projected 22mph PR, 21.6 for the full Oly bike is a PR - so we have a decent swim, and a good bike so far...

Run, Run, Run: My plan was to run 'till I puked, but that didn't happen. No cramps. Just a solid knowledge that I HAD to make up for some lost hydration, and fast. I was fading, and could really feel it. I was grabbing everything I could and still keep running though the aid stations. Gatorade in, water chaser, some luke-warm water over my head, run a mile, repeat. Imagine my surprise when I saw I was averaging under 9:30? Great, now just hold on to that and try to negative split. I finally saw Roman at one point running with Tim and made a mental note of the distance on my Garmin, just in case I had a fighting chance. I rounded a turn as saw runners stretched out for at least a mile and knew that the Everyman was well ahead of me, so all I could do was go for the best run I could do. So many times you race a Tri against yourself or just the clock, and while I started out with every intention of giving Roman a run for his money, the race turned into me vs. me. I turned up the effort at mile's 3, 4 and 5, and felt like I was full out sprinting at 5.75 miles (disregard the total lack of increased PACE on my Garmin chart - the extra effort just kept me there...). The course was open - very little shade and just a touch of hilliness between miles 4 and 5 I think. Great aid stations on the run - while the liquids were not cold, there was plenty of it. I finished with a 9:26 pace - a PR for the OLY distance, and an overall time of 2:50:07.

Post race: Accenture had a good table set up with drinks and fruit and bagels and two awesome water fans that were gifts from the heavens. Accenture bills the greatest post race party, but I found it lacking in that, while they claim it to include the competitors and their family and friends, there was nothing in the way of liquids or food for any of our Sherpa-kin. That was pretty disappointing. This race is difficult for the spectator as the segments are very spread out from each other - there was a ton of walking involved for Di and the Crew. Since we went off so late, by the time I got back to transition (which was blocks away from the race finish!) and got packed up, it was time for the awards ceremony. We baked and broiled in the sun with nothing to drink while they waited until last to announce the Clydesdale medal winners. After all that, "they" screwed up and totally dissed Roman's first place for the "40+ 200-225lb" Clydesdale category with his 2:36:29 finishing time. I managed to take second in the "40+ 250lb and over" category. 2:46:26 took first - I'd usually quickly say that I'll get him next year, but we all know that 2008 is the year of the Ironman...maybe in '09 - when Andy and Mike and J-wimm race it with us? We'll see...

Editor's note: Pictures are being downloaded from Di's apparatus and will be added eventually....

Morton Plant Meese Sprint Tri Race Report

Whew, out of breath just typing that title. Fortunately the race was not as long. Di's got a great post and pics of the race - worth checking out! We had Luke and his family there cheering us on (Luke has a hernia left over from Madiera Beach Tri in May), and GEL volunteered out as kayak support.

For the Bigun, nothing special to report. I thought I had placed, but in the last minute they posted a guy who lost his timing chip, bumping me from 5th to 6th for the old Clydesdales. I was pretty psyched there to get some bling, too. Oh well.

This is one of the biggest sprints around - there's a pro prize purse, so that tends to bring out all the athletes. On the Clydesdale side, there were 55 starters total, split pretty evenly between the under and over 40 age groupings. Here's a look at the old guy's top group:

I added what the bike speeds amounted to and the run paces for some of the guys. I keep telling Excel Man that even though the swim is a short part of the race, when you come out of the water 3 or 4 minutes behind, it's difficult to make that up. Again this was the case for me for this race. Now if I had a bike and run like Larry... well, Larry barely weighs 200lbs as well. I've got to lose some more weight! Speaking of the swim, interestingly, I crushed Excel Man by 11 seconds. He had the luxury of starting 15 minutes before me, and a whole lot less people to swim though. This race had a bunch of newbies in it - and as the waves wore on, the water got pretty crowded with back, side and breast swimmers. We swam into the current, making for a bit slower pace than my last sprint, just over 2 minutes per 100 yds.

The bike, however, found me lacking today. My run out of transition with my bike was so long, I thought I'd try something different today - I ran with my shoes in my hand, and put them on over the bike mount line. Not recommended. Didn't save any time and it ruins your bike split numbers with a falsely quick T1 and added seconds to your bike. Plus, I had to get out of the way, and it was just a silly move. I picked up a shell on the ball of my right foot during that run, and it stayed there for the whole bike - pretty annoying.

The bike was over a quiet a few bridges and 2 really tall ones. The Bigun loses his bike prowess in the hilly stuff. Even beyond the bridges, the course had a roller feel to it, plus some sharp turns. On the first bridge, a woman came wizzing by me on the down hill, that we could plainly see had a sharp left at the base of it. I was riding my brakes, and made the turn easily. She went over the curb to my right and straight into the hedges - she didn't get hurt as she had slowed down enough, but it had to be embarrassing. I still managed a 21mph bike spit which was faster than I expected with my 8mph speeds at the top of the bridges. Excel Man was in the high 21's, the son-of-a-gun.

T2 went much better, and I got out on the run. UG - the first mile or so was soft sand on the beach. Not where the waves hit the sand - "inland" sand. So that hurt the run split. All I could do was push hard and keep working to keep my pace under 9. Unfortunately I didn't seem to reel too many in on the bike, and even fewer on the run. I guess, I just picked up 5 places total over the course of the race, from leaving the water to crossing the finish line.

This was race #3 in 4 days, suffice it to say, this was not an "A" race. Not too bad for racing tired, though, and I think I've finally figured out that I need to practice T1 with my shoes already in the pedals. I need to keep on swimming; that seems to be a trend to my race reports. And since I've not broken 10 training run miles in a week in a few weeks, I really need to start running again. It's just so dang hot!