Focus

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.

Weekend Warrior

Cripes! This is why I know I won't be doing a fall endurance event. I'm barely into the "cutting" season and already I'm smoked. We got an early spring here in Tampa, compared to last year, with lots of rain and heat making the grass and hedges grow like crazy. Good for business....bad for training. So...we got a big weekend on tap, with plenty of swimming and biking and running to make up for a lackluster training week.

Great reports and photos out of Arizona everyone. I'm glad that Commadore is out of the hospital and back to contemplating another attempt at life without functioning kidneys. Bolder seems recovered from his being chicked - his chart, however, doesn't show the point where he had to beg the ladies to slow down. Duane's on his way to naming his shiny new bike - someone mentioned "Killer" or "Wasp" - I'm sorry, but Duane's a big teddy bear of a man - granted, the wild game in his sights might not agree, but he doesn't fit the killer profile to me. Not that I came up with anything better. Benny's glowing from his fantastic IM finish - and his first hand knowledge that Big J is a great kisser; luckily we have the prose of Nytro to paint a picture of a booze-filled day of debauchery - congratulations to him and to everyone who toed the line that day - from all accounts, it was a brutal race!

Note: I should link the stories of all these references so that you know where I'm getting this from - but I won't.

So, it's ON for this weekend. Starting now. Still have a few to cut today, then a long swim-medium bike-short run brick. Good luck to JT and TriDogMom and Sweet Baboo - oh yea, and Momo too - at Rage this weekend. Have a great race!

Guilty

Note: The picture is now the "purchased" copy with better clarity. It was too good not to own.

I don't know...I feel like the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Me 'n 23 year old Gator Girl here traded places for the first half of the bike, until she got tuckered out with all the hills. Yea, I kicked her ass. She passed me Mile 1 on the run, of course....

TriSherpaDi takes so many good pictures, normally, that I don't need to and I don't like to do a lot of copying of photographer's photos....this one is so funny, I should probably buy it.

I'm also guilty of not doing enough work on editing the podcast. Blame me - Tacboy and I have already got enough material recorded for Episode 7 and for most of Episode 8. We'll be checking in with Ironman Arizona Correspondents and will include that in Ep 8, so I'd better get on the stick and knock out 7.

I'll tell ya, when I get home at night after cutting grass all day, then doing some training, then perhaps, doing a tax return or two, I'm not much for anything else except watching TV until I fall asleep in my Chair. Ok, pity party for the Bigun is over.

Edit: the guilt is not, I repeat, NOT from drafting - she is in the process of passing me in this shot. Just FYI....

First Iron-Nightmare

I've seen a couple of fellow CdA Bloggers posting about M-Dot nightmares, and I just knew it was only a matter of time!

I'm out of the water just fine, and on the bike. Right out of the gate, something's weird - I've got no speed! I look down - a flat....well, low pressure at least. I stop, pull out a CO2, and low and behold, my front tire is a knobby off road tire...WTF?!?! I try to put some air in, but the valve is loose (?) so I screw it in until it stops leaking air - which it doesn't completely. Argh! I'm less than a mile out, so I limp the bike back into transition and find the mechanic tent.

The dude there was awesome. Well, too awesome. He starts tearing my bike down, pulling my cables off and re-installing them correctly. Then he starts putting on new tires - they are a weird kind of tubless glue on - not at tubular, mind you, but some black-tar-like-sticky-mess glue-on clincher. I remember the tire was a weird color, and it was called a Trek Lemon. I'm trying to help, he's telling me to "hold here" and I'm just watching the minutes tick by.

I woke up to a cold, sweat-filled pillow. I hope this isn't going to be a regular occurrence. I miss my "normal" dreams, you know, the one's with Nytro and SupaLinds holding up "Vote McCain" signs at one of those bikini-car wash Republican fund raisers. Good stuff.

No Jinx...

I certaintly don't want to jinx myself, but last night, possibly due to some Valentine related extraneous internal electrical stimuli (sans race bling...), my erratic heart beat stopped beating....erraticly. The skipped beat is no longer there. Today - no shortness of breath just walking around the house, no thumping in the chest - so while I was very scared my IM hopes and dreams were dashed due to a crappy Marathon decision, I can prematurely state that I will soon be back in the saddle. And pool. And on the road. Yea!

Crapcakes! Have you seen just how horrible my Evotri submission is compared to the likes of Commadores? He's the only one I know that's in the mix...I doubt I'll even make the top 10. Good luck Comms...you put a cool submission together.

This heart thing is wierd. All of a sudden I feel like I have a new lease on life. Well, a new lease on my training anyway. I'm excited, again, to get out there and do it. I'll give it the weekend, to really let my cardiovascular system recover, and next week...ease back into it. All I can say is,

"Lookout Tampa, The.Bigun is Back!"

edit: now I see TriBoomer, Shirly Pearly, and Steve in a Speedo are in the mix - and yes, my submission still lacks any refinement....good luck to all!

Post Marathon Excitement

Ok, ok...I was warned. All of you can say, "I told you so!" - go ahead. I deserve it. It's been 2 days now, and my resting HR is still over 90 bpm. Luckily it's raining today, again, and I've got no lawns to cut. So here I sit, blogging, worried that I won't get better quick enough to start training again any time soon. I certaintly feel better. If I had the heart for it, my legs could go out and do a jog or a bike ride right now... I can feel it.

The legs are still sore, but I had a good race for lower-extremity injuries - no blisters, no sprains, no phantom pains. Yea me.

So this weekend's 12 Hrs of Sebring is not going to happen. That's for sure. Nice donation to the Sebring fund. I feel bad about leaving Curt, aka Excel Man high and dry for the race - but I'm totally not healthy.

Anywho...on the brighter side, I submitted my video for the Evotri Team today. It's totally HORRIBLE! Ha! It's comical how crappy it is, especially compared to some of the other submitters that I parused. For example, there's a woman who's putting together a team of folks with diabetes to finish an Ironman. Nice. There's another woman who's lost a hundred and some odd pounds who put together a top-notch video production. Great stuff. Then there's The.Bigun:




I had to cut 11 minutes out of the video I made to parry it down to 3 minutes or less. I've only got Quicktime Pro - undoubtedly the most useless video editing software known to PC users. I had a version with music added...I did figure that out, but youtube would not accept it for some reason. I tried putting in text, but that just didn't work either. Oh well. But, really, sincerely, I think I'd be a great addition to the Team, granted, if I can ever train again.

PSA to all you Neanderthals out there (and you know who you are) - tomorrow is Valentines Day! 'Nuff said.

Does anyone else have NO SPELL CHECK on thier Blogger, like me? I'm possibly the world's worst speller, except for, perhaps, the dude who accused Wintzy of streatching the "trooth". What a maroon!

And hey, we need callers for our podcast - so we are starting up a new feature called the Hallowed Hall Library, and in the Library, we have the Hallowed Dictionary - in it, we will store new words and thier meanings as told to us by fellow triathletes. These should be words not normal in usual circles - they can be made-up words, but we have to have the specific meaning.

Also, not yet approved by the League of Triathletes Tri Councel, but an issue nontheless...our esteemed collegue and tri-partner Commadore has expanded the rules governing the wear of race Bling (brought to us initially by TriDummy in Episode One) to include times of intimacy with the opposite sex (or in some instances...well, lets not go there Kahuna). There are a miriad of issues surrounding this contravercial rule expansion - we want to hear your side! The Tacboy 'n Bigun hotline is 813-990-0951. Weigh in, people!

Train to Standard

All of us have been in this situation (yes, even you, Blink)...be it in school, a work training program, in the military, etc. The lesson is done, the points were made, the mission is accomplished - but the block of time allotted for this instruction has not yet expired. The bell hasn't rung yet.

The instructor, or leader of the group, in all their infinite wisdom and time-honored toe-the-line glory, either babbles on with one eye on the clock, the other on his or her sleeping students, or simply states, "we still have 15 minutes - are there any questions?". Train to time. Paid by the hour. One of the most inefficient systems the world has ever seen. How much time have you wasted waiting unproductively for a bell to ring?

This is why the concept of Training to Time, and not to distance, bothers me so. I know, deep down, that it's all the same, really. Anyone can look at their training schedule and see a planned hour run, knowing their training pace, and say to themselves, "ok, lets do that nice, flat 6 mile route...". Feeling slow today? That 6 miler may take 1:02. Or - and perhaps more likely, you'll run for exactly 1 hr, and walk in the remaining distance.

But if you are feeling good - if you worked hard and are enjoying the benefits of a series of awesome training days, your reward is, well, you get to look forward to tacking on some distance to your run or bike to make up for your greatness.

Being uncoached, I have the luxury of doing or training however I damn well please. If I ever do get fortunate enough to be able to afford some needed help and advise with my training, I'm sure it will come in the form of training blocks disbursed in time increments, not distance. Except for swimming, of course. Somehow the "train to time" standard has not yet been found to be important in the pool. You don't see too many, "do 8 sets of 2 minutes, followed by 4 sets of 1 minute and then finish up with 4 sets of 30 seconds going all out..." - no, it's still distance and pace in the pool.

Hey...it works. I know it works - the "train to time" standard that is. Hundreds if not thousands of athletes each and every day wake up looking forward to a 2.5 hr bike with a 45 min run off. Those athletes are successful and so are their coaches. My angst boils down to the "mindset" - the frame of mind that is being ingrained every day with each training session.

With very few exceptions, the mission parameters of a race are set by distance, not by time. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.4 mile run. Not a 1.5 hr swim, 6 hr bike, 5 hr run. Your reward comes at the completion of distance, not when the clock strikes hour X. I have no evidence to suggest that athletes coached in "training to time" perform any better or worse when they race compared to folks training to a distance standard. Somehow, it just makes sense to me that mentally, when you get to that time goal in a race, and you are still miles from the finish line, the person who, in training, is used to making up that distance will have an advantage over the person used to stopping at an arbitrary time.

Perhaps this is a minor point, hardly worthy of this many words and paragraphs in my already hectic day. I don't even hope to accomplish any sweeping changes or influence any of you reading this, be you athlete, coach or both. Maybe I just don't want you to think me "unread" or "behind the times" when I lament of my last 10 mile run, awesome century ride or brick denoted in miles instead of hrs. Crap! I just realized that I'm turning into "Mr. Super Elitist Old School Triathlon Guy"...please don't pee in my water bottles.

Bigun the Slacker

Bigun the Slacker is no more. The big guy is officially working 2 jobs now with my first night as a Professional Tax Preparer with HR Block successfully completed. Knocked out 3 returns, no errors, and called it a night at 9pm.

I'm also on the cusp of an epic training week. If all goes as planned, barring injury or emergency, I'll have my best swim and run volume training week, and pretty darn close for the bike too. So far, my best swim week was 9k yards, my best bike week was 180 miles, and my best run week was 35 miles. None of these occured in the same week, of course.

On that note, I did notice an awesome jump in run fitness this week. Significantly lowered pace over 6 miles at my "high base" running HR of 143. It's a great feeling to see some results without actually racing. Dropping to 10:15 per mile felt great; makes high 9's at a 140HR seem possible now.

We've been working on Episode 2 of the podcast, and with any luck and some free time, we'll have that published on Monday. Again, it's fun, but a lot of work. Hats off to you consistent podcasters out there.

The Evolution is making waves through Blogdom - it's pretty exciting that "they" are selecting 3 new team members.

So that's all I got for now - a bunch of half ideas and partial statements. Weird that all I have time for right now is a soundbite or two. All this training has me thinking of cool post-worthy and podcast-worthy stuff - and then by the time I sit, half of it is forgotten. Sucks getting old. Old, but still able to kick Johnny Tri's ass.

Five Random Things

I'm it. Greyhound was kind enough to include me in this ever so random of random discovery, isn't he a great guy? I guess I deserved it.

1) I could care less about cleaning my truck. I actually wish I was more anal about it, but it pretty much stays in a see-sawing state of "picked up" to "nasty". My bike enjoys the same care, unfortunately.

2) I don't enjoy yard work. Ha! That's about the funniest thing - me, starting a lawn business, and I don't enjoy the work. Well, I hated automotive sales too, and did that for 8 years....

3) I wish I had played guitar in a band. I'm a closet guitarist.

4) I actually enjoy doing taxes. Maybe this HR Block dealy is a step in the right direction. Bookkeeping, Accounting...who knows?

5) Except for organized boxing, I've never been in a fight. I mean, 4th and 6th grade don't count, really. You know, High School, College, going out to bars all the time, I mean, I was single until I was 28...you'd think someone along the way would have really needed thier ass kicked...

So there's 5 things...all true.

Oh Crap...

Do you ever look at your race schedule and just go, "oh Crap!"? I did, last week...lying around sick with whatever crud had me laid out for 2 weeks. I took a gander at my Marathon that is scheduled for 2008 - you know, next year. The Marathon that I swore I'd never do again, unless it was at the end of an Ironman. That one. Gasparilla.

Except it's in February of 2008....as of today, it's only 12 weeks away. Oh Crap. The Bigun better get on the stick.

There aren't a plethora of 12-week Marathon training programs out there. At least free ones. I did find one, and when I looked at it, I had yet another "Oh Crap!" moment. Relentless. Yes, I'm scared...

So, I have that to look forward to. 12 Weeks of running torture. Love it (hold the "L"). If you need me, I'll be either out on the road or crying over in the corner (or crying out on the road). Either way, I'll welcome the interruption.

I also had the distinct pleasure of seeing the weeks tick away until IMCdA'08 - now down to 30. You know, when you say it's over 6 months away, it seems like forever. Somehow 30 weeks seems like nothing. No time. How am I going to get it done in 30 weeks? Oh Crap!

The musings of an Iron Wergin...pretty funny; the panic, the trepidation...isn't it? I know, I know; plenty of time. I also know that that cannon will go off and it will feel like I wrote this yesterday.

Blogs Change Lives!

They do! Oh sure, your buddies all give you weird looks and talk vaguely about your "creepy Internet friends" (TM) but little do they know that Blogs Change Lives!

So there we were, IMFL07 +1 day in a comfortable coffee house when in walks IronTriTim and his lovely bride and twins-to-be (no, Steve in a Speedo, not those twins - the real, people kind....jeesh) and he gives us a rundown of his race:



Makes me want to go get a MA-ssage...

Afterward, Taconite Boy in true superhero fashion, seizes the opportunity to make Blog History and "Coffee Dials" on his I-phone none-other-than the Kahuna himself. Kahuna talks of the experience fondly on his blog, but just for historological purposes, here's as much as I got on video:





Anyone eavesdropping his conversation with the Kahuna would be hard pressed to have a dry eye. Man, you just never know when something you say or do will effect someone else's life, and to do it in such a positive way...well, that puts the Kahuna up into HERO status. Props to IronTriTim for the effort and achievement, and Props to the Kahuna for being the inspiration!

Still sick

I totally missed the weekend's race out at Clearwater Beach with Johnny Tri and his friends that were racing. Crap. I tried to take it easy this weekend, today included, to finally beat this cold, and here it is Sunday morning and I'm still feeling like crapola.

Sorry for the negativity -

If you haven't been there, check out my lovely bride's blog - she's been reporting on our bloggie meet-up in Panama City Beach and posting pictures - all great stuff.

Back to the blankets...

Beat up

Wow...what a great time! The Bigun and Di-Licious met up with...everyone...at IMFL this weekend. We got tons of pictures and video that need sorting, and all kinds of stories to tell, most are true, some will be, shall we say, exaggerated - or rather - mostly true. You can certainly look forward to some fun stuff here in the coming days. A little Weekend Update. A little Adventures of Taconite Boy. So stick around for that.

Why beat up, you ask? The temps dropped like a rock here in Florida and caught me unawares and unprepared....so I'm sick as a dog after a 7 hr drive home...my knee hurts, probably from running on the beach, and I've now missed a day in my 30^3 challenge, that I will attempt to make up, if possible, with a 2-a-day during the week. Perhaps I should even punish myself for the missed day with two 2-a-days....we'll see.

Boredom Strikes

Crap I'm bored. Taking time off from training is good and bad. Good, 'cause I need the break, bad, 'cause I don't know what to do with myself. Yea, yea, it's only a few days until the 1st, and the start of the '08 Season; I guess I should just leave well enough alone.

Reflect. Regroup. Revitalize. Revamp. Review.

I'm still really excited about CdA. I'll get another motivation shot in the arm next weekend when Mrs. Bigun and I travel to Panama City Beach and watch a host of bloggers race in IMFL. We'll meet and drink with Trimama and Iron superhero at large Taconite Boy. They'll try and try to get me to sign up for IMFL'08 with them, to no avail. We'll enjoy a couple of wetsuited ocean swims and some running (sorry Trimama) and ring the cowbells 'till the wee hours of the evening. Oh, and drink a few beers...did I mention that yet? Excel Man and GEL will be joining us later on Saturday to help with the cheering.

I'm also excited about this new block of training I have scheduled - the 30.30.30.. I'll be attempting (bad word usage...I'll be executing!) 30 days of 30 swims and 30 runs, ie., swimming and running every day in November. I'll keep the swims and the runs short, to keep from getting hurt, but the ultimate goal is to become a better swimmer and runner, obviously, and get in a better swim/run habit. This will culminate in a half mary on Dec 2nd, so there will be a solid test of the method to my madness.

Broken record time: weight loss. I've a feeling that after this week, I'll be starting the '08 season at a solid (well, not so solid) 250lbs even. About the same place as last season - so, I busted my ass for a year, got in better shape, but didn't lose a single lb. Maybe I added some muscle mass...yea, right. I've got to get to 230lbs for Cda...got to (why? hills - lower weight = better time in hills and faster runner, and I've got to be able to keep up with Mr. 203 - Sweet Baboo)! So this week, I'm happy to report, my Mantra of "No Coke, No Pizza, No Chocolate and No Donuts!" has been successful in keeping said items out of the Bigun 100%. I've been told that I gotta keep it fun...well, notice that my mantra does not include the words "no" and "beer" in it anywhere. Speaking of which...

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.

Perspective

So what the heck has been going on in the Bigun house, you ask? Crazy insaneness, I tell ya! Last weekend we held a Birthday party for Diana...she's over 30 and waaay under 50...it was a success! We had cake, presents, and loads of local friends to party the night away. No, Di didn't make mojitos...I think she made some sort of Pineapple Martini - I didn't hear too many complaints. All the Corona's got drunk, and even some of the canned Bud Light, which always amazes me.

As is customary with parties, the house is clean. Yea! We now have a Gold Room. One of the guest bathrooms is now gold. It looks pretty cool - I take notice from time to time when I look up from the latest Inside Tri magazine. I think the spare bedroom is also done now, save some parts we are still waiting on for the bed. Headboard stuff - the details are complicated girly things. Bottom line - we can have friends over, and things are getting done at the Bigun house. I'll let Di, aka Mrs. Bigun blog about all her doings on the home front.

It's officially "Save the Tata's" month! I make light...I tend to do that with important, sensitive subjects - sorry if I offend. Doesn't mean I don't take breast cancer seriously. It could be argued that it's always Tata month here at the house of Bigun...and I like it that way.

Week 38 was NOT an Iron week by any means. In fact, I took the week off. Just wasn't into it last week. I feel fat now. I'm afraid to step on the scale. Week 37 will be an epic training week for me. It's actually already started. Nice 50 miler today; pedaled hard for just under 2 and half hours, then ran for 40 minutes. Good Brick. Gotta love it.

Bolder is still unpublished. We all wait patiently for his manifesto. His Declaration of Intent. That gets me thinking. Should the Bigun have a Declaration of Intent too? Iron Benny did one. What about me? It's easy, I guess. Ironman Coeur d'Alene....finish!

Why?

Because it's hard. Doing hard things, succeeding at hard things, changes people. Usually for the better. I'm all for becoming better, and it's been a while since I've done something really hard. Ironman is perspective altering. Even if you've done one before, your perspective changes over time based on recent memories and events. You can be Iron-fit. You can also have an Iron-perspective. Both need to be maintained with time, sweat and attitude.

Wish me luck on this epic training week. The Florida Challenge Half Iron-Distance is right around the corner, and I'd like to have the last race of the season be a good one. Mrs Bigun and I are heading out to Panama City Beach in a month to cheer for bloggy peeps in IMFL. It will be awesome to meet up with Taconite Man and Trimama, Moonpie is heading up that way, plus Iron Jenny may still be racing, as well as our resident Trifeist! Excel Man and GEL will be up to sign up for '08 - I'm just looking forward to a day of cowbells and cameras (and a beer or three) with good friends.

Luke's Back

Hip Hip - Hurray! Our Tri-buddy Luke (left) is back from his hernia surgery - back to training that is! Luke met me for a ride this morning early and rode 25 miles at a nice, easy 18 mph pace. The great thing about Flatwoods is that with the loop, when he was done, he could stop, and I could just keep on trucking. Luke and his family have done just about every local Tri that the Bigun family has done, except recently he's been relegated to spectator duty. It's a relief to know that he's back in the saddle and looking forward to racing again.

Speaking of racing. Luke is actually talking of registering for the IMFL70.3 in Orlando, held on May 18th '07. Excel Man, a more recent addition to our Tri-racing network (and also good friends - he and Green Eyed Lady went to see the latest Bourne movie last night with Team Bigun, preceded with a stop at MOE'S for burritos...) is also signing up for the race. Now I've been waved off of this Half Ironman due to it's proximity to IMCdA, just 5 weeks later - but with Luke running in his first Half, well, who knows? They'll both need more cowbell - and I got's plenty o' dat!

I'm starting the week out strong with a 8 mile run and a 58 mile bike so far. Gotta get in the pool today sometime, and keep the ball rolling. Only a 3 week training cycle then a 2 week cycle before tapering for the Florida Challenge half, and they need to be big weeks. Excel Man (right) cracks me up...he's out running 19-mile runs and pulling off 120-mile bike rides and still clings to the notion that he's going to finish in 5:45. Nostrabigus has him coming in long before then - I'm figuring around 5:30 or so, but then again, I'm a pretty poor predictor of race times. He, of course, has spread-sheets and computer aided race time extrapolators that can take Oly times and Sprints and predict other distances. At some point in the race, I'll be providing him with a huge boost of motivation - whatever time it is when he blows by me (hopefully not until the run)!

Chief Black Cloud

I feel like I've taken a hand full of downers, like I'd really know how that would feel (I'm such a boy scout when it comes to drugs...nope, not even a toke of pot - Di, stop your giggling...), where was I? Oh, the Chicago Triathlon experience has just left me...down. I hate this feeling. I hate losing faith in people. Roman races hard, does everything right, and the RD questions his integrity and "out of the goodness of her heart" makes the decision to award him the division first place. I can't stand that - people carelessly questioning someones honor. That immediately tells me all I need to know about that person - they themselves have no idea what honor is, what it means, and given the choice will always take the easy way. Not the right way. The easy way. So there's that.

101 gets cancelled. Still find it incredulous that people in the business of putting on races would spend all that time, money and effort and two months before an event just cancel an entire series. Of course, therein lies the problem - triathlon is a business on one side, the RD side, and anything but business to the athletes. But now my season's ending a month earlier. The bright side is that I've longer to train specifically for Coeur d'Alene. Yea.

Business has been HELL. Trying to fit 10lbs of sh#$ into a 8lb bag has been exhausting. I'm finally caught up, but I've got zero, nada, nichivo-niet, nill, nein - nothing in the way of training done for an entire week. What a slug. I didn't do a darn thing before last week's race either. 2 weeks and alll I've done is race once. Yuck! I feel like a large, round pile of crap. Is this a preview of Ironman tapers to come? Good grief, I'm addicted to training! There is light at the end of this tunnel called Florida Summer. I think the grass starts to go dormant in October, needing to be cut only half as much. Yea.

It's time to snap out of it. "this town needs an enema!". I'm setting the alarm for 4am on Monday. I'm getting up, running to the pool, swimming, and then running home. That's all there is to it. I will do well at the Florida Challenge Half. I will train hard these next three weeks. I am going to eat right. Sleep right. Repeat. Next Sunday, instead of feeling shitty like I do know, I'll be on a 12 mile long-run, thinking of my brothers and sisters in Madison going much, much longer. The energy will have been transferred from negative to positive. Then I'll sit down in front of the TV which will be cabled to my PC and we'll watch IMLive and cheer and beam and probably cry a little for our friends. Good tears. Yea.

raceAthlete meet up in Chicago

It looks like Roman has a meet up organized for 1pm on Saturday in Chicago at the Inside Triathlon booth in the Expo. Looking at the "map" for this Expo - wow! If it's really that big, it will surely be the largest Expo we've been to yet. I should wear a bib to catch the drooling.

I'm really not sure who else will be there - Di and I are looking forward to meeting with Mike and J-wimm, and with Roman and his family; I doubt that is it for raceAthlete or Tri-blogger Alliance folks in Chicago.

I'm totally exhausted from 3 days of cramming in all my lawns! Some day I'll be in good enough "lawn" shape to handle 10 or 12 lawns in a day...I hope so, see'ns how I really need to get to 50 lawns ASAP (from the 31 I have now...). The sun was brutal the past few days with record high temps this week in the Tampa region. The only saving grace was the breeze - if not for that, I'd have wilted and died. NO SHIT!

With that, I haven't even thought about swimming, biking or running one iota. Well, not true, I have THOUGHT about it. Then I popped the top on another brewski and thought some more about it. When the Bigun tapers, he really goes all out! I'm pretty sure I won't do much while traveling for 2 days to the Windy City, so I'll be pretty well rested by the time my wave goes off on Sunday.

I'll be missing a day in front of IMLive looking for all the folks I know - GG, Sweetness, Iron Pol, and Dieing Water Buffalo for starters - taking names in Louisville. Good luck to all of you and to those whom I missed. On the Ironman subject...ug!!!!! I just got a comment from a good ol' College roomie of mine, TA - he's needing someone for Sherpa duties at IMMOO! Crap! Another great reason to go to Madison. All of you IMMOO'ers, I'm soooo, soooo sorry! I feel lame. Weak. Lame and weak and full of excuses. I'm hanging my head in disgust with myself as I type this. Someone hit me. Thanks, Di! You can always count on your spouse for a "free wack" when you ask for it...

Chicago still a "go"!

Thanks, peeps, for your comments on my first draft IM training plan. I've started to adjust it....the first major change is no more FL70.3 - if we get some bloggy peeps there racing, I'll be able to cheer. Blink and Excel-Man are right, so close to CdA, I'd still push too hard and probably take something away from the IM.

And that's fine with me - IMFL70.3 doesn't get good reviews anyway.

It's been a crummy night - Di, bless her heart, bought me some of my favorite - chocolate covered raisins. I, of course, ate wayyyyy too many, and have been paying for it. Di's been paying for it too, I'm sorry to say.

Plans for the Chicago Oly are still positive. Looks like the hurricane will not be threatening Florida, so nothing to worry about there. We'll be leaving Florida on Thursday now, visiting with my Mom in Greensboro, NC...then visiting with my cousins near Cleveland on Friday, and plan on being at registration in Chicago around noon on Saturday.

I really have no idea what this race has in store for me. I've been training well, but with the heat and humidity, every workout is slow. Big "if" here, but if we can catch the weather right, with some low humidity and reasonable temps, I could have a good day. Good for the Bigun is in the mid 2:30's. Morning lows there even with the mid-week heat wave they look like they are getting are still 10 degrees cooler than here, with 10% lower humidity.

Anyone wondering where that will come from? Well, I'll be lucky to belt out a 30 min swim, but in a wetsuit, with the awesome sighting conditions there, I'll have a shot. I'll be screaming on the bike, going for 22mph average. Why? Just because. Then I'll be running to puke mode in the low 9's. With 4 minutes for transitions, That would be about a 2:37. 11 minute PR. We'll see. With any luck I'll be able to keep Roman in my sights. I won't be wearing my bee suit.

We are looking forward to meeting Mike and J-Wim, Roman the Everyman and Barb, and hooking up with our buddy Andy and his wife Brittney with whom we'll be staying on Saturday and Sunday. I envision lots of good eats and drinks on Sunday following the race. After we collect our bling, of course!