Man in the Arena

 Getting over my Ironman Lake Placid medical withdraw.......it goes like this...

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while DARING GREATLY, so that his place shall NEVER, be with those COLD AND TIMID SOULS WHO KNEW NEITHER VICTORY OR DEFEAT."

Ironman Disappointment

Well we made it home from Lake Placid and I'll admit my ego is still bruised.  My body is fine and I'll get back on the horse Wednesday as I have other races this year, so I can't sulk forever!  Especially for the Wildwood Sprint Triathlon on August 18, and the Wildwood half marathon on August 26th.

Here is basically what happened in a nut shell without sending you to sleep or to the Grey's Anatomy/Physiology dictionary.  A medical withdraw is what it is called.  The medical staff termed it heat exhaustion with extreme dehydration.  I spent 1 hour and 7 minutes in the medical tent after completing the bike portion of the race.  The last 10-12 miles of the bike ride are pretty tough, and I really don't remember a whole lot about it other than pulling over for a few minutes and trying to cool off by dumping my water bottle over my head and body.  Obviously it was sunny and hot during the bike.

When I made it back into town and went to the tent to get ready for the run, a volunteer was there to help me, just like last year.  I got dressed and went to get up, took a few steps and almost fell onto the row of chairs.  The guy made me sit and got me plenty of water.  After a few minutes I said I was ok and tried to get up again, but almost went down again.  He said he had to get a medical person at this point, I agreed because I knew something was off.  The guy escorted me (held me up) to the medical tent.  There I was met by a few nurses and techs.  They weighed me in and I had lost 8 lbs since the weigh in on Thursday, not really that bad.

After 1 hour and 7 minutes of trying to pass a few basic tests, the Dr said he could not let me continue.  He was afraid I would only get worse with having to run a marathon still, and the fact that I had not gone to the bathroom since 6:30am, and it was now 4 pm (9.5 hrs later).  My skin looked like sandpaper from all the dried up salt from my body.  My race kit is green and black and was covered in a white powder, also the salt I had lost.  During the bike I drank over 160 ounces of water and gatorade, so I thought I was doing ok.  I ate plenty and even stopped at my special needs bag after the 1st loop so I could refill my bike with food and fluid.

Some days it is not meant to be.  I held it together pretty good in the tent until the Dr took my timing chip off.  It was also a horrible walk back to Cathy and the kids with all the participants running past along the street and me walking without a chip, what a total bummer.  Once I got back to the room I lost it pretty good.  The kids were great and gave me lots of hugs and kisses and told me how proud they were of me know matter what.  Conor even said he "wanted me to have a great day today."  Boy is that kid a suck up!

I looked back at last year and did a comparison because I thought maybe I did not do enough training.  After looking at it I am confident I did everything I could have.  I did 878 more miles and 46 more training sessions.  I am really confident that it was not my training and simply the heat.  My 2012 swim was over 2 minutes faster.  T1 was 2 minutes faster.  First lap of bike 5 minutes faster..thought all was going great.  Then the wheels fell off the last 12 miles!

The heat beat me down that day, but all the encouragement I have received from so many has made it more manageable.  The most important thing is that it looks like we have raised over $4,500.00 this year in our fundraising efforts.  We will be able to help so many children this year.  I will send out an official notice once the summer is complete.  In the mean time I hope to enjoy the rest of the races I have planned and the summer weekends at the shore.  

Thanks so much for your support, both from your donations and your helpful words of encouragement this year.  I will still update everyone as the summer goes along.

PS--before Lake Placid I had made Cathy a deal that I would not do an Ironman next year.....but I never said I still wouldn't race and raise money for special needs children.  She just smiled and said "I know."  How is that for team support on the home front!

I may sill aim for a half IM in the fall, maybe Pocono since I did it last year.

After I was feeling better we went t the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery and we met Logan Franks.  He finished 9th overall.  Kristina was happy to take this picture, just look at the smile on her face.

10 Days & counting!

Well it is all coming to an end.  Lake Placid is only 10 short days away.  Since July 2^nd I have been in the Peak Block of my training program.  I have had some of my best runs of the year during this 2-week period.  I have also focused on my nutrition on the bike to see how I will react off the bike, and have had no real GI issues adjusting to more Gu and Gu Chomps; less Clif Bars this year.

I have managed to hit almost all my sessions during this block.  I did take a Saturday (7/7) off and missed an 8 mile run and 2 mile swim.  I needed to pick Kristina up from camp that day, 2 hours away and I had a party the night before and later that day.  When I woke up that Saturday (7/8) at 4:30 AM, my body said WTF and I listened!  Getting that 2 extra hours of sleep before I left to pick her up was great.  A two hour ride up, one hour to pack her stuff, and two hour ride back knocked out 5 total hours from the day.  I would have made up the session later that day, but we had another party in the afternoon.  I guess when you have two friends turn 40 on July 3 & 4^th, you have to expect a few parties.  That is when training for an Ironman sucks!

Brian’s party was Friday night July 6^th, a surprise from his wife and I was the person who had to get him out of his house for 7 hours.  So I got to work at 5am to get in my recovery bike ride, then I took Brian to golf at 12:30pm in 98 degree heat.  We had a good plan however to not dehydrate…for every beer we had we also had a Gatorade and water with it.  After golf we were a little early, so off to Union Jack’s Pub for some air conditioning, wings, and beer.  I got Brian out of the bar; that was a major accomplishment, on time and he seemed really surprised when we got to his house.  My work being done, I only made it to 10pm, then I had to go home and sleep.  I can’t hang like Training Payne can, I am still an amateur when it comes to Ironman training and partying.

Scott’s party was July 7^th at his house.  Thank god he has a pool because it was 103 degrees that day.  After I got Kristina from camp, we picked up Cathy, Emma, & Conor and headed to Scott’s.  Scott has a great pool at his house; the only problem was it was so hot that the pool water was warm, like a tub.  It was still better than no pool, but on a hot day you need a nice cool pool to relax in.  We had a great time at his party.  It was another long day for us.  Late in the day, it looked like a storm was coming so we packed up and headed home.  I had to do one more long ride so I wanted a nice restful sleep Saturday night.

During this Peak Block you train differently than the other blocks.  You essentially do four Bricks of bike/run with different emphasis….hour bike and 90 minute run…2 hour bike and 45 minute run….hour bike and 75 minute run...90 minute bike and 55 minute run.  As you can see these sessions each focus on a different discipline.  All still have a swim session on that day, but done later in the day.  The Peak Blocks still average about 16 hours of training for the week.

I’ll finish up this weekend down the beach at my parents house.  That will be nice for the kids.  Next week will be race week and the sessions are just to keep me loose and recovering from the past 6-months of training.

Here is Conor and Emma "helping" me take the bike off the car.  The seem excited to go back to Lake Placid and do a little more stuff this year since mommy is coming!

Tapering Down

Well I am closing in on Lake Placid faster than I realize.  It seems like yesterday it was February and I was just getting in the pool.  So far I have accomplished my main goal, and it is not even triathlon or training related.

We have raised a lot of money for special needs children through our events this year.  It started with the beef and beer, continued with businesses, and friends and family members.  It looks like we will go passed last years total.  For me that is what it is all worth...all the early morning swimming, miles biking and running.

On the training front I have managed to stay healthy so far...I probably just jinxed myself right?  Right now I am in the final two weeks of Peak training and then its taper time.  The past few weeks have been really good.  I had a week of vacation(6/18) at the beach with my family and used it as a training camp week.  It turned into almost 20 hours of training time, with two long rides of over 5 hours each.  The only bad thing about the week was I hit a big pot hole and lost my rear water bottle holders at some point.  Oh well!

I won't bore you with the past months details on each workout, but I know that in comparing last years actual totals to this years I am way ahead, but last year I dislocated my right shoulder June 1 and lost most of the month.  I still am not the most proficient swimmer, but I can handle the 2.4 mile swim.  I compared all of last year to this year, and am ahead in sessions completed for each discipline and averages per session for the swim and run.  The bike is just a little lower by .75 miles per session.  I have logged a few more longer >4 hours bikes rides, so I am hoping that helps.
Junes totals are below:
Swim: 6 hours--19,500 yards
Bike:29 hours--495 miles
Run: 25 hours--230 miles

June was super busy..end of school for three kids, vacation, Mooseman 70.3, and trying to still be a good husband.

Last weekend I had a bit of a scare.  While on my last long ride my phone starting ringing right in the middle of a long steep climb.  I did not answer it.  No less than 10 seconds later it rang again, I knew something was up.  Once I reached the top of the hill my text message ring went off, now I really knew something was up.  Short story is that my dad was admitted to the hospital with something called Global Amnesia.  At first it sounded like he had a stroke or TIA.  I had to cut my ride short, get a ride home so I could go to the shore and be with him.  It was a very scary situation, but he went home the next day is is feeling OK, just a little sluggish.

Here is Emma and Kaitlyn racing on the Slip n Slide with Conor being the Judge.

The Moose was Loose!

Ok, so I am writing this post as I am a full two days removed from Mooseman 70.3 half Ironman.  This way I can an honest evaluation and not an emotional one.  After completing the race and eating, I made the 7 hour ride home to Philadelphia without much trouble.  No leg cramping, just some minor right shoulder pain in my old dislocated area.

RACE REPORT:  Total Time was 6:09:33, 40 minutes off my goal of 5:30!

The race was awesomely terrible!  That is my honest answer.  When people have asked me “how was your race?”, my answer has been “terrible, but in a good way that made it awesome!”  I went up to New Hampshire on Friday with a member from my gym, Barbara Holbert.  I was staying in her son’s house, right on the bike course.  Ed Holbert and his family could not have been nicer to me.  They treated me great, like one of their own.  When we arrived Friday afternoon, he offered me a beer right away, my kind of “host” family.  They had a great house to stay in, it sure as hell beat staying at the camp site, which is what I was going to do.  I had my own room set up, but I felt bad I displaced his daughter from her room, but they assured me it was no big deal.

Saturday was a complete wash out.  I was going to ride part of the course and do a run, but Mother Nature had other plans. It rained like hell most of the day.  I felt bad for the people doing the international distance that day, because it was cold and wet.  Instead, Ed took me on a car ride of the run course followed by a ride through the big loop of the bike course.  When we made that drive, I knew it would be a tough day on Sunday.  The hills were steep, long, and winding.  I knew I would get the speed on the flats and downhills, but the uphills would be an energy sapper.  It was also Ed’s birthday on Saturday, so he was planning on a nice meal for all of us.  I also attended the Athlete’s Meeting just to make sure there were no last minute changes, and there weren’t.  After Ed’s meal it was light out by 9pm.

Sunday was race day.  I got up early, 4:45am, and headed to the race site only 15 minutes away.  I was in transition by 5:30am and realized just how much it rained on Saturday.  Half the transition was in water.  The race director had warned us this may happen, so they set up some bike racks outside the normal are with some tables as well.  I was lucky my area was just wet and not under water.  This was my first Tri of the year so I checked and rechecked everything 10 times.  Next thing I knew it was time to head to the water.

Swim course

We made the short walk to the water in full wet suit before the pro athletes even took off.  It was only 54 degrees, but the water was 64, so it was better in the water than one the land.  My wave was 7:24am, so I waited on shore until I was up.  Right on time my age group went in and they started us.  I always say, I am not the fastest swimmer nor the slowest, but I keep moving and try not to get caught up in the wash.  I swam about 40 yards off the line, just like at Lake Placid last year.  No events in the water and I felt pretty good, slow, but good....time was 39:17.

Off to T1 and did ok.  It was real muddy and soupy by the time I got in there.  Uneventful other than I should have used the wetsuit strippers....time was 3:54

On to the monster.  The bike course was crazy.  The first 6 miles were nice rollers.  The you headed out of town on into Groton.  That is were the climbs began.  I won't do all the details but I popped my chain 2x's which lead to two falls off the bike.  Since I was climbing when that happened both times, I was only going 6-8MPH, so over I went when I could not get my shoe un-clipped in time.  The climb is a 4 mile long energy depleter.  Just when you think it is over, there is a 16% grade you need to go over.  After the tough climbs you decent fast and some rollers.  Then repeat this loop again.  This is the section the Holberts were, right down on the corner from their house.  I let out a big yell when I saw them.  

The second time is worse.  No popped chain, but slow going up and energy wasting.  I had actually thought of calling it a day after the bike.  I thought about having to still run 13.1 miles and was mentally fighting myself.  After the loop you head down the other side of Newfound Lake for a tough climb, and a few rollers, but nothing too crazy.  I was demoralized knowing how slow I was.  I was shooting for 5:30, and knew I had no chance of that after that bike ride.  I knew I was slow on the bike but 3:27:28 was crazy slow.  I usually do 56 miles in 2:50, so 3:27 was killing me.

T2 was ok again, just muddy...time was 3:15.

Onto the run.  I was aiming for 1:40 on the run, but knew I was not going to do that after the bike ride.  I started off strong--3.3. mile split had me at 7:49 pace, right on goal.  Then the demons came in.  My Garmin battery died, so I had no speed, pace, or heart rate monitoring.  When the mental demons came, it was tough to shake them.  I considered again stopping and calling it a day after the 6.6 mile mark.  I would just DNF and tell everyone it was because I was "hurt" or the bike was too hard, or make some other shitty excuse.  Then I thought about Training Payne and SUCKING IT UP!  No matter what just keep moving forward.  Screw the pain from the bike, smile and be glad to be out there.  Drink some coke, have an orange, just don't stop.  

coming towards the turn around

heading down another hill

As I came up another hill on the run, there was my team support, the Holberts.  They cheered for me and that felt good to have some support out there.  Ed took some photo's of my pain.  I got through the run.  I heard many comments from the volunteers about my shirt.  My kids picked it out for this race, so they like the pictures of me with it on.

I did not have the best run, but I fought the demons and beat them back.  It was the only race or competition that I was ever in where I thought stopping was better then moving forward...what a mistake that would have been.  When I finished the run I knew that on that day, I gave the race all I could...run time was 1:55:39.

coming up from a small dirt road turn around

Now all my focus is on Ironman Lake Placid!

Golf and German Endurance Fest

It has been another long break from blogging.  Too much to really go into, other than it has just been crazy busy.  With three kids in sports, our annual golf outing on May 17, 2012, and training for another Ironman, I just have not had a ton of motivation to blog about why I am so busy and can’t blog.  Instead this post will be about our golf outing and my latest race.

Every year, the Abington Fitness Institute (my work) has its annual golf outing and raises money for Our Lady of Confidence Day School in Willow Grove, PA.   We had a great turnout and raised  $6,280.00 for OLC.  OLC is a school of special education serving children with Down Syndrome and other cognitive/physical impairments.  OLC has two locations serving children from ages 4.5-14 in Willow Grove, and 15-21 at Bishop McDevitt High School.  Our donation to Our Lady of Confidence will go directly to their Tuition Assistance Program, and will help many families.  The school is very appreciative of the support!  In seven years we have donated over $45,700.00 to their Tuition Assistance Program.

I wanted to offer a special thanks to the 50/50 winner who donated a portion of their winnings back to the event.  I also wanted to thank the staff and member volunteers of the Abington Fitness Institute for all their hard work in getting everyone checked in, making cookies for your bags, getting the gifts distributed, and for all their help in preparing for the day. 

Now, the latest race report. 

I competed in the Dirty German Endurance Fest (http://www.uberendurancesports.com/Dirtygerman.html) on May 20, 2012.  This event has a 25K, 50K, & 50 mile race distance.  I competed in the 25K (15.5 miles).  The race is run by the ÜBER ENDURANCE SPORTS Group.  This is the third race of theirs I have done.  They are awesome events that are a lot of fun, and not overly Type A’ish if you know what I mean.  Most of their races are trail runs, so the atmosphere is different.  Very competitive race, but a laid back event.  Lots of people dress up as German Beer Waitresses or in Lederhosen, so there are lots to look at.

The race itself was pretty good.  The start is a cattle shoot with everyone heading towards two 90 degree turns so you can hit the trails.  My plan was to try and carry an 8 minute pace on these trails, which would be pretty good.  Most of the race is single track, so passing is a little tough.  After the first 3 miles the crowd thinned and I settled in with a group of about 8 runners, 7 men and 1 women.  We were all around the same pace give or take the steepness of a hill, slipperiness of a rock, or depth of a creek crossing. 

We made a big loop, with a sort of figure 8 at one point.  Right around 7.75 miles I noticed it was just me the women together.  We were heading back to the start along a 2-mile section of paved bike path..nice and flat.  She had some support out there with her husband meeting her along the sections where the trail crossed a fire road, or the bike path.  I was slugging along, suffering from a few beers on Saturday night with Cathy and the Ellison Family. 

The last 4 miles are real technical, lots of switchbacks, tight single track.  No big deal other than the 50 mile participants are coming at you.  On one section I joked with three runners coming at me about a tight turn they would have and they needed a “blinker” so other runners could see them coming.  As soon as I said blinker, down I went right onto the shoulder I dislocated last year.  I thought I just ended my Ironman training, but I jumped up and the shoulder seemed ok.  Just some muscle soreness the next two days but no structural damage thank god.

When you get close to the finish line, about ½ mile out you can hear the German music and accordion, so you know you are coming down the stretch.  As we headed towards the finish I held back some so the lady in front of me could have her moment at the finish line area, she was in 2^nd place for women after all, and I could see her husband waiting.  Little did I know he was waiting because he had food for her 2^nd loop, she was doing the 50K.  I went on by and crossed at 2:01:13.  Good enough for 8^th overall and 2^nd in my age group.

Best Finisher Item!

2nd Age Group

This was my last stand alone run race, and now have Mooseman 70.3 in 10 days.  This weekend is my first BIG DAY training.  Saturday will call for 1 hour swim, 90-minute break; 5 hour bike ride, 90-minute break, and finally a 2 hour run.  Sunday will be recovery with a pool party at a friend’s house.  Gonna try and get back to the blog a little more, I think it helps to keep me motivated.

Long Strange Trip

Well it has been a long lapse in posting.  I don't have any good reason either.  EVERYONE is busy with their life.  I am no different.  I have three great kids, and they all started baseball/softball with some extra zest the past couple weeks.  This means the nights are crazy busy.

My oldest daughter Kristina, has practice 1 night a week, then games on Sunday late afternoon.  Emma has practice 2 days a week and games, sometimes 1 game, sometimes 2.  Conor has practice 1 night and games on Saturday mornings.  That leaves not much weeknight time for the family.  Thank god Emma's Girls Scouts are coming to a close.

Last year, the evenings were great in late Spring/Summer because I could train hard in the day time, and kickback at night.  Not this year.  I don't mind having the sports details, but I feel guilty if I just sit on the side like a bump on  a log and not interact with the other parents or coaches.

I'll give a quick Broad Street Run Report from 5/6/12.  The BSR is the largest 10 miler in the USA now, 38,000 registered runners and 33,977 finished.  It was a perfect day, cool in the AM and slight breeze at our back.  With 38,000 registered runners you can imagine the logistics.  From my perspective, everything went fine.  Easy drive to the finish area, easy parking at the stadium, easy ride up to the start on the subway, and easy to line up in the corrals.  The only problem I notices was the same I see at every race no matter the size...not enough port-potties.  That happens at every race!

I finished in 1:07:24 officially.  My Garmin said 1:06:30, I had to stop in a port potty along the way.  I was 791/33,977, or in the top 2.3%.  I was about 4 minutes slower than last year, which I am ok with.  I have not kicked the last 15lbs I am holding yet, so I figure it was like I ran with a Pot Roast with me.  I held a 6:44 pace which was part of my goal.

I felt pretty good with it overall and the course is awesome, straight slight downhill.  Nice tempo run training day is how I looked at it.