Ironman Canada...

One word...Awesome. Hopefully will get some pics posted within the next couple days or so. What a blast!! We were able to watch the pros finish (literally sat a few feet from the finish line). Jordan Rapp and Tereza Macel destroyed their respective fields! My pick, Luke Bell, was looking really strong heading out on the run with Rapp a few minutes ahead but something happened as he limped in to the finish somewhere around 20th overall. What a great event. So stoked for next year!! Going to get some sleep as I have to be up early to register in the am. Take care,

-T

Penticton, BC...

Well, we made it! That is one long drive up to Penticton. Very scenic however. I'm excited as all heck to be back here in Pecticton...it has been over 15 years since I was here for Ironman. Meg and I rolled in just after lunch and quickly registered for our volunteer slots tomorrow. We will be assisting athletes with return of the gear bags between 5 and 8pm. We hope to head over to the race after lunch and catch the pros heading out on the run and then of course the first few across. I plan on cheering like crazy!! Luke Bell is my pick...he is well overdue for a win and no Kona this year for him.

After checking in for Volunteer we ate some lunch and headed up 97 to our bed and breakfast. Check out the view from our deck!!


Well, we are off to dinner now. I'll try and get some good pics tomorrow from the event to post. Good luck to all the athletes competing tomorrow...in Canada and Louisville!

-T

Italian food and training...

"Yes sir. Oh, it's my turn. Ok, I'll take the half and half. Lasagna and eggplant parm. A mirror pond would be great." I'm sitting at dinner with some co workers. Sounds like a good dinner order right? I thought so as well, until I realized that I still had a 45 minute run to do tonight. Oh well, it's just food right? But then the soup came, then some salad, and finally a full plate of pasta...plus two beers. Oh man, this might be a tough run.

So I check into my hotel and make my way to the room. I quickly change into my running clothes without thinking twice. This way I can't second guess my decision. I grab my IPOD and head to the gym for my hampster run. I'm feeling pretty good about 15 minutes in yet my stomach is so full I can't even think about drinking water. Another 10 minutes of solid effort and I'm starting to hurt. I feel like I have a baby in my stomach and I'm starting to burp up dinner. Internal thinking, "Trevor this isn't good. You should really stop." Other side (voice) of my brain (the voice that talks the rational side into such things as Ironman), "Don't listen to this Trevor, keep running. You have to get your miles in. Ironman is 3 months away." What's a guy to do? Well of course I keep running...

I make it to about 30 minutes and finally have to shut the treadmill off. No more. I feel like I'm going to puke. I decide 30 min is close enough and head back to the room. To summarize:
1)Large portions of italian food and beer are not good pre run components.
2)Listening to the voices in my head doesn't work. I always end up listening to the crazy one.

Off to bed now, got to make up a few miles in the morning :)

-T

Just about lights out...

I'm up a little late tonight. I was ready for bed and then realized I hadn't packed a few items for tomorrow's visit. On a positive note I have most everything already packed for our adventure up to Ironman Canada!! So stoked. So freaking stoked! Anyways, Canada gets me thinking about Hawaaii. So here our my Kona predictions...and yes they will change as the date gets closer...

Chris McCormack - anyone that has run a 2:42 at Kona and has also won before is a clear favorite

Crowie - He will be there on the run. If someone can't run sub 2:45 they will not beat Crowie.

Stadler - He led the race half way through the run until blowing up (he blames this on bike fit and has since had his re done). You know he will have a lead off the bike, but can he run? His best run split in Kona is 2:52, which wins in a normal Stadler year where he dominates on the bike.

Chris Lieto - my dark horse and the guy I'm routing for. He had a poor performance overall last year. But this is a guy that has led the race into the run previously (two years prior actually). He is looking as fit as ever and has been working on his run with...Josh Cox and Ryan Hall. I mean, holy shit. That would be like Maaca working on his bike with Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador (although I guess that pairing probably wouldn't work!).

On top of these guys there are plenty of true dark horses and up and commers that I'll mention later. For now, I'm finally feeling the effects of sleepy time. Thanks for reading...

-T

Maseratis...

It was one of those runs. My legs were feeling light, pavement felt more like bark dust, the miles were ticking away...everything was just perfect. It was late morning, but could have been 2am for all I cared. When I have a workout, especially a run workout, like this...I'm in heaven. It's hard to explain, maybe it's runner's high...I dunno, but it feels good! And then it happens...an old couple almost hits me with their car. Remember, I am RUNNING. And they almost hit me. Unbelievable.

I was almost an hour into an 80 minute run on Sunday. Focus on the run Trevor. One of the things I'm working on for Ironman is my mental focus. Whether it is on a 6 - 7 hour ride or some 800s on the track, I'm trying to learn to harness the power of the mind. They say Mind over Matter for a reason right? :) I'm rambling. I've now regained focus. My stride still feels great, the sun is out and I'm now coming up to about 2 miles to go. I've been working on finising my long runs hard this summer. I try to finish each long run at half marathon pace. So, once I hit two miles to go I bring up the effort. I make the turn into my neighborhood and look at my watch...

Let's just say I was happy with the effort :) Back at the house for a quick change. We then take off to the pool to get in a swim workout. On the way there I happened to spot one of the most beautiful cars made. A Maserati...IN EUGENE!?! Crazy right?

You will have to excuse the picture. It was taken from my phone while driving (officer, I swear I won't do it again!). Anyways, just thought it was cool. The pool was awesome as long course was still going. I banged out 4200 meters and then soaked in some hot tub time with Meg. Life is good! I'm feeling very good with my training as of today. This week is a recovery week and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm feeling very strong and ready to race Hagg in a little less than two weeks, but also happy to let the body recover a little from a heavy volume block of base work. More volume and intensity to come so I need to be as rested as possible. That being said, I think it's time to turn off the lights! Thanks for reading...

-T

Saturday

The alarm clock on my watch would not stop beeping at me. I'm pretty sure I yelled at it to stop. Meg doesn't seem to remember. It was 6:20am yesterday (Saturday) morning. I had just finished a tough week at work and with training and was exhausted. All I wanted was some more sleep. I got up to brush my teeth and looked at myself in the mirror..."what the hell am I doing?" Slowly but surely, I was waking up however and after a lot of coffee and some breakfast I had my bike loaded and kissed the bride-to-be on my way out for another solo century ride.

What I am doing is training for Ironman Arizona. Today we are roughly three months away from toeing the line in Tempe. Yesterday was one of those days when a 5+ hour bike ride followed by a transition run sounded absolutely terrible. Yet, I've learned you have to take baby steps. It's much like running the marathon. You can't focus on the 24 miles left to go, but instead you focus on your next 5k or 10k, etc.

So, I head out. I have a bottle filled with carbo pro and electrolytes plus another bottle of water. I have a GU and a Cliff bar in case I get really hungry. I'm trying to train my buddy to work on just the carbo pro and electrolytes for the majority of the 112 mile bike - put realize after a few 5+ hour rides I will probably need to incorporate some more food. I will have GU present and will probably have some cut up power bars in a bento box or something. Anyways, like I said...I was off.

I'm about 30 min into the ride and see a guy setting up what appears to be a finish line on McKenzie View rd. He is with OBRA the Oregon bicycle race assoc. We wave at each other and I don't think about it again for a while. About 20 minutes later I'm riding along fairly quickly in my aero position and almost run over a few Wild Turkeys!! I'm blaming this on my buddy Brian as he constantly has wild turkey encounters where he rides! Brian, they have migrated south Bro!! My legs are feeling real heavy, but after making it over the first big climb of the day and heading into the turn around town to refill the bottles I was feeling good.

I'm now on my way back and climbing the same hill as before from the opposite direction. A few hundred yards from the top I see what appears to be an aid station. I pedal closer. Sure enough, there a bunch of water bottles ready to handed out and a few people to offer words of encouragement. I just get a few thumbs up and crest the hill ahead. As I'm now rolling into Marcola I'm making pretty good time. I notice a Subaru on my hip. He won't pass me even though the road is clear. He stays on my hip for about a minute and then finally pulls up next to me and says, "My leaders are about to catch you. There are two of them." I say thanks and he pulls ahead. I think to myself...ok I'm going to kick it up a notch and give these boys a target to shoot for. I start pounding out a 26mph + pace. About two minutes later I feel a train coming up on me. I can feel the two bikes coming by me and think to myself WTF?? These guys must be doing close to 35mph on flat road? I then take a look at them and notice they are on Tandems! It was some kind of tandem bike race that was going on and these two teams were destroying their field. I yelled, "great job guys!" as they rode away...probably couldn't hear as they were going so darn fast :)

The ride finished relatively uneventfully except for this guy that I passed who then decided to give it the old college try and re pass me a few minutes later. I hate this because the guy dug so deep to re pass me that now he can't stay in front of me. So after about 30 seconds of sitting on his wheel I bury him. I mean, kick it into over drive and make sure that he won't even think about trying another stunt like that for the remainder of the ride, bury him. There is a little hill about 1/2 mile after I re passed him that I attacked. I was 80 miles into the ride but just attacked this little hill. I looked back at the top and he was just starting. I guess I won my own little race yesterday :)

When I got back to the house Meg was excited to try out her new orthotics so she joined me for my transition run. Great success for her, no pain...we are keeping our fingers crossed. We had some lunch and headed out to some of the farms up the road to look at flowers, goats, and buy some veggies. That's where these pics are from. It was a great day, today promises to be much the same with a long run momentarily and a swim workout followed by lounging in the sun at home. Thanks for reading!

-T

Coffee

What a wonderful thing coffee is! I'm trying to throw down as much as possible before heading out for another long, solo ride. BBQ'd some buffalo burgers last night and they were money! Hopefully they will help add some energy for the ride today. Last century for a little while. Alright, IPOD is charged...I'm outta here!!

-T

I'm going to lose it...

So...what is wrong with people these days? Everyone just seems so unhappy. I know times are tough, but at some point common decency must take over. I had a guy yesterday who was honking and waving his arms at me because I was letting a few cars in a long line of traffic merge into our lane. What did this possibly cost the guy behind? He must have missed the light and probably the next one right Trevor? No, nothing happened. Except 2 cars that would have had to wait another light or two to get into traffic were let in. I mean come on! This is probably the same idiot that honks and throws stuff at me while I'm out training on my bike.

Ok, had to get that off my chest. Up late tonight catching up on some work project. Oh well. Got in some decent workouts last two days and am feeling pretty strong as of now. I'm excited to race Hagg Lake in a little over two weeks. It will be a good test to see where my fitness and speed are at this point. As I said I'm feeling pretty strong, just a little worn down as the last few weeks have been pretty heavy in volume. Luckily next week is a recovery week (and our trip to Canada!!) so that will help re energize the body before two 4 week blocks of heavy build in preparation for the big dance. As Bill Bowerman would say, I'm working on getting the hay to the barn. And with that, I'm off to bed for some much needed sleep...

-T

Summer time...

Man, I just absolutely love summer! It is very nice to be able to ride at night without having to worry about extra clothing, darkness, or worse yet...what tv show to watch as you ride indoors. Unfortunately, I know those indoor sessions are coming...and fast. The one bad thing about IMAZ is that Oct and Nov can be very hit or miss as far as weather goes. Oh well...I think it will be worth it :)

Training went well last week. I was happy with my hours and mileage. I would like to know why there are so many angry drivers out there right now?? Is it the economy? Fear of summer ending? More stupid, impatient drivers seem to be on the road these days. It is extremely scary when you are on a bicycle and the idiot is behind a few thousand pounds of metal. Slow down people. McDonalds will stay open for you. Your six pack in the fridge will stay cool. And your tv will still transport you to a more enjoyable life. But for heavens sake, leave the guy on the bike alone.

-T

Shotgun Creek...

What a great weekend! Been a little while since I have posted. Sorry for that! This weekend started with a wonderful BBQ dinner Friday night and then an early visit to bed as I was getting up early for a long solo ride. I was tired of doing the same old rides so thought I would do a new ride. I had seen a turn off to Shotgun Creek Rd. and Recreation area out off of Marcola rd. before, but knew nothing about the ride. I asked one of my buddies about it Friday, but he hadn't done the ride before and just said "I heard it was REALLY hard."

Ok, perfect. I mean I'm training for IM so tough is good right? I loaded it into map my ride before going to bed and it didn't look that bad. About 3500 to 4000 feet made the bulk of what appeared to be the difficult part of the ride. Well, up early and off around 7:30am or so. The plan was for a solo century as I normally do my long rides with friends. I made it to the turn off in great time and was eager to start climbing. I was on my TT bike as my road bike is up in Portland.

Instantly the road service turned to crap. Don't know if it was chip seal or what, but it's maintained by BLM and was extremely bumpy. I'm thinking to myself, "oh well there is nobody out there so what if the road sucks. This climb will be epic." And then the climb started. After a few sections of what I would guess where 20% grade I was getting pretty discouraged. At multiple points I was worried about not only making it to the top but also descending on the road surface on my TT. I thought about walking up one of the hills it was so steep, but was actually worried I wouldn't be able to walk in my cycling shoes any easier.

I get to the top finally and there are only two ways to go. Right or back down from where I came. I decided to go right. I mean it was kind of like a horror movie at this point! Go back down the hallway where the killer just chased you from or go down the unknown dark hallway? After about a mile of descending the grade was again so steep that I was worried my brakes were going to fry. Overheat basically. Half way down my bike computer gave out on me. Great. I decide to finally screw the brakes and just go as fast as possible so I can get out of this hell hole. Not 30 seconds later Bambi decides to walk across the road - just missed her! I tried to stop to take a picture for the post, but she decided not to hang out. Finally I notice ahead that the road service was about to change. Sure enough, I came to an actual road and rode another 10 to 15 minutes into Brownsville to refuel. I came back another way to complete the century ride and as I passed the turn off to Shotgun Creek I made sure to flip it off!

Luckily the ride ended without incident after this. Ended up being about 5.5 hours with all the slow climbing and what. Later that night we went over to a friends house for a pizza party (he built his own outdoor oven recently) and were hanging out with a friend that is doing IMAZ as well and turns out has actually done Shotgun Creek. When I mentioned I had done it that day he said, "Oh man." My response, "yeah, have you done that ride Morgan?" "Yeah, did it once. There were times I was worried I wasn't going to be able to continue to move forward it was so steep!" Shotgun Creek - you suck! Especially on a TT bike. But, I'm happy for finishing it and stronger for doing it! Luckily the pizza was awesome, had a few beers and now can laugh about it all.

Sunday was much more relaxed as I did a 70 min run followed by a short swim workout with Meg. Currently relaxing and working my legs with the stick. Tomorrow is an off day and I'm stoked about that. I tried to snap a picture at the top of Shotgun Creek, but my damn camera wasn't working on my phone. More pics next time...I swear! Thanks for reading,

-T

Getting Old...

Well, the IT band is holding up so far. That's definitely a positive. I'm really concentrating on getting in some big bike mileage the next few weeks while I build my run base. I have 1.5 weeks left of base type work and then will start to ramp up for the big dance. Crazy how fast time flys!!

So, one of my friends was talking the other day about how once you hit 30 you start to break down. It's funny because it is true! I have this darn IT Band issue, my back acts up occasionally, I have to stretch more, eat better, etc. Oh well, what's an old guy to do huh? I guess get more sleep!

Excited that the sun is supposed to come back this weekend. I have a big training weekend and some time to spend outdoors with the better half so bring it on sun! Oh, and how about those Ducks gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated! Luckily it was just a regional issue, so we don't have to fret about the jinx!! Can't wait for football season to start!

-T

Ironman Canada...

So it's official! I am volunteer #1249853581 at Subaru Ironman Canada this year! Meghan is volunteering as well! Volunteering is basically the only way to ensure your entry into North America's most popular Ironman Race. Racing in Penticton at Ironman Canada has always been a dream of mine.

Well, more of a pipe dream I guess :) It all started over 2 decades ago. My dad raced Canada 5 times (he also did Kona twice). You see, I have great memories of being in Canada for what I believe is one of the most amazing sporting events in the world. I also thought it was absolutely crazy! I mean, here were 1500 people or so that would train for months on end to kill themselves for 9+ hours! WTF? Yet, we always had a great time! Especially as kids!! Fond memories of road tripping up in the Vanagon, maple syrup, cheering my dad on, etc.

The last year pops did Canada was either 91 or 92, can't remember for sure. He was 44 and training to break the Ironman World Masters record (40 years of age and older). Canada is known for having one of the most difficult bike courses on the circuit. Despite that, dad split 4:57 on the bike and went into T2 48th overall. This includes pros. He was on pace to smash the record he had been working for years to achieve. Unfortunately he experienced some serious heart issues on the run and had to walk in the final 10 to 12 miles. He still finished 10:35 overall and qualified for Kona, despite walking the second half of the marathon. I will never forget that day. It's not as if I knew way back then that I would someday do this race, remember I thought these guys were crazy!, but in hindsight...I believe I was destined to do this race. Anyways, I'm stoked for IMAZ in November as it will be my first Ironman...but I really can't wait to toe the line at Canada next year!!!

The icing on the cake...it turns out that Meg and I will be getting married next year during Labor Day weekend. Until we picked that date I was unsure of which Ironman I would do next year. Well, luckily Ironman Canada is the weekend before our wedding! So, I'll get to race in Canada...20+ years removed from those amazing memories, with my future life as the luckiest, soon to be, married man waiting at the finish line :) It will be a very emotional weekend...for many reasons.

-T

Long Rides...

It's Sunday morning and I'm sitting on the couch watching a triathlon that Meg recorded for me last night. It was supposed to be Kona from last year, but it turned out to be the ITU competition from DC. Oh well, tell you what though...these ITU guys make me want to go run sprints until I puke! These dudes are so fast. Anyone that can run sub 32 10k at the end of a tri has my respect.

Yesterday was a good day. Got our for an easy 5 mile run in the am and then out for a 5 hour bike ride in the afternoon. We had actually planned on going for about 4 hours, but Chris and I got a little lost! Oops! Actually, this was all my fault. The great thing is I think we both really enjoyed rolling around the countryside totally lost and just knowing that eventually we would find our way back home. It was actually pretty cool. The best part...once we had been riding around for about 30 min, having no idea where we were going I came up with an idea. "Hey Chris, hold on a second, let me check the GPS on my phone!" His response, "oh great idea, I have my Iphone as well." Talk about a couple of dummies having too much fun :) We didn't even think about using our GPS technology! Too funny.

Well, happy to say this week is winding down. I've nailed all my workouts and all I have left for today is a moderate length run and a swim workout. Followed by pizza with friends! Very nice. Next week will be another week of bigger volume, lower intensity as I continue to build up my base and then start to incorporate some speed work prior to racing over labor day. Happy Sunday to everyone!!

-T

Food...

Jeez, I've been absolutely starving lately. I ate the majority of a large pizza from Abby's last night. By majority, I think there were two small slices left! Lunch today consisted of the largest burrito I have ever seen made by a Mucho Gusto employee...ever. I only imagine this is going to get worse as the volume and intensity of training both continue to increase. Fun times!

As far as training, this week has been going pretty well. I was able to run 5 miles yesterday without any IT Band pain which is great news. I've already gotten in some great bike workouts and will get my usual long ride in Saturday and be where I should be for bike mileage this week. I've fine tuned my training schedule for lead up to IMAZ and am super stoked!! I feel like I will give myself an excellent chance to have a good day out there if I stick to the game plan for the next few months. I'm doing a follow up with my Asthma doctor next week as well to make sure my airway is staying healthy...no more medical tents is my number one goal for the remainder of this season!!

By the way...what happen to the sunny weather?? Sun, come back please...I miss you!

-T

Off Days

In training world, that means exactly how it sounds...No training. Very niiiice. I can handle. The off day is the one day I always nail each week! No problem, bring it on! I have a few more weeks of heavy base training (basically more aerobic type efforts) and then will start my IMAZ build with a local Olympic tri, IT band permitting.

Speaking of the IT band, I was able to run yesterday! Woo hoo! I'm still icing it each night and will hope it continues to improve. If so, the next few weeks will be critical as I try and build up my run base. The last weekend was great. I got in some awesome training including a triple on Sunday and Meg and I (fingers crossed) have hopefully found our wedding sight! Stay tuned...

-T

Sunshine and Weekends...

Well this week of training is almost over. Had a good 3hr ride yesterday early in the am and then Meg and I drove over to Bend to look at a wedding venue. We have our fingers crossed at this point! I was thinking on my ride about a few things though...

1) I don't have kids. Training for Ironman, or triathlon in general (regardless of distance), at a competitive level (heck any level!) would be incredibly hard with children at home. So, my hats are off to those that do it. Especially those top Ironman age group guys/gals that balance the family and work and training. Awesome!

2) I'm starting to get hungry to race again. Black Diamond half Ironman was a possibility, but don't think that it will work logistically. Might do a local Olympic in September instead...just to get the head right prior to big build in Sept and Oct for IMAZ.

Well, I'm going to hop on the bike for a quick 2hr ride then a swim workout and follow up with an evening run. Yes, run!!! This will be my first attempt at running in a little over two weeks due to my IT Band. All seems to be working normally again, but only time will tell. Thanks for reading,

-T