IMCDA, chasing my dream...

Well, it's official. Today I signed up for IMCDA 2011. Why Coeur d' Alene? Well, if you follow this blog you know that Ironman Canada is my "A" race this year. We are heading there to have a great race and take a shot at sub 10 (hours). If I'm able to execute the race I know I'll be capable of going under 10 and potentially qualifying for Kona. For those that don't follow Ironman racing, the World Championships are held in Kona each year in early October. Kona is basically our Super Bowl. As much as I would love to qualify in Canada, I'm getting married 6 days later and then we are off to our honeymoon...in yes, Hawaii :) So, I would not be ready to turn around and do another Ironman in early October.

Canada is more about completing a chapter in my family's history. My Dad raced Canada 5 times. I have always wanted to do Canada. More than I can explain in words. I have always wanted to attack the two monster climbs on the bike and run my way back into town on Lake Shore drive!! Just thinking about it makes me emotional. But I also want to have a shot at qualifying for Kona before we decide to have kids. Coeur d' Alene (IMCDA) will be our race to try and make this happen next year. It's going to take one hell of an effort to make this happen. Last year it took a 9:34 to qualify in my age group, this year it appears to be sub 9:40. To put this in perspective, the 6 individuals that qualified in my age group last year all ran sub 3:18 for their marathon. That is after a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike ride. That is 7:30 pace for a marathon after over 6 hours of racing before you even get off your bike!! Holy smokes! For you marathoners out there, 3:10 is the Boston qualifying mark. So in order to qualify for Kona in my age group at IMCDA, you are basically being asked to run a Boston qualifying time for the marathon portion.

Well, we'll see where I'm at come end of August in Penticton. I'm hoping to go sub 3:45 for my marathon there. I actually feel pretty good about going a little faster than that, but man, you just never know in the Ironman. If I can do that (sub 3:45), I'll feel pretty damn confident about lowering that another 20 to 25 minutes in 10 months. IMCDA will be my 3rd Ironman, and all three will have been in different locales: Arizona, Canada, and now Northern Idaho. I hope to add a 4th next year...the big dance in Kona!! Would be a great excuse to head to Hawaii for our one year wedding anniversary right?? The key to qualifying for Kona is your ability to race the marathon. To have enough energy left, after holding a good clip for the first 20 miles, at 10k to go that you can push harder than your competitor next to you, or actually, in front of you.

I love long course triathlon racing, but realize I can't do it forever. I will have a solid foundation heading into the off season this year and hopefully can make a realistic push at Kona come June 2011. As always, I would like to thank you all for reading, and especially those of you that put up with me chasing my dreams...most notably the love of my life. Thanks,

-T

Feeling Better

Well, it took two weeks after getting sick and racing in Boise to finally start to feel better...at least my asthma that is. I had a decent training week including a couple swim sessions, a couple good runs, and nice solid 80 mile bike ride yesterday. I finally started running again on Wednesday. I'll tell you what, I still had problems with my airway. It was not happy for me to be running again. It was slightly better the next day on my run. Today I did 8 with Meg and I could tell it was much better, but still not close to 100%. That being said I had a great ride on Saturday including a two loop time trial type effort around Hagg Lake as I Will be racing their in two weeks. I felt very solid on my bike.

So this next week will be about getting back to some quality volume, but making sure I don't aggravate the airway anymore and continue to let it recover. I will be backing down on the interval sessions during the week unless my asthma is completely ok. All in all, I think I'm on the right track. I need to be smart about my build to IMC or I will probably end up sick...again. So I might be incorporating a little bit more rest than I normally would in one of these big builds. We'll see. I promised myself I would listen to my body this year and I didn't prior to Boise. And guess what happened? Yeah, no wonder Yates. Oh well, lesson learned...again!

Next week marks Meg's first half marathon! I'm going to be pacing her. Should be a ton of fun! Thanks for taking the time to read,

-T

Second Season

I spent the past week reflecting on the past 5 months of training and my race at Boise. I had scheduled to take 4 days off after Boise and re charge the battery before getting in a little of training this past weekend. I went out for a run Thursday night and made it 10 minutes before I had to walk due to my asthma. I jogged, yes literally jogged, home. I haven't worked out since. I gave my body a full week to recover. The incident Thursday night, 5 days post race, illustrated to me how bad my airway really was in Boise. I mean I hadn't done ANYTHING since Saturday night and I still couldn't jog without my airway completely shutting down.

So tomorrow I will try and get back at it. The remainder of my season is focused on Ironman Canada at the end of August. The first half of the season was to build a solid base so I can absorb some solid training blocks the next 6 weeks. After my race in Boise, I debated jumping into Pacific Crest Half Ironman this weekend as I feel like my performance last weekend was not an accurate depiction of my fitness level or ability. Then I had the incident Thursday and realized that I needed more time to recover and racing so soon would only set me back further. So instead, I'm excited to get back into some solid training. I will have 3 tough weeks that each will culminate with an Olympic Distance race (Hagg and Blue Lake respectively). I will then start to enter into a low and slow taper to get the body and mind right for Canada.

It's been an interesting season so far. I felt like my run was right on pace early season and once again was ready come Boise. I thought my bike was where it needs to be and I'm happy with how my swim has developed despite limited availability to swim most of the spring. All that being said, I don't have a race on the board yet that I'm happy with this year and that is frustrating. I'm proud of how I've fought through some races, but not happy with any of the outcomes really. That is what I love about this sport though. It's about more than the finish time. It's about the experiences you have getting to the start and the finish line. The moments you have in training and racing that you just can't describe to others that haven't gone through similar experiences. At the end of the day, I am just happy to be healthy! I wrote that before Boise I would be content knowing that I had given everything I had out there. As I sat in the ambulance getting O2 pumped in, I knew I had.

Thank you for all the kind remarks that I have received from you all in this blog and elsewhere. I keep this running tale of my experiences because I think it is fun and hopefully will help one of you out. Yet, I'll be honest, there are times when I drag my butt out of bed because I know you all would want me to! Thanks for reading everyone,

-T

Boise 70.3

"Trevor, what is your address?" I signed my address (with my hands). "Trevor, are you starting to feel better?" I looked at Michael, the paramedic treating me in the ambulance and nodded yes. I was starting to feel better, basically, I was able to breath a little bit. The neubilizer treatment of Duoneb had helped. Moments earlier I hadn't been able to breath too well. And when I say well, I mean it was tough to talk. Flashback to 15 minutes earlier right after I crossed the finish line at Boise 70.3, around 40 minutes later than I had anticipated. I looked at my Dad and said, "I will never do that again!" We both knew I was talking about racing while sick, not racing half Ironman. Hell I love this stuff. Back to the sick part...I contracted another sinus infection Monday of this past week. My Doc put me on antibiotics on Tuesday. My final dose was race morning. For those of you that don't follow my blog or know me too well, I'm a chronic asthmatic. I'm on daily inhaled steroids, albuterol, nasal spray, and everything else I can get my hands on!! So every time I get sick, could be the common cold or as severe as a sinus infection, my airway becomes inflamed.

Enough about post race, let's talk about the race. Here is how it developed age group position listed in parenthesis:

Pre Race:
I woke up feeling pretty good. I had managed to sleep 10 hours. Which actually kind of worried me. I was thinking, is my body telling me it isn't over this sinus infection and needs more rest? Well, I knew the answer to that. I was still sick. Oh well. Boise is a 2pm start which is unique for our sport. I dropped my run bag off at T2 in downtown and then we (Meg and my parents) headed out to Lucky Peak Reservoir. FYI, if you are doing this race and drive out to the reservoir, be prepared for a 10-15 minute hike uphill from the parking area to the reservoir on dirt road that you will want to carry your bike up.

Swim: 27:54 (4th)
My goal in the swim was to relax and not push hard. I was under strict orders to take it out easy for the swim and first part of the bike to not stress my airway. Boise does wave starts so we had to sit on the sweltering ashpalt as we waited for the pro waves to start. Then women 50-59 and men 40-49 or vice versa, can't remember. All I remember is I was sweating like a pig in my wetsuit and couldn't wait to hit the 60 degree water. BTW, the water was colder than 60. Not by much, but it wasn't quite 60. Anyways, I warmed up for a few minutes and was ready to go. My friend Evan immediately took off. We used to swim together in high school and I knew he was in better swim shape than I was. To follow him would have been suicide as he split a 25!! Nice job Evan. I finished the swim feeling strong and in control of my race. I ran up, got my wet suit stripped, and hopped on my bike.

Bike: 2:49 (Top 20, doesn't list it yet on results)
I was running a disc for this race which proved to be a terrible idea. We had woken up to no wind so I went with my disc. By the time we started the race the wind was blowing hard. Right after leaving transition there is a pretty significant downhill portion before turning left and climbing. I was getting blown all over with my disc heading down that descent. It was rather frightening. I sat up and let two people go past me. We made the turn left and started to climb. I quickly passed those two people and was told by a spectator that I was the 8th amateur to come by at that point. I was feeling ok, but was starting to get concerned about this wind.

The next 15 miles were a mix of rolling hills with one decent climb and descent as we headed out to 10 mile creek for our turnaround. The wind was, honest to god, sustained at 25 to 30mph. It was nuts. It was a cross or head for almost the entire way to the turn around. I had to ride a fairly significant portion of the first half in my drops instead of the aero position just to control my bike. I was honestly concerned about flipping my bike. Apparently I wasn't crazy, my folks actually saw someone flip on his disc. It was freaking brutal out there. The real problem for me?? I went into this race thinking I was going to split a 2:25 on the bike. With all this extra stress just controlling my damn bike I was wasting energy and I was aggravating my airway. I couldn't keep my heart rate down because even the flats and descents I was struggling to keep my bike steady.

The turnaround came and I knew I was still in decent position. Problem was I had exhausted too much energy fighting the wind. I really struggled on the way home. After you make it back to the reservoir you ride on a jogging path for a little while to get onto camp creek road to head back to Boise. Once I turned onto camp creek road I was riding into a straight headwind. Again, sustained at probably 20mph. It was demoralizing. As I pedaled into town I could tell my airway was shot. I was really struggling. Not from an energy standpoint, but from an asthma and motivational standpoint. I knew I wasn't going to be able to race the run because of the state of my airway.

Run: 1:57:21 (18th)
The run was miserable. In all honesty, I spent a few minutes on the bike towards the end of the ride debating whether to continue. I knew it was going to be a death march. But then I thought, well, give it a try and if it is terrible and the airway won't allow me to run, then I will just drop out. The run is a two loop affair around the Boise river just a few blocks from Downtown Boise. It was a great run course. Spectators throughout which is always helpful!! On the first lap, the women's leader, Julie Dibens, came up next to me. She was on her second lap. I could tell she was really struggling. Shortly after catching up to me she started walking. I shouted some words of encouragement at her. Not sure if they made any difference, but she did go on to win :)

I was unable to run. I had to basically jog. I found if I elevated my heart rate above about 155, I couldn't sustain it from an asthma standpoint. I was starting to get concerned, but thought back to my half marathon in Eugene and realized if I just settled into a pace that wasn't too taxing, my airway would allow me to continue. Ultimately, this is what I did. I saw Meg and my parents at the half way mark and just gave them a sarcastic type smile and a shrug of the shoulders. The second lap was a little better. I started to sustain a pace of about 8:15 or so and pass some people. I made the final turn towards the finish chute and checked behind me. As I entered the long finish chute in downtown Boise there was nobody behind me. I looked up at the clock and realized I was about 40 minutes below my expectation of a sub 4:40.

Overall: 151st overall (out of 1400 or so) and 18th in my age group.
I will be the first to admit, I was rather disappointed with my race performance. I came here to make top 5 in my age group, not top 20. I was ready and fit enough to go sub 4:40 on Saturday, but I just couldn't do it with the asthma, sinus infection and outside elements (wind, etc). I will take away a lot from this race and live to fit another day! My main race this season is yet to come...Ironman Canada in August. My doc and I have a solid plan to try and avoid illness for this race. I want to thank all of those that continue to support me in this crazy sport, mostly my fiance and family. You guys are the best!! Below are some pictures from the race. Enjoy, and as always, thanks for reading,

-T

Dad and I before the start at Lucky Peak

Meg and I before the start

Heading down to the lake with my wave

Warming up

And we are off!

One of my favorite pros, Chris Lieto getting out of the water.

4th out of the water!!

Damn, that bike is hot!!

Lieto and Crowie heading out on the run. Lieto would pull out a few miles later with an abductor issue.

First lap, hurting at this point!

Man that sucked. We started 13 min late, so finish time was 5:21. Way off of goal.

Lasted long enough to take a picture with Evan, then off to the ambulance.

Get it

Meg and I arrived to Boise today. Took a little under 7 hours. It's not a bad drive, bu there is a lot of construction taking place on the interstate. We left rain in Portland and had some upon arriving in Boise late afternoon. The rain has since cleared and the sky was mostly blue prior to the sun setting tonight. Tomorrow should be close to 70 and race day Saturday is slated to be 75 and sun. Should be excellent racing conditions! I haven't bothered to check the reservoir temperature, but I know it will be cold. Luckily, this doesn't impact me like it does others. Growing up swimming, the temperature impacts weaker swimmers more than it does better swimmers.

It was windy as all get up today, but that should cease as the storm has now blown through. As far as me? Well, I'm trying to get over my sinus infection. I'm feeling ok, just not great. I'll get a ton of sleep tonight and rest a ton tomorrow. Luckily the race isn't until 2pm on Saturday which gives the antibiotics another half day to help prior to the starting gun going off. As far as my race plan, I'm going to have to alter it slightly because of the infection. I will be racing mostly on heart rate on the bike instead of attacking segments. That being said, if I'm able to go with some breaks and keep my heart rate in check I will. We'll see. I just don't want a repeat of Pacific Crest last year where I had to walk the half marathon and still ended up in the medical tent for an hour.

Race start for my age group is 2:13 Saturday. I still do not have any idea what my bib number is, but will post it tomorrow after registration. You can follow online at Ironman.com on Saturday if you wish. I might not be 100% come Saturday, but I'm as fit as I've ever been and will be relying on my fitness to help me have a fast race. One part of my race that will be 100% is my machine below. The Felt is ready thanks to the boys at Life Cycle. Thanks guys! And thanks for reading everyone.

-T

Colds and stuff

Less than a week to go to Boise. The time has flown by. I feel fit and ready to race. I fought off a cold last week and seem to be OK. My asthma was negatively impacted. Not sure how much it will impact my race, it will, but I don't really care. The weather, my asthma, anything else...it doesn't really matter if you race to your full potential. I'm going to go out hard on the swim, attack segments of the bike, and try to execute a pr on the run. Obviously, I'm asking a lot of myself. At the end of the day I will be happy if I know I crossed the finish line with nothing left.

This past week I started to back off the training a little. I actually took 2 full days off and limited my weekend workouts to about 50-75% of normal volume with limited intensity. In fact today I ran 9 miles instead of the usual 12-15 and maintained a HR below 130. My legs felt pretty good. This week will include limited volume workouts, but good intensity. The most important thing this week is sleep. I will try and get plenty of it! As of today, the weather does not look that great for Saturday. Oh well, what are you going to do? Thanks for taking the time to read,

-T

Boise in my sights

In just over a week we will be heading to Boise, ID for my first 70.3 of the season. Actually, it will be my only 70.3 of the season! I feel like everything is clicking right now. My swim is coming around nicely, 15.5k in the pool last week!! I'm hoping all my winter miles translate into a PR on the bike, and my run has felt stronger in the past two weeks than it ever has. I can honestly say that if I ride within myself next weekend, I feel that I can challenge my 1/2 marathon time from Eugene in regards to my run split at Boise. We'll see. In all honesty, I just want to race to my potential. The big dance is still 3 months away, but next weekend will give me some insight into how fit I am and where I need to spend more time in my big training block leading up to Canada.

I never feel like I have enough time in the day, and the past few weeks at work have helped to prove this point. I'm happy for a little rest from training the next week as I enter into a modified taper...I need the extra hours to get ahead at work!! All else seems to be good. I was a little concerned about a cold I picked up last week, but I kicked that to the curb. All I can do now is get some proper rest and hope for the best next week. For some reason the bib numbers are not up yet, but I'll post my number when I receive it. If you are interested in following, the race is on June 12th and has a unique start time...2pm. You can track results on Ironman.com.

Well, that's it for now. As always, thanks for reading!

-T