Well, it's the day before IMC. It has been a year since Meg and I were up here. I left Penticton last year incredibly excited to come back and race this year. Seems like the time has flown by. My Dad and I got up here Thursday. The house I'm renting is great. 10 minutes out of town over looking the lake. I didn't want to stay in town. I wanted to be away from the craziness and all the testosterone that surrounds Ironman week.
The rest of my family is heading up today. We will have a big dinner and then I'll be off to bed early. I've spent the last few days going over my race and nutritional plan. I have both perfectly planned, now it's just a matter of execution. I can't wait to get to Richter. Actually I'm really looking forward to the rollers and the out and back after. Apparently that is where everyone gets discouraged. I will be strong here.
I'm actually looking forward to the marathon the most. I'm hoping my airway is mostly clear and if it is, it would be my first chance to finish a long course tri in over two years without a huge lung handicap :) So, yes...I'm looking forward to the marathon!! I want to thank everyone that has supported me this past year. I know it hasn't been easy with a job change, moving cities, and throwing a wedding next week. My *ARMY* rocks and I can't wait to see you on the course tomorrow :) And of course, thank you to all that are somewhere outside of Penticton sending me positive vibes.
OK, time to get to work!!
-T
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
In Route
It's Thursday morning of race week. I'm staring out the window of our hotel room, waiting for my Dad to wake up. I'm in the tail end of my taper so I'm finding it hard to sleep in! We have a short drive in to Pencticton this morning as we made it to Wenatchee, WA last night. It was a great drive! I have some photos I will post as the trip progresses, as well as some potential video if I can figure out the new toy :)
I'm feeling exceptional. Everything seems to be going well. I was very strong in the pool the last few weeks and my run as of late has felt fast and easy. Of course my bike is where I've put in the most time the last 6-9 months and let me tell you...I can't wait to get out onto that course on Sunday for the bike! Beyond that Dad and I are having a great time passing the hours talking about Ironman, fitness, current events, oh...and this little party that Meghan and I are throwing next week :)
I'll be #387 on race day. Feel free to follow along on Ironman.com. Thanks to everyone in my life that continues to support and encourage me. I'll be thinking about you Sunday!
-T
I'm feeling exceptional. Everything seems to be going well. I was very strong in the pool the last few weeks and my run as of late has felt fast and easy. Of course my bike is where I've put in the most time the last 6-9 months and let me tell you...I can't wait to get out onto that course on Sunday for the bike! Beyond that Dad and I are having a great time passing the hours talking about Ironman, fitness, current events, oh...and this little party that Meghan and I are throwing next week :)
I'll be #387 on race day. Feel free to follow along on Ironman.com. Thanks to everyone in my life that continues to support and encourage me. I'll be thinking about you Sunday!
-T
Sunday, August 22, 2010
387 reasons
I wonder what it's like to have a perfect race? To put everything together on race day and actually perform to your full potential. It doesn't happen too often in Ironman. When it does, it's magical. Look at Chrissie's recent performance at Roth of Mark Allen's performance in the "Iron War" for examples. So what does it take to make this happen? Well, it comes down to planning and execution. And then, well you need to have lady luck on your side as well. How realistic is it to have a perfect race? I don't think very. Why? Well because in Ironman racing, things will go wrong...it's how you recover from these issues or moments, that determines how "perfect" of a race you will have.
I keep getting asked this week if I'm ready. If you know me than you don't need to ask :) The only thing that is holding me back right now is my asthma, but that seems to be getting better as race day approaches. So will I have a perfect race? I don't know. What I do know is I will leave it all out there. I'm going to race smart and race strong. I'm capable of going sub 5 on the bike, but I won't as it's not in my race plan. My entire race plan revolves around running a quality marathon. I will do everything in the first 6 hours to ensure that I'm in position to do so.
Well, everything else is going well. We have moved into our new place and are eagerly looking forward to our wedding the Saturday after the race. My Dad and I will be heading up early to Penticton this week, the rest of the *army* will follow on Saturday! I'm incredibly excited to be heading up to Canada this week and then to be getting married the week after!! Talk about a great week.
As far as the title of this post. I feel like when people ask me if I'm ready to race, I can give them a multiple number of reasons as to why. Discuss all the time spent away from family, all the days out on the road or in the pool when I didn't want to be there, watching my diet, etc. In total, there are plenty of reasons as to why I'm ready. It just so happens that 387 is my race number for Sunday. So maybe I have 387 reasons to be ready to go? Thanks for reading!!
-T
I keep getting asked this week if I'm ready. If you know me than you don't need to ask :) The only thing that is holding me back right now is my asthma, but that seems to be getting better as race day approaches. So will I have a perfect race? I don't know. What I do know is I will leave it all out there. I'm going to race smart and race strong. I'm capable of going sub 5 on the bike, but I won't as it's not in my race plan. My entire race plan revolves around running a quality marathon. I will do everything in the first 6 hours to ensure that I'm in position to do so.
Well, everything else is going well. We have moved into our new place and are eagerly looking forward to our wedding the Saturday after the race. My Dad and I will be heading up early to Penticton this week, the rest of the *army* will follow on Saturday! I'm incredibly excited to be heading up to Canada this week and then to be getting married the week after!! Talk about a great week.
As far as the title of this post. I feel like when people ask me if I'm ready to race, I can give them a multiple number of reasons as to why. Discuss all the time spent away from family, all the days out on the road or in the pool when I didn't want to be there, watching my diet, etc. In total, there are plenty of reasons as to why I'm ready. It just so happens that 387 is my race number for Sunday. So maybe I have 387 reasons to be ready to go? Thanks for reading!!
-T
Thursday, August 19, 2010
And so it goes
One week from today I will be arriving in Penticton, BC for Ironman Canada. Am I excited? Yes, absolutely. I've worked my ass off to get prepared for this race. Am I nervous? Sure, but not nearly as much as IMAZ last year. I know what is in front of me. Am I confident? Quietly. I'm ready to reach my goals, I just need my health/body to cooperate. I got sick a few weeks ago with the stomach flu. Since then I have been doing everything possible to get healthy. The issue that I have is that with my asthma and sinus issues, even a common cold can set me back for weeks. We were very careful with the virus and upon starting to develop a sinus infection as a result, my doc was proactive and got me on antibiotics and predizone.
Will I be 100% a week from Sunday? Probably not quite, but I hope to be close. This was my first full week of taper which included plenty of rest so that timing was ideal. I have one more brick on Saturday which won't be done at a high intensity, but should clue me into where I am from a health perspective. So until IMC, the protocol is for rest, and lots of it. I wanted so bad to go out and test the lungs today as they have been tight all day...but what would that really do for me? Nothing but negative. It's one of the problems with Ironman, you always want to do more. But I've learned that lesson. As I stand on the beach in Penticton in a little over a week, I will be completely confident in my abilities and know that I have done everything possible (including rest!) to have a great race.
Thanks for reading,
-T
Will I be 100% a week from Sunday? Probably not quite, but I hope to be close. This was my first full week of taper which included plenty of rest so that timing was ideal. I have one more brick on Saturday which won't be done at a high intensity, but should clue me into where I am from a health perspective. So until IMC, the protocol is for rest, and lots of it. I wanted so bad to go out and test the lungs today as they have been tight all day...but what would that really do for me? Nothing but negative. It's one of the problems with Ironman, you always want to do more. But I've learned that lesson. As I stand on the beach in Penticton in a little over a week, I will be completely confident in my abilities and know that I have done everything possible (including rest!) to have a great race.
Thanks for reading,
-T
Monday, August 16, 2010
2 weeks
The days continue to fly by. In fact, I'm up way too late tonight just because everything is happening so quickly that before I know it, the clock is closer to midnight than 11. I've been extremely concerned with my health as of late, but am feeling much better lately. I jumped on the recent infection earlier and should be in good shape come Penticton.
Speaking of Penticton...I can't wait! The yates family bike course record is still probably safe for another year at 4:58, but I think I will be giving my original overall goal time a run for the money if I can continue to rest properly and stay healthy. This course is all about the bike and while I'm not 4:58 bike worthy, I'm better off knowing that and leaving some in the tank for the run. I believe I can run sub 3:45 that Sunday, just need to give myself a chance. Well, off to bed. Thanks for reading!
-T
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Me, my bike, and Ironman
It's been an interesting week. Home sick with the stomach flu for a few days of it. Finally started to feel a little better on Friday. Was able to get in 3k in the pool, all of it really easy. We then took off to Bend as we had some wedding stuff to attend to. I got up early and went out for my long ride of the week Saturday morning. I originally had another century on tap, but with the way I had been feeling lately we had decided to do this ride based on feel. So if I was feeling absolutely great, then maybe I would go the full 5 to 6 hours. If still feeling like crap, well then I would go an hour. You see, it doesn't really matter at this point. I mean it does, but it doesn't matter like you think it does. Going out and hammering a 6 hour ride 3 weeks before IMC isn't going to help me go faster. Getting sick again by doing this well most certainly help me go slower though!
So I set off from our hotel room and headed up Century drive towards Cascade Lakes hwy and Mt. Bachelor. I didn't feel great. Muscles were tired, low motivation, etc. I could tell I was still recovering from being sick. So I took it very easy, spinning up the hill. Despite this I was flying by people heading up the climb which made me feel great. I crested the summit and headed down the back side to Elk Lake where I turned around. I climbed back up to the summit again and then back to the hotel room. Overall I felt pretty good about the ride considering my current health. The thing I was most happy about is that my asthma (knock on wood!!) has yet to be impacted!
While on the ride, my bike and I had a few conversations. I told her she needs to go fast in 3 weeks. She told me she would. I thanked her for going hard at IMAZ, but asked why she was so slow at Boise 70.3? She laughed at me and told me to be smarter in my training and not race sick. I had to admire my bike at that moment. Not only is she worth more than me, but she was talking smarter than me to :) So we made a deal, I told her I would be smart the next 3 weeks and taper like a champ. I even committed to riding a strategic race in Canada, including not hammering out to Osoyoos or up Richter. In turn, she committed to a strong second half of the bike and promised my legs would be good for the marathon.
Let me tell you, it's good to have friends in this sport :) Thanks for reading,
-T
So I set off from our hotel room and headed up Century drive towards Cascade Lakes hwy and Mt. Bachelor. I didn't feel great. Muscles were tired, low motivation, etc. I could tell I was still recovering from being sick. So I took it very easy, spinning up the hill. Despite this I was flying by people heading up the climb which made me feel great. I crested the summit and headed down the back side to Elk Lake where I turned around. I climbed back up to the summit again and then back to the hotel room. Overall I felt pretty good about the ride considering my current health. The thing I was most happy about is that my asthma (knock on wood!!) has yet to be impacted!
While on the ride, my bike and I had a few conversations. I told her she needs to go fast in 3 weeks. She told me she would. I thanked her for going hard at IMAZ, but asked why she was so slow at Boise 70.3? She laughed at me and told me to be smarter in my training and not race sick. I had to admire my bike at that moment. Not only is she worth more than me, but she was talking smarter than me to :) So we made a deal, I told her I would be smart the next 3 weeks and taper like a champ. I even committed to riding a strategic race in Canada, including not hammering out to Osoyoos or up Richter. In turn, she committed to a strong second half of the bike and promised my legs would be good for the marathon.
Let me tell you, it's good to have friends in this sport :) Thanks for reading,
-T
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Well, I'm home sick today. Second day in a row. I caught some kind of stomach bug. I will spare the details, but let's just say I probably won't have a problem losing those few lbs that I was after :) The good news is my airway does not seem to be compromised at this point. This is always my biggest concern when I get sick as my airway typically gets inflamed and racing, well it's like trying to do an Ironman with a bag over your head. So...hopefully this bug leaves and I'm good to go. This was my last week of heavy work before entering into taper which means I'm just getting a little extra rest which is never a bad thing for an Ironman competitor!! I have a long bike scheduled for Saturday and a long run scheduled for Sunday, but I will change these as needed based on how I'm recovering from the illness.
There are so many doubts that enter your mind as you prepare for the big race of the season. The nice thing about this being my second Ironman is that I've had all the doubts before. I know there is nothing I can do in the next 3 plus weeks to race better at Canada...except for rest. Honestly, I could go out and do what I did last year 3 weeks before Arizona...a 112 mile tough ride with lots of pacing work, followed by a 7 mile run at sub 8min pace. Actually, it was the 3k pool time the day before and the 20 mile run the day after all added together that killed me. I had to face the facts...hammering out large workouts like that so close to the big race will do nothing but elevate the risk of illness. So this year I have been smarter. I've still been getting in these key workouts, but not in a row, and not so close to my race. Did I get sick this time due to training? Probably not, but my immune system was definitely not as strong as normal as I was in my final big training block leading into taper.
So the morale to this story is I have learned from my mistakes last year. I will not go out and hammer a 110 mile ride on Saturday and then back it up with a 20 mile run at a pace faster than what I intend to run at Penticton just to prove that I can do these things. I know I can. I already have...many times over the past 6 months. So as I retire the computer to take another nap, I'm content with where I am and confident that I will still reach my goals at the end of this month in Canada. Thanks for reading,
-T
There are so many doubts that enter your mind as you prepare for the big race of the season. The nice thing about this being my second Ironman is that I've had all the doubts before. I know there is nothing I can do in the next 3 plus weeks to race better at Canada...except for rest. Honestly, I could go out and do what I did last year 3 weeks before Arizona...a 112 mile tough ride with lots of pacing work, followed by a 7 mile run at sub 8min pace. Actually, it was the 3k pool time the day before and the 20 mile run the day after all added together that killed me. I had to face the facts...hammering out large workouts like that so close to the big race will do nothing but elevate the risk of illness. So this year I have been smarter. I've still been getting in these key workouts, but not in a row, and not so close to my race. Did I get sick this time due to training? Probably not, but my immune system was definitely not as strong as normal as I was in my final big training block leading into taper.
So the morale to this story is I have learned from my mistakes last year. I will not go out and hammer a 110 mile ride on Saturday and then back it up with a 20 mile run at a pace faster than what I intend to run at Penticton just to prove that I can do these things. I know I can. I already have...many times over the past 6 months. So as I retire the computer to take another nap, I'm content with where I am and confident that I will still reach my goals at the end of this month in Canada. Thanks for reading,
-T
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Good Days
It's been a little while since I have posted anything. To be honest, I've been so tired from work and training lately that I haven't had the energy to sit down and blog. This past week was a pretty good training week. Not too heavy during the week as last week ended with some big efforts on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday was supposed to be an 18 mile run last week and it ended up turning into a 20+ miler with over 2k of elevation gain. That wiped me out for the rest of the day. But, I ran strong and felt OK during the entire effort, even when I got lost! My run feels good right now. I can easily run 7:45 to 8min pace on a hilly course (see elevation gain above) on my 15 to 20 mile runs. My goal going into Canada is to be able to run sub 3:45 for the run. I believe I'm in position to do this now.
This past week has flown by. Before I knew it, Meghan and I were having a cocktail Friday night. I met a friend Saturday morning for my long ride. He had 60 on tap for the day, so we rode a hilly course together for 60 and then I went back out for another 40 on more flat terrain concentrating on pacing and staying in the aero position 5+ hours into a ride (not as easy as you think because everything starts to get sore!). I felt good about the ride. Erich is at different level than me so it was good to ride with him and push myself a little harder. I got off the bike and put my runners on for a quick 4 mile transition run. I felt great. The rest of Saturday was nice. We had a date night, so it was a nice meal out on the waterfront and then we saw the movie Inception.
This morning Jeremy and I headed out for 14 miles of running back up on the Leif Erickson trial. I was pretty sore from the last few weeks of heavy training and yesterday's effort. We ran pretty well. We averaged 8 min/miles for run while holding a conversation for most of it. Again, the elevation gain was nice! 1200ft in fact. So there is the skinny on the training update. Speaking of skinny...I still have a few lbs left to lose before IMC. I've really been trying to work on my nutrition lately and hopefully it will pay off with me dropping a little. I eat a lot so it's tough...especially with eating out a lot for work, but a few extra lbs can really make a difference. The only other thing I've been working on is my sleep. Got 10 hours of it last night. It was marvelous! Well, that's about it. 4 weeks to go. Game on.
-T
This past week has flown by. Before I knew it, Meghan and I were having a cocktail Friday night. I met a friend Saturday morning for my long ride. He had 60 on tap for the day, so we rode a hilly course together for 60 and then I went back out for another 40 on more flat terrain concentrating on pacing and staying in the aero position 5+ hours into a ride (not as easy as you think because everything starts to get sore!). I felt good about the ride. Erich is at different level than me so it was good to ride with him and push myself a little harder. I got off the bike and put my runners on for a quick 4 mile transition run. I felt great. The rest of Saturday was nice. We had a date night, so it was a nice meal out on the waterfront and then we saw the movie Inception.
This morning Jeremy and I headed out for 14 miles of running back up on the Leif Erickson trial. I was pretty sore from the last few weeks of heavy training and yesterday's effort. We ran pretty well. We averaged 8 min/miles for run while holding a conversation for most of it. Again, the elevation gain was nice! 1200ft in fact. So there is the skinny on the training update. Speaking of skinny...I still have a few lbs left to lose before IMC. I've really been trying to work on my nutrition lately and hopefully it will pay off with me dropping a little. I eat a lot so it's tough...especially with eating out a lot for work, but a few extra lbs can really make a difference. The only other thing I've been working on is my sleep. Got 10 hours of it last night. It was marvelous! Well, that's about it. 4 weeks to go. Game on.
-T
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