Next steps

It has been a great few years training and racing for Ironman. Despite never quite reaching my ultimate goals of sub 10  hours and Hawaii, I have been close. This is an important crossroads. There are really two paths to take when it comes to triathlon for me currently. One is to continue to race Ironman distance. The second is to take a break and then focus on shorter distance races for the next year. As much as I would like to continue to race Ironman, I need a break. I'm physically, mentally and emotionally spent after the last few years. I could take a few weeks off and then get right back into it, but I don't think that's what I need.

So, I'm going to be human for a while. I'm going to just have fun this year. No major races as of now, simply local and regional shorter events. Maybe a 70.3 but that would be it. I'm going to enjoy racing in the pool a bit, some bike racing maybe, and a couple running races. And if I feel good about the balance in my life leading into spring then I will settle on a shorter race or two to focus on. It should be fun. And I'm excited. I love racing. I'm excited to have the swim become an important part of the race again. And now that I have a decent bike split...this shorter stuff could be really fun!

Thanks for checking in. Appreciate the support.

T

Ironman Canada 2012

Ironman Canada is my favorite Ironman race. Or at least it was. We found out the week of the race that this would be the final running of Ironman Canada in Penticton. So, I guess I just had to go out and kill it!
The drive up was nice. I had rented a nice little house off of Skaha Lake with plenty of room for the dog to play and nap in.

This was to be the last Ironman for a little while for me. Everything had been going pretty well. I had been getting treatment on my IT band for the past 6 weeks from a great PT and was feeling ok about the state of it. However, I had yet to run over 14 miles on it in my build up. My folks drove up Saturday and we had a nice dinner at the house and then off to bed around 7:30 for the early wake up call.

Breakfast was the same as IMCDA. 2 ensures, toast with almond butter, two cups of coffee. I was going to try and eat a breakfast bar as well, but I was too full. We made our way down to T1. Body marking was quick this year. Used the toilet and then went to get my wetsuit and timing chip on. One small problem, no timing chip. I stayed calm. I knew that I wasn't the first to lose or forget my chip on race day. I made my way down to the swim start and found the timing chip people. They gave me a replacement and I was back to say goodbye to the family. Once again, it was emotional. You know you are about to go to war for 10 hours and you are going to hurt. Your family knows this as well. it's also that point, the time when everyone realizes that all the hard work that you (and the family as support) put in is finally done. Except for this one final race. The last 6 months of early morning wake up calls, late night workouts, grumpy behavior, perpetual tiredness...it's all done. Now those people that helped get your through everything are there, or at home glued to a computer. It's time to show them why you did all that work.  Everyone gets a little teary eyed. Your truly included.

Swim: 54:32 17th overall - Not sure if this includes pros or not
My swim felt great. Canada is a great venue. Wide starting line. Time to warm up. Love it. I had some good advice to push hard the first 400 to 500 meters and then relax. The fellow swimmer had told me that there really is no difference between a 52 and a 56 if you can get on some fast feet and just hold the draft. The tough part is committing early to some lactic acid by sprinting. Well, I took the advice. I lined up directly in front of the buoy line. The start was frantic. Maybe everyone was jacked up after hearing the Canadian Anthem? I took off like a rocket and settled into a high position. I looked up to sight around 400 meters and I think I was in 5th or so. I think I basically maintained this position for most of the single loop swim. I got passed by two or three and then just focused on long strokes and taking it easy on the kicking. Soon I was nearing shore. I came out of the water and saw 54 on the clock...I was stoked. Fairly quick T1 and then I grabbed my hog and took off out of T1.

Bike: 5:23
So, you ever wonder it's like to race without heart rate, power, or even MPH? I have. I thought about doing it at an Olympic a while back but I didn't. Either way it didn't matter, Muddy and I had a very detailed HR plan to follow. I took off headed south on Main st. Figured I was in the top 10 amateurs or at least close to it. I looked down to start my Garmin. Well, I was about to find out what it was like to race without any feedback. I had no Garmin. In the frenzy before the start after losing my timing chip I had neglected to put my Garmin on my bike. I saw Muddy about .5 mile in. He was jumping up and down pumping his fist he was so excited about my swim. I yelled at him, "I have no computer!" He yelled back, "Just ride son." And ride I did.

The ride down to Osoyos was uneventful. Cruised along at what I thought was a quick enough pace and effort level. Got passed by some drafters but wasn't worried about it. Richter came soon enough and I probably passed 15 people or so going up. The best part was I was spinning. My legs were heavy to start the ride, but they were coming around nicely. We descended Richter and came upon the 7 bitches. I felt like I rode this part very well. I figured I was still in the top 30-40 and was feeling good. We came to the out and back and the sun was heating up a bit. I stayed on my salt and nutrition. The out and back was fine. I actually didn't mind it much, except for the road surface that is. I grabbed a couple almonds I had in my special needs and some more malto mix and I was off.

Meg and Mac waiting for me to return on the bike

The segment from Keremos to Yellow Lake summit was tough on me. I had been riding strong but was now hurting. In retrospect it was calories. I had eased back on the malto without realizing it and I wasn't drinking enough Perform (I might never do another Ironman event just to not have to drink this crap ever again. So terrible). I got passed by some people over the next hour. To top it all off, my IT Band was starting to really hurt and was probably effecting my mood, as well as power output. More than it should have. I saw my Dad at the top of the summit which was great. I needed a shot in the arm at that point. The wind had really picked up and was in our faces coming home. Normally I would have wanted this, but at this point my energy level was low and I was struggling. I finally put it together that it was probably lack of calories and started picking up the malto and Perform. I rolled into T2 without any idea what my split was (remember, no computer). I figured I had probably done around 5:40 or so since I had felt so weak the last 30 miles.

Run: 4:24
I took off out of T2 hoping my leg would cooperate. It was sketchy at first. I saw Meg and my Mom and stopped to give Meg a quick kiss and say hi. I completed the quick out and back along lake shore drive and saw Muddy. I told him about the leg. He said just do what you can. About mile 3 or so I realized that it was no longer really bothering me so I set in on 8:15 pace and got into the zone. Head down, focused on breathing, etc. I came across mile 5 or so and I saw my Dad. And then I heard another familiar voice and noticed it was my buddy Clinton and his friend Chris. They had driven all the way up to Penticton to support me. So cool. I finally asked what my split was on the bike. My Dad yelled back, "5:20 or so." I was ecstatic. Not as fast as I wanted, but within a few minutes. I looked down at my Garmin. Still on 8:15 pace.

Pops passed me at mile 9 and told me I was within the top 75 or so despite the leg and everything. I had done the math and realized I probably didn't have a chance at sub 10 but I sure had a chance at a huge PR (close to 10 hours, but under 10:15). And then mile 11 came. The pain in my IT Band was tremendous. I was forced to a full stop. I gave it a few seconds and started running again. Huge shooting pain and a quick stop. I tried walking. That seemed to work. Walked for 30 seconds and tried again. No dice. I almost started crying. Yes crying. I know. But hell, I was on a big day and was being forced to a walk because of this damn injury again. The sun was beating down on me. I was 15 miles from home and went from thinking I was less than 2 hours away to wondering what I was going to do. Walk it in? I stayed positive. I have dealt with this damn injury enough to know that it would eventually improve. In the meantime I started walking as fast as I could. Around 13 to 14 minute pace. About every minute I would try jogging again. I fell over at one point trying to do this as my leg was so painful.

I saw my Dad and updated him on what was going on. He gave me some encouraging words and I just kept trying to jog as I could. I was getting passed by dozens of people. I went from seeing almost nobody for the first 10 miles to having athletes all around me. I continued to stay positive and trust that even if it took me 12 hours because I walked it in that would still be better than not finishing. And then around mile 15 or 16 I tried the running again, like I had been every minute or two, and the pain was manageable. So I kept running. I will never forget coming around this corner somewhere around 15 or 16 and my father and friends were standing there clapping for me because they saw me running. It was a really cool moment. I remember my Dad was on his phone relaying info about the injury back to Mom and Meg and then he started yelling into the phone that I was running again. Very special moment.

Mac knew something was wrong :)

The rest of the run was pretty cool. I was running about 8:30-40 again. I was now holding my position, and in some cases, passing people again. I started doing the math around mile 18 and realized I still might be able to break 11 hours if I didn't walk any. Muddy stayed close during these tough stretches, same with Dad and my buddies. As I hit mile 21 and started into town I couldn't believe I only had 5 more miles in this race. All the emotions of the day and the summer of training started to overwhelm me. I saw my wife and Mom right before the final out and back on Lakeshore. I stopped and kissed Meg and said hi to everyone. At this point I knew I was going to be safely under 11 hours. I ran the final mile with pride. As I neared the chute I passed a few people so I could have it to myself. I saw my family off to the right and pointed at them as to say, "YOU!" You guys helped make this possible. Before I knew it I couldn't hear myself think as the finish chute was so loud. I don't remember hearing my name announced but I'm sure it was. I looked at the clock: 10:49. Hell, on this day with this injury, that was a hell of a time.

I grabbed some food and talked with some athletes until I saw my family. There was a tall metal fence separating us and I thought my dog was going to try and jump all 8 feet of it he was so excited to see me. I walked around and gave everyone a big hug. Everyone knew how important this race was to me. At the same point, they all know how important they are to me. Thank you to everyone that has offered support and guidance to me. Family, Muddy, teammates, etc! Special shout out to my swim coach...my SISTER!! We killed it Beck :) And my parents. Always there on these big days! Clinton and Chris for driving 10 hours each way to cheer for me! And of course, my beautiful wife. I owe her everything. Including a trip to Europe for allowing me to do two Ironmans in one year!! Yeah buddy...Ireland here we come :)

Not sure what is next. But it won't be Ironman. Not for a while at least. I need a break. This was my 5th on in less than four years. To some people that isn't much, but for me and my stressful work, it is. I will most likely concentrate on Olympic and half Irons this upcoming year, but again nothing is concrete. I will keep you posted as to my plans. In the meantime, I'm off to enjoy some time off. Thanks for reading.
T

Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2012

**Apologies on the timeliness of this report. Life has gotten in the way :) **

As with any Ironman, the journey you take throughout the day is what I will always remember. The emotional highs and lows that you go through after training and prepping for one single race that lasts 10-11 hours...This race was no different. I won't bother you with all the crap that slowed down or stopped training at many points throughout the year. Everyone goes through that. This year was just more than normal for me.
Pre race:
 I rented a place close to transition so it was a quick walk to transition. Prior to walking down, I consumed 2  ensures, toast with almond butter and a breakfast bar. 2 X cups of coffee and slightly watered down gatorade. All in I believe I was about 850-950 calories for breakfast. It had been warm in CDA leading into the race so I had upped my salt intake leading into the event and had been focusing on electrolyte drinks as opposed to just water. Meghan and I had a peaceful walk down to transition together. Along the way a car slowed down next to us and someone yelled at us, "The swim has been cancelled!" That person was my coach, the comedian, Muddy. The swim is my strength so he was just poking fun. I yelled an expletive at him and Meghan and I had a good laugh. Transition set up was quick and before I knew it I was putting on my wetsuit with Meghan, Mud and a teammate all around.

Swim: 56:55  5th division 40th overall
I had been swimming well the last few months and was looking forward to improving on the 58 I did here last year. I went down to the beach with plenty of time left so I didn't get stop up on the pathway. A huge downside to CDA for me is that you aren't allowed to have a swim warm up prior to the start. As I get older this becomes more and more important for me. Regardless, I lined up and the cannon fired shortly thereafter. Nothing like 2500 people taking off. The swim was aggressive, just like last year. I swallowed a lot of water. It was cold, but not as cold as last year. I was happy I wore my thermal cap. I made the first lap in about 27 and just settled behind some feet and before I knew it I was getting my wetsuit stripped. I wasn't happy with my time, but I was happy that it was an improvement over last year.

Bike: 5:37
The bike course was changed for this year. It went from a two loop course with short steep climbs to a two loop course with longer, sustained climbs. After driving the course I wasn't buying that it was going to be a fast course like everyone was saying. The climbs were long in nature. There was definitely opportunity to make up time on the downhills but if the wind didn't cooperate it could be a long day. So I set out on the bike and felt pretty darn good. Got about 20 miles in and you hit the first major climb. I spun up and passed quite a few people. I felt good on the climbs but was focused on taking it easy the first loop. It was a little cold and raining on us just a bit. Made it back into town and grabbed my special needs that consisted of a back up Pit Stop (didn't take), a couple mini candy bars, and more malto. I saw a very fast teammate of mine at this point and realized I was riding ok if it took him 56 miles to catch me.

The second loop was great. I was making up some good time on the climbs and it felt easy. The wind was in our face the whole way out and people were imploding. I just kept grinding and passing people. I made the turnaround to come back to town and focused on making sure my nutrition was sound and I was mentally prepared for the marathon. I was really happy with the second loop.

Run: 4:40
The run was a completely different story. First off it was a run. I took two steps off the bike and realized my IT band was not going to allow me to run. I grabbed my gear and set off to do the best I could. I made it about 3 miles before it was just too painful to run on. I mixed jog and walk and that seemed to help. I was pretty demoralized. I was mixing x amount of time jogging with y amount of time walking. Eventually the IT band started to feel a little better and I was able to jog more. I made it to the half way mark and told my wife I was going to be late. I found a teammate at that point and we jogged and walked the remainder of the marathon.

Overall= 11:23
I'm not happy with the time, but I'm happy I kept going. My coach and my family both advised that it might be smart to pull out and not risk further injury as I had Canada in 2 months. However, when you are 7 hours into a race the last thing you want to do is quit. I told them I would walk the damn thing if I had to but I wasn't going home with a DNF. I had a lot of fun out there. My swim is finally coming back to form. My bike was showing signs of improvement post accident. I just need to get the IT band rested and rehabbed.

As always, I couldn't do any of this without my wife, my family, and my coach. Especially Meghan. She is such a trooper and on top of it, an awesome cheerleader!! Thanks for checking in.

Blue Lake Olympic

Another race is in the books. I entered Blue Lake Olympic to help as a tune up race for CDA in two weeks. Entering the weekend I was suffering from IT pain in my right knee. It was getting progressively better, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to run full strength. That was ok. I was going to get out there to really swim and bike and practice transitions. So the alarm went off early this morning and we headed out to Blue Lake. I set up transition quickly and was able to spend some time with Meghan before I had to get my wetsuit on and get down to the swim start. However, 7:45 came early enough so I zipped up the wetsuit and headed down to the start.


The elite wave I was in was quite full. I expected there to be some fast swimmers which was good. I wanted to get out and swim relatively hard. The horn went off and I instantly surged towards the front. There was a group of 3 that was working well together and had their sights set on a fast swim time. I made some tactical errors and unfortunately was left behind this group. I made an attempt to bridge up to them early on, but without success. Luckily there was a second pack that had formed. During all this I had swum past another athlete that is normally good for somewhere between 20-22 min swim so I knew I was swimming well. I settled in with the chase group and enjoyed some draft before finally rounding home and getting out of the water. I was 5th or 6th upon exiting the lake. I have no idea on time as I didn't have a watch.


Some minor wetsuit issues in transition and then I was off. We had a long, muddy run to get to the bike mount. Since I have been racing Ironman and half Ironman distances exclusively for some years now, I'm no longer great at getting into my shoes when they are clipped into my bike. I lost 30 seconds fiddling with them once I mounted my bike. Anyway, out onto Marine drive and I was feeling good. The plan was to press the pace and try and come in somewhere around an hour for my split. I felt pretty good for most of the ride. I struggled to find that next gear and constantly found myself looking down to 70.3 pace instead of Oly pace. Honestly I just haven't done a ton of fast pacing so this was definitely a limiter for me today. Anyway, not sure on my spit. I think my garmin said 1:02 or 1:03 but that included my run before the mount. Anyway, feeling pretty good. I think I entered transition in 6th or 7th overall.


And that is pretty much the end of my race. My knee was hurting pretty bad on the run so I pretty much jogged and walked my way in. Not sure what my run split was, again no watch, but if I had to guess it was close to 50 min. This is about 10 minutes slower than I would normally run so I will admit it was a bit discouraging watching everyone pass me and not be able to do anything about it. As I turned into the chute I had figured I would be somewhere between 2:15 - 2:20 due to the run and the slow transitions. I was happy to hear that I was 2:15. Once I see the results I will have a better idea how the swim and bike shapped up. Overall I feel pretty good about the first two sections, but will be taking extra special care of the knee to get it ready for CDA. Had a great time out there today. It was really fun to do an Olympic again. It was great to have my mom there to cheer with Meghan. They hadn't been to an Olympic distance event in some time either and were joking about how much fun it was since everything moved so fast.


Well, that's it. Time to treat this knee and work on some taper for CDA. Thanks for checking in! Be safe out there.


-T

Addictions

First off, one of my addictions is my IPAD. After reviewing my last post after I blogged it, I noticed that none of my paragraphs were actually displayed. My post looked like a giant ramble. My apologies. I will try and figure out how to fix that. Back to the subject line. Addictions. Everyone has them. At least I know I do. On Sunday I thought about my addiction...fitness. I had a solid 5 hour workout Saturday that didn't tax me like it would early in the season. So on Sunday I found myself cruising along 90 minutes into a 2hr + run when someone came past me on his bike. The individual, Jeff I believe was his name, then waited for me to catch up and rode next to me as I ran for the next mile or two. Why do I bring this up? Well here I was pounding out 7:30 pace late in a long run on varied terrain while holding a conversation with some random cyclist. That feeling is so addictive. It is tough to explain. It ended up being a great run and wrapped up my final big volume week leading into IMCDA in just under 3 weeks.

However good the fitness addiction feels though, there is always a dark side. Here it is Monday night a little before 8pm and I'm preparing for bed. Our weekend nights lately consist of reading in bed and turning off the light early so I can get 10 hours of sleep to recharge the battery. This is where I thank my wife. What a year this poor woman has been through with me. Surgeries, MRSA infections, and a horrific bike accident. On top of all that, she still supports my training. To put that training piece into context, most of my big weeks are north of 20 hours of training (my biggest weeks 25-30/week...however these were rare). This is a huge sacrifice she makes for me. This is on top of the countless hours I put into my career and the fact I have my work phone attached to me wherever I go. I truly can't thank her enough. I know when I'm battling through CDA, I will be thinking of her and her commitment to me.

Training has been going well. It has been an interesting build up with such a limited time table. I will be very interested to see how I race in CDA. I'm doing a local Olympic distance this weekend to tune up and knock some of the cobwebs off. This race should be a good indicator of my current fitness as it will happen right before we start to drop down the volume as CDA draws closer each day. I can feel it getting closer. I have been getting butterflies for the past few days. Just randomly. I haven't had that in some time. Such a nice feeling. I guess that is "itch" telling me it's time to scratch!

Thanks for checking in. Train safe and have fun.

-T

Memorial Day Weekend Tune up

As I write this I'm setting at home enjoying a cup of coffee after a great weekend of training. I took Friday off from work as I had a huge weekend planned and I wanted to be able to enjoy Monday with my wife instead of training all day. So what was on tap? A century ride each day. Followed by a run on two of the days. The idea here is that we are really trying to build the bike fitness as we can't push the run miles up too much. So here is how it played out: Friday - Luckily, a teammate and friend of mine was in town and had Friday off as well. He is also coached by Muddy so we had similar weekends ahead of us. We slept in a bit and rolled out of town around 9am. We hit the climbing right away. I was astounded with how great my legs felt. The rest of the ride was either flat or rollers. We stopped at a really cool state park to get some water (which ended up being tough to find!). The park is right along the Willamette river south of town in the country. Lots of green space, etc. Anyway, we made our way back to Portland area and dumped the bikes and took off for our 30 min run. It was supposed to be easy and did feel easy except for the hills. However, at one point Jonathon asked me what we were running. I looked down and said 7:20-30. We both laughed about it...as that pace would not really be considered easy :) Saturday - Big team ride that left from our main sponsor's shop, Athletes Lounge. We had a good range of athletes on this ride: 9:10-9:30 guys up to 11 hour guys and gals. As we rolled out I was definitely curious to see how my legs would react. We rolled out about 90 minutes of flats until we started a 12 mile climb (gradual grade). I was very happy to be climbing with the front of the pack with relative ease. That being said, the pace was not pushed. If it had been I wouldn't have been towards the front. I could now feel the fatigue in my legs. Despite that, I still felt pretty decent. We basically made a giant loop out towards Scappose, Vernonia, Timber, Banks, and then back into town via West Union with a final climb up the backside of Thompson. That final climb hurt, but I felt ok going up it. I didn't try to push the pace, just to relax and stay seated. That day ended with 101 total milage, about 4500 feet of climbing. Sunday - I rode by myself. It started off pretty interesting as I ended up on gravel roads. It was about a 20-30 minute stoppage (well just REALLY slow riding/walking) to get back to main roads. It was pretty frustrating. However, I did make it out finally and was able to resume my ride. I was definitely feeling fatigued on this ride. It was more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge however. And I know that is what Muddy wanted. Obviously there would be physical gains, but the mental gain was just as important, if not more. So I rode along trying to enjoy the beautiful Oregon country side. I ended up with about 4k of climbing so not a ton, but I had to ride mostly flats the second half of the ride to make up for all the slower parts earlier. It all worked out in the end. I hopped off the bike and put on my runners for a quick five mile run. I was happy with how it felt. My legs werre heavy, but I was able to get into a nice rhythm and click off the miles pretty easily. So there you have it. 300 mile weekend with some solid runs on top of two of the rides. I am happy with how the fitness is progressing! Thanks for taking the time to check in!! T

Cycling

Coming up on 5 weeks until CDA. Amazing how fast the time has flown by! This morning I had the pleasure to get in my long ride with a good group of teammates. These guys like to ride early so we were rolling by 6:30am. The nice thing is we were done by 12:15pm! Ended up being another 5 hour day in the saddle, 90 miles in the bank. The ride felt great. I'm getting stronger each week. I'm finally starting to feel like my old self again on the bike. In fact I lead a nice pull for about 10 miles that apparently was done at a pretty fast effort. To me it felt like it should on the flats and rollers, get down and get your heart rate where it needs to be an crank the miles out. We ended up with 4k of climbing so not too bad, but there was a nice climb toward the beginning that I felt pretty good on. So, all in all I'm feeling pretty good about where I am at today. Despite all the forced time off, I feel like I'm starting to enter into that "Ironman Fit" stage. Where you crank out 5-6 hour rides without thinking about it. 2 hour runs become common place. Etc, etc.

That's a good place to be in for me. There was a lot of doubt as to where I would be come the start line of CDA. I know I won't be 100%, but I will be as close as I can get. I'm really enjoying the time back in the saddle as well. It is tough to explain but after going through that wreck, there were definitely moments when I thought about "what if that had been worse and I couldn't ride again?" Or worse yet, didn't want to? Luckily the wreck has just helped to remind me of how much I love this sport and has definitely made me even more aware on the road (if that's even possible). Well, thanks for taking the time to check in.

Be safe out there.

T

Slogging away!

Been a few weeks since I signed in with an update. Not too much going on. Been building the disciplines up in volume and intensity. The last few weeks have been pretty similar: couple swims, bikes and runs during the week (one interval workout for each discipline). Come the weekend it has been an 80-90 mile ride Saturday. Now the new thing for Sunday is I've been focusing on a longer brick. Basically I head up into the hills with my bike and ride for 2-3 hours at low intensity and then run 60-90 minutes off of that. It has been interesting. Since the volume is still relatively new post accident, the first Sunday was BRUTAL. This last weekend was much better. Felt stronger on both days than the preivous week. The climbing is no joke either (5700ft the first week, 3500ft this past week). Come this week though I was ready for some rest. Luckily my coach knows me best and had already scheduled a recovery week this week. Man he is good. I'm already feeling ready for the next 6 weeks. And let me tell you, I'm all in these last 6 weeks! I know it is going to be incredibly hard at times, but I also know it's going to be worth it in the end. I'm fortunate to have one of the best coaches in the business in my corner and the most supportive wife and family I know of. This is the home stretch. CDA and IMC are what I've been working towards for the past 5+ years. I have done both races previously, and have done both with respectable times (10:47 and 10:43)...however I want 48 and 44 minutes faster on each course. CDA will be somewhat of a crap shoot. A lot depends on how much volume I can take without injury or illness with the shorter build up time due to the surgery and crash. Despite this, I know it is possible and I will work my ass off to make it a reality. Thanks as always for checking in. Be safe. -T

Prep time

Well, Ironman Coeur d'Alene is 9 weeks away. That is as of today. I'm sitting on a flight making my way back from Orlando. Training has been pretty good lately. Not sure if I mentioned in the last post but I took my first outdoor ride the other week! It felt so awesome. Just to be back amongst nature, feeling the wing on you, and being able to travel to places on a bike where you just appreciate the scenery better than from a car.speaking of the bike though, that is one area that Muddy and I will be hammering the next 2 months. We have committed to putting in the work to get that top 5% bike split. We will see if we have enough time to do this post accident. Stay tuned for that. Swimming has been going well. My wife and I were lucky enough to receive memberships the other week as they brought her onto the club as an athlete member! Rock star status...confirmed. The MAC is amazing but the coolestart is that my sister coaches the am workouts I go through. So when I bust out of the water this year in the first group I have her to thank! So our ID cards we're still warm as we headed out to state masters swimming championishs to compete. It was weird to be back in the pool racing. We had a hoot though! Meg had an awesome meet! State champ in 200im! I had a mixed bag of a meet. Solid 200 free, 50 and 100fly and off 100, 400, and 800 frees. Luckily I was fast enough to take the crowns in the 400 and 800!! So we have been having some fun along the way which is critical. Can't always be training. Gotta get have fun in there. The next month will be critical for me. I need to stay healthy, nail my workouts and continue the stretching and massage. The next block here will give me a really good idea of where my fitness is heading into our final build. On a health front, I continue to heal. I'm hoping the one fake tooth I have is where we get to stop but we could still potentially lose two more. Will be a few months until we get it figured out. Thanks everyone for checking in. -T

What's Next?

Thank you for all the support the last couple weeks post accident. I will admit, it has tested me. My sister and some friends have nick-named me "Trevor Tough." As they said, "it's a different type of tough." I don't know if I agree. However, I appreciate the sentiment. Update on all that is medical: I lost one tooth as a result of accident. Two other are still in jeopardy as they were pushed back into socket at the ER. We will see if they regenerate or not. If not, they will be pulled and implants put in their place. I have the best in Portland working on my teeth which is wonderful. That said, it will be 3-6 months of waiting, root canals, etc. Couple dozens stitches, never got final count. Some cool scars for sure.

I have tried to stay positive throughout. I won't lie, it's been a challenge at times. I basically couldn't speak for 1.5 weeks. I had so little energy the past few weeks due to recovery that I haven't been able to train much at all. Emotionally it has been a double whammy. Tired to begin with and not able to train on top of it. Similar to having an injury but with more fatigue. When a major part of your life revolves around fitness, you can see how this could be a challenge to wrap my head around. I've tried to stay focused on the big picture. No major injuries. No debilitating issues. Just some messed up teeth and a messed up face to prove that I ride a bike a lot.

Physically: Workouts have been rare. I received a promotion at work the week before the accident. It is awesome but it meant more responsibility and more time. Not a great combo when you are laying bed on pain pills unable to talk. I had to sacrifice some fitness to focus on health and work. Last Sunday I decided to run in the 15k at the annual Shamrock run in Portland. I had already paid the dues and their was a sweet bottle opener to every finisher. Despite not running in two weeks I toed the line. After 1/2 mile my teeth were aching and starting to bleed a bit (the up and down of running had been discouraged but what do those guys know?). After 8 miles we were going downhill and my quads were on fire as a result of no run miles. However I did of course finish. And it didn't kill me. I was slow, but still in the top 20% of the field. More importantly it felt awesome to hurt like all hell again. During the race and the next day. It truly invigorated me.

The future: Oceanside is out. CDA and Canada are definitely a go. Actually I would say I'm more excited to compete than I have been in a while. Why? For a few days after the accident I wondered what it would have been like to never have been able to put together a solid Ironman race. As well as to potentially not be able to compete again (if it had been more serious). It made me so sad to think about the thrill of toeing the line and giving it your all on race day at an Ironman and the reality that it might be gone someday. So, yes...to the dozens if not more that have asked me, I will ride my bike again. In fact I have. Indoors only at this point. I maintain riding a bike is safer than driving a car if ridden defensively. I have ridden dozens of thousands of miles (if not thousands at this point) without injury until now. If it hadn't been for a grate, that is illegal in Oregon (more to follow on that coming soon), I would still be accident free. You can ride safe. Shit will happen. Same when you are driving to work, flying across the country and riding the elevator. Accidents happen. Such is life.

Live in the present. Train smart and safe. I truly appreciate all the support. And, more than ever, I truly appreciate our sport.

T

Down Goes Yates

Every cyclists worst nightmare...well at least it was always mine. Going down on the bike. I had avoided it for all my miles of cycling. I consider myself a very safe cyclist, always aware of my surroundings. I practice ride as if something terrible can happen at any moment and I obey the traffic laws. Yet, unfortunately sometimes the cards don't fall the way you want them despite your best efforts. Saturday was one of those days for me.

I was heading out for a 75 mile ride. I was getting within the final month of my Oceanside prep and I was really looking forward to testing the legs and the new fit on this ride. I was doing the ride solo so I was carrying two bottles with Malto on the frame and a bottle of electrolyte in my torpedo. A couple miles into the ride I had to cross a bridge which includes 1/8 of a mile on a highway and then I take the exit after crossing the bridge to then get out in the country. I have ridden over this bridge a few times. Nothing too crazy about it. Yet Saturday I was decending on the off ramp with good speed when I went over a significant bump in the road. My torpedo bottle ejected (which is VERY unsual. In fact I have never had it happen). I remember wondering whether I should stop or not to retrieve it. Just as I made my decision to stop, I came around a corner on the off ramp and looked to pull over to the side where there was a grassy area. I suddenly saw a storm drain, but it was too late. I didn't know if it was going to be a drain with a grate to it that I could just roll over or not, but I was about to find out.

Unfortunately for me it wasn't. My front wheel immediately sank a few inches and I went superman into the pavement. Now after typing all that, I'm not entirely sure on those details. Those are the events as to the best of my memory but it is kind of blurry. Once I hit the deck with my face I could immediately feel one of my teeth get pushed back into the jaw bone. I knew that wasn't good. I got up and was spewing blood from my face. I grabbed my bike and started to carry it. I felt around in my teeth with my tongue and realized I was missing one tooth for sure. Others appeared out of place. I was surprisingly calm. I used my beanie to help with the beanie and phoned my wife. I don't really remember exactly what I said but I basically told her to get over to where I was ASAP. I hung up the phone and realized that I was still pouring blood. Nobody had stopped despite dozens of cars going by every 60 seconds. Finally someone stopped and offered me something to stop the blood and to call 911. I thanked him for the towell and pointed to the phone on my ear as I was calling 911 right then.

Everything else is pretty non eventful. I did lose the one tooth and will lose two more. I am having the dental work performed by the best crew in Portland this week. In fact, my oral surgeon is the surgeon for the hockey team in town. I figured he would know a thing or two on implants :) Besides that I have a couple dozed stitches in my face. The road rash is healing surprisingly well. Amazingly I suffered no fractures. Not a single one. My face is a mess, but nothing that can't be fixed. Let this be a reminder to take nothing for granted. Always ride safe. Thanks for taking the time to read. Below is a picture I had the ambulance guys take on the way to the ER.

T

Weight

Training is going well. Oceanside is less than 2 months away. As typical for February, I'm still fighting my weight. It feels like every year it is harder to get to race weight. I eat relatively well, especially considering that I don't have a sweet tooth. However, I do enjoy a wonderful Oregon micro brew on a regular basis :) This year has been more difficult than normal for me as I basically didn't exercise for most of the fall. I am doing my best to stay focused on Coeur d'Alene and realize that I won't be at ideal weight for Oceanside. That being said, there is no way I'm giving up! Besides just watching calorie intake, the longer training weeks are and will continue to help.

Beyond that, things are going well. I got a cold the other day, but for the first time in forever, I was able to train through it and it didn't turn into a sinus infection! I have to once again thank the amazing doctors that continue to help me stay healthy. Especially Dr. Pavlovich. He is my sinus savior! I'm looking forward to seeing what my body can actually do this year with some serious training. The last few years I've always had trouble truly ramping up my training due to illness. I'm still trying to stick to the early am workouts and it has been working pretty well. The key for me is getting enough sleep on the weekend to somewhat catch up. Even when going to bed really early during the week, it is still challenging to get more than 7.5 hours when waking up so early. I am really an 8.5 - 9 per night guy, especially with heavy training and my career. So, we will see how it plays out!

Thanks for taking the time to check in!

T

Starting

As of this weekend we are 8 weeks from Oceanside. The ramp up has started. The last two weeks have been challenging. Longer workouts and more speed. The objective of course is to not over cook myself so Muddy and I are being very precise with how we are addressing this. Coeur d'Alene and Canada are the real races this year, Oceanside is an excuse to get to San Diego and Sea World and test the early season fitness. Because the build has started I'm focusing more on hydrating, eating properly, and sleep. Sleep is the toughest thing to get when you have to balance all this. The morning workouts help, but it is a real struggle for me to be out of bed when the alarm clock has a 4 on it. I'm getting better however and I know it will only improve. I'm definitely getting excited about the upcoming season. Meghan and I really love visiting Penticton and Coeur d'Alene. I also am stocked about completing some unfinished business at both races. I will do a run race or two next few months to get the race wits about me before flying south to So Cal. It's going to be a great year. Thanks for checking in! T

Updates

Well, not a ton to report. Training has been rolling along. The super early morning training is actually working out pretty well! Luckily I'm not too disruptive to my wife when rising so early in the am. So, training is plugging along. I'm back to that consistent, "man my legs are a little heavy" and the, "isn't it time for bed?" at 8:30 routine :) I'm making some changes thus upcoming year. First off, Muddy is still coaching me. However we are getting more aggressive with our program as we have our sights set on some podiums. We will be turning my bike into more of a weapon while continuing to work on the run so I can get off the bike with a top couple percent split and still run comfortably fast. The run is always the challenge for me. I was happy with my progress last year with a half iron pr to end the season, but my run times were still not where they needed to be. Speaking of the bike...I'm getting refit. I have corrected some flexibility and strength concerns and so I will be returning to a more aggressive position. I gave up a lot of time last year with my set up, both in aerodynamics and power. This will not be the case this year. As far as the swim, I will be working with a local club to get more productive workouts as opposed to always swimming by myself. Overall, it's hard to believe that oceanside 70.3 is just around the corner! Time to get busy. And on that note, I need to get some training done! Thanks for checking in! Trevor

4:30

Triathlon is an amazing sport. Ironman is simply a distance within the sport of triathlon. It is usually the distance associated with triathlon due to Ironman Hawaii and the NBC coverage every December. Heart felt stories of every day people over coming odds to race alongside the pros who are competing for podium positions in the Ironman World Championships. I have raced across most distances: Olympic, Half Iron, and Iron. Iron is far and away my favorite. I enjoy the shorter Olympic race as it is balls to the wall for 2 hours, but I really enjoy the mental game of Ironman much more. This came up recently when a friend of mine asked what to do when the going got so tough that the only logical solution was to quit. I said, "It's pretty simple...you dig deeper. Anyone else would quit. If you want to be special, you dig deeper. If you want to be ordinary you quit." This is Ironman racing. And really triathlon racing in general.

So, speaking of training...I am so happy to report that I am finally healthy and back to training!! I've been through two MRSA bug infections, sinus surgery and a cold/flu and can finally say...I'm back at it! Part of being back for this year is balancing time. I have committed to getting the majority of my training done early morning this year. This means waking up at 4:30am most days. And then working 11-12 hours. And then most nights working out a little bit before dinner as well. Yes, 4:30. I know. But, it is better than spending time after work away from my beautiful wife. I would rather train when she is sleeping. Also...it feels so good to not feel pressured to get in a 90-120 minute workout after work because you already NAILED it before everyone else was awake! I will admit, this change is not going to be easy. But I'm committed, and will update you all on the progress. It's only in it's beginning stages, but I feel good about it so far. My apologies for not posting more often during the holidays. My Christmas and New Year were wonderful. I hope yours were as well and you got everything you asked Santa for! Now, time for bed. Thanks for taking the time to check in,

T