Back at it...

So after a ton of sleep, antibiotics, tylenol, did I mention sleep...I'm finally starting to feel better. The bad news is that I got Meg really sick! Dangit! Well, I must say it sucks to be sick. It had been a while since I had been sick and it definitely is not fun. I just need to keep drinking water and getting rest so I can continue to recover from it.

On a training front, I got in two hours on the trainer today. It would be nice to still be riding after work, but fall is upon us!! It was stormy and rainy today, not to mention that it get's dark now at like 7pm. That is the one bad part about Arizona. The last two months make it pretty tough to get the cycling in. The running and swimming isn't too bad, although it's much more tough to wake up for a swim practice when it's raining and dark out as opposed to sunny and warm. But, that is enough belly aching for one post. I need to hit the sack so I can get in a good day of work and training tomorrow!! I'm praying for decent weather this weekend, it's going to be a long training weekend so rain would suck! Thanks for reading,

-T

Home sick...

Well, the sinus infection is slowly leaving my body. FINALLY! I'm at the point where everything is clearing out...gross! The nice thing though is that my energy level has remained high. I got on the bike trainer for 30 miles yesterday just to get some miles in and not go crazy. Energy wise I felt great. Today will be much of the same. Probably get in an hour or two of very easy riding on the bike just to feel like I did something and then catch up on some couch time.

Ironman is 8 weeks away today. Crazy. I'm busy working with coach to alter my training plan slightly due to this infection. We have come up with a great plan that will allow me to hit Arizona in full stride!! I can't wait for the day to come. It's been a long season this year starting with the EUG marathon training in January. Congrats to Erich, Quigs, and Jer who all had great races within the past week. You guys rock!! Ok, back to being lazy...I'm going to enjoy it while I can! Thanks for reading,

-T

Be flexible...

So I enter this weekend fighting a sinus infection. Luckily I got on it right away and have been getting plenty of rest and started on antibiotics early. I'm feeling much better. I spent a lot of time talking with my "advisor" and we decided to change up weeks slightly so I will be continuing the resting and recovery theme for this weekend. I will be taking it extremely easy this weekend and get plenty of sleep. This will allow me to follow attack my final build up for Arizona.

I am 8 weeks away come Sunday. I'm happy that I'm going through this illness now and not later. It's been challenging, but I'm backing off from training appropriately to allow my body to recover. At the same time, the rest is allowing my body to absorb all the tough training of the past month...so it's not the worst thing in the world. For the first time in a while, I can say I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow! Thanks for reading,

-T

Rest...

Rest and recovery has been the name of the game the past few days. I'm definitely getting over some kind of virus. Starting to feel better, so that is good. I'll keep it light intensity wise the next few days but will still be pretty high on volume as long as I'm getting enough rest.

This weekend is shaping up to be a good training weekend. Century ride on Saturday and 20 mile run on Sunday. We also have a wedding and meeting with a photographer scheduled in there as well. Could be hectic! Lots of balls in the air right now. Kinds of makes it fun, but also crazy at the same time. I feel like my swimming has suffered lately. I had a good swim at Hagg Lake race the other week but making it to the pool since has been challenging especially this past week. Oh well, it's all part of the game right? Ok, better get to bed to get some of that much needed rest!

-T

Best wife ever...

Recent evidence that Meg is the best "wife to-be" ever. I wake up Sunday with a 5 hr, century length ride staring me in the face. Back it up. The day before...this woman went extra early to Autzen to set up the tailgate and encouraged me to run there while she did all the hard work so I could get my long run. I show up at the tailgate, get changed in the car and am fed gatorade and brats. Unbelievable!! Then, later in the day I'm starting to wear down and mention that I would like to go to bed early. I was hoping for 10pm, we were in bed by 9:30. Awesome!

I woke up Sunday morning feeling fresh for the first time in a few days. The only problem was it was still really cold outside. Think 42 degrees. No problem, Meg is still sleeping so I figure I can start my workout on the trainer. 90 minutes later Meg comes out and sits down on the couch. I ask her what she wants to watch since she has to put up with me riding the darn bike right next to her. She looks at me and asks, "isn't there football on? Aren't the Vikings playing?" I have yet to admit this to her, but somehow she looked even more beautiful than normal in that moment.

Back to training, I make it through the first 2 hours and the weather starts to look really nice outside. I decide to spend the next few hours outside. My legs were actually feeling pretty good considering I had put in a 15 mile effort the day before at marathon pace. It was all about the rest, I'm totally a believer in rest and recovery after training for this race. After a few hours outside I figured I had done enough and made for home. I think I ended up somewhere around 80 miles. Coach had said since I had been feeling so broken down that if I wanted to ride on Sunday I could but I had to do it at 110 hr or below. I averaged 109. Perfect.

Back to the best wife ever...I'm sitting on the couch unwinding getting ready for our favorite show "Mad Men" to start. Next thing I know she is bringing me our favorite drink (kind of our routine for the Sunday night show) a Manhattan!!! One lucky man I am. And I digress, back to training. Oh who cares... lots of swimming, cycling and running last week :) Check out this picture of the McKenzie from my ride on Sunday! Thanks for reading,

-T

Game Day...

Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep. "huh?" beep beep, beep beep, beep beep. Oh crud, it's the alarm again. Damn it, go away alarm it's Saturday. Check out everyone else in the bed...Meg = passed out; Teton the cat = passed out. Ok, maybe just go back to sleep for just a few minutes, I mean it is Saturday after all! I had been sleeping very well last night, which was much needed, and now was playing the "should I get up now game" with myself. Finally, the decision is made...Ironman wins! I get up and brush my teeth.

Coffee. Where are you? Why don't you make yourself each morning and be waiting for me? Wait, you can do that? I just have to get it ready for you the night before? Damn, why don't I do that again? Oh well, on button is pushed and the magically sound of coffee being made is performed. A quick look over the sports section in the paper while inhaling an egg and ham sandwich reveals that the Ducks will have another tough test today. 18th ranked Utah is in town. And weather doesn't look great...high of 74 with morning showers.

The first cup of coffee starts to work and I begin to work on my post breakfast plans. Where is my IPOD? Short sleeve or long sleeve shirt this morning? Fuel belt, get over here. You see Meg has to host the tailgate today and therefore needs to be there early. I wasn't liking the idea of setting my arch nemesis (aka the alarm clock) to an earlier time so I'm getting my 2 hour run in on the way to the game. I'm going to meet her at the tailgate and she will have a change of clothes. Should be awesome! What an amazing girl I have :) She was actually the one that suggested the idea! I have a winner!!

And now I have an empty cup of coffee. I'm going to fix that. I'm also going to grab my runners and think about leaving soon!! Thanks to all for reading, sorry it's been kind of down lately...part of the ups and downs of Ironman training I guess. And...LET'S GO DUCKS!!

-T

Pushing through...

Ironman training is extremely difficult to begin with. Add in a 60 hour work week and lofty Ironman aspirations and the training, and attempt at work/life/training balance, becomes a physical and mental challenge beyond what I've experienced. There have been many days lately when all I think about is going to sleep at night. The thought of sleeping seriously gets me through some days and workouts.

Today was one of those days. I was so exhausted by the end of the work day that I fell asleep while sitting on my bed pondering how I was going to make it through tonight's workout. Luckily work hadn't stopped (it never does) and the ring of my phone woke me up. I put on my running shorts and challenged myself to try and get 30 minutes in. Once out and running, I started thinking about Arizona and how hard I'm working towards this goal. That usually helps do the trick and it did tonight. Enough that I was able to get in just over 7 miles. I will sleep well tonight.

I'm humbled by the challenge that I'm presented with. I have an enormous respect for all multi sport athletes. The ability to manage this sport with life, family, careers, etc is something to celebrate...so I applaud all of you! On my end, I made a commitment to do this the right way...to train safely and to not lose sight of what is important in my life. For those that I made that promise to, I won't! And I love you for supporting me in this challenge. I'm off to bed as I have a hell of a weekend of training coming up. I also have to squeeze in a Duck game in the middle of it...should be interesting. Thanks for reading,

-T

Challenging Days...

Triathlon training, and Ironman in particular, requires a lot of dedication and sacrifice. There are great days of training and then there are days that just absolutely suck. Today was one of those days for me...the sucky days that is! I'm in my third week of a 4 week build. It's definitely taken a toll on my body, but at the same time I've been fighting off a cold. Not helpful! Yesterday was a good rest day, but I was ready for bed at 4pm :)

I got a good night's sleep and was feeling ok when I woke up extra early for work this morning. The plan called for swim this am, but I was on the road so no dice this morning...plus we had to be to work early. So, after spending the day in Medford and then driving the 3+ hours back I eventually hopped on my bike for my speed session. It called for 40 miles wherein 35 to 40 minutes of the workout would be a time trial. Same one I've been doing each week.

The wind wasn't bad today, but it was swirling. Basically, I just didn't have any energy. It was everything I could do to turn the pedals at 22 or 23 mph when I would normally be moving 24 to 27. Frustrating. I finished 90 seconds slower than normal and felt like falling over I was so tired. I put it in easy drive and slowly made my way home trying to concentrate on positive stuff. I found during that workout, and others like it where I have really struggled, it's imperative to focus on your mental game. Ironman will be so challenging that you must be prepared to go through some serious pain and road blocks to finish where you want. At least that's my opinion. So with that, I've stuffed my face and am relaxing watching some tv and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow will be a better day! Thanks for reading,

-T

Off to a rest day...

Another week of training is in the bank. I put aside my late night fun after the duck game yesterday and went out for my scheduled long run today. Coach said prior to it was ok to do 13 miles instead of 16 if I needed to as it had been a long week and I had just raced last week. He was worried about injury. No need to worry ETG. I ran the first couple of miles with Meg and then took off by myself for the rest of the run. It was tough. My legs felt pretty good though and I was able to maintain a good pace and keep my HR in line. So all in all it was a good run.

I'm happy to be heading to bed for some much needed sleep and then a day off from training. I have two more heavy weeks of training, then a recovery week, and then 4 more weeks of intense training prior to taper for the big dance. I'm feeling good. I believe my training is right on schedule and am happy with how well everything is coming together. I kept thinking today...only 6 more tough weeks of this!! That's it. 6 weeks. I will do that.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, I sure did! Thanks for taking the time to read.

-T

The build is on...

Well Saturday's ride went pretty well. There were the normal surprises that happen when you are out in the saddle for 5+ hours. I started out fairly early as I had to finish by the time our friends were coming into town. My legs were not happy. It has been another tough week of training and I could tell they didn't want to ride today. Oh well, have to get the mileage in...like it or not!

So I was taking an ancillary road prior to joining up with a busier road. Basically it keeps you off of the busier road for a mile or two. As I was heading up an incline towards the end of this little road I came to an abrupt stop. 12 feet in front of me was a pit bull. I was frozen! The dog and I stared at each other for what seemed like a minute. I grabbed my water bottle and was prepared to squirt him if he came at me. He just kept staring at me...like he was challenging me to try and pass. He was literally sitting in the middle of the road. There was no way around. So, I quickly came to the conclusion that an extra mile or two was better than the chances of getting into it with a pit bull and I turned around.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. I did have a flat, which I'm now much quicker at changing, got stung on the face by a bee, and had a nice lady at the quick mart wipe a bug off my face as I was stopping for more fluids! Too funny. All in all, it was a good ride considering how my legs felt. I averaged 19.0 for the entire ride which I was happy with. As soon as I got home I showered and then our friends showed up and we made our way over to Autzen to watch the Ducks. It was a nice day and now I'm laying around putting off my 16 mile run till a little later today...

Autzen at night on the left, Meg and I at our tailgate on the right.

-T

Saturday rides...

Solo century in the books! Including: bee sting on face, flat tire, wild turkeys (again!), decent amount of climbing, and avg speed of 19.0 for entire ride including in and out of the city. My legs were screaming as they were still pretty sore for this weeks training including a killer time trial and tough trail run. Yet, the day of training is now over and we are off to tailgate at Autzen and watch the Ducks kick Purdue's butt! Go Ducks!!

-T

Another day, another...

Double. It's the story of my life this summer as I build for IMAZ. Today was a good day, not too out of control, but still consisted of almost 4k in the pool and a 40 mile ride late night including a 40min time trial effort. I have a love/hate relationship with time trialing during training. I love it as it truly is the race of truth and you find out quickly what kind of shape your legs and you are currently in. Plus it is a hell of a work out and you leave feeling like you have really accomplished something. The hate part goes back to it being a hell of a work out. Man, I am always zapped after a good effort like that.

But this day was different. I rode strong and confident with my training partner. We took turns pulling and eventually he just asked me to lead the remaining few miles as he hung onto the wheel. I was thinking to myself, "why didn't I feel this good on Saturday!" That being said, I've had some time to reflect on Saturday's effort and am happy with the results. I'm basically in the process of beating my body down and to race well in the inclement weather and come out injury free and without asthma problems...I'm happy!

This week is my first bigger running week so wish me luck as I continue to build that part of the program. I'm happy with where the cycling and swimming are in regards to volume and am bringing up the running just as planned so I'm feeling good with where things are at right now. Work has been crazy and will continue to for the next month or so. It only adds to the fun right!?!

-T

Scoggins Valley...

5am and my alarm wouldn't shut up. Ok, Ok, I'll get up already. Go to brush my teeth. What's that noise? Oh crap, it is REALLY raining hard outside. This is going to be a long day...you can just tell. I put a bagel in the toaster and started the coffee. I stood there drinking my coffee looking at the pouring rain outside and thought to myself that I shouldn't race today...it's just going to be miserable and dangerous.

But then I remembered why I had signed up for this race. It wasn't for any type of placing or time goals, I just wanted to get some confidence back after having some serious health concerns at Pacific Crest Half Iron in June. So, I figured Hagg Lake (Scoggins Valley) would be a perfect race to do. It would land during my build up to Ironman Arizona so I could use it as a training day and the course is challenging so I knew I would get a good days work in.

But, back to the rain. This is going to suck!! I wake Meg up and we slowly head out to the car and make the 50 minute drive out to Hagg...windshield wipers going the entire drive. We get to the lake just fine and I start to set up my transition area. I see two of my buddies Brian and Clinton that are doing the race as well. Brian was giving me all kinds of crap for convincing him to sign up! Well, misery loves company Brian!! Alright, so bike is set up, runners are out and we make our way down to the lake to start the wet day.

The crowd (which consisted of the other athletes, volunteers and Meg) started to count down to start time. I wanted to attack the swim as I felt like my swim has been good as of late and I wanted to try and put the hammer on the field early. Dave Campbell was the class of the field, and I knew Dave was going to kill me on the bike so I needed to get out of sight and out of mind from him if I wanted a chance to be with him on the run.

Swim: I quickly went to the front of the pack and took off. My turnover was high. I rounded the first buoy and thought I felt a guy behind me (from the picture he was obviously there), but I wasn't sure. I kept the pressure on through the first lap and then just set into a long, comfortable stroke. Right before the last buoy, the guy that I thought might have been behind me passed me. I followed him to the beach and entered transition just behind him. My swim split was 21 and change. Just what I wanted.

Bike: I quickly made my way onto the bike as I wanted to get out on the course first and get myself distance from the field. The course is two loops around the lake with an out and back section each loop. The course is fairly hilly, especially after the out and back section. I could tell right away that I didn't have the legs. I'm in my Ironman build so my legs are a little worn down after many 200 -250 mile weeks. That being said I felt ok. I made it to the turn around at the out and back and saw Campbell coming in. He was a little over a minute, maybe two behind me still. I was leading the race and thought if I could just enter the run within a minute or two of Dave I would have a chance. Coming up to the end of the first loop I felt Dave coming up on me. He passed me right at the end of the loop. I was now in second and trying to keep Dave in sight. I kept my cadence up and was noticing that I was riding just as fast as him on the flats and rollers but the hills were killing me. I lost ground on the two climbs on the end of the second loop and entered transition in what I thought was 4th place (later find out that two of the people that passed me were either Duathletes or Sprint guys). I was actually in second still. I was very careful on the bike as I knew the only negative outcome I could have out there was to wreck in the horrible conditions. I split 1:12 on the bike which was over 6min slower than Campbell. Maybe on a dry day I would have been about 1:10? Hard to tell, but I do know I used my brakes much more than normal just to be safe :)

Off on the run and my legs felt pretty good. I went through the first mile at just over 7min and was slightly discouraged about that but had to remind myself that I'm in the middle of heavy Ironman training and shouldn't be running 6's right now, especially on this course. Again, this course is incredibly hilly! To add to that, the rain was still pouring. I wasn't noticing it as much on the run as on the bike though, just working harder I guess. I got passed about two miles in and tried my best to keep the guy's pace. He was just moving too fast. I kept him at about 400 meters for a while, but eventually he started to pull away. We made the turn around to head back and I saw a few guys coming at me fairly fast. I put my head down and really attacked the run back in as best I could. I didn't want to lose my current spot, which I thought was 5th. I crested the last hill and could see the entrance to the boat ramp! I turned around and saw nobody behind me. I had kept my place. I zipped up my kit and headed into the finish chute. My run split ended up at 45. Not my best, but considering the course and the conditions I was pretty happy with it. My overall time ended up at 2:23 which was a PR for me on that course. Considering the conditions and where I am with my training I was pretty happy with this. What I was more happy with was the fact that I actually came in 3rd overall behind Dave and the guy that passed me early on the run! So I ended up 3rd and won my age group. Not a bad day, despite the terrible weather! Thanks to Meg for the awesome pictures of the race!! My number one fan was the only fan out there in the monsoon :) Love you sweetie!!

-T

Ironman Canada Photos...

As promised, here are some photos from our trip up north to get my spot for next year. This was the view of the Okanogan Lake from our dock at our Bed and Breakfast.

Jordan Rapp coming down the finish chute for his first Ironman victory!!

To the right you have Meg and I taking in the finish line and preparing for our volunteer shift. Have I mentioned before how amazing Meg is?!? I'm so lucky to have her support and love!!

Below the podium boys are celebrating their top 3 in style!

And finally, our trip and volunteer work paid off the following morning as I was led to the front of an enormous line of athletes registering for next year. The whole process might have taken only 2 minutes for me. With that, we were off to start our long drive home!!

Thanks for reading,

-T

Scoggins Valley...

Well, it's almost the weekend and that means it's time to race! I'll be doing Scoggin's Valley Olympic Triathlon tomorrow to help supplement my build for Arizona. I'm looking forward to racing despite the weather forecast of rain for tomorrow. This week of training has been challenging and work has been extremely busy (more to come on that later). Hopefully we will have a somewhat dry and safe day tomorrow. I'll post after the race. Thanks for reading,

-T

Car lag...

Don't know if there is such a thing...but if there is I have it. We left our Bed and Breakfast in Kelowna yesterday just after 7am. We pulled into Portland at 8pm. Now, there were some stops to be had along the way, but basically we were moving (mostly via car) for over 12 hours yesterday. Wow.

We pulled onto Lake Shore drive in Penticton to register just after 8:15am and quickly found a parking spot. I was pretty worried as I know Ironman Canada normally sells out on site. We had volunteered in the hopes that we would be sent to the front of the line. Upon getting to the registration area I was terrified at the length of the lines. There must have been close to 1,000 people waiting in line!! I don't see any separate lines for volunteers. I start to panic. Just as I had made peace with the fact that I was going to have to wait hours at my chance to register a very friendly volunteer spotted me and asked if I was looking for the line for volunteers looking to register for the race for next year. "You bet your ass I am!!" Well, I'm sure I said something different, but regardless I was led around the back of this gigantic tent to a special entrance and was immediately sat down in front of a lady with a computer asking for my email address and credit card.

Heck yeah! We were out of there in a few minutes. Registration in hand, we stopped for breakfast and high tailed it out of our favorite country to the North. On our way home we stopped at Leavenworth for some Bavarian fun. It was a great trip, albeit short. Last week was a recovery week with training and was much needed. I'm confident my body took the opportunity to absorb the heavy base miles I put on it the past month. I'm now starting a strong 4 week build which includes a kick start of an Olympic Distance race at Hagg Lake on Saturday. Fun times. I'll post some pics from our adventure once I get them all downloaded from my camera. Oh, and I just looked...it appears for the first time in forever Canada didn't sell out on site so I guess we didn't really need to head north afterall. But we did, and it rocked!!

-T