Selfishness

Every now and then I pinch myself. I have the best wife in the world. Ironman is a very selfish sport. It can inspire people, change lives in fact. It can also ruin relationships, and has. This is a constant concern for me. In order to compete at the level I want, I have to put in an enormous amount of time and energy. Considering I don't get to do this sport for a living, this time and energy has to be done around work. And family. And friends, etc. When I met my current wife, we lived in separate cities. Training early in the morning and late at night during the week (before and/or after work) was no problem as we didn't see each other anyway. Well, then you fall in love. And you want to spend as much time as you can with that individual. Especially once you move in together and get married! Again, I'm a lucky man...my wife is awesome.

So, I'm in my build right now for IMCDA. The training is and will be intense for the next 2 months. Currently I'm in a solid block and am amazed that I'm still awake (it just turned 9pm). As soon as I'm done typing, it's lights out. So what does all of this have to do about my wife? Well, when you are in a big build like this and you don't want to get up at 5am to put in another session, it sure helps to have your wife there helping you get up in the morning! Yes, Meg gets up early throughout the week, which included this morning. So, I have my own personal alarm. Without her, I honestly don't know if I'm getting in my session this morning. I really don't. But that's what life is about. Sacrifice, and love.

Like I said earlier, ultimately this is a very selfish sport. I work more than most, and I train more than some people work. Not much time left for my wife, or anyone else in my life. And don't kid yourself...when I'm out there suffering in an Ironman...I think about those close in my life, but ultimately...you race for yourself. You race to test yourself. How fit did I get? How tough am I? Because of my wife, and other loved ones in my life, I'm stronger than I would be without you. Thanks for taking the time to read.

-T

So what's new?

The past few weeks have been pretty interesting for me. I am finally starting to feel healthy which is great considering we are entering the bulk of my CDA build. I'm finally starting to get this sinus situation under control which is great. Unfortunately it involves a fair amount of medication to start and potentially surgery post race, but it's great to be feeling better again!! On the health front, the asthma is getting better as well and I'm seeing one of the more skilled specialists in the west coast in a few weeks to make sure we are dialing everything in properly for the big day in June. My number one goal over the next 10 days is to stay healthy. My docs are helping me with this, but I have to do my part. I have to continue to stay hydrated, eat properly and ensure that I'm sleeping and recovering properly! As you start to enter these heavy training periods when you are riding over 250-300 miles a week and/or running 40-60 miles per week, your body is on the edge constantly. Pros and some elite age groupers can sustain even more volume than this, but Pros don't work 50-65 hours a week. This is the time when I have to become one with my body. I need to listen to it. I need to fuel it properly. I must take care of it, and ensure I'm allowing it enough time to recover. My dad likes to tell a story about a former National cycling coach that said the toughest thing to teach a pro was not how to train, but how to rest and recover. So, although I will be putting in some pretty heavy weeks over the next two months, I will be listening to my body...and so will my coach. Speaking of coach, I can't tell you what a difference having a coach makes. I'm more fit than I have been in a while and we are just entering into our build for CDA. Speaking of balance, this week and the next few weeks will be tough. My career requires a lot of my attention normally, but especially lately. Right now for instance, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Florida as we are winding up an annual trip before heading back to Portland tomorrow. Travel can be tough for an Ironman athlete, but that's where my coach comes in. He knew exactly how to have me attack this week so I could still make some good deposits, but without having to spend all my time in the gym while out here. Lastly, I hope to be posting some pictures when I get home of my new ride for this season!! Not only have I upgraded to a faster machine, but I will be uber comfortable for the bike leg of Ironman which I have never experienced. Can't wait to get this new beauty out on the road and get some miles in on it!! That's all for now. Thanks for taking the time to read, -T

King's Valley

Although I have been competing in triathlon for some time, I've never ventured into bike racing. I've always wanted to try, but have always had something else going on or didn't commit early enough, etc. As we have looked to what I need to work on going into IMCDA to have a legitimate shot at qualifying, my bike was the blinking red light. Although I normally in the top 10% of the field for my bike split, in order to get to that next level, I need to be in the top 1-2% of the field. So now that I was starting to feel a little better and starting our proper build into CDA, a challenging bike race made perfect sense. It was a 56 mile race that involved rollers, a hill or two and combined Cat 4 and 5. Here is how it went:

My buddy and I left Wilsonville and made the 1:15 min drive to somewhere between Salem and Corvallis for the start. We registered, changed, etc. Unfortunately we weren't able to get in a proper warm up, more on that later. So, we made our way down to the start of the race and listened to the race director. He discussed the usual stuff and made mention of how tough the finish was, a few times. Going into this race I figured I would be competitive. I mean hell, I race Ironman. Hang with a few roadies for 56 miles, no problem. Race started and instantly I could tell that I was still recovering from my sinus infection. We made it through the first couple rollers and I settled into the peleton and was really enjoying the race. At about 15 or 16 miles we hit the steep hill of the day. I started to drift back a little and then we hit a bench and we started to come together a little bit. As soon as I thought, OK, no problem...the hill picked up again and I couldn't respond to the surges going on ahead. The peleton was now much smaller.

I regrouped and looked around. My buddy Jer was there and we seemed to have a group of 3 or 4. Jer and I started to work together and quickly caught others that had been dropped. Some of them teamed with us and before I knew it we had a chase group of 5 to 6. I could see the peleton just ahead and we were gaining! Unfortunately it was as if none of these dudes had ever formed a pace line before! We just couldn't stay organized and I ended up taking some pulls that lasted WAY too long. But I wanted to catch the peleton. After about 10 miles of chasing, our group started to fragment even more on the second loop (of a 3 loop race). As this happened, the peleton became less visible ahead. As we moved into the 3rd lap we lost my buddy and soon it was just me and a guy that raced for a team out of Portland. We worked together to keep the pace honest, but the winds were absolutely brutal. Every time we hit a hill we both laughed because our legs were just concrete. I had exerted so much energy trying to chase that peleton because we couldn't form a proper pace line...and now I was paying the price.

The race finish was uneventful. Levi (the dude I finished the final lap with) and I rode the 4 miles back to the car. My buddy showed up a little later and we both joked about what a tough day it was out there. So, what did I learn? There appears to be a fairly big difference between Cat 4 and Cat 5. I was surprised by how tough some of these guys were. I also came to the conclusion that it is a very good thing that I have a big bike block coming up because I'm not where I need to be on the bike. I also know that I need more hill work prior to CDA. And finally, I learned - once again - that a proper warm up is a MUST. I was not warmed up and at those races, the pace starts right off the jump. The lactic acid will start very quickly if you aren't warmed up. I believe this is a big reason why I was already mushy legs when the attacks occurred at the end of that first lap.

I will say, I absolutely loved the experience! What a great way to get a solid 60 miles in on the bike. I will do more of these races, just not sure how soon. After racing Saturday, I ran 75 minutes this morning. Jer joined me, and it is fair to say we were both still feeling the race a little. Our run was relatively tough. So, hopefully this weekend I made some good deposits that will help come June! Thanks for reading.

-T

Build time

Well, we are just under 12 weeks away from Ironman Coeur d'Alene. I'm finally starting to smell the race. And speaking of smell, I finally have some of mine back. Seems like I've been sick all winter. Basically I have. I just finished my 3rd course of antibiotics in just under 4 months. The good news is I'm feeling healthy again and am meeting with some great specialists to help control my sinus issues and asthma leading into IMCDA. The biggest obstacle for me when it comes to racing is staying healthy. I am very prone to sinus infections and my asthma is a formidable foe. With the help of some quality doctors, we hope to try and eliminate (or at least reduce) these handicaps over the next 3 months.

Speaking of the next 3 months, Muddy and I have started to increase the volume and intensity of my training. I'm excited to be getting some serious work done and look forward to seeing my body adapt. We put in a lot of maintenance work over the past 4-5 months, now is the time to really get the body, and mind, ready to race 140.6 miles at a high level. I will be heading out to Coeur d'Alene to preview the course prior to the race which will be awesome. Hopefully I will be well acquainted with my new friend, err I mean bike. Yep, I'm going to be riding a new machine soon. We couldn't get my Felt B2 to fit me properly so I pulled the trigger on a new ride. After considering and researching bikes for the past few months, I decided to invest in the Ferrari of bicycles. Pretty soon you will see me riding the 2011 Trek Speed Concept. Mine will look very similar to the one pictured below, but with different wheels. I am still a few weeks out from getting this beauty delivered and built up, but will post pics once it's done. I can not wait.

Well, that about sums it up for me. Time to hit the sack and go at it again in the morning!

-T