Inspiration from an Ironman World Champion

This is from Scott Tinley, the two-time Ironman World Champ (thanks to my teammate Danielle for forwarding this to me):

"You ever wonder what regular people think when they hear that close to 20,000 people are trying to get an entry into Kona? They're thinking all those people must have a screw loose, that's what. Yet, I'd bet 1,000 sit-ups that more than a few of them dream about crossing the finish line, all tan and trim, the crowd screaming, their toothpaste commercial smiles caught and beamed out over the airwaves. And I bet that when they wake up in the morning, more than a few roll over and try to hide from the gnawing desire that they, too, could have that same screw loose. Maybe they are realizing that too many of us die too young or too late. Maybe they know that we pull ourselves up by making money, making the grade; all the while taking less and less time to face the fact that there are some things in life we need to do. Just because.

I think the Ironman is one of those things. For all those people, I can't pretend to know why. Hell, I barely have an idea why I did close to 50 of them myself. But I know people are changed by an Ironman. Ironman finishers leave a mark on the world.

Try to define that. Go ahead. The words will never come. It is enough to hear the stories, to watch the returning smiles. Witness the metamorphosis.

Yeah, there is a price--relationships, jobs, sunburns, missing toenails; there always is for the good stuff. But the call of the distant drum is too loud to ignore, too powerful to pawn off as some midlife crisis of the middle manager or desperate plea of a soccer mom. All they want is their one day. One day full of enough feeling and emotion to last an eternity.

But like war, marriage, tight jeans and stick shift cars, the Ironman isn't for everybody. As much as it can give, it can take. If it were easy, it wouldn't mean the same. Even dreams are fair game in the forecast of one's decisions.

I know there are ways to validate one's life. There has to be. The Pulitzer Prize winning author Katherine Anne Porter once said that salvation can only be found through religion and art. I believe that great feats of physical endurance include both those traits.

And in a world that tries its hardest to separate us from what matters, the Ironman helps us to reconnect with the pulse of our lives. As long as it does that, we will be happy to have made the decision to even attempt the dream"

The Whip

Latigo is the Spanish word for 'whip' so it's no surprise that Latigo Canyon bends and curves in a seemingly endless series of twists, always going up. 10+ miles of climbing to the top of the Santa Monica mountains.

That was our task this past Sunday, as we are now inside of 3 months for Ironman Florida. The idea being that such unrelenting climbing helps to build great leg strength, which is going to be needed on that 112-mile bike leg.

I'm glad I had never driven up that road before because if I had, I don't think I could have brought myself to try it on a bike. And now that I've done it, it's one of those "Wow, I've come a long way" moments that happen every so often in triathlon.

The bike has always been my weakness and I am always a bit hesitant on it, especially when it comes to big climbs, as once you start up these things there is usually no stopping or turning back. I couple of different times I literally thought I was going to fall over because the exertion was so tough and there was no where to go. But I've always gotten through it, although the experience can be a bit haunting. I've never had anything like that in the swim or run.

But, we made it up there, all the while in my lowest gear going about as slow as you can go without falling over. Took a little more than an hour to cover the 10 miles.

Then, we cut along the crest of Mullholand, over to Decker Canyon, then back to Mullholland for a nice descent to PCH. Rode a little further north then back to Pepperdine for a solid 4-hour ride, easily the most difficult I've ever done.

Just two weeks prior, I did a 6-hour ride followed by a 30-minute run. That wasn't too bad because it was just up PCH, so nothing by good rollers and no big climbs.

I am certainly serious about my training these days and things are getting pretty intense. I leave for a family reunion in Wisconsin for a few days, which will be a good opportunity to get a couple of long runs in the humidity. I'll also have access to a pool, and will need to get a couple of good swims under my belt.

Miles logged thus far in 2008

Bike: 1,100
Run: 350
Swim: 50

Time to Rededicate!

I’ve been a slacker.

For the first time in almost 2 years of triathlon training, my workouts have come off the rails a bit. I had an illness, then a couple of minor injuries, and way too much work and travel that were all contributors. But the bottom line is that I just caved mentally.

It’s darn hard to train every single day (sometimes more than once) for months on end. I think it’s somewhat good this has happened because I still have 4 months until my Ironman and I probably needed to get this out of my system. Better now that in 2 or 3 months. Assuming, of course, that doesn’t happen as well. But truthfully, I’m so scared for life about finishing at Ironman that that will provide plenty of motivation.

At this point, I’m leaning towards scrapping Vineman, a half-ironman set for a couple of weeks. I could certainly get through the race but I’m not really that prepared and I’d rather not have a bad racing experience, as that would be a de-motivator as I stare down the home stretch.

The good news is that I’m back on track and my workouts have been going really well. I’ve had some long swims and runs that felt really great. As usually, I’m behind on the bike but have a couple of 4-hour rides in the next couple of weeks and if I get through those, I should be in good shape for the rest of the way.

4 more months!!!

Cruisin' the Conejo

I had been planning to do this long ride, as it starts very near my house and I knew the distance would be much more tolerable with company and rest stops.

We wound through Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Hidden Valley, Newbury Park, Camarillo, Santa Rosa Valley, Moorpark, Simi Valley and then back to T.O.! It was a lot of fun with 3 big rest stops along the way manned by Boy Scouts (may I hold your bike for you?) and with lots of drinks and food.

They told us it was a 68-mile route but by my odometer we did just under 75. A long way to go but it was fun doing it with friends and the time passed pretty quickly.

We took over six hours because we took our time and spent a while at each stop. Everyone was very friendly and happy to be out on such a beautiful day, exploring a great part of Southern California.

It was also the first long ride I had taken on my new road bike (I bought a great Trek carbon bike a couple of months ago) and man oh man what a difference that ride makes. Even though my legs were heavy and my butt was sore, I still felt pretty darn good. So, that’s very encouraging as I face lots more of these types of rides as I prepare for Ironman.

Now, I don’t have any sort of organized event until July, when I do Vineman half ironman. But… My workouts are going to start getting pretty intense in the near future.

Great honor from Team in Training

Just today, the great people at Team in Training offered me the position of coach for the up-coming fall season. And of course, I accepted!

This is very exciting for me as this past season I had become more involved with working with a lot of the participants in terms of their actual training and racing, where as before I had concentrated on the organizational and fundraising aspects. I loved helping them improve and it was a blast seeing every single one of them cross the finish line in Hawaii or Palm Springs.


So now, I'll be coaching in an official capacity; actually co-coaching with Tim Petlin who is one of my all-time favorite TNT people. We'll also have a couple assistant coaches and a whole host of captains and mentors to help, most of whom came from this past Team. They are all great and fun people and I know the new season is going to be fantastic.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity and to those that really supported me. I suppose my love for TNT and triathlon really shows.

I'm dedicated to doing the best job I can with this new Team. As always, I will get to know each and every participant and do whatever I can to help them. It wasn't that long ago I was a newbie myself so I find it easy to relate to the millions of questions and general apprehension that comes with being new to the sport.

This adds a bit of a twist to my Ironman training but Coach Tim also has an IM in the fall as does Asst. Coach Emily, so we'll keep each other honest in our training.

Also, I've come to realize that my involvement with TNT really fuels my passion for triathlon and that can only be a good thing as I move forward with this huge undertaking.


Kickoff for the new season is May 17th. BRING IT ON!!

Desert Tri 2008

I have to say, I really didn't want to do this race. I had signed up well in advance during a triathlon high, forgetting that you need as much mental as physical preparation for a race. And coming off Lavaman and 8 days of vacation -- then dealing with the subsequent backlog of work and other responsibilities -- I should have known that I wouldn't feel like doing this event. Also, I was heading to Vegas immediately beforehand to meet up with some friends then driving straight to the Palm Springs area.... And yes, it turns out I was a bit hungover and certainly tired.

Is that enough excuses??? Well, turns out I had a good race anyway. :)

Desert Tri is "international" distance which is just slightly shorter than Olympic in each of the three legs. Coming off 2:46 in Hawaii, I expected to do a bit better, hoping to come in close to 2:30.

The swim is in a man-made lake and my wave (the last to go) wasn't that big, so I had plenty of space to maneuver. I came out of the water right at 20 minutes (.75 mile distance) and was really pleased until I realized I was very dizzy and felt completely dehydrated. I took FOREVER in the first transition, as I walked the entire way and then almost fell over trying to get my wetsuit off. I didn't even mount my bike until almost 25 minutes!! Terrible, terrible T1 time and completely due to the fact I had partied too much 1.5 days earlier.
But once on the bike, I felt okay and took in lots of sports drink. After making the first couple of turns, I realized that the slight breeze was not going to be much of a factor, so I just got down in aero position and cranked. I did the 24-mile bike leg in just under 1:12 which is pretty good for me.

T2 was fine but I was still feeling pretty dehydrated. I decided to go out a little harder on the run as I knew the course was pretty flat; two loops around the lake. The first loop was fine but I was starting to fatigue as I passed the TNT cheering section to start the second go-round. With a couple of miles left I picked it up the best I could but it was starting to get warm and I struggled a bit. I came in at 2:26:04 which was better than I had expected; believe I was just under 47 minutes on the 6-mile run.

I'm kicking myself now because if I hadn't done so pathetically in T1 I could have been pretty high in my age group. As it was, I think I finished in the upper third but not close to the podium.

And all the times were relatively fast, an indication of the course and conditions. But still, I felt pretty darn strong most the way and realize I've come a long way in the last year.

If I can continue this rate of improvement, I think I could get age-group competitive in the Olympic/International distances, which seems to be my sweet spot. I love the challenge of the longer races but at these middle distances the swim is a higher percentage of the overall race and that is to my advantage. Plus, I can hang with the big boys on the bike over 25 miles but over 56 or 112 there is always going to be a lot of time between us.

Also, I'm starting to get more confident on the run leg. I like to run but have never known how hard to go and have completely crashed and burned a couple of times. But Sunday I kicked it up from the outset and it all worked out and I realize I could easily go harder still.


And now, the training turns pretty hard core. I only have two half-Ironman races before the biggee on November 1. I'm looking forward to the challenge!