Moving Day

For anyone who checks this blog I need to inform you that I have moved my blog to the following address:
http://kromeril.wordpress.com/
I like Blogger but it seems like Wordpress works better with other social media.

Beautiful Fall and Ugly Roadkill

As I'm preparing for the St. George Marathon I have to start tapering which means that on my non-running days I try to go biking. Last week on one of those days, I decided to head up Butterfield Canyon again. As I started heading up the mountain I noticed quite a bit of roadkill. There was actually quite a variety as well. I thought that maybe I should take a picture of some,but decided that Emily would give me an earful for that...so I'll just describe it and you can use your imagination.
About a half mile up the canyon I saw something in the road that seemed quite large. At first I thought it was a cat, but it ended up being a raccoon. It was just laying there in the middle of the road and I imagine it was hit by a car and not ran over because there really wasn't any carnage or insides strewn throughout. I thought, "that black line across their face is pretty cool"...than I had to swerve out of the way of a truck flying down the mountain. At that point it crossed my mind that because it was later in the evening and the sun would be setting as I was going to be finishing, I should be extra cautious. The drivers going up the mountain would have the sun directly in their eyes and could not see me due to the glare and I didn't want to join the raccoon. The rest of the roadkill was carnage, with bits and pieces, swarms of flies and chunks of meat on the roadway. I saw a couple snakes that had been completely flattened.  A couple squirrels, a field mouse, chipmunk and a bird. I was surprised at how much roadkill there was and wondered what happened to increase the carnage. I also had to note where the larger pieces of roadkill was so that on my return trip back down the mountain I wouldn't hit it at 40 mph. (Again, I didn't want to join the roadkill.)
I mentioned before how difficult this canyon climb is but I really wanted to get to the top because the Fall colors are starting to appear and I wanted to see what it was like up at the top. Down in the valleys we don't get all the fall colors, but the canyons are beautiful.

 The picture gives you a good idea that Fall is right around the corner and that the road I'm heading up (and then down) isn't very wide. Is that another squirrel off to the left?

Giving Up On Being Vain

When I post to my blog I try to provide pictures because let's be honest, most people I know can't read very well. Most of the time I try to just find some cool pictures that tie in with what I am writing about but when it comes to race recaps I try to pick out the pictures where I look really good. I had a number of pictures to sort through for the Utah Half, and I liked the ones where I was coming into the finish line with my hands held high.
There were four pictures of me at the finish and in three of them you could actually see some muscle definition in my arms. I thought, "Those three are pretty cool, I'll post one of those." That would have been fine if it looked like this...

The problem is...it actually looks like this...

Now, to give my head a little credit (and at least make me feel better) high def cameras fail to capture fine hair. But I'll be honest, I have been losing it for awhile. So, I asked Ben to help me embrace my balding and photoshop how I would look completely bald. He found a picture of John Travolta with his head shaved and place it on mine...

I decided I would partially embrace the look and took the number 2 extension to my dome...

Who knows, by the end of the weekend I may decide to go to the number 1 extension, then no extension and then pull out the Bic.

A Little Hail And A Lot Of Hell

My official time for the 2010 Utah Half was 5:32:53. As you can see in the chart I landed between probable and worst case scenarios for my prediction. I shaded the boxes where my official time landed which means that the swim and run were both in the worst case column, but in retrospect the swim should have been probable and the run should be in a “even worser” case column.

PRE-RACE:
I was actually pretty calm coming into this race (see Overconfident). I didn’t consider it one of my “A” races so I wasn’t training incredibly hard for it. I have a marathon in five weeks so I have been half focused on that and half focused on this race.

I had to drive to Provo on Friday night for the packet pick-up. I was initially annoyed because I am guessing that more than half the participants live in the Salt Lake valley and Ogden areas and would greatly appreciate a packet pick-up in the Salt Lake area on maybe Thursday night at a local running store. That way we wouldn’t have to deal with the traffic in Utah County on the night before the race and we’ll have time to eat pizza, spaghetti or whatever pre-race meal we want. That being said the traffic heading down there wasn’t too bad but I left work at 3:00 to be there right when it opened at 4:00. While I was standing in line, I thought that it probably is better to just have the Provo packet pick-up, that way the vendors and sponsors can get their money's worth in one big shot. As I got my packet they notified us that the shirts weren't there yet but would be in about 5 minutes. I sat around for 45 minutes and finally the shirts came. I understand things happen so I can't fault race Tri too much for that.
I slept pretty well until about 3:00 in the morning and then finally got up at 4:00. I ate my peanut buttered bread, protein shake and jumped in the car. When I got to the lake I met up with Bret, set up my transition area and then headed to the start. I slid into the lake a few minutes early to warm up a little and then headed to where the start was last year. Then a bunch of us realized that the start was actually behind us by about 75 yards...so I warmed up some more.

THE SWIM:

The swim wasn't great but it wasn't terrible either. I started pretty good and then my goggles immediately started to fog up which concerned me a little because I had to rely on other people more than I would have liked as far as "are we going in the right direction." All the swimmers had bright orange swim caps on and we were headed to bright orange bouys. In my fogged goggles I couldn't tell the difference between bouys and swimmers. The first bouy was fairly close and then there was a long stretch to the second bouy. It felt like it took forever to get there (especially when you thought you were close and then realized bouys don't kick you in the face, athletes with orange swim caps do.) The second to third bouy was a short swim and then you had to head to the fourth, which you couldn't see because there was a peninsula in the way. The swim is shorter the closer you swim to the peninsula, but that also means you are closer to moss and whatever other nasty lake weeds are around. I found myself swimming through what at first seemed like nets...it freaked me out which is bizzare because I can swim through seaweed in the ocean without a problem, but lake paraphanelia gives me the creeps. I made it through and then to the fourth bouy...and then had to do the whole thing again.
On the second lap I started lapping the slower swimmers. there were a bunch who were swimming perpendicular to my line. I am positive I can swim a pretty straight line, but others are awful at it. They probably add on an extra hundred yards.
As I headed to the boat ramp for the exit I felt like I swam pretty good. I figured it was about 35 minutes. I wasn't too tired but I didn't feel strong. I arrived at the boat ramp for the fantastic exit up the ramp of scum. This year they had multiple volunteers at the water's edge who were assisting us up so that we wouldn't slide back into the lake. Disgusting.

TRANSITION 1:

I mentioned in a previous post that different events have their timing mats in different places. The Utah Half placed their T-1 mat right at the entrance to the bike racks with was about 200 yards from the waters edge...so my swim time also includes that jog. I also decided that I would take off my wetsuit during that run because there was a big grassy area. It is a lot easier to get the wesuit off there rather than in the cramped transition area. I was able to get my socks and shoes on fairly quickly but decided not to wear my Garmin watch because it would take longer to get it on and I have a bike computer that would give me my pace (this mistake will be discussed in the bike). I took off knowing that I was in the top 20 people to get out on the road.

BIKE:

I took off like crazy on the bike and was immediately riding 23-25 miles per hour, which is fairly fast for me on a flat road. The weather was mostly cooperating but I could see some clouds in the near distance. after about 5 miles I wondered what my heartrate was...oops, my Garmin 405 which keeps my mph also keeps my heartrate and it was sitting in transition. Oh well, I'm flying and feeling good. About 10 miles into the course I hit a head wind but it wasn't too bad until it started hailing and raining. Thankfully it only lasted for about a minute or so and then it stayed clear for the rest the race. I did pretty good with nutrition. I would eat a shot block every 20 minutes or so but I also knew I was pushing it way too hard. I'm guessing my heartrate was in the 150-165 region the entire time...which is far too high when you still have a half marathon to run. 22 miles into the bike you arrive at West Mountain and the winds had picked up. I had to deal with some strong head winds after the turn-around which dropped my speed into the low teens. I was tired for the rest of the ride but kept puching because i wanted to end with an average of 21 mph for the entire course. I made that goal and achivved my best bike time...but I would pay for it on the run.

TRANSITION 2:
This transition went smooth as well but I could tell I was tired. I changed shoes, grabbed my watch and took off.

RUN:
In the others events I have run I have never thought about walking until aroung mile 7. For this event it was almost immediate. I kept going but knew that I had pushed to hard on the bike and the walking was going to come sooner than later. I was sick of the shot blocks by this point so I didn't want anymore of those so I just relied on water, coke and watermelon at the aid stations. At about 3 miles into the run I decided I was going to walk through the transistion areas. I was able to gain some strength while doing this and made it through the first lap pretty well, but still off the pace I wanted. I figured I would quit looking at my watch and just focus on finishing this thing because I was worn out. At about mile 8.5 I started walking outside of the aid station areas and I was more shuffling than running when I wasn't walking. I then started thinking about how i could make the course shorter by cutting through a marsh, but knew that would take more effort. I struggled through the rest of the course and conserved enough energy to run whenever there was a camera person and at the finish.

THE FINISH:
Emily and the kids were able to see me at the finish which is always great. Their support means the world. I was able to see Roger and Bret finish which was cool.
In the end I was somewhat pleased with my time. It has taken some convincing because this course is a lot easier than the California 70.3 course...but I didn't train as hard and I was almost 10 pounds heavier. My bike was awesome but that also killed the run.
Again, right after the race I thought that there is no way I can do a full Ironman...but now, days later, I definately have to do it. So I need to save my money, pick a date and train like crazy.

Overconfident, But Under-Trained

As I assess how I think I'll do in this weekends Half-Iron Distance triathlon, I have swung back and forth. About a month ago I suggested that I would end with a time of 5:50:00. Then I thought that I can't give under-training that much credit. So I had to break it down even more...and now I think "Wow, I am pretty screwed up." Here is my mind set along with my suggested best, probable and worst case scenarios.

First of all, as far as worst case scenarios go, we have to acknowledge that it could get a whole lot worse depending on weather, flat tires, crash and complete body meltdown. There is also a chance of changes to the course, such as last years asterisk. So my time estimates assume that nothing will go terribly wrong.

The Swim: I thought initially that I would be awful on the swim because I have only swam a handful of times over the last 5 months, but when I have, it has gone swimmingly. I have felt strong for the most part until the end which leads me to believe that the latter parts of the tri could get ugly, but I'm confident I can do well. I won't do as well as California 70.3 (30:20), but 32 minutes doesn't seem unreasonable if I push it hard. I always wonder too if the swim distances are accurate. You will always hear people say that the swim felt short (or long). I don't hear that as much about the bike and run, so it must be more difficult to measure distance while in a kayak, or however they measure it.

T1: I plan on doing really well in the transitions. But again it is difficult to compare transitions with other races because you never know where the timing mats are laid out. In Oceanside it was as you exited the water and then you had to run a quarter mile through the transition area. Last year in Utah it took me 3:18......great, as I am typing this out I think there is no way I can get 2 minutes. But last year I was in the 68 percentile. If I get a top 15% maybe it would be 2 minutes. I'll stick with it. Also, I plan on putting my gloves on while riding the bike which should cut transition time, but increase the probability of crashing spectacularly.

Bike: This is the great unknown which is why there is a huge time difference between best and worst. After last weekend's scaling of Buuetrfield I tend to think I m going to kill it. But then I consider I haven't done half the training as I did for Oceanside and I'm typically lucky to average 20 mph...but there is climbing when I train and the Utah Half course is flat...but it will probably be really windy...but that means head-wind, cross-wind and tail-wind. I don't know what to think...Therefore, if I am over 3 hours I'll be disappointed. I'll feel great with a 2:50 and ecstatic with anything around 2:40.

T2: Transition 2 is where I expect to do a lot better than last year because I don't plan on changing shorts. Last year I took off my cycling shorts and put on my running shorts because I didn't want to run a half marathon with a thick chamois (pronounced shammy for the uneducated-I had to look it up). The chamois is the crotch pad in the cycling shorts that gives some extra padding. While nice when on the bike...it's not so nice while running. I wont need to change shorts this year because I bought some triathlon shorts. the difference between cycling shorts and tri-shorts is the thickness of the chamois. So this year it will only be a shoe change---of course I am now rethinking this no change of shorts. Let me explain. This evening I wore my tri-shorts for the first time and wow...First of all the padding is really thin and although I only rode for about 45 minutes, my rear is hurting. A thicker pad may be worth the lost time. And Second, I bought the tri-shorts 6 months ago when I was almost 10 pounds lighter...I need a shoe-horn just to get them on. It will be quite embarrassing to here people on Saturday yelling, "Keep pushing it muffin-top," or "You're almost to the fini...aaahhhh, my eyes," or "Kids, look away...it's hideous."

Run: I feel really confident about the run. My goal is to be under a 9:00 pace. In Oceanside I averaged 9:08 and was in much better shape - this is the definition of overconfident. I am looking forward to see what happens. Mentally I fell great and that could mean more than the lack of training...or it could lead to complete meltdown and destroy my aspirations of a good St. George Marathon time in a month or so.

I'll be racing with 2 of my colleagues. When all is said and done, as long as they don't beat me, it shall be a success. (Sorry Roger and Bret.)

The Utah Half * - Again?

What are the chances that there will be another asterisk attached to the Utah Half this year. Last year there were major thunderstorms that rolled in on the morning of the race and look what is predicted for this year...

Last year the wind was blowing so hard they couldn't secure the swim buoys so they cut the swim distance in half. My colleagues are sure to point that out every time I mention that I have done 2 Half-Iron distances. Every time I hear a mutter of "with an asterisk" or "one-point-five." With the wind in the forecast it could be déjà vu all over again, not to mention how hard the bike is with the wind blowing like that.

I was reading a post from a triathlon forum and another person summed up their expectations for this weekends race and it matches perfectly how I feel. "Under-trained and Overconfident." I don't think it's a good place to be but I have been feeling great lately even though I am not even near the shape I was in for California 70.3. I'm 7 pounds heavier and haven't biked or swam nearly as much.

It should be a blast!

Becoming Kind of a Big Deal

I will acknowledge up front that I will never be kind of a big deal but I am certainly excited that I made it to the top of Butterfield Canyon this morning. My cycling skills aren't the greatest, especially because I never have that much time to train. I can run all I want because it's easy to throw on running shoes and go outside or get on the treadmill but cycling takes a little more planning and I can't ride 30 miles in my basement (my trainer is broken).

Anyways, from my house to the top of Butterfield Canyon is just over 14 miles and about 3,500 feet of climbing. It is all up hill with a false flat (the road looks flat but it is uphill) for the first 6, then a mile 7% grade climb. After that you enter the actual canyon where it varies from 5-13% for about 3 miles and then it jumps into the 15-20% range. For me, that is very difficult and I have tried a number of times to do this and have failed, mostly miserably. The most difficult part is mile 3-5 once in the canyon. Last summer I made it past that part but was so wiped out that I got off the bike and started walking and still didn't make it up to the top. This year, up until this morning, I haven't been able to get past the most difficult stretch.

Part of the difficult climb

Well, today I nailed it. I rode a little more conservative at the start and just kept going. I even passed another cyclist and ended up pulling him to the top. Maybe it's my awesome pumpkin jersey, but it's probably my bike.

Now it is time to recuperate for my Half Ironman distance Tri (the Utah Half) which is this coming Saturday. I wonder how I'll do compared to last year. I know I wont do as well as the California 70.3.

Tour de Donut Recap

I raced the Tour de Donut bike race on Saturday. It was my first bike race (excluding triathlons) and it isn't technically a race, it's more of a fun ride. But there are plenty of people who take it completely serious, as was I. (see here)
Well, I arrived at the event with plenty of time to spare, in fact there were only a few other cars in the parkling lot. I went and got my bib number, a very cool participant tech-T and other stuff. Then I sat in my car and played Angry Birds for an hour, which was nice because they just came out with a new update.
Finally it was time to get ready. I figured since I wanted to compete for a good finish I would start right at the front. This would not only allow me to stay with the lead pack but also keep me out of trouble with the hundreds of other cyclists at the start line. Five minutes before the start I had plenty of room...Five seconds before the start, my room had decreaased. I am in the bright orange jersey on the left of the picture.


Thanks to http://www.picturememine.com/ for the photo.

I had my right foot clipped into my pedal and started to roll down the street but the guy in front of me cut hard and his back wheel went right into my front wheel. I knew I was going down and there was nothing I could do because my foot was clipped in. UNBELIEVABLE...I crashed in the first 5 feet. Gratefully I wasn't going fast...

Not so greatful that my moment was captured by a camera...

And a close up...That is me sideways on the ground, I am supposed to be upright like everyone else.

Again...thanks alot http://www.picturememine.com/

I was finally able to get up as 5 year-olds on tricycles were flying past. With a bruised ego and bloody knee I pushed forward intent on catching up with the leaders. I was pushing hard dodging other cyclists and numerous potholes. I felt great and was finally able to see who I believe was the lead peleton. I knew that once i caught up I could catch my breath and draft off them. They were only about 10 yards in front as I rounded a corner content that I could finally relax and sit on their wheels for the rest of the 7-mile loop. And then...pffffffffffffsssssss. (That is the sound of air escaping and my tire going flat.) All that work for nothing. I pulled off and spent the next 6 minutes changing my tire. There were plenty of people who asked if I needed help or if I had everything to take care of the flat. I did, and eventually I was back on the road. I headed into the first donut eating staging area. As a recap, for each donut I ate, it would take 3 minutes off my total time. I ate my first 4 donuts pretty quick with a strategy of giant bite and small swig of water. While on the fifth donut I kept wanting to get back out on the course to see if I could catch up with some of the leaders, so I ate 5 and took off with every intent to eat a ton more on the next pit stop.
The second lap was better because I didn't crash or get a flat but i couldn't tell who was on their first lap or second, and I know I didn't catch up to the leaders. I pulled into the second donut eating stage, took one bite of donut 6 and felt absolutely sick. I struggled with it and gave in with a total of 6 donuts...I don't know how people could eat that much more. The winner ended up eating 25.
I left and finished my third lap with a Tour de France winner pose...no hands with arms stretched wide.

In the end I was 9th place in the 35 and older division which isn't bad considereing my problems. Next year I am gunning for a top 3. And I only partially threw up on the car ride home.
Note to self: Lots of donuts with water makes you need to burp, but be cautious because those burps are loaded with wet donut chunks.

Tour de Donut = Pukefest = Awesome

This is going to be awesome. It is a 21-mile bike race which consists of three 7-mile loops. In between the loops we will have 2 opportunities to stuff as many donuts into our mouths as possible. For each donut we eat, it drops 3 minutes off our total time. They say the winner typically has a negative time...so for me to win I need to have a total adjusted time of at least 0:00.

So...let's assume that I average 20 mph (which is probably a little ambitious with the amount of donuts that will be in my gut). My Bike time will be 1:03:00. I will then need to eat the right amount of donuts to not only cancel out that time, but also the time it takes to eat said donuts. So eating 21 donuts at 20 seconds per donut would cancel out the 1:03:00 but add 7 minutes for donut eating time...so i would need to eat 3 more donuts to cancel out donut eating time which would then put me in the negative time range. That was probably hard to follow...so...

So my calculations are as follows:

Key
Blue = positive time

Red = negative time

1:03:00 - Bike Time

1:03:00 - time taken off for eating 21 donuts

_______________________________

0:00:00 - adjusted time...but wait

0:07:00 - Time it takes to eat 21 donuts at 20 seconds per donut

0:09:00 - time taken off for eating 3 donuts

_______________________________

0:02:00 - Adjusted time...but wait

0:01:00 - Time it takes to eat 3 donutes at 20 seconds per donut

_______________________________

0:01:00 - Total Adjusted Time

So I have to eat 24 donuts according to this plan. What strategy do I take? Do I eat 12 donuts at each donut eating opportunity, or do I eat as much as possible during the first stop risking a slower bike time due to me having to stop and puke? I'll have to take more time pondering this while munching on a maple bar.

Ogden Marathon 2010

I ran a personal best on Saturday with a finishing time of 3:41:54, a personal best by 57 seconds. Regardless of it being my personal best, it was my most complete marathon I have ever run because I was consistent across the board and never walked...which is a first.

This was a big accomplishment for me because as I stated in a previous post, I have been in a major funk since the California Ironman 70.3. In march when I did that triathlon I was in the best shape of my life by far. My trend weight was 163 and I even had a daily weigh in under 160. Now I am nearly 10 pounds heavier in less than 2 months...but hey, 1.5 years ago I almost hit 200.

Anyways, without a lot of training over the past couple months I still had to run the marathon because I paid for it and it has been my favorite course. Emily drove me to the bus area at 4:30 in the morning and I met my friend Ben. We loaded up on the bus which took us to the start area. We spent the 1:15 before the race started standing in lines for the bathrooms and crowding next to the bonfires to stay warm. We then lined up for the start and took off. Ben was gone and I knew I wouldn't see him again because he was going for a Boston qualifying time, which would be more than a half-hour faster than I can run.

The first mile I clocked at a 7:30/mile pace which I knew was to quick so I slowed up. My ultimate goal was to finish under 4 hours which would be a 9:09 pace. I then started getting passed by just about everyone but I was able to stay at a 8:10-8:20 pace for the next 7 miles. The first section is down the first canyon with a river flowing right next to the road and tons of campsites with the smell of campfires burning. It is a beautiful course. The next section goes around Pineview Reservoir.

This is the ugly part of the course, which says how awesome the course is because the ugly part is running around a lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains. This part is flat and also has some uphill. My pace was steady here at around a 8:30 pace. Again, it was very consistent.

The next part is down Ogden Canyon which is beautiful as well. You are running next to another river with steep canyon walls. I was able to drop my pace to around a 8:20 and even clocked a 8:05. Some parts of this section has a steep downhill which really hurts after 18 miles of running. I thought "18 down, 8 to go...aw, what the crap am I doing." I have always had a moment like this during all my long distance races but I was easily able to overcome those thoughts today. I just kept kicking one foot in front of the other. I stayed on top of my nutrition pretty well and the adoption of an Ibuprofin strategy has worked well my last 2 races.

At the bottom of the canyon you have a 5K to go. I thought that this could be my first race where I never walked. Last year I was about 4 minutes ahead of this years pace but I walked 3-4 times through water stops. This year I pressed forward. It was hard but I averaged about an 8:50 pace and in the end only had one mile where it took me more than 9 minutes (9:05). The last 5K is critical. I ended up 63rd place in my age group (top third) but I had the 6th fastest last 5K time.

The Marathon was testing a new system where they would send a text to your loved one when you had 5K to go. Emily and the kids were waiting for the text, but the system didn't work so I surprised them when they were sitting in the park waiting. Emily felt bad because she didn't get to see me finish. It was the first time she has missed that, but I appreciate her and the kids so much for being there anyways, and also for allowing me to spend time training.

So now I am re-energized. I looked at my first marathon time and now, 6 marathons later, I am almost one-hour faster. I am signed up for St. George and am looking to make it more than an hour in October. I am looking forward to training for the Utah Half (another 1/2 Ironman triathlon distance). The triathlon training may dampen my St. George time but it could help as well...and then at the end of the season, I will try to sign up for my IRONMAN...2.4 mile swim / 112 mile Bike / 26.2 mile run.