Who would've thought?

One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure. - William Feather

So - this past weekend was a very interesting series of experiences... a ride on Saturday to support my TNT friends, an ugly first-Olympic-distance triathlon, a possible opportunity to become a motivational speaker, and an invitation to be part of a year-long documentary which will culminate in the completion of my 2nd Ironman... okay, let's back up a bit.
Because I was participating in the Olympic on Sunday, I wanted to just spend some time Saturday in the saddle to keep the legs loose. Coach Jeff put out an email about weekend rides for the alumni group (the fundraisers this time around will be doing the Hill Country Wine Ride again this fall) so I thought the ride up Parmer would be convenient, because of location and the fact that there would be SAG support. So I rolled out of bed early Saturday and got road-bike-ready... no tri bike with this group! Rode a bit with Coach until he had a flat, and then rode alone until I saw Tim W. riding back in - he looked a bit worn out from the wind, so I decided to ride him back into the finish. I turned around, caught up with him and the woman that was "kinda" with him (she couldn't keep up with Tim), and pretty much tag-teamed back and forth between the two of them until they finished.
After the ride and a short run, I left since I wanted to stop at Hill Country Running to look at some new running shoes. I ended up spending over an hour there talking to Troy about shoes...and Kansas...and Galveston...and kayaking the Danskin (he is coordinator)... and IMFL. 
Then, it was home to finish packing, load the truck, and head for Waco. Uneventful drive in oddly heavy traffic for a Saturday afternoon, went to packet pickup and then checked into my hotel. A very entertaining dinner at Gratziano's with the Blue Moose herd, and then off to have a discussion with a pillow.
Sunday came way too early. Loaded everything back in the truck after getting prepped for the race. Drove over and parked at the Marriott which is right next to transition. Got the bike checked in and transition set up, then headed back to the truck for another 30 minutes of nap time. Once it was time, I headed back over to transition to drop the running shoes, grab the swim gear and a goo, and then over to the pre-race meeting. Our wave was the last wave in the race, so from the outset I figured I would be one of the last out of the water. The start is a matter of sliding down carpet-covered rocks into the water and then treading for about 3 minutes. At the very start, I get kicked in the throat twice by people crossing in front of me, and then once in the face. After being swam on top of twice, I knew my swim was pretty much a matter of just being able to get out of the water. Longest race swim so far for me without a wetsuit, so that was a first-time experience for me as well. On top of all that, just about every time I was trying to sight on the buoys, kayaks seemed to always be parking themselves in my line of sight, so I kept adjusting to that. It really sucked, to be quite honest.
I managed to not be completely last out of the water, and made it up the long sidewalk without falling on my face. My bib number naturally put me on one of the very back racks, so it was a long trip through transition rolling the bike and trying not to fall while still moving quickly in the bike shoes. Once out on the course, it was just a matter of seeing how many bikes I could pass, pretty much playing hunt-down-the-next-rabbit game for the whole ride. I caught David and then Kristi. At this point I thought I could catch Julie too, but I never saw her... more on that later.
I did a reasonably decent job of passing a number of bikes, but I was disappointed with the ride. With the winds kicking up, I spent some time just trying to keep from falling. I was wanting to maintain at least a 20mph average, but only managed 18.4, darn it. Back into transition, change into the running shoes and grabbed a powerade and a couple cups of water. We had driven the run course Saturday afternoon before dinner, so I knew this was going to be really ugly... lots of hills from mile 2 to mile 4, up through Cameron Park. One runner I encountered told me this was supposedly part of the 4th most difficult marathon in the country... just what this plodding elephant needed to hear! I ended up walking a lot of the hills. It was getting really hot as well, so for the first time, I would dump ice down my shirt at the aid stations. I tried ice under the hat too, but my bald head would get a brain freeze from the outside, so I dumped the ice out. Water and powerade at every aid station, and on occasion volunteers dumping cold water on my head. 6.6 miles later, I was just really glad to be done.


Swim: 1500 meters       46:54
T1:                                6:04
Bike: 25 miles           1:21:24 18.4 mph avg
T2:                                3:35
Run: 6.6 miles           1:25:36 6.6 hot, ugly miles


So - Julie...I found out after we finished that she had crashed the bike at mile 1 and broke her clavicle, along with some serious road rash. I really feel for her, I think her wreck is definitely worse than mine. She will be out for 4-6 weeks. But she is one of those competitive people... she made sure her wreck was worse than mine! :-) Just kidding, Julie, I hope you heal quickly.
That was all the bad stuff for the weekend... now for the good stuff! At the end of last week I received an email from the founder of the IronHeart Racing group asking if I would be interested in being part of a motivational/inspirational speaking team, to promote what we do as cardiac survivors and endurance athletes, and the charities we serve. I was thrilled, honored and humbled all at the same time! This is going to be a great opportunity, and I hope it works out.
Then to top off the first email, Dave sends a 2nd email, inviting me to become part of a documentary he wants to produce, which will take this group all the way from registering for an Ironman through to the finish by the team. Holy cow, a 2nd Ironman in the future! And with such a great group of people. I hadn't even considered anything beyond Ironman Florida this November, and now it looks like my next year is going to be a busy one.
So here we go --- but let's get through Florida first!

"The Heat Is On..."

"Perseverance is a positive, active characteristic. It is not idly, passively waiting and hoping for some good thing to happen. It gives us hope by helping us realize that the righteous suffer no failure except in giving up and no longer trying. We must never give up, regardless of temptations, frustrations, disappointments, or discouragements." --- Joseph P. Wirthlin

There were multiple times during the Katy Flatland century ride yesterday where I could easily have said "You know something? There is absolutely no reason I should be suffering through this heat and humidity..." - I could easily have called it a day and been done with whatever number of miles I had completed. It was hot, it was humid, it was windy. BUT it was the first 100-miler since the bike wreck in Galveston during the Half-Iron, and I wasn't about to let Mother Nature win this one! (Thanks, Maddie, for that little bit of mental reinforcement.)

100 miles ridden in 5 hours and 17 minutes... not my fastest, but I was okay with it, given the elements. I didn't manage to keep the higher average from the first half (almost 23, versus a 18.93 average overall) going all through the second half of the ride, but I had acknowledged that would happen eventually from the outset, given my 2 previous Katy ride experiences. For the first 30-40 miles, there are a LOT of people to contend with, many of which will drop off because they are riding the shorter distances which all progressively break off to different routes somewhere in the ride. With all those people, it is difficult to get into the aero bars and really focus on triathlon biking. I ended up riding with a group of about 10-12 other riders for most of the first 40 miles. We were pushing the horsepower a bit and not stopping at the first couple of aid stations, but I was okay with that; I needed the workout, even if it was handed to me by strangers, and it got me out in front of a lot of other riders so I could get into the aeros (and alone) and mentally in tri-mode a lot sooner in the ride.

So up and down, in and out of the aeros for 50 miles or so. About then, one of the guys in the pace line that had wrapped itself around me said "Keep an eye on those aero bars in our pace line." OK, whatever, dude - your pace line, your rules, but remember I was here first? And right after him, one of his guys who I had talked with a couple of times during the earlier miles, came up next to me and said "Yeah, he is one of those --- we think the same thing!" That was okay with me; I was ready to get the tri thing going, so as soon as we crossed over I-10 in Sealy, I let them take off so I could get some space, settled into the aeros and cranked away. I passed a few singles and exchanged a few niceties along the way. From about mile 65 to mile 80 the route is on back roads in the country. I really think over the last 3 years I have seen these roads get progressively worse. I felt like this was worse than the 3 miles of chip seal going into Sealy, but since they are back roads, I don't expect the county will do anything about them.
Coming out of the aid station at mile 80, I heard "I am on your wheel - if that's okay, Mr. TriAthaleeete".  I laughed and told him that was fine with me as long as he was prepared for a slow ride. There were apparently 2 bikes there, and after about 5 minutes, I got "Are you planning on letting us pull for a bit?" so I told him I would be happy to oblige. The wind had really picked up right after we left the mile 80 stop. I dropped off to the left and let them roll by, and only then realized we had picked up a tandem and another bike in the process. We ended up doing a 1minute30sec rolling pace line so nobody was fighting the worst of the ride, and I stayed up out of the aeros whenever I was in front. This lasted for about 8 miles, until we made a turn and two of the riders fell off. We had been pushing a 19mph average through the pace line, but I backed off and rode a few minutes with a guy that had started struggling a mile or so earlier.
The route was changed from mile 85 to mile 94. We went past the turn that used to be part of the route to another road that went into Brookshire-Royal, making the last aid station at one of the Royal schools 13 miles from the finish. I stopped only long enough to refill my bottles (which I did a lot of, considering the heat and humidity) and was disappointed they didn't have watermelon at this last stop as they have in the past (nothing like ice cold watermelon to finish off the ride with) - I was ready to be done with this. So back into the saddle and headed for Katy-Hockley Road for the long home stretch. This was the busiest part of the entire ride, traffic-wise, but all but one driver were very courteous and gave us plenty of room. There were a few riders I went by that were really past the point of being done, and you could watch them as you came up behind them, wandering back and forth across the lane.
The plan was to run 30 minutes after getting off the bike, but I only managed 15 minutes or so before the legs and feet were screaming. So I finished off with walking and drinking more fluids. I wondered if I had stopped drinking late in the ride instead of keeping the hydration up. Lessons learned...
The ride organizers offered chopped beef sandwiches or veggie burgers post-ride. The veggie burgers were good, but I think they needed a bit more time on the grill. A big glass of lemonade, more water and a snow cone definitely helped.
I think of all 3 years, this was the best support effort I have seen. I actually met the aid station coordinator at the post-ride meal, and told him how much I appreciated the fact that every aid station I stopped at had multiple flavors of Gatorade mixed, and that they didn't make it too strong. While I had my Infinit for the ride, I decided to change one of the three bottles to the blue Gatorade. I would go back and forth between the Gatorade and the Infinit, and it was very refreshing. Plus, they never ran out of ice! Kudos to the volunteers and the Boy Scouts - well done!

"It's pretty tough to fail when you're standing still."

Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful. -- Mark Victor Hansen

Sometimes I wonder - "how in the world did I talk myself into this?" This usually surfaces about 3 miles into a run, and that's because usually the run follows a bike ride, which I am ALWAYS up for. So it takes me about 30 minutes to get to the point where I hear it floating around up in the cerebrum. 
Training continues, and the runs are getting done according to plan, albeit probably slower than most others. I freely admit I am not a runner - I would rather ride that 112-mile bike course twice instead of running the marathon, but it is what it is. Truth be told -- and I won't admit this to anybody, ESPECIALLY my running coach -- I am actually starting to appreciate the running! (and if YOU tell her, I will have to kill you!). This I have found is really the mindless portion of the triathlon for me, partly because I am so slow, and partly because having experienced the fall off the bike already, I subconsciously recognize that if I fall NOW, I am at least already going to have a better fall than the last one.
This weekend brings the 2nd of my planned century rides, the Katy Flatland... and it is just that. But what many people fail to mention is that it is also one of the hottest and most humid rides. And each of the last two years, it has rained on me at the finish. This year, I might actually look forward to rain, since I have a 30 minute run to do afterward - so it probably won't rain...
I am excited about some other, non-triathlon-related things, too. Patsy finished up her chemo/radiation treatments last Friday, so this week is a great fresh start for her. That also means she and I will let our hair grow out, which should be interesting to see how it turns out. Patsy says hers will come in kinky and gray...we'll see.
Tomorrow also marks the 3-year anniversary of my triple bypass surgery... hmmm, 3s in my life - 3 years, TRIPLE bypass, 3-sport events... 
Maybe my book should be titled "The Life and Times of The Plodding Elephant"... or not.
 

The Time Has Come To Kick It In Gear...

It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on Earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had.    By Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Well, the training is picking up a bit. Granted, completing Ironman Kansas 70.3 affects the numbers a bit, but I managed to get in a workout almost every day. The runs are starting to get a little longer, as dictated by my favorite running coach...
June Monthly training totals:
Swim:  6442.00 Yd - 4h 04m 34s
Bike:  474.08 Mi - 29h 07m 42s
Run:  55.60 Mi - 11h 38m 35s
Strength:  12h 05m
Sport:  5h 00m

July will bring another century ride, the Katy Flatland, and another triathlon, the Waco Tri. And hopefully, other activities will not impact the training plan. There may be some job changes in the near future, but that is to be expected as a contracted employee, and I will just have to deal with the stress of going through that.
So with Kansas completed, I got that monkey off my back. I am very happy about that, even though it was a rougher course than Galveston.
I rode this past Saturday with a couple of other IMFL 2011 participants, and I hope to continue those rides. It helps to have somebody along who is in training mode as well. But I won't turn down a ride regardless, and there will be a number of opportunities coming up in the next few months.