IRONMAN 70.3 ROCKFORD TRAINING – WEEK 13 WRAP-UP – June 1, 2025
I like birds for the most part. They rarely cause any trouble for me, and they are fun to watch. I gifted my wife a bird feeder with a camera for her birthday this year, and we have had fun watching the variety of birds stopping by for unlimited seeds.
But there is one bird I hate with all my physical being – the red-winged blackbird. This is the asshole of the bird world. Seeing that I live in Illinois and run through nature preserves on my route, I get to see these jerks on a regular basis. There are two of these birds that nest near a tree alongside the trail that I run on. First comes the hideous call, which is just the precursor to what comes next, the dive-bombing. I don’t regularly get an adrenaline rush while running, but these damn birds give me one every time. And they are very adept at staying exactly above your head so you can’t see them, squawking their little heads off and putting the fear of death into you until you are just far enough out of their territory. All I can do is take my visor off and wave it around, looking like a loon-atic (bird pun) until I am in a safe spot. I guess I can take comfort in knowing that it only lasts FOR THE ENTIRE SUMMER.
I saw a post from the local riding group that I ride with by my super-stud friend Charlie, who advised that he was doing a “chill” ride with another rider named Amy for 3.5 hours. A “chill” ride for Charlie should be taken with caution, as he normally has two speeds: all-out and stopped. “Chill” could easily mean 19 mph for him. But I got the sense that Amy was not going to be going super fast, and I decided to join in. I’m glad that I did because it was a fun ride, and I enjoyed meeting Amy. She is doing Boulder 70.3 in two weeks and seems to be experiencing some burnout, just like me. When you get to a certain point in training, you just want to get the race over with. I’m getting close to that point.
Coming back from that long ride, I was stopped at a railroad crossing waiting for a freight train to pass, and just behind me was a 1963 Buick Riviera. As I backed up to ask him about his car, he was instead wanting to know how much riding he would need to do to look like I do! I was a little flattered, as I am as fat right now as I have ever been, but I told him that I was 63 miles into my ride and had about 4 to go. His jaw dropped. Then came the words that I could have anticipated – “I need to do what you do, but I just don’t have the time.” Non-exercisers always have some excuse, and any conversation I have with people who are surprised at how much work I do running and biking will always have that caveat – I don’t have the time. Oftentimes, it is the desire to do the work, but a lack of time is a common excuse. I said to him, “If I had more time, I would be driving around my classic car instead of doing this!”
Training went well this week for me, and I had two strong swims to help boost my confidence a little bit. I have no doubt that I’m prepared for the bike and run, but my swim could use a little more work. Thankfully, my race in Rockford, IL will be current aided, and I am counting on that to not make me work so hard.
Week 13 Totals: Swims 2/2726 yards – Bikes 3/100 miles – Runs 5/35 miles
an amazing run 