Back in June 2024, my running and Ironman friend Susan messaged me to ask if I had heard any rumblings about a new Ironman 70.3 race coming to the Midwest, specifically the Chicago area. We were trying to come up with which community had the best shot at it – Chicago? Crystal Lake? Maybe the North Shore area? I had not heard anything about a new race, but it started spreading excitement and it wasn’t long before Ironman made the announcement that Rockford, Illinois would be the newest race on the 70.3 circuit. Although I wasn’t really planning to do any more long distance triathlon racing, I was definitely interested. Once it was announced and sign-up opened, I decided to be among the first racers in this inaugural race.
Rockford is located about 90 minutes from me, so having a race that I won’t have to travel far to is a nice bonus. Once the weather warms up, I plan on driving out and doing the bike loop to see what will be in store for us on race day. I have run the now defunct Rockford Marathon twice – 2009 and 2010 – the prior being my return to marathoning after a long break from running that distance. So the return to Rockford for the 70.3 is somewhat befitting, since it has been four years since my last Ironman and eleven years since my one and only 70.3 in Muncie, Indiana. Time to get that adrenaline rush going again and enjoying triathlon training.
Rockford Marathon finish 2009
Rockford Marathon finish 2010
Two of my Gunner teammates will be joining in on the fun – Jeff, who is also planning on doing Ironman Wisconsin, and his sister Jan. This race might be the first half-iron race for them, but they are experienced Ironman finishers. There are also a few local friends doing it as well – Jennifer, who just rocks whatever race she does – Leah, who has officially dipped her toes into the triathlon waters and now is ready to do a cannonball into the deep end – and Chad, who I met last year on a local gravel ride and has since finished Ironman Chattanooga. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone. I think Susan opted to pass, but I’m sure I will see her on many of the training rides this summer.
I will be following the competitive 16-week plan in Don and Melanie Fink’s IronFit Secrets for Half Iron-Distance Triathlon Success, the same book I used for training before.
Monday is a rest day, and today, Tuesday called for a 45-minute Zone 2 run, which I did on the treadmill. I got through it somehow. Swimming will have to wait until closer to May when I open my pool up. I tend to just swim straight and practice some simple drills for 30-45 minutes, which should be sufficient for this swim in the current aided Rock River. Biking will be done on the stationary bike at work until the weather gets better. Which reminds me, I better get that tri bike out of the garage and give it a good going over. It hasn’t been ridden in several years. I know for a fact that the rear brakes need an overall, and the chain might need to be replaced. I will get on that soon.
So there you have it, back in the saddle for some more Ironman-ish fun!
Total Miles – 800 miles / 67 miles per month / 15.4 miles per week
Total Runs – 128 runs / 10.6 per month / 2.4 per week
Total Time – 135 Hours / 11:15 per month / 2:35 per week
LIFETIME TOTALS – 32,703 total miles run / 5650 total lifetime runs / 4599 total lifetime hours run
JAN 58 miles / FEB 70 miles / MAR 34.5 miles / APR 3 miles (lol) / MAY 39 miles / JUNE 64 miles / JULY 48.7 miles / AUG 108.8 miles / SEP 132.7 miles / OCT 86 miles / NOV 88 miles / DEC 67.3 miles
In November, I had a “what the heck?!” moment. I decided to pull up the running totals for the year and staring right back at me was a total running mileage of just over 700 miles. At that moment, I realized that topping 1000 miles for the year would not happen. The last time I failed to go over 1000 miles was in 2010, so running 1000 miles in a year had become an expected milestone to reach, and to not get it was a little shocking. Then reality set in: I looked back at the monthly running totals and saw that April had a grand total of 3 miles. Yup, that isn’t going to help push me over 1000 miles. And the preceding and following months both were very low. I had forgotten that high hamstring tendonitis had taken me out of running for a spell, and I was using those three months to recover and rebuild.
Recovering and rebuilding seems to be the norm for my running anymore. At 61 years old, my brain keeps writing checks my body can’t pay for. I don’t think that will change, as I have already set myself up for some more body punishment for 2025. But I need to be smarter about staying within my ability without overdoing it.
Even though some mandatory recovery months in 2024 were necessary, I was still able to get some running and racing accomplished and did well at them. Four of my five races went really well, seeing that the first race of the year was the reason that set me back in the spring for me. Here are the links to the race reports:
The Forge Gravel Triathlon Race Report – Summary: What did I do after tearing myself up running the 25K trail race? I switched to the bike and started getting my cycling conditioning back. Feeling good again and cautiously pushed the pace through a very technical running course, a course that half the field cut and ruined the overall and age group results. I’ll probably skip this race in the future. I had fun getting back into triathlons though.
2024 Chicago Marathon Race Report – Summary: I was thinking this race would be a farewell victory lap for marathoning for me – one last hurrah. Then the speed started coming back and I attempted to shoot for a sub-3:50 Boston Marathon qualifier. Missed it by 3.5 minutes, but I was still happy with my sub-4-hour final Chicago Marathon. I’m done with marathons.
What’s in store for 2025? First up is a return to long-distance triathlon specifically the 70.3 Ironman Rockford in Rockford, Illinois. This is the inaugural race there, so I have my fingers crossed that this new race will have wrinkles ironed out. After that June race, I will switch from multisport and concentrate back on building distance to hopefully go far at Broken Anvil Backyard Ultra in Iowa. In the back of my mind is a return to Tunnel Hill, but mainly thinking about racing the 50-mile race, with a goal of being around 10 hours. A man can dream.
A lot can happen in three years. I certainly changed in that short period, taking time off from almost any type of race that involved going fast, and concentrating on going long and slow. But as I claw my way back into shorter and faster races, I find it difficult to get back to where I was. The Forge Gravel Triathlon has also changed since the last time I did it, adding a very technical (i.e. scary hard) section to the run course that involved a lot of walking and praying that I wouldn’t fall. I ended up with a time about 5.5 minutes slower than in 2021, which I can’t be too upset about. I’m actually somewhat impressed that I held it together through the last mile of the run. It wasn’t easy.
All set up and waiting for the start.
As I drove over a very potholed road into The Forge on Friday to pick up my race packet, I was reminded that this road is part of the course, and it was going to need my full attention on race day. I was up at 4 am on Saturday to get ready for the race. The drive to Lemont was an easy trip and I parked in my usual spot at Lemont HS and rode my bike into the park along the I & M Canal trail. Once there I racked my bike, set up my transition area, then started taking in the important Swim Out, Bike Out, and Run Out portions of transition. That led me to discover that the run-out now takes a narrow path, winding around and eventually dumping you on the trail. I decided a warm-up jog was in order, and headed down the trail to see what parts were changed and what to expect. I saw my friend Tony walking down the path and we exchanged pleasantries. He was there to volunteer as a lifeguard in a kayak, which is very much appreciated. He has a super-packed race schedule this year, so I was a little surprised that he finds time to volunteer for stuff like this.
Back to the warm-up jog, it led me to a very technical portion of the park that is used for mountain biking. It had steep drops and climbs, with many rocks and other gnarly stuff. I “jogged” through some of it until I finally decided I had seen enough and returned to prep for the race.
I saw another friend Leah, and I asked her husband Steve if he was wearing “the shirt”. “Oh yeah, I’m wearing it!” He wears this shirt that says “I DON’T DO MARATHONS, I DO A MARATHONER” to all her events and it gives me a chuckle every time. Leah and I chatted about our nervousness and then got ready.
Even though the water was 75 d. F. and wetsuit legal, I opted for my Roka swimskin, a sort of swim outfit that is supposed to reduce drag in the water. I love my wetsuit, but struggling to get it off after a swim can be a chore.
I was one of the first triathletes to head down to the swim start area and I found myself first in line in Wave 2. Looking at some of the athletes behind me had me thinking that I should probably move back, but I kept my spot and waited for the start. After the Elite Wave group of about 10-12 started, we all started to make our way to the dock and jump in, separated by about 5 seconds. It was a good swim for me – the water was a good temperature, I settled into my pace easily and had zero contact. I started to tire and felt a little out of breath on the last section heading back to the dock, but I got through it fine. SWIM TIME: 13:36
Into T1, I easily unzipped my swimskin and lowered it to my midsection, while sitting down, drying my feet, putting on socks/shoes, grabbing my helmet and bike, jogging to Bike Out, and then I realized I hadn’t fully taken off the swimskin! I stopped, leaned my bike against the fence, stripped it off, tossing it back to my transition area, and then off on my way to ride. T1 TIME: 2:32
I redlined the ride in true Gunner fashion. I was breathing heavily and my legs were screaming at me, but I soon found myself concentrating on my line on this twisty-turning trail and looking out for others as well. I passed a few and had a few pass me, but still felt like I was giving it my best effort. I knew that I wanted to press hard here and try to gain some time advantage because I knew I would be walking some of the run. BIKE TIME: 37:21
T2 was quick for me! It took me all of 44 seconds to rack my bike, take off my helmet and cycling shoes, put on my running shoes, grab my bib belt and visor while running to Run Out. I’m usually not that quick! T2 TIME: 0:44
A photo of the early part of the run course. The gnarlier stuff came later.
Once on the run I secured my bib belt, got my visor on, and carefully jogged through the opening path leading to the trail. It helped me settle down a little. As I got to the flat main trail, I started pushing pace and was doing quite well. Fortunately, a volunteer directed me over a bridge or I would have blown straight past her, cleaving off about 2/3s of a mile from the course. I was running pretty well on the flat trail and when I got to the technical part the walking began. There’s no way you could run up these little hills. On one of them, I was almost crawling up it. Fortunately, I didn’t have any mishaps and was about to finish that section when I heard a guy yelling about being confused about where to turn. I found that the run course was pretty clearly marked with arrows, but could understand how someone could get confused. He had been ahead of me, so I told him to follow me and got him going in the right direction again. I hit the gas for the last half mile back and finished pretty strongly. RUN TIME: 26:23
I was recovering a little past the finish line when I had a guy come up and ask me if my watch showed three miles. I informed him that it did and he said that he only had two miles recorded for the run. Five minutes later, a young lady also inquired about the run distance, saying she only had done two miles. Things were starting to get a little weird. It wasn’t long after the race that the race director grabbed a microphone and explained that somehow an arrow on the course had been moved, directing runners in the wrong direction. He advised that he couldn’t change the results, but if anyone in the crowd was aware that their run was short by a mile, to do the right thing and let him know. I didn’t see anyone approach him.
That somewhat explains the difference in my finish place compared to 2021. I finished 22nd overall in that race, and finished 60th in this one! And to add insult to injury, I placed 5th in my age group, but when I looked at the results, it was pretty clear that at least two of them had questionable run times. I should have been 3rd overall in the age group. I was robbed of an A/G spot!!! Oh well, it’s not that big of a deal. The bigger picture is that I raced well, felt good about my performance, and had a great time.
It was nice to get back to racing triathlon again.
The plan that I follow for triathlon training includes a bike workout immediately followed by a run on Wednesdays. Triathletes call this type of workout a “brick,” which basically means two workouts stacked together, or the way your legs feel when you get off the bike and attempt to run on them. It’s a tough workout, but by the end of the plan, you will be in a much better position to run well without the heavy legs you experienced initially.
The plan doesn’t say to go hard, but I always tend to let it rip. I will push hard on the bike, quickly transition to running gear, and then head out for the short run. It’s a good way to measure fitness and readiness for racing sprints. Today was the first brick workout I have done in quite a while, and I really shouldn’t have pushed very hard, but old habits die hard with me. I went hard on the bike for 12.6 miles, averaging 16.6 mph. That average pace is a little slow when you factor in the many slowdowns and stops for road crossings on the local bike trail. It’s probably more like 17-17.5 mph effort-wise.
The run was definitely a surprise. After struggling with a 5-mile run on Tuesday and feeling sore, I began the 2-mile planned brick run just hoping to not ruin myself. It started out as I expected with heavy legs and the overwhelming feeling that my calf muscles could go to Charley Horse mode at any time. But I slowly moved along until I felt like I was out of danger. The first-mile split showed a surprising 8:15 pace! The route I took was a little downhill and I struggled a little more with the second mile running back home. Again to my surprise, I ran an 8:11 min/mile. Yesterday I was lucky to average a 9:30 pace.
Post-workout I felt pretty good, without any soreness at all. Doing bricks and pushing pace is not something that I want to do more than occasionally, but I’m glad to see where I stand with my fitness, as I will do similar distances in the upcoming Forge off-road triathlon race next month. Back to my regularly scheduled training!
First time racing a triathlon since Ironman Chattanooga in 2019! It seemed a little different, but all things considered it was just like I remembered it.
I was a little apprehensive about this race. Any first-ever race, especially one that is not governed by USA Triathlon, can raise a red flag for me. But as more information kept coming I realized that the race director wasn’t a first-timer, and in the end it was a really well run event.
The Forge is a small to medium sized adventure style park located next to the old Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Lemont Quarries, where stone was mined to help build and then rebuild Chicago after the Great Fire. Lots of old quarries located in the Lemont, Lockport and Joliet areas. The park has zip lines, climbing walls, pump tracks and paths for cycling, and utilizes one of the quarries for swimming and kayaking. Lemont is a nearby community and when a link to this race was shared on a page I follow, I decided to give it a go. Okay, on to the race!
Getting up at 4 am is never easy, but I got up, ate, and then I drove to Lemont and parked at the Lemont High School parking lot, as the participant guide indicated that parking was limited at the Forge and it was really easy to park at the school and ride my bike to the park. Once that I got there, I found the rack for my bike and got my transition all set up.
After setting up I had some time to kill, so I walked to the swim start and exit, and walked back to transition to see where bike and run in/out were located. I jogged down the bike trail a little while to burn off some anxious energy and then used the bathroom and headed back to get my swim stuff.
The Swim – 11:28
I had swam on Friday and had a really good workout. Felt really strong and had no issues. I’m not sure why I couldn’t duplicate that here but I couldn’t. I was slow, felt like I couldn’t get enough air, and seemingly couldn’t get it under control. I was getting passed by a lot of other swimmers, but I finally settled in. Fortunately, the swim wasn’t long and I was out of the water soon enough.
Jump off the dock, head left and swim around the turn buoys. Seemed simple enough.
I had planned for a non-wetsuit swim as the race director had said several times that the water temps had been high and that we should plan to swim without a wetsuit. Turns out, Friday night and Saturday morning were cool and it was wetsuit legal. I hadn’t even brought the thing. I kind of wish I had, but nothing I could do about it. There were only a handful of triathletes wearing them. I would have thought that the quarry would have been really deep, but there were several places where I could easily see bottom, and there were times where my hand was actually touching the weedy stuff growing in the water. I was in 76th place overall after that miserable swim.
T1 – 2:08 – Coming out of the water we had a thin, green outdoor carpet covering rocks, but I’m such a tenderfoot that it was a struggle for me. Then we hit the crushed limestone and I didn’t really enjoy that either, but eventually we got into transition where there was more carpet covering grass. I quickly grabbed my water bottle and rinsed off my feet and then made a decision that I later regretted – I decided to go sockless on the bike. I never do that but I didn’t want to wrestle socks onto two wet feet. 22nd overall fastest through T1.
The Bike – 37:52 – I had biked on Thursday and I thought that I could probably push close to 20 mph average on race day. Boy was that wrong. I ended up averaging about 17 mph, but it wasn’t for lack of trying to go faster. The course was new to me, and there were lots of slower riders ahead of me. But the thing that really affected my overall speed was the numerous sharp turns, as well as a few hairpin turns thrown in for fun. It was a difficult course, and even though there was a no passing mandate on a portion in which there was two-way riding on a six foot wide path, there was plenty of passing going on. But from the moment when my butt hit the seat, I was gunning hard and passing lots of the faster swimmers. I never got passed on the bike, and ended up with the 24th best bike split.
T2 – 1:25 – What I thought was a super fast transition from bike to run, it turns out I was pretty slow compared to the others. This is also where I realized how dumb it is to go sockless. My cycling shoe had worn the skin off a small spot on the top of my foot. Needless to say, I put on my socks for the run and won’t be going sockless ever again. The results had my T2 split at a questionable 164th place. Really? That surprises me because I thought I had done pretty well. But I guess having to put on socks is what killed my time.
The Run – 22:04 – Grabbing my visor and bib belt, I bolted out of T2 without yet putting them on, and I was on the trail for what is my strong suit – the run. I passed three very fit triathletes by 1/4 mile into it and was feeling great. I just kept motoring along, passing numerous other runners. I came up on one woman at the turn around who knew what was about to happen and stepped aside to let me go by. I thanked her and started trying to catch the next runner. Soon I saw another woman heading toward the turn around and I thought to myself that I bet she overtakes me soon.
Somewhere after the 2 mile marker, the course veered off the I&M Canal trail and headed onto a park trail. There was a hill and the volunteer standing there said “You’re welcome.” I said “I’m walking this damn thing.” And I walked up it. It was steep, but what goes up quickly came down as we meandered through the portion of the Forge where they have climbing apparatus and zip lining stuff. There were some pretty steep rocky stairs that I had to run down, but they weren’t too technical. Back up a couple more hills and it was back the the trail and over to where we had to pass the finish line and do a quick 1/4 mile out and back to the finish. The out portion was where the woman who I figured would pass me finally did. We went around the cone together, but she hit the gas and I couldn’t match her pace. I had the 16th fastest run split for the day and moved myself up to 22nd overall.
I cooled down, grabbed a banana and some water, put on a dry shirt, and kicked back by the quarry to wait for the rest of the triathletes to finish. The scrolling results on the projected screen would only show overall place and not age group place, so I had to wait until the awards to find out if I had placed. When the announcer announced my time first I started heading for the stage. I was slightly surprised at 3rd place in my age group, but I was glad to take home the award, even if it was an odd carabiner clip thing attached to a chunk of wood. I think I prefer medals. The Old Guy age group seems to be the most competitive group out there. 16 of the top 25 were over 40 years old, and most of the rest were in their thirties. Only two of the top 25 were under 30 years old, a 19 year old and a 29 year old.
Conclusion – The Forge Off-Road Triathlon was a fun event. It was different to have to actually think about riding on a course like this, instead of just hammering along in aero on my tri bike. I would do this one again, and would recommend it to anyone thinking about hitting the trails for the bike and run instead of what we normally race on.
IRONMAN TRAINING IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC – PART IV
Happy Easter!
Spring is here and there are signs everywhere! As a runner who spends the majority of his time running staring at the ground 5-6 feet ahead of me, I’m surprised I notice anything going on around me. But lately, I have noticed a lot of signs out on the trail. From the little flowers that are blooming right along the edge of the path to the painted rocks that people are placing in public places and along the trail to brighten everyone’s day. The grass is greening up and judging from the hayfever I’m experiencing, I’m guessing everything is about to go from winter grey to a very colorful spring.
I have also seen some new signs out on the trail. Signs measuring the six-foot safe passing distance and reminders to please pass others in a single file way. Someone has placed a reflector sign on the unofficial path that I maintain that’s used to access the nature preserve to help them remember where to get on the path. Not sure it needed a sign because it’s really the only path like it on the abandoned frontage road, but it’s definitely a sign that someone else is utilizing my little path.
Another sign I’ve been seeing is my buddy John texting “Day Done” in our group chat that he’s completed the day’s workout. Could that be a sign that he’s joining the Gunners in Louisville this year?!?! That would be quite a sign!
I was expecting to get back on track this week with very little deviance from the plan after swapping the past two weeks of training around and making a concession here and there. But life sometimes throws you a curveball or two.
I’m getting really tired of having nipples.
It was a nice day, somewhat cooler than the past few and I only had an hour-long run to do, so I skipped covering my nipples. Big mistake. One got chaffed and started bleeding halfway through the run. Why do men have nipples anyway? It’s not like we use them for anything. They aren’t even that interesting in my opinion. But if you are a male runner that isn’t rail-thin, you are bound to one day experience the dreaded bleeding nipple. After thirty-plus years of running, you would think that they would have calloused over by now, or somehow adapted so they don’t get chafed. But sadly no. So I guess I will start covering them with Bandaids for every run, so buy some stock now.
Boo hiss. People look at you funny when your nipples bleed.
Ashley’s back at Valpo for one last year!
Ashley may not have been excited about returning to Valpo for one final year, but it’s only one more year! Check-in at the apartment where she stays was on Saturday, so that meant if I wanted to help move her in I needed to somehow get my important Saturday long bike in, so I moved the Sunday two-hour and 15-minute run to Friday to free up Sunday for the bike. Doing the long run on Friday meant I would have to try to make up Friday’s normal run another day. Yeah, it didn’t happen.
Two of my loves enjoying the move-in day.
Why can’t summer storms come in the middle of the week?
I had moved my Saturday long ride to Sunday so I could have Saturday free and what happened? It decided to storm like crazy Sunday morning. I had planned to be out on the bike before 8 am but with the heavy rain and lightning, I waited until the radar showed that it was past. I hit the road at 10 am and was amazed by how much water had poured on us. I was soaked from the waist down from just riding through the puddles and the standing water on the roadway. I explored a little on the ride to avoid the bike trail because when the leaves and junk on the trail get wet things get a little scary. Thankfully though the ride went smooth, I had no wind going out and a tailwind coming back, and I stayed on top of my hydration and nutrition today. I only felt a little low on energy getting back home, but as I switched to my running shoes for the hour-long run, I downed a Gatorade and the run went well.
Hello Saddle Sore, My Old Friend (with apologies to Simon & Garfunkel)
Hello saddle sore, my old friend
It’s not nice to see you once again
Because you are literally a big pain in the ass
And it’ll take you at least a month to pass
And the cries of my pain could be heard along the road I ride
Thanks to you, you damn saddle sore.
What’s the deal with saddle sores? I use the butt cream. I use Body Glide. I make sure that anything that can chafe will get some attention. But this past couple of weeks the damn saddle sore I always get from riding showed up again. It is actually bothering me just sitting on this cushy chair right now. And don’t mistake it for a zit, because it is definitely not a zit. Matter of fact if you try to squeeze that sucker, it’s going to let you know that he’s the Captain now. Touching it hurts!!! So I generally will just coat it with some Neosporin and a Bandaid (again, buy some stock now!) and let it be. Some day when this Ironman race is over it will go away because I can guarantee that I won’t be letting my butt sit on that bike again until next year.
Distance: Sprint: 400 yards (~.25 miles) Swim, 16.1 Mile Bike, 4.1 Mile Run
Results: 1:24:47 – 27th overall, 1/16 M55-59 Age Group
This race is one of my favorite sprints triathlons to race. It’s a race that is well executed, has a beautiful locale in the Western suburbs of Chicago, and it has the right balance of distances that play into my strengths as a triathlete.
I skipped this race the morning of the race last year due to a nasty storm that rolled through the area. I was even heading there in my car when I convinced myself that it was for sure going to be canceled. I came home and later found out that they eventually waited out the storm and held it anyway. I was mad at myself for bailing, so this year I was for sure going to race come rain or shine.
PRE-RACE WEEKEND
I really overloaded my weekend leading up to the race. I bought a used boat on Friday and was dealing with that new purchase (Fun!). On Saturday, my Ironman training plan called for a 3.5-hour ride followed by a 30-minute run that I did with two of my Gunner teammates Dave and Jeff (Fun!). And if that wasn’t enough, I went with my wife and friend John to see Cheap Trick in concert and stood the whole time (Fun!)! I was definitely setting myself up for a rough race on Sunday morning, especially after standing at the concert, getting to bed late, and having to get up at 4 am to drive to Batavia. I spent the concert thinking about what I will need to do to convince myself to get up at that early and go race a triathlon. I set the alarm and told myself to see how I feel in the morning.
RACE DAY MORNING
The alarm went off and I jumped out of bed. I felt great and was actually excited about racing. I checked the radar and could see that there was a chance for some rain, but not an orange and red blob on the radar screen like last year, just a friendly green blob. Green means GO! I got dressed, grabbed a scone that my daughter had baked and a cup of coffee and I was off.
I know how to drive to Batavia, done it many times. But I set my GPS for the location I usually park just so I didn’t have to worry about it. What did I do? I completely missed the exit ramp for I-88 westbound to Aurora! I had to drive an additional couple of miles up to Butterfield Road and turn around. I’m so dumb. I think I was distracted by a radio program that was talking about “This Day in History” and it was pretty interesting. Anyway, I realized my mistake soon enough and there was no harm, no foul.
I found a spot to park, unloaded my bike and made my way to transition to get body marked, which I will always contend is the dumbest thing ever. I will be wearing a number 60 written on my shoulder and my age on my left calf in Sharpie for the rest of the week. Maybe I will try some of my daughter or wife’s make up remover wipes.
I was pleased to find that my bike would be racked in the second row of bikes, really close to Swim Out. I like to rack next to the legs of the bike rack, it keeps another bike from being too close on that side and gives me some extra space to throw my transition bag down, because I am still bringing too much junk.
My bike and all of my junk. I thought it might rain, so I put my backpack into a garbage bag. The Ironman bag had my wetsuit in it.
After setting up the bike and my stuff I took a bathroom break and headed to the swimming hole to check out the water. We were told that the water temp was 70 degrees, and it felt slightly cold to me. I don’t usually wear a wetsuit for this race because it is short and the water last time was about 74 degrees. I decided that after dipping my toes into the water I would wear the wetsuit. I put it on, all by myself for a change, and swam a couple easy laps as a warm up. I always try to warm up for the swim to get used to the water and to remind myself of the pace I want to keep.
The swim is two loops in a smallish park district swimming hole, which was a former small quarry of sorts from what I can gather. The bottom is all sand, and on the backside of the loop, I found my hands hitting bottom. In the past, most people will just start walking this part of the swim and I have done that too. I try not to run it because it raises my heart rate too high. I made a mental note that I would probably walk it and then I got in line for the time trial start.
RACE TIME!
SWIM
Time: 6:15 – 1:25min/100 yds. – 3rd place AG
PRE-SWIM STRATEGY: Start easy, don’t go too fast, relax
SWIM REALITY: GUNNED IT AS HARD AS I COULD!
The race asks you for your predicted time when you sign up and I usually put 8 minutes because I typically swim at about 2 min/100 yds. When I seeded myself in line I saw a sign for 6 minutes and just joined in. I knew I would be wearing a wetsuit and might be a little faster, but I wanted to get the swim over with quick and get out on the bike course before it got too crowded.
The race started promptly at 6:30 am right after the National Anthem, and we slowly started getting fed into the water at about five-second intervals. I was pretty calm and relaxed before getting in, but as soon as my face hit the water after about ten strides I was GUNNING it hard. Why do I do this?! It’s like doing an interval in the pool without the benefit of a break afterward! Anyway, I did rein myself in a little bit, caught a little bit of my breath when I walked a small portion and then calmed myself for the second loop. I must admit, I was expecting a lot of swim traffic, seeing that it’s a two-looper and that there are roughly 30-40 swimmers in the water at one time. I didn’t have much contact at all. A few tickles on my feet, but pretty much contact-free. I got up on my feet on the shallow part a little sooner or else I would have swam into a bunch of walking swimmers ahead of me and started unzipping my wetsuit and made my way out to T1.
I’m glad I seeded myself where I did, and I was a little surprised to see that 6:15 finish. But I was wearing that wetsuit and it definitely did make me quicker. The swim finish put me 3rd overall in my age group. The two triathletes faster than me were 45 and 30 seconds quicker. Not too shabby of a swim for myself.
T1 – SWIM TO BIKE
TIME: 1:38 – 3rd place AG
PRE-T1 STRATEGY: Don’t waste time, be methodical, get out quick
T1 REALITY: GET PUZZLED AS TO HOW THE WATCH I HAVE OWNED FOR TWO YEARS ACTUALLY WORKS, WASTE TIME DRYING OFF FEET TO PUT ON SOCKS ON MY TENDER FEET, GET ANXIOUS ABOUT HOW MUCH TIME I WAS WASTING!
As I ran out of the swim and crossed the timing mat I realized that I needed to hit the button on my watch signaling the change from swim to T1, but I couldn’t remember which button to press! I guessed and it was the correct one. Next up was getting the wetsuit off, which typically does not go quickly for me. But I was using my new XTERRA wetsuit and it’s a little bigger than my old Blue Seventy. I got it down to my ankles and just gave it a swift pull with my hands. Came off pretty easy.
For some reason, I don’t fly through transition. The race announcer was jokingly chiding many of the age group award runner ups who had lost positions to those ahead of them by one or two seconds that they should have spent less time in transition. I took that to heart. I need to stop messing around. The wetsuit is a major time sucker, and then I take the time to dry my feet, attempt to pull on socks over wet feet, and put on my cycling shoes, glasses, and helmet. I need to forget about socks, not wear a helmet and leave my shoes on the bike and just do a flying mount. Yeah, two of those three won’t happen, as no helmet gets you a disqualification, and flying mounts are not something 55-year-olds should be taking up. There’s a reason there are so many folks spectating at BIKE OUT, it’s to see crashes and the stupidity that goes on! I guess I could bike without socks like some uncivilized knuckle dragger.
I realize I give away some precious seconds to others in transitions, but I was slightly surprised to see that I was once again the 3rd fastest in my age group. They were 37 and 9 seconds faster than me.
BIKE
Time: 46:46 – 4th place AG
PRE-BIKE STRATEGY: GUN IT AS HARD AS I CAN!
BIKE REALITY: GUNNED IT AS HARD AS I COULD!
I hopped on the bike and off I went. There are some plywood covered speed bumps that you have to navigate over right at the start that requires being a little cautious with, and then it’s a left turn and up a short, sharp hill. This hill surprises a lot of first-time racers at this course, but I had the right gearing and spun up easily. Then it’s flat and fast for the most part. There are some hills here and there but they are pretty short-lived, and the downhill portions more than make up for it.
Bike elevation. The tough climb came around mile 13.
There was a girl who was ahead of me wearing an ITU tri suit with her name on the back and I attempted to keep pace with her. That lasted maybe 3 or 4 miles and she started to pull away. Her calf showed she was 43 years old, which was certainly impressive to me. I hoped to catch her later on the run.
With that first hill climb, and the adrenaline of starting the bike I was maxed out on my heart rate and breathing pretty hard. It wasn’t long though until I settled into my comfort zone and was riding comfortably hard. I passed a ton of riders in the first half of the ride and had a few overtake me in the second half, but overall I think I did pretty well on this ride. I had misplaced my bike computer and so I was racing without really having my speed available at a quick glance. It was kind of a blessing riding by feel and not getting caught up in my pace. I was a little surprised to see at the end that my watch was showing about 19 mph average, but the official race results have me averaging 20.1 mph. I’ll take it!
The bike course is usually about 14.5 miles long, but due to construction, they added a detour that increased the course to 16.1 miles. I didn’t notice it at all really.
Coming back into transition there are some sharp turns at the end of some hills, so you have to have a little caution with that, but I gunned it on in any way.
I dropped to fourth place on the bike segment, with only about 70 seconds separating me from the first place age group bike finisher.
End of the bike ride, coming in hard and fast.
T2 – BIKE TO RUN
Time: 1:27 – 3rd place AG
PRE-T2 STRATEGY: Don’t waste time, be methodical, get out quick
T2 REALITY: Didn’t waste time, was methodical, tried to run on rubbery legs
Nothing surprising here, rack the bike, take the helmet and cycling shoes off, put on running shoes, grab the visor and race belt and put them on while exiting transition. The only thing I did that robbed time from me was I had a gel flask lying there and I took a quick squeeze from it and a swig of water to wash it down. There were only 18 seconds between the first place guy and me. Not too bad. I’m always quicker in T2, as long as I’m not messing around with socks.
RUN
Time: 28:41 – 2nd place AG
PRE-RUN STRATEGY: Try to hold 7-minute miles, pick off runners one at a time
RUN REALITY: Held 7-minute miles! But I got passed by as many as I passed myself
I left T2 and hit the trail and got myself up to a comfortably hard race pace. I checked the watch a couple of times and saw 6:55/7:05/7:10 pace looking back at me, which I was content with.
Not more than a half mile or so out on the run course there was a turtle on the side of the path taking stock of the parade that was passing him by. There’s been a lot of turtles this year for some reason. My first thought was to not get snapped, and then I thought how fast can a turtle be? I decided to press on as the hare, and stop thinking about the wildlife.
The turnaround on this out and back always seems farther away than it should, but it was about 1.5 miles out. After turning around and picking up my pace again I saw the girl that had pulled away from me on the bike course. By mile 2 I caught and passed her, just like I had hoped. I realized at this point that she was racing the duathlon and not the triathlon, so I wasn’t really competing against her. She was the overall female winner of the duathlon. But I had reeled her in just like I had hoped to do. ALWAYS BET ON THE RUNNER!
It was about 3 miles into the run when a guy sporting a 59 on his calf blew by me like I was standing still. He was either a duathlete or he had a really slow swim and/or bike. Since I was second overall in my age group for the run, I assume the guy ahead of me was this 59 year old. He did, in fact, have a pretty slow bike.
I started kicking around 3.5 miles and finished strong. The official results have me averaging 6:59 min/mile pace! Win!
After averaging 4th place or so on the different stages of the race, I moved up to the top spot in the age group after the run. ALWAYS BET ON THE RUNNER!
I was spent at the end of this one. It might explain why I came home and immediately fell asleep on the couch.
FIRST PLACE 55-59 MALE AGE GROUP! ALWAYS BET ON THE RUNNER!
Here’s the link to the official results: Race Results
Not much of note for the week as far as training. The miserable wet weather we have been having in much of the midwest forced me inside to do a couple of my ride and run workouts, but I can’t complain about having that option. Overall, the week went well and I’m starting to build a little speed on the bike again.
Speaking of the bike, for Christmas last year I asked for a flashing light/video camera device for my bike. I had heard several people talking about Cycliq and the Fly6 rear and Fly12 front cameras, so I put them on my wishlist and Santa delivered.
Since I hadn’t really had an opportunity to ride outside with them during winter and most of the early spring, I realized that the time to add them to my bike was ideal now that the weather is trying to get better. First and foremost, they are hi-viz flashers so that you are seen, and they certainly do that job well. But the most recent camera updates to the devices produce a pretty decent video of your ride. I guess the idea is to have proof of the offender should you be driven off the road or driven into, but I don’t really want to think about that.
The issue I had was finding space on my very crowded aerobars to mount the device. I finally was able to attach it so that it wasn’t in the way and I could easily access it. The rear device mounted very easily to my seat post.
Fly12 Front Camera
Fly6 Rear Camera
After working out some bugs with my son’s help and figuring out how to use them I gave them a try. I tried using them both for Saturday’s long 2-hour 45-minute ride but had a couple of issues. First, the Fly12 (front camera) gave me a notice that the battery was low about 1.5 hours into the ride and it didn’t produce any video for some reason. Had to be operator error of some sort. Secondly, the mount bracket came loose and the camera was just bouncing around on my aerobars. Minor issues that I can easily resolve. The rear camera produced some great shots though. Here is an example of the footage it will capture (Note: Turn the volume down):
The wind noise is horrible. I’m trying to figure out if that is just a fact of life with the Fly6/12 or there is some feature that I can turn on to make it record sound better. Interestingly enough it does not pick up the crazy conversations that I carry on with myself, which is a good thing, because they are usually profane laden rants.
So I will be interested in doing a group ride someday and capture some of my teammates riding together. That would be more interesting footage to watch than seeing the truck that runs me over.
The last thing of note is that I am trying to find another company to make team triathlon racing kits for our small group. The trouble is we are somewhat of a small group and most of these custom companies have minimum order numbers that we can’t reach. The company we last used upped their minimums by a few and also declared that the order all has to be of one sex, which stinks because we have added Gunner Jan to our group. I looked into another company that initially looked promising. They had promised to work on our project in April, and when I hadn’t heard from them I started emailing them with no response. I figured the guy was swamped or something, but it turned out that his company got bought out by another company from Mexico. No wonder I wasn’t getting any response from him. So I went back to the internet and found another company called Jakroo, which might be our best choice. They have basically no minimums, will assist with kit design, and you can order in both male or female sizes with no penalty, and I can add cycling jerseys, bike shorts, and other items, not just tri suits. They had a semi-custom design it yourself feature and I played around with it. Here are a couple of designs I came up with:
I ordered a kit that I made and will ride in it a few times to see if the quality meets what we need. I’m starting to get excited about having some new team kits!
Week 9 Training Totals:
Swims: None > Rides: 3 total / 76 miles > Runs: 4 total / 24 miles
Getting close to being done with the base phase of training!
Ironman makes announcements all the time and I usually don’t give them much more than a quick glance. But this was shared on a couple Facebook group pages and it caught my eye:
The reason I didn’t pay much attention to it at first is that it looks like your standard “Register Now” announcement for Ironman, and I’m already signed up for it. But then I read a few comments and realized this was for a relay. Say what? An Ironman relay? NO!!!
Immediately I made up my mind that I hated this idea. A relay for Ironman? C’mon man, this shouldn’t be. Triathletes that do Ironman do them for the challenge of doing three tough events in one day, 17 hours typically. To do just one part doesn’t make any sense to me. The whole purpose of Ironman was to prove an argument as to who was the toughest athlete of three disciplines, the swimmer doing a 2.4-mile swim, the cyclist racing a century or more, or the runner running a marathon. Do all three events in one day and find out! – was the reason behind creating Ironman. (Note: It’s the runner if you are wondering. The strongest swimmer never wins the race. And if you followed Ironman Texas this weekend you witnessed Andrew Starykowicz destroy the bike course only to be caught on the run. And Daniela Ryf made up a significant time gap on the run to win the women’s title. Always bet on the runner. Unless the runner is me, then bet on my buddy Dave. Actually, always bet on Dave, he’s 3-0 in our Ironman racing.) But seriously, what are you proving by just doing one segment of the race? After the swim leg, what do you do while the rest of us are still busting our butts? I better not hear you call yourself an Ironman.
As I read through the many comments I was seeing a lot of similar reactions to this announcement and I was hitting the “like” button for every comment that I agreed with.
“Give me a break. It’s an Ironman! This cheapens it. The last thing I want is some fresh-legged relay athlete zip past me as I’m actually enduring an Ironman. Save the relays for the Olympic distance. I’m not ripping on the athletes, but the Ironman has been the one true test for individuals in triathlons. That’s the beauty of it. The individual challenge mentally and physically.”
“It’s called Ironman, not Ironmen.”
“It’s about that adversity. I’m signing up for the relay as “me” doing the swim, “myself” on the bike, and “I” for the run!”
But as I sorted through those comments others started making valid points.
“Embrace it. It is good for the preservation of the sport or these races go away. Those who do the relay many times will do the full.”
“This opens the door to people who have injuries or are thinking of working up to doing a full one day to experience it. The more people outside doing something, the better! Run your race, meet your goals and let others do the same!”
“Sad that people rip on the relay! I’ve done two full Ironmans and now knee injury. This is a great idea. And for all those who knock it, I hope you always stay injury free and continue being able to do fulls. Not everyone is that lucky!”
So now I am conflicted. I definitely will defend the tradition of the race and what it means to be an Ironman. But if we can get more people involved, I’m all for that too. I don’t really know what to expect when I will be racing Chattanooga in late September. If I see a faster cyclist fly by will I assume he’s doing the relay? When I’m gassed on the run and someone trots by like they haven’t done the previous 2.4-mile swim and the 116-mile bike ride, will that make me angry? I’m not sure. A few commenters mentioned that everyone should do the race their way and not worry about the other group. I guess I will need to focus on myself like I usually do. This is why I would make a horrible judge. If both sides made valid arguments, I wouldn’t be able to make a decision on a winner.
TRAINING FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS
Last week was Easter and we had out of town plans, so I did some creative moving of my workouts and got the job done. And since I was out of town last weekend I didn’t have time to write my weekly wrap-up of training. So here are the details from the last two weeks.
Week 7 was jumbled around a little. I had the opportunity to run with the local running club F’NRC in a group run on Wednesday, which meant I ran twice that day. It was fun running with the group on a nice weeknight. I ended up skipping the long bike ride up north in Minocqua on Saturday, as they still had snow and ice on the bike path up there. Instead, I opted for doing the Sunday run on Saturday as I had a long drive home on Sunday with an additional trip to Valpo to take Ashley back to school.
Week 8 was looking to be a normal follow the plan training week. But the forecast for the weekend weather was terrible. A record-breaking late April snowstorm was predicted for Saturday, so I moved my Saturday 2-hour long bike ride to Friday and made it a bike/run brick, keeping my 1-hour run that was scheduled for Friday. That reminded me how tough brick workouts can be. I was pretty low on energy after that. My Gunner teammate Jeff asked this week as to when we start using gels on our weekend rides. I laughed at him because he’s a two-time Ironman and should know the answer by now, but I now found myself bonking because I didn’t remember that I should probably be adding more energy replacement into my workouts. Jeff’s not the dumb one, it’s me. At least he’s trying to be prepared for it. Although Saturday’s weather was crappy, we didn’t get anything more than a few ice pellets/sleet type stuff. I took Saturday off and had a great 1-hour run on a beautiful Sunday morning. So in all, the week ended well.
Week 7 Training Totals:
Swims: None > Rides: 2 total / 29 miles > Runs: 3 total / 22 miles
Week 8 Training Totals:
Swims: None > Rides: 3 total / 65 miles > Runs: 4 total / 23 miles
Getting closer to being done with the base part of the plan.
an amazing run 