So It's Been A While...

I have totally slacked off on updating this blog.  The disappointment from CDA has helped to motivate me to build towards Kona.  Actually I think it's helped a little too much considering I looked at my training log and I haven't had a single day off in July...whoops!  I'm not going to lie, my legs are hurting.  I'm hitting numbers on the bike, actually today I had a solid set where I was even able to push 500+ watts for 30 second intervals.  This past Saturday I ended up riding 102 miles at the same pace that I rode in Idaho...what gives? 

I think part of it is the fact that I was challenged to ride 1000 miles in the month of July.  Well here we sit on July 26th and I'm at 940 miles.  So unless something catastrophic happens I'm going to hit that number, which will be my largest month on a bike ever.  I think my legs are hurting because I'm trying to mix in a little too much quality work in with the sheer volume.  It's hard to hold back when your legs feel good.  My running hasn't really come back fully yet, and that's mainly my fault.  As I haven't really been running much I'm at 64 miles for the month, which is way down, but not too shabby considering I took two weeks off of running in July. 

I'll let things ramp back up in August and September with my run.  Now it's about laying down some base miles, and not worrying about the pace (much easier said than done!!).  With 73 days until Kona I feel confident that I can ramp it up once again to have a good result for me!  The crazy thing is that I still have time to train for Kona and my training numbers are already at the level they were last year when I raced Ironman Arizona.  That was in November...so I've done last years 11 months of training in less than 8...whoops once again!  What else are you supposed to do when you get bored though right?  I have bikes here that just ask me to ride them, and amazing Zoot shoes that just want to go run.

I'm going to try to take tomorrow easier and only swim in the morning.  I'm headed up to Madison to get some training in this weekend with some of the Endure It crew.  Should be a good time for sure, and I'll keep things in check for sure.  Although the volume will be up the intensity won't be.  I'm already looking forward to next season!  I have some ideas of races that I want to do, but first things first...KONA!

CDA...Finally

So I've been waiting to write this blog for a while now, and I think if I get it out of the way with I will feel better and ready to move on.  Two weeks ago I went out to Idaho to race in Couer d'Alene.  Before hand I thought my training was great...those thoughts would change about 40 miles into the bike.  Instead of giving you a blow by blow, boring, long, paragraph type of a blog I think I'm going to write a list.

Pre-Race

• Thursday post-flight 4 mile run...crap this was hillier than I remember
• Friday run course scouting on the bike...damn this hill is going to suck...twice!
• Friday the water felt freezing...Saturday not to much - POSITIVE
• Spending time with the family and relaxing in a beautiful setting - POSITIVE
• Saturday night dinner in Couer d'Alene was awesome and Katie's Huckleberry Sangria was a bonus

Race Day

• First half of the swim = awesome...my fastest half split ever
• Second half of the swim = slower...to be expected but I didn't want to slow down that much. Oh well I'm alright with the time of 1:09
• T1 = uneventful
• The first 30 miles of the bike or so I was going too fast, I knew it...I just couldn't slow down.  I wasn't working at all and the speed was high.
• Idaho "rollers" suck!
• Idaho downhills are much more technical than I remember...I need to bike handle a bit better next time.
• Gatorade is not my friend (took me until this week to figure out that my stomach felt crappy 40 miles into the ride because of the gatorade) so at least I learned that now
• Pepsi in your special needs bag is amazing!
• I tried to stay positive all day...and it's what helped salvage the race I'm sure.
• Do I really need sunscreen coming out of T2?  There were about 7-10 guys that went by me right then, and I couldn't close them after that.  I know my Mom's response to that question...YES.
• Don't walk the aid stations until you absolutely need to.  Alright this is going to be a longer bullet point.  I was running well the entire race...really I was but I walked every aid station.  That's stupid...take the 7:00-7:20 pace and throw it out the window when you line up like the lard asses at Old Country Buffet for each and every aid station at each and every mile.  At least I can say I got some more of my $625 entry fee because I feasted at the aid stations.  Well I didn't really feast, but I took whatever they had...only about 5% of it actually made it to my mouth.  Ahhh!!!!! I'm so mad at myself for this.  I don't walk during a half ironman...why they heck do I walk them in Ironman.  I'm fit enough not to...if you see me racing an Ironman and walking the aid station someone please slap the crap out of me and use the OCB comment.
• Overall not too upset 9:54.  To break 10 hours on a "bad" day isn't too shabby.  And as it turns out it was my highest overall placing at an Ironman yet (even though the age group didn't show that).

I know what I did wrong training leading up to the race...I need to make sure that I ride long more than once.  With everything considered I'm not terribly dissappointed...it's what I deserved for how I trained.

Thank you everyone for your support and especially my awesome support crew; Mom, Katie (all the way from Boston, yes you are a super fan), Uncle Jim, Aunt Dee Dee, Uncle Steve, Aunt Denise, Uncle Bob, Chad, David and everyone at home.  It was great to hang out with everyone out there.  Also special thanks to Zoot (26.2 miles sockless and no blisters...bam!), Ridley, Zipp, Garmin, GU, Kyle Zake, CycleOps, and Fuelbelt.  I have some new challenges coming up, including riding 1000 miles in July.  I'm at 436 already...this isn't going to be too hard!

A huge congrats to Sara Fix, she punched her ticket to Kona with a rockin fast time and took 2nd in her age group!  Kona is less than 3 months away!