Preparations...

I'm sure that the time between now and when we leave for Kona will fly by.  So I suppose it's not too early to start preparing.  Obviously the training part is pretty much done by now.  Just a few more confidence building sessions and then we're good to go on that front.  Saturday should be a big and fun test.  Hopefully it won't put me into the hurt locker too bad.

It's going to be a busy weekend, and what I've found is the busier I am the faster the time goes...which is nice because I can't wait to leave!

Instead of just Kona photo's today I thought I'd put up some pictures from other Ironman races...just to remind myself of where I've  been and of the work that I've done.

Ironman Couer d' Alene (either 2008 or 2011, thinking 2011)  This is where the Ironman dream started...and hasn't stopped since.

Ironman Couer d' Alene 2011...when a bad day is still sub 10 hours there shouldn't be too much to complain about.

Ironman Arizona 2010...this is where the Kona dream became a reality!

 

Ironman 70.3 Kansas 2011.  Solid race, proud to be rocking the Zoot Ultra Team kit!

Ironman St. George 2012.  One of my favorite race photo's ever!  An incredibly hard course on a normal day, this day would be EPIC to say the least...and a Kona bid was once again realized.

Work Works...

That's pretty much my go to phrase because I truly believe it!  You can ask any of my L3 Endurance athletes and they would tell you that #workworks is pretty synonomous with me.  I've been taught that the only way to get what you want is to work for it.  This simple phrase can be applied to most things in life which is part of the reason I like it.

Next time you're sitting on your couch at night having already skipped a workout for the day think to yourself, "Am I going to regret getting this workout in?"  I would be willing to bet that after a workout the answer will be a resounding no.  Even if it's a 20 minute run through your neighborhood, you won't regret it. 

In keeping with the photo theme...here are a few:

One of the most famous (if not THE most famous) finish lines in triathlon...

Race Morning

Post Race "Team Lapinski" what an awesome group!

What an Awesome Morning to Ride

After freezing yesterday morning on my ride to school, I was looking forward to riding home.  Well that didn't happen, as I somehow ended up with a flat tire.  So I had to run home from school, to grab a tube to fix my bike...no big deal.

My ride this morning was amazing though.  Perfect temperature, quiet roads (for the most part) and just a sort of tranquility that seemed perfect to me!  The forecast for the rest of the week looks solid too, which is welcome news to me!  If you haven't checked out the L3 Endurance website yet, make sure you do that (www.L3Endurance.com) and like the page on Facebook too.

In continuing with the Hawaii pictures, here are a few more:

The Lapinski Kids at the Beach

Cory said he was getting the "Large" snow cone this year.  I think it will be the size of a basketball because this was a "medium"

Chillin on the sea wall

Does it get much better than this?

In Less Than Two Weeks...

...we get to go back to the Big Island of Hawaii for triathlon's largest race.  The Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii take place on October 13th.  I feel extremely fortunate to have such a huge support team traveling with me once again...to have 7 people in Hawaii to cheer you on is absolutely amazing!    No it's not that hard to convince someone to travel to Hawaii, but I still feel extremely fortunate to have the best "Team" out there!

I thought I'd post a pic or two every day (or every post) to remind myself just how awesome this trip is going to be...as if I needed anything to help remind me. 

Dig Me Beach during a morning swim during race week.

Cory and I enjoying an early morning run along Ali'i Drive...it was probably 5:15 a.m. and we'd been awake for far longer than that...jet lag is a pain.  Hopefully we'll have more runs like this in a couple of weeks, it was great being able to run with Cory once again, reminded me of the two of us training for a marathon together.

So I suppose it's time to start ramping it up again.  I'm pretty sure I'm recovered from IMWI as I had a solid long run on Saturday.  The unfortunate part is that my bike has already left for the big island. I don't know why but it stinks that I won't be able to ride it until I get there.  So in the meantime I suppose my sweet road bike will get some action, along with the Ridley on the Computrainer.

Catching Up w/ Pictures

I realize that over the summer this blog was dormant...so I thought I'd try to catch up with some pictures that I have from an awesome summer!!

Well this was before summer...in May actually.  Brit and I had lunch here the day before Ironman St. George while the rest of the crew was off hiking at Zion National Park.  We're looking at the swim course...little did we know it would look far different about 20 minutes into the swim the next day!  Who doesn't like having a picnic in the water though?

Vacation in northern Michigan

It was hot, and Lake Michigan is right behind us...I was tempted to jump in!

There is a store in Glen Arbor which is now making a ton of money off of sticker, shirts, ect...that have "M22" on them.

The birthday cake that Katie made for me, and it tasted amazing too!

Overlooking some sand dunes up in Michigan...rough life I know.

Roxy wondering why the heck we are downstairs

Winther has decided that this is now his designated lounge chair. 

This is what happens after mountain biking with the pups.

My dinner creation last night.  Bison & Sweet Potato Tacos

You know you're spoiled when you come home to some sweet Zoot Kona gear.  Seriously Zoot is awesome!!!!  Can't wait to get out to the big island once again.

A Few Ironman Wisconsin Pics...

Pre-Race with Brit...and the rest of the amazing support crew!

Chillin before the swim start

Climbing up Old Sauk

About to climb Midtown...I hate that hill!

Bike out of Verona

Just keep running...

Finishing...prior to them changing the clock!

It's a Good Life...

This is going to be a super short post.  I can't help but think what an awesome life I have, I have an amazing family, incredible girlfriend, fantastic friends, loyal dogs...what more could I want? Oh yea and I have a good job, a nice house and I pretty much get to do what I want to do when I want to do it.  Yes I know there should be some comma's or something in that sentence but screw it...see missed one or two there too.

The excitement is building for Hawaii, and I feel pretty good about my preparations.  A couple more focused weeks and it will be go time.  I'm excited to get back to the island!  But there is still work to be done...and work I can do!

The Final Push & L3 Endurance

It's been a long season, I suppose that will happen when your first race is an Ironman in early May.  Followed up by two of the later Ironman races on the calendar.  It's been a great season though.  I've earned 2 Kona slots (2012 and 2013) and have had a ton of fun doing it.  I'm looking forward to this final build into Kona and looking forward to racing on the Big Island once again! 

There has been a lot going on this past summer besides just swimming, biking and running. Brit and I started L3 Endurance in hopes of helping all athletes achieve their goals.  We've had a successful start and I was beyond happy with the performance of our athletes at Ironman Wisconsin last week.  They completely trusted us and let us guide them to an incredible finish!  L3 Endurance has been a great endeavor and I truly believe it has a great potential to grow beyond our expectations!  Something we take great pride in is to help our athletes achieve their goal in the most well rounded way possible.  We focus on a proper build, and incorporate the little things to make sure our athletes get to the start line of their races injury free.  Can we make that guarantee?  No, I'd be a fool to say you won't get hurt, but we do everything in our power to make sure the design of the athletes individual programs overloads their bodies at the proper time to achieve the maximum results on race day.  L3 Endurance caters to all types of athletes, from the person looking to finish their first 5k, to the athlete making a bid to qualify for a World Championship event.

What makes L3 Endurance different from the rest?  There are excellent coaching services in the Chicagoland area, and we're not here to claim to be "better" than any other service.  We're different in the approach we take to training, as well as the fact that we have a Physical Therapist on staff.  Now you may be wondering what is that great about having a PT on staff?  Having someone with the biomechanical knowledge of the sport can help us create the best training program for each individual athlete.  A PT can help determine where a discomfort may be stemming from and we can help to strengthen the problem at its root, not just make a change to fix a problem for the short term.  We want our athletes to be able to enjoy a sport they love for years to come.  Fixing biomechanical shortfalls where they start will help that longevity in the sport.

With the knowledge of our Physical Therapist and the proven experience of our coaching staff we feel that L3 Endurance is a winning combination.  If you're interested in more information about L3 Endurance check out our website www.L3Endurance.com or contact me and I'd be happy to fill you in.

Taking Care of Recovery

So I'm not sure what the deal is, but I DON'T feel like I raced an Ironman on Sunday. It's only Thursday and I feel pretty darn good.  Now feeling good and being recovered are two different things.  I've yet to test myself...which is the smart thing to do. (not test myself that is)

Luckily for me I have my own personal Physical Therapist in Brittany!  She definitely helps to keep me healthy when I'm training, and gets me back to training faster than I ever have before.  Rocking my Zoot compression gear has helped a lot too.

So for a few more days it's going to be a lot of therapy from Brit, some more easy workouts (mainly swimming and biking) and then I'll get back into the swing of things.  Something that can't be substituted is sleep!  I've been sleeping a lot, probably about 8 hours a night, which is a lot for me, and I think that's helped a lot too!

I'm starting to take a look at some details from the race, and I can see some things I already need to change in training.  Looking forward to getting after it once again!

Ironman Wisconsin Special Thanks

Although racing Ironman is an "individual" sport, there is no way I would be able to race without the absolute BEST team out there!  I'm humbled by the support of my family, friends, and sponsors who were both at the race and at home hitting that refresh button on their computers for over 9 hours.  So in no particular order here we go...

Brittany - You're always there for me and I can't tell you enough that it does mean the world.  You do have to sacrifice a ton when I get these crazy ideas for training days, and you always go with the flow and support me through it.  I wouldn't continue to be healthy without you and you really do mean the world to me.

Mom - You've been there since the first Ironman...and now you're 7 deep, but I don't think you're any less nervous when I'm in the water.  Hopefully I'm helping by getting out of the water faster.  Thank you for always being there and for supporting me through all of this.

Katie - Another flight to watch me race...which resulted in what will be yet another trip to Hawaii.  A friend told me we should just buy a place there at this rate...I'll put you in charge of that.  Thanks again for coming to watch me race, it's awesome having you there!!

Aunt Lou - Someone has to keep my Mom calm, though I'm not sure how successful anyone can be with that. Thank you for making the trip up to watch me race, your words of encouragement on the course were great, even though I may not have acknowledged them, I do remember hearing them!

Aunt Nancy - You've now watched your first Ironman.  Hopefully you enjoyed it.  It's always nice to see a familiar face, and I'm not quite sure what I would have done without the last minute Saturday night hair cut...my hair was getting quite out of control.

Mr. and Mrs. Swantek - Thank you for coming up to watch me race!  I know the day wasn't easy for spectators (which is why I prefer to race, haha).  It means so much to have you out there, and I truly appreciate all of the support which you've given me! I know this is a crazy hobby, so I'm glad you were able to witness the result of all of those bike rides and runs while on vacation.

Joseph & Lisa - I hear that the Brittany and Joseph "Garmin App" is going to be going public soon specializing in Ironman spectating on a difficult bike course.  Thank you so much for cheering me on up in Madison.  I know you had to get up far earlier than anyone ever should, and hopefully it was worth it.  It was awesome to have you out there cheering me on...believe me it's a huge uplift when you see someone you know out on the course.

Becky - Thanks for coming out to watch me race.  It was great to have you out there, the more people I get to see, the faster I feel I have to go...so thank you for that!  And you definitely made it known that you were staking claim on that light pole prior to the swim start.

To my sponsors, Zoot, Garmin, Zipp, SRAM, Spy Optics, GU, PR Bar, Kyle Zake THANK YOU.  You all put your trust and belief into me, and I would not be able to do what I do without you!

Ironman Wisconsin Recap

A year ago I had signed up for Ironman Wisconsin.  A few months ago I ended up racing Ironman St. George and was fortunate enough to earn a Kona slot there.  So that left a 5 week turn around between IMWI and Kona...not all that much time. I wasn't sure what I was going to do at IMWI, and said I'd just make a game time decision.  If I felt I neeed to I would pull the plug.  There were a few times where I thought I was going to during the run, but I just kept moving forward.

I'm glad I made the decision to stick it out.  I ended up taking 2nd place in the M30-34 age group and earned a Kona slot for 2013.

Swim - 1:03:34
I've been putting in the time in the water, and I'm glad to see it paying off.  I was comfortable the whole swim, I started off in the first row and really had no contact the whole time.  Kind of crazy!  My siting wasn't the best for the first 300 or so meters as I must have drifted left and ended up inside of the buoy line...so I'm guessing there was a little time lost there, but I'm happy with the swim.  It's my fastest Ironman swim by a little more than 3 minutes.  And 6 minutes faster than IMCDA last year.

T1 - 6:01
It wasn't the fact that I had to run up the infamous helix that sucked...it was carrying my wetsuit up it.  I would have rather run up the darn thing in my wetsuit than having to hold it all the way up there.  Oh well.

Bike - 5:06:29
I never felt super good on the bike.  I felt good climbing and like I was in control.  But I couldn't push power on the flats.  Not sure why.  My second loop was a little slower than my first, so I didn't ride quite right, but it ended up getting the job done.

T2 - 2:13
I was actually pretty slow here, not sure what was going on, my head wasn't where it needed to be. My fault, I need to be more prepared.

Run - 3:22:37
A year ago I would have been super pumped with this run, and it's not that I'm disappointed, but I think I can run better.  I stayed in control during the first loop and was trying to save for later.  Later came and I started to slow down (which is to be expected I suppose).  I was in 2nd place in the age group at the time and knew 3rd and 4th were closing.  I decided to let them catch me, pass me, and that then I'd keep them close hoping for an extra kick in the late miles...definitely a risk, but something I was willing to do.  It was an aid station at about mile 23 when we (3rd place and me in 4th) brought back the 2nd place guy.  They both went for water so I decided that I needed to make my move then.  I went for it, and luckily the move stuck.  I stayed on the gas until mile 25 and then just backed off a little to make sure I didn't cramp or do something stupid.

Overall - 9:40:54

This was the only time I can remember where I had the entire finishers shoot to myself. So I enjoyed it!  I high fived the crowd, saw my family and fully took in my 7th Ironman finish...and my second fastest.

I'll get a true thank you post written in the next couple of days, but I have to send a quick thanks to everyone that came to support me.  It really does mean the world to have such an incredible support team!!  I know that the day is far more difficult for you than it is for me.  My day is truly brainless, and I am in control, you all have to think about where to move, worry about whether I'm going to drown (mainly you Mom), and at the end of the day I know its much more taxing on you than it is on me.

So Brit, Mom, Katie, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Lou, Mrs. Swantek, Mr. Swantek, Joseph, Lisa, Becky THANK YOU!  I really can't express how important it is to have you out there with me.

Congrats to everyone who raced on Sunday!!

Zoot Rocks!!!

Yesterday I was feeling lucky to have the people in my life that I do.  And that has not changed over night!  (Nor do I think that will ever really change, surrounding yourself with awesome people just makes like so much easier, I'm glad that I finally have that figured out)

As you probably know I race for the Zoot Ultra Triathlon Team.  This is my second year on the team, and I am excited to see where we are going!  Not only are my teammates super fast (often making me wonder how I ended up here, but grateful that I did), they are awesome people.  It's nice to know that when you're sitting on your trainer suffering through a sweatfest that somewhere else in the country someone else is doing the same thing...and they are just a short text, call, or twitter shout out away. 

I know they are all going to crush it this year out in Vegas and I'm a little jealous that I won't be out there racing with them...but I'll be out for round two with everyone in Kona.

If you haven't tried Zoot products you're missing out.  Shoot me an email, message, or leave a comment and I'll see what I can do to help get you into the right apparel, and more specifically the right shoes too!  I've had several L3 Endurance athletes make the switch and they are loving Zoot as well!  If you're not sure what you should be wearing, ask!  And their compression gear is awesome too, I wear recovery socks, or tights pretty much daily.

Another shameless plug since I have a captive audience.  Check out L3 Endurance (www.L3Endurance.com) we're looking to expand and are have some openings for athletes now, though spots fill quickly, and there are only a few left.  We are also launching Team L3 which will be a network of athletes looking to train together and to push each other to improve upon their past results.

Lucky

I don't know why but the word "lucky" just popped into my head.  I didn't just see a quail (Lucky was the name of our pet quail which was a science experiment back in grammar school), I didn't win the lotto (you would have to play to win), I haven't really won anything, but for some reason I feel lucky.

Maybe it's because I'm extremely fortunate to have such amazing people in my life. My family is incredible, I have an awesome girlfriend, my friends are as good as they come, and my dogs are awesome!

On the training front this weekend was not all that great.  I ended up catching a cold from school (so maybe that's not so lucky) so I ended up taking most of the weekend off.  I ended up with an easy ride and run yesterday so that's a bonus. I still have some time to ramp things up for Kona, so I suppose I should get on that.  I'm definitely missing my summer days where I could head out for a long ride whenever I wanted to.  I guess you have to work sometimes.

If you haven't been over to check out he L3 Endurance website yet you really should.  We just launched the new "Team L3" and are looking for members, if you're interested shoot us an email at lapinskiendurance @ gmail . com