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!!