Just Keep Swimming!

This past week has been tough. Last weekend I woke-up to a flooded house. An upstairs bath flooded and water ran through the night doing considerable damage. Two days of clean-up and four rooms being gutted were the end result. Monday morning (two days after the flood)I traveled, by car, five hours to work on my sisters house. I spent three days helping her on a kitchen remodel. Almost put it off with the damage to my house but couldn't do anything at home with all the fans (14) and dehumidifiers running. Finally, returned home Wednesday night and had a good nights sleep. Thursday was my seven year anniversary and my wife and I celebrated by working on house plans. We figured "what the heck - the house is gutted so we might as well remodel!" We did manage a nice dinner later that evening though. Friday was back to work at the firehouse.

My Ironman training was frankly put on hold. I had previously discussed the trip to my sisters with my coach so that was on the books but the rest wasn't. Saturday, I was scheduled for a three hour bike ride which ended up being two and my long run on Sunday didn't happen due to some bad curry!

Life happens and we can't give up when adversity strikes. We must get back on our routines and make new plans. We must "keep swimming" or drown. During my first Ironman in 2005 I was struggling on the run and I came across a painted sign on the ground that said "Just Keep Swimming." It's from the movie Finding Nemo when the fish were swimming down into the deep darkness.

You get the point - Don't give-up! "Just Keep Swimming!"

Longest Brick of 2010 to date

I just finished my longest brick of the year. It was 2:45 bike, 45 min run and a 1:15 swim. Overall felt pretty good. I should have spent a little more time in the aero position but I recently lowered my handlebars and I'm still getting used to the new lower position. The bike ended up being 52 miles, 18.5 mph avg. and 206 watts avg. It was a hilly course. The run felt good on somewhat tired legs I was still knocking out 7:47's. Not race shape but considering I'm six months out it's a start! Later I plan to add a page of goals and benchmarks to my Blog which should add another level of accountability.

Sweating it out in my "Ironman Training Center." I built a room specifically for Ironman Training during the cold wet days of Oregon's winter. Only thing I'm missing is an Endless Pool!

Newton's

One of the areas I'm looking to improve this season is the run. While I can run a Boston qualifiying time straight marathon, the Ironman marathon has always proven difficult. A lot has to do with nutrition but a little has to do with the clunky heavy shoes I wear. Usually, I wear Asics 2100 series shoes. Great shoes but not too light. So today, I went to the local tri store and bought a pair of Newton trainers. It will be awhile before I can tell the difference with the break in period and all but I'm hoiping!

Vision Quest

In the last issue of Triathlete Magazine Tim DeBoom published an article about his favorite motivational movies of all time. I promptly went to my Netflix account and plugged in several of them. So far we have watched "Down Hill Racer" and "Vision Quest." Out of the two I prefer Vision Quest. Matthew Modine does a good job of suffering an hold the course. It's a good flick for a session on the trainer.

Drink Mix for the Early Season Training

A lot of triathletes use all kinds of products for training and racing. I keep it simple especially early on in the season. My favorite drink mix is a approx. one cup of orange juice, water, and a pinch of salt per water bottle. Cheap, no additives, chemicals, etc.

The Ultimate Temptation for a Columbian Vegan

At the fire house we have one guy who is trying the vegan experience. His name is Orlando and he's from Columbia. The last day it was another guys "cook day" and he made pulled pork. I never saw a vegan convert so fast!

End of the week numbers - March 7th

Just finished my long run for the week! It was a pretty good week overall only missed one workout. The numbers are: 50 miles bike, 25 miles runnning, and 10,700 swimming. I pushed it a little on the run today on the second half and did 8 of my 14 miles between 7 minute and 7:30 pace. This was on a pretty hilly dirt/trail run so I'm happy with that for this point in the season.

The Dream has Become the Goal!

I have been doing Ironman Triathlons now for several years and this year I will be racing in my seventh event at Ironman Louisville. The first thing you should notice is that I said "race" not finish. I intend to go to Louisville and put the hammer down and be a contender for a Kona slot. I'm not a novice so I fully understand the gravity of this word "race." I will need to do a sub 10:15 or better in the M40-44 age group.

I plan on using this blog to document my journey and to give people a way to follow along and encourage me on this goal. I am also doing a fundraiser for my local Boys and Girls Club and donors will be able to come to this site and learn more about myself , the Boys and Girls Club and my sponsors Erin Baker's Breakfast Cookies!

More to come!