Cranking forCrones!

Dead Last..........that is what place I came in on Sunday for the Cranking for Crones Metric Century Charity Ride. Are there places for a charity ride? Still though, last place.......this has never happened to me.

I was actually using the ride as a change up to my training and to help a good cause. The ride started only five miles from the house.

So I am up by 0700 on Sunday and out the door for a 13 mile warm up before the ride. I get to the race site, check in and then chat with Gregg for a while. There is about 30 people doing the ride and some people looked very serious. I had thought about wearing my new helmet but was afraid to be ridiculed by skinny guys with shaved legs bragging about their power output so I left it at home. I did show up to the race on my tri bike though. The course was an out and back and my goal was 17 MPH but truthfully my legs were pretty sore, I was not going to work hard and I just wanted to get miles in.

At the start a few groups formed and I made a conscious decision not to stick with any group. I wanted to ride my own ride and not try to keep up with people and put undo stress on the hammy. I hit the first rest stop at 30K and kept cruising..... I was feeling great and we had a tail wind for the out section of the course. I was cruising at over 19MPH without any great effort. About 5K from the turn around point I realized the SAG truck was right behind me and I wasn't sure why. I stopped to get water at the turn around point and the guy told me I was the last one...........I was confused and then realized about 1/2 the folks doing the ride were Sally's and turned around at the first aid station....how weak is that!

Since I knew I was 6 minutes behind the closest group and they were pace lining..... I knew it would be a long, lonely ride back. I think that 35-55 were the worst miles..... the wind was gusting over 30MPH .......as we got close the terrain closed up a bit and the trees afforded some protection from the wind..... I was barely able to maintain 15MPH (not sure if I did) but I pushed on and as we got closer I got stronger..... the 3:00-4:00 on the bike was a tough time for me. I kept telling myself 80 would be good for the day........maybe 75...man some crazy things can go through your head on that bike!

I pulled into the park (76 miles total so far) mentally drained and telling myself I would make a beeline for home.....but seeing the other athletes there stuffing their faces motivated me so I helped myself to some goodies..... put my SAG bag in my vest pocket, said good bye to Gregg and gritted out 16 more. The last two were in my neighborhood but the end result was a 90 Mile ride in 5:24.......Ave MPH isn't impressive but I feel good today (hammy sore) and am proud of my accomplishment......... a huge confidence booster just getting the miles in and as a bonus my stomach felt fine as a I had no issues with nutrition.


Sat: Huge day in the pool (for me). I decided not to go to the lake to save time so off to Healthplex where I completed 3000 yards (2743 meters) in the pool in around 1:20. At 2600-3000 all I could muster were 100s but I am happy with the swim.

Bike: 20 miles.......easy with the new helmet on. I used the visor to check it out. I am going to take it off and use sun glasses this week to see which I like better.

Totals last week:

Swim: 4743 2 workouts
Bike: 137 3 workouts
Run: 4.5 1 workout
Aqua run: 30 Min
Yoga: X2
Core/ Weights X2 45 min

There was frost on the ground this morning so I think my lake days are over. Sad but I will gain over an hour to my day.

Dukeman 1/2 IM 14 Sep 08

Why was Sat and Sun in the 90's and the days surrounding them in the mid to lower 80's...........what's the deal with that?

Sat night my hamstring still didn't feel great (yes my right side) but I was hoping it would subside and I will be able to manage the pain during the race. I went to bed around nine and fell to sleep pretty quickly.

I awoke at three pretty chipper made some coffee, ate a bagel and listened to the news. As I was loading the car I was still hoping to use the bathroom but couldn't.... I had that problem in Florida this year as well and went the whole day without going...... I wasn't going to re-live that nightmare. We left at 4:15 and stopped at the drugstore for some assistance with my issue...... We got lost once and had to pull the Tom Tom out..... back on track it took us about an 1 & 15 minutes to get to the site. When we arrived I didn't need my purchased assistance and went right to the porta pottie............thank god!

Checked in, set up my stuff and then I heard that announcement I didn't want to hear........water temp was 79 degrees...not wetsuit legal. They announced that you could wear it if you wanted though but wouldn't be eligible for prizes.........umm no problem since I wouldn't be anyways! I tried to rationalize this in my head:

Wear it:
- Shoulder still not the best, wearing it will make it less rough on the shoulder
- IM AZ is a wetsuit legal race..... this is a trg race for IM.....train as you race
- I could use a good swim for my confidence

Don't wear it:
- I could be the only person wearing it
- people will make fun of me (in their heads)
- I am a guy

Sensibility (for once) won out and I wore the wetsuit! I also encouraged another guy who was hemming and hawing about it to his family..... I let him know he would have another wetsuit brother out there!

Swim start was floating which was fine for me since I could float! I was in the third wave. The course was a triangle with the three sections that looked pretty even. A messy start with people swimming all over me and me on them..... For some reason I went to the left and went way off course....that trend continued all the way to the first turn. I sighted very well on the 2d leg and felt good. Was trying to concentrate on fluttering my feet, pushing my head and chest down, entering the water early and rotating. On the third leg I drifted to the left again...sighting was a challenge due to the sun..... In hindsight I definitely would have been faster if I swam a somewhat straight line.... I was like a ping pong ball out there and need to sight more. Overall though I was not tired one bit getting out of the water and am sure I could have gone father (Maybe not another whole lap though!) which gave me great confidence that I could work my way up to IM distance. Total Swim time: PR 43:43

Short jog to transition: Shoes, helmet, glasses, turn on Garmin, grab bike and I was out.... 1:35

The bike was pretty challenging..... lots of rolling hills and a few steady long climbs. I felt great the first hour and average 20.2. Although I could feel my hammy twinging I was trying to ignore it..... the 2d hour was pretty hilly and my pace dropped significantly.... I was still doing well though. I hit over 40 MPH in the Aero bars for the first time ever...I almost chickened out but kept thinking to myself...why do you have a tri bike if you aren't going to stay in the bars? I kept playing..... I pass you...you pass me with the same people the entire bike until the end when I hammered down. I stayed very Aero for the first couple hours only coming up for steeper climbs. Into the 3rd hour my stomach felt queasy and I popped up more often but continued to pedal hard. My hammy was not doing well but I pushed on determined to PR the bike since I had just PR the swim. I knew I would pay for this later but was hoping I could rely on the strength (relative) of my running to bring me home as thoughts of a PR danced in my head! My Ave HR was down the 2d 1/2 of the bike as I couldn't turn the cranks fast enough anymore.... it began to get painful. I pulled into the the transition area and my time was 2:55:09........19.3 Ave not a PR for me but it was in the range if my hammy had been feeling better......

Nutrition: 2 Bottles of HEED, Gel every 30 minutes and water as needed.... this is what I used last year with no issues but this year I had stomach issues coming of the bike......not sure what is going on with nutrition.

Made a quick change at transition (1:29) and am 1/2 way out of the transition area when I realized I had forgotten my Garmin. Ran back, grabbed it and took off.... I felt great the first mile except for the knot in my side and stomach...... I had thoughts of a PR day but soon realized that wouldn't happen as I turn onto the dirt track for the first hill. I would say it was uphill for at least 3/4 of a miles and it hurt a lot. I got to the top, grabbed some water and had to hit the wood line. Up until then I was pulling 8:34 but that would be the highlight of my run! My right leg was not firing on all cylinders and the course was challenging.... Although I think the course in STL was harder, this one just sapped me.... My stomach was a mess, my leg was killing me and the heat and humidity were defeating.... I took a Gel at mile 3 and thought it was coming back up...I tried some fritos...coke...anything to settle my stomach. I was able to run the entire first lap in 1:01. So very painful to have to go back out on that course for a second loop.

My right leg was heavy, no spring and was killing me. I was still on track for a solid day but made a tactical decision to walk that first uphill..... My Hr was sky high that first lap and I told myself once it got down to a decent level I would run again......it didn't work out quite as planned. From then on I walked the uphills, ran the downhills and ran 90% of the flats. I really pushed hard that last mile to keep my total time under 6 hours. I finished that lap 17 minutes slower but I finished it! My run time was 30 minutes slower than last year in STL but still, I finished and was happy with myself.

Run time: 2:16:57

Nutrition: Water/ Heed every stop, water on head every stop...Gel at mile 3..... I think I did one at mile 8 but can't remember.....I drank coke the entire 2d lap...... it was not pretty!

Total time: 5:58:52

I drank some water and a mountain dew, ate a cookie and some oranges....stretched a bit and tried to feel normal.... My stomach was going nuts....and there was no shade to get out of the sun. Our car was blocked in so we weren't going anywhere. I went to the jeep and laid in the back for a bit with the A/C on. I was there about 15 minutes and could feel myself going, so I got out and instantly puked once, twice and then three times.... I felt much better though! Meg and I went to collect my stuff...she was a huge help as my stomach started to revolt on me again. As I was loading the car my stomach went nuts and I had to sit and rest.....and then it went again...once then twice and I didn't even care that it had hit my toes! Now that I was pretty sure I was cleaned out we were able to get out of the parking lot and Meg drove home.....

We stopped at Sonic to get a slush and I was able to drink it and keep it down.... I still wasn't good when I got back and I tried to do an ice bath for my hammy but we had insufficient ice and I didn't get the effect I wanted. I made some ice cubes overnight though so will try it again tonight.

Today I feel fine except for a little uneasiness in my stomach and my right hamstring is a mess..... It is definitely the lower portion of my hamstring. The rest of my body feels fine and I will be swimming tomorrow afternoon after our jump.

As I finish this blog and add some photos over a couple beers....my leg feels better... I took a muscle relaxer and some Motrin. I have to run on Wednesday (Officer Physical Training) but plan on staying away from the running for a couple weeks. I am proud of myself for gutting the race out and look forward to a day that I am injury free!