Photo Catch-up

Loading the boat!

Carrie and Anna playing "who has the biggest smile.."
Emma has the competition constantly on their heels...

This tube made for 3 saves a ton of "It's my turn" pouting...

Tess was Duck #5 at ballet/drama camp performance.
Any guess who's about to win this battle?
Buddying up for a little R&R...

Our biker gang!
Making sure everyone is ready for the show...

Soccer chick!

My Italy

An early 30s year old lady came to the ED a few nights ago complaining of leg pain since she hit her left hip on a table 6 weeks ago.


She didn't think much of the minor trauma and subsequent bruise, but the continued pain shooting down her leg and the slight swelling worried her enough to finally come seek help.


That was her story, and she was sticking to it...


But when I talked to her, and when I saw her massively swollen leg and wasted, atrophied body, I knew there was more to the story than what she was confessing. I sat down on her bed, held her hand, and we talked...


We talked about the upcoming baseball all-star game since she was watching SportCenter on the tv in her room, then Barry Bonds and San Fransisco and the time she visited there with her parents when she was a kid. That led to her telling me about the honeymoon to Italy she and her former husband took years ago, and how she would give anything see Italy again but was afraid she never would...


Why not?


And that opened the door to the real reason she was seeing me...


She had first noticed it about 6 months ago, just a little bleeding between cycles - nothing major. That continued for a few months and then she noticed a bump when she cleaned herself after using the restroom. "Maybe it's always been there..."


And she started losing weight... 150# became 145 then 130 and now she was barely 100 pounds spread over her 5'8" frame.


The bump got larger and more noticeable, and she knew something was wrong but by then she knew she should already have done something about it so she was afraid to seek help because she thought she would be ridiculed for waiting too long. So she denied it, and she waited.


Finally the pain made it impossible to sleep, or to walk, and the foul-smelling bloody cancer protruding 6 inches from her privates was impossible to hide even underneath the bulkiest of clothes. So she came to see me...


Wasted... Scared... Dying...


I did a few tests and diagnosed her with metastatic cervical cancer - too advanced for cure, too widespread to be compatible with life. I explained to her the bleak outlook...


And then we started talking about the all-star game again... And about her Italy...


The greatest fear I have is being 80 years old and reflecting back and wishing that I had done more/experienced more/lived more when I was younger.

When it's all sorted out, that's why I walked away from a suffocating marriage that most outsiders thought was perfect. That's why I take my 4 itty bitty kids on cross country road trips. It's why I race cars, and crash cars, and why I flirt with 50 mPH on the downhill at Ironman even when it leaves me bleeding and scarred.

Because she's not going to see her Italy... Because I don't want to miss seeing mine.

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Attacked

My training plan dictated a 70-80 minute run today, so I went over to Oak Mountain and ran on the trail that Stronger and I had biked Monday. The heavy rains today and yesterday left the trail muddy, so I got the double-shot of a medium distance run AND muddybuddy training.

This trail is single track for the first few miles, then there is a half mile of fire road before the single track picks up again.

I felt great in the damp mid-70's weather, so I was blazing through the trail in something around 7 minute pace. I turned back at the end of the fire road to start my return to the trailhead.

It was then that I was attacked...

I had only seen 1 other person on the trail, a slow-moving biker that I had actually passed going up a hill. And today I had seen no animals.

I was minding my own, running briskly, and out of nowhere I felt 2 hands grabbing at my headsweats hat from above...

What the ef?

I gave my head a quick shake and then glanced back. I saw nothing, and whatever had tried to grab my hat was nowhere to be seen.

I pulled the hat off my head and inspected, thinking maybe it was a little #2 present from a high-flying bird that had given me the sensation. Nope, no bird mess.

I decided I must be doing a little hallucinating and kept right on running. And then it happened again.

The same two hands grabbed at the top of my hat and actually lifted it slightly off my head. I somewhat frantically shook my head to the side, and the hands released.

I quickly looked over my left shoulder as I picked up my pace, slightly alarmed now.

And then I saw it...

Flying away was a charcoal gray bird with about a 4 or 5 foot wingspan. I have no idea what kind of bird it was, but it seemed huge! [added comment: after doing a little research this afternoon, the bird most resembled either a red-shouldered hawk or a golden eagle. The feathers were strikingly "fluffy," which looks to be more consistent with a golden eagle which are "uncommonly seen in Alabama late summer to winter." My guess is it's probably a hawk of some sorts...]

I can only imagine that this bird must have mistaken my white hat for a rabbit or some other scurrying prey. Luckily, his talons for some reason weren't very sharp or I think my scalp may have been a little more scarred than it is already.

Endurance sports training takes you to some interesting places and offers some rather unique experiences.

But I never for a moment imagined I would be the target of a bird of prey...

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Intensity

My week ( ok, i'll be honest, it was a super-size-me week and a few days...) off of training after Ironman Switzerland is over, and it's time to start building for the rest of the season.

I wasn't sure how my body would feel after my first 140.6. Would I be sore for a week like after my first 26.2? Would the road rash and bruises from my 45+ mpH crash slow me down physically, or even mentally? Would the satisfaction of completing an Ironman dampen my desire to continue to train?

Not a chance!

I feel great. Surprisingly great. In fact, I caught myself saying aloud yesterday morning that I could do another Ironman this weekend.

And that left me thinking that my body has more to give than I've been allowing it to give. There must be limits that I haven't come close to reaching... There must be more of me that could have been left on the course in Zurich (heh, I gave it a hefty chunk of skin, what else did it want!!!??)...

Ironman Switzerland proved to me that I have the endurance to go the distance. But my short recovery time suggests to me I need to kick it up a notch.

So as I shift my focus to Ironman Wisconsin, I will begin to train with a little more intensity. Get my heartrate up faster for longer... Stop the session when the work is done, not when I feel like I've had enough... Harder... Faster... Stronger...

The day after Ironman Switzerland I walked for hours touring the Swiss countryside, even climbing a 30 story wall in the process. The day after Wisconsin, I want to be so tapped I can barely make breakfast.

The endurance is there... Now it's time for intensity...

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Ironman Switzerland Race Report

I arrived in Zurich Thursday morning and nearly immediately met Chris and Jesse, 2 of the Gear West Tri Club crew that I would be hanging with for the weekend. We shuttled to the hotel, assembled our bikes and then went riding.

Ken Glah, the mastermind of Endurance Sports Travel and 51 time Ironman finisher (now that, my friends, is crazy...), led us on a 40 mile ride around the course. Let me pause here and say that this was an amazing bike course - a few super-challenging hills (fittingly called The Beast and Heartbreak Hill) mixed with some long flat straights and an occasional peek at the snow-capped Alps in the distance.

Thursday afternoon after the bike ride there was a knock on my door and - finally! - I got to meet IronMomJenny and see IronGirlNyhus again! Jenny is super - competitive and witty and inspiring.(in the 6 weeks before this Ironman she did a half ironman and 2 marathons!).
Friday I swam in Lake Zurich and - woohoo!! - it wasn’t 50 degrees as advertised! It was at least upper 60's water temperature and amazingly clear. My roommate for the week Andy and his dad David and I swam with the fish for a half hour, got registered, then went over to the pre-race dinner at a lodge overlooking Zurich.

Saturday we cheered Helen and one of the EST travel-assistants Richard (who runs

a company called Eurocycler that offers cycling camps/tours throughout Europe) as they raced the Olympic tri. It struck us as odd that the organizers separate the different waves by at least 30 minutes so there were racers starting and finishing all day long. This along with a relative lack of volunteers led Jenny and I to become temporary volunteers and help some of the racers find their way out of T2 while we were waiting on Helen to come in on the bike.

Saturday night I loaded up with a salmon lasagna (yummy!!), and a cheeseburger and then climbed into bed for a reasonably restful 5 hours of sleep.

Race Day morning started at 0445 with

breakfast and then a 0530 shuttle to finish setting up my transition zone. Our race numbers were organized alphabetically by country name, so all of the Americans were grouped together within about 10 yards of the bike exit/entrance. Perfect! I got organized, zoned with mellow ipod tunes, and then called Stronger in Coeur d'Alene for a final bit of inspiration and strength before I donned my wetsuit and headed to the beach.

Jenny, Laura, Greg, Nick, Timmy, and I all walked over together and then huddled for a prayer before staking out our respective spots. I moved far left on the beach to avoid getting pinched at the first buoy by the crowd starting on the right side.

And finally it started...

The swim started east into a blue sky and glorious sun that made it impossible to see any of the buoys. Race organizers -

MAKE CERTAIN YOUR BUOYS ARE VISIBLE!!!!!
The first 400 yards I was in survival-swim mode. Head above the water, breathing every stroke, anxious. Just like in every

tri I’ve done, there were a few minutes when I thought about pulling up and getting on a boat. Luckily, I recognized this anxiety as transient and pushed on, and the panic was gone by half a mile when we were now heading south and the buoys were visible.

Before I knew it, the first lap was over and I was feeling comfortable. The 2nd lap was about the best I’ve ever felt swimming. I had periods when I pushed harder and felt my stroke become smoother, and then I would rest for periods and do my lazy stroke. By the time my 2nd lap was almost over, I had lost track of time and effort and was simply enjoying swimming. It felt so good I almost didn’t want to get out, but alas I did. Swim time - 1:34:34

No wetsuit strippers in Zurich, so I stripped it myself and threw on my shoes and helmet and escaped from T1 in 2:26

The bike was a 3 loop course through and out of Zurich, through a bit of the Swiss countryside, up and over a mountain, then back into Zurich for a climb up Heartbreak Hill. The first 15k of each lap was flat before the first hill, "The Beauty." The only thing beautiful about this hill was that it wasn’t 5 kilometers long like "The Beast," which followed The Beauty by less than a kilometer.

After you conquer The Beast there is a 15% grade downhill for about 2 or 3 kilometers. It’s so steep and curvy in places that using your aerobars will cost you a 6 minute penalty. Jesse told me after the race that he was upright at 48 mph and was getting passed on this section. I went naked (no computer, no Garmin) for this race so I don’t know how fast I was going for my first pass on this section; but, I can tell you that it was too fast. I wasn’t on the aerobars, but I was crouched completely horizontal with my hands on brakes that I wasn’t using. I passed people like they weren’t moving coming down that hill... Until I got to the bottom of the hill where there happened to be a sharp and narrow right turn. I saw the curve with a 100 meters notice, but it wasn’t enough. I braked hard, and my rear wheel locked and shimmied. I released the brake then braked again trying not to lock it, but it locked again. I had just released and squeezed a third time when I realized there wasn’t enough time and laid the bike down just as I got to the outside of the curve. I crashed onto the sidewalk and into a chainlink fence erected to keep out-of-control bikers (uhm, like me?) from careening off the mountain. As soon as I stopped, I hopped up and glanced at my elbow (which was the only thing that immediately hurt) and saw no bones poking through. I then confirmed that my bike and wheels weren’t shattered. Everything looked good, so I jumped on my bike and took off again! As I was riding off the medics that were running toward me stopped with jaws open and pointed - "He’s up, He’s up" they shouted! I knew then that I had just given up one of my 9 lives...

The rest of the bike course wasn’t nearly as adventurous. The absolute best part of the bike, and the race overall, was climbing Heartbreak Hill. This is only a 0.7 km climb, but it’s steep. Spectators lined the climb, even spilling into the road and forcing the racers to ascend single file down the middle of the road. The crowd was yelling, making noise, ringing cowbells, running along side of you. "Hop Hop" was the favorite cheer. I felt like I was riding in le Tour de France... At the top of Heartbreak an announcer called out your name and country. Perfect!

By the 3rd lap of the bike my ass was hurting and I was ready to start running. My only crash related pain at that time was the roadrash on my left elbow since it was in the exact spot where my arm rests in aero. I finally got into T2 with a bike time of 6:15:11.

I changed shoes and discarded the helmet, peed, then ran out of T2 in 1:45. I didn’t realize I still had my cycling gloves on for about a 1/3 of a mile, and then I just tossed them at the first aid station.

The run was a 4 loop course that was flat and went out and back twice on each loop. This was a perfect set-up for spectators and for racers to see everyone in front of and behind you. There were ample aid stations, although they were unevenly dispersed at times. Sometimes they were 2 less than a half mile apart and sometimes it was almost 2 miles.

The first lap of the run I noticed that my left ankle was hurting. I took a look at it and noticed a nasty bruise on the lower 1/3 of my left shin, the result of the concrete block I hit as I slid into the fence when I crashed. It didn’t bother me initially, but by the time the first 10k was over each step sent a pain from my ankle up my shin-bone to my knee.

I started walking some on the 2nd lap, and continued to walk-run the remainder of the marathon. When I ran, I could keep the pace I wanted but there was the pain. I was having too much fun to be in a lot of pain, and I didn’t want to risk making any minor injury anything that might jeopardize the rest of my race season. So I walked periodically, encouraged the other racers, and had fun!

I was walking on my 3rd lap when Andy jogged up beside me on his 4th and final lap. He had about 2 miles to go, so I ran him to the finish line and got to hear his name called for his first (of many, I’m sure) Ironman finish!

Finally, I finished my last lap and ran across the line in 12:28:43.

I grabbed my medal, posed for the obligatory post-race photo, and then walked to transition to call Stronger and thank her for giving me extra strength and inspiration. My mom and sister called as soon as my finishing time popped up on Ironmanlive. I showered, scarfed the provided pasta, and then went to the finish line to cheer on the rest of the crew for the next 3 1/2 hours.

You know, several people who have finished an Ironman have told me that the race itself is almost anticlimactic - that once you finish, you realize it was the training and the journey itself that made you an Ironman, not the race. And I have to agree with this.

Finishing an Ironman is not a defining moment for me. It is not a notch in the belt, nor the best moment of my life. Ironman is neither magical nor epic. It doesn't make you better or stronger or more confident or more attractive.

But the journey to Ironman is a lot of those things.

Finishing an Ironman was the culmination of a 6 month training session in which I prepared my body and mind to stress itself for a 12 or 13 hour period. I learned a few things along the way, and I’ve met some people that will be forever a part of my life.

But Ironman isn’t - my life. And I’m no more special or deserving today than I was prior to Sunday.

That said, Sunday was a perfect and beautiful day, and I can guarantee I will spend more Sundays trudging along Ironman courses.

The destination is costly, but the journey.... the journey is priceless...

Somewhere between Switzerland and home about 300 photos have disappeared from my computer. :( Grrrrr.

I finished Ironman Switzerland!

I finished!

Lots of excitement, and tons of fun.

To sum it up, the first lap of the swim was chaotic, the 2nd lap i was wishing i could just keep swimming ' yea, i loved the swimming!

I crashed my bike on the first of the three laps. A 15% 2 mile downhill with a sharp right turn at the bottom caught me way too fast and - well, I crashed. No major injuries, but enough to make the run very painful.

So I walked about 30 or 40% of the run. It sucked, but it was just hard to keep running with nasty pains shooting up my shin.

Final time - 12:28. And I couldn´t be prouder!

Thanks to everyone that cheered and checked in from afar - you´ll never know how special that feels to me... There are 16 or so of us in our group that raced today - and everyone finished and did outstanding!

Full report soon!

Opportunity Time

It's finally here.

Ironman Zurich.

6 months of preparation are done.

Now, as Bold would say, it's time to let preparation meet opportunity.

It's time to Get.It.On.

Ironman style.

I get off work at 0400 tomorrow morning, then straight to the airport. A 12 hour stop in New York and then it's transatlantic overnight to arrive in Zurich Thursday am.

I'm packed, and so far I haven't remembered anything I've forgotten.

I even remembered the wheels!

There was a period a couple of months ago when I seriously considered dropping this race. I didn't think I would be adequately trained, I didn't think the finances would work out, I had an alternative trip that would have been a blast.

But I trudged along and stayed the course. Persistent.

And guess what? I am trained. Perfectly trained. Abso-effing-lutely perfectly trained. I won't be first at anything, but I will finish. And I will finish Proud. Strong. And courageous. Because this journey was never about being the best, it was about being. Experiencing. Living.

Know what else? I noticed yesterday on my checking account statement a couple of transactions that looked unusual. I called about it today; and, although it took 2 hours of getting passed from one person to another, I ended up with an unexpected extra $650 in my account! I honestly felt like someone was looking out for me, making sure everything would come off perfectly for this trip.

And the alternative trip? Well, I was able to reschedule the high altitude training even earlier PLUS sneak in a little racing at the same time.

So the training is done. The preparation is done. Everything has come together to create this opportunity. And now it's time to get it done.

Ironman style.

Check out my progress on Ironmanlive.com starting at 0100 on Sunday 24th. I'm #1974.

Photos!

My digital camera didn't like getting wet in my gym bag last week, so I've been camera-less until today when my mom gave me an early birthday/Father's Day present - thanks Mom! So I finally am able to get Anna and Tess's Wizard of Oz ballet pics posted, as well as today's lake-play pics.

Notice Emma knee-boarding solo on her first ever attempt!

Sick

"Daddy I'm about to throw up!"

Not exactly my first choice of words to awake to... I dashed into the girls' bathroom and found Emma cradling the porcelain.

"My tummy hurts daddy..."

I held her long curly locks back out of her face while she emptied her stomach for the first of multiple times today. And if she's not vomiting, she's either doubled over cramping or it's coming the other way. Or she's asleep.

My 7 year old that never takes naps has slept all day, unless she's in the bathroom. We had a few errands to run, and she had to make pit stops in EVERY.SINGLE.STORE. Twice in one. Then right to sleep once we were back in the truck to move to the next stop.

I tend not to get anxious about my kids getting hurt or sick. I know enough and have seen enough to know that time heals just about everything. Sometimes that backfires, like when Aidan cut his head open on a kitchen cabinet (or was it a slip on the rocks, I've forgotten the details now) and I opted to let it heal rather than get a few sutures put in. Months later it was still unhealed and scabbed over (interestingly, it wasn't until I shaved his head for his mohawk that it finally healed completely...).

But it still makes me feel awful to see one of my kids suffering. The absolute worst feeling is when she is vomiting, and I know that to her it feels like the contents won't stop coming up and she wants to breathe but she can't because this nasty bile is spewing endlessly from her. And then it stops but she can't breathe in yet because she still is retching. And finally she can breathe in, but when she does she has the horrible taste of stomach acid and partially digested food and she cries out for something, anything to make this stop.

And finally it does and she falls back asleep.

And I sit beside her, hand toying with her long curly locks, and I just want something, anything to make this stop.

2 weeks

Less than 2 weeks left until Ironman, and it still doesn't scare me like I thought it would.

This journey has brought me to places that I didn't know existed, and to people that I didn't know could exist.

I never knew sting like the dried sweat salt pushed into my eyes by the new and unrelenting sweat of 100% humidity combined with a 2 hour trail run.

I never knew hot like mile 60 of a 100 in 95 degrees when the hydration-replacement store that I thought was 10 miles ago was still 10 miles away.

I never knew incapacitated like the pain of finishing my first 26.2 with an IT band inflamed and hurting for weeks prior and that now had pea-sized knots visible on the side of my knee.

I never knew embarrassing like a 100 yards into the first leg of my first Olympic tri when I realized that no, I didn't know how to swim, and what the hell was I doing trying to pretend that I did?

I never knew persistence like the 20th mile of a treadmill run.

I never knew satisfaction like finishing my first non-stop mile swim, and then just a month later finishing my first Ironman length swim.

I never knew patience like 6 weeks of no running to let a broken body heal.

I never knew diligence like dozens of hours spent on a treadmill watching the mirror and learning to run while minimizing leg lateral movement.

I never knew community like the friends I've met along the way, online and off, who have supported and encouraged and taught and laughed with me and cried with me and shared with me who have made me realize that Ironman is not a destination to fear, but a journey of exploration to embrace.

Less than 2 weeks until Ironman, and it still doesn't scare me like I thought it would.

Taper Time!

Today marks the end of my highest volume week of Ironman training.

In the last 7 days, I have 18.5 hours of training (not including the prep, post stretches, etc), including

180 miles of biking (including 100 today - woohoo!)
40 miles running (with a long of 20)
5700 yards swimming (with a long of 4200)
and an hour of strength/core.

My typical week has included about 10 hours of training, so I'm essentially wiped out at this point and ready to taper (and sleep!)!

So I get a text message from IronJenny today saying that TriNick has a friend who says that Lake Zurich, in which I'll be swimming 2.4 miles in a couple of weeks, is right now 50 degrees F.
Jenny, are you effing with me? Please please tell me you are effing with me!!

Survival Flight Crash

As an emergency medicine resident at the University of Michigan I spent 3 years flying with the Survival Flight medical transport team. We mostly flew in Bell 430 helicopters, but occasionally we flew on the jet for longer transports.

I flew hospital to hospital transfers, a few organ procurement missions, and (the best) trauma scene calls. I landed in cornfields, on interstates and county roads, and all over the midwest.

On one of the most memorable missions, we flew to Ludington, a little city that sits on Lake Michigan. As we were getting close on the non-instrument flight (meaning we were flying by vision only, not by instruments), an unexpected snowstorm created white-out conditions and we ended up with a way-scary ride over Lake Michigan!

Monday at 4pm, the University of Michigan Survival Flight program lost a Cessna Citation jet with 6 crew and a set of just-procured lungs into Lake Michigan shortly after take-off from Milwaukee. 2 pilots, 2 nurses, and the 2 physicians on board are presumed dead. The patient who was supposed to receive the lungs is back in ICU in critical condition.

I didn't know any of the crew onboard, but it still tears at me a little. 6 highly accomplished people died trying to be the hero for a guy that might die without their help. He might get another set of lungs, but double lungs healthy enough to transplant are relatively hard to come by.

And their families... I flew close to a 100 missions in my 3 years, and I never once thought that I wouldn't make it home to hug my kids again. I feel so bad for their kids, for their partners, for their parents...

Sometimes life doesn't seem very fair.

Please keep in your prayers the families of these lost 6, and for the guy holding onto life by a thread who still is waiting for a set of lungs.

Here's a link if you want to read more:

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Passport to Ironman

My passport arrived today (finally!), and now I know it really is going to happen. 3 weeks to go before Ironman Switzerland, and I’m ready to get.it.on…

Well, my mind is ready. My body may or may not be ready.

Funny, but my swim endurance is what I’m most satisfied with right now. Although in January I was unable to swim more than 750 yards nonstop, my Friday 4200 yards was my second Ironman-length swim in the last month. I may be slow, but I’ll make it back to the beach, and that’s all I’m shooting for with the swim.

My long rides and runs haven’t been quite as long as they probably should be. My planned 3 hour run today became an hour and a half when stomach cramps forced 2 bathroom stops within a mile – and the promise of more to come… I haven’t figured out how to manage #2 stops on the trail unless there is a nearby bathroom, which luckily there was today. Maybe I need to pull out my college botany texts and re-learn what poison ivy/oak look like – I definitely don’t want to pick the wrong leaf for that little issue!

Wednesday will bring my final long ride of this training cycle, and my only 100+ mile ride for this Ironman.

After this week, the volume will start to go down while the intensity will creep up. Not that I really have a plan, but it seems like that’s what everyone else does during taper so I probably should do that too.

In other news, I tried today to learn how to tread water. Yea, that’s right, I have no idea how to tread water. I’ve always just used my arms/hands, but it was recently pointed out to me that if I’m in the middle of the lake and my goggles get knocked off I’m hosed unless I can tread water with my legs. So I swam into Lake Martin today and tried to do as it has been described to me.

Uhm, yea, this isn’t supposed to be hard is it? I can.not.tread.water. I tried to move my right leg forward and back and abduction to adduction and then my left leg forward and back and abduction to adduction. Clockwise, counterclockwise… I’m just thankful I still had my arms and my goggles were still firmly in place. I learned to swim essentially without a coach or lessons, but I may need a coach to teach me to tread water!

The fun never ends…

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Wizard of Oz Dress Rehearsal Photos

Anna and Tess have practiced since September for their first ballet production, the Wizard of Oz.

They've learned the 1st and 2nd position... They've learned to curtsy... They've learned lots of other ballet words that their Daddy doesn't understand.

They've become more flexible and more coordinated...
They've developed a lot of new friends...

And tomorrow, they get to be a poppy (Anna) and a snowflake (Tess) in front of about 1500 people.And Daddy gets to wonder once again how there can be such beauty in this world...

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Altitude Schmaltitude

This weekend I decided to try training at altitude, because

and I live at














So I flew to Denver Saturday morning where Stronger picked me up. Now Denver is about 5200 feet, and I was completely expecting to pant like a rabid dog walking off the jet. I was feeling good about my still-calm breathing when we walked with my overweight bike box to her SUV, and then she told me we were going to be riding up to nearly 11000 feet.

Can I handle it? Oh, I can handle it... The pre-trip altitude-schmaltitude smack was about to be tested.


We drove straight to Vail village and within about 2 hours of stepping off the jet I was stepping into my P2SL. Now she claims to not be training for anything particular, but make no doubt about it - Stronger is trained and tough. She's Marine-like, as in always ready for a little battle. I think she was taking it easy on me for the up-part of this ride - and there was a lot of up. The first 14 miles were straight up, and my previous longest sustained climb was the 3 mile leg-killer at Cheaha Mountain. Vail laughed at Cheaha...

We made it to the peak and I snapped this Kodak moment of us with the Vail Summit sign in the background...
Yea, well, obviously I was feeling a bit hypoxic since our summit sign pic turned into a Freudian slip of a pic focused on our quivering quads...


The summit was about 10 degrees cooler than where we started and it was snowing. Yea, snow. On Memorial Day weekend... That's right - sea level is for sissies!


We headed back for the fun downhill, where I found a top speed of 43 mPH on the reasonably narrow tourist-bike laden path. Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE going down? Uhm, downhill that is...


We packed up the bikes and then headed a little further west to pick up a couple of kayaks. Now she offered to take me here:

but, since I had never stepped foot in a kayak she took it easy on me and took me here for my intro to whitewater... Just my speed!The following day brought a trail run on Grizzly Creek, a close tributary of the Colorado River, followed by a "reasonably flat" ride through the canyon. Sounded great! I think I assumed - evil laugh inserted - that since the ride was reasonably flat, the run would be likewise... Oh no... I quickly learned that running in this portion of Colorado implies running hills. There is no other way.

My Garmin didn't see through the tree canopy for this run, but here is the profile I later found for this trail. Here I started feeling the altitude, and I forced our run to become a run/hike. I think Stronger could have continued up indefinitely, but she was a good sport and made me at least half-way believe she was hurting a little too. When we had enough up, we ran briskly down and then biked through the canyon - my legs we so relieved the ride really was basically flat!.

The following morning I met up with Bold, David, Chris, and Stronger and we ran the Bolder Boulder 10k with 50,000 other runners. Yep, no typo there - 50,000! My wave started off at 7:04.30, with Bold 1 minute back and Stronger 2 minutes back.

This was the first non-tri 10k I've ever run, so I was a little unsure how to pace myself. Plus, it was in Colorado, which meant more hills! The first 3/4 of a mile was a fast downhill, and then it went up... and up... and up... Until shortly into the 5th mile when it started to descend again... A couple of brief uphills, and then course ended at the University of Colorado's Folsom Field football stadium.

I was in a wave with a predicted finish time of 46-47 minutes, and I was hoping to at least make that prediction. My first mile went by in 6:45, but then I hit the ups. The second mile dropped to 7:15, and each consecutive mile slowed slightly. When I hit the 4 mile mark in 30 minutes, I was doing the math on what I needed to run to make it under 48. Just under 9 minute miles - piece of cake! My fear of being passed by Bold and Stronger kept me pushing. Luckily the 5th and 6th mile downhills refreshed me, and I was able to slip past the finish in an unofficial 47:01. I love racing new distances because it's always a PR!

Well, that was my weekend. The rides and runs were memorable, the friends even moreso. Stronger was awesome for dragging me around for some amazing rides and runs. Maybe next time, I'll be able to keep up better climbing Vail. And maybe next time, we'll be ready for this:
Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

The Meeting

I was reminded tonight of the strength of anticipation.

You see, my kids' mom told me a couple of months ago that she had gotten engaged to J. My initial reaction I think was a mix of anger and shock - mostly I think because E and J had only known each other for at most 6 months prior to deciding to marry. 6 months when 4 young kids are involved just seemed hasty.

I had made a point of not asking the kids about J. He lives a few hours away, so they only see him every couple of weeks. They talked about him a little, revealing little bits of info that didn't exactly make me feel very secure that he was going to be permanently involved in their lives.

They told me he talks a lot about farting and has showed them a web site where you can download fart noises. I learned this after questioning my then 6 year old daughter when she used the word fart in conversation with my mother. Now I've nothing against the word fart or farting, but I'm of the opinion that the word is best left to conversations between teenage boys or adults acting like teenage boys (which I do, not infrequently).

The kids also told me J works with tools. Great! The roughly 1/3 of my multi-6 figure salary that I send to them is going to be supporting the guy that's swinging the hammer and smoking pot at the home renovation next door.

I had asked E about meeting J after they got engaged. We had a little trouble scheduling it, and finally tonight we met. They came to my house after I had put the kids to sleep, and we sat on the deck and all drank a beer and talked.

Now I had absolutely dreaded meeting J. I had him pictured wearing greased blue jeans with a black bowling shirt with his name engraved, a slicked back mullet, and a tattoo on his arm of a heart with an arrow through it. I was certain he was the picture in Webster beside the definition of redneck.

But guess what?

J seems like an alright guy. He doesn't swing a hammer - he sells industrial tools to commercial accounts for a multi-billion dollar company. He's roughly the same age as E and me (although he's already all gray - poor dude...), and he graduated from the same university.

He's easy to talk to, not physically intimidating at all (and no mullet, and no name engraved on his shirt...), and said explicitly that he is not an axe murderer or a child molester. He apparently has even gotten the FAA/TSA extensive security screen that's optional for people who fly a ton and passed that, so I guess he probably isn't on any sexual predator lists.

I didn't ask him about the farting infatuation...

I admit I still don't like another guy having such close access to my kids. But I also will admit that I think I'm going to get along with, and maybe even like, this particular guy.

Before they left after sitting around together for an hour and a half, I even managed to tell them I was genuinely happy for them.

And I was happy to get this meeting over with...

And I'm happy that the real reality isn't nearly as bad as the anticipated reality. At least not yet...

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Adversity - the Florida Half Ironman Race Report

Well friends it's time to tell the tale. I wish the tale went a little differently, but then I wouldn't have learned nearly as much.

The story starts, as it always does, with the planning. There was a lot of planning to do for this trip. I have 4 kids that divide their time between 2 houses. I took Emma to Orlando with me for a birthday trip, the kids' mom took Tess to the beach for her birthday trip, and my sister kept Anna and Aidan at her house for the weekend. Ever tried packing for 4 kids with stuff from 2 different houses for 3 different trips in 3 separate places? All the while trying to pack your own stuff for your first destination triathlon? Yea, it ain't easy...

The first inkling I had of things going wrong was on the way to the airport when I realized I forgot my razor and clippers. I know, not that big a deal, but I was hoping to exude the mohawk vibes again. Turned out that was the first and most minor of all the turbulence.

Now I'm no saint. Far from it. But I never ever once have dropped the F bomb in the presence of my mom. You see, I took my mom to Disney with us so Emma would have a peep to hang with during the race. So we were sitting in the airplane waiting to take off on the connector to Atlanta when I realized it, and my first reaction was turning toward my mom and blurting "Oh f*^%*!!!"

My mom looked at me and asked what was wrong. I laughed. Couldn't believe it. I looked at the clock on my phone - nope, no time... My wheels were still sitting in my bedroom at home. My bike was safely loaded in my new bike box in the belly of the jet but my wheels - still waiting by my bed ready to be packed.

So my first day in Orlando was divided between the Magic Kingdom and calling around trying to find a pair of wheels. IronGirlNyhus was awesome in trying to pimp her friend Andrew's wheels for me. Luckily, Andrew was a good sport about it when we met at dinner the next night. I finally did find a set of wheels to rent at the race expo (although they initially told me they were rented out but when i got on my knees and begged and cried a little bit (well, maybe I didn't actually cry and I guess my knees never touched the ground but if i needed to i was prepared...) the tech stripped the wheels off a rental bike that hadn't been rented yet), and I was set.

Well, kind of.

Saturday morning I met up with Laura, Nick, Tim, and Steve. We went for an illegal swim in the warm warm lake before being chased away by the pesky staff (no pre-race swims, no raceday warm-ups... what's up with that?). We then met up with Brent and went for a short ride.

While we were riding, my attention was focused on the wheels. I didn't really pay attention to anything else, and this would end up a another big mistake - read on...

During our ride we ran across the kids splash and dash race and got a healthy dose of inspiration...

Later Saturday Emma and I went back to Magic Kingdom and played with Mickey and friends until late afternoon. Then, I hurried back to our resort (Port Orleans Riverside - if you do this race, don't stay here. It's only 3 or 4 miles from the race headquarters but there is NO transportation to/from).

I hopped on my bike to ride over to transition and check my bike in when I realized there was no air in the rear tire. Hmph. Now one thing that had kind of concerned me about these wheels were they were tubeless and I had never been on tubeless tires. No idea how to change them. No extra tires. And I hadn't brought a pump because I've always just used someone else's in transition on raceday.

So I had about an hour and a half, a flat tire, and 3 1/2 miles to get my bike to transition before the 6pm cutoff. I checked with the bellboys and confirmed there were no Disney buses that would take me there. And the cabs would drop me off at the front gate of the race resort but I would then have a mile more to get to transition - I didn't like that either. So I tipped the bellboy an arm and a leg and he took me in one of the Disney vans to transition with an hour to go before closing. Whew...

After this I was frustrated enough to walk away with my tire still flat with plans to tackle it on race morning. And finally, it was off to dinner. Well, it wasn't quite that easy. From the wilderness campgrounds where the race was headquartered I had to take a ferry across the lake to the Magic Kingdom, then take a bus from there to my resort. Then I met up with Emma and my mom and we took a cab to Downtown Disney for dinner. 45 minutes late. I felt so bad when I called Laura to tell her we were going to be late and she said they wouldn't seat anyone until all 10 of us were there. I think I owe you guys a few beers in Zurich!

Finally, race morning. I woke at 0330 since I still had no idea how I was going to get from my resort to the race-site. I ate a bowl of fruit, yogurt, and a clif bar and then ventured out. I had no idea when I left the room at 415 that I wouldn't see Emma again until after the race...

When I walked to the front of the resort and saw a bus and a couple of dozen helmet-bearing triathlete-looking people boarding it, I thought my luck was starting to change. I jumped on, sat in the back, and started Chasing Cars on the ipod. Somehow a Disney bus can turn 3 1/2 miles into 30 minutes, so I repeated 4 or 5 times and then we arrived.

My first mission was to find a bike pump and inflate rear tire. Check. Now I had an hour and a half to kill before starting. I was in the 3rd race wave, starting behind the pro women, because of my Challenged Athlete Foundation involvement. So I laid on the beach for awhile,watched the sky turn from midnight blue to light grey, and then went to check my tires again about a half hour before racetime.

When I checked them, the tires seemed to be a little less than the 120psi I had inflated them to an hour prior, but I thought that was probably me just being overly-concerned and weary. So I called it good and went off for the swim.

It's a Beautiful Day from U2 blared into the morning sky as the air-horn blared signalling the start of my first half Ironman. Now it was real. I let the other 100 people in my wave run off the beach while I slowly meandered my way into the water. I was in no hurry... At this point I kept myself steady by constantly reminding myself that this was nothing but a training exercise.

Now I've heard it said a hundred times that the first part of the swim is like a washing machine, and now I can vouch for the accuracy of that analogy. Blue gray water became all white as arms and legs flailed. After a couple of hundred yards and no signs of clearing, I moved toward the outside and blue water where I remained for the duration of the 1.2 miles.

The swim was remarkably easy. I made a point of going slower than I thought I needed to. I absolutely did not want a repeat of my embarrassing doggie paddle/backfloat 55 minute 1500 meter swim at the Music City Tri last fall. And I did it - all freestyle - without ever needing a break and without any problems. Swim time - 46:32

I exited the water and ran into transition and discovered -

a flat rear tire...

So I ran around the transition area until I saw a free pump and pumped the tire up to 120 again. I didn't know how to change a tubeless, and I wasn't going to piss time away trying to get a tech guy to help me at this point. I figured I must have a slow leak and at worst I would have to stop and reinflate periodically during the ride. I kept steady by constantly reminding myself that this was nothing but a training exercise.

After a painfully long transition (4:52) I rode off into the sunrise. The first 5 miles were great, and then I felt like I was riding through molasses. The pressure in my rear tire was already low. I resigned myself to a slow ride and moved to the right and started taking in the sights.

At 20 miles I was completely flat. I kept riding - hey, they weren't my wheels or my friends' wheels, so no big deal... Yea, I was riding slow... I made it a couple of miles to the first aid station where there luckily was a support truck. He reinflated me to 140 and I was off.

I had about 10 good miles this time before the pressure dropped. I felt great for those 10 though and was passing EVERY thing near me. This happened to also be the only hilly section of the course and I dominated the hills.

And then the pressure dropped again, and I started sight-seeing. I never saw another tech truck, but luckily the tire never completely flatted again. When I pulled into T2 I'm guessing I had about 60 psi left... Bike time - 3:04.59

Now other than the tire issues, I discovered another bike issue almost immediately after exiting T1. My fit was off. You see, when I put my bike together and rode on the day before the race, I was concentrating enough on the wheel feel that I didn't pay attention to the fit. But the first time I went aero on raceday I knew it was off. My seatpost was too high. I couldn't get in the aero position at all. Wouldn't work, not flexible enough in that position.

So for the entire 56 miles of basically flat riding I was upright. Not the best way to get a good bike time on this nearly pancake flat course...

Finally I hit T2. I've never been happier to get off my bike than I was in this race. I made a porta-john stop and then started the run. T2 - 2:36

The run surprised me because I had no idea that 70% of it was trail-running. Don't you think they should have mentioned that SOMEwhere in the race literature/course description? Not that it really is a huge deal, but come on - let us know what to expect...

2 or 3 miles into the run and my quads were screaming at me to stop. You see, my quads aren't use to the extra work they were getting on the bike thanks to my high seatpost issue. Luckily the run was flat as a pancake and my mind was able to tell the quads to shut up and do your job. And they did their job, but with more pain than I wanted.

Now on the 3 loop run I kept looking for my mom and Emma, but I couldn't find them. Perfect run course for spectators, but no Emma. After the first lap, no big deal. After the second lap I was a little disappointed. After the final lap and when I finally crossed the finish line (Run time - 1:56.16), I still hadn't seen my daughter.

At the pre-race dinner my mom had said that she wanted to make sure Emma saw her daddy racing since the last race she went to she didn't get to see me finish. So here I am having just finished my first half Ironman and the thing on my mind is not that I hurt or that I was proud or relieved it was has something happened to my daughter? Why isn't she here? Why didn't she see me racing? My mom made a point of saying that it was important to her for Emma to see me - where are they?

I collected my medal and finisher's swag and stumbled around for a few minutes at the finish line, hoping they would have heard my name and found me. Nope... I started the search...

I walked around for 20 or so painful minutes before finally seeing my beautiful daughter and her gramma, both safe and happy! My mom tried so hard but had no idea where she was supposed to be. She had been waiting at the entrance to T2 for hours and never saw me enter and then leave to start the run.

After the race I got cleaned up and then headed back to the Magic Kingdom. I turned in the rented wheels on the way, and they didn't notice any damage from being ridden flat (whew!!).

The next day we played at MGM, and then finally we were done with Orlando. We were sitting in the airport about to board our jet when I realized my house/car keys were still sitting in our hotel room. After confirming with the resort manager that they were there and could be sent overnight, I couldn't help but laugh at myself.

We finally got to Birmingham about 11 last night, took a taxi home, and I shattered a window to break into my house. My friend Mike brought over my spare car that he'd been using for the last few weeks, and the saga was finally over.

I learned a lot from this trip. Most of all, I think I learned that I can't be everything and do everything all of the time. Between the kids, and work, and training and racing, I stay too busy. I don't sleep enough. This trip was the first trip I ever have made with my kid(s) that I wished I had a significant other with me. My mom is great, but she was just along for the ride. I needed someone there that had as much invested in the experience as me. Someone to help with a checks and balances system and help fill the gaps that I left. This trip was a big reality check for me. I can't do everything.

So that's the tale of my first triathlon travel adventure. Zurich is in 4 weeks - I hope to tell a much rosier tale after that race!

Final time - 5:55.15 (136/271 M30-34, 932/2048 overall)

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.