Here are some course maps and other little goodies.
I found 2 links on mapmyride.com. They map the bike and run portions very nicely.
| Elevation Map |
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| Bike Elevation |
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| Run Elevation |
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Just got the cue sheet for the 2006 Gold Coast Century. I don't recognize most of the streets. I do recognize some of the hills tho! OMG! To be expected I guess. The cue sheet is going to be in the Gold Coast files soon.
1) 2-3 centuries minimum with 20-30 minute runs afterwards 2) 2-3 bricks with 70-80 mile rides/13-15 mile runs 3) 2-3 sets of 65/75/85 mile efforts (as build ups to your centuries) 4) 5000' yard workouts once a week for approx. 5-8 weeks - and the build up to that distance in the preceding weeks. 5) And your usual long distance training regimen...but increased to 4+ hr runs...
Warmup: 300' - 150'swim/150' pull - choice strokes 5x100' - 25' drill/25' swim - 10-15 sec. rest Repeat 2x: 400 on 7:30 - every 4th lap do 1/2 lap head up 2x300' on 5:00 3x200' on 3:30 5x100' on 1:45 Take 1:15 break to eat gu/power bar and then restart set. 300' warm down
Damn it. Really looking forward to this. Looks like I will be doing a different IM. Going to use this as a starting point for both IM's.
On other news, came across a guy (Rob Engels) who is at this point 90 % sure he will do this race. He has never done a full IM. Interesting how many similarities are here. Married, 2 kids, I think he's 40 (compared to my will_be_38). Seems like he's similar to me in training too. In any case, he has a website if anyone wants to look.
Also, spoke to my honey and my crew ain't coming. It's about a 3-4 hour drive (I think!!!) and too much for the dog and family. I get it. Not upset. In a way, it's a little easier since I will be awake early. When I went to Goofy the hotel room was tiny, the bathroom was smaller. When I went to Princess, the bathroom was so big, that I was able to pace in there and to stretch a little and to basically use that as a base of operations. I don't know how big the hotel room here will be so that's the easy part. On the other hand, I would love to see my guys during the course. I would love to have someone making sure I don't fall asleep on the drive there. And of course the drive back will be tough. I just know, I will try to bug out of there ASAP and it will be hard enough to drive that distance even if I didn't do an IM. Yet such is life. Gonna see if I can get a babysitter for me just like for the Corning Wineglass Marathon. Binesh went with me to make sure I didn't fall asleep on the wheel. We'll see, maybe someone will go. Jim mentioned a maybe but who knows. Rob said that his family will take me on as far as support if he does go. That's cool. As is, it will be nice to have a friendly face around of you know what I mean. And if his family "adopts" me for the day, even better...
There are a lot of unanswered questions about this race and I wish that they would publish a last race instructions kinda thing that other races do. I looked! Never had wetsuit strippers before, nor special needs bags. Hey, never had a 17 hour race either.
So far, the swim is going well. Following is an email I sent to Rob. He was asking about my anticipated swim time.
3600 yd (2.05 mile) in 1:07 Then followed it with: 6 * 50 drill/swim 2 * 100 @ 1:40 The drill/swim was obviously slower...But then I totaled 4100 yd (2.33) in 1:18 Then this was followed by 4 * 75 kick Which is pretty cool for me because I always end up switching to breast stroke kick because I just can't kick. This time, the whole 300 was done at freestyle kick. Yay me....Breakthrough. Anyway, 4100 + 300 kick = Me starving
4,100 yards is about 2.33 miles. I have 2 hours and 20 minutes to finish the swim. The question is NOT finishing it, rather how much time can I put in the bank to add to the bike cutoff. That's my real concern. As of right now, the swim schedule is basically:
Biking has been dificult with this annoying weather. Longest bike outside has been 45 miles. Once the Marathon and the 50K are out of the way, the bike will take more of an important role. As of right now, the bike schedule is:
My longest trainer ride is 1:31 and it was brutal. It's not easy. It's easier riding outside - I don't know why. On Tuesday/Thursday, I am also trying to do 1 leg spin. I read that it really helps. Found out I have an imbalance. My right leg spins nicely. My left leg spins with a jerk up and down. Working on it.
The one day I rode the 45 miles, it was hard to brick it. Getting off the bike and running was HARD. Just didn't want to. Kept up coming with excuses why not. Then I said to myself, "you wanna do an IM? Shut up and run!" And I did. Ran a 5K around the house. Slowly felt better. This Saturday, after the hour and 31 minutes on the trainer, got off and ran a mile. Gotta do it!
Funny, but I just realized. I never mentioned that I actually did sign up. I did!
There is a race report that I read that is just plain awesome and scary and a lot of other things. Read it and see what's up ahead...It's a long read and I don't know this person but it's a good read.
POSITIVE NOTE: Booked the hotel. I called the host hotel and almost got a heart attack. Depending on what you want, the price was either something like 280 or low 300. Like an idiot, I asked "is that per night or total"? Per night...And that's with the discount. Without the discount it was 330ish and 380ish. Posted a message to SunRise and actually got a very helpful response. Kasia gave me this link and it's ridiculously cheaper. Got a king size bed.
POSITIVE NOTE: Andre is back to normal. No more misdirected anger. He was getting really annoying with a passive/aggresive attitude. Mike's workouts weren't working for him and he felt like he was getting slower. Well, a week from yesterday, June 9th, we were talking by email and he said he's gonna start the MS at 8:30. This way, Chris can do Mike's workout and he doesn't get in his way. EXCELLENT. I get in at 8ish, swim whatever with Chris, then swim with Andre and finish off whatever I "owe" by myself. Sounds a lot like how I used to do my long runs...Run alone, hook up with Renegades, hook up aith AP or anyone else. Now of course I run with Jim but that's not the point.
SCARY NOTE: Read some Eagleman reports yesterday. The bike course for Eagleman is mostly the same as for us except we do it twice or there is a lot of overlap. Not sure there. Anyway, the reports were anything but calming. For starters, the RD at the meeting kept assuring them that it will be a wetsuit legal race. Cool. Until they got there in the morning to hear that the water is too hot. No wetsuits. People had a hard time fighting the current and didn't have the benefit of buoyancy as provided by the wetsuit. As Andre pointed out to me, it's not such a big deal to me. I'm used to swimming in a hot pool and can make the distance and time. The only thing that really sucks, it occured to me, is that the wetsuit usually gives you a faster time so I might have a smaller buffer to bank for the ride if this happens to us.
Next up is the bike and run. Eagleman has always been "blessed" by very hot weather and humdity and strong winds. Apparently, the day started in the 80's in the early morning and never stopped. They had 90's and 90's percent humidity. People had horrible times. Many people were either DQ'ed or DNF'ed. Lot of people also just did not start (DNS) as soon as they heard about the wetsuits. Anyway, apparently people were dropping like flies on the bike and on the run, assuming they got that far. Yes, it was that bad. People laying on the side of the road waiting to be picked up. As Andre pointed out to me, as usual prepare for the worst. Read these reports and prepare for the absolute worst. At worst case scenario, you might be ready for it physically and mentally and if it turns out to be all good then you'll be fine. I'm still worried/scared about the bike tho.
Glad Andre is back on track. He is a good source of info tho I don't always agree with him.
Had some setbacks. Had some Successes.
Swam around the Statue of Liberty. That was fun. Glad I did it. Next year it's on a Friday night. Don't know if that will happen.
Did the Gold Coast Century. Did much better than last year. My watch said 7:17, while the bike computer said 6:55. Averaged 14.3 MPH. All in all a good day.
Week after Jim and I went on a short(er) ride. Took the LIE to exit 53 and back. Jim rode it all in the big chain ring. As usual, I didn't. Got inspired and a little before 53, I went to the big chain ring too. Suffered but ok. Started heading back and right after the 106/107, got a flat. Not supposed to happen since I have Kevlar coated tires but reality is: got a flat. Turns out, tires are puncture resistant not puncture proof. Could still happen but less chance.
OK, got tire off and started working on it. There was a piece of metal stuck in there. Had to use my teeth to pull it out. Then I got embarrassed, angry, upset at myself. Last year during the NYC Century I had 3 flats. Used up all my stores. I immediatly went shopping but I forgot to restock the bike. I had NOTHING on me. Nothing...I usually get annoyed at Elizabeth if she leaves a 1/4 tank of gas in the car and here I am running on nothing. Jim had 1 tube and 1 CO2 so better get this straight. Had a lot of trouble getting the tire back in the rim. Took us 30 minutes or so - very embarrassing. Changed the tire and got home. We were going to run a little too but time was running out. Decided to run 2 loops around my block. Each loop is a 1/2 mile so a 1 mile brick better than nothing. Well, I was so angry at myself, I ran. Jim is faster than me but I ran. Kept dropping him and calling him back to me. He gave up after 1 loop. I destroyed him at my pace. I decided to stop too.
Told Andre about riding in the big chain ring and his comment? "Don't pat yourself on the back too long for something that you should have been doing the whole time". Hmph. Still, I was happy.
The next week was 67 miles in the big chain ring. The next weekend was a real success. I rode 79.4 miles in the big chain ring and hit the hills. It was 14.9 MPG on average and except for Avery, Lawrence, Snake, Moore and Mill Hill road it was all big chain ring. Stillwell and Marathon were big ring. This is big for me. Jim rode to the 106/107 with me and turned back. I got home, ran a mile to the YMCA and played basketball with Jeremy. They had lunch and then when Jeremy swam, I jumped in and did a 1,000. The weight room followed. Sunday was a run in Oyster Bay. Ran about 7.5 before I met up with Jim. We then ran all over and went through the Arboretum. We got lost. I stopped a guy to ask for directions and he told us to make a u-turn, a quick left and all down-hill to the car. Cool. Made the U-turn, made the left and went up-hill. Asked 3 more people, one of which was this women. Asked her and she told us that we have a huge uphill next. NIIIICE! Running and I see a sign that says Bayville. Oh no! I was afraid my 17 would turn into a 20+. Turns out a 17.25 and feeling good. Got home, ran/walked with Lee and LC for about a mile and then we(the family) went to see a movie. Good weekend.
This last weekend was blahish. Ran 18 on Saturday and another 1 run/walk with Lee and LC. Swam and weight room too. Sunday was 67 miles. Not the greatest ride. Kept losing focus. Average was 14.3. Whatever...
The swims have been rocking. Been swimming over 4,500 on Wednesdays. The other day I swam 4,700 and kicked 300. I was in the pool basically for a 5,000. The next day I was walking to the train and trying to figure out the mileage and having trouble until I made the connection. It's simple really: 5,000 = 5K = 3.1 miles. Simple. Oh My God! Does this mean I could swim a 5K? I know Chris Unger signed up for one and I poo-pooed it because it's way too much but???
Been biking all in the big chain ring in the front at this point. All except the big hills that is. Saturday was a great weekend...Saturday I rode just short of 80 miles. Had my best average time too: 15 MPH for that distance. Hills included. Actually caught the splinter of the splinter of the 8:30 group as I was approaching Wheatley. Chased them down and joined them. Me!!! Figured I'd get dropped. Hit a light and they started slow. I took off and got chased by one of the guys. I'm going 27 and dying and this guy is drafting like crazy. Finally he passed me with everyone else in tow. Still, I was pretty happy about the whole experience. Figured I lost them for good until I caught them again. This time, I tool spot number 2 and hung on with everyone following. I then proceeded to let someone else take over and got dropped again. Caught them again and rode with them until the triangle. Next day with dead legs I did the Spartran Race. Good weekend all in all.
I don't remember if I mentioned this or not but Rob downloaded the list of people registered. As of last week, there were 186 signed up for the IM. Granted there are people signed up for the other races (relay, half, swim, swim-bike etc) but at the end of the day when I will be running the marathon between the DNS', DQ's, DNF's and of the course the rabbits, there aren't gonna be that many people doing the Marathon. And since it's 3 loops either I will have people around me or none. The other thing is unlike other marathons that I have done where there are water stations every mile or so, there are only 2 or 3 stops in the loop. I think it's an out and back so I won't be seeing new faces. Time to make friends. Oh well.
I always change my sneakers every 4 months. Gotta do it. And it was time. I always break in my new sneakers by trial of fire. I run a 16+ plus with it and all is good. Well, last weekend before CM was Yom Kippur. A 25 hour fast (no food/no water). Started Friday night and ended up Saturday night. Missed Friday swim, missed Saturday anything. Sunday went for a quickie bike and a small run - small brick. Not a great bike ride and a 4 mile run with bathroom_due_to_fast fallout in between. Monday, my PF was back. Ran only 4 and my Plantar Fascia was killing me? You gotta be kidding, right?
Monday swam 3,000 and Tuesday ran on the treadmill. Also, Tuesday had lunch with sister from Israel and her daughter. Wednesday, her (2nd) husband and their 2 kids came to the US, so we all had dinner together. No swim but that's ok - wasn't planning on it.
The plan: Leave work early on Thursday, pack, take kids to the YMCA (Gymnastics/Tennis), last dog walk and ... drive out to Maryland. Gotta leave at 1pm and take the 1:36 train out. About 45 minutes before I wanna leave and all hell breaks lose. Got 2 production problems. Both important. No one here. Fixed it, ran to the bank and then ran to Penn. Made the train. Got picked up by mother-in-law and kids and Max. Went home and started packing. Got the kids to walk the dog while I packed. Kids cleaned up the poop - WOW.
Lee got home and we went to pick up some food, the rental car and then to the YMCA. Good stuff. Back home and last minute packing. Almost forgot phone charger. Borrowed an ipod to play in the car - the car has a hole thingy for it. Had to go to RadioShack to get a thingy. Too bad had those 2 production problems... ever made it there. Ipod useless to me. Left the house at 7:40 pm. DD said leave late and avoid traffic so maybe that's good but had a 4:40 drive and that was gonna suck.
Printed out mapquest instructions and plugged in the GPS. GPS is great: lets you see what streets/exits are coming up but also with bluetooth gives me hands free. Lee and the kids called me a few times while I drove and after they went to sleep, Lee called. Had a good drive. Stopped once to pee at a service station on I-95. Later, somewhere in Maryland stopped at the side of the road. Empty road and no cars whatsoever and a full bladder go hand in hand. Of course, 3 cars drove through as I did my business. Got to the hotel at Midnight. Good drive and no falling asleep. Good drive.
The Z-team greeted me. Old woman wanted to charge my credit card. Told her I spoke to the hotel the day before and it was already paid. "No, can't be..." but it can.... Luckily for me.... She almost charged me for the 2nd time. Got to sleep by 1 am-ish and up at 7ish. Ate breakfast, relaxed when I hear a knock on the door. Went to open the door when the door opened from the outside. Luckily, I automatically put the chain thingy on. Housekeeping didn't know I was there - good stuff. About 20 minutes later, I get a call. Did I check in? Funny stuff. Told her I signed and initialized. She found the paper, found record of me but not in the computer. Can't make this up. She said, she will handle it. I couldn't care less.
Went to scout the free breakfast thing and decided to start talking to some dude. His name was Jack Crowe (no relation to Russell). Guy was 50 and doing the full. Came from Chicago. Great conversation.
Took a small nap. Well, more than a small nap. More like about an hour and a half. Woke up and saw that Robs wife was there and she showed me her finger. Her daughter Helene cut it off by mistake and she had it re-attached. Then I went to the restroom and my wife and kids were there and they wanted to talk to me and to go somewhere but I told them that I can't...I have the meeting to go to. And then I woke up.
Rob was running late and I couldn't wait any longer. Went to the Hyatt for packet pickup. WOW! Now I realize why it's so expensive...Picked up my stuff and met Jack there. Asked him if he wanted to drive the bike course. He said yup and off we went. He also showed me how to get to T2 from the hotel which is where I needed to go to race morning.
Funny little nothing here...We were talking about how people can't pronounce/spell my name and he mentioned that no one can figure out how to pronounce his daughters name either. His daughters name is pronounced Kiarra but spelled Chiara. Small world because I am reading a book and there was a woman there whose name is spelled Chiara and I had no idea how to pronounce it. HA!
It was 94 degrees and brutally hot. There was also a strong hot wind. Real scorcher. The bike was scenic and pretty but it was gonna be ugly. Jack is a biker so everything to him was flat. It wasn't. Not bad hills. More like little elevations coupled with heat and wind.
We finished the car ride and got back to the hotel. Rob called meanwhile. He finished with packet pick up and was ready to meet. He came over and we took my bike, loaded it onto his car and tried to find the swim start (T1) to drop off the bike. We got lost. A bridge was out and we didn't know where to go. Got back to the hotel because he had directions how to get to the swim start from there. Drove to the swim start and dropped off the bike.
I forgot the garbage bags for the bike in the room but luckily I told Rob about it and he had extras. Also, I remembered about the light on the bike. Borrowed a screwdriver from the bike shop there and took it off.
Checked out the water real fast. Water temperature seemed nice. Talked to a guy trying the water. No Jellies reported. Back to the hotel so I can eat my cereal dinner while Rob waited. Jack (Boss) called. Pru was having issues. Conference call with Karen and Jack. Wonderful.
There was a guy there with his wife and little girl. When they mentioned that his daughter was in the pool, I joked that they have a relay team: Girl swims, he bikes and that his wife will run. Later we found out his name was Mark. More on him later.
Went with Rob to the meeting at the Hyatt. Informative. Glad it was over...
Back to the hotel to relax and get things ready. Got 5 bags to fill up and things to sort through and decisions to make.
In bed by 10 pm with a wake up call set for 2am. Only problem was that that the nap did me in. Couldn't fall asleep until around midnight. SUCKS.
Well, 2am came and the alarm clock and the wake up call both went off. I was up. Got ready to go. Plan was to load the car at 5am and go. Texted with Rob at 4:30. We're both awake.
Got some gas on the way and got to the school. Parked and took my 5 bags. Dropped off the Special Needs run and bike and the run bag off and waited for the shuttle and/or Rob. Who do I see walk by? Jack.
Spoke to him while waiting for the shuttle and I see Rob drive in. Went to get him. He got all his stuff until I reminded him to take his bottles. OOPS.
Shuttle came in and we all loaded up. At the swim start and time to set up. Jack tells me that he is actually singing the national anthem. I don't know whether to believe him or not but he tells me to google him. He's on youtube.
Set up stuff and ran to the port-a-pottie line. They had 8! Who has only 8? They had 4 port-a-potties and 4 port-a-janes (pink ones). Didn't see Jack sing but heard him. WOW!
Got wetsuit zipped up and into the water. The RD yesterday said that the water will probably be no deeper than 6 feet and that technically we could "run" the course. We all thought he was joking until we swam to the start buoys and put our feet down and stood!
There were 2 swim waves. The first one had the full, relay, swimfest and aquavelo people and was supposed to start at 7. The second wave was for the skipjack (half-ironman) and was gonna start at 8:10.
Right before we started - sunrise. Wow.
I started the swim to the left off the swim start buoyies. Rob had to start in the gate. I think it was a mistake but who cares. I swam on the outside and felt good. Water was good. Wetsuit was good. No Jellies was good. Sun was at out back so when we made the first right turnthe sun was a little in our face. Another right and into the sun. Hit some waves at some point and suddenly turned and back for another loop. Same story.
Swam into the ramp. Stood up and almost slipped on the algae. Guy grabbed me and told me he would help me until I got out of the slippery stuff. Glad for the help. Stripped the wetsuit to the waist and grabbed my bag from the hook and into the changing tent. Guy there helped me take the wetsuit off the leg with the chip. Got ready and went to grab the bike. Decided to pee first so that slowed my official bike time. Got on the bike and immediatly started fighting the wind. The rest of the day was the fight with the wind.
The first 22 miles were an out and partial back course and it sucked. SUCKED! So glad to turn off. Hoping for some protection from the wind. I heard mention of 10 MPH winds. I don't believe it. Later some guy told me that they really had it rough the year before. Apparently they had 25 MPH sustained winds and 40 MPH gusts. Glad I wasn't there last year but I still suffered. Dude 6 weeks later did another ultra, Beach to Battleship (B2B) and did better by an hour and a half. Crazy, right?
Went through the areas where I was sure we would go through water like previous race reports. Dry. We beat it! Some stupid woman set up a water table with a sign that said "donations for water".
And then I saw the puddles. Managed to go through some by going through them in the middle or against traffic but some had no choice. Didn't see fish but didn't look for fish. I wasn't fishing.
Finally saw the 35 MPH sign which meant back into town meaning back to the school. Special needs bag and again we go. Seemed like it got windier. Definitly got hotter. Sucked. Eventually back to the puddles but they were mostly gone.
I drafted part of the course. No doubt. Got penalized (number 169) too I found out later for assistance. Don't know what that means. Still, 4 minutes lost. First loop of 65 miles was 15.5 avg. After the second loop I was down to 15.0 avg.
I was a mess. I knew it. At about mile 80 I was already done. I was thirsty and I needed to drink. Whenever I would drink, I got an air bubble in my gut that would make me sick. Thought about vomitting - dry heaved twice. Managed to get a half banana in.
I was so happy to see the school. Saw Katy, Rob's wife. She said he finished right before me. Strange because I passed him in the swim. When/Where did he pass me?
T2 was a disaster. I was in a real bad place and I knew it. Guy in there gave me watered down Gatorade. Yuck. Forced myself to go. First mile was ok. Got to the first mile marker. Volunteer approached me with a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade. She asked me which I wanted. I just gave her a blank look and raised my hands up. I had no clue. None. The woman must be a mom because she forced the Gatorade into my hand and forced me to drink it. Felt better. About a 1/2 mile later, I stopped to pee. That was a good sign. Ran all the way to the 4 mile marker. Sort of anyway. From mile 3 to mile 4 seemed long. Very long. Saw Rob. He had already made the turnaround. I had about 100 yards to go. We stayed together, running and walking. I felt good but gave up on a good "clock" time and decided on having a good "fun" time. Picked up Mark (Marky-Mark) at 1 point. He was the dude we saw having dinner at the hotel - the guy we joked about how his daughter would swim and he and his wife would bike/run.
Saw people come and go. Some people gave up. I guess I mentally gave up. I should have ran while I could have. Still, I enjoyed myself and that's what counts. Later, Lee texted me that it's ok, "I finished and it would be better next time". That's the most important part. Next time would be better.
While I was running to Rob, I saw a dirt cyclone in the field moving. It was that hot and windy and blah.
Got dark out there and the bugs started coming out. I had bug spray in the running bag which means unavailable but luckily they had it at the aid stations. Still got bitten. Managed to get one in my mouth. Yuck.
Moon came out and it was beautiful. Harvest moon. Almost full and all yellow/orangish.
Eventually they had chicken soup at the 1st and 3rd aid stations. Initially it went down great. Very salty which we needed. Eventually not so good. Pepsi helped. When they had it I felt great. Then they ran out of it.
They gave out glow sticks but I also had my glow bracelet that I bought at DisneyLand. Good thing because it was dark. Didn't want to get run over by the motorcycles.
Volunteers defintly helped out there. Couldn't have done it without them.
Last go around. Almost at the turnaround and it's completly dark in this section. Rob and Mark thought they heard a noise in the woods. People whispering. Warned a female runner running the other way and flagged a motorcycle too.
Ran out of pepsi and my stomach is not so hot anymore. Little nauseous.
Almost ready to finish and we decided a staggered finish. I sprinted first then Mark and then Rob. Strong finish. Almost didn't get my 3rd shirt (finishers shirt). Got my medal and we headed to the gym for food. I love white rice. Don't need any gravey, sauce or seasoning but the rice they had was disgusting. At least we had A.C in the gym. Soup was too salty at this point too. Decided to get a massage. Got on the table. Masseuse was this big, tall (6+ feet) black dude. Started shivering and shivering and uncontrollable shivering. Guy brought some towels and that didn't help. Brought me hot soup and it didn't help. More towels and vigorous rubdown and more shivering.
Guy had enough of me. It was almost 20 minutes and nothing helped. Brought me a space blanket, bear hugged me and forced me out of the gym and into the heat. I protested because I wanted to wait for Rob and Mark but he forced me out. I wanted to go back to get my stuff and he said no. Forced me out and he went back to get my stuff for me. Dude, really went all out here.
Rob, Katy and Terri helped me load my stuff up and back to the hotel I went. I was trying to get directions for Wendy's. Really wanted my spicy chicken sandwich. Couldn't understand what they were saying. Drove back to the hotel and Burger King is right near it. Are they open? Yup till 3am. Ordered a whopper and these guys are clowns. Took them a long time. Who shows up? Jack. Talked to him a little. He already showered. Got my whopper, went back to the room and had a picnic and a quick shower.
It's almost 2. Set up a wake up call for 4 and decided to try to sleep. Phone goes off. Already? It was DD on my cell. Spoke to him and went back to sleep. Got some text messages that woke me up too and then the wake up call came.
Packed up and left by 4:20. Another night drive. Gotta be mindful of where I am. Can't fall asleep.
Lee and the kids called. They don't know I'm driving to them. I'm gonna suprise them.
Jeremy is doing his first 5K and that's the goal. Spoke to them again and they are on the move to the race. I get there with back roads and as I get there I see the runners start. Find parking and I look for Jessie and my mother-in-law. Found them. Then I go to the finish and start walking back.
The rest of that will be in the description of that 5K.
I'm ok. Yes, I got beat up on the bike. Yes, I set a PW (Personal Worst) on the run. I don't know that I made certain mistakes but I do see now either solutions or changes. Next time will be better. I gotta learn from this. I should have eaten more on the bike and earlier too. I drank but the combination of the wind and heat really destroyed me. That was the major part. Also, never take a nap before an IM. I would have slept more and better without that. Things will be better.
Oh yeah...Did I mention I got a penalty on the bike? Got a 4 minute for friendly assistance. Not sure what that means but I guess because we riding next to each other. Hell, I was drafting....
Here are some comments from some forums...
It was windy, that was expected. Got really, really hot on the bike; that was unexpected. The run is three loops and maybe 5 miles of each loop is totally unshaded. That got a little hot as well. Looked like something from a movie with all the people walking. The record temp for September 25th is 93, weather underground says it got to 91 on race day. My watch has a thermometer in it, so it gets sunligh on it and gets heated up by my skin. The highest temps on my watch was 102, It was crazy. I think times reflect the temps.
the swim was ideal. water temp in the low 70s, no waves/chop. sighting was a bit difficult on the return leg of the loop swimming straight into the sun. one thing that I did notice was that this was the most physical swim I have ever been in. lots of grabbing/pulling etc... the first lap of the bike was harder than the second lap. the headwind for the first 35 miles of the bike really sapped all of my energy. the good news is that we had a 25 mph tailwind on the way back to the SN tent. these second lap was VERY hot. no shade. wide open in the sun. the last 10 miles were brutal. it just got hotter from there. I realized why they called it Egypt road (it is because that road is hotter than the f*cking Sahara Desert). the first three miles of the run were directly into the sun, which just toasted me. walked the first 3+ miles and then started to run/walk. as the sun went down, it go considerably cooler and my run picked up. I bet that 75% of the runners did a negative split on the marathon. there were a lot of people just blowing up on the run. cramping, puking, etc... I was actually surprised for how hot it was (easily over 100 on the pavement) there were only two ambulances that I saw. Got my first podium finish. First in my age group.