Early To Bed, Early To Rise

Last week I was able to wake up early every day of the week and go running before I got ready for and biked in to work. I think I have just about gotten my body used to doing this. I have had to wake up between 5:10 and 5:30 each morning, depending on how many miles I was going to run, to be able to do this with enough time before work.

To my surprise, it is actually not as tough to get up as I thought it would be. It basically all just boils down to going to bed early enough for my body to not go into shock when the alarm goes off at 5:30 (or earlier). I have to say though, I really really really like the way I feel going to bed early and getting up early and getting something so important to me done every day before I even go to work. It makes me feel like each day is going to be very productive when I am able to get a run in first thing in the morning.

I think I have learned another valuable life lesson. I have learned that if there is something I really want to get done, my best chance of making it happen is to do it in the morning before work. Since I bike to and from work and get tired doing that, and sometimes have stressful days at work, if I haven't done my run in the morning the likelihood of me doing it after work just keeps going down as the day progresses -- it's much safer to just make the sacrifice and wake up early. My total mileage this week between my early morning runs and my long run on Saturday was 26.

140.6 - And Proud Of It!

Michelle got me this sticker and I put it on our car, proudly joining the ranks of other ultra-distance Triathletes.

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

Now that I have finished my first ultra-distance Triathlon (the Chesapeake Man), I have set some goals for my next ultra-distance Triathlon which is the Coeur d'Alene IronMan in June 2012. This is still 8 months away but I am going to try to discipline myself and train hard with a focus on the areas that I feel were my weaknesses in the Chesapeake Man race.

Specifically, I want to become a very strong runner. I have already started a new training regimen of going for runs in the morning before work. I have come to the conclusion that anything I really want to make sure gets done I should do it in the morning; otherwise it seems like there is a diminishing chance I will do it as the day goes on and I get tired from biking to and from work or have a stressful day at work or get bogged down in the numerous tasks and responsibilities that each day presents.

Also, I have signed up for two marathons to keep me on track and help me measure my improvements in running before Coeur d'Alene. By going signing up for these marathons (they are already paid for and everything), I know I will stay committed to continuing working hard no matter what. The first marathon is in Sparks, MD on November 26th (about a month and a half from now) and the second one is in Charlottesvile, VA in April of 2012.

By doing this, I feel that I am not just talking and thinking about how I plan to improve, but instead I am putting it all into action and making sure it happens.

The Kindness of Strangers

Even though it was a while ago, I still want to write about the various individuals and events that took place in Luray, Virginia that really helped us out when we were in a real bind. We were in Luray with a friend for to compete in a Triathlon and our friend’s car broke down. The first place we went when we pulled into town was a running store where we picked up our race packets. After picking up our packets, the car would not start. Beginning at this point, many strangers went out of their way to help us; some people went way out of their way and I am still amazed at how kind they were and how much they were willing to help us.

Two people were willing to try and give the car a jump-start, but that didn’t help. After that, a guy walking down the sidewalk stopped and told us he was a mechanic. He offered a few possible suggestions of ways to help but was on his way to dinner with his mom and kept going on his way. We were still there on the side of the road when he finished dinner and to all of our surprise, he drove to the local AutoZone and bought a tool set that he thought might help fix the problem. He came back and tried to fix the car but didn’t get anywhere. He just gave us the tool set and said he felt bad for not being able to fix the problem.

While we were waiting by the car and trying to decide what to do, a guy named Jeremy pulled up and parked beside us. Jeremy was a local and ended up doing more for us than any one of us could have asked for. Jeremy basically drove us all around for the entire evening. He drove us back to the AutoZone to try and get some different parts, he drove us to our hotel so we could check in and drop of our luggage and bikes off, and then he drove us back to the car (which was still broken down on the side of the street) to try and figure that whole situation out. We didn’t ever get the car fixed that night, but Jeremy did call his uncle who had an auto shop and asked if we could drop the car off there. He said yes, so we called a tow truck and took it to Jeremy’s uncle’s place.

While the car was in the shop, we had a Triathlon to race in! It turned out that the hotel’s employee where we were staying had a friend who happened to be the only taxi driver in town (Luray is a small town). This taxi driver was nice enough to pick us up from our hotel room at 5:30 am and drive us out to the race site. All he charged was $15 for taking all three of us about a half hour away. On top of that, we didn’t even have any cash on us and he said he didn’t want to run a credit card so he would just get the money from us later.

After the race was over, we were yet again lucky enough to have someone take care of us. We were at the race still with no car, just all of our gear and bikes. By sheer happenstance, our friend Randy also happened to be have signed up for the race. He offered to drive us (and all of our stuff) back into town and see if the car was fixed. When we got back into town the car was still not fixed. The mechanic didn’t normally work Saturdays but he was on this day, and what’s more he had gone to the next town over to try and get a part he thought the car might need. Sadly, it didn’t end up being the part. Randy, meanwhile, was driving us and all our stuff from place to place, getting lunch, and picking up parts at AutoZone that might be what the car needed. Around 5:00 pm, the mechanic finally got the car working. Randy’s entire day was pretty much gone from having driven us all around and having helped us get everything we needed, but we were back in business!

Randy is our friend that we have known for a while, but it was still remarkable how much he was willing to help us out! On top of that, Jeremy, the taxi driver, and the other locals who stopped and helped us had never even met us before. I have to ask myself if I would sacrifice so much time and energy for someone I didn’t know. Would I have even stopped to see what the person needed if our situation was reversed with someone from Luray? I hope the answer would be ‘yes’. I learned a lot about charity and kindness and sacrifice from the people who stopped and helped us over the weekend in Luray.

Guest Blogger on Unsuck DC Metro: "How Boycotting the Metro Changed My Life"

There is a popular DC area blog called 'Unsuck DC Metro.' The blog is basically dedicated to holding DC's Metro service (the public transportation consisting of the underground subway and bus systems) accountable by pointing out and investigating problems with the system and service, providing pictures and videos of said problems, and just all around not letting them get away with unfair actions. Whoever manages the blog (he has stayed anonymous) seems to really know his stuff.

At any rate, the blog let me write a short post about how I used to have to take the Metro to work everyday but got sick and tired of the fare increases and problems with the service. I started biking in to work once a week, slowly but steadily got stronger, and eventually worked my way up to biking in every day and even starting to swim and run as well. Furthermore, this led to my interest in the sport of Triathlon and even recently completing my first ultra-distance (IronMan) Triathlon.

Read my story entitled 'How Boycotting the Metro Changed My Life' here:

http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-boycotting-metro-changed-my-life.html

Chesapeake Man - 140.6

Chesapeake Man - 140.6

Just a warning: this is long! Also, I will publish other posts later with more pictures and videos. This event was very important to me though and I felt the desire to write about it in more detail than the other Triathlons I have completed. I hope you will still read and enjoy it - it really meant a lot to me and was fun to write about!

Overview

Last Saturday, September 24^th 2011, I completed my first IronMan distance (Ultra distance) Triathlon. This was one of the proudest and happiest days of my life. Finishing an IronMan distance Triathlon has been a goal of mine that I have been intensely training for for just about this entire year. For those of you who don’t know, this Triathlon consists of a 2.4 mile run, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 (marathon) mile run. This adds up to 140.6 miles (if you see ‘140.6’ bumper stickers, it means they have completed an ultra-distance Triathlon). My goal was to finish the race in under 13 hours, but I was actually able to finish in 11 hours and 48 minutes.

The Pre-Race Setup

The race was in Cambridge, Maryland, which is about an hour and half from where we live. The weather was horrible the entire day before the race. It was pouring rain and the forecast even showed rain for the race day. I was really worried that they would cancel the swimming portion of the race. Fortunately, the weather cleared up overnight and we were able to do the entire race, as scheduled. This race was unique in the fact that the transition areas (where you change from swimming to biking and from biking to running) were in different places – usually the race is setup so that the two transition areas are the same place. Because of this, I had to separate my running and biking gear into separate bags and turn them in at different locations in the early morning (5:00) before the race started. Another unique aspect of the race was that I had to rack my bike the night before, but couldn’t leave all of my bike stuff with it. None of this was problematic really, it was just different than what I was used to. Although things worked out just fine, I prefer the way things have been at my three previous Triathlons with the transition areas in the same place; it is more simple this way and you can actually get all your stuff (shoes, socks, GPS watch, etc.) situated just how you want it so it is ready to go when you get there.

The 2.4 Mile Swim

The swimming portion of the race took place in a small bay that is part of the Chesapeake River. The water was brackish, which means it is a mix of salt and fresh water. I bought my own wetsuit for this race because the water was in the 70’s and you are allowed to wear a wetsuit up to about 80 degrees. I had already rented a wetsuit twice so I decided to invest in my own this time. I am not planning on quitting the sport of Triathlon any time soon, so as long as I don’t gain or lose too much weight this wetsuit should last me a very long time.

I finished the swim in 1 hour and 19 minutes. I was pleased with this time. Overall the swim was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it a lot. There was definitely more bumping into people in this race than in any other though. Someone’s hand went into my face twice: one time their finger went in my mouth and the other time it went under my goggles (luckily water didn’t get in my goggles though). When I finished the swim my arms weren’t tired and I felt like I could have kept going! One interesting thing though is that there were lots of jellyfish in the water that could be seen by the spectators. Michelle told me she tried to warn some swimmers as they were getting close to the jellyfish. I wasn’t surprised to hear that there were jellyfish in the water because I actually thought I swam right over one on two different occasions. It could have just been bubbles of something else though – there is no way of knowing for sure.

The 112 Mile Bike Ride

After getting out of my wetsuit, I put on my biking shoes, GPS watch, and took off on my bike. The course was extremely flat; there were virtually no hills whatsoever. I liked this because it allowed me to push it and go fast. I finished the biking portion in 5 hours and 36 minutes, which equates to a pace of exactly 20 miles per hour. This was about an hour faster than the time I had estimated and projected it could take me to finish the biking portion. Also, I finally reached my goal of biking 100 miles in 5 hours. The bike ride was split into two loops but there was a 15 mile segment before loops started. Therefore, my family was really confused why it took so long for me to complete the first loop and so little time to finish the second loop.

There was one part on the bike course that had gotten flooded from all the rain the previous day. The flooded area was actually worse the second time going through; some people speculated that maybe the tide had risen over at the bay/river. Going through the flooded area was kind of crazy. It was at least a few inches deep – maybe as many as 6 inches deep at some parts – and while I was pedaling through it my foot would get entirely submerged in water at certain points. Luckily I had dry socks waiting with my running shoes at the next transition area.

The Marathon (26.2 Mile Run)

After handing off my bike to someone working for the race and changing into my running shoes, I changed my GPS watch from ‘bike’ to ‘run’ and started running. The running distance was achieved by running down a road about 4 and a half miles and then running back, and then doing this two more times. The first lap was not too bad because I was just excited to be on the final leg of the race. The second lap was very difficult though, as I really started to feel the soreness in my legs. My pace slowed down quite a bit during the second lap and I never was able to get it back up until the very end of the third lap (3.5 miles remaining) when I put everything I had left in the tank so that I could finish under 12 hours. I actually didn’t realize that if I didn’t pick my pace I might have finished over 12 hours until a guy running near me said, “Three miles left, right? Let’s finish in under twelve hours!” We both pushed it and made it under 12 hours. I am really glad that guy was there. I finished the marathon in 4 hours and 39 minutes. If I had only run a marathon, this would not have been a particularly great time, but with everything I had done before it I am happy with the time. My goal was to finish the marathon under 5 hours so at least I me this goal.

During the marathon, I really did have endurance and stamina left, but my legs were just gone. My quads and calves were pretty much spent and no matter how much I wanted to go faster I was not able to pick up the pace for longer than a couple minutes at a time (except the end when I made my final push to finish under 12 hours). I now know what I need to focus on improving: my legs! I plan to run more and do strength training to get my legs stronger before my next IronMan in June of 2012 (about 9 months away). I would like to run at least a couple of marathons before the next IronMan as well.

I am so thankful for all the support Michelle has given me through the months of training. She has not only been supportive of the cost of training for this sporting event but also of the time I have had to put into my training. I know there were plenty of times she would rather I have been home with her than at the gym or pool or out on a 100 mile bike ride, but she always encouraged me and gave me support. She was my biggest fan and reassured me that I would be able to reach this goal every time I had doubts or thought I wouldn’t be strong enough.

I can’t wait until the next IronMan. It will be in Couer d’Alene, Idaho. It is a grueling course, one of the most difficult IronMan races with one of the longest average finishing times. My hope is to improve and get strong enough to not only finish better than my time on this last race but actually finish under 11 hours. It is a lofty goal, but why aim any lower than what I think I could be capable of?

Final IronMan Milestones

In the past week or so, I have reached two very important milestones in my IronMan training. Last Saturday (Sep. 10) I did a 20 mile run. I ran from where we live to the 4 Mile Run Trail and then onto the Mount Vernon Trail until I hit 10 miles, and then I turned around and ran home. I finished the run in 3 hours and 7 minutes, which for me was a good accomplishment. I wasn't trying to break any records, just make sure my body could handle this long of a run. I have read that it is important to have a 20 mile run under your belt before you do your first marathon for psychological reasons, so you know you are capable of really long runs. I was so happy that I was able to do this without any leg or knee pain. I feel so blessed that while I couldn't even run a half mile because of leg/knee pain due to IT Band Syndrome about 2 years ago, I was able to run 20 miles last week and have no 'bad' pain (just normal soreness). One of the spiritual aspects of my IronMan Training is how Heavenly Father has blessed me with strength and health and given me the guidance and knowledge I needed to fix and prevent my injury and any other injuries. I have learned many life lessons from the training I have done over the past 8 or 9 months, and I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to experience/learn from each of them.

Also, two days ago (the 16th), I swam the longest I have ever swam before: 2.4 miles. I regularly swim 2 miles at least once a week, usually twice, so this was not a ground-breaking achievement for me like the 20 mile run was but it was still important to me for a couple of reasons. I wanted to have swam 2.4 miles at least one time before the IronMan race so that psychologically I would know I could do it in the race, in the case that I start to doubt myself, feel tired, get claustrophobic, disoriented, or panic a little bit (common for this to happen to people in the swimming portions of Triathlons). So now, even if I feel tired or a little bit scared in the open-water swim portion of my Ironman (I'm not afraid to admit this does happen to me sometimes, there are lots of gross creatures that live in the water!), I will be able to reassure myself that there is no doubt that I can do this.

I am really looking forward to the IronMan race, it is less than a week away now!

Chad's Hair

Ever since I met Chad I have been amazed at how different he can look with all of his different hairstyles and colors. I can't seem to find a "new look" no matter how I cut my hair. Chad looks like a new person every few months (his hair grows really fast!) - super short hair, medium, long hair, long and poofy, black, bleached, bleached and spiked, long hair and beard...check it out:

long hair and beard

bleached blonde and poofy

short and black

bleached and spiky

short-medium length

long and curly

long and poofy

very long again, but a different look with the hat

long, but combed down

medium, spiky

short

long again, but still a different look

very poofy! Chad used a pick to get his hair like this one day.

short, facial hair

What will Chad look like next month???

11th Century -- New Personal Best

Yesterday I completed my 11th century bike ride and set a new personal best time. I rode the 100 miles in 5 hours and 8 minutes. At about the halfway mark I realized I actually had a chance to finish the 100 miles in in my long time goal of 5 hours, but alas it didn't happen.

A few things happened that cost me a few minutes, which normally wouldn't bother me but since I was so close to reaching my goal of 5 hours they are worth mentioning this time. My cell phone went flying out of my Camelbak and I had to stop and scale back and pick it up. Luckily it was easy to find and stayed on the road. At one point I dropped my 32 oz. Gatorade and it went in to some bushes. I stopped and tried to find it but couldn't. Not only did that cost me a little time but also I had only taken one gulp of it before losing it. I was really looking forward to drinking it, so I think it could have helped me go faster if I hadn't lost it. Similarly, I also dropped my Altoids tin where I was keeping my Electrolytes supplemental pills. When that fell I looked down, thought for about one second about it and just kept going. So now I am trying to think of ways to keep my stuff more secured.

All in all though this was by far the most comfortable century I have done. I was never suffering, I never felt like I was crazy for having decided to do a 100 mile bike ride, and I was able to pretty much push myself hard the entire time. I attribute this to my new found acknowledgement of the importance of nutrition while working out over 2-3 hours, the fact that it was not hot or very humid yesterday (at least not in the very early morning when I was out there, I woke up at 5 and was out the door before 6), and of course that I am continuing to get fitter. I think I could reach my five hour goal next time.

Beautiful Luray

Last weekend we took a trip to beautiful Luray, Virginia. I completed my third Triathlon there and we visited the Luray Caverns. The Triathlon was an Olympic (International) distance event. This is the same distance as the first Triathlon I competed in. I improved my overall time and performance in all three legs of the race (swimming, biking, and running), so I was very pleased with this. The swim was in the 80 degree water of Lake Arrowhead. It was so nice swimming in such warm water. I improved significantly in the swim portion which I was really happy about because I find that to be my overall weakest part of the sport of Triathlon. I finished the race -- which consisted of a 1500 meter swim (about .9 miles), a 26 mile bike ride, and a 6 mile run -- in 2 hours and 47 minutes. This was 4 minutes faster than the last Olympic distance Triathlon which means a lot since this was a much more difficult course.











After the Triathlon we visited Luray caverns. This place had been on our list of things to do for quite a while. Luray caverns is a huge underground cave with unimaginable stalactites and stalagmites. There is no way to describe these natural wonders. Pictures won't do justice either, but I will post some of them anyway. Overall, it was a fantastic way to end our summer.