Team BRAZO

IronMan Wisconsin 2009 - Finisher

2009-09-14T15:15:00.004-05:00

Well, yesterday was IronMan Wisconsin 2009. My main concern going into the race was my inconsistent training and the bike. Overall I had a great day and finished somewhere in the 15:20 range.

Swim - I did not swim that much during the training, but I had put in three 2.4 mile swims - so I felt pretty good with the swimming. I started in the back of the pack and worked the inside of the buoy's in order to stay out of the mix. That worked good and I felt strong the whole way. Finished the swim around 1:31 compared to 1:26 IMWI07 and 1:43 IMKY08.

Bike - The plan on the bike was to go easy but consistent the whole day. On the way to Verona I decided to keep up the speed and cruise out there. Once on the loop I checked it back just a bit and made sure that I did not burn any matches. My goal for the bike was to get to at least 56 miles feeling like I just started. A few of my training rides went great and a few not so great, so I didn't know if this was possible. I ended up getting to around 75 miles before I felt any tiredness or anything else. I was certainly pumped that I made it that far and still felt very strong. I made sure that I kept within myself on the hills and just slowly made my way up. About 90 miles into the bike, I started to feel the bike quite a bit. I still had strong legs, but the tiredness had set into the body. You feel that you are done with the hills after the 3rd Bitch Hill - but not true - Verona to Madison has a few more. Finished the bike in 7:10 compared to 7:10 IMWI07 and 7:40 IMKY08.

Run - Coming off the bike I knew that I didn't have enough in the tank to have a strong run, so I made the decision to enjoy the run/walk. I had some GI issues, fairly minor, but still caused me to stop running and walk. I tried to run between the aid stations, but slowly the GI problems would stop me. At the turn around (13.1 miles), I felt better and was able to run for about 4 miles. I then started walking a bit and was not able to start running again. Around 5 miles to go, I was still walking fast, but I could feel my body giving up. I knew I'd make it, but it wasn't going to be enjoyable as I had hoped. I ended up around 6hrs compared to 5:20 IMWI07 and 5:40 IMKY08.

My only goal was (and always is) to FINISH - goal accomplished. My other goal is to continue to train for IronMan's and spend summers on our boat - goal accomplished (I spent 5 weeks on the boat this summer with little training during that time).

I ended up in the Medical Tent for about an hour with stomach cramps. I've had this issue after every IronMan - so I knew it was coming. The problem was that we walked up to the capital before it became a problem. At that point I had to lie down and soon they had a "gator ambulance" come pick me up. My blood pressure was very low at 70 / 30, but I had only lost 2 pounds during the day (which is awesome - too many lbs and your in trouble). Mrs TB brought the car down and I made a quick dash to lay down in the front seat (stomach would not cramp while laying down). I did not have stomach cramps on the run - just afterwards - but a bit painful.

I have a feeling that as I continue to do IronMan's and train as I do (inconsistent outside of IMWI07), someday I will DNF. I had plenty of room to finish this year, so all was good. But throw in some windy/rainy weather and the bike may take more out of me than I have. I'm willing to take that risk in order to keep doing what I enjoy - IronMan's.

It was also very enjoyable to "do" the IronMan with XT4. We never trained together and he was light years ahead of me in the race, but we kept in touch via twitter/blog/lunch/etc. Made it very fun.

So, 3 attempted - 3 Finished. Next up - IronMan Lake Placid 2010.

Twitter has pulled me in - Status update

2009-09-02T18:30:00.003-05:00

It has been quite a while since I posted here - Twitter works out so much better for me.

Anyway, IronMan Wisconsin 2009 training has gone well - but a bit spotty this year. We purchased a new cruising boat this year and spent 4+ weeks on the boat. Even though I missed some weeks of training, when I was back in town - I had some very good workouts/weeks.

I'm ready to roll with the only goal is to Finish. Same goal as always but this year I need to stay within myself based on my training.

Also, I signed up for IronMan Lake Placid 2010. Even though my summers are dominated with boating - I have no plans to give up my IronMan training and events.

IMWI Bib # 1541

Status update

2009-03-22T18:35:00.002-05:00

Well, my workouts have progressed nicely over the last 3 weeks. I'm now running 9 miles three times a week and swimming 1500 yds two or three times a week. Just working on the base and plan on adding in the biking when we return from our Spring Break vacation.

On Friday we leave for New Orleans on the train to get on a cruise ship to head to the Caribbean for a 7 day cruise. I'm hoping that you can somehow run around a track or something on the cruise ship, but if not I'll be on the treadmill. Normally on vacations my workouts suffer, but I just may have more time on the ship to get some in.

Looking forward to getting out of town.

Just a bit longer...

2009-03-01T16:22:00.005-06:00

Today I started on the new schedule with a 90 minute 8.5 mile run. Felt very strong and had no problems with the distance.

On Friday I came down with a quick head cold that thankfully only lasted about 36 hours and then it was gone (or at least I hope it is now gone). Felt it coming on for a few days and kindof felt like a "runners" cold -- from time to time I get the feeling that a cold is coming on but it never takes hold. This mainly happens when I increase my miles/workouts.

Tomorrow it is back in the pool -- I know that once I purchase that 3 month membership, then I'll force myself to get in there and swim - it's not that IronMan Wisconsin is coming soon, it is not wanting to waste the money -- funny how that works.

For all of Oldest Mini's home swim meet's, Mrs Team BRAZO and myself were timers on the lanes. Hopefully some of the skill of those swimmers rubbed off on me.

Next week, change of pace...

2009-02-25T16:21:00.003-06:00

Well, after running a total of 204 miles over the last 5 weeks -- it is time to change it up just a bit. Next Monday I'll buy that 3 month pool membership and begin the long slow process of swimming.

The plan as it stands now is to run 1.5 hours 4 times a week and swim 2 days a week. I'll start out just swimming 10 laps (500 yds) at a time and slowly increase the laps.

It'll take me about 13 minutes to complete the 500 yds. To explain how slow that really is -- Oldest Mini can swim 500 yds in 5 minutes 44 seconds.

Also, Oldest Mini can complete 2 laps before I complete 1 lap -- I'm about 1 minute 13 seconds 50 yds and he is 58 seconds for 100 yds (and 25 seconds for his 50 yds).

But he also just received his Varsity Letter in his Sophomore year (along with his Freshman year) and was named the most improved on his High School swim team (took 35 seconds off his 500 yds times). So, pretty hard to compete with that.

Looking forward to some swimming.

Quick update...

2009-02-19T18:31:00.002-06:00

Doing the same thing that I have for the last 5 weeks -- RUN, RUN, and RUN. I'm still on the 75 minutes per day routine @ 7 miles per day. I'm getting to the point that I don't really get tired on the runs, only a bit bored.

I'm thinking next week I'll keep at the 75 minutes a day and not increase it just yet. The plan is to sign up for the pool membership on March 1st and then swim twice a week thru May. We have been putting off the swimming, but now the time has come to get back into it.

Off to the Cottage this weekend for some R & R.

Have a nice weekend.

The Need for Sleep...

2009-02-14T10:45:00.002-06:00

After completing the 42 mile week, my body just kindof shut down. Not to the point that I could fall asleep during the day, but to the point that I just needed to sit in front of the tv and veg out.

I stayed up until 10PM last night and ended up sleeping until 8:00AM this morning. Normally I will sleep around 8 hours max.

This is what I love about working out -- feeling your body adjust/complain about the workouts. This is one of the few ways that I know that I'm making progress.

Feel great today...

Forty-Two Miles...

2009-02-13T16:08:00.002-06:00

Well, this week I completed 6 days of running with 7 miles each day. Still on the treadmill running slow and easy to just build that base. Felt great on the runs (outside of boredom) and had no problems completing the runs. I do tend to get a bit tired in the early afternoon's but catch my 2nd wind later in the evening and I'm good to go.

Next week I'll keep on the 7 miles a day pace.

Building the base...

2009-02-11T15:50:00.004-06:00

I've increased my daily runs to 75 minutes on the treadmill. This has been great but has created a bit of a problem. Instead of starting my run at 10AM and enjoying "The View" until 11AM, now I have 15 more minutes that I need to find some "keep my mind off this boring treadmill run" program. Regis and Kelly just doesn't cut it, but really no choice. I guess that is the problems with treadmill running without cable tv.

On Tuesday we had a 55 degree day with most of the snow now gone -- outside of spots here and there. Even though it was perfect "run outside" weather, I'm stuck on the treadmill. I'm kindof like a rat for my workouts -- once I'm stuck on something for awhile, I don't like to change it. So, over the last 4 weeks it has been running only, on the treadmill only, running everyday (outside of Saturday), and running for an hour plus each time.

The base for my spring "Marathon / long race" is coming along great. Not doing much on the bike or the swim, but soon that'll get added back -- now I just want to get that strong base built up.

This week will end up being 42 miles of running -- that matches my high mileage weeks during my past Marathon training (2006 Madison Marathon / 2007 Green Bay Marathon).

Still running...

2009-02-04T18:41:00.003-06:00

Still running my 1 hour a day. Feeling very very good and I can feel the fitness base coming back. Funny how fast the "Mind" gets used to the hour run after just a few days.

On Sunday I'll up my daily run to 1.25 hours each day. I'll work that in for a few weeks and then make my next increase.

Feeling very good -- not sure if it is for the lack of snow over the last few weeks or the workouts, but I'll take both (last year it snowed just about every day all winter long, had no choice to be better this year!).

Running - this weeks results...

2009-01-30T10:58:00.003-06:00

Stayed with running only this week (no bike, no swim).

- Days = 7
- Hours = 7
- Miles = 39

Felt great on all runs except for one.

Off to Granite Peak this weekend to do some SnowBoarding with the Mini's and Mrs. Team BRAZO.

Have a nice weekend.

The Normal Kick in the ...

2009-01-28T16:56:00.003-06:00

In order to catch back up my fitness level that had been slacking since the Holiday's, I've been on my "Run until you're fit" campaign.

So, ever since last Friday I have run a hour each day on the treadmill. The first couple of days (4 to be exact), no problems easy runs. Then yesterday came the "wow, this is hard run". Followed by today's this is easy again run, until I laid down in the sunroom to enjoy the sun and woke up a hour later.

Every year I go through these cycles -- as my fitness level increases and I move to that "next level", my body responds by either being very tired or very hungry. Yesterday my body added the "very thirsty" to the mix and today was the "very tired". Once I get through this week, then I'll get back to normal until I need to make that next step -- long run, long bike, or long swim.

I'm planning on running every day for a hour to get that base back and then slowly add some time to the daily run until I'm ready to hit the marathon training plan.

Back at it...

2009-01-25T09:48:00.002-06:00

Well, after slowing down over the holidays to running 30 minutes 5 days a week -- I'm back at it. With the cold weather and a slightly busy schedule, I've been stuck in that "off-season" routine.

Now my plan is to prepare for a Spring Marathon or a 20 mile local run that goes from the State Capital in Madison to Stoughton in May. It'll all depend on my boating/cottage schedule and the weather around that time.

My plan is to build up my running mileage by going 1 hour per day on the treadmill for this week then upping that to 1.25 hours per day next week (with 1 day of rest). That should then put me in position to start increasing my long/slow runs over the next couple of months.

Back to the Pool

2009-01-07T20:43:00.002-06:00

Well, after taking the last 4 months off from swimming -- it was back to the pool today. I hadn't been in the water since I stepped out of the water and into T1 for IronMan Louisville.

My plan was to only swim 500 yds -- just an easy quick swim. Of course the hardest part of the entire swim is the initial dive into the pool. Is the pool going to be cold or just a bit cold -- that is always the surprise that is not fun finding out the answer.

The first 2-3 laps went great with my stroke coming back fine. It was the last 7 laps that were a bit hard. My upper body is just not in swim condition. No worries here, but I now plan on going multiple times per week to get that fitness back. I'll stay with 500 yds for a few weeks and then gradually build those laps up until we hit open water season.

I've been a bit laxed with the IronMan training over the Holidays. Instead of stressing to get my workouts in during the Holidays, I just go on an everyother day 3 mile run schedule and that works well.

Spent some time at the Cottage over the holidays and did some more SnowBoarding with the Mini's.

Still going ... a bit faster...

2008-12-09T10:24:00.002-06:00

The IronMan training plan is going along well. I have not missed a workout and even completed the 1.5 hour bikes on the trainer. Last year while training for IMKY, I would limit my indoor bike rides to 1 hour regardless how long my schedule told me to do. Anything over an hour is just not fun. I did put the laptop on the aero bars during the 1.5 hours -- which made it better.

Today I ran my 2nd faster 10k time ever -- of course, on the treadmill. My fastest 10k is 49:08 and today I ran a 49:40. I easily could have beat the 49:08, but I was just running at pace and never changed it through the entire run. Also, of course I had no people to run around or no hills to climb -- but it felt good.

My fitness level feels very good this year -- a carry over from the last 2.5 years of IronMan training...

20/20/20 Got it Done...

2008-11-23T16:12:00.006-06:00

As I stated in an earlier post, I'm upping the ante just a bit this year with some more intensity in my workouts. For most IronMan participants, my hard workouts are probably like their "down" days -- but whatever, they work for me.

So, I have been doing my 10 minute warmup + 5/2/5/2/5 + 20 minute cooldown bike rides on the trainer. That is 5 minutes at 20+mph then 2 minutes recovery spin followed by another 5 minutes at 20+ mph then 2 minutes recovery -- and on.

Today I was able for the first time to keep the 20+mph speed for all 3 -- 5 minute spins. I'm guessing this has something to do with the fact that I had off on Saturday, so the day of rest might have made me fresh.

Also picked up the speed on the treadmill to 7.2 mph or just over 8 minute miles. Everything is going well so far...

Age -- just doesn't get easier

2008-11-15T09:06:00.003-06:00

Ok, I was checking out the IMWI 2009 participation list the other day and I noticed that they had me in the 45 to 49 age group. I'll only be 44 at race time, but I assume that they use the age that you'll be as of December 31, 2009.

So, you would think that this was great news -- right?? Maybe I'd be one step closer (I'm about 8,000 steps away now) from KONA. Getting grouped with the old guys would make things easier -- well maybe not.

I checked my results from IMKY 2008 and found that I was 239 out of 282 in my age group -- that means that 85% of the participants in my age group beat me. So, how about if I was in the 45 to 49 age group for IMKY 2008 -- well the good news is that I would have been 176 out of 204 participants, but 86% would have beat me from that age group.

I have a feeling things are just going to get worse and not better as I age. I'm guessing that the older the participant, the more serious they are.

So, I guess it is back to the KONA lottery for my chance...

One of our prized possessions...

2008-11-13T11:50:00.006-06:00

Check out this link -- this is our Cottage -- Green Bay Press Gazette did a story on the Cottage:

Click the start button on the video to start (that is not me in the video -- we are not part of the original family that owned it for 70 years):

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20081112/GPG0803/311120008

Someday we will retire to this Cottage -- all 450 sq ft of it (it does have a loft that adds a few more sq ft).

Here is the story from the paper:

******************************************************************************

Max Schober was a weekend warrior of a different breed.

An architect and a craftsman, Schober built a cottage on the east shore of Green Bay with a playful look, like something out of a Brothers Grimm fairy-tale illustration.

"He constructed it mostly by hand on weekends, and it is a small stone place with hand-carved wooden shutters (with bird and animal figures), details around the doors and windows and a copper roof," said Nancy Miller, a neighbor.

"The place was a day cottage for my grandparents, Max and Addie," said grandson Tom Schober. "My grandmother had a gazebo that is still there. She'd sit and watch Max work."
Stone was hauled from the nearby shore, and much of the cedar framing likely was from the vicinity.

"Although my grandfather founded companies that built many buildings in Green Bay with well-defined architectural styles, it's hard to peg the style of his cottage," Schober said. "I'd call it Green Bay rustic."

Schober remembers his father, Leonard Schober, telling of being enlisted while in high school to help with heavy work. The stones and lumber look formidable.

Rocks were hauled with a travois, a device with long poles lashed together and pulled by horse — or in his case, human. The facing on the cottage is split stone. That translates as more hard labor — breaking the stone to build exterior walls and chimneys.

"It was all masoned in that way," Schober said. "Max did all of that. He also built all of the woodwork and all of the metal hinges and things that are on the house.

"He did all the carvings of the animals and did basically everything that you see here. It was all done in the early '20s, and it's still in place."

The family is proud of the lore associated with the cottage.

"What I like about the architecture of the place is its originality," Schober said. "It doesn't really have a particular style. I think Max modeled it on some things that he probably had seen from Germany.

It's a whimsical place."

******************************************************************************

Oldest Mini's e-mail tag line...

2008-11-11T12:29:00.003-06:00

Oldest Mini sent me an e-mail from his high school e-mail account. I noticed his tag line (goes at the bottom of all his e-mails) was:

************************************************************

Oh you did a marathon? THATS CUTE. Try an Ironman

************************************************************

Burning Legs & still eating

2008-11-10T17:13:00.002-06:00

I've decided this year that for my under-50 minute bike rides that I'd do a 5/2/5/2/5 workout. What I mean by that is that after a warmup spin, I do a 5 minute +20 mph spin, then a 2 minute catch the breath spin, followed by a 5 minute +20 mph spin, etc. So far I've been able to complete the first two 20+ mph spins and the last one at 19+ mph. I sweat like crazy and my heart rate is pretty elevated during the 5 minute spin -- and when I'm done, the legs are burning pretty good.

Like they say -- no pain, no gain (I guess). The body is still needing that extra fuel -- still eating more that normal.

Need to stop eating...

2008-11-08T09:19:00.003-06:00

Ok, ever since Sunday when I started back up on the IronMan training plan -- my body is in need of constant food. After IMKY, my weight was 170 and it has stayed in the low 170's ever since. This is in comparison to last year (2007) when I did IMWI at 175 but started my IMKY training at 182.

Last I checked I was at 177 and still eating. Picking up the pace and the amount of hours normally gets me eating more for the first couple of weeks and then it tapers off.

This is what I love about IronMan training -- it is watching/feeling how your body reacts to the training...

A bit faster...

2008-11-06T13:53:00.003-06:00

Today I had 45 minutes on the treadmill. During my off-season I was running about 5.5 mph -- slow easy just to keep the legs moving. Earlier this week I moved that speed to 6.5 mph and today I flipped it up to 7.0 mph.

Not lighting fast, but certainly adds a bit to the workout. My heart rate stayed around the 145 - 150 range. Now that I'm almost 44 years old, I lost another beat to my maximum heart rate -- my maximum now is 176 (220 minus your age).

I'll keep this pace for a while.

The return of the "Runners High"...

2008-11-05T15:58:00.002-06:00

So, the last year or so -- I had lost that feeling that you get after a run/bike/etc -- better known as the Runners High. After you are done with the workout, you get a great feeling where your mind is cleared of all worries and the body is feeling good. This would usually last until I had lunch or supper, then it would slowly go away.

Probably because of my training methods - slow long workouts -- I had lost that feeling. Well, now that I've picked up the pace just a bit -- the Runners High has come back.

Good news....

Picking it up ... just a bit

2008-11-03T20:34:00.002-06:00

Well, this year I decided to take a little different approach to my IronMan training. For IMWI 2007 I followed a training plan that had some slow easy workouts and some more intensive type of workouts. For IMKY 2008, I used the same training plan but I dialed down all the intensive type workouts and basically just stayed in the "Base" mode.

I did this for a number of reason, but the main reason was to allow "life to continue" in a normal manner. Basically, IMKY 2008 was not going to be number 1 on my list and I didn't want to burn out. The other reason for the slower approach was the desire to reduce the possibility of injuries. The slower you go the less likely you will pull something or cause some other problem.

This year I'm going to ratchet it up just a bit. I'm going to increase the intensity of all but a few of my workouts. I don't mean 7 minute miles on the run or 25 mph bikes, but more toward the middle of my ability levels. I'm hoping this will pay off for IMWI 2009 and that I can stay injury free -- the first sign of increased injuries and I'm back to the Base only plan. I just need to get my body to the line healthy and I'll do the rest...

Starting IronMan 2009 training…

2008-11-02T17:46:00.001-06:00

So, today was the first day back on the IronMan training program. Sure, it is very early to start thinking about IronMan in September of 2009 – but basically I now go back on a weekly schedule. Ever since IronMan Louisville 2008, I’ve been on an every other day 3 mile run schedule. Now I’ll be on an 8 hour a week schedule for a month or so and then slowly build from there.

Last week we spent our time at the Cottage doing some hiking in the Door County area. We spent an afternoon at Newport State Park hiking through the woods and along the shores of Lake Michigan. Halloween evening we attended the “Cottage” street party at a neighbors house. The road that the Cottage is on is only about 2 miles long with no thru traffic, so it makes a very fun trick or treat location for the kids.

At the party, I met the rock star IronMan neighbor. He is the gentleman that finished the Door County Half-IronMan in 2nd place with a time of 5:02 (I was extremely happy is my 6:03). He is also about 20 minutes short of being a Kona qualifier. All this said, you’d never guess that he was an IronMan. Very nice guy wearing a sweater chasing his girls around the house. He said that last year was his best year to date and he tried a new method. Instead of long runs, bikes, swims – he did extremely hard workouts instead. He suggested that we do some rides this coming summer seeing that he is also going to do IronMan Wisconsin 2009. Seeing that his IronMan bike times are around 5:30’s (and mine are 7:00++++) – I might need to take the car to keep up...

Two more weeks...

2008-10-16T21:15:00.002-05:00

Two more weeks before I get back on the IronMan Training schedule. I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike and back in the pool.

The boat project is nearing the end -- just a few items to finish up and then off to the canvas shop for a few pieces to be made. This week we took the boat out for a hour or so to test out the items that I had installed. All worked great. Many of you may be geeked out on IronMan's or tri's or whatever floats your boat -- but I have been geeked out on boats for a number of years. Something about being on the water and "free" from the world anchored in some Lake Michigan cove -- floats my boat.

I have been running everyother day -- which is just enough to stay "involved", but I need to expand that to 5-6 days a week soon.

November 1st is the date.

Quick update

2008-10-06T21:23:00.003-05:00

I'm still around -- just not concentrating on my training at this point. I've been mainly running 3 miles every other day. No road bike and no swimming. I've been out on the MTB a few times, but not too much.

Most of my concentration has been on the "outfitting" of the new boat. Need to get things installed (trim tabs, auto-pilot, refridge, stove, heater, mast, radar, depth, etc) before I put it away in storage for the winter.

As with last year, I'm looking at starting up my IronMan training schedule November 1st. I basically stay in the Base training the entire year and the first few months just keep me "involved" in the swim, bike, and run.

Actually starting to get antcy to get back on the schedule...

What do I do in my off-season...

2008-09-17T19:51:00.003-05:00

Here is what I do with my off-season (at least this year). We sold our 32' boat this summer and now we have a smaller 22' boat -- but it is brand new and just as fun.

So, now that I'm not working out 18 hours a week -- I'm adding new toys/electronics/etc to the new boat.

Gotta get it ready for next years Great Lakes cruising...

So, why another IronMan????

2008-09-10T19:12:00.003-05:00

So, you may ask (or I may ask) why another IronMan. IMWI 2009 will be my 3rd year in a row doing an IronMan. Well here is a list of why and why not:

-- because I love doing 7 hour training rides on my road bike – ummm, NO

-- because I love swimming lap after lap after lap in the pool all winter – ummmm, NO

-- because I love the 18+ training weeks as IronMan approaches – ummm, NO

-- because I love to spend $500+ for race entry – ummm, NO

-- because I love to step on the scale and see 171 lbs and being able to eat anything that I choose – ummm, YES

-- because I love the fact that my Cholesterol went from 209 to 150 – ummm, YES

-- Because I love the fact that I’m forced to do those 7 hour training rides and those mega laps in the pool – without IronMan in the background, I just wouldn’t do it. YES

-- Because I love the fact that I’m 43 years old and I’m in by far the best shape of my life. YES

-- Because I feel if I take a year off from IronMan, it’ll be just that much harder to get back in the game. YES

-- Because I know that I can enter any endurance race/sport/etc out there and I’ll be able to complete it. YES

-- Because I love the challenge that IronMan brings. I’m just a Finisher, so each year will bring me different challenges (weather, training, injury, etc) that I’ll need to overcome. YES

-- Because my body has held up great to the 2-in-a-row IronMan’s – I have no injuries, no problems, no blisters, nothing. YES

-- Because I plan on being around to participate in anything that my boy’s invite me to participate in when they get older. YES, YES, YES

Team Wisconsin Blog

2008-09-08T19:33:00.004-05:00

Anyone doing IronMan Wisconsin 2009? If so, let us know and we'll send you an invite to Post on the Team Wisconsin Blog -- http://www.imwi2009.blogspot.com/. We did this for IronMan Louisville 2008 (http://www.ironmanlouisville2008.blogspot.com/) and it worked great.

Just send me an e-mail (r.meyer@yahoo.com) and we send an invite from the Team Wisconsin Blog.

I'm in -- IMWI 2009

2008-09-08T10:21:00.002-05:00

Well, after standing in line for 3 hours -- I made it into IMWI 2009. They ended up having two lines setup with Volunteers in one line and the rest in another line. They took the Volunteers first (which included me). The Volunteer line was very very long, so standing in the non-Volunteer line watching the Volunteers walk past them probably was not that fun.

Saw XT4 in line and he was good to go.

T-shirts

2008-09-07T11:15:00.002-05:00

Oldest Mini had a Cross Country meet on Saturday. At the meet I saw one of the teams had t-shirts with the following on the back:

At mile #1 -- I thought I was dead
At mile #2 -- I thought I was dead
At mile #3 -- I thought I was dead

At the Finish line -- I knew I was too TOUGH to kill

Well said.

Recovery

2008-09-05T12:11:00.003-05:00

Well, the body is slowly recoverying from my "to hell and back" IronMan experience. The night of IronMan I only slept from around 1AM to 5AM so that I could get my Finishers gear in the morning. We then drove 8 hours back to Madison.

Monday and Tuesday I was a bit sore and a bit tired, but by Wednesday the soreness had gone away. Now I just feel like I have a cold (which I don't) and need to eat often to maintain my energy levels. I've had no desire to run/bike/swim, yet.

One thing that is not fun with my IronMan experiences has been the roof of my mouth after IronMan. This has happened for both IMWI and IMKY. The roof of my mouth gets raw or sore or something that makes eating very hard. So after the IM, I get cravings for certain foods -- but because of the mouth problem, they just don't taste that good. The mouth is getting better and hopefully within a few days I can enjoy "tasting" food again.

Went over to the IMWI 2008 practice swim -- just to watch. Conditions are great today with little wind and 60's.

The Prize

2008-09-03T07:51:00.000-05:00

Forget that John Elway retirement talk...

2008-09-02T19:28:00.003-05:00

I heard IMWI 2008 Volunteers have priority during registration for IMWI 2009. Did I tell you that I'm Volunteering for IMWI 2008?

Hmmmmmm.....

IronMan Louisville 2008 Race Report

2008-09-01T11:00:00.002-05:00

Saturday afternoon we went down to the 4th Street Live and enjoyed a pasta dinner. Went back to the hotel and relaxed keeping off my legs as much as possible. Around 8PM we all hit the bed and I actually had a nice evenings sleep. I set the alarm for 3AM and got up and had a bowl of Cherrios and off to bad again.

Around 5:30 Mrs. Team BRAZO and myself made our way to transition to put the nutrition bottles on the bike. Much to my surprise, they announced that transition was closing in 3 minutes – what, I had read 6:30 it would close not 6:15. But it worked fine as all I needed to do was place the bottles on the bike.

We then made our way over to the swim start which is about ¾ of a mile from the transition area. The swim is a single file start with people jumping in left, center, and right off a pier. You then swim up stream in a channel around an island. At that point you head straight down the Ohio river to the transition area.

My swim was pretty uneventful with my goal of going slow and easy. It was a without wetsuit race which isn’t a problem, but anytime someone hit my feet my hips would drop and I’d almost need to stop and re-start my stroke. Just like IMWI 2007, I stayed right next to the bouys. I exited the swim around 1:40 and felt pretty good.

I took it nice and easy in T1 holding my thoughts of enjoying the day and not expending extra energy. I made my way out of T1 and onto the bike course – the first 15 or so miles are pretty flat and easy. At this point I was enjoying the boats along the shores of the Ohio river and just taking in the sights. I kept my speed around 16 mph and felt great.

We then turned on an out and back portion of the bike ride that took you down a 1.5 mile decline and then right back up a 1.5 mile incline. At that point you made a U-turn and headed back down. Even though it seemed like a daunting task to climb up 1.5 miles, it really wasn’t too bad. Most of the way I was able to keep a “harder” gear and pedal my way up without getting out of the saddle.

At that point you then reach the part of the course that you do 2 loops. This part is much more “rolly/hilly” then the first part. You ride into Lagrange, KY with both sides of the street just packed with spectators (they have a shuttle from Louisville). The loop is around 30 miles and contains quite a bit of rolly hills.

About 2 hours into the bike, my stomach started to give me problems – this was not good news. I knew that I might have a problem with my stomach but at 2 hours – that is not good. I continued to sip my water and stayed hydrated (I can measure that by the fact that I had to pee probably 6-7 times). Around the 3rd hour I was no longer able to keep my Perpetuim down and had to make the decision to get the bike to T2 and then worry about the nutrition on the run.

The day before the race, XT4 sent me an e-mail suggesting a few things to stay cool on the bike and the run. The temps for race day were 93 degrees. He suggested that I use a liberal amount of water to shower my body at the aid stations and that put a bottle in my bike shirt and use that every couple of miles – spraying the water in my helmet and on my body. Well, this worked Great – I’m sure the water station people thought I was a bit overboard, but I’d first fill up all my water bottles on the bike (4). Then I’d pour 2 full bottles over my body. Then I’d take 2 full bottles and put them in my bike shirt. No question that XT4’s advice saved my day on the bike.

Around 25 miles to go, my body was shutting down as far as energy. I was starting to get very dizzy and had to concentrate hard on keeping the bike on the road. Each hill was just a killer and my speed slowed down. I made a promise to myself that I would get the bike back to T2.

This is where the Mental side of the IronMan kicks in. Along the 25 miles, I knew that if I pulled to the side and a medical staff person stopped by – they would pull me from the course and I would agree with them. So, I did everything in my power to stay on the bike. With 3 miles to go – out of 112 miles, I had no choice but to stop. You would think you could just finish 3 more miles on a flat ride, but that was not happening. I picked a spot where I didn’t think I would be noticed and sat down on a tree. My eyes were rolling in my head and I felt like I was just about to pass out. Well, at this point I thought I best get back on the bike and stop near a police officer to summon help.

This is all happening with freaken 3 miles to go – unbelievable that your body shuts down that much. It took everything in my power to go those 3 miles – I decided not to stop for help.

I made it to T2 with the idea that my day was certainly over, but I had plenty of time to just sit down and see what would happen. I was smart enough this time to put a Coke in my T2 bag. I sat there for 30 minutes sipping on the Coke. A gentleman right next to me sat there also and finally he got up and quit the race – just couldn’t go on. Finally I decided to at least give it a try.

I had about 6 hours to walk the marathon, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I started out walking just sipping my Coke and slowly the stomach felt better. I then decided that my 15 minute a mile pace may not get me to the cut-off in time, so I decided to try and run as much as possible. Every water station (every mile) had Coke, which was a life saver. IMWI last year only had Coke at the 20 mile point. So, I would run between the water stations then drink water one time and Coke the next time. My stomach was getting better and my speed on the run was improving. When I was running, I was maintaining around a 9:45 minutes per mile and felt good.

I knew I needed to get some nutrition in my body, so I tried a plain GU and sure enough – it went down good and caused no stomach problems I then ate oranges, pretzels, GU, and just about anything else. What’s up with that -- Coke seems to be the trick with me. I kept drinking Coke because I could feel myself coming down if I skipped a station.

Around 10 miles into the run, I knew I had this thing in the bank. It was so hard to believe that I was going the finish this IronMan – I was certain of a DNF on the bike. Last year for IMWI, it was almost too easy (whatever that means), so it felt like something was wrong. I expected that "to hell and back” experience and I didn’t have it. Well now I have.

Certainly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and I was so pleased that I had the Mental fortitude to get through the pain. If I would have DNF’d, it would be ok – but getting through the “completely done” was very gradifying. I now feel like an IronMan.

Now I can sit back and follow all you folks doing IMWI 2008. I’m very much looking forward to giving back via volunteering for IMWI on Sunday.

So, during the run on Sunday I gave much thought to what John Elway did – back-to-back Super Bowls and then retired. Maybe not a bad idea, but time changes minds…

Almost passed out on bike, stomach issues, almost DNF -- But NOW DOUBLE IRONMAN!!

2008-08-31T23:28:00.004-05:00

Had some major problems on the bike -- sat down with 3 miles to go and almost passed out. My eye's were rolling in my head. I did everything I could to get the bike done without stopping -- if the Med's would have found me, no doubt they would have pulled me from the course.

HUGE Thanks to XT4 -- x --> your e-mail regarding the staying cool on the bike 100% saved me from a DNF on the bike. Almost happened anyway, THANKS!!

I'm not sure of my finish time (finished around 11:20 and started around 7:25), but all I know is that I have an awesome IRONMAN FINISHERS medal around my neck. Tomorrow morning it is off to by some Finishers gear.

Race report later.

He's on his feet.

2008-08-31T17:03:00.002-05:00

Bob made it to transition and sat in the changing tent for 25 minutes contemplating if he was going to continue. Of course he did!!! At least he has a smile on his face again and is now walking. He has till 1 am to finish if he needs to walk all the way.

Final Stretch of Bike

2008-08-31T13:23:00.002-05:00

Dad came over the 3rd segment of the bike route at about 2:20. Stomach issues continue, and the bike is making a funny noise. He said dont worry I will make it to the run. Its 88 degrees.
Heading back into Louisville to meet him at transition, so far so good.

First Loop of Bike Complete

2008-08-31T12:04:00.002-05:00

Dad is almost done with his first lap of the bike course (which is over halfway done). He is complaining of stomach issues, hopefully things settle down. The temp. is 86 degrees and the wind is picking up.

Oldest Mini

HALF WAY... Of The First Lap

2008-08-31T11:01:00.003-05:00

Dad is about halfway on the first lap when we caught up with him. He had a big smile on his face and was looking strong. For the first segment of the route was 22.5 miles and he did it in 1:23:09 with averaging 16.24 mph. Its only 82 degrees out right now 12:00. So far no wind, not sure if that is good since it's going to be so hot.

Oldest Mini

Onto the bike.

2008-08-31T08:33:00.002-05:00

Bob looked great coming out of the water, didn't seem tired at all and a big smile on his face as usual. He said his swim was slow, however, his swim last year was much faster than he thought it would be. Swim time was 1:40, last year 1:26. This year no wet suit. Still very pleasant outside, no wind. Winds are suppose to be 5 mph today and 95 degrees.

3 bikes already flatted before they even got out of the bike shoot, hopefully that's not an indicator as to how their day will go.

This year our job as the support crew is very rough, we are trying to decide where we are going to eat breakfast and if we should take a nap before we take the shuttle out of town.

Today's the day!!

2008-08-31T06:53:00.003-05:00

So far a beautiful morning no wind. Bob entered the water at 7:25, he anticipates it will take
1 1/2 hours. Hopefully there's some current down stream today to help push him along. He slept great last night and was ready to roll. First person out of the water was 51 minutes.

Elevator IronMan talk...

2008-08-30T16:11:00.002-05:00

If you stay at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville for the IronMan, you'll spend a lot of time waiting for elevators. In fact it gets so bad, that you start sharing "elevator strageties" on how to get one that isn't completely full with people and bikes.

Here is some of the "talk" that I heard during my elevator travels:

-- Older gentleman was asked if it was his 1st IronMan -- he went on to explain that this was number 18 -- only one DNF

-- Two guys from Texas talking about race day temps forecast -- not just happy regarding the mid-90's forecast, but almost giddy

-- Younger IronMan participant in somewhat distress. He was having a hard time determining if he should pump his bike tires to 117 psi or 120 psi. Last year he did 120 psi and whataknow -- he flatted. He was asking all of us on the elevator our opinion -- of course, 120 psi...

-- Nice old couple welcomed me to IronMan and stated that they live on the bike route and enjoy watching the race -- nice couple

-- Other than that, it was elevator strategy being discussed...

Tired of drinking water...

2008-08-30T14:24:00.002-05:00

The last few days I have been drinking water in preparation for Sunday -- starting to get a bit tired of water and Gatorade -- but I'm feeling very hydrated!!

Bike is in transition and ready to roll.

How many times can you look over your bike...

2008-08-30T11:54:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure how many times I can look over my bike to make sure all is set for tomorrow -- but maybe once more would be good. Those last minute ideas -- maybe put new rubber on the tires, etc -- just aren't good for the day before the race.

So, just about time to take the bike to the transition area for bike checkin. The elevators are jammed with everyone trying to get their bikes down to transition -- the trick is to take the elevator up (when it is not full of people) and then ride it down as it fills back up.

Weather

2008-08-30T07:28:00.001-05:00

Here is the latest weather forecast for Race Day:

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming east between 4 and 7 mph.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 70. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm.

Thanks to an e-mail from XT4 with some advice on dealing with the heat -- I think I have a better plan in place for Sunday.

Either way -- I'm ready for RACE DAY!

Some see it red some see it black

2008-08-29T13:35:00.003-05:00

On the way up the elevator in the IronMan hotel, I was talking with a gentlemen regarding the forecasted temp's for Sunday. I was speaking in the "negative" manner regarding the 91 degree forecast and he was happier than can be that it was only going to be 91 degree's.

Guess I'll cross over to his side -- the only problem, I don't think Madison has been in the 90's all year. Hard to train for the heat when it isn't hot outside...

Swim start plan...

2008-08-29T09:47:00.002-05:00

Today we attended the Athlete's race meeting at our hotel. During the meeting the speaker explained that the swim start would be a "time trial" start -- meaning one at a time every 3 seconds. He suggested if you need more time to make cut-offs, you should come early. Last year it took 37 minutes to get all swimmers in the water.

So, based on that -- my plan will be to come a little later in the morning. This will allow me an extra hour of sleep and then I will hopefully be with more swimmers of my pace (turtle type of speed). I do not want to go out ahead of the fast swimmers and spend my time getting run over. I'll try to get in the water towards the half of the back pack.

We also attended the Gatorade Practice swim in the Ohio River. I was interested in feeling the current of the river and how it would affect my swim speed (with my slow speed, thought it'd be just like a Endless Pool -- never move out of my spot) -- I felt no current either way. The majority of the swim is down stream, so I'll just pretend that it is helping me.

Nice easy run to the swim start and back to the hotel -- around 3 miles.

Another fun IronMan activity...

2008-08-28T19:40:00.002-05:00

When you register for IronMan, they put a wrist band on your wrist that will get you in and around the areas that you need to be in.

The fun part of that is walking around town looking at everybody's wrist. I would say that 97% of all the IronMan participants are easy to figure out. Most are fairly "skinny", males have shaved heads or very short hair, etc. It is the 3% that makes this fun -- you would never guess that they even had the thought of doing an IronMan. Those are the people that I think are great -- if you have all the athletic skills, then of course you can "attempt" an IronMan -- but how about those that don't have any athletic skills -- now that takes some courage.

Weather forecast right now calls for 91 degrees -- not to my liking...

IronMan Weigh-in

2008-08-28T17:54:00.000-05:00

So, before you are allowed to start an IronMan race -- you need to get weighed during IronMan registration. They then use this information if you have medical issues and can pull you from the course if you lose too much weight on race day.

Last year for IMWI, I made sure I was a bit on the dehydrated side in order to have my weigh-in be a low number. I did not want to get pulled from the course because I lost too much weight -- probably not the best of thought processes, but whatever.

This year for IMKY, I didn't even give it a thought. I have been around 175lbs for the last month or so -- but today I was 179lbs.

Guess I'm going to need to eat a bunch in the next couple of days...

IronMan success already...

2008-08-28T13:26:00.002-05:00

Ok, by this time last year for IMWI -- I had lost my timing chip. This year, the timing chip did not leave my hand -- so already things are going much better than last year -- and last year was a GREAT experience overall.

We are in the hotel with a bunch of people that have my haircut -- shaved stubble -- I knew that was in style, I was just in the wrong city.

Good signs so far.

How to stay calm before your IronMan...

2008-08-27T15:40:00.003-05:00

So, I have the trick for staying calm before your IronMan. Last year I was very nervous leading up to IMWI. In fact, during the registration process I dropped my timing chip. Well, of course, that caused me great grief seeing that they would not give me a replacement until right before the swim start. Talking about the "red herring" to keep your mind off the race - that did it. Even though I got my chip, it didn't quite work as I crossed the Finish line and I needed to yell up to Mike Riley my name and city so that he could annouce Robert Meyer from Madison Wisconsin -- you are an IronMan.

This year I have been so busy with things, that I feel like one of those dreams where you are at school and have a final exam, but you realize for some reason that you never went to class. I feel like IronMan is a few days away and "shot" -- it doesn't even feel like I prepared (which is not true at all). I have been so focused on the sale of our boat and the possible purchase of a new boat that my mind has been completely "not focused" on IronMan.

I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I did IMWI last year. Last night we stayed in St. Louis and tonight we are on our way to Indianapolis. I'm guessing that the excitement will come tomorrow as we head into Louisville and see all the IronMan stuff setup.

Believe me -- I'm pumped to go and I will get my mind ready to go. I do not plan on DNF'ing.

Just can't wait to hit Louisville tomorrow!!!

How to pack for IMKY

2008-08-25T19:29:00.002-05:00

So, how do I pack for IMKY -- basically grab every piece of workout item and throw it in the Zipp tri-bag. I put together a list of all items that I could think that I would need and then spent a few hours laying everything out on the kitchen table.

Last year for IMWI, I prepared for all types of weather. I had rain gear ready, cold gear, and everything in-between. I spent quite a bit of money just making sure that I was prepared for anything. This year I have spent basically nothing in preparation for IMKY. I decided to do my own bike maintenance and did not take it in to the LBS.

Tomorrow we are leaving town and heading down to St. Louis to look at a few boats. Then we'll head slowly to Louisville where we have reservations (Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun) at the Official IronMan hotel -- The Galt House Hotel which is right down by the start/finish line.

Can't wait to just hang out in downtown Louisville -- enjoying the IronMan environment. Somehow I'll need to wear every piece of IMWI gear during the first few days and then hide it on race day. I wore my IMWI bike shirt in the Door County IronMan and during my last 3 miles on the run -- when I was walking, I heard many "come on IronMan, this should be easy" type of talk.

Ready for the mini-vacation...

It's Official ---- #1638

2008-08-22T12:53:00.002-05:00

Well, it is official -- I'm now considered #1638 for IronMan Louisville 2008.

Enjoying the taper, but the mind is beginning to wonder that this is way too easy to workout without much of a plan. Feels like the fitness is going away, but of course I know that is not true.

On the bike for 45 minutes today.

New Kayano's -- doesn't get any better than that...

2008-08-21T10:10:00.003-05:00

In preparation for IMKY, I purchase some new Kayano 14's from the local shoe store. There is nothing better than running on brand new shoes. The cushion on the feet makes you feel like your running on cotton balls -- well, almost.

Last year I purchased a new pair of Kayano's right before IMWI. It certainly made the shuffle...errr...running portion of the IronMan a bit easier. I've used the same pair of Kayano's ever since last years IronMan, so it was time. My legs let me know when it is time to get new shoes as my hamstrings, calfs, and just overall legs start to ache a bit on the run. I ordered the new shoes last week and stopped running until I got the order in -- just didn't want to take a chance of having my legs causing me problems.

Ten days until I lace em up -- seems a bit easier on the mind this year compared to last year -- the pressure is a bit less.

Taper is working

2008-08-19T11:06:00.002-05:00

Well, no longer do I feel extra tired in the morning -- the taper is starting to work. My goal is to get back into feeling normal and then pickup my workouts just a bit.

Yesterday I rode the bike for a hour and then swam 1000 yds in the pool. Felt great on the bike and the swim.

Still a week and a half away from race day, but I'm starting to feel the excitement.

Tired, tired, and tired

2008-08-16T12:10:00.002-05:00

Wow, I'm not sure what is up -- but I have been dead tired ever since I started my taper. This week I even cut back my hours to around 7 hours just to see if I could get rid of this feeling. I'm not so much tired during the day, but more so in the morning when I try and get out of bed.

I really need to concentrate on my nutrition. I was at our boat in Sturgeon Bay for the last few days and when I'm there I tend to eat more sub's, fast food, etc.

I'm not too concerned seeing that I have 2 weeks left of taper -- but I just don't remember last year being this tired in the mornings during the IMWI taper.

How do you tell if you are in IronMan shape...

2008-08-13T12:55:00.002-05:00

So, the question is -- how do you tell if you are in IronMan shape. Once you are "in-shape", it is very hard to determine your level of fitness. Many people will use workout benchmarks to help determine the progress that they make through out the year. I'm not one of those folks. I enjoy working on my base for the entire season - by going slow but long and steady.

I have to say that I do have two (2) benchmarks that I bypassed this year. One was the May Door County Half Marathon in which my goal was to break 2 hours and I did with a 1:56. Also, the Door County Half IronMan when I finished just over 6 hours beating my PR by around 17 minutes. In the half IronMan, I felt in very good shape -- just had a stomach issue.

So, here is how I can tell that I must be close to IronMan shape. Last year my weight at the IMWI starting line was 175. I went to that weight during the last month and a half of my summer workouts. Well, this year I have been holding around the 182 mark for most of the year. Yesterday I stepped on the scale (I don't do that often any more) and my weight was 172. That is the lowest I've seen since the day after IMWI when I was 169.

So, I'm hoping that is a good sign. Post IMKY I'll post a blog entry on how my "seemingly" more relaxed IronMan training schedule worked this year. We'll soon see the results...

Time to shut it down…

2008-08-12T13:30:00.001-05:00

Ok, I’m here – taper time. I’m 2 ½ weeks out from IronMan Louisville, so it is time to cut back the weekly hours. I won’t shut it down completely, but go to a more relaxed workout schedule with the hours around 8 this week, 6 next week, and 4 the final week.

The taper time is one of those love / hate relationships. It is great to get off that never ending workout schedule that I have been on since November 1st 2007 – and really since September 9th 2006 when I started training for IMWI 2007. But at the same time the mind “hates” the idea of not working out and “it” has concerns that you will lose fitness.

For IMWI 2007, I felt great race day and had plenty of energy…

A bit tired of waking up tired...

2008-08-10T08:53:00.003-05:00

So, I'm at the part of my training were my hours have been consistently around 15 hours per week. This really isn't that bad compared to many people that put in 20+ per week during the final months -- but it does take a toll on my body. Over the last 2-3 weeks, I have felt very lethargic each morning when I wake up. Kindof like I can't get up, but I'm not really that tired -- a bad combination.

My weight has also slowly gone down -- all year I was around 182 -- now I'm around 175.

After reading the comments on the http://ironmanlouisville2008.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-do-you-feel-when-does-your-taper.html -- I realize I'm not the only one.

What a difference a week makes...

2008-08-07T14:24:00.002-05:00

Today I again went on the IMWI bike course for two (2) loops -- about 85 miles. Last week things did not go well with my stomach, so I put together a new plan for todays ride.

I stuck with Perpetuem, but I used the blender to blend it together with the water and I added just a small bit of unsweetened CoolAid. I mixed up four (4) different bottles with all different CoolAid in each. I then would switch between the bottles every 15 minutes or so. I also stayed out of my aero bars for almost the entire ride -- from time to time I would use them if the wind was strong.

I had no problems at all on the 1st loop and actually was able to eat a peanut butter sandwich at the half way point. The 2nd loop went well also with just a slight bloating feeling towards the end of the 5 hour bike ride. Overall, much much better than last Friday's ride. I'm still concerned with the stomach, but I really had the same concerns for last years IMWI and I got through it ok.

That will be my last long ride until IMKY. I love the feeling of "this is my last time on the IMWI route forever -- if I so choose" -- I play those mental games during the boredom of the ride. Today I added a $2.50 toy radio from Walmart and put it on the bike. It worked great giving me some music and talk radio to listen to -- made the day go by fast.

After the ride I had a bit of a stomach bloating, but much better than before...

Good Training day...

2008-08-05T19:42:00.003-05:00

Today's training went well -- easy 4 mile run and a 1.5 mile swim in the pool. The lakes around Madison have not been good this year with blue green algae and many other issues. So when I have been at home and not at the Cottage -- I've been stuck in the pool. Nice thing with the Cottage is the water on the bay is good -- so this weekend I can get back to some open water swimming.

I'm, again, not fast in the pool, but feel like I can swim forever without getting tired. The hard part is the boredom that goes along with swimming laps.

Tomorrow is a 20 mile bike ride -- another week and a half -- then time to Taper...

Confindence ride

2008-08-04T19:42:00.004-05:00

So it was only a 20 mile ride today -- but I needed that "confidence ride" to get back in the grove.

For my nutrition (which I usually don't take on a 20 mile ride), I put the Perpeteum in the blender and added just a bit of unsweetened grape coolaid. That helped with the "chalky" taste and allowed me to take it without problems. I'm slowly putting together the plan for Thursday's 80 mile bike ride -- the nutrition (my stomach) needs to go smoothly one way or another.

I'm not hearing very good reports from the IMKY bike course. If you go to http://ironmanlouisville2008.blogspot.com/2008/07/imky-ride-report.html, you'll find many comments about how busy the course is with cars and how nasty some of the drivers are to the riders. I'm sure it will be better race day, but I also heard that the University of Louisville is playing football that day -- should make things interesting. Comments about drivers throwing stuff out the windows at riders -- at least I won't have time worrying about my stomach or sore legs -- I'll be dodging beer cans...

Muddy Buddy Chicago Race Report

2008-08-03T19:00:00.004-05:00

Saturday morning we packed up the Prius, threw the bike on the top, and made our way down to Chicago for the 2008 Muddy Buddy on Sunday. We spent the day on Saturday getting our packets and enjoying some lunch in Chicago.

Saturday evening we spent time running from store to store to finalize our “outfits” for the race. Oldest Mini decided that we would dress up as 1970’s basketball players / jocks. So, how would that look – short shorts, basketball jerseys, knee pads, head bands, and more. A stop at Goodwill and a few other places and we were ready to go.

Sunday morning we woke around 5:30 and got into our “outfits”. Oldest Mini has grown quite a bit in the last two (2) years and now is basically my height. The mini shorts (we used girls shorts) made his legs look very long and he fit the part of a 1970’s jock perfectly.

Not only were we participating as a team, but Mrs. Team BRAZO and our sister-in-law were making up another team and Youngest Mini was doing the Mini Muddy Buddy.

We happened to be in the 2nd wave of the day and made our way over the starting line. Around us were guys in suits, wigs, penguin outfits, underwear, and on and on – it was very fun. The race starts off with one team member riding the bike and the other team member running(the biker goes out as fast as they can). You go on the exact same course and you switch off from the bike to the run and visa-versa every time you hit an obstacle that you need to clear. Oldest Mini con’d me into starting out on the run and he’d be on the bike.

After about a mile run or so, you hit a climbing wall that you needed to scale with cargo netting on the back side. Over the wall I went and onto the bike. Oldest Mini had of course already been there with the bike, completed the wall climb and was on his way on the run. I had no plans on actually racing the event, but instead to have a great time racing with my awesome 15 year old.

I then made it to the next obstacle, threw down the bike and through the obstacle I went. We continued this through 4 obstacles and about 6 miles combined running and biking. The last piece of the race was at the end when both team members ran together to a mud pit and had to do the military-crawl through the mud pit. Oldest Mini and myself made sure that we left no part of our body without mud and had a GREAT time crawling through the pit.

Youngest Mini competed in his race and at the suggestion of his Aunt, he completed a belly flop / belly slide at the finish line. He had some much mud on him that you could barely see his face.

It was an absolute awesome time and something that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life – being able to compete in an awesome/fun race with my 15 year old (looked like John Lennon with his outfit).

Bike ride did not go well...

2008-08-01T15:22:00.003-05:00

Today I made my way over to Verona to do two (2) loops on the IMWI bike course. I started out around 8AM with the temps being in the high 70's. I have been having problems with my stomach over the last 4-5 endurance type of runs/events and today was no different. In fact it was much worse.

About 30 minutes into the 5 1/2 hour ride, my stomach started to give me problems. I had planned on drinking 4 bottles of Perpetuem for my nutrition but after 1 bottle, my stomach could no longer drink it. I forced myself to drink as much water as possible, but even this did not go over well.

Of course with little nutrition and close to 90's temps, the ride became harder and harder as I went along. The three (3) major hills (or some people call the three (3) bitches) on the IMWI course became very hard. I spent most of my time on the 2nd loop wondering how I'm going to fix this stomach issue or I'm not doing IMKY. I just cannot feel like I have the flu and complete an IM -- just doesn't work.

So, now I need to do some research and figure out a solution. I know from experience that you have good training days and not so good training days -- and this one happened to be a terrible training day.

Next up for Team BRAZO - Muddy Buddy

2008-07-30T16:25:00.002-05:00

Next up for Team BRAZO will be the Muddy Buddy race in Chicago. Mrs. Team BRAZO and out sister-in-law will form one team -- Oldest Mini and myself will form the other team -- and Youngest Mini will be competing in the kids Muddy Buddy.

The Muddy Buddy is a 7 mile race as a team with one member of the team using a bike and the other member of the team running. You complete 6 or 7 obsticalls with one person riding the bike to the obstical and the other running -- then you switch with the other person riding the bike and the other running. You end the race with a race/crawl through the mud.

Oldest Mini has the bright idea that we should dress up like 70's basketball players -- short shorts, yellow headband, etc.

Looking forward to some fun...

This is just Crazy Amazing to me...

2008-07-21T19:28:00.005-05:00

I was checking the results of the Door County Sprint Triathlon for Oldest Mini's times. I knew that he was 1st out of the water for his wave -- 34 and younger. I figured he might have been 1st in his age group -- which he was.

But the amazing thing to even his parents is that he was 6th overall in the swim out of 643 participants including the Elites!! That is just amazing to me. We know he is a good swimmer, but 6th overall in the sprint out of 643 -- that is incredible. He just turned 15! Of course, he has practiced his swim a total of 5 times since March when swimming ended -- just think what he could do if he actually practiced.

Now we just need RobbyB to give Oldest Mini some pointers to get him out of the water 1st next time.

Door County Triathlon Race Report

2008-07-20T18:57:00.003-05:00

Today we made our way over to Egg Harbor, WI to participate in the Door County Triathlon. The race started at 8:00 with waves of 50 or so every 3 minutes. I agree 100% with 8AM start times – much better than those 7AM times.

While setting up my transition, Tri-Bob made his way over to say hi – it was very nice to meet him after reading his blog for a while now. I felt great overall and was ready for the day.

Swim

I took my normal starting position for the swim at the back of the wave. The water temps were around 65 degrees and it was actually much colder closer to shore than out on the swim course. The day before, the waves on the Bay where probably 2 footers with some 3 footers here and there – that would not have been fun. Today the Bay was basically flat. My plan was to just swim the course at my own pace and enjoy the swim for once. The course was very well lined with bright orange buoys – it made sighting very easy. I’m not sure why all tri’s do not use more buoys, it just made it so much easier. I just kept my pace and actually enjoyed the swim. The only problem was dealing with the swimmers doing the side stroke or back stroke – I have no problems with them, but I just wish they weren’t around me.

Bike

After a forever transition (don’t try to put on a tight IronMan bike jersey when your belly is wet, just doesn’t want to go on), I was comfortably on the bike. The nice thing with coming out of the water towards the end of your wave is the fact that I tend to catch and pass more people on the bike that way. I’m not sure why, but I’m actually getting pretty good on the bike. At first I was passed by a couple bikers, but after mile 5 I had no one pass me and I passed many many bikes. For some reason, my legs will just pedal and pedal and I don’t get tired. I keep my cadence around 80 and it seems like I can go on forever.

Around mile marker 28, I noticed that if I kept the same pace – I would finish the bike ride under 3hrs. Well, thinking that I had done around a 45 minute swim (turned out to be 47) and a transition in less than 10 minutes (hopefully) – well I had a real shot at a sub 6 hour Half-IronMan. So, I kept up the pace and ended the bike ride in 2:57 – I’m now in reach of the sub-6 hr.

Run

Knowing that the sub-6 hour might be possible, I concentrated on my transition and hurried to the run. Surprisingly, after PRing on the bike, I had my run legs right from the start. I forced my mind into the mode of, don’t get wimpy and miss the sub 6 hour by a little bit. So, I kept up a good pace (forgot my Garmin). Around 10 miles into the run I remember thinking to myself that I in fact was in Great shape and feeling great. Well, after attempting the “bluff” hill – my stomach went south and I was forced to walk/run the rest of the way. I can get my mind to get past just about anything, but when it comes to a stomach that is about to come undone – there was nothing I could do.

I ended the day with a 6:03 Half-IronMan -- my previous best was 6:19.

Even though I had a stomach problem at the end, I had a great day. This is what I learned today:

1. I’m in pretty darn good shape
2. My bike has improved greatly
3. My swim has improved
4. My run still feels good
5. Don’t have GU on the run, stick to Perpetuem
6. I actually have a sub 6 hour Half-IronMan in my body – maybe??

Great day (outside of the freaken stomach issue) – great race – highly recommended…

Almost Accidental sub-6 hrs...

2008-07-20T16:42:00.003-05:00

Today we participated in the Door County Triathlon -- Oldest Mini did the Sprint and I did the Half-IronMan.

Oldest Mini ended up 4th in his age group.

I ended up with a 6:03 Half-IronMan -- didn't think I could do a sub-6hr (around 28 miles on the bike I realized that I had a chance and maybe I should give it a shot), but I had it in the bag with 3 miles to go on the run -- then the stomach made me switch to the run/walk method.

Also, met Tri-Bob -- great guy and an amazing signer of the National Athem!!

Race report to come...

Stop the waves...

2008-07-19T14:38:00.002-05:00

Today Youngest Mini participated in the Door County Kids triathlon in Sturgeon Bay. He ended up 5th in his age group and had a great time. They did a great job putting on the event.

The forecast for the winds were to be 5 to 10 mph out of the East -- well, I doesn't seem to be quite East. I'm sitting at the Cottage watching the waves crash on shore -- doable as far as swimming, but it would not be fun at all. Really not all that windy, but the wind must be coming right down the Bay causing the waves. Hopefully the winds switch directions overnight.

Looking forward to the race -- next year the Door County Triathlon is going from a maximum of 1000 participants to a maximum of 2000 participants. They plan on holding the Sprint on Saturday and then the Half-IronMan on Sunday.

How do the Mini's taper for the Door County Tri???

2008-07-18T20:58:00.003-05:00

They spend the day behind our ski boat wake boarding, knee boarding, and best of all wake skating. We spent probably 2 hours behind our boat and then the neighbors came by with their boat and we spent another 2 hours skiing behind their boat.

We have never wake skated before, so Oldest Mini took a try at it. The wake skate looks just like a wake board, but it has not place to put your feet into (bindings). Instead you need to figure out how to keep your feet on the board while the boat brings you out of the water. Then when you are up, you use it just like a skate board / wake board. Oldest Mini made it up without problems and then put on a show trying to jump the wake behind the boat -- problem is that the board doesn't follow your feet.

We have a Nautica inflatable with a 175hp engine -- nice boat. But our neighbors have a 22ft Ski Boat that makes our boat feel like we have a Yugo compared to their Mercedes Benz -- nicest ski boat that I have ever been on. Thankfully, I'm not one to keep up with the Jones.

Youngest Mini is all set for his triathlon tomorrow morning -- can't wait to watch him.

Best of luck to everyone that will be participating in the Racine triathlon.

Swimming and swimming and swimming...

2008-07-17T19:58:00.003-05:00

This week is my biggest training week of my IronMan training schedule with 18.5 hrs on the schedule. The Door County half-IronMan makes up 6.5 of those hours.

The focus has been on the swim with 3.5 hrs so far and another hour on Sunday. I spent an hour and a half in the pool yesterday and another hour and a quarter today. It's funny how some days swimming 20 minutes is like forever but then I can swim an hour and a half and it doesn't seem that long.

This year the chances of me being able to wear my wetsuit for the IronMan swim in Louisville is not very good. So, I have been swimming as much as possible without the wetsuit just to get myself prepared. With the wetsuit, my hips stay floating and I don't need to kick -- but I feel restricted in my range of motion for my swim stroke. Without the wetsuit, my hips sink and I need to kick (I tend to frog kick) -- but I'm not restricted and my swim stroke feels great. So, overall I think it is a wash or maybe even better without the wetsuit.

I'm still not a fast swimmer, but I'm a confident swimmer -- and that works for me...

I'm feeling the itch...

2008-07-16T16:20:00.002-05:00

I'm just saying -- I didn't plan on doing another IronMan next year, but Lake Placid signup is on Monday...

But I'm just saying -- it would be a great vacation spot for the family next year...

But I'm just saying -- how would I ever get myself to swim the "cross" ways in the pool during Open Swim with many kids all around and do that for 2.4 miles (did that today) -- without the IM goal in place...

But I'm just saying -- it might not even be possible with the online signup -- they might be sold out before the online starts...

Just don't know -- I'm sure during my Door County Half-IronMan this weekend, I'll talk myself out of the idea.

Back to the trainer...

2008-07-15T22:00:00.002-05:00

Today we made our way back to Madison for a couple of days to take care of some business. We will be heading up to the Cottage and Door County on Friday. Youngest Mini has his Door County Triathlon on Saturday and the rest of the team will participate on Sunday.

I had a 90 minute bike ride on the plan today, so instead of hitting the road -- I setup the bike trainer in front of the TV and watched Ellen while getting in my 90 minute bike ride. My biking feels very good -- just like last year, I feel that I can go and go as long as I keep my cadance around 80.

After the indoor bike ride, off to the local pool for a quick swim.

Small “IronMan” World…

2008-07-14T20:27:00.002-05:00

I was born and raised on the east side of Madison and lived there for all of my childhood. During my very early days I had a neighbor down the street named Patrick Gallagher. I only have “lite” memories of that time, but I’m sure that I attended a few birthday parties along with many days playing at his house. The last time I remember “knowing” Patrick was when he moved to Oregon, WI to a new house. Not to give away my advanced age, but I remember watching the Million Dollar Man (or whatever that show was named) during a sleep over at his house.

Well, fast forward about 25 years and sure enough while listening to 105.5FM on the Madison radio – I hear a gentlemen on the radio named Patrick Gallagher. Well, thru some “listening” and some Internet research I put two and two together and found out that it was my friend from many years ago.

A few months ago while listening to him on the radio, I hear him discussing that he was doing IronMan Wisconsin this year. Not knowing if he’d have any idea who I was, I just followed his blog via 105.5FM’s website.

Well, today I pulled up his blog and there it was – check it out (I'm the Bobby/Bob/Robert in the story) – small world.

http://1055triplem.com/July-14--2008--Weird-Coincidence/2595236

Creative IronMan Training...

2008-07-13T18:28:00.005-05:00

This morning the waves were coming hard onto shore at the Cottage. The winds were around 25kts with gusts to 35kts -- not a good day for a bike ride.

I had a 60 minute run on my schedule along with a 90 minute bike ride. So, I decide in the morning to head out and get the run done. I figured I'd hopefully wait for the winds to die down and then maybe get my bike ride in.

Around 3 PM I figured the winds were not going to die down and I needed a new plan. I noticed on my run that if I stayed down by the shore of the Bay that the wind was blocked by the trees and the homes. So, I decided to complete my 90 minute bike ride using my Cottage running route -- 5 miles with one fairly steep hill.

I made my way along the route for 7 loops with each loop having a steep hill to climb. I figured at some point the neighbors would be out in their lawn chairs cheering me on. Worked out great, not much wind to deal with and I got in some good hill work.

IronMan Training or not...

2008-07-10T17:58:00.002-05:00

Last evening we spent the night tent camping at Wolf River Camping & Tubing. It was our type of camping with only a few other campers in the entire campground and no one around us for probably 10 camp sites.

Today we spent part of the day tubing down the Wolf River -- does this count toward my swimming miles?

When I got back to the Cottage, then Mrs. Team BRAZO and myself did a 30 mile bike ride and then a 1 mile swim on the Bay.

IronMan Wisconsin Bike Course...

2008-07-03T13:37:00.005-05:00

Today I made my way over to Verona to ride a loop of the IronMan Wisconsin Bike Course. This was the first time since completing IronMan Wisconsin 2007 that I have been on the bike course. I had planned on doing two (2) loops, but because we are leaving for the next 2 weeks -- I decided to just complete one loop.

I love the bike course (outside of the ride from Verona to Mt. Horeb) with all the ups and downs -- keeps it interesting and you are always changing gears, going in and out of the aero bars, etc.

Regarding my aero bars, last year I had to force myself to stay in the aero position on the bike. It just didn't feel confortable and actually caused me some shoulder pain from time to time. This year I don't like coming out of the aero position. I feel much "faster" and effecient in the aero position and have no aches or pains. Last Sunday I rode 99% of the 56 miles in the aero position with no pain -- outside of the leg pain caused by 56 miles on a bike.

For my IronMan Louisville training this year, I do not plan on riding any full 112 bike rides. Just don't have the desire to do that and I don't think it is necessary for me to complete the IM bike ride. I'll try to complete a few 80+ rides and just go with that -- maybe (if I get crazy) I'll complete a 100 mile ride, but at this point the desire to ride that long in training is just not there.

What was I thinking -- another IronMan -- holy smokes...

2008-06-29T15:24:00.003-05:00

So, today I participated in a practice ride (56 miles) and a run (10k) on the Door County Half IronMan course. I decided to try and stay with someone for the entire ride -- if possible. A gentleman from Appleton was riding next to me and we just stayed together for the whole ride. He was around my age but my guess is that he was a better rider.

The day started out with light rain and the winds began to increase. The bike course takes you through downtown Sturgeon Bay and then you loop around over by Lake Michigan and then head back thru Sturgeon Bay to the finish.

We kept up a faster pace then what I normally do. I felt fine until around 6 miles to go, then it was just "keep the head down" and grind out the finish. We had a strong (25+mph) winds for at least 1/2 of the ride -- sometimes it felt like you were going up a big hill when in fact it was just the wind pushing you back. We finished the 56 miles in just over 3 hours.

Next up was a 10k run. I started out with the idea that I could always cut it early if my legs felt bad. Well, just like always -- the further I run the better the legs get. I started with a group of probably 8 guys and ended up "out enduring" then to the finish. I don't think it has anything to do with my fitness level, but instead just my stubburn mind -- I just refuse to give up. I even ran the entire "Bluff Pass" hill -- which is by far the hardest cliff....errr....hill that I have run.

Overall I felt fine considering the speed of my bike and the winds that caused some problems.
Another workout in the IronMan Bank...

Longest ride since IronMan Wisconsin 2007...

2008-06-27T14:49:00.003-05:00

Today I completed my longest ride since IronMan Wisconsin 2007 in September. I went on my favorite Cottage bike route which is 28 miles for one loop and I completed two loops. The ride went perfect with no wind and the temps in the mid-70's. The route I go on has very little car traffic and a speed limit of 35 the whole way.

I'm sure many of you hard-core IM folks out there are a bit concerned for me seeing that we have about 9 weeks to go and this is my first 56 mile bike ride. Well, don't fret (at least not yet) -- last year I did the High Cliff Half IronMan on June 26th and the 56 mile bike ride was the longest that I had ever completed in my life. So at least this year I know that I can do 112 -- just a matter of working back up the miles.

On Sunday, I'll do another 56 miles on the Door County Half IronMan route along with a 10k run afterwards.

Not too concerned at this point -- last year my goal was to complete a few 112 mile bike rides and a couple 2.4 mile swims and to stay HEALTHY!! That is a major piece of the puzzle -- staying healthy. It is hard to train when you have "issues", so that is my number 1 goal. My next goal is to build my long bikes and swims over the next several weeks.

So, I feel that I'm on the way to being ready for IronMan Louisville.

To all those attending WIBA this year -- have fun -- last year was a blast (outside of getting lost on my route from Verona to Madison to complete my 112 for the day -- ended up in the BMC vehicle for the ride to Madison).

Open Water swim practice

2008-06-26T14:32:00.003-05:00

Now that I'm at the Cottage and the water is warm enough -- I've gotten in 3 good open water swim practices. Each time my swim felt great -- now it is just a matter of extending the swims.

Tomorrow I plan on a 3 hour bike ride and then we plan on going over by the Wolf River and do some mountain bike riding. On Sunday they have a practice ride/run/swim at the site of the Door County Triathlon with the ride being 56 miles, run 6.2 miles, and then a cool down swim. I plan on making it over there for that.

Been a bit busy the last few days in the attempt to sell one of our beloved items -- our "bigger" boat. We decided to put it on the market after realizing that we just don't have the time necessary to enjoy it. We have a house, cottage, and a boat -- which is really like having 3 homes -- 1 too many. I created a quick website www.sundownertug.blogspot.com using Blogger.com and put it on ebay. Well, a week later and many many e-mails/phone calls/etc -- we had a nice offer and the boat has been sold (pending a marine survey, etc). We are heart broken to let it go, but out LOVE of big boating has not gone away and we'll be back at it someday when the timing is right.

We made great use out of the boat for the last 6 years with most years spending 30 to 45 nights on the boat. We made a 2 month long trip to the North Channel (www.northchannel.blogspot.com) in 2006 and many Lake Michigan crossings. But with the kids summer schedule and our desire to use the Cottage, we just don't have the time.

So anyway, the good news is we have a buyer and the bad news is we have a buyer.

Have a Great Weekend...

Race Day – WORS Reforestation Ramble 2008

2008-06-22T16:09:00.001-05:00

Today was the WORS Reforestation Ramble MTB race that was held just North of Green Bay. We made our way over from the Cottage, which was about a 30 minute ride. We got there a bit early to cheer on our Cottage neighbors that were participating in the Citizens 12 mile MTB ride.

This time around, I decided I would enter the Sports Class instead of the Citizens Class in order to get in a longer bike ride. The Citizens Class was going 12 miles and the Sports Class was going 24 miles. I’m not sure what the correlation between road bike miles and MTB miles, but certainly not one for one. I’m guessing almost a 2 road bike miles for every 1 mtb mile – maybe even more.

I make my way over to the start and wait with the other Sports Class participants. Right away I notice that there are many more participants in this class then what I’m used to. Not only that, they all look pretty serious. I, of course, do not have mtb shoes so I just wear my trusty old running shoes and hope that my foot does not slip off the pedals at the wrong time. I did a quick glance around to see how many other participants had the same idea of wearing their trusty old running shoes – well, that number turned out to be ZERO.

I tried hard to figure out who JWM was, but all endurance athletes look the same so no luck. Next time, JWM, we’ll need to “share” our bike colors or something to help figure that out.

So, I tried to start in the middle of the pack, but somehow I got shuffled to the back when we moved up to the starting line. I guess I need to work on my – move up to the starting line strategy. The race took off and probably 20-30 seconds later I actually crossed the starting line. I knew that the first 4 miles were double track, so my plan was to race “kindof” hard to see if I could get in front of a few racers. At the starting line, I did my normal glance around to see if there was anyone that I might be able to beat – it was hard to tell seeing that this was a better Class, but I had a pretty good feeling that I could take at least a few of those guys.

When we reached the single track section of the race, I was in pretty good position – probably just about middle of the pack (173 racers). I felt good about that and my goal was to not get passed too much if possible. Any time someone would pass me, I’d stick on their tire for at least a few miles and have them pace me. This worked great as the few times that I did that I ended up passing them back after a few miles and they never made it back pass me.

The course was very fun with 2/3 being fast double track and 1/3 being fast curvy narrow single track. There were a few minor hills but not too bad. Most of the race I just kept my head down and pushed as hard as I could. The further along I got in the race, the more determined I got not to give up my position. I kept with my plan on using another racer to pace me and that worked great.

One of the fun parts of the course were the mud bogs. The entire section of the double track was fairly deep mud with just a narrow band that may or may not be rideable. You needed to pick your place along the trail and then hope that your rear tire did not pull you down into the deep mud. The last mud bog that I went through, my rear tire did pull down and I needed to jump off quickly so that I didn’t fall right in the mud.

I ended up 22 out of 28 in my age group and 114 out of 173 overall for the Sports Class. I seriously thought that I might DFL overall for the Sports Class, so I was very happy with my results. My legs are a bit sore and I’m a bit tired, but it was a blast. No question, the MTB races are my favorite.

So, JWM, I’m sure I didn’t meet up with you because you were too far ahead for me to catch up – next time…

Training Day...

2008-06-20T20:38:00.004-05:00

Today we started the day with a nice 5 mile run. We have a loop that we take starting at the cottage, climbing a fairly steep bluff, running along the bluff overlooking the Bay of Green Bay, then running along the shores of Green Bay back to the Cottage.

In the afternoon, we made our way to the Reforestation Camp located just North of Green Bay. They have 10.5 miles of single track that is very fun. Not that technical (at least the areas that we went on), but very quick and fun. We spent part of the afternoon on the trails.

Sunday, I plan on participating in the WORS Reforestation Ramble which is a 24 mile MTB race located at the Reforestation Camp. I'm going to move up a Class to the Sports Class instead of the Citizens Class. Not that I'm getting better (which I am), but because I want to get in a longer bike ride for my IronMan training and the Sports Class goes 24 miles instead of the 12 miles for the Citizens Class. Should be a great time.

Still need to get myself into the water for swimming -- hope to do some tomorrow.

Have a nice weekend...

Change of plans -- Cottage time...

2008-06-18T20:49:00.002-05:00

Well, we had a change in plans -- no big boat trip this year -- instead we'll spend our time at the Cottage and enjoy some Cottage time.

Today we made our way to the cottage with the prius full of "stuff" and 4 bikes on top -- plus the F150 with the ski boat in tow. We'll be at the Cottage for most of the summer until the boy's need to go back to school.

The advantage of the Cottage from the IronMan training standpoint is ability to swim right off the pier, bike ride along the shores of Green Bay with little traffic, and plenty of room to get the run in. It is so nice just having the water right there to get that swim in -- I'm not much on driving someplace for the swim, bike, or run.

We just settled into the Cottage, launched the boat, and did some sunset fishing off the pier. The Mini's caught probably 10+ fish between them with many putting up quite a fight. We have both the MTB's and the road bikes up here, so we plan on doing quite a bit of biking over the summer.

More later...

I've been tagged

2008-06-17T17:00:00.002-05:00

Ok, thanks to former Wisconsinitte now Colorado'n Tri-teacher, I've been tagged. So part of being tagged I need to answer the following.

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?

Didn't run. Every once in a while I would get the thought that "I should be running" and I'd hit the treadmill at the health club, but that is about it.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?

Best - No question, IronMan Wisconsin. The entire day went so well that it makes all my runs, bikes, and swims feel "not so good".

Worst - Not really "worst", but my 1st Marathon happen to be 2006 Madison Marathon when the temps reached the mid 90's. I'm all about setting a goal and getting it done. So my only goal for the marathon was to run the entire course -- no matter how fast or slow, just always running. Well, at mile 22 I needed to walk for a 1/2 mile otherwise I might not still be here today.

My best race? If your just talking about running, then probably the 5k that I ran after Oldest Mini's Cross-country race. They had a community race that I didn't know about until right before it was to start. I didn't have my running shoes on (old running shoes), no running shorts, no garmin, etc. So, I ran to the starting line and a few seconds later I was running the course. This was about a month after IronMan, so I was in pretty good shape. Ended up running 7:03 miles on average -- pretty darn fast for my legs -- but I did run a 17:40 5k in high school so that was a bit better.

3. Why do you run?

Health, mental health, and just the enjoyment of it all. It also has allowed me to participate in IronMan, MTB racings, cyclo-cross, etc.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

I only wear shorts/sweat pants all year round -- no suits, no jeans, no ties, no "fancy" clothes -- just sweat pants...

It's Official -- New York City Marathon 2009

2008-06-05T07:08:00.003-05:00

Yesterday the New York City Marathon held their Lottery for entry into the 2008 New York City Marathon. According to the web site, 50% of the applicants are accepted via the Lottery. I have entered into the Lottery in 2006, 2007, and 2008 -- all 3 times I have been "rejected". Seeing that I'm not Katie Holmes, I will not be running the 2008 New York City Marathon.

But the good news is that I WILL be running the 2009 New York City Marathon. The New York City Marathon guarantees entry if you have been denied 3 years in a row -- so next year I'm in!!

WORS Big Ring Classic race report

2008-06-02T16:10:00.003-05:00

Well, on Saturday morning we loaded up the Prius with a couple tents, 4 sleeping bags, race clothing, a bit of food, helmets, and 4 MTB’s on top. We headed out of Madison in the morning and made it to Nine Mile Forest in Wausau, WI mid-day.

We pulled into the parking lot and were directed to take a “parking spot/camping site” on the line of trees. We have not been tent camping for many years and the last time we only lasted one night before we made our way to a local hotel. We do have a boat that we spend many nights during the summer on at anchor, which really is just like camping except for the fact that the boat has a full kitchen, beds, bathroom with shower, heater, A/C, etc – so it is kind of like camping in a motor home – not like tent camping.

After getting the tents put together and then driving into Rib Mountain for lunch, we hit the MTB trails. Nine Mile Forest is really a cross-country ski park with some single-track trails running in-between the cross-country ski trails. We had hoped to just get in a few single tracks and then head back to the camp site for a bit, but that didn’t happen. The maps don’t really show you the MTB trails, just the ski trails – so, we ended up going for probably a 10 mile bike ride and for youngest Mini (with his smaller MTB) this was quite hard. The single track was fun with many rocks all over the course and the more difficult areas having large rocks with very tight paths (trees on both sides).

My parents made their way up from Madison and stopped by for dinner and then the next day for the race. That evening it was a bit hard to sleep with around 500 people camping in a small parking lot, but it was also very fun and everyone was having a good time. After moving from the tent to the car and then using the kid’s Ipod to knock down the sounds from the camp fires, I was able to get some sleep.

In the morning, they had some vendors come in with a coffee stand and another that was serving breakfast. We ate some bagels that we had a got the bikes ready to roll. Mrs. Team BRAZO, Oldest Mini, and myself raced at 10AM and Youngest Mini raced at 1PM.

I was in the 35 to 49 year old wave. Normally for any race that I participate in – I just go out and have fun – don’t really try to race anyone, just my time (i.e. 5k, 10k, etc), but today I decided I was going to race just a bit and see how it would go. So I put my bike kind of in the middle of the wave and off we went. I figured that I’d have more endurance than a few of the riders and my goal today was to get in front of them right away instead of my normal approach of catching them at the end.

Out of the shoot, I pushed as hard as I could to get in towards the front pack. Once I got past the riders in the back, I pretty much did not get passed from that point forward (outside of a few here and there). The course was a bit different in the fact that it had probably 50% double track and 50% single track. Most of the double track was going up hill – and up hill – and up hill, it was non-stop hills. The first lap I pushed the hills as much as I could and was able to pass a few riders. Once we hit the single track, I was very tired and needed to concentrate hard on keeping myself on the bike.

Because I was actually racing, I was on someone’s rear tire and I had someone right on my rear tire. I could not see the rocks in front of me, so I just sat back on my seat and held tight on the handlebars hoping I wouldn’t hit something that would cause me to go flying. It was unreal how fast I was going thru this single track – much faster than I have ever done before. I would just watch the bike tire in front of me and if I saw the bike lurch, I knew to hold on tight.

It certainly was an endurance type of race with all the hills and this played into my hand. I ended up 6th out of 12 in my age group and 62nd out of 161 overall. Oldest Mini ended 12th out of 24 in his age group and 89th out of 161 overall. Mrs. Team BRAZO took 1st place in her age group.

Youngest Mini raced his first MTB race and ended up catching the leader right before the finish line and ended up winning his age group. We were very proud to just have him out on the course trying his hardest and it was very fun watching him trying to get pass the leader – took two laps to get pass him. His Grandma and Grandpa bought him a WORS bike jersey just before the start of his race and he wore the bike shirt in the race and also wore it to school today. I could have just gone and watched him race without even racing and I would have had a GREAT time – he did great!!

MTB Race - WORS Big Ring Classic

2008-06-01T17:08:00.002-05:00

Quick update:

Youngest Mini took 1st place in his division -- passing the 2nd place finisher with a few yards to go.

Mrs. Team BRAZO took 1st place in her division.

Camping, great fun, excellent weather...

Race report later...

The Ups and Downs of IronMan training…

2008-05-28T13:54:00.000-05:00

So, this is how my IronMan training has been going so far this year – one week I’m doing 12 hours and feeling great. Then the next week, my personal/work schedule gets in the way and I’m doing 8 instead of the 12 on the schedule.

Last week I did 12 hours and my body was feeling it. Even though my workouts felt great, by the time 8PM rode around – I was done for the evening.

This weekend I didn’t have my bike with me (gas price impact – Prius goes from 50mpg to 40mpg) when we were at the Cottage and our Boat, so Sunday’s ride was not to be and neither was Monday’s ride. Then Tuesday is normally my weekly big run (10+ miles) and a hour or so bike ride – but because we were gone on Monday – my work schedule got in the way.

I still feel in pretty darn good shape and I all is good – but I hate when I just completed a great week and then the next week I feel like a slacker…

The Farm Dog…

2008-05-23T10:21:00.004-05:00

Today I went for a 30 mile bike ride on my IronMan training course. Along the course, about a mile from my house, there is a farm dog that I had a pleasure meeting on one of my first bike rides.

The farm dog looks like a large “Benji” and has his very own dog house about 30 feet from the road. This is the dog that caused me to go to the local Fleet Farm and purchase some pepper spay just in case we had another encounter.

The first time we met, the Large Benji was in his driveway apparently waiting for the next biker to go by. Well, that happened to be me. He has what I would call the “dream farm” for bike chasing dogs. The farm sits on the corner of two roads with the farm house situated about a ¼ of a mile from the corner. Not only does he have a corner lot, he has clear view of the road and corner because of the farm field in front of him. Large Benji also has what I would call “the biker trap”, he has a hill that starts around his driveway that causes the bikers to climb.

So, like I said earlier, I’ve been ready for my next encounter. Every time I go past the Farm House, I have my pepper spray in one hand, I’m in full aero position, I’ve taken my nutrition right before the corner, and I’ve slowed down over the last mile or so in order to have fresh legs.

Well, up until today Large Benji has been no where to be seen. Today was a different story, I round the corner and sure enough Large Benji is sitting next to his dog house facing the corner. So, I’m thinking, do I turn around and try a different route? Well, that would add a good 45 minutes to my ride and that would not be good. Do I wait for a car to come by and ride on the other side so that Large Benji has no shot at my calfs? I’m stuck and now I have to make my way past Large Benji.

So, I get the pepper spray out of the holder, I open it up and have it ready in my right hand, I shift the bike into the “fast” gear, and I go down into full aero position. I’m slowly gaining speed as I watch Large Benji getting ready to attach. The closer I get I notice that he must remember that my bike speed was not too good and he would not need to get out of his lying position until I got closer. I’m now pretty much at my full speed with all weapon systems ready to go.

Well, Large Benji didn’t even move. No bark, no teeth showing, nothing – just sat there.

So, I’m thinking Large Benji was probably thinking to himself – “Wow, that old guy is really riding fast today”.

So much for the mean farm dog…

MTB -- Blue Mounds State Park

2008-05-21T17:05:00.003-05:00

Today, Mrs. Team BRAZO and myself made our way to Blue Mounds State Park to try out their MTB trails. The trails that we rode were mainly flat with many many rocks lining the trails. These are not little rocks, but instead larger rocks that either forced you to go around or to go fast enough to bounce the tires over.

We did not go to the advance section of the trail (maybe next time), but we did complete the intermediate sections. Overall the trail was pretty technical as far as the need to stay on the handle bars and concentrate. Not a whole lot of drops, but a whole lot of rocks.

Fun trail that we'll be back to soon...

Next Up -- WORS Big Ring Classic - Wausau, WI

2008-05-20T16:36:00.007-05:00

Next Up for Team BRAZO will be the WORS Big Ring Classic MTB race in Wausau, Wi on June 1st. Mrs. Team BRAZO, Oldest Mini, and myself will ride the 12 mile citizens race and Youngest Mini will ride the kids race.

The plan as it stands now is to do some rough camping in Nine Mile Forest. You can pay $10 and camp on Friday and Saturday nights. I'm guessing the camping is just in a big field with many of the other participants. I grew up camping and still love the "idea" of camping, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to handle the tent for two nights. I'm going to reserve a hotel room in town just in case the camping idea sounded better than it really was.

This will give us our last race before we head out on our month long boat trip -- more on that later.

So, JWM-- if your racing that weekend, just don't think you have DFL all locked up -- I'm certainly a viable competitor for that spot -- no stopping me now.

Xterra Last Stand race report…

2008-05-18T19:20:00.015-05:00

Saturday morning we headed out from Madison with the MTB’s loaded on top of the Prius, heading for Augusta Michigan to race in the 2008 Xterra Last Stand. Outside of traveling through the “busy” Chicago, our trip was uneventful and we made it to Fort Custer State Park for packet pickup around 4 PM.

We attended a racer meeting to discuss the course layout and to get advice on the challenging mountain bike course. The race director explained that because of the 63 degree water temp, the swim course would be cut from 900 yds to 750 yds. After the meeting we made our way to ride parts of the “more” challenging parts of the MTB course. The portion that we rode was called the trenches – good name seeing that is what they were. They built these trenches and then made a course through them by creating “NASCAR” type banked corners. We had a great time just pre-riding the course.

Sunday morning we made our way to the race and setup our transition area. There seemed to be around 200 participants with approx. 40 doing the duathlon and the rest doing the triathlon. There were probably 20 females and the rest males. Before the race, we had talked to Oldest Mini about his race plan. We knew he would have a good swim but wanted to get him pumped up to hammer the pedals on the bike and then to grind out a good 4 mile run. And of course my race plan is always, enjoy the swim, have fun on the ride, and try to catch up on the run.

The swim course was setup as an Out, Over, and Back course with the start and finish ending on opposite ends of the sandy beach. Oldest Mini and I took a pre-swim in the lake just to get an idea on how cold it really was – well, it was cold – but really not that bad with the wetsuit.

Oldest Mini planned on swimming hard and hopefully ending up in the front pack, so he went to the front to begin the swim. I took my normal “at the back” position and off we went. The first leg (3 legs) of the swim seemed very hard. It felt like I could not get deep breaths and felt like I was dragging a boat behind me (which is a fairly normal feeling for me) – I’m not sure if it was just the cold water or if it was just a normal first open water swim of the year feeling. One thing I don’t like about the swim is the feeling that “I have no idea how many are in front of me and how many are behind me” – I just kept sighting and I could see the mass of yellow swim caps in front of me.

By the time I reached the half way point, I started feeling a bit better and things came together. The only problem that I had the rest of the way was trying to get around the swimmers that went out too fast and now had nothing left in the tank. A few were trying to cross over my path to get to the boats to get a breather, a few just bobbing in the water, and one gentlemen that was doing the back stroke crossing my path every few minutes. I exited the water in around 15 minutes (seemed like hours) and Oldest Mini came out in around 10 minutes – in 20th place overall.

Next up was the 12.5 mile MTB ride. My transition from the swim to the bike seemed like forever – just too much to take off and put on. By the time I was done with transition, there were only a handful of people left to head out on the course. For the first mile or so, I just concentrated on making sure I had all my bearings – I some times come out of the water dizzy. But seeing my transition was seemly forever, my body had plenty of time to recover.

As I got going on the bike, I passed many people within 2-3 miles – faster swimmers, but not so good on the MTB. My plan was to complete as many of the “hard” parts of the course (no by-pass lanes) as I could. I tried to hit all rocks, roots, water, sand, drops, etc and just enjoy myself. For the most part I didn’t hear the words “on your left” very often – but I did say that quite a few times. The bike course was awesome, they had many different challenging parts and I completed many things that I haven’t before on a MTB. Some of the drops were a bit steep requiring me to sit way back on the bike and hold on, but no wipe outs and I had a great time.

Towards the end of the bike ride I had a lot of endurance remaining and I again started to pick off a few people here and there. My only hope for not DFLing is “out endurancing” some of the field.

Because I do not have bike shoes for the MTB, my transition time was awesome – just drop off the bike, grab the hat, and off I go – made up some of the time on the swim to bike transition. I headed out of transition and on to the sandy beach. We ran a quarter mile on the sandy beach and then headed up into the woods on some small single track running/MTB trails. At first my legs were a bit tired, but around a mile into the run they came back and I picked up the pace. I had no goals on the run, but the run is always my strength in the triathlon. That probably is contributed to my endurance compared to the lack of endurance for the other back of the packers, but whatever, I'll take it. I just kept my knees high to clear the roots, logs, mud, etc and began picking off a few people on the run. I would see the person in front of me and then my only goal was to catch them and off I would go.

The run felt great and outside of a bit of tightness in my left calf, no injuries slowed me down. I finished the run in around 34 minutes with some left in the tank – no mile markers along the course made it a bit hard to pace.

Oldest Mini ended up in 1st place in the 15 to 17 age group and received a nice trophy from Xterra during the awards ceremony. Oldest Mini also was the youngest participate in the race. He is amazing in just his ability to just go out and GET IT DONE!!

I ended up 24 out of 29 in my age group and did not take home any trophies. BUT, I did win a door prize -- a $260.00 gift certificate for an Xterra Wetsuit – gotta like that.

Very, very fun – I only wish Wisconsin would host some Xterra’s….

Oldest Mini Takes XTERRA Gold...

2008-05-18T13:07:00.003-05:00

Just a quick update. Race report later.

Oldest Mini took first place in his age group with a time of 2:02.

I finished in 2:05.

Great time, on our way home. More later.

Ready to Roll...

2008-05-17T20:22:00.003-05:00

Well, we made it to Augusta Michigan for tomorrow's Xterra Last Stand. We went to the park and picked up our packets and checked out part of the course. Oldest Mini and myself took a quick ride on the MTB trails -- very fun. They had one part that was like a NASCAR race track, except for the fact that it went up and down but with high banked corners -- it was a blast.

The swim is in Eagle lake and even though it was blowing like crazy, the lake is small enough to not really have waves. The water temp is 63 degrees, so they reduced the swim from 900 yds to 750 yds -- I should only be 95% froze instead of completely froze -- thanks for the thought.

We are ready to roll...

Xterra Last Stand -- some Very good news...

2008-05-16T15:32:00.007-05:00

I have some very good news to report for the Xterra Last Stand this Sunday. I reviewed the participate list and I saw at least 3 individuals over 60 years of age. So, now I just need to figure out who they are and get on their heals during the swim, on their rear tire during the bike, and then attempt to out sprint them on the run. That may be my only chance to stay out of the DFL position.

There looks to be around 150 participates for the race. The last e-mail from the race organizers had the water temp at 63 degrees -- that'll be a bit refreshing.

We have a 5 hour trip to Augusta, MI tomorrow morning and then they have a pre-ride @ 4pm.

To give me some breathing room, I just wish some 70 year olds would have signed up -- maybe they are waiting to sign up on race day!!

I'm ready to roll --- cannot wait to give an Xterra a try...

How does this work...

2008-05-15T14:02:00.001-05:00

For the last week I have tried to limit my running in order to heal me calf / Achilles. This weekend we are doing the Xterra which will require me to run a 4 mile trail run after the swim and the bike.

So today I decided to do a short 5 mile “confidence” run. The purpose of the run would be to just give me some confidence that my calf / Achilles would be “OK”. In preparation, last night I iced my leg for a few hours, I’ve been stretching that area multiple times each day, and this morning I again iced the leg.

So, I start out on my path around a 10/min mile and for the first mile my leg felt ok. I could feel a slight tightness, but nothing that I couldn’t deal with. Just over a mile into the run I needed to pass a gentlemen that was mowing the path and probably picked up my pace just a bit, well that caused my calf / Achilles to tighten right up. Enough that I needed to stop running for a few seconds to let it mellow out just a bit.

I’m very stubborn and was not going to give it up. When I first started running 3 years ago, I would run through leg tightness pain every day. I would just do whatever it took to hubble down the road and get my run in. One of my tricks was to tell myself that my other leg was starting to hurt just a bit – that would cause me to “not” think about the pain and things would loosen up. So, today would be no different – I just kept running.

Well, guess what – it started to go away and by the time I was done with the 5 miles – I only had a very slight tightness and now it feels much better. So, how does that happen – what piece of magic am I missing? Whatever it is – I’ll take it.

So my confidence run did work – just hope it isn’t false confidence…

Xterra Bike Training...

2008-05-14T19:48:00.003-05:00

Today, Mrs. Team BRAZO and I made our way over to Cam Rock 3 (just outside of Madison) and took a few loops on the single track very technical mountain bike trails. I needed to have a warmup before hitting the trails for the Xterra on Sunday.

I had no problems with the rocks, drops, climbs, roots, trees, logs, etc -- but I did have a bit of a problem catching my breath after a few long climbs.

Outside of the Achilles -- I think I'm ready to roll, even though it may be DFL...

Choices...

2008-05-13T13:17:00.003-05:00

So, this year Team BRAZO has some choices to make for our summer vacation. In 2006, we spent two (2) months on our boat cruising to the North Channel (about 900 miles of cruising on our 32’ 1990 Sundowner Pilothouse). In 2007, we stayed close to home in order for me to do what I needed to do to finish IronMan Wisconsin 2007.

So, this year we have some choices to make. I’m doing IronMan Louisville 2008, but the training will not be my #1 priority this year. Instead, our #1 priority will be again cruising our boat around the Great Lakes.

So here are the possible trips:

n Complete a full tour of Lake Michigan – starting in Sturgeon Bay, crossing Lake Michigan, exploring the West coast of Michigan, rounding around to Chicago, spending the 4th of July on a mooring ball right on the shores of Chicago, and making our way back up the East coast of Wisconsin.

n Explore Lake Superior – starting in Sturgeon Bay, crossing Lake Michigan, spending a few days in one of our favorite harbors of Beaver Island, traveling up to Mackinac Island and spending a few days, making our way through Sault Ste. Marie and the locks, and exploring what Lake Superior has.

n Travel thru the Trent Severn Waterway – starting in Sturgeon Bay, crossing Lake Michigan, crossing Lake Huron, making our way into the Trent Severn Waterway that connects Lake Huron with Lake Ontario. We’d spend time cruising through this historic waterway and then make our way back to Sturgeon Bay in late July.

Or maybe some other place.

More on this later. Need to do some quick planning…