THE IRONMAN

The Ironman. Most people know the ironman is some type of race, maybe a triathlon, somewhere in Hawai`i. An Ironman is a triathlon, and is 140.6 miles: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile marathon, and there are numerous races all over the world. THE IRONMAN, takes place on the big island of Hawaii (yes, the same island we will race on), starting in Kona, going up to Hawi on the bike, and returning to Kona for the marathon.

Saturday, October 21th, The Ironman Championship in Kona, HI. It's not broadcasted over TV, but it is broadcasted over the internet.

Saturday, October 21th. I need one of those "do nothing days". Total veg out on the couch, don't leave the apartment, epitomy of laziness. After a doing triathlons, you tend to appreciate free time, and off days.

Saturday, October 21th. "Put 2 and 2 together".

I had the Ironman on for 9 hours and 45 minutes, and probably watched it 85% of the time. I am sure you are wondering how I didn't get bored. 95% of the time, I wasn't in bored. Even though there was endless analysis and predictions, I was simply in awe of these competitors. The speed and endurance of these human beings is simply amazing. The guy that won AVERAGED 25 mph for the entire bike course. AND THEN ran a 2:53 MARATHON. To put it in perspective, I avg'd 19.5 mph last year at lavaman on a 25 mile section. I ran a 50 minute 10K (6.2 mile) run.

Normann "The Normannator" Stadler of Germany took 1st place in the race, setting the tone with a new ironman bike course record of 4:18, and held off a charging Chris McCormick of Australia on the marathon for the win. San Diego local and australian native Michellie Jones took #1 for the women.

The crazy part of this race, is that made it look SO EASY!!!!

Talk about attention to detail. Norman brought his custom painted bike to Kona, and had matching everything.

Jones also sported an awesome look:

Ok, I am a total tri geek.

Also, one of my lavaman teammates, Trevor King, was one of the lucky participants in the race!!

Lavaman - Part Deux

Well, here I am, back at it again for another season of training for the Lavaman triathlon! In an attempt to spruce things up a little bit, I will be a mentor this season for all the “newbies”. A mentor is someone who helps the team meet it’s fundraising and training goals. Whether that’s planning a fundraising event with someone, or helping someone climb that last tough hill, I will be with my new teammates every step of the way. Somewhere along the way, I will try to get in my training to bring my Lavaman time down into the sub 2:30 range (2:37:22 was my time last year) too.

If we haven’t talked much over the past few months, it’s safe to say that I have totally caught the triathlon bug. Since Lavaman, I have competed in 3 different Olympic distance events. My favorite one since Lavaman was the triathlon at Pacific Grove in Monterey, CA. Here are the highlights:

* “PacGrove” is another huge TNT event, so I was racing with a lot of friends from lavaman, and my girlfriend, who did a great job in her first tri!
* The conditions couldn’t have been any different from lavaman: 58 degree, kelp filled water, and at the end of the first loop of the swim, you had to get out of the water, run up the beach, around a rock, and back into the water.

This compared to 80 degrees of clear water swimming above sea turtles and tropical fish.
* Air temp at Pac Grove was not much more than the water. After 25 miles on the bike, I had just about no feeling in my right foot!
* My buddy Dan, his girlfriend Arlene, and most notably Jeff Hartnett competed in the triathlon as a relay team! Jeff was less than 3 months removed from chemotherapy for Lymphoma, and tackled the bike leg like he hadn’t missed a step.
* I actually drove to Monterey and back, mainly for the drive home: Route 1S, the pacific coast highway, from Monterey to Santa Barbara. This is a drive everyone should do in their life.

Some of other cool things since Lavaman:
* I got a new bike! Cervelo Dual.

Studies have shown that yellow bikes can take minutes off one’s bike and run times in triathlons :)
* Michellie Jones, 2006 Ironman Woman’s drafted off me on a bike ride on San Diego’s famous coastal ride through Carlsbad. I will take that as a compliment anytime!
* I did the Iron Mountain Brick 4 times this summer. The Iron Mountain brick is a workout that is harder than any triathlon done to I have done to date, with nearly 2500 ft of climbing on the bike, and 1000 ft of climbing during the run.

The summer was spent logging lots of miles in the ocean, on the saddle, and putting one foot in front of the other. It was an incredible season that flew by incredibly quick!

The first week after Pac grove, my last race of the season, was spent almost confused. I had all this free time now! Instead of doing workouts after work, I actually had the ability to go home and…. watch TV. It was a very foreign concept I must say. But, I finally found something more worthwhile and pursue my interest in photography. I plan on creating a photo show documenting our Lavaman Training season!

Thanks for reading everyone, and make sure to stop by often to check on my progress!