70.3 - The Sticker is Mine!!!!!

I have finally achieved Jedi status! After two failed attempts, the sticker is mine.

My wife and I hit the road on Thursday morning. The Austin Ironman Longhorn 70.3 was just four days away. I like to arrive at the destination of a big event a few days early. This gives ample time to relax, enjoy the process and survey the course. When possible, I like to stay a couple of days after the event to further enjoy the relaxation. We took two additional days off after the Ironman Kansas 70.3 and found it very relaxing. Since this was the end of the season and a huge event, we decided to take the entire week off after the event. Neither us has taken extended time off in a long time. We were looking forward to some much needed downtime and some sight seeing in Austin.

I don't know if it was the importance of completing this event or the shock to my brain that I was about to take eleven days off, I was not my usual anal retentive self. I normally start packing for a Triathlon several days out. I didn't start packing for this trip until the night before and didn't finish until about an hour before leaving town. Even more out of character, I didn't test ride my bike with the race wheels. I couldn't help but think I was forgetting some equipment or losing my focus.

Race morning was a typical race morning. Everyone was up early and dealing with the usual race jitters. However, I noticed my wife's race jitters were a bit worse than normal. Parking at was about a half mile from the race site so we had to ride buses from the parking lot. My wife had the expression of kid on her way to the first day of school and she looked terrified. I tried to calm her nerves but was not making very much progress. I deiced to let her sort out her feelings and wrote if off as race jitters. Little did we know about how this day would end. I can honestly say women's intuition now scares me.

The race site was buzzing with activity. There were over 2300 participants, but it seemed like 10,000 people were at the site. I am a very relaxed guy on race day and nothing really bothers me. I can't image what was going through my wife's mind as she organized her transition area.

With this many people racing, there would be sixteen swim waves going off two minutes apart. I was in the fourth wave so I didn't have to stand around long. I am not a fast swimmer, but I am a very strong swimmer. I can maintain an steady pace and keep a fairly straight line. I know I can't swim fast, so I prepare for a long journey of mind wandering and full contact swimming. Tons of people pass me in the swim with several of them having unpleasant experiences. Being a strong swimmer, and a big guy, it is not likely anyone is swim over me or move me around in the water. I had more people attempt to derail me on this swim than any other swim I have done. I had a lady swim all the way up my back and hit her chin on the back of my head. Without missing a stroke, I looked back to see if she was OK. I thought I was going to have to turn around and rescue her. A very stubborn guy decided he was going to swim right through me to get closer to the buoys. Each attempt became more aggressive and I became agitated. I am not easily agitated, but I can be quite unpleasant if you get me to that point. After several minutes of this behavior, I decided to plant my right elbow to his forehead. Needless to say, that was the last I heard from him. The swim was a bit short, but my time would still have been a good seven minutes faster than usual. I had gotten off to a good start.

The bike is where I let the big dog eat and enjoy myself. I have noticed the majority of Triathletes, at every level, are average cyclist. Coming from a cyclist background, I usually have very good times on the bike, even at my higher weight. The bike course was extremely congested. Cyclist were stretched out from the yellow line to the edge of the shoulder, it was madness. One of the worst things about racing with average cyclist are their average knowledge of riding in a pack. You should always be as far right as you can be so you don't impede the faster riders passing on your left. I am a big safety guy. Being the club president, and leading group rides of fifty people or more, safety has to be my main concern. To my surprise, I found myself going over the yellow line to pass the crowds. Even worse than that, was my average speed. Through the first twenty miles I was averaging twenty-two and a half miles per hour. That is faster than I average on the sprints. I must have gotten caught up in the moment and was concentrating too much on getting away from the crowds. I knew if I didn't slow down I would be toast later. The crowd started to clear out at around mile thirty. My speed had started to go way down, much further than I wanted it to. The wind, the rolling terrain and my early pace had already done the damage I had hoped to avoid. My legs were toast. It was going to be a long thirteen mile run.

I started the run with some surprising enthusiasm. Even though my legs were toast, I had several celebration points. I had a good swim and a descent bike time. More importantly I had not had any cramping and my energy levels were good. By this point of the Ironman Kansas, I couldn't bend over to put on my running shoes. The current pain I was experiencing was child's play to that pain. The run course was a tough six mile loop with two miles of dirt trails on each loop. There was a huge hill, Quadzilla, on the trail section. The pain of running up that would only be surpasses by the pain of running up it a second time. The run course had its good points. The rest stops were awesome and had live bands. I have never seen as many spectators at a race as this race. The run course was lined with hundreds of people. It seemed like everyone was cheering you on and handing out wet rags to throw on your neck. It was by far the best supported run course I had every experienced. I never really relax at a run course until my wife passes me. I always worry about her making out of the swim. She is small thing, so she is like a small fish in a big pond of piranha. She passed me at mile seven. I gave her a high five and told her to finish strong. I had started my walk run procedure so it would still be a while before I crossed the finish line. I was very happy at this point in the race. My wife was safe and I was going to finish. My only remaining goal was to try to run enough to finish in under seven hours. I would have to some painful running, but I thought I could do it.

I ran the last one hundred yards to the finish line. I mean, hey, you can't walk across the finish line. I looked at the clock and smiled. I had finished in under seven hours. I hobbled across the line over to the section where they take your timing chip off your ankle. It is really great that they have people to do this for you. Bending down would be a big mistake. I had my medal around my neck and a big smile. I looked around for my wife. I knew she had finished before me and would be waiting at the finish line. I looked for a few minutes, but didn't see her. She must have got tired of standing around and went to the team tent to rest her legs. I reached the tent to receive high fives and congratulations from the crew. I took of my shoes and slipped on my flip flops. One of my friend then ask me a question I was not prepared for and made me feel a bit sick to my stomach. "Where is your wife"?

I looked at them in disbelief. I quickly pointed out that she had passed me at mile seven and I had not seen her after that moment. She had surely finished at least thirty minutes before I finished. One of our friends, Gary, immediately took off in a mad dash for the medical tent. I grabbed a bottle of water and started to gather my thoughts. Moments later, I could hear someone yelling my name. Gary was running at me in a full sprint waving for me to come running. My wife was in the medical tent and was in bad shape. They were preparing to put her in an ambulance and get her to a hospital. I hobbled as fast as i could after Gary. I could hardly walk, I was in pain and very hungry and thirsty. It is amazing what adrenaline will do for the body and mind.

I arrived at the medical tent and nearly went into shock. My wife was laid out on a stretcher surrounded by medics and a doctor. She had an IV in each arm and an oxygen mask covered her nose. I can't tell you how pitiful she looked. I quickly bent down by her side. She looked up at me with those big eyes that were full of fear and tears. It was all I could do to stay calm. I grabbed her hand and calmly told her it would be all right.

I could hear them calling out her blood pressure numbers and had to ask them to repeat those numbers because they couldn't be real. Unfortunately, they were real, sixty-six over forty-four. That wasn't the worst part of the problem, her oxygen saturation levels were low and were not rising. I had recently seen this problem with my mother, who had a bad lung infection. I knew this was bad. The doctor informed me they were waiting on an ambulance.

Our friends were now around us figuring out what they could do to help. Jo and David were going to load up our bikes and gear and get my Xterra back to the hotel. I have mentioned this several times but it is worth repeating, you can not underestimate the value of great friends. As we stood around waiting on the ambulance, I heard the doctor say my wife's blood pressure was rising and so was her oxygen saturation levels. We were not out of the woods, but this was great news. As the gang heard this news, we all started to relax a bit. Gary leaned over to me and stated this will be really funny in a couple of months and someone should get a picture. I looked at him like he was crazy.

The ambulance arrived and they loaded her onto another stretcher. At this point her vital signs were looking good, but they wanted to play it safe and continue with the planned visit to the emergency room. I looked to the left and saw David snapping off several pictures of Rebecca on the stretcher. What was I saying about friends? The paramedics were very nice and accommodating. The driver would relay me information from the guy in the back. We were looking very good now. Her vitals were really looking good. We stayed at the hospital for around four hours. The visit wasn't all roses and made me very glad they sent us to the hospital. Rebecca received almost four bags of fluid. The diagnosis was a heat stroke.

Rebecca had finished the race and was waiting on me at the finish line. She decided to run to the ladies room and felt dizzy. She had walked over the medical tent to get some help. Luckily, she made it there before she passed out.

We arrived at the hotel that night and ordered pizza. We were all hungry and exhausted. Rebecca and I stayed in Austin another three days and relaxed. We tasted the local flavor and and some fine dining. I awoke in the middle of night several times that week. I couldn't help but stare at my wife sleeping peacefully beside me. Life will beat you up on occasion, but in the end, Life Is Good!!!!!!

Half Marathon - Personal Best

It was a brisk 43 degrees Saturday morning. This was quite the contrast of the 90 degrees at the Ironman Longhorn just a few weeks ago. Rebecca and I had decided to run the Soaring Wings Half Marathon in Conway. This event benefits a Christian home for children in Conway. I believe this was their first year. This was an awesome event! The course was great, the rest stops were great, the finishers metal was great and finish line food was awesome! Rebecca and I will make this a regular event. Mark your calenders for the third week of October next year. The website is www.soaringwingshalf.com.

The race started at 8 AM so we planned to arrive just before 7 AM to pickup our packets and timing chips. The online registration showed around 600 participants, so this was going to be a nice sized event. We got checked in and ready to roll.

I had some fairly lofty goals for this event. As most of you know, I have lost over 30 lbs this year. In addition to that, I have done more run training than in the past. We trained for the Ironman Longhorn with the plan to move into the Marathon training for the LR marathon in March. Even though this was a spur of the moment decision to do this event, we were physically and mentally ready.

Earlier this year, at the LR Half, I ran with a time of 3 hours. Two year ago, I ran the LR half at 2 hours and 35 minutes. In my mind, with the weight loss and the training, I was convinced I could do this half marathon in under two hours. You read that correctly, I was hoping to do the race in under two hours. I only told a couple of friends this number, and they thought I was crazy. One of my good friends, Hboo, even gave his prediction of a 2:09 finish. Make no mistake about it, for me, that would be a phenomenal time, but I wanted the gold standard of a sub two hours. Another one of my friends, Jo, thought I was crazy as well. She would later tell me her and another friend were discussing my goal and getting a slight laugh. I can just hear them saying, "Oh that Chris Irons, he such a funny guy".

I had a solid plan. I planned to start out with the 1:55 pace group. This would allow me to get a jump start and allow me to drop back to the 2 hour pace group if I needed too. If all else failed, I knew I had to have a pace of 9:09 per mile to get below 2 hours, I had my garmin ready to roll.

I joined the 1:55 group at the start as planned. I was running along trying my best not to look at my garmin. The pace felt great, but I knew the number would scare me If I looked down. I made it two miles without looking at my garmin. We had averaged 8:41 for the first two miles. I snarled a bit but decided to give it my best. Just after mile 3, I had that bonking feeling. I had a great dinner the night before and some pancakes for breakfast. I had consumed plenty of food, but my blood sugar seemed to be in trouble. I didn't bring anything, other than water, with me. A volunteer was handing out sport beans at one of the rest stops. I couldn't get to them in time, but two ladies next to me grabbed some. They didn't like the taste and were considering throwing them away at the next stop. I quickly volunteered to dispose of them. They handed them over and I inhaled them. That seemed to help a bit, but I needed more. I was in trouble.

I hung with 1:55 group until mile 6. I could have stayed with them a bit longer, but this rest stop was handing out Roctane Gu Gels and I needed some crack. I grabbed three packets, a Gatorade and decided on a porta potty quick stop.

The right turn past this rest stop was downhill and I needed it to get moving again. A half a mile later, I was in a race car. My blood sugar shot up and my legs decided they wanted to move. I settled into a 8:30 pace. This course had several inclines and a couple of small hills. I blew up the next hill at 8:20 and found myself running just over an 8 pace on the flats. I was a bit confused. I was not putting out that much effort but was blazing a trail and passing several people who had been in the 1:55 group. I decided to let my body guide me and run whatever pace it would allow me to run, no matter how fast it was. From mile 7 to 10 I was a different person. I would see the pace as low at 7:55 and as high as 9. The important thing was my average being 8:50.

I reached the 10 mile marker and started telling myself there was just a 5k left. How many Triathlons have a done and just had to suffer through the 3 mile run? I can kick in the pace and finish this out. I was already doing the numbers and figuring out what pace I need to finish in under 2 hours if I had to walk. It was then that I had tough talk with myself. I will not be walking I will be picking up the pace.

I keep passing mile markers, 10, 11, 12. At mile 12, my legs decided to let me know they were in some pain. The last half mile starts with a big downhill ending with a flat finish. That downhill nearly ripped my quad muscled from the bone. My legs were screaming, but I was not going to let them win. We were going to finish strong. I picked up the pace as I rounded the corner to the finished line. I looked up at clock and couldn't keep from smiling. I crossed the line at 1:56:24.

They removed my timing chip and gave me my medal. The medal was very cool and heavy. I walked back to finish line to watch other finishers. I took off my shoes to let my feet relax. That is when it hit me, my wife has not finished yet. I had actually finished a running race before my superhero wife who is a great runner. I looked at the clock, she still had two minutes to finish in under 2 hours. Under my breath I started repeating, come on baby, come on, where are you. There she was coming around the last corner. I looked at the clock and she had 45 seconds to finish. She was going to finish in under 2 hours. She crossed the line at 1:59:30.

It was an amazing morning. We both had personal best and finished in under 2 hours. (Don't tell anyone, but I think I like this running stuff).

MTB and Mating

I skipped out of work early today and hit the trails. I had planned to go home and do some P90x, but I just couldn't resist the weather. With just a couple of weeks of late daylight left, I want to get in as many afternoon rides as possible. I have developed quite a MTB addiction. I don't know if i will be able to maintain my sanity if I have to wait for the weekend to eat some dirt. (Sarah is probably grinning ear to ear as I write.)

My legs were a bit tired from the weekend running and cycling so I decided to take it easy and enjoy the outdoors. I have never really been able to enjoy the ride. I never had the fitness or the skill to relax in the woods, not to mention my fear of being in the woods alone. I always feel Jason or a Grizzly bear is waiting at every corner. I have started riding with my IPOD shuffle and that seems to take the edge off. I have finally developed some skill and I am reaping the benefits of the end of the year Triathlons and weight loss.

I was coasting around a corner when I had to slam on the brakes and grab a tree. Just up ahead, on the trail, were four deer. I didn't see any antlers, so these were does, the female deer. With the weather getting colder, the deer are nearing mating season. With that many doe in one area, I was sure there was an anxious male nearby. As I suspected, the big boy was about twenty yards to my left. He had a small body but his antlers had eight points.

I decided to just hang out and watch for a few minutes. The four doe moved about thirty yards and stopped to wait on him. He was motionless and eyeballing me. He was either worried about me shooting him or stealing one of his ladies. Obviously, I had interrupted the mating process and he was not happy. I can't blame him, I would be very upset if someone interrupted me during the mating process.

He had things setup well. He had four ladies show up to his pad. Four to one odds are pretty awesome in the animal kingdom. Oddly enough, that is not top notch odds for men. You really need like thirty to one odds to feel like you have a chance with women. I don't think the ladies understand how hard it was dating as a young man. The fear of rejection was crippling, especially knowing you needed either good looks or good conversation skills to make any progress.

Hey, if you are a deer, all you have to do is rub your antlers on a tree and pee near the tree. If there is an interested lady in the area, she will go to your spot and and duplicate your process. Sooner or later the two of you meet at tree and all is well. How easy would it be if the human mating process was that easy? Well, that might not be a good idea, men would go around peeing on everything.

Frequent Blogging

Alright my blogging friends, or should I say my not blogging friends, it is time to pick up the pace. Several of us are guilty of only blogging a couple of times a month while our other blogging friends pick up the slack. I am going to lead by example and hope the rest of you join in the fun. I am sure you want to share you exciting life with others and they want to share it with you. Lets get rocking!!!!!

I am working on the Ironman Longhorn update. There is allot to tell so it is taking a while. I will be wrapping up the weight loss blogging with the Ironman update. I will recap the race and give some final thoughts on the weight loss. I will still throw in some weight loss conversation in the future, but it is time to switch gears on the blog.

Winter time is just around the corner in Arkansas. The daylight is going away and so are the races and most of the group rides. This is a perfect formula for getting out of shape and putting on some holiday pounds. Do you have a plan to avoid the holiday monster?

I have developed a plan and started it last week. I still have some fine tuning to do, but I have the basics of the plan down. Starting last Thursday, I vowed to do at least a thirty minute workout each day for thirty days. I am on track with completing that goal for nine days now. This is a jump start to get me back into the training mode. With the taper leading up to the half Ironman and twelve days of vacation, I had slipped of the wagon. My diet has suffered as well.

I struggled with the idea of working out that much and not getting bored or injured. They say variety is the spice of life, so I am loading up on variety. My workout plans include, road cycling, running, mountain biking, racquetball, and P90X. I am taking a break from swimming and brick workouts. The P90X will add much needed weight and core workouts. I am training for the Little Rock Marathon in March. With this variety of workouts and intensity, I should be able stay fresh and avoid injury.

I hit the MTB for the first time last Thursday. It was miserable experience. I made it less than two miles into the ride before I drew blood. I went down on some sharp rocks and nearly cut my finger off and bruised my bicep and triceps in my left arm. I was pretty shaken up, but rode another two miles before heading home.

I decided to get back on the horse and went to Cedar Glades on Friday. I had a very nice hour and ten minute workout. I gained some balance and sharpened some skills. I had fun. I went back to Cedar Glades on Sunday for an hour and twenty minute workout. I had an awesome time. Today, I had the breakthrough. I left work early and headed out to Burns Park. I rode for an hour and thirty-five minutes. The ride is hard to describe. I have never felt that way on a MTB. Everything just seemed to be flowing. I imagine the increased fitness from the half Ironman training and the thirty pounds of weight loss contributed to the great ride.

Well, I don't want to waste all of my tales on one blog, so I will end for now. Besides, Rebecca and I are getting up early and doing an eight mile run. Blogging friends, get to blogging!!!!!!!!!!!!!