Half Ironman, Sunday Sept 23rd

Sunday, Sept 23rd, was my first half Ironman distance race, consisting of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, followed by a 13.1 mile run (a half marathon) in the heat of the day. Weather was slated to be hot and it was about 90 or so, felt like 110, but hot is hot. I was up early, tried to drink a bunch of Gatorade and eat some solid food as the race diet would consist of a lot of energy gels (which are yummy by the way).

My goal time was 6 hrs. Anywhere under 6 hrs would be good. I really wanted to beak Joe G’s first half IM time of 5:46, so I was shooting for that. I wasn’t going out “racing” this event, but rather I approached this event as a long training event that was supported with water and food along the way. I didn’t plan to really go hard as this is a long race and I’ve never done a race this long.


Before the start. (major props to my beautiful wife to sticking it out during the race for hours on end and taking pictures between studying for a test she had today).

Picking my nose? Getting algae out of it? Who knows.



Focused and ready to go.

In the middle with no wetsuit at the start.


Water temp was “75.4 degrees,” but I think their thermometer was wrong as it was about 78 and quite comfy. 75 degrees is cold for swimming, but it wasn’t cold. We started late as we always do with this race organization, but what is 13 min late in a 6 hr race? The swim was not 1.2 miles, but rather probably 1.1 miles, because I was out of the water in 31:31 when I was expected no less then 36 min. I didn’t swim particularly hard, nor did I get to draft much, so it was a short swim and folks I talked to later agreed. Short swim is fine by me. Of 141 finishers, I was 48th on the swim.

Slow transition to the bike, but it was a long run to the bike and then I put on socks and loaded up with food and everything. The bike was hilly, but nothing too steep or long to really put me in the red zone. I wanted to do it in 3 hrs (Avg 18.5 mph), but I was flying along and felt good so I kept going. I kept telling myself that after I get off the bike I have to run 13 miles, so take it easy, but I was feeling good. I had the game plan of, “If I feel good, go hard, if I feel like poo, take it easy and rest and recover.” I never felt bad on the bike so I went hard a lot, but never got suffering. I did the bike officially in 2:48:00 (12 min faster then goal) and averaged 20.3 mph!! That time includes a stop at the turn around where I got new water bottles and I put in my Gatorade mix rather then try the stuff they had. One thing you NEVER do is try a new food or drink on a race day. I lost probably 90 sec there, but it is a long race. I wanted to finish strong and wasn’t fretting about a minute. I had a few people pass me when I was stopped, but I passed them all again.

Off the bike and running to my shoes. Smoking it so far!

I did manage to eat one Clif bar, 3 GU’s, and 6 Clif Bloks (which are gummy worm consistency thingee that are tasty!). Plus 4 bottle of Gatorade and a bunch of water. I also downed 3 sets of Enduralyte pills which are salts basically to keep you from cramping. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.

Run start. Feeling (and looking) great (latter was Bec's comment)!! This was just before I got a good luck kiss from my wife:)

I started the run about 3 hrs and 23 min or so after the start. My goal was 6 hrs, so I had a TON of time to do the half marathon and beat Joe. I felt good, when I got off the bike. Temp was tolerable still, so that helped a lot. Before the run I applied sunscreen (missed the back of my shoulders, which are nicely burnt), and changed into dry socks. Good transition, but then again I wasn’t “racing” it like other races.

I started the run 37th overall (meaning I moved up 11 spots after the swim). I felt pretty good, drank some water, and tried to settle into a rhythm. I had to stop and stretch a few times, but settled into a groove pretty well. The run course was hillier then expected, mostly because miles 2-6 were in a private resort and we couldn’t drive it beforehand to scout it out. It was very hilly and I walked up some of the hills. No reason to punish myself knowing I have 10 more miles to go and it is really hot. I carried a water bottle with me the whole run. I poured water on my head, face, anywhere that was hot as often as needed. I stopped at the rest stops to refill with cold water I think 4 times. It was critical as there was about no shade and it was 90 degrees. I ran pretty consistent miles for the first 6 miles (8:55-9:25 miles, especially since I walked a few times and stopped at rest stops and lost 25 sec a few times), felt pretty darned good actually. Mile 7 took me past an intersection near the start/finish line and I knew Bec would be there. She snapped a pict (see below) and I ran mile 7 in 7:44!!! That was fast, both a lot of downhill, but I also got to see my baby! After I passed Bec, I knew the course and it was wide open, straight roads that were completely demoralizing. At one point running towards mile 9 turn around, I could see probably 10 runners and 8 were walking. Not good for the morale.


Mile 7, still feeling good, well for another 3 minutes or so.

Mile 8 was slower, mile 9, slower yet, and mile 11 was brutal as I ran/walked it in 11:16. Miles 10 and 11 were awful. I was tired, hot, not motivated. I suffered to no end, but I knew I was only a couple miles from the finish and I was killing this race!!! I had 2 guys in front of me that I just couldn’t catch. About a half of mile 11 was on a wooded trail, where apparently everyone walked a lot to cool down. I was no exception.

I hit mile 11 exhausted, but I was almost there. The 2 guys in front of me were suffering more then me, and I caught them both. I encouraged them, or tried to, when I passed them (one ended up finishing only a minute behind me, so maybe my cheering for him got him going again, yes many of us urged each other on during the run). I hit a little past the start of mile 12 and it was like I had a coke and 3 musketeer bar (my kind of dope). I started running hard. I ran mile 12 in 8:16!!! I was smiling and pumped up that I was going so fast and doing so well. It hurt, but I was going great. The last 1.1 miles was in 9:49, with the last 150m on uneven grass (stupid race organizers). I smiled and pumped my arms as I crossed the line in 5:25:25. Heck yeah!!! Smashed my goal of 5:46. Joe G is slow:) I did the half marathon in 2:01:45 (9:18 miles!!!) and was 26th in the category. Pretty excited about that.

I'm trying to smile with 40m to go.


At the finish. Who's excited!!!

I ended up passing 9 on the run and finished 28th overall out of 141. I didn’t race the race, but missed 3rd in my age group by just under 3 minutes. That is kind of disappointing, but I just wanted to race my race and learn how to do a long race like this. The main things I overcame were issues about hydration and nutrition. I was worried I’d either not drink enough and cramp really bad (I started to cramp just a tad a couple times) or I’d drink too much, get bloated and sloshy and puke.

I am a little sore today (Monday), but not nearly as sore as expected. I can walk just fine (unlike after the half marathon in April where I hobbled for 2 days). Enjoying a day on the couch as a reward.




Thank gosh that is over.

Overall results (format is messed up, but I’m 28th):
http://www.racedayevents.net/2007Results/Atomic_07_with_Splits.doc

Age group results:
http://www.racedayevents.net/2007Results/Atomic_Age_Groups_and_Relays.txt

Not to be chauvinistic(again), but no woman beat me in this race. At a larger event, many women would smoke me, but not today!!!

Weekend Fun

Sarah Emily arrived Thursday afternoon, which is pretty impressive since she found out that morning that she didn't have a ticket. She spent some time in the Portland airport convincing Muhammad that she needed to be on the plane. It worked and she made it on the plane. Way to go, Sarah! We spent the weekend doing some fun things around town. We also tried to eat all the foods that Sarah likes, but can't find in Maine (Chik-fil-a, bar-b-que, & Mellow Mushroom....mmmm!) We did catch the Auburn v. MSU game on TV. I know Sarah was a little disappointed in her Tigers, but I was excited about the Dawgs. Finally, an SEC win on the record...Hooray!
Us in Centennial Park
top picture: War Eagle!

Sarah at the Parthenon...where they parth, of course.

Ready for the game

Cute gibbon at the zoo.

Scott did a bit of training in preparation for next weekend's half Ironman and then built shelves for the basement. We're about to get lots of boxes from Scott's parents, so we needed to have a good system in place. Scott designed the shelves with some helpful input from our very handy friend James.

The boys working in the yard

Building the shelves

the finished products...nice, huh?

Visitor on the way!

Sarah Teaford is flying in Thursday to visit for the weekend. Well she's flying in to visit Bec, while I'll spend my weekend building big shelf systems in the basement. We (I) cleaned the house Wed night in prep for her visit while Bec finished a paper and worked on her talk for class tomorrow (today). All good. Then Bec wakes me at 5:45 am to get up and get a dead rabbit off the back porch. Nick wanted to bring it inside with him. Evidently he cornered it, killed it, and ate the guts out overnight. Good thing it wasn't a skunk! I found a fur pile in the yard, but no guts, so I guess he indeed ate them. Bec was a champ and got the shovel out and scooped and tossed the remains over the fence into the pasture while I continued to sleep in after my long night working in the house. Good job done by both of us!

Last night while cycling with some buds, a dog hit me. He sort of attacked us on the way out onto our loop, but he came and charged me pretty hard when we returned. I grabbed a bottle as I thought he might chase me, and squirted him with water while he ran full speed at me. I didn't accelerate too much, because I didn't think he'd really charge. I was going probably 20+ mph, and he hit my rear wheel. Good thing it was the rear as he just bounced off it and I kept riding. Took about 30sec for me to realize I almost got taken out by a stupid ass dog, then I freaked out a bit. Well, I plan to get some pepper spray stuff that postal carriers use and give it a good dose in the face. If that doesn't stop it, Animal Control will.

Hopefully I'll survive in one piece to get through the big race in 10 days.

Sat Sprint tri day

Great day for a sprint triathlon.

Rained onsite over night, high humidity, wet roads, and a great short course for all out racing. I lost winning my age group last year by 0.7 seconds, so I was pumped and a bit cocky going in. I've never felt so prepared and not nervous before a race before.

Course: 400m swim, 1.5 mi run (first 200m uphill), 12.8 mi bike, 1.5 mi run (couple rolling hills and ends on a long hill). I got no swim warmup, but I got in the lake to get wet and I stretched and had to be ready to go. I drove in after a couple steps and was out of the water in 7:22 (4th fastest swim out of 46 in age group). I fell twice trying to get up the slippery boat ramp, just after I heard the announcer say, "help folks that might slip getting out of the water." Nice. No one helped me. Anyway, I got on my socks and shoes in super fast time, put on my race number, and started running, then took off my swim cap. I ran with my goggles around my neck and swim cap in hand to the bike transition area. Saved a bunch of time doing this.

Ran the first 1.5 miles in 12:14, which is pretty fast considering the hills and having jumped out of the water and started running hard. My transition to the bike was super fast and I had the 4th best bike time (avg 21mph, which was pretty darn hilly). I had the the 3rd best transition between the bike and run and did the last 1.5 miles in 10:30 (7 min miles).

Final time: 1:08:07, which put me 2:05 faster then last year!! I was faster on just about everything and knew I would be. So this time would have given me the age group win last year, but this year my worst fear was realized. 5 other super fast jerks showed up and even though I smoked the course, I was only 6th in my age group (out of 46)!! They combined the beginners with the age groupers since 2 beginner males had times of 1:02 and 1:03 (sandbaggers).

All in all I was 24th overall out of 448 total racers. I was 23rd overall last year. I brought my "A" game and raced really well, but the competition was wicked today. Not much I can do about that.

I did beat all women as usual.

http://www.team-magic.com/results/OHT07_AG.htm

Enjoy some goofy pictures of me my lovely wife took:

Swim start, dive in baby!!

One of two speed bumps at end of bike that I had to jump, not cool.

Heading out for last run, looking very speedy.

Almost home!! I played leapfrog with the ACME guy on the bike (passing him on every hill) and we ran side by side the last 0.75 miles. I took off at the end and I jut couldn't keep the pace. He started 2 min after me and even though he beat me in the run finish by a few seconds, he beat me over all by about 2 minutes. Arf.

All done. Phew that sucked.

Slow go

Not much happening on the Somershoe homefront. Bec is in school and working, while Papa Shoe is working and looking forward to the half Ironman on Sept 23rd. I can't wait until the half IM is over because I want to eat a whole cake and wash it down with a case of beer. Plus it'd be nice to sleep in past 6am on a weekend and not have to go ride 4 hrs and/or run 10-12 miles. I'm looking forward to upcoming trips to Starkville for Homecoming, a wedding in KY that should have alcohol, and some camping with my lovely wife for ourfirst anniversary. Camping? A real fancy first anniversay trip, but by then we'll be broke and camping is cheap and fun and we haven't gone in a long time.

Tomorrow (Sat the 8th) is a sprint triathlon (400m swim, 1.5 mi run, 12.5 mi bike, 1.5 mi run) and I'll post results and some picts hopefully shortly after the race. This is the race where I lost winning my age group by 0.7 seconds last year. I am fast and a smarter racer now and should shave a minute or two off my time, so look out competition, I'm going to break your legs tomorrow.

Missed weekend trip

Bec and I were planning to go to Huntsville to see B and J and little John Henry. However John began puking his guts up Friday and continued all night, hence we bailed as everyone at their house was exhausted, Betsy had no clean clothes since she got thrown up on at least 7 times, and we didn't want to get that stomach virus.

I ended up doing the usual training for the half Ironman on Sept 23 (riding and running a lot), while Bec got motivated and cleaned closets out. I've managed to sacrifice some old favorite T-shirts and several pairs of jeans that are way to big for me (I wore bigger jeans back when I needed a waistband that was a few sizes larger then I am now). Things are organized, but of course my organized piles are gone and I have no clue where anything is. House does look good.
Major props to Bec!!!

I mowed the lawn this weekend, which consisted of me using the weedwacker for 5 minutes to hack back a couple spots where grass has grown this month, i.e. around the mailbox and the end of the driveway. We haven't actually mowed the yard since July sometime, however the crab grass is growing strong onto the driveway. It grew probably 18 inches onto the driveway, but I hacked it back.

Two of my buddies finished Ironman Louisville (KY) yesterday (yes that is a 2.4 mi swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mi run)!!! Watched online updates on where they were and saw Scott Bourne finish live online. Pretty cool.

I'll post picts of the new washer and dryer eventually.

Olympic Distance Tri Sunday Aug 19th

Olympic distance triathlon at Fall Creek Falls State Park (0.9mi swim, 24.5 mi bike, 6.2 mi run)
All done!!
Major props to Bec for the fantastic photos!!


Lake was pretty clear and clean. I could see 10 ft or more. Some algae, but otherwise good. Crazy mass start, but I settled into a rhythm quick after fighting for position. I ended up just getting to the outside and I thought there were 40 folks ahead of me. I swam very well and was out of the water in 23:50 (no way it was a full 1500m). We had a "shoe area" as once you get out of the water, you can put on shoes and you have to run all uphill 400m to the transition area. Took me 4:36 once out of the water to run uphill and get on bike.

"Shoe area". Looks like I'm just catching my breath, but alas I have no clue what I was doing.

24.3mi bike, avg 21.0 (1:10:13). Rolling hills, nothing too bad, but a couple "slow" hills.

6.2 mile run. Felt good and had extra motivation as Bec said I was second in my age group after T2!!! So I worked it hard. There were only 16 people ahead of me after the ride (I counted riders after the turnaround). Ran first 2 miles in 15:36, much of it was downhill or flat. One guy in age group caught me and we ran side by side for a mile. He was ripped and I was afraid he'd drop me on the hills. At mile 2 he stopped at the water station (while I kept moving and grabbed the tiny cups they had) and I gained 20m, then up hill and I gained 10 more meters. I kept checking and he was gone. Ultimately I beat him by probably 3-4 min. Will have to check results online. One guy in my age group blew by me and he was gone. My left ankle was killing me at mile 3.5 or so all the way to the end. I stopped for a second to rub it it hurt so bad (left hammy cramped a little). Hurts right where it was sprained almost 3 years ago. Never healed properly. Anyway, last few miles were rolling and last 0.7 miles were basically uphill. Not steep, but hard. I held off this guy in a yellow shirt for like 4 miles (no clue what age group he was in), but only one guy passed me on the run!!! Last 4.2 miles in 34:30. Not speedy, but it was tough. Fortunately the run was almost all in the shade.
Final stretch!!

Just about there.
Final time: 2:28:47. Far exceeded goal from looking at previous times on this course!!!! Possibly a PR (personal record) in an Olympic distance race.

http://www.racedayevents.net/2007Results/FCF_07_Splits.doc
Ended up 18th out of 148 overall!! Two women beat me. Not cool.

http://www.racedayevents.net/2007Results/FCF_07%20Age%20Groups.txt
See age group 30-34 male.

I ended up 3rd in age group out of a modest 12 guys in my age group. I won a long towel that has a hole for the headrest in your car. The towel is long enough for the whole seat so after a ride, etc. you don't scum up your seat.First placement in age group (top 3 that is) in an OLY race ever!!! Sweet!!