Tuesday, April 15, 2008

IMAZ in 16:21:12!

Where do I start? It has been such an amazing week that I now am finding myself thinking of everything as B/IM and A/IM as in before and after the Ironman. But surprisingly not for the reasons that I thought. Yes, I finished the “Ironman” Yes, it was very hard! (more on that in a minute) and yes, I can now say “I am an Ironman”. All of that just seems secondary to the amazing time that I had at the race itself. The energy of all the spectators and the volunteers was so inspiring that the whole experience became less and less about what I was doing and more about the what they were doing and the whole sense of community. As I sit here writing this, the people are what I remember the most. Boy, how unlike me.

I have always been a very motivated person, so much so, that most of the time I have been so focused on my goals that I’ve never stopped to TRULY enjoy the journey. When you do that, you miss out on so much. It is great to be goal oriented, but not to the point of not enjoying how far you’ve come. I’ve always said that I never look at the people that I have passed and feel good, I look at the people in front of me and strive to be better. This can be a good thing, but it can also consume you and rob you of a lot of joy. And if you are not careful, it can also make you bitter and jealous. I have learned so much. My thoughts are a little scattered so bear with me if I jump around a bit.

I went into this race with the intention of “just finishing”. There are so many things that can happen in a race that long, that you need to complete the distance so you can have some kind of bench mark, then learn and adjust for the next time. These things I know but still I usually set an unreasonable goal and am disappointed if I don’t achieve it. I imagine I do this to push myself, but it usually robs me of any happiness from what I have accomplished. I mean how can you happy about where you are if you are always looking forward to where you have to go? Anyway, I digress again. I finished the race in 16:21:12. slower than I would have liked to finish, but I finished and with a HUGE smile on my face, despite the grueling conditions.

Hot and windy! 95° with 23 mph gusts of wind. Was it a tough day out there? To put it in perspective, 18% of the field did not finish the race. That is the 3rd highest DNF rate in Ironman history. It was brutal out there.

I want to write a proper race report, but I am really tired, so I will continue this tomorrow with details of the swim and hopefully some pictures.

Paul

Saturday, April 12, 2008

IMAZ eve

It’s Saturday afternoon, the day before the BIG DAY. I have prepared for this race for so long, over a year, that it seems a little surreal now. I can’t describe how beautiful and magical it is here in Tempe Arizona. I have always loved the desert, but this past few days have been nothing short of AMAZING. There are so many things I want to write about, that it is probably best that I wait until after the race so I can go into better detail. Brittany and I have a 6 hour drive back home on Monday, perhaps if I am able, I will write it then. We are off to dinner in about an hour, then I will try and get some sleep before I get up at 3:30 in the morning. I am surprisingly calm. I have never felt better physically or mentally my entire life. So, I figure it is a great time to be doing an Ironman. Life and God is good and I am so thankful to be here doing this race. If you are interested, you can track my progress at Ironman.com and enter my bib #75 in the “track an athlete” section.

Thanks for following me on this amazing journey. I’ll post a race report after the race.

Paul

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Sick of being sick

I rarely get sick, so being sick going on 4 days now, has really sucked. Especially with the race 11 days from now. I am contemplating skipping todays training. That would be 2 days of training missed. It is a tough decision. It becomes a question of diminishing returns. If I go ahead and do todays scheduled training, which is still a relatively light day consisting of a 50 minute ride and an hour run, do I risk making myself even sicker? Or, is it possible that I will feel better? Or, if I skip it, am I somehow lowering my fitness level and making myself less prepared for the IronMan? And the even bigger question is, why now? I have stayed VERY healthy for the entire 9 months that I have been training for this event. Well, I guess it could be MUCH worse. I could be having other problems like ITBS or some other training related injury. I mean this is really just a bad cold or flu. It’s just interesting that it hit me so close to the race. Oh well, I am going to wait a few hours and see if I feel any better. If I do, I will do my session and take it real easy.

Work has been slow the last week or two. So, aside from training, I am getting plenty of rest. Hopefully it will pick up soon. Of course I am sure it will get very busy......right around the time I am getting ready to leave for Arizona :). Life keeps you on your toes.

Paul

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Taper time

With less than 2 weeks till IMAZ, I am officially in my taper. I will only train for about 10 hours this week, a significant reduction in time. Next week I have 4 hours of scheduled sessions. In this time, my body will be repairing itself and getting stronger in preparation for the LONG day on April 13th. Usually, I am not too fond of the taper because I get a little bored and sometimes cranky. Maybe it is the lack of endorphins during this period. In any event, I am welcoming it this time. The LONG weekend sessions have left me spent and often times sick come Monday and on a couple of occasions into Tuesday. This last weekend I trained 8 hours and yesterday I woke up feeling like crap. I thought it may have been allergies. I was congested and my heart was doing backflips in my chest. Monday was a rest day and I didn’t have much work so I went home and went to bed. This morning I am feeling better, but I am going to do a little rescheduling and take another rest day. I will make up the sessions later in the week.

I can’t believe that we will be leaving for Arizona in 1 week and 2 days. The race has been “so far away” for so long, that it seemed like I would always have time to train. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I have had my training schedule in my calendar since April 12th of last year when I registered. Now here we are. I am nervous. Mostly for the swim, of course. Luckily I will have a chance to do 2 practice swims in the lake before the race.

I am going to try and up my posting in the next 2 weeks leading up to the race, so I won’t say everything that is swirling around in my head right now.


Paul