The KodaFit Blog

First a cool quote I got from a friend on Twitter:

 ”You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.”

Beverly Sills

Moving on…  Had kind of a rough weekend…  Actually, it’s been kind of a rough last week or 2, but I’m eliminating the stresses methodically, and should be relatively stress free by the end of the weekend.

Tuesday night, I think it could safely be said that training kicked back into high gear again.  I tried a week or two back, but weather, and then those stressful things kinda killed it, plus I probably needed a little more recovery from IronMan.

Actually, perhaps Monday night was the catalyst…  I did a recovery run at the track with a friend, and after 2.5 miles decided to see what I had left.  Got a half mile in at a good pace, and we think my time was a little under 3:16, which is waaay faster than I’ve ever been.

So Tuesday night, I hit the gym with the same friend, and after a quick warm up on the treadmill I set about doing some weights.  Shoulder exercises and Situps, then some Dumbbell  chest presses and fly exercises, and finally some over head tricep extensions and some cable pull downs - for the triceps as well.

 I finished feeling pretty good, and work up yesterday still feeling pretty good too…  Until about an hour or two into the day…  It started with my lower back, spread to my chest, and then my abs decided to make themselves known.  They’re all feeling worse this morning, but it’s pain which means I busted my butt, so I’ll take it!

So with the speedy half mile on Monday in my mind… Last night started on the interval routines I got from the Blonde Runner last year.  It’s been 7 months since I got them, but with some of the longer races, it’s been hard to put them in the schedule, plus winter has made the track less of a viable option.

Anyway, the original plan was…  8×400m at 1:45 per lap with about about a minute cool down between each.

I did a 1200m warm up, and then set to it.

I read something on the USA Triathlon site on Monday that said to train by feel rather than some arbitrary number, so I tried that for the first lap…  1:40…  A little faster than planned, but decided to see if I could hold it.

1:38, 1:40, 1:39, 1:38, 1:40, 1:39, 1:37

My heart rate seemed to get a little higher with each interval, but it maxed out between 172 and 178, and usually I could get it down to about 140 by the end of the 1 minute break.

My fatique level was interesting…  I didn’t get tired exactly, but each interval did seem to take a little extra effort.

I tried experimenting with some NO-Explode prior to this workout as well.

Having the muscle fatique from the prior day, and doing a newish workout made it hard to tell if it made a difference, but perhaps I’ll see how I feel next week without it.

Oh - and if you’re in Salt Lake, Davis or Weber counties…  A couple of us were going to hit Willard Bay on Friday for an open water swim.  Bigger groups are always more fun when you’re out in the open water, and the temps shouldn’t be to bad.  Let me know if you want to join us.  We’re thinking around 4pm.

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I’ve come across a couple of really good quotes in the past couple of weeks.  I thought I’d post them as motivation for the coming week…

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”

Confucius

“The best time to start was last year. Failing that, today will do.”

Seth Godin

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So, in keeping with my new goal of not putting stuff on my to do list, and then wondering why it’s still there months later…

Here’s my initial report on part 1 of the Running Form Analysis I did last night.

First, for those who are interested…

I went to The Blonde Runner for the analysis. Lora, the owner of The Blonde runner is an accomplished athlete and from what I’ve seen of her results, borders on being freakishly fast on her feet, so I figured it she not only talks the talk, but she walks the walk - or more appropriately runs the run - but that doesn’t rhyme!

You can find out more about about her form analysis services here.

My whole goal here is to hopefully improve both my speed and my efficiency when running. I know I’m not putting enough intensity into my running, but I’m feeling like something else is missing as well.

Which brings us to last night…

I ran a half marathon on Saturday, and so come Monday I was a little more fatigued than I would have like to be.

I figured I would take a very easy lunch time run, and use it as a chance to loosen up a little and get everything moving again in preparation for Tuesday. And folks, I swear I started out with those intentions!!!

As we started running, I turned my Garmin on so that I could track my pace and heart rate. I wanted to make sure I stayed below 140 bpm and I didn’t want to be running anything faster than a 10 minute mile.

The first part of our run was along the rim of the canyon above Memory grove. It has a very slight uphill grade to it, but is generally smooth and flat. For some reason, my Garmin couldn’t get a signal. It usually struggles in this area and last week, I even lost signal in a couple of spots. That’s interesting because no where else I’ve run does it struggle, and in fact back in April, I drove from East Canyon back to my house with the device inside the neoprene sleeve of my wetsuit, which was crumpled up on the floor in the back of my car, and it tracked the entire 50 mile journey!

Anyway, finally, right before the mile mark, it got itself ready… And it looked like we’d been running at a 9:40 pace. Ooops!

We went through the gate to City Creek park, and walked the first little way up the canyon. After a while I got antsy though and started a slow jog. We hit the next mile marker with an average pace of about 11 minutes a mile, but we walked a bunch, so that was still way too fast, and it was uphill. Dang it Mike - SLOW THE HECK DOWN!!!

We walked the next bit, which has some pretty hairy climbs, and after a half mile or so decided to hop onto one of the trails.

I’ve grown a real fondness for trail running. The leaves have started falling and so the trail is soft and crunchy underfoot. The canyon is still surrounded by trees in all phases of fall change, from green to yellow, to brilliant red. Surrounded by beauty, there still remains the need to watch the path ahead for rocks, slick spots and possibly snakes, although we think they’ve mostly vanished for the year. Looking around and concentrating on the path ahead, leaves little time to check speed and all of that, and so before I knew it, we were at the bottom again, and again, had gone waaay faster than planned.

The final mile has a slight negative grade, and I was feeling really loose and ready to go, so we pushed it a little and both finished feeling great!

Fortunately I don’t think that affected me much last night, which was good. I feared arriving at the track with stiff legs and no energy.

Long story about the journey there, but I arrived at the track a little early and set about a nice easy warm up. The plan was slow, but as usual I got lost in watching the kids practice football and looking at the mountains. Last time I was here was when the Olympic torch came through on it’s way to the Winter Games in Salt Lake.

I met up with Lora and another runner after a quick trip to the restroom… I was also worried about being dehydrated, but that didn’t appear to be a problem!

I gave her my guesstimate of 12 minutes for the mile and a half and set about filling out some paper work.

Did another half mile to make sure my legs were ready, and while I still wasn’t quite feeling as loose as the day before, I figured it was about as ready as I was going to be.

We started off and the first lap went really quick. The nice thing about running that fast, is all your mental faculties are focused on keeping it going, and so I think my form reverted to how I normally run. By the time I hit half way, I was spent, but knowing that I only had 3 laps left made it easier to keep going. I tried to relax a little and lengthen my stride, but you can only relax so much when pushing your pace and trying to beat the clock.

My Garmin auto lapped on each lap, but I didn’t look at it much at all, which was probably good too. I have a theory that it may actually be slowing me down - especially if I see great numbers and then mentally tell myself I can’t keep it up.

My splits were as follows:

Lap 1 - 1:41.98 (Avg pace: 6:47, Avg BPM: 156)
Lap 2 - 1:46.69 (Avg pace: 7:06, Avg BPM: 170)
Lap 3 - 1:52.20 (Avg pace: 7:28, Avg BPM: 171)
Lap 4 - 1:54.96 (Avg pace: 7:39, Avg BPM: 170)
Lap 5 - 1:54.20 (Avg pace: 7:36, Avg BPM: 170)
Lap 6 - 1:44.91 (Avg pace: 7:17, Avg BPM: 171)

My personal analysis…

My heart rate was pretty steady, and not too much higher than during the half mary on Saturday. Makes me wonder if I can go faster with minimal effort. Or does my heart top out at 170 or so, and that’s all I’m going to get from it…

I slowed on Laps 3, 4 and 5 quite a bit. I notice this in swimming too. If I do 10 laps, 5 or 6 will usually be my slowest. I think it’s mental.

Finally… My final time was 10:55 with an average pace of 7:16. That’s freaking fast for me. I’ve never timed myself over this distance, but that has to a personal record.

Now the Coach’s analysis and suggestions…

Most of this I’ll get in my followup appointment on Friday.

1 - I need to keep my arms closer to my sides. She said it might feel weird. I tried it afterward and it did. I’m also worried about chaffing, so I may have to stock up on BodyGlide for my runs!!

2 - Trunk rotation. Part of the problem is the way I swing my arms, but I’ll definitely try and focus on this.

3 - Lots of movement in my legs. Now your first thought is probably the same as mine… Hello?!? I was running. But I think it’s additional movement that is going to cause me problems by running with it, and may well be the reason I’ve had shin splints and IT Band problems. I was actually excited to hear this, because it means that there is room for improvement!!!

Actually my wife is a little concerned about the last item, and my getting it fixed. Apparently (and she’s not the first to notice) I have a distinctive run. It helps her pick me out in races, which is good, but as I told her… If I can get it fixed, perhaps she could just look instead for the guy who comes in first!!

I guess I’ll find out on Friday what changes I need to make. I’m totally psyched about this too. I’ve grown to really love running, and I think this will make the whole experience even better.

As a complete aside, as I got in my car to drive home, I started shaking and feeling weird… Kind of like when I’ve had a couple of late nights, and I take too much caffeine in one shot. It lasted till I got home and was combined with a feeling of optimism and general excitement about life. Usually with caffeine I get a little edgy and short tempered.

I had a great evening at home, and when the time came for bed, I really struggled to get to sleep.

Folks I think I got the runners high, and a good one at that!!!

I’ve never really been tempted to partake of illicit drugs, but if it’s anything like how I felt last night - IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Don’t worry though - I’ll only seek it through natural means!!

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My reports on the Layton Tri, the Utah Half, the Top of Utah half Marathon, and now the Red Rock Relay are still coming, but I wanted to share something else.  It’s pretty significant - at least to me…

At the beginning of this year, I had come to the realization that I was not meant for speed, and that expecting to run at a pace under 9 mins/mile was a rather unrealistic expectation.

Somehow though, over the course of the year, things have changed.  My training has included more intensity and I’ve been doing intervals at the track on occasion as well.

I did a 5k back in June, and came in at 24:18, which is an average pace of 7:48 per mile - a new record!!

I felt like dying though, convinced that I would never be able to maintain that pace for very long.

I’ve read two things since then…

1 - Most world records have been broken when the runner has negative split the course, something I didn’t do in my 5k.

2 - Speedo Steve, after competing in a 40k bike time trial, described it as painful, but not as painful as a 5k.  I’m uncomfortable running a 5k, but I don’t think I cross the threshold into pain.

So armed with those 2 pieces of information, I’ve been trying to start slowly, and put it into the pain zone towards the end.

8/29 - Half Marathon in Logan UT.

Started slower and felt my legs kicking in around mile 6.  Mile 7 dropped below a 9 min/mile.  It hurt, but I kept pushing.  Interestingly enough, my mile splits kept dropping, even as I ran the hill at mile 12.  It hurt, but I was determined not to stop.  The final mile was brutal!  I passed a girl who was puking her guts out, and thought about joining her.  Final time… 1:53:16.  That’s 8 minutes and 49 seconds faster than my previous best, and the course appears to have been a little long!!!

9/4 - Relay Race in St. George UT.

Leg 1 was rough, but I was running at 11,000 ft, so we’ll leave that one for now.  Leg 2 was a 6.7 mile run on essentially flat ground, although there were some rollers.  Started slow, although I was feeling warmed up from my earlier run.  Found a rabbit in another runner, and chased her down for a couple of miles.  Found my groove within the first mile, and finished strong.  Final time.  58:16.  That’s only slightly slower than my 10k PR!

Leg 3 start with a down hill, and then a mile of uphill, and finally 3-4 miles alongside the river.  It was in the dark, it was muggy, and my head lamp wasn’t real bright.  I didn’t see another soul after the first couple of miles.  It was lonely, but peaceful.  I kinda liked it.  I’d also been up for well over 24 hours at this point.  I started at a good pace, determined to push it at the end.  6.1 miles in 52:26.

Now heres the really amazing thing…  All three races/legs…  My pace averaged out to 8:35!!!  Considering my first 5k 2 years ago came in with a pace a little over 10 min/mile, I’m pretty excited.

Folks, I may be able to make a runner out of this old body yet!!

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OK - so I had a big ride planned today, supposed to be practicing my nutrition plan and all of that.  I was up early, which is unusual for a non-work day, had the tri-suit on, BodyGlide in strategic places and all of that.  Gosh Darnit, I was freakin’ excited too.  It was at that point that I took my bike upstairs (She sleeps in my basement office), and that was when I both saw and heard it.  The picture below doesn’t do it justice (Even if you click on it and bring up the full-size version).  The heavens had opened, and left no doubt in my mind that they hated me.  It wasn’t just raining, it was bucketing down!

So with that said, I now have a couple of hours to catch up on some things, including a number of blog posts promised in recent months. First up on my “To Blog” list. Additional pictures from Rage. See the original race report here.

First of all, huge hats off again to my super wife, who handled 5 kids while I was out having fun on the race course. I had previously told her that there was a nice big beach, and I’m sure the kids would pretty much take care of themselves. The night before the race she’d spent some time at the dollar store getting a bunch of fun stuff for them as well - in hind sight, an excellent idea.

With all the photo’s below, as with most other photo’s on this site, you can click them for a larger version of the photo. Also if you want the original photo’s (2MB+) You’re welcome to shoot me a message… Perhaps you have a shrine set up for me, and want a focal point at which to focus your worship… Ha ha ha ha ha! Just kidding!! If you have a shrine set up to me, might I suggest professional help - I’ll even try and raise some money here and this site to get you that help!

Oh, and all these photo’s courtesy of my sweet wife Ann. She has learned my trick, that being photographer means you don’t have to be in any pictures!!

OK, so first up… The beach! This photo is looking towards the finish for the swim. Note the “nice” beach…

Next, a couple of my biggest fans. Here’s Bronwyn (front) and Kynan (back) playing beach. That strange look on Bron’s face is her staring at the delicious rocks - which she started trying to ingest seconds later. You would think we didn’t feed the kid!

And now, my Lily! I think of all the kids, she may have the best tri-athlete potential, but time will tell. A couple of the others are showing promise too!

Brody and Lily, getting water from Lake Mead (Freakin’ cold Lake Mead), to be used in moats etc.

And finally, my Ella - who may possibly be doing her first tri in 2 weeks! If you look at my original race report and link to the Zazoosh photo’s. In the picture of me coming out of the swim, the kid in the background, wading in the lake is Ella as well.

Alright, now some race pics! All my swim pics are on the original race report and these start with T2. I’m thinking at some point, I need to put a glossary together of various Triathlon terms, but for now… T1 and T2 are the two transition periods in a race. T1, is the switch from swimming to biking and T2, is the switch from biking to running. Back in the early days, there used to be full nudity in the transition area’s as athletes changed clothes between disciplines. Fortunately, at least in the case of people who would rather not see me naked, this practice was rendered obsolete by the invention of clothing which could be worn through out a race.

Alright, so here is how you do a really slow T2 - my excuse was that my family were right there, so there was a fair amount of chatting, so high fives, hugs and all of that. The benefit was that I have a photo sequence of how I did it to show you!

Here I am arriving it my rack - grateful my family waved me in, since they all look the same!

Check out my funky grip tape on my aero-bars too! Makes my bike easier to find as I’m staggering around after the swim portion of a race!

Step 1 - Helmet removed! I forgot this in a race exactly 1 year prior to this one, and went running out on the run leg, with helmet securely attached. It was only after Brody asked my wife, which I was running with a helmet on that she realized the problem, and hastily communicated it to me, where after I sheepishly removed said helmet and left it at an aid station. So… HELMET OFF!

Running hat on (helps keep the sweat out the eyes, and the shaved head from burning.

Shoes on (gotta love elastic laces!!) and trying out a 5 hour energy. Worked great at a shorter race last year, worked great at this race. Killed me at the Ogden marathon!

Down the hatch! Let’s get running already!

The family, now knowing they won’t see me for about an hour, retire to the van. The sun was pretty hot, and even after 7 hours (actually 8 since we got lost, maybe 9 after we reviewed the course) they still think it’s a fun place to hang out!

Spot the person not having a fun time!

An hour or so later, they headed back over to the finish line, just in time to spot me cruising in.

And there I go under the arch. Just for the record, I got done in 3:11… The timer was for the half iron distance race which began about an hour before mine.

Mission Accomplished!!!

Nothing feels better than finished a race with nothing left. I even tried a final sprint for this one, but the tank was completely drained!

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Looking back over 2008, I would have to say it’s been a rather successful year.  It started a little rough with my picking up IT Band issues in April, but since then, it’s been all good.

Did a ton of sprint tri’s this year, as well as my first Olympic down in Provo.

Did my first half marathon in May, and found out shortly thereafter that I had miraculously picked up entry into the St. George marathon.

Completed the B’Fit B’Day challenge for my birthday and now I’m getting excited for next year.

Goals are good because they push you to accomplish something, but at the same time, they can also limit you to only achieving what you set out to do, even if you could technically have accomplished more - but it’s a fine line.  There’s a whole quantum physics discussion I had with a friend about light and it’s relation to goals that I’ll spare you all too.

So I don’t typically do goals, but I do like to set minimums for myself.  The things at would like to achieve at the very least…

So for 2009 my plans & minimums are:

• Develop a solid base of training in running, swimming and cycling.
• Race the SHAC Triathlon in St. George in April (It’s a sprint, and more so the family can have a wee vacation)
• Race the Ogden Marathon in May and beat 4 hours.
• Race the Battle at Midway and break 3 hours in June (The Provo Olympic tri is the next week, along with my tri-clubs annual sprint - Not sure on these though.)
• Beat last years time for the B’Fit B’Day Challenge even with going an additional mile on the bike and the run.
• Race a good solid 70.3 at the Utah Half in August.  I’d like to finish in less that 6 hours, but we’ll see.
• Race the 70.3 at Silverman in November.  I’m hoping with the race in August to know where my weaknesses are and use the 3 months in between to nail my training and be really ready.

I’ve also decided that 2009 will be a year of giving back a little where I can, both to my community and to the sport.  I’m already signed up to volunteer at the Battle at Soldier Hollow Winter Triathlon, and will volunteer for a couple more as well.

I also have another idea I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions on…

On May 16th, I will be running my second marathon.  I would like to use the event as an opportunity to raise funds for a worthwhile cause.  Everyone has their own causes they like to support, so I was thinking of picking a couple of those, and then whoever raises the most, gets to pick the color of my shirt and my hair style for the race.  Already the suggestion has been made that it could be a pink short with a long pink mohawk - As far as I’m concerned, if it’s for a good cause, I would absolutely do that.

So if anyone has anythin to add to that last idea, and/or would like to join me for the Ogden marathon (or half-marathon), then drop me a line!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

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It’s a beautiful night.  As we drove home from picking up the kids from Grandma’s house, I looked over at the mountains.  The moon was hitting them just right and the newly fallen snow seemed to glow.

The kids were at Grandma’s while the wife and I went to the Annual Awards Banquet for my Tri Club.  It was a good time, and best of all they had drawings for a whole host of stuff.  I won some funky colored grip tape, which may shortly be gracing my aero bars, and then they had a big drawing at the end for a new wetsuit.

They pulled the name from the cup.

The gentleman call another guy over the ask how to pronounce the last name…  When they announced the grip tape, they had the same problem….

I held my breathe…  I need a wetsuit and was planning on buy one after Christmas.  I would like a 2XU one, but they aren’t in stock at my usual store…

Mike M….  This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening….

 ”Mackrory?” I suggested from my seat at the back of the room….

He nodded…  Then everything went blurry…  I think I blurted out “SWEET!” or something.  I know I was thinking how I could act so as not to embarrass myself, but still let them know how much I appreciated it….

 I WON A FREAKIN’ WETSUIT!!!!!!

Apparently I’m just a little excited.  I’ll post more on this later.

The mountains would have been as beautiful tonight, but I’m not sure I would have noticed, had I not been on cloud 9.

 Life is pretty good to me sometimes!

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I took my bike out on Saturday for the first time in about 2 months.  I’ve been hitting the bike at the gym, but it’s just not the same - especially when the bike at the gym has a nice fat cushy seat.  I did 22 miles at a relatively good pace, but nothing too earth shattering or inspirational.

It was however an amazing and inspirational weekend for some of my blogging buddies on a number of levels…

You probably know the Triathlon Song, and there’s a phrase in there that is something to the effect of “I’d give my wife, my house, my car, if I could reach a new PR….”.  House and Car maybe, but probably not my wife, or my kids. One of the many reasons I race is for my kids.  I have five in my tribe currently.  I want to be the kind of dad they can look to as an inspiration.  I missed out on way to many opportunities as a kid because I was too scared to step outside of my comfort zone, and now I’m trying to make up for lost time.  I want my kids to see me try and fail, try and succeed, but above all, never give up, and never keep trying to improve.  So on the subject of kids…  The first HUGE BIG CONGRATS goes to….

IRON ERIC!! Eric and his sweet wife Nicole (I haven’t met her, but from the way Eric talks about her, she must be) recently found out that they will be entering the role of parenthood next year. At this point it remains to be seen if they will be having a little IronMan or and IronWoman, but we should know next month. Aside from the fact that Eric’s running speed blows my mind, he also blew away IronMan Couer-d-alene earlier this year.

My next HUGE CONGRATS goes to…

ShirleyPerly - The Humble Triathlete. Shirley is highly inspirational to me. She’s getting really close to finishing a goal of 50 marathon, in 50 states, before she turns 50, but the thing I like most about her is that she’s not afraid to identify potential weaknesses and work on them. Yesterday she competed in the MiamiMan Half IronMan down in her home state (for now) of Florida. I was a little late in wishing her luck on her race, but apparently she didn’t need it. I was a little sneaky and went online to see the results, and they looked excellent from what I could tell. It turns out they were really excellent, a finishing time of 5:42:32 - almost 4 minutes off her previous PR. Nicely Done Shirley.

Last, but by no means least is a story of true triumph, in many senses of the word… It’s always nice to finish a race, without any problems and being able to go as fast as you know you can, but triathlon isn’t just about getting it done quickly. For me triathlon is about triumph over self, and facing obstacles and overcoming them. There is a blogger I’ve been following for a while. Like most of us, she’s not an elite athlete, but she has the elite mind set - There are good days and bad days, but regardless she still gets out there and gives her all. Her goal for the past year (although it may be longer) has been the Silverman Half IronMan race.

My final HUGE CONGRATS and Admiration goes to….
Stef - Lessons in Confidence, Triathlon Style! I don’t know all the details yet, and I’m excited for her race report once she gets recovered, but from what I understand… The race was delayed due to bad weather. My worst race this year began with a 1 hour delay, and I think that was what ultimately did me in mentally. She had a great swim, got out and onto the bike, and then got a flat. I had my first flat in a race earlier this year. It wasn’t fun, and I just remember the sick feeling when I realized that the loud bang and vibrations from the back of my bike, were not a stick which had been flicked up in my spokes. I think most athletes can recover from a flat though, possibly even 2. Stef faced 5 - 5 flat tires, and then from what I understand the wind and the rain returned, and I believe that it was a head wind, which just makes it worse. I’m not sure how the rest of the race went, so I’ll have to wait and see, but despite all of that Stef stuck it out and got it done! Nice Job Stef! Way to overcome not only the distance, but having the mental toughness to do it in spite of the opposition from unforeseen obstacles.

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This weekend, Stef of Lessons In Confidence Blog fame will be competing in the Silverman Half Iron Distance Race. She’s been training really hard, and from what I understand this will be the pinnacle triathlon achievement for her thus far. I’m excited to see how she does, first and foremost, because celebrating the achievements of others is one of the things I enjoy most about triathlon. Secondly and far less important, I am still considering doing the same race next year and possibly the full distance race in the years which follow.

Stef has indicated that there will be twitter updates posted on her blog during the race, which will make it easier to follow her, so that to those who will be taking care of those. In addition to this, Stef is also running in support of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, specifically the part of the organization which supports Challenged Veterans. If you would like to find out more about this, check out a post she put up a month or so ago right here.

The bottom line is - I hope you’ll join me in cheering Stef on this weekend from which ever part of the country or the world you may find yourself.

Go STEF!!

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I love the World Championships in Kona for 2 reasons…

1.  They’re the ultimate IronMan to watch, and someday (likely when I get into the 75-79 age group) I hope to be able to compete there.

2.  They’re the same time of year as my Wedding Anniversary.  Last year they were held on my anniversary itself, and this year, just a couple of days before.  I preferred this years since I didn’t have as much guilt taking the day off to watch it, not that I took last year off - in fact I missed it to take my sweet wife out for an afternoon of fun!

First things first for this post…  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY and a huge THANKS to my beautiful sweet heart, and for all the support she gives me.  I am confident that as I elevate myself to the level required to complete an ironman over then next few years, that she’ll always be there cheering me on from the sidelines.

OK, now onto Kona.  I was fortunate enough to see most of Saturday’s race, although due to some technical problems, I missed the swim, T1 and the first 20 or so miles of the bike section.   Something really stood out to me though as I watched last years champions compete, and it was something I shared with my class of 15 year olds at Church yesterday.  In so sharing, I’d like to state for the record, that I am in awe of the talent of Chris McCormack and Chrissie Wellington, and they like everyone else competing in the IronMan are phenomenal athletes.

Specifically looking at Chris and Chrissie though… Both experienced technical problems on the bike.  Chrissie blew out a tire, and used up all her spare equipment trying to fix it, without success.  Chris broke the cable to his front derrailer.  There was however a marked difference in how these two champions handled their respective obstacles.

Chrissie looked frustrated to begin with, but made the best of a bad situation.  With the tech support vehicle elsewhere on the course, she appeared to calm down, take the opportunity for a bathroom break and then with the generous help of a fellow competitor, was able to get back on the course, after having been stranded for 10 or so minutes.  Not only did she come back, but she did so incredibly strong, and absolutely killed the rest of the field.  Her parents appeared to be incredible, yet humble people as I watched them interviewed shortly before she finished, and described Chrissie as someone who always puts others before herself.  Chrissie herself was a gracious winner, and did so with incredible class.

Chris on the other hand, on discovering something wrong with his bike was assisted relatively quickly by the tech support vehicle.  On being told that it would take 20 minutes to repair the cable, he proceeded to drop out of the race.  As I said before, Chris is an incredible athlete, but in dropping out, I think he showed a lot of disrespect to his follow competitors and to the IronMan itself.  As I see it, IronMan is about facing tremendous adversity and overcoming it and yourself.  It’s not about finishing only when you can have a perfect race and be guaranteed a win.  My respect for Chris would have grown phenomenally higher, had he stuck it out and given 100%, in spite of the unexpected problems.  Even if he hadn’t finished in first place, he would still have been an IronMan.

I’m hoping to complete an IronMan in 2010.  I expect it to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done or will ever do.  I hope that I will have the fortitude and mental toughness to stay in the game, regardless of any obstacles that may come my way.   Congrats to all the athletes who competed this weekend, or who have completed IronMan distance events in the past.  I am in awe of you and your achievements.

Chrissie Wellington, I am especially grateful to you for being a shining example of the IronMan spirit and having a victory on Saturday, not only over the other female racers, but over yourself and unforseen circumstances.  You TOTALLY ROCK!!!

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