Eye on the Prize

A good and wise friend had a great quote a few weeks ago. "It's not the marathon that is the reward. It's the training it takes to complete the marathon." I need to remember that the goal this year is strictly Wisconsin Ironman. This weekend is my first big training test towards that goal. Not that I am calling the Liberty Half Ironman training, it's not. It's a race just like any other, I don't train through races...ever. I don't believe in not putting 100% into something. Saturday will be no different. While the main goal is to try to get my pacing down for longer distances my second goal is to beat out one tough opponent. Josh Riff came on the scene last year and immediately established himself as one of the best distance guys in the state. Last year he took second with a serious time of 4:17. While I am optimistic that it is possible for me to beat him I am also realistic that it is not probable. Josh was solid last year and showed only a slight weakness in his swim. I know the feeling. This year he has shown some serious improvement on at least the bike and I expect to see improvement in the water as well. So as my back up goal I am shooting for a 4:20. Last year I hit a 4:15 at Square Lake and got a little overambitious on the run causing me to hit the wall pretty hard. Jerry Macneil also posted that Josh is the only one in the race who can can take down a 4:20 this. I would like to prove him wrong. Sorry Jerry.

Better Lucky Than Good Somedays

Sunday was the much anticipated Buffalo Triathlon for two reasons. One, I was really looking forward to watching Matt Payne and Patrick Parish battle for the first time this year. Two, I was hoping to regain my honor back from the new kid on the block Sam Janicki. Here is how the race went down.

With a new wet suit and a few more lessons under my belt I hit the water with a little more confidence this year. I new I was about tenth coming out of the water and felt very good. I had a good but not lightening transition and hit the bike course. I know I should try to lay off the first few miles to let my legs get in the groove but that is just not me. I hit it hard right off the bat and pounded the pedals as hard as I could. I knew I was going to have to smoke the bike to catch up to Sam, Matt and Patrick. Sure enough about 10 miles in I passed Patrick, but not with as much of a speed difference as last year. The scary thing is Patrick has been riding a 58 cm frame and should be riding at most a 54 cm. A few more miles up I came across someone walking his bike back to the last corner. It was Sam Janicki. Then another guy on the other side who happened to be Matt Payne. Unfortunately both of them happened to flat out on the same corner. I immediately started doing math in my head. I figured Sam, Josh Blankenheim and myself were going to battle for fourth behind the Pro Chris Legh, Matt and Patrick. All of a sudden I realized that as long as I could hold off Josh on the run I could earn a nice $250 paycheck for this one.

I kept hammering away and passed my good buddy Jose Rosales. We shared some words of encouragement as I passed and at that point I knew I was in the lead for the amateurs. About 20 miles in I ran out of HEED (my energy drink) and had to make a decision. Keep hammering or pull back a little and play it safe. There is great reward for those who risk more so I kept hammering. As I came into T2 I got caught behind some short coursers, got impatient and yelled GO! GO! GO! My mom was also yelling for them to get out of the way in a panicked mother tone of voice. Sorry to who ever I yelled at. I was in the heat of the moment and want them to know that is not my typical demeanor. Whom ever it was seemed to know my name and apologized as I got around him and I did get to reply with a "no problem" and no harm was done.

I had another decent transition and off to the run course. I knew Patrick would be coming for me and Josh behind him. Sure enough about 2 miles in Patrick caught me. Usually Patrick passes me like I am going backwards but for some reason he got about a 50 yard lead and then I hung in with him. I thought either he was holding back since he knew he had it and wanted to save a little gas for the end or... maybe he was hurt or cramping. Sure enough I saw him grabbing his side and thought, maybe I got a shot at this.

Coming up to the turn around I saw this younger girl huffing and puffing the other direction. I thought who the hell was that? I just figured it was an age grouper who accidentally took the short bike course. She was moving pretty good though and I didn't even know if I had enough gas to pass her. As I hit the turn around I was hoping to have a big gap before I saw Josh and then there he was. I had a gap but it was not as much as I would've hoped and he was moving pretty good. We went back down the hill and then took a turn into a neighborhood for another quick out and back. When I was turning right onto the main street taking us back to the finish line I knew I was a about a mile and a half out and Josh was just turning right into the neighborhood for his out and back. I figured I had a least a two minute lead and should be able to hold Josh off.

As I got to the finish line I heard Jerry say I was second and I had PR'd. I though he meant second amateur and looked at my time of 2:00:32 seconds. I had no idea what to expect for a time but low 2 hours was on th high end of what I was hoping for. After I finished someone told me that Chris Legh was hurt and only did the swim and bike. The girl I saw on the course was his teammate. That meant I was now $500 richer instead of $250. A very nice payday. Not to mention I was only about a minute and a half from Patrick. I feat I was very pleased with.

Buffalo certainly didn't turn out like I had planned or anyone would have thought. I was hoping to regain my honor against Sam and Matt and Patrick should have battled for first and second. It may have not been how I would liked the circumstances to have turned out. Believe me, I don't like to win by default, but as my dad says. "Son, that's why they run the race." It is indeed. If everyone came in when they were supposed to and there were no variables like blown tires or missing turns there would be no point in competing. My hats off to Sam and Matt. That was a really tough break and they both handled it very well. Sam is fresh in the game and I would have blown my top when I was starting out. I had one of my lesser moments at Mankato a few years ago when I missed a turn/no one was there to direct me in the right direction and it may have dropped me from 2nd to 4th. Luckily Sam has a long and very promising career ahead of him and will have plenty more races.

Honeymoon in Switzerland

Kelly and I decided to hit Switzerland for our honeymoon. Initially we were pushing for Italy but the plane tickets were much cheaper into Zurich and Rick Steve's said Switzerland was the bomb. First up was three days in Luzern. Luzern has a really cool part of town called "Old Town" were there are tons of overpriced shops and really cool architecture. Kelly and I quickly found out that Europe was not a cheap place as we forked out nearly $30 US dollars for lunch at McDonalds. We also quickly found out that morning sickness (Kelly's prego by the way) would play a big part in our trip. Kelly was craving chicken McNuggets but once she took her first bite she went running to the bathroom to spew chunks for about five minutes. Reason number 23 not to go to McDonalds for me. They also have some ridiculous burgers over there. So ridiculous that I can't even remember them. I believe one was a burger with a chicken patty on it. Who would have thunk it?

One thing Kelly and I noticed in Luzern was that there were very few overweight people. If anyone can tell why this is please comment. I believe that it is because restaurants are two to three times more expensive over there. That or everyone seems to ride a bike or walk. I saw very few runners though.

Since hotel prices are no joke over there and my retirement plan of winning the Powerball has yet to come to fruition Kelly and I stayed in a converted jail that is now a hotel. Sounded fun when we booked it but probably the least romantic place we could've stayed. We made the best of it though, the price was right and we were close to all the action.

In the morning I went for a run around town. Running on vacation is always an adventure. Goal #1 don't get lost. This was made easy by me eventually running in a figure eight pattern. It did have some great hills and got my legs moving. Goal #2 scope out the town. This was pretty easy and I did find some cool places for Kelly and I to visit. The bonus was that Kelly doesn't feel well in the morning, hence the morning sickness, so she doesn't get going until 9 o"clockish. Perfect for me to get in a little training on our vaca.

The best part of Lucern was a walk we went on. It required a boat ride and a very sketchy rail/cable car ride up a very steep mountain. We then spent the afternoon on a breathtaking off the beaten path adventure. Once past the main tourist area we only saw a couple of other hikers. Then we had a lovely lunch overlooking the area from an incredibly amazing view from our table. Another kicker about the German part of Switzerland is if you don't each lunch or dinner at there designated times (I don't know what they are as we rarely hit them) hello sandwich because that is all they will offer. Just as well for me as the price was right and I brought my own supply of Cliff and granola bars.

Next up was Gimmewald. We were both super stoked for this part of the trip because Rick Steve's rated it as one of his top three places to visit. I would have to agree. The town has about 75 people and there is only one or two small cars that reach speeds of up to 150 KPH as they scream by you on there 75 meter drive from the local Hostel Bar. Everyone in town seems to have a room for rent or own a hotel and the views are amazing.

The next day after a morning run we planned to go up to Murren where they had a pool where I could get in a quick swim and mountain bikes to rent. When we got up there both the pool and mountain bike shop were closed....bummer. So we went down to Interlochen to catch a boat ride. Unfortunately the boat gods were not on our side this day either. No more boats were leaving for the day. I don't know if the Swiss just don't like to work past 4 pm or what but Kelly and I were reduced to another gorgeous walk along the shore of the lake next to the city.

The last stop on our trip was Lugano. Lugano was in the Italian region and we were greeted with temps in the 80s which was a nice change from Gimmewald and Luzern where it was in the 50s. There was a lake a block from our hotel to go along with an gorgeous outdoor 50 meter lap pool. I was like a kid in a candy store. The next day we went to the Belenzone Castles or Castle as we only made it to one. This was by far the coolest day we had on our honeymoon and if you have yet to see a real life middle ages castle I highly recommend you see one. This thing was hunourmous! I felt like I was Link in the Adventures of Zelda video game. We took tons of video and photos and hopefully I can get some posted.

After that we had one day in Zurich before our flight home. We hit the town and walked along the river and ate some of the most overpriced Mexican food ever. It was awesome, maybe the best Mexican food I've ever had, but still overpriced. Especially if you throw in the terrible service and the 45 minutes it took to get our food after we ordered it. What do you expect when it takes them 15 minutes to bring you a $5 bottle of water. I guess customer service over there is even worse than here. That or they just don't like Americans. Either way they can survive because it's all tourists and there is no repeat business anyway.

The flight home was way worse than coming over has we had to fight to stay awake. Kelly also was not feeling well which only made things worse. Kelly and I had a great time but we were definitely glad to be sleeping in our own bed. Despite Kelly's raging hormones from being pregnant as well as traveling together for eight days we still managed to get through it without wanting an annulment.

Hitched

Well, its finally over. The anchor has been dropped and I am off the market. Kelly and I tied the knot on the 15th. If you haven't heard our story I'll give a quick recap. Kelly and I grew up down the street from each other. Our families are friends and I have been friends with her father ever since he would let me have a beer with him when I was 17. Kelly is a little over four years younger than I am so we never thought of dating for obvious reasons growing up. Kelly went to college at Gustavus in St. Peter and I went to MN State down the road in Mankato. Other than me giving her a lift to her dorms once we still never considered dating.

As time went by I got heavily involved in triathlons and she went on to Medical School. Between working full time, training and having all married friends I was out of options in the dating scene. Kelly was under the same gun with all her studying and time commitments with school. Somehow we both got on Eharmony about the same time and were matched up on her second day and my second week. Kelly didn't show picture on her profile so I had no idea it was the Kelly from down the street but I did like her profile so I asked to see a picture. When I "nudged" her for a picture Kelly nearly fell of her chair. At first she thought giving me a chance would be weird but thankfully her stepmother told her that she was a fool if she didn't give me a chance because I was such a nice guy. Then one evening I got a call from her father Pete. We made some small talk and then he passed the phone to Kelly. I knew something was up and sure enough Kelly informed me that we had been matched up on Eharmony. We went through the match process and started dating. I new after just two dates that this was someone that I could definitely see being my wife. A year later we were engaged and two years later we are now married.

The week of the wedding started out cold with endless bouts of rain but the weather turned perfect just in time for the big day. Kelly did a fantastic job with planning and everything went off without a hitch. So much so that I don't even have any good stories about close calls.

The wedding day actually started as any usual Saturday as I had to get some mileage in before the honeymoon and with the Liberty Half Ironman only a month away. I hit the lakes for a 13 mile run and then had to pack for the honeymoon. After that it was off to mow the lawn as it was already long and would not get mowed again until we got back on the 24th. Kelly was not excited about me cramming everything in at the last minute but in the end everything worked out perfect and I go to the hotel to get ready right on time.

On the way to the hotel I stopped of at the tux shop with one of my groomsman to pick up his tux and my jacket that they had to resize. According to their sizing I apparently lost 35 lbs since they measured me in February. While there I realized that I had forgot black socks or any socks for that matter. Fortunately the good people at the Wedding Shoppe were willing to sell me the finest pair of socks five dollars can buy and off we went.

First it was picture time. Holy crap! I though our engagement pictures took a long time. I haven't had perma grin like that since I bonked in a Marathon in Iraq and all my muscles seized up making me look like the crippled joker. Our photographer was a woman named Chloe and her husband. They are the awesomest photographers ever! Totally fun to work with. We got so into the pictures we were almost late to our own wedding. Luckily we knew that they wouldn't start without us.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. Kelly and I had both the reception and ceremony at Black Bear Crossings on Como Lake. Incredible place and they were super awesome to work with and had by far the best wedding food I have ever had.

Then it was time to let it all hang out on the dance floor. I will say I am not a huge dancer but get a couple of drinks in me and things can get interesting. Even after the long day I was able to dig deep and relinquish any self respect I had and bust a move ... or two. I haven't seen such disregard for a dance floor since that kid tried a front flip on dancing with the stars and landed on his face. Below is a picture of myself and my long time friend and now father in law dancing. He actually paid $1 to do it. Later I even had to busted out the electric slide. Everyone was into it and we had a blast.

Once the night was done Kelly and I headed back to the hotel were we immediately fell into a deep coma. Wake up was at 6:45 as I still had a little packing to do and there was still present opening to be done. Then onto the airport at 11:00 for our flight to Switzerland. If I have one piece of advice to give you for jet lag it is called Dramamine. I slept nearly the whole flight there and then used it again for the first two nights. Awesome stuff.

Good Result at Alexandria

Last Saturday officially kicked off the tri season for me with the Chain of Lakes Triathlon. This was a short course with a 600 yard pool swim, 12.5 mile bike and 2.8 mile run. If the weather was better I was hoping to take a crack at Matt Payne's course record last year. I don't think I have my swim down enough yet but I might have been able to make up the difference on the bike. Instead I was greeted with 25-30 mph sustained winds and 40-50 mph gusts. The temp was also in the low 50s and I was not feeling motivated.

Before the race I believed that my toughest competition was going to be Ross Weinzierl. I met Ross before the race and we immediately hit it off. Ross is an ultra nice guy and I enjoyed hanging with him before and after the race. I knew if I didn't hit the swim he could jump all over me and we ended up being in the same lane so we could race close to each other.

The pool swim made me nervous as I am not very efficient at flip turns and have only done a circle swim once. I don't like swimming in cramped pool lanes and this was going to be even worse than I am use to. I was shooting to come out of the water at 9 min which is what I can do consistently during training. The week prior I went down to Mankato and did a swim seminar with the MSU coach and his staff. They really did a great job breaking things down for me and totally revamped my stroke. I have been using Duane Dobko who has shown great results as well but I seem to have fallen off what he has taught me lately. The problem was when I went to train with the new stroke the next day I nearly drown. I was not use to it and still needed practice. Luckily I was able to get it somewhat by the end of my session but still did not have a warm and fuzzy. I felt strong at the end of the swim in Alex and felt if I had a week to build my confidence I could have shaved 30 seconds or so. No matter as I hit my goal time.

I did take a little extra time putting on arm warmers, gloves and a breezer to keep me warm. I was almost too warm but felt strong on the bike regardless of the wind. I may have been in my small ring for a short time but probably wouldn't have effected my time due to the wind and I was still near max output. I did wait too long to get out of my shoes and didn't get to stand for very long on my pedals to get the legs ready for the run. It was apparent that I still have a few winter cobwebs in need to dust off.

The run felt good on the verge of great. I started off slow as I was working against the wind and my legs were still a little sluggish from the bike. All of a sudden I realized I was getting a little complacent with my pace and started picking up my knees. As soon as I did the stride felt great and I was moving. At the turn around on the run I came across Ross. He gave my a friendly high five and we both gave each other a "nice work". I always worry about being caught from behind and Ross was moving pretty good. For some reason it always looks like everyone else is moving faster than me on the return. In the end I was able to hold off Ross by about a minute and a half. Ross certainly didn't go without a fight. Ross is young and only going to get faster.

After the race Ross and I went for a cool down run and shared horror stories of the bike portion. I personally have never raced in such horrid winds before. When we got back I will admit I was expecting to see my name at the top of the results only to find someone named Sam Janicki above me. Who the F*&% was Sam Janicki? Whoever he is destroyed me by over two minutes. Most of that was on the swim but I only took him by 10 seconds on the bike and he took me by 19 seconds on the run. I unfortunately didn't get to meet or congratulate him on his performance. After doing a little research I found, as far as I can find, that he has only done two other triathlons. At Buffalo last year he placed 129th and at the Collegiate National Championships he placed 68th. Neither performance would show that he was even close to capable of such an outstanding race. If this was no fluke this kid is going to be the next Devon Palmer or Sam Hauck. I look forward to meeting him at Buffalo and hopefully will be able to keep up a little better.

Off Season Update

Well the off season is always tough as I have to battle weight gain, illness, injury and dedication issues. This year has definitely been no different. I have fought two colds already one being pretty severe, a slightly pulled hamstring and late night Viking losses that cause me to miss my morning workout. Overall though this off season has been much better than last year. Last year I was battling a new breathing problem that was eventually diagnosed as asthma. I didn't seem to get back into my groove until almost April.

This year I came up with a new game plan. Since I'm doing Wisconsin IM I decided to keep a 12 mile running base. My goal was to keep a rather large cardio base and also keep the excess pounds off. It would also help motivate me to eat healthier and stay focused. So far so good. I have been hovering around 185 lbs instead of 195 last year. I also feel much better cardiovascularly than at this point last year. Goal attained.

I start ramping up my training on the 1st of the year so my relaxed period is almost over. Another good thing to come out of this strategy is it will make the transition from off season to preseason much easier. I will be purchasing a bike trainer this week and also want to get in a swim lesson from Duane Dobko in the next week or two as well. I'm taking a bit of a risk with this strategy with not letting my body rest as much as in the past but if this theory works it could mean being nominated for most improved two years in a row. Only time will tell at this point.

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas or Holiday season and the next year is a great one.

Finally Over

Saturday I raced the Monster Dash Half Marathon for my last race of the year (as of now). As great as Big Woods was I just didn't feel like I ran my best race and didn't have as much fun as I had hoped. I did a few things different to include leaving the Ipod at home, dressing so I wouldn't overheat and most importantly, threw on some face paint for the occasion. I LOVE theme races where you get to see a lot of people having fun. This one was definitely no different.

I hit the portajohn first and saw Cathy Yndestad walking by. Cathy is one of if not the fastest amateur triathletes in the country, not to mention super nice. I saw here again at the start line and chatted for a minute. Cathy was wearing a Wonder Woman costume and definitely fit in with the crowd and ended up taking ninth overall for the females. Awesome job!

I started off more conservatively than last time with a 6:05 first mile. I was shooting for a 6:15 but felt very good with the pace and didn't adjust for mile two. Last race I came out way too hard with a 5:49 first mile and was feeling the effects by mile four. I did start to feel warm at mile 4-5 and took off my head band and gloves. The all black outfit I wore to go with my zombie face worked perfect. I was the first person through in the half marathon with any sort of costume so a lot of people were shouting Go Zombie! It was awesome. The coolest part was my makeup smudged just a little from the sweat and actually made it look even spookier. I was amazed it even stayed on the whole race much less improve.

Since the ten milers didn't have to run Lake Calhoun I had to run threw about 2000 people and had no idea what place I was in. I knew I was around 10th but there was no way to tell for sure. I was hoping for a top 15 finish at the start of the race and it was looking good at the halfway point to achieve my goal. I then picked off a couple of Halfers between mile 8 and 11 and I started to realize that I may actually crack the top 10.

I saw Steve Stenzel was in around third for the ten miler and yelled a go Steve. Steve rights an awesome blog called Steve in a Speedo, Gross. I gave Cathy Yndestad a thumbs up on the way back. Then I started to feel like my legs were just not moving as fast as they were earlier. I didn't mind as I was enjoying the race and no one was passing me so I just kept the comfortable pace.

With About 3/4 of a mile left a guy came up from behind at a pretty good pace to pass me. It reminded me all to well of the Minnetonka race were I was passed by Josh Blankenheim and legged out by 1 second. I was able to get in behind him and kicked to stay with him. My legs felt good and was able to keep his pace. I actually felt surprisingly comfortable and thought if he had made his move too early I may be able to stay in his draft and make a move late. I could feel him trying to drop me but I had plenty left in the tank and my confidence said I could do this. Just when I expected it he started his last push and I made my move. At first it was pretty even and then I found that extra gear I didn't have at Minnetonka. I managed to leg this one out by 2 seconds and take 9th overall. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw 1:22:16. I love an exciting finish even if I come up short. Luckily I came out on top this time. I definitely would have to rank this race up there with Baxter as one of my best races of the year.

My ever supportive mom braved the cold one more time and was there with a huge smile on her face to greet me at the finish. She told me she thought around 8th and later found out that it was in fact 9th. I would have been thrilled with top 15 but top ten, awesome!

After the race I met a friend who is trying to live a healthier lifestyle for the 5K. It was his first race and has only been running for a couple of weeks. I've been telling him about setting goals and thought this would be a perfect race for him to set an initial goal. He would then have something to set a goal against for his next race. He told me he was hoping for 30 min but had been sick a few days prior and didn't know if that was feasible. I went over the basics with him before the start as to be a few rows back in a 5K because most people go out way too fast, pace yourself and don't worry about anyone but you. We started a little ways back so we wouldn't get trampled and away we went. My friend was able to talk a little during the race and I felt like he could have gone much faster. We came in at a very respectable 29 min and had a minute to spare for his goal time. His next goal is going to be 26 min and I don't think he will have any problems with that. It's good to see your friend putting themselves out there and trying something new for their own benefit. It's even better to feel apart of helping them reach their goals.