After a year of training, Ironman Wisconsin was finally upon us this past weekend.  The last few months of training before the race was SOLID and I put some good goals out there for me to accomplish.

About a month before the race I got off the bike to run and my back tightened up.  I didn’t think much of it and continued on with my long run.  Well, later that day it was pretty stiff and hurt pretty badly.  I got in touch with a chiro who also does A.R.T and over the next 3 weeks he fixed up me good and got me ready for race day.

The weather was damn near perfect out there race day.  Started out cold, needing arm-warmers and gloves on the bike, but then it warmed up nicely into the lower 70s after a few hours on the bike.  The wind picked up on the second loop as well, but it wasn’t too bad.  Though, it did help a lot riding the top of the Verona loop and the last 14 miles back into Madison.

Anyways, a great day makes for a great race and there were some fast times being posted out there on Sunday.  I ended up finishing with a time of 9:34:30, killing my goal time and coming in 2nd in my age group, 19th overall, 8th amateur and 9th American.  I posted the top run split in my age group (3:03:31), which was also good for 11th fastest overall.  9:34:30 also earned me the 3rd fastest course record time for my age group.

On top of all of that, and probably the best part, is that I qualified for Kona. Aloha baby!  Ironman Wisconsin is the first qualifier for 2009, so we’ll be heading to be Big Island next year. 

You can read about my race deets in my Race Report and also check out some pics of the weekend and race.  The whole weekend was an absolute blast.  Thanks for everyone cheering me on and wishing me well. Congratulations to all the Ironman Wisconsin finishers.

Aloha and Mahalo!

Race Reports, Racing | No Comments »

Really?  July is gone already?  I thought I had like, another 15 days left in July, until I woke up morning and it was August already! I know I’ve been slacking on here in blogging regards but July was a pretty busy month for me.  Ironman training volume really starting to ramp up and it’s not leaving much time left over for anything else.  Hmm, what else..well basically, thats it…training!

I did have a race on July 12 at the Muncie Endurathon.  Unfortunately, I got a flat on the bike and had to drop out.  That’s why you don’t see anything on that race ’round here.  Those tubulars I was using were causing me more grief than good.  We got down to our hotel later in the afternoon before race day.  Took the wheels out and the rear is flat.  Nice… panick started and we called some bike shops to find one that could swap the tire for me.  They got the new tire on for me so I was set.  The race was going good until mile 11-12 when I felt the rear wheel hop a bit and stopped to check it.  Damn near flat.  There goes the race for me.  No spare and I don’t know how to change a tubular anyways.  Yes, stupid to risk it, I know, and that’s why I just picked up a new set of race wheels for IMWI - HED Jet C2 90 front and a HED Jet Disc rear - clincher, of course!  Can’t risk a stupid flat stopping me at IMWI.  Speaking of which, IMWI is only 37 days away!

We also adopted two cats on July 1.  I’d like to introduce you to Opie and Milo: 

Opie is now 8 months old and Milo is 4 months.  They’re both freakin’ crazy and always tearing around the house, climbing screens and eating grass.  Good times….

Anyways, like I said before Ironman training is really ramping up right now.  These next 3 weeks are key so that’s where my focus will be.  I have something brewing in my mind about another post on here so when I have a few spare minutes I’ll whip that sucka together and roll ‘er out.  Take a guess what it’s about - yup, food!

Ramblings | 2 Comments »

This past weekend was the High Cliff Half-Ironman triathlon.  Despite some pretty choppy conditions in the water - as well as being utterly disgusting with the algae - the day served some excellent conditions to have a good race.  Coach was nice enough to dish out a semi-recovery week the week before the race so I was confident I was going to be set up for a good race.

And, a good race I had!  I finished in 4:25:28, snagging 4th place overall and taking my age group.  One of the main goals of the race for me was to have a good run.  Mission accomplished - I busted out the fastest run split of the day…by nearly 3 minutes!  This was also a 12 minute improvement over my time here last year.  Gotta love that!

You can read all the details of my race on the Race Reports page.  I will also have some pics up as soon as I get them off my camera on the Photos page.  I should have the pics up in a day or two.

It was great to see everyone out there and racing.  Congrats to everyone on their performances, especially my good friend and training buddy Jeff Tarkowski for bringing home the overall win! Nice job, Jeff!

Race Reports | 2 Comments »

 Being an endurance athlete means your life pretty much revolves around food.  Bad nutrition = bad training = bad racing = a pissy athlete.  I love eating so this whole stuffing-food-in-my-pie-hole is a good fit for me.  There’s nothing like a long day of training and then having to cram down 5000 Calories to balance out the day’s training caloric expenditure.

We try to find new and different foods to keep shoving our faces interesting.  Change is good for food.  Not only do new recipes evolve from the different foods you buy, but you also give your body a change-up in nutrients.  We’ll try to buy a new and different good almost every time we go grocery shopping for the week.  Some new finds have been awesome….some others…hmm, not so much.  Here’s a list of some of the ones that have have achieved the "awesome" mark on our list:

	Organic Valley Organic Whole Milk Sure, milk is nothing new…but organic milk is!  My mom was raving about it, but I was a little skeptical at first as I’m not too keen on milk.  Well, let me tell you first hand, the taste difference is like night and day.  I’ve never been much of a milk guy, but this stuff makes you want to chug it right from the container. I will never drink "regular" milk again. And, yes, this was my first time having whole milk.  Love it!  I tried the 2% of the Organic Valley milk as well - equally full of awesomeness. BONUS - Free Coupons on Organicvalley.coop
	Mothers’s Peanut Butter Bumpers Easily the best cereal in the aisle today.  Well, then again I think all cereal is the best so I might be a tad biased.  Think of it like natural, better tasting Peanut Butter Capt’n Crunch.  But, much much better.  Double this stuff up with some Organic Milk and you got a box of cereal that will last less than a day in your house.  Umm, well, in my house at least.
	Stonyfield Farms Organic Yogurt I don’t really know how yogurt is made or what its really made of, but this stuff wins taste contests hands-down.  The "regular" stuff at the grocery store is crap. BONUS - Free Coupons on Stonyfield.com
	Asian Pears Huge pears - I recently bought 3 that weighed in around 2.7 lbs. - that are crisp and super juicy.  Crisp almost like an apple. Surprise extra is a hint of butterscotch flavor in the pear.  So good that we planted a tree in our back yard.
	Ground Buffalo I’ve been eating ground bufflo now for quite a while.  In all its greatness, it’s high in iron (great for endurance athletes), low in Fat (2g per 4oz serving) and, as you suspected, high in protein. Don’t burn the crap out of it and it’s juicier or just as juicy as regular cow meat, but so much better than that stuff. For the best stuff, find it organic, grass-fed and -finished.  Buying organic meats is one of the best things you spend your money on, food-wise. The quality and taste is noticeably better.  Go through a local farmer you can usually get it for a little more ground beef. Find it local on Local Harvest, Eat Wild or the National Bison Association.

 As we try new and different foods (and find some good ones), I’ll keep posting every now and then like this to share.  It seems like most of the good stuff we’ve been getting have been organic or the likes so we’ll probably keep that trend going.  Organic stuff just flat out tastes better than the pesticide ridden version of the same food.

What about you people? Any good finds lately?  Please share!

Food | 2 Comments »

In light of almost getting hit twice on my bike this weekend - with one girl looking right at me then proceeding to pull out - and another one of my friends almost getting tagged by some punk, I give you this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB9SRm2c_LA[/youtube]

‘Nuff said.

Ramblings, Videos | 1 Comment »

This past weekend we traveled down the Lake Mills, WI and raced the Lake Mills Sprint Triathlon for the first tri of the year.   This was my 3rd time doing this race and looking again to improve my time.  Now, I have bigger goals this year than tearing apart a sprint tri so I didn’t bother to take any rest days nor even take it a little easier the day before the race.  The day before racing I kept to my training plan and rode 76 miles maintaining my wattage zones in 15-20+ mph winds and did a 5 mi transition run at 6:30s.  Not too bad for a 4 hr 15 min training session.  So, going into Lake Mills I was not expecting anything huge, but still an improvement, nonetheless.

The race went good despite the volume of the previous day.  I was able to shave off another 1 min 53 sec from last year for a finishing time of 1:04:06, placing 3rd out of 33 in my age group and 9th out of 649 overall.  I’ll spare you the details here, but you can check out the full rundown in the Race Report and also check out some cool photos that Amy took while watching everyone.

Perfect way to kick off the 2008 tri season!  Excellent job to everyone I know (and those I don’t) on their races at Lake Mills!

Race Reports | No Comments »

Just a quick note here today.  The Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon turned out to be an excellent day for racing minus a bit of wind.  I was able to rip off a good time and PR by over 4 minutes since last year, finishing with a time of 1:16:10 - earning 18th place overall and 10th in my age group.  Yup, I’m in a tough AG around here for running races!  You can read the full race report here - CLICK IT!  I’m very happy with these results and kicking off the race seasons with a good race.  I have a feeling 2008 is going to be a great year!

Congrats to all the other finishers as well.  PRs were flying all over the place with the ideal weather on the course.  Amy, my wife, had a good race and finished with a time of 2:24.  My mom also raced and finished with a time of 2:04!  Awesome job to both of them!

Race Reports | 1 Comment »

The race season is upon us (we northerners get a late start to the season) and it just so happens that the first race of the season on my schedule is this weekend - the Cellcom Green Bay 1/2 Marathon. Sure, it’s not the first race for me of the year; those raced in the winter months don’t really feel as part of the season, but rather the "off-season" races. This race won’t be a true "race" in my mind, since it’s not an "A" race, but still a race nonetheless and gets a bit of priority. No taper is involved for this one but Coach was nice enough to have a recovery week scheduled for the days leading up to it. So, I should be pretty fresh and I’m still going to run as hard as possible, probably making my legs scream the last 5k of the race. Which isn’t such a bad thing… you know… "Hurts so good!"

During the race season I’ll get into a pre-race prep routine that will usually take place during the last few days prior to the race. Most of the things listed below don’t make me faster, but are more of a mental prep for me. The stuff that makes me faster has already been completed way before the prep’ing for a race. Here are a few things that I do to prep myself before a race:

• Cut my hair - I’m not sure why this is, but its an absolute must to cut my hair before a race. Granted, I don’t have much hair to begin with but that still doesn’t stop me from busting out the clippers, setting it to the lowest possible click and lowering my ears. If I don’t do this I feel like a hippy with dreadlocks even though my hair is still probably just over 1/4 of an inch long.
• Shave my legs - This is one that I won’t do until tri season, but I’m already to the point where I feel like a hairy Yeti when riding my bike outside with shorts on. Running shorts can sometimes irritate freshly shaven Yeti legs, so I’ll save this one until after the 1/2 marathon. Otherwise, it’s a clean shave 2 days before the race.  What is it with me and hair?
• Race Rehearsal - Before a race you always have to break in the new stuff a bit and even do a trial with your gear if you have anything new or haven’t used something since last racing season. I picked up some new Brook’s T5 Racers a week ago from my local running store - Fox Valley Running Co. I got in a good interval session with them last week and I’m going to run once more time in them this week. There’s nothing worse than planning on using some new gear on race day only to find out that it doesn’t "work" for you. That should be avoided in the first place anyways. It’s a good idea to tune up your gear (mainly bike) and ride that for a decent clip to make sure everything is working perfectly as well.
• Course Recon - It’s always a good thing to check out the course first hand, but if I live a ways away from it, I’ll at least map out the course and look at the elevation graphs. This also leads me to my next thing…..
• Weather Recon - Although not imperative but is highly recommended, it gets you ready for what to expect.  The weather changes a lot up here and its always a good thing to know about temps, wind speed/direction, cloud cover, etc. It’ll help me get mentally prep’d for what’s to come in terms of Mother Nature.
• Pack My Stuff - Packing your stuff for a running race is easy. Lay out your shorts, shirt, shoes, socks and maybe a couple of other things (gels, recovery drink, etc.) and you’ll be golden. Packing for triathlons is a whole different beast. I have a checklist that consists of probably 40-50 different items that I need for sure and some that are possible that I may need them if something throws a bone in mix. I tend to bring almost everything I would need, should I need it - just to be safe.
• Avoid Grains - This is a new one for 2008 since I’ve been experimenting with my nutrition. I’ve made a switch in my nutrition to very low grains. Basically, I’ll only eat a few Nature’s Path or Van’s Gluten/Wheat-Free waffles, buckwheat pancakes and/or maybe a bowl of oatmeal or two. Yes, it is possible to get the required carbs for training from whole foods like fresh fruits and veggies. You just have to eat a bit more, which I love doing anyways. With the low grain eating I’ve found that I function better and my training is more solid and with less gut issues. There’s a noticeable difference for me when running, so I’ll stick with that. So, for the next four days leading up to the race - no grains. Though, I will likely take part in the pasta eats at the stadium Sat afternoon - though just a small bit because it was hella good last year!

It may seem like a big list to some, but for me it only takes a matter of a couple hours total - besides the whole no grain thing. If all goes well, the night before should be left for chilling out and keeping your mind clear. The morning of the race should be as simple as waking up, eating your pre-race meal, doing your business (you know what I mean), grabbing your gear and getting out the door.

Good luck to all that are racing this season…light ‘em up!

Racing | 2 Comments »

One of my friends, Jason H., had made some bars similar to this recipe and let me try one after a run.  They were so tasty I wanted to make them myself and I asked for the recipe.  He sent it over and when I went to make them, I realized I didn’t have the recipe with me.  Its a pretty simple recipe, so I went off what I could remember, using his recipe as the base (of what I could remember) and throwing my own spin on it.  Peanut Butter Energy Bombs is the final creation.  They’re simple, healthy, take literally 5 min to throw together and are heavenly goodness.  Also, they keep together very well when carried with you on a long bike ride, hike or whatever you may be up to.  This is a healthy snack that you won’t want to give up!

Peanut Butter Energy Bombs

Makes about 20 bombs.

• 2/3 C. Natural Peanut Butter
• 1/2 C. Honey
• 1 3/4 C. Rolled Oats (not "quick" oats)
• 1/3 C. Whole Flax Seeds
• 3/8 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1. Combine peanut butter and honey.  Microwave for 45 seconds.
2. After microwaving, mix until smooth and stir in the rolled oats and flax seed.
3. Stir in the flour 1/8 C. at a time until the batter is stiff.
4. Roll into 1" balls and refridgerate to store. 
5. Bombs away!
   Optional: Add 1/2 C. choice of dried fruit (i.e. raisins, craisins, dates, etc) after Step 2.  You could also add something like shredded coconut or roll them in crushed Cracklin’ Oat Bran.  Endless possibilities!

Recipes | 5 Comments »

No, no… Not like the saying "Not yo’ cheese!" Err, "Not yo’ Gu!"  But like in that the Just Plain Gu has been tasting like Nacho Cheesier Doritos.  I don’t know why…I don’t know if its just me or what the deal is, but it does and it weirds me out. It all started last year, late summer, when really ramping up the training for IMWI. Obviously, when riding 5-6 hours on the bike at a time, you go through a lot of "sports food".  I ran out of my usual Vanilla Bean flavor so I filled up the gel flask with the Just Plain stuff.  During the ride, I took a shot of it and it tasted like something; something similar, yet I couldn’t quite put my tongue on it.  The only thing I could think about for the rest of the ride is what that Gu tasted like.  Every 45 minutes or so I would take another shot of it trying to figure out just what it was.  After a few ingestiosn, it finallly dawned on me - Nacho Cheesier Doritos!  Then the next thought was, "Gross".  I figured my gel flask wasn’t clean or that when washing it another "taste" was washed into it. Or, my mouth was playing a trick on me during a time of high training volume.  So, I didn’t really pay much attention to it.  The next day I set out for a moderate distance ride with some Gu in flask, hoping that the nacho flavor would stay home.  I took a shot…sure enough, it was still there.  Up until these two days I never tasted this before in the Just Plain.  In fact, Vanilla Bean and Just Plain were my flavors of choice.  Maybe it was a bad batch with some dude fiending on nachos while mixing up some Gu or maybe some doritos got tossed in as a joke.  Either way its there to me and in my head, Nacho Gu.  Everytime since then when I take a shot of that stuff I cringe a little.  Maybe I could use it as a sauce on a taco or something. What say you?  Ever have something taste totally different than what it says the flavor is?

Ramblings | No Comments »