Race Season 2007-2008

I am the 'Intrepid Age Grouper'. It's my homage to Calvin and Hobbes.

This is why I took two months off, then a strict three month build with no racing.


11/17/07 Intrepid Age Grouper @ El Tour De Tucson, 110 mile cycling race. The 25th Anniversary of this race will have 10,000 cyclist riding around Tucson. It is a rolling course with two dismounts to cross streams. I am pacing a buddy through this race with a goal time of under 7 hours. I have always wanted to do this race.

12/02/07 Intrepid Age Grouper @ Tucson Marathon. The whole enchilada. I am pacing a friend. Again a race I have always wanted to take part in.

1/13/08 PF Chang Half Marathon @ Intrepid Age Grouper. I have heard bloggers are coming down to this race. It won't be my first time but it will be fun with friends.

3/22/08 Intrepid Age Grouper @ Lake Havasu Triathlon. Olympic Distance. Last epic training before Ironman. After all the long IM training, this will help me remember how fun racing is. Swimming under the original London Bridge should be a blast for this history buff.

4/13/08 Ironman Arizona @ Intrepid Age Grouper. The Reckoning. I am above becoming to emotional about this race. I got really sick and still raced in 2007. Stupid. Still, this 'A' race represents my vision of having a great race and is my focus. My goal is sub-13.

5/03/08 Intrepid Age Grouper @ Rocky Pt. Mexico. Olympic. I love this race. Its international. It's on Saturday. We stay in a 5,000 square foot penthouse with great friends at an awesome resort.

5/18/08 Tempe International Classic @ Intrepid Age Grouper. International. Not a great race. Super hot. But if I stay healthy, I will PR.

6/08/08 Intrepid Age Grouper @ Escape From Alcatraz. Olympic. Need to get a lottery pick first. Heard good things. Want to challenge myself against the current of SF Bay. There really could be sharks in that water! Destination race in a good city. Something that I would not do every year so it appeals to me.

7/20/08 Intrepid Age Grouper @ Mountain Man, Flagstaff. Half Ironman. Bolder has told me if I do this race as a Half Iron, he will give me a life time exemption of SLP status. The course starts at 6,500 and tops out at 7,500. If I do the Olympic, as I have done in the past, (notably when I stress fractured my leg on the bike and finished in 2006), he will just renew my 2 year exemption.

9/21/08 Intrepid Age Grouper @ Cancun Ironman 70.3. Cancun has the lure of the tropics and is another punch on the international triathlete card. Several friends and team mates could make this a long weekend of fun and for those north of Kansas City, it will supply a winters worth of stories of palm tree and frilly drinks. Maybe recreate a past spring break or create our own. No kids allowed. My second 'A' race of the year.

9/22/08 Nathans Olympic Triathlon @ Intrepid Age Grouper. Sprint or Olympic TBD. If Cancun is a bust I will have this as a local back up for same weekend. Just a training day race to have fun on the course before getting serious for Vegas.

9/28/08 Intrepid Age Grouper @ Las Vegas Triathlon. I actually decided to break my base training camp in 2007 and do this race with Iron Kahuna and Robo Stu but a wedding in Seattle the same weekend forced my hand. This is a provisional race again in 2008 as Cancun is one week earlier than this race and I plan on being in Cancun for at least four days with Mistress and friends. That being said, I would really enjoy doing this race.

10/26/08 Soma @ Intrepid Age Grouper. Half Iron. If I can't get to Cancun 70.3 in September I will do Soma as my last long course tri of the year.

11/08/08 Just Another Mad Dog 50K @ Intrepid Age Grouper. My first Ultra baby! I would have done this in 2007, except El Tour de Tucson is the next weekend and needed fresh legs for a 110 mile bike. Even though a 50K does not have the oomph of a 100 miler, I would really like to put ultra-marathon on my resume and cap this magical season off with authority.

On the radar for next year but not listed is the local MyoMed Ragnar Relay, a 189 mile running relay for a team of 12 and the possibly still complete my dream of a rim to rim of the Grand Canyon.

This is an aggressive race schedule and not for those who are new to running or triathlon. I am looking for new locations and challenges for this season and created a plan that keeps me off balance and fresh.

The big gear up

The Season Of Believing is upon me. Race season that is. My 'dance' card has been filled out for some time but I am tweaking some of the events due to costs of travel. You didn't think I would be doing all this base training to just cobble a season together at the last minute, did you?

My 2008 races are a mix of short course, long course, really long courses and hopefully, honestly some scenery. I realized in my last season which ran from November 2005 through May 2007, that it was too long in duration and too Ironman specific.

I also realize that I can't relive my 2005-2007. That would be a mistake and I made plenty of those last season and will make plenty of new ones this season. I have grown as a triathlete. Some races will most certainly be repeats however what I am looking for is a progression in the sport and I can't do that focusing on the same things over and over again, wondering, "These are great...but is this it?"

I went from a barely surviving 400 yard pool sprint swimmer to a 2.4 mile ocean based Ironman with 4 foot swells. I went from doing my own thing to founding a triathlon club. From boring bland tri clothes to shaping the color landscape of Phoenix with Tribe/AZTRICLUB orange on racers and spectators alike, (orange is THE color of triathlon in Phoenix). The Tri blog alliance went from five of us to over a 100. I have become invested in people that I have never met.

What will next season bring? Belief I hope. Not just for me, but for others. I want to help others believe they can do this awesome sport too. I will be excited when I finish all my races smiling and vertical but celebrate the success of my friends. I have created a kick ass amazing race season for the next twelve months and I want to share it all with you.

Soma Epic Weekend

Disclaimer- I am too tired to hyperlink all the bloggers mentioned or alluded to in this report. I do not do their deeds justice in this post nor can I truly explain the magnitude at which I appreciated being apart of special weekend.

Wow!

Talk about a gangbuster fast weekend of blogger-centric activity. I most certainly will not be able to condense everything into a cogent post and really my contribution was minimal considering I did not have a bib number.

Bolder and I again slit our fingers and mashed them together in blood-brotherhood and swore oaths to meet for race weekend once per year. That may also have been spilled our beer and cursed like sailors, but you get the point. Bold stayed with me at Casa del Comm's while Mistress and Mo were in Seattle. I could not promise turn down service or home cooked meals but he got excellent sleep every night and a personal chauffeur at his beck and call. I can do no more.

As Nytro so eloquently pointed out at lunch during the expo, the only places I eat with her and Ben are Olive Garden and Monti's (a rustic restaurant directly across the finish line of Soma and IMAZ) Rainbow and Hubby could only claim Monti's with me, so Nytro felt superior. Which isn't surprising.

I finally met Stronger. Reaching out to finally touch someone in person that has touched me so much as a person, I admit got me teary eyed. I may in future references blame horseradish for the redness in my eyes. But nevertheless I could have done nothing else the whole weekend and meeting her made it complete.

Of course my email training partner, MoMo was there all the time (we keep emailing schedules and have yet to ride together), 21st Century Mom whom is as sweet a person IRL as online, thank you for the gifts. The Dread Pirate, AAAARRRR she was ruckus woman. There will be much said regarding her race and I give her high praise for never speaking a disparaging word about it. Un-pirate like to not blame 'The Man' but she showed me once again the triathlon spirit that an indomitable attitude is more important at a triathlon than a great race.

Oh geesh, so many people at a 25 person dinner that its hard to give proper dues. But at least thanks Brian and the New Mexico Outlaws for allowing me to attend the dinner. I sat at a table with great minds and easy smiles. It was a bit overwhelming to maintain so many threads of conversations, I wanted to be a part of them all and not miss anything.

The Race. How did my race day go when I wasn't racing? Well being Bolder's personal driver is a big responsibility. I woke at 0220, unable to sleep so I hopped on my trainer until 0400 when my alarm when off. Pre Race was great, I did not see much of the out of towners except Bold so we stayed with AZTRICLUB members. We're not hard to see, racers and supporters alike in our bright orange shirts.

I jumped in and volunteered a couple hours stripping wet suits. Fun. Drank some beers. Then when Big John came out of T2, I went out to pace him for his first half of the 13.1 mile run. At three miles, we ran into Duane and I decided to walk the remainder of his quarter man 10k with him as he was starting to be affected greatly by the weather. It hit 100 degrees out there during the race. Duane and I did not get a chance to talk much at the dinner and I felt badly about that. Maybe God had put him and I out there together on the run course together so we could spend the time together that I wanted the night before. I was compelled to push John forward and stay with Duane.

Duane got so much praise and support from fellow competitors out there. It was affirming of the human spirit and humbling. His mouth, all our mouths, were so dry that he simply could not respond to every person who spoke to him or touched him when they ran by in support of his efforts.

In all I spent two hours and seventeen minutes on the run course, running up and down, walking with and talking to important people who needed encouragement or a side-five. Doing that while first pacing John then pacing Duane really made me feel like a better person than just being a spectator.

The AZTRICLUB tent was a hub of activity. This time we had three 10x10 tents for shade with 5 cases of beer, 6 bottles of champagne, water and Gatorade, muffins, danishes, homemade burritos, German chocolate cake, bagels, fruit and chips. The team probably handed out a case of beer and couple dozen small glasses of champagne to friends and fellow athletes who felt obliged. We may not be the fast tri club in the city, but everyone knows we do it up at races.

While Soma is the end of most peoples seasons, Florida Ironman and Silverman not withstanding, my season is soon about to begin.

Let's have fun....

Battle of the Ages

This is actually some funny stuff.

EndurancePlanet.com did a segment recently with six time Ironman Kona winner Dave Scott whom is titled to be racing head on against current Kona champ Macca this November at the Silverman in Las Vegas.

You can listen to it HERE.

Scott, 53, in the few interviews I have seen with him, is a consummate straightman in interviews allowing cut ups like Paul Huddle to deliver some great lines.

In reality Scott has no illusion of beating Macca or anyone else. In his own words, "I don't think any man can claim the title of PRO at the age of 53." Instead he will continue to inspire all of us young and old, and perhaps a current champion to look at triathlon as a lifelong endeavor and not a life judged by the last hour on the clock.

I must thank superfast aztriclub team mate, 'Chile' (as in pepper, not country) for the heads up on this. He is racing Silverman in November, his second Ironman of the year. Its a no joke bike course with 10,000 feet of climbing and his response to me after he did a sponsored full course ride in September, "Comm's....there is no flat spots on this course. Its either up or down. Sweeeet."

Not next time, Next Year

Of course with the second biggest race in Phoenix this weekend, (#1 Ironman, #2 Soma) everybody asks if I am participating. Its not as hard as you think to say "No." Since June, when I took two months off of structured training and then in August when I started my base building, my eye has been firmly on my prize. 2008. The entire year.

Periodization. We have seen that word in the magazines and training manuals. For me the subject is generally glazed over. But I got tired of just training for my next race. For much of my life as a Fitness Enthusiast, I simply looked at what was next on the calendar and planned for that.

This year I tried a different approach. Instead of racing, recovery, rebuild, taper, racing, recovery rebuild, over and over again; I took the approach of long term thinking for the entire season. Will it work? I hope so.

That being said, I have a diverse schedule for next season. Almost like a new season of Heroes, it has some new races, some old races and some sacrifices. A villain returns for another battle. New locations, better sets but unfortunately there will be no trip to Europe, (a la Heroes opening of season 2 or Ross Gellers London wedding to Emily in the Friends finale of season 4 ). Oh well, Ironman UK is over rated.

I really haven't made a secret of the schedule for my next season of racing, at least locally. But honestly, with most tri-bloggers deep into the finishing touches of their fantastic year, most Ironman finishers than every before and more importantly more first time triathletes than every before, it feels counter-productive to post what I am trying to do next year when this year is not even over for most.

Lots of people have jumped on my back. I have been called a 'wuss' for not doing some local races this year, even though my training plan has me doing more volume than is needed for the event. I have been called a slacker, for not showing up for a 30 minute swim when instead I did a 3 hour bike or a two hour run. I have been called crazy for getting up at 0330 to get in a 30 mile ride before the club shows up and I join them for the scheduled 30 mile ride.

I am thinking long term this time. The foundation of the next dozen races has been laid over the summer and fall of this year. I'll let everything else speak for itself.

Woah. Where'd the day go? I am quite relaxed as i leave r e i. mistress is now gone & had to stack up on cliff bars & camp meals for food

Fears

Fear is a powerful emotion. Fear can make you run faster in a race because you don't want to be passed. Fear can stop you in your tracks or make you cower against the wall for protection. Far to often, I believe, we remember and hold onto the fears that hold us back and not the ones that propel us forward.

Its easy to consider the visceral fears we have about snakes, or heights or being alone in the dark. These immediately set upon us just being in the vicinity of the challenge. These are deep seated fears that came from a trauma or situation that at the time your mind was unable to comprehend. But these fears are generally marginalized because we attempt to live in a bubble that negates being around snakes, or the edges of tall buildings or being in dark, quiet places.

Its the fear of failure that affects all of us on a daily basis and that we have the greatest power over. The fear of failing family. The fear of being fired from your job. The fear of asking for the sale. The fear of standing up for yourself in the name of injustice.

I think when it comes to these fears we allow ourselves to be controlled by our emotions too much and our intelligence not enough. We put the same weight on the fear of finishing a marathon as we do on seeing a snake in wild. We equate the fear of standing in front of a small group for a presentation as we do looking over a ten story balcony.

I use to have a fear of heights whenever I looked over a long drop. Then I realized my fear did not occur when I was tied in with a rope rappelling off a helicopter or when bungie jumping or when I was rock climbing.

I realized my fear was not falling from that high...but jumping with no safety measures. Once I realized that I could look over a drop of any distance, I just have to tell myself, "Don't jump". Thats much different than the natural inclination to think, "Don't fall!"

So my conclusion is to change the paradigm of my fear. I still don't want to fail my family, so I think, "Don't fail yourself." I still don't like snakes much, but as long as I think, "Don't touch" instead of "Don't bite" I can get along just fine.

Not sure if I want to get rid of the fear of being passed in a race. I still think that that fear is a powerful motivator for good.