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Hack's Tri JourneysIronman: In Pursuit of Why
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12/18/2008 Snow & Back to BasicsI received a well needed phone call recently from a good friend/triathlon coach/mentor. IMJ put is simply for me this month...No Zeros. Sound familiar? It is back to basics to give me a solid foundation coming into the new year. This is more difficult than it sounds when I see other peers putting in sizeable volume already and testing already. Good practice for me to focus on me and my enjoyment, not the inevitable comparison complex of us Type A folks.
To top it off, we've got snow and below freezing temps to add to the mix. Yesterday's run though was fun and with my new digs, I'm able to walk to the University to swim. Pretty cool to walk up there on Sunday with no human being in sight. I just stopped and watched the snow fall and feel the wind blow. Pretty powerful to just sit there and observe nature doing its thing. 12/5/2008 I'm BackI'll save the details for another time. This year I posted my fastest Ironman time to date at Coeur d'Alene in late June. I followed by attempting Ironman Canada on 2 months later. Done with the intent of having no pressure while experimenting with things and as personal therapy it was a nightmare of a day that I'm not sure I'll ever quite fully understand. Nor do I believe I want to. It was a mental blow up of tsunami proportions.
Since the end of August I've maintained a regular running schedule and even ran the Belligham Bay 1/2 marathon a couple weeks after IMC on 4 runs. Today marked my 2nd swim since the end of August...yep you read that correctly. And I've maybe been on the bike a half dozen times.
So decision making time has come. Do I pad the added layers I've accumulated to my mid section or do we begin the trek towards IMCDA.
Easy decision.
Getting back into shape...not as easy.
Completely unrelated, but I love the following Mark Twain quote:
Life does not consist mainly – or even largely – of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing through one's head. -- Mark Twain 6/30/2008 If I can walk by WednesdayWhat are you doing here with your stuff?
This and other similar questions greeted me at this past Sunday's Lake Padden triathlon as I entered transition.
Didn't you just race Ironman Couer d'Alene on Sunday?
Several weeks before IMCDA, I was on a ride with Erik DeRoche and Jeff Nyman. I made the comment that the only bad thing about racing CDA is that I'd have to miss the Lake Padden triathlon the following week. Erik then mentioned that he had a phenomenal shorter course race the week after an Ironman race once. That's all I needed to hear.
For those of you who don't know, Lake Padden is a great event with two distances...neither a true Sprint or Olympic distance, but just a fun well run deal. I signed up for the competitive race featuring a 1/2 mile swim, 21 mile hilly bike, and 5.2 miles on the groomed trail around the lake.
I told myself that if I could walk on Wednesday that I would race. So Saturday morning I strolled into transition still complete with Ironman stickers on my bike from Sunday.
It was great. I was relaxed, happy, and just enjoying the great weather that we were being blessed with.
A quick synopsis:
I entered the water in the first (seed yourself) wave because I wanted a good assessment of where I was from the beginning. With approximately 50 people per wave and being one of the slower swimmers in this wave, I found myself cruising comfortably without any interference from other neoprene clad competitors. What a nice change after last week's slugfest.
On to the bike you immediately encounter a longer grade probably around 4% and although my legs didn't hurt, I had to smile at the fact that there was very little life left in these sausages. I did what I could with what I had to work with, but generally felt alright with a slight twinge in the left calf coming into T2.
The run was my concern. I promised myself that if I felt anything "wrong" I would just quit. Easier said than done...I don't like quitting. The calf made it aware to my nervious system that it didn't like what I was doing and felt like it was borderline going to pull. I pressed on swearing at my "promise" to myself. Fortunately, I didn't have to lie to myself as it release about a half mile in and I began trudging along.
This is a two loop course and as I came through the first loop, the editors of Adventures NW magazine that recently published my first article yelled at me that Marti was just ahead. Marti is a local stud female athlete and became the carrot (cake) dangling in front of me. I told myself to practice race tactics and work myself up to her shoulder. This took me just over 1/2 the 2nd lap. As I neared her, I passed Kristy Youtsey on her first lap and knew that if she saw me she would yell out "Way to go Hack" or something of the sort. I didn't want Marti to know I was there (the grunting, groaning, and spitting may have tipped her off, but I thought I was being so stealth.), so as I went by Kristy I put my finger to my lips to let her know not to say anything.
Wherever Marti went on the path, I went directly behind her. She has a strong kick and I knew I had to pick my time well or this would be short lived. I have a hard time being patient so this was like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting the sun to come up. Marti looked back and I knew it was now or never. I just ran with what I had and finished strong.
My time was similar to last year on fresh legs (although last year involved a flat), but I was happy with the race. I really enjoyed being out there which is apparent by the big smile on my face coming down the finishing chute.
Yes, Hackney doesn't always race angry. I let smiles creep out every so often!
 Final time 1:53
27th OA
6th AG
6/26/2008 CDA Race ReportIronman CDA Race Report (Long w/Pictures) Arrived in CDA on Wednesday late afternoon. I rented out the same house I did in ’06 and this year was fortunate enough to share it with several of my Counterpart Coaching family members. Kevin (racing) & Kristen Stow (support phenom) – Chicago, IL Scott Greene – Seattle Mitch Gold – Yucca Valley, CA
Other CpC friends and family
Thursday morning we ventured down to the swim start armed with neoprene hoods and booties. Five strokes later we all bobbed up and with all joking aside didn’t think we could pull this off. It was piercing cold that just left your face and hands stinging intensely. We swam to the first bouy, still painful. By the 2nd buoy exposed skin began to numb so we managed about 20 minutes in the water. Left the water feeling somewhat encouraged that we knew we’d eventually numb up, but still skeptical about 2.4 miles of this. Later in the day Kevin Stow and I did a little recon on our bikes through a good chunk of the tougher course areas. Thursday night was our CpC BBQ which brought about 25 of us together from all over which is always a treat.
Friday morning I skipped swimming and opted to go to the coffee shop. We later rode easily out to the first turn around passing Desiree “Look at my Killer Abs” Ficker on her run. Most of the remainder of the day was off our feet lounging at the house.
Saturday was another adventure to the swim start. But I was happily greeted by warmer temps. Mitch did some last minute tuning on the bike before heading down to check everything in. The whole CpC family was there…pretty cool.
Race Morning: 3:45 a.m. alarm and the attempt to get 700-800 calories into this frame. Just after 5, Kristen drove us down to the race start for the normal parade through body marking, bags, tire pumping, and nervous laughter.
Swim: Around 2200 athletes shuffled down the walkway and onto the beach. It appeared to me like they spread us out more horizontally across the beach than normal. I lined up right in line with the buoys so I could go inside them for clean water. A minute before the gun went off I noticed my HR monitor was acting up, but nothing I could do but dive in as the cannon went off.
Let the melee begin. It was no where close to as cold as I thought it might be, but in short I have never been beat up that much on dry land, let alone horizontally in the water!! This continued for the entire first lap as I got kicked square in the chest, punched in the head, and kicked in the jaw. The groping and feeling were enough to make any mother blush, but so goes Ironman.
With my 4k time trials being in the 1:08-1:12 range, I was horribly shocked to hit the beach with a 1:22 showing on the clock. No panic though and just continued through transition and onto the bike.
Bike: It became apparent that I was the last CpCer out of the water. Not good for the ego, but I just started executing the game plan. Heart rate monitor was still registering on the bike, but that was it. I did a good job of getting it back down into the normal range for me and just cruised through town.
About an hour in I lost all watch functions and had to resort to old school Perceived Effort. This didn’t worry me on the bike though. I felt strong and executed as Mitch and I had discussed. Mitch had said that if I executed properly I would pass a lot of people starting around mile 75. He was right and it was funny to see guys with aero helmets and disk wheels sitting up on their pads struggling as I stayed aero. I knew I was making up a lot of ground on some of my comrades and as I came into T2 it was nearly deserted except for my best mate, Aussie Drew.
5:51 I believe with a 19mph average. Solid effort for me on this course.
(Side note: Aussie Drew is faster than me on paper and likes to talk. So he spotted me 45 minutes and loser was buying the other a lot of post race beer.)
Very rewarding to come out together onto the course. I wanted to run with him, but I know he’s a much stronger runner than I am and with no data to go off of, I just held back and kept him in sight. Some of our support crew was getting a kick out of how close I was and was wildly cheering me on in pursuit of my beer trophy.
Run: I felt great, but trusting myself this late in the game with no heart rate or splits took a lot out of me mentally. To see so many of us racing on the course (I believe there were a dozen of us racing together) was an unbelieveable experience.
I got HUNGRY. Calories were solid, but since I’m all liquid nutrition your belly still wants substance, so I dove into the pretzels and even took a couple cookies.
Passing the dreaded tree that I crumbled beneath in 2006 signaled the damn monkey jumping off my back and into the lake. That was a horrible experience and one I couldn’t help but smile about as I ran past.
I ran the aid stations and based on the distance from those that I knew, I was maintaining the same pace. What that pace was…who knows! Around mile 12 things got a little dark for me in terms of needing some sort of pick me up. At Special Needs I knew I had a Red Bull and some Pringles so that pushed me along.
Coming back into the final stretch I reminded myself to enjoy the final stretch down the main street in CDA. I typically forget to do this, but this time I slowed the pace and took it all in. Hard to put in all that training, see and hear all those people, and not get a little choked up. At first I thought I saw an 11:13 on the board and was happy with that effort. A change in the sun reflection showed the reality of an 11:32.
This was a personal best that I’m proud of. Things are never quite as cut and dry at the end of the day as they were on paper leading into the race, but other than the DNF I’ve never not PRd at this distance. This is a big change from my first attempt in 2004.
Oh yeah…12 minutes behind my Aussie mate and there were a lot of beers thrown down at his expense the following 2 days!!!
6/25/2008 Quick DebriefBack in Bellingham following Sunday's Ironman Couer d'Alene.
In a nutshell until I have time to write up an offical race report:
Slow swim (see above), but allowed me to pass somewhere in the range of 800 people on the bike course. Executed the bike as well as I think I could have. Ran alright...not great, but alright. Personal best time: 11:32 Yeeeaaaa BAAAABEEEE 6/15/2008 UnoOne week.
In fact, one week from right now I should be not too far out of transition and on the hoochie riding the beginning miles of the bike course.
Weather and temperatures are the bubbling topic lately. Who knows and it's out of our control anyway. Sure we all want our ideal conditions (which change a bit depending on where you are geographically located). Rains and cold water temps wouldn't be ideal but whatever...it is what it is.
The hay is in the barn as a old saying goes.
Right now sleep is on my agenda and I seem to be needing lots of it. I think it a combination of a busy work schedule right now and allergies hitting hard this past week. The cottonwood starts it's summer snow fall and my system goes on shut down feeling like I'm always barely awake and the eyes itch like mosquito bites. It's all good though cuz it's nearly time to rock and roll.
Doesn't look like people can get text message tracking during the day, but you can get individual coverage of the athletes on www.ironmanlive.com
6/11/2008 Celebration TimeThe usual mixed bag of emotions always come with "The Taper." You can be postal one moment, euphoric the next, and somewhere in between you worry. But so many, author included, tend to place so much emphasis on The Race. Easy to do, especially with Ironman as you typically train 6, 8, 10 months to race once or maybe twice in a season. But race day really boils down to a celebration. Yes Kona spots, personal records, and penis measuring are on the line, but when you sit back and realize what it takes to get to the sandy starting line healthy and fit enough to tackle a race of this stature, you realize that this is a hell of a way to Celebrate.
This is a celebration of our journey, along with those the have supported and endured our long hours in the saddle, chlorine induced snoring, and epic grocery bills. This race will be fun because the nature of the course design makes it not only spectator friendly, but athlete friendly. With such a large CpC contingent out there on race day it will be nice to see each other throughout the day, especially when it matters...on the run.
Think warm water cuz that's about all it's going to be is a thought! Water temps right now have it below the mid 50s which is chilly to say the least.
Sunday the 22nd is what we do this all for. 5/27/2008 The little things26 days.
Jones had a great post today on the CpC forum that reminded me of taking care of the little things. Jones' CpC forum Post.
Was reminded of some mental stuff from Burke's blog as well. I've fallen victim of letting other things cloud my mental race prep. Can't have that if I'm going to have my best Ironman ever on 6/22 Burke's Blog
dialing in the details... 5/18/2008 Camp TotalsHere's what I had from Thursday, May 8-17th of training volume approximately:
Bike: 494 miles 28 hours
Run: 48 miles, 6:58
Swim: 17.5k, 7 hours
Lots of elevation, heat, wind, H20, and FOOD! Many ThanksIf you've read my blog before, I'm always interested in the group dynamics of each training camp, the different personalities, and how it all comes together.
This was a very well rounded group of solid athletes. I was definitely pushed to become stronger because who was here.
Hard to believe that 5 weeks from right now we should have wrapped up our 2008 Ironman Couer d'Alene. You never feel completely ready, but I am looking forward to the timing of this training as it absorbs into my system for this final stretch of race prep.
Thanks again to everyone for pushing me through quitting points. You may not have even realized that you did, but you are all so incredibly talented it was fun to train with you.
It will be a CpC fest at Coeur d'Alene, with everyone (sans Knoxville Amy) there racing or supporting. What a wild ride that will be.
Attention to detail time. The clock is ticking down to the cannon.
Here we go....
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