The Tripple HHH

So in a couple of days, registration finally opens up for one of the hardest century rides around my neck of the woods. Climbs higher than IronMan Wisconsin. Supposedly if you can do these you should have no problem at IM Wisconsin. Not sure if I 100% agree, since you don't have to swim 2.4 miles before it, but here is some specs "40 significant rises, from 50 ft bumps to the 910 ft final climb, for a total of 10,700 feet of elevation gain." should I be afraid, maybe so, since I have never done this event before. But what is a new adventure without a little fear mixed in there... Yes, I'm going to sign up for the 200k (124.2 miles). My longest bike ride was 118 last year.. And also maybe a Half IM triathlon a week before.. So it will be an interesting month.

So if anybody is in the area, join in some Horrible Hilly fun along with 1000 other cyclist and some of my TRI teammates... This will sell out fast..

Along the running front, I have to say I haven't ran this whole weekend. Lets say my OCD took over and put me on injury reserve. I did a quick set of single leg presses on Wednesday, felt kinda of weird after I was done. Woke up with a sore muscle on the side of my knee. What the hell, instead of resting, did my tempo/interval run, got some pool time, then by Friday I was in "not being able to sleep" pain. So lesson learned for now, I skipped my long runs this weekend, knee is feeling better today, regular workouts hopefully starting tomorrow. With only about 4 weeks of hard training before I taper for my 50 mile ultra. I might rest a entire week if I need to heel up (Did i just say that...) Okay maybe 3 to 4 days max...

I hope everybody else had a safe weekend with all this crazy weather we had this weekend. Snow/sleet and thunderstorms rumbling along the skies in Chi-town. Maybe I should be more afraid of this strange weather.

"Weekend Annoyance"

So on Saturday, even-though it was snowing 1 to 2 inches outside, I decided I was going to try to take my crazy ass out for a 2 hour trail run after my morning swim session.

So annoyance #1, I get there and the gates are closed, (okay, maybe I would probably be the only crazy one out there that day). But c'mon Mr. Park Ranger what is a little snow on top of the 4 to 8 inches a couple of days before.. I need to run on the trails!!!

So I headed back to the gym to make the most of it on the
treadmill. I was so unprepared for this, so I ran on the treadmill with my Gore-Tex trail shoes and no music to keep me company.

Like most of you, when I'm there at the gym, I'm there to workout. This younger lady starts running on the treadmill next to me. Magazine, Ipod, phone, and water bottle. So she starts running, but then at a specific time she jumps off the rolling treadmill, stops, turns her magazine page, takes a swig of water, changes the treadmill speed settings, and starts again. So after awhile this became annoyance #2, so I started to time this rest/interval event. So YES, every 90 seconds she would do this. Did I mention this was so annoying. I really wanted to say something, seriously what was the point of all this.

Another annoying thing (will call it #3) that baffles me is why people go into the pool by diving in, don't they know it is only 4 feet deep. They dive in and get out, usually in a lane where someone else is swimming in. Yes, this happened to me this morning during my swim session.

So besides the annoyance factor, it was an "okay" running weekend. Even-though it was a recovery week, I was only able to sneak in 7 miles on the treadmill on Saturday and another 15 miles on Sunday on the road. A little short of my total plan, but my legs where feeling kinda of tired this weekend.

But I'm glad I did get to rest a little bit, take my daughter sledding for the 1st time before the snow disappears by this weekend .

Also take her to the money pit I call "Chuckie Cheesier".

I can only hope when my daughter becomes a teenager
she won't think I'm not so annoying. I can only hope.

What's up Doc.?

So this week was my 3 month surgical checkup concerning my hernia surgery. The one thing about being injured for me anyways, especially since this injury required surgery, I have been extremely paranoid about every little unknown twinge, pulling, and sharp pain around that area, I guess what we guys call our "Manhood" area.

So after waiting an hour to see the doc. Doc pokes around and prodded me.

Okay like Ouchhhh...

Made me turn and cough more than a man should ever do in his lifetime. He says I'm fine and free to do whatever I want to do. (Like getting medical clearance has stopped me so far)

But ??

Bubba: "Doc, I sometimes feel pain". I don't want to go through this again...

Doc: "you are pretty active, workout all the time"

Bubba: "but, Yeah"

Doc: "you should be fine, could be a muscle thing, not
sure, it should be constant, not sporadic, if you want
to come back, see me in 6 months or even sooner if you
want to"

Bubba : "Okay"

Then my 10 minutes are up.. So for a little while longer, I can tell my mom, my Doc cleared me, while she tells me why I should just relax and watch some TV instead of doing these things she still does not understand the reason why.

With the big snowstorm passing through and another couple of inches on Saturday morning, hopefully get to do a little bit of trail running while the horse crap is still covered over.

So, looking at my run schedule, a recovery run week for me with a shorter weekend long run schedule (2 hours/13miles & 2.5/16miles). Switching to a swim focus for the next 6 weeks. As my 6 week bike focus finished, I think I averaged around 40 to 60 miles on the Computrainer each week. Not great, I actually wanted to do more, but sometimes I just ran out of time. Plus my ass does really seem to hurt more sitting on a bike trainer for some reason.

Eight more weeks to my 50 mile ultra and counting.

Hmm, I should be saying "Oh crap", by now. But if I can do one or more 50k runs before than I think I will be just fine.

It doesn't snow in April right? If so I guess I will be ready for it.

"Glass Bubble"

It has been a really weird week for me. Even thou I was kinda of disappointed at my overall time at the 50k ultra run in the frozen tundra last weekend. I was actually feeling pretty hyped up by the middle of the week. I think that 50k became one of those "breakthrough" events for me. If I can do that in those elements, everything does seem a little bit easier.

But lack of sleep for 2 days last week put me in a tailspin. I tend to train in a glass bubble. Not really by choice, but necessary, because UltraRunning like IronMan can be a solitary road I must travel sometimes. So if I would have see "Rudy" the movie, I think I would have just flat out started crying in front of my wife.

Was I a little mentally burned out, maybe so, doubted myself a little bit, maybe so also. Sometimes I do wonder which choice was the right one in that fork in the road.

So Friday I needed to get some sleep, I had another normal long run weekend. The cold in the teens seemed to bother me this time. I really didn't want to run in the cold anymore. But Saturday, I put on my shoes and ran for 18 mile (3 hours) on the road. I think It is just what I needed. My mind does clear sometimes on my solitary journey and some of my self-pity had gone away. Even thou I was tired running from Saturday, I did another 19 mile (3.5 hours) on a snow packed trail on Sunday. It was tiring, I yelled out "YES, this sucked" when I was done and the best part I didn't fall on my ass the whole way.

So with mind fresh again and refocused I will try to not let the small pebbles of peoples opinions make a dent in my glass training bubble. I just need to believe in myself sometimes. So I think for now, I'm back in my "Happy Place" again.

So on a crazier not , I signed up for the Chicago Marathon, among other things, A close friend calls me up and says he wants to run it. So I said I would run the whole thing with him. My friend is a workaholic, takes medication for cholesterol, high blood pressure, and is a non-runner. But he decided he was tired of taking medication and wanted to change his life. So good for him, if he is there on race day, I will be there for every step.

So as I wait for the winter snow storm to approach this fair city, I say bring it on and I will see you out there again Mr. Snowman and Mr. coyote.

"Frozen ASS Race for this Crazy ASS"

So on a warm Saturday morning I awoke at 4:00 am to get ready for my 2 hour drive to the "Fat ASS" race in cold ASS Wisconsin. Never having a doubt in my mind that I would at least show up for the race. All week long, weatherman screamed out severe weather warnings from my TV. I think even the governor of Wisconsin told everybody to stay inside.

Blah, Blah, Blah, what do they know.

But as I got closer to the race sight and saw a blinking sign saying 4 degrees, true temps around -10 (or worse), and snow drifts along the road. I thought just for a moment, maybe I was the crazy one.

You think? Naaa..

But as I pulled into the small parking lot full of cars. I knew this is where I needed to be, this morning, on this day. So they actually had a indoor area for registration and to thaw out afterwards.

Instead of a race bib, they had this tag as a race number to be worn. It reminded me of a toe tag, maybe just in case our bodies got covered with snow, I think they could still identify our bodies.

I had decided to try to run with my new UltraRunner Hydration pack, I figure if I put it underneath my jacket it would not freeze and it would be okay. Plus the O.C.D. triathlete in me had a backup plan as well if this failed.

So the race was 4 1/2 loops on a snow packed trail, with rolling hills and one gradual big hill in the middle of it all. Two aid stations, one kinda of unmanned, and one at the checkpoint/registration area. We had to check in at the end of each loop. No t-shirts, no age group awards, I think a traveling 1st place award, so next year I think you had to bring it back for next years winner.

The race started with around 57 people, all of us covered from head to toe, but without much fanfare, we started off, I think the guy just said "GO".

So after 15 minutes of the 1st loop, I went to take a drink, and yes, my hydration pack was frozen, wholly crap, this is not going to be pretty, I had to finish my 7 mile loop before I could start with hydration plan B. At least the one aid station out there on the trail was a lifesaver.

The worst part of running in this weather was stopping. So after the 1st loop, I unloaded my hydration pack and went with a handheld water bottle instead. But do you know what happens to Gatorade, shaken up, in a water bottle, and in below zero temps.

Yup, you get a 7-11 slurpee...

After awhile I could not even close my water bottle, because the top had frozen as well. Trying to take gel shots with gloves was not much fun either. But eating some fig bars and peanut butter/jelly sandwich slices at the aid stations did help out.

So pretty much my nutrition plan was not going according to plan. But I made the best of it. Did I have any other choice. (Stopping was not one of them).

So Loop one was just getting used to the trail. Loop two was a little bit easier. Loop three was starting to bite me in the ASS, because of my lack of inconsistent nutrition/hydration intake. Then loop 4 came along and I took some "Happy Pills" (aka Salt Tablets) to take away a little bit of the tired legs I was feeling. It was a little bit easier after that, the last half loop was harder, because sometimes when you know when you are about done, you just can't wait to get there. I didn't look at my garmin heart rate watch most of the way and mostly ran on how I felt. But like a good UltraRunner I took walking breaks up the hills and tried to run down the hills without taking a plunge into the snow. I think I did realize how cold it was when the trees around me started to creek. I felt like a Hobbit running around an enchanted forest with sounds of nature all around.

What was even more funny was seeing fellow racers with there faces covered with frost and one guy with an icicle running down his nose. I only hoped I didn't look the same.

But numb fingers and all I'm really glad I was able to finish. I was beating myself up a little bit during the race because I knew my race time was getting pretty slow. Sometimes I felt I was the only one out there and was truly awed at the UltraRunners blazing the trail with ease. Kinda of disheartening at the same time as well. But I'm still a newbie at this UltraRunning stuff, so maybe one day I'll be one of those people as well.

On the loops I would always pass this lady who was trailing behind me. She always had a smile on her face and on our final lap, she says as I pass her, "I'm going to finish this". That put everything in perspective for me and a little smile on my face. This was a training race for my 50 mile Ultra, and yes, I was going to finish this race as well. So for today that would be good enough for me.

I was out there a long time, I think I finished 31 out of 36 finishers, 31 out of 57 starters, so which numbers are better, I guess it some ways it didn't matter. I got to run on a great trail, challenged myself mentally (ran without any music), and stayed upright the whole way. I still have my fingers intact and after reading e-mails of the training stats from runners/triathletes I know in the windy city, I think mine was not to bad at all.

The 1st part of "The Experiment of One" is now completed.

And yes, I will probably be out there the same time next year. Anybody want to join me?

"Are you sure you are going?"

So all week my wife asked me this question concerning running a 50k UltraMarathon in sub-zero weather.

So yes, I'm done. I think I saw a sign say 4 degrees on the way there. I'm sure it was some kind of sub-zero weather.

So my goal was to finish, pretty tired right now. Around 75 crazy people braved the weather at the starting line at 7:30 am. I think about 35 to 40 people braved the elements and finished the entire 50k (31 miles) on a snow packed trail.

Yes, I was one of the 35 to 40 people. Not the greatest race time. Longer than I expected, but would have not wished to be anywhere else. (okay in a warm bed at some points during the race)

So after I unfreeze my brain, I will post my 50k ultra trail report. So for know I leave you this.

"Do, or do not, There is no try" ~ Yoda ("The Empire Strike Back")

Tri tagging is going Around and Around

I was tagged by IronMomJenny, I think I got her thinking about UltraRunning for 2008. Anybody else? Plus check out her pillows, it's for a good cause.

So here is my story:

1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever.

It was the Batavia sprint triathlon in 2004. I taught myself to swim that year and it was my 1st open-water swim. It was in a man-made quarry, kinda of like a giant pool. The water was so low at points you could walk 75% of the swim. I zig-zaged the whole way but I swam it. The best part was my wife cheered for me and one of my best friends did the duathlon portion of the race.

2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon.

It was IronMan Wisconsin in 2006. It was one of the hardest races I have done to date so far. The rain, the cold, and the wind. I was so tired on the bike I wanted to take a nap and probably could have rode my bike while sleeping (for a little while anyways).

Peed on the bike for the 1st time (just wanted to share).

My hands swelled up during the marathon and if it was not for chicken soup broth I would have had a DNF. Racing with fellow bloggers and my tri teammate made the whole race bearable. Since I'm a slow swimmer, passing some of them during the race was even more fun.
I can't wait for IronMan Wisconsin 2007.

3. What's the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?

In one of my Olympic triathlons. I traveled to Michigan and totally forgot about the time zone
change. I arrived at the race still unaware of my error. Tried to pickup my packet, they told me the real time. I begged for my race packet, telling them I was "dazed and confused" and yes from Chicago. Didn't even have time to unpack my Transition gear. Threw on my wetsuit and got to the water as soon as my wave took off. And yes, I think I was the only idiot who couldn't figure out what time it was...

4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?

It had to be crossing the finishing line of IronMan Wisconsin with my daughter and wife. I relayed a message to them that I would just meet them after the race, because of the horrible weather. To my surprise my wife was at the last corner before the finish line along with my Tri Club teammates who also braved the weather all day. It made it all worth while that day.
After crossing the finish line, I hugged my wife, gave the medal to my daughter, and dropped a couple of tears. (I still get choked up thinking about it)

5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?

Many people told me I was crazy even attempting to finish the IronMan race with my hernia injury. Maybe so, but sometimes you have to believe in yourself. Only then can you know how further you can really go. "Impossible is Nothing"


6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?

Sometimes things consume me, where it be Martial Arts or triathlon/ultra craziness. To find "balance" with my family is a goal that supersedes all others. Because for me at the end, that is what really matters, even-though I need some reminding alot of the times.

Okay, I also have the goal of finishing every North American IronMan Race, more UltraMarthon craziness (yes, one day, 100 milers), Xterra, and do some adventure races.. That's my 5 year plan anyway.


So, TRIteacher and LISA, you have been TRI tagged. I want to hear your stories.