IM Florida - My perfect Race Part 1

Over the past 6 months I have, swum less, biked a bit more in the past few months but less overall for the year, run far less, due to a niggling injury that I haven't wanted to inflame, with my longest run being 15 miles. I also missed most of September training while we were all in Europe.I certainly didn't feel prepared and was hoping my training from last year was still partially there, and my experience would make a big difference (nutrition especially).

Pre Race everything was rushed, travelling with the girls is hard work, and we arrived on site Thursday PM. Managed to get one 10 min ride on the Friday and a 10 min swim.

Morning of the race nerves were definitely there, I really had no expectation of how the race would go. In my mind I had hopes, but I really had no idea if they were widely unreasonable. Expectations, were to finish and I would be over the moon to just beat last years time.

Things didn't go well from the start, walking down to transition at 5am I realised I had left all my water bottles in the fridge (that was one of my pre-race nightmares!) Gemma ran back and got them for me and whereas in my dream it was a disaster, now it was only a minor hicup.

Standing on the beach, I started to get mentally prepared, quick swim as the sun came up. The sea had calmed from the previous few days, not as smooth as last year, but still very flat.

Tomorrows the big day

Not much to say really..

Nerves have well and truely set in, just about to try and get a few hours sleep.

My race number is #316.

You should be able to track me via www.ironman.com.

Good luck to the other bloggers out there..
Ryan #515
Michelle #2322
Lana #2139
Ian #811

Plus anyone else I have missed.
Hope you all have a good race.

Update at long last

Wow what a busy month. Its been over a month since I last blogged and so much has happened on some fronts and so little has happened on others!

The positives
Lakeshore Century ride - Total cycle time of 5hr 30 ish (PR for me). However actual time was closer to 6hrs after 2 punctures, and only carrying 1 spare didn't help. But a nice passerby passed on her spare. The fist tyre went at about mile 20, so I knew it was going to be a long ride! The second went at mile 85. I had taken out my second spare to make room for more nutrition and in all my outdoor riding I had never had a puncture. Well that ride sure made up for it! It did give me practise at changing a tyre in race conditions which was great. I can get stressed when I am really hurrying!

Finished very dehrydrated, and really need to drink more on the bike. This was my failing last year and I just don't seem able to take on enough water. I think i need to be drinking a sports bottle every 30 mins as well as taking on more carbs on the bike. NUUN is great for the salt, but I miss out on the carbs.
Looking at the tyres it doesn't look like a puncture but more of a burst valve.

Babies - Both are growing and getting their personalities. We are at the smiling, and squeaking (talking) stage. They did really well in the UK, and they were great on the plane.. slept pretty much the whole flight there and back which was a big relief. They got to meet all the friends and family as they were karted around the country and passed from person to person and they handled it really well. Also think we have the sleeping through the night bit sorted, to bed at 10.30 and they sleep through to 6am - 7am.

The negatives
Up to the beginning of the month training had been going really well, I had completed 90% of the IM plan to date and I was feeling happy about myself. The century ride confirmed that I am stronger this year on the bike and that had been my primary goal.
However... the first week of Sept was spent packing and getting ready to travel so much of that week was lost to training, then I spent a week in Poland with meetings from 7.30am through to dinner meetings until midnight and I only managed a 4 mile run that week. Then the next week I was in the UK and spent most of that week racing around the country visiting friends and family and only got a 2 hour mountain bike ride (hill rides).

So I am back at the point of being fearful about Florida, I had a nightmare the other day about how I finished the swim in 1hr 40 (25mins slower than last year) and was relieved to have made the cutoff, ran up to T1 and then remembered I'd only done 1 lap of the swim, I sat there knowing I could not run back and complete the second lap (amazed I even contemplated it) and not knowing what to do. Woke at that point so not sure what I would have done!!

I know I have not done enough training and with only 1-2 weeks of real training left, I am in survival mode. I have not let my fitness drop too much from last year so I still have some of that in my legs. I reverted back to the IM plan the moment we got back, completed a 2.4mile swim in the pool on Monday (1hr 25) and finished feeling pretty good, so hopefully the swim is still there. Biked a hard 1 hour on Tuesday (19.5 miles) and felt pretty good. The key marker for my biking will be the century ride at the weekend in Ottawa IL. Ran 7 miles last night and felt fresh, so I keep telling myself I am not heading for a DNF on the 1st. Not looking for confidence building comments just focusing my own thoughts. As with last year there will be no time goals (well bar the big one) I just want to finish and I would like this year without the trip to the med tent at the end.

Other news
Having now travelled with the babies we have decided there is no way we can fly with the babies, all their stuff, my bike and all my tri stuff. When flying to the UK we had 3 large suitcases plus a bike box with the stroller in it. The hire car in the UK was packed solid!
After a long discussion it has been decided my bike will get shipped down to Florida. So that has now been booked and my bike will go via tribike transport (please no horror stories). I can also ship my tristuff in a separate bag with my bike. Meaning we do not have to get a massive hire car to put it all in.

Flights, hotel etc are all booked, and bar the nightmares and fears I am really looking forward to IM. Only 30 days to go!

My update, trips to europe and florida

Work is sending me to Poland for a week, so I am taking the opportunity to take the girls (including Gemma) back to their other home land (UK), I will spend a week in Krakow, and then spend a week in the UK with the girls. Apologies in advance to anyone on the same flight as us, Emma likes to talk a lot and her internal volume is not quite dialed in!

So because of this we had to get them passports.

Their US passports arrived and they can now come travelling. We have this trip to the UK in Sept, then Florida in Nov, and then back to the UK for Christmas. so they will be doing lots of flying. Also planning a new year marathon so somewhere else for them to go.

I just have to sort how I will balance my training while I am away (any advice?), swimming and running should be fine but biking could be more difficult.

Tac boy gave me some advice on my training for Florida, I am not like Lana who goes to Bigun, a 1x Ironman I seek out the real expert Tac Boy, he has 100% more experience! So on his advice I have focused on my long bikes, and really racked up some mileage in the past two weeks.. 450 miles on the bike this month, with 250 coming in the last 10 days. I also have my first century scheduled for next week.

We have also sorted our accomodation for Florida. Thanks to everyone for all their tips. We have decided to stay at The Inn as its close to the start and on the run course so Gemma can take the babies back during the day. Ian thanks for this suggestion.

Now it is just a case of sorting the hire car, and working out how we are going to be able to pack all this stuff. They have almost as much "stuff" as I do with all my tri kit.

We are then spending a second week in Venice after IM to relax and recover.

Florida Accomodation??

So its time to start thinking about accommodation for florida, where is everyone else staying? Any recommendations? Last year was the ant infested Days Inn (not staying there again)!

Looking at vrbo, but can't remember where the condos are.

I want to be within a mile of the start so Gemma can easily take the babies back to the hotel room. Also would be nice to be near other bloggers.

My training is going well, the past week (and so is next week) has been tough though managed to get a confidence building 2.5 hour run yesterday and a 3000m swim earlier on in the week and have managed 5 hours cycling since saturday plus some other smaller bits. Tomorrow is a brick session of a 2 hour bike and an hour run. Not massive numbers compared to other people but with the twins demanding time when I would like to be sleeping its been tough! I think my fitness is comparable to last year so hopefully I am doing enough training.

Raced 2 weeks ago in the Chicago distance classic with my training buddy, had a really nice race and got him through in a PR which was fantastic. Though I'm sure we should have been faster as my Garmin measured it at 13.6 miles.

Review of what I use

I thought it was about time I reviewed some of my kit.

Anti Friction Products
My first marathon (London) was back in 1997 and I went with the plasters option for my nipples... yeah that worked for all of about 14 miles and by the end I had 2 little red targets on my chest! And then pain for about 2 weeks afterwards (plus sores in lots of other bodily places (lets just say I struggled to walk and sit and it wasn't because of blisters).


My second London marathon was in 1999 and this time I decided I'd go with vaseline. It worked and I didn't get the bleeding nipples as in 97 however I found it stained my clothes and was messy on my hands. So when I got back into endurance sport in 2006 I was introduced to Body Glide.

Since then I have used it at the Chicago Marathon in 2007, and the Florida Ironman in 2008 (plus all my other events) and it has served me well (through all 14 hours of my IM!).

I find it stops blisters on the feet, wetsuit burn on the neck, nipple rub, and wherever else I can get the stick to stop the rub, without the mess of vaseline, via deodarant stick and without staining my clothes.

Body Glide were kind enough to send me some new sun screen body glide to try out and I have been using this for the bike (lower back, and neck) as I find sunscreen rubs off whereas body glide stays on even when I've swam before. On the rides I have done this year it has worked perfectly, though forgetting to put sunscreen elsewhere has meant burns!

Oh and I love it when I tell people I need to get more body glide.. their faces are pictures as I explain exactly what body glide is.

Helmet

Received my new Rudy helmet from BfitBday and it fits like a glove. When I first saw it I questioned whether I would over heat in it. Especially as if you slide up the visor it covers the vents.

Having worn it on a couple of rides including a 56 miler I can confirm it does not keep my head too hot even with the visor up covering the vents. It fits snuggly and does not move around on my head. Oh and I feel fast!!

The one minor complaint.. Not sure whether I have big ears or I ride with my head to an angle but the sides of the helmet grip the side of the face, and theres a really small bit of plastic that rubs the top of my left ear. For future rides I plan on either trimming the soft plastic or rubbing some body glide on there to stop it rubbing.

Gels
I have been using gels as part of my training for the past 3 years, and have mainly used Power gels and Gu's. Gus were my first choice and suited me well however I would find them a bit thick for my palate when I was slightly dehydrated. Last year half way through IM training and on the advise of Roman I switched to power gels (specifically the ones with extra sodium) and found they are far more runny than the Gus and go down more easily while exercising. This year I have switched to the apple flavour and love them. I can really feel the effect when I take them.

Liquids
Nuun and Gatorade all the way. I am a really big fan of Nuun (Kona Cola), I find it really works for me, without the bloating I get from other drinks. I tend to avoid Gatorade on the bike as I bloat on it, but I love it on the run and find it really refreshing.
For a post exercise recovery drink you can't beat a glass or pint of chocolate milk.

Shoes
My Newtons were my new purchase for this year and its taken me some time to get used to them. To begin with I suffered immensely from blisters on the ball of my foot (behind the big toe). Runners High and Tri where I brought the shoes worked with me and replaced the shoes and switched me to a slightly different version of the newtons. I still have suffered slightly with blisters however I think some of this is just my foot getting used to running on the balls of my feet rather than my heel strike. The past few runs of an hour plus with the aid of Body glide have seen no blisters at all, so hopefully my feet have finally got used to them.

Muddy Buddy

Early start last weekend to race the Muddy Buddy.

No pre race expectations except to have a good brick workout (lots of bike to run transitions) and get muddy!

It was a tough few training days leading up to this with a 56 mile bike on Friday PM. Ans broke 3 hours for the first time for the 56 miles. Not saying it was just because I was wearing my new Rudy helmet but I felt fast. Then on Saturday it was a 2 mile open water swim race of which I won my age group (1st out of 1!!!)

So for the Muddy Buddy I was feeling slightly but with goals of have a good workout and get muddy I knew it would be a good day. Achieved both of my goals with lots of the second... MUDDY!

For this race I got to partner one of my training buddies, and run against another. As you can see pre race we were all nice and clean.


I started with the running leg in Wave 2 (Team Brazo was also there in wave 2 but I had no idea!) Its a great race and the obstacles thrown in make it really interesting.Flying on the bike! Haven't really ridden my mountain bike cross country in a while and this was exciting. On the final leg I was passed by Oldest Mini brazo as he flew by on the bike. After 6 ish miles of biking and running it was time for the mud pit.
I really like this picture as it shows my commitment (notice the gritted teeth!)

Finished, tired and ready for a beer...

BFIT Challenge, Donation Request, Races

Wow, thank you to everyone who voted for me on the BFIT challenge. I won, and this week recieved my lovely new Rudy TT Helmet.

So far its had one outing and that was on the trainer :-), not sure it made me any faster on the trainer, but I sure felt faster! (Note the serious look :-)

Looking forward to being able to use it in a race and see if it has any effect.

If anyone has a few spare dollars Gemma has entered the Susan G. Komen - Race for the cure. When she completed this last year in a time of 37mins for the 5K it was the first race she had ever completed (this time last year she did not believe that she could run 5k!). This year she hopes to improve upon that time. (even though she has just recovered from twin birth and c-section). If you can sponsor her it would be much appreciated.

This weekend is a postponed 2 mile swim race on Saturday and Muddy Buddy on Sunday. Training as expected has been a bit hit and miss, but did get 5 hours of cycling done over the weekend and 2 hours of running.

Lake in the Hills Tri Race, Running In California

Last weekend I had another sprint tri race, to say it rained would not be doing it justice, it absolutely hammered it down. You know that feeling its 5am, you've had 2 hours sleep and when you step out of the car, you are soaked in seconds and you really wonder what the hell am I doing here" Well I totally had that feeling before the race. There was still thunder and lightning in the air when I arrived so it looked like the swim would be cancelled, however that passed and the swim start was only delayed 15mins.

Lake in the hills sprint tri is a point to point race, so dropped off my running shoes (wrapped in multiple plastic bags) in T2 and cycled the mile to T1, getting wetter and wetter in the process. Setup T2, again putting everything in multiple plastic bags. This season I have started wearing my cycle kit under my wetsuit (they couldn't get any wetter) so only my cycle shoes in T1.

I was off in wave 2 as I predicted 15-17 mins for the half mile swim, started nicely and now I am alot more confident in my swim I pushed myself harder and stayed with the leaders. As in my last race why do people seem so incapable of estimating their swim times? To go in wave one you would of estimated a swim time of faster than 15mins. With each wave going off at 3 min intervals I couldn't believe it when I caught people doing breastroke in the first half of the swim. Swim went well despite getting weed caught in my braces (very off putting!).

Finished without expending much energy in a time of 15.55, 3rd in my age group.
Into T2 and it was still raining heavily, and quickly headed out (well it felt like quickly but 2.36 T1 is not that quick!)

It was a 16 mile rolling bike course, and seemed to suit me, I really enjoyed it, maybe it was because I was actually having to fight the conditions as well. For the first time I felt like I was actually racing rather than just surviving. Throughout the cycle I was pushing myself, trying to catch each person in front of me, and not letting people catch me. Few hairy moments on the standing water but overall a great ride. Finished with a time of 48.31 (again 3rd overall in my age group and at this point 3rd overall in my age group in the race).

A fairly quick change over in T2 and out on the run, finally it had stopped raining and was brightning up. Felt really good out of T2 and got quickly into what felt like a nice stride. The 3.5 miles came and went pretty quickly and I finished the run with a 34.18. This slow run dropped me in the overall standings from a 3rd place overall to a 5th. This was way better than I ever expected anyway so was really happy.

overall place:	70 out of 272
division place:	5 out of 19
gender place:	62 out of 167
time:	1:42:58
swim:	15:55
trans 1:	2:36
bike:	48:31
trans 2:	1:40
run:	34:18

This week I am in Sunnyvale california, and went running at the Sunnyvale Baylands Salt Planes. It was really beautiful, lovely scenary and perfect temperatures. Ended up running 7.5 miles and really enjoyed it. This is a real change to most business trips of mine where I take sports kit to run etc while I am away but end up, just going out for dinner and not getting back until late.

Gemma has a friend helping us with baby duty while I am away, and I am making the most of catching up on some sleep.

This was my view on the run. (Picture on the left not the right! :-) )

Not much of an update on the babies this week, since I have gone away I am told they are sleeping longer, see when I get a good nights sleep they get a good nights sleep. I will be suggesting I go away more!

First Tri of the Season, Baby Update and BFIT Contest

Last week was my first triathlon - Twin Lakes Sprint Tri.
I completed this race last year so wanted to gauge myself compared to last year, and as its my local race I wanted to give it my support.

I didn't really have any goals for this race, it was a just see how I am doing. Due to babies and far less training in the first half of the year compared to last year, I wanted to see how my fitness was holding up.

My time from last year..
Swim (0.5 miles) 11:29 , Bike (16 miles) 47:23 , Run (5 miles) 43:26
Overall time - 1:42:18

The night before the sky opened up and dumped a ton of rain down, so I was half expecting the event to get cancelled, but infact the morning ended up being fantastic.

Swim went well (wetsuit still fit, last time it got an outing was IM FL), felt like I was gliding through the water, also I was in a slower wave of swimmers so it was really nice to be able to lead everyone. (Rarely happens with me!, yep thats me at front!)

Finished nicely in a time of 11.42 (just a few seconds slower than last year, and with far less swim training this year).

Also had an enjoyable bike, didn't push too hard just stayed within a comfortable range. Fell off as I dismounted on the wet road, but no injuries. Bike time of 48.19 (1 min slower than last year)

The run as well was enjoyable, little cramp towards the end but that was my own fault for not taking enough GUs. Run time was 47.36 (4 mins slower)

Finished in an overall time of 1hr 47. 5 mins slower than last year. I was really happy with this. Having not trained anywhere near as much as last year I expected this to be far slower.

By the way if you get a chance please vote for me in the B-FIT-BDay Contest . I am Tim Davies. I completed this in honour of my twin babies birthday completing 3 miles swim, 30 mile ride, and a 10 mile run all in 4 days around their birth. My story is here..
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Babies are doing well, if there goal is to keep mummy and daddy up at all hours of night! J/K we are all having some really wonderful times. I am managing to keep up about 70% of my training. If it wasn't for the fact I got very sweaty on the bike trainer I am sure I would have fed them while cycling.


This weekend I have a 2 mile open water swim race, and the girls might get to attend their first event.