David Gillen's Group - FULL (Page 32)

Sorry to hear about your bike, Dave. I admire those technical brains that some of you have. My brain absolutely has no predilection for such things. My dad tried to show me the car engine and all it's parts and how it worked and all I heard was "blah blah blah blah blah blah" like the Peanuts teacher. Now I wished I had paid more attention. But I can change tires myself!!

My day yesterday started at 3:45 am. I programmed my brain to wake up by 4 and it worked. I don't have one single alarm clock in my whole house, because they make my adrenals put out a tremendous amount of adrenaline and that's just a horrible way to start your day.... Anyway, I had to finish swiffering the floors and get my bike stuff all packed up and fetch the sitter to get on the road early enough. Effing Mapquest said it was 90 miles and would take 2 hours........well it was effing WRONG! No mention of hwy 151 at all. Just go on these 6 different county roads, get to hwy 23 and then take a left on K, which turns into KK then F then FF then JG then Bohn Road and the Tyrol Basin Ski club. Yeah right. I get to Wright country and see some of the architecture and go past House on the Rock, into Dodgeville and 23 turns into 151! After a bit I call the ski club and ask directions (because I'm FEMALE) and she says yep you are on the right road, keep going. So I get to Platteville and Dubuque Iowa is on the horizon and I call her BACK. Nope, I am on the right road but the wrong direction! But I should still make it--barely. So she says head back to Dodgeville. So I do that. I keep going back to Spring Green and all the bikers are on the road already! I call back AGAIN. No, I shouldn't have gone into Dodgeville, but should have kept going past it on 151 to Mount Horeb and take K off 151 not off of 23. Crap. Crap. Crap. Now I'm pissed off. Really pissed. That was THREE calls for directions and the woman was a twit!

Lesson One: Look at a map first, not just Mapquest.

Lesson Two: Take the map with you.

Lesson Three: Never ask directions from a woman. (this will be my only stereotype, but hey, if it fits......)

Lesson Four: Save for a GPS!!!

Lesson Five: Get there the bleeping night before so I don't have to sweat it the day of the event!

So I chew out the ski lady (and then apologize) and figure I'd be all alone on the course(as all the bikers are out already) so I might as well go home and bike there alone on roads that I know.....

I got to spend 6.5 hours driving in my car, but I did the 100 miles on the bike anyway. Because I'm a stubborn psycho cat!! I said I would do 100 that day, and would rather have died than fail.

Let me tell you, 100 miles by yourself SUCKS. I tried to make it fun. I went to West Salem to the Lake where we have our tri here and used my car as the base for supplies. The route out was great. The route back was into a headwind. I kept going off into the side roads to get out of the headwind and found a cemetary to eat a sportbar. The highlight of the trip was discovering that a cemetary loop makes a great place to practice for a Criterium!! Go try this and see for yourself!! The farmers on their tractors kept looking at me going around the dead people in a circle, and it was a tiny graveyard of just under a quarter mile loop, so it got boring after awhile and I went back into the headwind. The camelbak worked great. It just tasted ucky due to being new. I used electrolytes and that kept away cramps. When I got tired of headwind and traffic, I took a swim. Lucky my wetsuit lives in my car. I was stupid and got back to my car and my left clip was stuck so over I went right there at a dead stop in front of people. The wetsuit had sand inside and that really hurt over my scraped knee, but the swim felt great to stretch out my shoulders and cool down. I now know why the swim is first--it relaxes you to the point where you no longer want to keep going. Or at least it does for me! So I went home. Figured it was good enough. Well, I got home and took the sitter home and when I got back, all three kids were over to the neighbor's playing. Not even a "hi, Mom". So, I took it as a sign and got on the effing trainer. I watched Forrest Gump and finished my miles. Boring, boring, boring. But I did em!

God it was hard!

P. S. Mrs. Gump is my HERO!!!

Great century pene.  I always say I am going to go out and do one but get bored by myself too easily.  How you don't go crazy in 7 hours is beyond me.

Ha Ha, it's easy----I'm already crazy:P Note that I found going around in circles in a graveyard to be the highlight of my adventure---nuff said!

Hey all, I am back. I seem to be here for a while and then things get crazy with work, family training and such. I t is good to catch up and hear about all your stories.. My training is coming to a taper, two and a half weeks to go. Am I supposed to be getting cranky already. I have woke up with nightmares about my bike falling apart, forgetting my helmet and sneakers and other frightening things that could go wrong during a tri. It should be an exciting couple weeks of sleep. One thing is for sure, I am going to double and triple check my transition bags to make sure I don't forget anything. Oh well, that was the rant from a first time newbie who isn't quite sure if he prepared well enough. Good day all! Kevin

Kevdia, I'm no expert, being a newbie myself, but from looking at your logs, I think you should do great! You are way faster than I will likely EVER be, especially on the run, and almost 18mph on the bike is fantastic! You seem to have the speed, now just settle those nerves....we all have them, and for my first tri, that was my only focus--just settle the nerves so I didn't get an asthma or anxiety attack and focus on good steady breathing and just completing it! Perhaps it won't make sense to you, and I don't know if you have kids or were present during their births, but one tri gal told me to do birthing breaths where you focus more on the exhale than on the inhale and make them long exhales. That helps me tremendously, especially with the swim!! I also picked a lady who looked about my age, about my condition, and nice--and started joking around with her before the swim and soon I had 2 other ladies laughing along with me and then all the nervousness was GONE!! I am looking forward to your race report, but expect that you will surprise yourself at how well you do!

Thanks for your reply phoenix. I guess the unknown of having never done anything like this is the most unnerving. I must say that reading all the posts has really helped me understand that everyone goes through this anxiety. two/three weeks to go!!!!!!!

Number #74

Half Calm

Half Testosterone Pumping Mad-Man

Yeah Matt! Wondered if you dropped off the planet?? Glad to hear you are alive and kicking! Okay #74, I'll be looking out for you! Expect a cat call from an old lady on the bike route I'll be practicing....I did get one of those cat calls from a dude in a red pickup truck on my long bike the other day. He must not get out much......

Why does every woman say this? Take it as a compliment. Your butt looks better in spandex than you realize....especially bent over.

p.s. Hi, I'm still around.

Edited by JBrashear 2007-09-05 7:45 PM

Hey Jonny, Glad to hear from you! Whatcha been up to these days? (you actually made me blush about the spandex comment, but the dude wasn't looking at my butt, he was Woo-hooing me from the front!)

My running experiment failed. I was gonna try running and run/walking and then walking fast three 5K's and see which one is fastest for me. But my legs are still SORE from the 100 and my calves kept cramping up. UGH!!!!!!! I hate being thwarted! My mind wanted to keep going, but then I remembered the hamstring deal where I didn't listen to my body and that just plain sucked, so this time I listened..........even Einstein had a failed experiment or two I imagine.

Two Quotes of the Day:

"Indulge your inner Smurf"--sign I saw outside a restaurant in Sparta

"The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts."--Bertrand Russell

So after countless gut wrenching/soul searching/ changes her mind like most folks change underwear, Phoenix has decided to pass on IMMOO 2008 and try for 2009. I'm not even going to allow myself to change my mind AGAIN and am canceling my overnight accomodations in Madtown and will just go on back home after the bike aid station stint. I might even take Noah along if he wants. He might get a kick out of seeing all the ironpeople up close like that and experience the hoopla and spend time with his momma.

I'm thinking go for the Half marathon in October instead of the full, try to get into Grandma's marathon next June (registration opens in January), and go for Steelhead 70.3 next August. It's in Michigan, so that's not a zillion miles away and I can just schlepp my bike there without air hassles, and the best part is.....I get a medal that says Ironman on it. Even if it's not the full. It will be a month before Moo 2008, so if I feel good about it, I can go register for 2009. Or not.......

I am learning. Not fast, because I'm too stubborn. But it took something out of me to do my piddly little century, even with the indoor cheating, and my legs refused to run last night, and today, my head is all goofy still as I forgot my swim noseplugs and cap so I just gave up on the swim, even though I was right there. I'm just not into struggling that much today. No noseplug=no fun in the water for me. Maybe I'll just do a situp or two and call it a day......

Sorry to blah blah endlessly about this, as I realize it is just a race....but perhaps someone somewhere in the Universe will go through the same thing and appreciate my internal struggle and find solace in my humanity. Or not......

Good to hear from you Kevin.  A couple of replies:

1. It is completely normal to have anxiety and "nightmares".  I've had plenty of those nightmares where I forget to bring something!  Even during the race, I was worried about my bike falling apart at Timberman as I had only ridden it for about 20 minutes after putting it together the day before!  So, don't let this nervousness get to you too much.   Just acknowledge it and move on!
2. It's definitely a good idea to double check your bags, but there might still be something that goes wrong.  Combining 3 sports into one event provides a lot of opportunity for something (often minor) to go wrong.  This is part of triathlon, overcoming obstacles.  It might be something a minor as foggy goggles or an annoying shifting problem, or it could be a little more disruptive as a flat tire or a jammed toe.  All of the above have happend to me and I've persevered.  I'm obviously not trying to scare you, but just want you to try to be mentally ready in the event that everything doesn't go exactly as planned!

Above all have fun, and please write a race report!

As a man, I can assure you he checked out the butt too. :p

What have I been up to? I ordered a new car, did a sprint tri, and now I'm starting to ramp up for a half-mary in December. Oh and I'm in more fantasy football leagues than any human can rightfully justify.

1: Volvo C30
2: Yea, White Rock
3: Yep, I'll be the one on the sidelines with the PSP & iPod.

The Goal Time: 16:59:59

The Hopeful Time:
Swim- 1:45:00
T1- 0:05:00
Bike- 7:00:00
T2- 0:05:00
Run- 4:45:00

Grand Total - 13:40:00

Okay Boys and Girl, I leave for Madison in the Morning. Thanks for all your encouragement and knowledge sharing. I'll let you all know how it goes.

The woods are lovely dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Good luck.

Love the poem. Very very appropriate! Go get em, Matt! You are sooooo ready for this! I'm just in awe that you could do your first sprint tri last year and pull this off! Can't wait to hear your report

Congratulations Matt!! YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!! WOO-HOO!!! 14:05 Awesome! Especially since you are so new to triathlon, have negative five percent body fat, and never (to my knowledge) trained on the MOO bike course!

I have some Q's for you when you recover enough to answer...

Did you ever do a full marathon before?

How many century+ rides did you do?

What would be your advice for someone hoping to do this in 2 years?

I'm so proud of you

Awesome Ken!! Cramps and rain = major suckage! What did your son think of his tuff daddy?? I bet he's super proud Congrats!