California Ironman 70.3

Anyone else heading down to Oceanside this weekend for the half-ironman? I'll be racing in it.

This is what blows my mind: a half-ironman is a BIG race. This is the kind of event that people train for months, and then maybe take a week off followed by a light week or two of training afterwards. But with Coeur d'Alene looming ever closer, the 70.3 is basically just a heavy training day. There's no recovery afterwards, no taking it easy. There's no true tapering beforehand. This major race becomes just a stepping stone. We're definitely crazy for doing a full Iron.

Actually, I kind of lied about not having a taper. I injured my knee about 3 weeks ago and have been going to physical therapy to get it back in shape. (Basically, I have Runner's Knee.) It was painful for me to bike or run for about 2 weeks, and it's only been this past week that I've been able to increase the intensity of my workouts. So I am greatly under-conditioned for the race this weekend, but it's still an important practice race for Idaho. I'm just glad I got hurt now and not in June, because then I would have been in SERIOUS trouble.

-Wedgie
(Mister P.)

CDA Kit?

I was just wondering if there was any progress with the CDA Kit? I am trying to play out things in advance and will work on order t-shirts for my sherpa if necessary.

IM CDA Bike Course

There was some discussion about changing the bike course once again this year. The parts in question go through the city of Hayden Lake, ID. However this past Monday (March 17) the Hayden Lake city council met with the IM folks and the course will remain the same.

I will leave it up to you to determine if this is a good or a bad thing.

To Marathon or Not to Marathon, Revisited

I just wanted to come back to Mr. P's post mostly because of some of the comments. I can say that I did do two marathons and one ultra, before my first IM. I have now done four IMs and have had terrible "runs" on two, meaning I felt like crap, and two runs that were comfortable even if not speedy.

Like others, I agree that a stand alone marathon hurts more than a marathon at the end of an IM. I had experienced friends tell me that in advance and so I just trusted in their collective experience and didn't worry about it.

So here is my departure, comments to the effect of not doing a marathon during the course of training for an IM…not even in the same year as an IM. I'm puzzled as to why that would be the case because I have heard it so many times. Here are my thoughts.

Recovery - good reason but how long exactly does it take to recover and how thoroughly are you trying to recover?

Performance – sure, you are unlikely to be at peak performance if you show up "over-trained" but what kind of peak performance are you looking for? I always have time goals but they end up taking a back seat to my goals of finishing and having a good time. I can't divine any importance regarding the time difference between my 14:20ish PR and my 15:50ish fiasco. What if I got what would be a dream time for me of something in the low 12s or even a sub 12? Well, if I did pull off a sub 12 I would probably obsessively follow every training rule to see if I could "shave" another TWO HOURS off my time so I could pretty much be guaranteed a slot at Kona.

Avoidance of injury – excellent reason…however you don't need to be racing to get injured, heck, you don't even need to be training.

Time and cost – as far as I'm concerned the best reasons, let's face it we did not choose the cheapest nor most time efficient sport.

Personally, I am doing a shameful amount of marathons and beyond this year, enough even to embarrass me, and the only thing I think I will really GET out of it is maybe the ability to more happily plod along if my IM does go awry. On the other hand I did just cut almost an hour off my marathon PR and about 45 minutes off my 38 mile PR so the running is doing something.

So, why not do a marathon in the lead up to an IM…why not a few…what are your reasons?

Help!

I don't mean to way-lay the marathon roll call below, please don't miss that one.
The house we had reserved in CDA is no longer available to us, so I need to find somewhere to stay. If anyone has an extra room or bed they would like to rent out to me please let me know asap. It's just me, no kids and no date (unless you want to fix me up LOL) Thanks (dkn747@yahoo.com)

To Marathon, or not to Marathon?

Is (or was) Ironman your first marathon? I know people have individually talked about their marathon experiences on this blog, but I'm looking for a kind of roll call. It's an old question, whether it's better to have done a marathon or not. I did two marathons before I even considered ever doing an Ironman. But I'm one of those people who just HAS to experience the 3 events individually before trying them on the same day. (I've ridden 112 miles, and at some point I'll do at least a 2-mile swim.) Having done two marathons, and knowing how very real The Wall is, I'm not sure if that makes me feel more prepared or more frightened. But I'm very glad to have the experience behind me.

At this point, it's probably too late to decide to do your first marathon before Coeur d'Alene. So will this be your first marathon? For people that already did an Ironman, was that your first 26.2-mile run, and were you glad it was/was not?

IM CDA House

Look at me.. 2 posts in one day. I so need to exercise. Anyway, received this email about an available home in CDA. I inquired about it for our group, but it was booked at the time.

Bigun gets first dips, but just wanted to post it to everyone else in case he already found an alternative!
..........................................
You are receiving this email because you have either stayed with us in the past, or have inquired about accommodations during Ironman 2007 or 2008. Our Fort Grounds vacation rental has become available for IM 2008! We'd like to help our previously booked athletes who have encountered a hardship, by finding a replacement for the week.

Our "Corner Cottage" is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2-car garage, with ample on-property-parking vacation rental, just minutes from the IM start/finish. (Corner of Empire & Military). It is two years new, has a jacuzzi tub and can sleep 8 comfortably (X-L, X-thick queen size sleeper sofa in living room). Mannerly pets are allowed.

The rate for the week is $3500, plus 6% sales tax, 2% travel/convention tax & a refundable $500 damage deposit: $4280.00.

Please let us know if you or anyone you know who plans on being in town for the race, is interested. First to make a deposit gets it.

Thanks,

Emmy Michaelsen
208-666-9998
208-651-3929
208-651-3928

p.s. Hope to see some or all of you at the free pasta feed the afternoon/evening before the race!

Rage in The Sage

So, I've been reading blogs... like ALL weekend long. Because rather than TRAINING, I've been resting, and getting healthy. Not that I'm upset about it or anything, Grr.

Anyhoo.. I've noticed that several people are heading to Vegas for the Rage in the Sage Triathlon on April 19th.

Shane (he's doing the half IM) & I are in.... Pretty sure Momo's in. Anyone else??

Here's a team photo from last year. Unfortunately, the winds were too strong that they had to cancel the swim. Without a proper warmup (swim), and some bike fit issues I locked up my hip on the bike and did not complete the bike/run duathlon.

We also did the race in 06. It was fantastic. There is something to be said for returning back to a race 3 years in a row. It's tough. It's beautiful. The wind sucks. The water is cold. But it is challenging as heck. Why do we keep coming back?

It's a small race and it is fantastically well run. It's driving distance (although terribly boring) from PHX. It's a GREAT warmup for CDA.

Hope to see and meet some of you there!

100 Days

I don't mean to scare anyone or anything... but we're 100 days away.

Gulp!

NEW!!! allthingstriathlon.com Launch

For all of you who haven't already signed up on our website, and did not see the email sent out, please check this out. It's a quick 4 questions survey and we could really use your help!!

http://ironshane.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-wwwallthingstriathloncom.html

Getting Real

Doing an Ironman is scary enough. But I also hate flying, and I just booked my flight to Idaho (well, Spokane). So I'm feeling stressed about that. Yes, I'm one of those irrational people who thinks that if click on the wrong flight I'm sealing my fate and and could be booking my way into a plane crash.

Every little thing is starting to make this whole Ironman thing more and more "real". With all of the training we have to do, we STILL need to plow through the logistics of planning a vacation. I freak out packing for a "relaxing" vacation; what am I going to be like the night before THIS trip?!!