Your Bucket List. Perspective from 14 days out

Skydiving, climbing Mt. Everest, Seeing the Great Pyramids, running a marathon....These are the types of things to put on a "bucket list"... to do before you "kick the bucket".

With 2 weeks until Ironman Canada, I was thinking what a unique time this is. It's supposed to be taper time, reduce the volume, relax, let the body heal, then come Ironman day, you'll feel GREAT! Trouble is, with 2 weeks to go, this is often how one feels: Doubt; I didn't train enough. Anxiety; My body hurts, and I suffer through "easy" workouts. Fear; I don't think I can finish.

Ah yes, the "magic" of the taper! With 2 weeks to go, and thousands of miles behind you, you feel WORSE than you have all year! And to top it off, this is a likely time for illness and injuries.
It's supposed to be stress free; a healing time of rejuvenation. Instead, it's often worry leading to panic, loss of sleep, appetite, confidence, halatosis, ADD, sexual dysfunction, forest fires, global warming, and just not much fun.

For me, entering my 12th Ironman Canada, I have all of those symptoms, and then some. On top of all this, I have no car (blown transmission), and just completed my first week in my new apartment, in a new town, for my new job (Boys and Girls, can you say "Stress"?)

So back to my original theme, I'd highly recommend you add Ironman to your bucket list. This one item will help you cross off many firsts, which should be on a bucket list anyway. Like trying on a wetsuit, riding 100 miles, running a marathon.

PLUS, as an added bonus, you get to experience this unique time called THE TAPER. If you survive the final 2 weeks of this hallowed time, you can say you can survive anything, and you're ready for whatever comes next!

And what comes next? Your Ironman experience including your finish! And the best of the best Ironmans, is of course, Ironman Canada.

Heart of the Lakes Triathlon

This is a favorite race of mine. First time I raced it was back in the 80's, in my Speedo, steel frame bike, Tinley tights, and Oakleys. During one awards ceremony (a couple dozen people standing around awaiting hand calculated race results), the announcer read a note: "Greg LeMond just won the Tour de France by 6 seconds".

Now they cap the race at 1000 people. This modest little race has become the MN state championship. My time this year, 2:04:28, my first triathlon since IMC last August. Not a record, but 12 minutes faster than my last HOLT triathlon in 2006.
Swim: 17:15 slow, stayed wide, easy stroking
Bike: 59:59 21 mph, Mostly small chainring
Run: 41:51 7:53/mile, felt like an easy pace
All in all very pleased. I was concerned about pacing, because I haven't raced in a year. I had lots left in the tank, and I had FUN.

Welcome to Flatville, life in 2D, and my tesseract

Carl Sagan told a story of life in Flatville, where the 2 dimensional inhabitants knew only length and width, there wasn't a 3rd dimension (height). Well, that is life in southern Minnesota farm country. But I'm finding the quiet flat roads challenging with the 25 to 35 mph sustained winds! But yesterday the heavens had pity on me, as the winds were mild. My morning ride was just over 100k.

So back to Flatville, where if by chance a 3 dimensional object would come into view, I wouldn't be able to describe it other than perhaps a UFO or other such unexplained phenomenon. I could perhaps concieve of a 2 dimensional representation of what the 3rd dimension might be, ala the tesseract (3 dimensional object representing the 4th dimension). But I'm stuck in this vortex of reality for the near future.

Journalism 101, Don't bury the lead. I'm in this land because my Mother fell and broke her hip. Surgery went great, she's doing fine, and prognosis is excellent. She'll be coming home from the hospital in the next few days, and I'm here to help however I can.

My mom is 91 1/2 years old, and she's my inspiration to dream big, respect the neighbors, but live life loud! Hurry up and get well Mickey! I love you.

How not to run a 1/2 marathon

Last Saturday I ran the New Prague 1/2 marathon, finishing in 2:10. I did the first mile in 8:18, and was under 34:00 minutes at 4 miles. My 5th mile was about 9 minutes, and that's when I "blew up". Years ago I could have easily held that pace, but not this year. I had to walk, and the rest of the run was at 10 and 11 minute mile pace (ouch!).

But....I kept telling myself it was good training, to have gone out too fast, and then be forced to keep going. I wanted to quit at mile 6, but still had 7 more miles to go! Hundreds of people passed me, as I shuffled along, wishing it was over.

This reinforces what I need to do. Up the intensity of workouts. I'd rather run 1 mile at 7:00 pace, than 10 miles at 9:30. So today at Bally's I ran fast mile, 1/2 mile, 1/4's on intervals. Once or twice a week I'll do intervals, and lots of steady tempo stuff. Then, hopefully, those 8:30 miles will come real easy. We'll see.....

Lake Minnetonka RR, and now May we pump up the volume?

Last week was recovery week, this week More is More!

LM 1/2 marathon: Perfect weather, fantastic course, loads of people, and tons of fun! Yes, it was fun, even with all the hills. In fact, LM 1/2 is hardly ever flat. It's a series of undulating ups and downs for 13.1 miles. Even had to climb a 2 tier steep hill at the end, but got the a fun short downhill and tight turn to the finish.
Very conservative beginning, low HR and easy breathing. Picked up the last mile, and felt strong. My mile times were:
9:37, 9:37, 9:32, 9:31, 9:30, 9:46, 9:26, 9:20, 9:32, 9:13, 9:25, 9:05, 8:25, 0:38.

Over 20 minutes off my PR, but I'll take it. I haven't been running much, so I was happy with how good I felt during the entire run.

This week is back to big volume, and not sure if I'll run New Prague 1/2 or not. We'll see....

Don't think less of me, or Weight just a minute!

2 months ago I weighed 203 lbs, now I'm 188. That's 15 lbs. of ME missing! Where did I go? Through a wormhole into hyper-space, light years away? I don't miss those 15 lbs. of me, but in a cosmic sense, since we're all "starstuff pondering the stars", I wonder if my weight loss has caused a cosmic conundrum, or rift in space time. I'm kind of hoping something like that will happen at IM Canada this year, when I'm climbing Richter Pass. Maybe my weight loss will create an Einstein Rosen bridge anomaly, and I'll instantly and effortlessly arrive at the summit? Perhaps not, but I hope the climb will be easier.

March totals:
Swim 4021.6 meters
Bike 1266.6 km
Run 141.3 km

April totals (so far):
Swim 3016.2 meters
Bike 1073.9 km
Run 160.8 km

May will be increase in running, as I have several 1/2 marathons and a 30k planned. That reminds me, I've got to get registered for those races.

Next race is this Sunday, May 2nd: Lake Minnetonka 1/2 marathon. I think I'll ride my bike to the packet pickup on Saturday, getting in about 60 miles. We'll see.....maybe I'll take a day off and rest!

Looking back and looking ahead...

Trail Mix 25k run last Saturday, nice weather, no ski hill this year (still snow up there) which made the course "easier". Nice new section in lieu of ski hill, a few rolling hills, but nice soft track.

This Sunday is MN Ironman Bike ride, I plan to do the 100 mile route, should be decent weather (slight chance of some showers). I'd like to do a little jog afterward, so I'll bring my running shoes along.

This Saturday, I'd like to get a long run in and an easy recover bike ride. I've got to get registered for races in May, June, July, and even any I might do in August. I may skip Grandma's and Afton Alps this year, because not enough time to recover for IMC.