Matthew

Ironman Finisher

Hope this finds everyone enjoying their holiday weekend! I finished Ironman Arizona in 10:51:28, 58^th out of 237 finishers in my age group. Not bad, not bad at all. Met my goal of finishing under 11hours, so that was great! The race overall was quite an impressive event. Almost 3000 participants started and somewhere around 2500 finished. My wife and her parents came down for the event, as did my friend John. Their help was awesome! I saw them twice on the bike course, and three times on the bike. Looking for them made that portion of the bike and run a little easier. Since I began training for this, everything I've read has said that at some point during the race you will feel really, really awful and want to quit. Not so. At no point did I feel really, really awful and want to quit. There were times when I didn't feel good, and I certainly felt tired the last half of the marathon, but I was so happy to be on the last half of the marathon that it didn't matter. I felt like the vast majority of the race was behind me at that point. Just had to hammer the rest of it home. My entire race strategy was to arrive at mile twenty of the marathon with something left in my tank, and I did. I came up on mile twenty and thought to myself "two more easy miles, then I'm going to hammer it." Two miles later I said the same thing to myself, and then the last mile and a half I picked up the pace for a strong finish. It was awesome!

I can't say enough about the volunteers in AZ. They were outstanding! Every one of them worked hard to put on an awesome event and take care of the athletes… I don't think I'll ever forget the guy in cowboy drag at the Phoenix multisport table handing out water… he made me laugh and put a smile on my face for the next several miles. These races would not be possible without all the volunteers, so thank one next time you race, or better yet, volunteer yourself!

I also owe thanks to everyone who donated to the SOF Warrior Foundation I was raising money for with this race! For those of you who donated, thank you very, very much! Janus hasn't given me a total yet, but heartfelt thanks from me and those kids you help send to college!

Next challenge: Ironman St. George, May 1 2010!

Race Week

Race week is finally here! I'm ready, rested, and ready to get this thing done! Did I mention I'm ready? I'm into the period where I can't possibly gain any fitness, so it's just a matter of finishing my taper and taking it easy all week. Of course, school being school, I've got two lab finals and an organic chemistry test this week, so it's hardly stress free. That said, I feel strangely relaxed and ready. For all of it. I've got three brick workouts left, then race morning! I'm really just ready to start already. I don't want anymore prep. My whole year has been moving towards this race. I know what I need to do, and I feel good. No worries. I'm just going to go out and treat it like a long training day, not take it too hard, and hit my target wattage. My target watts for the majority of the bike are 215, with my do not exceed level around 250. There's only one hill on the three lap course, and it's only about 2-3% for a couple miles, nothing compared to what's around the big CO. My goal is really just to be as fresh off the bike as possible. Then to survive the marathon. It won't be fun, the marathon. But it will be the end. I'm really looking forward to that finish line!

Rehab, Taper, and Riding Outside in November

    Record highs let me ride outside this Friday, which was a very, very pleasant change from the hours I've put in on the trainer in recent weeks. Don't get me wrong, I love the trainer. It's the best workout for the time you put in that you can get. You have minimal prep time, don't have to worry about cars, clothes, light, or weather, and there is no resting. No coasting or recovery on the downhills. That said, I don't know anyone that fell in love with riding bikes because the trainer is such a great way to spend your time. Everyone I know rides because they love to be outside, love the views, and like to go fast. Oh yeah, it also happens to be a great workout. Most of my friends thought I was nuts to ride inside two days a week during the spring and summer this year. None of them could ride with me outside yesterday, either. Apparently they have 'jobs' which 'pay' for things like 'rent' and 'food.' Suckers. So now they are stuck inside while I get to ride outside every-so-often. All things considered, I was really lucky to get out this Friday, as I'm about two weeks from race day and needed some time on the asphalt to remember how to ride a bike outside. It's been almost three weeks since I was last outside. That's kind of a while for me. No matter, did about 4hrs at an average wattage of 176 or so. Not as easy as I should have gone, as I hammered up some of the 7000ft of vertical harder than I should have, but still lots of fun and not so hard that it ruined my taper for IM AZ. Hopefully I can get outside next week as well!!!