IM France - this is gonna be as long as my bike split

IM France is done but what a day, what week.

Started off on the Monday before - I took PTO the week before the race and the week after. Actually pre-race started on Saturday - Franny and Katie took me for my traditional pre-race pedicure in Los Gatos. This place was really nice and had a better color of purple for my toes. Still looking for the right green though.

Monday morning I packed the bike then I went to Sports Basement for last minute Gu's, new socks and arm coolers. But SB didn't have my size int he arm coolers so Rich's crew had them speed delivered from the Presidio store to Sunnyvale for delivery on Tuesday. We'll see if they make it or not before I have to leave for my flight. Monday was Katie's birthday so I met her and Franny for lunch. I didn't know I would be at a girl's lunch - there were 4 others there also. Really felt like a third wheel or more like an old geezer with a bunch of teenagers. But they made me feel welcomed. Franny and Katie had a surprise for me - my own send off packet. A bit of a spoof on the typical LLS send off packets. Really funny stuff in there.

After lunch I went to see "The Hangover". Had a good laugh then went home for dinner.

Since my flight on Tuesday wasn't until 5:00 pm I was able to pack that morning. SB called me a few minutes before we were to leave and told me the arm coolers were in. So off we went on our way to the airport.

I was bit worried about the weight of the bike box and being charged extra if I was over the limit. Bristish Airways didn't even weigh it. I was really early so I went into the BA lounge - all those air miles from business travel was paying off. I was waiting for Frank and Christy to show up then via texting discovered they were on a later flight. Now I understood my 5 hour layover in London. Oh well.

Flight was uneventful - watched Gran Torino and some TV shows then slept. Arrived in London and hit the free lounge again. Waited for Frank and Christy to show up since we were on the same flight to Nice.

Flight to Nice again uneventful. Steve was there to pick us up but no bike box for Frank and Christy. Which turned out to be a good thing since the van Steve had barely fit our stuff as it was. No way we could have out a double bike box in there. Their bikes showed up the next evening.

The apartment we found on VRBO turned out to be great. 2 separate bedrooms, 2 separate baths, a large main room, kitchen and a balcony that overlooked the Promenade de Anglais.

We were pretty worn out from traveling but couldn't sleep. Finally fell asleep but promptly woke up at 3 am. Did this for 3 straight nights. Found out that it happened to all of us.

Thursday we did a swim in the Med right across from our apt. Pretty cool. The beach is all rocks though - a real pain to walk on. After the swim we went for a bike ride to St. Laurent - about 10 miles RT. Best part was finding a seaside cafe and having Nutella crepes, Pretty good stuff. We also went down and registered. Got our packets, bought some souvenirs then went back and got off our feet.

Friday we rented scooters and rode the bike course. This helped us get a good feel for the climbs. Frank and Christy were riding double and soon were on empty. Steve rode their scooter the next 60 km on empty until we found a gas station.

Saturday was bike drop off day. My time slot for drop off was at 2 pm. So we went for another swim before getting T-bags ready. Previous IM's here had trouble with bike security and a few were stolen out of transition. This year they scanned our race bracelets, linked that to a security tag that we had to attach to the bike then took our picture with our bike. Guess they didn't want any repeats of the previous years.

The bike corral was a long, long stretch - about the length of 3 football fields. And of course we were at the wrong end of the entrance. Fortunately for me - my group was the first so there wasn't much of a line. Not the case for the rest of us who had to wait longer. Once thru security I found my bike row - no specific numbers for my rack spot but I soon saw that others had placed their bikes in numerical order and so I followed suit.

T1 and T2 bags were dropped off with volunteers who hung them onto the racks. The guy who took my bike bag wanted me to see where he put my bag - I just wanted to take his picture with my bag but he thought I was taking a picture of my bag location.

After dropping the bags we got body marked. That's right - body marked the day before the race and only on our left arm and left leg. Next we picked up our timing chips and verified them on the laptop. Of course I held up the line as I had to take a picture of my screen.

Found Tate, Christy and Frank and watched them go thru the same process. Tate was anxious but felt ready. We had dinner at a spot close to the expo - The Buffalo Grill. An "American" type place that served hamburgers. Not exactly In N' Out.

Back to the apartment, set out clothes for the morning, set the alarm and was in bed reading by 8:30. Fell asleep pretty quickly and the alarm went off just as fast. I thought I had just fallen asleep but felt refreshed. Until I looked at the phone and saw it was Ann calling. WTF? Calling at 9:30 on the night before the race? I told her I had just fallen asleep and then promptly hung up.

The alarm finally went off and I got up to make coffee. Morning coffee always has a way to help me achieve a "sense of clear" - if you know what I mean.

I could hear voices outside our balcony and looked out to see other racers getting dropped off. A few minutes later I heard louder voices and looked out again - people were just leaving the nightclub from the next block over! They were just ending their day as were preparing for our long day.

Had breakfast, gathered our bags and we headed off to transition. Except I forgot my wetsuit - thankfully I was just at the bottom of the stairs. We walked down pretty quietly gathering our thoughts, thinking about the season, our honorees and our team mates back home.

I put my water bottles on my bike but then didn't see where to drop off special needs. Walked to one end of the bike corral only to learn I had to walk clear to the other side to drop them. Only good thing was all the pros at this end were already out of transition so the port a potties were wide open. I heard one loud pop! Someone's tire had just exploded. The announcer called out "Racer #345 we have bad news"!

Finally got my wetsuit on and made my way to the swim start. And there were Frank and Christy! Frank and I slotted ourselves in the 1:14 group near the back. I found myself suddenly very thirsty and wishing I had a water bottle. I was tempted to grab one on the ground but thought better of it. But there was one guy standing near us with a water bottle. I asked him for a drink and was surprised when he offered it to me.

Soon the announcer was counting down from 10. Then the cannon boomed and off we went. Getting into the water was easier than I thought it would be. The shore sloped down quickly so it was easy to take a few steps then just lay out and start swimming. There was no bunching up like it can get at CDA. I found some open water pretty quickly and started focusing on long smooth strokes with high elbows on the catch. It seemed effortless - just like I wanted. Then BAM - I got kicked in the face - that brought me back to reality. It was really hard to sight with the slight swells and the buoys were not that big. Pretty soon I saw the first turn buoy. Made the turn and promptly got clocked on my right ear by someone. But I did notice there was a yellow lane line connecting the buoys. And since I only breath to my right - I could sight with each breath on the line. Sweet! But after the third buoy the lane line seemed to disappear.

Fortunately they had created a chute out of large yellow buoys that was easier to sight on. I was hoping to be about an hour for the first loop. When I got out I saw I was at 51 minutes! The second loop was a bit longer than I thought. My goal time for the swim was 1:15. When I got to the end of the second loop I couldn't get out of the water due the steepness of the drop off and the back wash from the small waves. I grabbed onto a volunteer and dragged him down into the water. Finally got out and saw I swam a 1:17 - damn fine swim for me.

Transition was a long walk up a ramp and into the changing tent after grabbing my T1 bag. They had only one tent with a small side for women (there were only 250 total women registered) that was divided by a small banner. I noticed the men's side was pretty packed but the women's side had one woman already changed into her bike gear, about 10 guys in various stages on changing and one completely naked guy. I walked thru the women's side, helped one lady with her bike jersey then proceeded to the end of the tent to change. No volunteers to help as at other IM races but no problem. Took my time changing, then grabbed my bike and walked the mile to the far end of the bike corral for the exit. Others were running but I thought what the heck - I'm walking. About a 13 minute T1.

Hopped on the bike amidst the crowd and started an easy cadence. The first 10 miles are all flat. I must have had 1,000 people pass me in this stretch. Around mile 8 Steve caught up to me. He didn't have a slot so he was riding the course on his own after he did his own IM swim. Riding with Steve was the best part of the day. We hung out together the entire ride and he took good care of me. Mile 10 brought the first climb - a short (500 meter) but very steep climb. My HR was sky high at the top and it took a good 5-7 minutes to get back down. The next 15 miles were a false flat with a nice downhill leading to THE CLIMB. The climb was a 13 mile grind. Another 1,000 people passed me on the climb.

Rule #1 of Ironman is "nothing new on race day". I tend to flaunt the rules though. On course nutrition was Infinite - liquid carbs with some protein. I had used some on one training ride and it didn't bother my stomach. So I decided on race day to go with my 2 bottles of Carbo Pro and then switch to the on course Infinite. Stupid. They didn't have any at the first water stop. The following stops had some but it seemed to be watered down. I didn't experience any stomach issues but my calorie intake was now way down. Then the muscle cramps arrived. My quads just above my knees tend to ache - not so much a cramp just a sensation of driving a big nail into each leg. From experience I knew this would mean a very difficult and painful run. Oh well.

On the way to the top the hammies would then seize - I tried to ride thru it and stretch when I could but eventually had to stop. The inside of my thighs (sartorius) would then cramp - I was a mess. And of course Morty was with me all day - I must have stopped 5-6 times to massage my foot to relieve the burning. But what the heck - I was riding a great course in France with Steve. We stopped for pictures on the climb so we could have the hilltop village of Gordon in the background. A British rider - Oliver_ stopped and took a pic for us. He said we had 8km of climb left then it was downhill from there. Saw him throughout the rest of the day.

Finally made the top water stop only to realize we had 5km more of climbing to do. This area had a real moonscape quality to it - barren and arid. We could see other riders way above us and tried not to think too much about the continuing climb. Made it to the top and there was special needs. I shared a PBJ sandwich and a candy bar with Steve. Shared the gummies with Oliver when he came by. Then we were off on the downhills.

There were a few more climbs but nothing like we just did. Still, due to my cramping I could barely make it up these little inclines. The downhills were long and not too technical - except for the section of hairpin turns. We went thru one village where the street was only about 8 feet wide. At the end of the street we stopped to take pics of us riding thru it. Steve went back first and rode down the narrow street while I took the pics. Then it was my turn. At the start there was group of locals partying and handing some type of liquor. I took a cup which set them off cheering and slapping me on the back. Rode down the street then handed the cup off to some other local who promptly thanked me.

We were hoping to see Frank and Christy on the out and back. That way we knew they could make the bike cut off. We did see them as they started the out portion. There was one more climb but nothing as bad as the 13 miler. But there weren't very many people out there at all. Most of the water stops were packing up. Thank fully it was mostly downhill. I still had to stop and check on Morty a few times. As we were heading down the last downhill a couple of people passed us. But I knew as soon as we hit the flats we would catch them. Sure enough, soon as the road straightened and flattened we went into aero and started picking up the speed. We averaged 20+ mph for the last 15 miles. Steve stopped at the apt. and I went on into transition.

Another long transition as I took my time. Had to massage Morty and even applied some Alcis on my foot. That relieved the pain for the first 2 loops. The pain I had in the quads on the bike was starting to get worse. My 4:1 run/walk was working but I was slowing down. Got to see Tate finally. He was having some stomach issues and walking quite a bit. I was hoping to catch up to him but he could walk faster than I could run. I saw Frank as he was coming in off the bike. Turns out he had a major flat and his tire was trashed. Someone on the course had an extra and he had to hammer the last 30 miles to make it on time. Christy was just ahead of him by about 20 minutes so she was already on the run. I got to see her as we passed each other on each loop. The run is 4 loops of 10.5k each. Not too bad but it did get a lttle boring. Tate's family was cheering for him from in front of our apartment. That was great to hear and see someone twice on each loop.

The sun was hot and there was no shade. I ran thru the showers a couple of times but then ,my feet got wet and so did my socks. I took off the arm coolers and gave them to Steve. I'm sure he was happy to carry my sweaty arm coolers back to the apt. The last loop was tough. my quads were hurting with each step. My run portion was really slowing down. At the last turn around I couldn't run anymore. So I walked the last 3 miles. Until I got close and the crowd picked me up. You really do find strength to run the last half mile of an Ironman. I entered the finisher chute and had it all to myself. I weaved from side to side slapping hands with a bunch of people I didn't know. I could hear shouts of "Allez Dan!" and then saw the finish. Ran up, put my arms in the air and was really glad to be done.

IM France doesn't have catchers. So I got my medal and wandered over to the finisher shirt pickup. I had requested a size L but then thought it might be too small. So I asked for an XL - the lady looked at me kinda strange and said no. I thought she was just denying my request to swap but turns out they don't even order XL. The Europeans are so lean and fit they just don't see the need to order any XL sizes.

I found Tate in the massage tent and we talked about the race for a bit. Then all of a sudden there was Christy. She was worried about making the final cut off but finished with about 15 minutes to spare. There were post race fireworks that went off for about 15 minutes but we couldn't see them from the massage area. And none of us wanted to stand up and go watch them. Got a quick massage then some food - the post race food was lousy - some cold quiche thing, cold chicken wings and chips. I wanted pizza.

No TriBike so we had to collect our bags and our bikes. We had to do the reverse security for the bikes - they scanned our race bracelet, then the security tag - that brought up the pic they took of us with our bike the day before. After scrutinizing us and the pic they snipped the tag off and we were free to go. Walked back to the apartment and took the small elevator up. I took the elevator up and down for the next two days.

As we walked back I saw a homeless guy asleep on a bench. He was in that same spot 16 hours earlier as we started the IM day.

We were all so glad to be done. A very good swim, a very long, long, long bike and a long walk/run.

But #7 is now completed. On to #8 - IM Canada.

Thanks for reading.

Rudolph Rap

Couldn't be outdone by CD - here's my white man rap on Rudolph -

There be dis homeboy Rudolph
A red nosed reindeer
He want to bring the hood
Some decent Christmas cheer

Now his nose it be so bright
They say 'dat when you see him
You be thinking that this Rudolph
Should be in some museum

All the other reindeers
This Rudolph they be dissin'
The scams of the hood
They make him be a missin'

Come the Fat Man with the beard
Who be bringin' all da toys
He tell all 'dem reindeer
You be stoppin' wit dis noise

Christmas Eve be here too foggy
All da presents in da sleigh
Rudolph with dat nose
You gonna light da way

The homeboys they start cheerin'
Now Rudolph their man be
They all start ta sayin'
You be makin' history

So now there's no mo dissin'
That ain't be what you hear
Cuz the Man be Rudolph
The Red Nose Reindeer

The 140.6 Mile Swim...

...otherwise known as IM USA in Lake Placid. The trip started off great as we had easy flights with good connections to Burlington, Vermont. Then it was A nice drive to the ferry to cross Lake Champlain and a pizza dinner in Elizabethtown, NY. We made it to our hotel around 8 pm with no issues.

Friday we registered, got our gear bags and picked up the bikes. Gotta love tribike transport - so much easier than having to unpack and reassemble a bike. Rode back to the hotel then regrouped for a swim in Mirror Lake.

We just wanted to get a feel for the water and sighting since the course buoys were in place. Tons of people on the shore as the kids tri was just finishing. Those little guys are fast! Decided to just swim out to the third buoy, cut across to the return side and get out. At the second buoy we heard loud thunder claps and then it started raining - really hard. So much rain we couldn't see the next buoy! Thankfully there is a cable that runs underwater from buoy to buoy so we sighted on that then made the turn back to shore. It even started hailing a bit on us in the water! I read some other racer reports that said there was lightening strike near the shore at the end of the loop - they felt their felt tingling. Good thing we felt nothing but the sting against our faces.

Saturday was an easy day as we dropped off our bikes and gear bags at T1. We grabbed a lot of plastic shopping bags from the grocery store the night before so all of our gear bags and bikes were covered in a hope to keep things dry.

Sunday was up at 4 am, had pre-race breakfast and coffee. Saw my way to clear then went with the team to the start. At this time the skies were overcast but it was still dry. Dropped off our nutrition on our bikes then headed up the road to drop off special needs. Tons of people getting ready, lots of energy around and lots of volunteers helping out. As we were getting into our wetsuits it started drizzling - uh oh.

Walked to the swim start and it wasn't too wet as the rain stopped. The swim is a 2 loop course with everyone wanting to get on the buoy line and sight on the underwater cable. Ann, Bindu and I decided to start close to the boat dock but still back a ways. As the cannon boomed we walked a bit further out then started the swim. A we rounded the corner of the boat dock it really bunched up - I couldn't lay flat at all so it was a frantic dog paddle until we passed the dock. My heart rate shot way up. Once past the first buoy it was still crowded but now I could swim. I looked to my right and saw a sea of swimmers. No way I was getting into that washing machine- so I decided to stay left of the buoys and swim inside the buoy line. I could see the cable off to my right and kayakers to my left. I thought they would tell me to keep the buoys on my left but they never did. There were a lot of others with the same idea. At the turn around I had to take the buoys on my left so it got a bit crowded there but then it was back to the inside.

The return and the entire second loop were uneventful - I was able to focus on long strokes, gliding and front quadrant swimming. I didn't get kicked or grabbed much at all except for the turns. I did notice when we got out to start the second loop that there were a lot of umbrellas on the shore.

Got out of the water and saw my watch at 1:23 - not great but not bad at all. But the best part of the swim was no dizziness as I stood up. Then I noticed it was raining. I started to worry about the bike. 7 mike descents are not my favorite and doing one in a downpour is my worst nightmare.

Made it to T1 (which is a 400 meter run from the swim), got my bag and into the changing tent I went. Slow and smooth as I got myself ready for the bike. I lookeed around and saw lots of guys with shells, vests or jackets on. uh oh - I only had arm warmers and my tri top. The descent was gonna be a cold one.

On the way out of town we passed right by our hotel and there was my lovely wife Karen on the side of the road cheering for us. I stopped and asked her to get my shell from the room. So I had about a 10 minute rest stop waiting for her to return but it was worth it to stay warm. Once I started again Ann came flying past met me. I caught up and we rode together until the descent started. She went crazy fast down as I rode my brakes and made it safely to the bottom. I spent the next 45 miles catching up to her.

At special needs (halfway mark) I saw Ann again and we had a nice lunch together. The volunteers were great, they held our bags for us as we rummaged thru what we wanted and ate our food. These folks were just standing out in the rain serving us. Great volunteers! Did I mention it was still raining? Ann and I looked up to the sky and yelled "Is this all you got?" "Bring it on Lake Placid!" Maybe we shouldn't have been so arrogant as the rain never let up.

Off again for the next loop. I had seen Bindu on the first loop out and back so I knew he made it out of the water. That was the highlight of my day. Passing the hotel again I saw Karen, Shanti, Katie, and Coach Alex from NB. I always stop and talk a bit when I see friends and family. I told them I saw Bindu on the bike and was really happy he made the swim cutoff. They told me he swam a 1:29!! I was flabbergasted - where did that come from? He must have been sandbagging all year. We're gonna move him up a few lanes for next season.

The second bike loop wasn't bad despite the rain. Did I mention it was still raining? Again Ann went ahead of me on the downhills and I spent the next 45 miles trying to catch her. This time I never did.

Made it into T2 with a 7:03 bike time - with the 10 minute stop on the first loop I felt pretty good about this time. The rain may have been a blessing in disguise as it made me slow down on the bike. Leaving T2 I felt strong and the legs were working just fine - no cramps and no foot issues. I stayed with my 4:1 plan and saw I was doing an 11 minute pace. I could live with that.

I beat Ann out of transition but she caught up to me as were leaving town. So we ran together for the first loop. The rain let up a bit but as we left town it started up again. I worried about blisters since my feet were soaking wet. I was very lucky as none developed.

At the turn around back in town and at special needs (mile 13) we saw the fish known as Steve. He was about 2 miles ahead of us. He told me to catch up to him and we could runt he second loop together. So off I went to try catching him. Leaving town on the run is mostly downhill so I was able to run most of it. At the out of town out and back I made the turn expecting to see Steve but he was nowhere to be seen. Then all of a sudden there he was - but still doing the out while I was on the return. Seems I passed him while he was taking a potty break. Ann was right behind him. I had my own bladder issues - either I was very good with my hydration or my kidneys were just working overtime - I peed a record 13 times combined bike and run. Thank goodness I'm a guy and can pee anywhere.

As we headed back into town I was feeling great - no cramps, hammies were fine and no foot issues at all. It was still raining but starting to lessen a bit. I looked at my watch and saw I could PR if I ran the rest of the way. So off we went for the last 3 miles. We walked the last uphill into town then took off again. One more out and back then it was a slight downhill finish. The crowd is cheering, we were slapping hands with kids as we made our way onto the oval. Then there it was – the finish chute and clock. I looked up and saw a PR – only by about 45 seconds but still a PR. Steve was right there with me and Ann just a few minutes later.

We got our medals, t-shirts and hats then went to the food tent. They were just handing out freshly arrived pizza. Wow – was that ever good.

Then we saw Katie – she had our dry clothes bags – what an angel! Karen, Shanti and Katie had retrieved our bikes, took them to tribike transport and then had all of our gear bags in the car already! We felt so pampered and what a relief to not have to deal with the bikes or bags. And to have warm dry clothes was awesome. The rain let up as waited for Bindu and Mike to finish.

What an honor it was to watch Bindu cross the line and become an Ironman. He had an ear to ear smile that lit up the finish area. We got more pizza as we waited for Mike and the last of the NB team to finish.

And to bring it back to why we do this crazy thing – a woman stopped me in the finish area to thank me for what we are doing. Her 3 year old grandson is battling leukemia and she wanted us to know how much she appreciates what we do.

A very good day on a very, terrible rainy day. Ironteam was 10 for 10 with all starters finishing. And the flames were well represented – a guy from Boston TNT wants to buy flames gear and sent me an email already asking how he can get some!

Survival of the Fittest

Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels.

Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the "loser," and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round.

I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world.

Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment.

When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3x5 card reading, "Please use this M&M for breeding purposes."

This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this "grant money." I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion.

There can be only one.








actually I ripped this off of craigslist but thought it was pretty funny

IMAZ - Race Day

Wow - what a long day.

Well - there's more to my race report than just that. It'll be long so get comfortable.

First - congratulations to all the Boston runners -all with sub-4 marathons in terrible weather. Won't be hearing "too cold to run" from that group ever again.

Saturday night saw an early dinner with plans to turn out the lights at 8 pm. Well, I got a little too interested in the book I'm reading and went until 8:30. I called the front desk, requested a 4:00 am wake up call and then set the alarm also. Can't be too careful. Good thing the bladder alarm is reliable because the alarm didn't go off and the call never came. I woke up at 3:45 closed my eyes again and then it was 4:05. Got up, made a latte (of course) then went down for breakfast. Saw my way to clear then had a little more breakfast. The hotel had a shuttle to the start so I was on my way at 5:30.

The start area had tons of people - 2100 athletes and twice that in supporters and volunteers. I found Glenn and checked in with him on how he was doing. Then we saw Raf from the NB team. He was in crisis mode - seems he forgot his wetsuit at his friend's house in Scottsdale. Even if he was able to get in touch with them and they drove his wetsuit to the start, they wouldn't have made it in time. So Raf was trying to psyche himself up into a no-wetsuit swim. He was more worried about treading water for the start (IMAZ is a deep water start) than anything else.

I suggested we walk over to the expo area and see if the Blue Seventy guys were there and if they had any demo suits he could rent. No luck - they were already packed up and gone. But the Trisports tent was open selling last minute gear items. We asked if they had any demo suits available - nope, but they did have some trade-in wetsuits. The guy said we could look through them and find one to use. The first one he pulled out was a TNT ORCA suit that fit him perfectly. Raf was now one happy triathlete. It had to be a good karma thing to pull the TNT suit out of the bin and have it fit just right. Raf had a good day from there on out.

I got my wetsuit on and we walked over to the start. The pros went off at 6:45 but they started letting in age groupers at 6:30. I didn't want to sit in the water for 30 minutes so Raf and I sat on the edge until about 6:50. The actual start is about 100 yards from where we jumped into the water. This gave us a nice warmup. I wanted to start towards the back on the left side. The swim start was not as chaotic as IMCDA - a good thing - no getting kicked in the head, nobody swimming over the top of me - not much of a washing machine at all. Probably because I started pretty far in the back and it's a wider start.

The swim is one loop so the turn wasn't too congested either. The downside was we started out to the east - right into the rising sun. I couldn't see anything, there was no way to sight on anything but other swimmers. I'm sure I zig-zagged a lot but made it to the turn and welcomed having the sun out of my eyes. I tried to focus on my stroke, front quadrant swimming, and maintaining my glide (sound familiar?). At one point I noticed my left hand doing a weird flipping thing as I started my recovery with that arm. I realized I wasn't finishing my stroke at all and was just flopping my hand forward. So I worked on that for a bit and tried to stay focused.

The very best part of the swim and probably the entire day - getting out of the water and not being dizzy or nauseated at all. This was huge for me considering at IMCDA I had a 30 minute T1 trying to get over the dizziness and stop throwing up.

Swim - 1:26

I took my time in T1 (13') and then headed out to my bike. They had us put all of our bike gear in the T1 bag so there was nothing by our bikes. They made us all go out the center aisle but a volunteer got my bike off the rack and brought it to me. That was cool.

My bike plan was to take the first loop very easy and then try to push it a bit more on each following loop. Going out was fun - I was cruising at 20-24 mph, not pushing at all. Made it to the turn around in just over an hour and then headed back. Holy crap - I've never ridden in that much wind before. My speed dropped quickly to 12 mph. Someone said later the wind was gusting to 40 mph. At about mile 30 I heard "On your left!" and saw Michael Lovato riding by me. Then I thought, hmm, he had a 15 minute head start on the swim, probably did it in about 50 minutes and my swim was 1:26 - so I figured he had about an hour head start on me and it took him 30 miles to catch me. Well, really to lap me but I held him off for as long as I could.

Morty didn't show up until mile 80. I had to stop and massage my foot it was burning so bad. Then at mile 100 I had to stop again and massaged the foot. Morty is a Morton's Neuroma in my right foot. The nerve behind the 3rd and 4th toes gets inflamed then burns then cramps to the point I can't move it at all. So stopping and massaging it was perfect. I had one bad cramp in my right thigh but was able to stand up and stretch and finally it went away.

On the Beeline Hwy part of the ride we were pretty much out in the desert. I kept hearing a muffled pop like someone in front of me or behind me blowing a tire. Or worse, something subtle going wrong with my bike. Fortunately it was neither- there was a gun range off to the right and it was just target practice I was hearing. But it fooled me each time I went by it.

The wind made the ride very difficult. Not only taking away much needed energy but very de-motivating as well. So I just got into aero, looked at the ground in front of me and pushed on.

Bike - 7:10

Second best part of the day - getting off the bike and actually feeling like I could run. My plan was to run 4 minutes, walk one. This worked great for me. I'd pass people while running then watch them go by me while I was walking then I'd catch them again. My quads started hurting around mile 16 then really started hurting at mile 20. So I walked for a bit longer, tried to do a 4 run, 4 walk for about 2 miles. At mile 23 I decided to run again. I found it easier to run uphills and walk the downhills. Just the opposite of what others were doing. The course wasn't really hilly - just the bridges over the river - but I ran up and walked down. Then I saw mile 25 and felt good enough to finish running the last mile. It was great to cross the bridge and be able to take the finisher's route instead of the loop #2 or #3 route. I had to do that twice already watching others finish as I headed out for another loop.

Run - 5:30

Overall - 14:24

So all in all - a good day. No flats, no falls, no dizziness and #4 IM is in the books. I really am a "Back of the packer" and feel pretty damn good about it.

Thanks again for all the support and good wishes.

Stayed strong, went long-
Dan

IMAZ Day 3

The day started pretty easily. Slept in a bit or at least tried to - got up around 6:30 and fired up the espresso machine. Made a latte, saw my way to clear then went down for breakfast. For some reason I just did not want to get started on the gear bags. Finally about 10 am I laid them out on the bed and started the video. You'll see all the different bags and numbers at the start of the Day 3 video.

Made quick trip to Safeway to get water and a few other items. Then dragged myself back to finish putting together T1 and T2 bags. I guess by making these preparations it makes this Ironman real. Got the bags done, had a sandwich for lunch then headed over to drop the bike off and finish the video.

There are some amazing and very pretty bikes here. Probably close to $500k in bikes and wheels alone in the transition area.

I made my way to find my bike spot then remembered I needed to put on the bike stickers. Another good video opportunity. My bike spot will be very easy to find - it's at the end of a row right by the only orange porta-potties in that area. But Glenn got an even better spot. Check out the video.

Dropped the bike off, then went to drop the T1 and T2 bags. Another good spot for my bags at the beginning of a row just inside the entrance. Made some more video and also got a shot of where we'll be swimming. The Tempe Town Lake is really a dammed up portion of the Salt River. Should be a narrow start but with it being just one loop, the first turn shouldn't get too crowded.

After dropping off the bags I came back and put my feet in the hot tub. Just needed that strong jet to massage the bottoms for a bit. Plan is for dinner around 6 then in bed with the lights out by 8 pm. Not too hard for me really. Early wake up call at 4 am, latte (of course), breakfast, another clearing episode I hope, then off to the race at 5:30.

Best part of the day was walking thru the expo and stopping at the PowerBar tent. TNT signs up the coaches for the PowerBar Team Elite program. It's a way for Powerbar to market to coaches and hopefully the coaches will promote their products. At events they always give out special stuff if you say you're with the Team Elite. So anyways I'm getting more swag and the young girl helping me sees I'm wearing my Ironteam TNT t-shirt. She asks if I'm TNT and I say yes. She then thanks me for what I'm doing and tells me she's a leukemia survivor. Can you believe it? She thanks me. I was humbled - here's a young girl just starting her life and she battles cancer and survives. And she's thanking me. I really didn't know what to say other than thanks. But it really brought me back to why we are all training so hard and raising so much money. So people like her can be survivors.

Thank you all for your hard work and fundraising so far.

I hope you enjoyed Day 1 of Boot Camp - that's always a fun day - at least for the coaches. Have fun tomorrow with Day 2.

Here's the link to the latest video -

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:170151


Going long in the morning -
Dan

IMAZ Day 2

IMAZ Day 2 started with the most important item of the day. Setting up the espresso machine and making a latte. Once that was done I went downstairs for the free breakfast at my hotel.

I went to the Expo area to meet Glenn for a swim. The new video starts with this area showing the bike transition and swim start. Not too much to see but there were a lot of people there for the practice swim. Maybe it just seems like a lot since it's in a much smaller area than IMC or IMCDA. Glenn and I got a nice swim done. The water was just chilly at first but then was very nice. The weather has been perfect. Well, except for yesterday. Very strong winds blowing a dust storm through Phoenix - gusts up to 45 MPH. My hotel is right under the flight pattern for Phoenix airport. With the wind blowing hard and the planes overhead - it sounded like a freight train in my room.

So anyways - we got a nice swim done. The water should be just fine for Sunday - temp is pretty similar to what we had at Wildflower for practice weekend. After the swim we got in line for registration. We stood in line for almost an hour. The funny thing was once we got to the actual registration area we were through it in about 10 minutes. I'm not sure what the hold up was for getting to this area.

Day 2 video shows the area where folks were getting ready for the practice swim, then the registration line, weigh in, instructions, more instructions and getting the timing chip. Plus a little bit thru the souvenir tent and then the free massage.

Or at least what I thought was a free massage. I forgot it was really the "Active Release Therapy" - which is still free but not quite a massage. The woman there worked on my quads and found some tender areas. She pushed pretty deep with her thumbs while I was stretching my leg back and forth. Probably good to work some of whatever is in there out a bit - but I was really hoping for the free massage part. Guess I'll have to wait until Sunday night.

Glenn and I also found Raf from the NB team. We walked to downtown Tempe for a quick lunch. Then Glenn and I decided to drive the bike course. It's a three loop course so we had to drive it three times to get a good feel for it. No, not really. Just drove the long road - Beeline Hwy - once and found the hills. After last Saturday's ride and the Calaveras loop before that - these aren't really hills. More like sustained "ups". The out ends on the uphill then we turn around and head down for the back into town part. Should be nice if the wind holds off.

After driving back in to town I went back to my room and rested a bit. Met up with Glenn again for dinner and the mandatory race meeting. Best news from the race meeting - each water stop on the bike route will have 4 port-a-potties - and a bike rack! What a great idea! A bike rack while you're dropping the kids off at the pool.

More tomorrow on putting the various transition bags, special needs and race numbers together. Then I'll drop off my bike in the afternoon and get a shot of the transition area filled with bikes.

Here's the link again for today's video -

http://www.vimeo.com/user:177522/clips

It's a big file so make sure you have some time and lots of bandwidth to download it.

Thanks again for all the good wishes.

Staying strong, going long (on Sunday) -

Dan