Hey all I posted this over at Gordos site but I got a buch of very nice emails and a few not so nice ("learn to run") emails so I thought I would post it up here as well. Read if your bored.
IMAZ – 2006
It was a year ago almost to the day that I got hit head on while out on a ride, the wreck tore my P3 in half and did just about the same to me. I ended up with two separated shoulders torn meniscus in the knee and some pretty dramatic back, neck and soft tissue damage. I spent nearly 2 months not able to even walk without pain, I started PT as soon as I could and for about 8 months did 3 physical therapy sessions and 2 massage sessions per week to help the body come back. I decided to sign up for IMAZ as a goal to reach one year from the crash.
When the body was getting better I got hooked up with John Newsom and set out the years goals and started off with a program to get back in shape. John was great to work in prep for this race and I look forward to working with him on the prep for Hawaii. I know many of you know how great all the Oomph! Gear is, but how many companies would stick with a lowly age group athlete who does no racing for a full year and then continue to support him on the next year. What a great Company and Great People.
My prep for this race was unlike any before the injuries had their own challenges but I think it was the weather of the Pacific Northwest that caused the most hardships for me. I can only handle so many rides in 39 degrees and hard rain before I started to go crazy! I am lucky that I also have a Computrainer so the indoor sessions made up for the days that I could not go outside. The focus for the build to this race was my run and swim, I really did not do much biking compared to previous seasons, my run and swim were coming along great and I was hitting all time PRs in the pool and the long TT tests were showing that I should have a great swim in AZ. My run was also coming along great this year I was putting in good mileage and the times were inline with a solid run for me. I was really shooting for a sub- 3:15 run this race.
I got down to AZ on Tuesday morning and felt a bit sluggish, I took it as jetlag and hoped that with a good nights sleep I would be feeling great on Wen. Wen morning was about the same not good but not to bad, I headed down to ASU and did a short swim in the pool and then did an easy ride after the bike got built up. Thursday was a different story, woke up and felt awful, stuffy head and a real tough stomach flu. I tried to do an easy run to loosen the legs up and blow the congestion out of my head but that just ended up that strange walk to the bathroom after about a mile of an easy jog, the body was just not happy. Friday and Saturday were pretty much the same, I was watching my weight going into this race and I ended up loosing 5 lbs in the last two days. I woke up Sunday and was really not sure if I was going to race, I was still very sick. But as many of you all know it is very tough to get into these races, and I really wanted to try to get a IMH slot and finish off the year in Kona so I decided to start and see how the day progressed. This is one area where the IM races are very tough, you have to sign up a year in advance and bank the whole season on that one day, I was not alone with getting sick and many others have much worse luck than a simple flu bug but we all put all the eggs in that one basket and hope for a good day.
Just before the swim I met KP got some well wishing and headed to the water, This year my goal on the swim was to go 57-58, I have swam a hour flat but I have been very inconsistent in my swim times in the races. I started about 4 people deep from the line and pretty much in the middle on the line. Right off the start it was the roughest swim I have done, just beat up. I need to do a better job in the first 400 yards.
Out of the swim in 1:03:** and not to happy with that, the stomach was not to bad on the swim and I don’t think I can use that as an excuse for the slow swim. Into T-1 and found out that my bag was gone, someone grabbed it and then realized it and put it back in the wrong pile, so after about 3 mins of lots of help we found the bag and made it out on the bike. I have a new P3C and this was my first race on the bike, I really like the fit and feel of the bike, it is a 54cm set up with Vision carbon R-bend one piece bars Zipp disk, corima aero front wheel. I also did the race with the L.G. Rocket helmet.
The goal for me on the bike was to sit right at 140 HR and just ride a steady ride, for the first 10 mile my HR was up a bit due to the swim and the T-1 troubles and I was sitting right at 145-148 I was feeling ok at this point and just tried to relax and settle in for the ride. When I hit the highway out and back the HR dropped to the goal 140 and I worked my way out to the turn. There was a bit of a head wind on the way out to the turn and it is a slight incline so the speed was a bit slow, at the turn it was really fast back into town. I was feeling ok with only a bit of stomach cramping but I was able to get some calories in and was feeling ok. The second loop was very uneventful, it seemed that the wind settled down a bit, I was now running into some people starting their first loop, which was really not to bad, people were really good about staying right. There were some really rough sections of the road were passing was ugly but for the most part it was good. The stomach was starting to act up a bit on the second loop and it was getting a bit warmer but I was still hoping for the best, the third lap was about the same and the second HR was real stable at 140 and my average speed I think went up a bit. To put this ride in perspective my last few IM races I was about 145-150 HR for the full ride so a bit easier then past races but those were with a healthy body. I was off the bike at 5:52 into the race and was just crossing my fingers that the stomach would not rebel on the run.
T-2 was very relaxed, I ended up sitting next to Scott M. a Pro at the race and a friend that was not having the best day, he headed out a min infront of me, of change up and took off, I made it a whole 3/4 mile almost to the first bridge and I had to hit the Porta Pot, this was the moment that I knew it was going to be a long long day. After I went to the bathroom I headed out again for the run, I caught up with Scott M just before mile 2 then it was pretty ugly, I continued having to use the bathroom or just throw up when I tried to continue to eat or drink. The rest of the run was just that run –crap – run – puke and so on. I ended up finishing the run in 3:57. It was one of the hardest, most painful and most frustrating 4 hours of my life. I really was ready this race to run well and not to be able to show it was tough. I finished up in 9:52. I think I was about 200 something out of the water 32nd off the bike then 50th overall at the end.
Monday was another tough day I was not able to keep any food down until late in the afternoon. I was so damn hungry! I would try to eat something and it would just come back up. By the afternoon I was shaky and real close to asking my wife to take me to the ER. But by late Monday I was feeling a bit better.
Home now and I will take a few weeks real easy then think again about some fun races this summer and line up my IMH plan with John.
Clark.
IMAZ – 2006
It was a year ago almost to the day that I got hit head on while out on a ride, the wreck tore my P3 in half and did just about the same to me. I ended up with two separated shoulders torn meniscus in the knee and some pretty dramatic back, neck and soft tissue damage. I spent nearly 2 months not able to even walk without pain, I started PT as soon as I could and for about 8 months did 3 physical therapy sessions and 2 massage sessions per week to help the body come back. I decided to sign up for IMAZ as a goal to reach one year from the crash.
When the body was getting better I got hooked up with John Newsom and set out the years goals and started off with a program to get back in shape. John was great to work in prep for this race and I look forward to working with him on the prep for Hawaii. I know many of you know how great all the Oomph! Gear is, but how many companies would stick with a lowly age group athlete who does no racing for a full year and then continue to support him on the next year. What a great Company and Great People.
My prep for this race was unlike any before the injuries had their own challenges but I think it was the weather of the Pacific Northwest that caused the most hardships for me. I can only handle so many rides in 39 degrees and hard rain before I started to go crazy! I am lucky that I also have a Computrainer so the indoor sessions made up for the days that I could not go outside. The focus for the build to this race was my run and swim, I really did not do much biking compared to previous seasons, my run and swim were coming along great and I was hitting all time PRs in the pool and the long TT tests were showing that I should have a great swim in AZ. My run was also coming along great this year I was putting in good mileage and the times were inline with a solid run for me. I was really shooting for a sub- 3:15 run this race.
I got down to AZ on Tuesday morning and felt a bit sluggish, I took it as jetlag and hoped that with a good nights sleep I would be feeling great on Wen. Wen morning was about the same not good but not to bad, I headed down to ASU and did a short swim in the pool and then did an easy ride after the bike got built up. Thursday was a different story, woke up and felt awful, stuffy head and a real tough stomach flu. I tried to do an easy run to loosen the legs up and blow the congestion out of my head but that just ended up that strange walk to the bathroom after about a mile of an easy jog, the body was just not happy. Friday and Saturday were pretty much the same, I was watching my weight going into this race and I ended up loosing 5 lbs in the last two days. I woke up Sunday and was really not sure if I was going to race, I was still very sick. But as many of you all know it is very tough to get into these races, and I really wanted to try to get a IMH slot and finish off the year in Kona so I decided to start and see how the day progressed. This is one area where the IM races are very tough, you have to sign up a year in advance and bank the whole season on that one day, I was not alone with getting sick and many others have much worse luck than a simple flu bug but we all put all the eggs in that one basket and hope for a good day.
Just before the swim I met KP got some well wishing and headed to the water, This year my goal on the swim was to go 57-58, I have swam a hour flat but I have been very inconsistent in my swim times in the races. I started about 4 people deep from the line and pretty much in the middle on the line. Right off the start it was the roughest swim I have done, just beat up. I need to do a better job in the first 400 yards.
Out of the swim in 1:03:** and not to happy with that, the stomach was not to bad on the swim and I don’t think I can use that as an excuse for the slow swim. Into T-1 and found out that my bag was gone, someone grabbed it and then realized it and put it back in the wrong pile, so after about 3 mins of lots of help we found the bag and made it out on the bike. I have a new P3C and this was my first race on the bike, I really like the fit and feel of the bike, it is a 54cm set up with Vision carbon R-bend one piece bars Zipp disk, corima aero front wheel. I also did the race with the L.G. Rocket helmet.
The goal for me on the bike was to sit right at 140 HR and just ride a steady ride, for the first 10 mile my HR was up a bit due to the swim and the T-1 troubles and I was sitting right at 145-148 I was feeling ok at this point and just tried to relax and settle in for the ride. When I hit the highway out and back the HR dropped to the goal 140 and I worked my way out to the turn. There was a bit of a head wind on the way out to the turn and it is a slight incline so the speed was a bit slow, at the turn it was really fast back into town. I was feeling ok with only a bit of stomach cramping but I was able to get some calories in and was feeling ok. The second loop was very uneventful, it seemed that the wind settled down a bit, I was now running into some people starting their first loop, which was really not to bad, people were really good about staying right. There were some really rough sections of the road were passing was ugly but for the most part it was good. The stomach was starting to act up a bit on the second loop and it was getting a bit warmer but I was still hoping for the best, the third lap was about the same and the second HR was real stable at 140 and my average speed I think went up a bit. To put this ride in perspective my last few IM races I was about 145-150 HR for the full ride so a bit easier then past races but those were with a healthy body. I was off the bike at 5:52 into the race and was just crossing my fingers that the stomach would not rebel on the run.
T-2 was very relaxed, I ended up sitting next to Scott M. a Pro at the race and a friend that was not having the best day, he headed out a min infront of me, of change up and took off, I made it a whole 3/4 mile almost to the first bridge and I had to hit the Porta Pot, this was the moment that I knew it was going to be a long long day. After I went to the bathroom I headed out again for the run, I caught up with Scott M just before mile 2 then it was pretty ugly, I continued having to use the bathroom or just throw up when I tried to continue to eat or drink. The rest of the run was just that run –crap – run – puke and so on. I ended up finishing the run in 3:57. It was one of the hardest, most painful and most frustrating 4 hours of my life. I really was ready this race to run well and not to be able to show it was tough. I finished up in 9:52. I think I was about 200 something out of the water 32nd off the bike then 50th overall at the end.
Monday was another tough day I was not able to keep any food down until late in the afternoon. I was so damn hungry! I would try to eat something and it would just come back up. By the afternoon I was shaky and real close to asking my wife to take me to the ER. But by late Monday I was feeling a bit better.
Home now and I will take a few weeks real easy then think again about some fun races this summer and line up my IMH plan with John.
Clark.