Austin Ironman 70.3

  The official tag line of Ironman is "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE". After finishing my half Ironman feeling the way I did, I was sick.  I can tell you, it's true if you believe in yourself and never give up.
     A little background, Ironman is a brand name. Like Rollerblades, not all inline skates are Rollerblades just as not all triathlons are Ironmans. The Ironman has branded three different distances of triathlons each with a distance value: 5150, 70.3 and 140.6. A full Ironman distance is 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run equals 140.6 miles, a 70.3 is half of a full 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run equals 70.3 miles, 5150 is a quarter of a full .9 mile swim, 24.85 mile bike and 6.2 mile run. For some reason for 5150 they switched over to the metric system to make the nice sexy name 5150 probably because Ironman 31.95 sounds kind of weird.
     In July I started training in earnest for the race. I put in 17 hard weeks, mostly 7 days a week. I swam every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with Masters Swimming. Running or biking on the other days. My daily routine got me up no later then 4:45 AM depending on the length of time for the day's training. It wasn't uncommon for me to be on my bike at 4:30 AM on a Saturday or Sunday trying to get in a 4+ hour ride and be back home to start my day with the family. I'd say 95% of my training happened in the dark or as the sun came up. Thank God I grew up in a military household as I think this helps with getting up early.
     My training log totals finished like this for the 17 training weeks

• Swimming 50 miles
• Biking 1020 miles
• Running 196 miles

     Having torn my tendon off my humorous arm bone, that's one of the muscles and tendons that keeps your arm in the shoulder joint. It forced me to take two weeks off from swimming completely. Then I endured 8 grueling physical therapy sessions but I still managed to get in a fair amount of swimming. Granted not pain free.  Despite the shoulder injury I did feel really prepared for the swim portion of the race.
     Unfortunately race week a stomach bug starting going around our neighborhood. I threatened Carrie I was going to check into a hotel to avoid getting sick, in hindsight I should have. The stomach bug caused people to spend time sitting on or throwing up into the toilet. Even caused one neighbor a trip to the ER for some IVs. Yeah, it was bad. I started taking Airborne hoping it would help but when Lilly got it I knew I was doomed, I may have even talked myself into it, that's what Carrie. So just days before the race it was my turn. Having a stomach bug is not a good way to stay hydrated, it's easy to lose a lot of water, you get the picture.

The finishing chute

     Saturday afternoon after coaching a flag football game I made my way over to the race venue to check in, get my race packet and attended the racers meeting. Pretty standard fair for a triathlon. I bought a couple of race souvenirs and checked out the local sponsor tents. I started to leave and my truck decided to experience it's own version of the stomach bug with back firing, sputtering and general forward motion problems. So I limped the truck over to the mechanics and dropped it off. Just what I needed, car problems. Since I had to be at the race at 5 AM for a complicated transition setup involving three bags of gears, 2 transition zones and a shuttle to the start Carrie and I were planning on taking two cars. Now I needed to borrow a car from someone. Not the kind of thing I planned for. With a neighbor's car secured for the next day it was time to get my game face on.
     Sunday morning I'm out the door at 4:30 AM. I felt like crap! I make it to race site and locate the row of porta potties. Set up Transition 2, the bike in-run out transition. I board a shuttle over to T1, swim in-bike out transition and locate that row porta potties. I visited quite a few of the porta potties before the swim. I ate less then a 1/4 of my bagel with peanut butter before the race. Not a good plan considering I had a long hard day ahead of me.

Out of the water

     At 8:10 my swim wave, males 40-44 entered the water for a 8:15 start, bam the gun goes off. I'm at the front of my group. I like to start at the front so I have some clear water ahead of me and make the faster swimmers go around me. I had a flawless swim, little contact with others, I spotted the buoys well, I rounded the buoys without getting kicked by people doing the breast stroke, which is a bonus. My stroke was good, I didn't push the pace and my shoulder wasn't hurting. As I head out of the water Reid was standing right there yelling "go, daddy, go! Daddy do you see me? Go daddy, go!" I wanted to run over and kiss and hug him, such a cool moment. As I made my way up the chute Carrie yelled my name, I turned smiling and wave. I laid down and the awesome wet suit strippers took my wet suit off in .5 seconds. Swim done!
     In the bike transition, I did my thing, bagging up my wet suit and putting on my biking gear. Out for a nice Texas country ride on miles of chip seal (it's so rough it will rattle teeth loose in your head), hills and wind. I got a good tip the night before the race to get some nutrition in me early in the bike as it will help later in the race namely on the run. So I started to eat and drink. About half way through the bike I started to get the familiar stomach cramps and knew my day was going to get ugly. I managed to maintain a good pace but it was taking to much effort. With 20 miles to go the road turned straight into a very strong head wind. My day just got a lot harder. Those last 20 miles were brutal with my legs starting to cramp, my stomach in knots, I thought I was going to vomit and the wind played tricks with my head. Twice in the last 20 miles I went off the road but managed to keep the bike up right. One of those times I remember closing my eyes as if I was going to take a nap. I remember thinking "I'll just close my eyes for a second". I felt so sleepy.  In the final 200 yards I spotted Carrie and the kids cheering for me. That lifted my spirits a bit.

Encouragement

     I traded my biking shoes for running sneakers and headed out for a half marathon. I looked at my watch for the first time and noted I was on schedule to hit my goal time, that was a surprise considering how I felt. All I had to do was jog 10 minute miles and I was in there. At mile two my stomach said "it's time to walk and walk now!" At the next aid station they had flat warm coke, that sounded good and tasted great. I also took two cold sponges and stuffed those down my shirt. I started to jog again. I did the jog, walk thing for 4 miles completing loop 1 of 3. That's when I saw Carrie, Nancy and the kids. For the first time Carrie noted I wasn't smiling, I'm a happy triathlete and smile a lot during races. It's fun, I smile. I stopped and talked, gave her a quick health update and jogged on. At the beginning of loop two I was by stopped another a friend, Michael Ames another Triathlete, we talked for a second he gave me some words of encouragement and I was off again. This time a much slower jog, pretty much a fast walk.  On lap 2 I did the fast walk until around mile 7 then it turned in a a normal pace walk. I saw the family again. This time Carrie knew my days wasn't going as planned, she held my hand and walked with me. She give me some words of encouragement  and probed me for information about my health. I knew she was concerned because she just watched a woman yak her brains out which I was pretty close to doing myself. I lied about not being dizzy and for that matter didn't tell her I had tunnel vision and was on the verge of passing out, back out for loop 3. This time I got a hug and a hand shake from Michael and the words I need to hear "you got this, anything is possible". Lap 3 didn't contain any running, jogging or fast walking. It was a death march. Making it from one aid station to the next. It was pitiful. With 300 meters from the finish line which is inside the Expo Center I started to jog, my calf cramped. I walked again, "no, you will run across that finish line!" I told myself. Entering the build I started to run again. Over the loud speaker they called out "bib number 1374 from Austin Texas, Brad Askins". I crossed the finish line. Austin 70.3 was done!

Cold concrete and cramped calves

     I needed to lay down. So I did on the cold concret floor of the expo center. Then I  took off my shoes which housed big blisters on the balls of my feet. Then I need to puke. I walked over to a barrel trash can and before I puked I started to black out so I lowered myself to the ground. My back started to ache in the kidney area, I knew I was in trouble. Carrie went to get the medical staff, before they got to me I had made my way over to the medical tent. There I received two bags of IV, my blood pressure was 100/60 and my blood sugar was 108. The guy to my right was puking in a bag and the guy to the left had such low blood pressure they had trouble getting it. It was like a scene from a war movie, cots, nurses, puke and blood.
     After the IVs I was a different person, I managed to eat a banana and drink some water. I even drove myself home. When I got home I ate most of a pizza, took a shower, watched some baseball and then I think I passed out for the last time that day. What an epic day!
     Thanks to all my supporters Carrie, Reid, Lilly, Mom, Scott and Nancy. To all my close friends who support me on a daily basis or at least put up with all my Triathlon talk. My sponsor who supports me 100% of the time all the time, Gear and Training. To all my entire Triathlon family including Scott Jones, John LaFreniere and my swim coach Hollie Kenney. Vicky Bledsoe at Atlas PT who worked a minor miracle on my shoulder. All my entire Facebook family and of course my constant swim lane mate Louise.
     My favorite pictures from the Triathlon. Reid supporting me for 7 hours is a tough job!

Some photos from the day

     My time goal was 6 hours, I didn't make but here are my times

• 1.2 mile swim 36:53 (144/100 yd)
• Transition 1 swim to bike 5:38
• 56 mile bike 2:56:45 (19.1 MPH average)
• Transition 2 bike to run 5:02
• 13.1 mile run 3:19:39 (15 min/mile)
• Total for the day 7:03:57

   
     Ironman, anything is possible!
   


   
   

   
 http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/#axzz1bk94yyvk

Summer Update

     It's been awhile since I last had an entry. Here is a quick run down of what I've been doing since Escape from Alcatraz.

     We had a great family reunion in Toledo Ohio in early July. It was the first time I have seen some of my cousins since 1984, the year Scott graduated High School. We stayed at a resort on the shores of Lake Erie, Maumee Bay State Park. We spent a glorious day at Cedar Point Amusement Park! If you are ever in Sandusky Ohio don't pass up the opportunity to spend a day here. The high point, literally, was Top Thrill Dragster! We got to knock about Uncle Ed's printing shop with his very high tech 4 color printing machine, a Heidelberg. Another highlight of the trip was going to the center of culinary universe, Tony Packo's. If you've never had a Tony Packo pickle your life isn't complete and their chili hot dogs aren't to shabby either. Scott and I did a little brother to brother bonding with a Sprint Triathlon in Lorain Ohio in Lake Erie. I'll only say Scott didn't win but that's not important, it was a joy to race with my brother. Even if he only got a view of my back. Love you brother!

Craig, Uncle Mike, Me, Chad --- Me, Scott

     We had a great time in Ohio. Man it was sure great to see my family even if I was a little afraid of Craig and Chad my "little" cousins who I apparently picked on when they were a lot smaller! Aunt Lou and Uncle Ed graciously opened their house for all of us and hosted us for a very memorable week.

     After a week together I was ready to have a little alone time. I drove Carrie and the kids to Detroit where they boarded a plane bound for New Hampshire. Carrie will have to write her own blog but she and the kids had a great two weeks. Zip lining, going to the ocean, camping for a week, Biederman's Deli in Plymouth, visiting family and old friends. Of course the highlight of the trip was going to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game. I'm so glad Reid and Lilly go to finally see Big Papi and Carrie got to see her boyfriend Jason Varitek.
     Me...you ask, right, a little alone time. After dropping them off at the airport I headed north in Michigan. I only had a skeleton plan of where I wanted to go.  Here is how it played out.

     I drove the entire height of Michigan across the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere. The bridge connects the lower peninsula and the upper peninsula (The U.P.) of Michigan. Then I headed West across the UP. Landed for the night in Marquette MI. You can read about Marquette it is was a very cool little town on the shores of Lake Superior. I enjoyed a sun set in Presque Isle Park. The UP reminded me of Maine, it was a beautiful drive. I continued West with stops in Duluth MN and Fargo ND. The highlight of North Dakota was the night

 I spent in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I got to see Buffalo and Prairie dogs. Next stop after an amazingly beautiful drive across Montana was Glacier National Park. I talked to Carrie on the phone several times across MT and I told her "...with every passing mile it just keeps getting more and more beautiful". I now know why they call it "Big Sky Country". I've had more enjoyable camping experiences. I'm not fond of putting up a tent in the pouring rain when it's 50 degrees. Upon awaking to a beautiful sun rise I set out on "The Going to Sun Road". It is truly the most beautiful stretch of pavement in our country. Don't believe

me? Go there! You'll see...water falls, glaciers, high mountain lakes, big horn sheep, steep canyon walls, rivers, engineering marvels (tunnels and the road) and huge mountains.After doing a short hike I started south. Next stop Idaho, the stretch of road from Glacier through Idaho was well, amazing. There I was, I was having alone time. I sang out loud, I rode in total silence, I waved to people in other cars, I stopped and peed when I wanted too, I ate when I wanted too, I was doing what I wanted to. I drove and drove, I love to drive long distances by myself. As the miles went by I began to let go of some pointless, useless, pity, trivial crap that was taking up space in my head. The hours upon hours of wide open roads does wonders for the soul. Ok enough of my Zen moments. Where was I going? Ah, right, South. The next highlight was Moab UT another magical gem of The West. I'm still trying to forget the stretch of road from the Idaho border to Moab namely the traffic and concrete surroundings of Salt Lake City and Provo. Off to the Four Corners! At the 4 Corners you can be in UT, CO, AZ and NM all at the same time. Shortly after leaving the Four Corners I drove through the Northwestern corner of NM, the lowlight of the trip for sure. I went through same Navajo Reservations and it was depressing. Dirty and poor, it made me sad to think "we" as a country put these people here. Not a high point in our Nation's history. I seriously could not get out of there fast enough. Driving just west of Los Alamos I could see the huge fires that were burning, crazy huge! After leaving Albuquerque, NM behind I went into survival mode. I wanted to be at home! Making it to the Texas border brings little joy, I still had a long way to go. I became a wizard at calculating distances and speed in my head with a little extra time thrown in for traffic and pee breaks. Alas, I made it home. I spent the next week at work reading two weeks of email and at night laying on the couch watching baseball. Now don't get me wrong I missed Carrie and kids but you have to admit being apart every now and then is healthy for any relationship. Love you honey! Some quick road stats: 15 states, 7200 miles, 9 days, I didn't add up the amount I spent in gas.
Here is a short video of my solo trip across the country in 2:24 set to music..enjoy.

     Since then it's been all about avoiding the sun and hot temperatures. We set a record for the most days at or over 100, 71 days as I write this. Next on the race calendar is AVIA Austin Triathlon and then my "A" race of the year a Half Ironman (70.3)
     Stay tuned....thanks for reading.
   
   

Escape from Alcatraz

They say no one has ever escaped from Alcatraz, I beg the differ, I did! After months of training and mental preparation at 7:30 AM on Sunday June 5th I jumped off the San Francisco Belle with 2000 other athletes into the San Francisco bay for the 1.5 mile swim to shore. There is nothing like hitting the salty 52 degree water of the San Francisco bay for a wake up call. After hitting the water one thought came to my mind "how did I get here?"
     Six months ago I put my name in a lottery for the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon. At the time I thought I didn't have a chance in hell of getting into the race. This is a premiere event and spots come at a premium. People from around the world do qualifying races to get in to this race. At this years race there were athletes from all 50 states and 40 countries. The rest of us have to hope we "win"the lottery.  You have to be careful what you wish for. After I got selected I started my training in earnest.

     Saturday morning I planned on doing a practice swim in Aquatic Park Harbor near Ghirardelli Square. The idea for the practice swim was to get a feel for how cold the water was going to be. Adding to my anxiety about the water temperature was the fact is was pouring down rain and about 50 degrees outside. Never the less I needed to test the water. Carrie being the trooper she is donned a rain coat and escorted me down to the park. I put on my wet suit, neoprene cap, ear plugs and swim cap and entered the water. The cold water felt like tiny little knives being driven into my bare feet. When I got about waist deep I decided to just dive in and get the shock of the cold over with. It took my breath away. As I swam out to the first buoy my face stung from the cold. I stopped by another swimmer and asked "...does the pain of the cold ever go away?" he said "give it about 10 minutes", I thought "ok, I can do 10 minutes". He was right, as I made my way around the swimmers' course I became accustom to the cold and started to relax and enjoy the swim. During the swim I also got a good taste of the salt water. After I completed the out and back course I decided I accomplished my mission and thought about Carrie who was standing in the cold rain.

     On race morning after setting up my transition area I boarded a bus for Pier 3 and a quick boat ride out to Alcatraz Island. Upon crossing the gangway I entered the belly of the beast. The boat wish filled with angst, excitement and nervous chatter. After some last minute instructions over the PA and The National Anthem I put on my goggles and surveyed the bay with a scattering safety boats, kayakers, a Coast Cutter and a helicopter.  At the sound of the starting horn the Pro athletes jumped off first followed by the age group athletes. 2000 athletes disembarked from The Belle in 6 minutes. To get an idea watch the video (video from 2010). For the swim you locate land marks to swim towards. The first sighting are two twin apartment buildings. As I started swimming for the buildings I noticed right away I'm not going to make it as the current is pulling me down stream towards the Golden Gate Bridge. At least the current is pulling me in the right direction. The next sighting is Fort Mason, again, I'm not going to make it there either. This goes on for all my land marks. The real trick is aim at land marks knowing you won't make it but swim hard so you don't miss the landing beach. If you miss the beach you'll be pick up by a boat because the next stop is the Pacific Ocean under the Golden Gate Bridge. Not an outcome I wanted. As I neared shore the current lessens and I can tell I'm going to hit the high side of the beach. This is a perfect spot, I nailed the swim. The most common question before and after swim is about sharks. The water is so cloudy you can only see about an arms length. The only thing I saw I was a big floating seaweed mat that I swam through. If there were sharks, seals or sea lions I didn't see any and I'm glad for that. I did the 1.5 mile swim in 34:12 my goal was 45 minutes. After the swim there is a mini transition area where I had a pair of shoes waiting. I took off my wet suit and ran a half mile to the real transition to get my bike.

     Off for the bike ride. The first 1 mile of the bike was dead flat. The course took us through some closed off roads through an old Army base guarded with 4 feet tall concrete pillars. Some guy passed me head down in the aero position he never looked up and never saw it coming and rode straight into one of those pillars. He did a superman flying move and rolled across the asphalt. Concrete pillar = 1, bike rider = 0. Not only was he missing some skin but he ended his day early by breaking his carbon fiber bike in two pieces. I stopped to see if he was ok, he was, I went back to racing. The hills around San Francisco proved to be very challenging. They were some of the steepest hills I've ever ridden. If you've been to San Francisco you know what I'm talking about. The ride was along the shore and in and out of Gold Gate Park it was beautiful.  I was enjoying the scenery and concerned less with racing. I chatted with several riders and had a rolling picnic.

     Out for the run, I knew it was going to be hard because the run  course covered some of the same ground as the ride. After a mile of flat it was up a long section of wooden stairs followed by a long steep asphalt path up to the Golden Gate bridge via one low bricked tunnel. The course then followed a trail along a ridge high above a beautiful sandy beach. The trail was only wide enough for two runners one going in each direction. It was tight. Then we started to descend down to the beach. At this point I didn't think it was all that beautiful. I found myself running in deep heavy sand for a mile in a single file line. Running on the beach is hard work and I was getting tired, I was only 3 miles into an 8 mile run. At the end of mile three I approached the dreaded and infamous "sand ladder" of Baker Beach. The sand ladder is a mixture of wooden and sand steps up to the top of a large sand dune. At the top of the sand dune is the beginning of another trail up a hill. At the top of the hill I had a fantastic view of Baker Beach and the Golden Gate Bridge. The course took us back into the woods and through several old military cannon installations. Then we followed the same trail back to the transition area and finishing line. Thankfully this part of the run was flat. I was happy to be running on flat ground again. As I came down the finishing shoot I heard my name announced over the PA and the entire race flashed before my eyes. After months of training and worrying about the swim the race was over. I finished the race Escape from Alcatraz in 3:19:45. I had a rough time goal of three hours. I could careless about the time it's the whole experience of this race that drew me in! I Escaped from Alcatraz!
     After the race Carrie and I spent a week in Sonoma and Napa valley a day at Point Reyes National Sea Shore and a day in Yosemite National Park.

Robert Mondavi Vineyard

Point Reyes National Sea Shore

Yosemite National Park

     Thanks to my mom who came from Florida to watch our kids for a week Carrie and I enjoyed a very relaxing week together. Some of the highlights I've already mentioned above but here are a few more. I gave Carrie a personal tour of Google's Mountain View Googleplex. We had the most outstanding lunch, well we mostly tasted the dessert tray. We rode around the campus on Google bikes. We drove up the coast of Northern CA. We had the best Italian food in North Beach. Toured the Golden Gate Bridge. Saw the Six Sisters of San Francisco. Crossed the Bay Bridge. Strolled along Fisherman's Wharf and drove into Haight Ashbury to see the Grateful Dead's house and the place were the "Summer of Love" took place. Drove on Lombard Street. Tour Sonoma and Napa Valley, we crossed from valley to valley over a very cool mountain road. And probably the highlight of the trip after the swim from Alcatraz was the beauty of Yosemite National Park!

     Thank you to all that made is trip possible especially my mom and Carrie. I love you two!

Memorial Hermann Kemah Triathlon Festival (formerly Gateway to the Bay)

I first read about The Gateway to the Bay triathlon in Kemah Texas in May of 2010. When I saw the race started from a replica 1800 century style paddle wheel boat "The Colonel Paddle Wheel" I knew I was going to do this race in 2011. As soon as the registration opened I signed up and started training for my first Olympic distance triathlon (aka International distance). The distances for the race are; a 1.5 km swim (.93 miles), a 40 km bike (24.8 miles) and a 10 km run (6.2 miles). The training plan was modest, calling for the normal activities you would think; swimming, cycling, running and some strength training. At the end of my training I reviewed my logs to verify I had actually prepared myself for the race. I was happy with my training and most importantly I made it through the entire 8 week training plan injury free, physically. I'll come back to the mental anguish I endured. Towards the end of my training I could feel I had made lots of progress. My swimming times were getting faster, I was able to hammer for longer on the bike and my running speed was faster and I was able to maintain my race pace for longer.  I could tell I was starting to peak for my race. My training logs revealed I had swam 33 miles, 160 miles of cycling and run 110 of miles for a total of 303 miles in training for the Kemah Olympic Triathlon.

     The mental side of training continues to be harder then the physical side.  There is a lot of mental preparation for a workout, I usually do mental prep the day and moments before the workout. The day before involves self doubt with thoughts of "can I run that fast for that long?", "can I do that many intervals of 400, 800, 1200, 1600 meters at the track?", "can I swim that hard?" and "can I maintain that MPH while biking with the hills and the wind?". Other mental huddles are "I don't feel like getting up at 4:45 AM everyday to either run, bike or swim", "I'm to tired", "it's too hot/cold/dark/windy..." the excuse could go on. Moments before a workout I always think about what Scott Jones says "Train with joy or not at all" that's enough for me to get started. If it's not fun or I'm not enjoying myself than I need to be doing something other training for Triathlons. During the workout I have another favorite saying this one from Lance Armstrong “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.”

     The hardest mental workout I had was my first day back in open water i.e. not a pool. The gym I belong too  owns a  quarry which is perfect for practicing open water swimming.  I swam in the quarry last summer so I figured getting back in the water would not be a big deal, boy was I wrong. The day I went the water was 60 degrees, it was windy and I was the only person in this huge quarry. Being alone in the quarry is a little weird. There's no life guard, that are snakes (I've never seen one), snapping turtles, fish and fresh water jelly fish.  So I put on my sleeveless wet suit and headed into the water, it was cold but manageable with the wet suit until I stuck my face in the water and tried to swim.  My face was cold, my chest tighten up, I was having a hard time breathing, my goggles fogged up, white capped were breaking on my back and over my head. I thought "if I can't swim here how am I going to swim in the Gulf of Mexico in Kemah or the San Fransisco Bay for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon?" I paused, tried to relax and slowly made my way over the dock for a rest. This was not going well. I did some self talk to try and get a grip and went back in...same thing, except this time I could tell I was holding my breathe. I took a mental note to exhale in the water and concentrate on that. I swam about a 100 yards before I started feeling anxious again, back to the dock. This scenario played out for a hour before I packed it in for the day. I was mental beaten...I realized on the drive home my head was cold the entire time I was in the water, I needed to fix that. The next day I went to the local swim shop and bought a neoprene swim cap.

     Granted it's not sexy but I choose warmth over fashion any day. After thinking about  my previous swim, my fears and my feeble attempt at an open water swim I went back to the quarry the next day and started over. This time more slowly, I entered the water inch by inch adjusting to the cold and letting my wet suit fill up with water and the water stretches the wet suit out a bit which helps with breathing. With my new neoprene cap I slowly put my head in the water and started to swim. After about 200 yards I could feel how relaxed I was and started to enjoy the solitude of the quarry until I felt a turtle bite my toe. I think I let out a little yelp and rolled over on to my back and looked at my foot. Huh, no blood? I looked at my other foot, no blood.  What I discovered was my feet were numb from the cold and when I kicked my toes slapped the top water and felt like something was biting me. I went back to my self talk and started to swim again.  I wound up swimming over a mile that day and becoming acutely award of how important it is to be mentally strong. There is more work to be done here.
     Fast forward to race weekend...The plan was to leave first thing Friday morning after checking Reid into school and getting him counted for the day.  Attendance taken, Reid's out of school and we are off. The truck was loaded for bare. We started making our way to Bolivar Peninsula which is just northeast of Galveston Island. Our neighbors, The Kramers (Kevin and Shannon), were coming down to Kemah to support me in my Triathlon. These are great friends! The plan was to spend Friday afternoon at Kevin's father's house and do some fishing with the kids. But before we made it to Bolivar we stopped at a Tex Mex restaurant in Katy Texas for the best Mexican food I've ever had, Lupe Tortilla. Upon reaching the peninsula The Kramers told and showed us all the damage that Hurricane Ike had done 3 years earlier. The Hurricane pretty much wipe out the entire area leaving just a few remaining houses and traces of a previously bustling community. Friday night we headed over the Galveston Island via a ferry ride and had a fun dinner at the Rain Forrest Cafe, that's all I have to say about Galveston. Saturday morning we took a short trip out into the Bay and did a little fishing. We were dropping the line in the water for some fish called "croakers".  After some uneventful fishing we packed up and headed off for Kemah via the ferry again.

     As we entered the little port town of Kemah my excitement went from 5 to 10. Months of training were about to be put to the test. We couldn't check into the hotel so we headed down into Kemah which houses a little amusement park and restaurants. On the way I picked up my race packet and checked in. I have to give the race organizer some credit the check in and packet pickup were flawless. Then we headed over to Saltgrass restaurant for some lunch. The restaurant sat right on the water so I got to survey the bay for the water conditions.  To be honest this did not decrease me stress as I watched 1 1/2 foot rollers and white caps being blown around the bay. Race day conditions called for the same. After lunch we took the kids on some rides. I drew the short straw and went on a ride with Lilly. No I'm not a monster it was a very small ride. After fulfilling my daddy duties I headed back to the hotel with Lilly to prepare myself for the race.
     Lilly was a big help with moving my racing gear around the room as I tried to get ready. I looked over my check list, packed, unpacked and packed again. I rested on the bed and watched iCarly. By the time Carrie and Reid got back to the hotel I was ready for some sleep so I put on the NCAA basketball game, that would surly put me to sleep.
     4 AM, I'm up, one last gear check and a bagel with peanut butter and I'm out the door with a good luck kiss from Carrie. Down to the transition area where I unpacked my gear and set up my personal space and chatted with my fellow racers. We had a 1/4 mile walk down to the boat which left port sharply at 5:30. "Be on the boat or miss your chance to race", those were words blaring over the PA system. I met a nice guy in transition who was doing his first Triathlon as he asked me questions about what to do, it gave me confidence in my prep work and my game plan for the day. 1500 racers packed the paddle wheel boat and prepared for a 45 minute ride out to the starting point for the race.  There was a lot of nervous energy on that boat ride, people were stretching, talking, drinking water, eating energy bars and trying to mentally get ready for jumping off the boat, me included. With anchor away I made my last minute checks and finished putting on my wet suit. My age group would be the 5th wave off the boat. I quickly made me way down to the first floor of the boat and positioned myself at the back end of the wave in front of me. With last minute instructions from the racing crew about how to jump off the boat I found myself at the head of the line. I'd be the first person in my group off the boat and into the water.

     As I came up for my first breathe after jumping off the boat I got my first taste of Trinity Bay. Yep, that's salt water, that wouldn't be my last drink from the bay. Prior to jumping off we all noticed we had anchored some 200 yards from the starting buoy. Great just what I needed...a longer swim. Head down I started my swim to shore. It was a straight shot from the boat to shore along a well marked course dotted with bright 8' tall yellow and orange buoys. To add to the already confusing state I was in from the rolling seas, the poor visibility in the water and fear from being eaten by Jaws people were literally swimming over me. Several time people swam across my back going perpendicular to the heading of the course. I wasn't sure where they were going but it was the wrong way. As the crowd thinned about I found some space to swim in. As I eyed the buoys I noticed I was getting closer to them, as in the current was pushing me side ways. Mental note taken, pull harder with my left to keep a straighter course to fight the current.  This little bit of thought occupied my mind for some time. Looking up I passed the 500 meter buoy then the 1000 meter buoy.  500 more meters to go and I'd be home free...just then I latched on to something this women and I never thought would happen during the race. My hand landed squarely in this woman's crotch from behind. I mean I got a handful of woman parts! As I released my hand I stopped swimming expecting some kind of retaliation but she just kept her head down and kept swimming. Oh well and that's part of the swimming portion of a triathlon I guess. As I neared the beach I finally started to relax and enjoy my swim. I could really feel how hard I'd been swimming and my arms were pretty tired. With one last stroke I felt the bottom of the bay and stood up and ran out of the water.  Running down the carpet toward the transition zone there were "wet suit strippers". All I had to do was let them unzip my wet suit, take my arms out and lay down. They grabbed the suit from the waist and ripped it off me in about 1 second.  I ran into transition and donned my riding gear and I was off. I did the swim in 30:29 beating my goal time of 45 minutes.

     Out of the transition with my bike and I'm ready to ride.  For the first few miles of my ride I could feel my arms shaking trying to support my bike in the "aero position". The ride is totally flat but had some sharp bends. For the first 10 miles or so I managed to maintain a speed of about 20 MPH and I was passing a lot of people.  Then the course took a sharp 90 degree corner and I'm straight into a head wind. I dropped to a lower gear and I'm pedaling for all I'm worth going about 16 MPH. This nasty little section goes on for about 6 miles or so. It's a long straight road. I can see off in the distance I'm about to get to the turn around and enjoy the tail wind home. When I rounded the corner and started heading back the tail wind is amazing. I'm in my highest gear hammering on the pedals. I'm blowing by people. I looked down at my bike computer and see I'm doing 28 MPH. As my brother says "I'm hauling the mail!" Then I hear someone yell behind me "you'll killing me" I say, "what?" "you're going so fast, you're killing me". My response was "get the off my wheel" and starting pedaling faster (drafting behind rides during a triathlon is illegal, so the guy behind me was cheating).  I make it back to the transition zone in 1:14 beating my time goal of 1:30.  So far I'm nailing my race and I feel great.  Out of my riding shoes and on with my running shoes.
     As I ran out of transition Carrie, the kids and The Kramers were cheering me on. That was a boost! Unfortunately that didn't last long. About a mile into the run I started to get a cramp right up under my rib cage, it felt like someone punched me in the stomach. I was having a hard time catching my breathe. The run went on like this for the next couple of miles. As I rounded a corner and started down a long stretch I could see Carrie and Shannon on the side of the road holding some signs. I couldn't make out the words but I did recognized that some boobs were drawn into the word WOW! I was starting to perk up a bit. As I got closer Carrie and Shannon moved the signs to their sides revealing their boobs! Oh wait! Those aren't real?! Why do their boobs have suspenders? They were shaking their fake plastic suspender supported boobs yelling "go Brad go!". That was really funny. I had forgotten about my cramp and focused on their boobs. Men don't care if they aren't real. I laughed and thanked them as I continued my run from hell.  The last part of the run went up and over a big arching bridge in Kemah, twice! After crossing the bridge I looped back around under neath it and started back up again.  At the top of the bridge some old dude with his age of 65 written on his calf passed me. I knew my time wasn't going to be good for the run. I dug a little deeper and managed to ek out a descent last mile.

     As I crossed the finish line a volunteer took off my timing chip another put a medal around my neck and I got a hug from Carrie.  That's a great way to finish a race! The hug was followed by more hugs and kisses from the kids, Shannon and a hand shake from Kevin.  I looked at my watch, did a little math for my time and my finishing time 2:51:39. I couldn't believe it after such a crappy run of 1:04:51 I beat my time goal for the race by almost 9 minutes.
     Now having completed the training and the race for my first Olympic distance Triathlon. I have a better understanding of what it's going to take to train for a 1/2 Ironman scheduled for later this year and a full Ironman tentatively scheduled for August of 2012 in Canada!
     I'd really like to give a big THANK YOU to my family, Carrie, Reid, Lilly and my friends Kevin, Shannon and Beckett for coming to Kemah and supporting me for my race. I'd also like to thank my brother, Scott, who is a constant sounding board and source of encouragement. It was a great weekend of family, friends, food, ferries, fishing and racing!

CAP 10K, Austin Texas

     I was watching TV on Thursday night and saw an advertisement for the CAP 10K planned for Sunday the 27th. I thought "I wish I had signed up for that race". But I'm at the tail end of an Olympic distance triathlon training plan and didn't want to risk injuring myself or not have enough time to recover for my upcoming race, Kemah Triathlon.
     Friday morning during my swim workout I started thinking about the 10K. For anyone who swims any distance you know that swimming affords a lot of time for thinking. You can't talk to your lane partner and unless you swim with a water proof iPod there's no music to distract you. So I either think about my swimming technique or I think about other things on my mind.
     So my two fears were I would either get hurt or not have enough time to recover. Now there is two kinds of fear: actual and perceived. After some self talk I concluded neither of my fears were actual. The chances of my getting hurt were pretty slim. I've been running between 3 to 5 times a week for nearly a year. In all that time I haven't gotten hurt. Even during a 15 mile trail race over some pretty rough terrain I didn't even get a scratch never mind a sprained ankle to twisted knee. The other fear about not being able to recover isn't realistic either. I did a 7 mile training run last week at 80-90% effort and the following day I did a 25 mile bike ride to 90% effort with no ill effects from the previous day's run. I think I could recover from a 6 mile run in a week. So after the swim workout on my way to work I decided I'd sign up for the race.
     When I got to work I went to the organizer's  website to find out about signing up. The online registration had passed so I would have to sign up in person. I looked up the sign up time and location. Then I noticed a progress bar on the website showing the participant volume. They capped the timed race participants at 10,000 and at the moment 9,956 people had signed up. So I rushed over to the sign up location and was the second person in line. Unlimited number of people can sign up to run untimed. When they opened the doors I rushed in and quickly signed up to get a spot. I got my race bib number a couple of free tee-shirts and some other goodies at the expo.
     I decided Saturday would be a rest day even though my training plan called for a bike and running brick workout. It was the first workout I have skipped in 10 weeks I don't think that will hurt my next triathlon race coming up.
     I started planning for Sunday morning. I got my running gear together, my pre-race meal which includes a bagel and some peanut, an energy bar, an energy gel and bottle of water.
     The CAP 10K is the largest 10K in Texas and last year they had 20,000 people so I knew this year there would be more people. Parking in downtown can be a hassle so I left two hours early for the race and decided I'd rather sit in my truck in a parking garage rather then sitting in traffic stressing about whether or not I was going to make the race. I listened to some music and ate my energy bar.

     I went out to do a little warm up jog and ran into a local sports figure who has won the women's race at this event for the past three years and she is also doing the same upcoming triathlon I'm doing. Her name is Desiree Ficker and she is fast. She is pretty cute too.
     Right before the race started I went to my corral and made my way to the front of my group. There were lots of people. Then I heard the announcer say "...this is the largest group of runners we have had in 34 years, 23,000 runners!" The crowd let out a roar. This got me pumped up for the race. A woman sang a beautiful version of the American Anthem which gave me goose bumps and then they fired the gun to start the race. After the gun was fired it took me 10 minutes to get to the starting line....tick tick tick I started my stop watch.
     My plan was to run the first three miles at 8:12 per mile and then run the last 3.2 miles at 7:52 per mile.  This was a good plan because I looked at the profile of the race route and knew all the hills were in the first part of the race. Indeed they were, the entire first mile was slightly uphill followed by a short downhill, then the second hill in mile two followed by the apex of the race at the end of mile three. I was running really well bobbing, weaving and ducking to get around people. They were a lot of people walking in the first three miles. I wasn't able to maintain my planned pace but never the less I was having a good run, I felt pretty strong.  Mile 4 had a slight uphill and two hard corners. The uphills make it hard to pass people as a lot of people are jogging slow or walking and the the hard corners just congested. Also the race director placed two water stations on the inside corners which makes it even worse as people at stopping to get a drink. This forces you to run outside of the corner and adds distance to the race. This is my only complaint for the race. Water stations should be on a straight section of the course or on the outside of a corner.  At mile 5 the race went from two lanes down to one and we started to get bunched up. This is how it would be until the finish lane. I was running at or near my goal pace despite the crowded road way.
     The last mile is along Ladybird Lake. It goes up one side, crosses a bridge and then down the other side. So I could see the finish for a while. As I made my way across the bridge I glanced at my watch. I knew I wasn't going to meet my goal time of sub 50 minutes but I wasn't going to miss it by much.  On the straight away towards finish I could see the time board confirming my initial thought of missing my goal. I didn't let up on the pace and crossed the finish line in 50:26, :27 seconds off my goal pace.  However, I beat my previous 10K time by 5:50, that is a huge improvement.   Not a bad race considering I had no plans of doing it two days prior.
     Next up Kemah Triathlon Festival...

What a year...

     Exactly one year ago today with the help from Carrie and my brother Scott and a little persuading from Travis County. I made the decision to stop drinking. There were others that supported me and guided me through the process of living without drinking. Not in any order, God, Sean, Richard C., Cliff , Richard T. my closest neighbors (Tom, Cindy, Jeff, Brenda, Kevin and Shannon) and of course my biggest fan, my mom. As the word kind of spread and as I told people about my decision I got a lot more support. One of my biggest supporters was an old high school friend, Peter Femino would inspired me to run and an old drinking buddy from my fraternity, Chris Stuttard who years ago also decided to stop drinking.
     Those first few weeks were the hardest, not because I wanted to drink but mostly because I was bored.  All my activities included beer, watching TV, eating dinner, hanging outside with friends, playing golf, posting on Facebook, you name it I drank beer.  It seemed like I had a lot of free time now that I wasn't drinking and a little extra money since I wasn't buying a 12 pack of beer everyday.  What was I going to do with all this energy and "extra" money.
     The phone call that changed it all. Scott called one afternoon and said "I have a crazy idea. We should do a triathlon together.  There is one in Lafayette LA which is midway between our houses. It's in September, so we have time to learn about triathlons and train". I've always been fascinated by The Ironman in Kona Hawaii so I said "...yes, that's a great idea, you're on!".

    Now I'm not going to go into great detail about training but I had a lot of work to do to prepare for my triathlon, so I started running. I was hooked immediately, all I wanted to do was run. I ran at least once a day, before work, during work or after work. Work was just filler between runs. I bought running books and got a subscription to Runner's World. Then I discovered trail running and got a subscription to Trail Runner magazine.  The more I ran the more the weight started to come off. When I stopped drinking I weight 219, I was fat!
     I've always been a bike rider so I wasn't worried about biking leg of the triathlon. I rode occasionally, just for the sake of riding and did some "brick workouts". A brick workout is doing two of the three activities of a triathlon back to back like, bike/run, swim/bike, swim/run etc...I learned the importance of these later, for now, I knew I had to do them so I did.
     Now the swimming part of the triathlon scared me to death. I can swim but it's usually from the diving board over to get my beer or vice versa.  I had Carrie video me swimming one day at the pool and had a buddy, Jonser (an Ironman), look at it and he gave me some advice, a lot of advice.  Clearly I needed some lessons or coaching. Reading our local newsletter I saw an ad for the Masters swim team "...no experience needed..." right up my alley.  One draw back I saw was the Monday and Wednesday team practices were at 5:30AM, the Sunday practice was at 6:30AM, I could sleep in a little. I signed up and bought the require training aids at a swim shop; fins, goggles, pull buoy and a kickboard. On my first day I really felt like a fish out of water.  People were putting in the lane lines, others were swimming, some were stretching, I was looking for the coach.  John came over introduced himself, asked about my swimming history and then said "why don't you jump into lane 1". It was open so I thought nothing about it, only later did I learn it's called the "slow lane". John was instrumental, he was patient, encouraging and always gave me the time I needed. He explained what I was doing wrong and why I needed to do it "this" way. He transformed me into if not a swimmer at least someone who could swim.
     As time went on my running got better, in time, form and distance.  My swimming improve 1000% which is easy when you start with zero.  Swimming became my favorite training activity. I looked forward swimming more then anything else and joined a gym that had a quarry so I could do open water swimming. I eventually moved up several lanes and now swim with Louise who has become my permanent lane mate.  We swim at the same speed and laugh between sets about how hard the workouts are, we give solace to each during each session.

     The Cajunman Triathlon came and went. Scott and I did great.  We both survived the swim and beat our time goal of 2 hours. We wanted to finish together and as we approached and crossed the finish line we grabbed hands and raised them in victory.  This really kicked off the obsession with training and racing.
     Since then Scott and I have both spent many hours reading, training and talking about triathlons.  We have both perused triathlons and other related events.
     So, where am I going with this...prior to this year not only was I not willing to commit to training for triathlons I wasn't physically or mentally prepared for it either.  Why? In a word, beer.  This year has been one of the most liberating years I've had.  Without drinking I have energy, I'm not hung over, I'm not fat, as I write this I weight 174 pounds.  Do the math, I'll help you: 219 - 174 = 45 pounds.  45 pounds!   I'm free of worrying about driving after I have been drinking.  I don't have to worry about being a bad example for my kids. I've learn to cope with stress and everyday crap without drinking.  My job performance is better.  I've read books I've always wanted to read...I'm free!
     This year hasn't been a solo effort. Without the support of my family and friends I surely would have gone back to my old ways and never been able to achieve the things I've done this year.

• Resolution 5K
• Dell Fit 10K
• The Warrior Dash 3 miles with 11 obstacles
• Thundercloud Turkey Trot 5 miles
• Rock-n-Roll San Antonio 1/2 Marathon
• Bandera 25K Trail Run
• Cajunman Sprint Triathlon
• Calaveras Duathlon
• Hike to the roof of Texas (Guadalupe National Park) 

     To all of you have supported and helped me knowingly or unknowingly, I say "I love you and THANK YOU!

Gear and Training Sponsorship

     Over the Christmas holiday my brother Scott told me he had just been picked up by a sponsor, Falkee Triathlon Competitive Age Group Triathlete. Needless to say I was a little envious, it would be cool to have a sponsor as an amateur athlete. He said "...you should apply to, I'll send you the link...", I agreed. So I filled out the application.  Falkee offers all kinds of deals on gear as a sponsored Triathletes. We are going to buy the gear anyway so why not get a discount on it? As the weeks went by and I didn't hear anything I started to get a little discouraged. Finally I got the email I had been dreading. It was the "thanks but no thanks" reply. I was clearly disappointed.
     Scott called me a few days later and said he could get a deal on a cool transition mat and did I want one. If you can't be a sponsored athlete having a brother who is, is the next best thing. I happily replied "yes! I'd love to have one". I think it was the following day Scott informed me of another entity who was polling for MOP (middle of the pack) age groupers to sponsor on the triathlon forum Slow Twitch. I thought what the hell it's worth a try. So I filled out another application with my past events and my planned events for 2011 and sent it off. Slow Twitch has a lot of people on it's forum so 1000's of people saw the advertisement for the sponsorship deal. I realized my chances of getting into this deal were pretty low so I wouldn't have high expectations.
     Sunday morning I fired up my computer and start reading worthless emails as I start most of my days this way. One of the emails caught my eye, I recognized the sender's name and the subject line was "Sponsorship inquiry". This is when I thought the other shoe was going to drop with a "thanks but no thanks" email. I reluctantly open the email only to be greeted with "On behalf of Gear & Training, we welcome you to the 2011 Gear & Training Triathlon Team". I read the email quickly waiting for the part about not being selected. When I didn't see that part, I read the email again.  Holy crap! I got selected! I got selected! Gear and Training.com selected me to be on their team.

     What does this mean? It means I'm part of a triathlon team who will get to wear logo merchandise from Gear and Training.com. I will be able to buy gear that I need and want at discounted prices. I can extend my discount to friends and family. You can use code "BA2" for 20% off + free shipping on orders over $150 at gearandtraining.com. This is so cool! I'm really excited about representing Gear and Training this year and spreading the word about their high quality gear and apparel. 

     This is a great opportunity! I feel very fortunate to be in this position. 

Calaveras Duathlon

     Earlier this year when I was planning my race season I noticed there weren't a lot of triathlons planned during the winter. Even though winters are mild here in central Texas a lot of people just aren't keen on the idea of swimming in cold open water. So I started to explore other types of racing and I came upon a listing for a Duathlon. At first I thought that sounded kind of boring, only doing a bike and a run. But after reading the description of the race there was something that appealed to me. First off a Duathlon can be any kind of two activities done back to back but most involve some kind of running and biking.  There are winter Duathlons with cross country skiiing and running, XTerra Duathlons with running and mountain bikes, you get the point. Put two activities together and you got yourself a Duathlon.

     After some introspection I signed up for the race.  If nothing else it would give me motivation to continue training for Triathlons planned for later this year and a good idea of my fitness level this early in the year. The race was to be held 15 miles Southeast of downtown San Antonio at Calaveras Lake State Park.
     Since I already have an active training plan for an Olympic distance Triathlon scheduled for April I wouldn't need to do any other special training for the Duathlon. I'd use the race as a hard training day. The timing was perfect. The training planned for race day called for a 20 mile bike ride and a 6 mile run. The Duathlon course was a 5K run, followed by a 21 mile bike ride then finishing with another 5K run. The stars must have been aligned just right for this two event to over lap so precisely.  Some sort of cosmic coincidence.
     As race day approached I began to become a meteorologist almost to the point of obsession. Becoming obsessed is nothing new for me, anyone who knows me will tell you that. I did the normal pre travel stuff, I booked a hotel, packed my stuff, made a check list, unpacked my stuff, made another check list, repacked my stuff, I did this routine for days leading up to the race.
     The plan was to leave Friday afternoon after the kids were out of school and head to San Antonio to pick up my race packet, check into the hotel and scout out the location for the race.  I'm a pretty nervous traveler and I don't like to leave any thing left to chance.  After successfully doing those things I relaxed and focused on getting the kids dinner, pizza, my choice as it is now my pre race ritual and then head back to the hotel to watch Flying Wild Alaska and Gold Rush. I'm obsessed with those shows. At the hotel I unpacked, repacked and unpacked my stuff again another pre race routine.  The kids were asleep in bed, I set three alarm clocks and went to sleep. At 4AM I felt wet, no I didn't pee the bed but Lilly did. Why was Lilly in my bed to begin with? I jumped out of bed, turned on all the lights, stripped Lilly down and ripped all the sheets off the bed. Carrie dressed Lilly and now Reid, Lilly and Carrie are in one bed and I'm in the towel laden, pee smelling bed with only my thought of "I wonder why hotels don't have a water proof barrier on the beds", oh well not my problem back to sleep.
     5:30 AM, I'm up with a plain bagel and peanut butter. By 6 everyone is dressed, packed and ready to go. We load up the truck hit Starbucks and head to the race location. It's 60 degrees and raining slightly harder then a drizzle. At least it wasn't humid. I can deal with cool temps and rain. Humidity is a different story.

     At the race location I did all the prerequisites for racing. I checked in at the transition area, got my body markings which is a fancy way of saying some guy with a big sharpie gets to write my race number on both arms, the front of my legs and my age on one of my calves. I racked my bike in the transition area and laid out my gear for racing. I was a little self conscience with my one piece racing suit as I have never worn it before, but looking around I soon realized I fit right in with the other Lycra loving racers.  7:40 the race director held a pre race meeting giving instructions about dos and don'ts, giving course descriptions and telling us how to avoid be disqualified. 7:59 we lined for the start.
     3, 2, 1, go...after about 100 feet I realized I'm running much faster then I can sustain and I'm still not keeping up with the front group, I let them go. The run course was a 1.5 mile loop, we had to run it twice. It was pretty flat and went out and back along the lake. On the first return trip near the start I could hear Carrie and kids yelling "go daddy, go daddy". I was feeling pretty good so I picked it up to show the kids how it's done :-).  On the second return trip I thought mostly about the upcoming transition and bike ride.  I ran into the transition area stopping my 5K run at 24:11. I was pretty happy with that time it was my fastest ever. I fiddled around with my running shoes put on my helmet, grabbed my bike and ran to the mounting line.  On the road course I started passing people immediately. I was yelling "on your left". The course was a 10.5 mile loop we had to ride it twice. After the first loop I passed about 15 people, I was feeling strong. As we approached the turn off for the people who were doing the short course a lot of people were peeling off and heading back in.  I started out for another loop. I started passing more people at about mile 15 one guy passed me. He was the only person who passed me in 21 miles.  As I started towards the transition area I looked at my watch 1:04 for 21 miles 19.4 mph. I racked my bike, struggled to tie my running shoes and took in a Powerbar Gel.  I started out for my last 5K. Carrie and the kids were stilling yelling "go daddy, go daddy". The was a real spirit booster. I started running with intent of running as hard as I could. On my first loop back Reid ran next to me for about 100 yards before I started back out for the 2nd loop. What a rush! I felt great, I knew I was having a good race and I was feeling pretty good.  As I was nearing the end, I looked at my watch, I knew I was going to beat my 2 hour goal but it was going to be close. At the finish the announcer said "racer 152 Brad Askins will finish at 1:58:53".  At the end I got a hug from Carrie, Reid and Lilly we shared that great family moment as I tried to regain my breathe.  We milled around the finish area for awhile, I chatted with other racers about course and drank sport drinks and ate bananas.  Then we packed up the truck, headed to the hotel, showered and hit the road back home.
     What a great day and a great race. I'm so glad my family got to share in a race with me. I must have inspired Reid and Carrie, when we got home they signed up for a 5K. My next race will be with my family!

VO2 Max Testing

In an effort to perform better in all endurance events as such Triathlons, Duathlons, 1/2 Marathons etc...I decided I needed some information to ensure I was getting the most out of each one of my training sessions. So two weeks ago I made an appointment at my Gym, Pure Austin (3D Model), to have a VO2 Max test performed.  Now you may be asking yourself "what is a VO2 Max Test?" good question.

(Abbreviated definition but enough to get the picture)

VO2 max is the maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and use oxygen during incremental exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual. The name is derived from V - volume per time, O2 - oxygen, max - maximum.

VO2 max is expressed either as an absolute rate in litres of oxygen per minute (l/min) or as a relative rate in millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of bodyweight per minute (ml/kg/min), the latter expression is often used to compare the performance of endurance sports athletes.

Measuring VO2 Max:

Accurately measuring VO2 max involves a physical effort sufficient in duration and intensity to fully tax the aerobic energy system. In general clinical and athletic testing, this usually involves a graded exercise test (either on a treadmill or on a cycle ergometer) in which exercise intensity is progressively increased while measuring ventilation and oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration of the inhaled and exhaled air. VO2 max is reached when oxygen consumption remains at steady state despite an increase in workload.  

Having done some research online and watching this YouTube video I knew what I was getting myself into, sometimes ignorance is bliss. Needless to say I was pretty anxious about doing this test. 

The information I got said the test would take any where from 1 to 2 hours including preperation, warm up, the actual test, recovery, cool down, reviewing the results and recommendations on how to use this information. The trainer added a helpful bit of information "...eat something the day of the test as you would do before a race, you don't want a full or empty stomach, neither is good..."  The morning of  and 2 hours before test I had my pre-race meal and plain bagel with peanut butter. I arrived at the gym knowing I was in for at least one hour of pure hell, I was not wrong. 

At 10 o'clock I entered the torture chamber, went over what was going to happen and hopped on the treadmill for a warm up. After the 10 minute warm up I donned a head strap, ventilator mask and chest strap heart rate monitor. The mask was bit claustrophobic, all the air I was going to inhale and exhale was through a plastic hose and into a machine that analyzed my Oxygen level .  The instructor told me from here on out I was to communicate to his questions with hand gestures as he wouldn't be able to understand what I was saying. The hand gestures would be: thumbs up, thumbs down, using both hands to indicated the level of exertion from 1 to 10 with 10 being an all out effort and the throat cutting gesture indicating I was about to die.

The instructor started the treadmill and bought me up to a pretty easy jogging pace, it was suppose to be a pace I was able to maintain for a long time as if I was going for a very easy run on the street. This was the pace I would use for the entire test. I thought "this isn't bad". The test has started! From here until the end of the test the following would take place. Every three minutes for the next x number of minutes the instructor would increase the incline of the treadmill until my exertion level was a 5. From that point on he would increase the incline every minute until total exhaustion. When I reached level 5 the incline on the treadmill was at 10. The treadmill only had 15 levels so I knew it was going to start getting a lot harder. At this point I was working pretty hard but able to maintain good posture and leg turn over. Every minute for the next 5 minutes my level of exertion increased with each increase of incline. By the time we got to level 15 I was at my max, so I thought. This is the most critical part of the test. I must go as long as I can until complete and total exhaustion. At this point I was working my ass off barley able to run against the treadmill at such a steep angle. Every 30 seconds the instructor asked how I was doing. It was getting hard to show my thumb gestures. I continued to run. It was hard to breath. Thoughts of quitting were getting pretty strong. "NO!" I told myself keep going. 30 more seconds passed "keep going" the instructor shouted. My legs were starting to get wobbly and my arms were getting heavy. 30 more seconds "you're doing great". My lungs were on fire and my eye sight was getting blurry. 30 more seconds "you're looking strong". I was starting to panic about not being able to breath. At this point the instructor put his hand on my back to let me know he was there. 30 seconds "man you look great". I thought I was going to pee my pants as I could only focus on moving my legs and trying to get air. 30 seconds "man, you're doing awesome!". I knew the end was near as I was being moved farther and farther towards the end of the treadmill. 30 seoonds "keep going Brad, you're doing great!" I started planning my exit strategy for getting off the treadmill, I was eying the emergency kill switch and I started to reach for it when the instructor yelled "keep going, keep going, you can do 30 more seconds!". I continued to labor and for another 15 seconds before I reached out and hit the kill switch and struggled to hold onto the hand rails. The instructor quickly took off the mask and I was trying to suck in as much air as I could. I got down on one knee, the instructor bought over a puke bucket and placed it in front of me. When I realized I wasn't going puke he told me to get back on the treadmill and do a recovery and cool down walk. Man was I glad that was over...!

Reviewing the results the instructor he told me I did better then about 75 percent of the people who do the test and I was in superior shape. He reviewed my heart rate zones and my Oxygen levels. My maximum Heart rate was 172 beats per minute. He helped me plan out how to use each of one of the 5 heart rate zones to increase my performance during races and how to effectively use the zones for training.

Now it's up to me to use this information and execute each one of my training sessions accordingly. 

Bandera Endurance Run

A few months back I heard about Ultra marathons and thought "..that just does not sound like fun. Why would anyone want to run further then 26.2 miles?" As I looked into Ultra marathons I started to notice that most if not all Ultra races had shorter distances on the same course and all are run on trails. Now that sounded like fun, trail running! Enter The Bandera Endurance Run. It has three different distances 100K/50K/25K. After doing some rough math I realized 25K was just slightly longer then a 1/2 marathon. "I can run a 1/2 marathon, I just ran the San Antonio 1/2 marathon, I can run two extra miles."

As I started to research Bandera I started to get excited about doing a trail run. I used a gift card I got for a birthday present to REI and bought a pair of Salomon XA Comp 5 trail shoes. The next day I did my first official trail run. I liked it so much the following morning I ran at 5AM in the dark with a head lamp, I was hooked. I continued to run for the next couple of weeks on the trails around my house.

There is something special about trail running versus running on the road. Trail running is a very focused endeavor. Each step requires fore thought. Each stride needs to be determined quickly. Questions must be answered instantly. Where will my foot go? How far do I reach? How high do I have to raise my foot? Do I land on that rock? Is that piece of ground stable? These are all make or break decisions. Make the wrong decision you wind up on your ass, believe me.

I signed up for the Bandera 25K!

I scoured the Tejas Trails website daily looking for information about the run. I read the course description, trying to envision what it would be like. I looked at all the pictures from the previous years. I looked at the race director's website for photos of the trail. The one piece of information that eluded me was a profile of the course. So I downloaded the course map for 25K run and imported into Google Earth trying to get some perspective on what I had signed up to do. As best I could tell from the pictures, the course description and looking at the map, it was going to be a hilly race. I started to question my decision for signing up.

As race day drew near I became an instant weatherman. A few times a day I would check the weather. The forecast for the week called for sunny warm days, except for race day, that day had a 60% chance of showers with colder temperatures. "Damn it", but as the week went on the forecast changed to cooler temperatures for race day and rain for the following day. I packed my gear accordingly.

Race day, T minus one day.

In an effort to gather more information about the run I left work around noon on Friday. My plan was to drive to the race venue, Hill Country State Natural Area, check in, pick up my race packet and attended the trail briefing meeting. Since the race started early in the morning on Saturday I wanted to make sure where I was going and see the lay of the land in the daytime. I'm glad I did, it was a long winding single lane dirt road to the race. I thought seeing the venue would calm my nerves. It only added to my anxiety when I saw the terrain that surrounded me.

The trail briefing was very informative. The race director covered all the do's and don'ts. Since there were three different races running on the same course at the same time. The race director wanted to make sure everyone knew which trail markings to follow. Making a wrong turn could cost you time and effort. Apparently route finding is an understood part of trail racing. My anxiety increased one more notch.

The room was filled with an eclectic looking group of runners. I'm glad I grew out my beard as I blended in nicely with most of the other men in the room. When the race director asked how many were running the different distances I was surprised to find out that 3/4 of the room were doing the 100K/50K and the other 1/4 of the room were first timers doing the 25K. Fresh meat as we were called.

After the meeting I headed back to my nondescript hotel for dinner, pre race preparations and a restless night of sleep.

5AM race day.

I applied Tincture of Benzoin, moleskin and tape to my feet in an effort to avoid hot spots and blisters. I did this after reading an article in Trail Runner magazine weeks before. A decision I would realize later was a great one. I ate a dry bagel with peanut butter, dressed and headed out. It was 32 degrees and clear. I made a conscience effort not to vomit. I was scared about what lay ahead. Being an Askins I was the first to arrive at the race and parked right at the finish line. I spent the next hour sitting alone in my truck in the dark watching people scurry about in their own pre race routines.

At 7:15 250 of us made our way to start line for a 7:30 start. There was lots of nervous chatter. People were sizing up one another and everyone was jocking for position near the front of the group. One guy in particular stood out amongst all the runners. He had on trail running shoes and shorts, that's it. The rest of the group had on a smattering of long sleeve shirts, hats, running pants, gloves, fuel belts, racing vests and hand held water bottles. Not as I found out later the eventual winner of the 25K race Mr. No Shirt

Runner's take your mark, GO!

Trying to get 250 runners into a single file line on a trail is like trying to herd cats. There was pushing and shoving and people sprinting by me not on the trail. I questioned that tactic as the initial section of the trail was uphill and rocky. Two hundred yards into the race my nerves were gone but my heart rate was around 220 beats per minute. I was going too hard to fast. I decided to slow down and let other pass. After the first mile the group spread out over the course and there was space between each runner. After we gained the first hill I latched on to a group of runners going slightly faster then my comfortable pace but I decided they would be good to run with. Over the course of the next 5 miles each of us would trade off being the lead runner setting the pace for the entire group. Those mile flew by as we introduced ourselves to each other, found out where we lived and talked about our trail running experience. I was feeling pretty good. I was relaxed my heart rate was at good and I felt strong. At mile 6 there was an aid station. I stopped, took in a PowerBar Gel, had my water bottle refilled and then tried to catch my running group. Unfortunately that group had splintered up and I ran with one of the women, Jane, from that group.

Now that my initial adrenalin and the excitement of the race wore off I started to feel some discomfort in my legs and feet. This is when the race really started for me. The middle part of the course had a lot of short steep hills both up and down. As Jane and I made our way over a hill called Sky Island we both remarked about how ruggedly beautiful the hill country was but we didn't have to time to stop and enjoy it. On this descent I made it be known I'd never wished for a descent to be over and how I was looking forward to the next climb. Yeah, it was a steep nasty downhill with loose rocks that made progress slow. I never felt like I had my feet under me and falling seemed like a good possibility. Soon after that descent I felt a familiar feeling. I was in the first stages of "bonking" aka "hitting the wall". I watched as Jane continued to run until I could no longer see her. I looked at my watch I was at mile 8. Mile 8 I thought "oh shit, I'm in trouble. I'm only half way through" I took out another PowerBar Gel and took a drink of water. I knew another aid station was coming up at mile 9. I told myself to hold on and keep going forward. Mile 8 took me 14 minutes. That was a hard mile!

At mile 9 the aid station known as "cross roads" was certainly a good thing to see. I ran in proudly trying to disguise my fatigue and lack luster enthusiasm for the race. I stopped and looked over the table of goodies: bowls of M&M's, potato chips, frozen bananas, pretzels, sandwiches, Gatorade, HEED products, Hammer products and Coke! A volunteer said "can I refill your water bottle?" she took it as I said "thank you" and grabbed a hand full of M&M's. I lingered at the table for about 5 minutes grazing on all if it. I had two cupfuls of coke and then I realized I probably shouldn't be eating and drinking so much. I still had 6 1/2 miles to go. After the aid station I headed out with a renewed spirit and a full belly of sugar. I jogged slowly over what was the only "flat" part of the course. It was uphill but the trail was almost void of rocks and it flat as in smooth. I plugged away slowing jogging, walking and talking to others who were feeling just like me.

I rounded a corner only to recognize I was near the beginning of the race. I could hear people off in the distance cheering. "People must be finishing the race, I'm almost done". I was indeed back at the starting point which meant I must climb that first big hill I climbed nearly 2 1/2 hours ago. The women in front of me yelled out "Way did God put this hill here!?". As I walked the entire hill. I passed a guy who was squatting then I realized he was puking. I continued to walk up hill and slowly made my way down the back side. That was mile 14 it took me 15 minutes to do that mile. As I passed the aid station I passed at mile 6 a volunteer yelled out "1/2 a mile to the finished, that's only two laps around I track" I started to perk up and found my legs again. I caught up with two other runners and we blazed the last mile in 9 minutes!

As I crossed the finish line I was almost over come with emotion. I had finished the race! I set a goal of 3 hours and the finishers clock read 3:00:59. I did it! I was handed a metal which I proudly put around my neck and took off my timing chip and handed it in at the timing table. I walked over to get a drink and the other runners I had run with were all there congratulating each other and trading war stories about their run. I went over the the timers table on my way out and thank Joe the race director for a great job on the course and told him I'm see him soon. He shook my hand and congratulated me on my race.

I went back to the hotel, showered and headed back to Austin. I thought a lot about the race as I drove home. I keep hearing people say that during a race "..you find out a lot about yourself, you find out what you are made of, you find your limits.." It's true. Could I have run harder, sure. Could I have trained smarter, sure. Would I have finished higher in the standings with more effort, yes. Honestly after this race I have a new out look for racing. Enjoy the race and the experience. Don't focus on the results. I'm not going to beat myself up over 'would of', 'could of', 'should of' questions. That's what I found out about myself during this race. I'll continue train and work hard but enjoying myself now takes top priority for me.

Endurance racing, I'm hooked. Grateful to have the opportunity to be healthy enough to suffer for fun, you bet!