Posts from — July 2005

When the day arrives that I qualify for and complete my first Kona Ironman race, I think I will get myself an M-Dot tattoo. The question is would I be foolish to do so? By getting this tattoo, am I simply being sucked into the hype of being an Ironman Triathlete or is this a heart felt way of expressing what you love to do?

I have just returned from IMLP with my family. My wife found the atmosphere surrounding the race environment and the Ironman experience as completely bizarre and cult-like. I on the other hand love the experience and feel as though I am among a community of like-minded folks.

I do agree that some people take the whole thing a bit too seriously and do not take the time to enjoy themselves. Having a wife that is a turned off by the environment, did manage to put a damper on my week, but not so much so, that I didn’t appreciate being there and sign up for next year.

So, back to the original question… M-Dot permanently etched into your skin – Cool or Fool?

The worst part of racing has to be the days immediately following the race. I am continually racked with intermittent feelings of intense depression and don’t know what to do with myself to get over it. I can’t even go out for a decent run, since my legs are too tired to generate much of a pace and the subsequent exercise induced endorphin flow.

I am sure other athletes experience these feelings. After all of the noise and hoopla surrounding the race is over, you are left with a profound silence as your ordinary work day routine returns. The passion that drove you for so long has to take a temporary backseat, while you return to your daily work grind.

I so much just want to go out with my family and swim, bike, run, hike, climb and play. I wish I could make a living by simply playing with my kids and training all day. I can’t wait for Friday to arrive so I can enjoy my children and the sun without the burden of training and work.

In reply to Walter…

Walter -

You had a great race. The problems you had were small and only due to excitment and lack of experience with racing. As you get more confident with racing, you won’t make such mistakes.

During the race, I was uncomfortable and miserable for the entire time. However, I knew I was having a good day and felt I nailed it. I couldn’t have done it any better. i didn’t think I could complete it until I crossed the line with my children.

I did well for my AG, but I knew I wouldn’t qualify for Kona, so I didn’t stick around. I have no idea how close I would have come. I will be pissed if I find out I gave up a spot.

I already signed up for next year and I will probably sign up for Florida as well.

Right now, I am really struggling to battle off post race depression. I just do not want to be at work right now.

I trained today for the first time since the race. I went out for 3 miles, but I think I only ran about 2 in 25 minutes. No strength in the legs to do much of anything right now. They are not sore, just tired. Maybe I will swim tonight.

Charles
—– Original Message —–
From: walter
To: Beast
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 10:27 AM

charles, having time to reflect on this first ironman here r my thoughts. First the swim start was wild and feel confident my swim technique will improve but i was happy with the time. first transition sucked put my top on first before the bib shorts and had to then take everything off and start over. the bike was fairly straight forward. Neil said hold back and i did maybe should of gone a bit harder. neext transition was ok except the volunteer dropped my top with all my pills and nutrition and much to my dismay on mile 1 i realized i had no electrlytes with me.I was able to bum some off someone on the run, but it was few and far between. The splits on run were 2hrs and 3 min and 2hrs and 43 min.I think my wife could of run faster. Overall a fun day and i did cross the line with a smile and the thought of how much faster and better the nent one will be. How close to hawaii did u get?

While I was doing this race, I found it to be as pleasurable as dipping myself naked in honey and lying on an ant hill. I was uncomfortable and suffering for almost the entire race. I did not have that magic moment when I knew I would be able to cross the finish line. I didn’t know if I could, until I saw my kids waiting for me by the finishers shoot to cross the tape with me.

I did run a very good race. I held back on the bike through the first loop, which set me up for a strong second loop and an excellent run. For the first time in a Long Course Triathlon, my run was the strongest segment. I missed breaking 4 hours in the marathon by 4 seconds, only because I slowed down to run with my children across the line- 4 seconds very well spent. My swim was also good. I did the 2.4 miles in 1:02:54, which is over 5 minutes off my previous best. The 112M bike was in 6:01 – a bit slow, but oh well.

I pretty much knew I wasn’t going to be able to qualify for Kona on the first loop of the bike. My time was much too slow to give me the time I needed. I wasn’t riding poorly and could have gone harder. I knew if I did though, I would suffer on the second loop of the bike, and probably have a much slower run. To keep myself in check for the times when I felt the urge to push, I would sing to myself self the song “Relax, Don’t Do It” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It worked.

Even though I knew Kona wasn’t going to be in the cards, I did have some other goals for the race – Set a PR, break 11 hours and most importantly, beat my friend Todd. Todd had given me shit for the past year that he was a better athlete and would beat me in the race. I knew if I could stick to my race plan that he had no chance of doing so. I told him I would pass him on the bike and he would never catch me on the run. This is exactly what happened. At the end of the race, 11 minutes separated us.

Todd and I had a bet on the outcome of our race. Todd will now have to wear a T-Shirt stating that I am the better athlete and that I kicked his ass in Lake Placid. I invite any ideas for colors, wording, etc.

Here are the records for my 3 completed Ironman’s.

2004 IMLP – 11:28:01, 460 Overall, 109/344 for the Age Group (M35-39)
2005 IMAZ – 11:21:20, 278 Overall, 66/348 for the Age Group (M35-39)
2005 IMLP – 11:11:25, 251 Overall, 51/382 for the Age Group (M40-44)

I am going to sign up for the 2006 IMLP. I am sitting at a restaurant as I type this, furious hitting the refresh key on Active.com for the registration to come up. My parents came with me this year and the entire family had a very good time. Next year will be the year I qualify.

I don’t know if it has any significance, but my race number for Ironman Lake Placid is the same number I had for Ironman Arizona – 992. I tried to find a numerology website to see if the number has a special meaning, but I wasn’t able to find a site where I can just submit that number and get results.

All I have left to do is make my fuel bottles and go to sleep. No time like the present to get that done.

992

I am in Lake Placid and as soon as I got into my hotel room, I felt this big heavy weight hanging over me. I am not too concerned about it though, as I am pretty sure the architects of this hotel engineered it to withstand the forces of all the parked cars above me.

My hotel room is literally under my car, along with a dozen or so other vehicles. It is the Hilton’s waterfront rooms and I have a door in my room that leads me right out onto Mirror Lake. Last night I was treated to the reflection of the full moon reflecting off the lake, right into my room. This morning, I was presented with mist coming off of the lake, diffusing the rising sun’s rays. Both vistas were quite beautiful.

This morning I am torn with the decision to walk to the Gatorade swim and then swim 1 mile back to my room, or vice versa. The only problem with both scenarios is that it will be difficult to walk back or I won’t be able to swim back with my Gatorade swag. Perhaps I can swim to the start with a pair of flip flops tucked into my wetsuit and then walk back.

I didn’t actually sleep well last night. My son wanted to sleep with me and he is such a twisty turning sleeper. I am just as likely to have his arm plop over my face as I am to have his feet smash me in the nose. If I am going to get a decent night’s sleep before the race, I’ll have to make sure he sleeps in another bed.

I am pretty sure I packed everything I need for the race. So far I discovered only one item that I forgot, but that wasn’t critical. I did almost forget my helmet.

My parents are here with me this time around. Hopefully, they won’t be too loud and obnoxious and cause me embarrassment. The other day my wife told me that my mother (step mother), told her that my father gave her some number to call in the event he should die. Evidently he has not been feeling too well lately and is perhaps thinking that he is about to croak. The thought creeps me out and I wish there was something that I could say to him about it. He has always been private about his feelings and would not engage me in conversation should I bring the subject up to him. At least I will get to spend some quality time with him for the next few days. I love my father, but we haven’t really been bonded together for quite some time. I am a lot like him in many ways and different in so many others.

I hope I will always be very close to my children and involved in their lives throughout adulthood. I would love to do races and other events with them on a regular basis. My friend Larry is doing this year’s IMLP with his daughter Larissa. I can’t think of how it gets better than that. Endurance sports are one of the few activities where father and child can compete on the same playing field.

Should it happen to pass in the future, where I am sick and dying, I want it to be known that if one of my children are about to compete in an event that they have been preparing, they should continue with their event. I want them to celebrate their lives and remember mine while they are pursuing an activity they love.

The weather in NYC has been very hot and humid over the past couple of days. This presented me with the perfect opportunity to heat acclimate for Ironman USA Lake Placid in NYC style. I am doing this by wearing a suit, jacket and tie as I am required to do so for proper business attire.

As I walked along the streets of Manhattan and through the subway tunnels, I wore my jacket with my collar buttoned and my tie on properly. This was in contrast to most men on the street that are walking around with open collars, tie-less and jacketless. I will admit that my shirt sleeves are a bit damp from sweat, but the rest of my shirt is relatively dry, thanks to the cotton t-shirt I am wearing underneath it.

Personally, I feel that the discomfit I feel from the heat and humidity is more than made up for the pleasure I get from seeing all the young women walk around in summer attire. I am always amazed at what passes for proper attire on women during the summer months. The fairer sex it appears, gets to wear hardly anything.

I think I may have hope for my son to be a Triathlete. Today in our small backyard pool, I found a game that he particularly relished. I tossed in the water a handful of quarters and told him to try to find them. He took off underwater plucking the quarters off the bottom like a treasure hunter scuba diving in the deep sea.

Previous to this day, he was always reluctant to let his face, much less his body, go underwater. The prospect of acquiring the money from the bottom of the pool proved irresistible and it appears that he is on his way to becoming a swimmer. He already likes to ride his bike and always wants to race me down the block when we are out for a walk.

I will be very happy if my son truly does want to become a triathlete. It is something that we can seriously pursue together. I look forward to the days that he is able to accompany on his bicycle while I go for a long run around Prospect Park. He has been mentioning the Ironman several times lately and I think he is beginning to become interested in what it is all about.

Speaking of Ironman, only one week remains for me to get ready for Ironman Lake Placid. This means doing whatever I can to remain injury free and illness free. For some reason this appears as though it will be tougher than it should be. In the past few days, I stubbed my big toe tremendously hard, scratched the bottom of my feet, and banged my shins. I don’t know if I am being hyper sensitive to injury or if something is in the air.

Today I am having a pre Placid Ironman shindig. Only a few friends from my local triathlete minded environs will be attending. I do not think my wife is too happy with this gathering. She is very far removed from my Ironman and endurance obsessed world. I believe her opinion is that we are all obsessively compulsive and can’t understand why someone would want to put them through such grueling events.

I am unable to explain the appeal of doing such races. I guess I just feel more alive when I am suffering through a race, or get that endorphin flow when I finish a good workout. I guess part of it is a feeling of satisfaction and pride to know that you can do what many others can’t or won’t. It is like I am attacking my life, instead of letting it pass before me.

I supposed in New York City you could see all sorts of crazy. This could vary from homeless people on the street, performers doing outrageous acts, religious fanatics proselytizing to all that will listen to drunken people wandering out into traffic.

I exhibited my own sense of NYC crazy a couple of days ago when I went to pick up my bicycle from my personal mechanic. He just prepared it for me to use at the upcoming IMLP and I went to pick it up after work. To get it home, I needed to navigate it to the subway while carrying an extra set of wheels, my laptop, umbrella, lunch box and assorted work papers. I was wearing a full suit with tie and in my dress shoes.

Being the impatient sort of person that I am, I decided that I would ride the bike to the subway to save time. I headed from the vicinity of 89th Street and First Avenue with the intention of getting on the 4,5, or 6 train at 86th and Lexington. When I arrived at this intersection, I decided that I should just continue down to 63rd and Lexington to catch the F train. This was the line I would need to take to get home and I decided that I was managing the ride just fine and didn’t want to deal with transferring trains.

I could only imagine what I looked like while riding alongside the Taxi cabs and busses dressed like I was. I had no helmet and was speeding on the mostly downhill trip to 63rd. Just riding without a helmet is crazy enough, but I did relish the though of what I looked like. I had my right suit pants leg tucked into my sock to prevent it from getting stuck in the chain.

In the end, my decision to get on the train at 63rd proved correct. The train was empty when I got on, but packed by the time I arrived to my transfer point if I took the 6 train. It was a pleasant bike ride and an easy commute.

A friend of mine compared the swim start of a triathlon to swimming with a bunch of Zombies. In a way he is correct. You have hundreds of people all flailing their arms, kicking a grabbing from every direction, in sort of a mindless fashion.

I thought of his comments as I did my swim this morning. I felt as though my 50 meter lane was invaded by a swarm of Zombies that could barely function, much less swim. I love the 50 meter lane; however the pool is setup with only 3 of them for swimming at the time of day I go to the pool. This means that the slow swimmers invade the medium and fast lanes.

It wouldn’t be so bad, if only they would yield the lane when they reached the wall, or at least move over when you tap their toes. These slow swimmers are in a zombie like state and don’t realize that etiquette dictates that they should be accommodating to faster swimmers. I was kicked, grabbed and given withering looks. It was perfect preparation for IMLP.