Posts from — October 2011

This past weekend saw my children being very active.  The highlight for me had to be watching Pie (my daughter) participate in her first High School Cross-Country Meet.  I am not sure who was more excited (me or her), and we both waited with anticipation for the race to begin.  Pie executed herself amazingly well, coming in 9^th overall (out of 51) and first for her school.  I swelled with fatherly pride and could not be happier.  I was also a little smug, when I thought back to just a few short months ago, when I practically forced my daughter to try out track.  She didn’t want to go at first, but once she discovered it, I could tell she liked it a lot.  Since she has been on the team, I could tell she has so much more energy, many more friends and simply exudes and enthusiasm towards life.

Beast Jr. was also no slacker over this weekend.  He had two games of Flag Football, but the highlight for him was the exceptional pitching he provided for his travel baseball team (he had two baseball games as well).  He pitched 3 strong innings and only gave up a few runs due to some shoddy defense.  The highlight was when he struck out the side in his second inning.  He then went on to cover catcher for a couple of innings, when the current catcher got hurt, even though he was tired from pitching.  He did it without complaint and played flawlessly.

I am very happy and proud my children are leading a healthy and active lifestyle.  I could only imagine that my own active lifestyle has somehow influenced them into pursuing athletics.  I truly believe that this will not only pay huge dividends to them in the future, but it is paying dividends to me right now.  Having come off a less than satisfactory Furnace Creek 508, I have found myself beginning to get that itch to get myself back together.  My children are inspiring me as well as I see the pure enjoyment in their eyes as they participate in their sports.  This enjoyment and enthusiasm is pouring over into me and I find myself on fire this week as I restarted my training.

This time around, I am dedicating myself to be a complete and all around athlete.  I am making sure that I incorporate multiple disciplines (specifically swimming, cycling, running) as well as core fitness in the form of Boot Camp Fitness.  Already during this past week I ran to the pool 3 times, swam over 6000 yards and have run 23 miles.  I still need to setup my bikes again, but I’ll probably wait until after the NYC Marathon which is in only 2 short weeks.

For the first time in a while, I am seriously looking forward to training for my upcoming events.  I could see the differences in my body as I’ve finally got my diet under control.  I can’t wait to fill out that entry form for next year’s Furnace Creek 508 and pray that I get in.  I have unfinished business, both in regards to the FC508 and IMLP.  When those races arrive, I am going to eat them up.

So I was not successful in completing this year’s FC508.  I managed to struggle through 309 miles of the course, when my team and I decided it would be foolish to continue.  I was already at the 28 hour mark, which just left me 20 hours to complete the remaining 200 miles, which would show me some of the toughest climbs of the day.  I had suffered enough at this point and it did not make any sense to struggle another moment just to make it to the next time station.  The point where I got off the bike was the bottom of the descent of the Jubilee Pass, just before the 2,300’ 9.5 mile ascent to the Salsberry Pass.  I had barely managed to hold onto my bike during this descent and I wasn’t willing to risk crashing during the next descent had I even managed to make it to the top of it.

Furnace Creek 508 Elevation Profile

As I got off my bike and sat down in the support vehicle, I looked into my crew chief’s eyes (@gregbarnett) and I could tell he did not think I should go on.  Greg had been discussing my progress with the rest of my crew (Jeff – @blahspam and Bill – @williamrozner) and they all were more concerned for my health than completing the race.  Jeff was keeping track of my time and constantly reminding me that I had to move on.   While listening to him I was on a seesaw in my mind; on one end my brain was telling me to suck it up and keep going and on the other end the growing realization that I was running out of time and soon would not be able to finish no matter how badly I wanted to or how much further I rode.  Eventually, realization grew so fat and heavy that it could not be ignored and with the confirming opinions of my support crew, I knew it would be useless to risk injury or worse, just for the sake of a few more miles.

Perhaps couple of factors affected me this year.  I went into the race sick with an Ear, Nose and Throat infection.  I was on antibiotics for the week before the race, and just on the day I flew to California, I came down with a terrible ear ache.  I saw an ENT specialist to make sure it was ok to fly, and he gave me antibiotic drops to put in both ears.  The flight from NY to Burbank was awful on my body.  The dry air decimated my sinuses and I was in pain throughout the flight.  When I landed I was congested and couldn’t sleep.  For the three days before the race, I got very little sleep and my appetite was less than normal.

The second factor was I had a lot fewer cycling miles this year.  I got a late start towards training and I hoped to make up for fewer miles through strength training.  The strength training didn’t really help my aerobic capacity though, and I noticed while I was riding that my HR seemed to be higher than it had been in the past.  This just reinforces my past belief that strength training should only supplement my endurance training, not be a substitution.

Despite my cold and fewer cycling miles, the race started off good and I did the first 100 miles averaging 15.5 mph.  For the first 25 of them I wore a helmet cam to capture part of the race.  I hope to have clips of that video here sometime soon.  When I reached Stage 1, I was only 5 minutes slower than I was the previous year.  Perhaps, I should have gone slower and conserved some energy for later.  The second miles did not go nearly as well and my digestion started to shut now.  I was on the climb into Death Valley at the 209 mile mark when I really started to get into trouble.  I needed to take many breaks during this climb and my digestion completely shut down.  I would pull off the side of the road and vomit in order to try to clear my stomach.

Without being able to get anything into my stomach that might help wake me up, I began to get tired and slept for about 30 minutes in the support vehicle.  The nap refreshed me and that allowed to me to go another 100 miles.  However, all during that time, I wasn’t able to take in any substantive nutrition.

I guess my first feelings upon immediately sitting in the support vehicle while my crew packed my bike was relief.  I couldn’t imagine at this point going on any further and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and go to sleep.  I was completely out of it.  We drove into Shoshone, which was the next time station and reported that I would not be continuing on due to illness.  We briefly discussed going to a hospital to get an IV, but I decided that I would see how it would go for a while and see if my digestion recovered.  In the meantime, we waited for a friend @speakofthedevil to come meet us.  She was driving from several hours away to cheer me on.  I was feeling somewhat embarrassed that I was sitting in the support vehicle as a race dropout and didn’t have much strength to get out of the car to interact with her or her son.  I hadn’t seen her in a few years and I really wished it was under better circumstances.

My disappointment in not being able to complete the race grew more profound as we made our way home.  Silently, I started to weep to myself as the realization set in.  I was as sad as I’d ever been and it made me think of the boys you see on TV that just lost the Little League World Series.  It was like I struck out with the bases loaded with the tying run on third to end the game.

All of my friends, relatives and family were very supportive of me and I am told not to look at not completing the race as being a failure.  It is hard to look at it any other way.  This blog entry however, is going to be the last I dwell on it.  I know I tried my hardest this year and the stars just did not align themselves properly.  In fact, during the entire night of my ride through Death Valley, the moon was slightly less than full.  Perhaps it was this missing piece that threw me off.  If anything, my inability to complete the race this year has given me a much, much greater appreciation for what I accomplished last year in finishing the race.  I know now that if I am allowed to go back to the race again, I will go with a fire in my belly and extract my revenge.  In the meantime, I have this year’s NYC Marathon to look forward and then I have only 9 months to nail Ironman Lake Placid in 2012.

I would also like to thank all of my Twitter and Facebook followers who send me messages during the course of my training and before, during and after the race.  Your support is so greatly appreciated and will be remembered forever.

This morning as I got up, the day I am leaving for the Furnace Creek 508, I encountered a throbbing pain in my left ear.  I had the same pain last night, but I was hopeful that it would be gone by this morning.  No such luck however, and as I sat in my office later on talking to my boss, he asked me what was wrong as I winced in pain from a spasm.  Long story short, he recommended an ear doctor near my office and it turns out I have an ear infection and major irritation of my larynx and inside my nose.  The dry air on the plane as I write this entry is making me feel awful.  I can’t wait to land and get off the airplane.

But anyway, as I sit on the airplane and think about what to write, I remember when I first started endurance training, and in particular for Ironman, how I would always have something to say in a blog entry practically on a daily basis.  As time has gone on, I haven’t had much to say, especially as I have trained for the same races year after year.  I guess that is because I repeat the same training patterns, routes and routines and it feels like I have already discussed everything that passes through my mind.  After all, how many creative ways can you come up with to describe a 20+ hour, 200+ mile training bike ride.  It gets monotonous to keep writing about that.

If it wasn’t for my children I am not sure I would be doing the race this year.  They both wanted me to do the race, with the reason being that knew how much I enjoyed it last year.  In a way they know me better than I know myself.  My beautiful daughter was in shock early in the year when I expressed doubts about coming back.  She knows though, that I love everything about major endurance events; the training, the physicality, the logistics and the camaraderie of working with a team.  I do wish though that Beast Jr. was sitting here next to me as I fly across the country.  I feel as though he should be part of this race and I am going to miss him very much this year.  We talk about doing the race together as a team when he turns 16.  I can’t think of anything better than to race with him as my partner.

My son simply likes to play and it doesn’t really matter which sport.  This fall he is playing Flag Football as well as Travel Baseball.  He is not so good in the former, but totally excels in the latter.  This past weekend he had Flag on Saturday and didn’t get much playing time.  The coach was obsessed with winning the game, even though it was quickly turning into a blow out and gave the majority of the playing time to the stronger players.  This was very upsetting to Beast Jr. (to me as well), but there is really not much we can do about it.  After the game, I sat down with him in our car for a while and discussed how he felt about not getting much playing time.  I explained that we each have to recognize our strengths and weaknesses and also pointed out to him how in baseball he tends to play the entire games when the there are other kids who sit out for significant time.  My point to him was that he needs to recognize that he can’t be good in everything, but if he wants to get better (and get more playing time), he is going to need to focus on practice, training and preparation.  He also needs to make sure he is part of the team, even though he is not on the field, and needs to root and cheer for his team all the time.  He understands, but it is still a tough pill to swallow.   I also explained to him if he wants to get 100 percent playing time, then he should concentrate on endurance athletics, as the only person that he is accountable to in those sports is himself.  Beast Jr. is a much better athlete than I was as a kid and I so admire his heart for sport.

I know I talk about Beast Jr. quite often, but I must also say that I am very proud of my daughter.  Early this year, during the winter, I sort of coerced her into joining the local youth track club.  She wailed and complained about it at first, but I think deep down, once she got going she enjoyed it.  Since that time she started High School and joined the schools track team.  She hasn’t been to any meets yet and says how the workout they are giving her is so much easier compared to what she was used to doing.  She is looking forward to her first meet and trains with the school team four days per week after school, without a word of complaint.  Just to give the full picture, after practice is over she first has to take the NYC Subway for the hour long ride home and then start on her homework.  I love her so much and am so very proud of her.  She smiles as me when I talk about doing Ironman with her in just 4 years, but I think she will do it.

Getting back to the FC508, I am doing it this year for several reasons.  Probably none of them make much sense, but here they are in bullet point format:

• I do not want to be a onetime wonder.  I know I did it once, but do I have what it takes to do it again?  This I need to find out.
• I want to be a role model for my children.  To prove to them that you can do anything that you set your mind to.
• That glorious feeling of accomplishment.  My mind fought me this year, but I fought back.  Someone tweeted a Mohammed Ali quote that said something to the effect that he hated every second of training, but there was nothing in the world like the victorious feeling he had after he accomplished his goal.  I crave that feeling.
• Endurance sports are what I do.  It is my lifestyle.  I wouldn’t be who I am if I did not continue with ever increasing or challenging goals.
• Deep down, I know I am going to have a blast once the day arrives.

It is too early to start thinking about next year, but if you asked me today, I will probably take a pass on next year.  My children have been asking to go back to Ironman Lake Placid and I signed up for it this past summer.  If I could put a two man team together, I think the likelihood of me being back in 2012 would be much better, especially if my teammate is a local person with whom I would train.  All of this though is too early to be discussing, as I still have the glorious task of finishing this year’s race.