Quick & Easy Healthy Meal

I originally started this blog to document my journey from heel striker to forefoot runner. Along the way I started posting about running in general, and cycling and triathlons. I also intended (and will at some point in very near future do so) to blog about my profession of athletic training. Recently I hit upon another topic to write on that actually relates to all of it, nutrition, more specifically cooking nutritious meals. I’ve been cooking fairly nutritious meals for a long time and keep playing with new recipes, and over time I’ve come to realize that many people I know are astounded by how easy it is for me to make healthy but tasty meals. So, I’ve decided to start sharing some of my more successful experiments with food on here.

We all know that healthy usually means fresh, but also frozen and to avoid processed foods. But keeping fresh foods at home means constant trips to the grocery and we don’t always have time for that. I try to the go with frozen, but occasionally I will throw in a can of something, as I did for this recipe.

I took a couple of turkey Italian sausages that we had in the freezer and lightly thawed in microwave until I could chop them up. I heated a large skillet and dropped in the sausage to brown with about 1/2 a diced white onion and 2 minced cloves of garlic, salt & pepper.

While that was cooking I put 1 3/4 cups (w/ splash more) of water on to boil. Once boiling I added in 1/4 cup farro, 1/4 cup bulger wheat, 1/4 cup quinoa, and about 1/4 cup of whole wheat spaghetti broken into ~1" pieces. (water ratio on grains: farro 3:1, bulger wheat 2:1, quinoa 2:1, and the splash was for pasta (needed more)).
Once sausage was cooked I added can of diced tomatoes (with liquid), 1/2 cup frozen peas, 1/4 cup of chia, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, dried basil (prefer fresh herbs, but go with what you have...), and more salt & pepper.
When grain/pasta mixture had absorbed all the water I added it with some additional water (about 1/2 cup as grain was a little too al dente) into the sausage, onion, tomato, pea mixture and let simmer for a few minutes until water was absorbed and grain done.
I served with a topping of fresh grated parmesan cheese. It was quite yummy. Sorry I didn't get a pic to share (camera/phone temporarily out of order). From start to finish took about 25min and there was enough food to serve four. Nutritious, delicious, easy and quick, what’s not to like?

**(the grains chosen were partially for flavor but also because they had about the same cooking time as the spaghetti so it would all be done at the same time)

**(regular Italian sausage, or about ½-2/3 pound of ground meat could be substituted for turkey Italian sausage)

Don't forget, March is National Athletic Training Month: Every Body Needs An Athletic Trainer. (posts about #NATM2013 coming soon!)

Rev3 Quassy Olympic Distance Triathlon 2010 - The Next VFF Step

I arrived at the Quassy Amusement Park early Friday (6/4/10) afternoon. It was a beautiful, sunny day. The amusement park was much smaller than I had expected, but it looked like a great area for a triathlon. It was on a pretty, but small lake with clean clear water which would be ideal for the swim. The parking lot wasn't very big but they were in the process of clearing the field next to it readying it to handle all of the race day parking.

I wandered over to the registration area to check-in and pick up my packet for the Olympic distance race the next day. When I walked up to the table at registration they asked which race I was registering for, which gave me a momentary surprise, I had thought I would have to come back after Saturday's race to pick up packet for Sunday's 1/2 iron distance race. So I told them I was doing both and the problems began.

I should start off by saying that even though this race would prove to be one thing after another for me, the volunteers and staff at the race were incredible. They quickly took care of me, and made this as easy and pleasant as possible. The problems that occurred that were under their control were all computer glitches that were taken care of very promptly.

When I told them I was doing both races they checked their lists but could only find me listed for the Half and not the Olympic. I told them they I had definitely registered for both. Without questioning me or placing any blame they got me my stuff for the Half and went to work getting me set up for the Olympic. I was given my numbers, swim caps, t-shirts, etc. and then personally escorted over to the timing chip area where they explained the situation and made sure my timing chip was set up for both races.

While getting timing chip taken care of I was asked to check my info they had on the computer. Half of it was correct, but my address and birth date were wrong (I would find out later this was a common problem as there was some glitch between registration site and race site that scrambled that info). When I told them they corrected that and had me on my way to transition to check in my bike.

Checking in my bike and racking it was quick and simple. I did have two young female racers that asked me to switch rack spaces with them because one of them had a hybrid bike that didn't fit in their assigned spot. We made sure it was ok with the person in charge of the transition area and I put my bike in the new spot. I put my race numbers on it and before I left I let a little air out of the tires because I didn't want to risk them blowing from sitting in sun on hot pavement.

This done I made the short drive to my hotel. I got checked in, moved everything into my room and went after pizza. I brought the pizza back to my room and spent the rest of the evening relaxing, eating pizza and slowly getting everything ready for race morning.

The next morning I got up extra early. I almost missed the start of my race the previous weekend and didn't want to make that mistake again, especially since I was in the first wave. This time I vowed I would be on the beach and ready well before the start.

I got dressed in my race gear while eating my breakfast pizza, grabbed my gear bag and headed out the door. It was only a 15 minute drive to the park and it was raining lightly. The forecast had been for scattered showers most of the morning and they were here. The light rain didn't affect the drive and I was in transition a short time after leaving the hotel. I grabbed my gear bag and trudged off to setup my transition area. I had plenty of time, but I wanted to get it done and relax and maybe even warm-up a bit before the race. A short swim would be nice.

During my short walk to transition the light rain stopped. The sky looked ready to dump some more, but for the time it was done. When I got to my space I started unloading my gear and setting things up. I pumped up my tires to full pressure. Then I pulled out my helmet put and put it on my aerobars. Then I pulled out my bike shoe bag and went to put the shoes in their correct place. Unfortunately, I had grabbed the wrong shoes. These were my old ones that really, really hurt my feet. I could use them, but didn’t look forward to torturing myself. So I ran back to my truck hoping that I had my new ones with me too.

I got back to my truck, dug around in the back a bit, and there they were. Whew, as much as I didn’t look forward to do any Olympic distance race in the old ones, I was really afraid of having to come back the next day and do a ½ Iron distance in them. That might have been too much.

I ran back to transition and put the bike shoes in their spot. I dug into my bag for my sun glasses only to find that they weren’t there either. Back to the truck!

I ran back to the truck grabbed my sunglasses and ran back to transition. Put them in my helmet and then pulled out my gloves and secured them to the handle bars. I quickly looked over everything and felt confident my bike setup was complete.

I then focused on my run gear. I dug in my bag for my Vibram Sprints and, yep, they weren’t there! WTH! Did someone slip something in my pizza last night?!?! I swear I had everything set and in my bag ready to go. So, once again, I ran back to the truck, dug through it, found my Sprints, and ran back to transition. I put them in place w/ my run hat, and gel packs.

Gel packs? Shit! Forgot my nutrition bottles! I finally remembered that I had stuck them in a separate bag from the other gear in case they leaked. So back to the truck I ran and back to transition again. All this extra time I thought I was going to have before the race was quickly being eaten up. So much for a warm-up swim I thought, at least I’d done enough running to and from the truck that my legs should be ready to go.

Finally, I had everything in its place. I checked the time and saw that I had a few minutes left before I needed to grab my swim gear and head to the beach. So I sat down to relax for a bit and sip some water and munch on a granola bar. About 10 minutes later I got up, grabbed my wetsuit, dug in my bag for my goggles and timing chip and they weren’t there. Now I was really starting to get mad at myself. I’ve done probably somewhere over 1000 races in my life and I was making every beginner mistake possible. I didn’t have a single thing ready.

Calling myself derogatory name after derogatory name, I ran back to the truck for what I was hoping would be the final time. I quickly found my goggles, timing chip, swim cap and my number belt with my bib numbe

r on it. Oh yeah, swim cap and bib number, kind of need those too! I ran quickly back to transition. Now I was going to really be cutting things close.

I stuck my bib number with my Vibrams, slathered myself in body glide, stuck my timing chip on my ankle, grabbed my swim cap, goggles, wet suit and sprinted for the beach. They were giving final instructions as I ran up. I rushed into my wetsuit, pulling the legs on as quick as I could, and then the arms. As I was pulling on the second arm I felt the wetsuit give and sure enough, I had torn a hole in it. Perfect! It wasn’t a huge hole and it was repairable, but just one more thing to add to the list. This day really wasn’t getting off to a good start.

I was finally zipping up the suit as they were starting to line my wave up on the beach. I hurriedly pulled on my swim cap and got my goggles positioned correctly as I ran over. I had all of about 5 seconds before the gun went off and we were plunging into the water.

I was slightly winded from all of the running around so I struggled the first 100 yards getting my breathing under control. After that though, things smoothed out and I started to swim well. I’m not a fast swimmer, but I am a strong swimmer. It is always hard to tell during a race, but I seemed to be holding my usual position toward the front of the middle of the pack fairly well.

The water was like glass it was so smooth and it was crystal clear and cool. Perfect conditions for swimming and despite my normal dislike of this part of the race I was actually enjoying myself. I was holding a good line and moving past the buoys steadily. It seemed like no time before I was making the final turn to head in to the beach and the swim exit.

The muscle milk swim exit was next to impossible to see. It's brown and white coloration blending into the trees and the sky. Fortunately there were a couple more buoys and I focused on them, but soon I was past them as well. I tried to get a fix on a point on shore straight ahead and kept going. However, as I neared shore I started hearing a lot of shouting near by that I knew had to be out in the water. I popped my head up for a better look and found myself about one stroke away from swimming directly into a swim raft. Thank you kayaker! That would probably have hurt.

I veered around it and was finally able to make out the swim exit and I raced quickly through the final stretch. As I reached shore I pulled off upper part of my wetsuit while I ran for transition. I wasn't sure of my swim time but felt I had put in a decent one (for me that is).

As soon as I reached my bike I jerked and yanked and tugged the rest of my wetsuit off. I quickly pulled on my cycling shoes, helmet, sunglasses and number belt and took off with my bike.

As soon as I reached the bike mounting area I jumped on my bike and almost wiped out. Both feet slid right off the pedals. I tried clipping both in again and again both slid right off. I tried the right one, nope. The left, nope. Right, no, left no, right... I was swerving all over the place like a drunk on ice skates. I couldn't get either foot to lock in. It was like I had a cover on my cleats...

Shit! That was exactly what it felt like and I was sure I knew why. When I bought the new shoes I got new cleats for them as well. And, I figured I would get some some coffee shop covers for them to help them last a bit longer. I fricking forgot to take them off!

Sure enough, reached down to bottom of right shoe and grabbed a cover. I pulled it off, locked in, pedalled a couple strokes and did the same for the left. It only took about 100 yards but I was finally off and riding. Over the next mile I pulled my gloves off the handle bars and put them on. Finally, I was fully on the hammer.

The roads were a little damp, but were drying quickly. The clouds had started to part and it looked like the rain had given up totally for the day. There were almost no riders on the road (I was 12th in my wave in the swim, so I really was almost alone out there), which felt very weird, but was not surprising since I went off in the first wave. There was nothing to slow me down and I cranked away at the pedals.

The bike course turned out to be much more challenging then I had expected. There weren't any hills that I considered tough, but they just kept coming at you. There was virtually no flat anywhere on the course. That coupled wiith the lack of other riders in visual range most of the time made for a tough ride, but I kept the speed up pretty well.

The bike course wasn't closed to traffic, but there were plenty of police and volunteers limiting cars and keeping things safe. About one mile from the finish of the bike I heard a car coming up slowly behind me. I glanced over and saw an elderly lady driving. She took over 1/4 of a mile to fully pass me. Just as she got slightly ahead of me, still in the other lane, we came over a hill and I saw stop sign right in front of us.

I start to brake, but not fast enough. She pulled over at an angle and came to a complete stop directly in front of me. I locked the brakes, but had no chance. My rear tire slid around to the left of me and I slammed right into the side of her car. I no sooner hit and she starts driving again. I'm leaning against the side of her car trying desperately to get my balance again while not sliding down the side of the car toward the rear wheel. I can see the volunteer that is working the intersection over the top ot the car. He was a teenage boy and his mouth is just hanging open in shock. He had no clue what to do.

I rode on the of her car almost 50 yards before I finally got enough control that I was able to push off with my shoulder and get off the side of her car. I'm positive she had no clue I had hit her or that I was still there. We turned seperate ways about another 50 yards down the road, but I was unable to really get going again. I just spun the pedals the rest of the way in.

When I got back to transition I slowly dismounted and jogged my bike back in. I was in no hurry. I pulled off my helmet, gloves and shoes and stuffed my toes into my Vibram Sprints. I took a sip of water and jogged out of transition.

It took me a good half mile to get anywhere near pace and longer than that to get my mind back into the race. At the first water station I yelled out for a couple of people I knew on twitter, so I could at least put a face with them, but didn't see a response. I found out later that they heard me and yelled back, I guess my mind was still too unfocused.

Somewhere between the 2 and 3 mile mark I finally got my game face back on and started pushing the pace. I still had the 1/2 iron distance tri the next day, but there was no reason to hold back and I emptied the tanks. I finished the last 4 miles at a strong pace and had a solid race, despite everything, in my first attempt at the distance.

I finished with a final time of 2:44:03 (swim – 24:47, T1 – 2:44, bike – 1:22:28, T2 – 1:33, run – 50:29). A lot went wrong, but it was a solid performance on the day and I was happy with it. The run was the only section that was completely problem free. My feet felt great in the Vibrams and I was confident they would work great for longer distances. Now it was a matter of getting ready for the 1/2IM the next day, things could only get better…

Ironclad Sprint Triathlon 2010: My First Tri with VFFs

The morning of the Ironclad Sprint Triathlon arrived way too early. My alarm went off at 4:30am and I slowly dragged my butt out of bed. I got dressed, prepped my water bottle for the bike and a bottle for the drive, walked the dogs, grabbed my gear and stumbled out the door. At this point I was only running 15 minutes behind schedule.


In my truck I quickly programmed my Droid phone to use as my GPS and pulled out of the driveway. It was a 1 hour drive to race sight and the bulk of it was uneventful. As I neared the race sight I started to see more and more cars loaded with bikes, obviously going to same place as me.

As I neared the race I had a growing line of cars with bike behind me. However, just before I got there everyone disappeared. As I noticed this I realized I had goofed. There was no parking at the race site, we were supposed to park a mile away at a school. I had programmed my Droid incorrectly and I was going to lose even more time. I searched for a place to turn around and doubled back to where I had last seen the other cars and followed the cars I saw with bikes to the parking area.

Once parked, I pulled out my pumped, got my tires up to pressure and took bike off of rack. I then gathered my gear out of the various bags it was in and stuffed into one bag for transport to transition. I put numbers on my helmet, bike, and race belt. All of this I'd meant to do night before and never got around to. I took my time and once everything was set I got on my bike to ride to the transition area.

About midway to transition I glanced at the time and realized transition closed in 5 minutes and race started in 20. I was running way behind and cutting things a bit too close. I sped up on bike and rolled up to transition as they were starting to push everyone out.

I hurriedly racked my bike, and set everything up. I put on a liberal application of bodyglide to both legs from knees down and both arms from elbows down, but, as I realized later, forgot my neck. This done I picked up my wetsuit and goggles and started to head for the swim start. As I was leaving transition one of the volunteers came through yelling out a reminder to the athletes to pick up their timing chips and swim caps.

Oops, I knew I was forgetting something...

I sprinted to the nearest tent and got my timing chip. Unfortunately that was all they had. The swim cap was at another tent over 200 yards in the wrong direction.

I quickly ran to the tent to get my swim cap. When I got there however the volunteer who was there was just watching the tent. He had no idea where caps were and once found what color I was to get. After what seemed like ages, but was probably about 5 minutes the correct person showed back up and gave me my cap. It was 2 minutes to start of 1st wave and I was in 3rd wave and had yet to put on my wetsuit.

I dashed off for the swim start about 300 yards away. I got there as the first wave was lining up to start. I hurriedly pulled on my wetsuit, causing 2 small tears in the process, put on my cap and got my goggles ready. By this time 2nd wave was starting, I had managed to get ready with a whole 3 minutes to spare. Not a good way to start things off.

A few minutes later I entered the water and off we went. The swim took place in the Long Island Sound and when I had checked the water temp online a couple days before it was only 54 degrees. It definitely hadn't warmed up much since then, and my face was hurting from the cold before I had reached the first buoy. The swim, other than the cold, was uneventful. I exited the water with a swim time of 16:42 for a half mile.

Coming out of the water my feet were numb. This was probably a good thing though because the beach was very rocky and full of broken shells. I ran as fast as my numb feet would carry me to transition. The top part of my wetsuit I had shed as I came out of the water and I had taken my goggles and cap off as I ran.

When I got into transition I struggled out of the bottom part of my wetsuit which got caught up on my timing chip. Once free of the wetsuit I got my cycling shoes on, put on my number belt, sunglasses, helmet, grabbed my bike and ran out of transition. I jumped on the bike and off I went.

The first loop of the bike was uneventful. I was flying by other riders on a regular basis. It seemed like no time before I was starting on the second loop and this was a little more difficult. On the second lap we started mixing the faster racers with the slower novices that really didn't know what they were doing. High speed passing the slow and erratic made things a little dangerous and crazy.

I completed most of the second lap without incident when ahead of me I saw my friend who was doing his first tri. I caught him quickly and I glanced over to say hi and encourage him on. As I did this I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. There were people rushing into the road to slow us down. I had to lock my brakes and went into a slide barely missing a couple other bikes. (I would find out later that I had torn most of the rubber off of a section of my tire as a result, but it held long enough for me to reach the finish.) There had been an accident and they were trying to keep us from running into the downed rider.

I was quickly around them and finished the final miles without incident. I slipped my feet out of my shoes as I approached transition. My odometer told me I had only rode 12.5 miles instead of the 13.5 they had told us. I hopped off of my bike and ran into transition. Despite my toes being numb making it difficult to feel toe holes, I quickly pulled on my Vibram Sprints, grabbed my number belt and hat and was off and running.

The run course was mainly off road, with a good portion of it being on well groomed trail. There was a lot of gravel in opening stretch but my feet had become well adjusted to it and this caused me no problems. The trails themselves were a bit of an adventure. There were a couple mud pits we had to run through and at the first I hesitated a bit. If had been running in shoes I would have just jumped in but for some reason I paused a moment and contemplated my alternatives. I quickly realized I was being silly and just plunged through and didn't slow for the remainder.

The only other concern was the sections of trail that had large roots crossing them. They were a concern for any runner because they were an easy way to trip or twist an ankle. But, with VFFs I was also concerned with injuring my feet if I stepped on them incorrectly. I just carefully watched my step and danced my way through them.

The run was over before I knew it and I found myself sprinting for the line. The race itself wasn't much of a challenge because of the short distance, but I still felt like I had made a huge accomplishment. I had run longer distances in my VFFs but this was the first time I had used them in a triathlon. My feet felt great in them and they made running the trails a true joy. I found myself anxiously awaiting my next tri in them (the next weekend).

Red Means Injured Triathlete

As endurance athletes we've all been injured at some point. You can't take a car out on the highway and just hold the accelerator to floor forever without blowing your engine, and as athletes we're red lining it on a regular basis. We push ourselves in training and races and eventually something breaks.
It is hard enough to deal with the injury and recovery as it is, but it is even worse while we are working out and our pace and distance are much less than our norm. It is easy to feel self-conscious and wish that others knew that we're really better than this.
I know I've been self-conscious about this many times, whether from injury or post event (marathon, ironman, etc) soreness and have heard many others lament about it as well. For over a year now I've been on Twitter and it is almost a regular occurrence that I will hear someone complain about it, occasionally even to point of wishing they had a shirt they could buy that would say "hey, I'm injured! I'm really not this slow". Usually I just sympathize with them.
Today was different. I saw @trifunster making a similar statement about being injured and wishing she had a shirt. Don't know why I did it or where idea came from but I jokingly suggested she wear a red shirt. I mentioned that injured college athletes who are out for season are red shirted (yes, I know freshman who aren't going to play are as well) and so wearing a red shirt would say "hey, I'm injured" in a way maybe some would understand.
Her response was positive and she seemed to like the idea enough to the point of retweeting the idea and creating a Twitter hash tag #redmeansinjuredtriathlete. This caused me to pause and really think about it. The more I thought the more the idea made sense and the more I liked it. The color red was a bit arbitrary, but to tell someone you were red shirting there was a possibility they would catch on quicker because of college sports. Red is also common enough most athletes would have at least one shirt/jersey/singlet, but not so common that you see the majority of athletes wearing it. Yeah, there are going to be non-injured athletes wearing red, but there are non-injured college freshman that are red shirted. It would defeat the purpose to pick a color so obscure no one had it and they would have hunt to find one, they may as well just print up a t-shirt. So red it is.
Ideally it would be a red shirt, but high school and college athletes that are required to wear a uniform and are racing for conditioning and experience purposes could sub in a red headband, hat, socks, shoelaces and more. But that is another discussion.
The more I thought about all of this, the more I liked it. My excitement lead me to don a red shirt for my run today. I'm two days post-marathon, and though I am not doing the Frankenstein monster walk and actually walking normal, my legs are not able to run like I'm used to. I ran 4 miles yesterday and every time saw someone I felt slightly embarrassed about my slow amble. Today I ran same distance, same course and only very slightly faster. However, even though only two of us knew of this idea, I felt more comfortable and confident and enjoyed the run in a way I wasn't able to yesterday. Maybe this was from feeling good about my idea, but I really feel it was because my shirt was clearly stating "hey, I just ran a marathon, I'm red shirting this week!"
Next time you can't run/ride/swim up to your normal level due to injury, give it a try. If you like it, share the idea and spread the word. Hey, #RedMeansInjuredTriathlete!

Addendum:Shortly after posting this I received a tweet that basically stated that I shouldn't worry about what others thought and just man up about injuries. In a sense I agree but as an athletic trainer (field of sports medicine http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/athletic_training/a/aa062001a.htm ) I know that it is not always as easy as that.
Depression and loss of confidence often occur in athletes of all levels, from weekend warrior to pro athlete, and all ages when they get injured. Sometimes the body heals and the athlete is physically able to return to preinjury levels but is unable to do so because depression and/or lack of confidence is holding them back. This is part of the reason (there many others as well) why the field of sports psychology came into being and why it is such a growing field.
In addition, there is growing evidence to support that endurance athletes will sometimes suffer a post event depression. There is still a lot of speculation as to why, but there is growing evidence that it does occur.
So, while some may be able to suck it up and get through it, it is no embarrassment to need a little help. If wearing a red shirt letting people know that you're less than 100% helps, then it is a good thing. It becomes a tool for returning to full physical and mental health, not a crutch.
If you don't like the idea, or don't think it's for you, that's fine and my feelings won't be hurt, but if it helps even one person, it's worth it to me. I welcome any and all thoughts on the matter.
Wearing red means injured triathlete who is coming back strong as ever...

Training in a Bahamian paradise

After struggling through November with a foot injury the beginning of December was spent rebuilding a base and returning to pre-injury status. By the end of the month I’d pretty returned to normal and I was ready to start getting a little more serious. I was scheduled to chaperone our school’s swim team on a trip to the Bahamas at the end of the month. We’d arrive in Nassau on Monday evening, December 28th and return Sunday afternoon, January 3rd. My only major duties were driving the kids to and from practice and just being a general adult presence the rest of the time. This would provide a great opportunity for me to get some good training in.
We arrived too late to get a workout in on Monday, so I was well rested to start my training on Tuesday morning. A couple of days before we left for the Bahamas I found out one of my twitter friends (@sarahstanley - http://www.runrideinspire.com/) was in the Bahamas and we arranged to meet up that morning for an early run in Paradise.
I met her at her hotel and we went out for a nice 7 mile run. I’d never met her in person and was a little worried that we wouldn’t have much to say to each other. My doubts were quickly laid to rest when I met Sarah. She is very friendly, outgoing and has no problems keeping a conversation going, something I often struggle with. I had a great time running with and wished that I could have run longer or gotten another run in with her, but that was the only run we were able to do. I had to get back to take the kids to practice and she left the next morning.
While the kids were doing their morning swim workout I decided to get my own swim workout in. I’d pretty much decided before the trip that I would do a swim workout in the morning while the kids were swimming and a run workout in the afternoon when they were swimming their second workout. So in the pool I went.
I did 3000 meters while in the pool. My workout consisted of a 200m warm-up, and then intervals. I took a 20second rest between reps and a 30second rest between sets. The workout consisted of: 6x200m, 6x100m, 6x50m, and 8x25m and then a 500m warm down.
After our morning workout we went back to hotel, got a quick breakfast and then hit the beach where everyone did their own thing until time to head to the afternoon practice.
That afternoon, even though I wasn’t going to try running in them until January, I decided to give my VFF’s another try. I put on my Sprints and went out for an easy 2 mile run in them. I was a bit nervous about running in them, but I was feeling good and decided it was worth another try. At the end of 2 miles, I switched into my regular running shoes and went out for another 4 miles. I was trying to do a better job of gradually building the miles in the VFF’s and didn’t want to push any further. My feet and legs felt great, but a little tired and so I called an end to the days run.
I still had some time before the kids finished their workout so I jumped into the pool for another swim. A much shorter workout this time, but got another 1200m in. Started with a 100m warm-up and then 5x200m. Each 200m consisted of 150m at pace, 25m all out sprint and 25m recovery. There was no rest between the 200’s and I finished with a 100m warm-down.
Afterwards we went to dinner which was an adventure on it own and then back to the hotel for a little free time before bed. Most of the dinners we had while we were down there were one adventure after another. I won’t go into detail, but will leave it at not many places are set up to handle big groups and our head swim coach insisted on us sitting together which was a little more than tough for the most of the places we went to handle.
The next morning we got up and headed back to the pool. I got a great 3200m workout and felt fantastic. The swim consisted of a 200m warm-up and then another interval workout. Again I took a 20sec rest between reps and a 30sec rest between sets and 60sec rest after the set of 400’s. The workout was: 2x25m, 2x50m, 2x100m, 2x200m, 2x400m, 2x200m, 2x100m, 2x50m, 2x25m, 2x50m, and 2x100m followed by 200m warm-down. Afterwards we again rushed to breakfast and then hit the beach. It was a tough life, but I wasn’t complaining.
That afternoon I went out for another run. I was a little tight from neglecting to stretch after any of my workouts so far, but otherwise I felt pretty good. There was no soreness in my feet from my VFF run the day before and it was a beautiful day. I really wanted to run in the VFF’s again, but was going to stick to my plan of gradually building into them this time. Besides, this would allow me to put in more miles which meant that I would be able to the road that ran along the water and I’d have a gorgeous backdrop for my run. I managed to get in a nice 9 ¼ mile run along the winding coastal road. The sun was glistening off the water and a cool breeze carried the scent of the sea water and the many flowers blooming along the road. When I got back to the pool I had enough time to get an easy 300m warm-down swim in.
The next day we got up and headed back to the pool. I was still feeling pretty good and upped the distance slightly. The mornings swim would tally up another 3700m. Once again I started with a 200m warm-up and then broke into another set of intervals with the same rest as I’d been doing. The workout consisted of: 8x200m, 8x100m, 8x50m, and 8x25m followed by a 200m warm-down. The kids still had a little left in their workout so I swam an easy 300m to fill the time.
That afternoon it was back out on the roads for another run. I was looking forward to running along the water again. The road was lined with many colorful flowers and had the stunningly blue water in the background. I managed to get in another 8 miles. I would have gotten more, but we were moving to a different part of the island the next morning and would be swimming at a different pool so I decided to take some pictures since it would be my last chance for this part of the island. The run felt great and I managed to get some great pictures.
That evening we again went to dinner as a group, but afterwards, since it was New Years Eve, we went over to Paradise Island and let the kids wander Atlantis and see the fireworks display at midnight. Afterward it was back to the hotel. There was going to be no morning swim, instead we were going to pack up and head to the next hotel.
Early the next morning I got up and wandered over to downtown Nassau to watch some of the tail end of a Junkanoo. Junkanoo is sort of a New Years celebration that starts around 1am and goes until noon. Different groups spend the whole year designing costumes and practicing their dancing for it and then spend the entire night and morning parading around the town competing against each other.
After we got moved over and checked into the new hotel we had free time until the afternoon swim workout. I headed to the beach for an open water swim. I swam out about 150 feet from shore and then turned and swam parallel to it. The water was perfect for a swim, cool enough to keep from over heating, but warm enough to be in for a long swim. The waves were almost non-existent with only a gentle rise and fall in them. I swam for what I guessed to be about ¾ of a mile before turning around and heading back. I confirmed the distance the next day by walking the shore from my start to turn around point and back with my Garmin 305 watch. The distance was about 1.3 miles. What a fantastic way to start the new year!
Shortly after the swim we had to load up the vans and head to the pool for swim practice. While the kids were in the pool I went out for a 8 mile run through the neighborhood. Unfortunately, this was a gated community and I was not able to find many areas where I had a view of the ocean. It was still a beautiful run and the houses were incredible to see. I imagined who some of the celebrities, diplomats, business tycoon, etc might live in each. There were explosions of fiery colors everywhere I went, flowers blossoms lining roads, separating houses, beautifying porches and yards. After the run I found out that one of the houses I had seen belonged to Sean Connery, but I was unsure at that point which it had been.
The next morning my longest swim workout of the week, a solid 4400m. I began with my usual 200m warm-up and then proceeded to do 20x200m with each 200m consisting of (like earlier in the week) 150m at pace, 25m all out, and 25m recovery with no rest during or between the 200s and finished with another 200m warm-down. It had been a good week of swimming but arms were about done, they felt like week old jello that was starting to crack down the middle. But, with only one more short swim left before returning to the frigid NY, I was confident I would be able to finish out the week.
That afternoon I got my final long run in the tropics. I again wandered through the gated community this time for 10 ½ miles. I pretty much covered every street in the neighborhood and got a nice look at Connery residence as I ran by. Just like my arms, my legs were finally feeling the miles, but despite the fatigue they felt great.
I awoke Sunday tired from the week but feeling great. It was slightly depressing knowing that we were leaving the fantastic weather that afternoon and heading back the freezer, but at least we had one more workout before we left. I decided to do both a short swim and run wanting to get one more of each in before we left. The swim was going to be a quick simple 1200m: 200m warm-up, 16x50m with 15seconds rest, and a 200m warm-down.
Once I was done with my swim I again put on my VFF Sprints and headed out on a run. It had been 5 days since my last VFF run, my feet felt great, my legs, though tired, were strong and it seemed like a great way to finish off the week. I started off at an easy 9min pace. My feet were feeling great and I wandered around for 5.25 miles before bring my Bahamian training to an end. Over all I managed to swim over 20,000yds and 54 miles. I did 2 runs in my VFFs and got in plenty of sun and fresh sea air. It was a perfect ending to 2009 and a great beginning to 2010. And, after the week of training I had I was confident that my feet and legs were again ready to try and become a barefoot runner.

Ironman USA, Lake Placid, 2008

I'm working on my write up of the Manchester City Marathon from 1 1/2 weeks ago, but thought I'd share another race story that until now hadn't been shared except with a few friends and family members.

Some of you may have seen the results and a few of you have heard some of the details, but here is the full length account of Ironman Sunday.
We got up 5am Sunday morning had a quick breakfast, grabbed our special needs bags (1 bag for each the bike and run that we can get midway through each leg that we can put whatever we think we may need during the race, usually food, sometimes extra clothes, tubes, etc) and our swim gear, went down to the motel parking lot, got on the shuttle bus and headed for the start line.
As soon as we got off the bus we walked to the area where we dropped off our special needs bags, then headed to the transition area. In transition we pumped up the bike tires to proper levels, slathered on the body glide to help w/ wetsuit removal and prevent chaffing, made a quick visit to the good old porta-pots and then put on the bottom half of the wetsuits. The sun was up and peaking through the partly cloudy sky which made me glad I’d decided to put the polarized lenses on my sunglasses for the bike ride and we walked out of transition and headed to the swim start.
Once we got to the beach we put on the top portion of the wet suit, zipped up and entered the water to await the start. The morning was cool, the sun was shinning and it looked like a great day for the race. Floated around for a while waiting for the actual start w/ the prerace jitters churning up the stomach. Fortunately we didn’t have long to wait before the gun went off and Mirror lake became a churning frenzy of human bodies all scrambling away from the start turning the calm waters to a boiling froth that resembled a B-movie piranha attack and off we went. I started as close to the far shore as I could and away from the roped line where the majority were swimming in an effort to avoid being pummeled to death before I even completed a single lap.
I got off to a good start with minimal bumps, thumps, kicks, punches etc and got a fairly clear area to swim in. I swam strong to the first turn where things got congested a bit going around the two turns (the swim course was a very long narrow rectangle, a little over a ½ mile long and no more than 20yards wide that we swam around with the last corner hitting the beach where we exited the water briefly and ran back to the reentry point) and then I somehow managed to find another clear pocket of water to swim the rest of the way in to the beach in. I got to the beach and exited the water to complete the first of the two swim laps and saw the time on the clock at 46 minutes. I quickly ran to the across the timing mat to the swim reentry point dodging around other racers, the majority of which were walking, as I went.
When I got back to the water I quickly ran in dodging more of the other racers until I found an opening big enough to dive in and start swimming again. I quickly found an open area to swim in right along the underwater cable connecting the swim buoys which made things very easy. Normally in an open water swim you periodically have to look up (sight) to see where you are going since you don’t have the nice line to follow like you do in a pool, but Mirror lake has a cable system set up for a kayak course that the Ironman attaches their buoys to. Everyone likes swimming along the cable because they don’t have to sight during the swim, which is why I started way to the outside to avoid being pummeled by the masses, but for some reason I get lucky and find a gap to safely swim in for the second lap. Shortly into the lap I notice that I’m getting splashed quite heavily which is odd since I don’t detect anyone near me. I swim for maybe 100 yards puzzling this out and trying to figure out if my swim was really my slowest swim ever by 6 minutes for the first lap or whether the clock showed the time for the pro’s which started 10 minutes before the rest of us. After a couple minutes I sighted to see how far I had to the turn and realized I couldn’t see very far. It took a moment to realize that I hadn’t been getting splashed it was now pouring rain. No big deal for the swim, but I quickly dreaded what I might be facing on the bike. The rest of the swim went well and as I exited the water I saw the time on the clock as 1:15 and I received a quick adrenaline boost as I realized the time after the first lap was in fact incorrect and instead of swimming exceptionally slow compared to what I’ve done in the past I had actually set a new swim PR for myself.
Surging out the water with this rush of adrenaline I quickly peeled off the top part of my wetsuit as I ran to the strippers (not the kind I needed a bunch of $1’s for, but volunteers who help the athletes pull off their wetsuits). They rapidly stripped me down and off I went running for transition with a big smile on my face from my PR and splashing through the puddles that were rapidly growing from the rain accumulating on the ground. Volunteers quickly helped me find my swim-to-bike transition bag (transition bags and bikes were put in the transition area the day before) and I dashed into the changing tent. Unfortunately, even though it was my fastest swim ever, I was still clumped in with the majority of the athletes and so the changing tent was very crowded. It took me a while to find a spot with enough room to change, but I finally did and proceeded to change from my swim suit to my bike gear. Volunteers were helping as best they could but even if one were available I still can’t bring myself to let a man help me get undressed and dressed so I struggled through it on my own. I say struggle, because if you’re not familiar with the clothing, spandex and cycling clothes don’t come off or go on very easily when you’re wet. I finally get dressed and then realize that with the pouring rain I need to change the lenses on my sunglasses. I won’t be able to see anything with the polarized lenses so I lose some more time changing them to my yellow lenses. Finally I exit the changing tent and run off to get my bike.
By this time enough rain has fallen and with several hundred athletes already having run in and out of the transition area the ground is a muddy mess. I get to my bike as fast as I can, but shoes are fully mud caked by the time I leave the transition that I lose more time stomping my feet on the ground once I reach pavement in an attempt to dislodge the mud from my cleats so that I can fasten them onto my peddles. As soon as the mud is cleaned away I’m on my bike and headed out on to the road. There are several short, steep down hills and a number of sharp turns so everyone is riding very slowly and cautiously out of town.
Once we are out of the town the road straightens out and I start picking up speed. It’s still pouring rain so I still need to be somewhat cautious but I’m off and rapidly gaining speed. There are several big hills coming out of town that I strongly ride up and slowly move past a number of other riders. I’m getting passed by a few cyclists but passing more than pass me. About 7 miles into the ride there is 6 miles of down hill parts of which are very steep and when dry I’ve reached speeds well over 50 mph on. The majority of the riders are going down them very slowly, but I open things up a bit and ride them between 38-42mph and occasionally get passed by several people even crazier than I that are probably topping 50. Shortly after the downhill we make a turn and I feel a slight pop on the bike and about a mile later I realize something is a bit off w/ my seat. It’s nothing major, but the seat just isn’t quite right.
Anyway, I quickly ride through the first 40 miles of the course averaging over 20mph (official time is slower because it has the time I lost demudding my cleats) and catch my girl friend about 50 miles into the ride. She is having a good ride to this point as well.
At this point everything is going well, I’m sticking to my nutrition schedule, riding comfortably (well, as comfortably as one gets in a pouring rain w/ wet bike shorts and a bike seat shoved up their a$$) and I’m ahead of expected time to this point. Shortly after passing my girl friend I start into the final 5 hills of the lap: little cherry, big cherry, mama bear, baby bear and papa bear. They are not the worst hills on the course, but because it is a tough course and they are at the end, they are tough. I’m quickly over the top of the first 4 and as I’m cresting baby I see papa and I’m quickly puzzled by what I see. The top half of papa bear is covered w/ people and I fear that someone has had an accident and that on a rather steep hill I’m going to be forced to come to a stop to get around them. I charge down baby anyway and start pounding up the base of papa when I realize that the crowd is just fans cheering us on. I reach the first of them a third of the way up the hill and their enthusiasm carries me the rest of the way up. They are loud, they are crazy, they are obnoxious and they are having a blast and give us an incredible boost up the hill. There are people w/ drums, w/ horns, w/ cow bells, and dressed in various costumes. They are running up the hill w/ us, yelling at us, screaming, cheering and just plain going nuts. There are fans all over the course cheering us on, and the volunteers at the aid stations/bottle exchanges are fantastic, but this is insanity at its finest.
I’m quickly over the top of papa and make the turn for the final 2 miles to the special needs station to pick up my nutritional stuff for the second loop. I’m riding faster then expected and my legs are feeling loose, but I’m starting to feel a bit off.
I arrive at special needs, dump my empty bottles, reload the bike and take off. As I take off and start cranking away at the peddles I feel another “pop” and now something is really wrong w/ my seat. I stop and get off the bike grab my bike tool and quickly adjust and tighten the seat and take off again.
As I get back out onto the course for the second time I realize from the way my legs feel that I may have gone too hard on the first lap because they it is starting to become a struggling. I did feel like I was pushing the pace on the first lap, but evidently it was still too much and as each mile progresses I realize I have another problem developing. I’m steadily become sick to my stomach and can no longer eat or drink and even more than a sip of water at one time makes me feel nauseous almost to point of purging my stomach, in addition I’m starting to feel some intestinal cramping which steadily gets worse as the ride progresses. I’m still riding well, but slowly losing some speed and some of the places I picked up on the first lap. I’m still passing people on the hills (up and down) but overall losing ground. About mid-way through the lap I give up and discard all my nutritional supplies since I can’t stomach them there isn’t any reason to carry the extra weight. I’m not sure if my breakfast or my nutritional stuff from the first lap is causing the problems, but intestinal cramps are getting steadily worse. I just hope that I’ve taken in enough calories and fluids to get me through.
With about 25 miles left on the bike I feel another “pop” and just miss wiping out as I suddenly slide off the back of my bike seat and just barely manage to keep from landing on my rear wheel. The front of the seat is now pointing almost straight up and even though I managed to stay on the bike I have to pull over again. I quickly readjust the seat and tighten it so hard I’m afraid I’m going to either break the tool or the seat post. I get back on and take off again. The seat is still not right, but not bad enough that I’m willing to stop and try and make another adjustment. At this point I’m steadily getting more and more discouraged. I don’t think the stomach and intestinal issues, as uncomfortable as they are, are slowing me down, but the drop in pace, the weather and problems w/ the seat are starting to get to me.
Finally I reach the base of little cherry and I start digging in for the final stretch in an attempt to save as much time as possible. I charge over the first four hills and as I top baby bear again the sight of the crowd that is still cheering everyone on despite the weather on papa gives me a surge of adrenaline and I charge down baby and up and over papa and carry my momentum the last couple miles back to the transition area.
I quickly jump off my bike and pass it on to a volunteer who puts it away for me, grab my transition bag that another volunteer hands me and head to the changing tent again. It is still chaos in the tent, but things have thinned a bit and I’m able to find an area a little quicker to change. As I start changing the intestinal cramps worsen and I realize I’ve got another issue to deal w/. So I finish changing as quickly as I can but unfortunately in my rush I forget to change my shorts and have to take my shoes and socks (for some reason I’m trying to keep them dry) and change shorts and then put my shoes and socks back on. A volunteer comes over and takes my bike stuff and puts it in the transition bag for me and I run out of the tent and ask directions to the nearest porta-pot only to find out I have a choice of fighting my way back through the changing tent or waiting until I’m 1 ½ miles into the run. Another cramp makes the decision for me and back through the tent I go.
Business taken care of I plunge back into the tent, charge out of it and out onto the run course. First mile goes by at a quick 7:30 pace which I hold until mile 4, with about a 10 yard walk at each aid station to try and force in a little water. Shortly after the mile mark I’m sent scurrying for another porta-pot and my 7:30 average now becomes an 8. Fortunately my stomach starts settling and I’m starting to get more and more fluid at each aid station. Still walking about 10 yards at each one so that I can drink as more than I’d be typically able to do if I ran through them and I am now able to start eating some gel (a carbohydrate packet). Still maintaining even with the short walks about an 8-8:15 pace. There are two big hills on the run at towards the end of each lap and I fight my way up each of them passing people as I go, many of whom are walking them. Finally I reach the special needs area for the run and I grab a few more gel packs from my bag and keep going. They have gels and other food on the course, but I prefer my gel packs which have carbs, protein and caffeine and theirs are just carbs.
Shortly after starting the second loop I suffer a now all too familiar sensation and start my search for my smelly, plastic buddy. Pass several occupied and/or unusable ones before finally finding one. Other than the pit stops and the realization that I have huge blisters on both arches the run is going well. My pace has slowed some, but I’m still running under 9 minute miles even though my elapsed time shows differently. About 17 miles through the run I have to stop briefly and stretch the ham strings, start running again, only to give it up and walk the next 100 yards where I stop and stretch the hamstrings again and give the quads a quick stretch and then set off at a run again. A mile later I’m on another search and make one last quick visit to the plastic pit.
As I take off again I find I’m still running at a sub 9 pace and as I hit the first of the two hills in the closing miles I run strongly up it and start pushing the pace. I walk only a couple yards at the next couple aid stations and finally reach the last climb and charge up it. This hill, like papa bear, has been lined with cheering and enthusiastic fans all day and they give me another adrenaline boost that pulls me up the hill and around the corner where I can now hear the fans at the finish line, which even though it is a short distance away, is still almost 3 miles off for me. At this point the distance becomes unimportant as even more adrenalin is released by the roar of the crowds and the realization that I’m almost there. I steadily keep picking up the pace and don’t even pause at the next two aid stations. The run from the mile 24 to 25 mile marker only takes me 8:05 to run and I keep picking up the pace. I start to feel a familiar twinge and ignore. The fans along to road are going nuts for everyone that goes by, I start slapping every hand that is stuck out for me, my smile keeps getting bigger and bigger and before I know it I’m entering the Olympic speed skating oval and have less than 100 meters to go. As I come around the final turn, I see that I’m coming in just over 12 hours. I know the crowd is going nuts and the announcer is saying “Douglas Sawyer you are an Ironman!” but I don’t hear a thing. The adrenaline, the emotions, the pain, the fatigue and everything else just overwhelms my senses and all I notice is the finish line and the young ladies scrambling to put up the finish tape for me to run through and then I’m across the line and into the arms of a volunteer who helps me through the finish area where other volunteers quickly put my finishers medal on me, then my finishers hat, give me my finishers t-shirt and take my timing chip off for me and then w/ a final check to make sure I’m ok points me off in the direction of the food tent which I temporarily bypass for a less pleasant but often frequented destination.

Oh, and one last thing, it was still raining!
And that’s the rest of the story…
Thanks for all the well wishes and congratulations!
As for post race, I stuck around in the rain waiting for my girl friend to finish. She had a strong race despite not being able to do much training for the run until June due to some knee problems. We collected our bikes, clothing, etc and walked then (uphill of course) back to the motel, quickly changed and went back to cheer on a friend and to cheer the last finishers in as the race closed at midnight. The fans and volunteers were fantastic and despite the weather were still going crazy at midnight as we cheered to last couple finishers in.
The next day we got up a little stiff, had breakfast and went back to the transition area to look at the finisher merchandise and then drove home. Shortly after getting home I went to watch my softball team’s game and due to short numbers ended up playing and of course the game went into extra innings before we finally lost. I pitched for our team and on offense I struck out once, walked twice, scoring both times and had two deep fly outs that forced me to run to first and round for second before they were caught. So all things considered, I’m doing pretty well.

Ironman Louisville, KY 2007

This is my write up after finishing my first Ironman (Louisville, KY 2007). Emailed it to friends and family, but thought would share here:

I know this is very late in coming, but better late than never. Some of you may already know the results but I don’t think any of you have heard the full story, so here it is…
Race morning Jennifer (my girlfriend who was running in her 8th ironman and 2nd for the summer) and I got up, had breakfast, got dressed and headed off to the start line. They had changed our swim course a couple days before the race due to heavy rains upriver from Louisville. The river had a fast and strong current and instead of a 1.2 mile out and back course they decided to have us start in a narrow waterway between a small island and shore. We were going to swim ¾ of a mile upriver and then around the island and then swim 1.7 downriver. Normally everyone would start at once, but since where we were starting was too small for this they had us start one at a time w/ someone jumping in every second in the order that we got there. I dove in right behind Jennifer and Brian C. (who was doing his 11th and 2nd for the summer) forgetting that the force of the dive and a head on current might be too much for my goggles. Sure enough, as soon as I hit the water the goggle over my right eye peeled back and filled w/ water. I tried to stop to empty it but within seconds I’d drifted yards past the start and I would have probably been several hundred yards beyond the start line before I could have gotten the goggle empty and repositioned, so I closed my eye to keep the water out, which I’d end up doing for the whole distance, and started to swim.
Even though we were only swimming a short distance against the current it was a long tough battle. The day before on a practice swim I’d swam for 15 minutes against the current and it only took about 1 minute to get back to where I started. On top of this, the water was 86 degrees. Brian and Jennifer were long gone by the time I gave up on my goggles and started swimming. I was continually running into people, being run over, elbowed, passing people, being passed and at one point deliberately shoved under water (I didn’t connect the resulting punch as soundly as I’d hoped, but I hope it was enough that he had some thigh cramping later in the race) and along the way accidentally drank about ½ the river. The river water and my stomach didn’t exactly get along and I ended up throwing up during the swim before we got to the end of the island and almost did it again several more times before the finish. After what seemed an eternity I finally reached the “end” of the island and turned toward the finish for the swim. Other than almost vomiting several more times the swim was pretty uneventful the rest of the way. 1:25 after starting the swim I finally climbed out of the water and started the long .3 mile run to my bike and gear.
I got my bike gear bag and started to change. I had some food packed but my stomach would have nothing to do w/ it so I settled for forcing down a carbohydrate drink and while clumsily trying to change clothes and pack my swim gear into the bike gear bag, took a brief rest to cool down (the water temperature was so great that I was actually over heated during the swim), hit the porto-potty and then ran the .2 miles out of transition, hopped on my bike and took off.
The air temp was already in the high 80’s by this point and of course even greater on the road. I drank a 24oz Gatorade during ~ every 12 miles of the ride and poured a bottle of cold water on me to try and cool off. About 17 miles into the ride I turned to ride down a short out and back on the course and passed Brian going the other way and figured out he was 6 miles ahead of me (he and Jennifer finished the swim 20 minutes ahead of me) and a few miles later I saw Jennifer who was 3 miles ahead of me. I tried eating some of my food after about 20 miles and gave up because my stomach was still sick and would have nothing to do w/ it. It was hard enough keeping fluids down. Around 37 miles I passed Jennifer and a few miles later got lapped by the first of the pro’s (there was a 40 mile loop that we did twice and the pro’s started about 25 minutes ahead of me). Around the 50 mile mark I tried eating again and gave up and pitched all of my food (or at least thought I did because 2 days later when doing laundry I found that most of it was still in my jersey pockets) because I saw no reason to carry it if I couldn’t eat it. About the ½ way point of the bike they had an area where we could pick up bags that we’d dropped off w/ food and other stuff we thought we might need and I grabbed another of my carb drinks from it and left the food behind. By this time it was getting very hot on the course I was fighting to keep from massively overheating. The air temp was in the 90’s and the heat radiating off of the road had to have taken the temp to the low 100’s. I just kept exchanging bottles (one in me and one on me), popping electrolyte tablets (I was taking them every 20 minutes during the ride) and tried to maintain a steady pace through the rest of the ride. At some point I found a couple gel packs (little pouches of carbohydrate gel) and forced them on my stomach as well as some shot blocks that I had in my bento box. About a mile from the end of the bike ride I caught Brian. Normally there is no way I could have closed a 6 mile gap on him (600 yards would be tough), but he’d decided to take it easy the last part of the ride to save a little more energy for the run which is his weakest part and where he often struggles. When I hit the end of the ride I got off my bike and ran it the .2 miles back into transition and grabbed the bag w/ my run gear.

I struggled out of my bike clothes and into my running gear and clumsily stuffed bike stuff into the transition bag. Brian joined me shortly after I got into the tent and we chatted for a while. I was still very hot (by this point the air temp had reached 98deg) and hoping a couple extra minutes would help cool me down. Finally ran out of tent, hit porta potty again, and took off on the run with my carb drink. The early part of the run was rather uneventful. I only got about ½ of my carb drink in me before tossing it. The upset stomach combined with bouncing from the run proved too much for it. Every mile I came to an aid station and drank some water or Gatorade and splashed some water on myself, every 3 miles I popped an electrolyte tablet and every 4 miles I forced in a gel pack. I ran the first half of the marathon at a fairly strong steady pace. The heat was tough, but I thought I was keeping the pace down enough to handle it. About 4 miles into the run I saw a pro on the way in who was walking which unfortunately bolstered my self confidence. On my way in from the 1st of 2 laps I saw both Brian and Jennifer and cheered them on and received cheers back. I ran through the turn around for the second lap and all of the cheering from the crowd must have given me a shot of adrenaline because I picked up the pace for a couple of miles. It was during this stretch that I started feeling a chill off and on and part of me thought that it seemed weird because I thought I should be sweating more than I was. I was puzzled by this but kept running and a few miles later I saw Brian and Jennifer again going the other way. The chills slowly got worse and I started feeling a little lightheaded which didn’t make sense to me because I’d been drinking plenty and getting my electrolytes as well as some gel packs. I don’t know why, but about a ¼ mile before the 18th aid station I started walking. When I got to the aid station I started drinking everything I could get my hands on and shoving any and all food into my mouth and soaking myself with cold sponges. The food was hard to keep down but I did it somehow. I kept walking the next mile to the next aid station where I did the same thing. About ¼ mile after that aid station I started jogging slowly and stopped about 200 yds short of the next aid station. I walked to and through that aid station, primarily getting a drink and another cold sponge, hit the porta potty and within 100ft started running again at a little faster pace. The next 2 I stopped only at the aid station and walked just long enough to get a drink, grab a sponge and took off, each time at a faster pace. The next aid station I ran through grabbing a drink and sponge on the way and I totally skipped the last one because I had recovered enough that I had a fast pace going and wanted to hold it through to the finish.
Looking back I know that I suffered greatly from the heat and my problems started during the swim. I didn’t realize it until well after the race (a day or two later) how bad I really was between the clumsiness, confusion, stomach problems (some was from river water, but I don’t think all of it was), chills, etc. I probably bordered on heat exhaustion all day and actually crossed into it during the run. Fortunately I stopped running in time, which was not done as a conscious effort on my part, and cooled off enough to avoid serious problems. The one good thing was that I maintained a high level of hydration and kept my electrolytes up, if I hadn’t, I might not only have not finished, but would probably have ended up in the ER. Unfortunately, that may have also been part of the problem for me recognizing what was going on. I was confused enough, but there were no cramping issues to help warn me.
But, I survived with no long lasting ill effects and finished in a strong time, 11:40:58, which I am still totally stoked about.

Thinking back, the important lesson to me is that no matter how knowledgeable you are about heat illness and careful you are, you can still be in danger of sucombing to them. I'm an athletic trainer and work with athletes in very hot, humid conditions, I teach first aid and CPR to my coaches and really emphasize being aware of the signs and symptoms. Despite this, I was almost overcome by the heat, myself. Upon further reflection I'm confident that I was suffering from heat exhaustion and bordering on heat stroke. Learn the signs and symptoms, prepare for the heat, and race smart.