SalsMiles2

1. Be flexible. The swim course was changed (for the better) three days before the race. Also, instead of a mass start the athletes went in the water every second. 2. Spend time in training practicing transitions. You can lose a lot of time there. Even if your goal is just to finish under the time limit (an admirable goal for the Ironman), it's better to have the time to spend on the course, not in transition. 3. Bike, bike and bike some more. Bike hilly courses or do repeats up and down hills. The average Ironperson is going to be on the bike for 5-8 hours. Be ready for this. If you can improve your bike speed by just .5 mph it saves you an incredible amount of time. Averaging 16mph vs. 15.5 will save about 15 minutes on the course. This could become invaluable if it's a hot day or you need extra time for the marathon. 4. How much you spend on your bike isn't the determining factor. I saw many, many people on $3-5,000 bikes get passed by athletes on much less expensive bik...

The support crew of a triathlete must also plan out their day and supplies. The athlete isn't the only one going through a grueling 12-17 hour race, plus the pre and post race times. 1. Use the event web site to learn the course, especially the start, transition, and finish. 2. Have detailed maps of the city and areas the course will take place in. 3. If driving to segments of the race, have the car filled with gas the day before the race. 4. Use a backpack or similar comfortable device to carry drinks, snacks, the camera, binoculars, sunscreen, warm or cool weather clothing. 5. Consider carrying a folding chair, standing for hours is tiring and street curbs aren't very comfortable. 6. Know approximately when your athlete is expected at viewing points on the course. Then you can plan a breakfast/lunch/dinner break and hopefully not miss them go by. 7. Make signs, have a noise maker or two (your voice will wear out over hours of cheering). 8. Have a plan to motivate your athlete...

More than 2,000 athletes registered for the Louisville Ironman , at $450 per person, plus a $25 fee if you registered through Active.com . 1,559 finished the swim, bike and run. 145 athletes were DNF, just under 10%. If anyone reading this is interested in entering, as of August 29, 2007, race registration for 2008 is still open.

How goofy is running a marathon, 26.2 miles, after a ridiculous bike and swim? Jan yelled to Amanda and I as she was going into transition that she was suffering from nausea. She looked really pale. We became worried that the run wasn't going to happen. Her bike time was slower than Jan or I expected. The temperature was at least 90, dew point 65. Not ideal for running any distance. Jan was in transition for over 20 minutes before starting the run, getting fluids, hoping they would stay down, and pulling herself together for what we thought would be the best stage of her race. The Ironman web site updated her splits every 4 miles, which was nice for keeping track of where she was. We saw her at the start, around 2 miles, at 14.5 miles, and then.... Jan's time between 12-16 was her fastest of the day. We thought she would finish before the time cutoff. About 30 minutes later, just as we were discussing how to split up and cheer her into the finish we got the call. Jan had sat do...

Just as Jan left on her bike ride of a mere 112 miles through the rolling hills of Kentucky, the cloud cover disappeared and a bright, sunny day came forth. The four of us climbed into the car with Lady, a beautiful, peaceful, huge dog and headed for the town of La Grange. This town embraced the athletes and spectators. Thousands joined us on the streets and in the restaurants. It was great. We sat for hours as the bikers came through La Grange twice. We had a great lunch between Jan's loop of 30 miles. This is Jan on her first loop, looking very happy. Above is the second loop, still smiling, but her pace had slowed quite a bit and we hoped her ride back to transition, over the final fairly flat 10 miles, would help her out. We headed back to transition and waited for Jan's arrival.

The alarm sounded at 4:20a.m. The old people stir. I mean Jan and I wake up. Coffee, god where is the damn coffee! I look out the window and by 4:45 people are already walking to transition for body marking and dropping off bags. We leave around 5am. How many triathletes can fit in an elevator? This should be on a math test; "If you have an 8x8 elevator, that can hold 2,000 pounds, and it is race morning, each athlete weighs an average of 160 pounds, but, it is race morning, the hell with the 2,000 pounds, how many can squeeze in?" Answer - Get me out of here, I don't like elevators, especially a crowded one that smells like ointment! Jan checks her bike in transition and meets other tri people. I wait patiently for her to come out, since the swim start is 3/4 mile away and it is first there, first in the water, not a mass start since they changed the course. Well, maybe I wasn't too patient. Finally we start the long walk. The girls join us. Jan gets in line, a long ...

Jan went for a practice swim at 8:30am in the Ohio River. That helped calm her nerves a bit. She also heard voices during the swim, "just breathe, calm down, you can do this". Yup, Eileen was channeling thoughts to Jan's brain. Strange how women can do that. My favorite part of the day, a great buffet at the hotel! Hey, I wasn't racing, I could eat anything and as much as I wanted! This was great. I heard a voice, "eat this, try that, eat more, c'mon if you eat it, I will". Yup, Mike W. was channeling his voice into my head. Good thing I wasn't wearing a belt. What the hell is Mike's voice in my head for? Amanda and I went for a run, to the start of the swim and back. It was her lucky day, as she got a great laugh seeing her her father search desperately for a port-a-john. There were plenty available at the transition area, except all locked! Who would do such a thing? Finally found one that was open. Who's idea was it to eat a buffet before ...

We made great time driving from Ohio to Louisville, found the Galt House hotel and checked in by 1pm. Our room was actually ready, which was a big bonus. Jan immediately got in line for pre-race check in, which the volunteer said would take no more than 10 minutes. Sure. Well, he was right. They had a room of 20 or so volunteers at tables, the athlete got called over and sat down. The volunteer spent about 5 minutes going over everything. Then Jan verified her chip, got weighed at the medical station, and picked up a goody bag. In and out. This was great! We took everything to the room, 11th floor with a view of the river. Much nicer than the Motel 6 the night before (which actually was ok, just small and pillows the thickness of a pancake, but clean and not noisy). We found our way to the expo, which wasn't great, but being the first year at Louisville I don't think the local businesses understood the money they are missing out of. Andrea and Renee arrived and took Amanda to t...

We leave around 5 today for Louisville. First picking up our daughter from the Buffalo airport, then driving a few hours for the night. We hope to be at the Galt House hotel, in Louisville by 2pm on Friday. According to Weather Underground Sunday, race day, will be a high of 86, with the dew point 66. The wind will only be 2-6mph and a mix of sun and clouds. So hopefully the bike won't be too bad. Jan and I had several long bike rides in 80-90 degree temperatures. There is wireless internet access at the Waterfront Park, site of the transition areas. This means I should be able to send regular updates as Jan finishes each leg.

This announcement just came across the Ironman web site this morning, "Due to significant rainfall upriver, resulting in an unseasonable increase in the Ohio River's current, Ironman has implemented its alternative swim course design. Therefore, to create the most equitable course for athletes of all abilities, the new design will include a swim in the protected waters adjacent to Towhead Island before athletes enter the river's main channel and swim downstream toward the finish at the Great Lawn." "Details relating to the new Ford Ironman Louisville swim course are as follows: On race morning, athletes will walk 3/4 mile from Waterfront Park to the swim start, located at the Brown Forman Amphitheater, just east of Tumbleweed Southwest Grill. Athletes will self-seed themselves at the start based on their projected swim time. A mass swim start will begin at 6:50 a.m. for nearly 40 professional athletes, and a time trial start will follow at 7 a.m. for age group at...

What better way to spend our wedding anniversary with my child bride than to be in Louisville watching her prep for IM? Yes, Saturday will be 29 years of wedded bliss! According to the guides I'm supposed to buy her furniture as a gift. How weird. Besides, she spends most of her time sitting on her bike, doesn't that count as furniture? I'm thinking chocolate might be a better gift, but Jan can't eat it until after the race.

Thanks to the AthenaDiaries blog , the bike course doesn't look quite as intimidating as the IM website would like you to believe. This is her quote on the course...."As you can see, the profile is similar to others in intent: Scaring the hell out of each and every one of the participants. This is done quite handily by making the vertical axis to represent vertical feet, while the horizontal axis represent horizontal miles. Now, 1 mile has 5280 feet in it. The net result is that you appear to be climbing vertical cliffs. So in order to make the graph correct, you'd have to have the same amount of space for 1000 feet allotted both on the vertical and horizontal axis. Which would make the graph about 10 feet long ...It looks like the first 40 miles or so is a low-grade climb up out of the river valley, with a few rollers, and then it's about 50 miles of more-or-less flat rollers, and then about 20 miles of slow descent into the valley again..." Riding 112 miles is t...

Friends have helped me convince Jan that she doesn't have to train two or three times a day now, or at least back way down if she does go out twice. Saturday morning Jan and Eileen ran eight miles and swam for an hour at the pool (guess who did the grocery shopping while someone was swimming?). Sunday Jan biked 20 miles and ran 5. She seemed really excited about her new "fit" on the bike, especially the aero bars. She had so much energy yesterday that she mopped the floors, cleaned the bathrooms, did laundry and cooked dinner! Wow. Saturday night we had a great dinner with Lou, Joanne, Mike and Eileen. Those four have supported Jan (and me) throughout the last several months of training. The dinner was the last time all of us would be together until after Ironman and was a nice sendoff. This morning Jan ran another five miles before work. It will be her only workout of the day.

On Friday Jan picked up her bike from Full Moon Vista bike shop on St. Paul street in Rochester. They did a tuneup, replaced her handlebar stem, which had evidently rusted from sweat (ewwwwy), and manager Scott Page did a professional fit for Jan. Her seat and aero bars were adjusted and he took her out for a ride to make sure it felt "right". Jan also bought a new helmet, lightweight and lots of ventilation. We don't need her overheating during the bike segment. Afterwords, Jan, Dick, Eileen and Sue rode the 20+ mile bike course portion of the FingerLakes Triathlon . They made it back to Kershaw Park with lightning flashing around them. Of course this meant a planned lake swim was out. Meanwhile Lou, Mike and I were driving down to meet our wives and friends and swim. Unfortunately the same storm , the one the weather people said would be a "spotty" shower, continued for over two hours. Our 50 minute drive became 90. It was ridiculous. After finally ...

Is it too early yet to make guesses on how long it will take Jan to finish? Nah. Let's see, a half-ironman completed in June at Tupper Lake in the Adirondacks in 6:50. The experts would say double the time and add an hour or so. Seems plausible. However, Jan wasn't feeling well for about a week before that race and finished about 30 minutes or so slower than we felt she was capable of. Also, she has about 9 more weeks of training, including a couple of century bike rides, and others in the 60-80 mile range. She has now completed three runs of three hours or more. Her 5k times have dropped at each race, even if she bikes to the race and swims the night before. Jan's swimming technique has improved tremendously in the past few months. She is steady, rythmic and growing more confident in the water. She has several open water swims in at Kershaw park at Canandaigua Lake, including up to 3 miles. The Ohio river should have a slight current helping to push her back the last half....

On Louisville Ironman race day (August 26) there will be live athlete tracking. Use this link. You should try this link before Sunday to make sure it works. Also, there is a test video to try so you know if your computer is ready. So, DAD, if you are reading this, try it, and anyone else who wants to see Jan's progress throughout the day. Andrea and Renee have a laptop that we can use and hopefully find some free internet access during the race to send email and blog updates. Andrea also has internet and photo capabilities on her cell phone, so again, more updates are possible.

Based on "One fish, two fish". One bag, two bags, red bag, blue bag. Green bag, bike bag, run bag, new bag. This one has a little food. This one has a pair of shoes. Say! What a lot of bags there are. Yes, some are red. And some are blue. Some are old. And some are new. Some are sad. And some are glad. And some are very, very bad. Why are they sad and glad and bad? I do not know. Go ask your dad. Some are thin. And some are fat. The fat one has a bicycle hat. From Louisville to the River, from Louisville to La Grange, funny things are everywhere. Here are some who like to run. They run for fun in the hot, hot Louisville sun. Oh me! Oh my! What a lot of funny things go by. Some have two feet, and run so fast. Some are young, some are old, but they keep running oh so slow. Where do they come from? I can't say. But they have run a long, long, way. We see them come. We see them go. Not one of them is like another. Don't ask us why. Go ask your mother. We like Jan's bi...

Once you receive your wristband at check-in, DO NOT TAKE IT OFF! Wristbands must be worn for four days. The wristband allows you into the transition area, banquets, award ceremony, and you can't remove your gear after the race without the wristband attached to the wrist! Another good reason just to be a runner. We get a number, sometimes we get a timing chip, then we merrily go on our way. We don't need to arrive early for body markings, wear a band for 4 days, wear a number, have a number on a bike, attach a chip for timing, my head spins just thinking about it.

No, I didn't forget to thank Augie, I just felt he deserved his own post. It's easy to buy books on training for a triathlon, you can go on the internet and find plans, you can even pay for a professional coach who will send a plan and if you pay enough, give e-mail advice. Well, Augie hasn't written a book yet, but Jan did receive training plans and there have been many e-mail messages going back and forth (Augie now resides in Orlando) for several months. He has been with us in spirit, if not in person. Augie has completed at least two Ironmans, including Hawaii, and trained with us in Spencerport for many years before moving to Orlando. I have also written to Augie for advice. It's not always easy being the spouse of an Ironman in training. This is made even more difficult when I believe I know a thing or two about training and worry if Jan is doing enough or too much. So, there have been a few times I have e-mailed Augie and received immediate responses. Simila...

Many people have helped Jan to get prepared for the Louisville Ironman . The support provided doesn't always have to be training with her. Hopefully I won't leave out anyone that we need to thank, and of course, first names only, you'll know who you are. Andrea, Amanda, Stacy, our three daughters and special family member Renee, who listen to Jan talk about her training through many phone conversations. We will be fortunate to have Andrea, Amanda and Renee at Louisville. Other family members, including in-laws and her sisters, father and brothers. Friends and training partners, Eileen, Mike, Lou, with special support from Joanne. All of Sal's running group buddies, who if not running with Jan definitely aided in providing emotional support. Dick, who rode and swam with us. Frank who rode with us, provided bike advice and listened to me complain about whether she was training enough (yes, I'm an idiot sometimes). Larry, an Ironman himself, and Marilynn providing trai...

On a warm Sunday Jan and I had the privilege of being led out from Webster (where life is worth living) to the Pultneyville Pickle Co. by Frank and Lisa. It was a great bike ride on smooth roads and little traffic. After some tasty fresh baked, still hot, muffins, Lisa took off back to Webster, while Jan, Frank and I toured the area before heading west again on Lake rd. to Webster Park. Riding with Frank is awesome, he climbs hills like Lance Armstrong and can accelerate from our pokey pace to incredible sprint speeds in a second. Frank led the entire way, while we stayed glued (or at least tried) to his rear wheel. There are some beautiful homes and gorgeous scenery along this route. After riding through the village of Webster we headed south towards Penfield and the Casa Larga winery, before going back north to Webster. We ended the day with 62 miles at a good pace for Jan and I and an easy aerobic ride for Frank.

Friday night was another 3 loop swim at Kershaw Park in Canandaigua. Sue swam 2 loops with Jan. Everyone there seems to have an opinion on the actual distance of a loop, but safe to say it's at least .9 miles per loop. I spent the time watching and reading. It's funny how many people get all dressed in their wet suits and stand around, never swimming. They must just like how the rubber feels? On Saturday Lou and Jan biked to Bergen for the Jenny Kuzma 5k, about 13 miles. Jan ran a 25:40, less than an 8:20 pace and about 30-40 seconds faster than a week before at St. Pius. With 15 days before Ironman that was her workout for the day.

Rule 3 of the twenty-four page Ironman booklet we just printed out states, "a 3rd violation results in disqualification (DQ)." Rule 3 is the Littering Violation. Wow! Now, I can imagine if 2,000 bikers dropped Gu packets on the streets wherever they wanted, it could make a mess. I guess in an extreme case someone's bike tire could lose traction? But a DQ seems a bit extreme. What if you aren't near a drop zone, you stuff the packages or banana peels or whatever in your race jersey? Here's another one - NO OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE! So, I can't hand Jan, at anytime in the hours she will be racing, anything. No food, no extra drinks, nothing or she is automatically DQ. If I run next to her, for any length of time, DQ. "Keep 4 bike lengths (7 meters), between your bike's front wheel and the rear wheel of cyclist in front of you. I guess I'll have to give Jan a ruler to ride with. Maybe we can connect one to the front of her bike. 2,000 people biking, seems ...

This Ironman stuff is getting more complicated. I was forced to put everything in a binder, organized by subject, of course (what else can a librarian do, it's in my blood). We have maps to Louisville and home, maps of the city and maps of the courses. That's ridiculous itself, maps of courses! Runners only need one map. Another reason not to do an Ironman. I'd get lost out there. Another section is for the rules. We have a 24 page rule booklet printed out. I'll get into details of that another day. There are also sections for restaurants and the schedule of events. I'm sure we will be adding more. Heaven help us if we lose the binder!

Jan followed up her Friday night 9 mile bike ride to the 5k race with a 3 hour 20 minute run Saturday morning and a 1 hour plus pool swim in the afternoon. On Sunday we drove to Canandaigua and swam at Kershaw Park. The water was a nice temperature, 78 degrees, (see Augie - Florida isn't the only warm water place) though there was a little current that made swimming a bit more challenging. Jan swam almost 2 miles. We then hopped on our bikes and rode the Finger Lakes Triathlon bike course. The wind was difficult for the first 9 miles and the seemingly all uphill didn't help either. We also forgot to eat lunch and were mutually suffering. The rest of the course was pretty nice, a few small rollers until a killer, long uphill when leaving Rushville. The strawberry milkshakes afterwords helped make the trip worthwhile.

Last night was the St. Pius 5k race in Chili. At the 7pm race start time it was still 84 degrees and the dew point made it sticky hot. Jan and Eileen biked 8.5 miles to the race, then they both ended up placing 2nd in their age groups. Today Jan ran for 3 hours and 20 minutes, her last long run before Ironman Louisville, just 22 days away. She is swimming at the Bport pool this afternoon, for an hour or so.

Regarding a comment made about PID, yes, I think this is definitely possibility. After months of thinking about and training for this race, a let down seems plausible. Where do you go after finishing an Ironman? What would be another goal? Personally, I have felt that way after a few of my marathons, and it seems like PID could be at an even higher level.

A safety tip from numbskull Mike. When leaving the canal path on your bike, make sure you are clear of the 4x4 inch 4 foot tall metal posts guarding the paths! It is amazing how quickly your bike can come to a stop if you misjudge the distance and smack one. It is also good to wear a helmet and gloves, even while riding on the canal path. My hands were saved from road rash because of the bike gloves after skidding across the pavement at the end of the path. Jan swam 70 minutes Wednesday night.

Yesterday Jan biked for an hour before work. This morning she ran seven miles and tonight we will be going to the Bport State pool to swim for 80-90 minutes. Jeepers, a giant mutant fly just landed on my desk in the library and was rubbing its' front legs together like utensils and getting ready to chow on my arm! Oh crap, it's gone. It was huuugggee. Really. It better not land on my head, I really hate when flies do that. Anyhow, with 25 days to go until the race, Jan has a few key workouts she can get in, then it's easing back and relaxing until Louisville. Meanwhile I'm going off to find my killer fly, it's me or him! Aaarrggh.