Race Ready

 Starting to feel race ready...bike is back from the shop after getting a tune up, shifter cables replaced and race wheels installed!  In addition, started to lay out and stage my race day gear and nutrition.  Massage and chiro visits this week have me feeling healthy.  Solid 8 mile run this morning bears this out as well.  As I ran, it occurred to me that my body is peaking perfectly going into race week.  Lot's to report on the KCF front but pressed for time right now! 
One last tidbit...my brother in law Jeff, e-mailed me with well wishes this week.  His final comment was "now run like the wind to the glory of God!"  It really hit home and will become a primary mantra for race day.  I used it on the run today and found the cadence to be easy to say!  More on this later.    

Final Stretch

• Great weekend of training…13 mile run @ 8:26 pace on Saturday followed by a 60 mile bike ride @ 18.7 mph average and 7 mile @ 8:35 run on Sunday!
• This ends my last build/sharpen block…as of yesterday I’m officially tapering (reducing volume and intensity leading up to race day)
• I’m feeling 98% healthy, very prepared & organized and ready for the race, now, just 12 days off. 
• Our family went to the MN State Fair yesterday for the presentation of my son's mallard raising project! Well done Will, proud of you! 

• I was just notified that my good friends Ray and Karen just made a difference in a KCF child’s life with their online donation.  Ray and Karen do amazing work in the lives of kids through their Kicking Bear One-On-One mentorship ministry. http://www.kickingbear.org/ 
• KCF proceeds now exceed our goal by $497.  This means that we have raised enough to sponsor 13 KCF kids for a year
• Congratulations to my friend Greg who successfully finished Ironman Louisville on Sunday in 91 degree heat…unreal!
• Emotionally charged as of late…a bit overwhelmed and life seems to be moving very fast.

Funny coincidence

This actually happened to me last week!

Tidbits

• Ironman Wisconsin issued participant race numbers – I’m #2589
• I rented a GPS tracking device for race day…Later I’ll provide the link which you’ll be able to log-on to and see my course position on race day    
• All in all, I feel decent after the weekend
• Saturday’s 20 miler was solid, if I do say so myself. Kinda tried to simulate IM pace…averaged 8:51
• Sunday’s 3.5 hour bike ride was good.  Did not get to the 7 mile brick run…a bit pressed for time and it “didn’t feel right” from the get-go.  I walked a mile and called it a day 
• Good open water swim yesterday – My son Will has been my Monday evening boat driver all summer.  For safety he drives the boat next to me while I swim – great help 
• I felt like testing my run a bit this morning after a 45 minute spin bike…7:51 average 4 mile
• Tomorrow, (Wednesday’s) is my favorite day of the workout week!  I love the early morning Lake Minnewashta OW swim, it’s always fun to ride with the Gear West A group, and have followed the ride with a 4-6 mile brick afterward

Lake Waconia Crossing

Killer swim last night! 17 of us swam across Lake Waconia, approximately 2.5 miles.  We enjoyed the escort of 11 Kayaks a pontoon and two ski boats!  My stroke was strong the entire way which helped me to feel confident.  About 2/3’s of the way across we swam over a shallow weed-covered reef!  It freaked me out a bit as the weeds came nearly to the surface and lasted some 100 yards, twice.  
A brutal training weekend lies before me.  You’ll recall last weekend I ran 14 and biked 100.  This weekend I run 20 on Saturday.  On Sunday I bike 60 followed by a 7 mile brick run!

Ironman Wisconsin…23 days and counting

In an earlier post I celebrated that we have reached our financial goal!  As suspected sponsorship continues to come in increasing our support for the Kenya Children’s Fund. 

My friend Greg from the Wednesday night Gear West ride sponsored through the KCF website.  Greg runs Ironman Louisville on August 25^th – he’s a great athlete ready to compete – good luck Greg!  Good friends Jeff and Rebeca sent in their KCF donation this week as well.  A couple of years ago Jeff supported his mother’s battle with cancer by creating a benefit and successfully rode his bike from Minnesota to Michigan, impressive for sure!  Family friends Jerry and Dianne sent in their sponsorship this week, so grateful for their gift and words of encouragement!

A thorn in my side

Seeing Thorns as blessings…or in my case a painful hip!

I’m taking some liberties here…but choosing to draw a parallel from 2 Corinthians.

Bear with me…I hesitated to post this, but here goes.       

As you know, I’ve been complaining about a nagging hip problem that’s plagued me for several weeks.  Its occurred to me on several occasions that I’m learning to run with discomfort.  It’s also increased my awareness and dependence on God in my life.  Despite prayers asking for the pain to be removed and healing to occur, I may actually be stronger as the result of its persistence.   In other words, I understand that the pain can be quite severe in the late stages of an Ironman race.  I’m told that racers have to “dig deep” to continue on through the “dark times.” That they repeat mantras and recall “happy times” to distract them from the significant discomfort.   Having experienced running pain in my training I now have confidence that I can push through the pain verses experiencing pain for the first time in the race.  The other thing that comes to mind is based on my theme,  More Than A Race…this really isn’t about me!  Being “broken” teaches me dependence on God for His strength to carry me through or reach the financial goal for KCF.  Not by my strength or accomplishments – To Him be the glory.  That He is bigger than the pain and His grace is sufficient to overcome it.                 

     

Today’s excerpt from Prime Time With God a daily devotional I read.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

Paul had a great calling on his life. The revelations and faith experiences that God gave him would have been too much for any man's humility. So God, in order to insure His investment in Paul's life, allowed this man a thorn in his flesh to help him maintain a humble, godly perspective.

Perhaps God has given you such a thorn designed to allow you to place greater trust and reliance upon Him.   Ask God to reveal to you the blessing of the thorn He has placed in your life.

We did it - KCF Goal Reached!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow…Together we’ve reached our Kenya Children’s Fund goal to support 12 kids with food, clothing and education for an entire year!

A reoccurring question I hear is; how did I calculated the goal sponsorship amount? 

Here’s how;

·        1 month of KCF sponsorship for one child costs $38 dollars. 

·        I associated 1 month of sponsorship with 1 mile of the race and multiplied $38 dollars by 140.6 miles (the distance of the race) which equals $5,343. 

·        Therefore, each sponsored mile of the race equals one month of food, clothing and education for a child. 

·        Looking at it globally; one year of sponsorship for one child costs $456 ($38x12).  $5,343 divided by $456 = 12.  Or, 12 kids sponsored for an entire year.                     

To date your donations total $5,384; our goal was $5,343…

Of course, very meaningful for me personally as I know firsthand the wonderful blessing your contributions will have on the children of Kinyago-Dandora. 

I’m humbled by your generosity.  Simple words of thanks seem lacking compared to this grand accomplishment.  I pray that you feel blessed and will experience great joy as the result of showing your love to these kids in need. 

And, what incredible motivation and encouragement for me as I race each mile knowing that we are contributing to the health and wellbeing of 12 children in need - WOW!  

It’s not too late to participate…several of you have recently become aware of this effort and have taken interest in sponsorship.  You are welcome to contact me directly at leesironman@gmail.com or visit the KCF website (click on the KCF images) for sponsorship opportunity. 

More later…training is going well, I’m healthy and feeling confident…a bit overwhelmed right now, but confident!

Lee             

Race Day Strategy

In addition to figuring out my bike nutrition I’ve been giving consideration to race day strategy…Many I know look to the Endurance Nation guys and their basic rules:

·        Ironman race day is about execution NOT fitness

·        Good race execution is having a good run

·        A good run is defined by not slowing down

·        There is no such thing as a good bike and a bad run

·        Nothing matters until you hit the line; mile 18 on the run

·        Stay in the box – think about those things that you can control at the moment

·        “The one thing”  Why I’m racing IMWI = KCF

·        Bike Course: "Just ride along" for the first 1 - 1.5 hours (25-30 miles)

·        Run Course: Miles 1-6, the pace should be 30-seconds slower per mile than my easy pace until mile 6

·        Miles 6-18:  Run at a comfortable pace getting all the nutrition that I need

·        Miles 18-26:  The goal is to not slow down

14 Mile Run / 100 Mile Bike

 All around great 4-day weekend!  Not only was my training solid, we continued to have a great time at the fair.  Sarah was pleased with her overall performance and placed several times in different horse competitions.  As we drove home last evening at about 9:00 pm it occurred to me that it took all (Liz, Will, Sarah and I) of our effort to support Will and Sarah's 4H competition; a true family affair!  

My 14 mile run on Saturday was good.  I took it fairly easy and enjoyed running mostly pain free!  Then on Sunday I rode 100 miles solo...it's amazing how far 100 miles takes you in the metro!  As the result of yesterday's ride, I will again make a couple tweaks to my bike course nutrition plan anticipating Ironman but I'm getting real close to having it dialed-in which gives me confidence.

 

Carver County Fair

It's been fun to have a little distraction from triathlon.  Each year our family gets very involved participating in 4H at the Carver County Fair.  Will and Sarah each enter a specialty project and in addition, Will competes in Archery and Trap and Sarah competes in horse showing. 

They both reported on their 5-month experience of raising mallard ducks incubated from eggs.  Will earned the Champion award and will present his project before the judges at the MN State Fair.  He also shot the high score in his Archery competition, again earning him Champion and a place in the State shoot.  Sarah received two blue ribbons for her duck and horse projects. She's also starting day two of her favorite competition...showing her horse.  Day one was solid, she earned a 2nd, two 5th's and a sixth place.   

Typical week of training so far but that changes tomorrow...14 mile run tomorrow followed by a 100 mile bike on Sunday! I'll keep you posted.
Lee

Successful Run

Quick update on my hip…then I’ll stop talking about it.

I’ve been anticipating my bike /run brick class today and hoping that daily stretching for the last week would allow me to run without pain after aggravating it some 3 weeks ago. 

Earlier this week I sensed that my hip was starting to relax a bit, so I’ve been hopeful about today’s run.  This morning I experienced an effortless run.  I could feel the lingering issue in my hip but it seemed to relax the more that I ran.  The level 6 pain I experienced last week was a level 1 this morning…And, I wasn’t babying it either, my overall pace was 7:55 with minimal effort.  My pace started at 7:25 although I forced myself to slow down and to be cautious.    

I have been confident that the Lord would prevail over this temporary issue.  We have come too far on this journey for me not to expect a wonderful, successful outcome.  I’m depending on Him and giving Him glory for all.  Amen brother, Amen.

Weekend update

Tour de Tonka

Overall, a great, fun event!  Scott, Danny and I averaged 18.8 mph during the 100 mile trek and finished strong. 

The event is highly supported with rest stops staggered throughout the course about every 15 miles.  I committed to sticking with my nutrition plan and did not eat anything other than what I plan to eat during Ironman.  I’ll make one or two tweaks to the plan but basically it worked quite well…it essentially doubles in quantity what I have eaten during the last two half Ironman races.  The other thing I will do is to carry extra nutrition.  I felt vulnerable to dropping something.  If that occurs it could be bad, so I’ll bring an extra Cliff bar in case of emergency. 

I stumbled on to a Runners World article that associates ankle and knee pain with weak hips…It also provided hip exercises that prevent injury…I’m hopeful that it will also heal my achy breaky hip!  And speaking of my hip, I’m optimistic that it's healing.  I’ll know more tomorrow when I do my 45/3 bike/run brick.  The real test will come on Thursday and Saturday when I have a 7 and 14 mile run scheduled! 

Giving thanks…

Last week was powerful for Kenya Children’s Fund sponsorships!

I’m grateful for my three hunting & fishing companions Mike, Joe & Chris, who sent in their KCF sponsorships.  And too for Derrick, the coordinator of our Wednesday night Gear West bike ride who was very kind to show his support for KCF.  And last but not least, I'm thankful for my father who sent in a very generous sponsorship as well.   

There are many that have come along side of me during this adventure; lifting prayers, expressing words of encouragement and generously providing sponsorship.  What’s more, there are many more that have recently become aware of the effort and plan to sponsor the kids of Kenya Children’s Fund as well.   Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord! 

I hope you are well...

Lee            

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER SARAH WHO I LOVE AND ADMIRE SO MUCH. 

This weekend brings the annual Tour de Tonka bike ride.  A fully supported bike course with several  distances (26,43, 51,77, 100) for riders to choose.  This year, my friend Scott and I will ride the 100 mile loop.  We plan to stop (for water) only when necessary in order to log a steady endurance ride.  Can't wait, sure to be a fun day! 

Overall training:
This week was relatively easy due to a required postrace recovery period.  The pain deep within my hip flared up big time in the last few days.  A 4 mile run on Thursday morning was difficult due to my hip that never relaxed.  Today's 4 mile run was slightly easier and seemed to loosen modestly at the end.  In addition to the obvious concern of further straining the immediate area, I'm concerned that I'll compensate my gate stride and affect other muscles...The good news; there seems to be no ill-affect on my bike and swim efforts this week.  I rode with the A group on Wednesday evening and although tired from the past weekend's race, I faired pretty well after about mile 20.  Solid open water swim effort on wednesday.
Last night, I received my training schedule leading up to Ironman Wisconsin.  In a word, brutal...details to follow.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that you're enjoying the final weeks of this beautiful summer!
Lee