Jeff's Triathlons and Travels

The Other Side of the World Day 15–A Free Day Finale in Queenstown Area

2011-12-07T16:00:00.001-08:00

Our last full day had no pre-planned activities, just a chance to enjoy the scenery of New Zealand’s south island one more day. Unfortunately it was mostly overcast for the day, but there was no rain. All told, we probably had the most incredibly lucky streak of weather throughout the whole vacation…no extreme temperatures and negligible rain.

Back to Saturday though, the morning began with a run into Queenstown and through the town Gardens before heading out of town and back up the long hill to the hotel. After a late breakfast, we got a full day bus pass and rode the Connectabus into Queenstown and then out to Arrowtown, a small former gold-rush village further in the mountains.

(photo credit: DPH)

We arrived to Arrowtown just before lunch and walked the main strip doing a bit of shopping. The town consisted of only a couple streets of shops and then spread residential beyond. In the middle of the main strip was a town square (basically just a grass lawn between businesses) where some café’s had tables set around the perimeter. Being December and a Saturday, the town was having a Christmas celebration that included a variety of singing, dancing, and costume competitions. Among the highlights was the children’s carols, a can-can dance, and Santa parading through town in an old sports car convertible. To take in the show, we grabbed lunch at one of the perimeter cafes.

Some of the Christmas activities

After lunch, we considered checking out a movie at the boutique theatre which we were told included a full bar and easy chairs for movie viewing. However, none of the shows matched our schedule so we passed and instead wandered over to the preserved Chinese village. This area was mainly some informational signs and ruins of huts and gardens where the Chinese gold-mining immigrants had lived in the late 1800s. They were not accepted among the other gold-hunters so instead setup their own camp and eventually thrived by providing services and produce to the white gold-hunters. Near this same area was a shallow creek with a marker on the map that designated a Lord of the Rings shooting location. Darin and myself, both fans of the series, wandered over and recognized the shallow creek and rocky shore as the area just outside Rivendell in the first LOTR movie where Arwyn called the wall of water to wash the ring-wraiths downstream (Yes, I am a LOTR nerd), even though the area was totally unmarked. I confirmed this later in a souvenir shop book.

One of the huts

The LOTR site (photo credit: Tom)

Some popular flowers near the LOTR site

Quick dip in the river to get back to the bus stop

Since there wasn’t much else to do in Arrowtown, we forded the creek back to the bus stop and caught the early afternoon shuttle back to Queenstown. Here, the couples each split to do their own thing until regrouping later to catch a shuttle for dinner. Susan and I took the opportunity to enjoy the scenery more by taking a short hike along the lake to a magnificent waterfall (drainage gulch). Once taking in the scenery, we climbed the hillside back to the hotel and relaxed in the room while packing for the imminent end of the vacation. The windown scenery made staying in the room for a while a nice activity.

Beautiful waterfall

In the evening, we regrouped and made our last visit to Queenstown to dine at the Pig and Whistle, a brew-pub in the town center. After the early dinner, we wandered the remaining shops we had yet to visit in the city and stopped at Slurp, the soup and gelato shop, and got the best gelato we encountered on the trip to cap off the evening. We were back at the hotel relatively early, but had to prepare for the marathon chain of travel that awaits us on Sunday. 4 flights, plus travelling back in time so that Sunday will last ~40 hours for us. All told, the vacation was a success, but I’m ready to return to the states and a more consistent routine. Plus, it’s time to see our dog again.

The family with our last taste of Down Under gelato

The Other Side of the World Days 13 & 14–Intro to Queenstown and the Fjordland National Park

2011-12-06T16:17:00.001-08:00

Our flight out of Auckland was a midday flight, so we relaxed in the morning (and caught up on blog writing) before making our way to the domestic airport. The terminal was bare-bones so it’s a good thing we didn’t arrive too early. Since Quantas does not service domestic New Zealand flights, we had to fly their affiliate JetStar. JetStar was a bit of a disappointment since it was being like flying domestically in the US…everything had an extra cost associated with it. Luckily the flight was less than 2 hours and we were quickly approaching Queenstown Airport.

The approach into Queenstown was one of the most dramatic landings I’ve witnessed since the town sits in a low valley between mountains. We were flying below the mountain peaks on both sides of the plane (in a small valley) for a while before finally landing. Other than the windiness making a choppy landing, it was an awesome ending to the flight.

Our view from the plane on the approach into Queenstown

After getting settled in at the hotel, it was time for a late lunch so we caught the bus into the town center. At the recommendation of the bus driver we dined at Fergberger, a gourmet burger takeaway that seemed to be the place to go…it was crowded. However, my cajun chicken burger was enormous and delicious and worth the wait to enjoy. With Susan still under the weather, the two of us and her parents stopped at the grocery to get snacks for Friday’s day-long excursion before heading back to the hotel. While she napped, Susan’s dad and I went for a nearly 2 hour hike up into the mountain behind the hotel. The hike followed a creek with some waterfalls that used to provide power to a generator at the bottom of the hill. It also criss-crossed some downhill mountain bike trails as it worked toward the city gondola at the top. We turned around before making it to the summit since we weren’t sure of how much daylight we had remaining, but it was a nice hike all told.

Waterfall along the hike (photo credit: Tom)

View during the hike (photo credit: Tom)

Once back at the hotel, Susan and I headed into town to ride the gondola to the viewing deck with her parents. Jen and Darin had already been up earlier in the day so remained at the hotel. Most of the attractions at the top were closed, but the views were worth the ride. Once down at town level, we grabbed quick dinners (soup and gelato for me) before calling it a night.

Sunset from the overlook

The gondala (with the in laws in tow)

Us in the gondala (photo credit: Tom)

Friday started early, at sunrise, with a quick breakfast before boarding a bus for the full day excursion to the Fjordland National Park and a boat cruise through the Milford Sound (which is actually a fjord). The drive was in a plush new “bullet coach” specially designed for the tour company including seats angled toward the window, a body made of 55% glass (including roof panels), and a streamlined shape to cut through the wind. Luckily it was a comfortable ride since we’d spend a good 8 hours on the bus all told.

The morning trip took us around the south end of Lake Wakatipu and through some small towns before a coffee/bathroom stop at Te Anau. Most of the scenery through here was of lakes, mountains, and rolling farmlands where sheep, cows, and domesticated deer were being raised. After the break, we headed north into the national park which was much more rugged through dense evergreen forests, along a riverbed, then into the mountains surrounding the fjord and boat docks. There were a couple photo stops en route as well.

Trees inspiring ents from the LOTR (left); New Zealand Parrot (right)

Cloudy mountains (photo credit: DPH)

Deer farm (photo credit: DPH)

Gone Fishin’ (photo credit: Tom)

We arrived at the Milford Sound “harbor” just in time to hop onto our ship for a 2 hour cruise of the fjord. This area of New Zealand is one of the rainiest spots in the world, so the run-off water creates beautiful waterfalls since there is very little shorelines. Steep 5000-7000 ft mountains rise directly from sea level in dramatic fashion since the entire fjord was carved by a glacier during the ice age. It was breathtaking scenery.

Waterfall in the fjord

Along the cruise, the captain taught us about the formations we were seeing and drive us very near a few of the larger waterfalls. We were lucky enough to have the low clouds clear out for the cruise and had no rain while on the boat. We also were incredibly lucky to see the “Milford Sound Trifecta” of wildlife. At the start of the cruise we saw baby and mother bottle nose dolphins from a distance. Later as we worked toward the Tasman Sea and the mouth of the fjord, we saw a number of fur seals sunning on the rocks. On the way back into the protected area of the sound, we encountered a larger pod of bottle-nosed dolphins including some playful ones that swam right alongside the boat for a good 10 minutes…it was incredible being so close to them. As we neared the end of the cruise, we caught only 1 of the fjord crested penguin…a rare and endangered penguin found only in Fjordland National Park. We watched as he worked his way across the rocky terrain and disappeared into the forest before ending the cruise.

Dolphins along the cruise (left – Photo credit: DPH)

Seals sunning on the rock

Penguin walking along the cliff

Dolphin swimming around (photo credit: Tom)

The only thing we missed out on was cruising out into the Tasman to see the entrance of the fjord. This was due to rough waters in the Tasman. I think the wildlife sightings more than made up for missing the coastline view.

The return bus trip to Queensland backtracked through the same roads, the only going into Milford Sound, and included the same stop at Te Anau. The only other highlight worth mentioning of the bus trip was that we passed a grouping of trailers on the side of the road we were told was the crew filming “The Hobbit Movie”.

Finally, after more time than I like to spend on a bus in day, we were back in downtown Queenstown. With it being relatively late, we just returned to the hotel for dinner and to discuss the plans for our final full day of vacation.

The Other Side of the World Days 11 & 12–We be with the Kiwis in Auckland

2011-12-05T16:23:00.001-08:00

Tuesday was taken up largely by travel. We left the Sydney hotel at 6AM and had to deal with longer airport delays since Sydney airport is very large and we were flying internationally. We took off near 10AM and had a nearly 3 hour flight, while also losing 2 hours to time-zone changes. Then completed the travel portion with a 40 minute van ride to downtown Auckland and the hotel. Apparently Auckland, New Zealand’s most populous city, has only a handful of miles of modern highway and is sprawled a large distance (especially considering the North Island is not terribly large).

Goodbye, Movember loving, Australia…

..Hello, green New Zealand

Either way, by the time we were settled into the hotel, it was near 5PM and just in time to meet with our New Zealand local host, provided by the Monograms travel service we have used for this trip. She gave us a run-through our itinerary and suggested activities and places to eat, particularly while in Auckland.

We left our meeting with her and headed straight to the Princess Wharf, only a couple blocks from the hotel, for dinner at the Waterfront Grill. The food was pretty good, but we were somewhat let down by having to sit inside, limiting our view, as well as being placed near a family with a small child using his utensils as drum-sticks.

After dinner, we took a short stroll along the waterfront and investigated some of the city near the hotel before returning for bed. The travel day wore on us and Susan was beginning to come down with a cold, probably from all the rapid climate changing we’ve been doing with this travel.

Wednesday morning began much like our first full day in Sydney, with a bus tour of Auckland. Our driver Pete, a former Yorkie from England (and now a Westie in Auckland) was entertaining if not somewhat repetitive as he showed us the sights. He probably strung together more slang phrases than anyone else we encountered on this trip thus far. The bus tour included viewing the city from the highest mainland volcano at Mt. Eden (Auckland is built on 49 dormant volcanoes). This provided views in multiple directions and you could see both the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean, the coastlines of New Zealand, as well as the harbor. Then we travelled to the Auckland Domain, a large park that includes botanical garden and museum, with a stop at the Winter Gardens (a Pete favorite). Next stop was at the shops and cafes of the Parnell neighborhood before returning downtown to cross the harbor bridge which was not as impressive as Sydney’s, but offered good passing views. Finally we drove the Auckland waterfront and dropped off some other passengers at the aquarium before returning to the central business district for our drop.

On Mt. Eden

A couple of flowers from the Winter Gardens

Susan with some flowers at the Winter Gardens

The Auckland Harbor Bridge

View of the city

Upon returning downtown, we caught the ferry to Devonport, a small artsy community across the harbor. We grabbed lunch at an “American themed” bar with an amusing, but somewhat absent minded proprietor. After refueling, we split up some as some of the group hiked to the top of nearby Mt. Victoria. The peak included an old abandoned for with a hidden cannon to protect the harbor along with 360 degree views of the sprawl of Auckland suburbs, the harbor, and the islands out in the Pacific Ocean that are also a part of New Zealand. Arriving at the base again, I split out on my own and walked the Devonport village area, stopping at a chocolate shop, before heading along the shore for a stroll. Susan had returned to the hotel since the cold was wearing on her, so I didn’t stroll too long alone before grabbing the ferry back downtown and returning to the hotel to check in on her.

Mo Mo Movember

Susan along her tour of every cider made in Australia & New Zealand

After some R&R at the hotel, the family gathered in the lobby around 7:30PM to head to our evening dinner reservation. Our guide suggested dining in the rotating Orbit restaurant at the top of the Auckland Sky Tower, the tallest viewing tower in the southern hemisphere. We arrived early to watch the sunset from the viewing deck below the restaurant before heading up a floor to grab our table. The views were impressive as the tower is far and away the tallest outlook point in the Auckland area. The dinner was good, but a little more gourmet than what we would have on a regular basis. Still it was nice to have an occasion to dress up and go out a little more fancy than usual.

Looking down the glass window on the floor of the elevator

Sunset from the Skytower

Looking down on the streets of Auckland through the glass floor at the Skytower

It’s Christmas-time in Kiwi-land

The late dinner returned us to the hotel late, so we prepared for our departure to the last stop of this vacation before heading to bed. Tomorrow we move to the south island and check out Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand.

The Other Side of the World Day 10–Harry Potter and the Sydney Harbor Ferries

2011-12-03T12:30:00.001-08:00

Monday morning had nothing scheduled until 9AM, so I took advantage of the time to go for a morning run. I was able to make my way through the Domain and the Botanical Gardens, out near the Opera House, under the Harbor Bridge, and along Darling Harbor before returning to the hotel. There were plenty of others out getting a morning workout, which was nice to see.

The rest of the early morning was breakfast and more failed attempts at getting low-cost internet access, which is like pulling teeth in Australia. Today, Susan and I had our own morning plans. The science and technology museum, The Powerhouse, had a Harry Potter exhibit that was very popular. We toured the (no cameras allowed) exhibit, which included a huge selection of actual movie props and costumes. Pretty much any and every object of importance to the plot-lines were included in the exhibit, so it was a lot of fun for fans of the HP series. With already being in the museum, the two of us quickly toured some of the other exhibits before making our way back to the Circular Quay to meet Jen and Darin for lunch.

Susan with the exhibit ad; A picture just outside the exhibit

Looking down into the museum

Me with an ancient bicycle

The plan for the day was to take advantage of the well-developed public transportation system and see whatever we had time for. For this reason, we invested in the MyMulti day pass, which gave us access to all rail, bus, and ferry options for 24 hours. So after taking trains to and from the Powerhouse, we hopped a ferry with Jen and Darin and headed out along the eastern harbor to Watson’s Bay. Doyle’s, a seafood restaurant renowned for their fish n chips was the plan for lunch. They have a take-away hut on the wharf with picnic seating nearby and reasonably priced food, but this option was cash only, something we were short of on our last day in Australia. The other option was the original hotel restaurant along the beach. We grabbed a table at the hotel, and after looking at the menu ($40+ per person for fish n chips was the lowest cost item) decided we better find an ATM. Now we know why the locals recommend getting carry out from Doyle’s. In the end, the take-away had delicious fish n chips and we were able to enjoy it in the park next to the shore, so it was worth the ferry ride.

Two of our transportation options

Doyle’s Fisherman’s Wharf Takaway

The four of us caught the ferry back to the Circular Quay after lunch before immediately boarding another ferry to cross the harbor. This time we landed near Luna Park, a small amusement park just near the base of the northern side of the harbor bridge. Not really interested in the park, the plan here was to walk along the bridge. After a short uphill hike through the Kiribilli neighborhood, we ascended onto the pedestrian potion of the bridge (they also have a dedicated bike lane, 2 way train traffic, and 8 lanes of car traffic…for a bridge built in the 1930’s) and crossed back into Sydney. The walk was enjoyable offering a different view of the skyline and some of the other harbor bays and neighborhoods. There were also a lot of runners and walkers on the bridge and we could see some tourists participating in the bridge climb (up the archway) and getting views from atop one of the bridge towers.

A shot of the bridge/opera house from the ferry

Us along the bridge

The best part: the Luna Park man’s ‘stache was just for Movember

Once we left the bridge, again in the Rocks neighborhood, we came off just next to the old Australian Hotel Susan and I had stopped in a few nights prior, so hopped in for an afternoon drink…a quick pit-stop on the return to the hotel. At the hotel, we met Susan’s parents again, who had an adventure all their own, taking trains out of town to the Blue Mountains for the day. This is an area, among many others, that I would have loved to visit given more time. I think we left much unexplored in Sydney since has so much to offer.

Anyways, once completely regrouped and cleaned up for the evening. We returned to Circular Quay and caught yet another ferry to McMahon’s Point on the north shore of the harbor, but further inland (west of downtown). From here we watched the sunset and got a view of the opera house below the harbor bridge, a new perspective. Exhausted from the days’ excursions, we then returned to the Quay via ferry and grabbed dinner near the wharves at a casual café-style restaurant before returning to the hotel for bed. We had an early pick-up for the airport since we will be leaving Australia tomorrow and beginning on our New Zealand portion of the vacation.

A pirate ship in Sydney Harbor?

The bridge at sunset

Us with the bridge and opera house

The Other Side of the World Days 8 & 9–Life in the Big Sydney

2011-12-02T13:19:00.001-08:00

Our Saturday flight from Alice Springs was a midday flight from a small airport, so there was no rush to get on the road quickly in the morning. I took advantage by “hiring” a mountain bike for free from the hotel and taking a spin around the desert. Since most of the hills are sacred to the aborigines, they are not developed and riding could only be done in the valleys. Still I enjoyed a nice cruise around the perimeter of the main part of town, complete with getting lost a couple times and covered around 13 miles in total. Especially considering its small population, Alice Springs has a nicely developed bike infrastructure.

After the ride, it was breakfast at the casino and preparing for departure to Sydney. Since we lost an hour and a half to time zones in transit, travel (and watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes on the plane) took up most of the day and we arrived at our hotel in Sydney just before 7PM local time. Still, it was a Saturday and dinner time so we made our way out on the town. After a short stroll, we found a Bavarian Beer Garden (think more upscale Hofbrahaus) and enjoyed a delicious meal…one of the best overall of the trip. After dinner, Susan and I decided to explore the other direction from the hotel and headed into the historical Rocks district. We found an old hotel/bar that was recommended by her travel guide, so we stopped for a drink and caught part of a fireworks show taking place near the Harbor Bridge. It was a good welcome for our arrival to Sydney.

The reflection of our plane in the ocean off the coast of Sydney

Sunday morning started as most do for us…early. We had a scheduled half day bus tour of Sydney that picked us up from the hotel at 7AM. After an extensive tour of the hotels in the area as we corralled other tour-goers, we got on our way around 8. The tour was mostly cruising through downtown near the Rocks, the downtown parks, Kings Cross, the eastern suburbs, the Gap (opening of the harbor to the ocean), and Bondi beach before returning to the Circular Quay to drop us off near the Opera House. There were a couple photo stops en route, but it was mostly a drive-by overview of the major sights.

The family in front of the opera house and harbor bridge

Surfers at Bondi Beach

Other water athletes at Bondi

After the tour, we headed directly to the Opera House for a midday tour. The tour was interesting and included entry into a couple theatres where final preparations were going on for the evening shows. We were able to see the Sydney Girls Choir rehearse a song and a dance school rehearsing a recital routine. Also, the tour included history of the design and construction. Following the tour was a late lunch at an Noodle “take away” restaurant in the Rocks.

Inside the opera house

View of Sydney through the opera house walls

Close-up of the roof

With all the mornings’ activities, some of the group returned to the hotel to take a nap. I took this opportunity to explore some more of downtown Sydney on foot. Highlights included St Mary’s Cathedral, Hyde Park, the Westfield Mall, and Sussex Street. A couple hours of walking complete, it was time to regroup and plan for dinner. The evening of our first full day in Sydney, we walked to the Wharf at Darling Harbor and ate at an outdoor casual sports bar. The food was good, but nothing notable.

Tomorrow we have another full day in Sydney to check out more of the city. They way it is laid out all along the harbor with the various bays makes for stunning city-scape views and tons of areas to explore, so it should be a busy day.

The Other Side of the World Day 7–Springing Around in Alice

2011-11-28T13:51:00.001-08:00

I awoke early in Yulara at the Ayers Rock resort to take in the sunrise over the desert and the magnificent rock features one last time. For this viewing, I just wandered alone through the paths around the resort to a couple of the viewing outposts. The one in the center of the resorts’ ring road seemed more isolated, but the campground vista appeared to be the most popular. After sunrise, I made a meandering path back to the hotel where we checked out and had breakfast before catching our shuttle to the airport, which was closed. You read that correctly…it had to be the first time I’d seen an airport with strict operating hours, so we had to wait about 10 minutes before being allowed to enter and go through the pre-flight rituals.

A bug staying at our resort

Operating hours of our airport

The flight from Ayers Rock airport to Alice Springs is just a 45 minute hop, so we were at our new destination by lunchtime. After a brief lunch stop at the hotel and getting things organized in our rooms, we were picked up for the days’ sightseeing tour.

View of the dried up rivers near Alice Spring

The parents exiting the airplane

Harry, our local guide, gave us an afternoon bus tour of the highlights of Alice Springs. It started at ANZAC (Australia & New Zealand Army Corps) Hill, a war memorial monument sitting atop a hill overlooking the city. From here, the guide could point out most of the notable city locations.

View of Alice Spring (photo credit: DPH)

The Memorial (photo credit: DPH)

Next we moved to the Royal Flying Doctors Service where we were taught how they provide medical care to those isolated in the outback.

A replica of a plane they currently use

Then we moved into the town center for a stop at an Aboriginal art museum (no photos allowed) before stopping at the School of the Air. School of the Air used to be conducted via radio, but is now up to date with internet communication technology and is how (mostly primary) education is provided to children isolated in the outback. The Alice Springs school provides service to 120 children currently spread throughout an area roughly 2x the size of Texas. Learning about the logistics of life in the outback was enlightening and the exhibits were very well put together.

The excursion ended with a trip to the original telegraph station outside of town which is also the location of the city’s namesake spring. However, Alice Spring was all dried up, as were all the rivers in the city, and is not a spring at all, merely a rainwater collection basin. Also interesting is that Alice, the wife of the boss of the founder of the city, never visited her namesake city. So, the remote outpost original founded to forward telegraph messages passing the middle of Australia is named for a woman who never saw it and a spring that does not exist…only in Australia.

Telegraph Station (photo credit: DPH)

The “spring” (photo credit: DPH)

The telegraph station is located in a natural park area outside of town, and we were blessed with an eagle-eyed guide who spotted a black footed wallaby and two euro kangaroos…the first wild kangaroos we have encountered thus far on the trip.

Black-footed rock wallaby

Euro

After the tour, we were dropped in town for a little shopping and dinner at a cowboy themed bar named Bojangles’ Saloon. It was a fun spot with live music and a good sense of humor. Although we were early compared to their prime-time crowd, we enjoyed the ambience and the music with a couple pitchers of beer before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Our dollar bill to be put on their ceiling

There it is (in the very middle)

Our outback grill platter (camel, kangaroo, crocodile, buffalo)

Having some fun on the saddles

Tomorrow we have a leisurely morning before catching a midday flight back the the edge and urban Australia as we make our way to Sydney for the remainder of the Aussie portion of our vacation.

The Other Side of the World Days 5 and 6–Into the Outback

2011-11-25T15:46:00.001-08:00

Wednesday morning started with a muggy overcast sunrise run in Cairns before our last visit to the Cairns McDonalds and the hotel buffet breakfast. After breakfast, we bid goodbye to our Pacific International Hotel room and checked out to wait for our airport transport. It was a bit damp and rainy for our drive, a good time for it to rain since we had no plans to be outdoors in Cairns today.

Domestic air travel in Australia is easy with the lack of ridiculousness that is American airport security measures, so we breezed through efficiently and settled into the common lounge to await our departure. The flight was on time with no issues along the way, and after a few hours we were descending into the Ayers Rock landing strip. Our descent offered aerial views of Uluru (aka Ayers Rock) and some of the other surrounding geological features.

Ayers Rock from the Air

As we hopped off the plane we were greeted with pleasant 80 degree temperatures, but did not expect this to last. Some recent rains have brought the temperature down, but now that they’re out of the way, the temperature will be climbing back to the mid-90’s soon. However, since we arrived on time to have the afternoon open and the temperatures seemed ideal, we moved our planned afternoon/evening visit to Uluru to today and quickly prepared to see the rock.

Our first stop to see Uluru up close

Uluru is a monolith, a single piece of rock, about 1000 feet high with a nearly 6 mile circumference that rises out of the desert floor in the middle of nowhere essentially, which is what makes it so dramatic. The iron content in the rock causes the surface of the rock to rust, which gives it a reddish tint that is heightened at sunrise and sunset. Our excursion took us around different viewing posts of the rock and included some short hikes and history of the aboriginal culture here. At the cultural center we encountered a large snake making his way down the path and were told it was a taipan, one of the most poisonous in all of Australia. We have not yet confirmed it to be true, but the snake did look impressively menacing either way as it slithered only feet away from us. The evenings trip concluded with wine and snacks at the sunset outlook as we watched the effect of the setting sun on the rock surface.

Uluru at sunset (photo credits: DPH)

Sunset

We returned to the resort after dark and were dropped off at the neighboring hotel for dinner, where we dined with a couple from England who were in the middle of a trip around the world. We had crossed paths with them throughout the day, so decided to make them dinner companions. From here, they were heading the opposite direction as us, so it was interesting to hear about where they had already visited. Thursday was scheduled to be a very early morning since we were viewing the sunrise, so we were in bed immediately post-dinner.

At 4:35AM, our next day began and we re-boarded the same bus from the previous days’ excursion and returned to the national park. After coffee and snacks while viewing the sunrise (on the opposite side of Uluru), we made our way another 25 miles or so into the desert to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), another nearby geologic feature in the desert.

Uluru at just before 5 am

Uluru during the sunrise (photo credits: DPH)

Ulura (right) and Kata Tjuta (left, in background) at sunrise

One of the many, many photographers at Uluru at sunrise

Kata Tjuta is actually a range of “mountains” that jut up to 1700 feet from the surface of the desert, but include another nearly 18,000 feet hidden below the surface of the earth. They had valleys and gorges included, and somewhat reminded me of the area near Zion national park in Utah, but more isolated. As with the previous excursion, we hiked a bit, visited a couple outlooks, and learned of the lore associated with the mountains before returning to the resort as the heat was rising for the day.

The two geographical options for viewing

Kata Tjuta up close

…and far away

A pictorial depiction of the multitude of flies

After a multi-hour excursion in the desert, we arrived at the hotel at only 9:15AM, so caught the end of breakfast service at the hotel before returning to the room for naps.

The rest of the day was low-key at the Ayers Rock Resort grounds, which included a shopping complex, a series of trails to various observation points, and nice pool courtyard at the hotel. Susan had wanted to ride a camel, so we rode the resort shuttle to the camel farm only to find it runs limited hours in the down season, and had closed earlier. The camels were still visible in their pen, so Susan was at least able to interact with them for a bit.

Susan feeding a camel

Turkeys and chickens (left), camels (right)
A small lizard near our hotel

Evening at the resort consisted of having dinner at the Outback Pioneer Grill, which offers you the opportunity to choose your meat options from a counter where they are given to you raw. Then you can cook your own food on the large grills nearby. The sides, salad, and dessert were provided buffet style. It was a fun way to mix up the dinner experience.

The directions for the restaurant

The meat selections

Some of the cooks in our family

Back home again

Tomorrow we head to another Outback post at Alice Springs for a full day of scheduled sight-seeing.

The Other Side of the World Day 4–Karunda and the Australian Rain Forest

2011-11-24T19:28:00.001-08:00

Our last full day in Cairns began with a leisurely morning walk to check out a different area of downtown Cairns near the convention center. There was not too much to write home about in this area and we soon found our way to McDonalds for our morning internet access, followed up by breakfast at the hotel. It’s amazing how much time you have in the mornings to get prepared for the day when you are waking at 6AM or so (and going to bed by 10PM).

Around 8:30, we regrouped with the family in the lobby to await the arrival of our transport to the SkyRail. The SkyRail is a gondola that takes you from a small town just north of Cairns to the Karunda village, with 2 observation stops along the way. It climbs to the peak of one of the nearby rainforest mountains for the first stop, then transverses the Barren River Gorge with a waterfall view at the second stop. The final destination is an old mining town that is now a nature preserve and village catering to tourists known as Karunda. While en route, we were able to spot a couple local birds and butterflies, but not much else from our perch above the rainforest.

The skyrail

The roadway below (photo credit: DPH)

Us in the skyrail (photo credit: Dad)

Upon arrival at Karunda, we caught a shuttle to the main drag of shops and attractions and made our way immediately to Koala Gardens, essentially a very small zoo featuring indigenous Australian animals. It was a required stop for us in Karunda since it gave Susan (and her mom and sister) the opportunity to cuddle a koala bear. They also let us get a family shot with Jaunita, the koala who was cuddled. Other highlights of the gardens were freshwater crocodiles, a walkthrough reptile house, and a kangaroo and wallaby “petting zoo” and feeding pen. They pack a lot into a small area at the Koala Garden, but it’s worth checking out if you’re looking to interact with Australian animals. Below is a compilation of some of the animals we saw and interacted with. Note the joey in the wallaby’s pouch.

After the Koala Gardens, we grabbed some lunch at the Rain Forest View Café, also the only spot we saw with any air conditioning in Karunda. Susan ventured a try of a local cuisine in ordering a meat pie and found it to be quite delicious. Then we commenced wandering the village to check out the small markets and shops. Shopping offered the standard variety of cheesy tourist souvenirs, but also included some local crafts and aboriginal art that was impressive, albeit expensive.

Once satisfied with our shopping experience, we descended the main road back to the train station. To get a different experience on our return trip to Cairns, we grabbed the 2PM Karunda Express train down the mountain. This train takes the same route that was initially established to connect the mining community to the valley below and includes 15 tunnels, a variety of winding track sections and views of the Barren River Gorge from the other side as was seen on the SkyRail. The train cars are all between 60-100 years old and are well kept to maintain their period feel. However, the old train is also slow and quite noisy. The trip all the way into Cairns was nearly a 2 hour journey. I found the leisurely train ride to be a lot of fun in a quaint sort of way, but it definitely wasn’t an efficient means of travel.

Our train back to Cairns (photo credit: Dad)

Stony Creek Falls (photo credit: Jeff)

Our train entering one of the many tunnels along our route

Once back in the lowlands, we returned to the hotel to relax poolside and recharge before cleaning up and heading out to dinner. With the proximity to the Asian continent, Australia has a large selection of Asian inspired dining. So, we chose a Chinese restaurant and enjoyed a quality dinner.

Since we bid adieu to Cairns tomorrow, the rest of the evening was organizing photographs (since we have 3 photographers in tow) and getting our luggage prepared for departure. To be able to continue enjoying leisurely mornings, bedtime was around 10PM again.

Tomorrow we head the the red center of Australia, into the real outback, as we visit Uluru (Ayers Rock).

The Other Side of the World Day 3–Green Island and the Great Barrier Reef

2011-11-22T13:13:00.001-08:00

Since we lost a day of our lives in transit for this vacation, so too will this blog. Despite the fact that this is our second day in Cairns and our first full day of officially vacationing, I consider it the third day of the trip (our itinerary calls it day 4…confused yet? So am I).

Due to the travel/time-zone induced exhaustion, the previous night’s bedtime was around 8PM local time, so day 3 began early. I awoke after 9+ hours of sleep at 5:15. It was not only early, but also bright since the sun begins rising in the early hours as well. To take advantage of the sunlight, I went for a jog along the esplanade (boardwalk). Cairns has a fair bit of coast line and have built a boardwalk path that spans 5k+ through an area of shops as well as a park and some beach shore. Because of this, I was able to stay along the shore for the entire out and back run…and I was not the only one. It was the most pedestrian traffic I had seen pre-7AM anywhere. Mostly there were people walking in groups, but there were other runners (and occasional cyclists on the adjacent path) as well as others just enjoying an early morning in the park. I thoroughly enjoyed the activity, especially after being cramped in travel for the past few days.

Returning to the hotel, I found Susan had awakened early as well, so I cleaned up and we headed to the local McDonald’s to take advantage of the free wireless internet, which seems to be a rare commodity. I normally avoid anything familiar while on vacation (and McDonald’s in general for that matter), but the free internet makes the arches look might appealing for morning coffee trips during this vacation. We attempted to order coffee, though not really understanding the language of java around here yet (options include long black, flat, short white, etc…) made it more difficult, then got our online errands completed.

After McD’s it was back to the hotel to have the breakfast buffet and regroup with the family for the walk to the marina. Today’s planned activity was a boat trip to Green Island, a protected coral island that is actually a part of the Great Barrier Reef. Part of the island has a resort built on it, although done tastefully to not take away from the natural lushness of the island rainforest. The other portion is a small national park. Surrounding the island is a portion of the barrier reef. At the marina, we selected a few of the scheduled activities for the island and got our boarding passes before stepping foot onto the Reef Rocket for our 45 minute ride to
the island.

The reef rockest

Ready to snorkle.. almost

Upon arrival, we headed into the resort area quickly, then made our way to the beach and donned the snorkel gear. Included with our snorkel, mask, and fins was a pretty awesome lycra body suit called a stinger suit. Apparently stinger is the local name for jellyfish. Although we weren’t terribly worried about stingers since stings are rare at Green Island, we wanted the suits for their sun protection along with their obvious style. Snorkeling could be done on multiple beaches of the island, but we selected the one recommended by our boat guides and waded into the ocean. Susan, always the photographer, donned a disposable waterproof camera, so we have some solid photos of our findings. We were able to develop and then take pictures of the pictures, so the quality of these pictures isn’t great but you get the idea. Among the highlights was a variety of colorful corals and fish, sea cucumbers, and a few sea turtles that evaded me, but Susan managed to spot multiple times and almost lured close enough to touch once. The variety and size of the fish encountered, particularly so close to the shore was impressive.

Susan’s best friend, the sea turtle (note there is no zoom on an underwater camera -- he was just that close)

Us in our stinger suits

Some of the coral at the Great Barrier Reef

A fish staring at us

Our snorkeling was ended when it was time to board the semi-submarine (a boat with an underwater viewing chamber below) for a scheduled tour. The loop here was brief, but informative with a good guide and a variety of larger fish we hadn’t encountered previously. It also included a fish feeding that drew out additional species (but no sharks).

A sampling of what we could see out of the semi-sub

In the semi-sub

The remainder of the day at Green Island included lunch, walking the nature trail through the national park, exploring what we could see of the resort, and playing on the beach a bit. A leisurely paced cruise back to Cairns brought us ashore around 5PM, worn out from the day in the sun.

After some much needed clean-up and recharging at the hotel. Susan and I ventured out for our own dinner date. After wandering the main drag some, we felt Indian calling to us…or so we thought as we selected the restaurant. We had been discussing wanting to experience some foods more in line with Australian tastes, or something more exotic than we could get at home. Turns out, the Indian restaurant offered a tasting plate of 3 native Australian animals (kangaroo, crocodile, and emu), and although we know Australians don’t actually eat these animals regularly if at all…we decided to split the tasting plate along with some naan, of course.

On the plate: kangaroo (top), crocodile (yellow), emu (bottom)
Susan and I with our Aussie meat (right picture)

The meal was a little odd considering it was a meat plate and some bread, but it worked for us. All the meats were a little dry and chewy, which either speaks to the consistency of the meat or the quality of the cooking. Emu was probably my favorite since it seemed to have a higher level of fattiness than the others. Either way, I can see why none of these animals are farmed for meat like chickens, cows, etc…

Post dinner, we did a little light shopping in the area near the Night Market, which is an indoor “mall” of vendor booths that’s open from 4-11PM daily. The shops in the general area keep longer hours as well, so the scene was pretty busy as we checked out the wares, some of which were quite…unique. As we shopped we worked our way back to the hotel for another early night.

Tomorrow we head inland to check out the rainforest, and (Susan can) hopefully cuddle with koalas.

The Other Side of the World–Australia/New Zealand Vacation Prelude

2011-11-20T13:06:00.001-08:00

After a few months of saving as much vacation time as I could muster (not quite enough), we left Friday morning for a 2-week international adventure to the Southern Hemisphere. In the next couple weeks we will be making a tour of as much as we can cover between Australia and New Zealand. Hopefully, if we’re not too busy or exhausted, Susan and I will be able provide a comprehensive and well-photographed report of our daily highlights.

Since we’re travelling with Susan’s family, who is based out of northwest Ohio, it was most convenient and cost effective for us to fly from Detroit to begin our journey. Thus our first travel morning started bright and pre-dawn on Friday with a drive from Cincy to Delphos and then on to Detroit. From there we fly to Chicago, then to LA. Just before midnight Friday (local LA time), we departed for Brisbane (a 14-hour flight). Magically, we crossed the international date line and Saturday ceased to exist, so we landed in Brisbane on Sunday morning. However, the fun doesn’t stop there as we had one more short flight up the coast to Cairns (pronounced “canes”) where the vacation really begins. All told, transit took 41 hours of actual travel time including both flights, layovers, and driving, but covered ~55 hours of time considering the time zone shifts. Despite the tedious travel involved, we were very excited to make our first trip down under and couldn’t wait for the real vacation to begin.

Sailing through the clouds (Detroit –> Chicago)

Lake Michigan melding into the sky (left)
Sunset over Los Angeles (right)

The flowing coast of Brisbane, Australia

On the fourth airplane of the weekend

The landscape of Cairns, Australia

We arrived exhausted and ragged in Cairns around noon on Sunday, with an afternoon ahead of us to see the town. After a meeting with our local guide, we headed to whatever meal is at 4 pm after being awake for 12 hours (and our bodies thinking it is 1 am). We then took a stroll down the boardwalk, did some people watching at the lagoon, and checked out the Night Market. Once we picked up some beer and water, we played cards and tried to stay awake as long as possible so to attempt to adjust to the 15 hour time difference between Ohio and Cairns. Shockingly, not as difficult as one might think. In our zombie-like, sleep-deprived stupor, Susan and our brother-in-law Darin (who does this photo stuff professionally; aka DPH) were able to get some great photos.

View from our hotel room, looking toward the ocean

View from our hotel room, looking toward the bay (photo credit: DPH)

Our 50’s style room with beds on wheels (photo credit: DPH)

Aussie Money (photo credit: DPH)

Bird chilling in the bay

Susan doing her thing (obviously.. photo credit: DPH)

People swimming in the lagoon in the hot Cairns sun

Our local guide let us in on a secret that while internet in our hotel room would cost $11/hour, the McDonald’s down the street offers free internet. So even half-way across the world, we’ll be making some trips to Mickey D’s to post our blog/get out internet fix. Tomorrow brings a full day of sightseeing at the Great Barrier Reef!

A Busy Fall Part 3: Rock n Roll St. Louis Marathon

2011-11-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

After a couple weekends with more laid back endurance activities in the books, it was time to close out the 2011 season with my last A race, the inaugural Rock n Roll St. Louis Marathon. Despite this being my second A race of the season, it has clearly been the focal point of my training…so maybe it’s my A+ race. Having not done an open marathon since 2008 and having bad memories of blowing up at the wall in my previous 2 attempts in Arizona and DC, the marathon has been a race that I have learned to respect. My main goal going into the race was to not break down and run a consistently paced race…no specific time goal. Here’s how the weekend went…

The wife and I arrived in St. Louis Friday evening to stay at my sister and her fiancé’s place. They, along with my dad, would once again also be participants in the same event. “The family that races together, stays together” would be an apt motto for our family. We made a point of getting into town early in the evening since we were going to be taken to our first (for Susan and me) NHL game. The Blues game was exciting and our upper deck location made it easy to follow the action. To add to the excitement, the Blues pulled the game out in overtime before having to go to a shootout. After the game, the rest of Friday evening was quiet as we settled in.

Blues Game

Another reason we had planned on arriving in St. Louis Friday was to have Saturday morning open for Susan to take some engagement photos for Kelley and Jason. They got off to an early start with a variety of outfits and locations to shoot in mind. This was Susan’s first try at engagement photography and the results were successful. I did not tag along with the photo shoot and instead made my way to Carondelet Park for a very short run on the southernmost portion of Sunday’s marathon course. After the run, I waited for my parents to arrive from Louisville and the three of us made our way to packet pickup. Earlier in the day, the crowds weren’t too bad so we progressed through the pickup and expo quickly. After getting back to our home-base for the weekend, we awaited the arrival of the photography team before grabbing a late lunch. The rest of the afternoon involved spectating at Jason’s kickball game briefly before relaxing at the house for a bit. With it being the midst of World Series madness with the Cardinals in the mix, our pre-race dinner was watching the game with a couple hundred other rabid fans at the Sports Zone (a local sports bar). The energy was awesome and the game was pretty wild too. However, I was concerned about being ready for Sunday’s race, so I cut out early after dinner and returned to the house to get my gear in order and head to bed.

Sample Engagement Picture Awesomeness

Sunday started off bright and early (or dark and early in actuality), as is usually the case for race mornings. We grabbed our gear and headed downtown to the starting area to wait nervously and make our way through the pre-race rituals. Weather was looking pretty perfect as dawn came, starting temperatures around 50 with overcast skies but low threat of rain and low humidity. The temperature would remain mild until mid-afternoon when the clouds cleared, so the weather could not have been much better for the duration of the race. After dancing nervously and calling it a warm-up, stripping down to my race outfit, and kissing the wife good-bye I headed into the corral with the other sheep…I mean runners. Not too much later (in reality, not in perception) the gun was fired and we were off.

Being in the first corral, I was pretty close to the starting mat and near the front of the swarm of runners. There was still a fair amount of navigation to take care of though as we sorted ourselves out and claimed a position. My main focus other than finding space was to not go out too fast, so I checked my Garmin relatively regularly through the initial miles to make sure I was at a sustainable (or slightly slower than) pace. By mile 3, we had begun to string out enough that the roads seemed more open. We made our way up Washington Ave in this section and away from downtown toward St Louis University’s campus. The section between downtown and SLU didn’t offer much in the way of scenery or spectators, but it was early enough that outside motivation wasn’t really necessary. As we turned to pass the historic Fox Theatre, the crowd returned in full force. There was even a group from the local Y who had fashioned a star-shaped arch of balloons for runners to pass through, so I obliged. From here, we moved past the SLU chapel and around the back of campus before turning south. So far, pacing was nice and steady between 7:25-7:35 for each mile.

After passing through the bold colored signs of bars in restaurant in an obviously gay community, the course began the tour of the South St. Louis parks. First on the list was Tower Grove Park. This was our first encounter with the park and around the 8 mile mark of the overall course. Also notable was that the marathoners and half-marathoners made the split at this point. As we divided to go our separate ways, I was amazed to see the imbalance between full and half participants. There were a huge number of half-marathoners, outnumbering the full runners at nearly a 10:1 ratio. Needless to say, as I turned with the handful of other marathoners to take the long way home, I was feeling a little lonely. It was time for the real race to begin.

The park tour continued, passing Sublette, Tilles, Lindenwood, and Willmore Park’s (each complete with their own band) as we continued to head away from the finish line. I hit the halfway point and was still feeling strong. There was stiffness popping up occasionally, but I felt in control and continued to down gels every 5 miles as I plodded along at just under 7:30 pace. The surroundings became more familiar as I entered Carondelet Park, where I had scouted the course the day prior. I had a boost of energy knowing every step from here was in the direction of downtown and the finish. Leaving the park, I had covered around 16.5 miles and was not running with much company anymore. To provide myself some additional mid-to-late race motivation, I saved my iPod for just this moment. Wandering into my own tunes with less than 10 miles to go felt great, and I picked up the pace just slightly.

En route back to downtown, the route took us past Bevo Mill Restaurant (sp?) right around the time we hit the 20 mile mark. This was a good point for me to see where I stood. I certainly wasn’t 100%, but I was moving along steadily and could not see myself crashing in the near future. The course did not make it easy on us though, as mile 20 was nearly all uphill on a straight grind from the restaurant until we re-encountered Tower Grove Park. I felt good as I ran beside the park…I was past the 20mile mental barrier and on flat roads for now. I had the confidence that I was going to finish strong. However, at this point, my legs were pretty worn down, so picking up the pace was not an option. The goal became to maintain the pace to the finish.

As I exited the Tower Grove Park area, I got another morale boost as the course re-merged with the half-marathon course which was now filled with the half walking crowd. It was a large crowd and I was again amazed at the number of half participants. Luckily, the roads were wide and they created a separate lane for full marathoners so I didn’t have to navigate traffic. As I passed the mass of walkers, many of them yelled encouragement to the marathoners as we went. Plus, now there were a bunch of witnesses if I decided I needed to walk, so it provided quite a bit of motivation. The half-marathoners would accompany me the remainder of the way to the finish.

As I hit mile 23 near Lafayette Park I was pleased since I felt like I had a solid race in the bag. But 3+ miles still seems like quite a drag so I was ready to be in the finish chute. I kind of went into a trance in this section where I didn’t feel good or particularly motivated, but I didn’t need to stop and was close enough that I wouldn’t have anyways. I just had to get the work done at this point. The roads opened up around mile 25 and I could see Union Station off in the distance. The finish was at the park just on the other side of the station. It seemed to take longer to cover the distance until Union Station was passing on my right, but by the time I reached it I could hear the finish line hoopla, so put away my iPod and prepared to take in the finish experience. A female runner that had been near me for the last mile or so got news from a spectator that she was 5th (if I remember correctly) woman on the road as we rounded the last bend into the home stretch. I eased up a bit and let her kick ahead to have plenty of time to enjoy her impressive finish, then I cruised in shortly behind with a smile on my face (a rarity for me at the end of races, although I’m sure it looked more like a grimace). I stopped the clock, officially at 3:15:50 which to my surprise was a top-100 overall finish.

Not my best look, but victorious nonetheless

I cheerfully made my way through the finisher’s chute and waited in line to grab some nutrition. All of a sudden my legs realized what had happened in the past few hours because I was overcome with throbbing pain from my glutes all the way to the bottoms of my feet. It was pretty excruciating, so I wasn’t in such a good mood anymore. I continued out to find my family moving at a snail’s pace now, before settling down on a stone barrier to rest/stretch. It took a good 10 minutes for the pain to subside and I could attempt real movement again, but by the time we moved back to the stretch to watch our other runners finish I felt pretty decent, and incredibly tired. The three remaining runners decided to do the whole event together and crossed the finish within a minute of each other. What makes it more impressive is that Jason, my sister’s fiancé, had not done a marathon before and was actually registered for the half…he just “felt pretty good” at mile 8 and decided to attempt the full. My dad and sister also both PR’d after doing some solid sandbagging when talking about the race in the weeks leading up to it.

It was a great way to end the 2011 season and I’ve finally conquered my marathon demons, so have a high level of confidence heading into the 2012 season. But first, off-season, vacation, and the holidays…and did I mention a vacation.

A Busy Fall Part 2: Hilly Hundred Weekend 2011

2011-11-14T15:53:00.001-08:00

My October of activity continued with the Hilly Hundred Cycling Weekend in Ellettsville, IN a couple weeks ago. It is a laid back cycling tour through south central Indiana, near Bloomington. About 5000 cyclists of all ability levels come and take on the course with its varied, rolling-hill terrain for a couple days, riding a little over 100 miles (and 8000+ ft elevation gain) total. I have wanted to do a lower intensity, “enjoy the scenery” type of fall tour for some time now and finally got a chance thanks to my sister and her fiancée having previous experience with this event (and also participating this year). Here’s how the weekend unfolded…

Friday evening, the wife and I packed up and made our way to Ellettsville. The drive from Cincy took us longer than anticipated since much of the trip is on back roads. We also had not anticipated the driving time to and from our hotel to race registration and back, which added almost an additional hour. Either way, we made it to registration at the local high school and found the school grounds had been invaded by an army of tents and RV’s. Apparently a large percentage of participants come for a weekend long campout as well…an idea that I think would be appealing when participating in this event in the future. Registration itself was pretty straightforward and included a fun welcome video (featuring Peewee Herman). Susan grabbed her volunteer information as well since she would be working an aid station on Saturday morning, then we made our way back to to find my sister and company and eat a late dinner before relaxing at the hotel for the night.

Saturday began early, sometime around 5:30am with breakfast at the hotel and driving to the high school (also the start and finish for both Saturday and Sunday rides) to ensure Susan arrived in time to man her aid station. I took the extra morning time to clean my bike a bit and grab some coffee to get myself warm since the dawn temperature was in the mid-30s. Once we had collected our group of riders, we took off on day 1’s voyage in the 7:00 hour. With this event, there is not a set start time…you just take off whenever within a range of morning hours. This works pretty well with the incredible amount of bikes on the road.

Ride 1 – 57.5 miles – 5200 ft ascent
A caravan of cyclists exited Ellettsville with us, so the pace was exceedingly slow at the start as we weaved through traffic to find some room to maneuver. A short, but very steep climb came right out of the gate which didn’t help the traffic situation since some bikers were walking their gear up the hill and others were resting waiting for friends to catch up at the top. Our group bypassed this hill and found the roads more open on the other side. About ½ ways between the start and our first rest stop (only about 15 miles in) I pulled ahead of our group to attempt to get my heart rate up some and loosen my legs up. This was mostly an effort to warm my body up, and it seemed to work pretty well. I pulled into the first aid station a couple minutes ahead of the rest of our party and went to search for the wife. I found her incredibly busy at the food tent slicing muffins and bananas. It was amazing the activity of participants loading up on the offerings of snacks after only 14 miles of riding. The amount and selection of food was pretty astounding including donuts (the pumpkin was popular), muffins, granola bars, fruit, bagels and peanut butter, etc. The placement of rest stops worked well for our group throughout the weekend since we could ride at our separate paces and regroup periodically to ensure we were all relatively near one another.

At Rest Stop 1

Once regrouped and successfully sated, we moved along toward the lunch stop. That’s right, more food only 14 miles ahead. This section was pretty flat compared to what was ahead, but included some rough pavement so the ride was taxing at times. Through this segment of the ride the temperatures came up and it was time to strip the over-layers I left with in the morning. By the time we reach the lunch stop, it was comfortably warm and sunny. Lunch included another smorgasbord of food including fried chicken, pasta salads, veggies, cookies and ice cream treats. I was amazed I was able to resist over-filling myself, but the thought of riding bikes on a full stomach made many of the options less appealing.

Either way, by late morning we left for the second half of the day’s ride. In the first couple miles after the lunch stop we passed a long elevated train bridge across the fields to the left. A lot of riders stopped for a photo op as it was quite picturesque. Unfortunately my camera batteries died within 15 minutes of starting the day’s ride, so I just had to take a mental snapshot as I rode by. The next section of road was marked by a number of rollers, but no major climbs. However, the roads in this section were some of the sketchiest we would encounter through the weekend. Considering the variation in rider handling skills and the number of cyclists on the road, I thought this section of the route in particular was a questionable decision by the race organizers. I consider myself a competent bike handler, but was white knuckled on a couple of the descents with blind corners and hard to spot pot holes and gravel. Another rider nearly crashed just behind me when he launched a water bottle on a pot-holed descent and the projectile got lodged under his rear-tire. Amazingly he recovered and we all shared some nervous laughter recounting the experience, but obviously it could have been a potential disastrous situation. A secondary effect of the rough roads was premature discomfort in the saddle. As we neared the last rest stop of the day I was ready for a break to stretch out. I noticed a cyclist pass me with a kit that reminded me of my high school, so I let him pace me to the next stop where I could ask him about it. Turns out, it’s the official racing kit of the Trinity High School cycling club team that apparently was started a couple years after I graduated. I talked with my new acquaintance and admired his kit while waiting to regroup at the last station. With only about 12 miles remaining in the day, I bypassed the food and just reloaded on water before leaving for the final miles of the day.

The last stretch into town was the toughest of the day. The road conditions improved, but the rolling terrain seemed to compress into a constant series of ups and downs. Also complicating the final stretch was the increase in traffic near and in Ellettsville. None of the roads were closed to traffic, which wasn’t really an issue on the isolated country roads. However, in the city even though traffic was light by most standards, every car on the road with the multitude of bikers made navigation difficult. Midway through this stretch I was ready to be done with the Saturday ride, so I pushed a little harder and just knocked out the remaining miles. I reached the finish area and just lay on the ground at the high school until everyone else arrived. Once all were collected I tracked down the wife who was exhausted from her volunteering experience (but said it was a lot of fun interacting with the riders, locals, and listening to the rest stop band belt out jazz tunes) and napping in the car.

After the ride, it was back to the hotel for cleanup, college football, and naps before heading into nearby Bloomington for dinner. Being a college town, Bloomington offered a good selection of “pub grub” which is exactly what we were craving after the day’s exertion. It was at dinner we all realized that even though we weren’t pushing the paces too hard, the effort of the day had taken a toll on us…we were tired. The remainder of the evening was spent at the hotel with beer and board games before an early bedtime. The Sunday route awaited us early the next morning.

With no volunteering to hurry down for, Sunday began slightly later than Saturday and the extra sleep was appreciated. Also, the morning weather was warmer so less layering was required. The temperatures by the end of the ride Sunday would actually be in the mid 70’s. Since we’d also be driving home at the end of the ride today, we started just after dawn.

Ride 2 – 49 miles – 3950 ft ascent
Sunday’s route left town in the opposite direction and is apparently the same route every year. It contained most of the notable hills and sites of the weekend. That being said, the first 9 miles to the rest stop are kind of slow and unremarkable. There was a nice stretch in a valley between fields of crops surrounded by rolling hills that was a pleasant way to warm up the legs while taking in some nice scenery. It was actually more ideal to start with a segment that included less major hills at the start of the day to get some miles knocked out while making sure everything was in order. Since we were somewhat more concerned about making good time, we only stopped long enough for a quick stretch before leaving rest stop 1 and heading toward the lunch stop.

Heading Out of Town to Start Day 2

The second segment of the Sunday route was the highlight for me. Initially you cruise through some farm roads before making way into a more heavily wooded area. Much of this section is a state forest, explaining all the trees. Before long, you officially enter a state park area where the roads are in perfect, smooth condition. After a couple miles enjoying the roads and forest, you will hit one of the signature climbs of the Hilly, Bean Blossom Hill. It’s the longest total climbing section of the whole route. The base of the hill is steep and gets you cranking and worn out right away. After only about a quarter mile or so of hammering the steep segment, Bean Blossom relents into a false flat before essentially stair-stepping for the next 1.5 miles or so. The reward at the top is even smoother roads and a long gentle descent out the other side of the park, complete with some openings in the tree line to some spectacular forest views from above. I was in my zone through here and probably experiencing “cyclers high”. The weather had warmed up a good deal and I would have been uncomfortable with my windbreaker, but the shade kept the park nice and cool. As you exit the park proper, you pick up the descending pace, and basically just coast right in at a high speed to the lunch stop.

A Taste of the Local Scenery

With the wife off-duty for Sunday, she made her way around with camera in tow and met us for lunch. She was also doing a bit of artsy photography with my sister and her fiancée’s bikes for their upcoming wedding, so was on her photography game. As the rest of the group arrived we grabbed food (same offerings at all the stops as the prior day) and lounged for a while on the grass, baking in the fall sunshine. Pressed by our tentative schedule, we didn’t picnic for too long before heading onward. The Mt Tabor climb stood between us and the next rest stop and I was eager to see what the deal was. Over the past couple days since arriving in Ellettsville; I’d heard many participants allude to it in anticipation or dread.

Right after leaving the lunch venue, there were a couple climbs that were no joke, there to punish those who overindulged on cookies and ice cream. After overcoming those climbs in the initial miles, things flattened out. However, the pace didn’t rise since the road conditions deteriorated some as we cruised through open farm fields with grazing livestock. Also, now that we were in open air and atop a hill I was able to notice how windy it had become. For the most part there weren’t crazy gusts, but just a steady strong breeze. At this point, I had enough energy to just push through it when it was working against me. Before long, we got shielded by trees as we descended into the valley just before Tabor. Now, Mt Tabor isn’t a mountain at all as there are none in the area…it’s not even really a very tall hill. The segment of road that climbs Tabor is less than a quarter mile long. What makes Tabor the epic climb of the event is that it takes the quickest way possible up the hill, making it consistently, impressively steep. The average grade for .2 miles is 20.2%. Many participants were unable to even attempt climbing that grade and instead opted to walk it from the beginning. Further complicating the Mt Tabor climb is the traffic that gets built up there…people walking…people passing…automobile traffic. At any moment the person struggling in front of you could tumble causing a massive slow speed pile-up. Then, if that’s not enough, there is an intersection at the top and the grading increases to greater than 23% at the very end to accommodate the incoming road. If out riding solo, I don’t think I would have too much trouble with it, but I nearly did not make it after getting stuck behind someone moving much slower than me due to getting pinned to the right by a truck coming down the hill. Luckily, before I came to a complete stop, the truck passed and I was able to swing into open space and make it to the top.

Participants Struggle Up Tabor (I’m not longer one of them at this point)

Many people congregate at the apex of Mt Tabor to celebrate their accomplishment, but I decided to move along since the final rest stop was only a couple miles ahead on downhill roads. Unfortunately I missed Susan who visited Tabor to take in the suffering with her camera lens and the rest of our party met her at the top for a break. Before the last rest stop in a small town there is a very fun winding descent into the town center. It had some technical turns, so had some hay bales setup. This gave the arrival into the last rest stop a very European cycling race feel…very cool.

The last rest stop was also a highlight since it had a great back-country band playing very folksy tunes like “Home-grown Tomatoes” and including banjo and spoon players. Everyone regrouped one last time and enjoyed the music before moving onward. My sister and I went ahead since we were getting warm and ready to complete the ride. The last miles had one notable climb to the Ellettsville town water tower, but was more notable for the wind. A head and cross wind made it a slow grind for 2/3’s of the last segment. My sister and I just settled into a cadence and talked as we worked through the wind. No reason to overdo it now. After climbing to the water tower, though the descent put us in line with the wind and the tailwind propelled me home to the finish. The Hilly Hundred 2011 was complete!

Looking back, the event was a blast. I would highly recommend it, or other fall bike tours like it. It’s a much different atmosphere from the road running and triathlon scene with a different crowd. The bike tour crowd is a laid back bunch, eating a lot, enjoying the scenery, talking it up with anyone and everyone. Also, at least in the case of Hilly, they’ve found a way to coexist with the locals despite overcrowding the roads. Many locals allow their yards and towns to be hosting sites for rest stops and are out enjoying the music and interacting with the riders. If I return in the future, the only change I would make is look closer into camping at the high school. It would have been nice to be closer to the starting line and I think camping (assuming good weather) would add another element of fun to the event.

As I continue to clear up the backlog of posts I need to get out, my next task is to get a race report for the St Louis Marathon written up and on the blog in the next couple days…before it gets overshadowed by the upcoming vacation!

A Busy Fall Part 1: Bourbon Chase 2011

2011-11-07T19:51:00.001-08:00

The fall season offers a variety of opportunities to enjoy the autumnal weather while engaging in some different activities than the standard triathlon, running, or biking race. In my run up to the St. Louis Rock n Roll Marathon at the end of this month, I am taking advantage of a couple of these opportunities. This past weekend was the Kentucky Bourbon Chase, a 200-mile team relay race (similar to the famed Hood to Coast) through the heart of Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail and ending in nearby downtown Lexington. I had actually raced this event last year as a sub and had a great time, but never got around to posting a report on the blog. This year, I participated with the same core team as last year, but was able to extend additional invitations to my dad, sister and her fiancé who were all in the same van as me. Here’s how the weekend went…

The weekend began with some logistics, including driving to Lexington to meet other teammates before picking up the rental vehicles and heading back to the meeting point to drop off cars and combine everyone into the 2 team SUVs. From here, we made our way to the Jim Beam distillery for check-in and to get ready for our 2:15pm start on Friday. My group was in the first vehicle, so we were immediately on-duty.

Our first runner took off from the distillery on a brutally exposed and hilly 7 mile route in the middle of a hotter than normal afternoon…welcome to the Chase! The rest of “Van1” moved along the route to the end of leg 1. Here, runner 2 took over, runner 1 cooled down and cleaned up a bit, and we moved along to the next transition. This is basically the name of the game when your vehicle is the active one. I was slotted as runner number 4, so began my warm-up as soon as we arrived at the Heaven Hill distillery (where my route began).

Leg 4 – Little Pottershop of Horrors, 5.2 miles (Guidebook rating: difficult)

Our 3rd runner almost snuck up on me, so I didn’t have time to stand in the transition and get stiff and was able to take off pretty much immediately. This route was basically flat to downhill for the first couple miles as it passed some residential areas and a golf course in Bardstown, KY before leaving town via Pottershop Lane. This is where the route gets interesting since Pottershop is a basically a rolling country road with some pretty steep rolling hills. With it being hot and my initial run of the event, I was focusing on not going out too hard since my other legs were longer in distance and rated equally as difficult. This intentional pacing restriction was made more difficult by the other leg 4 runners being quick. Avoiding the temptation to chase down the couple runners that passed me was no easy task. I distracted myself by enjoying the countryside and trying to keep my heart rate under control. As you reach the last mile of this segment of the race, the rollers keep coming more fast and furious and the segment culminates with a steep (shin and quad killing) downhill which is immediately followed by a .25mile+ steep and winding uphill. I focused on damage control on the down slope and transitioned to baby-stepping the uphill and before I knew it, I was rounding the bend and the team vehicles were in sight. Also in sight was my dad (runner #5), so I gladly “passed the baton” to him and completed my first portion of the race.

5.2 miles in 37:07 (~7:08/mile pace)

Once I caught my breath, vehicle 1 moved forward to catch my dad finishing and send my future brother in law on his way, completing our first set. Along the way, we kept our 2nd vehicle informed of our progress so they were set to take over the race at the Maker’s Mark distillery. The party atmosphere at Maker’s was further heightened by an appearance by our team’s biggest fans, my wife and mom, who had spent the afternoon touring the area. They accompanied us to dinner at a coffee shop in Danville (shout-out to The Hub for delicious sandwiches, wraps, coffee, and 24hour service and bathrooms during the Chase). Once we were fed, we knew it wouldn’t be too long before vehicle 2 would return control to us, so we went to nearby Boyle County High School, where they graciously opened their doors to teams to get some rest, to relax in our remaining down time.

All too soon, we were called back into action, so headed out of Danville one town over to Perrysburg to start our 2nd rotation. All the evening running took place in and around Danville, with the first 2 legs running straight from Perrysville to Danville and the remaining 4 performing a loop South to Stanford before returning to Danville once again. The first 3 runners of our vehicle dominated their respective portions in the cooler night-time weather (we started our 2nd session almost exactly at midnight), and before long I was running again…down a highway…at 2AM…not sure of where I was going.

Leg 16 – Standing Fort (Stanford), 6.5 miles (Guidebook rating: difficult)

This leg was as straightforward as could be, mostly running along a shoulder of a highway before turning onto the main roads into the small town of Stanford and cruising some back streets before flying down the final hill near the city hall clock-tower to hand off to the next runner. Or at least that’s how it should have gone.

With the humidity low and the night temperature down around 50, I set out in near ideal running conditions, and my legs felt strong. I pushed a pretty good pace, but didn’t want to overdo it. Due to our team’s allotted starting time for the relay, though, we realized we were falling behind the main pack of teams (through no fault of our own), so I saw this as an opportunity to grab back a couple of minutes. I enjoyed the moonlight and the lonely peace along the highway for the first 2.5 miles before I begin to feel strangely isolated. Then I began to become irrational since I had not looked at the route closely beforehand, so started to consider if I might be lost. I passed a sign earlier that basically just said “Caution: Runners on the Road”. However, I wasn’t having the greatest sign reading visibility due to glare from my headlamp off the signs. The more I moved forward without any signs of other runners, the more I convinced myself that I misread the sign telling me to turn somewhere. I decided to continue forward though since it seemed to be lighter up ahead and I could hopefully get my bearings there. Finally, I came upon another sign and realized I was on the right path; there just weren’t many runners out here with me. Soon enough, a police car marked the point where we would actually turn off the course and I was in the outskirts of Stanford and finally able to see other runners. I realized in my panic I had sped up (a survival mechanism I suppose) and was making great time with only a downhill finish separating me from my team. I began to open it up when I saw the 1 mile to go sign and blew past another smaller sign that looked similar to those on the highway. I crouched down a bit to try and read it, but was unable and didn’t want to lose my momentum so moved straight ahead. As I barreled down the hill and onto Main Street Stanford, I realized I was approaching from the wrong direction. I was supposed to turn at the unreadable sign. I looked back and realized another runner had followed me in my mistake. I checked my Garmin and it appeared the distance was the same as the advertised route, so I assumed I’d be fine just proceeding to the handoff. I was wrong. The volunteer running the transition made me (and my poor victim) turn back and head out of town back up the hill to the turn we missed. I begrudgingly complied, but slowed down substantially for my “penalty loop” which turned out to be nearly 1.1 miles…so much for making up time. I guess I at least got a little extra training in.

7.7 miles in 53:51 (~7:10 pace including penalty cooldown)

The leg immediately following mine was the longest segment our vehicle had to face, so by the time we wrapped up our remaining 2 portions of our 2nd session, it was well past 4AM. Boyle County HS had closed up shop at 4, so our best option was to move forward to the next hand-off point at Four Roses distillery and just nap in the SUV. We made our way through the night to Four Roses with a quick McDonald’s stop, and watched the teams running alongside the main highway nearly the entire drive. Finally, we parked in the Four Roses parking lot a little after 5 and slept for a couple hours. The place was already buzzing with activity from teams ahead of us on the road.

Not long after dawn, I was unable to sleep anymore and awoke to find my dad had left a while ago to wander the grounds. I decided to also do a bit of exploring and admiring the Spanish architecture used by the distillery. Before long, I was chilly and returned to the van to find the team rising for the day. We received the call that our other vehicle was due to arrive in around an hour, so it was time for our first runner to begin getting ready to complete her final segment. At around 9:30AM, we were back on duty with one set of 6 segments remaining to run. The morning was cool, but the temperature promised to rise into the 80s through the day, so most of us would be running in the heat.

Our first 3 runners had segments that were relatively short compared to their previous efforts, and they knocked them out quickly…showing only minor drop-offs in pace from their initial paces. These legs took us from Four Roses to Wild Turkey, then across the “High Bridge” and into the outskirts of horse farm country. I took the handoff and left for my final segment of the race, feeling somewhat fatigued but also motivated.

Leg 28 – This Ain’t France, This is “Ver-Sales”, 7.8 miles (guidebook rating: difficult)

Initially when planning for this event, I had keyed on this segment since it was the final and the longest of my set. I was hoping to run this leg strong as a confidence booster heading into my Marathon in a couple weeks that I would be able to run strong on accumulated fatigue. Unfortunately, I didn’t pace as well as I had planned on the night run and probably burned more matches, particularly with the penalty lap. That combined with lack of caloric intake compared to the previous year and the higher temperature at the time of takeoff led to me realigning my goals. I was now just hoping to finish with a steady, sub-8 pace and get the job done.

I took off feeling worn down, but not bad and cruised the first couple miles. A bad early sign was that I was taking special notice of every uphill, the lack of shade, and the heat. By the 5k portion of the run, I turned onto a different road and knew things were starting to get rough. I ascended a long exposed hill and distracted myself with the beautiful countryside before stopping to walk at the next uphill I encountered. The remainder of the run was a jog/walk involving a lot of self-talk to motivate myself forward. Another team on the road offered me a water bottle around mile 6, which I gladly took along as I headed into town to finish my run. I had to walk one more time in the final mile, but was able to manage a measly kick to the hand-off and finish my contribution to the Chase…I was spent.

7.8 miles in 1:01:50 (~8:01/mile pace)

Our remaining two runners took care of business, including our final runner crushing his last segment and sprinting into Woodford Reserve to put a cap on vehicle 1’s final set of runs. Our super-fans reunited with us at this final distillery stop and transition. We relaxed a bit, enjoyed a bourbon ball and complimentary shot of Woodford, some of us collected our commemorative Bourbon Chase bottles of bourbon, and we left for Lexington to grab a big lunch.

Being the first vehicle done, we had a chance to break out to our individual vehicles, return our rental, and a couple of us even grabbed a shower and change of clothes before we made our way to the finish line party.

At around 7PM, our vehicle 2 final runner made his way down the home stretch and we joined him for the kick to the line and to receive our medals. After some post-race pictures and congratulating, most of us headed our separate ways. I decided to forego the free bourbon tasting since I was driving a car back to the hotel and my tolerance was almost certainly non-existent…a bit of a shame since I do enjoy good bourbon. My family (4 of us participants, and our 2 super fans) picked up some beer and ordered pizza at the hotel and celebrated our accomplishment before crashing early. These relay races are an exhausting experience, but a ton of fun.

Next weekend I’m switching my mode of transport and taking on a bike tour in Indiana at the Hilly Hundred. This should be a little less taxing, but I’m looking forward to it.

The full team – Victorious!

Branson 70.3 (Survival) Race Report

2011-09-22T06:37:00.001-07:00

“Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life” –E.M. Forster (The quote for Sunday, September 18 in my planner)

Branson 70.3, my “A” tri of the season is now officially in the books. I’m still not sure what my family and I got ourselves into even now, days after the race.

To go back, this season was planned to be a return to short-course triathlons after the multiple year build-up to Ironman Louisville 2010 for myself, my sister, and my dad. However, not to abandon long-course completely, we decided to culminate the season with another 70.3. This was mainly due to the fact that my sister’s significant other (now fiancée) was hoping to do his first 70.3, and so to show our support we thought we’d all get in on the fun with him. What we failed to do in our planning was to thoroughly compare the 70.3 options available and basically “just decided” to do Branson since it is in the fall/late season and it is in proximity to St. Louis (sister and fiancé’s city of residence). None of us had been to Branson recently enough to know anything about the terrain or the city in general and we only performed limited scouting beforehand. In fact, all we really knew as we left St Louis Saturday morning was that the bike course was “pretty hilly”.

Mentally, my training this year has also been less focused than in the past. I attribute some of it to a post-Ironman slump, brushes with burnout, and additional life stresses that have affected my motivation. That being said, I’ve still hit my PR for Olympic distance racing this year at Deer Creek and even took an overall victory at a small race in NW Ohio, so it’s not been a bad year at all.

In my lack of focus, I neglected thorough bike training in the run up to Branson, despite knowing vaguely of the hilly bike course. Many of my bike workouts were base without hills and a fair bit of the work was done on the trainer. Most of my key workouts have been reserved for running since I have an October Marathon looming, and have yet to successfully complete a marathon without exploding at “the wall”.

Now, enough with the back story nonsense and onto the race weekend itself. The drive from St. Louis to Branson was marked by rain (I see a theme) for nearly its entirety. As the terrain became lumpier and the billboard advertisements more ridiculous, we knew Branson was fast approaching. Since check in is at the host hotel (The Chateau) which is perched beautifully on a steep hill overlooking Table Rock Lake, we were able to bypass Branson proper initially and instead approached The Chateau through the misty midday fog. Our arrival time was right around lunch time and the “peak” athlete check in hours. However, there were no lines to speak of for any of the registration steps, probably because there are so fewer racers (~650) than at many other 70.3 events. After a quick bite we attended the athlete meeting, mostly to see how the multiple transition area arrangement would work as well as the bad weather contingency plan. Then we made our way down the hillside to Moonshine Beach and T1 to check in our bikes. By this point, the rain was at a heavy drizzle and the temperature was in the low to mid 50’s. Being (not) well prepared with my non-waterproof, lightweight wind-jacket, I was determined to unload the bike, get the race wheels on, inflate, and rack the tri-bike as quickly as humanly possible. This was a mistake, but more on that later.

With our Saturday formalities completed, we made our way to our hotel, nestled nicely between the Hollywood Wax Museum and a near life-sized replica of the Titanic, to check in and get dry before heading out on the town for dinner. On our evening drive to the Branson Landing, we were able to take in all the neon-lit theatres, Chinese buffets, and antique shops that Branson had to offer. The Landing itself offered a nice change being a waterfront outdoor shopping and dining center lacking much of the “glitz” of the rest of the city. Dinner was pub-food, which allowed us to linger and take in a good deal of bad college football (looking at you OSU and Kentucky) before heading in for the night to sort our transition bags and catch some Z’s.

Race morning came early; my stomach was unsettled from heavy dinner and the always good decision of pre-race ice cream, so I skipped my usual race morning banana (but not my coffee) and hit the road to T2 to drop off the run gear bag. Due to the rainy wet conditions, I kept everything tightly packed in my gear bag and included an extra pair of socks for the run, an unusual extravagance for me. After the quick T2 visit, we boarded the duck boats (our shuttles were indeed duck boats) and “set sail” for T1 and the swim start. T1 setup was more scaled down than usual for me since I wanted to keep everything under cover in case a shower passed through during the swim. Once setup was complete, it was off to the beach to talk through our nervousness with the rest of the participating family and our support crew (brave mothers in this case). Sunrise arrived and the clouds actually appeared to be clearing. The water was glassy-smooth as the pros launched at 7AM with my dad in the first wave behind. My sister launched 10 minutes later at 7:15, when I decided to fully don the wetsuit and down my pre-race Powergel.

At 7:40, M18-29 was sent from the beach with me included. My goal here was to get my stroke rate up quickly to warm up and set a strong initial pace as well as to position myself near the middle of my AG pack to provide natural “human bumpers” to keep me swimming straight. Both goals were accomplished well, and soon enough I was in a rhythm. The course is an elongated, slightly askew rectangle and there were plenty of buoys to sight off of, so I just started ticking off the meters. I felt like things were going well, and my belief was confirmed when I began passing swimmers from 2 waves prior in the last 500 meters. I hopped out of the water and jogged up the stairs to T1 with my legs feeling a little more rubbery than usual at this point in HIM, but I’ll take some early fatigue for a new best swim in non-current conditions. Swim: 35:22 (23/61 in M25-29)

T1 was uneventful and I was quickly out on the bike course. T1: 2:53

As soon as you leave the parking lot on the bike you are faced with the harsh reality of the hills. Climbing made up the majority of the first 3 miles, so I just settled into a comfort zone and focused on slowly grinding upward while getting my nutrition and trying to diagnose what that awful creaking noise was coming from my bike. At around mile 7, the course reaches “The High Road” and the first aid station. At this milestone, I decided to stop and correct the still mysterious noise issue on my bike. After a little time with the bike upside down, I realized that in my haste to get out of the rain on Saturday, I had installed my rear wheel to close to the frame cutout and it was therefore rubbing the frame. Getting frustrated with the time I was losing, I continued to door a poor job of correcting the problem while getting increasingly worked up. Finally, after a few deep breaths I backed the skewer position out of the drop-outs a bit to allow more clearance before continuing on. The only problem with this was that I was now riding paranoid that my rear wheel was not firmly enough seated into position and would disconnect from the frame on one of the descents. This was an absurd notion, but it kept me from really pushing the initial descents until I regained trust in my equipment. The 10 mile time-split came finally (the slowness can be seen on the results) and the remainder of the bike proceeded smoothly.

The “High Road” is a highway sitting high in the Ozarks allowing for awesome views coupled with roller-coaster terrain. The majority of the bike course was spent either grinding up a hill at 10mph, or zooming downward at 35+…it was a true test with about 30% more ascending than the Louisville IM course in only half the distance (according to MapMyRide). Knowing this was no PR course, I tried to take it all in stride and just focus on how I felt to guide my pacing. I raced without any technology so I wouldn’t be tempted to compete against my average speed. As the final miles approached, the wind and clouds picked up, so I was glad to be leaving the High Road for the descent into Branson. All told, the bike was fine, and looking back I consider myself lucky for not getting a flat considering the sharp, fine gravel that washed onto the road from Saturday’s rain had many victims including my soon to be brother in law and my dad (1 flat each), as well as my sister (2 flats and forced to retire from the race when the SAG vehicle ran out of spare equipment). After some steep descents and a no-passing technical bike-path section on the run into town, I was racking my bike at Branson Landing and leaving for the final leg of the race. Time: 3:13:27 (17.37mph, 22/61 in M25-29).

T2 was quick, mainly due to the lack of clutter in the transition area. T2: 1:44.

The run is a multi-loop course (2 & 7/8’s loops according to the race director), that runs flat along the river. Part of each loop is through the center of the Landing shopping center, a very spectator friendly strip. The rest of the loop runs along the river through an RV park, under some old railroad bridges, through some residential areas and looping at a small park outside of downtown. I settled into what felt like a very controlled pace, but could not really tell since my pacing off the bike is usually incorrect without being monitored (which I was not doing…no technology). Looking at the 2 mile split, I went out a little too hot at 7:01 pace…should have been more in the 7:15-7:30 pace. Somewhere on the return to the landing in my 3rd mile there was a huge crack of thunder. This drew my attention upward to the now dark heavens staring ominously back down. Uh-oh!

As I passed the finish chute at mile 4 the rain began to fall, first in drops, but steadily increasing to a downpour complete with its own light and sound show. As my motivation to continue began to rapidly decrease, my mind wandered to the rest of the family that I presumed was still on the bike course. I was afraid for them with the remaining descents into town and the harrowing weather conditions. At this time, I also stopped taking nutrition…I don’t think this was related to my distraction but instead to having taken in too much water at early aid-stations convincing my stomach that it was full. As the run turned into a rapid wading contest on lap 2, I began looking out for familiar faces on the course. I got frustrated when I began to tire and was not seeing any of the Kissel race team on the run, so negativity took over. I found myself walking intermittently through during basically all the remaining miles from 6 to the finish, but not so much because my legs were dead. My running pace was still strong at 7:30-7:45, but I just didn’t want to be out there slogging anymore.

I caught my mom at the beginning of the 3rd lap and asked about the others, but was not given reassuring response. I was more distracted at this point since I had only seen my dad on the run course thus far and was told vaguely that “we weren’t all out here” at the loop. With my negative mind-set, my thoughts immediately went to crashes and injuries and I almost pulled out of the race to see what the situation was. Of course the situation was much less severe, albeit the disappointing news that my sister was pulled from the bike course. I continued slowly the final loop only taking in water and just trying to complete the task at hand. I finally kick myself into gear around mile 12 to go ahead and run the rest of the way in. I turned in a decent kick down the finish chute and went in search of the family. I was unaware of my race splits until talking to my wife on the phone about a half hour after the race. Run Time: 1:50:45 (8:27 pace)

Final Time: 5:44:11 (15th of 61 M25-29).

Post-race, I was relieved to see my sister and find out that the other 2 were still on the course (although I’m sure they weren’t as pleased at the time). After a pit-stop at the car to warm-up and grab a blanket, we returned to the finish to cheer in the remaining competitors. It was time to get dry, get fed, and get the heck out of that tacky, rainy city!

Looking back from my dry living room, I am glad to have partaken in the challenge that was Branson. If I’m going to race a slow 70.3 course, it might as well be in crazy weather conditions as well to add to the adventure. The time is what it is. I think on a good day without the bike pit stop and a more focused run I could have been maybe 20 minutes faster, but it still wouldn’t have put me near a qualification spot. I severely underestimated the course, but enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

My tips for anyone considering this race in the future:

Stay near Table Rock Lake and away from Branson if possible to avoid the cheesiness of the city.
Practice biking on long, sustained climbs (1-2 miles) with steady grades. Most climbs could be completed spinning up in a low gear without needing to stand and crank on it.
Enjoy the scenery of the High Road. There is no other 70.3 venue with as much bike-course scenery in North America.
Pack your sense of humor. Chances are, you’ll need it at some point in the weekend.
Thank the volunteers…they were heroes and didn’t even flinch as the skies opened and attempted to wash them into the river. Everyone remained all smiles (and ponchos) at the aid stations

Anniversary Trip to the Carolinas, Part 2

2011-07-31T18:49:00.001-07:00

The second portion of the anniversary vacation, South Carolina, began Friday evening upon arrival at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina, a small resort hotel across the bay from Charleston proper, near Mt Pleasant. Once checked in, we ventured out for fresh seafood and made our way to the Shem Creek Bar and Grill, as recommended by my mom.

Here, we enjoyed a drink on the back creek bar and listened to a local artist do island influenced renditions of rock and pop hits, including A-ha's Take On Me. Once seated next to an aquarium, we befriended our neighbor fish and got down to the business of eating. The food was delicious and included my first experience "shooting an oyster". I am pretty sure it was also my first experience eating an oyster in any manner...and it was a lot of fun.

After dinner, we checked out the resort a little more in the dark before calling it a night. Friday had been a long day. Saturday morning, we were welcomed with mid-90's temperatures and 110+ degree heat indexes. Seems this is a common theme this summer. To make the best of it, we started the day with breakfast at a local coffee shop, Metto, before catching a water taxi to Charleston.
Once in Charleston, we had to make a hot walk to the market area, where we began our trek through the city. There were plenty of shopping stops, mostly to take advantage of air conditioning. Unfortunately, we didn't take very good advantage of the many opportunities to checkout a museum or historical site...either due to being disoriented by the heat or a lack of planning. We did take a quick walk down Rainbow Row. After burning out, we caught "Ollie", the resort trolley, back to the hotel.

Some much needed relaxation by the pool recharged our batteries for a trip to Sullivan's Island for an early dinner. We must have picked a local favorite (Sullivan's) because it was packed by 6 pm. More delicious seafood was had before we took off to cruise the strip between Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms. We caught our first glimpse of the actual Atlantic Ocean (instead of the inlets and harbors), which will be the focus of Sunday's activities, before heading back to call it an evening early.

Sunday began with an early morning run in the Charleston heat and humidity. The run involved 2 passes (over & back) of the largest "hill" in the Charleston area, the Arthur Ravanel Bridge (see photo at the bottom of the post). Despite the heat and lack of shade on the bridge the views of both Charleston and Mount Pleasant provided a worthy distraction.

Once business was taken care of, Susan and I headed out for the day, with our late morning activity being bumming on the beach. We hit the Isle of Palms public beach, which was packed with locals and tourists alike. Tide was moving out, so there was plenty of space for everyone. Since we only took books and towels with us, the beach stay mainly consisted of reading, sunbathing, and wading through the surf. I was tempted to steal the buckets of a neighboring beach goer so that I could build a monumental sand castle.

The heat had not come down much from Saturday; thus we only survived until around lunch time at the beach. After grabbing some food at a beach-front dive, we made our way back to the hotel to rinse off the sandiness and prepare for the rest of the day. Since we didn't want to venture immediately back into the heat and still had areas of Charleston I wanted to see, we took a Sunday cruise over to Charleston to check out the historic mansions of Battery St. and the King St shopping district. This also got us out of the hotel room long enough for housekeeping to do their thing.

We returned late afternoon and took up our places by the pool to relax the remainder of our last day of vacation. Clouds began to roll in, so it cooled considerably. Neither of us were feeling up to getting geared up for a fancy dinner, so we just hit a local pub. The food was a letdown considering the rest of the meals on the trip, but expected considering the establishment. After dinner, we returned to the hotel to pack up and prepare for our 10-hour journey back to Cincinnati.

Anniversary Trip to the Carolinas

2011-07-30T18:36:00.001-07:00

In celebration of our 3rd successful year of marriage, Susan and I took off on another extended weekend vacation to mark the occasion. To help alleviate some of the necessary driving, the trip was divided into two segments, we'll call them North Carolina and South Carolina.

North Carolina began on Thursday with a midday drive from Cincinnati to Asheville. We had purchased a package through a hotel that included Biltmore Estate admission for consecutive days, so stopped off at the hotel to grab our tickets. We arrived at the Biltmore entrance when most people were leaving for the day since the house tours were closed. Luckily, our plan was to check out the newer section of the estate, which was Antler Village (and farm) and the Winery.

The village is a circle of shops, restaurants and an exhibition gallery. When we arrived, there was a guitarist jamming some Bluegrass in the rotunda. We hit the area shops and made sure we'd have time to hit the winery last, before we grabbed some ice cream and made our way through the farm.

The farm has one section devoted to turn of the century agricultural technology to give an idea of what life was like at the beginning of the estate's history. Another section has a small garden and a farm animal petting zoo, complete with baby goats, rams, horses & chickens.

We concluded the estate visit with a tour of the winery, with a very talkative tour guide, and a tasting (which was unlimited and free with admission to the estate). To make up for the bargain tasting, we spent a good deal restocking wine in the shop afterwards.

Before leaving the estate, Susan was taken by a field of sunflowers so we stopped for a photo shoot. Then, we made our way to downtown Asheville for dinner. We hit up The LAB (Lexington Avenue Brewery) and returned to our modest hotel to take advantage of the rest of the package deal we received, which included champagne and chocolates.

Friday began with a return to the Biltmore and a tour of the gardens. The tour was abbreviated due to excessive heat, so we grabbed some lunch and decided to take the audio tour of the house. It is mighty impressive, especially the indoor swimming pool. Unfortunately, they outlaw photography in the house. Once our tour was complete, we cruised around the rest of the estate grounds before bidding farewell to Asheville and North Carolina. The remainder of the vacation will be centered in and around Charleston, SC.

Heading West – A Long Weekend in Denver, Day 1

2011-03-25T21:40:00.001-07:00

It’s been a while since we’ve travelled west (about 5 months now), so we decided to take a long weekend trip to Denver and, as usual, are documenting each day in my blog. We flew out of Louisville Friday morning and will return Monday morning. A nice long weekend that started early on Friday with a plane ride…

The wife in front of her windowless window seat

After arriving in Denver, we decided to drive up to Boulder. We were pretty hungry from the travelling and decided to try a University of Colorado hotspot called The Sink. The walls were covered in paintings and the low ceilings were covered in signatures of diners. It was also featured on a recent episode of the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

The Sink

Wall paintings

A shot of the ceiling graffiti

Next stop was Chautauqua Park to check out the Flat Iron Mountains. We walked about the park a bit and then up the trail to the tree line of the mountains. The trail was busy with hikers, families, and dog walkers. It offered a nice view of both the mountains and the city of Boulder below.

After checking out the park, we decided to head to downtown Boulder and see the Pearl Street shopping district. Soon after we arrived, we saw a pretty impressive street performer. He started out on stilts and moved to a very tall unicycle.

He started out with juggling

Then tossed his hat from his foot to his head while on his unicycle

Street Sign in Downtown Boulder

Storefront on Pearl Street

After we had our fill of walking around Boulder, we grabbed a quick snack at a chocolate shop before heading back to Denver. We relaxed at our friend’s place (who is graciously hosting us for the weekend) for a while to get some rest before dinner.

Random shot from the car on the way to Denver

With March Madness in full swing, we had to catch the UK – OSU game which was conveniently during dinner time in Denver. I did some research and found the perfect bar to watch the game. It was called College Inn and was the official bar of the University of Kentucky, Colorado Alumni Association. The bartender noticed the wife’s Ohio license right away and warned her that she’d be outnumbered. The bar was full of enthusiastic UK fans who would burst into spontaneous C-A-T-S cheers throughout the game. They even played the UK Fight Song at halftime. There was a few Ohio State fans to keep the wife company but the roar of the UK fans drowned out her small cheering section.

After watching the Cats pull out a last minute win, we headed home amid the congratulating (for me) and consoling (for the wife) messages. Go cats! Tomorrow we’ll actually try and see some of Denver itself.

Philly/NYC Trip, Day 4

2011-01-20T13:36:00.001-08:00

Saturday morning in NYC was relaxed, involving sleeping in and then a run along the Hudson River. The winds were down and the sun was shining, so even though it was cold out, it felt pretty comfortable while running. By the time we were ready to go out on the town, it was midday and we were ready to get some brunch. Only a short walk away was Edward's, where we had brunch last year. Since there was an additional member of our party this morning who hadn't had an Edward's brunch experience, it provided a good excuse to go back and enjoy more Chillaquilles.

Once fed, it was back to the condo to welcome a couple other friends to the fold. They settled in and got a quick tour of the condo before we left for touristing. Since it was nice out, we wandered South along the Hudson and made our way to the ground zero to see the construction progress. There is a long way to go, but it's nice to see buildings actually starting to rise. From our pit stop at the World Financial Center, we continued south toward Battery Park to get a view of Lady Liberty.

Ground Zero A symphony practicing at the World Financial Center

The Statue of Liberty

Our next goal was to check out a snow-covered Central Park. Unfortunately, the subway we grabbed terminated at Times Square. Since it's an interesting destination, we decided to return to the surface and hike the rest of the way to the park. A lot of weaving was needed to navigate the crowds and there were also a variety of photo-stops along, but we eventually made it to the park.

Times Square

Of course, the park itself is huge and our feet were sore, the temperature was dropping as was our energy. After a brief walk through the SW corner of the park (and a brief snowball fight), we were ready to return to the condo for some pre-dinner rest.

Based on some recommendations from our cousin we headed to the Meatpacking district in the evening, after a good break at the condo, and grabbed food at a casual burger bar. The waitress recommended a nearby pub as a follow-up. We ended the night by checking out a speakeasy that was back down in TriBeCa area before calling it a night.

Sunday morning meant time to go home...a long road for Susan and I. We packed up and grabbed the bus to Philly, loaded the car, and hit the road for the 9 hour drive back to Cincinnati. Another successful trip was completed. Now to dive head-first back into the real world.

Philly/NYC Trip, Day 3

2011-01-15T09:15:00.001-08:00

Friday was moving day for this trip, so sight-seeing time was limited. After sleeping in and taking our time to get going in the morning, Susan and I headed to our destination for the day, The Philadelphia Museum of Art. I’ll let the pictures do the talking describing our time there.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art

Ancient Asian Art

This museum has ancient buildings (this one from China) that was deconstructed in China and reconstructed here. This one is a ceremonial teahouse called Sunkaraku.

If you look close, you can see a painting of the Great Wall of China on the middle one

More ancient Asian art

Onto the European section. This is the portal from the Abbey Church of Saint-Laurent with a Medieval Cloister in the background.

A view of the city from the museum

Horse and Man Armor Boathouse Row from the museum

Ben Franklin and a European room

And now to the contemporary (aka really weird) art. Here’s “The Evil Eye.”

This was a mirror in the shape of the Caribbean Sea set up as a table. It was called Michelangelo Pistoletto: Cittadellarte.

The wife and I by the Caribbean Sea mirror table thing

Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Pissarro

Little Dancer (left); Special exhibit called Michelangelo Pistoletto: From One to Many, 1956-1974.

The wife was having fun inserting herself in the art

Me in jail

Now off to our next destination: taking the Bolt Bus to NYC

We got into NYC and it was around 9pm by the time we were settled. Susan, Henry, and I grabbed dinner at an Italian place near where we are staying before heading into Greenwich Village to check out a couple bars, including accidentally making our way into a gay dive bar. We called it a night early (for a NY night) and prepared to take on the city on Saturday.

Philly/NYC Trip, Days 1 & 2

2011-01-14T12:30:00.001-08:00

I’ve neglected the blog for long enough. I have a backlog of goals/training/racing topics I want to put out there, but am starting with baby steps. The wife and I are amidst another extended weekend vacation, so hopefully documenting our trip will get me back in the rhythm of posting. The current mini-vacation that is underway is split between Philadelphia and NYC. Apparently a trip to NYC is becoming our January tradition.

To get the trip started on the right foot, we left Cincy (by car) midday on Tuesday and drove straight through the snowstorm that hit the Midwest/northeast. There were some tense hours on the road after the sun went down, but after ~12 hours we arrived at our destination. Wednesday was actually the business end of this trip. The wife had an interview throughout the day and I worked from the house of the friend we are staying with, a college roommate of mine. So, other than heading out to dinner at a casual pub on UPenn’s campus, there wasn’t much in the way of sight-seeing. For that reason, I’ll consider the actual vacation as starting on Thursday. To thank our friend for housing us, the wife made him a cake with the liberty bell on it.

Liberty Bell Cake

Thursday AM started as many of my days do, with a workout. I was hoping to get some time on a spin bike at a local gym since I won’t get any “cycling” time in otherwise. However, I was dismayed to find that gyms in the area charge $15-20 for a single day pass. I did actually bite the bullet and pay $15 for one gym, but they ended up not having the equipment I like. Either way, I got something done so it wasn’t a total waste. I arrived back at the house around the time Susan was stirring from sleep and my friend (Henry) was returning from his class. We got ourselves ready, and off to the train we went.

First order of business was lunch. Susan wanted her first cheesesteak experience and Henry wanted to take us to his favorite place for them. We rode to the Old City area and grabbed lunch at Campo’s. I had the BBQ cheesesteak as was recommended and Susan went with the old-fashioned original done up right with Cheese Whiz.

Our cheesesteak stop

Susan enjoying her first bite of a Philadelphia Cheesesteak

After filling our stomachs it was time to fill our minds with knowledge. We walked to the Visitors center in the midst of the historical district and wandered through there. Then, we crossed the street into the Liberty Bell center. We were quick to notice that the crowds in January the few days after a snowstorm are substantially smaller than the norm. In fact, everywhere we went was basically empty. This was great as it gave us a chance to really interact with the park rangers and to take plenty of good pictures. Oh yeah, and all the activities in the area were free during Jan & Feb. Bonus!

We had the bell to ourselves

The Liberty Bell led us straight to the entrance of Independence Hall, where we were able to take a guided tour of the first 2 floors (usually only the first floor is shown when crowds are bigger). After the tour, we wandered the grounds around Independence Hall, checking out original drafts of the Declaration of Independence and seeing where the original Congress met (and finding out why they were called the upper and lower houses).

Our tour guide telling us about the courtroom in Independence Hall

Replica of the Declaration of Independence

The second floor of Independence Hall

House of Representatives room
(on the lower floor of the Congress Building)

Senate room (on the upper floor of the Congress building)

Once our brains were well fed, it was time to wander toward downtown Philadelphia. We took the scenic route, through Chinatown and with a stop at the Reading Terminal Market, an indoor farmer’s market essentially. Wandering the stalls of delicious foods led to an ice cream pit stop before continuing on to City Hall. At Susan’s interviews we were told to check out the view from the City Hall tower, so we went to see what it was all about. For $5 per person, we were able to ride up a tiny elevator (only 5 people could fit) to an observation deck at the base of the William Penn statue. The view was much more spectacular than I had expected, being unobstructed in most directions. Apparently the crowds for the view don’t get too large, even in peak season, so it’s something I’d highly recommend checking out.

Chinatown gate

Entrance to Reading Terminal Market

Some of the items available for purchase

A shot of the market

City Hall

View from the top of the City Hall tower

Mr. Penn at the top of the tower

Standing in the tower observation area

Bridge to New Jersey

Highly recommended

It was getting to be mid-afternoon at this point, and our legs were wearing down on us, so we started our return trip by catching the train back to Penn’s campus, where Henry gave us a tour of the campus as we worked our way back to the house. A couple hours later, we went back out to a local pub with a wide selection of craft beers for dinner before returning to call it a night early. We were worn out by the first day of sight-seeing, so were tucked into bed by 10:30.

A historical building on Penn’s campus

A few shots from around campus

A Trip to New Mexico, Day 4 – A (Balloon) Fiesta

2010-10-10T06:37:00.001-07:00

Our final full day in New Mexico began with an even earlier wake-up time than the rest of the vacation. We awoke at 5 am and made the 45 minute drive from Santa Fe to Albuquerque for the Mass Ascension at the Balloon Fiesta. We arrived shortly before the 7 am lift-off. Thankfully, we had the foresight of buying tickets a few days before so we were able to bypass the enormous line that formed near the entrance to the field.

The Balloon Fiesta Mass Ascension featured about 500 hot air balloons which rose within 90 minutes of each other. Balloons featured included several shapes, sizes, and colors. Some of the many photo highlights are below:

The owl balloon surveys the situation (above)

Darth Vader lifting off into the rising sun (above)

The balloon family were separate balloons that inflated and lifted off together. They were a crowd favorite.

After getting our fill of the hot air balloons, we grabbed some Starbucks on our way to the Sandia Peak Tramway. We arrived at the base of the mountain only to find a sign saying the wait from this point was 1.5 hours. Even though riding the longest tram in the world was appealing, we decided not to waste a good portion of our last day standing in line. The view from the base of the lift was pretty good anyways, and the Sandia mountain range didn’t offer the tree-lined scenery we got in Santa Fe.

After finding our way out of the tramway area, we decided to head to the Petroglyph National Monument. Petroglyphs are rock carvings depicting different aspects of Indian life in the area. Many were carved around the 1300s.

With the early start to the morning, we were worn down by shortly after lunch. We checked into the hotel a little early and relaxed, cleaned up, watched college football, and tracked Kona for a while before heading out for the evening.

Our last night was spent in the Nob Hill area, a trendy bar and restaurant district that’s a few blocks long, near the University of New Mexico. It was pretty crowded with college students, so had a good energy, probably also helped by the New Mexico vs NM State rivalry game being played. After dinner we returned to the hotel to get things together in preparation for our morning flights back to the Midwest.

With that, our mini-vacation has come to a close. Back to the real world of school and work again tomorrow. However, to close out the trip report, I leave you with a short video of the balloon filled sky at the 2010 Balloon Fiesta shot, along with everything else, by Susan.

A Trip to New Mexico, Day 3 – The Way to Santa Fe

2010-10-08T21:27:00.001-07:00

Friday AM brought another early wake-up and run in the ominous morning weather. The legs were not as cooperative this morning, so the run was ended after 4 tough miles. After cleaning up, packing, and saying good-bye to the resort we made our way out of Taos. After searching for a bakery, we found a coffee shop that was sufficient and fuelled for the trip.

On the way out of Taos, in the smaller village of Ranchos de Taos, we stopped to view the San Francisco de Asis church, the most photographed church in the US. It seems to represent the typical adobe chapel model of NM churches.

Adding ourselves to the number of people who have photographed the church. We were also struck by the beauty of the neighboring house and courtyard, (below) complete with chiles.

We then made our way south to Santa Fe, this time taking the “low road” which provided great canyon views and some time riding along the Rio Grande river.

Before heading to Santa Fe proper, we climbed the adjacent mountain to the Santa Fe ski area and rode the ski lift to an overlook. It was cool at the peak and we were not dressed for it, so our time on top of the mountain was short-lived. After an obligatory couples photo, we hiked back to the base.

Notice the blanket of aspen trees covering the mountains. Dramatically different than the desert below. The fall colors were impressive.

Once reaching Santa Fe, it was time for a late lunch. My chicken sopapilla (puffed bread) with chile sauce was just what I needed before heading into the plaza. The plaza was buzzing with vendors and tourists as we crossed to the Cathedral, a more modern church built in a similar model to the adobe chapels.

Then went away from the plaza to Canyon Rd, the road of the artists. It’s a winding road that isn’t much wider than an alley, but is covered on both sides by art galleries for at least a mile. Of course, we couldn’t even pretend to be able to buy any of the art, so Susan just grabbed some photos as we passed through.

Below is an artistic shot of a windmill.

…and a bronze sculpture of a girl swinging from the nearby tree.

Once we returned to the plaza, we realized how worn down we were. Since the plan was to return to the same area for dinner we decided to check in at the hotel and take a break for a while.

We returned to the plaza after dark and hunted down a restaurant where Susan got a 400th anniversary (of the founding of Santa Fe) margarita with collectors glass. It may have also been the first hot meal I’ve eaten here that didn’t feature chiles. Then, since we have an extra early morning planned, we decided to call it a night. However, on our way out of downtown, a pit stop was made at Ecco for some deliciously authentic gelato.

Tomorrow brings the last full day of this mini-trip, but the plan is to end with a fiesta…

A Trip to New Mexico, Day 2 – All Around Taos

2010-10-08T07:44:00.001-07:00

It was an early morning start, due to the early bedtime and time adjustment, so I was out of bed at 6:30 and out the door for a run in the cool morning by 7:00. After winding through the Taos plaza area for almost 6 miles, I got back to the hotel and got ready to return to the touring.

We made our way to a local bakery/diner for breakfast, the tortilla rellena (sp?) was delicious being basically a giant breakfast burrito (covered with green chile sauce, of course). Once fully fuelled, it was off the the Taos pueblo.

There are a handful of pueblos, particularly in the region between Santa Fe and Taos, with some being abandoned ruins and others still being actively used as Indian communities. Taos pueblo is the latter, and therefore is incredibly well maintained given the age of the buildings. The people who still live in the village (w/in the wall) where the tourists visit live without running water or electricity. Many of the ground level homes are used as shops to sell baked goods and handmade arts and crafts. Below is some shots of the pueblo…notice the amazing backdrop of living in the valley below some of the highest mountains in NM.

I was initially confused by the sign below as to why Native Americans would be serving Indian food…then it dawned on me.

After the pueblo, we made the short drive west to the Rio Grande Gorge bridge. Although the bridge itself isn’t incredibly breathtaking, it’s the fifth highest bridge in the US so provided some awesome views of the Gorge.

The raging Rio Grande river

After walking to the center of the bridge and being terrified by the vibrations caused by a semi-truck we made our way back to the car, but not without first seeing (and hearing) a truck in a tough situation…driving with a fully loaded bed of lumber and no rear tire.

Only about a mile further west of the bridge is the Earthships world headquarters. We figured since we were so close, we’d stop by and see what life in an Earthship was all about.

Not trash, but building materials

While I applaud the creativity and effort taken to live low/no impact, I’m not quite ready to move into my own Earthship.

The tour of the Earthships was short, and soon we were back on the road to Taos with the goal of grabbing some gelato for lunch and hitting the shops in the main village before their early closing time. By the completion of the shopping trip we were beat, so it was back to the hotel for a pit-stop before going back out for dinner.

Not a real elk

Once thoroughly relaxed, we grabbed dinner at a small local brew pub, where I enjoyed a veggie burger (with chiles…a theme is emerging). Post-dinner, we hurried to the Best Western, of all places, to see an Indian dancing show that we were told started at 8 by a local shop-owner. Unfortunately, this was a fail since we were told on arrival that the show started at 7 and had just recently ended. With our evening plans shot and Taos closing down at an early hour, it was back to the hotel for us to hang out a bit before going to bed.

Tomorrow takes us back to Santa Fe…

A Trip to New Mexico, Day 1 – Getting There

2010-10-07T08:04:00.001-07:00

Despite the fact that school is in full-swing for both Susan and me, we decided it was high time for another mini-vacation. Actually, it is my parents vacation that we chose to piggyback on a portion of. Either way, we’ll be exploring Northeast New Mexico over the next few days.

The trip began early yesterday. Thanks to the hospitality of some friends, we were able to stay in Dayton the night prior to our 6AM flight and were given a ride to the airport way too early in the morning. After a couple flights with minimal delays, we found ourselves in the Albuquerque airport where my parents awaited our arrival.

First order of business was picking up some tickets for Saturday morning’s balloon fiesta mass ascension. Then we grabbed some lunch (where I had my introduction to the local red and green chile’s) and made our way northeast to Santa Fe.

The main tourist activity of the day was a scenic back road trip to Taos. Out of the scenic route options, we took the “high road”, which travelled along at a higher elevation (than the “low road”), as you might expect…

We were pretty excited about the higher speed limit in NM, but don’t get caught talking on your cell phone and driving.

Familiarizing ourselves with the desert landscape, including the aptly named Camel Rock (below)

After hitting the back roads, we got to our first pit-stop in Chimayo at the local chapel (below) where we also caught our first glimpses of artists in action (she’s painting the chapel)

This strange depiction (above) of St Francis of Assisi and the stylish skeleton, with his globe in hand, riding in the cart was hiding below the chapel at Chimayo…we are still looking for what it’s supposed to mean.

Further along the poorly marked roads to Taos, we passed through a variety of small villages. What struck me most was that, despite not being more than an hour from a good sized city (Santa Fe), the villages gave the feeling of being in a remote portion of another country. The gravel roads, small adobe chapels surrounded by smaller adobe huts, and basic lack of commercialization made for a unique atmosphere, particularly for being in the US.

By mid-afternoon, we found our way to Taos, and to our hotel, which is pretty spectacular. Travel tip: Ski resort hotels have great deals in the off-seasons. Pictures of the hotel grounds and our room, complete with fireplace and large, spa-like bathroom are below.

After settling in and taking an exploratory walk of the resort, we walked into the Taos plaza where most of the shops had already closed, before grabbing dinner at the Gorge bar and grill.

Post-dinner had us return to the hotel for some relaxation and a fire before a pretty early bedtime. It was a long first day.

One more tri to close out the season

2010-09-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

Post-IM…no discipline, no structured training…it’s been a lazy few weeks. Overall, this is a good thing to “let loose” after an entire year of training and monitoring everything. Now, though, I think I’m ready to move back into the world of structure. There are no super-aggressive, all-encompassing Ironman training schedules to dive into, but I need to start my goal setting and building schedules again. Due to my internal wiring, I don’t do well without them. I had “planned” this few weeks of having no plan to unwind from the 2010 tri racing season, and hadn’t set a hard deadline for when it was to end.

However, this past Sunday I raced a super-small, low key sprint tri that I had won the open division last year, and this year it set me back on track. Going into the race I felt unprepared and a little blah about the whole thing. The main 2 reasons for going were: 1. to visit the University of Dayton campus again (my undergrad home) and 2. to defend my open division title and attempt to win the overall event (including collegiate division). After the race, I was reminded immediately of the joy of racing, especially trying to go fast…and since that will be the aim of next tri season, I was rejuvenated and could tell it was time to refocus and start 2011 planning.

The rest of 2010 will be laying some ground-work, but will still be pretty laid back. The major goal other than base training is to get my diet and sleep schedule back to healthy levels. The only other official events of the year are looking like the Bourbon Chase in KY (a 200 mile, 12 person relay run) in late October and a 50k trail run in early December.

Anyways, I wanted to use this post to throw down a quick race report for the University of Dayton Sprint Tri. So here it goes…

The race is consists of a 400m serpentine pool swim in the UD RecPlex, a ~11.25 mile flat and fast bike course, and a ~3 mile winding, undulating run all over the heart of UD’s campus. The run is probably my favorite part since it’s like taking a reminiscing tour in fast-forward. The weather race day was about perfect…I love fall (or almost fall) weather.

400m pool swim

We were self seeded for the swim and my goal was to be aggressive since the whole race is short enough to be lost in one leg. At the same time, I’m not the strongest swimmer, so didn’t want to be THAT guy that over-seeds himself and then blocks everyone else attempting to pass them. That being said, I put myself somewhere near 15^th or so in line (next to a guy a couple years behind me at UD that rowed with me and was doing his first tri). Normally on serpentine swims, you start in the water…not the case here. Everyone lined up around the pool and was told to start at ~15s intervals while on the deck. Then, the person starting would walk around to the first lane and pass over the starting timer mat in the process before jumping (see: diving) in to start swimming. I executed the ugliest dive of all those preceding me (and was caught in the act by the wife) and away I went. Obviously, 400m isn’t very short so it was time to go, go, go! I made it through the first 100 easily enough before hitting the traffic jams caused by THAT guy (or 3 separate THAT guy’s spread throughout the pool) who were doing breaststroke. Each time, violence ensued as people attempted to pass only to get whip-kicked in the face/chest/etc… It was easily the most chaos packed 5 minutes of my tri career, and that’s an impressive feat. Either way, I passed the entire swim and was never passed myself, so something must have gone right.

Time: 6:52 (17^th OA)

T1: Eliminated a lot of the accessories from longer course racing and went simple…much quicker. Time: 0:44

11.25ish mile bike

Angry Face! Clipping in is difficult!

There was a little trouble clicking in, but otherwise I was able to get up to speed quickly. The course is an out and back that leads from campus to the Great Miami River, and along the river for a bit before doing the 180 back. For being a flat and easy course for beginners, it’s by no means a speedway. There are a lot of turns to navigate early to before getting to the river, once there you can fly, but some of the roads are in less than ideal condition. I passed people consistently until just before the turnaround…then I started counting. There were 3 riders behind the pace car, the lead group, then another 2 riders a few hundred meters back or so, and 1 additional rider ahead of me. I was 7^th on the road, but of course all these guys started before me, so it wasn’t clear my actual placing.

After the turn, the return trip was uneventful as I was unable to make up substantial ground on the leaders. Before long, I was grinding up through the UD Ghetto (nickname for the student neighborhood) and back into transition.

Time: 29:05 (4^th OA)

T2: Nothing notable, another racer was in transition when I arrived, but got going before me…a rabbit for the run. Time: 0:40

3 mile campus run

The run starts downhill back through the “ghetto” before winding into campus behind the engineering building. From there it’s a lot of turning between and around many of the classroom buildings before climbing Stuart hill. I was slowly gaining on my rabbit, but could tell I wasn’t pulling back enough time on the leaders who I could see crossing paths ahead. I didn’t want to pass him too early to engage him in a duel; my goal was a quick and definite pass that wouldn’t be countered. Past experience with running Stuart hill while on campus was invaluable since that’s where I made my move on the pacer. It was uncomfortable, but I knew how much effort was needed and that I could redline it since my HR would drop to a comfortable level on the run down the backside. By the time I hit the base of the descent, I had gapped him by about 200m. From there, all that was left was an out and back through the longest parking lot on campus before wrapping around the RecPlex to the finish. At the turnaround of the parking lot I had opened my gap to about 30s or so which allowed me to cruise to the finish since there was no one else in sight to chase down.

Time: 19:19 (6^th OA)

Total Time: 56:38 (5^th OA of 108, 1^st in Open div of 53)

I was 6^th across the line, and 5^th in the final results overall, not too bad. I did manage to repeat as the open division champion by about a 5 minute margin, but would have needed an extra gear to compete for the overall. I guess I’ll have to try and go for the 3-peat next year and take another stab at winning it.

So, the next couple weeks are my planning and goal setting phases, so I’ll probably be posting some 2010 season reviews along with 2011 tentative race schedules and goals. Also, I have a mini-vacation with the family in early August, so will work another vacation report as well.

With that, I’ll leave you with a cute puppy who was a spectator Sunday’s race.

Ironman Louisville, the Full Report

2010-09-13T17:04:00.001-07:00

It’s official, I am an Ironman! After a couple days of recovering, eating, and letting the whole experience sink in. I think I’m now ready to tackle the race report, so fasten your seatbelts (or make a big pot of coffee) because it’s going to be a long one, especially since I’m going to try and document the whole weekend for my own future benefit. Away we go…

Friday – Packet pickup and bike test ride

I didn’t arrive in Louisville until late Thursday night due to class and work constraints, so was unable to take advantage of early packet pickup. (rant) However, due to the annoyingly unbending policies of the IM organizers, my sister had to fly in from St. Louis Thursday AM, pick up her packet and fly back out that night to work on Friday. Due to her work schedule, which had been set weeks in advance, she was planning on working on Friday, not anticipating no packet pickup being allowed after Friday at 5PM for a Sunday race. She called and e-mailed race directors multiple times and they would not make any arrangements to help even with both my dad and myself racing too, so she had to make last minute arrangements to use her off day to make the day trip just for packet pickup, then turn around and drive back to Louisville Friday night. (end rant).

Back on track, I went to packet pickup right around when it opened Friday AM, only to discover that triathletes are go-getters. The line was long due to everyone lining up before it even opened; a practice that would be repeated at every IM activity throughout the weekend. I made my way through the various lines (body scan, waiver, packet pickup, swag bag, compulsory parade through the vendor booths) and got out of there as quickly as possible. As much as I like the electricity surrounding an event like this, I was glad to have my parents’ house to retreat to for some relaxation and to separate myself a multitude of tense athletes. The rest of Friday was nothing notable, I assembled my bike with full race get-up, did a quick (less than ½ hour) test ride with my dad, and caught up with some local friends for the most part. My sister arrived late that evening and we strategized a plan for the morning before heading to bed.

Saturday – Practice swim, gear bag/bike drop, and moving downtown

The morning began around 7:30 as we woke up, grabbed a quick bite, and headed downtown to the swim exit to test the waters. This was an important activity for me since I had been loaned a speed suit from a friend and had yet to test it at all. The results of the practice swim would determine whether or not I would use the suit race day. We arrived to a sizeable crowd all lined up before the scheduled start (surprise, surprise) and eventually made our way to the water. I didn’t do much structured swimming, mostly just swimming around and treading water a bit to see how warm the water felt and how I liked the suit. I was feeling very comfortable and relaxed in the water, a good sign. As we prepared to leave, I returned to my towel and sandals to find someone had stolen my shirt. It was a decent tech-shirt I used for running a lot, but I have more tech shirts than I know what to do with. To whoever has it now, I hope you needed it more than I did.

After the swim, we returned home to grab the rest of the family and checked out a local farmers’ market for brunch. It was delicious.

Brunch dessert cupcakes from the farmer’s market. I had the donut cupcake

We returned home and got down to the business of gear bag prep. Since none of us had been through this process before, we worked through it as a team. Before we knew it, all was packed and it was back to downtown to say good-night to our bikes. The drop off process was very quick and efficient and the volunteers were great, explaining how the whole process would work the next day.

Sorting through all the bags

The rest of the afternoon was more relaxing at home, until evening when we packed up and moved downtown to the Galt house so to be closer to the action for the morning and post-race, a great idea on my mom’s part. We checked out the new O’Sheas Restaurant downtown and then were back to the hotel for bedtime. Having never stayed in the Galt House before, though, I did want to check it out a bit, so my wife and I did some exploration and rode in the glass elevators of the tower opposite the one we stayed in before returning to the room for the night.

Sunday –Race Day

Transition areas were scheduled to open at 5AM, so that’s when we planned to arrive, especially considering the swim start process and the line it creates. After doing all the paranoid checks of the bike (pushing on the tires, checking the gearing, etc) and loading up nutrition on the bike and in gear bags, it was time for the long walk to the swim start.

Transition, race morning

It’s about a mile or so to the “launching docs”, then another ¼ mile walk for us to get to the next open spot in line. It didn’t appear we’d be going anywhere for a while, so I sat on the sidewalk and tried to relax. At about 6:15, volunteers started asking for family members not racing to clear out and for us to compress the line. Some of the crazies had lawn-chairs and mini-camps setup near the front of line, so the compression moved us up a good amount. It seemed like people were getting serious, so I started removing my warm-up gear, putting the speed suit partially on, and taking in my last pre-race nutrition. This was also when I began noticing a rising need to use the restroom, but I passed it off as merely nerves. After some time standing nervously, there was some unclear announcing or music being played, and then a cannon shot…the pros were off, aka the 10 minute warning. A few minutes later I heard what I thought was the national anthem followed by another cannon. The race was started, and I stood there…waiting…then inching forward…more waiting. It was only a minute or two until the line started to move pretty steadily, but my impatience made it feel like a lifetime.

3 future Ironmen heading down the ramp

2.4 mile swim

Still in line at this point, but the line is picking up speed. It was kind of like a human locomotive. At the gun, there was a lot of noise, but no motion, then little by little it picked up steam to the point where we were basically jogging by the time we snaked around toward the docks. My dad, sister, and I exchanged last good lucks and reminded each other to have fun. We also spotted the family right at the start to grab photos and video of us jumping in. The volunteers shepherded us into one of the dock lines where I jogged across the timing mat, then out onto (and immediately off of) the dock and into the river. I swam a few quick strokes to make sure I was out of the way of subsequent jumpers then just settled into a pace. The goal for the swim was to make it comfortable and easy. I’m no speedy swimmer, so merely wanted to enjoy the swim and finish with plenty of energy. I steadily worked my way to the end of the island and was hoping to see the turn buoy soon. When I looked up, though, it was still a few hundred meters up river. Oh well, the current wasn’t strong anyways, so I continued plugging along, although not in a straight line since I could no longer sight off the island and can’t swim straight to save my life.

Upon reaching the turn buoy, I spun downriver and was greeted with a nice surprise. The rising sun provided great lighting for a view of downtown (ahead to my left) and the bridges crossing ahead of me. To the right, on the Indiana side of the river, there were 5 or 6 hot air balloons that had taken off near downtown and now filled the empty space in the sky. If only I had remembered my waterproof camera. Remembering that I was in a race, I got back to the business of swimming. Soon I was alongside Towhead Island again and was able to use it to sight through my now foggy goggles. Unfortunately I relied too heavily on the landmass for navigation and followed the curve of the island back toward shore as the buoy line continued straight down river. Luckily, a kayaker caught my attention and pointed out my error. Once back in the herd of swimmers, I made sure to keep people nearby for the rest of the swim.

A great way to start the day

The bridges passed quickly, and from there, I could see the exit, so I just steadily worked towards it. I had noticed through the course of the swim that I had shaken out most of the remaining nerves, but the need to use the restroom remained, in a big way. Thankfully swimming isn’t a very jarring activity (at least after the start), so I was able to deal with it, but it was an issue that would have to be addressed in T1. I climbed the exit steps with a mass of other athletes and saw my wife as I made my way to transition.

Out of the water, ready to be uncapped apparently

Time: 1:19:01

Transition 1

I quickly jogged in, grabbed my bag and hit the change tent. I only had to finish removing the speed suit and put on my DeSoto Coolwings, socks and other bike accessories (helmet, Garmin, etc.). It was a little difficult due to the wetness, but nothing terrible. What was terrible was the need to do my business, but the transition bathrooms were past the change tents, so I continued changing to not do things out of order, I guess. Anyways, I finished throwing extra nutrition in my pockets and putting on my helmet/sunglasses, THEN I left and hit the bathrooms. Being fully geared up for biking, including wearing an alien head aero helmet makes it difficult to navigate a port-o-john. I’m sure I looked like a joke, but hopefully I was able to at least give the volunteers around a laugh. Due to this “inefficiency”, I recorded an absurdly long transition time.

Time: 11:23

112 mile bike

Leaving for the bike, I hit the flats along River Rd and was immediately flying. I picked up on this mistake within the first couple miles and soon was cruising along at a more reasonable pace. I passed a lot of riders at my 20-21mph pace, and was passed by many more. From my regional short-course racing experiences, I haven’t been passed consistently throughout portions of a bike leg, so I found it to be a test of patience. If I have to grade my pacing for the first 15 miles or so, I’d give it a B. The focus was there, but subconsciously, I’m sure I upped the effort more than I should have.

As we climbed our way up 42 and into the outer suburbs and farmlands, the real ride began. This is also when I began to notice the heat. It was only about 10AM or so, and it was already hot, not a good sign. However, I just continued listening to my body and taking nutrition and water at regular intervals. I turned onto the out and back, the only portion of the course I was unfamiliar with, and also where we had been warned of the highest danger of wrecking by the RD. This section is essentially a flat for a mile or so, followed by a big dip and climb, then a turnaround, and repeat. The descent was a little treacherous as we weren’t far enough into the course to not be congested and people were descending at different rates due to bike handling and comfort levels. Quick passing on descents + riders 2-3 wide climbing in the opposite lane = increased danger. I just focused on keeping myself in order, and everything worked out fine. Before I knew it I was back to 42 and about to head on the double loop.

The first pass of the loop, I noticed my Infinit mix getting low. This was earlier than I’d planned on running through 1 bottle, but I wasn’t about to limit my intake in that heat, so I planned to stop and refill at an aid station just shy of 50 miles. This was not too far after the pass through LaGrange, which was great. Cheering crowds lined both sides of the road, an announcer called out names riding through, and it was flat and fast…a fun combination. When my energy started to wane a little toward the end of the first loop due to rollers and sun exposure, I just focused on getting back to LaGrange again.

My Infinit mix (~1250 calories, all told) was completely expended by mile 85 of the bike. It was supposed to last the entire ride, oops. At the ~mile 75 (the one with all the sidewalk chalk about riding waves) aid station I ditched the Infinit bottle and grabbed IM perform and a fresh…oh wait, scratch that, they were out of water. Apparently, this was a common story for later riders, so I consider myself lucky to have only missed water at this station. Either way, the miles to the next aid station were tough mentally since I was thinking a lot about not having water. Still, I was able to catch the mile 87 station stocked and grabbed 2 bottles of water to catch up on hydration. The next aid station wasn’t until just before the bike finish at mile 105, as we had been warned pre-race.

Despite the headwind for the remainder of the course, it was easy to motivate myself the rest of the ride. We passed the turn off for the loop, and I got a boost knowing I could ride straight past. Then I just checked off miles backtracking on the mostly downhill route back to River Rd. From there, it’s an easy flat ride back to transition and I made it with good time, although I wasn’t feeling comfortable on the bike anymore and was ready to be on my feet (or in a chair or bed, anywhere but a bike saddle) again. I shifted my position a lot those last few miles and also used the last aid station to try and get as much fuel and water in me before transition. As I pulled back into T2, I caught a large contingent of family members in bright yellow “Kissel Support Team” t-shirts. They were awesome the whole day.

Final mile of the bike

Time: 5:44:08

Transition 2

This was not nearly as exciting as T1. I changed as quickly as I could despite quad spasms making me have to repeatedly stand up from the seat I was using to change. Otherwise, it was pretty routine, but longer than I’d hoped.

Time: 6:11

26.2 mile run (and walk)

Off on the run

As soon as I left for the run, heat was on my mind. I passed my BSM cycling team mates who jogged along the sidewalk for a block or so giving encouragement, then made my way out to the bridge. The lone “climb” of the run is the ramp up the bridge, and it was tame to say the least. Actually, after hitting the aid stations in both directions on the bridge and heading to the main out and back stretches of the course, I was feeling pretty strong physically, but not so much mentally. I was executing my run plan of running 8-9 min per mile pace from aid station to aid station, and walking through them while grabbing nutrition and drowning myself in sponge water. At the same time though, my motivation was low and my general mindset was just negative. I’m sure it was an effect of the heat and probably some sort of nutritional deficiency, but it sucked! I did get boosts from seeing friends on the course, but my internal drive was low. It felt like only the external influences of my support team were pushing me along. Thankfully, there were plenty of them.

I continued this way to the 8 mile turnaround, and was making great time at this point. After the turnaround though, I really moved to a dark place mentally. The running more often than not turned to walking and I kept searching for motivation. The hardest part about it was that I had read so much about “going to a dark place” during IM’s and I had expected it. Even during this point, I was aware of what was happening, but it didn’t give me much hope that I’d pull out. Still, I trudged on with some running and more walking, but no real pattern. I passed a friend of my dad who asked how I was doing, being as positive as I could, I responded “Still moving forward.” After passing him and thinking about my response, I started to perk up a bit. I was still moving ahead and, although progress was slow, I was closer to the finish every second. I slowly pulled out of my funk.

Half way, and moving slowly

As I neared the turnaround, I bypassed special needs since all I had was a new pair of socks and some nutritional stuff. My feet were soaked, but not uncomfortable, and the aid stations had more than enough available. In fact, my stomach felt a little overloaded. The turnaround itself is a cruel creature on the run course. First the crowds pick up to give you a boost…then you turn onto 4^th street and are actually running straight at the finish line and party (music, lights, everything)…then you turn away and start to make your way back out for 6+ miles, but as you turn the crowd continues to cheer so as to distract you from what’s really going on. The next thing you know, you’re a half mile from the finish running away from it and the crowd is gone…what have you just done!?! Obviously the crowd support is essential to keeping hundreds of athletes from quitting at the mid-point of the run, so they played their part beautifully.

Once I had been thoroughly tricked back onto the 2^nd leg of the run, reality set in again and I was tired. I did a lot more walking mixed with some running, but at this point it was less a mental thing and more due to hamstring spasms that would almost knock me over after running a few hundred feet. I decided that if I had to walk, it would be at a decent pace. I started watching my Garmin and making sure I kept my walking pace under 15 min per mile, while also still testing out my running legs when I could. I passed more support team members, who continued to lift my spirits, this time with an enthusiastic, cheerleader-style spelling of my name. I also got lifts from passing my dad and sister (going the opposite direction) who were behind me on the course. Until I reached the turnaround for the final 7 mile stretch to the finish, time seemed to pass slowly, but once I made the turn I finally compromised with myself on a strategy to take me the rest of the way. As soon as I rounded the turn cone, I started jogging 100 steps and walking 50. Aid stations were still walked through as well, but the pattern would start again as soon as they were passed. I was amazed at how “fast” I was going from aid station to aid station and ticking off the miles when my mind was focused on just counting steps instead of dwelling on the distance remaining. By about 2 miles to go, my legs actually felt pretty strong and loose again, but I didn’t dare break from the pattern yet so as not to blow up in the home stretch. With about a mile to go, the crowd started to pick up. I made the turns over to 4^th street and as soon as I found myself facing the finish with the crowd all down the street going crazy, adrenaline took over. Even with the crowds, I was able to spot members of our support team and gave some high-fives on the run in. As I entered the main chute under the 4^th Street Live roof, I was basically sprinting (as much as I could manage) and couldn’t stop smiling. There was no one else in the chute at the time and although the lights of the finish were disorienting, I could hear the announcer talking about me. However, as I crossed the line, I didn’t catch the “you are an Ironman” announcement, but I wasn’t thinking about it either. I was focused only on the clock, which read a little over 12 hours. Knowing my start off-set for the swim was more than a few minutes, I figured sub-12 was in the bag. Earlier in the run I had all but given up on breaking 12, so that was extra excitement to bring me to the line.

Down the stretch I come!

Time: 4:34:16

FINISH TIME: 11:55:00

After crossing the line, I made my way in a daze through the chute with my catcher as he rounded up finisher gear for me, herded me to the photo op, and passed me to my wife. We began walking toward the convention center and food, but I stopped to talk to friends and family who were nearby.

Members of the hard working Kissel support team

After talking for about 2 minutes, I was overcome with dizziness and nearly passed out, so decided to make a break for medical where I got to hang out on a cot drinking chicken broth for a bit. I opted for no IV since I didn’t really want to hang out there for long. Once released, I grabbed some food and made my way back to the finish where I just sat (laid) on the ground upstairs for the next couple hours as my dad and sister made there way in. Once everyone was finished and regrouped, it was a short walk back to the hotel, a room service pizza, and bed. The Ironman was successfully completed.

On the ground of the “viewing deck” with my main supporter, waiting for my dad and sister to arrive

GPS Tracking for Sunday

2010-08-27T05:30:00.000-07:00

For interested parties...I'll be wearing a GPS unit on Sunday to aid family/friends in finding me on the course. The information is below. I'll only have it for the bike and the run, obviously since underwater GPS technology has not reached the masses yet. It is supposed to update every 30 seconds or so.

The details:
From web or smartphone...
www.trackmyathlete.com/vemap.aspx?name=256367

From handheld PDA/Blackberry...
www.trackmyatlete.com/pda.aspx?name=256367

Also, if there's any problem...you can goto www.myathletegps.com and in the top right corner of the page there is a link that takes you to the tracking site, where you can manually find the event.

Today is packet pickup, bike work and mech checkout spin, and athlete meeting.
Tomorrow is swim course practice, bike/bag drop, and checking in the hotel.
Sunday is game on.

Anticipation and a Forced Taper

2010-08-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

I find myself only a few days out from my first Ironman, and the anticipation is overwhelming. Luckily, my schedule is too, at least until Friday. I’m trying to pick up extra hours at work in preparation for the long race weekend and at the same time my next wave of MBA classes start this week. For the fall, I have class T, W, and Th nights…I may or may not survive. At least I won’t have to worry about IM training. I may find myself more concerned about being able to train at all. The good news is I’m pretty excited about the classes themselves. I tend to enjoy learning, so that’s a nice bonus for nerds like me when it comes to approaching the school environment.

That being said, the busyness may be a blessing in disguise. It has essentially forced me to taper since I can’t fit workouts in edgewise unless they are extremely short. Since I get antsy when I’m inactive, I would certainly be at risk to go overdo the last week of the taper. So far, this has been prevented by my life schedule. Along with keeping my workout volume down, my schedule has diverted my focus away from the race. This is good, since I am already starting to feel anxious, but in a good butterflies in the stomach sort of way. I’m not sure I’ve felt this level of excitement so far out from race day since maybe my first sprint triathlon. It’s fun being back on the newbie side of the fence again after spending a few years as the “experienced veteran”, so to speak.

As far as the race goes, weather looks to be hot, as expected…but nothing I haven’t trained in. Humidity looks surprisingly low though, so we can keep our fingers crossed that holds up. My pacing goals are essentially unchanged, but I can see myself finishing anywhere in a broad range (from 10:30 if everything is perfect to 12:30 if the wheels really start to fall off). I know I’ll be pleased to have completed the race no matter the time, but I’d be lying if I said that 12+ would leave me a little disappointed. Either way, I wanted to get a pre-race post out, although this is much less detailed than my normal race plan layout.

As a quick additional note…I am going to be using a GPS system so my family and friends can track me on the course. I will try and post the link to the page that tracks me if I remember to do so before the race.

A Few Nuggets More

2010-08-17T19:04:00.001-07:00

Some of the zoo pictures from the previous post didn’t make it, so here’s some bonus zoo photos:

Intense looking lizard

Slithering snake

Otter doing barrel rolls underwater

Monkeys cuddling

There was a bug exhibit, too. Eww.

The Skyfari!

Polar bear taking a nap

Zebras eating lunch

Happy panda!

Panda up in the tree taking a nap

Silly monkey

San Diego Day 5 Report – The SD Zoo, and the sun sets on our vacation

2010-08-17T18:25:00.001-07:00

We saved our trip to the famous SD zoo for Monday, our last full day, for a variety of reasons. It was a must-do item on our list and a stop Susan seemed the most excited about, so it would be a good finale. Also, we had hoped that because it was Monday, the crowds would be down some. We knew it would still be best to get an early start, so we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and took off. We arrived at the zoo a little before 10 (it opens at 9) and it was already pretty busy. Luckily, we had bought the 2 trip pass at the Wild Animal Kingdom, so were able to bypass the ticketing lines.

As expected, the zoo was massive. We checked out a couple areas near the front gate straight away, then used the map to figure out our plan of attack. We had high hopes of conquering the entire zoo in one trip. After taking the advice of others, we next took the skyfari (gondola) to the top of the park and started working our way back. As with the Animal Park, there are literally hundreds of awesome pictures taken by Susan, so we’ll just let them do the talking for a bit…

Tiger posing for his picture

Little Monkey sneaking a snack

Crazy flamingos

Swinging monkey

A couple of crocs

Pretty bird and contemplative orangutan

The little guy just could not figure out how to get food out of the sack hanging above him – he got in it eventually

Mr. Bear and Mr. Lion

These camels moved in unison.. it was crazy!

Snow Leopard taking a nap

Baby catching a ride

Rhino taking a swim

Grisly Bear and Koala Bear

GIANT turtle

By 4 PM, we were at the gate and had succeeded in seeing basically everything the zoo had (with the exception of the shows). I used a pen to mark our routes on the map, and we managed to cover almost every path in it’s entirety. According to my Forerunner, which was hanging from a belt-loop all day, we walked about 4 miles in total.

My thoughts on the zoo are that it is definitely a must-see attraction and all that it was hyped up to be. The sheer variety of animals to be seen is impressive, but it’s also well designed to walk-through without having to backtrack much and offers pretty reasonably priced, quality food as well. Yes, it’s crowded, but you have to expect that. All that said, Susan and I agreed that we think for repeated visits, or for travelling with kids, the Wild Animal Park is a little better because it is less crowded and doesn’t require as much walking. Also, it is unique with the more natural scenery and safari-like atmosphere. At the end of the day, the San Diego Zoo still resembles most other zoos, just on a larger scale.

After returning to the hotel feeling victorious, we quickly realized that while we had conquered the zoo, the battle had taken its toll…we were beat. Luckily it was still mid-afternoon, so we had a chance to relax a couple hours at the hotel before heading out for our final dinner. The plan was to head to La Jolla, but this time to take a more upscale approach and go clean and well dressed. We attempted to grab a last-minute reservation, but were too late, so we would just have to try the walk-in route. We got to La Jolla around 7 and went straight to George’s Ocean Terrace to put our names in, the wait was long, but that gave us plenty of time to walk down to the cove and watch the sunset. George’s seated us at around 8:30 and we had a pretty sensational final dining experience, which we had expected given the reviews. It’s pricey, but for 5-star quality food served on a rooftop overlooking the La Jolla cove, that’s to be expected. The dinner was a perfect wrap-up to the trip.

Tomorrow, we don’t fly out until mid-day, but that really only gives us time to take care of “business” aspects of travelling. So, essentially this is the end of the trip. That said, it’s only fitting to finish the post with views of the sun setting at La Jolla.

Sunset through the trees

The two of us in front of the sunset

Some kayakers at sundown

Bird flying at dusk

La Jolla at sundown

Stay Classy, San Diego!

San Diego Day 4 Report – A day at the beach, sort of

2010-08-17T08:50:00.001-07:00

With a more leisurely day planned, I had a window to get a pretty solid ride in, so was up early to take advantage. The fog seemed a little heavier this morning and it was chilly, but nothing too severe to effect the ride. I made my way through Old Town to the Pacific Hwy and then north through Mission Bay before getting sidetracked by signs for Mt Soledad. I climbed up through residential streets with increasingly less visibility as the fog thickened and my glasses steamed up as well. After a few wrong turns I finally made it to the memorial at the top. I had heard the view was spectacular from here, so was ready for my reward…

And that’s what I got, a wall of fog. Oh well, it’s about the journey, I guess.

At least I was able to sort of take in the memorial itself before returning down the hill. Once the descent was done, I retraced my route so as not to get lost and made my way back to the hotel.

After I grabbed the wife, we went in search for a new coffee shop for breakfast. We found a local chain called “The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf” that was quite delicious. They offered made to order oatmeal and fruit & yogurt parfaits, pastries, and a variety of coffee and tea drinks. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed toward the beach.

We arrived at Pacific Beach among a swarm of people. After realizing we didn’t have any towels to lay on and that the sun was hiding behind the clouds, we decided that relaxing at the beach may not be the best option. We called the audible, rented a cruiser bike for the wife (I brought my rental in the car) and rode the 4-mile route to La Jolla. From there we locked up the bikes and walked around looking for a place for lunch. We found another local chain, SmashBurger, and the wife got her fried pickles fix. We walked down to the cove where a band was playing for the “Concert by the Sea” series.

We kept walking until we reach the bird rock with lots and lots of birds and some sea lions. Despite the loud noises the people were making, the sea lions were just lounging around not more than 100 yards from where people were swimming.

We grabbed some gelato, did some window shopping, and headed back to Pacific Beach. We walked along the shoreline down to Mission Beach. People were really partying at the bars there which was somewhat surprising because it was a Sunday evening. We stopped by a bar for a few drinks (and the Bengal’s pre-season game) before heading back to the hotel.

A friend had recommended a restaurant in North Park which boasted locally grown, organic food and a unique, fresh menu, so we decided to give it a go. The atmosphere was nice, although the menu was a presented in a bit of an over the top “hip” fashion and the prices were higher than I was expecting. The yellowtail I ordered was just okay, but the summer squash gratin served with it was delicious and unique. Overall, the restaurant was worth checking out, but I’m in no hurry to return, mostly since I couldn’t afford to eat there on a regular basis.

We were night owls this evening, out until around 10:30, because we like to party. Tomorrow is the last full day of the vacation and we are taking on the zoo.

San Diego Day 3 Report – Wild Animals and Walking

2010-08-15T10:52:00.001-07:00

The 3rd morning of our vacation did not start like the others as I decided to forego my bike ride and sleep in a little longer. Hey, it’s a recovery week and the first week of the taper, right? Anyways, we had plans that required us to get going a little earlier than usual, so we were both out of bed and on the road heading north by 8:30. Today’s main activity was the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It’s associated with the zoo and is basically the zoo meets a nature preserve. The animal enclosures are larger and there are areas where the non-predatory animals are cohabitating in the same areas, giving the viewer a more safari like experience. Susan captured more great pictures than I can describe through our morning at the park, so I will not even attempt to. Enjoy…

Going in the morning had distinct advantages, since we were able to ride the safari tram before there was a line built up, and we were able to be on our way out when the crowds seemed to be peaking. Also, we were able to park within walking distance of the gate. Not to be overlooked on the trip to the park was the scenery in the surrounding area. The mountainous desert-like terrain and hillside vineyards were pretty spectacular.

After leaving the park, we were famished, but our next planned attraction was Torrey Pines State Preserve, so we had to drive a bit before getting to Del Mar for some food. The traffic on the 101 was pretty high, especially near Del Mar, but I was continually amazed by the number of cyclists along the road. We eventually parked in Del Mar and walked the main drag a bit before stopping at Americana for lunch. It was a trendy cafe, and the food was pretty good although maybe a bit overpriced for lunch fare. After dining, we walked down to the beach and watched some people surfing, although the waves were less than impressive for it. Then we returned to the car to get to Torrey Pines.

The State Reserve was only a couple miles south of our lunch spot. We drove up to the top of the hill and then check out the trails. The best way to describe Torrey Pines is a lush dessert over-looking the ocean. We hiked a few miles around the park to a couple overlooks including Yucca Point and Red Butte.

The two of us along the trails

Cliff with the Pacific

A little lizard also travelling on the trail

The landscape consisted of mostly sand, cacti, and rock – this is at Yucca Point

Some cacti along the route

View up to Red Butte

After making our way back to the car, we drove back to the hotel with tentative dinner plans with some fellow Cincinnatians. Since those plans fell through, we ended up relaxing at the hotel for a bit before catching dinner near our hotel at a Hawaiian themed restaurant. We noticed drones of Chargers’ fan in the area which prompted us to discover that the Chargers Stadium was mere blocks away from where we were. With their first pre-season game playing tonight, fans were obviously excited for the game. After stuffing ourselves with pub grub, we made it back to our hotel just in time for Transformers 2 on HBO.

Today, we really got to experience the Southern California micro-climates. Leaving sunny San Diego in the morning, we headed to the arid heat of Escondido area, then to the fog-covered chilly breezes of Del Mar and Torrey Pines. Quite the variety!

San Diego Day 2 Report – Cruising through another day

2010-08-14T09:33:00.001-07:00

Not to be one to relax on vacation, I woke up bright and early to enjoy the cool morning weather on the bike. It wasn’t the most constant effort since I was trying to keep from getting lost, but I was able to check out a few new areas and find a bike path that would lead me to the beach. I’ll probably try and do more exploring tomorrow morning, especially since it’s so easy to get around with dedicated bike lanes on many of the roads. After the ride, I got Susan up and we headed off to the coffee shop for breakfast and internet before embarking on more sight-seeing.

The morning began with a trip to Balboa park to check out what it had to offer (other than the zoo). Besides being a beautiful urban park, there are also a variety of museums (some of them free) along with historical buildings to take in. The architecture and landscape alone was worth going to see, so the combination of the museums and scenery pretty much make it a can’t miss attraction. Be warned, though that traffic in the parking lots gets pretty busy by the middle of the day. Anyways, here is a quick picture recap of our morning in the park…

Lilly pads on the courtyard reflecting pool.

The main exhibition at the MOPA (Museum of Photographic Arts) was a tribute to rock n roll photography. Some very cool (and some very strange) photos were there.

From MOPA, we walked the grounds and saw the pavilion above, which was an ornate amphitheatre with a built in pipe organ. Someone was rehearsing for a performance scheduled for that evening.

Susan tamed the mosaic crocodile who clearly wasn’t happy with the situation. Hundreds of lives were likely saved by her heroics.

I tried to make sense of the abstract art in the sculpture garden, but the symbolism was lost on me.

Although we did not enter the museum of man, we did get some nice shots of the mosaic domed roof and bell tower.

Then we made our way to the botanical gardens where Susan was able to go wild with her camera for a while.

We finished our Balboa park trip with a walk through the shops and workshops of local artists at the Spanish Village Art Center. We found a photographer’s studio that we really enjoyed and bought a couple post-card prints of his work since we couldn’t afford the full size ones. He was running the shop, so was able to give Susan some pointers on developing photography skills.

After Balboa park it was back to the hotel to grab a quick lunch and get down to business getting Susan ready for her poster presentation at the APA convention. Everything went smoothly and before we knew it, it was time to pack up the poster and get back to vacation.

Susan’s a pro at the poster presentation business.

Once we cleaned up, we headed back to the car to drop off the APA materials and then headed over to the harbor, though we weren’t sure what there was to do there in the evening. We walked passed the USS Midway (the aircraft carrier) which was already closed for the day and decided to head over to check out what may be available on the harbor cruises. Before we got too far, a guy who we almost dismissed as a solicitor offered us free tickets to the sunset harbor cruise that was already in the process of boarding. As we had no plans for the evening, we took him up on the offer and jumped on board! The cruise offered a 2-hour trip of the north and south harbor with complimentary hors d’ouvres.

We passed under the Coronado bridge as the sun dipped behind the fog.

Another view looking at the skyline off the front of the ship, below the bridge.

This boat was capturing dolphins for training exercises. The dolphin was in the boat when we first saw them, then they released it, I guess to go do the mission it was trained for. Interesting.

The outside deck got cold, with the wind, but we braved the cold for the sake of the scenery.

The front of the USS Midway bearing down on us. It is imposing, to say the least.

Once our free ride was over, we made our way up to old town to grab some dinner.

After trying a busier Mexican restaurant with an hour and a half wait, we went next door to a smaller place where we got a table on the patio right away. Instead of the traditional chips and salsa, this place served a “crispy quesadilla” with their salsa (which was hot!). It was delicious! We were happy to have the authentic Mexican food we’ve been looking for.

By this point we were thoroughly full and exhausted from the day’s exploits so we wet back to the hotel before 10 to call it another early night. Tomorrow looks to be another big day!

Getting to Know San Diego

2010-08-13T09:56:00.001-07:00

Day 1 started bright and early since my mind was still in the eastern time zone. I got out of bed at 7:15 and felt like I’d slept in…no complaints about that. Susan values sleep much more than me, so I let her continue to sleep in while I ran next door and picked up the rental car, then set out for a run. There is a big hill behind our hotel, so I found a road to climb it, which was pretty tough, but rewarded me with some awesome views on the return trip. It was great to run without the stifling humidity. Upon returning from the run, Susan was awake and we were hungry. Most of the rest of the day was accompanied by a camera, so we’ll let the pictures do the talking…

We had breakfast at a nearby coffee shop to take advantage of free internet and to get ourselves organized for the day. This place was pretty nice, so we will probably use it as our launching point most mornings.

Breakfast was done earlier than planned, so we had some time to take a quick drive over to Mission Bay to walk around a public beach. It was pretty breathtaking.

A sea lion popped up to say hello, before being scared off by a group of kids doing some open-water swimming.

After a quick return to the hotel and a change of clothes, I dropped Susan off downtown at the convention center for a little APA fun, while I returned to the hotel to get the delivery I was expecting.

My rental bike! Nothing fancy, but definitely enough to get around on. It was the cheapest I could find, and they delivered it to the hotel. All I had to do was bring the pedals (which they installed)…solid.

After a VERY brief ride to check the fit, etc…I was hailed by Susan to pick her up and go play tourist for the rest of the afternoon.

The convention center is only a stone’s throw away from the Gaslamp district, so that’s where we started.

A Mexican restaurant (although not authentic, I’m sure) was the first place that caught our eye, so afternoon margaritas and a chips and salsa bar it would be. After lunch we checked out a portion of the Gaslamp district and hit a souvenir shop before moving on. I think it would be fun to come back at night when I hear it’s really hopping, but we’ll see if we have time.

From Gaslamp, we crossed the big bridge over to Coronado Island and checked out the harbor side first to get some beautiful skyline views of downtown SD.

Then, we walked around the main business route through the island and did a little shopping before heading to the historic Hotel del Coronado. We originally planned to watch the sunset from a beach-side bar here, but instead were summoned back to the mainland by another of Susan’s classmates. The drink prices were a little high for my taste anyways. Still it was nice to walk on the large beach and watch the fog roll in. Oh yeah, and the resort itself is pretty nice too.

Because of our late lunch, and since the friends we were meeting had already eaten, we decided it was best to forego dinner and skip straight to dessert. Luckily, another classmate of Susan’s with experience in San Diego had recommended a place that fit the bill perfectly, Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy. While the restaurant did offer a limited food selection, the clear star of the show were the rich, and largely portioned desserts. I took in the French pastry on the right (filled with chocolate), while Susan handled the dulce de leche cake on the left. On top of that we split a scoop of the homemade salted caramel creme brulee ice cream. All I can say is wow, thank you Bryan for the suggestion.

After “dinner”, it was only around 9PM, but we had fit a LOT into the first day, plus tomorrow is Susan’s time to shine with her poster at the convention. We called it a night early and returned to the hotel to get some rest. Hopefully, my internal alarm clock stays on eastern time so I can get up early and get some good 2-wheeled exploring done before the sight-seeing recommences. So far, San Diego is all that I had expected and more…but vacation is only beginning.

En route to San Diego

2010-08-12T10:28:00.001-07:00

It has been an exhausting few weeks. Since Muncie, I went into my 5 week key block in the build for the Ironman. This included basically all the workouts I listed in the last entry plus many more shorter efforts. I successfully worked my way through the checklist while also completing my summer grad school classes and working full time. I cannot remember a period in my life when I’ve been more consistently tired. Granted, I’m only 25 and been in the workforce for 3 years or so…I’m sure this is just the beginning of lifelong exhaustion. Either way, as of this past Sunday, I have reached the Ironman taper. This is somewhat a relief and at the same time terrifying.

To celebrate being in a taper, the wife and I decided it’s time for a vacation. Well, to be honest, she has a psychology conference to attend for a few hours Thursday and Friday and it looked like something we could spin into a vacation…so we are on our way to San Diego, flying as I type this. Yay for the APA for planning their convention in a city I’ve always dreamed of visiting. As with other vacations, I plan on documenting the activities here, so my blog may actually be active over the next few days. Even more exciting, the wife has a new fancy camera to support her budding photography hobby (she also has a photography blog and a cooking blog worth checking out), so there should be plenty of pictures to support my rambling narratives. Anyways, I guess this post is more of an intro to the vacation report upcoming and a quick update…Day 1 recap should be on the way soon.

Added before posting…our hotel the first morning. I think I’m going to like it here.

Muncie Endurathon Race Report

2010-07-13T18:37:00.001-07:00

The last pre-IM race is officially completed, so now 7 weeks is all that’s left. It’s a little overwhelming to think about, but luckily I’m too busy to spend much time looking ahead. This past Saturday, I completed the ½ IM at the Muncie Endurathon, so now comes the race report…

The Muncie Endurathon is a long running independent half-iron distance race in the Midwest. This year was its 31^st running. As you would expect from a race ongoing for this long, it is run very professionally and had many of the offerings of the 70.3 series races without the crowds and additional costs. Additionally, there was a sprint tri, multiple distance duathlons, and an aqua-bike offering. The city of Muncie doesn’t have a great deal to offer for tourists, but the area near the course, which is SE of town at the Prairie Creek Reservoir, is a pretty nice farm and boating area. Overall, the event is worth doing if you live in the area and are looking for this particular distance…or if you want a bike course split to brag about for the rest of your life, but more on that later.

Race Morning

It seems like most of the chain hotels in Muncie are in the NW corner of the city, likely due to that being near Ball State University and the university being a major part of the city as a whole. However, that made for a longer drive to the reservoir (~30 minutes) and thus an early wake-up. We were not alone on this trip, though since it looked like most of the out of town athletes stayed in the same area. Now, normally triathlons lead to waking up and leaving before breakfasts fire up at the chain hotels, however I have to give credit to the Hampton Inn in Muncie, for not only having coffee and fruit out by 5am, but also having breakfast grab bags that you could snag on your way out the door. They included an apple, special k bar, and muffin. The extra effort to accommodate the race participants was appreciated.

Pre-race

Talking pre-race strategy with Dad

Arrived at the site and had to park about a quarter mile down the road due to the main lot (open field) being full. No big deal though, as I just threw everything on my back and biked to transition. Got everything setup in my designated spot and hung out with the family a bit before heading down to check out the water. I wanted to see if the Tegaderm on my healing road rash would keep the water out…it worked like a charm. Afterwards, I downed my gel, drank the last of my pre-race water and got into the mass of other green-capped starters in my wave to await the swim.

1.2 mile swim (or so they claim)

Being a weaker swimmer, I always tend to think the course looks long when staring out at the buoys. For this race, my dad and I were both discussion how far away the turn buoys looked from the moment we arrived. Turns out, this time we were right. The swim was a single loop triangular course with only 2 turns. The water wasn’t too choppy and with long stretches of straight before the turns there really was no congestion on the course. I felt like I got into my rhythm earlier than ever while swimming and cruised along pretty smoothly. However, I felt like I had been swimming a long time…and I had. I wouldn’t know my time until the end of the day, but the swim took me 7-10 minutes longer than my previous swims of this distance. I don’t know how long the course was, but evidenced by the fact that only 3 swimmers (of 650+) broke 30minutes, I can say for sure it was long. It hurts the overall goal time, but I felt better knowing that I didn’t just lose a bunch of speed in the last 2 weeks. Either way, eventually I found my way back to shore by sighting off the giant flailing-arm tube creature (that you see at car lots) and headed to T1.

Time: 43:18 (228/663 overall)

56 Mile Bike

The entire bike course here is on totally closed roads, the course starts going around the south of the reservoir, then picks up the Cardinal Greenway (a rail trail) for about 7 miles heading north, u-turns onto a state hwy and is essentially a long out and back on the closed highways until the very end when you return around the north of the reservoir. It is pancake flat with minimal turns and super smooth roads. Add to that the fact there was basically no wind Saturday, and the bike course becomes a speedway. I felt strong from the get-go and paced off another athlete (outside the draft zone) as we navigated the narrow rail trail. Once we got on the highway, I settled in to what felt like a good pace, but holding back a bit. I cruised the first hour and a half or so and was well ahead of my goal pace. I really focused on taking nutrition at regular intervals to practice for the IM. In the times when I wasn’t thinking too much, I caught myself singing “A Whole New World”. You know, from Aladdin…I have no idea how that came into my head. I was still felling strong at mile 30, so decided to push the pace until mile 50 before shutting it down to prepare for the run. The course ended up being a little over a mile short, so my already surprisingly fast bike split looks even faster, but I won’t complain.

Time: 2:23:02 (23.5mph avg, 23.0 according to Garmin, 43/663 overall)—lots of fast bike splits out there

Returning from the bike

13.1 Mile Run

For Christmas this past year, I got a Garmin 305. The biggest reason I wanted one was to help me with pacing, particularly on the run since I tend to leave T2 faster than I should, which comes back to bite me in longer events. However, I haven’t adjusted the data fields for multisport mode, so I wasn’t getting real time pace data. So, of course, I took it out too fast. In my head, I kept repeating to myself to be humble and thought I was. It wasn’t until mile 7 when I looked at my watch, and by that point it was too late to make a big difference… Before going further with my run, though I’ll describe the course a little. After the bike, I assumed there were no real hills in the area of the course. While there weren’t big hills, the roads surrounding the reservoir (where the run course was) were constantly rolling one way or the other. Along with that, the midday sun provided very little shade, so the course was hot as well. Thankfully there were aid stations every mile where I was able to squeeze ice cold rags out over my head and drink plenty of water. Now back to the last 6 miles, I tried to pull back on the pace, but walking was already on my mind. I held on until mile 9 before adding in some walking, but once I started, I decided to add a lot of short walking breaks in the rest of the way. The finish line was just past the top of the largest hill on the run course, and I walked part of it too even though I was less than a .1 miles from the finish. At the end, my run pace was still close to my goal since I had gone out so fast, but I need to pace better if I’m going to do the IM run in a time I can be satisfied with.

Home stretch of the run, I can’t tell which if I looked worse than I felt at that point or not

Time: 1:36:28 (7:22/mile pace, 27/663 OA)

Final time (w/ transitions): 4:47:04 (37th OA, 4/29 in 25-29 AG)

I got a new PR by a minute, the goal was to break 4:40, but the swim killed that. My bike + run time was on pace, so with that I’m pretty pleased. After the race, I still feel like I’m on pace to meet my IM goals, provided my next 4 weeks of heavy training go well. I guess we’ll see…

Pre race thoughts and a look ahead

2010-07-08T19:08:00.001-07:00

As the weekend approaches, so does my next tri, the Muncie Endurathon Half Iron Distance Triathlon in Muncie, IN. This race has snuck up on me a little since it comes only 3 weeks after my last short course races, and although it is nearly two months before IM Louisville, the ominous presence of the full Ironman has overshadowed it. It is the last race prior to the Ironman as well, so no longer will I be able to distract myself from the end goal of the season with these intermediate hurdles. After Saturday afternoon, I will be staring the Iron Monster straight in the face.

All melodrama aside, I still do have aggressive goals this weekend and am in a recovery cycle of my overall season schedule, so should come into the race relatively rested, although slightly beaten up. This past weekend at the premature end of a long training ride I took a tame spill by most standards (skidded out on a gravel patch at low speed), but it was my first wreck that I can remember and has left its mark with minor soreness and bruising along with a small (about 2 inch diameter) patch of road rash on my right hip. Luckily no damage was done to my BSM team kit. I was able to continue riding (the bike appears fine), but was only about 10 miles shy of the 90 I planned for the day and probably dropped my remaining motivation on the road to melt in the hot sun, so I called it quits a little early.

Anyways, back to the task at hand, the race this weekend. I am hoping to PR on the half-iron distance, but it will take some work since I won’t have the strong current to push me through the swim in record time as was the case in Augusta last year. I’d like to break 4:40 for the distance, and here’s how I see it breaking down…
• Swim: 31 minutes (aggressive, and will depend on if wetsuits are legal)
• T1: 3 minutes, hopefully less
• Bike: 2h30minutes (22.4mph avg…breaking the 2:30 barrier is kind of a sub-goal in itself)
• T2: 2 minutes, again hopefully less
• Run: 1h34minutes (~7:10 / mile pace)
I feel like if I can hit close to these splits, particularly bike and run, I should be about where I would like to heading into the final push before Ironman taper.

Speaking of the final push, I made a list last week of the remaining key workouts to be completed before the taper. There’s a lot to be done in a month, but I think the speed is where it needs to be; now I need to finalize the long workout nutrition and get in some of the longest training days to finalize my pacing strategy. I came up with 12 remaining key workouts, one of which I completed with my crash on Sunday…the remaining 11 are as follows with approximate timing.
• 7/10 – Muncie Half Ironman
• 7/13 – 100+ mile bike ride (no time for post-race recovery)
• 7/17 – 18.5+ mile run
• 7/18 – IM course scouting ride in Louisville (w/ Kelley and Dad, distance TBD)
• 7/20 – 100+ mile bike ride w/ short t-run
• 7/24 – 20+ mile run
• 7/27 – 100+ mile bike ride w/ short t-run
• 7/28 – 4000m steady-state swim
• 8/3 – 100+ mile bike ride w/ 30+ minute t-run
• 8/7 – 20+ mile run
• 8/8 – 4000m steady-state swim
All these are long aerobic efforts for the most part (disregarding the race this weekend). The taper begins August 9th with a 3 week gradual step down in volume injected with some speed work.

The steps are in place…now to follow the path

St Peters RecPlex Sprint Tri Race Report

2010-06-22T19:50:00.001-07:00

Sunday, I was back at it with another race, a sprint tri in St Peters, MO (near St Louis). My family and I have been doing this race 6 years in a row now, as it provides a good excuse for us to get together near my sister who lives in St. Louis. The race itself is the St Peters RecPlex triathlon, which consists of a 500m pool swim / 20.5 mile pancake flat bike / 4.4 mile run on an undulating path through the nearby neighborhoods. One notable feature of the race is that it always tends to be about 90 degrees and sunny on race day. Always uncomfortably warm by the finish. This will be the last short-course race of my season before ramping up the distances for a HIM in July and Ironman Louisville at the end of August.

My goals going in were pretty aggressive, hoping to break 1:31 and finish top 10 overall…now, on to the report.

Race Morning / Prerace

Woke up early and decided to forego the breakfast banana. The Mexican pizza I had for dinner the night before was still talking to me a little, so I decided to limit pre-race intake. It wouldn’t be an issue for this short of a race. The family and I packed up and left the hotel at a little after 5 AM to arrive at the race site by 5:15. The transition area here is a little messy and unorganized due to the variable starting times of competitors. There are no assignments for rack position and the area is never technically closed since late starters arrive well after the race has started sometimes. Also, the transition area itself is not designed to be fair to all competitors, using the same layout as last year. I was able to snag a good spot, just inside the swim entrance and bike exit area and right on the end. The transition area was setup quickly and we were off to get marked, then to the pool to wander around until ~6:19, my assigned start time.

500m long course pool swim

Early in the swim

Like most pool swim triathlons, this race had the serpentine layout where you snake your way across the pool. The first 2 lanes are subdivided, requiring you to swim up and back in both of them. After that it opens up for the last 6 lanes. Passing early on can be tricky, but this year I was able to do it pretty smoothly. I worked past a couple people in the first 200m and a handful more the rest of the way. I felt smooth from the get-go on the swim and I thought I was moving at a pretty good clip. There were no real highlights, especially with such a short distance. After the race, I was a little disappointed with my time, but I think I had not taken into account the difference b/w short course yd pace and long course meters pace. Either way, I still PR’d by about a minute and a half, so the improvement is definitely evident.

Time: 9:17 (4/23 in AG, 57/330 OA)

Glad to be off to T1, and suprised to see the wife snapping photos

T1: ~1:30, no chip timing and splits for this race…times are worked into bike…I estimated based off pictures my wife snapped

20.5 mile bike

The bike course here is a speedway. The only notable hills are a short one climbing and interstate overpass and another on the return toward the interstate about 3 miles from the finish. Neither is difficult. Otherwise, the course is super-flat and fast and most of the roads are recently repaved or low-traffic country roads in good condition. I got my race wheels inflated properly for this race, but rain the day before limited my ability to test ride, so this would be their first real ride. Also, I didn’t think about switching over my speed sensor from my training wheels, so the bike PC was out of commission. However, I did have my Garmin305, but the fields weren’t setup to give me instantaneous speed. I could general tell how fast I was going, but the ride was basically all based on perceived effort. My goal was to really crush it and just see if my legs could survive the run. I think I may have held back some because I felt pretty fresh when leaving T2. Either way, it was a fast bike split and a new PR. I think I represented my new race wheels well and it was a fun ride on the rocket ship.

Time: 50:45 according to Garmin (24.2mph avg, 2/23 in AG, 8/330 OA)

Preparing to dismount at T2

T2: I felt a little unorganized here, and took much longer than I needed to. ~1:00 according to photo evidence

4.4 mile run

Starting the run

The run here is enjoyable, an out and back with a short loop at the turnaround. Almost the entire run is on multi-use paths and it winds through a couple small parks and the surrounding neighborhoods. It does have some short, steep climbs thrown in that can throw off your tempo. I got into my rhythm quickly and just basically even split it as far as I can tell. I haven’t looked at the Garmin data to confirm this, but it felt pretty steady. Before I knew it the home stretch had arrived and I did have pretty good kick through the line. I was tired to be sure, but not totally exhausted, so maybe left some time on the table. Once I settled down a bit I noticed it was really starting to warm up. I was glad we signed up early to get 6ish start time to avoid the bulk of the heat.

Time: 29:42 (6:44/mi pace, 2/23 in AG, 9/330 OA)

The home stretch

Total: 1:31:55 (2/23 in AG, 9/330 OA)

So, I hit my top 10 placing goal, but missed my time goal, although not by much and I can see where I could have grabbed seconds here and there. After the race I waited around for the rest of the family finishers and grabbed a breakfast burrito, one of the highlights of this race is the post-race breakfast burrito. We wanted to shower before hotel checkout and grab lunch so we could make the trek back to Cincy, so no hanging around for the awards ceremony was in order. For the family, we saw PRs across the board, and my sister’s BF also completed his first ever tri in a very solid time. Now, it’s a couple long training weeks, then back at it long-course style with Muncie Endurathon on July 10.

Deer Creek Olympic Triathlon, Way too long Race Report

2010-06-08T20:00:00.001-07:00

Finally, the 2010 tri season is officially under way for me. I completed my first race, the Deer Creek Olympic Tri in Mt. Sterling, OH, on Sunday. It was a C race that I actually approached more like a B since it happened to fall on a recovery week in my training cycle. This is a race I did last year on the same course, so would be a good benchmark to see my improvement.

Background on the race

The Deer Creek triathlon is a part of the regional (Cincinnati/Dayton/Columbus) races put on by HFP Racing, the same people that do Triple T. It is the first race in a point series called the Wheelie Fun Race Series. Each event in the series offers a short girls only tri on Saturday (new this year), along with a sprint (750-20k-5k) and Olympic tri on Sunday. The course for Deer Creek is pretty basic, a double loop rectangular swim, a double loop (and slightly long) bike course that is mostly flat but open to wind, and an out and back (slightly short) run that is pancake flat with a short off road section (~.5 mile) but also susceptible to wind especially when running across the levy.

Finish Line, pre-race

As with all HFP racing events I’ve competed in, it was run very professionally and I would highly recommend their races to anyone in the region. The only complaints are that they are a little slow in getting accurate results posted at the race and their morning of packet pickup is slow and has threatened to delay the race both years.

Race Weekend/Morning

My family and I picked up our packets on Saturday and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in Washington Court House, OH, a city I probably never need to return to…just not much to see there and a lack of good food options. We also seemed to be the only people in town not attending the truck pull at the local fairground. I just recently acquired a front race wheel (Hed Jet 6) to go with my Jet 90 and (also new) wheel cover, so I went to work prepping my race wheels, only to be frustrated with my apparent inability to inflate the “disc” wheel and to get the Jet 6 past 80psi. After about an hour’s frustration, I decided I’d visit the support tent race morning, and if they couldn’t help me quickly I’d go with my training wheels. The dinner that evening consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich, curly fries, and UDF ice cream… nothing like a healthy pre-race meal, right.

Race morning came and it was wet, it had rained overnight and was supposed to be rainy throughout the AM. I decided to heck with the race wheels at that point and just opted for the trainers to eliminate some of the morning stress. I downed a banana, loaded the car and it was off to the race. We got our transition areas set up had plenty of time to warm-up, which turned out to consist of hiding under the pavilion from the storm / downpour that rolled through right around 8AM (scheduled start time). It passed quickly, and the sun followed, so things were back on with a slight (~30minute) delay. Before heading to the start I ran back to check my now soaked transition area and rang out or poured out whatever accumulated rain I could…everything was still soaked.

Did anyone call for rain?

1500m Swim

First wave of the Olympic Tri – I’m in there somewhere

Side effects from the pre-race downpour included a substantial increase in the wind and churning of the water in the lake, so we were now swimming on a murky (could not see my hand in front of my face) and choppy course. I have taken a couple swim lessons and joined a master’s team this off-season, so was hoping to see big improvement here, but it was also my first OWS of the season, and it showed. I took off aggressively, but was unready for the chop and body churn, so drank more of the lake than I needed to. By the turn at the first buoy, I started to panic a bit, so switched to breaststroke to get my bearings and relax. Finally, once I had fallen back in the pack unfortunately, I was able to get my freestyle rhythm going. It was smooth sailing on rough waters from there. In the second lap, I was rolling along pretty good, but definitely got tossed about some by the waves. Still I worked my way back through some of my competition and exited the water mid-pack.

Time: 25:10 (4/12 in AG, 49/191 OA…~3minutes faster than last year!)

Heading to T1

T1: Socks, shoes, watch, helmet, etc…thrown on, and away I went

Time: 1:44

40k Bike

The wind was apparent from the outset, and although I felt like I started into somewhat of a headwind, my speed was still good and I didn’t feel like I was over-extending. I got into my rhythm quickly, and started my nutrition rotation of sports drink (310cal/serving Infinit custom blend) and water every ~10 minutes A lot of the sprint participants were on the road in the first lap, so there was traffic to navigate, but nothing too terrible. With the course being more or less a rectangle, the wind effects changed periodically. When travelling north/south, there was a gusty cross-wind that made me thankful I didn’t decide to break in the disc at this race. A highlight of the bike course was a ~.75mile stretch that was aligned perfectly with the wind. I was able to hit 36mph on a pancake flat road…insane! At around the 10mile mark, I went for my Infinit to find that my behind the seat bottle cages (profile design…I’m not a fan of this system and will be changing soon) had come loose at the pivot and were flopping around, which had launched my sports drink. The rest of the bike would be water only. From there, I decided to ride a little more conservatively since my speed seemed pretty good already and I didn’t want to blow up on the run. The second lap was quiet, nothing too exciting. Pulled back into transition and my Garmin had the bike at 25.25miles, a tad long.

Time: 1:04:44 (23.0mph avg, 1/12 in AG, 5/191 OA)

Heading out for lap 2, notice the dangling water bottle

T2: Shoe change, grabbed my Trifuel hat, and onto the run

Time: 0:57

Transitioning

10k Run

As I left transition, I was surprised how fast my legs were turning over. They felt great. Compared to last year, the wind was a little worse, but he clouds and lower temps made it much nicer conditions overall. I got passed early by another competitor and tried to match his stride, but gave up on that quickly…he was too fast. My new goal was to just keep him in sight. I carried 2 amphipod bottles, 1 w/ Infinit (1/2 serving) and 1 w/ water and alternated them until mile 5 when I ran out. I evenly split the run and was surprised how easy it felt. When discomfort set in, I just focused on shortening my stride and picking up my cadence and it seemed to get me back on track. I passed 1 other racer in the last mile and a sort of kicked it in, but didn’t have much of a sprint in me. I crossed the line and knew immediately it was a PR, just had to wait for results to make it official. The Garmin read 6.12miles for the run, so it was slightly short to counter the bike.

Time: 39:57 (~6:27/mile, 2/12 in AG, 7/191 OA)

The stretch run

Final Results

Time: 2:12:33 (~8min PR from same race last year)

12/191 OA

1/12 in AG

Much success

My next race is a sprint in St Louis in 2 weeks where I can hopefully iron out my race wheel issues…then the ramp up to long course in prep for Ironman Louisville. Glad to be in season again.