Are these my clothes?

There are four things that stand out for me in training for the Ironman

1. The amount of weight I am losing.
2. The huge training volume that is involved
3. How supportive my wife is
4. It is great to have mentors or advisers when going through this journey

I was looking at my last blog post on how my weight was dropping. I thought 172 was low, but it wasn't so bad.  My average weight now is about 165, I have hit 159 multiple times after my long rides/run.  I quit lifting weights altogether in April as you can see from my April Totals.  I have lost a lot of muscle and fat.  All my clothes fit BIG on me and sometimes I wonder, "Are these my clothes"?  I feel as if I am a little boy trying on his Dad's clothes since everything fits big!  When I am wearing my cell phone on my belt and keys in my pocket they actually start to pull my pants down!  Speaking of Dad....I am SO excited that my Dad and Step-mom Barbara will be coming out to watch me do IM!!!   Way cool!! :-)

Random pic I downloaded from Internet on how I am starting to feel with my clothes.  :-)

Training volume has been HUGE.  I have NEVER worked this hard and this LONG in my life.  The run sessions range from 1-2 hours, the swims range from 1-1.5 hours and the rides....well....they are the longest...they can last up to 6.5 hours.  As of today I have officially done 6 centuries (rides 100 miles or more) in the last 2-3 months.  They were some great rides.  For me it is always funner to ride with people...even if I am getting dropped!  Some notes from my bike logs:


4/30    100 miles -First century of the year!! WahooOOOOOOO!!!  Rode the coeur d'alene loop twice with Matt, Tim and Eve.Good luck to Tim who will be doing CDA.
5/7      100 miles -Century ride on Centennial Trail with Lee.  Lee is also doing CDA this year and will certainly PR!  My seat needed adjustment and I noticed I had a flat when I got home.  Maybe it was a slow leak?
5/15    102.1 miles -Lilac Century
5/21    100 miles -Century ride with Jim B, his first of the year.
5/28      91.55 miles -Rode CDA loop with Craig and Erica, killer tempo workout!  Good luck to Craig and Erica, they will also be racing CDA this year!
6/4     108.67 miles -Rode the CDA loop twice with James and Haley. Paul did the first loop with us. I was hangin on for my life!
6/5     108.26 miles -Lilac route in reverse, Jim B rode about 18 miles with me.  I missed a turn which added the extra 8 miles.  I was pretty exhausted after riding back-to-back centuries.

2011 Lilac Century: I am wearing yellow & black on the right.

Matt Fuller's Pit Stop on Rimerock Rd (CDA loop). On the second loop James, Haley and I stopped here and loaded up on some cold water!  Thanks Matt!!

 I certainly couldn't have registered and trained without the support of my wife, Rosi, and my girls.  A big THANK YOU for supporting me on this long, time consuming, triathlon accessory buying adventure!!  I feel some of my runs and rides are spiritual.  It is time when I am by myself with my own thoughts. Sometimes on these training sessions my eyes fill with tears because I am so grateful and thankful (aren't those the same?) for my health and being able to run or bike and the sacrifices that my family is making on my behalf so I can achieve this enormous goal.  Thank you Rosi!!

Rosi rockin the free style!  Rosi & I went to Witter Pool (pool length = 50 yards) for some swimming over Memorial Day weekend.

It is great to have mentors/adviser on this journey!  A big thanks to Matt, James, Josh and Bobby!!  Matt Cusack (IMCA finisher) is like a Triathlon Encyclopedia!  James Richman (IMCA finisher/Kona Qualifier), who is also doing CDA (he's going to kill it out there!), has tons of experience in bike racing and running.  Josh Kaptor (IMLP finisher) and Bobby (is going to rock IMLP this year) of BT were very knowledgeable.  Between these four guys I got TONS of advice on things like wheels, tires, tubes, training, tempos, tapers, biking form,  running more frequently as opposed to just running long, bike cassette selection, discounts on equipment, how to avoid injury, nutrition, support, tri articles, encouragement, inspiration and more. 
I was lucky to train with Matt and James as they live in Spokane and are hardcore triathletes.  THANKS GUYS!! 

The four wise men of triathlon

Here are my totals for the last two months...


Mays Totals
Bike:          33h 56m  - 564.03 M
Run:           22h 09m 59s  - 163.9 Mi
Swim:          14h 02m 40s  - 38000 Yd

April Totals
Bike: 20h 16m 25s  - 345.04 Mi
Run: 12h 56m 26s  - 93.01 Mi
Swim: 1h 35m  - 4250 Yd (this was when I was sick, I couldn't swim etc.)
Strength: 30m

....and finally...I am SO excited my race wheels FINALLY arrived tonight!!  It took me while to get those tires/tubes on, but they are ready.  I now have to move my cassette over and take em for a spin!  Thanks Rosi for the early Father's Day gift!!!!  Nineteen days!! ....getting excited and nervous!!

Tour des Lacs 2010

Let me start off by saying this is a tour, it is not a race.  With that said, in 2009 I did the 108 mile distance at Tour des Lacs.  I had some commitment constraints which didn't allow us to do the "Super Long" ride at that time.  I figured I would do it the following year.   As the time got closer, I knew I needed to go the full distance as I didn't have any excuses this time and it would be a good confidence booster for the 2011 Ironman Coeur d'Alene.

Casey and Rene before the tour begins (Sept 18,  2010)

The days leading up to this ride it was predicted that it was going to rain.  I hoped the forecasters would be wrong, but unfortunately this time they weren't!  When Casey and I got to the start at Northern Lights Brewing Company it was already drizzling.  I can handle the drizzling, I was just hoping there wouldn't be any MAJOR downpours.  We both chowed down a some blueberry pancakes and were ready for the ride!

The start of the ride was delayed 15 minutes due to an accident on the course.  The start of the tour was AWESOME as you get a police escort through town.  I wish all my bike rides were like this!!  LOL   The rain lasted about 45-60 minutes.

At one point during the ride all traffic (cars and bikes) were diverted on to a rocky, dirty and muddy road.  As I was going down the hill I started gaining more speed than I wanted and was getting closer to the rider in front of me.  I tapped my brakes and was sliding.  I got a little nervous that I was going to slide to the ground but I was lucky I didn't.   The reason we were diverted was due to that accident on the course.  Two teenagers had hit a tree at high speed.  That car was smashed up BAD.  Sad.  Rest in Peace Levi and Tiffani

Once we got to the first rest stop, I looked at my bike and my clothes and both were covered in mud.  Some of us rinsed off our bikes with the hose there and someone even sprayed my back to get all that mud off.  As I was riding I was so glad I borrowed my wifes leg warmers that I got her for her birthday (LOL).  They sure kept me comfortable out there!  I was bummed that this long route doesn't include the  Trail of the Coeur d' Anene's bridge crossing, I really enjoyed crossing that bridge.  The sights there were spectacular.

The rest stop food was awesome.  Some of the stuff I ate along the course included a pancake, turkey and cheese sandwiches (2 or 3),  peanut butter and jelly sandwich (Yum!), chilli, chips, cookies, bananas and nuts.  Of course at the end I chowed about 5 pieces of pizza and a couple of those mini chocolate chip brownies!!  Instead of losing weight on this ride I may have gained a few pounds!  ;-)

The first 60-70 miles aren't too bad.  After that though you start feeling it.  My legs started getting a little sore and my neck and upper back started to ache.  At some points during the ride I was dropping into aero-position.  I knew this was causing the neck soreness, but going down those hills in aero was FAST and FUN!! I was FLYIN!!  It was worth it.  Some time after the first rest stop (at 18 miles), we were riding with some folks from the Baddlands team.  We just pulled up on the back of their train and started riding.  Last year was the first time I had ridden on a train and had a great time doing it.  So I was happy to do it again.  I knew that it was less work and you travel faster due to the aerodynamics of drafting. We rode approximately 60 miles with the Baddlands team.  One of the guys there, Bob Fisher, had recently won the 24 Hour Ring of Fire race in which he rode 373 miles.  Even with that recent race he was doing some serious pulling!!

Bob Fisher on left, Rene yellow and Casey is sporting the Bike Hub jersey.

According to the web sit, this "Super Long Route" has approximately 7000 feet of elevation changes. This course is VERY HILLY!! I was certainly feeling it. When the end finally came I was looking forward to relaxing and chowing down.  I was tired physically and mentally.  I was up at 5:30am to get to this ride and total ride time not including breaks was 7:44.  I looked at my odometer and we had ridden 126 miles!  I just realized that averages out to 16.29 miles per hour!  I am really happy with this accomplishment!!!   A BIG thanks to Casey for joining me on this adventure, thanks to my wife who picked us up in CDA after the ride and held down the fort so I could do this ride, thanks to my kiddies and finally a BIG thanks to Round and Round, Davids Pizza and all those volunteers!!