What a week!

Hi everyone! So this past week was a doozy! Natalie and I entered into our 12th consecutive week of training. We're tired and worn down, but trying to get through it. We trained hard Saturday with a 13 Miles run, 10 of it with our good friend and awesome runner Ken Charity, then Sunday we took a much needed rest day. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we trained hard logging over 6000 yards of swimming, 10 Miles of running and 20 miles of biking those three days. Thursday Nat was feeling a bit under the weather so she took the day off, but I had my first pre-Iron Man race.
I participated in the Lifeguard Challenge called the Mega Colossus. This extreme lifeguard endurance even has no prizes, just bragging rights for where you finished. Now it might surprise some of you that even though I was a lifeguard for over a decade I never actually competed in the Mega before. Honestly I was never in good enough shape, only able to do short bursts of speed, never the long distance that the Mega demanded and it had always been a dream of mine to race in the Mega. So, after all of Natalie's pep talks about how I am a distance runner now I bought in and showed up at 5:30 am for the Race Thursday morning. There were a lot of people I knew at the race and I got to chatting with some former co-workers.
The race bega and I paced my run (1.5 miles) to get to the first swim. It had been a long time since I swam in the ocean! I entered the first swim and thought to myself, 'man, this is gonna be a tough race'. After I exited the water on the first swim I was tired, but not too tired so I set an even pace and started my next 1.5 Mile run to the pier. At about Tower 15 I hit the AID station and took some water from a friend of mine, Matt "King" Karl who gave me some words of encouragement! I had a great entry at the pier and zipped right up the rip current that runs through the middle of the pier. I was around the end in no time and swimming strong on the North side of the pier towards the Beach. Then an awesome thing happened. I was in perfect position to catch a wave to shore and I rode one almost to the shore passing several people. I was stoked so I got into my running grove once more. At about Goldenwest Street I hit the next water station and as I ran through this guy in front of me threw his water on me. It was kind of comical, and it was more comical when I realized that it was Greg Lutrell, the Junior Guard Instructor from HB City. Greg is a stud, he works with the "Captains", the highest level of Junior Guards (15-16-17 years old). We ran about two miles together, traversing the Bolsa Chica Jetty which sucked several people into it, but Greg and I timed it right and swam straight across.

Then we hit the hardest part of the whole race, the large grained "quicksand" part of the beach. This is where the big boys have trouble because we sink into the sand. Greg is a little older than me and we both weigh in close to 2 Bills so we had to make some adjustments. Our goal was to keep enough speed to not get passed through this section. We shortend our stride to quick short steps and put our heads down. When we entered the water at the Bolsa Chica Headquarters Buoy we were both happy to have finished that section. I paced Greg the entire swim and we exited the water almost at the same time with Greg a little in front of me. I felt good and only had a little less than a mile and a half to run. I was going to make it.

So, there we are, I'm looking ahead at some people and I want to get them. Greg realizes this and tells me to go. I told him I'd see him at the finish line. I passed two young kids, 16 and 18 and then a HB State Rookie was built even bigger than me. I told him to keep it up and I charged forward. Then I passed two more women and finally I saw Steve Wolfe just ahead of me with about 400 yards to go. I caught up to him, gave him some words of encouragement and passed him to finish with a time of two hours, eight minutes (on my watch, the official times are not out as of this writing). I was super happy when I crossed that finish line. It was a great event and I think I might even do it again next year when I should be in even better shape!

Thanks to John Rodgers who put on a great event and to all the Lifeguards who made it possible: Matt "King" Karl, Elizabeth Bray, Matt Harrington and all the others who I didn't know.

Post Script: The one drawback to this race was such: I had not swam in the ocean in almost a year (since Greece) and my feet were not used to being wet and running on corse sand, so as a result I have a huge blister on my right big toe. I took yesterday off and today, but tomorrow we are in for serious punishment: 40 Miles Bike in the Am and 15 Miles Run in the PM. Gotta make those goals!

I hope that these posts help motivate you in your training or fitness goals. If you need any tips, please ask, between Natalie and myself we have coached 6 sports and have competed in at least that many. Good luck and good training!

The big boys fall the hardest!

This is going to be a short entry. Today Natalie and I rode from our house all the way down to Laguna Main Beach and I crashed really hard! (Pics to bellow!) Overall we were flying! Our 40.70 Miles ride took 2:45.51. Our mile average was 4:04.

A couple funny things today:
1. We really annoyed a bike team because they couldn't shake us. Natalie and I rode with them for almost ten miles and then we passed them for good. As a cyclist on a mountain bike makes you feel pretty awesome to overtake a team on road bikes.
2. I got a good laugh out of the Laguna Beach lifeguard. I asked him if he had Bactine or an antibacterial, but he said he would clean it with Saline and bandage it. I told him I still had 20 to ride and that I'd let it coagulate. He laughed and said "Right On!" I didn't know people still said right on:)
3. We got bagels at Brugger's Bagels in CDM (Corona Del Mar or Crown of the Sea I believe). Gotta have fuel for rides over 30 or you get pooped out.
4. Small curbs, high speeds and water do not mix! I tried (unsuccessfully) to go into a driveway near main beach, my back tire didn't clear and I went sliding for about 30 feet down the side-walk. My bike light exploded and so did some of my skin (knee, ankle, calf, thumb and chest).
5. When cleaning out bike wounds you really got to get in there and scrub out any potential infection. I used natural soap from whole foods and it was mild and didn't sting. It also didn't hurt that I started shaving my legs for all the cycling we are doing so I don't have to worry about the hair infecting the wounds. Lastly, add Neosporin plus Pain for those wounds to heal faster and I should be golden in a few days. Tomorrow will suck on our long run (my shoe and sock are going to rub my wounded ankle), but what can you do?

All in all interesting day so far!

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

Troy and Natalie

I married an Ironwoman!

Those of you that know me may not necessarily know Natalie, my wife. She is a charger and is fiercely competitive though she regularly denies it. We've trained our butts of this week and I was proud to see her charging through the end of her workouts. I know that we have not completed the Ironman yet, but as far as I'm concerned Natalie is already an Ironwoman. Here was our grueling training schedule this week:

Saturday: 13.5 Miles. 2:01.57. 9:00/mi. Run. 10 miles we ran with our buddy Ken Charity.
Sunday: 34.28 Mile Bike. 2:40.52. 4:41/mi.
Monday: Bike AM 17.12 Miles. 1:17.09. 4:30/mi. then I went for a 10.17 Mile run. 1:32.53. 9:07/mi. and Natalie had to outdo me
running 10.28 Miles 1:22.34. 8:02/mi. Don't know what got her going that fast but I want some!
Tuesday: Swim AM (N) 2850 Yards (T) 3200 Yards, Run PM Track Workout 8.16 Miles (WU 1.5 Miles 24X200 (6 miles) CD .5 Mile)
Wednesday: Bike AM 19.06 Miles. 1:25.55. 4:30/mi.Run PM 8.29 Miles (Dead tired and headwind) 1:16.13. 9:13/mi.
Thursday: Swim AM (N)2700 (T)3500
Friday: Swim AM (N) 2450 (T) 2750

Totals for the week: Run: (N)40.28 Miles, (T) 40.17 Miles
Bike: 70.46 Miles
Swim: (N) 8000 yds. (T) 9450 yards

Grand Totals through ten weeks of training:
Run: (T) 187.6 Miles, (N) 188.32
Bike: (T) 465.14 Miles, (N) 385.52
Swim: (T) 52,350 yds., (N) 41850 yds. (In Miles: (T)31.72 Miles (N)25.36 Miles)

Hardest Workout:
Troy: Monday's 17 mile ride followed by the 10 mile run!
Natalie: Wednesday's Morning Ride of 19 miles.

Most impressive moment:
When I looked down and realized that Natalie and I were charging up our final hill in gear 3/7 without shifting up. We were tired and still kicking butt!

Thanks for following! Tomorrow we have a long am run and we're going to celebrate the 4th of July weekend with some serious workouts! Looking forward to Wednesday Day Off! Haven't taken a recovery day in 6 days.

Happy Fourth of July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The hardest workout of my life. . .

I know all of you out there have heard someone talk about the hardest workout of their life or the hardest thing of there life and once they get going the challenge that was set before them wasn't really that hard, but it was a mental wall they had to climb. Today I climbed that wall.
My schedule got rearranged (like they always do) and I had to double up on two serious workouts back to back if I was going to meet my training goals for this week. At 6:30 am Natalie and I left for our ride, nothing too serious, 17.12 miles and we maintained a 4:30/mi. pace which is pretty good for us right now considering we are riding these distances on mountain bikes! Anyways, as we are getting closer to the end of our ride and approaching our apartment I start to complain, "I wish I was the one getting ready to go to work instead of having to run ten miles" and Natalie answers me, "Yeah right, I'll take that run any day".

Now for those of you that know me I have always been a really good short distance runner. In high school my sister gave me the nick-name "midget" because in comparison to the other runners my build and the way I ran made me look like a midget, but I've always hated going for those long runs. Anything over three miles was laboriously intensive and I didn't want anything to do with them. Once we made our mind up to do this ironman thing I knew that I would have to change my outlook, but that it would be hard. So there I was this morning after having finished a pretty intense ride tying my shoe laces and putting on a purple bandana to get ready for this run.

Natalie and I have a policy that we don't ever run with ipods when we run together, because sharing the pain is part of what this ironman thing is about, but I was going out alone and I decided to bring along some audio of some great speakers that I needed to catch up on. I got it into my mind that I would just pace myself and finish. That was the most important thing I could do, finish. So I kissed Natalie goodbye and was out the door on my way.

Two miles in I felt pretty good until I had to hop the fence to get onto the horse trail (nice packed dirt trail, great for running) and I almost fell backwards trying to get over the fence. My legs were wobbly and I almost keeled over. On my second attempt I made it over and started my run again. Mile four: I'm hot, I've soaked through my shirt and sweat more than I knew was in me. My bandana couldn't keep the sweat from my eyes but I pushed harder. When I got to the first water fountain on Bolsa Chica State beach I stopped my watch, took off my head band soaked it in cool water, hid in the shade for two minutes, then I started again. My body temperature was not able to regulate itself any longer. I was burning up, so I knew that I needed to cool my body down every few miles. When I reached mile seven I was so tired and overheated that I though I might have to call a taxi!

I've playing in Rugby tournaments, I've run races, swam races, competed in Soccer tournaments and worked 10 hour days on Ranches and building pools, yet here I was faced with my greatest challenge to date. I made a decision there to finish even if I had to stop in the shade ever 100 yards. I would stop my watch every time I stopped and not advance any further until my watch was started again. What I knew then, and what I am sharing with you now, is that if I could finish this workout, as hard and challenging as it might be, then I could finish the ironman I have set in my sights next may.

I do have to give some credit to Bill Orender and his talk titled "Driven by your Goals", seemed like the perfect thing to motivate me through this run, but it is important to know that I am not a good distance runner and that it still stands as a major challenge to me and I'm sure it always will, but perseverance and perspective are two majors factors in achieving any goals. It was important for me to persevere, but more importantly the perspective I have now at this stage of training allowed me to realize that I couldn't fail, I was beyond that point. Four weeks ago that would have been a different story.

Lastly it is important to set your goals. Every week Natalie and I sit down and write our goals out, "Think in Ink" so to speak and every week we try to hit those number. Without those goals there is no point in training, or doing anything else. Make goals and stick to them, you'll see what you can really achieve!

I've wanted to quit several times, not just during the workout, but the whole thing, "stupid Ironman" I'd say, but that not it, its stupid Troy for not believing in myself. Have a great day! I hope you accomplish all you set out to do!

Update on our CRAZY training!

Good morning! So, we trained hard last week, but found ourselves separated by the miles between Huntington Beach and Atlanta. I flew to Atlanta for a business conference and Natalie stayed here and stayed diligent:)
Training Updates:
Mileage to Date:
Run: (T) 147.43 Miles (N) 148.15 Miles
Bike: (T) 394.68 Miles (N) 315.06 Miles
Swim: (T) 42900 Yards (26 Miles) (N) 33850 Yards (Approx. 20 Miles)

Natalie went on a ride last week with her brother while I was out of town, she says it was the strongest headwind that she has ever faced. She still maintained a 4:45/mi. pace. She says she is getting "Manly"!

While Running in Atlanta I found the humidity and elevation to be a bit of a challenge. We get so used to training here in Sunny Southern California that we forget we are at sea level and with no humidity it is easier to breath. I ran really hard the first night we got there and paid the price of an impromptu basketball game with my friend Tom (btw, I don't do basketball) where we were slipping all over the wet court. I feel on my butt several times.

Some training tips and ideas:
I think we are going to try and get to Mammoth for some training before October. We need the elevation, but we don't want to train when all the High School and College teams are up there.

Consistency is the key to success. We don't run 30 Miles a day, but we consistently workout and set goals (which we rarely hit). We've entered week nine. Lots of distance to show for ourselves.

Next Race:
We are doing a Swim/Run Race with the Lifeguards in July. More info to follow. Natalie would really love your support so if you're not doing anything at 5 in the morning on race day, please come out and holler for her!

Thanks for reading!

Our Next adventure!

Well, it has been a whole year since we last blogged about our wonderful European Adventure. Natalie and I just celebrated our one year anniversary and we ate some really old wedding cake which was actually okay! We've done a lot this year, Natalie got a job with a technical company as an Editor and I started my own business with Primerica Financial Services. Things are looking very bright for our future, but we felt that something was missing, that we needed some excitement.

One day a few weeks ago Natalie and I were discussing her running friends and how she really wanted to race again. It was hard for me to accept the invitation since I was at an extreme disadvantage in distance running since I had not done very much of it. So we settled on a compromise, we were going to compete in a triathlon. Not just any triathlon mind you, but an Ironman Triathlon.

For those of you who don't know what a triathlon is, let me enlighten you. The event consists of a swim, then a bike and finally a run to the finish line. Triathlons can be any distance and can vary dramatically. An Ironman triathlon is a 2.4 Mile Swim, followed by a 112 Mile Bike and finished with a 26.2 Mile run to the finish. We have committed to the St. George Utah qualifying Ironman race next May 2012. To compete is roughly $700 per person and we also need to purchase race bikes which run about $2000 a person. Counting the time and equipment it will take to complete this event, we will both invest over $10,000 in time and money to be Ironmen (and Women). If you would like to help us to race in the form of sponsorship or support please post on the blog or my facebook page:)

Training:
To be honest we are now in our 7th week of training, but I want to recap some of the training fun that has been going on.
Week One: We ran a total of 22.53 Miles, Biked 48.2 Miles and Swam 1100 Yards. It was not too hard, but seemed like a lot at the time!
By week Four we were really training hard and had run 23.88 Miles, biked 81.34 and swam 8700 yards. Week four was the first week we did a long Saturday run. Out of the 23.88 Miles we ran a 13.95 mile run in a time of 2 hours and 25 minutes which is approx. 10:25 Miles. It was a good start, but we didn't realize how fast we were going to get in such a short time.
Week Five: This was our first rest week, where we ran or biked short distances at high speeds. We ran a 3-Mile Pace run @ 7:12 Miles and did an 8 Mile Bike sprint averaging 3:33/mi. for 8 miles (not bad for mountain bikes with street tires!).
By week eight (this week) we were really stepping it up, running farther and faster and biking much farther. On Saturday (yesterday) we ran 13.97 Miles in 2 hours and 3 minutes for a pace of 8:48/mi. but that includes our slow warm-up mile, and this morning we biked 41.1 Miles biking out to Anaheim Hills and back from our house. Our weekly goals for week eight are 35 miles run, 65 biked and 7500 swam. I leave for Atlanta on Wednesday, so its going to be a challenge to be dedicated to working out without my workout buddy!
Natalie is a stud, pushing herself hard through all the training. She keeps me going when I don't want to give the extra.

The point of this blog is not to brag, but to show you that you can achieve anything you set your mind to. I am not a skinny running type of person. Every step I take puts 200 plus pounds of weight on my knees and ankles, but I'm doing this to show people I can do it. Natalie was not a swimmer 8 weeks ago, now she's turning into a fish. Our first race is the Mega Colossus on July 14th starting at State beach and finishing in Seal beach. If you want to come out, we would love the support. We'll also be posting pictures periodically to keep you all in the loop of our fun training.

Also, if anyone wants to run, swim or bike with us, let me know, there's always room for more! Check back soon!

Our new toy.

Natalie and I got a new toy for Christmas. It is a program called Dragon Dictate. You talk into a headset and it types all the words out for you. In fact I'm using it right now to write this blog. It is amazing what technology can do!

You may be wondering what could you possibly need a dictation program for? Well, Natalie and I do a lot of writing and this program will simplify the writing and save us time. My plan is to write three books this spring. Natalie writes on a daily basis as a ghostwriter for an Iranian refugee. Her contact fled Iran after the 1979 revolution. Natalie goes to her house once a week or every other week and records her stories and writes them out into manuscript form. Natalie's writing these manuscripts for a director who her contact has been working with.

So as you can see this program is going to make our lives much easier! The program is not perfect, but the speed in which it writes makes any corrections a simple click fix, not an elaborate process. It is interesting to note that it profiles your speech pattern to be as accurate as possible.

Thanks for being my first test dummies!
Happy holidays and a wonderful new year!

Troy
(Natalie says hi to!)