THE ROAD to KONA – RESTART

The Road Just Traveled
My name is Jerry Huhn and on November 1st, 2004, I set out on a Journey to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman race in Kona, Hawaii. This road took me to the ½ Ironman Florida, Ironman Coeur d’Alene and Ironman Wisconsin races. Unfortunately, I was unable to win my qualification. The road was to end at Ironman Wisconsin. In reality, it did flattened my quest for Kona. However, I was unable to finish the Coeur d’Alene and Wisconsin races. This left me no choice but to continue my journey in 2006, to finish the race and, still hopefully, qualify for Kona.

My journey took me through many trials and roadblocks. It was an adventure. The thought of some day being able to do the Hawaii Ironman is exciting. I still would like to be able to do it. But, my first goal next year is to complete this stupid race. I completed it in 2002 but it has beaten me the last three years. Now I am out for revenge.

You may have followed my BLOG last year, it is stall available at http://www.theroadtokona.blogspot.com/. If you did not follow it, here is a little background.

What is a Juvenile Diabetic's Race?
Before you begin following me on my Irnoman journey, there is something I would like you to consider. In 2004, I was part of a group of IM Wisconsin athletes that took on the challenge of trying to help the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Wisconsin, JDRF. Along with this, Janus Corporation, a partner with Ironman, also contributed to charities chosen by the athletes. In 2004, IM Wisconsin's athletes raised the largest amount of any IM race. Over $1,000,000 was raised for local charities. We were able to raise over $44,000 for JDRF. This year, we again will be raising money for JDRF. My journey below will end. The journey of those with juvenile (often referred to as Type I) diabetes will go on for a lift time. I know. My daughter is one of those. When your read my story below, keep in mind I have chosen this journey. Those with juvenile diabetes have not. To survive, they have to check their blood sugar 8-10 times a day, 3,000+ times a year, take insulin, and know that the rest of their life will be a constant challenge. Diabetes effects on the kidneys, circulatory system, etc. are well known.

Here is a letter my daughter wrote when I asked her what it meant to have diabetes.

My Journey

In 2000, at the age of 29 and halfway through my pregnancy with my first child, I was diagnosed as having gestational diabetes. My doctor was surprised since I had no history of diabetes in my family and my weight did not put me at risk. Unable to control my blood sugar through diet alone, I required multiple injections of insulin each day. I greatly anticipated the birth of my daughter and the end of diabetes.

But three months after giving birth, as I tried to adjust to the new demands of motherhood, I went to the doctor complaining of vision problems, rapid weight loss, and constant thirst. Despite my attempts to explain away these symptoms, attributing them to nursing and lack of sleep, there was no denying that something was wrong with me. My blood sugar was above 500 mg/dL, well beyond the normal range of 80-140. To this day, I realize how lucky I was that I didn’t end up in a coma. I was diagnosed as having type I (juvenile) diabetes, which typically develops in childhood or adolescence, but can occur in younger adults as well.

I will never know exactly how I contracted type I diabetes, which unlike type II is an autoimmune disease. My immune system, in response to a virus, destroyed the insulin-producing beta cells in my pancreas. It is likely that pregnancy triggered or at very least sped up my development of the disease. I also have some suspicions about a rubella (German measles) inoculation that I received several months before I conceived. I have read that the virus in this vaccination has some similarity to the virus that causes diabetes. Hopeful scientists will figure it all out someday.

So how has my life changed since developing diabetes? To be honest, it is hard to figure out what aspect of my life has not changed, at least in some small way. I wear an insulin pump 24-hours a day. Through a small tube (infusion set) under my skin, which I change every two or three days, the pump delivers a small dose of insulin every three minutes and then additional insulin whenever I eat. Diabetes certainly has altered the way that I eat and think about food.
The insulin pump is not automatic - I still must count (or at least estimate) every gram of carbohydrate that I consume and give myself the corresponding amount of insulin needed to process it. I weigh or measure my food. I read nutritional labels. When I guess incorrectly, my blood sugar will elevate, putting me at risk for long-term health complications, or it will fall too low, and I experience hypoglycemia – profuse sweating, shakiness, irritability and most disconcerting as a parent of young kids, the inability to think clearly. Left untreated, I will lose consciousness. Needless to say, I carry fast-acting carbohydrates with me wherever I go. Every time I leave the house, or put myself (or my children) in a precarious position, whether that involve driving a car, showering, holding a baby, swimming or even sleeping, I worry. When my oldest daughter was still a baby, my husband used to travel frequently for business, often for days at a time. I was always so fearful that I would lose consciousness during the night and no one would be there to take care of her. It is of some relief that she is now four-years old and knows how to dial 911 in case of an emergency.

I test my blood sugar 8 or more times each day. It is the first thing I do when I wake up; unprompted, my two-year old daughter usually finds my test kit on my nightstand and hands it to me. It is the last thing that I do at the end of the day. I generally test every 2-3 hours throughout the day, and sometimes in the middle of the night as well. I eat when my blood sugar is low, whether I am hunger or not. And when my blood sugar is too high, I have to delay eating until it goes down, even if this means waiting a few hours.

Probably the most frustrating thing about diabetes is that it is not an exact science. Even if I were to eat the same meal at the same time every day, my blood sugar would still vary, leaving me high on one day while low on the next. Stress, hormone fluctuations, menstruation, activity level, even the change of seasons all play a part. I ran my first marathon as a diabetic last year – the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. I had spent several months training, paying considerable attention to my nutrition. How many carbohydrates did I need to eat, and when, to keep my blood sugar in the appropriate range? But what I was unable to factor in were pre-race jitters (stress can cause your blood sugar to spike). Just minutes before the start, my reading was well above a level where it was safe for me to run (exercise can cause already high blood sugar to rise even higher). With my husband, two daughters and mom standing there to cheer, my dad and older brother next to me at the start line, friends and other family members waiting on the course, do I do the intelligent thing and not run the race? I ran the race.
Every 30 minutes, while still running, I would carefully remove my meter, lancing device and a test strip from my waist belt to test my blood sugar. Although my level eventually did go down, I wasn’t able to take in any carbs until well past the halfway point. And at around mile 18, I experienced a bad low – ate a handful of glucose tablets, sat on the curb for several minutes and trudged on. I tried not to be too disappointed with my finishing time. I had to remind myself that it really wasn’t about the race itself. I had run other marathons in my past and I knew that I could go the distance. For me, it was about the process - the challenge of working to get there – of being committed to a goal. Maybe there is a parallel with diabetes, and life.

I once dreamed about breaking 3 hours in a marathon, but as long as I have diabetes, I don’t believe that this is achievable. So I need to find a different goal, preferable one where I won’t have a pre-diabetes achievement to compare it to. With all the Ironman-distance triathletes in my life - my husband, my dad, my younger brother – it should be of no surprise that this is something I would like to do someday. But for now, I am happy to be on the sidelines cheering for their accomplishments, rooting for them to achieve their goals.

A friend told me a story about a toddler who worked really hard on an art project, only to nonchalantly destroy the object moments after completing it. So on bad days, when despite careful measuring and complex mathematical calculations, my blood sugar levels are not where I want them to be, I try and remind myself – it is alright sometimes to just focus on the doing, and not to be overly concerned with the result. The important thing is that I am trying, every reading at a time.

Sherry Huhn Gotzler May 2005


The goal this year is to get 1,406 people to contribute, one for every tenth of a mile of this race, 140.6 miles. We are asking for a minimum of $25 each but all contributions will be welcome.

To help, you can make an online contribution now at: http://www.januscharitychallenge.com/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=118657&lis=1
Select the Make a Donation on the left and enter my name, Jerry Huhn. I will also have information shortly on how you can contribute by check.


What is an IM Race?
An Ironman Distance Races is;
2.4 miles swim. (That’s about 15,000 – 17,000 swim strokes per arm)
112 mile bike ride. (That’s about 27,000 – 30,000 cycles with your legs)
26.2 mile run. (That’s about 23,000 strides with each leg)

Time required? 9 hours for a pro, 17 hours cut off time.
Food on the go? 3,000 to 6,000 calories.
Liquids to drink? 150-500 oz water (5 to 15 quarts of water)

A triathlon is always swim, then bike, then run. Many shorter races have the athletes start in waves of several hundred. IM races start all together. This is what it looks like at the start of the race. There are from 1,500 to 2,200 athletes in most of the IM races. This was Madison’s IM race in 2002.


Once the race has started, the swim can be a battle. Swimming into others is common. Most athletes wear swimming wet suits, except in salt water. Contrary to what you might think, we are not wearing them for warmth. We wear them because it gives us buoyancy which greatly reduces our need to kick. You need your legs for the bike and run.And what does it look like when it gets started? Something like this. If we get tired, we are allowed to hang onto the boats or kayaks. They are not allowed however to move you forward.

The Recovery
Thursday, Sept 15th
I am still recovering from the Ironman Wisconsin race last Sunday. My legs are feeling much better and I can walk semi normal. I’ve joined the Elmbrook Masters Swim program again and tonight is our first practice. Three of my friends in the program did IM Wisconsin several years ago and have signed up for the 2006 race. They are surprised that I have signed up again. I only do the warm up and drills. My legs and arms aren’t ready for the rest of the practice and I leave early.

I stop at Lauren Jensen’s to drop off an Elegant Farmer apple pie. She was my coach last year and was second place female at the IM Wisconsin race. I go home and treat my self to a large bowl of ice cream. This was a staple during my training but I haven’t had one in weeks. I guess I’m recovered!!!

Saturday, Sept 17th
I meet the Saturday morning bike group at the Southwest YMCA. I haven’t ridden with them nearly all summer. About 8 riders show up. I was hoping someone would be riding the shorter course but everyone was doing the 42 mile loop. I was going to ride easy but end up with the lead pack. My legs are tired, especially riding the hills. When they start pushing it on the hills, I decide to pull back and re-join the second group. It’s a good ride but my left hamstring is sore after the ride.

In the evening, one of the TriWis club members hosts a pizza party for the IM Wisconsin participants. We trade stories, relive the race, drink beer and eat.

Sunday, Sept 18th
I head out for my first run since the race. Legs are tired but I had a surprising good pace. I do my 4.3 mile loop.

Monday, Sept 19th
Short 15 mile ride around the neighborhood. In the evening, I go back to pilate class at the health club. My right adductor is still sore and tight.

Tuesday, Sept 20th
Ran easy 3 miles. My legs are not recovered. Masters swim went much better. I warmed up with the group and did our stroke drills. Our main set was 2x150 yd, 3x100 yd, 4x75 yd and 6x50 yd. I was able to keep a 1:45 / 100 yd pace which is good for me. Total workout was 2,500 yds. I must be recovered because I’m back to eating junk food and anything else I find. Late evening ice cream three nights in a row! This is an addiction.

Wednesday, Sept 21st
Good bike ride around Pewaukee Lake, 30 miles. For awhile my legs felt tired but then recovered. It’s warm and windy. Reminds me of THE RACE a week ago.

Thursday, Sept 22nd
I drove to our cottage up north last night. The leaves are changing and it’s beautiful. I get in an hour run down the forest roads. I stop several times to clear large branches off the road. The few cars on the roads up here usually drive around them until someone stops to clear them.

Friday, Sept 23rd
I take Marv, a friend of mine, up to Hwy 2 to ride. He has a hybrid bike so we only ride for 20 miles. The sun is shining and it’s beautiful!

Saturday, Sept 24th
Not so nice today, windy cloudy and drizzle. I run over to Little Duck lake and back, a 4 mile loop at a good pace.

Sunday – Wednesday, Sept 25th- 28th
The weather is rotten and so is my mood and my training. My Tuesday training is rotatilling and raking to help my daughter get their lawn in before winter. Yesterday it rained again and I just felt lazy.

Thursday, Sept 29th
I do my 6.6 mile run loop at a good pace. My left ankle bothers me some. It’s been acting up several times over the last few weeks. I’m wondering if I need to get back on taking Glucosamine for arthritis. Later, I swim with the Masters. We have a several new swimmers. After the first couple sets, it obvious Kris who is swimming the lane with Mike and I is faster then us so I’m back to the end of the line. It’s 2,800 yds and I’m really sore when I get home.

Saturday, Oct 1st
Yesterday, we flew to Atlanta and met friends in Athens for a wedding. Today, I head out from our hotel for a run. I go a couple blocks down a road that looks like a thorough fare but the neighborhood looks bad so I go back to the main road. A couple blocks further and I’m at the edge of the University of Georgia campus. I follow the road for a mile and find their track which is open. I do 3 x 800 to stretch my legs out and then head back to the motel. My swimming "workout" for today is with my friend, Ted, and his brother at 2:00 am at the motel pool. I had to swim to the pool bottom to retrieve a beer cup that fell in when they did. Well, maybe they didn’t just fall in!

Sunday, Oct 2nd
We get up at 5:30 am to drive to Atlanta and catch our flight home. By 10:00 am we are in Milwaukee at the Lakefront Marathon. My oldest son, Paul, is running it. He finishes in 4:05, an excellent time for his second marathon. By the time we get home, I’m too tired to do anything.

Monday, Oct 3rd
Today, record warm temperatures in the mid 80’s. I bike around Pewaukee Lake 30 miles. To challenge myself, I do all the hills hard in aero position.

Tuesday, Oct 4th
It’s still record warm for this time of year and I’m still feeling lazy. I go to PowerFlex class this morning, skip the run I had planned and swim with the Masters at 6:30. Kim, a new swimmer, is in our lane. She swam in high school but right now, she’s behind me. I’m sure that will not last. We swim hard. Our main set is 3x150 at interval and 8x75 at interval, 3,000 yds total. I get home and eat a big meal with seconds on everything followed by ice cream. 15 minutes later, I’m snacking on Cheeto’s.

Wednesday, Oct 5th
Still great weather. I was going to meet up with the TriWisconsin Club at the Petit Center at 6:00 but decide to take advantage of the great weather. I do my 9.4 mile loop at 8:45 pace. That’s a good pace for me. My left ankle however is acting up again after my run.

Saturday, Oct 8th
Yesterday I took off. Today it’s a cool but a nice fall day. I ride from the Y at 8:30 with 4 other bikers. Lauren is one of them. We do the 42 mile loop. The two gals and the old guy (me) set the pace while the two studs fall back. That’s a switch.

Sunday, Oct 9th
Nice day for a run. I do my 9.4 mile loop. My left ankle continues to bother me as it kind of gives out when I’m running and is a little sore after the run.

Monday, Oct 10th
I had planned to bike around Pewaukee Lake but it got too late so I went over to Mitchell Park and did some high cadence intervals. Later, I do the pilate class. Two other guys show up. Usually, I’m the only guy.

Tuesday, Oct 11th
I follow my PowerFlex class in the morning with a 4 mile run in the afternoon. In the evening, the Masters swim is brutal. After warm up and drills, we do 4 x (4x50yds at interval followed by 6 minute swim), followed by cool down. I’m exhausted.

Wednesday, Oct 12th
I meet up with the Tri club group at the Petit Center for a 6 mile run. I run with Greg, a slightly younger senior citizen. We run hard the whole thing and joke about why were running so hard. It’s not a race but we keep pushing.

Thursday, Oct 13th
I drive to the east side to ride with Marv, a friend of mine who is new to road biking. I forget what it was like when I first started biking. A 30 mile ride I use to consider a long. Later I get in my swim with the Masters.

Saturday, Oct 15th
Yesterday was an off day. Today is my Grandson’s 3rd birthday. Sandy drives out to Mukwonago for his party and I head out on my bike. It’s a good 35 mile ride. I get in a couple miles running after the ride and then spend the rest of the day eating. I also get on the computer and follow my son-in-law in the Hawaii Ironman race, the one I wanted to be at. He has a great race, 9:53. It makes me more determine to some day be able to do it.

Sunday, Oct 16th
It’s perfect weather for running, sunny and about 55 degrees. I do my 9.4 mile loop. I feel okay the first 5 miles but very tired near the end. I was going to walk up North Ave hill but several people were walking down so I couldn't let them see me walking. My weight is up to 190#. That’s BAD! Later my legs are really tired. I feel old.

Monday, Oct 17th
Kind of a training goof off day. I ride for an hour around the neighborhood. After pilate in the evening, I swim for 10 minutes and head to the hot tub. My biggest accomplishment was doing a load of wash of my training stuff. I also soaked my running shoes in bleach because they smelt so bad, I couldn’t stand them. I’ve never had to do that. Usually just washing them takes care of that.

Tuesday, Oct 18th
After PowerFlex class in the morning, I have to go for a bike ride. It’s sunny and 70. I do a 50 mile loop around Holy Hill. The leaves are in full color and it’s a beautiful day. Surprisingly, I don’t feel tired at the Masters swim workout in the evening. We do a 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 yd workout. Mike, who nearly always swims in front of me, lets me go first near the end as I was swimming faster then him. This is not normal.

Wednesday, Oct 19th
I run outside the Petit Center with the Tri Team. The topic of discussion is about conflicts on the election of directors for the club. I’ll stay out of this!

Thursday, Oct 20th – Oct 23rd
We head north to our cottage. I leave the bike at home. I do my favorite run around the lake, 13 miles. My left ankle is starting to bother me more. Not a good sign.

Monday, Oct 24th – Oct 28th
For the week, I get in two masters swim, a couple runs, two Powerflex classes, one bike ride and one spin class at the club. Some of the summer bikers were at the spin class as it is a popular winter option now that the days are short and the weather is getting cold.

Saturday, Oct 29th Discovery Race
I first ran the Lakefront Discovery 15K (9.3 mile) run in 1983. This is the 12th time I’ve run it. The weather is great, upper 40’s and slight wind. Usually it’s colder and windy. Early in the race, I pass Greg, who has been running with me quit often at our summer track workouts. At mile 5, he catches me and we run together for awhile but I can’t keep up with him. It’s all I can do to keep him in sight until mile 8. I felt, if I was to catch him, I would have to start closing the gap. I finally caught up and we ran together again for a little. I didn’t want him to beat me, an ego thing, so picked up the pace. Fortunately, he couldn’t respond and I beat him. My time was 1:12:19, a 7:46 min/mile pace. It was good enough for 1st in my age. After the race, we all went to the Ale House for brew. Later, I stiffen up and my lower back and my ankle hurt a lot. On Sunday, I can hardly walk.

THE START OF BASE TRAINING
Monday, Oct 31st – Nov 5th
This was to be the beginning of my base training for next year. I plan on following the coaching training plans I got last year from Lauren.

My ankle hurts and I only get in one training run. Not a good start for training. The weather is still pretty good for this time of year and I get in 7 hours of biking. Swimming with the masters is also going okay.

Sunday, Nov. 6th Turkey Trot Run
Every year, the Badgerland Striders running club puts on a race where you predict your run time in either a 2 mile run or 15K, (9.3 mile) run. The 20 closest to their predicted times win turkeys. This is my 13th time and I’ve won quite a few turkeys. I predicted 1:12:30 which is close to what I ran the Discovery Run a week ago in. I know I have to run all out to match that time. I end up 54 seconds slow but it was still close enough to win a turkey. I recovery much better then I did after the Discovery Run last weekend.

Monday, Nov, 7th
My favorite spin class instructor, Lori, is having a high end endurance class tonight so I skip the pilate class. It is (2) 20 minute sections at our maximum intensity. Everyone wears heart rate monitors to track our efforts. My max is about 160 bpm. It takes a while for me to get my heart rate up but I’m able to keep close to 150 bpm. That’s about 93% of my max, a high percent. It’s a good workout.

Tuesday, Nov 8th
The weather is still in the 50’s so, after PowerFlex class, I head out to Holy Hill, my 50 mile loop. It’s a good ride. By the time I get to Masters swim in the evening, I’m dragging. We do a long workout. I was ready to quit half way through but we never stopped long enough for me to quit. When I get home, I ache all over. As usual, I’m congested from the chlorine water and wake up several times.

Wednesday, Nov 9th and 10th
My foot still bothers me too much to run. They now have back-to-back spin classes at Vic Tanny’s so I do both of them. I’ve never gone to either of the instructor’s classes. The first instructor is terrible, bad music and poor leadership. We spend most of the class out of the saddle which you never would do riding a real bike. Maybe that is why there were only 6 in the class.
I’m still dragging during the Masters swim on Thursday. It feels like I’m worse then I was 2-3 years ago.

Friday, Nov 11th – Nov 13th
We head up north to the cottage. I planned on running around the lake but decide to give my foot some more rest. I left my bike at home as I just wanted a break.

Monday, Nov 14th
Motivation is low. I invited my younger sister, Carole, to come as my guest to Vic Tanny’s to go to the spin class with me. She started running several years ago but hates running in the cold and hates running on a tread mill. So do I!

Tuesday, Nov 13th
It’s rainy and cold. I haven’t run in over a week now. My ankle feels better but I’ll wait until tomorrow. I get to PowerFlex class in the morning. Master swim is much better. I guess I’ve been just too tired the last few times. We do 5 sets of (4 x 50 yd drills and 3 x 100 yd swim) at interval pace. I’m able to keep a 1:50 min interval which I haven’t been able to do for awhile.

Wednesday, Nov 14th
Winter arrived, cold, windy and snow flurries. I’m a wimp and run inside at the Petit center while most of my TriWis club members run outside. I run 5 miles at 8:00 minute pace. My ankle feels pretty good but still some discomfort.

Thursday, Nov 15th
Mike, a friend and also “older” triathlete, meets me at Vic Tanny’s for PowerFlex class. Later we swim at Masters. Again, I feel like I’m struggling. I leave swimming a little early to go to a Michael Flatley Irish dancing show. It’s fabulous! The dancers are awesome athletes! If I could be half as limber as them . . . I need to get Irish music to listen to during my winter indoor training rides.

Friday, Nov 16th
I’m going to try something new today. I swim for half an hour at the club and then go to Yoga / Pilate class. I struggle through quite a few of the routines especially where the abs are involved. We did a lot of crunches and leg lifts. Actually, I didn’t do them all because . . . I couldn’t. I plan on doing this regularly as I need the flexibility and core strength work this winter.

Saturday, Nov 17th
Too cold to bike so I do back-to-back spin classes. That will have to do for my long ride for the week. It has not been a good training week, only 5 miles running and 3 hours on the bike. At least I got 3 hours of core training and close to 4 miles of swimming in this week.

Sunday, Nov 18th
A new week. Time to see if my ankle is okay. It’s cloudy and gloomy but 40 degrees. I do my 9.4 mile loop. My ankle bothers me a little. After the run, I’m really sore and stiff. Old age. I try to see where my pain is in my ankle. It appears to hurt the most when I point my toe down and compress my Achilles. It’s the Achilles that hurts the most. I wonder if I have Achilles Tendonitis? I’ve never had Achilles problems, one of the few running ailments I haven't had.

Monday, Nov 19th – 20th
The weather forecast for the rest of the week is colder with rain and snow. I hop on the bike and head to Holy Hill for a 50 mile ride. It’s windy and goes slow but I get a 3 hours ride in. Pilate class in the evening helps me stretch out. On Tuesday I try to run but my ankle bothers me too much. I have to cancel Master swim because I’m on-the-go tonight for tomorrow’s adventure.

Wednesday, Nov 23
As I set here in my hospital gown, I start to thing about the similarities between an Ironman Race and getting a colonoscopy. Both I volunteered to do. Both will be a pain in the butt. Both require Gastro Intestinal planning. I get IV’s at both of them. Both leave you hungry when you are done. I’ve been putting this off for 35 years. My first one was not a good experience. This time, it was not as bad. One small polyp which was removed. Enough other stuff however to have them tell me I should come back next year. I was planning on 10-20 years before I came back. Crap!

Thursday, Nov 24th Thanksgiving Day
Back to normal. I get in a mile swim and spin class this morning before the eating starts.

Friday, Nov 25th – Nov 27th
The weather is gloomy and my motivation is low. I get in a couple spin classes and swim workouts. I tried to run by my ankle bothered me too much.

Monday, Nov 28th
It’s time to get back to more serious training. I get to the pool and do a ladder workout, 25 yds, 50 yds, etc. to 250 yds and back down. It goes well. After the swim, I get in two spin class workouts.

Tuesday, Nov 29th
PowerFlex class this morning. Tonight is Master’s swim. We do 2 sets of 200 pull / 200 swim followed by 100 yd intervals, 5x4x3x2 and 1. I do them at about 1:45 min pace. I do close to 2 miles which is more than I normally get in. My motivation is back up.

Wednesday, Nov. 30th
Kind of an easy day with Pilate and an easy half hour swim.

Thursday, Dec. 1st
I checked my training log from last year. I was able to ride outside on my bike nearly the whole month of December. The ground is covered with snow and we haven’t been above freezing for a week. So I set up the trainer and ride for 1:45 minutes watching DVD’s of last years IM races. Masters swim goes well.

Friday, Dec. 2nd
I get in a mile swim which gives me almost 7 miles of swimming this week. I haven’t run in almost two weeks. My ankle is feeling better so I do an easy mile on the tread mill before Yoga class. Only two other people show up for the class, both guys over 55. So we have three old farts trying to do what this lovely young lady is telling us. Thank goodness it was semi dark so no one could see what was happening in this room.

Saturday, Dec. 3rd
I do the two morning spin classes to get in 2 hours on the bike. I follow it with a mile run. My foot feels okay. Later I have a major challenge. My wife, 2 daughters and my daughter-in-law go to a Christmas cooking event at Waukesha Technical College. They each come home with 20 dozen different cookies. I had 960 cookies within my reach. That is just too much temptation. Thank goodness they took most of them home with them. Now I have only 240 cookies to worry about. But, I’m up to the challenge!!!

Sunday, Dec. 4th
I’m back to running. I do my 4.3 mile loop and feel pretty good. The roads are partly snow covered but not too bad.

Monday, Dec 5th
It’s a good training day. I get in a mile swim, 3.7 mile run and an hour spin. It’s a good brick workout.

Tuesday, Dec 6th
I give my legs a little rest today with no biking or running. A go to the PowerFlex class in the morning and Masters swim at night. We swim hard and I get in close to 2 miles.

Wednesday, Dec 7th
The weather is still cold so I get in 5 miles on the treadmill. I include 5 x 1 minute pickups at sub 7:00 minute pace. My foot feels okay. Later I swim a mile on my own.

Thursday, Dec 8th
After PowerFlex class, I’m back on the bike trainer. I had planned to ride 2 hours but feel rotten and quit after an hour. Watching Judge Judy on TV didn’t help. I was worried I would be tired at Masters swim but it went well. Since I haven’t been able to run much, I’ve been swimming a lot and it is really paying off. I felt strong for the entire workout.

Friday, Dec 9th
I get in a short swim and run 3.5 miles before Yoga class. This Friday class was supposed to be Pilate / Yoga but it is mostly Yoga. At least there are more people here then last week. Later I go out for a Christmas party with the Masters swim group . . . and eat a lot.

Saturday, Dec 10th
I do the double spin class this morning to get in a longer bike ride. It’s been a pretty good training week with 5 swims, 4 runs, 3 bike rides and 3 core workouts. 13:37 hours of training.

Sunday, Dec 11th – 12th
Sunday I take off. I get on the scale and it isn’t good news. I’ve put on 6-7 pounds since September. I get in a short swim on Monday before spin class. I again do a double class as a hate riding long rides on my trainer and it's still too cold and snowy to ride outside. It may not be the best way to train but right now, it is going to have to do.

Tuesday, Dec 13th
Time to see if my ankle is okay yet. I run 3 miles on the treadmill before the PowerFlex class. It doesn’t bother me. Later I swim 3,300 yds. at the Masters swim workout. I feel good.

Wednesday, Dec 14th
I get in 20 minute swim before Pilate. Later I run 5 miles on the treadmill with (5) 1 minute pickups at sub 7:00 pace. My ankle feels okay.

Thursday, Dec 15th
PowerFlex class in the morning. Masters swim is hard. Near the end, we do some timed 100’s. My best is 1:38. That’s slower then most of our group uses as an interval time, swim time plus recovery. They make it look so easy.

Friday, Dec 16th
I run a mile before Yoga class. That’s a mistake. The class starts out by getting completely relaxed. I’m sitting there sweating bullets yet.

Saturday, Dec 17th
Double spin class. Lori leads the second class and that’s always a hard workout. I finished it with a 1 mile run on the treadmill. A good training week with 4 swims, 5 runs, 2 bike rides and 4 core workouts. 13:33 hours of training.

Sunday, Dec 18th
I check my morning pulse. It’s 46 beats per minute which is about normal. I do this every week or so as it is suppose to be a good indication of over training and fatigue. I get in a good ladder swim, 1 lap, 2 laps, etc. up to 9 and then back down. I follow it with 5 miles on the treadmill with 5 x 1:00 min at sub 7:00 pace.

Monday, Dec 19th
My normal Monday workout, 20 minute swim followed by the spin classes. I’ve been taking (4) 22 oz bottles of water and 4 electrolyte tables when I do the double class. That seems to keep me from cramping.

Tuesday, Dec 20th
I run 3 miles on the treadmill using the hill program to help develop strength in my running. After it I do the PowerFlex class.

Wednesday, Dec 21st
It’s still cold, in the 20’s for a high, and there is about 6 inches of snow on the ground. It looks like I won’t be riding outside at all until spring. I get in a mini-tri workout, 40 minute swim, an hour spin class, followed by a mile on the treadmill.

Thursday, Dec 22nd – 24th
Masters swim on Thursday. On Friday, it’s time to test my ankle a little more. It’s actually warm out, near 40. I do my 9.4 mile loop and feel pretty good. My ankle is still a little sore after the run. Christmas Eve morning I do the double swim class. Now I’m ready for some serious eating. A good training week with 4 swims, 4 runs, 3 bike rides and 1 core workouts. 11:39 hours of training.

Sunday, Dec 25th, Christmas
We’ve developed somewhat of a family tradition, a Christmas day run. My son, daughter and I run together for 3.2 miles. Usually, my youngest son, Ken runs with us but he could not make it. To work the schedule with the kids, my son-in-law runs on his own. He does 12 miles in the morning and 8 in the afternoon. That’s also why I don’t run with him anymore.

Monday, Dec 26th
I get in a good hour swim before the Monday spin classes. The added swimming I’ve been doing is helping as I’m feeling stronger and faster.

Tuesday, Dec 27th
This morning I get in the PowerFlex training. My ankle is still not 100% but I get in 6.6 miles run with 5 pickups in the afternoon.

Wednesday, Dec 28th – Jan 2nd
This is a FIRST. I did not workout for 6 days. We drove up north to our cottage. I was going to bring my bike trainer but there wasn’t any room in the car. I have my running stuff but traded them in all week for playing in the snow. My only workout was 120 mile ride on a snowmobile I bought. The weeks training, even for a recovery week, was not near enough. But, it was the holidays so I don’t care.

I finish up my training log for last year. For the year:

Running - - 166 runs, 1,090 miles (4th lowest in 25 years)
Biking - - 126 rides, 4,709 miles (highest ever)
Spin Bike Workouts - - 31
Swimming - - 137 workouts, 190 miles (highest ever)
Core Training - - 104 workouts
Average of 11 hrs (10.8 workouts) / week training & racing (16 races)

Tuesday, Jan 3rd
Now I have to pay for all my sins of the past few weeks. I got on the scale this morning and it read 199 #’s. That’s about 15 #’s over what I was in September. In addition, I somehow strained my back. It feels like it did last May when I hurt it doing my core muscle training. It hurts mostly when I standup. I think it happened throwing snowballs at my nieces. Another good reason not to throw snow! I sit around all day. Motivation is very low.

Wednesday, Jan 4th
I get off my butt and head to Vic Tanny’s. I swim 25 minutes and my back doesn’t bother me. I run on the treadmill 3 miles and it’s still okay. Later I go to the spin class and it still doesn’t bother me. But, if I sit for 10-15 minutes, it stiffens up and hurts to stand up, even with the double dose of IB Profin I’m taking.

Thursday, Jan 5th
I planned to go for a run but I use my sore back as an excuse not to do it. I do get to the Masters swim workout. We swim about 2 miles and my back doesn’t bother me at all.

Friday, Jan 6th
My back is feeling much better so I do my 6.6 mile loop with a number of pickup intervals. Later I do the spin class. It doesn’t bother my back like I though it might.

Saturday, Jan 7th, Race Day
Today is the 5 mile SNOW run in Lake Geneva. The weather is good for this race, low 30’s and no snow on the ground. This has become an annual family event. My son and daughter are also doing it. My time is 37:36, over a minute slower then last year. I run the last 2 miles strong with another runner who helps me maintain my pace and finish strong. Later, it’s pizza and beer. Sunday my legs are too sore to do anything.

Monday, Jan 9th – Jan 14th
Sandy and I spend the week with some friends in Orlando. I get in 25 miles of running but not much else. The condo’s had a beautiful lap swimming pool but it was freezing cold, even for a northerner. I swam 10 minutes but my head hurt so much from the cold and I quit. I golfed 3 days but they require you to use a cart so that didn’t help my training. The best part was it being sunny and temperatures in the 70’s.

Sunday, Jan 15th, Race day
Last night, we returned from Florida. Today is the annual Sampson’s Stomp 5K race at the zoo. I pull out a tea shirt from 1987 when I first ran this race. My younger sister, Carole, is also running it. It is her first race ever. She is very nervous and worried about coming in last. She finishes 488th out of 823 runners, 8th in her age (24 runners in her 50-54 age group). She never ran 3 miles without stopping and never though she could runner faster then 10 min/mile. (She averaged 9:35 / mile, 29:44 minutes for the race). She is now really hooked on running. It was great to see her accomplish this after having recovered from breast cancer a year ago.

Me, I was at 23:20, 20 seconds slower then last year and one of my slowest 5K’s ever. But, after the minimal running I’ve done over the last month, I expected to be slow.

Monday, Jan 16th
This afternoon, I go to the pool to swim a mile before the evening spin classes. I use the pull buoy as I don’t feel like putting in the effort to swim without it. I “snooze” through Lisa’s boring class and work hard during Lori’s.

Tuesday, Jan 17th
My legs are still tired from Sunday’s race. I do 4.5 miles fairly easy on the treadmill. Later is Master’s swim which I haven’t been at for over a week. I struggle to keep up.

Wednesday, Jan 18th
I’ve got to start rebuilding my running endurance, My last long run more then 10 miles was October 21st. My ankle is feeling okay and the temperature is in the 30’s. I do my 6.6 mile loop twice. It’s slow and I’m really tired at the end. It’s a start. In the evening, just walking up the stairs is work. I’m really feeling old.

Thursday, Jan 19th
Great day! It’s in the low 40’s and light winds so I give Mike a call to go riding. We do the 50 mile Holy Hill loop. It’s my first ride outside since November 21st. Later is a tiring Masters swim.

Saturday , Jan 21st
Yesterday, I took off. We got 4-5 inches of snow. I'm sure it snowed because I went for a bike ride a couple days ago!

This morning, I do the double spin class. Tara has returned from maternity leave and leads the first class. She’s a good instructor so there is little time to take it easy. Lori’s class is just as tough. After the classes, I fill my 22 oz. water bottle for the 5th time and head to the tread mill for an hour brick run. Running that long in padded biking shorts was dumb. I know have a big rash you know where. Even with all the drinking I loose about 5 pounds.

Sunday, Jan 22nd
My legs and whole body ache. I swim a mile in the afternoon but don’t have the drive to get in a run. I’ve trained 15 hours last week and lost only a pound. Watching a TV program about a 627# woman loose 200#’s doesn’t really help my will power as I’m snacking. It’s Sunday! The good thing is I’ve avoided the 5 quart ice cream bucket all week.

Monday, Jan 23rd
Big training day. Since I was lazy last night, I make my run longer, 9.4 miles. There’s still a little ice and snow on the roads but not too bad. After lunch, my friend Mike and I go to Westwood Health Club to use a guest pass we were given. They have a nice pool and we do a ladder workout, 1 length, 2, 3 . . . up to 10 and back down, 2,500 yd total. By 5:00 o'clock, we’re both at Vic Tanny’s for the spin classes. We do the double class. I’m close to 5 hours of training today and now I’m starved!

Tuesday, Jan 24th
I get over to the health club early to run for 30 minutes before PowerFlex class. It’s been 4 weeks since I’ve done core muscle training and I have to lower the weights I was using during the class. It’s a good reminder on how important this part of my training is to my overall strength. Masters swim goes well. I think the added swimming Sunday and Monday helped.

Wednesday, Jan 25th
I checked my resting pulse before I got up this morning. It’s at 44 bpm which is where it should be if I’m not over training or over tired. The temperature is in the 30’s and I run my double loop of 6.6 miles and add a mile loop at the end to get in 14 miles. I felt I could not have run much further which was discouraging. I have to remind myself that I’m in build training and have to be patient.

Thursday, Jan 26th
I get in the PowerFlex class this morning. It was supposed to be near 40 today but never got that warm. Mike and I were going to ride Holy Hill but he couldn’t make it so I had to do it solo. My jaw was so cold I could hardly chew my energy bars and my water got almost too cold to drink during the ride. It takes me over 3 hours which is the longest it has ever taken me for this route. I get a hot shower and some hot chocolate before heading over to Masters swim. It’s a 5 ½ hour training day.

Saturday, Jan 28th
Yesterday was a complete OFF ALL TRAINING day. This morning I do the double spin class and then run 45 minutes on the tread mill. This evening Sandy and I go to the Badgerland Striders running club's Christmas party. It's at the Sprecher Brewery. All I can say is there was a lot of good beer "tasting" at the party.

It’s been a good training week, 32 miles running, 7 ½ hours biking, 6 ½ miles swimming and a couple core workouts, 19 hours training. The only down side was I only lost a pound or two yet tried to manage what I ate all week.

Sunday, Jan 29th
I head over to the club to swim for an hour. The rest of the day I feel lazy. I think I figured out why I’m not loosing weight. We have a late dinner at 7:00. After dinner I’m still hungry so I warm over a leftover chicken leg and thigh and eat the last cookie in the cookie jar. Later I see an open liter of Coke and make myself a rum and Coke. I need something with that so grab a couple pieces of string cheese and finish off a package of Ritz crackers. Now my glass is empty so I make another rum and Coke. I need something with that one so grab some sausage cheese and a package of stoned wheat crackers. Somewhere in-between I have an ice cream Dove bar. They’re great! I finish the evening with a handful of gum drops my wife is worried about going stale.

Monday, Jan 30th
The temperature is in the low 30’s with flurries but the roads are mostly clear and I get in a good 9.4 mile run. I talked to Mike and we head over to the club to swim before the spin class. We do the same 2,500 yd ladder workout we did a week ago except push it a little harder. We both feel pretty tired and ride easy through Lisa’s class. Lori’s class, as always, you work at. It’s a good 4.5 hour training day.

Tuesday, Jan 31st
I talk Bob, a friend of mine from the Badgerland Striders Running club, into doing the PowerFlex class. Now there are two males in the class, him and I. He likes it. I had planned on running early in the afternoon but ended up spending a lot of time making flight plans to St. Croix. Mike and I decided to do the St. Croix ½ Ironman race May 7th. For whatever reason, the airline fare I had looked at a couple days ago dropped from $535 to $305. I have to grab it before it changes again. I called Lauren to tell her as she is planning on going also. She invites me to join her and several others to run before Masters Swim. Since I was the slowest, I had to work hard to stay with them. We run about 50 minutes in the dark through a bunch of neighborhoods. Masters Swim was unbelievably hard for me. A couple times I was ready to drop. By the end, my calf and hands are cramping and I ache all over.

Wednesday, Feb 1st
We just completed the second warmest January on record. It’s in the 30’s and is supposed to rain tomorrow so I opt to bike Holy Hill today. I was hoping another friend, Victor, would ride with me but I’m solo again. It’s a much better ride then last week, even with a strong wind. Since my weight hasn’t really changed much since I gave up eating ice cream several weeks ago, I give up. It tasted real good!

Thursday Feb 2nd
My energizer batters are died. I go out for a 14 mile run after PowerFlex class. I finish my second 6.6 mile loop in a record slow pace and quit. 2 hours later, I drag myself to Masters Swim. After our main set, I sit on the side of the pool and tell my lain mates I’m too tired to go on. Our final workout is an 800 yd swim using our pull buoys so I change my mind and finish it.

Friday Feb 3rd
Today is an off day. I need it badly. My niece, Kathy, asked me to help her at her booth at the Wisconsin’s High School Track Coach’s annual meeting. She is marketing a new energy drink, Gleukos. In exchange, I get some of it to train with. The basic energy source in the drink is Glucose, the simplest form of sugar and what I get in the IV in the medical tent. It really looks like a good product. I’m excited!!

Saturday, Feb 4th
I’m doing my Saturday routine, double spin class followed by 45 minutes on the treadmill. I’m tired but not early as tired as I was on Thursday. The scale says 184#'s but I know a lot of that was sweat weight loss. It has been 2 good weeks of 19+ hours of training. Next week I can cut back some.

Sunday, Feb 5th
It started as an easy day with a mile swim and a 35 minute hill workout on the treadmill. Later I had a new challenge. Sandy made a dessert. The crust had a bunch of crumbled candy bars in it and the filling used 2 bags of chocolate chips. 2 pieces made a good warmup drill. Ohhhh, it was good!

Monday, Feb 6th
At 10:00, I go to the health club and do 6 miles on the treadmill with 10 x 1 minute pickups. I’m back at 3:30 to start my ladder swim workout followed by the double spin class. After almost 5 hours of training, the chocolate dessert from last night tasted wonderful!

Tuesday, Feb 7th
The club started a new yoga class following the 10:00 PowerFlex class. Chris, the instructor, informs us that it is okay to sweat during yoga. It is a lot harder and more active then any yoga class I’ve taken in the past. I like it. Masters swim is the normal, i.e. I struggle to complete all of it.

Wednesday, Feb 8th
Once again, the weather is cooperating as temperatures are near 30. After last weeks struggle to run 13 miles, I’m apprehensive about my run today. It’s a complete reverse from last week. I run each of my two 6.6 mile loops 4 minutes faster then last week and have enough energy to add 2 more miles at the end. After a short nap, I drive to Vic Tanny’s in Cudahy. A friend of mine told me the spin class there on Wednesday is lead by Scott, a biker, who gears the class to endurance training. It turns out they have a substitute class leader who does all the normal goofy up / down stuff to rap music. Blah!!!

Friday, Feb 10th
Yesterday was my OFF day and we drove north to our cottage. This is a little crazy. I’m up in the north woods with 2 foot of snow on the ground and getting up at 5:30 to drive 49 miles to the nearest swimming pool. It’s at the YMCA in Rhinelander. My son-in-law, Mike, and I had both independently checked the internet to find the closest pool before coming up here. I get a 3,000 yd easy swim in.

Saturday, Feb 11th
It’s snowing and beautiful outside. Mike’s up early riding his trainer for 4 yours. I’m lazy and opt to go for an 8 mile run. The roads are snow covered by runnable. The woods is beautiful and I see a number of dear running accross the roads. Only the occasional sound of a snowmobile interrupts the quiet.

Sunday, Feb 12th
My daughter, Sherry, Mike, and my two lovely granddaughters head home early afternoon. I hop on my trainer in front of the fire place and patio doors, watching the light snow fall, for a 3 hour ride.

Monday, Feb 13th
I close up the cottage and make the 5 hour drive back home in time to get to the pool for a swim before spin classes. I do the ladder workout, 1 to 10 to 1 length’s. My friend, Mike, shows up for part of it and gets me to swim harder. It’s the fastest I’ve ever done this workout. The 2 hours of spin classes are routine.

Tuesday, Feb 14th
PowerFlex and yoga hour sessions this morning. One of the ladies in the yoga class mentions how well I was able to do the yoga poses. She must have been watch someone else, was being a flirt or needed new glasses. After lunch, I get in a 5 mile run with 6 hill repeats. I haven’t done many hill repeats and need to start doing more to add running strength. Masters swim at 6:00 is the usual grind.

Wednesday, Feb 15th
Today I continued to build on my long run endurance. I do my 9.4 mile loop followed by my 6.6 mile loop. At the end, I’m completely wiped out and ache all over. It weighs on me mentally the fact that I use to be able to run this distance easy and now it is a struggle just to complete it. In the evening, my son and I are making the 5 hour drive up north to the cottage. I’m so stiff, I can hardly get out of the car to fill it with gas.

Friday, Feb 17th
Yesterday, I rode 2 hours on my bike trainer. Today I learned something. When the temperature is below zero, leaving the air vents open on a snowmobile helmet can result in frost bite on your face.

Saturday, Feb 18th
I’m in my car making the 50 mile drive to Rhinelander to use the YMCA’s pool. The temperature gauge says it is 28 below zero. I think I’ll run on the treadmill rather then outside. I feel like crap swimming. I’m hoping it’s the 82 degree water temperature in the pool. Running on the treadmill isn’t any better and I quit after 2 miles. It’s just an ugly workout.

Sunday, Feb 19th
It’s sunny but too cold to get in any running. I hop on my trainer and ride an hour doing some high cadence drills. Later, we close up and head home. Sandy left for Florida this morning to visit with some friends so I’ll be a bachelor for 10 days. Maybe it will help me to control my eating if I have to cook for myself.

BUILD TRAINING FOR ST. CROIX RACE

Monday, Feb 20th
I was hoping to get in a few miles running but it'ss cold and the roads are not in very good shape. That's my excuse. For lunch, I also finish off the Oreo Double stuff cookies I brought back from up north. That would be about 12 cookies!!! Now I won't be tempted for the rest of the week. I get to the pool at 4:00 and do my ladder workout with Mike. We follow that with the 5:15 and 6:30 spin classes. I run on the treadmill for a short 1 mile brick run after the last class. Overall, it was a good training effort today.

Tuesday, Feb 21st
After morning Powerflex and Yoga classes, I go for an afternoon run. I get in 6.8 miles with (6) 3:00 minute up temp surges. My left knee is starting to bother me. I'm hoping it's just another old age ache. Master swim goes very good. I get in 3,600 yd which is high for me.

Wednesday, Feb 22nd
After coffee and a bagel at Panara's where a bunch of us solve the world's problems every Wednesday, I get ready for my weekly long run. It's sunny and in the 30's, not bad. The roads are clear but there's still ice on the sidewalks. After the fatigue from my last run, I opt to just do my two loops, 13.2 miles. It goes okay but not real fast.

Thursday, Feb 23rd
After PowerFlex, I hit the treadmill for 5 miles with (6) one minute surges at 7:15 minute pace. No leftover fatigue from yesterday. Master swim goes good again with 3,600 yd. After practice, we head to Sluggo's Sports bar to celebrate our coach's birthday and do some carbo loading.

I talk on the phone with Bob Hanisch for quit awhile about coaching me this year. I'd like to have Lauren coach me again but my retirement budget only allowed for that last year. I know Bob and he will be a big help.

Friday, Feb 24th
Although I don't have a full training plan yet to get me ready for St. Croix in May, I know I have to start running more long up temp efforts. I use my 9.3 mile loop and do (5) 8:00 minute sections at ½ marathon pace with 2 minute recoveries. It goes well. Later I do the spin class. I get there early to get in 1:30 hr of riding. Again, I pushed my effort.

Tomorrows an OFF day as I need to be rested for Sunday's Ride for Cancer Research. It is 2-6 hours of indoor riding with 250 other riders, loud music and lots of energy. I'm doing all 6 hours on my trainer with my son-in-law. I have a hydration and energy plan set for the ride. I also plan to closely track my heart rate and weight. That plan temporarilys been temperarly interrupted as my hear rate monitor broke. I'll have to borrow one. I also spend several hours cleaning up my bike and order new tires and 6 tubes for the summer. Hopefully, we can start getting a few warm days and I can start riding outside again.

Sunday, Feb 26th The Ride for Cancer Research
I get to the YMCA about 8:00 with Mike. We register and I get my trainer set up. I'm in the last row, corner bike. There are about 15 other riders who brought their own bikes. My heart rate monitor broke so I borrowed one yesterday. I've got (12) 16 oz bottles of Gleukos energy drink, 5 Clif bars, my electrolyte tablets, 3 towels, bathroom scale and an extra jersey. The scale is to track my weigh to see if I'm drinking enough.

Because I'm in the last row, I can't hear the group leaders so I just mostly watch what everyone else is doing. The first 3 hours go okay and I keep my weight by drinking (2) 16 oz bottles every hour. The 4th and 5th hours were tough but I got my energy back during the last hour. The good thing about being in the back row was I was right next to the gym exit doors that were wide open. It kept it cool so the 32 oz I was drinking an hour was more then I really needed. At the end, I ran on the treadmill for a mile to stretch my legs out. It was a good training effort.

The best part of the day was finding out I'm going to be a grandpa again, number 7. My daughter, Sherry, the one I'm working to raise money for diabetes for, is expecting their third. It's due the day after IM Wisconsin.

Monday, Feb 27th
My friend Mike and I do a 2,500 ladder swim. Our times are slow. I skip the first spin class to rest a little from yesterday. Instead, I run 4 miles easy on the treadmill before Lori's spin class.

Tuesday, Feb 28th
In the morning, I do the PowerFlex and Yoga classes. I use my 9.3 mile route for an up temp run in the afternoon. The Masters swim class doesn't start until 6:30. I skip it as I pick up Sandy from the airport.

Wednesday, March 1st
Mike and I plan on doing a 3 hour Holy Hill ride. It's about a 4 mile ride to St. Dominick's parking lot where I meet up with Mike. We look at each other and just cancel our ride. It's 30 degrees and there's a strong east wind. It's just too cold. In the evening, I drive to the Cudahy's Vic Tanny's for their spin class. The instructor, Scott, is a biker who has a program for endurance training. It's good and I get a hard workout in. A couple other riders comment on how they wish their legs look like mine. Now there's an ego booster. Net every 60 yr old guys legs get admired.

Thursday, March 2nd
PowerFlex class at 10:00. By 12:30 I'm out the door for a long run. A few snow flurries in the air but not bad. I do my 6.6 mile loop twice and 2 more miles around the neighborhood, 2 and 1/2 hour run. I think the hard spin class last night and the PowerFlex class took its tool as my pace is slow and I'm really tired. I feel like I'm 80 after the run needing the railing to walk up stairs. I make it to Masters swim at 5:30 but don't last very long. I make it one hour through the main workout set but quit when we got to the kicking drills. I get home and I'm starved!!!

Thursday, March 2nd
PowerFlex class at 10:00. By 12:30 I'm out the door for a long run. A few snow flurries in the air but not bad. I do my 6.6 mile loop twice and 2 more miles around the neighborhood, 2 and 1/2 hour run. I think the hard spin class last night and the PowerFlex class took its tool as my pace is slow and I'm really tired. I feel like I'm 80 after the run needing the railing to walk up stairs. I make it to Masters swim at 5:30 but don't last very long. I make it one hour through the main workout set but had to quit when we got to the kicking drills. I get home and I'm starved!!!

Saturday, March 4th
Yesterday was my off day so I could get ready for today. Ugh!!!! This is my masters swim club's annual 100 x 100 swim, 100 yd. , 100 times, almost 5.7 miles. They do each 100 at a 1:45 minute interval. Being in the slower group that cannot swim very fast, we do 75 yd intervals. I do 80 of them, 3.4 miles, before I have to give up. That's the longest I've ever swam. After lunch and a nap, I get in an easy 3.5 mile run.

Sunday, March 5th
It's snowing so I head over to the club to run 4 miles on the treadmill. Later I ride my trainer with some cadence drills. Most of the day I spend working on my training plans.

Monday, March 6th
At 10:00, I meet Bob Hanisch, my coach, at his training center. After a 3 mile warm up on his treadmill, I get the rubber mask and hear rate hookups to his computer. We are doing a Anaerobic Threshold heart rate test. For running, mine is 141 bpm. Bob then created a chart of heart rate training zones, 1 to 5, that I will use to help me train. Most endurance training is done in zones 2 and 3. Zone 4 is hard running and zone 5 is near my hear rate maximum and for short sprint training. Wednesday, I'll do the same thing on the bike.

By 2:00, the snow has melted off the roads and I head out for my 2 of my 6.6 mile loops. My legs feel okay the first loop but very tired at the end.

Tuesday, March 7th
I've go 5 workouts planned for today. After an easy 3 miles on the treadmill, I do the PowerFlex and Yoga classes in the morning. This afternoon I ride to Pewaukee Lake and back, an easy hour ride. Even though it's cold, it's better then riding on my trainer. At 6:30 I’m at masters swim. It was a little shorter then normal only because we did not do any kicking. That was fine with me as my legs felt tired. Just for fun, I timed the workout laps. The (12) 100's I average about 1:52 minute each. The 1,000 yds using a pull buoy I averaged 1:44. I'm probably the only one who swims faster with a pull buoy then with kicking.

Wednesday, March 8th
This morning, Bob tested me to find my Anaerobic Threshold heart rate on the bike. As expected it is lower then for running, 126 BPM verses 141 BPM for running. Now I have my training zones for biking. At 1:00, I head out with Mike to ride our 50 Holy Hill loop. It's about 40 and no wind so a pretty okay day to ride. Some of the roads are still wet from melting snow runoff so our bikes are filthy with road grit.

Thursday, March 9th
After the PowerFlex class, I head out for a 6 mile interval run. My legs are really tired and I struggle just to do a 4 mile easy run. I meet Mike at Master's swim and he is dragging also. Halfway through the workout, I have to quit. I'm physically exhausted and mentally to weak to push through it.

Saturday, March 11th
Yesterday I took off. I feel much better today. I head over to Wauwatosa to register for the 5K Blarney run. I have my bike in the car and head out to ride the parkway for 90 minutes before the run to make it a brick workout. I finely get a break, the temperature is in the 60's but it’s very windy. My legs are a little tired from the ride and the run course is windy and hilly so my time is pretty slow, 23:29. It's good enough for 2nd in my age.

Sunday, March 12th - Recovery Week
I plan on doing a 500 yd time trial swim but Mike calls and it's too nice not to go for a bike ride. We do the 30 mile loop around Pewaukee Lake. I feel pretty good considering I raced yesterday.

Monday, March 13th
After a quarter mile swim warm up, I do a 500 yd time trial swim. My time is 9:17, pathetically slow for real swimmers but okay for me. I also to a 500 yd time trial using my pull buoy. As expected, it's faster, 8:31. After, I run 5 miles on the treadmill.

Tuesday, March 14th
PowerFlex and Yoga class this morning. For whatever reason, I'm feel very good. Masters swim this evening felt like a breakthrough! We did 3 sets of 300 pull, 4 x 100 swim and 2 x 50 swim at interval. All my 100's are at about 1:47 which is very fast for me. For once, I'm not trailing too far behind Chris who usually is way ahead.

Wednesday, March 15th
I still feel good. I had planned on running my 9.3 mile route easy. Easy has usually been a 9 minute per mile pace. I run an 8:30 pace and keep in my easy heart rate zone. I had planned on doing the spin class this evening but don't and I enjoy the success of my run. Besides, it's my recovery week!

I also reach a milestone today. Thate I started running in 1981, I've not covered 40,000 miles. that should put me somewhere in Asia on my second trip around the world.

Thursday, March 16th
PowerFlex class in the morning. I was going to run on the treadmill after the class but my right ankle hurts and I quit after a mile. I hope this isn't a sign of an injury.

Saturday, March 18th
Yesterday was my weekly off day. Today, it's snowing and crappy weather so I'm back to the double spin class. In the afternoon, I run 6 miles with 4 x 3:00 minute surges. My right ankle feels okay and it's a good run.

Sunday, March 19th
It's still pretty cold, in the upper 30's but an email from Mark about a 40 mile bike ride from Wales gets me out the door. 2 other guys show up, both members of the Masters swim group. It turns out Pete has just started biking so we have to wait quite often to let him catch up. The route ends up to be 50 miles. That's 40 miles more then Pete has ever ridden. Good for him.

Monday, March 20th
I planned on running and swimming today but decide to give my legs a rest and just do the swimming. To help my endurance, a swim a main set of 15 x 200's, about 2 miles total. It goes well.

Tuesday, March 21st
PowerFlex and Yoga class this morning. At 2:00, I head over to the Petit Center to do a speed workout on their running track. After a 2 mile warm up, I run 4 x ¾ mile repeats, each one faster. It feels good but I know my legs will be tired tomorrow. I can feel the fatigue at masters swim in the evening.

Wednesday, March 22nd
I bought a wrench to install the new cassette I bought for my bike. The cassette is the sprocket on the rear wheel. The old one had from 11 to 23 teeth on the 9 sprockets. The new one has from 12 to 27 teeth. Why does this make a difference? With the higher tooth count on the sprocket, it is easier to ride up hills. Because the St. Croix race has a very steep hill, they recommend a 25 or 27 tooth sprocket. Going from 11 to 12 on the lower end would effect how fast I would have to peddle to go 35-40 mph but, when I go that fast, I'm coasting down the hill, hanging on for dear life and usually not peddling anyway.

As expected, my legs are tired from the track workout yesterday. Mike and I meet up and we ride easy around Pewaukee Lake. The new sprocket gives me a gear to ride the hills easier, but slower. My legs feel so tired after the ride, I go back-and-forth on whether I should get a run in. Finally, at 6:00, I go to the Petit center to meet up with the TriWis group. I run with a friend and we do a slow 5 miles.

Thursday, March 23rd
PowerFlex class this morning. It's cool with snow flurries, a good day for my weekly long run. I plan on running 12 miles. Based on Bob's heart rate testing, I need to keep my pulse below 120 bpm to train in zone 2, moderate easy zone. I have trouble staying in that zone because it is very slow, about 10 min / mile. At the end, my legs feel just as tired as they do when I run faster. At masters swim in the evening, I'm drained and quit after an hour.

Saturday, March 25th
Yesterday was my off day. I needed it to recover. Big workout today. I head over to the club and find a lane open to swim in. I do 2,000 yds but I'm not too happy with my time. After, I drive over to the YMCA. A group meets there every Saturday for a bike ride and this is the first one for the year. 8 people show up and we do a 42 mile loop. One of the riders is new so we have to wait for him quite often. The hills I push hard to gain strength for St. Croix. When finished, I change to a dry shirt at the car and head out down the parkway for an 8 mile run. My legs are stiff from the ride but not too bad. After about 10 minutes, I get into a good rhythm and run easy. It's a good 4 ½ hour workout.

Sunday, March 26th
It's still not very warm, temperature around 40 and windy, but the sun is shining. I meet up with a group of 8 rides at the Bike Doctor's in Dousman. We head out on a 35 mile route I'm not familiar with. It is one of those days when everyone seems to want to ride fast. Whoever takes the lead doesn't want to slow the pack so they ride hard. It just kept going that way for the whole ride. My legs are tired from yesterday's ride and I'm the slowest getting up the hills but can always catching up. It's the hardest ride I've done this year. We average over 19 mph.

Monday, March 27th
Sandy's been out-of-town visiting friends for 5 days. With the heavy training last week, I figured it would be the perfect time to manage my diet and loose a few pounds. It didn't happen! In fact, I was a pound heavier this morning. I think it was the Frozen Custard I found in the freezer and the stuff I put on it. I called Mike and meet him at the pool for one of our ladder workouts. We really pushed it and thought it was our fastest ever. I checked my log and it was our fastest but by only 10 seconds. I finished up with an easy 5 mile run on the treadmill.

Tuesday, March 28th
We had a new instructor for the PowerFlex and Yoga classes. She was good. Usually yoga instructors disapprove of running because it works against what yoga is supposed to do. This instructor was and is a runner so we hit it off. At 3:00, I head over to the track. After a couple mile warm up, I do 5 x ¾ mile repeats. By the time I go to masters swim in the evening, I was out of energy. Fortunately, it was a shorter workout then normal.

Wednesday, March 29th
The weather man lied! It was supposed to be a spring day, sunny and low 50's. Instead 's cloudy, windy and upper 40's, not the nicest day for biking. Thinking it will be warmer then it is, I leave my shoe booties at home. As expected, my feet froze. Mike and I ride the 50 mile Holy Hill route. We include the very steep hill on Macy Rd. to get us ready for a monster hill in the St. Croix race. Even with my new bike gear, I could hardly make it.

Thursday, March 30th
It's finally a nice spring day. PowerFlex class is cancelled so I go out for a 4 mile run through the suburbs and park behind the club. This afternoon, I ride for an hour doing some high cadence drills. Masters swim goes well as I'm not as tired as I've been the last couple times.

Saturday, April 1st - Trailbreaker ½ Marathon Race
Yesterday was my usual Friday off day. Unfortunately, it was spent doing taxes.

I meet up with Mike at 7:30 this morning and we head out for a 25 mile ride around Pewaukee Lake before the race. As usual, it's cold, in the low 40's. We are doing the race for training so we're not worried about our race time. The race starts at 9:30 and it takes a couple miles before my legs loosen up. I keep a good steady pace and feel pretty good. I finish in 1:51, good for 3rd in my age. This is what I hope to run at St. Croix.

Sunday, April 2nd - My Birthday
My legs are pretty sore from yesterday. I'm going to run a few miles to loosen up but, it's raining, it's my birthday, I'm 61, so I don't. I just enjoy the day, eat birthday cake, drink box wine, and do nothing.

Monday, April 3rd
I meet Mike at the pool and we do an easy swim. My legs are still tired from the ½ marathon so I run an easy 4 miles on the treadmill. This evening, I was hoping to do Lori's spin class but a substitute instructor shows up. He is boring and arrogant.

I get an email from Coach Bob. He suggests cutting back on my volume because of my frequent leg fatigue. I think it's just old age.

Tuesday, April 4th
PowerFlex and Yoga go well. At 2:00, I head over to the track to do intervals. It's very windy and I have no speed in my legs. After a mile and a half warmup, I do a quarter mile to try to get loosened up. After the second quarter mile, I quit.

I take a couple dozen cookies as a birthday treat to Master's swim. I also sample 8-10 of them. Their good! It's a GREAT workout. Having a workout like this makes going every week almost worth it. I do over 3,500 yd and keep up with everyone in our group.

My other friend, Mike Murray brings some super chocolate nut gooey concoction that makes your mouth drool. His wife, Sue, knows I have a slight addiction to really sweet stuff.

Wednesday, April 5th
Rather then ride out to Holy Hill, I talk Mike into doing a shorter ride with hill repeats. We ride to Pewaukee Lake and ride the biggest hill we can find several times. It's a good workout. We get back to the house and do some damage to the gooey concoction.

Thursday, April 6th
After PowerFlex class, I head out for an easy 6.6 mile run. I feel okay but I'm still not 100% recovered from Saturday's race. Master's swim goes great again! I get in 3,600 yds which is the most I think I've ever done at our workouts. I hope this continues!

Saturday, April 8th - South Shore ½ Marathon Race
I feel pretty good with my rest day yesterday. It's in the upper 40's and windy, not bad for this race. This is the 15th time I've run it. After a couple miles, my legs are tired and I can't hold the pace I had planned. There are pools of standing water on the park trails. I tried to run on the grass around the first one but that was a soggy mess. Finally just run through the puddles since my feet were already soaking wet. I finish in 1:49, 8 minutes slower then last year. Very depressing!! I planned to bike after the race with Neil but we both wimp out. It's just too cold and windy.

Sunday, April 9th
I meet a group in Dousman and we ride hard for 35 miles. I like riding with this group because they push the pace and it's a great route. This is also the beginning of 2 weeks of hard training.

Monday, April 10th
I get in a good 30 mile ride around Pewaukee Lake and an easy 4 mile run. Mike doesn't show up at the pool so I have to swim alone. I do 12 x 200 yd's to help build endurance.

Tuesday, April 11th
I go to PowerFlex this morning but skip yoga because of the track workout I have planned for this afternoon. At the Hart Park track, I do four ½ mile and two ¾ mile intervals. They go okay. After a short nap, I'm off to Master's swim. The track running took it out of my and I almost quit the workout. I use my swim buoy for a lot of it because my legs are too tired.

Wednesday, April 12th
I was hoping to ride the Holy Hill 50 mile route with Mike but he's been sick so I'm on my own. I include the big hill on Macy road and have a good ride.

Thursday, April 13th
Like most mornings, I get up wondering how tired my legs and how sore my body will be from the prior days training. It's not like when I was younger when a good night's sleep usually took care of it. It really gets me thinking, wondering if this will be my last year to do the longer triathlons.

It's a nice spring day and I head out for a 13 mile run. I keep a pretty good pace and it's encouraging. I keep close track of my weight and the fluids I drink to help me plan for St. Croix. I drink 60 oz's and still loose 4 pounds, which is not good. St. Croix will be a lot warmer too. I catch a nap before Master's swim. It doesn't help. I make it for an hour and have to quit, just too tired. I'll take tomorrow off and hopefully be recovered for a long brick workout on Saturday.

Saturday, April 15th
Taking yesterday off helped as I feel pretty good this morning. The weather is nice and about 20 people show up for the Saturday ride. After 4-5 miles, the group starts to break up. I break from the pack hopping to catch the lead group. Eventually, I catch them and it's Lauren and Brent. They could drop me in a heart beat but, either they are being nice or feel like riding easy so I'm able to stay with them. I finally can't keep up on one of the big hills and ride alone for awhile. Later they loop back to re-ride another hill and I stay with them after that. It's the fastest I've ever ridden the loop and average 18.6 mph. I run for 5 miles after the ride and feel great. I wish this was my race day!

Sunday, April 16th - Easter Sunday
I'm tired from yesterday and do some serious eating all day.

Monday, April 17th
This is my last hard training week. I head to the pool for a ladder swim. Without Mike to push me, my pace is slower than usual. At noon, I go to the track and run (6) ¾ mile intervals. My last one is at 6:50 pace which I'm happy with. I group from the Special Olympics is there and some of them can really run. I admire their efforts.

I give my sister, Carole, a call to see if she wants to ride her new bike. She's never ridden a true road bike. I'm giving her my old SPD clip-in pedals which will work with the shoes she has been wearing to spin classes. I also have a bike jersey that will fit her. You have to look like a biker when you ride. Before we can make it out of the driveway, she becomes a true biker by falling and blooding her knee. Eventually, we abandon the clip-in shoes and pedals, add knee pads and make it to the road. It takes awhile but she eventually catches on and we ride around the neighborhood for an hour. I probably shouldn't write this but she is 50 and a recent breast cancer survivor. That makes this significant!

Tuesday, April 18th
PowerFlex and yoga class in the morning. In the afternoon, I bike out to Pewaukee Lake for hill repeats and 36 miles of windy riding. I'm dragging at Master's swim. Good thing Fred, our coach, isn't there.

Wednesday, April 19th
I drive to Madison to meet Michelle Alswager from the Madison JDRF chapter. She is doing IM Wisconsin and will coordinating our IM Janus Charity Challenge in Madison. This will be great! The rest of the day I play grandpa and build a playhouse for my granddaughters. It's more work then training.

Thursday, April 20th
It's a BAD day. I'm congested and feel a cold coming on. I make it to PowerFlex class but do an easy workout. I plan on doing a long run this afternoon. As I start my run, my legs feel like crap. After my first 6 mile loop, I quit. I make it to Master's swim in the evening expecting it to be a disaster too. I make it through the workout but not very well.

Friday, April 21st
Since I took Sunday and Wednesday off and haven't gotten in many miles running this week, I better get out today. I plan on doing a long brick workout tomorrow so do a shorter 9 mile loop. It goes 100% better then yesterday. It's amazing how much difference a day makes. Later, I meet my sister Carole and we go for an easy ride. She's does a lot better this time.

Saturday, April 22nd
Today is my last planned hard training workout. I meet Mike at the YMCA and we do a 30 minute run before the bike group shows up. A lead pack of 3 riders takes off early and I'm left to chase them. I finally catch them when two of the riders branch off because they planned on riding shorter routes. It turns out Mike has also taken up the chase and we finally group up. The rest of the ride we push hard but stay together. I feel like I worked harder then last Saturday but finish 6 minutes slower. Mike and I finish up with a 25 minute run. It's a good workout.

Sunday, April 23rd
We head down to Chicago for a baby shower for my son's wife. I was planning on a short run but my lower back is bothering me quit a bit. It feels like it did last summer when I strained it.

Monday, April 24th
My back is worse and I have trouble standing up or bending over. It's a good thing this is the beginning of my tapering for the race. A couple extra days off will hopefully take care of it.

Thursday, April 27th
My back's finally getting a little better. I've been on pain pills and laying around for 4 days now. Today was the first day I could almost get up from a chair without a lot of pain. I'm still optimistic that it will be better by race day. I still don't know what brought it on. Talk about tapering . . . .

Monday, May 1st
This will be my last post before St. Croix. I wish it would be more positive. My back is still bothering me. I can stand up but the pain is always there. I've got another appointment with Sonja, my massage therapist, this morning. After that, I will head over to Mike's to pack up the bikes. We leave for Chicago this afternoon and fly to St. Croix early tomorrow morning.

Friday, May 5th
I have not run, biked or swum for almost two weeks because of my back. Today is the first day it is feeling better. My confidence for the race on Sunday gets a big boost. My biggest worry is the mile swim in salt water and how well my back will be after the bike.

Sunday, May 7th – St. Croix ½ Ironman Race
The weather is cloudy, windy, with an occasional fine mist. That’s better then having the normal hot island sun! The swim is my first triathlon in salt water, 1.2 miles in the harbor. The water is rough but swimmable. The weirdest part is swimming along and seeing a scuba diver lying on the bottom taking your picture. I finished in 44 minutes, better then I had hoped for. And, happily, the salt water has not affect me.

The bike is 56 miles of hilly and often rough island roads that are completely closed to traffic. The key feature of the bike course is the BEAST, a 7/10 mile hill about 20 miles into the race. It averages 14% grade with max of 18%. I walk 3 of the steepest switch back but ride the rest of it. Many athletes are walking the whole hill. The rest of the course is hilly and windy but nothing I can't ride. I was riding with two other guys in my age group for quite a while and finally pull away at about 50 miles. (I found out later I was leading my age group at that point.) At 54 miles I have the last downhill sharp turn well marked to go SLOW. A guy in front of me is going slower then I and swinging out to the right so I had to pass on his left. This was the only part of the course that the roads were wet and my rear wheel just slides out from under me. Another guy crashed at the same time but I didn’t see what happened to him. Two more bikers crashed while I'm getting myself put back together.

Neither me nor the bike fairs very well. I blow out my back tire, bend the rear wheel and one of my peddles, bend my seat rails and gear shifters, and brake the cleat off my biking shoe. Physically, I take some blood letting on the outside of both my knees, the palm of my hand, bruise my shoulder and hip and put a few scrape marks on my helmet where my head must have hit the pavement. I fix the flat, put on my now fashionable one lense sun glasses and I'm able to finish. With my broken shoe cleet and bent wheel, anything more then the 2 miles of relative flat roads would be impossible.

The run is two loops, part on the trail and path around a golf course and the rest a hilly road. As I found out later, I lost only 9 minutes during the crash to the leaders and still could have caught them on the run.
My age group winning time is 6:17 and a 2:10 hr ½ marathon would have beat that. The problem, is I have trouble running. I think it is my back that had been bothering so much. I didn’t realize it until after the race that I landed hard on my ribs in the crash. So, to finish, I have to walk much of the run. I do not qualify for the Hawaii IM but I do qualify for the ½ IM 70.3 Championship race in Florida in November. Maybe that’s where I’ll have the perfect race!

I get ushered to the medical tent after the finish line to get my legs wounds washed out and bandaged. I get the cot next to one of the athletes who crashed when I did. We talk about the crazy guy who crashed with us and couldn't get his chain back on. He kept saying in a British accent that he couldn't see. If he coundn't see that much, how did he race??

It's been a long day.

Wednesday, May 10th
I pack up the bike and take it to Transition Cycle for repair. They say it will not be ready for a week which I'm not too happy about. I expect to be ready to ride before then.

My ribs are still sore and it hurts to cough or take deep breaths. I reluctantly go to the doctor. They x-ray it and I have a non-displaced broken rib. No running for 4 weeks. Good thing I didn’t know that before I ran the ½ marathon Sunday. They did not say anything about swimming or biking but not having the bike for a week will probably be a good thing.

IRONMAN WISCONSIN TRAINING BEGINS
Saturday, May 13th
Since I can't do anything physical, I volunteered to help out at the Ice Age 50 mile run. I spend 6 hours watching traffic at Tamarac Road as the runners cross. My rib isn't bothering me too much just standing here waving a flag at cars and giving encouragement to the runners. Even the occasional rain doesn't dampen my spirit.

Monday, May 15th
Yesterday was a bad day! I must have slept on my broken rib the wrong way as it hurt to move around all day. Any rotation or deep breath caused a sharp gasping pain. It's worse then it was all last week. I was going to call the doctor today to see if that's normal. But, it feels better today. It still hurts to move but better is better.

Thursday, May 18th
The pain is finally getting better. Actually, I mean it doesn't hurt as much. I'm going banana's sitting around! Time to see how it feels while doing something so I head to the health club. I walk 2 miles on the tread mill with a steep incline. That's tolerable. I try swimming. That's not tolerable. It's a start.

I talk to Transition Cycle and they should have my bike repair by the middle of next week. The bad news is they cannot repair the wheel. Ugh!!!

Saturday, May 20th
I feel good enough to try a spin class. I keep the intensity pretty moderate so I don't have to take deep breaths. It goes pretty good. The other good news is I've only gained about a pound since this started. Some days go good but others I just eat!

Monday, May 22nd
My rib still hurts but it's time to see how bad. I head over to the pool at the club and swim for about 10 minutes. It's ok. This afternoon, I get my old bike out and give it a try. It shifts poorly and feels awkward but I'm on my way. I ride to Pewaukee Lake, about 10 miles and back. A woman opens her car door and I almost crashed into it. That would have hurt. I feel ok.

Tuesday, May 23rd
I go over to the club to do the PowerFlex class. I keep the weights light. Except for ab crunches, it goes ok. Later, I go to Masters swim. This is my first swim with them in almost a month. It's good to see everyone again. This is a good bunch of athletes. I keep my effort light and swim about a mile. It hurts to breath hard or twist turning at the wall but I'm happy with the progress. Tomorrow we are heading up north to the cottage. I'll take my old bike with me and hopefully get some riding time. If I feel ok, I may also try some walk / run efforts. I don't want to start my training at zero when my rib gets better.

Thursday, May 25th
It’s a beautiful day for a bike ride in the north woods. I brought my old bike with me to our cottage and head over to Rt 2. I stop several times to get the shifters to work half way decent. I really miss my bike. I ride 36 miles and my rib and back feel ok. It’s a start!

Saturday, May 27th
My son, Paul, and I head out for a run. I was thinking of running the 13 miles around the lake but thought that might be pushing it since I haven’t run in weeks. I get Paul to run out for an hour and then turn back planning to walk the hills if we get too tired. We did! The pollen this time of year is really bad up here. My contacts kept getting irritated until I eventually knocked one to the back of my eye where I could not get it back without a mirror. So now I’m running with only “one” eye. We both paid the price for the run with cramping the rest of the day.

Monday, May 29th
My rib keeps getting a little better. I do the 4 mile Little Duck Lake loop and push it a little. Well, it felt like I was pushing it but my mile times were very slow. I’m worried it’s going to be a fairly long road back.

Tuesday, May 30th
We got back from up north this afternoon and I head to my evening Masters swim hoping to get back to a regular training routine. I jump in the pool and immediately my rib hurts. It’s worst then it has been in a week. I try swimming by can’t. I’m depressed.

Wednesday, May 31st
I pick up my bike from Transition Cycle. $300 in damages and an unreparable race wheel. OUCH!! I do a loop around Pewaukee Lake and it feels great to be riding again.

Thursday, June 1st
PowerFlex class goes okay this morning. At 2:00, I head out for a run. It’s terribly hard. My legs feel like logs. No energy or strength. After 5 miles, I feel awful. This evening I give Masters a try again. My rib isn’t as sore as it was Tuesday and I’m able to do about 2,000 yd’s of the workout. I also get talked into riding the Trek 100 mile bike ride on Saturday. I’m not too sure if that’s a good idea.

Friday, June 2nd
What a difference a day makes. I run my 6.6 mile loop at pretty close to the time I was running it before the St. Croix race. It does a lot to lift my confidence. My rib doesn’t bother me at all.

Saturday, June 3rd
It’s a beautiful cool sunny day, great for a bike ride. I head out with Jeff and Doc from the swim group and we just cruse along mile after mile. After 50 miles we are averaging 20 mph, a good pace for me. We keep it going until about 75 miles when the fatigue and some hills slow our pace. After the last stop at mile 91 we pickup the pace again and blast it in the rest of the way. It’s a great ride for my training. A few beers and a massage after the ride have me feeling pretty good.

Sunday, June 4th
I’m a little stiff yet from yesterday so do an easy 4 mile run around the neighborhood. It’s awfully slow even though I try to do some speed pickups.

Monday, June 5th
I get on the computer and setup my training for the next two weeks. I feel I’m recovered enough to start back to full time training. I’m hoping to do 15 hours this week and 20 the week after. I get in a pretty hard ride around Pewaukee Lake and I feel good.

Tuesday, June 6th
PowerFlex class goes okay except my rib still is sore when I try to do some of the stomach crunches. In the afternoon, I run an easy 4 miles with form drills. I’m hoping I’ll feel good for a longer run tomorrow. Our Masters swim has moved outdoors to Worth Park’s 50 meter pool. It seems sooooo long compared to swimming in a 25 yard pool. Our main workout is 2 sets of 4 x 100 pull and 4 x 100 free style intervals. That’s about a mile. After doing 2 x 100 kicking I have to pull out. My rib can’t take it. I guess I’m not 100% recovered yet. The Schaetz’s from our swim group have a barbecue after our practice so I finish my workout day with some serious carbo loading.

Wednesday, June 7th
Time to start building up my running endurance. Today is a sunny cool day, a great day to see where I'm at. I do my 6.6 mile loop twice, patheyically slow. Even with the slow pace, my legs are very tired. I've got a long way to go to be able to run 26.2 miles. Later, I meet up with some friends who do a Wednesday evening group ride. I haven't ridden with them in quite a while so it was good to get back with them. Unfortunately, they changed the route to add more hills. I was hoping for an easy ride after my run today. I get stuck behind a slower biker at the back of the pack just when the group takes off on the last 5 miles. Twice I almost catch up only to be caught by a red light. I turns out to be a good 30 mile ride.

Thursday, June 8th
I get in my PowerFlex class but my rib still hurts during some of the ab workouts. I also get in a couple short bike rides to drop off and pick up the van. I was planning on a short run but I put it off until I run out of time. Masters swim goes pretty much the same as Tuesday. I get in 2,500 yds but have to quit because of my rib. My lower back is also bothering me a little. I hope that doesn't flar up.

Friday, June 9th
It's time for my weekly long ride. I can't find anyone to ride with so head out to Holy Hill alone. It's mostly cloudy, cool in the 60's, and windy. I take it real easy and get in 75 miles. I feel more tired then I did after last Saturday's 100 miler. The hills on this route really take it out of you.

Saturday, June 10th - 5K Race
Our church has a festival each year with a 5K run called RUN FOR THE PIG. I get my son, Paul to run it with me. About 180 sign up for the run / walk and the weather is cool and breezy. Not bad for racing. I'm very surprise with my first mile at 7:29 pace. I'm able to keep that pace for most of the race and end with a 23:18 time. I'm very happy with that.

By the way, in case you wondered, they call it Run For the Pig because they have a pig roast at the festival.

Sunday, June 11th
Today was my off day. It turned out to also be a sad day as one of my high school friends, who I played football with, passed away from a heart attack. It made me think of how lucky I have been in life and how important it is to live every day to its fullest.

Monday, June 12th
Last week was a good train week to get me going again. I got in 17 hours of training and a good restart of my running. I ran my 6.6 mile loop today with (6) 3 minute tempo efforts. The race Saturday really helped to get some of my speed back. Later, I went out to Upper Nashota Lake to swim with Mike. A friend of mine, Dennis Mueller, has a place on the lake and invited some of the triathletes to swim on Monday evenings. He has some buoy's setup for a 0.4 mile loop. We did 3 loops, 1.2 miles. It was okay except my rib still hurts while swimming.

Tuesday, June 13th
After PowerFlex class in the morning, I bike around Pewaukee Lake at a hard pace. It feels good. Later I head to Masters swim and again have to cut it short because of my sore rib. I keep forgetting to load up on ibuprin before I go to see if that will help.

Wednesday, June 14th
Long training day. I head out for a long run doing two 6.6 mile loops. It's better then last week but still below where I want to be. I was going to run a little longer but a blister on my toe ended that plan. At 5:30, I bike out with a group of friends from Greenfield Park. About 30 minutes out we get rained on. For the next hour, it rains hard on and off. It brings back memories of my crash at St. Croix on the wet roads. It finally lets up for the last 30 minutes and we ride hard.

I have trouble sleeping tonight because everything seems to be aching, my back, my neck, my rib, my legs, my right knee, my left ankle, etc. I'm worried about getting through the training I need yet to get ready for IM Wisconsin.

Thursday, June 15th
PowerFlex class this morning. I only have Masters swim the rest of today. I finally remember to take some Ibuprin before I go and it helps. I finally make it through the whole workout and get about 2 miles in.

Friday, June 16th
Except for a 9 mile temp run, most of today is resting for a long workout tomorrow.

Saturday, June 17th
I drive to Madison hoping to meet up with a group that is riding one loop of the IM Wisconsin course. Noone shows up so I ride 72 miles alone. It's windy and close to 90 degrees so I ride easy and stay hydrated. A half mile from the end I blow a tire. After 4 1/2 hours of riding, I don't feel like fixing a flat. I take off my biking shoes and walk it in. I grab my running shoes and finish with a 40 minute run. It's a good workout.

Sunday, June 18th
It's Father's Day and a rest day. It's also a special day as my youngest son became a father today. Maggie is my 5th granddaughter. My one grandson is getting greatly out numbered.

Monday, June 19th
I get in an ugly slow 4 mile run this morning. We make a quick trip to Chicago to see my new granddaughter. When I get back, I drive out to Upper Nashota Lake to swim. About 30 people show up. I do 4 loops, about 1.6 miles and feel okay.

Wednesday, June 21st
Yesterday we drove up to our Up North cottage. Today is cool and overcast, a great riding day. I head out to do a 75 mile loop through Land 'o Lakes and Presque Isle. Other then an occasional car, it's a beautiful ride throught the north woods and lakes. It goes well. I finish with an easy 40 minute run through Watersmeet. Since the city is not a mile wide, I can say I ran from one end of town to the other and back.

Friday, June 23rd
I spent all of yesterday working on the cottage but feel guilty for not running or swimming any. I lace up my shoes and head down the forest road to Little Duck Lake. I plan on running 30 minutes then turning around. I feel good and do (10) 1 minute surges on the way back. If it wasn't for the pesky deer flies, it would have been a good run.

Sunday, June 25th - High Cliff ½ Ironman Triathlon Race
Yesterday we drove back from the cottage and now have to get up at 3:30 am to get on the road by 4:00. It’s a 95 mile drive to High Cliff State Park which is on the north east end of Lake Winnebago. It’s raining a little and I’m hoping it stops before the race. I don’t want to race on wet roads.

I get my registration packet okay. My bike position is in a good location and I get everything setup before getting into my wet suit and heading to the beach. The rain has stopped and it looks like it will be a cool overcast day, perfect for me. I’m in wave 8 which starts about 7:20 am. I’m able to find good swimming lanes and only occasionally bump into others. It’s a good swim for me, 1.2 miles in 36:14. My transition isn’t the smoothest but I feel pretty good starting out on the bike. The first 10 miles are great and I average well over 20 mph. Then a gusty NE wind begins and the rest of the race is hard. Most of the second half of the race was into the wind. I was hoping to be under 3 hours but end at 3:04:48, which is 18.2 mph for the 56 miles. It was a good hard effort.

The 13.2 mile run starts with a steep ¾ mile hill climb. I’m walking up it almost as fast as some of the runners are running it. Once at the top, it is two loops through the forest camp ground trails. I love it as it reminds me of my years of trail running. Twice, I meet up with other runners and we talk for awhile to make the time go by. But they both had to drop off the pace. The run finishes by going back down the hill we started on. This is cruel. Running down a steep hill when your legs are fatigued hurts. I finish in 2:10:26 run time which I’m very happy with. My final time was 5:55:48, 221’st out of 349 finishers. I was 1st in my age but there were only two of us older then 60.

Tuesday, June 27th
Yesterday, we drove to southern Indiana to attend the funeral of Sandy’s cousin. Fortunately, I have some time this morning on my own and head out for a bike ride. Yes, I took my bike with me. It’s in a very hilly area and the roads are not the best for bike safety. I ride about 20 miles as my legs are still a little stiff from Sunday’s race. I get in 35 minutes of easy running after my ride. Tomorrow will be the long drive back home.

Friday June 30th
We drove up north to our cottage yesterday. I get in an easy 35 minute swim today. It has not been a good training week. Mike, Sherry and our granddaughters, Jane and Ella also arrive today.

Saturday, July 1st
Mike gets me up at 5:30 AM to get a long ride in. We drop the car in Land O’ Lakes and ride a route he has ridden that takes us to Boulder Junction. He takes off after a couple miles as I cannot keep pace with him. I make quite a few stops on the way and turn around in Boulder Junction. We both arrive back at Land O’ Lakes about the same time except he has ridden 100 miles and I’ve ridden 76.

Sunday, July 2nd
Paul and I head out to run around Duck Lake. We both now run a 9-9.5 minute pace. It goes okay and we finish in 2:07 hours. My legs are awful tired after.

Tuesday, July 4th
Yesterday, I took off. I plan a new bike route that is about 38 miles. It’s a loop from Land O’ Lakes to Conover to Phelps. I meet another biker on the way who started out in Denver (like Colorado) and was headed to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Now that’s a long bike ride.

Wednesday, July 5th
This morning, I drive into Land O’ Lakes to bike with my sister Carole. She is still struggling with getting use to a road bike and I promised I’d ride with her if she brought her bike. Later, I run the forest road to Little Duck Lake and do intervals. I get in about 7.5 miles. I like running on the forest road and will probably do this workout again.

Thursday, July 6th
I drive up to Watersmeet, drop the car, and ride to Marenisco and back, 57 miles. It’s a good ride.

Saturday, July 8th
Yesterday was my OFF day. Today, I head out for a long run around the lake again. It goes okay, about the same pace Paul and I did it in last Sunday. After, my legs are awfully tired again. I wonder how I ever ran more then 13 miles.

Sunday, July 9th
Sandy drops me off in Land ‘O Lakes and I plan to ride 5 hours. I head to Boulder Junction where Mike and I rode last week. She heads to Eagle River to grocery shop. I feel much better. On the only bad section of the ride, a 3 mile stretch on a busy road into Boulder Junction, a pickup truck tries to scare me by blowing his horn. A second truck also causes me to swerve into the gravel shoulder where I almost lost control. Overall, it’s a very good ride and I get in 85 mileas at a 17.5 mph pace. I was about 5 minutes late getting back to Land 'O Lakes but Sandy found a way to shop more then 5 hours so she wasn't there yet. 5 hours to grocery shop?

Monday, July 10th
I take the forest road past Little Duck Lake and do 3 minute intervals with 2 minute recoveries. After 30 minutes, I head back. I feel pretty good. In the afternoon I decide to swim to the island and back which is about 2 miles. Usually, I swim 20 minutes and turn around. This is my first time to go all the way to the island. On the way back, I sight off a boat house that I though was on a point but it turned out to be in the bay. That adds 5 minutes to my swim back. It doesn’t really matter as I feel pretty strong. It takes an hour and 5 minutes.

Tuesday, July 11th
I drive up to Watersmeet, park the car, and take off riding down Highway 2. I ride 30 minutes and head back. It’s hot, in the 90’s. I change into my running shoes and head down the snowmobile trail for 20 minutes before looping back. I feel awfully slow.

Wednesday, July 12th
I decide to do some intervals today so I take the paved road from our cottage out to Highway 45 and back, an 8 mile route. It goes okay. In the afternoon, I swim out to the island again. It take about an hour.

Thursday, July 13th
I take Sandy and my grand niece, Amanda, to Land O’ Lakes to ride on a new 8 mile bike trail. It’s mostly through the forest and great for family riding. It’s painfully slow for me. On the way back, they graciously allow me to go off on my own and I get in some short intervals down one of the local roads. Tomorrow is an OFF day. Karen, Dave, and their three kids will be arriving.

Saturday, July 15th
I drive about 50 miles over to the little town of Wakefield for an organized bike ride they have every year. About 30 people show up for the 100 mile route. The first 18 miles are beautiful, winding through the forest roads and mostly down hill heading north to Lake Superior. But, what goes down must come up and the next 22 miles were mostly up hill but still in the forest. At the second check point, I get with several others and we ride 20-22 mph in a pace line along the lake to the third check point. Now, however, the route is a 2 lane highway with a small shoulder to ride on. It is also very flat headed south and the temperature is in the upper 90’s. Everyone is slowing up and many are starting to get cramps. At mile 80, our last check point, we head west into a gusty wind. Four of us head out together but two have to drop back early because of cramping. Finally, the guy I’m riding with cramps and I’m on my own riding at 10-15 mph and feeling awful. I was never so glad to see the Wakefield city limits sign and finish 3 miles short of 100 miles. My car thermometer read 100. The guy I was riding with is sitting at the picnic table with his head down. After talking with him for awhile, I realize he may be hyponatremic (low salt from sweating). This can be very serious. I get one of the race staff to get medical help - something they should have been better prepared for.