One more chance 2 B Last

7June2008

Why another triathlon? Why after 8 years?

Posted by iamlast under: Uncategorized.

I am not real fond of Last. It happens that I am real good at it. So good at it that a race director asked me to bring my motorcyle and be last on purpose. Race directors don’t like to go home and leave athletes on the course. So now , officially I Am Last. Ever since 2002. I am Last. From my position i see triathlon differently. Not in a half full/half empty sort of way., but i see the folks who do this for reasons other than an entry to Kona. A few weeks back I was in my usual place in Arizona. It was brutal. The heat along with the winds made the bike course the worst i have seen in 4 years. The pro’s as usual were amazing. I will never come to grips with how they do what they do.

At the back of the race things are different, yet the same. Athletes working as hard as they can to get where they need to be. Sometimes the athlete triumphs, other times nature reigns. The sag trucks were busy this year. At the last bike turnaround about 22 cyclists didn’t make the time cutoff. Last year 2007 was windy, but the wind was at their back following the turnaround. this year it was in your face. Maybe the conditions weren’t epic, but brutal, I would not challenge brutal if asked to comment. But these athletes amaze and inspire. They go until they can’t anymore. I’ve seen pro’s who quit if they aren’t going to be in the money. I understand this. This is how they make a living. The next race is another chance for a payday. My hero’s and heroines are the ones that finish late in the night, and even into the next morning.

This year Douglas is on the top of my list. He and his family came to arizona to celebrate his 50th birthday. he didn’t have the day he planned. but he kept going. He made it thru every cutoff time the city had set. At Midnight he was closing in on the finish. His Wife, brothers, sisters, children, nieces and nephews were there along with Mom and dad. I think i counted about 17 family members waiting at the finish line. At 12:17 he entered the finish chute with his Mom and Dad Jogging hand in hand, one on each side of him. His wife was taking photos, and everyone still there was cheering and clapping. The finish line workers stopped for a moment to clap and cheer, then went back to work. Everyone left was pleased Douglas had finished. Smiles and hugs abounded.. Douglas is an ironman to me, his family, and anyone else that hung around long enough to see.

The view from last is different. very different.  I know this post didn’t fit the title, but in there somewhere to me is why.  Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do.

1June2008

First of June what to do

Posted by iamlast under: Uncategorized.

May is gone, time to pick up the pace. it wasn’t a complete waste. Rode the bike to work and back a few times. Ran home from work ( 3 miles ) one time. Ran to breakfast every week. My running is half and half now. We had company in for a week, My life is intertwined with the other family members . if it was just my wife of 30+ years and myself life might be simple enough . That will never happen, so i have to squeeze movement into what little time i have.

Here is the plan: I pulled the klein down from the rafters and it got new shoes, the old tires were put on in early 2001. while on the bike stand it got the look/see Everything is slippery and shiney for now. Just gotta find the little bag to carry the spare tube and tire levers and it will be ready to ride again. I will commute more on the beater bike, and try to get home on foot at least once a week.

I am going to run to breakfast again this morning. every time i do i get there a little quicker. My knees and feet are ok so far. they are my weak areas.

Overall things are as good as it gets.

Life is everything all rolled together: Take a lot of pictures

26April2008

she wanted to go to breakfast

Posted by iamlast under: Run; Cycle.

she wanted me to get there on my own power. Dressed in my finest running duds of i go. Walk a few minutes to get everything moving, then i begin the 100’s jog 100 right footfalls, walk until i feel like jogging again, rinse, repeat. I was breathing ok, could have run longer pieces. For a first run in over a year it went ok. knees and hips didn’t complain too much.

On another subject: my prayers and wishes go out to Dr. Dave Martin and his family. Dr Martin was a member of the San Diego Tri Club. Although we had never met, we had common friends. i know just how horrible this attack was.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/26/2008
• Time: 09:00:00
• Total Time: 00:44:00.00
• Distance: 2 miles
• Average Pace: 21:58.68/mile

23April2008

April, 2001—-raceday

Posted by iamlast under: Uncategorized.

As I sit, looking into my remembery, I can now see more. This is the short version.
I can see myself driving into the race site, checking on the bike, getting the wet suit on. We will speak later of wetsuits. I can see the walk to swim entry/ exit. I remember the sandbags covering the concrete boat ramp to make it smoother. I remember making sure I was off to one side so I wouldn’t be either in or out of the way. I remember the real cannon’s they used to start the race. It was on the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, CA. The marines have real cannons. In 2000 they used the real big cannons. People almost jumped out of the water that year. Two laps of swimming then back out of the water, up the sandbags. Swim time: 1:42. Having the wetsuit pulled off, and then running thru a shower that some dumb electrician built the first year was neat. It had shower heads, and hoses that hung down. After swimming in the ocean, hosing off a bit with fresh water seemed like a great idea. Grab your swim to bike transition bag and hit the tent. I wasn’t in a hurry, but wasn’t going to just lolly about. All went well except the socks. Double layer socks, and wet feet don’t work well. The inner layer sticks to the foot, the outer layer slides on well unfortunately it leaves a bunch of material at the toes. Pulled them off, put them on, finally to the bike.
This is the part I should love. I got to sit down for a while. Since I live near the course I have ridden most of it a bunch of times. The inland portion is on Camp Pendleton, and was closed to bicycles except for a few rare occasions. I took advantage of those occasions and had ridden that part 3 times. There is a story there also. I will share someday. I was aware of what the course offered up. Riding steady, as strong as I could, I completed the first lap, nothing exciting happened as I remember. I made it up the 3 big hills with effort, and fat guy gears. Not a triple but as close to mountain bike gearing as I could fit on a Klein. The second lap was harder. I had to walk a bit of the San Mateo hill, but not all. There is a downhill left hand decreasing radius curve. It never seemed overly dangerous; in fact I remember it as a fun hill to ride. When I got there the second time it was obvious something bad had happened. An accident for certain. MP’s slowing us down. Military police cars, flashing lights, still an ambulance there. At the time I didn’t know anything, but hoped all would be alright. It didn’t happen that way. Perry Rendina died that day doing what he loved. God bless Perry and his family. In the races that followed this corner is guarded by radar totin MP’s. Mattresses line the guard rail on the right side of the road, and volunteers are yelling at you to slow down. Not far from here the road turns to rolling hills. I love this part of the course. I finally passed Bill Bell. He was like 77 then. Right turn at the airport, and put your head down. Aerobars are a good thing, right? I finally made it back to transition. It was a long day of sitting. 8:14. + 1:42 = 9:56.
Subtract this from 17 hours means I have 7:04 left to go 26.2 miles on my feet. 4 miles an hour would get me to the finish on time. Bill Bell passed me at about mile 2. I tried to shuffle with him. It didn’t happen. I wasn’t ready. I will get to appologize to my online coaches for not keeping to the schedue. I hated to let them down. I kept going, just not fast enough. By the time I got to the Start of the second Lap I had done the math. 17 hours wasn’t going to happen. At the last turn around it was obvious I wasn’t going to be an official finisher. The turnaround is only 10 blocks from my house. I could almost see the shower and bed from the run course. I am not a quitter. There were family and friends waiting. Here is the picture. Me, an old, fat, wannabe ironman, walking to transition and the finish, with an assortment of people who joined with me to see if I could finish. There was a lady who lived by the turnaround who decided to go for a 6.5 mile walk in the middle of the night, J.D, the run course captain was still on the course, and needed to get back to transition was there. He was giving updates to the race director so they wouldn’t pack up and go home leaving some fat guy out on the course. He became a close friend. As we got closer to the finish line, more friends came out, Steve, Jen, Bill, others. They all have special places in my heart. I can’t name them all. Special people, all of them. Bill Bell, 77 years old finished at 11:57pm. One lady finished after him at 11:59. They were the last 2 official finishers. I finally got there at 12:42 am. Not the day I wanted, not the day I planned on.

I am Last.

21April2008

bike to work and then home

Posted by iamlast under: Cycle.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 04/21/2008
• Time: 12:00:00
• Total Time: 00:40:00.00
• Distance: 7.3 miles
• Average Speed: 10.95 mph
• Max Speed: 28 mph

20April2008

…..its amazing how much motivation there is in writing a

Posted by iamlast under: Uncategorized.

check to ironman north america for $475.00. I don’t like wasting money. so the adventure began. The next day i started an ironman diary on the computer. my goals were simple. Do at least one thing every day to get me closer to being an ironman finisher.

This we need to get out front. I am a big guy. 6′2′ 300 lbs when i wrote the check. pretty active at work. i am a electrician by trade, and still work for a living. no desk work. Climb ladders, dig trenches, jackhammer concrete, bend twist, push and pull. I am a big, fat, working guy. and once i wrote the check there were questions about my sanity.

April in California is great for almost anything. I was riding my bike to work and back. my truck got lonely. Then i added walking in. I’ve been a good swimmer ever since i was a kid. Every year i did the labor day pier swim, 1 mile. My training was go to the pool 4 or 5 times to remember how to breathe. Exhale before your face comes out of the water so you can inhale while your face is in the air. Gotta get that right. How fast do i swim. The fast swimmers in the rough water swim finish in 20 minutes. The slow ones finish in 60 minutes. My times are always around 40 minutes. Yes thats right. I am a half fast swimmer !! We won’t speak of running right now. . I kept to the plan for about a few months. swimming more, riding farther after work, farther on the weekends. Went to B&L bike and had Dan do the bike fit thing. New aerobars, wider handlebars, new seat until i found one i liked. The bike fit better. it’s still a 9 year old aluminum road bike. I like the thing. i probably will buy a new bike this year.

remember i told of a diary. the computer crashed and it was gone. all gone. Everything gets fuzzy until about 20 weeks before IMCAL. I bought into online training from MultiSports.com. A whole training schedule laid out. I could ask questions, and I had a few. Short of paying for a Personal Coach it is the best. I followed the plan the best i could. I’m not good at following directions. Had a few problems running. but ready or not raceday was upon us.

My race goals. swim 1:40 Bike 8:00 Run finish before midnight

18April2008

assembled the new barbeque

Posted by iamlast under: Uncategorized.

it came in 5 boxes and 2 plastic bags. 4 burners, natural gas, lots of room for grillling. This one replaces a 10 year old model.  Then the clothes dryer broke.  1 hour to figure out what was wrong, 1 hour to go for part, not parts, just one part.  10 minutes to put it in and get the clothes drying.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Other
• Date: 04/18/2008
• Time: 12:00:00
• Total Time: 2:02:00.00
• Max Heart rate: 8

17April2008

Just A little History

Posted by iamlast under: Uncategorized.

I’ve received 2 comments on my first post, you know the one, the Hi, i’ve just joined, post.  They were excellent and  several great questions were asked.  Brad Hefta-Gaub and  Von SmallHassen deserve a reply.  Thanks for the interest. 

One question was how long have i been doing triathlons.  I competed in my first triathlon (Carlsbad, CA )  in 1992, then again in 1993.  I grew up around the beach, and always liked swimming.  My swim training was going bodysurfing.  I was just 40 then.  I worked at a bike shop while going to college.  My bicycle was a 1971 Nishiki Pro Custom.  Cost me $220 dollars in 1971. The nishiki rep said there were only 200 made.  100 red, and 100 blue.  mine was blue, heck it still is blue.  still hanging in the garage.  I was riding the 4 miles to work and back a couple of times a week.  That was bike training.   Run training  :   I bought new shoelaces, and put them in.  Remember  I avoid running whenever possible.   The race distance   1k swim/15m bike/5k run The results.  I had to sprint to beat helen ( 68 ) for next to last place.  The next month I had a new bicycle.  Klein Quantum purple 60 cm.  i still have this bike also.  It led me to a next to last finish the next year in carlsbad.  I took a hiatus from triathlon for a while  8 years. 

Fast forward to the year 1999.  It was announced that there would be an Ironman event in my town.  Ironman California was going to happen.  I drove to the race office and Told the director, Buzz, and Volunteer Coordinator , Jen, That i was here to help.  I even got a few things task to me, and was annointed captain of the ” Dry Strip Bags “  my volunteers and i would take the clothes and things the athletes brought to the race and would store them until after the race.  2200 athletes bring a lot of stuff to the race.  That was a long day.  1st one in and last one out,  I had such a great time, met so many wonderful people.   I was pumped.  the next day (sunday) I went back to race site and entered the 2001 ironman california.  …………..   to be continued

16April2008

Hi, I just joined the Sweat365 community

Posted by iamlast under: Run.

Hi Ya’ll Guess you can tell I’m a southern gent, Yeah southern california!! Sometime this summer I will turn 56. My wife says I’m Married. I agree with her….

My athletic and fitness goals are:

1. Complete IronmanCalifornia 70.2 in 2009

2. Complete an ironman distance triathlon

3. Loose some fat

4. Better control my blood sugar

5 Learn to be less grumpy. it appears as if I am universally recognized as the worlds nicest as___le

Favorite activities : Napping, eating, motorcycling, photography, and avoiding running !

Today is the beginning. On April 22 i will announce to my family and friends that i am going to compete in the Ironman California 70.2 and will count on them to encouragement, and pester me until the goal is complete

This is my training blog which I am using to keep track of my fitness progress.

Please come by and read my blog. It will help me stay motivated and keep me on track as I achieve my fitness goals!