My decision was made based on only a few things: 1. I want to continue to train and push for success in triathlon, but I can’t do that without fixing my knee. 2. Three different periods over the last 10 years have been specifically focused on strength training to fix my knee and avoid surgery, but none of them have eliminated the pain completely or prevented it from coming back eventually. 3. I’m tired of being stressed about this knee. I’m ready to put this behind me and start looking forward.

Surgery wasn’t the route I wanted to go, but looks to be the best option for the goals I want to achieve. The operation is a meniscectomy. Instead of trying to repair the torn cartilage they’ll simply cut out a very small amount around the tears so when my knee moves and flexes the torn sides don’t rub any more. That rubbing is what causes the pain. It will only take about 15 minutes and they said that I’ll walk out of the building and be up walking around the next day. They want me on a stationary bike a few days later. The rehab plan will be slow and steady but by the time it’s finished I’ll have a fully functional, pain free knee to train and compete on!

After I made the decision I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed but at the same time I felt a lot of relief. No more worrying about the knee pain coming back during my peak training time. No more frustration from holding back during a race when I know I could push harder with a healthy knee. I can focus on bigger and better things now. First, rehab the knee. Second, Kona in 2013!

That said, I’m not going to immediately jump back into training for an Ironman, at least not directly.  My right knee is injured pretty badly right now so in the short term, I need to focus on healing it and getting my body back to a point of healthy balance and strength.  My wife is also pregnant so in about 6 months we’re going to have a new little baby to take care of – not exactly a great time to commit to the training schedule for an Ironman.

So what am I going to do?  The next 6 months I’m going to focus on healing the knee and doing a lot of functional strength training with things like yoga and pilates.  I’ll add in some biking and swimming for good measure, but I wont be following a training schedule.  I’ll do my best to eat healthy but I’m not going to stress myself out if I eat a slice of pizza or two one night or a bowl of ice cream another.  These next 6 months are all about recovery – both physically and mentally.

My family is priority number 1 so I wont commit to another training schedule until things are at a point where it’s safe to do so without risking divorce (haha).  I can’t deny my desire to race in another Ironman though and have decided the next step is to work towards qualifying for Kona.  Family permitting, the general plan at this point is to work up to qualifying at Ironman Texas in 2013.

Between now and then, I’ll heal my knee and race in a few Xterra triathlons (my mountain bike has missed me).  Then slowly work up to the training schedule for the next Ironman and every day I walk into my closet I’ll look at the finisher medal from Ironman Texas and enjoy the memories from the first half of 2011.

The 20 week training schedule to qualify for Kona begins in 547 days….

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Ryding2Health

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I woke up at 4:00am Saturday morning after only a few hours of sleep.  As much as I tried to calm myself the night before, my mind was already in race mode.  Unlike every other early morning workout where I had to wake up long before the sun, this time I got out of bed easily.  No arguing with myself about hitting the snooze button.  It was time to do what I had been obsessing about almost every waking moment of the last 6 months.

I took a quick, hot shower and ate a simple breakfast of a bagel with peanut butter, a banana and bottle of Powerbar Perform drink.  I needed calories, and had planned on eating more, but my stomach wasn’t in the mood to eat.  I wasn’t nervous yet, but I was very anxious.

My wife and I made our way to the transition area so I could look over my bike one last time and make sure everything was set and ready to go.  Afterwards we walked to the start of the swim to join the other 2700 athletes with their families and friends.  The area was packed with people and full of energy.  Loud music was playing from speakers near the starting area and everyone was going about their pre-race routine.  Some were jogging around, some stretching, some just talking with friends and family and others seemed to stare off into the distance – probably visualizing the long day ahead.

After getting my arms marked with my numbers we made our way to the waterside and sat down to take it all in.  I stretched a little bit, but mostly just tried to relax and conserve energy.  The swim was set to being with a mass start in the water – 2700 athletes all starting at once.  Pretty soon the announcer welcomed the pro triathletes who were competing and asked for everyone else to start making their way to the starting area.  I got into my wetsuit, put on my goggles and pulled my lime green swim cap over my head and walked over to the starting area.

I found myself on a ramp with a lot of others steadily walking into the water and swimming out towards the middle of the lake near some big red buoys marking the starting line.  Since there were so many people, we had to tread water for almost 20 minutes before the gun went off while everyone got into place.  Luckily, the wetsuit gave me a lot of buoyancy so I didn’t waste very much energy here.  I chatted with others in the area a little but mostly tried to keep myself in an area with enough room to prevent getting pushed under at the start.

Number of miles covered each month while training for Ironman Texas.

After the Pros started, the speakers near the water ramp started blaring Ozzy Osbourne’s “Ironman”.  Everyone went crazy and I remember noticing that I had a huge smile on my face.  They did a short count down and the race began.  I don’t remember if they used a gun shot or if it was a buzzer, but suddenly we were all thrashing forward in the water.  Hands grabbed feet and legs, faces were kicked and people climbed over each other in a reckless attempt at making forward progress in an area of water too small to hold the crowd.  I don’t know if I hit or kicked anyone (probably did) but I remember several times when others swam/crawled over my back and across my legs.  My head was kicked twice, causing me to almost lose my goggles the second time.  I did my best at keeping my focus and eventually found an area at the side where I could swim.

As we progressed down and back up the lake I kept having run-ins with others.  I would find an open area to swim in and within minutes others had slowed or speed up to fill it in.  This happened the entire swim so I was never really able to stretch out and glide.  The last portion of the swim brought us through a canal into the transition area.  This part was cool.  Both sides of the canal were lined with people cheering us on.  Finally, I made it to the exit and entered the transition.

My goal for the swim had been to complete it in 1:20 – I finished it in 1:09:53!

Upon exiting the water, a few of the race volunteers stripped my wetsuit off me, handed me my bike gear bag and assisted me with making sure I had everything I needed before grabbing my bike.  The volunteers all over the race course were amazing!  They were the reason the race went as smooth as it did and they were definitely the reason I saved time in the transition.  I had allotted 10 minutes to get out of my wetsuit, get all my bike gear together and on me and get my bike – I made it out of the transition in less than 5 minutes!

Now on the bike, I’m 15 minutes ahead of my goal time and focused on calming myself down.  My heart rate was at 164 as I rode away from the transition area – way too high!  Fortunately, the beginning of the bike course was mostly downhill so I had a great opportunity to keep up some good speed without much effort, which brought my heart rate back down into the low zone 2 range (around 120 bpm).  On the bike, my nutrition strategy was to eat a Powerbar Energy Gel every 20 minutes and alternate Powerbar Perform drink and water to wash them down.  I had my watch set to go off every 20 minutes to remind me to eat/drink and in between I focused on keeping up my cadence and maintaining a low heart rate.

Almost every bike ride I had done in training consisted of hills – tons of them.  This course was hilly, but nothing compared to the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio that I had been used to.  During the race I found that many times when someone passed me, I would almost always catch up to them, and pass them back on the hills.  I hated the hills in training, but I was loving them now.  Overall, the course was great.  It wound through the Sam Houston National Forest and through a lot of farm land.  Wind was supposed to be bad, but there was a lot of tree cover on most of the roads so it must have blocked it for us – I don’t remember ever having much difficulty with wind.  The entire way people were parked on the side of the road cheering for us and holding up hand drawn signs on poster board – awesome community support!

My goal for the bike was to finish in 6 hours, maintaining an average of about 18mph (I figured the hills would slow me down as much as the Hill Country hills always had).  I finished the bike in 5:49:23, just over 19mph averaged!

Entering the transition to prepare for the run I was about 25 minutes ahead of my goal time.  Once again, the volunteers made things incredibly easy for me and I ran out of the transition area in 5 minutes flat, putting me 30 minutes ahead of my goal time.

My strategy for the run had changed somewhat in the last week before the race.  About two weeks before, I started having terrible pains on the outside of my right knee.  I did everything I could to heal it before race day, but I knew there was a real possibility that I would have issues during that final leg of the day.  My goal time allowed me enough time to finish the run with a moderate amount of walking, but not a lot.  In order to beat my goal, I had to run the majority of the race.  So, my strategy for the run was, during the first hour, to run the first 3/4 of each mile and walk the remaining 1/4.  I figured if I ran the first portion at a 9min/mile pace, then I could walk the remainder and average a 10 minute mile.  After the first hour, if the knee was ok, I’d run a few miles without walking to test it.  If it was clear at that point, I’d run the rest of the race.

For the first hour, I stuck to my plan.  Six miles went by and I had averaged just under a 10 min mile on each.  Unfortunately, in mile 7 when I started back running the knee pain came back.  And it was bad.  I immediately started walking again and kept walking for about a quarter of that mile.  When I started running again I found the knee had become crazy stiff and running was near impossible!  During this time my mind started flooding with thoughts of missing my goal time and I was getting frustrated.  Mile 7 was walked mostly with some short painful runs mixed in.  I thought as long as I could run/walk, maybe I could get close to my goal.  In mile 8 I found that the more I walked the stiffer my knee got.  Bending my knee even just enough to walk through the stiffness caused a tremendous amount of pain!  Somewhere in the middle of that mile I caught myself wondering if I was going to be able to finish at all.  Almost in the same instant I got really angry at myself for thinking like that and forced myself to start running.  I can’t describe how badly it hurt to run.

They say that God works in mysterious ways.  Before the race I had prayed and prayed for something that would keep me motivated to run at the end of the long day.  At the point in mile 8, where my knee hurt too much to walk and I began painfully running out of sheer frustration, something happened.  After about 30 seconds of running, the stiffness in my knee loosened up just enough and I found a way to keep going.  I found that if I just used my right leg as a crutch, sort of landing flat footed, then used my left leg to push myself forward over my right leg, I was able to keep going and minimize the knee pain.  The instant I started to walk or change from this awkward stride, my knee started getting stiff and screamed at me.  If I walked, I wouldn’t finish, much less hit my goal time.  So the decision was made, I would run (awkwardly) the rest of the way.  My motivation to keep running didn’t come in the form of something positive and uplifting, but rather in sharp pain that made it impossible to walk – the need to keep the pain away kept me running.  As far as I’m concerned, my prayers were answered.  Not necessarily in the way I would have liked, but answered with a desirable result at any rate – I guess beggars can’t be choosers.

I am so thankful that the run was set to loop 3 times around the course.  -Since it was a smaller area, the entire course was lined with people yelling and cheering.  Complete strangers, along with family and friends, offered encouragement the entire way and it kept me motivated to try and slowly pick up speed.  Every so often I glanced at my watch and found I was keeping up a pace under a 10 min mile (the majority were between 9:15 and 9:30).  Around mile 20 I realized if I kept up the pace I would kill my goal.  I pushed as hard as I could and dealt with the occasional sharp knee pain from losing my form until I had 1 mile to go.  That last mile was awesome.  The people screaming on the course seemed to be yelling louder and I was running faster and faster that entire time.  -My last mile was under 8:30.

When I ran into the last 100 meters of the run, it was full of people.  Everyone was yelling, loud music was playing and it got emotional.  This was the moment I had thought about every day, through every workout and every time my alarm clock went off for the last 6 months.  This was the moment I had sacrificed so much for and I couldn’t hold it in.  The last 25 meters I yelled as loud as I could and threw my arms in the air as I crossed the finish line and became and Ironman.

I used every ounce of energy, determination and endurance I had that day.  After crossing the line, once again, the helpful volunteers were there – this time to catch me from falling.  I gave it my all and didn’t even have enough left to stand.  I sat in the provided wheelchair for a few minutes, unable to hold back tears and couldn’t believe I had done it.  Then I saw my time.

My goal at the beginning of training in January was to beat 13 hours.  I cut down a good portion of the time being fast through the transitions and fast on the swim and bike, but if it wasn’t for the run during the last 18 miles, I wouldn’t have been able to cross the line at 11:25:38 and secure a top 10% finish!  Killed the goal and became an Ironman.  I did it.

The Finish

My official time sheet for Ironman Texas

My plan for the run is, for each mile in the first hour, to run 3/4 and walk 1/4.  I should be able to average about a 10 min mile during that time.  -Slower than I’d like to be, but it’s all about finishing without issues now.  If the knee still feels good then I’ll run through a few miles without walking, and if it’s good at that point I’ll progress into my prior-knee-issue race pace.

Today I feel ready to race.  I feel like my training progressed well and the last two weeks of tapering went great (aside from the knee, of course).  Tomorrow I’ll finish packing everything up and then on Wednesday I’ll head over to The Woodlands for Ironman Texas!

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Over these last few weeks I’ll taper down the workouts, focus heavily on recovery and staying healthy and fine tune my race day plans.

Bring on Ironman Texas!

Don't worry - I didn't eat this before the run . Looks good though doesn't it?

This morning I ran a little over 18 miles. They were some of the toughest miles I’ve run up to this point in my training for Ironman Texas. The weather was great and the course I ran was fine – neighborhood and highway roads that are mostly flat with a few short, low-grade hills. What made it tough was my fuel and fueling strategy.  On this run I had planned on testing out a couple of new things to find out if I would be able to handle them in the race (I found out – very definitively – that I would not be able to use them in the race (Thanks McDonalds and Sonic for allowing me to make an emergency stop at your bathrooms).

My history with endurance training has given me lots of trial and error so my fueling strategy for the Ironman is pretty much nailed down at this point.  However, I decided that I should test out one more thing in case I needed another option on race day.  The test this morning was to simulate taking in solid food (oatmeal) within 30 minutes of leaving for the run and then take in some chewable gels at the mid point of the run.  I ate the oatmeal without enough time for my stomach to begin the digestion process because I wanted to see what would happen if I were to eat a granola bar or something similar on the run during the race (by the time I get to the run on race day I’ll have consumed a massive amount of gels and sports drink and I’m sure I’ll be sick of them – so I was hoping a granola bar might be another option for fuel).

As I suspected, my stomach doesn’t like anything solid when I’m running.  For the first hour most of what I thought about was the distance to the first open bathroom…. McDonald’s was open at 5am (thank God) and I made it there just in time.  Thirty minutes later I made another stop at Sonic.  Up to this point I had been taking in 1 gel packet every 20 minutes with a good amount of water.  After Sonic I ate the gel chews and then continued on with my gel packets every 20 minutes.

The problem was that my system never had a chance to replace the carbs I lost during sleep with the oatmeal (it never digested) and the emergency stops wasted a lot the liquid (my system didn’t absorbed most of the water on the run) I was trying to keep myself hydrated with.  The gel chews, while a great source of fuel, are slower to digest than regular gels so this ate into my fuel reserves (glycogen stores) even more.  At this point my glycogen stores were probably close to empty and I was getting dehydrated.  Even though I was continuing to take in gels and water, I started from a glycogen store deficit, barely hydrated, and was unable to make it up with the fuel on the first part of the run. I was running myself into the ground and The Wall was getting closer and closer.

I hit The Wall around mile 15 but by the end of the run I had covered the distance I had wanted to, in the time I wanted to.  This was an awesome run (not from a performance aspect) because I learned more about how (or how not to) fuel myself before and during the race, and because even if things go wrong I know what it feels like to fight through The Wall and finish the distance.

Bring on Ironman Texas!