I'm back, and have been sleeping like a baby.  Initially, I thought I would be sorer than I am right now.  The legs were shredded on Sunday, Monday, and the soreness was gone on Wednesday.  Now that's a fast recovery. 

The Swim

All week I was more excited than nervous.  I did get a bit nervous about 5 minutes before the swim.  The cannon went off, and most raced down the beach into the water.  A few walked into the surf until it was waste deep.  I was dolphin diving as soon as I could.  The first loop was a hand and feet fest.  I really did not get hit often, much less than I thought I would.   I kept my head down, and kept turning over the strokes, some slow - some fast, to adjust my speed with the pack.  The first lap seemed to take a long time, when I came out of the water 31 minutes had elapsed.  The second lap took less mental time but longer in the real world.  When I came out of the water I was a confused on how much time had elapsed.  The clock said 1:26 or 1:36.  Was I really swimming that long?  I ran up the beach, to the wetsuit strippers and badda bing badda boom, my wetsuit was off.  (Swim time 1:16:xx)

In T1 I forgot to put my wetsuit into my transition bag.  I did not realize this until I was on the bike about 10 miles out of town.   The next day after the race, I picked up my wetsuit at lost and found.  Good thing I had my name written on the zipper strap.

The Bike

I was on the bike, and starting to get a little hungry.   I drank water for 20 minutes on the way out of town, and then started eating the PBJs.  Around 30 miles, the ride started getting too comfortable, and the back wheel was spongy.  I was getting a flat.  I came off the bike and changed the flat, and by the time I had finished with the wheel race support pulled up to help me.  They took my dead flat tire and spent CO2.  Around the 70 miles Daniel came by me, and we rode and talked a bit, and then he pushed ahead.  Besides the flat, my bike was pretty uneventful.  Around 80 miles there were no more packs of people.   I just kept riding up to athletes, say hello, and pass them.  Coming back we had a nice tail wind, and instead of pushing the pace I just let the heart rate drop low into the easy zone.  I was saving those bpm for the run. (Bike 6:13:xx)

T2.  Off the bike and into the changing tent.  I stripped off the biking gear and put on running shorts and a shirt.  I was worried about the fierce Florida sun burning my shoulders.  Got a quick application of sunscreen on the arms, shoulders, and back of the neck and I was off on the run.

The Run

For the first 13.1 miles I was doing great.   I was knocking out mile after mile at a Sub 9 pace, right where I wanted to be.  I was more concerned with pace than nutrition.  When I reached the turnaround near the finish line, I was not feeling super fast anymore.  I received my special needs bag and a bottle of Carbo Pro, and walked a bit, and then started to run again.  I saw Katie and felt a surge.  For the third leg of the run I remember the turnaround at the finish line and the entering the park and making the final turn around in the park, I'm not sure what happened in the middle?  When I ran to the final turn in the park, the time was 5:42 PM.   I took a big sip of coke and took off.  I knew I could make it back in 60 minutes.  Mile 20 all the way back to the finish I ran from aid station to aid station, only enough walking to collect a cup of water and cola and drink as much as I could handle at the moment. The faster I ran the sooner I would be done.  The legs felt strong but I was tired, and just kept pushing.  The run was done in 4:02:10.   Two minutes faster than my first marathon.   What a great run. What a great day!

I really enjoyed the race, and the accomplishment finally took hold of me Monday morning.  I was so glad to share this with Katie, Louise, Daniel and Elka.  Special thanks to coach John Newsom.  You rock.   I was 20 miles into the marathon and I knew would finish strong.   Thanks for all the good workouts and tips.  And thanks to all those who cheered me on the course, your names are unknown, and I appreciated all the encouragement.

Living the Dream (11:42:34, IMFL 2008, My First IM)

Craig

(I missed having my riding buddies Seth and Jeff to chat with on the ride.   112 miles is a long way to ride with no conversation.)

Two Words for today.  Hot, humid, and super windy.  Okay I overshot my goal, but the wind is pretty wicked on the beach.   Lots of wind gusts today.  The beach was double red flagged.  No swimming with those wicked waves you can see in the picture above.

Roch Frey and Jimmy Riccitello (former Shreveport-Bossier) are here from last year, and are still fun to be around.  They always share lots of stories at the dinner table. 

We rode to the pool today to swim 4000 meters.  We got lots of sunshine, and a nice and cool salt water 50 meter pool.  There are only 12 people in this camp, and I was pushed to the fast lane of the pool.  I pretty much held 1:50/100 on all my sets.  Big thanks to Butch and Southside and the 50 meter pool.  I feel the 50 meter pool just makes me a better swimmer overall.

The shoulders are a bit red from 2 hours of swimming under the Florida sun.  I’ll be coming back to Shreveport with a deeper darker tan!

Nothing like having a patch work of multi-colored skin to go along with the multisport lifestyle.  After a ride back to the Hotel, I ran 20 minutes off the bike.  More heat, more wind.

It was a pretty easy day.  Tomorrow we will ride the course, at least most of it and run 45min off the bike.

Maybe an open water swim.  But I doubt the wind and waves are going to subside by tomorrow evening.

Peace Out. Craig

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