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.)

Congrats to Emily Roe for becoming an Ironman.  You raced a perfect race.

This is the week!  On Sunday August 31st, Bridget, Lesley, and Seth will be each wake early in the morning, eat, drink some fluids, and head out for a day of aerobic bliss.  A 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and to finish it off... a 26.2 mile run.  Lots of gatorade, water, gels, PBJ, ... and who knows what else will be consumed on the course.

Those with the monster cable package, Ford Ironman  Louisville will air on Versus.   Otherwise check out ironmanlive.com for the updates.

On Sept 1st, you can sign up for Ironman Louisville, Ironman 70.3  Bosie, and Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island (What?)!  If you ever needed a reason to travel and get in some good training just pick a race, get a training plan, and set your target.   Lot's of choices to make, claim your spot before all the slots sell out.

Good Luck Gals & Guys, we'll be cheering you on!

Craig

When I first started all this triathlon stuph, I attended a local camp in Dallas (2006) to try and figure out what base, build, peak and all the tri-talk terminology meant.   It had been quite some time since I had done any serious aerobic exercise for performance, and I just wanted to pick up some knowledge from others.

I met Justin Daerr at this camp, and it was pretty kewl to get to train with someone of the Elite status.  Super great guy.

Awesome race Justin!  I was pulling for you all the way.

Check out his blog for training tips.

Nothing like some cool weather all day Sat and early Sunday morning to help our athletes achieve some notable personal bests and firsts for the race on Saturday.   Afterward, a few of us headed out to Little Rock to grab some Brushetta and hang out in Hot Springs for a bit and then drive back to Degray to finish out the Sunday racing on tired legs in the Sprint race.

The Degray course was changed up this year, and I would have rather ridden the old bike course.  I enjoyed the new run course (1:43:28), but I'm not sure if the feeling would have been the same if the overcast conditions did not exist on Saturday.

The Atheltes in the half were...

Louise Smyth (2nd Overall Women)
Anna Means (3rd Overall Women)
Martha Siskron
John Bullock
Craig Nicholson
Denise Cook
Roger Weldon
Daniel Anderson
Mike McHalffey
Mike Cook (First Half)
Tony Bouso (1st in Age Group)
Teresa White (First Half)
Lee Stevens (First Half)

Half Results

Olympic Distance

Susan Vaughan (3rd Overall Women)
Casey Bowen (3rd Overall Men)

Olympic Results

The Sprint proved to be a fast race, since this is the Arkansas State Championship Race

Tommy Foster (3rd Age Group)
Dusty Williams
Louise Smyth (1st Age Group)
Tom Siskron
Elka Anderson (2nd Age group)
Tony Bouso 
Mike Williams 
Joe Hinton

Teams for the Sprint

Craig Nix, Wayne Chelette,Bayne Milam
Julie Nix, Randy Nix, Michael Nix

Sprint Results

Visit Atomic Racing Systems for all the results.

Peace Out!