I'm a lottery winner! yay?

hmm so today I got a friendly reminder of a lottery I had entered a couple of weeks ago. The lottery was for a spot to participate in the most exclusive triathlon after the Ironman in Kona, the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. The email I received says something like, "You are one of the exceptional triathletes that has been selected as a Random Drawing Winner for the 2009 Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon". oh oh, what did I do..?

The Escape takes place in San Francisco. In order to escape from the island there is a swim of 1.5 miles. Once free, the swim is followed by an 18 mile hilly bike ride and an 8 mile tough run that includes deep sand and going up the famous dreaded Sand Ladder. Good stuff... :S

I will still have some time to think it over before the January 9th registration deadline. hmm...

Today I ran with Rudolph

Sunday I woke up at 7am to go run outside in 27F (-2C) degree weather. good times...

The Rudolph Ramble, as it was called, was supposed to be an 8k race by Lake Michigan in Chicago. Instead, as I would later find out (and I when I say later, I mean after the race) is that it had been changed to a 5k race due to the icy path. It was a fun run regardless. There were Santas, reindeer, and elves running. Everyone was in a happy mood. It was a big surprise, however, to make it to the finish line and see everyone stop running when you think you have a ways to go. Needless to say, no records were broken.

In the afternoon I did my hour of power with the Chicago Blue dolphins Masters swim group. It was a test to see how much distance we could cover in 60 minutes. I ended up swimming 3100 yards. Not too bad I guess...

A word from the swim coach

I was very happy to receive the results of the swim stroke test today. The coach sent me a note where he says, "The results of your test set are pretty damn impressive".
These are very encouraging words. It turns out the stroke count is very good. The plan now is to continue to practice with the team to work on improving my speed and endurance while maintaining efficiency.
Good stuff...

Now, where do I get a pair of these..?

A Chicago Blue Dolphin

Yesterday I went to my first Chicago Blue Dolphin session. It was held at the University of Illinois at Chicago's 50 meter olympic sized pool. Cool stuff!

In this first session we did a warmup, followed by 8 x 100 meters freestyle swim during which a partner jotted down the number of strokes per 50 meters. The goal is to cover the distance while using the least number of strokes. This results in improved efficiency. I had an average of 36 strokes per 50 meters which I think was pretty good. However, our coach will be sending out the overall results so we can all see where we stand in comparison and what the figures really mean. The plan now is to practice with the Chicago Blue Dolphins once a week.

This was our complete workout:
4 x 100
4 x 50 kick
1 x 100 Alt. 25breast, 25freestyle
1 x 100 closed fist
1 x 100
8 x 100

Total: 1h 30min, 1700 meters

Soccer-Tennis is an actual sport

Yesterday I ran 7.1 miles to meet my good friend Fern at the tennis courts to play a few games of soccer-tennis. When I got there he had a large bottle of Gatorade waiting for me which was a heavenly surprise. We had a lot of fun and ended up playing for an hour and a half. I think we would have stayed longer but the lights were turned off. After that I ran back home another 7.1 miles.

I just looked it up and it turns out soccer-tennis really is an actual sport. I had thought it was just a made up game. Oh well, I guess all sports start up that way..

Still registered...

So today I checked to see if I was still registered for Ironman Lanzarote 2009. hmm, yes, the search results are still showing my name...

In the last few weeks I have been attending my swim and bike training sessions. I have also been doing a bit of training on my own. With swimming I have mostly been focusing on technique. I have been trying to adjust my stroke using the drills learned in the class. I am hoping this will allow me to be much more efficient in the water to be able to conserve energy while going faster. As far as cycling, I have been going out on short training rides when I get a chance and the weather allows. For instance, yesterday, a friend and I went for a two hour ride by the lake. I just had to take advantage of such a nice day. It was an enjoyable ride. Today I hope to go running. I have been running about two to three times a week and hope to start increasing the length and frequency of these sessions.

I completed the 2008 Chicago marathon

Yesterday I completed the 2008 Chicago marathon.

I found it amazing that 45,000 people signed up for this event. It was certainly an unbelievable site and incredible experience running along such a huge crowd of people.

The run started a little slow as I made my way through the crowds to settle on my pace. I felt strong and pain-free for the first few miles. Then the bottom of my feet started to bother me for what would be the entire course. This was most likely due to the fact that I decided to ignore the rule of breaking in your shoes before wearing them in a race. I wore the shoes I bought the day before at the expo. Although I can also attribute this to my lack of training. This was also the reason my pace slowed down and my legs started to give up on me the last couple of miles.

The truth is for the whole summer I concentrated on my triathlons in August. The Steelhead Ironman 70.3 and Chicago triathlons were to be my A races. After these I lost some motivation and ended up taking a couple of weeks off in September. I tried getting back to training in late September by completing my longest run of 18 miles and returning to the marathon program. I spent the last couple of weeks before the marathon, however, not feeling too well and failed to complete the program. This all translated into me missing my target of four hours. Instead I completed the marathon in 4:28.

Going forward I will need to train more running long distances. I also need to do a better job of staying motivated, especially for the next few days after completing a race. This means that today is a training day.

getting better...

North Shore Century ride

Today I participated in the North Shore Century ride. A one hundred mile round trip ride from Evanston, IL to Kenosha, Wisconsin through the North Shore suburbs. The route has about a 3,000ft elevation gain.

Overall it was a good experience and I felt pretty good the whole way. I did end up getting lost two to three times. Something that is not pleasant, especially when you end up having to ride extra miles. You also waste time trying to find your way. I ended up riding a total of 106 miles in about seven hours.
fun fun...

PS: My deepest apologies to my brother Michael and my good friend and riding buddy, Wilson. I let them both down this morning when I failed to get out of bed on time. I am not very happy about that. I am also not at all happy with the 'weekdays only' alarm feature on my phone...

Swimming instruction

My swim class started today. The class is held in an endless pool with the instruction of two coaches. The endless pool produces a stream of water which allows you to swim while staying stationary while fighting the current, sort of like a treadmill. This way the coaches are able to closely watch your stroke and position in the water and make corrections as needed. Cameras are also used to record the session. This allows for further critiquing and playback to the swimmer.


I was recorded swimming today. The video will be critiqued in our next session. We also spent some time going through various exercises. These were simple and focused on maintaining stability and straight form in the water. I will have to do some homework to make sure I perfect these before the next session.

Getting better...

Cycling class is now in session

Today I had my first cycling computrainer class. It is an eight session class that meets once a week. You basically mount your bike on a stationary trainer which is wired to a computer. The computer allows you to ride simulated courses. Your progress, along with other figures are shown on a large monitor. Every participant in the class is also shown on the screen, represented by a little rider on a bike. This makes it appear as though you are playing a racing game as you get to compete with others in the class. This is of course is not encouraged. Instead, the key figure everyone is told to pay attention to is the power output, which is measured in watts.

Today's class was composed of a 40 minute test in a simulated course which contained various hills. The goal was to capture the riders' average wattage. On the final day of class there will be another test that will hopefully show how much each rider has improved. My average wattage throughout the test was 183watts.

Let's see how much I can improve...

Nike Human Race - Chicago

Today I participated in the world's largest running event, the Nike Human Race 10k. A total of 29 cities around the world took part in the event. I was happy to have my cousin and brother in law race with me in Caracas and Sao Paulo while I ran in Chicago. There is definitely something special about that. I felt as though it brought us together. With every step I could even imagine running along side them. Also, since the event raised money for various causes it felt as though people from all over the world were coming together to make the world just a little better. Thanks to Nike for setting this up.

My time was 45:30. I was happy with it but hope to improve it over time.

I registered for the Ironman Lanzarote 2009!

Dear Ironman Athlete,
This is a confirmation of your entry for the Ironman Lanzarote Canarias 2009...


Wow, this is the email I just received. "Dear Ironman Athlete", it says. Who is this Ironman athlete they refer to? Is it me? No, not yet, but it will be.

Today, August 29, 2008, I registered for the Ironman Lanzarote 2009 race. It is composed of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run in the Spanish volcanic island of Lanzarote. The same day I am inspired to start this blog. It should serve as a channel for me to log my thoughts and progress throughout my journey. I suspect it will eventually become much more than that, however, as I start logging various experiences that define my life. All the while I will try to live up to the following phrase:

"You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough".
- Joe Lewis.