Grandma's Teeth

The 25 page 'Ironman Athlete Guide' came out this week, detailing all the minutiae that go into the Ironman race.  In that guide was an elevation profile for the bike course.  Observe:

Just shy of 4,000 feet of climbing.  For comparison, Mt. Everest is 30,000 feet.  So, my course isn't totally killer - if you consider that 4,000 feet of climbing is spread out along 112 miles.  The good news is that my legs are as strong as ever.

The bike course is a '2 Loop' bike course, so you ride up from sea level at the Hudson River, ride north through New Jersey and up into New York.  Then back.  Then do it again.

6+ hours later I will be ready to start a marathon  - which usually when I start out for a marathon, that's the only thing I'll be doing that day.

Hoo Boy, Here Come The Olympics

I read today that Durex shipped 150,000 condoms to the Olympic Village for the Athletes to use.  That's an average of 15 condoms per athlete, for a competition that lasts 17 days.  I should also note that McDonalds has built their largest restaurant ever in the Olympic Village.

Note to self: The Olympic Village sounds like my version of heaven.  Sex and Fries....not neccessarily in that order.

Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke helps us kick things off...

 

I wonder how she'd do in the Pole Vault?

One Month and One Day

32 days until my first Ironman, at the US Championships in NYC.

A few fun facts as we approach race day:

• I'm hoping to finish while it's still light out.  Race starts from a floating barge in the Hudson river at 7:00am.  With sunset somewhere around 8:30pm, that would give me around 13.5 hours.  The actual cutoff to finish is Midnight, 17 hours in.
• One of the unique race logistics of this Ironman is the use of river ferries to shuttle back and forth between parking, transition, and the race finish.  As such, I'm required to be on a ferry at 4:00am.  If you miss that ferry, you don't race.  2:00am wake-up it sounds like?
• I had my first 100 mile training ride on the 4th of July.  Took me just over 6 hours.  On race day, we'll be doing 112 miles - so if all goes as planned, I expect the bike leg to be somewhere between 6 and 6.5 hours.  Sub-6 hours is kind of a badge of honor for first timers.
• In this last month I'm planning for two to three more 100 mile rides, and long runs of 14, 16, and 18 miles.  Weekly mileage should be around 200 miles on the bike, and 30 miles of running.
• Around mile 16 of the run, you cross the George Washington Bridge.  Getting up to the bridge involves climbing 100+ stairs to get your from ground level up to the bridge overhead.  How does one train for stair climbing after 11 or so hours of exercise?

3 sets of these on each side of the bridge.

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.  Impossible is not a fact.  It's an opinion.  Impossible is not a declaration.  It's a dare.  Impossible is potential.  Impossible is temporary.  Impossible is nothing.