What Becoming An IRONMAN Means To Me.

IRONMAN, there is nothing else like it in the world. What other competition combines such physical fitness, mental toughness and emotional resolve into one? A test of endurance, which forces you to dig deep down and just when you think you have lost it, you break through the wall and become one.

I think about it every day. Crossing the finish line and being told I have done something incredible. Looking at it now, being nine months away, I see a Beast, a Mountain, that if I want to crush the beast and climb the Mountain, I will need these every step of the way.

I hope to be INSPIRING, not only to myself but to the people around me.

I need to be RESILIENT, to make it through a journey such as this, recovery and training for so long as so focused will take its toll, but over time will be worth it.

OPTIMISTIC, I need to look to the future and see that every step is one closer to my end goal. Even in the toughest conditions or the longest training sessions, I need to keep spirits high.

NUTRITION. What is an athlete without the right fuel? If I want to go fast and be successful , I need to put in the right nutrients.

MOTIVATED. Everything is going to be hard, but I need to stay motivated to stay the course until the finish. My family and friends will help, but ultimately it is up to me to stay motivated out there.

ACCOUNTABLE. Consistency leads to more cosistency which lead to success with leads to greatness. Every day need to have its own mini goals.

NEVER GIVE UP!  It will all be worth it. All the trials and tribulations, the hard days, the easy days, the preparation and execution are all reliant upon me never giving up.

Being Inspiring, Resilient, Optimistic, Nutrition conscious, Motivated, Accountable and Never giving up will ultimately lead to the greatest day of my life.

Becoming One.

Becoming an IRONMAN!

-Catch Me If You Can

One Last Tri

It's September in Minnesota.  Its cold in the morning. I don't like it. Race day was no different.

This race starts at 8:30 in the morning because we usually don't even see the sun until 8 ish this time of year. We woke up at almost 6 because of the late start. Getting to the transition area we were still one of the first groups of people there, and I thought we were getting there late.

I sat in the car after putting my bike and setting up transition, because it was way warmer in the car.

Getting to the swim start was easy but the actual swim start was a total mess. I mean it's the 10th year of this race and they don't have a system down yet. Whatevs.  White Bear Lake is a shallow lake with lots of weeds, so there's that. I ran about 100 yards before being knee deep. The swim went ok considering I haven't swam since end of july.

Getting that done was good. So I took off onto the bike, knowing I would crush it. I made up time of a few long course people and never had anyone pass me. That makes you feel good. I wore gloves for the whole 40k because I would have frozen my fingers. The wind wasn't helping much either. It was pretty strong, not a fan. I came into T2 with a solid bike and got ready to kill the run. I took off and felt really really good. 7 minute miles on the dot was my average. Which I thought was pretty dang good for me. It ended up being my second fastest 10k in competition this year, after my Trinona Run. The only good thing about the cooler weather is that it make running crazy easier. I get to the turnaround and only saw 3 people ahead of me, how is that possible? Two of the three ahead of me were pros so there's that. I felt good and kept the same pace all the way back and finished feeling good.

After all that the race didn't give out awards because of their lack of organization. Which is sad. All the people that came out to race and didn't get to know how they placed or anything is really sad. So as soon as they said that we packed up and left.

So defenitly one of my best Bike - Run performances this year,  too bad it was not recognized. 4th overall.

That's the end of my 2015 season officially!  It was quite the year, with all my races from sprint to 70.3 . It just reminds me why I love this sport and that I feel I'll be around for a long time to come. I may do some 5k's on a whim this fall, so we will see.

Time to take some time off and hit er hard for Ironman Boulder next year!

Run for the Melon 10K

Hot hot hot! Just the way I like it!

This is a small running race near my cabin just before the Watermelon day festival. Its always so fun and I consider it a home race. I did the 10k this year as compared to last year where I did the 5k, and by the way got my 5k PR last year here.

10k starts first and right away I am at an un holdable pace. But what can you do, I'm used to all three sports! 6:13 first mile and slowly declining speed until I run mile six at about a 7:55 pace. Can you tell I don't do this kind of thing? 

At the turnaround I start heading back and get Suprised, and see a good friend running towards me that I went to high school with. Did not expect to see him there! Coming back was the struggle, a slog, however you will. I managed a super high heart rate the whole time, like I was going to die.

In the end I won my age group and finally got a placement for the first time in my last 3 races. So that made me feel good. I didn't set a 10K PR but I had fun and my legs are still sore. Just something about only running does me in. 7:10 average pace with my buddy following about 30 seconds in behind me. Mom finished her 5k and cheered me in. Then it was on to eat all the watermelon we could!

Next up, One Last Tri.

Hoot Lake Sprint

So this sprint  is only 6 days after my 70.3 race. That was killer last year. But as I have noticed throughout this season I have been recovering much quicker and having much better performances at each and every race. So I came into this race with high hopes.

This race is also special for me, it is my third year competing and my second year with my mom racing as well. She finished faster than last year and I was very proud of her this year. Its always nice to get fatser!

As for me I only had two training days between races,  so thankfully I was fully rested in time. Its a smaller race, but it's one of my favorites. I know alot of the competitors from the area races and through rides etc. So there are four waves and I am in wave three with all the guys that are under age 30. Yeah,  not a huge field. I should have gone in the first wave like some of my friends did,  they knew they could swim without having to run over people. I did that.

A quarter mile swim goes by super fast and I came out second from my wave. Crawling all over the people ahead of me, I'm sure I could have posted a faster split if I started earlier. But I digress. 1:27/100yd

The bike course is awfully difficult for a 15 mile sprint course. It is by far the hardest sprint I have in my season. There are few flats where you can hammer, it's always climb then descend. I was happy with the bike given that it was so hilly and that it was getting a tad windy. I came into the last mile after following this one guy since the get go and had to pass him before transition. So I did. The transition is at the bottom of a hill, so it's tough coming out but nice cruising back in.

Transition was super fast, so I headed back up that hill again to take on this difficult 3.3 mile run. It was the same case as the bike, hilly. But I was not passed by anyone on the run, which made me very confident I was at a good pace. I wast sure how my run would look after training for longer distances, but I pulled it off. Kept descending pace the whole way and finished running a 4:10 mile pace down that hill. If I can see you and see the finish, god knows I'm going to do my best to catch and pass you.

It was a very pleasing year, cutting 10 minutes off of my time from last year, and every split was faster. Mom finished and I ran down the hill to cheer her in and that was Hoot Lake for 2015!

My next event is a 10K road race near my cabin called Run for the Melon. We will see how that goes, not a huge road racing guy, but it will be fun to do with mom again!

Ironman 70.3 Racine

For my "A" race of the year, there was alot of preparation. Alot more than normal. Since it was in Racine Wisconsin,  we had over 6 hours to travel from the twin cities, but I had 10 hours from my cabin, so it was split up over 3 days. Friday came and we headed to Madison to stay at our family's house for the night. In the morning we headed straight to the race venue of North Beach and picked up my packet, looked at all the Ironman Merch and listened to the pre race meeting.  It was super windy so I was just hoping it wouldn't be like that in the morning. After the meeting my family and I went and walked around the harbor in racine and looked at all the cool boats and everything! I love that way of life. So it's getting later on Saturday night and we are at the hotel and my mom is taping my knee up with some K-Tape. We are watching the weather, on tv and outside because holy jesus! The weather hit the fan! There was a flag outside our rooms and we were watching it go this way and that way and in circles. The rain was ridiculous too, coming down in sheets, I was trying not to think about my bike at the transition area being tormented by this weather. So I would to wait til morning to see if she survived ok. It was still raining and we headed to Olive Garden, for you know, that pasta pre race thing we endurance people do. I got this seafood thing and was not very impressed,  I should have just gotten the good ol Alfredo. Or just eat salad and breadsticks. But let the record show, Breadsticks from OG have nothing on Red Lobster biscuits. After OG the rain had stopped and we went to Kohl's,  to get dad a swimsuit to wear at the lake the next day and my sister got some work pants. Who knew she'd get them in Racine? Then went to the grocery store for some lunch for my family while I was racing and then headed to Dunkin Donuts. My dad has had a gift card we have been trying to use up for a longgg time. So we got muffins and donuts, and kcups to spend the gift card. Now we finally got to go back to the hotel and chill for the rest of the night. Laid out all my stuff for the morning to make sure I had it all, and was ready to go. One more sleep until it was go time.

Sunday, July 19th. Its go time. 4:15 rolls around mighty early, but who has time for sleep when it's time to race! The parents had a room across the hall from my sister and I so mom came in and woke us up. My sister had a suprising amount of energy for 4:30 in the morning. We packed everything up and headed out to the car. I made a pit stop downstairs at the breakfast area and got some coffee. Immediately dumped it out outside, really bad coffee. Probably a good thing I didn't drink it. So I got a banana instead and then we were ready to leave. But no wait, my sister forgot her pillow in the room, so we waited for that too. We found our parking spot for the day, which was probably only a half mile from the transition area, so it pays to get there early. While we sat I ate my "breakfast for the day" which was a blueberry old fashioned donut from Dunkin we got the day before. It was mighty tasty and it worked well as I didn't have an upset stomach all day! I waited until 5:30 to get out of the car because I didn't start until 8:30. Headed up to transition and my sister walked my bike up until a little munchkin made her give it to me to into T. There were so many people, it seems busier every year. Body marked and all I set up transition.  It was really quick for me, I am simple so I don't need to spend an hour in there. I taped 4 gels to my bike and one bonk breaker. Attached my shoes with bands and made sure all my sensors were working. I pumped up my tires to about 100 psi, which is what I put them at on race day. My helmet and sunglasses on the handlebars. Put my run shoes, visor, socks and race belt on the ground under my bike. No towel, no extra crap, there was already enough sit from other people on the ground. And I left. I don't understand, I was in there for maybe 15 minutes to set up, I don't see how theses people around me took an hour to set up. They stand there and look around while they stand by there bikes, like this is my bike and I'm going to stand next to it as long as I can. Whatevs.

Like I said, I don't start until 8:30, which is a flipping hour and a half after the pros take off. So I got to see them all get on their bikes and go out on the bike. Lionel sanders was looking like a Beast with his 70's porno stache. After they all took off we headed down to the swim start. By the time I started, the pro men were passing mile 20 on the bike already. Its like we weren't even racing with each other! Lake Michigan was a balmy 64° when we started, which was ok, I mean I'm Minnesotan. Horn sounds and we take off on the 1.2 mile point to point swim. I followed my course and stayed right next to every buoy i passed on my right. Now everyone else was way out and and would come straight to the turn buoys where I had been the whole time. It got jammed up alot there. I even swam under one of the turn buoys because of it. Exiting the water in a new PR for that swim was a great start for me, under 32 min. I'll take it. Hopefully the rest of the race would be like that!

Got my wetsuit stripped off, which was awesome. T1 was fast and I felt great running with my bike out to the  mount line. I ate my bonk breaker within the first 5 miles, so I didn't have to worry about it anymore.  Its hard to breath and eat at the same time! At mile 15 there was the first water station where I tossed my water bottle and grabbed a course bottle. I put that bottle on my down tube and kept on keepin on. About 10 miles later there was some bumps and I lost the bottle, ran it over and was like, oh crap now I have to wait until the next water stop. So I got there and grabbed another one, and about 5 miles later, I Flippin lost that bottle after it ejected out! Mind you, many of these roads were very very bumpy. I was feeling strong through the whole ride and never stopped passing people. That's a good feeling. I felt like some of the people I passed were standing still. Finally at the 3rd water stop I got the bottle and put it in my cage between my hands and moved that other bottle on the down tube. Why I didn't do this earlier, I don't know. But I still have that bottle cap right now, so I didn't lose it! Coming back into T2 I was cruising, with a Tailwind and the the though of the run In my head. I ate 3 gels on the ride about 20 miles apart. Root beer is by far my favorite.  It was warm out so I kept spraying myself with the bottles of water to cool down. I did have one problem with my right glute, that killed. It happens when I ride for a long time. So I had to keep stretching it out and tried to use the seat to get it out. Did not happen. Oh well, I dealt. T2 came around and I got out of my shoes and dismounted. I passed probably 5 people standing there and unlcipping their pedals and taking their sweet ass time. And had to run around some people walking with their bikes, like come on this is a race is it not!? Threw my bike on the rack and grabbed my race belt, visor and kslid the shoes on and took off. Tried to stetch the glute but was unsuccessful. New PR for the bike too. I was happy with that.

13.1 miles of pretty flat running. Other than 2 hills through the Racine zoo and down by the beach, we had little variation. I never walk, just can't bring myself to do that. It was a double loop run course, so I saw the same thing 4 times. Started out near 8 min/mile to start the first 4 miles and then slowly slipped to my slowest 933 mile. So not terrible for me. Aid stations were a god send. Cold water to drink and dump over my head. Gatorade some times and cola twice, to mix it up. I got 2 sponges at the start of lap 2 and thank god for those. I could get them wet at every aid station and then put then right in my shirt. There were also a bunch of places with sprinklers and hoses to cool us down. People spraying water and playing music,  it was a great atmosphere for a race. The final 2 miles I got really tight in my quads, like they didn't want to work anymore. But they did and carried me to the finish.  The crowd at the end was great, alot of cheering pushed everyone to the end. I jumped up and touched the timer like I have done before and finished with a smile on my face. I don't get the whole walking through the finish line thing that so many people do. I mean, again, it's a race! Got my medal, my hat and food. Which I didn't eat to much of and stretched out on the blanket where my family had been set up. They went into the lake a couple times during the day when I was out racing and said it was really refreshing. So we headed back down there, I could walk alot better this year. The cold water felt really good on my legs and my body. I got all the sweat and salt off me and enjoyed the water.
We got out and went back to get my bike and everything else and headed to the car. That was Racine 2015 and it was over!

I swam 19 minutes faster than the year previous, biked 7 minutes faster and ran 3 minutes faster. Now I worked all winter on that swim, so I need to work now on the run. I took 36 minutes off total and beat my goal of 5 and a half hours. By ten minutes! Next year the goal is to get as close to 5 hours as possible,  so I can qualify for 70.3 world's!  Great race and a great weekend all together and I am super proud and happy with my result this race.

Next up is Hoot Lake Sprint triathlon by my cabin that is always fun. It'll be weird to have that short of a race 6 days later, but I always enjoy it!

Minneapolis Olympic

Deciding whether to go hard or not in a race is difficult to do. This was one of those days. I had 8 days until my 70.3 in Racine, which is my big race for the year. Ultimately I think I pulled out a solid performance on this day.

This time I had my cousin come with me, which was awesome because he had never experienced a race before. So why not come to a race with 1800+ athletes. He knows german too, so when I took off at the start, he yelled some funny stuff. Good thing nobody understood it.

So I start last in my wave, which was a time trial start. I had a swim PR of 24:10 for that distance. Which I was very happy with. The lake was nice and warm, lake Nokomis was a pretty good spot for the race.

Getting on the bike was no problem for me, I would say I had a really good T1. The bike was pretty technical, it was alot of turns and the road conditions were poor at best. I wouldn't be surprised if 50 people got flats on this course. So many orange lines and circles for potholes and cracks. This course was in the heart of minneapolis, so I guess it was to be expected. There was an Enduro section of newly tarred pavement. Just like Trinona had a Kom challenge. There were a few people that I swear to holy god did not know how to pass correctly. If they would have been doing that at an Ironman event, would be penalized so hard for drafting. I wanted to yell at them behind me and say, for christ sake, would you pass me or drop off already??!  Man, so I would try and show them, look this is how you pass. 15 seconds, pass me or back the hell off. This got annoying, obviously. After a solid 40k I was into T2.

The run started and I was looking good for mile 1. Man would I have love to keep that pace the whole 10k. Nope. Just got slower mile by mile, it was a flat and fast run around Nokomis, double loop. I had some kids throw water on me when I went by an aid station. That was funny.  I let it rip the last half mile and finished with a good 2:26:14.  Not a PR but nothing to complain about. At the finish I jumped up and touched the finish, which looked like I was dunking on this other dude that was finishing. 

Next race is IM 70.3 Racine.  See ya then!

Average Jo Sprint

When I come up north, it always seems to make training and racing more enjoyable. This weekends race was more of the same. The sprint race was a short swim with a 11 mile bike and 4 mile run.

Of course, when I get into transition to set up, I forgot my bike shoes. How do you forget your bike shoes!!!? ? I was very upset with myself, thank god my dad had enough time to go back to the cabin to grab them. He showed up at 5 minutes to gun, I was way to stressed.

The swim was 500 yards of pure adrenaline and kicking. I started with the big group, and came out of the water 3rd. 1:10/100yd. My best swim split at this race.

Into T2 and out in 2nd overall. The exit of T2 is a dirt road which we have to run about a tenth of a mile with out bikes. And finally we can mount when on the pavement. 

I had a solid ride, vastly improving from last year and turning in one of my fastest average speeds ever. 22.1 mph.  I was impressed and was hoping to keep it up through the run. That didn't exactly happen.  I had plans of running sub 7 min miles, for the 4 mile run. This became a real stuggle. I don't know why running comes so hard for me. Sucks! I have improved 13 second per mile over last year, but that doesn't help much when I am in 4th place after the bike, then have 5 people pass me on the run. I have to work on that.

10th overall, and 2nd in my 20-29 age group, the guy who won my group was of course 29. Damn that age difference. At least I know that'll be me in nine Flippin years! 7 minutes faster than last year, great race and great weather for the morning.

Next race is Lifetime Minneapolis,  Olympic distance.  Which is the last race before my 70.3 in Racine!

Catch me if you can!

RochesterFest Olympic Triathlon

Thank god it didn't rain this weekend. It was 445 and my sister and I were on our way to Rochester. It was race day for the third time this year. We had a straight shot of just over an hour to the race destination,  which gave us plenty of time to set up my transition and warm up etc.

We got to the park and dropped my stuff off, and went to park at the nearby parking lot. The "lake" we swam in for this race wasn't much of a lake. Let's call it a pond.

So the swim would be a double loop out in the pond. I was in the second wave with about 40 or so other athletes. The water was pretty much perfect for a race. It wasn't too cold and wasn't too warm. The pond was a man made water hole, from a nearby limestone company. That made the water a turquoise like color. When the swim started, it was around 810, I felt good on the first loop, passing people from the wave before me. Once the first was done, we had to exit the water for about 30 yards and then dive back in for the second loop. The second loop seemed just as easy as the first, but I'm sure I was passing people that were in the waves behind me too. Finally exited the water and headed up the beach into transition. 

Got the bike and took off. Only wasting about 2 minutes in T1. The bike course was an out and back, which was on mostly good roads. There were lots of rollers and a few larger hills, but I kept it mostly in aero for the ride. At the turn around, immediately you could tell you had a slight tailwind coming out. That always sucks. So the ride back to transition was tough, but I kept the pace up nicely to average about 20.6.

T2 was just over 1 minute long and I wore socks this time in my shoes for the 10k. The run had a few technical stretches to it. We were running in and out, up and down the Zumbro River banks. I started the first 5k with a very solid pace, one I thought I could definitely keep till the end. But that wasn't the case, my pace slipped to a 7:48 for my slowest mile. Eventually evened out for a 7:11 average. Not terrible, but I can do better.

Ending up with 3rd in my age group is respectable for my competition.  The results say 1st because the other two raced as elites,  which usually does not qualify them for age group awards, just overall.  But I  guess that wasn't the case here. Third is third and I am happy with it. 

Next race is Average Jo, a sprint race in Perham. Should be fun and really fast!

Catch Me If You Can!

Trinona Olympic Triathlon

So it's 4 am on race day. I wake up to absolute pouring rain. That's not a good sign. It was my mom and I in Winona, Minnesota for Lifetime Trinona.  We went down to the breakfast area to get some substance in us for the long day ahead. When we got down there, a fellow racer (in guessing) asked us if we knew that the transition opening was delayed from 500 until 530, so thankfully he told us that. We had to stand in the rain for less time, or more like sit in the truck in the rain.

We decided that we would rather go park near the transition area and wait for it to open. At 530 I decided, screw it, I needed to get out and get my stuff going. I was going to rack my bike and everything the night before, but you know, rain.

So I stood underneath a tree with my bike behind the truck and set her up. It was pretty miserable. Then we walked up to the transition area only to find out that they weren't opening up until 600. Wow. Just awesomse. So I stood in the rain for another 20 minutes until it magically stopped!

They let us in and I finally got to set up transition. Which takes me like 5 minutes, I don't know why it takes  people so long he set up transition. I put my shoes in a bag just in case it decided to start raining again, which would cause problems later.  the socks for running  debate is never ending.

So fast forward to the swim start. I was in wave 7. we were supposed to start at 6:53 but because of the rain delay , the first wave didn't start until 715, so I started at 7:25. it was a time trial format for everyone but the Elite athletes.

When I finally got to take off, I had it out for the first buoy. there were to large tetrahedron buoys that were the markers for turning hand about five littler Bouys as guide marks. I exited the water in a new PR for the Olympic distance swim. next was the bike.

So we started off on a bike and went about 6 miles over some nice rollers until we reach the turnaround. after the turn around we headed to the battle for the bluff, now this was a hill. the climb was over a mile long at an average grade of 9%. I averaged about six and a half miles per hour all the way up the hill. needless to say I was happy when it was over. we climbed for about 5 more miles until around mile 17 then we finally got to descend back into transition area. Winona is kind of a valley city, so we climbed out and then descended back in. back to mile 17 where the downhill descend was awesome. I think my max speed going down the hill was 42 miles per hour. I had my hands on the hood and my chin on my water bottle not in the aero bars the whole time unlike some people. I just like the feeling of going so fast but I still want to be able to run. coming back to the park where the transition area is I ate my second gel and got ready to dismount my bike. it was a fast T2, I don't understand why some people put all their stuff on in transition it take so long. my shoes and socks and hat and race bib we're in that little plastic bag so I decided to screw the socks and run barefoot in my shoes. and I was off on the run.

I took off unusually fast and ran at 6:36 mile for the first mile. I then settled into my pace and ran around a 705 the rest of the time. I was very pleased with my run performance because my overall split time was 654 per mile. that was the fastest 10k I'd ever ran, open or race. I saw a couple friends on the run course which is always fun. I ran a new PR I swam a new PR, and biked well.

I got 2nd in my 20 to 24 age group. and got a cool metal and stone trophy. Next race is RochesterFest.  June 21st

See you then!

Catch me if you can.

Chain of Lakes Triathlon and Starting a Blog

Well,
My first post and my first race of the season come simultaneously this year. This past weekend I completed my first race of the season which was the chain of lakes sprint triathlon in Alexandria Minnesota. This year the weather was absolutely fantastic.  It was 65 by race start and stayed at 75 the rest of the day, can't complain about that weather in early may!

So I got to transition at 7 am to get my prime space on the racks. Waited around for a couple hours until my parents got there and waited for my swim wave to start. It was a pool swim of 600 yards, so I swam with 3 other people in my lane. Not fun. I exited the water in just over 9:30 and cut about a minute off of my swim last year. I'm not a fan of the pool swim.

My T1 was 49 seconds,  and I have finally gotten better at the flying mount. So after my feet were situated, I got to business. Stupid people that don't know how to pass and keep going, so I had someone pass me and sit right in front of me, so obviously I passed him until he passed me yet again. I kept a solid pace and turned in a 35 minute bike split.

T2 was 29 seconds and took off for 2.8 miles. Immediately I passed the guy that had bugged me on the bike. Started with a fast pace until I settled in a little. At the 1 mile mark I got a major cramp. And I mean major. This hurt alot, so I had to run for the next mile with my hand dug into my side. After that sort of relieved itself,  I could speed up again. I was trying to keep pace and finish in front of my friend who I passed on the bike, I had to finish in front of him! My stride opened up and I finished well. He almost caught me, i was only 20 seconds ahead. Another half mile I would have been toast.

So I vastly improved from last years time, about 6 minutes total. With improvements in transition times and my swim and hike splits, overall I was happy with the performance.  I finished 1st in age group and 6th overall. 

Next race is an Olympic distance at Lifetime Trinona in Winona, Minnesota. Looking to place in my age group and speed the run up a bit. So I got a little work to do!

 

As for the blog, I decided to start writing down my races and my travels, as I want to share my experiences with people. First of many to come and I hope I have as much to say every time!

 

-Corey