Almost 6 months post-op, so what have I been doing? Clearly not blogging so that can only mean one thing: running, biking, swimming, and, oh yeah, working.

Did Dawn Til Dusk 12 hour mountain bike race in Gallup NM yesterday. Hip is great, the rest of me is feeling a little beat up tho…

Recall:
2007
2008 Took it easy as I was getting ready for Wildflower so I used the opportunity to take pics for the team.
2009

Woke up this morning and was surprised to discover ~ 4″ of snow. That can only mean one thing: A perfect time to get on the mtn bike for the first time post-op. Got about 3 hrs in the North Foothills w/ Lenny.

Lenny gettin’ it done:

Don’t let crutches slow you down.

Today I had my first PT appointment, very minimal basic assessment.
Getting to the gym for some light spin bike work and some upper body weights, trying not to go crazy. =)

Got on the spin bike today, no resistance, for about 20 min.

Spending the rest of the day plugged into the DVT machine

All in all, it went well and I feeling quite a bit better than after the last one.

I stayed at the Galt House, nice hotel downtown and the host hotel. It was ok, not worth the $$ though probably if you have somebody to do the driving.
Good view of the river, and the barges:

I’d called ahead, and asked about having a refrigerator. Was told it was possible, so when I got to my room I called guest services and they said they’d send one up. They did.

Fast says “Behave yourself, or we’ll put you in the coo-lah…”

Luckily, it was big enough for one post-race emergency ration.

Got the bike together Friday morning, then drove the course with Paul in the afternoon. Rich and Katie got in Friday, so we all went to dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. Had a good time hanging out with Paul, Ellen, Rich, Katie, and Martin (Team New Mexico) since I was there all by my onesy.

Went for a quick swim Saturday morning, followed by a short run.
Team Albuquerque (Rich, Me, Paul) at the Gatorade swim

Checked in all the bike/bags Saturday, and was informed no access to T1 or T2 bags in the morning. Huh?? Lame, that’s when I put my sunglasses in the bag, last minute nutrition, etc.

Dinner Friday night at an Italian joint across the river in Indy,
Team NM (Martin, Me, Ellen, Paul, Rich (Katie behind the camera))

Got up ~ 0330 Sunday, had breakfast, then went to get in line to get into transition to put bottles on the bike, check tires, etc. They opened transition about 15 min early, (0445) so I did what I needed to do then headed on the 1.x mile walk to the swim start to get in line. For the record, some people like the TT start. Not me, kind of a drag. I realize Ironman is all about standing in line, but this kind of killed some of the pre-race atmosphere for me, as people were showing up late, trying to cut in, etc. I got there a little after 5, and was one of the first 100 or so probably. In the process of wanting to get to the swim start and in-line, I forgot to leave my sunglasses on the bike so I had to swim with them stuffed in my singlet pocket under my speedsuit (Blue Seventy Point Zero 3), that was comfy.
Wating:

Swim finally got underway, and I must have misjudged how much the lack of wetsuit was going to slow me down, or I picked a bad line trying to swim the shortest possible course and should have swam out a bit to get more benefit from the current. After a while I had the sinking feeling (no pun intended) that I’d been in the water way too long. Got out, and I was right. 1:18:56 swim. Not a good way to start things off.

Enacted plan B (solid ride, solid run, still go ~ 10:15). Tried to shake it off and get into a tempo on the bike, but found getting a rhythm on the course to be elusive. Narrow roads. Lots of car traffic. A fairly decent amount of vertical. The course is an out-n-back with with two loops at the end, and an additional detour out-n-back on the outbound leg. Poorly executed course in my opinion. With the narrow roads and that detour on the outbound, there was a TON of lap traffic on the 2nd loop of the bike. Lots of bikes w/ some questionable handling skills, then cars, overtaking bikes, so I was getting caught up behind cars, behind bikes. How do you pass, how do you avoid a drafting penalty? I found loop to nerve wracking and annoying. Still managed to stay on track with the nutrition (3 scoops Perpetuem, 3 scoops Heed in each of 2 bottles, aero drink for water. Mini snickers for solids. 1-2 Endurolytes/hr.). Had an ok bike at 5:13:48.

Figuring I’d done a great deal of work on my run and the relative flatness of this run course I thought I’d make time on the marathon and maybe still salvage a 10:25 or so. Somewhere on my way out of T2 I dropped my endurolytes and tylenol. Felt strong the first 8 miles, sub 8:30 min average. Faded to mile 11, but was feeling good about a 3:45 or so marathon. Then around mile 13 my left adductor started to tighten, then started to hurt, a lot. For those that recall, I had a hip scope on my right hip in 2007 for impingement, and my symptoms were basically like a chronic groin strain. My left hip has the same issue, and it had reared it’s ugly head with the same symptoms on some of my long training runs (over 15 mi). I’d hoped a good rest and taper would settle it down and we’d be good for the marathon. Wrong. The second half of the marathon went from 8 min mi to trying walk/run/shuffle to get 11 min mi. Nutrition was good, alternating water+gel and water+gatorade. Gas was in the tank, but the left leg was cooperating and I didn’t have the mental strength anymore to fight it. So, plan C was enacted, finish, and if at all possible keep it under 11:00. Survived the 4:12:28 marathon and wound up with a 10:55.

All done, getting bags. Martin bagged him a Kona slot, 9:3x? Rich, oh so close to a Kona slot at 10:08. Me, just happy to be done, but not too satisfied (but, very grateful, knowing there were still gonna be folks out there for another 6 hrs just trying to finish).

Had the usual post race upset stomach, but was smart enough to hold off on the solids for 2-3 hours. Didn’t sleep at all until about 0330 Monday morning, so was basically up w/ an Ironman for 24 hours. Used that time to box up the bike and pack gear. Major indigestion the next 36 hours or so, about 2-3 tumms every 2-3 hours it seemed like.

Overall, not the race I wanted but not a total disaster. I felt I could have done better, but my mental focus was not on the race for the week + leading up, and even during the race didn’t feel the urge to go kill it. I’m glad I was able to get it done, you never know how many of these races you’ll get to do and so each one is a gift.

I already knew the left hip was troubling me in training, so surgery was scheduled back in July. I go in November 25 to get the left scoped, and to start over again, again. Be back to running in March hopefully, should be ready for Show Low (a staple for me) and going to shoot for IMAZ 2010.