Swim..

Swim: 1 hour 28 mins 50 seconds

As Luke and I were floating waiting for the gun to go off, we really couldn't hear any official count down and next thing i know i saw athletes taking off and swimming and then heard the horn. Being as i was wide left i did feel some people creeping up on me as soon as the swim started which i figured were the faster swimmers that still happened to be towards the back. it wasn't too long and i noticed my speed suit was rubbing the back of my neck so i kept messing with it and pulling on it but i couldn't get it comfortable, i even stopped briefly to try and pull my tri jersey up to cover it but that didn't work either, i knew if i didn't fix it some how my neck was going to be rubbed raw before the end so i quickly unzipped it about 4 inches and it opened the neck line up taking the rubbing away, YES! I kept on swimming and next thing i know i am making the turn around the 1st buoy and still not really a washing machine effect. there was plenty of swimmers and drafting going on and i worked to grab a foot after making the 2nd buoy. this worked for a while until my drafting guy slowed down and i passed him. The water is sooo amazing and clear, you could see all the way to the bottom, the fish, the reef. I would even site the buoy, draw a line on the ocean floor and follow it for much longer than any other siting i have done in open water. At this time the current of the ocean is also giving a nice push and swimming is just going great. This was the long section of the course and swimming did seem like it took a while and i even started looking for the 3rd main buoy and nex thing i know there it was.. it was really a submarine. Made the turn around it and swam to the 4th buoy to turn left and head home, here is where i really experience the most swimmers. I have caught up with many and now we are on the main line heading home. I tried to swim a little towards the right to clear the swimmers but there was just more and i notice looking under water that there was many heading for the exit so i just held my line. Coming into the final few hundred meters everybody picked up the pace i was swimming with and I was soon reaching for the stairs!!! I crawled up the stairs, stood up and looked at my watch, which is in one of my pictures and the look on my face is WHAT!!

T1: 7:32

The run down the dock to the showers was a long ways and here is where Luke tapped me on the back as he ran by, Luke! I yelled. It was great to see him other than running out of the change tent I wouldn't see Luke till the run. I stopped in the water shower and tried to rinse off a lot b/c I knew the salt on the body would not be a good thing and I was not looking for "Salty Mixed Nuts". I grabbed my change bag, ran into the tent and found a nice spot in the corner where i quickly got my bike gear on and out the door i went telling Luke to "hurry up, this ain't no rest home!!" I ran to my bike, turned on my Garmin, put my Moeben arm coolers on and away I went.

rockon'

Start of the race recap.. Ironman Cozumel.

As I have been starting to really think about all the stuff that has happened on this Ironman trip I am still a little confused and trying to process all the wonderful and not so wonderful stuff. So I will start and progress over a couple of posts.

The overall trip to Cozumel from Vegas was non-eventful which is what you want when traveling over Thanksgiving Day. The airport in Vegas as pretty empty and I did have a change in my bags not being checked through to Cozumel which was fine with me b/c I was worried if they had to stay in the back of the airport holding luggage section and some how get over looked and then I would send up on a beach cruiser bike for the 112 miles, like some unfortunate female athlete, more on that later. So I picked up my bike and luggage in Houston and rechecked them on Friday without any additional costs, nice. Arriving in Cozumel was interesting.

You exit the plane directly on to the taxi way and walk into the airport to stand in line for customs and passport check. Once completed you grab your luggage and go through security where they x-ray it all over again in this huge machine, big enough for bikes to go through. Once scanned you are out front with hundreds of people welcoming Ironman racers. It was nice but a little confusing trying to figure out taxi's and transportation as they are trying to maximize the use of the van's and take as many people as they can in one trip. Luckily CoachLiz and I were dropped off first at our villa called Casa Deja Blue. Located in the part of town that the locals call Beverly Hills. Once at our villa we met the owner, Joni, who is just wonderful and so thoughtful to try and help us in any way she could. Our villa is a 2 bedroom, 2 baths, one located in each bedroom with a living/kitchen area in between the bedrooms on the first floor. Each room has it's own entry way, great closet space, bathroom, a/c unit and the pool is just outside the door. It was a good place to stay and gave the ability of having a kitchen and living room area to watch TV.

After getting all settled up we headed over to packet pick up only to walk into the Ironman store which had all ready been seriously picked over and ALL the XL everything was gone. I ended up getting a few things but I would have liked to get one of the other great tech shirts they had but no XL. I did buy a finishers hat, yes, you had to buy one, no give out at the end of the race but when I went to pay the took my hat and put it in a box under the table. He then handed me a little note book and told me to write my name and race # in it and when I finished he would give me my hat!!!! and if you don't finish I will give you a refund, CRAZY!

After buying the Ironman gear we then went to packet pick up which was pretty well organized. The downside of this was we got to pick up our ironman Cozumel jackets so when I got there I told the guy XL but guess what? They were all gone. He said they had some but they were out. Now I am not sure what the hell happened here because when you registered it specifically asked what size jacket you wanted and they should have had enough. Now the Large jacket did fit and I actually like how it fit more like a tight running jacket but the sleeves were a little short, cant win them all, huh. Once we finished this, we got some CO2 and then went to eat to return for the athletes meeting which overall wasn’t that much more informative but I did see my iron friend Christy from Coeur d’Alene and her dad. By this time I had also run into Iron John Tuggle and Iron Luke, here for their first IM’s. after we just went back to the villa and chilled.

Saturday morning it was up and rode down to Chankanaab park which was about 4 miles from the villa. We checked out the transition area and then did a little pre-swim. Also I first met fellow bloggers Great Times and Claire, Speedyspeedracer. Now this swim was something else. I have never swam in the ocean before so jumping in was quite interesting. First of all, you could see straight to the bottom, like 50 meters!! Amazing. Then you could see all the tropical fish swimming around. As I took a few strokes I was quickly introduced to the world of ocean salt water in my mouth and went into panic mode! I stopped and floated around for a minute or two dunked my head under water of couple times and took off swimming again. The ocean was a little wave but nothing more than Lake Mead but the salt was still freaking me out. After getting out of the swim I was wondering if being the water for the full swim and taking in bits of salt would upset my stomach for the bike, I was in pre-race anxiety freak out mode! As I was drying up I was saw Luke and Norma as they were just getting there to get in the swim. Oh by the way, the swim practices were canceled on Thursday and Friday because the ocean was really kicking some nasty swells and waves and talk was already going around that if it didn’t calm down there might be a swim issue, luckily there wasn’t. Once we finished up swimming we headed back to the villa for food and get gear bags and get ready for bike check in. we rode back down there at the required times and all was pretty smooth. My bike rack ended up being great because no other athletes actually showed up for the race so I was the only one on my rack! Once dropping off bike and run gear bags we grabbed a taxi over to subway for dinner and headed back to the villa for chill time and last minute race preps.

RACE MORNING:

I woke up at 3:30 and went to make my pre-race PB&J and start hydrating. I was feeling pretty good and not too nervous b/c the palm tree outside the door was not blowing or moving at all like it was yesterday so I had a good feeling the water was going to be calm. Getting all ready to go I packed up gear bag with the special needs bags, which I was not actually using a bike special needs b/c I was carrying all my nutrition and I also had my pre-swim bag for the morning clothes. We walked up a couple of blocks to Clares hotel to catch a taxi with her to the race. Once we got dropped off it was port o potty duty in total blackness as there was not lights outside the park area where the first set of pots were. The gates opened up and we all went in to do our stuff. I got to my bike, checked my tires, all is good. I open my transition bag to get my nutrition and load up only to shuffle through the bag and not find it. What?!! No way where is it? I panic but look again and I realize I left it sitting in my room on this shelf.!! OH FUCK! I close my tri bag run over to Liz’s bike and tell her I have to go back, I take off running to the entrance, grab a taxi and tell the guy to go fast back to my villa and if he could wait for me to grab my stuff and bring me back as fast as possible!! He said sure no problema’. OMG, I asked for it and I got it. The speed limit on the stretch we were going was 30km/h.. we were going 90-100km/h!! I darted around this bus that I totally thought we were going to side swipe and end up under the wheels. At the villa I ran in, up sure enough!! Grabbed the bag and out I went back to the taxi where again we went 90-100km back to the race. It only took about 15-20 mins and I hooked the guy up with $20 and told him thank you very much!! He went to give me change and I said no, it’s all yours! Out the door, I went flying back to the transition area only to notice that they were now accepting special needs bags so I dropped off my run bag and went to the bike. Stacked up my nutrition, garmin, tires, check, check, check. Whew.. still have time to relax. I then found luke and liz but I quickly went to drop my pre-swim bag off and head over to the dock for swim start. I then found Luke walking around and so we just found a spot on the dock and waited. The Mexican national anthem was played, the dolphins were doing tricks and jumping in the water. Once that finished the pros started and then instructions were given to make way to the docks for athletes to start getting in the water. Luke and I headed to the left side dock and i went down the stairs and got in and started swimming towards the start area-ish. it was about 200 meters from where we entered so more like a warm up swim which was good b/c there was no pre-warm up swim allowed. Luke and I were right next to each other at the start floating along as the current was slowly pushing us backwards. We moved up a little closer to the starting line area and were a little wide right.. next thing i heard it sound of the front swimmers crashing and slashing as the horn went off!

The swim to come..

rockon'

Cozumel

Cozumel

Off to Cozumel..!!

okay fellow blogger family.. its time to head to Cozumel... I am actually at the airport now waiting to board and let me tell you, flying on Thanksgiving afternoon is actually kind of cool.. no lines, no people... very dead here at the Vegas airport.

I was down in Tempe last week but too bad it was not to see Ironman Arizona, it was more to get take a certification in fascial stretch therapy and OMG it was Amazing!!! I was so happy to have had the time, money and opportunity to learn the first section of this amazing stuff. Can't wait to show all my local peeps the great feeling it can help in your overall flexibility and fitness.

Now, I was able to get all my packing and things arranged by Weds so today i was really able to enjoy the morning with my parents, coffee and the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Mom made a great Turkey dinner yesterday and we all enjoyed, I am very Thankful..

Josh, my friend, sorry I have not emailed you the stretching stuff but will do so when I return! enjoy your run as well!!

I will have Internet access while down in CZ so will be updating here and of course on Facebook..

until then.. Race #922 John Vigil aka JohnnyTri...

rockon'

Taperitis.. and a fond farewell..

Of course now that taper has started I seem to be in taperitis and thinking that I need to be doing more but this point in the game, less is more! On Sunday I went to the gym and did a bunch of nothing just to occupy some time and it felt great! I really can't wait to get back into the weights and start Ultra training for the 50 miler in March!

In the mean time I still have 11 days till the Big Show so let me recap some thing:

First off Preliminary weather report from AccuWeather.com is good but not so good.

As you can see the extended forecast is calling for sunny skies and temps of 83* but feeling like 103*! I imagine with the humidity! Freakn' Criminy!!

So race day strategy may be changing up really will only know come closer to the main event. Either way I am ready as I can be!!

Now with that being said I pretty much am ready. I have all my Swim stuff, goggles, etc.. Bike is tuned up, cleaned, I have my bike box from great buddy Dave, the LV Tri Club President, and I have my new running shoes. I am going to be wearing TNT Triathlon singlet and short but for the bike I will wear biking shorts over the top and still undecided to run in the tnt tri shorts or I will put my trail running shorts on over them because I love all the pockets and just have they work for running. I have training a few times with my tri shorts underneath so I am really good either way.

With the next few days I will get a short run and swims in and then I will be heading out to Tempe, AZ.. no I wish to see IMAZ.. more like for some great training on some chiro stuff I am going to be incorporating into my office, more on that later.

Okay.. so we'll chat later..

But before I go I want to give a HUGE Shout Out to IronWil who will be taking a step away from the blogging world.. it will be a lonely Bloggerville without her. I have followed her since the first time I signed up for my blogger back in Sept. 2006. I have found her blogs to be inspirational, motivational, life and just plain friendly. I will miss you Wil and look forward to still meeting you !!!!

rockon'

Silverman sherpa.. and feeling better.

This weekend was the Silverman triathlon and it's stated it is the Hardest North American iron distance and half iron distance and I must agree it probably is. Formulaic took on the full course and a few other friends jumped in on the 70.3 distance. I must say there is some great schwag for this event and if you dont believe ask S. Baboo as he has done it himself and can probably give you his opinion on how tough the course is.

This year was the 1st time in the history of the 5 year race that weather conditions were perfect. Flat glass water, no winds and minimal 70's temps. I was on hand from the 7am start till Form crossed that finish line 140.6 miles later.

I was at mile 95 on full and 44 for the half on the Famous Sisters. 3 back to back to back hills that are just not nice at this point in the race. The 3rd is just steep and it takes all you got to get to the top of it unless you got some serious climbing gears, which I would totally recommend for this course as it's continuous hills, climbs and hills all day long.

I was glad to be out there cheering everyone on and thinking in 19 days it will be my turn. I am feeling much better in confidence but I am worried about the humidity that will play in as I have talked about for the past several blog posts. My calfs are feeling better and overall I guess I am in taper but I feel more nervous wanting to get a couple of long runs and swims still in. I got new shoes and do need a few runs on them but overall I am confident they will be good for the marathon.

Silverman, 2010? Humm.. A part of me says no F'ing way and the other part says I have to conquer this back yard course, in faster than 15 hours 58 mins! Sorry Form! haha.

rockon'

Reviewing the totals..

Now that the month of October has ended I figured my training totals for the month, at the right on the side bar.

The first thing I notice is how much swim time and meters/yards what ever you want to call it but time in the pool! I really didn't think I swam that much but low and behold I did! and that is great. I do feel better about my swim but I need a couple of more key swims to really seal the deal and I am sure they are coming, like tomorrow's 3000 meter swim in sets of 500's. Nice. Ughh.. choke choke.

Now biking is looking well and the time in the saddle has definitely got me feeling ready and with another 100 miler this Friday and then a couple of "shorter" distances I will be much ready in the saddle.

Run. Well I see my time has gone down there although I do feel I have had some great key running sessions maybe just not the full long stuff I was getting used to in the Ultra world but after Soma I did feel a little off step in the run department but I still can't really nail down if it was the Heat or just not running as much leading up to the event. Either way, I will have the Heat in Cozumel and more running time on the feet, although, I am having a rather annoying calf issue right now and have been getting it worked on so I am hoping for it to be better. I tried running again today but only got a mile and stopped just because I was confident and wanted to give it another days rest.

Staying healthy and injury free is the key over the next 24 days and that's a tough job in itself with a travel weekend coming up the week before Cozumel, some studying for a course I am taking that weekend, finishing up the last training heading to Cozumel, of course Life and work stress.

I am having fun, feeling more confident and excited as we are getting down to the teens of the count down!!

rockon'

Quickly..

I am still alive and getting to it. Training has been a little more time consuming with longer swim sets, biking and running.

I was able to smash out a 112 miler on Sunday in 6 hours 10 mins with another 10 mins of stopping time to refuel at the store and use the bathroom. That will be cut down a little on the actual course so that is good but I had a good day in the saddle, worked my nutrition, salts, gu's.. etc.. Now I am only concerned how the heat and humidity will play out.

As for the run, well not so great. I was scheduled to run 21 on Saturday and by mile 11 my left Achilles/calf was giving me problems so I called it quits b/c I just could not get the calf to loosen up and work so I didn't want to stress it any more. It's better today but still needs a little TLC so hopefully by this weekend we shall be back in action. I am also on the hunt for new shoes in town but not having any luck with my big size 15 foot.!!

Swimming is coming along and after swimming a long set last week I am feeling confident that I will make the swim, maybe not any faster than CdA but that's Okay.. Survive the swim and get to the bike is goal.

Until next time.. !!

rockon'

Soma 70.3 Recap.. !!

I'll get right to the point so we all know whats going on..!!!

After getting packet pick up and bike check in it was pretty much R&R the rest of the day Saturday and then up nice and early Sunday morning with a few breakfast bites and off to body marking!

Once inked up with #1015 and enjoying the mass amounts of space I had at transition but not enjoying the music blaring right in my ear as me and several others were right in front of the mornings PA system! ha!. Once all set up and ready to go it was wet suit mount up time and then line up for the staging.

Swim: (my watch time 44:30 mins) - Official result 47:36

Soma is a floating start with 4 mins between age groups, I was group #4 of the morning. Once in the 71* water it didn't take long to adjust to the temperature and floating around for 3 + mins seemed like a long time but finally the Horn sounds and I start my new Ironman Timex Watch! Off we go and all is good heading out. Breathing well, relaxing and settling in to the other swimmers around, it really wasn't a wash n machine effect at all, lot of water space. Once the sun started to come up it was a little more difficult to site but there was enough swimmers in front of me following them was a little easier. Making the turn around and heading back some how I ended up right on the buoy line and I was quickly getting bumped around so I attempted to move to the outside, right, but there was more swimmers so I held my line for a while and tried again only to find more swimmers, ughh!! Finally, I said screw it and stayed on the line for the experience of being in the mix! I was breathing and staying calm it was just a little weird to have periods of contact, get out of rhythm and then get back in rhythm but next thing I know I'm almost back to the finally head home 100 yard buoy and then it really got crowed and lots of bumping and pushing, actually worse than any other time during the swim but hey, it's the last 100 so kick up and get the hell out of the water. I exit the swim bleachers, a volunteer pulls me up and I hit land and I hit my lap on my watch.

T1: (watch 5:35) - Official 3:36

Now as I exit and start running there are many wet suit strippers but they all seem to be busy and everyone laying on the ground has made it a little muddy so I run to the side of the chute, unzip and pull pull I'm out of my wet suit and off and running. As I began to enter the Run In/Out of transition I notice the timing mat. What? Yes, way over here from the swim exit so that is why my swim time is officially 47:36. T1 was the same as any other, get in and out. I had to wash off my feet so I sat down, rinsed, dried, socks on, and the usual and off I go.

Bike: (watch 2 hrs 54 mins) Officially 2:54

bike is 3 loops with some nice long flats and several dog legs and turns which you just have to be care and slow down on b/c they are 180* turns. Overall it's a flat course with some fast areas as I was rolling along at 21-25mph at times. There are a couple of short hills that rob you of your speed but luckily they are not that long and you get back into it. I would say one thing you have to watch out for is the manhole covers and some rough bumps in the intersections and of course the 1st loop there is so many athlete's that it's hard not to get caught in the drafting position and at times I kept getting passed so I would naturally fall back once over taken but then it was repeated and I noticed I was slowing down and being pushed back so I said screw it and held my pace staying off line with the bike in front of me hoping not to get caught in any drafting zone but I really don't think the officials were watching us mid-back packers on the first loop as I didn't see any of them till the 2nd and 3rd loops and then they were clearly checking for violations but by this time there was plenty of space/distance and you should not have been drafting. So my nutrition worked out well with my Gu's and I probably should have taken a little more salt in but thought I was Okay only to find out on the start of the run my quads started cramping so I knew I didn't take enough. Other wise I learned I need to incorporate some type of solid food, bar, etc.. in addition to the Gu's for calories and I need to use Gatorade Endurance formula more over the next 3 weeks b/c my stomach had a slight sour feeling after using small amounts of it. I am also thinking about trying some Carbo Pro.. Any thoughts or experience anyone??????

T2: (watch time and Official time were about the same 2:35)

Pretty much not eventful.. in and out.

Run: (watch time 2 hrs 45 mins) Official 2:46

is a two loop run course. Once on the run my quads started cramping slightly so I knew I needed the salt. I have been using Salt Sticks lately but I am thinking I will be switching back to S-Caps as they just seemed to work a little easier on my stomach in the digestion part. So once I was able to get running I started with a 5 min run 1 min walk schedule but this didn't last too long at all as my heart rate was sky high and I just seemed really uncomfortable so I switched back to my training of 4/1's. Now this worked for a couple of miles and once I got passed mile 2 it was really hot. No Shade on this run course other than crossing under a couple of bridges so about 10 seconds worth. I took my fuel belt with 4 bottles and my Gu's along with my hand held water bottle I used for Headlands 50. I kept the hand held filled with cold ice water to cool me down and this worked wonderful as I was just enough water to drink and keep me cooled off between aid stations. Now I realized about mile 4-5 that I was not going to use the fuel belt bottles so I emptied the water out of them and I noticed that I was not in the mood for any more Gu's but I ended up taking 2 of them on the run any way out of necessity and I know I needed them. I did and I have always liked the Cola and it works well but my problem is that I love the way it tastes by this time and I drink too much!!! so then I feel a little bloated and I have let my stomach empty but by this time I am at another aid station and I Do it again! Ugh. So I have to learn to control that at Cozumel. By the second loop I felt a little more quad cramping so I took a couple of more salts and was fine. It was really hot by this time, 89* they said and running on concrete probably is hotter with the heat so I was using my hand held like crazy to keep me cool. I was pretty uncomfortable and I had to mentally just suck it up b/c my mile splits were dropping just b/c I was walking way too much. Finally making the way to the end I ran a little more just to get it over with but it was really uncomfortable and I just wanted to walk. I saw the finishing shoot which was about 100 yards from the end but you had to run up a slight hill on the grass to get there so I just started running and next thing I know I see the finish line. I make my way through smiling, glad to be down and still pouring water on me. I grab another bottle of water at the finish and drink it all down even though I felt full I know I needed it.

Overall.. it was a great venue and race and I would do it again! A serious PR on the Bike for me busting below 3 hours, a great swim time for me and so so run time but again Overall PR but then again no other 70.3 has been equal in terrain but I will take it! I placed 117/136. I learned a lot and will be changing some things for Cozumel and that was the main plan and goal for this race as well.

I want to thank Desiree so much for coming with me and being a great Sherpa! She is totally new to all the triathlon stuff so she did her best behind the camera, cheering, Sherpa'ing, and making for a great trip! Also I want to thank my nephew, Marcos, for taking the day off of work, waking up before me on race day, then falling back asleep and later getting to the race site, hanging out with Desiree and just chilln' with us the rest of the afternoon! Always great to have family around.

Now it's on to the last 32 days of training with a century ride coming up this weekend and a 16 mile run. Back in the pool today and implementing some other training into the mix.. the secret weapon! haha! yea right. /span>

rockon'