Brian J Scott

2 Weeks

2010-11-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

It been two weeks since my knee operation. I guess everything is going OK. I added a picture of someone's knee I found on the web to give everyone a reference for the procedure. I know I didn't know I had a fat pad in my knee before I got part of it removed. My knee is starting to look like a knee again. The swelling is still present but is concentrated at the lower part of my knee near the operation site. The pain isn't too bad. Most of the day I don't notice it. However, if I walk around in a brace for too long it will start to hurt. Walking in the brace is definitely a skill. I have to roll one foot and bounce to keep from pointing my foot out.

I have started taking the brace off when I sleep. On the bright side sleeping is easier, on the down side, if I get up I have to break out the crutches to keep the weight off. I am starting to get some mobility back but in general the only time I get to move my leg is when I am at PT. I can move up to just over 90 degrees but my knee is really tight. The range of Motion should return once I can flex the leg but right now I am no where near normal.

I have started to workout again. No, I can't ride, run or even swim yet, however, I have found the weight room. I am doing rehab work with a straight leg and brace. Additionally, I have started to lift with my upper body and left leg. It's great to be moving again. Of course, maneuvering my leg/brace around as I go from machine to machine is constant learning experience.

Post Op 1

2010-10-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

After 6 days, I had a day full of medical visits with a bit work tossed in the middle. The day started with my first post-op appointment. I was looking forward to it as it was my first chance to get the full story on what happened and an explanation of the pictures I have been staring at for the past few days. So what was really done? The fat pad (I think anterior?) was inflamed and removed. Scary but true, I also got a CD with a video of it being cut and ripped out (ouch). The fiber near the attachment site was trimmed. If you look at the circular probe in the pictures, it turns like a drill and appears to have roto-rottered the loose fibers away. The cartilage in my knee was soft; however, this could be genetic and didn't appear to be arthritic. The cartilage doesn't appear to be worn down or show any other signs of degradation. My ACL and MCL look great. Finally, the star of my procedure, a Topaz device was utilized to coblated/removed with radio frequency radiation--death by radio, several small holes in my patellar tendon near the attachment site of the inferior pole.

Once again, the concept behind the operation is to remove some of the damaged area and stimulate the tendon to grown again in a controlled healthy way. The general message was everything looked good and was healing.

My recovery program got a little more structure. I was told I could lose the crutches after 7 days. I will still need a brace for another two weeks but no crutches is great news. I can start swimming when the stitches disappeared. He guessed it would be another 7 to 10 days. The hidden good news is that I can start getting the area wet in another day. Until now, I took a few sponge baths, not fun, and more recently used some Nathan Power Shower wipes--way better, to get clean. I can't wait for a shower. Back to the rehab plan. When I return to the pool, it will be with my feet tied and a pull buoy. No kicking for 12 weeks. I was told, to delay getting on the bike another 3 weeks, 4 weeks total. On the bright side, I can bend my knee as much as I can as long as I don't but weight on it. My PT gal temporary took that freedom away later in the day. She suggested it would be best if I let her move it and I only stay get happy with my brace.

As for pain, it's not too bad. I still have a lot of tightness in my quad and my knee doesn't have anywhere near a full range of motion, up to 90 degrees after a little help. I was told my quad hurt because I was lifting my leg with it more and adding stress to it. Of course, combine that with some operation stress and you get sore quads. My biggest problem is actually keeping the brace all the way up on my leg. My quads are too dang skinny to fill out the top of the brace. Come on, why can't we use something big like my butt as a reference point. Nope, they use my skinny quads and I have to take the Velcro all the way to the side of the brace and not the designed point. Think of having to make your hole in a belt to get it to fit.

Later at work, we had a health screening. Other than being the guy hobbling around on crutches all went well. I have a good cholesterol level, blood pressure, sugar level etc.... Now if my knee heals life would be perfect!

To finish off the trifecta of medical fun, I had my second PT appointment. We discussed the full rehab process and started a lot of basic movements. It feels great to have my leg out of the brace and moving. Ok, I am not moving it but to have someone moving it is nice. I did a few simple leg strengthening exercises but all with a straight leg to keep the pressure off my knee. Simple rotations, lifts on different angles etc... Then we worked a little bit on using one crutch. I am not transferring weight to my right, injured leg. After a few reminders, I was doing better. I have to admit, I am still really nervous to put any stress on my right leg. I just don't have any confidence in it. I should trust the brace but easy to say and hard to do after a night of screaming in pain. Oh well, that's all from me.

Operation Day

2010-10-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

So the operation happen a couple days ago and my goal is to document the process and my post operation experience so that others can learn from my experience.

The procedure was outpatient and I was scheduled to arrive in the morning. The facility was only a mile away from I live so I decided to walk. I knew it would be the last time I could walk for a few weeks so why not. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and relaxed in the waiting room. After a short wait, I was called back, filled-out some papers, and got dressed for the operation. On the bright side, I didn't get one of those thin gowns. Instead, they had these insulated ones with an attachment for and air hose to help stay warm.

After a short period of time, my doctor and anesthesiologist stopped by and I knew it about to be show time. I walked into the operating room and I was out pretty quickly.

I awoke about 90 min later in the post op room and was told my ride would be here soon and that everything went well. Sure enough, within a few minutes, my ride was there and I changed and was loaded into a car for the way home. Seeing as I didn't know what the next few days would hold, my friend volunteered for me to stay at their place and mentioned they would help out if I needed anything.

For the first few hours I felt great. Ok, I was walking with crutches and with a big leg brace but everything felt not too bad. I was told to move around and then hold my leg up. I did both throughout the night but in general was thinking this isn't going to be too bad. Well, I was a bit to optimistic.

After dinner, I felt a little bit of pain and started to take my pain meds, Norco. I took two and new I was going to take a sleeping pill in a couple hours and that would knock me out for the night. I made it up the stairs to my room, took an ambient and then read a few pages as I anticipated falling asleep soon. The entire process started around 10 and by 10:30 PM. I was hoping to fall asleep. I tried but just could get comfortable. My doctor mentioned I could take the brace off when I sleep if that helped so I tried that and couldn't get comfortable. Even worse, now my knee was starting to really hurt! I spent the next 2 hours changing positions and putting my brace off and on in hopes of getting comfortable and falling asleep. Unfortunately, it wasn't happening. I took two more pain pills and hoped they would kick in and kill the pain. No such luck. By 1AM I was screaming in pain into my pillow and hoping/praying anything would change. It didn't.

In my desperation, I thought I needed ice and maybe that would be the silver bullet. When I started down the stairs, my friend say me and innocently asked, "do you need some help?" I said, "Yes." I was truly suffering and hadn't anticipated it. I We made it down stairs, she gabbed some ice and helped me get onto the couch.

After seeing all the pain I was in, she called the doctor to ask for help. He said he couldn't do much because increasing my meds required special triplicate forms and it just wasn't going to happen. He did ask where the pain was and said the pain being all around my knee was from swelling and I had to get it down or the pain wouldn't stop. We prompted my leg up with 5 pillows and then placed ice everywhere. My friend was honest with me and told want I needed to hear. The pain will lessen but not anytime soon and you are just going to have to deal with it. Let's turn on the TV and it will help to pass time.

Somehow, when we turned on the TV, it was on Comedy Central and was showing a preview for Jackass in 3D. It brought a smile to my face. The pain returned but I knew I just had to find a way to make it through the next few hours. I told my friend to go back to bed because there was nothing she could do. If anything happened, I would wake her up and she could help. A few minutes later, she brought over a piece of bread to eat with the next pain pill and walked upstairs to go to sleep.

I spent the rest of the night, watching bad TV and wishing I could get some sleep. By 3 AM the pain had decreased enough for me to get a few minutes of sleep, 15 min, and then I would awake in pain. I repeated that a few times and by 5 was able to extend to 30 minutes before waking up.

The next morning came and she came down I was doing better. The blood had left my foot and the swelling as going down and my body was adjusting to the pain. It still hurt but it was not the screaming pain of the night before. We talked for a bit and it passed time before she took-off for work.

I called the doctor and got my medication increased. I still couldn't sleep more than 30 min and it was getting old. They doubled the pain killer and after a couple doses I was able to sleep for up to 60 min before the pain took over. By that evening, I was doing better but felt really bad between the lack of sleep and pain. After dinner, I stayed downstairs this night and had keep my leg elevated almost all day to reduce the swelling. To heck with the nurse telling me to move around, I needed the pain to go away.

The second night was infinitely better. I was able to sleep in 60 min segments all night long. I would only be awake for 15 to 20 min and then I was back asleep. The human body is an amazing thing. By morning I felt great! OK, the pain was present but after some sleep the world looked much better.

It was Friday and I was scheduled for physical therapy. I made it to my PT place. I was a little late but not too bad. The therapist was a little surprised I was there two days post operation but I was. After a few strengthening exercises, I underwent some electrostim and I was set to go home.

We stopped at Rubio's on the way home hoping a burrito would cure everything. It tasted great going down. However, the stronger meds had killed my stomach. After 3 hrs it was still sitting in my stomach and it come out. Not good! I ate soup and some yogurt that evening and couldn't even hold it done. I hate pain meds. They didn't help me when the pain was bad and now they had totalled fried my gut. On the bright side, I sleep great Fri night....I will get some images up soon so have patience...

a bad Right Knee

2010-10-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks after I finished Ironman, Kona, I started feeling some minor pains around me kneecap. I was just coming off a nice break and wanted to get going for the upcoming 2010 season. I went to the weight room and when I tried to do leg extensions with my right leg I could barely lift the bar! I stayed away from running and went to my primary care physician who diagnosed it as runner's knee. I took anti-inflammatory drugs for 4 weeks and stayed off it but it just never felt right.
I stayed away from running until Jan and after a week new something was wrong and went to a specialist. I got an MRI that found a 5% tear of my patellar tendon. My doctor gave me a cortisone shot and said I would be fine if I would take a month off running and take it easy. I did but it didn't heal much. I never noticed and difference and was tired of waiting around. I returned to training and spent the full 2010 season trying to make up for lost training time. It never happened.
On the way back from a work trip, my knee was pounding in pain after sitting in a plane for several hours. I was really for a change and went to a different specialist, Dr. Daniel Keefe. Keep in mind, I could run/ride/swim with little to no pain but I couldn't stay seated for more than 30 minutes without pain.
Dr Keefe looked at my MRI and discussed several treatment options. I had already tried 2 months of physical therapy, 3 months of Graston therapy, gone to two chiropractors, one ART person and was working with the Wolf Studio. I felt confident I had exhausted all non-surgical options. He agreed. He suggested a new procedure call Topaz microabblation. I had never heard of it so I looked into it. The operation involves opening up the knee and burning a series of small holes in the tendon near the damaged region. The idea being destroy the damaged area and then stimulate new tendon growth in the holey region under post-op conditions.
I found a pretty high success rate for tennis elbow so I agreed to give it a shot. Yes a patellar tendon is different but from what I can tell my injury is rare. Most people either completely tear it off or have tendonitis. A partial tear is less common. I was informed to think about it because the small tear I have shouldn't effect my triathlon ability but I knew it was affecting my quality of life so I scheduled the procedure to occur 3 days after my last race of the year, Austin 70.3

Training with Ian and Kevin

2009-08-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

Last in San Diego was the big surf monkey race that Rock and Huddle put on. As a result, many of my training partners decided to compete in it and avoid the traditional big Sat ironman training ride. However, I didn’t really have an interest in racing the aquathon and thought my training would be better spent getting some miles. I contacted Kevin and Thurs and he mentioned he was going up to LA for a big weekend with Ian Mikelson---crazy strong triathlete who is having a great season.
Since Ian has made a few trips to SD, I thought I would call him to see what was on tap. He mentioned Sat would be 5 hrs of riding through some hills near his home, Sat night a long run and then Sun a massive 7 hr ride up the coast. Definitely some big days and sounded better than Surf Money. Yes, there is something wrong with me. However, I still wasn’t sold because I just didn’t think the riding in LA would be that great. Well, after talking to Kevin again I was in.
So, Kevin and I met up, we loaded up my Honda Element and we drove up to Ian’s parent’s house in Torrance for a IM training weekend to remember. We got Fri night and after being off a block managed to find his house. We couldn’t see the street signs but knew the house with the loud stereo and college kids drinking in the front yard wasn’t it.
On Sat morning, we awoke and knocked out a good breakfast---lots of bananas and peanut butter. The weekend theme. We got rolling around 7 and managed to make several loops around Palos Verdes. Ian had this random connection of roads that made two loops. An outer loop, flatter with more signal lights and an inner loop with a nice climb. Other than losing a bottle after 4 hr, we had a great 5 hr ride for 95 miles!

We got home, ate a little bit of food and lounged around until 3:30. Now it was time to load up and head for the beach and an oceanfront run. The goal was 2hr 15 min out and back from Redondo Beach to whenever. It was flat on not too bad running along the bike path. The only bad part was the AVP tournament going on in Hermosa Beach. We had to zig-zag our way through a lot of people for a mile.
Surprisingly, the run went well. I tossed in 20 min of tempo at 1hr 45 min and it was painful. But other than that the run was a solid 19 miles. It was a great site to see Ian’s girlfriend “T” sitting on the beach after her long run. She was kind enough to go back to the car and pick-up our cooler with drinks.
We returned home and the feast began. Ian’s father Larry, made a trip to the store and had chicken and salmon. We tossed in a couple pizza’s as we prepped the food. I worked the grill and cooked the fish, chicken and some corn. About the time we started to eat, Ian friends Ryan and his girlfriend joined the group. Dinner was great and not having to go to the store was killer. BY now it was late and time to get to bed before Sunday’s adventure.
Sun was crazy long day. I awoke and ate as much food as I could before we left for a 7 hr tour up the coast. It took us a little bit more time to get going than we hoped. We got about 2 blocks away and Ian had a flat, so we turned back to fix it. About 20 min later we, we got rolling again. We wound our way through LA and up the coast and through Santa Monica and finally out to good riding. The rolling hills up the 1 were great. We cruised up the coast to Oxnard and grabbed some food/water and we headed home.
Once again, we got rolling just in time for Ryan to have a flat. We fixed it and started rolling. The wind getting back to the Malibu coast was strong. Kevin took a great a pull to give Ian a break and then we started working together. We were rolling and then Ryan got another flat. 3 flats in one day! We got rolling again and everything was great until this random cyclist hoped in and sat in the middle! We tried to talk to him but he blew us off. Eventually we reached Santa Monica and waited a bit for Ryan who stopped for water after being dropped. The ride was 5.5 hrs by then and I was starting to get tired. Unfortunately, the ride turned to city streets and the bike path and the ride went from great to bad for the last hour and a half. We rolled into the Mickelson mansion with 7 hr and 5 min of riding and 134 miles! Big day. We ate, loaded up the car and headed home to SD.

I arrived home around 8PM. I was dead tired and got nothing else done but some great training. I had 14 hrs of training with 19 miles of running and 229 miles of riding. Ian is a freaking freight train and his parents are great. If the riding was better, I could see myself making this trip a few more times. OK, that’s all from here.

The power of Food Inc

2009-08-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I watched the movie Food Inc. I highly recommend this to everyone. The movie describes how food goes from the farm to our table. While I had read both Fast Food Nation and The Food Revolution, something about seeing the processes described in those books just stood out. For example, chicken farms. I knew chickens grew faster and were all similar sizes to allow for assembly line cleaning. OK, breading . However, the consequences I had never thought about. The chickens grow so fast they can’t walk! The movie goes on to talk about the monopoly that Monsanto’s biotech has on crops and lack of labeling and power of the USDA. One of the important messages in the movie is you have the power to make changes by controlling your purchases. Something I thought about but never enough. Wal-Mart is placing a large effort on environment and organic foods. Does anyone thick this is because they want to support the environment and push a big green campaign? No, it’s because the market is growing and they want your cash. At the end of the day, you vote every time you make a purchase. Do you want free-range chickens or those that grow so fast and so close they can’t walk? Do you want hormones in your food? The choice is yours but I know my buying habits are changing.

Vineman 2009

2009-07-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was vineman 70.3. Despite completing several vinemans I have never had a good race in Santa Rosa. However, I still really like the race. It normally draws a good field, the course is hard enough to break up the groups on the bike, it generally hot and the run in rolling. Best of all, a friend from grad school lives there and it gives me an excuse to visit her.
The only down side of vineman is there are a ton of waves and this year I was going off near the end. Over an hour and half after the first wave. It was a really strange feeling to be arriving in transition after the pro men had exited the water and I still had plenty of time.
The swim is a 1.2 miles out and back in the Russian river. I got out to a clean start and felt pretty strong. As the group thinned out, I didn’t see too many competitors in front and was swimming solo. The turn around at vineman is always interesting because the river gets so shallow I was touching the bottom. I exited the water in just over 30 min—about the same time as my other half IMs this season.
I got off onto the bike and settled in for what I knew was going to be an interesting bike ride. The early part of the bike course covers some winding narrow roads and there were a lot of competitors in front of me. I was maneuvering my way through the field when I saw I fire truck on the side of the road. Apparently, a tree branch had fallen and landed on a rider and taken 2 others down. The branch caused a bunch of chaos in the area but by the time I got there the road was clear and the athletes were off receiving medical care.
I road smooth for the first third and then gradually picked it up. About 1 mile later a truck pulled in front and slowed my down for mile and I was caught by another competitor. I road the middle segment going back and forth with Chris Geist. As we exited the hills, I cranked it up another notch. I dropped my riding partner and just before entering transition caught the one athlete who passed me in the first mile of the bike. I road 2hr 27 min and felt like I should have pushed more because I was really strong at the end.
The bike to run transition is at a different location from the swim. When I got off the bike, I felt great but as I entered the transition, somehow I got my handlebars caught on a flags guiding you into transition and it took my bike out from my hands. It crashed to the ground and took a couple chunks out of my hand. I gathered myself and ran into and tried to find my shoes. My cluelessness continued and I ran onto the wrong row. I ducked underneath the rack and found my shoes. By then my riding partner was in transition so I said nice bike and was off to the run.
As I exited the run, I was caught fellow tribuys.com athlete Jen Chalmers. She looked great and was on her way to winning her age-group. I felt great and ran out in control hoping to have a good run. While I didn’t feel hot, I knew the day before it was warm and might be later on the run so I took special care to pull in fluids/salt. I actually thought the weather was pretty comfortable but I enjoy warmer weather.
The unique part of the run was all the athletes are very spread out and I knew several competitors. The way out was a string of saying hi to several friends having great races—Ian 1st ag, Charisa 2nd ag and PR, Kevin 4th ag and PR, Susan PR..etc…
I rounded the winery and knew the course was predominately downhill from there and it was time to push hard. I felt great until mile 9 and then the next two miles were a little tough. At mile 11, a told myself, just 12 more hard min and you’re done and managed to get it rolling again. I knew I was doing well in my wave but with 2 other waves I didn’t know how I was doing overall so it was push all the way to the line. I crossed the line in 4:15:39 with a 1:15:54 run!
The prelim results had me listed as second in my age-group, I was nervous with two waves out on the course, but I was 4th amateur overall so I thought I could hold onto a podium finish. Fortunately, I maintained my position after all the 35-39 men had finished. After some food and conversation, I packed-up my stuff and road to Karen’s for a shower as Dave road back to the start to get the car. Dave conveniently forgot his backpack so I had to carry both our gear home. Nice cool down but man the backpack got heavy over the past few miles.
After a quick shower, I checked on the chickens and Charisa and other stopped by for a shower. Steven was kind enough to grab a burrito for me. We made it back to the finish line just in time for the awards ceremony. They started it early! When does that happen? We missed Ian getting his award and got Kevin there just after they announced his name. On the bright side, we got there just in time for Charisa to go up. Then another fun surprise happened. They announced the fastest time of the day at 4:11. Ian was saying how close he was and I was sure the original results had someone going 4:05 in my division. However, by the end, they must have had his time wrong because I won my age-group by over 6 min and was the 3rd amateur. It was a really nice surprise.
My goals going into the race were to get on the podium, 1st qualifies, and run under 1:20, 1:15:54 works. The race went well and everything seems to be progressing in time for Kona. I still need some serious help with my swim and to keep working on the bike but any time I win my age-group and finish in the top 5 overall I have no complaints.
I have a couple good Dave stories to tell in the coming days..

525,600 minutes

2009-07-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

There are approximately 525,600 minutes in a year. I remember this number mainly because it was a song in the musical rent. While the song refers to how you measure the value of a life, I prefer to think what I was doing this time last year. More importantly, to be very thankful it isn’t last year.
On July 5th 2008, I crashed and broke my jaw in three places and my elbow in one. This year, I managed to survive several long rides over the July 4th weekend and even the week after. This weekend was great. I am racing vineman next weekend so it is time to start taking it easy. The group I run with, BSK, was hosting a cross country run to raise money for the Vista track/cc team.
I packed a backpack with some shoes and clothes and left my house just before dawn. I road my bike up the coast to Oceanside and along the way tossed in a couple tempo intervals. I made it to the race in time to toss my bike in Molly’s car and pick-up my registration. I ran the event as a solid tempo run in just over 18 minutes. More importantly I felt relaxed and comfortable the entire time. After a little cooldown, I watched the women’s race and then several of the BSK kids and myself went out made breakfast at a friend’s apartment. This was a way better weekend then last year when I couldn’t chew.
On Sun, it was Carlsbad triathlon and Steven was completing his second triathlon. Steven is always at the races supporting Charisa and myself so it was a must see event. I got a nice run in before the triathlon started and managed to make it back just in time to see the leaders coming out of the ocean. While Steven was the leader, he did have an amazing race. He sattered his time from last year and looked great all day. Once again, post race it was a nice breakfast and tour watching event so that makes for the perfect weekend. A little bit of training, a couple races and pancakes/waffles in back to back days. July 2009 is way better than 2008.

SDIT

2009-07-06T17:53:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago was the San Diego International triathlon. It consists of a 1km swim, a 30km bike and 10km run. In my book, I call this a short race. However, it’s local and nice course so always worth a race. Not to mention, it helps to break-up the training and racing a just fun.
The pre-race was great. I got to the race early, had a great warm-up and managed to talk to a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Many of my friends were racing elite but I chose to stay back with the masses and get some work in moving through other age-groups. That and knowing Chris Foster and Luke Bell would destroy me in the elites.
The gun went off for the swim and I managed to get out cleanly. I was just about to latch onto another competitor when I was pushed off his feet. Then gapped off by the other athlete. I hate when that happens. If you are going to take my tour guide please stay with them. So I spent most of the swim solo and managed to come out in 13 min 11 secs and judging by the bikes in the rack fairly close to the front..
After a smooth transition, I headed out on the bike. My hear rate and power were close to where I wanted them to be, so I settled down into a good pace. When you go off in the 4th wave, you have a lot people ahead and I was moving through without too many problems. With a couple loops up top, I managed to see a few of the elite racers I knew but somehow didn’t see any of the age-groupers I knew were racing. The bike went well, except for this strange feeling on the way down to T2. I was going down this hill in a gap in the competitors so I was all alone. I hate that because I start to wonder if I took a wrong turn or should have done another lap. I did everything OK and came off in 46 min and 21 sec.
Coming off my bike I saw 4 bikes in the rack so I knew I had run hard to get everyone. I headed out on a flat fast loop and felt really relaxed. It was my first run in my new Brooks racing flats and they felt great. I love the feel of racing flats! I ran strong for the 1st 5k and then the plan was to take off after that. I passed my first age-grouper at mile 1.5 and by the turn a little later had a huge gap on him. I didn’t see any one else until mile 3 when I caught Pablo. He said, “It’s about time” but I didn’t recognize him until I saw him after the race. Pablo is looking fit. I then pushed hard thinking there was someone else up the road. Last year, I ran with 10 sec of the guy who won my age-group and I didn’t want that to happen this year. The only down part was a 19 year old who I passed in the last half mile decided to kick like made and beat me to the line. No worries mate. I was 10 min up. I finished in 34 min flat. I was very happy with my run.
I ended-up winning my age-group in 1 hr 36 min and 6 sec. I was the fastest non-elite---first sand bagging age-grouper. I was 9th overall and only 20 sec behind Patrick. I good day for me. You never can complain when you win! Now it’s time for some training and Vineman.

Wildflower report 09’

2009-05-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

The Wildflower long course( half ironman distance) triathlon is probably one of my favorite triathlon. Unlike most other big triathlons, WF has a very low key feel. It is hosted about 30 min west of Paso Robbles at Lake San Antonio. The vast majority of the competitors camp the night before and I think that calms most of the field down before the race.
Other than the low key factor, the course is a great race course. The Swim is lake swim in questionable quality water but a pretty easy navigation. The bike is hilly at the beginning and end and rolling in the middle. The run is really hilly and partially on trails for the first 7 miles before flatting out a bit and then running you down a big hill and making you U-turn and go up it and then bombing down a steep hill to the finish. Basically, it’s a hard course and compounded by generally really hot. It’s my kinda course.
The 1.2 mile swim went OK. I got out to a descent start and after a little jostling everything went smoothly. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a set of feet to draft so I spent the entire time swimming by myself swerving in and out of slower swimmers from earlier waves. As I exited the water, I heard the announcer counting down the next wave so I knew I swam just under 30 min. Not bad but a little slower than I had hoped.
After a decent transition, I headed out on the 56 mile bike. The only bad part about the WF bike course is the road quality. If you have anything loose on your bike, it is going to bounce off and into the abyss. The first 20k goes over some big hills and is constantly rolling. I took my time and held back knowing I had a long day ahead. About 20 k into the bike, I found another competitor and we went back and forth through the rollers and helped to make the flat part fly by. You make a turn and start the gradual climb to the base of the big hill on the course nasty grade. Through here my pacing partner disappeared. Just before the crest of nasty grade, I caught one of training partners Chad and knew I was having a solid bike ride. Just before entering the park, about 5 miles to go, my pacing partner from early in the bike caught me and put a little bit of time of my heading into transition.
I didn’t get my bike split and it’s still not posted, but as I entered transition, I didn’t see too many bikes on the rack so I knew I was in the mix. While the weather was ideal for Wildflower standards, a good 15 degrees cooler than normal, it was starting to heat-up. As I exited transition, I caught my bike pacing partner. I told him good bike and promptly ran away from him. I stayed really calm and in control for the first 10k. It has steep hills that kill me if I push too hard. After surviving that part, the trail nears the park entrance and flattens out. This is where it’s time to run hard. I began pushing and every time I wanted to ease up I thought about California 70.3 where I had the second the second fastest amateur run, beat by 2 seconds. As I started the long downhill, I saw Tim Hola running up, first in my age-group, and started looking for others. I found one more just before the turn and hoped I could chase him down before the finish. I pushed super hard and caught him near the top of the hill at the 12 mile marker. FYI the mile markers at WF have little to do with the actual distances. The bad news was, I had to push like mad as I crested the top and ran the long steep hill to the finish. I ran for my life and held him off.
I finished in 4 hrs 32 min and change. I ran 1hr 23 min and 54 seconds. Thank fully, I was a minute faster than my girlfriend Emily who anchored the winning mixed relay team. I finished 2nd in my age-group and the 10th amateur. I have no complaints and think my race went well. My legs where completely shot so I knew I gave it everything I had. Fortunately, one of my training partners was at the Complex tent, so I let the computer fire my legs for a cool down as I relaxed in the shade. Definitely, the way to go.
I am still a long way away from Kona and my form seems to be coming around. Next stop is Auburn in a few weeks. Another epic course that I have been wanting to race for years.

The best award ceremony ever

2009-05-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

In April, I completed Ironman California 70.3. After a battling a couple infections over the offseason, I went into the race knowing it wasn’t going to be my best race. My goal was to see where my fitness I was and grab an Ironman Canada slot. While my age-group had Kona slots, I knew I wasn’t going to be fast enough to get one.
The race went just as I had anticipated, I swam just under 30 min, rode around 2 hr and 30 min (slow but expected) and ran around 1 hr 20 min. The run was solid and only 2 seconds off the fastest amateur run of the day. My finishing time was just under 4hr 30 min and good enough to be on the first page of results and 6th in my age-group. I was 2 min off the podium but hey I am not fit so something I readily accept.
Afterwards, I talked to a few friends who managed to place well enough to get Kona slots. I was happy for them just about everyone I knew had a good race or one that represented there fitness level.
The good/bad news about California 70.3 is they have spots for other ironman races. All you have to do is finish, wait for the awards to end and then get you place or maybe fight for it with your time if too many people want in. I was planning on getting one for Canada and traveling up there with several friends. Because I had a couple friends on the podium, I made it to the award ceremony early to show my support for their great performances.
The magic started in the women 25-29 where a friend got a roll-down spot for Kona. She was coming back from an accident so it was great to see. It continued in the women 30-34 where my friend Charisa got here stop. She was planning on Canada as well but It was great to see he get a spot. In the men 30-34 Patrick finished 2nd and earned another trip to the big island.
Now it was the 35-39. It had 2 spots and the first two guys passed. There were two competitors remaining on the podium and with 2 spots I didn’t think about getting one. The third place finisher took the spot, a friend from my days in CO Tim Hola. The announcer looked at the final guy on the podium and asked if he wanted the place, he shook his head no. I glanced over at Patrick and the look on his face was priceless. I had the spot. As the announcer went to find my name on the sheet, my friends exploded in applause before my name was called off. I grabbed my wallet and moved my way through the crowd to claim my spot.
I was in shock. I never dreamed I would have a Kona slot. I thought maybe before the season started but after all the problems in the offseason, I knew I wouldn’t place high enough. It turns out the roll-down gods where good to me. I was on my way to Kona. I think the smile on my face was permanent. The best part was seeing the genuine happiness of my friends for me. While I didn’t win anything, I have never felt so great after any award. I was on my way back to Kona and several of my friends would be there as well. I can’t wait..

A full mouth of teeth and hot yoga.

2008-11-25T13:12:00.000-08:00

So the past week was an interesting one. On Monday, I had my last dental appointment to finish cleaning up the damage after my crash. I got a crown on my #10 tooth. Before two weeks ago, I had no clue what the #10 tooth was or even that I had one. Now I know, it is the canine tooth just to the left of the big teeth in the middle. On my first appointment, my dentist ground the center tooth flat and now it looks good. However, the one next to it was damaged too badly. It was broken well beyond grinding and even beyond bonding. The only savior was to grind it down and put on a crown. Despite not having any dental work until I was in grad school, now I have huge crown. On the bright side, I don’t look like a hill Billy anymore. While it looks great, it feels just different enough to be something to play with my tongue when I get bored.
What I truly appreciate about the offseason is it gives me a chance to do all the things I really want to do while I am training. After a few weeks of normal yoga, we (Charisa, Kin’dra and myself) decided it was time for something new. On wed, I made my first attempt at hot yoga. I know yoga has more specific names but I don’t know enough about them to differentiate. Either Joanna or Charisa found Yoga Tropics in Encinitas and we were off for hot yoga. Unfortunately, I got caught in traffic on the interstate and I was running late. In the chaos, I forgot my towel. Wow this was a huge mistake. After about 5 min, I pulled off my shirt and was sweating like pig. I can’t tell you how hard it is for me to do a balance pose. Now add the difficulty of being supper wet and I really struggling. Fortunately, the instructor found me sitting in a pool of sweat about ¾ of the way through and gave me a towel for my own safety. After an hour, it ended. It is a strange feeling when it’s over. You are dripping wet and feeling gross but at the same time really relaxed and clam later in the evening. We hope to try it again next week for another round of stories.

The Offseason

2008-11-16T16:58:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was my final race of the year. The dirt dog cross country championships. More importantly, it was a full 48hrs after I was off antibiotics. I am so thankful I didn’t need any operations to cut the infection out. The only remnants are three bumps/discolorations where the infection was. Fortunately, I found some good scar cream during my jaw incident that really helps. The race went OK. It was hot, my kind of weather, and I felt strong for most of the race. I cooked on the last hill but so did everyone else. That night was a great end of the year BSK party at Charisa’s. They had a pizza and I brought an ice cream cake that had a horrible melting incident. Future note, ice cream melts! It was great to see everyone relaxed and playing rock band.
This week I realized that when I am not training I don’t get to see many of my friends, so I decided to hold a little dinner party at my place. Somehow, we managed to cram 18 people inside my little apartment. Good thing we all like each other. The best part was getting Kate’s confirmation e-mail saying “to keep it simple.” Of course I will keep it simple. A couple different appetizers, a salad, a few lasagnas and two different desserts and oh yeah, keep in mind everyone’s food allergies/preferences, vegetarians, lactose/nut allergies, etc... Let’s just say I don’t do simple and entertaining well. I spent most the day cooking but it was fun. Everyone went home full and I have leftovers for the next week or two.

Halloween Chili

2008-11-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

Halloween is such a great holiday. You get an excuse to dress-up, make a fool out of yourself and eat lots of candy. What more of a perfect day could you ask for? This year, my work had a chili cook-off competition and with the help of Avi and Lilly managed to talk 10 coworkers into joining our team. A few of us made a pretty good beef based chili and the rest made posters for the event. The theme was at the movies. We took movie posters and chilized them…For example, “Pirates of the Chilibean” and everyone’s favorite, “Brave Fart.” We all dressed up in some costume, we had a lot of Pirates, some karate users and me as Harry Potter. Unfortunately, we didn’t win anything but we did have a lot of fun. Next year, less spicy chili. Below you will see a great picture of Sharmeen and me playing around our both. Please note the posters in the background.
On a different note, the infection appears to be going away. The antibiotics are finally clearing it from my body and the sores are starting to go down. I am so thankful. Last time I had a Staph infection it was really bad. I guess early warnings are everything.

It's Back

2008-10-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I had a nasty crash on my mountain bike and broke my collarbone. Somehow, a week after the crash I developed a drug resistant Staph infection (MRSA). Two operations, a couple months of physical therapy, a month of IV antibiotics and a month of oral antibiotics later everything was great. Well not really, but I got through it.
Fast forward to today. After Kona, I took a great couple of days of R&R on Oahu with Dave and Joanna. We did a great hike through Manoa Falls and a couple trips to the Ocean. I came back and ran a little XC race and I thought everything was great. Well, I was still tired from Kona but having fun. (Picture of Joanna and Me at an overlook on the Manoa Falls Trail)

Later that day, I say a little bump on my leg I thought was an ingrown hair. By Sun, it doubled in size and I had another one on my right quad. Fortunately, I had a doctor’s appointment on Mon. Originally, I had hoped for just a flu shot and my asthma medication but now I had something more interesting.
My doctor took a sample of the puss for cultures and gave me some antibiotics to take care of it. Gradually, over the next few days they stopped growing and started to shrink. Thank God the drugs are working.
On Sat, I ran the another race for BSK and the Running Company. The pumpkin patch 4 miler. It started great but on the second lap my legs exploded and I lost over a minute to the group I was running with. On the bright side, I had a great time with the BSK crew but wow, ironman is taking it’s toll on me.
Later that day, I open my mail and got the test results from my culture. The results are………..Heavy Staph, Methicillin resistant. Yes, that’s right boys and girls I have successfully caught two MRSA infections in less than 4 years. I think this is a record that no one wants to match. Fortunately, they caught this one early and my doctor chose one of the few antibiotics that worked against this strain. Lucky me!
I don’t think this is helping my recovery. I thought I got all my bad luck out for the year with my crash in July. I guess I had a few more sins to pay for this year. Oh well, I am getting better and no hospital stay this time.

Kona 2008

2008-10-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

This year’s ironman was going to be an interesting race. It was held 14 weeks after my nasty bike crash where I broke my jaw in 3 places and my elbow. So, I knew going into the race I wasn’t going to set any PRs but thought I could have a solid a day.
The best part about racing Kona is being in Hawaii. This year I was arriving in Wed, racing Sat and then meeting up with Dave and Joanna in Oahu for a few days of relaxation before returning home.
As everyone knows, traveling to a big race can be as much stress as actually racing. Traveling to Kona this year turned out to be interesting experience. Dave Esa was kind enough to volunteer to drive me to the airport at 5AM. Everything went great until I was standing in line and realized I didn’t have my helmet!! I sent a text message to Dave who picked it up from my apartment but he wasn’t getting to Kona until Fri night. OK, the race was Sat so I would have it for the race but I didn’t have for check-in and race training. So, I did the logical thing and tried unsuccessfully to borrow one and then bought a cheap one from Wal-Mart for check-in and returned it after the race. I have 3 helmets I don’t need a fourth.
Everything else leading up to the race was pretty uneventful. I checked out the expo and saw a few friends I hadn’t seen a couple years. I really enjoy big races for that reason. I have moved around the county over the past 10 years and it is great to see old friends.
On race day, Charisa and her entourage gave me a ride to the start line. It was great to have someone to talk to and go through body marking with. After exchanging my helmet and going over my bike, I did a little warm-up, and sat around near my bike talking to an old friend and wasting time until the start.
The start of any ironman has some great aspects but generally really suck. As I walked down onto the beach, it is an amazing feeling to look at all the people watching and your fellow competitors about to hop into the water. For every yin, there is a yang and too many people in too tight a place made Kona this year particularly nasty. I should have know it was going to be a bad day when I moved two times before the race started trying to find some free space. I never really found it. This was the first time I was hitting people while treading water awaiting the cannon.
I new my swim was going to be slower but I didn’t realize how much more physical it was going to be. I spent the entire swim looking for open water and getting hit. I was kicked in the face on at least three different occasions in addition to the standard pushing. The way out to the turn around felt as if it was taking forever, but I kept telling myself it was OK, you might be swimming into a current. Once I made the turn for shore I realized, no current I was just going really slow. Eventually, I exited the water and ran into the change tent. All the chairs were full so I sat on the ground and changed. Once I excited the tent and saw all the bikes gone I knew my swim was ugly but behind me know.
I headed out onto the bike knowing my day was just going to get better. The good news about swimming really slow is you get to catch some of your friends and shout a few words of encouragement as you go by. Just after looping through town, I passed Charisa who was riding strong and started moving my way through the field. For the first part of the bike, the wind was completely calm. However, about the time I was thinking this is going to be a fast day the winds picked-up to a strong gust. I found the sudden build really unique. In my other Kona years, the wind blew hard all day or gradually built up throughout the bike. Not this year, it was almost as if someone turned a switch and the wind appeared.
Once I made the turn toward Hawi, I caught Kim. We exchange a few words where he said it wasn’t his day and I told to stay strong and his luck will change. A little later, I saw Kate moving along and then Patrick on his shinny new Isaac and liteweight wheel both flying toward home and way ahead of me. The wind was strong but I felt OK so I pushed to the turn where Steven and Brian were on the side of the road cheering me along as they awaiting Charisa. As I arrived at the special needs bags, I saw Terry spotted on the side of the road grabbing everything from her bag and not risking crashing while getting her food.
I got my bottles and food and was able to keep rolling along. The wind on the way back is the typical cross-tail until the turn and a few segments pushed me enough to get off the areobars and onto the cowhorns. I was feeling good through about 80 and then my power started moving the wrong way. The next 30 miles took forever, and was not a good feeling. I think this is where some of my injury time showed. However, I was able to keep it rolling and got to transition knowing only a marathon remained.
As I exited transition, I saw 7 hrs on the clock and knew I was way back. I few strides into the run I got a few words of encouragement from Paula and started to think what positives can I pull out of this day. Well, despite how I ended on the bike I was running OK, so I decided to focus on a strong marathon. Nothing crazy because a couple minutes wouldn’t matter but definitely click off a respectable time.
The first part was out and back on Alii, ~ 10 miles, I just keep telling myself to run slow and save yourself for the second half. During this out and back segment, I was able to see Patrick flying along (3:01 marathon in Kona is impressive) followed closely by Daniel. Later I saw Charisa and Terry cruising along and Kim and Kate with, “is it over yet” look on their faces.
Once out on the queen K, the ash from the volcano was blacking out the sun. It was still hot and humid but no blistering run or hot pavement. Strange conditions. I felt OK until mil 16 and then fought myself for the next few miles before gathering myself for the finish. On the run, I just kept telling myself, “14 weeks ago you were sitting on the ground with 4 broken bones and today you’re racing an ironman. Life is good keep going.”
All good things come to an end and after 10 hr 3 min and change my ironman was over. I crossed the finish line and was done! For those of you who don’t know my splits: swim 1 hr 10 min; road 5hr 29 min and ran 3 hr 15 min. Add in some transitions and seconds to get my final time.
Afterwards, I headed over to the message tent and got a brief rub down and some much needed time of simply not moving. After some coffee, I went over for some food and stories with friends. I thought I was doing OK, so I pulled my stuff out of transition and road back to my condo. I got back and started put items away and suddenly I was really sick. My body temp went through the roof and all the food I had eaten came back up. I hoped into the shower and began to cool myself down with cold water....In the past, I have had part hot and cold and then gradually turn off the hot until I can barely stand it. While this time, the hot was off and I was fine in the shower. After 15to 20 min, I cooled down and started to return to normal and enjoy the rest of the evening. I want to say thanks to everyone who made this an amazing season. There are too many of you to list but I definitely couldn’t of done this without you.

The article and off to the big island

2008-10-07T18:57:00.000-07:00

The other day I got a great e-mail. Somehow Don Norcross, a local San Diego writer, had heard about my crash and my plan to still race Ironman. Best of all he wanted to do a story for ironman.com about me. Seeing as I have only been interviewed a couple times in my life and love to talk, I said heck yeah. After a couple long conversations with Don, I think I pretty much had told my entire life’s story, he had everything he needed for the piece. More amazingly, he somehow managed to sift through all the information I have given him and wrote a great story. The link is here

On Wed, I take off to Kona. I can’t wait. Several of my friends and training partners are already there. I don’t have a lot of vacation time so I prefer to show up late and enjoy myself after the race. Also, as much as I enjoy the Ironman, sometimes Ironman can get a bit much. I find that if I show up at the last minute I don’t have enough time for it to get under my skin before the race. Now, hopefully my taper will be right on and I will have the best race I can. The one thing I hate about big tapers is you always feel bad until a couple hours into the race. Now I just have to trust I did my best to prepare and then go out have a great day and lots of fun. Wish me luck because I will need it.

The Long Road Back

2008-10-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well, after the accident I spent 2 weeks with my jaw wired completely shut. Imagine drinking all your meals through a straw with your mouth closed. Not bad for a bad or two but gets pretty old after two weeks. Nothing taste like soup you have to dilute three fold with broth and then blend for minutes before “eating”/drinking. During this time, no exercise was done and lot of watching the Tour went on.

After they cut the wires off my mouth, I began physical therapy—I could only open my mouth about 18 mm, normal person is 50mm. PT was not fun. My therapist stuck his hand in my mouth and pried my mouth open. While I still couldn’t open my mouth much, and don’t even think about chewing, I was free to breath and got onto the trainer and elliptical. I was so excited to get a workout in, you couldn’t believe it. Unfortunately, this is where my broken elbow became a problem. I could only hold onto the elliptical with one hand and the bike wasn’t much better.

Fortunately, everything kept improving. My elbow healed enough for me to feel comfortable on the elliptical after 3 weeks. By week 4 and felt OK on the bike, so I started to sneak out onto the road for rides. While brave, I thought I would try to have some semblance of sanity by using a full face helmet---you know one of those that the mountain bike/BMW people use. I looked like a booblehead figure going down the road. I think my first weekend out everyone I know saw me. What was even better was too look at the random riders as I road down the coast. I swear they were looking at me so much I thought they were going to crash!

Gradually, my body healed and after 6 long weeks I was cleared to run, my elbow had healed enough to start swimming. The most important thing was I could start chewing food again! OK, I wasn’t eating steaks or raw carrots, but I could have a banana. All the PT and exercises had paid off and I could open my moth to over 40 mm and I was free to resume living!!

As many of you know, living is a lot about racing. I was registered for Santa Barbara triathlon a few weeks later so I did it. I was fortunate to have a friend in SB that played an excellent host for the weekend. They cooked me a great meal the night before and volunteered for the race the next day. It was great to drive to the race with someone and not have to worry about sneaking out of the house on race day.

I warmed up and was ready for life to return to normal. The gun went off and I ran into ocean. This is where reality met me head on. I hadn’t been able to swim for 5 weeks and my right arm was still recovering from the break so I was really slow. This meant I was in the chaos of the start. Keep in mind I wasn’t completely confident with my jaw and I spent the entire swim looking for open water and not even worrying about the course. Needless to say, it was the longest swim I have done in a while and felt ten times longer. I got out in just over 24 min and was off onto the bike.

The bike course I knew from my time in grad school in SB. It was 34 miles with rolling hills. It was also the first time I had ridden my bike with a normal helmet after the crash. It felt so good to have the wind on my face and not be roasting like I did with the full face helmet. About 5 miles into the bike, I calmed down from the swim and the fun began. I road 1hr 34 min and felt strong coming off the bike. My host screamed some words of encouragement as I ran out of transition and I was off to the run.

The run is perfect for me. It is 10 miles with a couple flat miles at the beginning to get your rhythm and then a nice long hill to the turn-around. I picked up a runner around mile 2 and he stuck to me. I kept expecting to drop him but I just couldn’t. Ever little trick I tried just didn’t work. He stuck to me like glue. To make it worse, on the way down hill through the neighborhood he, started to push the pace. I made the decision to push the last 2 flat miles hard and see just how much he/me had in the tank. After about half a mile, I felt him drop off and I surged like crazy. I put a nice gap on him and finished in mid 58’s for the run, second fastest of the day!

I placed 3^rd in my age-group and 8^th overall. Not bad considering only a couple months before I was sitting on the ground with 4 broken bones. I had a great lunch and beer at Brophy Brothers looking into the Pacific with my PhD advisor and thought how lucky I was to be back after everything. Now for Kona. It should be fun.

The Crash

2008-09-27T20:22:00.001-07:00

This year the 4^th of July landed on a Fri which falls into every endurance athlete’s dream, a three day weekend with good weather. I had raced San Diego International the previous week and was 3 weeks out from Vineman 70.3, so a perfect big training weekend. The week before, Kim suggested Kate and him were going to do one of the local fun runs on Fri and then two big rides on Sat/Sun. At the same time, Jeff Rangan was organizing a run/hike up Cactus to the Clouds on Sun as part of his preparation for Pike’s Peak half marathon. After learning how much hiking and little running was involved in the 22 mile excursion, I bailed on Jeff and the track group and was all in for the riding.

On Fri, I ran the Coronado 15k. I drove down with Jeff, Kim and Kate and had a solid race. I ran mid 53’s and won my age-group and was in the top 10. No where near the leaders but a solid run. Kate won the women’s overall. Of course the people handing out the awards didn’t care and it actually got pretty funny as we waited for the race director to stop by for a silly t-shirt that they had boxes of but wouldn’t give any to Kate even after the announcer called her up as the winner. Jeff had a solid race and showed he is on track for his stage race in August and Kim finished but didn’t seem very happy about his race.

On Sat July 5^th, the plan was a long ride with Kim, Kate and Terry. We were joined by Trevor (racing IM USA) and Scott. I was my first time to meet them and they seamed like great guys. The route was meet in Rancho Santa Fe and ride out Del Dios to Wolford, up Palomar, down Henshaw to Mesa granda and back, ~120 miles give or take. Kate and Kim were setting the pace on the way out while the rest of us were letting them go. I was hanging out watching my power meter knowing it was going to be a long day. Trevor turned off at the top of Wolford and it was just the 5 of us for the rest of the day. We made it to the turn off for Palomar and regrouped at the store. Waiting for us was Terry’s husband Billy with a minivan full of supplies. This was a dream day. I was going on a long ride with a support van. If you had any idea how many long rides I had made carrying a days worth of food with me you would truly appreciate a support car. Dreams do come true.

We started out to through the base of Palomar and Kim and Kate were still going harder than I could so I once again let them go and road my own pace. At the turn, I finally caught Kim, who informs me he didn’t realize we were going up Palomar. Sorry man, not your day. A little later, I passed Kate and held a steady pace to the top. We regrouped at the top and with Billy’s help were all filled up with food and fluids for a while.

We cruised down the other side and over the Mesa Granda. I had never been up Mesa granda and Kate was hanging back with Kim so I road smooth along the rollers figuring we would regroup at Dudley’s. As you make a sweeping left before the last hard right my great day came to an end. As I was setting up for the last turn, I hit a small pothole and catapulted onto the road. I went from being able to see Dudley’s to sliding on my face along the road. I managed to push my face off the road and eventually came to a stop. I sat up and looked back and saw a pothole. In retrospect, I hit the pothole and launched myself into the road. Fortunately, I wasn’t hit by a car, I was far enough ahead of the others that I didn’t take them out and I didn’t black out.

Immediately, two motorcyclists stopped and one had a first aid kit. About 5 min later, Billy was there simultaneously a fire truck pulled up. The fire truck called and ambulance and they looked over me and cleaned me up a bit and released me to be taken to a hospital by Billy. As many of you know, I tend to talk a lot. I think I said less than 5 words on trip. Originally, I wanted to go urgent care and they saw the damage to my face and set me to the ER at Scripps Memorial. I debated going by home to get my insurance and id but the more I thought about and the look on Billy’s face let me know the ER was the only choice.

After a few hrs in the waiting room, they admitted me and began cleaning up the damage. After a brief examination, they thought I only needed stitches but I convinced them to give me a CT of my jaw because it hurt to talk/swallow. They pushed on it but they thought it was OK, I disagreed. They gave me a chest x-ray and ct scan. The crest x-ray was clear but the ct scan showed I had broken my jaw in three places. They brought in an oral surgeon who began stitching up my face.

After bandaging my wounds and finishing the stitches, they said they couldn’t get me into an OR until Mon/Tues so asked if I wanted to be admitted or released. Well, the last time I was in a hospital I got a drug resistant Staph infection so I was voting for release. The doc thought about for a while and said there might be some problems if they released me so I said I would stay if he would try and get the operation done sooner.

Now it was about 7 PM and I hadn’t eaten since 12:30 so I was starving. Patrick, Paula and Kate took my key from Billy and they dropped off my bike/etc.. and grabbed some clothes and more importantly some chocolate milk to drink. I think that is the best tasting milk I have ever had. The next day they couldn't get an OR but they didn't inform me of this until 3PM so I spent another 15 hours away from fluids but did have several visitors and I could talk with only limited pain so the day pasted by relatively quickly.

On Mon, they got the OR booked at 5PM. The operation lasted 3 hours over which they put a plate into my lower jaw and wired/banded my jaw shut. Jeff and Jen were there when I came out of the OR and talked briefly with my surgeon. Jen was even kind enough to do a brief background check on him to make sure I wasn’t getting a loser. Thanks Jen, that knowledge was really comforting going into the OR. My jaw will be wired close for the next 2 weeks and then have some retainer in it for another 4 weeks. I am still a little fuzzy on this part but he mentioned he would open it after two weeks. I will know more on Fri.

I have some minor abrasions on my arms and leg that are healing nicely. I have about 20 to 30 stitches in my lips, a permanent plate in my jaw and a couple of chipped teeth. As bad as it sounds, it could have been so much worse. As a final stroke of luck, I was trying out the arm coolers made by DeSoto Sports. They are very similar to arm warmers only white and made out of material designed to increase cooling. I don’t know how much they increase cooling but they were keeping the sun off me and on second ride were helping me out. Best of all, they took a lot of the beating and saved my arms from some series damage. Granted it is the shortest period of time I have ever had an article of clothing, I am sure they saved my arms. Thanks Emilo DeSoto.

Talking is not fun but acceptable in person. Over the phone it can get very bad because you will not be able to completely understand me and I can’t write out what I want to say. I will be responding to email. I am currently at home recovering. Kona is still on my mind and I hope to get on a bike soon. I will be taking it easy for a while though. I will keep you informed.

Escape from Alcatraz

2008-09-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

Escape from Alcatraz is probably my favorite triathlon. The entire race is so unique that you either love it or hate and I love it. This year the weather was perfect. It was clear, sunny and for San Fran warm. I stayed at a friend’s house in Mountain View the night before and drove up to the race on Sun morning. Everything was great until I tried to find parking on race day. I took a wrong turn and got really lost. Fortunately. I managed to find my way back to the starting area and found parking at the Exploratorium. However, I was freaking out as I was driving away from San Fran on a highway with no exit in site on race day morning.

I dropped my bike off in transition and managed to find a good friend Charisa. We talked and relaxed together on the bus and fairy trip out to the start. The start is insane and great. They line the pro and challenged athletes up on the outside of the boat and send them off. Next, they open a 4 foot opening on the front and back of the boat and everyone files out as fast as they can. I was off the boat early and began swimming as fast as possible. It’s swim or get landed on. It reminds me of the old Disney films were they show the Lemings jumping off the cliff. FYI, the boat ride kills your warm-up so I tried put Flex-Power on under my wetsuit and it was a great idea. It kicked in and started warming me up just before I jumped into the bay. My gamble paid off.

The swim is the best part of the day. You start in the shadow of Alcatraz island, jump into fridged waters (mid 50’s F) and aim no where near the finish. It’s the creepiest feeling to know you are swimming at the wrong landmark but knowing the current will pull you to the right place. I managed to stay clear of everyone and got out of the water feeling OK in 31min and 05 seconds.

Once you are out, you run around 1 km a lot the shore to your bike. I swam in booties so I decided to forgo the chaos of finding and putting on shoes and run in them to the transition area. The booties kept my feet safe, no cuts, and off with my wetsuit and time for the bike.

The started out smoothly. I was getting into a great rhythm up the first hill and as I crested, I shifted to my biggest gear for the downhill. Suddenly, my chain was stuck and I had to stop. A volunteer helped free my chain from my bike and I was off. About 30 sec later, I shifted to me biggest gear again and my chain overshifted and was jammed between my cassette and frame. I hadn’t adjusted my gears properly when I changed over to my race wheels. Rookie mistake. Oh well, now I new. The rest of the ride I made sure to avoid my biggest gear and everything went well. I road 54 min 6 sec and counting a couple stops that’s not too bad.

I was off onto the run. I latched onto a fellow competitor coming out of transition and got a great pus for the first mile. The first few miles are flat so I got into a great pace and saw a couple friends on the side of the course cheering me one. Thanks John and Steven. After a few flat miles, you go up some stairs and onto the trails. As I exited the trails, I caught one of the elites and ran with him down to the bay and along the sand. We stayed together until the famous sand ladder. I ran smoothly up the wooden planks that form the ladder with only a couple missed steps to slow me down (2 min 14 sec time). I gapped the guy I was running with and came back on the trail for the run back. I was moving through the runners on their way out well and bringing runners back until the stairs. I go down stairs really badly. I was passed by the guy I dropped on the sand ladder and forced to chase the entire way back. I pushed as hard as I could but couldn’t catch him. I was able to reach out and touch him at the finish line but couldn’t over take him. I ran 48 min 3 sec and ended up finishing in 2hr 19 min and 40 sec. That put my as the 7^th amateur, 2^nd in my age group and I had the fastest amateur run of the day. I was pretty happy.

To make the day even better, Charisa matched my age-group finish with a 2^nd of her own. We topped off the day with an amazing breakfast at one of the local shops before a long car trip. I had a great day and still love this race. I can’t wait until next year.

Brian

Ironman Arizona 08'

2008-06-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

In early April I finish Ironman Arizona. It was my 9th IM finish and my fastest time. Below is my story I hope you enjoy...
I swam 59hr 5 sec; rode 5hr 15 min 10 sec and ran 3 hr 6 min 15 sec, with transitions I finished with a personal best time of 9 hr 26 min and 53 sec. I was 2nd age-group; 5th amateur, 19th overall and had the fastest amateur run of the day. All in all, a pretty dang respectable day.
Now for those of you with time to kill. It’s been a few years since I competed in Kona so I had this strong desire to return and thought IM Arizona would be a good fit. It’s early in the season so I could use living in San Diego to my advantage. It is close enough to drive and lodging in Tempe is pretty reasonable. My general plan was to come into the race with a fair amount of volume but very little intensity and hope everything would go well enough to steal a Kona slot. So other than a couple half marathons and one bike race, everything was low key with a little hard tempo. I knew if I got the slot, I couldn’t peak in April or else I wouldn’t want to race in Oct.
As I started training for IM AZ, I found out whole slew of people who were either racing or going to watch. At this race, I knew more people than at any other IM race I have ever done. It was great. I spent the days before race relaxing with the Wed night San Marcos track group (the other Brian, Charisa, Ken, Jeff, Becky, Steven, Alan, Julie). A few miles away from them were Mike, Birgit and Annika who were staying at a friend’s (Anders) family’s house after a horrible Craig’s list experience. Then several others were out on the course and about 5 more, for example Kim, were racing.
The day before the race was a perfect. I morning mini triathlon followed by turning everything in for the race and back at my hotel for lunch. I spent the afternoon hanging out with track guys and gals from San Marcos and finished it off with a nice dinner with Mike and Anders’s families. My prerace dinner was ideal. Let me tell you, nothing takes your mind off a race like watching a little girl play in the yard and twin boys playing with trains. Combine that with some nice stuffed pasta and life couldn’t be better. Right before I went to bed, I checked my phone and Mac sent me great text; “race smart, good luck and drink a lot”. Perfect advice before going to sleep.
On race day, I awoke around 3:45 AM, as usual a few minutes before my alarm was set. I hopped out of bed, coated myself in sunscreen, had a bit to eat and off to transition. I made to the start right when transition opened at 5AM and began the long prerace process. I managed to get everything dropped off, have a short run and say hi to a few friends before needing to squeeze into my wetsuit and jump into the lake.
For those of you who haven’t raced in IM AZ, the lake water isn’t exactly the cleanest. It is one of those swims where not only can you not see the person in front of you, you can’t even see your hand if you hold it in front of your face. On the bright side it reminded me of the lakes I swam in Texas and Florida when I was just getting into triathlons. However, what the water lacked in quality it more than made up for in ambiance. The start occurs under two bridges that were lined with spectators. I have to admit it was really cool to swim out to the start and see everyone looking down at you.
After getting pummeled at the start of IM Canada last year, I decided to play it safe this time and start near the outside. Fortunately, the course is one out and back loop that does do a slight dog leg. Now, if I could only swim straight and navigate off the blinding sum I would not swim that much extra and hopefully be safe. I went out hard and then managed to find an open stretch of water. I was able to swim out of the anarchy for most of the swim. I knew it was going to cost me some time but better to give up a little here and not get our with a black eye like last time.
The interesting/fun part of the swim is the finish. The shore line is really steep so you can’t walk out. Instead, you swim to a set of bleachers and they have people that pull you out of the water and onto the stairs. I felt like a salmon being caught by a bear as I exited. I say 59min on the clock and thought alright life is good. I am in one piece, feel really relaxed and now it’s time to go for a little bike ride.
I made it through transition, relatively slow, but I was calm. I got coated in sunscreen by a few volunteer upon exiting the change tent in hopes of not getting my race number burned into me and hoped onto my bike. The course is three loops around Tempe and the Indian reservation---note not a pretty as it sounds. To my surprise, I looked down and say my heart rate was really low and stable. Normally, I spin really easy for about 20k to lower my hear rate, not today. I had to push a little to get it up to my pace. Wow, a guess I sandbagged the swim a little too much.
On the way out of town, the wind was really strong. I thought to myself, I knew it was good thing I was a few pounds heavier than normal. The extra weight should help to keep me and disc wheel from getting pushed off the road. On the way out of town it was your standard IM chaos. A lot of people were flying by me trying to “make-up” for their swim. Around 5 miles into the course I found myself riding along with Rachael Ross and this other girl. I tried to pass them a couple times but every time I did they came right back by so I just stayed behind them. It was actually really nice. First we had a USAT official escorting us out so I didn’t have to deal with anyone drafting or blocking us. Second, I was sitting just behind a couple cute girls. It helped to distract me from thinking about the wind. On the downside, I was a little concerned about my fitness because my power and HR were right were I wanted them to be.
We hit turn around and the tailwind began pushing us all the way back to town. I let my HR and power drop a bit and stayed calm the entire way back despite getting passed like crazy. I knew it takes a lot of effort to put time on someone in a tailwind. Unfortunately, I dropped my female escorts and began the second loop riding by myself.
On the second loop the wind picked-up a bit and I began to lap competitors. I felt really bad for these people. All I could think was, stay clear of them and boy they are going to have a long day out here with all this wind and heat. On the second loop you pick up your special needs bag, mile 63. I timed it well because there were not a lot of other athletes around me so the volunteers had my bag ready for me so I didn’t have to stop.
In my bag I was able to refill my food supplies and get a couple bottles. At the end of the second lap I was passed by a guy I raced against from Colorado. I knew he was pretty quick so gave me confidence I was having a respectable race. Just an aside, here: I normally wear one watch and one HR monitor (another watch) when I race. However, I never look at the total time or my overall splits. I used it mainly for salt/food timing on the bike and getting a couple mile splits on the run. In general, I concentrate on fellow competitors or HR/power. So, despite having more timing gear than everyone else I am clueless how long I have been out there.
At the end of the second loop, I felt something really disturbing. As I was shifting, I felt my rear derailleur cable fraying. I knew/hoped I had a lot of strands remaining, but I didn’t want it to break while I was riding into the wind. So, on the third lap, I was really nervous shifting. This is part of the problem when you are lazy and don’t have a bike shop sponsor. I adjusted my gears and looked over my tires but didn’t check my cables. Ops. Fortunately, on the third loop the wind died down. It didn’t go away but it dropped at least 5 mph and the gusts were fewer and more time separated them.
I held to my plan, shifted less, but I pushed the top of my zone on the way out and let it drop on the way back. By then, the course was littered with competitors I was lapping and others who were drafting like mad. One group of 5 passed me and I could see the last two guys looking over there shoulders for officials. In my opinion, that is the difference between an honest mistake and cheating. If you are looking for the official you are cheating! Eventually, an official came by and broke up the group. As soon as he did, I passed them like they were standing still. The good news about the tailwind finish was it let me rested right before I got off the bike. By holding to my plan of easy with a tailwind, my HR dropped to the lower end of my IM race zone just before the run.
I dropped my bike off to the volunteers and took my standard clumsy steps into the transition tent. All in all I was feeling OK, with only some minor leg tightness. When I entered the tent, I started to think I must be doing better overall because I had two volunteers helping my out. One was grabbing stuff out of my bag and the other was applying another layer of sunscreen. I managed to stop off at the port-a-pot before leaving transition and pee. I good sign in hot weather. I exited the tent and was off on the run course.
The run is three laps around Tempe town lake and the surroundings. The loops are a series of nested figure eights. On the bright side, you can’t see that far ahead. The down side is you can’t get into a good rhythm because you are constantly turning. After passing through and aid station about 200m into the run, you head out along the lake and through a parking lot onto a street.
Having never done the course, I thought I was going the right way. However, there was no one around me. Let me tell you there is nothing scarier than running along feeling relaxed and not seeing anyone. Really, all I saw until mile one were mile markers for different laps (big number) and orange cones. About the time I was starting to freak out, I saw mile one and the silhouette of a Pro woman in the distance. I started my watch to get my split and took a big sigh of relief.
I was feeling good and really holding back on my run. I went through the next mile in 6:32 and then the next mile in 6:45, I had to hop over a concrete barrier after following another athlete to the wrong side of a barrier while crossing a bridge, so that meant I was running about the same pace. Now, no need to look at me watch until the next loop. Relax and eat/drink.
My general plan was go out no faster then 6:30 and no slower than 7, unless I needed to run slower. I knew I could run faster but I still had a long way to go and boy would it hurt later. My plan was to treat it like a normal marathon, run easy for 16 miles and then gradually turn the screws until the tank was empty. With three loops it worked out great, two loops of easy running and one loop of, so how bad do you want to go to Kona.
The first two loops went just as planned. I was running easy and found several of my friends watching around the course. It was great because they were in different locations, Dave on the bridge, Ken in the wasteland, Julie start/finish, and Jeff/Becky on the back side loop. A couple miles from the finish of my second lap, the guy who won the race passed me like I was standing still followed by Jarred Japp ( I actually passed him on lap one and ran most of lap two just ahead of him). Both of these guys managed to chase down one of my friends from my Austin days James Bonney just before he finished. Sorry man, I can’t imagine what it is like to lead from the swim and get passed by three guys in the last 5k.
Just as I started my third loop, I passed a guy I thought was in my age-group. While I could only make out the 3 on his calf, he looked about my age and it took me 4 miles to run him down. I caught him and saw the 16 mile mark so I surged and began racing. I was still feeling strong through 18 and as I was going through the next aid station, they didn’t have any ice. I was placing ice in my cap to keep cool and they didn’t have any. I was in race mode so I didn’t grab any water to toss on myself, instead I just keep going. At the next aid station, I grabbed my normal food but there were too many people in the way to get ice and once again, I didn’t compensate and douse myself with water. Big mistake that cost me.
By mile 20, I was not feeling good. When I came off the bridge I was wondering how in the world was I going to finish. My pace had slowed to what felt like a walk and I felt as if my head was going to explode from the heat. When I hit the next aid station, I walked through it and got some much need ice and water. I shuffled my way to the next aid station, walked through it and was passed by the guy I overtook at my 16. I couldn’t do anything about it. Fortunately, I wasn’t aware we were first and second in my age-group at the time or else I might have tried something stupid.
After the second easy aid station and a couple slow miles, I started to come back to life. It was a really slow process but I was starting to feel better. I knew it was bad because I passed Jeff who was giving me splits and encouragement to chase down the guy ahead on lap two, but this time all he said was “keep it up.” With about two miles to go, I passed Kim and I was finally back to “normal” running.
I was in a lot of pain but the finish was approaching and I just wanted to get this thing done. I made the turn to the finish line and paranoia set in. I didn’t want to look over my shoulder but I wanted to know if anyone was near so I was asking the volunteers if anyone was behind me. They said no and then I started to ask the next guy because I didn’t trust the first one.
Just before the finish, I ran past Charisa and Steven who were sprinting to get me crossing the finish line. I then looked up at the clock and saw 9:26 and was in shock. I had no clue I was going that fast. Then on top of that, the Pro women were spraying champagne everywhere. I have to admit it was the first time I ever ran through a mist of champagne. Heather Gollink totally coated me.
I crossed the finish line and I was done. After talking to Charisa, I was told Steven has a great picture of me crossing the line and I look like I am going to pass out. I guess a picture is worth a thousand words. I was confident I had a Kona slot but didn’t have a clue were I was on my age-group. I didn’t know where I finished until a few hours later when Andy called me and told me. With all the loops you just don’t know where you are at. Needless to say, I was really happy when I got off the phone with him.
The next day at the awards ceremony, I discovered I had the fastest amateur run on the day. That was cool and a repeat of my Lake Placid performance a few years back. Thanks for reading this far. I want to say thank you to all of you who helped in my prep. I can’t say how much it helped to have people with me for all or part of my long rides and runs. Also, to everyone who called/wrote to wish my luck or congrat’s. Thanks it means a lot to me. Now it’s time for celebration along with some pizza/burgers and beer.

Brian