Will the Normannator Repeat in Kona? Wed. - Fri. 10/12

Tomorrow is Super Saturday. The Big Kahuna. The Throwdown in Kona, Hawaii. It's the annual Ironman Triathlon World Championship. Hot, humid and usually windy. Swim 2.4mi in the ocean sans wetsuit, bike 112mi, run 26.2. It's hard to fathom anyone really racing over these distances, but they do. The pros start at 6:45, the 1500 or so age groupers at 7.

Cue the dramatic music and the Keith Jackson voice over...

Normann Stadler (German) is the reigning male champ, looking to nab his 3rd title. Michellie Jones (down undah) took her first crown last year. She won with an even race, strong across each discipline, took the lead in the bike and just kept cruising.

They say Normann wins it on the bike, can't run. In '06 he rode away from the field, building a 10+ min gap with a course record bike split of 4hr18mins (!), and capped it with a 2:55 run. In the IM world a sub 3hr marathon is downright fast. Sub 2:50 is amazing, and there may be a few of those. Sub 2:40 has never happened.

This year Normann and Michellie will be marked. Does any lady have the ability to stay in the same zipcode as MJ over the course of the day? The key strategy for the men will revolve around bike pacing. They are not likely to gamble that Normann will leave his run legs on the bike course, he's demonstrated the ability to back up even a crazy fast bike effort with a fast run.

Which is riskier - possibly trashing your legs on the bike to stick with him, or, holding back and hoping you'll have the better run legs sufficient to run down the rabbit? Might Normann blow up if riders stick with him and he goes harder than ever in order to create a cushion on the bike?
Will someone new assert themselves, have a dream day bubble up from within on the day of days?

Online streaming video coverage, ironmanlive.com. How'd ya like to be the color commentator tasked with filling roughly 10hrs?

Wed. 10-10
No exercise. Massage and chiro. Lara went hard on the spot by the knee corner and the achilles.

Thur. 10-11 S & B-R
Swim 6a-7a with Dan B
200 wup
Drills: Hip snap drill swimming with hands together stretched out front, zoomers on, snap hips 1/4 turn every few beats, go all the way around, change direction of snap roll every 25yds.
Stroke and glide - 100
Fist - 100yds
10x50 free on 1:30, alternate hard and moderate intensity (nondominant side breathing on mod efforts); hard efforts were :52-:49
100 Back stroke
Cool 100 free

Run-Bike in eve
Run steady 40mins, ~5.5 mi, relaxed 6min trans to bike.
Bike – QR trainer easy ride

Entire workout (165 watts):
Duration: 44:31
Work: 442 kJ
TSS: 41.5 (intensity factor 0.748)
Norm Power: 172
VI: 1.04
Distance: 14.585 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 243 165 watts
Heart rate: 93 152 139 bpm
Cadence: 32 93 85 rpm
Speed: 3 22.4 19.7 mph

Fri. 10-12 R & S
Run 56/60mins steady, ~7.5mi, 3-4min pause to assist an elder neighbor who was helpless to get a trunk full of groceries inside. Start and end run at MAC

Swim 40mins. Warmup free, Side swim, hip snap, fist, 3x100 on 2;45 (2:10, 2:05, 2:05), 3x50 on 1:30 (all ~:52); 150 kick board, cool free

Tooosday 10-9

DeSoto American Triple T ("TTT"), I'm officially in. Woohoo!
(Gulp.)

Weekend of May 23, 2008. Memorial Day I believe. It's filling fast. First time I've ever registered this far in advance. Plenty of time to get the knee into grade A condition. Feeling good about that, as I seem to be getting a handle on it.

No clue what else I'll treat myself to next year. Would kinda like to return to Savage Mountain at 100% next September. Geneva in July will remain on my radar. That would give me 7 weeks between. Not bad, we'll see. Thankfully, I can hold off till well into '08 before the other two threaten to fill.

I heard a phrase recently, one of those susceptible to broad application. I'll cast it over the notions of perspective and relativity. Roughly, "remember your ceiling is someone else's floor." Or is it "your floor is someone else's ceiling?" Either way. As far as endurance ability and hardassedness, re TTT, I'll be spending 3 days on the TTT course with folks whose athletic floor is my ceiling.

Swim of 45mins this evening. Mix of drills and mindful freestyle.

Weekend of 10-6-07

Haile Gebrselassie, 34 years old, Ethiopa
2:04:26 (4:45 mi avg!!)
A new Marathon World Record by 29seconds
9-30-07 Berlin Marathon

I think I might be a coffee wuss, re my recent post on my java luv.
The Wussification.

Gebrselassie pictured above is a welcome counter to the Marion Jones events. HG has dominated at shorter distances as well. 10K gold in Atlanta in 1996. World Champ as early as 1993. Plays himself in the 1999 film about his life Endurance. Known for his efficient, beautiful run form. This guy absolutely flies and looks effortless doing it. Also holds the current 20K world record.

A nice warm weekend of work and exercise for me. Best bike rides in weeks.
Registration opens today for the May, 2008 Desoto American Triple T weekend of racing in Shawnee State Park, Portsmouth, OH.
Limited to 300 it will fill rapidly. I'm oh soo close to hitting the register button on line. Three days of triathlon (droooool). Starts with short stuff Fri, ends with a Half IM distance Sun.

It's another one of those races on my All Time Must-Do list. Recall that the long distance duathlon American Zofingen was on that list but I opted out of it due to my knee. That will be held for the last time next weekend. Not happening in 2008. So, why not cross the DeSoto TTT off the list in '08? I'll mull it for another 24.

Fri. 10-5 Run & Swim
Run 47mins, ~6.3mi
Swim 43 mins, drills and free.

Sat. 10-6 Bike-Run-Swim
Worked a half day. Mid 80’s, pretty humid.
Bike – Yes! 2hr20min. Best ride since before Savageman. 2hrs before any knee noise, then it whispered “Hello mate, nothing urgent, but I’m still here” now and then over the remaining 20mins. Very happy about this. Longest ride I’ve attempted in weeks. Even did some up tempo but controlled time standing up on the hills.

~6min trans to run

Run ~37mins, ~5mi.
Swim very easy recovery swim, 25mins, low level effort, focus on form, easy drills and fre

Sun. 10-7 Run & Swim
Work half a day. Run 69mins, ~9.5mi, mi 8 in 6:42. Ran it fairly frisky throughout, pushed it intentionally for just a single mile. ~85F, bit of humidity.
30mins stretch and recovery and refuel.
Swim Swim 35mins mix of drills, some with zoomers, easyish free

Mon. 10-8 Bike
(Columbus Day) Worked a short day and got out on the bike for ~90mins.
Another exquisitely knee-free ride! Near 90F. Lovin' it.