TriSupporter

Just when you thought customer service was extinct...

...the people at Hammer Nutrition show it's working to keep it alive. You already know its Perpetuem has made a huge change in Ri-guy's nutrition plan. Since starting Hammer products full-time, no nausea, no bonking, etc. We're hoping it's the key to his nutrition for the Ironman (in 9 days Oh MY GOD!)

This is no 100-pairs-of-socks story like Steve in a Speedo's, but it is about one pair of socks.

Last weekend, Ri-guy placed his last Hammer order before Ironman Wisconsin. This is stuff he wants for the race. We're leaving next Thursday so he needed it at least by next Wednesday and preferably this week. Well he earned free shipping which based on their calculations would put the product on our doorstep Tuesday the 2nd. At the end of the order form was a textbox for comments so I added a request for speedy processing because of the IM. I figured they wouldn't ship faster and I was too cheap to pay for express shipping, but they might be able to hurry things up on their end.

Today, just 5 days from  our order (placed on a weekend), the truck pulls up to the house and in the brown box placed on our doorstep is all of Ri-guy's order including bars, gel, pill carriers, tri shorts and extra water bottles.

The best part of getting Hammer shipments is the free stuff they throw in there. So I went through the box looking for the freebies...a few single pouches of Heed and Recoverite...nice. A few temporary Hammer tats...cool. Then I saw them.

Wrapped in a little plastic bag tucked between water bottles...

...black Hammer cycling socks!!

Wow...he got free socks!! How cool is that? Not only did they actually process the order quickly, they gave him a pair of socks! Hammer--you guys and gals ROCK!!

So could Dry Max socks be too far off? We love those socks too.

9 days till IMoo...ding, ding.

Jackson County Tri Recap

Let's get the results out of the way: 2:20:08. He was 17th out of 33 in his age group and 8th for the swim, 26th bike, and 9th run...what needs work?

Now...about the day...yesterday we left the house at 5:15am to drive the 25 minutes to Longview Lake. As we approached we found a long line of red brake lights. That's never a good sight. But, we stayed in place and slowly rolled along to the parking. When we got within sight of the turn to the lake, I watched as the man in the Camry in front of us reached to the passenger side...maybe he double-checking that he had his bib? As he continued to reach and dig around, I started to worry...he was rolling, slowly, but rolling...but the car in front of him was not. "Oh crap...stop!" Too late, all we could see was the Felt Tri bike swinging from its hitch mounted rack.

"Oh crap" again...Camry guy got out of his car and then Felt guy. They checked it out, shook hands, and returned to their cars. Whew! crisis averted...for both guys: Camry guy who could have ruined a nice bike and the Felt guy who didn't have to return home before even starting the race. It was very cool of the Felt guy. Luckily the little bump didn't cause too much of a delay in our effort to get parked.

Once parked, Ri-guy pumped up the tires and we made our way over to transition. It was chilly and I was not prepared; I was just wearing my TriSupporter t-shirt. I need to get a sweatshirt. But this is the last Tri around here for the season.

As we entered the transition area, Coach Ken was there was his headlamp shining like a beacon...he was volunteering. It was my first time meeting him...finally, right? I mean I make sure this guy gets paid every month and I'm only just meeting him??? He was funny...he did a 'we're not worthy' bow to Ri-guy's new bike. Actually, I think Ri-guy was happy to see him. He's been so pleased with his coaching and impressed with how hands on he's been. We'll owe him a lot when Ri-guy finishes Ironman Wisconsin.

After getting set up at an end spot of the rack (lucky find), I took some pictures of the bike and his set up since it was Lola's first race (yeah, I think he's naming the bike Lola after the Kinks song but it is still to be decided). I went and filled his water bottles and saw that Epic Bike Shop was on site--you may recall that's where Ri-guy got Lola. It was so nice to see Scott and his guys there. We went over to say HI and they wished Ri-guy luck.

As the crowd grew (900 participants), the first five heats lined up. Ri-guy was in heat 2 which was huge as usual. Heat 1 took off at 7 am and as the group swam past the third buoy, a guy started running towards the water...he was late. The other guys were giving him some grief. Not only was he late, but then he started swimming to the left of the first buoy - getting more grief from the crowd. He finally got straightened out but I'm not sure what happened to his time. It had to throw him off cause he was working really hard to catch up to his heat.

Tip: don't be late for your heat.

As Ri-guy entered the water, I heard someone call my name--that never happens...we hardly know anyone here. I looked over and saw Carlene and Carl...and he was not racing! They came out to cheer on Ri-guy. They really are great couple and huge supporters of the triathlon community.

 

As Ri-guy came out of the swim, Carlene got some pictures...she has a great camera and a good eye...she even got Ri-guy smiling. We saw him take off for the bike but didn't get to see him try mounting the bike with his shoes clipped in. He's never done that before and so we tried the rubber band technique - he tied it the loop on the shoe then hooked it to the quick release on the left and the bottle rack on the right. We hoped it would break off. The report from Ri-guy - it worked! Snapped off no problem.

As Carlene and I made our way to the bike route at the u-turn point, Carl left for a 7 mile run...impressive or crazy...you decide. We saw Ri-guy twice and Carlene got more pictures...he sure looked happy to be racing Lola for the first time. Finally we waited on the run course but we were on the short run course so we never saw Ri-guy...oh well. We rang cowbells for a lot of other people. After estimating that Ri-guy had been running 5 miles in 50 minutes...I finally went to look to see if we missed him...sure enough he was changed, drinking water, and talking to a triathlete (Trish) that is also coached by Ken. We found out he'd been done for quite awhile Oh well...we tried!

It was a great day...beautiful blue skies, cool breeze, lots of happy people, good result, and I had fun hanging out with friends. And now, it's just 13 days to IMoo...I think we're ready!!

Jackson County Triathlon

Tonight we're prepping for Ri-guy's last race before Ironman Wisconsin. He'll be doing tomorrow's Jackson County Long Course Triathlon...it's not quite an Oly but close. It's being held at Longview Lake in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Thankfully, it's only a 25 minute drive!!! Since moving to the KC area, we haven't been to a race that is that close. We'll actually be able to sleep in...well as much as one can the morning of a triathlon.

Ri-guy is threading the Yankz through his new running shoes (they match too)...he's already broken them in a bit and should be good to go for IMoo but he may still use his other ones because he knows those won't give him a problem whereas these new ones haven't seen long runs.

While he's doing that the Puppy Games are on...Animal Planet's Olympics-inspired televised puppy play...it so cute and yet so ridiculous. I guess I'd better switch back to the real Olympics for men's diving...the view is much better ;-)

Good luck to all the althetes at tomorrow's race. Hope to see some of our friends out there. If you see a TriSupporter out there...say Hi, it's likely me.

Ding, ding.

Prepping for Ironman

Okay, if you don't know yet, we're prepping for Ironman Wisconsin. Ri-guy's work outs have gotten downright easy compared to just a few weeks ago. He's still working out twice a day sometimes but the intensity and duration have been cut dramatically. This actually comes at a good time cause it seems as you taper for an Ironman, you spend the balance of the newly gained free time planning for the Ironman. In the last week Ri-guy has been writing and revising lists, ordering products, planning his special needs bags, getting cell phones numbers of his WIBA friends (remember them? they're all girls...nice huh?), talking to anyone who has done an Ironman, and reading blogs, websites, and message boards.

While he's been doing what he needs to do, I've been doing what a Sherpa does. I've confirmed travel plans, checked on other people's travel plans, made dinner reservations, booked the doggy hotel, reminded him of things he needs to do (practice changing flats), come up with ways to communicate to friends and family during the race, worked with friends to come up with spectator locations, and researched blog, websites, and message boards for the best places to watch. I can only imagine what the next 2 weeks will bring.

Yes, I said two weeks. "But your countdown clock says more than 2 weeks," you note. Yes, but we leave for Madison in two weeks...in fact, in two weeks, we'll be in Madison.

We've done the research, talked to people, watched videos, viewed photos, even gone to Madison all to prepare for this big event and, yet, I feel we have no idea what is in store for us.

Things are starting to feel real.

Ding, ding.

Olympics: Mens Triathlon

Since 8.8.08 I've been drinking more coffee than normal and sporting dark circles under my eyes...all thanks to the round-the-clock coverage of the Olympics. I had thought that after Phelps won his 8th gold, I would try not to be so consumed by the coverage. But on Sunday night, the tv was on and the laptop was going with live women's triathlon coverage. I stayed up way too late.

Then there was last night. Men's triathlon. WOW! If you missed the men's triathlon last night, wow did you miss a fun finish. It was awesome...exciting...worth staying up for.

You might be thinking, "Hey, it wasn't on NBC or any of the 50 other channels with Olympics coverage." Nope, it wasn't. It was live, online at nbcolympics.com. So at 10 pm, we fired up the laptop and launched the streaming video which by the way provides impressive clarity thanks to the Silverlight player. Matt Fitzgerald provided written commentary...it was sort of nice not having to listen to commentary the whole race.

We missed the swim (mix up with time zones) but watched the rest of the race. Unfortunately the US men didn't medal but we were happy to see Hunter Kemper finish in 7th. It was looking good for Gomez who was expected to win but with a few kilometers left, I told Ri-Guy I thought Frodeno would win. Then Whitmore just started kickin it and it was Frodeno and Whitmore with Gomez falling back...he just didn't have it after being in the lead for so long. He didn't medal. Docherty won bronze. And Whitmore just missed the gold after Frodeno sprinted ahead to finish first. The sprint to the finish was just amazing!!

I told Ri-guy right after that NBC will regret not putting that on the air. That's good tv! Maybe they'll recap it tonight.

As for tomorrow...I'm hoping I can get back down to just 2 cups of coffee.

18 days till IMoo. Ding Ding.

New T-Shirt Designs

While Ri-guy has been training for Ironman Wisconsin, I've been busy getting a few new t-shirts designs up at the store. These new designs are for the triathlete. We have a "go green" design that is perfectly paired on an organic cotton t-shirt.

If you're going to cheer on a triathlete at Ironman Louisville or Wisconsin, there is still enough time to order a custom shirt on one of our 140.6 designs. But don't wait too long or you'll have to pay more in shipping. To order a custom shirt, visit the store to check out our current designs, then email me (trisupporter at gmail dot com) with your choice for the front design and what you'd like on the back design. Our recent custom orders usually include "Team X" with X being the first, last or nick name of the person they are cheering. You can also add the race, the date, or any saying. It's up to your imagination!

Be ready for the race.

Ding, ding.

If only I burned 8,000 calories a day

What does it take for an athlete to sustain the caloric demands his or her training requires? Ri-guy has had training days where he's burned 8,000 calories (according to Polar or Garmin). It's hard to fathom burning that many calories. I'm thrilled when I burn 600 at spin class.

All summer we've struggled with making sure Ri-guy gets enough to eat. I think people think it is easy to get that many calories in. They wish they could eat that much. You might think a diner breakfast is 1000 cals, a burrito at Chipotle is 1500 cals, an order of chicken wings are 1500, and we haven't gotten to dinner or snacks. 8000? No problem.

Sure it wouldn't be problem except he shouldn't be eating garbage...he's not 20. He's almost 40 with a family history of heart disease. Loading up on two pizzas is probably not a good idea. Now, you may be thinking, "Gee, Steve in a Speedo eats crap and races well. What's up with that?" Who can explain that? I wouldn't want to eat canned Mac N Cheese (yes it exists) period and certainly not before or after working out.

Clearly, everyone is different. For Ri-guy, he eats fairly healthfully - could eat more veggies. He eats when he's hungry which is often. He often needs to eat two dinners (the first one I made is rarely enough). But, he's easily dropped 20+ pounds since training in earnest for IMoo. He wanted to drop weight of course but he didn't "diet", he just trained and ate and it came off. Imagine living with that??? Well you probably do...just know you're not alone.

I started thinking about all of this when Ri-guy sent me this graphic originally from the Baltimore Sun. It's what Michael Phelps, who as of this post has won 11 gold medals--the most of anyone in history, eats on a typical day. I heard a commentator on NBC mention the breakfast and I remember thinking, "He doesn't eat all that for one breakfast--it must be examples of what he might eat." But, no. He eats egg sandwiches, omelets, grits, french toast, AND pancakes. For breakfast. For one day. Then apparently eats that again the next day. Oh to be an Olympic athlete.

Counting Down

Until last week I hadn't been counting down. Not in any real way. I'm not usually one to count down to things. You generally won't hear me scream, "Oh my god, four days till I XXXX!" I didn't do it for our wedding almost 8 years ago and I suppose if I didn't do it for that, what else would I count down to? I think Ri-guy is somewhat simliar. I don't think he's really been counting down to Ironman Wisconsin, at least not to the day. In fact he sort of takes each week as it comes. When Coach Ken enters his training plan for the following week, that's what Ri-guy does. He never asks, "What's coming up in the next month? When will tapering start?" I'm not sure he's a big picture kind of person. Although, he is definitely not a tree from the forest person either.

I guess he sort of lives in the moment. How strange I don't really know how to explain the kind of person my husband is. In fact, I still don't know exactly why he's doing this. He's not a terribly competitive person - he has been (e.g. high school football); and if one of us competitive, it would be me. I don't think he competes against himself either...in other words he doesn't beat himself up when he doesn't PR a race. But, he does have a goal. He wants to see if he can do this. It's a test, an acheivement that he has decided to measure himself against.

This isn't how the rest of his life is lived. He's not constantly setting goals just to knock them down or punch a list. In other words, he's not climbing Everest in 2010 (god I hope not). It takes him time to find that one test he'll commit himself to. When he does make a commitment though, he's impressive. It blows my mind away. He rarely wavers in his dedication. When he turns it on, it is full force. He's not really a half-way, lukewarm kind of person. He's either all on or all off. (Somehow he does this without the normal intensity one might imagine a person who is 'full force' as having.) He's given this Ironman all of himself.

On August 7th, I put up a countdown timer on the blog. It seemed important to do. The 'thing' to do...the race was only 30 days away. It's been a long journey. We've been planning on this event for 11 months. Eleven months ago, I nervously sat at my computer counting down the minutes till I could try to get him a coveted spot. He was in a meeting and couldn't do it himself.

A day later, I was at my computer again, trying to claim the closest hotel rooms. A few months later, I had located the USAT certifed coach who would become his coach. In February, he began his training. In the next months, training hours picked up and races were scheduled. In the last month the travel arrangements and hotel rooms were confirmed, friends and family contacted, and supplies purchased. So, it seems that we have been counting down. Everything we did was, conscioulsy or not, a countdown to September 7th, 2008.

Only 26 days, 15 hours, 15 minutes, and 43 seconds from now.

Weekend Update: Bikes, razors, needles Part III

Now about those needles.

Maybe you're thinking, "First Ri-guy gets a bike...then he shaves...now he's doping...all to gain speed???????"

Well no. He's not leaving anything to chance but seriously he's not doping...well as long as Hammer's Race Day Boost is legal (it is).

 

Anyway...why the needles? Well in preparation for the IMoo cheering we'll be doing for Ri-guy, I've designed new t-shirts (you'll have to wait to see those) and I sewed 15 stuffed tiger tails so he can't miss us when we're cheering him on!

On Sunday, I went to Hancock fabrics and bought a yard of orange and black tiger print fur fabric.  Why tiger print...it's related to some text on the t-shirt I designed (hint: something about a tiger).

At Hancock, I asked the cutter how many inches I might need to create a tail. Keep in mind, I live in Kansas and here that Jayhawk (cute but not a real bird) is like a god.

Across the state line though (I live about 1/2 mile from it) another animal, a real one, holds sway - it's a Tiger.

She saw my fabric, considered my 'tail' question and responded, "I don't know, I'm a Jayhawk." Eeeks...would she not help??? She then smiled when I told her that I was not making them for Missouri...it's just a coincidence. I'm not sure she believed me though; she helped me anyway.

Later that afternoon, while Ri-guy was getting a massage, I brought up the sewing machine from the basement and began creating 18-inch tails. Each tail got its own elastic wrist band for convenience come race day. After sewing the tails (and breaking one needle), I stuffed each tail then hand stitched the opening. A couple hours after starting my tail making process, I was done.

Let the cheering begin!!

Weekend Update: Bikes, razors, needles Part II

Part I here.

So you're wondering about the razors. Let me first remind you that when Steve shared his chest waxing experience with, well... the world, I had posted that Ri-guy was entertaining shaving his legs. This has actually been an ongoing debate...au naturel or bare naked.

I recall at least a year ago Googling why cyclists (triathletes) shave--we wanted to know the reason. Plus if the reason was...um...reasonable, then he might do it. The results were varied but usually included some or all of the following reasons:

• Aerodynamics - you'll go faster with no hair
• Makes it easier to clean road rashes
• Easier for massages (I guess this benefits the therapist)
• Keeps you cooler
• You're cleaner - no bugs, road grime getting trapped in the hair
• Legs look more defined
• Others cyclists (triathletes) take you seriously

I think the most significant reason though is something deeper.  Human nature is to belong to something...a family, a church, a community, a sorority/fraternity, etc. As adults there are few socially acceptable ways to identify yourself as part of a group. It's one reason people have bumper stickers identifying themselves as marathon runners, Democrats,  and lovers of animals. When a male triathlete shaves his legs, it identifies him as belonging to a particular group. It's a clear signal among cyclists and triathletes that this person belongs to my group: they know what I do and what I go through.

Every man's reasons for shaving may include some or all of the list above, but I think it really boils to down to signaling to the world to what group they belong.

And so, in the following video, you can see if Ri-guy chose to be identified with the triathletes or not. (Note: this is my very first attempt as using movie making software...I'm a long way from good.)