Hangin' Loose

Well I will give a little report here of the IMSG.  WOWWWW!!!  Was it awesome.  I had a blast at it volunteering.  So I will try to break down the 21hrs that I was involved with it the day of.  The expo was really cool too.  So I will start there.

I guess the expo starts on Wed and went till Fri.  And we needed to be there on Fri at 5:30 for a meeting.  So got there 2 hrs early and hit the expo.  It was really cool seeing all the different gear and such.  And just looking at all the IM stuff.  Got to the meeting with 4,000+ other volunteers.  Kristi wasn't able to go to the race due to being really sick.  Which was really tough on her and I.  My Mom took her spot though for the wetsuit stripping.  Got our tshirts and was told to be there at the Sand Hallow @ 4:30AM.  So of course we needed to get up bright and early.  Got up at 3:10 to get ready to leave at 3:45 to get there on time.  We got there in plenty of time and it was nice and cold.  Bit breezy but still great.

So here we are at the Swim @ 5-5:30 the buses started pulling in with all the racers.  Ran into someone I knew from the Desert Sharks and helped out first with doing the body marking.  And got alot of great advise about the races and T times and such.  So it was great along with helping everyone get ready.  It is a lot different then a normal tri.  There was 2,000 or so doing it.  So tons of bikes.  And was different sections.  So we as markers were 20 strong marking everyone that hadn't been marked yet.  One of the gals that was there marking also was a Pro and also is the one I think I will hook up with later to get some swimming lessons from.  So got some great advise from her too. The pros start at 6:45 and the age groupers(AGs) start at 7.  So we were suppost to met at 7 for a meeting.  As the time got closer there were alot of people still not in there wetsuits or dropping off there drop bags.  So Bill and I started running around and helping those people zip up there suits and dropping off there bags.  It was just crazy crazy crazy.  I learned a good lesson there not to be in that situation.  Bill kept saying.  You dont want to be in this situation.  They should of been done at the PoP 20 mins ago.  They should of been here 15 mins ago.  They should of been down to the water 20 mins ago.  Just giving me a ton of great info.  And I was seeing the panic there.  We helped all the people we could before making our way to the start of the swim for the AGs.  And watched as the cannon went off and all the white water.  It was so exciting.  There was a few thousand people there for support.  WOW!!   So off to our post at the Swim OUT.

So we found where we needed to be and the sun was just coming up.  They had one loop around the lake to get in the 2.4 miles.  Meet up with my Mom, Bill and Keith(Husband of one of the women in the race and in the club with us).  So we had a few mins before the Pros came in.  But then we saw a few older people coming over.  It was odd.  I guess they either got pulled or something happened.  But they were done already.  Then the first guy got out of the water.   He didn't need our help at all.  We were about 20-5 strong for the strippers.  And he just flew by us and was into the change tent and on his bike before the next guy even came past us.  He was fast and strong.  And most of the first AGs didn't want help either.  The bulk of them came at 1:15-30 and it was crazy and busy.  Water and people going this way and that.  Some knew what we were there for.  Others were dazed and need some help talking with to know what was going on.  It was alot of fun trying to help as many people as I could.  Did some by myself later tag teaming with 1-2 others.  Lesson learned for sure.  Don't put your watch on the outside of your suit or your timing chip.  It was interesting also how people were coming in waves almost.  Alot of grouping up for sure happened here.  And as it got closer to the 9:20 cut off time.  They were getting more dazed and slower coming up to us.  They were cold and some we would send to the warm up tent to get warmed up.  And it was really sad as the time got closer to see them struggling way out there.  And knowing they were getting to close.  And some weren't going to make it.  The last guy of the 4 that didn't make it was only 6 mins short.  Then the ones still in T1 had only 10 mins to get out of there or they were done.

 We were able to leave around 10am and followed the last of the riders out.  Figured it was going to take a few hrs still before they get to the running part of the race.  The bike is great and all but hard to cheer for people on that part of it.  So we took a break and got in a shower, washed up our wet clothes.  Dad wanted to come at this part and so at 2 we headed for the T2 and Finish area.  Saw what a cluster it was and decided to just go up the route some where they were 3 lanes of traffic.  Closest to us was the bikers coming in to T2.  Then the mile 1 or 14 going out and then the farthest lane over was the runners coming back in.  Mile 12 or 25.  So we hung there and cheered for bikers and runners.  We were able to catch the finishers coming in and I was able to see all the different people I knew finally.  My poor hands were chapped from all the clapping.  At 5:30 was the cut off for the bike.  And as that got closer you would see people coming in more and more frantic.  As they knew they were getting close to the cut off.  And there was alot more that didn't make that cut off then the swim.  We crossed over the street at that point and was just cheering for all the runners.  This time we were close enough to see that their names were on there bids just below their numbers.  So I would call out there names and boy then they really started to respond alot more.  A few of the other crowd came and asked how I knew so many people.  So then pointed out to them about the names.  Which really gave the runners a added boost.  It was like a death march for some of these guys.  They were just walking.  Some would pick it up after some encouragement.  And others were in a zone.  I had to cut that cheering section short. 

At 7:45 PM was when I needed to get to my pick up point to get shuttled up to my aid station 4 shift from 8 to 11pm.  They had a aid station about every mile.  So I was at mile 4, 17.  And they would be passing us on the other side of the road 9 and 22.  Boy was it getting cold at this point with the wind.  We had 6 tables with different stuff at each.  I was at the 2nd table with water and ice.  And again this is on a uphill part so they were mostly walking into the aid station and very tired.  They had already been out at least 13hrs and still had at least 1-4 more to go to make the 17hr mark which they cut them off at mid night.  It was fun and exciting to help everyone.  And help pick people up.  I would ask them by name "Jason you want water or ice??", "Jennifer you want water or ice??".  Great job and keep it up.  The others on the other side of the road I couldnt see there names as well in the dark.  And would just cheer for them.  As the clock was ticking closer and we stopped at around 10 with the last of our people coming.  I just cheered for all those going back down.  I also ran with my companion from the MTC for a while and gave him some more encouragement.  Haven't seen him for 18 or so yrs.  He was really surprised that I was able to pick him out of the crowd. 

So we cleaned up our aid station and watched as the last runner passed and left.  They let us take what was left of the bananas, oranges, power bars and etc.  I just took some bananas and a box of power bars.  And headed back to the finish area.  I had at least a mile to walk to my car.  And passed by the finish line to get there.  There was still 20 mins left till it was midnight.  And I really didn't want to stay around there.  I wanted to save that experience for when it was my turn.  When I would hear.  MARK OWENS YOU ARE A IRONMAN!!!!!  There was a huge crowd there.  At least a thousand strong at the finish and more up along the streets.  It was awesome experience.  And has only made me want to do it even that much more.

It was exciting to volunteer at my first race and it being a Ironman that much better.  I learned alot of things from it.  And I am proud that I was part of it.

This morning we went to do our swim and the pool was closed.  So after work we went to KOPFC and signed up the family for a yr.  And swam there outdoors.  It was a bit chilly but still a great swim and workout.  Here in a couple weeks they will open up the 50 m part which will be really sweet.  So now we are thinking of doing the Bear Lake Brawl again.  So we will see about training programs again.  Not sure about the time on the swim since no watch.

Ran with the wife after work.  Did a recovery run for 40 mins.  Was a bit windy and it was a new route.  So wasn't to bad.

AM- Yep you read right 1000!!  I am not sure if I have done that much before.  Because its so hard for me to keep track of that and everything else.  But today we went earlier for say.  And did a set workout which of course means we would know just how far we went.  Kind of trying a new training program for say.  That has you doing sets instead of just time.  So it was a warmup for 300, 10 x 50 and then 200 cooldown.  WOW!!  That would mean I would need to swim a full lap.  I think in the tri I did I only did that once on the 400.  So I was suppost to do 50 then 10-15 sec break.  Hmm yeah well it was a bit longer then that.  First one went off ok.  I think that one I made it back all the way.  2nd one nope had change out of freestyle. 3-7 were really struggles.  5-7 I actually had to stop at about 40 yds.  Well I dont know if I had to but ended up stopping wondering what the heck was going on.  Did some back strokes to get the last 5 or so.  Then my wife gave me some great encouragement.  And said something like trust your ability to swim or something like that.  So I realized I wasn't rotating with my core as much.  So I changed that up to rotating my body more.  Which of course makes it much easier to move plus is effortless power from just rotating.  And I noticed also the turn around.  When I would push off it would throw off my rythem and I speed up or something.  And that would mess up my 2nd 25.  So with rotating my core more I was able to breath much easier and I MADE IT!!  8 I made it all the way.  A bit out of breath but I did it.  9 and 10th were even better.  Sure out of breath but I DID IT!!  For my last 200 I did 150 with fins.  Doing more core rotation and WOW!!  I was flying.  And it was effortless and right on top of the water.  I will have to really work on that part of my swimming.  Its great to have a great training partner there to help when I needed it most.

300 warm-up

10 x 50

200 cool down

Got in a good run this morning.  Was a breezy 33 degrees.  But felt pretty good on the run.  Haven't really ran much lately it seems and wanted to test the waters a bit.  Feeling good not sure how I will run Ogden and UVM still pace wise that is.

Mile 1 8:29

Mile 2 8:10

Mile 3 8:43

Mile 4 7:53

Mile 5 7:34

Mile 6 6:07

TT 46:59 AP 7:53

Meet with Malaika a personal trainer.  That specializes in tri and swimming.  So did some swimming and she helped me out alot with my kicking and a few other drills.  Was great.

Also in for SG marathon.  Since I ran the series I wasn't sweating it.:)

Went for a nice ride this morning with the wife.  Rode out to Herriman to check out the course for the Day Break Tri that we have coming up next.  And ran into the Goldie Locks woman's only bike ride.  Was kind of cool watching all them doing there ride.  Had a great time checking out the course and finding out where the race will be at.  And the hill climb out.  Then the speedy ride back to the lake.  That Oquirrh Lake is a big one.  There was sure a lot of runners out there running around it.  Was a nice cadence long ride for the most part.  Didn't push it too hard for it.  And just outside a mile out Kristi changed her first flat on the road.:)

TT 2:10:00 31 miles.