Again. IRONMAN Cozumel

"IRON PAYBACK"

The bottom line is pretty simple. Ironman Cozumel was all business, and a healthy dose of payback I owed "The Distance," after my first one in Florida was a grueling day in 38 degree cold, where I struggled with in-race nutrition and some rookie mistakes. While the accomplishments of that day were not lost on me, foremost... finishing the Ironman, and despite adversity finishing in the top 50% --A week afterwards, I knew I wasn't finished with Ironman. I wanted to play to the best of my ability, and not just finish --but be competitive and my best. Waiting till next season seemed like a horrible option.

Friends Val Murphy and six-time Ironman phenomenon Jack Daly (he has youth going for him at 61) were racing Ironman Cozumel in a couple of weeks. Jack suggested I race with them. On top of it, another friend, and great Ironman athlete, Tony Lillios was racing Ironman Cozumel. The perfect storm was brewing... I mentioned to Jack that I'd love to race with them, but it's been sold out for a year now. Jack throws down the gauntlet and says... "if your serious, let me know, and I'll see what I can do..."

Now I was making phone calls, talking with people with connections to the sport and race. Without a quick win, I flipped it back to Jack. He sprinkled a little of his magic in and shortly thereafter I had a bib number...  "irrational exuberance" followed, as I was now committed to doing back to back Ironmans... a super athletic triathlete and friend looked at me with concern, and said "Mike, that's... unconventional at best..."

What followed was a rather unprecedented crash course in knocking off a couple of weeks of rust from not training at all, and mostly trying to heal up from Ironman Florida days before. The key problem was you can't really taper from a taper. So I did a few short rides and popped the power a few times to see if the legs held up. They were good and I did a couple of runs: 10k, 8 miles, 9 miles with a few intervals to test the legs and still injured hamstring from the first go around. I would wonder at night... how absolutely crazy is this?

A little physical therapy the night before Thanksgiving. A brick workout on Thanksgiving Day, making it home to a house packed with family.  Show up covered in frozen rain on the bike. Then: eat turkey, pack, head out to the airport at 3:30AM... a bronchial infection hits my lungs. Uh-oh, I thought. I'm hacking up some ugly flem, and feel it on the plane. A thousand other things that were a mess of details that only come up on a "walk on" Ironman.... didn't enjoy that part.

Get down there late, most people are doing short workouts and laying in hammocks. I'm running around to register, race briefing, a the thousand details that come with this, and getting sicker. Finally get all the pieces in place, and bike working well.

At a pre-race dinner with the Daly family, I kept hacking up scary stuff on my multiple trips to the mens room. Just tried ignoring it. Worrying wouldnt help.

Then... it's race day. That morning, I realized, I still had sunburn lines from my timing chip at Ironman Florida, where I'm putting on the chip for Ironman Cozumel. I realized again... this is pretty crazy. I looked in the mirror, and my eyes were blood shot. I was still hacking some stuff up. Basically awesome.

Had breakfast and a coffee at 4:30AM. The coffee helped shake the chills and hacking a lot. Once I got a little blood flow and adreneline, I was feeling on top of things. Off to the race in the darkness.

SWIM

Waited in the water a long time. Luckily it was warm, but just sitting there, and no real sun out yet, it was getting cold. Finally the dolphins in a nearby pen are doing flips (really), the music builds, and bang... we're off. I swam my swim, and other than getting stung like crazy by jellyfish, and hacking up a few leave behinds ; ) I was cruising with little effort. I didnt want to push the pace, I was here to race smart AND hard.

BIKE

I get to transition and realize, I screwed up with my gear bags the night before at check in, I was without my bike shoes (deal killer) ... so I improvise... I'd watch 11 minutes evaporate for naught, and then made the commit... I'm riding the whole 112 mile bike in running shoes (yes, that hurt). I gave up a lot of time an average cyclist will go some miles in front in 11 minutes. I left transition, and started passing the "swim-no cycle" crowd. The top cyclists were already gone. Bummer.

Headwinds! But by lap three I had made up some of the lost time. For where I was in the pack, I saw a lot of cyclists fading. The average speeds out there were dropping. I was fine, and holding up well. I passed about another hundred in the final 25 miles --and good thing. With a "good" swim, and a disastrous transition, I had given up a ton of ground unneccessarily. I restrained myself from dropping the hammer --I had the fitness, but I wanted to save it for the run --where I suffered a few weeks before.

RUN

Transitioned pretty fast. Got a little weirded out by the medical guy that wouldn't stop following me, and asking me if I was alright. I bet a lot of people got off that bike dehydrated. I paid the time cost to hydrate aggressively, perhaps it would paid off? First 10k spun off easy, just like Florida. I remember, mile 7 was the turning point where the bloating and back pain took charge of the race. I didn't miss a stride this time. My nutrition was good, I had the calories, and felt good. No sloshing in the stomach. Just the same, I didnt eat on the run until mile 7 or 8, which would actually slow me down a little later (kind of silly in hindsight --another mistake and another lesson learned). I held just over 9 minute miles through the second 10k, I stopped looking at my watch for pace. I was doing it on RPE. I was breathing heavy, and still hacking up flem now and again, but orthopedically, muscularly, and nutritionally, I was ok. I focused on run form. Third 10k was slow. I knew I should have eaten sooner, so I started slugging "Coca" as they refer to it in Mexico (coca-cola) which tasted pretty awesome and made me think of pizza. I sucked down a half a gel here and there. Usually on long runs, I can guzzle gels (trained to do this, but I could not this day!). The crowd on the down town end of the race was huge and raucous... folks kept high fiving me, and saying "animale" which I found hilarious, more than motivating. Now when I passed a guy with his car trunk open and cranking Rocky Montage... I enjoyed a little magic, reliving my youth when the Rocky movies defined the generation of ultra competitive underdogs I grew up with. I picked the pace back up, and remember thinking/realizing rather vividly, I am not trying... I'm doing it... I am pushing the pace on the Ironman, I am not hanging on, I'm pushing it, and I'm passing people. I never felt this alive.

The far end of the loop was really quiet, no music, no crowds, just a hill that went up into the darkness. This challenged most people, surely me to hold the pace. It was tough mentally, all I heard was my own deep breathing loudly. As it got late, people were really dying out there, limping, walking, stumbling, bent over and puking --and yet I held, running "hard" no one passed me, I kept passing people by the dozens.

I saw friend Valerie Murphy briefly, but I was literally running too fast to see and connect with her as I passed her on the other side of the loop. Once I passed the gigantic Mexican flag at the ferry terminal, I knew... "so this is how it ends... and I knew I was racing this one not through mile 136, 137, 138... but that it was on it's way into the books about how I would have wanted it to go. In the distance, I could hear the music and emcee roaring, and see the lights at the finish line. 

As I approached the finish chute, I dropped it, the one time I looked down, I was running a 6:06 mile, while I am sure I did not hold that pace, I was still pushing the pace. Electricity throughout my body I hammered it through the finish, running down a few more guys. Some ran hard when the saw me pass, some were glad to be finishing and let me go without a contest. Would have been fun to have gone neck and neck to the end with someone.

In the finsh chute photos, I saw the picture of me looking up at the timer, and beginning to raise a fist. I know that look. Right there was when I knew my "unfinished business" with the Ironman was done. Breaking through the 12 hour mark at 11:46:21 --lopping close to an hour thirty off my first Ironman 3 weeks before. I had just finished a 4:04 Ironman Marathon, I went on to learn I literally passed _400_ people and advanced to the top 23% of the race --and to the Leaderboard in my age group #90 in the top 100. The stats are fun, but I did what I set out to do here, unloading what I brought to this race, despite plenty of inconveniences, mistakes, and challenges --yep, that's what I went to Cozumel for.

Now a week of non-stop eating, putting back some weight, and getting some rest. Today, my three year old son grabbed all the medals from this season's racing and put them on at the same time... "look... I an Ironman dady." A pretty great way to cap the season and the year.

An Ironman is Born.

Keeping with my schedule for updating "Hammering It" I haven't updated in a while. The big news this "catch up" post...

Around 8:30 PM on November 6, 2010, 13 hours and 14 minutes from when I started swimming I heard the Emcee shout over Ozzy Ozbourne's "Crazy Train" (how appropriate)... "Mike Ferranti, from Long Beach, NY... YOU are an IRONMAN!" It was pretty neat.

I'll skip all the other news about the taper, it came fast, and had it's ups and downs. Very scary coming off that training load, it simply didnt feel right to stop what I had been doing so hard for so long.... So here's my race report, for better or for worse...

Pre Race Week

After months of injury free running, I did a couple of fairly short workouts on a treadmill at home I just picked up. It was great not to have to go out into miserable cold, but somehow, it lit up my knees and my IT band. This was there right through race day. Not debilitating, but a factor. What bad luck! I felt indestructable on the run, no aerobic cost, PR's every week, and barely needed a day to recover. I was in some shape on the run. These were a concern, but once down there, all I could do was stretch and deal with it.

Race AM

I felt pretty awesome when I woke up. Rested (enough) and very, very calm and confident. Exactly how you'd want to feel going into your first Ironman. I knew I was strapped for this race, I knew I was strong, and I knew what I was there to do. Frankly I was surprised at how at ease I was. Zero nerves. (really).

Went down to water at it was 38 degrees out. Sun wasn't up yet, I forgot my bike nutrition up in the fridge, and before I could get back up there to pick it up, my wife had given it to some guy in the hall at the hotel who was on his way down to deliver... tense moments waiting, and waiting, and waiting for him to stop by... he did. Yipes. While waiting, I didn't get body marked! Yep I raced the Ironman without my numbers on my arms and legs, THAT was a first. Nagging thoughts about this stuck with me much of the race, as the day and stress wore on, it weighed heavier on me. Sounds crazy, but when the pain came many hours later, it was a factor.

Swim

I started at what I estimated to be a third of the way back. In hindsight that was too far back. 15-20% would have been more challenging, but also a better pace for me. When the gun went off, I had zero adrenaline rush, I submerged and got water in my suit, and began swimming. I felt fine. No rushed breathing, no high heart rate. 

In about 5 minutes all the people who freaked out a bit at the start and went out like we were sprinting a 100 yards due to nerves mostly, were slowing down and I started passing a fair number of people. I was shocked and struggled with navigating through so many bodies. The mass start is something I had never done before. It would become impossible to get pass anyone else I tried a few times squeezing through openings, but took a really good kick to the head. 

First lap went pretty quick, and though I screwed up my tracking and added another 200 yards to BOTH laps, I never stopped feeling good. My buddy Chris Morgan gave me a tip that really, really worked. I overheat in the wetsuit often, and I always hated wearing it for this reason. I would pull down the neck of the wetsuit periodically, and flood it with new water. Amazing how cool it was, illustrating how hot it was actually getting inside the suit. This seemed to REALLY help. Thanks Chris!

Between the two laps, they had the bizarre course layout that required running up on the beach, parallel to the water for a couple of hundred yards, then back in for lap 2. This must have slowed progress a lot with the wade out and wade back in, but I also grabbed a cup of water and got some hydration. Pretty great really. I felt good the whole time, and picked up my pace in the second half of lap 2.

I got out of the water before a LOT of people. This felt good. There was a large super competitive pack ahead of me that was pacing at a 10 hour race... I'd not catch them unless I blew my bike race power plan, which I wouldn't do.

T1

The run was all the way up the beach, and into a building at the hotel. This was pretty weird. I had never run indoors for a transition. Once in, it was pretty chaotic, guys stripping down in the hall way and changing to bike gear. I Rambo'ed it up and just added a long shirt (it was still freezing out) over my wet Tri Top. Left my wet tri shorts. No one seemed to be in any sort of a rush in there, which was just plain weird --it definitely led me to go slower. I even started talking to a guy next to me. The outcome... the longest transition of my life... 14+ minutes! Ridiculous, but not entirely preventable. There was then a fairly good jog in bike shoes over to the bikes, and a long shoot to walk the bike through before hitting the timing mats. Interesting.

Bike

One word... FREEZING. It was 40 degrees, but there was a good 10-15 mile per hour wind blowing into us all morning. That plus the 20 mph your riding, and it's a hard icy wind blowing on your wet body. That was very, very painful. This went on for hours. I was shivering uncontrollably on the bike for a long while, and I was really not sure how I was going to take this cold. I was unprepared for such cold weather. I saw a few people that were bundled up like a ride in Boston in February. 

This created a problem I wouldn't become aware of for a while. I was so cold and trying to stay as small as I could in the freezing wind, that I wasn't taking in much nutrition, and had long 30-45 minute periods where I took in almost none. Finally, after about 2.5 hours or more, it warmed up as the sun came out. My pace picked up and I was able to eat and digest pretty well. I had not realized it, but I fell behind in nutrition.

By the time I reached the half way point I passed at least 100 people or so, I was starting to mow them down and it felt great. All this while I was barely pushing at all. I could hold a lot more watts than I was pushing, but race plan was designed to ensure I had legs on the run. I burst over on hills and when passing, but I was babying it.

By mile 70 or so, a lot of folks were showing fatigue, I remember ripping through a huge pack of athletes like a buzz saw, I went over race power target a few times as the adrenaline surged, and I felt like a million bucks. I had so much in the tank still, I couldn't believe I could feel so fresh at this point. I was visibly smiling and I knew it. I kept trying to get down nutrition, and avoid blowing through my race power target. My averages stayed under race power, but I was concerned about the little spikes.

At Mile 90 I was still very fresh and kept reeling in small packs and lone athletes. By now however I was still playing catch up with nutrition and was deliberately slowing it down. I started pulling up on the pedals and not pushing fist to prepare my legs for the run, and second to slow down and buy time to digest before the run. I had too much in my stomach, and I was trying to "will it" through digestion.

At no point did I feel any fatigue on the bike, which was awesome, the down side was obvious, my stomach didn't clear. and I've had Gi before when I ran before my stomach cleared. I wasn't happy, but it was all in from here...

T2

I transitioned faster than T1, but the same weirdness with running into the building, and people lollygagging along. I was a little faster, but knowing the run was the grand finale, I didn't rush it too much either.

Out of transition "building" and into the sun. It felt great to get the Under Armor cold gear mock off, and start running. As I left T2, someone asked for my number, I realized then that my number got ripped from my race belt when I pulled the shirt off. No body marking, and no number. I was concerned I could be DQ'ed for some rules violation. This would continue to distract my focus on the run.

Run

I went out a little fast, but worked pretty hard at throttling it down. I dont run as well slow as I do at a faster pace, my form falls apart, probably because I never practiced running slow. Every workout was fast (and it worked at getting me faster). I cruised through the first 10k on an 8:40 pace no problem. Zero aerobic cost or as i had planned "easier than easy."

As I started the second 10k I started to feel bloated. My gut was shutting down from the over eating late on the bike sloshing. My stomach distended badly, I looked pregnant. It put some pressure on my diaphram and I wasnt getting full breaths. I am very particular about my breathing when I run. Then a chain reaction. I struggled with my run form, began heel striking, and my knees lit up. I hadn't had a knee injury in a year. My pace plumeted, which had a very negative psychological effect. I was in trouble. I tried walking an aid station, and was gimping when I started running again. I tried eating a cookie, and felt like I was going to burst. I walked a mile --the first time I had walked on a run since the last time I got rocked by GI. I never walked on a training run. That was mentally crushing.

I slow jogged, gimped, and ran while holding my stomach for the next 20k. It got dark and I was hurting. I remember feeling depressed as the sun set on not only the day, but my race. What a spiral I was in. Then a wave of people I beat on the bike by an HOUR started passing me on the run, slow steady pace, probably a 9:50 or so, but it looked quick to a guy in my shape at the moment. I had not eaten through the whole marathon... and carbohydrate depletion was affecting me adversely. Not fun. Trust me. It screws with your thoughts, and it felt like I was doomed. I never get like this! I like the adversity, and I love the hardest challenges... but this was different.

Ultimately seeing people passed me sparked the competitiveness in me back up, and I just decided I would fight back. Fight, fight, fight I kept saying to myself trying to get full breaths past my bloated stomach. Whatever it took I was going to run and not gimp. 

While I never ran like I am capable of after the first 10k, my stride opened up a bit and the last 5k or so I was running like a runner (a rather sick banged up one). 

I looked down at my Garmin watch as I have a thousand times before, and usually looked at a number like 10, 15, 20 miles on a long training run. This time, I looked down and saw 138.6 miles... then enormity of this race hit me. That's a long, long way to drive in a car... and I'm not done yet... I passed people straight through the last 5-10k and felt ok. The last mile I figured I would drop it and atone as much as I could for a poor performance relative to what I know I am capable of on the run. 

I finished the Ironman.

Ultimately I was right at the 50th percentile among all athletes that day, almost 3,000 of them, which is not as competitive as I could have been, but what we can do on paper means nothing on race day. That day, and in that mornings cold, I did what I did, and I suffered through the run to earn what I got.

I could have really beaten myself up over the run, but I have not. Disappointed a bit sure, but I know there was a lot to appreciate too. I will HAMMER that course one day, because that's what's inside me. Like every race, I went in with a thousand achievements in training that I never would have imagined. Ironman interviewed an older guy before the race, he said he "won" before the cannon went off... he said "doing what you've done to toe the line at the Ironman, that's an accomplishment that is as big as the race itself." This was a guy who had multiple heart attacks in his life and came back to race (and finish) the Ironman.

This was an experience I will not forget, and of course, it probably started a fire inside that I won't be able to extinguish. I am taking 1 year off the Ironman distance race. I will do 70.3, Olympic and maybe a sprint or two with friends or family next season. I want to spend a lot more of next summer with my family. My wife Janine and the kids sacrificed as much as I did this season, and I am grateful for their support in preparing for this day.

In the interim as they say, I've got a race under my belt known as a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, a 26.2 mile run, and an experience to remember the rest of my life.

I will train hard, and make a run at the Ironman again and we'll see what happens. I still can't do anything without going all in... of it's next run at the Ironman or just about anything else... you can believe, I'll continue to "hammer it."  ...for me, life is to short to do things any other way.

While glad this was done, the sands in the hourglass were running very low before I was out for the count within 45 minutes of this picture, I was motionless on a couch and didn't move for many hours.

I Can Really Run, More Hard Intervals, 911 from Austin Ironman 70.3, Big Windy Weekend...

Few things in this update...

First, I've had a few runs in a row that we're really strong --basically PR'ing every long run workout. It's almost crazy. Last week, we had a "shorter" weekend run, 15 miles. Went into it feeling good, but not great. Dropped my pace down into the high 7's --man it just was coming. Last mile still had it to do a 6:40. Definitely worked in the last few miles, but it was there. This week, 6:40 miles in the weekly interval workouts and the "easy" tempo run was 7:24 avg pace with most of the effort on throttling pace down. It kept drifting to 7:17. Once settled in, it felt like my "all day pace" a fun run. To think... my goal from a year ago was to be able to get a 10k on 7:30s. I can really run with the best of them.

Back to Hecksher Park for hard 3x45 intervals. I tested out my new Specialized TTS2 aero helmet. It sure seems like it works. You can actually HEAR the wind flowing past it. Makes a noise. Between that sound and the sound of the 808s... it sure sounds fast anyway ; ) Did these intervals with a little bit of a cold, but still I hit the power goals. Last interval required depleting some nuclear fuel rods inside, but was good to get that kind of effort in. Fun.

While still lounging in bed my buddy Chris calls from Austin, TX, where he's racing in the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 --first HIM, first long course race. Worried about the tubulars on the Zipp wheels he rented at the race. Without any experience with them, he's going to swap them out for a set of clincher wheels at the shop he rented his bike at.

This morning, my 112 mile bike was scratched due to a "wind advisory." This plus cold had me chicken out at 5AM when I got up. It looks nice out now, but, since the winds will be half or less tommorow, I'm going to to ride tommorow, and will drop a 20 mile run today.

If I can ratchet the motivation all the way up, maybe another PR... : ) We'll see... until next time, I'll be hammering away, the taper begins next week... I drop to 70% of the 140.6 distances, then down to 50% then down to 30%... race day is really starting to come faster and faster.

Recovery Week, eMotion Rollers are Cool

Taking it a little easy this week, with recovery centric workouts. An hour or so a day, swims and low impact bike and run.

This morning I did some riding on my eMotion Rollers. They are basically awesome. They really work, and I realized... I don't think I need to be in a doorway to ride them. I spent most of my ride on the aerobars (pretty aggressive position) shifted gears on the bar end shifters, and even got out of the saddle and surged... the rollers surged with me. Amazing.

I am really looking forward to getting back on them, and riding without a "safety net" ie, not in a doorway. Between the rollers and the update coming for the TACX Bushido Trainer, I'll ride like crazy this winter and come out loaded for bear in the spring.

Wait... I still have an Ironman in front of me. Jesus, that's coming up quick. A couple of weeks of insane effort will be awesome. Long ride and long run this weekend. Yup, I'm psyched.

MightyMan 70.3 is in the books.

The "MightyMan" half ironman is in the books. Though better than my first race at that distance, it's well off the mark. Ok swim, hammered the bike, and then something went wrong on the run. One hilly, windy, & cold course.

Swim was not great, but not bad. Still dont like the wetsuit. Not many bikes back at T2 when I got in. Run went out at a planned easy/starting pace... then disaster strikes! Don't know if it was a bonk, but stabbing pain in lower back near adrenals and I was cut down to 8's & 9's. Worked it out by mile 10 (with a bizarrely loooong #1 stop!) and then dropped it to try and salvage the race, back to 7:30s, and last mile at 6:50. Relative disaster, but still a 5:31 race, #15 of 50 in my age group and top 20% overall.

All in all, dropping the P4+disc wheel guys was a _lot_ of fun on the bike. Last year, I had to watch them blow by. Not so fun getting towards the front, only to end with a middling performance. Back there next year for the rubber match... on to the Florida Ironman.

Back at the office, dinner with a bright MBA we're promoting tonight. No rest for the wicked ; )

And... Tapering

After a wicked build cycle winds down, including a PR pace on a 22 mile run that knocked :30/mile off my long run pace, and an all time high on power output on the bike and PRing time/distance and pace on that power... I'm tapering.

I hate tapering. Just like they say, I feel sick, tired, and frustrated. No sense of accomplishment without a 6-7 hour workout on Saturday and Sunday. Feels like I'm instantly falling out of shape.

Today I got a good but short workout in on the bike 2x10 intervals at crazy power I've never held on the bike before. That was crazy HARD! so much for "tapering" !

I am starting to feel very READY for the Montauk MightyMan 70.3 --as coach Joe puts it... it's just another workout now. Far less of a workout than my average weekend workout.

Pretty cool... Bring it.

Great Long Intervals

Today, I went with Coach Joe to Hecksher State Park on Long Island. It's has a relatively small loop going around it. Two roads, double lanes, pretty good condition... and almost zero cars.

Whitetail deer everywhere, and on the Great South Bay to boot.

This loop is awesome for power training on the bike. Most of my interval workouts are influenced for the worse by traffic, lights, and other danger. Not here, you get to just drop it like it's race day.

I did 3 30 minute intervals, holding power normally only done for 8-20 minute intervals... so it was a lot. I dumped all I had into this workout, and hit the average power we were looking for... HIGH!

I felt great afterwards, beat up, but great that I did such a strong workout. My speed was off the chart. I can easily hold mid 20's now on the bike (flat) and never dropped below 18 even in really bad wind by the water.

This was another good day. Tommorow, I'm off to the east end of Long Island to ride in the MS150 with my wife Janine. Janine's dad John has Multiple Sclerosis, and the team she's assembled has raised about $25,000 for MS research... if you'd like to support this effort... visit: www.teamlufrano.com

While this is a 2 day 150 mile ride (about 75 each day) I'll only be doing the first day. Saturday, I'll do the ride, and push it. I need to get 5:30 ride time in, so I'll finish, turn around and head out for probably another 1-1.5 hours, depending how fast I do the first 75-80 miles in the planned course. When I wrap 5 1/2 hours of biking, I'm going to try and brick that bike with a short 30 minute run.

Sunday (when I wont ride with the group again) I'll be doing a 21 mile run. Every run now, Coach Joe raises the pace target. It's a little hard to believe how fast I am going to have to run this, but I will throw myself at it.

Tonight, I watched the 2009 Ironman World Championship again on DVR. Watching Chris Lieto on the bike is so inspiring. He really is my hero! Watching champ Craig Alexander on that run is also inspiring --he's unstoppable. Can't wait to see these guys slug it out in Kona again this year!

Just a few weeks to the MightyMan Half Ironman... I will be ready to bring it... definitely looking for a major PR.

M