www.garrettmcalister.com

Hopefully the tropical beauty of the Caribbean will show me mercy. Ironman St Croix 70.3 is less than two weeks away and is coming much earlier in the year than any race at this distance in my previous years of triathlon. Training time and intensity has been lacking this time around. Its been tough to get the hours in this early with 80% of my training being done indoors due to the weather. Ive missed out on some key long runs and long rides along the way, though I have been able to keep steady with my swimming and have been cranking it on the bike the past two weekends on the biggest hills around Louisville. Its about that time to start the packing list and get ready for a completely different type of race than ever before. A lot of firsts for me: first ocean swim, first ‘right hand drive’ system of roads, first run across pavement sand and golf course, first international race (even though it is the US Virgin Islands).

Protestant Cay

While I might be a bit undertrained, I have to keep my eye on the prize later in the year to race Ironman Louisville again which is definitely my A race of the year. I wont be able to do Short Course Nationals again because they are the week before IMKY, but Im thinking about replacing that with Long Course Nationals in Oklahoma City about 3 weeks after. This is one of the rare championship races in triathlon where you can qualify with a time rather than finishing ahead of a certain amount of other competitors. They typically qualify only by placing because the finish time between courses can be vastly different from one race to the next due to the layout of transitions, topography of the bike course, effect of wind and weather conditions. 5:05 is the qualifying time for my age group and my personal best is 5:02 which I set last year in Muncie (during a torrential thunderstorm mind you), so I just need to do that again this year. Not sure about it though because it would be another trip just to show up like last year because I was so wasted from Ironman still and the competition is so good.

These are good problems to have friends. I continued to be amazed at what feats God grants our bodies to perform and am thankful everyday that I can choose to spend my free time swimming, biking and running … and be competitive at that!

Since 2008 has seen my blog turn into a triathlon training blog, and I have only put together a handful of workouts over the past few months, perhaps that serves to explain why there have been no updates since I returned from Portland. Quite frankly, I got burned out on the sport(s)!? Everything I do, I do with such intensity that I can quickly exhaust all of the fun in an activity by going too hard, too fast and trying to accomplish too much.

Going from zero endurance athletic training to a full Ironman in two years is rather ambitious and not really for someone who enjoys such pleasantries as good food, friends, family, relationships or free time. I was lucky that I was in a position in my life that I could devote the time and energy into doing something great for myself and getting to help raise money for Team In Training and mentor some new triathletes on their own entry to the sport. Some much needed and well deserved R&R was taken since USAT nationals at the end of September; just getting over the punishment I had put my body through, and then actually enjoying not trying to fit in 2 or more hours of exercise each day.

As much of an honor as it was to attend my first USAT National Championships, it was a humbling experience which left me with an intense hunger for more. This would be my 5th and final tri of the season to go along with the 4 other running events I had entered making for a steady 2008 racing season.

2007 would mark my initial entrance into triathlon and endurance sports; familiarizing myself with the equipment, lingo, protocols while devouring as much knowledge as possible. I needed to prove to myself that I could complete a triathlon, that I could run more than 10 miles, that I could build swimming stamina, that I could ride for hours on end and hopefully I would enjoy it along the way. By the end of August of that year I was hooked. I had competed in 4 triathlons, entered a 5th and plopped down $500 to enter Ironman Louisville for 2008.

While 2007 was the year of Can I? 2008 transposed that question into a statement: I Can! … a declarative one at that. This year was all about going long; the Papa Johns 10 miler, the Derby Mini-Marathon, the Muncie half Ironman and Ironman Louisville. I upped the ante on my distance training, tore through the Triathletes Training Bible, dug deep into online resources and forums to learn as much as I could to develop a training plan for my entire season. Quite frankly, for being completely self coached (though I did use Training Plans from BeginnerTriathlete.com) I was amazed at my progression throughout the year. I broke a PR in every race I entered, made incredible gains with my running and established a rock solid nutrition strategy.

Ironman Louisville was my A priority race for the season and with Nationals occurring just 3 weeks after, I had no serious expectations. I was going to put in the best effort that my body would let me and I wanted to do well, but I wasnt aiming for a top 16 spot in my age group which would have qualified me for the World Triathlon Championships.

The water in Hagg Lake was considerably warmer on race day than it was the day before when I was doing my practice swim despite the overcast sky and temperatures in the mid 60s. I was a bit more nervous that I would normally be just because I was at the National Championships. I had a feeling that I was a small fish in a big pond, that even though I qualified to get here, the competition was going to eat me alive. I milled around watching the first few waves go off, cheering the first few people out of the water on, trying to calm my nerves. When they called up the M30-34 age group, I walked out onto the pier grabbed a spot right in the middle and reminded myself to race my own race and be proud I was at the starting line to begin with.

The swim was fairly uneventful. Our wave was small enough and the waves spaced out enough that you had plenty of room to yourself and weren’t getting clawed, punched, elbowed, grabbed, kicked like normally. The water was very clear, calm and the scenery of the evergreen mountains all around you made for a fantastic backdrop. I did my best to try to find someone to draft off of, but still havent mastered that art so I gave up on my few failed attempts and settled into my normal comfortable race pace and turned in a decent swim time for me.

The transition from swim to bike was tough. The swim exit was at the base of a very steep boat ramp which made for a rough start to T1. I was moving hastily, though I knew there was a big hill right out of transition so I needed to relax my escalating heart rate. I had a great spot in transition near the bike out in a straight line from the entry to the exit. I worked the bottom half of my wetsuit off and used my free leg to pin down the rest of the suit which was hanging on my left leg. Since the entire transition area was on a hill and I was in a hurry and wet and … well yea, I slipped and fell on my butt. I got some snickers and words of encouragement by the others around me, but what an embarrassing start to the bike leg. I picked myself, only after taking the time to pull the rest of the wetsuit completely off. I finished the rest of my transition routine and headed out to take on the bike course.

By far the toughest bike course I have raced. I dont know what everyone was worried about the Ironman Louisville bike course for! The Portland course blew it away with 2,000ft of climbing over a 24.8 course, which would extrapolate to 9,000ft over a 112 mile course. There was nothing flat about it whatsoever, you were either going 40 mph downhill or 8 mph uphill.

With a body still recovering somewhat not even a full 3 weeks after Ironman, I started to really underestimate how much I was still suffering from that. My cardio never really held me back as I averaged a pretty comfortable 163 bpm … about 8 beats below what I normally average in an Olympic distance race. It was all in the legs. I just didnt feel the strength in them at all making the climbs fairly difficult. Combine the fact that there were ALOT of them, and the last time I spent on my tri bike I had the Zipp 808s wheels I rented for Ironman and now I was back on my crappy stock wheels which might have been a mental block more than anything.

I had scouted the two loop course the day before and knew what I was getting myself into, but that didnt make it any easier. Since this race was more for experience I told myself very early on to enjoy it more than anything! It was certainly the most scenic course I have been on rolling through the hills in central Oregon around this lake and the weather was great. I would blast down the hills as fast as I could and by the second lap, tried to negative split the best I could though I knew I would need to save something in the legs for the run which would cover the same punishing terrain. I tied for the 5th fastest T2 split in my age group and 17th fastest overall! Couldnt be more pleased about that. The good position in the bike rack, running sockless and without a fluid belt made a big difference.

Once again the hills did me in on the run. Going up the hills I was almost slowed to a walk in some sections, while running down the hills I literally couldnt move my legs fast enough to keep up. The aid stations were a little lacking as there were only 2 or 3 people at each one, nobody was handing out gels, you had to get your own, and they were only on one side of the road so essentially you had to cut through oncoming runners to grab something on the way back.

Looking back at the times that my competitors put in, Im really astonished at how well they did. The hills that made me suffer and put 7 extra minutes on my personal best at this distance, allowed everyone else to run 10Ks in the low 30’s and do sub hour bike splits. It was the scoop of ice cream on the humble pie that was USAT Nationals 2008.

I was really honored to participate, but if I want to toy around with the idea of representing Team USA anytime soon Ive got some serious work to do. The best part about this experience was to really help level set my expectations and identify some key weaknesses in my fitness, specifically hills. I can hold my own seemingly on the flats, but climbing and I need to become close friends, or rather closer enemies.

Full race report coming tomorrow.  long story short, I am an Ironman in 11 hours 23 minutes and 48 seconds … a full 37 minutes faster than my best projected time.

I WILL cross the finish, I WILL do this … it will be a cherished memory by this time next week. All of the last minute preparations have been made, now its simply time to wait until race day and execute the game plan to perfection. That of course would come with any ups and downs the day will bring be it gastric distress, equipment failure, injury.

This is all beyond what I had hoped and dreamed for over a year ago when I walked up and put my name and $500 down for a date with destiny. Ive learned alot about life: setting goals, prioritizing, hard work, creating a balance.? It required a lot of trial and error, it required operating outside of my comfort zone, it required flying by the seat of my pants (sometimes).

Many people would think that life is passing you by being two dozen days away from 30 and single. I used this as a catalyst for success. This is a unique opportunity that I have which most married people with kids dont have the luxury of even attempting. Demands with the family are too much to find an additional 15 – 20 hours a week away from home. God bless the people who are Ironman athletes with families … I have no clue how you do it. As for me, this is a chance I may not get again to do something amazing and hopefully inspiring to others. Through Team In Training, the many new friendships Ive formed around the multisport community and the lasting personal choices I have made on how to take care of myself have been more than worth going it alone.

Just in case doing an Ironman in August in the south wasnt hard enough, a glance at the local papers revealed these two gems:

LOUISVILLE, KY – The US Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has recenty reported the Ohio River is now home to a dangerous non-indiginous species of piranha.? It is believed that the piranha were dumped out of someone's home aquarium and rapidly reproduced in the warm waters of the Ohio River during the summer months.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Health officials in Cincinnati say people should avoid swimming in parts of the Ohio River where an outbreak of pond scum is making the water appear greener than usual.?

Add to this the comments from a poster on the Beginner Triathlete Forums who works for the Louisville Water Company:?

I just got the low down on the algae bloom up river from the lab guy here at work. He says this bloom is about 15 miles long and 8 feet deep and is of the toxic variety, not good. The good news is that it should not reach here until late next week, unless we get a huge amount of rain to push it down here faster.

Good times.]]>

Ive paid the dues to make the news as Kenny would say. In barely more than a week, I will have the opportunity of a lifetime when I compete in my first Ironman triathlon. Thousands of miles, lap, hours to get to the start line in one, healthy piece is a feat in and of itself. Typically a few hundred of the 2,000+ people who sign up for an Ironman and pay the $500 entry dont ever make it to race day. Whether its family, work, an injury or just getting burned out that keeps these people from the 7AM swim start, showing up ready to go on race day is half the battle. Having the dedication, patience, luck and skill to train your body to compete in an event like this is an accomplishment that I take great pride in.

Ive dodged personal, professional, mechanical and medical complications along the way, but through the support of friends and family I am confident in my goals for success on raceday. On August 31st at 7AM in downtown Louisville I will be treading in the murky waters of the Ohio river with 2000 other athletes staring at a 140.6 mile, 17 hour test of physical and mental endurance … the Ironman triathlon. I have been training for this day for over a year now, a challenge I knew I was destined for after I got my first taste of multisport in my first tri last May. ?It starts down at the Great Lawn for a 2.4 mile swim in the river, heads out 112 miles for a two loop bike course around La Grange and then back downtown for a full 26.2 mile marathon.

I hope you can make it out some time during the day to cheer me and the rest of the athletes on. I volunteered at the finish line last year and was amazed at the energy of the event and how well the city came out to support the race. Labor day is on Monday so stay up late and head down to the finish at 4th Street Live. During the day you can head out to La Grange for the Ironman Festival on the bike leg of the event, or if youre heading to the football game come down to the finish line at 4th Street afterwards to check it out.

http://ironman.com/events/ironman/louisville/?show=tracker&rid=164&year=2008
http://ironman.com/events/ironman/louisville/?show=maps

Pats on the back are now being accepted that I made it over the peak of my training. The last three weeks were brutal on my body, mind and confidence, yet somehow I have emerged on the other side of hell month and now begin the descent toward the last handful of days leading up to Ironman Louisville. Up to this past month, training for an Ironman was not much different than training for shorter distance races in terms of hours, intensity, nutrition and impact on my sanity. This past month made me truly understand what I stepped in line for.

Remember the first time you got on a roller coaster as a little kid; the one that went upside down, with the loop? From outside the fence it looked fascinating. Everyone looked like they were having the time of their lives. Screams of joy rang out as riders crested the inital drop and the inital excitement turned to a moment of fear. But as you shimmied up to measure yourself against the 48″ line and realized that this year, you could actually get on and that euphoric feeling of excitement turned into a brief moment of terror as you stood there realizing you have no idea what youve just gotten yourself into. Well, if that painted a clear enough picture then welcome to 2.5 weeks away from your first Ironman.

I had a few scares with equipment malfunctions, my left knee decided it didn’t like riding more than 2 hours without a break, my butt doesn’t like riding more than 45 minutes without a break, and throw in a good old fashioned Kentucky heatwave just to make things interesting. All things considered, I found myself at times during my 6 hour rides just shaking my head and laughing at what I was doing, getting up at 6AM on a Saturday, riding my bike 112 miles … and then running afterwards!? I had a few 2.5 to 3 hour runs which forced me to find some new routes around the city and amazed me how much of it you could cover on foot during that time.

Sleep, stretching, core work have all gone out the window … little or no time to spend with friends or family, missing parties, concerts. Am I really missing out on something though? I feel a bit like I am, but at the same time this has been an amazing experience for me to push the boundaries of what I thought I was made of. Remember that not too long ago I smoked a pack a day, weighed an M&M shy of 230lbs and spent most days in front of a computer and most nights out at a bar. Now down to a svelte 170, not able to remember the last beer I had, a resting heart rate in the low 40s, I find myself thinking 18 mile runs arent that big of a deal. I wouldnt trade anything Ive gone through over the past two years. Sure Ive missed out on alot of what was going on in the world around me, but maybe thats unfair to say though. Ive made a fistful of new friends, traveled all across the country, raised money for blood cancer research, and taught myself enough about nutrition and conditioning that I could probably teach a night class.

All of the deposits have been made … two and a half weeks from today, theres going to be a run on the bank. Mark your calendars … 8/31 7PM, watch me become an Ironman.

Training volume is ramping up to the peak of the 20 week plan that Im using. Needless to say, I am not alone when I scan the forums over at Beginner Triathlete and see all of the posts of exhausted athletes in the final build weeks of Ironman Louisville. The last two weeks have been quite the rollercoaster. Mentally it has been a challenge to stay on top of my game, but I still havent had a full fledged freakout yet. Im starting to put together all of my lists and scan the forums and the IMKY website looking for any bits of news coming out about the race. Latest rumor is that they are changing the bike course back to the original route which takes out a huge hill at mile 10 and then again at mile 102. Im tallying up all of those last minute purchases I need to make, nutritional items, race day clothing, comfort accessories like body glide and bag balm, and trying to turn in one last week of long workouts as the descent and taper start next week.

Running and swimming have been progressing well, turning out some big distances and putting in some record setting efforts by going over 18 miles on the run!? I went out for the second of my record breaking distance rides, attempting 85 miles for the first time solo while I was visiting Lexington … unfortunately it ended in calling for a ride home after only 42 miles. I got a bit of scare since I have been noticing some reoccurring pain in my inside left knee for the past week weeks, only while Im riding. When it completely gave out on me barely more than 2 hours into what was planned to be a 5 hour ride, needless to say I had to find a solution FAST!? My brother the PT took a look at it, my other brother got me a quick appointment at his Orthopedic friends office and a certain ER doctor I am becoming acquainted with weighed in with her medical advice.

With some well planned therapy and rest I have been able to avoid any further workout ending pain, though I still know its there. The high however was a week later being able to complete a full circuit of the IMKY bike course, all 112 miles of it. Granted I took a few breaks to rest and ice it, but if I have to do it during race day, so be it, Im going to cross that finish line either way.

Swim: 9295.71 Yd 3h 10m

Mental Health: Good