Louisville Bike Course Preview...Confidence booster, or not?

This past Sunday, I got the chance to drive up to Louisville to ride the Ironman course.  All in all, it was a really good trip, although it ended up being a lonely trip by myself.  But, before I get to Louisville, I'll give you a little update on Caffrey.  (Heads up.  Sorry for the long post!)

Jennifer and Caff are currently on a trip with Mimi, Jenn's mom, to Branson, MO.  They have tried to do a mother-daughter trip every year, and so this year, they decided to go to Branson.  I think they are having a blast, although being a bachelor isn't as fun as it sounds when you've got an incredible family you COULD be with.  Yesterday, Caffrey was back in the pool.  Jenn said he just kicked and kicked and kicked.  That's my boy!  I think he's training for his first triathlon.

Working on his Swim...

Working on his aero position on my bike.  I think he needs a smaller size...

Now if he can just start crawling and then walking and then running, he'll be a triathlete!  He's also been working on his skillz with the ladies.  He's obviously got eyes for a sweet little girl that is only a few weeks old.  She's beautiful, and Caffrey obviously LOVES Abigail!

We try to get together with the Kingery's every couple weeks.  It's really cool to see how God put these two families in the same place at the same time.  Jenn and I talk about how blessed we are with such fantastic friends.

On Friday, I got out to do my long run.  I have been feeling pretty awesome on the bike and in the pool, but I've been super nervous about running a marathon after all that.  So, heading out on my long run was very intimidating.  I ran a new route, and I think I had one of the best runs of my life!  It was awesome!  I ended up with this:

15 miles at 8:52's is really good for me.  At 13.1, I actually was a minute faster than my half-marathon PR.  Granted, I had a fairly easy week of training, so my legs were pretty rested, AND I left at 7:30am, so it was cool.  Still, I'll take a good long run like that for a HUGE confidence booster.  

On Saturday, I left to drive the 7 hours to Louisville.  My buddy, Josh, was going to go with me but ended up not being able to go.  Then, I asked Tom to go, but he couldn't either.  So, it ended up being a solo trip.  Now I have to tell you about the incredible couple that totally let me crash their home for the night.

I met Neil last year at Ironman Louisville when Jennifer and I were volunteering. We just happened to be working together in the finish shoot, so we got a chance to chat it up a bit.  He was planning on doing Ironman Louisville this year, so we were instantly buds.  He lives there in Louisville and said, "When you come up next year, let me know, and you can stay at our place."  Well, I don't know if he really planned on my taking him up on that offer, but I did.  

Not only is he super cool, but his wife, Brooke, is too.  She's in a band with her brother, and I got to listen to a couple of their songs as they played at a pizza joint close to his house.  They have a really nice home WITH A POOL!  Neil and I planned out the next day.  He was going to meet me at a gas station about 30 miles into the ride.  I went to bed because it was already late, and I knew I had a tough ride the next day.

Here's what the course looks like.  It is a "lollipop" route with two loops of the "pop."

Sunday, I woke up before the alarm totally excited!  I drove the 15 minutes to downtown Louisville (it was sweet that they lived so close!), and found a place to park.  The first 10 miles of the course are flat as a pancake along River Road, so, in order to speed the day up and get to my long drive back to Atlanta, I parked 6-8 miles already out on the course.  

I recently put a hitch on the back of the Civic so that I didn't have to drive the gas-guzzling 4-runner everywhere to ride.  I think it looks pretty sexy, right?

Gotta have directions!

After the required pre-ride pic, I headed out.

My goal was to really test my legs and the hills to see how I could handle everything.  My race day goal is to average 18mph, and so I thought I'd see how close to that I could get.  Well, the whole course was exactly how I expected...tough.  I wasn't surprised, and I don't feel like anything out there is worse than the hills of ATL.  Actually, I feel like they are quite a bit tougher here.  That is the good part.  I know I can handle it.

At mile 30, I arrived at the gas station at the EXACT time that Neil drove up.  How's that for perfect timing?  My average was 18.3mph, and I was feeling fantastic.  He went to pump up his tires, and nothing worked!  In fact, the air out of BOTH tires came out, and we discovered that the valve stems had been ripped off.  I'm pretty sure that the pump he was using was tweaking the stems.  We had some spares, and I just so happened to have a schader to presta adapter.  I didn't want to use up my CO2 cartridges as I still had a long way to go, so, we did something that seemed a little sketchy.  We used the gas station's compressor!  It worked very well without any trouble.  As we road off together after the 30-minute stop, it just wasn't meant to be, because Neil had another flat!  So, without any spare tubes, he headed back to the car while I continued on solo.  It was a major bummer because we were really looking forward to riding together.  Maybe next time.

So, back to the course.  It really is a most beautiful ride.  The whole time, I kept saying, "This is BEAUTIFUL!"  I can't wait till I actually ride it on race day when the course is covered in other racers.    Finally at the top end of the "pop," I turned back towards Louisville.  There's a sign that says, "33 miles to Louisville," and I thought, "That's not so bad!"  Well, I'm not sure what happened.  I don't know if my legs were still tired from the 15-miler on Friday, or I went out too fast or if I didn't do my nutrition very well or what.  There might have been a slight head wind on the way home that slowly drained and demoralized me, but I hate making excuses.  It was a tough ride back.  I just watched my average drop and drop and drop.  There wasn't much I could do.  I hadn't planned on doing the second loop, but there was no way that I could have handled it.  Finally, after just over 4 hours of riding, I made it back to the car with 74 miles with a 17.8mph.  To be honest, I felt like it was a good ride, although there was no way I could have done the second loop OR RUN A MARATHON after that!  After thinking it through, I still feel pretty good about the day and know what I need to do, but you may not agree, so here goes nothing.

I think I need to switch my crank!  For those of you that aren't cyclist/triathletes, here's what a crank is...

Now my crank on my Tri bike is the one above and is a standard crank.  The crank on my road bike is a compact crank which basically means that it is easier to climb hills.  I didn't have trouble climbing any of the hills in Louisville, but I wasn't able to "spin" up them either.  I believe this is why my legs pooped out on me, because they had no break whatesover.  Either I was hammering it downhill or grinding it out, even in my granny gear, up the hills.  This tells me that I need to do the switcheroo and get that compact crank on my Tri bike.  

I'm riding the GA-400 Century this sunday with Tom, and hopefully I'll have the crank switched by then as there are supposed to be quite a few hills on this course.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for reading!

Throwing down some miles! (Training Update)

With Ironman Louisville looming and only 83 days left till race day, I decided that I would give you an update on my training.  So here she goes!

SWIM:
Nothing to report here.  No, I'm serious!  I haven't been in the pool in a LONG time.  I HAVE to go swim, and it's going to happen THIS week!  To be honest, I'm not super worried about the swim portion of IM Louisville.  I know I'm not a ridiculously fast swimmer, and I know it isn't going to ruin my day if I'm not the first out of the water.  So, I'm planning on taking my time out there and not over exerting myself.

Bike:
Here's where I'm proud to report some serious mileage!  I have been spending quite a bit of time with Clifford, and I'm really feeling comfortable.

A couple weeks ago, my good buddy, Josh, had his 28th birthday.  We have a tradition of doing a pretty big ride on or near his birthday.  So, in honor of turing 28, we decided to ride 128 mile!  It was AWESOME!

Birthday Boy!

We decided to ride the Silver Comet and just do an out and back of 64 miles each way.  At mile 60, we crossed the Alabama state line and started riding on the Chief Ladiga trail.

We certainly weren't fast, but we finished it strong.  My plan was to eat, drink and SPIN!  With the last 20 miles to go, I couldn't believe how great I was feeling!  Sure, my legs were tired and sore, but I felt like "time trialing" it the rest of the way!  After 8+ hours of riding, we finished and went to eat an incredible birthday dinner with our amazing wives.  Jenn's birthday is just the day before Josh's.

The Silver Comet was a tad bit dirty!

It may be a long time till I see THAT big of a number again!

Although I'm feeling like my endurance is pretty good for some long mileage, I haven't been impressed with my speed.  In training for Steelhead 70.3 a couple years ago, I was SO much faster!  So, I decided to go out and do 55 miles last week and add some speed to it.  I was really pleased to grab an 18.3mph average.  That was a serious confidence booster for the biking.

This morning, Jennifer, who is training for Augusta 70.3 in September, and I decided to do another ride on the Silver Comet.  We loaded Caffrey in the trailer behind my road bike and started pedaling.  I was super proud of how strong Jenn road, and I was really surprised with how hard it is to pull a kiddo!  I definitely could feel the tiredness of IM training in my legs.  It was a good 30 mile ride to start the week.  Here are some foggy pictures of today's ride.

All 3 of us out for a ride

Caffrey's feet poking out from his carseat.

Run:
My running is kind of a roller coaster right now.  For several weeks, I felt fantastic and was cranking out some pretty good time on some decently long runs (10-12 miles).  A couple weeks ago, on a 12-miler, I had some sharp pain from my IT Band.  I have NEVER had trouble with that, so I decided to rest it a week.  I haven't had any pain since then, but now it's another issue.  My legs are TIRED!  This makes me super nervous about Louisville, because I know that my legs will be toasted after the swim and the bike.  If I'm struggling now with mild heat and moderate miles, how will I ever run a marathon on race day?  I will say that Brooks has really hooked me up with great gear to motivate me to train as well as keep me on good running shoes.  My current pair are the Ravenna 4's, and I really like them!  I thought I would have a hard transition from my Asics that I've worn for many years, but I haven't noticed much difference at all!

Any advice on training with tired legs?  I bet you'll say, "Keep running!"  That's the plan right now, so we'll see how that goes.

Bonus...
As I'm writing this, I'm watching Jimmie Johnson dominate in the Nascar race for the day, and it reminded me of where I was last weekend.  I took one of my elders, Todd, to a race in Charlotte, NC.  We had a blast!

Although the race wasn't the most amazing race I'd ever watched, we did enjoy watching the guy next to us that started the race absolutely smashed!  But he didn't stop there and kept downing another beer every few laps.  He struggled to find his seat several time, kept stumbling over the old guys in front of us every time he had to go to the bathroom, and fell asleep for half the race.  Another interesting race fan was this guy...

Yes, he shaved his head into a 55 for his favorite driver, Mark Martin.  That's a true fan!  Even if you hate auto racing or think it's ridiculous, you should at least go to one race in your life just to see the people there!  It's hilarious!

Thank you for reading and your encouraging comments.  They really motivate me in my training.  I'm excited, nervous, and can't wait to finally become an IRONMAN!

My Name Is What?

Over the last week, I have been amazed with the creativity of so many of you to come up with fantastic names for my new ride!  You all could teach a class on naming bikes!  I have finally come to a conclusion on the name as well as the top 4 names that I really liked, but before I tell you, I have to tell you about what the winners are winning.

At the end of last year, I contacted two companies that create identification bracelets for cyclists or runners or any athlete for that matter.  The first company I contacted was Sportstagid.com.  

I asked them if they would be willing to give me an ID to giveaway in some sort of blog contest.  They said that they have contests on their facebook page all the time to give them away, so if you'd like to win one, go HERE and "like" their page.  It looks like they are giving them away pretty frequently.  They also sent me an ID to tryout.  

It came in the mail just a few days later, and I was so excited!  It really is a neat design that has a clasp on the back to close easily and securely.  There are trim marks on the silicone band so that you can dial in the fit around your wrist by simply cutting off the excess.

The second company I contacted was ridiculously generous!  They are Yikesid.com.  They decided to give me an ID to try AS WELL AS one for Jennifer to check out.  Both of us really like them!  The one I got has a strap like a watch band that works well as it fits any wrist size.  

Jenn's is the classic "Livestrong" band style with a smaller ID on it.  

But that's not all...  They also wanted to give YOU some ID's as well!  So, they agreed to give away:

• One Black Yikes ID Elite (https://yikesid.com/wrist-elite-runner)
• One Black Yikes ID Aware (https://yikesid.com/aware-runner)
• Two Yikes ID Runner (https://yikesid.com/runner)

Aren't they a cool company?  For those of you that don't win, Yikes wanted you to have 10% off if you decide to buy one, so use the code YIKES888 to get the discount.

Now, on to the names.

Just in case you didn't read all 66 names in the numerous comments, here is a list (those in red are honorable mentions):

1. Red Piston 
2. Robin Meade
3. Rediculous
4. Rexecutioner
5. Reducator
6. John Stamos 
7. The Red Monster
8. Red Lightning
9. Big Red
10. Raging Red       
11. The Louisville Slugger 
12. Abianne
13. Bedelia 
14. Ezri
15. Fallon
16. Indira 
17. The Red Devil
18. Edom (Hebrew for "red")
19. Beast of the Southern Wild 
20. Freight 
21. Sandtiger
22. 'Ol Red
23. Red Velvet
24. Scarlet
25. Crimson Ride 
26. Road Rage
27. Redy
28. Time Machine
29. Tyrannosaurus Red
30. Rogue
31. Red Bull
32. Chile (or Chilly or however you spell the pepper!)
33. Rover
34. Blue 
35. Clifford
36. Red shift
37. 720 nano [red wavelength and well as two full spins =)]
38. The Russian steel
39. Red badge of courage
40. Green bike (for the color blind people)
41. Thin red lines
42. Red bearing
43. Seeing red
44. El matador
45. The mars rover
46. Nile rider
47. Cinnabar Handel bars
48. Vermilion marathon
49. Red Smith (like the sports writer)
50. Red hammer
51. Road rash 
52. Ronaldo 
53. “En Fuego” 
54. Red Riding Hood
55. Charlie
56. Wedgie
57. Strawberry Bikesicle
58. John
59. Rolling Thunder
60. Circle Squared
61. Tabasco
62. Pete
63. Solo Cup
64. Nile
65. Eternal Wind
66. Perpetual Tailwind

And the winners are...

Although there were many that I thought were fantastic names, the top 4 were 

                 Jenn Batchelor - RED RIDING HOOD

                 Kevin - LOUISVILLE SLUGGER

                 Josh Woods - TYRANNOSAURUS RED

And my bike's new name will be (drumroll please)...

CLIFFORD!!! 

(from Erika Myers) 

Please contact me at Spottersmitty@gmail.com for instructions on how to get your prize!

My New Family Member (BLOG CONTEST)

I bet you all are thinking that I am announcing another kiddo on the way.  Nope!  Not yet, although I would love to have more kids one day.  Sorry for all of you that are frustrated and don't think my title was funny.  Don't stop reading!

Several months ago, I did get someTHING that is a big part of my life.  I spend a lot of time with it.  We hang out together.  We train together.  We eat and drink together.  Although it sleeps in the other room, we have a close bond as we both look toward finishing an Ironman on August 25 together.

It's my "new" bike!

I searched for what seemed like forever to find just the right one.  Ebay, Craigslist, Slowtwitch...I looked EVERYWHERE!  Finally, I knew exactly what I wanted.  I have had a Felt road bike for a long time, so I was going to go with a Felt.  Their two top models are the DA and the B2.  Both have this really cool Bayonet headset that moves with the front fork.  Of course, that HAS to make you faster, right?  So, after searching for months, I found this sweet ride!  Yay!  The only problem was, it was in Seattle, Washington.  Plus, it was on Craigslist, so I wouldn't be covered by any security from Ebay or anything else.  After emailing the guy selling this bike, we talked on the phone and skyped, and both of us felt a lot better about the transaction.  He had his buddy box it up and ship it off to me.  A week later, it got here!  I was more excited than a kid on his first day of school.  Immediately, I dropped everything to unbox it and put it all together.  Nothing was more important than getting my bike together!

Here are the details:

• 2009 Felt B2 Pro 54cm
• Dura-Ace Components
• Fulcrum Racing 5 Wheels
• Made to go FAST!!!

After some initial questioning if I had gotten a size too small, Tom and Colleen Kingery and Josh Woods helped me dial in the fit so I'm comfortable (well, as comfy as you can get on a TT bike).  I LOVE IT!  It looks good.  It rides good.  It is an incredible machine, and I absolutely enjoy riding it!

There is just one problem...it doesn't have a name!  And that's where I need your help.  Sure, I've got some good name ideas for this bike, but I want to have a bigger pool to choose from, and I thought we could have some fun while we are at it. 

A while back, I contacted YikesID about giving me some of their products to give away in a blog contest.  They make road id's just like Road ID, and they were really cool about it!  Not only did they give me and Jennifer a YikesID for free, but they will give away FOUR more id's to winners of this contest!  They really are a great company that is focused on their customers.

Contest Details

Come up with a name for my new bike and leave it in a comment.  That's it.  You can give me as many names as you want.  The more names I get to choose from, the better!  Now, here's where this contest gets completely subjective.  I will choose the top four names that I like (it's MY bike, right?), and the people that suggested those names will be the winner.  Now, I know that some of you don't participate in contests because you already have the prize and don't want to win it while someone else needs it more.  I respect that, but I want your names, too, so in your comment, just tell me that you don't want to be a part of the contest.  Got it?

So put your creative name minds to work and give me your best shot!

Missing In Action (Emphasis on Action)

Well, I know it seems that I forgot my blog, again, but I haven't.  I just haven't blogged in forever!  And although I've been a little weak on commenting on everyone else's blogs, I HAVE been reading.  Sorry for the lack of comments.

While I might have been M.I.A. on the blog front, I have been keeping up the action of training.  In fact...

I Registered For Ironman Louisville!

Just yesterday, I finally sat down and forked out the dough to be a part of IMLou on August 25.  

It's going to be awesome, and I can hardly wait, although it HAS to wait, because I'm not ready yet!  There's no way I could swim 2.4, bike 112, and run 26.2 at this stage.  It just wouldn't happen!  But I am feeling like I'm getting there quickly.

For some reason, my runs have been REALLY good!  I'm not sure if something is clicking in my head or if my legs are just stronger, but I've actually enjoyed running recently.  Crazy, right?  I bet you never thought you'd hear that from me.  On my longer runs, I've been cranking them out in the low 8-minute range and feeling good the whole time.  It's weird, because I've been getting a second wind at around 7 or 8 miles, and then it's just smooth sailing from there.  I love it!

On the bike, although I still haven't gotten my speed back, I've been feeling really good too!  I've been able to crank out some longer rides with my good buddy Josh, and he always makes the miles fly by.

On a fifty miler

Just last Wednesday, we met up at the Silver Comet (I know...it's flat, and Louisville isn't), and rode 76 miles.  We cut it pretty close as it was absolutely dark when we got back to the cars.  It did feel pretty cool to know that we had been out there for 5 hours and were the LAST people to leave.

Before the Ride

We've got a 128 mile ride scheduled for his annual birthday ride coming up in a few weeks.  That's going to be awesome!  I also got to ride with Mr. Tom Kingery!  It's great living so close to friends that you can train with.  

I'll be honest that I haven't been to the pool in awhile.  I know, I know.  I'll go back soon.  It is the least part of IMLou that I'm worried about.  I enjoy swimming and plan on relaxing for that part.  :)  Sound like a plan?

So that's a quick update on the training.  I've got some more blogs marinating, so I'll be cranking them out soon including some reviews on some cool products that I've had the privilege to try.  Plus, there's a contest coming up to help me name my new ride!

Thanks for reading, and good luck to all those that are racing this weekend.  I hope the rain holds off!

Improvements (Another Pic Dump)

Recently, Jenn and I have been taking every spare minute of time we've had to make some home improvements around our place.  We've been "rearranging" all the bushes out front and cutting down the enormous ones that needed to be excavated so normal bushes could replace them.  Here is the before and after...

BEFORE

AFTER

Obviously, we still need some mulch, but it is such a big change from that massive bush that was in front of my office window.  I can finally see outside!!!  I'm working on getting the yard in shape, but it's going to be rough!  Any pointers?

Another improvement that has been a process for a long time has been the kitchen.  We ripped out the nasty countertops from the previous owners and poured concrete countertops.  With the help of a friend, we set them into place.  Since then, we put up a tile backsplash, and last night, I put on 15 coats of sealer.  Think that will be enough?  I couldn't stop as it just got shinier and deeper.  Here's what they look like.

Shiney!!! 

Then, thanks to this awesome blogger and her husband's generosity in giving us most of the materials, Maglee, our boxer, has a new fence to run around in!  Trevor, Jenn's brother, and Josh Woods helped me so much in actually installing it.  We've been doing our best to still take Maglee on walks!

Early this morning, while being on Daddy Duty, I had enough time to hang our new fixture over our kitchen table.  Out with the brass, please!!!

In addition to all the improvements, we've been having a lot of fun too!  On Saturday, Jenn, Caffrey and I went to Stone Mountain for an afternoon of hiking and fun.  I was a proud papa to be hiking up the mountain with Caff strapped to my chest as I listened to everyone make comments like, "Oh, look at those cute feet sticking out!"  It was so breezy on top that we just snapped a pick and headed down.

Of course, every beautiful day has to have a picnic!

Last week, I was able to squeeze a round of golf in with a fellow pastor as we talked ministry and enjoyed the sun.  He got a really cool shot of me.

Last night, Jenn and I went over to Tom and Colleen Kingery's house for an evening of fun!  We brought a couple of pizzas and simply had a blast.  We can't wait to meet their little girl here in a few weeks.  Caffrey really likes them both, but it was especially fun watching him talk and stare up at Tom. They're gonna be buds for sure!  (He'd better get to know him as he could be his father-in-law one of these days)

And lastly, Caffrey got his 3-month pictures a couple weeks ago.  I chose my favorite to share with you.

Reality Check

Sometimes, it's good to have a perception check on how your fitness really is.  Sometimes, a perception check just turns into a reality check as you realize that you've got a long way to go before you can conquer 140.6 miles in a day.  Yesterday was my reality check!  The good thing is that I still have 166 days till go time!

It's really hard to find some decent riding where I live.  The roads are awesome, but the traffic is really tough!  I guess I'm a little scared, but I think that's an ok fear to have.  Usually, I just go out and ride anyway, but for longer rides, I've decided that I'll go ride The Silver Comet trail.

The Silver Comet is a rails-to-trails project that goes from the east side of Atlanta (45 minutes from my house) all the way to Alabama and connects with the Cheif Ladiga trail for an additional 30-some miles.  All in total, it's about 95 miles long!  I plan on riding the entire trail one day, staying the night in Alabama, and then riding back the next day.  That'll be some good training.  Here's a visual of how long the trail is...

I've been pretty faithful about logging some solid trainer rides, but with incredible weather and a free Sunday, I decided to go for a long ride.  After hanging out with Caffrey while Jenn got some extra sleep, I loaded up my bike and headed for the Silver Comet.  I unloaded everything and took off.  Wowee!  I was flying!  I knew that my legs were in for a longer day, so I tried to spin as much as possible.  There were a ton of people on the trail, but it is wide enough that it's no big deal to pass.  Here's what it looks like with one of the many tunnels that you go through.

There were runners, walkers, riders on road bikes, riders on mountain bikes, rollerbladers, and a bunch of triathletes training.  About 10 miles in, a guy on a sweet TT bike caught me, and we started to talk.  He is a multi-Ironman and has done Louisville twice.  We had a blast talking about everything from triathlon to religion, and the miles ticked by.  At 25 miles, I turned around, and I had averaged 18.3mph on the way out.  When I turned around, I realized that it was going to be a long ride home.  Not only were my legs aching, but I realized that there was a definite headwind coming my way.  Now, I HATE it when people blame poor rides on headwinds, SO, I won't.  But, I will say that I didn't plan my nutrition very well, which made the return 25 miles really tough.  Since I've lost about 20 pounds recently, my body doesn't have too much to "eat" off of, and I didn't give it more to eat!  Well, I ate two granola bars when I turned around, but it was a little late in the game to recover.  I really struggled on the way back.  Another triathlete (girl) rode up next to me, and we talked for 10 or so miles.  Finally, I just told her to go on as I struggled to keep going.  I got dropped by a girl!!!

In the end, I rode 50 miles (first of the year) and averaged right at 17mph.  I'll take it as a solid training day, although it was a rude awakening of where I am as far as fitness goes.  My motivation is high, and I'm still excited about training.  August 25 is coming, and I'll be ready!!!

Thanks for reading