So in the days before an ironman we often find ourselves watching too much day time TV, reading an old tri magazine for the third time, and arranging our nutrition a dozen times.  This time I have decided to add a little blog entry to pass time.  I pledged to Joel Myers (Final Kick interviewer/comedian and triathlete extordinaire) about five months ago that I could update this thing every other week.  I have failed, slightly, but knowing that I have an Ironman this week, people might check in to see how I am really doing:

#1-  I feel sluggish, big surprise.  The blessing of added glycogen, you feel just so weird.

#2-  I am hating doing intervals or pick-ups, which always has sucked the week of a marathon or ironman.  Moderate feels to hard, hard feels too easy.

#3- I am being a complete wise-ass, and even more so than normal.  This is likely a defense mechanism against showing my cards to my fitness and just wanting to pass time with a joke even if it is at my subjects expense.  Today it was Tim Snow, a great funny Bostonite, normally more sarcastic than myself.  Yesterday I walked up and Tim stated, “I thought I smelled something.”  Today I finally retorted, “I love coming to races you are entered because I know I will always do one place better.”  (keep in mind that has always happened with us)

#4-  I am having a difficult time sleeping. This is no joke, when I come to sea level I don’t need as much sleep and my body just won’t relax as well at night.

#5-  Honestly, the best thing about ironmans, seeing so many people from previous races and previous adventures.   This ironman is fantastic as there is a large crew from Virginia Beach taking to the water and roads of Lake Placid.  A great cycling training partner from back in when I was going long for the first couple years, Marco, is doing this for the first time.   I have shared many stories of todays and yesteryears cycling with him  (Marco was a wicked fast junior cyclists back when they had square wheels).

So I have come up with a bunch of crap and a little bit of sentimental fun for the blog.  I hope you have enjoyed.  For more enjoyment track all the rockstars on raceday at www.ironman.com.  Let’s hope the weather prevails and we get cold rain all day (here comes that race week sarcasm again).

later,

billy

ps, almost forgot, thanks to 2xu and colorado multisport, for the last minute help leading up to this race

 Our wedding was truly my most funnest weekend.  It did not go by in whirl.  I actually did not feel stressed that weekend (until it was over and then I was kinda relieved that it went so well).  I did not get too drunk, but had several nights of tossing back Fat Tires with my closest buddies.  The night before the wedding Shawn and I kept it going well past midnight and I still got up and did my 2×20 min LT set on the bike with Dr. D in tow.  Of course, Bogart stole the show at the wedding ceremony.  However, on Friday and Saturday our closest friends were the hit and did a fantastic job of toasting (and roasting) and keeping us all entertained.  I may be biased but our friends (and parents) are pretty dam witty and very well spoken.  It may have been the best collection of toasts across the board (no crying messes!).  Lara’s Dad even surprised us with some great banter.

I have not written much about the wedding because I feel like most people that check out this blog were there and pretty much know how it went down.  I have been to weddings and been bored and I have been to some and had great fun.   It has become apparent to me that some people (not myself) will lie and tell you they had a good time because it is polite (uh, this is a bullshit policy).  The only way to know for sure, is if they (a) bring your wedding up out of context of telling you they had a great time, or (b) they tell you multiple times on different occasions that they had a good time.

No matter, we had a dam good time and were so stoked to share it with so many friends and our small families.   For those who could not make it, our photographe, Steve Z, put up some photos on his blog.  My facebook page is also linked to about 40 shots from the wedding.

Check out his work and you can even link to a shoot we did with him in April in the snow.  Wedding photography seems like a silly profession, but Steve Z is a class act and as you can see his work is freakin’ art, and really cool shtuff.
http://www.stevezphotography.com/blog/lara-and-billy-wedding/

There is a link with the 503 good photos (apparently he took several thousand) that he took at the wedding, so e-mail me if you would like to see those.  There are some good shots of our friends and family hanging out on the farm in some cool settings.  All the photos can be purchased online through the online album.

I believe there are actually people who check up on this and this will be a pleasant surprise, an update to the blog.

#1- I am married!  Yup, it was on the schedule, and it actually happened.  Now presenting my wife…Lara Cooper Edwards.

(both of us not in workout clothes, a rare occurrence, wedding photos coming…)

#2-  I did not do BSLT 70.3-  I was pretty tired from post-wedding week and just did not have the kind of training that I normally have going into an ironman.  Dr. Phil is not a fan of the mega kind of training, but I was able to beg a rather huge weekend out of him.  So last weekend, I did a great swim, ride, run, and Sunday run.   I really missed racing, but I was shelled after the weekend and I think those that do ironman understand that sometimes it’s just good to do some training that makes you realize ironman is one day and done off a taper, easy, right?

#3- For those who have not checked back in awhile- Placid is less than 4 weeks away.  I am super stoked because my parents somehow got a room less than a quarter mile from the start (they got it 2 days ago) for all of us (no Lara, though).  Final Kickers are going to be in force out there and I am feeling pretty fit.  As always, no digital promises or hints of how things will go.  However, I am excited to go long again, there ain’t nothing like the finish line of an ironman and it’s been over 7 months, gotta get there!

#4- Memorial Scholarship Run-  It is the Tuesday (28 July) after Placid, so I am going to ride back to VA with my parents and am doing the 5k Tuesday after the ironman.  I may just walk it with my mom, but who knows?  This may be the last year the race runs in honor of Pam, so I am making an extra effort to be out there and represent her and her drive (so I might have to run!)  I hope many can come out and run with the many, many Tidewater Striders, have a beer or two and run your tail off for fun, because that’s the way she would chosen to be honored.   Details at www.tidewaterstriders.com.

#5- Navy Coaching-  The team captains have asked me back for next year and without hesitation, I obliged.  Details of racing and travel with the team are to made in the coming months, but we are all excited to be working again towards one goal…defending the National Championship.

#6- Bogart Update-  I know there are lots of Bogart fans out there, especially amongst my mids. He is great and still pretty dam cute.  I will try to attach a photo of him, as well.

(Wedding weekend was rough, even for Bogart.)

More to come, hopefully soon!?

Rock On!

later,

billy

I will post pictures and more details in the coming days, but I can’t be more prouder of the Midshipman of the triathlon team.   Collegiate triathlon is not a small sport anymore and it takes more than a fluke to win.   It takes hard work, discipline, and some talent to bring this many individuals together to perform on one day.  I would have said it takes some luck, but that is something we definitely lacked today.   You can’t let luck bail you out, you just gotta be good.

So, this is a time killer for me, as I am sitting around waiting for the Lonestar Half Ironman tomorrow.  Actually, I am doubling up this time, coach and athlete.  I am racing the half ironman that goes off an hour after the midshipman start their 1/4Man (nearly an Olympic distance race, with a short swim).  In two weeks we have Nationals, so this is a great prep race.  The mids can come down here and have a pretty laid back race scenario at a very, very well run race.  Keith Jordan with Endorfun Sports puts on races that are some of the best around.  He puts on two official 70.3 races, but there is not much difference in how each race is run, very classy.

As I posted some pretty silly pics of some really classy mids, I believe these guys get it.  These guys are just a club level team at a school full of Division I programs.  Most of the team is composed of former Div I athletes from basketball to swimming.  They are totally embracing the triathlon lifestyle.  Laid back, having fun, making jokes, but all the while getting ready to throw-down on race day.

Hopefully, I will have more pictures and great results to post soon.

Good to go?

(super hero triathlete, he flies tomorrow in Galveston)

(expo sunglasses are cool and cheap, hehe…hehe)

Back when I was in high school and college, it was always different being around my coaches in the weeks leading up to the big races.  I needed someone to lean on for encouragement, but my coaches always seemed a little distant.  We are now 15 days from the National Collegiate Champs in Lubbock and I am now feeling the stress they felt.

Three weeks ago I wrote out a schedule that seemed a perfect ramp up to make the midshipmen ready for this weekend’s prep race and then sharpen them over the final two weeks.  Honestly, now it is staring me in the face on a couple sheets of notebook paper and I know why my former coaches used to be in a different world.  I think they were actually trying to get into my mind/body and figure out exactly what I needed.   At this point, I am enjoying the stresses of making changes along the way.  However, it is the time when I am not talking with the mids on the phone or e-mailing or texting that my mind begins to get the better of me.  I start to reconstruct the previous weeks and lay-out more hypothetical plans.  I listen to talk radio to go to sleep at night, because if I was left to my own internal conversations I would be up all night going through these scenarios.

Being the athlete is easy, you have control.  Being the coach (as an athlete) is fun, but not easy.  In 15 days, I am going to want to be on the start line for each of them and not have to stand on the sidelines reminding them to relax or yelling splits or telling them to go to the arms on the run.

With 15 days to go, it is good to know I am headed to Texas to race with them at the Lonestar Triathlon.  I am racing the half ironman while they are doing the quarterman.  This weekend is more about the prep than the race in my opinion, so I don’t have much concern for how the race goes for them. We need to work on the kinks of pre-race.  The 36 hours prior to the race should be the best, as I work to try to get in their heads and work on any more changes that need to be made to the plan.

Go Navy! Beat Everyone!

Every year this date rolls around and I pretty much only have one thing on my mind all day, my sister.  It’s Pam’s birthday. It has now been three and a half years, since we lost Pam to depression and each year the distance seems to grow exponentially. For me this year is huge as I move on to another stage in my life, getting married in June.  In the couple years following the end of her battle, I was asked if I had siblings and the question pained me.  Once I am married, people won’t ask if I have siblings, but will want to know if I have children and how many.  It is all just conversation.  Recently, I have had people even assume I was an only child.  I don’t fault anyone for these assumptions and in my awkwardness, I normally don’t correct them.

This week, at my gym an older woman passed.  She was older, but actually only in her mid-fifties.  She swam many of the same sessions I did, just down a couple lanes.  She was very nice and walked many of the same trails that I run, often waving hello.   Little did I know, she too was battling some form of depression.  Now her passing is sad, but it does anger me that people whisper things about her suicide.  They talk of her likely depression in a very distant tone.  It brings me back to my anger with my own dealing with Pam’s battle with depression.  If depression were not thought of as something you can cure, by “just sucking it up,” then maybe those with the disease could get the proper treatment.

This is my tiny little attempt to bring out some thought on depression.  It is a disease that is caused by altered chemicals in the brain.  One can’t just “suck it up.”  Therefore, if you know someone who has the disease, don’t whisper, give them a hug and let them know you are there.  They may not take your help, but just maybe they will have a little more will to fight their battle.

Happy Birthday, Pam!  We still miss you.

I have been looking forward to this week for about eight months.  When I signed on to work with the Naval Academy team, we decided on a couple training weeks to get together and do some serious work and face-time with as much of the team as we could muster.  This is the week of the spring break training trip.  At one point, we had about 10 signed up to head south, but due to some un-triathlon related injuries (Kyle Hooker is being missed by all) and some unfortunate family situations the number is 6. However, it is a SOLID group of six young triathletes.

For the week, I am working my schedule into theirs which makes for some interesting dynamics on the trails and roads and in the pool.  For example, today was a relatively short day, which started with the weekly 4k set and then a fun 56+ min run.   In the pool, I am swimming in our slowest lane and not feeling bad about it because the fastest lane has some former USNA swimmers.  Today I was rockin’ with a former USNA hoopster, Sarah Simmler class of ‘10 and a Minnesotan runner/skier, Nate Wallace, class of’11.  They have taken to the water much more impressively than my first couple years in the water.   Had this been a month ago, I would have been asked to depart the lane.  However, they were keeping me just so stoked to be in the water and I was literally pushing 8 seconds/100 better than February.  I had my best swim of 2009 and have Sarah and Nate to thank for it.

After the swim, we headed out to Orange Trail, a beautiful, but hot and unshaded dirt road in the outskirts of Clermont.  There we did a longish run with some intervals.  I had the great pleasure of being joined by Nate, again, and Scott Terry ‘10, a fellow Virginian and former USNA swimmer.  I don’t want to brag about this guy, but he has kept me literally on my toes with regards to running thus far this week.  He got off the bike just before me at a triathlon on Sunday and despite passing about 10 other guys, I only made up .2 of a second on him.  I am running pretty well these days.  Today, he easily hung with me and was looking almost as smooth on the run as he does in the water.

I will be sure to add some more late in the week.  Good to go? (as all my athletes recall me ending our conversations)

Go Navy!  Beat Everyone!

later,

billy

I am back from training in Clermont and have enjoyed some beautiful weather in Boulder upon my return.  Workouts are a bit tougher at altitude, but life is good as I can train and then spend the rest of the day with Bogart and the evening with Lara. Life is good!

However, I am a bit miffed by the powers-that-be around Ironman and have not been able to get into Brazil.  The race directors want me to bid on an e-bay auction.  Frankly, that is repulsive and absurd to pay 1200 bucks (the average bid) and then still have to pay to get there.  It would be cool to cherry-pick a fast race, but something is telling me not to pursue that race.  Instead, I have changed my thoughts about the North American races and am going to hit up Ironman USA in Lake Placid.  The timing on this will not be ideal, so I will just have to go there and get a Kona slot, so I can enjoy a fun late year ironman, simple right?

Seriously, I am stoked about this idea as I have quite a few close friends from Final Kick headed to the race (some to include one of my former riding buddies Marco) doing their first.  The support should be some of the best I have had at a race and seeing all my fellow Final Kick family out there suffering together will only make it that much more fun.  I totally feed off this kind of stuff, so that is my calling and I am in for Placid.

Finally, as I was planning my training trip with the midshipman, I realized that I could sneak up to Virginia Beach and run the Shamrock half marathon.  This is going to make for a sick trip, but being inside the 10 day window I should be at Shamrock with some good fitness and make a solid showing.  Last time I was there, Jerry was literally attempting to will me under the elusive 70 min barrier (I went 70:04!), so I have some work to finish on that course. I will also stick around for a couple days after to see friends and family.

I am looking forward to planning out the next couple weeks as training is getting dam tough and it is getting to crunch time for my Midshipman who are less than 8 weeks from the big show in Lubbock.

This week I have taken a week away from the unpredictable weather of Boulder to partake in a week of very consistent training in Clermont, Florida.  I have joined a very eclectic posse with a ridiculously wide range of talent.  What I have learned over the couple years is not what your training partners are able to do talent-wise, but what they are going to do consistently.  I am currently hangin’ with JZ, Brandon Del Campo, and Carole Sharpless, my normal gym and swim crew.

-JZ- no need for an intro, she dicatates the swim workouts and overall schedule.  She and I have the same coach, so this is working pretty well. My intervals are faster for biking and running, but we can often roll the w/u’s and c/d’s at a pretty level rate.

-Brandon- aka BDC- All-American age grouper who could/should race on the pro-line, and like myself is a former collegiate runner.  He and I have that long history of running during virtually the same time period, only he was on the left coast at UCLA and I was on the right coast at USNA (left and right here are political statements, as well).  He resides in Boulder, and can bring the hammer on the bike.

-Carole- The crew clown who is coming back from nasty injuries. She moved to Boulder last year and works for TRAKKERS. With a history in swimming (key word history), she has turned herself into an all-around tough chick who has a hard time listening to those who hold her back.

Goals for the week are simple, hit each workout, especially since there are even less distractions than I would find in Boulder.  Swim every day, even if it is just a 2k after a long day in the saddle.  Finally, get ready for camp/spring break here in March with the midshipman. 

Thus far, I am hitting all the marks and having a dam good time doing so.  Frankly, my only concern is with Bogart back in Boulder.  Lara is going to work every day and taking Bogart to doggy daycare.  That means the young puppy is playing hard for about six to seven hours a day and apparently sleeping as well as I am (like a rock for nine to ten hours a night).  Bogart can barely climb the stairs at night to get to his bed/crate.  We are both working out and building strength and fitness. However, I am a bit worried that Bogart’s fitness curve is looking exponential and that I am going to have a task exercising that little dog into exhaustion when I get home in five days.