Still sleeping in! :)

Sleept through Master's Swimming this morning. HAHA! I'm still in lazy mode, turtle pace. Today feels like a good day to go bike! My front tire on my training wheel set is all buss up. Guess I'll just have to ride on the race wheel set. ;) Can't wait, in just a few more hours! No planned workout. JUST RIDE! w/ the cellphone in case I flat! LOL!

SHE'S A VICOUS ONE!

BACK AT IT!

SWIMMING IS ALL ABOUT THE STROKE!

Why do I always want to go fast when I start back training? Coach Steve reminded me today that I should be focused on stroke and not speed. The surf shorts helped to slow me down. Going from a Blueseventy suit to surf shorts is a huge difference. It felt like I was pulling parachutes underwater.

Check out Ian Thorpe's stroke when he was 14! My biggest problem at the moment is the pull and follow through!

Sneaky me! sneaky me! I got in a 25 mile bike ride today! AHAHAHA! Couldn't help myself. Lots of up and down hills. Again all I wanted to do was go fast. Time to control myself and do the right things.

Well rested and anxious to get started!

Dad's wedding, goofing around!

The chaos of Ironman and the mass influx of people in Kona has faded. I've taken 8 days off with NO training! I've been in the Ocean twice to Bodyboard. A SSW swell was hitting Kona at 1-3+ft. It was small but fun! Just paddling around and having fun, it felt GREAT!

I'm definitely ready to start back training! Once, I get my schedule figured out I'll have a better idea of how to go about training. At the end of last season I told myself "I wanted to be a better climber". So, I did more climbing! For next season I want to run faster! I'm still deciding on the Honolulu Marathon. December 14th? $130 (flight) $105 (entry) ?(food) (Free shelter and transportation).

10 days off will be my limit before training begins. Start back with swimming and slowly start running and riding again.

IRONMAN RECAP!

October 11th, 2008 was a great day! The day went by really fast, I can only remember bits and pieces throughout the day. I'll start from the beginning.



Swim: 1:01:18
The swim always goes by the quickest. With all the battling for position in the beginning it helps the time fly. I started towards the front right again just like last year. For the first 5 minutes I had to swim with my head out of water and tread what little water I could. It almost felt like a doggy paddle. There were so many people all around me I felt stuck. People kicking and hitting me, grabbing my feet and ankles. It was absolute chaos! By the time we reached the second buoy I was with a good group of people. I mananged to draft behind someone about 90 percent of the swim. From the boat turnaround I stayed with a group of about ten the entire way back.

My Goal for the swim was 1 hour. Missed it by 1:18!


Bike: 5:10:17
My favorite part of the race! Coach Mitch told me the hardest thing for me, will be to hold back. To hold myself back in the beginning I just spun in my little chain ring all the way until the little down hill by the police station. By this point I must have got passed by at least 50 other riders. The majority of the riders that passed me were in peloton packs, drafting like no body's business. When I reached the police station a big group of 20+ went flying past. A guy wearing number 90 started to yell at the pack as they passed. I pulled up next to this guy and started talking to him. As we were talking the first marshal of the day pulled up and harrassed me for drafting and told me to fall back. This got me furious and started yelling at him "ARE YOU SERIOUS!, ARE YOU BLIND! DO YOU NOT SEE THE GROUP OF 30 RIGHT IN FRONT OF US AND YOUR HARRASSING ME!" His reply was "Fall back, I'm starting now, I'll go get them next." I was harrassed a total of 3 times throughout the bike segment. I blame it all on the bright orange helmet!

The plan was to feel good when I reached Hawi. When I reached Hawi I felt good and almost had to jump off my bike and go get my special needs bag myself. It was extremely windy and hot! I ended up taking double the amount of salt tablets I was planning on. The wind was gusting extremely strong, which was great. I saw people crumble mentally when we hit the wind. I've been telling everyone all year that it was going to be windy and prepare for it.

The goal for the bike was to go under 5:30 hours. ACCOMPLISHED with the gusting winds! I was the 2nd fastest rider from Hawaii behind Tim Marr. 1st from the Big Island!

Run: 3:29:31
The game plan for the run was to go out at 8:00 minute pace and hold that as long as possible. If I held this and felt good the last 10K I could pick it up. Coach Mitch told me again "the hardest part will be holding back." He said "your first few miles will feel like your jogging." Sure enough I come out of the gates feeling like I'm jogging. At mile 1 I checked my watch and it read 6:45! OH SHIT! I'm digging my grave early! At this point I had to pee and the porta potty was open so I jumped in. I was thinking this should slow me down a little. The next few miles passed and still too fast! The first 5 miles averaged @ 7:29 pace. Going back into town I felt like a zombie running at a comfortable pace. I knew the real work would be after Palani. I actually did a slow shuffle/jog all the way up Palani. One of my goals for the run was not to walk. Well this lasted until the Coscto aid station at mile 15. I sucummed to walking my first aid station and just about every aid station after that. By mile 16 I was out of salt tablets and my left hamstring was cramping pretty good. I made it through by walking the aid stations and running in between. I kept checking my watch to make sure I would meet my goal.

The goal was to run at 8:00 minute mile pace and come through at 3:30 hours. ACCOMPLISHED! 7:59 pace with a finishing time of 3:29:31.

TOTAL TIME: 9:46:53 (204th place overall)

Compared to last year I took off 42 minutes and moved up 331 places.

Season recap;
Lavaman, 14th
Hawaii 70.3, 34th
Ironman, 204th

I find this odd everything ending in 4. HAHA!

HERE WE GO!

Months of training and 2 Races (Lavaman, Hawawii 70.3) later, I'm left with 11 hours until the BIG DANCE! The GRAND DADDY of them all! The IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Talk about EXCITED! I've locked myself away in my room, until the morning. Time to visualize what my race will be like. The expected and the unexpected. I do this early so I can rest peacefully. Coach told me last night at the welcoming banquet that "the hardest thing for you to do will be to hold yourself back". I'm starting the swim in the same position as last year. Once on the bike it will be really tough to hold back, but I have to do it. If I finish the bike feeling like I could have went faster it will be a great day. The same goes for the run, I can't be blasting the first half and suffering the last half. Again, I must hold back. If I hold back when I reach the top of OTEC watch out! The turbos will be on full boost!

#1 goal is to have a well executed race!
#2 is to finish knowing I gave it ALL I GOT!

See you at the FINISH!

Cody #1700

BRING IT ON!!!

GO #1700!

I HAVE TO FINISH BY SUNSET!

Today, I completed registration. It felt like going in for a Boxing match. Signing up, weighing in and checking out your opponents. I tipped the scales at a wopping 135. 3 pounds heavier than last year. :) Must of been all the food and cake at my dad's wedding last night. When it comes to food I can't resist. ;)

All the numbers are on, the "SPEED DEMON" is all tuned up, the aero bottles on, my bags are packed and its GO time. Tonight, I realized I'm ready! Mentally and Physically, It's time to BRING IT! All my little aches and pains have dissapeared. I've trained my mind to think positive and most important stay within myself. No one else will dictate my race except ME!

In over 48 hours I'll be treading water with 1800 athletes at the pier. The beginning of the 2008 Ironman World Championships will be here before I know it. For my second Ironman I would like to put together a well executed race. This means not going out like a maniac, keeping a steady pace on the bike, keeping to the nutrition plan, no cramping, and running the whole marathon. All this combined will turn into a GREAT a race result!

I HAVE TO BE IN BY SUNSET BECAUSE THAT'S DINNER TIME! GET SOME REAL FOOD AND BEVERAGES, PROBABLY FROM THE BREW PUB! ;)

GO #1700

RACE MY RACE!

LAPAKAHI STATE PARK

(Just before the 6 mile climb into Hawi. Notice the Coconut Tree's blowing.) These are the conditions I'm expecting this year!

Today while riding I had a few experiences worth noting. First, the stop light at the King Shops turned red, so I come to a stop. A guy in green pulls up next to me. A familiar face that goes by the name of Norman Stadler. The light turns green and we take off. I tried to hang on as long as I could. This didn't last very long and before I knew it I was just barely keeping him in sight. I told myself to swallow my pride and back off. Save it for the race and go easy like I was supposed to.

Second, I was passing the airport and caught a rider. This was the only other person I saw on the way back besides Norman. It wasn't more than a couple of minutes and the guy I just passed, passed me. A couple minutes later he slowed a bit and I passed him again. The whole time I was keeping my easy steady pace. Again a few minutes passed and he passes me again. This was like playing cat and mouse. After the fifth pass I decided I had enough and just slowed down to a crawl so he could get ahead of me. I was trying to keep my pace and he kept putting in surges. This was really annoying!!! Talk about IRRITATING!!!

These two experiences this morning just reinforced the idea of racing your race. Staying in your zones not anyone else's. Me trying to stick to Norman was far fetched, especially when I was supposed to be riding easy! Playing cat and mouse with someone will cost me in the long run! A well executed race is much better than over powering one discipline and then suffering in the other. RACE SMART!

Got a massage today and one more on Tuesday. Getting the body primed for the race. Today, I unveiled my aero helmet. ITS AWESOME! Orange, blue, gray and red with stickers. One of a kind. You can't miss me on the bike! It's also time to put on the aero bottle and the ZIPPS! Time to get serious!

Just a QUICK Post!

This week is flying by!



I have a lot of things going on right now. My Dad is getting married next week, so a lot of family just flew in. 6 people staying in a 2 bedroom, less than 1000 sq. ft. condo will be fun.



I picked up Chris Lieto at the airport and saw a few items he picked up at the Health Food Store. All things that I don't eat. HAHA! I'm so bad when it comes to healthy nutrition. Something I really should work on next year. My Coach, Mitch Gold with Counterpart Coaching flew in.



I've meet and talked to a few other pro's, including TJ Tollakson, Torbjorn Sindballe and Max Longree. All really great guys!



While training with Chris, I asked him some questions. Today, at Bike Works I asked Torbjorn similar questions. The difference's between them are amazing! I figured out you just have to find out what works for you and your own style. My style of riding seems to be in the middle, a mixture of Torbjorn's Strength for pushing big gears and Chris' Speed for accelerations. The biggest difference between myself and these Elite athlete's are our size. Needless to say I'm still finding my style!



Work has been a little busier with all the cruise ships coming in. 2 yesterday, 2 today, plus the usual customers. Yesterday, while at the pier waiting in line at number 18 in the taxi rotation, I noticed a familiar face. It was Max's sister! Max was off for an ocean swim and she was just standing there looking bored. I'm not one to miss out on a good opportunity, so I talked to her for about an hour. Possibly planned some fun things for us to do, before or after Ironman. This is great because it helps with the anxiousness. Waiting for the big day can be nerve racking, but when your mind can think about other things it relieves some pressure. ;)