Born to Run

"Make friends with pain and you will never be alone"
-Ken Chlouber - Founder of the Leadville 100

"I always start these events with very lofty goals, like I'm going to do something special. And after a point of body deterioration, the goals get evaluated down to basically where I am now---where the best I can hope for is to avoid throwing up on my shoes"
-Ephraim Romesberg - 65 miles into Badwater

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Man... What a great past two months. Not only were they great, but they were TOUGH. This summer I decided that I'd take a full 12 hours in one summer. 6 during summer I, and 6 during summer II. That's more than a full load during the summer for someone that works about 32 hours a week... I knew coming into this year that I'd have to make this last final push to get to graduation in the fall, and I'm pretty much there. I knew good and well that my racing would suffer, but that it would all be worth it in the end.

Regardless of all my schooling the past month or so i've actually done fairly well in my racing! I've raced in three regional championship/state championship triathlons this year and placed 1st, 2nd, and 2nd overall. These races have set me up to reach my goal of placing first overall triathlete in the South Midwest Region of the US.

After my horrible luck last year at the Route 66 triathlon in Oklahoma, I came back this year for revenge, and revenge I got. I set a new course record by more than three minutes and won first overall. I then raced the CATS Sprint in Arkansas. There I came in second to a SUPER speedy friend who won by more than three minutes. Finally I raced the PlayTri sprint which was the Regional Championships. Here I came in second to another good friend by only 19 seconds! It all came down to the run and I just didn't give what I needed to give. I let him go the last mile or so and should have sucked it up. Regardless I got well over 101 points which is great.

On to the bigger races, I raced the Kansas 70.3 half Ironman a few months ago and man did it go well! I went into this race with ZERO expectations because my training has been anything but consistent or appropriate for the distance. Regardless in finished in a time of 4:22:23 and set a new personal record by more than 30 MINUTES. I was literally speechless. I swam around 29 minutes, Cycled around 2:26, and ran around 1:23:23. When I got off the bike I knew I had a chance to break 4:30 (Which has been a big goal for awhile) and after the first mile KNEW I had it in me. (first mile was under 6:00/mile) Final pace for the half mary was around 6:21 per mile. I ended up 1st Age Group after the first four were factored out for overall and the collegiate division. (I still feel that I was 5th) Was also around 30th Overall. Lastly, the clearwater 70.3 (70.3 World Championships) slot rolled down to me but I did not take it. My friend Scott raced as well and really kicked some ass with a 5:03! Congrats to him on a phenominal race and great half mary!!

This past weekend I raced the Lake Placid Ironman. Yes. A full Ironman on my training :) To be completely honest I was really not worried about this race even know I know good and well I should have been considering my training. I crammed a bit of training in the past two weeks or so but that was it in regards to Ironman specific training. I went into this race again with NO expectations, even though I knew I was capable of sub 10. I was really hoping for a new personal record (Sub 10:29:46). Over the course of the race my goal changed to sub 11:00 hours or sub old Lake Placid time of 11:07:35.

I came out the water EXACTLY where I wanted to be with a new Ironman swim personal best of 59:20. (That beat my old Ironman swim PR by more than 2:30) I came out of transition on my bike ready to face some serious pain! Well... Unfortunately two miles into the bike my front wheel flatted. Long story short it was super wet after a HARD rain during the swim, and it took me close to 10minutes to get my tubular tyre off. After anywhere from 10-20 minutes it was changed and I was on my way. In the end I feel this flat costed me a new Ironman PR but there was nothing I could do now! I pushed my way through the first loop of the bike and finished the whole bike in 5:48 ish which was not good. The last 20 miles of the bike really hurt, and I had no idea what my marathon time would look like....

Started the marathon with a first mile of 6:50. HA! Oh SH** I thought. Slowed down a bit and finished the first 13.1 mile loop in 1:44. Well that put me on pace for a sub 3:30 marathon which is what I really wanted. That hope quickly faded as my miles slowed to around 8:30s then to 9:00s as I started walking aid stations. I finally picked the pace up a bit as I came into town around mile 23 and finally finished in 10:40:35 after a 3:44:10 marathon, which happened to be an Ironman marathon personal best by about 30 seconds!

All in all I'm incredibly happy with that performance after my lack of training this summer. I want to thank both Scott and my wonderful super supportive girlfriend Courtney. With out those guys I woulda been a complete mess!

Finally I'm gonna end this post with a quick discussion about running... and the book I just read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Over the past few months or so I've really started to change my outlook on racing, exercise, and running. As everyone knows I've started to trail run MUCH more, run in my fivefingers, completed my first 50K, and am about to do my first 100k in three weeks. My odd obsession with ultra running is growing and growing to the point that I'm now considering 100 milers in the near future. I have started to really enjoy... actually... love the pain of endurance exercise. I've learned to embrace the pain and work with it, instead of fighting it. My main problem is that I am a type A personality to the MAX. I'm always wanting to go further.. to push harder... to be the best. I'm never satisfied. This scares me, because I'm not so sure what will happen after this 100K. Will I want more? Will I want 100 miles? What happens after 100 miles?!? I honestly don't know... but I do know that I was born to run.

In regards to the book it's a great adventure into the world of the Tarahumara tribe in the Copper Canyon of Mexico. It covers ultra running... barefoot running, and why your expensive shoes are giving you foot pain... and everything else inbetween. Heres A LINK so that you can check it out for yourself :)

As always be sure to keep up with me at my training log by clicking HERE or on the link to the right. I hope everyone is doing well and training hard....

Run on.

_Jacob_