I wanna be like Rapp

In the 90's everyone wanted to be like Michael Jordan, aka Mike. For me, I wanna be like Jordan Rapp.

Everyone in triathlon knows his story.   He's lucky to be a live, lucky to be walking, lucky to be racing, lucky to have his family. While I wish my recovery was as fast as his, our paths are very similar. He's been a great inspiration, and this is why I wanna be like Rapp.

Rapp		Me
3/24/10 Crazy freak accident, he hit a car head that pulled out. Amazing to be alive.		10/24/06 Crazy freak accident, total double malfunction skydiving. Amazing to be alive.
Long road to recovery. Fractured scapula and clavicle, lost a few liters of blood and spent days in the ICU		Long road to recovery. Fractured neck, back and femur (that went undiagnosed for years).
Quentin Rapp - 6/21/11		Isaac Maffett 8/3/11 (pound it)
1st at IM Canada (1 year 5 months after his accident)		My 1st IM will be Chesapekeman - 9/24/11 (4 years 10 months after my accident)

DOA

My left quad is DOA...haven't had a solid workout since last weekend. Getting concerned about my training and race. I've got a massage scheduled for Monday, hoping that he can work out anything going on.

Looks like my final weekends will be the following.

Sept 3 - 80-100 mile ride
Sept 4 - swim/recovery
Sept 5 - 18 mile run

Sept 10 - 60-80 mile hard ride
Sept 11- 16 mile run

Sept 17 - 40 mile ride at IM effort
Sept 18 - 10 mile run

Test race - 70.3

Saturday, a few of us doing Chesapeakeman decided to do a 70.3 locally to get a good workout in, and see how our fitness was. The course was a 1.2 mile pool swim, 56 mile bike (tough) and a two lap 13.1 mile run. We were basing T2/run out of my house, so we had everything setup for transitions, water, food, etc.

We got to the pool and it was packed, but the masters group let us take a lane. We took off and I felt well. My tri shorts were a little loose, so pushing off the wall was tough. From 1300 yards to 1700 yards I took it a little easy, but came in just over 32 minutes. Joe came in a 50 behind me and Angela was a 100 back.

I waited for them and then we all changed and took off for the bike. The route was hilly for 13 miles, then a rolling 30 mile out/back section and a repeat of the 13 mile hills. I wanted to hold 200 watts, but realized my gearing wasn't gonna let me hit my watts downhill. I focused on keeping my watts down on the uphills and quickly found out I was going to be in a better situation for the ride. My pace out on the first 13 mile section was about .5-.7 miles slower, but I felt great.

The 30 mile loop felt perfect. I was able to keep my target watts most of the time, focused on nutrition and feeling good. I averaged 20.5 mph with no aero gear/slow setup. I did this ride last year and hit the turn back home (13 miles to go) and felt horrible. This year was different, I knew I could keep it going. I was at a 19.9 average and felt I was at my 3/4 IM pace...not as hard as my half, but not as easy as a full.

The last 13 miles are tough coming back, but I made it. My tri shorts were chaffing bad, so I just wanted to get out. The sun was coming out and it was getting hotter, and I hit about every light possible.

Hit the house and changed into running gear. I was feeling good when I started the run, but hit about every light in the city losing a good minute. I felt like I was at 80%, but the heat was getting to me. I hit the 3.25 turn around just over 23 minutes and was a little concerned I was going too hard. By now, I was starting to overheat and was pouring all the water I had over me. The way back, I did a run/walk and came in at 50 minutes for the first lap. At that point, I decided to go hit the shower and cool off instead.

Joe and Angela finished the run and called it a day. I felt great and put my compression gear on.

Sunday, my dad and I did the covered bridge metric century ride. I wanted to take it easy, but since I was feeling good threw in some hard efforts. I took some pulls, attacked some hills, and had to do a chase for 1 minute to catch people who turned off (500+ watts :) ).

Yesterday I was coming down with something, but it feels like it was gone. Starting to catch up on my sleep and hoping to get back into 2 a day workouts for the last push. Feeling good about the race, just hoping that the weather cooperates.

Training half

Most training plans call for a 70.3 4-6 weeks out from an Ironman. In a perfect world, that works out great, but finding one scheduled, getting time off, the costs aren't always there. A few of us doing Chesapeakeman have decided to do a mock half tomorrow. We'll do a 1.2 mile pool swim, then hit the roads for the bike and run.

I did a hard effort on the bike course last year before Timberman, so it will be interesting to see any differences. I've got "slower" gear setup for training, but am hoping to come in with the same time on a lot less effort. Depending on how the bike goes, I may try to push it a little on the run. The run course has some nice rollers/hills, but should have some shade.

Sunday, I'm doing the Covered Bridge metric century as a recovery spin day. Will be nice to get two solid days in the saddle, then it's the final push!

Test Run

I like to do a few key workouts before races to see where my fitness is. Last year, I did a 13.5 mile run before Timberman, finishing just around 8:00 miles. I felt good and knew I'd have a decent time for the run. I ended up running 1:39 because of some great weather.

Today I wanted to do a 16 mile run to see how my legs felt. My longest runs have only been up to 13.1 miles, but a ton in the 11-12 range. After each of those runs, I felt like I had a bunch in the tank.

I decided to do a 4 mile loop near my house x 4. It's a modified 5k course, that has a killer hill finish. I started off feeling sluggish, but turned in a 7:17 first mile. Just kept my head down and finished the first loop in 28:55.

Second loop I needed to hit the porta potty around mile 2. Between that and traffic stops, I lost about a minute+. I finished the lap at 31:20 on the clock, but took it easy worried I'd blow up after the first lap.

Third lap was pretty good. Kept my head down and finished in 29:30.

Fourth lap I wanted to turn in the fastest split...I started off hard, but got past my house (.1 miles) and had to take another pit stop. I didn't get out of the house until 2:27 on the clock (dog, water bottle swap, etc). Add in some more traffic stops and I lost 2 minutes. I pushed the pace from the start and kept it up. I made sure I didn't back off too much, but wanted it to feel comfortable. The last mile is all up hill, so I kept the pressure up. Finished that lap at 30:37 (28:37 without the stops) for a total clock time of 2:00:22 (or 1:57 modified).

I know "rests" do help, but I don't' think I gained any time/speed from them. The only thing I got was less chafing from my fuel belt by getting rid of bottles for the last lap.

Happy to see where my run is going. Tomorrow I'm gonna do some hard intervals and get an idea of speed/power on a flat course.

and we're home!

Isaac Dillon. Born 8/3/11 - 20.25" and 7 lbs 11 ounces. He's doing great and so is mom. It was a busy few days, but now to try to get in some training again!

Work is amazing, allowing me to take the week off. I'll get some work done in the evening but I'm hoping to get some good SBR workouts in (1-2 hrs max) each day.