My First Time

I am approaching the end of my first year with Practical Coaching and as I look back I sure am surprised what this year has turned out to be. I did not expect to have the ride that I did. I did not expect to meet the Friends that I did or see such a change with me. My original goal was that I wanted to compete and get better at a sport that I new little about and a whole new world was opened up to me and I loved it and embraced it all. I look back and remember running the steps at Red Rocks during my first few weeks and running in the snow. I think that Nicole wins for the most slips this last winter. Can you say snow shoe 10k for fun. I remember making it up High Grade for the first time and thinking "wow I can't believe that I rode for so long and climbed so high" it took me around 2 hours. Next came "City View" "Shadow Mountain" and we finished early spring with a ride from Bergen park to Echo lake, 16 miles straight up hill, and I finished each of those rides and was in amazement at each ride I did. Steve decided to shake things up and in late spring we rode to the highest road in the US. Yes that's right 20+ crazy people rode 30+ miles straight up hill to the top of Mt Evans. I think that we had a GPS show 14,300+ feet. What a day that was, I did something that I thought I would never do. Running started with a long run of 6 miles and I felt that I was maxing out at that distance. A few weeks ago I ran 21 and now I am not sure what to consider long any more. Swimming was the most familiar to me and so I decided that it was time to swim a 5k at Lake Powell and did it cause I could.
The race season was crazy, Sprint, Olympic and to finish the year I did a half Ironman in Boulder and pushed though and finished it with a smile on my face. I really finished every goal that I set up for myself at the start of the season for Triathlon and I am really proud to say I am a Triathlete. I really enjoyed the whole year and am so grateful to my family to allow me the time to do this. I feel strong about being healthy and showing my kids that being fit and setting goals and accomplishing those goals are hard, and worth it.
In may I entered the lottery for the St. George Marathon because I felt that I could finish the race and well I wanted to run a Marathon. At the end of the tri season I started to ramp up my mileage and found that I was pushing my IT Bands a little more than they wanted to be pushed and on my 24 mile run I only ran 21 and stopped because of the pain and did not finish. I have tried over the last few weeks to get the pain to go away and to my disappointment it has not. I decided to cancel the St George Marathon because of it not working with my family's schedule and switched to the Denver Marathon the weekend after. To help get me ready I rested during the week and went to PT and more Ice and rest. I had my last run this morning to see if it was getting better and would be able to run the Marathon and as the title of this post states My First Time I will not follow my original plan. I will not run next week and will have to change my goal to happen on a different date. My fist injury has been hard on me but in a way that is good. Everything in this sport is hard, Getting up when you don't want to, pushing the last part of a tempo run when your body say no. Racing and really pushing the limits longer and harder than you have before. It has been a hard year of which I would never change. And today it is hard to say I need to get better and run some other time. All my friends are racing and I am sad I will not be with them. Their seems to be a lot of first marathoners racing this Marathon Season and to you all I wish you the greatest success. I don't say luck anymore because of what you have done to get to this point. Work got you here not luck so go and kick some Ass and at some point of the race think of me and know that I am thinking of you.
My first year has been filled with more than I could have asked for. My family has allowed me the time to become a Triathlete and for that I am thankful. I look forward to the off season and getting ready for next year. Yep I am going to go after it again, new set of goals, new desires and new days to get faster, stronger, better. And yes to those asking the question I will have a Marathon on my schedule next year. I want to have that victory and I am OK with it taking a little longer to get.

I love you Anne,

Tyler

Life always changes

Ok so this week was fun, Track on Tuesday night we had a 4 mile Cross Country run, I was still sick so I thought I was just going to hang out. Anne came with me and did the warm-up alone and I still was not going to run. We all headed over to the starting line which was in Cherry Creek Res. and lined up into 6 teams of at least 6. One of the runners mapped out the 4 mile course and put everyone into groups and was going to lead the run on his bike. I had on my workout clothes but was going to help Steve with the timing then all of a sudden something strange overtook me and I jumped in line right behind Anne. She turned and smiled and said "I thought you were not going to run" The only response I could come up with is I just really want to. How lame is that....I am willing to admit today that I am a competition junky!!!!!Yes I need help.

The gun went off (not really a gun but all races should have a gun so pretend that this one did). I started to run with Anne in the mid pack and after a few hundred feet I noticed that the groups were splitting and so I told my wonderful wife good by and took off for the lead group. I did not warm up at all and so I tried to stay with the back of the lead group for the first few miles and then I would pick it up. I found Mike whom I had run many track laps with and sat on his heels and when we passed mile one I asked the pace and he said 7:18. Pretty fast but felt good, I decided to stay on his heels for the next mile and then I would pick up the pace. Mile 2 came pretty fast and he said 6:42. Wow pretty fast but still feeling good and the course for the next little bit was flat so I picked up the pace pretty aggressively. I did not have a watch so I do not know mile 3 but by the start of 4 I had passed 3 others and had 2 more in my sights. Mile 4 started with a two little hills climbs and on the first on I sat on the heels of Brian and we started to work on reeling in another guy I do not know. Brian kept a really good pace up the first hill and by the second we had caught this guy and I made a surge to pass them both. I pushed it really hard to the end and my lungs were screaming. I did not have a watch because I gave it to Anne because I was not going to run but in talking to Brian and another guy I figured I came in some where in the neighborhood of 26 Minutes. PR for me on a 4 mile course for sure and I am pretty happy with it for no warm up and having a head cold.

Sonya you kicked some serious tail out their also, I tried to catch you but you were wicked strong and I could not even come close, good job to you and to all the PC runners. You all rock and look good.

On to the real news,,,,,,,,,I am a Husband and a Dad first and an athlete second and sometimes that causes problems. I signed up for the St. George Marathon because it was a race I grew up knowing about. Winning my lottery spot was really exciting and then to find out Eric B and Jeff L were going to be running it also made this seem perfect. I am really looking forward to these guys having a good race and wish you the best. Family matters came up and I am not able to go on this trip. I need to be home and so it kills me to say this but I am not going to the ST. George marathon......I have know about this for a few days and it has killed me to cancel my trip. It makes me even more disappointed to know that I had put in all this work and would not be able to run the race I was working towards. Anne came to me on Tuesday night and said how sorry she was I was not able to go and the she heard of some of the PC athletes going to the Denver Marathon the following weekend. I looked it up and the race is not full and I am able to make that date because of how close it is to home. I get to sleep in my own bed and then run my first Marathon in my home town. I am sorry to all those that I committed to running with but hope you all can understand that this happens some times.

Talk to you soon,

I love you Anne,

Tyler

18 with Anthony

As Saturday morning approached I was faced with a different set of challenges. Anne and her Cleveland girls headed off to Chicago for the weekend and I was left to play single parent to 3 wonderful kids. I had most everything arranged but the added stress of being alone and John giving me the cold of the week made my mind start to play ideas of how to not run, not finish or to keep the pace slow. I new that the day would be tough because of the mental battle that I was having.



Anthony is a Boston qualifier and a smooth runner. He was kind and willing to run at my pace and work with me because I needed the help. I am not sure if he was guided by Steve on how the day should go but he was able to help more than he knows.



I decided that I wanted to run an out and back on the Highline Cannel trail here in Denver and we started at Goodson Rec. Center. 6:30am came fast and we started out at our normal 10 min pace and I asked if we could hold that for the first 9 miles. We talked about everything Tri and work and family, and much to my surprise Michelle his wife was in Chicago with her girlfriends on a weekend out. Funny how things like that happen.

Miles 1-5 went fast and felt really good, at 6 we stated to pick the pace up a little and ran 9:30's for the next 3 miles. At the turn I was really surprised how good I felt so I asked to pick up the pace for the next mile and moved it to a 9 min pace. I was starting to work a little but it felt good to be moving a little faster so on the next mile we moved to 8:30's and then to low 8's for 13-16. I was really cooked at the end of 16 and my body was feeling pretty tired so we slowed down and walked for a moment to get relaxed again and then kept a pretty slow pace to the 18 mile mark. The way I felt on the last mile was very different than the other two long runs. I finally had a good experience on a long run, I felt that I could really do this distance and find success. The rest of the day I was a Dad and we had a good time. Josh decided that it was important enough to have a bath with Dad the he jumped in the freezing water and had an ice bath with me. Anne came home on Sunday night and quickly after that my life went back to normal, or what ever normal is to us right now. I look forward to 16 next Saturday, I will be running the same course and I am starting to get excited for the Marathon. Until next time,


I love you Anne,

Tyler

20+ Long run

All week long I was thinking about the 24 mile run on my schedule. I wondered if I would do good, succeed or run into some unknown challenge. I decided to use the trail that was plotted by Steve that went around Chatfield. It looked like a good mix of trails, cement and low traffic. I also decided to try to get some help from fellow PC athletes and sent out an email on Thursday asking for runners to join me. When I checked my email on Friday I had a group of 5 that said they would run between 6-14 miles with me, my parents even said they wanted to do a water stop and they said that they would be at mile 18 and really excited to help. I was totally excited and knew that they would be a huge boost. Friday nights sleep went crappy and I ended up getting to sleep around midnight to 1am. The alarm went off at 10 minutes to 5am and I was up and ready to get the run going. I dumped a cooler at mile 5 and 7 and had arranged with my most wonderful wife to help from miles 12-22.
Michelle and Beth both were at King Sooper's before I arrived and a minute later we were off. We started at an 11 min/mile pace and held between 9:20-10:20 most of the first 12 miles. I was cautions in my communication and really enjoyed listening to Beth and Michelle visit and the three of us had a really great start. Michelle looked awesome and Beth has a calm run stride that just simply rocks, I thank both of you for your help off the front half. Great run to the both of you. Anne found us at mile 14 along with my parents who were excited to be apart of such a huge day. Both Beth and Michelle went back to their cars then and Nicole and I ran together. She talked about being an Iron Man and all that come with it, wow what a huge champ you are. Thank for getting up and running the barren stretch of the route. Jackson and Josh even got in on helping me and ran my pace for a few blocks, I have to say both of you boys will be great runners and I look forward to the day where we can run races together. Keep up the good work boys I love you tonz. Anne took Nicole back to her car and planned on meeting me at mile 20, my parents smile as they headed to help Kristin install her dishwasher. I was alone and tired and wicked proud of myself because I was making a new longest distance run with each step I took. I approached Titan road and felt my left leg from the knee down to my foot start to tighten and hurt. I pushed on for a few more minutes and the pain got worse and my calf started to tighten more than it ever has. I stopped and tried to stretch it and get it to loosen and a few minutes later I was running again only to have it get worse a few moments later. At mile 20.5 I decided that I needed to be smart and I stopped my run. Nearly 3.5 hours of running has passed and I had been 3 miles farther than I have ever run before and I was really on top of the world. I had run longer than 20 miles at one stretch and I felt pretty good about that part. I found Anne a little later at mile 21, it was 1 hour later then she expected and so she was really worried. I hate to make you worry love so I am sorry that I did not instruct you better. She drove me to get all the water we left on the course and back to my car. She and kids spent all of Saturday morning helping Dad workout and I am really glad that you are so willing to be apart of this. I talked to Steve as I was driving home and his words of support and comfort meant a lot, I am glad for such a dedicated coach. It is Sunday night and I am still deep down inside happy about the fact that I ran 20+ miles yesterday. I am stronger today with my running, closer to finishing my first Marathon and really the best Tyler I have ever been. Thanks to all that help this weekend between the calls, running with me, or helping me out with water and calorie's, you all rock. Most of all I love you Anne, Thanks for being apart of my 20+ long run,

I love you Anne,

18 miles

I looked on my training calendar and noticed that Wednesday I had 18 miles to run, to this date I have only run 14 miles and I started to get a little nervous. Naturally I started to think of reasons to delay the run to the weekend and when I talked to Steve my Coach he said the weather was going to be cool and a pretty good day for a long run. I decided that I would get it done and and as I was driving home from work Anne called to say she would really like Rob's help to put up the first set of shutters in the home and she wanted to do that tonight. I called Rob and he said that it was Hil's birthday and they would love to come over and help, I guess they will celebrated the birthday later. I then thought it would be a good idea to get a cake and some ice cream and invited the family over. Everyone said yes and by 8:30pm we had a full blown party going on. I crawled into bed at 11pm after getting everything set-up for the run and tried to fall a sleep. The alarm went off at 4:45 am and I hit the start button on my training watch by 5 minutes to the hour. My plan was 3 miles at 11 min per mile, 3 miles at 10:30 per mile, so on down to 8:30's for my final 3 miles. The night was still all around me and I thought I would not see the sun rise until I hit my turn around 9 miles or 1.5 hours later. I really enjoyed the calm morning and the slow pace and worked hard to maintain that because I know a few hours later I would be hurting and working hard since the course I decided to go on ended up hill. The turn around came pretty quickly, I was doing well with water and felt really good as I started the way back. Miles 10-14 were climbing rollers and 15-18 were pretty flat. 10 and 11 were OK but by 12 I started to fill tired and feeling the effects of running on little sleep for over 2 hours. I pushed through the hills and rewarded myself with a little walk at 15, I then noticed how taxing this really was on my body. 16-18 went smooth with my pace between 8-9 minute miles the rest of the way in. I arrived back home at 7:55 am and the house was awake. The kids were watching TV when I came in and they did not notice the huge smile on my face or did they know what their Dad just did but I felt great and hurt a lot also. I soaked in cold water and warm for the next 30 min and then started my day. Anne was really proud and I have been on a high for the last 24 hours. I really ran 18 miles and made it alive. Just think I might be able to finish the ST. George Marathon in 5 weeks alive and happy. For now I will just enjoy the victory of getting it done. I ran 18 miles.

I love you Anne,

Olympic distace 2:34 16th age group finish

Jordanelle was the last race on my schedule for this year my first year of racing. I might do a relay and I have the St. George Marathon in October that I will be getting ready for but for the most part this was it.

The event seemed like it was going to be fun after the race recon that Sonja and I did on Friday. The Swim exit had a 1/2 mile run to T1 and the transition area itself was a major obstacle. The bike course was up hill the first part with a small grade the whole way and then downhill most of the way back, simply put could be fast. The run felt like a cross country race course with a lot of dirt and single track and not much straight road. So going to bed the night before I felt that this could be a good race. The cold that I had was still active so I knew that I would have to take that into consideration when the gun went off.

Race day was normal with good breakfast and things going smooth with set-up. I did not get in a huge warm-up due to the time it took to get everything set. The water felt good and I put myself in the front of the group and when the gun went off I went also. The swim felt good for the first half and then I decided to slow it down a bit because I was having a hard time breathing while I was coughing. I knew that it would take a lot out of me to keep my normal race pace so I made an effort to dial it down a few notches so that I could finish the race. Getting out of the water and heading to T1 gave me the opportunity to see how running felt while getting over a cold and I realized that it hurt and would be taxing on me but that did not slow me down. T1 went really smooth and I felt good as I headed onto the bike course, small chain ring and a good cadence was my goal. At mile 6 on the bike I had decided that I was going at the pace I wanted, I was settled down and felt good about the bike. I made it to the turn around and then pushed the high gear and stared the downhill part of the bike. I felt good all the way into T2 and was proud of my bike no changes as I look back would have made it much better. T2 went pretty fast and off on the run I went. I settled in pretty fast and kept the starting pace the whole fist loop, some where in the 8/min pace area. As I went to loop two I stared to hurt and had a hard time getting my body to keep the pace and I walked through all the aid stations for the rest of the race. I even had to walk up a few of the small hills to get my breathing back under control. As I made my way towards the finish line I was passed again by someone in my age group pushing a pretty good pace, I was determined not to get passed anymore so I matched his pace and gave it all I had. I knew if I tried to pass him too fast he would try to fight back so I waited until the last turn towards the finish shoot and made my move. I gave the surge all that I had and pushed past him in the last 100 feet of the race, I did beat him and felt glad that I gave it that extra effort as the race came to a finish. I had to lay down for a few minutes to get my composure back but when I did I was able to see my family and boy was it good to see the happy boys. Anne and the kids were a huge support and to make it even better Liz and Tyler came. I love the support of my family and realize how hard it is so thanks so,much for your voices and the support you give me on race days and the days leading up to race day.

To sum it up I have to say that it was a good race, I would have liked to have felt better and be able to have enough energy to finish the run without walking. I would have liked to push the bike a little faster so that I would have not gotten passed so much, but these things take time and I will keep working on them. I love this sport and look forward to a good marathon in Utah in October and good build time over the off season. I love you Anne,

#1

Just found the time to start my blog and wanted to make the first post simple. I am here and proud of it and will make it my very own. lets dance