The Third Wheel

As you know, we’ve completed the Ironman and what better way to share our experience with you than a video clip inspired by the world cup.  (made with a mac)

Also, here is an article (Hebrew) I wrote for bonk.co.il

Here you can find the details of my race:

Run (garmin was stopped about 10 min after I finished)

Enough rest and now it’s time to share my IM experience.  Actually I am getting tired of telling the tale and figured posting the story is much simpler and a way for everyone to get the same version.  Having said that, lets summarize with the following:

1. Days leading to the event were miserable as I was sick as a dog.

2. Swim: Huge swells, extreme current, some sharks were spotted in the area

3. Bike:  Rain would not stop, wind constantly blowing people off the road, hills that never ended

4. Run: hills that never ended, freezing cold, not enough aid stations

5. Spectators: through tomatoes as you pass by

6. Almost did not make the finish cut off

Now that I got your attention let’s get a bit more on my experience. 

Monday night the 3^rd wheel team got on the direct flight from Tel Aviv to Sao Paulo.  All seemed to go to well up till the announcement was made letting us know of the 2 hour delay due to a failure in the entertainment system.  For a normal passenger  this is a well justified delay, after all this is a 15 hour flight.  For a soon to be Ironman you don’t really care for entertainment during the flight as all you want to do is catch up on the much needed sleep.  For us it was even worst as we had to make a connecting flight from Sao Paulo to Florianopolis.  Our short connection became a very long one and we found ourselves stranded for 9 hours in an old airport terminal with not much to do.

Landing in Florianopolis we anxiously waited for our bikes and Endurance Sports Travel (EST) were anxiously waiting for us.  Having booked all our travels with EST (through Issta Sport) all our hotel, meals, mechanic, and transportation were all taken care of.  What was left for us to do was unpack in our ocean front apartment and stare out to the ocean to the sound of gentle waves.  A sound that sadly disappeared as the race weekend approached.

The very next day, Wednesday, my pre-race relaxation turned hectic.  Knee pains, fever, and sore throat hit me hard.  Not leaving anything for chance, I found a pharmacy next to the hotel and got myself some antibiotics.  Smart, not sure.  Took care of the problem, it sure did.  To top this, the mechanic that went over my bike informed me that the metal piece which connects the wheel to the frame was bent.  Nearly 3 hours of stress and the problem was solved.  Now came the next big balagan (mess in Hebrew).  My trusted Garmin 310xt decided to play two tricks on me.  The first was simple, my cadence sensor stopped working.  The second was a bit more complicated, the hand strap broke.  Without getting in to the drama I will just say that Anat came to the rescue and took matters into her own hands.  She magically became a Megaiver and fixed the plastic strap.  Finally we could all “relax”.

Thursday was a day for training.  Jet lag helped us wake up early and get on our bikes.  We rode for about an hour to make sure all is in order and check out the transition area.  Most importantly we got to check out the short but steep wall we will be climbing during the marathon.  Later that morning we put our bikes with the mechanic for a last tune up and went for a swim practice.  The practice took place on the course itself with only one difference, there were no waves during the training.  On the way to the practice we met some interesting people that stayed in the same hotel.  Some making us feel completely unprepared (K-Swiss sponsored athletes who place in the top finishers) while others were building up our confidence (a Harvard & Stanford graduate who’s wetsuit looked like it was chewed by a great white shark and then spit out to swim an Ironman event). 

Later that day we hit the expo to pickup our race kits and spend some extra money.  I was really impressed with how well organized everything was.  We got a bag for each part of the race.  White for prerace, black for the wet stuff after the swim, green for the bike, blue for the bike special needs, yellow for the run, and red for the run special needs. The sponsors were generous and we got lots of goodies including race shirt, IM colon, deodorant, IM sun screen lotion, etc…  To top this off, my parents and sister arrived in Florianopolis to be the best ever support/cheering crew.

Enough of the boring details.  The night before the race we were in bed early and got a solid sleep of about 5 hours.  3:30am the alarm clock went off but its sound was muffled by the sound of crushing waves.  All that was going through my head from this point forward is the countdown to becoming an Ironman.

At the transition area we changed into our wetsuits and Brazil colored wigs (so that my parents can identify us from the 1,650 other beached seals).  Making our way to the beach the excitement and adrenaline grow stronger.  Suddenly the sun was rising, the sky turned orange, Brazilian anthem was playing, and the gun went off.  All 1,650 athletes hit the waves and we started our swim towards the first buoy. 

I tried to remind myself of the tips I was told and staying in control.  Not so easy.  The water was murky and it was difficult to see the man ahead.  I got kicked, punched, drunk water, and could hardly see the buoy.  All I knew was to follow the crowed and soon enough I will get to the turning point.  And so it was.  I kept my cool and was not returning punches.  I stayed focused and was soon enough out and back in the water.  The half way point is marked by exiting the swim and then getting back in to complete a second shorter leg.  After 1:11:00 I finished the swim.  Waw, I was 15 minutes ahead of schedule, amazing, lets run to the dressing room and get ready to ride.  Oh the wet suit.  No problem, some hot Brazilian chick grabed me and yanked it right off.  Wait, was it a chick or a chico?  Ahhe, who cares, need to rush to change.

Arriving at the transition area all I could see is a million people and one angle running towards me with my ridding gear.  I was planning on a fast transition but 2 major problems occurred.  The first was the fact that I never put on my riding shorts over wet shaved legs.  Definitely needed to practice that during training.  It took me forever as the ridding shorts got stuck to my skin and almost ripped when I tried to pull them up.  The second was the fruit buffet in the dressing room.  I could not help it and had to eat some watermelon and orange slices on the way out.  12 minutes later I was on my bike.  12 minutes, my god am I going to regret this after I look back at the race clock when I cross the finish line.

Running into the bicycle parking lot I saw that my carbon horse had the company of only one more 3^rd wheel bike, Raanan’s.  This meant that Anat who made it with me out of the water was already on her bike, what a relief.  I wondered if I will see her at all during the long day ahead.  I felt very strong and was pushing my body yet keeping my heart rate at bay.  During the ride all I could think about is how lucky I am to be participating in an Ironman……. “Lucky? Maybe a bit, mostly I was there because for all the hard work I put into my training over the past 8 months.  Now it is time to enjoy the moment.  Look around you, can you believe it? Amazing.  Oh, here is Anat, say hi and bye, she is racing her own race.  Why did I pass her? Am I going to fast? is my heart rate ok? Forget it, just stick to your plan, you will see her during the run.  Was that a drop of rain or did a bird just pooped on me.  Crap, its raining, but only 2 more hours to ride, enjoy the rain its better than sun screen. Opps I forgot to pose for the camera, hope there is another one soon”…. As you can see I was pretty good at entertaining myself.

I have no clue how I managed to ride for 6 hours with only one short stop to empty my bladder.  I have no clue how I managed to ride so hard without elevating my HR to far.  I have no clue how I managed to beat the hills, wind, and rain.  I have no clue how I the hell I did it averaging 30km/hr, no clue!  What I do know is that having my spectators (family) at the U-turn point which marks the start of the 2^nd loop of 90km helped greatly.  What I also know is that I probably paid the price for the fast ride during my run. 

Getting off the bike at T2 was the best feeling ever.  Even though it was still raining, I knew that there is no stopping me and that I will finish the race with a much better than expected time.  OK, again, I took to long, 12 minutes, darned that watermelon. 

Adrenaline kicked up again knowing that this is it, the final leg.  I started the run a bit fast with a pace of 5:45 min/km.  No more than 5 minutes into the run I felt my ITB (knee) hurting.  This pain would last and get stronger as the run progressed. Running the first 15km was done gracefully.  I was smiling, chatting, drinking without stopping, climbing the wall while running, I was superman.  My stomach started to remind me of my sway away from the nutrition plan, darned that watermelon.  I had shooting pain in my gut.  No worries, the special needs bag packs pain killers.  I kept smiling as I passed by my parents, after all they did come for a good show and not to see me sour.  I got to the special needs back and downed the pain killers.  Doubt they helped.  My knee was killing and my stomach needed emptying.  At the 30k mark I emptied my stomach but that did not help much.  Shortly after that I saw Anat, she was looking very determined.  We run together for about 3 minutes and then I decided to walk through the aid station, perhaps some soup would do good, and cake, and bread,… yes I know.  I was happy to know that Anat will be at the finish line waiting for me.  Oh the finish line.  Crossing the finish line did not stop going through my head.  To join that thought was how to carry the 2 bracelets which mark the final loop when I stand in the arch of triumph.  I got my head together and said pain or no pain I must start running again, if not I will have to make another stop at the port-a-pody which I hate.  The lights and sounds of the cheering crowd helped.  I carried the flag which my parents handed me during the final loop and I held it up high as I entered the final stretch. 

I looked up and saw 12:22:26.  I’m an Ironman!

Thinking back, the day I bought my first bike marks the start for my Ironman training. The date is June 14th of 2009. Since that date I logged 160Km in the water, 5,589Km on the bike, and 2,106Km in my running shoes. That is 50 weeks of training with slight rest, no social life, and little time with the family.

Now I got my tattoo.

Being in Florianopolis (an Island in the southern part of Brazil) is great. During the week we had beautiful sunny days BUT don’t fool yourself, the race is scheduled to take place during a stormy cold day. We should hit the water at 7am in 20c and choppy seas. Regardless, tomorrow is the day we hope to become an Ironman, even if we need to crawl to the finish. Which is probably not going to be a crawl, if anything it will be a swim to the finish line because there is a 70% chance for rain.

So if you ask us how we feel I can use Anat’s analogy and describe it this way:
Close your eyes and imagine that you are in the middle of the ocean on a boat. The seas are high and choppy. Your stomach is churning and you are about to throw up. All around you are athletes from all over the world, clam as a nursing babies. Some of them professionals others are experienced age groupers. Now open your eyes and see that you are still on land. Only difference between you and us right now is that our stomachs are still churning and the boat has not sailed yet. Storm is about to begin.
OK maybe a bit exaggerated but you get the picture.

If you want to be updated with the action here is how we can be followed:

1. Follow this link or search for it on the Ironman website: http://ironmanlive.com/updates.php?race=brazil&year=2010
2. Use the following information to search for your favorite athlete (so they say):
Tamir Gotfried, bib number 1682
http://ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?rid=286&y=2010&race=brazil&athlete=1682

Anat Kramer, bib number 1683
http://ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?rid=286&y=2010&race=brazil&athlete=1683

Raanan Cohen, bib number 1681
http://ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?rid=286&y=2010&race=brazil&athlete=1681

Our last morning jog on the beaches of Florianopolis

Send us wishes for good weather and call to say congratz

These are my thoughts these days.

Two weeks to go until the big day… and when I say big, I mean long.  There is nothing I can do at this point to improve my performance and my head is full of pointless taper wonders – Did I do enough? am I prepared? Mentally? Physically? Philosophy? For now though, it’s time to relax.  Today is the first day in months that I didn’t exercise.  It’s a strange thought but it feels good.  I actually slept about 9 hours last night. So this is what it feels like to be awake?? It’s wonderful! Why would I ever sacrifice this? Another pointless wonder. 

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So here I am on the road again now flying from Tel-Aviv to Chicago and then to Miami. No, not for pleasure, it’s all work and all in just 9 days (flights included). It has been two weeks since my exodus out of a volcanic ash covered Europe. And now here I am again sitting on a plane flying over time zones while reviewing my training plan. Needless to say, this is my peak week before starting to taper.

For those who don’t travel and are sitting comfortable at home with a job that requires them a short drive, bike, or run to work, please do not envy what you don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do for a living and the “glamour” that comes with traveling. The problem started when I got serious about my IM training. TIME. That is what I learned mostly how to manage. OK so my teammates might say “try to do it while having kids at home” or “at least you don’t have a 9 to 6 job”.. well this is my post so if you want to cry or brag then I suggest you write your own!

One thing is certain, we all have our difficulties which makes our training just that much harder. Anyone who has family, girlfriend, full time job, and friends will attest to the sacrifices we make from our life for the sake of executing our training plan to the best of our abilities.

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It’s crunch time and we can all feel it. Walking into our appartment is like entering ground zero of Ironman Training. Once you open the door, and step into the living room you are faced with our sturdy bikes, proped up on the trainers ready for the next tripple digit ride; bento boxes open, revealing a left over powerbar or perhaps some salt pills in a miniature zip lock bag. An ITB roller towers over our living room as if to warn us of the injuries to come. If you dare venture into our kitchen, it’s like you’re standing next to the discount bin in a sports nutrition shop. We have an endless array of gels, bars, pills and powders, all in place with several full refill bags underneath the table. Instead of drying pots and pans, we have Aerobotles and shakers, maybe a left over oatmeal pot from the treturous weekend that passed.

A few steps further on the left is the shower. “His & Hers” wetsuits are lying on the top of the shower curtain dripping down, drying from the morning ocean swim. It already looks used and we have a few tears to fix. Then there is THE room. THE room with everything else. A room full of our workout clothes, shoes and everything in between. A dresser that was used in the 1960′s for some ladies purfume, brush and lipstick was now home to about 7 body glides, two sports sun screen bottles and about 15 trophies. My Zipp wheels are resting on the couch (tapering for race day), another neglected mountain bike and my teleporting folding bike stand in the shadows of our serious equiptment.

The bedroom is no better. There are ice packs from the night before which we promptly return to the freezer for next time; More pills and water bottles next to our bed and a tredmill covered with drying towels and some clothes just to feel normal.

This is our life right now.

It won’t get better until we return from our Ironman and regain sanity.

We can’t think about that now though.

Now we just have to live through this week, taper right and plan our race and race like we planned.

UPDATES

I now have two 200km ride under my belt and one 5km open water swim. Tamir and I just got back from a weekend training camp. On Friday I rode 4 hours, swam 1 hour and ran 1 hour. On Saturday I rode 4 hours and ran 2 hours. On Friday Tamir swam 1 hour and ran two hours. On Saturday he rode 180 km and ran 20 minutes.

We are BEAT!

Raanan – People in Zone 3 smile sometimes. We just have to do it in secret so that a certain someone doesn’t see. Then we can pretend that the sun is in our eyes if we get caught. It will be worth it when I’m not throwing up during the marathon. You wait and see

As for the future – This week was tough and I’m planning an 8 hour sleeping night, needless to say “woo hoo”. Tomorrow morning I have an ocean swim with Mor, my spiritual zone 3 leader and a 2 hour run in the evening. Friday is a short 4 hour ride and saturday is a super duper double brick (say that ten times fast).  In English that translates to 85km ride, then 17km run, then 51km ride, then 8km run.

the man who rode with Ben-Gurion

Just finished the 1st week of the peak period.
The weeks with the highest training volumes of my trainig plan.

The week started with my first ocean swim of the season. Puting on my wetsuit I was thinking how all the winter leg weights workouts paid off, “this is so tight”, till i realized i forced my right leg into the arm sleeve… after fixing my suit i met Gadi the TI-Zen-man and his freinds that kindly invited me to join them for a 4k swim in the super flat ocean. was great!

Saturaday, while Anat was swiming with the Zone3 no-smilin’-while-trainin’ team, Tamir & I had the honor of riding with one of the courages 26 that did the first Israman race (Back in the days the dinesores walked the Earth). Roni (“we used to ride into Gaza, eat humus & ride back” ) came carrying a modest nutrition plan – 2 bananas & few dates, and while we were swallowing 300-400 calories per hour he was kicking our asses climbing the hills on the way back. Overall was a great 140k ride (Roni did 170 riding from home… ) to Emek Ha’ela with perfect weather and a 30 min run around Einat for desert.

My weekend concluded early Sunday morning with a 30k run.

To summerize – feeling good, no pains/injuries, just very very tired…Next weekend, bike peak with a 180k ride.

5 Weeks to IRONMAN BRAZIL!

and Tamir… you must get some sunshine on your white shaved legs…

Who would have thought, just a week before our arrival there was still some snow on the ground and cold wind in the air. Once we arrived all that was gone and we were left with some cold temperatures (not to cold) yet beautiful skies.

We are so caught up on our training that no time, or energy, was left to write about our Italian adventures shortly after they were finished. Nevertheless, here is a short attempt to collect all the great moments. OK the video on the bottom of the post will certainly help share with you our experiences.

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The four weeks of the 2^nd build month are behind me. Ah… recovery week…

This weekend, ending this training block was an “Iron weekend”. Doing an Ironman distance in 48hours.

Friday 4k swim+11k run

Saturday 200kride+5krun

Sunday 32k run.

The main reason for this Iron weekend was of course low self-confidence. It worked! As stupid as it sounds, after the 200k doing 180 seems no big deal. Doing the 32k run 14 hours after getting of my bike was definitely not the best injury prevention practice… but also contributed to the confidence build up. And surprisingly, overall feeling great, no injuries (hamsa, hamsa…), and ready for a nice relaxed recovery week before the final-push month toward the training peak.

7 weeks to go!…