The Early Bird Gets... Hungry!!

It is currently 3:50am here in Colorado.  Despite being up until 10pm local time (that's midnight for me - WAY later than normal), I've been awake since 3am.  I knew I'd be up early.  Our 5am start didn't phase me on paper.  However, I am now learning that my stomach may be an untold issue.  I can get up early, but breakfast doesn't start until 5am.  *sigh*  #EARLYBIRDPROBLEMS

I expected to write blog entries at night, but at this point, it seems the morning may be more likely. 

What happened yesterday?!

We got out of Hartford and due to the weather, we had a slightly turbulent flight the whole way into Denver.  It didn't bother me, but there certainly were some that disliked being told to stay in their seat.  I tried to do a bit of work, but as soon as I pulled it out, my body shut down.  My body was telling me something!  "You're on 'vacation.'  Stop working!"  Okay!  Okay!  I pulled out my audiobook (Relentless: Good to Great to Unstoppable) and spent the rest of the flight listening to that.  If you haven't checked it out, I suggest you do.  It is GREAT!!

The plane touched down, I eventually got off (In order to get an aisle seat, I was about 4 seats from the back row), I switched from audiobook to my "Pump Up" playlist and I was off. 

I walked into Denver International Airport with Breaking Benjamin blasting in my ear and the excitement of the weekend buzzing in my head.  I was IN THE ZONE!!  My focus narrowed, the world faded out around me, and man did it feel good.  THIS is what I live for!  God that felt good!  And man was I off!  And then I saw this...

AWESOME!!

I picked up my luggage (only one tie strap broke in the bike box, so altogether, not bad), found the Triathlon Research representative, and met the first two other campers; Ben and Kiersten.  ...or was it Christine?  Sorry!  It's Kiersten!  (I just checked the Facebook page)  Kiersten is from the St. Louis area and is looking to move into 70.3s.  Ben is from California, but used to live in southwestern Colorado and is also looking to break into 70.3s.  We were picked up by Mike, Ben and my squad leader and were off to Westminster, just outside of Boulder. 

Due to this weekend being graduation for a number of schools in the area, finding a hotel was a chore and a half for the Triathlon Research team.  I must say though, where we are is great!  We're staying in the Drury Hotel, a brand new building.  Nice digs!

We got dropped off, checked in, unloaded our stuff, and headed to the conference room where everyone was getting dinner and info about our first day tomorrow (now today).  It was great to meet some of the people I've been talking to on the phone as well as the other campers.  There are 45 of us, so we've got a lot of names to mess up.  =P 

The last thing they did was hand out our goodie bags!  It was a TYR acquatics gear bag stuffed with lots of things; Yurbuds, New Balance shoes, a very comfy Castelli long-sleeve jersey, a variety of GU products, a Headsweats visor, water bottle, and other little things.  AWESOME!!

After some info and food, it was already 8pm (10pm by my body).  I went straight back to the room to build my bike.  I cleared out some room, set down the towels (to avoid getting grease anywhere, put in my headphones, and went to town.  Twenty-five minutes later, it was built.  The real test will be today's FTP test.  I can just see my seat stem falling down as I ride or my aerobars starting to droop! 

BAM!  Bike built!  Let's hope she holds up!

What are we doing today??

From what I recall and what is on the schedule, we have breakfast at 5am, we head to Rally Sports (our host locale), bang out our main information gathering, individual form analysis and video for swim, bike, and run (1 hour each) including a bike FTP/lactate thresh test, then lunch, a seminar with Siri, and finally dinner. 

That pretty much sums it up!  Thankfully while I've been sitting here in the dining area to avoid waking up my roommate, they've let me start nibbling on what's out for breakfast.  Food makes an athlete happy!

Enjoy your day and I will check in again tomorrow morning most likely!

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Questions
1.  What is the longest flight you've ever taken?
Boston to Denver was my longest flight.  This came pretty darn close today.

2.  Do you ever find yourself up super early or super late while away from home?
I love going West because I'm always up SUPER early.  

3.  What are you doing for workouts today? 
I may need to live vicariously through some of you this week while we get buried in information.


DREAM.  BELIEVE.  ACHIEVE. 

Jim Calhoun CardioRaiser Raffle Winners!!

Ok, so it's six days late, but a win is a win; am I right?! 

We had twelve prizes...

Let's see who's getting a package soon!

Thanks to Random.org, here are your Jim Calhoun CardioRaiser winners...

Christine

$35 Road ID Giftcard

Road ID "Wanna Go For A Ride" Vintage T-Shirt

Road ID Trucker Hat

Suzanne

$35 Road ID Giftcard

Road ID Visor  

Honestly, it's going to be hard to let the visor go.  I might very well have to get one of my own!

Also, Suzanne might get my award for the most chuckle worthy blog title ever!

Karen

Box of Peanut Butter GU

Aimee

Box of Strawberry Chomps 

Road ID Trucker Hat

Shannon

Canister of Lemon-Lime GU Brew 

Coy

Road ID Vintage T-Shirt  

Linh

Road ID Trucker Hat

Congratulations to all the winners.  But more importantly, THANK YOU to everyone for supporting such an amazing cause! 

Send me your address at my email...

becominganironman (at) hotmail (dot) com

And a big THANK YOU to Road ID and GU Energy Labs for their support as well.  I don't race without either company and I'm so happy to be associated with both of them. 

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If you're curious about how I made out with the 6 hours of spinning, I'll say this for now:  When the last instructor told us "That was the last song.  You guys are done.  ...unless you want another one," I told her "bring it on!"  I can't be sure if it was my competitive nature or my delirious mind that spoke up though.  =P  Surprised?

I should have a report up by Monday. 


Swim fast.  Bike smart.  Run hard.  

The Giveaway Swag is Here!!!

Two packages arrived yesterday.  One was from Road ID.  The other from GU Energy Labs.

"I wonder what they could be!!!"

Your prizes!!!

1 box of Peanut Butter GU

(Sorry, the 2nd box is mine, but if you're nice I might share with you)

1 box of Strawberry Chomps

1 canister of Lemon-Lime GU Brew

3 Road ID Trucker Hats

1 Road ID Visor

1 Road ID "Wanna Go For A Ride" Vintage T-Shirt (size L)

1 Road ID Vintage T-Shirt (size XL)

2 Road ID $35 giftcards (not pictured)

Enter HERE  

for your chance to win any of these awesome prizes. 

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Questions

1.  Do you use any of the GU products?  If so, which ones?
I've always used GU lemon sublime and mandarin orange gels, but I'm excited to try the new peanut butter.

2.  Do you wear Road ID gear?  If so, what do you have?  If not, what would you like to get with the giftcard?
I have a Road ID Wrist ID Sport in purple that I wear on every outdoor workout.  I also have an Ankle ID I wear on open water swims. 


Swim fast.  Bike smart.  Run hard. 

Jim Calhoun CardioRaiser Raffle

Here it is!  The info you've been waiting for... (back in action after requiring some technical attention)

The Jim Calhoun CardioRaiser Raffle

As some of you know, I will be participating in the Jim Calhoun CardioRaiser, a fundraiser for Autism Speaks.  The event will be on Sunday, February 26th from 9am to 3pm and offer cardio activities including spinning, zumba, and any of the cardio machines that we offer at the gym.

As a registered participant and captain of The A Team, I am signed up for six hours of spinning.  That's right, SIX HOURS!  Am I nuts?  Yes.  Do I enjoy torture and making people think I'm a little crazy?  Yes.  But tell me, is there any place that I can have more fun and help more people all at the same time?  Nope!  So me and the wife will be spinning for six hours to raise money for a great cause!! 

As a participant in the event, I also have a fundraising goal...

$500

Simple, right?  That's only 100 people donating $5 each and I'm set (or may boost the goal, who knows!). But instead of simply asking for your caring donations, I figured why not offer some awesome prizes for donations?!  Let's not kid ourselves - who doesn't love athletic apparel and gear?!  So here we go...

Thanks to the amazing people at Road ID and GU Energy Labs, I have 7+ prizes to give away.

First off, GU Energy Labs...

1. 1 box of Peanut Butter GU
2. 1 canister of lemon lime GU Brew
3. 1 box of strawberry Chomps

And Road ID...

1. 2 $35 giftcards to Road ID
2. 2 shirts (I have one vintage t-shirt and one "Wanna Go For a Ride?" Vintage t-shirt) 

1. 3 Road ID Trucker Hats 
2. 1 Road ID Visor)

** See all the goods HERE **



How to enter (short & simple):

Required:

• $5 donation to Autism Speaks via the Jim Calhoun CardioRaiser HERE. That means $10 = 2 entries, $20 = 4 entries.  
• Donations of $10 or more can be made online HERE.  For donations of less than $10 or any desired to be made offline, pull up the "donation form" HERE or contact me at becominganironman @ hotmail (dot) com and we'll get you squared away to win. 
• Leave a comment here or email me to let me know you donated 
• Check back on February 27th to see if you won!

Optional:

• You are not required to be a follower of my blog (but if you want to, go ahead).
• Let me know via comment, Facebook, or Twitter what prizes you want to win the most!

Excited about the GU products?, tweet the following...

I support @autismspeaks and am excited to win @GUEnergyLabs pb GU, GU brew, or chomps from @BecomeAnIronman  http://bit.ly/woBxoE

Excited about the Road ID products?, tweet the following...

I support @autismspeaks and am excited to win a @RoadID shirt, hat, or $35 eCard from @BecomeAnIronman  http://bit.ly/woBxoE

And thank you in advance for your support, not only for making my six hours of torture on what I've come to discover is a rather stiff saddle on my Felt S22 worth the time, but for helping the CT chapter of Autism Speaks and all of those people in CT affected by Autism.

You get more used to the saddle over time, right?!  (This could be a very l-o-n-g six hours!)

**  A special thanks to the amazing people at Road ID, GU Energy Labs, and Outside PR!  **

Details

• The raffle is open to any resident of the United States
• Raffle drawings will be made on February 27th
• Entrants cannot win two identical prizes (i.e. You can't walk away with both of the Road ID eCards)

Swim fast.  Bike smart.  Run hard. 

Friday Funny: He Said, She Said

Last week I was on the Facebook and saw a video someone linked, Sh*# Guys Don't Say.

Funny, right?.  Cool; fun little 5 minute break from being productive.  Then a couple days later I see a tweet by @frayedlaces linked to Sh*# Triathletes Say.

And then another tweet by @allencolim linked to Sh*# Cyclists Say.

And Steve in a Speedo posted another version of Sh*$ Triathletes Say.

And there are a TON of other ones out there now that I've gone to look.  Where did they all come from?!

This gives a whole new meaning to "He said, she said."

My personal favorite though is Sh*$ Single Girls Say.

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Raffle Update:

I now have Road ID and GU on board for the Jim Calhoun CardioRaiser Raffle.  Details of the items up for grabs will be up next week, but why wait until then to get your entry in?  Every donation of $5 HERE to Autism Speaks via the Jim Calhoun CardioRaiser gets an entry. 

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Questions
1.  Any idea where these videos started?!
They're popping up everywhere!

2.  What are your plans for the weekend?
My weekend starts today since I have Friday and Saturday off.  Today I have a long run and tomorrow I might do a long bike along with plenty of fun reading and eating, eating, eating!

Swim fast.  Bike smart.  Run hard.