Timothy Monk

Hannah's Turkey Trot / The Woodlands TX

2009-11-27T07:58:00.000-06:00

One of the biggest races around this house is the GE Run Thru the Woods held on Thanksgiving Day here in the Woodlands. Our annual turkey trot has been a 4 year tradition with the kids. Last year was a great year for me running with Parker in the kids race. We ran a good mile in 2008 and have some wonderful pictures of the event.

This year was different, because Parker did not want me to run with him in the 1 mile race. So he went on to do his own run without any parental supervision. Parker had a good day running a 9:30 pace.

However, the big race of the day was going to be Hannah and I running the 5 mile run together. Hannah has done several 5k's through her Girls Run group, but this run was going to be 2 miles longer and with a huge crowd.

I thought she might be a bit nervous, but she was excited to start and only complained to mom about all of the clothes she had to wear because it was cold. We gave mom (aka Race Sherpa) our sweatshirts and got ready for the start.

As the gun went off, we let the faster runners go, then settled into our pace. We started out holding 9:30 miles and stayed close to that pace the entire time. Hannah never once stopped. She drank a cup of water at the aid station while running like a champion marathon runner and was not going to give up until we got to the finish line.

Throughout the run, we saw people we knew every few minutes so she had a cheering section. Some of our cheering section were a little shocked, because they were about to lose to a 9 year old!

The last mile was a tough one. I think both of us got a bit excited and we picked up the pace. With about 1/2 mile to go, Hannah asked to slow it up a bit, because she said she was really tired but was not going to walk. As we turned the last corner we had a bout 1/4 mile left and I told her we were at 48:00 and we needed to run fast to break 50 minutes. She picked the pace up again and we crossed the line with a 49:45!! She was 1508 overall about of about 3000 runners. However, she was 2nd in her AG and would have been 3rd if you count the 10 and under boys and girls.

Yes Hannah has one proud dad this Thanksgiving. More importantly, Hannah is proud of herself.
http:results.active.com:pages:displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=234636&rsID=87895

What is Next? / Girls Run Speaker

2009-10-27T20:20:00.000-05:00

Yes I am impatient. With the official broadcast of Kona not even on TV, I am already trying to plan out my 2010 racing season. With work and family obligations, planning where and when to race is not something you can do at the last minute.

However, after a long season it is so important to take the time to relax, recover and enjoy other sports and activities. This is a time to catch up on any personal things you did not get done while training took precedent over all of your free time.

So to answer my own question about what is next in the short term, here is my list:

- Don't allow any workouts to get in the way of my family activities
- Weed side yard and fix the grass (guess who has asked me to do this?)
- Do some barefoot running see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/27well.html.
- Ride with Woodlands Cycling Team
- Start lifting some weights
- See if I can find a cheap stand up paddle-board
- Swim when I can
- Have fun with little to no structure in my training

I am sure my to do list will grow as will my impatience towards my 2010 season. Bottom line, stay active, but have some fun and take care of all the things I have had to put off for the past 9 months.

Finally, I had my second speaking engagement about my Ironman experience. After 3 seasons of service, I was invited to speak to 60 girls at Hannah's Girls Run group. I have to admit, this was quite a high point for me since the race.

With the girls ages being 6 - 12, I had to make it interesting and did my best by bringing all the toys. I shared with them how much you eat and drink while racing in the Ironman and what they need to eat and drink as they get ready for their 5k on Saturday.

There were great questions at the end and I hope the girls are inspired to keep up with their fitness after the season. I have mentioned many times on my blog how special this group of girls are to me and getting an opportunity to be one of the speakers was a huge thrill.

I am the race announcer at our 3rd annual Girls Run, Hit the Trail 5K this weekend. I look forward to seeing the girls run fast and enjoy competing in our Fall season finale.

Final Thoughts on Kona

2009-10-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe, but 2 weeks have passed since the big race. I have had several people push me for a follow up blog post so here we go:

I can’t get the entire two week experience out of my head. Often, when you have thought about something for over 12 months, you find that expectations do not match up to reality. On this trip, from the race to the vacation afterwards, we exceeded every possible expectation we had. Now, everyone wants to go back and enjoy Kona!

I really enjoyed spending time with my family. The uninterrupted time I got to spend with my wife, kids, parents, sister and aunt was incredible. I just loved seeing everyone having the time of their life, being active, enjoying Kona and enjoying the entire experience. I think everyone found something special on the Big Island to grab onto that provided for a life changing experience. Our photos speak for themselves.

To come clean, I spent a lot of money in the merchandise tent. People have asked how much, but let’s just say I have enough Ironman merchandise to dress me for any occasion.

I not only went to Lava Java, I hung out there the week after the race like a local. On Thursday, I sat there with Shani having breakfast, watching the waves, drinking Kona coffee and listened to a musician sing some Jack Johnson songs while playing his ukelele. At that moment, I realized just how awesome the vacation was and Shani and I both agreed that life does not get much better than that.

On Wednesday night, I took my son to swim with Manta Rays. The experience was magical. Watch the video and see these amazing creatures for yourself.

I learned that my wife is a good stand up paddle boarder. She held nothing back when she stood up on her board, started paddling out into the ocean and left me for sharks as I tried to keep my balance. We now find ourselves considering a paddle board of our own.

Want a great beer to drink? Try Kona Brewery’s Waialua Wheat. Yes, I am wheat free, but is it really cheating if I drink beer? Drink one of these and you will see why I found one of these in my hand every afternoon while in Kona.

Shani did her best to film parts of the race. Here is a short video showing that awesome day.

Lastly, we finished up the week with an awesome sunset sail, thanks to my Aunt Katherine. We saw a beautiful sunset, enjoyed some mai-tai's and I decided to show off my permanent reminder of the big day!

So what is next? I want to go back in 2011. To do that, I have to re-qualify again at another Ironman race and earn my slot to go back. I look forward to my next journey as I continue to compete in this awesome sport.

Race Report

2009-10-11T19:52:00.000-05:00

Racing yesterday was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. This was my fourth Ironman, but my first trip to race here on the Big Island. There is nothing that compares to Hawaii. I don't think it is possible to prepare yourself for this race. It is simply something you have to experience. Here is a recap of the day:

The day started with transition yesterday morning. After getting my nutrition on the bike, I decided to check and see what the pros do for the biggest race of their lives. A few racks over sat Macca, Alexander (Mens Winner), Potts, Lieto, Badman and many others getting their bikes ready for the day. I shared a few words of encouragement and all of them shared them back. There is a sense of camaraderie here that does not exist at other races. I think those guys knew what we were about to get ourselves into, and because of that, everyone shares something in common.

After my pro gawking, I made my way to the swim start and the pros were entering the water. I had another chance to sit on the wall and watch them get ready to go. We had to pause for the Navy to parachute in then the national anthem and off the pros went.

Right after their start, we make our way into the water and out to the buoy. We bobbed up and down for about 15 minutes, the excitement builds, the people all around are cheering, then.... Boom, the cannon goes and we are off.

At this point, I knew this day would be different from other race days. Normally I can get out front in swims and find some open water. Here, I had the crap kicked out of me for 58 minutes. The girls are the worst! One of them made a fist, then kicked breast stroke to get some guy off of her. I really thought this thing would thin out, but it stayed tight all the way to the finish. Someone asked me about sighting, and I thought they were kidding. Your goggles fill up with water from all the turbulence and all you can see is a white foam in front of your face. I did my best to keep it easy and to stay right behind someone so I would not get clobbered.

I exited the water in about 58 minutes and based on the conditions, I was pretty pleased. I took my time in transition, got some fluids, sunscreen and took off on the bike. The bike felt easy on the smooth roads and I spent most of the way out of town getting passed by 100's of people. The wind was at our back and we were flying. I did notice that everyone going by me was caked in salt and when I looked down at my black shorts, I realized the same thing. We were losing fluids and fast. I kept with my strategy of drinking a lot of fluids on the bike, took in some salt, ate plenty of power bars (5 total for the day) and some gels.

When we made the turn to head up to Hawi, the wind started and it was blowing right in our face. This was about 10 miles from the bike turn. At that point, we saw the pros coming by and that was cool to see them cruising down the hill so quickly. I was also blessed with a 4 minute drafting penalty. I went to the tent, spent 4 minutes with 8 other athletes and enjoyed the time to get fluids, take salt and eat a Powerbar. It kind of reminded me of a stop in Richards!

On the way down from Hawi, we were moving pretty good, then when we headed back out on the Queen Q. At this point you are 34 miles from Kona. I also realized why the ride out was so easy. The wind was right in our face blowing 20+ mph and I spent the next 2 hours in the small chain ring doing about 15 mph. In addition to that, the heat was just cooking your back as you struggled to move up the road. People were pulling over to get in some fluids because no one wanted to let go of the bars.

Once I cooked my legs coming back into town, it was time to start the run. On Ali'i drive, I felt pretty decent. Legs still felt good and I got to pass my family twice in the process. You spend about 11 miles of the run in town before you run up Palani out onto the Queen K towards the Energy Lab. You then spend 5 miles running to the Energy Lab on an open road with no fans. The only thing you notice on the way out of town are pros walking home, aid stations in the distance and the heat coming off the road. I hit mile 13 and was starting to notice my fluid was not digesting in my gut. By the time I got to the Energy Lab, nothing would go down and I really started feeling weak. I just don't think anything could have prepared me for what I was feeling. I started walking and running and then walked some more. I spent a lot of the Energy Lab walking trying to get fluid to go down. By the time I got out of there, I started feeling better and was able to run the last 4 miles at a decent clip.

As I look back on that moment today, I just can't describe the respect I have for the few athletes that come here and run through those conditions. After what we experienced on the bike, then having to run in that heat, I now know what this Ironman is all about.

As I struggled out in the Energy Lab, I wanted to make sure Shani took Hannah to see the women's finisher. Hannah stood right there as Chrissie Wellington made history with her 3rd straight win. I was so glad she got to see that happen.

Once I started running down Palani, all the pain left. You make a right turn onto Ali'i drive and the only way to describe it is like a ride at Disney World. You feel as if you are on a giant people mover sliding between fans with music, lights, drums and cheers. Then you see it, the finish chute lined with people...then you step up to the arch and what you have waited to hear, "Timothy Monk of The Woodlands, Texas, You are an Ironman."

Once done, volunteers give you a real lei, and escort you back to the finishers area. Shani and the rest of the "Team Monk" crew made there way back to greet me and we just sat and talked about what we experienced. Everyone was tired, but we just took some time to take in the moment. After about 20 minutes, we made our way to get the bike out of transition and started the walk home up Ali'i while other finishers were coming in. I turned to see the finish line under the lights and like they described it on one of the television shows, it is something seen in Disney Land.

After a decent nights sleep, I did not feel that bad this morning and we made it by Lava Java and ran into Chris Lieto and Robert Larioza with Base Performance having some breakfast. Chris had an incredible race and it was great chatting with him about his day.

To wrap up our Ironman experience, the whole family headed to the awards banquet. Like the pre-race banquet, Ironman put on another awesome show. Seeing all the age groupers get their awards and then having the chance to see Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander take home the overalls was a real thrill. Chrissie Wellington's speech was one of the best I have heard in years. It was not so much about triathlon, but about why this sport can do so much more for those that seek it out.

Lastly, I have to thank everyone again that have supported me on this journey. I have enjoyed chronicling this from the start and have been told by many that it was inspirational. I can't say anything that I have done is inspirational, but I hope anyone that has the dream to race on the big island can realize that chance. It truly is an amazing experience.

The amount of well wishes I received and congratulations over the past few days has just been overwhelming. I am thankful in my life to be surrounded by so many incredible people.

I look forward to next week enjoying HI with the family. They deserve a week of R&R and time away from the Ironman.

Day 4 (Pre-Race)

2009-10-09T20:59:00.000-05:00

The bike is all checked in, the gear is dropped off and it is time to have my final meal before tomorrow.

Before I go any further, I just have to say thank you. Thank you to everyone that has helped me get to this point. Tomorrow is going to be special and it is because I had so many people help me reach the starting line.

Bike check in was quite the experience. For starters, you walk through a chute with all the bike reps taking notes to see what equipment you have. Then you get your own volunteer to help you rack your bike and walk you through transition. When you are all done with your bike, they show you where to hang your bags and then give you a final good luck as you leave the area.

I have seen the transition area on television so to be able to rack my bike there next to some of the fastest bikes in the world was quite an experience.

Thank you again to everyone that helped me reach this point, especially my family. I can't wait till tomorrow.

Day 3 Thursday in Kona

2009-10-09T10:39:00.000-05:00

I finally slept in on Thursay and felt great when I got up. I started with another visit to the Lanai, watched some waves and enjoyed Kona coffee.

My only workout plans for the day was a short ride out the Queen K to the airport and back (15 miles). My legs felt great and I was amazed at how smooth the road surface is on the highway.

After the ride, I met up with the family for breakfast then Hannah wanted to go for a short training run on Ali'i. There are people running up and down Ali'i all day long and she wanted to be in the action. We ran about 2 miles and I know we were doing under 9 minute pace. Not bad for a 9 year old in Kona heat.

After the run, we visited the local beach next to the condo and then we decided to drive out to Hawi. Hawi is approximatley 52 miles from Kona and is the point of the bike turn arround. The rugged nature of the lava fields make for a stunning back drop as you drive out. We did not experience too many winds, so hopefully that will hold up on race day.

Shani and the kids also decided to make some race Grafati on the Queen K as added motivation for the bike leg.

After we got back, we had to get ready to go to the K-Swiss pre race banquet. It was a lot of fun from fire dancers to inspirational stories about who is racing. Always a motivator when you attend one of these.

My parents also arrived last night and I am sure they are tired from the trip over. Glad to have them, my sister and my Aunt Katherine here for the big dance.

Friday will be my normal pre-race routine with a 15 minute swim down at Dig Me beach, a 15 minute ride then a short run. Bob Schloegel is picking me up at 7:00 to get this out of the way. After that, it is breakfast then I will set up all my race gear. Shani and the kids are doing a helicopter ride which should be a lot of fun.

With this being our first trip to Hawaii, the beauty here is so overwhelming and to have this incredible race on top of all the Island has to offer, is an experience hard to describe.

By the time I get this post up, race day will be 24 hours away.

We have new video posted on you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQt7wKDyEwk

Day 2 (Dig Me Beach)

2009-10-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was an awesome day here in Kona. It started with an early morning wake up call at 3:00 AM since I could not sleep any longer with the time change. Our balcony (Lanai) has an incredible view so I just sat out there for a few hours and enjoyed the sights as the sun rose from the other side of the Island.

The kids love the private beach next door to the Condo and played out in the surf a bit while I was down at Dig Me beach doing my swim.

I posted a video showing all my exploits yesterday morning down at Dig Me Beach. My goal was to get a nice swim in and make it out to the coffee boat sponsored by Coffees of HI.

The kids also got into the action yesterday afternoon at Dig Me beach and did some snorkeling of their own.

We caught up with a few pros:

Then, we finished up last night with an awesome Luau at the King K hotel.

More to come today as I ride some of the bike course out to Hawi.

Day 1 Wrap Up

2009-10-07T08:38:00.000-05:00

We arrived safely and on-time in Kona. The flight was a long one, the kids were awesome and all of our our luggage arrived, including the bike.

My bike case got thrown around good and one of the straps holding the bike down broke off. Everything appears to be ok, but we will find out later today after I put it together.

Last night we decided to head over to the Kona Brewery for dinner then walk around the Ironman Village so we could stay awake a little longer. A 5 hour time change is a bit tougher to get used to than I thought, as I am writing this at 3:38 AM, Kona time. I am currently sitting on the balcony of our Condo so I don't wake anyone else and I am no more than 10 yards from the ocean. You could hear the waves crashing all night and they are making that beautiful sound as I sit here and write this post.

I plan on getting a swim in down at Dig Me beach in a few hours, then head over and get registration out of the way. I am meeting up with Bob Schloegel this morning. Bob is my friend Matt's brother that has probably raced here 10 times. Bob turned 45 and is going for an AG podium in the 45-49 age group. Bob just finished 4th overall at the Redman and qualifed for this race at Wisconsin with a 9:35.

Enjoy the photos from yesterday upon our arrival in Kona. My favorite is the guy we ran into at the Timex booth after we purchased Parker a new IM watch. He had compresion socks on, so he might actually be racing. His advice to me..... "Get off your feet"

We are Off

2009-10-06T04:27:00.000-05:00

After over 12 months of training and anticipation, we are off to Kona! I am up at a ridiculous hour and can't wait to get to the airport with the family, board the plane with my bike and head off to the Big Island.

I have all of my camera gear and look forward to posting some updates via video later today. I have already posted a few videos and you can find them and all of the future ones on the top of my home page at www.timothymonk.com. I will also keep the twitter feed full of updates and will do my best to share as much of the action about the race with all of those interested.

Our schedule for today is mostly travel:

9:00 Depart House
11:45 Continental Flight to Honolulu
4:36 Connecting flight to Kona
5:19 Arrive!
6:00 Hit our Condo at the Kona Reef complex
7:00 Have a Beer or glass of Wine with my wife on our Lanai (fancy word for balcony)

We have a long day ahead of travel, so I will just try and stay relaxed and enjoy some time with my wife and kids. Thanks to Shani, my kids are great travelers and spending time with them on the road is always a great time.

Tomorrow should be a swim at Dig Me Beach and race registration. The plan for the swim is to swim out to the Coffees of HI boat and get some free coffee and take pictures with the new underwater camera.

I also have a short business meeting tomorrow at Lava Java with our new client Base Performance.

On another note, the Lonestar Multi Sport club website is now published. You can view it at www.lonestarmultisport.com. The original URL, .org, should transfer over in coming days. I hope everyone enjoys the new site.

Stay tuned as there will be more to come later today.

Moving to Video / A Few Updates

2009-09-29T21:50:00.000-05:00

We leave one week from today to head over to Kona. Hard to believe the race is right up on me. The training is basically done and it is now time for a few fast workouts and plenty of rest.

As promised, I will begin supplementing my blog post with video updates as we get closer to the race. My hope is to give everyone coverage of the days leading up to the race showing all the excitement surrounding the Ironman World Championships.

The videos will be uploaded to You Tube and I will have them embedded on my home page at www.timothymonk.com. If you are really bored, be sure to follow along.

Lastly, it is that time when you begin thanking those that have helped you on the journey. I cannot thank my wife, Shani, my kids, Parker and Hannah enough for helping me prepare for this thing. They have endured me being gone most Sundays and seen me come home from a business trip, only to be running from 5:00 - 7:30 the next morning. They have done their part and now it is my turn to do mine.

I have also had many training partners on Sundays and below are a few pictures showing some of our last rides. So much of the fun in training for an event like this are the friends you make as you do the training. Special thanks to Mike, Clint, Jim, Steve, Kevin, Raul, Kyle, Al, Dana and many others for spending their Sunday mornings with me riding out to Anderson.

Also, I have to recognize my favorite charity, Girls Run. At our annual Wine Tasting event, the awesome people that make Girls Run happen raised over $70,000! We look forward to sharing those proceeds with cancer charities, especially the Livestrong Foundation in coming days.

WMST / Swimming @ the NAT

2009-09-20T12:04:00.000-05:00

I will start my blog with stating that we have the absolute best masters swimming program in the country. Woodlands Masters Swim Team, started by Carolyn and Tom Boak is over 200 swimmers and growing. The workout schedule is awesome with multiple coached workouts on each day to fit just about anyone's schedule.

One of the things I enjoy is the camaraderie found at each workout. The coaching and my fellow swimmers make it a pleasure to drop down 3000 + yards every time I go. We have swimmers of all abilities and levels from people with Olympic Trial cuts to those just starting out.

I am constantly telling my friends in the triathlon community to come join us. If you want to get better at swimming, come swim with people that can kick your ass!

On an ongoing basis, I run into one individual whether she is coaching me or kicking my butt in a work out. That is Laura Davis. She is an incredible swimmer and even better coach. Typically she will give us set like 150's with some kicking and drills as part of each 150. My favorite part is she will say, "do them on the the 2:15, but I did them on 2:00." That is all it takes, for me to push it harder. I don't like losing to girls (this is left over from a grade school dilemma). As you can see in the picture, if Laura is not happy with your effort in the pool, she shows her displeasure in subtle ways.

My swim has always been there for me in races and that happens becuase of all the swim training with WMST. I will be thinking of them as I head out for the 2.4 mile start of my day in Kona.

The Woodlane Loop

2009-09-17T19:41:00.000-05:00

If you want to ride your bike before work, you have to be creative. With traffic, limited time and plenty of other obsticles, you need a safe place to get your ride done. Here in the Woodlands, we have a loop known as the Woodlane Loop. I have ridden this loop countless times getting ready for this race and have done everything from recovery rides to interval sessions. The loop is 5 miles and is about 4 miles from my house.

I can leave my house and do a 20 mile ride and be back by 8:00 to start work. Here is a copy of the map:
Woodland Loop
Find more Bike Rides in Spring, Texas

The ride has a few distractions as well including, deer, dogs, horses and the "duelly" pick up. However, to be able to ride out my door is such a plus, that these things are minor. I know a many of athlete that have to commute via car to get a ride done. To simply roll from the garage is such a privlige. This is probably why The Woodlands was one of the best places to live and train for Triathlon as ranked by Triathlete Magazine.

I rode there this morning and realized I don't have many more of these rides until I head off to Kona. The weather was great, the legs felt good, so I snapped a few pictures:

The entrance to Woodlane

Nice Roads

Some of the wildlife I was talking about above.

Nice sunrise

Then you eat a healthy breakfast before you start work (Eggs, Rice, Green Foods Drink, and plenty of Douglas Labs vitamins)

Taper in Sight

2009-09-15T09:23:00.000-05:00

I am traveling again for work, and had a chance to review the rest of my training plan up until the big day. The big difference is the presence of rest days, where I normally have workouts scheduled. Each week has an extra day or two of rest and my last long ride of the year is in sight!

At this point, I always do the same thing and that is second guess myself and my training by asking, have I done enough? I did this last year and everything worked out ok, so experience tells me, it is time to start the peak and rest phases of my training.

I am thankful that my coach Dana Lyons, has managed my training this entire year and looking at my results and progress, I could not be happier. When you have so many other commitments, like family and work, it is very beneficial to have someone assist with your schedule. Having your workouts planned out, gives you the ability to maximize the time you have by doing the right workouts on the right days of your training cycle.

For those that don't follow endurance sports, let me explain the taper. The taper is simply a point where you stop doing such long volumes of work and start doing less frequent but intense workouts to get you ready to race. Through a combination of rest and intensity, you hope to sharpen up to a point of peak fitness.

It can be hard to force yourself to take days off, but at this point in the cycle, you have to be confident and know you have done the work.

I still have some a few more long workouts on the schedule, including another century ride this weekend followed by a 1 hour run.

Outside of training, I have a few things to report. First, in Triathlete magazine, The Woodlands was given Honorable Mention status for being one of the best places to live if you are a triathlete. I could not agree more. The artilce also ranked Austin as second on that list, which is why that city is so much fun to visit.

We also picked up a new camera over the weekend that will let us take some underwater pictures and underwater movies while we are in HI. It was raining almost all day on Saturday, so we all jumped in the pool and took some great pictures. We also made a short movie. We picked up the Canon Powershot D10. Great camera!

Lastly, the above picture was sent to me by Kevin Barr. Kevin is also going to Kona and happened to be there last year and snapped this photo close to the run finish. I look forward to following that yellow line on October 10, 2009.

Good Weekend on the Bike

2009-09-07T16:34:00.000-05:00

My training really kicked up a notch with some fast and long tempo running on Friday morning, fast swimming on Friday night and a hard bike on Sunday.

Sunday's effort consisted of a 1 hour warm up and then 3 x (40 minutes at IM pace and 20 minutes at Half Ironman pace). I knew the workout would be challenging, but did not know just how hard until I was done yesterday.

For the 3 hours the interval lasted, I averaged 22+mph on the bike and 234 watts. My average HR was only 147 bpm. I was real happy with this effort and it shows that my bike is really starting to come together. My total ride time was about 4.5 hours and 94 miles. Here is a screen shot of the interval for my cylcing geek friends:

I also feel I have nailed my nutrition for the longer bikes and my energy was high at the conclusion of this ride and my short run felt pretty good. My nutrition on the bike is pretty simple, 1 Power Bar an hour and 1.5 bottles of Gatorade an hour. I squeze in a gel or two if I feel it is needed.

The tough part about the ride came not during but about 3 hours afterwards. I was wiped out yesterday afternoon! I knew I would be tired, but I have not been that tired in a long time. Thankfully Shani did not mind me passing out at 9:00. I also took plenty of my Douglas Labs supplements, including Wobenzym and when I woke up this morning, I did not have too much soreness.

I was able to head out for an easy 2.5 hours this morning with Clint Bryant and Ed York and able to let the legs spin out.

The weeks are starting to get tougher as I am getting closer to race day. So far, I have been blessed with good health and plenty of support! I look forward to these last few weeks of hard training.

Website and Training Update

2009-09-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

I updated the website this morning to bring more emphasis to the blog and twitter post. Just this past week, I had several people comment to me about things posted on the blog. Thus, someone other than my mom must be reading this thing!

When I get to Kona, I will do my best to get some daily post up. The post will contain comments, pictures and video's of the days leading up to the race. I will do my best to get as many pro athletes and other triathlon "celebrities" on the site via photo and video.

With only five Saturdays remaining to race day, I could not feel better. I had a busy past two weeks of work with travel, but still got in my runs.

As an added bonus during my business trip, I spent time with my Sister and went on a bike ride with my nephew Ryan. Ryan is a preschooler and rides the bike like no other kid I know. He tore up hills like a future Tour star. It also happened that my Aunt and Uncle were passing through Pittsburgh at the same time, so I got to enjoy a nice dinner with them as well.

My riding is feeling good and I have a hard ride this weekend to test my legs. Tomorrow will be a 100 mile ride consisting of 4 x (40 minutes at Ironman Pace and 20 minutes at Half IM pace). I hope this equates to about 220 watts for the 40 minutes and 250 watts for the 20 minutes. No big run after the ride, so I will be focused on pushing the workout.

Yesterday morning before work was a great run workout. Again I did the 4 x 2 mile repeats after a 4 mile warm up accompained by a 3 mile cool down. I started off the first 2 mile interval at 6:36 pace, then dropped it to 6:30 with the last two at 6:20. Not as fast as last time, but I did them on the road with some rolling hills versus the track. My legs felt good and I could have done another one, but needed to be back early for work.

My swims are also picking up with my pace coming down to a comfortable 1:10 per 100 yards. My goal is to have this around 1:07 per 100 by race week.

No big kid events this weekend, so I will take advantage of the time to stack on one more big weekend of training.

Wheat Free for 8 Weeks

2009-08-29T15:27:00.000-05:00

Back at the conclusion of the Buffalo Springs race, I just did not feel all that great. My training was there, my racing was going ok, but something was missing. I visited with a client while at work and he suggested that I try going Wheat Free to see what it did for me.

So, with nothing too lose, I gave up wheat. This meant, I had to give up a staple of the triathlete diet, pasta. Prior to this decision, I ate pasta averaging one meal a day. I also ate so much bread that Panera should send me a trophy.

At night I found myself hungary again and I would put down a few bowls of the kids cookie crisp. Everything felt good while I was eating it, but I just did not feel right afterwards.

So to give it up, I knew I still needed to eat carbohydrates. I have found great substitutes in rice, beans, fruit (mostly pineapple) and many other choices. I also found some rice noodles that were ok with some sauce when the kids were having pasta.

In 8 weeks, I have lost 10 lbs and my body fat has dropped to 7%. I also find that I am not having the huge hunger swings I once had prior to going wheat free. I come back from long rides on the weekends and can eat a sensible meal and not be starving a few hours later.

When I started this, I was worried about my ability to train and race. As it turns out, my training could not be any better and based on my results last weekend, I am obviously racing better.

In addition, I read an article in Cycle Sport America Magazine this week about the Garmin Slipstream team and how they follow a low inflammatory diet. The basis of this diet is to remove high inflammatory foods like wheat and substitute them with rice, vegetables, fruit and lean protein sources. In addition, they use a lot of monounsaturated fats (avocados, olive oil). Hello Guacamole!

I have told a few friends about going wheat free, but after reading the Cycle Sport article and reflecting back on the changes it has made for me, I thought I should share my success with others.

Clear Lake Triathlon

2009-08-23T06:41:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I decided to race one more time before Kona. The race of choice was the Clear Lake Triathlon in Clear Lake City, Texas. The race was Olympic Distance or a 1500m swim, 40k Bike and a 10k run.

I got up yesterday at 3:15 so I could leave by 4:00 am to be in transition by 5:30. I like to get up early, but 3:15 comes real early. My goal for the race was to see what I could do in the heat and just push the pace as hard as I could. Training for an Ironman can be long and tedious, so having a chance to go fast can be a lot of fun.

We were the 3rd wave to go after the Elite (pro) wave and the 40 and older group. For those of you that don't know, wave starts are determined by the race director and they typically put the largest age group waves first. In most races, the 35-39 wave follows the Elites, but this race was a bit different.

The Elite men had about 4 minutes on us before we started and the 40+ men had about 3 minutes. From the gun, my swim felt strong. The water temp was 88 degrees so there were no wetsuits. I did have on my Blue Seventy speed suit, which makes a big difference. At about the 200 meter point of the swim, I found myself in the front of our wave and was also starting to swim up on the wave in front of us. At about 1000 meters, I caught nearly all of the 2nd wave and was even on the feet of one of the Elite men. I don' know why the swim felt so great, but I just felt stronger as the swim progressed. As I exited the water, I looked back and realized that I had put minutes on anyone in my age group. I like to start the bike in front and today was no exception.

My bike has not been as strong as it should be in my past races this year. I knew I had the potential to ride fast, but I just have not done that yet this year. I have had good rides, but no fast rides. To try and change this, I went out hard on the bike, much harder than I normally do and was quite uncomfortable. I checked out the power meter and found that I was holding 300 watts and about 25.5 mph for the first few miles. At about mile 10, my power came back to a more realistic level of about 270, but my speed was still 25+ mph. I also felt that my legs were feeling better and my HR was 165 beats per minute which is what I wanted. I took advantage of this and just went with pace and focused on keeping my power as close to 270 as possible.

At about mile 22, I caught up with another guy in the Elite Wave and that got me thinking that I could have a sub 1 hour bike split. I put the head down and pushed the power up to 300 for the last 10 minutes and got home in under an hour. I was so excited to have this kind of bike split, and tried to use my excitement to get me out on the run course as quickly as possible.

The run started fine with my first 2 miles at 6:20 pace. However, at mile 3, I started cramping in my diaphragm to the point where I could not breathe. It was extremely uncomfortable and I started laughing to myself, because I was about to walk in an Olympic Distance race. I walked from the turn around and after about 2 minutes of walking, it went away. It was a good lesson for me, because I now know that if I get something like this in HI, I can get through it and still have a great race.

After my brief walk, my run picked back up and I finished the race in 2:05, my fastest ever Olympic Distance time by over 7 minutes.

When the results were posted at the race, I looked at the 35-39 age group and saw that my name was not there. I was quite stunned, because I knew I did enough to win the age group. Someone said, you need to "look up", and there I was on a special sheet showing the Overall Male and Female winners. I had my first ever Overall Amateur win and my fastest Olympic distance race ever.

The day ended with a nice trophy and an wonderful welcome home from the family. My son even offered to put the plaque next to his trophy from his podium finish last week.

I have always wanted an overall victory and thanks to my family, my sponsors (Luke's Locker, Bike Lane) and my Coach Dana Lyons, I achieved that goal. I hope to be back next year to try and defend the title.

A Family that Races Together, Stays Together!

2009-08-17T19:03:00.000-05:00

Wow what a weekend! As always the Monk Family was busy, training and racing and it was not just me this time. We had the Kiwanis Kids Triathlon in Bear Creek where Hannah and Parker both had outstanding performances.

Parker raced so well that he finished with 3rd place in his age group. Parker took off on the bike in 6th place and reeled in 2 people to find himself in 3rd at the start of the run. He ran fast and kept everyone behind him from catching up. I was really proud of him, because this was only his 2nd race and when we left the house, he told me that he was going to get a trophy. That is exactly what he did, and he got to stand on the podium and show it to everyone around!

Hannah raced as well, and did her best. She was a bit sick going into the race, but insisted on doing it anyway. Hannah is into swimming now and demonstrated a perfect freestyle at the event. She now wants to start swimming again, so Dad will sign her up soon for the Gators program once Girls Run is done.

We have more photos of the race published on-line: http://gallery.me.com/tmonk47229#100584

Proud Dad also made a short movie of Parker's race:

As far as my training, I had a hard week consisting of several breakthrough workouts that got me pretty excited:

Tuesday was a track work out doing 5x 1200's. I averaged 4:27 pace in some serious heat.
Thursday night was a key swim work out, where I saw 1:04 in several 100 freestyle swims.
Friday morning was a big run day where I did my long run, but with 5 x 2 mile repeats in the middle of the workout. Al Richardson met me for the repeats and I averaged, 6:46, 6:36, 6:26, 6:31 and 6:11 pace. I felt terrible during the first part of this run, but thanks to Al, we picked it up. Total run distance was 15 miles and about 2 hours.
Sunday was my long ride day, but again with some work in the middle of it. I had to do 2 hours at faster than Half IM pace and I did that and managed 252 watts, 44 miles total and a HR of only 152 bpm. The weather was hot and it was a challenge. The total ride was over 100 miles and about 5 hours.

Lastly, I am planning to race the Clear Lake International Triathlon this weekend. I hope to get a boost in my bike and run speed. Should also be a good test of my ability to run in the heat!

Leadville 100

2009-08-12T18:20:00.000-05:00

I have to share this video with everyone. It came out last year and was about Mike Weins, the guy that beat Lance. It is also the race that inspired Lance to come out of retirement.

Enjoy the video.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/10/08/sports/1194822950958/dave-wiens-mountain-biker.html

Visting The Schloegels

2009-08-11T20:21:00.000-05:00

On Thursday we took a trip up to Kanas City to visit our good friends the Schloegel's. Matt is my old training partner from California and one of my closest friends.

I have to credit Matt for being my inspiration for getting into the sport because when I met him, he had done 2 Ironman races with one of them being Kona. He could run and ride fast.

When I purchased my first bike, Matt was there to take me on my inaugural ride. Matt basically took me to a hill in Lincoln, CA, and dropped me while he climbed away. At the top he said the following: "You can draft on the flats, but you can tell who is in shape when you start climbing." Boy was he right. I spent over two years trying to chase him up and down the mountains of California. I could never climb like him and he always inspired me to try harder to just keep up.

Our friendly competition only increased as we trained for Ironman Couer D'Alene together for the 2005 and 2006 races. Matt tried to make Kona in 2005, but fell a bit short. But on a 95 degree day in 2006, he qualified again for Kona and raced there the same year. I fell short by 2 places and from that moment on, used it as motivation to get me across the line in Wisconsin in 2008.

This weekend reminded me how much I miss racing and training with my good buddy. Houston has been a wonderful move for us as has KC for Matt. However, we definitely had some good times training for IM races in California.

The Schloegel's are busy people chasing down 4 girls and his wife Bebe is a superstar raising such a beautiful family. She was a great host and packed our weekend with great activities. The highlight being an outdoor production of the Wizard of Oz at the KC's outdoor theater. The kids have never seen the movie, so they loved sitting outside in Kansas with their friends and watching Dorothy try and get back home.

The subject of our special trip to Paris for the 2010 Tour De France did come up. So stay tuned and who knows, next summer might include a mountain top duel between Matt and I as we race a stage of the tour.

It was a beautiful weekend in Kansas City and we thank the Schloegels for an awesome weekend.

38 Years Old

2009-08-06T07:41:00.000-05:00

Today is my 38th birthday. It seems like yesterday that I was sitting in Denver with my friends the Salazar's and Fricke's for my 30th. You do have to wonder why life seems to go by so quickly.

Here is how I would sum up my life at 38:

Marriage: Awesome
Kids: Awesome
Health: Awesome
Job: Awesome

Overall Grade: A- (You can always improve!)

To sum it up, I feel better at 38, than I did at 28. I also could not be more positive about the future.

I am taking a few vacation days for the rest of the week, so it will be nice to spend time with friends and family.

Early Birthday / Tired Legs

2009-08-03T19:32:00.000-05:00

This past week was a good one, with some great work appointments in Austin, some great training and it was topped off with a nice early birthday celebration with family.

I turn the big 38 on Thursday, but my parents came over for some grilled buffalo and tri-tip and we enjoyed a nice afternoon by the pool. I got some awesome gifts, including a coffee mug with tons of Ironman stuff on it and a bamboo sushi platter for my ever increasing sushi habit. It was a low key affair with family and it could not have been a better time.

My mom also hinted at volunteering at the Ironman. I hope she does it!

As far as training, I had a really good week. I had an opportunity for a ride during my trip to Austin. I loaded up the bike into the Element and took it with me on the road while working this week. I also talked Mike Young into driving over so we could get in a before work 60 miler while in Austin. We did a ride called the Mansfield Dam loop. It had 3300 feet of climbing and compared to Houston, it was a nice test of the legs. I felt really good going uphill and feel my cycling is really improving.

I also have to go on record that Mike is no longer droppable. I had big plans to ditch him on the first climb and despite his broken spoke, he never went away. It is official, I can't drop him on flats and cannot drop him on hills either. He now has to have a 2:30 bike split at the Longhorn 70.3. He no longer has any excuses. Here is a view of our route:

View Larger Map

Austin is such an awesome place to train. You have Barton Springs for open water swims, Town Lake trail to run on, countless hills to bike on and all from a downtown destination. I plan on many more trips over there in the future.

When I returned home, I got in a long run of 2.5 hours or 19 miles Friday morning. I did most of it in the dark before work and it was still 78 degrees with 100% humidity. However, at about 7:00AM a big storm blew in and it cooled off. I had only 30 minutes to go on the run and decided to pick up the pace. I clocked off some 7:00 miles and finished the run strong despite being at 15 miles at the time.

Saturday was an easy ride with the Woodlands Cycling Club then time with Shani and Hannah at the Doll hospital in Old Town Spring!

Sunday morning came with me waking before my alarm and I did not feel rested at all. The 2 cups of coffee did not bring me to life and to my surprise, I was not hungary at all either. I started my ride at 6:15 and found my legs to be heavy, sore and nothing like they did when I had the great idea to push the pace for the last 4 miles of my 19 mile run. I was scheduled to do 5:30 or 110 miles. I did not have it and had to rely on Mike to pull me home in 4:30 or 85 miles.

I hit this point several times last year training for Wisconsin. When you have a bad day, you have to cut it short, eat a lot of food, rest and try again later.

I have 10 weeks to go and I am already pushing big volume weekly, despite my work schedule. The past few weeks I have averaged, 200+ miles on the bike, 9000 meters swimming and 45 miles running. If I stay smart and recognize the signals my body sends, I will be ready for the big day.

Lastly, we are off to see the Schloegel's this weekend in Kansas City. I always look forward to seeing them and spending time with Matt. I don't know if we will get a ride in, but I will make sure we run!

12 Weeks and Counting

2009-07-23T21:59:00.000-05:00

I have hit the 12 week mark until the big day in Kona. I have to say, my training could not be going better. I am even starting to have illusions of racing well there and not just finishing the race. However, the goal still remains to just finish. At this point, I feel great, I am not too tired and I am healthy!

I also feel that July is such an awesome month to be training. Why? Le Tour!! With the tour on TV at night, how can anyone not be inspired to log some miles?

I also have to admit that I told Shani last night that I was going to be a bit sad on Sunday when the tour is over. The problem with the race is it is so long, that you get used to watching and following it for the month. When it is done, you go through a bit of Le Tour withdraw.

One big difference for me this year in my training, is the incorporation of running at the track. When I am in town, I try and make it up to the Tuesday night track workouts. They have been a lot of fun and my coach, Dana does a great job hosting them.

For example, this past week, we warmed up then did 4 x 1600's. I started a bit slow with a 6:24, then went 6:08, 6:01 and 5:54. My legs felt strong and my breathing was real relaxed. This point last year, 6:30's would have been a stretch. To go under 6:00 in the heat of Houston is really starting to get me more excited about racing. I have learned to really enjoy something I always frowned upon. Bottom line is this, if you want to run faster, you have to run faster. I am really enjoying doing just that.

This week is somewhat of a rest week, so the workouts are much shorter and my long ride this weekend is only 4 hours. This will be nice after riding Centuries for the past few weeks. The week is also absent a long run. My total training time will top out at about 11 hours compared to the 18 and 21 in previous weeks.

Lastly, I wanted to share this awesome picture of Shani, Hannah, Parker, Uncle Scott and Tina. Shani and the kids just got back from a wonderful 2 weeks in California and they had a wonderful time. Uncle Scott took everyone to the San Diego Wild Animal park for the Roar and Snore and camped out at the park one night. The kids had a blast! They could not ask for a better Uncle.

Good Luck to everyone racing at IM Lake Placid this weekend!

When the Cat is Away, The Mice Play

2009-07-13T06:23:00.000-05:00

Shani and the kids left on Tuesday to go to California. They are going to LA to visit her brother in Manhattan Beach, then off to Rocklin to visit some of our friends there. They have had a great week so far and I am happy they are getting to have so much fun in California.

So what do I do when they are gone? I work, train, train some more and watch the Tour. I had my first 21 hour training week of the season. With the wife and kids gone, I took advantage of having my evenings free and worked with my coach Dana Lyons to ramp up my volume.

One of the big differences for me this week was my cycling. I tried to get a ride in almost every day, including some fun stuff.

I went out on Thursday evening and rode with the Woodlands Cycling Club. They meet at the Stonebridge Church at 6:15pm and ride for over an hour. The fun part is they do these loops of about 2 miles long and do them really fast. I broke the road bike out and had a blast riding fast in a group and even taking off on some breakaways.

In addition to the frequent short rides, I also did two rides of 100 miles back to back on Saturday and Sunday.

My back to back centuries started on Saturday when I rode for about an hour myself then hooked up with the Woodlands Cycling Club again for their Saturday long ride. There were about 20 of us and again these guys brought the speed. The speed they hold for the 60 mile ride is 24+ the entire time. It was fun just trying to hang on. I took a few pulls on the front, but learned I have a long way to go to do anything substantial with those guys. Cycling training is so much more intense than the long and steady you do while training for an Ironman. After my 60 mile ride with them, I stayed on the roads for another 30 miles to get my 100. Because we rode so fast during the 60, I had done a 100 miles in 4:48, well under 5 hours.

On Sunday it was time to ride again. This time I hooked up with some fellow triathletes, Raul, Steve, Steve and Clint. The idea here was simply to ride another 100 miles and get home. However, I found that after about 30 minutes my legs felt really strong. Instead of sitting in and limping through another 5 hours, I was able to put in some nice steady efforts. I was also surprised how well I felt when I got home. The only thing I can contribute it to is a nice fitness boost from the Buffalo Springs race and my bodies ability to recover from cycling versus running.

In conclusion, the week consisted of 12,000 swim yards, 25 miles of running and 266 miles of cycling with a total workout time of 21 hours. Unlike a pro, I had to do this before or after work, so this kind of volume is always a treat to do during the season.

Hawaii is getting closer, and this week gave me a lot of confidence towards my goal of finishing the big one in Kona.

Shani and the kids get back on Thursday. I am ready for them to come home.

Buffalo Springs Results

2009-06-28T16:56:00.000-05:00

I am back in the passenger seat on my way home from Buffalo Springs. The day turned out a lot like last year with cooler temperatures and rain. I was happy with my race on what is a challenging course.

I dropped a 4:45 and 11th place in my AG, and 65th overall, including the pros. I was hoping to be in the top 10, but had to settle for 11th. The Ironman 70.3 series brings out some really fast people from all over the country. Racing at one of these is nothing like racing at a local sprint race.

The winner in our AG is 35 year old guy named Tim Hola. I have never met Tim, but he went 4:12. I am pretty sure Tim raced pro for a bit, but moved back to the AG ranks recently. The guy can move.

As far as my form, I was pleased. I had a decent swim of 29 minutes, a better bike than last year of 2:35 and a decent run of 1:35. The run course is full of long climbs and it takes too much to get my big butt up hills. I need the flats. My PR in the 1/2 is 4:28, but that was on a pancake flat course.

I was hoping for some heat for the run, but instead got cloudy muggy conditions. I wanted the heat to see if my nutrition was ready for Kona. I will just have to practice in training, because today was not the day I needed to properly practice my fluid intake.

My friend Mike Young did really well with a PR and an 45 minute improvement over his time from last year. He is pretty excited and looking forward to his big race, the Austin 70.3.

I also had the opportunity to meet Kevin Barr, a local Woodlands resident. Kevin won a lottery slot to go to Hawaii this year. In order to take advantage of a lottery slot, you have to finish a 70.3 or full ironman prior to September 1, 2009. Kevin had a great race today and now he is all set to attend the big dance in Kona. To get a lottery slot is something special. There are only 200 people chosen out of 15,000 plus.

One of the top pro's in the world was there as well, Cameron Brown. Cameron has won IM New Zealand for the last 3 years and is always a top finisher at the World Championships. it was pretty cool seeing him race.

So it is off to Pittsburgh tomorrow for more meetings and to help with our quarterly sales finish. I don't know what my next race is going to be, but I hope to get another race or two in before I head off to HI.

I will miss my family this week, because I have had back to back travel with a race in between. I am lucky that I have a wife supporting my quest to race in Hawaii.