202 days left

Hey everyone,
     I'm posting this on Sunday, the day after I finished the White Lake Half-Iron Distance Triathlon!  So in this post I'm just going to recap the events, starting with leaving the house on Friday.  White Lake is about 1.5 hours west of Jacksonville and we drove up Friday evening and stayed at Camp Clearwater.  Camp Clearwater is a campground located right on White Lake and was about a mile from the race site, so a great location!  We got packet pickup done on Friday so I was able to sleep in a bit Saturday morning, luckily we brought the air mattress and space heater for our tent, because it was a bit chilly at night.  The morning of we woke up at 7, had a banana, and headed to the race site.  I was getting my transition area "perfect", when I heard multiple rumors concerning the cancellation of the swim portion due to water temps and a possible duathlon option (a duathlon would be just the bike and run), so I headed down to body marking where they told me that I could opt for a duathlon, or continue with the full Triathlon but that the water was about 53 degrees.  I told them I'd stick it out in the water and see what happened.  Got body markings done, picked up my timing chip, and got in my wetsuit with booties so that I could watch the first wave (of 8) hit the water at 9am.  My wave wasn't until 9:30 so I had some time to kill.
     At about 9:25 I eased in to try to get my body used to the cold water, but 5 minutes wasn't enough.  By the time my wave launched I only swam freestyle for about 5 strokes before I realized I hadn't been breathing.  I ended up doing a side stroke to keep the choppy waves (really choppy yesterday) from hitting me in the face so I could just focus on making forward progress and breathing.  I finally moved to a breaststroke without letting my face enter the water, then slowly eased into letting my face go under, and finally I got used to it after about 10 minutes to where I was swimming along freestyle just fine.  I ended up getting out of the water in 42 minutes, which is only a few minutes slower than what I usually do in the pool, I was really surprised by that (I felt like I'd been out there forever.)  The first transition didn't go smooth.  I finally got the wetsuit and booties off, but when I tried to mount the bike my sock had gotten stuck in the velcro straps on top of the shoe and I tried to rotate my foot to reposition it as I swung my other leg over, this caused the shoe to unclip from the pedal and the bike and I both crashed to the gravel.  My left knee was bloody and had some rocks in it and my right knee was a little bruised.  The bike's right shifter bent in about 30 degrees, but we both still worked so we set off on the bike course.
     The bike course is my biggest negativity about the whole race, I really wished I had been able to perform a bit better on the bike.  I was able to keep a 15mph pace for the first half, which was my goal, but the second half I must have dropped down to a 13mph average because it took my almost 4 hours to complete this segment.  My garmin watch that gives me the distance, speed, and time of day died before I hit 40 miles so I had no way to pace myself for the last 16 and that also meant that I wouldn't have it for the run either.  I rely so much on that thing for pacing and keeping track of my progress, that it was a severe mental blow.  I just shouted to bikers as the went by asking how many miles or what time is it to try to get some idea of where I was on the course and what I had left before starting the bike.  (The watch was supposed to last 20 hours, not sure what happened.)  I definitely thought of Kevin and the other 8 a lot during this portion of the ride and honestly think they might have been the only thing to get me past the watch, the injuries, and the amount of bikers flying past me.  I finally did finish the bike segment (STARVING) and was thankful I left some bananas near my running shoes.  This transition went much smoother, changed out my bloody socks and got my shoes on and hit the trail.  I was close to the railing in transition so my wife, daughter, Cody Gormley, and Andy Owens were they to cheer me through both of the transitions (which meant a lot, thanks guys!).  I was even able to give my daughter a hug on my way to start the bike course and she gave me these words of encouragement, "Don't hug me daddy!  You're all sweaty!"
     The run course went okay, again without having the watch I'm not really sure what pace I was doing but I tried to stick with running until I got to an aid station, at which point I'd walk the entire aid station (maybe 40 yards) and then continue running until the next one.  This worked out GREAT until I hit a wall at mile 10 and had to start walking.  Once I let myself start to walk, I tried to run a few times between miles 10 and 12 and I just couldn't break through.  My legs and body were just done.  I had passed Brandon Gillette around mile 9 and he caught up with me somewhere in mile 12 at which point it was his turn to motivate me to get to that finish line.  We were able to finish together side-by-side which was great, because he has been a serious motivator in getting me to start thinking about Triathlon and has been my training partner since day 1.  The run took my a little over 2 hours and 20 mins.
     Post half-iron consisted of Pizza, a brownie, some Cheetos, and sitting down.  I had to help tear down the camp site, but Amanda was awesome and drove my car the entire way back while I sipped gatorade.  Some cool points to note about this event though:
1.) 415 people registered (i.e. paid money) to do the White Lake Half
2.) 215 people completed it (a lot didn't start because of the water temp and others were pulled out due to hypothermia as well as other DQ's and such)
3.) 75 people chose to do the Duathlon and skip the swim

So all in all, I'm disappointed in my bike time and the walking on the half marathon, but I'm happy I got it done.  I'm well on my way to my full iron in October and can't wait to hang that medal next to this one!

206 Days Left

Well things have been pretty slow since my last post, coming off the high of finishing Azalea not much else seem worthy to put on here.  This Saturday I will complete (hopefully) half of the distance that I'll be attempting in October, 70.3 miles.  It is a Half Iron Distance which includes a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 half marathon run.  I'm hoping my training has prepared me enough, but I'm feeling good and excited about getting out and competing again.  This is also my first open water swim, so we'll see how aggressive the waters truly are.  In other news, I've been invited to join a Triathlon team here in Jacksonville with the local bike shop, The Bicycle Gallery.  I'm going to get all my Bike Gallery gear next week and I'll be racing and training in it for the rest of the season.  I'm very proud that I was asked to wear their logo during my races, they are a great shop and I've been riding with them since October.  I'm going to keep this short because I'm sure to write a long post Sunday after the race, at which point I should be half an Ironman.  

Update to 231

So of course right after posting the race details, they posted the race results online.  Here's a screen shot from my Age Group with all my times and ranks for each event and each transition.  I'm going to have to pick up my transitions and work the bike/run BRICKS a bit more, but I'm okay with this as my starting point at least.  Oh, AND I actually did get my body from Start to Finish in 59:23, it was the 2 minute penalty that pushed me over an hour so I'm counting that goal as accomplished.

231 left and the first Tri is done

Today was the Azalea Sprint Triathlon, so I apologize for the delay in posts but it was a busy week leading up to today.  I've started a leadership academy which PT's us pretty regularly so getting in some extra Tri training has been tough this week, but it all worked out.  My goal for today was to finish in under 1 hour, I missed that goal by 1:29 (maybe more pending a 2 minute penalty) but I'm waiting to find out if that score is including my 2 minute penalty or not.  The penalty was for forgetting my bib during the run portion in the transition area, dumb mistake, but I'm glad that was the only bad part of the day!  I'm waiting to find out my splits for how long each event and transition took, but I can tell you how today went.  We showed up at 0700 this morning and it was a cool 35 degrees, but was supposed to get up to the 40's before I was going to start.  Because it was a 300 yard pool swim, each swimmer starts in 15 second intervals and you snake your way through the pool, because of this even though the event started at 0800, I didn't start racing until 0923.  I got through the swim without any issues and actually overtook 2 swimmers in front of me.  Getting out of the pool I was a bit dizzy but made it down a couple flights of stairs and outside where Sean from The Bicycle Gallery threw me a towel (THANKS FOR THAT) so I could dry off as I ran to the transition area.  I got to my spot marked #291 and decided it was warm enough that I wouldn't need the jacket or gloves I brought, so I only grabbed my sunglasses, helmet, and socks+cycling shoes.  I made it out fairly quick I think, but I was still pretty dizzy and had to use the railing to stabilize myself getting my gear on.  The bike was actually really quick for me, I was still looking for the 5 mile halfway point when I realized I was on the home stretch and would be dismounting in under a minute.  I overtook a few people on the bike and got passed twice, I was hoping for 20mph average which I don't think I reached (still waiting on my splits to find out for sure) but the winds were about 15mph so that really slowed me down I think.  I really think I could have pushed a bit harder on the bike, but I'm sure my run would have suffered, I'll need to set up my Garmin for distance next time so I can pace it more accurately.  After the bike, I kept the same socks and just threw some running shoes on and headed out as fast as I could (hence forgetting the bib belt, which was tucked under the jacket I didn't use) and got to see my family as I left transition to start the 5k.  I passed more people on the run (my strength) than on the bike and no one overtook me on this event.  My pace was about 07:15 per mile (I think) so I should have finished under 22 minutes.  Crossing the finish line they actually called out "Coming down the shoot from Jacksonville, NC... Eric Lowney!"  Which I thought was pretty awesome, I didn't know they'd be calling names at the finish.  Afterwards, I grabbed two slices of pepperoni pizza (a rare treat) and some water and then collapsed on the couch when we finally made it back home, beat.  All in all, it was a great day and I can't wait for the half ironman in April.  I'll put up another blog as soon as I get the results with times.  As always, thanks for checking in and supporting me in fundraising for The Kevin Reinhard Scholarship Foundation!

244 days left

Sorry for the delay on posting, it's been a busy week.  First, last week I strained my calf after doing an 8 mile slow run which left me unable to really run for almost a whole week.  I tried to focus on swimming and biking during that week because of the injury, and I got my 1.2 mile time under 40 minutes for the first time.  The biking is hard to measure progress because I mostly have ridden the trainer lately due to cold weather and lots of rain.  This week my calf felt a LOT better, but I developed a serious bug which made working out (mostly breathing) a chore.  I fought through a few bike rides, some short runs, and a few swims at least, but I know I wasn't getting out of those workouts what I need to.  Hopefully this week will look better.  I'm starting to finally be able to breathe again and tomorrow I have a PFT, so I'll probably do that 3 mile run with some swimming also just to see how it goes.  Lastly, I received the shirts and they were all shipped out on Friday to anyone that I've received money from.  The Azalea Sprint Triathlon is 13 days from today, so that is really coming up soon.  I'll post finish (hopefully) times and all my splits once that's completed.  Thanks again to everyone supporting me and Kevin's Scholarship Fund on this journey.

255 Days to go

So it's been a few days since my last post, but I have been busy with training.  I have my 300m swim down to 5:07, which I'm hoping on race day I'll be able to be in the 4 minute range (adrenaline, drag reducing tri gear, etc).  I also have been doing my bike/run BRICK workouts.  My first I spent an hour on the trainer and ran a nice easy jog for 30 minutes.  Yesterday I biked for an hour again and ran a 5k after with a 7:34 pace, so not bad for my second brick.  Things are coming along and I have 24 days until the Azalea Sprint Tri in Wilmington.  I think this is where I'll find out how my bike progress has been going, it's too hard to tell how fast I'll be trying to train through traffic, stop lights, and poor roads. Shirts should be in on Thursday so I'll post here when I get them!

262 Days Left

Thanks to the Bicycle Shop and the 15% discount they offer club members, I am now the proud owner of a Cycleops Fluid Trainer!  For those that don't know, it's a machine that you hook the axel of the bike up to and it has a wheel that your rear bicycle wheel sits on top of and it provides resistance so I can pedal inside and it really feels like I'm out on the road.  This is a much better improvement from commuting too and from work (especially coming home at midnight), plus I get to watch our family shows while pedaling so it's a great multitasker.  In other news, I ran 6 miles the day after the superbowl and felt awful due to the food and drinks and so I hit the pool later that day which actually went pretty good.  My warm up 300 was fast (for me) and I felt great during the sprints.  Yesterday I cycled indoors with the new trainer for about an hour to loosen my legs up and I think today is just going to be a long slow steady swim of 1.2 miles, hopefully in about 40 minutes.  Tomorrow will be my first BRICK (bike then run) so I'll be sure to post how bad my legs perform afterwards.  Thanks for checking in.

264 Days Left

This week has been a really productive one already so far.  I have registered for the Azalea Sprint Triathlon which is in Wilmington, NC on March 9th.  That's going to be the only Tri that I'll be able to do before I attempt to do a Half Iron at White Lake in April.  The half is exactly half of the distances I'll have to do in October (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run).  I'm not looking forward to loosing the training time for tapering and recovery, but I think the confidence boost of completing will end up being worth it.  For anyone that wants to go to White Lake to spectate, there's a bunch of camping and log cabin places up there so get up with me and we can work something out.  I am leaning towards camping out in a tent, but we'll see if I can sell Amanda on it.  I haven't registered for the half yet, it's $160 that I don't get back if I were to get hurt training over the next couple months, so I'll wait till it gets closer and I'm pretty sure I'll be good to participate.  I'll keep you posted.  Other than races, I've received my first 2 donations this week as well as sold almost 40 shirts!  At this pace I think I'll be good to hit the  $5k goal in October.  As always, thanks again for stopping by.

First blog post

Hey everyone,
     If you've made it here, I appreciate you taking the time to support me on this quest of completing the Iron Distance Triathlon on October 26, 2013.  For this, I am fundraising to donate hopefully $5,000 to the Kevin Reinhard Scholarship Foundation by race day.  During the race I will be carrying the names of the 9 fallen Marines I knew while serving.  As I expect 2013 to be my last year as a Marine, I wanted to do this while still on Active Duty and kind of as a goodbye to the Corps as well as the Marines I knew who've passed away.  I'm going to be carrying the names of the 9 Marines throughout the entire 140.6 mile race, which includes a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon (26.2 miles).  I'm going to continue to update this blog with how training is going, what races I have coming up (I'm going to try to compete once a month until the big day) and other kinds of info like how the fundraising is coming and how you can order t-shirts.  Also, I will be creating some fundraising "events" later on including things like "If we hit $500 this month I'll shave my head and post it on youtube".  If any of you have good ideas, send them to me please!  Other than that, expect more posts later as I created this so I don't clog up the Facebook Feed with all the Triathlon news.  Thanks again for stopping by and for your support,

Eric