Blah…Blah…Shut this guy up!

I do not plan on racing an Ironman distance race in 2007. In fact, I haven’t completed an Ironman since 2003. So, this begs the question, once an Ironman always an Ironman? 

I have to wonder if I really can consider myself an Ironman? I mean it has been a full three years since I last completed one. Sure the 140.6 sticker is still on the bumper of my car, but the IM Moo bumper sticker peeled off long ago. 

The truth is I no longer feel like an Ironman. Let’s take the obvious first. I am about 15 lbs heavier and I swim, bike and run a lot slower and less than I did back then. I don’t have the same invincible feeling I had back then when it came to each event. 

Then there is the not so obvious. Some might say if you are worried about considering yourself an Ironman do another one. Here is the thing, I don’t think I can. It isn’t merely the physcial attributes that I lack. Mentally, I can no longer do it. I am not just talking about race day either, although that is part of it. I am talking about training. I cannot imagine being on my bike for 6 hours every Saturday or running 13-17 miles every Sunday. The mere thought of it is overwhelming. 

I will always be an Ironman finisher, but am I still an Ironman athlete? I guess if one thinks of oneself as one, then you are. What happens when you no longer think that way?

All stories must start somewhere…. 

Many of you just signed up for Ironman Wisconsin. The sign up closed in less than a few hours. Those that had technical problems could not even get registered. Not only did general admission sell out, but the community fund slots also were gone within 10 days. 

This is typical for IMNA events. Lake Placid, Wisconsin, and Florida all sell out in hours. Canada is not even open to general admission. Arizona and CDA sell out at a slower rate, but do fill up once races like LP and Moo are filled. Thus, Ironman North America (IMNA) generates about six million dollars in revenue on just those events. 

Meanwhile, in another office in Florida….. 

The World Triathlon Corp. (WTC) announces Ironman Louisville. This is different in that the race will be run by the WTC and not IMNA. Interesting. Why would the WTC take on its first event other than Kona? Well its first IM anyway. 

Some years ago….. 

A few race production companies, Ultramax and HFP, came up with a great idea. They started the idea of hosting half-IM races throughout the country that culminated with a National Championship. It was easier than IM races. The distance was more manageable for athletes and IMNA and the WTC left a huge void in this area. The success was apparent. Races like Buckeye, Spirit of Racine, half Max, quickly grew in popularity and were convenient for racers all across the country. 

Meanwhile back in a Florida office….. 

The WTC saw the success of these half IM races and decided it was time to try its hand in reproducing its IM business model with half IM’s. The WTC introduces the 70.3 series in an attempt to get its piece of the pie with the popularity of half IM events. Something goes drastically wrong though. Unlike its ability to stamp out the competing IM-distance races, the WTC cannot extinguish the momentum of the popular half-IM’s throughout the country. After all, Ultramax and HFP put on great events that rival and exceed the quality of any IMNA event. Also, the 70.3 races are often at inconvenient place and locations in regards to the events put on by Ultramax and HFP. So, the 70.3 series does not gain the same momentum Ironman races throughout the country enjoy. 

Back to Louisville….. 

Why the departure from the norm? Why not have IMNA host this event? One could easily state that IMNA is too busy between Canada and Wisconsin to host another event. In fact, that is probably the standard reply from both WTC and IMNA. Another theory can also emerge. Maybe the WTC is going to start hosting all IMNA events. This could either mean the demise of IMNA or that the WTC will bring IMNA directly under its control as to make sure it get more of the revenue. 

Taking it a step farther….. 

The 70.3 series cannot be as popular as the WTC had hoped. Even with the offerings of qualifying for IMNA races, these still have not seemed to shake the momentum of the half IM’s put on by local directors. IMNA races are selling out at such unbelievable rates, there is no doubt they are popular and have some guessing there may have to be a lottery system just to get in. Maybe though there is another way… a more profitable way. 

With IMNA events being popular, and the WTC now trying its hand in races other than Kona, how can they capitalize and maximize their profit? Maybe a qualifying system? Maybe you will no longer be able to just sign up for an IMNA event. Maybe every slot will have to be earned by going to a 70.3 series race first. Then if you finish high enough (I don’t see this as being as competitive as Kona slots, but you never know), you will be awarded the opportunity to buy a slot to an IMNA event. Depending on the structure, it could either be for one this year or next year. This would just depend on how the WTC wants to handle it. So, no longer can you just fork out your $450 for an IM. First you will have to fork out another $250 to participate in a 70.3 series event. 

You may be skeptical, but think about it. Don’t think it is worth their time? Let’s say there are 2400 spots in each IMNA event. Let’s say they decide 2000 of those have to be qualified for by competing in the 70.3 series (200 for lottery, 100 for pros, 100 for community fund which would go up in price to like $2000). 2000 spots x $250 x 7 races (Canada, LP, Moo, CDA, Arizona, Louisville and Florida). That equals another $3.5 million dollars and that doesn’t even include the entrants in these races that don’t qualify. In essence, your cost to get into an IM goes from $450 to $700 as you have to qualify first and this doesn’t even include the profit they can make from merchandising at these races, nor the additional travel expenses to you. 

Just think about it… is this how the story will end? Only time will tell.

I think most of us think a six-percent improvement is not too much to ask. After all, if you can run an eight-minute mile, you are only improving to 7:30. If you can do a 1:10, 40k TT, you are only trying to improve to about 1:06. These things all seem doable. 

What happens if six percent is all you need to qualify for Kona? Is it easy? After all, if you are six percent away from qualifying you are already pretty fast. As you get faster, improvements are harder to come by. Especially a six-percent improvement. After all, the Tour de France is usually decided by less than 1 percent. 

Well, our very own Mike Biarnesen finds himself in this situation. Based on Moo 2006 he was about six percent away from going to Kona. It is a hard number for me to fathom as I am not even six percent away from being in the top 50 percent. The question is at such a high level, can he do it? I think he can. 

First, Mike doesn’t make excuses for his day (nor anything else). He takes it for what it is. He knows that having a perfect day at Ironman is rare, so you just have to deal with the day. He could easily point to the fact he got sea sick on the swim and it caused him to have dry heaves in the water… but he doesn’t. He could easily point to the fact the sickness caused him to have an unusually long T1, but he doesn’t. He could also point to the fact that his stomach bothered him for the rest of the day… but he doesn’t. Instead, he takes his time for what it is. He doesn’t live in the “what ifs” realm as he knows every athlete, even those ahead of him, can say the same thing. 

Second, Mike is a competitior and in great shape right now and still focused on IM. I highly doubt he will have a relaxed off-season on the things that matter. Sure, he may not work out as much as he did in training for IM (he really will cut back unless he is crazy), but I am sure he is aware that keeping weight off, staying fit, ect is even more important now than it was before. I expect his off-season will be focused on IM, but also knowing he needs to balance life. 

Third, he has the fever. It is rare that a person comes off of one IM thinking about another one within a week. Mike has caught the fever. He has a twinkle in his eye talking about Moo 2006 and the possibility of another IM in the future. 

So, I think Mike will be focused and continue to improve. Can he improve by the six percent needed? Of course he can. I have confidence that he will as a matter of fact. Hopefully, his competition isn’t thinking the same thing. 

I do know that Mike will give it his best shot in the off-season, training and his next Ironman. Hopefully next time around “the day” brings him a Kona slot.

Last night, I stayed up too late doing something frivilous. I watch the Agassi-Baghdatis match until midnight. I couldn’t look away. If this was going to be Agassi’s last match I wanted to see it. Why? Well, I have been watching him his whole career. 

Back in high school I didn’t swim, bike or run, I did something else. I played tennis. About a year after I started playing, this young kid (who is actually about my age) was hitting the pro scene. Andre was all over. You couldn’t miss him. His hair, his commercials, his defiance for tennis tradition and most of all his stunning defeats of those more mature than himself. For someone that like the machine like performances of Ivan Lendl, Agassi leaved little to be desired. 

As the years went by, I actually liked the fact that 3 other Americans won grand slams before Agassi (Chang, Courier and Sampras). Every time Agassi lost a big match, it was funny to me. After all, the brash, punky kid choked again. 

Andre then fell off the face of the earth. He dropped out of the rankings. He came back to play at Wimbledon in 1992. At this time I was going into my senior year of college and the young kid from Las Vegas has suffered six years of defeats in the big matches. This tournament he did not. Somehow he crisp, compact ground strokes, were enough to overcome the games best server-and-volley players. He won Wimbledon as an unseeded player. Only the second player to do so. I watched that tournament intensely. I remembered there being something different about him. He was more focused than before. When I saw him win that tournament, I thought to myself, “He might be the first player to win all four grand slams since Rod Laver.” After all, grass was supposed to be his weakest surface. 

I still didn’t buy into Agassi at that point. Still a little too loud for my taste. But, over the years he has changed and so has my attitude towards him. I cannot help but root for him in all of his matches. His subdued manner is a far cry from the teenager that hit the scene in 1986. He is now a mature 36-year-old man that appreciates the talent he has been given. 

Agassi probably suffered from the same syndrome that any of us would fall victim to at a young age. He achieved too much, too soon and was having too much fun doing it. Can I blame an 18-year-old millionaire with women throwing themselves at him for not being focused? I couldn’t focus in college on just making it to three hours of class a day. 

Agassi could have been the greatest of all time (okay maybe not better than Laver). I have no doubt about that now. He could have easily racked up 6 more grand slams if he took tennis more seriously. He wouldn’t have had to rely on a single tournament like Sampras to define his greatness (seven of Sampras’ 14 grand slams are at Wimbledon). But, he probably learned a lot more achieving greatness this way. He learned to appreciate what he was given. 

I hope as I watch Agassi play out his last match, that I can learn from Agassi to appreciate what I have been given.

If you are from Lake County and like to cycle and do triathlon and you haven’t heard of Robbie Ventura or Vision Quest, well, you just aren’t paying attention. Robbie Ventura rode for US Postal as a pro cyclist. Yes, he did ride with Lance Armstrong. Since leaving Postal, all he has done is: 

1) Built a successful coaching business;
2) Put out a great crit/training video for athletes;
3) Coach Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis;
4) Put together the strongest cycling teams in the Midwest (okay this one might be disputable, but I will explain later). Vision Quest and Ventura in the Midwest for cycling has become akin to the New York Yankees. Everybody hates them, but everyone wants to be on the team. Some local athletes might even dub Vision Quest as the “evil empire.” I contend all of this is unfair. 

Robbie Ventura has used his position as an ex-pro riding for Postal to his benefit. Who wouldn’t? It is smart business. It is no different than sponsors wanting to pay athletes to wear shoes. Even closer is ex-pro players in any sport that get jobs as commentators or coaches of that sport. Why should Ventura be penalized just because he was an ex-Pro? Ventura has been masterful in turning his name into a brand people want to buy. I cannot fault him for that. As for his coaching services, yes, I have heard some negative reviews. I think that is true in any service oriented business. What I do see is his athletes performing well at races, whether it is cycling or triathlon. I see his cycling team working together as a team, not a bunch of individuals. 

I think the problem for Vision Quest is that the people that pay for the service are serious, especially the cyclist. Being a part of Vision Quest is not cheap, so you better be serious about your sport. In cycling though, his racers work together as a team. They have obvious strategies, goals and team leaders. Their group rides are planned out for getting stronger instead of aimlessly riding. Also, the group rides are well attended and always have a coach present. I think the problem is that other cyclists are jealous as that is what they would like from their own team. Thus, since they cannot be a part of Vision Quest, they denounce…. just like people who aren’t Yankees fans. Vision Quest and Ventura have moved into the sport of triathlon. This has been met with huge resistance from triathletes. How dare Ventura enter into triathlon? Who does he think he is? Hey people, he is a smart businessman. Triathletes spend more money on their sport than cyclist as a whole. Triathletes will spend $2000 on a wheelset if it will save them 8 minutes on an Ironman bike leg. They buy a new bike almost every two year. I cannot even convince cyclists that they need a power meter or a HRM. So, why not try to tap the triathlon market? It is obviously working as I see more VQ jerseys at triathlons. These people are getting good results too. Hey triathletes, I hate to break it to you too, the sport is not like cycling. Cycling is racing. Triathlons are events. People that show up to bike races in the Midwest are serious about their sport. Doing a triathlon is an “event” for most, not a race. 

I have read complaints from triathletes that VQ people are “cheating” by providing support or drafting in races. I have also heard cyclists state that the athletes are “jerks” that train with them. Come on people, we know this is all generalizations. Give me any large group, some people cheat, some people are jerks. I am pretty sure Ventura doesn’t advocate cheating in his pre-race pep talk. I am pretty sure he doesn’t tell his team to be jerks to other cyclists. Why? They are all potential clients. It is in his best interest to maintain good relations with all athletes. Plus, in the one time I have met Mr. Ventura, he seemed like a nice guy, along with Chris, another VQ coach.  Finally, on another website, Ventura took a huge hit for doing the unthinkable. He participated in a triathlon. He was undertrained on the swim and run, from what I have read and posted a pretty pedestrian time of 1:11:34 in a sprint. Good for 32nd place overall. How dare he decide to participate in a triathlon? Come on people, all endurance athletes are supposed to be inclusive. Instead we have people blasting him because he showed up and did a triathlon. I give him credit for trying to understand his clients better. There is no doubt that VQ and Ventura are an asset to the Midwest endurance scene. After all, he is building something that can compete with the East and West Coast teams. So, maybe someday I will be lucky enough to be coached by VQ and Ventura. Maybe someday I will be able to afford it. Until then, I am on the outside looking in. I do know though that each time I hear another endurance athlete criticize Ventura or Vision Quest, it is probably out of jealousy. After all, I know I would like to be a part of a team like that.

Yes, I may be a little old to realize that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, but this is a different type of Santa. I found out there was no Santa back in 2nd grade and it was a devestating year. This time it is equally is devestating. 

The Landis situation has made me realize that the entire peleton is doping. Bonds is under investigation. BALCO turned over Marion Jones. There are just so many heroes that are now found to be doping, I have had to change my entire outlook. 

Sadly, I will now watch all sports, tennis, golf, soccer, cycling, triathlon, football, baseball, all Olympic sports, and operate under the assumption they are doping. No longer will I marvel at how hard they hit a ball, how fast they run or how high they jump, after all, they are doping. We might all have had that potential on dope. So, when somebody tell me so and so is awesome, I will think… of course… he is doping. 

The whole idea takes away my excitement for watching sports in general. After all, if they cannot do it without dope, what is the big deal? Are they really special? 

Don’t get me wrong, I will still look for heroes. They might not be the one with the best stats anymore, they will be the ones I can at least try to believe didn’t dope (Frank Thomas, Carl Lewis, and I still believe in Lance). However, the assumption has changed. I will believe all athletes dope unless I have reason to believe otherwise. 

It is a sad day. 

Reports have stated that Landis’ Stage 17 drug test have come back positive. In case you didn’t know, that is the single stage that won Landis the Tour. 

This current situation is completely different than the allegations against Armstrong. Armstrong cannot go into the past, he cannot even have a second sample tested. Landis can do both in this situation. First, he can have his B sample tested to see if there are any irregularities. Even if that does come up positive, he can submit himself to independent testing to see if this is just a naturally occurence ala Rutger Beke. 

In any event, Landis needs to go on the aggressive to prove his innocence. If he take the relaxed attitude towards this, like he does everything else, we will be seeing him banned from cycling.

Floyd Landis staged an incredible comeback in Stage 17 of the Tour de France. A mere 24 hours after being crushed on the second Alps stage, Landis fired back. He made up 7:38 on the Yellow Jersey and now only sits 30 seconds behind. Landis’ is currently in third place, behind Pereiro and Sastre, but is the strongest of the three in time trialing. Thus, Landis is most likely the favorite to be wearing Yellow on Sunday for the final stage. 

Instead of talking in maybes, we should be celebrating what would have been a crushing blow to his nearest opponents today. However, Landis, never one to conform openly admits he doesn’t do things “like a cyclist.” He eats the wrong foods at the wrong times and has a care-free attitude when it comes to riding. This cost him dearly in stage 16 when on the final climb he bonked. His opponents gained over 8 minutes on him on one climb. 

Landis should have spent less time after Stage 15, when he reclaimed the Yellow Jersey, looking for a fan with a six-pack (although I do think it is cool he traded his Yellow Jersey for a six-pack of beer), and more time worry about the detail of replenishing his precious glycogen stores. He should have spent more time in Stage 16 worrying about his caloric intake and less time screwing around. 

Most importantly, the man, Pereiro, who is currently in Yellow was allowed to gain 28 minutes on Landis last week when Phonak refused to chase down a break to protect the Yellow Jersey that Floyd was wearing at the time. 

Now Landis must rely on his time trial ability to bring home the Tour even though he had the most incredible Stage win of this year’s Tour. What should have been the knock out punch, is mere drew him even with his competition. 

I will be rooting for Landis, I just wish he would have paid more attention to the details.

I had my “Big Family Picnic” this Sunday. It in essence includes all of my maternal grandmother’s family. So, there are tons of my second and third and now even fourth cousin’s there. One of the most refreshing things was the fact that it seems my family is really into the non-American sports. Sports conversations didn’t revolve around the White Sox, Cubs, Bears or Bulls. Instead people were talking about World Cup Soccer, Wimbledon and the Tour. I began to wonder if there are small fundamental shifts in suburbia and the sports they follow. 

It was 20 years ago that Lemond won his first Tour. Probably not a single mainstream sports fan could have told you his name on July 9th, 1986. Now, it seems Americans are interested in who wins the Tour. Twenty years ago, I cannot imagine many Americans followed World Cup Soccer. Now it is televised on national television with people actually rooting for a team. Twenty years ago, Wimbledon was still the on NBC at 8 am. Boris Becker captured his second Wimbledon title at age 18. We have come a long way in the non-traditional sports here in the United States over 20 years. Who knows, maybe by the time my sons are riding there bikes on the Illinois and Wisconsin roads, it will be accepted as a major American sport.

Sitting around having some pizza at Jesse Oaks, Marc Grove made the comment, “I am confident that any of us right now could go out and finish an Ironman.” Of course, he was sitting with 4 Ironman finishers (including himself), one other triathlete and another person training for his first Ironman. 

The statement begs the question though, what makes an Ironman a special achievement? All of us that have done one would like to think it was some huge accomplishment and makes us special. In fact, some of us get tattoos to show the world our accomplishment. I love giving my friends a hard time about the tattoo. My theory has always been you don’t get the tattoo unless you qualified for and finished Kona. 

Is it the physical fitness that it takes? I am not sure about that. I have seen some pretty average to fat people coming across the line at an Ironman. In fact, I am willing to bet that a signficant amount of IM finishers could actually be considered overweight. Also, I have always contended that you can take your cyclist that rides 50-60 miles on a Saturday or the marathoner and turn him or her into an Ironman finisher in 26 weeks. So, what makes it special? 

Is it the dedication necessary to do the training? Not really. It isn’t surprising that most of the Ironman finishers I know are middle-aged, professionals. After all, it fits right into their personality type. Most IM finishers I know are college-educated professionals. Ironman isn’t the first time in their life they have set a long-term goal and achieved it. In fact, it is probably one of many “projects” they have finished in a life time. 

These people set the 4-5 year goal of getting a college degree and they did it. Some passed CPA’s, bar exams, medical boards or are engineers involved in long-term projects or reseach. In fact, I would argue that doing an Ironman takes less dedication than getting a college degree. In fact, I think you would have more IM finishers if finishing a single IM would help people make, on average, $20,000 a year more. 

So, what makes it special? I mean not everyone has done one, yet most people have the “ability” to do one. 

I could only narrow it down to one thing… inspiration. Einstein once said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” I never liked that quote. Why? It doesn’t take into account the fact that the 1 percent of inspiration is much harder to come by than the 99 percent perspiration. In fact, if you can get that 1 percent of inspiration, the 99 percent comes easily as you see the “goal” or “vision” at the end. 

In fact, I will state that the one thing that stopped me from finishing my 3rd IM was lack of inspiration. I had done the training, I just didn’t have the inspriation I needed to finish. 

So, don’t worry IMers… you are special for your achievement. Many have the ability to do it. Many have the dedication necessary to focus on a goal like Ironman. Few people in a lifetime will have the inspiration it took to come across the finish line. That is what makes your accomplishment special.