NathanAmy.com » Ironman

We Made It!

Nathan — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:49:07 +0000

We complete the 2009 Minnesota Ironman Bike Ride. We did the 30 mile course in 2 hours and 50 minutes. At about 10 a.m. the misty rain that had been going since we started turned into full out raining and at times down pouring. Despite the 40* temperatures, the 10 mph winds, and of course the rain, we still went out there and completed the ride.

Last night realizing that it would definitely be raining, we went to Gander Mountain and purchased some water-proof pants. The water-proof pants and the rain coats Amy bought a week ago were definitely hte best gear purchases we have made in preperation for this event. If we had been wearing the cotton clothing we were wearing for training today, we would have been soaked and miserable just from the first 2 hours of mist. Overall Amy and I had a great time and will definitely being participating next year. Maybe if the weather is nice next year we will do the 65 mile(or not).

Now that we have completed the Ironman it is time to start hitting the real fun stuff, the mountain biking trails. Lebanon Hills, Murphy-Hanrehan, and of course the River Bottoms (North & South).

We Don’t Need Luck

Nathan — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:50:13 +0000

…it is all about determination! With the pending rain tomorrow, the 45* temperature, and the wind speed being in the teens, we will need a lot of this determination.

Ironman 2009 Forecast

I am confident Amy and I with both be able to fight the elements and make it to the finish line. At this point it is about 9:45 p.m., Amy is already in bed sleeping and I am heading that way myself. The bikes are loaded on to the car, our backbacks are packed and ready, and we have clothing ready for the pending rain. This should be a real hoot and a half tomorrow.

19.8 more miles!

Nathan — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:13:12 +0000

This morning I headed out for a morning ride. I decided to go the last section of the Ironman 30 course that Amy and I had not done previously. This would be from about our house on Pilot Knob to the Lakeville North High school. Once I made it to the high school, still feeling good, I decided to go ahead and follow Ipava to 160th street home. Definitely not the fastest but seemed like it would be a good ride, which it was. By the time I go home I looked at the Garmin eTrex and realized I had went 19.8 miles, I couldn’t believe it. Not to mention about three quarters of the way I had a 11mph head wind coming. Not to shabby following Amy and I’s 17.1 miles yesturday. Below is a map of our training so far as reported by the Garmin eTrex. This map does not include our Monday through Friday biking around our neighborhood.

Ironman Training Map

Overall, coming to the close of day 9 of owning my Hardrock Sport I have put 98.3 miles on it. That is about 10.9 miles per day so far. I am going to try to stick to a fixed distance of 5 miles per day Monday through Friday as to not burn myself out. Last thursday I biked almost 10 miles between the morning and evening, then Friday morning I bike 10.3 before work. I am getting a bit to crazy I think training for the Ironman. Though I must admit street riding is getting boring, I am ready for some trails.

Erik’s Bike shop saves the day!

Nathan — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:09:26 +0000

So yesterday my derailleur on my 6 day old bike broke at just 41 road miles. Gave Erik’s a call and they said bring it and they would see what they could do. Got into Erik’s by 6p.m. was out of there by 7p.m. with a brand new SRAM X7 derailleur. I could not be more happy with their service. Not only did they take care of the bike (I did purchase it from them), but they upgraded me from my SRAM X4 to the X7. SWEEEET!!! I just returned from a 10 mile ride this morning and I love the new derailleur. It is so much smoother and “lighter” than the previous. Erik’s clearly exceeded my expectations. Within 12 hours of my bike breaking I was back out on the road biking. When Amy and I arrived home with my bike I proceeded to take a 7 mile bike ride, it was way to nice out at 57* to not go for a ride.

Training for the Minnesota Ironman

Nathan — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:06:57 +0000

Yesterday, while coping with a rather stressful day of work, I was graced with the call from Amy letting me know that Erik’s Bike shop had called and my new Specialized Hardrock Sport was in. Last Friday I bought Amy her bike (Specialized Myka Sport), which was in stock, and ordered my bike. Only downside was Amy was taking off for the evening for her Britney Spears concert. Determined to enjoy my new piece of excersize equipment and weekend toy I headed out of my own. I ended up biking ten miles last night before calling it a day.

Lovin' the new bike!

This morning Amy and I headed out to run part of the 30 mile Ironman route. We were planing to go about 6-7 miles of the course from our house. We wanted to become familiar with some of the more unknown parts of the course so we could be properly prepared for the day of the ride. We ended up riding 10 miles of the course and then another 8.5 miles home for a total of 18.5 miles of biking today. We are both wiped out and planning for a nice relaxing evening.

Despite my legs feeling like they are going to fall off, I am still planning to wake up in the a.m. tomorrow and run our normal 5 mile route around the neighborhood.