It's On Like Donkey Kong

                The 2012 season has officially begun! This week I signed up for the Clermont Draft Legal Challenge on March 3^rd, which is only 2 ½ short months away. Luckily for me this December has been warm with hardly any ice, so I’m still in relatively good running shape. Training for three sports helps keep everything fresh, but sometimes I miss putting in the miles. This winter I’m going back to my roots for a while and lacing up the running shoes, maybe even the track spikes for an indoor 3k…

                Kevin O’Connor and I were looking at the race and thought it would be a great opportunity to try and swim with a pack and then use the draft legal racing to have a really solid run. The only catch is that I have to swim with the front pack… but the race is only a half-olympic (750m swim). Having some pressure to focus on swimming is good though. I need to continue making gains in the swim if I want to race with big boys.

                So the next two months will mean getting back to swimming and running every day, with some quality workouts on the trainer on the side. Hopefully having this race on the calendar will help getting into the pool on those cold January days when the thought of jumping headfirst into cold water is almost unbearable. If Devon Palmer ever invites me to swim with him I’ll tie a rope around his ankle and try to keep up with him for a couple grand.

                Looking forward to the season as a whole, I’ve decided to continue racing as an amateur through 2012. I would love to get my pro card and do a couple of big races, but I still have a lot to learn about pacing, nutrition, swimming… racing in general. There’s a big jump in times from elite amateur to pro and my swim just isn’t fast enough to put me in position to bike and run near the leaders. It’s been a tough decision, but I think it’s the right one. That and I have unfinished business at Age Groups and Hy-vee…

                So wish me luck as I start down the road of 2012, it’s going to be exciting. I’ll put up a race schedule as soon as it’s 95% nailed down.

You mean to tell me people actually enjoy this?

    I haven't posted since March 3^rd, which incidentally is the only post that I have. But there's been reasons. I didn't want to put up boring play by play race reports just to post something. I've been really, really busy working almost full time at the shop and putting in two workouts a day. I couldn't type because I have carpel tunnel... alright that's not true. But sincerely, every time I've sat down to write something I've gotten 3 lines down and then something has gotten in the way. But not today. Today I have the day off, and I have something worthwhile to write about: The hardest race of my life that nearly killed me, aka my first half iron.

     First the punch line: I look forward to the run in every triathlon because it's effortless and I tend to do really well. Today on the other hand, I imploded like a supernova at mile 8 of the 13.1 mile run and while harnessing every ounce of will power I have to keep my legs moving during my 5 mile death march to the finish line I briefly considered slowing to a walk and/or dropping out of the race to pass out underneath a tree. Surprising? Not really, any sensible triathlete would have seen it coming from 56 miles away.

     Now the story: It all started two weeks ago after Lifetime. I took about 10 days before the race easier than usual to be rested and race fast. It worked, I had a great race. Looking forward to the championship season of late August/early September I set up a schedule to try and get more strength and speed. I'd put in two heavy mileage weeks, racing back to back days on the first weekend, and then racing Chisago half the second weekend. Then I'd take a down week to recover, and put in 3 weeks of light mileage and interval workout before starting to taper. Everything went great last weekend and the mileage was logged. I, however, forgot one thing, that I have never done a half iron before. And foolishly did not respect the race distance.

     So this morning I woke up at 4:15 and drove out to Chisago. Transition was packed, but all the racks were numbered, which I love because I don't have to fight for a spot. I did a very light warm-up... because it's a 4 hour race. The race started a little late because of fog on the water or volunteers getting to their spots late, doesn't matter. What does matter is that the air temp was low 60's and the water was very warm, so the entire lake was covered in a thick fog. The Chisago swim is an out and back course, but no one swam out and back this morning. After the initial set of buoys the fog was too thick to see the next buoy, so we all spent a good deal of time blindly swimming towards a blank wall of fog, hoping that we were headed in the right direction. David and Thad led out the swim, and didn't even know which buoy to turn at and had to ask volunteers at every buoy if there was another up ahead. I got stuck in no man's land after the turnaround and alternately swam blindly into fog, futilely breast-stroked while trying to spot the next buoy, and dodged swimmers that had gone off course and swam onto our side of the buoys.

     I got out of the water in sixth and rode up to Alex Hooke in 10 or 15 miles and settled in for a long push. It felt like we were battling a head wind no matter which direction we were headed, but I felt pretty good. At the first bottle exchange I tried to grab a bottle going full speed like a total rookie and may have broken the volunteer's hand. (I'm very sorry if I did...) I dropped the bottle, but didn't think it'd be a big deal since it was so cold and I wasn't really sweating much.

     

     Mile 30 was where I started to feel it. I watched my watts slowly drop off as my legs started to burn more and more, but kept hammering. (Foolish, I know.) It was a little depressing to think that I still had more than a full Olympic bike left before starting that half marathon, but I held out hope that I'd catch a second wind. I did not catch a second wind. I pushed in to transition in fourth, about two minutes back from 2^nd which is where I wanted to finish knowing that I can't catch Thompson. I hurriedly shoved my numb feet into my shoes, put my race number on upside down and took off for the last 13.1 miles of running.

     Then, a miracle happened. My crappy bike legs felt great on the run. My confidence was back. I would stay relaxed on the run, and everything would be okay. This did happen for awhile. I caught Alex Hooke about two miles into the run and slowly reeled in 2^nd place, a 20 yearold amateur from Wisconsin who looked way too heavy to be running a half marathon. After running together for half a mile or so at the halfway mark, I started to pull way. Mile 7 ticked by and I started to feel it. Then mile 8 rolled around and I really started to feel it. That's when I smashed into the wall headfirst and bonked so hard that my eyeballs ran out of glycogen. Slower and slower I ran, knowing that I would be repassed shortly. At mile 9 or 10 it happened, but I didn't even blink. At that point I didn't care. I was too busy thinking about whether I would be able to finish. I set my sights on mile 10 without walking and made it. With only 5k to go I set my sights on 11 miles without walking. I made that, but just barely. At this point I was trudging along, totally shot and feeling delirious.

     But now the lesson: I did make it to the finish, and after stopping immediately after crossing the line and spending the morning in a complete haze, I now realize something: that was almost fun. It wasn't, but only because I went out too hard and didn't have my nutrition right and thought that I could race a half iron with tired legs. Stupid mistakes, but I've always thought the best teacher is slogging through 5 brutal miles at the end of a race. I won't be doing any more halves until next year, but I look forward to the challenge. And most of all I have a completely new level of appreciation and respect for long course racers. You guys are missing out on the speed and excitement of short course, but you have grueling personal battles to keep putting one foot in front of the either. One day I will join you, but not today. For now, give me back the intensity and excitement and hot nasty speed of short course.  

The journey of a thousand miles...

Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Dan Hedgecock and this blog is about living the good life and seeking out adventure. Most of you already know me, but on the off chance that you don't I graduated from the University of Missouri in 2009 and moved to Minnesota to work for Target corporate. It was the perfect start to living the American dream: a suit and tie gig with my foot in the door of corporate America. All I needed was a wife, 2.5 kids and a mortgage and I would have made it. But when I sat down every day in my cubicle and started working through the endless spreadsheets and forms that added no value to my life I had to question whether I was really happy, and of course I wasn't. For me the whole point of work was to make money and money can't buy happiness. It can sure make life a lot easier and buy a lot of fun nights in the city, but I didn't love the people I worked with, I wasn't making any worthwhile memories, and time was starting to move really quickly. So instead of slowly falling into a routine that would have sustained me until I had a mid-life crisis I left my job, started work at a bike shop and committed to doing something only so long as I loved it. My current love is triathlon. I ran through high school and college with moderate success and have carried my passion for endurance sports into one of America's fastest growing sports. I've got one goal in mind: become a pro and try to make a living racing. I've got long odds to overcome, but I'm young and too stupid or stubborn to know when something is probably too difficult to accomplish. So I'm starting this blog for any friends and family members that are interested in how the journey is going.

The 2011 season is well underway and training is going well. My swimming still has a long way to go, but pre-season fitness is set up well to start some fast workouts once the snow melts. I'm running the Human Race 8k on March 20^th to get a better gauge of where I'm at. The run is where I need to make the least improvement, but it will still be good to get a feel for how fit I am. My first tri will be St. Anthony's on May 1^st in St. Petersburg Florida where I hope to qualify for the 5150 championships that will take place in Iowa this September.

This being my first season as a committed triathlete I've decided not to set race or time specific goals. I'm hoping to accomplish the following: stay injury free, spend as much time outside as possible and get fast enough in swimming that I don't get crushed by high school girls. At the end of the season we'll see if I've raced well enough to get a pro card.

There's always obstacles and temptations in life that seem important and demand attention. There's a hundred things that could go wrong at any time. There's even a line of people ready to tell you why you can't. But when you love something with all your heart, it's easy to choose the path less traveled. Training is hard, but when I'm out on my bike flying down a freshly paved road at full speed or hitting the trails for a hard long run I've never been happier. So here's to uncertainty and long odds and refusing to accept mediocrity. Wish me luck in 2011 and keep me in your thoughts.