Tucson Marathon

     Part of the run training focus was to do a Marathon early enough to recover for prepping for Oceanside 70.3 in March.  On Halloween, we did a half marathon - LA Rock n Roll half, and was looking to be on track for a good marathon by achieving a PR of 1:40:27 by 9 seconds and non rested.  We ended up flying to Tucson on friday night after work, and met Johnna's brother and sister in law at the Hotel for dinner.  On saturday, we did our run and swim, checked in at the expo, and then drove the course.

      Not sure if it was the pasta I ate, but I was wide awake all night--probably not the food, probably positive nerves.  We got up at 4:30 to get on the bus at 5:30 that took us to the start of the point to point race.  We huddled in the bus until the start, as it was cold and dark.  We started at 7am, just as the sun was coming up.  Goal time was a 3:40.  I settled into the 3:20 group, lost them around mile 9 and then settled in with the 3:30 group.  At Mile 20, Coach Hillary of TeamHPB was cheering me on and then surprised me by bunnyhopping the course after her own half marathon PR of 1:25.  Right around then the 3:40 group caught me, and I managed to hang on perfectly for a wait-for-it 3:40:00 flat!  Johnna came in at 4:30 just behind her brother and sister in law.  Kudos to Johnna who trained through a torn calf muscle (found out later) that she tweaked on our Thanksgiving weekend hill repeat session.

     I was super happy about my time.  I split it well -- out in 1:47, back in 1:53.  I managed the new nutrition plan well  - 8 gels in total during the race.  It was the first time a) that I took in that much in one event, and b) that I felt the surge after taking in nutrition each and every time.  Mile 25 was the hardest.  I remember turning up the hill to the out and back to the finish, and as I turned I got that familiar hammy yank.  I pretty much had to ignore it, as I was being yelled at tocrank it up to the finish.  If I hadn't seen Coach Hillary those three times on the course, I probably would have faded to a 3:45.  Nothing like motivation and accountability.

    Many cool run sessions went into the making of this marathon PR (previous was 4:09 in 2006).  16 miles on the Queen K the day after the World Championship; 20x Hill repeats on a hot humid Kona afternoon; many 20+ mile runs, and some double run days.

Tom Stacy Johnna and Me

   Flight home on sunday night was brutal.  We had to connect through Vegas.  We could barely walk through the terminal.  We looked pretty funny, but probably just blended in with the usual las vegas airport crowd.

Five in a Row - USC Water Polo National Champions

     Thriller of a Water Polo game at the home pool at USC.  USC played UCLA for the national championship.  It was a rematch of last year's final, and USC was going for not only it's fifth national championship in a row, but also for another undefeated season.

    Experience wins along with doubling down on defense.  The seniors really stepped up-Mike Rosenthal, Tobias Preuss and Matt Burton.  Add to that, an unbelievable crowd at the game and both the USC and the UCLA bands.  In the first period, the Trojans scored first going up 1-0.  UCLA answered with 4 straight goals in the first period, leading 4-1 at one point.  The first period ended with USC down 5-3.  I was nervous.  The crowd was nervous.  The players didn't look nervous, however.  Christian didn't look nervous.  He was enjoying the game and the USC cheerleaders. 

    In the second period, the Trojans and Bruins traded three goals each, and at one point, USC took a 6-5 lead.  USC would manufacture three more goals to open the second period -- a Michael Rosenthal nearside bullet, a Vavic blindsider and a booming blast from Tobias Preuss to storm into the lead, up 6-5 with 4:47 to go in the first half. UCLA, again, was unfazed. Three straight Bruin goals would erase that hard work by the Trojans and take UCLA to an 8-6 lead at the break -- the most first-half goals surrendered by the Trojans all season long.   
     In the second half the USC defense clamped down limiting UCLA to one goal in third period.  The crowd was going nuts, as the third period ended UCLA 9-USC 8.  This was going to be a nailbiter.  Jack was playing great defense, and Jovan was using a double post defensive posture to stymie UCLA's offense.
     UCLA would take a 9-8 lead into the fourth period, which opened with a Rosenthal steal at 2-meters to get the ball into USC hands. That's when Burton came up big with goal number two to equalize early, and the Trojans would keep their eyes on a fifth straight prize to pull out the dramatic win. USC outscored UCLA 5-2 in the second half to power up that championship comeback push.

     That championship confidence seemed to win out for the Trojans over the pressure of keeping USC's undefeated 2012 season intact in front of countless fans. With 2:25 to go, Michael Rosenthal ripped in his third goal of the game for the fourth draw of the game. USC goalie James Clark came up with a clutch save next, and the USC defense held strong to get the ball back. The Bruins had managed to keep USC's No. 2 scorer, sophomore Kostas Genidounias, quiet on the scoring front during the game. At least, until the final minute of play. Burton found the hot-handed Genidounias for a searing score that gave USC an 11-10 lead with 40 ticks to go. It was the Trojans' first lead since the 4:47 mark of the second period, and it was a big one. As UCLA found itself in unfamiliar territory, having been ahead or tied for all but barely two minutes of the game to that point, the Bruins scrambled to try to find an equalizer. Instead, the stubborn USC defense stood tall. Mace Rapsey nabbed a UCLA pass and got the ball to Rosenthal with just 15 seconds left, and USC was in the driver's seat for the big win.
    Unbelievable game.  Winners know how to win.
    

I now believe.  :-)

   

Vacation in Kona and take in an Ironman

  Johnna and I headed to Kona for vacation, run camp and to watch the Kona Ironman National Championship.  What an awesome week.  We got in a ton of running and swimming along with a lot of great food.  We arrived on a wednesday and stayed at the Mauni Lani Resort (which is awesome), just past Waikoloa about 25 miles from the swim start/run finish.  We swam the run course weds, thurs, and friday and got in some tough runs in the heat.  It is friggin' hot.  I'm still amazed how fast the athletes go in this race.

 On race day, we got to the start at 5:30 and it was already packed.  We watched the pros finish the swim, ran over to the bike out and watched them all come out on the bike.  Then we bunnyhopped back to the swim finish to see the last people before the 2:20 cut off.  We grabbed breakfast, and then headed to the hot corner to watch the pros come in off the bike and run out of T2.  We even caught Patrick of EN come out on the run.  Exciting race.  We watched all the pros finish, took a little nap and hung out till midnight to watch the last finisher.  A few men and two women in their 70s came in in the last hour.  The race didn't disappoint.  Pete Jacobs took the men's crown.

        Leanda Cave took the women's after battling Zena on the run course.  At no other sporting event can you get up so close to the athletes and see the pain on their faces and sheer force and pressure they are putting their bodies through.

 Johnna got to meet the some famous people, and look who was sitting behind me on the plane ride home, all of them so gracious and nice.

LA Kings win the Stanley Cup

    My brother John got me a ticket to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the New Jersey Devils.   Unbelievable game.  I was so nervous before the game, almost more than the 2011 NCAA Water Polo Championships (Fight On!)   My dad, John, Larisa, Brandon and Christian were all there.   The Plaga's have always been huge Kings fans with my exposure to hockey starting in 1982 after in my dad's season seats -- right on the glass at the Fabulous Forum.  Fast forward 30 years, and as the last minute wound down, and the crowd wound up more and more, I asked (yelled) to my dad, ""Did you ever think this day would come?"  He replied a humbling "No".  Unbelievable game. 
    

 Me and Dad.  What's up with those glasses on me?  2 weeks away from Lasik surgery.

 The crowd was going crazy. So glad I went to the game.  I was afraid to go-didn't want to be the jinx.  Thanks John for "making" me go to the game.  Utterly fantastic.

Ironman New Zealand

     Johnna and I landed in New Zealand on sunday a week in advance of Ironman New Zealand.  My cousin Glen met us at the airport and drove with us to Hamilton where we had lunch.  He headed back to Auckland, and we drove down to Taupo.   Beautiful place.  Looks like Montana without all the big Ford Trucks!  The other difference is that they drive on the wrong side of the road down there.  Driving was stressful.  Especially those roundabouts.

     On monday, the run course looked like this.  Check out the glass on the lake.  So flat.   Mid 70s on monday and tuesday.  Race was saturday, and the pre-race dinner was on thursday night.  Everyone in the room knew that the weather was seriously cooling off and the wind was picking up.  At the end of the dinner, they just happened to mention three things:  1) there will be no race if there is no swim, there may only be a bike and run; 2) if there is no swim and bike, there is no race; and 3) there is no way to move the race to sunday.  Stay tuned for a special athlete meeting on friday night.  Whatever, I thought, just get ready for the cold, and don't worry about it. 

     Johnna and I were relaxing in the hotel room, and I just happened to check out my emails when I saw one from my Uncle John which said "sorry about the race being canceled".  WTF?  The special athlete meeting was starting in 5 minutes--so we raced over there.  The wind was blowing so hard, it was ripping flags off the flagpoles.  People were surfing waves on the lake -- yes, imagine 4-5 footers on that beach.  We got to the meeting, and they announced that they cancelled the IM and would have a 70.3 on sunday.  That's cool.  At least we get to have a race.   After the meeting we had to go and retrieve my bike and transition bags.  They didn't want anything damaged in the storm.  So with that, it was time for a beer.  We had driven past this Irish pub right on the lake all week, so we headed there.  A couple guiness couldn't hurt the taper now that it was a 70.3.  Serious local place and packed, but we found a spot to sit and order a beer.  We slowly noticed lots of athletes in the place, and we moved over to a big table with some aussies.  Sorry, to be correct, Aussie Firefighters.  Serious drinkers and super nice.    I was talking to Angus (this was to be his first IM), when this young lady comes up to our table and starts hitting on Angus immediately.  She was from Florida, of all places.   Small world.  I mentioned to one of Angus's buddies that it looked like Angus's Ironman disappointment was going to be consoled, and his friend replied, if not by her then by that gal at the bar.  After two beers, we wished Angus and his firefighter buddies good luck.  I had to get Johnna out of there before she hooked up with one of the crew from Aussie Rescue Me.
     We got up on saturday morning and decided to head over to race start and get some breakfast.  On the way down the hill, we see Angus doing the "walk of shame" back to the hotel.  We gave him a ride up the hill and he didn't kiss and tell.  But he was smiling.
    Sunday morning was race day.  70.3 day.  I got my my bike and gear set up and was waiting in the Porta Potty line, when who walks up--the pride of Florida.  I told her I saw Angus doing the walk of shame, and she just smiled. 
     Race was going off in 3 waves--Pros, Men and then Women.  I had a good swim, out with the leaders.  The run to transition is a mile long and up a steep hill.  Temps were in the low 50s.  No rain, but windy.  T1 was pretty slow.  Tried to get a long sleeve compression shirt on over wet skin.  Crazy hard.  Bike was good.  Tail wind to the turnaround point.  I think I did the front half in 1:20 and the return in 1:30 into the wind for a 2:50 bike.  I'm not a cold weather racer, but I came out to run feeling okay, but probably didn't take in enough nutrition on the bike.  When it's cold, I have to really force myself to drink and eat, and I didn't.  I should have learned from IM Canada.  One of these days.
     Came out of T2 and saw the spitting image of my grandfather--it was my Uncle John.  Hadn't seen him in awhile, and it was eery seeing him look so much like his dad.  I heard him and Auntie Jo and Johnna cheer me on.  The run was two loops so I saw everyone a few times.  At each turnaround you have to get a different colored wristband.  Run was uneventful, other than Meredith Kessler and Joanna Lawn blowing by me on my first loop on their way to the finish.

     Was going to stay at the Huka Lodge, world famous fly fishing place in Taupo, but I didn't want to drain the kids' college funds to stay there a couple of nights. 
    So, here's what we did during the rest of our time in New Zealand.  It went by so fast.  Visited Uncle John and Aunt Jo in Hawke's Bay and Glen took us on a tour of Tamata peak which overlooks many of the North Island's wineries on the coast.  Uncle John and Aunt Jo and Glen drove us down to Masterton where we visited Grandma and Granddad's house, and I saw the old park and field where I got to play back when I was 8 years old.  Totally remembered it.  Pretty cool.

    Guiness beer the night the race was cancelled.

        Had a few beers in the beer tent with Glen, Uncle John, Aunt Jo and Johnna and then we headed back to the hotel for a jacuzzi.  Glen joined us.  The next day the plan was to drive down to my Uncle's house with Glen and start touring for the second week of our New Zealand vacation. 

Family dinner at Uncle John and Aunt Jo's.  Jeanine, Dean, Paul, Ryan joined us for a great dinner.

Down in Wellington, we had dinner at the master chef of Air New Zealand's restaurant.  From left, Paul, Diane, Me, Ryan, Johnna, Hanna, Jordan and Dean.  Dean had to order whiskey after dinner.  Good stuff. 

At Grandma and Granddad's house in Masterton.  Do you like Glen's shirt?

 Herding sheep at Paul's farm. 

We visited the Kiwi sanctuary.  We saw a baby white Kiwi--very very rare.  We also saw the only remaining living dinosaur--the Tuatara, nearly made extinct by the domestic animals that the English settlers brought, i.e. dogs and cats in the 1840s.

At the officer's club with Major Paul Corke and his son Jordan.

 OMG.  Johnna wouldn't stop laughing in the Opossum store.  I think these creatures are different than the North America ones.  They grow a wool like fur.   Hats, socks, gloves.  Get me some possum.

 At the Lord of the Rings museum at what's his names studios in Wellington.

 Amazing coffee in New Zealand.  In fact, all the food was amazing.  We had the best fresh produce, Rocket (arugula), pork belly, lamb, seafood.    Two weeks of fantastic food.

Smallest perfect melon ever.  Glen needs to bring his girlfriend to New Zealand.  Having appetizers with Aunt Jo. 

Go All Blacks!
    

50 Fifty 50 Fifty

Turned 50 today. Going to spend the birthday weekend training hard for Ironman New Zealand on March 3rd.

I don't feel 50, but watching 50 candles burning on the cake (Johnna loves to load up those candles, I can't wait to return the favor), I realize I'm pretty damn lucky. As someone I've known for years will say to me tomorrow "You've got everything, Barry". He's right. I do have everything. Great wife, great kids, great family, great friends, great health. What else do I need?
Only a few things, more laps in the pool, more miles on my bike and more miles on my feet.

Ironman 6 Years Later

Just wrapped up January 2012. Pretty big difference from January 2006 when I signed up for my first triathlon, an ironman, scheduled for June 2006 in Couer d'Alene, Idaho. I can't believe what a newbie I was at the time.

Let's suffice it to say that running was not my strength, and I'd only owned a bike for 2 months when I signed up for a training program and a Ironman. Damn that NBC show on Kona.

January 2012
Swimming 35,000 meters
Biking 600 miles
Running 186 miles

January 2006
Swimming 60,000 meters
Biking 207 miles
Running 46 miles (only could run 14 miles in all of February-my ankles turned to cankles for 6 months--I think the swelling subsided in late July of that year)