Alton Half

Since Darren and Aaron posted their Alton Half expereince, I should do the same.

Darren graciously opened his house for Alton Half. He even rented one pool lane for the swim portion. I got to his house late due to a number of road closure. When there is a road sign that says, 'Road Closed', turn around. I kept driving and they literrally blocked the road with concrete blocks and fence.

Once I arrived, unloaded my bike and my gear, we headed straight to a local pool.

We swim 10 sets of 200 m on 5:00 (aka we swim 200 m and if we finish within 5 min we get a rest.

Between all of us, there were a smack talk of who swim the least. I am definitely out of shape. By the second set, I felt like leaving the pool. After a while, things got into the groove and I start to do set after set. By the last three sets, I just swim non-stop to get it over with.

Swim portion done!

We head back to Darren's place and got onto our bikes. We loaded up Coach Troy's 18.0 Aerobic Workout. Coach Troy happen to like to stand that day. We kept doing sets of standing drills. Big ring/15 standing for 1 min. Small ring/21 standing for 1 min. Standing in small ring is a killer b/c you are basically spinning very fast to keep yourself up.

We spent the last hour watching Ironman 2008 Championship in Haiwaii. Definitely good stuff. There is nothing more pump than watching waves of triathletes racing in one of the toughest Ironman out there. They did a short coverage of a guy (I believe it was Brian) who got into a car accident and has a huge scar on his stomach. Darren mentioned that we need to get me on there.

With my liver transplant, I had a big mercedes type scar on my belly. The irony is that I see it everyday. When I saw Brian's scar on tv, it dawned on me that I also got through as much as he had.

That really fired me up. We still have a two hour run left and I am ready to go.

Bike portion done.

Got out of the saddle, changed and head out. The run course is a 7 km loop. Darren's wife was willing to help out by being the water carrier. Of the three of us, I am the slowest around. As such, Darren's wife also have a second role of making sure I am alive :).

During the run, she mentioned that I had a bleeding nose. I was having too much fun and didn't realize it.

The run was hilly. It was snowing. It was great. I was out by myself and just think how grateful it is to be alive and to be running.

I did not complete the third loop. I scheduled for two hour run and did an out and back after my second loop.

Run portion done.

My legs were sore :). We ended the race with pasta and a Guinness. Perfect! Want to give a shout out Darren and his wife for all the support. They were the best hosts ever.

You would assume after 6 hours of training, I would end the night sleeping early. :P My friend had a b-day party and I spent the night dancing away. I haven't dance for a long time.

In conclusion...one good training block and a good time.