johnhirsch.org

“When we go before God, he will ask, ‘where are you scares?’ and if seeing none he will say, “was there nothing worth fighting for?’”  

Day 1: 15k am run. 4k OWS. 15k pm run. (3.5)

Day 2: 4k swim. 5 hour ride with 3 x 20 min @w33w, 225W, 220W., brick run 10k tempo. (7)

Day 3: 2k swim. yoga/core.  20 mile run. felt aweful. (3.5)

Day 4: 200k ride. (7.5)

 Day5: 4k swim. 1 hour recovery hike. (recovery day) (2 hours)

Day 6: 115k ride 200w, brick run 10 miles @ 7:03 pace (hot and humid out) (7)

Day 7: 10k run. 6k swim. (big swim) (2.5)

SWIM: I hit 20,000 which is kinda the magic number for an ok swm at ironman. Also I finished the week off with a 6k swim which I have never done before. Its likely not going to make my swim measurably more awesomer but it was cool mentally to do that since I hadn’t done it before. Also when I was entering into the sport my hereos all did 6k swims so it was kind of a cool.

Bike: I only road 3 times. BUT I made em count. 5 hours with hard intervals. 100 miles tempo and 200k over mountains. Thats 300+ miles with no junk. My riding feels good.

Run: awesome run off the bike for the race sim. Hot and humid and faster then ever. Very happy about that. BUT my 20 miler was a total meltdown but I am not gonna worry about that because it came after a sick 7 hour day not to mention a long string of hard workouts.

Over all: 14 days of SICK training. I never did every workout on a training plan. I have never hit every goal, never hit every number I wanted, not in all the good final pushes that lead to good race but this is the closest I have ever come. 

I am not new to this. For 4 years I have been trying to race Ironman as a pro. Last year I had a good race getting into the top 10. It takes a sick amount of work just to get back to where you were. It takes all year just to get to this moment, where you wonder, if now, you have found just a little more. It takes all year just to get to the places you have been before, but I am super motivated because I feel like I might have found a new level. It takes 10 months to cover old ground on the hope that you might take just a few steps into undiscovered country. We won’t know till race day for sure. Race day sorts all like St. Peter, the like, like him, opens the training log-book of life and reads every workout and shows the truth. I am hoping, this time, for just a little more and the last 2 weeks have given me faith that I might have earned just a little more come judgement day.     

LIZZY YOU ARE AN IRONMAN

JAVIER YOU ARE AN IRONMAN

PHIL YOU ARE AN IRONMAN

AMY YOU ARE AN IRONMAN (again)

JOJO YOU ARE AN IRONMAN (again)

JESSE YOU ARE AN IRONMAN (again at age 60!)

ANDY YOU ARE AN IRONMAN

JUSTIN YOU ARE AN IRONMAN

I am sooooo proud of each of you!!!!!!! Enjoy the day off, you earned it

STILL TRUE: EVERYON JOHNHIRSCH.ORG CREW ATHLETE HAS FINISHED EACH IRONMAN. NO DNFS EVER!

(spots open for the 2010 team)

(pic: App Gap, that sign says 10% grade next 10 miles)

First, if anyone has a chance to do the Vineman, do it.  It is a beautiful
course from the swim in the Russian River, the ride thru Sonoma, and run out to
La Crema vineyard and back.  Very well organized as all 70.3’s are. 

So the swim…the Russian River is very narrow and shallow, with huge trees
forming a canopy over sections of the course.  Really foggy at the start, so
created a very cool tunnel-like effect as you sight down the buoys.  Kind of
quiet and eerie.  I felt pretty strong during the first half, but my track was
anything but straight.  Had a really tough time sighting.  May have gone out too
fast though and felt lousy the last few hundred yards.  Ended up swimming a
33:42…done better, done worse.  T1 was OK, though everyone had to pack their
wetsuits in a plastic bag and tie it up so volunteers could truck them all over
to T2 (about 15 miles away), so it wasn’t blazing fast for anyone. 

Onto the Bike…an immediate climb right out of transition…very luckily I had
a low gear set,  because it was pretty steep, though short.  A few guys right
behind me had an Oak tree fall on them!  One guy hurt pretty badly.  So the
course is a nice combination of rollers, flats, and a couple good old burning
climbs.  NOTHING like Rev3, if anyone suffered thru that craziness.  It was
tough not to do some sightseeing though, because Sonoma is so cool. Vineyard
after vineyard, open flats, followed by some nice turning sections under deep
shade, then into the sun again.  Roads were for the most part, nice, a few rough
sections toward the end.  Legs felt good for the most part, until T2, when I
dismounted, had a pretty long run thru transition, and felt the left hamstring
tighten.  Worked it out though…temps around 10 am now 90 F or so.  Getting
hot, but dry as hell!  2:37 and change on the bike.  I was shooting for 2:35,
but wasn’t expecting a couple of those climbs!

The Run…the first mile was dead flat, but the legs felt like crap.  By the 3rd
mile, started to loosen up, but then the hills started…not herendously hilly,
but enough for me to let some f-bombs fly (under my breath anyway).  Tried to
pace 7:15 miles, which would’ve put me at 4:50 overall, but knew the heat would
kill that idea.  A few more rollers, and one steep climb before the turnaround
at La Crema Vineyard.  Can’t say I was enjoying the scenery at that point
though, and coming back down the hill I just climbed, was just as painful. 
Around mile 10, started to fade a bit, and with temps in low to mid 90’s now, I
felt like I was going to keel over.  (It later hit over 100 F in the early
afternoon).  Pressed on, and at the 12 mile mark, 3 or 4 Pro’s were riding the
flat stretch screaming out their support for everyone…very cool to hear these
guys cheer us poor slugs on in the last mile…I’ve played a lot of baseball,
and can’t ever recall A-rod or Jeter shouting for me from the stands in the
bottom of the 9th.  Very cool sport (with very cool people) we’ve all got
ourselves involved in!!  Anyway, those guys gave me a little boost, and held on
for a 1:36 run, and 4:51:50 overall.  Now I get to race with our MAIN MAN John
in Clearwater, and REALLY get shown how its done!!

John, thanks for ALL your help man…you’re going to kill Louisville  AND
Clearwater!!

Dave

Day 1: 3k swim, 30k recovery ride, 20k run. 45 min yoga/core (4.5)

Day 2: 5k swim, 20k recovery ride, 20k run. (4)

Day 3: 2k swim, 5 hour ride with 3 x 20 min tempo, 10k run. (6)

Day 4, 2k swim, LAMB ride + out and back. (8)

Day 5, 3k swim, 20 mile run as 2 mile w/u, 8 miles @ 7:30, 8 miles sub 7:30, 2 miles c/d  (3) 

Day 6: 3k swim, 10k run.  yoga/core (recovery day) (2)

Day 7: 200k ride @ 200+ watts. tempo with app gap climb. brick run 30 minutes. (8) 

Swim: missed some yards in there, 17k is sub par, but not aweful. my swim form is really good right now, and I think it will be fine for IM Lou but I will need some good swims in the next two weeks and also will need to make sure I swim enough during my taper.

Bike: 600-650k is a lot for me. Also those ks are hard mans k. mountains, tempo, mean, hard earned. Feeling good about my riding. All year my riding is the one thing that has not really improved much. I am hoping this was a break through week for me, and that its a sign that my IM time will be dropping this year. I went 5:09 both years and would really love to get around 5 even or even slightly below that. Until this week I wasn’t thinking that was possible but now I have a touch of hope.

Run: 100-105K. Its the right volume but I lacked the hard-fast stuff. Which is fine as the first 2 days were hard coming off RI 70.3. Also I did so many more tris this year I don’t feel like I am lacking any speed. So just putting in the miles is fine. I got a race Aug 1 on Block Island which will be a nice tempo run and also another race after so the super hard will come. 

Over all 35-36 hours of solid training. The first two days were subpar because of RI and travel. I am hoping week 2 is as good with more solid efforts spaced out better.

“Tattoos like mile markers, at the distance he has come, wining some, losing some.” -Ani

It was just an idea. A long dirty road winding through a valley with the mountains standing in the background. I would be sitting at my law job, the smell of homeless people, low quality meat and cheese samwitches, an open toliet and dispair would burn my nose. When I closed my eyes my minds-eye I wondered here. I had never been here or seen it, except in my imagination.

We found this road on a map, a thin line going nowhere. Promise. Google earth gave more hope. But the experience was more then I could dream. Red farm houses and barns. Cows. Trees. the sun and heat and hills making you earn your happiness. Rolling hills making every section different and new. 

As I kept running I saw an old man walking. The wise know, “this is the road.” More confirmation came when I saw a handful of other people out riding and walking on this road. Before I knew it, I had done 20+ miles and I didn’t want it to end.  Some days you run with legs, somedays with your soul.

Run soulful.

(pic: when you get here, you are done, or starting.)

all this anger it makes us famous, all this violence [training] it makes a statement.” Mindless Self Indulgence

Well the first 4 days of the 21 day final prep for ironman are in the books. The last two being evil. I am using www.twitter.com to send short and hopefully funny updates. Here is a sampling.

• 10000 feet 114+ miles. I had dispair on the last of the 4 passes. Don’t dispair (repeat until dispair is gone)
•  Local coming down app gap turns to me and says “I almost hit a bear on this downhill last week.” Awesome.
• My training right now is very unreasonable.
• Note read “help urself to any of the food.” My lil hippie friend has no idea what an ironman in peak training is like. Locus envy me.
• RT: @cyberdyneI -I define myself by my failures and dismiss my successes as the soft sweet lies of an arrogant ego.
• The best thing about the All Star Game is the Tour de France.
• I am sitting in an apartment w/ broken glass & dirty laundry &,am too tired to do anything but micro a yam. this is what death feels like.
• Qualified for ironman 70.3 world championships. Taking spot.
• Memories of last year bring doubt, we r not who we were, we r only who we r at this moment. At this moment I am fast. Run evil.
• If there is stripper traffic at 9 am on a sunday on the bike I will die of laughter, and maybe cry a little.
• I am at the pro meeting/stare down. guys looking tuff girls looking mean (like hs) & richie cuttinham looking left/right for cars that might hit him again.
• Ez run w/ annachrist 8 IM finishes., 8 ultras & a usatf nat title and she never stopped for any of them. But My phil ligget voice had be stopped and doubled over. I rule.
• I told her she was being dumb and ugly. I want to inspire and motivate her, I love her, she is family.
• Best part about imlp: tapering during the tour.
• The pool this am was so crowded I could walk across it, I did while screaming “look,I am jesus!” The people I was stepping on didn’t believe in me
• Coffee is now the blood of christ. Please update your record to reflect this change and thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
• number of times god has tried to kill me with lightning this week: 3. Number of times I was struck : zero. I win god.
• With my alt rudy racin red lens its always sunny which is important here in New Seattle. Anyone got extra flannel & ripped jeans & peal jam
• For podium girls they have “miss teen meadville.” Goal: to get her to throw up devil horns when I go get my award.
• The more I learn about swimming the longer my drill sets get and the less toys I use. Swimming is so complex that its simple.
• Whoever said 2nd is the first loser didn’t realize they paid 3 deep.
• If u have enough energy 2 shave u r not training deep enuff. That’s why Brian Rhodes looks like a crazy mountain man, same w/ untra runners
• A long is one that starts early enough to require arm warmers and ends late enough that you have to put them back on.

I am going home. The girls here really know how to make me feel alone. Gonna get some money, and leave this town, these girls really know how to bring a man down.” (unknown 60s rock song on the radio)
Here we go. The final push. I am so emo right now and its only gonna get worse. Today I was listening to AFI when my battery died on my run. I was a bit freaked as?I had a nice grove going and didn’t want my mind to get in the way of what my body needed to be doing.
I was surprised at what I heard in my head, it was?something between an echo and a wispier. It was the race announcer from Ironman Louisville saying my name “John Hirsch from Block Island, RI.” Then I heard the call to the post, the official start song of Ironman Louisville and the Kentucky Derby. I kept running, feeling strong when I next heard the shot of the cannon. I could hear the blood in my ears thropping like in the swim. The crowd as you exit the water and sprint through?T1.
I was listing so hard to my head, and I heard the sound of the wind that builds on the second lap of the bike and the screaming of Marcia my Louisville family with what place I was in. I could heard the crowds as you leave t2 and the eerie silence of the bridge, a bridge without the hustle and bustle of cars, its spooky, like the bridge is somehow undead. I could hear the crowds at the end of lap one as you hit Ali drive, and my own voice recalling the footage of my and my pops, hero, Ali in Africa where millions cheered “Ali Bum-ba-yay” and he upset Forman?[Ali kill him]. I heard the voices off doubt that come at mile 15. When you haven’t passed anyone, they wispier “No one cracked, your plan didn’t work. Give up. Walk. Quite. Do a later ironman. This isn’t you day. Its hopeless.” And I heard my voice rise up through spit, and broken breath to say “no” aloud and defiant, and maybe seemingly odd and crazy to people watching me. I heard my inner voice say that this is an act of faith, that you can’t think, you have to believe and do.
Then I heard the noise of the finish line. The music and cheering of 4th Street Live that calls to you like a Siren. And then nothing hurts. And you hear the announcer say your name. Lastly you hear your own sobbing and you realize that its all too over whelming.
21 days of the hardest training I have ever done, just for that feeling one more time. Here we go, its gonna be awesome.
(foto: There are some great pics over on www.triathletemag.com by Larry Rosa from?RI 70.3 Here is one I like of the swim start. I am in some good company, I am far left,?note Cam Brown to my right.)

As many of you know I am going to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. What you don’t know is that on the weekend of the?race where I qualified Team Continuum’s founder Paul Nicolls memorial service was held.
Paul had stage 3 Myeloma and?asked his doctor if he would be able to run in the NYC Marathon. Considering what he was about to go through, a stem cell transplant, surgery on his left arm and a few rounds of chemo, his doctor thought he was crazy. After figuring he was in fact serious, his doctor was so inspired he decided to run with him, and raise money doing so.?He finished his marathon so others could do the same.
Since 2003, he and his volunteers have raised over $3.5 million to help families battling cancer and to provide funding to improve cancer patient care programs, at some of the largest cancer treatment facilities in the country. Team Continuum is a non-profit organization dedicated to taking immediate care of anyone involved in fighting cancer. We give cancer patients access to the everyday cure. We fill in the physical and emotional gaps of support so cancer patients can have the strength to focus on their treatment.

When I became the coach of Team Continuum Paul and I talked at length for several months. Our last conversation was me and him laying out a training plan for him to come back once again this fall. Death comes to everyone, but few fight it with such hope and strength.

I have never asked this blog or its readers for money in the 6 years I have been putting it up.

I AM ASKING YOU ALL TO HELP ME FUND RAISE FOR HIM AND HIS GROUP. PLEASE MAKE A DONATION HERE:

http://www.teamcontinuum.net/athlete_page.asp?eid=146&uid=85066

(Pic: Here is a picture of me talking to NBC in RI about Paul and dedicating this race and my trip to the World Championships to him.)