It's All Over but the Crying

Still on mainland time, Dean and Peter were up early again this morning. While Peter was out for an easy morning run - four miles at 6:30 minutes per miles, you know, a casual jog – Dean was swapping out our little red Dodge for a big white Chevy Tahoe, giving us more room to stage our mobile race HQ.
After waiting diligently and unconsciously from the comfort of my bed for Peter and Dean to return, we all headed out to the prerace breakfast, which was our only official function for the day. We put in our time appeasing the officials with our presence. Peter made the best of the time, taking glamour shots and interviewing with Tim Carlson from slowtwitch.com. Once introductions had been made, the law of the land was laid down and 200+ miles of bike course was reviewed in a powerpoint presentation we set out to make the final race preparations.
First we stopped at our go to place for all of our Ultraman supplies and nutrition, Wal-Mart. We paced down every aisle taking our best guesses at what we might need. Operating on a whim we would buy some things because we could get 100 of them for $2.54 but would nix others because, as Peter put it, “they give me gag.”
Returning back to our condo we added our haul to our growing collection of Wal-Mart crap that has been slowly accumulating each day and is now beginning to take over the place. Since we have been back the day has been non-stop vehicle and nutrition prep. After hours of deliberation Dean and I have settled on Reese’s, M&M’s and Goobers jelly; Peter will be racing on nothing but whiskey, but as backup has trained himself to eat lava rocks in case we can’t find anything over 100 proof.
We will all be in bed early tonight because we want to spend as much time lying awake in bed nervous for tomorrow as we possibly can. Peter will sleep fine tonight of course, he’s ready, but Dean and I still have to worry about messing the rest of it up.

ULTRAMAN REGISTRATION AND BIKE INSPECTION DAY

This morning started with another round of Kotland’s espresso, which couldn’t jack you up anymore than sticking your tongue onto a car battery. It is the “secret sauce” of an endurance athlete! After polishing off several shots of motor oil, we moved on to a gourmet oatmeal breakfast piled with peanut butter and nutella. Meals become a source of fuel first and foremost, and as sad as it is to say, this delectable breakfast is a very effective source of energy and calories.

The mood remains very light, and we are really relaxed and having a great time. Most importantly, Peter is relaxed and well rested so far. However, the task at hand is upon Peter (who obviously has the hard job this weekend) and his crew (who will execute a 3-day nutrition and hydration plan, work on nightly recovery, and get him ready for the next stage). Once the race starts, we have 21-22 hours of racing over the 3-days! Pre-race, hydration has become a priority. Peter is drinking a minimum of 4 liters of water minimum, and NUUNS electrolyte tabs.

After breakfast, Peter and I ran a 4 mile out and back to Kona Pier. After returning, we packed up the bike and took it down to the bike shop for the mandatory bike inspection before registration. We ran into A. Ribiero at the shop. As the reigning World Champion and 3X Ultraman champ, Ribiero is clearly the front runner and one of the main competitors for Peter (and a great guy). It should be a very exciting competition between these two great athletes (and others).

After the bike inspection, we registered at the Outrigger hotel. It was a quick and painless registration and very good to see our friends from the race. We took some photos and Peter did a quick interview with the Slovenian media. Then we bolted pretty quickly from registration and went down to the Java Lava for re-fueling before the afternoon training. Java Lava’s is a great hangout in Kona. It’s right on the water and gives you huge entertainment as the tourists from the cruises scamper around the Kona village like rabid dogs looking to wear out the magnet strips on their credit cards.

Ryan took a swim in the bay, and Peter took one hour on the bike this afternoon after re-fueling. Daniel and Egi (our guests from Czech) spent the day with us and left this evening for Honolulu to continue their 4-month world tour. Being from Czech, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, however they have volunteered to serve Thanksgiving meals at the Salvation Army in Honolulu tomorrow. Then they move on to Korea. They have a great spirit, and are truly amazing people and definitely new friends. After Daniel and Egi left, we ate 2 pounds of pasta for dinner with tomato sauce and watched the Biggest Loser.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO OUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, SPONSORS, SUPPORTERS, FOLLOWERS, ACQUAINTENCES, COMPETITORS OR ANYONE WHO READS OUR BLOG UPDATES! WE WISH ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES THE BEST OVER THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!!

Ultraman 2009 - Here We Go Again!

It was inevitable that our flights to Hawaii would be packed full of screaming children and excited foreigners making their way to the islands. The only thing missing were the farm animals running down the isle of the plane! Ryan and I waited for Peter to get off his plane. He approached our car with a series of f-bombs and a lecture about the "Little Johnny" sitting next to him that crapped in his pants and the soccer Mom apparently lacked the abilty to smell what the entire plane had been gifted with earlier in the flight. We picked up our race car red Dodge Magnum rental car and worked our way to the condo. We are set up in the Alii Lani condo complex less than 2 miles from Kaihula Kona. Our conditions this year are much better and will make a huge difference in our race preparation and ability to keep Peter rested, relaxed and ready to take on this brutal 3-day race. We took a quick trip to the grocery store, picked up some race supplies and have our meal plan set for the week. Our staples for the week consist of espresso, oatmeal, bread, peanut butter and pasta. We woke and spent the majority of the morning getting the supplies for the race, assemblying Peter's bike, setting up the blog, and setting up Twitter. We also fit in a morning swim at the Kona pier. This afternoon, Peter took the bike out for a quick spin and Ryan and I made our way to the City of Refuge for a bit of site seeing.



After returning home, Peter had his best friend from Czech, Daniel and his Wife Egi visiting. They are traveling the world over 4-months and happen to be in Kona at the same time of the race. We cooked 2 pounds of pasta (jacked up with enough hot sauce to kill a small child), ate bread, and watched an outstanding Matt Damon documentary called "Running the Sahara" for the third. This documentary is about 3 guys who ran the entire Sahara desert, 7500KM over 111 days. That's 12hrs of running and 2 marathons a day in temperatures ranging from low 30's to 140 degrees. Incredible. It makes running a double marathon (52.4 miles) in sub-7 minute pace seem like a cake walk. (Not really!) Our only limitations are in our own minds. I guess when you get in the world of Ultra Endurance eventing, this group of accomplished athletes ask the question... "why not?" Many of these athletes have their own personal missions, however all of them contain an internal drive and confidence that quitting in not an option, and are wired to meet whatever goal and challenge stands in front of them at the time.


Our goal is clear, win the world championship. Peter is relaxed, and no doubt ready. Tomorrow, we will check in for the race, get the bike inspection completed and loosen up with some swimming and running.

Maholo to all of our local sponsors in Greenville. We would not be ready and able for this race without the help of our local sponsors: Signature Patio and Pools, Orthopedic Specialists, Metro Reproduction, Dhillon Cosmetic Dentistry, Carolina Foot Care, Joe at Raymond James, and of course our friends at Run In.

Maholo to all of our merchandising sponsors including Jim at Beyond Fabrications, Blue Seventy, First Endurance and Rudy Project for supporting Peter.

To our special friends Stan and Paula Bilkulege, Ashli Gaines, Ben Renfrow, David Godwin, and Cliff Brown for their personal donations and assistance to this race preparations. Your gifts were generous and Peter is grateful for your support.

Finally, a special thanks to WYFF 4 (Mark Dopher and Geoff Hart) for following Peter and the race, and to Richard Osbourne for his great story on Peter in Go Magazine and offering visibility to this great sport we all love.

ARRIVED IN KONA / GETTING READY TO GO

Aloha!

Well, we arrived in Kona on Sunday and Monday. We are getting organized and prepared for the race which starts on Friday morning. This blog will give daily updates as to the pre-race experiences and nightly updates during the Ultraman World Championship. The first article has hit from Slowtwitch.com. You will find a link to the odds for the race at the bottom of this blog. Unfortunatley, Jonas Colting is not in Kona this year, so the race has already changed before it even started! Also, during the race, I will be updating our progress live through Twitter. My twitter account is: ULTRAMAN21. Please feel free to follow me and you will received updates during day 1, day 2 and day 3 of the race.

As you can see by the picture, Peter's tapering is going GREAT! This picture is translated to "everyone have a great Thanksgiving." This is a term of endearment in Czech. It's the Peter we all know and love!! Ryan and I will start the daily reports tonight. We are glad to be back in Kona and looking forward to a great week and a great race!

http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/Ribeiro_Armstrong_favored_at_25th_Ultraman_1120.html

Ultraman 2009 Following

To anybody who wants to keep up with the Ultraman 2009 World Championship updates:

1) this blog - it will be updated by Dean; Ryan - my crew

2) http://twitter.com/Ultraman21

Ultraman 2009 Training Part 4 – October 31-November 1, 2009

Last weekend was a shorter recovery weekend. On Saturday I completed a “short” 95mile ride with a 4 mile brick run and on Sunday I “only” ran 22 miles at brick run pace. The Ultraman training is coming to the end, its almost race time! This weekend is probably the last pure training weekend, next week I'll follow by an iron-distance race (Beach 2 Battleship) or by a regular long ride/long run weekend. Now to the Halloween Business at hand.

Saturday – Since the race is getting close the typical long power interval ride was replaced with some fast cadence interval sets. OF COURSE the weather gods kept their consistency…rain and pretty steady rain it was almost pouring. Sometimes I feel that these workouts should count as swim workouts as well. Also if I hear one more time that “we need the rain” I think I'll tie that person behind my bike, and will drag them around for 100 miles and of course I will make them wear a speedo!!! I do not have a corn field behind my house so I do NOT need 10 inches of rain per week. In case you are wondering my bike looks like a fighter jet in the cockpit with various computers and information gathering devices. Because it was raining so hard it was hard to see my navigational instruments so I ended up basically doing the entire ride as one big interval

Bike/swim workout was done, and yet again followed by a short brick run.

Sunday – Ahhh…Are you ready for some football running. Again to not break consistency Sunday is long run day. However not being sure of my plans for next weekend…I know you are suppose to decide less than 6 days out whether or not you are going to compete in an Ironman but then again who is sane that does Ultraman…I set my plan to do a 33 mile run. I planned to push the pace for the first 22 miles (2x11 mile loop) and then ease up to a moderate effort on the last 11 mile loop. The first 22 miles went great, sub 6:40's felt very comfortable to almost easy, the consistency is working! When I started the last 11 mile loop – the mileage felt still easy/moderate and I hit the marathon point in the mid 2:50's, so that wasn’t bad either. After that; as usually; the miles and mental games started to set in. I realized how much of this is mental and that it is almost easier to keep up the faster pace. However, I didn't want to over do it so finished the last loop in just under 7 minute pace. This as the fastest long run to date for my Ultraman build so it really boosted my confidence.

After this long run I checked the weather report, it supposed to be in the low 50's to upper 60's next weekend , so “I'll just race an ironman instead of training”, it seems a lot easier.

Nutrition Report for the long run: 3 Red Bulls (to see if I can stomach all the stimulation drinks during the run); 1 liter of EFS Grape Prototype; 1 liter of “Kotland Cocktail’; 1 liter of water. No liquid shots this week – it would make it for too many calories for this run.

Well the next update will be from the island (or from home afterwords). Aloha and Mahola.

Ultraman 2009 Training Part 3 – October 17-18, 2009

Well, I must report that nothing new and exciting this weekend happened in my training. I know you would to like to read some crazy story from my training or a wild/totally different workout I completed, but my experience and from chatting with other elite athletes I know – consistent training is the key to success!!!

Saturday – Nothing new here – just like last weekend, the long ride consisted of some hill repetitions in the hardest gear my legs would allow. This weekend even the weather was consistent…consistently raining! In the last hour of the ride I gave myself credit for a swim workout; it was raining so hard I could barely see the road surface. However, it was little bit warmer than few weekends ago and I was able to feel my hands and my feet when I finished the ride. As my tradition has become I followed the ride with a shorter brick run.

Sunday – I am CRAZY, I must admit I was actually looking forward to my long run on Sunday. It has become a challenge…to go farther and/or faster than the week before. The first 5 miles were surprisingly easier than last week. I guess that was a good sign, but I was still treating this section as an easy warm-up. When I was planning this weekend's run, I wanted include more hills and longer loops that I could use for future comparison. The loops ended up being slightly over 11 miles, with a stop after the loop to measure my Lactic Acid (LA) and to put some nutrition and hydration in the engine. About halfway into the loop, at 6.3 miles, I had another hydration stop set up. These loops help to eliminate any GPS miscalculation, from now on these loops will be standard and I con compare the splits instead of stressing over the exact distance. The first loop felt pretty easy and I stayed right around 7 minute pace and a LA of 2.7 which verified that it was a comfortable pace. The second loop was purposefully a little faster and harder than the first. I help around 6:50 pace with a LA of 3.5 which is sustainable. Then the hard stuff kicks in, the miles get long and I start expecting the leg soreness to come out to play and I go into survival pace. The GREAT news is this survival mode set in 5 miles later than the week before, it set in this week at about mile 28. I was pushing for 3 loops which would allow me to finish with 34 miles. The last 6 miles were not much faster than my overall pace but I was able to push through the last section. In conclusion my overall pace was in the mid 6:50s and the final LA was 4.7. That’s a pretty high LA number but I really didn’t feel that bad. I completed my longest run in preparation for Ultraman 2009 and the good news was I was 1 second per mile faster than the previous week and had to really work for the last 5 miles.

My run nutrition included: 2 liters of EFS grape flavor, 200 calories from liquid shots, 1 liter of the infamous “Kotland” cocktail, and 2 liters of water. It came out to be 250-260 calories per hour which is a little on the low end.

To be consistent I followed the run with the slowest bike spin of my life to just to loosen up my legs. ***It should be noted that my athletes hate when I give them this ride after their long runs, but it really helps.