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The power of a smell…

Yesterday during the sermon, our Pastor told the story of when he was growing up he detested the smell of a certain Bisquick cake his father used to bake. Years later, after the passing of his father, he found himself baking that very cake and being reminded of the fond memories he had. A once mal-odor became a sweet memory through the lense of time and experience. Every once in a while I have a similar olfactory experience and it is one in particular that I found myself dwelling on after church was over.

As I was looking through some bags and random racing/triathlon supply boxes, I found myself looking into the closet of our guest bedroom, which happens to have our wetsuits. Suddenly, I found myself taken back to the last triathlon of the much storied (at least by me) 2008 racing season…the Portage Lakes Triathlon, the last race in the Wheelie Fun Racing Series. The culmination of a season packed with lifetime memories and experiences, excruciatingly painful running courses, seemingly endless uphill bicycle battles, frigid swim courses, that feeling you get as you come into view of the finish line, hearing your name followed by the 4 words “You are an Ironman” and knowing you have earned it. Memories abound as I reminisce about predawn wake ups, race day checklists, pre-visualizing T1 then T2 making sure everything is in its place, shoes here visor there…don’t forget the race number belt. All of this because of a smell…

What was the smell? Like Pastor Malanga’s sermon, it wasn’t the smell of roses, or fresh bread, no this scent has a darker origin…Neoprene and stale lake water. Why does this smell have such power over my memories? Why does the combination of synthetic rubber and highly suspect lake water have such a cogent affect? It isn’t a sweet smell, not particularly inviting at all, but it is the smell that bears the memories of a summer spent training, racing and traveling with my wonderful wife. It was a good summer, one I’m sure to look back upon fondly as I share those memorable moments with friends, family and now…my daughter Cora.

Tiffany and I were talking yesterday afternoon, and I mentioned how that summer could not have been planned better. It was a grueling schedule of training, B-races, A-races, and everything else. It was exhilarating, challenging, painful, but most of all…wicked awesome fun! Tiffany had a suspicion and we later confirmed that during Ironman and all subsequent races, that she was pregnant. She was still able to not only compete in the remaining triathlons we’d planned, but she became the champion of the Wheelie Fun Series…with child… All of this and many more memories are firmly stored in that part of my brain that can be accessed by (among other things) the smell of a man-made rubber-like product aimed at keeping me warm and the strange concoction known as your ordinary off-the-shelf lake water.

As we plan our comparatively meager racing schedule for this year, I find myself still highly affected by the smell that currently resides in the closet of our guest bedroom, to which I’ve returned a few times to make sure those memories are still there. I do not look back with a sense of longing or regret that life has taken its unexpected turns, no those memories deserve so much more. They are a single summer, a collection of events that came together in a way that can never be, nor should ever be, repeated. That smell will forever be known in my own mind as the smell of racing.

Tiff and I joke about how our Thanksgivings have pretty much the same pattern every year. We call it the “Tour of rt.75″. It usually starts with us going to Grandma Z’s in Tipp City, OH on wednesday night. We wake up in the morning and go south to Miamisburg for the Turkey Trot 5mi race on Thanksgiving morning. From there we go to My Aunt and Uncle’s in Tipp City for the First meal of the day. Then its north on 75 to Troy (one exit up) for the second meal, and from there continuing north and then a bit west to somewhere around Celina/ New Knoxville area. We usually end up either back in Bowling Green or stay over with Grandma Brown till friday. See the Map to get a general idea of the path…

It may seem like a lot, and it is, and usually we are completely stuffed and wore out by the end of the day, but in the end we are happy to able to see that much family in one day. I know a lot of people who have to alternate which side of the family they go to for each holiday, so we feel incredibly blessed.

Now to the racing…Thursday morning…Thanksgiving day…5 miles…

There was a pretty large group of family this year for the race…Tiff and I, my dad, my uncle, two cousins and tiff’s brother all went. I’ll go ahead and answer an obvious question…yes tiff beat me in this one (5mos pregnant). Our times respectively were…Tiff: 36:42 and Me: 36:49. This is a fairly competitive race so none of us won any age group awards or anything…

On to the next race…our first year competing in the Holiday Hustle 5K in Maumee, OH. This race takes place at 5:00 in the evening on the saturday after Thanksgiving…We had my family meal at noon that day (the steaks were great, mom), so I wasn’t really planning to race this one too hard…Our friend/training partner, Mark and his wife went with us to the race as well. When the race started I stayed back a bit from the start to allow people to get moving (1000+ runners), and when I started it felt like a quick, but not real fast pace…just comfortable enough. Wearing the Garmin I decided not to look at all and just wait for the mile indicator noise (which was pretty close to accurate…thanks race organizers). After about a mile I caught up to Mark, which surprised me a bit because he normally runs faster than I do. I ran with him for a while and fell back a bit, but still within 10 feet or so. All this time I was feeling really good, not straining too much to hold my pace, so I thought I was around a 7:10-7:20 pace. I still didn’t look at the Garmin for any confirmation and my math skills decrease dramatically when presented with a clock at each mile marker. I just kept running my race until I hit the 3 mile mark, and i decided to go for a fast finish. Turning the corner onto Conant st. I picked it up around 3 other people and held a pretty fast pace and when within 100 feet of finishing I picked it up more and crossed pretty quickly…Only then did I look at my time… 21:29, which I thought was a PR but didn’t know for sure until later…It Was!!! And without even trying to race real hard…I actually mentioned to Tiff that I felt like the race was downhill the whole time.

Update: Because we went straight home after the race I just found out that I won my age group!!! (25-29) This is the first AG win…ever… It gets better too! Tiff got 3rd in her AG. Now she is 5 months + pregnant right now and still beating lots of girls her age, which I know I’m excited about…

So that was our holiday weekend…busy, but fun, and that’s not all we did, but that would take a lot longer to write, so that’s it for now…

Very few things in life can really teach you the importance of training. A marathon is definitely one of them. This past weekend (Sunday) I ran the Columbus Marathon. This racing season has been winding down, and with it the training has begun to taper off. This is in direct contradiction with marathon training. I did manage to get 2 20milers in, but really not many other long runs. I did almost no speed work (unless you count triathlons in August & September). So going in I knew I was at a bit of a disadvantage. Even still I wanted to run a good race. About mile 14 I prematurely hit the “Wall” and the pain set in. I tried to take a goo pack and my stomach protested. I then tried to choke down some gatorade (which rarely works anyway for me…i get belchy), and that didn’t really help. I decided about mile 16 that my new goal was to “run” the whole race whatever that meant. I just didn’t want to walk, so I would slow my pace down as much as possible to make sure I could achieve this goal. At mile 21 my uncle Jay hopped in and ran with me for 2-3 miles and that really helped lift my spirits and then at mile 24, tiff ran with me almost to the finish. In the end, i realized two very important things…

1. DO THE TRAINING, or else be prepared for a race like that

2. RUNNING WITH PEOPLE HELPS…A LOT

Anyway, I’m still glad I did it, and now the racing season can continue to taper off. Below is a photo from Diana Beck’s Facebook that she tagged of me at the finish line…And yes it was just a little weird having Tiff not run the marathon as she is pregnant…

As a training race, the Minster Oktoberfest has traditionally been timed perfectly for finishing up a marathon program for Columbus. A 10K two weeks out…stretch out the legs, run fast, you know.  This annual celebration of the harvest has become a staple in our racing schedule partly because of the timing but also since my wife is from that area and we get to spend the weekend with her family…Oh yeah, and they serve beer (It is Oktoberfest, Duh). I’m not sure, but I have this suspicion that the water in beer doesn’t count as part of a post race hydration program (I’m not a nutritionist or even a scientist, so who am I to make broad statements that could lead to no beer).

Anyhoo, the best/funniest thing was that Tiff came in 2nd in her age group, and only 10-15 seconds behind the age group winner.  She is, you’ll remember, currently 15 weeks pregnant, and yes she beat me as well. Now, I’m used to getting beat by Tiffany and her being pregnant hasn’t yet proven detrimental to her overall racing capacity, but I wonder what the girls who finished behind her in the race might think if they knew that they were beat by a pregnant lady. My consolation…Tiff couldn’t have the traditional/celebratory beer (not much I know, but I have to hang on to something).

On the HFP website there was an article posted noting how the Vermilion community was excited to have a race in its community. While I would normally just brush these words off as a PR attempt, it turns out that this was actually true. There was no lack for enthusiastic volunteers both in the park and out on the courses who were not only helping out but also cheering as we passed by. GO VERMILION!!!

Overall/Age Group Results are here…and photos from the day are here…

To the race report:

The Swim: this was officially our first large lake swim (Lake Erie). Even though it got a bit choppy and the waves picked up during the swim, I had fun with this one. Riding the crests and troughs of the water as it surged underneath made for an interesting/challenging swim split.

The Bike: We were told before this race that the bike course was supposedly one of the more difficult ones in the HFP Weelie Fun Triathlon/Duathlon Series…and they were right. The rolling hills were nice, but as we approached the first of 3 bigger decents and resulting climbs, it became apparent that the course designers were not on our side. Going from 45mph on a nice downhill stretch to 4mph is quite the swing and difficult at best. This isn’t to say that the course wasn’t enjoyable, just that it was tough.

The Run: The only part of this race that I would want to change a bit. An out and back course through downtown vermilion and a couple miles to the west of town. It was a bit exposed on the outer portions with traffic still going both ways, so we were relegated to the road’s shoulder which was a little cracked and uneven. There was no lack for aid stations though, and they were ready to hand out whatever you asked for…(Water on my head, then water in my mouth is my motto).

The Results:

Tiff: She won her age group…again…with a time of 2hrs 35mins 39secs

Jeremy: I did not win my age group…again…with a time of 2hrs 32mins

OF NOTE: There is a racing series that we have been partly participating in that consists of 6 races(here and here) and currently Tiffany is winning this series for her age bracket (F25-29). For me…I am actually 5th in my age group out of 44 people, which is the top 11%, so I’m excited about that.

One day less than 2 weeks after Ironman USA, Tiff and I traveled to Benton Harbor, MI for the Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon (Half-Iron Distance).  The weather was shaping up to be pretty nice, if maybe a little hot. The course has been described as fast and includes a 1.2mi swim in Lake Michigan, a 56mi bike over rolling hills & a 13.1mi run over slightly less rolling hills. Now normally the part I am looking forward to least is the swim (it is my weakest event), so when we walked down to the swim start (a 1mi walk north of the transition area) and were told that because of the choppy waters they would be cancelling the swim, one would think I would be happy about this…I wasn’t. Why? It is no longer a Triathlon…what ended up happening is a Duathlon with a 2mi run instead of the swim. There was a part of me that was looking forward to my first large Lake swim in a race.

Enough of that…on to the results.

Tiffany and I both finished strong and near where we wanted to be (time-wise). My legs were still a bit soft from Ironman, so my performance suffered a little. My one main goal was to not walk except through water stops (I absolutely cannot drink/eat anything while running), and I was successful there.

Tiffany Overall Time: 4:41:41

Jeremy Overall Time: 4:57:16

Click here to view all results

All said and done, this was a pretty good race, and I would certainly do it again. Next up…Vermillion, OH

All I’ve got so far is the photos to show. My plan is to do a proper race report in the near future…So for now, enjoy some photos from the weekend and race itself.

Final Preparations have begun! We have officially entered the Ironman taper. No more long training weekends or tune-up races; all that remains is the day itself when we find out what exactly we are made of. For those that do not know, the race comprises of the following events/distances:

Swim: 2.4 miles

Bike: 112 miles

Run: 26.2 miles

Yes it is a very long way (140.6 total miles), yes it’s going to hurt, and no, none of us are planning to win.

I’m mainly writing this post for our friends and family who are interested in what we are doing, so below you’ll find links to the official Ironman webpages where they’ve provided an athlete tracker, and even some live video.

Official Ironman USA (Lake Placid, NY) Website

IronmanLive Webpage (The day of the event (7/20) they will post the live “Athlete Tracker” and live video of the event to watch.)

For tracking an athlete, follow the “Real Time Athlete Tracking Instructions” from the link above. Use the following names/bib numbers to track us.

Jeremy Dixon: Bib# 233

Tiffany Dixon: Bib# 1990

Dale Brown: Bib# 183

I’m hoping to post on this blog while we are there (starting this thursday, july 17) with updates and photos, so check back towards the end of the week and throughout the weekend.

Wow, even typing it takes a while. I’m not trying to say that I didn’t enjoy my Independence Day weekend, just that it was very full. We kicked it off Friday morning with a 65 mile bike ride during which we met up with a group from the toledo area and rode to Grand Rapids, OH for breakfast before finishing the ride. Then, later that afternoon, we went to Toledo for a wedding…Congrats Jon and Missy…and back to Bowling Green for the reception over at Stone Ridge GC (Speaking of weddings, I wrote a post over at my work blog about weddings…read it if you like here).

On to Saturday where we woke up and ran a short/easy 4 miles (after which I took a long nap…happy day!!!) About noon I started packing for Sunday’s race while also preparing for our second wedding of the weekend. There is a certain trick to packing bikes and wetsuits while dressing for a wedding (the key is the order in which you do things…I know I’m a bit slow sometimes). Our plans were to leave the reception early and get to a friend’s house mid to late evening and spend the rest of the day with them, which we did…

Sunday Morning…5:30 wake-up and 6:00 out the door, we arrived at the park just before 7am. I’ll cut this short because there are a few things I want to hit on before i lose everybody with the length of this post…

1. I successfully completed my first triathlon on my new bike setup (converted to a Time Trial setup) Yay!!!

2. Tiffany won her age group…again…but I think she enjoyed this race a bit more because she was trying to take this one a bit easier and enjoy the race…Must be nice to take it easy and still win…but I’ll never know that.

Anyway, we go from that incredibly busy weekend and now we’re officially on our taper for IRONMAN… I’ve only been tapering for two days now and already I’m starting to feel anxious about it…

So if you happen to be in Lake Placid for the race…congrats and hope you enjoy it…

I’m going to keep this really short because a lot is going on right now, and everything so far this year has been prep for Ironman.

Maumee Bay is a fun race for us because it is so close and it has some of our favorite elements.

Firstly the swim is very wide open which means you can see the entire course from anywhere on it. It’s nice to have a feel for where you are and how far is left. Also of note is the beach start that is actually a beach…complete with sand and no rocks to send waves of pain shooting through your legs as you enter or exit the water.

The bike course is basically a big box, so if you are into the wind you know that a tailwind isn’t far away.

The run is, in my opinion, very well designed. It’s a pretty flat open area right up next to Lake Erie, so the fact that they were able to squeeze in some shaded areas along the way was very appreciated. The sprint run course has absolutely no coverage (mostly because it is so short and doesn’t get into the trees at all).

Tiff and I had great races, and are looking forward to our last tune-up race before the big IM. So if you’re going to be at Ceasar Creek this weekend (of July 4th) we’ll see you there.