Trevor Gribble, YOU are an IRONMAN!

I think it was back in 2003, when Ski and Zach announced that they were going to train for and run in the Los Angeles Marathon. My thoughts at the time, "Are you crazy? There's no way you will do that." Such an event was unfathomable in my mind. The seed was planted.

It was early April 2005, when I was stretching after a 5 mile run around Balboa Island - my longest run to date. I bumped into my neighbor Christina as she was taking her dog for a walk. She mentioned that she had finished the San Diego Marathon the previous year. Inspired, I immediately returned to my computer and signed up for the June race. Things were starting to materialize.

Later on in 2005, I was over at Joe and Shawn's apartment. We were flipping channels and stumbled onto coverage of the Ironman triathlon. The standard comments were uttered: "That's just insane" & "Just finishing one of those, you are the man" … An ultimate goal was now apparent.

A few months later, I ran my 2nd marathon in Honolulu. I improved 16 minutes since San Diego, and was feeling pretty good. I got a smoothie after the race and went to my hotel's hot tub to relax. I randomly met fellow UCLA alum Terrie in the hot tub. She had crushed me in the race and mentioned that once she got back home, she was starting up her training for Ironman Coeur d'Alene. I was in awe. Within a few minutes, my eyes opened up to the world of triathlon.

First week of March, 2006, I started swimming during lunch at the Janet Evans Swimming complex in Fullerton. I hadn't swum a lap in about 14 years. The complex was under construction and the changing tents and showering trailers were pretty weak, but the great coaches & lifeguards (Mitch, Ally, Kyle) made up for it. Multisport was underway.

LA Marathon 2006, I was stretching before the race when I noticed a guy wearing an Ironman 70.3 California hat. I asked him, "That was a few weeks ago, right? How did you do?" His response: "No, it was yesterday"…and he was running the LA marathon 15 hours later as a training run. I realize that Ironmen are insane.

November 5, 2006, I woke up in Corona at 8:00AM, got online, and "luckily" was able to sign up for the Florida Ironman to take place exactly 1 year later. I realize that I am now officially insane.

November 3, 2007, I woke up in Panama City Beach at 3:30AM, put some oatmeal in the microwave, and thus began an incredible adventure …..

November 3, 2007, 5:23PM…Trevor Gribble, You are an Ironman!
When I look back and connect the dots that led me to this accomplishment, the above moments are the ones that I remember the most. Along the way, there were countless friends and family, as well as random individuals who I met at pools, gyms, trails, races, in the office, on planes, etc., with whom I discussed endurance sports and everyone provided advice and encouragement.

Everyone who competes in an Ironman has a different set of stories and reasons that led them to sign up for their day of agony & rejoice. For me, it was simply a random set of chance encounters with the right people at the right time.

So, a HUGE Thank You goes out to everyone I mentioned above. Also, thanks to Ruttenberg, Teddy, Jared, Suraj, Victor, Kollitz, G, Luquin, Shane, Cristian, Eli, Isola & Gigi for giving up your couch/floor/bathroom for me the night before a race or training day. Thanks to Dzuy, Terry, Gilbert, Mckane, Kellogg, Romanof, Melissa, Kavita, Tarun, Matt G, Tommy, Teddy, Mom & Dad for coming out to races along the way, racing with me or cheering me on. Thanks to the BR-629 homies for not mentioning my 5:00AM Tours de Jerusalem & Tel Aviv to Shannie & Momo. And a HUGE Thanks to Eli, Gilbert, Sheryl, Kayla, Lloyd, Mom & Dad for making it out to PBC and spending 10 hours getting drunk and cheering me on. And of course as I mentioned in my earlier email, thanks to everyone who has been cool enough to simply listen to a word out of my mouth about this crazy endeavor.

Now, onto the race report:

In the days leading up to the race, it was pretty surreal. People were biking and running up and down the street non-stop. It was just a crazy sight to see as you couldn't walk across the street without dodging someone. Anytime you made it out to the beach you would see at least 15-20 people swimming in their wetsuits. There was no denying it… this was the REAL DEAL, time to put on the game face.
All my preparation went smoothly. Nothing too exciting to report here. I arrived on Wednesday afternoon with my parents. The weather was perfect, and aside from some gaudy decorations, our condo was perfect. The next 2 days, I got in 2 wetsuit practices, a couple quick bike workouts and short runs…my body was working properly. Nutritionally, everything was going good as well. On Friday night, everyone else arrived. I was pretty tired so I hit they hay around 9:30.

I got a decent nights sleep, woke up at 2am with a little cough, and started freaking out, but managed another 1.5 hours of sleep and woke up at 3:30am feeling fine. A quick bowl of oatmeal & strawberries, some stretching, changing into my clothes and I was on my way. Setting everything up in transition was smooth…I took my time, making sure I got all my bathroom business out of the way before making it to the beach. We were supposed to be at the beach by 6:30 but I didn't make it out until 6:45, whatever.

Saw my dad holding up a sign and went to say my final goodbyes, Eli, Kayla & Lloyd also found me at this point. I was pretty pumped up. The pros took off and then I went into the start corral. It's not every day that you go from the National Anthem to Ozzy's "Ironman". As soon as the first chord hit, all my nerves went down the drain. I wanted to hear that in the morning to pump me up but I forgot, so this just made my day. I slotted myself 2nd row on the inside of the buoys, and boom, we were off.

I was hoping to break 1:10. The swim felt pretty good, I was able to have decent spacing and my goggles stayed on tight the whole time. When I exited the water after the first loop, I saw the clock and it read 39 minutes. I was pissed. Then I realized it was the pro clock, and I had actually swam the first lap in 29 minutes! Sweet! My half ironman swim was 36, so this was a huge improvement. Jumping back in for the 2 nd lap was probably the hardest part of the race for me. My heart rate was skyrocketing, but I eventually settled into a groove and did it all again. This time it took me 33 minutes and I exited the water at 1:02:48, 7 minutes faster than my goal time.

Made it through T1 pretty smoothly (Getting the wetsuit stripped off was great!), jumped on the bike and rode comfortably at the start yet still passed about 50-60 people in the first 6 miles before turning onto the 79.Through the first 20 miles I was flying, passing tons of people. I made the turn onto the 20, and then I dealt with packs for the next 50 miles, charging to the front 4 times only to be passed back within 5 minutes of breaking free. It has been beat to death, but with so many riders & a flat course, packs were inevitable, so I just dealt with it as legally as I could. I finally had some space from miles 73-90 before another pack came up behind me. When I hit the bridge at mile 98, I made my move and pushed it for the last 14 miles. I passed back a decent amount of people here and ended up arriving in T2 in 4:58:26, the 4th fastest split in my age group! I was hoping to ride sub 5:20, so again, I was 20 minutes faster than I had hoped. Sub 5 hours was HUGE. Plus I didn't spend a cent on Aero-wheels! 100% stock, baby.

T2 was great, the volunteers were amazing, grabbing my bike, handing me my bag, and helping me get my shoes on, comforting me along the way. I was through it in about 3 minutes, so now I had taken about 6.5 minutes total on my transitions, and I was expecting around 10, so I was another 3 minutes faster than expected.

I started the run at about 6:08 into the race, in 170th place at the time. Considering there were 94 pros who started the race, I was pretty stoked at this point. Although, as I had only run a max of 3 miles after a 5 hour ride, I really had no clue what I was getting myself into. Finally saw my cheering section about a half mile into the run…it must have been great for them to finally see me after sitting around all morning getting drunk. The next 6 miles were decent, I was sticking to a 9 minute/mile pace, and people were cheering loudly, although I was getting passed by lots of good runners. When I hit mile 7 and started the run back to the half way point, that's when I hit rock bottom. Miles 7-14 were filled with self-doubt: "What the hell are you thinking putting yourself through this"..."This is the stupidest thing you have ever done in your entire life." Even when I got to my cheering crew again at mile 12.5 I was hating life. My stomach was sloshing, my legs were hurting, and I just wanted to die. This picture perfectly captured the agony of that moment. I made the halfway turnaround and picked up my special needs bag just as the male overall winner was coming down the finishing line. That actually gave me inspiration as I did not get lapped out on the run course. By now I had run out of salt tablets and had already started to experiment with coke, which was actually working to settle my stomach. I popped a few Tylenol that I got in special needs, and managed to pick up the pace a little bit. I would do the famed Ironman shuffle at about a 9:30 pace from aid station to aid station, then walk each one picking up Gatorade and pretzels to increase my salt intake, as I could feel my muscles getting dehydrated. At mile 15, I found a guy who was going about my pace, and I ran and chatted with him until about mile 18, when he could no longer hang at my pace and told me to go on without him. I was now picking up speed, and made it to mile 20 before picking up another Ironfriend, Mark from Canada, for the next 5 miles. With less than 1 mile to go, we were coming through the awesome section of fanfare and one of the tents with a stereo started playing Soulja Boy. As stupid as it may sound, you have no idea how much that song hit the spot at the 140 mile mark. I got a huge smile on my face and I seriously started doing the dance as I was running past the music, it was awesome! The crowd was going nuts cheering me on. As soon as I had "youuuuuuu'd" twice, I just got a super adrenaline kick and started actually running again. My quads and hamstrings amazingly found some juice and I was flying for the last half mile, passing about 7 or 8 people as I came towards the finish line. I just kept screaming this whole time knowing that it was going to be over so soon. I saw the family up ahead on my right, and Gilbert came out with the flag & the beer. I was expecting some PBR, but I guess Steel Reserve Malt Liquor was going to have to do. From there, I just glided in for the finish, shaking up the tall boy and popping it open over my head as I approached the line.


I broke the tape as the clock read 10:23:28, meaning I had just ran a 4:15 marathon. That was slower than I had hoped for but still, my overall time was 22 minutes faster than my goal. Technically, this finish fell within my "ecstatic" zone. I placed 267th overall out of 2277 starters, and 8th out of 51 in my age group. I finished while the sun was still up and managed to head over to the beach to catch a killer sunset.

It was a great day, and now I can try to go back to living a normal life.

-Trevor

*The complete photoset can be found on Picasa.

Ironman 70.3 III - Showtime

**I apologize that this post is well overdue, but I know that you were all waiting on the edges of your seats, so here you are:

The 3:45AM wake up call never sounded so good. After a sweet 5 hours of Britney-induced sleep I was ready to go. After a nice warmup jog along Alligator alley and some stretching in my hotel room I was ready to head to the starting line. Despite a frantic 10 minute search for my wallet (which I eventually found,) I was feeling pretty good.

Setting up the transition area was relatively smooth. Bathrooming it was smooth. I was happy with my hydration. So far so good. Nice to not have a wetsuit for a change (No need to piss in it during the warmup swim).

I was in the 4th wave. 6:31AM start. The sun rises at about 7:30AM. So we relied on ambient light as we headed to the starting line. I was definitely getting some butterflies. I chatted with some of the guys I had met on the Tri-Gator team. Took one last bathroom trip at about 6:18 during the national anthem. Nothing more American than taking a dump in a porta-pottie while singing along to the Star Spangled Banner.

Feeling great now, pumped up and ready to rock. The swim was going to be long but the water was perfect temperature, had decent visibility, and my body was fully shaved and silky smooth!

BANG!

And we're off, feeling good, God this is nice to not have a wetsuit. I'm staying inside the buoys on the way out, trying to getting some space, getting some kicks but doling out some kicks as well. Breathing every other stroke, not as good as I'd like, trying a few 4 stroke breaths, but that's not going too good. I swam pretty straight from buoy to buoy so that was good. No 50 feet out of my way nonsense.

Sweet, I'm passing some slowpokes in the blue swim caps, made up 3 minutes on them. I made it to the halfway point before I got passed by a green cap who started 3 minutes after me. That was disheartening, but expected. My goggles stayed relatively dry, not takin on any water which would have sucked. I took in a few gulps of water, but it was fresh water and that was a welcome change from the triathlons I am used to. After making the final left turn back towards shore, it seemed like forever to get back, but I knew I was feeling really strong... YES! Swim exit! 35 minutes in! Hmm I thought I felt good enough to hit 32 but oh well.

Exit the water, now it's a long run over sand, grass, and mulch (why the hell couldn't they put some mats over the mulch). Had some trouble getting the tri-top over my head. It was bunching up on me since I was all wet. Then as I jumped on the bike I knocked off my endurolytes which I had taped to the top tube, so I crumbled up the piece of tape and stuck it in my back pocket. That was kind of messy but oh well there should be plenty of electrolyte replacement options along the way.

And we're off on the bike in my new tri shoes, no socks. This was risky because I hadn't really trained without socks and had no idea whether or not I would chafe. But I got out on the course and felt fine. The course wasn't very packed with riders so I was pretty comfortable, picking people off one at a time at first. About 5 miles in, I was passing a guy around a curve and I slowed down while turning and passing him. Eventually I got passed him and kept going, when a motorcycle comes up besides me and a guy shows me a yellow card! What the hell is this? A penalty? Is this soccer? I was pretty pissed and I asked him what it was about and he said I did not complete my pass in 20 seconds. Whatever. So that meant I had to stop and sign in at the penalty tent at like mile 28. Oh well, live and learn.

Back to the bike, everything again was still smooth. I was upset that I got passed by like 2 or 3 draft packs (which is A MILLION TIMES more illegal than failing to pass within 20 seconds), but otherwise, no complaints. Eventually I passed a female pro, who had started 6 minutes ahead of me, so I felt pretty good about that. There was a rough headwind about 45 miles in, I probably slowed to about 15mph to fight through it, but afterwards it was smooth sailing on the return to transition, and I was finishing up the last 5 miles of my ride at about 24mph, passing back a few people who had passed me earlier on. When all was said and done, I had finished the bike in about 2:34, averaging 21.7 mph so I was again, very pleased.

So I get to the transition area, quickly get my socks and running shoes on, and hit up a portapottie to take a well-deserved piss. I check my watch and see that I am about 3:18 into the race, which is well ahead of my goal, and I am pretty stoked. I realize that I can run a 1:42 half marathon and break 5 hours! Since I have ran a 1:33 half marathon before, I figure this is a legit possibility. I know 8 minute miles are 1:45, so I do some quick math and figure I probably need to average about 7:45 minute miles to break that magic 5 hour mark.

By now, it was about 9:45AM, and the sun was getting pretty high in the sky, but it was time to roll. The course was like half street, half dirt trail. The street portions were all well-shaded but the dirt trail was just deadly in the heat. My first mile on the blacktop was about 7:15 so I knew I was going too fast. I slowed down to near 7:35, 7:45 for the next couple of miles, but it kept getting harder and harder. As I was finishing my 1st of 3 laps, for the first time since the swim, I was passed by a woman. That is always a very disheartening moment in triathlon and one that I desperately try to avoid at all costs. Luckily, it turned out to be the overall female winner Katja Schumacher, who was on the 2nd of her 3 laps.

As the 2nd lap started, I was at mile 4 and still on pace for 5 hours. I did not need to stop and walk at all until I hit mile 8 out on the dirt path. By now I had been running for an hour and it was getting really hot and I was just dying. I checked my watch as I finished my 2nd lap, and I was now right on pace for 5 hours. I knew that miles 7 and 8 had been slower than 8 minutes, thus negating the time I had saved by running the first few miles sub 7:45.

As I started the 3rd and final lap, I knew it was now a battle of will. At the 9th mile, I realized I was not going to break 5 hours, but I could still beat my goal of 5:30 by a huge margin. I went as hard as I could, drank whatever they were serving at the aid stations, and just powered through. By now I could care less if I was being passed by anybody. I just kept pushing and eventually saw the homestretch in the distance. As anyone who has ever finished an endurance event knows, you automatically get some adrenaline boosters in that last quarter mile. I turned my speed back on, and triumphantly sprinted down the finishing chute, high-fiving every spectator along the way. Given my vanity, I also made sure that I had a good spacing behind the finisher in front of me so that my finishing picture would be unobstructed. Needless to say, I was successful in that endeavor.

So yea, when all was said and done, I ran a 1:49 half marathon and finished the entire half Ironman in 5:07. That was good enough for 14th out of 89 in my age group and 313/2000+ overall. Given that the Ironman field is the best of the best and there aren't very many flimsies competing, I was very pleased with those results.

I greatly enjoyed my post-race euphoria for about 10 minutes, singing in the finishers area as I always do, until I realized that there was NO RECOVERY FOOD! This was no good. At even the lamest marathons that I have done, there is always SOMETHING to eat after the race, but there was nothing. My body was cramping up as I waited in line for a massage. I went to the medical tent and got a small gatorade which was helpful.

Finally, about an hour after I finished, they delivered about 500 PIZZAS! What the hell is this? I guess that's what you get after a half Ironman - pizza. Oh well, food is food.

So that was that. I hung out for a bit before finally deciding to leave. It was quite a schlep to get out of there, carrying all my gear to my car a mile and a half away, and during the course of doing so, I managed to somehow lose my cell phone. That was a bummer, but I did not let it take away from the joy of having just completed the greatest physical accomplishment of my life thus far.

Ironman 70.3 II: You did what the night before the race?

Saturday afternoon, after checking in my bike, exploring Ironman village, then meeting up with my buddy Steve at the Fort Wilderness Lodge, it was time for me to head out and get something to eat. I was staying at the Disney Port Orleans Riverside, about 2 miles from Downtown Disney, so I figured I'd start there.

First things first, I had to find a place to watch the Preakness. I knew it was starting in about 5 minutes once I parked so I had to work quick. Planet Hollywood? no good, too big of a line...Wolfgang Puck? No TVs...House of Blues? Sweeeet. I arrive just as the last 2 horseys are loaded in and watch the race with a bunch of Southern Rednecks Tourists. Some 50-something overweight woman from Kentucky was chatting me up at the bar, which was actually enjoyable. We watched Curlin pull it out and then I was off for my dinner hunt.

But first, time to explore this giant line in front of the House of Blues. I knew full well that this wasn't your average Saturday night in Downtown Disney. A week prior, as I was watching the news, I caught a story out of Orlando that Britney Spears was coming to town on Saturday night. Tickets sold out in minutes for $35 and were now on ebay and craigslist for upwards of $120.

Been there, done that. It seems like such a great idea at the time to buy extra tickets for a concert, thinking hey, even if my friends don't show up I can always scalp the ticket at the show, even though I have absolutely no clue how to scalp tickets, but it'll be soooooo easy. I've lost over $150 trying this technique, so it would be nice to be on the other end if given the opportunity....

Well as I meandered back outside the HOB, a nice young girl came up to me and offered me $30 to take her ticket off her hands. Her friends was a no-show and now she needed to unload the extra ticket. "Surprisingly" there was no one there to buy it. I considered her offer and kept walking. 5 seconds later a couple of fine Orlando natives pushing around a baby carriage and scalping tickets offered me tickets for $25. Apparently nobody was buying. Surprise surprise.

Nonetheless, the line was quite impressive, as you might imagine for a Britney Spears concert. Plus, you gotta figure that the Britney generation is now legal, so I had that goin for me. I started getting a little tempted to purchase a ticket.

But what the hell was I thinking? I still have to find dinner, eat dinner, and then I have to get some good sleep tonight because I'm up at 4:00AM tomorrow morning to race a freaking Half Ironman!! I can't go to a damn Britney Spears concert.

But...it's supposed to start at 9...it's supposed to only be 15 minutes...Hmmm, I can get home and get to sleep by 10:00, that's 6 hours of sleep, I'll be good, right? right??

It's 7:30, doors are at 8, do I want to do this? Gotta eat! Wolfgang puck to go! Pasta? nah...I always eat pasta before a race...lets go chicken sandwich. MMM delicious, good choice.

Back to the line. Original girl trying to still sell ticket for $20 now. Decide..decide..Screw it, why not, I'll give you $10 for it. Sold! Sweet! I'm gonna see Britney Spears at her prime worst. Check that off my things to do before I die list.

By now the line was wrapped around the entire HOB and it seemed like this might actually be a hot ticket, which was nice that I could get $30 off. DOORS at 8, I wanted a barstool, I cut in line at 8:05, get my barstool, pull it up front, I'm set for the show.

8:30, place is packed. Girls going crazy, I'm flanked by big Mexican lady chaperoning her kids on one side and 2 incredibly awesome 13 year old girls and their foster dad from Tennessee on the other. These 2 girls were finding and making fun of every person in the club, talking ish about Britney Spears, just completely entertaining in every way.

9:00, lets get this thing going!! By now I'm firmly entrenched in my barstool and do not want to move so I've decided against talking to any girls in the club other than my new 13 year old friends.

9:15, Hurry up Britney I have to go to sleep!

9:25, If this show doesn't start in 5 minutes I'm gonna leave

9:30, Show starts. I'm not gonna lie, Britney and her 4 dancer friends actually look pretty good and are are very entertaining. A fun little cd skippage during song #3, and a wireless microphone that spent the night at her eye level were definitely the highlights, but the crowd was wild the whole time.

9:50, Show ends, time to get the hell out of here and get to sleep!

9:55, As I rush to get back to my car to leave, I throw huge fit in middle of Downtown Disney, as the security guards have stopped all walking traffic so that Britney Spears' vehicles can leave the House of Blues...Well, apparently you're not supposed to scream (PG-13 version) "HURRY UP BRITNEY!!! SHOW SOME HUSTLE!! THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" at the top of your lungs on Disney property. As soon as the extra security guard started coming towards me, I hightail it in the opposite direction, and ended up walking all the way around the long way and still got to my car 5 minutes quicker than I would have if I had waited for her to take her sweet time to leave. Anyways, nice little adrenaline rush to end the night.

10:15, Back in my hotel room. Set the wakeup call for 3:55. Guess I'll be getting 5 hours of sleep, not bad. Okay, perfect, at least now I'm prepared to dream about banging Britney Spears. All in all, the night ended up a success. I better be ready tomorrow morning...Goodnight

To Be Continued....

Ironman 70.3 I: The background and the build-up

I guess it all started in January 2005 when I was at Big 5 looking for some swimming goggles. As any guy will tell you, a typical trip to a sporting goods store lasts about 2 hours, as you peruse through every section of the store, take a few swings of the newest baseball bats, shoot some hoops into the tied off basketball rims, make a few putts in the golf section, etc. etc. Well, on this fateful trip to the store, as I meandered about, I stumbled across a 50% off sale on all speedos.

At this point in time I had no business whatsoever with a speedo. I hadn't been in a pool since July 2004. I sure as hell hadn't swam laps in a pool since I took swimming lessons when I was 10, and I definitely didn't wear speedos back then. I was expecting to just buy some goggles and swim in my board shorts...But for some reason, I talked myself into it, and ended up spending $15 on a pair of speedos that would forever change my life.

Now, I had already gotten the ball rolling on the whole "going to the gym" thing. After my 31 day road trip where I put on 20 pounds of beer and pizza, I was working out 3-4 times per week for the most part, taking a few 1-hour spinning classes, hitting the elliptical for half an hour, maybe put in 1-3 miles on the treadmill or the local sidewalk, spend an hour lifting. But I was still very far away from wearing a speedo with any confidence. Yet, 24 hour fitness had an indoor pool, so at the end of every workout, I'd head to the locker room and throw on the speedo...IMMEDIATELY followed by my board shorts. I'd then slowly walk to the pool, put my goggles on, and when no one was looking, I'd quickly rip off my shorts and jump in the pool, minimizing the chance that anyone could see me standing around in the speedos. When I finished my swim, I'd again wait for a strategic "no-shame" opportunity and jump out of the pool, grab my towel and cover up.

It wasn't a perfect system...but it was a system. Biking, Running, Swimming...It was all getting done....

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Fast forward 2.4 years
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May 19th, 2007....I pack $3500 worth of triathlon equipment into my car and drive 2 hours south to Orlando, Florida, to check in to the Florida Half Ironman Triathlon.

Now marathons & half marathons are one thing...anybody does them. With the exception of Boston, every marathon is filled with a bunch of flimsy participants who only take running half-seriously.

Short Triathlons are a little more serious. Triathlon is a sport that it takes a lot more $$ and commitment to get into, so your average competitor is usually pretty serious about the event and it is a much tougher field to compete against.

But when we step it up to IRONMAN. Let me tell you that is a whole 'nother world altogether. Anybody crazy enough to get to the point in their life when they decide, "yea sure I can go for a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run back to back to back," is insanely committed to their craziness. The average racer probably has a bike worth at least $5000, trains 2-3 hours a day, and grew up competing on a swim team or as a cross country runner. We're not messing around anymore. This is the cream of the crop and they've traveled far and wide to get to Disney World so they can strip down to their speedos at 6:00AM on a Sunday morning and put themselves through a living hell.

And I was one of them.

The only difference being, I'm sure I was the only one out of 2000 who decided it would be a good idea to go to the Britney Spears concert at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney 8 hours before the race started.

To Be Continued....