Gearing up

So, it's been a few weeks now and so far so good. Of course I continue to struggle with being patient with the numbers of training and have to really try to forget the past. I am just trying to stay focused on making small improvements and staying consistent. This is what I am concentrating on right now.

After a brutal week of the flu. Sarah and I took a trip to Steamboat for a teaching conference that Sarah was in charge of organizing and I was able to piggy back on. The trip was awesome! We had an epic skate ski at Catamount lakes the first day. Blue bird skies and perfect skating conditions. Clone Kevin drove up and the next day we did a 3k swim in the outdoor fitness center pool in town all the while it was dumping that famous Steamboat powder. Kevin and I hit the slopes after for some great turns.

The next day it just kept dumping all night and Sarah and I hit the deep powder all day long. We connected with a local musician, that took us under his wing and showed us all the local tree skiing spots on the mountain. And because it was snowing all day the tree skiing was just the ticket for visibility. Tremendous skiing/boarding! We hit another swim, bodywork, run and another day of skate skiing for a pretty productive 4 days of training and fun on the slopes.

Back in Billings, the weather has still been wintery, very weird for around here, its said that we live in the Banana belt but so far this year the banana has gone rotten. So unfortunately, a bunch of my training has been indoors. not much biking outside. I have been doing it but I cant wait to get more miles outside soon! This past weekend I suffered through indoor workouts like never before as the girls went to the cabin, I road 5hrs on the computrainer and even did a 13 mile run on the treadmill, ouch!



my favorite ride from the cabin, much better than the computrainer! please let the weather break!

We have been working hard on trying to get support/sponsors for my quest this year and now this piece is starting to roll in. Sarah has done a great job putting together my story for potential sponsors. I have signed with Wilier bikes, Hammer nutrition and Desoto tri- clothing so far, with some others coming on board soon. I am also excited to be working with Dave Scott on my training. To have someone like Dave advising me on the work I need to do is a real honor and will really help me deal with my challenges as I go through the process.

so just 3 weeks until I tee it up at Powerman Alabama. This race is going to be really tough, partly because it has been a long time since I have done a race like that and because the outdoor riding in Billings as been nil. I will do my best but don't have much expectations here. After the race I will be staying in ATL for a week to get some good training and some climbing miles in. All you folks in the ATL, I would love to hook up with you for some training. Just let me know. I will be swimming at Dynamo, Friday the 25th, Monday the 28th and weds the 28th for sure and will be doing some riding and running as well. probably going the the mountains on Tuesday the 27th depending on the weather. It will be great to be back at the old training grounds. I also will be doing at talk an coming back from heart surgery at the Phidipidies in Sandy springs on weds the 30ths at 6pm and possibly at the Ansley location on the 31st. Come check it out.

coachjay

USAT Publishes Jay's Story

Click here to read Jay's story on the USAT web site.

humbled, scared and excited

A huge shout out to all of you that sent me just nice responses to my last post(vision quest). I am very humbled by them. When we made this decision, my hope was to inspire others that have been knocked down. If I could help just one person fight back and live a better life, it would be well worth this journey. In just a short couple of weeks, I have received many notes from folks all over the country that have had heart surgery or some other trying circumstance that has affected them or someone close to them. These responses really give me strength. Thank you! My story has been posted to Northwestern medical centers web site and soon there will be a spot on USAT's as well. With more to follow soon.

I have to say that I am pretty nervous about putting this goal out there. It certainly has no guarantees of success. I know how hard this is. It reminds me of the pressure I felt when my parents came to the Hawaii Ironman in 1995. My father is a golf pro and for some reason I was never able to deal with that pressure in Golf. I often tell folks that I like Triathlon because it is primarily a lot of hard work. It is very much harder to choke in Triathlon than at the Game of Golf. In the 1995 Ironman I remember having a pretty good day and as I came down alii Drive on the run, my dad shouted at me, "come on Jay, your only 40min behind Mark Allen, go, go, go!" I went on to finish 52nd overall that year and podium ed in my age group for the first time.

For this quest I am having to work hard on staying focused one day at a time and trying not to get ahead of myself or worry about the outside. To stay aware of my body and it's limitations and continue to make safe improvements along the way.

The training of course has its ups and downs. some days are good and some are not. I know this is the case with anyone, even folks that don't have my challenges. But so far I am staying focused and being smart with the work that needs to be done. I broke out the Altitude tent(which I have never really used. and I am logging 13-16hrs a week as of now.

a couple of weekends ago brought 30inches of the white stuff to the Bridger Bowl area and redlodge, so the skiing was tremendous. At the cabin it was necessary to break out all the snow vehicles, you know the plow truck, the ATV and the snowmobile( yes they are finally back!. lots of fun and activities as the Browns made the trip up. Matt and I made the Nixon peak skin and ski at dusk! epic. We did the family ski with the Browns at Bridger on Sunday and that was loads of fun as Chloe had her first big powder day! Its hard for a small 5yr old to go through 20inches of powder! funny to see, but she had a blast. Cale was on Sarah's back in the backpack and she was just a trooper, never peeped and I think she even got a couple of naps in! pretty cool. I can't wait until my girls are kicking our butts on the slopes.

This coming weekend Sarah and I are heading to Denver for another couple of Furthur shows at Broomfield Co. And since getting back I have to say these shows where epic! Sue, Paul, Pam and on Saturday my brother Brian, Kevin Welsh and Charo saw what every one including me have been raving about. Certainly Further is the best Dead band since Jerry's death. along with great set lists( check out furthur's web site and a cool intimate venue, at the end of every show Phil Lesh does a Donor rap. Phil had a Liver transplant a number of years ago, which saved his life. Phil talks about a young boy named Cody who told his mom that if anything happens to him, I want to be a organ donor. This is very dear to me since I have a Heart root and valve donated by someone. I am in the process of finding out who's heart part I have inside of me.

On Saturday morning Sarah and I took Adam Weaver up to Eldora for a Skate ski. Great terrain with some real good hills at 9k feet. I think Adam got a great taste of what I say is the best conditioning sport out there.



Adam and Sarah skate skiing at Eldora

Saturday afternoon took Sarah and I for a long run at the boulder reservoir. I had only gone about 1.5hrs for a long run to this point but we ended up logging almost 2.5hrs which was a nice confidence booster for my run endurance. after our workouts both days we had fun eating/drinking in Boulder with foods and atmosphere we don't much of Billings, very cool.

we even went to the parking lot scene on Sunday before our flight back and sold our extra beer and booze like true dead heads. Sarah definitely took charge here shouting out "cheap local beer and whiskey here!" we ended up selling it all!

This week has starting out with good weather so I went outside for a ride! the Pryor loop, thank god,it's been a bunch of indoor riding so far this year. hoping for more good weather to log those outdoor miles.



2011 coachjay's windtraining class

KTVQ heart patient tri-athlete

Click here for video.

Vision Quest

I have put off making this announcement(even though my wife hinted at it in a previous post) because I was awaiting my cardiologist's formal approval. Just last Thursday (Jan. 27), I performed a stress echo for Dr. Scott Sample at Billings Clnic. A stress echo is a test where they look at my heart during and after a near max effort on the treadmill. Dr. Sample was looking at my gradient to see whether it was normal. Without going into the medical details, the test is to assure that I am not at any risk for a electrical misfire that could kill me during exercise. The result was good, my heart gradient was completely normal. The baseline image of my heart was also looking good. So, I have been cleared to do whatever I want to athletically!

Which brings me to my vision quest. Some of you might know of the movie Vision Quest, a 1985 film staring Matthew Modine. Loudine Swain (Modine) takes on the seemingly impossible task of coming down in weight and wrestling the undefeated wrestler from a rival school, "the Shute". His Indian friend calls it his "vision quest." I love the scene where the Shute is training by walking up the stadium stairs with a giant log across his back! Of course, in the end, Swain beats the Shute in the final scene and Swain gets the good looking girl to boot.

My vision quest started last year as I started training for triathlon again seriously. I set some ambitious goals to be at the top of my age group when I turned 50. I thought that I would use 2010 (when I was 48, racing as a 49-year-old) as a lead up to the year 2011 (when I am 49, racing as a 50-year-old). Everything was going according to plan. I had done pretty good in some early races last year including winning my age group at the Rev 3 Olympic distance race in Knoxville.

Then there was a fateful call from Dr. Laura Ford (my cardiologist at the time) in late May of last year. I was at the gym working when she said with a crack in her voice that the news was not good. You can't imagine how news like that goes through you. It was like a knife. It was made worse since I had already been knocked down with one open heart surgery in 2008 and an infection that nearly killed me a year later. I was on a plane the next day to go through that hell once again.

This time the surgery was much more serious, Dr. Patrick McCarthy (my surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago) would tell me later that, when he opened me up, "It was a disaster." I had severe vegetation (infection) all over my replacement cow valve and a huge aneurysm on my aortic root. I received a homograph (human) valve replacement and was on the heart lunge machine for nearly 4 hrs in open heart surgery. Later, my new Cardiologist, Dr.Sample, who had been studying my case, said that they didn't think I was coming back from Chicago. You may recall that Actor John Ritter and, more recently, ambassador Holbrooke died from aortic aneurism ruptures. I am very lucky this did not happen to me.

As I recovered in the hospital for 2 weeks, I was pissed. I had just had enough of being knocked down. I had serious doubts as to whether I could have the strength and the will to fight back again. But as the hospital shrink came into my room and started telling me that I needed psychological help to deal with my situation, I got even angrier! I don't need that help! I don't want any help. I was also a bear to my mom and dad and others (sorry about that) -- I was just very bitter. Then Baby Cale (4 months old) came into my room and smiled at me and laid on my chest. It was then that I found the will and the strength to take one day at a time and fight back to strength once again.

This past year has had many ups and downs and getting back to strength has been even harder than the past episodes, real hard! I was pretty sure that I would not be competitive anymore and would concentrate on other things. I picked up the guitar, I enrolled in Grad school. But it was still nagging me that I had set these goals and I didn't see them through. You see I have always been that way. I set a goal and I try like hell to achieve it. So a month or so ago I sat down with Sarah and we discussed the idea of giving those goals one more shot. I was honest with her and said that I wouldn't try it if I didn't meet a few criteria. First, I would need to reach certain performance markers in training. Second, she would have to be able to put up with the strain it place on our lives (more on that later)and third that the doctors would give me clearance to safely give this a go.

We also discussed why I felt that I had to prove myself through triathlon. My explanation to this question was that Triathlon is what I know best. To be honest, I would rather take on something else, but I know how to do this sport and I have been successful in the past. But there was more, I also want to do some greater good with this quest as well (more on that later).

All three of these points where a yes as of last Thursday. So I am off on this journey. I have some trepidation for sure. To be competitive with what I have in my heart now is a long shot for sure. It's certainly no slam dunk. A long shot to say the least. I am motivated and have my edge back somewhat! The goals, which I hasten to even talk about are simple:

1. Qualify for Kona at St.Croix or Buffalo Springs in May/June 2011 - this has never been done before with what has been done to my heart. Part of my quest is to do so without any special treatment or gifting of a spot.

2. If I get to Kona in October 2011, then podium (finish among the top 5 in my age group).

3. Podium at USAT National Age Group Championships in Vermont in August 2011.


Along the way, I will be participating in other events including:

Pub run 1/2 marathon
Grizzly Triathlon
Powerman Alabama
State TT championships
regional oly championships in Utah
Bozeman 1/2 ironman
Dakota 50 mtn bike race

So there it is. The journey has begun. I toed the starting line at local races in two of the last three weeks. First, I raced in Nordic skiing in the Senior Olympics at bohart ranch in a 5-km skate ski race.



warming up for the senior olympics 5k skate ski

I medaled with a bronze and felt ok with my performance there. Then, last Sunday, I won my age group at the USAT Rocky Mountain Regional Winter Triathlon Championships at Homestake Lodge near Butte, MT. called the Powderhound This involved a 5-km run, 8-km bike and 5-km Nordic ski. Again, I was pleased with my performance although I was pretty conservative (this race has killed me in the past).

I have been diligent in my training, getting at least 10-14 hrs in a week. I would say that my swimming is my best sport right now with the running and biking coming up slowly.



Sarah and I swinging on our bridger lift chair swing(Chloe the photographer)

Like I said before, this quest is going to strain our lives quite a bit. I hate to talk about getting the support from your family because I know from experience that this is half baked. It sounds good to say my family really supports me in this, and it probably makes you feel better about being away from them while training. But I know that triathlon at the top level is a really selfish, self absorbed sport that takes a ton of time and resources away from the ones you love. I get that and I am guilty more than most. This is why I am trying to parley this experience into helping others. To inspire folks that have been knocked down to get back up and to educate heart patients who are experiencing the ups and downs of rehab. I hope to be working with the American Heart Association to give motivational speaking engagements as well as other organizations in an effort to help people cope with the hardship that heart disease causes. I also want to be a voice for organ donation, I am hopeful that I can find out the names of my donors and help get everyone I know and more to become an organ donor; they save lives. I think it would be so very cool to tell the family of my donor that their loved one's heart made it to the finish of the Ironman!



Cale almost walking

I have already talked with a number of athletes who have had valve replacement surgery or have been diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve. Many of them want to know how I came to get the type of surgery I did and what they can expect coming out of it. In fact, I had a nice correspondence with Torbjorn Sindballe the other day. Torbjorn placed third in the Hawaii Ironman in 2007 and was known as an uber biker. He was also born with a Bicuspid aortic valve. In 2008 he felt wrong at the Wildflower race and shortly there after retired from the sport. Like me, his heart was getting larger and it would have been dangerous for him to continue racing. He told me that he has moved on and only exercises for recreation now. He told me that he had difficulty dealing with not being an elite athlete anymore at first but was content now in his new life of parenting and teaching others. Of course I am certainly not the athlete that Torgjorn Sindballe was and at his level only a tiny drop in performance prevents him from competing as a pro. In retrospect, I too might well have made a better choice to put off the surgery and laid lower back in 2007. I may have put off the need for heart surgery the first time. But what's done is done. And, like Torbjorn, I too want to get to that content place without the need to be competitive and spend more time with my kids. I probably would not have even attempted this if my kids where not real young (5 yrs and 1 yr. I know that parenting only gets more intense when they get older and more involved in activities.

I certainly am going to need a lot of help through this journey and there is a lot in motion to help me on my quest. The medical bills for the past few years,and all the costs of doing the sport of triathlon at this level is very costly. Sarah has been very helpful on this part of the puzzle. I will be announcing some of this support as it gets finalized. There is a wide range of media interest in this story as well and I will be posting media clips as they are finished. In fact, Q2(channel 5) here in Billings will be running a story on my quest next week. You can also read a full accounting of the events leading up to my quest by viewing Jay's story in the important documents section of this blog.

In the meantime bring on the Shute!

Coachjay

The Kiddos

Jay just gasped when he saw the latest pictures of his lovely darlings, so he asked me to post a few on here. Cale was a glowing picture under the Christmas tree...Chloe was dressed to perfection at the cabin....Cale tries to learn how to play guitar....and Mommy goes snowshoing.


Another week went by without a hitch on CoachJay's training front. Fatigue, irritation, and the predictable factors that go along with hard core training are beginning to set in. Guitar practice is getting the short stick as other things take priority.


We also saw the first week of Windtraining classes in Billings - with a lively turnout - and only one significant indoor cycling crash (A shout out to Dave Groshens - we hope you are OK!).

On the clone front, a BIG congrats to Paolo Gerbassi who qualified for the Boston Marathon at the Phoenix Rock N' Roll Marathon. Also Happy Birthday to Todd Vralsted and sympathies to Maggie Vralsted who suffered her 2nd crash of the year - this time on skis.

This weekend, it's off to the cabin for the Sacajawea 15 km Classic Ski Race for Sarah, the 10 km Skate Race for Jay, and Mighty Mite Ski School at Bridger for Chloe.

Jay's Comeback

Jay has hit the ground running - quite literally - again! This past week he has returned to serious training and is finding some positive results. He is swimming and running well, and is seeking out some ambitious races for this coming season.

When he's not training, he is still very active. Over the past few weeks, we have spent a lot of time in the mountains of Bozeman - snowboarding, nordic skiing, sledding, showshoing, and the like. Jay skinned up Nixon Peak and boarded down a couple of times - working up a nice sweat in zero-degree weather. (I followed with my own skin and ski, but found the snow a bit crusty).


At Bridger Bowl Ski Resort, we have had the opportunity to go together in some serious powder. We climbed up the ridge a few times and found some awesome powder chutes - always a good time - except for the day when Schlosmann's chairlift led to Slushman's revine. In four feet of slush at the ridge, I found myself in a bit of difficulty as I tried to descend on tele's.