Welcome to my MS CCSVI research fundraising blog. I am currently training for a double (ultra - 4.8 mile swim, 224 mile bike, 52.4 mile run) ironman in September of 2010 in an effort to fundraise for MS CCSVI research. You can check out my fundraiser site at http://www.microgiving.com/profile/chuck. I suggest clicking on the "About Me" tab as the MicroGiving.com templates were a little limiting so the profile page did not allow me to add all the content I wanted to add. MicroGiving.com does not keep any of the donations for administration/overhead fee. That means 100% of your donation goes directly to fund CCSVI MS research. For more information about CCSVI you can go to http://csvi-ms.net/en/content/ccsvi-huge-breakthrough-ms. Please help spread the word about my fundraising efforts. Thanks.


Thursday, September 30, 2010

MS CCSVI Fundraiser Update

I am proud to announce that the MS Fundraiser raised a little over $5600 (about 112% of the goal set at the start of the campaign). Many thanks to all those who contributed by means of donations, prayers, and helping to spread the word. Kind people like you inspire me and make this world a better place.

Thanks,
Chuck & Family

2010 Virginia Double Iron Race Report

Note: I included some photos of the race below the report...

Prior to heading to Virginia I tried to think about everything I would need for the race (lights for bike and run, wetsuit vs. speedsuit, helmet - aero or not, wheel choice, nutrition...). Without knowing the water temperature or weather I decided to pack the kitchen sink and hope that I was prepared for anything. I packed a full wetsuit, sleeveless wetsuit, speedsuit, road helmet, aero helmet, sleeveless jerseys, sleeved jerseys, tri shorts, tights... Basically anything I thought would be useful.

In an event like this you are required to bring your own support crew. My parents almost did not make it. My dad was hospitalized for a number of days leading up to the race due to a bleeding ulcer. He spent 3 of those days in the ICU and received 6 pints of blood. He was released from the hospital the Sunday prior to the race. I thought they would end up staying home at that point, but they really wanted to come. My mom made sure they had the doctor's consent and they were on their way. It meant so much to me to have them both there. As usual, Jess, Seth, Saige, and Zac were there to support me. Ann and Alex Bowman made the long drive from Tallahassee to be there for me and my family. My wife's grandparents and mother also came to Virginia; they did a great job cheering me on, but most importantly they helped entertain the little people during a large portion of the bike.

I arrived in Virginia 5 days prior to the race. My plan was to spend a few days getting used to the course, weather, and water temperature. The water was very warm - maybe 80 degrees. That made the wetsuit debate an easy one... speedsuit for me. Even if the water temp dropped to 77 or 78 degrees I preferred to not risk overheating in a wetsuit.

The next big decision was which helmet to wear - aero vs. road. I was leaning towards the road helmet due to it being lighter. 224 miles is a LONG way to go so I thought a lighter helmet would probably serve me better. However, if the weather was going to be cooler I would consider the aero helmet as it would help keep me warmer and be faster. The weather ended up being in the mid to upper 80s during the bike...road helmet, specifically my Rudy Project Kontact+ helmet. The Kontact+ is very light and has plenty of air flow, which keeps my head cool.
Which running shoe to wear was a no brainer. I have been running in Spira shoes for 4 years now and love them. I decided to go with the Spira Stingers. Yes, the racing flat. I have been doing most of my long runs in them and have not had any issues due to lack of cushion or stability.

Nutrition was easy for me. I have been practicing the same nutrition for months now. I am a big believer in practicing your nutrition as often as possible prior to the event. My nutrition plan consisted of First Endurance Pre-race, First Endurance Ultragen, First Endurance OptygenHP, First Endurance MultiV, Gatorade Pro, Carbo Pro, Thermolytes, PowerBar gels, uncrustables, cliff bars, and water. The addition of the uncrustables was new for this distance; the rest of my nutrition was broken in during my Ironman training last year

The morning of the event I woke up at 2:15 AM as I could not sleep. If you have read my blog before you know that the random early wake up is not new to me. I decided to begin the fueling process. I ate 2 servings of Cream of Rice cereal and drank 24 ounces of Gatorade Pro. While prepping my transition I ate 1/2 a cliff bar and drank 12 ounces of water. 30 minutes prior to the start of the event I drank First Endurance Pre-Race mixed with Gatorade Pro, Carbo Pro, and 1 Thermolyte tab. The First Endurance Pre-race really helped me to focus and provided a nice pick me up heading into the start of the race.

When I had about 15 minutes until the swim I started to get ready... I put on my speedsuit lubed around the seam lines to prevent chafing. I prepped the goggles with anti-fog spray and put on my cap. When I looked around, I noticed that everyone else was wearing wetsuits.... Hmm... At that point I was hoping I had made the right decision as I have found a speedsuit to be 5 sec slower than a wetsuit per 100 meters.

The whistle blew and we were off for the start of the swim. The swim was a 12 laps out and back course. My plan was to stop every 3rd lap for fluids and Sportslick lube as needed. I quickly settled into a pace and just relaxed. At the first turn around I had already opened up a pretty good lead. That was a good sign... There was one very shallow part on each loop that had people scraping their knuckles on the bottom. In order to keep swimming instead of walking during that stretch I needed to alter my swim stroke and pull wide. Overall things were relatively uneventful during the swim. I did manage to cut my elbow on a rock on lap 7, but it was not deep enough to require medical attention so I continued on. My goal for the swim was 2 hours... I ended up at 1 hour 58 minutes for the swim.

I stayed relaxed during T1. I hit the lockeroom and decided to shower before heading out on the bike. I used Sportslick to lube my tri shorts in hopes of not chafing and of preventing anything that its anti-fungal components were designed to prevent. I put on my sleeveless jersey, Desoto shorts, 2xU calf guards, and bike socks. Once I was dressed I headed out to my QR CD0.1 bike and put on my helmet and bike shoes. On the bike course I tried to relax and settle into a rhythm. All I kept thinking about was all the freakin U-turns - 90 of them. I had 2 loops, roughly 10 miles, completed by the time the next competitor entered the bike course. Being out on the course before the other competitors allowed me to get comfortable with the hills and the U-turns before I had to start worrying about the other riders.

It turns out I shouldn't have been so worried about all the U-turns. On one hand, I am not the best at U-turns and the result is a slower loop. The upside was huge though. With the course being short loops I was able to interact with everyone much more. This made the ride more enjoyable. The kids were cheering for me when I went by the transition tent. The other cyclists were even encouraging. Nik was great to ride with until he was pulled out for medical reasons. Paul and I had a good banter going. Chris was smiling the whole damn ride- don't even ask me how that was possible because I have no clue. Jaime was cracking me up. Ghislain was keeping me focused. Everyone there made such big impressions on me. I had fun cheering them on as well.

My goal for the bike was simple, stay under 15min 30 seconds per loop, 45 loops... In the early stages I ended up peeling off 13-14 min loops. I did my homework before the race and knew that the fastest cyclist usually would only go 15-16 minutes per loop on this course. After 56 miles I was still holding the pace and feeling comfortable. My competitors had all dropped off the pace. This left me with the decision to keep going at my current pace or to slow down knowing that the pace was much faster than I expected to hold. I decided I would just go with it and see what happened. At the 112 mile mark I checked the Garmin and I was at 5 hours and 19 minutes. This was much faster than I had anticipated, but I was still feeling good. I remember watching the Garmin and at 181 miles I said to myself that this is my longest ride ever, which happened to follow my longest open water swim ever. I knew I should be fatigued, but I was still feeling good. In fact, I actually picked up the pace from mile 120 -180. At about 185 miles I started to really feel the time in the saddle and had to re-lube a few times prior to completing the 224 miles. The other racers and the support crew were all very encouraging as I flew through the bike course. Jess, my mom, and Ann had a great system going to provide me food, fluids, and lube. When all was said and done I completed the 224 mile bike in 10 hours 51 minutes (a new course record, previous bike course record was 11 hours 39 minutes). The QR CD0.1 was very comfortable and handled well for all 90 U-turns. At this point in the race I was an hour ahead of where I thought I would be.

My nutrition on the bike was to alternate 24 ounces of Gatorade Pro, Carbo Pro, and Thermolyte with 24 ounces of water. Every 45 min I was either eating a mini-Cliff bar, 1/2 of an uncrustable, or a PowerBar gel. At hour 4 and 10 of the bike I added First Endurance Pre-race to the Gatorade mix to help me stay focused on the race. As you may have seen on Jeff and Ann's facebook page, a bit of Pepto made it into one of my uncrustables somewhere during that bike as well.

T2 had a little drama. On one end of the loop, I was told I was finished when I reached the other end. My Garmin numbers agreed. However, after reaching the other end of the loop and my last lap of the bike I was told I had one more to go. There were a number of people who were timing me during the bike as they were very surprised at my speed and consistency. They all came to my side and had the timer review the splits and it turned out that Garmin and the original count was right. They had one loop at 27+ min as they missed one of my splits... Awesome to know that people had my back because there was no way I wanted to get back on the bike and do an extra loop.

The run had many highs and lows. I started the run feeling good. I ran some early loops of the run course with my kids and Jess. It was a lot of fun to have them run with me. I cannot tell you how excited the kids were to be able to run with me. I managed to peel off 20 miles in 2 hours 40 minutes. I was feeling pretty good until my stomach started to get tight and I stopped absorbing fluids. I started to walk a little which turned into a lot. Ann Bowman race/walked some loops with me and helped me to work out the abdominal tightness. By that time I am afraid that the damage was done. My knees and ankles managed to swell, bruise, and were very painful. My Achilles started to really ache. At that point I started keeping tabs on the other racers in an effort to run on an as needed basis to try to minimize any injuries that might arise as a result of pushing through the pain. It was at this point that I realized how blessed I was to have the support crew I did. Seth, Saige, Zac, and Alex all ran with me throughout the night. They would sleep for a bit and then wake up raring to go. Their happy moods were contagious. Jess and Ann also continued taking turns running/walking with me. That run could have been a mental beat down. It ended up being full of precious memories. Seth even told me his favorite part of vacation was running with me during the race.

25 hours and 6 minutes after starting the race I managed to cross the finish line. The finish was very cool as the family was able to cross the line with me. The race exceeded my expectations. All the competitors were wonderful. Their determination was inspiring. The feeling of community between the racers, their support crews, the volunteers, and spectators is something that I have not experienced at any other race. When you enter a race the like Virginia Double Iron Triathlon you are not there to win, you are there to finish. That really changes the event as everybody is there to support each other and creates an atmosphere unlike any other race I have been privileged to participate in.


Exiting the water after the swim...



Getting sunscreen before heading out on the bike...



Getting ready to head out on the 224 mile bike...



One of the bike turn arounds with a beautiful view overlooking the lake... Check out all the tents on either side of the road for the support crews and athletes.



Me on my new CD0.1 bike...



My support area and some of my crew...



Some of the support tents... Each athlete had their own table with their specific nutrition and misc items.



Me and the race director, Steve Kirby, after I finished the race. Note the long sleeves and jackets. It got pretty darn cold overnight...

Saturday, September 25, 2010

We are now home... Our house sitters are so nice. They had a banner and cake ready to congratulate us on our race finish. The bad news is that my internet is down so only texting for updates. I promise a race report once I have internet access.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

I just got out of the ER. I became very faint, got a severe headache, and started throwing up repeatedly. All the tests came back favorably. The doctor said he believes I am still recovering from the race. He gave me some prescriptions... We are cutting our vacation short and heading back to Tally once I am ready.
My body still is not right. I've had bad heartburn 2 nights and an upset stomach another since the race. No fun :(

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

One of my bruised/swollen ankles...
Sorry for not publishing a race report yet, but I do not have access to a computer.... I will say that a had nightmares about the run for 3 nights. I will publish a race report in a few days.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The bike was awesome. I split 10 hours 51 minutes. Crazy considering that I had 90 U turns. That was a new bike course record by 48 minutes.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

My bloody elbow from a shallow rocky swim. Cut it on a rock.
The volunteers and other racers were wonderful and supportive. My support crew (family and Bowmans) were great. I had multiple people tell me how impressed they were with my crew. I can honestly say I probably would not have finished the race if Jessica, Ann, Alex, Seth, Saige, Zac, my mom, and my dad were not there to encourage, walk, and run with me during those rough patching in the double marathon.
Ouch! The race is over... I have been awake for 34 hours and counting now. The swim went well... 1 hour 58 minutes in a speedsuit. I missed the swm course record by 1 min which was set by a person a fees years back in a wetsuit.... Oh well...

Our race neighbor

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Chuck and Ghis after they were both finished. They went 1 And 2.

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French guy we helped

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Enjoying being done

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Chuck is finished! He won

Chuck is finished! He won the race!

Doesn't his crew look dedicated?

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The sun is up. He

The sun is up. He is first but not yet done.

So crazy cold tonight. All

So crazy cold tonight. All of the kids have had a turn to run/walk with dad. He is still moving out there.

Chuck has now completed 34.26

Chuck has now completed 34.26 Miles of the run.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Chuck is finished with just

Chuck is finished with just over 20 Miles done on the run.

CHUCK IS FINISHED WITH THE

CHUCK IS FINISHED WITH THE BIKE! He is running his first lap with Seth.

Not sure if this will be able to be read but what it mostly shows is that Chuck is still rockin the bike.

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Thank you so much for

Thank you so much for all of the donations and prayers. It means so much to us.

He will be over 200

He will be over 200 Miles next pass on the bike. Five and a half laps left.

He is about 171 miles

He is about 171 miles so far into the bike. His pace is within 30 Secs from when he started so holding steady

Charlie wants to know why the guy on the bike wont share his treats

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FWD:

jess h/o pb&j

Chuck's dad healthy and out of the hospital watching his boy!

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Over 145 Miles done. Looking

Over 145 Miles done. Looking good and steady. I went home and took a short nap and ate. I bet chuck would be jealous if he knew.

Holding steady. He is over

Holding steady. He is over the 100 Mile mark

The sign on chucks transition tent

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85 Miles done on the

85 Miles done on the bike. He is holding a steady pace and looks great so far.

Saige's picture to cheer for her dad.

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My granparents here to help.

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He is done with abt

He is done with abt 66 Miles on the bike now.

My mom n chucks mom helping at his race

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Chuck's name in first place still. he is 1/5 Through the bike now.

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Seths note to his dad

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Chuck was first out of

Chuck was first out of the water by a decent bit.
Part of the athelete check-in included a drug test. It is the first race I have participated in which required one. Pretty cool to know that all parties racing are clean.
All the pre-race stuff was pretty cool. The participants were very friendly and the race director was very nice. My support crew has agreed to assist a French gentleman who flew over for the race.
I woke at 2:15 AM and could not sleep so I decided to wake up and begin fueling for the day. Maybe after a little food I will be ready for a nap.
I also decided to give up the aero helmet. Another sacrific of speed in hopes of increasing my odds on finishing. I really like the strategic planning required for these ultra races.
The water is too warm for me to wear a wetsuit. Others will wear them, but not me. I am hoping the time I sacrific by giving up the wetsuit pays off during the rest of the race.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Rode and ran the race course today. More hills and curves than I pictured. I do not know why, but I thought the run would be flat. I was not allowed to swim at the race site, but did swim at the house. The water was about 84 degrees. I plan to check the water temp at the race site tomorrow.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

I wanted to give an extra plug to Spira Footwear. I ran every training run (long or short...even the 40 miler) in their Stinger racing flats. I plan to run the full 52.4 miles during the race in the Stinger racing flats. They are wonderful shoes and I can honestly say I have yet to have any foot issues due to lack of cushion or support. I even used them for my trail running...
Thanks to Steve, Stephanie, and Lauren for encouraging me.
Thanks to my sponsors for supporting me (Spira Footwear, First Endurance, Quintana Roo, Higher Ground Bicycles).
Thank you to Dr. Thompson and Dr. Van Tassell for seeing me and treating my knee and hip. Thank you to the Gulf Winds Triathlon Club for allowing my wife and me speak at their monthly meeting about the fundraiser.
Thanks to Randy for being understanding and flexible with my commuting and lunch time swims. Thanks to my fellow FSU co-workers who have supported me.
Thanks to all the athletes who swam, rode, and ran with me. Thanks to Kim from the Morcom aquatic center For operating such a wonderful facility. Thanks to Jeff, Grady, Jamey, Frank, and Shannon for riding with me. Thanks to all the Forest Meadows runners. Thanks to Ted for swimming with me.
Thank you to Ann Bowman for her massage skills to help me recover from my bike accidents this summer.
Thank you to Revolutions Triathlon Coaching (www.revtricoaching.com) for hosting the swim clinic last month and for donating 100% of the money raised to my fundraiser.
The people who donated to my fundraiser (www.microgiving.com/profile/chuck) helped to motivate me. Thanks you to Seeley and Will for writing the Democrat articles. Thank you to the Killearn HOA for publishing an article in the neighborhood newsletter.
My wife and kids have been my primary supporters. They ran with me, encouraged me, and put up with me during times of good and bad.
Seeley wrote an article for the Tallahassee Democrat about how essential a support crew is for triathletes. I can honestly say that I would not be prepared or participating in the race without a good support team. I will explain more in my next text post....
Today I woke up early to get in a 2 hour trainer ride and 8 mile run before getting in the car to begin the long journey to the race. So far the ride has been long... We are roughly 5.5 hours in with 7.5 hours to go. We are driving as far as we can today in hopes of making tomorrow's drive tolerable.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Today was my last pool swim of the season.... I got up at 4:30 this morning to get in one last long course swim. I managed to swim 4000 meters within an hour. The best part is that I was on cruise control the whole time and felt like I had plenty of energy left when I was done. My next swim will be at the lake in Virginia.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

7 days to go...

The race is in just over 7 days away...

My dad should be moving to a regular hospital room and out of the ICU. It looks like he has stopped bleeding and is stable. The doctor said he will be there for a few more days so they can monitor him and see if they can pump him with meds via IV to help expedite the healing process. Right now he is determined to go to VA for the race...

My dog is doing much better. He is eating now... :) It looks like we are out of the woods now.

My workouts have been going well. Tuesday I swam 2800 yards, rode 2.5 hours, and ran 5.25 miles. Wednesday I did a 1.5 hour ride and 9 mile run averaging 7:25/mile. Today I did 1.5 hours on the bike taking the watts up to 290 and ran 3.5 miles with a few 2 min efforts averaging 6:00/mile.

Tomorrow morning I plan to swim 4000-5000 meters in the morning and spend some time packing in the afternoon.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Updates...

My dad is scheduled for a CT tomorrow. The doctors believe he might have damaged other organs once they saw the size and depth of his ulcer. That would not be good.

The vet said that my dog has a brain tumor. Right now he is on meds to help calm his stomach. At this point we are watching him closely to see if his quality of life improves or gets worse.

It almost seems pointless to update about my workouts at this point. I am still doing them, but I am mentally lost in thought around all the things going on right now. I am scheduled with Dr. Thompson tomorrow morning for my knee and hip pain. It has been getting progressively worse over the past few days. I have my final appointment with Dr. Van Tassell before leaving on Thursday afternoon.

Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad

It seems like things go from bad to worse sometimes... My dad is in the ICU with an ulcer that will not quit bleeding. As of an hour ago he already had 6 pints of blood. My mom called and said that she was not sure if they would make it to the race. I told her not to worry about it and that I would figure things out. That would leave me short 2 support people. I should know more tomorrow...

One of my dogs is at the vet right now. We did not think he would make it through the night last night. The vet is currently running tests to figure out what is going on with him. He has not eaten in days and have been throwing up all over. He is old and has had health issues lately... 2 years ago I had one of my dogs pass away while traveling to a race. I am hoping that it is not going to happen again.

Monday, September 6, 2010

This is a test text 2 blog posting. If all goes well my support team at the race will be able to text updates directly to my blog. As long as there is cell reception there should be updates...

9/6 - Long swim

Today I swam 6000 meters. I felt good... The first 2.4 miles ended up taking 54 minutes. I wore the speedsuit for the first 1800 meters. It is amazing how much more flexible a speedsuit is compared to both a full and sleeveless wetsuit. The down side is that both the full and sleeveless wetsuits were roughly 10 seconds per 100 faster than swimming without a wetsuit. The speedsuit is roughly 5 seconds per 100 faster than without it. I am not sure what the water temperature will be at my race, but here is what I am thinking right now:

72-74 degrees = full wetsuit
74-76 degrees = sleeveless wetsuit
> 76 degrees = speedsuit

I plan to take all three suits with me so I can make a decision there.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

9/5 - Almost home...

In 12 days I will be over 1/2 way done with the race... This week has been a good week. I did not swim as much as I wanted to, but I did get in a 123 mile ride yesterday and managed to still feel good afterwards. In fact, I ended up running 8 miles yesterday evening.

This morning I volunteered at the kids YTS triathlon. All 3 of my kids participated and had a good time. It was soooooo much fun watching all the kids and adults do the tri this morning.

I ran 18.4 miles after I got home from the race and unpacked all the bikes (started the run at noon so it was hot...). 7.5 was at ultra distance pace (8:00/mile pace including a couple walk breaks...). I was feeling good at that point to I picked up the pace to IM pace and ran the next 7.5 miles at 7:04 pace. After that I ran 3.4 miles with my wife. I intended to do 20 miles, but ended up rubbing my left heel a little raw. It is a good thing it happened today as it reminded me to add blister band-aids to my list of things to bring to the race.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

16 days and counting...

I swam 4000 meters during the lunch hour. The swim did not feel very good...

After work I rode the training for 1 ht 15 min varying the watts between 200 and 230. Off the bike I ran 9.1 miles at 7:28 average pace (basically IM pace). All and all an easier aerobic day.