The Adventure of Triathlon: Brad Gilson

Bicycles

bradgilson — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:09:59 +0000

Now that I am healing from the accident, I have a lot more time. Well sort of…life fills that void pretty quick. However, it is hard to fill the training gap with anything except hard exercise. Lots of weight training. Since my ribs and knees affect almost every exercise, my calves and biceps are getting GREAT workouts!

So I am spending some time researching bicycles. Wow, I know a lot more than I did a few months ago. Without boring you with all the technical details (and yes, I do apply my structural engineer background on my analytical analysis), I am definitely getting a new road bike. Scott are among the lightest production frames in the industry. Now I am wrestling with the concept of buying it now, or waiting until I am back up to speed.

I helped subsidize my son’s first full size road bike purchase this week. He loves it. Thanks Scott for making such a small bicycle. Being full size, he thinks I will loan him some aero-wheels for his next race! Alex earned most of the money minus a little credit for giving his old bike to Jessica. Only Alex gets new things in our family.

As far as healing goes, this is what works and what does not work:

1. Spinning – NO

2. Walking – OK

3. Running – NO

4. Sleeping – NO

5. Ibuprofen – NO

6. Tissue Rejuvenator – Maybe?

7. Rest – YES

Healing a knee is like watching paint dry. BUT, it is healing!!!

Escape from Alcatraz – Hit & Run on the Bicycle

bradgilson — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 05:10:31 +0000

My not so racey race report: This is the race where everyone asks whether I will be eaten by a shark. And then they ask me if I know how cold the water is. I found the secret to passing time on a long car trip. Books on tape. This time we got original and chose Alcatraz as our book. It talked about the punitive, not reformative, style of Alcatraz by using a form of regimented monotony. I only had to endure them for a 12 hour car trip. I would argue that that stretch through Nevada is one of the most boring roads I have ever driven. But I still think that a monotonous book on a monotonous road is better than music. I did learn that the ebb tides in the bay can reach 8 knots. That got a little reaction out of Leighann. Once we arrived in San Francisco, we took the kids to see the sea lions and bought $5 Ghiradelli chocolate bars (the same bars that are $1.59 at Reams). There were triathletes everywhere doing their evening runs down the wharf. They are not too hard to spot. Jogging down the street with compression socks, Ironman shirts and sockless florescent flats. I have been training really hard, so I was pretty excited to see where I am at. I got up really early for a 30 min bike ride. The bike ride was more fun that I expected. I went up one of the steepest hills near Lombard. The road was so steep I had to learn forward to keep the front wheel down. I blasted right up to the top. No effort at all. I was almost laughing. The low altitude made it really easy. No hard breathing. I was READY for this race! Last week I did the SunCrest hillclimb. In spite of my stupidity in bicycle tactics, it was an easy race as far as available effort and fuel in the engine. So what I am saying is, maybe all the extra winter training is paying off. Sami Inokyia was the first age-grouper at Alcatraz last year and I was right behind him at Worlds, so I was at least a little optimistic. Oh, the uphill on the steep hills is great but everything that goes up must come down. Downhill in the pouring rain is a different story with aero wheels! There were no cars out at 6 am so this helped. I saw half the city in about 20 minutes. The city is a little messed up in terms of meeting federal traffic standards, but then again, SF is an entity unto itself. This is not a place I would cycle during the day. I don’t even cycle in Draper during the day. I was wearing my bright florescent long sleeve bike shirt over my Canyon cycling gear with a pair of Asics running tights over my bike shorts, due to the nippy 50 degree temp, fog and rain. I brought our spring Utah weather to San Francisco. I got ready to go back, but it can take several blocks, or even half the city to find a place to turn left in San Francisco. I made my first left at Market and 4th Street. As I entered the intersection, I was hit forward and thrown across the intersection. I wondered if I would ever stop. When I finally stopped, I was nearly unconscious from the pain. Holy crap, I can’t tell you how bad my body hurt. I remember a few people clapping on the side and a black Lincoln towncar accelerating very fast down 4th. I think I was in the intersection for a long time. Someone approach me and asked if I need help and then left. I am not sure how I got to the corner, but I remember a lot of plastic parts in the road and that I was EXTREMELY thirsty. I pulled my water bottle right out of the gutter (which was full of grimy rain water) and drank the whole thing. Somebody yelled “hit and run, hit and run!”. I was breathing so hard that I could not talk or cry. I could not catch my breath and I could not understand why a few deep breaths would not alleviate the pain. You know how we do high intensity intervals and we just have to stop and take a few deep breaths and everything returns to normal. No, not here. I crawled over to the entrance to Ross and the lady locked the door on me. I banged on the window and she said she was going to call the police on me. I said, “Great, please! And you can use my cell phone in my back pocket.” At some point she saw the blood running out of my mouth and managed to get a flicker of humanity to help me. I had her call my wife first. Leighann almost dropped the phone when she heard another women on my phone. The girl called the police and the paramedics. I really could not control my breathing. As I laid there wallowing on the ground for what seemed like forever (who knows, it may have only been a few minutes, but I was very dizzy and may have lost consciousness for a moment), I had the distinct thought that I needed to get back to the hotel so that I can sit down and catch my breath. I just wanted to sit down and put my knees in an ice bath (just like the photo that I saw on Moka’s Ironman collage). I don’t think I have met Moka in person, but that ice bath image was engraven in my mind and I was on a mission to reduce the swelling so that I could race the next morning. So I grabbed my phone and started riding my bike back to the hotel. I was on a mission. I had oxygen in my blood and energy to burn. I am not so sure that I was following any sort of prescribed traffic pattern since I was half delirious from the pain. I made it to the top of California and Powell (where the two trolley lines cross) and my knees locked up. I had climbed that steep hill in the hardest gear, as I could not shift my bike. I was absolutely livid that nobody came over to help and that someone would just drive off. There were plenty of spectators, so I was fuming over the incident. Leighann picked me up there. On the way back, we stopped at the police station, which we found on accident as she was figuring out how to get back to the hotel. All ok, but I needed to get ice on my knees. The report probably took 10 precious minutes. I couldn’t go to the hospital, that would take too much energy from my pre-race rest. Sitting in the car did not work, my knees had nearly frozen up. At the hotel, I would take some fish oil, maybe Ibuprofen, sit in an ice bath, get the swelling down and be ready for the race tomorrow morning. When I returned to the hotel to take my clothes off, I realized that the Asics did not have a single snag or blemish on them, but my knees looked like raw ground hamburger underneath. Not sure how that works because my Wasatch Running bicycle jersey was mangled. When I realized that my knee was the size of a grapefruit (no, not the 2/$1 grapefruit at Reams, but the expensive kind at Harmons), I decided that it would be worth Leighann’s effort to seek a deferral of my race entry for next year. But if not, I would do the swim and bike and just walk on the run. Well, about 20 minutes later I was hoping that I would heal well enough for Daybreak next Saturday. A few hours later I was hoping for Nationals in August. Now I hope I can heal fast enough to return next year to do this race. Leighann was successful in getting a deferral. In fact, not only did the race director break out in tears, but another lady asked to take the kids crabbing, fed them hot chocolate, took them to the Disney store, bought me a blanket and a movie and had called every hour since that time to check on my status. She even offered to pay for whatever costs we may incur. (The ying and yang of good and bad) By mid afternoon, I was hoping that I was having a bad dream and that this would not happen. Knees are a serious issue with triathletes. The gym is full of old guys that talk about their knees like a car mechanic talks about repairs to their Volkswagen bug. And they always talk about what would have happened. My parents talked about flying me home or having someone do an MRI here. We all concluded that an ER would just prescribe RICE. Yea, the X-ray might be nice, but I can get that in SL. In my mind, knee surgery…NOOO. Never. Not until the day that it is as common as lasiks surgery. Someday we will walk through the mall and choose which clinic to get our knees redone. But not now!!! PLEASE!!!! It is all ok. I did not die. Hey, a lot of accidents are far worse, but for a triathlete to triathletes-this is serious!!! Ok, I cannot walk to the bathroom. I think I have a problem. Probably something torn or a ruptured bersa (I never listen to people’s knee stories too well. Now I will). Leighann got a bag of goji berries from Chinatown that had a nice sized white worm in it. We even considered some spicy Chinatown dim sum since I don’t have to worry about the GI consequence of racing, but instead we settled for North Beach garlic Pizza. I hobbled at the race venue after a horrible night sleep. No comfortable position. Just a horrible dull ache. It was the first triathlon that I have every observed. It was quite a hilarious episode. I saw a lady scale the transition fencing because she didn’t want to go around. Then she got high centered on the rail and finally fell on her head. I am surprised how differently the pros dismount. There was lots of free stuff, chobani yogurt, coconut water, race belts, Subaru test drives, ice cream, pencils, magnets, etc. The kids go crazy when there is free stuff. It was a Mecca of giveaways. So hopefully my knees will be ok. I can painfully walk (sort of), but it might be a while before I am spinning and running. I need to remain positive. I cannot dwell on the guy that hit me. And if I did, what good is money when you have friends. I am thankful that I have had a healthy positive challenging outlet like triathlon. It is like religion, it is power from a passion of doing something positive. It is not easy for me to be positive, outgoing and athletic. The struggle is what it is all about. There are far worse things that can happen. There will always be another race. I hope I can return next year with my family and some teammates. I still think that it is worth the risk to put ourselves out on a limb. Next year, my goal is to come back leaner and better trained and maybe with a new 13.5 lb bike! I don’t care if it is a great struggle. That makes it worth more. If my family and friends are waiting for me, I might just cry when I cross the finish line.

Solve the World’s Problems

bradgilson — Tue, 24 May 2011 01:07:40 +0000

Wow, we sure spend a lot of time (at least I do), thinking and worrying about massive external world problems and how we might solve them. I think we have a duty to try to make the world a better place. But the greatest battle is the day-in and day-out efforts to apply consistent, positive, powerful performance for our own minds and bodies.

Indoor or Outdoor

bradgilson — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:02:06 +0000

Don’t feel bad if the weather forces an indoor spin class. The latest research has concluded that indoor spinning might be 20% more effective than outdoor cycling. Why? No stopping, grade changes, traffic, car exhaust…

The most grueling race of my life

bradgilson — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:16:05 +0000

The preparation, study and anxiety for my 5 hour competition Saturday in San Francisco is finally over. I am not sure how many calories I burned, but I know that I was the ONLY person of 1000 people that had a caffeinated gel to keep my blood sugar up and my mental focus sharp.

The California Seismic exam for the California engineering license was the most grueling exam that I have ever taken. I won’t know my result for another ridiculous 3 months. Worse, it is designed so that only about 30-35% people pass.

It is hard to have that much adrenaline build up with no ‘physical’ release. I felt just as tired afterwards as an olympic distance race. Why do I post this on my triathlon blog…it felt like a triathlon.

The good news is that I should be mentally prepared to return to San Francisco for Alcatraz in June!!! That is a positive adrenaline rush.

Hey, even if I am not ‘physically’ prepared, I will be there mentally!

The Ignominious Diet

bradgilson — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:17:33 +0000

The hard cold but indistinctly salacious reality of life is that our bodies need continuous discipline and self-restraint. We are always searching for the fast pass and ignore the ‘yea, buts’. The good news is that after about 2 weeks of saying no to dessert, controlling portion sizes and restricting my intake of white sugar, I feel much better and no longer crave sugar. BUT, there is no easy path. There is probably nothing in our lives that creates more stress for our organism than excessive food intake. Lighten the load! Less food in the evening = deeper REM sleep, more energy, better memory, better behavior, and better immunity.

Every day takes a little forethought, restraint and discipline. An indulgent and consumptive lifestyle is only an illusion of the American Dream (it is interesting that much of our American travel culture revolves around splurging and excess). It takes a little discipline to LIVE the true dream!

When you get really good, are you going to Kona?`

bradgilson — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:55:05 +0000

WHAT? I cannot tell you how many people ask me that question. They hear about the triathlon adventure and want to hear more. First question is the distance. They analyze it and then say, ‘well thats not so bad, I could probably do that” And the next question is how far is Kona. Last question, ‘so, when are you going to do Kona’? What they really mean is, ‘when are you going to do a real race?’ I wonder what Michael Phelps would think if someone said something like, ‘so your race was only 43 seconds?’

The funny thing is that this conversation has been repeated hundreds of times. People seem to be impressed by distance, not intensity of effort. When I used to Scuba Dive more frequently before this triathlon habit, people asked me all the time about how deep I went. Strange.

Competition? What?

bradgilson — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:44:53 +0000

I am shocked by all of the people that hear about my triathlon adventures and say ‘wow, ya, you must be one of those competitive types.’ Huh? I truly don’t devote this much mental energy to go ‘beat’ some unknown guy in some obscure race like Burley Spudman or Scofield Utah. In fact, I don’t think I have every been concerned about anybody that showed up for a race. I could care less who wins…including myself! …as long as I do my best.

The only thing that matters to me is that I have completely drained the gas tank at the finish line. If someone ‘steals’ a win when I have gas left in the tank, I am unhappy with myself. A guy pulled around me at the last 0.005 seconds at Lotoja after I pulled him 5k at a super anaerobic lactate burn of the year. I don’t ever remember him pulling the entire day. Oh well, if he can live with that, seriously, who cares? Yea, a little stupidity on my part, but ‘beating’ him was not my dragon to slay that day. My dragon was giving it everything that I had at the finish at Lotoja. I remember I was closing in on the winner of the Escape from Alcatraz at ITU worlds. I honestly did not know him from Adam.

If I can redline all the way to the finish line, I don’t care what place I get. I actually like a little comeraderie at the finish line. In fact, my best athletic adventures have been extreme solo training efforts. It is all about pushing to the limit and then adding a little more. That is what is so great about triathlon. The bravato, mind games and strategic race strategies don’t sizzle my platter. A true honest hard fought battle is an adventure that builds character and represents our ability to climb out of our natural comfort zone to be better people. I think that this is what attracts people to triathlon, not the ‘competition per se. (except as it helps us push further).

Never Quit

bradgilson — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 04:41:11 +0000

Contrary to even the ‘best’ medical advise, there is never a reason to quit. An amputee with one arm completed the 140 mile Ironman last September. Putting that into perspective, any achilles tendonosis, shin splint, knee, hip, back or chronic health ailment is surmountable. Its a balance between time, effort, the ‘right’ medical advice, support and sheer willpower.

Initiating Commentary

bradgilson — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 21:04:52 +0000

Brad Gilson’s photography website and commentary is emerging from its first stages of development.