IronMan preparation - week 15

Feb 16, 2011 by Mikhail Gavryuchkov

First of all I want to thank all folks who donated since my last update three weeks ago: Joseph Pigg, Timur Ileev, Kate Zhukovskaya, Julia Horvath, Artem Melnykov & Iryna Malakhivska, Lutsiya Ibragimova, Robin Podesta, Chris Kennedy, Denis Gavryuchkov (yessss, my brother from Moscow!!!), Mayya & Denis Lavrenko, Robert Van Tuyl (with Gemstone Global Services), Artsiom Dolia.

Thank you guys! You are awesome! You make it possible for me to do this crazy IronMan thing. And you fight leukemia!

I am here and still training... The training becomes longer every week - last Sunday we had a 3 hours of bike riding followed by an hour of running. Strangely, the week before I couldn't do anything after practices except lying in bed. Now I can function (almost) normally - go shopping, visit friends, etc. Body seems to get used to it.

Three weeks ago we had Louie Bunpua tribute triathlon. Louie Bunpua was a leukemia patient who trained in the IronTeam and completed his IronMan distance just half a year before he passed away. Here is more about the guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq-xBHdnHLE

It was my first Olympic distance triathlon: 0.9 mi swim, 26 mi ride, 6 mi run. Overall time was about 3.5 hours - I kinda don't know exactly but I got the medal (see on the picture). It was raining pretty heavily and it we were soaking during our ride (well, it doesn't matter if it's raining or not when you swim :) ). I want to thank Evgenia Tyuleneva, Iryna Malakhivska and Artem Melnykov for volunteering and helping the IronTeam in supporting the event.

A bit about my favorite way of falling off a bike. Stop, unclip the right foot from the pedal and then lose the balance and fall to the left. Because the left foot is still clipped to the pedal you can't do much and fall directly on your hand. God, it's painful! Last Sunday I thought I broke my wrist and still have some pain in it. Lesson learned: ALWAYS unclip both feet when you stop.

Another lesson. ALWAYS hold tightly your handlebars when you move downhill. I already wrote last time how I almost fell when I tried to signal the turn. Last Sunday - I move downhill and reach for the water bottle with one hand. I grab the bottle and only at this moment I start realizing that this is quite dangerous now - my speed increases and I have only one hand on the handlebar. I don't remember exactly how but I managed to slow down, put the bottle back and then grab the handle with both hands. Lesson learned: no drinking or eating downhill.

What's coming: IronMan bootcamp this weekend. 7 hours of continuos training each day both Saturday and Sunday. Heh, survival mode. :)

In the next update: 1) about inspiration; 2) I am constantly hungry. Stay tuned!