While I have been getting back in to Tri shape....I have fallen out of "blog" shape.  Frankly, it is just way too hard to find the time to write.  Right now it is 5:40 AM and I am getting ready to get on the bike for a couple hours.

I returned home exactly 1 month ago today and it has been wonderful...exhausting at times but wonderful.  I still am amazed that my wife was able to stay sane during the 9 months I was gone.

It is my "hope" to write a few works every couple days to keep track of how I am feeling, how the workouts are going and to add to the story of Operation IronFamily.  I will try my best.

Right now I am feeling pretty good.  I had to miss a day this week because of snow so I moved my run & swim to the next day and missed a bike workout for the week.  I really hate missing workouts but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, I needed the day off.  I am getting to the point again where I feel like the only thing holding me back is the mental aspect of it all.  I feel like physically I can keep going as long as my mind tells me to, or allows me to.

Today is 4 hours on the bike and I will likely have to break it up into two rides.  Saturday we run long - I will go 1 and my wife 14 or 15.  I love running long with her...she is so consistent and so tough.  It is inspiring to run next to her.

The bad news...I start back to work Monday after nearly a month off with the family.  I hope I am ready :)

More to come...the bike beckons.

 A

It is Christmas Eve...so Merry Christmas everyone.  For almost the last 2 months we have had very unpredictable internet so I am trying to write when I can.  The good news: I am going home soon...very soon.  The exact details are still up in the air, but I should be back by mid January.

 The bad news: I got sick...but I'm better now.  Two weeks ago I started feeling sick and within three days I was in bed...and stayed there for two straight days.  That was the worst I have felt in a long time...I will spare you the details.  For a week after I was unable to finish workouts without feeling ill.  So finally this weekend I was able to get back to it and felt great.  Saturday I ran 12 miles and it felt really good.  Then Sunday i did my longest continuous workout to date.

I started with a 1 hour swim - probably close to 2 miles.  I jumped on the bike and rode for 90 minutes.  Off the bike I ran 4 miles.  I returned to the bike for another 90 minutes then finished with a 4 mile run.  In total: 2 mile swim, 61 miles bike, 8 mile run - in 5 hours.  It was a much needed confidence builder because I had lost some when sick.

So I had a rough week but it was followed by a steady rebuild and a great weekend for working out.

Aaron 

I have talked a bit about swimming, now I will tell you about the bike.  I started riding a stationary "life cycle" for the first month but it didn't really feel like I was riding a bike.  I mentioned this to a good friend of mine "Uncle Dave" and he offered to send his old bike to me...in the mail.  The roads here are not good enough to ride a road bike on so I opted to buy an indoor trainer.  This was the first one I had ever used and I chose a CycleOps Fluid 2 after reading multiple reviews.  It was a great value and turned out to be a good trainer as well.

I started riding 30 - 45 minutes at a time a listening to my Ipod, I even made a cycling playlist.  But as I increased to an hour I realized I needed something more to occupy my mind.  I was riding an our supply room (the office was too cramped).  I ended up using my laptop to watch movies and it worked well.

Now I can ride up to four hours and it isn't so bad.

You should try it :)

 Aaron

I figured I would take a little time and talk about each discipline.  Swimming, as in the Ironman, is first on the list.  Shortly after I arrived I saw what I thought looked suspiciously like a lifeguard chair towering over an "empty" space surrounded by a fence (and concrete barriers of course).  I looked over the fence and sure enough there was a pool.  It wasn't open yet but it gave me hope.  I had not decided at this point to train for an Ironman because, well, there was no place to swim.  But now...hmmm...I was intrigued.  So I   inquired and discovered it would be opening in two weeks: mid May.  I went right then and ordered some goggles, a kickboard, and pull bouy on-line.  By the time the pool opened I was first in line.  They had 3 lap times: 6 AM (for an hour), 12 noon (for two hours) and 6 pm (an hour again).  I started going at noon, over my lunch break and then eating lunch immediately following.  This worked out well because the pool was very refreshing in the middle of the day and it didn't interfere with sick call (most people took a long lunch anyway).  I learned something very interesting that first day: the pool was 33 meters in length.  Strange distance I know, but to verify I measured it myself: 33 meters?  Thankfully, Ironedge coaching with its personal attention modified my workouts to fit a 33 m length setup.  It was kinda strange to swim workouts of 198 meters, 264 meters, or a 3201 meter long swim, but it did the trick.  I had to start small...so for a couple weeks I went between 800 & 1200 meters (approximated of course).  I purchased the Total Immersion book and worked on form, trying to become slippery, master bouyancy, and be long in the water.  I learned a lot about swimming.  I learned that form is so important and that being relaxed in the water is a must.  Heather and Todd got me to swimming 4000 or more meters a couple times per week and on Saturdays I did a 2 mile (roughly 3201) straight swim.  In the beginning this was taking over an hour, 65 minutes or so and I was beat.  But as time went by I started dropping time.  One day I did a very relaxed 55 minutes for 2 miles and was extremely happy.  I was consistently swimming 1:37 to 1:40 per 100 meters.  I started struggling to do 100 in 2 minutes.

Not everything was perfect however.  In late August I started feeling terrible about 30 minutes into the workouts.  I could not figure it out.  Nothing significant had changed...or so I thought.  One day I asked the temp of the water, 95 degrees was the answer.  I didn't realize it because 95 still felt cool compared to the average noon-time temp of 120.  But I was trying to swim in a hot tub.  It explained why I was feeling sick.  Fortunately it didn't last too long as the nights began to cool the water off in a few weeks. 

But there was a bigger problem.  The pool was going to close in October!  So after I came back from leave there would be no pool.  I still had 3 months here...without swimming.  Well...earlier in the deployment I had made contact with the president of Endless Pools, inc.  He offered to donate a Fastlane pool system to the Army, for the deployed soldiers of Camp Taji.  I never really thought it would happen because while the Army was interested, the shipping costs (which we would need to pay for) would be outrageous.  However, God stepped in and while I was on leave a Fastlane Pool arrived at Camp Taji, directly to our clinic.  Its primary purpose was to be for rehab & therapy, and then recreation as available.  It only took me 2 days to put the pool together (complete with the pumps and shell).  However, there was a bigger issue still.  The pumps were designed for 60 hz and power in Iraq is 50 hz.  This was an apparent "no go."  As a shor-term fix one of our maintenance companies provided a generator.  But we could only run the pump for 4-6 hours per day because of gasoline supply issues.  A pool pump is designed for continuous operation, for both cleaning and heating.  This meant the water never got above 74 degrees...brrrr and I was burning through chlorine like crazy.  When I let the Endless Pool folks know they again showcased their generosity.  They sent new pumps - that could run on 50 hz AND they paid for the shipping.  I could hardly believe it.  So...almost 2 months later we finally had the system up an running.  I worked my way back up to swimming an hour or more 3 times per week.  I have no idea how fast but for now that doesn't matter.  The good thing - it is a great workout for shoulders, chest, & back and it is consistently 78 to 82 degrees, much better.

 This entire project has been like this.  God has just continually blessed and provided at every turn.  I seems as if when it seems like something is impossible...He makes it possible.  Go figure...you can't find Diet Dr. Pepper or portable DVD players here, but you can get a pool delivered, built, and running.  We will pass the pool on to the incoming unit and the Physical therapists will hopefully make good use of it.  In the meantime, Ironman training goes on...Operation IronFamily drives forward.  Talk about Divine Providence.

 Will write again soon

 Aaron

I didn't intend for so much time to go by between posts...but a few things have combined to keep me away for a bit.  But I'm back now to write just a short entry and I will try to get to it more often.

The big news: the fundraising site is up an running.  You can find me at the Janus Charity Challenge Website (www.januscharitychallenge.com) and search for Aaron Dewees doing Ironman Arizona 2008.  I also hope to have links on Heather Gollnick's site (www.heathergollnick.com or www.ironedgecoaching.com) as well as on the official charity (Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund) website www.cfsrf.org.  Also, this whole endeavor has a name: Operation IronFamily.  I wanted something in keeping with the Army (Operation), Ironman (the Iron part) and a reminder of who I am doing his for (the Families of  fallen military men & women).  It also speaks to the nature of the military family: they are tough, made of Iron.  All the moving around, personal sacrifices, separation, and uncertainty about the future calls on the service member and their family to be strong.  Often times...spouses and children are given he monumental task of carrying on in the absence of their husband, wife, father, or mother.  Dual military families...where for example both husband & wife are active (and there are many) are all too often deployed at the same time but in different locations.  In many cases they leave behind children to be "raised" by relatives & friends.  Now tell me that doesn't require sacrifice, courage, and "toughness."

So please visit the website, spread the word, and if you any questions you may contact me at lumbeerunner@gmail.com

I will write again soon...next time I will begin a series on how his whole mission came about, what the training is like, how training is going, and perhaps answer other questions you might have.

 Sincerely,

 Aaron..."live well, train hard"