March Madness Bracket!

ISN'T THIS THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR!!! THE MADNESS HAS BEGUN!!!

Just wanted to make sure that if you still wanted to try and win some amazing runners swag and donate to a great cause then make sure and do it before the end of the day on Wednesday! So far we have raised $681 through this bracket for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, and we are pretty excited about it. Below is a picture of what we have so far...

(Shown here are donations from Enlyten, One More Mile, TTU, BodyGlide, Runervals, AirDrives, Road ID, iTunes, MedalEngraving.com, Transition Towels, Sport Sheild, Blister Shield and more...)

We're still awaiting the arrival of donations from Amphipod, Injinji, Transition Bags (donating the Apollo bag), Yankz, John Bingham, CW-X, Running Divas and Finish Line Wine. We've got everything from products to gift cards...with a retail value well over $500. And then on top of it all, we've got the monkey prizes and the raffle for a year-long subscription to Runners World or Triathlete Magazine.

Just click here to make a donation, again it's $10 for 1, $25 for 3, or $40 for 5.

Thanks Everyone!

Charity Bracket Buster

(Taken from my wife's, runningjayhawk, blog)

It’s March! Let the Madness commence!!!

This March, as part of our goal to reach $2620 for Team In Training, Mike and I are hosting a Charity Bracket Buster during the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament! It’ll be fabulous! Exciting! Full of surprises! And we want YOU (yes…YOU) to participate!!

Here’s how it works…

You want to play? All you have to do is make a contribution to our Team In Training fundraising efforts which directly benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Your donation is tax deductible and will help fuel research to help find a cure for blood cancers.

Between now and March 18th…
A donation of $10, earns you 1 bracket
With a donation of $25, you get 3 brackets
Feeling really generous? A donation of $40 will score you 5 brackets.

Once you submit your donation, you’ll receive an invitation from me and Mike to fill out an online bracket for the NCAA tournament. And then on the first day of game play—the fun begins! The online bracket host we select will be tracking all of the points and leaders during the tournament, so everyone will be able to hop on and check their standings.

So…you’re probably wondering what you get by participating in our fabulous lil’ fundraiser-o-fun?

With your generous donation you get…

1. Entry into our Charity Bracket Buster for a chance at some seriously sweet swag!! Each bracket earns you an individual chance at each prize!

• We're giving prizes out to our top 3 winners! We've been working hard to rally some awesome donations from a variety of your favorite running and tri suppliers like BodyGlide, Enlyten, Injinji, One More Mile, Running Divas, Transition Times and TriTowels (to name a few and with more on the way). And then we've got gift cards for iTunes and Starbucks and Marriott and more. AND, a fellow running blogger is even contributing a "bottle of happiness" for the winner who is over the age of 21 to toast themselves after their next PR! We'll be posting a full list of the prizes by Selection Sunday...so consider this your teaser!
• Additionally, everyone who donates will be entered into a drawing for a free year-long subscription to their choice of Runners World or Triathlete magazine. What's that? You already have this subscription? No problem! We know there's a mag out there you're dying to get your hands on...we'll figure it out.
• We'll have a few, smaller, fun "Monkey Prizes" to announce after game play begins. But we can't tell you know because well...it's a surprise!

2. A chance to take your competitive side off the race course and into virtual pool where fun "smack talking" on your rival temas is not just welcomed, but encouraged...assuming you can take the heat right back!

3. An e-mail from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society detailing that your donation is tax deductible!! Woohoo!! Hooray for tax deducations!! Hooray for making a donation to find a cure for cancer!! Everybody wins!!

Here are the key dates you should know...

March 1: We are OPEN for Charity Bracket Buster donations folks. Donations to play and complete brackets will be accepted from now until March 19.
March 16: Selection Sunday. This is the day that the official bracket line up is announced. Between the announcement and the first round of game play, you must register your brackets online.
March 18: The Opening Round Play-In Game
March 20-21: First Round
March 22-23: Second Round
March 27-28: Sweet Sixteen!
March 29-30: Elite Eight!
April 5: The Final Four!
April 7: Championship Game and our top winners are determined!

Mike and I are both really excited for this and we hope you are, too! It’s as simple as giving up your Starbucks coffee just twice this month! Or bringing your lunch to work one day! Or working the corner that extra hour for a few more bucks (I KID, I KID)!

We look forward to having you join in on the fun of our Charity Bracket Buster!!

We're sure you've got some questions swirling in that pretty little head of yours...but really, there's no reason to worry. We've done all the work to make this easy, fun and exciting for you...AND beneficial to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In th event you do have questions, just see our FAQs!

Lend a hand.

An event of such caliber as Ironman will ultimately rely on the help of 1000+ volunteers for success. And they're not just needed on raceday either. It looks like they need help starting on the Wednesday before athlete check in starts happening.

Now. I know some of you fabulous traveling circus folks are going to be there a day or two early along with us. So why not take a few hours out of your day and volunteer with some aspect of the race? It's great to give back and help out...and get an inside look at how these amazing events come together.

...plus you'll get a pretty badass IM Volunteer shirt (and let's be real...we all know that's why I'm doing it).

A full list of all pre-race, race-day and post-race volunteer opportunities are listed here. If you'd like to join me, I'll be helping out for three and a half hours on Saturday morning at the Swim Practice Check-In. The coordinator, Mark, is looking for a few good folks to help out and from the e-mail he sent me it looks to be a good time with sweet swag.

So yeah. Consider it food for thought...

We interrupt your Ironman training to bring you...

...to the Bahamas!



After a week of fruity frozen drinks and warm sunshine (and even a bit of procrastination), training is back on schedule and in full force. We started our cycling technique and endurance class this week and oof it's an ass kicker. At least it's really helping both of us with our form and I'm already more comfortable in the aero position (Mike is a natural at it). So hopefully Mr. Ironman to be will hop on and give us a training update on his first month of IM training.

If you haven't started thinking about booking a room you may want to do so. We're staying at the Galt House which is the host hotel from Friday until Tuesday. Remember, the race is on Sunday and it's Labor Day weekend, so prepare for a full day of spectating fabulousness!! If you have questions about the area, just let us know!

Have a great week and stay warm ('cause it's about -2 here in Chicago--blech).

xoxo,
Barb

PS...Damon, this is just for you. ;)

And it starts....

We are officially in Ironman and Half Ironman training, folks!! Mike had a riveting first day on the 31st which consisted of "rest."

Today, however...is a different story.

An hour on the bike...

For those of you who understand bike lingo...here's what was on tap today...

10 minute easy warm up (fast spin 95+RPM w/ HR at Z1-Z2)

6x20 second single leg drill, 10 second recovery

3x30 sec fast spin, 30 sec easy

3x40 sec fast spin, 20 sec easy

3x20 sec fast spin, 40 sec easy

3x30 sec fast spin, 30 sec easy

8x2 minute steady spin at HR Z2, 2 minute easy between each set

10 minute cool down

The rest of week 1 consists of 2 days of swimming for 1600 yards, running 2h 15m (do you know how cold it is here?!) and another long bike ride on Sunday (but no drills included).

We've only been able to preview the first four weeks of our plan and everything seems attainable at this junction...just have to bite it off bit by bit and not get overwhelmed. You can follow Mike's training on the log our coach set up here. Once he completes a workout it'll show up on the calendar for all to view. Pretty sweet, eh?

Happy Holidays!

Looks like someone was good this year...Santa brought him a trainer and aerobars, among a bunch of other awesome swag.

We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season!

A Work In Progress...

Hey there! If you've found this page you're likely looking at a Sneak Preview of the Team IRONMike Headquarters...your one stop shop for everything you need to know about Louisville Ironman arrangements and Mike's training. You can anticipate hotel information, carpool opportunities and maybe even a few training updates from IRONMike himself.

We here at Team IRONMike (which...uh...as of right now would be me...Barbara) are going to do our damnedest to make sure we've got a great cheering section of family and friends to help carry him to the finish line on 8/31/08. It will be one moment you do not want to miss.

So sit back...relax...and get excited about this endeavor!

Stay tuned for details and news...