February 2009 Archives

Sunday, February 8:  A beautiful day today!  Temps made it up to 37!  I ran 4 miles in the morning before church, and biked 22 miles in the evening before dark.  My first ride outside in a couple months, and it felt great.  I averaged around 19 mph.  4 miles running (30 minutes), 22 miles biking (70 minutes).  Total Time:  100 minutes

Update from Mike:  What's the best thing about February in Minnesota?  January is over!  Indeed, we had a cold month.  The only day above freezing the entire month of January was the last day - the 31st!  Many of the days were below zero.  But hope is around the corner.  Today it was in the mid-30's and I made it outside for a nice 22 mile training ride before dark.  It was wonderful!  If you want some further updates on my training and racing, or anything else that may be on my mind, be sure to check out my blog at www.crosstrainercoaching.com/blog.
 
Big Changes at Join the Race!   A lot has happened since my last update 4 weeks ago.  We've made some significant changes to Join the Race, which I will outline in this newsletter. 
 
The first major change is that I will no longer be competing at Ironman South Africa, and instead will be competing in two Ironmans in the U.S.:  Coeur d'Alene on June 21 and Louisville on August 30.  Please allow me to explain the reasoning for this significant change.  Those of you who've heard my testimony know that there were two primary objectives for competing in South Africa:  1. To visit our brothers and sisters in Africa to better understand the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS on their culture and community, as well as to experience first-hand the work that the CRWRC is doing to help put an end to this horrific pandemic.  2. The second objective is that we felt that by competing in Africa we could better raise funds and awareness for HIV/AIDS as compared to racing the Ironman locally in the U.S. 
 
So, why the change of heart?  Well, as most of you know, I had the great privilege of going on a HIV/AIDS Discovery Tour with the CRWRC to three countries in Africa last November.  This trip went above and beyond my expectations, and fully met the goals outlined in Objective 1 above.  Furthermore, the Discovery Tour opened my eyes to the extreme poverty in these African countries.  I had read and heard about this poverty before, but seeing it with my own eyes woke me up.  I witnessed young men pounding rocks with sledge hammers for 12 hours a day, and women working the hot fields with their hands, babies on their backs.  Their wages for this excruciating work are typically around a dollar for the entire day. A dollar.  It was then that I realized that EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS, and I felt convicted to send as much money to these people as possible.  
 
As I contemplated racing the Ironman in South Africa, I thought about the the expenses for travel costs (airfare, bike shipment, registration, lodging, etc.) for competing in South Africa as opposed to the U.S.  It became very difficult for me to justify the extra money in travel costs for this competion when I knew I could compete in the same race in the U.S. for a fraction of the cost, and give the extra money that would have been spent in travel costs directly to the people in Africa.  In fact, as I started thinking about it, I realized I could compete in two U.S. Ironmans for a much cheaper cost than Ironman South Africa, giving us an additional race to raise money while saving on overall costs. I had already met Objective 1 with the HIV/AIDS Discovery tour, so the big question now was whether or not Objective 2 was worth enough to offset the additional costs. After thinking and praying about it, I felt that it wasn't. 
 
So, after discussing this with my Join the Race team and the CRWRC, everyone agreed that I should race Ironman Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) and Ironman Louisville (Kentucky) instead of Ironman South Africa, and donate all of the extra money that would have been spent on travel costs to South Africa directly to the CRWRC and the people in Africa.  Furthermore, by competing in two U.S. Ironmans rather than an international Ironman, we will be able to participate in the Janus Charity Challenge (www.JanusCharityChallenge.com) in each of these races.  The Janus Charity Challenge is part of all Ironman competitions in North America and will allow us the opportunity to raise additional money for the CRWRC depending on how much money we raise in total.  You can read all about it at the above link.  Although I was greatly looking forward to returning to my brothers and sisters in Africa to race the Ironman, I have complete peace about this decision and feel that we are following the Lord's will.
 
So what does this mean for you and the Join the Race competion?
 
This is actually great news for you!  You now have until August 30 to complete your training, recruiting, and fundraising goals! I know that some of you have a long ways to go, so this should give you the extra edge to meet your goals.  In light of our current economic times, you can think of it as the iJoiner Stimulus Package!
 
Also, I am hopeful we can get a good group of people together in Coeur d'Alene and Louisville to help out with this cause.  If you have friends or families in these areas, please let them know!
 
What about the prizes?
 
We will still be giving out prizes, but will wait until the end of the competition (August 30) to give them out.  Remember, to be eligible for the prizes (which include iPods, gift cards, and other great gifts), you must have fulfilled all of your goals (completing the Ironman distance in your training, raising $500, and recruiting another iJoiner).  Full details are available on our website at http://www.jointherace.org/ijoin/competition.php. 
 
Other changes...
 
We are working on updating our online donation system.  This should be up and running by the end of February!  Meanwhile, you can continue to donate as instructed on our website.  Stay tuned for future communications regarding this update!
 
iJoiner Highlights: 
 
We now have 195 iJoiners.  We welcome to our latest iJoiners to the team!  Laurie Pluimer from Appleton, Wisconsin and Lacey Swart from Willmar, Minnesota have Joined the Race!  Thanks for making a difference!
 
We're making progress, iJoiners.  It's good to see many of you logging miles and running, swimming and biking your way to your goal!  So far, 12 iJoiners have met their $500 fundraising goal, 32 people have completed the biking leg (112 miles), 48 have completed the swimming (2.4 miles), and 63 have completed the running (26.2 miles).  Steve Blom is still swimming away with the swim title with over 82 miles!  Here's a list of those that have completed the Ironman distance in their training (the most recent to have completed the distance are noted in BOLD - Congrats to Jessica DeGroot, Loren Leusink, and Jordan Mulder, the most recent to complete the Ironman distance!).
 
 
IRONMAN DISTANCES COMPLETED:

Steve Blom
Troy Bouma
Tim Brands
Paul Cool
Chris Duininck
Bryan DeGroot
Jessica DeGroot
Mark Erickson
Tim Erickson
Jeff Fisher
Bert Hanson
Richard Jouwstra
Loren Leusink
Michael Lopers
Chelsey McNamara
Jordan Mulder
Nicole Noack
Michael Pluimer
Jeff Poppema
David Ribbens
Wendy Ulferts
Dawn Wielenga

See all the details on the Leaderboard.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements: I will be speaking at the CRWRC Board Meeting in Chicago on February 26.  If you'd like me to come and speak at your church or school, please let me know!  Send me an email at michael.pluimer@gmail.com. 
 
 
I apologize for the long email, but these were some important items that needed to be communicated.  Thanks so much for your commitment to Join the Race and help put an end to HIV/AIDS in Africa!  Blessings to you all!
 
Train Hard,
 
Mike

What's the best thing about February in Minnesota?  January is done!  We had one of the coldest Januaries in the books this year.  I'm glad it's over.  Most of my running miles in January was on the treadmill. 

Things are going OK.  Here is my training so far this week:

Sunday, February 1:  Lift weights - 20 minutes; Superbowl Sunday!   20 minutes

Monday, February 2:  Run 6 miles in 42 minutes; Push a stranded car down Business 71 in Willmar in sub-zero weather, hurting my lungs in the process :-(  Some poor lady had her car die in the middle of the road, and I pushed her to Tires Plus, just a few blocks away.  However, I wasn't really dressed for it, and am paying the price! 42 minutes

Tuesday, February 3:  Took day off due to my lungs

Wednesday, February 4:  Run 4 miles in the morning, followed by 30 minutes weight training (shoulders), and 30 minutes swimming.  Biked 12.75 miles in 51 minutes (14.7 mph) on the Ironman Coeur d'Alene bike course at night. 2:21

Thursday, February 5:  Busy day today.  I went to Glencoe for traffic court (long story - but I won my case!  The judge ruled in my favor, and I was dismissed of the police officer's accusation that I didn't move over to an open lane when he had pulled somone over for a traffic stop; I couldn't move over due to a vehicle in the other lane.  Apparently, I argued my case effectively, as the judge ruled in my favor in spite of the testimony of 2 police officers.  My faith in the justice system was strengthened, as I indeed was innocent).  Anyway, I had a lot of work to do as well.  As such, I wasn't able to start my workout until close to midnight.  I managed to get in 8 miles running at a slow pace (8:15/mile), as well as some light weights.  Total Time:  1.5 hours

Friday, February 6:  Lunch-hour run of 4 miles (6:50 pace) and 1500 m swim.  Evening workout of 17 miles on the trainer on the Coeur d'Alene Course (miles 28 - 45).  Total time:  2 hours

Saturday, February 7:  Hauled wood for 3.5 hours in the morning with Dad.  Hard work, but got a lot done!  In the afternoon, I went for a 13-mile treadmill run at a slow pace, then lifted weights for half an hour.  Total time:  2.25 hours

Weekly Statistics:

Swimming:  3000 yds, 1 hour

Biking:  30 miles

Running:  35 miles

Other:  2 hours