Strava Numbers

So I got an email from Strava the other day with all my "numbers" for 2019. It is interesting how this all adds up.

I recorded a workout 283 days this year. That's 78%.

Those 283 days had 288 hours of recorded workouts broken up as follows:

• 84 biking
• 69 swimming
• 49 virtual (trainer) riding 
• 37 running 
• 34 other

2696 miles traveled

• 1445 bike
• 899 virtual ride
• 198 run 
• 122 swim
• 30 walk

73,577 feet of climbing in all those miles traveled.

I found the number of miles swimming to be the most interesting. You just don't think about it too much when it is broken up into little 100 or 200 yard chunks, but it all adds up.

I am sure this will seem small and easy compared to next season as I train for and do a couple of longer races.

2020 Race Schedule

I met with my coach and we settled on a plan for next year. It includes a couple of 70.3 distance races in the summer and then the aquabike races in the fall. I have a long break in August so that I can build my bike up to the 112 miles needed for Worlds in September.

April TBD: Barron Sprint
June 14: Trinona Olympic
June 28: High Cliff Half
July 26: Chisago Lakes Half
Sept 12: Aquabike Worlds
Nov 15: USAT Aquabike Nationals

I am excited for the season. We will probably start up focused training towards the end of January or early February leading up to those early summer races.

Treadmill Running

Well the offseason is firmly upon us. I haven't been doing any real structured workouts, rather just keeping myself active. With the 2 feet of snow we got over Thanksgiving weekend, all outdoor running has been suspended so inside I go to do some running on the treadmill.

I don't find the treadmill too awful. It is the only time I actually listen to music when I run. Outside I prefer to hear what is going on around me. The TV's are on at the Y but I don't have it playing on my ear buds. I do keep an eye on it as a distraction though.Now all my runs are less than an hour, so maybe this would change if I am doing longer runs.

I took my ipad to the Y today to try out Zwift running, but unfortunately it doesn't talk to my Garmin foot pod. I would need to get a different foot pod. It's not that important though.

So I see a long winter of running on the treadmill. I don't need an injury so no need to risk running outside.

Gobble Gallop

For the 4th year in a row, the family did a 5k race on Thanksgiving morning. We had a snow storm in the days leading up to it, in fact my daughter had school cancelled on Wednesday so she got a little extra long Thanksgiving break.

Because of the snow, the roads were not very good for running and I had no interest in injuring myself so I took it easy and just made it a 3 mile base run, which is essentially all I have been doing lately anyway.

So in the end, my time was 32:12 which was a couple minutes slower than last year, but I am quite ok with it.

Photos

One of the nice things about the race in Miami is that they had a bunch of photographers there. That's good for me because I was by myself, so no sherpa available to take my photo. I ended up paying to download all my pictures as there were several good ones. Here is a quick selection of my favorites.

Team USA

So when I found the MiamiMan Aquabike race a few months back I didn't know that it was a USAT national championship race. When I did discover that it was a national championship event I thought that was kinda cool. There will probably be some good racers there. I was looking up some of the guys in my age group that were registered and I noticed that a few of them had bio's on the USAT/UTI sites for having been a part of Team USA and the age group world championships.

Well that got me wondering how does someone qualify for Team USA and those world championships. It took me a bit of googling but I eventually found out that I needed to finish top 18 in my age group at this MiamiMan race.

So that's kinda cool...I wonder where it is next year. Almere/Amsterdam Netherlands was the answer. So thats cool. I like Amsterdam and now I tell my wife and she is excited about the possibility too.

However, in the days leading up to the race I find out that the world long-course aquabike championships in 2020 will be raced at the FULL distance of 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike. Thats double what I am about to compete in and changes things. That is WAY more training than I had planned for next season.

I do well in the race, finishing 14th and a couple of days later I get the email that I have earned a spot on Team USA! This is really exciting. My wife is excited. Family and friends are excited for me. I paid my deposit and now I am officially a member of Team USA for next year!

My coach and I still need to have a heart to heart about what my training plan is going to look like next summer.

MiamiMan Race Report

My first ever Half-Iron Aquabike race. Not even sure how to do a race like this, but I am ready and it is time. The day before I did a practice swim in the 83 degree water. That is literally twice the water temperature from Lake Superior during my last race. No wetsuit for anyone, and I am glad I invested in a swimskin.

Swim

It was a wave start with my age group of both aquabike and triathletes in it. I took it easy at the start and once at the first buoy turn we began to spread out a bit.  As we made the first RH turn, the next buoy was straight into the sun. No way you were ever going see it. So it was just follow the other swimmers and hope they are going in the right direction. Same really with the next leg back to the beach. By this time, it was starting to get crowded. Running into slower swimmers from earlier waves etc. I hit the beach, turned around and headed back out. 

The second loop was terribly crowded. There was more than one time that I had to just stop because there was a wall of slow swimmers in front of me. I swam around a lot of swimmers just to try and keep moving which slowed me down quite a bit.  I swallowed a couple of big gulps of water on this leg too, but I got through that. Overall my breathing was fine through the entire swim and no asthma issues at all!

Bike

Once on the bike, things quickly calmed down, with my HR was right where I wanted it. The first 8 miles went well, and I was feeling good. My power was about 5w lower than I had planned, but I was feeling good and cruising at a good pace so I just kept trying to maintain it.

What was weird about this race was the large amount of people I passed. None of the races I have done have been this big and I had to pass a TON of people. I estimate I passed 100 people. Some were easy to pass as they were going pretty slow, others were a bit of a challenge. Or I would end up having to pass 4-5 people in a row and put out some serious power to do so.

At mile 30 or so the wind went from light to strong and gusty. It got brutal out there and much of the return back to the park was dead into that wind. 

At one point I am going 15mph into this headwind and still passing people. It was tough. By mile 40 I am starting to suffer a bit. My legs are getting tired, my butt is getting sore, my HR is way high. The wind was obviously having an effect on me so I tried to keep it under control the best I could for the last 10 miles and maintain the same power.

Then with just a couple of miles to go, we are back on the north road that leads into the park, and I get stuck behind a car. He was hugging the left side of the road so I would have to cross the double yellow lines to get past him and I didn't trust him enough to pass on the right. He just refused to speed up and go around the bike in front of him either. It was ridiculous. I easily lost 2 minutes on that part of the course due to that one car. 

Finally back into the park and hard until the dismount line. Then run my bike to the entrance to transition and I am DONE! I stopped for a bit to catch my breath before slowly walking my bike back to my rack. I changed my shoes and then ran through the finish line to get my medal. 

Bike       2:37:17  12/19 age group, 61/169 Men, 74/312 overall      

Overall 3:22:37 14/19 age group, 68/169 Men, 86/312 Overall 

So immediately following the race I was a bit disappointed with my result. Though I crushed my bike split I felt like I didn't do well. I was 2 minutes off of what I thought in my race plan was stretch goal total time and that had me down. As I settled down and reflected more on this I realized that these thoughts were STUPID! 

This is only the 3 time I have ever actually ridden 56 miles on a bike. I have only raced this distance twice and the first time I had significant asthma issues so it really doesn't count, so I am still figuring out how to ride/race this distance. Plus this is only the second year of doing triathlons. I just finished the race and had the 12th fastest bike spilt of my uber-competitive age group, and nearly top third bike split of all men!  

So HOLY CRAP, what am I so down about?!! 

I have turned those thoughts around 100%. I am unbelievably happy with what I have accomplished this year. I am really glad I did this race and ended my year on a high note. It was a great venue, a great race, and much different than I have experienced. I learned a bunch, realized I have much more to learn and experience, and I look forward to winter training and next season. 

Race Week

Well I have finally made it to race week. The last couple of weeks of training have gone well. 3 weeks ago I had a significantly reduced training week and it was just weird to have that much time off. Then we hit it hard for 2 weeks and now I am tapering prior to the race.

I shipped my tri bike to the race a couple of weeks ago so I have had my road bike on the trainer. It is SOOO different. My butt is not used to that seat and that position after spending the last year on my tri bike. I also don't have electronic shifting on my road bike so that throws me off too. But its still fun.

I am travelling this week for work spending Thursday and Friday in Knoxville Tennessee, then heading to Miami on Friday night. So I will be away from home, and not have a lot of control of my diet and exercise in the days prior. But its all good. I will get through it just fine.

I fought through a cold over the last week as well. Thankfully it didn't become respiratory and just stayed as a sinus infection. I also made a couple of trips to the chiropractor for some low back pain and that is finally cleared up as well.

My friend Amy texted me today and asked if I was ready for the race. Well I don't know that we ever feel "ready" for a race. I think we always feel like we could have, should have, done more training. But I told her that I am as ready as I can be right now.

Race day weather appears to be in the mid 70's which is much warmer than I am used to right now. It doesn't really affect me as much on the swim or bike like it would on a run. So a good thing I am just doing the swim/bike portion. There are 3 aid stations on the bike too, so plenty of opportunities to hydrate.

I am excited and nervous for this race. I am well prepared, I have a good race plan, and I plan to enjoy my time in the sun. I wont get a chance to open water swim for another 8 months, and outside bike riding will be at least 6 month from now.

New YMCA

After being proposed and talked about for several years, then a couple of years of funding talks, and another year+ of construction the new wellness center run by the YMCA is open. This is a really nice addition for me because it is just 3/4 of a mile from my house.

It opened a couple of days ago, and the family went over to take a look. There is a really nice weight room/fitness area, treadmills, ellipticals and such. There is also a 1/8 mile running track which is the longest in the area. It's unique because it has a bunch of curves in it. That should keep things interesting during long indoor run/walks.

There is a 4 lane lap pool, along with a splash pad area for the kids too. Also a nice addition to the area.

Photo credit Duluth New Tribune

Tonight I stopped in for a couple of reasons. I of course wanted to try out the pool, but I also needed to try out my new swim skin. The last couple of years the swim at the MiamiMan event has not been wetsuit legal so I made the investment in a swimskin just in case.

So I walked out to the pool deck and was met by the lifeguard. She gave me the basic tour and then I hopped in to test out the new suit. I wore my race tri-suit as well. I had not swam in that either. The swim went great, put in a nice 1000 yards and called it quits. The biggest issue with the pool is that it is warm! I expected it to be a bit warmer than the pool downtown because it shares the water with the kids area, but this is kinda yucky warm.

I intend to contact the aquatics director to see. I know her from her lifeguarding times at the downtown Y. (Note: she said it is exactly 2 degrees warmer than downtown)

So I am very excited to have this facility so close to me. Even in the worst weather, it is not a far drive for me to get a workout in, either a swim or a run. The bike and most strength workouts I can do at my home gym. I intend to do my Tuesday swims at this pool, and then head downtown on Fridays for my group swim.

Long Trainer Ride

Well we got a dusting of snow, the temp is 30 degrees and 18 with the wind chill. All rides will be inside for the foreseeable future. So that meant a 2.5 hour trainer ride today. It actually went pretty well. I got through some binge watching by choosing a super flat Zwift course and just cruised.

My race is in about a month from now, so probably just a few more long rides like this on the trainer.

New Kit and 100k Ride

What a fantastic fall day here. Sunshine, clear skies light winds and 52 degrees when I started.

I had just got my new tri kit in the mail on Friday so this was a good first test on the bike. Can a tri kit and my butt hold out for 3 hours on the bike. The answer is YES!

The tri kit was great, no real issues on the bike with it other than my butt got sore just from being on the bike for 3 hours. But honestly, no different than how I feel wearing my bike bibs. So that's great. I have something to wear in November now.

So I rode a new to me route today. I rode the Munger trail. This is a paved multi-use trail that is 70 miles long. I rode not quite halfway and turned around. It is mostly flat, except for the first 10 miles which is ALL UP HILL.

There was hardly anyone on it on the way out, but the last 15-20 miles were pretty busy on the way back. So lots of slowing down to dodge walkers, bikers, rollerbladers etc.

My training plan called for a 3 hour bike, and I wanted to go at least 62 miles so that I got my first 100km ride in. Success!

I have determined that I can't eat solid food on the bike. Its just too much work to try and chew and breathe at the same time and I am afraid I am going to choke. So gels and liquid nutrition it is I guess, which is disappointing because solid food is much more satisfying.

So solid ride, beautiful day, a new tri kit that is comfortable for long bike rides, what more could I want?

Darkness

So I went out for a one hour recovery ride tonight after dinner. Just a pretty standard loop that normally do for an hour ride. Not trying to push the power at all on this ride, after all it is a recovery ride.

Shadows were getting long as I turned eastward for a couple of miles. Then finishing my big loop and heading back to my car, the last few miles were straight into the setting sun so I could hardly see.

Then the sun went down and I couldn't see because it was dark and I am wearing sunglasses. So the last 10 minutes of the ride I was pushing not for a fitness or strava segment reason but because I wanted to get done while I could still see.

I am trying to enjoy riding outside as much as I can because it will be too cold and snowing soon, but apparently I need to ride before dinner now rather than after.

Green Bay Running

So we are in Green Bay this weekend visiting my parents, celebrating my birthday early, and going to a Packer game tomorrow. Since we have a big steak dinner planned, and plenty of junk food to be eaten, I needed to go get some exercise. So the family and I headed to a local trail. I have run here before. It is a nice long paved trail that follows Baird's Creek. My wife and daughter walked with my parent's dog, while I ran.

Up at a decent hour on Saturday and what a fantastic morning. Sunshine and mid 50s. Goal was to run 2 miles then walk for a bit after each mile. Knowing it is generally downhill on the way out. I was successful in that goal, again keeping a nice pace.

They have received a ton of rain in the past few days so the creek was high and had to run through some mud areas where it had flooded. A bit slick, wasn’t expecting that. But it kept the run interesting, and set the stage for a great day.

Cross Training

My training plan called for cross training today. I am never sure exactly what I am supposed to do with this. Oftentimes it is weather dependent. In the summer I often go golfing and get a nice 6 mile walk in. Today I also chose to walk, but this time I took a 45 minute walk in the woods.

Duluth is blessed with many nice hiking trails. I chose one that followed Chester Creek. It was a great day for hiking, and it was nice to just be moving and active without any goal paces to maintain. I missed having my dog Abby for this hike. When she was a puppy we used to take her on this trail. It was a great day today.

Sunrise or Sunset

Well I guess it is time for the season reflection post. Looking back 12 months, my swim has slowly improved. I also did a a lot of base running over the winter and that made a difference. I definitely have more run fitness but it remains a significant weak spot. My knee issues that started last year never went away and I regressed some on the bike. But I think I have finally solved that issue with my new bike fit.

My 2019 racing season was a mixed bag. I had some good success in some areas and not so much in others. I was super happy with my Trinona race. The run sucked when my hamstrings cramped up, but it was a pretty solid effort overall for me. I had a good swim/bike at Brewhouse, but the breathing thing got to me on the run. I am of course super happy with my effort and perseverance at Superiorman.

But I think I have discovered a big part of my problem with this exercise/extrinsic induced asthma. That for sure affected me in two, maybe three races this season and at least one last season. I think my main trigger is swimming? I have never had it during a practice open water swim though, so it isn’t about just being in the open water, or the cold water. But either way, perhaps treating it with an inhaler as suggested by the doctor I can prevent it from happening during a race, and I can see what I can really do.

So looking ahead, running continues to be an area of frustration and I considered giving it up completely and focusing on swim/bike races perhaps. I tossed around several ideas for next season. In then end, I had a good discussion with my coach and my wife and we decided not to give up on the running quite yet. I am however going to do a half aquabike race in Miami in November, just to see how I do with that kind of event. After that, offseason training will focus on continued base training in all 3 sports, with plans for sprint, oly and 70.3 distance triathlons again next year.

The picture at the top of this post could be a sunrise or a sunset. I guess that’s how I view this reflection. The sun is setting on another season, but just beginning to rise on the 2020 season and year 3 of my new triathlon addiction.

Golf/Bike Brick - Superiorman Redemption

I started the morning golfing with some friends and 6 miles walking of walking on a hilly course. I had some lunch and then headed out for a 2 hour bike in the afternoon. It was a fantastic day! Temps around 70 and virtually no wind at all. I chose to ride most of the Superiorman bike course which follows the lake and it was beautiful.

It felt good to get some redemption on 42 miles of the Superiorman course. 21.4mph today vs 17.9 during the race. Just good to prove to myself that I can do it when not affected by asthma.

Running in Indiana

So I am on my way back from Toledo towing a trailer. Decided to spend the night here in Portage Indiana so that I can get through Chicago early on a Sunday morning. I managed to catch a cold earlier this week, coupled with lack of sleep and road trip eating, it's not been a good week. But I had no excuse not to run a bit today, there was a sidewalk near the hotel and google maps said it went for a bit so thats what I did.

Again no expectations or goals just run as I felt. It was sunny but not too warm, actually pretty nice. The road I ran next to was fairly busy and then a convoy of army semis came by. Diesel exhaust yuck.

I stopped was for a photo op, and when approached by a neighborhood dog (he was friendly), so it was a good run and I am happy.

Running Enjoyment

My first scheduled run from my coach last week was to run at my own pace and “just enjoy it.” I had to chuckle at that because I have yet to really enjoy running. Running and I don’t have that kind of relationship. I find it difficult, stressful, and frustrating at the lack of improvement and results.

Although I am middle of the pack in the swim and bike, I am generally dead last in the run. It is really frustrating to see everyone easily run fast. I have had a couple of injuries from running, so we have been taking things really slowly too. I have employed a run/walk strategy measured in seconds or minutes rather than miles or water stations. It’s just been really tough. So I have decided to try and find a way to enjoy running like I enjoy the other sports in triathlon.

So for this first run, I decided to go a totally different route so that I had zero time expectations or experience. I turned off my run/walk timer on my watch, and just set out at a pace I thought I could maintain for a while with the plan to walk when I felt like walking.

My legs were still sore nearly a week after the race so they felt pretty heavy on the run, but again I was just going to take what my body would give me on a nice easy run. I focused mostly on my breathing, and let a nice steady breathing pattern dictate the pace. I only looked at my HR once on my watch. After 15 minutes I turned around and went home.

It was a good run. I wont say I enjoyed it, but I also didn’t hate it.

A few days later I followed it up with another run with the same expectations and basically the same new route. I found a good pace early, steady breathing, HR reasonable and I just kept running at that pace. As I passed the 1 mile mark I was still running, so I figured I would take a quick 1 minute walk break at the halfway point when I turned around at about 15 minutes. Well I stopped to take a picture of a couple of deer so my walk ended up a bit longer than a minute, but thats ok. I am trying to find joy in my running and seeing deer is a good start!

Then I started running the way home. Again basically the same pace, tried to keep my breathing nice and even. Not looking at my watch for most of it. I was feeling good so I figured I might as well try to get a 5k in. So I extended my run a few extra minutes and another .33 miles to get there.

So that has to be the most I have run continuously in a long time almost 14 minutes, and then close to 18 minutes continuous. My observations on that were that it wasn't so bad aerobically, but I was feeling it in my shins and ankles. Somehow the walk breaks that I take give those just enough rest that they don't bother me generally.

Aerobically I felt great. I had fresh legs tonight for this too which helps. Looking at my data my HR was good, pretty steady to just a slow climb, my pace slowed a bit second half but that was pretty steady too.

Now people will laugh when they see the pace of my “run.” I averaged a whopping 10:40/mi on that run. But I am happy with that. I achieved something I haven’t done in a long time, I survived it without being super sore or totally exhausted. So along with the deer sighting, I did prove to myself that I have improved my run fitness over the last two years.

Something to build on!

#TriWifeProblems

Superiorman 70.3 Race Report

Pre-Race

I was up on time, and downtown to the race venue right on schedule at about 4:40am. I was one of the first racers there. I got my bike racked and started setting up my spot. I am glad I brought my headlamp because it was pretty dark. It was a beautiful morning, a little chilly with temps in the mid 50’s, no wind at all. The lake was beautiful.

I got all set up, did a warm-up stretch routine, put my wet suit on to my waist and then headed out to wait for the bus to the boat. The bus came and we got on and took the short ride over to the boat. I talked with a guy from Omaha Nebraska. We started boarding the boat as soon as we arrived.

The boat left and went under the lift bridge, and we tied off on a couple of anchor buoys they had in the lake. Then it was time to start. Temps near the lift bridge were reported to be 58 degrees, but that the water got colder as we went away from there. Probably to the low 50’s.

So at the athlete meeting on Friday they mentioned that the swim was going to be shortened some because of the water temp. Officially the course was 0.93 miles.

It was a dead calm morning. No waves at all which was a big concern for me. Because of the temps, it was wetsuit mandatory, but they also required everyone to use a swim buoy as well. That turned out to be a lifesaver for me.

Swim

That swim was f'n ridiculous.

So I jump off the boat and immediately my hands and feet go numb from the cold. I get water in my suit and that’s ok, I try to put my face in the water and just blow bubbles but its no use at all. Immediately I have trouble breathing. I try to swim a bit but my breaths are shallow and I just can't do it. I managed to get the 200 yards to the first turn buoy (L shaped course) using a variation of kicking, swimming and current.

Once past the buoy I seriously considered dropping out. There was no way I was going to swim another 1400+ yards like this. I looked at the rescue boats and almost waved one down.

Then someone swam by me doing the backstroke. So I flipped onto my back and tried that. I could breath my shallow breaths and make progress. So I decided to see how that went for me. I don’t know who that guy was or how long he did backstroke, but if it weren’t for him giving me the idea, I would have DNF.

It's pretty difficult to swim open water backstroke. Nothing to guide you to go straight. So I was zigging all over the place. My swim buoy either loosened up or something but it kept sliding off which was a pain in the ass.

Eventually EVERYONE else except the amputee had finished the swim. I got to the rocky swim exit and I was super dizzy when I tried to stand up. The volunteers were amazing and helped me up. Then we had to climb a dirt/mud path up to transition.

I was just spent. I was really dizzy, my feet and hands were numb, and I felt like I was going to puke.

I got into transition and just sat down to take my stuff off and change my shoes and shirt. A photographer came by to take some pictures. Not of me, but of my bike. He thought it looked cool.

Eventually I made it out of transition and onto my bike.

I will NEVER do this race again with a lake side swim.

Bike

So, this asthma thing that I was experiencing basically didn't allow me to take in deep breaths. Only shallow breathing. So, it had the effect of severely limiting my output on the bike. I couldn't go hard at all without getting out of breath very easily and having a really hard time catching it.

Therefor my HR plan went out the window and I just took what my body would give me on the bike today.

A few miles in I stopped to say hi to one of the volunteers. He was the guy that gave me the entry due to his injury. Surprisingly I didn’t curse him too badly today.

The bike went ok. I used a different pair of try shorts for this bike ride and I didn't have the sore sit bones like I did the last race. I was a bit sore after 3 hours, but nothing at all like last week where I had trouble sitting at home afterwards.

There was no wind, nice and sunny day. A beautiful day for a bike ride. I did pass a bunch of people on the bike even at this low speed. I drank my tailwind and had a gel.

85% of the bike course is good road and it was fun. I was frustrated that I had to go into my small gear so much today, I don't normally have to do that on this road. But as I said, I took what my body could give me.

T2 went fine. I put on some additional sunscreen and was off for the run.

Run

I had hoped for a 3 hour run and that’s exactly what I got! I knew I could walk the whole thing and finish in time so I actually really enjoyed the run.

My breathing problems continued, so I tested how much I could reasonably run and it was about 45 seconds. I was prepared for this and did :45/1:15 as much as I could. I walked through aid stations and up hills as well.

The first few miles were a struggle, I felt better in miles 3-7, then I just started to lose steam. I went to a run/walk/walk type of effort. My walk pace was about 14:30 which helped me keep things in the 13-14/mile range with limited running.

My wife and daughter camped out on the run course so that I would see them 4 times. It was good to see them and hear their cowbells when I came up the hill towards them.

Who knew that flat, warm, Pepsi would taste SOOO GOOD!!! I basically subsisted on that stuff for 2/3 of the run.

I ran downhill into the finish line, arms up and a smile on my face!

I did it!

I finished this race with a lot of adversity. I did not have the the time result I would have hoped for, nor was I feeling the greatest, but I kept going and finished. I am SUPER happy with my effort today, and proud of my accomplishment.

As a bonus, they give out these really nice Epicurian cutting boards rather than a finisher medal. So now I can remember this epic race every time I cut food!

Overall Result: 7:16:45, 83/91 Overall, 60/63 Men, 9/9 age group

Post Race: 

I ended up taking myself to urgent care to have them take a listen to my lungs. I was indeed wheezing. They gave me a nebulizer treatment to help with that and it did. The PA diagnosed me with "extrinsic or exercise induced asthma." She gave me a script for an albuterol inhaler and told me to use it before exercising in the future. She also said I should go see my primary care doc and see what he thinks.

I have had these attacks before but very rarely. I remember my first one was on a hike in Colorado probably 20 years ago, just came on suddenly, very scary. I haven't seen it in training, only in races. Something about the water sets it off.