My 3 Year Ordeal With WebHost4Life

The Background

Several years ago, my wife, Laura, was a photographer, and I was an amateur web-designer. In order to help her set up a photography business and market it on the Inter-webs, I enlisted the services of a website hosting company called WebHost4Life (actually, I think it was some other company that was eventually bought by WebHost4Life, but I digress).

In early 2007, Laura transferred her photo business website to another, specialty service, and we canceled the WH4L account. Of course, because I had paid up front for a year of service, and WH4L wasn't about to refund the money, the account remained active until the end of the year even though we didn't use it. I had filled out all the requisite forms required of me to close the account, and was assured by WH4L's crack service team that the account would terminate once the year was over.

Of course, in November of 2007, I was informed that my credit card could not be billed for the upcoming 2008 year of service on the account. When I called the billing department, the geniuses there told me to ignore the robo-mail, as the account would terminate after the billing cycle.

In November 2008, we repeated the above scenario. This time, however, the MENSA candidates at WH4L assured me there was no amount due, that the emails were an artifact of a conversion to a new system, and that I should ignore them. Of course, in November of 2009, we again repeated the 2008 scenario.

Last month (November 2010), I received yet another notification of a past due account. I called billing support, and went through the process of speaking with two or three people who, at various different times, could be heard clicking computer keys to ostensibly enter information into the super fantastic WH4L account management system. Once again, I was informed that it was all set, and I would not have to deal with the matter again.

Fast forward to last Tuesday. I received this email:

Stephen, there is a problem with your account

WebHost4Life ✆ to steve

show details Dec 3 (6 days ago)

Dear Stephen,

Thank you for choosing WebHost4Life; we appreciate your business.

We wanted to let you know that we have been unable to process
the payment for your "lauraperx" account. As of today,
your account is past due for a total of 286.80; we
have not been able to bill your card because your bank has
declined the transaction.

In order to avoid an interruption of service to your website,
please take a moment to review your billing status and update
your account information at:
http://www.webhost4life.com/member/BillingConsole/billingConsole.bml

Your billing information needs to be corrected as soon as
possible to maintain service to your website.

Please remember to update your billing name, address, zip code,
card number and your primary email address before pressing
the "Bill All Past Dues" button.

Please note: we recommend you visit DomainCentral in your control
panel to be sure that all domains associated with this account are
currently active. As our hosting and domain renewals are separate
payments, it is important to verify the status of your domain(s), and
renew accordingly.

If you are unable to process your transaction successfully,
please contact your bank to find out why your card was declined.

If you have any questions or would like to pay by check or
Western Union, please reply to this email or contact us at
888-306-3780.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
The WebHost4Life Team


318cc1(10.08.09)

I ignored it, of course.

Then, this morning, I got this email:

Stephen, Your Account Is Past Due

WebHost4Life ✆ to steve

show details 3:06 AM (7 hours ago)

Dear Stephen,

We still have not been able to process a credit card payment for
your lauraperx account. After last week's notification, we
tried again to process the past due payment of 286.80,
but were not able to do so.

To ensure uninterrupted service, you will need to update your
credit card information in our Billing Console. Please log in
today to update your information:
http://www.webhost4life.com/member/BillingConsole/billingConsole.bml

Once you have updated your information, please press the "Bill
All Past Dues" button.

Please note: we recommend you visit DomainCentral in your control
panel to be sure that all domains associated with this account are
currently active. As our hosting and domain renewals are separate
payments, it is important to verify the status of your domain(s), and
renew accordingly.

If you are unable to process a payment, please contact our
Support team by replying to this email or by contacting
888-306-3780.

Please do not delay! We are keeping your site online to allow
you time to resolve this issue. However, your site will be taken
off line within the week if we do not receive your payment.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
The WebHost4Life Team



319cc2(10.08.09)

This was my response:

Stephen Perkins ✆ to WebHost4Life

show details 9:54 AM (30 minutes ago)

Dear Webhost4Life Team:

It's not surprising that you could not process payment for the "lauraperx" account, given that it has been defunct for 3 years. I have had to deal with this issue with you every November and December for the last two years. I was hopeful (after my most recent discussion with your billing support a month ago) that this issue had at long last been resolved. Sadly, I see that my optimism was (yet again) premature.

I wonder if your systems and departments are at all capable of talking to one another? Is it typical that customers are burdened with a 3+ year account termination process? Please help me understand how this can continue to be an issue year after year.

I will not be going to my Billing Console to update my credit card information, as I have no intention of paying for services that were terminated three years ago. Please accept (yet again) my notification that this account is no longer active. Please remove the account from your records, and by all means, please DO interrupt my service.

Talk to you next year.

Steve Perkins

As has occurred in the past 3 years, subsequent emails indicate the account has been canceled. I guess we'll find out next year.

Body Composition

I've decided to see how my body responds to a targeted effort at reducing weight for the purpose of getting faster at triathlon racing.  This is part of my plan/goal to try to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman before I turn 50 (in 2020).  This will take a huge effort to become a faster racer... particularly on the bike and the run.  My current personal best Ironman time is 12:12:56 last year.  I figure that in the 45-49 age group, I'll need a time of about 10:00:00 (depending on which qualifier I do) in order to qualify for Kona.  That means I need to take 2+ hours off my personal best.  Minimizing my weight will be key.

Current weight (post Denver Marathon): 195 lbs
Current Body Mass Index (BMI): 23.7 - toward the upper end of "healthy".
Goal weight: 180 lbs (high school graduation weight).

Plan:

Cut down on sugar and alcohol.  Target specific calorie intake and modify according to calorie expenditure.  Aim for percentages of calories from fat/carbs/protein at 25-30% fat/40-50% carb/25-30% protein.

I'm hoping to find the sweet spot where I minimize weight without sacrificing muscle, so that I can really build my power to weight ratio and become faster on the bike and the run. This should be interesting.

2010 - Ironman Lake Placid Race Report

The Short

• Swim - 1:13:04 (Goal: 1:15)
• T1 - 9:10
• Bike - 6:11:42 (Goal: 6:10)
• T2 - 3:35
• Run - 4:35:36 (Goal: sub 5:00)
• Finish - 12:12:57 (Goal: 12:30)

This race unfolded almost exactly perfectly for me despite an inauspicious accident right before the swim start.  I stepped on something (a rock, I think) and cut the outside of my right foot, just below the little toe about 5 minutes before the cannon went off.  I didn’t know how bad it was, but I didn’t think about it, I just focused on the race.

Race execution was almost to a T, and the result was a 14 minute Ironman PR, including a PR for the Ironman marathon by 25 minutes.  Once again, the 4 Keys point the way to AG success. 

The Long

Lake Placid was my third Ironman in the past 6 years (IM Wisconsin in 2004 and 2007).  In 2004, I was a newbie, and just trying to survive.  A perfect day with no idea how to execute had me finish in 12:27 with run a 5 hour marathon following a 6:01 on the bike and a 1:10 on the swim.  I was in terrific (for me) swim shape, and had been logging several century rides and 2+ hour runs.

In 2007, I was an EN newbie (I think EN was created right after I joined Rich on Crucible Fitness in 2007), but I ignored the 4 Keys to the tune of a 13:15 finish time, including a 5:55 hour ego death march on the marathon following a 5:54 bike split and 1:13 on the swim.  Giving up 55 minutes on the run to gain 7 minutes on the bike wasn't such a great plan.  I was tasting the paste I ate for several weeks after that.

Lake Placid was to be my redemption for Wisconsin, and it made up for it and more.

Arrival

Dan (my twin brother) and I arrived in Albany on Wed. afternoon and drove the 2.5 hours to Lake Placid.  The Adirondacks are absolutely gorgeous if you've never been, and it seems like a cyclist's Heaven out here.  Lake Placid reminds me of a smaller, greener, more humid version of Estes Park, Colorado.  It's a resort town, and it seems that in the summers, traffic is horrendous.  That was Lake Placid during Ironman week.  Everything is crowded, and it takes forever to get anywhere downtown.  Nonetheless, we managed to make it out to ride part of the course on Thursday.  Thursday was mostly administrative as we checked in and picked up the race bags.  Then we headed over to Tribike Transport to pick up the bikes, shook 'em out and rode the climb out of town and the descent into Keene.  We finished up Thursday by attending the EN Team dinner at Nicola's on Main (GREAT pizza there, by the way).

Great to meet everyone there.  It's nice to put faces with names I've seen online.  Chris G was a wealth of knowledge for the course.

On Friday, we went down to the swim start about an hour before the EN 4 Keys talk, and swam a loop of the course.  After that, we stuck around to listen to Coach P's 4 Keys talk (he was ON for the talk... lots of great points that are hammered home as only RnP can do).  After that, we had lunch and then hit the first 2+ miles of the run course down to River Road and back, noting that it is quite easy to run far too fast on those first two miles.  Then, we went home and got the bikes and bags all ready for drop off on Sat.

On Saturday, we pretty much chilled out all day after dropping off the bikes and bags.  Went to bed at 8:30 and stared at the ceiling for about an hour.  I woke up at 2 am and drank a couple of Ensure + shakes, peed and went back to bed.  Somebody was having a party not far away that went until at least 2:30 when I finally fell back asleep.

The Race

Up and dressed at 4:30 race morning.  Last minute admin stuff and checking the Transition bags, and we hit the Village.  Pumped up the bike tires, handed Transition bags to the sherpa and headed to the swim start, where we sat around for a half an hour or so before lining up for the Spin Cycle.

The Swim - Goal: 1:15 - Actual 1:13:04

I had an unfortunate accident just before the cannon went off when I stepped on a rock (I think) and cut my right foot, just below the little toe about 5 minutes before the cannon went off.  I couldn't tell how bad it was, but there seemed to be a pretty deep cut, and I could feel a skin flap that seemed not insignificant.  However, there was no real pain, so I figured I'd see how it went.  When the cannon went off and I started swimming, it stung a little, but soon went away.

(side note) - In true EN fashion, I trained FAR less on the swim than I had in either 2004 or 2007, and my times were not that far off.  I was 3 minutes slower than in 2004 and less than 30 seconds slower than in 2007.

T1: 9:10

When I got out of the water, I looked down and noticed my foot was still bleeding.  I couldn't tell how bad it was, but I knew it wasn't a great sign.  In T1, I took a couple of extra minutes to try to stem the blood flow a little.  I had planned not to wear socks on the bike (never do in any triathlon) but decided I didn't want to bleed all over the inside of my shoes, so I put on the emergency socks I put in the T1 bag, put my shoes on and ran to my bike.  The bike mount line was crowded, but I took it slow and was on the bike quickly and out of T1.

The Bike - Goal: 6:10 - Actual 6:11:42 (AP: 205, NP: 211, VI: 1.03 TSS: 269) 

Cruisin' on the bike

Apparently, it had rained during the swim, and the streets out of town were a little wet.  That didn't bode well for the descent into Keene, but I didn't really care.  I was looking forward to redemption on the bike from Wisconsin 2007, and I was focusing on my power numbers.  I had made the decision to shoot for about a 0.68 IF instead of 0.70 because my run fitness was not where I wanted it to be.

On the climb out of town took almost half an hour, but I made sure to keep the effort easy (NP=215).  At times, I was going less than 8 mph and people were hammering past me like it was a time trial, but I just let them go (even though it was hard to do).  At the end of the climb I finally saw the sign with the truck heading downhill, and the fun was about to start.  Despite the rain and my 1:13 swim, there were surprisingly few people around me, so, I pretty much spun through the gears and then tucked and flew when I hit 35 mph.  I topped out at 50 mph down the descent, barely touching the brakes; although I did keep my hands on the bullhorns instead of the aerobars.

Looks like I'm going pretty hard
here, but it was all downhill

Once you’re past the descent (about 12 minutes when you’re flying), the fun continues on the ride to Jay and Ausable Forks.  The road was pretty flat, and you could carry some decent speed through the rollers, although there were a few times I saw speeds of 17 mph or less.  It really wasn’t until the turn off 86 to start the climb back toward Lake Placid that you really saw sustained climbing.  Coach P is correct that the climb from Jay to Wilmington is a bear.  Lots of slow steady effort, but I kept it pretty low and watched the morons hammer past.

After the climb to Wilmington, you get some more rollers that are actually pretty fast until you start the Whiteface climb.  Once again, slow and steady, then some nice flat-to-rolling-to slight uphill until you pass River Road.  Then, the Cherries and the Bears are all that separate you from Lap 2.  I met each of these with the same philosophy of keeping the watts as low as possible.  I didn’t think the Cherries were bad at all, and Papa Bear was the only hill on the Bears that was at all difficult.  Lotsa people lining that climb made it seem a lot easier.

Finishing up Lap 1

After climbing Papa Bear, most of the rest of the way into town is fairly flat.  As I started lap 2, I could see that I was right on pace at 3:02.  Lap 2 was more of the same, but I spent significantly less time aero, as I had a hard time staying comfortable.  This was probably due to the fact that I did not train myself to be aero for long periods of time, and did several of my rides on my new road bike.

Lap 2 took more effort.  The winds kicked up a bit, and my speed was down.  However, I kept the watts on target and felt pretty good when I reached T2.  I was VERY ready to get off the bike, and at the bike handoff, I told the bike catch volunteer to get that thing (the bike) out of my sight.    Funny enough, though was that as I was climbing past Whiteface a guy was riding past me and said he couldn’t wait to get off the bike.  I told him to just wait, and that at mile 18 of the run he may be wishing he had that bike back.  

T2: 3:35

Off the bike, I could feel that gash in my foot, although other parts of me hurt much worse as I hobbled to grab my run gear bag and do the quick change.  My right sock was very bloody, but the cut seemed to have stopped bleeding a bit.  I changed socks, put on the shoes, grabbed my Garmin and my visor, and headed out for the marathon.

The Run - Goal: sub 5:00 - Actual 4:35:36

My run goal was to beat the 5 hour marathon I had at Moo 2004.  I felt I executed my very first Ironman very well back then, but was disappointed with the marathon, where I had walked significant portions.  I figured anything close to 1 4:50 would be a success.

As I started the marathon, I was feeling okay.  I saw Coach P and the EN Crew on my way down the hill.  I remember mentioning to P that I had cut my foot just before the swim.  He told me to give it my best, so I soldiered on.  Turned out to be a non-issue, since I didn’t even feel it most of the day.

My long run pace was about 9:30/mi, so I targeted 10:00/mi for the first six miles.  I was almost dead on.  My Garmin shows that I ran 9:59 for the first six miles, which included short walking breaks at the aid stations, and one potty break at mile 5.  After I passed mile 6, I wanted to settle into my 9:30/mi pace, but I went through a tough spell, and could only manage just shy of 11:00/mi.

Saw the EN crew again as I headed for the turnaround.  Great support from the team!

Crossing the Line! You ARE an Ironman! (again)

After the turnaround, I suddenly felt very good, and really picked up the pace.  I wanted to take advantage of feeling good and the downhill out of town, knowing I could run faster at a somewhat easier effort the first two miles of the second loop.

Mile 13 was at 9:24/mi and I managed a few more miles at around 9:30/mi, but I also had a few around 10:15 or so.  I started counting people at mile 18 and lost count somewhere at about 250.  I noticed a LOT of people that had passed me at mile 6 coming back to me throughout that second lap, and especially after mile 18.  Mile 24 was very bad for me.  I walked most of that mile despite people yelling and cheering for me to run.  I just felt I had nothing in me.  But, at mile 25 I promised myself I’d keep running to the end no matter what.  I finished the last 1.2 at sub-9:00/mi pace, and even passed 5 people inside the oval.  I never get tired of hearing “You are an Ironman,” and this was no exception.

I saw lots of EN folks on the run and tried to give lots of cheer to everyone I saw.  The Halligan was tearing it up, and I knew he was about an hour ahead of me.  Congrats to him and all the other EN team members who completed the race.  Apologies to Cary Blanco. I appreciated the cheers you gave me while on the run, but in my haze of pain and fatigue, I could tell who you were without the EN gear.  

Another finisher's view.  I
was very happy to be finished.

Total – Goal: 12:30:00 – Actual 12:12:57

Funniest part of my day was at the end.  My first thought was “I’m glad this is over” followed quickly by the thought that “I can still do this faster.”  Some day I'll get to prove it.    I love this distance.  It really is all about racing yourself rather than the competition.  I’m not sure I could do it every year, but I will definitely return to do yet another Ironman in the future.  I wish this venue was easier for me to reach.  The course is beautiful.  The crowd is fantastic.  This is truly a wonderful race, and should be on any Ironman Triathlete’s must-do list.

Interesting side note:  I went to the med tent after the race to have them look at my foot.  Apparently, the cut was pretty deep, and they suggested I might want to consider getting a couple of stitches.  However,  I was not interested in waiting at the ER for hours on end, and I'd just finished an Ironman without the stitches.  So, I should have a nice battle scar to admire and remind me of this race.

Congratulations to everyone who raced and finished, and thanks so much to the team members who showed up to cheer.  What a great day!!