Spring Festival Triathlon

The Spring Festival was an awesome trip!  Kevin, Anne, Corrie, Mackenzie, and I all met up at the lake for a gorgeous day of racing, cheering, and picture taking.  My friend Diana also raced so there were a lot of friendly faces to cheer us on, take pictures, and celebrate in style!

The swim started with the typical roughness as I repeatedly bumped into the guy to my right.  He paid me back as his elbow hit my goggles a few seconds later.  On our way to the first buoy, I eased ahead of the pack as they started to fade after the initial sprint start.  It is usually about 2 or 3 minutes into the swim when the lead pack starts to take over.  Just before the first buoy I thought I was at the front.  That was until a guy came torpedoing into my peripheral vision.  He was obviously a super swimmer and heading straight to the lead.  I was not disappointed that he was swimming faster than I was, I was disappointed that I had started too far away from him to catch his feet.

I swam hard the backstretch of the course as the super swimmer put a few more seconds into me, and I put crucial seconds into the chasers.  After rounding the final buoy I set course to land and held strong. Despite feeling a little sluggish near the end of the swim, my time was faster than last year.  I am also very pleased that super swimmer was only able to put 20 seconds into me during the swim.

I tried to stay relaxed through T1 as I stripped my wetsuit, put on my helmet, and pulled my new, awesome Rudy Project sleeves on.  I had a fairly good T1 to squash the gap to super swimmer as we left T1 together.  Near the mount line there is an immediate hill.  I lost a little time here as my flying mount ran out of speed before I could get my feet onto my shoes.  As I uncharacteristically struggled to get my feet into my shoes, super swimmer went by me.  After a brief struggle with my shoes, I was in 2^nd place and ready to ride down 1^st.

*The leader's motorcycle graciously waiting to escort us

After the first hilly section of the bike I was riding strong and quickly closing the gap to the lead.  Shortly after, two super-athletes rode past me.  I know these two gentlemen well, it will take me a couple years of consistent training to reach their level. They are incredible.

Anyway, I followed the two super riders as we rode past the lead swimmer.  I think he started too fast because he seemed to be fading.  As we continued on the bike, I rode comfortably hard while Picicci left me, and McGill left, well, everyone. On the way back I continued to have a great ride, I spotted Kevin and Mackenzie riding hard, and engrossed in their own battles for position.  Near the finish of the bike course I took assessment of the leaders and the chasers.  I was sitting comfortably in 3^rd but I had company. A guy riding a P3 had closed to about 20 seconds of me and threatened to nudge me off the podium.

I hit T2, stalled the Murder Machine, and put on my tenny-runners.  I flew out of transition while 4^th place finished his transition.  Once on the run I had great turnover and foot strike.  I held a very fast pace for the first mile and started putting time into my chasers.  The run continued as my training legs told me they were tired, but somehow still begged for more.  I was having a great run and was putting time into the racers near me. 

I knew the hill at mile 2 would be my chance to shut the door and secure the podium.   I crested the hill feeling tired, but still moving fast.  I negotiated the last mile through the neighborhood, the quad-busting downhill, and shifted to my 400-meter speed for the finish kick.  I crossed the finish line averaging low 6 minute pace for the 5k, and roughly 1:45 faster overall than last year.

I was able to put about a minute into 4^th place to secure my podium spot. Picicci and McGill were well out of reach as they hammered everyone.  I was pretty happy that I only gave up 2.5 minutes to Drew; I think he beat me by 4 minutes last year, like I said, another couple years at least.  I took time to enjoy my Hammer Nutrition Recovery drink at the finish.

Kevin and Mackenzie both had great races, resulting in both securing medals for their efforts.  We all owe Corrie and Anne a big thank you for their cheers, and picture taking.  I could hear the cheers while I was on the course.  If it were not for Corrie, this post would not have awesome pictures.

What an awesome trip, we are all so lucky to be healthy, together, and successful. The race was an excellent day for a training race, training that is right on track.

*The suit is half off...that means the race and race report are over.

Rowdy Gaines: Still a genius.

Spring Festival Preview

The Spring Festival was a great success.  Our entourage, comprised of Corrie, Anne, Mackenzie, Kevin, and me, rode dirty on the race course, and totally cleaned up at the awards ceremony.  We arrived motivated, and left weighted down with medals, trophies, and satisfaction.  We are so lucky to be Americans and enjoy the freedom to race on Memorial Day. Race report to follow.

PEAK Triathlon

In traveling to the 2011 Peak Triathlon, I had to take the road to redemption.  Last year I had a terrible race.  Sparing the details, my race in 2010 was one big dirty bomb of destruction.  I left with ripped up feet, detonated muscles, and a very disappointing 11^th place finish.  One thing that weighs heavy on my conscious is unfinished business.  This year I plan to finish the unfinished, and that starts with the Peak Tri.

* The Road To Redemption requires a special color scheme, total white out. 

I arrived at the race with plenty of time to relax, set up, and say hello to a few friends. Transition-volunteer-extraordinaire, Jess, had lined me up a prime spot in transition, sweet! After the normal transition set up, I made my way to body marking and the pool deck. Once in the pool I had just enough time for a brief swimming warm-up and a few extra flip turns.

3…2…1 and we were off. My lane partner started even with me and stuck to my pace for the first 25 yds. At the wall I hit a perfectly timed flip turn, dolphin-kicked, and resurfaced with a body-length lead. When I start a race I make an immediate assessment of how my body feels. When I am feeling rested I would describe my muscles as feeling “thick.” When I am tired and don’t have the rest, I would describe my muscles as feeling “empty.” On lap three I asked myself, “how do they feel.” My answer, “empty.” This was expected as a result of training through.

I kept the pressure high, but out of the detonate zone for the next few laps by swimming relatively easy considering it was a race. On lap 8 I put my lane partner a lap down with a smooth pass. Two laps later I was out, 2nd in my heat. My friend Amy Mack shouted to me, “6:29 good swim” as I made my way to T1. I hit T1 right on L’Hueruex’s feet while being cheered by Jess and her two friends, Anne and Tricia (thanks to Tricia for some great pictures too).

I left T1 and flew aboard the Murder Machine. A few more cheers from friends and family and I was out onto the bike course. The first thing I noticed was how great my new saddle and aero bar pads felt, wow. The bike course is hard, there are some large hills, and the winds can be punishing. This is just the kind of bike course that will shred your legs for the run.

I rode hard in the aero position until the base of the largest hill. I started the ascent while coming out of the saddle. I rode out of the saddle, swaying my body side to side atop the Murder Machine. The best thing about a punishing hill is the wicked fast descent on the other side. I crested the beast and dove back into the aero position amidst a clicking of gears while downshifting. I flew down the hill maxing out my huge FSA chainring. I hit the bike turnaround with a brake-squealing U turn and immediately set course to return to sender.

After the turnaround I took checks to the approaching chasers. I was glad to see I was putting time into the immediate chase pack. I kept the pace high while retracing the windy, hilly bike course. My “empty” legs protested any increase in efforts so I held steady until T2, hitting the dismount line I completed my bike split averaging 23 mph on the dot. Not a bad ride for wimp like me :).

The great thing about the Peak run course is that is it harder than the bike course.  There are a couple of hills, one of which is a diabolical rise that will break your spirit.  I left T2 motivated but feeling flat from the training I had done the week leading up to this race.  I knew this run would be a “grit your teeth” sort of split.  It didn’t help knowing that some seriously fast dudes were in the previous heats.  There would be no resting or recovering during this run, only pain.  I made my way through the three portion out and backs and conquered the hill.  At about mile 3 I knew I had to “go” because there were plenty of people from other heats that would be close to my time.  I finished with a half decent sprint while falling off the curb and flailing my arms.

Going into this race I knew there were a ton of fast people at this race.  In looking at who was racing I reasoned that I would be happy with a top 8 finish considering the amount of speed at this race.  At the awards ceremony I saw that I had finished fourth place in a stacked men’s field.  Icing on the cake was when I beat three of the people that beat me last year.  Finishing fourth is a great feeling, it is an even better feeling to “go and do this…and totally redeem myself”  (Dumb and Dumber).

The Peak Tri was a fantastically well-organized race that provided everyone with a great race experience, awesome awards, and sweet raffle prizes.  Best race in Montana, let the haters start to hate.  I finished the day with a great BBQ and campfire with my parents, Kevin, Jess, and Jess’s friend Anne. 

I stayed up way past my bedtime while we rehashed the day’s stories and funny moments, and enjoyed the pleasant evening.  I also indulged in an orange frosted cookie that had so much sugar I called it “Agent Orange” because that sucker was deadly. 

Status: Redeemed.

PEAK Tri Preview

I have heard people describe triathlon as a "journey."  I was talking to Matt Seely a few years ago and he told me that 90 percent of the satisfaction in triathlon comes from the training (the journey).  I would agree that the training is satisfying, and a great amount of satisfaction comes from systematic progression towards the accomplishment of a challenging goal.  

In contrast, 90 percent of the satisfaction while traveling the road to road to redemption is arriving at the destination.  I have arrived and it feels amazing.

Mother's Day Triathlon

 One of the great things about the northwest is the unpredictable nature of the races.  Some races are flat and fast sessions of blazing speed and all out power, while others are grueling accents up the side of mountains that are more suited towards mountain goats.  Of course you have a few races thrown in there that just leave you asking yourself, “who the heck thought this is up?”   Along the lines of unpredictable courses, you will always enjoy the random patterns of weather that is known as spring in the northwest, a.k.a the season that comes after winter that is almost winter.

The crazy weather pattern was never more prevalent than at the Mother’s Day Triathlon.  The weather was pounding rain, blustery winds, and swirling storms. Weather that was more suited to ski jackets rather than tri suits.  I have a little secret for getting through situations like this.  The secret is to tell myself, “just get through the next ‘x’ number of hours, after that it’s all good.”  I had to use this technique numerous times before the race. My race friend, Kevin, and I actually had a great discussion that on days when it is outside factors that are making things hard, the race essentially takes place in your mind.  The hard part of the race was overcoming, mentally, the hurdles that we knew we would be suffering through.  Once we set it in motion there would be no stopping us.  I told him, in 2 hours we are going to back in this car with a bunch of awards and it’s totally going to be worth what we have to do.  I can recall numerous times where I have been in positions where I was apprehensive about a situation, in those instances I reached a turning point of turnaround or fully commit.  Every single time, not some of the time, EV-ER-Y-TIME, I have pushed on, it has turned out epically well. Did you find the lesson in that?



As Kevin and I sat in the car, there was no complaining, just a silent focusing of our minds to the task that we knew we had to do.  Never once did we consider not racing (double negative J), we were there to race, we were there to take care of business.  The weather was so cold that Kevin and I had to adapt our pre race routine to include a full wetsuit dressing while still in the protective confines of the car.  Adapt and overcome, right?  We entered the car as mere mortals; we emerged as wetsuit clad super heroes ready to brave whatever came our way.

While standing at the edge of the water, I made the judgement call that I would forgo the swim warmup. In hindsight this was a smart move, the time I spent not freezing in the water was worth it. 10 seconds before the start I had one thing going through my mind, “I will do whatever it takes.” Considering my exit position I had an excellent swim. Despite coming out first, the lack of warmup left my swim feeling slow and my arms heavy. I hit the water’s bank happy to be out of the drink. Before I could say “dang it’s cold,” I was on my Cervelo P3 Murder Machine…murdering. Wait, not murdering, riding hard is what I meant.

The one fun thing about races with bad weather is I ride through things I usually avoid like the plague. For example, during a race I blow through puddles doing 20-something and don’t even think twice. During training I would never subject my bike or my kit to such crazy behavior. The race course was one big puddle, for the first half of the bike course I was focusing on riding smooth, staying out of the detonation zone by keeping my effort controlled, and constantly trying to spit out the rain water that was flying off my front tire up into my mouth (disgusting, road water tastes chalky and metallic fyi).

With my thirst thoroughly quenched, I hit the bike turnaround. I took a brief time split to second place; my calculation put a $10,000 Scott Plasma with Zipp 808s about two minutes back. Shortly after, I spotted Kevin in the distance riding hard in 3rd place, leading a chase pack of 4 or so. Going into the race I really wanted a solid run, and I really wanted to test a race tactic of riding a bit easier to see if this allowed me to run my fastest. On the last quarter of the bike I powered down and tried to gather my legs for the run.

Transition 2 was shaky at best. My fingers were so numb from the cold that I couldn’t get enough pressure on the lace locks to tighten my shoes. I had to settle for yanking the laces, tucking them into the shoe, and hoping they held. The other half of the race tactic experiment was to make absolutely sure I did not start too fast. In doing so I left T2 in first running comfortable and smooth. As the chase pack approached T2 I took time checks to the chasing racers as I ran in the opposite direction. I knew in my heart I was going to win if I stayed strong and on course.

I continued to run comfortably hard as I passed the first aid station. After my alkaline mocha on the bike I passed up any refreshment. I hit the run turnaround on total cruise control. I trained through this race (see Rowdy Gaines’ Concept) but my muscles actually felt reasonably strong. On the way back to the finish I spotted Kevin engrossed in his bitter dog fight with the chase pack. As we passed I yelled at him, “get your glory son!” Not really sure what that means.

At this point I was running fast, but I knew I could run faster. I was faced with a decision to cruise into the finish in style, or hit the detonate button, shred my muscles, and finish the last mile with pain and spit. As a training race, I decided that in the grand scheme of things it would be best to save the muscle shredding and spit on face for when it became absolutely necessary. I had more training to do in the next few weeks that would benefit from not running my legs and lungs to destruction. In the end, I had done what it took to win and I had a great run.

There is no greater feeling than winning and I prolonged it by finishing fresh, feeling great, and absorbing the cheers that the parka-clad spectators offered.  I am so thankful things turned out like they did.  Kevin also had a great day coming across the line with a top 5 finish.  We both left the race with awards, and the satisfaction of knowing that not only did we give ourselves the opportunity to do well in a challenging situation, but we also establish that the “EVERYTIME” absolution still stands without dispute.    

*Notice the shirt says "Memorial Day."  The race director did not get the order of shirts in time so he offered these as the replacements, still cool.



Mother's Day Tri Preview

This was a triathlon day with the worst tri conditions: miserable winds, cold temperatures, and horrendous down pours... All the things necessary for an awesome tri adventure. Winners do the things other people don't want to do.