Welcome to Miami, where the heat is on

I'm in South Carolina now, mostly relaxing after an eventful weekend in Miami.  I went down for the Nautica South Beach Triathlon held Sunday.  After getting a bit sick early in the week (bad timing...) I was feeling good except for a lingering cough.  Now I've done many triathlons but this one was unique in many ways.  For example, have you ever been on your warmup run at 5:30am race morning while music is still blaring from some clubs and there are more intoxicated people walking around than triathletes?  Driving into South Beach at 4:30am it was like rush hour traffic with all the people leaving after a long Saturday night of partying.

South Beach was a great venue for the race.  The ocean, while choppy with large swells the day before, was almost completely calm on race morning.  I actually was hoping for more chop, since it doesn't bother me one bit swimming in 4 foot swells while many of my competitors can't say the same.  We swam a point to point course, which ended up being either long or against a current, as my time of 25min is well off of my usual 19-20.  I know it wasn't a bad swim though, because even Cam Dye and Javier Gomez were over 20min, and I came out of the water 7th Elite Amateur, which is a few spots higher than I usually am at a race of this caliber.  However, I was nowhere near 7th out of the water in my wave because for the first time I've ever seen or heard of, they started us in the same wave as the pros.  While good for me as I got to do some drafting with the slower pros, I would've been a bit upset if I were racing for the $40k prize purse and had to cut through the amateur athletes.

T1 was slow... I was quick at the rack but it was a long run on the sand which tired me out, so I used the run to my bike as recovery time.  I performed a flawless mount (or so I thought at first) and was off riding.  Energized to hear from Summer and my mom, who came to watch the race that I was in 7th, I was excited to try to pull some spots back on the bike which I've worked so hard on this off season.

At first I felt good, we were only on the island for a minute or two before getting on the long bridge to Miami.  This is where the hills were, and where I caught my first two riders.  I passed them without much effort.  I was really making a conscious effort to hold back the first 5-10min of the ride since that's when I tend to overdo it.  The effort felt reasonable and I made the passes fast and put them behind me.  As I crested the first hill I got back in aero and that's when I felt like something was off.  My shoulders were really tense.. did I really swim that hard?  I'm in an aggressive position, but I can usually just relax my upper body.  It took me a few minutes to realize that my shoulders were tensing up because they were trying to stop my hips from sliding forward on my saddle, which was tilted much too far down.  My best guess is that it slipped down on the mount.  Wish that would've happened in one of the many practice mounts I did in the preceding days so I could've known the bolt had loosened.

I gave the nose a tug upwards but it didn't do anything noticeable.  After the second hill I was off the bridge and riding the flats of Miami to the second bridge back to the island.  Here I started struggling more.  I think the nose was continuing to drop over time because it was feeling worse.  Not only were my shoulders trying to keep my body up but I had to use my pedal strokes to push back on the seat.  I just wasn't getting much leverage anymore and a couple other guys caught and passed me in this stretch. They disappeared up the road and I started pushing harder.  Coming off the second bridge both hip flexors suddenly cramped (never has happened before) and I had to coast for awhile to work them out.  This was about 20k in, and it was apparent that there was no way I could continue riding hard like this.  So I got my butt off the seat and pulled up on it as hard as I could.  I was ready to stop and fix it if possible if this didn't work.  Luckily it did (mostly) and I was able to ride normally the second half.  Unfortunately my legs felt a lot worse than they should've by this point and a couple more guys came by, although I kept them in sight for much longer.

Even though I knew I was slipping down the ranks, I kept telling myself to keep pushing because you never know what might happen up the road.  I came into T2 and got some encouraging news... even though I had fallen to 11th I was still only ~3min out of 3rd.  So I ran as hard as I thought I might be able to sustain out of T2.  I was immediately passed by a guy who was seemingly sprinting full out off the bike.  The funny thing was that he was in running shorts, no shirt and I would've thought he was a relay participant if not for the fact that they didn't start till the end and he had an "E" on his calf, signifying that he started in my wave.  Figuring there's no way I could run that pace and wondering who the heck this guy is, I just forgot about him.  At least until we were 200m into the run and he started coming back.  I caught him by 400m and then the strangest thing that's ever happened to me during a race occurred.  He starts talking to me... "Ok, let's work together.  We'll trade leads, 30 seconds on, 30 off"  I'm breathing too hard to talk but even if I could I wouldn't know what to say.  So he takes off again, though not as fast this time.  He puts about 20m on me and then starts coming back. "We're going to catch a lot of guys at this pace, you're up".  I just keep running my pace and I think he realizes I'm not going to play his game so he "pulls" again.  Another 20m and 30 seconds and I'm back on his shoulder.  Another pull, he gets 10m up on me and suddenly stops, bends over clutching his knees and I run past him.  That's the last I see of him, but I make a mental note to do some more research on interval racing and drafting during the run.. perhaps it would be in my benefit to keep my aero helmet on next time...

Just when I think the distractions are over, the course changes to wet boardwalk where I can feel a little slip under each step.  Also, while the bike course had lanes closed for us, the run course did not.  On the boardwalk it was an obstacle course with all the people out for a Sunday morning jog/walk/stand/skateboard/bike/piss you off.  At mile ~1.5 I saw 3 people running at me on the other side... a woman pushing a stroller, an older guy with headphones in, and Javier Gomez running about a 5minute mile cutting through them.  The one thing I said all race was "Go Javier!" as he ran by, while realizing that the World Champion has put almost 20 minutes on me as we started together.  Wow.  It was odd seeing a world class race going through basically a busy, public area.  I'm sure there will be complaints about this.

Despite the distractions, I was running well and making up ground.  The turnaround was slippery, and I saw one guy eat it and heard of more.  Coming back I started to fade a little bit in the last mile, but overall I ran very steady.  I ran into a girl who tried to cross the path without looking.  She had her ipod in so didn't hear me yell to move.  I think she stayed upright but there was only a half mile left so I didn't look back.  I finished in 8th, and held about he same distance from the top guys as I had at the end of the bike.  My 10k was in the 38's which isn't good for me but considering 4miles were spent slipping around and dodging people on the boardwalk I'll take it.  I had a friend running ~15-20 seconds per mile slower on the boardwalks according to her garmin.

Overall I'm happy with my performance.  I felt like my fitness was there and I felt strong on the swim and run, although my legs were definitely more fatigued than they should've been on the run.  I raced well and didn't make any mistakes.  I just hate the feeling of knowing it could've been better if not for factors out of my control.  Now lots of mechanical problems are failures to prepare, or lack of knowledge about the bike, but Summer and my mom can both confirm that I had checked, double checked and tested everything multiple times so my bike was in perfect working order when the race started.  Getting my bike out of transition, I noticed that the front brake was rubbing the wheel.  I have no idea when this happened... it was either in T1 if someone knocked it accidentally while trying to head out on the bike or it was back in T2 or after the race.  I may have been riding the brake slightly the whole time, but I'll never know.  The aero drink was in the way and I couldn't hear anything.  While happy with a top 10 finish early in the season, being just over 3 minutes off 3rd is frustrating, because I have no idea how much time the mechanicals cost me.  Maybe it was only a minute.  But maybe not, could've been more.  I hate to say what I would've/could've done so I'll just save it for the next race.  There's always another...

I really need to stop calling this a race

That was probably my most frequently spoken sentence of the weekend.  I mean, technically the Kortelopet is a race, and plenty of people are racing it just as seriously as I race triathlon... but is it really a race if you're not even sure how to ski properly?  After racing competitively for so long, it was nice to do this event just for fun.  S's and G's, as we said.  It's a strange feeling to just go out at the start of the race at a relaxed pace, but a good feeling.  I had no pressure, no competitive aspirations and could just enjoy myself the whole time.  I just kept calling it a race out of habit...

As the "race" got closer I was asked by a lot of people what I thought I might be able to do for a time.  Fair question, except I've never been timed on skis, never tried to go fast, and really had no clue.  I'm quite fit from my other training, but if you've ever seen a runner try to swim for the first time, you know that being generally fit really doesn't necessarily matter at all.  I didn't know how hard I could push myself in a sport I haven't been taught how to do by anyone other than myself or trained for (ok, I got out twice this year, once for 20 whole minutes)  Actually, there were lot of things that I wasn't quite sure about, which became more obvious as the weekend progressed.  The most important being:

1. How long the race actually was
2. Where Hayward actually was
3. How to wax my skis
4. How to XC ski uphill
5. How to XC ski downhill

Trying to wax my skis 15 minutes before I started.

Cheapest wax kit I could find and I have no idea if I did it right.

As for the length of the race, in my mind I thought of it kinda like a half marathon.  Although now I realize that the times only equate in fast runners vs fast skiers... the drop-off in skiing is way higher than in any half marathon due to the technique component.  Thinking of it as a half marathon on skis was fine up until I got the the 20k point in the race... so how far do I still have to go?  At that point it makes a big difference if you have 1k, 3k or 5k left.  Turns out it was 23k, and when the trail though the woods spit us out into the open finish area, it caught me off guard with way too much energy left.  

Did you know that Hayward, WI is a 6hr drive from Madison?  I do now.  I knew we were going north and I wasn't in charge of directions, so keeping in line with the theme of the weekend (unprepared) I didn't look at a map.  Turns out we were going deep into the northwoods where some of my friends in school would go for deer hunting, trips to their cabin etc but that somehow I had managed to avoid this whole time.  It was a neat experience... our group of 7 triathletes that went up together stayed at Michael Lee's cabin. This definitely enhanced the overall fun factor of the weekend vs staying in some hotel.  We also drove by the Namekagon River, which is cool because it's the only other time I've seen that name except for when I look at the street sign on the road I grew up on.

Our "family photo" at Michael's cabin, including Camping Bear

I mentioned that I skied twice this year.  That brings my lifetime total up to 5 times going back to last February.  This was helpful, and definitely better than putting on my skis for the first time ever this weekend (more on that later), but the places I ski at in Madison are very flat.  The Birkie trail is not.  At all.  I could've probably walked up some of the hills faster than I did with skis on, and all I can say about the downhills is thankfully I did a lot of downhill skiing for fun in middle school.  However not having metal edges and different bindings that lift up in the heel on the XC skis makes it different enough that my overall stability on descents is not really good.  My number one goal for the weekend, above finishing, was don't get injured.  I accomplished this goal and actually didn't crash once.

Our first adventure of the day was pushing my car out of the snow in the driveway as we were leaving the cabin

One cool and unique thing about this race is that as I fatigued, I got faster.  I have so little experience doing XC skiing that I was actually learning and improving my technique as the race went on.  I started pretty sketchy, but got used to the skis more and just stayed completely non-competitive for the first 5k or so.  Around that time I was getting comfortable enough that I felt like pushing the pace a little bit, and basically built my effort as the race went on.  My legs, feet, shoulders and hands were getting sore (I didn't realize how much the poles can fatigue you on the climbs) and I should've been slowing down but my form was improving so I was actually gliding more with each push.  In the second half as I got more comfortable my competitive nature took over and I even tried to race a few people who were going about my speed.  I didn't really care about the outcome of these races though, and when we'd come to a bottleneck on the climbs in the narrow trails I just relaxed and waited patiently until a spot opened up to go through.  I slowed down to chat with a couple friends as I went by the on the course, something I never do in triathlon. I started in the last wave so there were literally thousands of people ahead of me.  I was having a lot of fun and in the finish field I actually sprinted into the finish and got someone on the line who I'd been chasing on and off for about 1k.

It turns out my time was 1:49 and that put me 13/41 in the M25-29 for the Kortelopet Skate.  Actually quite a bit better than expected.   I had a lot of fun and I think I will likely do it again next year.  I'd like to beat my time, and I think I can take quite a few minutes off in the future.  Now that I have a seed time, just starting in an earlier wave will shave a couple due to less congestion.

Someone else who will probably beat his time if he ever does this again is Cody Williams.  But that's a big if.  Cody signed up for the full Birkie. That's a very hilly 31 miles.  Cody had also never skied before.  Ever.  This was a highly entertaining theme of the weekend for the rest of us, and I think for Cody also, at least until the race started.  I imagine this must be comparable to doing an Ironman having never ridden a bike.  Pictures sum it up best:

Pre-race, Cody is on the far left

Finished, probably wondering what just happened

Back at the cabin with a pot of puppy chow

Well, crazy as that was you've got my respect for life for getting through it.  For me, it's time to recover from the weekend and zero in my focus for my first triathlon of the season in just a little over a month.  I'll think more about dropping my Kortelopet time in about 9 months.

Winter Events

For the past month, training has been going very well.  Volume is up 60% in swimming, 50% in biking and 40% in running from this time last year.  One might see those numbers and scream, STOP, cliff incoming! But I am very aware of the possibility of overtraining and the importance of recovery so that doesn't happen.  In fact, I feel better maintaining this greater training load now than I did a year ago.  I haven't sacrificed training intensity for higher volume either.  Of course there are day to day fluctuations, but the downs aren't as low, and the best workouts this year are better than my best of last winter.

What I have been doing to handle the higher training loads-
-Nutrition is much better, not perfect but it is improving.
-I'm getting ~9hrs of sleep a night.  This is up ~2.5 from last year
-I have the time after workouts to make sure I get in calories immediately, and post workout stretching and using my foam roller are now the norm, not the exception.  It's nice not running immediately from one thing to the next all the time.
-Overall stress levels are just lower.

This has only been my new schedule for about a month and a half, so I am excited that I can feel some differences already, however I am much more excited for what is to come with consistency in training over a period of months.  I am absolutely more fit than I have ever been, I have no question about that and have shown it multiple times already with my ability to put in strong efforts back to back with little recovery (Not a one shot athlete this year!).  Fitness is different than speed, though.  Speed is slower to improve but it is coming along nicely.

Here's a quick recap of this winter's events so far:

Winter cycling time trial series-  I use this as a weekly threshold workout, but each week I've been doing a 35-45 minute time trial on the computrainers on varying courses.  The cool part about it is there are 8 centers; 4 in the US and 4 in Canada; that group all the weekly data together and spit out an overall spreadsheet, complete with GC (General Classification) series standings, sprint points (no hope for me there) and KoM points (more competitive here).  There's been about 100 riders for each stage, and it has been nice to see my place steadily move through the ranks from ~30 in early January to ~10th the last couple weeks.  My w/kg has climbed from ~3.4 to 3.9 over this time.

Indoor Triathlon- Pinnacle hosts these each month through the winter and they consist of a 10min pool swim, a 20min spin bike ride, and a 10min treadmill run.  Not the most realistic triathlon, especially because you can't shift on the bikes (think 130+ rpm) but they're laid back, fun events.  In the past I've done the full series but so far I've done just one this year, in early Feb.  I was running late from out of town for this one and unfortunately was also really hungry and the only food access I had before the event was Arbys 30min before the start... it was that or nothing.  Spoiler alert: might've been better off w/nothing.  I managed to keep my unbeaten streak alive at the indoor tris, but came close to losing my dinner on the treadmill.

24-hr Indoor Cycling Relay-  This was a self inflicted torture fest.  The event was set up as a fundraiser for charity, and 11 teams put together groups to come out and ride for 24hrs.  Someone from each team had to be riding at all times.  I did 3 1hr time trials... Midnight, 3am and 11am the next morning.  Since I couldn't fall asleep after the 3am trial, the 11am was absolutely miserable.  I was cold, hungry and nauseous all at the same time.  But this is where my fitness showed and I was able to actually ride pretty well, whereas last year I would've completely fallen apart.  After lunch, a 5hr nap, dinner and another 10hrs of sleep, I woke up and went BACK to SBR for the winter time trial series ride that week.  Incredibly I put down my best ride of the weekend, however once it was over I was a wreck for a few days.

UW Triathlon Team Time Trials-  Today's annual trials occurred one week after the 24 hr relay, and as of Wed I wasn't too optimistic I'd be fully recovered.  I felt like a couple times I was on the verge of getting sick but I kept it at bay.  My legs started to come around on Thurs during the recovery week and felt pretty good going into today's event actually.  The swim was ok, not quite my best at the 800yd distance but was within the realm of normal day to day fluctuations.  The important thing was that I was easily within reach of the leaders after the swim.

Even though I'm not a student, and therefore not eligible for Nationals (this is their selection race), as a workout leader for the team I can race and like to, for the fun and competition, which is always high.  Specifically, I knew that Alex Dean would be racing, and he always pushes me when I get the chance to go head to head.  I will say that my entire race strategy was built around beating him specifically (nothing personal Dean, I just figured I have to beat you in order to win overall).  Here are the facts: Alex and I have raced 5 or 6 times head to head.  I've beaten him only once (our first race, and he had a mechanical with 400m left on the bike), and every single time he has out-run and out-swam me. So... of course my strategy was to try keep the distance manageable on the swim, take the bike, and then depending on what cushion I had, run as hard as I had to in order to hang on for the overall.  At least that was best case scenario.

With only a 5 second deficit after the swim, it was looking good.  On the bike I went out too hard, but I knew it.  I expected to slow down, I just didn't expect to slow down so badly.  Alex pushed me too hard for too long, and I cracked.  It was ugly, and all I could do was put my head down and try to limit the time lost.  After a 10min (mandatory) transition, it was onto the run where I had to form a new strategy, my only chance left.  Go hard from the gun and hope you have the legs. My strong fitness showed again and it actually worked, and I out-ran Alex for the first time in my life.  I couldn't get enough time back from what I lost on the bike to win, but I really surprised myself with a strong, sub 18min run on a hard course to finish less than a minute overall out of first.

I'm not upset about my strategy... given the same pre-race knowledge I'd do it again but hindsight is always 20/20.  Turns out I should've sat in on the bike and gone for it on the run.  Oh well.  My singular focus on one athlete and self destruction on the bike opened the door for someone else, a newer triathlete Alex Kraft, to slip by for 2nd with a really strong overall performance.  The UW Tri team looked very strong this weekend and I am excited to support them on their way to Nationals this spring!

Next week is my first XC Ski race ever, the Kortelopet... basically a half marathon on skis.  That should be interesting...

2012 Race Schedule

I've almost finalized my race schedule for this coming year.  I may add or change a couple races as the season goes on, however these are the bodies of water you'll likely be seeing me in this year.

These are in order:

So there you have it.  Oh and did I mention that the first person to guess 100% correctly will receive a $20 Endurance House gift card?  You can facebook message me so your guesses don't appear here for anyone else to use.

See you at the races!

The New Year

When I logged onto Facebook this morning, I saw lots of friends posts on their New Year's resolutions, plans and summaries of their NYE festivities.  Well, I didn't have a very "exciting" NYE (spent it at home watching a movie), but I guess you could say I have some New Year's resolutions.  Although it's not really because of the New Year; all that happens between Dec 31st and Jan 1st is you put up your new calendar.  It's not like there is anything specific about this day that makes it easier to keep promises to yourself.  However, this seems to be the time when people like to state their short term future goals and planned changes, so I will do the same.

Cut out Soda

Eat better

Sleep enough

Train smart

Recover well

As you may notice, most of these are lifestyle goals, not sport specific goals.  Of course I have race goals, season goals and workout goals, but those are secondary to these.  Why?  Because I don't want to make the mistake that many athletes do, and that is mentally separating their sport and training from their lifestyle.  Having coached high school sports I have seen example after example of this mistake being made.  "I work hard at practice, why am I not getting better?" (because your diet consists exclusively of soda and pastries, you average 4 hours of sleep per night, you go directly to other activities without eating, you made snow angels in your speedo and got sick... the list goes on).

If you watched the Olympic Games in Beijing, you may remember Ryan Lochte was famous for eating at the McDonalds in the athlete village every day (every meal most days).  Now he's an amazing swimmer and obviously had success.  However, since that time it is apparent that he was shooting himself in the foot.  His diet has supposedly changed, and I'm inclined to believe it because in many of the National and World Championships since the Beijing games he has been establishing himself as the swimmer to beat, not Phelps.  Many of his times have been as good or better than Phelps' times in Beijing.  Now I'm not trying to bash anyone here, all I'm saying is that how you live your life outside of your actual time racing and training will affect how well you do those things.  It's not my opinion, it's physiology.  My opinion is that it is up to each athlete to make sure that their goals align with their lifestyle, or make sure that your lifestyle aligns with their goals.

Put another way, if you're trying to squeeze every ounce of athletic performance out of your body, there is no room for poor nutrition, poor sleep habits or any other activity which jeopardizes that.  Not to say that you can NEVER have a sugary snack, but you need consistent good habits.  However, there are a lot of sacrifices that can come along with elite athleticism; I don't think you'll ever hear an elite athlete say that he or she hasn't made sacrifices to get to that level.  And whether those sacrifices are worth it is up to the individual athlete.

Getting back to my "resolutions"... it's not that these are brand new.  I'm not flipping a switch on Jan 1, 2012 and making extreme changes.  In fact, the entire past year has been an exercise in working to improve in these areas, and I have definitely been making progress.  However there is more progress to be made and I am at the point where those gains are going to be very difficult to make without some other changes.  One thing that is beginning on Jan. 1st is a change in my duties, responsibilities and hours at work that will be both in my benefit and that of Endurance House.

I also have a stronger motivation for this season than I ever have before.  Unfortunately, the reason for this is very sad.  Recently, one of my best lifelong friends was killed in an automobile crash.  We grew up together and were best friends in childhood.  He was my best training partner for years of swimming and track as a high school athlete, and got me started in triathlon.  He was also one of the best athletes I've ever known who could motivate me with his accomplishments or just by running together.  Since high school, he was always very supportive of my athletic endeavors in triathlon.  While it's tough to come to terms with what happened, one way I intend to honor his memory is to train and compete in his honor.

Time Off

Every athlete needs some time off every now and then, just not every athlete knows it.  The word "recovery" has been thrown around a lot in the last few years in triathlon and sports circles.  So what does that mean?  I think some athletes take it too far (including myself at times), while others neglect it completely (including myself at times).  I'm not going to spill all of my thoughts about recovery, time off and their effect on training now, because that is not really what this post is about.  I just want those triathletes out there reading this to think about what they are doing during their off season to best prepare for 2012.  Are you sitting on the couch, eating pizza and playing Mario Kart for 8 hours a day (ah yes, I remember fall 2008)?  Did you start training the day after your last race this year?  Or maybe something in between?  During the off-season, ask yourself why you are doing what you're doing, and how that is preparing you for next season.  If you can find a good answer to that question, you're on the right track.

Yoshi is totally the best character in Mario Kart

It's also been quite some time since my last post here.  It's not that I haven't wanted to write.  It's not that I haven't had anything to write about.  And it's definitely not because I wasn't happy with my final races:  1) I was.  2) I'm not afraid to write about a disappointing performance, just as I'm not afraid to put myself in a race where I'm the underdog.  So if anyone has been compulsively checking my blog for updates on a daily basis J, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.  I've been very busy with other things going on... training, racing up until October, working, and figuring out how I'm going to structure things for this coming year.  There's really been a lot of news over the last few months, so I will try to get it all up here, although it may span a couple of posts.

I think the best place to start is where I left off, with my final races of the 2011 season.  After Lifetime Fitness, I had three left on the calendar, and they were all important, travel races:

Age Group Nationals- Late August

Age Group Worlds- Early September

Branson 70.3- Mid September

From a training perspective, the challenge was to get myself ready to race well at all three of these races, despite the fact that they are too close to peak for individually, yet too far apart to peak 100% for all 3.  It was decided that the training peak would be planned for the Worlds/Branson combo, since they were only a week apart, and Nationals would have a smaller recovery leading into it.  From an organizational perspective, the challenge would be just as much if not more.  The races were in Burlington, VT, Beijing, CN, and Branson, MO.  The Beijing to Branson week was going to be key to get right, since I would be trying to fend off major jetlag in addition to all of the travel stress.

Nationals:

This race went well, but not very well.  I felt really good in the water for the first time in a while, but then proceeded to follow a group off course.  I realized it before the rest of my group, but unfortunately I probably swam 200 meters out of my way.  It's really hard to put that mistake out of your mind as you are trying to focus on the bike and run, but I did a pretty good job of it.  I definitely was able to focus more in the moment than the other race this year with a major swim mishap (Texas 70.3 and the goggle disaster).

On the bike I felt strong and was riding well.  I ended up probably not riding hard enough, as I felt a little too good coming off the bike.  My run was solid that day, but I started to fade as the temps rose.  I ended up finishing well enough to re-qualify for Age Group Worlds with a roll-down spot.  However, for the first time that I’ve qualified, I won’t be going.  More on why later.

Worlds:

This was my third time at Worlds, and each time has been a unique experience.  I enjoy testing myself against great competition, meeting triathletes from other states and countries, and also traveling to new places.  Beijing did not disappoint.  I was looking forward to this trip even more than my previous Worlds for a few reasons.  First, while Germany and Australia were great locations, China was going to be completely unlike anywhere else, and, unlike the first two, I’m unlikely to ever go back if not for a future race.  There’s so much history there, and a completely different culture than what I’m used to.  As far as the race itself, in Germany I was ecstatic just to have squeaked into the race.  In Australia I showed some promise but couldn’t put together a complete race under pressure.  Going in, I was confident in my abilities and felt I was ready to put together a great race on a big stage.  Did I think I could win?  Unlikely, but I was ready to compete with the top group of guys.

The Great Wall was my favorite sightseeing destination

Racing on the 2008 Olympic course was incredible.  It was quite a rush.

And then I crashed.

It was pretty surprising.  I realized I was going to hit the fence a few seconds before I did, but I was expecting to fall sideways into it.  I didn’t expect to flip over the handlebars and land on my back on the road.  At 25mph. 

It could’ve been worse.  I saw another guy later who did pretty much the same thing as me in about 5 different casts and wraps with cuts everywhere.  And we were in China.  So I was counting my blessings that I came out of it with only a small cut on my forehead and a scraped and sore left shoulder.  The first two thoughts in my head as I hit the ground were “Holy shit, that just happened!” followed immediately by “I need to get off the road before someone runs me over!” So I stood up, grabbed my bike and walked over to the side as riders screamed down the hill by me. 

A race doctor ran over to me (“Great, so they expected crashes here…”) and asked me if I was ok, pointing at my head with a weird look on his face.  “Yeah…” Then I took off my sunglasses and used them as a mirror and sure enough, there was a stream of blood running down my face from my forehead.  I felt fine, but wanted to make sure I didn’t have a concussion, so I sat there for a few minutes just thinking about stuff.  I seemed to be fine, so I wiped the blood off, the doctor rubbed some iodine on it and covered it with a band-aid, and then I looked down at my bike.  It had landed upside down so the saddle and handlebars were bent in odd positions, but that was fixable.  A few minutes later I got back on the bike and took off, to many cheers.

From then on I was riding like a total wuss, braking on all the downhills and corners, just thinking that my main goal was to get to the finish line intact.  After an uncomfortable, slow ride I got off and actually ran pretty well, despite an increasingly sore hip.  I felt proud of myself for fighting through everything and getting to the finish line.  I wouldn’t have been happy just to jog in, though.  If I was going to do that I’d rather throw in the towel after the crash.  I pushed hard to the end, competing the best I could along the way.  For the first time in 5 years, I was actually proud of myself for finishing a race.

Crash aftermath

Branson 70.3:

This race was all about overcoming obstacles.  I’ve read about that before.  Every time Ironman comes around you read articles about someone who overcame something just to get to the starting line, or who dropped 100lbs training for the event or something similar.  You hear a lot of these people say that the event means so much more to them because of what they overcame to start or finish it.  Well, I’ve never really felt like I’ve overcome anything too significant before or during a race.  I used to be much slower and less skilled, and have steadily gotten stronger and faster, but there has really been nothing specific until this fall.

First there were the expected obstacles.  Jetlag, travel and post-race soreness from Worlds.  I admit that signing up for Branson only one week later was not ideal for racing well, but I did it because I figured most of my competition would be thinking that as well.  The thing is, I selected Branson because of when it fell on the calendar.  ITU Worlds was the week before, 70.3 Worlds was the week before, Hy-Vee US Championships was 2 weeks before and Kona was only a couple weeks later.  My thought was that anyone who was racing any of those events wouldn’t want to do Branson.

Not that I shy away from competition, but when you’re trying to meet qualifications it’s important to choose your races to give you the best chance of success.  I knew there would still be good athletes there, just less depth in the field.  And I was right.  I had looked at the 2010 athlete guide and saw that last year the prize purse was large enough to make it a pro qualifying race.  Prior to Worlds, I thought that despite racing in China a week before, I could recover and race well enough to qualify.  I did a great job timing when I would sleep on the plane so that jetlag was minimal when I got back.

I didn’t expect not to be able to swim after Worlds, though.  My shoulder got worse and worse for a few days and it wasn’t until Friday that I could even swim down the pool.  I was sweating it, the race was in two days and my shoulder was still really sore. 

Then on my drive down I got the news that came closest to breaking me.  The new athlete guide had just come out (yes, only days before the race) and the prize purse had changed.  It didn’t change in a good way, and now the race was no longer an elite qualifier.  I was doing this for nothing.  “What’s the point?  I’m tired, sore and slightly injured.  I don’t need to prove I can finish this thing.  Even if I win it doesn’t matter, I can’t use it for anything.  I’ve raced a lot and have had a long season.  The weather is horrible, it’s not worth it” These are the thoughts that went through my head upon hearing this news.

It would’ve been really easy to just go through the motions, or even easier to just turn around and drive back to Madison.  Luckily, I had a great support crew who talked some sense into me.  My girlfriend had decided to come with me down to Branson and while she was disappointed too, she encouraged me to give it my best shot.  After all, it’s not worth doing something if you’re not going to give it your best, and we were already here.  I’ve come this far, it’s time to finish what I started.

And so that’s the mindset I went into the race with.  While it didn’t have any future implications, this was a race and just like any race, an important one.  I’m a triathlete, I signed up for this race, I'm here, so I should just do it.  It doesn’t matter what I’ve done in the past, or what the future holds.  When the gun goes off, the only thing that matters is the task at hand.  It's an opportunity to hone my skills and gain experience.

I’m not sure how, but I was able to swim the entire way.  My shoulder felt 90% and I biked well.  If it weren’t for my electrolytes flying off my bike halfway through, this may well have been the breakout race I’ve been looking for.  While things went downhill from there, I managed to hold it together well enough for a 5^th overall finish.  While the depth of the field wasn’t as strong as some races, I am very happy with that result and even more so because of what I had to overcome to do it.

As a side note, my sister wrote a great article about the China trip, which USAT actually put in their newsletter and posted on the front page of their website:

USAT Article

Lifetime Fitness

7/9/11- Minneapolis, MN

The race started from the beach with all the elite amateur athletes charging into the water.  Since I am more comfortable breathing on my left I positioned myself near the outside right of the group with a straight path to the first turn buoy.  The first 200m went by quickly and I was feeling good.  I noticed that the main pack was veering way to the left, so much so that I spotted a few extra times just to make sure that it was them and not me drifting.  Lucky start, I thought.  "Seems everyone else wants to swim further...  fine by me." The water was a balmy 82 degrees and thus we were not wearing wetsuits.  This was something else I figured would be advantageous.

After feeling strong for the first section of the course, I rounded the turn buoy and that's when I met Mr. "I'm a horrible drafter".  The rest of the swim was the most annoying 15 minutes of my life.  He was swimming on my right side with his head about 6 inches from my hips and was literally running his left arm into my ribcage every single stroke. That made it really hard to hold my body position, not to mention at this point my stroke wasn't feeling good anymore.  Because I was not going to swim off course I had to put up with this guy ramming into me the whole back stretch.  After the second corner I was really getting sick of this so I tried to sprint a little.  At first I thought I lost him but then he started tapping my toes every single pull.  I veered right, he followed.  Veered left, same.  I didn't want to red-line the last 500m of the swim so I settled back into my pace and again he was on my side.  I somehow lost him in the final 50 meters so I didn't have a good chance to punch him in the face when we got out of the water.  Oh well that probably wouldn't have worked to my advantage in the grand scheme of things...

Coming out of the water, my mom, who travelled up to watch the race (Thanks!) told me I was in 9th.  That got my spirits up, since even though my swim felt slow (and it was but so was everyone's) I remembered that last year I got out of the water in 11th at this race.  So I hopped on the bike excited to put the swim behind me and hammer the bike.

Getting on the bike I passed a few guys in the first miles, but soon found myself struggling to find the power that came easily just 2 weeks ago in my workouts.  I don't race with my power meter and I'm glad I don't know what my average was because I don't think I would be very proud of it.  The bike course was technical, which didn't bother me, and it was on poor quality roads, which at least I was ready for and set my tires to 110psi instead of 120 like normal.  As the ride went on it became more of a struggle... there wasn't any specific part of me that really hurt, and my breathing wasn't out of control, but I just felt achy all over and was having trouble finding strength.  I came off the bike with a split of 1:04, which is my slowest 40k in awhile.  Last year was a 1:01 on the same course.

Again, going into the run I thought if I could find my form that I could have a good run split that would get me back near the place I thought I could be.  It was a flat, fast run course so a 36 should've been doable, and in the back of my mind I knew I could run a 35 on a great day.  However, it soon became apparent that it just wasn't my day when my turnover and stride length just weren't there.  I ran a low 39 and finished with a 2:09.  I gutted it out the best I could but there was no snap in my legs this weekend.

Initially I was pretty disappointed, but not because my time was bad... a 2:09 is a good time. I was bummed because I had been biking and running much better during workouts a couple weeks ago than I did on race day.  After going back to the house I was staying at for the weekend (Thanks Dave!), passing out for a few hours and then hanging out at the Mall of America for the rest of the day, I had plenty of time to reflect on the day and the season so far.

This race had been high on my priority list for this season since it started.  I knew the course well and was in the middle of my season.  I was fit and motivated going into it and thought that this might be the time when I break through to the next level.  I track my workouts and the trends were all there.  I don't think I did anything wrong on race day or race weekend.  Actually my race plan was executed very well.  I think, and more so after talking with Blake Becker, that I pushed my workouts too hard recently.  I, like many athletes, am very motivated to train hard and sometimes I can overdo it.  It's tough because the days you feel the best are sometimes the days you need to hold yourself back the most in training.  After a long season, which this has been (I started training in earnest back in January) you need to make sure you are giving your body adequate recovery time.  Blake tells me this a lot, and I know it too, but it's always easier said than done.

While I wish every race I do would be one of my best efforts, that will not always be the case.  The really important things for long term success are how you progress in your training, the consistency and adequate recovery time.  Basically it is a lifestyle.  Lifetime Fitness.  I haven't gotten to where I am by training hard during workouts and then having an unhealthy lifestyle outside of training.  My good overall health is a huge part of my continual improvement in this sport.  To reach your true potential you have to live it.  That does NOT mean that triathlon or sport should be the only thing in your life.  I would consider that unhealthy and many athletes who take that path don't last long.  Some do but sacrifice so much outside of sport to do it.

As I was lining up on the start line, they introduced the woman who would be the honorary race starter.  She was 93 years old, and at the age of 89 completed this triathlon.  Very inspirational.

I didn't perform my best on Saturday, but I am not worried at all because I know that once I rest up I will be back stronger than I have ever been.  I know this because I have seen myself improve this year in key workouts across the board and have had some of my best races ever.  I also know this because it is a lifestyle, and will continue to be.  I don't know if I'll be able to do a triathlon at age 89 but I certainly intend to have lifetime fitness.