We arrived in Tampa late Friday night. It was a combo weekend. My wife joined me on the trip, which was a great opportunity to catch up on life, as sometimes it’s hard to even have a full conversation with three very energetic little boys running around our house. The other half of the combo was the famous St Anthony’s triathlon, which was celebrating it’s 25th year. This would be my first time racing in St Petersberg and I was really looking forward to it.
Saturday morning we headed over to the expo. I was totally blown away by the amount of vendors and the organization at the expo. It was a very enjoyable experience. I made my way over to see Team Timex’s former manager, Ben, at the Zoot tent. Tristan had set the Timex truck up right across from Ben’s tent, so it was a perfect location to get a look at the best athletic watches and the best running shoes in the market. There was a lot of activity around both areas as athletes and spectators were very interested in the newest technology. Tristan did a fantastic job managing duel roles of watch salesperson and team manager. He had everything running smoothly for myself, Richie Cunningham, and Ian Ray in our race preparation.
Sunday: race morning
We woke up to a beautiful morning. The male pro wave went off @ 6.45am and then waves were sent off continuously thru 9am, as there were 4,000 competitors participating. It was a beach start into a pretty choppy bay. My wave was the 2nd M35-39, which was the 9th wave of the morning. The horn went off and I found myself running into the water and attempting to dolphin dive for a bit (note to self, please practice beach start dolphin dives). I was not exactly graceful while attempting this and I managed to get quite a bit of water into one of my lenses. Oh well, we were swimming into the sun anyways and I couldn’t really see anything, so what’s wrong with a little salt water in the eyes. After going a little anaerobic at the start, I settled in and tried to keep a good strong stroke, which worked until we got out towards the first turn. It was really rolling out there and I think I swallowed about half the ocean in one gulp, ugh. I was very grateful for my Blue Seventy wetsuit as it gives me a huge amount of confidence, not only in clear calm waters, but the rough conditions we were experiencing on Sunday. Everyone was in the same conditions, so all you can do is put your head down and really focus on being as long as possible in the water, which is a little difficult for me with my vertical challenge, but I tried anyway. The remainder of the swim was pretty uneventful and I exited the swim in 23.17.
Ah, the bike. I love my Trek TTX and I was really looking forward to seeing how it would go on the flat, fast bike course. I felt really strong at the beginning of the bike and I wanted to try to get thru the previous waves, so I could get some open road. There are something like 30 turns on the bike course and I knew the sooner I could get out of the congestion the better off I would be, as I’m not a very technical rider. I prefer to put my head down and grind it out. About halfway thru the bike, I had managed to get some clear road and I focused on staying consistent and fueling. I’ve been talking with my coach about proper fueling while racing and I’ve come to realize that I just do not get enough calories in. So I decided to try some calories on the bike. I ended up taking 2 powergels mixed down with water for the duration of the bike and I felt much stronger coming off into T2. I ended the bike split @ 59.14.
Onto the run and I realized I needed to run a sub 35 to go under 2hrs. I wasn’t sure I had that in me, but I figured I give it a go. My perceived effort was there and I swear I felt like I was running fast enough, but the splits were telling me a different story,
1m 5.37
2m 5.58
3m 5.52
4m 5.50
5m 5.52
6m 5.37
.2m 1.12
Which put me @ 2.01.19 overall, 1st M35-39. I gave everything I had on the day and I have no regrets. This race was a phenomenal experience and I will definetely be back.

Yeah, I know, how lame am I doing a dual race report?  Pretty lame I know.  But, things have been pretty busy around the Gennari household these days.  The new job has kept me busy.  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

The race in Tuscaloosa was part of an entire race experience in Tuscaloosa called Tri-Palooza.  Along with the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Trials race there was a 21-12 race (draft legal) and a Citizen’s race that made up this racing weekend.  Since I am a mere citizen I took part in the Tuscaloosa Triathlon.  For me the race could should have been called Hack-aPalooza as I’ve been dealing with some kind of funk for several weeks now.  I basically can’t stop coughing and it only gets worse when I do any kind of exercise.  It’s almost like I exercise induced asthma.   But, there’s a drainage issue going on here like nobody’s business which leads me to believe that it’s more of a lingering cold than anything else.  I’m going to the doctor tomorrow to get it all straightened out.  Anyway, enough about my sob story.

Saturday my family and I woke up early and drove from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa.  We got there just in time for the USAT Collegiate Championship race.  I knew Andrew was racing and wanted to show my support.  Andrew was in the 1^st wave and gave those young college guys a run for their money.  Andrew was about 6^th out of the water and then got into a good pack of guys during the bike.  Off the bike Andrew was down about 2:24 and things were looking pretty good.  Knowing how well Andrew can run I thought he might be able to catch some of the guys in front of him.  This is exactly what he did.  Andrew ended up 3^rd overall and did Team Timex proud.

After the Collegiate race the family and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed back down towards the race site to watch the women vie for the next US Olympic slot.  The race was awesome to watch and the crowds were amazing.  Four women broke away from the start and really put some time into the chasers.  You just knew that one of these four women would end up winning the Olympic slot.  The four women were Sara McClarty, Sarah Haskins, Sarah Groff and Julie Ertel.  These four women put about a minute coming into T2 on all the other chasers and never looked back.  Surprisingly (to me) Julie Ertel came out of that pack of four women to take the seconds slot to Beijing.

Before the men’s race it was decided by our four year old (Noah) that he in no way, shape, form or fashion would be hanging around for the race.  So, my wife and Noah headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap.  My other son, Ian, and I hung around and watched the entire men’s race.  In the men’s race Andy Potts immediately tried to steal the Olympic slot on the swim.  I think Andy thought that he could swim and bike away from everybody in the race.  He almost did just that.  Mr. Potts put almost 40 seconds on his closest chaser coming out of the water.  Then two things happened that doomed Andy’s effort.  A really nice head wind showed up on the bike course and Hunter Kemper, Matt Reed and Brian Fleishman all worked together on the bike.  Andy really had no choice but to sit up and wait for them.  The men’s race would come down to the run.  Well, at least that is what it looked like.  At the end of the last lap Matt Reed put in a huge surge and gapped the three other races by about 22 seconds.  That would be the move of the day.  Matt was able to keep that advantage throughout the four lap run course and sew up the Olympic spot to Beijing.

I have to tell you, it was great day to watch racing.  Not exactly the best thing to do knowing that I was racing the next day but, hey, how often to you get to watch Triathlon Olympic Trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (where I went to college)?  So, after watching the races my son and I had to hoof it all the way back to the hotel ourselves.  Yeah, I was pretty dang tired once we made it back.  After some dinner and some relaxing time I thought for sure I’d have a good sleep that night.  Nope, no dice.  I ended up coughing most of the night and getting almost no sleep at all.  What’s a guy to do?

The following morning the alarm clock went off at 5:00 and I was wishing I could sleep for eight more hours.  Anybody else ever feel like this?  I packed up all my gear, pumped up my tires and then headed out the door.  It took me less than ten minutes to bike from the hotel to the race site.  Once at the race site I grabbed my timing chip, got body marked and then set up my spot in Transition.  I was still wondering how this day would go.  Once I was settled I went off and started to warm up.  I felt OK but was still having some issues with coughing and exercising.  Once I got back to the Transition area I did some last second preparations and headed down to the swim start.  It then dawned on me that I hadn’t even worn my new Blue Seventy (http://www.blueseventy.com/) wetsuit.  As a matter of fact the tag was still on it when I brought it out to put it on.  Well, I am here to tell you that the wetsuit worked flawlessly.  As a matter of fact I am quite impressed with it.  You can tell the mark of a good wetsuit when you don’t realize that you’re actually wearing it.  I didn’t feel like I was wearing a wetsuit.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that I was coughing while I was swimming.  I don’t know if any of you have ever tried to do this but it is actually quite difficult.  I think I swallowed a good bit of the Black Warrior River during my swim.  Even with the water intake I did break away from a fairly solid field of racers in the event.  I was first out of the water and into T1.

Transitions in the past have normally been a huge pain point for me for this time I was in and out in no time.  I was still hacking up a storm but at least I was hacking in the lead.  I jumped on my new Trek Equinox TTX 9.5 (http://www.trekbikes.com/) and away I went.  The legs felt pretty good.  Not great but good.  I knew at this point that the race was going to be a “gut check” effort.  This basically means that I’ll go as hard as I can for as long as I can.  If I blow, well, then I blow.  Out on the bike course I was moving along fairly well (well, at least that is what I thought) until Professional Triathlete Kirk Nelson (http://www.trikirk.com/) came flying by me at Mach 2.   Man was he moving.  I didn’t even have a counter move for him as he went by.  I basically stayed within my racing “zone” and paid attention to my race instead of his.  Nobody else passed me on the bike except for Kirk heading into T2 so I felt that I had had a fairly solid bike.  Here’s a pic of me hammering (well, I thought I was hammering) the bike on Jack  Warner Parkway:

 Coming into T2 I was solidly in 2^nd place.  Off with the Rudy Project Helmet (http://www.rudyprojectusa.com/) and on with the new Zoot racing flats (thanks Ben).  It was here where I noticed that I still couldn’t feel my feet.  Evidently the water was a lot colder than I thought.
The run was an out-and-back two loop run course.  At this point in the race I just wanted to have a steady but solid run.  The crowds during this race were pretty awesome.  I was getting all kinds of support from a lot of the college kids that were also there yelling for their team mates.  If I had a nickel for each and every time somebody yelled GO TIMEX I’d be a rich man.  OK, well, maybe not rich, but I certainly would have been able to buy one gallon of gas!
So, how did I finish up?   Well, I ran fairly well and finished up second overall to Kirk Nelson.  I saw Kirk out on the run course and the guy runs like a Gazelle.  He’s super smooth.  Some of the guys behind me were reeling me in and I could see them coming.  Thankfully I had a big enough lead and was able to fend them off before crossing the finish line. 

And speaking of the finish line I have to give huge props to Tim Yount of USAT who was giving me all kinds of compliments and kudos for my years and years of racing triathlon.  Tim and I go way back and he’s definitely one of the good guys at USA Triathlon.  If you ever get the chance to participate in ITU World Championships and Tim’s there make sure you introduce yourself.  Tim is certainly a guy that you’ll want to know.
All in all, considering the circumstances, I’d say that I had a fairly solid day. 

Here are the overall top five finishers in the race with all of their splits:

You can certainly see that Kirk gave me a pretty good beat down.  I don’t think I could run a 15:58 5k in a straight running race.  Kirk did it while he was eating a slab of Dreamland ribs.  Yep, that’s how fast and graceful he runs.
And speaking of Dreamland Ribs, no trip to Tuscaloosa would be complete without going there.  And that’s exactly what we did.  The family and I took the short ride out to Dreamland and chowed down on some of the best BBQ ribs that you’ll ever eat.  The place is actually, well, a hole in the wall.  I think it’s held together with duct tape.  There’s a sign over the door that says NO FARTING.  I think you get the picture of what this place looks like.  But I have to tell you, the food is awesome.  I could have just sat there and ate Wonder bread dipped in Dreamland sauce and been happy!  But, I was there to eat some ribs and eat ribs I did.  If you’re ever looking to get some good ribs Dreamland will deliver.  Here’s their website; http://www.dreamlandbbq.com/.  Trust me, it’ll be worth your while.
After filling up with ribs it was time for our venture back to Nashville.  So, we loaded up the family wagon and headed north.  I felt pretty good about the weekend.  I got to see some quality racing, good friends and gotten to eat some Dreamland ribs.  What more could a person ask for?   Well, I guess he could ask for some good health.  All in good time I suppose.

Ft. Yargo next!

 After many seasons of racing, Ironman racing, I have never experienced a race quite like the Strongman Japan.  It was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable trips I have ever had involving a triathlon.  The race consisted of a 1.9 mile swim, 96 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. It is just shy of the Ironman distance with 1500 participants.  It is held on a little island south of Tokyo called Miyakojima, which is actually closer to Taiwan than Japan itself.  My teammate, Rachel Ross, who won the Strongman race in 2007, told me how much fun it was.  After being contacted by the race committee last fall, and being asked to race as an “invited” athlete, I immediately jumped at the chance. 
 We left Colorado the Monday before the race April 14th, and after 15 hours of flight time, Nikki and I landed in Miyakojima and were greeted with 80 degree temperatures.  Myself and six other invites athletes, were all on the same flight.  I was the only American athlete along with three from Australia, two from Germany, and one from Austria. Our athlete coordinator, Gary Sato, explained to us that the “press” was at the airport and were planning on taking our pictures once we left baggage claim.  To my surprise that is exactly what happened.  The media swarmed us and put our picture on the front page the next day.  You see, there are not many people outside of Japan that come to this race, or the island for that matter, so we were considered a considerable news story for the media. The media coverage would be a trend that would last for the duration of our stay.  After leaving the airport we got to our hotel, the Miyakojima Tokyu Resort.  It was probably the most beautiful spot on any island I have ever been to.  The water was crystal clear, shallow, and there was virtually no boat traffic.  It was a swimmers paradise!  After we got checked in we had a meeting with the mayor and gave him gifts from our countries.  
 On Thursday and Friday we had our school visits.  The international athletes are invited to elementary schools to talk about triathlon and answer questions about our countries, with a translator of course.  They welcomed us with music, dancing and even gave each of us gifts.  It made me feel so good that I could share my culture with them and teach them a little about why I do triathlons and how being physically fit can help them in their lives.  We played games and I gave out a bunch of Timex hats which they loved.  Here is a picture of the kids and us at Fukumine Junior High School wearing their new hats.  Thursday night we had a dinner with the local Rotary club and exchanged flags.  We played more games and laughed together almost the whole night.  Other athletes that were invited were the Taiwan and Korean triathlon teams, who all were super friendly.  They were so welcoming to us and truly appreciated the fact that we came to their island to see their lifestyle.
 
On Saturday, the day before the race, Nikki and I took a boat ride to one of the neighboring islands named Irabu.  It’s an island which I’m sure no tourists go to, let alone Americans.  There was not much there except for the occasional farmer working in his tobacco field giving a passer by a bow or wave.  We stopped by a convenience store and picked up a bottle of Pocari Sweat (kind of like Gatorade) and headed back to Miyakojima.  I checked in my bike and soon prepared my pasta dinner.  We ate in our room overlooking the water and to keep with Japanese tradition, I ate my meal with chopsticks.
As race morning came, I couldn’t have been more excited to race.  I was a little nervous, but more anxious to see what the race would deliver and how I would feel.  I felt very confident in my training and thought about all of the great workouts I had in preparation for the race. I knew what I trained my body to do, which was to go fast for long distances.  As I headed down to the start we saw Gary and the rest of the invited athletes and got ready for the gun to go off.  Little did I know that the former Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junichiro_Koizumi), would shoot the starting gun.
The swim went very well.  I immediately found myself in 2nd place overall and one other guy was about 30 seconds in front.  I guess the winner of each leg would get 50,000 Yen (that’s about $500 US to you and me) so that certainly crossed my mind.  I tried to close in, but he finished about 1 minute ahead of me.  As I exited the water, I found myself in front of many, many cameras.  The Japanese press takes things seriously and they were all over the place!  I hopped onto my orange Trek (one of many Trek OCLV models, although the only orange one) and tried to catch the leader.  I passed him after 5K and was soon leading the race.  Soon after that I was passed by Bevan Leach, one of the Aussie athletes from our group, and a great guy.  We made our way around the island and saw some spectacular views.  I was passed a few more times, but made my way back to T2 in 5th place.  The run was 13.1 miles out and 13.1 miles back - pretty cut and dry.  I felt very good out of transition, caught one other guy, and soon was passed by the eventual winner.  I felt great until the last 5K where my quads felt very tight. However, I managed to make it to the finish locking up 5th place overall with a 3:03 marathon and the mayor giving me my finishing medal.  Total time was 7:58, just 14 minutes or so from the winner.  I was very pleased!  The award dinner was very special.  They honored the top 10 overall and I felt very proud to represent the USA so well in a large race where there were less than 5 Americans. After the race, Nikki and I spent a few nights in Tokyo and had a blast exploring the city together.  Yet, we’re ready to head home to see our kids. 
It was a tremendous experience for us and one that I will never forget.  What I noticed was that the generous people of Miyakojima treated the Strongman race as a celebration of life and fitness.  What I did not see was people getting caught up in pre race hype such as split time talk, age group placings or overall times.  I witnessed athletes gathered together happy to simply participate in an event where they could just enjoy themselves.  To me, it was a very cleansing feeling that made people feel good about themselves.  I hope to go back again next year and do it all over again.

 
Thanks for reading—
Tim
 

 Check it out…..

 http://www.ironmanlive.com/events/ironman/worldchampionship/results/agegroupwinners/fran-arfaras-profiles-2007-womens-30-34-age-group-winner-rachel-ross-of-honolulu-hawaii