After a short drive from the hotel, Lindsey dropped me off at the parking garage transition area in plenty of time for me to get the bike ready and get in a bit of a warm up. It was overcast and the forecast called for rain on and off throughout the day so it was actually nice to have a covered transition area. Nothing exciting during warm up… I got the bike all set and I was ready to get the party started!

Like last year, the pros got to dive into the river and the same was true this year.  Not having been a swimmer growing up, I’m not exactly the best diver but I did what I could. We were off and right away I was caught in between some people when I noticed a break opening up. I tried to pass the two guys I was swimming behind in an attempt to catch the guys up ahead, but to no avail. So I ended up swimming the rest of the way in open water while pulling 3 guys along. Awesome.

Out of the water I was a little upset that I had missed the first two guys and then had to pull the second pack the whole way but I’m pretty sure we would’ve swam slower had I not been in front, so sometimes that’s just the way it goes.

Once I was out on the bike the guys I pulled through the water (David Thompson, Daniel B., and Chris Bagg) immediately left me at the start of the ride. Coming to the first out and back, Andrew Yoder was way out ahead but I just tried to settle into my pace and ride with a nice consistent effort. As if I didnt already dislike biking, the conditions didnt help any as the roads were littered with obtrusions and it was raining and a bit chilly. Anyway, the rest of the ride was more or less uneventful other than the dodging of potholes and occasional downpours. The bike course was two loops and I did manage to negative split, finishing my second lap faster than my first, so I was feeling pretty good coming into the run.

As I entered transition, I noticed only four bikes on the racks. Apparently Andrew Yoder had gone down in a corner, moving me up a spot. So just like last year, I was starting the run in 5th which I was pretty happy about because the prize money went 5 deep and I was, as usual, pretty confident no one would be catching me.

I set out on the run and was feeling awesome which just reaffirmed me belief that the ART has really helped. Within the first mile I got my first split from Lindsey, “3:30 to 4th!!” she informed me. The next time I saw her, only a few miles later, the gap was down to 1:30. I moved into 4th around mile 6 and was still feeling great, moving fast but still under control. Starting the second lap blisters started mounting and the HEED they were serving was not sitting well in my stomach but other than that my legs felt great so I kept clicking off the miles. Finally between mile 9 and 10 I passed another guy, moving into 3rd. 1st and 2nd were way ahead and both of them were moving pretty well so I just kept up my pace and was content to cruise on home.

I was still feeling fine until about half a mile to go when I had a blister under the ball on my left foot pop. I had plenty of other blisters all over my feet but this particular one was in a spot where I had had another blister which had popped in Kansas.  So basically there were probably 3-5 layers of skin removed which made it VERY painful to put any kind of pressure on it all. Luckily though I was only about half a mile from the finish so I crossed the line as quickly as possible and proceeded to go directly to the medical tent where I was cleaned up and taped up.  Here is a nice shot of the mutilated flesh from later that evening:  

Although there was a great post race spread which included trail mix, watermelon, soda, pasta with marinara sauce, huge cookies, and other goodies which I’m likely forgetting, I had to dart back to the hotel to check out and then get on the road back to DC.  Overall though the race was really well run and its great when you can win some money!

Results can be found here: http://www.hfpracing.com/results/results.php?eventid=38&raceid=94

Thanks for reading!

For more musings from an Ares I Design Engineer/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

I got to the race site with plenty of time, set my stuff up, and yada yada yada… it was time for the gun to go off. It was a beach start and I actually had a really good run into the water. I immediately spotted Craig A as we dove in and darted to his feet. This was great… I was right where I wanted to be. Problem was I think I let my guard down too soon because before I knew it I was getting pounded as it seemed like there were more than a few large bodies who wanted to be where I was. All of a sudden there was a gap opening up so I put in a surge and thankfully caught up to the group ahead. At this point I assumed things would settle down and it would just be a matter of maintaining pace for the rest of the swim. Unfotunately though about 5 minutes later I got a good look up ahead and I realized our pack had split. Balls. I was in the second pack. I thought about trying to get up to the group ahead but realized it would likely be a futile effort as I would first have to get through the group I was in and then close the gap to the group ahead.

Coming out of the water and into transition I confirmed what I had thought: there was a pack that I had missed. I was pretty bummed about that but realized I just had to put it behind me and have a good rest of the race. Out onto the bike course I was feeling pretty good but immediately took notice of the wind and knew it would be a factor. I was passed by a couple people (no surprise) and actually passed one guy (surprise!) before a group of three came up on me around the 15 mile mark. They weren’t moving too fast so I decided to go with them. I soon realized that I could comfortably sit 10m behind the last person in the group so I decided to stay with them. This meant going really hard on the up hills and coasting on some of the downhills but the mental benefit of having someone to pace off was well worth it. Additionally I was always cognizant of staying at least 10m as I get kind of paranoid about being called for drafting. I guess thats what happens when you ride by yourself most of the time…

As we rolled along the temperature and wind picked up while the hills were relentless. Finally just past the 40 mile mark we hit the last turnaround and I decided to take off and punch it for the last 15 or so miles. At this point we had a nice tailwind and a couple of downhill sections so I just tried to get as small as possible and lose the other riders. It worked as I flew home on the Trek and was stoked to get out on the run.

Starting the run I was feeling great. My butt/piriformis/sciatic nerve issue had not acted up so I was really pumped to redeem myself from the crap run I had in Florida. It was nice to be able to move my legs and my fast pace was affirmed when I came through the mile in 5:35. Oops. Thats a little too fast. I tried to settle down but it was great to be running comfortably and have people ahead of me to catch. The run course had some shade which was nice but also had some hills, wide open sections, and lots of turns. There were also a lot of little loops so sometimes I felt like I was never really going anywhere.

I was still feeling good through about 6 miles but then I started hurting around the end of the first loop/beginning of the second loop. It happened a bit after I passed Timex teammate Alex MM and fellow Paulo disciple Will Ronco and I basically just had to suck it up and try not to slow down too much. While my second lap was certainly slower than my first, I managed to keep a decent enough pace and was thrilled to finally see the chute. As I was crossing the line, the announcer said, “Almost rounding out the top 10, in 9th place, Andrew Hodges from Huntsville, Alabama!” I had to chuckle. My race number was ‘9′ and after having no idea what place I was in as I crossed the line in 9th place in 4:11. This kept my streak alive of never finishing higher than my race number. And yes, I have been given ‘1′ before. (Of course now that I have mentioned it I’ve probably jinxed myself but sandbagging AG stud and Timex teammate Tim Hola thought it would be a nice addition to the report.)

I was a little lightheaded for a while post race but I got to chat with a bunch of people (including all the Timexers there) which was a lot of fun. However, I couldnt stay too long as I had a plane to catch so Will and I grabbed our stuff and took off.

Here are Will and I packing up after a day at the office:

Finally, a nice healthy post race meal in downtown Lawrence:

 I rarely eat fries anymore but these sweet potatoe fries were really delicious. Crispy on the outside, sweet and chewing on the inside… cooked to perfection. Of course the burger wasnt bad either. Not a bad end to the day.

Results: http://www.ironmankansas.com/results/08PrelimOverall.html

For more musings from a electrochemist/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

This was my third year doing this race but this year, unlike others, I had a friend, Lindsey Jerdonek, to head up to the race site with me. So at 4:15 AM she and I left my place in Winter Park to head down to Disney for the 6:20 AM start time. Upon arrival we were herded into the parking lot and onto the shuttle bus and soon enough we were at the race site.

Because my bike was already there, preparations were minimal and I was nice and relaxed as I was getting ready for the race. Pretty soon I was standing on the beach in the dark with all the other male pros listening to race director and man of many talents Tom Ziebart sing the National Anthem. (BTW, I was much more happy to listen to the anthem standing on the edge of the lake as opposed to having to float in the 55 degree water like we had to do in California…)

The gun was off and we were sprinting into the water. The beach start was a bit of a shock to the system as it seems they are a rarity now. In fact the last time I did a beach start was this race a year ago. Anyway, because of that I felt a bit strange running into the water and it took me a while to remember what I needed to do which probably resulted in a pretty poor starting position. Once we started swimming though I was pretty confident I was in the front pack so that was good enough for me. Because we werent allowed to wear wetsuits, I was in the pointzero3 and it was feeling great. Once again I settled in on some feet and had a relatively uneventful swim. A few times I moved to the outside to make sure the group was staying together but for the most part I was content to stay in the pack as I knew I wouldnt have been able to swim away from anyone.

As we came out of the water I was around 12th and at the back of the first pack feeling good. A decent (but long) transition and I was out on the bike. Right away I had to watch a few guys slowly pull away from me as I knew I wouldnt be able to maintain the power necessary to stay with them for the whole race. So I just settled into my desired wattage and started cranking. A couple miles into the ride Courtney Ogden passed me and I was a bit worried that he would be the first in a line of many. (Surprisingly enough though he was the only guy to pass on the bike!)

Unfortunately about 3 or 4 miles into the ride my left piriformis started hurting and my whole left leg got really numb. It was really weird… anytime I slowed down or stood up my leg would get that feeling like it was “asleep”. This made for a painful ride but I just stared at my PT and was determined not to let BIGZACH catch me. I saw him at an out and back just before 25 miles and it gave me some motivation to really focus on the ride and block out the pain and try to hold him off.  It worked and as I mentioned before, I finished the ride in the same position that I had started as in addition to being passed by Courtney Ogden, I actually passed TJ Tollakson. (As an aside he mustve been feeling bad as he can certainly destroy me on a good day but he was clearly having some problems and had to withdraw.)

Finally the bike was over and it was time to run. Usually this is a good thing for me but today I was worried as my piriformis was really hurting. After throwing on my shoes, I started to run out of transition and I thought I was going to fall over. The only other time I had felt this bad off the bike was Hawaii… and that was 112 mile ride with my seat too high. Regardless of this as soon as I left transition I was totally focused on just running with good form and stride rate and I decided I would let the speed take care of itself. After a couple of the early out and backs, I realized that as long as I ran nice and easy I could get by with a good-but-not-great run and maintain my position. Additionally, the next guy was so far ahead that even if I did have a great run, it likely would not have helped any. Quite simply, 10-15 sec a mile just wasnt worth the risk of blowing up later in the race.

So after a mile and a half or so I started feeling semi-normal and got into a decent rhythm, running between 5:55 and 6:05 min miles depending on the terrain. While the uneven ground consisting of roots and sand was quite unfriendly in a few spots, the weather was the best we could have asked for as it was overcast and even sprinkling a few times. Back to the race and I just kept clicking off the miles and got a nice boost when I saw Craig Alexander in a golf being driven back to transition. His dropping out in addition to a pass of a walking Victor Z meant I was now in the 8th place… Thats right, in the money! Finally I was finishing up the longest last 0.1 miles ever and the announcer was proclaiming, “In eight place, Andrew Hodges from Huntsville, AL…” as I came across the line in 4:11. Not a great time, as it turns out the bike and run were both long so the time is a bit irrelevant.

Overall I was really pleased with the result. Mentally the race had been quite difficult as it was basically a time trial from the time I started the bike and my piriformis had been killing me so I was really happy to finish with a good placing.

In addition to the money, I also found out at the awards that I got a Clearwater spot as none of the guys ahead of me claimed theirs. Additionally I may also be on the team for ITU LD worlds in Holland at the end of August as the top 2 Americans at this race were supposed to have qualified.  I’d be really excited to go as it is 4k-120k-30k which is great because it favors swimmers and runners a bit more.

Official results can be found here.

BTW… Lindsey in her first half IM had a totally kick ass race, finishing 8th overall… including pros! In fact the next amateur was over 8 minutes behind her!! Great job, Lindsey!

 For more musings from a rocket scientist/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

aka Saturday Pt. 1

Saturday morning we arrived nice and early and I had no problems racking the bike or getting set up. I felt good on the run warm up and was looking forward to a good race. Once we were finally allowed in the water I got in a little swim and immediately noticed that for the large majority of the race we would be swimming straight into the sun. Not too much fun, but what can you do?

Finally the gun went off and we were off. Apart from the typical jostling, I actually got off to a pretty good start. I usually get beat up pretty bad at Collegiate Nationals (what do you expect with a bunch of testosterone laden competitive college kids?) but this time it actually wasn’t too bad. So pretty soon things strung out and I found myself in a nice little group. I was pretty sure that the first place guy wasn’t too far ahead, so I was content to find some feet and try to keep pace. As it turns out I was out of the water in 8th or so, about 40 seconds back. So a decent swim. At this point, I was feeling pretty good and thought I had a shot at it.

Off to the bike which for me usually means people passing me and me screaming obscenities under my breath directed towards my bike. This time however this was not the case. I started out by actually passing (!) a couple of guys who mustve just been fast swimmers and after 7 or 8 miles I found myself in a group with 3 other guys. We all took turns heading to the front and trying to separate ourselves but we ended up staying together the whole time. While we did end up staying more or less together, there were numerous officials out there and they stopped on multiple occasions to make sure we were riding cleanly. Coming into the end of the ride I was feeling pretty good as we were 3-7 and I was confident I could outrun everyone in the group, meaning I was looking at no worse than 3rd.

Out on to the run and sure enough, I separated myself within the first half mile from the three others. Marc Bonnet-Emyard was out on the course and gave me splits,

“2 min to 1st, 1 min to 2nd” he screamed.

“1 minute” I thought. “Totally doable.”

So I set out to chase down Kevin (the guy in 2nd) even though I had no feeling in my feet due to the cold weather and just overall didnt feel that great. Occasionally I’d catch a glimpse of him while other times he was out of sight. The run course was tough with three pretty serious hills and multiple tight turns but unfortunately when he was in sight I noticed I wasnt really making up any time and I still wasnt feeling that great. With about 3/4 of a mile to go I saw Mark again and he let me know there was no one behind me at which point I realized I wasnt going to catch Kevin so I might as well enjoy the last few minutes of the race. I came into the chute and while I was disappointed to not win, I was still pleased with the result as it looks like the suffering Paulo has put me through on the bike might actually be paying off. 

Full results can be found here: http://www.onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=2468.  Incidentally, Kevin and I ended up tying for the fastest run, so as I suspected, I wasnt catching him.

So there it is, 3rd overall which as you can see is the first place that doesnt get interviewed. It is however good enough for some Coldstone but that will have to wait for Part Deux…

-Andrew

For more musings from a corrosion engineer/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com

Once again the TIMEX Multisport Team ascended upon Carlsbad, CA for our team camp. Many of us raced the Cali 70.3 in Oceanside on Saturday but the camp officially kicked off Saturday night at the Grand Palisades hotel in Carlsbad. We started with a dinner at the hotel during which time we got to catch up with old friends and begin to meet new members. After dinner it felt like Christmas in March as we were let loose to chat with sponsors and pick up gear for the upcoming season. We were all really excited about our sponsors for the upcoming year which will include TIMEX, Trek, Bontrager, Profile Design, PowerBar, Nuun, Rudy Project, CycleOps Power, Nathan, BlueSeventy, Headsweats, Trigger Point, Wigwam, Gaiam, TriBike Transport, and Zorrel. As you can see, Tom Schuler at Team Sports has put together an truly top notch lineup for us this year. Most of all though our title sponsor, TIMEX, should really be commended for showing a commitment to triathlon by continuing their stellar support of the team.

After chatting with sponsors and collecting some gear we headed over to the Karl Struass Restaurant, Bar and Brewery where Triathlete Magazine held a joint party for both our team and the Zoot team.  Here is a pick with me, Samatha McGlone, and former Timex manager Ben Harper.

A good time was had by all, especially those who decided to stick around to close the bar down. There was even a rumor of a late night Carl’s Jr trip…

Sunday, March 30th

The day began with a presentation from the guys at Trek which highlighted all the changes to their all new Madone. Last year they highlighted all the features of the TTX so this year they focused a little more on the Madone as it was completely remodeled for 2008. One of the things I took away from the presentation (along from my conversations from the guys at Trek) that I was really impressed with is that any changes that Trek makes with their racing bikes is done because they know it will improve performance. In other words they won’t just change something because it looks cool and may help sell a few more bikes because they want their customers know that they are getting a top of the line product (like maybe adding a brake behind the fork just because it looks cool).

The next presentation was from TIMEX. A great part about our title sponsor is their willingness to try new technology while also staying true to their core customers. A recent innovation is their iControl system which allows you to control your iPod through your IRONMAN watch. They also have some really cool stuff coming down the pipeline but you’ll have to wait a bit for that ;) Because the folks at TIMEX realize that customers count on a durable product, they ensure any new technology has all the bugs worked out before bringing it to market. But stay tuned… there are some innovative products close to production.

PowerBar was next and we were treated to an excellent talk on nutrition both during exercise and throughout the day. The highlight of the talk though was that endurance performance was improved by 8% in trained athletes when consuming carbohydrates in a 2:1 glucose to fructose blend, as opposed to glucose alone. This is the basis for PowerBar’s C2 Max blend which contains this optimal ratio of carbohydrates. There is also a plethora of free information such as sample meal plans, race day nutrition strategies, and recovery suggestions on the PowerBar website (http://www.powerbar.com) so check that out if you need any nutrition related advice.

After a long day of talks, we were all ready for the team dinner. Here are some pics from the dinner.

Before:

During:

After (desert):

(Is that The Sergio with a big piece of cheesecake??)

After the meal it was back to the hotel for a dip in the hot tub along with requisite relay races in the pool…

Monday, March 31st

After a long Sunday, Monday saw some talk cancellations causing our day to open up. For this reason most people decided to get a little training in as we were after all in Southern California. Sergio, Kyle, and I decided to take a nice little spin down the coast to enjoy the awesome whether and check out the scenery. Kyle and I were hoping The Sergio would act as a huge chick magnet but unfortunately I think our paleness outshined The Sergio’s incredible allure.

After cleaning up, it was time for a dinner of tasty, authentic Mexican food.

Finally, another peaceful night by the pool/fire:

“Tap the Rockies, eh?” Of course we had to swing by the 7-11 on the way home from the restaurant for a few cold ones. This small feat amazed Kyle as he was envious of the fact that there are places in the US where you can buy beer and slurpies at the same establishment!

Tuesday, April 1st

Well time had come to pack our bags and head back to our respective parts of the world. It was sad to go not only because most of us had to go back to the real world (cubicle) but more importantly because due to the fact that the team is so spread out most of us only get to see each other once or twice a year. As we left though optimism was certainly abound for the upcoming year.

Thanks for reading and look for team members at races all across the country this year!

-Andrew

For more musings from a rocket scientist/professional triathlete, visit http://ajhodges.blogspot.com