With the race starting at 7:30 in Guntersville, I got to sleep in my own bed and didn’t even have to change my alarm clock, as 4:30 is my usual weekday wake up time.

As usual this race, like all Team Magic races, featured a TT start. Unlike in the past, when they seeded people according to swim time, today the RDs decided to let the 60 and over crowd start first, and then proceed from fastest to slowest. As a result, I had #46 and was honestly a little worried about swimming over some of the older racers. I dont mind having to swim through a crowd but I do feel pretty bad swimming over people. (Now, if only there were a way to avoid this………..)

So after the first 45 were in the water, I was off. By about half way through the swim I had passed just about everyone except teammate and uber-swimmer Bruce Gennari and a kid from the University of Alabama’s triathlon team. Bruce was on his way out of transition as the ‘bama kid and I were entering. I got out of transition a bit ahead of the bama kid and was out trying to limit my losses to Bruce.

I felt good from the start of the ride and immediately started hammering on the Ordu. Then, after a few miles, the ‘bama kid passed me, which surprised me a bit. Once he completed the pass, though, the pace slowed a bit… enough for me to start getting antsy. So I passed him back and kept pressing forward. I wasnt worried too much about him beating me but I wanted to make sure to stay as close to possible to Bruce so that I could reel him in on the run.

Coming to the end of the ride, I thought I had dropped the kid so I was surprised to see him as I was racking my bike. Although this caught me a bit off guard, I was still pretty confident I could out run him and still had the matter of catching Bruce to deal with.

We took off on the run and the kid was killing it from the gun. It took me about 3/4 of a mile to get separation, at which point I focused solely on catching Bruce. My legs were a bit tired from the proceeding week of training but I still thought I was moving reasonably well. I came through the mile at 5:21, a few seconds slower than PE was telling me but not terrible. Finally, just before the turn I caught Bruce and turned my sights for home. Second mile was 5:28 which was a bit disconcerting but not too bad considering the turn around and slight hill in the middle. From there on out, it was a race against the clock. I knew I’d be first across the line but with the TT start, no “lead” is ever safe. I opened it up, raced across the finish line, and waited for the others to see if my time would hold.

Bruce came across second, which was a bit surprising as I thought the kid would catch him after his fast start. 3rd across the line was Dr. John Krichev who started behind both Bruce and me, so I knew that was a solid performance for him.

As it turned out, I held on for first, Krichev was 2nd, and Gennari took the final spot on the podium.

It was great to see everyone out there for a warm but otherwise beautiful day for racing.

Last weekend I went up to Benton Harbor, MI for Steelhead 70.3. I was 2nd here in 2006, before the race had a prize purse, so I was hoping to return and have another solid performance. More importantly, I had finally been having some better bike workouts on the Ordu (with specially designed tear-drop airfoil and rhomboid tubes), so I was really looking forward to racing hard.

Race morning arrived and I was ready to kill it. As I was eating breakfast, I flipped on the TV and started scrolling through the channels, stopping when I saw a radar shot. There it was… a large storm moving east across Lake Michigan. With Benton Harbor located on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, there was no guarantee we would get rained on but it looked pretty likely. On the short drive to the race the rain started and continued on and off until about 5 miles into the bike. Luckily though the rain wasnt coming down too bad, so I was still able to get everything set and ready to go in transition.

Around 6:30 I started my jog down to the start. Looking out over the lake, it appeared we’d be missing the worst of the storms, so that was a relief. I dont mind a little rain but lightning is a whole separate situation…

Soon enough we were lined up on the beach and ready to go. The usual chaos ensued after the gun went off as we raced to the first buoy, about 200m from the start. A bit after navigating that slight right turn, I was in a group next to the buoys but noticed another group to our left, a little further out. After watching them for a bit, it appeared they were gaining a bit of water on us, so I decided to attempt to make the jump to join them.

I got out and around the guy I was following but initially struggled to make up any time. Not wanting the group to get away, I put my head down, focused, and started closing the gap. Encouraged, I pressed on and finally did make contact. By that time, though, a couple of others had gone off the front of that group. Attempting to catch them wouldve been futile so swam up to the now smaller group of three, to a little break, and took off at my own pace.

Finishing up the swim, I was surrounded by four or five others so I was focused on a fast transition in order to set up a fast bike. I was in and out in decent time but probably shouldve attempted to move up further in the group at the end of the swim to ensure a better position for the start of the bike.

The start of the bike was a bit tricky as the rain had picked up quite a bit and the skies were still pretty dark, making visibility poor. I lost a bit of time in the first few miles so when we got out onto the main highway, 63, I really started pushing it to catch up to the three riders ahead of me. I was slowly closing the gap when Eric Bean and Michael Lovato came flying by. Their pace was too hot for me to match but I was able to catch the other three riders.

At this point the rain had stopped but we were off the the freshly paved SR 63 and onto slightly less enjoyable asphalt. I was maintaining contact when all of the sudden I noticed the others starting to pull away. I tried to up the intensity level but knew I wouldnt be able to match that intensity level for the remainder of the race. Soon after, I hit a particularly rough section of road and felt my rear rim hit the pavement. I stopped, checked the tire, and sure enough… a slow leak.

The change went relatively quickly but towards the end three competitors went racing past. Hoping I could maybe catch them, I took off with a vengeance. I was back into what I felt was a good pace rather quickly and just tried to focus on getting the guys ahead. Soon after, though, I heard a loud hiss, indicative of another flat. Having brought only one tube, this meant game over.

I was near an intersection with a police officer so he, thankfully, called the wheel truck. Unfortunately, it still took 10-15min for them to arrive. Meantime, I watched the rest of the men’s field and most (if not all) of the women’s field fly by and found a nice little piece of glass which had penetrated my tire.

So needless to say, I was/am pretty upset. But, hey, it happens. I’d love to go find another big race this weekend to do but the reality is that I only have so many vacation days and those remaining for the rest of the year have already been allocated. So for now its back to work until Mountain Lakes on the 14th and RocketMan on the 29th.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

PS Other than the race, the weekend was a lot of fun courtesy fellow team member/world financier Mark Vermeersch.  I flew into Chicago and Mr. Vermeersch arranged accommodations and transportation for the entire weekend, the highlight of which had to be the trip to the burger bar on Saturday evening in Chicago.

Having never raced the BLST 70.3, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived in Lubbock, TX for the race. I had heard it was supposed to be warm but hadn’t heard much else about the course. I knew I’d be in for a long day, though, when at the pro meeting, the race director said, “This ain’t no Starbucks racing; this is old school triathlon.”

Swim: 22:44

Being old school, the race began with a classic beach start into a beautiful spring fed lake. I got out well and soon found myself battling for position in the pack. After another minute I was worried about getting trapped by slower swimmers so I moved up and closed a gap to the next guy up the water. This took a considerable effort so I was pleased to be able to grab his feet and rest for a bit. After the first turn, I considered making another move but at this point the first few guys had opened up a sizable gap so catching them would’ve been a very tough task, if not altogether out of the question. I sat in until the next turn at which point I swung a bit wide and tried to open it up a bit for the finish.

Bike: 2:27:55

Out on the bike, I was shooting blanks. The combination of the hard, no wetsuit swim and a few short hills at the beginning of the ride left my legs really sluggish for the first 5 miles or so. They gradually started feeling better and I settled into a decent grove. Although the course traversed soybean fields and oil fields, the race director somehow managed to find what had to be the only hills in the vicinity for the course. Combined with some pretty strong winds, this was not a course to be attacked short on ammo. Regardless, I felt pretty strong on the back half and kept the power up throughout the ride.

Run: 1:22:22

Heading out on the run, I was looking forward to rocking and rolling. From the beginning though, it was evident not only would the bazooka not be available but the machine gun, colt-45, and air pistol would also not be available. Rather, I’d have to show up with a knife… not the greatest idea! I haven’t had too much time to adjust to my new bike position and my quads were not very happy as I started the run. I was moving along decently on the flats but the first steep hill around mile 3 was pretty rough. The second, around mile 4.5, wasn’t any better. Making matters worse, at the top of that second hill was the “Energy Lab” an out and back section which was a surprisingly accurate approximation of the famous Energy Lab section in Hawaii.

I finally reached the turnaround and started heading back, suffering through the rest of the run. There were a number of other Timex Teammates racing, and seeing them on their way out when I was heading back definitely provided some encouragement. Additional encouragement was provided by none other than two- time IM World Champion Craig Alexander! I finally reach the finish and bolted straight for the med tent for a cold towel and IV.

Total: 4:15, 13th

All in all I was pretty pleased with my performance relative to recent training indicators, which have been slightly less than epic. Looking forward, next up is the Chattanooga Waterfront Tri and then Steelhead 70.3 with a few other Timex Teammates. Hopefully we’ll be able to step things up by then!

So while its not quite triathlon season, it is still fun to get in a race here and there so Sunday morning I ran the Mercedes Half Marathon in Birmingham, AL. Although racing a half marathon usually ends up being pretty painful, I had plenty of incentives to run. First and foremost, racing a half on Sunday morning meant I didnt have to go biking on Sunday or Saturday which is a huge bonus in the winter. Biking sucks in general but biking in the winter is just plain awful. Additionally, this race had Jim & Nick’s BBQ and AYCD free beer at the end, so what else could you ask for?

The morning started with a nice jog with fellow Huntsvillian Tim Vinson who was “just using the race as a tempo run” and “wanted to get in four before the start.” So I jogged a couple of miles with him before finalizing my clothing decision. The weather at the start was around 30F and sunny, so I went with shorts, a singlet, arm warmers, a Timex Headsweats running hat, and, yes, compression socks. As silly as they look, I am not embarrassed to admit that I actually really like running in my Sugoi R+R Compression Socks when its cold out as they really do a nice job keeping my lower legs warm.

After a few brief words by the mayor, we were off. There was quite a bit of activity the first mile with people figuring out how fast they wanted to run but I was happy to come through in 5:27. The field was still sorting itself out so I set off looking for someone with whom I could pass a few miles. I came on one guy but he was already breathing pretty heavy so I left him pretty quickly.

I came through the second mile in 5:29 feeling nice and relaxed. By this time a group of three guys had formed about 20 or 30sec ahead of me. I wanted to run with them but at the same time didnt want to expend too much energy to catch them if it would only lead to a blow up later in the race. So I tried to reel them in over the next few miles but it seemed to be a rather fruitless pursuit. I was closing the gap a bit but not nearly fast enough. I did manage to keep them in sight and keep the gap pretty constant through about six miles but then they started to pull away a bit. The course was getting a bit hillier and it seemed that the uphills were outnumbering the downhills. Of course this couldve just been fatigue setting in, but who knows. Regardless, I just tried to focus and keep a good rhythm. I really just wanted to get to mile 10, telling myself it would just be a 5k to go after that.

Finally I came through 10 in around 54:40 or so and I hopeful that I could kick it in and finish around 1:11:30. Shortly after that we headed back into downtown and I knew we were getting close. Also around this time I saw another runner who must have been falling back quite a bit because he was not one of the three I had seen for the majority of the race.

At mile 11 he had 20 sec on me but I decided I could catch him. I set off, really focusing on keeping a high tempo and running faster. Shortly after passing mile 12 I had a bit of weird sensation, as I kind of started hyperventilating. I’m thinking maybe it was due to the cold air but I’m really not sure. Luckily though there was less than a mile to go so I just had to put if out of my head and keep running.

Finally, at about 12.5, I caught and passed him right before a right turn which proceeded a ~0.5 mile uphill stretch to the 13 mile mark after which we’d have a sharp left, right, and finally the finish line. So coming out of the turn he came back past me and I tried to go but started tying up. I really tried to quicken my stride but the slight uphill just sapped my speed and the legs really werent going to move any faster. I missed my 13 mile split but really just wanted to get to the finish.

I finally stumbled across the line in 1:12:12, about 6 sec behind the kid who out-kicked me. As for the group of three I was running behind earlier in the race, it appears that one of them ran the marathon and the other two ran 1:11:12 and 1:11:15. Too bad I couldnt have stayed with them. Finally, Tim Vinson, the guy I warmed up with, ended up 13th overall and 1st Masters in 1:17:32. All in the middle of a 21 mile day and a 100 mile week. Not too shabby!

All in all, I’m pretty pleased. Although I would’ve loved to out-kick that kid and/or go under 1:12, I cant complain about being 10sec off a PR as other than two tempo runs, I’ve only done easy running up to this point this year.

Finally, full results are here and my splits are as follows. Incidentally, I think the fast third mile was primarily downhill and not fully compensated for until the last mile. 5:27, 5:29, 4:19(!), 5:31, 5:32, 5:34, 5:41, 5:40, 5:31, 5:32, 5:24, 5:28, 6:58 (1.1)

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

Snow shoe race… really? A quick perusal of the blog shows a few random posts and then… a snow shoe race. So how about a post about triathlon, eh? Well, it is the off-season, so we’ll have to settle for training. But actual triathlon training, the swimming-biking-running variety, rather than snow shoe running, cross country skiing, or indoor workout madness.

Admittedly, the weather near me has been pretty awful for this sort of thing but that’s why I jumped at the opportunity to get out of town. Not only out of town but off the continent! Last Sunday I boarded a plane to Atlanta where I then caught a flight to Honolulu before my third jump to Kahului on the island of Maui. The final destination was a condo near the historic town of Paia where the temperature during the day has hovered somewhere around 80F and clouds are a rarity. Not only is the weather here optimized for training but so is the company which includes the likes of Simon Whitfield, Sam McGlone, and other members of the Canadian National Team.

The first couple of days weren’t too bad… plenty of workouts but nothing too out of control.  On Wednesday however, we did our first hard ride of the camp… 2.5h with about 1h10min total of Zn3/Zn4/Zn5 climbing. We started at sea level and ended up somewhere around 3500ft although we still didn’t quite make it to the top. The descent was tons of fun… lots of exciting turns and breathtaking views.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning we headed over to the north sore for a little open water swim workout. Unfortunately we picked the windiest day since I’ve been here so we got beat up quite a bit in the choppy surf. Although the workout was a bit rough, the water was amazing as it was the perfect temperature and crystal clear. The highlight though was the body surfing after the workout!

I’m too tired to post about the adventures today but we still have a couple of hard rides and runs on tap (and of course every pool session is fast with the ITU crew) so I’m just hoping I can it through to next Monday. While this camp is certainly giving my fitness a great kick start to my year, the best part about it is just the opportunity to train with so many elite athletes and understand what it takes. Additionally, I’ll probably remember the easy runs over the dirt roads in the cane fields with Simon and Kyle as much as the super hard, heart attack inducing mountain climbs and all-out 100s in the pool.

Until next time, stay warm!