Heavy rain was a hindrance, but it did not stop the 25th annual Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon held at Quassy Amusement Park in Middlebury, CT on Wednesday, July 13th. What started out as a hot day in the high 80s (Fahrenheit) dropped almost 20 degrees as cool winds and torrential rains rolled in. Crowds of athletes and spectators took shelter under the pavilion near Lake Quassapaug, erupting in applause as it was announced that the triathlon would not be cancelled. As the rain lightened up, the first wave of swimmers entered the unexpectedly warm water about 25 minutes after the scheduled start. By the time most athletes were competing the bike leg a rainbow had formed over the Lake Quassapaug race area.

About 600 athletes competed in the triathlon held about 1.5 miles up the road from the Timex Group USA headquarters. The sprint distance triathlon consisted of a half-mile swim in the lake, a 10.5 mile bike ride and a 3.1 mile run along the scenic roads of Middlebury around the lake area. Thirty Timex Group USA employees participated in this year’s event racing individually or as part of a team, up from seventeen employees in 2010. They began training in April through a series of classroom clinics and training sessions held at Timex. Early morning swims were scheduled before the workday and group runs and rides took place during lunchtime.

As part of the company’s commitment to health and wellness, the HR department covered the costs for all of the participants’ entry fees and made a contribution toward their Timex-branded race apparel.

The morning of the race kicked off with a complimentary breakfast for all employees in Timex Group’s café. Keith Meyer thanked the company for its support and recounted the company’s relationship with the triathlon and history of the race. Gary Cohen (President & CEO) shared a few congratulatory remarks for the participants and has charged the local employees to increase the number of participants to fifty for the 2012 Griskus Sprint Triathlon.

Athletes selected to the team are required to race, host clinics, attend team training camp, blog and numerous other related tasks throughout the year. In exchange, athletes become a part of the most prestigious Triathlon Team that includes plenty of free Timex gear, apparel and much more.

Please send application material to TeamTimex@gmail.com or by mail to the following address:

Team Sports, Inc.
Attn: Timex Multisport Team
6228 West State Street
Wauwatosa, WI 53213

Application deadline is October 15, 2009. Applications received after this date will not be accepted.

Comprised of both amateur and professional athletes, the 2009 Timex Multisport Team is a dynamic group of 46 well-rounded and committed athletes from the U.S, Ukraine, Portugal, Mexico, Czech Republic, Canada and the United Kingdom who serve as brand ambassadors for Timex and associated sponsors at hundreds of events around the world.

As the industry leader in precision training devices for elite athletes, fitness enthusiasts and wellness shoppers, Timex is committed to supporting the sports favored by many of our athlete customers,” said Keith Meyer, Timex’s Event Marketing and Sponsorship Manager. “We rely on the expertise and feedback of each and every Timex Multisport Team athlete to constantly refine and improve our technology, based on their product experiences in the heat of world-class competition.”

The 2009 Timex Multisport Team will compete in a variety of events including Ironman and Xterra races. For the first time in team history, two pure runners join the field of outstanding Timex Multisport athletes. Daniel and Shaun McGrath, brothers from Las Vegas, will compete as Timex athletes in a wide range of running events, including the ING New York City Marathon.

Additions to this year’s men’s roster include top pro athletes Matt Boobar, Eric Bean, Will Kelsey, James Cotter, Shaun McGrath, Daniel McGrath, and Will Smith. The women benefit from the addition of Lindsey Jerdonek, Lisa Mensink, Janelle Morrison, and Mary Beth Ellis. The team has also included a new dimension to the multisport theme by adding top amateurs Mike Lavery, Barry Siff, Dirk Aschmoneit, AC Morgan, Dennis Meeker, Jackie Arendt, Jodi Thomson, Trista Francis, Phaedra Cote, and Christine Anderson.
The Ironman Oceanside 70.3 in Oceanside, California on April 4th will be the first major event to kick off the 2009 season. Following the race, the entire team of athletes, staff, and sponsors will gather in nearby Carlsbad, CA, for the 6th annual Timex Team training camp.

Last year’s performances set a high standard for years to come. Major highlights from 2008 include Richie Cunningham’s 1st place finish at the Longhorn 70.3, his 3rd place finish at the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Tamara Kozulina’s 2nd place finish at Ironman Florida, Sergio Marques’ 3rd place finish at Ironman Louisville, and Joe Gambles’ 1st place finish at the European Long Course Championships.

Building on the momentum of 2008, the Timex Multisport Team will strive to make 2009 the best year to date.

Complete Team Roster

Pro Men
Alex McDonald    Durham, NC
Andrew Hodges    Huntsville, AL
Blake Becker    Madison, WI
Dave Harju    Ottowa, ON
Kyle Marcotte    Calgary, AB
Sergio Marques    Lisbon Portugal
Toby Radcliffe    London, UK
Roger Thompson    Spokane, WA
Matt Boobar    Stratton Mountain, VT
Will Kelsay    Boulder, CO
James Cotter    Austin, TX
Will Smith    Madison, WI
Eric Bean    Milwaukee, WI
Pro Women
Gabriela Loskotova    Czech Republic
Laura Tingle    Louisville, CO
Tamara Kozulina    Ukraine
Lindsey Jerdonek    Washington, DC
Lisa Mensink     Calgary, AB
Erin Kummer    Boulder, CO
Carole Sharpless    Boulder, CO
Janelle Morrison    Calgary, AB
Mary Beth Ellis    Boulder, CO
Amateur Men
Adam Wilk    Plano, TX
Brian Schaning    Boulder, CO
Bruce Gennari    Nashville, TN
Chris Thomas    Easton, CT
Ian Ray    Easton, CT
Luis Alvarez    Mexico City
Mike Lavery    Madison, WI
Tim Hola    Highlands Ranch, CO
Barry Siff    Boulder, CO
Dirk Aschmoneit    Carlsbad, CA
AC Morgan    Darien, CT
Dennis Meeker    Louisville, CO
Amateur Women
Cindi Bannink    Madison, WI
Emily Herndon    Bozeman, MT
Juli Fiocca    Austin, TX
Rachel Ross    Honolulu, HI
Jackie Arendt    Madison, WI
Jodi Thomson    Cleveland, OH
Trista Francis    Highlands Ranch, CO
Phaedra Cote    Spokane, WA
Christine Anderson    Chicago, IL
Timex Runners
Daniel McGrath    Las Vegas, NV
Shaun McGrath    Las Vegas, NV
Kim Hager    The Woodlands, TX

Exciting new sponsors for 2009 include: Sugoi – Race, training and casual apparel/ compression sock; Aqua Sphere – Wetsuits, speed suits and goggles; ARX – Muscle recovery and performance supplements; POWERbreathe – Inspiratory muscle trainers; Training Peaks – Training and nutrition software

Proud returning sponsors of the 2009 team include: Trek – Bicycles; Nathan – Hydration/nutrition belts and accessories; Bontrager – Wheels and tires, shoes and accessories; Gaiam – Lifestyle & wellness products; nuun – Hydration; LifeSport Coaching – Endurance coaching, TriBike Transport – Bike transportation services; Saris/PowerTap – Cycling power meters; ART (Active Release Techniques) – Performance care; Trigger Point Technologies – Performance therapy product; PowerBar – Energy bars, gels and nutrition; Headsweats – Moisture wicking accessories; Rudy Project – Helmets and eyewear.
The team is managed by Team Sports Inc. www.teamsportsinc.com

Our first stop of the day was the Empire State Building. It’s very hard not to look just like every tourist in the city…i guess we were the only ones without front packs on, you know…a fanny pack worn up front. I love the black leather ones the best…that is a serious traveler.

Anyway, after the Empire State building we took a nice stroll down 5th ave and headed over to Rockefeller Center, down through Time Square and eventually ending up at Mesa Grill for brunch. http://mesagrill.com/ is owned and operated by one of my favorite chefs in the country, Bobby Flay. Bobby has a ton of great shows on the food network that really highlight his southwest style and his masterful sauces.

After brunch, we slowly shuffled our way back up town with heavy stomachs to Broadway to see a show. Ever since we moved here last year, Brooke has wanted to see Wicked in the city but because tickets are so hard to come by, we settled for Les Miserables. What an awesome show! besides the two idiots that i sat next to that smelled like cheap perfume, ate potato chips and M&M’s and narrated the whole time…it was definitely worth it and i can’t wait to get down there soon for another show.

Finally, as our day was coming to an end, we walked through Central Park, snapped a few photos and headed back to Grand Central to catch the train back home.

Everyday is great with Brooke but this one was especially cool.

I leave Sunday for Kona and hope to update the blog throughout the race week.

Good luck to all of the athletes competing, you will do great!

Special K

Friday July 20th – The three of us got up at 6am to have a light breakfast then headed down to Mirror Lake where we met our coach Mike Monroe for a loop of the swim course. I ran into my good friend Tim Moxy from Blue Seventy wetsuits (new sponsor to the Timex team for 2007) and caught up only briefly but Tim’s last words to me were “Have fun and let the suit do all the work.” Those words will stick in my head and carry me through the best swim of my life on race day.
After our swim, the three of us suited up in our rain gear and headed down to the Olympic Oval to register for the race. I have never experienced a race registration that ran so smooth, great job to NA Sports!
Friday night was the Pre race dinner, which was held out at the horse fairgrounds under a mega tent. Few things to mention…Mike Richter, former goalie for the NY Rangers gave a short speech about his quest to conquer Lake Placid and said he had dreamed the night before that the lake actually froze on race day while he was still swimming and when he became coherent there were a bunch of Detroit Red Wings skating around him…too funny!

Saturday July 21st – Day before the race and we are all getting very excited at this point. We spent the day getting a few last minute items including Brave Soldier anti-chaffing crème, tic tac box for my Advil, CO2 cartridges and a few other misc items. Saturday is also the day when you need to hand in your transition bags and turn in your bike. Once that was all done, we went back to the house, cooked some pasta and just relaxed for the evening. Heading to bed, we were all prepared to get very little sleep the night before the race but Brooke and I got a solid 6 hrs or so…Jay on the other hand was not so lucky. The first thing Jay did when he woke up on race day was to give us the big zero sign with his fingers, indicating the amount of sleep he had gotten that night.

Sunday July 22nd, Race Day!! – 4am came around pretty quick for Brooke and I but Jay had been waiting patiently for the alarm to sound so he could get on with the day.
We each had our own pre race meal that we were attempting to get down but it’s hard to eat at 4am. My favorite pre race meal is a wheat bagel with crunchy peanut butter, low fat cream cheese and a banana…oh, and my coffee.

After breakfast, we dropped off our special needs bags, headed to transition to put our water bottles on our bikes and add a few last minute items to our gear bags and then went back to the house to get suited up.
615am – we are all body marked, transition is set and we are way ahead of schedule and I am lovin’ it!

Start
My strategy for the swim was simple, be confident, know that I am going to get hit a few times, breathe easy and let the suit do the work for me. My strategy worked great as I exited the swim in 1:15, not bad for a guy that just took his first swim lesson in February.

Transition
Into transition I go…taking my time of course as I am not here to go for the win but to make sure that I am comfortable on the bike and I don’t leave anything behind.
I listened to the advice given to me by our coach as well as a few professionals who have done very well on this course and it was clear that you wanted to take it easy on the first loop. That I did, zone II the whole loop for a 3:01 and I felt great, I passed about 200 people on the climbs alone and never felt as if I was pushing too hard. Lap two came around and I was starting to get a tightening in my left IT band and my right hip flexor muscle, uh oh…between the high winds and the aches and pains my body was feeling, lap two of the bike was waaaay slower 3:24. What I imagined to be my strongest leg of the day has turned out to be the one I suffered the most on.

Transition
Finally I enter T2 and am feeling good that I am off the bike and about to start the run. (my weakest event of the three). As soon as I start running, my left IT band pops in for a quick hello and it hurts, so much so that I spend the first mile doing my best impression of Terry Fox. All of the sudden I hear people yelling my name and cheering me on and out of the corner of my eye, I notice its Cassidy from Trigger Point Therapy. “Good”, I say to myself, “Cassidy will know how to fix my IT band issues right here on course, he is the man you know?” So I stopped running and Cassidy popped out of his chair to come greet me in the road. I told him about my issue and he said to just “Tilt your pelvis more forward…that should help.” Once again, Cassidy talks me off the ledge and by mile three; my IT band pain would disappear for the remainder of the run!
I must say, my favorite part of the day was the first half of the run. I was feeling good physically and mentally, got to see my brother in law Jay a few times and saw how awesome he was doing and it helped to lift my spirits.
The second half of the run was not so much fun however…(I forgot to mention that I had been dealing with a mild stomach discomfort since mile 10 on the bike and wasn’t sure what was going on but I was having to force down my nutrition the entire day. Luckily, I never got sick but there were plenty of times that I came close). It is very difficult mentally to come all of the way back into town after completing 13 miles and hear people finishing, see the finish line shoot but have to take a different turn and head back out of town for your final 13 miles. I shuffled through the run and was still feeling fairly good. The plan was to run the second loop at 145-160bmp but I could not get my heart rate to go above 128. Along with my concentrated mix of Infinit nutrition I was using on the run, I was alternating at aid stations with Gatorade and coke…I love Coke, it really gives you that extra push and helped to settle my stomach. I knew the end was near when I hit the turnaround on the out and back portion of the loop an fueled me to push even harder. There was never a time during the race that I ever felt like I wanted to quit, our coach Mike Monroe really prepared Brooke and I for this and mentally I had prepared myself.
With 1.5 miles to go until I become an Ironman, I get the best cheer of the day from my best friend (and my wife) Brooke. Brooke was on her way out to start her second loop of the run and still had that same smile on her that I left her at the swim start with. She is truly the reason I was out there on Sunday and was my inspiration to keep going when things got difficult. Seeing Brooke right before the finish was just was a perfect ending to a perfect day for me.
I had two goals for the day, the first was to finish and the second was to come in under 13 hours, which I did with a final time of 12:54:30.

The Ironman will forever be the proudest accomplishment in my life and I can’t wait to start training for the next one, thanks for reading.
Oh, forgot to thank everyone who donated my to my fundraising efforts through the Janus Charity Challenge, i raised over $4,000 for Trips for Kids!!!

Congratulations to Alex, this win couldn’t have gone to a more deserving person…a true athlete!

enjoy!

In my confused state, I called my wife, Brooke, who is on the mainland and started to explain to her what had just happened to me and she said “Get out of there, it sounds like an earthquake.” I’m not sure why my first instinct wasn’t to get out of there as fast as I could and was pretty calm and collected considering now what we had all just lived through.

Just as I was finishing my call with Brooke, an aftershock hit and I finally decided it was ready to high tail it out of the condo. As I left my condo, all of my fellow team was standing outside already and was yelling at me to get out of the building.

It is hard to explain my thought process but through the entire ordeal, I never felt scared or threatened until the hotel workers next door was yelling at people to go to higher ground for fear that a Tsunami could strike at any time. It’s amazing how fast a natural disaster hits you and you have no time to react.

My condo was trashed. Every picture on the walls either fell down or was hanging crooked, all of the kitchen cupboards opened up and spit out wine glasses, coffee mugs, bowls and an entire spice cabinet. Broken glass was in the living room 12 feet away from the kitchen, in the bathroom and down the garbage disposal.

Since the power was out over the entire island of Hawaii, it was difficult to find food anywhere in town and all of the supermarkets suffered major damage and were closed. Cell phones were not even working. It’s at that time when you go into survival mode and reality sets in and it’s very frightening.

I am very thankful that we are all safe here and appreciate life that much more knowing that it can be taken from you at any time. Thanks to everyone who called or emailed yesterday concerned about our safety.

I will be making a few homemade salsa’s to go with the feast and will include (but are not limited to) my fresh tomato salsa, cucumber mango and a black bean and corn relish.  I made a test batch of the relish and tomato salsa to bring in to Timex and share with the unknowing test pilots yesterday.  The salsa was a hit and a few had asked for the recipe so here it is.  If you don’t like cilantro and garlic…you may want to skip this one.

Meyer’s Salsa

28oz can whole Tomatoes
½ small onion diced fine
1 small Jalapeño seeded and diced
1 clove garlic minced
¼ cup chopped cilantro
½ green pepper diced fine
Juice of one lime
1 tbsp cider or red wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Puree the tomatoes and juice in a food processor or blender to your desired consistency.
Add all remaining ingredients.
Place in refrigerator overnight.

I recommend a good blue corn tortilla chip to serve with.
Want more of Meyer’s salsa recipes?  Post a comment below with your request and i’ll add ‘em.  (I can make some mean guacamole too…)

Conrad Anker spent two hours at our booth yesterday signing posters and chatting with passers by and old friends he has made along the way. Conrad introduced me to a few of his friends including one of the employees for The North Face who works in their new office in Venice, Italy where Brooke and I plan to take our honeymoon next year. It’s great to be connected in the industry!

If you have never been to an Outdoor or bicycle industry trade show, I’m afraid you are missing out. Not only do you get to look at the coolest new gear offerings from every company associated with the particular industry, you can manage to drink free beer for the last two hours of the show each day (if you’re not working of course). I always know when it’s 4pm at the OR show and not because I’m surrounded by 170 Timex watches, it’s the flow of beer that I see with people walking by our booth.

It’s great marketing in my opinion but some companies take the free beer ploy even further. Keen shoes gave away a free pair of shoes and the guys at Optic Nerve Eyewear Company had a stupid human trick contest where each trick earned a free pair of sunglasses. Our friend at Fuel Belt did some trick with his eyes making them twitch back and forth faster than a hummingbird flaps it’s wings…coolest thing I’d ever seen.

Last night’s stage in the Tour of Utah was a circuit race that consisted of a 6.3-mile loop that the field did 8 times in just under one hour and a half and was won by Toyota United Pro team member Chris Baldwin. The event was very well managed and the loop had the cyclists pass through the start finish line 4 times on each loop making it very spectator friendly as well. I saw an old fellow employee, Petar Tomich who now works for the Navigators Cycling team and chatted with him and team director Ed Beamon just before they rolled out on course in the team car.

The night was topped off on my walk home where I witnessed one driver smash in to two cars before becoming wedged in between the Utah public transit train and a Toyota forerunner at an intersection. Myself and another by standard flagged down a police officer then both ran down to the scene to inspect the aftermath and offer our stories on what each of us witnessed. The driver was clearly intoxicated and was very lucky he did not hurt anyone during his drunken rampage. There seemed to be an abundance of people who witnessed everything so I bolted before being interviewed.

Brooke came in to town last night from Wisconsin to get her dress fitting done and so the two of us can meet with the flower and cake crew. Tonight we are going out to dinner with the Timex crew to Log Haven where we will be getting married this coming September so that will be fun!
Thanks for reading.

Dean Karnazes was at our booth in the morning signing some of his books and talking with a few of our retailers and was followed up by Conrad Anker who spent two hours in our booth.
I saw some of our Timex Multisport Team sponsors yesterday, Vinu Malik from Fuel Belt, Alan Romick from Headsweats and Talia Herman made a guest appearance in the Spenco booth. Great to see all of you.

The best surprise guest for me was seeing my brother Greg yesterday for the first time in almost two years. He is working with a fly-fishing specialty company out of Montana called Simms Fishing.

Retailers sniffing at the latest offerings from Timex packed our booth back to back with individual meetings and frequent fly by’s from potential new accounts. The new Expedition Tide and temp E compass is getting some serious lookers and the new line of heart rate monitors also seem to find some serious time in the limelight.

So, I managed to pull off what I call the “Mexican Trifecta.” This term is applied when one ingests Mexican food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Huevos Rancheros for breakfast, chicken burrito for lunch and Chili Verde enchiladas for dinner. The lunch time burrito was nothing to write home about but certainly beat the pre packed turkey sandwiches that cost $8.50 at the show cafeteria though!

After dinner we peeked around the corner to see if The Flock of Seagulls were still playing at the industry party but the big hair mullets were no where to be seen or heard.

Tonight is stage 4 in the Tour of Utah cycling race and consists of a criterium that goes around the Delta Center only one block away from the OR show and two blocks from my hotel so that’s where I’ll be tonight! I think the Health Net boys are in the lead over the Toyota United pro team but the race isn’t over ‘till it’s over!

We’re missing some staff here unfortunately because of the recent terror threats that has put a few of the major airports into lock down mode. Fortunately it’s smooth sailing at the airport here in Salt Lake City.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but I need to download a different browser to do so.

Thanks for reading!