Nope, not the Bering Sea

Where I do I begin?  The 2012 season has already dished up some of the hardest races I’ve done, and summer hasn’t even officially started yet.  Last Saturday I completed my 20^th Ironman distance race.  It was the hardest Ironman race I’ve done, and it will never take place again. 

Since doing Strongman Japan on April 15, I wanted to use that training and fitness to go into an Ironman race here in the US and it just so happened that Ironman St. George was just shy of three weeks after so I thought I’d attempt yet again an Ironman double.  The Strongman Japan race is only 16 miles short of an Ironman distance, but since it had a full marathon, and that’s really the part that counts.  Even though I went in with a very sore left Achilles tendon and some chest congestion that never shook off from Japan, the gamble worked and it was a pretty good day, but not without a fight between me and the elements of the Utah desert.

 To make a long story short, the forecast called for 82 degrees, a slight wind of 9 mph, and relatively calm conditions.  This was not the case.  The gun went off for us age groupers at 7AM and I was very excited to start Ironman #20.  As I walked down to the start I made my usual stop by the pro racks and said good luck to my friends racing including eventual race winner Ben Hoffman.  At the water’s edge, I said a quick prayer and was on my way.  About 10 minutes into the swim we took a 90 degree left turn, and that’s when it all happened. 

Yes, there IS a swimmer out there

 As soon as we took that turn the wind picked up and the white caps started.  About 500m later we took another turn and that’s when it really got bad.  Have you ever seen those clips on The Discovery Channel of a US Coast Guard Helicopter dropping a rescue swimmer in the middle of an ocean?  You know, when they are trying to swim through the downdraft of the turbine from the helicopter?  That’s what it was like.  Imagine that while fighting 4 ft. swells for about 45 min. just to try to see a buoy.  I was in a group of swimmers that kind of just didn’t know where to go.   I remember at one point a swimmer stopping and looking at me as if to say, “OK, so now what do we do?”  It was actually fun for me since I always have been a swimmer, but for some of the other athletes behind me, I knew it was a safety issue.  Turns out that about 200 athletes got pulled from the water.   I managed to slug it out in 58 minutes and heard a slew of curse words from a bunch of people in the changing tent.

This was the only way to see the buoys

The bike was worse.  The wind didn’t stop.  Just ask pro and PowerBar athlete Uli Bromme – she wrote a great race report you can see here.  Combine that with about 6,000ft. of climbing and that equals some very, very epic conditions.  It was two loops and I’d say about 65-70% of the entire course was on some sort of incline.  I never once thought about getting a certain time or bike split.  It was survival and a mental game for me.  Honestly I thought about all the people who were attempting their first Ironman that day, and how I was hoping that they all would make it, knowing full well that all 496 of them would not finish.  It’s very easy to think selfishly in this sport, but after getting wind (no pun) of some of the stories of how some athletes toed the starting line and what they went through, it took me back a little.  Like the guy who was up on stage at the carbo dinner telling Mike Rilley that he lost over 150 lbs during his training for the race.  And here he was ready to give this Ironman thing a shot – truly amazing.  I didn’t catch his name, but saw him before the race and told him he inspired me and thanked him for sharing his story. 

Checking in my QR on Friday morning

Scenic, hard, hilly, windy, = all of the above

During the 112 miles I did my very best and thought about all those great rides I’ve had and tried to put it all together once again. 

Crusing home at mile 100ish. Thanks for the pics Dave!

My QR CD0.1 rigged up with the super fast Challenge Forte tires really came through. I finished the bike in 5:51.  I really believe this sport is so mental.

Coming out of T1

The marathon was all in town and was 3 loops.  Yes, still more hills.  Since the city of St. George sits on a hill, we did out and backs on the city streets meaning we were either going up or down almost the whole time.  I felt pretty good the whole run considering the race I did 3 weeks prior. 

A slightly shorter stride as the layers peeled away...

For the first time I used a pair of Compressport Calf Sleeves with Ultra Silicone which is supposed to ease the pressure on your Achilles Tendon.  Those sleeves combined with PowerBar gels, water, sodium, positive thoughts, and a healthy dose of adrenalin that built up through out the day allowed me to finish in 10:14 as 16^th overall and 3^rd in the age group. 

Post race interview by Team Timex's media superstar Dave Erickson

In the end, I qualified for Kona for the 14^th year in a row – still very hard for me to comprehend and quite a milestone in my 17 year triathlon career.

Meeting with the Mayor of Miyako when we arrived

When I look back on all the races I have done, there are certainly a few that stand out, but Japan Strongman will be a triathlon that will always hold a special place for me.  It is one of those once in a lifetime experiences that I felt so lucky to be a part of.  After doing Kona last year, I got a call from the race inviting me to come back and race (I raced here once before in 2008).  The entire trip was covered so I could not pass it up, and was even more excited to have Nikki come with me as well.

This race is on theislandofMiyakojima, on the southern tip of the Okinawa islands inJapan, very close toTaiwanso it’s not the easiest place to get to.  However they know triathlon well and know how to do it right.  Is there another city out there that has swim/bike/run pictures and the word “Triathlon” on their manhole covers on their city streets?  Miyako does, which confirmed their passion for this sport – you can’t beat that.   After all, they have been doing this race for 28 years and it’s the highlight of the year for the people of Miyakojima.   It brings the whole island together in celebration!  

Interview at the airport

We arrived on Wednesday and had a packed schedule.  I was one of 7 invited international athletes and the only American (there were 4 Germans, 1 Canadian, and one from theUkraine).  They only invite 1 American male per year to this race to needless to say I was honored to be here.  Our schedule included TV and radio interviews, a visit with the Mayor, and the highlight for me, the school visits.  Here we visited local elementary schools and with a translator talked about our country and triathlon.  A huge thanks to Keith and Tristan for the Timex hats as I gave them out to the kids.  By the look in their eyes you would have thought I each gave them gold!   

A visit to Ikema island and their elementary school. They loved the Timex hats!

They had a huge pre race party on Friday night complete with plenty of Japanese food, a  10’ x 10’ cake, and a celebration of triathlon for the 1500 participants (they get 3000 applications per year but only accept half of them).  We had a great time and enjoyed every moment!

Race day came on Sunday morning and I felt very prepared.  I have been preparing for this race officially since Feb. 1 so I certainly committed to some long (and cold) rides this winter to prepare the best I could.  The distances of the race are a 3000m swim, 96 mile bike and marathon run, just shy of an Ironman distance.    My Quintana Roo CD01 arrived in great shape and was ready to rock (yes, it was the only QR in the race).  The day before I had a Japanese mechanic give it a once over and although he was no Doug Berner and didn’t speak a lick of English, he knew what he was doing and it was ready to roll.  We headed down to the beach at 6:30 for the 7AM start and was feeling great.  After a quick warm up we were off in the very warm waters of theEast China Sea.

This race offered swim/bike/run prems for both men and women so I was certainly gunning for the 50,000 Yen for winning the swim.  Depending how strong the US dollar is that’s about $450 or so.  I immediately found myself in 3^rd place and was quickly closing the gap for 1/2^nd but came up short by about 1 minute!  I was a little disappointed, but kept on my way.  As I was running to T1, I could not believe how many photographers were there all snapping tons of pictures of the athletes.  The people here love triathlon!  I hopped on my QR, grabbed my Nathan flask filled with 8 gels, plenty of PowerBars, and was on my way to ride the 1 ½ lap ride around the island.  At around mile 50, we hit the southern tip of the islands when we hit the significant hills on the route, which were referred to as “Up/Downs” on the race course signs.  I have to give huge props to Champion Systems clothing for the fantastic gear.  TheDistance Tri short was perfect for stashing extra gels in the pockets along both legs.  Definitely a great feature and well designed!

Coming out of T1

Right away I passed the one Japanese athlete, Hiro,  and was in 2^nd place, behind my friend from the Ukraine and invited athlete, Anton Blokhin.  He was really looking good and was ready to race.  I stayed in 2^nd the entire bike ride and kept getting time checks from the motorcycles that he was 5-6 minutes up.  This was the scene for the entire ride so I knew I was not losing time. 

My new Timex Cycle Trainer 2.0 worked great!

We ride on the opposite side of the road so it took a little getting used to, but it all worked out great and luckily my Challenge Forte tires worked flawlessly.  I cruised into T2 with one other athlete and was still 5 min down from the lead. 

A hot 96 mile ride is in the books!

Cooling off out of T2

The start of the marathon for me saw temps on the island rise into the high 80’s.  Add a ton of humidity to this and it made a recipe for a run that I am certainly not used to at home.  I had the chance to win this race and was hoping I could run Anton down, but there were 26 long miles between me and the finish line that would give me the answer.  The start of the run through town was incredible.  Kids hi-5ing you left and right, plenty of music and energy was everywhere.  The people of Miyako are very special and are unlike any other.  They were just were happy to see you and certainly made fuel for the soul.  I felt great running and was getting time checks all the time.  First I was 6 min down, then 7 minutes down, then 6 again, then people were saying Anton was walking, then it was 5.   It was all over the place so I didn’t know what to think.  I just kept to my plan and pushed on my way.  

My Native Endura sunglasses hard at work!

Other than water I completely self supported this race.  I packed a box of 24 Berry Blast PowerBar Gels and that was pretty much my meal for the day.  It worked out well with the exception of grabbing one banana for the last 10K of the run.  I never thought I could chew food while running but I kind of didn’t have a choice since my body was like a furnace, screaming for calories on the scorching hot highway 78 that ran through the middle of the island.   And boy were those aid stations wonderful to see.  That was the first time I saw sushi at an aid station during a race which further confirmed I was not racing in theUS.  I stuck with the gels.

I hit the turnaround only to see a group of 5 or so super fast Japanese athletes along with our Canadian athlete, Andrew Imirie, right on my tail.  It was a little heartbreaking, but I had faith in my run and kept pushing.  A few of them passed me at mile 16 or so right as I was hearing a Japanese version of Rocky’s “Gonna Fly Now” at an aid station as well as Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You”.  I pulled in some motivation from the tunes.  They were still in sight so I just held on as long as I could.  We headed into town and I was pushing really hard to stay in the game with these guys for the last 5K, and boy did it take everything I had! 

A very proud moment.

As we headed into the finishing stadium, which was 300m from the finish line, I knew I was going place 7^th.  A little tough to swallow, but I gave it everything I had and as we all know some things are just out of our control.  I grabbed the American flag from Mary Beth, one of our English translators, and ran down the finishing chute so very proud of my day representing theUSA to the people of Miyakojima. 

Happy to be done!

The rest of our group finished extremely well with Beate Goertz,  Verena Walter, and Rebecca Trukenmueller all  fromGermanyfinishing 1st, 2nd, and 5th overall respectively.  I was so proud of them!

Along side Japan Timex superstars, Yoshio, Atsushi, and Shimamora

A few other highlights included meeting the President of PowerBarJapan, Jiro Takikawa and he was so gracious enough to slide me a box of my new favorite PowerBar flavor, Coconut.  I only wish we had these in theUS!  He is a great person and was so happy to see how visible PowerBar is at races inJapan.  They certainly dominate sports nutrition over here.  I also saw several athletes representing Timex on a team called “Timex Freaks”.  This is a group of 20 or so athletes that all represent Timex living inJapan.  I spoke with one of the members, Yoshi for a while and had a great talk about our team and theirs.  Who knows, perhaps we could get him on the Timex Multisport team next year.  It was so neat to have a bond all the way over inJapanthrough the PowerBar and Timex brands. 

The award party was unforgettable and was happy to be on stage respresenting the US!

Along side one of the greats in our sport, Shingo Tani who placed 9th overall.

Thanks to all my sponsors and Gary Sato (our coordinator) for making this race such a special one for me!

The front page of the Miyakojima Times the next morning.

 Train safe and have fun out there,

Tim

Somewhere out in the desert..perhaps mile 30ish?

In all of my years of racing not once have I ended a triathlon season and began one on the same race course, until now.  On Nov. 5th I did the ITU Long Distance Worlds race in Las Vegas and after about 5 months, I find myself right back on the same roads racing again.  Certainly a good feeling as I have put in a lot of training time over the winter. 
 
I was very excited to race the LeadmanTri Epic 125 as it has a reputation for being just plain hard.  I felt very prepared since I knew most of the course well and used this as a fitness test for Strongman Japan held in just 2 weeks on April 15.  Perhaps for most of the athletes it was the out & back 70 mile bike course that served up plenty of scenery, heat, hills, and, of course, wind (more on that in a bit). 
 
I was excited to race with my teammates Jackie & Christine and knew they would do well.  After we all got prepped, we headed down to the water and got warmed up.  The day started with a balmy 61 degree 2500m swim loop in choppyLake Mead for the 250 athletes.  

My swim courtesy of my Run Trainer. Yes, the water was high enough!

This was a very tough swim since the wind was just giving us a taste of what was to come.  For about 1/2 the swim, it was fighting some white caps and decent sized swells.  Honestly, I thought it was fun, but certainly was not the fastest swim conditions.  I exited the water in 36 minutes.

Into T1..thanks for the pics Eric Wynn!

 
The bike felt great for the most part but was unlike any other bike ride I’ve done in a race due to the wind and hills.  I can’t explain what it really was, but only what it felt like.  The course is very picturesque, but the wind just never stopped.  It came from all directions, but I just did my best and biked has efficiently as I could.  I had my Timex Cycle Trainer rigged up as well as my Run Trainer plugging away so I had plenty of information coming in.  I caught the pro women on the way out and saw fellow Timex Multisport Team alum’s Hillary Biscay, and Heather Gollnick from back in the day – it’s always good to see them racing!  I also saw fellow Timex alum Jordan Rapp unfortunately get a couple of flats at mile 25ish.  I hit the turnaround and headed back and finished in 3:16.  Yes, one of the toughest 70 miles of riding in race I have experienced.  The head wind was blowing so hard at a few points that I just could not believe it, certainly stronger winds than in Kona at times. 

 The run came and the course served up more hills and wind.  The 8.15 mile run course was all up hill to the finish in downtownBoulderCity.  My legs felt actually pretty good out of T2.  I soon caught up to Jordan Rapp and we ran for about 45 minutes together.  By the time I hit the last mile I felt like an onion who’s layers were just about all peeled off! In this race, I felt all the feelings during an Ironman, but crammed into a shorter distance.  Crazy!

Finally done!

Thinking of what to eat for dinner...Las Vegas has eating contests right?

I finished in 5:02 as 1st amateur and 5th overall with Pros.  I stayed and cheered in Jackie and Christine and I know this will be a race for the books that we’ll never forget!  Thanks to all of our sponsors including, Timex, Challenge Tires, Quintana Roo, PowerBar, Native, and Tri Swim.

Thanks for tracking my race Timex!!

 Next up is Strongman Japan on April 15!! 

 On a side note, I hope all of you are USAT members and get the USA Triathlon magazine.  Check out the next issue for a great read!

 Train safe,

 Tim

The Sports Authority Elite is a chain of stores that are growing rapidly in the US.  In Colorado we have three stores:  Highlands Ranch, Denver, and Boulder.  All of the stores carry Timex products, most notably the Global and Run Trainers.  Within the last week, I was able to hit each of the three stores before business hours to conduct clinics to help the staff know exactly how to sell Timex products.  I got a little help from our latest “Hall of Famer” team member Erin Kummer at the Boulder location and each were a success for both Timex and Sports Authority Elite. 

Highlands Ranch location

My first stop was in the Highlands Ranch store and right away I could tell I was going to move the needle here simply because they told me right away that they had never had another clinic from another watch company (i.e. Garmin, Polar) at this location.  I had a group of about 6 people and we had a great discussion about what customers are asking for what they like.  I make sure at each clinic to tell the staff that Timex has a watch for EVERY athlete.  I pulled a few watches from their stock and went through all the features and benefits of each and most importantly how they can sell them to customers.  They loved the Run Trainer as well as the Cycle Trainer 2.0.  Big questions that came up were battery life and water resistance capabilities – two topics that seem to come up all the time with customers.  I ensured them that Timex takes the driver’s seat in both of these areas and will meet customers’ needs.

 The second clinic was at the Denver store in Cherry Creek Mall.  This store has regularly seen other watch companies come in and give clinics.  This was a group of 5 store employees that were runners and had a lot more questions such as HR functionality, price point, and comparisons to Garmin and Nike.  I went through the differences and most all agreed that Timex is the better choice.  Kevin, the store manager liked the fit of the Run Trainer and is running a ½ marathon in April.  If the staff can use the products and like them, it will only help Timex to be recommended to customers equaling a sale!  Good stuff for sure!

Cherry Creek Mall - Denver

 My final Sports Authority Elite clinic was held this morning at the Boulder location.  Here, Erin and I teamed up and went through the entry level Timex watches, Race Trainer, Race Trainer PRO, Global, Run, and Cycle Trainers.  This was a great clinic and we worked as a team to help answer all questions from the staff of about 4 employees.  Erin and I gave the staff suggestions on which Timex product would be best for each athlete level.  What they did tell us was that not everybody is looking for GPS (not even in Boulder), but Heart Rate seemed to be a feature that most people wanted.  We pulled all kinds of Timex watches from their display and spoke about each one to the staff could understand which product would be best for each customer.  It was a great clinic and the staff said that we added value to the knowledge of the Timex brand. 

Erin and Tim discussing the Run Trainer in Boulder

Overall they were each great clinics that were well received by the staff.  Over and over I kept hearing the staff from all locations tell me how much value they get from athletes coming in to help them explain the benefits of Timex products to them.  Not only does it help our brand in terms of sales, but it strengthens the relationship of Timex and Sports Authority Elite to meet each companies respective goals.  Here’s to great sales in 2012 at Sports Authority Elite!

 I can’t think of a better way to break in a new Timex Jersey than to race in a National Championship race.  Just 6 days after Timex camp I did just that by racing the US National Snowshoeing Championships up here in Breckenridge, CO.  It was great day and racing in a bike jersey actually worked pretty well!  This was by far the most competitive snowshoe race I’ve ever done and wanted to push myself really hard the entire 10K.  With Run Trainer in tow, I was off and right away felt a guy fall behind me and cut my left calf with his snowshoe cleat.  Ouch!  Adrenalin took care of the initial pain (but not the blood) and I kept on my way.  

2 fast loops!

The group was spread out pretty good after the 1st lap and I was sitting in 9th place overall.  The 2nd loop was just a grinder with two big hills and at 9,100 ft of elevation, my chest was really wanting me to stop.  I had to dig deep and muster up a sprint finish to get 9th and 1st in my Age Group – claiming my first US National Championship Age Group title in snowshoeing! 

US AG National Champion!

Right after, I slugged out another 1:10 run to get in my planned 2 hours and beat traffic on the way home.  It was a good day and I got several compliments on the new Timex jersey.  Thanks for everything Timex, Native and PowerBar – you guys are great!