The highlight was meeting Nikki and the boys at the summit and getting in a brick run for 35 minutes – all at over 14,000 ft.    I can’t say I recommend this workout to everyone, but it sure was fun to do and I feel gets you very strong.  I used my Global Trainer for the entire workout and I have some screen shots below from Training Peaks.  Total time was 5:48.  Isn’t the best part about racing Ironman training for it??

Enjoy your training and be safe,

Tim

 First the race:

 This was this inaugural Ironman Boulder 70.3 formerly the 5430 Long Course triathlon which was owned and run by my buddy and Timex teammate Barry Siff.  It was a great venue and knew that it would attract some good talent from across the country.  I was ready to race but was a little sad knowing that I only had one more race before Kona.  I drove up that morning and did my usual pre race routine and felt ready to go.  I used my Timex Race Trainer for the race, since I am getting an upgrade on my Global Trainer.  If you have not see them yet, I just recently completed 4 Timex Global Trainer instructional videos that you can see here.  They were fun to film and a huge thanks goes out to Todd and Paul who made the trip out to CO for filming! 

 At the swim start, I saw my friend and photographer Larry Rosa and again complimented him on his work – some of the pics in this blog are from him.  After some running warm ups, a Powerbar and gel, I got in my Aqua Sphere Icon and lathered up with plenty of Tri-Slide (this stuff is awesome by the way) and got in my corral for wave #10.  At 7:15 the gun went off I and I sprinted as hard as I could to the front.

Relaxing at the start

Without giving away too many secrets, I have been working on my stroke technique lately and have a few things that I always think about now when I swim, which has helped my stroke tremendously.  Even though I have been a swimmer since I was 7 there is always room for improvement.  I soon was out of the water in 25.46 – good enough for 7^th overall in the race. 

 Out on the bike, I found a rhythm right away and pushed pretty hard the first 5 miles, which are all uphill.  I was caught by a few other people in my wave at mile 25 but kept doing my thing and focused on my own race.  Before I knew it, I had completed the two loop course in 2:14, a new PR for me on this course.  The Orbea Ordu and Dura Ace wheels have really treated me well this year and after a few set up changes last week from my bike fitter, Jerry Fuhrman, all felt good coming off the bike in T2.

 For the most part, I was happy with my ride and before I knew it I was out of T2 onto the run.  It’s a two loop hot run, but right away I was feeling good.  All three of us in the age group went onto the run together.  One guy went ahead and at one point was about 1 minute or so in front of me.  I just stuck to my plan and went off feel as usual, which I think is best for the run.  After loop # 1, I was feeling as good as I could have.  After seeing Nikki and the boys on loop #2, I got a little more kick and before I knew it I was creeping up on the race leader.  At mile 11, I passed him and pushed hard to the end, finishing in 4:07 as the 2nd amateur, and 1st in my AG.  Right afterwards I did my Compex for recovery and my legs felt a ton better. 

Relaxed at the finish!

 
The Wing Challenge:
 
The West End Tavern is a place in downtown Boulder that has a wing challenge:  Eat 50 wings in under 30 minutes and your meal is free.  Also you get a t-shirt, a coupon for a dozen free wings, and your picture on the wall of fame.  Otherwise you pay $50- a dollar per wing!  If any of you watch Man Vs. Food on the Travel Channel you may have seen the host gobble down only 38 wings when he did this challenge in June.  With Nikki and the boys crammed in our booth, my waiver was signed and the clock started.

Signing my life away...

Connor and I in front of my lunch

Wing # 50!

After several napkins and glasses of water later, I finished them all in 24 minutes and 11 seconds and was crowned a Wing King here.  To be honest, I was still hungry – that’s what a burning 5,000 calories in a 1/2 Ironman will do!
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Tim

My buddy Alex McDonald hitching a ride post race

 
Our whole group from Timex had a great time in Lubbock: Alex, Barry, Andrew, Laura, Denny, Cindi, Chris, and myself.  I got to learn a lot about everyone.  Most notably the Andrew has a killer Kitchen Aid Ice Cream maker, Denny hates seeing other peoples blisters, Alex is really going to be a great dad, and me and the famous “Lance Story” that some other teammates will have to fill you in on sometime. It was fun hangin’ by the pool with you guys and no better way to kill some time on a Sunday afternoon in Texas than over a few “Lone Star” Edition Budweiser’s. 

 
On my way home I camped in Clayton, New Mexico and got up early and went for a 1 1/2 hour recovery ride that went literally in the middle of nowhere (see picture below) that ended up in Clayton Lake State Park.  It was one of the most peaceful rides I’ve ever been on, just me thinking about my family.

A peaceful ride in the middle of nowhere...

 
Congrats to all of you out there who raced.  It truly is an honor to be on such a wonderful team with great athletes. 
 
Train hard and be safe,
 
Tim

A couple days later I found myself on a plane headed to Boise, ID where I would go for a work meeting with Powerbar all week until the 70.3 race held that Saturday.  I felt good all week, but really scaled back my workouts to be rested for the race.  Since it was a 2PM start, we as athletes had the luxury of sleeping in a little Saturday morning.  All week we learned more about the benefits of Powerbar’s C2MAX, the carbohydrate blend that really sets itself apart from the rest of the sports nutritional players, hands down.  I was ready again to utilize all Powerbar products for the day!  After getting up I got in a 20 min swim in the hotel pool, did some last minute preparations, and headed down to reservoir.  The day was beautiful and I felt ready to go!  Just before my wave went off, I chatted with my friend, former Timex teammate and former Ironman Florida champion, Jamie Cleveland.  He now races age group, and has the best attitude out there! 

Myself and Global head of Performance Nutrition at Nestle, Phil Annett

Our wave went off and I lead the wave from start to finish in the 57 degree water.  Jamie and I exited T1 together and headed out down the hill facing some massive headwinds.  At about mile 20 I swallowed a bunch of Ironman Perform drink by Powerbar and kicked up my pace.  I soon passed all the previous waves and was riding by myself.  At miles 25 and 35 all participants were fortunate enough to ride right by the Nestle/Powerbar production facility, certainly a rare opportunity!   We toured the factory earlier in the week and it was certainly the highlight of the week.  There’s nothing like eating a Powerbar Apple Cinnamon Harvest right off the line!  Anyway, the winds were horrible for about 50% of the ride.  But my Orbea Ordu was great and the Dura Ace wheels worked flawlessly in the cross and head winds.  Honestly, it reminded me of Kona for a bit so I briefly imagined riding on the Queen K for a while which gave me some motivation!

I headed into T2 only seeing 1 age group bike on the racks.  I ran the best I could to see if I could catch him, but I just raced my own race as I always do and enjoyed it.  The finish line had more energy and people than I had ever experienced at a 70.3.  I was chatting with my friend Bill Potts who works for Ironman and we agreed that it was one of the best finish lines on the circuit!  I finished in 4:21, placing 2^nd amateur, 1^st in AG and 15^th overall.  It was a fantastic week and I felt proud to be there! 

The top men in 35-39

Thanks for reading!

Tim

Starting the 5K at yesterday's sprint triathlon in Longmont.

It’s been a busy week for me since receiving use of our teams Ford Flex.  In the last 6 days, I attended 4 events using the vehicle and had stellar reviews of it each time! 
 
On May 18, 4 days after getting the Flex, I performed a brief presentation on Timex and the Global Trainer to my dad’s rotary group in Shoreview, MN during our drive home from picking up the car in Milwaukee.  The group of 15 people loved the fact that their past presidents son was driving a car with his own picture on it.  There were some triathletes in the group as well that tried on the Global Trainer and were delighted by it’s size and weight.  
 
Back home, two days later on May 20th, I performed a kids bike safety clinic with 14 girls from my sister-in-laws Brownie troop here in Highlands Ranch.  We went over rules of the road, hand signals, signs, etc.  I had Ryan from our local Orbea dealer, Adrenalin Cycles, bring his team truck so he did a safety check on each kids bike.  Each girl got their own Ironkids goodie bag, Powerbars, and three lucky girls got their own Ironkids watch!   

A Happy Brownie Troop!

Saftey first!

Don't hit the cars!

 
On Saturday, we had a great ride at Wheat Ridge Cyclery as a clinic set up by Barry (see his write up here) and on Sunday I raced Longmont’s Summer OPEN Triathlon with my teammate Trista Francis.  We got a great spot to park the car right on the run course out of transition and had tons of people see it.  I always seem to forget how sprint races hurt a little more than 70.3’s!  I was almost talking to people more about the Flex than Timex!  It was a great race and a lot of fun! Enjoy the pictures!

Go team!

The finish!

The reaction of my boys' first "EcoBoost" experience (The hot engine in the Flex)

Going into the 1^st race, my goal was to be the 1^st amateur in the Long Course.  It’s a very tough course, and knew it was not going to be an easy task, but I was confident in my abilities.  After Oceanside 70.3, I experienced a self diagnosed calf strain which severely limited my running.  I gave it extra rest, lots of stretching and ice, and hoped the pain would subside for the race.

 I stayed with my friends Drew, David, Nicole, and Steve from my longtime sponsor Powerbar at one of the cabins and it was a great time.  The night before the race I tried some new things and used for the first time ever my Compex Sport Elite muscle stimulator.  This thing is great as it really helped my muscles!  I also tried Zoot’s Compress Rx Calf Sleeves and they too worked great (thanks for sending them over Jake!)  The morning of the race I was feeling the best I had yet, and before I knew it I was on my way!

The swim was a brisk 60 degrees, but managed to get out in 3^rd in my wave.  As I started the bike, I soon saw the two guys ahead of me in my age group and passed them both.  Later on, one caught up to me and we rode most of the way together around Lake San Antonio, (which is beautiful by the way).  I finished the bike in 2:30 and started running quite well as my calf felt good even on the hills.  I kept taking in Power Gel after Power Gel still knowing I was not at my peak performance due to my limited running.  I really pushed the last mile finishing with an overall time of 4:27, a few minutes slower than last year, but still managed to get the overall amateur title!  It was a good day!

As soon as I crossed the line, I tried to get focused for the Olympic distance race the next day.  I sat in cold water for 20 minutes, ate a lot of food and again used my Compex two more times before the day was done in hopes of getting my muscles as ready as possible with the hopes of just finishing the next day’s race.  After waking up very early the next morning, I felt pretty good and was ready to race. 

My buddy and Powerbar Team Elite head honcho David Paterson

After getting everything ready to go in transition, my wave was called and off I was in my second race.  Right away I felt I was at my limit swimming in terms of speed.  It felt like the whole time I was swimming while dragging a weight behind me.  No real pain, just fatigued.  I still led my wave and started the bike.  Again, pulling that same weight, but no real pain.  It was however a lot of fun being in a different mind set during the race.  The run definitely felt harder, but I just kept telling myself, “Don’t hurt yourself, it’s only May!”  I finished feeling better than I thought and placed 5^th in my age group….A huge sigh of relief! 

Back-to-back races in the books!

All in all I want to give credit to Compex for an awesome way to help me to recover, as well as Timex, Orbea for my awesome Ordu, and Powerbar for the killer support to make my 2010 Wildflower the best yet! 

Oh yea, and I had my first ever In-N-Out Burger (with fries) on the way home!  I thought of you Alex!

This challenge was in the planning stages in early February, and was timed strategically a few days after my first race, so I didn’t feel that guilty of attempting to eat that much food.  I also squeezed in a 5,000 yd swim just before we left to have “maximum” hunger.  My eating partner, Jon “Rambo” Robichaud and I began eating this whopping 8 pound pile of calories at 6:42PM at the world famous Govnr’s Tavern in downtown Denver.  It consisted of 5 lbs of beef, and 1 lb. each of bacon, cheese, and bun.  We had as much time as we needed and if we did it, we’d get two t-shirts and the burger free (otherwise it was $49.95). 
 
After splitting the entire thing in half, we started.  I ate my half in 24 minutes, then started to help Jon.  It was soon after this when we both entered the “dark zone”.  We hit a wall and sat there forever hoping to get more down.  Finally, after using a few life lines by phoning some friends for words of encouragement, we got through the last six pieces and finished it in 3 hours and 50 minutes.  The Govenator challenge was defeated and we made the history books! Enjoy the pictures below.

My son Spencer in "awe" of his dad's dinner

Just about 8 pounds total

The beginning...

...and the end!

Thanks to Larry Rosa for all the pics!

The part of the race that was entirely new to me was experiencing my 1st drug test.  Immediately as I crossed the line, I had a a guy from the USADA introduce himself, escort me to a condo, and I sat with about 5-6 other pro athletes that were being tested.  I could not eat or drink anything (unless it was bottled water or Gatorade) for about 1-2 hours.  To my knowledge, I was the only age grouper that got tested, as this is a new rule for age group athletes in 2010 which I am happy to see.

Thanks to everyone at Timex for all the new gear this year.  I am looking forward to racing Wildflower in a month, the Long Course and the Olympic distance races!  BTW – I wore my new Global Trainer for the race and it worked great.  At the end of the race my distance read very close to 70.3 miles!
 
Be safe out there,
 
Tim

This week I was fortunate enough to present the Timex Global Trainer in two separate presentations:  The Rocky Mountain Tri Club on March 9th and at the Colorado Endurance Conference on March 13.  I spoke to 150 people at the Tri club and smaller group at the conference.  Both presentations were a hit and a lot of fun!
 
Presenting in front of 150 people can sometimes be a little nerve racking, but when you know your going to talk about something you love, then all is good.   I presented on how to effectively balance work, family and triathlon including a formal presentation on the Timex Global Trainer and Powerbar. 
 
When I first got there, I was greeted by non other than friend and fellow Timex teammate Will Kelsay which immediately gave the evening a good vibe.  It was great to see him working a booth for one of the clubs sponsors.  Soon after some club announcements, I took the stage and spoke for about 40 minutes.  I talked specifically about good decision making, communication, goal setting, including the family in triathlon, etc. in relation to our sport.  I had a lot of audience participation, real world role playing, husband/wife communication scenarios, and some giveaways.  I even had Will come up and act out a part with a friend of mine of how triathlon gets in the way with family commitments.  They had the whole room laughing!
 
I had quite a few slides about the Global Trainer and went toe-to-toe with Garmin and made sure that before I left people knew why the Global Trainer is the better choice.  Not just because of the price and being fully desktop customizable, but also it’s ease of use and that you can see 4 pieces of data at once making it very easy to use. I also reminded them that the Timex name carries a lot of weight with many people in terms of quality. 
 
Finally, I spoke about Powerbar and all the different products that come form the Powerbar line that all people, athletes or non athletes, can benefit from.  I brought plenty of samples with the most popular being the Gel Blasts.  Did you know that a recent study showed that Powerbars C2MAX formulation produced an 8% improvement in athletes cycling times? This is from a presentation on the PowerBar website found here.
 
On the 13th, I spoke at the Colorado Endurance Conference which was an all day event featuring nationally known industry experts, key note speakers, gear-gab, interactive break-out sessions, and even a panel discussion on barefoot running.  I was part of a bike fit seminar in the morning with expert bike fitter Jerry Fuhrman from Bicycle Village and I presented in the afternoon.  People seemed to like my presentation and once again loved the Global Trainer and the Powerbar samples! 
   
  
Train safe and have fun,
 
Tim