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)

I have raced the Wildflower Long Course ½ Ironman 6 years now (I still cannot believe it’s been that many times) and I have always wanted to race back to back the Long Course on Saturday and Olympic Course on Sunday.  Since I had some extra time this year, I had the chance to race both and see what my body could deliver for my 1^st ever triathlon double.

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!

Why is it that right before the first and last race of the season, I find myself shoveling my driveway the day I fly out for the race?  I guess that’s how it goes when you live in Colorado.  Either way, I have to take advantage of the snow as a great way to squeeze in a short snowshoe workout to prep for a race!  I did feel prepared for Oceanside this year and was excited to start another season of racing. 
 
I flew in late Friday night, chatted with some of our sponsors, checked in, and got to bed early for my 3:30AM wake up call.  Race morning I felt ready to go and was definitely excited to race, especially on my new Orbea Ordu that I received just 4 days earlier.   At the race I met up with my other two teammates, Dan and Alex.  I went on a warm up run with Alex and felt great.  I pulled on my Aqua Sphere Icon wetsuit and Kayenne goggles and headed to the 59 degree water.  In my wave I chatted with my friend Adam Zucco who I knew from my racing days in Chicago, and before I knew it we were off!  “Here we go” I thought, as another racing season was upon me.  I pulled to the front of my wave and led the group out of the water with a swim time of a little over 25 min.  I got on my Orbea and immediately felt good, however, I saw that was getting passed early on.  I try not to mentally get caught up in those things as they can really mess up your race.  The hills in Camp Pendleton were tough as usual, but I did my thing and pressed on.  It was my first time using my new Shimano Dura Ace Wheels.  I have to say I felt very confident on them, especially on the descents.  They deliver speed, yet are durable.  Thanks to Dustin at Shimano for hooking me up with them for the season!  
 
Onto the run which is always my favorite.  I started the run feeling pretty good, but knowing I had some work to do.  After 3 miles, I saw some people in my wave I had to catch and settled into a good pace.  Soon I caught some people, downed several Tangerine Power Gels (my favorite) and just focused on what I needed to do. At mile 9, my friend Gordo Byrn passed me at we had a little chat.  The former pro is a class act and all around nice guy from Boulder.  The last 3 miles were tough as I pressed on to the finish, crossing the tape in 4:22 and 3rd in my age group in one of the most competitive amateur fields in the 70.3 race circuit in my opinion.  I have done this race 9 times in a row and have seen a lot of consistency in my times (other than 2002 where the course might have been short?): 
 
2002-4:14
2003-4:23
2004-4:33
2005-4:26
2006-4:23
2007-4:20
2008-4:23
2009-4:19
2010-4:22
 

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