Race report, Emmett Olympic Tri

             Wow, it's been 2+ weeks since I've sat down to write anything out, and since then I've done what will probably be my last triathlon of the season. Before we get into the nitty gritty details of the race, lets talk about the last 2 weeks. I had a 2 week break from the Spudman Tri to Emmett's Most Excellent Tri. Those 2 weeks were filled with some more training, but not a ton. Ever since California, I've had little motivation to really get after it on the training side. Fatigue was starting to set in, I didn't get a ton of chances to train while in California, and I had the injury to my right leg that made me have to take running off the schedule. In the 2 weeks between races, I think I did one pool session, and no open water swims. I got a few cycling sessions done, one run interval done and a bike/run brick a couple of days before Emmett. The cycling was good, I was still pushing myself on the bike a bit, and although I told myself to go easy on the bike for the brick, I did start to push myself there too. I've been getting faster on the bike, and I think that a lot of it is mental. I've just decided to suck it up and push through. When it starts to get hard in that gear, I just push it out and work through it (assuming I'm not climbing of course) trying to continue to build the endurance and speed. My average speed has gone from the mid 18's into the mid 19's, and on the last 6 mile brick ride I was into the 20's, which was awesome! I really want to be able to consistently push out 22+ for 60 miles or more. That would cover the 56mi bike for a 70.3 distance race. Also during the 2 week break I still didn't run much because of my hip. The previous pain in my leg was down low, by my ankle; but the new pain was in the hip right where the IT band connects. I've never had hip pain before, and this wasn't so much a pain, as just a dull ache that was there. My lower leg feels great, but the hip soreness was a little worrisome so I decided to continue to take it easy with the run training. So the little motivation, and the potential for an injury coupled with the fatigue made getting any training done a little difficult. So onto the race weekend!!! It really was almost a full weekend of racing for the family. You see, boy #1 has been talking about doing a kids triathlon if they ever have one. I told him that Emmett does have a kids triathlon the day before my race, but that training wheels were not allowed. I only said the training wheels part to encourage him to get on his bike more and get off the training wheels. Unfortunately it didn't work and he is still on the training wheels. But we did sign him up for the race. For all the kids, there is a "swimmer" and a "non-swimmer" category. My son has been working on his swimming lately, but he would not have been able to do the 25yds across the length of the pool without a kick board, and that didn't seem to be an option. So he was registered in the non-swimmer division which meant that they had to wade through the kiddie pool and touch all 4 corners before getting out. Well my boy wanted to swim, and simply wading through waist high water was not good enough for him. He got into the pool, would wade a few steps and then dive under the water and swim. When it came time for a breath, he'd get up, get a breath or 2 while wading and then go back down into the water. I was impressed, and he was the only kid in his non-swimmer division to even attempt to actually swim. I met him at the bike and helped get his socks on, shoes tied, shirt on and helmet on. Then off he went for his 3/4 mile bike ride. When he came back into the transition area off came the helmet and we ran the 1/2 loop of the run course. He did great! We had to walk at one point during the run, but then he found his second wind and kept going. He had a strong finish at the end, and ended up taking 2nd place in his division.

Getting ready for the swim

Coming back from the bike

On the run

                 On Sat is was race day for me. I went to bed a little later than I wanted to, 11pm, and was up at 5:15. I had some left over white rice from the night before with a couple of fried eggs for breakfast with my coffee. I wasn't worried to much about how much I was going to eat for breakfast as we had a 9am start. At 6:15 my buddy Todd who did Spudman with me picked me up and off we went to Emmett. We got to T1 with tons of time to set up our bikes and make it back down the hill to T2 to get the shoes ready. Afterwards we took the bus back up to T1 and got ready to race. Before the race, I had a zone bar, a 5 hr energy and then 2 Gu gels along with a product called Sport Legs. Sport Legs are amazing! It is a Lactic Acid buffer that helps prevent the burning sensation when you workout/race. I was going to use this race as a base race to see where I'm at fitness wise for the season. I couldn't do that with Spudman because I had the river current on the swim and then got into that peleton on the bike. I really wanted an olympic distance race that didn't have any "assistance" so I had a base to judge on how I do next season compared with this season, and this race was going to be it.

                 Swim: The swim went really well. The water was borderline warm enough to not need a wetsuit, but with the chilly morning air still lingering around and the buoyancy that the suit provides I decided to wear the suit. I got in the water and was ready to go. I was actually really calm. I knew what I wanted to do, and that was just have a good race and go fast. I knew that the swim is the worse of the 3 disciplines, and the bouy that was out there to mark the turn around point seemed to be barely there it was so far out. But I know that I can swim the distance, the biggest thing is to just relax and try to get into a rhythm (something that I couldn't do at the Spudman). Emmett has a civil war re-enactor shoot a canon off for the start of the race, and with the blast of the canon we were off! I was in the middle of the pack to start, but the hands and feet weren't too bad. A few pulls and slaps here and there, but since I was toward the outside and not directly in the middle I missed most of the fighting in the water. I had the intention to find some feet and try to draft off of someone, but that didn't work out for me. The feet that I tried to follow were either slower than me, or faster and I just gave up. Instead I just stayed relaxed and tried to get into a rhythm. I found a rhythm and it just started to flow. I know that I wasn't moving super fast as the majority of the pack was up in front of me, but I was still moving forward. Everytime I stopped to sight and catch a breath I just enjoyed the view of the mountains and trees and the ability to do what I was doing. After about 30 min I was out of the water and into T1.

            T1 is still a little slow for me. I tend to walk the first little bit out of the water, trying to catch my bearings and not fall over. Coming into a standing position from being supine swimming for so long, and trying to run I get a little dizzy, so I walk at first and once I get the cob webbs cleared then I start to jog toward the bikes. Once at the bikes, it's strip the rest of the wetsuit off and stick it in the bag, wipe my face off real quick, put my race belt on, garmin on, sunglasses and helmet. Grab my bike and I'm off.

            Bike: I jumped on the bike and started off. There was a little uphil section getting out of the park before you got on the road and into a slight down hill. Once on the road and into the down hill I got my feet into my shoes and really started going. The course had some rolling hills to start off before turning flat. Road conditions weren't horrible, but weren't great either. With the chip sealing that they do in Idaho to keep the roads maintained it can get a little bumpy and rough being on a bike. I felt like I struggled for a while to find something that felt smooth. They asked us to stay to the right as much as possible while on the bike, but when the smoothest part of the road is where the car tires constantly travel, that's the part of the road you choose to try and stay on. I felt really good on the bike. My legs felt strong and full of power. There were very few occasions where I was thinking about my effort and if I was going to be able to sustain my pace. I was just feeling really good on the bike. We had one more decent size hill on the course which actually required me to drop into my smaller chain ring, but I still powered right up the hill at over 14mph and passed another cyclist going up the hill. The Roctane in my Torhans was really working as I felt great! I was going between the Roctane and a water bottle that I had behind my seat. I was concerned that I might be starting to take on too much fluid while on the bike, but the weather was heating up and it was going to be a hot one on the run course, so I decided to try to not worry about it, and if I felt like water I would drink water. Coming back into town, I had gotten out of my shoes with less than a mile left of the bike course, and finished the last of the Roctane as well.

The smile on my face says it all. I was very happy with how I felt and how I rode on my bike

T2 saw me coming in hot and feeling really good. I had no pain in the crotch like I did at Spudman. I was jogging through T2 and saw the family standing and cheering for me. I ran past them getting high 5's from the kids on the way to dropping the bike off. Socks on, shoes on, visor on and grab my Camelbak Delaney pack and I was off!

Heading off on the run, delaney pack in hand.

               Run: I decided to try and run with my Delaney pack for the race. I wear it on all my longer (10K and up)runs outside anyways, so it wasn't like it would be new territory for me. But at least now I wasn't hindered by the aid station. I hate the aid stations for one reason. They slow me down! If I don't walk through the aid station, I don't really get any water. You get a 4oz cup and then 1/2 of it spills when you grab the cup. Then you have ~25 feet to time your breathing, running and water intake before the trash can. If you mess up, you're choking and have to slow down because now you can't breath. So I would walk through to get the water. But not this time! Oh no, this time, the aid stations were for one thing and one thing only. Keeping me cool. With the temperatures rising, I was only grabbing water just to dump it on my head and cool me off. It didn't matter if 1/2 of the water spilled out, it was going on my head. My Delaney pack holds a single water bottle in a slanted position and is very easy for me to get in and out of the pack. So the water bottle had Roctane for the energy and electrolytes to finish the race. Once I started the run, I took another dose of the Sport Legs, and almost half way through the run I took some electrolyte pills just to be safe of the cramping. The first 1-1.5 miles is always brutal. I didn't get the jelly legs, but rather the cramps and stiffness in the shins, calves and spot cramps here and there in the quads. It's just one of those things that you just have to work through and keep going. Eventually they subside and then you can get into a good rhythm and pace. The run felt good for me, and although I didn't feel like I was really pushing it, my time was still almost a full 2 min faster than Spudman. I tried to push it on the second lap, but my legs did start to feel heavy and tired, so I backed off the gas a little bit but continued to plug along and pass the people that I saw in front of me.

The final sprint

Overall, I was stoked with the race. I had a ton of fun, and was very happy with my overall performance. I was shooting for a time between 2:30-2:45, and I got a 2:33:22. Swim: 29:28 T1: 2:22 Bike: 1:13:44 (ave 20.3mph!) T2: 0:54 Run: 46:53 This gave me a 12th in age group and 74 overall. It's interesting to note that my bike split was almost the same from Spudman, but with no peleton this time around, and then the run was almost 2 full min faster. My transition times were also faster this time around too.

A family affair. The best support a guy could ask for!

Spudman Tri race report

Yesterday was the Spudman Triathlon in Burley Idaho. My first olympic distance triathlon, and one that was "helped" with the swim being in a river down stream. Shawna and I got into Burley with enough time the night before to get checked in and rack my bike at T1. With the set up for the race, T1 was down stream, with the start, T2 and the finish all being at the same location. After squeezing my bike onto the rack, we went to the hotel to check in and grab a bite to eat (Subway). After a very late dinner we went to my friend Todd's room so we could discuss the schedule for the next day. Todd and I had to figure out when to leave the hotel to get to T1 to drop off our nutrition stuff while Todd's wife and Shawna had to figure when they would leave the hotel to watch us. Once the details were figured out, shawna and I went back to our room to get ready for bed.
         Once in my room, I got all my stuff out and together for the next day. It was at this point that I realized that my nutrition bag was not as I had packed it. I was missing about half of the nutrition that I had packed. The problem was that the kids had found the bag in the pantry earlier that day (while I was at work) and took my box of Gu gels out, and my Tub of Roctane powder. Needless to say, I freaked out! The only saving grace was the fact that there was one Roctane powder single serving pack still in the bag, and that at the last minute I decided to grab my Gu gels from my food locker at work. So I had some nutrition stuff, just not everything that I was anticipating having.  With that "crisis" adverted, it was time to try and get some sleep.
       I slept fairly well once I got to sleep. I tossed and turned until about 145, and then slept until 530 when I woke up. Our start time was 720, and I was going to head out at 610 to get to T1 with getting to the start before 7. But then I couldn't find the swim cap and that pushed the departure time back. Once at T1, it was a mad house with people everywhere. Not a big deal except for the fact that the traffic to get out from T1 to the start was horrible. I ended up parking down the road and walking in. As Todd and I were getting close to the start we heard the announcer say that wave 2 was going to start in one minute. This gave us 11 minutes to get down to T2, prep our shoes, get into our wetsuits and get down to the water. So our warm up was the jogging in flip flops that we had to do just so we could make it in time. At T2, I got my shoes out and the socks in place; placed my Gu gels in position and took my watch off. I grabbed my wet suit and threw it on up to my waist. I quickly stretched out my calfs and hips and made my way toward the water. While jogging to the water I pulled up the rest of my wet suit. Unfortunately, in the haste of getting my suit on while on the move and dodging people, I didn't grab the thicker part of my wet suit and tore a huge hole in my right arm near the elbow. CRAP!!! Well, there was nothing that I could do about that now. I didn't have time to do anything about it. So instead I just griped about it and made my way toward the water. When I hit the water, I was even more frustrated as the water was warm. Very warm. Like so warm that I prob wouldn't have worn my wet suit if I knew how warm the water was. Oh well, it's time to race so lets get this thing on!

The Swim:   Like I said earlier, the swim was downstream in the river. Although there was the current, I really didn't find it to be helpful. With the rush of the morning, I definately didn't get a chance to warm up or stretch like I would have liked. This made the swim a little tougher when my shoulders stiffened up on me about 3-400 yds in. I am still struggling in the open water with sighting and drifting. Once again, I was all over the place in the water. When we started, I was right in the middle up front. A little fight here and there with the other swimmers, but nothing too horrible. I quickly was on the far right of the field and needed to come back to the left. Then I soon found myself so far left I was swimming into the bank of the river! I seriously couldn't win. I also couldn't really get myself into a good rythm. The swim was otherwse uneventful. I don't have any of the split times because they haven't posted them on line, but I'll update it when I get the info.

T1:  T1 went well. I got a little slowed down when I had to go back to where I had left my wet suit bag. I forgot to take it with me and drop it off with the volunteers on my way out. Otherwise the transition went fairly smooth. It's a little slow with having to get the Garmin on my wrist, but otherwise smooth. There was a little hiccup with trying to get out of transition though. There wasn't a huge space to get out onto the road, and then you add all the people who simply stop to click into their pedals and you have a traffic jam. This doens't boad well for me who keeps his shoes clipped in and straps in while on the road.

Bike:   I was curious to see what kind of speed I could put out on the bike with this course being labeled as a fast, flat course. Once I was finally on the road things started to move. It as a little chilly at first, but I dried off quickly. The bike took me a little bit to get into a workable rhythm, and I just tried to not over do it off the start. I got into a rhythm just as the head wind picked up a bit, but I kept my head down and tried to just keep my cadence up high. The one Gu pack that I had taped on my bike started to slip off and I ended up having to hold onto the pack during the ride. There were several people that kept up around me, and eventually we some how turned into a peleton. Drafting was supossed to be prohibitted, but with the lack of race officials on the course the peleton formed. I slipped into the peleton and went for prob about 8 miles or so with the pack. It was the first "group" ride that I had been a part of, and I was amazed at how fast we were moving with the little effort that we were putting out. I had trailed off the back of the peleton right before another turn. It was after the turn that we hit another head wind, and it slowed me down to where I couldn't catch up with the group. I had less than 8 miles to go on the ride at that point and just kept on trucking. With about 5 miles to go, I caught up with Todd, although he didn't know it. Todd is the stronger cyclist between the 2 of us, and once I found him, I kept with in 100yds behind him. It was also around this point that I got a wierd pain developing on the left side of my crotch. It was brutally painful at times, and reminded me of when I went on my ride after Antonio adjusted my seat. There was really nothing that I could do about the pain, moving around on the saddle didn't prove to make it go away. There wasn't much left of the race so I just sucked it up. Coming up toward T2, I wasn't sure how the run was going to go with having the pain down there. As I made the final straight away toward T2, I got out of my shoes and prepped for the dismount. The cramps in my legs started to come on while I was working on getting out of my shoes.

T2:    Heading into T2, the pain was still there and I had a little fumble when I dropped my sunglasses while making my way toward the racks. I racked my bike, threw my socks on and then slipped into my shoes. I also took a few swigs of my electrolyte drink and took some Hammer electrolyte pills as well. I grabbed my Gu gels and stuffed them into the legs of my tri suit while I was heading out of T2. My tri suit has 2 pockets in the back, but they are dead center and very hard to get anything into or out of. I have opted to not use the pockets unless absolutely neccesary. I did stuff a tube into the pocket that had some extra electrolyte pills just in case I started to cramp.

Run:    I was nervous going into this event about the run. My leg was feeling good, but I hadn't run on it in 3 weeks. Even then, I did only 2 short training times (15-20 min ea) on the eliptical at work. Leaving T2, I was feeling like crap. My legs were cramping up on me all over. Little spots here and there, and nothing debilitating, but enough to feel it and know that it sucked. I thought that the 10k was going to be horrible, and it would have been if the cramps stayed. I just stuck to my guns and never stopped. Yeah the cramps slowed me down, but it wasn't going to let them win. About a mile into the run, the cramps had pretty much worked their way out and I started getting into a good rhythm. I never pushed myself to the brink on the run, instead I was just focusing on keeping good form and having a good mid foot strike. My only complaint on the run was the lack of aid stations. They had a station right out of T2, at mile 1, mile 3 and mile 5. The upside was that there were many places to cool off. Burley fire had 2 seperate brush rigs with water spraying into the street to run through. There was also several houses that had turned a garden hose on with a sprinkler for you to run through as well. This was a nice relief from the climbing heat as the day wore on. The Garmin said that my ave pace was 7:40-ish, and I was happy about that. I felt good and strong on the run, like I could have gone forever at that pace. I had a Gu gel just before the mile 3 marker, so I was able to get some water to rinse it down. I stopped to a walk at every aid station to get the fluid and thank the volunteers. One cup of water for my mouth, and one on my head. Then off to the run I would go. Im seriously considering taking my Camelbak Delaney pack on the runs with me for fluids. This would make me faster as I wouldn't have to stop for the water. I'm used to taking it with me on the long runs outside of the races, and there is no reason why I couldn't take it with me during the race. The 10 extra seconds that it would take to put it on would easily out weigh the time savings from the aid stations. At the mile 5 mark, I took the last of the electrolyte pills just to be safe. I was feeling good and didn't want that last mile and a quater to be a suck-fest. I feel that the run is my strength between the 3 disciplines, and it shows. During the run, there was only 7 people that passed me, guys who were in the next older age group and were putting out a really good pace. This is oppossed to the ton of people that I passed while on the run. While running, it was just one after the other that was being passed.
           With about 3/4 mile to go, I passed a runner who had to stop because his shoe became untied. That sucks! For him at least; but it also enforced the reason why I spent the $15 for the Xtenex laces for my shoes. The last 200m had a semi steep down hill on grass and it did make me a little nervous with my leg. Up to that point, my leg had been feeling great, and I didn't want to take a spill or get injured in the last 200m of the race. Fortunatly I came through without incident and made it out to the flat land of the finish and crossed over the line in 2:27.  I got my medal, greeted Shawna and got some pics. About 10 min or so later, Todd crossed the line to finish his first Olympic distance triathlon too.

I still don't have the splits, or what my final placing was, but it was a great race, and a great intro into the Olympic distance triathlon. I am now looking forward to the Emmett Olympic distance race in 2 weeks. I'm anticipating a slightly slower bike for that course with no peleton to help me out, and I'm hoping to be able to find a better rhythm on the swim. The run will be faster as I intend to push myself harder on that run than on the Spudman.

Last minute race

                     In 3 days I'll be heading out to Burley to do the Spudman Olympic distance triathlon. I titled this post as last minute because it didn't look like I would be doing the race. Although I put in for time off for this race back in December, I was told when I got back from California that my PL was cancelled because of the budget. The department has essentially run out of OT money, and my PL was going to cause OT since I was the second medic off for the day. I feverishly emailed out everyone to see about coverage, but no one responded. Finally I resorted to texted people. Still, no one could do it. Finally, I texted Ann, and asked if she could just do the second half of my shift on Friday so I could race Sat morning. Lucky for me, she is able to, so I'll be heading out Friday night to race early Sat morning. This means little sleep since I'll get into Burley ~1030 and will have to be up by ~0500 since I have the morning of registration and then the transitions set up. Spudman should be a blast. The swim is in the river and we get to have the current push us. The bike course is supposed to be fairly flat, so I'm excited to see what kind of speed I can push out. The run, I'm not to thrilled about. My leg still isn't totally healed, but it's getting way better. More on that to come later.

                 Training has been going good. I can smell the end of this first triathlon season with only 2 more races to go and about 3 weeks left. I have taken the S+C (strength and conditioning) up a notch or 2 since I've been back from California where I couldn't get much in. I've been continuing to work on my swimming which is a love/hate relationship right now. I went to the rec center for a swim today, and had absolutely no motivation to try and swim fast. I was going to do a 10x100 on the 2:00; but instead I decided to mix it up a bit and did 3 rounds of 50-100-150 with the rest being whatever my time was. That was at least a little different from recent 100's or the 500's I've been doing. I did get out to the pond last week and decided to jump into the wet suit even though it was hot as hell. This was not a good idea as I was over heating in the suit. At one point I pulled my neck open and let the water rush in to cool me off, but then I had water in my suit and it was sloshing around while I swam until I got it all worked out. But it was a good idea for the suit because I discovered a fairly large, dime - nickel size tear in my right arm. After the swim I went to Tritown and got some cement to fix that tear, and a few small ones I found on inspection.

                  The bike has been going really well for me this last 2 weeks. I've decided that I would suck it up and ride harder on the bike. Before this, I was cruising with a cadence in the mid 90's with an average speed of 18-18.5 and the pedaling was easy for the most part. But I want to go faster, and know that I am capable of going faster. So I've made the conscience decision to not worry about my cadence so much as my speed. This means that I'm in a lower gear and going harder and faster with a slower cadence. Now the trick is to work my way back up to the higher cadence on the lower gear. I've been doing good so far, and feeling really good about my rides. Yes, it's harder, but now I feel like I'm actually earning it, and I am making progress. I have also been working on getting up out of the saddle while going up hill. This is something that is totally new to me. Even before, going up hills I would get off my aero bars, but never really stand up. I know that I should be faster up hill if I can keep my speed up by getting off my saddle, if even just for 20-30 seconds while going up hill. After talking with my capt (who is a hill climbing machine) it seems like it's just mostly on feel on when to get up. I've been trying to get up on every hill now, and have noticed a difference with my speed up hill. Most notably is when I was climbing the hill that gets me over the freeway and south of town. This is my main route when I ride so I can stay away from cars and enjoy the farm scenery. I've climbed this hill dozens of times. The other day I decided to get out of my saddle. I was able to keep it in a lower gear and got out of the saddle twice. I've never seen my speed so fast going up the hill. When I first started on the bike, my speed was in the 9mph mark going up. I was over 13 the other day, and I could just feel how much quicker I was getting to the top. So with my new out of the saddle climbing, and my lower gear/higher speed, I've gone to over 19mph as my ave speed, and I feel that I'm only at the tip of the iceberg for the speed. I can't wait to see what the next couple of months bring in terms of speed if I keep this up.

               Onto the run. My right leg is still tender at times. I can go most of the day and not feel anything, but then do one thing and get the pain to remind me that it's still there. I haven't actually ran since I was at the beach in California, and that was 2 1/2 weeks ago, and even that run was a short 2.3miler. My last long run was probably 3+ weeks ago. I went to see my physical therapist, Gavin, to pick his brain about the pain. he says that it's not a soft tissue injury. There is no swelling, no decrease in the range of motion. His best thought was a possible stress fracture, but even then he wasn't sure. He put some ultra sound on my leg, and it should have made me jump through the roof, but I just layed there, so he was confused. He said to just take it easy and if it's not better in a few weeks, then get an xray. Well, it's getting better, so no xray for me. At least not yet.

               With the Spudman, I'm looking to have a good swim since I have the current to push me. I'm going to really push myself on the bike and see how far and fast I can go. For the run, I'm just going to play it by feel. I really have no expectations for the run, so whatever comes of that portion of the race is what it will be. I'm looking to just have a good time and get out there.

To finish, let me send you a music video of a band called Dead Sara, and a song that I can't get out of my head called the Weatherman. I saw them open for Bush a while back and they ROCKED. Enjoy

California vacation

        I am finally back in Idaho after a long 20days of being away. I wish I could have a race report to tell you about. After all, that was the main reason of going to California this time of year. Unfortunately, the cost of the race prevented me from doing it, and here's why.
              I needed to take my bike, and therefore I needed a hitch for the back of the van to take the bike. $250
              Registration I thought was $100, but it turned out was going to be $240 ($100 for the police/fire games, plus $140 for the race itself)
              Extra hotel nights: $150-ish/night
              Extra food for the family: Don't even want to think about it
   Before you knew it, I was looking at almost $1000 for the race, and I seriously couldn't justify spending that kind of money right now. But we had already told the kids that they would be going to California, and going to San Diego too. At first we were going to take them to Lego Land, but at the last minute the oldest decided that he would rather go to Sea World than Lego Land. This was more than fine with Shawna and me so off to Sea World we would go.
    I'm starting to get a little ahead of myself about the vacation. We had planned to do the race, and told the family when we would be down. They planned a graduation party around when were coming down, so with the race cancelled for me, we were still committed to getting into town by a certain date. The problem was not when we got there, but when we were going to leave. Shawna's best friend was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly before the trip and was going to be in LA to have the surgery to get it removed. Unfortunately, the surgery was scheduled for the end of our trip, so we extended the trip so Shawna could be there for her and her family. Luckily, I was able to get the extra days off I needed from work to allow Shawna to be there, but it meant being away from home even longer. This wouldn't normally be a big deal except for the lack of training that was being done while in California. This was one of my biggest frustrations about California.
               I was gone for 20 days and did very little training in general, and even less triathlon specific traning. I got 2 longer runs in, a 10k and an 8 mile run, along with a 2.25 mile run on the beach. The problem with the running, was that my right lower leg was starting to hurt again. During the runs, I'd feel fine, just like during most of the day. But after the run, my leg would ache a little bit, and I have some pinpoint tenderness as well. I can also move my foot in a certain way and make the pain come on. I'm not really sure what's going on with it. I have great range of motion, no swelling and no real pain. It's just a dull ache unless I touch a certain spot or make my foot do a certain thing. Very weird, and something that I should probably get checked out. The beach run did get my leg hurting while on the run, but only when my right foot was landing on the ground higher than my left. The slope of the ground was causing my form to be all funky and my leg was feeling it. I put the brakes on and slowed down on the run when that started happening.
               The other triathlon training I did while in California was one swim at the pool. My mom has a membership to the YMCA, and she got me into her gym so I could hit up the pool. My mom didn't know anything about the pool facility other than the fact that they have specific lap swimming times. So I went down there and quickly realized how spoiled I am with the Rec Center. The pool at the Y is tiny. It's only "20yds" long, and 5 lanes wide. I had to do a double take when I walked into the pool area because of the size. I put 20 yards in quotes because that's what the life gaurd said, although I think it was even smaller than that. Then there was the fact that every lane had old people in it. I ended up choosing a lane that had one old guy who was hanging out in the deep end of the lane in the corner. He'd lean back and just kick for a while, and then hang out. Then kick again. This went on for the majority of the time that I was in the lane. So I got one swim session in, and used it to work on my form. I saw a video of the Brownlee brothers doing some pool drills and they showed a drill where they play catch up with a kick board. You hold the board out as far as possbile, with your hands on the the very outside corner edges, just barely holding on. You stroke, but don't start you're other stroke until the first hand is back on the kick board. Because of the board, it forces you to have a good arm entry that is away from the body. This encourages the arm to stay away from the midline, and helps prevent crossing over the midline. It also encourages a high elbow for a good pull phase in the water.

This is what the YMCA pool felt like

             The rest of the training was done with what I brought with me to California, a kettlebell and a jump rope.

          I did a few workouts that I made up on the fly that used those two things, and it worked out pretty well. I was able to hit up Crossfit High Voltage in Burbank just once while I was down there and got a workout in with them as well. I had ZERO bike training and I'll tell you why (time to vent just a little). EVERY gym that I called about spin bikes gave this same answer. Yes we have spin bikes. No you can't use them unless you're in the spin class. Spin bikes are only for the spin classes. SERIOUSLY??? People are getting to be so retarded and afraid of someone getting hurt that you are not allowed to get onto a stationary bike unless there is an instructor there to watch you. Oh, I could of used the recubant bikes, but those pieces of crap are useless.

           The rest of the vacation went as well as could be expected for 3 small children out of their normal enviornment for that long of a time period. We had our good times, and our melt downs, but everyone survived, barely. I have yet to mention the sickness. Shawna had taken the kids to a play date with her cousin and their kids. 3:4 of her cousin's kids are within months of all 3 of our kids, which is crazy because we live so far away. Well the play date had a little something extra in store for us. A little virus that we like to call Hand, Foot and Mouth because that's where the rash goes. The cousin's kids had it, and warned us about it, but said that they were past the contageous part so Shawna went. Little to our surprise, they were still contageous and son #2 and the daughter got it. I'm still not sure how son #1 missed it, but he did. So we had 2:3 kids come down with this nasty bug. Luckily it never went to their mouths, which was the silver lining. Although Shawna came down with something that I'm thinking was a spin off from the virus. Doctors claim adults can't get Hand, Foot and Mouth, but I know those who have. Shawna never got a rash, but she did get sick shortly after the kids started feeling better.

       As far as Shawna's friend and the surgery, it went well, and everything is looking good post surgery. Shawna was essentially gone for 3 full days at the hospital, and another half day too. She spent all day on our anniversary at the hospital with her friend. We still went out that night, but didn't make it to a restaraunt until 1045 that night.

         Here's some crazy numbers from our trip

The total miles place on the van from the trip: 2,347.6

Money spent on gas (est): $463.50

Amusement parks visited: 3 by Shawna and the boys (they went to the water park), 2 for me and the daughter. All of us did the LA Zoo and Sea World.

Number of beers that I drank while in California: UNK. I stopped couting after the second 12 pack.

Number of sick family members: 4, out of 5. Somehow I didn't get sick, but son #1 did for a day.

Number of times someone puked before we got home: 3, names will be withheld.

Number of people who got wet at the Shamu show: None from this family, the kids were too scared to get wet!

Number of times I packed and repacked the van before the trip: 2 leaving, 3 times before coming home.

Outside temp while driving home through the California desert: 111*

Lance Vs USADA

Vs.

 

                Lance Armstrong has been banned for what will probably be the remainder of the 2012 triathlon season because of more doping allegations. These are not allegations into new doping, but rather a re-hash of the same charges that have been brought on years ago. I personally, and for the record, think that these charges are complete crap and that people are trying to simply smear Lance's good name. My biggest argument for this is simple. Lance is an American who won the Tour de France. Let me retype that with the appropriate emphasis.

               Lance is an AMERICAN who WON the Tour de France. The French historically dislike Americans. I don't know if it's because they're still bitter that Napoleon sold off the French territory to help fund his war known as the Louisiana Purchase, or if it's because the American's had to bail them out during both world wars (maybe it's because we remind them of the world war fact all the time too). In any case, the French are NOT fans of Americans. When you get an American who comes in and wins the Tour de France, crap is going to hit the fan. Not only did Lance win, he won MULTIPLE times. He won for over half a decade! If he was dirty, they would have proved it during that time, but they didn't. Floyd Landis was accused of being dirty before he was even able to leave Paris a few years back. Of course Floyd denied it for years, and then finally admitted it. He then had the audacity to try and smear Lance's good name.

               One of the other big issues that I have is that earlier this year the Federal Gov't dropped their 2 year investigation into these doping charges, citing that there was not enough evidence. During this investigation, people were interviewed, former team mates, ex-wives, coaches and trainers, support staff. Nothing was enough to prove anything, and the fed's dropped the criminal probe. Armstrong has said the investigation took a heavy emotional toll and he was relieved when it ended.

          But USADA officials insisted they would continue to pursue their own probe into Armstrong and his former teams and doctors, and notified him of the charges in a 15-page letter the other week. This all comes on the heels of Lance's victories in the triathlon world. Winning his last two 70.3 races, and gearing up for Ironman France, Lance was looking to test himself on the full distance and then tweak anything needed before going to Kona for the World Championships. All of that has come to a screeching halt because of USADA. Unfortunately, unlike federal prosecutors, USADA isn't burdened by proving a crime occurred, just that there was use of performance-enhancing drugs. Even then, the burden of proof is very slim for action to take place. Really all you need is someone who is willing to say that they saw, heard, or thought they heard something happened and you have an open case. If the fed's were unable to prove anything, I'm really doubtful that the USADA investigation will bring anything up. People have been named, but given super sweetheart deal for their testimony. So tell me, how honest is someone going to be when they are, essentially, getting paid for their testimony. Testimony that wasn't able to prove anything to the fed's will now, all of a sudden, allegedly prove something? PA-LEASE! This is just a BS probe to prevent Lance from being successful in the triathlon realm. I really wonder if USADA would be doing this if Lance wasn't doing triathlon, or if he wasn't being successful at it.

"It is a vendetta, which has nothing to do with learning the truth and everything to do with settling a score and garnering publicity at Lance's expense," Armstrong's attorney Luskin wrote.

So now, Lance is left doing this, and waiting to see what will happen next.

Armstrong, maintained his innocence, saying in his statement: "I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one. ...

"Any fair consideration of these allegations has and will continue to vindicate me."

New Shoes

          After the Boise Ironman, I decided that I really should get a new pair of shoes. I had some right ankle pain for a couple of days after the race. I know that this was probably due to probably needing new shoes and a slight heel strike toward the end of the race (there's a pic of me with a heel strike). So off I went shopping. I started to consider getting a shoe with a little more cushion since I had the heel strike, and the residual pain. I looked into possibly getting the Brooks pure connect, the Saucony Kinevara or even a pair of K-Swiss. I was leaning toward the Saucony since I used to run in an unknown pair of Saucony's before I went to the minimalist side and got the Inov-8's.

         I ended up choosing a different pair of Inov-8's, the F-lite 220's. These shoes had a little more cushioning, and a little more of a heel to toe drop. My F-lite 195's have only a 2mm drop, and the 220's have a 5mm drop. I was all excited about the shoes until I tried them on. The toe box was way too tight. You'll notice in a pic of my olf 195's that I kind of blew out the sides where my pinky toe is at the toe box. This didn't happen right away, but did over time. The 220's have a completely different material for the toe box and there was little chance of any sort of stretch or blow out like the 195's. I called Inov-8 and talked with a rep about the 195's vs 220's, my "blow out" and my training routine. I told him that I needed a shoe that I could not only Crossfit in, but then turn around and push out a 10k or a 13.1mi without any questions on which shoe I should be using. He said that the 195's were the best choice, and that I should continue to go with those. With that, I returned my 220's having never even ran in them and had to order a pair of 195's from a completely different company. The running warehouse is phasing out the 195's and no longer had any in my size.

           I ordered another pair of 195's and had them sent to my mom's house where I was heading. I really wanted to get my new shoes and get them broken in before the next race. The 195's came on and I was super excited. I didn't realize how much I had used and worn out my old shoes, until I looked at how much tread is on the old Vs the new. I know that I did train for a 13.1mi Race to Robie, and then all the other training upto this event. It ended up being close to a year and a half since I had gotten the original 195's. I was definately due for a new pair of shoes.

          So I got a new pair of Inov-8 195's in the black/white like I had before. I've only done one workout in them, and it wasn't even a running workout. I will wait a week or two until I switch my laces out. I'm thinking that in October I will order another pair and have 2 pairs of shoes to burn through the next year. I'm thinking that other pair will be a white/black, or the "strom trooper" model, or something else fun. I'll keep that pair at work. I never had any issues before with my old 195's until this last race, and I don't plan on having any issues with this pair either.

The new and the old pair. If you look close enough, you can see a ton of tread on the new pair (left) and then really no tread on the old pair.

Here's a close up of the old pair with the "blow out" on the toe box where my pinky toe is. Both shoes have this feature now that they are well worn. The new pair will soon have this feature as well I'm sure.

Race report: 2012 Boise 70.3

          It's been 8 days now since my first triathlon, so I can now call myself a triathlete! It was a crazy busy week leading up to the event, and I apologise for a lack of pre-race blogging to tell you how I was feeling going into the event. I mentioned earlier that the weather was looking awesome for the event. Well that was a HUGE FAT LIE! It might of been accurate at the time, but with every passing day closing in on the race, the weather conditions were looking worse and worse. I tried not to worry too much about it, after all, weatherman are usually wrong anyways. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. Being an optimistic person, I thought that it wouldn't be as bad as they were forecasting, but in reality it was worse. I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, so let me back up a bit.
          I was feeling pretty good with the week leading into the race. I wish I could have gotten a little bit more last minute easy work outs in, another light run and ride, but it just didn't work out that way. I decided to try and get to bed early instead of pushing myself with some late night work outs. I made one last stop to Tritown to get some new laces for my shoes and a new mount for my computer. The aero tray that Torhans sells for their bottles is great, but not so much for the computer, at least not for me. On the bright and sunny days, I could barely read the screen because of the position behind the bottle. So I bought a new mount that puts the computer in front of the bottle and now I barely have to look down to see how fast I'm going and my cadence. It's soo much nicer!
         Check in for the race started Thursday night, but I had only planned to check in sometime on Friday and hit up one of the athlete pre-race briefings at the same time. Shawna had the better idea of checking in on Thursday night and doing dinner with my mom afterwards. Which was awesome, but it was so last minute that I missed the briefing.
           On Friday, we decided to take the kids up to the reservoir where the swim would be held. Because of the limited parking area, everyone was having to park below the dam and hike up to the transition area in the morning, unless you took the shuttle. The shuttle was not going to work for us with the kids on the day of the event, so we decided to give the hike a try and see how it might be the next day. It's only 0.6miles up, and really isn't too terribly bad yo do it by yourself. The problems start mounting when you include the kids, the stroller, the snacks, drinks and other misc stuff that is always needed. It took us just over 20 min to get to the top, and it was apparent that this wasn't going to be a good race day decision. Somehow we were going to have to break it to the kids, especially the oldest, that they wouldn't be there to watch me start the race. They were actually very understanding, and it was very fortunate that they weren't there. After leaving the reservoir, I went to the briefing. Shawna dropped me off at my mom's so I could grab my car and hit the meeting before heading home. During the meeting I found out 2 very important things.
#1)  I needed to bring my bike to T1 today or I'd have to hoof it up the hill the morning of the race
#2)  The race course had changed. The second one wasn't that big of a deal except that it now had me running right past my parents apartment on the greenbelt. So there was the option for the kids to just watch me run, instead of possibly seeing the transition at T2 and the finish.
         After the briefing, I raced home. I had to get my bike to T1 NOW!!! The problem was that I hadn't cleaned my bike or numbered my bike like I had planned to do later that evening. It also meant that I would have to bring some bags to cover anything that I didn't want to get rained on, and remove anything that wasn't bolted to the bike. So I quickly cleaned and lubed my chain and derailleur's. Slapped the stickers on the side of my bike, and stripped off my water bottles, the aerobottle, my computer, my electrolyte tabs. I loaded the bike into the Honda and Shawna and I were off for the reservoir again. It's a 30min drive one way to get out there, and it was just one more thing that I wasn't planning on doing that day. It pushed my dinner back by an hour +, and was just a little frustrating. 

         The weather forecast for the day was morning rain with temps in the low 50's and windy. Awesome. Like I was telling myself, and other people, I can't control the weather, so I can't worry about it. It's going to suck as bad for me as it is for everyone else on the course. None of us are immune to it, so we need to just suck it up and race. The morning of the race, it was overcast, chilly and just barely sprinkling at my house. Not too horrible I thought. If it stayed like that it wouldn't be to bad. Unfortunately it got worse, and worse. When Shawna and I stopped downtown to drop off my run bag at T2 it was raining and cold. In the parking lot below the dam it was just the same. Up in T1, it was the same only worse. Worse because it continued to rain, and wind, and rain. It was cold, and there was really no cover to get out of it. People were huddled together under the few trees that were in the transition area. T1 is nothing more than a parking lot for the truck/trailer parking for those out on the water that day. Some people were hanging out inside the big Budget moving trucks that were scattered about from bringing equipment up for the event.
         I spent the better part of 2 hours wet and shivering before the event. I finally put my neoprene swim cap on to try and keep myself just a little bit more warm. I had my cap on, my Zoot long sleeve running top on with my arm warmers on under that, my tri suit and then my skins calf tights just to try and stay warm. I tried to keep to my original nutrition plan and had some Gu gel at the predetermined times before the race, but I failed to take into account the amount of shivering I had done and the energy that I had used during that shivering. I finally got into my wet suit and prepared to get the race started. Before heading down to toward the water, there was an announcement. The bike portion was being cut back because of the weather.
         My buddy Todd who joined Shawna up at T1 had informed me when I said hi to him that the winds along the course were at 25mph and that it was going to be a long and slow day. "Just stay in your small chain ring out there on the course," he said. Those winds were going to suck, and really slow me down. My projected sub 6 hour finish was now out the window completely with the weather. Now, I just wanted to finish, no matter what the time and conditions. The announcer was soon to announce that the bike course was being cut down drastically. We were supposed to head out from T1 and go on a course that was south of the airport, out into no man's land before turning around heading back toward T1. Around mile 45 we would then veer off to the left and head back into town toward T2. Now we were heading straight into town, with about 15 miles of riding. The swim distance, as well as the run distance would stay the same, but the bike was being shortened because of fears that with the ambient temps and the continued rain/hail that people would start getting hypothermic out on the course. At the time, and still today, I was bummed; but I think that they made the correct call. It's all in the interest of safety.

          Finally it was time to start this race! Of course the pro's went out first, and then a few other waves before my wave was finally allowed to enter the water. We were told earlier that day that the water temp was somewhere between 57-59*, but with how cold it was outside getting into the water actually felt warm. My plan for the swim was to start toward the back of the pack and avoid the fists and kicks to the head as much as possible and then make my way through the crowd. Jeff said that he was going to do the same thing, but when it was time to start he was in the middle of our wave. It's funny, there was really no pre race nerves or jitters or diarrhea or anything for me. Maybe it was the weather that was distracting me, or just the fact that I tried to visualize soo much of the event before hand, but there weren't any nerves while in T1 waiting or even when I was treading water waiting for the start. I was just focused and motivated.
         The swim finally started and everyone in front of me took off. I started off slowly, actually swimming with my head above the water, just watching how the pack was going and looking for any gaps that opened up to clear the way for my swim. The buoys were to my right, which helped since I breath to my right, and they were 100yds apart. I figured that during the swim so long as I could see other splashes and people I was probably doing ok, and in with the group. That thought only worked for so long, as a group of us did veer off to the right and started passing buoys on our left. Woops! After several corrections I was back on track, and had actually managed to get onto the outside on the left. Which was actually nice because I could then see everyone and the buoys without having to do much other than swim. I rounded the first turn buoy on the outside, and noticed Jeff on the inside of the turn group so we were still together, sort of. A couple of times I tried to draft off of someone, but most of the people that I chose were actually swimming slower than me, so I'd have to go around them. At one point I had some one pass me who was cruising along pretty good. "Perfect," I thought and lowered my head to get behind him and draft. Yeah, that didn't work out so well either as he was way faster than me and I never saw him after I dropped back down just to catch him. So I just kept swimming my race. I'd have to stop every so often to not run over someone, and took a mouth full of water on more than one occasion because of being nice and not swimming on top of someone.

          After making the second, and last, turn buoy, I had some serious problems. My right calf decided that it had had enough and locked up on me. I immediately stopped and tried to workout the cramp while treading water. Nothing was working and people were passing me. I figured that I had to finish the swim so off I started with being able to only kick with one foot. The one foot kick didn't last too long as it was just throwing off what little rhythm I have. So I had to swim the last 500-600yds (there were 5 buoys that I counted between me and the shore) without a kick. It sucked, but I got it done. Once I was out of the water and started walking it started to ease up and feel better.

 Walking out of the water and into T1. Feeling good, except for the cramp to my calf.

         T1 was a little bit longer than I wanted, but it doesn't really matter. I found my rack easily and was greeted with Shawna yelling and Todd ringing the cow bell for me. It was nice to see a familiar face, even if they weren't racing. I tried to dry off a little bit, and put my wet Zoot top back on. I left the arm warmers in the transition bag as I was already hot from the wet suit with the swim. I went with the non-matching aero helmet that I got off of Craigslist, and tried to stretch my calf out before grabbing my bike. While I was struggling to get my Zoot top on, I looked up and saw Jeff running with his bike out of T1. I quickly grabbed the rest of my stuff, tore open the Gu pack that I had sitting on my bike and started to suck it down as I left T1.

 Leaving T1. Notice that I'm barefoot and my shoes are clipped in? Yeah, I'd been practicing that set up and it worked nicely even in the crappy weather conditions.

          Off on the bike I went. With the still rainy and wet conditions, the first 1-2 miles were down hill and I was looking forward to bombing down the hill, but it wasn't meant to be. Instead, I took it fast, but nothing too fast. I was never uncomfortable with my speed going down hill. The ride was cold, but not unbearable. My quads started to cramp and ache when I started the ride, so I started to suck down the electrolyte water out of my Torhans. Overall, the ride went pretty well, I passed a few people and got passed by some people as well. I felt comfortable on the bike, but was really unsure of pacing myself now that it was more of a 15 mile time trial rather than a 56 mile ride. I knew that my electrolytes were off and decided to not really push it too hard, instead just keeping a steady pace and trying to suck down my water.

       I got to T2 a little unexpectedly. I didn't notice that it was coming up and didn't have time to get out of the saddle and stretch out my legs or anything before I was practically on top of T2. I quickly had to unstrap my feet from my shoes before the dismount line and run into T2 looking for my spot. I found the spot and heard the crowd. It was my mom, step-dad, mother-in-laws- and kids all waiting for me and cheering me on. It was awesome to see the boy's face filled with excitement as I ran into T2. I quickly racked my bike, after having to move the other bikes to make room for mine, threw some socks on, slipped my feet into my shoes, grabbed my visor and a Roctane off my bike and off I went. T2 went fairly smooth. The only real hiccup was having to stop and move the other bikes out of the way so I could rack my bike.

     The run was now on. I feel that the run is my strong point because it's the one discipline that I have the most experience in. I know that I can put down a decent pace, but today was not the day. First off, I couldn't feel my feet for the first 4+ miles of the run. My feet were just cold and numb. Secondly, the cramps were still hit/miss and I knew it would be dicey for the run unless I did something drastic. The first aid station that I came to I got some Gu Chomps, they are electrolyte gummy chews. During the run, I would slow down for every aid station, coming to a walk/ slow jog. I'd grab a water as needed, but I would make sure to grab the Ironman Perform drink (their version of Pweraid/Gatorade) at every aid station. I'd eat a chomp every mile or so, and around mile 5 or 6 I took another Gu energy gel. I did manage to see Jeff on the run during the first lap after he had already done the turn around. I tried to mark the spot and figured that I was around 6-8 min behind him. At this point, the GPS said I was putting out an ave pace of 8:30-8:45. For me, that's slow, I easily should of been able to be at a 7:30 or less pace, but with how I was felling, I'd take the pace I had. I just tried to stay positive, run my race, and remember my nutrition; which at this point, was all about the electrolytes.

      During the run, I would thank every volunteer that handed me a drink, and high five any little kid that had his hand out. It wasn't until the second lap that I started to feel better. While I was making the turn for the second lap, I saw a sign that said "you trained longer than a Kardasian marriage for this," which I thought was hilarious. By this time, the sun had broken through the clouds and the rain had stopped. I had peeled my Zoot top off around mile 5 and carried it until the turn for lap 2 when I tossed it into the corner. I started to enjoy the simple things on the run, like when I tossed a water cup into the can and made the shot while running and 10 feet out. One of the volunteers saw the shot and cheered me on for the basket. On the first lap of the run, I saw a deer trying to cross the green belt, wondering what all these runners were doing in his back yard. On the second lap, around the same area, I saw a doe and her fawn in the bushes by the river, but only 12 feet from me. I pointed her out to the other runners around me and we just kept on trucking.

       I would see Jeff a second time on the run in near the same spot that I saw him earlier, but this time the distance was closing. I yelled at him to not slow down as we high fived each other on the pass. It wouldn't be another 2 miles or so and I had some how caught up to him and passed him. I'm not sure how I was able to do that, but by that time I was feeling good and was putting out something that was closer to a 7:30 pace. I was still stopping at every aid station for the Perform drink and I also got another pack of Chomps along the route as well. I also ran into Antonio and Harold from Tritown who were out on the course cheering people on. As I was feeling better, my speed picked up. It felt really good to finish strong on the run, especially with how I was feeling from the swim, through the bike and into the run.

 Here I am getting ready to finish, high fiving my family as I noticed them right before the finish.

The big finish!

It wasn't a full 70.3 like originally planned, but it was still a triathlon, and it was fun. I had a blast, and learned a ton. I can't wait to be able to do it again. I have 2 more olympic distances this season, and am stoked to get out there and be able to do it again. I still want to complete a full 70.3, but that will probably have to wait until next season.