2010 Season Opener RR

Last weekend I kicked off my 2010 triathlon season out in Palm Desert at the Toyota Desert International Triathlon. As the week progressed it began to look like we might confront some rain on race day which I wasn't too excited about. I was hoping it would rain on Saturday and clear by Sunday, but as I made my way out on Saturday that wasn't the case.

T3 Performance Multisports was making its team debut at this race and Trish really stepped up to the plate putting on an awesome pre race dinner and breakfast for the whole crew (with fresh Kona Coffee of course). She also threw together a perfect post race DRY gathering and feasting spot with the help of another spectahlete/ T3er sister who may have gained honorary membership with her performance out in the desert.

Fortunately, the rain held off long enough that race morning and transition set up was dry.

Swim: 15:47

This was about a minute faster than I swam last year, and while you never can tell with swim courses from year to year, I'll take it as a sign the big swim weeks and masters is paying off.

Bike: 57:13

Despite only having about 1.5hrs on the new Blue Triad, I went against the old "nothing new on race day" advice and took her out for a test run. About 2mi in the rain started and it didn't let up the rest of the day. It was cold, and my feet immediately decided they had enough and went to sleep. Even with the rain I still managed to bike two minutes faster than last year. The new bike and fit were great. There is definitely some "getting used to" still to be done, but given the circumstances and race conditions, I think its a good sign. I ended up with the second fastest bike split on the day, with my buddy Thomas taking the top notch.

Run: 33:23

I came off the bike not knowing exactly what place I was in but given there were some Collegiate swimmers in the group, I thought I had a few to catch. Turned out Thomas' bike had gotten him to the pointy end, and there was one other between us. Sean told me I was a little over a minute down out of T2, so I knew I had my work cut out for me. I came out of T2 with another collegiate guy who was setting a pretty good pace. Maybe I was stuck in my long course racing mind set, but I thought I could let him go a little, wait till I had some feeling in my feet and then I could find my rhythm and reel him back in.
Well, my feet didn't come back around till after the first loop and given its only a 6mi run, that strategy came back to bite me. I caught Thomas a little after the first loop, and set my focus on reeling in 1st place. I was able to close the gap some, but the guy plain out ran me and all credit goes to him. The results called it a 5:22 pace, but I can't believe that so I think the course is a little short. I need the long stuff!
Total: 1:48:41

That is a little over 4mins faster than last year, and improvement was made in all 3 disciplines so I will take it. 1st "Elite" and 2nd Overall. I was happy with it.
Charisa came out and bettered her time as well, but, as usual, we had a little wager in play. We both were tasked with beating the overall winning time from last year. We are heading out to Tucson, AZ tomorrow for a 5 day training camp and I will be enjoying a nice, well deserved bowl of ice cream on the final night, which will be made all the tastier as it will be on Mrs. Wernick's dime.

Steven was an all star photographer/spectathlete again (what else is new?). And got some awesome pics while braving the rain crouched under an umbrella. Check out Charisa's blog to see a sampling.

T3 had a pretty damn good debut if I do say so myself. As a group, we took the men's and women's elite and the mens 30-34 (Jason May) titles. We also had a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, & 6th for the rest of the crew in various age groups. Our first race and our lowest finish a 6th. I'd say its a good start to 2010.

Sponsor Update

Ok, so I know I have been slacking on the updating this week, but it hasn't been for the normal reason that nothing exciting is happening. In fact, its been just the opposite. So without further ado, I want to rave about two of my sponsors for the 2010 season.

Blue Competition Cycles has graciously brought me on board for the 2010 season and has given me the opportunity to ride their TT/triathlon speed machine, the Triad. I met the guys from Blue out at Coeur d' Alene last year. Some of you may have seen the issue of Triathlete Magazine last year when they had the series of photos with custom painted themed bikes, well the Triad was the Nascar bike and it caught my eye right away. I had been very interested in the bike ever since. Fortunately I got the opportunity to demo the Triad earlier this year and all the things I had heard about the bike were confirmed. It is an awesome ride. Much is made about weight and aerodynamics in the bike world and companies make claims and throw numbers at us all day long. But few stand behind their bikes like Blue does. Not only are they an American company with exceptional customer service, but if you purchase the Triad SL (the Bike Andreas Realart rode to 3rd place at Kona this year), you get a free hour of wind tunnel time on their dollar. Wind tunnel rates are NOT cheap, but the fact that Blue will put you in there and give you the numbers, shows they believe 100% in their bike. I do too.

Above is a picture of my new rig just hours after it was delivered to the boys at Palos Verdes Bicycle Center. Dave expertly built it up lickety split and it was ready to roll that evening.

The picture above is the bike assembled replicating my old position. After a test ride, I was back up at PVBC for a fitting with Steve to work on that position. I had never had a "real" fit. Just some adjustments made here and there based on how I thought I "should" be positioned and comfort. Steve opened my eyes to a whole new world with the Specialized Body Geometry fit system. I have never been one to be too impressed by gadgetry, but this system is AWESOME. I was blown away at the thoroughness employed. Numerous physical measurements were taken, flexibility and anatomical characteristics were noted, injury history reviewed, all this and I hadn't even gotten on the bike yet. Steve uses a computrainer, motion capture video, various computer screens, and numerous measuring tools to fine tune the fit. It was impressive and informative to see in real time, independent pedal efficiency, power output throughout the pedal stroke, power, etc... Once we started making changes, being able to see the effect of those changes, and judge them not only in light of the numbers reflected, but to analyze the position relative to my physical/anatomical numbers and limitations was incredibly valuable and inspired a great deal of confidence in the decisions we made. I really think this system (that Specialized has spent mucho $$ developing and uses with its top athletes) takes some of the uncertainty out of a bike fit. That is to say that I feel that in many instances, a bike fit depends greatly on the fitter. While this remains true, the Specialized system removes some margin for error with the data and feedback that it provides. Granted you still need to find a trained and skilled fitter, but one who uses the system is a great start. Steve at Palos Verdes Bicycle Center certainly fits that bill (pardon the pun). He even teaches the system to other Specialized dealers. So, if your in the LA/South Bay area, or even if your not, and your in need of a bike fitting, make an appointment at Palos Verdes Bicycle Center.

I took some very poor pictures to try and depict the fitting room, but it doesn't nearly capture the full effect. I mean, this fit produced a 4 page fit sheet with 18 "before and after" motion capture shots. Its high tech and detailed. And worth every penny in my humble opinion.

I feel extremely fortunate and I am beyond excited to be racing with the support of both these fantastic companies as sponsors in 2010. It is truly humbling and I hope to do them proud.

Official

First came this:
Then this:
It is real. In 36 days I will be floating in Oceanside Harbor with the big boys. Its official, racing just got MUCH more challenging!

A great way to start the season....

D.N.F.

Awesome! I kicked off the 2010 season this weekend in the San Dieguito Half Marathon. My 1st race, my 1st attempt to set an open half marathon PR and my 1st DNF ever. No better way to get the ball rollin.

Really, after getting sick last week I wasn't expecting much. I scrapped all my workouts on Friday and went home early cuz I felt terrible. On Saturday I ran for a whopping 30mins and it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. The outlook wasn't great.

On Sunday I felt OK. About the same as Saturday, so I decided to just go out the first couple miles and see how it felt. Surprisingly I felt halfway decent during the first couple miles. I had a bet with Kevin, and he, Jeff and I were running right near each other. About a mile in my buddy Brandon jumped in to help pace me in case I felt good and wanted to try and run hard, and to keep me company in the event I didn't.

Coming up on Jeff

Laughing at our stupidity

After 2mi or so we still had a good group with Kevin, Brandon, me and Chris Berg, and we were rolling along pretty steady. However, after a little downhill section, I felt my quads start to tighten up a bit. When it flattened out, I tried to keep the turnover going, and the tightness started spreading and getting worse. Fast. Pretty soon it was clear I was cramping and there was nothing I could do. I don't ever cramp. So it was yet another new experience for me. But even after some stretching and massaging, it was clear my day was done. I told Brandon to just go run and get his workout, I was walking back. On the walk back my left quad totally seized up a couple times and it was clear I couldn't even pull off the walk back to the start. Hail the meat wagon. Again, another 1st.

Kevin went on to bust out a low 1:18 which on that course is FAST and I think a PR for him at least on that course. Charisa, in typical fashion, killed it as well and came in at 1:25 only a few seconds off her PR, and with some pretty good company (Rachel Challis, Katya Meyers, etc...). Congrats to them.

Poser and the real runners

The rest of the weekend was spent in downtown SD and the awesome weather, great food, drink and company salvaged what otherwise would have been a bummer of a weekend.

Ohh well, it can only get better from here. Right?

SICK SUCKS!!

Is it bad when you have dreams about Kleenex? I think so.

I started feeling a cold coming on sometime around dinner on Monday night. I resisted (read: was in denial), telling myself that it was nothing more than a little sniff and congestion type thing. So I continued with my workout schedule. Yesterday I really started feeling it but struggled through the workouts as all I had was a bike and a swim, then rest from 1pm on. Well it didn't work.

I woke up today, feeling about the same as yesterday. I started getting ready to go to masters and realized I was feeling worse by the minute. When I stumbled and lost my balance going up the stairs, I thought maybe masters wasn't the best idea. So I scrapped it and said I would do my bike workout on the the trainer instead, hit the pool at lunch, and run tonight. Well, I continued to feel worse and as I procrastinated on getting on the trainer, I checked my e-mail (thank God for iphones). Coach sat atop the inbox and among some other things, had this to say: "Listen to your body. The piece of paper with the plan becomes irrelevant when your body is talking to you." (if you read it with a German accent its even better). I read that, and took a second to try and "listen" and take inventory: Stuffed up nose and sinuses, sore throat, noises in my chest, and an all over achy feeling. I thought my body was telling me something and opted to listen it and to coach. I laid back down to get another 30mins of shut eye and go to work early. An hour and half later, I woke again. Enough complaining, I scrapped my plan for the lunch swim. In fact it looks like all workouts are off the table today.

Aside from the obvious, this sucks because I am heading to San Diego this weekend to run the San Dieguito half marathon. The plan was to hit 3 hard weeks of training, and have the race as the last effort in the block. To try and PR a half on tired, trashed legs. Well not only will the sickness prevent me from handing the last bit of thrashing to my legs, but will also likely prevent me from being able to really push at the race this weekend. Hopefully this thing clears up by Sunday.

Sick SUCKS!!!

Pain Cave

This was the scene of my Saturday ride. 4hrs of pain including a simulated climb of Mt. Palomar. I was a little scared of this workout since it had been put on the schedule.

I didn't realize it was going to be as good of a time as it was. I actually found myself enjoying the workout and the pain. Coach really laid it down with this workout and I ate it up.

On several occasions last year, I had little "break through days" where I would really nail the workouts. I hadn't had one yet this season. After the trainer session, I was worried about the run that was on tap for that afternoon, but it went very well. So Saturday was the 1st "break through day" of the 2010 season.

Here's hoping for more!!

Sunday, I paid for the great Saturday with a not so stellar brick, but I think that was also due to a lack of sleep thanks to a later than expected stay at a friend's birthday party the night before, complete with one of these.

The man with the knife is my dentist!

Hones - T and 2010

I hit the treadmill today for my tempo run. I usually do this outside, at a track, but it was raining pretty hard and running the track in rain like this would have been cold, hard, and dangerous. So it was inside to the dreadmill.

I make it no secret that I harbor little love for the treadmill. It does have a benefit though, as my friend Devo says, "It keeps me honest." Like I said, my tempo runs are normally done on the track, governed by the watch. But if you fall behind on the pace, the watch won't spit you off the back with painful (to ego and body) results. The treadmill keeps you honest with a capital T.

As an added bonus, the heat and humidity in a gym makes you really work on the breathing.

Finally, there is also a bit of comic relief. See, I go to a gym, whose (lets call a spade a spade) membership isn't exactly comprised of what one would refer to as the "elite" of the local athlete population. Especially at 9am on a Friday. Its basically me and a bunch of the retired crowd. When you are in this setting and you bump the treadmill up to tempo pace, you get some wide-eyed stares from the gallery. Seriously people look at you like it can't possibly be safe to run at that speed. Either that, or I had the look of death on my face and was throwing off sweat like a garden sprinkler. Call it my ego, but I am going with the former.

On to 2010:

People have been asking (thanks for your interest Mom & Pop), so I figured it is time to post my preliminary schedule for the 2010 Race Season. What follows is not "FINAL" but will likely be the route I take barring any unforeseen happenings.

1. March 7th, Toyota Desert Tri (Olympic), Palm Desert, CA

2. March 27th, Ironman Cal. 70.3, Oceanside, CA

3. May 1st, Wildflower Long Course, Paso Robles, CA

4. June 12th, Ironman Boise 70.3, Boise, ID

5. July 25th, Ironman USA, Lake Placid, NY

6. Sept 12th, Ironman Wisconsin, Madison, WI

7. Oct. 17th, Ironman Austin 70.3, Austin, TX

8. Nov 21, Ironman Arizona, Tempe, AZ

Obviously, a Kona Qualification would change everything, as would a 70.3 Worlds slot. And IM AZ is going to be up in the air until pretty close to game time depending on certain factors. So there it is.

Cheers to a race filled and hopefully successful, 2010.