IM AZ Race Report

Life has been a run of jam packed days this last week.  The day after Ironman Arizona I flew to Hawaii with Maik and Hillary to help crew for her in the insanity that is Ultraman.  The shopping for this event alone requires nightly carbo loading.  It is now the night before the race and I am just now finding time to write this report.

After getting sick I debated racing Arizona or Cozumel.  I am happy I made the decision I did.

Swim: 51:15
We got into the somewhat chilly waters of Tempe Town Lake at about 6:35.  I did a little warm up, and found a place in the line up towards the right and near the feet of Brandon Marsh as I knew he would be pulling quite a wake with his swim speed.  For the most part the rest of the swim was uneventful.  I found myself towards the front of the first chase pack and found the pace comfortable for most of the swim. There were a few surges and I was able to hold the feet and close the gaps in front of me.  When I came out of the water I saw Maik and he gave me a "Good swim!" I checked my watch and saw 51:2x and was stoked.

Bike: 4:42:24
The bike started off with a bang. Literally.  The pathway out of T1 at Arizona is pretty narrow. There was an athlete just a bit ahead of me to the right so I was on the left of the chute.  Unfortunately, in a show of great wisdom someone had seen fit to park a rather large motorcycle on the left side of the chute about 10ft or so after the mount line.  When I jumped aboard my Blue Triad SL, I looked down briefly to find the top of my shoe and before I knew it I smashed headlong into the back of the moto.  I knocked it over, and it knocked the fencing over.  My fingers on my left hand got smashed and were bleeding, and my knees suffered the same fate.  Fortunately Blue and Reynolds make some tough bikes and wheels.  My front wheel was jacked to the left but a quick wrestle job while holding it between my knees and I was back on the road just slightly worse for the wear.

Unfortunately, this little escapade did give up some of the time I gained on the swim.  The rest of the bike was rolling along pretty well. We had some rough wind, some rain and even hail, but it wasn't as bad as the weathermen had been saying and what I had prepared myself for.  The second mishap on the bike came when they did not have my special needs bag and I therefore missed the calories and boost that 2 Powerbars and a 12oz Red Bull would have given me.  Because of this, the third lap of the bike was a struggle and my power suffered. 

I had a goal of riding 4:45 so I was happy when the final lap came to an end.  I felt OK and knew I had some calories and Red Bull waiting for me in my Fuel Belt and I was ready to run. 

Run: 3:03:39

At Ironman Wisconsin I used a Fuel Belt for the first time and liked it despite my crap (literally) run.  However, I only wore it for the second half of the run.  For IM AZ I decided to use it for the entire run.  This decision might be the one decision that MADE my race.  I had missed about 700 of the calories I planned to take in on the bike and thus starting the run with 550 readily accessible calories was HUGE!  I was not feeling so great in the beginning of the run, but my pace was solid.  In fact it was faster than I wanted to run and I knew I could not sustain it.  I tried to slow it down, but it hurt more to run in that mode.  So I just decided to let my legs roll and find a rhythm.  About 5mi in I was still in the same mode, but I now knew why I wasn't feeling so good.  A bathroom stop took care of that problem and I was running well and happy for the next several miles. 

For the remainder of the run I just focused on running controlled and sticking to my nutrition plan.  At Special needs I picked up my second two Fuel Belt flasks and continued with the same mantra:  "Run controlled and stick to the nutrition plan."

Nothing really eventful took place on the run, which s to say no more bathroom stops like Wisconsin or catastrophic blow ups like in Lake Placid.  I think this is due to the mantra mentioned above. There was however, one memorable moment in the run.  About mile 14 I noticed a big increase in the media motos around me (couldn't pick out the one I crashed into).  I knew this could only mean one thing.  Chrissie Wellington was gaining on me.  She passed me and I knew there was no hope of staying with her (she went on to run a 2:52).  I stuck to my plan and plodded along.  

In my eyes I have yet to put together a reasonable Ironman marathon and my dream goal was to run under 3hrs.  My realistic goal however, was to go sub 3:05.  With a bathroom visit, I was happy with a 3:03 and a new Ironman Marathon run PR.  Still lots of work to be done there though. I know I can run faster.  

Final: 8:41:18

In the end I was very happy to finally break the 9hr mark and end with a good run.  Getting a hug from quite possibly one of the greatest athletes to ever walk the face of the earth was a pretty nice capper!  

  A HUGE thanks to ZOOT for once again providing the BEST wetsuit, apparel and shoes I could ever ask for. The new Phrophet wetsuit is INSANE and my vastly improved swim PR shows it.  I ran in the Alli'i shoes, sockless, and came away totally unscathed, no blisters, and all toenails in tact.  Comfy the whole way.  I cant say just how much it means to head into a marathon fully confident that I will have no problems with my feet.  Not to mention doing so with the 2nd fastest transition in the race.

BLUE Competition Cycles makes some great machines and stands behind their bikes like nobody else in the industry.  They are quality, fast and as my altercation with a BMW moto evidences... TOUGH!!

Reynolds Wheels likewise makes some of the best quality and fastest wheels on the market.  And like Blue Bikes, they take a beating and keep on ticking.  Not a scratch or anything after plowing into a 600lb BMW moto!

TriSports.com calls Arizona home and I was fortunate to have some awesome support out on the course at their aid station.  But getting me to the race in proper form was even more important and TriSports kept me stocked with easy and FAST access to everything I could need.

PowerBar gave me the power to push all day and I had no concern with my stomach all day.

PV Bicycle Center is my local shop in Palos Verdes and has helped me all year with EXPERT maintenance and advice.  If you are in the South Bay area, there is no better shop.

Quality Time

I will be spending a good amount of the above with the trusty Toyo 4Beast, newly downloaded music and my thoughts today.  The Ironman Arizona adventure begins today with 6hrs (I hope) of solo driving.

Decisions

Although a little ashamed in light of Chrissie Wellington's battle with West Nile Virus, I will admit that I had all but pulled out of Ironman Arizona a week ago.  When I got sick and had to take 4 days completely off of training, including 3 days that were supposed to be the BIG days for AZ prep, I got nervous and anxious.  I knew the field at AZ is going to be DEEP and that I would need to be in the best shape possible going in if I wanted a respectable finish given what the times that are likely to be thrown down on race day.  Missing my big weekend and figuring I would still be a little under the weather, I had mentally pulled myself from the race.  A moment of weakness it was.

However, with clearer sinuses, came clear thought, and and some good workouts, and I made the decision to race IM AZ.  No turning back now.

With that decision in mind, and most of my AZ training parters either otherwise engaged or winding it down, I headed South last weekend back to the time tested training grounds of North County San Diego.  The Wernick casa honored my standing reservation and I was ready to go.

Friday we all went out to dinner as Todd was in town doing some tri shop re-conn and we wanted to shoe the pasty Minnesota man some good Mexican grub.  It was a good time, with good stories and good people.

Unfortunately the triathlete half of my host couple woke with a cold on Saturday so that meant it would be just me and my Mo to the top of Mt. Palomar.  It felt good to be back on the mountainside and pushing a hard effort all the way to the top.  It was a little chilly up there, but one of the most best days ever to be on a bike.

Camera phone just doesn't do it justice.

Sunday, trusty training partner Kevin maned up and rode with me. 6.5hrs, and 7,500ft of climbing later it was time to run.  My legs surprisingly showed up for the challenge and rounded out a solid weekend.  Monday was a running day and served to slam the cap on the weekend.  All in all a really good one and I am feeling good about AZ.

Ironman Arizona will be my last race of my rookie season.  I am hoping it rounds it out with my best result yet, but either way I am happy with the way the season has gone despite my less than stellar results.  But I am  also happy it will be over.  I've been training for this season since December and its a long time on "GO!"  So a break will be more than nice.  I am super stoked to be starting that break with what promises to be an awesome adventure.  The day after IM AZ I will be boarding a flight to the Big Island of Kona. A great friend and one of the most inspirational and tough as nails girls I know, Hillary Biscay, is tackling the challenge of Ultraman and I am lucky enough to have secured myself a front row seat to watch her hand that race a beat down.  I will be crewing for Hillary on her 318.6 mile journey around the Big Island and can't wait for it.  I can't think of a better way to finish the season and get motivated for 2011!

Mo Fun

This weekend I finally was able to get back into the groove and got in some good training.

All weekend I was actually looking forward to today, Monday. Why, well because it is Mo Monday. That is right, Movember begins today and this morning my upper lip felt the last strokes of a razor it will feel for the next 30 days.

I've had some facial hair before, but this might be a first for the solitary Mo.  Here's a flashback photo for those that my not have seen my scruffier days.

If you can figure what is going on here I'll give you a dollar next time I see you ;-)

For those unaware, "Movember" is an effort to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer.  There are a bunch of statistics, but lets just say this, prostate cancer is a HUGE problem that affects many more men than even breast cancer does women.  So, in support of the effort, I, along with my team of  fellow "Mo Bros", will be growing a wicked mustache or "Mo" and pleading for your donations in support thereof for the next 30 days.

To make a donation please visit my "Mo space page" to donate.

I haven't yet decided what "type" of Mo to grow, so if you got a good idea let me know.

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A funny thing happened

I think that is a title of an old movie or play, at least that is what I can gather from an episode of Mad Men (I'm on season 2) I watched on my way out to Austin.  Little did I know it was foreshadowing.

I left this out of my RR but remembered it yesterday and had to laugh (more on what sparked my memory below).

Out in Austin, during the final miles of the bike leg, just after catching up with fellow Blue rider, Trevor Wurtele, we came upon a little traffic. I saw a truck pulled over on the opposite side of the road, but until I got around a few cars, I didn't see what all the fuss was about.  Then I saw the driver of the aforementioned truck running down the middle of the street in jeans and cowboy boots.  This struck me as quite odd and I looked up the street a bit and saw the reason for the bottleneck.  A HUGE cow or bull had gotten lose and was running down the middle of the highway.  I couldn't help laughing.  Then it stopped, sideways, taking up the entirety of the lane in my direction.  I took a wide line around it, figuring no referee was going to give me a penalty for crossing the double yellow under these circumstances.  Just as I passed the thing started running in the same direction so I put in a little effort to drop him/her/it.  Just up the road I saw a cop laughing his ass off and taking a picture with his phone.  As I passed I laughed and said, "Only in Texas!"  On the run Trevor and I had a good little laugh about it as well. Good times.  

What reminded me of this was something I saw at the pool yesterday.  I have regaled you all with the funny/stupid stuff that goes on at my local pool.  Yesterday provided yet another instance.  A woman got in the lane next to me and at first I didn't notice anything.  It was only when I saw her swimming some unidentifiable stroke that she got my attention.  She was wearing a cap with a cartoon-ish shark on the sides, mouth open towards the front.  Then I saw her cap actually had a dorsal fin sticking up out of the top of the cap.  I stared in disbelief until she got to the wall next to me when I had to put my face in the water to hide my laughter.  She was like 40yrs old.  I'd be willing to bet this cap was bought in the pool toy aisle at a local Big 5.  What some people wear?!?!

Any funny things happen to you recently?  

Austin 70.3 Race Report

With my sites firmly focused on Ironman Arizona, Austin 70.3, like Tinley's, was another chance to race on short rest and a good amount of training running in.  I have come to expect that Coach's idea of a taper may not be exactly "couch time with Bon Bons" but the "taper" for this race was even more "eye-opening" than any before.  With some pretty tough workouts through Wednesday, I knew Austin was going to be a good day to build some mental and physical toughness.  If it was easy...

I landed in Austin after a painless non-stop flight and arrived at my Aunt's house mid day and HUNGRY! It was great to see my Aunt and cousin after many years.  I also got to meet my cousin's new wife.  First stop was the grocery store and Austin has one of the finest I have ever been to.  Central Market is RAD.

On Friday I got in a little run and a swim in one of the coolest "pools" I've ever been to, Barton Springs Pool.  A natural spring pool that is 50 yards wide and 300 yards long. Awesome!

Friday night I met up with old friend Greg out at his parent's pad for great food and conversation. Really good to catch up. And great to get to race with an old friend.

Onto the race.

Swim: 25:55
Despite some traffic getting into the venue and the slight hassle that a split transition presents, it was a beautiful morning.  I had less time than I would have liked to warm up and soon enough we were off.

Although my warm up was pretty much nil, I was happy to stick with the front group through the first 500m or so.  Then I had the misfortune of jamming my left hand and middle finger directly into an upkicking foot.  It hurt like hell and for a second I thought I dislocated my finger.  The pain of trying to pull water at that point was pretty bad so I took a few one armed strokes.  After that a gap had formed and I was off the back.  I had a little company to the first turn, but after that was pretty much solo all the way in. Adding irritation to injury, was the fact that the WTC has seen fit to allow wetsuits all the way up to 76 degree water even for pros!  I never saw any problem in having a different temperature for age groupers and professional athletes and cannot fathom a reason for this change.  I understand, sad and ridiculous as it is, that non-wetsuit swims strike fear in the hearts of Race Directors and some age groupers alike, but there really is NO legitimate reason that professional triathletes should be wearing wetsuits in water up to 76 degrees.  The water was about 73-74 degrees on race day and by the turn I was baking in my suit.  No reason we should have been in suits.  I was tempted to take a big scoop of water down my chest to cool off but knew it would be costly.  

Bike: 2:15:02

Onto the bike and I felt like death.  As usual my legs did NOT want to push for the first bit on the bike.  I was passed by seemingly half the field in the first 15-20mi.  At one point I got caught by a group of about 5-6 guys and Nicola Spirig riding a road bike!! I seriously contemplated just phoning it in the rest of the day as I thought the body was just not ready to go.  Brad Seng is a fellow pro I have had the pleasure to race and get to know this season.  I've also had the misfortune of getting to watch him catch me in the later stages of the run at IM LP and Wisc.  I know when he is in the field I need to have a good gap on him into the run if I want to hold him off.  Sunday he was in that group that caught me.  When he passed he asked how I was doing and all I could muster was  a sigh and grunt.  He yelled at me to "just push through and keep working."  That was really great of him and speaks to what kind of guy Brad is.  With Brad's encouragement, I decided to try and put my head down and just ride hard to hopefully salvage a decent bike split and get away from that group as penalties were being handed out right and left.  It worked. I got away and towards the end of the ride caught back up to Trevor Wurtele and we made a "Team Blue" entrance into T2. 

Run: 1:22:22

Heading out onto the run I knew Trevor was right behind me.  After running a bit with him at CA 70.3 this year I knew he was going to be tough to hang with, so I tried to get in some fuel and pace it easy, then try and stick with him as long as possible.  He passed me just shy of a mile in, and when we hit the cross-country style section of the course he got out of sight a few times due to the turns and put a gap on me that I couldn't close.  I was however running fairly well and felt pretty good. 

Keeping the man parts cool

Onto Lap 2

About a mile and a half into lap 2 Brad caught me and again I played the "hold on" game.  It lasted even shorter this time.  From then on I just made a point to run hard the rest of the way home and not lose focus.  I passed Charisa on my way back and could tell she was pushing hard as usual. She did and made up some spots on the run.  Seeing that kept me pushing.

Done

Finish: 4:06:41, 10th Pro
I definitely had some higher hopes but the results were pretty in line with my realistic expectations given the depth of the field and my training going into the race.  Overall it was a new (Non-Clearwater) Half Ironman PR so that is something I guess. Still LOTS of work to be done.

Thanks to my awesome aunt and cousin for the hospitality and the videos. Catching up after all these years was great!

A big thanks to my sponsors.  I continue to be impressed as ever with the Zoot shoes. No socks, no blisters, no problems. Awesome!  The heat aside, I was glad I had on my new Zoot Prophet wetsuit as well as I have no doubt I would have been even further back if I didn't have such a great suit.  Despite my lackluster start, once the legs came around I was able to salvage a somewhat respectable bike split thanks in no small part to the performance of my Blue Triad SL.  The incredible wheels that Reynolds provides me with, helped greatly in that effort as well. PowerBar gave the the power to push and keep pushing and getting to meet some of the crew and feel their support on course was great.  TriSports.com keeps me stocked up on all the essentials and makes racing and training just that much easier.  Last but certainly not least, a big thanks to PV Bicycle Center for all their help in keeping my Blue race ready and running smooth.

A few days to recover and then a couple weeks of big work. All guns set on IM AZ

Cheers