Rocketman Triathlon Race Report

Aug 20 - Aug 26
S:  12,313 yds - 2hr 51min
B:  89.09 mi - 4hr 46min
R:  38.71 mi - 4hr 53min
Total:  12hr 30min

This week was the last “normal” hard week of the season.  And by normal I mean Monday short/hard intervals, Tuesday group ride hammer session, Wednesday track, Thursday VO2 intervals on the bike, a couple swims, and a Sunday race.  It was a tough week, but having the end of season light at the end of the tunnel in sight, motivation was nice and high…and…I finished Thursday’s bike workout with a spectacular view on top of Shades Mountain near sunset; it’s probably my favorite place to be on a bike in Birmingham.

view from the bluff of Shades Mountain

After a quick swim/bike/run earlier that morning, local tri superstar Hallie Blunck and I loaded up my 4Runner to head up to Huntsville for the Rocketman Triathlon.  Packet pickup was the first item on the agenda, and then it was on to Mellow Mushroom (a pre-race favorite of mine) where we proceeded to split an entire large pizza before heading to our superb home-stay at the residence of Stephen Baker.  Much to our surprise, we were both afforded our own bedrooms as opposed to the couches that I thought we would be sleeping on!  After fixing the bikes and a quick chat on when to wake up and who was making coffee, it was time for bed.  4:15am came early the next morning, and with it came the enjoyment of French pressed coffee and my standard pre-race breakfast of a bagel w/PB and honey and a banana…and then it was off to the race.  The course was to be a 1500m swim, 40k bike, and a 10k run...here’s how it unfolded:

Swim - 17:48 (16th)
Firstly and obviously, the swim was not 1500 meters.  I have been swimming a good bit this year, but I'm not that fast!  Of all the races that I've done so far this year though, this swim probably felt the smoothest.  It seems like I sometimes have a habit of going out too hard for the first couple hundred meters and then "surviving" the rest of the swim, so this time I decided to ease into it a bit more and it seemed to work out well.  I was the 16th racer to start and quickly settled into a rhythm.  At the first buoy, I was still around a handful of people and as we turned I tried to start picking it up a notch.  With a couple hundred meters to go I found some nice feet to sit on...and then, I realized it was Hallie towing me back into shore!  That pace was all that I wanted, so I was content to cruise on back into T1.

T1 - 0:41 (11th)
No mistakes here, just a quick in-and-out.  

Bike - 59:51 (2nd)
This was likely one of my strongest rides in a race to date.  I didn't feel great for the first couple of minutes, but the longer the ride went on, the better I felt.  My power keep creeping up and it felt amazing.  I passed a handful of people in the first half of the race.  In the back half, I got a good glimpse of who was in front of me: Craig Evans was out front, followed by Bruce Gennari and Jonathan Krichev.  Craig was obviously way out front, but Bruce and Krichev were withing striking distance.  They both started the race a minute in front of me, so I felt good about my position.  With 4 miles to go I could see Krichev off in the distance, so I really focused on reeling him in knowing that he is a superb runner.  Sure enough, I literally passed him while hanging off the side of my bike ready to dismount.  Bruce was not too far ahead.

T2 - 0:48 (3rd)
Flawless work here and out on the run course in 3rd position.

Run - 40:11 (10th)
Almost exactly like Mountain Lakes, Krichev pulled up beside me about 20 seconds into the run.  As he went by I let him pull me for a little bit but he was just running too fast.  The first 2 miles were a mix of dirt trail through a wooded area and then a dirt/gravel road with a few nice rollers.  I was keeping Krichev in my sights, but I knew I had to push harder if I wanted to beat him.  After 2.5 miles or so, I finally started to feel some legs.  6:40 pace turned into 6:20, and I really started to try to make it hurt.  At the one out-and-back portion of the run, I could see Craig still way out front but Bruce and Krichev were still not too far ahead.  The last miles of the run were solid and I was pleased with the effort, crossing the line with nothing left in the tank.

Total - 1:59:18 (3rd overall) 
As it turned out, I ended up nabbing Bruce by ~30 seconds for 3rd place overall, with Krichev ~35 seconds ahead of me in 2nd place.  I didn't make any mistakes and after a hard week of training, everything seemed to be firing quite nicely.  Now it's time to road trip to De Moines, IA for Hy-Vee!

Coming to the End

Aug 13 - Aug 19
S:  14,160 yds - 3hr 19min
B:  131.67 mi - 7hr 23min
R:  38.12 mi - 4hr 55min
Total:  15hr 37min

Pretty standard stuff here: hard swimming, all hard biking, a couple easy runs, a really good long track workout, and a threshold run set.  This was really the last "normal" hard week coming into the end of the season.  The next 3 weekends will consist of 3 international distance races: Rocketman Triathlon in Huntsville, AL; Hy-Vee Triathlon in De Moines, IA; and the Coastal Triathlon in Gulf Shores, AL.  Rocketman is kind of a last second "why not do this race because it's in Alabama and only 1.5 hrs from my house."  The RD is really cool and he always puts on a great race.  Hy-Vee is the "big one" for the year.  It will certainly be a fun and exciting road trip to Iowa with some good friends.  It will also be a chance to get some exposure at a really big race and to race some really fast guys.  The Alabama Coastal Triathlon is pretty much just an excuse to take a beach trip!  It is a fun race though, and I'm looking forward to the super fast course and some hang out time with some good friends.  The next 3 weeks are shaping up to be pretty fun!    

Mountain Lakes Triathlon Race Report

Aug 6 - Aug 12
S:  12,597 yds - 2hr 54min
B:  121.45 mi - 6hr 29min
R:  27.78 mi - 3hr 38min
Total:  13hr 1min

On Friday afternoon, I headed up to Guntersville, AL for one of my favorite races of the year: the Mountain Lakes Triathlon.  I headed straight to packet pickup, got my stuff, and then the weather was so awesome outside I decided to take a quick nap in the shade of a monster tree down by the lake:

"nap time"

After a short nap, I headed to one of my favorite out of town home-stays; the Gibsons!  As usual, they provided me with a huge home-cooked meal of spaghetti and a fabulous cherry pie for desert.  Thirty minutes after dinner, I was in bed dreaming of big things.  4:45am came early the next morning.  After the usual breakfast of coffee, bagel/peanut butter/honey, and a banana, K & S and I headed to the race site.  The race was a "600 yd" swim, 16.2 mile bike, and a 3 mile run; here's how it unfolded:

Swim: 10:22 (23rd)
While warming up in the water before the race, I noticed 2 things: 1) the course was wayyy longer than 600 yards, and 2) the last half of the swim was going to be impossible to see anything, as it was straight into the sun.  At least I knew what to expect.  Luckily, I was with a small group of swimmers on the way back in, so it seemed like we were swimming somewhat straight.  Coming into T1, I saw Kendrick and Sara 10 seconds in front of me.  They are both pretty good swimmers and had started 20-30 seconds in front of me, so that was a confidence boost.

Bike: 37:47 (1st)
Coming onto the bike, I knew what I had to do; be very aggressive and try to make up as much time as possible.  Although there were a few others in front of me, I was only really worried about 4 guys: Huntsville pro Andrew Hodges, Bruce Gennari, Jonathan Krichev, and Jacob Shults.  With the swim being slightly long, these guys (all superb swimmers) were going to be even further ahead so I had my work cut out for me.  I settled into a rhythm quickly and things were feeling good.  At the 8 mile mark I caught Krichev but could not get rid him (which is a problem because he is a great runner).  2-3 miles later I caught Shults.  After doing so, I tried to push it pretty hard and drop them, but they hung with me.  Coming into 2 miles to go, I still could not see Hodges or Bruce, which is not good because Hodges is an excellent runner.  The rest of the bike played out with me leading Shults and Krichev in not far behind Hodges and Bruce.

Run: 18:09 (12th)
After a quick T1 I was out on the run course.  10 seconds later, Krichev BLEW past me.  It was pretty impressive.  10 seconds after that, Shults did the same thing!  I could not find my run legs.  Mile 1 was a pathetic 6:23.  I was pretty mad at myself, because I know I can run faster.  Then, all of the sudden, things started feeling better.  Shults had established a lead but had quit gaining on me and I actually started reeling him in.  close to the turnaround I could see that Hodges had a pretty good lead.  Bruce was not too far ahead, and Krichev was likely going to catch him.  I then focused on catching and dropping Shults.  Since he started 30 seconds behind me, I knew I had to pick it up.  After the turnaround I had almost made it up to him.  Mile 2 clicked by in 6:09 right as I caught him.  I went by and tried to pick it up but he stayed with me.  A couple minutes later I was able to finally establish a gap and then just went as hard as I could to the finish.  Mile 3 clicked off in 5:48 as I crossed the line.

finishing the run

Total: 1:08:22 (5th)
I ended up 5th overall with a consolation prize of fastest bike split and 1st in my age group.  It wasn't a perfect race, but I definitely left it all out on the course.  Hodges cleaned up with Krichev a little bit behind him for the top 2 spots.  Bruce took the 3rd spot (43 sec in front of me), and Shults edged me by 13 seconds for 4th.  In general, I just need to swim faster if I want to have a chance at any of these races.  All 4 of these guys hung 1-2.5 minutes on me during the swim.  My training is on track, it's just that getting faster at swimming is a long progress.  I'm headed int he right direction, but it will take time.  I also need to be more consistent with my run.  Starting off with a slow first mile in a sprint tri is NOT going to win you anything...although I *may* have left some run speed on the table due to an aggressive bike. 

All in all, it was a great day with great friends.  Although competition is pretty important to me, there's a lot more that draws me to triathlon than that alone.  It was great to see the host of Birmingham athletes up at the race, and crushing it at that!  Walking around and seeing familiar faces after the race - rehashing the race play-by-play - that is almost more fun than the race itself!  It was also superb to share the M25-29 podium with 2 of my fiercest competitors and also 2 of my best friends.  I have gone head to head with Kendrick and Jeffrey at least 20-30 times during the last 5 years.  We have had epic battles and we have all been at the top and the bottom multiple times.  Also, props to Sara for bringing home the overall female title, and congrats to my mom for 2nd place in the F55-59 age group!

sharing the M25-29 podium with Jeffrey and Kendrick

Southeast Regional Time Trial Championship Race Report

July 30 - Aug 5
S:  13,550 yds - 3hr 9min
B:  108.69 mi - 5hr 48min
R:  36.48 mi - 4hr 43min
Total:  13hr 39min

On Friday afternoon I headed down to Montgomery, AL to participate in the Southeast Regional Time Trial Championship that would take place the next day.  The race was set to be 40k in distance on a flat-ish course.  Jeffrey and David Shelley (local B'ham triathletes who were also racing the next day) afforded me the luxury of a home-stay at their parents' house...complete with all the cookies that I could eat!  I of course refrained from the cookies, although I must say that it was tough to do so.  We arose the next morning and went through the standard routine of drinking coffee and eating bagels with peanut butter, honey, and fresh fruit...all while watching the women's olympic triathlon.  Our start times were at 9am, so we planned on getting over to the start line with an hour to spare to ensure a good warm up.

The race itself was pretty uneventful.  There isn't too much strategy in an individual TT besides just "going as hard as you can without blowing up."  If that sounds painful, then you are right.  This course was relatively flat and non-technical, so the goal was to go flat out for ~60 minutes and try not to die.  I started out pegging around 300 watts, but after 15 minutes or so this turned out to be slightly ambitious.  Luckily, I realized this soon enough not to completely trash myself, and overall I was pleased with a pretty high and constant effort.  As it turned out, this "pacing strategy" turned out to be a good one.  The course was actually a slight elevation rise into a headwind for the first half and the latter half was a slight net downhill with a tailwind, so it actually paid off to start out hard for the first half (24mph) and then cruise/hold on the back half (27mph).  The course itself was slightly longer than 40k at around 25.6 miles, so I ended up just barely squeaking under an hour for 1st place in the Cat 5 category.  All in all, it was a solid effort with nothing left on the table, and it's always fun when you can stand on one of these things:

on the podium looking at the wrong camera