The End of the Year

So it's December and the race season is over. Clearwater went more or less ok, we showed up late to the start because the stupid time trial start went early so I swam alone, biked alone, and pretty much ran with the people finishing last. I swam solid for swimming by myself and occasionally stopping because the glare was so bad. I absolutely crushed the bike course and rode alone. The run was a bit of a shit show as I cramped in my legs the whole way through. Note to myself, take salt pills and drink more.

So 2009 is over. I had 3 2nd places for the overall amateur title. I actually won a race at Lake Perris in the warm up before Clearwater which was pretty awesome. I raced elite in a race and did well running a 34:45 10k. The bottom line is that in short course racing, I am doing awesome. Based on my short course racing, I am a USAT All American. Yeah I know, woop de doo but I think its cool nonetheless. In short course racing, I can compete with the best in Southern Cal except for the uber pros but in long course racing I have a lot of work to do.

Long course racing has been a pretty solid struggle for me this year. Based on my short course results, I should be going a lot faster in half ironmans. At this point, it really just comes down to a nutrition issue. In Clearwater, I didn't pay much attention to my nutrition before the race and thought I could just race on 2 bottles of Powerade and some gels. Boy was I wrong. I cramped on the run in places I didn't know I could cramp. I need to drink stuff that is formulated for endurance events and I need to drink more as well. Salt pills are a must and they need to be in my drink and carried on the run. The fitness was there for clearwater but I couldn't show it off because of my carelessness for nutrition. I already have new plans as to what I am going to do for this and I am going to experiment throughout the year. Hopefully I can nail it down next year and really race well for the longer distances.

I am pretty pumped to get back to training for 2010 and I think it's going to be a big year for me. My race schedule is pretty much done and I can't wait for St. Croix and I will be doing that race as a married man! Crazy!

Crappy Blogger

Yup I am a crappy blogger. Honestly, I got a little tired of writing race reports and talking about some of my crappy performances. I thought that my not so great race at Boise was just an anomaly, but I really didn't do awesomely at Vineman even though I got a Clearwater spot, and lake Stevens was kind of a nightmare time wise as something weird happened with my bike time. so I think maybe I just didn't really have much to say. Truthfully, my triathlon career wasn't quite the meteoric rise in long course racing as I thought it would be, and I still looking for a breakthrough race in the 70.3 distance BUT..........................

My short course racing has been great! A bunch of 2nd overall amateur places in races and top 10's in big olympic distance races. I raced in the elite category at the LA tri and got 9th with a 34:45 10k off the bike which I was really happy about. I have really improved in the last year and took about 9-11 minutes off my normal olympic race finish time so that's awesome. I have Clearwater coming up which is the Worlds 70.3 Championships in a little less than a month which I have been gearing up for. Everything feels great and I think I could really have a great race there.

Anyways, this blog has stayed dormant for awhile now and it's my fault but I just get tired of only writing race reports. I think I am just going to write what I want to write now. I want to review the stuff that I use and hopefully be useful to people that want to know about products. I will still talk about what I'm doing with triathlon and write a few race reports but mainly I just want to have some fun with the blog. That's about it, 1 more race till the offseason!

Carlsbad Triathlon Revisited

Alright, as a few of you are aware of, the Carlsbad Triathlon was my first foray into the world of tri. It was fun and I was hooked. Last years time was 1:26:22 and I was hoping to beat that time by a bunch.

Race Morning
Got up and got to the event and warmed up and looked like "that guy" on the trainer in front of his car. A little douchy but hey you need a warmup. Rode in, racked my bike and got a swim warmup in. It was time to race.

Swim 1000 meters (13:34) 57th overall

Saw my swim coach, Gerry Rodrigues at the start and he told me to just go straight out and hug the buoys. I have really been working on my swim and really focusing on open water drills so I was ready to hit it hard. Gun went off and I was flying. Dolphin, Dolphin, swim, swim. Everyone goes super hard at the start and I was like what the fuck. Finally reality caught up to the lame asses and by the turn of the first buoy, it was about 10 of us in the 29 and under group that didn't shoot their wad. Drafted some dudes. Weird ass kelp in the water. Don't remember that from last year. More drafting. Dude I was drafting forgot about the last buoy, I didn't and turned and left him. Swam toward shore and dolphin dolphin. Heartrate explosion fiesta. It was cool though. Wetsuit off and onto the bike. 13:34 is better than 16:42 from last year. Over 3 minute difference, nice.

Bike 25K (38:49) 4th overall

Ran out of the tranny. Big ass hill at the start so I ran up. Hop on and start grinding. Easy course, small rollers. Look at watts and try to keep it above 280. Passing peeps left and right but mostly left as that's the legal way. See an elite guy and promptly drop him. Looks like all that grindage time on the bike this past year has really paid off. Pump Pump Pump my legs are feeling good, Sweat and snot and spit come out of my mouth. So sexy. Keep grinding and roll into the tranny. 38:49 smokes my 46:55 of last year by 8 minutes. I say woo that that. Much woo. Amazing what a year can do.

Run 5k (18:05) 10th overall

Get the shoes on and book it out. The plan is: Run ass off. Biggish hill to go up from the beach, I run up it sloooowly. Then I get going. Lindsey and Debs and Lindsey's mom and dad are cheering me on. Of course I try to run as fast as I can with impeccable form by them all the while my head is saying dude, you are hurting. Push past the fans and hurt and get to the turnaround. Definitely leading the age group but there are pursuers. I can see the finish so I book ass and cross it with a dead sprint. 18:05 beats 19:47 from last year so all events beaten! I win my age group and am 2nd overall amateur!

Looking back on it now, I am so happy with the race and it just says that all the hard work and long hours I put into triathlon are so worth it. Another age group win and a top amateur finish. Awesome. I got 109th overall last year in this race and got 6th overall this year. Not a bad improvement huh? I finished in 1:12:19 this year and last year was 1:26:22 so a 14 minute improvement! Enough said. Till next time.

Race Day went

So yeah......obviously it has been a long time since my last post. General disappointment with my race will kinda do that to you. Yes, it's true, I didn't quite have the race I was expecting to and looking back on it 6 weeks later, all I can say is that it was a learning experience. And 6 weeks later, I will probably not be as detailed as I would have right after the race. Let me also say that it rained the whole race and the weather was generally miserable. Ok, let's get to the race.

Swim 33:35

My age group was the last the go off and because this race started at 2 pm, we started closer to about 3. At 2 the swim at the Lucky Peak reservoir was pretty normal but by our wave, the wind had kicked up and there was some whitecaps. Anyways, the gun went off and we went. The swim was a little rough but really not that bad. I drafted off a couple dudes and it was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I cramped a little in my left leg. Uh Oh.

Bike 2:35:53

All I can say is yikes. Um, what can I say, I felt horrible and never got up to the power level I wanted. I was 30 watts underpowered so that kinda sucked. It rained A LOT on the bike and even though I did like the bike course, I was pumped to be off it because this was a pretty big disaster.

Run 1:31:47

The run went alright. I didn't wear any watch or Garmin so I was just guessing on time. I felt very average on the run and by mile 7 my feet were getting pretty chewed up. I just ran through it and note to self: No Lunar Racers in super super wet conditions. I was so so happy to finish and I never thought that I was gonna be so dead afterwards. I am pretty sure I was mildly hypothermic and Lindsey said I looked like death.

Final Time 4:44:52

My first half-ironman is over. I was very happy that I got it done. Yeah, not the result I wanted but it's my first one and there are many more to come. I got 11th in the age group and 80 something overall and found out later if I went to awards I would have got a Worlds 70.3 rolldown spot. Dangit. Maybe next time.

Race Day is here

Yup, it's official. All my hard work and training have lead up to this day. The forecast calls for a little rain but I think that is kinda cool. I must say I am pretty nervous here just because I haven't done this distance before. But I know that I am trained for this and will do well. The butterflies in your stomach are totally normal. 2 PM start today which is a little crazy because I get to hang out for most of the day. It's a little weird because the sun doesn't go down till about 9:30 here. By about 7:30 tonight, I will be done with the race and I can only hope that I am happy and that I have a lot more experience under my belt. Race report to come.

On the road to boise...its super long. Still pumped for the race! I think its going to rain and thunder storm and believe it or not I would actually enjoy that

Bonelli Sprint Race Report

Alright so right now I am like 4 days out from Boise 70.3 and I am pretty excited! As a few know, I raced the Bonelli Sprint distance race to get ready for Boise. It went well, I got 2nd overall again and felt good. So down to the report, no pictures as Lindsey was out of town so sorry about that. It was a very quick race so I am not gonna say too much here. The focus right now is Boise and preparations for it.

Ok, so I woke up and drove to the place, did my cool trainer warmup in the parking lot for everyone to see and then put my gear on and headed down to the water in my wetsuit to warm up. The water was nice, and I just waited to start. They were about 15 minutes late starting our race but that's the way it goes.

Swim 300 meters (3:27) 4th out of the water

The swim was as short as it gets, it was like hey I am swimming ok now I'm not. I got out fast and made sure everyone stayed a healthy distance from me by flailing my arms a little more than I had to at the start. But basically, I followed the 1st guy out and it was a group of about 4 and I just drafted them and that was it. Pretty quick swim.

T1 (1:04)

Yes! A good transition this time. Lots better than the last one.

Bike (No idea, timing chip didn't work)

The bike went well I passed a bunch of dudes doing the Olympic race. No one passed me. I think that is a good sign. The bike was up and down a lot with a few baby climbs. I tried to go as hard as I could and it was one loop and I was done.

T2 (1:17) Not a bad transition, the run out was a little long but I found everything ok.

Run (19:36) 3rd overall run

The run was tough. A lot of climbs where your heart would feel like it was about to explode. I was 3rd coming out of transition and the 2 guys ahead of me were booking it. Eventually, I caught up to the 2nd guy who struggled on the hills and passed him ad set my sights on 1st place. However, I never really closed in on the guy and I have to give him credit for holding me off because I was sprinting the last half mile.

The race went well and I am ready for Boise. I can't wait to race the half-iron distance and see what I can do!