Ironman World Championships 70.3 - This ain't your momma's triathlon!

This is a special race. Everyone is fit. Everyone is fast. And EVERYONE can run. I know I’m not a strong swimmer. But my cycling has come a long ways the past couple of seasons. And running has always been my bread and butter. In most races, if I can stay close enough on the swim, I can usually make up some ground on the bike, and then attack the run. Not in Clearwater. Not at the World Championships. Dropped in the swim? Guess what. GAME OVER! Enjoy your next 3+ hours of racing. Because you have no chance.

Not that I had a bad swim (for me anyway). But this course, and everyone’s ability to run well under a 1:30 for the half marathon, sets up to really punish the weaker swimmers of the bunch. You have to be balanced to do well at this race. And by balanced I mean, you can’t have any weaknesses. Lesson learned. You want to play with the best? You’d better bring something more than a strong run.

The swim started out fine. They moved it to the causeway water due to the conditions in the ocean from Hurricane Ida. That changed the start to a time trial instead of waves. Basically, you walked across the timing mat, and your race started. It got very crowded and people were fighting to get in the water once they crossed that mat. I got a great feel for how international the race is while waiting in the starting chute. Two German guys were confused as to how to get into the water. It was only about one foot deep, so the officials announced that you would be disqualified for diving in. The German guys didn’t get the distinction between jumping in the water and “diving” head first. “Everyone is diving, no?” Nein. Don’t go head first. “AHHHH!!! Danke.” No problem, dude. Have a good race.

FOCUS on the swim. The time trial start was both good and bad. It was less crowded than most wave starts are. But the faster swimmers would run right up on you and you would do the same thing to the slower swimmers in front of you. I got kicked in the head a few times. All in all, I would prefer a mass wave start. I’m sure the guy that took second place in my age group would agree, since he lost by one second. Four hours and two minutes of racing, and this guy loses by one second—probably with no idea that it was that close because of the time trial start. Unbelievable.

About 400 meters into the swim, I was starting to settle in and find a good stroke when I noticed that we were swimming through a bunch of seaweed. The water was so shallow that my hands were hitting the sea bottom. I tried to swim shallow to not touch bottom, but I ended up cutting my middle finger on something. Of course, my first thought was “I’m bleeding in the ocean. Great.” It hurt, but there wasn’t much I could do about it so I just kept swimming. I had trouble finding the turn buoy because we were swimming directly into the sun. I just followed the others and eventually saw a red buoy—time to make hard left turn. 800 meters into the swim, and I stood up and walked around the buoy in water that didn’t even come up to my waste.

The only other trouble on the swim was the exit. It was very difficult to see where to go. With no practice on this course the days leading up to the race, I had no idea what to look for as I was swimming in. I kept having to stop and look around to get my bearings. Finally, I exited the water and headed to the transition—35 minutes after I started.

CONCEDE on the bike. This bike course was all that was advertised. Flat, fast, fairly windy, and lots of big groups of cyclists. About 15 minutes into the ride, Michael Dawdy went by me. That man is a beast on a bike! And he had EIGHT guys sitting right on his wheel. They were lined up like he was leading them on a breakaway. I’ve never seen guys ride that close in a triathlon before.

Not much else to say about the bike. I stayed aero, followed the race plan, stayed within my power zones, kept up with my nutrition, ignored all the guys that were passing me, and finished with plenty of legs to run on (or so I thought at the time). One of the most uneventful, near perfect bike splits of any long course race I’ve been in. The most interesting thing that happened was looking down at my hands and noticing that I was still bleeding from the swim. My new, white Fizik bar wrap is now stained with blood (as are my new white shoelaces. I don’t think I stopped bleeding until I stopped racing.).

I averaged 24.4 mph for the bike and finished in 2:17.

STAMPEDE on the run. That was the plan anyway. In almost every long course race, my lower quads cramp in the first mile of the run. This race was no different. About 4 minutes in, the cramping started. I usually just have to slow down a little until my legs realize that we are now running, not pedaling, and the cramping will subside. Sure enough, just as I started up the causeway, the cramping stopped and I was able to run strong. Not as strong as I had hoped, but close.

Speaking of the causeway . . . that thing is steep! I knew we had a “bridge” to run across four times, but I failed to consider the size of the ships that have to pass under that bridge. The first trip over it wasn’t too bad. I found my legs pretty quickly and ran the first 5 miles in just over 35 minutes. The second trip over the causeway took a little bit out of me. I slowed a little during that sixth mile. It didn’t last too long and soon, I was running strong again. I think the best I felt all day was during the second half of the seventh mile. I felt as strong as I have ever felt in a half Ironman.

Then I went over the causeway for a third time.

I had been taking Gatorade at every aid station up to that point. Gatorade will often upset my stomach, so I try to stick with gels. But when I’m working that hard, it’s almost impossible to eat a gel and keep up the pace. So I was taking one drink of Gatorade, followed by a drink of water, at every aid station. Just after the eighth mile, I was coming off the causeway, feeling strong, with only five miles to go, and I decided to skip one aid station. I don’t know if it was the day, the lack of focused training the past two months, skipping the Gatorade, the causeway, running too hard when I started feeling good, or a combination of all of these, but at that ninth mile, someone flipped a switch, and I entered a really low spot. Every step was a fight.

I did everything I could to keep my pace up, but to no avail. And when I cracked, I cracked! I slowed by about a minute a mile for the next two miles. I started taking Gatorade again, and managed to pull myself together for the last two miles. But by that point, it was too late. The damage was done.

I had run the first half in 46 minutes (only one minute off my goal pace). The second half took me 51 minutes. And that was mostly due to the last four miles. My total run time was 1:37.

Overall impressions. My total time was 4:37, which is my fastest time at this distance. I can look back now and see where I could have easily gone several minutes faster (for one thing, my transitions were pathetic!). But even looking at where I lost time, I think the best I could have done that day was possibly still not good enough to crack the top half in my age group.

This is very humbling (humiliating?) for me. I never thought I would go there and win. At least not this year. But I didn’t think I would be 100th place out of 137. I don’t think I really appreciated just how fast everyone there was going to be. Now I know. And next time, I’ll be ready for that. That race is all business. One thing’s for certain . . . it made me want to experience Kona even more. There’s just something about competing with the best that appeals to me. And I can’t wait to do it again. I will be back. But not until I am ready to actually compete.

Right now, I’m just not fast enough. And if I learned one thing, it's that just because you're fast enough to get there, doesn't mean you're fast enough to compete there.

Final Race of the Year - 70.3 World Championships

This Saturday is the last race of the year for me. The one that I have had on the calendar for more than a year now. Although work threw a wrench into my training this past month, I still feel as ready as I ever have for a half Ironman. And I better be! The competition at this race is going to be unlike any I have ever faced. A PR is not going to be good enough to crack the top third in my age group. I'm finally racing with the big dogs. Does that make me a big dog? Because for some reason, I don't quite feel like one yet.

Ryan (who will be making the trip to Clearwater to watch!) told me before Coeur d'Alene this year to "Race like you belong, because you do." I made the mistake of not truly believing that last June when I had all the problems at Coeur d'Alene. I'm still not fully convinced. Sometimes the only way to truly believe that you belong with the big dogs is to get out there and run with them. That way you at least find out one way or the other. And that's what I'm going to do.

You can watch the coverage of the race at here. Just find the Ironman 70.3 World Championships, click on "athlete tracker," and you can follow me throughout the morning (I apologize for not having a link directly to it, but it wasn't up when I wrote this. It should be easy to find on Saturday.).

Thank you to everyone for their support this year. I will post a full report when I get back to Texas next week.

5430 Long Course Results - PASS!!

For all of you that have been eagerly awaiting a race recap from the 5430 Long Course in Boulder, here it is: I had fun. So based on my goals for the event, I passed. Yes, it was the slowest half-Ironman I've had in years. Yes, the altitude affected me more than normal, so every time I tried to increase my effort I felt like my lungs would explode. Yes, I think I was more dehydrated than I've ever been in my life (first time I've considered asking for an IV at the finish). And yes, Ryan, my Ironman protege, beat me by 7 minutes (nice job, Ryno!). But I had fun, and that was the goal.

It's really hard not to have fun when you're training or racing in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is where triathletes go when they die. The really good ones live there already. For example, Chrissie Wellington was in the race, among many other outstanding pros. The reigning men's Ironman World Champion, Craig Alexander, was also there, but not racing. I saw him training during the race. About eight miles into the bike course, I looked over and saw him RUNNING. Yes, running down the bike course on highway 36. And I was only eight miles in, so I'm pretty sure I wasn't hallucinating yet. You hardly ever see pros of that quality in Rockwall, Texas. And by "hardly ever" I, of course, mean "never." Since I'm not going to Kona, that's the only time this year I'll get to race/train on the same roads as the reigning men's and women's Ironman World Champions. At least I did it once this year. Pretty cool.


I took the above picture while walking around at the race site the day before the race. This is the view that you have about 500 meters from the finish. Like I said, it's hard not to have fun when this is the scenery. The bike course is even better.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Arkansas to join some fellow Tri-Prosoapers (and my sister) at the DeGray Lake Sprint Triathlon on Sunday. Then next week, I'm racing in Rockwall at the annual Tri-Rock (another sprint). That will be three races in three states in three weeks. Should be fun. And fast. Like I said in my last post, time to get fast.

Congrats to Brooke!

One of our Tri-Prosoap team members, Brooke Rossman, qualified for the Boston Marathon last Sunday by running a 3:40:49 at the Dallas White Rock Marathon! Brooke had to run it no slower than 3:40:59 in order to qualify, which technically means she wasted 10 seconds worth of effort by finishing faster. But joking aside, with that 30+ wind in her face for most of the second half, she could have easily done a 3:30 in better conditions (or faster). Nice job, Brooke!! Can't wait to see you in Boston!!

You can read her story and follow her progress as she prepares for Boston at http://www.brooketoboston.com/.

Congrats also to all the Tri-Prosoap members that finished the Marathon. Billy and Chase are pictured above with Brooke. Jason, Michael, and Dian also ran with pride. You can check out all of their stories at the Tri-Prosoap Blog.

Anyone who has ever run a marathon or ever wants to run a marathon should go check out all their stories. After having run five myself, I can honestly say that I have experienced EVERY single thing that each of them discussed. From Jason's mid-run weight loss secrets, to Billy's emotions at the starting line, to Chase's hammies and calves cramping as he was trying to keep moving toward the finish. But what stood out the most to me were Michael's thoughts immediately after the race. I think every time I have finished a marathon I've said "Never Again" at the finish line. But after a few days (sometimes even just a few minutes) I start to think, "that wasn't so bad. I can do that again. I wonder how much faster I could go if . . . " And so it begins again.

Congrats again to all!

Injury Prevention at Tri Pro Soap

The team I race for, Tri-Pro Soap, has asked me to post some articles on the team site regarding injury prevention. I'll put the links here whenever I post on that site. Please check it out, and be sure to support Pro Soap!

http://tri-prosoap.blogspot.com/2008/11/injury-prevention-part-1-consistency-is.html

Trying to Put it All Together

This has been a tough year for me for racing so far. I overdid it on the bike and cramped on the run at a Half Ironman in April. I had the worst swim of my life at the Cap Tex Olympic distance race in Austin in May. My stomach didn’t cooperate during Ironman Coeur d’Alene in June, which cost me lots of time on the run. I flatted out during the 5430 and had my first DNF in Boulder in August. And I had another bad swim two weeks ago at the Arkansas State Championships that cost me an age group win and a fourth place overall. Each of those races had good elements. My swim was good in April and at the Ironman. My bike was good at the Ironman and the Cap Tex (actually, my biking has been pretty solid all year). And since the mishaps at the Ironman, I’ve been pretty happy with my running, especially my effort. I just haven’t quite been able to put all three together yet this year. Which brings me to last Sunday . . .

Sunday was the Rockwall Sprint Triathlon, which I do every year, but only because it’s local. And by “local,” I mean, it’s less than 5 minutes from my house. Even though I swore off all races produced by Ironhead (i.e., Jack Weiss) long ago, I still do this one so that I can support the local community. Never again until it is run by someone with some common sense.

The Swim – This is a pool swim so you are seeded according to swim time. I was number 27. I was glad that Cooper (one of the Tri-Prosoap members) was one person in front of me instead of one person behind me so that I wouldn't slow him down. Oddly enough, this was the first time I've ever done a pool swim and not been held up by the person in front of me. Thanks, Coop! 4:44 for a 300. Not my best swim, but not my worst either. 14 seconds slower than I had anticipated.

My transitions were pretty much right where I expected. I generally figure about a minute for T1 and 30 seconds for T2 depending on how long the run to my bike is. I ended up with 58 seconds and 29 seconds, respectively. For those of you that don't practice transitions, you should start! The shorter the race, the more important they become. Just think of the time you make up on the run because of transitions alone. 30 seconds spread over the two transitions is 10 seconds a mile on the run. Transitions are your enemy! Every second you spend in there is wasted time. Practice them often. Every time I get on or off my TT bike, I am flying on or off. If you do a brick workout, use that as an opportunity to practice transitions.

The Bike - I knew that several of the Prosoap team were up ahead of me so it really motivated me to work hard to try and catch them. However, as usual for a race this short, I felt like crap the first 10 minutes or so. Right out of the gate two guys went by me in a two-man paceline of sorts. Seriously, who cheats in a 14 mile time trial? The best part is that they kept looking back to make sure there weren't any officials around. Pathetic. One of those guys is someone I have looked up to for a long time because he was so fast. I think he’s even competed in Kona before. I lost a lot of respect for him on Sunday. And for what? A fast sprint race? Nice job.

I eventually caught up to Coop (who was also a witness to the drafting), who then passed me back about 5 minutes later. He was looking REALLY strong when he went by me so I figured he was gone. But I reeled him back in before too long. I know he's a strong runner, so I dug down to try and put a little distance between us in case I needed it to hold him off on the run. Still, I figured we would be fighting it out for the rest of the race. Toward the end I got a little more energy when I realized that I could see our fearless leader, Billy, in the distance. I didn't catch him until just before the last turn before T2. It wasn't until later that I realized he had beaten me in the swim by a minute! Come on, Billy! That's ridiculous! You beat me by a minute in a 300 yard swim?!?! I'm not even going to look to see how bad Chase beat me. When are you guys going to hold a Tri-Prosoap swim clinic to help us slow pokes out? My bike time was 35:59, or 23.3 mph. A little slower than I would have liked, but considering how awful I felt at the beginning, not too bad.


The Run - Felt strong right out of the gate. First mission, track down those cheaters! I caught them less than an mile into it. I generally like to speed up a bit when I pass someone, but in a race that short, if you can speed up, you aren't running hard enough. So I just flew by both of them and kind of chuckled to myself that they aren't quite as tough to drop when they can't help each other by drafting. About that time, the first person went by me going the other direction. Then another, and one more, and then Chase. A quick high five, and then the turn around. I went from starting in 27th position on 10 second intervals to being the 4th person running to the finish. But could I catch Chase?


I felt as good as I ever feel at this point in a race. Sprints are so different than any other distance. There's really no strategy other than to go as hard as you possibly can until you hit the finish line. I had run 6:02 pace the weekend before at DeGray, which is mostly uphill for the first half of the run. So I knew I could go under 6 minute miles if things went well. Unfortunately, I missed the turn to the finish with about 200 yards to go. I pretty much figured it out immediately, so I stopped and looked around to try and figure out where to go to get back on track. Then a guy running the other direction told me that everyone was going "back that way" and pointed toward Chase. So I trotted it in the rest of the way, frustrated, and not running very hard. I jumped the caution tape and crossed the finish line about the same time as Chase.

I don't really know how fast I would have finished, but my pace was just under 5:50 up to the point where I stopped running to figure out where I was. Based on that, I should have finished the run just under 17 minutes flat, which would have put me finishing around 59:10. 10 seconds slower than I had hoped for (remember those 14 seconds on the swim?). And enough for second overall and first in my age group. But who knows what it really would have been.


Jack hunted me (and Chase) down to yell at us for “cutting the course” even though we ran significantly further than we were supposed to since his course was so poorly marked, and he had no volunteers out there to direct traffic. He tried to disqualify us, but the head ref decided to just give us a 2 minute penalty since we in no way cheated. I’m not sure why Jack Weiss is so hateful. I won’t go into too much detail in this forum about what happened other than to say that I had little respect for the man before this race, and his actions at the finish were just inexcusable. I have gotten off course three times in my life. All three were at Jack Weiss races. I have never complained about it to anyone other than my wife and family. But he comes to me yelling at me and calling me “STUPID, GD STUPID” because I “can’t follow his clearly marked signs.” Me and about 30 others according to the head ref, Jack. I’m done with his races. It’s unfortunate because the Rockwall Kiwanis is a great group and this race is really for them, not Jack. But I am now joining the throngs of others that refuse to support anything that he is involved with.

Ending this post on a positive . . . It was a lot of fun hanging out with all the Tri-Prosoap guys. I don’t get to race with them very often since I do more long course stuff and therefore don’t race as often as a lot of them do. I hope to get to race with them more. It was a lot of fun getting cheered on by so many other competitors. It seemed like there was always someone yelling encouragement at me. It’s nice to have a team in what is usually a very lonely sport. Thanks, guys. I’m really proud to wear the Tri-Prosoap jersey; to represent you guys and the great companies that sponsor us. I just wish that jersey or those sponsors could make me swim like Chase and Billy!

The work is done . . .

Or "the hay is in the barn" as they say (who are "they" anyway? And why do they think they know everything?). Regardless, it's Ironman Week, and I'm ready to race!

I haven't updated the blog in a while. I intended to do lots of good posts regarding my last long run before the race (it was HOT!), and the 1:24 swim across Lake Ray Hubbard (it was ROUGH! Seriously, up to 3' swells! Thanks to Dee, Mason, and Tim for the kayak support. I think they worked as hard as we did in that choppy water!). But, alas, work got in the way of my fun time (I've got to come up with another excuse), and I didn't get it done.

This week has been especially tough mentally. I'm ready to race and I'm anxious to just get out of town and start preparing for Sunday. I'll feel much better once the canon goes off, but until then, I'm a little on edge.

Brian and Dee pick us up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to head to the airport. We fly out to Seattle, and then make the drive to Coeur d'Alene from there (I promised Dee we could stop at Starbuck's on the way out of town. Anyone know if they have those in Seattle?). I was invited to a breakfast with trisports.com on Friday morning, so Krisha and I will be going to that before the morning swim. Short bike ride after the swim, then pick up Ryno at the airport on Friday night. Saturday is another swim, and a short run. Then rest.

Thank you to everyone that has helped me get to this point this year. My wonderful, beautiful wife Krisha for always being so supportive of my training (even when "work gets in the way" of the rest of our lives together). Brian for keeping me company on all those long rides, and for the occasional slap to keep me from taking this stuff too seriously (I think you're going to have to start hitting harder, Brian. It's not sinking in!). Dee for letting Brian keep me company on all those long rides (almost done, Dee!). Lindsay at CTS for being the best coach ever! (You ROCK, Lindsay, even though sometimes I think you're trying to kill me!). Jason and Rockwall Cycling for ordering things for me even when they don't really carry them in the shop, and especially for providing me with a bike to ride while mine was being shipped to the race (I promise I'll pay you as soon as I get back to town!). All the guys at the Tri-ProSoap team for all their encouragement. Ryan for a great weekend of training in Boulder. Ross, Swanson, McGaffen, and all the rest of the guys that push (i.e., "punish") me on the Rockwall Cycling group rides (even though sometimes I KNOW you guys are all trying to kill me!). And everyone else who supports me in any way. Thanks. I could not do this without all of you!

I don't like to talk up goals too much in public before a race like this, so I'm not going to list them here. Let's just leave it at, "I hope to race that other Ironman event in October this year." We'll know on Sunday night (possibly not until Monday morning). If you want to keep track of my progress, there will be a link on http://www.ironmanlive.com/ on Sunday morning where you can track athletes. Be sure to keep up with Brian Young and Tim Glasson (first Ironman for TIM!!!) as well.

Am I ready? Yes. Can I go under 10 hours? Yes. Will I go under 10 hours? Stay tuned . . .

CapTex Update

The whole family went to Austin this weekend for the CapTexTri. Last year it was rained out, so we were hoping for better weather in 2008. Sure enough, we were not disappointed. I did the Olympic distance race while Krisha and my dad did the sprint.

I was a little disappointed in my results. I got way off course on the swim and ended up taking 29 minutes to get to T1. That's about the slowest I have ever done an Olympic distance swim. Not the start I was looking for! My wave started about an hour after the first one went off. And since the bike course was four 10k loops, the theme for the bike was "ON YOUR LEFT!" I think I shouted that about once every minute for the entire ride. Still, I averaged 23.7mph, so I wasn't too disappointed with the result considering how crowded it was.

The sun came out for the run. I got passed by someone in my age group early on the run. I decided to go with him, but he slowly pulled away after about a half mile or so. No worries, you never know what's going to happen. I ended up catching him on the second loop of the run, and after having learned my lesson at the PlayTri Half in April, I went by him hard and never looked back. As expected, he didn't challenge me. I was feeling pretty strong at that point so I think I could have held him off anyway. Regardless, because of my ridiculously slow swim, I finished in 2:20:35, which put me in a distant 10th in my age group. Not my best day, but that wasn't the A race of the season, so I'm just moving on. Not dwelling on my miserable swim. Or my lackluster effort on the run. Really, I'm not . . . .

Krisha and Dad had good days. Krisha had a breakthrough in the swim. And my dad finished another race, which with his limited training, is quite remarkable for a 62 year old stud! Way to go Dad! Mom had the most difficult job of all -- keeping my son, John, entertained while mommy and daddy raced.

Team Tri-ProSoap made a good showing as well. Mark Saroni finished 2nd overall in the sprint race as he prepares for the 2008 Sprint World Championships in Vancouver next week. Chase Ingraham was 20th overall in the Olympic with a time of 2:18:07, and Travis Wolther was the first big man to cross the finish of the Olympic, with a time of 2:27:28.

Overall, I like this race. It's pretty crowded, but it's a fun, fast course, in a great city.