Kona Week 3

Freshly finished with the last long, hard work in my Ironman build, and preparing now to get the taper underway. I'll still have some shorter and faster workouts to hone my speed before Oct. 10th, but it feels good to know that the hardest stuff is now in the bank and I can really let the body rest and recuperate now. Kona is turning into the zoo everyone told me it would, with hundreds of athletes and spectators rolling in for some acclimation and course review. The energy is building along with the anticipation, but I already miss the peaceful days from earlier this month!

I had some easier days during the middle of the week, still logging miles but not going too big or fast. It allowed me some time to explore new rides, including a good, hilly ride with the group from Bike Works down to Captain Cook. It was necessary rest after the biggest week of training all year, and I made some trips to local beaches (Kua bay was the highlight), put my feet up, did some body boarding, and even watched some junk T.V. Of course the active recovery was all in preparation for another big weekend, and it was a good thing I got it.

Saturday morning was my final long run, and I was able to round up Chris McCormack and Terenzo Bozzone to help with the sufferfest. We hit out early, but not early enough to avoid some warm conditions on the Queen K and Energy Lab. No surprise here, as it's been 88 degrees nearly every day I've been here. Some days are more cloudy with the vog, but not for our run. We threw in some very solid tempo efforts, and ended our session at Jamba Juice for some instant respite from the heat, and much needed calories. I topped the day off with a moderate, hilly ride on the upper highway (coffee road) and then a solid swim with Linsey at Kona Aquatic.
Sunday was another early morning, and with Chris, Terenzo, Marky V, and Mark, we rolled steady hard for 100 miles of the course, only turning back a few miles before Hawi due to rain. The ride back down was some of the most intense wind I have experienced out here, so it was perfect practice for that possibility on race day. We also managed a double headwind for a good portion, so another day of becoming one with the gales is locked away. After finishing the ride, it was a quick transition and 5 miles of tempo off the bike. I nailed it, so I feel like all the pieces are in place. Less than two weeks until the big showdown, and I'm getting more excited each day.

For a bit of recovery, I am planning to do a tour of the island tomorrow with a friend, making the full loop in a car and seeing some new sights. I have to scope out some new areas in anticipation of the family coming out in a little over a week. Time for a nap!

Kona Week 2

It's hard to believe, but I'm already over 2 weeks into my Kona training. I've finally gotten well acclimated to the heat and humidity here, most noticeable through the amount of fluid I need to do sections of the course on the bike. When I started out, the floodgates would open within minutes of exercise, and I would be drinking two bottles in an hour. Now I'm half that and the sweat rate is much more balanced with my intake. It's hard to believe, but I've gotten used to that blanket of humidity, and now it seems completely normal.

The past week has been the biggest week of training during my whole year, even including base training in Tucson back in February. Throw in the fact that I had a lot of intensity, and it's obvious that my legs are a bit heavy right now. Even so, I'm happy to say that I survived and passed the test with flying colors. Of course it hasn't been easy, but with nothing to do but train, eat, sleep, and occasionally hang with some new friends, it makes everything a little more manageable. I love the training out here, and getting a feel for different sections of the swim, bike, and run courses has been invaluable. Even when the going gets tough, you can't beat a swim with the dolphins and a bike ride up to Waimea where the grass is green and the air is considerably cooler. I will say that I prefer the surface of my track in Durango to the high school crushed cinder at Kealakehe, but otherwise the environment has been ideal for building my best fitness to date.

In other news, I have made some good local friends who have been kind enough to have me over to dinner on numerous occasions, and as part of my win at Lavaman I was invited on a sunset cruise with the race staff. We had a perfect evening of dinner, dolphins swimming on our bow, and first mate Jason even caught a marlin, which is an extremely rare occurrence. To top everything off, I found out earlier in the week that I qualified as the top American and was selected to represent the USA at the ITU Long Course World Championships in Perth, Australia, so I will be headed down under two weeks after Kona to cap off the year. It won't be a long trip, as I will be away from Colorado for around two months when I finally get done traveling, but I'm looking forward to my first visit to Australia.

Next up is the beginning of the taper, where I focus on staying sharp and healthy. I've put in a ton of hard work, and I'm feeling confident and ready for the biggest race of the year. Keep an eye out for my interview on TriCenter next week, and I'll be back with more photos and an update soon. Off to the beach!

1st Place Lavaman Keaohou Triathlon

Yesterday was the inaugural Lavaman Keaohou olympic distance triathlon just south of Kailua-Kona. I wasn't originally planning on this race when I came to the big island, but after discussing it with my coach, it seemed like a good plan to get a hard effort in the heat and some more speed training to get ready for Ironman. It's only a month now until the biggest race of my life, so it was nice to coordinate one more event to keep me sharp.

The race took place just south on Alii drive at the Keaohou Outrigger resort, with a nice ocean swim, a bike that covers a section of the Ironman course, and a run that drops into the "Pit," where the old Ironman run used to go. My mental prep was good for this one because I had zero expectations outside of going my hardest for a good workout. I always race hard, and I always try to win, but I had tired legs coming in with significant volume since arriving on Sept. 4th. It was nice to do a local race without major pressure, and just focus on staying strong in the heat.

I had been doing some swim sets with the Masters group at Kona Aquatics, so I knew I would be good to hang near Bree Wee on the swim. We took it out chasing the swim leader Nick Garrett, coming in with a little gap on some of the other contenders. I felt comfortable and in control most of the way, with the exception being a slight miscalculation we made after rounding the boat halfway through. My trusty steed laid in waiting for me as I exited the water, and I got right to work powering up the steep 1.5 mile hill out of T1 on the S-Works Transition. On the fast descent I did my best to hold watts, and near the turnaround at the Energy Lab I was in the lead and building a good gap to the other racers. I stayed at my goal power the rest of the way in on Alii, had a bit of a junkshow in T2, and then fired out to the run with a comfortable cushion to second, riding 57 minutes for the 40k.
Out on the run, volunteers were scrambling to get to their positions, and I blew through the first turn area going the wrong way out on the golf course. After a couple minutes of running, I was turned around and set straight, thinking "this can't be happening again after Lake Stevens!" Fortunately I had built a strong enough lead on the bike leg to remain in first place, and after motoring for a few miles, I coasted in the last bit for a course record and a good win on the island.

Thanks to all the race staff, volunteers, and other athletes. Post race food was excellent, with rocking music and great awards, and the crowd support was truly amazing. It's nice to be an out of towner and still get the royal treatment at a race like this. It was a classy event that I will be sure to race again next time I am in Kona.

Next up are the hardest weeks of training so far to top off the Ironman build, and then it's mostly resting until the big day. Legs feel good and the mind is in a good space. Time to make it all happen.... after a little bit of surfing today. Aloha!

Aloha!

It's nearing the end of my first full week in Kona, so I thought I would give an update on the training and the conditions out here on the Big Island.

I arrived on Friday, stepping off the plane to a nice warm blanket of humid pacific sea air being wrapped around my body. First stop? The restroom to remove my compression socks and jeans, donning the shorts and flip flops that are requisite for island life. Next up was a stop at the Costco with Linsey Corbin and her mother, Betty. This was no ordinary stop, as we needed to get our shelves stocked for Ironman training. I won't give specifics on cost, but it was the most I have ever spent in one stop at a grocery.

After getting settled in my condo on Alii drive, I splashed around for a bit to stretch the body out, and crashed hard for a good night's rest. Next day was a full taste of Kona, with some open water swimming on the course from the pier. We were lucky to have a group of dolphins swim past, a sea turtle show itself briefly, and schools of tropical fish with every color under the sun drifting in the currents. This place is truly magical, an island paradise with phenomenal scenery. Did a moderate ride of about 53 miles to Waikoloa and back, and a short run on the early stages of the run course near town.

The rest of the week was more hard training, with highlights of riding a 124 mile loop in the Kohala hills and running out in the energy lab with Specialized teammates Terenzo Bozzone and Chris McCormack. These guys are going well right now, so it's perfect training for me. The body is acclimating well, and with the occasional sushi dinner for fuel, I'm getting stronger and better each day. I'll be posting more pictures and updates from the island as the training continues.... Mahalo!

13th Place Lake Stevens 78.3

I apologize for the delay in my post, but life has been a little more hectic than usual with the end of my part-time job, and the prep for moving out of my place here in Durango before Hawaii. Additionally, it's taken me a little longer to absorb and process the tremendous disappointment of the race in Washington.



I got back from the trip to Seattle/Lake Stevens on Monday, spending the weekend staying at the home of ace blind triathlete Aaron Scheidies. If you haven't already seen this guy at the races or know his story, check out his site: http://www.cdifferentwithaaron.com/AaronScheidies/Home.html

Aaron was busy taking names in London, so I had nice accommodations just north of the city. I didn't feel great coming into the race after Calgary's result, but I figured I would be able to race fast on residual fitness and intelligence. At least half of that ended up being true...


Lake Stevens is a challenging race, with seemingly continuous rolling hills on the 58 mile bike course, and a couple good climbs on the run too. Race morning was standard, with a 6:30 start. I gave myself the usual hour to get set up and warm up in the water before the gun went off. Everything was on target as I started to the right hand side and settled into a solid group of swimmers immediately. I don't know if it was being at sea level or something else entirely, but I felt smooth and not strained in the least as I found good feet and traced the underwater buoy line. Our group consisted of Gambles, Tremonte, Symonds, Whyte, and Park leading a good chunk of the way. I stayed comfortable and came out with one of my better swims ever at the half-iron distance.

Transition wasn't stellar, but I got out okay and immediately began blasting the bike to stay with Gambles, who was setting a furious pace to chase down swim leaders Linkemann and Flanagan. I did my best to stay with him, managing to stay about 50 meters back and match his pace through 15 or 16 miles, at which point I decided that I couldn't sustain the effort and backed off to my normal wattage. The good thing was that we had already pulled out significant time on our chasers, and nobody could see us with the rolling and turning terrain. Onto the second loop I still felt surprisingly strong on the bike, and was pulling out more time on the following group, but losing a little more time to Gambles. I knew with a run like his, this race was going to be for 2nd, so I stayed focused on riding my ride and getting ready for the run.

Even though I had raced the same course the year before, and pre-rode some of the course the day before, when it came time to make the left hand turn on the beginning and finishing out and back section, I turned about a half mile early on a road that looked very similar. I didn't realize my mistake until I had ridden almost 3 1/2 miles up the road to another intersection where an officer directed me back to the course. Not sure how much time I had lost, I still raced the bike back in, but when I was on the run and got a feel for my position, I cashed it in and jogged the remainder with Kirk Nelson, who was suffering from foot pain.

I have gone off course one other time, but this was far more painful. Being 4 minutes clear of 3rd place, 2 minutes down from 1st, and ready to podium at my second consecutive 70.3 made this a tough pill to swallow. That said, I'm the only one to blame for the error, and it will add fuel to my fire as I train for the most important race of the year in Kona. Additionally, it's clear that my fitness is good, and the extra swim focus is paying dividends. With another hard block on the big island in September, I'll be ready to make my mark again at the Ironman distance against the best in the world.

2nd Place Ironman Calgary 70.3, Montana/Canada Roadtrip

After a long break from posts, I'm back with some good news. I just completed the inaugural Ironman Calgary 70.3 in 2nd place. Of course there's a back story here, so I am going to take my time and build to the finish from the beginning. Hope you are sitting somewhere comfortable...



After a couple weeks easy and back to back trips to the mountains for some space to clear my head, I got back into structured training. I still maintained some fitness, running and riding when I felt like it, and covering portions of the Iomgene pass run on a weekend trip to visit my family, but I dropped a little bit of the top end. Fortunately, it started coming back quickly, so I just put my head down and got through 3 fairly hard weeks before racing up north. It has been pleno verano in Durango, so getting out on the bike and running on the trails has been as natural as breathing.



Starting a week and a half ago, I hit the road for a trip to see friends in Montana for two separate weddings in one week, and the race immediately following the last wedding. It was an ambitious plan with an approach to race day that I had not executed in several years, but with my focus on the long-term with Hawai'i, I couldn't allow myself to be stressed.



Wedding round one was my good friend Jeff (my first swim coach) up in Ryegate, Montana. If you haven't heard of this place, it's because nobody has. In the middle of nowhere rolling wheatfields, with the Musselshell river flowing through town and a sandstone cliff band to break the monotony of the terrain. To be honest, I was quite charmed by the place, and after watching Jeff get hitched, dancing into the wee hours, and doing a naked slip and slide when the rains poured down that evening, I have nothing but good memories.



I did log a hard long run the day of the wedding, got very little sleep (awoken 30 min earlier than I wanted by a crowing rooster), and drove 2 hours at 6 am to Bozeman for a 70 mile road race with about 4,000 ft. of climbing. Despite back to back nights of less than 5 hours of sleep, I helped pull back the main break and stayed with the leaders until the final climb, finishing 4th. On the drive back to Missoula for a week of training with friends before the second wedding, I was reduced to pulling over and sleeping from exhaustion. Also of note, a SNOWstorm blew through 30 miles outside of Missoula, coating the ground and hillsides with a half-inch of the white stuff in late July. Love this place.



So, 4 more days of hard work in Missoula, including some good long sets at the 50m outdoor pool (Splash Montana), where change rooms are indicated by pictures of bucks and does. Catching up with friends, eating Taco del Sol burritos, and training hard were the order of business for my stay, and I came into the second wedding and Calgary feeling ready to race fast.



I had another early morning departure from Bozeman after attending friend Tyler's wedding ceremony on Friday night, and drove the 8 hours to Calgary to drop my bike off before 5 and see a little bit of the course. As I said, this was a unique approach to race day, but I felt relaxed in the chaos, and indicator workouts were spot on for a good performance.



Race Day: Early to rise for a 45 minute drive from town to the race site, set-up transition, get in an okay warm-up, and then full gas from the start in the waters of Ghost Lake. I felt pretty smooth and in control, knowing that Hackett and O'Donnell would probably go well clear. I stayed in the main chase pack and prepped for the bike in my mind.



I had a poor first transition, but immediately went to work on the bike and started passing the swimmers from my group. I bridged to a group that had Whyte, Hadley, and Cotter, and we rolled along for about 20 miles before I went up ahead with Whyte. We pushed the pace and almost caught up to Hackett, but still entered T2 almost 2 minutes down. I went out hard on the run, pulling back time right away, but didn't make the catch until almost halfway. After that, I put in one hard surge at 14k and dropped the closest pursuers for good. The last hill and loop of the run were pretty ugly, but I had time to enjoy my best finish yet at a 70.3, and even got to spray the champagne in celebration afterwards. Tim was far and away the strongest that day, but I raced my race and stayed focused. It was an excellent result for my first race in a month, and if the bike wasn't 59 miles, I would have split one of my faster times ever on a course with plenty of hills.



Now it's a little downtime in Calgary with plans to go tubing and sushi for dinner tonight. After that, about 1600 miles of driving back home to Durango, and then off to Lake Stevens on the 14th. Until then, try harder.



Also, check the link to an article in the local paper that covers our budding triathlete scene in Durango:



http://durangoherald.com/sections/Sports/2009/08/01/Triing_a_new_wave/

Mountains!

Well, it was time for a little break from the training and racing schedule. Counting all triathlon, running, and cycling events, I was up to 12 after Buffalo Springs. The solution? Climbing mountains!

I am fortunate to live close the largest and possibly least traveled wilderness area in Colorado: The Weminuche Wilderness. I have spent a good deal of time here in the past, but never in the Chicago Basin area. This is where the major peaks of the San Juans are located, so a lot of people set up a basecamp in the valley and then climb the fourteeners. Sarah and I had planned to get in Friday afternoon, climb a mountain or two on Saturday, and then pack it out on Sunday. After using some vouchers I had for the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, we boarded the train Friday morning and set out for the drop-off at Needleton (Needle Creek trailhead). The train winds its way along the Animas river, along steep granite cliffs before arriving in Silverton.

We made good time, covering the uphill seven miles into our camp at treeline in about 4 hours (including a bushwhacking section through thick willows, skunk cabbage, and about 6 stream crossings). Even though the weather forecast for the area included a 40% chance of rain for each of the 3 days, we had mostly clear skies the whole time. There was a surprising amount of snow left on the peaks, so the water was still pouring down the cliff faces and feeding the creeks.

Saturday morning was a nice easy wake-up, oatmeal with walnuts and cranberries, and then some serious uphill. We decided to climb Windom first, wanting to get a nice view of the Vallecito creek drainage, so we powered up past Twin Lakes and several snowfields, summitting around noon.

On the descent from Windom, we even got a little 4th of July snow, but not enough to make things too treacherous. When we got back to the Twin Lakes basin, we decided that the weather looked good enough to try one more, so we headed towards the ridge between Eolus and North Eolus. Once we had gained the ridge line, things still looked good, so we climbed North Eolus, and then I came back down and did Eolus alone. All the mountains had considerable exposure, but it felt great to be back up high, even being able to see into New Mexico from atop the highest peaks.

With 3 big mountains climbed in a day, we headed back to camp, watched some local wildlife cruise by, ate dinner, and promptly passed out. Back down and out the same way Sunday, and now the batteries are recharged and ready for some quality training before Ironman Calgary 70.3 on August 2nd.