Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Bonney Lake Sprint Triathlon...

I decided two days before the race to enter. I knew my cycling was strong. I figured I could swim a 500. My running on the other hand was somewhat minimal. All the crazy running I did back in the spring caught up to me. I kept the running short and only 2-3 times a week. I didn't know what to expect out of myself since I had not raced all year and done no fast running all year.

Race morning I ran into a few familiar faces. I got everything set up and went out for an easy ride to warm-up. I bought a new sleeveless XTERRA VENDETTA. This would be the first time in a sleeveless and in it. I felt great warming-up.


Pre-swim with Lucas
I felt good at the beginning of the swim, there was a guy swimming to my right. I put a little distance on him at the turn-around. I love the sleeveless XTERRA VENDETTA. I can't believe it took me so long to purchase one. I saw a guy exiting the water just ahead of me. I ended up 4th out of the water.



I quickly transitioned from swim to bike. I put on my helmet, grabbed the LYNSKEY, and passed one guy out of transition. I was quickly passed in the first 1/4 mile by the guy who was right behind me on the swim. I knew there were at least 2 guys in front of me. I kept them in sight. After a couple miles, we caught up to the lead swimmer. He was a high-schooler on a road bike. It looked like he did a lot of draft legal races. As we passed him, he would just sit on the wheel. After a few more miles we dropped him. We were cruising along and the passed by a blur. Of course this made us all pick up the pace. I was in fourth while entering transition.

I quickly switched to run mode. I put on my NEWTONS and left in second, right behind the guy who had the fastest bike split. I knew it was going to be a dog fight to the finish line. As we left the parking lot and got onto the road. He went straight. I looked down and saw an arrow for left turn. I assumed I was making the right choice. I heard the 2 guys behind trying to figure out which way to go. I had no clue if I made the right decision until I saw the next arrow. I ended up running into the guy who missed the turn with less than a mile to go. He knew he made a wrong turn, so ran it in behind me then disqualified himself.

I ended up defending my title from last year. I was a few minutes faster. The swim was a little shorter, the bike was the same, and the run was a little longer. I ended up breaking the course record as well. BUDU Racing put on another great race. The best part was having Lucas there to watch his first triathlon.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Week of ironman whistler

I have been riding 3-4 times a week for the last several weeks. Most of the rides are cruise rides. Once a week I ride with Nick or Eric for 40-65 miles. After warm-up, we pull for 5 minutes then recover for 5 minutes. Rinse and repeat until home.

Last Tuesday, Nick and I decided to ride out to Ranier and back. After 20 minutes of warm-up, we took turns pulling. As we started on the range roads we quickly spun out because of a nice tail wind. This section of road is 6.5 miles long. If you have a tail wind at the beginning you will get a head wind at the end. I knew there were going to be some challenging sections due to the wind. It was the hardest ride I have ever done, almost 2.5 hours of hard riding.

Drove up to whistler to cheer on a couple of friends racing. The drive up was very scenic. I rode the course on Friday. It is a tough course. The garmin had 7000+ feet elevation gained. Many of the pros had it over 6000. The first 58 miles consists of rolling with a few steep pitches spread out. The next 32 miles are pancake flat with a little wind. The last 22 miles involves some of the hardest climbing of the course. My average speed for the ride dropped from 20.6 through the first 89 miles to 19.1 during the section back to whistler. If the winds and heat are present, the bike will be so much more difficult.

Saturday I ran to the swim start, jumped in for one loop, and ran back. It was a little choppy in the water because it rained that morning on and off, so conditions were not favorable.

The conditions on race day were almost perfect, little to no wind and mild temps.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

bike cobwebs

After all the running I did earlier in the year, I decided to drop the miles back down. Actually I didn't decide, my body did. I started to have a few minor aches and pains. I still feeling pretty good in the pool. I am maintaining fitness by running around 30 miles and swimming 11000 yards every week.

The weather has been so nice lately that I decided to dust the cobwebs off the bike and finally take the bike outside last week. First I had to make sure everything was in working order. I had a buddy, who recently finished bike mechanic training, check it out. Everything looked good except the rear wheel. I found a decent set of wheels to use for training. I finally have a dedicated trainer wheel. No more switching the tire back and forth. I tried to turn on the QUARQ power meter, but no power meter present. I started to unscrew the battery cap and it broke. I grabbed the cap off my wife's bike and still nothing. I tried her batter too and still nothing. I bought new batteries to make sure there wasn't a bigger a problem. I guess the batteries were dead. I contacted QUARQ and explained what happened. They sent out a new cap the next day. Awesome customer service!!! . Once I set the new battery with cap, the bike was ready to roll.

On Tuesday, I took the Lynskey for 2 hours. I wanted one of the athletes I am coaching to ride a hillier route. We rode from Dupont thru Steilacoom, University Place, and turned around at the top of 6th Avenue in Tacoma. The last time I sat on the bike was back in March, but that was indoors. The last time I took it outside was October. It felt great to be back on the bike.

Two days ago I went out with a few friends for a longer ride. We rode from Dupont Forza thru JBLM, Yelm, Ranier then back home. I felt pretty good for most of it except the last few miles. I am definitely lacking some bike fitness. I finished just shy of 57 miles. I spent more time on the bike Sunday then combined for all of 2013. It's time to start riding the bike more.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

All I do is run, run, run, and swim...

After Leadman race in Bend, Oregon and 7 years of triathlon, I decided to take a break from racing. The last couple years were very tough for me mentally and physically. For the rest of 2012, I worked out minimally and ate maximally. I gained 10+ lbs over the winter.

Once the new year started, I kind of got back into a routine. I slowly increased my running and swimming. The desire to get on the bike was non-existent. My bike is gathering more dust each day with only 2 hours of total saddle time for the year.

April was my biggest month of running ever. I ran 227.5 miles with a peak week of 59. I think the most I ever ran in a month previously was around 180 miles. I also flopped 49000+ yards in the pool.


"I just felt like running." - Forrest Gump