CapTex ITU race report

Well, I have experienced the most pain that I have ever experienced during a race today during my first ITU race. There have been some bad races where I didn't feel good, but today was just blazing. I didn't feel bad, it was just sssooooooo hot that I had trouble with the heat. There were 52 guys on the start list, so I was excited about my opportunity to race some ITU guys that I don't race very often. I tend to run my mouth to my buddy Kuendig about how awesome I could do against some of these middle of the pack Pro triathletes. Well today I had my chance, and most of them put me in my place, haha. Actually, a few surprised me, but I held my own against most of them. There were some fast guys here that I knew I would almost have to have a perfect race to beat so I didn't expect a victory or anything going into the race.

The swim was very brutal. We started off sprinting and I was lucky to hold on. I didn't get a great position for the in-water start to begin with. I was really working hard and was sprinting for the first 400 or so. I tried to pick some feet to swim on, but I was really getting beat up. Once we made the first turn, I was in a pack that was right about my speed. I found some feet, settled down a little, and got into a rhythm. Unfortunately, our speed wasn't quite as fast as the top guys out of the water. The group I was with came out in around 18:25 and we were almost 2 minutes back from the top guys. The main group of guys were almost a minute in front of us.

I had a great transition and was out on the bike with about 5 other guys. We formed into a pack quickly and caught about 5 - 7 more guys in the first lap of five. Our pack was about 12 guys and only about 4 of us really worked hard. We were almost 30 - 40 seconds down from the "main" pack of guys and we were losing about 5 - 10 seconds per lap. We just couldn't get organized enough to really do any damage.

We came into the second transition almost 1:30 down from the main pack. I had a great second transition and was off onto the run. I felt like I had eaten a burrito on the bike because of all of the gatorade I was drinking. It was extremely hot and I wanted to stay hydrated, but I guess I should have taken a bottle of water and a bottle of gatorade instead of two bottles of gatorade. The first half mile on the run, my stomach was upset and I felt like I was going to throw up, but I felt like I was running kind of fast. But the heat hit me about a mile into the run, and it was ugly from there. I was only passing the guys who were almost walking. I did not handle the heat well. I ran 34:59 according to the results, but I know the run course was short because I was not running that fast, haha. I finished 26th out of 48 starters. Only 38 guys finished.

I had a great time in my first ITU race, and it was great experience, but I know what I need to work on. My swim needs to improve A LOT!!! I guess I'll just start swimming with UK and doing lots of harder sets in the water. I felt pretty good today in the water and was still towards the back of the pack today. But it was my first race, so I'm excited to have finished the race (which was my goal when I was running, I felt so bad, I thought about stopping and walking, but I kept it going today unlike St. A's) and to have gained the experience.

Until next time.

Tony

Results can be found here:

http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?posted_p=t&numPerPage=50&rsID=78761&eventClass=ITU+Pan+American+Cup&queryType=division&orgID=216392

Update from Austin

It is the day before my first ITU race here in Austin, TX, and I'm having a great time so far. Fellow pro triathletes, Brandon and Amy Marsh, were kind enough to open up their home for Kuendig and I for the weekend. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Marshes.

We arrived around noonish Saturday afternoon, and have had a great stay so far. There were no travel problems on the way down, so that was a great way to start the trip. We ate at Thundercloud Subs for lunch yesterday (and again today) and ate their special, Roast beef and Avocado which was amazing. After taking a nap, not running due to a severe Thunderstorm, and building up our bikes, we ate dinner at Chuy's which is a local TexMex place here in Austin, which again was amazing. But, I don't think I'll eat that the night before the race, ha. We went home to watch the NBA game and Gladiator before calling it a night. We woke up this morning and did a little easy bike ride followed by an easy run. We went to Einstein brothers Bagels for brunch and off to the pro briefing at 11 am. After the meeting, we ended up swimming in the lake and then eating another roast beef and avocado sub. Now, I'm sitting here before we take off to downtown Austin for dinner with one of Kuendig's old swimming buddies.

Tomorrow is a first for me: sleeping in on race morning. Our race doesn't begin until 12:20 in the afternoon so it should be nice and warm here in Austin. But I'm excited to be racing against some of the best in the nation. The race has about 50 guys, mostly from the USA. If there is a pro triathlete that you have never heard of, then they are probably racing in this race, including myself, haha.

Thats about it. I should have a race report up tomorrow evening or so. If not, then I'll try to have one up by Tuesday night. We fly out Tuesday afternoon, to arrive home late Tuesday night. Happy Memorial Day.

T-Bird

MIM race report

So it has been almost a week and a half since my last post and I apologize for that. Last week was my official first week of summer. I'm working at the Lancaster Aquatic Center for the summer while I race. I will be looking for a job over the course of the summer since I am no longer a student.

This past weekend I traveled down to Memphis for the annual Memphis in May triathlon. This will be my 5th yr racing here, and I was excited to race there for the first time as a professional. Casey, Beth, Ben, David Kuendig, and myself all drove down in two cars. We met up with several other Lexingtonians once we got there. Lexington, KY had quite a showing at that race. We drove down Friday morning after a little easy swim at the LAC. I managed to talk Casey into swimming with me once we got to the race site on Friday. She doesn't like to swim in the open water very much. And you could tell she hasn't done it much because of the zig-zags she was swimming through the water, haha. After a very short swim, we went and found a place to eat. We ended up eating at Olive Garden which is always a wonderful choice. Then we went and saw the movie "Angels and Demons" which was a lot better than I expected it to be. Saturday we ate some breakfast, did our usual pre-race workout routine, and then hung out for a while. Dave and I had to attend the pro meeting that afternoon, then we all went to "Amerigo's" which is the place we've eaten at the night before the race for 5 straight years now.

Race morning, Dave and I got to sleep in while Ben and Beth had to leave the hotel at 5 am to prepare for the race. Dave and I didn't start until 10:30 am. We left the hotel around 8 and got there with plenty of time to warmup and get everything ready for the race. Luckily, my race number was "4" so I got to be the first male professional in the water for the time trial start.

Myself, Dave, and George Van Meter (who had already finished his race)

The guy who started right behind me is an amazing swimmer, so I knew that he was going to pass me early in the swim.

At the start, I dove into the water, and sprinted past the one girl that started in front of me. Cameron Dye, flew by me about 200 yards into the swim and never looked back. I got out of the water quite a ways behind him, but was still the second pro out of the water. My swim time was 18:46. This was a little slower than last year, but I used a wetsuit last year so I was ok with this time.

I sprinted through T1 and was headed out onto the bike. It was a very windy day, and the first few miles had a strong cross wind. Around the 5 mile mark, another pro came flying by me. Andrew Starykowicz went by me like I was standing still. He passed me right as we turned with the wind. I put my head down and tried to keep him close. I was riding 32 - 34 mph with the wind and he was dropping me like a bad habit. I kept him within sight for about 5 miles, then he was gone. I rode by myself for the last 15 miles of the course, and the last 8ish were miserable. The wind had picked up, and was now a head wind for the remaining 8 or so miles. I rode as smart as I could by not killing myself but by trying to maintain a good tempo into the wind. I rode into T2 and was the 3rd pro off of the bike.

I had a great T2 and took off on the run. My first mile was 5:45 and I did not feel good at all. I managed to pick up the pace, and I negative split the run. I ran the second half of the run 50 seconds faster. I guess I should have gone out faster. Since it was an out and back run, I saw all of my competition, but Starykowicz had a good .25 of a mile on me, and I had about the same distance on the next guy behind me. I ran the whole run by myself. I crossed the finish line and was glad to be done. I was pleased with my race, knowing it was a slow day to race in Memphis.

My bike split was almost 2 minutes slower than I went 2 yrs ago on that same course. My run split was my fastest ever at Memphis, but it still wasn't "fast" by any means. I ended up in 4th place. The two guys that passed me both beat me, and the guy that finished behind me beat me. He started almost 5 minutes behind me, and only finished about 1 - 2 minutes behind me.

So I officially got my first professional paycheck for that 4th place performance, and I'm looking forward to my first draft legal race this coming Memorial Day in Austin, Texas.

Congrats to Beth Atnip for a huge PR on that windy day in Memphis and to Ben for a huge PR on the same course. They both fought through the conditions and ran their butts off to finish well.

Thanks for reading.

Tony

Finals Week

Even though most college students usually get stressed out during Finals week, I am the exact opposite. I have never been one to stress out about tests and that may be why I have made decent grades all of my life. Finals week always seemed like a vacation week for me. I only had to attend anywhere from 2 - 5 tests, and the rest of the week I would just hang out and workout / nap / do whatever I wanted. This week was not much different. I did not have a single final exam to take this week so I have just been working out, and working at the pool. I worked at the pool Monday and Tuesday nights. I made a trip home on Wednesday after swimming long course that morning with Wildcat Aquatics.

My trip home was to see Dr. Krishna, a heart specialist. After my recent dnf at St. Anthony's, a few close friends and relatives were worried about me. I had mentioned a little chest pain so everyone automatically registered that I had some heart problems since there have been a few heart issues in my family tree. The initial checkup on Wednesday afternoon was really good. The EKG was great and he listened to my heart and said everything sounded great. That was the news I was expecting to receive but he then told me he wanted to monitor my heart for a 24 hour period. That was around 1 pm on Wednesday. I didn't want to do it since I wouldn't be able to exercise. I had an easy, longerish run that afternoon, and then a big brick workout the following day. My dad talked me into doing it, so I was forced to skip the afternoon run. And I couldn't start the brick workout until 1:32 pm on Thursday (exactly 24 hrs from when they started the mechanism). I sat around really bored on Thursday but I was pretty productive. I finished grading the final exams I had given, posted the grades online, and looked for a few sponsorships. ISM saddles ( http://www.ismseat.com/ ) had already filled their roster for the 2009 season, but they still offered me a great deal on their seats, and I now currently own two new bike seats thanks to ISM. Don't worry Gram, these seats have been proven to "not cause sterility in cyclists."

Anyways, I was bored because of the large device that was attached to me that was monitoring my heart.
Might be kind hard with this large device attached to me.

Those pads left adhesive marks on my chest for more than 2 days

I planned my Thursday just right. I slept in since I knew I couldn't exercise until after 1:30. I woke up around 9:30 and had a large breakfast while I killed time playing on the internet and watching SportsCenter. I layed out all of my workout gear to prepare for my brick, and I was on the bike riding no more than 5 minutes after I stripped this device off. I proceded to have a great brick workout, one in which my legs are still a little sore from. I really enjoy those workouts in Corbin because there are fewer traffic lights and less cars to fight with while I'm running fast. Lexington isn't as conducive to that type of workout, or at least where my apartment is located.

I'm about to head out for a long bike ride and then a short run off of the bike. Hopefully it won't be too windy like the weather channel predicted.

And I want to say Thanks to Brad and Kim Miller for the wonderful dinner last night to celebrate Casey's and my graduations and thanks for the graduation gift.

One week from tomorrow: Memphis in May

T-Bird

Flying Pig Half Marathon Race Report

Well, it's not even 11 am this Sunday morning and I have already ran a half marathon in Cincinnati, eaten Panera for breakfast, and returned back to Lexington to post about the race. My legs are really smoked after that race but I'm really pleased with my effort.

Beth and I drove up to Cincinnati last night so we could pick up our race packets, visit with her family, and then go to bed so we could wake up early to run this race at 6:30 am. Beth and I woke up at 4:30 so we could eat a little something and then drive from her brother's house to downtown to try and find a good parking spot. We got downtown around 5:30 and we just hung out for a little and got our race gear ready. We starting jogging to the start line / bathroom around 6 and were ready to roll by 6:30. The first few miles were all flat with an exception of the bridges we had to run over. I decided to wear my Garmin 405 so I could get some HR info for this race. I went through the first 3 miles in about 16:40 and I felt really crappy. I settled into a good pace for the next three miles and went through the sixth mile at 33:30. The seventh hill was torture. It was straight uphill and was really slow. The 2 - 3 miles after the 7th mile had some decent hills in them as well so those 4 miles were all a little slower. I went through the 10 mile mark around 56:45 ish. The last 3 miles were downhill and super fast. I ran my last 3 miles in 16:25. My 13 mile mark was right at 1:13:10. And somehow that last .1 of a mile took me 1:40, haha. My mile splits on my Garmin were about .02 short per mile. By the end of the race, it registered that we ran 13.3 miles. Beth's Garmin said the same thing so I my actual 13.1 split was about 1:13:40. That extra .2 of a mile cost me about a minute or so. No matter what the actual finish time is, it was still a huge PR. My fastest half marathon was actually ran at Clearwater last November in about 1:18:10 or so.

Beth also had an awesome race and ran a PR as well. She covered the 13.3 miles in 1:33:43. We were both excited, walked back to the car, and immediately changed into some dry clothes. Hopefully these Zensah compression sleeves will help me feel better tomorrow so I'm not limping around like I ran a Half Marathon in racing flats, ha. And we also stopped at Panera on the way home which is almost a must after a hard effort like that.

Until next time.

Tony

Rain, Rain,Go Away

I'm currently sitting on the couch watching Sportscenter and looking out the window at the rain that is falling from the sky. I had a 2.5 hour bike ride this morning, but I don't believe that is going to happen thanks to the rain and chilly weather. I am about to hop on the trainer, but I don't think I'm going to ride that for 2.5 hours. And the rain is supposed to stick around for a while. The Flying Pig Half Marathon tomorrow has rain and thunderstorms projected for the race weather. Sounds like fun, yay.

This week has been a great week. I traveled back from Florida on Monday, and hit it hard on Tuesday. I went for a relaxing run Tuesday morning and then had a pretty hard swim that afternoon. I had a bike workout on Wednesday, and a track workout on Thursday. I wore some older shoes on the track on Thursday because it was raining and that was a big mistake. My calves are still sore this morning.

Yesterday was my last day of classes, so I'm officially finished. I attended both classes this week only to find that we did not have a pop quiz in either class. Either way, I only skipped 3 - 4 classes this semester, haha. I am excited to be done with school, but anxious about what is next to come.

My spirits have been uplifted by all of my close friends and family about this past weekend's result. Thank you to everyone who followed me, gave me "pep" talks after the race, and have kept their faith in me. I am extremely excited about my upcoming races. Memphis in May is one of my favorite races and it is 2 weeks from tomorrow. There is going to be some pretty good competition there. I was a little too anxious about St. Anthony's and the rough waters did not make me feel any better about the race. I can't wait to race again. I have had some great workouts in all 3 sports, and I just wasn't able to show my off my fitness last weekend in Florida. I'm looking forward to the season and all of the opportunities that are available for me.

Thanks for reading. I'll have a race report for the big half mary tomorrow.

T-Bird