Well today is day 3 since Augusta, and I have not done much since. I took Monday off and yesterday was filled with a short swim and a short run. Today I'm hoping to get out on the bike and ride a little of the RJ Corman Duathlon bike course before Saturday.
One thing I forgot to mention in my last post was my brother's new PR for a 70.3 distance race. He dropped about 8 minutes from his previous fastest race and went 4:18. And also, Congrats to Jamie Johnson for completing his first 70.3.
I'm really looking forward to is getting back into the swing of things (or maybe not looking forward to). I have been sleeping in quite a bit and doing 2 workouts after work. Once the hard workouts begin, I won't be able to get away with that. Usually the week of a race, or even the week following a hard race, I'll sleep in a little more and tend to not worry about my workouts as much. I still get them in, they are usually shorter and easier, thus easier to squeeze in 2 workouts after work. I guess next week I'll have to break the habit and get my butt out of bed.
And in other news, I am 2-1 in fantasy football and I only lost in week 2 because my boy Chris Johnson was shut down by the Steelers. But I don't think he'll let that happen again, ha.
T-Bird
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Augusta 70.3 RR
Well, I have another 70.3 under my belt, and I learned that racing in the rain isn't really that bad. It was actually pretty nice. Last year at this race, it was in the mid 80's and sunny. This year it was in the mid 70's and raining. The wind wasn't too bad and I never really felt too overheated. My brother and I got to Augusta Friday evening and just hung out. We went for a little shake out run, and then met up with a buddy, Jamie Johnson, and his father at Mellow Mushroom to enjoy some pizza. Saturday was filled with a lot of hanging out in the hotel room, watching football, and doing a lot of nothing.
Sunday morning came and we set up our stuff for the race, and got ready to roll. I found out that the new rule change for the wetsuit cut off temperature would allow the pro's to wear wetsuits in the swim. I haven't raced (or even worn) in a wetsuit since Steelhead of 2009. So almost 1 year and 2 months!!!
I went to the start and at 7:30 we were off. I had a great first 100 yards but other than that, I never really felt like I was catching much water. I stayed close to the buoys hoping for a little help from the current, but I didn't stick to anybody's feet and that was a big mistake. I lost the only feet that I tried to stay on and I was having trouble sighting with my foggy goggles so I was relying on the splashing from the swimmers in front of me. I came out of the water in 17th position which was a huge difference from the 4th position that I came out in from Steelhead. At the time I didn't know what position I was in, but I knew I didn't have a great swim. Fortunately, I felt good on the bike and went after everyone. Chris Legh was right behind me so we paced off of each other to pass a few people and to catch the next bike pack. Once we caught them, he went right by them and was headed towards the main bike pack. I am not quite as strong as him on the bike so by the time I had recovered from our first effort, he had put a good 50 - 100 yards on me. I knew that it would take a really hard effort to get him, but I just didn't have it in my legs. He eventually caught the main pack as I got settled into that 2nd pack. We did not draft, we just used each other for pacing and to help each other stay motivated. We tried hard to catch the main pack for the first hour but we ended up losing almost 2 - 3 minutes on that pack over that last 25 miles or so. Patrick Evoe came by us with about 6 miles to go and really bumped up our pace heading back into T2.
I had an average T2 and was off on the run. I believe I was 15th starting the run and was a little demoralized at the time. I knew I was out of the money by a long shot and not even sure how far back I was of the next competitor (excluding the guys I came into T2 with). After about a mile of running, Nick Waninger was using his fleet feet to pull away from me, and I had pulled away from two other guys. I was just trying to keep Nick close and hoping we would catch a few guys. I went through 6 miles in about 34:30 and didn't really feel too terrible. I caught 2 more guys around mile 7 and then I started my 2nd lap of the run. At this time, a lot of AG'ers were on the run course so I couldn't really tell too much of a difference between guys that I was catching, or guys that were 1 lap behind me. It really helped to have some of them (people to pass) there because around mile 11 I thought about walking and again just about 1/2 mile from the finish*. I had some really rough patches and I know those last 2 miles were significantly slower than the rest of my run. I found out at the finish line that I ended up passing another 3 - 4 guys and finished 7th overall. I was really happy to see the finishing clock at 3:53 and change as I have never been faster than 3:54 and I haven't done that since 2008. I crossed the finish line in 3:53:51.
My finishing spot wasn't what I had hoped for, but there were some really fast guys there. I have never gone that fast in a 70.3 and I found out that it hurts A LOT to go that fast. I am really looking forward to Clearwater and hoping that I can have a similar result on the bike/run while putting together a better swim.
Now I just need to focus on recovering fast since I have a duathlon this weekend here in Central KY.
Tony
*One of the hardest aspects of racing professionally is the fact that you are by yourself for most of the race, so you are fighting that little voice in your head the whole race. When I raced as an AG'er, I always had a lot of people to pass, which gave me a lot of reinforcement for how fast I was going, and a lot of times it would help me continue going that same speed. My wave always started kind of late compared to everyone else, so that gave me hundreds of people to chase after. Now that I start first, you are either in first place and by yourself, or somewhere in the top 10 - 20 hoping that you are close to the other professionals that you are racing against. For example, at Kansas this year, I rode for almost 20 miles without seeing another competitor, so that little voice in my head telling me to slow down did not help matters, ha.
Sunday morning came and we set up our stuff for the race, and got ready to roll. I found out that the new rule change for the wetsuit cut off temperature would allow the pro's to wear wetsuits in the swim. I haven't raced (or even worn) in a wetsuit since Steelhead of 2009. So almost 1 year and 2 months!!!
I went to the start and at 7:30 we were off. I had a great first 100 yards but other than that, I never really felt like I was catching much water. I stayed close to the buoys hoping for a little help from the current, but I didn't stick to anybody's feet and that was a big mistake. I lost the only feet that I tried to stay on and I was having trouble sighting with my foggy goggles so I was relying on the splashing from the swimmers in front of me. I came out of the water in 17th position which was a huge difference from the 4th position that I came out in from Steelhead. At the time I didn't know what position I was in, but I knew I didn't have a great swim. Fortunately, I felt good on the bike and went after everyone. Chris Legh was right behind me so we paced off of each other to pass a few people and to catch the next bike pack. Once we caught them, he went right by them and was headed towards the main bike pack. I am not quite as strong as him on the bike so by the time I had recovered from our first effort, he had put a good 50 - 100 yards on me. I knew that it would take a really hard effort to get him, but I just didn't have it in my legs. He eventually caught the main pack as I got settled into that 2nd pack. We did not draft, we just used each other for pacing and to help each other stay motivated. We tried hard to catch the main pack for the first hour but we ended up losing almost 2 - 3 minutes on that pack over that last 25 miles or so. Patrick Evoe came by us with about 6 miles to go and really bumped up our pace heading back into T2.
I had an average T2 and was off on the run. I believe I was 15th starting the run and was a little demoralized at the time. I knew I was out of the money by a long shot and not even sure how far back I was of the next competitor (excluding the guys I came into T2 with). After about a mile of running, Nick Waninger was using his fleet feet to pull away from me, and I had pulled away from two other guys. I was just trying to keep Nick close and hoping we would catch a few guys. I went through 6 miles in about 34:30 and didn't really feel too terrible. I caught 2 more guys around mile 7 and then I started my 2nd lap of the run. At this time, a lot of AG'ers were on the run course so I couldn't really tell too much of a difference between guys that I was catching, or guys that were 1 lap behind me. It really helped to have some of them (people to pass) there because around mile 11 I thought about walking and again just about 1/2 mile from the finish*. I had some really rough patches and I know those last 2 miles were significantly slower than the rest of my run. I found out at the finish line that I ended up passing another 3 - 4 guys and finished 7th overall. I was really happy to see the finishing clock at 3:53 and change as I have never been faster than 3:54 and I haven't done that since 2008. I crossed the finish line in 3:53:51.
My finishing spot wasn't what I had hoped for, but there were some really fast guys there. I have never gone that fast in a 70.3 and I found out that it hurts A LOT to go that fast. I am really looking forward to Clearwater and hoping that I can have a similar result on the bike/run while putting together a better swim.
Now I just need to focus on recovering fast since I have a duathlon this weekend here in Central KY.
Tony
*One of the hardest aspects of racing professionally is the fact that you are by yourself for most of the race, so you are fighting that little voice in your head the whole race. When I raced as an AG'er, I always had a lot of people to pass, which gave me a lot of reinforcement for how fast I was going, and a lot of times it would help me continue going that same speed. My wave always started kind of late compared to everyone else, so that gave me hundreds of people to chase after. Now that I start first, you are either in first place and by yourself, or somewhere in the top 10 - 20 hoping that you are close to the other professionals that you are racing against. For example, at Kansas this year, I rode for almost 20 miles without seeing another competitor, so that little voice in my head telling me to slow down did not help matters, ha.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Off to Augusta
Here is a couple of photos from Tri for Sight.
And I guess it's never a good sign when you have to create a new password to log on to your own blog considering I forgot my old one. I am sitting in Corbin, KY right now and am headed to bed. My brother and I are headed to Augusta, GA tomorrow for the 70.3 on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to racing this weekend. Training has been going really well the past 3 - 4 weeks and my running in particular has felt good. I have put in over 200 miles of running over the past 4 weeks which I haven't done in a long time. And I've also put in about 620 miles over that same period on the bike. My swimming isn't as consistent as it once was, but I still feel decent in the water. Especially with the race course as it is in Augusta, the swim is the least of my worries. It is a down river swim and considering I swam under 21 minutes last year in the middle of a "rough patch" of swimming for myself, I'm looking to do about the same this year with stronger bike and run legs. Saturday, we'll probably just hang out and watch a lot of football and I'll make sure my fantasy football team is ready to play.
I'm really looking forward to testing out my new Kiwami Uniform. They really did it up for me and I got an all red uniform with my Kiwami gift certificate that I won at the Tri for Sight. And I also have some new shoes, but they aren't broken in yet so I wait to test those out a few weeks from now. I got the new color of the Brooks Green Silence. Check 'em out:
Well, off to bed. You should be able to follow the race on Sunday at www.ironman.com.
There will be a link to the Augusta 70.3 and it will bring up athlete tracker. Race starts at 7:30am
T-Bird
Monday, September 6, 2010
Dusting off the Ole Cobwebs
Well, I competed in my first triathlon in over a month yesterday here in Lexington, KY and it was a blast. It was a lot different than what I'm used to. I'm usually traveling to a race that is at least an Olympic distance and it usually takes up my whole weekend. But the Tri for Sight offers me a great opportunity to break up the monotony of training and get in a solid effort for a shorter triathlon while staying at my own house. This means I have to hang up my "distance" legs and find my "sprint" legs. Unfortunately, I was unable to find them, in 2 of the 3 sports. My run training has been going really well the past few weeks and I felt pretty solid on the run yesterday but that also might have had something to do with the weather. It was a cool 52 degrees when the race started yesterday.
I got in a solid week of training this past week and was a little tired going into the race but I knew that Augusta and Clearwater are the two "big" races left for the year. Ben and Dana (his girlfriend) traveled to Lexington for the race on Saturday so we all had a nice lunch and dinner while watching the Cats take down the dirty Cards in football. Casey, Ben, and I all woke up on Sunday to get everything ready for the race and to travel down to the transition area (which is less than 1 mile from my house). I racked my bike in transition, got everything set, helped Casey set up her transition area, and we were ready to race.
I was number 101 so I was first in the water for the time trial start. Annie Fryman was swimmer number 2 (a girl that I coached last year) and then Casey was number 3. I knew that I had to swim fast enough not to get passed by either of these two fast swimmers.
I got out of the water where I started and had a quick T1 and was out on the bike. The bike was pretty uneventful even though it was a different course from last year. I could really feel my "dead legs" during the 2nd half of the bike which was coming back into town and is mostly uphill. I stayed within my zone and made it back to T2 still maintaining the lead. I had an average T2 (had trouble getting my new shoes on fast) and was out onto the run. It is so nice to have cooler temps to run in. I went through 2 miles in 10:50 and realized that I haven't ran that fast in a triathlon in a long time. On the way back, I had a little digestion problems, but nothing too serious. I just slowed a little and made it across the finish line in a decent time. I ended up running 22:10 for a legit 4 mile course which was nice considering some of my recent triathlon run splits. I loved the Brooks T6 racer. They were light and fast and helped me run as fast as I did.
A few minutes later, my brother crossed the finish line and ended up 2nd overall. He also ran in the T6 racers, so I'm sure it was no coincidence. I put on a little clothing since it was a little chilly, and jogged back out on the run course to cheer for Casey. She came through a lot faster than she expected and finish in an hour and 50 minutes which was 10 minutes faster than her goal time. This was her first triathlon and she finished FIRST in her AG and 6th overall.
Overall it was a great day and always a pleasure to compete in such a great event. Beth Atnip does a great job with this race and puts a lot of effort into the event (even after she put on IM Louisville 1 week ago). Congrats to my bro and to Casey for racing well. And to George Van Meter for winning his AG at IM Louisville and getting a slot to Kona.
Up Next: Augusta 70.3.
P.s. I was going to race a 10k this weekend in London, Ky for a chance at winning $10,000, but it was canceled because they didn't have enough people signed up for the race. This race offered $30,000 of prize money to the top 3 male and females but less than 100 people had signed up for it so I guess they couldn't cover the cost of putting on the race. It has been delayed until 2011. I guess that is what happens when you don't put a lot of effort into advertising.
Tony
I got in a solid week of training this past week and was a little tired going into the race but I knew that Augusta and Clearwater are the two "big" races left for the year. Ben and Dana (his girlfriend) traveled to Lexington for the race on Saturday so we all had a nice lunch and dinner while watching the Cats take down the dirty Cards in football. Casey, Ben, and I all woke up on Sunday to get everything ready for the race and to travel down to the transition area (which is less than 1 mile from my house). I racked my bike in transition, got everything set, helped Casey set up her transition area, and we were ready to race.
I was number 101 so I was first in the water for the time trial start. Annie Fryman was swimmer number 2 (a girl that I coached last year) and then Casey was number 3. I knew that I had to swim fast enough not to get passed by either of these two fast swimmers.
I got out of the water where I started and had a quick T1 and was out on the bike. The bike was pretty uneventful even though it was a different course from last year. I could really feel my "dead legs" during the 2nd half of the bike which was coming back into town and is mostly uphill. I stayed within my zone and made it back to T2 still maintaining the lead. I had an average T2 (had trouble getting my new shoes on fast) and was out onto the run. It is so nice to have cooler temps to run in. I went through 2 miles in 10:50 and realized that I haven't ran that fast in a triathlon in a long time. On the way back, I had a little digestion problems, but nothing too serious. I just slowed a little and made it across the finish line in a decent time. I ended up running 22:10 for a legit 4 mile course which was nice considering some of my recent triathlon run splits. I loved the Brooks T6 racer. They were light and fast and helped me run as fast as I did.
A few minutes later, my brother crossed the finish line and ended up 2nd overall. He also ran in the T6 racers, so I'm sure it was no coincidence. I put on a little clothing since it was a little chilly, and jogged back out on the run course to cheer for Casey. She came through a lot faster than she expected and finish in an hour and 50 minutes which was 10 minutes faster than her goal time. This was her first triathlon and she finished FIRST in her AG and 6th overall.
Overall it was a great day and always a pleasure to compete in such a great event. Beth Atnip does a great job with this race and puts a lot of effort into the event (even after she put on IM Louisville 1 week ago). Congrats to my bro and to Casey for racing well. And to George Van Meter for winning his AG at IM Louisville and getting a slot to Kona.
Up Next: Augusta 70.3.
P.s. I was going to race a 10k this weekend in London, Ky for a chance at winning $10,000, but it was canceled because they didn't have enough people signed up for the race. This race offered $30,000 of prize money to the top 3 male and females but less than 100 people had signed up for it so I guess they couldn't cover the cost of putting on the race. It has been delayed until 2011. I guess that is what happens when you don't put a lot of effort into advertising.
Tony
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