Unfortunately I am not apart of it. Both of my teams were denied the finals in Fantasy Football and it was upsetting, especially in my "work" league. Eli Manning's pass to a wide open Hakeem Nicks and then Nicks dropping the ball cost me my shot in the championship. I only lost by 4 points and Eli only scored me 6 points when his average is well above 20 in our league. If he would have had the one TD, that would have given him at least 6 more points. My other league I just got destroyed as the opposing team had 3 players score 30+ (Matt Stafford, CJ Spiller, and Aaron Hernandez).
Pick ups of the week:
Bear's RB - Kahlil Bell. He filled in for a Marion Barber who was not playing well and managed to score 19 points in my league and is still available. He will most likely get the start for week 16 against the Packers.
Donald Brown - Colts RB: I happened to be in attendance when the Colts got their first win of the season and Brown looked really good even if Addai got the start. Brown popped off a few long runs, and had the big 80 yard TD run to seal the deal against the Titans.
Side Note: I was really impressed with Jake Locker as I'm a Titan's fan. Hasselbeck did not have a good game and I hated to see him stay in as long as he did. When Locker came in, he drove the offense down the field and scored a TD. Hopefully the Titans have a future star in Locker.
It is the last week of the season in most leagues so most owners have stopped caring since they aren't in the finals (including myself). But if you are fortunate enough to have made the finals, good luck and look into players that are filling in for injured players if you really need to fill a hole in your line up. Pretty much the same advice I gave last week.
Tony
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Christmas Movies - My Top 5
Since it is the week of Christmas, I will rank my top 5 Christmas movies with a few honorable mentions.
#5: Home Alone & Home Alone #2
These are classic movies with all kinds of quotes whether it is Kevin calling out in an empty house, "mom? dad? buzz? where are you guys?" or its the gangster movie quote "I'm going to give you to the count of 3...". Or when he is running from Rob Schneider in the Plaza Hotel, these are both classic Christmas time movies. It is every boy's dream to do whatever he wants whether he is getting room service in a hotel or just has the house to himself.
Honorable Mention: The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. I have loved this movie ever since it came out and I'm not sure why. Every time I watch it, someone gives me grief for watching a terrible movie. I don't care. I was a huge fan of "Home Improvement" when I was young so maybe I just secretly have a man crush on Tim Allen or maybe I'm just hoping to become Santa Clause one day. Then I guess I'll have to change the main topic of my blog from Pro Triathlete to Christmas posts and updates on toy making from the North Pole.
#4: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon and Jim Carrey version)
This is a classic Christmas movie so it is a must watch during the holiday season.
Honorable Mention: The Polar Express. I may have been a little old when this movie was released to really enjoy it, but it is a great Christmas film.
#3: Elf
Will Farrell is fantastic in this film (I'm not a huge fan of his). He's so naive about everything in NYC and he reaction to everything is great. And having Zooey Deschanel in it doesn't hurt. The movie helps reverse the myth about Parents actually putting out presents instead of Santa. He clearly states, "They (parents) can't do all of that in just one night. I suppose they eat Santa's cookies as well?"
Honorable mention: Die Hard. One of the greatest action films of all time with Bruce Willis. I may or may not have secretly watched this at a very young age and learned a few words I shouldn't have. Unfortunately for the terrorists that take over this large company in LA on Christmas Eve, John McClane just happened to be at the Christmas party with his wife/ex-wife.
#2: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Chevy Chase plays a father who wants to have the perfect Christmas which turns to hell as all of the family shows up early along with his crazy brother. This movie is a timeless classic and is full of laughs. It is always a movie I watch with my family during the holidays.
Honorable Mention: The Muppets' Christmas Carol. How can you not love the Muppets?
#1: The Christmas Story
One of my basketball teammates in the 7th grade informed me of the movie and all of its glory. He asked if I was going to watch the 24 hour marathon on TBS on Christmas Eve/day. I asked what he was refering to and he just told me to watch the movie and I would understand. Ever since that first viewing, I understand. This is the best Christmas movie and clearly worth at least 4 viewings during the 24 hour marathon. I try to watch it at least 6 times and the only time my TV leaves TBS during that marathon is when a sibling/family member changes it. Now I am out and about during this time, so I don't actually watch it 12 (sleep, meals, exercise, travel, etc.) but I try to watch it as much as possible. Whether I'm googling at the leg lamp, laughing at his little brother pretending to be a pig, watching him beat up the bully, or ironically seeing him shoot his eye out, it is definitely worth watching. But that stupid rabbit suit always gets a laugh out of me.
Honorable Mention: Scrooged. A fantastic take on the classic A Christmas Carol. I believe A Chrismtas Carol also needs to be listed as it is a great movie, but I guess watching 3 movies with the exact same plot is a little overkill, even if one has Bill Murray, the other has the Muppets, and the last has George C. Scott.
Need to See: Bad Santa. I have heard it's hilarious but have never actually seen it all the way through.
I guess that's my list. I recommend watch at least 5 if not all of the movies that I've listed this week to put you in a great mood and help give you the holiday spirit.
#5: Home Alone & Home Alone #2
These are classic movies with all kinds of quotes whether it is Kevin calling out in an empty house, "mom? dad? buzz? where are you guys?" or its the gangster movie quote "I'm going to give you to the count of 3...". Or when he is running from Rob Schneider in the Plaza Hotel, these are both classic Christmas time movies. It is every boy's dream to do whatever he wants whether he is getting room service in a hotel or just has the house to himself.
Honorable Mention: The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. I have loved this movie ever since it came out and I'm not sure why. Every time I watch it, someone gives me grief for watching a terrible movie. I don't care. I was a huge fan of "Home Improvement" when I was young so maybe I just secretly have a man crush on Tim Allen or maybe I'm just hoping to become Santa Clause one day. Then I guess I'll have to change the main topic of my blog from Pro Triathlete to Christmas posts and updates on toy making from the North Pole.
#4: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon and Jim Carrey version)
This is a classic Christmas movie so it is a must watch during the holiday season.
Honorable Mention: The Polar Express. I may have been a little old when this movie was released to really enjoy it, but it is a great Christmas film.
#3: Elf
Will Farrell is fantastic in this film (I'm not a huge fan of his). He's so naive about everything in NYC and he reaction to everything is great. And having Zooey Deschanel in it doesn't hurt. The movie helps reverse the myth about Parents actually putting out presents instead of Santa. He clearly states, "They (parents) can't do all of that in just one night. I suppose they eat Santa's cookies as well?"
Honorable mention: Die Hard. One of the greatest action films of all time with Bruce Willis. I may or may not have secretly watched this at a very young age and learned a few words I shouldn't have. Unfortunately for the terrorists that take over this large company in LA on Christmas Eve, John McClane just happened to be at the Christmas party with his wife/ex-wife.
#2: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Chevy Chase plays a father who wants to have the perfect Christmas which turns to hell as all of the family shows up early along with his crazy brother. This movie is a timeless classic and is full of laughs. It is always a movie I watch with my family during the holidays.
Honorable Mention: The Muppets' Christmas Carol. How can you not love the Muppets?
#1: The Christmas Story
One of my basketball teammates in the 7th grade informed me of the movie and all of its glory. He asked if I was going to watch the 24 hour marathon on TBS on Christmas Eve/day. I asked what he was refering to and he just told me to watch the movie and I would understand. Ever since that first viewing, I understand. This is the best Christmas movie and clearly worth at least 4 viewings during the 24 hour marathon. I try to watch it at least 6 times and the only time my TV leaves TBS during that marathon is when a sibling/family member changes it. Now I am out and about during this time, so I don't actually watch it 12 (sleep, meals, exercise, travel, etc.) but I try to watch it as much as possible. Whether I'm googling at the leg lamp, laughing at his little brother pretending to be a pig, watching him beat up the bully, or ironically seeing him shoot his eye out, it is definitely worth watching. But that stupid rabbit suit always gets a laugh out of me.
Honorable Mention: Scrooged. A fantastic take on the classic A Christmas Carol. I believe A Chrismtas Carol also needs to be listed as it is a great movie, but I guess watching 3 movies with the exact same plot is a little overkill, even if one has Bill Murray, the other has the Muppets, and the last has George C. Scott.
Need to See: Bad Santa. I have heard it's hilarious but have never actually seen it all the way through.
I guess that's my list. I recommend watch at least 5 if not all of the movies that I've listed this week to put you in a great mood and help give you the holiday spirit.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
FF update: On to Round #2
Whew. I barely made it past the first round in my playoffs, but I did successfully in both of my FF leagues. This is the 3rd year in a row for making the Final Four in my "college buddies" league, and then this is the first year of my other league so obviously its my first as well.
In the work league, I was going against my roommate who had some very solid players such as Matt Ryan, who threw for 4 td's this past weekend, Lesean McCoy, Antonio Gates, Steve Smith, and Desean Jackson. He actually had Kevin Walter go for almost 20 points as well. Fortunately for me, I had Eli Manning, Ray Rice, Marion Barber, and Rob Gronkowski all have fantastic games. Barber really stepped up for me against the Broncos' defense. But I believe what won me the game was the fact that my roommate didn't start Antonio Gates which boggles my mind. I have no idea why he did this, but he told me his other TE was projected to score more (which I question since he has a TE from the Browns). But I also had Nate Washington and Miles Austin on my bench and started Damien Williams and Anquan Bolden instead (which did not help my score). Anyways, I went into the Sunday night game losing by 12 but confident that Eli could score 12+ points as he was the only player left to play out of both of our teams. Barber was the surprise player on my team and turned out to be a great pick up since Forte is now out for a few weeks. I have another player that I'm looking at picking up this week but will not mention him until after players are cleared to be picked up from my league's waiver wire.
In the other league, we were even just about all day on Sunday but fortunately for me, he always had a few more players playing (or finished playing) than I did and I had a few player playing Sunday evening with only 1 of his WR's to play in the Monday night game. I had a solid 38 point lead going into the Rams/Seahawk's game last night and his WR definitely surprised me by putting up 23 points and making it a close game but I was able to hold on for Victory. Doug Baldwin was his WR which has played well as of late so I would recommend to pick him up if he's available in your league and need a good WR for your team. Marshawn Lynch is just amazing as he's leading the NFL in rushing over the past 5 - 6 weeks. He wasn't on either of our teams, but is definitely worth a fantasy shout out this Tuesday morning.
I had Carson Palmer throw 4 Int's for me which was terrible, but had a new member to my team score 2 td's and rush/receive a lot of yards for a total of 24 fantasy points for me. This was Ryan Grant from the Packers who is stepping in for the injured James Starks. Laurant Robinson and Hakeem Nicks both had huge games as well which really carried my team. Steve Smith from the Panthers had a good game but was overshadowed by my other WR's since he ONLY scored 19 points, ha. There are weeks that I wish I had 1 WR put up 15, haha. David Akers from the 49er's kicked his way to 13 points which I am loving. Him and the 49er's D (which I also own) have had a great year. I was just lucky that Cam Newton didn't have one of his huge scoring games as that would have been the end of my fantasy season.
I have some hard matchups this coming weekend but we'll see how it all plays out.
Ryan Grant, Marion Barber, TJ Yates, Jabar Gaffney, Toby Gerhart were definitely worth picking up this past weekend as they had fantastic games (if they weren't already owned).
Joe Webb stepped in at QB for the Vikings and put up some solid points so he's definitely worth looking at for week 15 along with Jake Locker for the Titans if you need a QB. Or it is always helpful to find the backup player for the big name guy that you just lost to an injury such as the Matt Forte / Marion Barber situation. Or James Starks / Ryan Grant. Or Adrian Peterson / Toby Gerhart. Or Arian Foster / Ben Tate. Do you get my point?????? (This works best with RB's and not necessarily with WR's and TE's but is still worth looking at if you're in dire need)
Tony
In the work league, I was going against my roommate who had some very solid players such as Matt Ryan, who threw for 4 td's this past weekend, Lesean McCoy, Antonio Gates, Steve Smith, and Desean Jackson. He actually had Kevin Walter go for almost 20 points as well. Fortunately for me, I had Eli Manning, Ray Rice, Marion Barber, and Rob Gronkowski all have fantastic games. Barber really stepped up for me against the Broncos' defense. But I believe what won me the game was the fact that my roommate didn't start Antonio Gates which boggles my mind. I have no idea why he did this, but he told me his other TE was projected to score more (which I question since he has a TE from the Browns). But I also had Nate Washington and Miles Austin on my bench and started Damien Williams and Anquan Bolden instead (which did not help my score). Anyways, I went into the Sunday night game losing by 12 but confident that Eli could score 12+ points as he was the only player left to play out of both of our teams. Barber was the surprise player on my team and turned out to be a great pick up since Forte is now out for a few weeks. I have another player that I'm looking at picking up this week but will not mention him until after players are cleared to be picked up from my league's waiver wire.
In the other league, we were even just about all day on Sunday but fortunately for me, he always had a few more players playing (or finished playing) than I did and I had a few player playing Sunday evening with only 1 of his WR's to play in the Monday night game. I had a solid 38 point lead going into the Rams/Seahawk's game last night and his WR definitely surprised me by putting up 23 points and making it a close game but I was able to hold on for Victory. Doug Baldwin was his WR which has played well as of late so I would recommend to pick him up if he's available in your league and need a good WR for your team. Marshawn Lynch is just amazing as he's leading the NFL in rushing over the past 5 - 6 weeks. He wasn't on either of our teams, but is definitely worth a fantasy shout out this Tuesday morning.
I had Carson Palmer throw 4 Int's for me which was terrible, but had a new member to my team score 2 td's and rush/receive a lot of yards for a total of 24 fantasy points for me. This was Ryan Grant from the Packers who is stepping in for the injured James Starks. Laurant Robinson and Hakeem Nicks both had huge games as well which really carried my team. Steve Smith from the Panthers had a good game but was overshadowed by my other WR's since he ONLY scored 19 points, ha. There are weeks that I wish I had 1 WR put up 15, haha. David Akers from the 49er's kicked his way to 13 points which I am loving. Him and the 49er's D (which I also own) have had a great year. I was just lucky that Cam Newton didn't have one of his huge scoring games as that would have been the end of my fantasy season.
I have some hard matchups this coming weekend but we'll see how it all plays out.
Ryan Grant, Marion Barber, TJ Yates, Jabar Gaffney, Toby Gerhart were definitely worth picking up this past weekend as they had fantastic games (if they weren't already owned).
Joe Webb stepped in at QB for the Vikings and put up some solid points so he's definitely worth looking at for week 15 along with Jake Locker for the Titans if you need a QB. Or it is always helpful to find the backup player for the big name guy that you just lost to an injury such as the Matt Forte / Marion Barber situation. Or James Starks / Ryan Grant. Or Adrian Peterson / Toby Gerhart. Or Arian Foster / Ben Tate. Do you get my point?????? (This works best with RB's and not necessarily with WR's and TE's but is still worth looking at if you're in dire need)
Tony
Thursday, December 8, 2011
It's Here
I may not be a Fantasy Football expert but now that I've played for several years, each year with a growing passion for it, I feel that I have a pretty good amount of knowledge about the topic. Today is the first day of the Playoff's. I have Mike Wallace from the Steelers playing tonight in my "work" league and I feel that my team is ready to go. The loss of Matt Forte killed me in my other league, but I was able to pick up Marion Barber in my "work" league so I may have found a decent replacement RB #2 if he is able to pick up a little slack. I know the Bears' offense is in trouble right now with what-ever-his-name-is at QB. The rest of the slots on my team, I feel really good about, other than the Flex position in which I can play 1 of 2 WR's from the Titans, which tend to be hit or miss. I have both Damien Williams and Nate Washington and I'm not sure who I should play. If I play one, the other has a good game, so hopefully I get lucky this week.
In my "college buddies" league, my QB spot is hurting me. I have Palmer, Matt Moore, and Matt Hasslebeck, but am not sure who I should start. They are all playing defenses' this week that aren't the best at stopping the pass. Hasslebeck hasn't had a good game in almost 4 weeks, Palmer has played decent, and Moore is hit and miss with several BIG games. I have Ryan Grant as one of my RB's and that is because of the loss of Matt Forte. Starks tweaked his ankle for the Packers last weekend so Grant may get the start which may be great news for me. I tried to pick up Toby Gerhart who's filling in for Adrian Peterson on the Vikings, but someone beat me to it.
In other news, I had a run last night that was my best run since I got this stupid injury. I went out the door at around 6:45pm (which almost never happens) and decided to jog easy for at least 30 minutes. Turns out, I felt great and my HR stayed pretty low while I was running sub 7 minute miles for 5 miles. Just 2 weeks ago, I was running 7:30 - 7:45 pace with average HR of high 140's. Last night my average HR was 140. I still have some work to do in the pool as I struggled on a set yesterday that had a few 1:10 base 100's which normally I don't have too much trouble making the send off as long as there aren't more than 5 or 6 in a row.
Off to the pool. On a side note, I got super excited last night when National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was on TV. Easily, one of my favorite Christmas movies.
And my fiance and I are currently looking at where we should have our wedding here in Lexington. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to comment or shoot me an email. twhite_4@yahoo.com
Tony
In my "college buddies" league, my QB spot is hurting me. I have Palmer, Matt Moore, and Matt Hasslebeck, but am not sure who I should start. They are all playing defenses' this week that aren't the best at stopping the pass. Hasslebeck hasn't had a good game in almost 4 weeks, Palmer has played decent, and Moore is hit and miss with several BIG games. I have Ryan Grant as one of my RB's and that is because of the loss of Matt Forte. Starks tweaked his ankle for the Packers last weekend so Grant may get the start which may be great news for me. I tried to pick up Toby Gerhart who's filling in for Adrian Peterson on the Vikings, but someone beat me to it.
In other news, I had a run last night that was my best run since I got this stupid injury. I went out the door at around 6:45pm (which almost never happens) and decided to jog easy for at least 30 minutes. Turns out, I felt great and my HR stayed pretty low while I was running sub 7 minute miles for 5 miles. Just 2 weeks ago, I was running 7:30 - 7:45 pace with average HR of high 140's. Last night my average HR was 140. I still have some work to do in the pool as I struggled on a set yesterday that had a few 1:10 base 100's which normally I don't have too much trouble making the send off as long as there aren't more than 5 or 6 in a row.
Off to the pool. On a side note, I got super excited last night when National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was on TV. Easily, one of my favorite Christmas movies.
And my fiance and I are currently looking at where we should have our wedding here in Lexington. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to comment or shoot me an email. twhite_4@yahoo.com
Tony
Monday, December 5, 2011
MIA again
Yes, I know, it has been a month since I last posted (again) but to repeat what I said previously, not much has been going on. I am actually training again which is nice, but frustrating considering my HR is much higher doing much easier bike rides and runs. I put in a solid week last week in which I was very consistent about cycling, swimming, and running for the first time since September.
There have been some big updates in my life though. I missed my family's Thanksgiving get together for the first time in my life because I traveled with my girlfriend to visit her family. I met all of her extended family and had a great time. The family football game definitely got my competitive juices flowing and made me realize that I haven't lost much from middle school football, haha. During this weekend, I was able to have a serious talk with Casey's dad, and as of this past Friday, Casey is now my fiance. So I am now engaged and have another event to plan in 2012. That is the big news for me in the previous month. Other than that, I have just been working, and working out occasionally.
Also, I'm ready to get focused for both of my fantasy football playoffs. In my "College buddies" FF league, I have a pretty solid team, but just took a HUGE loss with the knee injury of Matt Forte. I don't have a solid backup RB, but hopefully Chris Johnson, and my 3 WR's will carry my team. I have been struggling with the TE and QB position all year. I made a STUPID move early in the year by dropping Ben Roethlisberger. I'm not sure what I was thinking but I had just lost in a close match and he was only averaging 14 points a game at the time, so I got rid of him and picked up Josh Freeman. STUPID!!!! Freeman is now hurt and I have started either Carson Palmer or Matt Hasselbeck. MH hasn't played well at all, but Palmer is putting up decent numbers so he may have to carry my team through the Playoffs. And my TE was Dallas Clark, but thanks to Peyton Manning's injury, Clark has had a terrible year and I was forced to pick up a TE off of waivers.
In my "work" league, I lost my #2 RB (Jahvid Best) a long time ago, so I have been battling to find a 2nd RB. Donald Brown was able to have a decent game this past weekend and he scored 12 points for me which is the most points that position has scored for me in a few weeks. Ray Rice and Rob Gronkowski really carried my team with the help of Eli Manning and Mike Wallace. I was able to defeat the #1 team in the league, but all of the teams are so even, it doesn't really matter. There are a few games that still have to be decided tonight to finalize how the playoffs will lay out. I'm really hoping to avoid playing my brother in the 1st round as he lost a few games early in the season due to injuries, but he is definitely the best team in the league right now as he has put up 184 points this weekend with MJD still to play tonight. He is on a winning streak of around 3 - 4 games and seems to win by alot when he does win. When he loses, it's because his team does average, and the other team manages to outscore him by 5 points or less.
So this week, Casey and I are going to do a little research into our wedding plans and I'm going to do a little research of how to fix my RB problem for FF. And also to have another consistent week of training.
I'll try to post more this month. Maybe a post about my favorite Christmas movies, or favorite Christmas foods, who knows.
Tony
There have been some big updates in my life though. I missed my family's Thanksgiving get together for the first time in my life because I traveled with my girlfriend to visit her family. I met all of her extended family and had a great time. The family football game definitely got my competitive juices flowing and made me realize that I haven't lost much from middle school football, haha. During this weekend, I was able to have a serious talk with Casey's dad, and as of this past Friday, Casey is now my fiance. So I am now engaged and have another event to plan in 2012. That is the big news for me in the previous month. Other than that, I have just been working, and working out occasionally.
Also, I'm ready to get focused for both of my fantasy football playoffs. In my "College buddies" FF league, I have a pretty solid team, but just took a HUGE loss with the knee injury of Matt Forte. I don't have a solid backup RB, but hopefully Chris Johnson, and my 3 WR's will carry my team. I have been struggling with the TE and QB position all year. I made a STUPID move early in the year by dropping Ben Roethlisberger. I'm not sure what I was thinking but I had just lost in a close match and he was only averaging 14 points a game at the time, so I got rid of him and picked up Josh Freeman. STUPID!!!! Freeman is now hurt and I have started either Carson Palmer or Matt Hasselbeck. MH hasn't played well at all, but Palmer is putting up decent numbers so he may have to carry my team through the Playoffs. And my TE was Dallas Clark, but thanks to Peyton Manning's injury, Clark has had a terrible year and I was forced to pick up a TE off of waivers.
In my "work" league, I lost my #2 RB (Jahvid Best) a long time ago, so I have been battling to find a 2nd RB. Donald Brown was able to have a decent game this past weekend and he scored 12 points for me which is the most points that position has scored for me in a few weeks. Ray Rice and Rob Gronkowski really carried my team with the help of Eli Manning and Mike Wallace. I was able to defeat the #1 team in the league, but all of the teams are so even, it doesn't really matter. There are a few games that still have to be decided tonight to finalize how the playoffs will lay out. I'm really hoping to avoid playing my brother in the 1st round as he lost a few games early in the season due to injuries, but he is definitely the best team in the league right now as he has put up 184 points this weekend with MJD still to play tonight. He is on a winning streak of around 3 - 4 games and seems to win by alot when he does win. When he loses, it's because his team does average, and the other team manages to outscore him by 5 points or less.
So this week, Casey and I are going to do a little research into our wedding plans and I'm going to do a little research of how to fix my RB problem for FF. And also to have another consistent week of training.
I'll try to post more this month. Maybe a post about my favorite Christmas movies, or favorite Christmas foods, who knows.
Tony
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Where have you been?
It has been exactly 1 month since I posted last and there is one simple reason for this...
nothing has happened lately, ha.
In the middle of September, I suffered an injury to my foot that made me stop running. I managed to run 3 - 4 times a week after I suffered the injury with the hoped that I could still compete in the Rev3 South Carolina race but I wasn't able to hold it together that long. Tri for Sight was on Labor Day weekend and I felt I had a decent race without much foot pain. I did run in some very minimalist shoes to race in which probably didn't help, but at the time, it didn't hurt. The following two weeks consisted of some pretty solid training. Then on a Wednesday, I did a track workout in some racing flats, and that night I was barely able to walk. I talked it over with Casey, who's in her last year of PT school, and she told me it sounded like Plantar Fasciatis. Many people have told me horror stories about this injury, but I've never had any problem with it at all. I have been lucky with the health of my feet but it finally hit me late this summer. My training this summer has mostly been in racing flats and I increased my mileage late this summer, so I believe these both had the effect that it did on my foot. The RJ Corman Duathlon was my last race, and I barely made it through that race. My second 5k was extremely painful. That 5k is the reason that I pulled the plug on the remainder of my season and decided to get healthy.
I am now running again, but noting like I used to yet. I ran a total of 11 miles last week, and am sitting on 9 miles this week. Swimming has been my focus as of late while I continue to take time off of the bike. My bike training will probably resume in the following weeks.
The month of October has been pretty laid back and relaxing. If I wanted to workout, I would. If I didn't, then I wouldn't. It feels great to do this sometimes. I went to Keeneland, stayed up late some nights, caught up on some of my favorite tv shows, and have been reading some interesting books.
On the weekend of October 15th, I was able to reverse my usual roll and play support for my brother and Casey who competed in the Columbus marathon. I made sure to go out of my way and do whatever I could for them as this was their big race. They both finished their first marathon and finished right around their goal times. Ben ran a 2:56 and Casey was 3:49.
Back to the book subject, I more recently finished "Wheat Belly" which was very interesting. The author proposes the idea that today's version of "wheat," that is in almost every triathlete's/runner's favorite dishes, isn't able to be processed by our body. He claims that wheat in 2011 is some genetically modified strain of wheat that has hundreds of chromosomes that our body can't break down, thus causing all kinds of negative effects to our body such as weight gain, memory loss, acne, increase blood pressure, increased cholesterol, the onset of Pre-Diabetes and Diabetes, and much more. He proposes the idea of eating a "hunter/gather diet" meaning to eat only what a cave man would have eaten. A cave man would eat only what he could kill or gather, such as meat, nuts, fruit, and veggies. Now you can also eat things such as rice and potatoes but he warns to do these in limited quantities because they can spike your blood sugar just like a wheat product would thus causing the negative effects in your body, #1 being the storage of visceral fat. They say that 2 slices of whole grain bread can spike your blood sugar higher than a spoonful of white sugar because the Glycemic index is higher.
It is very thought provoking, but is heavily intended for someone with Celiac Disease. Most of his arguments against wheat products are all supported by studies that have been done with people who suffer from Celiac Disease. I'm sure that there are some negative effects on someone who doesn't have this disease, but not nearly as lethal. I know that I'm definitely cutting back my intake of Gluten and wheat products, but I don't know if I'm able to completely cut it out just yet. Mostly just getting rid of the "extra" calories at meals such as bread and desserts (I'll still eat some ice cream).
I'm now reading "The Shining" which is a good read so far. I've never read it before and it's a classic so I figured it would be a good read.
I have nothing planned for the rest of the year, except for getting healthy and getting back into a routine, but until then I will continue to enjoy my time off.
Tony
Monday, October 3, 2011
2nd Annual RJ Corman Duathlon
This past weekend was the 2nd annual RJ Corman Duathlon & 5k. I was competing in the Duathlon as I knew I had a much better chance of winning that race than the open 5k which usually has some ex-collegiate runners show up and go pretty fast. I woke up to 45ish degree weather and some wind and clouds. Nothing crazy, but a little warmer than it was last year. Well, by the time I made it to the race sight at around 7 am, the temperature had dropped a few degrees and the wind was picking up. By the time we started at 8:30, it was about 41 degrees and pretty windy. Before the race, I made sure to get in a good warmup to get my body ready to go. I ran the 5k loop that Mr. Corman has on his property to warmup (which was also the 5k loop we were racing on). I set up my transition and waited until the start.
At 8:30, the gun went off (or I guess it was actually a train horn). I knew Jeff Buhr was racing which came in 3rd place last year, and I also knew Mike Hermanson would be racing which he focuses more on Ironman distance racing. I wasn't sure what kind of shape he was in and whether running or cycling was his strength, but I made sure to keep an eye on him (and he is racing at Kona on Saturday so I figured he was in pretty good shape). Mike immediately took off and I just made sure to keep him close. I ran behind him for the first mile or so and then opened up a small gap on him once we hit the first hill. It stayed about the same until we hit T1. I had a fast transition and was out on the bike. I managed to put more time on him in T1 than I did in the first 5k and I really pushed the pace for the first 5 miles or so of the bike to make sure I had opened up a good gap. I fought the cold, windy weather on the bike and then came into T2 with a nice lead on 2nd place. I've had a little foot pain recently and sometimes it hurts much worse than others. My first step off of the bike, was not a pain free step, ha. I limped into T2, struggled to get my shoes on since my hands were numb, and then took off for the 2nd 5k. It didn't help my foot that the first 100 - 150 meters were downhill, so my foot was taking quite a beating. I set a good pace for that 2nd 5k and just held it there. At about the 2nd kilometer, I saw I had 1.5 - 2 minutes on 2nd place which was nice considering the pain in my foot. I held it together and crossed the finish line in 1st for the 2nd year in a row. Mike had a fantastic 2nd 5k and made up about 1:15 on me.
After the race, I cooled down, stretched my foot, and put on some warm clothes as I was freezing. Mr. Corman had some fantastic food for lunch and then he always has a good time passing out the cash prizes to the overall winners.
Thanks to everyone who helped out with the race, and thanks to Mr. Corman for opening up his private property to a bunch of crazy runners/duathletes who wanted to compete on a cold, windy Saturday morning.
Rev 3 S. Carolina this coming weekend and then I'm done for the season.
T-Bird
Thursday, September 15, 2011
3 in a Row
I know this is a little past due, but on Labor Day weekend I competed in the Susan Bradley-Cox Tri for Sight here in Lexington, KY. This was the first triathlon that I was ever involved with as I volunteered for this race back in 2004 before I got into the sport. The following year was my first year competing as a triathlete. Anyways, I have done this race every year (except 2007) since I got started in the sport and it's always a fun race. I have had some close races with ex-pro David Kuendig (also lives in Lexington, and is a good friend) and there have also been years when I wasn't pushed as much to bring home the big W. Last year my brother came up and we took home the top 2 spots.
This year I was competing against my roommate who had recently finished 8th overall at AG Nationals and also against a fellow Pro and good friend Nick Waninger. Nick drove down from Indiana Saturday night and stayed with me but unfortunately didn't get into town until around 12:30AM and the race started at 7am that morning. So I didn't get much sleep the night before and the pizza that I had for dinner Saturday night wasn't settling well in my stomach. I felt terrible Sunday morning, but didn't want to let anyone know. I made my way over to the transition area, got everything set up, went for a little warmup jog and realized how terrible my stomach felt. I made my way over to the swim start and just sat down hoping my stomach would settle. It did a little but at 7:15, we were off. Kevin was 1st in the water (as it was a time trial start for the 800 meter pool swim) and I was 10 seconds back. I felt ok, but had no speed. The guy who started behind me caught me around 250 meters and this couldn't have worked better for me. I sat on his feet for the rest of the swim and came out in a pretty decent time and had kept my HR pretty low the whole time. I had a good T1 and was off on the bike, chasing after Kevin. I caught him around mile 7 or so but couldn't get away from him so we basically came into T2 together. I took off on the run with a purpose. Because Nick W. had signed up late, the best starting position he could get was #16. So I knew I had roughly a 2 - 2.5 minute lead on him at the start so I would need to finish about that same amount of time in front of him if I wanted to beat him. The only time I had seen him on the course was after the bike turnaround.
My stomach had felt ok up until about mile 1 or so on the run. Then it really started to bug me. I dug deep and tried to maintain my pace. I got to the turnaround on the run (2 miles out, 2 miles back) and couldn't see anyone. I knew I had opened up a good gap on Kevin and an even bigger gap on Nick as I didn't see him for roughly 2 or 2.5 minutes (and he still had at least 2 minutes of running to get to the turn around so I knew I was about 4 minutes up). I didn't back off much, but was able to hold a decent pace all the way to the finish with out throwing up. I crossed the finish line in 1st for the 3rd year in a row and the 4th time in my career here at this race.
I was happy with the effort level considering how terrible I felt and I actually went about 2 minutes faster than last year and the bike and run courses were slightly longer this year (by a few tenths of a mile). Thanks to Beth Atnip who always puts on a fantastic race, and to all of the volunteers who help out with the race. The Delta Gammas were out all over the bike/run course screaming at us and that is always helpful so thank you girls.
I am putting in a little block of training before my last 2 multisport events and a marathon. I have the RJ Corman Duathlon on the 1st of October, Rev 3 South Carolina Half Ironman on the 9th of October, and the Columbus Marathon on the 16th of October.
Tony
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Another 69.1 RR
Steelhead, which is one of my favorite races, was unfortunately turned into a TT start on the bike just like New Orleans 70.3 was this year.
I arrived on Friday afternoon to make sure I would be able to hop in Lake Michigan to get in a little open water swim in my wetsuit. I did a nice and easy 25 minute swim and then met up with my homestay before heading to down town St. Joseph to grab some dinner with Nick Waninger and his friend. The swim seemed a little choppy, but nothing that seemed to hint at the fact that the swim might be cancelled.
Saturday morning, Nick gave me a call and we met up to go for a little bike/run warmup before going to grab some lunch with Eric, Beth, and Jamie at Panera. We heard a little talk going around that there were rip current warnings for Lake Michigan and that the swim was looking very doubtful for Sunday's race. Later in the day at the Pro meeting, they told us more of the same and that if the swim was cancelled, we would start in TT order on the bike in reverse order of our race numbers. After the meeting, I hit up a blueberry farm with my dad and brother, who were in Michigan for work and just stuck around to watch me race, and bought 5 pounds of blueberries and one of the best blueberry scones I've ever eaten.
After a good dinner at Chili's with Dad, Ben, Jamie, Eric, and Beth, I went to my homestay's, got everything set out for the morning, and was off to bed.
Sunday morning actually seemed kind of calm when I woke up but I guess it was the calm before the storm. When I arrived at the transition area, the Lake looked like a washing machine and the winds were howling. They had already cancelled the swim when I got there at 5:30. So, instead of setting up my transition area and then walking 1 mile down the beach to the race start, I just hung out with the other pros that arrived WAY too early for the TT start from the transition area. At 7:15, the first pro was off. Since I was #12, I had a little while before I was to start since there were 39 guys on the start list.
Somewhere around 7:25, I was sent off. I had a few guys up the road that I was aiming to catch pretty fast, but with the wind direction, I knew I shouldn't push too hard too early because we had a head wind for the first 10 or so miles. But I knew this meant we would have a tail wind for the last 15 miles of the ride. About 12 miles into the ride, Daniel Bretscher caught me who started 30 seconds behind me. When he passed, I bumped my wattage up 5 - 10 watts and kept him close without drafting. I passed him back and shortly afterwards Chris Legh and Zack Ruble both passed me. Again, I bumped up my effort to keep them close, which I was able to do. We passed a few guys over the next 10 - 20 miles and a few of those guys jumped in and started to ride "a little close." Before we knew it, we were in a group of 8 or so guys. Chris Legh was the strongest cyclist in the group and was pushing the pace up until 35 miles or so. He actually gapped the group several times, only to have one guy chase him down and bring the rest of the group with him. I made sure to ride at a legal distance behind the guy in front of me, and I would pass them when I felt they were slowing so that I could push the pace. I never knew when an official was going to ride by us so I made sure to keep my distance. After catching some more guys, and having a group of almost 15 or so coming into T2. I was off my bike, had a good transition, and was off on the run. Here is my Garmin file for the bike.
Once on the run, I came out just behind Chris Legh and I was wearing my Garmin 310Xt for the first time in a 70.3 race so I made sure to pace myself instead of going out too hard. I was also wearing my HR monitor so I made sure to keep that in check on the hills. I ran a good pace for the first few miles but let Legh get a little up the road. I was running with Bretscher and Jeff Paul for a few miles before Paul fell off. Bretscher and I ran side by side and really pushed each other. It took us a few miles before we were able to reel in Legh but we held about the same pace for most of the run. Right around the 9.5 - 10 mile mark, Bretscher put a little gap on me and I wasn't able to answer. Legh then pulled away a little but nothing significant. It stayed that way for the rest of the run and that is how we crossed the finish line. Unfortunately, they both started behind me so I knew they had beaten me by more than just that small distance between us at the finish. And there were also some guys that started minutes behind me that crossed the line within seconds of me, so I was just hoping to finish inside the top 8. Here is the Garmin file from the run.
My dad and brother weren't far from the finish and my bro had his iphone with the results pulled up. I quickly saw that I biked a 2:06 and change and ran a 1:15 and change, but that only got me 12th place. I was extremely happy with the effort as I averaged over 300 watts for the first time in a 70.3 and also ran my best 13.1 miles off the bike. There were some fantastic finishes by some of the guys that beat me and congrats to all who participated. Beth, Eric, Jamie, and our Master's swim coach Meagan all had fabulous races and no doubt would have finished even better if there were a swim.
Now I'm back to training and working on my normal schedule. My next "big" race is the Rev3 South Carolina race and I'm not exactly sure what is next up. Thanks for reading.
Tony
I arrived on Friday afternoon to make sure I would be able to hop in Lake Michigan to get in a little open water swim in my wetsuit. I did a nice and easy 25 minute swim and then met up with my homestay before heading to down town St. Joseph to grab some dinner with Nick Waninger and his friend. The swim seemed a little choppy, but nothing that seemed to hint at the fact that the swim might be cancelled.
Saturday morning, Nick gave me a call and we met up to go for a little bike/run warmup before going to grab some lunch with Eric, Beth, and Jamie at Panera. We heard a little talk going around that there were rip current warnings for Lake Michigan and that the swim was looking very doubtful for Sunday's race. Later in the day at the Pro meeting, they told us more of the same and that if the swim was cancelled, we would start in TT order on the bike in reverse order of our race numbers. After the meeting, I hit up a blueberry farm with my dad and brother, who were in Michigan for work and just stuck around to watch me race, and bought 5 pounds of blueberries and one of the best blueberry scones I've ever eaten.
After a good dinner at Chili's with Dad, Ben, Jamie, Eric, and Beth, I went to my homestay's, got everything set out for the morning, and was off to bed.
Sunday morning actually seemed kind of calm when I woke up but I guess it was the calm before the storm. When I arrived at the transition area, the Lake looked like a washing machine and the winds were howling. They had already cancelled the swim when I got there at 5:30. So, instead of setting up my transition area and then walking 1 mile down the beach to the race start, I just hung out with the other pros that arrived WAY too early for the TT start from the transition area. At 7:15, the first pro was off. Since I was #12, I had a little while before I was to start since there were 39 guys on the start list.
Somewhere around 7:25, I was sent off. I had a few guys up the road that I was aiming to catch pretty fast, but with the wind direction, I knew I shouldn't push too hard too early because we had a head wind for the first 10 or so miles. But I knew this meant we would have a tail wind for the last 15 miles of the ride. About 12 miles into the ride, Daniel Bretscher caught me who started 30 seconds behind me. When he passed, I bumped my wattage up 5 - 10 watts and kept him close without drafting. I passed him back and shortly afterwards Chris Legh and Zack Ruble both passed me. Again, I bumped up my effort to keep them close, which I was able to do. We passed a few guys over the next 10 - 20 miles and a few of those guys jumped in and started to ride "a little close." Before we knew it, we were in a group of 8 or so guys. Chris Legh was the strongest cyclist in the group and was pushing the pace up until 35 miles or so. He actually gapped the group several times, only to have one guy chase him down and bring the rest of the group with him. I made sure to ride at a legal distance behind the guy in front of me, and I would pass them when I felt they were slowing so that I could push the pace. I never knew when an official was going to ride by us so I made sure to keep my distance. After catching some more guys, and having a group of almost 15 or so coming into T2. I was off my bike, had a good transition, and was off on the run. Here is my Garmin file for the bike.
Once on the run, I came out just behind Chris Legh and I was wearing my Garmin 310Xt for the first time in a 70.3 race so I made sure to pace myself instead of going out too hard. I was also wearing my HR monitor so I made sure to keep that in check on the hills. I ran a good pace for the first few miles but let Legh get a little up the road. I was running with Bretscher and Jeff Paul for a few miles before Paul fell off. Bretscher and I ran side by side and really pushed each other. It took us a few miles before we were able to reel in Legh but we held about the same pace for most of the run. Right around the 9.5 - 10 mile mark, Bretscher put a little gap on me and I wasn't able to answer. Legh then pulled away a little but nothing significant. It stayed that way for the rest of the run and that is how we crossed the finish line. Unfortunately, they both started behind me so I knew they had beaten me by more than just that small distance between us at the finish. And there were also some guys that started minutes behind me that crossed the line within seconds of me, so I was just hoping to finish inside the top 8. Here is the Garmin file from the run.
My dad and brother weren't far from the finish and my bro had his iphone with the results pulled up. I quickly saw that I biked a 2:06 and change and ran a 1:15 and change, but that only got me 12th place. I was extremely happy with the effort as I averaged over 300 watts for the first time in a 70.3 and also ran my best 13.1 miles off the bike. There were some fantastic finishes by some of the guys that beat me and congrats to all who participated. Beth, Eric, Jamie, and our Master's swim coach Meagan all had fabulous races and no doubt would have finished even better if there were a swim.
Now I'm back to training and working on my normal schedule. My next "big" race is the Rev3 South Carolina race and I'm not exactly sure what is next up. Thanks for reading.
Tony
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Giant Eagle Tri RR
This past weekend was the inaugural Giant Eagle Tri in Columbus, OH. They offered 30k prize money to the Pro's which was paid out to the top 7 athletes. I was excited to race an Olympic distance race which I haven't done since Rev3 Knoxville in May. I also decided to make it a short travel weekend like I did for Muncie 70.3 since this race is so close to Lexington.
I just chilled out Friday here in Lex instead of driving up 2 days early. Saturday I woke up and did a little shake out run before hitting the road to Columbus. I practiced my aero position on the way up and made it to Columbus in record time.
Once at the park, I picked up my packet, chatted with our team director, then hopped in the water for a little swim. It was crazy warm and super shallow but no big deal. I grabbed a little lunch at Panera, came back for the Pro meeting, then headed to my homestay's house. I stayed with Dan Wesley who just opened up a Retul bike fit shop in Columbus and he and his wife were super nice and helpful and I was very grateful to be able to stay at their house. If you life in that area and need a bike fit, check it out. www.triformancesbr.com
After some light conversations and a little dinner, I was off to bed. Unfortunately, it didn't mean I was going to sleep. I had one of those nights where you are wide awake and you can't do anything about. It may have been the 3 large teas I had at Panera for lunch, but I just could not fall asleep. After managing a few hours of sleep, I woke up at 4 to get my usual pre race breakfast down. With the unique set up of a point-to-point triathlon, I had to drive to the finish line/T2 area to park and then take the shuttle up to T1 which was roughly 15 miles away. After a late departure and a very slow drive, the shuttle made it to T1 at about 6:15 only leaving me 45 minutes to do ALL of my usual pre race stuff including bathroom, prep bike/nutrition, body marking, pick up chip, pump up tires, check in swim bag gear, swim warmup, etc, etc, etc.
Anyways, I made it and at 7am we were off. They had to change the swim to a 2 loop swim due to the small swim area in the lake. We only had about a 50 yard swim to the first turn buoy but there were only 20 - 25 of us so I figured it wouldn't be too horrible. When we hit that buoy, it was nothing like an ITU swim and I didn't have anyone grab my head and push me under which was nice. The bad part was I was on the feet of several super swimmers and I didn't need to be there. After swimming a 200 yard PR (I'm guessing), I maxed out and was in trouble. The next turn buoy was roughly 250 - 300 meters into the swim and I had already lost contact of the lead pack. Luckily, when we made our 3rd left turn, it was in about 2.5 - 3.5 ft of water so I started to dolphin dive to try and catch back up. I did 10 - 20 dolphin dives and caught back up to the group as they were all still swimming. Unfortunately, all of those dives spiked my HR once again and I did not stay in that pack for long. The 2nd lap was just about the same and I came out of the water just over 18 minutes with several guys in my sights. I had a good T1 and was off on my bike.
It took a few miles for me to get my HR down from the swim and for my legs to come around, but after about 5 miles I felt fine. I pushed roughly 320 watts and tried to keep it in that range. I figured I would be able to go a little harder but that just wasn't in the cards. I focused on staying in the aero position and not wasting too much energy by spiking my wattage out of turns or by pushing a little too hard on hills. I believe this helped as I caught 4 guys in the first 10 miles and then another guy at around the 20th mile. I wasn't sure what place I was in or how far back I was but I just kept pushing. Here is the Garmin file for my ride.
I came off the bike, had a great T2 (missed the fastest T2 by 1 second) and took off on the run. I heard the announcer say that I was rounding out the top 5 so I figured there had to be a few guys close, but I wasn't sure.
I was wearing my Garmin 310XT for the first time in a race so that I would "pace" myself a little better as opposed to just taking off and then holding on for dear life like I usually do. I could see someone up the road but there was also a 2k walk / 5k run going on at the same time and when I caught that person, it was someone who was doing the 5k run (walk). So as I saw more people, I just figured it was all people in the 5k, but I did see 1 guy who looked like he was wearing a tri suit and I was barely gaining ground on him so I pushed to catch him. I was right, and right at about the 5k mark, I caught him. I was now in 4th and could actually see 3rd just up the road. I kept pushing and gained a few seconds per kilometer on him but the wheels started to fall off with about a mile to go. My HR jumped up a few beats higher and I was slowing down. I never got that close to 3rd place and I crossed the finish line in 4th. This was equal to my best placing at a Pro race and I was very pleased with my effort. Here's my Garmin file for the run.
After the race, I got my award then headed back to my homestay's to clean up then hit the road. Once I was ready to leave, I figured it had been too good of a day so I figured I would back into a sewage drain and give myself a flat tire. I have never changed a flat before (on my car) and this happened to be right in front of my homestay's house. Dan came out and happily gave me a hand. Luckily, this happened where it did as I did not have a jack and he did. We put my spare on and I was on my way at the max speed of 50 mph (I only drove 60 - 65 the whole way back). So, I got back in Lexington about 1.5 hours later than I had planned but I did make it back so I wasn't worried about it.
Next up, Steelhead 70.3 and then.....
Thanks for reading.
Tony
Monday, July 25, 2011
Brick Run after Long ride this past Friday
I'm just trying a few things and this is my first of several workouts that I'll post. I just got a new Garmin so I figured I could share some cool info. This was a 7k (supposed to be 8k but temp's were around 100 degrees so I cut it short) @ a strong pace or roughly half marathon race pace. I did a 4 hour ride preceding this run with some race pace efforts.
Let's see if this works
Tony
Let's see if this works
Tony
Another Post?
Well another solid week of training has come and gone. I am finding myself on another Monday where I'm just chilling and watching a little "Bones" on tv. I realized that July is almost over and I've only posted once during this month. Nothing too exciting has happened since Muncie but my training has been going very well. I got in a very solid training week after Muncie and enjoyed a recovery day on Sunday the 17th by going to the Red's v. Cardinals game in Cincy with my girlfriend and her friends from home. We had a blast and enjoyed some great baseball even though the Reds won.
This past week I got some really good workouts in dispite the heat. I was waking up early to get the hard workouts in and just suffering in the heat for the easier workouts. I think the week caught up with me as I melted on my long run yesterday. Not sure if I was just worn out from the week of training or if the heat was taking the extra energy out of me. I enjoyed sleeping in this morning and a short shake out run in the rain just to help loosen the legs up from last week's work.
I'm looking forward to racing this weekend in Columbus at the "Giant Eagle Triathlon." I haven't raced an Olympic distance triathlon since Rev3 Knoxville in May. Let's hope I can get the leg turnover going this week in time for the race on Sunday.
Tony
And being the track nerd that I am. There was a new AR ran in the 5k recently by Bernard Lagat and you should check out the race. He is a phenominal athlete and I really appreciate a great performance, in any sport. Here is the video.
http://youtu.be/C5eJbkC4iuE
This past week I got some really good workouts in dispite the heat. I was waking up early to get the hard workouts in and just suffering in the heat for the easier workouts. I think the week caught up with me as I melted on my long run yesterday. Not sure if I was just worn out from the week of training or if the heat was taking the extra energy out of me. I enjoyed sleeping in this morning and a short shake out run in the rain just to help loosen the legs up from last week's work.
I'm looking forward to racing this weekend in Columbus at the "Giant Eagle Triathlon." I haven't raced an Olympic distance triathlon since Rev3 Knoxville in May. Let's hope I can get the leg turnover going this week in time for the race on Sunday.
Tony
And being the track nerd that I am. There was a new AR ran in the 5k recently by Bernard Lagat and you should check out the race. He is a phenominal athlete and I really appreciate a great performance, in any sport. Here is the video.
http://youtu.be/C5eJbkC4iuE
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Muncie 70.3
This past weekend I made my first trip up to Muncie, Indiana for the Half Ironman race that has been held there for the past 32 years. I have always heard great things about it and since it is now an Ironman owned event, I figured I would go race. I drove up Friday morning and actually came into town on the bike course so I was able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I drove straight to the race site and got in a little bike ride and open water swim before heading to my homestay's house. Thank you to Karen Wenger and Al Smith for hosting me and Casey for the weekend and giving a place to sleep. After the Pro meeting and an amazing dinner that was cooked by Karen, we sat around and relaxed before going to bed.
Saturday morning was a little different than most race mornings as I got to sleep until 5:15am since the race didn't start until 8am. This was extremely late compared to most 70.3 races. I ate a little food, then headed down to the race site. After racking my bike, I got everything set up and headed down to the water. I was anxious to try out my new Profile Design speed suit as I have never used one before. The water temp was well over 80 degrees so we were definitely not using wetsuits.
At 8 am, the gun went off. I got a pretty good start and was out well. After a few hundred yards, I settled in on some feet and felt good about my position. I got a little too comfortable and I lost those feet. I immiediately put on a surge to get back on but it was too late. I was by myself for 300 - 400 yards before a group of guys caught me. I just sat in that group all of the way until the end of the swim. I came out of the water with a few guys who usually out swim me but also a few guys that I normally out swim so I guess it was where I should have been????
Any ways, I ran into T1 and was out onto my bike. I had a much better transition than I did in Kansas and also Muncie has a much easier first few miles on the bike to get warmed up than Kansas did. It took me a few miles to get warmed up but once I warmed up, I was moving pretty good. I passed a few guys that I came out of the water with and made a move to catch 2 guys that were just up the road. I exerted maybe just a tad too much energy in catching those guys too fast, but it doesn't matter now, I caught them. Me, Joe McDaniel, Zach Ruble, and Daniel Bretscher all stayed pretty close for almost the whole bike leg. We were only about 1 minute or so down from the "main" pack and at both turn arounds we were maintaining this gap. We had a nice little tail wind from 33ish miles up until 45 - 47 miles. It was great to have a nice tail wind during this section. Mike Caiazzo flew by us around the 45 mile mark and kept going. He ended up having a fantastic race and finished 2nd overall.
I came into T2 with the same 3 guys that I had been riding with for most of the bike leg and we were in spots 9 - 12 overall. I had a good transition and was off running. I felt alright, but not normal for the first 1.5 miles. Then it hit me. My legs already felt like jello and it felt like my quads were going to cramp at any second. I backed off a little and tryed to maintain my pace. I could see the "main" pack just barely up the road. They maybe had 1 - 2 minutes on me and I felt that with my running ability that I should have been able to catch at least 3 - 4 of those guys. Well, the wheels fell off and I just went slower and slower. I did catch 1 guy but only to be passed by another. I was sitting in 10th place for most of the run leg and not making up any ground. Once I had covered 5 miles, I had to walk a little. I started walking 30 seconds per 2 miles of running. That plan worked and got me to the finish line even if it wasn't as fast as I wanted to go. Brent Poulsen flew by me around mile 10 and I was able to hold on to 11th postion for the rest of the run.
This was my best swim/bike combo of the year but unfortunately the heat got to me on the run and I just melted. This was my hottest race of the year and I believe I was a little too excited to start the run. I should have been a little more patient and settled into a slower pace to start the run. Maybe I could have held this slightly slower pace and ended up running faster in the long run.
Anyways, I had a decent result given the conditions and was extremely pleased with my bike leg as I have never gone that fast for 56 miles before. Next up is the Giant Eagle Triathlon on the 31st of July. Then Steelhead 70.3 on the 14th of August.
T-Bird
Saturday morning was a little different than most race mornings as I got to sleep until 5:15am since the race didn't start until 8am. This was extremely late compared to most 70.3 races. I ate a little food, then headed down to the race site. After racking my bike, I got everything set up and headed down to the water. I was anxious to try out my new Profile Design speed suit as I have never used one before. The water temp was well over 80 degrees so we were definitely not using wetsuits.
At 8 am, the gun went off. I got a pretty good start and was out well. After a few hundred yards, I settled in on some feet and felt good about my position. I got a little too comfortable and I lost those feet. I immiediately put on a surge to get back on but it was too late. I was by myself for 300 - 400 yards before a group of guys caught me. I just sat in that group all of the way until the end of the swim. I came out of the water with a few guys who usually out swim me but also a few guys that I normally out swim so I guess it was where I should have been????
Any ways, I ran into T1 and was out onto my bike. I had a much better transition than I did in Kansas and also Muncie has a much easier first few miles on the bike to get warmed up than Kansas did. It took me a few miles to get warmed up but once I warmed up, I was moving pretty good. I passed a few guys that I came out of the water with and made a move to catch 2 guys that were just up the road. I exerted maybe just a tad too much energy in catching those guys too fast, but it doesn't matter now, I caught them. Me, Joe McDaniel, Zach Ruble, and Daniel Bretscher all stayed pretty close for almost the whole bike leg. We were only about 1 minute or so down from the "main" pack and at both turn arounds we were maintaining this gap. We had a nice little tail wind from 33ish miles up until 45 - 47 miles. It was great to have a nice tail wind during this section. Mike Caiazzo flew by us around the 45 mile mark and kept going. He ended up having a fantastic race and finished 2nd overall.
I came into T2 with the same 3 guys that I had been riding with for most of the bike leg and we were in spots 9 - 12 overall. I had a good transition and was off running. I felt alright, but not normal for the first 1.5 miles. Then it hit me. My legs already felt like jello and it felt like my quads were going to cramp at any second. I backed off a little and tryed to maintain my pace. I could see the "main" pack just barely up the road. They maybe had 1 - 2 minutes on me and I felt that with my running ability that I should have been able to catch at least 3 - 4 of those guys. Well, the wheels fell off and I just went slower and slower. I did catch 1 guy but only to be passed by another. I was sitting in 10th place for most of the run leg and not making up any ground. Once I had covered 5 miles, I had to walk a little. I started walking 30 seconds per 2 miles of running. That plan worked and got me to the finish line even if it wasn't as fast as I wanted to go. Brent Poulsen flew by me around mile 10 and I was able to hold on to 11th postion for the rest of the run.
This was my best swim/bike combo of the year but unfortunately the heat got to me on the run and I just melted. This was my hottest race of the year and I believe I was a little too excited to start the run. I should have been a little more patient and settled into a slower pace to start the run. Maybe I could have held this slightly slower pace and ended up running faster in the long run.
Anyways, I had a decent result given the conditions and was extremely pleased with my bike leg as I have never gone that fast for 56 miles before. Next up is the Giant Eagle Triathlon on the 31st of July. Then Steelhead 70.3 on the 14th of August.
T-Bird
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Vacation time
I'm now back in Lexington after 2+ weeks of traveling. I started the trip on the Thursday before Kansas 70.3. We drove to St. Louis, stayed the night, then traveled on to Lawrence for the race. After the race, we drove back to St. Louis and stayed two nights with Casey's family. Tuesday came around and we came back to Lexington. Wednesday came and we were off to the Lake for a family reunion. We spent several days at the Lake just relaxing and enjoying a few short and easy trail runs. It is always great to see my extended family that I don't get to see very often and to eat all of the amazing baked goods that everyone brings for snacking. We had some fun laying by the pool and enjoying time out on the boat. Very early Saturday morning, we hit the road from the lake to meet up with my dad's side of the family for our trip to the beach. By 3pm that day, we were in Destin, Florida. We spent a very nice week in Destin before traveling back to Kentucky this past Saturday. Unfortunately my car broke down in Bowling Green so Casey had to pick me up to get me back to Lexington, but I did eventually make it, haha.
Florida was amazing and it was nice to get in some good training on the beach. The weather was extremely hot and humid, but I guess its good for a short amount of time. My hardest run workout of the week was performed at 5am as I was trying to beat the heat. I did some early bike workouts as well as I had to ride on a busy road so if I didn't go early, then I had to fight with very heavy beach traffic for 12 - 14 miles of road. Swimming was the easiest of the 3 disciplines as I had a nice outdoor pool to swim in, and the heat wouldn't affect me as much as the other 2 sports. I did several runs in the afternoon when the "feels like" temperature was well above 100 so that made for some "not-so-easy" easy runs. What always makes vacation fun is being able to spend time with my family as we all live in different locations and of course all of the good seafood. I had Lobster twice (which is my favorite seafood) and then several different types of fish that were freshly caught and prepared.
But it is good to be back and to have a normal routine again. I have Muncie 70.3 coming up in about 10 days and then the Giant Eagle Triathlon in Columbus, Ohio on the 31st of July.
Tony
Florida was amazing and it was nice to get in some good training on the beach. The weather was extremely hot and humid, but I guess its good for a short amount of time. My hardest run workout of the week was performed at 5am as I was trying to beat the heat. I did some early bike workouts as well as I had to ride on a busy road so if I didn't go early, then I had to fight with very heavy beach traffic for 12 - 14 miles of road. Swimming was the easiest of the 3 disciplines as I had a nice outdoor pool to swim in, and the heat wouldn't affect me as much as the other 2 sports. I did several runs in the afternoon when the "feels like" temperature was well above 100 so that made for some "not-so-easy" easy runs. What always makes vacation fun is being able to spend time with my family as we all live in different locations and of course all of the good seafood. I had Lobster twice (which is my favorite seafood) and then several different types of fish that were freshly caught and prepared.
But it is good to be back and to have a normal routine again. I have Muncie 70.3 coming up in about 10 days and then the Giant Eagle Triathlon in Columbus, Ohio on the 31st of July.
Tony
Monday, June 13, 2011
Kansas 70.3 RR
After a couple of solid training weeks, I was ready to race. I felt like a bum during my taper this past week as I was doing a lot of nothing. I am reading a great book that I got for Christmas entitled "Unbroken." Anyways, last weekend I decided to compete in a local sprint Tri to get in a solid effort 1 week out from Kansas and I knew it wouldn't take too much out of me. After some difficulties with the course, I did manage to pull out the win but I could definitely tell I needed to rest more as I didn't feel great in either the swim, bike, or run.
This past Thursday, Casey and I hit the road to St. Louis as we stayed with her parents Thursday evening before heading to Lawrence on Friday. Friday we made it to Lawrence and had a fabulous homestay with Marc. He has an amazing home and Casey and I really enjoyed staying with his family. We even got to Karaoke on Saturday for our evening entertainment.
Saturday was a lot of short, easy workouts, eating food, Pro meeting, and just chilling. I watch the Adidas Grand Prix Track meet on TV and rested before heading out to dinner.
Sunday morning came and I was ready to roll. I got everything ready, set up my T2 before heading down to T1 by the water. At 6:15, I had my wetsuit on and was ready to get started. At 6:30, the gun went off. I had a great starting position on the inside and got out pretty good. I found some feet after about 100 - 200 of swimming and I stayed right where I was for the next 600 - 700 meters. I started to fall off pace just a tad but was really fatigued for some reason. This was the warmest water that I've used my wetsuit in many years and I was getting very over heated. My shoulders were a little tired as I didn't swim in my wetsuit very much leading up to the race as I didn't expect to use it, but these are all just excuses. I lost those feet just before the first turn, and also got hit by a big wave right as I took a breath so it took me 6 - 8 strokes to catch my breath. By that time, a 10 meter gap had opened and I was in no man's land for the return trip to shore. This felt like the longest swim ever. The wind was howling and pushing me to the left so I was swimming like a snake trying to fight the current of the water as I came back to shore. I came out off the water with no one in sight and a feeling that I was in dead last. I hopped on my bike and I was off.
I felt terrible for these first 5 miles on the bike, I had trouble getting my feet in my shoes, and also had a direct head wind. I thought about stopping but figured that I had traveled too far to just stop. I put my head down and went after those guys up the road. I kept my eye on my power and pushed the pace. I caught one guy around mile 8, then didn't see anyone else until Zach Ruble flew by me around mile 22. I caught a few others but wasn't really making up much time on the leaders. The wind was brutal for most of the bike and I was not a happy camper. I had a decent wattage average for my bike split but the time was really slow compared to other years here at Kansas. I came into T2 in about 13 or 14th position with a group of guys just 1 minute up the road or so. I knew if I could put together one of my usual runs, I would most likely catch them.
2 miles into the run I felt terrible. My legs were heavy and I felt like I was slogging along. I passed Zach pretty early in the run but everyone else had at least a minute on me. I held pace for the first lap and loosened up a little but never felt great. Around mile 8, I could finally see places 10th and 11th running together. I passed them around mile 9 - 9.5 and put some good time on them. I was happy to be in 10th given how terrible I felt and knew that 8th place still had a good distance on me. I just ran it in and managed to sneek into 9th position thanks to a guy who went a little too hard on the bike. I crossed the line in 9th place and was extremely happy to be finished.
I am really sore as my shoulders, back, legs, hips, knees, and stomach are all making it hard for me to move normally today. I'm thinking a lot of laying around, or hanging out by the pool if the sun comes out, is my plan for the day. I'm racing in the Muncie 70.3 race in a few weeks but I have 2 good weeks of R&R which will be spent at the Lake this week and then at the beach in Florida next week.
Tony
This past Thursday, Casey and I hit the road to St. Louis as we stayed with her parents Thursday evening before heading to Lawrence on Friday. Friday we made it to Lawrence and had a fabulous homestay with Marc. He has an amazing home and Casey and I really enjoyed staying with his family. We even got to Karaoke on Saturday for our evening entertainment.
Saturday was a lot of short, easy workouts, eating food, Pro meeting, and just chilling. I watch the Adidas Grand Prix Track meet on TV and rested before heading out to dinner.
Sunday morning came and I was ready to roll. I got everything ready, set up my T2 before heading down to T1 by the water. At 6:15, I had my wetsuit on and was ready to get started. At 6:30, the gun went off. I had a great starting position on the inside and got out pretty good. I found some feet after about 100 - 200 of swimming and I stayed right where I was for the next 600 - 700 meters. I started to fall off pace just a tad but was really fatigued for some reason. This was the warmest water that I've used my wetsuit in many years and I was getting very over heated. My shoulders were a little tired as I didn't swim in my wetsuit very much leading up to the race as I didn't expect to use it, but these are all just excuses. I lost those feet just before the first turn, and also got hit by a big wave right as I took a breath so it took me 6 - 8 strokes to catch my breath. By that time, a 10 meter gap had opened and I was in no man's land for the return trip to shore. This felt like the longest swim ever. The wind was howling and pushing me to the left so I was swimming like a snake trying to fight the current of the water as I came back to shore. I came out off the water with no one in sight and a feeling that I was in dead last. I hopped on my bike and I was off.
I felt terrible for these first 5 miles on the bike, I had trouble getting my feet in my shoes, and also had a direct head wind. I thought about stopping but figured that I had traveled too far to just stop. I put my head down and went after those guys up the road. I kept my eye on my power and pushed the pace. I caught one guy around mile 8, then didn't see anyone else until Zach Ruble flew by me around mile 22. I caught a few others but wasn't really making up much time on the leaders. The wind was brutal for most of the bike and I was not a happy camper. I had a decent wattage average for my bike split but the time was really slow compared to other years here at Kansas. I came into T2 in about 13 or 14th position with a group of guys just 1 minute up the road or so. I knew if I could put together one of my usual runs, I would most likely catch them.
2 miles into the run I felt terrible. My legs were heavy and I felt like I was slogging along. I passed Zach pretty early in the run but everyone else had at least a minute on me. I held pace for the first lap and loosened up a little but never felt great. Around mile 8, I could finally see places 10th and 11th running together. I passed them around mile 9 - 9.5 and put some good time on them. I was happy to be in 10th given how terrible I felt and knew that 8th place still had a good distance on me. I just ran it in and managed to sneek into 9th position thanks to a guy who went a little too hard on the bike. I crossed the line in 9th place and was extremely happy to be finished.
I am really sore as my shoulders, back, legs, hips, knees, and stomach are all making it hard for me to move normally today. I'm thinking a lot of laying around, or hanging out by the pool if the sun comes out, is my plan for the day. I'm racing in the Muncie 70.3 race in a few weeks but I have 2 good weeks of R&R which will be spent at the Lake this week and then at the beach in Florida next week.
Tony
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Training Update...
I haven't posted in a couple of weeks so I thought I could give a little update as to how my training is going. I'm currently waiting for my breakfast to settle before I head out the door for a run workout. I woke up starving for some reason so I had to eat a little bit. This past week was the biggest overall training volume week of my life. I hit just over 26 hours total of training. I put in roughly 210 miles on the bike, 57ish on the run, and then somewhere around 32k in the pool. I had several key workouts last week which included hill repeats on both the run and the bike, and then some 70.3 work on both the run and the bike. Some of those 70.3 specific workouts on the bike SUCK!!! They are just mind numbing and hard to find a great place outside to do them without running into a stop sign, traffic, or stop light. I ended up going on the computrainer as it would allow me to control some of the external factors and allow for me to not worry about having to stop during any of my efforts. I had a fantastic run workout Sunday morning that also doubled as my long run for the week so I feel like I have had some great work heading into Kansas 70.3 in less than 2 weeks. But, something that comes with great training is great Recovery days, haha. I slept in yesterday (Memorial Day) as I had toyed around with the idea of doing a local 5k. I woke up and just felt spent. I had a HUGE breakfast and then could not get off of the couch. I then had a decent sized lunch and went to the pool just to hang out. After the pool, I came home only to lay on the couch some more before heading out to dinner with Casey. We topped the night off with a good movie. So, Memorial Day was a success in the fact that I did absolutely nothing productive (other than laundry).
There is a little Sprint Triathlon this weekend in the Louisville area that I'm using as a tune up this coming weekend. Just something to get the competitve juices flowing and get a little speed in before I go races some of the big boys in Lawrence, Kansas.
Tony
There is a little Sprint Triathlon this weekend in the Louisville area that I'm using as a tune up this coming weekend. Just something to get the competitve juices flowing and get a little speed in before I go races some of the big boys in Lawrence, Kansas.
Tony
Friday, May 20, 2011
Rev 3 Knoxville Pics
While we waited for them to let us walk down to the water, Matty Reed makes some small talk with Lisska and I about our wetsuits. Lisska and I both have the new "Marlin" Profile Design wetsuit while Matty already has the Marlin 2 (not yet available). And he told us they have to make a custom suit for him since he's so tall.
Coming back into T2.
This is roughly 1.5 - 2 miles into the run. I got this pic from Competitor.com. They refer to it as the "look back" haha.
This was around 3.5 miles or so into the run and I had just put in a little surge trying to gap myself from Thompson and Richie.
Running out of T1 with my Planet X in hand. Look David Thompson is in yet another race photo with me.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Rev 3 Knoxville RR
This past weekend was the 2nd annual Rev3 Knoxville race. I wasn't in shape to be competitive last year and was upset with myself that I wasn't competing so I made sure to be there this year in good shape. Knoxville is only about 170 miles from Lexington so it makes for a fast trip. It is definitely the closest prize money race (excluding IM Louisville). I headed down on Friday and met up with my team director to get some goodies from the team. I rocked my new US Pro Tri racing kit during the race thanks to Champion System. The uniform was super comfortable and definitely got some attention as I made it in two different photo galleries from the race. I drove to one of my good friends' in-laws' house as that is where I would be staying for the weekend and called it a night. The Cochrans treated me like I was a king and I want to thank them for that. I had a fantastic time staying at their house and was very relaxed the whole weekend. Mrs. Cochran made us rice krispie treats and Strawberry Shortcakes. They were amazing.
Saturday I got my shake out workouts out of the way early, then relaxed for most of the day before we had some great Italian food that evening. Race day rolled around and I was feeling good. After setting up my transition area, I headed down to the race start with my Profile Design Marlin wetsuit since the water temp was below 68. While I was hanging out before the start, Kevin Lisska and I (my teammate) were putting on our wetsuits and Matty Reed came over and gave us a hard time since he already had the Marlin 2 (which I don't believe has been released to the public). At 5 minutes til 7, they walked us down to the water and let us get in. At 7am, we were off.
I got a starting position very close to shore since we would be swimming up stream for the first 500 or so meters. It was great to have some open water and not have to fight with a ton of guys like I did at St. A's. I had a good start and settled into the group around 300 - 400 meters. We hit the turn buoys and were headed back down stream. It was pretty uneventful as I just sat on some feet the whole time back. I ws stuck behind at least 5 - 8 guys all of which seemed like they were swimming side-by-side. I knew it would be stupid to try and get around them so I just enjoyed the ride. We came out of the water and my brother yelled at me that we were the main pack and only 5 guys were in front of us. I had a good T1 and got out with the lead guys from our group. I recognized a few names in our group and knew they were strong cyclists so I knew I would have to go hard to stay with them. I put my head down and forced myself to not let those guys go. I stayed in touch the whole bike ride and was even pushing the pace at several points. We caught 1 guy up the road so when we came back into T2, I was roughly 6th or 7th place as I headed out onto the run. Richie Cunningham and David Thompson both were with me running out of T2. We were 6th - 8th positions. We were chasing after Joe Gambles who was roughly 20 - 30 seconds up the road and we were running away from the other guys that were in our bike group. Thompson pushed the pace for the first mile or so until I took the lead and tried to make a little gap. I was unsuccessful so we just ran hard until we hit the turn around point at around 2.5 miles. About a mile later, we hit a hill and I tried to get away again. Again, I was unsuccessful and we were all still together. Richie took off with about 1.5 miles to go and I couldn't go with him. Thompson responded so they both put about 10 meters on me. It stayed that way to the finish with Richie managing to gap Thompson before the finish line. I crossed in 8th position in a time just over 1:52. I was extremely happy with my performance but it would have been nice to finish 6th instead of 8th. After the race, my dad treated my brother, Kevin, Casey, and myself to Calhoun's on-the-river, which was amazing as always.
Congrats to Matty Reed for pulling out the win and Cam Dye for finishing 2nd. They were really flying out on the road. Thanks again to the Cochrans for letting me stay at their house. Thanks to my dad, brother, and girlfriend for traveling down to Knoxville to watch me race as I'm always excited to have support at races.
I now have a 3 weekend break from racing and next up is Kansas 70.3 on the 12th of June.
Thanks for reading.
T-Bird
Check out these 2 sites for some photos from the race. The photo albums are both entitled "Rev 3 Knoxville"
www.triathlon.competitor.com
www.lavamagazine.com
Saturday I got my shake out workouts out of the way early, then relaxed for most of the day before we had some great Italian food that evening. Race day rolled around and I was feeling good. After setting up my transition area, I headed down to the race start with my Profile Design Marlin wetsuit since the water temp was below 68. While I was hanging out before the start, Kevin Lisska and I (my teammate) were putting on our wetsuits and Matty Reed came over and gave us a hard time since he already had the Marlin 2 (which I don't believe has been released to the public). At 5 minutes til 7, they walked us down to the water and let us get in. At 7am, we were off.
I got a starting position very close to shore since we would be swimming up stream for the first 500 or so meters. It was great to have some open water and not have to fight with a ton of guys like I did at St. A's. I had a good start and settled into the group around 300 - 400 meters. We hit the turn buoys and were headed back down stream. It was pretty uneventful as I just sat on some feet the whole time back. I ws stuck behind at least 5 - 8 guys all of which seemed like they were swimming side-by-side. I knew it would be stupid to try and get around them so I just enjoyed the ride. We came out of the water and my brother yelled at me that we were the main pack and only 5 guys were in front of us. I had a good T1 and got out with the lead guys from our group. I recognized a few names in our group and knew they were strong cyclists so I knew I would have to go hard to stay with them. I put my head down and forced myself to not let those guys go. I stayed in touch the whole bike ride and was even pushing the pace at several points. We caught 1 guy up the road so when we came back into T2, I was roughly 6th or 7th place as I headed out onto the run. Richie Cunningham and David Thompson both were with me running out of T2. We were 6th - 8th positions. We were chasing after Joe Gambles who was roughly 20 - 30 seconds up the road and we were running away from the other guys that were in our bike group. Thompson pushed the pace for the first mile or so until I took the lead and tried to make a little gap. I was unsuccessful so we just ran hard until we hit the turn around point at around 2.5 miles. About a mile later, we hit a hill and I tried to get away again. Again, I was unsuccessful and we were all still together. Richie took off with about 1.5 miles to go and I couldn't go with him. Thompson responded so they both put about 10 meters on me. It stayed that way to the finish with Richie managing to gap Thompson before the finish line. I crossed in 8th position in a time just over 1:52. I was extremely happy with my performance but it would have been nice to finish 6th instead of 8th. After the race, my dad treated my brother, Kevin, Casey, and myself to Calhoun's on-the-river, which was amazing as always.
Congrats to Matty Reed for pulling out the win and Cam Dye for finishing 2nd. They were really flying out on the road. Thanks again to the Cochrans for letting me stay at their house. Thanks to my dad, brother, and girlfriend for traveling down to Knoxville to watch me race as I'm always excited to have support at races.
I now have a 3 weekend break from racing and next up is Kansas 70.3 on the 12th of June.
Thanks for reading.
T-Bird
Check out these 2 sites for some photos from the race. The photo albums are both entitled "Rev 3 Knoxville"
www.triathlon.competitor.com
www.lavamagazine.com
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
St. A's RR
And another race is in the books. This is my 4th race of the year and it is just barely May. I am pumped to be racing this early, but get frustrated when I'm not finishing like I want to. I have to keep reminding myself that I have experimented with some "off" distances and that it is still VERY early in the year.
I decided to make this a shorter trip so that I could stick to my usual routine for a little bit longer. A lot of the races that I've competed in this year has been a 5+ day trip. On Thursday, I got everything packed while getting in my normal workouts for the day. I drove to Corbin that evening and prepared to leave for Tampa first thing Friday morning. Friday was pretty uneventful. Just drove the 700+ miles down to St. Petersburg from Corbin and actually made really good time. I got to my homestay's house around 4pm and went out for a little shake out jog. I should mention that Jeff was an amazing homestay and I don't think I could have had a better place to stay. He provided me with everything that I needed, and was a great host. He only lived a few miles from the race site as well, so it made for very easy travel. He took me to the "Mad Dogs" (the St. Pete Tri Club) cookout Friday night and got to meet several other pros and local triathletes while enjoying some great food. I recognized a few guys, but the club asked all of the pros to stand and there were about 20 of us there, most of which I didn't recognize. I found out that a lot of these guys were from Europe, Australia, or New Zealand and were visiting the US for the first time.
After the cookout, Jeff took me to a chill, little bar in downtown St. Pete to try some of the local brews and listen to a little live music. We only hung out for about an hour as I had had a long day and was ready for bed. Saturday morning I slept in, went for a little bike ride with Jeff, grabbed a snack and went over to the swim course to get in an open water swim. A few years ago I swam in the Gulf as that was where my hotel was and it was as smooth as glass when the Bay was rough and choppy. I figured I better swim the actual swim course this time to get used to the chop and rough conditions. The swim was good, then went back to shower at the house, and made it back just in time for the Pro meeting at the Pier. This is, BY FAR, my favorite pro meeting as they provide us with plenty of great food. Philip LaHaye does an amazing job with the race and treats every pro like they are the returning champ. He really emphasized to make sure that no one was drafting and that the swim course may change due to the predicted wind directions/speed. He had a "Plan B" which most races do not plan for and had everything ready to roll on race morning as the wind was as expected and he had to go to plan B. After the meeting I just went back to the house and hung out before we dropped off Jeff's bike in transitions and found a good place to eat. After stopping at the grocery on the way home, I was lounging on the couch watching the Penn Relays and enjoying just doing nothing by 8pm.
Race morning rolled around which meant a very early wake up call. I drove just down the road to get some McDonald's coffee (as was my only close option) and then came back to the house to get everything ready. At 5:15, I left the house and rode my bike down to the race as it was only 4 or 5 miles. I got everything set up, and was ready to race. They did move the swim to "Plan B" and it is only a 1000 meter swim but it was still a swim. Most races either cancel the swim or make it a duathlon so I wasn't displeased with the decision. Around 7 am, the gun went off and we sprinted into the water. It was a long run on the beach at the start as I'm used to starting very close to the water line and this was roughly 60 - 80 meters until we hit the water. I took the outside as it was only 100 meters or so to the turn buoy which made for a crazy turn since we all hit it at the same time. I learned my lesson from Clermont and went a little wide this time. I only got dunked twice in that first minute or so. I found some feet and swam. We made the final turn and I lost those feet. We had a 150 degree turn to the next buoy and I turned to go to that swim buoy. Everyone else made a 90 degree turn and swam straight to the beach as it was closer. I took a breath to the left and saw guys running down the beach as I was still swimming. I immediately turned and swam straight to shore and then ran the rest of the way down the beach to the "swim exit." I lost a little time during that last 2 - 3 minutes of the swim course by not sticking with the group and going straight over to the beach. We had a long run to T1 and I was out on my bike.
This was my first race on my new Planet X w/ a Quarq Powermeter so I was able to see what kind of power I was putting out during this race but was definitely not letting it restrict me as I needed to catch guys up the road. Before the 5 mile mark, I caught a pack or 4-5 guys and passed them. I caught another guy around mile 10 and the rest of the way was lonely riding. I never really pulled away from the pack so I saw 1 - 2 of those guys towards the end of the ride and we went into T2 together. I had a good transition and was off and running. Two guys ran by me before the 1st mile mark so I thought I was running slow until I saw a 5:15 for my first mile. I tried to maintain this pace as best as possible. I managed to settle into pace and clicked off a few 5:30 miles for the next couple of miles. I got to the turn around point just over 17 minutes and there were a couple of guys that hit the turn around right before me so I was chasing a few guys down. The last 3 miles were pretty uneventful as I did manage to catch a few guys and held 5:30 pace until the finish line. I ran just over 34 minutes which was a PR for me off of the bike. I had no idea where I finished but I knew I wasn't close to the top 10. I cooled down, grabbed some food, got a massage, talked with a bunch of buddies that I haven't seen in a while, and then got my bike. My homestay finished right as I finished all of these things so I talked with him for a few minutes before riding back to the house and packing up the car to hit the road.
It's amazing how less sore you are when you race for less than 1/2 of my usual distance and when you actually cool down after a race. I was pleased with my effort as I got some good numbers from my Quarq about my bike split, and ran a solid 10k off the bike. I need to fight more in the first few 100 yards of the swim but 70.3 swims are nothing like these ITU style swims where everyone is capable of swimming a fast 1.5k.
Thanks again to Jeff for a spectacular homestay and to Philip for putting on a great race. I may just have to go back next year.
Next up: Rev 3 Knoxville - May 15th.
Tony
I decided to make this a shorter trip so that I could stick to my usual routine for a little bit longer. A lot of the races that I've competed in this year has been a 5+ day trip. On Thursday, I got everything packed while getting in my normal workouts for the day. I drove to Corbin that evening and prepared to leave for Tampa first thing Friday morning. Friday was pretty uneventful. Just drove the 700+ miles down to St. Petersburg from Corbin and actually made really good time. I got to my homestay's house around 4pm and went out for a little shake out jog. I should mention that Jeff was an amazing homestay and I don't think I could have had a better place to stay. He provided me with everything that I needed, and was a great host. He only lived a few miles from the race site as well, so it made for very easy travel. He took me to the "Mad Dogs" (the St. Pete Tri Club) cookout Friday night and got to meet several other pros and local triathletes while enjoying some great food. I recognized a few guys, but the club asked all of the pros to stand and there were about 20 of us there, most of which I didn't recognize. I found out that a lot of these guys were from Europe, Australia, or New Zealand and were visiting the US for the first time.
After the cookout, Jeff took me to a chill, little bar in downtown St. Pete to try some of the local brews and listen to a little live music. We only hung out for about an hour as I had had a long day and was ready for bed. Saturday morning I slept in, went for a little bike ride with Jeff, grabbed a snack and went over to the swim course to get in an open water swim. A few years ago I swam in the Gulf as that was where my hotel was and it was as smooth as glass when the Bay was rough and choppy. I figured I better swim the actual swim course this time to get used to the chop and rough conditions. The swim was good, then went back to shower at the house, and made it back just in time for the Pro meeting at the Pier. This is, BY FAR, my favorite pro meeting as they provide us with plenty of great food. Philip LaHaye does an amazing job with the race and treats every pro like they are the returning champ. He really emphasized to make sure that no one was drafting and that the swim course may change due to the predicted wind directions/speed. He had a "Plan B" which most races do not plan for and had everything ready to roll on race morning as the wind was as expected and he had to go to plan B. After the meeting I just went back to the house and hung out before we dropped off Jeff's bike in transitions and found a good place to eat. After stopping at the grocery on the way home, I was lounging on the couch watching the Penn Relays and enjoying just doing nothing by 8pm.
Race morning rolled around which meant a very early wake up call. I drove just down the road to get some McDonald's coffee (as was my only close option) and then came back to the house to get everything ready. At 5:15, I left the house and rode my bike down to the race as it was only 4 or 5 miles. I got everything set up, and was ready to race. They did move the swim to "Plan B" and it is only a 1000 meter swim but it was still a swim. Most races either cancel the swim or make it a duathlon so I wasn't displeased with the decision. Around 7 am, the gun went off and we sprinted into the water. It was a long run on the beach at the start as I'm used to starting very close to the water line and this was roughly 60 - 80 meters until we hit the water. I took the outside as it was only 100 meters or so to the turn buoy which made for a crazy turn since we all hit it at the same time. I learned my lesson from Clermont and went a little wide this time. I only got dunked twice in that first minute or so. I found some feet and swam. We made the final turn and I lost those feet. We had a 150 degree turn to the next buoy and I turned to go to that swim buoy. Everyone else made a 90 degree turn and swam straight to the beach as it was closer. I took a breath to the left and saw guys running down the beach as I was still swimming. I immediately turned and swam straight to shore and then ran the rest of the way down the beach to the "swim exit." I lost a little time during that last 2 - 3 minutes of the swim course by not sticking with the group and going straight over to the beach. We had a long run to T1 and I was out on my bike.
This was my first race on my new Planet X w/ a Quarq Powermeter so I was able to see what kind of power I was putting out during this race but was definitely not letting it restrict me as I needed to catch guys up the road. Before the 5 mile mark, I caught a pack or 4-5 guys and passed them. I caught another guy around mile 10 and the rest of the way was lonely riding. I never really pulled away from the pack so I saw 1 - 2 of those guys towards the end of the ride and we went into T2 together. I had a good transition and was off and running. Two guys ran by me before the 1st mile mark so I thought I was running slow until I saw a 5:15 for my first mile. I tried to maintain this pace as best as possible. I managed to settle into pace and clicked off a few 5:30 miles for the next couple of miles. I got to the turn around point just over 17 minutes and there were a couple of guys that hit the turn around right before me so I was chasing a few guys down. The last 3 miles were pretty uneventful as I did manage to catch a few guys and held 5:30 pace until the finish line. I ran just over 34 minutes which was a PR for me off of the bike. I had no idea where I finished but I knew I wasn't close to the top 10. I cooled down, grabbed some food, got a massage, talked with a bunch of buddies that I haven't seen in a while, and then got my bike. My homestay finished right as I finished all of these things so I talked with him for a few minutes before riding back to the house and packing up the car to hit the road.
It's amazing how less sore you are when you race for less than 1/2 of my usual distance and when you actually cool down after a race. I was pleased with my effort as I got some good numbers from my Quarq about my bike split, and ran a solid 10k off the bike. I need to fight more in the first few 100 yards of the swim but 70.3 swims are nothing like these ITU style swims where everyone is capable of swimming a fast 1.5k.
Thanks again to Jeff for a spectacular homestay and to Philip for putting on a great race. I may just have to go back next year.
Next up: Rev 3 Knoxville - May 15th.
Tony
Thursday, April 21, 2011
NOLA 70.3 RR
Sorry for the delayed posting, but I am back in Lexington and back in full swing with training and work. This past weekend I traveled down to New Orleans with a big crew from Lexington to compete in the 70.3 race there. We left Lexington on Thursday morning in a 15 passenger van which had 4 passengers and 6 bikes along with lots of race bags and suit cases. We made it work and had a pretty good trip down. Once we got there I went for a little shake out jog through downtown New Orleans and then we went on a journey to find some good creole. We were successful but it was expensive.
Friday and Saturday were much of the same as we were getting in a few short workouts, fighting the wind in the process, and then looking for places to eat that wouldn't break the bank. I did get a great breakfast Saturday morning at the host hotel. I had a crawfish omelette, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and some french toast which was amazing. I did get in the lake that we would be swimming in Saturday afternoon and it was very choppy. It was some of the worst water conditions that I've swam in so it made me wonder about the race the next day.
Sunday morning rolled around and it was still kind of windy. We made it down to transition and started to get everything set up when Tom Z. came by to let me know they decided to cancel the swim. Then a few minutes later, they announced it over the loudspeaker that the swim was cancelled. I understood the decision, but was a little frustrated considering my current swim fitness. They decided to start the Pro's in a TT format with :30 between each person. This was the best decision as they considered to make us run a 1/2 mile run before the bike which would have done nothing to break up the Pros.
Anyways, I was number 33 so I was probably 7th or 8th from last of the men's pro field to start with all of the "top" guys seeded 1 - 10. So I would be starting at least 5 - 10 minutes behind some of the faster guys that I could pace off of. The start was built up and then much of a let down as only 1 guy started at a time and it really wasn't that exciting, haha. About 15 minutes after the first guy took off, I started. The first 3 miles were with the whipping wind, I averaged over 29 mph for this section AND THEN I turned into the wind. Mile 3 - 16 were directly into the wind. I caught 1 guy up the road but had 2 - 3 guys catch me during this section. We got a break for about 2 - 3 miles after a right hand turn but then turned back into a head wind before the 20 mile mark and stayed in this direction until the 28th mile. That U turn was my favorite of the whole race, haha. We turned around and immediately my current speed went from 21ish to 29ish mph. I stayed about where I was for the remainder of the bike as I did catch a few guys but also had 1 or 2 more guys catch me. I came into transition feeling like I was close to last place as I had roughly 4 - 5 guys pass me and I was one of the last pro's to start.
I ran through T2 (BTW, I wore socks since we didn't have to swim) and got to my rack position. I slipped my first shoe on and felt something in my shoe. I looked at my other sock and realized I had roughly 80 burs (those little tiny spikey things that stick to your clothes) on the bottom of my foot and it would have taken forever to remove them so I just put my shoes on and took off on the run.
All I could think about for that first mile or so was all of those little burs on my feet, but I started to fatigue a little after that so I stopped focusing on my feet. I passed 3 - 4 guys in the first 2 - 3 miles of the run and was trying to catch a few others. Even if I was running faster than some of the guys in front of me, I wouldn't know it because they started so far in front of me. I was holding a decent pace and I kept pushing. I knew there were valuable WC 70.3 points on the line and I need to get all that I can. I managed not to fall off too bad towards the end of the race and I caught one last guy before I made it to the finish line. I had no idea what my finishing place was or what my time was but I didn't care at the moment.
I immediately pulled my shoes off and got rid of my socks as they were still covered with all of the burs. I was smart about my "swim bag" as I put my jacket in it and also my phone, so I was able to get my bag from the bag check and look up the results on ironman live. I found out that I had finished 15th, which I was hoping for a better finish, but I knew that there were some really fast guys that I was racing, and also some guys that were really strong cyclists/runners that can't swim. I am confident that my placing would have been better if the swim would not have been cancelled.
After the race I waited around for my fellow racers from Lexington while I talked amongst the Pros about their races. I grabbed a little food and we took the shuttle back to the transition area to get our bikes.
That evening I was able to walk down Bourbon St. and find some good Creole food. I tried some boiled Crawfish, raw Oysters, and then a few PoBoys to catch up on my caloric deficit from earlier in the day. And of course I had to try the beignets from Cafe du Monde. They were very good but I think I prefer regular donuts from Krispie Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts.
Next up: St. Anthony's Tri on May 1st.
Tony
Friday and Saturday were much of the same as we were getting in a few short workouts, fighting the wind in the process, and then looking for places to eat that wouldn't break the bank. I did get a great breakfast Saturday morning at the host hotel. I had a crawfish omelette, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and some french toast which was amazing. I did get in the lake that we would be swimming in Saturday afternoon and it was very choppy. It was some of the worst water conditions that I've swam in so it made me wonder about the race the next day.
Sunday morning rolled around and it was still kind of windy. We made it down to transition and started to get everything set up when Tom Z. came by to let me know they decided to cancel the swim. Then a few minutes later, they announced it over the loudspeaker that the swim was cancelled. I understood the decision, but was a little frustrated considering my current swim fitness. They decided to start the Pro's in a TT format with :30 between each person. This was the best decision as they considered to make us run a 1/2 mile run before the bike which would have done nothing to break up the Pros.
Anyways, I was number 33 so I was probably 7th or 8th from last of the men's pro field to start with all of the "top" guys seeded 1 - 10. So I would be starting at least 5 - 10 minutes behind some of the faster guys that I could pace off of. The start was built up and then much of a let down as only 1 guy started at a time and it really wasn't that exciting, haha. About 15 minutes after the first guy took off, I started. The first 3 miles were with the whipping wind, I averaged over 29 mph for this section AND THEN I turned into the wind. Mile 3 - 16 were directly into the wind. I caught 1 guy up the road but had 2 - 3 guys catch me during this section. We got a break for about 2 - 3 miles after a right hand turn but then turned back into a head wind before the 20 mile mark and stayed in this direction until the 28th mile. That U turn was my favorite of the whole race, haha. We turned around and immediately my current speed went from 21ish to 29ish mph. I stayed about where I was for the remainder of the bike as I did catch a few guys but also had 1 or 2 more guys catch me. I came into transition feeling like I was close to last place as I had roughly 4 - 5 guys pass me and I was one of the last pro's to start.
I ran through T2 (BTW, I wore socks since we didn't have to swim) and got to my rack position. I slipped my first shoe on and felt something in my shoe. I looked at my other sock and realized I had roughly 80 burs (those little tiny spikey things that stick to your clothes) on the bottom of my foot and it would have taken forever to remove them so I just put my shoes on and took off on the run.
All I could think about for that first mile or so was all of those little burs on my feet, but I started to fatigue a little after that so I stopped focusing on my feet. I passed 3 - 4 guys in the first 2 - 3 miles of the run and was trying to catch a few others. Even if I was running faster than some of the guys in front of me, I wouldn't know it because they started so far in front of me. I was holding a decent pace and I kept pushing. I knew there were valuable WC 70.3 points on the line and I need to get all that I can. I managed not to fall off too bad towards the end of the race and I caught one last guy before I made it to the finish line. I had no idea what my finishing place was or what my time was but I didn't care at the moment.
I immediately pulled my shoes off and got rid of my socks as they were still covered with all of the burs. I was smart about my "swim bag" as I put my jacket in it and also my phone, so I was able to get my bag from the bag check and look up the results on ironman live. I found out that I had finished 15th, which I was hoping for a better finish, but I knew that there were some really fast guys that I was racing, and also some guys that were really strong cyclists/runners that can't swim. I am confident that my placing would have been better if the swim would not have been cancelled.
After the race I waited around for my fellow racers from Lexington while I talked amongst the Pros about their races. I grabbed a little food and we took the shuttle back to the transition area to get our bikes.
That evening I was able to walk down Bourbon St. and find some good Creole food. I tried some boiled Crawfish, raw Oysters, and then a few PoBoys to catch up on my caloric deficit from earlier in the day. And of course I had to try the beignets from Cafe du Monde. They were very good but I think I prefer regular donuts from Krispie Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts.
Next up: St. Anthony's Tri on May 1st.
Tony
Monday, April 4, 2011
Swimming - Part 2
So, after Augusta, I decided I was going to swim more and do harder workouts. Swimming is the easiest of the 3 sports for me to talk myself out of a hard workout. I may go to the pool thinking about maybe doing 6 x 400 HBA, or 20 x 100 on a hard interval and once I get in the water, it just sounds better to do the Master's workout of the day as it was easier, or to throw on some paddles because I LOVE to swim with paddles. I had 1.5 months before Clearwater 70.3 and I needed to be with the main pack out of the water if I wanted a chance to finish well. I committed myself for the following month to at least be in the water 4 days a week swimming. I was doing some really challenging bike / run workouts so adding in yardage in the pool was a challenge. I did successfully add in harder workouts in the water, but my yardage stayed about the same as it had been before. I was only hitting around 20,000 yards because I was only swimming 4ish days a week, but was feeling better in the water because of the threshold workouts. I went into Clearwater and had a decent swim but nothing spectacular. I came out of the water with some strong cyclists, but had an average T1 and was left in the dust. At least at Augusta I was able to pace off of Chris Legh when he passed me early in the bike to help catch some of the other guys. At Clearwater, Legh and a few others beat me out of T1 so I had no one to pace off of and the few guys that I was catching were slightly weaker cyclists than me, so we were not making up ground on the main pack. I ended up in no man's land and had a pretty average race. After Clearwater, I took it easy for a few weeks, then hit it hard in December. I got my yardage up to over 20,000 yards a week and continued to build from there. I swam over 100,000 yards for January and February, and then March was really close to 100,000 and that included 2 taper weeks for 2 separate races. I have felt a large improvement in my swimming as of late, and I was only 1:05 behind Kahn and O'Donnell at San Juan 70.3. I feel like the only reason I wasn't in the pack was because of the guy in front of me stopping about 1200 into the swim thus opening a small gap from us to the end of the front pack. This is the closest I've been to the leaders in a big race like that and has given me some confidence about my swimming. There are a few small changes I've made in my swimming that have enabled me to do this. 1. Swimming main sets of at least 2400 yards, preferably longer. For distance swimmers I've read it needs to be 3k or more. 2. Lots of drills, and emphasis on 1 arm swimming with the opposite arm at your side. 3. Swimming w/ a pull buoy between your ankles. 4. Cutting back on the # of yards I swim w/ paddles. These three things have helped A TON. I rely a lot on my kick, even when I pull w/ paddles and a buoy, I still unconsciously kick. When I put the buoy between my ankles, it doesn't allow me to kick at all and makes me focus on rotating my body. It also makes me think about keeping balance without using my kick to stabalize myself. I feel like this has given me a better feel for the water. Also, since I'm actually swimming more and not pulling w/ paddles, this also has allowed me to "feel" the water better. The 1 arm drill is incredibly hard when you don't have good body balance in the water. This has been a great drill for me and allowed me to focus on my body rotation and position in the water. The #1 step was swimming longer main sets. On most days, I would swim 4 - 5k but do this by swimming 1.5k warmup, and then 2 sets of around 1,500, whether they were swim, kick, pull, drill, etc. So my usual swim set was only about a mile in length and then 2,500 on super long days. Once the new year came around, I have tried to do a longer main set even on the easier days, but just swimming slower than usual. If on a harder day I'm holding 1:05 pace per 100, the easier days I'm going over 1:10 pace. And I try to include a lot of backstroke on the recovery swim days just to mix it up and not get burnt out on freestyle. Harder days I'll either have fast intervals and have a goal of just finishing the main set, or focus more on pace and take :10 - :20 rest between intervals while trying to hold the pace. And on the harder days, I'll incorporate a long cool down just to help loosen up and get in a few extra yards. I am still working on my swimming as it is something that I will always be working on, but I swam 21,000 yards last week and that was with a recovery day and a skipped swim workout so I'm pretty pleased with where I have progressed to from just November of last year. Tony
Monday, March 28, 2011
Swimming - Part 1
Since I started competing in triathons in 2005, I have made a huge improvement in my swimming abilities, but it has been a long journey. I started swimming for fitness in 2004 when I was injured and I couldn't run. I had a friend go over the basics of swimming freestyle so I went to the pool and put it to work. I swam "water polo" style for awhile but I eventually upgraded to putting my face in the water. I would swim 2 - 3 times a week and I really enjoyed the workout. I decided right then I would also look into cycling and if I enjoyed that I would attempt a triathlon. That fall I bought a bike, liked it, and decided to train for the winter going into the 2005 tri season. That first year competing in triathlons I swam in the ball park of 23 - 25 minutes for a 1.5k open water swim. I did so by swimming twice a week with maybe a third swim on big weeks. I was able to bike/run down most of my competitors at the local races so I was happy with how I was finishing in races. The following year I got a little faster in the water (but not much) and started to win some of the local races (I was also stronger on the bike so that helped). I was swimming 2 - 3 times a week of maybe 3,500 yards. So swimming 10,000 yards in a single week was a HUGE week. I was content with having a small deficit out of the water and then chasing everyone down. This worked great at local races, but I got my eyes opened at USAT Nationals in the summer of 2006. This was my first "big" race so I was very niave going into the race about my abilities. I got SMOKED on the swim. I came out pretty far back from the leaders and was also extremely worn out from the swim. I had never felt that "out of shape" after a swim leg before. I did manage to qualify for the World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. I went there in September of 2006 and again came out of the water pretty far back from the leaders and that left me a lot of work to do on the bike/run. When I got back to the US, I decided I was going to improve my swim. I joined the Wildcat Master's swim team and this helped a lot. I was swimming with faster swimmers, I increased my weekly yardage to roughly 15k a week, and was in the water about 4 times a week. That next spring, my first several races I was in the ball park of 19 minutes for the 1.5k open water swim. I was top 20 out of the water at Collegiate Nationals allowing me to finish in the top 10 overall at the end of the race. I kept that routine for 2007 and really didn't improve much. During the off season after the 2007 season, I decided that 2008 was going to be my year. I worked hard during the off season and was in the water 4 - 5 times a week, sometimes swimming more than 20k in a single week. That season I was regularly in the top 10 out of the water at big races such as Memphis in May, St. Anthony's, Clearwater 70.3, Chicago Triathlon, etc. and this allowed me to finish VERY well in most of those races. I got my Pro card at the end of 2008 and increased my yardage even more in 2009. I was swimming around 100k a month and having some really solid workouts. However, I learned the difference between a Pro triathlete and an AG'er triathlete: Pro's are VERY strong in the water. They were all great swimmers and I went from being top 5 - 10 out of the water to "back of the pack" swimmer. I found that the wetsuit gave me some confidence and I was able to hang with the average swimmers when I swam in a wetsuit. I kept working on my swim, but was getting a little burnt out so I wasn't as consistent with my swim workouts as usual. I might make it to the pool 4 times a week and was putting in about 20k a week, but this was a decrease in yardage from the beginning of the year. I had some decent results for my first year as a Pro, but I was happy to end the season at the end of September after Augusta 70.3. I took a long down period and enjoyed taking time off. I actually enjoyed it too much and didn't train hard until almost April of 2010. I didn't touch my bike for several months, I was swimming but not regularly, and was running only about 30 - 40 miles a week. This really hurt everything that I had built up over the past 4 years. I swam about 4 minutes slower than the leaders at the Kansas 70.3 race. I knew I needed to get stronger in the water. That summer I swam more long course than I ever had and I was actually 4th out of the water in August at the Steelhead 70.3 race. This gave me a lot of confidence about my swimming, so I focused on my run and bike for the next 1.5 months and I lost some of my swimming fitness. I was only in the water 3 - 4 times a week going into Augusta 70.3 and I paid for it. I finished 7th at Augusta 70.3 (after being 18th or so out of the water) and had a "light bulb" go off at that race. It is a down river swim, and I was still about 2 minutes back from the leaders out of the water when I was within 45 seconds of the leaders the previous year. This "light bulb" told me I should work on my swim. To be con't. A great link to check out before I post "Part 2" is from Matt Dixon at Purple Patch Fitness. He discusses the importance of swimming yardage. http://purplepatchfitness.com/purplepatch_fitness/Knowledge+/Entries/2011/2/19_Secrets_of_the_Triathlon__Secret_1_Swim_More!.html
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Pics from San Juan
Our hotel.
Pool #1 (view is from the 3rd floor, but definitely not our room)
Pool #2
And where the lagoon in which we swam in connects to the Atlantic Ocean. You can also see the host hotel on the far right in the pic.
Me sitting pretty on some guys feet in the water. Got this pic since we swam under a bridge and Casey was posted up on the bridge to watch me go by. I was easy to find considering I was 1 of 3 pros not wearing a swim skin and my suit was red.
Me right before heading out for lap #2 on the run.
Here is a pic of me coming into the finish area.
Here is a pic of the sweat bands that Casey made for me out of her old socks when I remembered that I had forgotten to pack mine. They worked great.
Casey and I sitting before our beautiful Mofongos the night after the race. I got one with Chicken and her's was with Pork. That is a Plantain chip that is sticking out from the top.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
My Trip to Puerto Rico
During my trip to Colorado in January to get my USAT Level 1 Coaching Certification, my coach threw out the idea to travel to San Juan 70.3 in March. I kind of laughed off the idea because of how early it was, and I really am not a fan of flying to races. I later decided to go ahead and give it a shot as it was during my GF's spring break so we could have a little getaway.
I left on Tuesday March 15th from Lexington at 6:30am. We had a connection in Charlotte before we headed south. We landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico around 2pm. Luckily, I had no problems with my flights or luggage and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at the Conrad Hotel which was really nice. We did not have an ocean view room, but we were staying there at a discounted rate thanks to Ironman so I can't complain. We mostly hung out by the pool for the remainder of the day and I went out for a little shake out jog before dinner. We tried the hotel restaurant and it was very good, but a little pricey. I did get a side item of fried plantains which was amazing.
The next day I woke up and went for a run, grabbed a little breakfast, then hit the pool. We sat out for a while before checking out the swim course. It just so happened to be attached to our hotel so we only had to walk about 100 meters from our hotel to the starting line for San Juan 70.3. We swam in the lagoon and had a blast. We were told there were Manatees in the water so we kept our eyes open but unfortunately didn't see them. They are very gentle creatures so we knew not to worry about them. We grabbed a little lunch, hit the pool again, and I took off for a bike ride later in the evening. This was an experience. The roads in downtown San Juan are in terrible condition with lots of pot holes. And it was also rush hour so I managed to make it 18 miles over a span of 1 hr and 15 minutes. This wasn't the "loosen up" ride I was expecting so I called it a day. I was scared of getting a flat tire the whole time as I was on my race wheels and I was either stopped at a light or sprinting for my life away from traffic, haha.
We hit up a local Puerto Rican restaurant that evening and it was delicious. I had a stuffed plantain w/ shredded flank steak which is called a Mofongo. And I had to try the local beer of Medalla, which is just a light beer. Nothing too special.
Thursday was more of the same just without the bike ride. We were enjoying the warm weather and taking in a little sun. I had to go up to the room in the middle of the day so I could watch the Cats take on Princeton. We had a much closer game than expected but pulled out the victory in the final seconds. We ate at a local pizza place for dinner and it was very good. Friday I had my usual day before a race day as I had to attend the Pro meeting, get in some short workouts, check in my bike, pick up my packet, and try to rest as much as possible. I managed to swim everyday in the lagoon and Casey swam each and every time with me. We did a little snorkeling without the snorkels after our swim on Thursday which was kind of fun.
Saturday I raced, and then after the race had my feet attended to as my shoes cut my feet up pretty good. This was not the shoes fault as I did not straighten out the tongue of my shoe so it was folded over. I hurried from the medical tent back to the hotel to watch the Cats take on W. Virginia at 12:15pm. I made it back to the room just in time.
After the game I picked up my bike, took it apart, and went down to the pool to relax some. That evening we took a taxi into Old San Juan, ate at "Raices" which was very good (I got another Mofongo, only with chicken this time). We then walked up to the Fort El Morro, to check it out. We couldn't get many good photos as it was already dark but it was extremely nice. We were overlooking the ocean, enjoying the ocean breeze, and checking out some really old Forts that were built by the Spanish (I think?).
We made it back to the hotel and I finished packing my bike before hitting the sack. I did manage to go for a shake out run Sunday morning before my flight and I ran past a bar at 6:45am and it was still bumpin' from the past night. The music was still going and it was still PACKED with people. I thought that was kind of funny as I have never seen a bar still full at close to 7am on Sunday morning.
All in all, it was a great trip. I got to enjoy 80+ degree temps for several days in a row and it was sunny the whole time. I got to race against some of the fastest guys in the World including the reigning Ironman World Champ. I may post some pics that my GF took in the next day or two.
Thanks for reading.
Tony
I left on Tuesday March 15th from Lexington at 6:30am. We had a connection in Charlotte before we headed south. We landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico around 2pm. Luckily, I had no problems with my flights or luggage and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at the Conrad Hotel which was really nice. We did not have an ocean view room, but we were staying there at a discounted rate thanks to Ironman so I can't complain. We mostly hung out by the pool for the remainder of the day and I went out for a little shake out jog before dinner. We tried the hotel restaurant and it was very good, but a little pricey. I did get a side item of fried plantains which was amazing.
The next day I woke up and went for a run, grabbed a little breakfast, then hit the pool. We sat out for a while before checking out the swim course. It just so happened to be attached to our hotel so we only had to walk about 100 meters from our hotel to the starting line for San Juan 70.3. We swam in the lagoon and had a blast. We were told there were Manatees in the water so we kept our eyes open but unfortunately didn't see them. They are very gentle creatures so we knew not to worry about them. We grabbed a little lunch, hit the pool again, and I took off for a bike ride later in the evening. This was an experience. The roads in downtown San Juan are in terrible condition with lots of pot holes. And it was also rush hour so I managed to make it 18 miles over a span of 1 hr and 15 minutes. This wasn't the "loosen up" ride I was expecting so I called it a day. I was scared of getting a flat tire the whole time as I was on my race wheels and I was either stopped at a light or sprinting for my life away from traffic, haha.
We hit up a local Puerto Rican restaurant that evening and it was delicious. I had a stuffed plantain w/ shredded flank steak which is called a Mofongo. And I had to try the local beer of Medalla, which is just a light beer. Nothing too special.
Thursday was more of the same just without the bike ride. We were enjoying the warm weather and taking in a little sun. I had to go up to the room in the middle of the day so I could watch the Cats take on Princeton. We had a much closer game than expected but pulled out the victory in the final seconds. We ate at a local pizza place for dinner and it was very good. Friday I had my usual day before a race day as I had to attend the Pro meeting, get in some short workouts, check in my bike, pick up my packet, and try to rest as much as possible. I managed to swim everyday in the lagoon and Casey swam each and every time with me. We did a little snorkeling without the snorkels after our swim on Thursday which was kind of fun.
Saturday I raced, and then after the race had my feet attended to as my shoes cut my feet up pretty good. This was not the shoes fault as I did not straighten out the tongue of my shoe so it was folded over. I hurried from the medical tent back to the hotel to watch the Cats take on W. Virginia at 12:15pm. I made it back to the room just in time.
After the game I picked up my bike, took it apart, and went down to the pool to relax some. That evening we took a taxi into Old San Juan, ate at "Raices" which was very good (I got another Mofongo, only with chicken this time). We then walked up to the Fort El Morro, to check it out. We couldn't get many good photos as it was already dark but it was extremely nice. We were overlooking the ocean, enjoying the ocean breeze, and checking out some really old Forts that were built by the Spanish (I think?).
We made it back to the hotel and I finished packing my bike before hitting the sack. I did manage to go for a shake out run Sunday morning before my flight and I ran past a bar at 6:45am and it was still bumpin' from the past night. The music was still going and it was still PACKED with people. I thought that was kind of funny as I have never seen a bar still full at close to 7am on Sunday morning.
All in all, it was a great trip. I got to enjoy 80+ degree temps for several days in a row and it was sunny the whole time. I got to race against some of the fastest guys in the World including the reigning Ironman World Champ. I may post some pics that my GF took in the next day or two.
Thanks for reading.
Tony
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)