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
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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
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