To be Naive

Another race has come and gone.  I had the opportunity to compete in the last Rev3 Pro race in the near future.  Unfortunately for me, I raced some pretty fast boys.

Naive: adjective (of a person or action) showing lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement.

This describes me to the "T."  I had huge goals coming into this year.  2009 was my first year competing as a professional triathlete, and I went into that year with similar goals to mine this year.  I was a first year pro and fully expected that I could win several Professional races and would just excel as a "professional" athlete.  I found out early on that year, that racing against Age groupers/amateurs is a whole different ball game than the Pro's. 

I eventually got stronger and faster and during my third year racing as a Pro, I had some good results and unfortunately picked the big prize purse races to be my A races for the season.  Well, when there is a large prize purse, the "big" boys show up.  I finished inside the top 15 in two races, the top 10 in two others, and only once in the top 8 which is what earned me a pay check.  I got injured towards the end of that year (2011) and then didn't do another Pro race until New Orleans of this year (1 month ago).  

My off season training this year had been pretty solid, but looking back on it, I didn't really ride my bike that much.  And looking at my recent results, it is showing that I didn't ride my bike that much.  I was feeling strong during most of my workouts, only missing a handful of workouts all year, and had a lot of confidence going into NOLA.  I expected to pick up right where I left off in 2011.  At that point in time, my 1/2 Ironman race pace efforts were in the ball park of 300-320 watts and Olympic distance was 320-340.  I could then get off the bike and run 5:30-5:45 pace depending on the distance.  Even when I ran "bad" I was sub 6 min miles for 13.1.  

Well, I didn't pick up where I left off and am realizing I have a long road ahead of me.  My competitors have only gotten faster, and I missed 1-1.5 years of training that has left me playing catch up.   

Rev3 Knoxville was the worst kind of Pro field for myself.  There were 6-8 "super" swimmers and probably another 6-8 that were really good swimmers.  And then a few other guys.  The field was small only being about 20-25 guys.  Where I'm at right now, I just don't have that kind of speed in the water.  At NOLA, there were about 30 guys there, and only 1 super swimmer, Andy Potts.  I was able to keep the pack close and stayed on some feet for almost the whole swim in NOLA. I came right out of the water in the mix of things. At Knoxville, if the whole start list had raced, my race might have played out a bit differently as I could have come out of the water with a few guys, rode hard, and maybe stayed close to everyone. 

Unfortunately, I got dropped about 4 minutes or so into the swim and swam solo the rest of the way.  I was 16th or so out of the water, only about 1 minute back from 3-4 guys.  I took off hard on the bike, but never saw a soul until I got passed at about mile 20.  I kept him close and I rode into T2 about 30 seconds behind him.  I felt strong, but just never got into a rhythm, especially in the aero position which is important in these races.  Because of this, I lost a lot of time on the bike and came into T2 WAY behind everyone else.  

Starting the run and having a little fun.

I started the run with my family and Casey yelling for me and getting some great photos. This helped me get my mind right and prepare myself to suffer for 10 miles of running.  I started clicking off 6 minute miles and at about half way, I realized I had 2 guys only about 30 seconds up the road.  I picked up the pace and negative split the run.  I caught both of those guys and ended up finishing in 16th place.    

I can't thank Casey, my dad, and my step mom Phyllis enough for coming to watch the race.  They gave me the motivation I needed when the race wasn't going like I wanted it to. 

Casey and my family have been huge supporters of the whole process.  During the 2012-2013 winter, I had convinced myself I didn't want to race anymore and Casey supported whatever decision I was going to make.  I got a lot of questions from my family and in laws about my racing and I always just gave some general answer and would end up dodging anything specific.  Later in the year, I realized how much I missed the sport and started training again.  The few local races I did only added fuel to the fire for my return to racing.  I knew my first few races this year would be a re-learning process, but I expected to be in the mix a little more than I have been.  I now know what I need to work on, and in what direction I need to head.  My coach, Beth Atnip, has helped me a ton in the past month since NOLA and if I keep progressing like I have been, then I expect to be back in the mix.  I just have to trust in the process, the work I'm putting in, in my Lord and Savior, and to have confidence when racing.  

Kansas 70.3 is in less than 3 weeks and I'm back at the grind. 

Thanks for reading. 

What the heck is Vector 450????

This is a great new product that I have fallen in love with.

When I was first introduced to Vector 450, I had no idea what I was even looking at.  I was told that our team, Tri4Him, was sponsored by Vector 450.  and I was like, cool?  It was a bottle of pills that could potentially help me during heavy training loads.  I guess I'll give it a shot, it was approved by USADA/WADA and was taken by some of my fellow athletes and even Lebron James???  Of course I'll try it.

Vector 450 contains Muno-IgY which stands for Immunoglobulin from Yolk - found in the common hen egg yolk.  It supports your body's immune system.  It helps it perform optimally and properly.
When I first started taking it, I looked a lot like this...

I may be exaggerating.

Well, now almost 2 months later, I have been taking it daily, and am a huge believer.  I started only taking 1 pill per day since it was my only bottle and it had 60 pills in it.  I could make it stretch 2 months.  But I ordered some more after 2 weeks and immediately started taking 2-3 pills a day depending on the day.  I take 2 pills every day, and 3-4 on days that have a lot of volume/intensity.

And now I look like this...

ok, maybe not, but it's a metaphor for how I feel ;)

Benefits that I have personally noticed:
1. Makes me VERY regular, if you know what I mean.  I have yet to make an "emergency" stop during a training run since I started taking Vector 450.  I wake up, have my morning coffee while reading my daily devotional, drink my UCAN, do my "business" and then go out and knock out my morning workout.
2. Helps with Allergies.  I have always had a little issue with seasonal allergies and I always relied on Sudafed until I got my pro card and found out it was a banned substance.  I immediately stopped taking Sudafed and just suffered with slight allergy problems since 2008.  Nothing crazy, just lots of stuffiness which turns into snot rockets during training run/bike/swims.  But since I started taking this, I have noticed I can breathe out of my nose better than I have been able to in the past 3-4 years.  and it has been allergy season.
3. Faster recovery.  Most recently, I did a 65 mile bike w/ efforts going straight into a 5 mile run with some short efforts.  The next day I had a very challenging longer run which I didn't think I could do after Saturday's workouts.  I ended up having a great workout.  This has happened on multiple occasions when I had back-to-back tough days and I nailed all of the workouts.  But I have only been able to do this since I started taking Vector 450.
4.  Less soreness.  I guess this goes along with the faster recovery, but I couldn't believe how good I felt after NOLA 70.3.  The only soreness I had was from my little spill I had the day before the race and bruised my ribs.

If you want to give it a shot, use my code to order some and get a pretty good discount.  TWHITETRI14

Check out their website for more info...

Vector 450

Tone Loc

ps.    In all honesty, I have lost weight, but I believe that was due to the fact I cut ice cream from my diet for a few weeks.  During the winter, I eat A LOT of ice cream.  Vector 450 is not a weight loss or muscle building supplement.  Just having some fun  ;)