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Finally . . . an update

Sorry for the delayed update, but as soon as I arrived home from Lake Placid I headed straight back to the East Coast to spend some time with my family. After visiting Virginia Beach for some time, I headed back home to San Diego and have been consulting with doctors and physicians about the rest of my season.

I went for a short jog after Placid and I finally broke down and got an MRI. I was having pains in my ab and groin for the last 5 months leading up to Placid, but refused to take any time off. I was getting ART, massage and even resorted to a lidocaine injection to mask the pain, but after the race I just could not take training injured anymore. The MRI revealed a 1.5 inch fracture of my right pelvis and I am undergoing some more tests in the next couple of days to determine if I have a hernia as well.

I do not know what the verdict is yet for the rest of the season, but I will be taking a lot of time off right now to let my pelvis heal. Either way, next time I race I will be 100% and will listen to my body.

Keeping my fingers crossed for some good news about the hernia so they do not have to operate!

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Time to reflect

It has been a full week now since IM Lake Placid and I have had some down time to reflect on my race. There were actually many positives I take away from that race:

This was the first time I have ever gone under an hour for the swim.

My transitions were great.

My run was there ( I was running under 7 min miles until my body shut down at mile 11).

When I look at the results, I know I could have run in to the top 5 . My fitness is there and Roch has gotten me right where I want to be. I am still not sure what made me so sick half way through the run, but I am not really going to change my training (if it’s not broken, don’t fix it).

I am back in VB for a family emergency, but once I return to San Diego this week I am going to plan my schedule for the rest of the season. I have too much fitness right now to let it go to waste. I also have cleared my mind and have that itch to race again ASAP.

Thanks to Zoot, Nytro, Zipp, UCPT and Cannondale for supporting me through the season. It is always nice to have people that believe in me.

I have also attached some pictures from Placid . . .

FunkNasty and me dorked out in our aero helmets before the race

The most amazing woman in the world, I know how lucky I am

Pre-swim in the cammo taugs, sharks can’t see me . . .

Meredith, Grady and me swimming

FunkNasty and me dining out!

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I don’t quit

As many of you know I did not have a great race at Lake Placid yesterday. I can not describe in words how down on myself I am today. I trained my butt off for this race, harder than I ever have for any other race. I have had some time to reflect on yesterday and this post will explain to you some tough decisions I made yesterday.

I swam a reasonable time of 59 minutes for the swim. This is the fastest swim I have ever had even though I missed the pack right ahead of me. I really need to work on my swim starts and accelerate hard in the beginning so I can make that pack to draft off feet. I need to be more aggressive. That being said, I exited the water feeling fresh and in a great state of mind. After a quick transition I was off on the bike.

It was pouring down rain right when I got on the bike so I made sure I took the first turns a bit hesitant to find my groove and get my confidence. I felt strong on the first lap of the bike and had ridden in to 12th place off the bike. That bike course is the most brutal course I have ever done in my life.

I started the run feeling very good. I was averaging sub 7 min pace for the first 10 miles of the run and really felt strong. I had moved up to 8th place (pros were dropping out like flies) and was reeling people in. This is when things went south. I had some GI issues and had to hit the can a couple of times. Then things got drastically worse. From about mile 13 - 18 nothing would stay down. I tried everything and it was not staying down. I had violent diarrhea and my body would not hold calories . . . no water, no gels, nothing. At one point I took an entire jug of water and washed my legs and shoes off in the bushes (I was disgusting). Then it progressed to me jumping in to a river to “wash off.” My body then began to totally shut down and I started walking for the first time in my life during a triathlon. I tried to stay as positive as possible and cheered for those I knew that ran by me. After about two miles of walking, the rain and cool temperature caught up to me and I started to shake uncontrollably. This is when I made a conscience decision that I was going to finish no matter what.

I really had a lot to think about for those miles I walked. I thought about Mitch Hall who finished Hawaii 2 years ago when he got the flu the day before. I thought about what Meredith and I were going to tell our children when they got older . . . that Dad never quit no matter what. I also saw a guy running in the opposite direction with one leg and my self- pity went straight out the door.

The last 4 miles of Placid were the hardest thing I have ever done physically in my life, but I finished. Many will read this and think I am an idiot for continuing, but that is who I am and I am too stubborn to give up. Someone told me that everything changes when you are a pro and now “dropping out” would not be that big of a deal. Bullshit. I owe crossing that line to my family, my friends, my sponsors and to myself.

I got an IV in the med tent and had a nice rectal thermometer check for body temp (92 degrees). Ouch! My lips were purple and I was a bit out of it, but came around after about and hour.

Thank you to those who cheered me on out there. It really does help to have supporters. Also a HUGE thanks to my gorgeous fiance who has seen what I have sacrificed to get ready for this race. She is my rock and soulmate.

I will live to fight another day. I promise. This race only made me stronger and I am coming back hard, really hard.

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#3

Meredith and I arrived here in Lake Placid Tuesday morning and are thoroughly enjoying the town and atmosphere of the race. Becky and Tom Czerwinski, our gracious home-stay couple, have really gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. There are 3 other athletes staying with us from all over the world. Aleksandar Sorensen from Copenhagen, John Cornish from Oz and Christian Brader from Germany who I had a chance to meet last year in Kona. All great guys and we have gotten along really well.

The trip over to Placid went well, no delays in airports and no problems with my bike this time! I ran in to my buddy Tim Marr at the airport in Philadelphia (he was on his way back from Rhode Island 70.3) and we had a chance to catch up for a bit before his flight back to Hawaii. Tim is a great guy and athlete who will be racing for the first time this year in Kona . . . he is going to do well over there.

The weather in Placid has been perfect and I have had a chance to swim, bike and run the course as well. This will definitely not be a fast course, but will favor a strong rider which will help me to a certain extent. The run course is also hilly, which will force me to really dial in my pacing, especially for the second loop.

I am race # 3 for Sunday (no, it has nothing to do with seeding - I wish), but it will help many of my supporters to remember such a low number! Everyone can follow the race online at www.ironman.com. This will be my 5th Ironman and my first professional Ironman race! I am really getting excited to race . . . only 3 more days!

I will write some more posts when I have some downtime on Friday and Saturday.

Thanks for reading!

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The Hay is in the Barn

The long training sessions in preparation for IM Lake Placid are now over. I am doing things a bit differently this year with my taper so we will see how my fitness plays out come race day. I have to try new methods to learn what works best for me. This will be my 5th Ironman and I am coming to the start line with some solid fitness. I did the work . . . all of it.  However, I know everyone that lines up on that start line will be fit so it comes down to a matter of execution. I can not wait to race.

Also - our camera is broken so we will be posting pics from Placid once Meredith and I decide which camera to purchase.

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Mental Toughness

I came across this article by Joe Friel the other day and really thought it spoke volumes about athlete’s attitudes . . .

Mentally Tough
© 2006 Joe Friel

Why are Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan often referred to as
being the greatest of all time in their respective sports? Is it due to genetics or
opportunity? To nature or nurturing? Were they naturals destined to succeed if
they were only given the chance to appear on the playing field?
These are hard questions to answer because it’s difficult to separate natural
ability from hard work. But one thing we can certainly see in these three
exemplary athletes is their dedication to improvement. Armstrong was well
known for his daily six-hour rides, repeated practice on key routes in the Tour de
France, and weighing every bite of food that went into his mouth.
After Woods won the 1997 Masters Tournament by a record 14 strokes over
second place he set about improving his swing so he could be even better. After
winning the four major tournaments on the PGA Tour in succession, the only
man to ever do so, he again went back to work on improving his swing. And he
has single handedly changed the work ethic among most of the formerly fat and
flabby pro golfers.
After being cut from his junior high school basketball team Jordan was more
determined than ever to prove himself. Never one to rest on his laurels, Jordan is
well known among basketball fans for staying after practice to work on his
“weaknesses.” It would appear that hard work was a major component in the success of each of
these athletes. But was it the main reason for their success? Recent research
seems to indicate that the answer is “yes.” This research goes even farther by
suggesting that it takes ten years of focused work on one’s sport to reach the
threshold of greatness. That is certainly true with the three athletes described
above.
As a coach for 26 years I’ve seen essentially the same thing—the athlete
improves physiologically for about seven years and continues to improve
performances for at least another three years just because he or she is wiser in
regards to what it takes in training, racing and lifestyle to succeed. This timeline
holds true regardless of the age at which the athlete starts training and
competing.
The key to all of this hard work over many years is more mental than physical, I
believe. Being mentally tough is what eventually produces high level
performance in athletes once they have achieved their physiological peak. What
does it take to be mentally tough? There are four qualities I look for in athletes
does it take to be mentally tough? There are four qualities I look for in athletes
who say they want to perform at the highest levels:
Motivation - Can you train alone or do you need to be with others to
complete hard sessions? Do you workout regardless of environmental
conditions such as rain, snow, wind, heat, darkness or other potential
training interruptions? ! Discipline. Do you shape your training and lifestyle to fit your goals? How
important to you are nutrition, sleep, periodization, goal setting, skills,
attitude, health, and strength?
Confidence - Do you go into a race with a plan? Do you believe you can
succeed even when the conditions are not favorable? Which do you think
more about—the controllable or the uncontrollable variables? Do you
believe you can or question if you can?
Patience - Do you need immediate success or can you postpone it until the
time is right for you even if that is years in the future?
My experience has been that if any one of these mental toughness qualities is
lacking the athlete will not achieve his or her lofty career goals. When I am
interviewing an athlete to see if we can work together I ask lots of questions to
measure these mental skills. Few athletes have high levels in all of them. I’ve
only coached one athlete in more than two decades who I felt was exceptionally
mentally tough. He became US Olympic team member. I am currently coaching a
young athlete who also appears to have exceptional mental toughness. But only
time will tell.
Can you improve your mental toughness? It is philosophically possible, but
unfortunately, I don’t think every athlete will. This is perhaps where the nurturing
part of the success equation is most evident. Some parents seem to instill and
refine these mental toughness qualities in their children at an early age. Others
don’t. What do the successful parents do that’s different? I wish I knew. It is
probably hundreds of seemingly insignificant interactions that take place on a
daily basis from birth through the formative years. This is beyond my expertise as
a coach.
Perhaps the best thing you could do to improve your mental toughness skills is to
work with a sports psychologist much the same as you would work with a coach.

I also spent some time watching the US Open golf tournament this year in San Diego and really though Nike produced a pretty damn cool commercial with Tiger, enjoy . . .

Tiger Nike commercial

Have a safe 4th!

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San Diego International

For the last 3 years I have always had a conflicting race the same weekend of San Diego International. I have raced IM CdA the last 2 years so International was not a racing option, but this season I finally had the opportunity. In 2004, my first year living in San Diego, I decided to race International having no idea what I was really doing. I had purchased a road bike right when I moved out here that Winter and was just competing as a CAT 5 rider in some local bike races.

Leading up to the race Meredith and I had an opportunity to attend the 30th anniversary screening of Big Wednesday. The movie was showing on the big screen at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas and there was no way I was going to miss it. Big Wednesday is one of my all time favorite movies and my buddy back home gave me the heads up on the screening. Meredith and I had a great night and even got Dennis Aaberg (co-director) to sign a poster for good friend/training partner Kim McDonald. Aaberg wrote, “From one legend to another. Good luck in Kona.” As we left La Paloma that night, Meredith and I both commented how we loved living in San Diego. I honestly have no desire to live anywhere else in the US.

Friday morning was the usual 6am swim at Powerhouse Park next to the lifeguard tower in Del Mar. The water temp was 70 degrees and flat as could be, perfect conditions for me. Roch brought out his paddle board, which helped with sighting, as he was getting ready for his race (in which he killed it) on Saturday morning. That night Meredith and I had a nice dinner at the Carlson’s and had an opportunity to meet Luke and his wife Lucy. Good night with great food and great people .

Sunday morning came before I knew it and the alarm went off at 3:45am. Yes, 3:45am. The pro wave was set to start at 6:40am and the last time I did International I was putting my wet suit on when they blew the horn for my wave to go off. I have always been the first guy to transition at races many races since then. I did my usual warm up jog, bike check, and looked things over one last time before heading to the start. The Harbor was flat as could be, which I was very thankful for. My last two races have been extremely windy/choppy and I do not swim well when the conditions are bad.

The gun went off and I immediately got kicked in the face and had to do some backstroke to empty and reset my goggles. I rebounded quickly and then proceeded to hammer to try and stay with the pack. I got dropped pretty quickly, but still hung in there as best I could. I exited the water about 1:30 back from the pack, had a quick transition and was off of my Slice.

I felt pretty strong on the bike all day and it definitely helped that James at Nytro had fixed some of my wheel bearings a couple of days before. The Sub 9 and 808 front were fast as could be! I began to pick some guys off and saw the usual guys drafting (no surprise) and my good buddy Daniel Derkacs got some good shots of the guys trading pulls on the loop up to Cabrillo. Gotta love that! All that did was fire me up and I was able to out ride the pack while working by myself. I really felt bad for Luke because he had his nose in the wind all day doing his own work.

I managed to come off the bike in 8th place and was planning on running my way up in to the top 5. I managed to get to 6th place, but did not have the leg turnover I was hoping for. I was passed in the last tenth of a mile and ended up finishing 7th overall. Once again, not the result I wanted, but this is not the type of race I have trained for all season. I know the fitness is there, I just need to trust my training and get ready for Placid.

Thanks for reading . . . next stop Ironman Lake Placid.

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The value of a coach

Ever since I raced in St. Croix and got my butt handed to me by “real” professional triathletes I have changed my outlook on the sport. Let me define a “real” professional triathlete. Professional triathletes are paid by their sponsors and win prize money. Between the two incomes, they can live a relatively comfortable life. There are a handful of athletes that compete in this sport that I consider professional triathletes . . . I am definitely not one of them. Triathlon, nonetheless, is now what I do for a “career.” Last year as an amateur I could do group rides/runs and get enough fitness from those workouts to have a relatively successful season. My training was whatever I felt like doing that particular week and the idea of a long workout solo was out of the question. I liked to train with my friends and race them on Saturdays and Sundays. Going hard every workout was not a problem. However, this year my natural athletic talent is not nearly enough to hang with the big boys.

In order for me to understand what it took to get to that next level I needed to go to somebody who knew what it took to race at that level. I hired a coach who has the knowledge of what it takes to win big time Ironmans. I took a step back and really found out why I was not competing well and what we needed to do to get me to that next level. My problem has never been training enough, it has always been trying to combine too many hours with too much intensity. Come race time I was cooked. The only races I was properly tapering for were Ironmans. No coincidence that those were the races I was doing well in.

Two weeks before Boise 70.3 I began my preparation for IM Lake Placid. The workouts were long, but manageable and every day I stepped out the door knowing there was a specific purpose to the workout. I no longer train with anybody else so I go my own pace and can recover for the next days workout. Ever since I hired a coach my fitness levels have skyrocketed and my confidence has gone way up. I am no longer leaving everything in training and have been able to hit each workout fresh.

I can not tell you how important having a coach is to me. I need somebody to hold me back and explain to me why going hard all the time is not the answer. I urge everybody who is contemplating buying a power meter or race wheels or a new bike to reexamine their reasons for buying the gadgets. You are looking to get faster . . . I understand. I guarantee you if you invest that money in to the right coach, he/she will save you more time than all of those gadgets combined.

Only 4 more weeks until Placid, I can not wait to race!

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Weekend Update

Not much to report from this weekend. I am fully recovered from Boise and am really doing some solid IM training in my build to Lake Placid.

The results tab and homepage on the site got a bit of a facelift over the weekend as well. Hopefully, the set up is a little more user friendly.

. . . and lastly, congrats to Mark for winning the swim and setting the pace at Eagleman 70.3 before making an early exit today. Once he gets healthy and puts some miles in his legs, he will be a huge threat in years to come!

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Boise 70.3 Recap

Last weekend I traveled to Boise, ID to compete in the 1st ever Boise 70.3. I was lucky enough to find a home stay with Rhonda Holder (thanks Rhonda!) who regularly hosts baseball players throughout the Summer. She lived in Meridian, a small town outside of Boise, and had even borrowed her mother’s car so I would be completely mobile my entire trip. Rhonda picked me up from the airport, after my flights were delayed for multiple hours (of course) and we headed back to her house, all the while getting to know each other. Once I arrived at her place, I unpacked my bike box to find that my brand new Zipp Sub 9 disc had a nice new crack in it, courtesy of the nice luggage gorillas from United Airlines. I was a little mad to say the least considering it was packed in a padded Zipp wheel bag inside a thick plastic box.

Once I chilled out a bit I went for a nice :30min easy jog to loosen up the legs. Rhonda invited me to go to a local volleyball game in town that night, but I was pretty tired and opted for a nice dinner all by my lonesome. I did find some fat free frozen yogurt in town and enjoyed it while watching Kobe dominate the Spurs.

The days leading up to the race are always tough for me. I try to rest my legs as much as possible, but I really like to explore the host city. One of the cool things abut racing triathlons is seeing different parts of the country I would never ordinarily see. Friday morning I woke up early and rode the Greenbelt down to the Reservoir where the swim start took place. The Greenbelt is a paved trail that runs along the River for miles and has some pretty nice views of the surrounding foothills. I then walked around downtown Boise (Bodo) a bit during the day and headed back to Meridian for a nice jog on the grass fields right near Rhonda’s house.

The day before the race is always very stressful for me. I really do not get nervous until I get to the pro meeting and see everybody I am racing. The atmosphere is filled with so much nervous energy, but I like it. It means I care and am ready to race. After the meeting, Kate, Jeff and I headed to the swim start at Lucky Peak. The race coordinator had told us the water temp was 59 degrees at the pro meeting, but there was no way it was that warm. However, I was pretty happy to see the lake was flat and the water visibility was excellent. I would be able to sight with no problems and see feet to hang on to. After the swim, we drove the course and decided the bike was going to be pretty fast and fair.

RACE MORNING!

Sunday came quickly and I awoke to 52 degree weather and howling winds. At least it was not raining like they originally called for. I got to the swim start, after hiking up a dirt hill for about 3/4 of a mile, to see that the lake was choppy as hell. Sweet. After setting up my transition and giving my bag to Jeff I got in the lake and warmed up a bit. Warmed up is not what happened. The lake was freezing. There was no way it was 59 degrees, 55 at best with the air temp at 52. I got out right before they played the National Anthem and my head was pounding (ice cream headache), only to then get back right in to the water before the gun went off. The cannon went off and away we went. We swam directly in to the wind chop so sighting was tough. Every time I looked up I swallowed about gallon of water. I definitely zig-zagged the course as well and did not swim in a straight line. Another tough swim and was out 7 minutes behind the leader. Needless to say I was a bit pissed off.

After the swim, the race got better. I settled in to a groove on the bike and could feel the work I had done the past two weeks paying off. I have not put in the mileage on the bike this year so my bike has not been that strong in previous races. This will change now in my build up to Placid. I came off the bike in 15th place and my legs felt pretty good. I settled in to a 6:10 mile pace and held it throughout the run. I passed 4 people on the run and ended up in 11th place.

I was not very happy with my swim and am actually very frustrated. I have done the work in the pool and am just waiting for it to pay off one day . . . and I think it will. My bike and run are where they need to be right now, but I have A LOT of work to do before my next Ironman. The work will get done and I will be ready to race on July 20th. I will be in the best shape of my life when I line up for Ironman Lake Placid.

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