Much like writing your own eulogy it must be painfull to do it once, a second time? Down right evil. Lets go back to a simpler time......
Topeka Tinman:
My second race of the season an Olympic distance race inTopeka, Kansas.
Being my first open water swim with a large group I took it pretty easy in the water. I felt like I had finished the swim strong, passing and catching a bunch of guys in the last 500 yard. I was pleased to exit the water somewhere in the top 10. Out of T2 I could tell it was going to be a really windy day out there, which I thought would be better for me, being a stronger cyclist and a smaller target. Out of the gates I passed a few guys right away, then I caught my cousin Bob (An awesome triathlete and one of the best all around guys in his age group world wide) by mile 7 and blew by him. Up ahead I saw the race leaders, you could tell they doing there best to battle the hard South winds. I slowly but surely had been pulling them in and was only about a 1/4 mile off there back wheel when we came to an intersection at around mile 17. I believe it was here where my entire season was sent off course temporarily. Kind of like that other famous intersection, Four Corners, where the devil made a deal for rock and roll, maybe not. The terrain was really undulating and I couldn't see ahead that far, so when the officer told me to turn left I did. Keep in mind the actual left hand turn was only about a 1/4 mile ahead, in hind sight this made pretty good sense. I rode about 3.5 miles down that rode, feeling more and more alone, kind of like the boy who begins to whistle in the woods at night when he is lost.
When I pulled up
to the next intersection it was painfully clear I was off course, I turned around and blazed back towards the intersection. When I re-arrived the police officer who sent me off course was still there "guarding" the intersection. You could tell he was kind of waiting for me, almost like he couldn't believe how long it had taken my dumb ass to figure out I was off course.
I asked him "officer, why did you send me off course".
He replied shrugging his shoulder and raising his palms up in a sort of clueless manner.
"I didn't think you were in the race".
It all made perfect sense to me then, how stupid I was to have those race numbers written on me, and that helmet with the big number ID and my stupid race wheel set and bike set up. I probably shoud have worn something more recognizable like hunting cammo and carried a shotgun, that way it would have been very clear- "I am here for the triathlon"!
You live you learn, the last time a cop made a technical error that involved me I saved about 2 grand and kept my ass out of detention. I guess me and the law is even now.
I finished the bike doing 28 miles of the 20 miles course, then took it easy on the run, I figured I would never be able to coast on a run again like that. I ended up 47th place overall, just out of the prize money. The only bummer was that if I would have ended the bike in the position I did, I believe I would have had a shot at the race. I am a strong runner and pulling back a quarter mile is always possible.
Spirit of Racine/US Pro National Championships
Well when your hot, your hot! When you got it, you let it ride. I would love to tell you that this race was a disaster because of a flat tire, that seemed to take forever to fix, or from the two times I threw my chain and actually had to stop and get off to fix. No this race was a disaster long before and after all of this happened; honestly in the end it would have barely come into changing the outcome. My first mistake was adding this race as late as I did to the agenda (about two weeks before hand). My second, being completely and totally overtrained, something my coach and I have addressed and corrected.
The swim was brutal, I fell off the pace of the front side almost right away and with it began my hardest day yet in the sport of triathlon. Let me put this in perspective for you, in 2003 IM Kona I caught two flats and was stuck on the side of the road for 30 plus minutes and then proceded to run on a completely busted right hip to finish. That race in Hawaii in no way touched the depths of desperation I felt in Racine, nor came close to matching the emptiness I would feel crossing the finish line. Racine would, in the end, be the toughest race I ever finished.
Back to the swim. The water in Lake Michigan was pretty choppy that day, I do great in flat conditions, okay in large swells, but choppy is really not my deal I think it has to do with the having to really focus on my breathing patterns. I came out of the water dead last of the pros, but I knew that something more was "off" than just being in choppy water. I think I knew even that morning it was going to get worse from there.
Moving in and out of T1 I even felt weird, as if all since of urgency was gone, I am usually pretty good at hustling through T1 and T2. Right away on the bike I could tell I was dragging, I didn't have any "snap" or "kick" at all in my legs, this was all to clear when guys I know and train with started to catch me. Keep in mind I wasn't in pain and I didn't feel like I wasn't working or hurting, but guys that I know who can't hardly keep my wheel during training rides where blowing by me. One of my friends Mark Carey (who I have to give props to for a great race) was a little shocked when he caught me, he rolled up on me and did a double take then just staight up asked.
"You feeling a little flat today?" The bizare part of that statement to me was how bad I must of looked, and been unaware of it, almost as if there was
a sign on my back. I must of looked bad, I even tried to sit on Mark's
wheel for a while, not to get an advantage, my race was long since over, but really just to see if I could find a rhthym again and get things going. It was useless, I felll of his wheel and stugggled in.
I have only DNF'd once in my life, to this day I feel it was justified and do not regret that descion. I have never walked the run or any portion of it in any race. In Racine I wanted so badly to do both, I felt like I totally embarrased myself and that I had no buisness racing as a pro. What was I thinking? Why do I feel like shit? Have I completely out performed my talent and long since peaked? I knew what I was doing this whole time, but when you get in that rut and your falling apart it is so difficult to talk yourself out of it. That was all I thought about for 13+ miles, it took me 1:22:00 to get through that run a long time by my standards and I swear I
was giving it my all that day. My legs, arms and lungs had no answer for
my brain that day.
My bike avg mph was only 22mph my run split and swims a dissaster, I left the race, packed and drove back that night with my friend Adam McIntosh.
Even though I had plane ticket out first thing in the morning I wanted to just get moving. I figured the car time would give me lots of time to try and figure it all out.
In hindsight, I was trying to throw in an "A" race performance in the middle of being totally overtrained. My coach had let me get away from using my powertapp and hr in training. I had begun to be consumed with quantity over quality and so on. My resting HR had been elevated and my sleep sub par in my journaling the three weeks prior. All classic signs of being overtrained, I addressed this immediatley with him and we quickly went into a rest intensive mode, doing nothing for three days and then simply jogging or riding for fun no watch, no gps. It was good to get my brain back on.
Oh yeah, I finished 8th out of the pros putting up a 4:30 something.
Concrete Man-
This race was the weekend after US PRo Champs, we were in town for my wifes 10 year highschool reunion. My coach and I decided that if I felt good it would be a good idea to try and "get back on the horse". I had a solid race, I had felt a slight bug working in my stomach and throat the entire week previous so I had to avoid the "red zone". I knew that I was going to have to go at about a 1/2 IM pace.
I swam well, killed the bike and had a strong run. I ended up crossing the finish line second. True to 2006 form though when I checked the results I amazingly had dropped to 10th place. Apparently I covered the 5 mile run course in 37 minutes (that is somewhere in the 7:20 range) I have had bad days, heck the week before was one of my worst, but I would know if I had ran that pace. All I can figure is that they put in me in a different "heat" and added about ten minutes to my time. I have e-mailed the race directors but heard nothing back from them.
Ladies and Gentleman that is all I can give you for race updates. I told myself afterTin man that I would hold off and couple that race report with the next, surely it would be more positive. I am afraid if I don't do something to break the cycle or end this hex I will end up insane. I am off to Arkansas next week to race in the heat and humidity, where I am most at home.
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It never got out of the mid-fifties, it never stopped raining, I never was warmer than I was in the swim and I never want to race under those conditions again. A brutal, demanding and completely unforgiving day for all athletes from the fittest and strongest to those who at midnight, an enduring near 17 hours of early like winter conditions made it across the finish line. An honest and sincere tip of the hat to anyone who didn't snap and pack it in. It was best summarized for me when at mile 55 I passed a shivering and blue lipped Jesper Blake, the German stud with three other top ten Ironman finishes who could hardly talk or for that matter maintain control of his bike. Who ever said that low body fat and power to weight ratio was beneficial in cycling obviously never raced in a winter league.The swim set the tone for the day winds were constant from the "go" at 15-25 from the North East and it stirred up an evil, evil chop on lake Monona. The IM Wisconsin swim course is a two loop swim course shaped like a rectangle, the first half mile down was tough a rolling but inconsistent swell for about 1000 yards. At the turn buoy you turn East and suddenly you are swimming into the wave pool at Ocean's of Fun. I think I must of drank a gallon or so of that good ol' lake Monona lake water yesterday. A pack of about 6 of us endured the hardest and longest swim I have ever been a part of, to put it in perspective the fastest male pro did not exit the water until 55 minutes, about six minutes off the norm. No one broke the 51 minute mark, unheard of at this course.Ironman Wisconsin is famous for it's ridiculous T1, as you exit the water you run about a quarter mile to the start of the "helix" a walkway much like at Royals stadium then after only about another half mile of running you finally arrive at your bike. It was in the changing room of T1 you had to make a decision, do you take the time and put on extra layers, in what seams like minutes ticking off the clock, you recklessly try and pull Lycra up and over your wet body, here you bite the bullet or pay the piper soon after. Speaking of which, the bike is where all the fun really begins, so after the quick dip in the washing machine I'll tell you about where the race really began.The bike course has a twelve mile out then two loop course, it is an extremely demanding course on a great day. Throw in the kind of conditions we had and it becomes the deal breaker, the fastest time on the day was only 5:10, unheard of! I just kept telling myself that I had to eat and drink, every aid station I forced myself to take on gatorade and GU, in these conditions if you start to feel hungry, you can forget about coming back form the dead. In every race you feel significant highs and lows, but when you get low and your near hypothermic the mind is so prone to collapsing. My low came at mile 90 it was here when I came near the crest of one of the more significant climbs of the day. As I made my way to the top an age grouper who was on their first lap was making the climb about 10 yards ahead of me. Just as he was begening to crest the hill he started to do the "squirley snake", you know, where you feel like if you cut it back and forth from one side of the road to the other you just might, maybe, make it over that bastard. I am coming up on him and telling him "on your left, on your left!" he keeps on cutting it back and forth, but now he is on the back side of the crest. I am thinking to myself I am going to just bust out and by him to the left, as I make my move he cuts back hard in my direction. I start yelling again "on your left, on your left goddam it!". Just then his aero horns and mine lock and he cuts back to the right snapping us on to the ground and me over my handle bars. He lands on top of me driving his cleat into my right shin, my left leg burns almost instantly. I get up and look down, the guy is in la la land on the ground, I really think he was oblivious as to what he just did. At this point a couple of spectators have our bikes up, my brakes are all bent of and my wheels are knocked off center. My left and right legs are cut up, my left knee all ready starting to swell, my left arm and elbow, road rash. The hardest part of this was the let down after having my adreneline surge to deal with the incident. Just two miles down the road my stomach and body just crashed, just as we turned in to make the last 12 miles we took on a mean ass head wind 25 mph when gusting. I pulled everything out of my pockets four GUs a Bakers Breakfast cookie and ate them right then and there. The run was horrendous cold, wet rain fell the entire time. My left leg was burning with the pain setting in from my crash, and I was trying to get my nutrition on line. Out of T2, two guys dropped me in the first mile, and I was moving. I felt really good about the way my run was starting out and these guys just flat out dropped me, I would see them again in 5 miles. The run got to cold that the entire second loop I was having trouble grabbing items at the aid stations I couldn't seem to open and close my fingers and I was basically just slapping gatorade out of the hands of the volunteers. I was never happier to find the finish line coming across the line tenth and feeling completely wasted. I hate these conditions and it took all I had to hang in there yesterday, I just kept telling myself all day that as a firefighter on September 10th I wasn't allowed to quit. If I really wanted to honor the 343 brothers that gave all and marched to certain death to save thousands and thousands I had a responsibility to live in the same spirit. Simply said, to give my all and march on, to do otherwise would be to dishonor them and their memories. Today as we look back on the events of five years ago, we should forget the politics and look to all those who answered the call on September 11th 2001 and what they proved and gave to us. The human spirit is still good and strong we need to honor it. I want to congratulate Barry Ogden, Dave Cee and Chris Yows as well as all the others who hung in there yesterday, to finish is always the goal. Yesterday it was an especially admirable one to achieve.
I am thinking back right now to everyday this past July and August when I would hold off on my bricks and long runs until the heat of the day. I always wanted to get my body trained so that I would be able to handle any conditions and mentally toughen myself. Great idea and perfect timing being that it was the hottest avg. high July we ever had in the big cow town, no sir no shortage of heat, humidity and misery this summer. Some one apparently forgot to tell me that my big "A" race was going to be held in mid 60's with rain and clouds up in Madison, Wisconsin. In a drastic turn of tempurature from the past two years of record heat hear in the dairy land we are staring down perfect weather for London for Sunday's big dance. Well the beuatty of Ironman racing is that you will be miserable no matter the conditions for the majority of the day only a fool lets something like weather surprise them or dissuade them. I feel great about my conditioning, training and mental state right going into the race my coach and I have really set my body up for success. A big thanks to Joel at the store for making my equinox 11 hum and pimping my ride with that killer new white handle bar tape, only the engine can fail us now. I am going to be riding a zipp disc and 404 front wheel on the course, though it's fairly technical I think the aero benefit out weighs the slight handeling challenge. It has also been a long time since I wore arm warmers, which I assure you, will be on my skin little body come Sunday. Wisconsin is a challenging course very hilly and unforgiving if you go out to hard a course that when it does sneak up on you will tear your head off, a lot of good athletes have fallen hard on the run. I am going to go heavy on the nutrition this race, only because I think in colder conditions we forget to drink and eat. You just don't feel as compelled when your aren't sweating and heating up. As always I will be stocked full of GU and GU2O products all the way, I think that a GU gel every 30 to 40 minutes during and Ironman is conservative and that if you really want your stomach and body to balance this is a good routine to get into, you will burn off the calories if you happen to be excessive. GU has a new product that they unvieled here at IM WI, Strawberry Banana it is awesome get your hands on it soon.In other news my taller, better looking cousin Bob was up in Canada two weeks ago handing out "beat downs" to any one and every one under and over the age of 43 showing he is still a force to be reckoned with. Bonswatt took 31st overall and 3rd in his age group once again qualifying for Kona were he will join his brother (my cousin) Matt in October. Go get em' boys!Well that is all I have for now, come Monday morning I'll let you now how it all plays out. Want to send a couple shout outs to fellow athletes from Kansas City, Dave Cee, Chris Yoos, Barry Ogden, Don Little, Ann, Dennis and Curt here's to going fast and being patient.
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