Alabama Coastal Triathlon

S/B/R/Time - minimal this week.  Weather + other "stuff" got in the way of any decent taper training this week.  Not that I would have gotten a taper really, thanks a LOT Brian! Ugh.  Regardless, the week was going to be pretty normal until a drive down to Fort Morgan, AL to spend some time at the beach with my family and race a fast olympic with fellow Stover disciple Chad Williamson.  A course we both did last year, so it would be a good test to see what (if anything) had changed with us (and the course).

Somehow, magically (again like last year), the race was announced to be 78 degrees in the morning despite being low 80s the day before, making it wetsuit legal.  I was annoyed by this.  How is it possible for an OCEAN to drop so much in temperature overnight?? I was intially planning on wearing my wetsuit but as time wore on I did some thinking and eventually decided to wear my Blue Seventy TX3000 one piece.  Ultimately I figured that in spite of the time I would save in the swim with the wetsuit, it was not worth enduring the warm waters, the long run up the beach, and taking it off.  I was happy with my decision.  Most people were not wearing a wetsuit as it turned out; I would doubt most Gulf Coasters own them ha!

Swim "1500m" in 16:33 (top 3 is as close as I can tell)

The first, most obvious, and only change to the course from the past year was that as opposed to a single "loop" 1500m swim this year it was going to be a double loop.  It would require the racers to head out into the surf from the beach (in a TT start every 5ish seconds), swim three sides of a square, get out of the surf onto the beach and cross a timing mat, then maneuver back through the waves and out to do the loop again. Oh, and then exiting and running up the beach to the timing mat.

(Mostly) needless to say I was a little unhappy about the set up for this swim.  Last year's swim was super easy and efficient.  It was also a lot closer to 1500m.  This swim may have been shorter, but the effort level was pretty darn high due to the entry/exit and the large swells present in the Gulf that morning.  The breakers weren't too bad but there were large rollers that made me a little seasick.

Chad and his racing buddy Lori started maybe 10-15s in front of me and I actually made up most of that just getting into the deeper water.  The way to the first buoy was the roughest but once we turned left we went with the existing current and it ''felt'' very, very fast.  The next left took us back up to the beach where I exited, ran across the mat, took a quick look back and waded back in to the water.  My HR was exceptionally high at this point so I took out the first leg of the second loop pretty easily.  There was a wetsuit wearer I had caught up with at this point so I just drafted off him to make my life a little easier.  The second loop was mostly uneventful but we did catch many later starters (and much slower swimmers) which made it a little more interesting.  I definitely swam over some people unexpectedly.  Oops.  It's hard when you're going so much faster.  Backdoor (frontdoor) brag alert.  I exited the water for the second time and ran up the beach, figuring I was close to the front and if anyone was in front of me they were a swimmer (and therefore not a biker).

T1 in 2:13

There was a long run to the bikes, but I was pretty efficient in transition and made my way out pretty quickly.

Bike 40k in 54:24 (1st)

Onto the bike I couldn't see anyone ahead of me although I knew there were. We had a nice headwind on the way out, which was expected, so I put my head down and started pumping out some watts.  After a minute or so I realized my Garmin wasn't reading Brian's disc powertap and so I had to fiddle around with the computer.  I only lost about ~2mins there, however, so no big deal.  (Joking).  The course was basically an out/back along Hwy 182 to a big ol' bridge; up and over that bridge then around behind said bridge, then up and over that bridge back east on 182.

After another couple of minutes I could see the lead motorcycle (pretty cool that this small race has a lead motorcycle for the cyclist in said lead position) and deduced with my magic eyes that there were two riders sharing the lead.  It had seemed to take me a while to catch them but once I got close it was obvious that I was going much faster than the two of them.  The guy in second was riding one of the lowest positions I've ever seen from behind with a decked out P3 (1080/disc, Ventus, etc) so I kind of expected him to try and go with me when I passed him and the dude with him (the other guy was obviously a swimmer).  Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for myself, he did nothing of the sort.  I didn't look back again until about 20mins in as I was beginning the bridge and I could see no one behind me.  With that sight inspiring confidence I climbed the bridge (pretty decent climb actually), descended and turned onto the horseshoe shaped road that went under and around to the other side.  As I was getting back onto the main road I saw that the "pack" including Chad was just turning off the bridge.

Heading down the bridge and back east I got a sweet, sweet tailwind and used it to full effect for the next several miles.  Average 28+ mph is a lot of fun.  Backdoor (frontdoor) brag.  Eventually the lead motorcycle turned me right to go into Gulf Shores State Park for another out and back spur of 6-7 miles.  The first part of this was into a slight headwind (northeast) then the road gradually turned left and became a tailwind.  After the turnaround I was able to get an idea of whatever gap I had and saw Chad pounding away behind me with a big gap on 3rd place.  I can't do math quickly enough so was unsure how much of a lead I had; in any case a lead is never big enough so I did my bestest to not slow down at all.

Eventually I got back on 182 and from there on it was frank and beans to the wall to the transition area.  I hopped off my bike with expeditiousness and ran across the mat.

T2 in 1:17

T2 was a quick affair and I was mostly perfect, although the insole of my Hyperspeeds have become less stiff and therefore tend to bunch up in transition.  This is probably my last race with them this year, however, so it is what it is.  I felt very warm in transition so I was nervous about the very sunny run.

Run 10k in 40:20 (2nd?) 

Heading out onto the run it was instantly obvious that it was going to be a very warm 6.2 miles.  The sun was out, it was blazing and I did not run fast.  This is one of the slowest 10ks I've had in recent memory and I'm mildly embarrassed that it was my time.  While I never should "give in" on any race I was fairly confident that I had a sizable lead on second place and therefore "gave in" a little bit.  I was either not ready, not capable, or not willing to subject myself to what would have been the misery of an actually "fast" 10k run in those conditions.  The way out was dead flat and with a tailwind (so it FELT really, really hot) and after the turnaround it was a headwind and dead flat (so it FELT hot and slow).  After it all, only one guy ran under 40 minutes (just barely) so it was obviously just a slower day than usual.  Last year I ran a 36:20 or thereabouts on the same course and I was honestly hoping to run a 35ish this year but it was just not going to happen this day.  All that being said, the rest of the run continued on rather uneventfully and I trotted slowly across the line to finish first in 1:54:45.  A pretty fast time on a fast course.

All in all, I was happy with the effort.  I can't really compare it to last year because the swim was much shorter (3 minutes?) and it was significantly hotter this year.  I was expecting to win this race and was happy to not disappoint myself (or my parents, who don't get to watch me race very often).  It was a good weekend of going fast and going very, very easy the rest of the time and relaxing on the beach.  The best part was that on Sunday and Monday the mornings dawned nice and cool (60-65 degrees) with extremely flat ocean conditions...  Doesn't it ALWAYS work out that way??

Now THAT is a week of training

S - 20,100 yards
B - 233.5 miles
R - 47.4 miles
Time - 23.9 hours

A solid three weeks ends with one of the bigger weeks I've had this summer.  There's no substitute for miles and yards and I tried to live that mantra as much as possible during this what-turned-out-to-be very humid week of August.  It's almost as though someone upstairs wanted to save money on their electricity bill and flipped off the limited AC we'd had through most of August.  I guess the switch-flipper wanted to see how we'd handle a little adversity!

I swam five times, ran six and biked five times to get me to the totals you see above.  This week I was really impressed with myself (as usual) because (it seems) countless times I felt awful during a run or bike warmup and managed to pull out a very good "workout."  Of the two run workouts I did, unfortunately I can only say that about one of them.  The two weekend rides began with my legs feeling like absolute no-watts-to-be-found bricks and the workouts themselves went surprisingly well! Swimming was...well, swimming.  Some good and some bad in there.  But still, I haven't hit 20k+ in a long, LONG time.  (too long).

This upcoming week looks to have a couple of "normal" training days then a drive down to Gulf Shores, AL to spend some time with my family and race the "Alabama Coastal Triathlon," an olympic a mere 20 minutes from our beach house.  Last year this was the race at which the "Best of the US" championship was held and I had a pretty good day, placing 5th.  My times were something like 19:45 (current aided no wetsuit, despite being wetsuit legal), 58:30, 36:20.  Or something close.  I'll be looking to improve a good deal on each of those three splits...hopefully.

Here is my race report from last years' race

http://jameshaycraft.blogspot.com/2011/09/twbib.html

w00t!

Lake Norman Sprint

S - 13,800 yards
B - 161.8 miles
R - 52.4 miles
Time - 18.3 hours

Not a bad week considering there was a sprint triathlon in the middle of it.  Finally (what feels like it anyway) had a good week of swim volume.  After two weeks off (one week without the chance to swim and one week with excuses) I definitely needed it.  Slogged through a SCY set on Monday, dogged through a LCM set on Tuesday and managed to have a decent LCM swim on Thursday.  A couple of good bike rides and lots of good running (every day this week I think?) led into Lake Norman.

This race didn't look to be nearly as competitive as Latta/Stumpy but with Donny and Sebastien in the field that's enough to make it interesting.  I figured I should beat both but on race day you never know what can happen. Plus, there's always the chance someone random shows up (although at this point I'm not really worried about the randoms).  I also noticed Jeff Murray was racing for the first time in a couple of years and since he's a multiple national champion in 2012 I figured he'd probably set the bar pretty high during the swim.

The one mishap I had was after parking about a mile away from the race site I proceeded to pump up my rear tire successfully, subsequently moving on to my front wheel.  When I pushed the pump head onto the valve stem all the air let out of the tube and it was un-pump-able.  After a brief panic I called Ashley to ask him to bring his front race wheel since I knew he was coming to watch; he agreed and so the mild crisis was averted.  I still would have preferred my lovely Beyond Black Zipp 808, however.  Alas.

Swim 750m in 10:42 (3rd)

As we all lined up at the buoy for the in water start, I knew what my strategy was for this race: balls to the wall to the first buoy.  Pretty simple.  I noticed Donny was lined up behind me and Sebastien to my left and so with 10s to go I quickly moved over to the left in order to get some "clear water." At the sound of the horn, I took off at a very high effort.  I basically swam like I was doing a 500 TT; I was even kicking! (I never kick, really).  Unfortunately this nearly induced a panic attack with such a fast start but I was able to quell my feelings (almost like a sense of claustrophobia? it's weird) and carry on to the first buoy.  After the turn I looked back and saw I had a decent gap on what appeared to be three "chasers." Jeff was still a ways ahead and at the second turn to come back I could just see him in the glare of the sun.  It was tough to sight coming back but I knew just staying parallel to the shore would get the job done.  I settled in at this point to a more manageable pace and carried on to the last buoy, where after turning I looked behind and saw that my gap had grown a bit.  Happily, I exited the water in second and sprinted up the hill towards T1.

T1 in 1:25 (7th)

The run to T1 is pretty long and as I got to my bike Jeff was just running away with his.  I put on my helmet and headed out pretty quickly.

Bike 17.9 miles in 43:46 (2nd)

Heading out on the bike I was curious as to how my legs would feel.  The first hill up out of T1 was a good test and unfortunately, I could not tell how the leggies would do for the next 17 miles.  I caught Jeff pretty quickly through town and then put my head down to try and gain some speed.  I was thinking this course would be like Latta but it was definitely a little "harder'' than Latta.  I didn't see anyone behind me for quite some time although I figured there would be someone there.  After a while (mile 10ish?) I could see someone behind me.  I couldn't tell whether they were catching me or we were just on straighter roads at this point.  After another mile or two, it became clear that yes, whoever it was, was definitely gaining on me.  After a bit more, I could tell it was Donny (luckily no one else came with him).  He passed me on an uphill and I could tell why: because he rides so dang hard.  For the rest of the bike it was Donny absolutely crushing the uphills (400+ watts and I'm losing ground) and me flying by him on the flats/downhills.  We got back into town and were diverted onto some side streets to avoid prime time downtown traffic and this section was a bit annoying but definitely safer than dodging cars.  We made it back into T2 with Donny just ahead.

T2 in :49 (2nd)

Rolled into T2 just behind Donny and we made it to our rack at the same time.  I took off my helmet, shoved on my shoes, grabbed my belt and shades then headed out up the hill onto the run.  Donny had to pump fake as he forgot his number, losing a little time there.

Run 5k in 17:31 (2nd)

I ran up the hill out of T2 at a very high rate of speed and gapped Donny initially, which luckily held to the end.  This course was very twisty and turny and so it was tough to get into a good rhythm.  I still managed to push the pace well though and felt pretty strong through to the finish.  Donny stayed within sight the whole time and I never quite shook him.  It seemed as though he made a brief surge around mile 3 but it may have been me imagining things.  I ran across the finish line for the W.  Woohoo

1st OA in 1:14:10

I was pleased with this race and it was interesting to note that it continued my trend of two good splits and one not so great split.  My watts were real low on the bike but my swim and run were quite strong soooo, can't complain too much.  Brian told me at the beginning of the year that year #2 would have a lot of that, which I found odd at the time but am now beginning to fully appreciate how smart he is.  Or at least, he talks smart.  Both are equally important.

The cool thing about this race was that it meant I am now three for three in Charlotte area sprints.  I don't count Cool Breeze.  Huntersville, Latta, and Lake Norman were all Ws for me, Latta and LKN were both wins overall for ICE Racing (Melissa took the women's overall win!).  Pretty good season for ICE so far and it's not even over!

More importantly..

So I worked out a bit this week.  Not too much, but not too little either.  It was good to get back into the swing of things.  Despite going 2 weeks without swimming, I managed to not embarrass myself swimming for 30 minutes in the lake on Saturday with Scott, Ashley and Kerf.  The post-swim ride, however, showed just how fit the Honey Badger has gotten in the past month.  Wisconsin is going to be awesome!! To watch.

The best part of this week was spending lots of time at the movies.  Not great for my wallet as SOMEHOW every time I HAVE to purchase some sort of concession.  It's ridiculous.  Why do we feel compelled to pay 5 effing dollars for less than 20oz of soda.  It baffles me.  They must put crack in all their stuff.

Monday PM - The Bourne Legacy

Note: not from Bourne, but worth it anyway.

Jeremy Renner is an actor who has been garnering a lot of praise and critical acclaim for his roles in movies lately.  You might venture to say his "star is rising."  Especially considering he was chosen to lead a Bourne movie, the man is kind of a big deal now.  He isn't, however, Matt Damon.  This movie was super hyped and was definitely entertaining but unfortunately not nearly of the same caliber as the original three (and my favorite, the first).

Friday PM - The Campaign

Frank the Tank vs. Alan

With Will Ferrell, Zack Galifawho, and a great trailer how could one NOT want to go see this movie?! Well, I was in that camp.  The humor looked solid and mostly witty, the timing couldn't be better (I'm never interested in politics and if so only for a couple of weeks during the year) and I was in the mood to laugh out loud a little bit.  Unfortunately, the movie failed to deliver in almost all respects.  Really awful.  Don't spend the money on it in theater.

Sunday PM - The Expendables 2

So many steroids, so little time.

Alright, so if you go into a movie like this with the right perspective (awesomely bad) you'll be satisfied.  If you go into it thinking that you're going to get a quality action flick with a decent and somewhat understandable plot line with good character development and good story arc well then you're just an idiot.  Name a big action movie in the past 20 years (or more) and it's likely that the star of that movie was in this one.  This "franchise" is designed purely as a vehicle to blow sh*t up with (former) big name stars in as epic a fashion as possible.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  Much more so than the Campaign.



Next week I'll talk about training more.  Maybe.

Stumpy Creek and IM NYC

This one is going to absolutely blow your mind.  There will be so much awesome both hinted at and bluntly stated in the next couple of minutes that you may or may not suffer a breakdown.  The first week revolved around Stumpy Creek International.  After a relatively disappointing day at Giant Eagle I was fired up to race well at Stumpy, knowing the competition was going to be fierce.  I was mainly focused on DVW, as he's had my number at each of our encounters this year but I knew that Kenneth, Sebastian and Selle would also be threats.  Kenneth likely would have won the race last year if he hadn't taken a wrong turn on the run after absolutely blowing up the bike course.  Sebastian nearly beat me at Belews on a road bike and Selle is old but crafty and speedy.  Doug, of course, is Doug and would likely have a 3-4+ minute lead on me out of the water....

Swim 1500m in 22:42 (8th); 03:35 back from 1st

The water was advertised as being very warm and upon entry we all found that it was, in fact, steamy.  Gross.  Consequently, after lining up and the sounding of the gun I started off at a fairly relaxed pace.  I wanted to build my effort through the swim and hopefully come out a little less war-torn than at other races.  So after 200m I was not very high up in terms of place but after that I started to move up naturally as other racers came back to me.  Eventually at about 500m I found myself alone, maybe 30-50m behind the front pack (consisting of Jenny, Derek, Mike and Dave, as DVW had long ago separated himself) but a little in front of the rest of the field.

After the first turn at the far end of the course I looked back and saw I had a decent gap on what looked like Kenneth, Sebastian and Melissa (among others) and so felt confident that my swim was going well.  At the next turn I noticed my gap had increased and I seemed to be holding pace with the front group decently well.  So on the long back stretch I focused on staying smooth and picking up the effort a bit, which - at the last turn - further distanced me from those behind me.  Coming into the swim finish I felt happy with my swim and exited the water and crossed the mat.

T1 in 00:43 (11th)

As I ran into T1 I could see the front group leaving and getting on their bikes so I tried to have a quick T1 and mostly succeeded.  I could have shaved a couple of seconds off if I hadn't made a silly mistake, but oh well.

Bike 27 miles in 1:04:41 (1st); 01:28 up from 2nd

Heading out on the bike I tried to take the first mile relatively easily as it involved a couple of technical turns and a long uphill and I wanted to get to the top of the hill and not be gassed.  Once there, however, I put the pedal to the medal.  There are some days when you push hard but don't go fast, there are some days when you can't push hard but go fast, there are some days when you can't push hard and go slow, and this was none of those things.  Today I was putting out manly-style watts and was moving along nicely.  I passed Jenny like she was standing still, moved on next to Derek before catching Dave and Mike before the 20 minute mark.  Mike stayed with me briefly but I upped the pace a little bit to get out of sight and focused on catching DVW.  Unfortunately, this did not happen anytime soon.  One of my most epic moments of triathlon racing came riding through the state park.

There was a sharp downhill and at the bottom was a bridge that had a pretty big bump.  I took this in my aerobars and my water bottle popped out of the front cage and I somehow (well, obviously though my incredible skillz) caught it in between my legs.  Unfortunately there was no one around to see this awesomeness so all I could do was shout out "I'm awesome" to the trees.

Once I got back in the out/back section of the lollipop course it was fun to see the other people going the opposite direction.  At this point, I almost got hit by a car and I caught my first glimpse of DVW.  Unfortunately, he was not coming back to me fast enough.  I made the turn back into the slight downhill into transition and took my shoes off and hopped off the bike with expeditiousness, only a short way behind Doug.

T2 in 00:38 (1st); 00:02 up from 2nd (:07 seconds behind DVW out of T2)

As I put my bike on the race, Doug was (I believe) putting on his run shoes so I was very close.  I had a quick transition but my insole ended up getting slammed in the toebox of my right shoe which would prove uncomfortable after the race with a giant black toenail. I headed out of T2 seconds after Doug, determined to catch him.

Run 10k in 38:33 (7th)

Unfortunately, my run legs did not want me to catch Doug.  For about a mile I stayed relatively close behind him but I never had that "spring" in my step like at Giant Eagle last week.  I was pushing hard but not going fast.  I honestly just didn't have the run fitness that day to keep up with Doug, who ended up having the third fastest run of the day (behind two run specialists).  He's just fast.  Dammit.

To make a somewhat long story short, I continued on but only with the goal of not getting caught by anyone behind me (I was assuming it'd be Kenneth, but I also assumed he'd catch me on the bike; fortunately for all of us Kenneth and his wife have a very, very new baby...) and I continued on with that mentality.  I didn't run fast, I didn't run slow.  I ran just fast enough to call it a not-too-bad run, but certainly not a good one.  I believe on this course I'm capable of at least 3 minutes faster.  But not today.

I cruised across the finish line a ways behind Doug but a ways in front of 3rd place, mostly happy with my race.

The second week of our journey began on Monday, heading to NYC to work for IOS at the expo.  Tuesday was a full day of setup, Wednesday/Thursday/Friday involved lots of selling, Saturday involved lots of race-watching, Sunday involved breakdown and packing, and Monday involved flying home.  Super duper.  Here are some pics of the week

is JKHH in there? if not, bad list.

the site of the expo, pier 92

cool street art

southbound on the GW bike path

the rail is not nearly high enough

jordan rapp and mary beth ellis hamming it up at IOS expo

transition area on the nj side of the river

mile 18 on the run

rappstar coming through mile 17, just off the bridge

it's lonely out there at times

winning his 5th IM

the city certainly can be pretty

northbound on the GW

Giant Eagle 5150 recap

I signed up for Giant Eagle for a couple of reasons:

1) They were the only ones who responded to my emails about an entry (among others like the Philly Tri)
2) I would get to visit Ohio, where I have never been
3) It seemed like a good first pro race; competitive yet also not ridiculously competitive
4) the Behmes live in Ohio
5) A race sponsored by a grocery store chain is never a bad idea

So on Thursday afternoon I packed up the man-van and headed Northwest-ish for the 8hr drive to Troy, Ohio.  The drive was uneventful, despite the van struggling up some of the climbs in West Virginia.  Traffic was bad at times so I arrived at the Behme residence after a bit more than a third of a day.

The next couple of days passed smoothly and on Saturday afternoon we drove to Columbus to pick up our packets and attend the pro meeting.  The main things encountered in the pro meeting were "obey the stagger rule" and "while it isn't a rule, we would encourage you all as professionals to not dolphin dive the swim," (the water was extremely shallow on the inbound portion of the rectangle) both things I figured wouldn't be too difficult to follow...

The swim course

Long story short, we grabbed dinner with friend and MarkyV athlete Ben Meer (who we stayed with that night, thanks Ben!) and headed to bed, psyched (not) for an early morning (race start for me at 6:30).

Race morning downed bright and too-early and we drove up to the race site where John dropped Carrie and I off for the start of our race.  The swim was a two-loop rectangle, the bike was an extremely flat (net downhill?) point to point course into Columbus and the run was an out and back through the city.

I lined up with the other pros (near the back) before the gun went off...

Swim 1500m in ?

I have no idea what my swim time was because they didn't post the splits of us that DNF'd and I don't wear a watch so I have a general idea of what my swim time was based on other athletes but nothing specific and I don't like to guess.

The swim started on the beach and everyone sprinted into the water.  I lagged behind a bit as I didn't want to get caught in the maelstrom that was the main pack.  That being said, I was still sucked along quite nicely by the wash of 20+ dudes swimming as hard as they could.  Once we all turned left after the first buoy it began stringing out a little bit and I gradually lost contact with the main group.  I also experienced a mild anxiety issue so had to "collect myself" for a second or two before continuing on, which further distanced me from those in front.  The next lap and a half were uneventful and went by smoothly before being caught by the main group of women just before the end.  I came out of the water right behind them and ran up the beach into transition.

T1 in ?


I ran to my bike and since I was the only pro who didn't clip in their shoes beforehand I put on my shoes and headed out on my bike.  Relatively smooth, but not as fast as it could have been...

Bike 40k in 55:40 (unofficially, according to my power file)

I passed the pack of women pretty quickly (thank goodness... no offense ladies) and continued through the first 5k of the race at a nice effort level.  The first 1/4 to 1/3 of the bike is pretty rolling and a net uphill away from the lake.  I caught the lead women pretty soon and could see some guys off in the distance and began to gain hope that I may not actually be as crappy as I thought I was.  I put my head down and pushed, passing several guys, a couple of whom stayed with me through the end of the bike.  The course was pretty poorly marked and relatively poorly marshaled, as a car turned in front of me at one point forcing me to grab a pretty good handful of brakes.  The only markings were taped turn signals on the ground which, at 25-35mph, were not easy to see and react to but we all had the same issues so it was no big deal.  In the last 1/2 mile of the course I turned left as a policeman seemed to be waving me in that direction but unfortunately the subsequent yelling "wrong way!!" made me realize that I had, in fact, turned incorrectly.  I quickly got back on course but not before two other guys followed me down the wrong path.  I felt bad, but couldn't do anything about it.  I came into T2 quickly and hopped off the bike with smoothness.

T2 in ?


I had a really quick T2 and headed out well ahead of the two US Pro Tri guys with whom I had come into T2.

Run ? in ?


I headed out on the run at a very high rate of speed, feeling pretty stellar.  My legs felt nice and loose and my pace reflected it. John and Ben took a picture or two and yelled some encouragement as I climbed the only "major" incline on the course.  The run wound its way through downtown briefly before crossing the river and jumping onto a path along the river.  I carried on smoothly before eventually reaching a dead end.  I realized with some sadness that something was wrong.  I turned around and ran backwards before encountering Jim and Ryan of USPT and asked if they had seen a turn, which they had not.  We ran back to the dead end just so they could be sure before turning around and running back where we had come.  We realized we had missed a u-turn (or near u-turn) that would have taken us back up onto the road and across the river again.  We all ended up running back to the finish line and turning in our chips...

DNF

Alas, these things happen.  While it's certainly my responsibility to know the course and the fault was entirely mine, I've never raced an event that was as poorly signed as this one.  Both on the bike and the run, the markings were simply taped arrows on the ground.  I was the only one who had multiple issues so maybe it's just something I need to be more aware of in the future but it is a little frustrating.

I certainly was in no position to come in top 5 (I'm unsure if I would have been top 10, it would have taken a pretty phenomenal run split) so it's not as though I missed out on money but with the way my run legs were feeling I'd like to have had them vindicated by a good split.  I'm happy the DNF was a result of a mistake and had nothing to do with my fitness level.  It also was encouraging to realize that I CAN be competitive at these types of races (olympic, non-draft).  Certainly not with the top guys but I think a top 10 at a 5150 is not out of the question.  It'd have to be a perfect race, but I'm excited about the prospect...

On another note, just because I feel like I have to vent, I witnessed some pretty poor sportsmanship at this race.  It's incredibly coincidental that I am the one that witnessed this, but seeing a fellow competitor (and NC resident) incorrectly run the course and hop over into the finish chute (cutting off some of the last bit of the run) and yet not have a DQ is frustrating.  I believe it was an honest mistake, but to accept any kind of award or slot (to Hy-Vee, as this race was a qualifier) is very poor form.  I did not run the correct course.  If I had wanted an official finish time, I would have ran back to where I went off course and then run the whole course correctly.  I would not have simply adjusted MY run course.

Anyway, maybe there's some explanation of which I am not aware.  All I know is what I saw and see in the results.

Next week is my third year at Stumpy Creek International, which will be a hotly contested race for the top 5 spots so I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes!

Another week, this time a good one

S - 10,200 yards
B - 240.9 miles
R - 44.7 miles
Time - 21.82 hours

At first glance it would appear as though yours truly got in some good training this week! The first glance would be correct as it seems for the first time in quite some time I've managed to have a week of good volume.  It's been a while since I've been over 20 hours, due in no small part to the fact that I've raced a good bit this month.  So far one good (NC TT) and one not so good (Triangle); I'm hoping next Sunday adds one to the "good" side (Giant Eagle). 

The highlight of this week has to be our big ride in the mountains on Saturday, but seeing the ripple effect of my last post on swimmers is a close second.  I'll dive into the latter first.

First of all, please let me say that my last blog was in NO WAY meant to be demeaning, arrogant, or anything else negative.  It was simply an observation.  It was also my own observation.  Many out there who read this (so, like 3 of you) couldn't care less about my opinion on triathlons and/or swimming (and maybe everything else, who knows; it's your prerogative).  It wasn't meant for you.  It WAS meant for those out there that WANT to be better yet do nothing about it.  That's different than wanting to be better but not being capable of fulfilling that desire.  Injuries, time constraints, responsibilities, etc all get in the way of what is essentially a hobby (although I see it more as a part time job that pays nothing and takes everything...) and that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Having those extenuating circumstances, however, removes your right to whine.  There is no whining, no pre-whining, and no excuse-making.  Either do it, or don't do it. 

I was very, very happy last week to see some new faces at SwimMAC Carolina Masters.  I'm hoping more will show up in the upcoming weeks and months.  Those who do will reap the benefits over time.  They will take control of their own athletic destiny as opposed to leaving it to chance and stagnation.  For that, I salute you.

On Saturday a good group vanned up to Morganton, NC to do a loop of awesome in the mountains.  Myself, Scott "the Pro Destroyer" Woodbury, Andrew "Fletch Wound'' Fletcher, Jonathan "Profile Design" Story, Jenny "Butt-lifter" Leiser and Ashley "Honey Badger" Ackerman. 



Fog = chance of epic

The forecast all week had called for the chance of thunderstorms so we were all hoping they'd stay away.  On the drive up it looked like it could be epic with some good fog but once we got to Morganton the skies were blue and partly cloudy.  It was gorgeous. 

The Destroyer uses his muscles for something other than intimidation

MMmmm, Cervelo

The climb up Hwy 181 began in earnest and started the ride with a bang.  The Destroyer and the Honey Badger pressed the pace early with everyone else falling off their torrid effort level.  For a couple of miles the gap opened up slowly but surely before at the beginning of the steep middle section Tall Socks (me) bridged the gap with a hard effort.  The Badger and Destroyer set the pace the rest of the way up to the top of the 13mi, HC climb.  In my opinion the hardest of the day.  The next segment was the long, net uphill trek along the BRP before hopping on 221 and going by Grandfather Mountain.  The result of all that climbing meant that the descent into Linville was, as always, very rewarding, very fast, and very fun (except for the dumb Prius driver that underestimated our speed then gave us the double finger for our expressions of displeasure). 

Grandfather Mountain ahead!

Next up was the first store stop of the day where two good things happened.  Firstly, we were complimented on our riding abilities by a young smoker on our riding abilities with the addition "I couldn't do what y'all do man."  No shi*.  Quit smoking.  The other was the Honey Badger's purchase of an 18" frozen popsicle and the attempt to unfreeze it by sticking it in his bibs.  The resulting facial expression was...priceless.  This store stop is also where the Butt-Lifter received her nickname.

Too soon it was time to head on and Hickory Nut Gap awaited.  At the beginning of the climb the Destroyer took off like a destroyer from hell, while the rest started a little more slowly.  Soon though, the Badger opened up a slight gap on the others in his quest to chase down the cobra.  Before too long, Tall-Socks felt the need to roadie it up and chase down the attackers.  After catching the Badger and both catching the Destroyer, Tall-Socks kicked it into the big chainring in an attempt to see what he was made of but by the top of the climb had still only managed a top 10 on Strava.  Oh well. 

They don't look particularly happy...

The Badger contemplates his next attack



The Badger contemplates the Destroyer off in the distance

 The descent off Hickory Nut was a little gravelly so nobody really pushed the pace (plus the big German wasn't there to flog the downhills...and uphills for that matter).  Shortly after turning left and passing Lees Mcrae the team climbed up 194 and descended shortly thereafter into Valle Crucis.  The skies were looking slightly more ominous than pleasant at this point so when the Badger suffered a cobra puncture wound right before the Shulls Mill Rd climb, the talk turned to things like vulgar stuff.  Nothing at all related to the skies. 

At the beginning of Shulls Mill the Destroyer once again attacked and all everyone saw were his huge calves flexing before he created a gap.  The Badger, fresh off his cobra wound, pushed the pace to catch while everyone fell behind.  Tall-Socks, as is his (my?) M.O. slowly increased the pace before reeling in the Destroyer, who had been passed by the Honey Badger.  After letting a slight gap open up in front of him to Tall-Socks, the Destroyer reached deep into his suitcase of courage, danced on the pedals and tip-toed his way back up to the leading pair.  The Badger set the pace the rest of the way to the top where Tall-Socks unmercifully attacked him just because he set such a fast pace. 

Once everyone re-grouped at the top, rain started on the descent into Blowing Rock, where the rain stopped.  The roads were soaked, however, so everyone had nice wet socks while crunching on their tasty treats.  Before too long, it was time to finish the ride.  The group headed back up the short but annoyingly difficult climb to get onto the BRP.  From Blowing Rock, the Parkway basically climbs all the way to 221.  It is an annoyingly long, hard slog and was made all the more difficult due to the sections of pouring rain.  The Destroyer, Badger and Fletch-Wound set a tough tempo that the other three were unable to match, due in no small part to the Profile-Design's insistence on sipping from his aero-drink.  Not shortly, the group re-grouped and made their way (post 221 intersection) on the mostly downhill stretch back to 181.  On this section, the Heavens quite literally opened.  It was POURING.  It was almost funny, but it was also not.  As they descended, however, the group got warmer.  This was fortunate, as being cold and wet is a bad one-two punch. 

At the intersection of BRP and 181, however, the skies cleared and the humidity oppressed.  Soon, the group climbed back up to the top of 181, with Tall-Socks lagging slightly due to cramps and the HB due to a crack in the armor.  Once at the top, however, the Destroyer and Profile-Design attacked immediately, getting a large gap on Tall-Socks and the Butt-Lifter.  Tall-Socks wanted none of this and subsequently put his chin on his bars and shot downhill at a high rate of speed, leaving the Lifter in his wake.  All too soon, the descent ended and everyone made their way (with time gaps) on the always-surprisingly-long flat section back to the brief climb up to Mt Zion church.  The HB had suffered another puncture, with only Fletch-Wound kind enough to stay back and help him so they were the last to arrive back at the vehicles. 

All in all, a great ride with a great group.  Hopefully many more mountain trips to come this year!!