2010 will be a busy year!

Event Name: 2010 Ford Ironman Coeur d'Alene

Date & Time: June 27, 2010 07:00 AM

Location: Coeur d'Alene Lake (map)

The Effingham Half! (aka EffingHOT!)

The Effingham Half triathlon could have been expressed in couple words: Very hot! Although the triathlon was on June 21st, temperature for this time of year was above normal causing many of the participants to drop (over 20%) out of the race that day.

The swim was also different that day as we had to swim in Lake Sarah twice! We did one loop and when we swam to shore, got out of the water, shouted out our number and then jumped back in the water to do another swim loop. The certainly did through off one's rhythm therefore increasing my swim time to 48 minutes, at least I was faster here than in Kansas without a wetsuit!

The bike portion was full of rolling hills throughout the course. I felt good the first 20 miles but the heat was starting to get to me and my Infinite drink was hot and my energy levels were dropping so my average speed decreased down to a disappointing 18.9 which wasn't bad but could have been better.

The run was the most difficult half Marathon I had ever finished. The heat at this time was like a sweltering sauna with very little shade. I staggered from one aid station to the next and threw ice sponges in my hat trying to cool myself down. After finishing the first loop at over an hour, it was daunting to get back out there and do the same loop again in that oppressive heat. The sun was so hot my shoes were sticking to the melting asphalt on each step as it buckled from the intense heat. I continued and watched fellow friends Christian and Ian struggle to keep a good pace as well as I started the second lap. I just pushed myself to the finish and realized that this is what Iron Man Louisville will be in late August, although it will be twice the distance! I did finish with a 6:39 which was still faster than last year's Half at Buffalo Springs so my training has definitely helped.

Kansas 70.3

The wetsuit zipper broke right before the swim. That's how my race started in Lawrence Kansas on June 14th. It started with a culmination of events that day but I had to make a decision and make it fast as I was losing precious time as my wave took off without me. There was only one option and that was to swim without the wetsuit while everybody else swam with one. I had to swim back to shore, remove the wetsuit and give it to a volunteer and start the swim again. Swimming 1.2 miles with a wetsuit is tough, without one is even tougher. I lost an entire 10 minutes during the swim, the race day had not started well.

However, with the new kicking Caliente from Quitana Roo, I rocked the bike course with a blazing 19.8 mph avg, finishing in 2 hours and 48 minutes I came very close to my goal of breaking the 20+ avg on the bike ride. The aero drink combined with the new Speedfil hydration system using the Infinite drink I was able to stay in the aero position longer without using gels or sitting up to drink from a bottle. For the longer rides (ie Iron man distance) I can add more to the Speedfil or Aero drink while on the ride during each aid station.

The run was not as easy at all this time around. I started out with a good 10:30 pace for about the first 5 miles then I started feeling a cramp in my stomach as I continued on. It was 11:30 am and now the clouds were gone and it was becoming very hot with little shade. I slowed down to see if this would ease the stomach pain but the spasms continued about every two minutes, the pain was almost made me stop, but I continued on. I finished the first loop in 1:15 so I had a good pace and I had hoped to have a negative split on the second lap but the stomach spasms were getting worse so on a few occasions I had to walk but continued my slow jog to the finish. I really wanted to finish before the 7 hour mark so I pushed forward, slower pace but just kept moving, drinking Gatorade, water, even a gel to see if this would help the pain; nothing worked. I moved on and the last 2 miles I skipped the aid stations and pushed forward until I hit the finishing chute, oblivious to the crowd and knowing I was done!

A quick reflection on this race reminded me of all the problems I had that day. The race started out with a problem and even though the bike ride was stellar I still had issues on the run. This year I even had to DNF a race because I wasn't prepared for a bike mechanical issue, I took a risk, thinking nothing would happen, but it did. Life is much like a triathlon in many ways. We are all in race to get something done, to finish school, get married, buy a house, new job etc, however not everything goes to plan as life gets in the way of our plans. Adversity is part of life and we must learn to plan for the good and the bad that is inevitable through life. If you don't you may feel the need to give up and quit the race, not realizing if you had persevered to the finish your reward would be sweeter, knowing all the hardship it took to get there.

Some lessons learned:

Prepare for the good and the bad,

learn from you mistakes,

challenge yourself more often,

you can do it if you at least Tri.

In pain but I finished!

Time for an upgrade!

I know what your thinking, why did I buy another bike! Well, after using my Giant TCR2 carbon bike for the last two years and seeing all of the fast tri bikes at the triathlons, I wanted to level the playing field, using an acutal tri bike. The Quintana Roo, (pronounced [kinˈtana ˈro])although a strange name, they built the first triathlon bike way back in 1987! It must of looked quite strange at the time, but now they are the standard for all triathlons.

So far after a few rides on the new bike I've been very happy with the speed and comfort. With the added benefit of the aero bar shifters I should be able to add a few mile more per hour since I don't have to move my body to shift on the drops anymore. The added Cateye computer will keep track of speed and candence as well.

The full test will be at the Kansas Half on June 14th where I will be biking 56 miles. My goal will be to average around 20mph. Bring it!

Brett

First Triathlon of the 2009

Well, after much debate and hem-hawing over where we wanted to do the first triathlon of the year, it ended up at Elsah, IL, the home of Principia college. This was there first hosted triathlon for the college and in my opinion they did a great job of hosting. My only complaints were why it took so long and there were no split times, but overall it was a great race, accept for the occasional rain!


After eight months of training and shedding unwanted lbs to get back into shape I felt very good for the entire race. The swim was somewhat of challenge as it was 16 laps in a 25 meter pool so we had to swim two laps per lane and with multiple people passing and being passed it was much like a mass swim the entire distance.

The bike portion was 15 miles of rain and with some added 14% grade hills at the start it slowed down the bikes a bit, bringing some people to just walking up the hills. I was conservative on the speed due to the slick road surface and tried to keep a constant pace. According to my bike computer I managed to eek out just a 14.4 average which was by far my lowest average bike speed to date.


Overall I felt good the entire day, the race was short but I was able to practice my T1 and T2 transitions so I can be ready for the longer triathlons where it becomes more important.


The next triathlon is at the beautiful private resort of Innsbrook near Wright city, MO




Brett