I turned 19 today. And did a triathlon to celebrate. I won. So it was a pretty good birthday present. Happy Birthday me.
Now I'm going to bed. I've got swim practice in the morning.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tuscaloosa Tri-Palooza Part 2
Watching the Olympic trials on Saturday was definitely way awesome. However spending 5+ hours out in the sun the day before MY race wasn't the best idea. Saturday night I hardly slept, had a headache and was hacking and coughing all night. The alarm went off at 5:30, and after eating some oatmeal and part of a Luna bar I met up with everyone in the hotel parking lot and we biked over to transition.
During my run warm up I still didn't feel great. Travis and I ran 1 loop of the run as it was a 2 loop course. While doing some stretching and setting up my transition I had a sort placid almost lethargic feeling. I still had a slight head ache and was really starting to get concerned about how I would be able to perform. There were a lot of fit looking juniors riding some pretty nice bikes and those pre-race doubts began to creep in. However I knew that I was in good shape and I kept telling myself that the training and fitness was there regardless of how I felt at the moment.
With 20 minutes to race start I put on my wetsuit and jumped into the water. A little chilly at first but nice once you got going. Swim warm up went well and I kept telling myself that all I needed to do was race hard for 1 hr and clinch my worlds spot.
For the start that had about 100 of us backed up against this little small pontoon, treading water, feet in faces, rubbing shoulders. The first turn bouy was about 100m out and slighly to the right of the start so I positioned myself in the middle while all the big guns jostled for position on the right. I was in the middle at the front hoping that I wouldn't get mauled 50m into the swim. At the word "GO!" I took off at about 98% hoping to stay clear of the pack of animals coming after me. Just like I hoped the fast guys went by on the right and I then slid over to get behind them. I was swimming hard but I couldn't quite latch onto the back of the pack and spent the whole swimming by myself or drafting off of the odd swimmer before they wandered off course. Coming out of the water I hoped my swim was good as I had been able to swim a hard pace the whole time.
T1 was fast (As usual) and out on the bike I started passing some of the juniors. At the turnaround I knew I was in 6th spot but couldn't tell how many of the in front were from my age group or not. Me and another guy had been passing each other back and forth for the first stage of the bike but he eventually went and stayed in front then gradually pulled away on the last few miles. I just didn't quite have that extra "MMPPPH!" to step it up.
I had the fastest T2 of the day and headed out on the run feeling like crap. Thats normal though so I was confident my legs would come around. They didn't really, I just felt sort of "off" the whole race. About 300m from the finish another junior caught me and I tucked in behind him. Coming around the last turn we were both sprinting all out and I was able to beat him by 2 seconds. H--- YEAH!!
Travis won the junior race, I was second, and Alex got 3rd in the junior female race- we're all going to Vancouver!!!
Now I just have to figure out how to pay for this trip...
During my run warm up I still didn't feel great. Travis and I ran 1 loop of the run as it was a 2 loop course. While doing some stretching and setting up my transition I had a sort placid almost lethargic feeling. I still had a slight head ache and was really starting to get concerned about how I would be able to perform. There were a lot of fit looking juniors riding some pretty nice bikes and those pre-race doubts began to creep in. However I knew that I was in good shape and I kept telling myself that the training and fitness was there regardless of how I felt at the moment.
With 20 minutes to race start I put on my wetsuit and jumped into the water. A little chilly at first but nice once you got going. Swim warm up went well and I kept telling myself that all I needed to do was race hard for 1 hr and clinch my worlds spot.
For the start that had about 100 of us backed up against this little small pontoon, treading water, feet in faces, rubbing shoulders. The first turn bouy was about 100m out and slighly to the right of the start so I positioned myself in the middle while all the big guns jostled for position on the right. I was in the middle at the front hoping that I wouldn't get mauled 50m into the swim. At the word "GO!" I took off at about 98% hoping to stay clear of the pack of animals coming after me. Just like I hoped the fast guys went by on the right and I then slid over to get behind them. I was swimming hard but I couldn't quite latch onto the back of the pack and spent the whole swimming by myself or drafting off of the odd swimmer before they wandered off course. Coming out of the water I hoped my swim was good as I had been able to swim a hard pace the whole time.
T1 was fast (As usual) and out on the bike I started passing some of the juniors. At the turnaround I knew I was in 6th spot but couldn't tell how many of the in front were from my age group or not. Me and another guy had been passing each other back and forth for the first stage of the bike but he eventually went and stayed in front then gradually pulled away on the last few miles. I just didn't quite have that extra "MMPPPH!" to step it up.
I had the fastest T2 of the day and headed out on the run feeling like crap. Thats normal though so I was confident my legs would come around. They didn't really, I just felt sort of "off" the whole race. About 300m from the finish another junior caught me and I tucked in behind him. Coming around the last turn we were both sprinting all out and I was able to beat him by 2 seconds. H--- YEAH!!
Travis won the junior race, I was second, and Alex got 3rd in the junior female race- we're all going to Vancouver!!!
Now I just have to figure out how to pay for this trip...
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tuscaloosa Tri-Palooza Part 1
What a weekend. Collegiate Nationals, Olympic Trials, World Qualifier, I was there and got to see it all. (And participate some as well.)
We arrived in Tuscaloosa Friday night about 15 minutes before packet pickup closed. After picking up our packets, eating our first dinner and checking into the hotel room we headed out to Olive Garden for a real dinner. The "we" I am referring too here is Travis Decker- IconOne teammate, friend, and bed-buddy from Germany, Shelly Campbell- my coach, IconOne founder and coach, Alexandra Weber- IconOne teammate who lives in my metroplex, Alex's parents, A kid from California, his mom and coach who also is the RADC for their region (as is Shelly), and of course me.
The next morning all of us slept in except Travis who got up around 6 am to go on a ridiculous T-shirt finding mission at the race site. I rolled out of bed a little after 8 and headed out for an easy 20' jog with a few pickups. 9:30 am Rudy (California kid), Alex, Travis and I rolled out to go ride the race course. Shelly was driving the SAG vehicle but we all stuck together pretty well. The bike course was a single loop with a few fairly decent climbs.
Back at the hotel we showered, grabbed some lunch, and headed back to the race site for the Olympic Trials. WOW! What a pair of exciting races they were. We got there about halfway through the womens bike and got to watch Julie Ertel run away from Sarah Haskins and Sarah Groff to claim the 2nd Olympic spot.
The Mens race was even better. Andy Potts led out of the water by a whopping 48 seconds but the trio of Hunter Kemper, Brian Fleischman and Matt Reed caught him halfway through the bike. On the last lap (there were 8) Reed broke away on a hill and came out of T2 with :25 lead on the others. We didn't think he would hold it as he traditionally hasn't been as fast a runner as Potts, and Kemper but after 2 laps (of 4) he had actually lengthened his lead. Coming down the finishing he had enough time to celebrate and slap hands with the crowd. Me and Travis were both standing right along the chute and got to feel the sweaty touch of victory graze our palms.
For full olympic trials results go to http://www.onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=2469 and click on either elite men or elite women.
My own race report will follow in another post sometime in the near future.
We arrived in Tuscaloosa Friday night about 15 minutes before packet pickup closed. After picking up our packets, eating our first dinner and checking into the hotel room we headed out to Olive Garden for a real dinner. The "we" I am referring too here is Travis Decker- IconOne teammate, friend, and bed-buddy from Germany, Shelly Campbell- my coach, IconOne founder and coach, Alexandra Weber- IconOne teammate who lives in my metroplex, Alex's parents, A kid from California, his mom and coach who also is the RADC for their region (as is Shelly), and of course me.
The next morning all of us slept in except Travis who got up around 6 am to go on a ridiculous T-shirt finding mission at the race site. I rolled out of bed a little after 8 and headed out for an easy 20' jog with a few pickups. 9:30 am Rudy (California kid), Alex, Travis and I rolled out to go ride the race course. Shelly was driving the SAG vehicle but we all stuck together pretty well. The bike course was a single loop with a few fairly decent climbs.
Back at the hotel we showered, grabbed some lunch, and headed back to the race site for the Olympic Trials. WOW! What a pair of exciting races they were. We got there about halfway through the womens bike and got to watch Julie Ertel run away from Sarah Haskins and Sarah Groff to claim the 2nd Olympic spot.
The Mens race was even better. Andy Potts led out of the water by a whopping 48 seconds but the trio of Hunter Kemper, Brian Fleischman and Matt Reed caught him halfway through the bike. On the last lap (there were 8) Reed broke away on a hill and came out of T2 with :25 lead on the others. We didn't think he would hold it as he traditionally hasn't been as fast a runner as Potts, and Kemper but after 2 laps (of 4) he had actually lengthened his lead. Coming down the finishing he had enough time to celebrate and slap hands with the crowd. Me and Travis were both standing right along the chute and got to feel the sweaty touch of victory graze our palms.
For full olympic trials results go to http://www.onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=2469 and click on either elite men or elite women.
My own race report will follow in another post sometime in the near future.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Time is Approaching
The big race I've been shooting for all spring is fast approaching. I think/hope I'm ready. Top ten spots qualify for non-draft legal sprint worlds and currently there are 26 other 16-19 year olds I will be racing against.
I spent some time today working on my bike. It was filthy so I washed it real good, made sure I could take my pedals off, polished it, and spent some time cleaning up the front end aero wise. It looks good, nothing like a clean bike to make you feel fast. Hopefully it will pay off on Sunday...
I spent some time today working on my bike. It was filthy so I washed it real good, made sure I could take my pedals off, polished it, and spent some time cleaning up the front end aero wise. It looks good, nothing like a clean bike to make you feel fast. Hopefully it will pay off on Sunday...
Monday, April 7, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
New PR
Remember how last week I set a personal record for most meters wam in a day? Well yesterday I did it again- 8000 meters in one day!! That would be 5 miles for those of you who prefer English base units. (Actually if you want to get really technical its 4.97 miles) Anyhow it took about 3 seperate workouts to get there but it was good.
As well as swimming 8km I did an afternoon brick workout of 1:10 bike w/3x15' at Z4-Z5. Legs were lacking the power and I couldn't get my hr up for the life of me so wasn't too happy with that. Off the bike I ran a 10k for time doing 2' at 5k pace/1' jog/1' 5k pace/:30 jog/:30 5k pace/:30 jog. It was freakin tough but I ran 39:20 so I was pretty stoked about that. Thats 6:20 pace which is about what I was running for a 5k off the bike in a race a year ago. I'm gettin there...
As well as swimming 8km I did an afternoon brick workout of 1:10 bike w/3x15' at Z4-Z5. Legs were lacking the power and I couldn't get my hr up for the life of me so wasn't too happy with that. Off the bike I ran a 10k for time doing 2' at 5k pace/1' jog/1' 5k pace/:30 jog/:30 5k pace/:30 jog. It was freakin tough but I ran 39:20 so I was pretty stoked about that. Thats 6:20 pace which is about what I was running for a 5k off the bike in a race a year ago. I'm gettin there...
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