Yup I'm just finishing the last stages of packing before I leave for San Antonio in less than an hour. I will be there for about 2 weeks attending the Pan Am Junior Select camp next week and then staying the following week to help out at a USAT Skills camp. Both of these camps are run by my coach and I'm looking forward to getting absolutely destroyed next week as I attempt to hang with some of the top
juniors on our continent.
After worlds I was planning on going to the Des Moines, Iowa junior elite race but about two weeks out they announced that the race had been changed to a duathlon because of flooding. Travis and I decided that it wasn't worth it to drive up their now because they had also taken away most of the points that it was going to be worth. Well about 4 days before the race they announced again that now the swim was back! Grrr... Travis and I had already made plans to do some crit racing in Austin that weekend so we were forced to miss out. Congrats to Kate Ross though who took the junior female title.
The crits in Austin were a blast even though I didn't do great. The weekend before on June 14h and 15th I'd done some crits in Dallas and placed 2nd and 1st but in Austin I was racing 4/5's instead of just 5's and the fields were much larger at 75-80 cyclist. I'm still not comfortable enough in large packs yet but it was a lot of fun and I gained some good experience. There was a pro crit Saturday night that was AWESOME to watch as they had a bunch of top teams like Rock Racing, Toyota United, Jelly Belly, Colavita, and even a guy from Slipstream(now Garmin) Chipotle.
Happy training.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Pleased, But Not Satisfied
Well I am currently sitting at home preparing for the first workout of the day. As I reflect back over this years World Championships I am pleased with my performance. I had a solid race and did much better than last year. Pleased, but not satisfied. No, I don't think I'm ever satisfied with my results. I always see a way I could have gone faster and look at how I can improve in the next race. The Hy-Vee Junior ITU race is in less than two weeks, and I want to go faster.
The morning of the World Championships Travis and I woke up bright and early at 5:30. Actually it felt more like 7:30 for us as we hadn't fully adjusted to the time change yet, in this case though I think it was a good thing. We walked down to a local coffee shop to grab some coffee and a scone then met up with Shelly and another kid from California that was hanging out with us, Rudy. We had dropped our bikes off the night before so we walked to transition to set our stuff up, then walked back the half mile to the race start. It was cold and rainy. Perfectly miserable weather for racing.
In the Athletes lounge we put on our wetsuits, lubed up with vaseline and attached our "squid lids" to the top of our noggins.
These were specially designed neoprene caps we'd bought the day before to keep some heat in. We payed $50 for them and after our race we sold them for $60. The expo vendors didn't order enough and people were desperate to get their hands on them. We lined up on the beach, all 52 16-19 and 20-24 year olds and when the horn went off ran and dove into the 52 degree water.
I had a decent enough swim. It was hard to really push hard because you couldn't feel much and the swim ended up being over 1000m instead of the 750m it was supposed to be. I did find a guy to draft off of and used him until the last 100m or so when I sprinted around him to beat him out of the water. Not exactly the most gentlemanly thing to do but hey, that's racing. I was 19th out of the water in my age group of 27 competitors and 13th out of T1. The cold coupled with my quick transitioning skills helped me pass a bunch of people that beat me out of the water. Transition itself was an absolute slip-N-slide. My coach was videoing and she has footage of people falling all over the place, with their bikes, without their bikes, arms still in their wetsuit flopping around like a beached seal, you name it. Because every ones feet were numb and the grass was wet and muddy it made it very difficult for sure.
I made it out of transition without incident and was soon on the bike cranking away. Same as I described earlier the bike course is not and easy one. I felt good on the uphills and the downhill were just flat out scary. It was still raining lightly so everything was slick and the road itself was poor quality with lots of bumps and holes that are very difficult to see when your screaming downhill at 35+mph with cold rain blowing into your eyes. I was 1:15 back of Travis when I got on my bike and after two laps I heard my coach yell that he was only 10 seconds up the road. I caught him a couple minutes later and blew by him at close to warp speed. A minute later here he comes chugging past me up the hill and we switched back and forth like this all the way to the top. Then as we turned for the descent into T2 I passed him again, this time for good. I wanted to put some time into him so I took as many risks as I dared going around the wet turns, maintaining a death grip on my bull horns, no aero bars for this descent. I'd already found the really bad holes on the first 2 laps so I had a good idea of what line to take and put 15 seconds on Travis entering T2.
Right as I came off the bike I saw another USA guy ahead of me, Jack St. Marie who I had out sprinted for 2nd place at our qualifier in Tuscaloosa. This concerned me because at that race he ran 16:28 off the bike and I was at least a minute slower then that. I passed him as we ran towards our racks, threw my bike on and carefully and methodically pulled my shoes on. My hands and feet were numb so I had to go by site rather then feel. Travis ran by as I unclipped my helmet and I grabbed my race belt and took off. As I headed out I saw Jack taking his bike off one rack desperately looking around for his own rack. "This is good," I thought. (Later I discovered that Jack had also sliced his foot open on the swim, he had been bleeding the whole race and would require stitches afterwards.)
As I started the run I felt surprisingly good and I quickly passed a British guy in my age group. The whole rest of the run I just ran strong. At a couple of the turn arounds I could see Travis and Jack but they didn't look like they were gaining much. There was another guy from the U.S. about 20-30 seconds ahead of me but I couldn't catch him no matter how hard I tried. I had worn an underarmour shirt underneath my race suit as well as armwarmers underneath the wetsuit and those definitely helped keep my core temperature warm. I ran hard the whole way and crossed the line 8th overall and 3rd American. My 5.1k time was 17:53 with an adjusted time of 17:32 for a 5k. A new PR for me. Off the bike, in 55 degree rainy weather, on a course that wasn't flat, at the World Championships. Travis came in 30 seconds later after getting passed by a Canadian in the last few hundred meters.
RESULTS! - Just click on "sprint distance" and "16-19 M."
Im very happy with my performance. I finally figured out cold weather racing in the 3rd cold race I've had this year, and in the biggest. 19th out of the water, 13 on the bike, 10th off the bike, 9th out of T2, 8th at the line. Once again it was a blast representing my country and racing against International competition. I'm stoked about how well I did. Stoked, but not satisfied.
The morning of the World Championships Travis and I woke up bright and early at 5:30. Actually it felt more like 7:30 for us as we hadn't fully adjusted to the time change yet, in this case though I think it was a good thing. We walked down to a local coffee shop to grab some coffee and a scone then met up with Shelly and another kid from California that was hanging out with us, Rudy. We had dropped our bikes off the night before so we walked to transition to set our stuff up, then walked back the half mile to the race start. It was cold and rainy. Perfectly miserable weather for racing.
In the Athletes lounge we put on our wetsuits, lubed up with vaseline and attached our "squid lids" to the top of our noggins.
These were specially designed neoprene caps we'd bought the day before to keep some heat in. We payed $50 for them and after our race we sold them for $60. The expo vendors didn't order enough and people were desperate to get their hands on them. We lined up on the beach, all 52 16-19 and 20-24 year olds and when the horn went off ran and dove into the 52 degree water.
I had a decent enough swim. It was hard to really push hard because you couldn't feel much and the swim ended up being over 1000m instead of the 750m it was supposed to be. I did find a guy to draft off of and used him until the last 100m or so when I sprinted around him to beat him out of the water. Not exactly the most gentlemanly thing to do but hey, that's racing. I was 19th out of the water in my age group of 27 competitors and 13th out of T1. The cold coupled with my quick transitioning skills helped me pass a bunch of people that beat me out of the water. Transition itself was an absolute slip-N-slide. My coach was videoing and she has footage of people falling all over the place, with their bikes, without their bikes, arms still in their wetsuit flopping around like a beached seal, you name it. Because every ones feet were numb and the grass was wet and muddy it made it very difficult for sure.
I made it out of transition without incident and was soon on the bike cranking away. Same as I described earlier the bike course is not and easy one. I felt good on the uphills and the downhill were just flat out scary. It was still raining lightly so everything was slick and the road itself was poor quality with lots of bumps and holes that are very difficult to see when your screaming downhill at 35+mph with cold rain blowing into your eyes. I was 1:15 back of Travis when I got on my bike and after two laps I heard my coach yell that he was only 10 seconds up the road. I caught him a couple minutes later and blew by him at close to warp speed. A minute later here he comes chugging past me up the hill and we switched back and forth like this all the way to the top. Then as we turned for the descent into T2 I passed him again, this time for good. I wanted to put some time into him so I took as many risks as I dared going around the wet turns, maintaining a death grip on my bull horns, no aero bars for this descent. I'd already found the really bad holes on the first 2 laps so I had a good idea of what line to take and put 15 seconds on Travis entering T2.
Right as I came off the bike I saw another USA guy ahead of me, Jack St. Marie who I had out sprinted for 2nd place at our qualifier in Tuscaloosa. This concerned me because at that race he ran 16:28 off the bike and I was at least a minute slower then that. I passed him as we ran towards our racks, threw my bike on and carefully and methodically pulled my shoes on. My hands and feet were numb so I had to go by site rather then feel. Travis ran by as I unclipped my helmet and I grabbed my race belt and took off. As I headed out I saw Jack taking his bike off one rack desperately looking around for his own rack. "This is good," I thought. (Later I discovered that Jack had also sliced his foot open on the swim, he had been bleeding the whole race and would require stitches afterwards.)
As I started the run I felt surprisingly good and I quickly passed a British guy in my age group. The whole rest of the run I just ran strong. At a couple of the turn arounds I could see Travis and Jack but they didn't look like they were gaining much. There was another guy from the U.S. about 20-30 seconds ahead of me but I couldn't catch him no matter how hard I tried. I had worn an underarmour shirt underneath my race suit as well as armwarmers underneath the wetsuit and those definitely helped keep my core temperature warm. I ran hard the whole way and crossed the line 8th overall and 3rd American. My 5.1k time was 17:53 with an adjusted time of 17:32 for a 5k. A new PR for me. Off the bike, in 55 degree rainy weather, on a course that wasn't flat, at the World Championships. Travis came in 30 seconds later after getting passed by a Canadian in the last few hundred meters.
RESULTS! - Just click on "sprint distance" and "16-19 M."
Im very happy with my performance. I finally figured out cold weather racing in the 3rd cold race I've had this year, and in the biggest. 19th out of the water, 13 on the bike, 10th off the bike, 9th out of T2, 8th at the line. Once again it was a blast representing my country and racing against International competition. I'm stoked about how well I did. Stoked, but not satisfied.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
I'm in Vancouver!
Travis, Shelly and I flew into Vancouver yesterday with no incident and were soon at our hotel which is right on the race site. We can literally look at our window and see the finish as well as most of the swim course. After putting our bikes together we did a pre-ride of the bike course which is a 7km loop we do 3 times. Theres a nice little 0.6mi climb we do on each loop followed by a 1-2 mi fast and somewhat scary downhill section.
The biggest news hear is the weather. Its in the mid 50's today and raining, raining, raining. We watched the junior elite races today and it was a blast to watch the super fast action without the crowds we experienced in Germany.
The water is an absolutely frigid 55 degrees. I thought Germany was cold last year at 61 or so but this takes cold to a whole new level. We did a swim today for about 5-10 minutes and though it is cold and your feet, hands, and face go numb in about 30 seconds- it is doable. My biggest problem was waiting for my face to numb because it hurts and stings intensely when you first put it in. 2XU brought in 40 neoprene caps to wear and thanks to Travis we got on the wait list about 20th or so before they came in. I just got back from picking it up and I think it will help keep me warm as well as some other tricks we plan on employing such as pouring warm water down the wetsuit and holding our pee until just before we go. Hey, anything to keep from going hypothermic.
Our race start is at 7:40 tomorrow pacific time and you should be able to track us live at triathlon.org. Send warm thoughts my way!!
The biggest news hear is the weather. Its in the mid 50's today and raining, raining, raining. We watched the junior elite races today and it was a blast to watch the super fast action without the crowds we experienced in Germany.
The water is an absolutely frigid 55 degrees. I thought Germany was cold last year at 61 or so but this takes cold to a whole new level. We did a swim today for about 5-10 minutes and though it is cold and your feet, hands, and face go numb in about 30 seconds- it is doable. My biggest problem was waiting for my face to numb because it hurts and stings intensely when you first put it in. 2XU brought in 40 neoprene caps to wear and thanks to Travis we got on the wait list about 20th or so before they came in. I just got back from picking it up and I think it will help keep me warm as well as some other tricks we plan on employing such as pouring warm water down the wetsuit and holding our pee until just before we go. Hey, anything to keep from going hypothermic.
Our race start is at 7:40 tomorrow pacific time and you should be able to track us live at triathlon.org. Send warm thoughts my way!!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Further Update
Ok here is an additional update to my weekend down in Austin for the Captex triathlon.
After the race it was nice to just relax with some friends up from San Antonio and not think about triathlons for a little while. We went to my grandparents lakehouse, then to eat, then back to the main house to watch a movie. If you wanted to know what the movie Sweeney Todd is about I could only give you a very brief summary as I slept through most of it. Monday morning (Memorial day) was another relaxing day. I seem to have trouble sleeping in these days and was up at 7:30, a couple hours before anyone else. I ate breakfast then did a 30min run where I discovered a neat trail 1/4 mile from the house. Someday I'm gonna go back and do all 14 miles of the out and back.
Later I drove down to San Antonio where I was staying with my friend and her Sister and brother-in-law. We played some volleyball and swam before I left to go pick up my NEW ROAD BIKE!!!
Yes indeed. The bike was getting built by my coach's husband who is an awesome mechanic and bike fitter. The Giant frame was given to me and I got a build kit for it with Sram Rival components. Its awesome and weighs in at just under 17.5 lbs.
Tuesday I was up early to make it back to Dallas for noon swim practice then I raced the Tuesday night crit on my new bike where I got 2nd. A fellow triathlete named Mark who also raced Captex chased me down on the last lap after I broke away with 3 to go. If I hadn't been trashed from the weekend I know I could have stayed off the front but oh well. They said it was one of the fastest cat 5 races they've done but it felt super slow to me.
A couple more hard days of training and I started my taper for worlds on Saturday. I leave Wednesday morning at 6:40am and race Friday at 7:30am. Its getting close....
After the race it was nice to just relax with some friends up from San Antonio and not think about triathlons for a little while. We went to my grandparents lakehouse, then to eat, then back to the main house to watch a movie. If you wanted to know what the movie Sweeney Todd is about I could only give you a very brief summary as I slept through most of it. Monday morning (Memorial day) was another relaxing day. I seem to have trouble sleeping in these days and was up at 7:30, a couple hours before anyone else. I ate breakfast then did a 30min run where I discovered a neat trail 1/4 mile from the house. Someday I'm gonna go back and do all 14 miles of the out and back.
Later I drove down to San Antonio where I was staying with my friend and her Sister and brother-in-law. We played some volleyball and swam before I left to go pick up my NEW ROAD BIKE!!!
Yes indeed. The bike was getting built by my coach's husband who is an awesome mechanic and bike fitter. The Giant frame was given to me and I got a build kit for it with Sram Rival components. Its awesome and weighs in at just under 17.5 lbs.
Tuesday I was up early to make it back to Dallas for noon swim practice then I raced the Tuesday night crit on my new bike where I got 2nd. A fellow triathlete named Mark who also raced Captex chased me down on the last lap after I broke away with 3 to go. If I hadn't been trashed from the weekend I know I could have stayed off the front but oh well. They said it was one of the fastest cat 5 races they've done but it felt super slow to me.
A couple more hard days of training and I started my taper for worlds on Saturday. I leave Wednesday morning at 6:40am and race Friday at 7:30am. Its getting close....
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