An Ignominious End

There's been so many tips and training advice flying around this joint lately I thought it was about time to check in with the residing pro triathlete and the end of the season...

After a good build up through my early races in September, 2013 didn't close out exactly how I expected.

Leading into Lifetime Fitness in Dallas I was feeling quite good. Training was going pretty well, I was running fast times on the track and swimming well. I didn't have any unrealistic expectations about swimming with the front pack but after the swim was canceled at Galveston 5150 I wanted to practice swimming as hard as I could as I could and see what I could do. You'd think that after 10 years in triathlon I would know better than to try anything new going into a big race but… apparently I needed to learn that lesson one more time. I  changed up a little bit about my routine in the 2-3 days before the race based on looking back at training logs and seeing a trend that I thought would help me feel my best. It worked quite the opposite however, and instead my body felt stiff, sluggish and unresponsive. I raced as hard as I could but felt like I was stuck in 3rd gear the whole time, never able to get my heart rate up and really push. 12th place and not a happy end. I was incredibly disappointed in myself after that performance but that's racing.

Maybe the upside down number was bad mojo

Two weeks later I traveled to Houston for Tri Andy's Tri, a super-short, super-fast, super-painful sprint triathlon consisting of 300m swim/10 mile bike/3 mile run. Race morning brought cool temperatures and a solid field of athletes vying for the $1000 prize for breaking the course record. The swim is a 300 meter straight away and it was kind of fun with 10 of us sprinting as hard as we could for 3 1/2 minutes. Out of the water and on to the bike my San Antonio training buddy, Robbie Wade, dropped me straight away. The cold air was quite a shock on our wet legs and Robbie swears he rode so fast just to try and get warm. I rode with Patrick Dougherty and Dustin Joubert the whole time and we tried to keep the pace hot but in the cold it was tough to get the legs going and Robbie continued to pull away. Out onto the run I took off at a hard pace unable to tell if I was running 4:30's or 6:30's due to the numbness still inflicting my lower extremeties. At mile one I looked back and could see Dustin and Patrick hanging 5-10sec behind so I surged hard for a mile to try and shake them. I ended up with 2nd place and a pr 3 mile run.

The next weekend was my last race of the year at the Longhorn 70.3. I'd been on the fence about doing this one but I had a reasonably good race at my first half the year before when I did Tri-Tyler and was hoping I could summon a similar effort this year knowing I was in much better condition. It would also be a good chance to score some points in the 70.3 rankings for next year. I swam hard and just missed latching on to the 2nd pack at 600m in (story of my life). I continued swimming hard as the group pulled away and came out of the water with Ben Hall, a good friend (and excellent cyclist) from Louisiana.

Thanks Sean Chang, for the shot

Ben and Robbie took off in the opening 5 miles and I knew my bike strength wasn't good enough to go with them. I was set on riding my own pace and watching my heart rate. I was staying hydrated with  Fluid nutrition and beginning to feel stronger and stronger as I went. Somewhere around mile 20 or 25 I started to notice that I was getting really uncomfortable on my saddle. I felt like I was continually falling off the nose and shifting and moving around trying to find a spot where my… junk, wasn't getting squished. This fall I've been the most comfortable I've ever been on a bike racing in Cobb Cycling shorts and using the SHC saddle by Cobb so this was really weird. I couldn't figure out why I was getting so uncomfortable since normally when I ride the saddle and shorts it feels like a dream. The last 10 miles I sat up and just pedaled in and by then I knew something was off with my saddle. Turns out it had gotten tilted down 15-20 degrees at some point and that is why I kept sliding off the front and had to brace with my forearms to keep from falling on the top tube. By the time I hit T2 I was so far back in the field I knew I wasn't going to earn any points so I handed my chip in and dropped out.

Riding downhill

I've been pretty lucky with very, very few mechanical mishaps over my career (this was only my second ever in a race). It wasn't a mechanical that kept me from finishing but it was one that kept me from performing. At the end of the year it just wasn't worth a good "training day" to slug through a run.  I've got to give big props to Ben, who spent 15-20min on the side of the road with a flat tire but still finished the race.

Two weeks later and I just finished a fortnight hiatus from triathlon. During that time I've worked a ton, ate some cake, drove a Uhaul 1200 miles, slept in and done pretty much no training. It's been great! I've been able to spend a lot more time with my wife in a non-fatigued or cranky state which has been nice. I'm mentally and physically refreshed and itching to get on my mountain bike and try some cyclocross racing.

I want to send a special thanks to these companies and the individuals who I've interacted with at them. Without their support this journey would not be possible. The quest for excellence in 2014 begins tomorrow. Onwards and upwards.