Muskoka Race Report - good/bad

So, I'm sure those of you that haven't contacted me already are wondering how the weekend in Canadia went… and for those of you that checked out the results already, some of you may have seen what happened. But without further adieu, here is the race report for the Muskoka Long Course triathlon:

Sunday at 7am, departed from Rochester and drove the 5.5 hours north to Huntsville, Ontario to compete in the Muskoka Long Course triathlon to try and nab a slot for Ironman Lake Placid this year. (I have been training all winter like I was going to Placid without actually being registered for the event...some may have called that stupid, but I just figured if I didn't get in, I would just do a few marathons and maybe a really fast half ironman...)

I got up there and toured the course after going thru check-in and race kit pickup. (which ironically was in an ice rink...Imagine that, an ice rink in Canada, hah!) I toured the brand new for 2007 bike course Saturday night and my first thoughts were, “HOLY #@*%!, it was hilly….” It was about as bad as Lake Placid, but a much steeper version Kind of a cross between Canandaigua and Lake Placid. It was a tough as nails bike course. (I'll tell more about it later) I took a photo of this on the bike course, just thought it was cool...
Anyway, I got done with the bike course and it just seemed to climb throughout the entire thing and just went downhill for the last 10 km's (of 55 km's total - which translates to 34.15 miles for our non-metric, imperial unit folk...) It was looking to be a beast of a course. The run course had a nice hard uphill right out of transition which just showed how hardcore these Canadian's were about the triathlon. (on a side note, I have NEVER seen THAT MANY REALLY nice bikes, like Cervelo's with Zipp wheelsets and bullet helmets, in one place... just seemed like everyone had a nice bike with nice wheels and a LARGE disposable income...I don’t know how they do it…crazy)

The alarm clock buzzes at 5:45am on race day and I get up and am rip roaring ready to roll. Amazingly though, I’m calm inside. I get to the race site with all of my stuff and en route to setting up my transition area, I see Craig Alexander and wish him good luck (by the way, he is the 70.3 WORLD CHAMPION) and I shook his hand and then saw Samantha Maglone (also a world champion...) and it was nuts how many pro's were there... cool to see that they were just chillin before the race and all. (Sorry I didn't want to geek out and get photos with them, just because they seemed so down to earth and I didn't want to be the typical "tourist"...)

The race swim start and exit were like 500m away and I thought it would be a good idea to swim to the start as a warm up, I got into the new Profile Design Metal cell 2 wetsuit that was given to me by Handlebars Cycle Company and it was a tight fit, but a SPEEDY wetsuit to boot. I started swimming down to the start and was apparently going up river in the outlet there and took me much longer than anticipated to get to the start. I got to the start and 2 minutes later we were off... It was VERY physical. There were about 160 people in my wave and it was males and females under 30 years old. (20-24 age group and 25-29 age group)

The swim was nice and it was in a really beautiful lake up there with pine trees lining the shores. If I had stayed a few extra days, I would have just spent days kayaking the inlets and exploring these pristine lakes. But for now, I was racing. I caught up after the first buoy to the lead group in our wave and we were all swimming in a reverse V shape (perfect for catching the draft off those elusive fast feet in front of you…) and I hit the shore in less than 30 minutes. (first time I have EVER done that in a 1.2 mile swim. - I’m attributing most of that to the new wetsuit!) By the time I crossed the timing mat, the clock had ticked over 30 minutes and the official time for the swim was 30:16. Still not half bad.

After a short T1, I was off on the bike on the course. For the first few miles I was playing cat and mouse with this 16 year old kid who was obviously a pure cyclist who was trying out a triathlon. He was whizzing up the hills and I was catching him on the flats. I dropped him and then about 40k into the course I noticed there were dudes just pulling away from me on the bike. I was in a major gap and at some points in the race I was wondering if I was going the right way after I couldn’t see anyone like 300m up the road. Turns out, I was going the right way, but just getting shelled by these hills. Apparently no one in Canada is affected by mass elevation gains…

I split a 1:34:xx on the bike and that was good enough to pull me back to T2 in one piece. It was an average of like 21.7 mph for the 34+ miles. It hurt. I was pleased to be onto the run course, but it was getting REALLY hot out and I had some cramping issues that I was still working out from Keuka and I was worried about how the abs would hold up. I came out of transition like a bat out of hell and I was on a plan to split 4:00 per kilometer to get a 60 minute 15k. I hit the first Km in 3:43 and I knew I was hitting it too hard. I made it thru 5k in about 19:40 and then began to go backwards. My 10k split was about a 40:45 and then I went into survival mode.

I began to reprioritize my goals as several people were passing me, I was thinking that there was NO WAY I was going to be able to grab an IMUSA slot at this pace and I came up here for nothing. I was getting discouraged and pissed and couldn’t pick up the pace because I was cramping in my abs and just not running well. At 12k I kind of blew up. 13k hit and I knew I just had to focus for the last 1.2 miles and I just went at it and focused on finishing. 14k hit and there was a climb back into town (which was rather mean, pictured below, my form is terrible) and I got thru the chute in 3:08:43.

2 people passed me in the last 5k that were in my age group and I just couldn’t get them. One blew past me and one was within reach, just couldn’t get up to him in time. I was a little disappointed in the finish (not that I did poorly, but that I didn’t race smartly…blowing up like that means that I just didn’t pace myself correctly) These were odd distances to race and I had apparently gotten too comfy with the 1.5k/40k/10k Olympic distances. I finished the 15k off in 62:15 and it was good enough for 54th overall out of 790+ and it was 7th in the male 25-29 age group.

The awards ceremony was in the same ice rink and it took forever and it was hot as anything inside… I wasn’t getting up for any awards so it was a waiting game until the Ironman slot distribution occurred. It was a nail biter, I went up when they called the age group and the 2nd place kid in the group took a Florida slot, the 4th asked for another Florida slot and was out of luck, and then there were 2 people who weren’t there and they called my name and asked me what I wanted; any of 2 IM Canada slots or 1 IM USA slot. I got into Ironman Lake Placid. Nuts, right? So I’m doing Lake Placid as Ironman #2 in a little more than a month. Needless to say the car ride home was better than I thought it was going to be.

I’m just so stoked to be given the opportunity to compete in another Ironman race so soon. I seriously thought that I would not be nabbing this slot after I got back into T2 from the bike so I am just thankful that it was rolled down to me. Now comes a short little 2-3 week build and a little taper down for game day on July 22nd, 2007. It’s time to hit the hills again and I’ll let you all know how the training is going after this week. This was a rest week and about 9.5 hours of training so it’s getting hot and heavy over here, but it’s only a few weeks until the infamous taper, so that’s a plus.

I hope everyone is getting out and enjoying the warm weather that we are having in upstate NY now days. See you on the roads everyone and thank you all for your kind emails and support that you’ve given me. I hope I can make you all proud in Placid this year. Believe me, I will do my best. Take care and enjoy the ride. Cheers.

New Title Sponsor!

So I have kept most of you all in the dark about the BIG NEWS that happened after the Keuka Lake Triathlon this past weekend, but the information has leaked out a bit too. Without further adieu, I will announce that since the 2006 season (after getting dropped by TriSports.com for budgetary reasons) I have been racing "sans-a-sponsor". That all changed after I crossed the line at Keuka on Sunday....I finished and the lady that was cutting off the timing chips from everyones ankle looked at me after she removed my chip and handed me a business card from Handlebars Cycle Company in Buffalo, NY. (this is the same place where I purchased THE BEAST and I have had a good relationship with the tri guru over there named Jim Costello) The lady told me that Jim wanted to speak with me when I got a minute.

So I hung out for a little, visited with some friends, went on a cool down with Carl Johnson and then en route to my car, Jim passes me and says, "so when are you going to start letting me sponsor you?" Jokingly, I answered, "How about right now?" and he said to come see him when I had a minute...

So before the awards, I went over to the Handlebars booth and started talking shop with Jim and chatting about where I can improve in the race and what my strongest/weakest legs of the tri were. He asked what my height and weight were and I thought that was weird, but answered and he went over to a rack of really nice wetsuits and I thought to myself, well maybe he's going to let me borrow one to race in the future in...

He pulls out a Profile Design Metal cell 2 by Aquaman. He tosses it to me and says, "here you go"... I was shocked. I thought to myself, "are you serious?" and was trying REALLY hard to keep my jaw from dropping to the ground. Jim then mentioned that my uniform probably wouldn't be ready for this Sunday at Muskoka in Canada, but it would be here in the next week or so along with my racing kit full of clothes, goodies and stuff... He then, just simply said, "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of you from now on..." and we then chatted about the future for me and where he thought I was going to go and how I would place at certain races, etc...

I told him about my 5 year plan to get to Hawaii and he agreed that it could be done and of course I thanked him like a million times. I was seriously stunned as I walked back to my bike and drove home. The wetsuit still had the TAGS on it and I already HAD a decent wetsuit and I was just shoked that he pulled it off the rack and just gave it to me! It's soaking right now in my tub and I'm going to go to Kershaw tomorrow and test it out before Muskoka, but it was SO COOL and weird at the same time. A handshake was all that was needed for our "contract".

I'm just still in shock. Jim said he would call this week and I gave him all of my information including name, address and phone number and the like and this is the same store that sponsors Curt Eggers (a triathlon legend in the Rochester area - everyone knows Curt. He was a national age group champion in both triathlon and duathlon in 2006!) I was just astonished that Jim took an interest in what I was doing and how he thought I would be good investment to sponsor for 2007. (apparently I am in good company :) ...)

Believe me, I will race often and I will do my absolute best to race well and show my sponsor that they are not wasting their time on me and that I am worth the $500+ wetsuit that was just handed to me. So, Handlebars, thank you SO VERY MUCH for giving me the opportunity to race for you and I hope I won't dissappoint. Just knowing that someone else is counting on me to do well in a race gives me that extra drive and motivation to not let anyone down. Thank you very much and I hope this is the start of a great mutually beneficial relationship!

Cheers everyone, thanks for reading. See you tomorrow night at Kershaw in my new blue armed wetsuit.

Keuka Lake Triathlon race report

Yesterday was the Keuka Lake Triathlon in Penn Yan, NY. As discussed on the last post, this was my very first triathlon... I love this race and for most it is the season opener (as the water around here in the Finger Lakes generally doesn't warm up to be bearable to swim until about now in the year....)

This year I was gunning for a good time and wanted to do well there. I wouldn't say it was an "A race" considering I am heading up to Canadia (yes, I spelled that correctly- just say it out loud. No offense Bold..) for the Muskoka Loung course triathlon to try and grab a slot for IM USA.

The swim was cold, but not as cold as in year's past. (and by not as cold, I mean that this year I didn't put my face in the water and get instant "brain freeze"...) The swim was good though, it was a little bit chppy which made us all inadvertantly eat a lot of lake water in the 0.93 mile swim. There was a dude that drafted off of me the entire top leg of the swim and was touching my toes and that is the WORST feeling in the world. It wasn't until I realized that I could lengthen my stroke and get a little distance on him before I got some reprieve. I was the first one out of the water and up the stairs, as depicted below. My time in the water was a 23:57 which also takes into effect the run up the stairs and to the transition area (where the timing mats were) so I can only assume that I was faster than what was listed on the results...

I had a MUCH faster transition than last year and was basically the only one in transition (which made it really easy to find my stuff...) I was out on the bike course in a flash and ready to tear up the infamous hills of Keuka.

The first half of the bike course is basically ALL up hill and is a beast. For me, I was in the lead with a nice escort truck leading me around (so I wouldn't go the wrong way, thanks Rich at Score-This!!!) I knew that Carl Johnson had started in the wave 5 minutes behind me and I was thinking he was going to just TEAR by me on the bike (like last year) and I was just BOOKING it hoping that he wouldn't catch me. There were 2 turn arounds in the course and I saw him and talked trash to him mid race ("Hey CJ, looks like your back tire is flat!"...it was all about respect though, he's blazingly fast!). Carl never caught me on the bike and looking at this years results, I had the fastest bike split of the race with a 1:07:00 for a 40k and that averaged to 22.4mph on THE BEAST.

I had a quick T2 and was ripping off on the 10K run and heard the announcer Rich advise over the loudspeaker that I was "going to have to run a blazingly fast 10k to hold off the guys in wave 2" and I groaned as I exited T2 becuase I knew this wasn't going to be a walk in the park. I dropped the first mile in 5:43 according to my watch and immediately got the BIGGEST side stitch/cramp in my 2nd abdominal muscle on my right side and was really worried after that. I was still the first guy on the course and I slowed considerably before the turn around (it was an out and back course) and I was just waiting again for Carl to blow by me because I thought it was inevitable at this point. I held on thru the 5k turnaround in 19:04 and when I turned did the pattented T. Earley spin move around the cone (always goofing off, even in the lead of a race) You have to make things fun :)

I tried to surge several times on the way back to the finish line in the next 5k and must have negative split it, but it felt slower. There was no one in sight for a while and I was astonished and beginning to think if I put 5 minutes on Carl that I could win this... I was determined, but there was no one to run down in front of me so the whole time I was just running scared. I crossed the line in 2:10:07 and didn't look at my watch in the last mile (otherwise I think I might have been able to pull off a sub 2:10 because I didn't kick too hardly - I just kind of forgot about the time aspect of the race) I crossed with a 37:36 10k and split my watch to see if I had put 5 minutes on Carl.

He crossed 3:20 later and he was the winner of the Keuka Tri. I was 2nd overall and it was a single place better than last year andmore than 4 minute PR from last year which was nice. The best thing is that Carl beat me by 7 minutes last year and only 1:40 this year (so I am catching him!) I got a nice new plaque for the office and it was all in all a great race. I was pleased and it was comfortable racing weather too (although the awards were REALLY hot)

I have other GREAT news about stuff that happened later after the race, but I will keep you all in suspense right now. (just think, sponsorship...) and I will post on this later this week. (with LOTS of pics!) But for now it is a rest week and slight taper going into Muskoka on Sunday to try and nab a slot for Placid. Wish me luck as this Sunday's race decides my whole summer! See you out on the roads and I'll keep you posted on the BIG NEWS later on. Cheers. :)

Weekend in Placid

So, the weekend in Placid over Memorial Day went a little better than anticipated. I came into the weekend with horrible images in my mind about the infamous “hills of Lake Placid” and was even thinking about changing the gearing on THE BEAST because everyone was telling me horror stories about these hills.

To sum it up, this course was not as bad as everyone told me it was going to be...

Now I do not fancy myself a climber. I do not climb well on the bike and I think this stems from my physique from years past (three years ago I was pushing a DEUCE on the scales. Almost 200 lbs…) Good climbers are generally rail thin and scrawny little guys that can bounce up the hills just because they have monster quads and have no weight up top to slow them down. I have slimmed down a bit since college and lost some of my bulk from up top but I think I had preconceived notions in my head about the course and it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

Saturday we headed out for two loops on the bike course and most everyone in our 6 person group was just going to do 1 loop. I did the one loop with them and even had on Excalibur, but in retrospect, X will probably not be worn for the race. IT was too hot and the decent into Keene was a little hairy as I felt like the Rocketeer (see below) going down the hills and at one time when I looked over my shoulder going about 45 mph, I felt like I was going to fly off the bike. The second loop I rode with T$ and J. Fish-Hunter, and after like 3 miles, I began feeling really good and wanted to see how fast I could do the entire course. I finished the 56 mile course in 2:50 and was feeling good about it. I was sitting for almost every climb and since the hills are long and very gradual, it was much easier than Canandaigua Lake . All in all, this was a nice and very scenic bike course. I even went out for a 2 mile T-run after the ride and it felt ok…my legs were a little shelled at that point though…

Sunday started at 7am when everyone decided it would be good to get up REALLY early and get the long run over with. Most people were hitting up 1 loop of the run course (13.1 miles) – I, of course, wanted to do 18 miles…
There is one LARGE hill on the run course, that you have to do twice, coming down from transition and it will hurt the quads in the race, but it is do-able. (My HR was 142 going up it during the run…my hill training must have paid off!). The run course will be a little different than IM FLORIDA, but it is do-able.
I’m getting stoked about doing this race as the scenery is AMAZING. It is SO much nicer than Florida and will be a blast to do as a bunch of my friends are going to do it this year too.

We all ended up climbing up Porter and Cascade on Sunday as well after my 18 mile long run and that was a challenge. I will have pics of the summits of those in another post later on this week.

This past weekend was more monster miles with a 113.12 mile ride to Buffalo, NY and back from Rochester, NY and Sunday was a 21 mile run in Webster, NY. I have the Keuka Lake Tri this upcoming Sunday and that should be a fun little speed workout. (My 10k there last year at the end of the Olympic tri was a 37:29, so I’m hoping to repeat that) Last year was also my very first podium finish overall in a triathlon so Keuka holds a special place in my heart. (It was also the very first TRI I ever did….thank you Philly VP for creating the addiction!)

I will report on that later after the weekend and I will let you all know how I do. I’m shooting to break 2:10 there and I think it MIGHT just be do-able considering the results from last year (2:14:26 finish) so we’ll see what happens. It will be a good show-down.

I hope you all are hitting the roads hard and they are not hitting back too badly, see you out there, the season is finally here :)