See that red pin to the left? That is where the race was.

See that massive blog of angry just west of the red pin? That is what made me poop myself. Twice. Needless to say was mentally preparing myself for a pretty epic race. During the drive to the race site, I eventually tricked myself into looking forward to hydroplaning the entire bike and splashing through puddles for 13 miles.

Swim

Pre race chat with Toby

I’m not going to lie. I was looking forward to a little bit of a PR on the swim. I usually crawl out of the water at around 37 minutes, but have been doing a lot more swimming this season and would have been psyched if I didn’t have to push it too hard and could come out sub 35:00. Those hopes quickly went in the garbage within the first 400 meters of the swim.

I’ve had some pretty aggressive swim starts before, but this was just insane. I positioned myself just like I usually do, in the back(ish) of the middle but found myself at the center of a huge pack still at around 500 meters. Forearms were crashing down across my back. Multiple sets of feet were splashing right in front of my face. I was doing my best just to keep from getting punched and decided to play it safe and head to the outside of the course. It was going to be a long day and I had no reason to spend my competitive juices on so early in the swim.

I felt like I was holding a pretty decent pace. My shoulders were a little tight, but I was staying just left of a pretty decent sized group and was drafting off of some safe feet when I could, but the aggressiveness just never let up, especially as some of the super speedy guys in later waves caught up to my wave (we were the first to go after the pros).

At just about the halfway point, I’m convinced that I firmly planted my heel directly into some dude’s forehead. Feeling the echo of some guy’s scull reverberate through your leg is not a cool feeling, but it has to be better than what he felt. No joke, I felt like I seriously clobbered that guy directly with my heel, full force. This is my way of saying “my b.” I was swimming straight and had a normal kick, he must have just been so speedy coming up behind me that his head caught up to me before his hands did. But the race goes on…

I ended up exiting the water at 38:52 (2:01 min/100m).

I wasn’t too happy about it, but considering how I took a pretty conservative line around the swim course (and I ended up drifting more than usual…), I’m sure my pace was a little faster since I traveled a little more than the 1.2 miles that were marked off.

Bike

T1 was uneventful and relatively quick. I had cut off the last two inches of my wetsuit and lubed up plenty with TriSlide so my heels slipped right out and I was good to go.

I stuck to the nutrition plan that I laid out in my last post and started sucking down on my first bottle of EFS Liquid Shot mixed into a water bottle.

The roads were all pretty wet, but somehow the mega storm of the century was still holding off. Except for a few sprinkles, it was pretty decent weather. Humid, but otherwise cool and great for racing.

The hills hurt just as much as I expected and I was feeling really strong. Besides letting my upper body bounce around above the handlebars like I was rocking out to some sick beats while climbing up one of the major hill (thanks again Sonja for calling me out on my totally lame form), I had a pretty nice groove going and was having a blast. A perfect example of a bad habit that I’ve been working very hard to break all season, but when my mind goes into “race mode” all that goes out the window and I climb up hills like I’m pedaling a moon bounce… ::sigh::

Rolling through mile 29 we passed the Trakkers aid station with all of my teammates and friends who had raced the Oly the day before. They were hootin’ and hollerin’ and it was awesome to suck in all their energy. I even got flashed by Ryan and for some reason I instantly decided to squirt him with some extra water in the bottle I just picked up. I’m not exactly sure why. Strange unexplainable reaction, but I thought it was funny.

Ryan, I hope I didn’t get you too wet buddy. Thanks for the laugh.

Unlike Knoxville where I was just smiling and having a blast the whole time, Quassy was all about getting down to business. Immediately after the Trakkers aid station I hunkered back down and kept on cranking.

I eased up the pace a little during the last five miles and focused on taking in some extra water (to avoid a repeat of the dehydration issues I had on the run last year). Meg went flying past me and I was SO tempted to go chasing after her. I decided to use my better judgment (knowing that she is a super speedy runner and trying to chase her out of T2 would be dangerous) and let her disappear in the distance in front of me.

I knew I was capable of hitting around 3:00 from riding the course two weeks ago, but knew that the run was going to really challenge me so I was aiming for somewhere between 3:05-3:10 so I could get ready to unleash whatever I had left once I got on the run. I felt like I handled the run pretty well. Strong enough pace without having to worry about not saving enough for the run.

Time: 3:11:46 (17.58 mph)

This was definitely on the slow end of my predictions, but I was happy with it. For such a challenging course, it followed my plan to the letter and felt strong coming into T2.

Run

I rushed through transition, packed two fuel belt bottles and an EFS Liquid Shot flask into my pockets and started the last part of my trek to the finish line.

While I normally struggle to find my legs after the run, apparently all the BRick workouts this year paid off. I didn’t feel super speedy (which would have been a great surprise) but I was able to get a nice rhythm going. I started checking the time at every mile to keep my pace under control until at least mile 4 or 5 where I planned to reassess how I felt.

I was only looking at the minutes and seconds, so it took me four miles to realize that my watch had frozen half way through the bike and I wasn’t actually doing perfect 10:00 min/mile pace over and over. Crap. It wouldn’t even let me tell the time. I’ve gotta replace that thing ASAP. For a $25 garage sale purchase five years ago, my Polar HRM was a steal but I need to invest in some new goodies that are more reliable.

The run hurt, but I was doing a LOT better than last year. I had to walk up some hills (and even some flats) but I mostly focused on listening to my body and making smart decisions.

Example: I have this theory that whenever I’m dehydrated and working out, I can feel my pulse in my head. When that thump came back to my skull. I stopped, tossed down a little water from my fuel belt bottle and walked for a minute or two to help it absorb instead of just sitting in my stomach.

While the hills were relentless and were tearing everyone apart, the humidity only made things more insane. I just couldn’t cool my body off. Any water that the kick-ass volunteers splashed on me or that I dumped on my head just sat there. Nothing was evaporating. I felt like I was a giant running sponge. Thankfully I decided to run with my Fastwitchs. This was my first time testing out the drain holes in the bottom. Unlike my old Asics trainers, these things didn’t soak up all that much water and were WAY more comfortable to run in while wet.

The last half mile of the run course was just some sick joke. A giant, straight hill just out of earshot of the finish line. As you come up to the base you can look up and see all the athletes ahead of you practically crying as they go up.

Every single person I saw in front of me on the hill was walking at some point, but I refused. I knew how close we were to the finish and was going to take them down. Slow and steady I increased my pace and knocked down four guys until I reached the top and let loose. I could hear their pace quicken behind me as they tried to hold on, but I must have had too much ground on them to respond. It was awesome having those rabbits to chase and take down on my way to the finish.

Granted I was only really competing with myself for the first 70 miles, but throwing a little mano-a-mano (x4) action for the last .3 miles is always exciting.

Run: 2:21:09 (10:47 min/mile)

The clock stopped for me at 6:15:44

That is a full 13 minutes faster than last year!

The End

I couldn’t be happier with my race. Of course there are things I’d go back and tweak (including doing more tempo run workouts), but that will always be the case for any 70 mile race. Ultimately, I had a plan, I nailed it and had a blast the whole time.

Great event. Killer course. Awesome teammates. I can’t think of any better way to spend a weekend.

I’m nowhere near speedy enough to bringing home age group hardware, but check out all my fast teammates.

And more importantly, a great weekend spent showing Momma Bull what her son is capable of. Major thanks to my mom and my girlfriend Sam for coming out to spectate and take pictures. Knowing that they would be there screaming my name each time I came through transition was more motivation than they’ll ever know.

Up next: Reevaluating my FullRev Cedar Point training plan. Stay Tuned!

Friday morning I got up, packed a few last minute things into the car, and hit the road pointed South starting at 4:30 am. 950 miles, 2.5 tanks of gas, five bottles of water and countless bathroom breaks later I rolled in to Knoxville, TN. I pulled in just in time to meet up with my team for dinner and a beer before calling it a night.

The road trip was uneventful, which I guess was all I could ask for.

The Day Before

Saturday morning I woke up again with the sun and headed down to the expo to help run the tent and hang out with all of my Trakkers teammates who had rolled into town.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

We had a friendly rivalry going on with the Terrier Tri team and it didn’t take long for antics to ensue. We hijacked their banner from their tent and had some fun with it.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Me practicing winding up and punting their little dog mascot, er… I mean “stretching…”

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

But then we got down to business and had to take some serious team pics.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

We roll deep.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Proudly rocking Saucony all the way down the line.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

My legs were KILLING me all day from the long drive into town, so most of the day involved stretching, hydrating with a full camelbak full of EFS, massaging and warming up with a little SwimBikeRun.

After a quick run around the ‘hood, Sonja and Michelle took me out on the bike course to show me some of the technical parts so I knew exactly what to expect and there weren’t any surprises.

I have officially made it into one of Sonja’s over the shoulder bike pics. I feel like my triathlon blogger street cred just tripled.

Notice the Camelbak still on my firmly strapped to my shoulders. That thing didn’t leave my side all day. The theme of the day was all about hydration and stretching out my aching legs from the long drive.

Next stop, swim course!

We went out and loosened up, all while having a blast. I met up with some of Sonja and Michelle’s CO crew and they are good people. You could spot them anywhere from the random shouts of laughter that echoed down the river banks.

After doing some last minute race prep and meeting up with Megan, Sonja and her adorable daughter Annie for some late night ice cream, I called it a night and got some sleep.

Race Day

Morning rolled around once again, and I was up and out the door just as the sun was rising and on my way to the transition area.

Michael Lovato hand delivered some special EFS Liquid Shot prototypes to us the day before. I stowed it away in my bento box and was going to use it as my secret weapon.

As I started to set up my transition area, I look up and realize that Tara Costa from Biggest Loser was racked right next to me. Sam and I watch BL all the time, so I texted her a picture immediately. I knew she would be pretty jealous.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Not only that, but Heather Gollnick ends up strolling over and asks me to do a short little video interview with her. Pretty sick, right?! If i see it get posted, I’ll share it here. I have no idea what I rambled about. I forgot where I was from and it was probably pretty awkward, but still cool.

Swim

The awesomely fun vibe continued in the swim too. As each swim wave jumped from the shore into the water, people were doing back flips and cartwheels off of the docks and splashing everyone still up on shore. I’ve never seen so many people pre-race with so few butterflies and just out there having a good time.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

I have no idea why, but I started off in the back(ish) of my swim wave. The swim is my weakest of the three sports, but I know I can be more competitive than just hanging out in the back of the group. I paid the price for it too. After the first stoke I took a heel right to the eye. I poked my head up, let the guy in front of me get some distance, and kept on trucking.

My time wasn’t expecting anything spectacular. I’m still stuck in that 1:40-1:45 pace, a rut that I need to figure out how to get out of soon.

Bike

An uneventful T1 and I was off on the bike course. I made it a goal to suck down as much water as I could (without letting my stomach blow up like a water balloon) and grabbed water at every aid station just to slurp down and spray the rest over my helmet and down my back.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Here is Meredith and I rocking the first section of the bike course.

The course was a blast. It had everything. Some flat sections, beautiful scenery, short steep climbs, technical winding descents. LOVED it. Super challenging, low traffic and a ton of fun.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Bull Horn Pose Credit: Kim Kaltreider

If anything, I probably got distracted by how much fun I was having and could have pushed it a little harder out there. Can you tell from the stupid faces I was making every time I saw Sonja’s dad, Eric Willis, snapping pictures of me and all our teammates. I definitely could have pushed it a little harder looking at my time, but at least now I have some better insight into my pacing…

Time: 1:22:07

Avg Speed: 18.12 mph

Run

Blasting through T2 and I was off on the run. I always falter a little bit on the beginning of the run, but by mile 1.5 when I still felt good, I really cranked it up. It was the best I had ever felt on the run by FAR. A confusing feeling, but a very welcome one.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Again, still having a one man roving party on the whole course, shouting at all my teammates and tossing out high fives along the course.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Coming through the home stretch before the finish line, I laid down the last high five on Carole Sharpless before gunning it to the finish.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

I re-passed a few guys (not in my age group unfortunately) that took me earlier in the course as I neared the finish. I heard some grumbles as they spotted the age on my calf. “He is young, that isn’t fair.”

I huffed “It is just a number, come with me!” as I blasted by some more old guys, but no one could hold on.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

It was great having such a strong push to the finish because it shows that my run fitness is way beyond where it has been for the past few years. My pace wasn’t anything spectacular, but knowing that I still had some juice in me says a lot. Better understanding my pacing will come before Rev3 Quassy next month and I’m hoping to totally rock it there.

Run Pace: 7:42

Finishing Time: 2:41:33

The End

Overall I wasn’t totally happy with my finish time, but had a BLAST during the race otherwise. My plan was to leave everything out there on the course. I left everything that I THOUGHT that I had out there, but it turns out my tank holds a lot more speed than I thought. It is dissapointing to not hit anywhere close to what I think my potential is, but I’m totally psyched to realize that my new training plan is bringing me places that my old plan from last year could have never done.

All in all, it was a great day.

A major thanks has to be laid out to Team Trakkers’ Momma Bear, Carole Sharpless. Managing of team of +30 athletes all across the country is no easy feat, and she was a blast to hang around with all weekend. She makes me proud to be part of such an amazing group. I won’t even try to attempt naming all of the awesome teammates and blogger friends that I met in person for the first time last weekend. You know who you are. You all rock and I can’t wait to race with you again very soon.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Until next time folks! The next race on the plan is to seek revenge on the Rev3 Quassy course and annihilate last year’s time. Only a few more weeks until race day comes again. At Quassy I’ll have to race a little more seriously and not make stupid faces for the photographers every time.

Photo Credit: Eric Willis

Celebrating a great day with some of Trakkers’ speediest ladies, Sonja and Michelle.

Lastly, a huge OBVIOUS thanks for Sonja’s dad, Eric Willis for taking a million awesome pictures for the team. He is the one with his name plastered in the photo credits all over this post. If you liked all the pictures in this post, he is the guy to thank.

I had only done one computrainer time trial once before (last March), and I was doing a LOT more running and was teaching hardcore spinning classes twice a week, so needless to say, I was in much better shape. I didn’t need a test to tell me that I wasn’t in the shape I was last year, but I was pretty curious to see exactly how much farther back I was (and how much ground I had to make up).

I did last year’s 10k TT in 15:56 (283 average watts/ HR: 174 avg – 189 max). As long as I finished in sight of that 283 avg watts, I’d be a happy camper. The course profile was the last 10k of the Boston Marathon, backwards. From Copley square to the top of heartbreak hill. Almost completely uphill. Yikes.

The results:

Time: 18:21 (CLEARLY a much harder course)

Avg Watts: 259

Avg Speed: 20.3

HR: 177 avg – 189 max

I have to give credit to a few of those watts to Kim who was behind me screaming almost the whole time, cheering me on. She is an awesome motivator. THANKS KIM!

24 watts isn’t a TON, but definitely enough of a difference in my fitness to hopefully motivate me to get my butt in gear. It is pretty interesting that I had almost the exact same HR as a year earlier, just lower watts.

This season one of my main goals is to focus on recovery more. Not just physically, but nutritionally too. I don’t think I paid enough attention to that last year and led to me getting pretty burnt by mid-summer. Feeling wasted before your workout even starts isn’t good. Thankfully I’m loving the cappuccino flavored Ultragen. I’ve only used it a few times so far after some of my hard workouts, so I can’t say much yet about how effective it is (yet), but it definitely is freaking delicious.

Oh, and last year I somehow just barely edged out Triathlon hall of famer Karen Smyers. This year, (I think, but am awaiting the final results to be posted) I think I beat out ’08 Lake Placid winner Cait Snow. I’m sure that there is something wonky going on with the computrainers since I know for a fact that both ladies can tear me apart on the road, but it is still pretty cool thinking that I can compete with them on SOME level (albeit fake).

Now that I know where my fitness stands, I’ve gotta get this whole ironman training plan thing squared away so I can hit it hard once March hits. More on that soon…

It all started when Sam’s aunt signed up for the Amica Half Marathon in Newport, RI to celebrate being cancer-free for 10 years. To show our support along the way, a group of us (Sam’s parents, uncle and I) decided to do the marathon relay that went along the same course at the same time.

Looking at the weather forecast, it was supposed to be pretty cold and rainy, so I tested out some race outfit options.

This was one of my favorites (except I obviously  be racing in jeans). The tri top/arm sleeve combo is the best combination of ridiculous and bad-ass. Unfortunately I was way too optomistic about the weather forecast and that outfit wasn’t even an option. It was about 40 degrees with 30 mph winds and driving rain. Typical nor’easter. Not exactly tri-top weather. Lame.

Something cool that the relay did was to have all of the relay runners wear a tasuki (think of a Ms. America sash) instead of carrying a baton. There is a pretty cool story behind it too. We made our own yellow tasuki since we were doing it in celebration of Sam’s aunt’s cancer remission (a la LiveSTRONG bracelet).

The marathon relay will be run in an ekiden race style format. An ekiden, a term that originated in Japan and usually referred to as a marathon relay in English, is a long-distance relay, road race. The original concept of the race hearkens back to Japan’s ancient Tokaido (road) communication and transportation system in which stations were posted at intervals along the road. In the race, each runner on a team runs the distance from one “station” to the next, and then hands off a cloth sash, or tasuki, to the next runner. It is considered a great honor to wear the tasuki and, in doing so, represents their team.

I had the second and longest leg. 6.85 miles. My whole section of the course went along the ocean and around all of the mansions that line the Newport coast. It was probably one of the most scenic courses I’ve ever done. It would have be nice if we had better weather to enjoy the views, but you’ve got to work with what you’ve got.

The first transition point (where I started my leg of the marathon) looked almost exactly like this on the morning of the race. (I had to steal this from the internet. Not taken from the actual race site.)

But unfortunately this is the best picture that I could get. But the waves did crash over the road almost like the first one! I promise.

Every time the waves crashed up against the seawall and above the road I threw my hands up in the air and yelled “WOOHOO!” like on a roller coaster or when doing the wave at a baseball game. I’m not sure if the runners around me found it as amusing as I did, but at least I had fun.

Since this was my last planned race of 2009, I decided to leave it all out on the course and see exactly what I was capable of (even though I definitely didn’t train for this race to be on top of my game). I had nothing to save my body for anytime soon, so did a little experimenting.

I started out at about 7:45-8:00 pace, and just held on from there. Just a little bit faster than I would have gone otherwise. I wavered a little (especially when the headwinds practically stopped me dead in my tracks) but was able to hold on and average 7:48/mile to finish in 53:24. WOOT! My goal was to average 7:45′s, but given that this was the worst conditions that I’ve ever run in, I was more than happy with going a few seconds/mile slower.

That is the first time I’ve done sub-8:00/mile pace in a race in a LONG time. Maybe since high school. Granted, the four running races I’ve done this year (including the half ironmans) have all been half marathons or longer, but again, I’ll take it and be very happy. I think I’m slowly leaving the running doldrums and getting faster!

In other news:

Sam’s aunt and cousin finished the half marathon just before the cutoff and I was there to cheer them in. Her determination amazes me.

Sam did the third leg of the relay and rocked it! She was a runner in High School, and that is where she left her athleticism. She is super competitive and made a return to run training during the last few months to run with me in the relay. I’m used to her being on the sidelines while I’m racing and taking most of the awesome pictures that I post here, but I loved being able to pass off the tasuki to her once I finished.

Lots of pics were taken. I’ll post them as they come.

The timing probably wasn’t the best as far as planning for a perfectly executed end of season race, but I just couldn’t turn it down. A teammate had registered for the race but couldn’t go anymore. I jumped up and made sure that his tickets to the lobster bake got put to good use too! I’d hate to see those poor little lobsters die in vain.

The venue was perfect. About 2 hours north of Boston in Freeport, Maine. Gorgeous coastline and nice quiet roads all along the course. It even started late (9:30 am) since we were waiting on the tide to come in.

The thing about an ocean swim in Maine in mid-September is that it is guaranteed to be C-O-L-D. A lot of people spent plenty of time in the water warming up, but I thought they were pretty insane. Especially when the water was still probably warmer than the air was early in the morning, I wasn’t going to join them. I dipped my toes in and that was all. My guess was that it was high 50s or low 60s.

After the pre-race meeting, my wave was called up. We walked down the boat ramp into the water and treaded water by the end of the dock until we heard the signal to go off. As we walked down into the water, each one of us gave a little squeal as the water came up above our waist. It is always entertaining to hear grown men squeal like girls, especially when we were all wearing bright pink caps.

I have to admit, I sang a few lines of “I feel pretty… oh so pretty!” while we were waiting for the gun to go off. Always gotta keep the pre-race nerves in check and make sure I’m not taking myself too seriously.

Not my swim wave, but here is the swim exit.

Pretty gorgeous course, right? It was pretty brutal too. It was probably one of the most aggressive swim starts I’ve ever been in and the waves and current made sighting a constant challenge. Thankfully it was a little warmer farther out in the water than it was close to shore.

The bike course was just as scenic. Beautiful country roads and more than enough rolling hills. There was almost a constant blowing wind from the front and the side. For a lot of the downhills I had to squeeze my legs on to the frame to stay stable. I’m usually really confident on high-speed descents, so that is saying a lot.

My legs felt surprisingly good. When I was pounding up the hills or laying it on to pass someone, I could feel a little extra hurtin’ in my quads. I was a little nervous about how running would feel, but I figured there was no reason to hold back on the last race of the season.

Once I made it to the run course, it was a different story. The first mile was all up hill and beat me up from the start. I was getting passed a lot, but was holding a pretty solid pace that I knew was sustainable. I just held on.

At the turnaround, I figured I was doing just about 8:00/mile. Nothing spectacular, and I knew I could have done a lot faster if I was better recovered, but I was happy with it. I turned up the throttle for the last 3.1 and drove it home, catching a few runners that passed me in the first few miles of the run.

My unofficial time was 1:43:33. It is surprisingly close to a PR for me! I’ll have to double check the official results and dig through my past results, but it was a pretty strong way to close out the 2009 triathlon season!

Me and Sunny comparing times.

And the best part, there was a huge post-race lobster bake and free beer! Me and a few other Wheelworks teammates claimed a spot on the grass, soaked up the sun and stuffed our face full of lobster. I went home smelling like Geary’s, lobster, seaweed and sweat. I call that a good day.

And some pre and post-race video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is the team, all decked out in our Brooks gear.

And the obligatory stupid group pose…

I was manning the second car for most of Friday, making sure whoever was out running knew where they were going and had plenty of water and calories. I was last in the rotation so while we started racing at 2pm, I didn’t lace up the shoes and hit the road until 9:30 at night.

I have run at night plenty of times before, but never like this. We were in the woods of eastern Connecticut. For the majority of my first 11 miles there wasn’t a single light anywhere in sight. No houses off in the distance, no street lamps, no head lights from passing traffic, no stars, no moon, just pitch black. With the exception of the tiny little 1 foot wide stretch of road that my head lamp and flash light gave me, it was like running on a treadmill in a dark closet.

I had no idea how steep the hills were ahead of me or where they topped off. I just kept moving forward, doing my best to spot tree branches, frogs and pot holes and jump over them just as they came into sight in front of my feet. It was completely insane/amazing/terrifying/exhilarating. I knew I was going out a little too fast, but I was feeling great so I just went with it. I polished off my first 10.9 miles in 1:28:40 (8:07 min/mile).  That is faster than my half marathon PR pace, and I still had 20 more miles to go. GULP.

For almost every leg of the race, it rained. Sometimes it was a light mist, or a little sprinkling, but other times the skies completely opened up and let loose their fury. Some of us got it worse than others, but we all got wet.

After some more sherpa-ing, Chris, Greg and I (three not so small gentlemen) cuddled up and managed to get a few winks of sleep in my tiny little Mazda. At the very most, I managed an hour and a half of sleep. I felt surprisingly good when I woke up and the sun peaked through my windshield. The only problem was when my legs stretched out and my hips practically creaked and cracked. From being awkwardly curled up in my drivers seat while catching some Zs, my hips and gluts were killing!

I was already limping a little and I wasn’t even on to my second leg. Double gulp!

I bulldozed through my second leg, another 11 miles, taking a 1 minute walk break every 10-15 minutes. Uphills were nightmares, but downhills felt great and I could really open up my stride. I pushed through with 10 minute miles. Not nearly as impressive as my first leg, but I was happy with it.

Last leg. 9 miles = pain. My legs finally eased up so I could walk without limping (before I started) and I felt good keeping a nice even pace. The first 5 miles:  I survived. The last 4: I was constantly on the verge of a emotional and physical breakdown. And THEN, the skies opened up and let loose on me. Quickly I got to the point where my clothes just couldn’t hold any more water and it didn’t matter anymore. Knowing that people were following me online and waiting for us to arrive in Boston was a huge motivator.

As I crossed the Charles River and turned the corner towards Harvard, I saw Sam (my girlfriend, personal photographer and number one cheerleader) standing in the rain by herself with an umbrella. I slowed down for a quick kiss and then the rest of my team came out to help run me in. We all ran through the puddles and drenching rain and through the finish line. It was one of the greatest finish lines ever. My team rocks the most.

Not only are the medals also kick-ass bottle openers, but team 5 guys, 1 girl, 140 Characters sponsored by @brooksrunning WON THE ULTRA CATEGORY! 27:10:17 is the time to beat for the inaugural Ragnar Ultra Marathon Relay!

Video clips from the race:

From Chris

Click here to view the embedded video.

My Video Clips:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I normally get jittery butterflies throughout the week leading up to race morning, but not this time. I was as cool as a cucumber. It was a little odd even. I knew I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked to be. (I may never meet the standards I set for myself, but that is a different conversation. As long as I get closer and closer each time). I was totally at peace with it and had a great game plan to compensate and take everything in stride. I was happy. I was confident. I was ready to roll.

I woke up early on Saturday to watch the sprint and cheer on some other team mates. It was nuts watching people that normally crush 70.3′s and IMs to battle it out in sprints. A lot of the guys that first came in off the bike looked like they barely touched the brakes before they came flying in to T2, dismounted, and kept on sprinting. Wicked cool to watch.

Packet pickup, racked the bike, and did all the final preps. Still no butterflies. Just a happy calm. I couldn’t explain it, but I liked it. I want to figure out how to repeat that pre-race mood.

All day I focused on hydration and eating well. I think that was my major flaw in preparing for Rev3 earlier this year, so I wanted to knock that problem off right away. Nothing crazy to throw my stomach off, just gatorade, fruits, veggies, and a subway sandwich. I woke up at 3:30 on race morning to release some fluids, so I knew I was on the right track.

After finally getting to the race start, I could just feel the little flip-flap of a few mini butterflies. Nothing major, but enough to not make me want to eat. I knew that I would need some calories in me before the swim, so I sucked down a GU. I think GUs as pre-race nutrition are totally under rated. I can normally barely chew anything without feeling like I’m going to vomit on race day, but the GU slid right down the pipe into my belly. I was a happy camper.

Leading up to the race, I was able to keep my HR pretty low too. All under 80 (usually around 50 on a normal day, 90-100 on other pre-race days), so I was happy.

After waiting what seemed like forever for my wave to start, we got called up. This big beautiful blond was there in the water to greet us. (S)he even let me get a little squeeze of those honkers. I did ask first. I’m a gentleman after all.

The announcer counted down, called out GO GO GOGOGOGO and we were off on the swim. I kept waiting for the zen-calm to wash away, but it stuck with me. I drafted off of a lot of people’s feet and held a pretty tight line to the buoys. As I leapfrogged passed slower swimmers in earlier waves, I felt really good. Definitely not the fastest swim of my life, but best as far as pushing it just enough and staying mentally focused on the next 69.1 miles.

Time: 38:25 (~2:00 min/100m)

T1 was fine (once I found my bike). Even with lettered rows, the huge transition area was a little tough to navigate. Once I got there it was: sock, sock, shoe, shoe, glasses, food, helmet GO!

The bike course was beautiful and just as described. Hilly first and last 10 miles, but nice and smooth flat roads all the way through the middle. Beautiful scenery too. It was hard, but nowhere near as challenging as the Rev3 course. I felt strong all the way through and especially loved powering across the flat and freshly paved sections in the aero bars, which is still a really new feeling for me. Timberman is worth doing just for the bike course alone. It was a blast. I felt like I was playing a video game. I want to do it again right now!

Oh and yes, the new Cervelo is AWESOME to race on. Speedier. Smoother. And Sexier. (But I still love you Fuji. You will always hold a special place in my heart, especially when cyclocross season comes around.)

Time: 3:01:33 (18.5 mph)

I just missed breaking the 3 hour mark! Oh well. There is always next year.

Jumped off the bike and felt pretty good. The hips weren’t bothering me, and I just kept moving. It took me about a mile to really get my legs under me, but after that I felt pretty good.

I didn’t even realize how hot it had gotten until I pored some water on my head and realized how good it felt. I played it save and walked every aid station to grab a sponge and 2-3 cups of water. One for my head. One for my belly. And another to fill up any empty fuel belt bottles (just in case). I didn’t want to repeat any pounding dehydration headaches from Rev3, so went a little overkill on carrying the water. I would have rather finished with a completely full fuel belt than with I had something to drink between aid stations.

By the 6 mile mark my shoes were drenched. 10 pounds each and squishing with every step. It made me with I had those special tri shoes with the drainage holes in them. (As if I need another excuse to buy more gear…)

My pace was far from t anything spectacular, but I was able to keep running all the way between water stops, so that counted as a win for me. My run was definitely the weak point going in to the race, so I was just hoping for the best. I felt good after the first 10k, but then it started to hit me. The hockey team that was handing out snowballs from the pile of ice they had on the side of the road were my saviors. I was baking out there but dumping a hand full of ice down my top felt A-Mazing.

Time: 2:25:14 (11:06 min/mile)

My half marathon time alone was pretty sad, but considering everything, it wasn’t half bad. It even brought me to beat my old PR by 9 minutes! Still not quite at that sub-6 level, but I have it in my sights and hopefully will nail it next time around.

Overall Time: 6:11:24

And the best part is that (other than some more training) there probably isn’t too much I would change about the whole weekend. It was perfect and want to do it all over again!

Now I’ve had two easy days before coach starts busting my ass again. Tomorrow is tempo run time to get my butt in shape for my Ragnar Ultra Marathon Relay! More news on that coming soon. Sit tight.

There was a 5k,  7.2 miler and a half marathon all on the same morning. One college buddy was doing the 5k, and two others were doing the 7.2 miler. I was left doing the half all by myself, but at least I had some familiar faces to run through the pre-race routine with and I had a guaranteed cheering section once I came through the finish line, so I was happy.

Since it was a last minute addition to the training plan, I got some advice from coach to help with my race day game plan. Much to my dismay, he nixed the idea of tapering, but I at least had a few mental touch points to run through in my head while racing.

Don’t taper for it.  Just treat it like a regular run.  Definitely enjoy yourself, pay attention to nutrition, and especially pay attention to the ups and downs you feel as the race goes on.  Notice how after a down, there’s an up.  You must train yourself to not give in to the downs and to not go too hard during the ups.  Don’t get caught up in the moment and pay attention to yourself.  Do this and you’ll have an amazing run “experience” no matter how it goes and you’ll learn a lot about how you run.

It was pretty cloudy and cool, but was perfect weather for a run. The wind kicked up and almost blew me backwards as we ran along the beach during 4 or 5 times along the course, but otherwise it was a perfect day to race. I stuck almost exactly to an 8:50 pace all the way through mile 5 and gently cranked up the pace all the way to the finish.

Minus some cramping around mile 10 (which was helped out after I gumped down some water at the next aid station), everything went amazingly smooth. My favorite part about taking the first part of the race a little easy is all the people that you get to pass during the second half of the race! I made a point of cheering on anyone who looked like they were bonking and were walking, but every other person was my rabbit. I picked out anyone with a bright colored shirt (or crazy purple/animal print skirt in once case) off in the distance and slowly tried to reel them in.

And once again, the race plan worked like a charm! I crossed the finish line in 1:48:43 (unofficial). That averages to a 8:17 pace. That is almost two minutes faster than pretty much the same course in February, and without a taper. Sa-WEEEEEEEEEET!

And the best thing about this race? I topped it off with a nice dip in the ocean to cool off the legs and some cold beers.

And with one more hard workout/race in the books, I enter Taper Land. Population: ME!

Coach Brett and I decided that this would be a good test of my fitness that I could hopefully use it as a benchmark for how I’m responding to all the training through the rest of the season. It also gave me a good idea of how much I could actually blame on my bike. My road bike isn’t exactly built for speed and it was a great way to get myself on a level playing field with other guys who are rocking carbon tri bikes that cost thousands more than my bike and weigh half as much. This race was all about legs and lungs baby!

But the thing about the indoor time trial is that it isn’t just some spectators, a few other athletes and me sweating our brains out for 10k. It is right in the middle of a huge multisport expo floor! So if you bonk, finish miles behind the rest of the riders in your heat, or make the mistake of wearing that pair of tri shorts that chlorine has eaten all but a few strands of spandex and bare your back side to a few hundred very close new friends, everyone knows. Instantly. All of your data is projected on a big screen for everyone to see. Watts. Speed. Distance behind the next rider. EVERYTHING.

Pic stolen from my Wheelworks team mate Sara. I’m not in this heat, but it at least gives you an idea of the setup.

Normally I’m not all that self conscious and have gotten used to most of my friends seeing me in varying amounts of spandex on a regular basis, but having all my stats broadcast onto the big screen instantly was a bit uncomfortable. But by the time the butterflies came, it was too late to even pay attention to them. I saddled up and before I knew it, we were off.

My feet started flying and I was really pushing the cadence. That was until one of the guys that was running the race came over and let me know that apparently the computrainer works better with a lower cadence around 85. After a few gear shifts and coming down from closer to 105 rpm, I was settled in to a good pace and found myself in fourth place out of eight. I was completely clueless about pacing for such a short race, but decided that for such a short race, if it didn’t hurt at least a little, I probably wasn’t going hard enough.

After some rolling hills and switching up my wattage, I figured anything under 275 didn’t hurt enough, and stuck with that as my target. I tried to only pay attention to that, mainly because there were a billion other numbers on my performance being projected on the screen and I could have gone into overload. Eventually, I realized that I was only a little while back from third place, and had him in my sights. He looked like he was hurting a lot more than I was, so I kept pushing it, took him down and held it through the end.

WOOT WOOT!

I didn’t have any expectations for this race, but just wanted to to give a really hard effort and analyze some of the stats. Given that I got a new max HR and that if the race was a mile longer, I would have thrown up everywhere, it was a good day. Here are my race stats.

Distance: 6.03 miles

Time: 15:56:09

Avg speed: 22.7

Avg watts: 283

Place (overall): 25 (74 overall)

Avg HR: 174

Max HR: 189

While I can’t prove it, I am sure that I wouldn’t be able to finish that strong this time last year. I’m totally psyched to start racing OUTSIDE!

UPDATE: Apparently I beat Karen Smyers by 20 seconds according to the official results. I can only imagine that she wasn’t giving it her all, but either way, it is a nice ego boost. She is pretty hard core.

Let the 2009 racing season begin internet people! This morning was the first race of the season and my first stand alone half marathon ever. The weather report was sketchy all week and had me checking a half dozen Web sites several times per day. Reports went back and forth from predicting rain or snow (I was rooting for snow because there are few things worse than mid 30′s and raining). This morning the forecast finally turned to rain, but not until the afternoon. With a 10am start time, it would give me just enough time to cross the line safely before the downpours started. WOOT. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Sam and I drove down to Cape Cod bright and early. I sucked down a GU about 45 minutes before race time and all lights went green. Game On.

Me walking to the starting line. I look pretty angry, but I guess that is what my “Game Face” looks like.

I’m all bundled up and still shivering, but people are still rocking shorts? Seriously?!?

The all important last minute, err.., adjustments.

Since I had already departed from my faithful “play it by ear” race strategy with a mile-by-mile outline of my goal mile splits, I decided to keep with the trend and tape the mile splits to my arm. I covered it in clear tape just in case it started to rain. Since my running fitness has come a LONG way since the last time that I raced, I didn’t have a clear idea yet of what I’m capable of, and I laid out pretty conservative goals, I only planned on using each split as a general estimate and went on perceived exertion more than actual pace.

The Game Plan

As planned, I took the first 6 miles nice and easy, but every time I looked down at my watch I was about 45 seconds faster per mile than I had planned. Instead of 9:30′s, I was hitting around 8:45′s. I second guessed my pace for a while and thought about slowing down to low 9′s but I decided that listening to my body made a lot more sense than sticking to (relatively) arbitrary numbers that I had laid out days ahead of time. I stuck with it and comfortably hit mile after mile in the high 8 min/mile pace range without working myself too hard.

I’m not in this pic, but I really like the blur of the runners. It looks pretty cool.

Despite being a little cold at the start, I warmed right up once I settled in to a good pace. The course was really nice too. It was SUPER flat and made a few twists and turns through little residential neighborhoods, with only one section along a busy street that was a little sketchy. There were rumors that there were some easy rollers throughout the course, which ended up being all lies, but it was a nice course nonetheless.  At a few points we passed by the shore so we got a nice view of the ocean and got a really nice sea breeze to keep us moving on. It is strange how the smell of stinky sea weed and fish can some how make me associate with happy thoughts. I can’t wait until summer comes and I can go hang out on the beach on Cape Cod when it isn’t 30 degrees outside. Again, I digress…

Right after mile 6, I caught up with one of my Wheelworks teammates and chatted it up a bit. At that point I was just starting to pick up the pace and increase my turnover. We traded game plans and while she wasn’t planning to go all out until the last 3.1 miles, she eventually came with me and we traded places with each other throughout the rest of the race. We had never raced together, but it was great to have that carrot dangling in front of me to keep my pace up if I started to slow down.

Right at about mile 10, I passed Team Hoyt and gave a little cheer as I chugged along. If you haven’t read or seen any videos about Dick and Rick Hoyt, check out this one. They have an amazing story and it was a huge inspiration to see them on the same course as me (and 4,000 other runners) letting it all out

Click here to view the embedded video.

The last two miles were pretty brutal. It was rough just to keep my form together, but my pace still held up pretty strong and I was able to knock down runner after runner with no problem at all. Granted, a good chuck of them were probably finishing the first loop of the full marathon, but the plan was definitely working and I was able to really knock out a solid pace while everyone else was struggling just to hang on.

“I crown thee: Half Marathoner”

I’m in there somewhere I think I’m completely covered by that guy in the blue shirt.

Looking like a hot mess just after the finish line, but totally psyched to have rocked the race plan.

According to my watch I clocked in at 1:50:30 (8:26 min/mile avg), safely under my goal for the race. I’d post my mile splits, but I don’t remember them. My avg HR was 159 and maxed at 180.

Overall the commute/warmup/race plan worked pretty well. Looking back, my paces needed some tweaking, but it is always nice to surprise yourself by going faster than expected instead of slower.  2009 is going to be an awesome year. I smell PRs in the air. Stay tuned internet people.

It actually makes for a pretty funny little photo essay.

Here I am attempting to power through the mud, hoping I can just somehow skim across the top and make it back to dry land ASAP. Instead I bounce off of a mud covered tree root, and it all goes to hell after that.

Something tells me my wheel isn’t supposed to be pointed sideways.

Yeah. This definitely isn’t looking good. Foot planted, bike flying up from under me.

“Oh Crap!”

Wait, where did Jamie go?

Face first in the Mud.

Another hot picture of my ass.

No time to play in the mud! Up and running with a big smile on my face. Thankfully I didn’t even get a scrape on me. Time to RUN!

Despite the blurry ass shots, the photographer is actually really good and got some pics of other racers looking way faster and more bad-ass than I do lying in the mud. Check out his pics at these links:

http://flickr.com/photos/beastgp/

http://picasaweb.google.com/beastgp

Better quality version of the video is here.

I gave my second shot at cyclocross this weekend. It had rained on and off for the past few days and I was prepared for a complete mudfest and even caught up with local tri blogger Elaine (TriGrilPink) during my warmup lap and chatted for a bit.

Thankfully the men’s Cat 4 race was first, so the course wasn’t going to be nearly as beat up as it would be later in the day for the faster guys.

I did a hell of a better staying with the pack when the gun went off, but DAMN. Even in the Cat 4 race, these guys are fast. I’m still getting used to ramping up to top speed so quickly. When I pounded it up the first of two run/ride ups, I even got to a new max HR on the bike! 187 bpm baby! That is the highest I’ve gotten it on the bike recently, maybe ever. (I can already hear Brett yelling at me for not sticking to easy base workouts, shhhh!) Needless to say I did better than last time about making sure I didn’t have as much left in the tank when I crossed the finish line.

The whole course was pretty muddy and technical, but this one 75 meter stretch turned out to be the great equalizer. Ankle deep mud hid big roots and extra deep trenches that sucked you down and stole whatever momentum you were able to muster up. Even being able to stay on your bike and not having to run through the mud was an accomplishment.

During the first lap through the huge mud pit, I got stuck in a rut had to dismount to run the rest of the way through. The second lap, I had a new plan. Get a ton of speed and just force my way through.

That didn’t workout so well when my front tire hit a root hidden under a few inches of mud and my extra speed threw my bike off to the right as my body slammed down to the left and I went face first into the mud. It was actually really funny, especially as I looked up there was a guy with a camera who got a series of shots telling a pretty funny story about my mud bath. I found him after and he said he would post his pictures online. If i find them, I’ll post them later.

UPDATE: Check HERE for the all of the pics.

And now, for evidence of the mud fest that was the Boston Road Club Cyclocross Race…

Can you tell where my knee warmers ended?

I think there is more mud than shoe in this picture.

My road brakes actually didn’t do too bad in the mud. My road pedals? That is a different story alltogether.

My muddy stallion. My Fuju “Angela” is such a tank. I love her.