The swim.

The gun went off and we ran into the warm (82 degrees F) water and began sprinting for the first buoy. As the front pack broke away from the stragglers I found myself right in the mix. The top swimmers — Wiltshire (GBR) and Polyansky (RUS) — led the way. I swam pretty comfortably behind these guys right next to Chacon (CRC). We exited the water and ran into t1. I noticed that my roommate Mark Fretta received a 15 second stand-down penalty in t1 (for a false start). I got out on my Parlee z5 in bridged up to the quickly forming lead pack.

t1/t2

For the first lap and a half of the five lap bike course, the pace was hot. Our group worked together fairly well and people seemed motivated to extend our lead on the chasers. However, this mentality went out the window about two laps in. I think people realized that all the main players were in the front group, no one was breaking away, and it was pretty hot and humid out so no one really wanted to work. By the time we coasted into t2, the first chase group comprised of Americans Mark Fretta and Greg Billington were just seconds behind our lead group of 11. Out onto the run course a lead group of four immediately began to pull away. I was running in 11th place, the last guy from my group. I definitely felt a bit drained by the humid conditions, and it took me awhile to get going. I was able to pick up the pace, however, and passed Fanous (JOR), Lamar (USA), Wilson (BAR) and finally Wiltshire (GBR). Billington, from the group behind, flew by me just past the halfway point of the first lap. I was now in 8th running behind Noble (IRE) and Gaag (KAZ). I experienced some stomach cramps during the second half of the run, most likely due to the hot conditions which I was not acclimated for. I managed to hold it together and got within four seconds of Gaag, the 1999 World Champion, but I could not catch him, and I finished off the day in 8th place.

Not a spectacular finish, but another consistent performance under my belt. It moved me up in the world rankings, assured my slot into the Mooloolaba World Cup, and got me one step closer to Olympic Trials. Things are on track!

I kicked off my 2012 quest to get to Olympic Trials this past weekend at an ITU points race down in Chile. Vina del Mar is a tourist town right on the coast where I have raced once before in 2010. The South American Continental Cup scene in January is always a tough one. The South Americans tend to be in top shape in the height of their summer, they are used to the heat, and they race often. It seems like there’s always some random guy from Columbia or Uruguay that you’ve never heard of that drops a 30-minute 10k and beats you (and then you never hear of him again). Conversely, most Americans are stale from the offseason and not acclimated to the warm conditions. Luckily it was pretty mild for our race – high 70s and sunny. It was a wetsuit swim, eight-lap bike on a dead flat out-and-back circuit, and four run laps on this same circuit. I was the 12^th ranked athlete in the small (35 men), but highly competitive pro field.

I chose a starting position next to fellow American Ben Collins, and when the starting horn blasted he took off fast and I got right on his feet. It didn’t last long, however. Collins proceeded to swim right away from me, leaving both me and Mark Fretta, who was on my feet, out in no man’s land. We merged with the main pack as the first buoy approached. I was comfortably in the main group after navigating the first turn. I enjoyed the fact that this swim was a lot less violent than the World Cup swims I did last fall. The swim began to pan out such that there were about five guys strung out off the front followed by a massive main pack, led by Barrett Brandon. This main pack contained all the main players. I sat in comfortably towards the top of this group. This is how everything stayed up through the swim exit.

I transitioned onto my Parlee z5 and then immediately bridged up to a string of guys as the main pack began to form. 1.5 laps into the bike we had chased down all those fast swimmers. I made my way towards the front and did my best to stay there. Our pack strung way out each time we made the two narrow 180-degree turns per lap. Being near the front minimized the amount I had to sprint. Throughout the 40k ride there were a series of periodic attacks. A couple Brazilians and a Columbian took turns taking flyers off the front but never getting completely away. The fastest runner in the field, Ritchie Nicholls (GBR), stayed away for almost two laps with Barrett Brandon around the midway section. We were content to leave Nicholls five to ten seconds off the front in hopes that he would fry his legs. At any rate, I rode strong but smart. I took my pulls, did my fair share of chasing, and just tried to stay near the front of the group and out of trouble. I felt good as we came into t2. I got trapped in the back of the pack coming into that second transition but kept my focus and went about doing some damage on the run.

I was one of the last guys from my group out onto the run course. A couple other stragglers sprinted past me. I went out hard but not way too fast. I was a bit unsure of my fitness at such an early season race. Seeing a long string of about 20+ guys in front of me was a bit demoralizing, but I just focused on one at a time. Sure enough, less than halfway into the first lap, I was making up some serious ground. By the time I came through transition to complete the first lap I was in 6^th place and feeling very strong. I tried to keep the forward momentum going and passed Fabio Carvalho of Brazil to move into 5^th place. I pushed the pace on this second lap, but Carvalho was able to stay right with me. We have almost identical run speed, so I knew this would be a close one. However, at the start of the third lap Carvalho found a burst of energy and began to open up a small gap. Damnit Fabio! To make matters worse, the #1 ranked athlete in the field, Diogo Sclebin, also from Brazil, was flying when I got a glimpse of him at the third lap turnaround. Up front Ritchie Nicholls was pulling away from the field followed by a Spanish guy and then a string of South Americans. I did my best to maintain pace, but Sclebin flew by me just before we started the final lap. He eventually went by Carvalho, too. I was now in 7^th. Behind me there was a huge gap to 8^th place. I knew I could shut it down a bit and cruise to the finish, but I also knew I had nothing to lose by giving it everything I had and blowing up with a K to go. So I went for it, but I honestly didn’t have a lot left. I ran strong to the finish, but Carvalho held his ground on me and I crossed the line in 7^th place 10 seconds behind him. Our run splits were 30:06 and 30:09, respectively, on the very short run course. I was about 80 seconds behind the winner Ritchie Nicholls.

All in all, it was a well-executed, consistent race. It was the type of performance I need to continue to have to make the starting line in San Diego. When you throw in the fact that I came from a cold climate and traveled over 24 hours to get halfway around the world, it makes the ITU points-earned seem even more valuable. As for the other Americans, Ben Collins finished 11^th, Barrett took 23^rd, and poor Mark Fretta got a flat tire on the last lap and DNF’ed. A solid start to the year for me! This race moved my ITU points ranking up to 72^nd in the world from 105^th. I’ll be back on the starting line in three weeks for the Barbados Pan American Sprint Cup.

2011 ITU London WCS Race: t2

This past year at the ITU London World Championship Series race, which served as an Olympic Qualifier for many countries, the difference between 8^th place (which would qualify for the Olympics by most country standards) and 28^th place was exactly 60 seconds. You literally had a guy crossing the finish line every three seconds, on average! With competition that close, every little detail can translate into valuable seconds and, in turn, valuable places. Keeping this in mind, as I embarked on my 2011 season I decided that I didn’t want to be on the losing end of one of these tightly contested races. My coach and I began looking at ways that we could gain 1% or even 1/10 of a percent that went beyond training. We ended up turning to Fit Werx 2 for help in honing in on an often over-looked detail in draft-legal racing: An efficient draft-legal, road bike position.

Before/after position on hoods.

As my season was winding up my coach, Jesse Kropelnicki, and I met with Dean Phillips from Fit Werx and began going about making positive changes to my road bike position. Using Fit Werx’s state of the art fit cycle and Dartfish computer program, we mapped out my current position and recorded each and every angle. I knew a better fit could get much more out of my ultra-fast Parlee z5 frame. Dean immediately noticed several areas that he considered “low-hanging fruit”. We raised my seat just a tad and moved my handlebars out significantly. This drastically improved things. Looking at hip, knee, and arm angles, Dean was able to assess, based on his knowledge and years of experience, that I was now approaching a position that maximized aerodynamics without sacrificing power (which is important)! ITU, or draft-legal racing, is unique in that you can use short aerobars on your road bike.  Dean began playing around with my current setup. He eventually found that by angling my aerobars upwards slightly it allowed my shoulders and head to drop a little bit more. My hip angle was still within the range where no power would be sacrificed. The slightly higher seat, longer stem, and aerobar trick resulted in a much more aerodynamic position. Mission accomplished: The next step was to test it at the races.

Before/after position in aerobars.

At the Coutea-du-Lac Pan American Cup in Canada I had the opportunity to put my faster position to practice. I had a very strong swim and found myself in a breakaway group on the bike with seven other guys. The chess game began – I wanted to ride hard enough to work with the group and put time on the chase pack behind us, but I didn’t want to fry myself when I knew that I would have to duke it out on the run with several guys that were very close to my speed. This would be one of those situations, just as in the London WCS race, where every second and every percentage of energy saved would make a difference. I continued to rotate through the pace line and keep the pace high. I rode strong but comfortable in this breakaway group. We were able to expand our lead on the chase pack and entered t2 75 seconds ahead. We transitioned into our run shoes and took off on the flat, four-lap (10km total) run course. 7.5k into the run I found myself neck-and-neck with three other guys – a German, Canadian, and a Barbados guy. Last year I finished in a close second to the Canadian. As we entered the last lap, my competitors began surging, trying to make that final push to drop everyone else and steal victory. However, I felt fairly fresh and that I had the most left in the tank. After covering the first couple surges, it came down to the Canadian and me, just like last year. This time, with 2k to go, I was able to make the pass and lift the pace significantly. The Canadian could not respond to my move. My lead began to grow, and I was able to take the win by just over ten seconds!

Dean’s adjustments to my bike position clearly played a role in my victory in Couteau-du-Lac. This was a situation where every percentage of energy saved mattered, and I was smart enough to be on the winning end of this equation. My new position has been a large part of my vast improvement in 2011. I was able to take 5^th place in the USA Triathlon Elite Series and finished out the year as the 5^th ranked American with a very good chance of getting to the Olympic Trials starting line this May. I will continue to work with Fit Werx to assure that I have the most efficient time trial and road positions. They are continually up to date on the latest research in aerodynamics and new gear. As Olympic Trials approaches and I reflect back on the lessons learned from that 2011 London WCS race, I feel quite fortunate to have Fit Werx on my side!

After my final race of 2011 I took a relaxing two weeks off from training and then quickly jumped back into things. With my first triathlon of the year approaching on January 22, I was forced to build my training load rapidly. After my first three-week build, I had a recovery week going into New Years. My first workout of 2012 was the Lowell First Run 5k, conveniently taking place at 11:00 AM just a little over a mile away from my house. I had a pretty chill night on New Year’s Eve, so I was ready to go on race morning.

Coming towards the finish in course record time.

Although the field of runners was big – 1500 competing in both the 5k & 10k combined – there wasn’t much competition at the front, and I suspected it would be an easy win. The course was on the roads of Lowell that I run on almost everyday, so I knew it like the back of my hand. The plan from Coach Jesse was to go out in 5:00 for the first mile, and then try to settle in at 4:55-5:00 pace for the remaining two miles. When the race got underway, I took it out a bit fast to break away from the massive crowd and the folks that would utilize the “sprint the first 400 meters and then die” race plan (always a popular one). I went out at 4:50 pace for the first 1/3 mile and then settled in right at 5:00. There was a slight hill in the first mile, but I was able to come through right in 5:00 flat with a comfy lead on the competition. From there the course flattened out as the last 1.5 miles were right along the Merrimac River. Mile two came and I split 4:59 for that one – right on pace. I kept it steady and had to increase the effort level a lot in that last mile just to maintain my pace. Like clockwork, my Garmin read 4:59 for my third mile split. I came through the finishing chute in 15:33, essentially right at the goal of 5:00 pace. It was a well-executed, even-paced race.  Second place was 45 seconds behind. Since this race came off of four weeks of training and virtually no speed work, I feel that it is a good start to the year. Last year at this time I ran a 5k in Worcester at 5:15+ pace, so I’m well ahead of schedule this year. This was an ideal start to what will hopefully be a special year for me!

Even got some local press from the Lowell Sun!

The view of Auckland from across the Harbor

When Sunday rolled around I had the luxury of sleeping in due to the 2:45 PM start time. I was the 30th ranked athlete on the start line. Of all the World Cups I’ve raced this year, this would be the hardest and most competitive. The bike course was eight laps through downtown Auckland with three steep hills per lap. It would be a true test of all-around strength. When race time approached, the athletes were called onto the pontoon, which bordered Queens Wharf. The starting horn blasted and we dove into the cool, wetsuit-legal water. From the get-go it was a rough swim. I couldn’t get out faster than the guys next to me, and we began knocking each other around more than we were swimming. I jockeyed for position in the mess of bodies. I could tell I was further back in the field that I wanted to be because the pace was slow. We made the chaotic turn at the first buoy, but the field didn’t string out very much. I was more or less trapped in the middle of the main pack. I hunkered down and swam defensively for the rest of the 1500 meters. I threw in a surge just before the swim exit and was able to pass about five guys. I exited the water with a sore nose in about 30th place.

I was happy to be out of the chilly water and hop on my bike. The top-ranked athlete, Laurent Vidal of France, had an uncharacteristically bad swim, and I found myself sitting on his wheel over the first kilometer of the bike. I felt very strong, but I was happy to sit on Vidal’s wheel and let him bridge us up to the pack ahead. Midway through the first lap we had made it into the main pack. There was a breakaway group of about six guys that included the top Kiwis Bevan Docherty and Kris Gemmel. There were a couple guys between that breakaway group and our group who we began to catch. I felt amazingly strong and when we hit the first hill I powered past my whole group. I may have gotten a little too excited as I continued on solo. For a minute I thought I might be able to bridge up to the breakaway. But after about half a lap I was reeled back in by the 20-man main pack. I began to settle in with this group. I was in a great position and feeling strong. I was leading the chase pack two laps into eight lap bike when I was struck by some bad luck: At the base of one of the hills I dropped my chain. I tried to shift back into the big ring quickly, but it wouldn’t catch and I had to stop and manually put it back on. I only lost about 15 seconds, but at those speeds riding solo I had no chance of catching back up. I rode by myself for a while until I was caught by the third pack. This pack of a dozen included a couple strong Brazilians and my US teammate Steve Sexton. We worked hard for a while and held our gap with the second pack steady, but in the second half of the 40k things deteriorated as people fatigued, and I came off the bike two minutes down from that chase group.

Leading the chase

Despite the mechanical problem I was able to keep focused. I knew I still had a shot at a top 25 finish with a strong run and could earn some valuable ITU points. I went out strong but held back just a tad on the first lap. By the halfway point on the run I was the fourth place guy from my bike pack behind an Italian, Brazilian, and Japanese guy, and I was also starting to reel in some stragglers from the main pack. I gave it everything I had and was able to continue passing the slower runners from the pack ahead. I crossed the line in 23rd place with a bittersweet feeling. I knew I had a good race being ranked 30th and finishing 23rd, but without that mechanical I may have been top-10, which would have been the biggest result of my career. Nevertheless, I close out 2011 as the 5th-ranked American on the ITU Points List and with three solid World Cup finishes that I can be proud of. Additionally, I got my first ITU win this year in Coteau-du-Lac. I’m in a good position as 2012 begins and hope to make that Olympic Trials start line this May.

The view from the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs

As I stated in my last blog post, the next couple weeks on the road were a two-week training block in Colorado Springs, CO. The goal here was to get a solid block of altitude training in before racing the Guatape, Colombia World Cup (altitude: 6,600 ft). I got out to the Springs on Wednesday, October 19^th and proceeded to hammer out two very solid weeks of training, some of the best I’ve had all year, even despite the altitude.

Both Wednesdays that I was in Colorado I awoke to snow!

I had an awesome setup in Colorado. I stayed with my friends Dan and Heather. Dan is an old high school buddy of mine and he recently moved to the Springs with his fiancé Heather. They were kind enough to give me a spare bedroom to crash in. In the mornings I swam at the Olympic Training Center, my former home in 2007. It was great to train with the guys in the resident program at the OTC along with all the other ITU guys that were in town. I was pushed hard in the water my Brian Fleischman, Matt Chrabot, and Mark Fretta. On Saturdays I got to do my favorite workout of the week, the Colorado Springs group ride that leaves from the Starbucks downtown and hammers for two to three hours East and South of the Springs. This ride is full of pro mountain bikers, pro triathletes, hardcore roadies, and I even had the to opportunity to bump elbows with a Tour de France rider, Danny Pate, of HTC Columbia. Even in his “fat and out of shape phase” that guy is STRONG. I made a couple friends but more importantly got the legs ridden off me by some fast dudes. In the endurance community there only seems to be one degree of separation between people: pretty much everyone I met on the group ride I would have a bunch of mutual friends with. On my strength days I would ride up Goldcamp hill multiple times at a low cadence, and I also had the opportunity to do some fast, crit-style riding in the Garden of the Gods. I did most of my running on the gravel trails in Monument Valley Park. It was a solid two weeks, and I felt that I accomplished all my objectives and was ready for Guatape.

ITU Guatape, Colombia World Cup

Guatape, Colombia. The land of lakes, mountains, and mudslides.

Guatape, Colombia is the second to last stop on the 2011 World Cup circuit. While it is a very beautiful place it is difficult to get to, and the weather is extremely unpredictable. I flew from Denver to Houston to Panama to Medellin, Colombia, the closest airport to Guatape. The hour-long bus ride to the hotel was a roller coaster ride over sharp turns, steep hills and nonstop bumps. I made it to the hotel safely with a bunch of other triathletes around 1 AM on Thursday night.

Previewing the bike course in the days leading up to the race I knew I was in for a HARD race. There were steep, long climbs with very technical, windy descents. It was currently slated to be a non-wetsuit swim, and the run had a solid hill on each lap. This was a course where you couldn’t afford to have any weaknesses. I felt all of these things were an advantage to me, especially when you threw in the altitude. However, on race morning we awoke to pouring rain, and it had been raining for most of the night. The girls’ race was supposed to go off at 7 AM, but it was delayed one hour. We later learned that massive landslides were plaguing the area. Ten people had even been killed and dozens more were trapped nearby. The landslides had literally washed away the road on which we were supposed to bike. The ITU ultimately made a decision to shorten the race into a sprint (750m/20k/5k) because the bike course was obstructed and we had to turn around much earlier that originally planned. This effectively cut out the harder, more technical sections on the bike. The rain had cooled the water down to 19.5 Celsius – it was now wetsuit legal. Slowly I saw everything that worked to my advantage be overturned! It was now a wetsuit-legal sprint triathlon with only one medium hill on the bike course. There was nothing I could do but re-focus and mentally prepare for an even faster and more intense race.

I was the 29^th ranked athlete on the starting line. The ITU officials blasted the starting horn and we dove into lake and began sprinting. I had a good opening 200 meters, but after that it was just a physical brawl. My swim cap was ripped off as I navigated through the sea of flailing bodies. Each turn buoy was brutal with guys trying to swim over me, and I had to be on the lookout for rouge punches and kicks. I knew I was farther back in the group than I needed to be by the time we hit the halfway point, but with a wall of bodies in every direction there wasn’t a whole lot I could do. To add to the madness, I was completely redlining. Even with the altitude acclimation I had done I had trouble breathing on the swim. I was wicked happy to finally hit land at the end of the one-lap swim. The sprint to t1, 600 meters away, was equally as painful. I got off my wetsuit and onto my bike as fast as I could and went about chasing down the lead pack.

I got out on the bike and could see the lead pack forming up head. I began working like mad to get myself there. I began having visions of Tongyeong where I was so close to making that lead pack off of the swim but just fell short. I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I bridged up to a Ukrainian and a Colombian, rested on their wheels for a few seconds, then began taking a massive pull at the front. I was closing in on the lead pack. We hit the medium-sized hill that brought us up to the 180-degree turn back to transition. I looked over my shoulder and yelled for someone to pull through, but no one was back there. I had ridden the other two off my wheel. I went back to work and kept gaining ground on the front group. Finally, as we got to the 180-turn, the 30+ man pack had to slow considerably, and I was able to latch onto the back. We were making this turnaround on a very narrow road, and as the pack bunched up and slammed on the brakes I saw Jarrod unfortunately get squeezed out to the side and pushed into the gutter where his wheels slid out front under him.

As I came out of this turn the pack had an accordion effect and spread out as the lead guys hammered on the front. I found myself chasing at maximum effort just to stay in the back of the pack. I had to go hard about 75% of the way back to transition before I was comfortably in the draft again. The course was four laps of this out and back. I barely had time to catch my breath before we hit the technical turns near transition where the pack would spread out again. Again, I chased as hard as I could to stay in it, had a very short rest before we hit the next turnaround, and repeated this process over and over. In a big bike group within a sprint race I knew it was absolutely essential to be in the front of the pack coming off of the bike if I wanted any chance at a strong finish, but I was in this vicious cycle of all-out sprinting with minimal recovery, and each time I got back in the draft I didn’t have enough physical capital left to attempt to improve my position. As we neared the end of the bike my legs were pretty toasted from all the sprinting. I moved up a few spots but was more or less still in the back. We entered t2 and I prepared for a painful run.

Getting off of the bike in the back of the pack, not where I wanted to be. (Photo courtesy of L. Jerdonek)

I began the run at the tail end of the lead pack and immediately felt like I was stuck in a low gear.  I was able to pick off a couple guys, but I mainly concentrated on holding it together and trying not to let anyone from the second bike pack run me down. I finished the first of two laps and wasn’t feeling much better. Basically since the start of the swim I felt like I had just been hanging on for dear life the whole time. Any race strategy or plan I had gave way to “JUST DON’T GET DROPPED!”. Finally with a little over 1k to go my legs had recovered a bit and for the first time all day I felt like I could race. I picked off about a half dozen guys in the final few minutes of the run, moving up to 24^th place by the time I hit the finish line.

This wasn’t a stellar race but it was another consistent finish. Every spot matters, especially with the competition so tightly bunched in this important pre-Olympic year. With eight other Americans in the race I was happy to protect my rank as the 5^th American on the ITU points list. I now have one week back at home before heading out to New Zealand for my final race of the year. The motivation levels are still high, and I’m focused on ending the year on a high note.

The biggest tourist attraction in Guatape was this giant, 200 meter high rock. Only 800 steps to the top… Amazing views.

The view from the top of the Guatape rock with some of the American crew.

ITU Myrtle Beach Pan American Cup (USAT Elite Series Finale)

After a poor performance in Buffalo, I learned from my mistake of not resting enough on race week. I was sure to take extra recovery going into Myrtle. This strategy paid off and I got to the starting line feeling fresh and ready to race. The field wasn’t quite as stacked as Buffalo, but it was a competitive Continental Cup nonetheless with several strong foreigners as well as the usual suspects from the US.

When the starting horn blasted the 40-man field dove off the pontoon and into the chilly but non-wetsuit legal water (21C ~ 72F). In my first few strokes I got tangled up with a couple guys and lost some key positioning. Before I knew it there was a wall of guys in front of me and there was nothing I could do but get on a pair of feet and prepare to be aggressive at the first buoy. The first turn buoy was only about 150m ahead, so it was mayhem as the whole field arrived there virtually at the same time. I was able to navigate the chaos well and improved my position. When things strung out and settled down there were three guys – Kemper, Zafares, and Darling – off the front. Brian Lamar and Peter Bajai (HUN) led the chase pack, and I sat comfortably on their feet. This is where I stayed for the rest of the swim. I felt like I could’ve pushed the pace of this chase pack a bit more, but it made more sense for me to stay in the draft and conserve my energy rather than hammer at the front for a few extra seconds.

Coming out of t1 I was at the head of the chase group. It was a relatively big pack of about 20 guys. We were a bit slow to get organized, but once we did we rotated through the paceline pretty efficiently for the most part. To our surprise, at the end of lap one we saw Hunter Kemper lying on the ground all scraped up next to his bike. Apparently there was an athlete coming into t1 from the swim just as Kemper was coming through the transition area as he completed the first lap of the bike. They collided and Kemper crashed hard. Poor guy. Hunter most likely would’ve won had he not crashed… Nevertheless, the race went on and our pack swallowed up the other who guys who had broken away on the swim. I stayed in the pack, took my pulls, but the pace wasn’t too high and I found the bike to be pretty comfortable. (Below is a video of Hunter’s crash)

Our group entered t2 about 90 seconds up on the second pack, which included superstar runner Kaleb Van Ort. I hoped that this 90 seconds would be enough for me to hold him off. As I ran out of t2 I did not feel good. I struggled in the first few hundred meters. A big lead pack was forming and I got the sense that the race was slipping away. I sprinted up to that pack. I still felt awful but I was just hoping that the pace would settle down or would at least feel easier if I got in the pack. That’s what happened. I was able to put myself in the mix and regain my composure a bit. Coming through lap one (of four) there were about eight or nine of us altogether. Shortly after this first lap Shoemaker, Zafares, and Wangel (SWE) were able to break away and string out the field a little bit. I ended up in the second group with Sharpe (CAN), the guy who beat me by ten seconds this past July in San Francisco, and Gluschenko (UKR). I went through periods of feeling okay and periods where I felt like I was on the verge of getting dropped. Gluscheko would frequently throw in surges. Sharpe would respond immediately but it would take me a while to slowly work my way back up to them. I continued to run with these guys for the next couple laps. Starting the bell lap, Gluschenko took off again. Sharpe went after him and I slowly began chasing them down. Then, quite randomly, I began to feel really good! I chased down Gluschenko and began to raise the pace myself. It was too much for Sharpe to handle, and he dropped back. I also noticed Van Ort closing in, but I had enough of a lead that I was pretty sure we’d be able to hold him off. Now, I raced Gluschenko last year at the Seoul WCS race, and I know he’s got a monster finishing kick, so I really tried to press the pace hard to drop him. I continued hammering, but to my discontent the Ukranian was able to stay right on my shoulder, and with 200 meters to go he sprinted past me and completely lit me up. Gluschenko hit the line three seconds before me. I held on for fifth place. In the end I was only 25 seconds down from the lead, so it had been a tightly contested race where every second counted. My fifth place finish scored me enough points to take fifth place overall in the USAT Elite Series, earning me a nice bonus. A solid performance and nice rebound from Buffalo!

Me and Gluschenko, the Ukrainian that outsprinted me!

ITU Tongyeong, Korea World Cup

Fast forward just five days and I’m on another starting line, this time in Tongyeong, Korea (a fishing village that smells like fish all the time). Despite the five flights and 40 hours of travel in between Myrtle Beach and this race, I was able to quickly adjust to the time change and felt fresh on race day. The travel over to Korea was made easier with Barrett Brandon, the seasoned veteran when it comes to Asian travel, and World Cup rookie Greg Billington. We stayed at a decent hotel in downtown Tongyeong and were able to find suitable sustenance at the “Paris Baguette” cafe.

Paris Baguette: Our refuge from authentic Korean food.

Anyway, back to the race. I was the 20th ranked athlete, and I knew that a top-20 finish would be a solid result. Even though the women’s race, three hours earlier, was a wetsuit swim, the ITU officials ruled that the water temp had risen above 20C, so that meant no wetsuits for the gents. This was kind of a last minute curveball as everyone was expecting a neoprene-aided swim. As a strong swimmer I didn’t mind the change. The race got underway and I got out to a fast but comfortable start. With the Russian super-swimmer Polyanksy Brothers lined up to the right of me, I began to veer over in that direction in the hopes of getting on a pair of fast feet. I had the inside line coming into the first buoy and I was able to navigate the chaos well and move up a bit. As we completed the first lap I found myself in the middle of the lead pack. We exited the water, ran along the pontoon, and dove back in for our second lap. At this point I made a tactical error. Instead of diving in directly behind the guys in front of me, I dove a bit to the outside because things were bunched up. When I started swimming again I was outside of the draft, and someone had filled the spot directly next to me. I wasted a lot of energy fighting for positioning with the bro to my right, and I wasn’t getting much of a draft, so that was more energy expended (darn!). I lost some very key positioning on this second lap and exited the swim at the tail end of the lead pack.

Out onto the bike I began a mad anaerobic scramble to get my butt in that lead bike pack. The Russians were driving the pace at the front, and I could see the pack forming a couple hundred meters ahead. I bridged up to some stragglers; Wolfe (GBR) and McMaster (AUS). The three of us were then caught by Lescure (FRA). But even the four of us working together as hard as we could were no match for a motivated 20 man train, and we just lost time to that lead group. At this point I was thinking to myself “There goes the race”. I readjusted my race plan and realized the best thing to do was to hammer the bike and attempt to minimize our losses to the front pack, do my best to run down a few stragglers from the front pack and pick up a few ITU points if possible.

You can tell from our faces that we worked HARD to bridge up.

The bike course was a hilly five laps. We continued riding as hard as we could for the first lap and a half. Lescure and I were the strongest riders in our group and dropped the other two a couple times. On the second lap it became apparent that we were going to be reeled in by the pack behind us. At this point we sat up and tried to recover a bit. When we were swallowed up I glanced around and took some human inventory. I realized I was now joined by the other Americans but, more importantly, there were Belgians. The Belgians are known for their strength on the bike, and with a host of other solid Europeans in this chase group I began to realize that we might not be out of contention just yet. The Belgians drove the paceline at the front and the rest of the group did a good job working with them. We made up some time on the lead group on the third lap. As we realized we were closing in on them our motivation level rose. We crushed the fourth lap and were closing in fast. Just before the start of the final lap, on the long decent into transition, we bridged up and became one large, ~40+ man pack. I couldn’t believe it. I was right back in the race! I finally was able to recover a bit on the final lap. I took my gel and plenty of fluids in preparation for the run.

I came off the bike towards the back of our group. I definitely felt the first four laps of the bike in my legs, but I went out hard anyway in an attempt to get into a fast group. I began passing people quickly and was in 20-something place midway through the first of four laps. Starting the second lap I had run my way into 18th place. I was feeling okay and running in the back of a group containing 12-18th places. Then, without warning, my stomach began to revolt. I think I took my gel too late in the bike, and it began to come back up (and it also brought sharp stomach pains). I slowed down a tiny bit and lost contact with the group. Then I started puking. A lot. I had to pull over and stop for a few seconds and just get it all out. It wasn’t pretty. I began jogging along again but dry heaving at the same time. Guys were flying by me. It was a demoralizing feeling. A few groups went by me and by the time I started the third lap I was in 30th place and once again watching the race slip away. BUT, in another dramatic turn of events, my stomach problems went away just as fast as they arrived, and I found my self running again, but not just running — running fast! I began flying by all the guys that had passed me. At this point I didn’t know what this up-and-down race had in store for me, but I knew that I was currently on an “up”, and I was going to take full advantage of it. By the start of the bell lap, I was back in 19th, basically the same position I was in before my stomach revolted. I was closing in on a Kiwi, James Elvery, but just fell a few seconds short of catching him before the finish line. 19th place.

I thought that I was capable of finishing in the 15-20th range in a competitive World Cup such as this one. Given all the adversity and bad luck I encountered in this race, I am very satisfied with 19th place. Also, this race improved my ranking on the ITU points list from the 8th to the 5th-ranked American, a very important step in getting to the starting line at Olympic Trials. Things are on track, and hopefully I can produce two more consistent finishes at the remaining World Cups of the season.

My objective for the race was to take it out hard in the first 750m of the swim and position myself in any breakaway that may occur in the water or directly out of t1. The swim was two loops in Lake Erie conveniently close to some sort of local sewage treatment plant. I tried not to think about that though. The race started and I went about meeting my first objective. I was ranked 6th going into this event. I had a clean, fast start and got on the feet of Dustin McLarty and Hunter Kemper as they sprinted towards the first buoy. I was probably sitting in top-10 throughout the first lap of the swim. I felt that I accomplished the goal of a fast first 750m, but on the second loop I began to go backwards in the field. Starting the second loop I just began to feel very fatigued and stuck in a low gear. I dropped back several positions and tried to conserve my energy.

Coming out of the water and into t1 a small group of eight guys broke away. Unfortunately, I was too far back in the lead pack to get in this group. Furthermore, given the way I felt I don’t even think I could’ve managed the burst of speed out of t1 to get into this group had I been there. I was still giving it everything I had and wound up in the third pack on the bike with a group of two other guys. After probably spending a bit too much energy on the first two (of eight) laps, my group was swallowed up by a giant chase pack. Together with this group we caught the second pack. At this point the race was virtually Hunter Kemper’s breakaway group of eight and a massive chase pack about one minute back that included me, Jarrod Shoemaker, Sexton, and all the good runners. I got a bit too caught up in the moment and worked pretty hard in this chase group. In retrospoect I should’ve sat in a conserved a bit.

We entered t2 about one minute down from the leaders. Coming out of transition I just felt flat. I didn’t have any cramps or anything, just a lot of fatigue that was multiplied by the high intensity of an ITU race. I struggled on the run. All of the guys that I can normally easily outrun took off ahead of me and I couldn’t respond. Being an experienced ITU racer, I knew that every place and point can matter, so I just hung in there and did the best I could. The result was a 16th place finish, ninth American. Definitely not my best performance, not even close, but at the very least a good experience-gainer and a solid workout.

Me chugging along and trying to hold it together on lap three of the run.

The verdict: I simply wasn’t rested enough going into this race. There’s a fine line between being able to train hard and race well. During Alcatraz I was able to come very close to this line and not cross it, but in Buffalo it looks like I just did a little too much work on race week. I’m not incredibly disappointed as I’m currently in a big four-week training block geared towards peaking for World Cup races in October and November. So I’ll just let this bad performance roll off my back and if I nail my peak races I’ll know I made the right decision.

My past two races have been the San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz on August 21st and the Triathlon at Pacific Grove, CA on September 10^th. Both races were put on by the veteran race company Tri-California. I love doing these races. I always say that Tri-Cal is a big-time race company with a local feel. As a professional triathlete, I am greeted with warmth and hospitality from the staff from the moment I arrive in town to collect my race packet, throughout the pre and post-race procedures to receiving a personalized thank-you letter in the mail several weeks later. What separates Tri-Cal from other big-time race companies is their ability to connect with the communities where their races take place. The community in Pacific Grove particularly stands out to me. There are so many great families that volunteer at the races, and on top of that they open up their homes to pro’s, such as myself, to stay free of charge.  Tri-Cal’s races are so longstanding because they care about these communities, and, in turn, these communities care about Tri-Cal and want to help them grow. Hospitality and warmth are reciprocated. In no other pro race series are each and every athlete greeted by name and given a welcome gift bag. At Pacific Grove, the pro’s are introduced the day before the race at the expo. Nick Tuttle does a good job of providing a brief background on each athlete. Everyone is interviewed, giving all of us an opportunity to connect to an audience, show a bit of our personalities, plug our sponsors, and market ourselves to a crowd that cares about triathlon. Tri-Cal is a race company that “gets it”. They are in the sport of triathlon for the right reasons. They focus on putting on a quality race experience, including some cool schwag for the age group triathlete, and also provide a stage for pro’s from all over the world to battle it out for some prize money. I would encourage you to try a Tri-Cal race if it fits into your schedule. I also want to say a big “thank you and I’ll see you soon!” to Tri-Cal.

Solid Day at Alcatraz

Alcatraz is one of those landmark races in the sport of triathlon where all the greats have competed at one time or another. As of last year there exists two Alcatraz triathlons:  The famous and uber competitive Escape from Alcatraz and the relatively new San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz put on by Tri-California. I competed in the latter. I’ve always wanted to do this race because the conditions and course suit me well. The temperature is mild, the swim and run are long relative to the bike, and the bike course is hilly, favoring a power-to-weight ratio rider. This was my first race since I completed my summer base phase, which consisted of lower intensity training and strength work. I was not in 100% race shape due to the lack of speed work, but I felt I would perform okay in such a strength-based race. I also did this race at the end of a tough training week with minimal rest. Nevertheless, I actually felt rested (enough) and good-to-go on race morning.

Diving into the 56 degree water from the boat. Photo compliments of Slowtwitch/Timothy Carlson

I setup my transition area in the pitch-black morning at 4:30 AM and then boarded the bus which took us to the boat.  We were herded onto the boat, which then set out for Alcatraz. When it was go time, the pro’s lined up on the side of the boat and then dove into the chilly bay. There was a strong current and a decent chop, which made it tough to get into a rhythm. I eventually found myself on the feet of Kyle Leto and decided that was a good place to be. Leto and I are solid front pack swimmers. We seemed to be veering off on our own in the choppy waters. We were going on a slightly different path than Tommy Zafares, Dustin McLarty and the other lead swimmers, but it appeared to us that we were taking the shortest line. It may have been the shortest line, but the current didn’t agree with us. Leto and I uncharacteristically exited the water around 2.5 minutes behind the leaders. It had been a brutally long swim, taking the leaders 31 minutes and me 33. That’s the “X-factor” about Alcatraz: The swim can be favorable and take just over 20 minutes or it can be 15 minutes slower with the wrong current. We got the rough conditions.

I made the half-mile run to my bike and set out upon improving my 10^th place position. The long swim had essentially made it a swimmers race. I spent the first 15 miles of the bike on my own. Leto, a strong cyclist, had taken off, and I was left in no man’s land trying to chase down the tiny specs up the road that I could only see on long, flat stretches. Finally, when we entered Golden Gate Bridge Park I passed someone and moved into 9^th with two other riders not too far up ahead. I played some cat-and-mouse with them for the next few miles but was finally able to pull away in the last few miles of the bike. I completed the hilly, 25 mile bike in 1:05 and was currently in 7^th position.

Running up the Sand Ladder. Photo complimentary of Slowtwitch/Timothy Carlson

Out on the run I sighted Dustin McLarty not too far ahead. The run was 7 miles with the first and last 1.5 miles flat, but other than that it was more of an adventure race as I climbed sand ladders, ran under bridges and up and down stairs on single-track trail. I was able to pass McLarty a little over a mile into the run. I knew that there were a couple other guys about a minute up ahead but it was tough to focus on pushing forward because I could never see them. I ran strong but comfortably and finished in a solid 6^th place. It wasn’t a fabulous race but it went about as expected given my current fitness. I’ll take it!

The 2011 Pacific Grove Fiasco

Pac Grove run. Photo compliments of Slowtwitch/Timothy Carlson

Last weekend I flew out to San Francisco and was greeted by my friend and fellow competitor Steve Sexton. We made the easy two-hour drive to beautiful Pacific Grove, CA and arrived at the Ahart Residence, our gracious hosts for the event. The Aharts made sure Steve and I had everything we needed to have a good race – wicked comfortable beds, fresh, home-cooked meals, and best of all: a huttub! I went into Pacific Grove as the defending champion, and I thought that the way the field stacked up I had a good shot at repeating that title. My biggest worry was a late entry into the race, British triathlete Ritchie Nichols, who recently won the London Triathlon and has blazing run speed. However, I was confident that I could outswim him, and hopefully I’d be able to hold or grow that lead on the bike and take his run out of the equation.

On race morning Sexton and I had a leisurely breakfast and relaxed before what we thought was a 12:15 PM start time. At 11:00 AM we went for a warm-up jog, packed up, and then rode our bikes down to the race venue, which was only about a mile away. Upon our arrival at 11:45, we learned that the race actually started at noon. Woof! This sent us into a frenzy trying to get our wetsuits on as fast as possible and still have time to warm-up in the cold, kelp-infested waters. We luckily had just enough time to get in the water for a few minutes. In my haste, I tucked the zipper strap on my wetsuit into my wetsuit. I didn’t want to have anything dangling around for fear it would get caught on the kelp. This decision would come back to haunt me.

The race started and we ran into the water and began sprinting towards the first buoy. The kelp was particularly thick this year. The field would string out when we had clean water, but during the kelp sections the field rapidly bunched up as the pace slowed. This kept a lot of the slower swimmers in the race. Things really didn’t even begin to string out in the small, 20-man field until towards the end of the first lap. As we exited the water to run around a rock on the beach and begin our second lap, the women’s race started directly next to us. All of a sudden we had 10 women in the midst of the men’s lead swim pack. It was chaotic for a while as the other lead men and I navigated through kelp patches and female triathletes. I stayed in the draft of Brian Rhodes for a while on that second lap, and when we finally hit clean water I realized I was sitting in fifth place. I held that position as we exited the water.

As I began running up the stairs to t1 I reached back to grab my wetsuit zipper. I couldn’t find the strap. I had completely forgotten what I’d done with it! I kept hopelessly reaching for it and began to slow down as I got more frustrated. A few guys passed me in that run to t1. By the time I got to my bike, I still hadn’t figured out where the zipper strap was. I finally reached back down into my wetsuit and felt the strap and grabbed it. Wrong one! It was my tri-suit zipper strap. After standing there for about 20 seconds all the other lead men were out on the bike course. It was the worst feeling ever. Pure hopelessness. I knew that was the race right there. I finally figured out that my wetsuit and tri-suit zipper straps were tangled together. I got them separated and was able to peel off my wetsuit, but the front pack was long gone. I quickly ran out of t1 with my bike and began chasing as hard as I could. I bridged up to some remnants of the front pack and settled into a group of four with Lamar, Pellow, and Oskutis. We were the first chase pack, but the lead group of eight contained many strong cyclists, and we began losing massive amounts of time to them. It was a frustrating ride for me. I knew I was in damage control mode. To make matters more annoying, I had a bottle cage come loose and start noisily bouncing back and forth on my bike frame. My only saving grace was that the British triathlete Nichols was in a two-man pack behind me. At any rate, I adjusted my plan and decided that I would work with this group as best I could and then give it everything I had on the run and hope to catch someone from the lead pack.

Shaking hands with Tommy Z.

We finished the 40k ride and entered the run course over three minutes down from the lead. I took it out FAST in that first mile. I easily ran clear of my pack and began closing in on the front pack. The run course is mostly flat and three laps. As I hit the second lap I began to pay for my aggressive efforts in that first mile.  I was running out in no-man’s land and it became tough mentally to keep pushing the pace. I eased back a bit and tried to recover some. Luckily Ritchie Nichols was another two minutes behind me coming off the bike. I knew I had nothing to lose by taking the run out hard. As I came around to begin the final lap, I heard the announcer say that Brian Rhodes wasn’t too far up the rode and he looked like he was hurting. This info got my head back in the game and I began to pick up the pace. I spotted Rhodes at the run turnaround and didn’t know if I had enough real estate left to catch him. I just kept the pace high and went to work. With a little less than a half mile to go, I caught him. This moved me up into seventh place, about as best as I could’ve hoped for given the circumstances. I crossed the line and was greeted with a handshake from Tommy Zafares, the race winner.

Obviously I was very disappointed with this result. My run split (32:32) was faster than everybody in the lead pack despite my lagging second lap. On the bright side, at least this is an easily fixable problem. Not being able to get my wetsuit off has nothing to do with my physical abilities, and I really feel like I’m in a good spot right now in terms of race fitness. Luckily I do not have to wait long to redeem myself. I have Elite Nationals coming up in Buffalo. After losing to race-champion Tommy Zafares at Alcatraz and Pac Grove hopefully I can get some retribution there!

Meh! Not as big a paycheck as I wanted but I'll still take it!

As always, I would like to thank my sponsors – Team Psycho, Fit Werx 2, Parlee Cycles, TYR, PowerBar, and FuelBelt – for supporting me every step of the way as we head into the Olympic year!

Our homestay gave me and Steve passes to the Monterey Aquarium, where we were lucky enough to see a Great White shark in captivity.

My duck alarm woke me up at a dreadful 4:30 AM on race morning (I find that the quacks are effective in making sure I actually wake up). I had a small cup of coffee and a light breakfast and headed to Gloucester where I was greeted with moderate rain. There was a solid field of local pros, but I felt confident that as long as I stayed upright on the slick roads I should be able to pull off another victory. Because the ocean was so choppy, the 1/2 mile swim was shortened to 1/4 mile. The race started and I swam neck-and-neck with my friend and teammate Zach Britton. I pulled away by a couple seconds in the last 100 meters and exited the water first.  I had a quick t1 and then got out on the bike. Despite the past few weeks of training, I actually began to feel good and got into a strong rhythm. I began to extend my lead, and by the end of the hilly 15 mile bike course I had about a 90-second lead. I averaged 333 watts/25.9 mph.

Out on the run I definitely began to feel the fatigue creep into my legs. It was deceptively hilly. I started out not feeling too great but trying to work on good form and high cadence. I came through the first mile in 5:21, the second in 5:17, and finally began to feel a bit better and closed out in 5:09.

I extended my lead by about another 20 seconds during the run and crossed the finish line in first with a 2:08 margin of victory on Peter Mallett. My teammate Zach held on for fourth place. A few minutes after I finished I was told that I would be slapped with a two-minute penalty for crossing the center line during the bike leg. Since the bike course was two loops, during the second loop the course became pretty congested with cyclists, and since you’re supposed to only pass on the left there were times when I had no choice but to cross the yellow center line in the road to safely pass the other racers. Every elite that raced probably crossed the center line, but (of course) I was the only one that did it right in front of the official’s motorcycle. At any rate, I still got the win despite the penalty (just by :08 instead of 2:08) and successfully completed the Gloucester Tri hat trick!