This is a series of interviews from before and after Saturday’s ITU Pan-America Cup Triathlon courtesy of TriCal TV.

This weekend I’m racing in San Francisco. It will be my first of three weekends in a row of racing, so I’m viewing this one as a fancy, fast workout. The San Francisco Pan-America Cup is held on Treasure Island, in the middle of the Bay Bridge, and it’s a really unique and technical bike course. Despite the fact that I’m coming in tired, I’m excited, this race is going to be fun!

Here in Colorado things are going smoothly. It’s been really hot, like I talked about in my post a few days ago, so I’m looking forward to the cool weather in San Francisco. I’ve started to become possessive of swim workouts. It’s not a good thing, but I’ve been pushing the pace so frequently that when I have an off day (or someone else has a good day), I start thinking something is wrong. This morning I wore my wetsuit to get ready for Saturday (it’ll be my first wetsuit race since this race in 2008!). With a wetsuit on I thought something was wrong for a different reason: I was way too hot! Luckily, it doesn’t seem like I’ve lost my ability to get out of the suit quickly, and my new Blue 70 Helix is a pretty awesome suit. I was absolutely flying down the lane. I really like the detailing they’ve done with the arms to allow for greater feel of the water. It’s too bad winning swim practice doesn’t translate directly to winning races because with that suit on I would be the world champion!

Next week I head to Hamburg, then London, and we’ve been told that internet costs 20 euros a day, so I will likely not be blogging while I”m there. Instead, I may just repost the blogs from the last time I was in Hamburg.

This interview is reposted from the Zoom Performance website.

That’s part one.

And this is part two

On Sunday I completed the coveted, little-known triathlon trifecta. I have already been the star amateur, and the fearless guide to Aaron “Megawatt” Scheidies. This weekend I came back from a season-wrecking injury to prove that my transition to professional status was no mistake.

Forty kilometers south of Dallas, miles from the nearest street lamp, the beat of 80’s pop music sent out a homing signal to the best multisport athletes from around the world. Tour busses probed the black roads bringing hoards of athletes from the nearby metropolis. By 5am the transition area was already brimming with energy. A light drizzle fell upon the thousands of bicycles sitting next to an eerily silent Joe Pool Lake.

I arrived on a bus with 40 other professional triathletes from around the world. My rear wheel had a flat tire, which was creating an unwanted stress in my morning plans. After having my tire fixed I set up transition next to Matt Chrabot. I made sure my equipment was perfectly set up, then started walking toward the swim start. I made it just 10 meters before I realized I had left my chain on the wrong gears. I went back and switched gears, but when I started pedaling the rear tire exploded. Crap – was it luck that I figured this out before the start, or was something irreparably wrong with my rear wheel? Fighting panic, I carried my bike back to the mechanic. He popped off the tire and started inspecting the tube – meanwhile I inspected the tire. There was a gash in the sidewall which was the obvious culprit, and the mechanic happened to have a less-ruined used tire he was willing to give me - Continental 4000, which is by far the best tire for wet and slippery conditions like we were facing – it was a blessing in disguise.

By the time I made my way to the pro tent the rest of my field was already in wetsuits waiting for the sky to provide enough light for them to start a swim warmup. It would be a non-wetsuit swim – 70 degree water temperatures – but with the air temperature it was best to warm up in my Blue Seventy Helix. The flat and green horizon provided very few landmarks to sight off of, so I figured the swim pack may not follow a straight line between buoys.

After the National Anthem and introductions we lined up at the water’s edge. I tried to be on the left side of the start line, but ended up dead center – not a great place if you lack get-out speed. TYR was offering a $1,000 swim prime, and I wanted it (if not for the money, to prove that last week’s terrible swim in LA was just a fluke), so when the gun went off I kicked hard to get ahead of the pack. Within 100 meters there were three Vs, the group to my right was falling back, the group to my left staying even and being led by Paulo Miyashiro – a professional open water swimmer and triathlete from Brazil. I started moving left hoping to grab Paulo’s feet, but moments later he surged, dropped his entire swim group and was soon a splash in the distance. After a long struggle trying to catch my South American friend I finally gave in and found Matt Reed’s feet – widely recognized as the best feet in the business – where I stayed until the end of the 1500m swim.

Following Matt Reed out of the first transition we set off on the 40km point-to-point bike leg. Bouncing across cracks, potholes, and wet roads that seemed to be revolted by our presence, we rolled over the hills of South Dallas. (If only my Garmin Edge 705 would warn me of upcoming potholes!) Matt Reed pulled away and I found myself in a pack of Olympians, World Cup Champions, and general badasses. With so many strong men surrounding me I had no choice but to work hard. The 50 degree rain would have to be ignored. Every hill we encountered made my muscles ache, and the cold made it impossible to eat and drink, and my 705 showed that my heart rate was struggling to keep me warm. I wanted to hold back a little for the run, but I had to maintain position. By the time we charged into Downtown Dallas the rain had finally begun to subside. I pulled on my K-Ruus racing flats from K-Swiss and found myself on the heels of Bevan Docherty – one of the great runners in the sport.

“Stay with him no matter what” I told myself. Frankly, I’m sick of being dropped in the first mile of the run. Exploding at the end seemed likely, but I was willing to find out. I felt lighter on my feet than ever before, and by the end of the first mile I was still in the mix. I ran ahead of Matt Chrabot for another three kilometers before he took over fighting the wind. We rounded the turnaround together and I stayed on his heels until the last 2 kilometers. He started pulling away, and I fought to bring him back. I was already having the run of my life, but with 300 meters left I tried to surge and bring Matt back. It was too late – Matt expected it and accelerated down the final meters to the finish line. Matt crossed in sixth, with me following six seconds back for 7th place.

This finish is my best at this level of competition. I had three strong legs, and fought hard until the end. Next up is the Huatulco World Cup, and I’m definitely excited for a great race there.

This video shows a routine I learned in college when we swam dual meets at schools without a warm-up pool. A lot of guys would jog back and forth on the pool deck and do jumping jacks, but I found these swimming specific motions to be quite a bit more effective in preparing for a swim race. For a triathlon I do this routine after I have finished my bike/run warm-up and have gotten my wetsuit half way on. The wetsuit is helpful because it keeps your muscles warm, which is the point.

I used this dry-land warm-up routine last week before the Kirkland Triathlon, when the police wouldn’t allow us to swim prior to the race start, and I’ve used it at races like Escape from Alcatraz and Treasure Island where even if you could get in for a warm-up, the water is so cold that it just doesn’t seem worth it. Some people bring bands and do many of the same motions. I find that’s a hassle and just one extra thing to pack. You can make up for a lack in resistance simply by increasing the speed of your swimming movements.