I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Boulder right now with Courtenay Brown, Rory Seiter, and Mojdeh Hamidi. We’ve been spending the last couple of hours interrupting each other and getting stuff sort of done while at The Laughing Goat on Pearl Street. “Getting stuff done” consists of Rory interviewing me for the Checkmate Triathlon Team website (my side project that will be awesome once Rory and I figure out all the logistics of starting a team from scratch without start-up capital), Courtenay writing a blog, figuring out which graduate school she’ll go to and providing input to Rory and me (she started a women’s pro cycling team a few years back and has some great perspective), and Mojdeh generally being pleasant company.

What’s interesting is how we all got here. I met Rory when I was designing underwater robots in Honolulu and he was finishing up his degree in Environmental Management. I met Courtenay online through her ex-boyfriend, and Mojdeh and Rory met when he made an unexpected pit-stop in Boulder during a 2008 world tour. Last year Courtenay gave up her independent lifestyle in Lake Tahoe and moved in with me at my parents’ house in Seattle after dating me long distance for two months. Rory and Mojdeh had only been dating a couple months when they left Boulder to travel around New Zealand together for four months, and the trip went so well that they ended up spending all of 2009 living out of a van and dragging a trailer of triathlon swag to races for the USA Triathlon Endurance Mobile Tour. Sitting in a coffee shop figuring out what we’ll do next is much more exciting with this particular group than it might be with your average coffee shop dweller.

I’m leaving Honolulu tomorrow for the island of Maui. The Canadian National Team is over there training until the end of the month and I’m going to go join them (thanks to Andrew Russell, who put in a good word for me.). I don’t know yet if I’m coming back to Oahu afterward or if I’ll go to San Diego like I originally intended.

The big downside of heading to San Diego is that Courtenay will be here on Oahu until March 2nd, which is a long time to be away from my special someone. Then again, in San Diego they have a Normatec MVP – not a bad trade.

[spoiler alert, follow me on twitter and check back here soon for how you can win a free pair of K-Swiss K’Ona’s]

Courtenay and I went into a bike shop in Waialua last week (Sugar Mill Bikes)  to fix a sliced tire. The proprietor of the shop told us about a private road he likes to ride through the cane fields of Oahu’s North Shore. So the next day we rode to a locked gate with the intent of riding up a cane haul road – mostly dirt, rough roads – to get away from the dangerous holiday traffic.

My Garmin Edge 705 actually showed where the cane haul roads go, so it was easy to pick an entry point and plan a route. Just as we were hopping the gate (which we assumed was to keep motor vehicles out) a big van pulled up and a big Hawaiian guy started yelling at us, threatening us with a $500 fine if we didn’t leave right away. So we rode a few miles down and entered a cane haul road that didn’t have any locked gate across it. We rode for miles up past farmlands – some abandoned, some with coffee, some with pineapples. We did see about a dozen cars, and a couple farmers, but they just waved and smiled, so we were pretty sure we weren’t bothering anyone. The roads were certainly not ideal for a road bike, but focusing on bike handling was a welcome change from focusing on not getting killed on the narrow highway.

Eventually we did reach a big “no trespassing” sign, which is where we turned around, but my Edge 705 claimed that the road would continue up the hill, wind through a few valleys, and eventually come back down the hill and exit where we were yelled at earlier in the ride. We decided that we should find a way onto those roads, and the very next day we did. I took video of that experience, and Courtenay edited it (because she has the fancy MacBook Pro). It was an awesome ride, and we even found a newly paved road through the hills with zero cars on it. It was among the most adventurous rides I’ve had, but I’ll let the video do the talking:

Yesterday I heard from the USAT Lords that I have been approved for residency at the Olympic training center. This means that I can live permanently on campus in Colorado Springs. There are OTC campuses elsewhere that hold quite a bit more appeal to me, but Beggers should not be choosers, right? Apparently USAT doesn’t have any beds in Chula Vista (San Diego), which is where I would prefer to live, but they will let me go there for a few months this spring! I’m a little bubbly with excitement, as much as I love my home in Seattle, I also love the adventure that comes from moving and learning a new place. So my latest plan for the next 4 months is this:

December 15th to January 13th: Honolulu with Courtenay
January 17th: Fast Triathlon in Brasil with Chris Foster* and Matt Chrabot.
End of January: come back to Seattle, pack my stuff into the Honda Element and drive south.
Feb-may: training in California!

I’m not so keen on driving straight through to Chula, so I will definitely be looking for some people to stay with (and possibly train with) along the way.

I’m goin to miss my friends and family, but I think this move is going to be really fun.

*Courtenay would like to point out that she suggested that Chris would be a good teammate for the fast triathlon AGES ago. Thanks for the good idea CB.

Yesterday I called my Huatulco race report the “short version”, which is a bit of a lie. I did not leave out many details about the race itself. After the race I tried my best to rehydrate, so that I could enjoy myself at the athlete reception (read: “after-party”). It seemed to work. After a week of forcing copious amounts of salt into my system, it was pretty hard to drink anything but straight water.

Speaking of electrolytes, I brushed over the heat issue at this race, but it’s worth mentioning, because my performance in Mexico shows an evolution in my ability to race well in the heat (my last trip to Mexico resulted in me DNFing and waking up after a serious bought of heat stroke in a Mazatlan hospital). This newfound heat tolerance has not come through passive acclimation, but through active pursuit of research and methods to improve my body’s temperature regulation, pre-race hydration levels, and to help keep myself cool when it’s simply too hot for sweat alone to do the job. Electrolyte and Carbohydrate Drink, Nuun, sea salt, and carbohydrate loading were the key to hyper-hydration in the week prior to the race, but while training in Seattle I also had to create an artificially warm environment to allow myself to acclimate to uncomfortably hot exercise.

About two months ago I stopped using a fan while riding the indoor trainer (with Seattle’s fall rain and a broken wrist, I had only ridden outside three times since August), and I gradually added more and more layers to my running uniform (for my last track workout I was wearing four layers of K-Swiss long sleeves, tights, run pants, and a hoodie). Along with this heat simulation I had to force myself to drink way more fluid than my natural thirst demanded. When it’s cold out I am simply not as thirsty as I should be. For instance, one day I did a long run in full layering, but because it was cold out I forgot to drink and stop to refill my bottle. I ended up losing 4% of my bodyweight in sweat, which means I was very dehydrated. Luckily I only made that mistake once, and by the time my training block was finished I was used to drinking plenty during workouts.

In order to promote water retention and to keep my body’s electrolyte levels high I used grey sea salt, which is my favorite type of salt (I get it in bulk at Whole Foods). I passed up water during meals in favor of fruit juice, and made sure to have complex carbohydrates with every meal. When I was sitting around and didn’t want a sugary drink I used Nuun tablets to make sure I was still pushing fluids and electrolytes. I had enough salt to increase my thirst, and grams (seriously, grams – it caused more than a few shocked looks at the dinner table these past two months) more than I normally would consume during the day. So by the time I got to Mexico last week I was already used to high fluid consumption and high salt content in my diet.

Once in Mexico, I averaged over six liters of water each day of the trip, and almost all of that was mixed with either carbohydrate/electrolyte mix or Nuun, and it was in addition to the juices I had with breakfast. I drank a lot more than I imagined possible.

For the race I also prepared my body externally. I shaved my head (I hate not having my afro), and purchased disposable instant-ice packs from the first aid section of the drug store. I put one of them into my bike helmet, which kept my head cool for the first 20 kilometers.

Before the race I used an ice vest (basically a neoprene vest that you can put water into and freeze) to keep cool while I waited for the start. This actually made me nervous because I didn’t have a chance to try it in training, and I wasn’t sure how it would effect me in the swim. It was remarkable! I warmed up like normal, then sat in the athlete lounge with the vest on. My legs and arms stayed warmed up, but my core had a nice cool layer to keep me from sweating profusely like my competitors. I took it off about five minutes before we were called out, and by the time we started I had no trouble surging to the front of the swim.

Lastly, on the run I didn’t waste an once of the water given at the aid stations (4 bottles per lap for a total of 16 bottles during the 10km run). I either drank or poured every bit over my head. Amazingly, my K-Swiss K-Ruuz racing flats drained quickly and at no point did my feet feel heavy from all the water I had poured over them. It was high noon while we were running, but we did our best to stay in the shadows. The heat was seriously intense.

Sunblock is another thing to consider because the wrong stuff can trap your sweat and increase body temperature. I used my Hawaiian Island Creations 2x Sunblock (excellent product) in the morning before the race, but parts of my back are still tender today (more a testament to my pasty complexion and the strength of the Huatulco sun – and possibly to my self application technique – than to the quality of the sunscreen).

Still, I do not consider myself an expert in preparations, and I may change a few things for next time (different types of salt, different race uniform material…). Hopefully this account of my hydration and cooling methods helps you reach your potential the next time the mercury rises on race day. I would also encourage you to do your own research, and realize that dietary preparation is very individual. I was consuming >5g of salt a day, but someone else may need much more or much less to avoid cramps. Just remember not to try anything new on race day!

Tomorrow is the Huatulco World Cup. It’s my second World Cup, but definitely my biggest ITU race as far as size and quality of field. Plus, this course is going to kill people. It’s hot, for one, but more importantly, there’s a gigantic wall that we ride up eight times followed by a not-so-flat run…

…it’s going to be really fun! And afterwards, 2009 is over for me, which means today’s training was the last of this season.

I haven’t taken any pictures yet of Huatulco, but I did photograph my bike. I should add that this is the first time I’ve   ever  raced on a bike clean enough to put on my bed. The US Team brought a mechanic for us to use, and he’s doing full-on overhauls of our bikes. It’s remarkable. I actually just had a tune-up from Speedy Reedy in Seattle (who does a very good job), so I went to Joe the Mechanic asking only for some Quick-Stop break pads (I forgot my carbon-surface pads at home). Two hours later I walked back in to find my bike had been polished, the headset taken apart and cleaned, the cables changed, the shifting fixed – he actually took off my cassette  and washed it in the sink! Seriously, this is the best tune-up anyone has ever given me. Kevin Collington claims he no longer goes to bike shops, he just waits until he’s at a race with Joe, and lets him do an overhaul. One thing is for certain, there will not be any non-essential drag tomorrow from my bike. It’s all on me.

As for my trip – I haven’t had nearly as much practice with speaking Spanish since the all the other English speaking athletes showed up. There are enough fluent-speaking people that when we go to dinner somebody is always taking over the ordering process before I can mutter “quiero”.

A wise man once said, “a little Spanish will get you a long way.” And tonight that couldn’t be truer.

[Left: My Parents and I are celebrating the delivery of my new fan-club t-shirts – a big thanks to Taigraphx for the printing!]

It’s been a long day of travelling, I left my house at 4pm on Tuesday, and arrived in Huatulco around noon Wednesday, after eight hours of flying, nine hours sitting in airports, five baggage screenings, three flights, several short naps, and one shuttle ride where I had to pretend to be on the French team after discovering that every other athlete on my flight (twelve) had a shuttle waiting for them – but nobody was there for the American.

I checked in and called my mom, Victor Plata and Courtenay on Skype. That’s about when the sawing, hammering, and mowing started. I was planning to nap, but it was like sitting inside a machine shop while the boss is making rounds. I asked to change rooms, only to find that my new room has no internet, and the old AC fan was almost as loud as the hammering in the other room. They said I couldn’t change again until tomorrow, and – since it was already digging into my nap time – I didn’t have the desire.

After a wonderful nap, I snuck in a ride before it got dark outside. It was about 3km in that I started thinking about how gorgeous it is here – and that’s when the dogs started chasing me. There were no less than a dozen stray mutts – who obviously thought I was intruding – chasing me over the crest of a short hill. I hadn’t planned more than an easy spin, but I got in a good sprint as they chased me downhill at 40mph. Those dogs can run fast! (but luckily not for very long). It took me a while to turn around, for fear of passing those dogs while trying to go up the hill I’d just sprinted down. When I finally did work up the courage, the dogs just laid at the side of the road and watched me pedal by – no barking, no chasing, no nipping at my feet… I think I wore them out!

After a run I had some fajitas at the hotel, then went walking to find more bottled water. Everything on the street was closed, but a guy outside a snorkeling tour shop started speaking to me in Spanish. Now – I own the Rosetta Stone Spanish software, and I tell people I’m learning Spanish, but the truth is I use it to pass the time on the trainer every-so-often and really didn’t think I had learned enough to squeak out an introduction – let alone a conversation with a non-English speaker. I asked him to repeat himself several times before I figured out he was asking if I would be racing in the Triathlon on Sunday. We talked for a little while, and I exhausted my limited vocabulary to tell him when I was racing, where I’m from, my name, and that I was looking for a store to buy water. He told me where it was, and when I asked if it was within walking distance, he told me to borrow his bicycle while he waited there for me. I couldn’t believe it – a total stranger, who I could hardly converse with was just blindly letting me take his bike to the supermarket.

I did, and when I came back he told me to go to bed and sleep well so I could race well. And he said he would have his family at the race and they would cheer for me! My fan club is growing – if only I had more T-Shirts…

This week I decided to stay in LA for a few days before heading to Dallas for the Toyota Cup Lifetime Fitness Triathlon this weekend. It was either that, or head back to Seattle right after the race, train at home for a few days, then fly to Dallas. The extra travel time would probably negate the benefits of being at home for training, and since I was able to stay with a former roommate / teammate / lab partner (current friend) in Los Angeles I figured it was better to enjoy some California Sun. Training away from home can be logistically challenging, but I have a few pointers for making your travel training a success.

Finding a pool is pretty easy. Look at the swimmers guide and find the pools closest to where your staying. The search will tell you if the pool is public or private, and often will have admission fees and lap swim schedule. Sometimes the pool is at a health club, which can be costly, and gym pools are not normally the greatest aquatic facilities. When I was in Miami I swam at a Bally’s Fitness Center where my host was a member. He gave me a free 7 day pass and I used their 2 lane 25 yard pool for four days without any trouble. In Austin I scored a 7 day membership to Life Time Fitness, where the pools were all really nice. In Hollywood last week I used another 7 day free pass to 24 Hour Fitness, but had to put down a credit card deposit because they were going to charge me if I didn’t cancel after 5 days. When I called to cancel I was given a new number to call four times before talking to a “membership cancelation services” person, then the conversation went life this:

“How can I help you?”

“I was using a 7 day free membership while I was staying in Hollywood, but I’d like to cancel it because I”m no longer in Hollywood and I’m not going to be using that pool anymore.”

“I’m sorry to hear that sir, can I ask why you are canceling your membership?”

“Really? Like I just said, I’m not in Hollywood anymore and I’m not swimming at a 24 Hour Fitness anymore.”

“I’m sorry to hear that sir, is it alright if I put your account on hold for 6 months instead of cancelling it?”

“No, I would rather cancel it now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that sir, your membership will continue for 30 days, and will be cancelled after the next bill.”

And so on until the guy finally gave in and gave me a confirmation code and said I would not be billed for my free pass.

When I do these passes I’m always up-front with the gym employees. I tell them I’m only in town for a race, and I would really like to use their pool for the week. Then I ask if they have a 7 day pass I can use, or if there’s a way I could use the pool for less than the standard $15 - $30 day pass fee.

Here in Dallas I went into the Downtown Dallas YMCA where there’s an eight lane 25 meter pool. When I called it seemed like it was unlikely that I could use the facilities for less than their $20/day, but since it was my only option I rode my bike over to check it out. When I came in the lady at the front desk, Gracie, recognized my voice from the phone and – seeing me walk in looking like a beach bum, wearing board shorts and a yellow Rudy Project backpack, sporting an afro under a helmet and carrying my bicycle – offered to make me her guest for the three days I would be using the pool. Now that was unexpected and wonderful!

The YMCA pool is really neat. It’s a converted parking garage, so it’s 9 lanes wide, but only 8 lanes are usable because there are big rectangular pillars in the center lane. Out the windows you can see the Dallas Skyscrapers, and rather than giving me weird looks for my pink splish suits, the lifeguard gave me a ticket to the Texas State Fair! She told me if I went I could get just about any kind of fried food I want: fried butter, fired snickers, fried banana, fried ice cream, fried marshmallow, etc. Makes me wish I were staying another night after the race!

Please excuse all my typos. I’ll fix them when I’m not posting via iphone. My predictions for this race were right on. I had decisively the worst swim of my career, despite outsmarting the surf and getting to the first buoy third. I followed Andrew Starykowicz and Chris Foster (wish i has his swim coach, a year ago there’s no way he could have made the first pack, let alone lead it) and when they turned a buoy too soon I followed. After all, the kayakers and life guard boat were directly in front of us. We swam 50m off course, and I was the only one to catch back up to what became the lead pack. I stayed in the back of the front pack, which set me up perfectly to miss all three waves in a set that took everyone in front of me right to shore.  I really should know better than to miscount buoys.

(photo: hanging our with Triathlon Lab and USAT after the race)

Perhaps the fastest bike split would make up for a bad swim? I grabbed my bike and set my sights on the lead police escort, about a quarter mile up the road. I started passing people pretty quickly, and by 10km in I was leading the race. At the turnaround I misread the directions while trying to look into the sun and read signs inside a tunnel. I turned 5m too early and did a full 360 back to the correct cone. I can be so stupid! Back in 5th I passed back up to the front and settled back in. At 30k Greg Bennett surged past. I kept him in site but couldn’t keep pace. When we got to the tunnel again it was even harder to see than before. We were supposed to go through the tunnel and then turn right to go to transition, but I passed the turn before I saw it, and again the pack behind me went right by while I did a 540 degree turn to the left. What made my stupidity feel worse were the volunteers shouting, “you need to pay attention!” Thanks bra. I still managed to have the fastest bike split.

Coming out of T2 I started the run having already lost the gap I’d put on Javier Gomez I hung on for 30 seconds, which felt like 3 minutes, then found myself running in 7th with a large gap behind. I lost a lot of ground on the hills, which I just don’t train for, and with a mile to go I was passed, then Chris Foster caught me (with the fastest run split) at 1/4 mile to go, putting me in 9th.

I’m really happy to have raced, despite a few small mistakes. My cycling ability was a big question mark coming in, but it looks like I must be doing something right. I know I can swim well when I don’t have a broken wrist, and I definitely will run faster when in not at the end of a tough training block. Next week I’ll be racing the Toyota US Open Triathlon in Dallas.

Tomorrow I’m racing in my first premier triathlon since May. I’m surprisingly not nervous, despite a world class field of athletes, like Javier Gomez, Greg Bennett, and a dozen other elites from overseas. Perhaps my lack of nerves is because I’ve been training hard leading into this race, and I’m not rested at all. My sights are set on the last World Cup of the year in Mexico next month, so how well I race tomorrow is only an indication of where my weaknesses may be. (spoiler alert) My guess is that 10 weeks in a wrist brace will mean my swim is definitely not where it needs to be.

The 10th Annual Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon Presented by Toyota is the penultimate event in the Life Time Fitness Toyota Cup, which wraps up in Dallas next week. This series has more prize money being handed out than any other series, aside from the World Championship Series and Hy-Vee World Cup (which isn’t a series). It’s also the premier non-drafting Olympic Distance race series in the world. So a big time thanks to Life Time Fitness, Toyota and Kaiser Permanente for presenting us with world class triathlons like the Los Angeles Triathlon.

I arrived in Los Angeles late Wednesday and stayed with a friend in Hollywood. As I discussed in my last post, LA is much bigger than I previously thought. To save myself some time and allow for a little more down time, I decided to come stay by the airport with Rory. I’m now just 20 minutes from the race site, instead of 80. I’m deathly afraid of riding my bike in LA, so I rode a trainer at the USAT Endurance Mobile Tour booth in the race expo. It actually drew quite a bit of attention from passers by, and my Clif Bar Jersey inspired quite a few training and racing nutrition questions. It also got Timothy Carlson, the sport’s premier journalist and photographer, to come ask me a few questions, like why is my hair so big.