Professional Triathlete
I just got in the mail today, my new ITU Uniform. Thanks to TYR for supplying the Uniform, and my former roommate, Tai Blechta, who runs a graphic design company, Taigraphx.com. They specialize in team uniforms, bike decals, logo design. They can even do sublimated designs on technical clothing. And the prices are pretty competitive. If you’re ever in need of some screening, or sublimating, check them out.
Here’s a quick photoshoot I did with my new Uni.
The past two days I did some easy open water swims. Monday’s swim was just to clear my mind, and it worked, about 1500m in I realized it was Brian Davis’ birthday, and was able to save myself the embarrassment of forgetting (like he did to me). Actually, come to think of it, Brian met up with me for a swim on my birthday and ended up not only forgetting, but was being such an ass that his wife, Marijana, took my side (about as rare as a spotted owl’s shadow). You know what? Now that I think about it, I wish I had forgotten because he didn’t deserve my birthday wishes! There was some other funny stuff that happened on that swim, but it falls into the category of crude things I’m not supposed to talk about. I’ll just say that putting on a wet suit in the middle of a lake is a lot easier than you may expect. Zipping the back is a little tricky, but completely doable.
I got my mom to row her shell along side me (painfully slow for her) and in that way I was able to track my swim with my Garmin, then plot it using Motionbased and Google maps. It’s easy to do, and pretty cool to check out. The whole swim was only 2k meters.
Today I did another swim, this time two miles, and I did it with Aaron Scheidies, the visually impaired athlete that I’m going to be racing with in October at the Dallas US Open Triathlon. Aaron is going to be the first Visually Impaired (VI) athlete to complete an Olympic distance race in under 2 hours, and I’m really proud that I’m going to be the guide to help him get there.
Swimming with a VI athlete is amazingly easy. We have a “tether”, which is actually just a bungee cord around both our waists, and we swim. I just have to be careful not to get in front of him (the tether gets in the way if we aren’t side by side), and when the tether gets tight, I have to remember that I’m supposed to be keeping my line, not following Aaron.
Aaron is a pretty interesting guy. He has 10% vision, and says he can mainly see shadows. He has an excellent memory, and is so good at getting around that when we met at Green Lake, he showed up on a bike. Not a tandem, no guide, he biked there himself, on the roads. He says he’ll hit things on sidewalks, but cars are big, and he just goes where they go. It’s risky, he admits, but it gives him freedom that he wouldn’t have if he depended on somebody else for transport. Go Aaron. I’m afraid riding my bike on the road with cars, and I can see. My hat’s off, Aaron has guts that I can only dream of.
Sorry guys, this post is not about the Danskin all-women Triathlon last weekend. (But congrats to the 3500 women who finished!!! You should be proud! Now keep up the good work and I’ll see you at some coed races next year!) The photos from Hy-Vee Triathlon (June 17th) are available online now. Brightroom’s dependable and quick turnaround could not be accomplished without the help of the athletes, who so diligently neglect to apply sun screen prior to body marking.
Looking back I realized that Hy-Vee may be the last race I ever do without a shirt. If somebody had come up to me at a dual meet in college and told me that my size 26 racing brief was too small for me to look professional, I would have laughed in their face. “Mark Spitz!” I would have retorted. Now, the International Triathlon Union has strict rules on race uniforms for Professional Triathletes, and even if I wanted to risk the chafing nightmare of an over-tight speedo, the rules say I must not show midriff and the hair on my chest is completely Taboo. A one piece “Farmer John” cut suit with a zipper in the back is now required for World Cup races. It’s okay though, I’m happy with it. It does look more professional. Just as long as we’re not required to wear khaki shorts and white polo shirts.
Friday I leave for Hamburg, and World Championships is on September 2nd. September 3rd my Pro/Elite License becomes effective, and September 9th I race in the Kedzierzyn Kozle ITU Triathlon Premium European Cup. I’m the only American entered.
I’ve been posting more regularly, but make sure you check back frequently from August 24th to September 12th, as I will be posting every time I can find internet access with a journal of experiences. I’ll even post more pictures (fully clothed).
Who steals a gel? – A crow! That’s who! Today I was at the track for a short workout. About half way through my warmup I decide to grab my bottle for a drink ( I always set down my bottle and a gel near the start line ), but as I jog up I see a crow (I’ll refer to him as Klepto the Crow) is sitting next to my bottle, and as he flies away I can see something surprisingly like a Raspberry Clif Shot Hanging from his beak.
“Screw Warmup” I thought and started sprinting after Klepto the Crow, who had landed near the middle of the next curve, but as I came close Klepto flew into a tree above me, still holding onto my gel. I looked quickly for something to throw, and just as I found a small stone, Klepto dropped the gel. It was on the other side of the fence, but only by inches. “Great,” I thought. “The last thing I need is to scrape myself up, or fall trying to climb over an 10ft fence.” So I jogged around, which, because the track only has one entrance at the opposite corner, was a bit more than a quarter mile detour. When I finally rounded the corner to grab my gel, there was Klepto the Crow again.
How did he know what delicious nectar was inside that foil packet? How many runners have fallen victim to Klepto the Crow’s hunger?
The last thing I wanted to do was allow Klepto the Crow to pick up the packet and drop it on the other side of the fence again, so I darted toward him. Frightened by my lightning fast attack, Klepto leaped skyward, leaving the Clif Shot behind. I raised my arms to declare victory, but as I did I saw that Klepto the Crow had left behind a nearly empty gel packet. The side of which had been sliced open by what appeared to have been a dagger.
My arms slumped back to my side. I felt like Klepto the Crow had stuck the dagger in my heart. I lost. The crow got his nectar. Next time I’m bringing a Double Espresso gel shot. That should be worth seeing.
Here is an email I received from USA Triathlon:
Dear athletes,
As if you aren’t already informed enough about the drug testing… I have more information from our Team USA doc, Dr. Hunt. Please read below:
I am sure you have already seen the article, but in case you have not, there was one today in Inside Triathlon about the ITU’s move to test all amateurs at the World’s.
Anyone with a TUE form will, in addition to submitting this to USADA, have to either email it to Leslie Buchanan at ITU at leslie.buchanan@triathlon.org or fax it to her at 1-604-904-9249. While the ITU did not mention that they would honor a TUE already granted by USADA, I would advise the athlete to also submit to USADA in case any there are any questions or problems with ITU.
I suspect that this fallout from the Eric Zabel admission of doping and the current controversey with the Cycling Worlds in Stuttgart. The German govt wanted to cancel the event for fear of a multitude of doping positives. Nevertheless, the ITU is going to have a BIG bill for all of the tests that they are proposing.
Call if you have any questions.
Andrew Hunt, MD
All Amateurs? That’s intense. Thing is, I really don’t suspect any of the amateurs I know of doing drugs. Just seems like a bunch of us are at the same level, wouldn’t someone on drugs be WAY better? Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
One question about all this. We see a ton of journalism on how awful drugs are, but there’s one thing I never really see addressed. How can somebody take performance enhancing substances, and feel even 1% of the sense of accomplishment that they would feel doing it without the drugs. Personally, I’d rather be 95th percentile of the sport, and Legit, than 99.9th percentile by cheating. It’s like playing Charades and mouthing the word to your partner when nobody’s looking. Sure he’ll guess “Bill Nye the Science Guy teaching about centripetal force” from a series of triangles and circles on the blackboard, but does that really make you feel good about winning? I’d like to see some of the sports psychology behind why these athletes do it.
Sport should be about seeing how good you can be with what you were given. It doesn’t really matter if you are the best in the World, the important thing (to me at least) is to find out.
Tuesday night I went for an open water swim with Brian Davis. We were going for 6 minute intervals, in which time we could either draft off each other, swim side by side, or try to make a gap on the other guy.
I tried on the first interval to make a gap and nearly killed myself. First I sat on Brian’s feet and tapped him to encourage him to wear himself out, then I threw in the overdrive, and came around. I got an arms-length, I took a breath to see open water, but as the adrenaline kicked in and I drove myself into a full on sprint a thundering bellowed from the depths of the lake – boom boom boom. King Triton must have been furious to see me out-swimming his mermen! The thunder grew louder – BOOM BOOM BOOM – and the cadence increased until the noise was the steady growl of an unseen predator. My next breath saw a shoulder in place of the open water, and white water was thrown into my gasping mouth. Brian’s legs were throwing a rooster-tail that rivals the hydroplanes, and a wake as big as a ferry’s.
We continued at full speed for another 30 seconds. I threw myself into the jet stream and threw myself forward until we both rolled onto our backs and gasped for air. “O…K…” I gasped. “t-two… more…”.
Today’s my last day of full-on intensity before taper. A tough bike workout and a tough swim. I’m going to tear it up.
(for now). I’m safely back in Seattle today. I flew home yesterday, after a pretty crazy weekend. After the Folsom Triathlon Loren’s family, and Ian’s family held a bbq to celebrate. By the time we had toasted to the three competitors I was pretty much ready to fall asleep. My legs wouldn’t cooperate, however, so I ended up walking around Paradise Cay (NE Tiburon) for a couple hours. It just so happened that Sunday night was the perfect night for the occasion too, because it was the peak of teh August meteor showers, and I saw some incredible shooting stars. If it’s truly good luck to wish on a shooting star, then I definitely filled my luck reserves. I’ve always said I don’t need luck, but it doesn’t hurt to bring it along in case.
My friend Christine gave me a ride to the airport yesterday morning, which was only mildly frightening (I’m not a big fan of riding in cars). The check in was easy, once again my custom bike case saved me $80. It seemed like the morning was going pretty well until I arrived in Seattle to find that Alaska had managed to lose my training wheels. What’s more annoying is the 30 minutes they make you wait when you call, first on hold, then while they look around the baggage area for your lost parcels. They found it, but what I’m wondering is why I had to call for them to go looking. Why wouldn’t they have just sent it to my home as soon as it arrived? Who knows how long they would have waited had I not called to check on the status.
This morning I went for what was probably the hardest track workout I’ve ever done. It only totaled a bit over 9k of fast running, but it was a real challenge to finish. It will make me stronger. In the end, I’m just stoked that three days after a race, without much sleep, and travelling on top of that, I was able to finish the workout without failure. Can I get a Booyah?
Stay tuned for an audio addition to one of my next blogs.
Ok, here’s a full on race report! 
Yesterday I drove up to Sacramento (Folsom, technically, but close), for an Olympic distance race. I’m now just 20 days away from Worlds, and I wanted to do a low pressure race as a tune up. It also served as a pretty good test ride for my new Blink time trial bike, and a marker for how much my swim workouts with Bob Placak have helped my swim fitness. Here are the results:
I’ll start with a lesson I learned Saturday: When your host says he may be getting sick, STAY AWAY! The illness may be minor, but the vitamin C he consumes can leave you fighting two toddlers tooth-n-nail to get to the HAZMAT suit first.
The elite wave of the race was pretty difficult to get into, you had to check a box on the registration form. Apparently most people didn’t realize this because when we lined up for the wetsuit swim at 7am, there were only three women and one other guy. Right after I made some joke about “this must be why the announcer has been talking up the 40 year old men so much” I heard a comment in the background about “I’ve just found out we have the 2007 National Champion out there in the line up..” Embarrassed I looked at the other guy, who I now know as Steve Sexton of Team Zoom and UC Berkeley, who said, “I take it that’s you?” I think the redness in my face answered his question. So much for being the dark horse.
We start the swim, but with only two guys there’s not much of a sprint off the line. No sprint, but Steve and I are both former Collegiate swimmers, so we pushed the pace a bit harder than I would had he not been close. As we rounded the first corner of the Triangular course I had gained just enough ground to justify continuing to swim ahead, rather than saving some energy and catching a draft. I exited in 17:38 and sprinted up to transition, where I had lucked out with the best bike rack position (there was no elite rack, but for some reason the rack next to the bike exit was nearly empty when I arrived.).
I headed out onto the bike course with a moped leading the way. As we rounded corners I noticed that the moped driver was scraping pegs and sliding on gravel trying to maintain gap between our bikes. I however slowed enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about crashing on gravel in a race that was intended to be fun. As I approached the half way point my legs were killing me. I thought I would blow up and at one point even wondered if I could finish the ride. On what appeared to be only a mild uphill I found myself riding in my lowest gear, out of the aero bars, and breathing like Thumper at a petting zoo. Later I talked to some other competitors who informed me that the false flat was truly a hill, and the head wind was probably what made it so hard, but until I turned around and forced the moped driver to open his throttle, I was sure it was a melt down.
I came into T2 57 minutes after I left, and booked it back out onto the run course. The 10k run was surprisingly similar to that of the Nationals course in Kansas City last year, with a winding bike path along the edge of a man-made lake. Unfortunately the volunteers at the start of the run were just as unclear about the course as I was and lead me to the left at the first fork. 15 seconds later I saw the finish shoot, and realized I had been had. Yelling unintelligible, Ned Flanders style, expletives, I darted back to the course and took the right fork. The trail had plenty of ups and downs, and twists, and turns, and at no point could you see more than about 10 seconds in front or behind, which made it feel like there was always somebody right there behind me. At the turnaround, I found out there was. Steve Sexton had closed about a minute on me in the first 5k, and looked ready to push for the rest of the gap. I smiled as he passed, said “good job” (or “gujhob” as it normally comes out), then gritted my teeth and slapped pavement for the next 17 minutes. I not only held off Steve, but I got back that minute.
My final time of 1:51:23 was 57 seconds better than the previous course record, and two and a half minutes ahead of the next competitor. After my standard ritual of sticking ice down my suit and cooling off in the lake, I talked to some newspaper reporters, found and apologized to the volunteers that had steered me in the wrong direction (just in case they had made sense of my gibberish), then made it back just in time for my chaperones, Loren Pokorny and Ian Charles, to find me as they crossed the finish line. Both Ian and Loren did well, though I’m sure a little less vitamin C would have ensured greater lung efficiency.
I’m late for a bbq with Ian Charles, so I’m going to keep this as a preview: I raced Folsom today, nobody knew me, which was fun because I was able to introduce myself with a new course record. Here are some pictures of my new bike (#1!) and me getting ready for a sweet 17:38 swim. Thank you to Bob Placak for improving my swim fitness the last month.
Expect a full race report by tomorrow. (and sign my guest book if you haven’t, I’m a sucker for your support)
Two weeks ago at the Vineman 70.3 I met the owner of Beyond Fabrication, a California based bike company that makes race wheels and some really nice carbon frames. We got along pretty well, and he agreed to let me ride a couple of his bikes. I just finished building my new Time Trial bike, a Blink Carbon:
For the past week I’ve been riding my new super light, super stiff Radius Carbon road bike, too.
This is like having a 3 birthdays in the same week. I love these bikes, they feel so much better to ride. After being on the road bike for about 100 miles I went back to my Guru for some intervals early in the week. It felt like picking up a lead weight, and the difference in stiffness is obvious. After being on a stiff bike, I could actually feel the bottom bracket bending side to side during my intervals. I’m so stoked for racing my Blink TT bike this weekend. The coolest thing about the ultra-aero frame is the internal cabling. All three cables go inside the frame, but unlike the B2 or the DA that use the same strategy, the cable housing goes in via the front of the head tube, so there’s no knee bumping, and the cockpit stays clean. The rear dérailleur cable goes through the top tube, pokes out around the seat post, then goes back inside the rear stay. Very cool.
Now the reason it’s like three birthdays, is because I also got 2 sets of Beyond’s race wheels.
The 50mm wheels will be my race wheels with the Radius for road racing and ITU circuit, draft legal triathlons, and the 85mm deeps are wind cheating machines for non-drafting races. Check out the grooves on the 85’s, which have been shown in wind tunnel testing to reduce negative effects of side winds, without affecting the frontal aerodynamics.
Only problem is, I’m a bit of an artist when it comes to gluing wheels. Loren’s garage is a wreck, there’s glue everywhere (the box was Loren’s idea after my first two loops ended up with his swim cap stuck to the ceiling and his allen wrench set permanently put away on the top of the work bench.
