Racing Scared

First, thanks to Dan Frost for being so kind and generous to get me to the air port.  I was essentially stranded due to an administrative error that had all of Team Air Force leaving on Sunday, as we do every year, while I had a Monday flight.

Every year I compete in the Armed Forces Championships at Pt. Mugu Naval Air Station just west of Malibu.  This year wasn't like the other years.  It was in early April rather than late May to as late as early August.  Normally I hit my peak in August and September.  This year, there would be absolutely no open water swimming and very little road time on the bike.  That's very disheartening considering how difficult it is to train around child care for what all my years of racing tells me is easily one of the most competitive races in the country.

I can honestly say that I did my very best to train.  My goal was to qualify for the Military World Games in Brazil.  I believed it was a reasonable possibility.  I also believed that I was barely able to get things lined up and having the speed/ability didn't guarantee a great performance.  I needed to hit a home run with my preparation and racing smartly.  Sometimes we miss a scheduled drink, supplement or whatever or perhaps just get to it later than planned.  I needed to do what I do best, which is to find a way to get the best my body is capable of on race day.  My fear was in the possibility that I'd fail to do that.  I was concerned that I'd have a terrible swim and have to ride on my own while others worked in packs to leave me further behind.  I feared my somewhat unfamiliar road bike and low mileage would leave me running out of gas early and force me to fight harder than I should to keep from having a completely miserable time and place.  That over-the-top bike effort would leave me shot for the run on a year where I'm not capable of my typical top five run time.  That could equate to running so slowly that on a race like this I'd be that guy out there so long after the others finished that it could be said that I didn't belong in that race.  My fear was essentially that I'd have a humiliating performance in a race that I've always given my best to and have always been a podium threat.

Here's how it all went down ...

I took some chances with my training, but was smart and paid close attention to how I was feeling as well as playing on things that have proven to be successful for me that others would not do.  I ate well, but not too much.  I slept A LOT leading up to the race because I knew I wouldn't sleep well the night before.  My race morning meal and hydration went as planned.  Even the usual stress of doing things last minute was ameliorated due to having everything done the night before.  I had my best wheels on for the first time ever on this course.  I even rehearsed my race strategy, hydration and supplementation to perfection.  I was good to go.

Standing on the beach in my wet suit (thanks Zoot), staring down the 54 degree ocean water, I had visions of a violent churning of water from the fists and feet and waves and water sweeping over me while I took in water as swimming turns into survival.  I've had two pretty bad swims in my life.  Both were because I just didn't feel like I could get enough air as the wet suit felt like it was squeezing my lungs empty and the subsequent struggle lead to me getting swam over and fighting for air.  Compared to what I was about to face, I would have loved to have a swim like that.

The waves pulled sand away to create a trough of water in the normally gradual increase of water depth.  So as we ran from the beach into the water, most wiped out as the ground disappeared beneath us.  We began to swim shortly as we ran into the higher level of sand that was only ankle deep.  The waves crashing over that were brutal and pulled us backward.  I stood up to run again and found myself bracing with both feet in the sand as I was pushed backward because I couldn't dig my feet/toes in deep enough to hold my place.  Fighting through it, I was soon swimming, but that didn't last long.  The crowd merged in on me.  I was punched for the first time ever in a race.  Then I was punched again and again and kicked.  I was swam over.  Someone grabbed a foot and pulled me back.  Someone grabbed the opposing shoulder and pulled me back.  I was pushed down and over and pulled again.  I respect these people enough I didn't fight back when I normally would and couldn't believe that something that was too much to be accidental was actually on purpose.  My place near the front felt like a death trap as I was quickly taking in water and my forward momentum was replaced with a struggle to get back to and stay at the surface.  I tried to signal for help, but got none.  In fact, it wasn't until the wave of roughly sixty athletes was almost completely ahead of me that I felt safe enough to try to race again.

It took me to nearly the end of the first lap to recover from my ordeal.  Pride was the only thing that kept me going as it felt like all the work and preparation was wasted on something that some very selfish and inconsiderate athletes took from me.  My troubles weren't over, but I no longer feared for my life.  I had some idiot swimming on my feet.  I'm all for taking advantage of any situation on the course as long as it's legal, safe and smart.  He wasn't just swimming on my feet, but he was pushing them down with a great amount of regularity.  With the feet and hips constantly dropping, this guy was slowing down the guy he wanted to draft to get a better swim time.  Again, I fought the urge to plant my size 10 in his face, but I was certainly pissed.

There was not a stated rule against turning the triangle swim into a square by swimming straight in and running on the beach the length of the leg perpendicular to shore.  We normally have buoys that we have to swim inside of, but they didn't put them there, so I took advantage.  As a result, I moved up from roughly 50th to perhaps 40th in my wave.  Having ran past the buoy on the beach and to the point I swam almost straight out to the first turn buoy, I avoided the few people that I was passing and save the difficult conditions of the ocean, lap two was much better.  In all, I had the 28th fastest men's swim time on a course that proved to be either too long, extremely difficult or a combination of both.  My swim time was 26:08!  The fastest swim time was 21:49 by an extremely fast swimmer who allegedly swims in the 17 minute range.  It is what it is though ... which was the most awful swim of my life.

Once out of water, I had a respectable transition, even if it was slow for me.  My left foot got stuck and it took some effort to get that duck foot out.  I think the fastest time was :50 with mine being :59.  Transitions are usually comparable for men and women, so I felt a bit better to see that there weren't any females under 1:07.

The race got a lot less interesting after the swim.  I worked hard, found a group, stuck with them for the first two of four laps.  I'm still very apprehensive about going around corners, which requires more effort to keep up on the many turns, but I was able to do it.  With the majority of the field not being skilled at drafting, turns were wide, so I tried to be at the front or back at every turn.  The first 90-degree turn on lap 3 was where I got dropped.  I had to pull a little extra long to avoid being on the side of the pace line when we turned.  That long pull, my weakness on the corner and the fact that I was the only USAF guy in the pack made that an excellent point for them to attack me.  Being what I sincerely believe is as much fortune as strong racing, I've been to more Military World Championships than any other current military member, so I suppose it was a smart move for them to attack.  I was alone for roughly a lap before getting swept up by another pack on the last lap, but I lost 2 minutes to the pack I was in.

My pack was unusually tentative approaching transition, so I blasted to the front as I would rather enter an empty transition area in the lead of a pack rather than trying to navigate around a pack in T2.  As a result, it actually affected the overall standings when all was said and done.  My T2 was good, but I took a little extra time to get a gel and some salt tablets.  Losing a few seconds in T2 for what would probably be a lot more on the run was worth the sacrifice ... even if I do love a great transition.  The few seconds came as we have to keep things in a little bin and there was no other good way for me to store things, so they were under my wet suit as were my shoes.

I had biked pretty hard out there, so my legs were tired and my conditioning heading into the race left me with more speed than strength.  It would require patience, but I ran controlled and slightly slower than I felt I could to recover in hopes of still having a pretty mean run time.  Several athletes from my pack got away from me as the first lap was a lesson in patience.  Lap two I felt better and gradually increased the pace for a half mile before settling into a pretty hard effort that was just faster than what I felt I could certainly do.  I was moving up then from what I counted as 29th starting the run (including those who passed me in the first half mile from my final bike pack).  When I got to the final turn, with a mile to go, I had about four or five athletes that were in range.  I wasn't wearing a watch, but I'm really confident that it was my fastest mile of the race.  

I caught all the athletes I figured were in reach, even the ones that were improbable.  One of which later told me that I edge him out regularly.  This guy was in my first bike pack, got dropped and finished with me, then ran away in the first four miles.  I caught him, blew by, then increased the pace early to try to prevent anyone from trying to come back.  I started early and had made all my passes with over a quarter to go, so I was just trying to send a message that I wasn't worth trying to catch.  This guy came storming back and we ended up with a mad sprint to the line.  I pulled it out and beat him by a second!  It's amazing how a race like this can come down to a sprint.  My run time was 35:28 for what I measured as 6 miles, but can allegedly be closer to 5.95 miles.  I know I'm supposed to stretch the truth or mislead people by posting the time and letting them think it was a 10K, but that why try to paint your eyes so you can see the race if I'm going to give a false impression?

My overall place for the Armed Forces Competition was 18th.  Team Canada was there to qualify their national team as well, so I think three of them finished in front of me.  Either way, I ran down 8 athletes and finished with a 1:59:14.  I was firmly in a scoring position for Team USAF.  We had a pretty fair margin over Team Navy as we won the team competition for the second year in a row.  The same was true for the women.  In addition, we had repeat overall champions from our team last year.  The men score eight of twelve while the women score four of six.  The USAF women had all six athletes finish top ten, but more importantly, they took the top four spots.  I've always said their team was so strong that they could compete with the other three branches (Navy and Coast Guard compete as Team Navy) combined.  With a perfect score, that was certainly evident.  The USAF men won 85 to 97.

Shout outs:  James Bales for finally getting to train and winning for the second year in a row with a pretty amazing performance.  My good friend Michael McCoy for finishing 9th a month before he retires!  He's ageless.  Coleen and Erin, who are sisters, finishing 2nd and 3rd overall for the women.  Erin was listed as the first alternate, but an injury to a primary got her into the big race and she didn't disappoint.  We now joke that she's the 7th best female triathlete in the USAF, but the 3rd best in the military.  I guess that means she's 3rd best in the USAF too :).  They're both really great people, so it's fun to watch them do so well.  I was also glad to see Rachel Beckmann return to a draft legal race that she loathes and have her usual dominant bike and run to storm back into it.  The top six men and women, or whomever the spots roll down to as athletes are available, will be competing in Brazil in July in the 2nd Military World Games Triathlon.

Only Fools Run: Mercury and Me

The Only Fools Run at Midnight is a run held on the weekend of April Fools Day.  It's a 3.5 mile run through the town going up one road and down the next, working our way over 6 streets like this before crossing the main road in town and heading to a finish line that's just a right turn and less than a quarter of a mile to the start line.  That same start line is about 400m from my house and the home stretch goes right past my house.

That makes it a must-do race.  On the other hand, with a 4-day 24-hour exercise at the base, my shifts and hours, along with my insomnia left me without any more than a nap where I was able to sleep for an hour over three days.  We'll just say I was really tired and skipping this race would not have bothered me at all.  Amanda and her sister were going to run it, with this being her sister's first fun run.  Her sister has a little boy that's just 3 months younger than Mercury who will be 1 year old on May 10th.  I was going to run with Mercury in the jogger if he was awake, but my tired state left me hoping he would stay asleep and I did everything I could to keep it that way.

Unfortunately or fortunately, still can't decide, he woke up 40 minutes before the race start and was wired.  Waking up isn't atypical, but wanting to do more than get something to eat is.  So, we fed him and got him dressed up in his snow suit.  I finished getting him ready as Amanda and Kristi (her sister) jogged to the start.  I didn't care if I was late as I can't imagine being a minute late would make a difference when trying to navigate through a crowd with a jogger and certainly didn't think I'd be able to get on the start line.  

Long story short, I was running up toward the start line thinking I was about a minute late, but it was the wheel chair that I missed.  I was only able to tell because a police car leads the race with it's lights on, which is pretty cool at night.  I won the race once and got to see it's coolness for the whole race ... even if it was short as the cop accidentally lead us all on a course that was about 3/4 mile short.  Anyway, because it was dark, I couldn't see that the entire crowd was still standing in the road until I was about a half block away.  I don't know if it was habit/routine or wishful thinking, but I ran on the side walk all the way to the front and jumped on the start line.  

My last minute arrival made for a seamless warm-up to race start as we got going just a few seconds after I arrived and too quickly for anyone to complain about a stroller being at the front of the crowd.  Normally I try to pace myself perfectly, but this is more fun run than it is race, so the kids and less experienced crowd make this one of the fastest starting races in Eastern Washington.  I blasted out of there in hopes of not being swallowed up in the crowd of eager runners preparing themselves for an early blow-up.  Hanging on the right side of the road and calling out "stroller on your right" rather often kept me out of trouble, even though I was very close to clipping a couple runners darting back and forth.

After about a quarter mile, the crowd thinned out and I was able to navigate well enough.  Passing people while pushing a stroller is fun for me, but not for them.  Soon I was settled into my race pace of 6:00/mile.  Not great, but it was better considering it was with a jogger and being as tired as I was, it was as fast as I was willing to go.  Soon that lack of sleep caught up to me and my gut felt awful, but I was closing in on the lead group of four.  After I caught up to them, they picked it up so I wouldn't pass, but they weren't pulling away either.  My whole body felt heavy and uncomfortable, but I knew that if I could stomach the discomfort that I'd be able to close this thing out at a much faster pace over the final half mile ... no matter how unpleasant it was.

Of course, the best laid plans of mice and men ... so they say ... are laid to waste when you hear a familiar sound closing in on you in the middle of the night.  About 1.5 miles in, I hear the distinct stride of Evan Sims, whom is nice enough to train with me from time to time, despite being significantly faster.  So I turn my head a little so my voice is heard better, even though I don't look back, "Is that you Evan?"  Not a word, but with relative ease, the runner moves up along side me and it is indeed Evan.  He apparently started over a minute late, worked his way through the crowd and then ran the lead pack down like an uncaged beast!  He tried to chat with me, but even if I felt better (had some sleep) I didn't have the breath.  So I did my best to chat for a bit while trying to encourage him to run them down in hopes I could chat at the finish line.  Soon enough, he moved ahead, quickly caught the lead four, blew them up and drug one to the three mile mark before dropping a wicked half mile on the dude to leave him wondering what just happened.  He was Evanated!  That's what happened!

As for me, I backed off to a still very uncomfortable 6:20-something pace.  I got passed by one guy, but passed one of the original leaders.  I had to close with a hard charge to get my pace back down to 6:15 at the end.  I haven't been running with the little guy because of the cold weather.  That made racing with him for the first time pretty tough.  Still, I think I enjoyed it and would like to make this a tradition of sorts.  It would have been fun to win, but we still had a great time.  He was ready to go back to bed though.  So was I.  It was a bit foolish to sacrifice sleep when I had the opportunity in the middle of the night.  I've been running at night for years though.  I suppose that's why they say only fools run at midnight.

It's Been a While

I don't know how long it's been since I posted.  I could have looked, but got straight to writing again.  It seems that I'm in a perpetual cycle of injury, recovery, try to get into shape and get injured again.  Sometimes life is like that for some people.  I must be some people.

Since the last update, I ran the Spokane Half Marathon.  I didn't have a fantastic race, but I paced myself really well and finished with a decent time of 1:22:39, which is roughly 6:18 per mile.  Not knowing what I was capable of made it more satisfying to have run roughly the same pace from start to finish ... slowing a touch at the end.  Somehow, despite being able to see the leaders for several miles, I think there was a very odd wrong turn somewhere.  I was expecting to see a 1:15 or so based upon the times leading up to the point I couldn't see them, but that didn't change the outcome of the race order ... just times.

I worked hard to get ready for the Columbia River Classic 10 mile.  My goal was to run sub 6 pace, but I really didn't think I could do it.  I worked hard, but had a lot of issues to work though.  When race day came, my goal was to just lock onto a 5:55 to 5:57 and watch the times like a hawk.  I didn't want to go too fast and I didn't want to go too slow either.  Mile after mile I was holding sub 6.  I had the 5:57 because GPS and courses sometimes end up adding time from a hill or faulty reading at some point.  The 2+ seconds was my buffer.  A couple miles were just a hair under 6, so the plan barely worked.  At the turnaround, which is around 6 or so miles because of a loop at the start, I was feeling a bit better than expected, so I decided to give chase to the two guys ahead of me.  The pace dropped to around 5:50 for a couple miles, then I pushed even faster for the final two miles.  They paced themselves similarly and actually pulled away despite my attempt to run them down, which they could not see.  In the end, I managed an official 59:37, but the course was a touch long as usual.  I think I saw something like a 59:17 or 59:18 at 10 miles.  Either way, I met my goal that I didn't think I could make.

Since then, it's been  a struggle to find a balance in my schedule and time that I can train.  Watching my little boy is fun and challenging.  It can be so demanding at times that I wonder how any parent of a little one can ever stay in great shape.  I'm not in terrible shape, but I am certainly not out there at the race every weekend.  I'd rather sleep in and start my day later to recover a bit more.  A bad case of insomnia doesn't help either.

So I have been living through others.  It's been fun to see how freaking fast Evan Sims has gotten.  1:08:25 for a half marathon!  I used to beat that guy.  The times were a lot slower and I have never been in shape to run anything faster than a high 1:13.  Anyway, it's amazing.  Then this last weekend, I saw Josh Hadway ran a 24:48 for 5 miles!  That's as impressive as it is intimidating.  He's a triathlete and runs sub 5 pace for 5 miles?  I need to find a new sport.

I've been putting in some serious time to get ready for the Armed Forces Championship though.  It's a draft legal race, so my focus is on what will be best for me in that competition.  It's the swim and run.  We'll see what kind of magic I can find this time.  Every four years is the Military World Games.  This year it's in Brazil.  I'd love to go, but I have to qualify against a bunch of other people who would also love to go.  Not good odds  if you ask me, but I will give it my best and see what that gets me.  After that race, should I fail to qualify for Brazil, then who knows what I will work on.  I'm low on motivation and perhaps am at a stage where staying healthy and fit will replace trying to win races and set records.

As long as I'm not terribly out of sorts, I'll actually update this a bit more often.  I'll probably end up making all the pictures about Mercury.  He's more important than racing anyway.  Eventually, he'll be doing them with me in the stroller, but it needs to warm up a bit before I do that to the little guy.

Kiwanis

Kiwanis is a sprint triathlon with a pretty good sized turnout here in the small town of Medical Lake. It's a race that feels like it was thrown together despite being around for years. It has everything you need for a race save the clear cut rules and instructions and accurate posted leg lengths. On occasion, I get asked why I do this "beginner's race" that is annoyingly named a mini triathlon.

1. It's 1200m by water from my house to the swim start or 1.08M on the trail. If you've never had the pleasure of living on a lake with three triathlons, then just know it's great to wake up in my own bed and be at the race as well. The only thing better is Trailblazer, which starts at the park 50' away. There's no packing or travel. If I forget something, I can go home and get it. It's low stress with little time investment and I love it.

2. Yes, it has a lot of new triathletes, but any time I'm in a race, I can crank it up regardless of how close or far the competition is. If I want to guarantee being pushed to the limit, I can travel to some other race on any other week. On the other hand, this race has had some great athletes toe the line. Roger Thompson and I were both chasing the old course record, missing it as a result of mysterious time being added to my time and a longer swim course for him and missing the record by seconds. Ben Greenfield has recently raced here too. There are more, but I don't know the stats and history of this race that well.

3. Racing a course that I train and race on all the time gives an easily comparable result. Other than the swim, which can be 500m or 200m depending on the year and how well or poorly they eyeball the mark, the bike can be compared with simple math because it starts 1.08M down the road from my usual start, which is basically the same as Trailblazer. The run is one lap minus .06M vs. minus .02M for Trailblazer or 2.86 and 2.90M respectively. I like data and knowing how my training and racing is going, so this is a course for me.

As for the race itself, I woke up on race morning and enjoyed being able to pack my things and head on down to the race well after most who stressed over their packing list, loaded up the car, double checked and were driving for a while. Part of the race is knowing transition and few understand or appreciate transition like I do. A little contention over one elite triathlete in Trailblazer made that clear. I'm all for competing head-to-head, but part of the race is strategy and investment. Show up late and get a bad spot ... too bad. I'm not going to give up my course strategies, tell you where to start, how to pick lines, tricky spots on the course, things to watch out for, give you my equipment if it's better, etc. So forgive me for being competitive in a competition people, but it's all part of the race, which is why I try to crush people in transition rather than wait for them so we are competing head-to-head in the swim, bike and run only. When I show up late, which has often happened for a variety of reasons, but most often because of military duties, I suck it up and take whatever spot is available and will do my best to make up for it with a great strategy. That's part of the race, like it or not.

At Kiwanis, I showed up and many racks were full, but luckily for me, I got on what I felt was the best rack, but just a couple spots down from where I would have set up had I been there earlier. The others preferred the other racks I guess. Other than the usual prerace stuff, I got into my Piel wetsuit and did my warm-up, then headed up to ask the race director whether we were swimming clockwise or counter-clockwise (the usual). He said counter-clockwise, then went on gushing about me and following me and my course record of 34:14. What?! 34:14 for a 10 mile bike and 2.86 mile run, two transitions and a variable swim? After the race we debated it a bit, which has always been fruitless as this guy is always certain he's right. This time I was successful though. I said that no triathlete in the world could do that. Even my best TT bike and fastest lap around the lake without transitions or a swim would be well over 34:14 (roughly 39 minutes give or take). He then realized he must have been mistaken and must have transposed the numbers. It should have been 43:14, which is a bit faster than I recall, but it's at least reasonable. I'm thinking it was a high 43 to a low 44.

Anyway, I did another short swim to get warmed up, looked at my watch when I got close enough to touch and it was 9:56:38 and we start at 10. I heard something about Bergquist back on the beach that I couldn't hear well with water in my ears. Apparently he was still talking about me and joking about me giving others a chance. He must not be aware that I'm a LOT slower and still trying to get back INTO shape. Some people just don't believe that, but getting whooped nearly every time I race is a pretty good indication that I'm not 2008 Michael Bergquist. I'm the downgraded 2010 version. Then I heard a countdown start! Yikes! I never heard where we were supposed to start, how deep, shore or whatever. Some were near me and others were closer to shore, while some were on shore. I worked my way back for about 5 seconds, then stopped, prepared my watch and started it 2 seconds early and waited for the go!

I was crashing into the waves of the unusual northern wind, but I like short fast races. Not many had wet suits as it's usually so short that the time it takes to get it off gives them a slower net time than wearing one. The wetsuit gave me just enough speed to stay out front and breaking the waves with Warden on my toes (never touched them though). My only concern is hitting that turn in or near the front to avoid the absolute chaos that must ensue with a couple hundred people making a 180 degree turn 100m into a swim! I hit that turn and cranked it up on the way home. I exited first by quite a bit and began trying desperately to get my split. It was 3:04, but I didn't get it split until 3:08! Not bad for a 400 yard swim (accuracy?). The swim is the only thing that isn't consistent about this race, so I see it as a way for my intelligent approach to get me on the bike with a bit of a lead. The Piel wetsuit has breakaway zippers that go down to the ankles. Just pull to pop the zipper and peel it away like an NBA warm-up suit. I could have it off before I touched dry sand, but running with it on is faster than trying to carry it, so I waited until I got near my bike.

I hammered it up the hill and followed the route I did three or four times before the race to make sure I had the best lines and went straight to my bike. I dropped the wetsuit off right after arrival, threw on the helmet without glasses and was running out of T1 as the next person entered. It was like lightening! Too bad that wet suit is a terrible fit and not good for anything other than a sprint tri, but it's perfect for this race! T1 was 1:10.52, but I count that from the water's edge to the turn onto Salnave/Hwy 902 at the exit to the parking lot. This way I can compare my bike split to Trailblazer and my rides from home without the mess of climbing that hill and it's awkwardly short distance, etc.

I've been working hard at improving and was looking for something better than my 23.55 MPH average in Trailblazer. It's shorter at 10.05M vs. 12.17M, but that means less time for working out the time loss from starting and stopping and makes the harder parts of the course a greater slowing percentage of the race. In all, I'd consider whichever had a faster average a better ride as the beginning and end of Trailblazer are relatively flat and fast. My time to and from Clear Lake Rd. always varies a bit due to wind and how well I start, but the time around the lake is my real gauge. My best lap (around Clear Lake) was 17:50 during Kiwanis 2008 when I set the Kiwanis course record with the short swim, which was disappointing as I would have beaten the old record anyhow. The 17:50 was my best time around the lake for any TT or race. On this day, I made it around in about 18:40 or 18:50. I can't recall exactly, but I was still in front with only one person in sight about a minut back. It pays to know a course so well that you can catch a glimpse of a rider in the distance behind and know about how far it is! After the lap, I dropped the effort a bit and tried to recover a bit for the run. I thougt there was a team there with a good runner, so I wanted to make sure I had my best overall performance vs. trying to gap the #2 guy by enough that he ran for #2 instead of #1. My bike leg was 24:47 for 10.05M (24.33 MPH). Knowing that sub 25:00 would be my best pace of the year, I felt pleased that I'm making good progress and was substantially faster than my Trailblazer ride.

T2 was fairly flawless, but in an unorganized race without clear rules on where to go, I did what I have always done and entered the wide open, unmarked transition area the way I left it ... for years now. As I was off my bike and running at about 15 MPH toward my T2 spot and about to step on the grass, I heard someone say that I had to go through the trail entrance to my left. A quick look revealed that a crowd of about 2 or 3 deep was scattered about across the path and everywhere; moreover, it was a bit late for an added bit of organization from a random voice in the crowd. I just kept going. I racked my bike, dropped the helmet, threw on the shoes, synched them, grabbed my belt and was on my way in just 32.10 seconds from the top of the park driveway. I don't know how it compares to other years, but it didn't matter as I was on my way and the run was going to be the one way to seal the deal. I looked to my right as I was about to turn left out of Waterfront Park to see if there were any bikers coming. Nope, I was in the clear for the moment. A spectator told me a moment later that he saw the next biker coming in and I did a rough, but slightly generous estimate that I had about a minute lead.

The trail has 5 different markers from faded old stars to newer quarter mile markings. I also have points that I run past regularly and can gauge my performance on splits in various different places. It seems I settled into a 6:08 pace during the first mile. I kept it nice and steady and ran 1:32 for each quarter. When I got to the mile mark, I decided to crank it up. I was only able to drop to 6:00 pace for the next mile, but entering north park, I looked back and figured there was still at least a minute lead. I had no idea if someone was coming from back in third or fourth, so I pushed the pace even more and held on with my rubber legs to cross the line with a run time of 17:14.98, which is good for a 6:01.88 pace. It's not a fast course with all the constant grade changes (around 28!) on the final stretch, but I ran better than I did at the Trailblazer.

My finish time was 46:49.80. Oddly enough, I had a posted time of 46:15. Second place was some person I didn't know from a local club who posted a time of 48:50. Third place was 49:40. I'd guess that the time must have started about 35 seconds late, which wouldn't surprise me. It had started to rain lightly, which was great for the racers, but bad for the timing, which got jammed up paper swelling from the rain drops, which ruined many of the later racer's "official" finish times.

I'm pleased with my race as it shows a marked improvement over Trailblazer just about 5 weeks ago. Although the swim can't be compared, I rode .78 MPH faster and ran 12.6 seconds/mile faster. I always have a jump in improvement after a hard race effort like that, so I did a Trailblazer bike TT from my house (.04M longer at 12.21M) and hoped to ride a sub 30:00. To my surprise, I managed to break 29:00 with a 28:58.39 (25.29 MPH). It's my first time over 25 MPH since 2008 when I broke 26 MPH on this course. Maybe this training more than 50 miles/week on the bike has it's merrits. There's still a long time to go and a lot of ground to make up to get into better shape than I was before. At least I'm closing in.

Ted Finegold ... 21 July, 2010 RIP

I've always liked writing. It's a challenge to find the right words to tell a story in just the right way. I don't always get it right, which goes without saying. This time, I know I can't find the right words. I want to so badly, but how do you write about the sudden end to a life that seemed so strong. A couple days ago I found out Ted was sick and today I got the terrible news that Ted was gone. Being a father myself, I can't get past the thought of what it would be like for my little boy Mercury to grow up without me or my selfish thoughts of getting to watch him grow.

Wenatchee World

Many of you have probably heard of Ted or his wife, two great athletes and far better people. I first met the Finegolds in Wenatchee years ago during the first Apple Capital. Lynda outbiked me if I remember correctly, despite it being a breakthrough race for me. Yes, I was outsplit by a girl! A few years later they started the Wenatchee Marathon, half marathon and 10K event that Amanda and I travel to every year around our anniversary. The event was started to raise funds and awareness for cancer. In an unfortunate twist of fate, Ted was diagnosed the following year, but like so many others, I never knew. He and Lynda recently did Boise 70.3. I saw them shortly before that at the marathon. He was great enough that I always made it a point to tell him how much what he did was appreciated and how I looked forward to seeing him later at Apple Capital or at the subsequent marathon. It's one of just two events (Clear Lake Triathlon being the other) I have done every time it was contested, which says quite a lot given my propensity for the shorter races.

When I got the news that Ted was ill, I had decided that next year I was going to say thank you by doing something I haven't ever done, which is to really race a marathon. I always hold back in favor of faster recovery, less pain and better performances in events within a week or two of Wenatchee. Somehow I've managed to win five of six events while saving myself for a marathon two weeks later. Oddly enough, I was in my best marathon shape the one year I didn't win, but could have. I really don't know what all that means as so many memories swirl around in my mind. Perhaps the point is that something that really breaks my heart doesn't make any sense. All I'm left with is those reflections of a great person and the great memories I have as a result. I don't know how he would have felt about my gesture, or if it mattered any more than any other performance paid for to fund cancer research. Unfortunately, I will never know as the heartbreaking news came right on the heels of the announcement and my subsequent decision.

My plan for this post was to detail my next stage in my injury comeback. Instead, I find the e-mail that makes it all seem irrelevant and life sometimes unfair. I'm an extremely competitive guy, so writing about races can rub some people wrong and/or be easily misunderstood. It seems that the times I create the most friction are the times when I'm sticking up for others rather than my own best interests. To avoid any of that, I'll just say that my race was a hard fought win to end a long drought.

Should things not go awry between now and then, I'll be in Wenatchee next year, to "race" for the first time the marathon I've won five times. I don't know if I've every really raced in honor of, or to honor, someone else, but I will do it next year. I'm not sure what else to do or how to express my feelings. Perhaps next April you can join me in Wenatchee for the 10K, half marathon or the marathon. It's all for a good cause that can't have a more vivid reminder of what we're raising the funds for. Like so many others, I sure will miss that guy and my heart goes out to his family and friends.

Competition ...

Two weeks ago, for the first time in my life, I completed 100% of my training plan for a week. Either life would take time from training that I didn't make more time for or I talked my way out of training because of one excuse or another (too easy, filler training, injury worries, too difficult, doing something different, etc.). Many have been surprised to hear that from me, but it's true. What's more is that it wasn't just a transition or recovery week. This was a serious, kick-my-bootay training week that tested my physical and mental limits on a daily basis.

That week included roughly 4 times my weekly swim average, twice my bike average and more than double my weekly run miles. I had just taken another beating in a sprint triathlon, which is a distance I've twice placed second in nationals, being the first American in one of them. I still have plenty of injury rehab to do, but am far enough along that I don't need to continue with my weak training schedule. I was also fired up about some stupid crap that only adds to my desire to get back into shape. Virtually all of my injuries were accident related or some freak occurence rather than from pushing my body hard in training. In fact, outside of last year, it was only a shattered collar bone that took me out in about a decade or more of being injury free.

Last week, I had another good week of training. I met my bike and run goals, but missed out on one swim workout due to allergies and swimmer's ear related to more than 18K of lake swimming and nearly the same in the pool the previous week. Although it eats at me, I think I made the right choice. In these two weeks, I've been lucky to have had Evan Sims come out and do intervals with me twice. I can't even recall my last intervals, but suspect it was in February of '09 or sooner! Marathon John came out and ran with me twice at night. If not for him in these last couple weeks, I would have had lousy unmotivated runs that I might not have managed to complete. Josh Hadway came out and did a lake interval workout with me. 7 sets of 350m easy with 350m hard in a lake is not my idea of fun, so having someone not only there to do it with me, but make me give it my very best really helped. I hate to say it, but I got whooped and I'm sure it would have been that way (for now) without the heavy training week.

Now I'm on week 3 of 41 that leads me to the Armed Forces Championships. Should I stay committed, this will be the most consistent and intense training I've ever done for a significant amount more time than I've ever trained. It's always been laziness in the past that derails me. Right now though, I'm fired up and have something to prove to myself.

Speaking of Evan, he is fresh off a 31:41 10K in which he went out too hard and blew up. That's 5:06/mile for those of you keeping score at home. He was preparing for a half marathon and hoping to break 1:11, but was going out at a sub 1:10 pace. He stepped up big time and ran a certified half at 1:09:05, which GPS measured 13.16 miles. That's 5:16 per mile!

As for that other crap, I guess to each his own. Triathlon is also about comraderie for me. One local triathlete said she isn't going to "pay to have friends or people to train with." Unfortunately, with some of the athletes around here, that's what you have to do to be included in anything they do whether you've known them for years or not. Some will invite me to train with them when they come to town. I am one of very few to live in this training hot spot, so it's great to be included in the workouts when I have time. Others don't want out "outsider" triathletes to be seen among their ranks or something weird like that. So to those who choose to be that way, leave me out of your blogs, pictures, training and whatever else you wish. I need motivation people. Keep telling me how great you are so I can be inspired to start whoopin' all y'all like I used to. If you're beating me now and continue to do so, then good on 'ya for keeping it real.

Well, it's time for me to continue week 3 of 41. I guess if I put myself through hell enough times that when I drag you there on race day I'll be out of there and on my way while you're still trying to escape. Yes, I'm competitive like that.

Armed Forces, Post Falls and Trailblazer

So there I was, hunched over, exhausted, on the verge of collapse. I'd been there before. In fact, it's the 8th time. This is the annual scene at the Armed Forces Triathlon Championships at Pt. Mugu Naval Air Base in California. It's just 10 miles west of Malibu, which is near LA (for reference). As I always do, I gave everything I have to help in the team competition. As usual, they'd drag me off to the medical tent for my post race recovery as I was unable to make it there on my own.

This would match my worst performance ever, but frankly, I'm pleased. Just a couple months earlier, I was seriously contemplating giving up my spot to someone else. It just didn't seem I would be ready in time. Although my 24th place finish was my worst, I was still in a solid 9th place for the USAF, which won the men's team competition for the first time. The women always seem to win. I've often speculated that the USAF women were so dominant that it lead to the separation of combined team into men's and women's divisions to give other teams a shot at winning. We also had the top overall male and female: Dr. James Bales and Kathy Rakel the legend.

Watching the video of the race, it seemed that Army had it wrapped up with Navy in second. It would take a bunch of men coming in at one time to move up to second. We did one better and had so many come in at one time, myself included, that we moved into first. Although they only score the top 8 men per team, my place and those on the team behind me bumped other teams' athletes down into a lower scoring position (XC scoring).

The swim was brutal, but my usual fast T1 (tops in the race I think) helped me bridge a little gap and get with a group that had the fastest biker in the race. I was immediately dropped. What was perhaps the second best biker in the race in Kidd Poteet and another team mate came up and allowed me to get on their train and ride to a top 15 bike split. It felt like an all out time trial as coming out of the 21 90 degee turns left me with a gap to make up. I nearly let them go as it was so draining, but I stuck to it.

The run leg was terribly hard. My bike legs are so weak that it left me with nothing for the run. Still, this is a competition that matters. Other teams' athletes were encouraging me along and helping me when possible. It took half of the run to start loosening up a bit. I started my charge and was moving up a little, but not enough to catch my team mate for 8th on the team. It wouldn't have changed anything other than an individual stat, so it's all good.

There is no world championship this year, which is a relief as I would have missed the cut for the first time in five years. Next year is the Military World Games in Brazil. I competed in the first ever triathlon in the MWG in India in 2007. It was absolutely amazing and I would definitely like to qualify for this race. We have our championship on April 3rd, so my training has already begun. It's almost like my training start from April 1st to 4th was for next year. Every race is a training race and I certainly get worked over quite a bit.

Last week I raced in the Post Falls Duathlon for the first time in years. I trained through it, so my legs were shot. As I ran in the lead group with 6:00 pace, I couldn't believe nobody was breaking away. In previous years, that would be slow. Once on the bike, I did OK until I started climbing. I held it together pretty well until I descended the other side. Fearful of crashing and uncomfortable on a bike that I rarely ride any more, I rode the breaks a lot and lost a lot of time and a good two or three places. I moved back up on the flats, but lost one more spot to a team on the return climb. No biggie. I rode the breaks a bit on the next descent, but that was because I didn't feel like going 50 MPH for the remote possibility of flatting = crashing = another long-term set back. I need to keep my wheels on the ground and keep my body safe until late July 2011. I don't want to crash after the MWG, but it's better if I do it after than before. Anyhow, when on the run, I did my best to negative split. I sucked it up and did just that. I came in third, but Royce Hogue (spelling?) was on a team and did all three legs for training and still beat me the day after racing a 10 mile run. Nice work there! I feel like I was 4th place. It was good training, so I'm OK with it.

Two days ago, I raced the Trailblazer. I love this race. It's close to home ... as it's basically at my home. I swim from my dock to the start line and the transition area is 50' from my property line. This would be a good test and gauge in many ways. First, Kalen Darling was racing. This dude can swim with the best triathletes in the world. I was hoping he would break 4 minutes. He did and was the first to do so in 27 years ... at least that's my belief as I don't have hard evidence in a race that doesn't keep splits for the 350m swim.

I also had a good racing friend in Josh Hadway coming. He's been working hard on the swim for a while now and has really stepped up his biking. His run is always strong, but he's coming off an injury. The bike leg is key though. I also had Greg Gallagher there. He stretched me out in the Iron Eagle swim, I gapped at the end, got passed on the bike, took over again in T2, then got passed for the final time on the run. He would be my gauge for the race. This one plays more to his strengths over me right now being a faster biker and runner vs. me being a faster swimmer and transitioner. The swim is a much smaller percentage, the bike is a larger percentage and the run is nearly the same.

Anyhow, Kalen lead all athletes in the swim with a few athletes coming out a good gap behind him. I was out in 5:00 to 5:02. It's easily my fastest time on the course this year. Josh beat me out, so good on him. Steve Anderson was right there in front of us too, which was cool to see ... in video. I blazed through T1 with my Piel for a :38 T1 and left in 3rd place behind Kalen and a team. Roger Thompson passed me at such an incredible rate at the beginning that it felt like he was sprinting to the finish line of a TT and I was still picking up speed. He rode a 26:40 by the way! Fastest time I've ever heard of was his 27:00. Josh went by me and I held on until the bottom of the hill a t Lakeland.

At that point, it was just me and a course I know so well. I worked hard using every bit of familiarity advantage I could while I tried to calculate just when Greg would pass me. Mathematically, if things were similar to the Iron Eagle, the pass would happen somewhere around mile 6.25 ... roughly the halfway point. It's a right hand turn, but with the trees, it's not a good spot to check to see how close the competition was. A couple miles later, I was listening to the cheers as I went through a picture point. It's funny how people who are your "friends" stop taking digital pictures the moment you and anyone else rolls through not wearing the same colors they are. I didn't hear any cheers right away, so I figured I had a decent gap, but still expected to get caught. Somehow, I made it back to T2 with a lead of around :50. My bike time of right around 31:00 was my fastest pace of the year at 23.55 MPH for 12.17M. My previous best pace was 23.01.

I made a bit of an error in T2 in racking my bike that cost me a couple seconds, but it didn't make a difference in the end. My :17 T2 let me start the run around :51 ahead of Greg and slightly ahead of Kalen whom I passed in T2. Kalen went blazing away as my legs felt like they've never run off the bike before and certainly didn't wan to. Every step was a physical challenge to try another and a mental challenge to avoid not trying another. As I turned into North Park at around .7 miles, I saw Greg was clearly closing the gap. I was going so slowly that I thought I should draw a line to see if I were still moving. Walking seemed like a better idea, but I kept plodding away. At the halfway point, I saw Kalen through the trees and knew he was far closer than he should have been! I gave chase and that was just enough to hold my 3rd place position. My run time was 18:07, which is well off my off-the-bike run best of 16:08! It's just 6:12 pace for the 2.92 miles.

In the end, Josh finished with a 50:57 after running around a 16:35. Look out when he gets his legs back. Kalen, who is in heavy training and working his bike legs back into shape, finished with a 54:33. I came in at 55:01, which was somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes behind last year's time when I swam with one arm, but hadn't gotten out of shape just yet (bike and run). This apple fell a long way from the tree. My bike and run really cost me, but I'm improving a lot and today was a good result. Greg came in at 50:17, so he made up a good :35 on the run, which might be slightly more than the Iron Eagle run. If not for my transition speed, I clearly would have been back in fourth. Knowing the course as well as a person can probably saved me a few seconds too.

Next up is probably some local run, then the Clear Lake Triathlon at the Clear Lake Military Resort here in Medical Lake. It's about as low cost as a triathlon can get. We will have a very accurate Olympic Distance race through Medical Lake, into the wheat fields of Cheney with the loop returning on Salnave to Clear Lake. The run will be a very scenic one on a course I train on regularly.