A New Arch Nemesis

In 2008 Matt Payne and I formed a friendly feud. Without even knowing each other we seemed to post nearly the exact same times in every race. That year I only got the best of Matt once at Mankato sprint. What isn't posted in the results is that Matt raced a Half IM the weekend prior. I'll take my single victory regardless. Since then Matt has been improving even faster than myself and has gone on to be one of the premier triathletes in the state if not country. Now I have found a new nice guy to hate.

Todd Landgraff has been dinking around in triathlons for a few years but has never taken them too seriously... until now. Todd's times while always fast but were nothing spectacular except for his run. Come to find out this speedy runner used to run for the U of M. This year Todd has gotten serious in a big way. Wisconsin Ironman is his motivation and there is no doubt that Todd is possibly the most improved athlete in the state this year. At Liberty Half in June I bested Todd by nearly five minutes (before a penalty). Yesterday was a different story.

I started the day with a later than normal wake up and ended up getting to the race a good 30 mins than I would normally like. Since it was a half I wasn't concerned since most of the warming up is done on the course. The water was posted at 76 deg however it was more like 83. This pissed me off a little because I had brought my sleeveless wet suit in case the water was warm. I wore my full sleeve because of the information and posted on the swim. Luckily I didn't push it too hard and was able to recover on the bike in the first 15 miles. I moved my seat post up a mm to see if that could help me run better off the bike. It didn't hurt me too bad but I'm going to move it back down. The bike felt good but was much longer and hillier than I heard it was. Apparently they changed the course and therefore making it a legit half IM.

I came off the bike in 4th and soon got passed by the Pro Justin Henkel who must have had something go wrong in the water as his swim was four minutes slower than mine. It was hot and I knew Todd was coming for me. I was in fifth and the last money spot for the race is fifth. I won't lie, $250 is a great motivator but I didn't want to blow up like I did at Square Lake last year against Rhett Bonner. There was a loop at the turn around for the course that was about 3/4 of a mile around. I just caught a glimpse of someone who looked to be at nearly a dead sprint going into the loop as I was coming out. I knew in the back of my head that it was probably Todd but all I could do was worry about me at this point. I kept checking my rear on the way back and never saw Todd. With about a half mile left a checked for the last time and didn't see him and thought I was good to go. Then it happened.

All of a sudden With about a quarter mile left I heard someone coming up hard from behind. When I turned Todd passed me like I was going backwards. As he passed I let out a friendly"you bastard." I tried to kick with him but could only hang on for about 150 yards. Todd kept the jets on and ended up gapping me by over 22 seconds in the last 250 yards of the race.

At the finish we congratulated each other and went down to the lake for a cool down. Todd is ultra nice and he said he was sorry for taking the $250 from me. My response was. "Why? That is what racing is all about." I would do it to him and I expect him to do it to me. There is no hard feelings and I'm not happy he passed me but not mad at anyone who finishes ahead of me. What I am concerned about is that Todd is in my age division and we are both going to be fighting for a spot to Kona at Wisconsin IM. I hoping that we both can get a slot and the way we both have been racing that is entirely possible. However, as much as I like Todd I want that slot. I just pray I can stay ahead of him at Madison.

Chisago or Bust

This will be my second Half IM this year and will also be another great test for where I'm at in my Ironman training. Liberty may have been my best race so far in my eyes. Buffalo and Minnetonka were great but punching out a 1:28 half marathon after a good bike and swim was very nice. It was by far my best run of the year and I'm hoping to improve on that Sunday.

Chisago does pay out to fifth place and I'm hoping to grab some more loot. Kelly is all over using the prize money for a crib for our bundle of joy coming in December. There are a few problems though. First is David Thompson. David will take first by a rather large margin as long as he doesn't flat out. Devon Palmer is signed up for the short course and I fear he will join the long distance race. Devon did race at Racine last weekend and I'm hoping he is still recovering. I believe we are similar on the bike and run but he will dominate me in the water. Next is Josh Riff. Josh is racing fantastic this year and took me by 4:30 at Liberty (before the penalty) but I feel like the gap may be closer this race. Matt Payne will also be there. Matt is also racing great but told me he has not been training for distance this year. For some reason I don't think that will make much of a difference. Matt is a beast and should do just fine. Hopefully no one else shows up that I am not aware of.

I'm hoping to have worked out the crimps from my last two races. I really believe that nutrition played the larger role in my lack luster performances at Waconia and Lifetime. I've been eating better the last couple of weeks and have actually put on a couple of pounds. I feel much better and my workouts are also improving because of it. My swimming really took off but I'm not 100% confident in it just yet. The run is what is looking the best right now. I'm putting down training times that are a little faster than my best workouts at the peek of last season. Hopefully that translates into a solid race and a little pocket money to go along with it.

If everyone I fear shows up and races there best I could take 5th. Although with Devon racing a half last weekend, Matt possible not at 100% long distance form and my improved nutrition plan anything is possible.

Am I Becoming a One Trick Poney?

This week I've been back pedaling a little trying to figure out why my run and swim seem to be going backwards even though my training times are getting faster. On Tuesday I had a revelation. Lately I have adjusted my diet to attempt to keep my weight down. Every now and again I get hit by the hunger beast and have an uncontrollable urge to stuff as much as I can in my pie hole. Tuesday night was such a night. After eating a less than satisfying dinner I hit up some ice cream. I finished what I would call a sample size serving (others would call it a meal) and made my way to the next tub and couldn't put it down. After that I ate a few other things to include a bowl of cereal, some peanuts and a few things I have since forgotten. Wednesday morning I went for my usual bike ride and felt awesome. In fact I felt awesome all day. I even had an awesome swim session. Last night the same. I was not as hungry but I did not hold back only to have one of the best sprint sessions this morning.

I'm hoping that this will help me get back into the form I was in at Buffalo, Liberty and Minnetonka. To be honest, as great of a race as I had at Minnetonka I was starting to feel fatigued and felt I could have run a faster race. Waconia and Lifetime though were both disappointments. Especially because they were my two races where I faced some of the best competition in Minnesota if not the country. Hopefully I can have a strong showing at Chisago, dominate Detroit lakes and place well at Wisconsin. All of which will be tough knowing that the competition will not be week at any of those races.

On Board!

Well, once again Lifetime lives up to it's reputation for being a tough race for me. The water temp was at 82 degrees which made it a non legal wet suit swim. This killed me right off the bat. I am not a very good swimmer and the wet suit helps me more than it does the swimmers. This caused me about a minute gap on the field. To go along with the lack of wet suit I just didn't swim like I was hoping to. Once out of the water I noticed that I had one of the last bikes left in transition. All I could do is hope that I wasn't far behind and pedal like hell. At about mile 5 I started passing guys who were just a bit slower than me. I did open up a gap but they seemed to be forming a pack and in what I could tell was a somewhat legal draft pack they caught up to me. I towed the pack till about mile 18 were it started to become a battle. Guys kept passing me and each other to try to break free, myself included. The course is narrow and is quite technical making it difficult to really be able to make a break for it. In the end I got off the bike with about 8 other guys. Most of whom should by me a beer for pulling the load for most of the way. I don't know if it helped or hurt my time as I felt impeded at points while other times the pack I'm sure helped me. As a consolation I did manage to take the fastest bike split from Patrick Parish by less than three seconds.

Once off the bike I once again never seemed to get a good rhythm. I think the heat played a huge factor and looking back I need to adjust my race nutrition plan as well as my day prior intake plan. I did chase down a few guys while a couple passed me. Overall I was satisfied with the performance more or less only because of the bike split. It did give me a second gut check in as many races. The good take away was I seem to have figured out my lack of power on the bike at Waconia only to have a lack luster run. I guess it's back to the drawing board.

Next race is going to be Chisago Half IM. I need to take away the lessons learned from the warm race conditions and implement a better nutrition plan. Chisago will be a great test to see where I am in the IM training plan. My bike and swim volume is right where I want them but I need to work on my run big time. I've started adding some more mileage the last few weeks so we'll see how that works out.

Not Lifetime Again!

Yes, I am determined to nail this course. However, this has eluded me know two out of three times. The third/first time it was my fourth ever triathlon and surviving the 95 deg heat was the goal that day. Now I am in a whole other caliber of field.

Last year I made a disastrous rookie mistake in moving my seat forward the night before the race. This caused me to have a bad bike split and wore out my hip flexors resulting in a terrible run. That was by far the worst race I have had to date and I did not get my seat positioned corrected until I took it to Jeremy Sartain after Waseca. The year prior to that I raced in the age groups and had a terrible swim and not so good run. Will this year be any different?

Waconia was a great race for me as I now know what I need to focus on. I also had a lesson with Duane Dobko who helped straighten out my stroke the best he could in one lesson. I have been shaving pretty significant times in the water since. I also have focused on my bike power since Waconia. All this while being able to increase my running mileage since my calf seems to be healed. Problem is, with all that said Lifetime just seems to have it out for me. Last year I believe if I had my best race I could I would have placed around 12th or 13th. This year I am hoping for top ten. Funny thing is it could go either way on that. At this point all I can do is show up and find out.

My prediction. Swim between 21:30 and 22:30. Bike around 58-59 and run around 37-38. If I can hit two of those three numbers and not be less than a minute off the other I will consider it a huge race for me.