Waconia Recap

I woke up a few minutes before my alarm on Sunday. Normally I can't sleep for crap, wake up at 4am and roll around until five and then just give up. This time was different though. Without the normal nerves I brushed my teeth and got everything ready, gave Kelly a kiss goodbye and made it to transition with plenty of time to spare.

The warm up was nothing special. I talked with my buddy Ross and said high to the usual suspects. I knew in order to grab 5th I would have to hope Kevin was out of shape. He told me he was but even if Kevin is out of shape it will still take a great race to beat him. I also noticed my freind Dana from work showed up. Dana is big into home movie production and was delivering a video of a play his daughter did to another parent and thought he would stop by to record the action this week with a better camera. Sweet!

The swim warm up was better than normal. I felt smooth and found my stroke right away. This rarely happens so I was hoping for a huge swim. As I got out of the water I looked around for Kelly and my mom but did not see them. I had seen my mother earlier but I had not got a glimpse of Kelly, Avery or my sister in law Jenny who also came out to see the race.

The Elite field seemed smaller than most years. Which is nice because then you don't have many 100 yard dash and crashers in the water. As the gun went off I got a good start and felt strong. I noticed I was staying with the pack swimmers and doing pretty well. Then all of a sudden I noticed that there weren't any bubbles in front of me anymore. When I picked up my head to sight I was at least 20-30 yards off course. Then I over corrected and went 20 yards to the inside of the course. I finally go my bearings straight and got back into it. I didn't panic but I definitely started to push a little harder to make up the lost time.

At about half way I finally felt comfortable and seemed to be swimming in a straighter line. On the back stretch I caught up with who I later found out was Tony Schiller. Just like Minnetonka I followed him out of the water. There was someone who had been on my heels for the last half of the swim. I was surprised to see it was Patrick Parish. Normally he has 20-30 seconds on me in the water. This meant either he was not doing well or I was doing great. I later found out that Patrick took it easy on the swim so he could hammer the bike.

I came out of T1 a little behind Patrick and thought I would stay with him for the bike. Patrick had a different idea and put the hammer down and quickly put distance between us. The bike felt much better than last year yet I didn't have as good of a split. I would chalk that up to how good of shape I was in at this point last year, while this year I'm still improving. About 14 miles in I came up on Sean Cooly and then Kevin Oconner. I've never been ahead of Kevin in a race. I must admit I felt a small sense of accomplishment and a little bit of hope that I could beat him if I could put enough time on him before T2.

I came into T2 with about a 20 second lead on Kevin. That quickly went down to 10 seconds as we left T2 and Kevin erased that within the first quarter mile. I kept up with him till a little after half mile in and then he seemed to just accelerate away. Kevin then proceeded to put a minute and a half on me by the end of the race.

In the back of my head I knew Brooks Gossinger would be coming for me though. At the turn around I seemed to have over a minute cushion. What I didn't know was Brooks was out splitting me by almost 30 seconds every mile. The math added up to a much closer finish than I hoped. I kept checking my rear and noticed Brooks with a little over a mile left. I tried to keep going hard but my legs just didn't seem to respond very much. With about a quarter mile left I had about 20 seconds on him. I knew I had to push hard as Brooks would give it all he had. I forced my legs to go as hard as they could go for the last 400 yards and came in 9 seconds in front of Brooks.

I am puzzled by my slow run splits. I haven't changed my taper routine and I'm running faster than ever in training. I'm hoping I just need to tweek my seat position a tad to save the legs. That or not kick so hard in the water. Whatever it is I would like to get back to my sub 6 min splits from 2009.

As usual I had a blast talking with people after the race. Every year I get to meet more and more people. Racing is becoming as much of a social event as it is a competition. Next up is Graniteman. I am really looking forward to this race. Bill Corcoran is the race director and does a great job.

The great news is Kelly and I have decided to add 3 races to my schedule. I was hoping to do the 1k, 100k, 10k Maple Grove tri. Unfortunately that is $175 and not in my budget. So I'm leaning toward Twin Cities Tri, Maple Grove Olympic and Square lake. Although nothing is set in stone yet and I may look into St. Croix Olympic, Graniteman Big Lake and Treadman.

Waconia Preview

This is the only race that I have done every year since I started triathlons. The first time I did it I was something like 90th overall. Since then I've been 13th, 8th, and 5th in 2009. I love the competition here and the course really plays to my strengths.

MN Tri News has posted that I should do well Sunday. I believe this to be true. I believe I am in near top shape and the only thing that is holding me back is a few tweaks to my form. The one wild card is I came down with a slight cold yesterday that I seem to be holding off pretty well. I should be at 100% Sunday as long as there are no setbacks.

Now the question is where do I fit in when I cross the finish line. Looking at the competitors I'm shooting for 6th. Although this is one of those races that I could do better or worse depending on how I race and how others race. That's typically true but usually there is a buffer zone. I don't see much of that on Sunday.

In order to move up I have to hope either someone flats or that Kevin O'conner is not at his best. This is a tall order as Kevin is always tough and even in decent shape he should still take me. On the flip side I will have to hold off Ross Weinzierl and Brooks Gossinger. Ross had success earlier in the season but has slumped a bit lately. I'm looking for him to have a comeback on Sunday. Brooks is a super fast runner, a great triathlete but more of a duathlete. I have come in ahead of him in previous years but he has been improving the lately and has had a couple of great duathlons earlier this year that lead me to believe he will be chasing me hard on the run.

This race will have three of the best triathletes in the country in it. Matt Payne, Patrick Parish and Dan Hedgecock are in another solar system and Alex Hooke is right in there with them. If I can somehow nab 5th I will be ecstatic. To be honest if I can make Kevin run me down and stay within a minute of him I will be stoked.

After Minnetonka last weekend I believe I have my bike dialed in. The only question is can I put together a good run off the bike and a good swim to set up the bike. If I can put together a good race I believe I can make a statement that I can hang with the big dogs.

Don't Panic!

Minnetonka is one if not my favorite races. It's fan friendly because it's close to home, short and a great venue. Unfortunately I had far less friends and family this year but it didn't make the experience any less fun.

I got there a touch earlier than usual because I was not able to pick up my packet on Friday evening. Having to wake up earlier did not help the fact that I got terrible sleep the night before due to the thunderstorm, my wife getting home 45 mins after I went to bed and a waking up at 3:30 to a fussy baby. Although crappy sleep the night before a race is more common than not and I have never felt like it effected my performance. Thus was the case again. Nerves always seem to overcome lack of sleep and keep you going.

Just like Gear West I happened to pick a spot next to my male pattern baldness rival Brett Lovaas when I racked my bike. Brett is a great guy and I have enjoyed getting to know him better the last couple of seasons. As we talked before the race he was telling me how he was fighting a muscle pull and his running was not up to par. This sparked a conversation with Heidi Keller Miller and how it seems like keeping from being injured is tougher than racing. I know the feeling as I was battling one injury or another all last season. Non were debilitating until after WI IM but they are a pain in the ass non the less.

As Ross was giving his pre race safety brief I saw my friend and coworker. He mentioned coming out to see it but I didn't know if he would show. Dana is my sanity at work and we have become great friends. It was great to see him there. Dana was like "man, this is intense". Wait till you race. It's intensity in ten cities.

Before you know it we were off to the swim start. I started warming up and felt pretty good but didn't feel like I found my form yet. As the horn blew I stayed to the outside the may lay of thrashing non swimmers that do the 100 yard dash and crash. The strategy worked as usual and I found myself near the front of the pack. I ended up drafting off of Tony Schiller for most of the swim and felt much better coming out of the water than usual.

My transitions have been historically a problem in this race. Saturday was different though. I had been practicing and since I came out of the water fresher I was able to zip through T1 in great time. I had a little trouble getting my first shoe on but not much of an issue. Tony passed me as I was slipping number two foot in and as soon as I got going I returned the pass.
I did notice the pace vehicle up ahead and thought "wow, I'm not that far back." At this point I was in third behind Tom Camp with Brett in the lead. Not long after I moved into 2nd it happened again.

As I came up to a right turn no one was giving clear directions where to go. They all looked like they were stopping traffic. Not to mention no one was blocking the road. It was partially my own dumb ass fault as I should know better. I ride this part of the course every weekend and have run this race for the past two years. But for some reason things were going so smooth and easy I thought I figured I had to go farther. I remember thinking "this can't be the turn already." On top of that as I went through the intersection, no one yelled that I was going the wrong way. If it wasn't for one guy who made a minor arm motion similar to the mellow tomahawk chop I would not have even known I was supposed to turn. Luckily it felt like I was going the wrong way so I started to slow down and looked back. No one at the intersection even seemed interested that I went the wrong way so I almost kept going. But the gut said turn around, so I slowly went up around the median and turned around. When I started going back I kept yelling, where am I going?" Still no one would give me any direction so I went back. As I got to the corner Tony Schiller was making the right so I knew I needed to make up some time.

I kept thinking "don't panic." Yet I knew I had to make up time so I hate pounded the pedals and passed Tony and Tom again. I wish just once someone would pass me twice so I could know what it feels like. They must be like "WTF happened to that guy?"

I started doing math in my head to see how far back I had to be at the turn in order to catch Brett on the run. As I started coming up to the turn around I noticed the pace vehicle hadn't even turned around yet. In fact I wasn't that far back. As Brett went around the turn around point I started roughly counting seconds in my head. I counted to 15 so I knew I was about 30 seconds back. Well within striking distance on the run if not even the bike.

After the turn around my panic feeling started to go away and I got back in the groove. I started closing the gap with Brett pretty fast and just before the left turn off Galpin I passed Brett for the lead. I figured I would have a stronger run than Brett but I wanted to push the bike hard just in case there I wasn't able to run well or there was someone like Sam A Janicki that I didn't know about in the mix.

When I got off the bike I knew I had about a minute to a minute and a half lead over Brett. As long as I didn't screw up T2 or bonk on the run I would be good. I made a safe dismount and had a fast, efficient T2. Now it was on to the run.

I never felt quite comfortable on the run but I knew that as long as I worked hard I could hold Brett and Tony off. At the turn around there was a good minute to minute and a half gap. Tony was closing the gap on Brett but I knew I could almost cruise to the finish. I'm not one to go easy even when things are in hand so I pushed through to the end and took my 5th ever win.

At the finish my buddy Dana was there to grab some photos and then my wife, daughter and mother joined him. I don't know why but I enjoyed this win as much as any win I've had. It was a slower time than I was hoping but I was ecstatic with being able to overcome missing the turn and more importantly that my bike power was back. My swim and run need a little work but I feel like there both form and not fitness issues.

Up next is Waconia and the competition is thick again this year. My only hope is that Kevin O'conner isn't in top shape and somehow I pull a miracle together to grab 5th. Otherwise I will have to hold off Brooks Gossinger and Ross Weinzierl for sixth. It will be a good battle and should prove to be a fun race.

Bike Power?

This Saturday is the Minnetonka Triathlon. This was my only win last year and I'm looking forward to another battle with Brett Lovaas. Brett had issues last year mounting his bike and with a rogue water bottle that may have made the difference in the outcome. While racing is racing and all of it counts I would rather have had an epic race to the finish line like I had with Josh Blankenheim the year before, rather than winning due to technical difficulties.

This will be my first triathlon of the year so I'm a bit nervous as usual. I have done a couple of road races and duathlons to tune things up a little. One thing that has concerned me is my lack of bike power. This could be attributed to two things. Lack of road riding and seat position. I moved my seat back last year for IM Wisconsin. Since then my power has gone downhill. Since the Apple Duathlon I've put quite a bit of time in finding a better seat position. Since I'm no expert I'm doing a lot of guess work. However I believe I have found a better position on both my training and racing bike. Do to increased avg mph on the road I believe I'm nearly dialed in.

The bonus is I've been swimming with a masters program since last fall and am seeing huge improvements in efficiency. Hopefully that will translate into faster swim times or at least more energy for the bike. Having said all that my running is what is really come a long way in the past few months. I've really found a good stride and am averaging around 5:50 one mile splits whine I do 6 x 1mile repeats on 1 min rest. That's the fastest I've ever been able to run that workout.
Transitions however, have made the difference for both Brett and me in the last two years. For me it was sloppy T1 and T2 and for Brett was mounting the bike last year. Being a sprint transition times make a huge difference in the outcome of the race. They must be fluid but fast. Easier said than done.

I am looking forward to my new daughter seeing her first tri and second race. I'm planning on mom coming as well and I usually have a few other friends and family check this one out as well. I just hope for a fun race and to gauge where I am at this point.

Apple Recap

I showed up on Saturday morning hoping for a 5th place finish. With Patrick P, Dan H, Brooks G, and Chad M on the registrant list that is the best I could hope for. As we all toed the line we all noticed that Patrick wasn't there. I thought... Super!! I'm one flat tire away from a little payday. I was lucky enough for this to actually happen to me last year at Buffalo when I went from a probable 4th to 2nd when Sam Janacki and Matt Payne flatted out.

As the race began I knew I just had to let the runners go. Kyle Serreyn and I quickly fell back as the lead pack gained on us with every stride. I stuck with Kyle for a bit but Kyle just seemed to have this long slow stride that kept putting distance between us. As we came into T1 Kyle had about 20 seconds on me.

Last week my transitions were sloppy at best so I was hoping for them to go a little more smoothly. I put on my helmet grabbed my bike and took off thinking boy that was quick. As I went to mount my bike I realized why it was so quick. I forgot to take off me shoes. I went to go back into transition but realized I would go back over the mat and screw up my time. I then looked around for an official and asked if I could go back in. No one could give me a definitive answer so I tossed my shoes back over the fence in the hopes that they would miraculously fall into my transition area. One shoe did but the other was just far enough away for me to think that I would get an abandonment penalty. So again, I asked if I could go back in at which time a gentleman (and I mean that literally) sad he had it and put my shoes in my spot. Crisis over...for now.

I also left my shoes clipped in this week unlike Gear West. My plan was to go up the hill and put my feet in towards the top and hammer down. Problem was I haven't practiced this at all this year and almost came to a complete stop getting my first shoe on. The second went on better but still not good. I have no idea how much time this all cost me but there's no way it would have made up for 3rd so no harm done.

I was puzzled last week at my week (for me) bike split. It's partly because I haven't been on the road much but my seat position just didn't feel right. I made what is typically the biggest party fowl imaginable. I adjusted my seat a few days before the race. I tested it on my trainer and it felt ok but I didn't get to ride it on the road so I was left guessing if it was dialed in. The ride felt much stronger but the seat is now a little high. I didn't run that well off the bike because of this but again not so much that it effected anything. I will have it dialed by Minnetonka.

On the bike I caught Kyle about 6 or 7 miles in and then caught Kevin Smith, a runner from Canada at about mile 9. Kyle was on a road bike with aero clipons. If he had a TT bike he would be stupid fast. He posted the 2nd fastest first and second runs behind Dan.

I knew I had a big lead for fourth off the bike so I felt comfortable. I just hoped that Kevin didn't have some sort of monster run split. Sure enough with about a mile left I noticed people cheering someone on behind me. I was guessing he was about a minute back. I didn't panic but kept going. Luckily I held on for fourth but 5th ended up going to Sean Cooley out of the age divisions. I only ended up with an 8 second cushion.

Sean introduced himself after the race. He is in his second year of tris and has been bit by the bug. Sean had a great bike split that was even faster than mine. There are so many up and comers it's hard to believe. I remember when it was just Matt, Patrick and myself a few years ago. Now it seems like there is a couple at every race.

The best part of the race was that my cheering section was one bigger than normal. As always mom was there with Kelly but the weather was good enough for my baby daughter Avery to make an appearance at the race. She was so excited she slept right threw it. I can't wait till she is waiting for me at the finish line cheering Daddy! Daddy Daddy!