Not a Gimme

Jerry Macneil has posted on Tri MN news that I am supposed to win on Saturday at Detroit Lakes. Brent Sinn is supposed to be the one to give me the most trouble, but I don't know if Jerry knows how much trouble Brent has given me in the past. Last year I was hoping to win at Mankato until I showed up to the race only to see Curt Wood. at that point I was hoping to take home second. Unfortunately I was in second nearing the end of the bike leg when there was no one directing me to take a left at a corner. A police officer was holding traffic so as I passed through the intersection he told me left. I don't know how much time it took to stop and turn around and get back up to speed but Brent and Mark Carey ended up taking second and third by about 30 seconds. At worst it would have made for a very exciting last quarter mile, something I know all too much about this year. At best I edge both of them out. A few weeks later I again over trained for Lifetime and ended up second overall in the age divisions with a 2:08. Brent came in a minute ahead of me. Yes I did beat Brent this year but as Jerry said neither of us had our best races. Earlier this year Josh Blankenheim beat me in a sprint to the finish at Minnetonka. Josh is a guy I have consistently beat in the past with time to spare. This just shows that nothing is for sure in any sport, especially this one. I may win this weekend but Brent will definitely make me earn it.

Training for Detroit Lakes

After the learning at Lifetime the Waseca triathlon was just what the doctor ordered for my confidence. I seem to have regained that extra gear was missing on the bike. Last night I went over to Jeremy Sartain's house for a custom bike fit. I have not had a good one yet for my new P3C. I have been fooling with the seat position to try to find more power. After Lifetime I knew where it wasn't supposed to be and moved the seat back. As suspected I actually had it dialed in about perfect. Jeremy just raised the seat a couple of millimeters and it was like a light went off and said there it is.
Besides the bike I seem to be improving at both the run and swim. Jeremy gave me some tips on better swim training and I have shaved about ten seconds off my 200 meter in the past month. That is a drastic improvement as it had taken me nearly a year to shave off the last five seconds.
This weekend is the Young Life Triathlon in Detroit Lakes. I'm hoping that this could be my first win but we'll have to wait and see. Every time I think this could be the one someone who is faster shows up and has a great day or I have a bad one. Unfortunately Kelly has plans to go out with her friends on Friday night and won't make the trip. She has been on her surgery rotation and pulling 80-90 hour weeks for the past month and a half. I don't force her to come to my tris and she needs some time to un wined. I will miss her cheering for me but my ever supportive mother will make the trip with me again. We'll see how the three hour car ride and sharing a hotel room will work this time. I think we both learned how to deal with each other better at Waseca and I am more mentally prepared for a long trip with her. The key is to keep relaxed which helps keep her relaxed. When I get frustrated if something goes wrong she tends to compound the issue with a thousand questions. I just hope it goes as good or better than Waseca.

Waseca Triathlon

I was a little sketchy going into the race on Sunday. I had no idea what to expect as this would hopefully be the first time I would finish anything longer than an Olympic distance. Not to mention how I had to take a step back and reevaluate my race preparation entirely after Lifetime.
Unfortunately one of friends had baby shower that morning and Kelly needed to get back on track with her surgery studying. Luckily my ever supportive mother made the trip down to cheer me on. I must admit she is a trooper. I think we all get frustrated with our parents but that is multiplied by ten for me the day before a race. Especially when I need to travel and spend the night in the same hotel room with them . My mother put up with my short fuse and was a crucial part in my outstanding performance. During every transition she would run to where I was at and tell me where I was compared to everyone else. She was so cute as she would cheer me on out of the water and off the bike and then run to catch up to me in transition. She was a key part of my success.
I knew Dan was the favorite and to catch him I would have to hope for some sort of miracle to happen. Instead of trying to keep up with him on the bike I decided to keep a steady pace but was careful not to hammer it and cash myself for the run. I knew this would put me in a good position to have a good run and hopefully catch who I thought was going to be Bret Lovass on the end of the bike or run course. What I didn't know was their was a wild card named Doug Davis who would eventually be a serious challenge.
Here's how it unfolded. Doug was a little ahead of Bret on the bike when Doug was chased by three dogs. When Bret came to get up the hill the three dogs were all in the middle of the road waiting for him. Instead of trying to blast through them and risk getting bit Bret turned around to notify a sheriff who was directing traffic at the last intersection. While on his way back I was passing him and he yelled something at me. I couldn't make out what he was saying so I figured he flatted out. Luckily the dogs were gone when I got up the hill.
I felt fantastic on the bike and know I could have put more into it but wanted to see how my legs were going to react to a near 9 mile run after the bike. The result was one of the best runs I've ever had. My mom yelled I was a light year behind Dan but second place was only about 2 minutes ahead. Sure two minutes sounds easy to her but that is not a small gap. Luckily I found my stride right away instead of a couple of miles in like I was planning. At mile 4 I saw Doug about 200 meters in front of me and I knew I had him, but he would not go without a fight. He noticed me at the halfway mark and did all he could to keep the gap but I caught him between mile five and six. When I came up on him he sounded gassed so instead of recharging my batteries and catching a draft I decided to pass. I hoped this would either cause him to drop or gas out trying to keep up. After I passed I could hear his footsteps and was waiting for them to drop back...but they didn't. They just kept hanging in there. They would fall back gradually but not nearly as fast as I was hoping. I started checking how far back he was with about a mile and a half left. Doug was still there about two hundred meters back. I had enough gas in the tank just in case he tried to make a move but I would rather not have to use it. In the end he didn't have enough to make the move and I finished feeling great and felt like I could have done another lap around the lake. Doug finished about 40 seconds behind me and was able to easily take third.
After the race I met Dan Cohen and Doug Davis who are both on the Gear West team. Dan is a monster and it was great to finally get a chance to shake his hand after a race. Doug is also an ultra nice guy and we ended up taking a cool down lap (4.4 mile cool down lap) around the lake. I told Doug he is one tough SOB for pushing me after I passed him. Doug said he wasn't going to give me second and certainly did that. I hope to race with Doug again and I will certainly know his name the next time he pops up on the participants list.

Uncharted Territory

This weekend is the Waseka 1/3rd Ironman. When I first saw this event I thought it would be a great opportunity to get my first win. It plays to my strengths of cycling and running and is longer than an Olympic but shorter than a Half. Unfortunately when the participants list came out Dan Cohen's name was the only other Elite on the list. Now Bret Lovaas has also entered along with a couple of other names I am not as familiar with. Bret is no joke but is more of a swim/cyclist specialist but can still put together a pretty good run. He is a serious threat but if I put together a good race I should be able to out split him on the bike and run. Dan on the hand by the numbers should be an even tougher challenge. He actually has faster bike and swim split and our run splits are very comparable. My swim however, has improved even more since Lifetime. I had a terrible swim there but had been putting together some very good splits in the pool. I have since changed my training again and have gotten even faster. I am hoping to come out of the water close to Dan and hoping he hits the bike too hard so I can catch him on the run. Bret will no doubt come out of the water first but I can hopefully catch him on the bike. He beat me at Minnetonka earlier this year on a short course but I was not far behind him and closed the distance on the run. I believe Bret and I will be very close to each other but I think I am going to have to hope for Dan to have a bad day for me to be able to catch him.
Then there is the doubt in the back of my mind from Lifetime. Am I burned out already? Did I push to hard to fast or not hard enough on the swim? What went wrong in the week leading up to the race? Not to mention the fact that I have never completed a race longer than an Olympic before. I was in the lead at the Square Lake Half last year only to be involved in a bike accident an was unable to finish. There is the potential that I could have another bad day and get smoked like I did Lifetime. The good news is I don't think this will happen. I have done a much better job of preparation for this race and feel like I won't burn out like I did a few weeks ago. Now all I can do is toe the line and wait for the horn to find out.

Training & Ironman Slot

Well it's back to training as usual. The hardest part for me right now is speculation as to what went wrong at Lifetime. I have a pretty good idea of what I think it was but the question always lingers in the back of my mind. What if it was something else? What if I peeked too early/ What if training for a Half Ironman while still staying in shape for a possible Ironman slot has made me slower? A lot of what ifs. I am however, trying to get my hands on a Wisconsin Ironman slot in the hopes of qualifying for Kona next year. Jeremy Sartain is doing his best to see what he can do but I've already been turned down by one company who has extra slots and time is running short. As for now I will have to treat it like I'm not going so I can focus on my last four races. All of which I may have a chance to win. I do however feel like I am back in good form. Last weekend I got in a nice 70 mile bike ride and readjusted my bike seat again and seemed to have gained more power. I also went on a roughly 18 mile run on Sunday and felt good enough on Monday to get a recovery bike ride in. I also continue to improve at a rather fast rate in the pool. Now I just need to transfer that to the race like I did at Waconia and Minnetonka.

Lack Luster Performance at Lifetime

I've had better races than Saturday, that's for sure. But I'm no way disappointed with a nearly two minute improvement over last year. However, I am wondering what went wrong. If I run as well I as I was hoping I should have come in about 11th at 2:02. Teammates Matt Payne and Patrick Parich did not disappoint with outstanding races and 7th and 8th place finishes.

I don't know exactly why I had an off day but I have an idea that it wasn't just one thing. It started with an unexpected wake up call at 4 am when my fiances alarm woke me up. God bless her heart she is doing her medical rotations and had been up for nearly two days straight on three hours of sleep and forgot to turn off her alarm. I have been there and don't blame her. When you are that tired your mind isn't right. I guess it was just fate for me not to do well from the begging. I also believe that I didn't fully recover from my 70 mile bike ride last Friday and 17 mile run last Saturday. I don't believe I carbed up enough or got enough fluids in me on Friday as well. The equation added up to a less than peak performance. During the race I made the mistake of staying behind the pack in the swim and trying to pick up the scraps. I was afraid I would get thrashed again like at Waconia and wanted to work into the swim. I ended up with a Dallas like swim instead of battling like I did at Waconia and ending up in front of the field. I guess the if I am going to have a bad race I would prefer it to be this one as I had tenth place to look forward to at best and would rather take 26th now than 2nd in a race I could win. The good part is there was a lot to learn from this race. I also screwed around with my seat Friday and moved it up a little. Result was I wore out my hip flexors and quads and ran like crap. I won't change what is working again the day before the race.

Next up is Waseca. It is the first year for this odd distance 1/3 Ironman race and should play to my strengths of cycling and running. The Brewhouse is going on the same day and will draw a lot of the big dogs so I may have a chance at my first victory. I will be sure to employ a lot of the learning points from this race.

Happy 4th!!!

The only thing that beats a three day weekend is a four day weekend. My company gave us Friday off so Kelly and I went down to her Aunt and Uncle's place for a family weekend just between Red Wing and Lake City. It is great down their and I love getting a little R&R in on their front porch. The extra day off came at the perfect time to fit my training schedule as well. Lifetime is next Saturday and that means I like to take the Sunday prior off. Instead of doing a long run on Saturday and a Long bike on Sunday I switched it up a little bit. Instead I did a long bike on Friday and had a long run on Saturday. I love running through Lake City and Saturday was no different. I ran so much that my calves are still a little soar. Other than that I had what I believe to be my best training week of the season so far. It couldn't have come at a better time either. Lifetime is a huge race and I have pegged it as my peak race this year. Last year I over trained and went into it a little fatigued and soar. This year it looks like I will be able to go into it at 100%.
Saturday night Kelly and I came back so we could watch the fireworks at Lake Cornelia in Edina. They usually have an incredible display and they did not disappoint this year. We went to bed at 11:30 which was way past my bedtime but it was worth it. There is something special about the fourth. It seems to bring everyone out of their house and allow us all to be 10 again.