Open Meadow- Open Minds

Thanks Columbian!

I am happy and flattered to have made it in the local paper yesterday (The Columbian). If you have time, please read.
http://www.columbian.com/news/2009/dec/14/hard-work-ethic-makes-monda-solid-triathlete/

Page 1 of the sports section, color photo!

damn right

And this to keep you company on the trainer (10.5 months away.....)

Ironman 70.3 World Championships- Clearwater

Well I finally had my "dream race". There is no better feeling than knowing that you gave absolutely 100% of every ounce of energy in your body....and having a result to show for it. Usually after a race I am sitting around wondering what I could have done to go faster. Or would think to myself "if this or that had not happened I would have gone :xx seconds faster". I can proudly say that I maxed myself out last saturday and went as fast as I could possibly go.
The numbers:
7th in the World in the 25-29 Age Group
1st American in my Age Group!!!
37th overall out of 1600

Swim- 30:12 (1:35/100m pace)- This was a 7second PR. I actually had a lot of trouble sighting buoys the first 2/3rds of this swim due to swimming directly into the sun. It appears everyone had this problem though as alot of my close competitors were a minute or so slower than normal. The swim was in the Harbor this year (vs. the Gulf as in previous years) due to rough stormy conditions all week. So it was a "time trial start" swim, with athletes walking across a timing mat one at a time to start the clock before jumping into the narrow harbor two at a time.

T1-2:44- transition was a little bit more of a run (to my advantage) since the swim exit was approx 400m away from transition area. I spotted a wetsuit stripper and pointed at her and said "Hey you! Strip me". LOL. She yanked it off and I got up and ran into transition area to grab my bag. When i got into the tent, I grabbed a volunteer by the arm and dumped my bag with my bike gear out and told the volunteer to stuff my wetsuit in the bag while I got my bib number, helmet and nutrition situated. I thanked him and jetted out to my bike.


Bike- 2:10:45 (25.7mph)- 12minute PR -Rocked it on the bike. Since my wave was the last of the day, I was doing nothing but passing people the whole time. I was keeping my wattage in check, and was just blitzing that flat course.... I was surprised at how clean the race was until somewhere after mile 40. ....a huge HUGE peloton of riders came and swallowed me up. It really pissed me off because I was busting out an incredible time trial performance for myself and I wanted the bike split to be all "my own". I tried to drop the group angrily several times but could not succeed, they just kept reeling me back in and the one lane we had designated for the race was way too narrow for all of us. I looked behind me and there was a line of riders 150 long, WOW. This is what everyone was talking about, I thought to myself. The road was so narrow and there were so many damn riders there was nowhere to go. It was actually quite dangerous. And it so bad that it actually slowed down my overall bike split!

BIKE SPLIT 1	25.2 mi. (59:33)	25.39 mph
BIKE SPLIT 2	17 mi. (37:53)	26.92 mph
BIKE SPLIT 3	13.8 mi. (33:19)	24.85 mph
TOTAL BIKE	56 mi. (2:10:45)	25.70 mph

About 4miles from the end of the bike I finally had worked my way to the front of the peloton and dropped them and rode into transtion SOLO.

T2-1:49- Spotted a "bike catcher" and yelled "hey! take my bike!!! thanks!!" and was off to the tent. A volunteer actually was able to "volunteer" this time for me and approached me helping me empty out my bag and put my helmet away as I put socks on my feet. Dashed out of the tent and high fived Mom, Aunt Linda and Cousin Charlie.

RUN- 1:21:50 (6:14pace) 3min PR
So, I started out moving pretty well the first half of the run. Although at mile 3 I had my usual cramps in my inner quads. I slowed down to 8:00min pace for a few minutes until the went away. The "crampy" feeling stayed in my legs the rest of the day though, they just didnt knot up again. I think some of the massive spikes in wattage from dealing with the peloton on the bike was the cause of this. I really had to "gut it out"on this run. The run course was quite challenging with the going up and down the Causeway
four times. The volunteers were great though with aid stations every few minutes it seemed. and the crowd support was amazing. I also just kept my nose to the Grindstone and just kept looking for more guys in my age group to pass up. That last mile, knowing that I was coming in well under the 4:10:00 mark, made it hard not to smile despite the pain that I was in from pushing my body to the limit.



I am really happy to have ended the season with a 4:07:22
I really really want to thank all my family and friends that have supported me and cheered me on at my races or just kept good thoughts about me from afar.

I gotta thank GU Energy for sticking with me for a second season in a row.

Big thanks to Athletes Lounge and all their employees for taking great care of my bike and any other triathlon related needs.

Summit Performance Coaching- I really gained a ton of confidence from being on this program. I really could not have done this without Coach Dave Ciaverella's guidance.

And thanks to all my other fellow triathletes and runners who have trained with me this year. You all know who you are, and you know how much I appreciate/respect you guys!











2010 will be going the full distance.....



PS- My bike split is dedicated to Molly Conroy!
Keep up the speedy recovery Molly!

Nathan Tempe Triathlon and some other stuff!

I haven't posted on here in a while. Mostly because I have been really super busy. A lot of changes in my life since July-ish.
1. I changed Coaches (Coach Ciav is only the second I have had. I was coached by Mark Kendall since 2005 when I was just trying to qualify for the boston marathon.)
2. Quit my job and started up my own Collection Agency with my old man and Uncle Terry- GrindStone Collection Strategies, Inc
3. Split up with my Wife and have been living alone with my dog and two cats since August (no sympathy needed here, this is something that needed to happen. It was a mutual agreement. It was an unhealthy living situation for both of us)
4. Started my first of two 2-year Terms on the Board of Directors at Open Meadow Alternative Schools (the high school program that I graduated from and helped me turn around my life)

With all this going on (especially #2 & #3) I have managed to continue to train hard and stay focused on peaking for Clearwater 70.3 World Championships next month.

Last week I had traveled down to the Phoenix area, where my dad and uncle and Corp office is located. I had the time of my life down there. It really is a nice area (especially this time of year). My Uncle Terry, Aunt Marilyn, and Pops were great hosts and we all had a great time together and got a lot of business taken care of as well. While I was down, I was talked into jumping into the Nathan Tempe Triathlon by local tri-babe, Anne Drier. She even got the owner of the Event Management company Red Rock Company (they put on Soma Tri as well as many others) Kimo Seymour to loan me HIS RACE BIKE. It was a 2008 Trek TTX, all black, with a bontrager tubular disc wheel! I was stoked and very very appreciative of him and very nervous I might wreck his sweet ride. He's also a super fast sub 10hr Kona athlete and top 20 Leadville 100 MTB guy!

Pre-race- Same area as IM AZ. sheesh, this race was packed, 1500 athletes scampering around getting ready to race. Enough said
Swim-31:13- 80degree water, non-wetsuit, and about 300meters long. And the first half of the swim direct into the sun. Pro's were coming out of water in 24 to 27 minutes. So dont feel to bad about this. But it was a pretty tough swim. Was happy when it was over. 52nd place coming out of water
T1- 1:06- about 10-20 seconds slower than the pro's. But I put my bike shoes on in transition. No way was I trying the Flying Mount on Kimo's $10k Bike!
Bike- 1::01:31- Accurate 40km course, and flat as my back. However there were 24 ninety degree turns and six 180degree turnarounds. I didnt have a power meter or bike computer, i just hammered. The Trek was super light and it felt really easy to handle around the corners and accelerate out of the turnarounds...so that somewhat made up for my poor technical handling bike skills. I passed a ton of people on the bike, but the course was also congested with sprint racers. I was only passed by one guy, who I battled with for the first lap but let him go on the second lap. He looked pretty strong. It was getting hot and I was sweating alot under my aero helmet but felt pretty good coming into T2 and in 16th place overall
T2- 1:03- Right up there with the big boys

Run- 37:15- Started out the 10k run at my 6:20 pace (same thing I did at Folsom). I was passing guys even at this pace. Once I was 5min in, I turned it up and was clipping off 5;30's for a while. I'm not sure if the course was a little long, or if it was just the heat, but I was running pretty fast and putting out a huge effort. I was passing people, but seemed to be running 6min pace or slightly under. Temp was up in the 90's so that could have been what was going on. I moved up 10 spots on the run. I had the 4th fastest run split and was only 30 seconds slower than the pro winner Lewis Elliot. Pretty pleased with the bike and run on this day!

FINISH-2:12:09 6th place overall (out of 700 I think), 3rd Amatuer overall, and 1st place in my Age Group!!

Huge thanks to Anne Drier for talking me into racing. Kimo you are a brave and generous man for lending me your bike for the day. Kimo also put on a great race that spoiled the heck out of the athletes. (no wonder 1500 showed up for a late season Olympic Tri) Our race packets were also filled with all kinds of free product from Nathan Hydration. This race I think i got the best bang for my buck out of all the races I have been in this year.
Thanks to Pops for cheering for me all 12 times he saw me go by on the course. And Terry for making it down to see me rip it up as well.
Thanks to Coach Ciav, I am getting really strong under his program.
And of course thanks to GU Energy for keeping me fueled before, during and after my races and training!

Thanks all for reading! Now its nothing but training until the big grand finale of the year for me....70.3 World Championships on Nov 14th....Stay Tuned!

-Monda

Folsom Olympic Distance Triathlon

This past weekend I drove 10hours down to Sacramento, just to race an Olympic! Why did I drive a total of 20hours just to do a race that was going to take 2 hours? Three reasons:
1- I love this sport!
2- I received a Comp entry from Gu as they were sponsoring the event
3-This is how the race directors described the race on their website (i bolded the important parts):
The Folsom Olympic Distance Triathlon will fill a void for the lack of Olympic Distance Triathlons in the State Capitol / Sacramento area. This event will attract racers from all over the State, but has become a staple in the Sacramento Area. Participants will range from the world's top elite triathletes to hundreds of age group and beginner triathletes each year. Athletes line up to attack one of the fastest International/Olympic Distance Triathlons in the USA. It is all about racing alongside the world's top professionals and celebrating at the finish line. Warm sun, great music, gourmet food, lavish awards and laughter are only to be found at FODT. Triathletes from all over the state will agree that the Folsom Olympic Distance Triathlon embodies everything that is great about the sport of triathlon. Triathletes and their families can come and enjoy all that Folsom has to offer from lodging and dining to entertainment and shopping
Um, wow these guys are really setting the bar pretty high for this race! I had to see it to believe it! :-)

It turns out, USA Productions did a pretty bang up job putting on the race. 387 athletes turned out for the race. The front of the field was stacked with dozens of elite amateurs ready to duke it out. Many of the fast swimming, strong Olympic Distance specialists from California showed up, not only to race for themselves but for the Club Championships that was going on. Post Race, they gave out a brand new BLUE road bike. And they gave out two new Blue Seventy wetsuits....awesome! Age group awards consisted of a free Safeway Grocery bag stocked with Medal, T-shirt, Wine (2006 Organic ), an 8-pack of GU Roctane! And Coffee Grinds!!! They also had all kinds of food post race and a Keg! They also gave a good deal off their website for rooms at the Marriott ($89.00/night and well worth it)
All in all I give USA Productions an "A". They would have gotten the "+" had they put a more detailed bike course map on the website! :-)


Swim- 24:48 (54th place)- Not sure what happened here. I was swimming hard. Nothing crazy happened like goggles popping off or anything. John Dahlz swam 18:57 but even he said it was a tad long. Regardless, I should be swimming 23:30 or lower. So i was a little disappointed. but its tough to measure an accurate swim course.
T1- 1:00 (11th place)- Actually put my shoes on in transition for this one since the bike mount line was 5 whole feet away from my transition space.

Bike- 1:00:43 (20th place)- This bike course is a little challenging. Lots of just short risers and rolling hills. There are two out and backs to take your momentum away a little. The one downside of the race was lack of detailed course map online. I turned the wrong direction twice in areas where volunteers weren't paying complete attention. This wasn't a problem obviously for the locals or returning competitors from previous years. I was within a minute or so of most of the top guys so I was pleased with the effort.
T2- :46 (9th place)- Would have been sub 40sec but struggled for some reason with my right shoe.
Run- 36:31 (2nd place, fastest out of top 20men)- I thought i had the fastest run split. But the 21yr old who took 24th place had a 20second faster run than me. Oh well, i still made this course my little playground on the day. The instruction from Ciav was to hold 6:30 pace for the first 5min and then turn on the jets after that. My run confidence has been sky high since running so well at Vineman. Not once did I question whether I was going to have a good run or not. I just knew I would kill it. When my watch said 5:00, I heard Ciav's voice in my head telling me to "GO" and i started ripping it! The course is a windy narrow bike path with little short risers all over to keep you honest. I felt very strong though and picked off quite a few top athletes on the run. When I got to a hill, I shortened my stride and increased my cadence and just pumped my way uphill. Once crested I really pushed and ran as fast as I could downhill. There is not a better feeling then when you are working hard but running fast at the end of a race. So many times I have felt like crap at the end of a race but I was still having to work hard just to run slow.
Final Time- 2:03:49. Good for 9th overall and 2nd in my Age group.
I crossed the line in 4th overall on the course. However, I had no idea what was taking place in the older waves behind me. Turns out two 48 year olds and one 45 year old went 1:58, 2:02 & 1:59 respectively! What the crap??!! Those guys ripped it in the swim. ripped it again on the bike and just had to run strong on the run. Pretty impressive.

Major props to PacWest Athletics Tri Club. They won the Club competition and had 6 or 7 athletes in the top ten. They are a seriously competitive Tri Club and would be curious to see how they stack up against some of the bigger clubs in San Diego, LA or Tri-Fusion in Spokane.

Really a 4:23.....

Raced Vineman 70.3 this weekend. Great race. I felt fantastic. There is no better feeling in racing then when you are peaking. On sunday all cylinders were firing!

The Good: The main mission of qualifying for Clearwater 70.3 World Championships was accomplished. PR'd in the HIM distance by 10minutes. PR'd the 56mi bike by 10minutes (2:22:24). Fell seconds short of my Run PR, but still ran a 1:24:59 in 90degree plus weather after smoking the bike. Also pr'd the swim by 10 or 15seconds (30:15) and really never felt in serious oxygen debt like i usually do. Besides the 90degree weather and 75 degree water temp the conditions were perfect with no wind or fog during the bike ride.

The Bad: My "official" time (along with hundreds of others) was 5-plus minutes slower than what I really completed the race in. Not really a big deal but it is kind of aggravating since I just had the best race of my life (especially on the bike) and only have my Polar watch and Power Tap to prove it.

The Ugly: Seven miles into the bike (about 2 or 3 minutes before i arrived) an Oak Tree fell out of nowhere onto the bike course. The tree fell on top of one guy who was taken to the hospital seriously injured. A few others ran into the tree right after it fell over, breaking collar bones etc..... Race officials and City officials closed the bike course temporarily so they could tend to the injured and chainsaw the tree out of the road. We all had to wait in line patiently for the road to re-open. All of us are very lucky that we were not hit by that tree. That tree could have decided to topple over moments sooner or later than it actually did. It also turns out that is the fourth Oak Tree in the county to fall and either kill or seriously injure someone in the last six-months.

After dissecting other athlete's race splits, its obvious that the fast swimmers in my Age Group passed the spot of the accident before officials had closed the road (their bike split and overall times are accurate). They arrived at the scene and with EMS already there, they just climbed over the tree and continued with the race. On the same note, some of the really slow swimmers in my Age Group reached the spot of the accident by the time it was all cleaned up so they did not have to stop and their overall times were not affected either.

Overall i finished- 20th out of 2,324 & 5th in my Age Group out of 142. If i had been given my time of 4:23 I figure I would have finished around 12th overall and 3rd in my age group.

THANKS- I want to thank my Grandparents from Denver for coming down to cheer me on. Thanks to GU Energy as always for keeping my stomach happy on race day. Thanks to my wife Kelsey for letting me train consistently and buying my new pair of Oakleys before Vineman. Thanks to Coach Ciavarella (TriOdyssey Coaching) for working with me the last few weeks. Special thanks to Coach Mark Kendall (Speedshot Racing) not only for helping me build up to a huge peak race day on Sunday but for helping develop me into the athlete I am today since 2005. Mark has seen me go from a chubby guy running in basketball shorts to an All-American triathlete in the four years coaching me. And of course a huge thanks to all of my family and friends who continue to encourage and cheer me on as I chase my dream (Pops, Mom, In-Laws, grandparents, drew, tony, Adm, Sal, Aaron, Aunt Mary, cousin April, fellow triathletes, you all know who you are).

Pre-race: My Grandparents from Denver met me down there on Friday after i drove 11hours solo. I had great time visiting with Grandma and grandpa exploring "wine country" and previewing the race course. Sat night before the race i had a mostly rice meal (some veggies, some fish) and a glass of wine.... and 150grams carb drink before bed.

Woke up race morning at 4am bursting with energy. I forced down a 500 calorie breakfast. Drank a bottle of Pedialyte & some water while driving out to the Swim start in Guerneville.

SWIM- 30:19. River swim, shallow water, wave starts from 6:30am-8:30am...a couple spots where there water was only 2ft deep! I seeded myself on the far end of the river close to shore so I wouldn't have to worry much about getting kicked in the face. While waiting for the race to start fellow Vancouverite Judd Rench noticed me and we exchanged words of encouragement before the horn went off. I started off pretty mellow and built into my swim like I did in my last few races. Seems to work well, and its nice not being in serious oxygen debt three minutes into my races like i have been used to. Weaved through lots of swimmers from previous waves and this portion of the race seemed to go buy very fast and pretty painless. I was happy and felt good coming out of the water.

T1- (seperate from T2)- 3:00- Took my time on this one to make sure all my belongings were put away and tied up in the bag so volunteers could transport my wetsuit back to T2

BIKE- 2:22:24- Killing it out there! Besides a few guys that passed me after we re-started the race nobody passed me the entire time. I went back and forth with Kyle Hummel for a little bit before I put some distance on him for the remaining miles of the bike. I got stronger as the race went along and started to bump up my efforts on the hills and flats as I knew I would have some downhill to let my legs recover. Stayed on my nutrition with GU every 20minutes (GU Roctane towards end of ride). Took in 80 oz of fluid (40oz GU Brew, 20 oz of Gatorade from aid station, 20 oz water). Also took one S-Cap at mile 40 of the bike. This really is a fun bike course. It can be technical at times and the road can be rough in many areas. I bet I could have gone a minute faster if I was a little better at cornering and a little more confident descending. Regardless, I rocked and the morale was sky high coming into T2!

t2-1:54- Not the fastest, but one of the fastest of the day. Transitions were pretty long at this race. Took the time to throw on socks (feels great not having blisters), grabbed a couple of Gu Roctanes and my SCaps and was off.

Run- 1:24:59- I just felt really good on this run. It was hot and there was no wind to cool you down. But for the first time I never really had that uncomfortable hot, exhausted feeling that I usually get at this distance. I dumped water over my head at every aid station. The first two aid stations had ice that I would throw down my shirt and also kept a few cubes in my hands. Just running with chilled hands seemed to help a lot in the early miles. The course was not as fast as I thought it may be...but there were some good downhill sections and some good flat to rolling areas where you could really get into a rhythm. I was passing people the whole time (including about 5 from my age group). I didn't feel super fast, but felt super strong and steady. Kyle Hummel came flying by me (en route to a 1:21 half marathon) around mile 2. I thought about going with him, but played it smart and thought that I may see him in the late miles if he fades.
Mile 3 the usual cramps inside my thighs came along. I had to come to a complete stop and massage it out and gingerly walk and then started to jog slowly. This is where my experience is starting to pay off. If this was two years ago, I would have panicked and thought my race was over. But i knew if I gave it a chance, the knot would loosen and go away and i could gradually build back into my race pace. After the 6:50 mile, I got back into the rhythm and kept pumping out 6:30 miles. I was ok with this pace because I knew how hot it was and could see people fading badly around me. So I just hung strong till the end. The last three miles hurt as I upped the heart rate 5 beats per minute, but didn't seem to move much faster. Regardless, I could see the time on my watch and knew I was moments away from crossing the line with a HUGE breakthrough performance....I did a lot of smiling in the closing miles. I finally had raced up to my expectations. Coming in to the finish the heat was starting to get to me and I was just happy to be done and looking forward to doing some wine drinking.

So thats it. My big PR race in the books. I'm looking forward to 3rd Annual Hulaman Half Iron on August 16th. This will be a pretty competitive race for us local amateurs ($500 for the winner) and it will be awesome to see some of the Pro's that show up to compete for the $18k prize purse. I will be looking to get some revenge on Aleck who kept me from defending my title from 2007 last year.
I will also be racing Folsom Olympic Triathlon on August 9th, representing their official Energy gel sponsor GU.

Looking forward to Vineman 70.3

So the main goal for Vineman a week from this sunday will be to qualify for Clearwater 70.3 Worlds. My age group has 4 projected slots to give out to the first 4 finishers in my ag. If people do not have the money to pay, or the interest to race there or have already qualified already, the slot rolls down to the next person and so on. Below are the four guys and their splits who received Clearwater slots after Vineman last year

Mickelson

Ian

M 25-29

USA

4:24:03

0:25:35

2:32:24

1:22:09

Quinn	Greg	M 25-29	USA	4:59:03	32:34:00	2:44:30	1:36:26

Lamar	Brian	M 25-29	USA	4:23:18	22:32	2:33:48	1:22:25
Ree	Nicholas	M 25-29	USA	4:27:44	26:39:00	2:29:07	1:27:40

As you can see 3, 4, 7, & 24th place received slots. There is a good chance i can get a slot even if i have a disaster of a day and finish just under 5hrs (would have to be a horrible horrible feak occurence day). 20 guys passed on their offered spot last year. I will keep that in mind....no matter what happens I am dragging my ass across that line.


TOP 24 in AG last year

1293	Shaun Guest	Concord, CA	26	M	04:14:15.0	1	3
1266	Alan Archard	South San Francisco, CA	26	M	04:17:57.5	2	6
1250	Brian Lamar	Whittier, CA	25	M	04:23:18.6	3	12
1326	Ian Mikelson	Manhattan Beach, CA	28	M	04:24:03.7	4	15
1274	Craig Pansing	Pasadena, CA	26	M	04:26:04.5	5	16
1372	Luke Walton	Poway, CA	29	M	04:27:32.4	6	21
1335	Nicholas Ree	San Francisco, CA	28	M	04:27:44.9	7	22
1297	Brandon Mills	San Diego, CA	27	M	04:30:29.1	8	29
1355	Curtis Olinger	San Francisco, CA	29	M	04:30:37.5	9	30
1286	Nolan Hansen	San Diego, CA	26	M	04:33:27.3	10	37
1260	Jon Wojcik	Wyandotte, MI	25	M	04:36:14.7	11	49
1389	Trevor Glavin	Salinas, CA	29	M	04:36:49.2	12	51
1345	Aaron Jenniges	Vancouver, WA	29	M	04:37:34.2	13	55
1301	Chris Cadotte	Santa Clara, CA	27	M	04:44:35.7	14	89
1387	Stephen Bourque	San Francisco, CA	29	M	04:45:21.9	15	91
2273	Nathan Gushwa	San Francisco, CA	29	M	04:45:58.5	16	96
1352	Cameron Collins	Mission Viejo, CA	29	M	04:46:52.7	17	101
1304	Corey Collins	San Juan Capistrano, CA	27	M	04:48:52.7	18	115
1302	Christopher Nall	Louisville, KY	27	M	04:51:31.1	19	131
1339	Ryan Pearson	Newport Beach, CA	28	M	04:52:59.3	20	145
1256	Jake Martini	San Francisco, CA	25	M	04:56:08.4	21	165
1319	Brian Gruenemay	Davis, CA	28	M	04:57:38.6	22	178
1298	Brandon Guillory	Baton Rouge, LA	27	M	04:58:21.0	23	188
1360	Greg Quinn	Livermore, CA	29	M	04:59:03.7	24	195

Now with all that said, I am feeling ready to kill it! My body feels really strong right now and this is the fastest potential 1/2 IM course that i will have raced on. All my other half IM's have been tough courses (Hulamanx2, Napa Valley Half, Halfmax Nats-Pumpkinman course, Pacific Crest, Grand Columbian). My PR was set at Napa last year with a 4:27, however the swim course there was fast by 6min (i swam a 25min) at least. So lets say my true PR is 4:33.
I strongly believe i am much stronger and faster than what my Half IM race results have shown. But I have to race smart on bike and first half of run and then be ready to hurt on the second half of run to hit what i feel my true potential is. We'll see what happens, but regardless I'm going to make sure I just finish the race and have fun because I want to be in Clearwater in November.

Blue Lake Olympic Triathlon

Here is a link to the full results

And top ten right here:

                             OVERALL    DIV     SWIM          TRAN    BIKE            TRAN  PL AFTER  RUN
  NAME                 AGE SEX    TIME    PLACE    TIME   PLACE  TIME    TIME    PLACE   TIME    BIKE    TIME   PLACE  CITY & STATE

1. Roger Thompson        37  M    1:53:54     1    0:20:09   10   1:32   0:54:00     1    1:01      1    0:37:12    5   Spokane, WA          
2. Matt Berg             36  M    1:58:22     2    0:19:49    8   1:49   0:57:27     3    1:03      2    0:38:14    7   Milwaukie, OR        
3. Cameron Dorn          21  M    2:00:41     1    0:22:49   35   2:01   0:55:57     2    1:13      3    0:38:40   12   Waterloo, SC         
4. Chris Ramsey          36  M    2:00:49     3    0:23:22   43   1:55   0:57:50     7    1:29      7    0:36:12    1   Portland, OR         
5. David Gettle          27  M    2:03:55     1    0:21:14   19   1:51   0:57:44     6    1:13      4    0:41:52   47   Weiser, ID           
6. Joshua Monda          27  M    2:04:23     2    0:23:25   46   1:46   0:59:08    13    1:18      9    0:38:46   14   Vancouver, WA        
7. Warren Bloomberg      39  M    2:04:40     4    0:20:11   11   2:38   1:01:38    38    1:53     10    0:38:20    8   Salem, OR            
8. Daniel Hough          28  M    2:05:10     3    0:21:20   20   2:29   0:59:36    17    1:29      8    0:40:16   23   Talent, OR           
9. Josh Speer            29  M    2:05:11     4    0:24:05   60   1:55   1:01:15    34    1:32     22    0:36:24    2   Portland, OR         
10. Dave Campbell         40  M    2:05:15     1    0:22:25   33   2:29   0:57:43     5    1:20      5    0:41:18   40   Newport, OR  

I had a decent race. I got to race site extra early and snagged the "pole position" (first spot on elite transition rack) just seconds before Roger Thompson (overall winner). I was pretty paranoid about getting a flat tire this race (i've had 6 or 7 of them in training since Wildflower). So i brought my trainer along and rode on the trainer by my parked car for a warm up. I got down to the lake fifteen minutes before the start and got my warm up in. In total i ran 15min easy, rode on trainer for 15min easy w/ pick ups, and splashed around in the water for 5 minutes before the start.

SWIM- The horn blew and i took off in the Elite wave (maybe 10 or 12 of us?). Everyone seemed to be starting out pretty hard and my original plan was to build into the swim so I hung back and just tempo'd. The other part of the plan was to wait for one of the Uber swimming 30-39 yr olds who were starting a minute after us. I knew that if i got passed by a blue swim cap that would be my chance to jump on some feet and really get pulled along.
Well, starting off easy left me in "no mans land" pretty quick and by the second buoy i was all alone. I started to pick up the pace and felt fine....and then it happened...i saw a blue cap flying by on the left. I jumped on his feet and he pulled me for about 45 seconds before he lost contact. That was pretty cool, I thought. I just knocked 10 or 15 seconds off my time! The rest of the swim was pretty "blah". Came out in 23:25 (1:25/100yd pace) which is more of a pace i would like to his in a 70.3 race...but it is what it is...need to keep working on the swim.

T1- 1:46- third fastest overall

BIKE- I still have not put in a whole lot of threshold work on the bike so I knew it would be important not to hammer right out the gates and just try to build into 300+ watts. I started out at 270ish for the first 10-12minutes. Got time splits on Roger Thompson and saw that he was already 5-6 minutes ahead of me...sheeesh! That's annoying when you are as competitive as me. but he is one of the top amateurs in the country so what can you say?.... anyways, props to Old TIm Winenstorfer who passed me right away on the bike en-route to a 57:36 smoking hot bike split (I forgot to ask his heart rate on the bike!). At 15 minutes in I started to pick the pace up to 290watts. At that point i found myself in no mans land again as I could see NOBODY up ahead of me. These guys were really getting busy on the bike today. I was happy when Chris Ramsey flew by me because then i just kept him in my sight and it was good to have another racer to look at (since it is a race) instead of just being in TT mode by myself like its a hard training effort. After the second turn around at the airport, i started pushing the pace into the low 300watt range. I really pushed hard the last 2 miles of the bike. Maybe i should have pushed harder earlier so I could spin a little easier before getting off the bike...because...as soon as i got of the bike i felt cramping coming on...uh oh...however i did PR with a 59:08. Only 13th fastest bike of the day though...I told you these guys were getting busy!

T2- It was great coming off the bike to hear all my friends and family. Mom, Meena, Aunt Mary, Sal & Aaron, Paul and lots of other voices i heard encouraging me. t2 time 1:18...only 6th fastest or so. I was cramping up in the hammys as i put on my shoes.

RUN- I transitioned way faster than Chris Ramsey as I was right on his heels coming out of transition. I noticed he was not in the elite wave so he was actually 1 minute ahead of me since his race started 1 minute after i started in the water. He made a comment about all the people cheering me on, which really made me appreciate everyone. As we started to leave the park I could tell he was feeling good and I was starting to get really tight in the abdomen. so tight to where i could not inhale but short shallow breaths. I passed Old Tim (who was looking pretty strong actually) and tried to get into a rythm and force some deep breaths but it was not happening. I had to stop to try and stretch and take some deep breaths. I thought about dropping out, but knew i couldnt and shouldn't, knowing everyone is waiting for me to finish. As Tim came running back by I started to run with him. My first 3 miles were 6:12, 6:34 (stop and stretch), and 6:57 as i ran with Tim (his heart rate was 160). The cool part about this race is you get to see the leaders on the out and back and get time splits. Then as you hit the turn around you can see about 3/4 of a mile in front of you. So you can really eye down your vicitims if you plan on going hunting. Well I felt like going hunting and decided to give it a GO. The 6:57 third mile when i was running and relaxed and conversational with Tim really helped because i went 5:45 on the next mile. Then 5:51 as we hit the one tiny hill on the course, and made my move from 9th to 7th before the end of the 5th mile. I saw Warren Bloomberg up ahead (I had passed him right on the end of the bike, but he passed me when i was struggling early in the run.). He was having a good run, but i was feeling good now (I could breathe!). I caught him with about .5 mile to go. ran 5:45 for the last mile and cruised home the last .2 in 6th place overall (2nd in my age group). My final run was only 38:46 - 6:14 pace- the first 5k killed me. The second 5k i ran at a 5:47 pace which would have put me at a sub 36min 10k if i did that the whole time. Oh well.
The best part about the race for me was forgetting about my overall goal time of 2:02:00 when I hit mile 3 and just enjoying being out there competing and catching guys on the run. JUST RACING! It felt really good to pass those 3 during the last two miles.


FINAL TIME- 2:04:23 (about 2minutes faster than when i did this course last August)
I just need to figure out what i could have done wrong to get the stomach cramping. i did not drink too much caffeine, i had one bottle of watter with GU2O (100calories) a gu roctane gel and one thermolyte on the bike.
Props to all the guys that killed it out there today and everyone who PR'd.

Thanks to GU for keeping me fueled. The Wife for letting me train :-) Sal for being an assistant coach! CRST Swim team for helping me with my stroke. Thanks to Everyone who came out and watched cheered. And Pops for cheering from far away in AZ!

I also want to welcome to the Pacific NW local Tri scene
-Cameron Dorn fresh in from South Carolina (1st overall in the sprint yesterday and 3rd overall today). This guy is a Beast on the bike.
-Chris Ramsey from Boston (fastest Run split of the day and a smoking fast bike split to accomodate it, taking him to 4th overall)
Watch for these guys on any confirmation lists in the future. they are No joke and it sounds like they will be around competing for Podium spots out here for a while!!

USA Triathlon 2008 All-American

I am happy to say that I was named an All-American for the first time. I ranked 54th in my age group nationwide. I think the top 99 guys in my age group got All-American status. So pretty cool.
Congrats to some of the other local guys who got AA honors (Aleck, Ciaverella, Folske) and Kurian & Chris Bell with Honorable Mention.

Wildflower Long Course 2009

Finished...ready for Beer (and some more GU Chomps! :-) )

Total fake smile, I was HURTING!


blah

Final decent at end of a tough tough tough bike

Looking at my new PR in the swim!


I'm leading that pack....by about 10minutes (they started 10min after me)




Well it was a day of "firsts"for me.....unfortunately those firsts did not include first place overall or in my age group :-)
First off I would like to say I had an absolute blast during the four and a half day trip down to Lake San Antonio. Traveling with Don Ollila, Paul Shoen, Jeff Platt and Patrick McCann kept me laughing the whole time (my stomach is actually more sore than my legs from all the laughing I was doing). The entire Wildflower experience is definitely all its cracked up to be. I have never been to a race that took such great care of the athletes. The race expo, aid stations, finish line, awards, volunteers and staff were all first class. Camping next to thousands of other triathletes is also quite the experience! I will be back next year for the experience and for revenge on the course.
Onto the race:

Swim- 30:37 (1:28/100yd pace)- So the start was pretty cool because i got to stand behind and watch the pro men take off at 8:00am, then the Pro Women at 8:05, then it was our turn at 8:10. The swim starts on a boat ramp and is a running start into the water. I positioned myself in the second row and right in the middle with the idea of starting really hard to get out and hang on with some of the fast swimmers. Well as soon as I ran and dove in the water I got kicked in the face (first time that has happened!) and my goggles got knocked up onto my forehead. I stood up, adjusted and jumped back in. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful. i just swam hard and got onto some feet from time to time, but didnt find anyone really worth drafting off of for longer than 1minute or so. I am happy with this swim as its about a 1:30 pr for me.
t1- 2:10- this is a tough steep run up the boat ramp and through a huge transition area. Heart rate had to be at 200bpm running up that ramp.
bike- 2:39:51- After about a mile of rolling windy short hills on a bike path you get to beach hill which is a steep mile climb that hurts to hold just 8mph going up. Halfway up my GU flask (with most of my nutrition for the bike) fell off! I had to turn around and stop, pick up GU and restart on that steep ass hill! First time I have dropped my nutrition, but i wasnt going to make the mistake that others have made in the past and just leave it behind. Then the flask almost fell off the holder again! I soon realized that the velcro backing on the flask had come unglued and had to stuff it down my shirt for the rest of the bike. Oh well. Soon I got into a groove and was able to execute my race plan, sticking to the watts. I was flying out there! I was blitzing that course and most importantly having fun. I felt good. I was even passing the pro women! I was on pace for a 2:30-2:32ish bike split, which is smoking for an Age grouper on that course. Unfortunately I hit the wall at mile 38 (right before the course goes from hard to really really hard). I couldn't get my watts back up, my legs were just done. On top of that, it started getting hot out and I was not used to racing in the heat yet being its only May. I stuggled up the mighty Nasty Grade and all the hills after that for the last 18 miles. 2:39:51 is not a bad time for that course, but I wasn't racing to be "not bad" i wanted to make my mark out there and it was just not meant to be that day.
In the end, after reviewing my Powerfile, we found that I spent over 30min in threshold watts before hitting the hills late in the race. This was crucial because I only had about 30min of threshold in me based on most of my training being done in the Tempo range. I should have saved half of those 30minutes for later in the race and I would have had a much different outcome. My normalized watts were 26 less for the last 18miles vs. the first 38.
t2- 1:08- Threw socks on for the first time ever in a Half Iron. Did not more than 10 extra seconds and boy did my feet thank me for it. Its nice not having to nurse blisters for a week after a half iron race for a change! Also popped and S-Cap as I was running out of transition
Run- 1:34:change- took off on the run still feeling like crud from the bike. As soon as we hit the first hill my quads started to cramp and i was forced to walk it out. Five miles and 1500 ft of climbing later I had already put in two 10 minute miles! I was pretty much in survival mode and my competitive drive was non existent. I just kept trucking along, dumping water on my sunburnt body, gulping gatorade and sucking on my GU Flask. I passed a "walking" John Dahlz, who won Collegiate nationals not too long ago, along the way. Just being able to see a pro at that point who was clearly having a bad day but soldiering on determined to finish nonetheless, helped keep me going. At mile 7 i started getting passed by 30-34 year olds (who had started 10minutes after me), and tried matching their paces. It worked. My legs were waking up and had been refueled and I was able to pick up the pace. Last few miles were spent with a tough 31 year old, Chuck Mccarroll. he was top ten at wildflower last year and was having a slightly off day, but of course he was 10 minutes ahead of where i was at in the race. His company helped keep me at a quicker sub 7 minute pace up until the last mile (which was all downhill) where i was able to rip off a 5:35. It was interesting to experience my body "bonking" like that, and continuing to soldier on until i started to emerge from the deficit and get my energy back for the latter miles of the run. I will remember this race when i do my first Ironman.
Final times:

231 - JOSHUA MONDA

Race	Long Course
Age	27
Hometown	Vancouver, WA
Time	04:48:40.830 at Finish Line
Rankings	47th Overall 45th Overall Men 12th 25-29 Men
Splits	Interval Time Pace Swim 30:37.280 25:31 min/mi T1 02:10.620 Bike 02:39:51.910 21.02 mi/hr T2 01:08.430 Run 01:34:52.590 07:15 min/mi

Nutrition-
Half bag of Gu Chomps before swim start
900 calories on bike (700 of them from GU)
75oz of water
One Nuun tab in each of the first two water bottles
One SCap @ 2:00hr mark on bike
One SCap in T2
300 calories of GU on run
Water at every aid station. Gatorade at every other aid station


Well thats that. Next race is Blue Lake Olympic on June 13th, and then Vineman 70.3 on July 19th. I will have two big training camps leading up to Vineman. So i hope to really be ready to make my mark by then. I have 11 weeks to work on it....

Beaver Freezer Tri & Spring Classic Du

Race season has begun! I have had two great races on back to back weekends to kick off my 2009 season!

The first race was Saturday April 4th on the Oregon State University Campus (The Beaver Freezer Sprint Triathlon). I really love this race because:

1- its the first race of the season and I am just itching to get out and let loose

2- i used to be a lard-ass when i attended that university my freshman year...ahhh the memories!

This year was my second time racing the Freezer and last year it lived true to its name as I charged into transition in third place, right behind the others, only to have my hands so cold and frozen that i could not grasp or feel the buckle to get my helmet off. I spent and extra 1min 30sec in T2!! I finished second last year and was disappointed to not at least have a chance to try and run with Nathan Smith for the victory. Well this year not only have i been improving on my swim and bike, but I also practiced grasping and memorizing where my helmet buckle is in case i ever have numb hands again.
The weather turned out great (clear blue skies and in the 50's the entire race). I came out of the 500yard swim in 6:59 (28 second improvement over last years place) and about 9 seconds of that includes run from the pool to the timing mat outside. Again this year I felt good on the bike and worked my way up to 3rd place coming into T2. Nick Alden was leading the race at that point, and Jared Wilson was right in front of me. I had a great transition but still exited t2 behind Jared and in 3rd. We quickly caught and past Alden, but I could not match Jared's speed as he zipped through the 3lap 5k run course in 16:42. I was able to hold a strong and steady 17:19 ( a pr off the bike and 2nd fastest run of the day) to finish 2nd overall. Nathan Smith ran strong into third place to round out the podium.
results here

On April 11th, I went to defend my Spring Classic Duathlon title from last year. I have to admit I was a little nervous before the race, especially see Jay Cech show up (one of the fastest athletes I know in the area). Dave Campbell (another fast and respectable multisport athlete in the region) recaps the day better than I can on this Racecenter.com blog

I just want to say I had a blast and really really really felt on fire on Saturday. I think that is probably the strongest and fastest I have felt since I started competing in endurance sports four years ago. The good new is I am not tapered yet! Huge thanks to Pops, my biggest fan, for supporting me andcheering me on at both races. You make a great "Tri-Caddy" Dad!
Thanks to my wife, Kelsey, for being extra supportive this year. And all my family and friends who find their way out to spectate at the races and those who cheer from far away. I know its not the most interesting or spectator friendly sport but I work my butt off to be the best I can. I appreciate your appreciation for that!
Next up Wildflower Half Iron!

Vancouver Lake Half Marathon 2009

Great race this year. We got some good press too!
check out our local paper, the Columbian, here
And the top Master (Joe Dudman) runner in the Portland Metro area decided to sit this one out and cheer us on. His take on the day and great blog can be found here
Results are HERE

My day went about as good as it could with the conditions. I hung strong in 2nd place up until mile 6 where I got passed by some respectable runners. I stayed in fifth place the rest of the day and finished in 1:15:11 (was 1:16:22 last year). It was tough running in the slush but we all had to do it and it was good experience.
Big congrats to Jesse for having a big day (1:13:21), coming in 2nd overall and edging out the 1st and 2nd place guys from last year.

Thanks to the Columbian for the race recognition and article on the front page (and putting my picture on p. 3!)!
Gotta say many thanks to Russ Zornick & Clark County Running Club for giving me a course to PR on every year
All the volunteers (especially Karon & Bob) thank you!
Coach fo sho! Couldn't do it without him!
And of coure much appreciation to GU Energy for their constant support and keeping me fueled in every race.

Now I'm ready to recover and start the big build up to Wildflower in May. Will be focusing heavily on the bike and swim. But I will throw in some running races in the next couple of months to stay sharp on my feet.

Later!

Kell Jaske 2nd at US Half Marathon Champs- Houston

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

She is a Portland Lawyer, was a 'jogger" in college,, and now is duking it out with Olympians in the big races. My kind of story!

Uh oh! Whitfield off to Carmichael

and will add some 70.3's to his schedule this year.........more details on his blog post from yesterday

A couple of IM Hawaii videos

I just love pure racing videos. None of the other bs, just clips of the top guys & gals pushing themselves and making it happen at the world championships. Notice Stadler cramp up immediately after getting passed for 1st place by Eneko Llanos on the run (about 4:50 in)... TOUGH SPORT


the world champ's take on the race:

Naeth also to TBB

Angela Naeth,
who's progress i followed closely last year since I am a big fan of her Coach's blog (and philosophies on life), will be on teamTBB this year as well. looking forward to seeing how many other up and commers end up out there and how they do under the boss.

Offseason Moves-

Jonathan "Jonnyo" Caron and Big Zach Ruble the newest athletes to join Brett Sutton's TeamTBB