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.