A week works wonders

No swim pics? no problem

As this 2019 exercise competition season is only a few races from completion, it's nice to reflect on my activities, accomplishments, and failures. It's been a great learning experience this year by showing up to some really competitive races and trying to compete with some really good athletes. I've had some really disappointing and negative experiences that have been insanely frustrating, and some awesome moments like getting a fat paycheck ($750, but more like $450 after taxes) from Ironman. Above all, I've found that one of the best ways for me to refresh my brain after a $hit race is by writing a blog. Even if I don't end up publishing it (i.e. Post Santa Rosa/Boulder).

some solid photographers out there in Santa Rosa

It's not a giant secret that I just didn't come to play at Santa Rosa and Boulder 70.3 Relative to how I performed in St. George and CDA. I was about a minute back from the swim to where I need to be (hanging on for dear life to the 2nd group), and just never made up any ground and made all around stupid decisions. At the end of the day I was really not stoked on my results at those races, but the positive takeaway was that my body could handle racing two half ironmans back to back weekends, and I got a bunch of tactical experience and fitness after it even though they weren't exactly great race results on paper.

Forced Talbot to get a sick transition shot for me

For your entertainment, I'll have a 1 paragraph summary of each race listed below:

Santa Rosa was all around depressing. Between driving two hours to the race site from the airport, finding a chicken nugget under my bed, and just general exhaustion I was not in a mental state to be racing. The pro meeting was impossible to find, the swim course had a turn buoy 200m in which means bad things for a sub-front pack swimmer like myself, the bike course had without a doubt the worst pavement I've ever ridden on, and the run course was littered with actual litter and homeless people, and barely any crowd support (which is something I absolutely rely on to get through races - especially miles 11-13). Basically, I showed up and got destroyed, and cried myself to sleep after the race, then got charged a bike fee for my Hen House, which is literally designed to avoid bike fees. After trying to reason with them they said they could cancel my flight if I wanted to continue to argue with them, and then I proceeded to be in such a hurry through security that I lost my laptop case and a bunch of charger cords in my rush to be the last person on the southwest flight. Sick.

Stick with the Next %'$

Boulder was a slight improvement. I was able to stay with Timmy Winslow, who also lives with Rudy Von Berg and Nick Granet, so I was just praying that some of their speed would rub off on me. I found myself hanging on for dear life to Kennett Pattersons feet during the swim. About 800m in, I called it off, realizing I was killing myself. I swam easy for the rest of theswim, hoping I'd be able to work with some guys around me on the bike and do OK. Long story short, I rode with Sam Long for about 30 miles before absolutely imploding. I cramped so hard in the last 5 miles that I was literally unable to pedal at one point, and was re-passed by everyone I had passed earlier in the bike, and a grandma on her first lap of the bike course also passed me :). I figured I'd be totally screwed for the run, but I had also just dropped like $250 on some Nike Next %s so figured I'd do at least a lap and then see if the 20 people ahead of me were all going to drop out of the race and maybe I could win it. The run wasn't terrible, but it was outrageously hot, and I was basically jogging every single aid station beginning at mile 1. Overall, I had a lot more fun, especially post race, and was just ready for a week off!

Photo - Paul Higgins

Thanks Kenny Withrow for the pic(s)

After a week off, I came back an entirely new man. There were probably 7-10 more hairs on my chest/legs, and I was feeling like a functional adult both at work and at triathlon. My swimming rapidly progressed back to the level it had been at before St. George and CDA, and I finally got my road bike built up, which meant I could do some 4-7 hour adventures in the mountains. Generally speaking, I actually trained pretty chill between Boulder and Augusta. I knew I was already fit, and that a lot of my poor results were due to me being tired leading into the race and being tactically an idiot. I just needed to get to the start line ready to race and trust my body.

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Steady rides in the mountains are my fav

Emily and I went to Colorado Springs one weekend for the Pikes Peak Ascent, and my brother Steve was also going to be out there for the marathon. It was an awesome time, they both crushed it, and it got me motivated to just keep training consistently and developing my skills slowly and then applying the tactics during the races. Steve decided to come out to Augusta with me, and that made my trip about 100x more enjoyable. I didn't have to drive for the entire weekend, had a hotel, pool, food, and etc. He made sure that everything I needed was taken care of, and made sure I was doing as little as possible, including taking the elevators, which is basically unheard of in our family.

Bae won her age group

Steve before dying

The race itself in Augusta was just a reflection of my mental strategy since I had taken the week off. I was totally recharged and just stoked to be out there. I practiced a lot of positive self talk in training, and found that even when I really didn't believe what I was telling myself, if kept doing it I could get through whatever I needed to get through. The final reinforcing point on this was watching Rohan Dennis absolutely crush the TT world championship despite going through some serious adversity - you can read that article here. Before the race had even started I didn't care how it would go, just knew that I was happy to get out there with my family watching and would do my best and that was it.

One of the memories I like to think about that gets me stoked - 3rd at coll nats, but 1st in the hair competition

I lined up between Hunter Lussi and Nils F., with Lionel pretty close by. The swim didn't have much of a downstream current like I had been promised, but I found myself holding onto the front group a lot longer than I had ever thought possible. About 700m Lionel came around, and I sat on his feet for a bit, before slipping back to Paul (former ASU teammate)'s feet, before realizing that we were all swimming massively off course, so I swerve'd aggressively towards the "sighting" buoys. Turns out that the only buoyed that mattered was the turn buoy, which was actually way to the right, where the group was heading. I had gone off course, losing probably 20-30 seconds by the end of the swim.

Has anyone noticed that I've got a new helmet every race?

I wasn't super stoked about that, but after stalking a lot of power files from Augusta last year I found that people just blitzed the first 20k and then died slowly after that, so riding alone might actually be a smart move for the first part if it meant that I could just roll at my own effort. I was rolling with Lewis Elliot, a former pro cyclist, and he wasn't coming around, so I figured the pace was probably solid enough. The gap stayed the same until about 20k, before all of the sudden I made up 30 seconds in like 2 miles, and found myself at the back of a 6 person group. I had been riding at a conservative effort doing my best to keep them in sight and just take in nutrition, but not push the hills too much since it was only going to get more steamy out as the day went on, and any time above 300 watts would probably be burning a match that I just didn't need to burn if I rode efficiently on the downhills and maintained my power. I put in a few surges to try and drop the group, but eventually just gave up. I'd let the group pull away on the uphills and then catch back on with the descents, just doing my best to stay within myself and take in as much fluid as I possibly could, knowing that dehydration would be the only thing stopping be from having a fast run after this ridiculously easy ride. The 12 meter drafting rule continues to be an absolute joke, but as long as that's the rule I will continue to save 30 watts by riding in the group. Side note - the bike course here was amazing. 10/10 would recommend.

As we hit the run, I could tell I had some awesome legs. I saw Steve at mile 2 and had already caught everyone in our group except for Paul Stevenson and Sean Daugherty. He gave me some positive reinforcement and told me that most people did not look good. Awesome. Lewis Elliot caught up to me around mile 3 and him and Paul and I ran together for a couple hundred meters - which was pretty neat. Lewis was stopping to get ice at every aid station, but I had a flask with redbull and another with gels, and had drank like 5 bottles of various fluids on the bike (and even peed while riding!) so was doing alright. We kept the pace honest, and at mile 5 I saw Steve again and he said someone was walking, and 6-8 were right ahead of me. Lewis started to fall off the pace here, and I opened up a solid gap on him. As we hit the aid station at mile 7 I pranced past 8th (he was stopped stretching his hamstrings), and then watched as 6 and 7 stopped at the aid station to get water. I jumped through a sprinkler I was so stoked, and grabbed some water. I felt amazing from miles 7-10, but knew that 11-13 would be rough so tried to not blow it. the last thing I needed was to get passed in the last mile because I got too carried away with 10k to go.

Cruising in to the finish line

Around mile 11 I saw Steve for like the 45th time (run course was very spectator friendly) and was now struggling, and asked if I could chill. He gave me the thumbs up, and I backed off the pace and enjoyed the last two miles. The crowd out on the run course was spectacular - without a doubt the best support I've ever had on a run. The streets were shaded, and the aid stations had ice and sponges. Maybe it also helps that I was in a way better mood, but overall I would say that Augusta 70.3 will probably always be a special race for me. Even though I got beat by 5th place by like 8 minutes and Lionel curb stomped me by 18 minutes, I felt like I raced tactically the best I could have. Maybe I could have gone 12 seconds faster and broken 4:00 and 1:20 for the run, but at the end of the day I wouldn't have placed any higher and probably wouldn't have enjoyed the race as much!

Steve came through clutch for helping advance my ironman paycheck, as you can see above.

I've noticed a solid trend on races going well when I have support in place (Emily came to St. George and CDA, Steve at Augusta), so I've recruited my Dad to come out to Waco 70.3 next month and help carry me around pre race so that I don't have to walk anywhere.

No laws when you're drinkin claws

Basically a summary of my 1-1 meeting with my boss this week