[SW.BK.RN]

Sub-2 Adieu

2010-06-13T10:01:00.004-06:00

I first had the notion that I wanted to break 2 hours back in 2005. I hired my coach Matt Eagan, and about a year later I started this blog to help keep me focused and motivated. Training through college in Boulder Colorado was an absolute dream. Beautiful roads, mountains and trails, perfect weather and best friends. I was getting fitter every month. Despite believing that I was fit enough to break 2 hours, the performance never materialized. On a grueling course at Age Group National Championships in 2007 I came painfully close to the mark, and afterwards I vowed that I would come back stronger to have even better races in the future. I was going to break 2 hours.

For the next two years, graduating school, broken bones, moving cross country and a new job kept me from really training much at all. I was no longer in Boulder and my coach Matt was no longer a coach - he was now a horse trainer. Spring of 2009 I was in pretty poor fitness, but I called up my old coach and asked if he wanted a side project. I told him I was gunning hard for the 2hr mark again; I needed help. May 26th, 2009 we officially started working together again. Exactly 52 weeks later I had the fastest race of my life - a 1:56:18 finish at an Olympic distance triathlon. I did it! After thousands of hours of training, thousands of dollars, and great personal sacrifices I finally broke 2 hours on an Olympic distance triathlon.

What next? While I love triathlon and I will never leave the sport for good, I have decided to put my efforts towards another challenge. The complexity of having to train for three different sports is a strain on personal time and pocketbook. I am going to take a sabbatical of sorts from triathlon for several years and pursue road and track cycling while I live in a city with a velodrome. I'm guessing that in a few years I'll get bitten by the triathlon bug again, and I'll be back.

This concludes a 4-year story. I will likely post nothing else here for some time, if at all. Thanks for reading!

Fit for a...Beginner?

2010-06-11T22:42:00.003-06:00

I'm about to dive headfirst into track cycling. I had this same bike last year when I did a handful of races, but I gave it a little refresh this week. Here is the bike setup for mass-start events. The pursuit aerobars will only go on for TT events like the kilo, pursuit, or team pursuit. This is going to be fun!

Track Bling #4

2010-06-10T21:17:00.003-06:00

Zipp Super9 Track. Still in testing stages. I will post some pictures of the complete bike in a few days after it's built. It should be quite a unique rig, and hopefully a fast one!

Track Bling #3

2010-06-10T21:15:00.003-06:00

This item is not new, per se. I designed and manufactured these bars (by hand) in 2008, but I haven't had a chance to try them on an actual bike until now. There are only two of these aerobars in existence. The other one is in my desk drawer at work. It weighs a mere 300g and it's perfect for tucking in during a pursuit or kilo TT.

Track Bling #2

2010-06-10T21:00:00.003-06:00

I made an adapter plate that allows 1/8" 5-bolt track chainrings to be used with the proprietary bolt pattern of the Zipp VumaChrono crankset. This may not sound terribly exciting, but it means that my bike will be the only bike in the world with a true track specific VumaChrono, and since it's such a perfect crank for track cycling - I am excited.

Track Bling #1

2010-03-04T21:44:00.003-07:00

The first of a few installments - here is just one small reason why I am absolutely pumped for track racing to begin in May at the Major Taylor Velodrome.

The uppers say 'class', the lowers say 'business'. Serious business.

Hello? Helllllooooo?

2010-02-15T19:38:00.003-07:00

Whoa, mama. It's been a while. The heavy drape of winter in Indiana is BOUND to lift any week now, so I figured I should catch up on happenings before all the exciting stuff starts to unfold. I've been training somewhat consistently as of late, all with the singular goal of breaking 2 hours in an Olympic distance triathlon. My swimming has been progressing quite well, and I am swimming on par with the level I swam at 3 years ago. Running has been almost entirely on the treadmill, but more importantly, has also been almost entirely injury free. I have a feeling the running legs will be back this year as well. Every year my cycling ability has been at least on the level of either my swimming or running, but this year I plan on attacking the training intensity earlier in the season with hopes of stretching out that power threshold as high as possible. With some strategic race planning, I think sub-2 is in the cards.

Come ooonnnn springtime!

System Reboot

2009-08-26T20:49:00.007-06:00

I recently returned from Tuscaloosa, AL for the 2009 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships. I made the 8-hr trip by myself in the Zipp minivan, which got a lot of double takes along the way and even a snapped picture from a passing car full of triathletes. I learned an important lesson during the drive down; Minivan suspension is sweet.

I worked the race expo as the sole representative from Zipp. It was my first time doing such, and on the whole it was pretty straight forward and enjoyable. The most common question asked - "You got any free wheels?!" ...So funny I forgot to laugh.

The race went fairly well, and I did a pretty good job trying to salmon my way up the current made when the upstream dam was opened just before the start. Oddly enough, I tied my bike split PR. The encouraging part is that I managed to equal my fastest bike time with minimal training. The discouraging part is that now my 3 fastest bike splits are 1:00:27 (2006), 1:00:27 (2007), and 1:00:27 (2009). My arms and legs remained attached to my torso during the run, bonus points for that... Really though, I had a pretty good run considering the small training volume I put in this year. My one and only goal for next year is to break 2hrs on a legitimate Olympic distance course. I will continue with a full training schedule through to next season with hopes of getting pretty fast.

The REAL highlight of the trip was the delicious southern sustenance I stuffed down my gullet after the race. Let me give you the blow-by-blow;

11am - Too hungry to wait for lunch, PB + J never tasted so good.

Noon - Five Guys burgers and fries, just greasy and meek enough to be considered fast food, but just substantial enough to impress you. 64oz of Coke is too much to drink with a bacon cheeseburger AND a sack of fries...

5pm - Watching the professional race worked up an appetite. The Krispy Kreme "HOT" sign was on. Those 5 tasty little round guys were too tasty and little and round for their own good. It was a merciful takedown.

6pm - After a 4 year leave, I was back at the parking lot of the legendary Dreamland BBQ. 2 new things were added to the menu, so I had to try one of everything; Wonderbread (i.e. edible napkins), ribs, smoked sausage (new!), and baked beans (new!). Did I mention they serve their baked beans with disposable plastic SPORKS!

7pm - To the Houndstooth! Don't ask for a white russian - they "don't do those kinds of drinks here." If you want milk with your alcohol, there's a convenience store down the street, boy!

9pm - WHAT?! Turn around! A Dippin' Dots drive through? The peanut butter chip did not have chocolate chips, and it tasted more like milk and cereal than peanut butter, but it was still awesomely cold and stank of the future.

------------------
-SLEEP INTERMISSION-
------------------

10am - The Waysider has room for 20, but you can fit 30 (+2 waitresses) if you can depend on a couple helpful patrons to pass orders across tables. Bacon, hash browns, and a short stack made the starting list, and the specialty home-made biscuits were either some super secret recipe slathered in butter, or they were popped out of a can and slathered in butter (it's deliciously irrelevant, either way).

I was having such a good time hanging with old friends and gorging that when we finished breakfast and walked outside, it was like a slap in the face when I suddenly realized I had to get directly in the car and drive 8-hrs back home. Oh well. At least my belly was full.

Track Racing!

2009-08-05T19:11:00.006-06:00

After only one weekend of track racing, I'm hooked!

Welcome Back to Racing!

2009-04-18T18:52:00.002-06:00

Training has been dodgy at best these past few months. I decided to enter a bike race this weekend, so I figured I should put in some training time on the bike. With a solid 14hrs on the bike under my belt this week, I thought I'd be golden for the race... ;-) The actual race went quite well, though my result was not what I had hoped for. My greatest accomplishment of the day was avoiding the mid-race pile up and finishing the day unscathed. Despite a good setup at the end of the race, I had no giddyup for the final sprint and finished mid pack.

This training thing is not catching on like I hoped it would. Time to pony up and commit to some regimented workouts.

Next race: Eagle Creek Park Crit on May 9

A Bicycle!?

2009-01-27T16:36:00.009-07:00

I just got home from the most exhausting bike ride I've had since arriving in Indianapolis. It was, surprisingly, the 4.1 mile route I ride to and from work every day, taken through windy suburban neighborhoods.

'How is this so', you ask? I shall deliberate no longer!

I make it a point to ride my bike to work as much as possible, but even more so on snowy (or otherwise treacherous) occasions. I prefer the lazy, quiet backroads on my bike to the fast and scary highway in my car. It snowed today, though it was nothing spectacular. The forecast warned 3-6" over the course of the day, and by the time I left work the forecast had been fulfilled...little more than 3" of snow had stuck to the ground. As I began to ride, I soon realized that I was quite unstable, and quite unable to steer in a straight line. This was no ordinary 3" of snow. It might as well have been 6" of thick mud. I struggled both to stay upright and to comprehend why such a seemingly small amount of snow was giving me so much trouble. I turned off a small side street onto a bigger road...the snow was just as deep, though tire ruts made it even harder to keep the bike underneath me. As I labored, I imagined being in a cyclocross race negotiating a sand pit, 4.1 miles long. Soon I began to sweat, and I stopped on the side of the road to remove my balaclava and one layer of gloves. The trek continued, and the falling snow turned to stinging sleet. I let out a string of expletives occasionally - some for the sleet, some for the startle of catching a hidden rut, and others just for good measure. This odyssey was far from over.

I surged to gain speed and keep up with moving traffic across the one busy intersection encountered in my daily commute, and after I slowed down in the following neighborhood my legs and body began a familiar whine. I was bonking! 3 miles of riding and I had run out of energy...I shouldn't have offered that cookie to my co-worker at lunch. I began to feel cold and exhausted. I stopped on the side of the road again to don the clothing I had recently removed. Grinding away in the easiest gear, I struggled along, my front and rear tires slipping wildly to whichever direction they fancied. A severe case of Tourette's wouldn't have made it any more difficult to ride in a straight line.

I crossed a bridge that spanned over the major highway on which I would have driven my car to work. Traffic was crawling, and I stopped for a moment to gawk at the sludgy snow raked high between tire tracks. Near home I spotted a limping old man walking in the middle of the lane of oncoming traffic. Cars had to stop and snake around him. Not knowing if he was looking for an escaped cat or had himself broken out, I trucked on to the next turn where my front door beckoned. I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex and approached a man taking out his garbage. When I rolled passed him, he looked at me and said, incredulously, "A bicycle?! You crazy?!"

I am not entirely sure whether his last words were meant as a query or an exclamation.

New Home

2009-01-23T18:10:00.004-07:00

My apartment is set up, finally. Take a gander at the photos below if you care to see the living room, complete with new couch. I am steadily getting more settled into life in Indianapolis. The cold and ice are still difficult to tolerate, but Spring is nigh, no?

A training plan is also slowly coming in to form. I started riding on the rollers at work after the workday is over, and I'll begin running a few days a week during lunch, and swimming after work a couple times a week. Perhaps I'll be able to show my face at a few races this Summer and not shame myself.

Work has been a whirlwind since the day I started. Every day I become more confident in the workings of the company and I learn more and more about what exactly my job entails. It's hectic and stressful at times, but usually only when I'm trying to do something I've never done before. The catch is, by nature my job will always have me doing things I've never done before. I suppose in a way, you can get accustomed to doing unfamiliar things after time. Although it may not be peaches and cream every day I go into work, I can tell that once I grow into the company and the job position a bit more, this job will be exactly what it's cracked up to be.

On the Eve of the First Day

2008-11-09T19:09:00.003-07:00

It was the middle of my Senior year of college, and like every other kid in my class, I was trying to think of something to do with my life after school. As the days passed, graduation seemed less and less like a celebration of achievement and more like a fast approaching cliff...

Instead of spending my efforts lining up job interviews, researching who was hiring, or practicing interview skills I chose to bury myself in a school project...perhaps "drown" is more apt than "bury". April came and my project wrapped up. With mere weeks left in school I didn't have much time to think about, let alone prepare for, life afterwards.

My grand plan for the first year after school involved making ends meet working at a bike shop while I schemed about developing my own line of carbon fiber bike parts. I considered applying for jobs at several bicycle manufacturers nation wide, but decided that the only two companies I would consider leaving Boulder for were Zipp in Indianapolis and Cervelo in Toronto. And so, as a proverbial fisherman, I exchanged the wide net for a harpoon, crossed my fingers, and heaved blindly towards the huge whale on the horizon.

Here I am, sitting on a blow-up mattress in an echoing one-bedroom apartment in Indianapolis. In 10 hours I'll walk into the Zipp office and start a career.

New Aerobars

2008-10-23T23:05:00.006-06:00

I still need a name for these...

This one was just for fun.

My "New" Car

2008-10-17T17:40:00.005-06:00

I bought a car this week for the move down to Indianapolis. I ended up with a 2004 Mini Cooper S 6sp Manual. While on the whole I am anti-car, I feel really good about this purchase because the Mini is very fuel efficient, small and unobtrusive, stylish and sporty. I do still feel like a bit of a sellout, because I really don't NEED anything more than a reliable beater car and I am going to use my bike instead of my car whenever possible. That said, the times I do drive my car I will have fun doing it. I took it for a joy ride in the mountains after I registered it today. 33mpg at 9,000ft in the mountains!

Bikes at Kona

2008-10-11T14:49:00.002-06:00

TJ Tollakson's bike at check in with Tricaerotop. (Photo from Xtri.com)

Bryan Rhodes' bike at check in with DiMON bottle snap. (Photo from Xtri.com)

Some Changes

2008-10-09T23:25:00.008-06:00

I'm moving to Indianapolis...SURPRISE! Zipp Speed Weaponry offered me a job as a design engineer recently and I took them up on the offer. I'll be moving in the next few weeks, so I have a lot to plan and organize. Indianapolis may be a step down from Boulder in terms of convenience and scenery, but it's a definite "lift-off" in terms of my career as an engineer in the bicycle industry. Some changes of note include buying my first automobile, and for the first time I will be filing my taxes as an independent. I was told that the triathlon scene in Indy is supposed to be "a lot bigger than you would expect", but then again, I wasn't expecting there to be any triathlon scene...On the plus side, there IS a velodrome in town...

If you're planning on watching the Ironman World Championships this weekend make sure to look for the DíMON logo on a few athletes' bikes. Bryan Rhodes is riding the very first DíMON bottle snap prototype on his 2009 Cervélo P3C, and TJ Tollakson has a little treat to show the world on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, DíMON Cycling will not become a reality any time soon as I have committed my ideas and efforts towards Zipp products for the foreseeable future.

Introducing the Tricaerotop! Custom made for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships. (Patent pending, TJ Tollakson)

TJ Tollakson fitting the Tricaerotop.

For now, my only job is to enjoy Colorado as much as I can while I'm still here.

First Day of Fall

2008-09-22T10:41:00.002-06:00

I guess the Summer is over...that went quickly. With my foot healed, I've been able to go on some bike rides and short runs. Yesterday I had a most excellent ride in the mountains. The weather was perfect, the scenery unbelievable, and it was all together a very good last day of Summer.

...looking forward to a "do-over" next Summer.

Aspens turning color off Peak to Peak Hwy (Hwy 72)

Front Page, Baby!

2008-09-16T20:21:00.003-06:00

I happen to have my grimacing mug posted on the front page of the USA Triathlon website advertising USAT Nationals this year. Check it out at http://www.usatriathlon.org

I also had the a similar picture as the cover of a USAT welcome pamphlet for new 2008 USAT members. Anyone want an autograph?

DíMON Cycling presents...

2008-09-08T00:21:00.004-06:00

...the Bottle Snap prototype. The prototype weighs 15g, and I plan on cutting some more material out of the next version to save weight. My guess is that it will weigh about 10-12g. If you want one shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do.

Le Hub

2008-08-18T20:37:00.007-06:00

When I made plans for this project I predicted I would finish this hub by Aug. 18th...lucky guess maybe, but here it is, the very first DíMON prototype disc hub. This one is meant for track cycling only. Next step: put the DISC in DISC WHEEL! I'll try to keep this blog updated with progress reports.

Foot Update

2008-08-13T22:36:00.004-06:00

I had my 6-week doctor's visit today. Foot is healing nicely, though not 100% yet. The exciting news is that the doctor gave me clearance to ride and kick while swimming, AND - I can ditch the boot! Roughly 22.3 minutes later I was home putting on my left shoe for the first time in 6 weeks and rode my bike to work. I went for a short ride on my road bike after work with my roommate and it was awesome!

I have another doctor's appointment in 4 weeks, at which point I hope to get the go-ahead for some running and more vigorous exercise.

YUM!

2008-07-16T21:32:00.006-06:00

He can walk! He can walk, he can walk, he can walk, he can walk - I can SWIIIIIMMMMMM!!! (Take off of Simpsons, Planet of the Apes)

So, stitches are out, and I got the go ahead to hobble around on my heel in my boot. Since I no longer have to keep my stitches dry, I can hop in the pool with a pull-buoy. Summer has been taken back!

DíMON Cycling

2008-07-14T02:34:00.007-06:00

Coming in 2009

Something to shoot for

2008-07-12T01:32:00.003-06:00

I really don't have any news to write about, so I've decided to write about things I will write about later...

Namely, before winter sets in, I would like to break 1,700 watts on my bike. You'll be seeing a post when this happens. Below is a power reading from a ride I did a week before I broke my foot.

Other than planning a glorious comeback just in time for the first snowfall, I've been spending most of my time doing things to help me pass the time and feel productive. So far, I have gathered all the materials, tools, software, and resources to start actually making headway on some carbon fiber disc wheels I've been dreaming of for some time. I've even done some paper-and-pencil engineering analyses to determine safety factors on all the crucial parts. Next in line is to finalize the computer models, run some FEA simulations, and start machining the darn hub! Pictures will accompany progress.

Extreme Pedicure!

2008-07-04T12:22:00.002-06:00

I had a very expensive pedicure yesterday. Dr. Wertz put 3 screws in the 5th metatarsal of my left foot. I believe they will stay there indefinitely, but I go back for the follow up appointment on July 16th to get all the recovery details.

The 40 minute operation went smoothly, and I got to watch some of it. The spinal anesthetic didn't start working completely until a few minutes into the operation, so I could feel them slicing my foot open and positioning the bones back together. The spinal anesthetic is supposed to numb everything from the waist down, but oddly enough I could feel and move everything except the calf and foot they were operating on. As soon as the surgery was over, they removed the tourniquet from my quad and almost instantly I could feel and move my left leg. Thankfully I was not in pain.

Right now I'm hopped up on Percocet, which I can tell you I do not like as much as Vicodin. Percocet makes me feel as if I've just woken up still drunk after a big night of drinking. Vicodin just made me pleasantly tired.

Let the countdown to a good foot begin!

I should have practiced that more...

2008-06-28T17:03:00.008-06:00

Oh man, oh man...oh, man. I had a bunch of firsts today. First time racing the Loveland Lake to Lake Olympic distance triathlon, first broken bone, first ambulance ride, first prescription of Vicodin, soon to be first surgery, and a first class dissappointment. Remember that time I said I had perfected the flying bike mount? It may be hard to remember unless you're a loyal reader of this blog, because I claimed to have perfected this graceful act all of 19 HOURS AGO! Well, it turns out I did not, in fact, perfect the flying bike mount.

The short and long of it was that I messed up the mount, landed on my foot sideways really hard, said 'ouch', and then convinced myself to continue riding to see if the pain would go away. During the 15 miles it took me to realize something was seriously wrong, my thought progression went something like this;

"Shit, that hurts. Calm down and you can gain back lost time."

"Shit, that still hurts. Just get through the bike and see what you can do on the run."

"Shit, I guess I'll just finish the ride."

"Shit, my foot is swollen and green."

There goes the past 8 weeks of training...and the next 8...

( -100 cool points)

3 Seconds Faster, +10 Cool Points

2008-06-27T22:49:00.003-06:00

I'm racing tomorrow morning. More precisely, I will be starting my race in 7 hours, 40 minutes. To prep for the race I had a relaxing ride on the outskirts of town to loosen the legs. Afterwards I did something I should have done 3 years ago...perfect the flying bike mount. My bike mounts have always been pretty good, but far from impressive. I spent about 5 minutes practicing in slo-mo to get the action down and slowly gained confidence and speed, until I was able to hop on the saddle at a brisk jog.

Tomorrow I hope to impress.

5430 Sprint, 2008

2008-06-17T18:46:00.006-06:00

Coming back from Vancouver left me itching for a real race. This past weekend was the 5430 Sprint and I was psyched for a fast, fun course. Sprints are my favorite distance; not only do they suite my strengths as an athlete, but they generally are low key and require less preparation in the days prior to the race. Sprint races are a chance to go all out and grit your teeth through the finish.

My race went surprisingly well. Minutes before the starting gun I was joking about how I should be starting the race from the back of the pack. Regardless, I started the swim front and center with my buddies who were in my wave. After the gun, I settled into a strong pace and felt very comfortable. I kept the same effort level and was enjoying the untouched glassy water in front. One by one the swimmers by my side dropped back and I was tempted to slow down to get on a pair of feet to draft, but decided that leading a swim was a rare and fun occurrence, so I kept chugging along quite comfortably in the lead. I kicked it up a notch with 300m to go, and when I ran out of the water I was leading by ~30sec. After hustling in and out of T1, I had a good mount and started the ride. Pacing was great, I never went over the red line and kept my effort under control for the bike. I lead my wave for most of the bike, until the last 2 miles when the two friends I had started the swim with passed me and stayed ahead. I came into T2 about 20 seconds back but exited in 2nd place. I played it conservative for most of the run and kept a pace I thought I could maintain. Surprisingly, the gap between myself and my buddy in the lead held steady at 15 sec through the halfway mark. I fell off pace shortly after and was caught by the other friend trailing close behind. With 2k to go all I could do was hang on as best as I could. He dropped me shortly thereafter and I was left with nothing but momentum carrying me forward.

I finished the race 1min 16sec slower than last year, but only one place down from last year; 11th overall, 2nd place age group. Not bad considering I've only put in about 50 hours of training since getting back into the swing of things after school let out. If I come back into form on all fronts I should have a very good summer of races.

It was a fashionable finish... ;-)

Vancouver 2008

2008-06-16T17:25:00.004-06:00

I recently returned from Vancouver, BC, host of the ITU World Triathlon Championships. I traveled there with my coach Matt and teammate Cedric. The entire weekend was cloudy, cold and rainy. I was not entirely prepared for this race; I had been back in training for about a month and my fitness was relatively lacking. The water temp was a frigid 55F and rain persisted for the entire first two days we were there.

Race morning was cold and cloudy but dry. A stiff wind had whipped up 3-5ft swells in the English Bay, and after over 600 women had started their race, directors decided to cancel the swim for the remaining competitors due to high seas. Apparently the kayaks on the swim course were overwhelmed; both by the number of people needing help and because they were taking on water and capsizing from the waves. SURPRISE! It's a duathlon! The swim was replaced with a "3k" run, which was more like a 2k run. The bike course was a tad under 37k, which for a World Championships, is embarrassingly short.

I started the 1st run in the back of the field, knowing my run is my weakest link, and made sure not to go out too hard and blow up. I came into T1 about a minute back from the leaders and had a smooth transition to the bike. Despite having to surge my way past HUGE packs of drafting racers my pacing was pretty good on the bike. The drafting was pretty blatant. We're talking 30+ racers packed within a 50m stretch of road. Oh well.

I had a great T2 after the bike and was feeling good on the run for the first 3k. I then promptly blew up and struggled through the rest of the run. I brought it home for a 32nd place finish in my age group, which is surprisingly 10 places better than I did at last year's Worlds. For some reason there was not as strong of competition this year. All in all I'm not dissapointed in my performance; I expected as much given the lack of preparation.

My "A" race for the season will be Age Group Nationals in Portland OR. I should have plenty of time to get back into peak shape by then!

Tornado Cancels Race

2008-05-22T20:29:00.002-06:00

My first race of the summer was cancelled due to a tornado. The Pelican Fest Triathlon is a fun sprint race up in Windsor Colorado. Windsor was hit hard today and the race is a no go...bummer all around. I'll probably replace the race with an intense series of workouts that day to simulate a race effort. Worlds is 3 weeks out and it's time to pick up the intensity!

Back in Training

2008-05-14T18:29:00.002-06:00

School is over, the weather is starting to turn to Summer. I've got nothing to do but train full time and occasionally work at the bike shop. My plans for the summer are to train as much as possible, work enough to pay the bills, and design and build my own carbon fiber disc wheels and aerobars. I'll have more updates on each front as news comes. My racing schedule is already set, but my fitness is pretty pathetic, given the lack of training over the past 9 months.

Pelican Fest Sprint - May 23rd
ITU Age Group Worlds - June 7th
5430 Sprint - June 15th
Table Mountain Criterium Series - July 1st
Rocky Mounts Criterium - July 12th
Longmont Criterium - July 13th
Boulder Peak - July 20th
Table Mountain Criterium Series - July 29th
5430 Long Course - August 10th
Dillon Criterium - August 24th
Age Group Nationals - September 20th

For now, drool over the newest addition to my 'quiver' of bicycles. Just took it for the first ride today.

CU Eco Marathon Car

2008-04-22T09:44:00.003-06:00

The car is done!! Well, I'm done with the car, let's say. I still have to write the final report on the project, but all the late nights are history. The car looks fantastic. As soon as we get it running I'll post it's fuel efficiency. For now, here are pictures;

Senior Project in the News

2008-03-04T17:45:00.004-07:00

My Senior Project was featured on Denver's Channel 7 ABC news last week. Here's the clip -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXOIdO1OqRM

2,000 Visits!

2008-03-04T00:38:00.003-07:00

My blog just spilled over 2,000 visits since I started it a little over a year ago. Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll have some more news on my TRIATHLON endeavors soon, instead of all this school crap.

Supermileage Car

2008-03-02T19:35:00.006-07:00

In years past I've been involved with human powered vehicle projects, and each year we talked about how cool it would be to have a professional looking monocoque carbon fiber fairing/chassis. Our fairings always turned out disastrous, though somehow we were still able to use them. This year, for the supermileage car I'm working on for my Senior Project, we actually pulled it off. Yesterday we popped our professional looking monocoque carbon fiber fairing/chassis out of their molds. It took about 600 man-hours of work over 5 weeks, split between 3 people, to get this. We're still not done with it, but this is a huge milestone. We still have to trim the edges and windows, make and install the windows, carbon fiber seat, carbon fiber firewall, and then the fairing will be done. After that we'll have to put all the components together and get it to run.

Finished parts; 17.8lbs total

Structural foam was used between layers of carbon fiber to provide stiffness and strength to hold the weight of the driver.

The huge autoclave the molds were cured in.

A New Level

2008-02-17T20:44:00.007-07:00

Since my Senior Project has taken over my life, I figured I might as well post about it instead of writing about my non-existent training schedule.

I'm in charge of the carbon fiber monocoque chassis/fairing for a supermileage car competing in the Shell Eco-Marathon this April. It's gone from Computer Aided Design to molds in 3 weeks, all done 100% by hand. It's taken about 350 man-hours to get this far. With only 3 people to share the load, it's been a busy time. Next step is to prep the molds for the carbon fiber layup and structural foam, then it gets baked in a huge autoclave for a few hours, and voila, a carbon fiber car body!

Computer rendering

Final CAD

Flow analysis

Male plugs

Female molds in the oven

Just like riding a bike...

2008-02-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

My cycling training as been abysmally non-existent in the past 6 months. I could easily count the number of times I've ridden my bike since August on my fingers and toes...probably just my fingers. The weather has been nice enough in the past few weeks to melt all the snow off the road, and today the high was 39F; perfect for a ride. I took it easy and felt pretty comfortable. During the ride I tried sprinting and managed to squeeze out 1,314 watts, exactly 17 watts/kg. My powermeter is new so I have no previous data to compare this too, but I'm expecting the numbers to jump up dramatically once I get my butt in gear this spring.

I have a couple swim, bike, and run time trials coming up in the next few weeks...the truth will soon be revealed about how much training I SHOULD have been doing in the past few month.

Handmade Wheels

2008-01-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

I finished the wheels I was machining for part of a school project I'm working on. The wheels turned out really nice. I had to make them custom because what I needed for the project was essentially a wheelchair wheel with disc brake rotors. It has a 15mm axle sticking out of one side, and beefy bearings to take up the uneven load caused by clamping onto the axle at just one side of the hub. Pictured here is one of the wheels without the disc brake rotor installed.

Back of the hub

Front of the hub

Phoenix Rock N' Roll Half Marathon

2008-01-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

I had a great trip to Phoenix this weekend. I just got back last night after racing in the morning. I'm a little sore today, but I'm very excited to say that I will be able to train through this race without any overuse injuries! I went to Phoenix with a crowd from the CU Tri team and we had a very smooth, relaxing trip in terms of logistics before and after the race.

As for the race itself, my only goal was to finish in one piece. Mission accomplished. My time was 1:32:20, about 3 minutes slower than my first half marathon last May. I'm happy with the time, especially given that it's still the middle of winter. My teammates had great races as well. Everyone I talked to set PR's in either the half or full marathon.

Spring semester started today. To think that I only have 4 months to graduation is a little scary. I suppose I should start mulling over what I plan on doing afterwards...

Business Up Front...

2008-01-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

I cut my hair. I had a lot.

Secrets to Success

2008-01-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

I completed a 90 minute run today, free of injury. I felt great the entire time, it was amazing. I really believe the strength training and regular deep tissue massage is making all the difference. The half-marathon is about a week and a half away, and I feel confident I won't have any issues during the race. It's going to be a positive experience.

My secrets to success? Why, I thought you'd never ask!

1. Strength training with the Bosu Balance Ball. Try doing a couple one-legged squats on this guy...or 60.

2. Deep tissue work from generous sponsor, Tri-Massage. Top quality massage, crazy cheap price. Not only am I kept injury free, but my pain threshold has been taken to the next level, thanks to CMT Josh Shadle. He can make world champions cry with the tweak of his pinkies...I'm not joking...

Running

2007-12-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

I've been running! Over the winter break I've been getting in some consistent run training and my legs are holding up just fine...knock on wood! I'm about to switch over to a fresh pair of Newtons. My first pair are about to kick the bucket and I want to break in the new ones before I race the Phoenix Half Marathon on January 13th.

I completed a 1hr 15min run on Christmas day, what a present! I think I should be in good shape to complete the half marathon without injuring myself - a major goal for this race.

Speaking of Christmas presents, I was gifted an awesome waterPROOF helmet video camera. Expect to see death-defying descents and record breaking times down the sweetest roads Colorado has to offer*. Also, I may be updating underwater videos, if I ever find anything underwater worth sharing on video. The first video slated for production will be a sub-7 minute descent of Flagstaff Mtn.

The new helmet cam.

*Yellow-line rule in effect. No one is planning on getting hurt here.

500y Swim TT

2007-12-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

I had a 500y swim TT this morning. It will serve as a benchmark to measure my progress in the upcoming months. I wasn't feeling great yesterday and thought I had a cold coming on. This morning I didn't feel much better. My time was 11 seconds off my PR, which isn't bad for this time of year. I still want to get a lot faster than last season.

Only 4 weeks until my first race of the season; PF Chang's Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix, AZ. I guess I should pick up the running volume right about now...

Time to rest.

School, and Plenty of It

2007-12-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

I've been so slammed with work the past few weeks. I haven't been able to train nearly as much as I want to, or should be. I'm almost done with one side project I'm doing for my Senior Design class. My team is building a super-high mileage car, for which we plan on using Zipp track disc wheels with disc brakes for the two front wheels. I designed and machined a set of hubs that we can use to practice driving the vehicle with so we don't mess up the Zipp wheels before competition in April.

This was my first major machining job, and I'm estimating it took me 16 hours to finish both hubs.

Back to Work

2007-11-07T21:58:00.001-07:00

Alright, so I spent the past two months doing absolutely nothing. I exercised approximately 7 times and ate way more pizza and donuts than a person should ever attempt. My body fat % went up, but I dropped a couple pounds which means I lost a lot of muscle. I've been back training for 3 days now, so far so good. There will be a couple things different about this season...

I'm going to run year round! No more IT injuries, no more weeks off from running. I am going to run! To accomplish this I have a three-pronged approach: regular deep tissue massage to break up adhesions along my IT band, consistent weight training to correct muscle imbalances and tighten my core, and lots of yoga and stretching. Add in a little luck and I'll be a real running machine in no time!

In other news...my awesome carbon fiber fixie was stolen shortly after I got back from Worlds. Luckily, my renters insurance covered the loss and I was able to replace it with an equally sweet fixie. I even had enough money left over to buy myself a PowerTap, so I'll be biking with power readings now.

14.8lbs

The Season In Review

2007-09-14T13:42:00.001-06:00

My season is over. I've been doing a lot of relaxing, kicking back, and letting loose lately. Since returning from Worlds I've worked out just as often as I've gone out to the bars, which is to say twice. I'm able to focus on school work a lot more and hopefully I'll get motivated soon to organize my room, my eating habits, and my weekly schedule so that when November 1st rolls around it will be easy to hop back into a full training load. My focus this winter will be to keep my legs healthy so I can get a full course of run base training in.

Highlights of this season:
- PRs for 500y open swim, 1.5k tri swim, 10k tri run, 5k tri run, 5k open run, Olympic tri
- Tied my PR for 40k tri bike
- PR for fastest avg. bike speed during a tri
- Won my last bike race as a Cat4 in a most glorious fashion, and the next day I...
- ...Met my goal for my first half marathon
- Moab training camp
- First time Mt. Evans ascent
- Perfect race at Age Group Nationals
- Going to Worlds in Hamburg with my buds
- Celebrating post-race in Hamburg with my buds

It was a good season. Coach Matt, thanks for helping me do it all!

Worlds

2007-09-06T14:22:00.000-06:00

I had an excellent time in Hamburg, Germany for the ITU World Championships. The race itself was ok, not my best, but nothing to complain about. My swim was about 40 seconds slower than what I was shooting for, but I still came out of the water with all the US kids I normally run to T1 with. The run to T1 was about 400m so it added a good amount of time to my swim, but I think I came out of the water somewhere in between 20 and 21 minutes. I spent most of my time on the bike avoiding draft-packs, of which there was an abundance. It was really unfortunate to see all of the drafting going on, but I guess it's harder to avoid when there are so many closely matched racers on the course. Not having any real run training since mid July really put a damper on my run, but I still broke 40 minutes, so I am not too dissapointed. My IT band started hurting at 6k, but I didn't think twice about it.

I celebrated the end of my racing season with some of the best people (very talented athletes as well). The Age Group World Champion, Ben Collins, came out with us to celebrate his graduation to the pro ranks, effective that night at midnight. We ran into some American U23 and Elite athletes at a pub in the redlight district and had ourselves a good time. We stumbled back to our hotel at 2am and I packed in time to catch a cab to the airport at 4am. I was exhausted to say the least.

21:56 1500m swim (+400m run)
1:00:26 40k bike
39:12 10k run

44th in the 20-24 Age Group
134th overall

I just wanted to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all the people who helped me make it to Germany: Mom, Dad, Grammy, Matty, Gabe, the ENTIRE CU Tri Team, James, Joe and Dave Corman. Thank you all, it was an amazing experience!

Fresh Paint

2007-08-25T00:27:00.001-06:00

Rudy Project, I hope you appreciate all the work that went into this.

5430 Long Course

2007-08-14T21:01:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday was the 5430 "Half-Ironman" Long course race. My IT bands have really been acting up lately, and with Worlds just 3 weeks after the race I couldn't risk the injury running the half-marathon. Just for fun, I raced the swim and the bike, and then called it quits at T2. I had a great time, especially since I could go all-out on the bike and not worry about saving any energy for the run.

Before the race I wasn't really "in the mood" to put in a big effort. I didn't feel like swimming, and I hadn't prepared for the race in the days before. I was just going to go out, put in a hard effort, and call it a fun, hard training day. I positioned myself at the front and center of the swim start, and at the gun I took off and led my wave into the glare of the unknown. It was really sweet to have smooth, open water to swim in. I didn't worry about anyone drafting off me and just swam directly into the glare of the sun off the water. One by one I found the swim buoys, until finally I ran into the stragglers of the waves before me and had some splashes to follow. I just kept chugging along and came out of the water over a minute ahead of the next person in my age group.

I felt like crap, like always, on the run up to transition. I took my sweet time getting on the bike and let my legs warm up for a few miles before putting down the hammer. My buddy Josh caught me around mile 10 and I tried to stick with him, but he dropped me after another 10 miles. I finished the first 25 miles in 58:26! After 28 miles I knew I had gone out too hard, so my goal for the second half of the bike was to keep everything under control. Another buddy and tri-team cohort Dan caught me around mile 38. Instead of playing "leap frog" with him on the bike course I decided to do the conservative thing and just hung out behind him for the next 14 miles. It's really surprising how much of a benefit you get riding behind someone outside of the "drafting zone". Psychologically, pacing off someone in front of you makes the effort you're putting in seem a lot easier, and I'm pretty sure you can get a tangible draft riding 25 feet behind someone. With a few miles to go I put down everything I had and was determined to make my legs hurt. I mooned the 3rd bike aid station as I went by, I'm sure my friends volunteering there appreciated it. I came into T2, jogged my bike to the rack and caught my breath, cheered on a few friends as they trickled into transition and on to the run, then I went to work.

26:58 - 1.2 mile swim
2:15:53 - 56 mile bike

Excellent swim!
Pushing hard on the bike.

Boulder Peak

2007-08-01T21:29:00.000-06:00

Boulder Peak Triathlon was over a week and a half ago, I just haven't gotten around to writing about it yet. My race was a little disappointing, but I finished the race and still had a fun time.

The start of the swim went directly into the sun. After the gun went off I stuck myself to the back of the lead group of 5 guys. We had a good 25m on the rest of the field within the first 500m. I kept trying to sight the turn buoy but couldn't see ANYTHING into the glare off the water. I looked to my side and saw a course buoy about 50m to our left and immediately panicked that we were going off course and had missed the turn. So I took a sharp turn and ditched my draft pack to try to get back on course, thinking the rest of them were going to swim for a while before they realized they were going the wrong way. As soon as I "got back on track" I turned and saw the turn buoy...directly in front of the lead pack. I ditched the lead pack for no reason at all, and I lost time swimming sideways. Needless to say, my swim sucked. I started the bike almost 2 minutes behind where I wanted to be, and kept it conservative for the first few miles out of transition knowing I had to get up and over Olde Stage. I conserved energy to the base of the climb, and when it came time to open up and give it everything I had, nothing was there. I felt like Hans Solo expecting to haul ass only to find out his hyperdrive was busted. I got through the bike and had an AWESOME T2, best I've ever had. After half a mile on the run I just fell apart. My form disappeared, my cadence slowed, and my IT band syndrome reared it's ugly head. By mile 2 I was in pain and knew I was going to have to settle for just crossing the finishing line. My trademark dying animal noises emerged from my mouth, my neck went slack, and my stride turned into a limp. I'm positive I resembled a zombie... With a half mile to go, my good buddy Matt caught up to me and paced me to the finish line.

Crawling up Olde Stage

Me on Mike's heels into T2

Matty and I heading to the finish.

I didn't do so hot in this race last year either. I think the placement of the race relative to my racing season may have something to do with it. It's just a few weeks after I peak for Age Group Nationals and it's right around when I start feeling burnt out. I've got the 5430 Half coming up in a little over a week, and I'm looking forward to finishing my first race at that distance. I've been contemplating what I would do if my IT band problems came back during the half marathon run. My strategies include; running backwards, skipping, and speed walking.

In other news, I had a great swim today. I had a 500y set at tempo pace, which I did in 6min flat, only 5 seconds off my 500 PR! If I had actually been gunning it I'm fairly sure I could have broken my PR. Pretty exciting.

Long Run, Long Ride

2007-07-14T17:48:00.000-06:00

I'm beat. Over 8 hours of training in the past 2 days. On Friday I had a swim, followed by the longest run I have done to date; a whopping 2 hours in the mountains. My IT band took a beating and I'm afraid I'll have to pay extra close attention to them in the next week or so. Energy-wise I felt great during the entire run.

Mesa Trail run; elevation graph

Today I rode up to the peak of Mt. Evans at 14,100ft. I felt strong and largely unaffected by the altitude until crossing above 12,000ft. I felt as if I were bonking during the last 3 miles of the ascent . I had a headache, I was dizzy, my arms were tired and numb, and my legs had absolutely no power in them. After a quick photo-op at the top and a long, bumpy 26-mile descent back to our cars in Idaho Springs (7,800ft), I did a quick brick run. My IT bands were pretty much shot from the run yesterday, so I only got in half of the run time I wanted to. Now, my only goal for the rest of the day is to regain all the water weight I lost and eat salty food. In total, I burned over 5,000Kcal today and lost over 8lbs of water through dehydration. Not good. I guess 4 bottles of water on a 4 hour ride is NOT ENOUGH.

Mt. Evans ride; Elevation graph

Echo Lake

Approaching 12,000ft. Well above treeline.

Summit of Mt. Evans

Kentucky Fried Chicken sounds amazing right now...but - would I dare???

Age Group National Championships 2007

2007-07-01T15:07:00.000-06:00

I had a great race. Great swim, great bike, awesome run. I set a 10k PR at 38:49 on a very challenging run course. The bike course was equally challenging, and the hills were not in my favor. I finished in 2:02:18 for 29th place overall, 6th place in the 20-24 age group. I qualified for both 2007 and 2008 World Championship races. I'll be going to the 2008 race in Vancouver, for sure, but I have to see if I can pull together the money to go to 2007 Worlds in Hamburg.

The splits;
19:28 1500m swim
1:01:56 40km bike
38:49 10km run

Male 20-24 Age Group results.

Overall results.

If you want the blow-by-blow, read on.

I started the swim right behind last years 20-24 age group winner, Ben Collins, in hopes of catching a free ride behind him for the swim. At the gun I was already about 3 body lengths behind him...scratch that idea. I jumped on the nearest pair of legs I could find and held on for dear life. I was in the top ten at this point of the swim, but I only lasted behind those legs to the halfway point. At the swim turn-around I got dropped and was in no man's land for a few hundred meters until a group of about 4 guys picked me up and I drafted off of them until we had about 200m to go, at which point I decided to veer off to take a more direct path to the finish. I ended up coming out of the water in 8th place, about 10 seconds ahead of that pack.

After a hectic T1 I hopped on my bike and didn't put my shoes on until after the crazy-steep hill directly out of transition. It took me a little while to get blood to my legs and in the mean time the pack of swimmers I had come out of the water ahead of started catching me. I found myself behind a strung-out line of about 6 guys. I would pass everyone on the downhills and flats, and then everyone would pass me on the hills. After the first 5km I broke ties and made some time on all but one kid, who I ended up "leap frogging" with for most of the bike. We were trading off for 2nd and 3rd place, but on a big hill with a few km to go he pulled ahead. I finished the bike in 3rd place, about 30 seconds behind 2nd.

I settled into a strong pace on the run, but the uphills were killing my quads and the downhills didn't feel any better. By the top of the first hill I had already been caught by one kid; knocked back to 4th place. I kept plugging away and actually felt like I was running fast, I was surprised. At the run turn-around I got a chance to see who was creeping up on me, and I was encouraged by the gaps I saw. About a kilometer after the turn-around another kid slowly closed in on me and passed; back to 5th place now. I kept him as close as possible, but I was starting to hurt at this point. My arms started to tingle and go numb, I'm guessing because all my blood was going to my legs. With two more hills to go I was struggling to keep the pace up and counting down the minutes for when I would finish. On the last hill before turning into the finishing chute I could barely get my legs to turn over. Another kid passed me and I had nothing left to follow him. I just crossed my fingers and hoped that no one else was closing in and I buckled down to the finish line, crossing safely in 6th place. It felt really good.

I want to give a little tribute to Charley French, the 80-99 age group champion. At 81, Charley finished in 3:03:32.
33:44 1500m swim
1:21:51 40km bike
1:03:06 10km run
...holy shit.

Taper to Nat's

2007-06-25T14:47:00.000-06:00

Nationals is in 5 days and I've started my taper. I'm feeling strong, especially on the run. My goal for the next few days is to stay rested and relaxed. I'm looking forward to having my strongest performance to date! It's a really great feeling, knowing that each day I'm the fittest I've ever been in my life. I feel pretty mean and lean right now.

Thursday afternoon I fly out to Portland, OR. Saturday I race, Sunday I fly back. You'll be hearing how it goes for sure.

Hagg Lake, OR. Transition is on the tan part of the shoreline jutting out on the top left side of the lake. The bike course is two laps around the lake, and the run is an out-and-back along the bike course.

5430 Sprint

2007-06-18T19:19:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the 5430 Sprint Triathlon, the first of the three-race series in Boulder. The race was a "dress-rehearsal" for Age Group Nationals in 2 weeks, and just about everything went according to plan. My goals for the race were to place in the top 15 overall, break my previous stand alone bike TT time on the bike course (see my previous post on March 8th), and run faster than 6min/mile pace. I almost achieved every one of those goals, and I am very satisfied with the performance.

I finished 10th overall, my bike split was more than 3 minutes faster than what I did in March, and I ran 5 seconds off of a 6min/mile pace. I finished 3:28 behind the overall winner, but was 1:40 back from 2nd place. I blew up in the last kilometer of the run, but I still pulled off a solid run split (for my standards, at least).

10:37 800m swim + 150m run to transition
40:02 27.7km bike
18:41 5km run
_____________________
1:10:59

The only things that went wrong during this race;
-I really fumbled around getting into my bike shoes, and my shoe strap came completely undone so I had to wait until a downhill before I could "re-lace" the velcro.
-I started getting asthma on the run...I bet I sounded like a dying animal to the people around me.
-I blew up on the last bit of the run, and I had no kick whatsoever at the finish.
...otherwise I couldn't have asked for a better race.

The kid who won it this year raced a 1:10:50 in 2006. Does that mean there is a chance in hell that I, too, can take over 3 minutes off my time in one year? I sure as hell will try...

Exiting T1

Exiting T2

Yep, it hurt. At least I look cool with a sweet mullet.

I like the foot strike. I like the mullet.

Thanks for the photos, Matt!

Orthotics by Active Imprints

2007-06-09T15:16:00.000-06:00

I went in to Active Imprints today for an appointment to get some custom running orthotics made. Owner Danny Abshire is one of the two co-founders of the Newton running shoe company. I have a set of orthotics already, but they give me very painful arch blisters when I run without socks, they are heavy, and they provide no forefoot correction. This is a problem because the goal with these spiffy new Newton running shoes is to get the runner to land on their forefoot, which would potentially negate any need for heel correction and increase need for forefoot correction.

I went in and was the only customer in the shop. After taking my foot imprint, the guy working in the shop that day, R.L., invited me in the back to watch him make the orthotics. Normally you have to wait a week or so for cutsom orthotics to come full circle, but at Active Imprints the whole thing took a whopping 30 minutes from start to finish! The new orthotics feel great and they weigh about half as much as my old ones. On top of this, the surface of the insole is made of a very smooth leather-like material that I'm guessing will cure my blister problems. I have a brick track workout tomorrow which should be a good test for the new orthotics.

Imprints of my feet were used as molds.

The molded material being glued up.

RL shaping the bottom and edges of the orthotics.

The finished product!

Damn, sucka! Look at that correction.

5k Run PR!

2007-06-07T19:29:00.000-06:00

The Stroke N' Stride was cancelled today due to high winds. I went out to the Boulder Reservoir anyway to meet my coach and training buddies so we could still get in a hard workout. We decided to run the 5k course at race pace. This would be the first legitimate open 5k for me, as the previous open 5k I did in February was actually 4.6k. The course at "the res" is an out-and-back, so the stiff winds gave us a killer headwind on the way out and a nice tailwind on the way back.

I felt great running into the wind, really comfortable with the effort. On the way back I concentrated on landing with a forefoot strike and with as little time contacting the ground as possible. I kept my hips under me and my core tall, and let 'er rip! I finished in 17:46; 5:43-mile pace.

On Saturday I have an appointment to get new custom running orthotics. I can't wait!

I like this 5k course.

Holy Crap! Wind!

2007-06-06T20:34:00.000-06:00

Taken from Weather.com:
"HIGH WIND WARNING: WEST WINDS OF 30 TO 50 MPH WILL DEVELOP IN THE FOOTHILLS AND OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN EAST OF THE DIVIDE LATER THIS EVENING WITH GUSTS UP TO 90 MPH WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS ON THURSDAY. A FEW GUSTS COULD REACH 100 MPH OR MORE IN A FEW LOCATIONS."

I did the Lyons-Boulder TT tonight, starting at 7pm. The course goes directly North-to-South... coincidentally, the wind always comes from the West. I almost died about 20 times. By far, these were the worst wind conditions I have ever ridden in...and I had my 808s on the TT bike. Bad, bad recipe. I was surprised my pedals weren't clipping the road because I was leaning over so hard. I was afraid my wheels were going to loose traction, my helmet threatened to get sucked off my head, and my cheeks were becoming inflated just like you see in skydiving videos. Hitting little cracks in the road bounced my front wheel up just enough that at times it got picked up by the crosswind and thrown over a few inches.

The last time I did this TT I had no TT goodies (helmet, wheels, suit, booties, etc) and it was cold and raining. This time around I pulled out all the stops and went full aero; my time was about 1.5 minutes slower!

I passed a friend during the TT and he said I was leaning so far over that I looked like a downhill racer going into a banked corner.

I'm glad that's over. Whew!

Pelican Fest

2007-05-26T15:15:00.000-06:00

It was a great day at the Pelican Festival in Windsor, CO. Good weather, crisp air, hot air balloons, and a strong man competition. Oh, and a triathlon. The Pelican Fest Triathlon included an 800m swim, 10mi bike, and a "5k" run.

The swim was the most rough-and-tumble I have experienced, which is very surprising considering how small the race was (~300 racers). I kept bumping into people, getting dunked, kicked, and smacked the entire time. I came out of the water somewhere in the top 5 of my wave; a couple 15-year olds beat me out of the water...jerks ;-)

After a little traffic jam in T1 I was cruising on the bike course. I felt really powerful on the bike and my new Garneau TT helmet had an excellent maiden voyage. Despite starting in the second wave, I caught all but two people by the time I came to T2. My feet were completely numb and I fumbled a little bit while putting my shoes on.

The beginning of the run included 2 incredibly steep hills, all of which I hobbled up. My calf was still sore from the half-marathon a week ago, and the climbing today made it feel as if I was about to pull a muslce with every step. After careening down each of the hills, I settled into a good pace on the flat section of the run course. For the first time I felt comfortable pushing hard on the run. Unfortunately, the run was really short. My time was 16:44...I'd like to say I can run a 16:44 5k, but...no. The run was approximately 4.4km, according to gmaps-pedometer, which means my actual 5k time would have been a shade under 19 minutes. Not bad for such a hilly course, but it's a far cry from 16:44.

The splits:
9:35 800m swim
24:27 10mi bike ~400ft of climbing
16:44 5k run (4.4k actual) ~250ft of climbing over two short hills.

52:22, 4th place overall, 1st place M20-24 age group.

"No one touches athletes when they have PMS."

2007-05-26T04:39:00.000-06:00

It's 4:40am, I'm eating oatmeal like it's my job, I have a race to do in 3hrs 20min, and there have been 666 visitors to my training blog. Rock n' roll, baby!

2 Days, 2 Races

2007-05-20T17:36:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the leave of absence. Final exams were taking up all of my time and I didn't really have much to write about in terms of racing or training. This weekend I finally got back into the swing of things with a bike race on Saturday and a running race on Sunday.

Saturday's race was the North Boulder Criterium, put on by the shop I work at, Excel Sports. It's the oldest and biggest bike race in Boulder, and it used to be a stage in the Red Zinger Classic, at one point the biggest stage race in America with competitors such as Lemond, Hinault, and the Russian Olympic cycling squad.

http://www.boulderbikerace.com/nbp/

I got my Cat3 upgrade this past Tuesday, but I couldn't make the late afternoon start time of the Cat3 race so I asked permission to join the Cat4s one last time. The race started at 9:45am with about 60 guys. Each time a prime came around I went off the front halfway through the lap and took the prize without any fight from the other racers. On the bell for the third and final prime I saw some strong looking guys move to the front at the base of the only "hill" on the course, so I followed them up to the front and urged them to make a break with me. I pushed a little bit to initiate a gap away from the pack, and when I looked back I was alone. I decided to keep going to win the prime. Once I crossed the line I looked back and had a sizeable gap, so I did the dumb thing that never works and kept pushing. Now I'm 10 seconds off the front of the pack with 20 minutes left to go in the crit and I'm trying to convince myself that I'll stay away. Taking care to pace myself, I keep plugging away and the gap starts to grow. I look back with 15 minutes to go and there is a small chase group of 4 trying to bridge up. With the call for 5 laps to go I look back and there are only 2 chasing, but they haven't gained any time. SO, I just kept on keepin' on and I ended up winning the race off the solo break. It was the perfect way to say farewell to the damn Cat4s. The time for me to upgrade has been long past due, I felt a little guilty for taking all 3 primes AND the win. I went home with 2 tubs of Endurox, 1 tub of Accelerade, 3 bike computers, and $65. Cat3s, hang on to your butts!

Start of the Cat4 North Boulder Criterium

Backside of the course. I'm behind the kid in white and maroon.

Throwing caution into the wind. You can see the chase trying to bridge up in the backgound.

Bell lap. If you look closely you can see the 2-man chase group behind the median.

Sweet sweet glory. That's not a fist pump, I was about to wipe my nose...

On Sunday I ran the Colfax Half Marathon. Besides being at 5,000ft+ altitude, the course has 670ft of climbing. This was supposed to be a training race to help get me ready for the Half-Ironmans I plan to do later in the summer. All I wanted to do was to finish, but breaking 1:30 was the goal in the back of my head. I had no idea how realistic the goal was. The longest I had ever run before this race was a whopping 12 miles. At the start of the race I took it easy, then I picked up the pace from mile 5 to 9, and on mile 9 the hills came and my legs started screaming. I kept at it and crossed the line in 1:29:28. I achieved my goal but it came down to the wire. I'm quite happy with the run performance, especially when taking into account the effort I had put on the bike the day before.

Me and my buds after finishing the half marathon!

Next race will be the Pelican Fest Sprint Triathlon in Windsor, CO. I'm looking forward to a short, fast race!

Put the "Geek" back in Tri-Geek

2007-05-01T21:16:00.000-06:00

Alright, everyone knows triathletes are a socially inept and helplessly self-involved breed of people. On top of this, they are usually looking for that "magic bullet" solution to drop their PR. Just look at the products marketed towards triathletes; Rotor Cranks, Optygen capsules, wetsuits, TT bikes, aero bottles...you name it, triathletes have tried it. Thus the name "Tri-Geek".

I just fell in line with the rest of the Tri-Geeks today, and I couldn't be more excited about my new magic bullet.

Newton Running shoes came out about a month ago and ever since I've been dying to try on a pair. Tonight the co-founder Danny Abshire invited the CU Tri Team over after-hours to talk about the shoes and offer us a discount. I was sold on the shoes before I stepped in the door, and after running a mere hundred meters in them my credit card was flying to the register. They promote a forefoot strike and offer a higher energy return per stride than regular foam-sole running shoes. They claim to take off 10-20 seconds per mile depending on how fast you're running. The faster you run, the more noticeable the higher energy return is.

www.newtonrunning.com

My new shoes and free schwag! No, I did not mess with the color saturation.

There Went Everything

2007-04-22T18:06:00.000-06:00

2:02:52. 37th place.

I did accomplish my two main goals; I broke 20 min on the swim and 40 min on the run. I had a hard time on the bike, so I had to back off the gas a little in order to save my run. It worked for the most part. There was nothing catastrophic about the race, no cramps, blisters, mechanical failures, etc. I didn't get the result I was looking for, but that just means I'll have to get faster!

My splits were;
18:42 swim
1:02:35 bike
39:23 run

Looking at the long term, I'd say I need to focus on my run. I had a bad day on the bike, normally it is by far my strength. The swim was good, I don't think I'll be making leaps and bounds in that area. However, I think I can take a good 4 minutes off my run time.

Before I get ahead of myself, it's time to hunker down and get ready for final exams and get as much rest as possible. I'm worn out!

Here Goes Everything

2007-04-18T20:59:00.000-06:00

I'm packed, I'm rested, I'm ready to go. All that's left to do is swim 1.5k, bike 40k, and run 10k as fast as I can. Not too bad. Right now the hardest thing I'm facing is keeping my cool and staying relaxed in the days before the race. I feel like I have a constant adrenaline rush, which tends to wear me out. I leave tomorrow at 4:00am and 14 hours later I will arrive at the hotel in Tuscaloosa, 7:00pm.

Deep breaths.

I get to have lunch with my mom on the way to Tuscaloosa because I conveniently have a 3 hour layover in Houston.

The race course in Tuscaloosa.

9 days, 11 hours. Time to Taper

2007-04-11T19:42:00.000-06:00

I had my last hard workout going into Collegiate Nationals tonight. It was a track workout, 2x1k followed by 10x200. I think I was able to push a little harder than usual on the 200s knowing that it was the last demanding workout before the race. Now it's time for a full length taper to get me to peak for Saturday, April 21st. I'm looking forward to resting up, lots of yoga, and nonstop transition practice. Bedtime is 10pm sharp!

Taper also means the grocery bill goes up. Nothing but fresh, wholesome foods, and the dairy gets cut almost completely out. It's a perfect excuse to eat really good food.

I did a Google image search for "taper" and just by chance I found a picture of a "Morse Taper Shank" on the first page of results...

12 days, 16 hours

2007-04-08T15:00:00.000-06:00

The countdown to Collegiate Nationals begins! I have one more week of fine tuning and hard workouts, then it will be time to TAPER! I need to practice my transitions, I'm a little rusty and they're a little slow. Transition practice is probably my favorite type of triathlon training. It's like dropping 20 seconds off your time for no effort, time or money invested.

I did a practice triathlon yesterday, though it wasn't very helpful in terms of getting ready for a real race. The weather was horrible, so we had to do the bike indoors on trainers and scrapped the timed transitions. Basically it was a 1650y swim, 45 min ride on the rollers, then a 4 mile run outside. My pacing was off on the swim (too slow to start) and the run (too fast to start). Though I was dissapointed with both my swim and run times, it let me know that sub 20 min swim and sub 40 min run are pretty much in the bag. The bike split depends on the course, of course, but from the elevation profile posted online and from what I've been told by the local tri-kids in AL, it looks pretty flat. Regardless, I'm looking for a top 3 bike split.

Time to start putting everything together!

Dripping sweat all over my new rollers

Confidence

2007-03-28T22:30:00.000-06:00

I just got back from the Moab training camp. I had high hopes for the trip, and I came away extremely satisfied. Moab kicked ass, even though I only brought a road bike. This week comes after a rest week and my fitness has made a HUGE jump. I feel extremely confident in my biking ability after a few hard rides in Moab, and my running is coming along very well. In the few brick runs I did I felt natural, smooth, and steady. I also completed the longest run I have done in about 2 years. It was a 1.5 hr trail run on Amasa Back Trail. It rained the entire run, the trail was slick, but the fog made for some dramatic scenery. I felt great, my legs were springy and I was enjoying the sights. My IT bands are rock solid and I don't have any issues there at all. I should be over the fact, but I always keep an eye on them since I had IT band trouble for such a long time.

The main thing I took away from the training camp is confidence. I'm really really fit and I haven't even peaked yet.

Speeding through Arches National Park

Running on Amasa Back Trail

Who says you need full suspension to ride on the slickrock?

Having fun in the Fiery Furnace.

Our campsite.

Rest Week = Free Energy

2007-03-22T00:28:00.000-06:00

I'm in the middle of the last rest week before Collegiate Nationals. I only have one more training cycle to go through before I peak...exciting! Because I'm not working out as much this week I find that I am a lot more anxious, excitable, distractable, and bouncy. No really, I bounce a lot more during rest week. It's surprising to see what I act like when I don't get my daily dose of exercise in. Quite regularly, every time a rest week rolls around my house mates are complaining about how annoying I am. Today I took advantage of the backyard tree rope (not so much of a swing) and went at it for a while until my hands started hurting from abrasion on the rope.

This Friday I head out to Moab, Utah for a training camp with my coach. I look forward to the change of scenery and complete immersion in triathlon training. It will help me get back into the groove for the final 3 weeks before Nationals.

I love the tree rope.

It's inevitable for any triathlete or cyclist...the first burn of the season left me with an impressive start to my tanlines.

Whew! I'm Tired

2007-03-14T19:05:00.000-06:00

My 3 week build cycle is over. Today was the last day of hard workouts and now I have two easy days coming up before I start a full recovery week. In the water today I was hitting between 1:01 and 1:03 on the 5x100 at LT, and I felt great during the LT bike workout. I've put in a lot of time and effort, now it's time for me to recover. I'm sure I'll be seeing the benefits in the near future! I really need the rest. My body was starting to complain.

It's really too bad that I have to train in such an ugly part of the country. Damn mountain air...

Those 800s off the bike were pretty tough.

From Now On, I'm Walking Down That Hill

2007-03-12T11:10:00.000-06:00

I almost got plowed by a bus 10 minutes ago. I apologize to my family and friends, I'll be more careful from now on.

Every day, at least twice a day, I ride about 100m in the bike lane against traffic to get to my house. No big deal, cars stay to my right, I stay left, everyone goes about their business. Same deal today, I'm going down the hill in the bike lane, against traffic, and I see the public bus is rolling up the hill at about 30mph. The bus takes up every inch of it's lane, which leaves me about 3 feet of the bike lane to myself. No problem, but I move all the way over just to give the bus some space as it passes me going up the hill. Just as the bus is about to pass me I come on to a pothole, one that I see every day coming and going to my house, and I have to move out about a foot to the right to get around it. As I'm going around the pothole, my front wheel slips on the sloping edge of the pothole and my bike falls out from under, sending me hurtling over the handlebars headfirst out towards traffic with perfect timing to make my face connect with the bus headlights. Somehow I managed to ditch my bike, land on my feet and keep myself out of the bus' path...I still have no clue how I did it. I came within 6 inches of getting squashed by the 209 RTD bus.

Some kid riding his bike on the sidewalk stopped as the whole thing happened. I ended up right next to him, standing on my feet, in one piece. I had to restrain myself from hugging him, but I still didn't stop myself from giving him a squeeze on the shoulder and letting him know that I was "OK". I walked myself and my bike the remaining 20m home with nothing but a little mud and a raspberry on my calf from my front tire.

From now on I think I'll walk the last 100m to my house on the sidewalk.

This is the pothole, and there is the 209 RTD bus that runs by my house.

21 Years of a Rockstar

2007-03-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

I turned 21 yesterday. It's been a good 21 years, let me tell you. I had a great day full of food, naps, bike rides, more food, cookies, sunshine, and beer. I still don't like beer. I was hoping my taste buds would transform overnight once I turned 21, but alas. At least I won't be blowing money at the bars.

I kicked off the birthday celebration with an early morning bike TT. 28km of rolling hills, a little over 200m of climbing total. My time was about a minute slower than I had hoped, and about 3 minutes slower than what I know I can do when I'm in top form. I'm not terribly concerned about being a little slow on the bike right now. It is by far my strong point in triathlon and I'll be able to regain my bike fitness within a few weeks. This winter I spent a lot of time skate skiing when the weather was too bad to ride outside. My base fitness is all there, I just need some neurological re-wiring in my "bike muscles". The fact that yesterday was my third consecutive day of threshold training could have also impacted my result.

Progress Report

2007-03-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

Good things are starting to happen.

1. The brick track workout this past Tuesday was stellar. I hit all target times and my HR was in check. This time last year my "run" workouts were confined to aqua jogging, rollerblading or the elliptical machine due to IT band issues. Now I can run for an hour and not even think about my IT band.

2. My swim today proved that I am faster than I ever have been in the water. The main set was 20x100, and I used it to dial in the rhythm for "race pace". I was hitting 1:08 consistently, it was clockwork. My percieved effort increased over the last five or six 100s which is normal for a long hard set, but my splits were coming down at the same time. I dropped one second off each of the last four 100s and felt great the whole time.

3. I had to abort a TT attempt on the bike last Saturday due to "soft tissue issues", which was dissapointing and annoying at the same time. I was riding way up on the nose of the saddle which caused too much pressure concentrated in one spot...lesson learned. I'm going to re-do the TT tomorrow morning. Based on how the TT was going before I had to stop, I am optomistic about finishing in a good time around the TT course tomorrow.

All the hard work is starting to pay off!

Nose, meet Grindstone. Grindstone, this is Nose.

2007-02-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

The next three weeks are the most important in terms of getting ready for Collegiate Nationals. The track workouts begin tomorrow, as do all the tempo, LT and VO2max interval workouts. I should see some good things happen if I stay healthy and keep the training load under my belt.

Right now, my swim is just about where I want it, I'm not worried about the bike...we'll find out where I am this week, and the running is sure to come along once I get my butt kicked around the track a few times.

7 weeks and counting!

Splash n' Dash

2007-02-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Today the CU Triathlon Team hosted a "Splash n' Dash" aquathlon. I did the 1000 swim/5k run and had some positive results. I was able to PR in the swim and negative split the second 500, which means my pacing was spot on. I didn't feel that powerful in the water, but I just stuck with the game plan and pulled out a good swim time. The 5k I ran was slower than last week's Frozen Foot, but the course was hillier and the swim beforehand slowed me down a little. What I am more happy about is that I was able to stick a lot closer to the competition.

The run splits will come down, way down. I promise.

Rollin'

2007-02-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

New rollers came in today. I bought some shiny aluminum Kreitler rollers to replace my 15-year old busted up PVC rollers. The drums on the Kreitler rollers are only 3" in diameter, which makes riding them a lot twichier and they also provide more resistance than 4.5" rollers. It simulates riding on the road very well. Here's a picture of me catching up on some leisure reading in my down time... :-)

Sweet!

2007-02-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

I felt really good today in the water. My main set was a 30x100 with base and tempo sections. I was hitting 1:15/100 on the base and 1:10/100 on the tempo with my heart rate within the proper range (126bpm for base pace). I have no idea what was different about today, but my arms and legs felt strong. I want some more!

I'm really looking forward to the hill workout I have planned for my Thursday run. Time to put the hurt on! Next TT is the CU Tri Team Aquathlon this Saturday.

TT's

2007-02-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

I had a couple time trials this week to gather some heart rate data and baseline times for reference later in the season. Both went well, and just affirmed that my training is taking effect now that I am healthy. I set a PR in the 500 swim TT, which is good news because I feel like my swimming has just started taking off and will only improve from here. Sub 20-min 1500 in April will be cake.

Today I had a 5k run TT, my first "open" 5k, or any distance for that matter. I haven't been able to run consitently ever, and just recently my IT bands have stopped nagging me so it's time to find out if I respond to some structured run training. The time I got was about what I expected, but I want to be able to run at that same pace for twice the distance off the bike in April, good for a sub-37 minute 10k

I'll have a bike TT coming up soon, but the bike is the least of my worries.

Frozen Foot 5k heart rate (bpm), pace(min/km), and altitude (m) data

Fire, Fire, Fire in my Belly!

2007-01-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

I've taken the month of October off from structured training for the past two years to avoid getting completely burned out, and it works, more or less. Usually I get back into training in November without complaints, but also without enthusiasm.

Being sick, on the other hand, can do wonders for your drive and motivation. Now that I'm done being useless on my sickbed I have newfound vigor and appreciation for my workouts. I feel like it's time to start bustin' ass, and I can't wait to put time in the pool and on the roads and trails. For some reason I look forward to the disciplined schedule.

Now, if only the weather would start sharing my sentiments...

Still Breathing

2007-01-16T22:39:00.000-07:00

I got squashed last week by some sort of flu. I was out for the whole weekend, and I'm not supposed to exercise until this coming weekend. I had been a little sick since Thanksgiving and finally went to see a doctor about it when I wasn't getting any better. A full course of antibiotics later and I'm feeling tip-top.

I'm looking forward to really getting focused on the training regime. I even cut my hair short to help get me in the "zone". There isn't much time before the season picks up, so I have to get ready for the key training weeks coming up.

I don't have any photos to post, not much has happened since my last post. The snow should melt here in Boulder just in time for the next batch of snowstorms. Who knows when the roads will be clear to train on. It's been over 4 weeks of bad conditions and I've heard that a lot of the pros in town have been leaving to go train in Arizona.

The next big thing on my plate is a set of time trials to get some HR zone data. Updates to come afterwards.

New York, NY

2007-01-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year! I'm hoping this will be a great year for training, racing, and competition. My main concern for this year is to reach milestone after milestone in order to reach the goals I set. First and foremost, I really want to improve my running enough to say that it is NOT my weakest leg. I at least want to post some half-decent run splits. Secondly, I think that breaking 2:00 for an Olympic distance race would be a really nice feather in my hat. My two "A" races of the season are National Collegiate Championships on April 21st in Tuscaloosa, AL, and National Age Group Championships in June in Portland, OR.

For the past week or so I've been in NY/NJ. Getting workouts in is tough. Pools are far and few between, roads suck, and traffic is bad. So far the best riding I've found has been IN New York City, around Prospect Park. I'll be happy to be back in my own bed in Boulder, where finding a place to work out is the least of my worries.

Here's to an injury free 2007!

Holy Crap! Snow!

2006-12-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

White death is falling from the sky! So far Boulder has accumulated a little over 2 feet of snow today, and it's still coming down. My last final exam was cancelled due to the road conditions. The snow, compacted with finals, has left me exercise-less for 2 whole days. I'm feeling a bit stuffy as a result. I'm ready to blow this popsicle stand and head to the East Coast, where I hear the roads are free of any frozen liquids. Tomorrow I'll try to get out and do some skate skiing if the North Boulder Park gets groomed.

Finals, Winter Break, Skate Skiing

2006-12-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

It's finals week and I have 3 more to go before I'm done. My training really gets inconsistent around this time of the semester because studying takes precedent, unfortunately. Once I'm done with the semester I'll be heading out to the East Coast to visit family and friends for the holidays. I'll be bringing my sweet fixed gear bike to train on. So long as the roads stay dry I'll be out grinding up the hills of my old stomping grounds.

In other news, I've recently picked up skate skiing. I'm still learning the basics but it's pretty darn fun.

Startup 101

2006-12-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

My first post! I'll be using this blog to keep an up to date account of how my training is progressing. Pictures and anecdotes abound, for sure. All I have to do now is figure out how everything works. So far no luck with posting any photos.