Ironman Lake Placid

This past weekend I competed in the Ford Ironman Lake Placid. Over the last year, I had big plans formulated for this race, especially to make another run at qualifying for Kona. Having taking care of this earlier in the year at Eagleman, I was left with a predicament - race Lake Placid to my fullest as I did last year (despite already having a Kona slot) and then race again 10 weeks later in Hawaii, or drop out of Lake Placid to focus on my build to Hawaii. Many wise long-course athletes advised me of the latter for last year, and while respecting their opinions, I decided to try the former and race both anyway, thinking that I was strong enough to do both to my upmost potential. I was wrong. Or, I may not have been that far off, but my recovery might not have been ideal and compromised by some ill-advised training choices in the leadup to Kona in 2009. Either way, this year I made the tough decision to sacrifice Lake Placid for a better build and hopefully performance in Kona. The idea of a DNS seemed like a waste to me, especially since the entry fee was paid long ago, so one idea was to just race a portion of the event and draw off of the competitive energies and closed course to get in a great workout, pulling out of the race before I did too much damage to my legs. This of course would result in the dreaded DNF. I had never not finished a race I had started in, and the idea of this did not sit that well with me, but ultimately the desire to perform really well at the World Championships prevailed.

So last Wednesday evening Jocelyn and I were off to start the long drive up with my parents, who were coming to watch us (or now just her!) race. We drove part way, stayed over in Batavia NY, and then finished the long drive Thursday, getting in late that afternoon. Immediately we started unpacking the car and trying to get in some vital pre-race workouts. I did about a 30 mile ride with my teammate Steve, who was up to volunteer and train for his upcoming Ironman Louisville, riding the long descent into Keene and then returning up the hill. When I got back I had some excellent food that my housemates (Jocelyn, Chad, Jen, Matt, Kristen, Nate, Bill, Steve, and Mark) had prepared and this was just to be the beginning of many wonderful meals and laughs we would all share from Thursday through the following Tuesday morning on this Lake Placid getaway.Thursday was also Jocelyn's birthday, and the housemates got her a cute and modified IM-themed card:

Friday morning, Matt Mo and I went out for another typical smashfest bike ride. He too was training for IM Louisville, and I was trying to trash my legs as one should in any good training camp, and also to try to ensure that I would not be tempted to do anything stupid like changing my mind to finish the race on no taper. Matt and I (we started with a few others who we would ride with for varying lengths before they were dropped) rode one lap of the bike course in normal, counter-clockwise direction, and then the 2nd lap in reverse direction. We got in about 114 miles, and split the 112 in 5:19. Would I have any legs left for Sunday?

Later that night we had a pasta dinner, and had all of the Pittsburgh area triathletes and families in town over for dinner, along with some additional friends and contacts.

Here is a pic of pretty much the whole group after a great meal-
And the Sunday race crew-

Saturday morning we were up and at-'em early to start all of the final, pre-race workouts, bike preps, and gear drop-offs at transition. Most of us went out for a swim in Mirror Lake first thing, swimming anywhere from 15-45 minutes (depending on how seriously you were or were not going to be taking the next day's race!), with yours truly doing one, 1.2 mile lap in about 30:30.

Jocey and I pre-swim.


Later that afternoon, degreasing my chain for the first time in a long while.... :-/
Chad and I, with Bill and Jocey in the background, after dropping our bikes and gear bags off at transition-
The staging area....
Jocey and I back at the house, working on our Infinit and salt concoctions-

Later that night we all relaxed around the house and had a nice, simple and safe pasta/chicken/salad meal and got ready for the next day. Kristen was working on this awesome sign, to wave with pride on race day and support all the housemates doing the event. Thanks Kristen!

Sunday morning started at 4am and we all did our own breakfast routine, whether fruit, cereal, oatmeal, bars, Ensure, coffee, etc., as I opted for the now standard Ensure/banana/bar combo with a little java thrown in for the hell of it. At 4:50 we were off, packing into Matty Mo's Element, clown-car style-
Getting body-marked:
Sharing some laughs pre-race-
Rocking out to Thunderstruck, getting pumped for the swim-
Almost go time-

At 7am me and 2,639 of my closest friends were underway. I went out hard for this swim, harder than usual and in keeping with my "experimental" themed training day, swimming maybe the first 400 meters or so at a pretty strong pace. I found myself in a decent position a little right of the line after about 5 minutes, however there was some stiff competition to get right on the close side, so I angled over between two guys to the near left side of the line to some open water. I would occasionally draft a faster passerby, and one guy and I took turns swimming on each other's hip for nearly 1000 meters. The turns were hectic as usual, but generally the first lap felt very strong and the arms productive. I came out of the water after the first 1.2 mile lap in about 27:30, and then made the run up and over the beach, and then dolphined back into the lake for lap 2. The 2nd lap didn't feel as strong and my approx split reflected this, swimming about a 29:47 for a total swim of 57:17. I bypassed the wetsuit strippers and ran hard up the beach, across Parkside and Mirror Lake Drives, and into transition. As I was running out of transition with my bike, I saw Chad as usual, on almost the exact same pacing schedule. Including the run, I was out and onto the bike in 4:24.

I started the bike and tried to settle into a steady but aggressive rhythm. The legs felt average, like they do on most standard long bike rides, but certainly not as good as I would have liked. The plan was to keep the HR aerobic on the rolling climbs out of town, and then hammer the long downhill into Keene and then to Jay and Ausable Forks along the river. The first lap felt very good and I was even catching and passing a few pro men and most women, and after a decent climb up through Wilmington Notch alongside Whiteface mountain, I came back into town in 2:35:40, averaging a HR of 149.
I started back out on the 2nd lap and continued to feel pretty good for the next 15 miles or so, but I also managed to have nearly my entire flat changing system (x-nut, inflater head, and two CO2 catridges) loosen and fall out the back of my x-wing on the big descent into Keene. That's another story though, and I decided to push on and not worry about this considering my non-race strategy. Once heading out of Keene, I noticed the first traces of the fatigue in my legs. It was beginning to get hard to keep my heart rate up when pushing, but luckily a couple fast guys caught up with me and that provided some motivation and opportunity for pacing. I was feeling ok but things were starting to go downhill. The last 20 miles of rolling and the climbing trend back to Placid really took it out of me, and I just struggled to try to keep the pace up high the rest of the way. I was really starting to feel it now, and did the 2nd lap in 2:44:06, about 8.5 minutes slower than the first lap with an average HR of 143. The entire bike split was 5:19:46, good for an avg speed of 21.02 mph at an avg HR of 146. The legs were pretty much trashed at this point, but I was pleased that I rode two separate 112 mile rides untapered in 5:19, spread over three days, and both of which were about 5 minutes faster than my tapered race split from last year!

I headed back into transition and as I was putting my running shoes on, I saw the familiar face of Chad run into the changing tent behind me to get ready to go on the run. I set out on the run after a 2:00 transition, unsure as to how long I would be out there. Spotting Matt, Kristen, and Jen, and making a cheeseball face for the camera-
Starting the short-lived run in 5th place in my AG-

I ran out of transition and starting running down the hill, getting about a mile before Chad came up behind me. I ran a little bit with him, told him that we were currently running about 6:50 to 7 minute pace, and then wished him well as he continued on ahead. I ran about another half mile to the two mile point and the top of the hill just past the airport and before the descent down towards the turn onto River Rd, and decided that this was the stopping point. I had thought about running a total of 4 miles and originally envisioned this as a two mile out, two mile back format, but I thought this could look weird as a random age-grouper was suddenly running ahead of the professional race leader, so I stopped running altogether and walked back into town. I took off my timing chip and held this in my hand, as I pulled down the top of my kit and turned my race number around. This was a very strange moment, and I felt a little ashamed for doing this, but I reminded myself why and thought about the big picture and the Big Dance in October and knew I was making the right call. I walked the two miles back into town and met up with my parents and the rest of the non-racing housemates to join in on the wonderful support and cheering on of our friends and family. I got some food to hold me over and then screamed my lungs out for Chad, Jocelyn, Bill, and Nate as they all raced to very strong finishes. Chad and Jocelyn raced their way to Kona slots, Bill to his first IM finish, and Nate to his second IM finish in about 10 weeks time!

Jocey racing towards the end of her first run lap, with a malfunctioning race belt number, and also looking tough, mean, and determined...
Jocey finishing strong for third place in the women's 30-34 age group, and a whopping 45 minutes faster that she did last year!!!
The women's 30-34AG results, with Jocey making the cut!!! (don't care much for the registered last name though!)
The next day, signing up for KONA!!!
Chad, Jocey, and I celebrating all of our upcoming races in Hawaii-

Jocey at the awards ceremony on Monday, representing BallouSkies on the podium with her incredible 3rd place finish!

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and celebrating, closing out another successful race weekend and year in Lake Placid. I really love this town and the Adirondack region, and am really stoked to be racing there again next year! Next year I plan to be stronger and HTFU and do this race regardless of my race scheduling position. In the meantime, there is going to be plenty of additional hardcore training, a couple training camps, maybe an olympic thrown in, and then the IM World Champs on October 9th! Thanks for reading!

Eagleman 70.3 Race Report

Ok, well more than a month later, I will get this long overdue rr done. On Sunday, June 13th I raced in my 7th Eagleman half ironman [70.3] race in Cambridge Maryland. This race has become an early season staple of my triathlon season, and a great test of early season training and strength. It has also become a first opportunity for World Championship qualification once that became a goal to pursue. Jocelyn and I were down in Cambridge with fellow BallouSkies teammates Joe and Steve, and there were also many other Pittsburgh area triathletes such as Chad, Jen, Matt, Rich, Ryan, Beth, Lisa, Megan, Janine, plus previous AG competitors of mine from earlier races in the season. The race was shaping up to be a fun and familiar event with everyone out there, and the weather to be hot, humid, windy, and sunny for race day. On Saturday I did a short swim and ride and everything was clicking, and aside from a bee sting on my tuneup ride, the pre-event warmup seemed to bode well for the following day.

Sunday morning started early at 4:30 with a breakfast of Ensure, bananas, and Clif bars, and then a short drive from Salisbury to Cambridge to start the day. On our walk from our parking spot to transition, Jocelyn and I caught word of the buzz that supposedly wetsuits would not be permitted today. We raced back to the car quickly and grabbed our speedsuits that we fortunately brought with us this weekend. When we got to transition, the rumors were confirmed about the wetsuits and then we set about preparing for the race.
We went through all of the typical transition preps and I was guzzling G2 from my half gallon bottle as it was already quite warm and humid, and also because an announcement came over the loudspeakers that the race start would be delayed by 15min. Not sure what that was all about, but I just tried to look at it as more time to hydrate, warmup, and wait in line @ the porta-johns. I am glad we had the extra time, as I stood in line for the aformentioned porta-johns for a good 40 minutes. Once that was taken care of, I actually found I had time for a proper swim warmup, ~20 minutes with some surges, which is a rarity for me. That is something I need to work on. Once I was nice and warm, I got out and over to the boat dock to queue up for the start.
My swim wave went off at 8:07, 52 minutes after the pros, and it was now on. The warmup definitely seemed to help find a quick rhythm and a more powerful stroke, but the heart rate was still high as always and the arms heavy, but that is something that I imagine will never change and has to be attributed to the adrenaline of the quick start on a big day. My sighting was pretty good and I swam a very good course on the longest, upriver leg of the swim course. I drafted for a little off a fairly strong guy on the short, cross-current leg, and managed to stay with him for part of the final, down-river leg before I lost him as we were both navigating through some slower earlier wave swimmers. I turned on the kick heading into shore to open up the hips and get the blood flowing to the pistons, and run up the beach to see a.......1:25:52...?... on the race clock. I quickly did the math and came up with a 33:5X swim split? I briefly put it out of my mind as I ran into transition, thinking that felt more like a 27-28, but I couldn't be sure as I wasn't wearing a watch yet and I didn't have my ghetto style, plastic wrapped 305 on my wrist like at Kinetic. Turned out my eyes did not deceive, I swam a stinking 34:04.
I moved through transition pretty quick, until I had a little difficulty getting my aero helmet over my ears. I had to take it back off and take another go at it, but then I was off. As I got out on the bike and I was settling into my HR zone and cadence range, I started thinking more about that swim and wondering where my key rivals were and what the major players were doing. I got pissed thinking about that 34 min split, about what that might do to my chances at a high placing, my intended goal finish time, and I did all I could do at that point - move on, and crush the bike. I was feeling pretty good and I liked what my Garmin was telling me with my mph vs HR relationship, despite a slight headwind from miles 1-4 and 10-22, so I let my swim induced rage propel me to faster and faster riding, and more and more confidence. I thought I spotted Chad up ahead around mile 13-14 during a long straight-away, and set out trying to reel whoever it was in. At about mile 17 or so, I came up along side him, and sure enough it was Chad. I made the pass but I knew with absolute certainty he wasn't going away and this wasn't going to be the last time I saw him. Sure enough for the next ~25 miles we would yo-yo back and forth, keying off of each other for a strong and honest ride. As I was cranking along through the middle miles of the bike course I was dreaming about the expected but rare tailwinds on Egypt Rd, but sure enough when we got there, the winds had shifted and we had the well known, ubiquitous Egypt Rd headwind. I just tried to up the cadence and not let the avg speed fall too low. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful and I held my not-passed status on the bike until within the last 2 or 3 miles when Lucas and an unknown guy who turned out to be Daniel from my AG came by me, but I stayed in contact right up to transition. Bike time 2:16:47, avg speed 24.56mph. Much better than last year, and from what Beth's husband Oscar said, I was in 4th or 5th in my AG. That I could work with.
I had a decent T2 and I was out and running pretty quick, although not quick enough as Chad out-transitioned me again as I saw him exit just before me. I set about bringing him back quickly and also Lucas, who was just up the road from Chad. I caught Chad at about the half mile mark, and then set my sights on the next AG competitor Lucas. I was obeying my HR plan and running a good pace initially at about 6:15/mile, but then the shock of the heat and exposed conditions in the sun started to affect me and I watched the pace slip a little. I wasn't losing any ground as a result of this slowing, but I wasn't making the progress that I would like either. I just tried to get down some fluids and also cool my skin temps as much as possible, hoping this would transfer to my circulatory system and the ol' engine. I caught Lucas at around the 2.5 mile mark and we both wished each other good luck and he told me the next guy was just about 30 seconds up the road. This I believed to be the guy that went by me with him towards the end of the bike, but could have been 1 or 2 of the other unknown leaders. Minutes came and went, and no sign of the next guy. I just tried to keep the pressure on and in the right frame of mind. I knew I had to run into the top two places in my AG at least to have a safe shot at locking down a Kona slot.
Around mile 5.5, I came up on a guy in yellow with a '33' on his calf and settled in to stride by strongly. He gave me props, told me 2nd place AG was just 30 seconds up the road, and we both wished each other well as members of this fraternity of those baking in the heat. Heading to the turnaround point (6.55 miles, out and back course), I saw my buddy Joe and busted him walking, and also the man ahead (Daniel) who was in fact about 30-40 seconds up the road. This gave me new motivation and the pace started inching down again. He was not going easy and I did not seem to be making up any ground on him, but I noticed from a distance that he slowed and stopped briefly at the next aid station to take on some fluids, ice, and/or fuel. I surged, got a little closer. I held steady at the new gap up the road to him until the next aid station where he paused again. I surged harder and came up right on his heels as he was departing the aid station. I went right by him on the right and he immediately matched my pace. Now he wasn't planning on going anywhere, presumably seeing my age. He was right on my heels for the next mile or so, as I began to hatch my plan. His footfalls sounded heavy and a little slower than mine, and I knew a slight (slight!) incline was coming up shortly. I hit the base of this tiny grade and dropped it down to about 5:30 pace. It hurt like hell, but I heard him fall off and I knew he was gone. This gave me a new boost of energy and I just had to keep it up for 4 more miles. After I recovered (somewhat) from the surge, I just tried to keep the pressure on and run in strong to the finish. I was able to do so, bringing my first half pace of 6:33 down to 6:18. In the final mile I was pretty confident that I had 2nd place in my AG sealed up, and just kept the pressure on, and also stealing some looks behind at the last couple 90' turns. I came across the line with a 1:24:19 run for a 4:19:07 finish time.
Shortly after the race and after talking to a couple people, the possibility emerged that I may have won the age group, and not finished 2nd in it. I hung out and greeted friends and competitors after the finish, and went about cooling down and rehydrating as best I could. It seems anymore that any race I do usually ends up with temperatures above the upper 80's or 90! Jocelyn and I post-race, representing for BallouSkies.
Once the prelim results were posted, I saw in fact that I had won the age group and pending any unforeseen issues or problems, I would be offered another slot to Kona! This I suppose was my 4th AG win for the year in as many races, and my 2nd at 70.3 races with strong national or intn'l level fields. This was pretty exciting, but was somewhat overshadowed by punching the ticket again to the big dance, hanging out with friends post-race on this beautiful and kick-ass raceday, and also learning that I was the 2nd overall amateur! Beth got a slot as well, racing to 3rd in her AG, with Jocelyn not very far behind in 6th in that tough women's 30-34 AG. All other friends raced very strongly as well and had some very impressive performances on another tough, tough day in Cambridge. I have come to expect nothing else at Eagleman! The rest of the day was spent packing up the car, scrambling to find a place to clean up and shower afterwards (thanks Megan and Lisa!), grabbing a bite to eat, and then hitting the road to drive the 6 hours back to the Burgh, getting in in the middle of the night.
Ok, that was tough trying to recall the details from about 4.5 weeks ago - I promise next time I will post more promptly, but thanks for reading the old news. Congrats again to all that raced at Eagleman, many other races in the interim, and good luck to all competing in the big one in Lake Placid next weekend. I'm fired up for that trip and race!*

a good day in MD

Yesterday I raced in my 7th [Blackwater] Eagleman half ironman [70.3!] race in Cambridge Maryland. It was another hot and windy affair on the Delmarva peninsula, but the day couldn't have gone better as I raced to a 1st place age group finish, 2nd overall amateur, and arguably the most important distinction, another Kona qualification.
It was a great day pushing my limits amongst friends and competitors, and in a striking natural setting. Eagleman is one of my all-time favorite races and likely will continue to be for as long as I am a triathlete. I just wanted to check in and share the good news in blogland, and mention that a proper race report will follow shortly. Good night!

Kinetic Half race report

On May 8th, Jocelyn and I competed in the Kinetic Half Iron in Spotsylvania Virginia. This was to be my second half of the year, three weeks removed from the New Orleans 70.3. I was a little concerned about my recovery from NOLA coming into this one, as my legs had felt pretty flat for at least 1.5-2 weeks afterward, but things started getting better with about a week to go. Jocelyn and I started the drive down to southern VA pretty late on Friday afternoon, and after the 6 or so hour drive, we got into Lake Anna State Park at about 10pm. We were staying in an extra country cabin that triathlete/swimmer friends from Erie had offered us, so we quickly laid out our gear and food for the morning and hit the hay for short night's sleep. We got up pretty early as we still had to pick up our packets and race chips, and also rack our bikes in transition. This would be the start of an interesting day for me, full of highs and lows. Jocelyn and I started with this process, and then waited in line for bathroom needs (no porta-potties?!), and then the final race preps including number affixation, tire pumping, etc. Jocelyn left my slow-ass at the car as she made her way to transition (with about 35 minutes till race start) and I proceeded to pump up my tires. Or attempt to. The front wheel went without a fight, but the rear was acting up. I had to pull my brand new (and tight!) tire off the rim with my lame tire levers, yank out the tube, loosen the nut at the top of the valve stem to then put the extender back on, to remount the tire, and then successful pumping finally with about 15 minutes till race start. I still had to get body marked, pick up an extra cap as I left mine at the car during the tire trauma, and then do everything else in transition. Luckily once I finally made it into trans, I went through my preps incredibly quick and raced down to the beach with my wetsuit in hand as I already heard them going over last minute instructions on the PA. There I briefly met up with Jocelyn and a good number of the Pittsburgh contingent down for the race, Chad, Jen, and Matt. Chad, Matt, and I exchanged hellos and pre-race pleasantries, and then it was into the water for a quick dip and a few strokes before they called us back out in advance of the start. We were going off in the race's first wave as there were no pros doing this race and all men under 35 started at 7am. At the gun we were off, and again I was using my solid bash technique and dolphin diving to get out in front. I took a wide left line to the first turn buoy as the intermediate ones did not seem to be aligned with that one, and found myself swimming all alone as I often do. There were some guys swimming out in front from what I could see, but my effort was good and I felt like I was swimming fairly fast so I just did my own thing. The rest of the swim leg my course was pretty good and I kept it steady into the finish, turning the kick on for maybe the last 200-300 meters. Getting out of the water I wasn't sure of my time, which later turned out to be a "too good to be true" 23:30 (short course), but as I was running up the beach, I heard the announcer mention both Matt and Chad's names so I new this was going to shape up to be the duel we all anticipated. We all passed closely by one another in T1 and Chad was out first, then Matt, and then myself. There was supposedly only 1 or 2 guys up the road, and then a pack of all of the aforementioned Pittsburghers plus about 7 more starting the bike all within sight of each other. There was a short out and back in the park before leaving and beginning the first of two clockwise loops around the northern half of Lake Anna. I saw Matt just behind me on the short out and back, and Chad was a little up the road, and immediately my goal was to keep him in sight because I knew that he would set a solid yet even pace, and waste no time getting down to it. I started off again with a slightly elevated HR with the swim/transition effects lingering and also the adrenaline of the start of the bike battles, but found a good rhythm with a small pack of guys that would continue to jockey for position cleanly over the next 50 miles. I passed Chad somewhere around the ten mile mark, but I would certainly see him again on the bike leg as I did another strong fellow, Iain, who was riding a Kestrel and kitted out in their gear as well. It was hard to keep a constant speed as the wind was a steady 20mph at least, gusting higher at times, and as we did the clockwise loop, it was always having different effects on us. I did keep a fairly constant effort though, with an even higher cadence than in N.O., and came much closer to nailing my hydration and nutrition perfectly. I rolled into T2 after about 2:23:15, good for a 23.5mph avg for some rolling and windy conditions.
After a ridiculously disoriented and slow transition, I was out for the run. Having not had really any spare time in transition in the morning, I didn't have a chance to rehearse my entrances and exits, and couldn't find my spot right away. Never happened to me before, and I even found myself wondering and laughing out loud at my own confusion. Chad was back out ahead and yet again my plan was to mark him and keep him in sight. The run course consisted of three loops through the park after a short out and back just out of transition, and was characterized by an uphill at the start of each lap, rolling to flat through the middle, and then a downhill section through the woods as you finished up and made your way back towards the lake. A spectator told us about a half mile in that we were running 3-4 after passing another competitor on the way up the hill, so that was definitely some ample fuel for the motivational fire. Chad and I hit the 1st mile marker at about 6:40, we ran pretty close for the next mile, and then I pulled a little ahead to move into 3rd place on the road. I was running between 6 and 6:30 pace depending on the grade, and really tried to stay present in the moment as I attempted to cruise away from my pursuers and try to catch sight of the 2nd place guy up the road. Early on my second lap, I caught sight of him up the road and went about trying to close the gap over the next 1.5 miles. Finally I caught 2nd place, Iain, at about the midway point of the lap and used a slight uphill grade to put some space between us. I got about a 10 second gap pretty quick and then just kept the pressure on. Heading into the 2nd half of this 2nd loop, I was now seeing Rob, Matt, Jocelyn, Lauren, and Mimi out on the course and this was a nice feature to be able to step outside of your own suffering for a minute, and to offer some encouragement to your friends to get through theirs.
Once starting the third lap, I was kinda racing in no man's land. From checking behind I felt like I had a pretty good grip on 2nd place, but 1st place dude was nowhere to be seen. Heading through an intersection at the mid-point of the lap, I spotted some Setup race officials on mountain bikes with radios and I asked if they had a split to the leader, and the disappointing news to come back was about 3 minutes. At that point I pretty much resigned myself to 2nd place with only 2.5 miles to go, but I took at look at my watch with 2 miles to go and when I saw 4 hours, I thought to myself that at least I could possibly PR if I could keep my pace going. So over the next 2 miles I went about eking out as much speed as I could and getting to the finish line as quickly as possible. I came across the line after a 1:22:40 run in 4:11:53 for what I thought was a clear 2nd place.
Almost immediately after crossing the line, the race director approached me and asked how I started the bike course, if I just rode right up State Park road to exit onto Lawyers Rd and I told him, "No, I first turned onto the out and back that is on the run course, turned the cones and then rode back to State Park and then out to Lawyers." I asked if some people missed that and he responded with something to the effect of "Yeah, we'll take care of it." I didn't really know what to make of that and just started talking to the winner and other competitors to come in after me, cheered Jocelyn and all of my other friends into the line, and started rehydrating and resting up, enjoying the windy but beautiful day.

As the afternoon went on and the results were posted, people started telling me that I was listed in 1st place and not 2nd. I wasn't sure what to make of this and began to think that it might have something to do with what the race director had said, but I was going to wait and see until the awards ceremony. To my surprise though, when the overall awards were announced, I was the men's winner!
It turns out that the guy that I thought had won, Mike (wearing red in the above picture, Iain in blue), had been directed right out of the park by some volunteers at the start of the bike and he thus missed the out and back segment. The race apparently penalized him for the mile he missed by adding the time (2:36) based on his average speed for the other 55 miles and that was enough to put me into first. That and my final two miles when I thought I was pushing only for a PR, but by doing so took 1:16 out of Mike's lead which was enough to put me over the top after the results adjustment. Either way, Mike was very cool about it all and showed a great deal of sportsmanship on the podium, when I probably would have been fuming about the mixup with the volunteers. This was just further example of the quality of character of most every triathlete, and is a big part of what makes this sport so great. It was a surprising but great end to a hard fought race and taught me a little bit more about my fitness and my competitors. Jocelyn ended up taking second overall for the women, taking an astounding 10 minutes out of the leading girl on the run, and just running out of real estate to take 2nd by 1:18. I know if Jocey had seen that girl at all on that third lap, it would have been over and the podium would have been rearranged for a double Ballou Skies win. Soon enough. Chad took 4th overall and 1st men's 30-34 AG, Matt took 12th overall, Mimi and Lauren 4th and 5th respectively and AG wins to go along, and Jen and Ryan also had strong races and placed very well in the W30-34 and clydesdale categories, respectively. It was a very strong showing for Pittsburgh area triathletes that day in VA and I know this bodes well for the rest of the season to come. Thanks for reading!

Clinic presentation, Pittsburgh Marathon relay, and PCNC Night Talk appearance

Since I raced in New Orleans about three weeks ago, it has been all about recovery and getting back into the groove, while still trying to prepare for my next race, which is happening manana. Along the way, I have had some unique and novel experiences for me as I continue on my journey as a triathlete. On Sunday Apr 25th, I spoke at the Pittsburgh Triathlon Club's clinic at the Over The Bar Bicycle Cafe on the southside, and presented a talk geared towards beginner triathletes. The talk went very well and it wasn't nearly as nerve wracking as I was expecting, and I got a lot of good feedback and questions from the audience. Also presenting were Chad and Brodie, and it was very interesting to listen to them speak about their topics as well. Here I am, talking about forgoing socks for a sprint distance tri, or flying dismounts, or some other beginner friendly technique...


Then last weekend, I raced on a relay with some fellow runners from the Hounds at the Pittsburgh Marathon. Initial reports were that we had won the relay category in 2:33:40, although strangely some other team has magically appeared ahead of us just this week in an improbably fast time of 2:17:10. We'll be sure to look into that, but overall I was surprised at the legs that I had in my leg, a 5.9 miler, which I covered at about 32 minutes flat officially, which worked out to 5:25 pace. Had I been running either an open 5k or 10k, I would have had huge PRs! Here I am, suffering on the road with my HR through the roof somewhere in Homewood or East Liberty.
Here is our anchor leg, Mark, one week removed from running the Boston marathon, finishing strong for what should be the relay division win.

Last night I had my television debut, appearing on WPXI's Night Talk on the PCNC channel with Ryan and Kim, to talk about Ballou Skies, the peanut butter sales, and all things related to the the charity and the tri-team. Here are the three of us with the host Mike Romigh towards the start of the segment.
Ryan spoke very knowledgeably and with a great sense of pride about the charity, what they are doing at Ohio State with the research, and generally about all of the big picture stuff.
I spoke about what it means to me to race under the Ballou Skies banner, and what it takes to keep going in a tough race. Thoughts always come back to the sacrifices made, the charity and Ryan, and how fortunate am I to be out there, using my body and triathlon as a platform to raise awareness for Ballou Skies and DMD.
Kim spoke about our marketing efforts, about the website, blogs, Facebook cause, etc., and also echoed what it takes to get to and race in some of these events.

It was an amazing experience and hopefully some of you out there in the Pittsburgh television market got a chance to see some if it during that dismal third period of the Pen's game.

Today is a busy day and then we are off to beautiful Lake Anna Virginia for the Kinetic Half, starting tomorrow morning at 7AM. Race report and updates to follow shortly!