Racine Photos

Pictures from the Racine Sprint Triathlon.

Picture of the start. That's me, just left of center in the white top. Notice the sun is dead straight ahead, couldn't see the buoys for your life. The wind was pretty strong from the left, so I positioned myself on the left side so I wouldn't have to correct myself too much.


Leaving the water into T1. I was so happy to be out of that lake. Not as blue as I remember being!


All I can say about this is Speed Demon. I owe it all to Teddy. That aero-helmet makes you look like a fool and is uncomfortable as they get, but it was fast.



And finally the run. If I look like I'm not having fun, it's because I wasn't. The first pic looks good ... until you get to the second and see my short little legs. Niccceeee. Plus, where is that heel striking coming from?

Anyway, the photos from the race look good. Looking forward to my next event. 8/18, the Oly distance at Pleasant Prairie. I'd like to fit something else in between now and then, but 2 vacation weekends in a row are putting a cramp on things. We'll see.

Thanks Mikey

... for ruining yet another Tour de France.

Personally, I love it every time a pro cyclist gets caught doping. I think that it shows that cycling is NOT the most doped up sport, it's just the only sport that actually CARES. Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire doped up for years, MLB does nothing. The physique of an NFL player is not normal, nothing. There is even talk that human growth hormone is running around the PGA, nothing. In fact, these sports are even tolerant of non-performance enhancing drug use. Get caught smoking up? Its a one game suspension or some other slap on the wrist.

The doping stories lately may be more newsworthy than the actually cycling, but I look forward to more and more cyclists getting caught. Sooner than later they are going to get the picture.

For more info on the Michael Rasmussen f-up, see this excellent post.

just figured out how to

just figured out how to post via my treo .... triple sweet.

Spirit of Racine

On Saturday, 7/21, I did the Spirit of Racine Sprint Triathlon. It was a .75k swim, 20k bike, and a 5k run. I ended up winning my age group. Talk about good day.

I arrived at the race site way early on Saturday morning after waking up at 4am and driving down. It was real chilly out, and I was nearly the first, but that meant rock star parking for me. Racked my bike, set everything up and then walked around for two hours. Note to self: Racine is only half an hour away. Whole waiting for the race to begin, all I could do was notice that EVERY single person had a wet suit on. Many with full wet suits and neoprene hats. Me? I just had on my little tri suit. Apparently everyone else was aware that Lake Michigan was a steam 62 degrees. It was a real confidence booster.

The swim was rough. There were 3ft swells the entire swim. It was a three legged swim, each leg about 250 meters. East, then south, then West back to the beach. The first leg going east was straight into the swells, plus the wind was pushing you south, so not only did you have to fight the waves and the cold, but you also had to swim at a diagonal just to go straight. I'm a very strong swimmer, but i really struggled. I think that a wet suit for buoyancy would have been a great help. The second two legs were much better, but I was already very fatigued. Made it to the beach, waded in the last 25 yds b/c it was so shallow and then ran the 1/8 mile of beach to T1.

T1 was fine.

The bike rocked. I had borrowed some aerobars (still haven't installed mine) and an aero helmet. I was really rocking, averaged 23mph on the course. There was some head wind on the first leg. The swim really challenged my shoulders and it was difficult to stay in the aero bars the entire ride.

T2 was also fine.

The run was just a 5k, but it went on forever. It had just started to get hot and there were some challenging hills. I really should learn how to run.

Anyway, crossed the finish and some guy tell me I'm the age group winner. I had now idea I was ahead in my heat. During the swim we all had green caps on, but once you hit the bike and run you had no idea who was who. Made my day.

The conclusion from this race is that I need to get back to swimming consistently. I realize that the only good time for this is before work in the morning, so I just need to start getting into the habit. Second, I need to keep running. I think some intervals would also be helpful. I don't have any trouble endurance-wise running, Its getting the speed. If I swim and run consistenly from now until 9/8 I will finish that 70.3 like a champ.

Pewaukee Triathlon photos

Here are some photos taken at the Pewaukee Triathlon. I am aware that I've become the great white hype ... I think a little sun would do me good!

Laird's Laws

Outside magazine has a neat article by Laird Hamilton ... his seventeen commandments. Here are a few I found especially insightful

3. It's really about keeping in shape for life. Think about your body like a car. Once you park a car, it might not start again. But if you just keep driving it, it'll keep going. It likes to be driven.
10. I have friends who eat healthier than anybody, but it takes them all day. And if they don't have their sprouted bread, they go into a seizure. I can eat a Big Mac. I'm not going to love it, but it won't put me into toxic shock. It's like if a car is too high-performance, then it's sensitive to any kind of fuel. I like being more like a truck. If a little diesel gets in there, maybe a little water, it'll cough and burp a bit, but it's gonna get through it and keep running.

I like the metaphors comparing your body to a truck. It makes sense. Read the rest of the article here.

Upcoming races

A list of my upcoming events;

7/21 - Racine Triathlon, sprint distance
7/22 - Waukesha Super Week race, crit race
7/29 - Whitefish Bay Super Week race, crit race
8/04 - State TT Champ, tentative
8/19 - Pleasant Prairie Triathlon, int'l distance
8/25 - Chiropractic Crit, crit race
9/08 - Lake Geneva Tri, half-iron man distance

Looks like a busy late summer. A big bang before grad school starts up.

Pewaukee Triathlon

Yesterday I completed my first triathlon, here's my brief race report on it.

Pewaukee Sprint Triathlon, in Pewaukee Wisconsin.

Got up at 4 to make it to the race site early. Setup my bike, got timing chip, and all that jazz and was ready on the beach. Wave 25 of 31 because I registered late.

.2mi swim was fine, however there was not a lot of time between waves, so by the time wave 25 came around, there was still 6 waves of SLOW people ahead of me. I'd swim 20 yards, and then spend all my time bobbing and weaving through the slower swimmers. Second, the swim was an out and back. The second half headed straight east into the sun. It was impossible to see anything! I had trouble sighting because of the sun and had to rely on the buoys which caused me to bob and weave a little too much. I think my swimming will improve if I follow this training plan more closely.

T1 was fine. However I didn't realize how tired I was from the swim until I started jogging to my bike. My rack had only 2 people at it after the swim, but I couldn't find my bike! I realized those two people belonged to the previous heat, and my bike was another rack over. That added to my confidence some when I realized that I had caught nearly everyone in the heat ahead of me as well.

The bike was very strong. It was a rolling course, and one long stretch was straight into a stiff wind. My new aerobars are in (XXX lites), but they don't do much good unless I install them eh? I drank a bottle of cytomax on the bike. Halfway through I realized I had brought 2 bottles ... so I ended up carrying a bottle extra the whole bike. I considered dumping it, but I had just cleaned my bike and didn't want to get sugar water all over it.

T2 was also good, however my lesson learned was not to unclip when entering T2, but to take your feet out of your shoes and leave them clipped in. I was trying to run with my shoes on and that wasn't such a hot idea.

The run was rough. I am not a runner, nor have I trained for running much. The first mile did take a little adjustment as expected. Mile two was a little rough, some steep hills. Mile three was flat and to the finish. I wish the last mile would have been marked a little better, the finish all of a sudden just appeared.

Overall, I thought that it was a very successful day. of the roughly 1600 entrants I placed 80th, 13th in my age group, I am 24. I was especially encouraged to see that fropping 3 minutes off my time would have placed me in the top 50. Those three minutes are easily attainable with a less crowded swim and a better trained run.