Great way to end the season...

There is something about the Kirkland Triathlon that has such a draw for me. The early morning clouds with downtown Seattle skyline glowing in the back ground. I was feeling great and relaxed before the start, energy in the crowd was electric. I saw Chris Tremonte run by my rack and just thought, "this is going to be a great day"...
For this course, the bike is king. The hills and the handling on the descents make or break time loss and gain. Too much energy output or knowing how to sling shot up the kickers so you can leave the max effort for the big pushes and bigger gains.

The swim was by far one of the most brutal swims I've been in. I fought for position starting about 20 yards out and finally had open water with about 100 or so yards left. The middle part of the swim was two on the left, two on the right, one in front and one or two behind grabbing my legs. At about halfway I made a move with two other guys, but was swimming too hard for that part of the swim for myself so I went with them to get out of the pack we were in then let them pass me and settled into my planned pace.

At the last turn for the swim I caught the two I let pass and as planned gave a good estimated 2 minute burst of about 90%. This felt great, I cleared out of all the swimmers around me and started to quickly pass the wave in front of me, seeing a few white caps (my wave) in front and felt close enough to catch in transition.

Why it pays to recon and course, even the swim!

I knew from swimming there before you had to swim right up to the shore because it’s too rocky to run in, with the rocks being about the side of baseballs, up to about 5 feet from the run out. So as I got to shore, about 10 yards their were about 6-8 people walking out trying to balance their way as I, even through just in about 2.5 feet of water, swam up passed them all and ran like hell out of the water.

There is something, and I know I’ve wrote it before, about just running out of the water in an almost sprint. I love that! I must have passed about 15 people from the waters edge to the transition entrance.

My swim time was about 20 seconds off from what I wanted, I was a bit reserved on the swim and also having to fight so much in the water in the beginning took a bit of time out of me. Mostly though I was on the verge of burning out on swim training, only putting in 4 swims in the last 3 weeks.

Swim: 15:07

T1 - pretty uneventful, which is good...

As I jumped on the bike, swinging my leg over as I ran through the mount up area another rider just off to my right totally hit the deck and ate crap on his bike. Missed him by about a foot, whew....

I was feeling great on the bike, last year I lost focus on the bike and I know that cost me my overall goal of last year. However, I had all the focus this year and had been out on the course really pushing it for training.

In previous years I’ve told myself that the bike doesn’t start until the flat at mile 4ish. Before then you have about 4 really good hills, the last one of them being the longest and hardest. However, this year, I wanted to start on the climb before the flat part, so as soon as I passed the railroad tracks, it was on.

I had a good rhythm on the climb and was catching groups of other riders and passing them pretty quickly. At just below the crest I upped the tempo to the top and got in front of the last person in view. At the top there is a good downhill, but it ends with a really shape left hand turn. I figured, force the up hill and recover on the downhill to the flat.

Once on the flat I saw only two riders up and caught one quickly, but couldn’t close on the second. Not a surprise, flats aren’t my strong suit, but was still able to hold 23.5 MPH. I had great speed and was only using about 80% perceived energy, because Slater Rd was just around the corner, very hard uphill.

Going into Slater you have a sharp right turn and can’t carry too much speed with you because you’ll over shoot the lane into oncoming traffic. This was were I was planning to use the hardest effort of the day. I saw this interview with Chris Carmichael a few years back and he said “ You can rest when others rest, but you have to attack when others are struggling” I guess that has always stuck with me during races.

Starting on Slater there were about 15 riders about halfway up, I moved and just kept dancing on the pedals until one other rider and I hit the top before the pack. Legs were burning, but I stood up and forced the flat section to get back up to speed.

I had about two minutes to maintain before reaching the next important part of the bike course, the part I lost focus on last year, ggrrhhh! This time, I stayed tucked and focused, no one passed me, I sprinted the last part to reach the BIG downhill first and just flew down. Top speed 43 MPH

When I’m on the bike I usually have a song running through my head to kept tempo, yesterday was, “Panic Switch” by Silversun Pickups....


Bike: 38:53

T2 - ran into 3 people on the way back to my spot, felt like I was missing something, but headed out on the run...

OK, so the thing that I learned from Lake Stevens was that I didn’t do enough bike to run bricks. The thing that I realized as soon as I got on the run was, “ I haven’t done enough bike to run bricks”
Out on the run I immediately saw Alley and the rest of the posse in full gear running towards me, cheering me on. I was thinking, you’re all running faster than me, one of you finish this up for me : )


The thing I was feeling like I was missing as I left T2 was my inhaler. At mile one I had a crushing feeling in my chest and knew instantly this was going to hurt, at the same time it wasn’t getting any worse. I was running in a group of about 5 people and the guy I targeted as my rabbit was slowly pulling away. I figured, legs hurt, lungs hurt, why the hell not! I went from 7:20 pace up to 6:55 and dropped the group I was with. I held this for about 2 minutes and realized, I can hold this, let’s start hunting : )

I had two friends on bikes meeting me along the run course cheering for me yelling for me to keep bridging the gap and hold pace “you’re reeling him in” my lungs, legs and stomach were completely on fire as I saw my pace steady at 6:25. Had to push, season over in less than a quarter mile, crested the last rolling hill back to the finish and heard my gang “PICK IT UP” “CATCH HIM” - I love it............

Run: 20:09

Overall - 1:17:00 - 71st overall

The race was great, left it ALL out on the course, great friends, family and support. Beautiful day and not one regret about prep or effort used.


I had a goal of placing top 50, but ended up in 71st place. I feel OK about that, because I still PR’d over last year’s time. I had a different focus for the majority of this years training, from sprint to half-iron, so I knew there would be a little rust on the faster harder pace of a sprint.

The most important take away from the day was that I didn’t lose focus on any part of the race and kept pushing even when I wanted to stop because I hurt.

Also, let’s not forget that it’s just so much damn fun! All Photo's by Alley Kloba

Kirkland rundown.......

When the announcer calls one minute to go, I stand there in the water staring just over the horizon,breathing, calm. Always thinking how, in just a matter of seconds, at the sound of the horn, all hell will break loose.

I got myself a bit unfocused before the start because I forgot lube for my bike and lost my swim cap on the way to the transition zone from the car. Crazy.

Swim:

I wanted to push in the swim and lined up just one row back on the left, about 15ft closer than I usually do. The water was pretty choppy heading into the first buoy and about 10 yards from the turn I lost a bit of focus and drifted a bit off course by about 15-20 ft.

I swim pretty straight, I’m not faster than a lot of people, but I tend to swim straighter and in a swim that’s less energy and less time to the other side.

I felt great around the first turn and hit the half way point rolling pretty good. A nice long stroke with plenty of room to move. The last turn takes you back to shore, I let off a bit, but kept up a good pace, about 70%. At one point I was swimming shoulder to shoulder with someone thinking I couldn’t lose this guy and thinking I was moving too slow.However, about a minute of that and we caught about 5-6 people, surprisingly passing with some pretty good speed. A bit more closing speed than I thought a few times.

I had a feeling that I had a good swim time and came out of the water clean without having to run around any large groups.

T1:

Pretty smooth, all went as planned

Bike:

Heading out on the bike I wanted to stay calm, but steady at about 80% effort until the 5 mile mark. The first five are hard, but if you hit the corners right with the right speed and use small burst of speed you can really go through some serious hills with very little effort.

The road was pretty littered with glass from the late and early morning rain. I seen about three flats, but even worse heard a crash behind me that I didn’t want to look back at. Most of the way it was wet and slick, but I never got caught out on a slick spot or felt like the bike was out of control at anytime.

I felt good pushing the tempo and started hunting down people once I got to the second hill, it’s a pretty intense stretch that takes you over some railroad tracks then kicks up again through some houses to get you over the freeway. I was keeping about 10-11 mph up that and breathing was calm so I just thought instead of waiting until mile 5 I’d start at four and work the hill.

Looking back even right after the race I felt I didn’t make the best decisions on the bike as far as went to make the biggest efforts or focus on certain parts of the course. On Slater road, a steep long hill that kicks at the end before flattening out, I trained to stand and attack the last 50 yards, knowing I could recover on the two minute flat spot at the top. Although, during the race I sat and just paced up steady and kind of played it safe?
Also, at about mile 9 you finish a nasty climb and hit a flat spot before a big down that rolls you up the last hill, well mostly.

I hit the flat area and started pulling a gel out and taking a drink and arranging stuff from my bike to my back pocket on my jersey. Sitting up to take in a few deep breaths.........and two guys fly by me. Not just edge by, but haul ass in full sprint mode. CRAP!!! I lost focus again on a very easy part of the course and forgot that others came to race and not just ride. I felt that instead of taking it easy on the part that I did I should of quickly refueled and then got back in a tuck position to take advantage of the flat. The two guy’s shot away from me and it took me less than a second to change gears and chase, catching one on the hill and the second on the overpass of the freeway.

Once you cross the freeway it’s all downhill to the finish. You S turn after a steep descent off the overpass into some blind turns, which you can take at speed if you know the course : ) I kept telling myself “don’t over cook the turns”. I shot out of the turns through the enter section at 39 mph and passed one more person before the next big down that sweeps you left back to the start. I felt great and as soon as I hit max speed I rested the legs and took my feet out of my shoes for the last half mile.

T2:

I put new quick release shoe strings on my running shoes the day before and forgot to loosen them back up for the race. Then I got to my station I grabbed my right shoe first and couldn’t get it to fit. Only wasted about 2 seconds.

Heading out for the run I was knew I had to keep a good pace, 7:30-7:45, if I wanted to stay in the hunt for the top 50. I saw AK and Lil’K at the start of the run, along with Penny, cheering me on. That always seems to get me out of my head and kind of remember, “ OK, we’re just out here running” The first part of the course has a hill to it that I always forget about until I’m staring up at it, but I just kept pace and spotted a few people to focus on. At the first turn I was hunting down a guy in blue, but past him there wasn’t anybody we could see. I stretch of about 150 -200 yards until the next turn.


I was telling AK that for some reason when I go to pass someone I look for the next person down the road to focus on, but if there’s not someone else I fall into a “sympathy pace”, for lack of a better name. It’s hard for me during a tri to focus on the pressure of
racing when I get stuck in “no man’s land”. Meaning there’s no one insight, you’ve either run to the front of your pack or got dropped by the pack in front of you. I went from 6:50 pace down to 7:35 in just a few moments and started running with the guy I was about to pass. Obviously, something to work on!

Once we got into the long snake like turn around I spotted enough people to start bridging the gap on and regained my pace. Heading back for the last mile I kept thinking that all the training, all the hours, all the time out on the road this season was about to finish up. I spotted a guy wearing a Live Strong bike jersey about 30 yards ahead of me and wanted to take him before the intersection that lead to the finish line. I can usually put aside pain if I know there’s reason behind it??? I guess meaning I can live with 2 minutes of extreme discomfort, knowing the finish line is around the corner.

I was talking to someone on a group run yesterday who said, “ you have to know when the pain is going to come and if your willing to deal with it. You can’t start hoping it’s not going to come, but be ready for it.”

Passing the guy and rounding the corner I let off a bit, but worked it to the finish. Always knowing how sometimes seconds can make a huge difference.

I felt great about this race, It wasn’t the bike ride that I imagined, but it all felt like a great effort.


Last years times:

98th 35 M 1:21:38 23 17:53 305 1:50 0:39:54 122 1:16 143 0:20:45 80


2008 Times:

57th 36 M 1:17:30 5 15:14 206 1:35 0:39:26 96 1:12 76 0:20:02 71


Over two and a half minutes faster than last years swim, that alone was a great day! I was telling AK I was a little bummed at not getting sum twenty on the run and I sort of lost track of the fact that this was the fast run leg of a tri I’ve ever done.

In the end I didn’t get Top 50

However, I only missed it by 31 seconds and I could of had that in a straighter swim, slightly more focused bike, loosened shoes in T2 and by not hanging with the guy in the run, but just passing him. I’m happy with how I placed and did and of course, think I can do better next year.

Thanks to AK, Shell, TK, Lil’K and Penny of course for their support and encouragement .


Shell’s got a shell of a story to tell about the Kirkland tri, next time......

Pre race preview....

I don't want to say that this whole season has come down to this next weekend, but I kind of can't wait for this race to start. Maybe because this is only my third and last tri this season and after the last few weeks of cheering on my friends for Iron Man Canada and other local races I feel like it's finally my turn to race.

I get this rush of excitement I have to ignore or I feel I'd never sleep before race day.
I can picture lining up, wave four - left front, not the left back this time.
Thinking in my head, two hard minutes, cut back to 75%, rhythm, breathe, go

You like this, you love this.

10 minutes in: sight because you're going to start catching the people that went out too fast. Pace, control, ease by them, control.

150 yards out: suit, shoes, race belt, helmet, shades - repeat

Last 75 yards - sprint 100%, w/ legs around the crowd, swim till you can run past all the people wading through the water.

Out of the water - MOVE!!!

T1 - calm, steady, smooth

Grab Luke ( my bike) and start the best part of the day..........

Arms up and head down, steady don't over react. You have five miles before this bike split starts. Use the gears and the flats to make small work of the first hills. Steady up the first major hill, race hasn't started yet, one more mile...

Right at the stop sign one 15 second surge and.........

Head tucked arms up, crank the big gear, don't look up. Speed 26.8 miles per hour, flat road one S turn ahead and a sharp right to Slater Rd. Slater's going to hurt. Wait for it, it starts at the inter thighs and jumps to the lungs. Pace. Stand and work the bike, stand and push the tempo. This only hurts for a few minutes, there's the bus stop, burst over the top, head down arms up.

Flat, downhill, big gear.

Back up, the last climb that can hurt you, long steady, cross 85th. Stand and push hard until the right turn, breathe, control. Flat with burst coming up in 60 seconds, pass the school and ramp up then attack 100% for 20 seconds full out, legs are on fire, lungs are on fire. Sit and coast,recover.....THE LAST HILL AHEAD.

Easy on the climb, when you hit the last sign on the right, everything that you can throw, thigh's screaming, standing on the pedals working the crap out of the bike. I want this...

Hit the top sit and gear all the way to the largest gear and let gravity work for about 20 seconds or until you can breathe again. Cross the freeway and once again jump up and give one last burst of 100% for about 15 sec. 39.8 MPH! 2 miles downhill!!!

Tuck and pace nice and strong at 75%, recover on the down and get ready for the run.
I can't think of what the run is going to be like yet, my leg is pretty bad off from the twenty miles on Sunday.


Tomorrow I should be able to tell how it's going to be, however, I don't see running on it until the race. That could be worse than running on it this week sometime, but I know my body and it usually handles pain and stress pretty well during a race.

Wait til yesterday is here...........

It's funny how when you wait for something for so long it's hard to feel like you're "in the moment" ,for lack of a better term, of being in the middle of it all.

This whole tri season has felt like I've been getting ready, been getting ready, been getting ready for the next build level, the next step in weekly workouts, the next level of intensity. Now with just over one week left in the season it seems odd that it's coming to an end.

Tuesday morning I was swimming across Green Lake before work and I was out in the middle and I just stopped and looked around. The sun just coming up, red clouds fading to white, green yellow evergreens calmly soaking it all in, I had the whole lake to myself. Amazing!

Today I was headed around the Mag Loop after work and the same unreal yellow cast over all the hills, trees and downtown. The mountains just ready to jump over the water and splash in the sound. I can't help but think of all the views and sights I'd miss if it weren't for sport or tri training.

Anyways, after seven months of training with little time off, I've really looked around and have enjoyed the time,places, feelings, pains, confidence and new friends that this season has brought.

Todays ride was a hammerfest from the start with a 3 mile run after, then I grabbed the Penster for a short mile. I love running with her, she's all life.

I kept thinking about Kirkland the last few workouts to keep the intensity up and these words keep crossing across the mind: Relentless, Search and Destroy, All Out.

Back at it..........

OK, I had an easy week to get my legs back under me and I feel good about the last few weeks of training leading into the Kirkland Tri.

My goal this year for that is to place top 50 in the overall. I'll need to take off almost one and a half minutes in the swim, maybe a minute in the bike and about one minute in the run.

I think it can be done I just need to focus on really working the bike in and out of gear and get my run back to were it was 2 months ago. My swim is strong and I can do about 80% for a half mile and a mile and still feel great coming out of the water. In training I've been doing a slow half in about 16 minutes. About a minute faster than last years Kirkland time.

The transitions I could run faster than last year also and gain a few seconds, it's funny how a few seconds in T1 and T2 can cost you about 5-6 places on the overall standings.

After feeling a bit taxed last week with over training and the leg injury I feel good today having done a 16.5 mile run Sunday and a hour bike yesterday on sore legs. Working through the sore legs yesterday was a treat, but after about 15 minutes they felt great.

The goal for this year was to do a Olympic distance triathlon and I got that covered, so to place top 50 in the Kirkland tri would be a sweet way to end the season.

Well I have a swim this afternoon with a bike after so I better get to work so I can rest before I start hitting it again : )

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming......

You know when you need to improve on something so you start making or putting yourself ‘in the line of fire’ to push yourself forward.

That was the thinking about 4 weeks ago behind signing up for the Fat Salmon 1.2 mile swim race this past Saturday and the swim portion of the Seafair Triathlon on Sunday.
Two days of swim racing, I was going to emerge a better swimmer or else......

It was actually pretty fun?!?! AK was my swim support cheering section!!!




I’ve always been good at the swimming part of the tri’s, but the up coming olympic distance is a .9 mile swim and I wanted to do something before, in a group/competitive/pack type situation that had that arms and legs every where feel to it, then bike a bit after to see how that felt.

Fat Salmon was a great event! - aside from only having one bathroom at the finish area and one at the start area. 150 people with just two cans?

I felt great for the race that morning, loose and surprisingly not nervous!!! AK and I couldn’t help but notice the low key, mellow vibe of the whole event. Plus, I had already had the talk with myself about this not being a race, but more of a supported training swim, with 150-300 extra people along, most of which were real full time swimmers. So I was under strict self governing rules not to start racing with someone next to me. My biggest fear was to start doing that at .25 mile mark and run out of gas at .8 miles, with a whole lot of water to still cover : (

So I headed out pretty steady and even for the first 15-20 minutes, also I was kind of worried when the other shoe might fall...........

The day before-

On Friday I set out for a quick 20-24 mile flat workout on the bike, just wanted to get the legs moving and get some time in on the bike. I park at Matthew’s Beach and headed towards Red Hook Brewery, but got lost on the way (Always in the same spot) and ended up off the trail heading east. I crossed a 7 Hills painted direction marker on the road that I knew headed up Norway Hill, I knew it wasn’t flat, but the legs felt good so I thought I’d do a few hills and circle back around. I ended up taking the route out to Willow’s Run and taking 148th up to what I thought would be the south end of Kirkland. By the time I stopped for directions I was at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond miles away from where I thought I’d be.


My 24 mile ride turned into a 42 mile 2.5 hour ride that couldn’t end soon enough, with Juanita Drive in between me and my car no less. It wasn’t the miles that I was worried about, it was where the ride was going to leave me for the following days swim. I had a packed week of training and Friday was a soft day, or was suppose to be, because of Saturdays swim.

......the shoe never seemed to fall as I hit a really comfortable pace and rolling well after each stroke. The water temp was nice and there was only about 2 minutes of heavy waves about mid way that was really hard to swim in.

I kept to my game plan until about the last qtr. mile then I pushed a bit harder until I was about 100 yds out, then I didn’t redline I just upped the pace and swam hard and aggressive to the finish. I popped out of the water and felt really, really good. Finish time was 39:56, 41st out of 88ish? I’ll post actuals later. AK waiting there waving and yelling made it worth it.....

Overall a really great event, one down, one to go.

9 hours down the hatch for this weeks training

9 hours down the hatch for this weeks training with 9 workouts.

I had a stretch of seven days of workouts without a rest day, YIKES! Although, I knew and felt like I wasn’t headed for any danger zones of fatigue or feeling worn out or over extended. Bummed I only got one swim in, but I did get a much needed core workout in. Biking this week was great with 66 miles in. The mileage could have been farther for the time spent, but two of the days were spent on hill training. One solid day with George and the other with the new bike out behind Swanson’s.

Monday I was looking to change up my repeat hill course, a .8-mile route from 65ft elevation to 322ft. I wanted to change the route mainly because the street is a major street into that neighborhood and passes by a busy school, not really safe bombing down to the bottom after hitting the top. Last year I would do 8-10 lap repeats and towards the end traffic would always get a bit hairy. Anyhow, so on Monday I took 28th up from the water and added about .2 miles on the climb. The road S turns a few times and raises through a pretty cool, less traveled neighborhood. With elevation topping out at about the same, within a few feet, but the main benefit is the longer climb time on a steady 8 and 9% grade with less traffic.

Running was feeling good, legs feel tried a bit, but was running on Phinney the other day and heading back from the zoo, I was at about 75% running comfortable and not pushing hard while clipping along at 6:50. Last year the same effort was returning at about 7:00 and 7:15 minute miles.

Saturday was a great sunny day and I hope everyone in the area got out and about. AK went out for a early morning run and came back with the quick warning of “ It’s already pretty hot out there”. I took off around Lake Washington over to Kirkland on the Burke then headed over Juanita Drive to Market St. and connected onto the Kirkland tri course.
The lesson of the day would be,’ put a second water bottle cage on your bike’. I stopped at three parks and none had a water faucet that worked or was running.

I guess I could of stopped at a store, but I'm never in the frame of mind to get off my bike during a ride for more than 2-3 minutes. Next time I'll have the extra cage for the heat. Although after last Saturday it's been steadily in the mid forties and low fifties, so that may not be an issue any time soon. We seemed to have slipped back into fall somehow???


AK
5 Run – for 24.5 Miles – about to hit 300 for the year soon. WOW!

Penny
5 Run – for 7 Miles

My week –
1 Swim - .79 Miles for 30 minutes
3 Run -17.27 Miles for 2:33 minutes
3 Bike – 66.15 Miles for 4:28 minutes
2 Other – 90 minutes
9 Total for 9 Hours - Goal for the week was 9 hours, Sweet!!!

Closer to summer??? maybe.....

Week Totals........

AK
5 runs for 22 miles - training for Seafair Half

Penny - P-Scrap - training for Furry 5K
5 runs for 10 miles - long run of 3 miles

My totals for the week...
2 Swims - 1.64 miles for 1:10 minutes - missed a Friday swim
1 Bike - 27 miles for 1:47 minutes
2 runs - 11.05 miles for 1:34 minutes
3 others - 2:40 minutes

8 workouts for 7:11 minutes.....about 45 minutes short of the target, but considering the week at work and the weather, that’s completely fine.


I dropped a run on Tuesday because of weather and missed a swim on Friday that was puppy related. And hey swim for 30 minutes at lunch or play in the yard with the Penny? Not a hard choice : )

Had three really good core workouts this week and a good bike ride on Saturday. Sprinkled on a bit for the first 10-15 minutes then the warm glorious sun came out for the rest of the ride, SWEET! The ride was a good way to cap off the week. Went out with the thought of only riding at about 75% and not pushing, (saving the legs for a long run around the Disco on Sunday).

After my bike fit this next Tuesday I’ll hopefully be able to tell the saga of the new,new,new(hopefully) bike.

It’s funny and scary how soon the end of March has rolled around. I started tri training this year on December 1st and couldn’t even let the thought of how far out the season was enter my mind. About three weeks preparing a training schedule, trying to be realistic about burning out with such a earlier start. The days are almost here when basic training and build training are going to be over and direct race training starts in. Last year it was bike to the gym for a swim before work, then one hour to one and a half hour bike after work or run before work then follow up with a second run after work. I love that frame of mind. You get lost, in a good way, in building. Building this road to get you where you want to be. Last year that road was top 100 at Kirkland. Every mile of training had that carrot, every echo of burning out had that vision of crossing the finish line knowing it would take this workout and the next and the next and the next to get there.

There was this thing I read on a website that said “I show up and race the person that I train to be, the others I hope do the same.” I like that . I always bait my week goals with the thought of the word “cumulative” and the phrase “Building the Machine”. This week ends the easy start to the training season and begins the doubles, bricks, two a days and hitting the bottle of sweet brown muscle candy ( ibuprofen ). I mean really, Issaquah Triathlon is in only 10 weeks............