Race day finally here, oh no!

I felt pretty at ease in the morning, still the morning nerves of course, but not the “ all the training is for this” type of work up. I was nursing a hurt arm so I was really just looking to feel the swim out, work the bike hard and see what the legs had left for the run. After the marathon a few weeks ago I only got 3 runs in of about 5 miles each and hadn’t got any speed work in. Marathon pace is not 5K pace, so I was on “wait and see” mode.

The swim was pretty even I start in the usual spot, back left. I started last year to move to the front, but thought that would be a bad idea for today. I was pretty relaxed at the start, talking w/ Sean K. before the start made it seem pretty much like a training swim. I hit the first buoy feeling pretty steady and even, a gap opened up as I rounded tight on the turn and didn’t hit anyone pulling through. Surprising! The stretch to the second was OK, then I got caught up in the last turn. Feet grabbed a few times, although never got hit, I felt I swam out of that turn a bit too fast and started to pace back down, going from breathing every 3 to every 2 strokes for a bit. The last 100 yards I felt great, I was catching people with about every stroke so it was making the end come faster and faster. The only downside to the swim was I stood up too soon because there was too many people standing and walking in. I got up in just below waist deep water, too much wasted energy, I covered 10 yards in about 5-6 seconds? Would of only needed about 2 seconds and no effort if I didn’t have to stand.

Swim Time- 14:30

T1 - 1:51 Pretty straight forward, I got my wetsuit caught on my Garmin, arrgh!!! I was afraid of that.

All week I was dreaming about the bike, I just needed my arm to get me through the swim so I could jump on Luke (my bike) and fly. I felt great coming out of the water and hit the bike in full stride. The day was amazing and there was no wind. The first part of the bike passes the swim course, so you look down at the chaos you just survived. Sweet! I was full sail on the bike w/ in reason, I love it. As you get on the bridge it really narrows and I saw three riders ahead of me that I didn’t want in front of me on the approach to the bridge so I did a full out sprint to pass and get in front, which totally paid off. As I hit the bridge and looked back there was a small back up riders trying to make it through.

The bridge was just amazing, wind so loud all you can hear is your breathing. Rainier wrapped in sun ready to jump in the lake. Amazing!

I was waiting for the turn around, I stayed steady and relaxed on the way out then once I hit the turn around I just shot up the small hill and did a big effort back to the small down hill of the bridge. So much fun! Off the bridge and back I only got pasted by two riders. I caught one on a small hill just off the bridge and had the other in sight the rest of the way.

Bike - 35:43

T2 - 1:14 I had a bit of trouble getting my right foot in the shoe, but no big deal.

I hit the run and wanted to stay steady until the hill, then work the hill and survive the downhill. As I got on course I saw 2 groups of about eight runners lined up. I focused on the guy in front and worked my way to him. Then the second group, then the third group just pass them. I was in no mans land for a few and that made me speed up until I found more rabbits : ) The hill sucked, but I kept saying the pain will only last a few, just a few more. Then I saw Alley at the top of the hill at the turn around, I figured she had to sprint down a few blocks around a crap load of people and straight up hill to see me there from where I saw her when I was on the bike. That made me happy, crazy, energized, what everyone feels like when they see someone truly supporting them. I grabbed a drink and shot down the course.

At the bottom of the hill I heard fast approaching foot steps, my first thought was great now the flood gate opens of people passing me back up. Sounds about right, however it was a friend Ryan passing me and as soon as I saw him, the back of him, I let out a “GO Ryan!” Almost nothing better than cheering for someone on course. I couldn’t catch him, but I used him as focus to stay close to him, or as close as I could. As I rounded the corner to the finish I was proud in the fact that Ryan was the only one that passed me in the run.

Run - 21:01

Overall - 1:14:19

Pretty good day, things to work on:

More swim training, still need more time in the water.

Flat road bike training, the flats need more work.

Get back to track workouts for speed work.

Seafair Tri.....

Sunday morning came much too early!!!



The Seafair Triathlon awaited team “Klopeder” in Seward park under the clear blue skies with eagles flying low overhead. I was to man the half mile swim leg, Eileen was on the 12 mile bike ride, fresh off her STP ride, and AK was blazing the trail to the finish line on the 5K run split.

We were all pretty excited about the day and the morning luckily went off without any trouble. As we hit the transition area the excitement started to build. We talked about not having any pressure of having to do all three legs and just enjoying the day. Sounded great!

Then Eileen asked if she should run the transition zone once she gets tagged for the bike. Both AK and I jumped into race mode. Totally!!!

I believe AK told Eileen to “Drop to hammer” on the bike leg. I was looking forward to sprinting the half mile swim. I was talking to AK about this. When I looked at the swim buoys marking the half mile course the first thing that went through my mind was ‘ that’s so short, the buoys are so close’. The second thing that crossed my mind was ‘ how much energy do I have left?’.

Fridays 42 mile bike ride, Saturdays 1-2 mile swim, I felt tired below the excitement.

I wanted to start in the front of the pack on the swim, but didn’t want to get five minutes in and totally hit the wall and get stuck in heavy traffic - nightmare situation!!! So I held to the usual plan of back left side and wait just 2-3 seconds after the horn goes off.
About 2 minutes in I upped my pace and caught the five guys in front of me with a clear view of the first buoy. The view over my right shoulder was amazing!!! I was doing 2-2-3 stroke breathing and every time I looked over I’d see about 40 white capped swimmers slashing through the water with the sun blazing through their silhouettes. A quick hard effort around that and I felt my energy explode with plenty in the bank to draw on. I almost started laughing??? I held hard on pace, high 85-90%, but not redlining, felt great rhythm through to the second buoy.

From the 2nd buoy it’s just a straight 200-250 yrds back to the beach. This is a hard area because this is were you start catching packs of groups in the water. Last year I got boxed in by four guys that were swimming in a slow bunch, but kept fanning out so it made it too hard to go around. This year, I paced down a bit for what felt about 20-30 seconds and as soon as I hit the first group and jumped and went “Full On - Mango”!

I love passing people in the last 20 yards of the swim and running out of the water. Running out of the water is one of the best feeling during a race, I wouldn’t understand why anyone would walk. You have hundreds or thousands of people cheering and running gets you closer to your bike!!!

I make it to shore run up the ramp, rip goggles and cap off the tag Eileen for the bike leg.

Time - 14:22 PR : )

Eileen took off fast and I knew that once she got about 1-2 minutes in and got up to speed she was just going to fly. Having ridden with her before it would of be amazing to see the speed she could of reached on the course. The feeling in the transition zone was more party than competitive. Which was great! We figured Eileen would take about 38-40 minutes and that’s about what she thought. So of course when we saw her at 35 minutes we knew she was hauling some serious ass to the finish.

Time - 36:01 Sweet!!!

AK had the longest wait and it was funny because she said she wasn’t looking at it as a race until she saw how fast Eileen was moving. Then she said’ Holy crap, you rocked the swim and Eileen throw the hammer down on the bike, I have to keep up my end!’.
Leenster rolled in and made the tag.

AK sprung out like a shot, this would be her first aggressive run since her stress fracture almost a year ago! She said her legs felt fresh and ready. The up hill to the top is a nasty bump in the road, AK says she enjoys the challenge up the hill. For some reason I just don’t see that???

Eileen and I headed around to the finish to see our anchor cross the line. It’s always great to be at the finish line. All the excitement, cheers, people sprinting in the final seconds to cross the line. Some with in themselves, some hurting, but still pushing. All the stories that everyone has that got them to the start and then the finish.

Along came AK with the sun blasting behind her, moving fast and gaining on the small pack in front of her. Eileen and I yelled as she went by in a flash, not slowing down, but finishing strong to the end.



Time 25:26 - 20 seconds off PR!!! WOW!!!

Total Time - 1:17:34 - 12th out of 65 teams!

What a great way to enjoy the excitement of an event! The relay was so much fun to do. We placed 12th overall for relays and had a great time doing it. Eileen said we should one every year! That would be cool.

............................................................Where's AK? Can you fine her in the crowd on the right?







Giant Dog!

Hot, hilly and great views!!!

Sunday was the Seafair Marathon and Half Marathon. The day started off with temps in the high 50’s as we left the house at 5:30 in the morning. We found parking and made it to the bus lines that took us back to the start by 6:05.

And I have to add that AK and I beat Uli and Trisha Steidl by about 5 minutes.......to the bus line : )

The bus ride was cool and we meet a first time half runner that wanted all the advice we could load on him in the 10 minute ride to the start.

With logging in training miles and hitting workouts you sometimes forget the “why” you do it all. Hitting the bridge Sunday and looking across from Mt. Baker to Rainier and seeing all of the downtown Seattle area with the Cascades bringing up the back it snaps you right back into remembering the “why”. Because of payoffs like this!

It was easy to overlook the danger of the mornings run, I saw 2 people get pulled from the course for heat related issues. One about 10 yards in front of me, the medic’s literally had to grab him and pull him to the side and repeat to him that it was over. He was weaving badly and couldn’t raise his arms, scary.

The hills were brutal with the heat, every water station I grabbed two water, one went on my head and the other down the front of the wick tank top I was wearing. At about mile 9 my shoes were so full of water I was making squishing noises as I ran. Annoying!!!

AK said she faired pretty well with the heat by doing the same with the water and staying pretty even tempo on the hills. She did say at about mile 10-11 the water station ran out of cups so they were just filling peoples mouths directly.

The crowd support was amazing, there wasn’t a two minute stretch it seemed that didn’t have a group or a hand full of people cheering and yelling. I was talking with this guy I was running with for a few miles and we were both surprised at the turn out.

I felt really good and steady. I got caught in the first 2 miles by the crowds, my own fault for not getting closer to the start line, it took me and AK 3:18 to cross the start after the gun went off. After I got out of the crowds my legs felt pretty fresh and it wasn’t until the hills at mile 7-8 that I could tell I just hadn’t trained well enough for the hills. The hill in that part just kept climbing and climbing. I was taxed by the time I got to the top, it had a short downhill, but not enough to recover. Mile ten was back on familiar ground, but was wide open and exposed to the sun.

I was doing really good pace down through the last few miles, found my legs again and started pulling 6:30’s and feeling good, knowing we just had a quick run around the Bellevue Square area. However, every time I looked down the road I could still see runners going straight, were I thought they’d turn??? Finally we turned and I took about four or five steps around the corner and saw the hill we had to climb to get back to the downtown area and stopped almost instantly. Which was funny because at that point I was running with five other people they all did the same thing. We all stopped on a dime and looked at it for about two seconds, did a little swearing and started up. I made it about half way and started walking, I hate walking in the race!!!!

Finally made the top and started up again. I didn’t feel too bad about walking because in about three blocks I caught the group I was running with and past them in the final turn to the finish. I had a good strong kick at the end and crossed the line with some good speed.


I made it around and found a spot and the finish to see AK and her police escort across the line. Since the full and half started at the same time, they finish at the same time. The marathon winner came in about 10 seconds before AK crossed the line, so she got a nice little push across the finish.

All in all it was a really cool event, rough course, but the organizers of the event have really proved over the last few years how to put on a really great event. AK and I have run in some distance for SeaFair for the last four years now.

Picture from Mondays news paper has the winner Edward Kiptum and AK is in the red shorts and pony tail to the right.


And this is how we felt after we got back from the race, Penny some how beat us to it???

Limits !?!?!

I feel really good about training and being ready for my first Olympic distance race. The last 10 days have had some really great rides, runs and swims. Last Friday I went from the house to St. Edward's State Park and back through Perkins Way for about a 35 mile trip. The sun was up and it was actually hot on the day, weight loss on the day was 2.8 pounds. Remember to keep the fluids going on these hotter days!

Saturday was a AM swim for about .5 mile and then a 16 mile hilly bike ride up around Blue Ridge, legs felt pretty good even with the hard ride from the day before. On Sunday a had 12 miles to do and wanted to take it very slow. I ran steady at 1:30 less per mile slower than usual, it was actually a great feeling of just taking a run in the park.
I ave. about 8:15 per mile which is slower at that length than I’m use to, but with two really rough days before and not resting before like I would of last year, I felt really good about it.

On Tuesday I met with the group at Green Lake and had the best open water swim yet. I went out with a group of three and we did about .75 miles on a big loop course. I had a good 15 minutes of really good form and pace and feeling like I was doing little work to get a really good pay off.

Wednesday was track workout- hot and dusty, but great results. Averaged 6:05 for 4 out of 5 miles and my fourth mile was 5:57! Sweet!!! I was doing 1 miles at 5K training pace with .25 mile rest pace. This was only my 2nd track workout ever, I think I’m sold on it : )

Thursday I’d like to refer to as the day I got my ass handed to me. I went out with two other guys from the group and did a 30 mile loop course. I’m use to doing about 18-20 mph alone and about 20-22 mph with Eileen on some good stretches, but Thursday we started right out the gate at 24 mph and only stopped when we hit the hills over at West Seattle by Lincoln Park. We hit the first hill and off they went up,up,up. I was holding my own doing about 12 mph up the hills, but nothing like what I was watching in front of me, at least for as long as I could see them.

At the end of the day I didn’t feel too bad and I wasn’t shelled or dying on the bike at anytime, I was just playing way over my head, which I could handle for a 30 mile hit. The other two guys race every weekend and do stage races of 4-5 days. Peter was saying he just got back from Oregon from doing 6 days of 100-125 miles a day and some days had 4-5 thousand foot elevation gain.

What it did was show that I need to stop putting limits on what I think I can do.

Tuesdays swim was much farther than I thought I could do in open water, but I finish strong and had plenty of energy out of the water.

Wednesday showed that my running is better than I thought and getting stronger even in the last miles. I still think I run in the 7:10’s, but as per my Garmin it’s 6:15’s.
Thursdays lesson was I can push on the bike and still be alright. I need to stop putting limits on what I think I can do or handle. Can’t be happy with being complacent, complacency breeds boredom what’s the point of that?

Needless to say I scratched Fridays planned swim : ) and I had Saturday off to rest up for the Seafair half marathon that AK and I are running.

More about that later.........

Up hill battle......

OK, so I don’t mind the hills in running or biking. On George, my bike, I proudly have a Spanish bull that gives a nod to all the Basque and the Orange Wave for climbing in cycling. In running, “hills are money in the bank” as Earl would say. I love the hills.




However, in last Sundays Mercer Island, there were more hills than downhills!

Climbing one after another and then hitting 5.5 miles and seeing the finish way at the top of yet another hill. Uphill finish, totally wasn’t expecting it.


Overall it was a really good race, I PR’d by 17 seconds and more importantly I ran a smart race from mile 1 through 6. Each mile I kept myself in check at one of the few flats I was rolling around 6:40 minute mile and had to say the one word out loud to slow down – Nookachamps

With that said I slow down to 7:05 and instantly got passed by 4 people, which I caught 2 around the 5 mile mark and the last 2 on the last hill to the finish. My last full mile was 6:58 and miles 2 and 3 were even at 7:05.

At the last .25 mile the 5K and the 10K meet up and cross the finish together. I saw AK about twenty yards ahead of me and tried to close the gap before the finish and got about 15 feet behind her, so close. She said about her race, the 5k, steady and no surprises. Which means she’s almost 100% recovered from her fracture from the Foot Zone 5k race in Redmond back on August 5th of last year. She said about that race” I was on fire, then I felt like I was on fire!”

Her recovery seams to be right on track as she just signed up for the new Seafair Half Marathon : )

Here's a picture of AK finishing up Bridal trails 5K in 2006

So all in all Mercer has a good race, maybe a little hillier than it needed to be, not sure I’ll be rushing back next year for it. The shirt was really cool.