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 Swim
Comments: Started off smooth and kicking slightly more than normal. I wanted to get some blood flowing. I also wanted to stay as relaxed as possible knowing we had no warm up and bad things can happen when you just hit the gas. Basically, I treated this swim like a warm up. Kicking, slower than normal turnover, breathing a little longer..etc etc. The air was really cold and my breaths were kind of tough to get...so I stayed relaxed. Throughout the swim, I started to feel better and better. About 500 yards in, I found another purple cap that was swimming roughly the same pace. I decided to latch on...and boy did I. I drafted this poor dude the entire rest of the swim. I know he had to be annoyed that I was right up his butt the rest of the way...too bad. I was probably swimming 95% of my normal race pace but at 80% effort. It was really nice. Planning to DNF, you'd think I would go for it in the swim. But I've found that the swim is usually the same no matter what. You really only have one mile plus pace...unless it's a stand alone event. But with the bike after, it's just a comfortably hard pace. I exited the water and lapped my 910 and saw 29:17...ok, that's just ok. But after the race I saw that the course was 1.26miles...so a low 29 on a long course and a really low effort with no warm up...I'll take that. Plus, I exited the water in 8th...that's what really matters. Timing mat was at the top of the hill. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Transition 1
Comments: Ok, so hands were cold and feet were numb. Trying to get things on when you are cold is tough. I went slow...really slow. But, I still had a reasonable transition. I think people must just over complicate transition because I was really moving slowly and I still had a good one. I also didn't bother with arm warmers or socks or anything...that might have also helped speed things up. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Bike
Comments: The plan was to hammer the bike. I looked down and saw that my Garmin was not giving any power...dead battery. Whoops! That's my fault. The Quarq had a problem last week and I replaced the battery to see if that was it. Unbeknownst to me, I replaced with an old battery...of course I rode the bike the day before and it couldn't have gone dead then...stupid Murphy! So I just put my head down and drilled it. I was cold, but not bad. I mean, my legs were literally frozen, but I think that helped mask some of the pain...so maybe it was a good thing. I made my way through some age groupers but had a pretty clean shot into town. I felt super strong and literally before I knew it, I was done. I didn't take one sip of water or nutrition and came away with a great bike split. I can honestly say that I would have rode basically the same had I been racing the full event. I may have been like 30 seconds to a minute slower because I wouldn't have hit a couple of those small kicker hills as hard...but that's it. Report on the new Shiv: I picked up a Shiv Tri the other day to see how I liked it compared to my Shiv TT. I really liked it a lot. My position is just a fraction higher than my TT bike but a touch more comfortable for longer races where I have to run after. I'm gonna keep both and use them for their respective disciplines. I really only have 4 rides on the Tri bike so I'll report back when I get some real time on it. All in all, I think the Tri version is better for Tris...huh, imagine that...lol. What would you do differently?: Nothing Transition 2
Comments: I came into T2 and racked my bike and got my shoes on...that was tough because my hands were now numb...and my feet. Finally got everything situated and headed out.  Run
Comments: I ran out of T2 and felt really good just jogging a low 7 minute pace. Feet were really numb but started to come around quickly. I got to the first aid station which is right out of T2 and ran past that for another 100 yards to my friends that set up a nice viewing and cheering station. That's where I called it a day. Post race
Warm down: I went back into transition and got a jacket I stashed in my run bag. Getting my T1 bag and dry clothes bag was a complete cluster. Event comments: So that's Boise. Ashley and I found a great Mexican restaurant right off the run course that we had lunch at. Then went back out and continued to cheer for all my teammates and friends. I don't even know how to end this blog post....Just thank everyone I know? It seems like everyone was at this race. Special thanks to Sue and Jay for being our anchor throughout the weekend. Thanks to Wattie for putting together such a spectacular team. I've made so many friends and have felt so welcome...it makes going to these races a whole new experience. Thanks to Elliot for letting us into his weird weird world of Linsey Corbin fascination....it's actually quit comical ;P...Congrats goes out to all those who raced, braved the conditions and did so well..We'll see lot's of you in Vegas. Thanks to all my sponsors, Wattie Ink, 101 Pipe & Casing, Inc., Kurt Orban Partners, and Wins Wheels. Very special thanks and love go to my girlfriend Ashley who had to deal with a stupid, rainy, wet, cold, point to point race in a foreign town. She did a great job running support and never missed a beat. I'll get to repay the favor when she crushes Vineman next month. Next up for me is a few more bike races to get out of Cat 5 and some open water events as well. I'll also be doing an Aquathon up in Santa Barbara before getting back to Tri's in September. Last updated: 2012-02-05 12:00 AM
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United States
World Triathlon Corporation
48F / 9C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 0/1700
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 0/216
This race was suppose to be my ticket to Vegas. It was on my radar even before they added the 100 Vegas slots and before I knew that almost half my team would be attending. So I made all the arrangements early in the season to attend this race. Then, as most of you following my blog know, stress fracture happened. One word on that, it's doing great. I'm now up to running about 5x a week for a max duration of 30 minutes with zero pain. So things are going really well on that front. But, after it happened, I was still optimistic that I would make this race. As we got closer and closer, my coach and I realized that it wasn't going to happen. We needed to be smart and not risk ruining the entire season trying to come back too early.
So the bad news was, I wasn't going to be able to race. The even worse news was that everything was already paid for and arranged...so now what? Do I travel all the way to Boise for a Swim/Bike DNF? I had made up my mind that I was just going to blow it off....then, a very strange thing started happening. Teammates and friends started lining up telling me they were going. Then my main sponsor Sean "Wattie" Watkins chimed in that he and Heather Jackson were going to make the trip...Then I find out like 10 Watties LIVE in Boise....ok, this changes things. Everything is paid for and now this weekend is turning into something much more than a race...so I decided to ship the bike up and have a go at it. Knowing there would be so much more than just a race.
Ashley and I arrived Friday morning and headed over to Sue and Jay's, teammates that had been kind enough to let me ship my bike there so I would have tools and a garage to build it in. Can't say enough about how hospitable Sue and Jay were...some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. Heather and Sean were staying with them as well. Got my bike built and cruised it down the street for a quick spin and it was back to the hotel.
I picked up my race packet and Ashley and I got some lunch at the Pita Pit. This is where Ashley absolutely saved the day. On our way leaving downtown and back to our hotel, Ashley just happened to say, "Where's your race packet?"....ummmm, IT'S ON THE COUNTER OF THE PITA PIT! So I flipped a quick U'y and we were able to find it sitting where we left it. Man, that would have sucked.
Had dinner with yet some more Wattie teammates and made it a fairly early night. The race didn't start till noon...so there was no rush to get to bed.
Woke up the next morning and headed back to Sue and Jay's. Sue and I then headed down to T2 to drop off our run bags. Yes, I did have a run bag. I decided to do T2 and run to the first aid station where I knew friends would be, and then pull out there.
For the race start, Sue and I had Ashley drive us down to the reservoir and then she would head back to the finish to meet us there. This is when the weather decided to shit on our parade.
We get down to the reservoir with about 2 hours till our start. Sue hops out of the truck and makes a break for it. It's about a half mile trek up a dirt path to the lake. I get out and make my peace with the situation and head up. I get up to the top and the conditions are really bad. Cold, wet and windy....it wasn't "that" bad though so I thought we would just press through this. But, shortly after I arrived, they announced that the winds on the upper part of the bike course were really bad and they needed to cut the bike short...down to roughly 15 miles...woah. That's crazy. But, I just roll with it. I wasn't too happy about being there anyway so it was almost relieving. But, wait a minute, I told Ashley to meet me 3 hours after the start...but I would be arriving in like an hour...SHIT! I need a phone! So I found some girl texting and asked her if I could use her phone...she was nice enough to let me.
I got into my wetsuit and found some friends, Travis, Peter, Mas, Gerardo and Elliot...all at different times...we were all just trying to figure out what to do. I found out later that Elliot sat in a Porto John for 45 minutes...yeah, that seems right ;) Otherwise, we just waited...in the cold...forever. I just wanted to get going...weather was getting worse and worse.
Finally the race started and the waves started to go. Needless to say, we had zero warm up...but the water actually felt warm at 57 degrees after standing in the cold for so long. I swam out, got in the front and off we went.