Tupelo to Nashville to Ashland City

After I wrapped up the tri season and the marriage (October 1) I had a few road bike rides on the calendar. I have to admit, when Maggie and I got back from Charleston I was a bit tired and not crazy about heading out of town on a long bike trip, but I had made promises and was in the car headed down to Tupelo before I could back out.  There were six of us for the first annual Man Ride.  We arrived into Tupelo late on Thursday evening and checked into one of the strangest hotels I have ever seen....America's Best Inn and Suites.  We were checked in by the most friendly and bizarre person...Randy is a sight.  If you ever make your way down to Tupelo make sure to stop in and say hello.

Well, we got up on schedule Friday morning, started packing up the sag car and got ready to head out on the bikes for the first 90 miles of the trip.  The morning sort of languished as we got ready to go.  When we finally got on the bikes we were about an hour behind schedule.  On of the riders had planned out a meticulous schedule for both days which included our water breaks and lunch breaks.  Being an hour behind schedule getting started had me a bit worried since we are late in the fall and night comes earlier and earlier.

We finished breakfast and headed out on the bikes.  Everyone was pretty excited about the ride so the pace picked up early on.  I kept suggesting that we should check the speed but everytime someone got to the front they pushes the pace.  There was a stretch where we were averaging over 21mph.  I knew this was going to hurt on day two.  We had a good and very quick morning ride.  We hit our lunch break and only stopped for about 30 minutes before we were back on the bikes.  The afternoon wind had picked up and the ride for the second half of the day was a steady and gradual uphill into Collinswood, TN.  Needless to say this absolutely smoked the quads.

We spent the night in Collinswood and got a great night of sleep thanks to a found hotel.  Early the next day I got up and headed out with McPhee (who was battling a quad injury from weeks before the ride).  The second day, on paper, looked to be a much harder day.  First, it was a 110 mile day but the climbs were a lot bigger.  McPhee and I put down a good, steady pace all the way through the lunch break.  We were feeling pretty good at this point.  We took a longer lunch and waited for the group to catch up.  Took a nice lunch, caught up on the morning travels and headed out for the last 60 miles.  The up and downs, even though they were bigger, were a great break from the previous day which was a steady grind.  We made it to the end of the Natchez Trace, stopped for a picture at Loveless Cafe and then powered on for the final push.  We headed from Loveless Cafe to Tin Roof 2 for our celebratory party.  This last 15 miles or so was very tough due to an extremely steep and long climb, coupled with a lot of Saturday afternoon traffic.  When we finally made it to Tin Roof 2 we had a great welcome party waiting for us.  All in all I was thrilled to have done the ride.  In a 200+ mile ride there are some dark and mentally challenging times...I am just thankful that I had committed guys there with me to help get me through.

The following weekend I had another ride on the schedule.  This one was with Shane Giardino and his Nutro team.  The final metric century of the year was to be a tough ride for me.  It was in Ashland City which is anything but flat.  In fact it had 4,000 feet of climbing with two monster climbs towards mile 55 and 58.  This wasn't a "race" but when you put this many guys together it naturally becomes one.  We led the second pack of riders for the whole day.  We finished the ride with an average pace of 18.2mph which was more than I wanted for a course that had this much climbing.  My legs were certainly weary after my nearly 300 miles of riding in less then 10 days.

From a training standpoint it is great that I had these rides on the calendar.  I have fought the end of season struggles that most of my fellow racers face.  Now it is time for me to get my ass in gear, get back in the pool and put the running shoes back on so I can get really ready for 2012.

Where to go in 2012 - Go Long to Go Fast

I have been spending a lot of time about where I would like my 2012 race season to go.  This has led me to analyze my 2011 race season in a more comprehensive sense.  Considering where my races felt strong, where they fell apart and where I see opportunity for improvement.  This post is going to talk about one area where I would like to improve in 2012 - that is stamina.

Let me explain how I think this is going to happen.  I raced a lot of sprint races this season....I mean that, a whole lot.  I got very comfortable at this distance and I felt like my body was tuned into this distance fairly well.  My mind could focus on things other than how much longer I have to push at this distance.  When I stepped up and raced olympic distance races I noticed that this was not the case.  For example, Hy-Vee 5150 Age Group championships showed me the potential for improvement when I was out on the run.  I worked hard to hold back on the bike so I could have legs on the run.  When I hit the run I felt solid through the first 5k, stable through the next 2.5k and unable to hold the pace for the last 2.5k.  This taught me that I had raced too short all season.  I really enjoyed the local sprint series and it really helped me in other aspects, but in order to hold the swim/bike/run pace I need to be more competitive in olympics I need to get comfortable with that pace for that distance.

I have made mistakes in the past trying to bite off more of a race than I was ready for.  I have learned that to progress at this sport (absent pure freakish talent) you need to dedicate concerted efforts over an extended period of time.  This means using your head way before you roll out of bed in the morning to start your training or race for the day.  It starts with a plan for your season that will give you the best chance to maximize those training and racing days.  For me that means going longer so I can go faster.

So, here is what I am thinking for 2012 (assuming the coach agrees).  Instead of 4 sprints and 4 olympics (or so) I am thinking 4 halfs and 4 olympics (or so).  The halfs for 2012 are not going to be "races" per se but rather are going to just help me work on pacing and time out on the course.  I am hoping that this will progress to the olympics feeling short in comparison.  I am still going to sprinkle in the local sprints as high intensity training sessions so I can keep up the speed and keep up with the local tri community.  So, that's what I'm thinking....we will have to see how it turns out.

Interbike 2011

So, I received an awesome offer from two of my sponsors (SLS3 and Powerbar) a few months back.  They asked if I wanted to attend Interbike 2011 as a representative for the teams.  I was thrilled and of course accepted the offers.  I came to Las Vegas a few days earlier to watch the 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, Nevada.  That race, in an of itself would have been well worth the trip.  I had a chance to watch my coach (Bruce Gennari) race the challenging 70.3 course along with some of the top pros in the world.  The Team Timex crew was very gracious in letting me hang around for the weekend for an added bonus.

For those who haven't attended Interbike it is crazy.  On Monday and Tuesday there is an event hosted called Outdoor Demo Day.  This is about a thirty minute drive outside of downtown Vegas by shuttle.  You get out there and it is a huge outdoor expo with all the major bike, component and accessories companies present (along with a few brewers).

They have two courses set up.  One for the road/tri bikes and one for the mountain/cross bikes.  

I missed ODD on Monday and it rained terribly Tuesday morning.  As such I didn't get out to ODD until late Tuesday afternoon.  I was a bit overwhelmed as I made my way around the expo and just tried to take it all in.  All the big guys were there (Trek, Scott, Giant, Felt, QR, Fuji and so on).  After I walked around and had a good look at most everything I decided I was ready to take some out for a ride.  The only booth I could get on a bike right away was Trek.  I headed over and got on a Trek Madone 6.2.  This was a light and stiff bike.  I took it out for about a ten minute ride and began to appreciate the ride that most everyone had faced a few days earlier at the 70.3 Worlds.  Heading away from the expo everything felt great.  I felt fast on this bike and was loving it.  Hit the turnaround and felt the desert wind.  Made my way back to the Trek booth and returned the road bike.

I decided that I couldn't come out there and not get on one of the 29'ers.  They had the full suspension Rumblefish in my size so I checked it out and headed to the off-road course.  I have not ridden a mountain bike in over a dozen years and this was a tough place to re-learn the finer points....especially on a single track course lined with sharp rocks.  I made my way around the track twice with a steady line of more experienced frustrated riders behind me.  My time on road bike has certainly robbed me of some of the handling skills that a course like this required.  I have to say that I loved the 29'er though.  It rolled right through the course with impressive stability.

By the time I got through with this ride it was time to head back to town.  I wish I had more time to ride some of the other bikes there, but I guess that is what 2012 is for.

Now, Wednesday was the start of Interbike.  I made my way into the expo and made one full loop of both floors of the expo.  I can't adequately explain how large this expo is but I can say that I walked the floor for over two hours and still didn't see all the vendors.  I checked in with SLS3 and Powerbar to make sure they were good.  Powerbar asked if I could help at the booth for a bit so they could rotate out for lunch.  I worked the stand where we were sampling the two new Powerbar gels (kona punch and berry blast) along with the Powerbar Energy Blasts and Powerbar Perform.  I had a really good time working this booth as it was busy, everyone was excited to be there and the products we were sampling were awesome.  We stayed busy and before i knew it a few hours had passed.

The Powerbar staff told me they were fine for the rest of the day so I headed back out on the floor to take another loop.  The signs said that pictures weren't allowed so I didn't even bring the camera.  I was just in awe with all the bling on the floor.  I noticed that a lot of people were taking pictures so I knew I was bringing the camera back on Thursday.  I headed out, tired but excited about Thursday.

I came back to the expo on Thursday and spent a lot of time walking the floor getting a better look at all the products and snapping hundreds of pics.  By the end of the day I felt pretty happy with my photography finds and ready to work the Powerbar booth on Friday.

Well, somehow on Thursday night the camera was lost/stolen.  Friday morning when I got ready to head to the expo I couldn't find it anywhere.  This was pretty disappointing since I had so many good pictures on the camera and I knew I was supposed to be working the Powerbar booth all Friday.  I was hopeful that I could break away for a bit and get some more pictures for everyone that couldn't be there.  Fortunately the Powerbar team is great and I worked for several hours and then they told me that they were good for the rest of the day and for me to walk around and have fun.

So, here you go.  Here are the iPhone pics I could take in the short period of time on Friday afternoon before everyone wrapped up and headed home.  So, lets get going:

The roundtail was the first interesting thing I saw at the expo.  They have removed the traditional chain and seat stays in an effort to smooth out the ride through the use of a rear circle.  This titanium bike was actually build by Lynskey here in Tennessee for Roundtail.  They weren't demoing these bikes so I can't attest to whether this concept works, but it certainly is interesting.

Quick shot of the Tennessee boys doing work in Vegas.  The Swiftwick booth had great interest the whole week.

This was the first product I saw that got me envious.  I have the LG Vorticce and love the helmet in every way.  I came across this and just couldn't believe that I may have to buy another one just to get the all black look.  These are coming out after the new year.

I had seen pictures of the Casco aero helmet before but this was the first time I had a chance to handle it. Not much to say here.  I am sure they have done their wind-tunnel testing for this helmet but it certainly has headed in a very different direction from all other aero helmets.

Just because....

Just a shot of the potential profit margin on bikes.....wow

Just one of the Wilier TT bikes....this all black look was popular this year.

Here is the new flagship Wilier TT bike ($13,000 ticket).  I am not sure about the forks heading up to the bars in front of the head tube.....makes for a very unique front end.

The Garmin Vector power based pedals got a lot of attention this year.  These pedals have been in the works for a very, very long time so everyone was interested.  I took a good look at these and I am a bit nervous about the small gray tab on the pedal....seems very fragile in the craziness that sometimes is flying up from the road.  I was also told that the transfer from one bike to the other wasn't quite as easy as changing pedals.  I couldn't get much more clarity on this but that certainly was one of the big initial selling points for these pedals.

I have used cool black gear all season long.  I am often asked why I would wear a black kit with the heat issues and I tried to explain the logic with the cool black......although I could never prove the truth...until now.  Regular black fabric and cool black shows the difference.

Pinarello had their new TT bike on display.  This picture doesn't show the ridges on the downtube but it was certainly different.  My big problem with this bike was the front end.  They are using their own stem and bars but seemed to really miss the chance to clean up all the cables in the front.  Every cable hung low and very exposed in front of the headtube.

The BMC Time Machine....I don't know what I can say about this bike but wow...it looks sharp.  Doesn't hurt that the TDF champ rocketed past his second place finisher on it this year.

Cadel Evans' TDF yellow bike.

All over the expo there was "SRAM Art".  Artists had made a variety of art pieces with all SRAM parts.  This was certainly one of the coolest I saw.

As was this.

3T has moved into the carbon wheel business.

Nothing was all the impressive from the 3T wheel.  However, as you can see from this picture, they leave the spokes exposed and they are mounted on the very edge of the carbon lip.

Felt's new TT superbike....not sure if this is a $13,000 machine but it certainly looked fast.

They had the new Torhans aero bottle mock-up (they didn't have the actual production version so I can't report as to whether it is practical).  This is a shot of the Di2 battery cover.

The Argon E-118.  This bike really impressed me.  It is a departure from the Argon of the past and into the arena of superbikes.  One of the big differences you will see on this bike is the large gap between the fork and the top of the wheel.  They say this helps move the air more easily over the wheel and out around the frame.

The new Powertap integrated stem.  This stem (made by 3T) houses the new Powertap Joule GPS unit.  This really looks like a great idea.  The one thing I would like to know is whether this stem would work well with a TT setup.  It would certainly be limited in situations where the aerobars extensions are fairly close.

The new ITU legal all black Shiv.  Not much to say here except that this continues to look like a fast bike.  I wish I could have given you a good pictures of the Venge but they choose to hang it high from the rafters....boo.  Also, the much anticipated new Specialized mid-range tri bike wasn't here either.

The new Powertap carbon wheels certainly helps justify the purchase of a wheel based power system.

This was a saddle company that just caught my eye.  This was a Japanese company.  Just seemed a bit odd to me as the Japanese lead the way in whale killing around the world and now they are at Interbike and this was really the only selling point made at their booth.

Look's new TT frame had a very cool looking stem system.  The bottom two pictures show the split stem used on the bike.  Looks like it gives good adjustability.

Look and Polar also rolled out their pedal based power system.  The design looks very consistent with Garmin's version.

Look's new stem was on all the other frames.  Not sure about how aero this is but it was unique.

The Scott Plasma TT bike has a very different rear wheel fork design.  This little airfoil above the rear wheel wasn't found on any other bike.

And, to wrap up the pics is the Sully booth.  This is a new version of rollers.  These are large logs and this brave soul was rocking away on the big wheeled Sully.

I wish I had all my other pics but I hope this gives you a good idea of Interbike 2011.  

2011 – A Great Season in the Books

As I sit here on a flight out to Las Vegas (heading out to watch the 70.3 World Championships and attend Interbike) I can’t help but look back over the past season fondly.  This season saw some highs, a very early low and a lot of great new experiences and relationships.  One of the biggest new experiences this season would have to be coaching my first Team In Training triathlon team.  I was fortunate to have a wonderful group of new and returning athletes who had committed themselves to an aggressive fundraising goal and a demanding physical test that is Rev3 Knoxville.  I entered this arrangement with a bit of apprehension.  That apprehension was probably equally matched with excitement.  As the season got under way and I learned more about my athletes that scale tipped heavily towards excitement and pride.  It was a wonderful experience and one I hope to repeat in the years to come.  Racing has rewards but coaching new athletes and helping introduce them to this sport is something different entirely.

The season started very early for me with my first race in Costa Rica in February.  I choose to start the season with an early race because I was motivated by the end of my 2010 season and ready to get 2011 started.  I have been impressed with Rev3 and wanted to be one of the first to race their first international race.  Well, as my blog on that race reported, it didn’t turn out quite like I had planned.  It certainly was tough to start the season on such a low note.  The swim was long, the bike was punishing and then a wreck to keep me off the run course.  Fortunate for me it happened in one of the most beautiful places in the world and the trip had already been phenomenal. 

We packed up, headed back to Tennessee and I refocused my season at that point.  The one thing that Rev3 taught me was that I need to decide what races I was ready to race for the balance of the season.  Not complete but race.  I have enjoyed the experience of finishing races before and proving to myself that I have the legs to get through the test, but that wasn’t what I wanted for 2011.  I wanted to race this year.  I wanted to try and be competitive in my division in the races I entered.  This was a departure from 2010 where I was still interested in getting through races.  So, I analyzed Costa Rica and decided that I didn’t have the run at this point to compete at the 70.3 distance.  I decided that I wanted to pick an end of season Olympic and make that my primary focus for the season.  To get me to that point I had to develop a faster run off the bike to remain in the mix at the end.  So, what is the best way to pick up your run pace in our sport – sprints.  I knew that sprints were going to be the key to me developing some run speed. 

So, now to plan the season.  I started with Memphis In May to be the test race for where my speed was at the Olympic distance.  I tagged this as the season starter and had penciled in Fall Creek Falls as the end (which ended up getting cancelled due to storms – that would have been a disappointing end).  I choose Chattanooga Waterfront as my mid-season Olympic race to re-assess my progress.  Between those races I knew I was going to pack in as many sprints as I could (and as my fiancée would let me).

Memphis in May was a very unique race due to the fact that the whole town of Tunica, MS was shut down following flooding.  That left a northern Mississippi town inhabited exclusively by triathletes for a weekend.  The weather that led to the flooding re-appeared race morning and stayed with us the rest of the day.   It was the worst weather I have ever raced in.  However, something came together on that day and I found myself on the podium in 2^nd place with a qualifier slot to the Hy-Vee 5150 Age Group Championships in Des Moines over Labor Day.  That quickly replaced Fall Creeks as my end of the season A race.

The experience at MIM gave me a boost and got me excited to keep the season going.  So I kept the momentum going through June and into July.  I raced a sprint distance race every weekend for the next month.  These all proved to be positive races with three 1^st place finishes and one 2^nd place finish (by :20 seconds – which only served as a lesson to me – keep pushing the pace on the run).  This series of races led me into Chattanooga. 

This was the first time I raced Chattanooga.  I knew it was going to be a challenge for me due to the heat and the hills.  The swim was in the river, the bike was a 42k very “rolling” course and the run was going to be in the heat of the day.  Well, needless to say Chattanooga didn’t go as planned at any phase.  The swim felt slow and forced, the bike fell apart due losing my nutrition at mile two which required me to hold back in an effort to save the run.  This reserved effort proved pointless because the run was more of a shuffle/walk.  The heat and no fluids for over an hour on the bike just proved insurmountable for me.  We packed up our gear, checked out of the hotel and headed back to Nashville.  As I laid on the couch that night I pulled up the race results and much to my surprise my disappointing time still earned me a 3^rd place podium spot.  As silly as it sounds this helped me mentally.  I knew I had put up a poor time.  I knew that the race didn’t go as planned and I thought I had rounded out the bottom of the list.  When I looked at my times and saw my competitors times I realized that I had made progress since MIM.  It didn’t get me on the top of the podium but I was able to keep myself in the mix.

Following MIM I took a few weeks off of racing for some much needed rest.  Nashville Music City was on the books for the end of July and I wanted to redeem myself from the 2010 sufferfest that was Music City Olympic.  I choose to race the sprint this season because I wanted to keep the confidence up and I knew that the Olympic course was not one that favored my type of racing (heat and hills = slow and painful for big boys like me).  I knew the sprint would still be a challenge for me at this point in the season but I also felt confident that I could put in a good race.  Well, I am glad I made the decision that I did because it all came together for me that day.  The break from racing over the previous weeks left me feeling strong and ready to race.  It was nice to be on top of the podium back in my home town that day.  (As an aside, I reviewed the Olympic times later that night and the top finisher in the Clydesdale division was close to 3:00.  So, my suspicion that it would have been a repeat of 2010 seems to have been right on also – the heat was punishing).

Moving on from Music City I entered into August a month away from Hy-Vee.  I raced one more sprint in August and put in another great performance (1^st at Mountain Lakes).  I also had a very unique experience at Cedars of Lebanon.  I wanted to participate in this race as I had done all of the races of our local race company – Team Magic.  However this race was one week before Hy-Vee so I didn’t want to race it, just participate in some way.  Team Magic has a very unique structure to their races – they always have a designated last place finisher.  This is a local triathlete who will sacrifice his race to ensure that no other racer has to see his or her name at the bottom of the finishers list rounding out the race in last.  So, I volunteered to be the designated last place finisher for Cedars.  I have to admit that it was a wonderful experience and I am very glad I was able to give back to those people in the back.  I also have to admit that those in the back have a new found respect from me.  We often perceive these people as slow because they aren’t pushing it.  I have to say that this isn’t the case.  These people were working the whole way.  Clearly they haven’t tuned the engine like the front of the pack racers have but they are still mashing that pedal.

Hy-Vee.  The name just leads to image of the blue carpet and blazing fast racers.  I was excited.  I had worked hard for this race and I was ready to prove it on the course.  My coach and I talked strategy, pacing, splits and I felt ready.  The weather appeared that it was going to cooperate and it looked like it was shaping up to be a perfect day to go out and race fast.  I knew that I was going to have some heavy competition at this race as I had scoped out my competitors’ finishing times from their qualifying races.  The day came, the gun went off and I tried desperately to stay on the pace talked through with my coach.  The swim felt okay but a bit frantic.  Out of the water one minute behind pace.  Transition run was long but it was long for everyone.  Bike course was where I messed up my pacing.  I pulled back way too much early on and didn’t have time to make it up over the middle section.  I was proud of myself for accepting that this time was lost and not trying to reclaim it at the expense of my run.  Got off the bike and hit the run feeling good.  Here is where my lesson of 2011 became clear.  I had raced so many sprints that I felt rock solid through the 5k.  I felt strong through 7.5K.  I felt myself fading in the last 2.5k.  My legs just weren’t used to running that pace with that fatigue in them.  Race was over, I was whipped and I hit my goal of getting on the podium at the championships. 

2011 was an awesome year for me.  I found myself on the podium 10 times this season.  The only podium finishes I missed were Costa Rica and the designated last place finish at Cedars.  So, the question is what is the plan for 2012.  I have entertained the idea of heading back down to Costa Rica in an effort to redeem myself.  I think that would be a poor decision at this point.  If I go it will be a pleasure trip and not a race.  I just don’t have the legs to race this distance that early in the season.  So as of now my plans for 2012 are going to build off my 2011 season.  I am going to re-focus my distances for next year.  I feel like sprints still have a place in my schedule, but more as tempo sessions.  I don’t think I can sacrifice training weekends to race these races anymore.  I will use them as hard tempo days and get back to training the following day with no taper leading into them.  I will also make Olympics my focus distance for 2012 with a 70.3 tacked on near the end (maybe Augusta) along with a repeat visit to Hy-Vee. 

I believe my body has to build to these distances.  I fell prey to attempting to emulate racers around me with longer racing careers and more miles in the legs.  That is a big lesson learned for me.  This sport demands patience and dedication.  I have accepted that to excel at these races I have to present myself with a long term path of improvement and progress. 

Heading into 2012 I am also excited about furthering my relationships with my corporate sponsors.  I have been blessed to be affiliated with Powerbar, Cycleops/Powertap and nuun for two seasons now.  They each represent the professionalism, dedication and creativity that I try to bring to the sport.  I am excited about the new product line developments that will be rolling out this week at Interbike and hopeful that I can continue to race under their flags.  I was also very happy to partner with SLS3 this season.  Their race gear and compression gear has been a blessing.  With so much racing I was constantly fighting the compounding fatigue of a full race season.  Their gear was top notch and helped me stay in the races and progress through 2011 injury free.   2012 will certainly be a great year for SLS3 and I am glad to be connected with the team.

So, stay tuned….the blog posts will continue through the base building of the fall and winter as we lead into 2012.

Hy-Vee 5150 Championship In The Books

I made myself one promise before I headed northwest towards Des Moines, Iowa.  That promise was that Hy-Vee was going to hurt me.  I was going to hold back on the swim and the bike to make sure I could push the run and push the pain.  Well, as I sit here to write this blog the one thing I can tell you is mission accomplished.  My legs still feel trashed two days later.  My secondary goal was to use this punishment to get myself on the podium....I am happy to say that this effort, while a bit disappointing in terms of overall finish time, led to a third place podium finish.

Now, a bit of a back story.  As we were making our way (Bo Parrish and myself) from Nashville to Des Moines on Friday we kept a keen eye on the in-car temp reading.  It stayed pretty steady right around 100* for the entire trip.  We had a hard time believing that the temp could be anything but miserable in less than 48 hours.  Saturday we woke up for a 25 mile or so warm up ride.  This gave us a good idea of the bike course profile.  The hills at the start weren't big in comparison to TN but they still presented a bit of a test coming out of T1 for the first 5 miles or so.

We finished the ride and headed back to the expo and check in.  I have to say that this race really set the new standard for swag.  Bag, cycling jersey, visors and a mix of other goodies certainly made for a nice surprise.  Later than night we brought our bikes over to transition and headed back to the hotel for some rest.

Sunday morning was upon us soon.  We headed out of the hotel and out onto the streets of Des Moines. Temp had dropped to the low 50's.  Fortunately I brought my wetsuit with me down to transition, not really expecting to need it for this race (the water temp had been 84* just two days before).  As I entered transition I saw several people in wetsuits....surprise surprise - wetsuit legal.  I finished setting up transition and headed down to the swim start.

This was the first race of the season for me with a wave start.  My group was about 30 athletes.  The course was set up as a rectangle.  I wasn't paying much attention and lined up on the outside of the pack, just happened to be on the wrong side.  I forgot that we had to swim to the right of the first buoy as opposed to the left so when the gun went off I had to make my way left through the pack to get around the buoy.  The swim settled into a nice routine until we came around the second corned and headed into the rising sun.  This almost blinded me and made sighting extremely difficult.  The further along this long side we swam the less of an issue the sun became.  Kept working the pace but my early struggles, and a few inexplicable course weaves led to a 26 and change swim time.  This was certainly slower than I had hoped, especially with a wetsuit swim.

The run from the swim to the bike was a long T1.  We had to run the full length of the transition all the way back to the bike exit where the championship transition zone was set up.  This run was a chilly 55* run over slick mud.  Got into T1 and got my suit off, helmet on and headed out for the bike.

My coach and I had talked a lot about the bike.  I told him that I wanted to focus on hitting a 1:10 bike split so I knew I had a lot in the tank for the run.  He thought this was a good idea and suggested that I watch my pace carefully for the first 15 minutes, push the pedal for the middle 18 miles or so and then pull it back for the mile heading into T2 to help shake the legs out a bit.  Well, the first 15 minutes covered the whole initial climb or 5 miles or so.  I really worked hard trying to keep myself from working hard on this section.  When the watch hit 15 minutes I looked at my distance and knew I blew my already conservative 1:10 goal.  I tried to push the pace a heavy during the next 18 or 19 miles.  Constantly telling myself to not stress on picking up minute on the run just to add several on the run.  This was hard.  Even knowing I was behind my pace I still pulled back on the last mile and worked to shake the legs out heading into T2.

T2 went off without a hitch.  Grabbed the visor, race belt and water bottle.  This was the first olympic I had ever taken a small handheld water bottle on the run.  The logic behind this was that I was expecting to be on the heels of my competitors so I didn't want to slow at the aid stations without sacrificing my nutrition (Powerbar Perform to save the day).  I was very happy with this decision and will probably adopt this as a normal race strategy.

The run started off great.  I quickly passed one racer in my division at a good clip.  Hit the one mile mark and checked the split - 7:09 (coach had told me to take it easy on the first mile - this was a bit too fast for me).  Passed the one mile mark which was on an out and back and saw three other guys in my division heading back the other way.  It was tough to tell how far ahead of me they were but I know the two guys out front looked strong and comfortable in their stride.  Mile 2 - 7:19 - still pretty good clip for me on an olympic distance race.  At about 2.5 I passed another guy in my division.  At this point I was pretty sure there were two ahead of me in my division but I couldn't be certain as someone could have beaten me out of the swim that I didn't see.  5k mark - 21:40.  I was happy but nervous that the wheels were going to fall off soon.  The run had an uphill finish that concerned me with this pace.  I kept trying to push the pace wisely because I wanted to run the two down in front of me, but I didn't want to burn the matches too quick just to have one of the guys I had passed before catch me late in the run.  4 and 5 passed and I could tell the pace was slowing.  At this point I just wanted to make sure I didn't have an 8 minute mile.  I knew if I could keep my pace under 8 minutes that it would be hard for any in the back to pass me and I just had to hope the wheels really spun off for the front two.

Well, the run came to a painful end up the final hill and down the Hy-Vee blue carpet.  Took a quick look over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't stalked up the hill by someone in my division and when I realized I was in the clear I slowed a bit to try and enjoy the moment.

Finished the race in 2:29.  I was shooting for a 2:20 - 2:25 finish time.  The poor swim and pacing on the bike led to missing my goal.  That being said I felt happy about the run.  I think I still could have pulled a few seconds off the time.  Even with that it was nice to catch some guys on the run as this is something that I don't normally do.  Now I just have to work on having that run strength with a faster swim and bike - that is what 2012 is for.

As I said I was lucky that this time got me on the podium (well kind of, they only let the elites get on the actual podiums, we just walked up and got our awards - but thanks to my wonderful Maggie I still got a picture 

This was a great season and I will write a wrap up post on my thoughts and goals for 2012.  But I just want to quickly thank everyone who has dedicated so much to let me compete in something I love.  Gotta start with my soon to be wife - Maggie 

She simply amazes me with her patience and excitement for me as I compete in this consuming sport.  She is my biggest cheerleader, my best photographer and my endless sounding board as I talk about all things triathlon.  To say I'm lucky seems far too understated.
I also have to thank my mom, dad and youngest cheerleader Victoria.  They try and make it to as many of my races as they can and even made the 13+ hour trek up to Des Moines to watch the season finale

Then I have to thank my sponsors.  I am amazed that I have an opportunity to partner with companies like Powerbar, SLS3, nuun and Powertap.

All in all this was a great way to bring a busy season of training and racing to a close.  Hy-Vee 2011 in the books and Hy-Vee 2012 is on the books (oh yeah, my podium finish got me an auto qualification for 2012 so I will be back to race my 2:15 time in Des Moines next year).