As I continue forward in my career as a Professional Triathlete, I find myself in strange, awkward, hilarious, or ridiculously awesome situations and feel like I must share them with the world....that and just news or some random thoughts
I recently arrived in Chula Vista, CA for a block of warm weather training. Colorado Springs was a bit chilly and I didn't want to be cooped up running on treadmills and riding on the indoor trainer when I could have the option to train in a warmer climate.
The running trails out here seem endless compared to what I have access to in CO. I mostly prefer to run right out the door vs driving a long ways to run or ride so Chula Vista has a lot to offer in that sense. Not to mention the food in the cafeteria and world class track on site is awesome. The riding in exceptional. Some triathletes think riding on Otay Lakes get boring but I beg to differ. Anything beats stop and go riding.
My goal is to improve on my run and so far I'm on the right track. The first real test will be the Mooloolaba World Cup on March 29.
I went down to Brazil again for the Fast Triathlon this year. Here's some advice on Brazilian Visas: If you would like a 5 year Visa instead of a 90-day Visa and get it for the same price, just write a handwritten note saying how much you love to visit Brazil and plan on going back several times... I didn't do this but everyone I know that has a 5 year Visa did. I gotta do this for next time cause these Visas take up an entire page and then some in my passport.
So the Fast Triathlon: in Guarujá, São Paulo state of Brazil. 3 short triathlons (~250m swim, ~5K bike, ~1200m run) spaced out 15 minutes apart. The distances aren't very accurate. I think the run was actually 1236m according to Ben's Garmin. 6 teams of 3 men each. Early season, so the only guys doing any sort of interval training are the Brazilians. In the 3 races I took 2nd, 2nd, and I think the last was 4th. It was hard, but a ton of fun. I crashed last year, so it was nice to keep the rubber side down the whole time this time around...
Here's a link to the news story with some videos of the 3 races. http://globoesporte.globo.com/Esportes/Noticias/Esporte_Espetacular/0,,MUL981270-16321,00-TRIO+DO+BRASIL+FATURA+MAIS+UM+TITULO+NO+MUNDIALITO+MASCULINO+DE+TRIATLO+RAP.html
During the Brazilian National Anthem
4-5-6-7-8-9! Mexico took 3rd behind us. Brazil won. They were too busy talking to the media to be in our sweet picture. Why is Paco and Ben the only ones not wearing their Fast Triathlon team issued Speedos?
Victor insisted we always pose for pictures in numerical order, just in case...for whatever reason.
I borrowed these pictures from Ben Collins. Check his site out at www.bencollins.org
Juraci Moreira clearly hasn't just been doing base training like me...
The night was a bit chilled as the sun went down just before 5PM. My dad and I were well underway from Little Creek Marina to the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. It was too late in the day to head out in the ocean to go after the Striped Bass that had more "portfolio" and size, so we just went after some schoolies that hang out in the shallows by the bridge tunnel. You can't keep any of the fish in the Chesapeake Bay after the New Year, only catch and release or a $500 fine...per fish!
Once we pulled up to the bridge we cruised around looking for flocks of seagulls diving in the water, feeding on schools of menhaden. Where there's menhaden, there's stripers.
The fishing was slow at first, but once the flock of seagulls found the bait fish it picked up very quickly. When it's good you'll hook into one every cast.
Thousands of seagulls flock in the area. Sometimes if you don't cast low enough you'll hit a seagull. Since I was wearing thick gloves it was hard to let go of the line while casting. As the jig hit the water and the line slackened down a gull's wing got caught under the line. The gull panicked and entangled itself in the line.
I started reeling the gull in and noticed he was much more difficult than what I could have imagined. This was a smaller gull, maybe only 2 pounds at most. The bird wasn't freaking out and further entangling itself but for some reason I felt a little extra tug.
As I pulled the gull in closer and lifted him up to the boat I noticed the jig was deep in the water pulling with a lot of force. Turns out I caught a seagull and a striper on the same cast! As I unhooked the fish, the seagull went to bit the 4 pound schoolie. Better him than me! My dad and I had to work fast to untangle the bird otherwise if his friends saw that he was in danger, the scene may have quickly turned into Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." We ended up cutting the line out and he flew away without much difficulty.
We considered the bird and ourselves lucky and concluded this was one of the more interesting catches we've ever had.
Training has been going stellar the past few weeks. Last year at this time I was experiencing a minor setback that led to a whole chain of injuries throughout 2008 season. I tried doing things my way during 2008, some things worked, some didn't. After weighing my options, I figure I'll just sit back and do what my coach says vs my way. Learning the hard way sucks!
I've been back in Virginia Beach for the past few weeks. About to head back to sunny Colorado on Tuesday. I went out for a ride yesterday morning, but before I left I checked the forecast and there was a wind advisory until 10PM. I figured whatever I like a good stiff crosswind every once in a while.
Turned out to be a serious cross wind. Gusts were out of the NW (I think) at 40MPH! Tailwinds were great but holding about 250 watts on a flat road and only going 10MPH was freakin' awesome. I wanted to try and take some cool pictures while riding with the camera on my phone but I probably would have been blown off the road in the ditch.....Virginia Beach and Chesapeake have almost no shoulders and deep ditches. Wish I could have seen myself hiked way over leaning into the wind in a crosswind.
Moral of the story: get out and ride on a windy day. If you make it back with out blowing sideways into something, you'll feel like you've conquered something
It's been a laid back10 days since I've finished up the last race. Just playing tons of basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, and hiking. Some strength every now and then too. The 2009 Season starts Monday
Went over to Cytosport today. They are based right near Napa, so I drove up with Eric G and Jillian to meet the crew and say hi.
"CytoSport™ was founded in 1998 by the father/son team of Greg and Mike Pickett. Since then it has grown into a premier manufacturer of sports-oriented nutritional products that address the needs of athletes and active lifestyle individuals at every level. With every product and every decision, we pursue quality, taste and the athlete, in mind.
"CytoSport does not now, has never and will never condone the use of performance enhancing drugs, such as steroids, androstenedione or prohormones. That’s why you’ll never find these, or any ingredients found on the banned substance lists of governing sport organizations, in any of our products." - Greg Pickett Founder
It's nice to stop by a sponsor's headquarters meet the people behind the scenes that make it happen and see how the product is made.
And of course we stopped in the back where owner, Greg Pickett keeps a few cars.
He's also getting ready to do a 24 hour Le Mons race...pictured here in the partially built car. The front end is above labeled Muscle Milk
Definitely was not what I was looking for to end my season on a good note. Had a bit of trouble in various spots during the whole race. First off, I must say the triathlon swim isn't a wrestling match. It looks like we're all beating the snot out of each other, but that's typically not the case. A message for the Fellas not in the front pack: the reason why the front pack puts so much time on you isn't because they're that much ridiculously better than you. It's because they know that all the extra bumping and hitting slows you down. Therefore, they don't do it. ...yes, for the first time this year, I was caught up in the scrum and couldn't break free until it was too late...I have the cuts to prove it.
The bike was a disappointment. Didn't feel that strong, but still closed the gap to the leaders. For some reason the group didn't want to work well together.
Once onto the run, I thought I was having a good day until I slipped from 2nd to 12th. I have some ideas of what went wrong. Injuries from the summer and not much of a base thinned out my edge from Nationals and Lorient World Cup in late September.
It's hard to ride the wave all the way in when it's not that big and the water is too deep to begin with.
On a good note, a bad last race of the season amps me up for next year's racing. I had a good year, but the only thing I'll be thinking about is the last race I did.
I finished up my first full World Cup season as the 3rd ranked American and 48th on the World Cup Rankings. Not bad. Plus, I never finished less than 2nd place American on foreign soil races.
Alright, so 9th place isn't what I was looking for, but it's still a respectable finish. The course was insanely tough. Very hot, humid, and hilly. The hill on the bike must have been over 20% grade at the very steepest section.
I ran with 3 Cytomax Gels. Down to one left in this picture! I figured if 3 was too many, I can always throw it away. I ended up using every last drop to get me to the finish in one piece!
My trusty steed. I taped a Salt Stick Dispenser to my aero bars. I typically would have cramped during the race, but since I loaded up on a few Salt Stick capsules before heading onto the run, I was set.
So this is interesting. The flight from Mexico City was loaded with bikes and cyclists. I didn't expect that my bike would make it on Thursday evening. When it didn't make it, no big deal. The next day everyone else's bikes made it in the morning. Mine came in that night. I was looking at the paper work attached to my bike tag when I noticed an agriculture inspection sticker from Oahu, Hawaii was placed on my bag. Then I decoded the airport codes and my bike went from Dallas to Honolulu back to Dallas then onto Mexico City and Huatulco. Shouldn't I at least get some extra miles for that? I'm really thankful that my bike actually made it.
The trip wouldn't have been complete without some fun and shenanigans with friends
Getting ready for the Huatulco World Cup. (wah-TOOL-coe.) Flying down to Mexico early tomorrow morning. This is the last stop on the ITU World Cup circuit, so let's make it a good one. The race is expected to be hilly and hot, so I'm definitely looking forward to it
Alright, I have a new blog. This one should me much easier to update than my last one... complete with totally sweet pictures and videos of racing, training, new sponsors, and much more...
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