The Snapple Roads Show

Otstots's Hotshots/Snapple Hampton Roads

A couple of years ago, when my training partner Adam Frager and I first started training with Adam Otstot, I coined the term Otstot's Hotshots.  Shortly afterward we all started racing for the Snapple national team, Adam Otstot as a Snapple sponsored pro and Adam Frager and I as unsponsored amateurs.  Oh how that small group of three has grown and I am super proud to call all of those athletes my friends and teammates - Snapple Hampton Roads.  To me that's what racing is all about, good hearted competition and a community of like minded driven individuals who are out to improve themselves.


At the beginning of the season the e-mails were flying back and forth.  We were trying to figure out which races we were going to put on our schedule.  Jason Bridges, Peter Lubrano, Adam Frager and I all decided that we would target Ironman Chattanooga as our A-Race.  I was determined to get three other races in, to make sure that I had enough races to get ranked for the season should IM Choo go badly.  I put IM Raleigh 70.3 on my calendar and we all agreed that we would race Rev3 Williamsburg and Rev3 Poconos.  Adam, Jason, and Peter had raced Rev3 Poconos Mountains in 2015 and it had similar terrain to what we will see in Chattanooga.   The die was cast and Rev3 Pocono Mountains was set as my third race of the season and as a warm-up for IM Choo.

Pre-Race

Adam Frager had taken a bad fall at Snapple training camp in West Virginia in the spring where he had broken his collar bone.  He couldn't race, but he graciously volunteered to Sherpa for Peter, Jason and me.  I picked him up at noon on the Friday before the race and we met Jason Bridges at his house to head up to East Stroudsbourg, PA.  We made a quick stop to pick up Peter in Williamsburg and we were on the road by 1:00 pm.  Getting around DC is never easy. Approximately  9 and 1/2 hours later we checked into our condo in the Pocono Mountains.

Looking good in our Xterra Wet-Suits

The Saturday before the race is always busy, far more busy than I like, but it is what it is.  We were up early.  Jason, Adam and I did some grocery shopping so we could cook dinner rather than eat out.  We dropped off the groceries, picked up Peter, went to breakfast, and then headed to the race site to check in.  We did a quick bike check, short swim, an easy run and then put our bikes in transition.

We headed out for lunch and found a 100 year-old pub.  We ordered a couple of beers and a bunch of food.  A big thunderstorm rolled through as we sat in the pub watching the Men's Olympic Bicycle Road Race.  That storm would wreak havoc with the Rev3 timing system, but that was race day.  We were just four guys in a bar cheering for an underdog break away group at the olympics.  Then the riders on the break had a horrendous crash coming down the back side of the Olympic road course.  That is not what you want to see before you tackle a mountainous (sic) ride on a time trial bike.  I tried not to let it get in my head.  I am a cautious descender on my best day, so we'd just have to see what the morning would bring.

We packed up our kit when we got back to the condo.  I cooked up two pork tenderloins, a batch of ratatouille, and some quinoa and we ate again.  It was an early bed-time and 4:00 AM wake-up.  I had a cup of coffee and a cliff bar for breakfast.  We packed up the truck, closed up the condo, and headed down to T2.

After our warm-up

Adam, our trusty Sherpa, dropped us at T2 so that we could put our shoes, visors, race belts, and run nutrition in place.  He waited in the car and then drove us to T1, the swim start.  Two transition races are always a little complicated, but this wasn't our first rodeo and everything went smoothly.  We loaded our bottles and nutrition on the bikes, pumped our tires, and changed into our trainers for a 15 minute run warm-up.  I know that a lot of people question the need for a warm-up in a half iron event, but I find it reduces the heart rate spike at the start if my swim if I do a run warm-up and then a short swim to move the blood to my upper body.  It means I can go out the gate hard which can make all the difference in getting on the feet of the lead swimmers.

The Swim

The young guys getting ready to start

In T2 I met Barry Lewis, one of our Snapple National Team teammates from Philly, and another masters athlete.  I saw him again just before the swim.  The conversation was along the lines of, S - "What do you think you'll do the swim in?", B - "Oh, I don't know, maybe 31 or so, I'm not a very good swimmer." S - "Yeah, same here.  Probably around  33 for me."  The young guys went off after a slight delay, and then it was the old guys turn.  Barry lined up to my right, but we both were on the left side (shore side) of the line.  The pre-race guidance was stay shallow (left) upstream to avoid the current, and deep (right) downstream to get in the fast water.  The horn sounded and three of us took off.  Barry and I side by side on the feet of the fastest swimmer in our wave, Stefan Irion.  Barry and I were beating on each other, swimming side-by-side, but neither of us was going to cede the feet and the draft off of Stefan.  We swam that way all the way to the turn buoy.  Stefan swung wide and Barry went with him.  I lost them both in traffic an then I was by myself for the downstream leg.  I stayed in the deep water, inside the yellow guidance buoys and focused on staying long, distance per stroke, and working a high-elbow catch.  I hit the final orange turn buoy, took the right turn for the shore and gave it all I had to get to the swim exit.  Swim:   27:28 (1 AG/10 G/12 OA)

Exiting the swim in my Xterra Vector Sleeveless

It was a swim PR by over 2 minutes.  That was huge for me.  I came out of the water feeling great, first in the Age Group and 10th overall.  It was the 12th best swim of the day.   I made the 2/10-ths of a mile run up to transition and I saw Barry leaving with his bike as I was entering T1.   He swam a 26:32, was in 9th place, and ended up with the 10th best swim of the day.  The moral of this story is to never trust an old guy before the start of a race.  We're wiley and like to keep our strategy to ourselves.

 It was a long slog up to T1, over 2/10-ths of a mile.  I had my wet-suit pulled down to my waste and my goggles and swim cap in my hand.  I made my way to my bike, took a long pull off my aero bottle that was filled with EFS Pro Lemonwater, and stripped off my Xterra wet-suit.  Stripping a wet-suit is never easy.  I try to push it as low as possible on my legs and then hook my thumbs inside to push the legs over and off my heels.  Sometimes it works better than others.  This time it took two trys to get both legs free.  Then I had to pack the wet-suit, goggles and cap in my T1 bag, so that Rev3 could pick them up to be returned to the finish area. T1:  4:21

The Bike

Mithril and the new set-up

Just after Rev3 Williamsburg I left my 2008 Project One Trek Equinox 9.5 with Walt Gonzalez of Gonzo Gears.  Walt is one of the best wrenches in Southeast Virginia and runs a mobile bike service and the Fat Frogs Triathlon team  Early in the season I had a bike fitting with Dave Luscan, who is an awesome bike fitter that is now working out of Atlanta.  Dave has fit every pro triathlete in Virginia.  We worked up two sets of numbers, one set with my existing QuarQ SRAM S975 172.5-mm crank set, and another optimal fit with 160-mm crank arms.  I hadn't planned to replace my cranks and power meter this season and I needed some time to put that together.  I found a great deal on a Cobb 160-mm at TriSports and Steve Keller, a local TriSports Ambassador, was able to hook me up with a discount.  Snapple has a great relationship with several distributors and through them I was able get a set of Garmin Vector 2 pedals.  Walt took the crank, pedals, and fit numbers and set up the bike.  He did a masterful job.  That left me only three weeks to ride the new set-up before racing it.

The outdoor temperatures in Virginia leading up to Rev3 Pocono Mountains were far from optimal.  Adam Otstot gave me a week of light work to recover from Rev3 Williamsburg, but we were running short on time for the build into IM Choo.  My first ride on the new set-up was an easy trainer ride, but then it was two 1:30 heavy power sets at near Threshold power.  The only problem was that the Vector 2s and the QuarQ were not matching.  I tried to hold my normal numbers and my heart rate was above 170 BPM.  I crushed a couple of 3 minute VO2 max efforts, but fell apart on a 20 minute threshold interval.  My big ride before Poconos was a 3 hour effort, with 2 hours at HIM power and then 1 hour easy coming home.  It was a hot day and I rode with Jason Bridges, Peter Lubrano and Daniel Ballin.  I couldn't make power, at least I felt I couldn't make power.  Daniel and Jason rode away from me, and I was just barely staying in front of Peter.  My ego bruised, I finished the ride and headed for home.

Clipping In

After relooking my data for the week in TrainingPeaks, I was able to determine that the Vector 2s were providing a lower output compared to the QuarQ at the same heart rate.  Simply put, I should ride 20 watts lower on the new system.  Other than my ego having to accept a lower threshold, it could be dealt with.  Now I could re-cage my targets and get on with riding and training.

My new target power for the Half Iron distance was 210 to 220 watts.  I ran the bike out of transition, clipped in, and headed out on the course.  We had driven the course on our way to lunch the day before.  I am sure glad we did.  The start and end of the ride are a series of sharp rollers with a couple of tight corners.  I was spinning up the hills and pounding down the back sides, trying to keep my power steady at 210.  There was plenty of time to work the bike course and I didn't want to go out too hot, knowing that the back half had the same hills I was now riding out.  As usual I was riding through the young guys.  I had a strong swim and had caught quite a few them, but now I was rolling up the strong swimmers that were mediocre bikers.

At about mile 15 or 20 I caught Brendon Campbell and we played leap frog up to the turn-around.  He took off after the turn-around and I spent the next 30 miles reeling him back in.  I just told myself to keep his red jersey in site and I'd catch him in the rollers and hard efforts going back into T2.  After the turn I had a couple of guys try to hang on my wheel, but I was riding the downhills hard and they fell back pretty quickly.  Pretty soon I was at the Olympic turn-around and into traffic generated by the merging of the Olympic and Half Iron riders.  The spur was congested and I was super cautious approaching the sharp 90 degree left turn that marked the start of a climb for me, but was the end of a downhill run on the way back.  Sure enough a rider carried way too much speed into the curve and ended up on the wrong side of the road.  Had I not been hugging the right side, he would have taken me out.  It is a dangerous spot on this course.

Shortly after the split back onto River Road I caught Brendon Campbell.  We played leap frog some more, except this time we had a couple of older Olympic riders that wanted to be part of the mix.  Two of them locked on my wheel and I spent the better part of the next 5 miles dragging them with me. It wasn't long before I could see cones and then runners.  I saw Matias Palavecino heading out, then I saw Jason Bridges (who had  an awesome ride), and then I was making the turn and heading into the village.  I got my feet out of my shoes and as I was coming into T2 I saw Barry Lewis running out. He had a little over a minute on me as I hopped off my bike and ran it in to my rack.  Bike:  2:37:20 (1 AG/13 G/14 OA)

It had been a solid ride on a new bike setup.  My normalized power had been 214 watts.  I hit my target and I was ready to run.  Except I couldn't find my rack.  Transition was still pretty empty and it looked different in the sunlight.  I had to read the numbers and then I finally spotted my bright orange SweatVac visor.  Bike in the rack, grab nutrition and salt tabs, and take a quick swig of EFS Pro Lemon Water, shoes on.  I grabbed my race bib which was looped through my visor and ran out of T2.  T2:  1:21

The Run

Rocking my SweatVac Visor and Rudy Project Noize Sun Glasses

The run has always been my strength.  I think it still is, but I haven't been hitting the numbers I'd like to be hitting.  The last three seasons I have run in the low 1:30s repeatedly.  This year I have struggled.  Right at the start I had a different problem.  I had to pee, and since this was a B-race, I actually stopped at the Porta-John just outside T2.  Normally I'd just pee as I ran, but not this time.  My watch clicked mile 1 in 7:18, and then mile 2 in 7:12.  That was right where I wanted to start and then build into the run.  That's when I got to the trail, the heat, and the hills.  Oh the hills!!  Peter Lubrano said that if you didn't pay attention in 2015 that you could have run into the first hill, like running into a brick wall.  Just before I went down the hill the first time, I saw Jason Bridges coming toward me.  He was ashen and looked in rough shape.  That should have been a warning, and then I was at the top.  You couldn't run straight down it or you would lose control.  I had to short step it and try to control my momentum instead of running smoothly and carrying that momentum out of the hill.  It was a beast, but you didn't get to go back up yet.  No, that joy was saved for just after the Olympic turn-around.   The Olympic runners only had to deal with one monster hill per lap. No such luck for the Half Iron runners.  Just after the turn-around and over the bridge came the second monster and it was a beast too, with two turns, so you couldn't see the top.  But after a sharp left there was the turn-around and then it was back down, and over the bridge, along the cornfield, then back up and out to River Road.  Just after climbing back up the first hill, a relay runner caught me, and then just before the turn back out to River Road Brendon Campbell caught me.  They were the only two runners that passed me on the run.  The results say there was one other runner that passed me, but I never saw him.

Back onto River Road, then back into the village.  The turnaround was just short of the brick path leading back to the finish.  It was well marked when I got to it, but apparently it hadn't been marked earlier and a lot of the runners missed it and ran straight through to the finish line.  That added about an extra 2/10-ths of a mile to their run.  Barry Lewis was putting time on me,  Brendon Campbell was putting time on me, but it looked like Jason was coming back to me.  I was just holding on.  I was hot, and my pace was bleeding off.  I was managing the heat with ice in my shorts and cold water on my head and I was holding 7:40 to 8:00 minute miles.  One more time through the hills and I told the turn-around monitor that I was very happy that I would never see her again. I was headed for home.  I felt good in the shady bits and bad in the sun.  Once I hit the pavement on River Road for the last time I gave it my all and held 7:30s in to the finish.  Run:  1:40:53 (2 AG/14 G/16 OA)

Total:  4:51:23 (1 AG/13 G/14 OA)


Brendon Campbell beat me by 13 seconds.  That's why you don't stop to pee in races.  Not bad for a B-race on a new bike set-up.  I PR'd my swim, had a solid ride, and a respectable run over a difficult course on a hot day.  My goal had been achieved.  Three solid races before IM Choo and great shot at another All-American season.

Congrats to Mathias Pavalecino, the overall winner in the Half and a Snapple Triathlon Alumni and to my current teammates Jason Bridges and Barry Lewis for Age Group podiums.  It was a great showing for Snapple.  If only I could run like Barry again!!
 
A special thanks to our Super Sherpa, Adam Frager.  I can't wait until you are ready to train and race again!  Andrey Yunusov and  Tim Russel - Great job in the Olympic race.  That was a stacked field.

I'll leave you with one final photo.  Racing with Snapple is fun!

#SnappleTri #RudyProjectNA #Xterra #SweatVac #FirstEndurance

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