Living in the Moment

2014 Ironman Lake Placid

Dedication

When I was very young my Aunt Linda would chase me around our small house on the edge of Detroit.  One of my earliest memories is Aunt Linda making newspaper pirate hats for my birthday.  I must have been 3 or 4 years old.  In 2011 my smart, beautiful, funny, creative Aunt Linda was diagnosed with Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (AdCC).  The battle she fights daily makes my battle over 140.6 miles seem trivial.  This race report is dedicated to her and her continuing fight.

Acknowledgements

First, to my wife Kelly, who’s love and support makes this all possible.  Thank you! I know that you never planned on waking up alone 6 out of 7 days a week, having to wrangle the kids, and manage the homestead.  You are amazing!

To my coaches, Adam Ostot and Steve Hennessy, this season and the build up for this race was fantastic.  I had breakthroughs in every discipline.  I couldn’t have been better prepared.  Any failings were mine, not yours.  I love the training group we have built.  Adam, the “Hotshots” are growing and I am so proud to be one of them.  Steve, the Master’s program that you started at Fort Eustis is very special.  We’re building a reputation in the region and it is all because of your dedication.  Thank you both!

To my sponsors - Snapple, Xterra, Osmo, and Sugoi - maintaining a competitive advantage in triathlon is not easy or inexpensive.  Your support makes it possible.  My Xterra Vector Pro has kept me in the mix in every wetsuit legal swim this year.  Osmo nutrition has kept me hydrated and ready to race.  I blew up 12 months ago at IM Lousiville because my nutrition plan wasn’t solid.  Osmo fixed that and more.  Thank You!  Sugoi – I am so proud to represent you as a brand champion.  I wish that you had a stronger presence at IMLP, but I understand the strong connection you have to IM Canada and your fierce national pride.  I have trained for a decade in Sugoi gear and I can tell you that it truly is #irongear.  I don’t quit and neither does my Sugoi gear!  Snapple Triathlon, I saved the best for last, you have nurtured me and provided a forum for my development.  It has been another great season.  I hope for many more.

To the Hampton Roads Triathlon community and the Fort Eustis Masters Swimmers – I love you guys!  You challenge me and make me stronger.  To my gray beard panel – Adam Frager, Daniel Ballin, Chris Haas, Art Mathisen, Dave Holloman, Mark Woolery, Jim Findley, Justin Highley, Tom Fugate, Adam Frager, Jack Tansey, Brian and Rachel Jastrebsky, Dixie King, Peggy Neidig, Maurice Ashby, Shannon Titpon, and Joel Bell.  At some point this season, you each have helped me.  Dave and Art, that nasty day riding in the rain paid huge dividends in Lake Placid.  I have never thanked a group of riders for dropping me before, but that ride helped my mental toughness more than I can express with words.  Shannon Tipton – you provided the soundtrack for my training.  You rock!

Finally, my running group – Daniel Shaye, Michael Leech, and Courtney Chapman.  I was broken coming out of the 2013 season.  I blew up on the run at IM Louisville and I missed my PR at the Richmond marathon.  It was mostly in my head, but perception is reality.  Daniel, I can’t thank you enough for setting up the Sunday runs at Newport News Park.  Those early season runs helped me rebuild my confidence.  Courtney, stick with it!  You are an amazing athlete and competitor.  Racing with you was the highlight of my early season.  Michael Leech – I hope you know how much I have enjoyed running with you!  You were the perfect training partner at exactly the right time.  My success at IMLP was in part because of my runs with you.  I can’t wait for the Newport News marathon!

Prologue

In all of my blogs about triathlon I have tried to convey a feel for the race, to put the non-competitor in the racers shoes and provide some insight into heart of the racer and the race.  This report will be no different, but I am deviating from my normal in-depth race course description.  Many, many racers and writers have described the Lake Placid Ironman course far better than I could.  I leave it to the reader to go find those resources.

Lake Placid is located in the heart of the Adirondacks near New York's high peaks wilderness and Mts. Marcy and Algonquin.  It is most famous for hosting the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympics.  It also has the distinction of hosting the oldest Ironman competition in North America.  After completing my undergraduate degree at Georgia Tech I had the wonderful opportunity to spend two summers running the backpacking and canoeing programs at Racquet Lake Boys Camp not far from Lake Placid.  Those two summers sparked a love affair with the Adirondacks that will last until I expel my last breath.  It is one of the most beautiful places on earth and the perfect place for North America's most storied Ironman.

Volunteering and spectating in 2013

Before I had completed IM Louisville in 2013, I had already volunteered at Lake Placid to secure my spot in the race for 2014.  I'm sure that sounds crazy, I hadn't completed my first Ironman, and I was already planning my second!  But that is the nature of endurance athletes. We are planners and goal setters.  It was a wonderful opportunity and both my training partner, Adam Frager, and another friend, Cory Newman, traveled with me to New York to earn our slots for 2014. We packed three bikes in the back of my suburban and headed off to preview the course and support our fellow athletes.  It was a fantastic experience and one of the highlights of my training in 2013.

Introduction

Make no mistake, a triathlon is a battle.  It is a battle against the elements -the sun, wind, and rain – the course – the current, hills, and road surface – and your body – fatigue, nutrition, pain.  Lake Placid is a course that on a normal day can challenge the best of athletes both mentally and physically.  The 112 mile two-loop bike course has nearly 7,000 ft of elevation change, with screaming fast descents, leg burning long climbs, rollers and false flats.  The 26.2 mile two-loop run course descends abruptly out of the village of Lake Placid and then steadily for the next 4 miles.  That means that in order to finish the course you have to climb back up that descent twice.  That long steep ascent coming back into Lake Placid is known for breaking runners.  There are a lot of Ironman courses with tough bikes or hard runs.  Lake Placid has both, and that is why the IMLP course is legendary.  Combine an inherently difficult Ironman course with the volatile weather of New York’s Adirondack wilderness and you get a test that can and will take your full measure.

Alex and I jumping from the middle slot

Getting Ready to Race

The week prior to Lake Placid was beautiful.  The Family and I drove into town on Wednesday and setup our campsite at the Whiteface Mountain KOA in the town of Wilmington, just north of Lake Placid.  This choice was both economical and convenient.  I had reserved a campsite and a cabin.  The KOA campground backs up to the Ausable River and the Wilmington flume, which is a series of small falls with a swimming hole at the bottom, about 15 miles north of Lake Placid on Hwy 86.  It is great location with a ton of activities for the family in the days leading up to the race.

The three of us ready to jump

On Thursday I got up late, well for me anyway, at 0600.  On a cool, clear, Adirondack morning I knocked out a 90 minute ride with 3x10 minute intervals at my race power (180-190 watts).  The KOA sits on Hwy 86 which is part of the climb back into Placid on the bike course.  I went out Hwy 86 North into Wilmington and rode the top half of the bike course backwards, including the spurs on Hasleton Road and out to Ausable Forks.  It was a great ride and a good setup for Sunday.  The rest of the day was spent at the swimming hole in the Ausable, with my kids, cliff jumping for the first time.  I’m so proud of both Alex and Gavin – they didn’t blink at the 20 foot jump off the rocks and both went right off the 30 footer.  Gavin’s 3^rd jump was off 40 ft cliff, but Alex wanted me to jump with her.  It’s hard to explain to a 9 year-old that daddy can’t jump off a cliff with you before the race because he can’t risk his season in the last week.  We went off the 30 footer together and that was good enough for her.  Great job guys!

Practice Swim

Adam came in Thursday afternoon and we ran into Lake Placid on Friday morning to meet up with Rachel Jastrebsky, a professional triathalete from back home, who has adopted Adam and I as good luck charms.  Rachel came with her husband’s coach Jesse Vondracek and another Hampton Roads athlete, Tyler Coquelin.  We met at the swim start location on the Shore of Mirror Lake adjacent to the IM Lake Placid rock.  We all threw on our wetsuits, well except for Jesse, he stayed in a speed suit, and headed out for a lap of the course.  It felt really good to be in the water.  I hadn’t had my Xterra Vector Pro full sleeved suit on since the Kinetic Half back in May, and it felt a bit tight in the shoulders, but that loosened up as the suit shifted to fit my body.  I started easy, but built into a good effort by the mid-point of the first leg.  I paused to look around for everyone and I couldn’t tell who-was-who in the water.  I finally picked out Jesse because he was the only one without a wet-suit and worked with him to the first turn buoy.  This was my first time on the swim course and I was finally able to get a look at the famous line that you can follow around the Lake Placid swim course.  It’s not a stripe on the bottom of the lake like so many people think, it’s actually the line that the officials use to anchor the swim buoys.  About 10 feet or more below the surface, the fluorescent yellow cable leads you out and back along the swim course.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this would become really important on race day.  I finished the lap and found myself all alone.  Jesse swam up, then Adam, then Tyler and then Rachel, who took it super easy.  Winning the warm-up swim isn’t always a good thing.  Tyler looked at us and said “you guys are fast.”  I think I almost laughed outright, but was a little concerned that I might have blown my taper.  We swam the loop in under 33 minutes, but it felt super easy.  I don’t think it affected our performance on race day, but you never know.  Tyler ended up swimming a super fast 58 minutes in the race.  Way to go kid, I wish I had been on your feet.

Friday was a blur of activity.  We hit athlete check-in and picked up our race packet, walked through the expo, checked in at the Tri-club tent, made signs with the kids at the Iron Kids tent, and picked up any last minute needs for our race bags.  We had lunch at the campsite while Adam completed his 90 minute ride on the course.  My parents arrived around noon, and we all headed back to the swimming hole.  Friday night was for packing race bags and making any bike adjustments before the bike check-in.  Kelly cooked up some ratatouille and risotto, while I grilled pork tenderloin at the cabin.  I got to bed fairly early and my only concern was the weather.

On Saturday our coach had asked us to do 15 minutes of all three activities.  Adam and I had signed up for the Ironman Tri-club breakfast which was hosted by Liz Kollar at the swim start location.  We packed up all of our gear, Swim-to-Bike bag, Bike-to-Run bag, and our bikes and headed out to the swim start.  Once there, we met up with our friend Cory Newman, who had just proposed to his girlfriend, now fiancé, the previous day (Congrats Cory!  I wish you and Alicia the best).  Once more Adam, Cory, and I suited up and hopped into the water.  I did a couple strokes of fly and then settled into a nice rhythm.  My shoulders weren’t nearly as tight as they had been the day before and the half-lap easy went pretty quick.  I took this swim really easy.  We jumped out of the water, grabbed our run gear, dropped our swim gear at the truck and headed out for a quick 15 minute run down the hill out of Placid.  I had run the hill the previous year when we had volunteered to get our slots, but I had forgotten how steep the initial descent was out of Lake Placid.  It just reinforced my coach’s mantra – “if the first 16 miles of an ironman run doesn’t feel easy you are in serious trouble.”  Cory headed back to his cottage after the run and Adam and I headed to the Tri-club breakfast.  Thank You Liz Kollar!!  You did great!  It was great meeting male pro’s Josh Rix and Balazs Csoke.  They gave us some great advice that just reinforced everything our coach had told us to do in Lake Placid.  Take the first loop of the bike easy, be patient on the run, and stay within your ability.  We also saw fellow Snapple Athlete Holli Finneren and Adam Stolzberg of the DC Tri-Club.  After breakfast Adam and I strapped on our bikes, did an easy 15 minute ride finishing going up the hill out of transition to get a feel for it without having to descend it, and then completed a final check of our gear bags before dropping everything off at the bike check-in.  We rushed back to the KOA for the Kid's triathlon!

Alex running at the KOA Kid's Triathlon

Gavin on the podium at the KOA Kid's Triathlon

Main Event

Adam and his dad and step-mom picked me up from the cabin at 0400.  I grabbed my dry clothes bag and my two special needs bags and hopped in the truck.  The drive in to Lake Placid took no time at all.  Adam’s dad was driving and he dropped Adam and me off at the corner just outside the Olympic oval and went to park the truck in the lot on Wesvale Road.  A shuttle was running from that lot into town.  It had rained heavily overnight and it was drizzling when we got out of the truck.  Transition didn’t open until 0430, but the body markers were already at work.  We had them mark us and took the opportunity to use the port-a-potties, before a line formed.  Once transition opened we headed to our bikes, loaded our binto boxes, filled our drink bottles, and pumped up our tires.  I added arm warmers to my swim-to-bike bag hanging on the rack, stripped off my dry clothes, packed them in my dry clothes bag, and hung them on my rack.  I ran back to check on my bike tires one last time and lost Adam in the crowd.  I figured we’d meet up down by the water and walked down to drop off my special needs bags.

Lake Placid Swim Start

I dropped my bags at special needs and I got in line at the port-a-potties by the swim start for one last trip to the bathroom before putting on my wetsuit.  That done, I sprayed tri-lube on my ankles, wrist, and neck and slipped into my suit.  I found my mom and dad, Kelly and the kids, and gave them all a quick hug before getting in line for the swim start.  Adam was with me now and we set up just in front the sign for 1:00 to 1:05 swim.  The music was thumping and the cannon went off for the male pro start.

Thirty minutes later the amateurs entered the water.  Adam and I were in the second wave.  I hit the water running and with two quick fly stokes I surged and then fell into an easy stroke rhythm.  My cadence was a little high and it usually takes two to three hundred yards for me to settle down and get my breathing right.  This day was no different.  I stayed to the left of the lay line and worked on evening out my stroke and staying long.  This worked to my advantage as the slower swimmers that shouldn’t have been in front crowded the right side trying to stay right on top of the buoy line.  I was moving up through the field without having to fight the swimmers in front of me.  I stayed slightly wide all the way around the second turn buoy and found free water right on top of the cable going all the way back to the beach.  I came out of the water and looked at my Garmin.  It read 0:00:00, I had forgotten to start my watch in the excitement of the start.  The clock read 7:01, so I knew I had been around 30 minutes for the first lap.  I started my Garmin as I ran under the start arch to begin my second lap.

Swimming up the race course

On the second lap there was no free water.  Slower swimmers were everywhere and I couldn’t find anyone who would work with me.  Every time I thought I had a set of feet, they would slow abruptly and I would end up swimming into a crowd.  It was impossible to find a rhythm.  I made the first turn in a crowd, sprinted to the second turn buoy, and finally found free water on the buoy line.  As I rolled to breathe on my right side I saw a wall of water moving across the lake.  The thunder storm had arrived.  It was a good thing that I was on the buoy line because the visibility under the water was better than above the water.  I stayed on the buoy line and swam right into the back of the slower swimmers just finishing their first lap.  It was slow going, every third stroke I was pushing between bodies, but I couldn’t leave the buoy line for fear of not being able to sight in the storm.  Finally I came to the last red marker and slogged my way up the beach and under the swim finish arch.  Swim:  1:03:06 194 O/A 13 A/G.

A very wet T1

The rain was pouring down as I ran up the carpet the quarter mile to the transition area.  I didn’t know it at the time, but as I was running to transition, lightning was striking near the lake and the course officials made the decision to close down the swim.  Meanwhile, I grabbed my bag off the rack and ran into the changing tent.  On went my beanie, then my sleeves (hard to roll sleeves on wet arms), then my helmet, socks, and shoes.  Last I put on my riding glasses with my clear lenses and put a pill bottle of enduralytes in my jersey pocket.  As I ran out of the tent a volunteer called out my number and by the time I reached the row where my bike was racked a volunteer had grabbed it and wheeled it to the aisle.  T1:  6:50

I jogged my bike to the mounting line, my glasses already beginning to fog up from the heat generated by my body.  I mounted and eased out of the transition area and down the steep hill that starts the bike.  Gently, with the brakes feathered to keep my speed slow, but also to start drying them out, I worked my way down the descent, slowly, to the left turn that starts the slight up-hill that leads you out of town past the horse park and the ski jumps.  As I climbed the first hill I shifted down to my small ring.  Suddenly I was spinning freely.  Shit!  I had just dropped my chain.  Off the bike, I quickly slipped the chain back up on to the big ring then shifted and got it set into the small ring, spinning the crack by hand.  I hopped back on the bike and pedaled away.  Crisis averted with minimal time lost.

Riding in the Clouds

The rain was still coming down in sheets.  I was peering under my glasses to try and get a clear view of the road and dreading the upcoming descent.  With wind and rain, it was sure to be treacherous.  At this point I was cruising out of town on fresh legs making 21 MPH on 170 to 180 watts.  Traffic was light because I had a good, but not great, swim.  As I made the final climb before the descent into Keene all I could think was that I would give it my best shot.  I hadn’t trained for 9 months to give up at the first sign of adversity.  I crested the rise, picked a line, and prayed.

The next twenty miles were the most terrifying and exhilarating miles that have ever passed beneath my wheels.  I was tucked into my aero position, legs locked on the frame, hands on the cross bar feathering the breaks (this seemed to have no effect), trying to make very gentle movements to steer.  I was bombing down the hill at over 40 MPH, I was soaking wet from the rain, the temperature was in the low to mid 50s and I was freezing.  I was shivering uncontrollably and my neck and hands had locked from the cold and staying rigidly in one position for more than a half hour.  (Check out Danny Royce’s blog on his disastrous descent.)

I was miserable.  In every race you come to a juncture where your body and mind begin to doubt that you can complete the race.  I began to despair.  Despair is that voice that whispers in your ear and tells you that it can make the pain go away, ease your suffering, all that you have to do is give in, quit.  It’s the same voice that whispers in the ears of addicts and tells them to take another hit, the voice that told Eve to take a bite from the apple and David to lay with Bathsheba, the voice that whispers to the besieged soldier to lay down his weapons and surrender, and tells the drowning man to let the water in.  I’ve heard this voice before, but never so early in a race.  At IM Louisville I met despair at mile 16 of the run and it nearly floored me.  Here I was at mile 20 of the ride, I had 92 more miles to ride and 118.2 miles to reach the finish, and I was nearly at my breaking point.

In the build up for Ironman Louisville in 2013 my training partner, Adam, and I started a 100 mile ride in the early spring and got caught in a sudden thunder storm.  The temperature plummeted and we ended up on a road frequented by log trucks.  I was nearly crushed by a truck driver who misjudged his pass and put the end of his load directly over my head.  Adam and I were separated and for over two hours I slogged through the rain, freezing, until I found a convenience store, and as it happens, Adam.  We called home for pick-up, wet and disheveled.  In the spring of 2014, I drove across the James River to meet up with Dave Holloman and Art Mathisen for a Saturday ride.  Before we got started a storm front passed through and we slogged through a 20-30 knot headwind and a cold rain for three hours.  Because of the weather I brought my B-bike and I couldn’t hold pace.  Art broke away because he was having trouble staying warm at my pace, and Dave let me suck off his wheel for the last hour until he was sure I knew where I was and he pulled away too.  I was cold, wet, and miserable and I promised never to bring my B-bike to an A-ride ever again, but I got the ride done.  The bottom line is that being cold, wet, and miserable is nothing new – I had been there before.  I knew I could handle the wet cold for about three hours before I began to break down.

I held on until I hit the bottom.  The rain let up and I made the turn to head to Jay.  I was climbing out of the Keene valley and even though I had spent critical resources, I had survived and I was still racing.  The next section was rolling and I could finally work hard enough to stay warm.  As the storm cleared and the sun burned through the clouds, the road began to heat up and the humidity became oppressive.  I had neglected my nutrition on the descent and now was the time to get back on plan.  I killed my first bottle of Osmo and started popping enduralyte tablets every 15 minutes with my bonk breaker bars.  I was through the worst and climbing back into Lake Placid.

The rest of the first loop passed quickly.  I held my power to the low end of my range but my legs were fatigued.  I finished the climb from Wilmington into Lake Placid, cleared the three Bears and came through the crowds downtown.  The energy I had spent on the first lap fighting to stay warm, and the climb into Placid had taken their toll. I was riding 10 watts below my power target but the roar of the crowd and the first chance to see my family since the swim gave me a huge surge of energy.  I yelled to Kelly and the kids when I saw them and headed back out of town.

The second lap was uneventful, and I rode the second descent much faster than the first. The descent gave my legs a break and I stayed within my power band and stuck to my nutrition plan.  I felt better at the end of the second loop than I had at the end of the first, but I was fatigued.  I rolled back through town and made the turn into transition without seeing my family and I handed my bike to a volunteer.  Bike:  05:42:49 157 O/A 17 A/G

Finishing the Bike

Because of the abrupt turn in to transition I couldn’t get my feet out of my shoes before the dismount line. I hopped off my bike and then pulled off my shoes. I ran around the oval, grabbed my bike-to-run bag, and ran into the transition tent. I was flustered. I dumped my bag, and I knew that I wanted my sunglasses lenses for the run. I spent critical time changing out the lenses, when I could have done that on the run. It was a big tactical error. T2: 5:47

I came out of transition running strong followed by Leslie Lamacchia, a female pro, and Dan Johnson, an amateur in the 40-44 age group. My coach has told me time and time again, that If the first 16 miles of the Ironman marathon doesn’t feel easy, you are in big trouble. After the debacle in Louisville last year, I took his advice to heart. I looked down at my watch and realized that once again I had failed to start the timer. I hit start button and rolled through the first mile at 7:43. I tried to back off that pace and came through mile 2 at 7:23. I was leaving Dan and Leslie, but running faster than my target pace of 7:45 to 8:00 miles. I forced myself to back down and really go easy to the end of River Road. I was eating a Gu Chomp every mile and hitting a flask of concentrated Osmo active hydration before each aid station. I took water at each aid station and used water to keep my core temperature stable. After we hit the turn-around at the end of River Road I focused on keeping my pace light and even. I held 7:50 pace back to the turn into Lake Placid and focused on tempo through the climb.

Finishing at the Olympic Oval

Dan, Leslie and I were rolling up the field.  The second half of an Ironman marathon is where you make or break your race.  I was particularly concerned with the second climb back into town, so I held back on the first climb and the second descent leaving town.  There is a spur on the run course that turns away from the finish and takes the racers out along the edge of Mirror Lake before returning to the start/finish of the run.  It is about a mile out-and-back.  At the top of the spur Leslie made her move and started dropping 7:30 miles heading back out of town.  Dan went with her, but I was patient.  We had a whole second loop to go.

Down the descent out of town, out River Road to the turn around – I held back and conserved energy.  I hit the turn around and realized that Leslie and Dan were coming back to me.  My coach told me that if I hit mile twenty and felt good, I could go after it.  I caught Leslie at mile 16 and then Dan at mile 18.  With 10K to go I began to push the pace.  Gently at first, but then with increasing intensity, I pushed the pace going back up the climb into Placid.  I passed so many runners walking that climb back into town.  The spur seemed to take forever, but then I was at the turn-around and I gave it everything I had.  I held 7:20 pace for the last 1.2 miles.  Run:  3:33:56 102 O/A, 11 A/G.

Finish Time:  10:31:58

Aftermath

I’d done it, I had met my pre-season goal.  I fixed my run.  Not only that, I had a really strong overall race.  I sat down and grabbed a coke and a slice of Pizza.  Dan Johnson finished two minutes behind me and came and sat down with me.  Leslie finished and we both walked over and congratulated her on a great run.

At the awards ceremony the next morning I learned that there would be 7 Kona slots in my age group.  One of the racers had already qualified, so they would go 8 deep.  I missed the world championship by 3 slots and 6 minutes.  It was a great race that had challenged me in every way possible.  I didn’t quit and I didn’t leave anything unfinished in Lake Placid.

Congratulations to  Rachel Jastrebsky on her 7th place finish!  It was great racing with Rachel and I know she will be taking no prisoners in Louisville next month.

 

 Epilogue

Rare cancers aren't treatable by normal methods.  Unfortunately, experimental methods aren't covered by insurance.  To learn more about AdCC and help my Aunt Linda in her battle against cancer click here.

#teamsugoi #IMLP #snappletri #osmo #otstotshotshots

Addendum

On 1 July 2016 Linda Van Alstyne breathed her last breath.  The world is a little darker place and I mourn her passing.  Her memory lives on in me.  I know I will always cherish her witt, creativity, and passion for living life.  May God bless her and hold her close until I can see her again.

Training and Racing Through the Summer

Summer Training and Racing

Team EMD/Serono

As May turned to June I entered the core weeks of my Ironman build for Lake Placid.  One of my key training weekends each year is the MS150 Ocean to BayRide.  The National Multiple Sclerosis society sponsors hundreds of these rides across the country as a way to raise funds for research to find new treatments or a cure for MS. 

Whether you are an avid cyclist or a novice, you should consider participating in one of these rides.  They are terrifically supported, a genuinely fun event, and the proceeds go to a great cause. The MS society offers options to do a single day 38-mile ride, and 100- or 75-mile rides on either day.  My training partner, Adam Frager, and I opted to do a 100-mile ride with a 30-minute brick run on Day 1 and a 75-mile ride on Day 2.  One of the unique features of the Ocean to Bay ride on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is the overnight stay at Camp Silver Beach, a YMCA summer camp. There is a beach, a great pool with a water slide, and air conditioned cabins. This year I was offered the chance to ride with the EMD Serono/Fat Frogs team(Thank You Peggy Neidig!!).  It was a great weekend and I can’t thank the Fat Frogs enough for their fantastic hospitality.  We had a great time.  Special “Thank Yous” to my donors Dixie House, Joe Joyce & Rob Cheng, Kevin Watts, Melanie Smith, Paige Kurtz, Curt Shaffer, Adam Frager, and TJ Smith.  I raised $336 as an individual, and the Fat Frogs combined total was $13,581.  It is nice to be able to give back to the community by doing something that I love to do.

The next event on the horizon was the Revolution 3 Half-Rev (70.3) Triathlon in Williamsburg, Virginia.  I have written about the inaugural event here.  The race in 2013 was a disaster.  The race director did not account for the tides at the swim site.  They set the course up in the middle of Williamsburg, on the campus of William & Mary, and created the single largest traffic jam that Williamsburg has ever seen.   The caterer ran out of food and drink post race.  If you want to make people mad in the South, make them late for Church and don't feed them Supper.  Rev 3 promised to come back for 2014 and they assured all the racers that they would fix what was broken and improve the race for 2014.

 Getting Ready to Race

Rev 3 Swim Location (Current right to left)

Because of the geography of the region there are very few suitable locations to hold an open water swim in the Williamsburg area.  That means the swim for Rev 3 Williamsburg is at the same location as the Patriots Half, a great local race run by Setup Events every September.  The James River is a tidal estuary and the current reverses with the tides.  A lot of people that don't live near the ocean have trouble with this concept.  All rivers flow downhill to the sea, right?  The bottom line is that the current can flow almost 2 knots North or South at max tidal flow in or out.  The race start coincided with maximum outgoing tide.  The big question coming in to the race was how the Rev 3 race team would set up the swim course.

Rev 3 holds their race on Sunday.  Athlete check-in was Saturday and all bikes had to be dropped off by 6 pm.  On Saturday morning my training partner and I drove to the swim site early to hit the swim course at the same tide condition as race day.  That meant getting the water around 6 am.  We jumped in the water and headed out for a tower mark about 0.2 miles off the shore.  In the shallows the current was hardly noticeable, but there was a clear current line located at about where the sail-boat is anchored in the picture above.  I found myself working way harder than planned to get to the tower mark, and my short 20 minute swim became a  30 minute effort with the current.  I had just blown my swim taper.  I didn't know it at the time, but I'd see it in my performance the next day.

After dragging ourselves back to the shore, we hopped on our bikes and did a fast 15 minute out back along the start of the bike course.  Rev 3 opted for a two transition race plan with a point-to-point bike ride.  If they didn't there would be no notable difference between their race and the Patriot's Half.  Most racers won't pay 3x cost to race on the same course twice a year.  In this case Rev 3 did the right thing by setting up the point-to-point ride.  The bike course is a fantastic ride.

After knocking out our tune-up ride we headed to T2 at the Warhill Sports Complex.  The run course was on a combination of gravel trail and paved bike path at the WSC.  Adam and I opted to run one loop of the course to get a feel for the run.  It had great shade on the front half on the gravel trail, but it was curvy, hilly, and in some places had treacherous footing.  The second half was in full sun on asphalt - hot!!  In my opinion it was a hard course to run, and that would be proven out the next day.

Check-in went smoothly. The attendance in the second year of this event was low.  It was a ghost town early in the day.  The expo was unremarkable.  However, we did get to see Scott Taber and his wife, Walt Gonzales at the Fat Frogs tent, John Fitzgerald, Dan Arnett, and Chris Haas.  We were running late for lunch, so we grabbed our packets and rushed back down to the Swim Start/T1 to drop off our bikes.  Sean Kelly got a got a great picture of my bike racked in T1.  Thanks Sean!

USMES and Snapple

 About one week before the race I received an e-mail from the Snapple Tri Team manager inviting me to have lunch with the United States Military Endurance Sports Team.  Snapple sponsors USMES and their team director Kathy Rakel offered to buy the Snapple team lunch.  It was a very nice event and I was pleased to meet some great competitors and teammates!  Mindy, Holly, and the rest of Snapple crew, it was great getting together pre-race.  We definitely should do this more often.

Race Plan

My coach and Snapple Teammate, Adam Otstot, sent my race plan the Monday before the race.  It was aggressive.  I spent the first half of the year focused on improving my swim and bike without negatively impacting my run.  My functional power was up 15 watts from the same time last year, I hit a 5:30 average on my mile repeat run test, and was holding my 100 yd repeats on a 1:35 interval.  Solid improvement across the board.  Going in to the race we both assumed that the swim would be a mess, and that there was no way this course could yield a PR.  The goal was to stay smooth in the water, within my limits on the bike, and go after the run.  There was no target for the swim other than perceived effort.  On the bike I was to stay between 220 and 230 watts and try to spin on the front side of the course because the 2nd half was far more challenging then the first.  Adam wanted me to go out at 6:40 pace for the 1st lap  of the run and then try to hold 6:30 for the remainder.  I could go after the last lap if I felt good.  Like I said, aggressive.

The Race

Adam F, Adam O, and Me at the Swim Start

I woke up at 3:00 am and grabbed a bonk breaker bar, a bagel with peanut butter and honey, a banana, and a cup of coffee.  On my way to Adam Frager's house I drank a bottle of Osmo Pre-load mixed half-and-half with Osmo Active Hydration.  I threw my gear into Adam's truck and we headed off to T2 to set up our run gear and then jump on the shuttle to T1.  The water was warm, so no wetsuit.  I had my Xterra speed suit, a bottle of Osmo Active Hydration, and my gear bags.  We set up T2 and hopped on the shuttle.

It was a quick ride to T1.  We hopped off the shuttle, I filled my bottles, put three bonk breaker bars in my binto box, and pumped up my bike tires.  I put on my trainers and did a 15 minute run to get warmed up.  We dropped our dry gear bags in the bins and walked down to the beach to meet Adam Otstot for some last minute encouragement, and did a short 10 minute swim.  My arms were tight from my effort in the current the day before.  That did not bode well for the swim.

Swim:  The first swim start for the Half was Male 45+.  That was a bit unusual and had me worried, because most of my competition would be 5 to 10 minutes behind me.  We lined up and I took my position as far out on the line as I could.  The horn sounded and off we went.  In order to keep us out of the heavy current, the race director set the course up with a long leg fairly close to the shore.  Unfortunately that mean we were in the shallow water to start and rather than swim, a lot of racers opted to walk.  So there I was swimming and every time rolled to my left and took a breath on my right I was looking at a whole bunch of guys jogging through the water that was a little higher than waist deep.  I opted to keep swimming.  My arms were tired and two of the other old guys got clear separation.  I was behind them but well in front of the pack, and all alone!  Not what I had hoped for.  The current was having minimal impact, but I had no one to guage my speed against and no one to draft off.  All I could do was swim and try to keep my form as perfect as possible.  I made the final turn for the beach directly into the rising sun.  It was impossible to see the swim exit in the glare, so I just swam in to the sun until I could pick up the swim exit arch.  I was a little off, but not as bad as some of the others. Swim:  33:02 - 3/41/58 A/G/O

It's a quarter mile slog up to T1 from the beach.  I was running well and I had my speed suit nearly off by the time I hit the bikes.  A quick swig of Osmo Active, helmot on, sunglasses on, race number belt on, shoes, and go.  A bit slow, but 2 minutes of it is the run from the beach.  T1: 3:41

Coming Into T2

Bike:  I felt good on the bike.  My cadence was steady at 95 and I was holding 220 watts and about 23 MPH.  The course goes out a long false flat up Route 5 in Charles City County and it is fast.  Just before I made the right turn onto Sturgeon Point road, a biker in Zoot kit came blowing by me.  The lead pack had finally caught the old guys.  Before I could say Brian Jastrebsky, he was by me and gone.  Just about that same time I was joined by David Kreuger and a couple of other riders.  One guy in particular I remembered from Kinetic, for the next 40 miles David pulled this guy around the course.  The new Rev3 bike course is a fantastic ride.  After the blazing fast section out into Charles City County the route turns North East and begins to become more rolling.  Once you turn south on Hwy 60 you have a series of rollers all the way back into Williamsburg proper..  I knew I needed separation from David Krueger because I owed him time and I was really bothered  by the guy in my age group hanging on his wheel.  Finally I had had enough and I knew it was time to go.  I blasted through Diaschund road and over Carwash hill.  I put 5 minutes on that group over the last 16 miles.  At the turn around on Diaschund I was able to count the riders in front of me and I knew I would be 15th coming off the bike.  It was a solid ride, 19th fastest ride of the day. Bike:  02:26:02.823 2/23/24 A/G/O

I popped out of my shoes just before the turn into transition and had a clean dismount.  I was a bit wobbly as I had pushed hard at the end of the bike.  My rack was at the end of transition and I jogged the bike all the

way down to my slot.  T2:  1:17

Run:  Shoes on, visor on, Gu Chomps in one pocket, flask of Osmo Active in the other pocket.  Off I went.  A quick right out of transition, then a quick left.  My wife Kelly was there yelling with Rachel Jastrebsky.  I was on the trail now and pushing hard.  It was starting to get hot and I hit the Osmo flask hard and ate a Chomp.  I came through mile one at 6:40, then held 6:30 for the next two.  The hills, turns and gravel were messing with my rhythm.  The back half of the loop was really hot and I was having the volunteers splash me with cold water at every aid station.  I had picked out two runners ahead of me and I caught them by the end of the first loop.  Then I was in traffic for the second loop and I couldn't pick out any more targets.  My left quad started cramping and I really had to focus on keeping my form solid and smooth through the hills and turns.  It was getting hotter and I was dropping pace.  I saw Adam Otstot on each lap and he was yelling encouragement, but like me, he couldn't pick out where I was on the lead lap.  We both knew I was in the mix, but all I could do was hold on.  The last two laps were a blur of taking in calories, managing body temperature, and trying to keep my left quad from locking up.  The high point was catching Mindy Ko and hearing her yell out "Goooo Steven" and "Dig Deep." I'd say from the run course pictures I looked pretty haggard by that point.  I was supposed to go hard the last lap, but that really became go hard the last mile.  As it turned out, the run had hurt me, but it killed everyone else.  The wheel sucker dropped at mile 2 (DNF).  Karma does exist!!  I had the sixth best run of the day.  Run:  01:30:37.493 1/12/13 A/G/O

Total Time:  04:34:40.860

I won my Age Group, was the 2nd masters athlete over the line, and finished 13th Overall.  Lookout IMLP!  I'm just getting started.  It was a huge PR.  Two minutes faster than Kinetic, and 6 minutes faster than my best from the year before.  On a course that I didn't think could yield a PR, I had just crushed my PR.  It was a good feeling and a tribute to what consistent effort and training can do.  Most people attribute excellence to some sort of herculean effort.  I have come to learn that that isn't always the case.  Excellence is built by consistency, it is attributable constant effort applied over time.

Congratulations to Brian Jastrebsky for his 1st place O/A in the Half.  You killed it dude!  Kudos to my Snapple Teammate Mindy Ko, 12th Female and 3rd in age group for the Half, Holly Ann Geldhauser for her 5th place finish in the Olympic Race, Daniel Ballin for his age group win in the Olympic race, Scott Taber for the Oly Clydesdale win, Dan Arnett for his 2nd in age group in the Half, Connie Glueck and Erin Wreski for their 1st place age group finishes, Dixie King for her 2nd place age group finish, and Peggy Neidig for her 3rd place age group finish.  Thanks to Rachel Jastrebsky and all the Fat Frogs on the course for cheering me on!  I love the Hampton Roads Triathlon Community!!  You guys and gals rock!

Me and John Fitzgerald on the Age Group Podium

Finally - Thank You to Snapple Triathlon, Xterra, Osmo, and Sugoi.  Osmo has kept me hydrated and performing in the hottest conditions Virginia has to offer.  The swim wasn't one of my best, but it would have been worse without my Xterra speed suit.  I am honored to represent Sugoi as a Brand Champion.  I don't quit and neither does my Sugoi gear.  It truly is #Irongear.  I still bleed Snapple blue.  It was sooo much fun to race with a bunch of teammates on the course!!!

#TeamSugoi #SnappleTri #OsmoNutrition

Racing by Feel

2014 Kinetic Half

Beautiful Lake Anna in the spring.  I think this race has become a spring tradition for me.  As much as I really dislike the run course, it suits my strength.  When the lake is calm, like the last two years, it can be a really fast swim.  The new one loop bike course, introduced in 2013, is blazing fast, but challenging.  If you want to read more about the course, check out my blog post from last year, here.

If 2013 was all about my first Ironman, then 2014 is about fixing what broke in 2013.  The focus of the off season was improving my swim and figuring out what happened during the run in Louisville.  To that end I have over 96 miles in the pool since the start of the year.  Five thousand
yards, 3 days a week, with the Masters Swim program at Fort Eustis.  If Steve Hennessy of the Coast Guard Blue Dolphins can't get you squared away in the pool, it can't be done!

Figuring out the run at Louisville has been more challenging.  Luckily, the Snapple Triathlon team picked up a new sponsor for the 2014 season, Osmo Nutrion.  The idea behind their product is to delink nutrition from hydration.  No sugary sports drinks.  Solid food on the bike and Osmo Active hydration.  I started training with Osmo in April and so far it seems to suit my needs.  It has taken some getting used to the volume of fluids the Osmo folks recommend, but the results can't be argued with.  In my first long brick of the season, one week before Kinetic, I rode 90 miles at IM pace and followed it up with a 30 minute run at 7:15 pace.  I felt better than I have ever felt coming off the bike.

Kinetic was planned as the season opener, but it was a training race.  No taper!  My two "A" races - Rev 3 Williamsburg and IM Lake Placid, are mid season races.  I had to be in my build if I wanted to be ready in July.  With over 125 miles on the bike, 20 miles running (including a 5K race), and 6 miles in the pool, I was not coming into Kinetic fresh.  I was still excited to race.  If the butterflies ever leave it will be time to stop racing.

My training partner, Adam Frager, and I drove up the afternoon before.  Normally I book a camp site immediately after I register for the race.  This year I didn't.  By the time a I got around to booking a camp site they were all gone.  I happened to post my dilemma on the Hampton Roads Triathlon facebook page.  A day later I had an e-mail from an acquaintance letting me know I could share her campsite if I needed it.  Thank you Katherine & Bryan Lindler!  Your hospitality was amazing. Thank you for feeding us, cheering us on, taking pictures.  The list seems endless - Thank you!  Kat, I am so glad that you can race again.

Our little racing community in the Hampton Roads is pretty special.  Within minutes of checking in at race HQ, we had run into Shane Danaher and his wife, Lauren, had a text message from the Fat Frogs coach, Peggy Neidig, found Joel Bell from Fianl Kick setting up his tent, and met another racer from Chesapeake, John  Fitzgerald.  It was just like being Norm walking into Cheers.  Everyone knew our names.

Storms rolled through that night and the forecast was dicey for the next day.  We got up at 0500, got dressed and made our way over to the start.  The great thing about staying at Lake Anna State Park is the commute.  In five minutes we were in transition setting up our gear.  First race jitters had me checking and double checking everything, but eventually I had it all just right and Adam and I did a 2 mile warmup on the back half of the run course. 

I slipped into my wetsuit and headed down to the swim start.  Along the way  I ran into Dixie King, Peggy Neidig, and Steve Keller.  Like I said, I love our community.  Strong racers who support one another.

The sky was grey, but the water was flat.  Evey now and then you could feel a rain drop and the temperature was just right.  The old guys were the fourth start, so I had to watch most of my competition go off three waves ahead of me.  Adam went at 7:04 and then it was my turn at 7:12.  In the excitement of the moment I didn't start my watch.  Two dolphin dives and then into the swim.  Stroke, stroke, stroke breathe!  I spent six months working on my catch and elbow position.  Keep the elbow high, early vertical forearm, pull from the lats, not the shoulder.  Stay long, reach and turn - roll through the hips.  Stroke, Stroke, Stroke breathe!  I lead out the pack for the first time ever!  There were three of us working together - another old guy and a female relay swimmer.  I tucked just inside the guys head wake for a side draft, but I quickly found out that he couldn't swim straight.  I switched to the relay swimmers feet and then we were into the third group before the first turn.  The rest of the swim was a blur until I came out of the water and saw my watch reading 00:00:00.  Uggghhhh!  My best swim ever and Garmin didn't record it.  It was like it never happened.  Swim:  31:13 2nd A/G, 40 O/A

The long jog up to the bike, pulling and tugging at the wetsuit, drop, strip, hop, shoes on.  Crowd at the exit.  I was rusty.  Not my best transition.  T1: 3:12

I had shifted my bike to the small front ring when I racked it.  I watched another racer in 2013 fall over when he mounted and had his bike in the wrong gear and couldn't climb the hill out of transition.  Nothing fancy for me!  I hopped on the bike and pedaled away.  I tried to synch my heads up display, but it wouldn't pick up my power meter.  I was racing by feel and speed.  I dialed in my favorite gear and headed out at an easy pace for the first two miles.  I had swam into the pack and now I had to ride through the rest.  I saw a lot of riders in the first 20 miles, but eventually the ride sorted out to 4 of us all working similar strategies on the bike.  Spin up the hills and press down the hills.  Over the next 36 miles the four of us would trade the lead dozens of times.  Unfortunately, one of those times was at the bottom of a hill with an immediate steep climb.  I was overtaken at the bottom and then the rider slowed precipitously as he hit the up-slope.  I didn't even hesitate, I went right around him and passed him back.  As soon as I completed the pass, a judge came by on a motorcycle scribbling furiously on her note pad.  I had just taken my first penalty ever.  I didn't clear the zone before re-passing, 4 minutes.  Ugggghhhh!  Bike: 2:30:42 3rd A/G, 28 O/A.

Unclip the shoes, slip the feet out, pedal smoothly, Dismount BEFORE the line. T2:  1:21

On to the run.  I grabbed my visor, put a bag of sporty beans in one jersey pocket and a gel in the other. I hit my Osmo preload before exiting transition.  Now I was in my element.  I was running and running well.  Two weeks before Kinetic I had raced my first double - a 5K followed by a 10K.  I won the 5K and took 2nd in the 10K, all while running negative splits -both 10K splits faster than the 5K.  The week before Kinetic I raced another 5K after riding for 2 hours.  I took 2nd in that race.  I knew my run was spot on!

Easy strides, around the short spur to make the distance right, and then up the hill.  The watch ticked 7:07 on the first mile, and I made it a point to beat that on the next two laps.  Negative splits up the hill each lap.  I felt bad for a short time on the second lap, but once I cleared the cabin loop and hit the downhill into the campground I knew I was rolling up the competition.  Joel Bell, Steve Keller, and Adam Frager - I was making ground.  I caught Adam and Steve, but I couldn't catch Joel.  He is far too strong on the bike and I had given away too much time.  Run:  1:30:33 1st A/G, 11 O/A.

Thanks to Rose PT, another Snapple sponsor.  As soon as I crossed the finish line they caught me and let me know that they were on the hill if I needed anything.  Thanks guys.  That was pretty cool!  Xterra wetsuits, Sugoi Apparel, Osmo, and Snapple - Thanks for getting me to the start and through to the finish!  It was a great day and a fantastic race, a new PR at the Half Iron distance, even with a penalty.

Finish Time:  4:36:59
Penalty Time: 4:00
Total Time:  4:40:59  1st A/G, 18th O/A