So Long 2014 Season...

It has been a while since I've posted here so I figured it was time to check in and give a little update on my season.  I'll go ahead and cut to the finish.  This weekend I was supposed to be racing the Malibu Triathlon and then continuing on through October and finishing my season at Lifetime Oceanside.  Well...those plans have changed.  I have decided to go ahead and call an end to my triathlon season.  I'll explain why, but first I'll bring you up to speed on some of my racing since I last posted her in June.

San Diego International Triathlon
In mid June I went on a training trip to Mammoth Mountain with a group from Volt Multisport.  It was a great training trip at altitude with a great group of people, but I was a little worried that my body would feel drained while racing SDIT a week later.  Luckily that ended up not being true.  I'd say my race at SDIT was probably my best overall race of the season.  I had a solid swim and bike, and my run split was easily my best 10K split as part of a triathlon.  I ended up finishing 2nd among some some guys that coming into this race I would have never thought I could hang with.

Photo courtesy of Tyler Olson 

Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim
Each year as a supplement to my triathlon season I also race in several open water swim races.  Probably the biggest swim race every season is the Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier race between the Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach piers.  Each year I've steadily moved up in the results list and I ended up finishing this year 19th overall which put me 4th in my division.

Even with a little "shark incident" earlier in the summer there was still a record number of swimmers in the 2014 race.

Everyone has their game face on right before the start of the race...

There is always a mad sprint to the water in order to stay ahead of the chaos due to 500+ swimmers racing to a buoy placed 150 yards offshore.

Still racing to the water...

This is a small window into the mayhem at the start of the race.

Approximately two miles later it is all over.

Trans Tahoe Relay Swim
This year, for the first time, I also raced on a 6 person relay in the Trans Tahoe Relay Swim across Lake Tahoe.  It was really fun being part of a relay team as opposed to the solo races that I am usually in.  Also, swimming in the crystal clear Lake Tahoe with mountains in the background was just amazing.  I was lucky to be part of a fast team and we ended up winning our division and finished 8th overall.

You can definitely see from the pictures why they say "Keep Tahoe Blue".

Kosuke had a crazy fast swim leg that kept us up front.

Beer mugs for the winners!

USAT Olympic Distance AG National Championship
A week after the Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier I traveled to Milwaukee to race at USAT Nationals.  My race the previous week set me up for a good swim and I came out of the water in the lead with two guys right behind me.  On the bike I traded the lead back and forth with another athlete and then on the run was able to put a gap between me and the rest of the wave.  I ended up winning my age group and coming in 8th overall in what I would say and I think many would agree was a highly competitive year for this race.  Consistent with the American culture of "no one gets left out", awards went 10 deep.

ITU Olympic Distance AG World Championship
About three weeks after Nationals I traveled to Edmonton, Alberta, CA for Worlds.  One of the best parts of being in Edmonton was being able to see in person the pure dominance by elite athletes Gwen Jorgensen and Javier Gomez Noya.  Especially Javier who I believe is undoubtedly the best short to mid distance triathlete ever.

After a few days of putzing around town and watching the other elite and amateur races, it was my time to race the morning of Labor Day. Without a swim warm-up I felt like crap during the whole swim and ended up with a slower than normal swim split.  But, I still ended up with a 40 second lead on my wave heading out onto the bike.  Within a few miles, the faster guys in my wave caught up to me but didn't pass and drop me.  I ended up riding the rest of the bike leg trading leads with a German and Canadian and was still able to head out on the run in the lead.  About a half mile into the run, the Canadian and eventual winner Robert Johnson passed me and I ended up holding that position for the remainder of the race finishing 2nd in my AG and 5th overall.

A little glimpse of part of the swim course and the swim exit:

Here I am at the start of the bike leg and am still putting my shoes on:

Congratulations to Eric Burnett for pulling off the double by racing both the Sprint and Olympic distance races in Edmonton.

The theme of the race was "It Was Epic".  That may have been a slight overstatement, but, ok I'll go with it...It Was Epic!

So, that brings us to the present and now I am starting my off-season. Why? Well, there are a couple of reasons.  First and the most obvious of all is that I ended up with a little tweak in my ankle following my race in Edmonton.  I do not believe it is too severe but it would have prevented the proper preparation for Malibu this weekend and Oceanside at the end of October.  The less obvious reason is that in general my body is tired and has been feeling that way since the beginning of August.  I figured that if I were to continue to race through the end of October I would be even more tired by that time and I saw no benefit of doing that.  So, I have decided to call it a season, rest up, do some fun off-season stuff (surf, ski, have a life outside of triathlon, etc.), and prepare for next year.  I am happy with my 2014 season and have big plans for next year, so I want to set myself up properly.

Los Angeles Triathlon Race Report

On Sunday Sept. 30th I raced in my last race for the season, The Herbalife Los Angeles Triathlon.  This would be my third consecutive year racing LA, so I had a pretty good understanding of the course going into the race.

Pre Race:
I had three weeks following 70.3 Worlds to prepare for LA. The first week was rough.  My IT band became quite irritated following Vegas and it took about 4 days following the race before I was even able to walk without a limp.  I basically rested for a week and then slowly tried to get back into the swing of things the following two weeks.  My training was very sparse as I didn't want to further irritate my IT band injury.  In the days leading up to the race, I didn't feel close to 100%, but my body was in a way better condition than it was in immediately following Vegas.  I was ready to go.

Swim:
It seems that every year, a big swell comes in just in time for this race.  This year was no different.  There were consistent overhead sets coming in as we were waiting to start.  I was excited to get out there and swim through them.

Photo courtesy of triathlon.competitor.com

As the gun went off, I made my way through the surf and ended up reaching the first buoy with the lead pack.  I latched onto the feet of one of the guys and ended up swimming in a group of 3 for the remainder of the swim.  The sun was out and I was having a very difficult time sighting the buoys, so I basically ended up following the guy in front of me hoping he would do a decent job of navigating.  As I was swimming into the shore, a decent size set came through and I chose to just duck under it rather than trying to ride the wave and risk getting pummeled.  I came out of the water in third place with a split of 21:21, about 15 seconds out of 1st.  

Bike:
Transition went smoothly and I was off on my bike headed towards downtown.  As my heart rate started to settle and I began to get into my groove, I noticed that I felt sort of flat.  I just didn't have the kick I normally have for an Olympic distance race.  I believe it may have been all of the recovery time I required after racing in Vegas.  Although my body was rested, it felt flat.

One thing I like about the LA Tri is being able to ride through all of the communities as you approach downtown.  The bike course definitely provides a different type of scenery than I experience at most other races.

I came into T2 with a split of 1:02:09.  Comparing my bike split the other athletes in my division, I can see this is clearly an area in which I need to improve.

Run:
The LA Tri run has gotten me for the worse the past two years.  Both years I developed bad stomach cramps and last year my left ankle was injured.  Knowing that my leg was still a little gimpy due to the IT band issues I was having, I decided to hold back at the beginning a little more than I usually do for a 10K run.  This ended up working fairly well.  The run course is two loops, each with a pretty massive hill to run up.  Once I made the first loop and noticed I was feeling pretty decent, I realized that all I had to do was make it up the hill again and then cruise the last 1.5 miles to the finish.

I finished with a run split of 34:22, which on paper looks great, except it appears the run course was about 0.4 miles short.  Still, a much improved run from the previous years.

Here's some moving pictures from the race.  If you pay close attention, you will see me adjusting my goggles at 0:54.

I ended up finishing 4th in my division (elite amateur) with a time of 2:00:03.  Hmmm, this is the second time this year I was three seconds short.

Overall, I am happy with my race.  I dropped about 5 minutes from my previous year time, although I believe some of that may have been due to the run course being short.  Cracking the top 3 in my division was a goal going into the race, but some fast guys showed up and and prevented me from doing that.  I guess that's just the way things go.  It was overall a good way to end an up and down year.

Next up is vacation!! While most of the triathlon community will be focused on a little race going on in Kona, I will be making a trip to Kauai for an extended weekend to wind down from the busy triathlon season.