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.

July Update

I haven't posted here in a while, so I thought I'd give an update.  First, a mini race report:

San Diego International Triathlon (SDIT)

About a month ago I raced the San Diego International Triathlon. SDIT iss a non-USAT event, so I was able to toe-the-line in the elite division with the fast guys (I also raced elite at this race last year with relatively successful results).

During the swim I was one of three guys leading a chase pack behind the eventual winner, Luke McKenzie. I think I was second out of the water behind Luke, but a few guys in the chase pack with me had a faster transition, so I was probably 4th or 5th heading out on the bike course. Out on the bike course, I was passed by a few more of the uber strong cyclists, but I held my ground among the rest of the field. At the start of the run I was in 7th and I knew I had some work to do. I was able to run down two of the guys in front of me and I didn't let anyone pass. I usually take down an energy gel during the bike leg of a race that is this distance. During this race I lost the gel pack and didn't take in any nutrition the whole race.  I was very glad when I crossed the finish line because I was definitely running on fumes for the last couple of miles.

I ended up finishing 5th overall. The guys in front of me included a pair of Ironman champions (Luke and Luke) and a couple of guys that race on the ITU circuit (Chris and Derek). I'd say I was in pretty good company.

A nice summary article of the race can be found here.

I must have a weird shaped head because it seems that my cap is always falling off...

Photo courtesy of Kevin Koresky @ TriLounge.com

Hoping the finish line is right around the corner

Photo courtesy of Kevin Koresky @ TriLounge.com

What am I up to right now, you ask?

Right now I am in the middle of a heavy training block focusing on getting strong and fast for my late season races. I am finishing off about a month of high volume work.  I will dial back for a week and then focus on speed work leading up to my next race.  My remaining triathlon race schedule for the 2013 season is the following:

• 9/7 - Nautica Malibu Triathlon (International Distance)
• 9/15 - ITU Short Course Age Group World Championship
• 10/20 - Lifetime Triathlon - Oceanside

I have a Team USA uniform.  Seems weird to see my name on there...

But first, I will be racing the Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim on August 4th.

Finally, if you need to stock up on triathlon gear for your late season races, use coupon code MTRIPP at trisports.com for 15% off of your purchase!

Redondo Beach Superbowl 10K

My first race of the season is in the books.  It wasn't a triathlon, but a 10K running race, the Redondo Beach Superbowl Sunday 10K. Because I am still in the building phase of my training, I didn't quite know how this race was going to go.  I assumed I would not get a PR, but had hoped to be near the 35 minute range.

I have spent a lot of time over the past few years trying to determine the best triathlon pre-race routines so that I can go as fast as possible once the gun goes off.  When I showed up for the race this morning I realized that my pre-triathlon routines don't really apply.  I had no idea how to properly prepare for a running race.  So, I decided to look for fast-looking people and copy what they were doing.  I first stretched and then went for a little jog.  I then skipped around...the fast looking guys were doing it, so I decided I should as well.

I eventually got bored with skipping and headed over to the start line.  I arrived there about 10 minutes before the gun time.  There was a lot of elbow room, so I positioned myself right at the front of the pack.  About two minutes before the gun went off, a large group of elite runners came and jammed themselves right at the starting line.  I ended up about 5 people deep.  Oh well, so much for trying to get a position right up front.

Here is the course map for reference:

The gun went off and within about 40 yards the front pack started to spread out and I was able to find a clear path to run.  I noticed a few guys simply take off right from the beginning, but I had the discipline to ignore them and stick with the amount of exertion that felt correct for me.  At about 1.5 miles into the race, I found myself in a group of 4 people and there were about 4 others ahead of us.  As we headed South on Catalina I tried to settle into a pace that was pushing, but not too much such that I would blow up before I got half way through the race.  I felt pretty strong for the next couple of miles and began to pull away from the pack I was running with near mile 4. My confidence increased and I unintentionally put in a little kick as I started to head back on Esplanade.  I soon backed off slightly because at that point I was starting to hurt.  This wasn't the injury type of hurting, but the I'm tired as hell and want to lay down type of hurting.  From that point on I kept saying in my head "just two more measly miles are left" and then when I hit mile 5 it was "just over 1 more measly mile...about 6 minutes of pain". Thinking about how much distance or time is left in a race really helps me to mentally push through to the finish line.  Even though I sorta felt like I was going to die during the last two miles of the race, I felt fairly strong on the little climb away from the Redondo Beach Pier near the 5.5 mile mark.  It is good to know that I can push through hills late in a race, a skill that will be crucial this year at Wildflower. Once I got to the top of the hill, I knew it was mostly downhill to the finish.  I opened up my stride and let gravity pull me to the finish line.  At that point, I didn't really know where I stood within race pack, but my goal was to prevent anyone from making a kick and passing me during the final stretch.  I was successful in meeting that goal.

I ended up finishing 4th Overall and 1st in my Division (M30-34), with a time of 34:15.  Full results can be seen here.

Here are the Garmin stats:

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my results.  Finishing 4th in a race like this with a big field of real runners (not triathletes, there's a difference) seems like a pretty nice accomplishment.  I also exceeded my 35 minute goal and actually finished about 13 seconds short of a PR.  That's pretty good considering the fact that I would estimate my running fitness is only at about 80% of where it will be for the peak of the triathlon season.  I hope I can build on this race and put together a nice 2013 race season.  There's still a lot more ahead!

Sorry for the lack of pictures.  Unfortunately I did not have any friends or family spectating for this race.

As always, thanks to Trisports.com for their continued support.  Next race is the UCLA IronBruin on March 3rd.

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.

Los Angeles Triathlon Race Report

Stick a fork in me...I'm done. With my triathlon season, that is. On Sunday, September 25th I raced in the Los Angeles Triathlon which served as my last race for the 2011 season.  Right now I am starting the off-season by enjoying some rest and recovery. Despite my reduction in training volume, I've still been fairly busy and haven't had a chance to write a race report.  I still hope to, but for now here is a picture from the awards ceremony.

Time: 2:05:43
Place: 4th Elite Amateur

Ironman 70.3 Worlds Race Recap

On September 11th, I raced in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Henderson, Nevada. I gained entry into this race by earning a slot during Vineman 70.3 back in July. The following two months allowed me enough time and preparation to feel fairly ready for the Championship.

I rolled into town on Friday and picked up my race packet.  As I got to the expo, I looked around and soon realized that everybody around me was super hardcore. I was suddenly surrounded by loads of compression socks, Ironman tattoos, shaved legs, and $8K rocket ship bikes. People even had cars like this:

It soon became apparent to me that this race was a big deal and held a significant amount of prestige.  Following packet pick up I checked into the hotel and settled down for a bit.  Dinner Friday was Shabu-Shabu followed by a short night out in Vegas. 

The swim was at Lake Las Vegas which is about 10 miles outside of Henderson.  The lake is not normally open for swimming, but they did allow the competitors to do a course preview for a couple of hours on Saturday morning. I guess I was practicing sighting when this picture was taken.

Following my swim course preview, I went on a short road trip to check out the Hoover Dam. 

The Hoover Dam is a pretty remarkable place and quite an engineering feat. It's a big ass dam! I'm also very impressed that it only took 5 years to build.

Following the dam tour, I headed back to Henderson and spent the rest of the day dropping off my gear at race check-in and tending to final race preparations. Dinner was a tasty lasagna dish at a nice little Italian joint, Buon Gusto, followed by some relaxing at the hotel for the rest of the evening. I hit the sack right after Michigan's exciting come from behind win over Notre Dame and slept fairly well considering the big race I had ahead of me the next day.

The water temp was about 80F on race morning which meant no wetsuits. As I said, everybody at this race was super hardcore, so most of them had swimskins to wear for the swim. I'm only partially hardcore so I elected to go old school by going topless and just rockin' the jammers.  Can you find me in the mess of people?  

It seemed like we were treading water for about 15 minutes waiting for our wave to go off.

Although the weather was supposed to be in the mid-90s by late morning, the early morning weather was very comfortable and the swim was greeted by a nice sunrise across the lake.

While treading water at the swim start, there was a race worker on a stand-up paddle board giving us an indication of how much time was left before the start of the race. As start time came closer, he gave us a 20 second warning.  Ten seconds later, the horn went off. Oh, I guess I better start swimming.

My age group was split into two waves and I was in the second of them. During the swim, I soon found myself in a lead pack with two other people. After quite a bit of jockeying for drafting position, one of the guys dropped behind and I hung on the feet of the other guy until the swim finish. I ended up 5th out of the water in my age group.

On to the bike...

The bike course took us into Lake Mead National Park until until a turn-around at about mile 22.  At that point we returned towards Lake Las Vegas and then went about 15 miles further into Henderson. The entire course was rather hilly, which I tend to like.  Over the final 10 miles, a pack of riders from my wave caught up to me and it was evident that there was a bunch of drafting going on amongst them. The drafting is likely a result of fairly equal talent levels, but more likely due to egos getting in the way.  Some people just can't deal with getting passed. For the rest of the ride, I hung near this pack while trying to keep out of their little drafting game. I ended losing one spot on the bike and coming into T2 in 6th place in my age group.  

The run course consisted of three laps over a loop that was half uphill and half downhill.  There were no flats. The first mile of my run felt fine until I developed a nasty side stitch that lasted until about mile 4. After that I got into a groove until I started to feel the effects of the heat at about mile 6. At every aid station, I would grab multiple cups of water to dump on my head. The wet sponges that they were handing out were also clutch. The second half of the run was simply a matter of surviving.

The final mile was downhill and I just opened up my stride and let it all out. When I crossed the finish line I was completely exhausted, more than I have ever been after a race.  

Luckily I gained my composure quick enough to take a goofy looking picture in front of the Ironman backdrop.

Final result:

• Time: 4:32:17
• Placement: 9th AG, 36th Amateur, 76th Overall

Looking at the top 15 in my age group, it is evident what area of my race needs to improve at this distance: the run. I know that with fresh legs I can average a whole minute per mile faster over a half marathon. With proper training I believe I have the potential to drop at least 20 sec per mile from the pace I held at this race.  Looking back at my training leading up to my race, I may have not put in enough distance on the run.  Another thought is perhaps I am taking the bike too hard and not leaving enough in my legs for the run. Maybe I could dork out and get a power meter for my bike to determine if this truly is the case?  Nah, I think I'll just train better. I'm happy with 9th this year but hopefully next year I can work towards cracking the top 5.

Thanks again to TriSports.com for their continued support.

Next up is the Los Angeles Triathlon on September 25th, during which I will be racing in the elite amateur division.  Unless something changes, the LA Tri will likely be my last race of the season.

Camp Pendleton Race Report

Two weeks ago I raced in the Camp Pendleton Sprint Triathlon. Yes, two weeks ago. I know, a report on a race that happened two weeks ago is old news, but I've been busy. Better late than never, right? Anyways, onto the race.  

This was my second consecutive year doing this race. Last year, the first through third overall finishers got huge trophies but unfortunately I ended up coming in 4th. I don't think I've won a trophy since when I was 13 years old and playing baseball, so my goal was to place in the top three this year and go home with some hardware. 

This race is unique because it is on a marine base and the transition area is at the bottom a long boat ramp that is used to launch hovercraft into the ocean.  Unfortunately, spectators aren't allowed down near the transition and swim start, so they have to watch from above on a hill.

The swim was short but difficult due to a nasty northern current.  It was so bad that the first wave got swept up shore and had to basically swim backwards to round the first buoy before proceeding on. I was lucky to be in the third wave and was able to learn from the mistakes of the swimmers before me. I compensated for the current by running south a little on the beach prior to entering the water. It worked well as I don't recall having to swim against the current while going out to the buoy, and I ended up having the fastest swim split.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture from the swim, so below is a picture of me at the end of the Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier swim that I raced in the previous week.

The start of the bike course takes you up the big boat ramp and then on an out and back course into the Marine base.  They say the course is rolling hills during the 1st and last quarter and flat in the middle.  It actually has a gradual climb going out and then nice gradual descent on the way back.

I lost the race last year on the bike so I wanted to focus on getting a good bike split this year. I decided to pretty much put the pedal to the metal for the whole bike leg knowing that I didn't really need to save much for the short 5K.  

About a minute out of T2 another runner caught up with me from behind. At that point, I had a good feeling that I was leading my wave and saw that the guy that had caught me was in a previous wave, so I didn't get bothered.  It actually turned out to be a good thing because he was a speedy guy, so I just hung with him the whole way and let him help pace me. He ended up having the fastest run split and the carrot that he was holding in front of me helped me run to the second fastest run split.

For the entire 5K we ran together. His fast pace helped me run a 16:40 5K split.

The run was around the ACU-5 portion of Pendleton where they have hangars to service the large hovercraft.  It was a flat and fast course that felt like it was over before it even started.

At the end of the race I was told that even though I was in the third wave, there were only two people that had physically crossed the finish line in front of me. I knew I was in good shape and simply had to wait to see if there were some fast older guys (in later waves) that beat me.  

Here's where things get interesting. When results were posted, I went over to look and saw my name was nowhere to be found.  I thought, OK, there must be some glitch so I'll go talk with the race organizers to get things straightened out. I walked over to the timing tent and explained the situation and gave some information to one of the workers. Soon after, a lady (I assume to be the race director?) came over to me and said*, "We timed you at 1:13:53 and Heather Jackson finished in 1:16:05, so we want to make sure there is no funny business going on."  For those of you who don't know, Heather Jackson is a local pro triathlete who has numerous top 5 finishes at 70.3 races this year.  The RD was essentially accusing me of cutting the course short because I had a faster time than a (female) pro. My reaction: What??!!! I was shocked. I didn't know that this triathlon was actually a quadrathlon where the 4th event was defending your finishing time. I also later found out that they did the same thing to the 2nd overall male finisher, but because they thought he was too "old" for his time (he is 42). I was eventually able to explain that my time was legit and soon the results were updated. I guess I should take this whole incident as a compliment, but it left a weird feeling in me for the rest of the day. 

I ended up coming in first overall with a 2 minute margin over the second place finisher (Heather). I was sad they didn't have trophies this year, but am happy to have my plaque.

*Note, I'm not sure if that is the exact quote, but I know she did compare my time to Heather Jackson's and dropped the "funny business" accusation.

For you boxing fans, I later found out that in preparation for his September 17th bout with Floyd Mayweather, WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz raced in the Pendleton Triathlon last Saturday. He came in 9th in the 20-24 age group with a time of 1:36:56.

Next up is Ironman 70.3 Worlds in Henderson, NV on Sept. 11. With only three weeks left, I'm continuing to focus on shifting my mentality towards longer distance and trying to prepare for the Vegas heat.  It should be a fun one.

Vineman 70.3 Race Recap

After a week vacation in Oregon, I flew back to Santa Rosa to race in Vineman Ironman 70.3. Oregon in general was quite damp, cold, and cloudy, but the sun usually came out during the afternoon so the beach could be enjoyed.

This race was going to be my first half ironman distance race and there was a lot of uncertainty in my mind on how things were going to play out.

I had a few ailments going into the race including shin splints in my right leg that were still present as well as a blister on my foot that was not fully healed. To treat those ailments, I packed a mini medicine cabinet along with a gel pack brunch on the top tube of my bike. My plan was to take two Advil around mile 40 of the bike to prep me for the run and prevent the shin splints from acting up. I also traveled with two strips of mole skin that I planned to place on my feet during T2 to prevent the blister from bothering me during the run. The Advil ended up working perfect for preventing the shin splints but the moleskin disappeared during the run and my feet ended up blistering. The blistering ended up being the least of my problems as I will explain later.

The swim leg was in the Russian River which was an interesting experience. Parts of the the river were so shallow that I had to alter my stroke to prevent myself from scraping my hands on the bottom. Many people were actually walking at these shallow points which was a weird sight to swim through.

At the start of the swim I tried to find a fast guy in my wave to draft off, but I kept on swimming up on his legs so I decided to take off on my own. Overall, the swim felt fantastic. The water was the perfect temperature and there were no waves or current. It felt like I was swimming in a pool. I actually wish the swim was longer, which is usually not the case for me during open water swims. I end up leading my AG out of the water with a swim split of 24:37.

Because I was in the 11th wave to start, there were a lot of people already on the bike course in front of me. I actually liked that because it provided targets to catch up to during the ride. I was expecting the 56 miles on the bike to seem like for ever but the time went by quite quickly. The scenic vineyards and overcast weather helped make the ride a fairly pleasant experience.

I maintained the lead of my age category coming into T2 with a bike split of 2:20:51. I really like the pic below :)

After a really strong swim and bike, all I needed to do was bring it home with a strong run.  Unfortunately, that was not the case. The run is where my race went south. In the past, I occasionally had stomach cramp issues that I attributed to the jostling of liquids and gels in my stomach. To prevent the cramps, I went light on the Gatorade and gels towards the end of the bike leg and into run. This was a mistake.  

By the time I got to the loop around the winery at the half way point I was losing it both mentally and physically. My mile pace had dropped from just over 6 minutes to well over 7.5 and even pushing 8 minutes. I was definitely bonking and I knew I needed to get some fuel in my body stat. From that point on, every aid station was like a Vegas buffet to me.  I was double-fisting coke and Gatorade while I had an energy gel hanging out of my mouth. I actually thought I was going to have to open a tab for all of the refreshments I was taking. I eventually got some energy back around mile 11, but it was definitely too late to make up for the majority of my run. I ended up with a meh 1:31:20 half marathon...something I know I can improve on with the correct nutrition.

I was happy to have made it through my first half ironman distance race and definitely think it was not as grueling as I was expecting.

Final Results:
     Time: 4:20:15
     Placement: 3rd AG, 9th Overall Amateur

The third place finish was good enough for me to capture a slot in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, NV on Sept. 11th. I am looking forward to it and know what I need to improve on...mainly, be smarter with my nutrition and get ready for some heat.

Special thanks to my Parents, Aunt Sue, Uncle John, and Cousin Steve for traveling to the race to take pictures and cheer me on.

As always, a special thanks to TriSports.com for their continued support. I suggest venturing over to TriSports.com and browsing their extensive selection of multi-sport products. If you find something you like, you can use coupon code MTRIPP-S to get 10% off your purchase. Using the coupon code will also help support me with my triathlon endeavors :)

You can also check out an excellent gallery with some additional photos of the happenings at Vineman at TriSports University. There happen to be two pics of me in the gallery.

Next up is the hometown Hermosa to Manhattan Beach Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim on July 31st.