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.

Updates from Past Two Months

I have not posted here in a while, so I thought I'd post some updates on what I've been up to over the past couple months.  

Peru Surf Vacation

In mid February I took a 1.5 week trip down to Mancora, Peru for a little surf vacation before the race season got underway.  The trip and surf break were awesome.  The only bad thing is I got sick about half way through the trip which had lasting effects for over a week after I got back to the States.  This threw a wrench into my training and early season race schedule.  Regardless of the sickness, the experience in Peru was awesome.  Here are some pictures:

Mancora Strip at night 

Mancora Beach Early Morning

 Mancora Beach Mid Afternoon

Sunset in on Mancora Beach

Mancora Surf Break (this was a small day)

Race Schedule Change

Because of my vacation and the fact that I was sick for quite a while, I decided to not race two of the early season races that I had earlier planned (UCLA IronBruin and Superseal).  Instead, I decided to focus on preparing for Wildflower and added a couple later season races to my schedule.  The updated and likely to change race schedule can be seen here.

ITU Short Course World Championships

Through the 2012 rankings qualification criteria, I recently earned a spot to travel to London in mid September and race with Team USA at the ITU Short Course (Olympic Distance) World Championships.  I'm still mulling over whether I will accept the spot (of course I want to but it will cost me quite a chunk of change), but I'd say at this point I'm really leaning towards accepting. 

St Patrick's Day 10K

After pulling out of Superseal I decided to travel down to San Diego to race with my buddy Kosuke in a 10K race on St. Patrick's Day.  Because I was racing on about 2 weeks of training following my vacation/sickness, my plan was to simply take it easy.  Of course I took it hard when the gun went off because I don't know how to do anything other than that in a race situation.  I managed a decent time on a fun and flat course.  The best part of the race by far was the beer garden. Unlimited Stone IPA = best beer garden ever!  Here are some Garmin data for you geeks:

Team TriSports.com

This is a little late, but I am happy to announce that I will once again be racing with Team TriSports.com for the 2013 triathlon season.  TrisSports.com, based out of Tucson AZ, is one of the leading online multisport retailers. I encourage you to read about the unique culture at TriSports.com by visiting the link here.

Please, if you can, help support me by using the coupon code MTRIPP for all purchases made at TriSports.com and you will receive 15% off of your order. Yes, that is a whopping 15% off!  Go get your shopping on!

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.

Oregon Trail

Sunday was my last day in Portland before heading to the coast. I got my swim on in the morning and then explored Portland a little looking for some tasty coffee. While walking around, I ventured past this sign:

Apparently, if you ride a bike with no front wheel you might fly over the handle bars. Good thing I now know. I also came across the "Brewcycle". I was just imagining riding past that in the middle of a race or seeing it racked in the transition area next to all the TT bikes.

The coastal destination was Lincoln City, OR, which is approximately 100 miles Southwest of Portland. On the way to the coast, I met my sister and her husband at Left Coast Cellars for some vegetable soup, carrot cake, and pinot noir.

I got dropped off and rode my bike for the final 25 miles to the coast. There was a pretty nasty headwind, but luckily the majority of the route was flat or downhill.

The Oregon coast weather pattern this time of year consists of cold, wet, foggy mornings which eventually clear up in the afternoon.  Below is a picture of the beach near our vacation home on Monday morning.

I went for a ride late Monday morning after the fog cleared and the roads started to dry. The green Oregon landscape is a nice change of scenery from Redondo Beach.

Part of my ride took me past Chief Kiawanda Rock. Looking at the rock from the shore, I thought it might be a neat open water race to swim out, around the rock, and back to shore. Only downside is that the water temp is around 50F, pretty cold even with a wetsuit.

Lincoln City is right on the Oregon Coast Bike Route. I rode North for 27 miles and then turned around and returned on the same route. It was generally rolling hills other than a 3 mile Cat 3 climb at mile 6 and 48. The first climb was fun, the second...not so much. I believe the temp stayed around 60F which was sort of chilly.  It's going to be quite a change later this week in Sonoma. Overall, I only lost two oxen and luckily my carriage did not get stuck in the river.

Me at the end of the ride...

With the wet roads, my bike was quite dirty at the end of the ride. It's OK though because I already cleaned her up.

Oregon

I'm in Portland! Yesterday was the first day of my 12 day vacation along the west coast. I started by driving from LA to the Santa Rosa Airport then jumped on a plane to Portland, which happened to be my first time flying on a turbo-prop. It was a good experience especially because they served complimentary micro-brew IPA and the flight attendant noticed my Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt and started talking Pink Floyd with me.  

I'm going to spend a couple days in Portland at my sister's pad, then drive to Lincoln City on the coast for a family reunion next week.  Below are a couple pictures of the view from my sister's condo in Portland...nice change of scenery from the rooftop views I get in Redondo Beach.

Next Friday I will drive back to Portland and hop on a plane back to Santa Rosa where I will stay until the following Tuesday. During my stay in the Santa Rosa area I will be racing in Vineman. So, that's an overview of my next 1.5 weeks, and of course, I will not be thinking of work one bit during that time.

Now that I'm back on track with the running portion of my training, I decided to go on one last long run before the race next weekend.  I did a few loops along the river and over the bridges shown in the pictures above. It seemed to be quite a popular running spot with some fairly fast runners out there today. Probably due to the proximity to Nike and U of Oregon.  Overall, I think I put in about 10 miles and my legs are feeling good.  I plan to throttle down and give them some rest over the next week.

More vacation/training updates and photos to follow...