Floyd Landis and I chilling

Ok, we didn't actually chill together. It was more of me muttering something stupid like, "Congratulations on your Tour De France Victory and I wish you well in your endevour to clear your name." We went to see him speak at a Town Hall forum his legal defense team put together to raise awareness and funds for his defense.

I must admit, I'm a little a torn on what to believe. My heart wants to think that the testing was flawed, but my brain finds it hard to believe there wasn't something fishy going on. Floyd was extremely cordial and polite.

I just hope whatever the verdict turns out to be, it's fair and just.

Photos Kinetic Half Ironman 4-22-2007

Heading out for the second loop of the 13.1 mile run. Starting to break down a bit!

Entering T2 feeling pretty good

Had to be around the start because I actually look like I'm running hard.

Kinetic Half Ironman 4-22-2007- Short Race Rpt

Here’s my short race rpt. No idea of splits since my brain completely shut down and I kept forgetting to hit my watch. Overall time was around 4:56:25, just under my goal of 5 hrs.

For those unknowing, the water temperature race day was 54 degrees which is mighty chilly. Although I wear a wetsuit, it still translates into not being able to feel your hands or feet when you get done with the swim.

Here you go:

Turned to breath about 300m into the swim and swallowed half the lake…gagged…followed by panic attack of being trampled…floated on back…huge belch..then back to normal. Me do likey new wetsuit, though.

T1 sucked a$$. Again, brain shut down and felt like it was my first tri. I wouldn’t be surprised if my T1 time was like 4+ minutes.

All good on bike except for the minor issue of completely forgetting to attach my speedometer magnet to my disc wheel. So I rode the entire ride not knowing my speed or distance (other than the course markings). Not too big of a deal though since it’s now about the 3rd time I’ve had this issue. Idiot! Nothing eventful other than my 10 seconds of playing draft marshall when I yelled at the duo that were exchanging drafting positions the entire bike ride in front of me. Really quite amazing. They were actually changing turns pulling each other along. Found some consolation in leaving them behind after about the 45 mile mark. Only later to have them pass me at about mile 6 of the run, and yes, still even running together.

T2 a little better but forgot to look where the run exit was before the race. Actually had to yell out, “Where’s the run- start???” Thankfully, I finally saw the sign or I may still be in T2.

THE RUN- one word- OUCHY! First 6 miles no problem. But the second out and back on the lollipop kicked my a$$. That slow climb back out felt like Mt. Everest. I was in survival mode from there on out and as painful as it was, had to scatter some walk breaks. I bent down at the 10 mile mark to pick up a hammer gel and the right hammy locked up. The look on the volunteer’s face was priceless as I think she thought she was going to have to help me stand back upright. Thankfully, it was just a blip and the hammy came back to normal once I stood back up. Didn’t drink nearly enough on the run and paid dearly for it. It was way hotter than I thought it would be. I need to iron this out for the big daddy.

And maybe the best part of all is that I woke up Sunday with a chest cold. Downed a bottle of Tylenol cold medicine throughout the day yesterday and I’m finally starting to feel a little better.

It was great to see everyone out on the run course so often. Kenn & Sean were cruisin’. Danny, you looked solid on the run. You didn’t look like you were even breathing hard. And, Julie, thanks for the vocal cheers and pics!

Diamond in the Rough Triathlon - Perryville MD

This was my 4th triathlon in 6 weeks. Needless to say, I'm ready for a break, but I wanted to do this race since it is our annual triclub race and I thought I'd be ok. We headed up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday to get there by 6:30 a.m. Igda and Emi actually got up this time to come cheer me on. It was great to have them there.


I was a little bummed after finding out that the swim was cancelled due to high bacteria counts in the Susquehanna river. Too much rain with runoff up stream had the water looking pretty murky. Oh well. The race turned into a duathlon with a 5k run substituted for the swim. I was a little dissappointed since I really haven't been doing much running between my other races.

I tried to run the first 5k by keeping my breathing as much under control as possible. I got into a pretty good rythm and finished in fairly good shape. Grabbed my bike and headed out. I bought a new rear race wheel (thanks, Igda) but I made the mistake of waiting too long to glue the tire up and had to leave it at home. Bummer!

I had pretty good bike. I managed to finish with the 17th best split out of 277 men on a pretty challenging course. I headed out for the final 5 mile run and my legs were starting to tighten up. This was going to hurt. I ran the first 2 miles all alone without being passed, but after about 3 miles the herd behind me began catching up. There wasn't much I could do to muster anymore speed. I decided to just keep chugging along. I ended up finishing 47th overall and 13th in my Age Group. I was pretty dissapointed I didn't finish in the top 10 of my age group which was well within reach coming off the bike in the position that I was in. Guess I need to improve my running. It was fun to have Emi run down the finish chute. I was gassed!

Emi's first race

Emi a little over halfway. Running Strong!







Igda & I chilling out









Emi getting his pre-race pep talk



Igda & I heading out for dinner in Downtown Richmond.

Richmond Xterra Race Report

Richmond Xterra Sport Course:
Race Report:

Wow! What a fun race! This was my first off-road tri and I must admit it was a total blast. Rather than bore you with the mundane details, I’ve compiled a list of my experiences from a rookie perspective. Some items are just things I learned from the experience of the day while other items are just pitfalls to avoid the next time and/or general observations.

1. I’m not sure if this is true across the board, but Xterra competitors are generally very friendly people. Lots of hello’s and smiles abound before the race and during. It’s a very cordial lot. I don’t regard myself as a super swimmer, but I actually think swimmer’s got out of the way if they saw me behind them. I think I bumped into 1 person the entire swim and that’s after catching up to the 1st wave. I also think mountain biking causes others to communicate to each other in a much more civilized manner. You see, in order to pass someone on a single-track path, you have to holler out that you’re there (or be hollered out to) and want to pass. So, you do your best to help out because you never know if you’re going to need to pass that same person at a later time. About every time, you get or give a “Thanks, Man!” during this process. How cool is that!

2. Don’t wear dark-tinted sunglasses when the bike course is through the woods where there is NO sunshine. It makes visibility a huge struggle.

3. Xterra racers are TOUGH! I thought I had a few bad spills and even considered bagging the run because my knee took a nice shot on a rock, but one look at the finishers in the med tent made me feel like a total wuss. These people have unrivaled perseverance and nothing is going to stop them from finishing. Not even broken bones or post-race stitches!

4. Do pre-ride the course beforehand. Gaining a grasp of the terrain first hand is a far cry from hopping in the car to drive the course in preparation for the race. I went for a 30 minute ride the day before and told myself, “This isn’t too bad”. Come race day, I was kicking myself because I missed most of the hard stuff and I was astonishingly surprised at how difficult other parts of the course were.

5. Don’t think for a minute that the shorter bike leg makes it a cake walk. 9 miles on a technical mountain bike course felt like 25 miles on the road. You really use your upper body and core muscles to a far greater degree.

6. If you want to feel like a kid again on the bike, race an Xterra. The adrenaline really gets pumping when you look down a steep, twisting descent and let it all hang out. Sure, I had moments of “I think I may die!” But once you’ve done it, you’re like “that was so crazy! I can’t believe I just did that”. Let’s do it again.

7. Ties into # 6: If you want to feel like a kid again running, race an Xterra. Although some of run is on pavement and across bridges, the exhilaration of running where cars can’t go was pretty sweet. I actually looked forward to the run.

8. Don’t get discouraged if you take a spill. I think its part of the initiation into Xterra, but if you happen to fall, pick yourself up, wipe off the dirt and debris and get back into the saddle. You’ll regret it if you don’t. I saw Pro’s that were pretty dirtied up where they clearly had taken a spill along the way.

9. Don’t forget the Advil.

10. The volunteers and medical staff are incredible!

11. You don’t have to wake up at 4 a.m. to get ready for the race. The Sport race started at 8 a.m. and the Full Distance race started at 10:30 a.m. A few extra hours of zzz’s made it feel like a vacation.

Well, that’s about all I can think of off the top of my head. I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting, but I highly recommend this race if you are looking for a fun, challenging event.

Eagleman 2006 Race Report

(Transition Area)

Eagleman 2006 Race Report:

Date: June 11, 2006

This is going to be my 3^rd time racing Eagleman and I think or hope I’ve learned a few things about myself and my approach to racing this event. My first crack at Eagleman was my first Half-Ironman and I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just trying to squeeze in as much training as possible and read every article posted on the web about Half-Ironman training and racing. My second race was serving as part of my IMFL training and I completely wilted on the run in the heat.

My only real goals were to try and break 5 hours and have a good run. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to see the news in the week leading up to the race that the heat factor was going to be a non-issue. I already knew that the wind factor would be a coin toss. It turned out mother nature wasn’t going to let us off too easy by sparing us the heat, so she drummed up a nice stiff wind just to make sure we were challenged.

I spent much of my taper distracted by work to get in any training, but I figured at least my muscles will be well rested.

This was the first time I arrived plenty early to avoid feeling rushed trying to get my transition area pieced together. I had time to stretch a bit and relax. My first year, right before my wave was called, without noticing I pulled my wetsuit on backwards up to the waist while waiting for the swim start, some nice guy commented that “I think the zipper goes in the back”. No anxiety attacks this time!

Since I’ve done this race twice, I knew I just needed to get around the sailboat and head home following the buoys. I remember hearing Vigo say that the first triangle buoy was where you turn to make your way around the boat. I’m cruising along and I can feel the water starting to get pretty choppy the farther we get out. I sight the triangle buoy and round it, even following a few other guys when to my astonishment I see the guy in the paddle boat about 15 yards in front of me pointing further ahead and to my right. Oh crap, there were 2 triangle buoys. I swim back to the right and round the second buoy knowing that mistake just cost me at least a few minutes. I also think I got entrenched behind a wave of slower swimmers in my AG because I couldn’t find a gap to get around until a little bit after the sailboat when the swells and side current really split everyone up. I just tried to go with the flow and try not to work too hard. I was a little shocked when I looked at my watch running to T1 and it said 39 minutes. Yikes.

I was in and out of transition pretty quick and felt really comfortable on the bike. My plan was to keep my HR around 145 bpm for most of the ride which would be entirely aerobic for me. I wasn’t too concerned with my speed since I was gauging my effort based on my HR. I fully expected a windy day, so it didn’t really surprise or bother me too much. I just kept focusing my effort based on HR. At about mile 30 or so, Michael Flanagan whizzed by me so fast he didn’t even recognize me. He was hauling! Nothing out of the ordinary about my bike. I followed my nutrition plan (2 servings of Perpetuem, 4 Endurolytes/hr, 1 goo, ½ a cliff bar, 1 bottle of Gatorade & around 1 ½ bottles of H20). I got off the bike feeling pretty fresh. Looking back, I think I could have pushed an HR of 150 or so for 10-20 miles in the middle and still felt the same.

I didn’t keep track of my splits during the run, but I realized I would need to do run roughly a 1:40 split to break 5 hours. I just decided to mentally break it down into 4 – 3 mile runs and see what happened. I lost about 2 minutes because I had to pee at the first porto-potty. I thought I timed it right since I saw 2 of them standing by the first aid station and about 50 yards in front of me the guy just entered one of them. Cool, the other should open up by the time I get there or be very close to it. Nope. I had to stand there until the guy I saw go in came out. I should have kept going to the next one, but I just can’t run when I have to go and I probably would have had to wait at the next one anyway.

With that out of the way, I cruised the first 3 miles and kept chugging along. This was the first time I was mentally able to stay focused in the moment. Every now and then the negative thoughts would creep in, like, “man, I’m only at mile 5” or “jeez, I’ve got 5 miles left. This sucks!” Breaking the run into segments seemed to really help me this time. For miles 9-12, I was starting to struggle. I told myself I wasn’t going to walk, no matter how slow I was running. It worked. I still had to walk through the aid stations. I have a real difficult time drinking without stopping. I guess I need to practice this more.

Aaahhhh, the last mile. I still have a little bit in the tank. Mike Boorstein came cruising by me with about ¾ of mile to go, looking strong. He was being trailed by another runner and after they got about 25 yards up on me, I decided to try to keep them in my sights and hang on. I finished fairly strong and felt good about my effort. Finishing time = 5:08:46.

Post reflection: Could I have gone faster? Couldn’t we always! I guess that elusive sub 5 at Eagleman will drive me back for another shot. But no complaints or regrets here. It was a great day and I had fun doing it. I had great supporters out at the race (thanks Igda, Emi, Eric & Jenn). I haven’t said that about my other 2 tries at Eagleman, so things are looking up. Oh, almost forgot. My name was drawn for an IMWI entry in the raffle. I thought I was hallucinating, but it was true! I only entered for giggles, since it didn’t cost anything and I never win the stupid things. One of the rare times I’ve ever won a raffle, so it got the blood flowing again. Only downside to winning the raffle is that I now would have to fork over $435 dineros to claim my prize. It’s great to win a raffle, but it sucks to have to contemplate paying a sizeable sum of money to collect your prize with your wife standing by you with that look of, “You’re not really going to do it, are you?” Needless to say, I had to take a pass, plus I didn’t have my checkbook on me. Thank, heavens! Two long, rushed months of Ironman training didn’t sound too appetizing.

Winner: Chris Legh. Freakishly fast!