Blue Lake race report

This may be a slightly shorter than normal and more random race report, since I have some other, more pressing issues occupying my thoughts these days (Ironman).

Suffice it to say, however, that the Blue Lake weekend was an absolute blast. We carpooled with Steve, and had the Pilot loaded up with 4 Cervelos, since Tiffany's bike needed a ride down to Portland. It was an awesome sight...I think that people probably thought that we were like some professionals, official reps of Cervelo.

Saturday, we picked up Steve, who wasn't racing, at 5:15am. After a rather lengthy night, he stepped up big time to come support Andy and I at our races, all at some insane hour of the day. We did have to stop once on the way so Steve could get some water and something to eat, which turned into the longest stop at a convenience store at 5:45am EVER. We think the employees were convinced we were casing the joint, but really, it would have been much better for everyone if they had just done their job. Anyway, I digress.

Race setup went pretty smooth for me, and Steve graciously helped out Andy get set up and calmed her down during some pre-race crazy moments. I answered a bunch of "newbie" questions in transition, which is one of the aspects of the Saturday sprint race that I love so much. The feel is very laid back, and alot of folks use this race as their first-ever triathlon. I really get a kick out of seeing the transition from pre-race nervousness to post-race excitement from so many people. Once I got into the water, I was totally stoked that the water felt warm! Maybe it is a benefit from living (and swimming) in the cold northland. The race start was delayed a bit, but since I was in the 2nd wave, I didn't have to wait too long.

My swim went pretty good overall, and for once I didn't feel like I was getting left behind. I also was able to get on some feet and get some good drafting in, although I think one guy I was drafting wasn't too happy about it. Oh well. I had quite a suprise as I rounded the last buoy when I saw 2 red caps (from the elite wave that went off 1 min ahead of us). Sweet! Normally, in wave start races, I have to struggle to hold off the faster swimmers from later waves, so this was a nice confidence booster.

I had what felt like a pretty quick and calm T1, and as I was running to the mount line, Steve was there telling me that I was maybe 2 or 3 minutes down on the leaders. Whoa! I had another good bike mount, with my shoes on the bike again, which was nice, because at this race last year, I "crashed" at the mount line. I felt great on the bike, quickly passing people and moving up nicely. When I got to the turnaround, I was 11th on the road. Wow. Maybe Steve was being honest and not just trying to make me feel better! I saw Andy out on the bike as I was heading in, and she was smiling like a crazy person, just loving life and her new bike. It warmed my heart up to see that she was finally having fun on the bike. I passed 2 more riders on the way back in, and succeeded in holding off the few guys behind me who looked like they were riding strong. Coming off the bike, I was totally over the moon, because I knew that I had a good ride.

Now, time for my strong point...T2. Its really the only thing I can do well in triathlon, and I totally rocked it. In fact, out of 532 athletes, I had the fastest T2 of anyone. OK, so its cheesy, but, hey, I gotta win something, right?!? :)

Going out on the run, my feet were like blocks of ice, but I just suffered thru until the feeling came back. I didn't want to get passed, but there was nobody in sight for me to chase down, so my entire run was a "running scared" effort. At the run turnaround, I was 8th on the road, and I could tell that I was not going to catch any of the guys in front of me. So I focused on trying to not get passed. However, right after I turned around, there were 3 or 4 guys right there. Yikes. Thank goodness that it was only a mile and a half that I had to suffer thru. I could see that one guy was looking better than I was feeling, but I also knew that he wasn't in my age group so it didn't worry me too much. I held him off until we had a half mile to go. Then, as we entered the park and the final quarter mile or so, I could feel that there was another guy right behind me. I started my kick a bit early, and was in full on freak-out running mode. I didn't know at this point if he was in my age group or not, but I convinced myself that he was, and that I was fighting for an age group placing. Every time I could feel him back there, I would lift my pace, and try and run his kick out of him. The gauntlet was thrown down about 400 meters from the finish (thank goodness I knew the course very well), when a friend of his who was spectating said to him "Go pass that guy (me)". Ok, so he's close enough that I could still hear what his friend said. And what he said did not sit well with me. I said to myself "I'll be dammed if you pass me now. No way in hell that's going to happen. You can try, buy you'll die trying." Up the last hill and into the finish chute, I was running for my life, but I did hold him off! Yes!! In the end, I found out that he had started with the elite wave, so he had a minute head start on me anyway, but it felt good nonetheless to be able to hold him off.

After basking in my own post-race glow and waiting for Andy to finish her race, it was fun to hang out with some Tri Fusion folks that had come out to cheer for us. So nice!! Andy came in smiling from ear to ear, and in general had a kick ass race. I was so happy for her that she finally had a good experience at a multisport race. I think that bike was one of the best things we have bought for her.

Then it was time to check results. SHOCK time. I finished 12th overall (out of 532) and 2nd in my age group (out of 48). WHOA!!!! Far and away my best finish in a race ever. As a bonus, Andy also placed 2nd in her age group! I am so proud of her!! She was nervous about doing her first race on her new bike, and she just totally went out there an dominated.

So, it was a good day for Team Swanson :)

Sunday, we again got up early and paid back Steve for his early Saturday wake up call. But, not before the required Starbucks stop. Nice to have my race done for the weekend!

It was a total blast watching all of our Tri Fusion teammates put in some amazing performances. I can't remember the last time I actually got to watch a race, and it was a ton of fun. I got some good perspective on T1 technique by standing near the bike mount line, and I had some fun taking pictures of all of our team out on the course.

I even had time to work on my skywalking abilities. Isn't this picture cool? It totally looks like I'm 5 feet above the ground. Sweet perspective!

Overall, our team did awesome.  I really enjoyed seeing everyone step up and overcome some adversity to help out the team.  Notable performances were Michelle who walked alone and still came across the finish line, Tiffany totally rocking her first Olympic distance race, Kirk fighting through leg pain to finish, Heather and Virginia never saying die, and Jessi, who totally sucked it up and would not let a pain in the butt to beat her :)

Part of the Tri Fusion team

As always, my amazing A+ team showed what they are made of: toughness with a smile!

After a stop at McMenamins for lunch (a bit longer than planned) and a stop to retrieve Tiffany's missing pillow from the hotel, Andy, Steve and I set off for home.  The drive back was an absolute laugh-fest.  Mostly, it was Steve and I cracking ourselves up, but we had fun texting back and forth with Tiffany and Trish.  The following is one short highlight of the hysterics:

Tim: "We just went past the scene of the crime.  Mile post 146.  Where are you guys?"

Trish: "Almost to Connell. Where is mile post 146?"

Tim: "It is about one mile west of mile post 147. Duh!"

Tiffany's pillow certainly had an adventurous trip back home....but that's another story for another day :)

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic weekend!!!  And now....*sigh* here we go.....

Andy's new bike!!!

After a torturous week of waiting, Andy finally got her new bike today. She was a bit nervous, but mostly excited to get fit to her new ride and take it out for its maiden voyage. Unfortunately, mother nature didn't cooperate, as it rained pretty much all day :( Andy was bummed out, big time. In fact, she was so determined to ride today that before I left on my afternoon 12 mile run, we set up her bike on the trainer. As expected, when I got back from my run, there was Andy, riding away on the trainer! :)

We ventured out to Fitness Fanatics, the best damn triathlon store ever, and met up with John, the pro bike fit guy.

Getting started on the fit....

Check out those sweet shoes! For the record, Andy had never, ever had cycling shoes or used true cycling pedals. But she was clipping in and out of her pedals like a pro in the span of about 5 minutes. I think it took me about 5 years to figure it out.

Doesn't she look fast?!? :)
Andy practicing the "stop your feet at 12 and 6" drill. She also had this wired in mere seconds.
Final adjustments, and its off to ride!

Special thanks to John from Fitness Fanatics for being so helpful and patient while doing Andy's bike fit.

And to my dear wife...I am so proud of you for making the jump, and I'm excited for you to share even more of this sport that I have tortured you with for the past 3 years. I can't wait to get out there and watch you ride! I know you will kick butt!!!

Lastly, Andy is now taking recommendations for a name for her new ride. I guess this is a requirement for new bikes....So put those thinking caps on and hook a girl up! :)

The World Famous Mule Chase!

Saturday, I was privileged to race at the world famous (at least around these parts) Reardan Mule Chase with Steve and Trish. Dude, with a name like that, how could I not do this race?!?! Steve is somewhat of a local celebrity in Reardan, so all morning, I felt like I was walking around with the town's own version of Forrest Gump. Except for the fact that in Reardan, Steve is known as Keith. Trish and I tried keeping a tally of the number of "Hey Keith's" we heard, but we lost count very quickly. It was pretty darn fun, actually :)

The "race" was actually a fun run held in conjunction with the town's summer festival, with both a 5k and 10k offered. Trish was doing the 5k (we later found out that this would be her first "official" running race...nice!!) and Steve and I planned on doing the 10k as a hard tempo run. Even though it was nearing mid-June, the temperature was just slightly above that of liquid nitrogen (uh, 35 degrees at race time), and the typical "West Plains Winds" were obligingly blowing for us. I'd say there were about 50 or 60 hard core athletes that decided to brave the conditions.

With all the pomp and circumstance that a fire engine's siren can provide as a starting gun, we set off into the plains. The first mile was downhill and we had a nice tailwind, so when we hit the first marker at 6:07, I was amazed I was feeling so good. I was also amazed that at this point, there was only one guy in front of us. Hmmmm, another strange feeling of being at the "pointy end of the field". Shortly after mile 1, a guy went by us into second, and those top 2 guys would keep slowly pulling away from us for the rest of the race. Still, it was kind of cool to be in 3rd/4th. Steve and I ran shoulder-to-shoulder, stride-for-stride over the remaining 5 miles, and it was awesome to have someone to run with who is so closely matched to me. We have been doing alot of training together recently, and our run paces are so close, its almost scary. Add to that our about equal amount of competitiveness and respect, and it has worked out great. We push each other just enough to make us both faster, all with a healthy dose of friendly competition. Sometimes I win, sometimes Steve does, but regardless, neither of us really cares.

Once we turned into the wind and started heading back towards Reardan, our pace started dropping. As Steve called out each of our mile splits, I just had to laugh and tried not to think back to that "easy" 6:07 first mile. Then, of course, since I was running with Steve, the rains came. And it wasn't one of these nice, warm summer rains. This was the cold, wind blown, stinging type. Ugh. By the time we turned onto the highway for the last mile, it was a bona-fide downpour, and I was having a hard time seeing. About a half mile from the finish, Steve put a surge on that I couldn't cover. While he never got much of a gap on me, I decided that a) I would try and save some of my legs for my afternoon 12 miler, and b) that I would probably be run out of town forever by an angry mob if I put in some crazy kick and was "that jerk from Spokane who passed Keith 15 meters from the finish". Although I must admit, the thought of going down in Reardan history forever kind of sounded cool, I just didn't want it to be that kind of history. :)

In the end, I finished just a few steps behind Steve, in 40:40, averaging a crazy fast 6:33 per mile. Trish also totally rocked her race, finishing so fast that she was already dried off, changed, and ready to go shopping by the time we got back to the car. The torrential downpour and freezing cold motivated us to get back in the car and get going, although I felt a bit bad for being the guy who quickly stole away Keith, Reardan's most famous runner, from his many moments of town-wide glory that were sure to follow. He assured me that he would get his due later that evening at the Beer Garden, which is apparantly so famous in Reardan that you don't even have to say "Mule Days Beer Garden". You just say "Beer Garden" and everyone knows what you are talking about.

All sarcasm aside (sorry, Keith!), it was a super-fun morning hanging out with friends, a totally kick-ass workout, and definitely a race I would do again. But I wonder if it would be too much to ask if next year they could actually hold this race in the summer-time? My one and only regret from the race is that I never actually saw a Mule, and, thus, I never had a chance to chase one. Oh well....maybe next year :)

Later on in the afternoon, I somehow motivated myself to get my butt out the door for yet another run, this time 12 miles. I wanted to get one 18-20 mile day under my belt before Ironman, just for a confidence builder, and this weekend was my last chance. As expected, and since I was running without Steve, the late-afternoon weather was spectacular....the morning of rain and wind seemed a distant memory. I just ran on feel, knowing that it was coming on the heels of a hard tempo run and would by my longest mileage day of the year. The first 10 were great, and went by without a hitch. The last 2 totally sucked, and the fact that my iPod died with about a mile and a half to go didn't help matters. I yet again found a nice surprise at the end, when I discovered that I had averaged under 8 min pace, even with my near-walking last 2 miles. Definitely a great way to end an awesome day of running! Now I finally feel ready for the run portion of Ironman.....

Friday swim/ride

Well, another workout with Steve, and another day of rain :) Of course we all know he has nothing to do with it, but there is a curious correlation between working out with Steve and getting rained on....

What started out as me and a few of the EWU Tri Club kids going to Medical Lake to swim Friday afternoon turned into a super-fun workout with the EWU guys and a good group of Tri Fusion-ites. Steve, Tiffany, Sheena, Matt, Jessie, Brian, Cary and Phil all came out to brave the chilly waters, and Ali graciously volunteered to kayak alongside us and take pictures...What a treat!

Ali, our awesome photographer!

The weather looked nasty all afternoon, with the winds consistenly blowing some pretty awesome downpour cells through the area. Just as I was getting to the lake, a nice gully-washer came through, which really got me excited to get out of my car, into my wetsuit, and into the water. Uh, yeah, really excited. Not. Fortunately, the rains stopped just as everyone else arrived, and after many WTF discussions, we all got our wetsuits on and headed for the water.

Brian and Phil...not sure Phil is too sure about this triathlon thing....

Cary, Brian and Phil. Cary looks excited (ignorance is bliss, apparantly). Brian knows what is coming. Phil wishes he hadn't agreed to join these other 2 crazy guys....

2/3 of Team A+...we were missin' Jessi for sure! We are both wondering what the hell we have gotten ourselves into.

Of course there was the requisite 10 minutes of everyone just standing on the beach, looking at the water and silently wondering if we really were going to do this crazy swim.

Never a good sign when you have to strain your eyes to see where we are swimming to....

But actually, once we got in and got going, it wasn't all that bad. And this is coming from the guy who absolutely hates being cold. So if I was a bit cold but doing ok, it was probably like bath water to the rest of the group.

Getting started...no turning back now!

I didn't get to draft off anyone going out, maybe because the cold water deleted the recollection of my swimming ability from the brains of Tiffany, Steve and Brian. Anyway, the 4 of us made it out to the aerator, which we figured was about a half mile out, and decided that heading back in sounded really appealing.

Tiffany is excited about turning around. I am too cold to manage more than a weak smile. Steve did survive, although it looks like he's going under here.....

Hey, anyone wanna race back to the beach?!?

Go!!!

The first few minutes after we turned around, the wind was up a bit, so there was a small chop on the water. It took some getting used to, but it was a good refresher on how to deal with swimming in tougher conditions than a pool. Going back, I tried drafting off of Steve, but it quickly became apparant that I had forgotten all of my open water drafting skills over the winter. Drafting off of Tiffany was also out the window, as she proceeded to kick our asses back to the beach. In fact, by the time I made it back, she had already showered up and was roasting marshmallows over the campfire she had made.

Tiffany says: "Screw you guys. You are too slow. I'm outta here. See you on the beach!"

Shockingly, once we were all back, I decided it would be fun to try some beach starts and show off my awesome "dolphin-ing" abilities. Hmmmm, guy who hates being cold volunteers to go BACK into the cold water? Clearly, the water must have frozen my common sense brain cells. I did one or two really bad beach starts, but it was fun embarassing myself anyway.

Everyone made it back, even Phil. Though I'm still not sure if he's totally sold on this triathlon thing. Maybe if he had a full wetsuit, he might feel differently? :)Next up was a painful walk thru the parking lot, because I think it actually hurts more walking on asphalt with frozen feet than with thawed out feet. Those of us who were crazy enough to bring our bikes then set out for a quick 10 mile loop around Clear Lake.

This is going to be cold...

All I can say is thank goodness we were only going 10 miles, because anything more than that would have been sheer misery. Mercifully, the ride ended just as the next batch of rain came, and Steve and I packed up and hit the road. But, not before Steve came up with the greatest use of a bungee cord I have ever seen. String it across the ceiling in the back of my Honda Pilot, and...voila! Instant clothes line!!! I tell ya, that thing is never coming down!

Notwithstanding the dicey weather, it was a fun workout, and *sigh* "somehow", I don't think I regret doing it :) I am glad I got another open water swim in, and happy that I survived some mid-50 degree water without too much trouble. Thanks to everyone who showed up...there is definitely no way I would have done that workout solo. And a special thanks to Ali for kayaking along with us!!

More rainy training

After struggling somewhat with how to finish off my big volume training period before my long-awaited taper, I decided to do a short brick on Thursday. The weather was looking sort of ok as I was heading home on the bus, so I was looking forward to a good workout. While still on the bus, I talked/texted Steve into joining me, which was nice, because the only part of the workout I wasn't looking forward to was having to push through it solo.

As I left the park and ride headed for home, the first drops of wind-blown rain hit my windshield. Crap. Looking west, it was looking pretty dark and ominous. Double crap. For a moment, I regretted talking Steve into joining me, because if it had just been a solo effort, then it would have been so much easier to wuss out and stay warm inside. The news did not get any better when I got home and turned on the weather. The radar showed a huge blob of green and yellow was headed our way, along with increasing wind speeds. Tom Sherry said it would be upon us in the "next 20 to 30 minutes". This was at 6:10pm. Steve and I had planned to get started at 6:30pm. I'll let you do the math. I nevertheless got dressed to ride and set out my run gear in the garage. Andy got back from her run just as the rain started, and she and I waited in the garage for Steve to arrive. Every 5 minutes, I had to run inside and get another layer on, so that by the time Steve did get there, I was outfitted as if it was a March ride.

Apparantly, Steve is the source of the bad weather luck, because this was going to be his 4th workout in a row that would take place in the rain.

WTF is going on here??? ITS JUNE, for goodness sakes!!! Don't we look excited to go?!?

Well, now that Steve had arrived, there was nothing I could do to wuss out. So....off we went!

Proof that we actually did get on our bikes....

While we did get wet on the ride, it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, especially after looking at the radar. We didn't push the pace too hard, and it ended up being quite a nice ride.

Once we got back, we changed into our running gear and headed out for an easy 4 mile run. Steve's achilles was still bothering him a bit after Boise, so about a mile in, he wisely stopped to stretch and not do any more long-term damage. So I set out to finish up by myself. I was feeling pretty good, but not wanting to push the pace. Just after I turned around, it was a nice surprise to see that Steve had continued on the run, so I ended up having company for most of my run as well. We ran in and chatted, and, of course, by the time we were done, the rain had gone away and it turned into a nice evening.

All in all, it was a great workout!

Iron Eagle race report

Today we ventured out to Eastern for the Iron Eagle sprint tri, which would be Andy's first tri of the year, and second ever. Needless to day, she was pretty nervous Sunday morning, and I could see the tension building on her face as we got closer to the race site. It probably didn't help her spirits much that the rain was coming down pretty good...

Other than working on trying to speed up my transitions, I didn't do much thinking about how I wanted to approach this race, because I wanted to be focused on helping Andy have a good day. We set up our transition areas, and chatted with the rest of the Tri Fusion crew that was racing...I was particularly excited that my A+ team would finally be racing all together for the first time this season. I got to be on tattoo duty, and between that and talking, I sort of lost time. Suddenly, a race official called everyone to the pool deck for the pre-race meeting, and I had to leave my transition area in a total unorganized mess. I took a quick glance at Andy's setup, and was glad to see that she was right on top of things.

Check out them tats!!

Andy was in the 8:50am (first) heat, and I thankfully wasn't scheduled to start until 9:25am, so I knew that after she was out of the pool, I would have some time to finish getting set up. I played IronSherpa and collected Andy's pre-race clothes while she got warmed up, and then I tried to give her some last few words of encouragement.

I counted laps while Andy did her swim, and even though I could tell she was having a tough swim, I was super proud that she kept on toughing it out. I tried to give her more words of encouragement between her 50s, but I gotta admit, I was pretty nervous for her at this point. I think most of all I wanted her to have a good experience, and seeing her struggle was tough. She was keeping up with a girl in the lane next to her, which was nice, because I knew that she woulnd't be the last one in the pool. But, with one 50 to go, the other girl decided she'd had enough and got out...WHAT!?!? Uh oh, now Andy was on her own to fight thru that last 50. And fight thru it she did, like a true champion. I could see the relief on her face as she got out of the pool, and my nerves calmed considerably. After I caught up to her at her bike, I talked her thru her transition, then set her off into the rain. Time to think about my race now.....

Finished with my transition setup, I headed back to the pool to warm up for my heat. Because I felt like I was behind schedule and was hurrying to get everything together, I only had time to do one quick lap in the diving well. Oh well, no worries, since I didn't really have any time goals in mind for the race anyway. There was one nice advantage about the race being at the same place I work and train during the week. While I was hurrying to get to my warmup, I totally ripped my Tri Fusion swim cap in half. Boo hiss! :( Fortunately, I have a locker with a complete set of swim stuff that I use during the week, including an extra swim cap. Whew!!

The heat I was in was the "fast" heat, and I was very happy to be able to swim with Jessi and Tiffany...in fact, we all got in the same lane, and it was just like old times when Team A+ would pound out the laps on Sunday mornings! Woo hoo!!! Amanda Berquist also joined us, and quickly proceeded to swim away from us. But Team A+ kept it together and had a nice "pace line" going, although I felt a little bad for being a slacker and just drafting on Jessi. Even though there were tons of unfamiliar faces around, once I got in the water, it literally felt like a January Mornings with Martin swim, which totally made me feel great.

Team A+ going for it!!

Once out of the pool, the three of us again met up in transition, and I felt like I had a better T1 than last week, although Jessi still beat me out onto the bike :) The one good thing was, for the first time, I successfully got thru T1 with my shoes clipped to my bike, and got going pretty quickly. Off into the rain, I set out chasing down Jessi. My glasses were fogging up pretty good, and I just laughed as I had to wipe off the insides of my lenses. Real aero, there! Oh well.... I finally caught Jessi just before the turn around, and felt like I was moving ok, despite the less than ideal conditions. I also saw Andy heading back into town, still fighting thru the conditions on her mountain bike. I gave her a quick wave, and I think I caught a smile out of her. Tough tough tough!!!

Hmmmm, think Jessi and I are on the same team?!? :)

At the turnaround, I continued my weird obsession with counting how many riders are in front of me (as if I have a chance of catching them....), and I guessed that within my heat, I was in third spot. Whoa! I have never been this close to the "pointy end of the field" (said with an Aussie accent, ala Macca), and it was a very strange feeling.

Here's me heading back into town. Ugh, not a big fan of my bike position here...while I may be "comfy", I think I could stand to get a bit more aero. I think I'll work on that after Ironman maybe....

I got back to campus and had a really good T2, despite more numb feet. Off onto the run, my calves cramped up a bit, but I just decided to run harder to try and get rid of them. Amazingly, that seemed to work. Weird. As I crested the first, muddy hill out of transition, I could actually see the 2 leaders up ahead. Again, totally unfamiliar territory. Since my run is my strength, I continued to run hard, and who knows, maybe I could catch these guys. Silly dreams of a race win began to creep into my head. Ha ha ha. I sort of closed on them as we were going up another small hill, but I knew there was a pretty good downhill coming up, so I knew that there was no way I would actually catch them. In fact, it looked like they were maybe racing eachother, so they certainly weren't going to give me any openings. As it turned out, I ran out all of my speed in the first mile, so after the turn around, I just had to hang on for dear life and maintain my position. In the end, I was only about 1 minute behind the top two guys, which, considering how much thought I put into this race (zero), was a pretty good result. The highest finish I've ever had in a race, so that was cool.

Heading out on the run......

Heading back in....ouch!

I did pass Andy with about a mile to go on the run, and seeing her out there gave me a nice boost of energy and pride.

She finished shortly after me, and seeing her come down that finish chute, it seemed like her tough swim was ages ago. I really saw her get stronger during the course of the race, and I was immensely proud of her effort.

After Jessi finished, she showed off her nasty sliced up leg from her bike crash. OUCH!!! The fact that she toughed out the run and still managed to be the first woman overall, well, lets just say that I'll be handing over my A+ captain status to her. That was one hard core effort! She even had enough left over to drag me back out onto the course to run in Tiffany and Trish.

Here are the highlights of my day:

1. Seeing Andy get to the finish line, smiling

2. Watching Andy fight thru her struggles in the pool, and come out stronger on the other side

3. Finally racing as a complete A+ Team, and re-uniting with A+ in the pool

4. Running in with Tiffany and Trish, who both had amazing days

5. Seeing Jessi's toughness while blood was flowing

6. The PITA PIT Payoff after the race :)

7. And lastly, the fact that when we got home, Andy had rallied enough to want to head right out to Fitness Fanatics to look at bikes. WHAT?!?! We've only been kicking around this topic for a year or so, and I've been trying not to pressure her into making the leap before she's ready. So, that Andy wanted to go for it mere hours after a tough race, well, that just made my so happy I could hardly stand it!!! She looked so freaking cool testing out the bikes, and after an hour or so, she had pretty much decided that she would join "Team Cervelo". Woo hoo!!!

Andy's new ride....

What a great way to end a great day!!

Onionman Race Report

Considering the events of yesterday, my first race of the season certainly promised to be an interesting one. Onionman has been the kick-off to my racing the past 2 years, and based on my training this year, I was really looking forward to seeing what I could do down in Walla Walla in '08. But yesterday's crash threw all that up in the air.

It is sort of a tradition to make this race a one-day affair, which means that the day begins darn early. Like 3am early. I made it out of bed pretty quickly (for me) and felt ready to go. A quick check of my hands and legs, and they looked not so bad...maybe this IS do-able!

Time for breakfast.......whew!
Loading the car....Andy is smiling now, but very soon, she'd be back asleep :)
We picked up Kirk at precisely 3:45am, which was exactly on schedule. Then it was off to pick up Virginia, who wasn't racing, but is such a great supporter she agreed to the early drive down. Oh yeah, and she braved the rain to cheer us on. Nice!!
As we pulled onto Virginia's street, we were greeted by a HUGE American flag. It was amazing. Apparently one of her neighbors hangs this flag by hand on Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc to honor America. A very inspiring sight to see, especially at 4am, and a great reminder of the many sacrifices from our nation's heros. Thanks to Virginia's neighbor and to all of my fellow service men and women, past, current, and future.
As we headed down to meet up with Johnny B, we were a bit ahead of schedule, which for guys like Kirk and me, is always good news. Once we had Johnny's stuff loaded, it was on to Walla Walla! As the sun came up, the weather was looking good, and the temps slowly rising thru the 50's and approaching 60. Good news. I was feeling confident, ready to tough out my injuries and race.

30 miles north of Walla Walla, it all changed. The rains came, and only got heavier as we kept getting closer to the race site. Ugh. We stopped at a gas station for our last pit stops at 7:15am in a driving rain storm, and I had a decision to make. I was very worried about racing in these conditions, most especially about the bike. If I raced and took another spill, I would never forgive myself. For some reason, the thought of racing very conservatively never entered my mind, maybe because I know how my competitive juices get going when I have a race number on. I decided that if it was still raining at 8am (1 hour prior to race start) I would back out. It just wouldn't be worth the risk, with Ironman coming up in a month. I felt comfortable that it was the right call.

We get to the race sight, still raining. Hard. I decide to get my race packet and get body marked, just in case, although I am now telling people that I probably won't race. Its about this time that I start showing off my hands and legs to prove to people that I'm not just wussing out. :)
I showed my A+ teammate Jessi my awesome wounds, and tell her that I don't think I'm going to risk it and race today. She smiles, says "yes you are", and then leaves me with my thoughts. At this point, I think "yeah right, you don't know me. Once I've made up my mind, its over. I'm out" The rain lets up a bit, and a few more Tri Fusion folks give me the same message: wow, that looks bad...you better get your transition set up. My thinking gradually changes from "crap, maybe I won't be able to back out of this after all" to "hmmm, maybe I actually CAN do this"

So, I go get my bike and transition bag and go start setting up, still in the "just in case mode". Jessi asked me a few more times if I was going for it, and I say "I think maybe I'll give it a go", but she isn't convinced just yet, because I used the words "I think".

Here's me "thinking" it over :) "It looks like I'm going to do this, but am I crazy???"
30 minutes to go, and the rain mercifully stops, even though I have now set up my entire transition in a steady rain. That was fun. I walk by Jessi, she gives me an inquiring look, and I scream out "LETS DO THIS THING!!!" Its on. I am committed. Oh boy.......

Jessi is probably now feeling victorious at this point, having beaten me at my own game. I think it was her recommendation that I just give it a shot and go really easy and conservatively on the bike that put me over the top. Yeah, I can live with that.

Rick Phillips was also working on me throughout this half hour, but maybe a bit less subtly. Instead of curious glances my way, its more along the lines of "You big wimp, put your freaking wetsuit on" With friends like this.... :) Thanks, buddy.

Wetsuit is on....no turning back now. But still, a shred of doubt lingers.....
The first genuine smile of the day. I am ready!

My warmup went pretty well, and the water wasn't terribly cold. The first few minutes of submerged hands were fairly painful, but I tried to block it out and get down to business.

Once the gun sounded, I stayed back and way out to the left, trying to stay out of trouble and avoid any contact with anyone. I only hit one set of feet, and it was painful enough to force me even farther out to the left. The visibility was absolutely zero, but I was pretty pleased with my sighting and managed to not swim too much extra. Overall, my swim was a good, steady, easy effort, and I attribute alot of that to my new wetsuit. It was awesome!!! I was a little nervous about the fact that this would be my second swim ever in it, but it felt great from the first stroke. My beat up hands made it thru the swim ok, and I proceeded to jog slowly up to transition. Still in easy race mode.....

My T1 was surprisingly calm and collected, and may have even been one of my best in recent memory. Even my time wasn't all that slow, even though I didn't feel like I was moving all that fast. Once out on the bike, I took it really easy the first mile, since its uphill on a twisty, bumpy road complete with some awesome speed bumps. I really felt all the bumps in my hands, since I wasn't in aero yet, and it was tough. I took it super-easy around all the corners, and let the other folks I was riding with take all the risks. Once we got out onto the highway, though, I settled into a nice rhythm, and I started picking riders off pretty quickly. It was kind of weird. I purposely didn't have my watch on (thinking this would keep me from trying to "race"), and I felt I was going easy, but I was moving past these people pretty quickly. Hmmm... The road was wet, but I tried to block out my negative thoughts of crashing again and just focused on riding a good cadence. Just before the turn, I caught up to Jessi and for the first time all day, I realized that maybe I was doing ok. I've seen Jessi swim and bike, so to be up there with her was a real confidence boost. Not to mention seeing a friendly face and rocking it A+ style!! Once I hit the turn around, I kicked it up to the big chainring and powered away. No more thoughts of going easy....I was in true race mode now!! A few miles from the transition, Jessi and Rick caught up to me and provided good motivation not to slack off. We ended up coming into transition together, even though the last mile was sheer torture. I couldn't be in aero much, but the bumps totally killed my right arm/hand. I even had to ride one-handed a few times, just to get a break. Ugh.

I had a really good T2 (my one and only strength in triathlon) and sailed off on the run.

Headin' out on the run....

My poor feet were totally numb for the first 2 miles of the run, but I pushed through it pretty well. The first mile of the run was also very muddy, which made for some interesting footing. The combo of numb feet, mud caked on the bottom of my shoes, and the trail condition was tough to deal with. But I just powered through it as best I could, and even closed on and passed some people. Once I got to the paved trail, I settled into a more steady effort, not pushing too hard, but not laying back either. Without a watch on, I was forced into just running on feel, which I think helped me over the long haul. I was shocked to see my run time after I finished..."somehow" I was able to run 43 and change, which averaged to sub-7s. Whoa! Considering where my day started, I'll certainly take that!!

Adrenaline wearing off after the race....wow, I feel pretty beat up! But still happy with my performance.After a stop in the Tri Cities for a milkshake, I started feeling better....

One of the best parts of this annual road trip with Johnny B: the signs tempting us to go visit Kahlotus! We are not really sure what a Kahlotus is, but we bet its pretty interesting.....

Me and my biggest supporter. Always a good day when Andy is there at the finish!

All in all, it really was a good day. Certainly a roller coaster of emotions and decisions, but super-fun. And that is always my bottom line goal for any race: to have fun! Thanks to everyone who helped me get thru the day, Andy, Kirk, Johnny, Virginia, Jessi, Rick, and the rest of the Tri Fusion team. Now, its off to heal up and get ready for the next race!!