SC Half Ironman Report

First Half Ironman = 5:02:04

This was my scheduled "A" race for the year but following the epic groin pull in late July I was skeptical of my capability in pulling off a good showing. So going in my goals were: 1) Have fun 2) Finish 3) Definitely go under 5:15 4) Possibly go under 5:00.

I got down to Greenwood the day before to get my packet and camp out with the FCAe folks. I like being there the day before so I can get an extra hour or two of sleep. So after picking up the packet and setting up the tent The Dannelley's and I rode our bikes out on the run course to make sure everything was in order. Then we grabbed our wetsuits and went to the swim start. I swam out about 400m and swam back in. Everything seemed to be in good shape. After a great pasta, salad, and bread dinner we turned in. I slept pretty good. Got cold a couple of times, but nothing major. It was a little chilly in the morning...around 50 F. After slowly waking and eating a little, I got on the bike and rode to transition.

I elected to not really warm up and just let the swim be my warm up. I did the pre-race prayer, they played the national anthem and then the elites went into the water. I was in the 2nd wave. Somehow the under 39 men were given the pink pearlized swim caps!

Swim: 35:57, 6th AG

I haven't been in the pool much lately, so I just wanted to go out steady and build into a decent swim without wasting much energy. Pretty much went to plan. I thought I would be about 34 minutes, but honestly my sighting wasn't great so that definitely slowed me down. I did come out the water feeling great and fresh, so I guess mission accomplished there.




T2: 2:06

Took off the wetsuit. Dried off some. Put on jersey (I didn't swim in it because I wanted it dry, remember 50 F). Put on socks, shoes, sunglasses, helmet. I thought this would take about 2 minutes, turns out I was right.

Bike: 2:43:19, 20.7 mph, 8th AG

This segment brought to you by my sponsor Midway BBQ of Buffalo, SC!!!! Jay Allen let me ride his rocketship of a bike and it definitely made a difference. Technology made the flats feel like I was cheating!! I wasn't sure how fast I could do this, so I went by HR only. I knew I needed to hold back in the first 20 mi because all the climbs of consequence happened there. I did a good job of that. The next 36 mi were all about making up speed. My nutrition was a Powerade mix, PowerBar gels, and Endurolyte tablets. I set my watch to alarm every 15 min. I drank every time, took a gel every 45 min, took two tablets every hour. Everything must have worked because I felt great the whole time and ready to run.




T2: 0:53

I racked the bike, dropped the helmet, put on my shoes and FCAe hat, grabbed my number and gels and gone. I thought I'd be around 1 min...right again.

Run: 1:39:50, 5th AG, 7:37/mi avg

This two lap run course is rolling hills and a lot of exposure to the elements. The first lap felt great. I was going by HR again and maintaining about a 7:15 pace. The sun was still behind some clouds so it wasn't hot at all. I managed the hills and made sure I took fluids at every aid station. I was still having fun up to around mile 8. After that my lack of run base caught up to me. I kept my HR in check but I steadily slowed down to the end. I think the last mile was about 8:30. It was all worth it at the end. Julie and her mom brought Ian down in time to see me come into T2 and finish. Ian was near the bottom of the crappin hill that you have to run up to finish. He was cheering and I grabbed his hand. We ran up the hill together and crossed the finish line. It was the best race finish ever!!! The lady at the finish gave Ian my finishers medal and he wore it the rest of the day. Later he told me, "That lady gave me a medal for runnin!"

Greenville Triathlon Sprint Report

This race was a mixed bag of feelings before and after. On the one hand, 7 weeks earlier I pulled my groin so bad that I thought I was done for the year...so just to be racing was a great high. On the other hand, I was "supposed" to be really starting to peak for the year by the end of this month and next and I wanted to kill this course. So I was both excited and disappointed all at once with the day.


I rolled out of bed at 5:00am and had everything ready to rock. Drank some coffee and Powerade and ate some oatmeal. I got to the race site about 5:45am. I got everything setup and had time to run just a bit and get in the pool and swim a little.


Swim: 400m pool swim (50m pool). I turned in a time that was about 10% faster than I thought I would go because the last two years I turned in actual times and had to pass multiple people before getting boxed in behind several folks by the end. This year was just about right. My lane partner and I finished together and we were passed by one person and passed one other. I was swimming blind because my right goggle was completely full of water from the start and the left one fogged up after about 200m. This caused me to slow some, but not too bad. 7:00 with a 50m run to the timing mat. 7th AG, 48th OA.

T1: My T1 is usually longer than T2 but this time, my helmet strap wouldn't stay buckled and I got held up too long. Time of 1:15...should be about 45-50sec.

Bike: 14.4mi bike course moderately hilly. I was really hoping to go about 22mph on the course. I started out pretty good and thought I might pull it off, but the two hilly sections sucked the wind out of me and I slowed way too much on the hills to keep the avg speed up. I made up some ground near the end of the ride and was able to go about 21mph for the course. My time was 41:03 for 6th AG, 51 OA.


T2: I was careful coming off the bike not to aggravate my groin and I jogged carefully through transition. My time was a little slow since I was taking it easy, but it wasn't terrible. 0:48.



Run: I had a great run here last year, but with the iffy groin and the fact that I had only run about 5 times in the last two months, I wasn't expecting any PRs. I used the first 0.5mi to try and get up to speed and see how my leg felt. The legs felt good, but the HR and lungs were not all there. Mile 1 was about 6:20. Mile 2 was not fun and I slowed to somewhere around 6:35. Mile 3 is always the fastest since I can taste the finish and really lay it all out. I think it was somewhere around 6:10ish. I ended up running a 19:19 that was 3rd AG, 16th OA.

I finished in 1:09:23 which was 5th in AG and 30th OA. That was 2 min faster than last year which was basically all on the bike. Again, I can't complain too much, but I think I could have been at least 1 minute faster on the run and maybe 2 minutes faster on the bike if not more. I guess that's what next year is for! I did have a great time after the race hanging out with the FCAe folks and catching up with some of them.

I'm Back!!!

I'm finally back to some decent training from almost 6 weeks down with a nasty groin pull. On Saturday I rode about 27 miles at a decent effort. No real issues there. Sunday evening I did a 5K run in just under 23min. Both of these efforts were with significantly higher HR levels compared to before the injury, so I've definitely lost fitness!! UGH! Good swims Monday and this morning, with a 5 mile run on Tues. I'm going to try a brick tomorrow afternoon.

Overall, I'm happy where I'm at right now. Honestly, when I got hurt, I thought I might be done for the rest of the season. The rest and physical therapy was well executed and I was actually patient with the recovery. I'm going to race Greenville in two weeks and hopefully Tugaloo Olympic and the SC HIM. I know my speed will not be where I hoped to be at this point in the year, but at least I'll be out there!

Injury Update

Yesterday I saw a Physical Therapist (PT) for the first time to evaluate and work on this groin injury. He said he can definitely tell there is swelling still in the area, nearly two weeks out. The treatment consisited of an evaluation then some light stretching (which at the beginning was not going to good). Then he had a massage therapist come in and that hurt but definitely helped. Then the PT came in with an ultrasound unit and some kind of topical creme. After 5 minutes with the ultrasound and the massage, I could tell a difference. The PT then repeated the stretching from before. I would say my range of motion was at least 40% improved! I was very surprised at the difference. After he was finished I asked if they had any stationary bikes because I wanted to ride for a few minutes and test it out. I went 10 minutes at a steady effort with no pain!!!! I have appointments for MWF of next week. I hope to really train some next week. No hard efforts, but I need to get moving some. I think that being ready for the Greenville race in August is a real possiblity.

Hy-Vee Triathlon

I just got to watch the 2009 Hy-vee ITU triathlon on my TiVo yesterday. The ITU style is different from anything I have ever raced because the bike is draft-legal. In many ways I am not a huge fan of the format, but it does give an opportunity for some great finishes.

This year's elite men had a 6 man pack of some of the best runners in the sport coming in the last mile. It was a very technical approach in the last few hundred meters and Simon Whitfield pulled ahead just enough to take the $200,000 purse. Not a bad payday!

If you missed it, there is a highlight video on http://www.triathlon.org/

Warning...graphic image ahead!

I'll make this a two part blog. Part 1: Peru Mission Trip

Last week was my 2nd trip to Peru in the last 5 years. Julie got to come as well which was awesome! (See pic below with our friend Lidman) We have been working with a people group decended from the Inca Indians in an area around Chupa, Peru (in the Puno region on Lake Arapa). They were basically considered an un-reached people group when we arrived. Today, there are at least four well-established home churches and we think around 300 believers. We had 14 people (6 from our church and 8 from New Life Baptist in Union, SC). This was a very big group for this kind of trip. There were only 5 of us on my first journey. Our purpose is simple: we tell people about Jesus and train up leaders in the local churches. No building churches, giving food or clothing...nothing that will cause a vacuum when we finally leave the area.

Our plan was to visit all the local churches in the Chupa area to encourage them and build up leaders. The travel itenerary is to fly to Lima, then to Juliaca, then drive to Chupa. We made it to within 30 minutes of Chupa and the town of Arapa decided we weren't going any further. They had set up a roadblock and "encouraged" us to turn around with rocks, 2x4's and fire. (There was talks of a transportation strikes nation-wide that fizzled out, but apparently they didn't get the message...or they were just bored). We agreed and headed back to Juliaca!

Long-story, short: we got connected with a local church in Juliaca that were already planning on working in Chupa! We spent a lot of time with the leaders in that church. Our pastor friend Julio taught them AWANA, we fellowshiped and worshiped with them, and we all came away very encouraged. The best thing is that this church is only 2 hours away from Chupa and can work very closely, whereas we only come four times a year. God's plan is always better than ours!

Part two: Triathlon training disaster and graphic image.

I know you can't resist looking for the graphic image! On the mission trip we were playing soccer with the locals in a plaza and I pulled my groin like nothing I've ever done before. I could not walk at all for about an hour and then I hobbled around doped up on 800mg of Ibuprofen at a time. It is pretty serious and still hurts to walk five days later. After two days a massive bruise showed up and moved down my leg. (see pic) I don't know how long this will put me down, but I'm not even considering doing anything until next week and then I'll take it day by day. The only up-side is that there is not another Setup Events race for me for 6 weeks. Maybe by then I can at least race. I might not train any between now and then though!!!

Tri The Midlands Race Report

The 2009 Tri the Midlands was the 2nd Setup Events Race of the season for me. I really wanted to put together a solid all-around race and hoped to place in the AG. The forecast was very hot and humid and the weather cooperated with the computer models!! Luckily I finished fast enough to miss the super hot temps.

Swim: The swim is 500 m open water. The 34-under men usually go in the 2nd wave, but we went 3rd this time. It was a very large wave for a race this size too. I started far to the right and didn't encounter any arms and legs until the first turn buoy. I went real hard for the first 150 m and then settled into a pace I thought I could maintain. I had to stop after the second turn buoy and rinse the fog out of the goggles so I could see. I came out of the water in 8:56 for a 1:47/100 m pace. This is almost 20s per 100 m slower than I'm doing in the pool. I just can't seem to get the open swims to go as fast as in the pool. This was good enough for 43rd OA and 7th in AG.

T1: Got my helmet on and left the sunglasses because they were fogging up due to high humidity. I put on the race number belt so I wouldn't forget it again! Ran the bike out of the transition area, about 150 m long. I hopped on and got rolling. Time of 1:10.

Bike: For the 14 mi bike course I was wanting to go out at least 22mph for the course. I was riding a set of Zipp 404s that Jay Allen let me borrow. Thanks man!! I could definitely tell they made a difference in the flats. Once I got up to speed, it was much easier to maitain than my old wheelset. I was crusing in several sections at 27-28mph. Well, I was passed by 3 or 4 in the AG and maybe 1 or 2 others. I did do my share of passing, especially in the first half. In the end I was about 21.4mph for the course, but I had to back off a time or two because my hamstrings felt like they wanted to cramp. A little disappointed but still respectable time of 38:20 for 42nd OA and again 7th in AG.

T2: I threw the bike on the rack, dropped the helmet, put on the shoes

Run: This 5k course has 3 very challenging grades to take on. I knew the heat and hills would be a factor, but I wanted to definitely break 20 min on the run. I caught one in my AG in the first 1/4 mi, but was never able to catch any others. I did have a great effort in the last 1/2 mi where I went after two guys who I thought my be in the AG, but were not. The second of the two guys and I had a fun sprint finish and I left him reading the back of my jersey!! My time of 19:51 was good enough for 7th OA and 1st in AG.

I was happy with my OA time of 1:11:58. This put me 17th OA, but only 4th in AG. The AG was well represented in the top 20 finishers with 5 of us in the top 20 male finishers. Once again, I lost the race on the bike...dang it!!! I can't wait until these bike times come down more!