The Race That Never Was

Well, the biggest race of the 2017 calendar turned out to be the biggest NON-race of the last decade. Everything was setup to be epic:
-No Kim in the race to overshadow this showdown with a podium
-The first time that Dave and I have ever been in the same age group and (relatively) healthy
-Flat bike (good for Josh) and flat run (good for Dave's recently healed achilles)
-McGregor-Mayweather inspired, self-designed gear by Amanda
-The biggest little city known for partying, good food and good jazz

Alas, thanks to (literally) an act of God (aka massive thunderstorm) plus (supposed) future storms (the day was really nice in the French Quarter), the race never happened. It was sadly called after just an hour into the storm. Many racers were disappointed, particularly as things seemingly cleared up by 9am, but none were more disappointed than Dave and I as well as our wonderful spectators Kim and Amanda.

The Battle In The Bayou, as it was dubbed, was going to be an entertaining, hilarious and epic showdown of 2 triathlon lovers who don't usually taste podium success. Oh well... maybe sometime in 5 years we will find an epic venue to have a rematch!

Writers Note: to add insult to disappointment, the big bad Ironman corporation decided that adequate compensation to racers was $100 towards a future race. That's about 1/3 the price of the race itself and doesn't take into account any compensation for racers getting to the venue and getting gear (specifically bikes) to the start line. A lot of folks were out a lot of money and it's a shame that this big corporation that makes tons off these races they put on all over the country couldn't compensate us a little bit better for canceling the race. Might make you think a little harder about doing races across the country in potentially dangerous times of year for the region of the race... or maybe even make you think twice about racing with Ironman in general...

The race was cancelled, biggest bummer ever!!! It was going to be an entertaining showdown for sure! And our spectators had some sweet shirts! Alas... The race that never was...

The thunderstorm was loud and ferocious, but seemed to settle within minutes of the race director calling off the race

I mean since the podium was there and we all tied for 1st, it was kind of a win LOL

No race, might as well get to eating...

Race cancelled, time to eat and drink!

And drink...

And of course... BEIGNETS!!!

Blue Nile, one of several Jazz spots we stumbled into

A Talk With Another Champ

I haven't done a non-race report post in a while. Life has been hectic and busy work wise which means the little time I had remaining was either spent training or spending quality time with my girlfriend Amanda, my family or whatever friends I have left who have stuck with me.

But as I lay here, ice on legs and chugging down a protein recovery shake, I decided to write about a recent LA Tri Club event that I attended. The event was an opportunity to run and then sit and talk with Chrissie Wellington. For those that don't know, Chrissie is a 4 time Ironman World Champion (2007-2009, 2011) and is undefeated at the Ironman distance in her pro career. Basically, she's pretty epic and kind of a beast!

(photo credit: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3qjz81)

In fact, I googled her to read more and found this snapshot of her pro racing career just to show the awesomeness.

(photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrissie_Wellington)

In short, she's pretty damn fast and pretty damn good. So naturally, being able to hear her talk might be something worth attending, especially when it's free (thanks LATC!). And well, I wasn't disappointed.

The run itself wasn't much to write home about. There was a wide range of skills for this event, so the run was pretty slow and easy, almost like a shakeout/recovery run. Then we popped in for a quick yoga session to wait for non-runners to join the talk. So finally, we get to the talk.

In short, she mostly covered her motivations for triathlon and her subsequent motivations for stepping away. To summarize her motivations, my takeaway was that she was looking for a physical challenge when initially getting into the sport. She was a good runner, someone suggested she try out and she did well and got stuck with it early on. When she started doing a few more races and found out she was exceptionally good, she made the risky decision to pursue a pro career and the rest was history.

Her continued motivations as a pro seemed to revolve around pushing her limits, testing herself and trying to be the very best that she could at the sport she gave her life to. It's something obviously risky when you compare that to the security of a cookie cutter job. But she showed that with hard work, dedication and focused coaching/training/nutrition/etc, you really can be great when you put your mind and body into something.

Finally, she elaborated on why she stepped away. Part of her motivations were family and building on other parts of her life (like her desire to promote sport and international development), but also because she had completed her perfect race in regaining the Ironman World Champion title in 2011. But in this sense, her perfect race was not a race in which she had no challenges and was able to master every facet of racing. In fact, her "perfect race" was about how imperfect the race ended up being, but how she fought through those imperfections to bring out the very best in herself AND claim the title. There's a lot of articles on what exactly she dealt with, but she highlighted 3 main ones: a recent bike accident, some illnesses and a little bit of self doubt before and during the race. So for her, that was her idea of a perfect race and one she could probably never top. And so after a year of reflection and time away, she decided to retire and pursue other aspects of her life.

But a big takeaway was motivation. She didn't focus on telling us how we could be better triathletes or how we could ace our next race (some of the many things that Macca talked to us about a few years ago). For that, she said that the book, a coach and countless other articles could help with. But she wanted to talk with us about motivation and the why of triathlon. Ultimately, her takeaway is to pursue what makes you happy and pursue it with all of her being.

It was a message heard loud and clear by yours truly. As I lay here after my final long run before NYC Marathon (which is before IM 70.3 NOLA aka Battle in the Bayou), I definitely wonder how many more long distance races I'll do. The desire to go long is definitely not there. Marathon training for the last couple races has been tough. It wears on me. I only do it because I know the miles are necessary to cross the finish line. But I don't enjoy it. I do, however, enjoy the thrill of toeing the line, specifically at these big races. And maybe that's where my motivation lies. Maybe I need to hit a couple more milestone races (like Tokyo, Chicago, London, Paris) and then stick to the distances that I do love: the 70.3 distance and the half marathon distance. These are distances I can get excited about training for and I think that's where my future career will lie. But who knows, my motivation ebbs and flows just like everyone else. And maybe some bouts of FOMO will convince me to make many more appearances at the long distance stuff and someday even toe the line at another Ironman. Only time will tell...

Until then, the fun takeaway from the talk was that someone asked her what she thought about after crossing the line in 2011 as the Ironman World Champion once again. And her response was epic: "I just thought about beer and when can someone get me one!" Tons of laughs in the crowd and a response held very close to my heart, as well as some of my Honey Stinger Picnic family members haha

Not only did we get to meet her, but she signed her new book for us too. And while most folks wanted her to address their name with her signature, I asked her to just write a motivational message for me that I can look to whenever I open the book. And that's what she wrote:

"Never stop believing in all you can achieve"

Thanks so much Chrissie and thanks LATC and TriFit gym for hosting the event!

Race Report: Malibu International Triathlon

A good warmup/measuring stick race en route to IM 70.3 NOLA. But boy did this one hurt. For starters, I came into the race battling strep throat just a couple days before. So plenty of snot rockets and dripping noses throughout. But I overcame that and some other race maladies to finish under 3 hours!

Race details:
Malibu, California
Swim: 0.9 mi - open water, ocean swim
Bike: 24.85 mi - road, out and back on PCH
Run: 6.2 mi - run, out and back on the strand to Point Dume

Race Summary:
As mentioned, I came into the race battling strep throat. I felt weird starting the week, but decided to keep training. By Wednesday, I could feel the hoarseness of my throat. Thursday morning, I awoke to what was strep throat and spent the next two days mostly in bed, sucking down meds, throat lozenges and tons of water. I awoke race morning and just decided to just make it happen. Never a great choice, but I'm not a quitter. In the past, I probably would've just laid down and taken the L, hoping to bounce back. But since doing the Ironman with CTF, I've come to realize that a lot of folks struggle through worse things. And so if I can do this and fight thru it, maybe someone will be inspired. It's probably not true, but hey I'm a head case and this triathlon game is mostly mental anyway!

Once there and setup and with coffee in the belly, you just start to feel it. It's amazing what can lift your spirits and in turn your body to do something like push down a cold. By the time some beezy actress/singer type sang the national anthem, I was pumped and ready to go! Like I almost forgot I was even fighting anything. But once that canon sounded and I was diving into the water, I could start to feel it come on. My first probably 100m was like getting shot out of said canon. Then I was like "whoa, calm down. it's a marathon not a sprint. AND you don't feel well. let's dial it in." And so I did. To the tune of being 2 min faster out of the water, yet feeling great while swimming! Oh and there were pods of dolphins everywhere! I counted 3 different pods while I walked to the start.

Getting to transition was where the first signs of danger came though. I jogged up from the water and over to my rack. I stopped to start taking off my wetsuit and that's when the wooziness came on. I had to grab the rack to steady myself. I bent over and tried to take off the wetsuit but almost fell backwards. It was terrible. After a few seconds, I decided to just sit down on the ground and do it all. So after getting the wetsuit off, putting the shoes on and eating a HoneyStinger, I took a breath. For some reason I looked to the sidelines and happened to see Amanda. I just gave her this look of like "oh my gosh. i feel terrible. i might not finish. this could be bad." Then I stood up, decided I wasn't falling over anymore and off I went to do the bike.

And as I got on the bike and sucked down my water/CarboPro/Nuun mix, I was actually feeling good. I didn't feel woozy, my legs were turning over real well and I felt fast in aero. Then came the under the tunnel part. At the race meeting, the mentioned that there was some flooding and so they put in a makeshift bridge so riders wouldn't have to ride through some water. It was actually really safe and convenient. But naturally, you had to slow down and ride single file so it ate up some time. Well, this genius decided that he needed to again shoot out of the canon and make that up. Poor life choices. Despite the fancy Ui2 electronic Shimano shifters, my chain dropped. And with that, so did my stomach. What had been a great swim immediately became a horrible race. I had to pull off to the side and spent about 3-4 minutes wrestling my chain back onto the chainring. It was terrible. My right hand had a cut from that debacle, I had chain grease all over both hands and had to rub it off on my kit and naturally parts of my bike. It was a mess and I just screamed in anger as I got on my bike.

Once my head cooled off and I was back to riding down PCH, I focused back to the race at hand. Push hard, but don't over do it. You're sick but have been training and this can't be terrible. By the time it was said and done, I had ridden up and down PCH to Point Mugu and back in the same amount of time as my 2015 race. So whether it was the new Felt B2 or possibly a better bike fitness level, I made up whatever time was lost in the chain drop!

Then came the run. As if a couple issues weren't bad enough, life just felt like throwing one more at me. My run fitness definitely isn't what it was in 2015 and the times showed. I ended up running a 53min 10K compared to a 47min 10K just 2 years ago. That's a lot of lost time there. But not only was I battling the cold and the added fatigue of doing the first 2 legs with it, but early on, a blister had formed in my shoe (seemingly because of all the sand that got in my shoe/sock) and I had to run most of the time with it. Boy did it hurt. Every step was like stabbing the balls of my feet. You combine that with fatigue and all kinds of people passing you and you just want to lay down and give up. But naturally I didn't. I just tried to shove the pain back, focus on breathing and my heart rate so that I could make it to that mile 5 sign. Once I saw it, I knew I wanted to power to the finish and I got that "Mario star" bonus! This is something Kim, Dave and I talk about as being the moment you just get that rush that feels like you gained a ton of power and invincibility, just like the game!

So I powered to the finish! And while my time ended up being about 4min slower than in 2015, I was still happy to come in under 3hours. With all the obstacles that came in my way and with no adversary (in 2015, I was running down my buddy Henry after he passed me on the bike) for me to overexert myself, I put together a pretty solid race that I'm happy with. And if nothing else, it gives me some confidence as well as many reminders of what can happen in a race and that the best athletes push forward. You can't change what happens, but the records will always show that I finished! :D

Map and Stats Plot:

Heart Rate Zones:

Bike HR Zone Chart: The chain drop (3mi) comprises most of my time in Z1/Z2 :(

Run HR Zone Chart: Looks about right for the run, probably could've ran harder I guess

Race Charts:
Swim:

Swim this time around was pretty good. Shaved about 2 min off my 2015 time! But you'll see next that this is about the only good news...

Bike:

There's a very obvious dropped chain point at the very beginning of my race. Looks like a lot of zeros across the board. If not for that, I actually rode this race a touch bit better than in 2015. I mean it still sucked and I was definitely struggling at parts of those elevation bumps. But otherwise not mad at it.

Run:

That Elevation Plot is kinda depressing, because it definitely didn't feel like 50ft elevation gain/loss throughout, but it was. Otherwise, this run went about as well as could be expected given the sickness and current level of fitness. I mean I ran at an 8:31 avg pace and kept my heart rate relatively low for 3/4 of the run. AND I was able to sprint to the finish for about a mile. But still, this is the biggest area that left a lot to be desired from 2015. In 2015, I ran a 47min 10K with a 7:49 avg pace...

Pics:

Good looking day in Malibu!

Amanda got a great pic right out of the water, you get the reflection in the shore water 🙌

This is that woozy, vertigo, "I'm gonna pass out moment"... And the look I'm giving Amanda is "holy crap I might not finish this..."

Aero and transition

Out for the run! Left pic shows my posing shot, right pic shows what running is really like LOL

My run face, but also, look at those quads!

Happy to be done...

Post race noms at a Hawaiian place in Hermosa (Grindz at 1601) and gotta say was pretty good