Triman

Taking the WTC Private

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:40:31 GMT

Brett Sutton, coach of World and Ironman champions, Team TBB has been making waves again by proposing in blog posts to celebrate his 5,000th tweet, that "we" should take the WTC aka World Triathlon Corporation private for the benefit of the sport and the athletes. [Part 1, Part 2]

I'm somewhat confused by Doc's motivation, although the idea is an interesting one. In reality, unless someone is prepared to invest serious money though, it's a complete non-starter. The history of the WTC is somewhat complex, it is, as is the way these days, the result of many mergers and acquisitions. Wikipedia has a good history of the current WTC and how it came into being. The WTC is currently owned by VC company Providence Equity Partners.

In response to Suttons proposal I wrote the following comment. I've received no contact, so I can only assume Doc was flying a very big kite, or has some back channel process going on to look at the reality.

"So, I would be willing to put up stake money to start a real investigation into the costs of doing this. It's very likely though it would be in the 10's of millions, perhaps $50-million or more to buy the WTC.Acquisitions normally work on a P/E ratio of between 3-5x earnings. There is a simple explanation here http://www.angelblog.net/Business_Valuation_-_What_will_your_company_sell_for.html

Since the WTC accounts are not publically available; figure entry fees, advertising, sponsorship, revenue from other programs, call it a minimum of $10-million per year What then, how would you get even a stretch of your money back?

We would be better off for a start for teams, like Team TBB, but not exclusively, to stop racing WTC races, period. Put all the pro's into alternative races, to fund those alternative races, focus on the positive aspects of long course races, funding pro's, marketing etc. In effect, a highline boycott of the WTC. If we then funded the growth of those same series, the advertising revenue and age groupers would follow; where the age groupers go, so go the sponsors. No company cares if a couple of hundred pro's use their kit, want they want is millions of age groupers to see a few pros race in kit.

This would have at least three results if effective.
1. The WTC overtime would become a 2nd class citizen.
2. As a result of 1. the amount spent on races would fall, and in order to gain the pro field back they'd have to restructure prize money, home stays, travel, expenses etc.
3. It would boost the awareness of the alternative races; as you say many of the others are just as good, or better. This raised awareness, and especially a non-American focus should draw additional advertising and money into the sport.

However, you'd have to write off, or take on the US market in a big way. The only way you'd convince the bulk of US age groupers to race something other than WTC, is to take on the whole of US Culture. Hero worship, the right to boast, and self aggrandisement are legion here. The ability to "finish" an ironman is a right of passage. You'd be battling 30-years of NBC Ironman Hawaii broadcasts to change that.

If you had a plan, a race series, or organizers that would be a place start. You could then offer either sponsorship plans, reward system offering race entries etc. in response to donating, sponsoring or offering prize money or somesuch. Without it, where do we start, US or elsewhere?

++Mark. (Wongstars travel sponsor)."

The shoes that fly... contd.

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:30:03 GMT

I got my latest shoe build-up from Mark at INDEPENDENCE P&O. The shoe is another great build-up done quickly and at a great price. I wanted to get this one built up as the color matches my Tempo Multisport race kit, and I can get more shoes at a great price from the ironmanstore and the trick was to see if the shoe was easy to modify. Previously the two pairs of Zoot Energy that Mark and Jocelyn did for me were, but the Zoot before that wasn't. It had a metal spine which made the sole difficult to cut.

The shoe fits great, the build-up is pretty good. I took them out for 4-miles, barefoot as always with a new pair, it's a great way to find out where they rub. Overall the shoe came in at 510g meaning the build-up cost me 135g over the basic unaltered shoe. This is a bit heavier than the lightest build-up at 490, but lighter than the heaviest at 520g.

I talked to the founder at Independence yesterday, and he is willing to offer the same service to other people that need running shoes built up. You will need a prescription from your Dr.

My advice is as well that you need to move to a built up shoe gradually, to get to the correct height, maybe even over two or three shoes. If you arrived here from a search engine and would like to contact me for advice and guidance, my email address is in my livejournal banner, please use that.

[By coincidence I just noticed that I got my first built up shoe back on April 22, in 2008. Interestingly it included a comment from mojojoey aka @wongstar. Funny how far things have come!]

What's next?

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 23:27:28 GMT

After yesterdays race report I got a couple of emails asking about race plans for the rest of the year. I'm currently in San Fransico at the Linux Summit, heading to Redmond for Microsoft later in the week and then Saturday back into full training, race prep' mode.

I've sent a new shoe to Mark, who has taken over from the Wongstar as my magic running shoe builder, I'm not sure what's changed but my feet have been rubbing more around my toes lately even though my current shoe, Zoot Mens Energy 2.0 is identical model and size. I've sent Mark a pair of K-Swiss K-Ona S Mens, they have a much wider front. Getting the first pair of shoes heavily modified is always difficult since every shoe is constructed differently. The new shoe is on its way back I'll cover that in an upcoming blog. You can see my current built-up shoe in this picture(click to enlarge) taken by John Chung as I "ran" in on the last lap at Corpus.

So, for races and big training sessions at the moment my outlook is:

4/27 HITS Marble Falls race; full ironman distance, but only the swim and the bike, maybe a short run.

5/4 Shiner Century Ride

7/14 Challenge Roth

8/4 Jacks GenericTriathlon

9/14 Volunteering at the ITU Triathlon World Series final

9/28-29, Sprint and the half distance at Kerrville Triathlon Festival

10/23 Livestrong Challenge Century

11/10 ITU World Long Course series race, Phuket, Thailand

I'm sure I'll be doing other rides and runs, but with my A-races sensibly spaced out, it makes for another season of long training, after which I'm done with long course for at least the next couple of years. I've already declared an interest in doing the whole Texas Tri Series in 2014, with, of course, a view to a win. Here's to great health, and a long tri season. ILML.

Republic of Texas Triathlon race report

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:35:17 GMT

My season is going well, after the somewhat disappointing Austin Marathon, which in retrospect is a relatively hard course, I had a reasonable CAP10k on April 7th, and had a full week of training this week, I'd consulted with Brandon via email and we agreed ROTT Half was a good structed, supported workout.

Come race morning it was obvious it was a small field. Given the first wave was the Open Division, all age group men, and the relays, it was a small field on deck for the start. Transition setup had been ideal for long course, a long run to the bike, and a long run from bike dismount. I favor these as they give you time to get used to your legs again and mentally prep for what you have to do.

Swim: 40:32, 14th Overall, 1st Age group
The course was consisted of a 2-lap, 1.2-mile swim; 3-lap 56-mile bike; 2-lap 13.1-mile run. I'd checked the course maps, but yet again, failed to really understand what I had to do on the swim. It was a deep water start, I dived in and lined up where I thought I was clear from the field, and before we knew it we were off, I was literally at the back of the field. Once I worked out where to go, I picked my way through the field, after maybe 3-4 mins, I got swam into by a woman in a yellow cap who was flying, I assume this was Jen Rinehart from the times. I had a few problems with goggles/hat combinations and stopped a couple of times to correct; I was also concerned that I'd followed the crowd and they were wrong, but apparently not. I actually spent most of the swim with no-one to really sight off, the fast swimmers were gone and everyone else was behind me.

T1: 2:18, 4th overall, 1st Age group
Straight out of the water to the wetsuit strippers, no problems, I'd also not had any noticeable problems with wetsuit rash, I heard Logan do his usual "international superstar" description of me, but also say I'd had a good swim; I heade towards the bike, jammed my wetsuit and goggles in the back and really didn't have any trouble. A short run out to the mount line and I was on my bike with a smooth running mount. About 50-yards down the street I had to stop, I'd left my number belt hanging from the aero bottle cage. D'oh.

Bike: 2:41:08, 13th overall, 2nd Age group
I was back into T2 in first, and to be honest had only been troubled by Dave Smith the winner of the 50-54 age group. The first two loops of the bike were not noticeably windy, and again, because of my position from the swim, I was largely staring at an empty road ahead. I did get passed by one woman, and a younger guy, and then there was David, we went back and forward on the final lap, although he ended with a faster time, I beat him in T2 by quite a bit, only to be passed shortly afterwards. The 2nd lap was much busier with the sprint and intermediate out on the same course. The third lap was definitely windier heading out of town, and I noticed my ability to keep a 19MPH average was harder, and I was struggling. Coming back into town I was marginally faster, but trying not to hammer the last part of the bike, and save my legs a bit. The road I thought was pretty bumpy, I hadn't remembered it being as bad last year. Feet out shoes, stopped on the dismount line and ran to my transition spot. Jim Counce, who would eventually beat me for the age group, came in 2:10-mins faster for the bike, but still behind on the course.

T2: 1:42, 11th overall, 1st Age group
Running to my spot in T2 had its problems, you came in on the north west corner, my bike was racked on the south east corner near run out. I had to yell at some women "coming through", I'm not clear what they were doing, possibly sprint or intermediate finishers, as I zig-zagged through six-eight racks of bikes. I'd already decided on socks and lube, and the simple way was to take my shoes and stuff and run out. So my time is deceptive, as the first thing I did was sit on a post and lube my feet and put my socks and shoes on.

Run: 2:44, 31st overall, 2nd Age group
Given my PR for the half marathon is just 2:04, I'm never going to be fast. My plan was to try and run the whole course. I struggled in a couple of places, on the 2nd lap, I had to walk from the last aid station to the turnaround point; and then back up to the aid station from the footpath that ran along the water. Probably about 400yds or so. Other than that I mostly jogged it. I stopped on the last aid station before the start of the 2nd lap, found a medic who helped treat an impending blister on

my left foot and dressed it. My legs actually felt pretty good heading out of town on the 2nd lap; it will be interesting to see my Garmin data. Heading back to the finish line was again another of those staring at no one parts of the race. I knew there was a relay entry and a bunch of other people behind me, but as far as I could see, no one in front. As it came to the final mile I pushed as best as I could and finished strong.

Nutrition: My nutrition plan worked out pretty well. Straight on the bike I had a honey stinger gel, then over the first 1 1/2 laps of the bike, I drank a 12oz bottle of 50/50 gatorade/water with 3x scoops of carbo pro, plus 1-full profile aero bottle of water; at the turnaround on the bike 2nd lap, I took my 2nd honey stinger gel; and collected another from the volunteers, same on the 3rd lap; also on the 3rd lap I drank most of my 2nd carbo pro bottle and another bottle of water; Out on the run I took my magic wongstar running sticks, in one I had two pain killers, two ibuprofen, a honey stinger gel and gum; the other had salt tabs; honey stinger more ibuprofen and gum. I used used the first up at the first aid station and the second at the same aid station on the second lap. I grabbed four other gels at aid stations on the run as well as water.

Summary A great result for me, 18-minutes faster than my full half distance triathlon time. Why full half distance? On athlinks I have a time of 5:55, but that was 8-miles short on the bike. I got 2nd in my age group, which I ran hard for for the last 3-miles, which was encouraging. Only tainted by the fact I found out today, there were only two of us in the 55-59 Mens age group. The weather got up into the mid-80's. This morning I have distinct redness on my shoulders despite the liberal application of factor 50 sun block. Given the time I wasted during the swim, the long pause while I got my blister looked at, plus a couple of short walks, mean I should/could have gone under 6-hours. I'll be back at Kerville to try.

A track workout with a difference

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:32:11 GMT

One of my favorite runs in Austin is both one of the most dangerous, and one of the most calming. I run to the end of my street, down to West 7th St and follow it down to the entrance to the West Bouldin Creek Green belt. I can either then head east for a trail run, or direct west and up onto the railroad tracks, for a track workout with a difference.

Last week, right after the clocks "sprang forward" I headed down the railroad track. It's almost 2-miles straight down the track towards downtown. There really isn't anywhere to go when you get on the bridge, and the sun was setting. Looking back, south, you can easily see if there is a train coming, towards downtown or north, not so much. The building work and lights make it confusing.

However, one of the best things about being on the track, are the memories from my childhood. Just behind the neighbors garden fence was the Nickey Line. It was only used by freight steam trains by the time we moved into Saturn Way, taking ash from coal power plants to be made into Cinder blocks and from the kilns used to bake bricks for the construction of Hemel Hempstead new town. We used to cross the line to escpae from the neighborhood into open fields; later when they were building we'd escape over to the building sites to climb on the half finished buildings; I can remember vividly the first time I used the banks of the railway line to get all the way home from Junior school.

The cut through we created to get down onto, and across the Nickey Line, is now marked on the plan as an official entrance to what is now Hemel Hempsteads' equivalent of a hike-and-bike trail. There is a website with some great pictures that includes the history of the line and its subsequent conversion to a trail.

So running down the track, albeit in Austin Texas still has a special place in my heart. Crossing the bridge as the sun went down to the west, was special, everything had a warm orange glow. It's not an easy run though, you have to focus on the track, and crossing the bridge requires a step up in pace, I wouldn't want to get caught on the bridge as one of the CSX, Union Pacific mile long trains pass.

Austin Marathon 2013 recap

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:38:13 GMT

It's not an introspective race report; I thought I'd have a good race, hoped to set a PR in what will likely be my last (and only 2nd) full Marathon. Leading up to the race I'd done 2x 12-mile runs, 13-mile, 15-mile, 18-mile runs and while they were slow, they were mostly solid.

My only prior stand-alone marathon had been the Chosen Marathon, which I finished off not too much training, in 5:06:39, so expecting a sub 5-hour marathon should have been realistic. I was doing well until around mile-14; for a while I even thought I might negative split, that didn't last long. Around 22.5-miles, the wheels really came off the bus. I was simply too tired to run.

Surprisingly I didn't suffer too much pain from my knees, a combination of ibuprofen, and pain killers, along with forefoot strike worked pretty well. Disappointingly I eventually rounded the corner to the finish line on Congress and finished in 5:24:23

If you want to see the details, click these graphics for the mile by mile breakdown and a pace chart. At this point, there is a more than 50% chance I might have a go at the Chosen Marathon again this year as it fits my current race schedule.

What is interesting from the data is my Max HR limit. The data was captured using a Garmin 310XT, so it shouldn't suffer too much from cross or interference, so I'm at a loss to explain how I ran over my max HR from mile-9 and until the finish. Thoughts?

Stacy, you never forget your first love

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 05:37:10 GMT

I admit it, I went back to Stacy tonight. Wet, warm and waiting...

Having ended my Pure relationship, I spent a few weeks hanging out with Clay Madsen, and when I first signed up with this years Mystery coach, I figured I'd try for two training sessions per day, and try and get them both done in the morning, isn't going to happen. So I did my bike, trainer session this morning, and got over to Big Stacy pool around 6:20pm.

One of my earliest, and possibly first swims in Stacy is over here on Livejournal. 5th January, 2007. Just a few weeks later, I came my first breakup with Stacy and we've been on and off ever since. Reading back over some of those earlier entries, I have a very, very long road to go, I was swimming 27-minutes then, tonight took me just short of 42 for the same set.

Triathlon Business International Conference 2013

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:50:13 GMT

I'm back at the conference for the 3rd year, I wonder if Corbitt read my blog entry.

TWC/Ironman and growing pains

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 03:10:59 GMT

The last couple of years have not been smooth for the World Triathlon Corporation, owners of the Ironman brand of triathlon races.

First up there was the poorly thought through attempt to take over Olympic/standard distance races with their 5i50 race series. While these have not disappeared, many of vanished and those that are left, are fairly low key and at least based on CEO Messicks remarks at last years Triathlon America conference(video link, my write-up for tri247.com), they are rethinking that proposition.

Next up was last years excitement about Lance Armstrongs' return to triathlon and especially Ironman races. That didn't work out so well, and Messick has yet to come out and categorically state that Lance, banned or not, is unwelcome in triathlon, especially in light of Messicks remarks about pro's acting as "ambassadors" for the sport. Compare Messicks remarks here ith the remarks of the Triathlon Australia chief executive Anne Gripper, here. Anne makes no bones about her position, where Messick is clearly hedging his bets, couldn't be anything to do with the alleged $500,000+ payment offered.

I'm headed to this years Triathlon Business International conference, Triathlon America goes international, and it will be interesting to see what Messick has to say in person, especially on development of sponsorships, in light of the run on Herbalife, as a pyramid scheme, and an oft considered sponsor for the WTC Amway is partnering with the WTC for 4-races this year and plans to launch its' brand of NUTRILTE® vitamins, minerals and supplements at Ironman Expos. Amway operates a similar multi-level marketing operation to Herbalife and has been subject to similar claims. A failure of one is bound to affect all the others operating in the same way.

Austin Police Chief and Prosecutors need to rethink

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 14:49:59 GMT

So, compare this with this.

This weekend in Austin two cyclists were struck by a car swerving to avoid a cardboard box in the road, "at this time no charges are being bought against the driver". Compare this with an on going court battle that started today in London, the driver of the car opened his car door without looking, causing the cyclist to swerve and be killed under the wheels of a bus. The driver is being prosecuted for manslaughter.

Until the Austin Police Chief, Texas Department of Public Safety and their relevant prosecutorial organizations completely rethink their attitude to these type of offenses, drivers are not going to rethink theirs.

Ironman Cozumel - Race report

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:40:40 GMT

Cozumel was summed up in this post I made to facebook this morning.

" You can't fake an Ironman. Reasons why yesterday was my slowest ever.

I didn't do the training, all the travel in the last 4-months didn't help

I had a tire blowout, my tube poked out and punctured on the 1st lap; I booted it and rode to the 3-lap when it went again. Thanks to Jason O'Flanagan for the second tube otherwise I wouldn't have finished(you Sir are an Ironman)

Chasing to catch-up when I punctured was a bad idea, my legs were wrecked(see-1)

Not wearing bib shorts for the bike...

Not prepping my Special needs bags properly.

And thats that. My last Ironman branded full distance race. Not how I'd liked but what I should have expected. 16:38:32 - Thanks for all the cheers at the course and here on facebook. Thanks to sherpa Oliver for the company on the last 2-mile walk, and to Lynnivere for the pom poms. What else can you ask for greeting me at the finish line by Tenille , Amy Cottrill Marsh, and Anita! " - end of facebook post.

In the 3-other full/Iron distance races I've done I wore speedos under my wetsuit and then changed into bike shorts for the bike, in fact, I should have read my Ironman Arizona race report, it had everything I needed and most things I forgot for this race. Aiming to make up for my lack of training, I figured as always I could make up for time in transitions. Rookie mistake and ended up in severe discomfort.

Pre-Race: I'd rented a house in downtown Cozumel, and had the pleasure of having pro triathletes Brandon and Amy Marsh, Tennille Hoogland, along wit lynnivere nd Anita and Oli. Here we are heading to the race start in a taxi van. I can highly recommend Casa Cascada, Pawal and Alex were super helpful and the house was in a great central location.

SWIM:The swim was always non-wetsuit, so I decided to swim in full tri kit. Mistake number-1, in the salty water, my tri top rubbed my neck raw, and under-arms. The swim seemed good to the first turn, but after that turned into a long ass swim from bouy to bouy. The bouy's had moved, some significantly, you could clearly see the drag lines from the sandbags, some as much as 100ft. Who knows if that made the swim longer or shorter, but there was a real swell.

By the time I did the last turn into the swim back to shore, which seemed like a mile, I was close to being sick, it was pretty awful. When I got to the steps to get out, there were no helpers and I had a hard time getting my first leg up, I ran slowly in past race commentator and longtime friend/coach Steve Trew and into T1. Swim 1:50:08 for 2.4 miles, 31 Age group(Arizona 1:14:48)

T1:

I thought I was quick in T1, apparently not, its not clear what I was doing for 7-minutes, 15-seconds but our racks were the furthest from the mount line and just outside the Mens changing tent. On reflection I think I was sitting with my head between my legs trying not to throw up.

BIKE: I had a really long run with my bike from just outside the changing tent; I did a running mount mostly ok, and once outside on the main road, tried to put my feet in and messed up. I dismounted, put my shoes on and restarted, once out on the road felt good, and the ride started. On the far side of the island the wind was strong but bearable, around onto the long wide stretch back into town I cranked up the speed and was soon passing people at 25MPH, then squeak, squeak, bang.

I stopped, and yep, my tire had a hole in it almost as big as a dime. My first thought was my race was over, and then I remembered as slowing I'd passed a gel wrapper. I propped my bike up against the bushes and hobbled back up the street collected the wrapper, went back and used it as a tire boot, folding it three times. I fumbled a couple of times getting the C02 cartridge into the gun, and gestured to the two guys who had stopped in a jeep opposite me in the middle of the road for a pump, but they just sat there looking. I got the tire inflated and was off.

And here is where I made my next mistake; rather than patiently pacing myself back into the race, I hammered as quick as I could back into town, sometimes reaching 27-29MPH. Back in town I found Lynn, Oli and Christy, told them what had happened and asked Oli to find me a tube, tire and CO2, and I'd see him on the next loop.

Again I went thrashing off, only this time to be passed by Tenille, she was flying and seemed really happy. I shouted after her, she was in 2nd, and gave me the thumbs up and was gone Around on the back of the island, Jason caught me up, we had a brief discussion, and Jason offered his spare tube from his special needs bag. On the way in I stopped and collected a CO2 cartridge from the road, at special needs, I grabbed the tune and tried to disappear at high speed again, only I was already tired.

I stopped when back in town for a quick word with Oli and Lynn. Oli had miraculously found a tube and CO2, but since I had one from Jason, I didn't want to risk a DQ for outside assistance, and left them to it

On the 3rd lap of the bike there was nothing except water and Gatorade anywhere to be found. This was bad news since I'd been sticking to my nutrition plan by time, and was now out. Just up the windy side of the island my back tire went again, I stopped, fixed it, booted it with a small ziploc bag I had my salt tabs in and was off.

By then it was clear I was going to be over 7-hours for the bike, and much to my surprise, while riding around the windy side of the island, there were four of us spread out across the road, we were called for drafting by an over zealous official, I pushed ahead but that wa clearly ridiculous call. Especially since as I learned later, none of the male pro's had drafting penalties and many either were or were pacing each other.

I managed to pick up the pace heading back into town, and cross the dismount line with a somewhat running dismount, disappointed I already knew I was in trouble. Bike time 7hr 18mins; average speed 15.34 MPH. Very Disappointing.

T2 Again, I'm not sure what I was doing in T2, I seem to remember trying to cram down some gels, putting on compression socks, my shoes, most of all I remember sitting there trying to decide if I should quit, I didn't and headed out. T2 time 12:55, 37th.

RUN: The run was 3x loops, just over 8-miles each. The first loop I was feeling OK, and managed to run most of it, stopping only at one aid station to rinse down with water. There were loads of people out on the course, it was great to see many of the Austin crew.

Sadly though just before the half way turnaround on the 2nd loop, the wheels came right off the bus. Not even at the half marathon turnaround, I was done. Knees hurting, no energy and really tired. The was no option but to walk/jog and then really walk the last 14-miles. Oli came out and found me as I headed towards the last mile, concerned as I'd been so long. I did my best to run in, crossed the finish line. This picture totally sums it up for me. Totally disappointed. The two women in front, and the woman behind, elated. Me, not so much. Run time 7:10:13, 37th.

Total time, as you can see from the clock in the picture, a hugely disappointing 16:38:32. My slowest Ironman, and my last Ironman branded full distance race. You can check the full results, by age group etc using this link.

I wasn't last in my age group, I was 2nd from last. 7 people from my age group did not finish. Overall the drop out rate was pretty high, with a lot of people not making it out onto the bike. I don't think I did anything right really. It's a totally humbling experience. Yes I finished, but when I did Longest Day triathlon back in 2006, my first full ironman distance race, I hadn't trained for that either, but I had trained.

Next up is Challenge Roth, my last full/Ironman distance race. There will be no faking it involved.

Chosen Marathon PR!

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:56:04 GMT

I'm way behind on race reports, and as per a recent post, am still living the life, as the Tritraveller. I'm back on the road all the time trying to find time and places to train.

With just over 6-weeks to go before Ironman Cozumel I decided it was time to have a go at a marathon. Afterall, if I couldn't run one now, running one after cycling 112-miles would be impossible, and it would be a good reminder to my muscle memory what it was like to be out there a long time.

When I registered for the Chosen Marathon in Greune, Texas, I paid extra for VIP parking. This was a good idea as parking was all backed up and I arrived pretty much with only enough time to get ready and just as I was getting the final things together the gun went off and they were gone. I pushed my way through the half marathoners who were now at the start line, and started hoping they'd be able to get my start time. My real fear was that I started last, and thats where I'd finish, wasn't to be.

Within the first mile before we got out on River Road, I'd passed maybe 15-20 people, some who were already walking, but then we got totally enveloped by the half marathon which was using the same course. Once the fast people passed the course was busy enough to keep me focussed. Once we got past the turn around for the Half marathon, the course was suddenly empty.
For the longest Time I was chasing a woman who was maybe half a mile ahead, she was the only person I could see. I passed her around mile-8, then I could see a few more people ahead, I caught them about 12-miles and after the turn around at 13.1-miles I was maybe 25th from the back and for the next 5-miles I was on my own, spooky.

Eventually I got passed by a guy who then pulled up at the next aid station and started walking, so I repassed him. I passed a couple of other people and then the last 4-miles I was on my own again. The aid stations were still open and surprisingly enthusiastic, my speed had dropped and I was suffering on the rolling hills every time I put my left forefoot down on the down hills. I started walking. I finished off with a jog and coming around to the finish line threw the longsleeve shirt I'd worn at the start down by the car in VIP parking and finished in 5:06:39, an 11:42 mile pace. I was disappointed I hadn't got under 5-hours, but given I ran/jogged most of it, delighted to be finished.

As soon as I could, I stripped off my sock to look at my left foot, no blister?? Must have been some sort of pressure point and I'll have to see how this works out longer term. Next big race will be Ironman Cozumel, I'd like to think I'll be able to run half or more of the marathon at the end, we'll see.

By the numbers:
Time: 5:06:39.728
Pace: 11:42
Overall: 134/176 finishers
Age group: 16/19
Men overall: 79/93

Overall it was a good run, for an experienced marathon runner, a potentially fast course with only a few hills. Great aid station suport, although fairly minimal with ONLY water at most. The fulll results by age group are here.

tritraveller again

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 01:19:27 GMT

Some time back in 2002/3 when I was almost at the height of travelling with my bike, I was called the "Tri traveller" by someone, possibly Henry. I used it as a name on a few websites, but by 2005 when my marriage had gone down the toilet, and I'd settled back in the US, it seemed like a dumb idea, and an even more ridiculous monika.

Well, I'm back. The last five weeks has been nothing but travelling, missed connections, late arrivals. Next week it starts again, and I'm late in the office trying to organize travel for the second half of September, but I give up, it's 8pm. Admittedly two of the last 5-weeks were to, and for the Olympics and I had a blast, it was exhausting though. I also placed 2nd in my age group at the Trowbridge triathlon, pretty pleased. But since then my training, along with almost everything else in my personal life, like eating healthily, has gone down the tubes.

Monday I'm racing Olympic/International distance at the TriRock Austin race. It's my first Olympic distance race since I think 2008. I had it planned as part of my comeback from the broken collarbone, gradually increasing distance towards Ironman Cozumel. I'm not optimistic after spending this week in San Francisco with no training, followed on from a w/e where I run 9-miles Friday, biked 96-Saturday pm, biked 32-miles as hard as I could Sunday morning and then got on a plane Sunday afternoon.

My expectation, 3hours+ which is to say the least disappointing. Still, the Tritraveller is back only this time I'm not taking the bike, and there is no training. F*k.

Next up: Trowbridge Triathlon

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 14:08:56 GMT

Sunday is the Trowbridge Triathlon, sandwiched between watching the Womens Olympic Triathlon and the GB Mens Soccer quarter final on Saturday; and the Womens semi-final on Monday; and the Mens Olympic triathlon on Tuesday.

I bought the local paper this morning, the Wiltshire Times, much to my surprise my name was included in the race preview. I guess its time to take this seriously, not that I have not anyway.

Hot chilli triathlon club & Trowbridge

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:43:45 GMT

I've had a great week of training with the Trowbridge based Hot Chilli triathlon club. I did 2 sessions with them back in January and when I got this trip booked, joined online.

Its been well worth it for this week alone. Friday early was a pool based swim with Coach Richard Smith, Richard bought along an Aquasphere wetsuit for me to borrow. Saturday I rode out of trowbridge with Mark and Kev. I had my 7 speed trek and we were headed for an openwater swim at some place called Vobster Quay, so we had backpacks with wetsuits and towels.

The Vobster diving quay was magic, clear and cool.. the're was a proper facility with hot showers and a small cafe. I did 3x Laps, and by the 3rd was not focussing well and getting tired, aka swimming with my eyes closed. After the swim it was social time chatting to Amanda and some of the dozens of triathletes present.

Then it was off back to Trowbridge, although it was more down than up, Kiev and Mark preceded to rip my legs off. Great ride.

Sunday, it was long run day; Monday day off, Tuesday I did a long ride, out to Wells then Radstock them back to Trowbridge. Wednesday, I went out to run the Trowbridge tri run course, it's not ideal for me s with more than half off road and mostly in a field. Hopefully it won't rain anymore.

Then Thursday it was a hot chilli tri club brick session over the trowbridge bike and run course. The hot chilli don't mess about and Richard showed up with transition racking for the brick. We went off in 2 groups, I went with the fast group, there were five of us, then four, then three and kept up as best I could, Richard and Kev did most of the pulling.

I like the bike course, it has a few gradients, but no real hills. Given we had transition racks I figured it was time for a full on transition, slipped my feet out of the shoes and executed perfectly, gone in 30-seconds. We ran a different was than I'd gone, a much bigger loop. I felt great and ran fairly strong, to be honest I'm starting to get excited about the race.

Friday it was back to pool practice and this time race pace. I'm still way off my best for endurance, but attacked the 400m from the start, getting through it in 7:42 - much quicker than my estimate. Richard was there doing timing and to set the drills but it was a pretty straight ford 400, 2x 200 4x 100 8x 50, after which I was done.

This morning I had just enough time to drive over to Vobster quay again and repeat 3x laps in a wetsuit.

A great training week and a great investment in a club. Must get back to getting Austin Triathletes restarted....

Hello long stuff

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 19:34:05 GMT

Friday morning I cranked out my first 2km swim, it was with my moonlight swim date girl, Adri. Asides from being slow, I had no shoulder problems, I'm about 3-minutes off my recent 1500m time, which is fairly depressing but with my upcoming trip to the UK and hopefully at least bi-weekly swim sets with the Hot Chilli Triathlon club(1) I'll soon get some of that back.

I managed to crank out a long'ish run this morning, and with vacation coming up, again, I should be able to start the build to an October Marathon by switching to 10k pace runs, and 5k short hard interval sessions to build stamina and some speed. One of the things about running on town lake trail on a Saturday morning is the sheer number of people. The people are not the problem, it's when you get passed by someone and start looking at them and wondering... how are they running faster than me?

According to the Hot Chillis web site, just 3-weeks to the Trowbridge Triathlon, this really is a reboot for me. My first 4 triathlons back in 1999/2000 were all pool based, this one is a 400m swim in a pool, 25km/15.5-mile bike and 5k run. Sandwiched in between the Womens Olympic Triathlon, the Olympic Soccer Semi-final and the Mens Olympic Triathlon, I'm not sure how fresh I'll be, but I'll be putting it on the line.

(1) The irony of going back to Trowbridge and being a member of the Hot Chilli triathlon club is not lost.

I'm back [again]

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 00:02:24 GMT

I saw Dr Seade on Thursday June 14th and he gave me the all clear to start training again, so I'm back.

So far it's been a total slog. This is the longest I've ever had off total training. Sure over the winter I can often go 4-weeks without doing all three sports in a single week, but I do get at least a couple sessions of running, swimming, cycling in over that period. Last year when I bust up my shoulder I had 4-weeks off, but could run after 3.

So a quick review of the potential race plan and here is what I think I'm going to do:

Aug. 5th - Trowbridge Triathlon. Pool based sprint triathlon in the UK
Sept. 3rd - Tri Rock Austin (formally Austin Tri) Olympic distance
Sept. 29th - Kerrville Triathlon Sprint distance (time to win!)
Sept. 30th - Kerrville Triathlon Half distance (because I need to)
Oct. 27th - Chosen Marathon, New Braunfels - my first marathon

then I'm thinking Ironman Cozumel on Nov. 25th or the HITS full distance race in Palm Springs on Dec. 2nd.

I'll make a decision on the long distance race after Trowbridge. I'm starting swimming next weekend and will report back.

Travel Sponsor again

Sun, 20 May 2012 03:52:17 GMT

Yup I am in Boulder!It is as beautiful as they all say and so far so good.Thanks Mark for getting me here!
— Tenille Hoogland (@tenillehoogland) May 18, 2012

When mojojoey went back to real life, my star by proxy world sorta disappeared, I was at least publically no longer the travel sponsor. Except I was, I've been using my airline miles for the last 5-years to move various triathletes around the world, from time to time I even pay. I said to Tenille the other evening, "It's my job to make dreams come true, it's yours to live it."

I'm sure theres a name for this, I prefer to call it being a friend. This week has been a total rollercoaster after last Saturdays crash. My arm is actually less painful than it was this time last year with a less serious injury. I've decided to keep livejournal for my triathlon blogging, some almost without exception, all my LJ Friends are triathletes and I've met almost all of you. I know there are a few people who just read, and for you, you can read the other part of my rollercoaster journey over on http://markcathcart.com - for reference, after essentially 8-years, I finally have my green card aka US Permanent Residence. I'm planning on doing more in Triathlon Sports Management from my Sports Management company ATXD Multisport and to re-start Austin Traithletes, which I now own. More news on these to follow.

West coast Ironman

Fri, 18 May 2012 13:56:19 GMT

So, Andrew Messick, CEO at the World Triathlon Corporation talked about a full Ironman west of the Rockies, and remarked that Ironman Arizona was the closest full to California and nearly a 3rd of participants were from Californa. I talked at dinner yesterday to Bekah about the possibility of doing Ironman Cozumel in November, and mused about driving. She pointed out that Cozumel was almost the entire length of Mexico from Austin, and that driving might not be the safest way to get there; she also mentioned the problems that one of her friends had had last year shipping their bike with Tri Bike Transport to IM Cozumel.

So it was with some interest I woke up this morning to the announcement of Ironman Los Cabos. It's a full distance race, starting March 2013. The full announcement is here on the WTC website. However, the real scoop is in the comments on the facebook page for the announcement, classic. I've copied some of them below, but the most fun showed up when searching for ironman Los Cabos +facebook, it was from slowtwitch and said "Due to our budget woes it's more likely California will be sold to Mexico by then".

Dolores Gallegos Killeen People r still traveling to Mexico?
2 hours ago via mobile · · 2
David Kaufman Sweet maybe you can get Don Julio tequila as a sponsor. Is it a full or half?
about an hour ago via mobile ·
Michael J Kenney And California gets a full ironman when?
55 minutes ago via mobile · · 2
Nicole Craig Is there a drug-lord shoot out obstacle at mile 39 of the bike??

Dreaming big, failing badly

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:49:47 GMT

I was never a big dreamer, preferring instead to plan the next thing and work towards a long term objective. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. But this year was different, I had a big dream, it went like this.

I head to Germany for Challenge Roth, the original Ironman Europe; the following week head to IM Switzerland to watch Ronnie Schilderknicht race for a record 6x Ironman win; then I'd head over to Northern France to my Sisters house, catch a couple of days of the Tour de France, meet up with Laura and Shane on their cycling holiday; then I'd head over to Northern Spain and race for Team GB in the ITU World Long Course championships; then back to the UK, watch both the Mens and Womens Olympic Triathlons, and in between, race the Trowbridge Sprint Triathlon where my Mum lives, perfect. To top it all off, the European Triathlon Union (ETU) announced that Challenge Roth would be the European long distance championships, how good is that, 2x Team GB competitor in a single summer.

The wheels started coming off the bus at Corpus Christie. With the cancellation of the swim and a shortened bike course, it meant that my time wouldn't qualify me for Team GB; Then I had a DNF at the Shiner GASP century, the first time in 5x years. After that I talked to coach about the psychology of my training program, and after much discussion we agreed to part company as I pretty didn't feel I had the confidence to complete Roth, let alone in a new PR time.

And so it was I went to the Armadillo Classic century ride, 105 miles up at Liberty Hill, I didn't have to ride to a certain HR, a certain power output, just for fun and for the first 40 or so miles it was. From mile 38, I pulled a group of some 7 or 8 riders through about 4-miles, at a decent HR and cadence, we made a turn, there was a sign that said rest stop 1-mile, I looked back and we'd dropped one of the riders I was with, so I dropped off the front and went back for her.

We road up the hill, me doing the pull, checking back to see if she was behind, I looked back once and when I turned around, my front wheel dropped off a 2-inch drop of pavement onto a driveway, I tried to bunny hop back on but ended up going over the handlebars and coming down hard on my right shoulder. I picked myself up, looked at the bike, both tires were punctured, so we set about replacing the tubes, wen I went to pull on the lever, I had no power. I put my left hand on my right shoulder and pushed my right arm in the air, I felt my collarbone loose. Game over.

Later I drove myself to E/R, X-ray confirmed it was snapped in half but a non-urgent; I saw a couple of specialists this week, no surgery but a 8-10 week recovery. This means no Roth, no Roth means no Switzerland, no France, No Spain and so it was yesterday I booked my flights to the UK, at least I'm getting to see the Olympic triathlons,and a couple of other events my sister has already got tickets for. Finally, I've entered the Wiltshire Times Trowbridge (sprint) Triathlon and hope my shoulder will be well enough for me to do the 400m pool swim.

No more big dreams.

Local tax/economy

Wed, 02 May 2012 04:35:21 GMT

So the big deal here in Austin is the local city officials are giving the worlds most profitable company, Apple, a tax break for what amounts to be no good reason. Tonight this headline showed up in my inbox ""Triathlon events to bring 600 athletes, $700K to Butler Co." why are local councils so gullible?

In this case it's a youth and Junior championship organized by USAT. You read here. I struggle to see all in that the local municipality could get in that sort of money. Sure since its a championship a lot of people will stay at hotels, eat at restaurants etc. Thats over $1100 per athlete... even with entry fees, hotel for a couple of nights and a few meals thats a stretch. Figure in the price of gas and driving...

Republic of Texas Triathlon

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:15:27 GMT

I headed down to Corpus Christi on Saturday for the Sunday half ironman distance race. The entry price was right, no day before racking your bike, and the timing was right for me to test out my ironman fitness, with Challenge Roth only around 100-days from now; the field was also ripe for a podium position, since the entries for first year long distance races is almost always low, in the USA.

However, the conditions were not right. The sprint race on the Saturday had been a bike/run only, and the wind hadn't dropped, some said it was worse. Once I got out into the street, it was obvious unless there was a significant change the swim for the half would be abandoned, but I also couldn't see how they could realistically send us up onto the harbour bridge.

And so it came to pass on race day morning, the swim was cancelled and the bike course had the bridge removed, and so we found post race, about 4-miles at the far end of the bike loop cut off because a traffic signal was downed in teh wind and blocking the course. I'm not complaining about the decision, in fact Dan, Nick and the High Five events crew made exactly the right call and I'm grateful we got the chance to race at all.

So after giving an interview in transition to the local Corpus Christi newspaper, I'd pretty much decided that what coach had asked me to do, try to keep the bike at 130BPM and see how my legs were for the run wasn't needed, I'd go out and do what I always do, blast the bike and see if I could hang on for the run. This decision was confirmed as I watched everyone line up rack by rack for the time trial start. Personally when the swim is cancelled, I prefer a short hard run to separate people out before the bike. At least as far as my age group went, there were only four people that left before me, and I passed one of them in the first 3-miles. Battling into 33 MPH wind was hard going, and required an easy gear, high cadence and low profile. I passed the other 2-guys in the first ten miles, which meant, at least as far as I was able to count, I was leading.

The bike picture shows me leaning into the wind at the end of the first loop. It was ripped from the official photographers web site, Liz Kreutz, who I met the week before at Lance Armstrongs house, and now I feel really bad about ripping off the pictures.

Just before the turn around, we got a short respite from the wind in a dog-leg out-and-back, getting the wind behind you felt so good, I was soon cruising at 30MPH+ and I came across the most dangerous part of the course. A long section with the wind, followed by a sharp right onto a bridge into the wind. At this point I was leaning over, still in the aero position and got swept onto the opposite side of the road, doing 29MPH. I wouldn't make that mistake on the 2nd loop.

The ride back into town was a total blast, it was mostly totally flat and more or less straight, with the wind behind me, I managed a 5-mile split of 28MPH back into town on the first lap and reached 35MPH,and completed mile 20 at 31MPH, and just under 27MPH on the 2nd lap. You can see the data by clicking on the attached picture, which clearly shows I did all the bike in Zone 4, and mostly 150BPM or greater. Despite no swim, and a shorter bike, I'd pay for this, and I did.

What you can see from the data apart from HR through the roof, is the dog-leg out,with the fast ride back, the turn into the wind, and then the turnaround. I made it into transition with a running mount, but running downhill with the wind blowing a gale holding just the saddle, as I tell all my padwans, was tough going. My bike was a full 9-minutes faster than anyone else in my age group.... and my transition time was fastest in age group and only 2-seconds slower than the overall winner, James Bonney from Austin.

Despite looking pretty good as I headed out on to the run, my heart rate was soaring, I won't bore you with the data but my first mile was over 150BPM, and I only managed a 10-min mile; it got worse from there; I walked most of the aid stations on the first loop, as I went out on the second loop, I knew my race was over. At least to the best of my knowledge I'd only been overtaken by one from my age group, and at the turnaround at mile-10, I was passed by Tom and Michelle. I knew Michel was in my age group and Tom in the 50-54. They were walking when they passed me, try as I might when they started jogging together, I could keep up.

In the last 2-miles Tammy passed me, I asked her to do anything to stop me from stopping, since the guy behind me was in my age group and would take 3rd from me. In the zone she just ran on after a few short words. Shortly after, or before, I can't remember, my right calf went into severe cramp. I stopped to stretch it out, but it would go. Kathleen Woodhead stopped, massaged it for me until it at least eased up and I started down the last mile. I beat the guy behind me, but it turns out Tom was in my age group, so that meant 4th. I didn't deserve to podium based on my performance, and have a lot to work through before Roth, not least starting to be scientific about hydration again. My weight was down some 6lbs after the race.

There is a great picture of how I felt among the official Kruetz race pictures. We I was suffering and really fed-up, another half, another blow-up. Overall though, despite the conditions a great race from High Five Events and Jack and Adams.

Summary
Swim: Cancelled
Bike 41-miles, 2:01:44, 20.2MPH, 1st in Age group by 9-mins, 27th overall
Transition: 1:02, fastest in age group by 12-seconds and top-20 overall
Run 13.1-miles: 2:52:33, slowest in age group, 91st out 121 overall

I got the 115% of age group winners time that I needed to qualify for the GB ITU Worlds Long Course team, but without the swim and a short bike, it wouldn't count.

The full results are here.

Next up: Aside from wrapping up this trip to Banglore, and thinking through what I learned from Corpus, I'm doing the Sheiner century from Austin on May 5th, I'll be doing the whole thing as close as possible to 130BPM come hell or high water, and then trying to at least do 5k run afterwards. Memo to self, no one ever says they wish they'd gone harder on the bike after an Ironman.

Moxie Takes on India

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:15:46 GMT

I'll get my Corpus Christi/Republic of Texas Tri write-up done, suffice to say with the cancellation of the swim, it was never going to be a qualifier.

In the interim, I'm in India, actually Bangalore, which means training consists entirely underground which is pretty depressing. Add on top of that I picked up a stomach bug on the flight over, and this week is going to be tough to keep to schedule, but the Corpus race, despite a massive deviation from coaches plan, showed me how far short I am.

Yesterday I had a 45-minute treadmill session, which was done zone2/3, so fairly straight forward; today was a mixed session 75-minutes on a gym bike that included hill climbs, ie, greater resistance, and sprinting, which meant all out at lower resistance. The only saving grace was for the steady parts I could fold my arms and watch Tottenham lose to QPR in the Premiere League.

Prior to "going down" though, I popped out the front an had my picture taken with the King of India in my shiny new Moxie Multisport cycling gear. I' m not a fan of dark colored cycling gear, so its appropriate I was heading down to where the sun doesn't shine.

Heading to Corpus Christi

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:10:11 GMT

Sunday see's my first race of the season the half distance Republic of Texas Triathlon. This is unique for me, I've never done a half as my first race of the season. It's also unique for another reason, it's the first time I've had a personal coach since the lead-up to the 2002 ITU World Championships, 10-years ago. Wow.

My prep has left me feeling race ready physically, notwithstanding a case of Plantar Fasciitis that been causing a lot of early morning pain in my left heal. My prep though has left me intellectually feeling like I'm ready for a fast Olympic Distance race... I'm travelling down on Saturday with my coach and the conditions look "iffy" at best, with the weather underground currently reporting 91 | 70 °F, Chance of T-storms, 20% chance of precipitation, and winds 22 mph SE.

So, probably no wetsuit; given the bike is a bridge, then 3x repeat loops without the bridge, I guess the tactic is to absolutelt totally hammer the decent from the bridge and the start of the first loop; recover the retunr into the wind, hamer and repeat.

To add some excitement to my race, I'm back shooting at a GB Team qualifier time for the ITU World Long Distance Championships in July.To get this, I need a PR by 12-15 minutes at least I guess. Athlinks has most of my half results, so for the measure.

To Gain the 10-15-mins means is I have to have a swim and bike close to my best time; and a run at my best time for a half distance race.

Given I PR'd at Half Marathon this year I hope I'm in shape, but the fact all my long runs/rides have been little over Olympic distance means I really have no idea what to expect.

I do though feel great, and thats what the plan has been to allow a good recovery, which takes longer as you get older. I saw Dr Z for the plantars, as always I came away feeling confident that I knew what to do to minimize the impact. So, we'll see.
I'm guessing it will be a small field in my age group. I've aged up this year, so again I have every incentive to do well.

Rolling with the big boys

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:17:46 GMT

I mentioned I had Ronnie Schildknect staying with me this week; Ronnie is the 5x Ironman Switzerland Winner and the fastest man ever over Ironman distance on US soil, at Ironman Florida 2010, when he coincidentally stayed with me until he left for the race. Last trip I avoided training with him, today I got to ride for an hour with Ronnie and Pat Evo today, just an hour out, they were doing 4hrs, I had only 2hrs on my schedule, so dropped off.

Here is Ronnie among the Texas Wildflower while we waited for Pat.