New York City triathlon

Last year I did a hundred races all over BF Texas and NM. Not that Roswell isn't a nice place (it isn't), but I wanted something a little more glam for my 3rd full year competing. I did local tris at Ft. Bliss and Ruidoso, a tri clinic and race in Boulder, Colorado and this past weekend was New York City. September will have me in San Diego for another Olympic distance. I also signed up for my first 70.3 in October in Tempe. Big year for me and Nora! Onto the race report from NYC.

I was more than a little intimidated going in to NYC for 2 reasons:  this was only my 2nd Olympic distance and the race had close to 4000 entrants. My "biggest" race is Eagle in the Sun. My only other Olympic was the Elephant Man last September a-a-a-and my times sucked (45 minute swim, 90 minutes on the bike and over an hour on the run for a total time of 3:31 - you may remember reading about it). My fears were unfounded though as it was ran very smooth and I killed the race. I was also worried about the weather and the day before the race was hottest day of the year for NYC. Thankfully, it rained Saturday night and killed some of the heat.

My goal going in was to break 3 hours. Distances were mile swim in the Hudson, 40k on the bike, and 10k on the run. Got to transition at 5 and got set up. Race was wetsuit legal and the swim was in the Hudson so wetsuits were definitely in the picture. The swim was with the current but it got weaker as the day wore on and I was in a later wave.  We jumped off a barge into the river and off we went.  The swim was easy for sighting because there was a whole line of kayaks and boats to the riverside (2 swimmers died last year so they were a tad protective) and on the other side was the bank of the river. The only thing bad about the swim was the dead fish and debris that I kept bumping into. I can't tell you what the debris was as I was afraid to look but it felt pretty dang solid. I was hoping for a swim time of about 30 minutes. I got out in 23 minutes! Current helped for sure but 23 minutes!

 Long run from water exit to T1. Thanks to Brightroom for this shot.

Kept on keeping on to get to biking. Course included a steep short climb out of transition and then lovely scenic miles on the West Side highway of New York. It was hella hilly. There seemed to be people breaking down and waiting for SAG support all over the place but I guess that's to be expected with the number of athletes involved. There were also some pretty nasty crashes with one guy taken off in an ambulance.   I managed to dodge the carnage and kept a pretty decent pace and got off the bike in 1:17. I was hoping for about 1:15 but with the hills and the heat, that was good for me.

George Washington Bridge in the background

 Sidebar -  I'm sure somebody more technically adept than me could make this blog and the photos integrate more seamlessly so please forgive me if this blog looks like it was put together by a 3rd grader. I'm a father and husband first, lawyer second, triathlete third and somewhere way down the line comes the part of my life where I get to work on my computer skills.  Sorry for the digression. Where were we?

Got back into T2 and had a fast change to get out on the run. Went straight East out of transition up 72nd street into the middle of Central Park.  This park is a work of art and world renowned as a center of leisurely recreational activity.  It is great for that if you're moving at a "leisurely" pace.  If you are, however, running a 10K after swimming a mile in the nasty polluted Hudson and then biking 40K in 90 degree weather up and down hills, it is quite challenging.  Nora's law school buddies were very kind the night before the race to tell me, "Oh, you're not running in the north half of Central Park are you? That's very hilly!" Thanks guys, but they were right.  It was up and down but blessedly pretty shady the whole way and had lots of aid stations.  I was proud of my effort and my 5K and finishing splits were pretty close.  Finished the run in 55 minutes for a total time of 2:42

I think you can tell I didn't leave a lot in the tank

 I was ecstatic with my results. I couldn't believe it to be frank.  I knocked off 49 minutes from my previous Olympic distance time!  I was even more shocked to find out that I came in 6th in my division out of 45.  To top it all off, I was then told that I qualified for the U.S. National 5150 Championship by finishing in the top 15.  What a mind blower.  I saw a whole new look of admiration in my wife's eyes. That meant more to me than she'll ever know, especially since she's been there from the very beginning baby steps into triathlon and supported me so much.  I know it meant a lot to her too to see me do well.

All in all, all I can say is wow.  Keep up your training, stay consistent, and you never know how far your body will take you.

Eagle in the Sun 2011 Race Report

The race report for the race I've been shooting for all year! So the goal in my head was to significantly redeem myself from last year's piss poor effort. I wanted to do well last year but laid an egg with no excuse other than psyching myself out.  My times last year were 400 meter swim 10:52, 20K bike 39:35 and 5K run 29:37.  The first two times include transitions as they didn't break that out from the splits last year.  The bike wasn't bad for my conditioning level last year but I had swam closer to 9 minutes and had run a 5K in 22 minutes not long before the tri, so I was disappointed.  Due to that, and that I know a lot of the entrants, and that its my hometown, I felt like all my training this year and the good results I had earlier in the year would be a waste if I didn't do as well as I wanted in this race.  Enough melodramatic head drama Rob! On to the race report.

I had mucho trepidation going in because Gabriella enlarged the number of entrants to 550 - that's a lot of people for a sprint, especially with a staggered swim start. I was actually surprised at how well it went. Everything was very smooth.  Fellow Gretchen acolyte/trainee Art Sanchez and I rode out together and got there right at 5:30 for the 7:30 beginning of swim starts.  They had volunteers checking helmets and bikes for race numbers, bar inserts, etc. My word of advice to newbies - get there freaking early because Art and I snagged perfect spots for our bikes and got set up and ready to go before the multitudes hit. Saw Gretchen for a brief second and she was focused like a laser.  Saw Bobby, John Gardea, Trey Hancock and lots of fellow "veterans" from last year's race.  I can never get over what a great group of people triathletes are.

We all lined up and swim started rather smoothly. Just met fellow blogger Juan E. at Socorro Chile Harvest Tri and now he's stalking me! Actually might have something to do with the fact that he was number 190 and I was 188 and we have similar abilities and were within sight of each other all day. My swim was solid although I got a little discombobulated right off the bat when I jumped in the pool. We jumped in on the deep end and I can never quite position myself right - do I jump in headfirst, sit on the edge and slide in, or hop in? I've never committed to anyone one approach and invariably flop in as an adrenaline-ridden contorted mess.  One of the results of the uncoordinated water entry is water in the goggles and water up the nose. I ignored the suffocating feeling and continued swimming but for some reason I never felt like I was breathing properly.  I freaked out my wife a little bit because my unease finally got to be too much and I stopped in the middle of the 4th or 5th lane for just a second and stood up to clear my head.  Hadn't done that in a while. After that, I was cool and finished in 8:55.

Got on my bike super fast and was gone quickly.  I was very excited about the bike because of my new toy for the back wheel.  That's a Zipp 9 Disk baby! I've always hesitated to buy stuff like that because I don't want to be the jackass with all the fancy toys that puts his nose in the air (hate that guy).  But a little discussion I had with fellow clysdesdale Jason McClure included the advise "don't be ashamed to pay for speed." Took his advise and got this baby and LOVE it! Improved my bike split from last year by 6 minutes to 33:18 for the flat out-and-back 20k.  I was hoping to be at 35 or under but when I made the turn and started back I really picked up the speed and ended up with an average speed of 22.5 mph.

I passed a jillion people on the bike and only got passed by one - Mr. Escobar.  Worked out well because we took turns passing each other (draft legally, mind you) for the entire 20K.  I was happy with my flying dismount as I finally figured out how to get my feet out of my shoes while riding.  The only problem with the bike route is you have a lot of little twists and turns as you're coming in the last little bit which kills your speed but maybe that's the idea?

Had a really fast T2 of 45 seconds thanks to the aforementioned dismounting trick and off on the run.  Here's the only part that didn't go to plan.  In my restless nights leading up to the race, I imagined a "perfect" race of 8:30-9 on the swim, 35 on the bike with 1-2 minutes for transitions so I'd be on the run by 45 minutes and lay down a 23-24 minute 5K so my "perfect" time would be 1:08 or so.  I figured I needed that time to win the Clydesdale division - that is until I saw the Clydes signed up for this race included David Fairbanks.  Haven't heard much from Mr. Fairbanks this year but last year he won Clyde every time he entered, and was usually in top 3 overall.  His best time for a distance like this is in the one hour even range so I knew I had no shot of winning the division.  (Gonna stop the digressions -  I swear!)

Me and John waiting for results

Started the run feeling good but didn't have my usual level of speed.  I did the 5K at Socorro in 24 flat so I figured I'd top that but it wasn't to be.  Ended up at 25:19 with some thanks to Art and Gretchen who saw me finishing up and ran with me a bit to keep the pace up.  Thanks guys!

Overall time of 1:09:24 and 2nd in Clydesdales Master Division of 23.  As a side note, there were 28 under 40 Clydesdales and 1st place in their group would've been in 5th in the "old" clydes. So take that whipper snappers!  My good friend John Gardea told me in the transition area that this race was "just for fun" but he still almost beat me even with a slow T2 because of trouble with his knee brace.  That just makes me shake my head because there is no way John should be as fast as he is with a bad knee and weighing 400 pounds not that long ago.  He just amazes me.


So for those of you keeping track at home, I improved my time from last year by 11 minutes and went from 79th overall to 30th. I'm happy with that and now just got to figure out the pacing on the bike so I don't lose strength on the run.

 On a related note, do you think this photo means Nora's ready to start swimming and become a triathlete? I think so!

Next race will be the Elephant Man Olympic triathlon (my first non-sprint distance). I signed up for the Yucca triathlon this coming Saturday but it's probably going to get cancelled for non-participation.  Wish me luck for the 1 mile swim at Elephant Butte!

Countdown to Eagle in the Sun

I don't know why but the Eagle in the Sun triathlon next Sunday has taken up an inordinate amount of my mental focus all year. Maybe its because I laid an egg last year en route to a miserable finish and need to redeem myself. It's a great race with over 450 competitors, flat as a pancake, and well-organized. I personally know a large percentage of the athletes, El Paso being such a small big town. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in this race and last year was the first year it was held and I cracked. I had only been training about 10 months when I raced it and the swim completely freaked me  out. I had only swam (swum?) in a 50 meter pool one time before and didn't cope so well. The swim was simple -8 laps in a 50 meter lane for 400 meters, 8 lanes in the pool so no up and back in the same lane. Like I said, I freaked and about half way down the first lap, I popped up gasping, out of air, and stood up. I recovered okay but still took me 10:52 including the swim to bike transition, which was just awful. By comparison, I just did the same swim at Soccoro in 8:40. The swim threw me off for the rest of the race and I took 39:35, again including transition, to do the 20K bike, and 29:37 for the 5K (no transition excuse this time) for a total time of 1:20:04.

I was an age grouper last year and came in firmly in the middle of the pack. Hanging on my refrigerator for the last couple of months is a piece of paper with those times written out along with the winner's time for the Clydes last year - Mr. Jason McClure in 1:10:56.

This year I fully intend to redeem myself. My training has been really good the last month. In the last 7 days, I've covered 143 miles in about 11 hours of training. I've picked up my swimming volume quite a bit and my runs off the bike have been crisp.  My goal will be 8:30 or under for the 400 meters, 35 or under for the 20K, and 23 for the 5K. Put that together with good transitions and I'm shooting for under 1:10, hopefully 1:08.

Southwest Challenge Series

Guys that have been doing triathlons a LOT longer than me came up with an idea to keep track of results for a series of triathlons in the surrounding areas. They dubbed it the southwest challenge series and currently this year, there were approximately 35 races ranging as far north and east as Amarillo and Lubbock and west to places like Roswell, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Farmington. Whoever took up this task of keeping track of the results of all these races and the athletes is to be commended. I can't quite figure it out but I know it's been around quite a while and they do a wonderful job.

And what do they get out of it? Well, that's a head scratcher. As far as I can tell, they get nada from anybody for going to all that trouble and they give out pretty nifty awards to the series winners at the end of the year. Like monogrammed fleece vests - cool, huh? The only thing I've seen similar in concept (at least as far as funding goes) is AA. I've been sober for almost 8 years and went to lots of meetings. I could never figure out how they kept the lights on when nobody pays any dues or membership fees. But they do and it's an incredible program helping to keep people sober for over 70 years. I'm not comparing AA to a tri challenge series in effect on world peace and families, but it is cool how selfless people believe strongly in something and sacrifice to share their love of sport with others. We that follow the Series thank you for sharing with us.

Im in the old big boy division, otherwise known as Masters Clydesdale. I just started tri's last year and didn't race Clydesdale because of ego and because I wasn't sure if I would stay above 200 all year. Well, this year I competed in Clydesdale and have stayed about 203-207 all year. I had pretty much given up on winning my category because John Gardea was a machine and seemingly did every flipping race for the first 6 months! After the Milkman Tri on June 4, he had done 9 races with 5 1sts and 4 2nds. I thought I stood no shot catching him. In the Series, you get 10 points for 1st, 9 for second, etc., etc. By the time we did Ruidoso the following week John had 74 points and I had 55 points Having done 6 races - no shot right?

Well, John did a couple more tri's after Ruidoso but then stopped because he was doing a half Iron in Boulder. He also sustained a knee injury (although he was able to gut out the half Iron with it). I've done 4 more races since then and the point standings now are dead even with 78 point each! We've both got 6 firsts and 2 seconds for our best 8 races. Technically, John has a quarter point lead on me because he's done 11 races and I've done 10 and you get a quarter point for each race past 8.

I've still got the Eagle in the Sun on sept 4, Yucca tri on sept 10, and Elephant Man on sept 25. John will be doing two of those with me and it sounds like an exciting finish in the fat boy division! I'm just glad I'm still in it because John is one heck of a competitor.

Elephant Butte Tri Clinic

My coach set up a triathlon clinic to prepare for the upcoming Elephant Man Triathlon on September 25. She had a good turnout with 8 of us there including Brooks, Art, and Laura. Several newcomers as well which is always good to see. There will be an Olympic (1 mile swim, 26 mile bike, and 10K run) and Half Iron (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run). I've done 10 sprints this year and have the Eagle in the Sun coming up on September 4 and I was honestly thinking about not doing the Elephant Man because the idea of swimming a mile freaks me out a little. I've done 99% of my swimming in a 25 yard pool with workouts going up to 2000 yards.  A mile is 1750 yards so I know I can swim the distance but swimming that straight in a lake is a lot different from swimming in a pool 25 yards, pushing off a wall and doing it again, all with the safety that you just can stand up anytime you have a problem. Not so much in a freaking lake.

I went to Gretchen's clinic because I need the open water training and I never miss the chance to participate in a clinic since there are so few in this area. Gretchen put on a great clinic. We swam for about a mile and I surprised myself and swam really well. No problems with my fitness at all. Swimming a straight line? - whole 'nother story. Not good AT all. Gotta work on my sighting because I suck at it. Can't swim a straight line to save my life. Irritatingly, there's no black line on the lake bed, not that you could see it if there was.

The bike route is a 26 mile loop described by Gretchen as gentle rolling hills followed by 2 steep hills and then a long descending ride back.  My idea of "gentle rolling" dramatically differs from Gretchen's but they weren't all that bad. Pretty rough roads all the way but no dramatic pot holes that I discovered (although I did discover several dead animals).  The two steep hills were as advertised and are rumored to bring bikers to walking the hill with their bikes.  It's about 16 miles on the winding roads and "gentle rolling" hills and you end up back at I-25 and then back on a small highway that leads back to Elephant Butte.  Screaming fast ride back topped off by a nice scenic view of the lake as you come back.  Very, very careful on the way back down to the transition area as it STEEPLY descends into the boat ramp area.

We finished with a brief run to experience the beginning of the run. It's through the sand up some small hills and then one steep little hill til you are at the road that goes over the dam.

After today, I'm definitely doing the Olympic distance!  This will be a tough course made even more difficult by the fact that this race doesn't start until 8 a.m. (the real studs doing the 1/2 Iron start at 7). That means if the swim takes me approximately 30 minutes and the ride 1:15-1:30, I won't get to the run until almost 10 a.m. If you read my blog at all, you'll know that me, heat and running don't get along so well. I will do it though.

I cramped up something fierce after I cooled down but one of the guys helped me out with a banana and some CR333. This guy, who I just met today, is named Bates Gaddy and is 30. He decided he wanted to do a triathlon and started training this year and has already done 3 half Irons and just did Vineman Full Iron 2 weeks ago! Freaking crazy! I'm not even thinking half iron til next year and MAYBE a full Iron the year after that. Hats off to Bates.

Sickness and Future Plans

Just when I think no one's reading my musings, several people asked me where's my race report on the Dog House Sprint. Well, no race report because I didn't go. I call it the curse of saying "I never get sick." Took my assistants to lunch for administrative assistant's day and commented to one of my girls who gets sick a lot that exercise has helped me stay healthy. Famous last words being "I've never gotten sick since I started training for triathlons." 3 days later I sneezed and my wife, who is closely attuned to my every mannerism, said "are you getting sick?" I never get congested or need to use tissue. Suddenly I did.

Long story short, got double pneumonia and didn't train for week and a half. Started to feel better on May 14 and ran a little bit but didn't think I would be anywhere close to ready to go for an open water swim in 54 degree water so cancelled. Bummer. I learned from my friends Cody, John and Brooks that the weather was windy and cold in Lubbock so it's probably good I skipped it. Although I also found out there were no other Clydesdales entered into the Sprint and I would've taken first place just by showing up and finishing, but oh well.

I was still feeling bad enough that I skipped the Braden Aboud 5K on Sunday even though my wife and 2 of my kids did it.  It is one of my favorite races and the race that I broke through on last year and set a major PR.  I still felt sick enough that I didn't even resent or feel bad seeing all the happy racers around me. My hot ass wife even set a new PR of her own breaking 30 minutes for the first time! My 7 year old son and 10 year old daughter did awesome as well.

Next up for me will be the Milkman Triathlon in Dexter, NM on June 4, followed by the Ruidoso Tri on June 11, and then Chick-Fil-A tri in Amarillo on June 18.  Back to back to back. I should be in shape again by then. My overriding goal is to do well in the El Paso Tri in September. I put in a poor effort last year and want to redeem myself.

My run has held up well. I biked this morning and felt good. So hopefully, I didn't lose too much fitness. We'll see come June 4.