2012!

I have now moved on from Powertri sponsorship. I am extremely excited to be part of a great group of athletes with Kompetitive Edge! I honestly believe this is the THE premier triathlon shop in Colorado and am very excited to be part of such a great team!

2011 Season Has Ended! What?

1st Place in Age Group at USAT Regional Championship
Still Smiling at the USAT Nationals in Burlington, VT
Coming out of the swim at USAT Nationals in Vermont.
Finishing the brutal ride at the Xterra Mountain Championship in Beaver Creek
The best part of racing this year was doing 3 triathlon's with my son Connor! He had a great triathlon season getting sponsored by Kompetitive Edge, taking 3rd in his age group, 6th overall in his 1st race of the year, 1st in his age group, 4th overall in his 2nd race, 1st age and overall at his first ever Xterra sprint race in Beaver Creek! and 1st in his age group, 3rd overall in the Sprint distance USAT regional championship!

I have officially ended my 2011 race season at its earliest point ever! Yes, it is only the 1st of September and I'm done! I've decided to focus on family, work, and enjoying life a little more. I would qualify my 2011 season as OK. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad based on my work put into it. I have no races planned for the rest of this year, but I'll still be out there doing something! I haven't focused on 2012 yet either, but I will be doing more cycling with my team BodySync and will be doing the USAT Nationals again! Results from 2011 are below...

1) Ironman 70.3 California: 10th out of 360 in age group, 95th out of 2184 overall.
2) Boston Marathon: 2:59:26. 201st out of 4187 in age group, 1,434th out of 24,349.
3) Cherry Creek Time Trial Series: (I didn't race enough to place as high as I should have overall). I placed 2nd, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the four races I did out 20-25 Cat 4 rider's.
4) Pelican Fest sprint distance triathlon: 1st out of 25 in age group, 4th overall out of 281.
5) Bolder Boulder 10k: 39:06.04. 8th out of 507, 319th out of 22,358.
6) Ironman 70.3 Boise: 10th out of 171 in age group. 63rd out of 1,212 overall.
7) Echo Lake USAT Rocky Mountain Regional Championship: 1st out of 20 in age group. 7th out of 197 overall.
8) Xterra Rocky Mountain Regional Championship (Beaver Creek). 5th out of 37 in age group. 43rd out of 257 overall.
9) USAT Age Group National Championship (Olympic Distance). I got a 2 minute drafting penalty on this race! I didn't even know it until the day after the race. So, here are my results pre and post penalty: 32nd out of 132 in age group PRE-Penalty with a 2:12:25 and a PR for this distance, but 44th out of 132 POST-2 minute penalty! Ouch! I was 302/983 overall. VERY HUMBLING!
10) Xterra Lory: 3rd out of 30 in age group. 17th out of 266 overall. I'm currently sitting at 11th in my age group in the Xterra Point system (they take the top 11 to Nationals). I only had 2 races and they count 4! Had I done 1 more, I would have qualified for Nationals in Utah in a couple of weeks, but I can't go anyway due to my son having a cross country meet that day.

That's my season. I'm going to get fat for a little bit and enjoy my family. I'm also going to actually work some more! Thanks to my sponsor PowerTri and my bike team BodySync. Thanks also to my great coach, Coach Jay Marschall. Thanks to all of you that follow me as well in my crazy stunts. Thanks especially to my family, they're the best!

Racing Update

I'm back! I haven't been blogging lately because I've been racing! My last update was right after one of my biggest disappointments in triathlon. My new new focus on shorter distance has been a positive experience thus far. I have to admit that I miss the Ironman races. You just can't beat competing against the very best in the very hardest race known to man, but withdrawal and re-hab is going well!

Part of what has made my re-hab process go smoother is being with my son Connor at the smaller races! He's absolutely killing it and I think that it might even be more fun than doing well myself! I'm loving being the father to a triathlon prodigy!

Anyway, here's what has happened since my Boise 70.3 10th place finish...

1) Last weekend I competed in the USAT Regional Championship in beautiful Coalville, Utah at Echo Lake! I wasn't quite sure if my training was up to par, but my son and I made the trip out there and had a great day! I had a good swim, my best bike of the year so far, and a decent run to finish 7th overall and win my age group! My son was 3rd overall and DOMINATED his age group in the sprint distance! Being there together was priceless!

2) Today I did the X-terra Mountain Championship here in beautiful Beaver Creek, CO. I didn't have a lot of expectation for this race either. Last year I placed 10th in my age group here and did it in 2:50. Today, I just wanted to place higher and faster. I did both! I placed 5th in my age group and did it in 2:44. I felt great about my swim, awesome about my bike, and basically just hung on during the run. Let me explain this course, the swim is flat (ha, ha), the bike is STRAIGHT up and absolutely BRUTAL! I climbed like a mountain goat today, but I was overly cautious on the little amount of downhill that was there (I haven't been mountain biking quite enough I guess and my wife and four kids seem to enter my mind more than ever). The only time I got passed was during downhill sections. Then, the run/walk. The first 2 miles of this 5.45 mile course are so brutal that you can speed walk it better than run it. I actually passed a lot of people in these first 2 miles, but I cannot say that I was feeling good, I was surviving better than others around me is all. Luckily the last mile is pretty much downhill because I needed it. I think that if I had been mountain biking and doing more X-terra's I would have had a chance to go top 3, but my focus hasn't even been as strong on triathlon let alone X-terra's. Needless to say, it was a beautiful, great day!

What made the day even better was that my son Connor WON the Sport division overall! He came out of the swim in 1st place and then came out of the bike in 3rd before totally dominating the run and winning by over 4.5 minutes! This was his first ever off-road triathlon!

I want to thank my sponsor PowerTri and my family for allowing me to continue to race, even if it isn't the awesome Ironman or even 70.3 races. What next for me? I might do another X-terra, but I haven't signed up yet. My next race is my big one of this year, the USAT National Championship in Burlington, VT on August 20th. I'll have a week of some recovery and then the hard push to do well there! I'll keep you posted.

Life and Triathlon...

Since the World Championships last year I did not retire, but I have been bringing it down a notch. After having a great 2010 triathlon year, I made my family a promise that I would ALWAYS put family first over my triathlon's. They have supported my selfish goals for multiple years now. I've been proud of the fact that, other than Kona and Clearwater, I haven't placed lower than 5th in my age group in any triathlon in about 3 years. In my mind I really thought that I could still do top 5 in my triathlon efforts regardless of my change in focus. I was wrong! The truth is, to compete at the highest levels, triathlon pretty much has to be your primary focus. I don't want to offend any of my fellow triathletes, but you have to be a self-centered workhorse to be in the upper eschelon in our sport. Unfortunately for my triathlon life, but fortunately for my family I'm a better Dad and Husband!

I was the head wrestling coach for the Legend Jr. Titan's from November 2010 until March of this year. That cut into my training more than I ever imagined. I then focused on my oldest son and his track season as well as my two other boys and their lacrosse season's. I also missed quite a few long workouts while attending my daughter's dance recital's. Not once did I miss my kid's major (major to them especially) events. It really hit home when I was taking my son Adin to one of his lacrosse games and he said, "Dad, where is your bike?" I said, "I'm not bringing it today." He said (with a lot of enthusiasm), "Finally, I have a NORMAL Dad!"

Two weeks after Oceanside, I finally fulfilled a life-long dream of doing the Boston Marathon and I even broke 3 hours (2:59:26). I did it without all of the pressure I've felt over the past couple of years in triathlon and it was very refreshing. It turned out to be a GREAT day for a marathon! My wife was right there cheering for me yet again!

So, lacrosse and track ended (both very successfully I might add) at the end of May and I had to fulfill my selfish triathlon needs as best as I could. I entered the Pelican Fest Sprint Triathlon on the Saturday before Memorial day and much to my surprise I finished 1st in my age group and 4th overall! Wow! What I loved more than anything was competing with my oldest son Connor. He finished that race 3rd in his age group and 13th overall AND he had the 2nd fastest overall run time of the day! That was truly fun!

On Memorial Day my whole family competed in the Bolder Boulder 10k and it was a blast! Every single one of my kids posted a PR (personal record)! Connor actually WON his age group with a blistering 37:06 10k! I did ok myself placing 8th in my age and doing a respectable 39 minute 10k.

The Friday after Memorial Day we both competed in another sprint triathlon called the Metro Broker's Sprint Triathlon. I took 3rd overall and 1st in my age group! Connor placed 1st in his age group and 6th overall! It was so much fun! In fact, it was one of the most fun event's I've ever done! This time Connor had THE fastest run time even beating the triathlon legend Tim Hola's run time (Tim was 2nd overall)!

Yesterday was the Boise 70.3. This is where my training or lack thereof really reared it's ugly head! I had a respectable race, but NOT a podium finish like I'm used to in the 70.3 series of races that I've done of the past couple of years. My time was nearly 20 minutes slower than my time here in 2009 and I placed 8 places lower at 10th in my age group! The most disappointing was my relatively slow run at 1:34. It was the most disappointed I've been after a race in a long time.

Putting things in perspective, I'm still a competitive triathlete, but I am NOT in that upper tier like I was even a year ago. You know what though? My family still seems to love me a lot! AND, my wife is MUCH happier, my kids are MUCH happier, AND that makes me MUCH happier. Triathlon is a narcotic and right now I'm going through some withdrawals...

Oceanside 2011

I had a good day in Oceanside on Saturday. It wasn't a great day, but it was a good day. My swim was right on par for me at 31 and change (I wish I would have pushed it a little more). I beat Jay Preston out of the water, but not by as much as I would have liked. He caught me in the bike only 16 minutes in. He was FLYING! I didn't even try to stay with him because I knew that I would blow at the speed he was going. Instead, I just focused on staying aero and conserving my energy. My bike was 12 minutes slower than last year, but I knew coming in that my bike was not up to previous levels. I came off the bike feeling great! In my first loop of the fast course I stayed conservative trying to maintain 6:45 miles. At the turn around, I picked up the pace. At a little over mile 9, I really kicked it into gear. My 1:26 and some change run made me very happy. I have notoriously fizzled out on my runs after over-pushing my bike. This time I felt as if I didn't quite push enough on the bike and then had a great run. I ended up 10th in a very, very competitive field. There were 2 previous pro's (Chris Hauth and Gordo Byrn) in the mix as well as previous foes that I beat pretty handily in Kona. The truth is that it became very evident what my change of focus has done to my triathlon. After Kona, I re-focused on family and work and, for the first time ever, I actually missed some workouts due to other commitments. I'm really struggling an internal battle of wanting to be a competitive triathlete with being a great father, husband, and periodontist. Up until Kona last year, I truly felt as if I was good at juggling all of my responsibilities, but the truth is that something HAS to give if you want to be super competitive in this sport. Unfortunately, the wrong things probably gave. It's funny because the decisions should be super easy as to what is the highest priority, but what I do and I know other triathletes do is justify their abuse of the most important things by saying things like, "staying fit and competing makes me a better dad, husband, person." The truth is that being fit probably does help in being a better person, but competing at the levels that I have been over the last few years is too excessive. My family deserves better than that.

2010 Results

Due to my recent sponsorship, I have to maintain a blog regarding my triathlon career. I'll start with posting some of my 2010 results.

1) California 70.3: this was my first race in the 40-44 age group and was just a good start to the 2010 year. I placed 5th in my age group. 31:11 swim, 2:28:11 bike, and a 1:30:30 run for a total of 4:34:24. I ended up qualifying for both the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii and the 70.3 World Championship in Clearwater, Florida. My bike was great, but my run suffered!

2) Ironman St. George: this was to be my first A race of the year. I placed 5th in my age group (AGAIN!) out of 304 40-44 year old's. 1:04:14 swim, 5:24:15 bike, and a 3:41:35 run for a total of 10:14:25. Two of my good triathlon friends passed me in the run here (Randy Olsen and Jay Preston). I took my slot for Hawaii here. Great course! If I were doing Ironman again, I would return here for sure!

3) Bolder Boulder 10k: this was to be my son Connor's break-out race. I had a personal best 38:45.65 (6:14/mile average), but my son out-did the old man with a 38:30.50 and won his age group! I felt pretty good considering that I was still dead from IMSG!

4) Metro Broker's Sprint Triathlon: I didn't think that I had any top-end in me, but I finished 3rd overall and 1st in my age group even though I felt like an old man!

5) Loveland Lake-to-Lake Olympic: I had won my age group in this race the past 2 years, but NOT this year. I had my worst showing here in years. My coach said that I was still recovering from IMSG! I'll have to go back to redeem myself. I finished another 5th place out of 70.

6) X-terra Mountain Championship (Beaver Creek): I used to race a ton of X-terra races. I was excited to see how I would do and had NO expectations at all! It went better than expected! I ended up 10th in my age group and had more fun than at any other race this year. I love X-terra's! If I would have had more mountain biking under my belt, it would have been even better!

7) Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race: I was returning for one final shot at the Gold belt buckle! In 2009, I finished this race in 9:13. I honestly felt like this was the toughest race that I had ever done! It was BRUTAL! I loved seeing Armstrong fly down Columbine, but it was an icy, cold, miserable day for me that day. I was back in 2010 to redeem myself! I was in far better shape this year, except that I wasn't mountain biking much at all trying to gear up for Kona. The weather was perfect for the race of my life! I did it! I ended up doing an 8:48:42.1! I shattered my previous year, beat all my Body Sync team-mates and had a great time despite two vicious wrecks! I will NOT be back however!

8) Utah Half: This was to be my last tune up before Kona! I was having a great race and sitting 5th overall when I completely busted my bottom bracket on my bike in half! Needless to say, I couldn't finish the bike, got a ride back to transition and then did a 20 mile training ride. The best part of this trip was going up to Park City with my wife afterwards.

9) THE IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: I had two goals for this race: 1) Beat my previous Ironman World Championship time, 2) Beat Randy Olsen! I accomplished both! I got a PR on the tough Hawaii course with a time of 9:51:36. The hardest part of this race was that I totally bonked on my run! I honestly think that I could have finished in about a 9:40, but my legs quit working at mile 9 of that darn run. I had my worst ever marathon with a 3:37! Oh well! Even though Randy was gaining hard on me, I held him off for the final 10 miles of that hell run! I vowed this to be my LAST Ironman, it sucks that I know I could do even better!

10) The 70.3 World Championship: I had NO expectations out of this race really. I went there just to finish my season with another world championship and do my best. I had not put in the appropriate training for this race. I had put on 6 pounds since Kona and had NO speed work in me. I ended up 22nd in my age group and had my best ever 70.3 time on the fastest course known to man with a 4:24:56 overall time. Once again, my run disappointed me.

The season was a great success for me! I was able to go to kill the Leadville 100, go to Kona and ended up placing my highest ever in the USAT standings (17th in the 40-44 AG as of today). It will be hard to duplicate 1010!