How I almost started my off season 24 hours early...

I don’t think I have enough room in my free BlogSpot to list all the great results from this past weekend but I will try.

There were so many fantastic performances I don’t even know where to begin…

Let’s start with the two wheel crew and the State Crit Championships. Curtis, Jeff and Karel raced the Pro 1, 2 race on Sunday with a team of only 4 guys. Most of the other teams had a full squad. The decided to mark some key guys before the race and the tactic worked well. The Lindner guys came in 11th (Curtis), 17th (Jeff) and 21st (Karel). Curtis would have been a top 5 contender but narrowly escaped a bad scene when he had his wheel swept in the closing portion of the sprint. The next stop for those guys is the Georgia Cup race in 2 weeks. It is a TT, Crit and Road Race. Look for a top finish from Jeff Kopp in the TT – the dude has it dialed in. Curtis and Karel should do well in both the Crit and RR so it could be a good weekend for the shaved leg tough guys.

BFAS #1 was held on Saturday and the overall winner was none other than Olympic hopeful Sara McLarty. Men’s overall winner was Steve Petitt and 2nd place was James Sweeny (former king of the shaved leg tough guys turned tri geek (for now)). I think this is James 5th triathlon ever – damn dude that is some engine. Steve and James raced in different waves and times where actually a tie. The finish places came down to the 100th’s of a second to determine the overall male. An elite wave would have been a fantastic addition to this event as they would have been shoulder to shoulder on the run and in the chute. Maybe next race or next season – this has been needed for a while. Congrats to both Steve and Sween.

JC finished second overall female to Sara – come on JC – she is only a “hopeful” :) - GREAT RACE girl!!!

The rest of the Velocity crew, David Mariotti and Sean Crichton also had a great races (Sean was 2nd in his AG – dude – hello – what about your streak of 1st places – be careful it’s a slippery slope :)

Bringing the smoke in the relay division was Jim Wadsworth with a great bike split putting their team in the 1st place on the day – congrats Jim.


The rest of the VMS crew and friends of the crew headed to the land of mouse ears for a 70.3 weather extravaganza. It rained, it poured, it blew and it got HOT!!! The 70.3 in Disney is one of the most competitive fields in the country. The only tougher competition that I have seen is in the Oceanside 70.3 - 30 miles from where the sport of triathlon started – go figure.

The day started EARLY with the pros hitting the water at 6:20. We actually got to eat dinner the night before the race with Victor (no way I can spell this right) Zyemtsev – he is really cool.



He won CDA and Lake Placid and is very easy to talk with. Look for him to rule the course in CDA again this year – this guy is tough.



The rest of the 20+ waves of AG er’s would start in 3 minute intervals behind them. This swim is a flat water no wetsuit (2 minutes too long) course that really messes with the swimmer the later your wave. There is a HUGE advantage to going off early. I swam through 6 or 7 different colored caps by the end.

The bike is a single loop 56+ (almost 57 mile) course that has a lot of turn around points (5 - I think) and a nice technical section of wet Astroturf around a construction site – yikes. The weather on the bike was overcast and really dark to the west and by midpoint the rain came down hard. The winds were not nearly as bad as forecast and the temperatures were much cooler than expected.


Heading into the run, the rain stopped and the clouds held and weather was really ideal for Florida in May. It was only 80 and overcast. During the 1st loop of the run (for me) the clouds opened up again and DUMPED on us. It rained the mid afternoon summer rain for 5 minutes and it was done. 20-30 minutes later the same clouds were gone and when the sun came out it went from 80 and cloudy to 95 and OMG – is it HOT!!! The rain had made the humidity jump to what felt like 100% and it became instantly BRUTAL. I went from feeling awesome to I hope I finish in ½ mile. The later wave starts had it MUCH worse as they were in the sun for more than just 1 lap.

Enough about the weather – who rocked the house.

I am going to run out of room here …

Tony (I rule the bike) Maniatis – 4:45 and change with 13th in his AG – strong race and well balanced result.

Kerry Mowlam and I had a chance to run together for a little bit of my last lap (I was in an earlier wave) and he finished really strong with a 4:50 and change – great job.

Tyler (my 1st ½ Ironman and I am on a road bike) Vadeboncoeur went 4:59 and change – DUDE – you smoked it!!!

Saswata Roy MD – Doctor 32233 - (his initials are actually SRM-d) – hit a very nice PR with a 5:10 and change. I thought my bike was BLING – dude’s got some spinnerz :)

Kellie (don’t call me Midget) Smirnoff took 6th in her AG with an 11minute PR – Cheeka learned to swim :) and had the 2nd fastest run in her AG – good job Midget – Opps…:)

New addition to the VMS crew – Vann Simmons smoked the bike and struggled with the heat on the run to very respectable finish – Van scored a slot to Ironman Wisconsin – Congrats Vann – 6-7 hour bikes in the summer – yeah – pick me :)

The rest of the Mayo boys –Steve Goodfriend (5:38) and Mike Mohseni (5:46) - in under 6 hours – both 1st timers –– CONGRATS!!!

Freddy “bail money” Bailys (The bail money would be for me as I wanted to strangle the Carabba’s take out guy on Saturday) finished up his race on the hottest part of the day – great job Freddy.



His daughter Nikki took a page out of my son’s Shane’s playbook – nice one - thanks for the HI-5 at the end.





Kevin Ellis – 1st time finisher and never even got into transition before the race – that’s a new one for me. He actually had to pump up his tires in T1. You did it – nice.

Billy Hart and I talked at length about what it would take to get a slot for Clearwater and he went out to get it shooting for a sub 4:40 finish. A great swim and really solid bike set him up for run that would have put him in reach of that goal. Unfortunately - stomach issues killed that on the 2nd lap of the run and I have no doubt that Billy will get his 70.3 spot in Rhode Island.

In all it was a GREAT weekend of racing for everyone.

If I missed anyone – I apologize – I am doing this MTV style “unplugged” and from memory at 35,000 heading to Chicago.

Oh – yeah – I know you wanted to know :) - what about me…there is always a story and a little disclaimer – I never let the facts get in the way of a good story :)

Having done this race before and not really having a goal in mind other than trying to have a good run (1:29:59 or better – hey – aim high :)) – I was really relaxed and didn’t think I would have any problem sleeping race night (apparently – this is my curse). I didn’t medicate and I didn’t sleep. I told my son’s that I didn’t think I was going to race as I felt like KAKA after seeing the clock hit 2am and having to get up at 4am. I actually went and slept on the sidewalk at the hotel in front of the car park so Saswata, Anjna and the Midget would not forget me as I was sure if I stayed in my room I would go back to sleep.

At the start line - I really was DREADING the experience as endurance events to me are more mental and going into to it not enthusiastic makes my PE go sky high.





After waking up during the swim – my third time experiencing this – it sux – I found some good feet and cruised in. The bike was a suffer fest and I wanted it to just end. I was so happy to get to the run as I knew it would be over shortly. I am very happy to say that I told myself – HTFU – suck it up and do it or you will regret it for the next 6 weeks. I did – I finished and I am very happy to say this begins my “off-season”…

I wrote my coach an email yesterday with my race recap and my goals for the off –season – I’ll share then with you as we are starting to land…


Plan from here foreword:

1) FIRST - Play with the kids - as MUCH as possible!!! Balance has been suffering and needs to get fixed.

Then:

2) Get my desire to train revitalized by doing what I want versus having a schedule.

3) Bike as much as I can with the majority of it being in the areas I don't like to ride (220-240) :) - Maybe do Blood Sweat and Gears in late June.

4) Run as often as I can (3-4 a week) with at least 1 long run per week

5) Swim - NOT!!! Surfing instead :)

6) Strength and core - starting back next week - I really like this stuff.

7) Stand up paddling and kitesurfing - we also call this core :)



That’s all for this week…I am really glad my off season started at 11:29am on Sunday with someone giving me a medal and taking off my chip :)

Kia Kaha

Every once in a while I say something ...

...and I think – wow – that sounds smart…

Did I really say that?

Yesterday was one of those days…

I was running downtown with the midget and Saswata.

Saswata was telling me how I was not running fast on Sunday and I must have been tired and I getting worn down...maybe I went too hard on the bike etc…all of this opinion was offered because he was not only keeping up but was pushing the pace off the bike.

My response to him yesterday was really pretty simple but in my opinion it sounded smart…

"Dude - your harshing on my mellow - just shut up and run" :)

No seriously...I said...

You can’t judge your performance by the people around you – you have to have some measure to gauge if you are faster than normal that day or they are just slower…relative speed or PE compared to your training partners is just not accurate.

That day – he was just fast…

So – what does this have to do with anything?

I lived this same example again this morning.

I swam with Master’s group at the YMCA and Ryan (college swimmer – young guy - sorry – don’t know his last name) he and I split the fast lane. We did a set that was perfect for me and he was dreading it. He is a sprinter (I am not) and the set was 500, 400, 200, 400, 500 – not a sprinters set – hello mister old man slow twitch :)

Anyway, we stayed together on the 1st 500 and went close to normal pace. On the 400, he went out and I was left lagging. I pushed hard to keep up but he finished a ½ lap ahead of me and I was coming into the wall thinking – man – the sprinter just kicked my a$$ - that sux...but then I looked at the clock. My time was really good – ok - for an old man :)

My point – without the clock and a known distance – some basis for comparison – I would not have a reference to see if I was really slow or he was just really fast.

By the way - we still would not have made the HS Varsity team with our times but in old age – I was happy with it.

The 200 was next he did as IM and I can’t do IM for legal reasons…the last time I tried to do butterfly the lifeguards came out of their chairs and there was a lot of confusion. Needless to say I had to sign a waiver to never attempt that stroke again and I complied this morning :)

The back side of the set I used a speed suit to make sure it felt good for next weekend (Florida 70.3) and still fit from last year. Besides, I had talked earlier this week with Billy and he claimed to have gotten a 5 second + benefit from a speed suit and I basically called bull$h!t on him.

I knew the suit made a difference but no way was it 5 seconds per 100. I also figured it was also a way to minimize the ½ lap beating I just took from speedy :)

The results REALLY surprised me.

It was a FULL 5 seconds / 100 and that was at the end of the set. The difference in total time was 6%.




If you look at that for Olympic Distance that is 1:20 savings, for ½ IM it’s a 1:35 savings and a full distance 3:30 over no speed suit.

No wonder everyone is wearing these things :)

I am not sure which suits are faster – I only tried a SpeedZoot and it seems like there are more Blue Seventy’s around than any other - and to me - the Blue Seventy just looks better :)





These definitely make a difference.

There are a few articles on the web about the recent world records that have been smashed due to the new suits.

http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/2008/04/swimming-update.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/11/lzr.record.breaking.ap/

It is amazing and there are more recent records (23 total):

SPEEDO LZR RACER WORLD RECORDS


16th Feb 08 200m Backstroke Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) 2.06.39
17th Feb 08 50m Freestyle Eamon Sullivan (AUS) 21.56
17th Feb 08 100m Backstroke Natalie Coughlin (USA) 59.21
7th Mar 08 50m Backstroke Hayley McGregory (USA) 28.00
18th Mar 08 Wm 4 x 100m Freestyle Netherlands 3.33.62
21st Mar 08 100m Freestyle Alain Bernard (FRA) 47.60
22nd Mar 08 400m Ind.Medley Stephanie Rice (AUS) 4.31.46
22nd Mar 08 50m Backstroke Emily Seebohm (AUS) 27.95
22nd Mar 08 100m Freestyle Alain Bernard (FRA) 47.50
23rd Mar 08 50m Backstroke Sophie Edington (AUS) 27.67
23rd Mar 08 50m Freestyle Alain Bernard (FRA) 21.50
24th Mar 08 50m Freestyle Marleen Veldhuis (NED) 24.09
25th Mar 08 200m Ind.Medley Stephanie Rice (AUS) 2.08.92



Before this gets too long – which it already has…here is a really cool video of Dara Torres



See 40 is the new 30 - and - yeah - she's hot :)



I’ll close with this…

I almost always try to train with people that are faster than me. I seek them out and I think they help me push myself to a level that is above where I would normally be.

In the pool, on the bike and on the run…

I even lifted all winter with soccer mom but she doesn’t even know it. (She squats 225 and I worked hard to be able to do keep up with her…yes…I know Francis…that is weak and I should be ashamed…)

I heard Dara say this in her interview, Chris Lieto talks about swimming with the HS speedsters and riding with the cyclists.

These training partners help to lift the bar…improve your overall performance...

it’s also important to realize that sometimes that bar needs to be measured :)

Either that...or just "Shut up and run" :)

So much to say – so little time :)

It’s not too often that I significantly overwhelm myself but the last 2 weeks seem to be a perfect example of how NOT to run your life. I keep added things to my plate until I am like the “large” man in Monte Python movie and the waiter says…”But sir…it’s a thin mint”.



Family, work, travel, training, racing, expo’s, email, bike fits, car dealers, blackberries that now only receive spam (you gotta love the IT department), work presentations and former cheerleaders turned customer service reps have led me to the point where I am JUST craving a night of zoning out in front of the TV – doing absolutely nothing. I have had a movie that I have wanted to watch for 2 weeks and can’t seem to find the time to do it - I know have Blockbuster's late fee policy tattooed on my forearm :)

But this - my BLOG ENTRY - this I something I really want to do - I WANTED to do last night – but I opted for much needed 6 hour of sleep as I was falling asleep typing.

Did I mention I am only doing 1 “real” coffee a day – no wonder I am not keeping up like I used to – Starbucks stock opened down 2 points this morning :)


Enough grumping – on with the show and WHAT A SHOW it was!!!


VMS is in DA HOUSE!!!!

The Patchouli boy Sean Crichton rocked the field in xTerra again as predicted – wins his AG and takes 5th in the overall. Also – as predicted, he took 4th in the MTB race the next day. He told me during the MTB race the lead pack kept together and they were calling him xTerra boy as they all could not believe he had raced the day before. 4th in the Overall on tired legs – dude – you’re fit!!!

The Lindner Capital Cyclists hit the start line at the Athens’s Twilight Crit Saturday night and judging by the files – OMG – that is NUTZ!!! The lowest speed I saw was 25mph and the most of it was at 32-35MPH. This is on a 1KM 4 corner course with over 100 guys. The power and speeds just to stay on are INSANE. 1000 watts in a corner per lap – I can hit 1000 once and then I hit the couch :) Congrats to Curtis, Jeff and Karel – you guys ROCK!!! Good luck with the rest of Speed week.


The tri geeks were in full on fantasy race mode this weekend at Saint Anthony’s Triathlon. First, the expo is a like a triathlon version of Target (my new favorite store) and you could check out all the latest go fast gear. If you didn’t want to spend money than you needed to leave your wallet at home – I did :).

There was come very cool new gear from Jaggad… www.jaggad.com – I have used their suits for a few years and they are great.

I also worked the RG Fizio booth with Steve Petitt and Billy Hart www.recovergear.com and we had some really good interest. Lots of AG er’s and also two more pros are “on-board”, Spencer Smith and Nina Kraft. We also just got some good press in the latest Triathlete Magazine (page 232 of June 2008 issue).



The RG booth was next to GenR8 - http://www.genr8speed.com/- and they had a lot of buzz – everyone was checking it out.

The pros in the transition area included Matt Reed (just qualified for the Olympic team), Greg Bennett (won 500K+ last year), Andy Potts (70.3 world champ), Faris Al Sultan (Ironman Hawaii Champ) and bunch more. It was cool to see so many big names in one place.

Mr. Vegas (Billy Hart) took my money in the tri-geek fantasy race – he had Matt Reed – I had Bennett - in my best Zoolander - Reed’s so hot right now :)





The race is a GREAT venue to go fast and test yourself a top notch field and we (VMS and friends) had some fantastic results. Billy, Steve, Susan W., Susan B, Aaron, Eric and the rest of the crew from JAX really stepped it up - lots of bling and PR’s.

Next up for the tri-geeks is the BFAS and Florida 70.3 in 3 weeks.

A couple of misc notes:

Check out Chris Lieto’s site and blog www.chrislieto.com and click the link for the Green Athlete – he is moving the sport in a great direction – Chris will be racing this weekend in Wildflower – predictions – he will dominate the dojo – 1st overall.

Hey Billy – where’s your wallet? :)

Check out Alan Couzen’s blog on Stotans http://alancouzens.blogspot.com/ - best reason I have read lately explaining why we do what we do.

And from my midget running coach without a license – best slam of the day:

Me: “My race was ok - I had trouble sleeping again the night before the race – I only got in two hours sleep.”

Midget: “Dude - I checked your splits and it looks like you took a nap on the bike - no wonder you felt good on the run”

Nice Friends!!!

Kia Kaha!!!

Greetings from St. Pete…

It is absolutely beautiful here tonight and the front porch of the Pier Hotel is about as relaxing an office as you can imagine :)

Most of the Iron buttz are still lingering in the recovery mode but for the seriously poor planners (err…me) - the race season presses on.

St. Anthony’s Triathlon is this weekend in St. Petersburg and this is a GREAT venue.

There are a LOT of athletes racing (someone said 4800?) and almost 45 from Jacksonville.

In attendance are the who’s who of the pro ranks including Greg Bennett, Macca, Craig Alexander, Matt Reed, Brian Fleischmann, Faris Al Sultan, and Andy Potts – it is a tri-geek fantasy race.

I am pulling for Fleisch, of course, but I think it is Bennett’s race to lose – the dude nuts it up when the cash is big.

The VMS crew is really strong with Eric Loveless, Billy Hart, Susan Wallis and a cast of characters ready to go on Sunday – good luck and be safe.


Also this weekend…

The patchouli crew is at Yargo this weekend for xTerra.

Predictions – Crichton takes top 5 in the overall and backs it up with a MTB race on Sunday – fitness wins…


The cyclists are not to be left out and all of these above events together are not even close to the drama that is The Athens Twilight Criterium and the Lindner boys are in the big dance Saturday.

If you have not heard of the Athens crit – imagine a HUGE crowd of college students drinking all day and the main event is held at night.




80KM – 80 Laps.

The field is one of the best in the US.

This is known as “THE” crit in the US. It is a big deal.

Is it hard? Is the competition tough?

I tried to think of how to explain this and I could only come up with one image.

Imagine a dark room and you’re alone in the middle.

A single light shines down from the ceiling only on you.

A single piano taps out A# G# F# over and over again.

Now - imagine you are surrounded by 40 Ninja’s lurking in the shadows…waiting to attack.

Imagine you.....are……………Jackie Chan :)

The gun goes off and the Ninja’s start to attack and you fend off one, then two, then they all rush you at once and do a flying back summersault out of the center of the room as they collapse around your shadow.

You land on your feet only to realize they have turned and are attacking again…and again…and again…that is lap one – only 79 more to go :)



That is the Athens crit.

You are getting you a$$ kicked by the best riders in the country and you might wonder does it hurt?

Maybe you have never seen the end of Jackie’s films – hell yeah – it hurts.

This isn’t any “snatch the pebble from my hand Grasshopper” BS…

This isn’t any “wax on – wax off” BS…

No “it’s ok Danial-san” in this race….


The boys are going to be on the bubble from the gun to the finish and if they make it around – just to finish – HUGE DEAL!!!

Anything more is what cyclists dreams are made of…

But these guys are ready – they are on great form and they have done the work – they will prevail.

Keizoku wa chikara nari.

Dominate the DoJo – Kia Kaha

Sushi got wheels :)

Ironman Arizona – 2008

The longest entry of the year – I promise :)



It was really incredible to be a part of one of the most challenging days in IM history. This race had the 3rd highest DNF rate of all previous IM’s. The combination of the winds and the heat made it an incredibly tough day.





1st the results:

Kevin Neal dominated the dojo and took a 4th in the 45-49 age group and scored a Kona slot with a 9:56. He was 51st overall. His bike time of 5:08 was amazing (38th overall with thirty something male pros). The winds were between 20-25 MPH and pacing was almost impossible. On the outbound headwind leg – speeds were between 14-18 mph and downwind – 32-34…really incredible.



1st time Ironman Tony Maniatis was a little disappointed with his 11:06 31st in AG finish. I thought – are you kidding? OK – you have to reset the scale - the guy had a 4.0 from Harvard so he sets his standards pretty high :)



Paul Cantin from CA hit his 2nd IM finish with a 6 minute PR finishing in 12:37. He was happy with his finish but looking at the numbers closer he should be ecstatic. He jumped over 300 total finisher places from last June and 110 AG places – nice work Paul!!!

David Mariotti brought it home for his 2nd IM in 13:39. This also moved him up 218 places overall and 45 in his AG. Congrats David and enjoy the time with the family.

James Sweeny took the expression HTFU to a whole new level. He is a fantastic athlete and cyclist and was really set up for a fantastic day. Towards the end of the bike, James’ legs started to cramp and at mile 1 ½ his legs were literally LOCKED up on the side of the run course. I saw him and he was still trying to move forward with locked knees. I thought – oh man – there is no way he is going to be able to finish as he can’t even walk. I was wrong. The guy made it to the next aid station, took in some rehab and ran, walked and locked up over and over again until he finished. He showed INCREDIBLE physical toughness but the mental side of that performance will be in the rolodex for times when I am feeling sorry for myself – DUDE – you are hard like Chinese arithmetic :)


On the course for medical, technical, photographic and comedic support where the three amigo’s – Saswata Roy, Shawn Francis and Kendall White.

Hercules said he was tired after the day of spectating - it is hard work:)



(All photos in this entry are copyrighted by Action Exposures and Kendall White – I promised him I would write that :))

Thanks for being out there and for all the support…you guys are great friends.

To the geeks behinds the scenes with the spreadsheets and phone calls - thanks very much - you made all the difference.

To all of our families who put up with us not being there even when we are - we are back :) (at least for the week :))



Now for the stories – BS, tall tales and exaggerations :)

I am Howard Hughes…I probably have undiagnosed OCD and I think through everything three, four, five hundred times :)

Hell – I brought two of everything to the race with me – yes – even race wheels 

And yes – this is my nutrition and supplements and NO - Hercules – none of these came from Balco.



Having it all with me leaves less to chance – so there it all is…

Quick plug. Last week I emailed a number of people asking how to best handle the heat as it was supposed to be 97. (It only got to 94 – much better) I got responses from everyone – thank you very much.

I was really impressed to get an email back from Chris Lieto and how to best use his Base Performance product. He is really knowledgeable and his products absolutely ROCKS!!! Check out www.baseperformance.com or you can get some at ABC or Trek store of Jacksonville – this stuff works.

Ok – back to the story.

It’s amazing to me how so many of life’s outcomes are affected by the decisions that are made in only 5-10 seconds.

You take into consideration everything you know about the situation, plot your potential courses of action and then decide and execute.

The really crazy part is a week ago I visualized having to make this decision.

My coach asked me to do a pre-race plan and I sent it to him and it included this decision matrix.

I had no idea I would ever enact it.

The portion of the plan was what I was planning on doing if I was “racing” for a place and after 10 hours on the course - it played out exactly like that.

With 1 ½ miles to go I was shoulder to shoulder with a guy who kept pressing the pace.

I thought it was strange so I slid back to see his age…oh sh!t…he’s 43…this is going to hurt.

What I planned to do (last week when I was thinking straight) was allow the guy to pass me and then with 1/4 mile to go just hammer it – that was the plan.

At ½ mile to go, Saswata Roy screamed at me “Your on the bubble….hammer it now.”

I thought - oh crap – the guy next to me just heard that too…

I am not sure if I just got an acute case of “throw the ball syndrome” or I just wanted to get the inevitable started but I took off with ½ mile to go and hit it so hard I couldn’t believe it...we were under 6:00min/mile after 10+ hours of racing.



There is a great quote about cycling that says something like “If you decide to break away, you commit 100%. You execute it without regard for the consequences.”

I went so hard that my only hope was that the guy couldn’t answer and luckily it worked.

Had he gone with me…I am not sure I could have answered back…

The verdict...there were 9 slots; I got 9th and the guy I was shoulder to shoulder with finished 19 seconds behind me in 10th.

It was cool to actually "race" an Ironman...finally – ALOHA :)

I emailed my coach to tell him how much I appreciated all of his planning and guidance. I have never been so well prepared. These guys have a great team and they are all really talented. Check out http://alancouzens.blogspot.com/ and www.gordoworld.com

This ends the longest blog entry of the year…here are some pix to give you a feel for the day… http://www.flickr.com/photos/24127889@N03/



Remember – these are copyrighted property of – whatever dude – I paid for the hotel room and you ate most of the cookies from Anjna :)



Shawn

Cycling Presentation

Here is the link from the Hammerhead Triathlon Meeting Cycling Presentation.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks - Shawn

shawn@vmscoaching.com

http://www.vmscoaching.com/files/Cycling%20Presentation%20April%202008%20compressed.pdf

T minus two weeks and counting...

…until Ironman Arizona.

The every 30 minute weather watch has race day temps with a high of 91 and a “real feel” of 95.

They call 91 “very warm” and they call 93 “hot”.

Please – be a little more creative.

91 – Feels like you are walking on a Caribbean Beach with the waves gently slapping against the shores. Someone offers you a Mojito with crushed ice and the glass is wet with sweat. A nice breeze rustles the palms tantalizing you with their intermittent shade.



That is 91.


93 – You are walking on the Sun in bare feet with sand in the crotch of your steel wool bathing suit…That is 93!!!

Any questions :)

OH yeah - “Real feel”?

Is that the “real feel” sitting on the park bench?

Is that “real feel” walking into Starbucks for an iced Latte?

Or…is that “real feel” on the gritty dirt path that is part of the run at 3:30 in the afternoon at mile 18…me stress – no never AAAARRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! :)

(In case you were wondering – yes I did calculate it out and yes – I do hope to be at mile 18 at 3:30 – I know – I know – Bad Howard – Bad Howard – Bad Howard :)

OH yeah – and if anyone else tells me it’s a dry heat I am going to duct tape them quiet – cover them in honey and fire ants and leave them in the Sauna at Brooks YMCA overnight.

Under their new YMCA management – the chances of them being found is about as likely as not having to get dressed for work while someone uses the last towel (where there used to be 100’s) to do a flash dancer dental floss routine on their butt crack 6” from your face.



Maybe one of the 100 people trying to get ready for work at 7:40am in 8’ x 10’ locker room will break into song – just bust a little “Y” “M” “C” “A” - to help the offending – one foot on the bench - one of the floor - freak - to keep his beat.

TOO MANY PEOPLE and this place is going down hill QUICK!!!

So what does it feel like to taper?



This picture which was created by our IT department after I spent yet another 4 hours trying to establish a VPN connection to sync my Outlook. When I called to tell them my Outlook was not working the told me to email them a help desk request...they are the best…

OK – I digress – please hold me and tell me it is going to be ok as I go to my happy place :)

Enough grumping – the good news is…we got results and they are GOOD ONES!!!

XTerra Miami was this weekend and dominating the dojo was none other than Sean “Matrix” Crichton…he was 2nd in the OVERALL and won his AG by over 6 minutes. Why Matrix? The dude must have gone all Chris Lieto ala Keanu Reeves through the woods as he had the fastest bike split on the day and out split Casey Fannin by over 6 minutes. Casey had to do a big time Mr. Smith on the run to take back the lead…



BIG congrats to Sean…this should be good enough to qualify him for xTerra Championships in Tahoe…look out for him at Gulf Coast.

On the West Coast – Velocity Triathlete Brian Gilbert put in a strong performance in Oceanside 70.3 and set himself up for a good run into Ironman CDA – enjoy the easy week – next week starts the iron-grind :)

That’s all for now – I need to take my med’s and get my hair transformed from it’s current state which is a ridiculous “flock of seagulls” euro mullet to something more aerodynamic…maybe I’ll do the Nike Go Fro…



Kia Kaha –

The Shawning aka Howard :)