Sponsorship for 2007 and Thanks

2 great pieces for today:

1) I will be sponsored in 2007 for Inside Triathlon Magazine
2) Thanks

Inside Triathlon is building a team for 2007 with 15 men and 15 women. I applied a few days ago and here was the response from Lars Finanger:

"We have been reviewing all apps for the last few weeks and yours is the first one we have all collectively said YES to after the first read through".

I'll know about the details next week but the high-level is: pedals, a helmet, new shades, a custom tri-top, shorts, goggles, hydration belts, gel, bars, and drink mix for the entire season, plus a free coaching services provided by the reknown Joe Friel.

Thanks - If it weren't for a lot of people I wouldn't be racing triathlons again - I'd likely be doing somethig but not training and focusing quite like I am this season on doing really well.

1. Greta - my wife. She doesn't complain about my training, the spandex all over the house, disappearing for half a day on the weekends, or all of the bags, bikes, food in powder format and my 8:30pm bedtime. She's supportive in more ways that I will probably ever acknowledge. I'm lucky - I picked a good one. I owe her much. She's also a fox and owns her own ad agency.
2. Sada and Piper - my girls. Sada is 3.75 years old and Piper is 1.75. Sada knows that I ride a bike and she can run like the wind. I get hugs when I get home, lots of squeals and sometimes a 'daddy you stink'. They're amazing. We're learning how to swim in the hot tub.
3. Scott Fairchild - An amazingly generous, smart, and well connected guy. He asked me about 6 times about getting me a sweet bike. I kept putting it off and then one day took him up on it. He's given me a ton of great opportunities and support. I dont' think I have much in my arsenal that he hasn't provided: Hed wheels and Hed VO4 TT bike, a Kestrel Talon SL, Orca wetsuit, Under Armour clothing, etc... There isn't a person in traithlon who doesn't know Scott. It also just so happens that he's also an agent and friend of Chris McCormack - a guy whose interviews I read over and over just to get fired up about racing. Says 'mate' a lot. Wins even more. His wife is a fox too (she's Greta's cousin).
4. Tracy Shriver - A good friend from Seattle and now Austin. We've ridden hundreds if not thousands of miles - mostly bonked - together. He's a triathlete who can win on salt water taffy, whole milk, a few donuts and 2-3 beers - just talented and does well at whatever he tries. He's also the reason I turned off comments on my blog. I was visiting him in Austin for his wedding and saw the CapTex Tri that same weekend. That's what got me back out on the bike and training. I am not sure if he gets credit for this.
5. Chris Tremonte - A pro and friend from Redmond, WA. Chris is a wealth of triathlon information. I first saw him as the first pro to exit the water at the Kirkland Triathlon last season - he was then in Triathlete Magazine a month later. I searched him out and found that he's a great guy, focused, talented (I've never actually seen a rooster tail behind anyone swimming - he goes THAT fast). You ask him a question and you'll get 1-2 pages of a response. He also takes pictures of his weekly produce run and posts them on his blog. I wish he was here to train with in CA. He was easy to talk out of working in order to go ride.
6. Ben Collins - He's got hairy legs but can whoop you so fast you'll mess your chamois. I don't think I've ridden with anyone as talented as Ben. He was ranked in Triathlon Magazine as the best age grouper under 25 and is ranked #1 in USAT for under 25. I can only find inspiration from this guy because I can't even sit on his wheel for a 5 min effort. I do know that he can't sprint for crap. Look for Ben to win age group worlds and then turn pro. He's also easy to talk into turning a 2 hour ride into 3-4 hours. He's also sponsored by Inside Triathlon for 2007.

Weekly Training Schedule

Here's my basic weekly training:

Monday: OFF (I hate this part)
Tues: Swim 5am-5:45am, lift 5:55-6:20am / Bike: 1.5 hours PM
Wed: Run 5:15am-6am / Bike 1.5 hours PM
Thurs: Swim 5am-5:45am, lift 5:55-6:20am / Bike: 1.5 hours PM
Friday: Run 5:15am-6am / Bike 1.5 hours PM
Sat: Swim Open Water: 45 mins/ Run 1 hour+
Sun: Bike 2-3 hours + Run Brick 30 mins

This provides about 13.75 hours of training (without weights and 14.5 - 15 with weights). It's not as agressive as I'd like to do but this is it for now. Now my coach will take this and adjust the efforts for my race schedule and periodization.

Picture: Here's the view from our back porch. This is where I try to swim but have only made it to the marina in the distance. I think much of that swim was the outgoing tide carrying me. You might notice that we are probably the only people without a boat. I've got an Orca wetsuit but no boat. I've also got Blue Zoomer II swim fins I bet no one in the neighborhood has those.

What's on my iPod: Disturbed, Garbage, Avril (don't ask), Bon Jovi (don't ask), Fall Out Boy, Red Jumpsuit Aparatus, Flyleaf and the theme from 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'.

Race Schedule 2007

Below is a tentative race schedule for 2007. I haven't filled in with a lot of B and C races (mostly tune ups) and since I haven't pulled together a travel plan - there's a chance that I won't be able to make all of these races. Both May and August are both pretty empty - though I'm sure that there is a good likelyhood of putting in some downtime in one of two months in order to be fresh for the A races towards the end of the season.

Race
Sacremento Triathlon
Napa Valey Sprint Triatlon
San Diego International
Carlsbad Triathlon
Long Beach CC
Mid-Summer Tri (Blue Lake / Troutdale, OR)
Pacific Grove
Los Angeles Triathlon
Malibu Triathlon
Scott Tinley's
Napa Valley Sprint Triathlon
Richmond ITU Long Course
Treasure Island Triathlon (SFO)

Update and Training in Marin

Ok, so I wasn't as bad a time-trialer as my last performance indicated. After struggling 2 weeks with a bad cold I went to visit Dr. Bob Adams (USA Track & Field Sports Med Chair & Dr.) who found out that I had bronchitis and strep.

I'm on anti-biotics but still rode and ran this weekend with a short attempt to do an open water swim in the bay (53 degrees). The anti-biotics killed my upper end (zone 4+) which made some of the longer climbs this weekend a bit rough. I rode to Nicaso, CA with a small group on Sat on my road bike and then solo'd the ride on my TT bike on Sunday. Sat's ride was followed by a zone 2 run with zone 4 3x3min efforts for a total of 3.75 hours on the bike and 1 hour run.

I tried to swim in the bay in my new Orca Sonar suit (we have a dock on the water) Sunday morning but didn't have a neoprene hoodie. I thought I could tough it out but my head was frozen in minutes. Addtionally, I got pretty freaked out by the lack of a blue line beneath me. The water is green and you can see about 1-2 yards max. If you've got ideas on how to get over this 'phobia' mail me. I'm not looking forward to getting in the open water until I have some idea how to get over this.

I've got some exciting news regarding a triathlon camp we're trying to put together with Chris McCormack and his manager Scott Fairchild. Hopefully I'll have some news next week.

Oh yeah, it was 70+ here this weekend. I saw a few clouds yesterday but they were about 15 miles away. My sun burn is feeling not so bad.

Mulligan!

Race season is on, the trouble is - someone forgot to tell my legs. I showed up to race the Ice Breaker TT this past Sunday (36 degrees) and was there 3 hours before my start time. I waited but my legs never showed. Lance and the Discovery boys joked about riding so well that if felt like there was 'no chain' and I felt like my chain was wrapped around my trainer which happened to be dragging behind me.

I did a TT test of 5 miles in Zone 4 (171-177 bpm) a few days before (Tuesday) the TT and felt great. Managed about 21-23mph with a little bit of a wind so I thought I'd be fine to capture a top 10 and maybe a top 3 time and ride a steady 26-27mph without even being hurt too badly.

Excuses first:

1. It snowed 4 inches Wednesday
2. I caught the flu on Wednesday evening
3. I got to bed at 12:30 the night before the TT (woke up at 5am)
4. I did a max power and LT test on the bike the day before
5. I wasn't feeling good and didn't eat very much the day before
6. I had a tire go down 1 min before I started the race
7. I haven't done a bike race as a cat 3 in about 4 years

So with that in mind, here's how the race went:

I did a nice warm-up of about 40 mins, taking 5 mins in each zone with a few mins in Zone 5 (my TT zone) 2x. I had 8 mins to ride a 7 min ride to the start when I noticed my front tire had gone very soft. It was a tubular with a valve extension so I hoped it was just a leaky valve extension. So I raced to the car, pumped the tire and hauled it to the start line. I got there with 8 seconds before I was scheduled to leave. If there was fast guy at the race - it was me going from the parking lot to the start line.

I started the race - 10 miles out and back, slight downhill on the way out (maybe a net drop of 10 meters on the way out). I was fine - started at 177 and riding 27mph. I passed about 5 riders (we were at 30 second intervals and start times were based on registration - not category or class). I hit 182 (hr) and felt ok and then things began to go dark - I had expected to ride at this HR and then finish the race around 188 - which I've done before in longer races. I began to slow down - just a few tenths here and there which I think was about .7 mph per mile. My HR never dropped and I didn't struggle terribly - everything just felt flat - like one of the 23 possums I saw along the road. I think I was passed by two Cat 1s and a dung beetle rolling a turd at some point. It was sad.

Score 30 unhurt, hurt 1 (ok, it was a DNF but it still counts). I consider this my mulligan.

UPDATE: as noted above it turns out I had bronchitis and strep. I don't feel so bad now.