Charlevoix Triathlon

So my return to triathlon took place today at the Charlevoix Triathlon. The last tri I did was Kona, which was 1 year 10 months and 10 days previous, so I had high expectations for myself. I won't bore you with the training details up to the race, but let's just say I hadn't swam much, had biked a lot and had ran enough.

The day started out at 5:45am and, while still zombie like as I left the house, a Beastie Boys compilation increased my level of coherence on the drive over.  The race was run by a new company called Tri to Finish. The course map is here for reference. The race plan was to swim comfortably, hammer the bike and come into T2 with a lead. This is in contrast to almost every tri I've done previously, where the raining strategy is "run them down." It was announced early that the bike course was shortened about 2.5 miles, due to a water main break, which gave me less time to build a lead.

Going about my normal pre-race routine I discovered, sometime between yesterday and this morning, my front tire had a leak via a pin hole in the sidewall. Thus I had to change a tube, which stressed me out for time slightly. But I got my stuff set up, did a warm up swim and was ready to go. I didn't really know who were potential challengers in the small field of about 25, who were in the water for the Olympic Distance.

The swim was mostly uneventful. I was reminded I still can't swim in a straight line. I exited the water third, in a disappointing (but not surprising) 26:54. Dad shouted out I was two plus min down.  The space between racks was pretty tight and there was a guy puking in the middle of the "aisle" near my spot. I announced, "Hey man. I know you're puking.. but you're gonna have to move a little bit." Truthfully, he wasn't in my way at the moment, I just didn't want to smack him with my bike as I was leaving. It's all on video here. 

To dig myself out of a small hole, I just went hard on the bike, rather than settling into a groove. I caught one guy around 20 min into the bike. I looked up the road and couldn't see anyone else, so I thought I was in the lead, however I was sure there were two guys in front of me on the swim. Once I got to the turnaround and hadn't seen the other guy I was 100% sure I was in the lead. I had about a minute on him on the third u-turn and pushed on for several more miles, before settling in for the final three.

I came into T1, unable to get one foot out of my shoe prior to dismount, and couldn't get my running shoe on as the insole kept bunching up. But I managed to remedy the issues and was on my way out on the three loop course. I'm used to the "cement legs" sensation for the first 3/4ish mile, before getting in my running groove. After that I just churned my consistent 6:00-6:10 miles. At that pace I doubted anyone was going to run me down, but you never know who's back there.

A super flattering picture of me. 

Half way through I hadn't heard any split updates from my "fan club" (more on them later), nor could I see anyone closing behind me, so I felt pretty confident. I continued to run hard and crossed the finish just under 2:01 for my second W in 8 days. Fantastic! I felt like my old self, not even noticing my knee injury once during the race. So I am super happy with the results, but not satisfied. There is always more time to be found. It is a good starting block for Ironman Lake Placid next summer.

Grandpa and myself. Post Race.

I'd like to give a big thank you to the "fan club" that took time out of their weekend to come cheer me on. The course was very spectator friendly, which also benefits the racers as I get to feed of their energy multiple times during the race. I had the biggest cheering section there! So thank you to Bob and the South children (more of Bob's race videos on the No Boundaries FB Page), Rob and Danielle, Brandon and Leigh, and of course Mom, Dad and Weasel. Two days prior to the race my Grandpa announced that he would like to come watch, which was very special for me that he was there. Thanks Grandpa. Now you know what a triathlon is all about. More fun than watching golf? 

Cherry Roubaix 2012-Race Details

So Daemian and I were sticking to the plan of "stay near the front, see what happens, and go on the Narlock Rd. climb, second lap." So we just sat in and tried to conserve energy. Not atypical in road racing the pace would be slow and bunched up and the next minute faster and strung out. Nothing significant happened the first half lap, I noticed there was a decent crosswind on the long straight section of French Rd and tried to work my way to the left side of the two wide pace line to stay out of the wind. A few people tried some moves, but didn't get too far and the pace up climbs was a tolerable steady quick effort.

We completed the first lap and the field had slimmed down ever so slightly, but there were still lots of people around. This makes me antsy and I had to be patient to wait for the climb. This time the French Road section had significant crosswind and the field was single fine on the yellow line, moving at a decent pace as I held my position around 10-15 guys back. We could see two other race groups in front of us, just a ways off. As the smaller hills began again the intensity quickened slightly, but would again drop off on the flats/downhills and I continued to be patient.

By the time we turned on Gatzke road it was apparent we were going to catch the Cat 3s (who had  to ride 3 laps vs. our 2). I was a bit worried the officials would take their time in letting us pass and we would get to the climbs with a larger group, thus making my plan of attack less effective. But we passed the first group without incident before getting to the Narlock climb.

 As we rolled onto the climb I was about 10 men back and ticked up the intensity and rode to the front, where another rider was also making a move. Several guys responded, but at the top when the group's pace dropped off a bit I pushed on to try and string out the field. One guy went with me and we had a gap going into the second part of the climb. We turned onto Lime Lake Road and I went into TT mode and just tried to keep the pressure on. A couple more guys bridged up, but the group didn't really have the cohesiveness/drive/legs to open the gap up more and the gap between the chase slowly closed as I eased up to re-mount the attack on the last climb. I'm guessing there were about 20 riders in the main field at this point.

We turned onto Mountain Road for the final climb and I put the pressure back on, but this time no one went with me. It's hard to judge distance looking over your shoulder in an oxygen deprived state, but I'm guessing I had a 60-80m gap. I kept looking back, expecting to see them closing, but the gap stayed the same. I crested the hill, looked back again and went into red line freight train TT mode for the final 4ish K to the finish. It was almost frantic excitement to look back and see a group trying to chase me down. Another new sensation for me in bike racing. It was the energy and tension of watching cycling on TV and hoping the break makes it. But this time I was in the race, granted going like half the speed of the pro guys. The gap was closing, not quickly, but it wasn't a win yet by any shot.

I rounded the last corner, still very worried they were going to come flying past me. What I guess was less than 100m out I looked back and there were two guys rounding the corner in sprint mode. I attempted to stand up and give it a sprint, but that wasn't going to happen and I looked up and realized the finish line was right there and they weren't going to catch me. What an amazing feeling as I rolled across the line having a successful "you vs. many" breakaway.
 

The Finish Line.

So I was exhilarated and exhausted at the same time. I did a bit of a cool down and made my way back to the car. Daemian rolled up, and was pumped to hear I got the W. He said the longer climbs sapped him on the second lap. So it was time to hang out for the awards and watch the other races finish. I had a few quick conversations with some other guys in my category. It seems I had the element of surprise and no one knew who I was or where I was from (not surprising as I've been able to do two races a year). I assume that's why they didn't cover my pop off the front, as they all seem to know each other and their capabilities. So there goes my advantage of obscurity. Here is the link to the complete results.

They had the awards ceremony and I got my state champion jersey and medal and of most significance, a check for 200 bucks! First time I've ever won any money for an athletic event! This bike racing is really on to something. That will go into my PowerTap purchase fund. To cap off an amazing day we stopped by Don's Drive In for some greasy burgers and shakes. We then blared an eclectic variety of Hair Metal and 80s Pop as well as some Beastie Boys to ward off the food coma for the drive home. Now I'm looking forward to my triathlon return in Charlevoix this upcoming weekend. I guess I better go swim.

Cherry Roubaix 2012 Pre-Race

As you may recall from last years account of the Cherry Roubaix, I don't like sprint finishes in road bike races. Well this year they changed the course back and there was a "mountain top" finish. Much more my style and I was super excited, as I had been riding very well in our local group rides.

There were a couple of local guys planning on racing and my buddy Daemian and I went down the week before to ride the course. Our impression was that there were some longer climbs than we had thought and lots of options. We discussed our race strategy and then deferred to Dave Ide for wisdom. He recommended just staying with the group and then hammering on the second to last climb and trying to hang on. So that became the plan.

Daemian and I carpooled and had to leave Petoskey at 6am. So of course I was still a sleeping zombie for the drive. Despite the Hair Nation station we still weren't waking up and had to get some more coffee at the TC BK lounge, before heading up to Sugarloaf. After typical registration and such we were off to do our warm up.

Relevant Side Note: If you are a race director your #1 priority should be to have enough porta potties. Five units will not serve a field of 400+ athletes, who all have to use them at the same time. I will gladly pay an extra 2 dollars to my entry fee to have more. It's the most common gripe at any race ever, and I don't know why it continues to be an issue. For anyone that has ever been in a pre-race porta potty line this educational Slowtwitch article is required reading. Luckily I have honed my skills of finding the "hidden toilet" at races, of which there almost always is one, especially when races are held near golf courses. So we had no line for our pre-race duties. Winning. 


Our 56 rider field rolled out at 9:11am. A race rundown will happen in the next post.

Race Plans Develop

With the past year being an athletic roller coaster I can't describe how awesome it is to be back in racing form. Having thoughts and concerns last winter about not being able to run or compete in triathlons again, it was a little disheartening. I can only say how blessed I am to be back on track. Consider it a tough lesson learned.

So for the summer I've signed up for the following races: Cherry Roubaix State Road Race on August 12th and the Charlevoix Triathlon the following weekend. Both will be great tests of my fitness level.

I also signed up for another Ironman. My tri buddy Dave Smith sent me a text, "If Ironman Lake Placid goes online tomorrow I'm thinking of signing up." I responded, "ok. I'm in." The next day I dropped an absurd amount of money on another chance to make by body hurt and feel terrible the next day. It's not too dissimilar a comparison to drug addiction. I know better, but can't help it. So July 28, 2013 Dave and I will be competing together. Should be a grand time!

Bloomer Park Velodrome

Ever since my somewhat impulse/"quarter life crisis" purchase of a Jamis Sonik track bike last fall I was super excited to try it out on a velodrome. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically like a running track with banked curves, but for bikes. (General Velo Information). Unfortunately the closest one is all the way down in Rochester Hills, so it’s a bit out of the way. Luckily I was headed down that way for a wedding and figured I could bring the bike and find some time to check it out. For some reason doing this (albeit at a much, much, much less intense level and without crashing) seems fun. Basically like NASCAR but human powered.

After checking out Bloomer Park’s website, I saw they offer a Track 101 class so I figured it’d be smart to get the low down, instead of just hopping on the track. I got there on Thursday July 5. The day it just so happened to be 95 degrees. So I showed up and Dale Hughes, a regular volunteer, gave the basic idea behind track riding and how to follow the progression to get comfortable on the track.
So the track is 200m long and has 40 degree banking, which can be pretty intimidating when you ride into a wall that is 15 feet higher than your head. In fact, it is pretty darn easy as long as you keep peddling and look ahead. The bike itself tracks around the curve and you don’t even have to steer it; just commit.

After getting more comfortable on the track, I started riding with a regular named Joaquin, who gave me some guidance on drills and group riding. Holding someones wheel on a track is different, because you’re constantly changing efforts into and out of curves. This is because you’re going uphill into the curve and accelerate downhill out of it. We did some build up laps before going into an all out lap, which is super fun and a little scary at the same time. You come blasting out of the top of a curve and sprint down through the bottom of the next one as your bike slingshots around the curve. Needless to say I couldn’t hold his wheel and he was doing mediocre efforts. It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced before on a bicycle. Super fun.

If you have a chance to get down to Bloomer Park I would highly recommend the experience for any cyclist. There are “loaner bikes” available and the cost is only $5 to get in the park. The “Track 101″ class and riding time is free. There are 10 year old kids zipping around as well as 65 year old men, so there’s no reason to be intimidated by anyone. I would highly encourage the experience.

Back to Running: Paul Revere 10 Mile

Harbor Springs has the Paul Revere 3 & 10 Mile run on the Fourth of July. My sister and mother were going to run the 10 mile. I wanted to do a race, simply for a hard training effort and, again, to see where my fitness was. Originally I was going to do the three mile. Two weeks out I decided I could manage the 10 mile just fine, as long as I went in with the mentality of "not racing" just running decently hard.

My previous history with this race was from 2009. In which at the time was one of the harder running efforts I had ever put out. For our college LPPM runs (google LPPM and PAAVO if you really care), my goal was to run under 6:00 miles for the 6 and 8 mile ones, which were always were the giant thorn in my side for my last two years at Alma. So to do a ten mile under 60, was super challenging for me, amplified from the mental block of it. So in 2009 I did the race and ran 59:48. I still have my splits in my log book.

So this year the race shaped up a little sunny and warm, but I put in a steady hard effort, not racing anyone. I really started to feel my lack of base around mile 7, but came in with a completely satisfying 63:20. Another confidence booster for me on my return to triathlons, the ultimate goal.

Duck Lake TT 2012

After what seemed like a very long hiatus from racing I competed in the Duck Lake Time Trial on June 16th. You may recall last year's post where I finished the 40K in 58:03, good enough for first in the Cat 5s. Obviously with the surgery and such, I came into the race, unsure where exactly my level of fitness was compared to last year. Based on several comparison workouts to last year, I was under the impression I had decent cycling fitness, but not quite up to the level I had last year at this time.

Myself and two other cycling friends drove down to Muskegon on Friday night and still had to get up way too early on Saturday. My send off time was at 8:58am. After a proper warm up and all that "race prep" stuff I was ready to rock and feeling decent. The course is a two lap rectangle that is essentially flat. I race without any “info” (power, HR, or speedometer) and it took me a few miles to get settled into my effort. One big thing with TTs is learning what effort you can hold. Last year I felt like I was too conservative on the first lap and tried to make it all up in the last 5 miles, thus leaving some time on the course. This year I pushed it harder and earlier on. Half way I was around 28:30, so I was pleased with that and knew I just had to man up for a little bit longer.


Side Note: The whole strategy of TT pacing reminds me of my favorite Will Ferrell Movie, Talladaga Nights. There’s the scene where Susan is doing her motivational speech/seducing Ricky Bobby in the bar and she so eloquently puts it.

“…You need speed. You need to go out there, and you need to rev your engine. You need to fire it up. You need to grab a hold of that line between speed and chaos, and you need to wrestle it to the ground like a demon cobra! And then, when the fear rises up in your belly, you use it. And you know that fear is powerful, because it has been there for billions of years. And it is good. And you use it. And you ride it; you ride it like a skeleton horse through the gates of hell…”



Okay so that’s obviously not quite how it happens, but really that’s what I love about the individual effort. It’s how close you can toe that line, knowing you’re going to get punched in the face eventually and how long can you take it.

Back to the race. So I did my thing and tried to ride fast, stay as aero as possible and push myself as hard as I possibly could. I rounded the last turn and there’s about a quarter mile straight to the finish. I crossed the line and managed to glance at my watch and saw it was around 57 flat. Behind how terrible I felt physically, I was amazed that I was a minute faster than last year! I’ve pushed myself to the edge before, but it’s interesting how the feeling of being on that edge is different depending on the sport/situation, be it Ironman vs Olympic triathlon, 800m vs 10K running or a regular cycling race. I guess it takes some degree of sickness to enjoy experiencing those different situations. 

I attribute my improvement over last year solely to the fact of being more experienced racing on that edge and figuring out the pain tolerance. I don’t think I’m in any better physical shape than last year, only mentally. So I’m super pumped to see what I can do once I get some solid base back, and I’m ecstatic to be back racing. This race was a huge confidence booster.

The Steed

Results wise I officially finished in 57:02, which placed first in the tight Cat 4 race. Second was only 4 seconds back and third was only 10 behind him.

Cat 4 Podium

Post Surgery Recovery

So Dr. Guettler told me that I would be running in 6 weeks. The day following surgery the family drove down to Florida for spring break, so I got to begin my recovery hanging out on the beach. Beach sitting isn't my ideal vacation, however it was good for me since I was suppose to simply hang out anyway.

Four days after surgery I started short rides on the stationary bike and worked my way up from there over the next 10 days, keeping my sanity with some core and upper body workouts instead. Two weeks after, I started swimming and continued to bike up to 45 minutes. I also started formal Physical Therepy with Jeff Smith at Northern Michigan Sports Medicine. Jeff was super knowledgeable and helpful in pushing me, but at the same time not pushing me too fast. Which I certainly wanted to do at times, as I hadn't run in over a year.

 I hurt my knee on February 26, 2012, and after getting through my "stupid period" of two weeks, before I conceded I was seriously injured, I had ran a total of five miles. What I would qualify as my first post-surgery "run" took place on May 7, 2012. So for someone who has fairly consistently been running since middle school, 14 months was a long time to go not running.

I continued to do PT and build up base cycling, while doing some very short runs a few times a week. I was obviously out of running shape, but it came back relatively fast. It was amazing how my much my calves hurt after runs and how long it seemed to get them back in running shape. It just goes to show the "in shape" aspect with the impact of running vs. non impact of cycling. I was getting some consistent cycling miles in and really excited to be back on the right track. I was starting to feel the competitive itch again. So I decided to sign up for the State Time Trail as a test of where my fitness was compared to last year.

Knee Surgery

So I think there's few people that really want to read all the medical details of my surgery. I will include a few. I went to see Dr. Guettler down in Detroit. (side note: No he doesn't actually practice in what I guess down state people know as "Detroit". However being from the northland if you point to the pad of your thumb/palm it's all "Detroit" to me).  Basically if there was something very significant wrong, Dr. Guettler had more advanced procedures and the experience and to try and repair those things (ex. cartillage defects). But hopefully it wouldn't be anything too bad.

As a side note a family member of mine is in the orthopedic field, and he gave me lots of advice and his professional opinion. As it turns out he also was in need of a knee scope (i.e. old knees). So we decided to have them done at the same time. That person is my dad.

So surgery day rolls around (March 15, 2012) and I'm obviously a little anxious. I'm in the OR prep room and the nurses are all doing all their thing. One nurse walked in and trying to make a big deal about how she now had to shave my leg for me. I think she was disappointed when she found out I had taken care of it already. Sometime after, they roll dad into the area next to me. Mom is also there and we open the curtain and just have a grand time while we wait. Next thing that happens is a nurse comes in, pokes me with some "feel good" drugs and I'm wheeled into the OR with a big smile. I see some people in masks and a bunch of lights and then I'm out.

So I wake up in recovery and am a bit punch drunk and STARVING, not having been able to eat since midnight. I eat anything they'll bring me and make jokes and hope around on my crutches. I was about in the same shape after getting my wisdom teeth taken out. "I can do it myself. I'm fine. Let me walk out of here." Dad gets wheeled out and the doc comes to tell me what the story is and show me the scope pictures.

So as far as knee scopes go this one was about as easy as they come. All the cartilage looked spectacular! (big grin on my face) Meniscus was fine! The only issues were some spots of scar tissue around the synovium and some sheath around my ACL. Basically it's the best news I could have, and a HUGE mental and emotional relief. Check out some pics below.

ACL and some scar tissue.

Intact Meniscus.

Winter Update and Spring Surprise

In case you missed this post a while back, I crushed my tibial plateau skiing in February of 2011. The injury got better through out the summer, but I still was unable to run. The winter was more of the same and it seemed like the progress had plateaued. Much better than when I first injured it, but not back to the level I would like. So it was some easier trainer sessions, a bit of skate skiing, and more of my core/weights/stretch band routines.

Discussing skate skiing can be left for another time, but as a quick note it's amazing how I can be a proficient alpine skier, have a superb engine...and so utterly fail at skate skiing. But with a sport that's so technique based that's how it goes. I got much better as the winter went on. Besides the fact we had a poor winter for snow, which also limited the number of times I could get out. Back to the injury update.

So as the winter progressed and 2012 came, I was not a very happy camper. I wasn't able to progress the intensity of my trainer workouts due to my knee, which was very frustrating. It's not that I couldn't have ridden hard, it just didn't feel like it was a good idea. And I've tried pushing through enough injuries before, to know that it wasn't a good idea. With two MRIs, and a few possible thoughts on the problem, the next option was surgery. After lots of thought my thought process was as follows: It was apparent that giving it time and rest, wasn't super effective to get back to the level of competition I strive to be at. Plus there was always the lingering thought that if there is some type of cartilage/bone defect as a result of the injury, I would like have the full picture so as to adjust my active lifestyle accordingly for the future. So I decided to get a knee scope. More on that in the next post.

Iceman 2011: First Mountain Bike Race

Anyone that happens to be unfamiliar with the Iceman Cometh Mountain Bike Race can check out the details here. In short it’s from Kalkaska to T.C. and it has grown to be the largest one day mountain bike in the US. It also happened to be my first mountain bike race ever.

The day dawned clear and chilly, right around freezing, with predictions for perfect race conditions later in the morning. We had a whole crew racing from the bike shop where I work at (No Boundaries in Boyne City).The race goes off in waves, starting with the fasted seeded times (those that raced previously) followed by age group waves. I was in a wave with my triathlon buddy, Dave Smith (who's blog is here) and we planned to work together. It was also his first mountain bike race. We were in wave 19 going off at 9:54, so there was bound to be lots of traffic on the trail. We we ended up being a bit rushed to get to the starting line (just how I like to roll), but got in our wave in time.

The horn went off as did the mad dash to get to the front, as the first part of the race is open and flat and not to get stuck behind slower riders in the single track. I fell a bit behind Dave after my poor positioning and lack of wanting to red line in the first 5 minutes. There was also a crash in the opening two track section, thus I spend most of the next 20 minutes trying to make up time to catch Dave, as we had wanted to ride together. I eventually worked my way back to him and as the course opened up to a long section of dirt road, he said that this was the spot to make up time and took off. My lack of riding in recent weeks was evident at this point as he was gone and I conceded to not blow up less than half way through the race.

The rest of the race was riding and passing a lot of people from earlier waves. I had to dismount up Anita’s hill, upon which my quads and calves immediatly seized and I noted to not get off my bike until the end of the race. I heard the crowd and the announcer at the finish, which was deceiving as I still had 2 miles to go. In the last section of single track I took few risks, just wanting to finish the race in one piece. I crossed the finish line in 2:07:20; a time I was pleased with considering my conditioning. Dave had a great day, finishing in 1:59. We found the rest of the No Boundaries crew, chowed down on some food, enjoyed some fermented beverages and hung out around the campfire. We stayed to watch the Pros come through around 3pm. It’s amazing how fast they can go. Uphill and on single track. Overall it was a super day and a race that I will certainly be doing more MTB racing in the future.