Update and Fremont "Tri 4 Fun" Race Report

Hi to all THREE of my followers. That's right, a 50% increase in followers from July. I don't want to get a big head, but does that mean I'm kind of a big deal? Just kidding. I know I am...not.

Anyway, to the 3 of you: I apologize for the lack of updates. Most of July was spent either getting crazy amounts of training in, recovering, and having some fun with friends. My mom was an amazing host for the second annual "Hoogie Half" (of a half-iron distance triathlon). A huge thanks to her. No matter how low key you try to make an event like that, there is still a ton of legwork and enabling to be done. She nailed it. Already looking forward to next year, hopefully we can manage to get her to race and enjoy the day.

Injury update: after a long, hard weekend of training over the last weekend in July, I managed to severely dehydrate myself. I drank plenty of fluids, but did not replace enough electrolytes AFTER training. As a result, when I went out to run the following week, I re-aggravated my quad injury from earlier in the year. I scaled back significantly on training for two weeks, which were two of the most frustrating and disappointing weeks of the year. Thankfully, I have some amazing friends, family, and support crew. Thanks to all of you for putting up with me, encouraging me, and enabling me to get back to where I am today. After a few lengthy conversations, I was able to determine that my electrolytes were likely very low. Seems so obvious in hindsight, but I had been ignoring the symptoms as I assumed they were just fatigue. Long story short, after some miracle ART work from Dr. Ronda at Dynamic Chiropractic in Grandville and some significant electrolyte replenishment, I slowly ramped up my training and put in a few test efforts late last week. Which brings me to the race this past weekend up in Fremont.

--Fremont "Tri 4 Fun" Race Report--
I managed to get a transfer spot in the race thanks to a friend (thanks J2!), and decided that I would just race for fun and take it easy. After a decent bike ride in the morning, I felt like it was something I could survive and just enjoy. So, up to Fremont we went. Afternoon sprint triathlons = genius!

The swim: the swim at this race is sort of a joke, 300m of which 100m is running in knee deep water. When my wave started, I was not at all certain where I was supposed to exit the water and run to. The sidewalk that was referenced during the pre-race meeting was blocked by spectators. Failure on my part to do the right amount of recon, but again, this race is supposed to be fun! Into the water we went. Immediately, I was off the front with another guy, Jason (who ended up being a friend of our awesome host for the weekend), and Bill Jones (who I swam with waaaaaaay back in the day). Bill was gone. When I picked my head up to sight, I thought he was someone from another heat just warming up. Not that it mattered. He's on a different level. I think the swim took all of 4 minutes. Bill was out of T1 before Jason and I got there. This again played into my "he was in another heat" thought.

T1: reasonably fast. helps to not have to take off a wetsuit! Also motivated by Kristin's awesome sign.

The bike: again, started out not knowing where I was going...oops. Low key race though and it was okay. This was my first race on my new bike with my new race wheels. Let me just say this...IT IS FAST! Initially I thought about just riding easy and kept my cadence high. But when I looked down a few minutes into the ride, I was averaging over 25mph. I decided I would try to maintain that effort, recognizing that we had a bit of a tailwind at that point. I passed Jason and he said to me "go get him." This was the first time I realized that there really was someone ahead of us. Again, not that it would have mattered. The new bike (2009 Specialized S-Works Transition) and the new wheels (Reynolds DV3K Clinchers) had a great maiden voyage. In the end, after fighting the headwind, I averaged 23.2 mph. (STRAVA FILE)

T2: This was a little choppy. The dismount line was a little blurry (did I mention I had no idea where to go?) and running in bike shoes is less than pleasant. Thankfully I had a spot close to the bike out/in and didn't have to do much of that. I took the PowerBar gel that I forgot to take on the bike and flew out of T2.

The run: again, "am I going the right way?" was a recurring thought. But, thankfully, I ended up picking the right route based on what I vaguely remembered from the race meeting. My legs felt pretty strong and I ended up running 6:50s average and cannot complain at all. Felt good to open it up a little bit. I didn't push too hard though, as I didn't see anyone behind me (I had about 60 seconds out of T2), and the leader was long gone. So, cruising home (Kristin will probably give me crap for this) at that pace felt great. (STRAVA FILE)

The race is done in heats, so I would have to wait 14 minutes before the last heat's "handicap" would equalize my time. No one came in to beat me, so I took 2nd overall. Although, due to the low-key nature of the race (no timing chips), it took forever to do awards and post results. Next year, we'll bring a grill and a cooler full of beer. Live and learn. Overall, this was a really fun race, great location, and great people.

Thanks to the Kosters for their hospitality and to Jill1 for the pictures. Kristin - thanks for the never ending support and for the sign  ------->
Jill2 - thanks for the race entry. PowerBar - thanks for making me part of team elite. Dr Ronda and JR - thanks for the ART and encouragement. Mom and Dad - there's not enough space, you know, thank you and love you both.

24 days until IMWI 2012... KEEP DREAMING!!!