IRONMAN FLORIDA RACE REPORT

I’ll go ahead and apologize for the lengthiness of this post. It’s hard to jam pack 15hrs into a few paragraphs. So many words come to mind when I think about that Saturday…awesome, inspiring, painful, relief, fun, surreal, unforgettable. I was talking with MH the other day and told her that next to “I now pronounce you husband and wife” & “Mr. O’Neal, would you like to see your son” hearing the words “Eric O’Neal, you are an Ironman” has been one of the greatest moments in my life. Where in the world do I begin…

Race Week

I was a nervous wreck the weekend before the race. It seemed like I didn’t have anything that I needed nor would I be able to get everything ready to go for when we hit the road Monday night. MH is a saint for putting up with me. I know I had to have driven her crazy with all the last minute items I needed to buy. We got on the road Monday right after work and rolled into Grayton around 930. Just getting down there helped me to calm down a little bit. The plan was to what little bit of training was on my schedule and just relax as much as I could. A short ride on Tuesday was skipped b/c a gasket in my pump blew out. I got a good 5 mile run in that evening. Wednesday morning I drove over to PCB to meet up with a few people that I’ve met on beginnertriathlete.com to go for a swim. I was pretty nervous. This was my first swim in my new wetsuit…my first real swim in the Gulf…and there were only 4 of us going. We hit the water around 715 and swam straight out for probably about 1000m. We made a few stops along the way so everyone could get back together. We made the turn and started back in. This swim helped my confidence a lot. I knew I could swim the distance, I just didn’t know what the water of the gulf would be like. Now, if only there was a way to simulate swimming with 2500 other people. After the swim, I hopped on my bike all geeked out with my sweet aero helmet and rode down the run course to the state park and back to the car. The wind was whipping. This was my first time on my race wheels. You can really tell a difference with the wheels and helmet. I didn’t feel like I was a brick on wheels pedaling into the wind. I got back to the car and switched into some dry clothes so I could go wait in line for athlete registration. The line was only about 50 athletes deep at this point. It didn’t take too long before I was at the tent, signing all my waivers, and getting my swag bag. They set up Ironman Village rather nicely. You walk out of registration straight to the expo and IM shop. I picked up a few things…stickers, a visor, and compression socks. Then I went and got us checked into our room. The first of Heather’s family was getting into town on Wednesday afternoon. I headed back to Grayton to load up her and little man for our stay in PCB. It was pouring down rain at this point. Rather than unpack in the rain, we went to the house her family was staying at. We visited for a while and then left Lucas with them so we could go unpack. So, I’m sure that our room at the Boardwalk Resort was nice when it was first built, but by today’s standards not so much. They charged you like it was some beach side villa. Once we got everything of mine into the room, we looked and decided it would probably be better for MH and Lucas to stay at her parents’ place. Lucas would have gone crazy in this room and in turn so would we. It was lonely in the room, but it was a good lonely. I was able to focus on the race, go thru my gear (multiple times), make lists of lists that I need to make, and get some good sleep. Thursday morning was more of the same. I didn’t get in the water, but I did get a quick and easy brick workout done. The run was cut short b/c it started to thunder and lighting and I didn’t want to end my race before it even started. That night, the entire family went to Mikata for dinner. All the carbs and sodium from the rice are great for you on races like this. We all said our goodbyes and called it a night. Back in the room, I laid out all of my gear again and made lists for each transition & special needs bag (again). Friday morning, I woke up and stepped out on our balcony. Wow…the waves were rockin. Around 8 I slipped on my wet suit and headed down to see just how bad the water was. A few people actually went out swimming. The rest of us made it out about waist deep and just watched as the waves came crashing in. It was those waves that would knock you over if you weren’t paying attention. At each break of the waves, we would look at each other with wide eyes and you just knew…you knew they were thinking the same thing…Please God let the water calm down by tomorrow. After the “swim,” I headed back up to the room and quadruple checked all of my gear before I took it to the drop off points. Leaving your bike and gear is a weird feeling, but it also made the way for a calmness to come over me that day. The rest of that day was full of rest. I curled up with little man and took a nap that afternoon. That evening, MH and I headed back to the room for the night.

Race Day

I woke up around 300 to eat my first meal (waffles with PB & Honey). I was getting a little nervous at this point. I tried to fall back asleep, but that just wasn’t going to happen. I made a cup of green tea and just sat there. I tried to go through the race in my head. Tried to think through my strategy for each leg of the course.

Around 500 I drank a protein shake. I started to get crazy nervous at this point. I put on my jammers and just kinda bounced around the room. Around 6:00 is when it got ugly. My stomach was in knots. I tried to just lay back and listen to some music, but the nerves were just too much. I ended up getting sick that morning. (Caution TMI: luckily it was just liquid that came up and not all my nutrition from the morning or else I would have freaked out). Afterwards, I felt fine. I was ready to do this. I put on my wet suit and headed down to the beach around 6:20 and I’d look for the fam after I swam a little. I walked over to the swim exit to see how it was set up and heard someone calling my name. It was Sophia! It was good to see a familiar face. We talked for a bit and took a picture. Then I headed into the water to try and do a little warm-up swim. I was only able to swim for about 5 mins before they announced for everyone to get out of the water. I headed back onto the beach and started looking for my family. They should’ve been easy to spot in the shirts they had made for the race.

I saw Keith with Jackson on his shoulders and then the rest of the family. I gave everyone hugs, kissed MH and little man and headed towards the chute. Can tell everyone how much it helped having cheerleaders out there. They were decked out with signs and everything!

A nice calm came over me once I left the cheering section. I just stood there and looked out over the water while we sang the National Anthem. This was going to be an awesome day!

The Swim (2.4miles)

The cannon sounded and we were off. I high stepped through the waves until it was about waist deep and then I dove on in. I’ve heard this described as being in a washing machine with hands and feet…that’s pretty much the truth. The first loop was nothing but hits, slaps, leg grabbing, and kicks. I decided that I wanted to try and stay

in the pack on the first loop. I never got hit very hard nor did I just lay into anyone. I took one good kick to the side by some D.A. doing the breastroke in the middle of everyone. I don’t have a problem with racers doing the breaststroke, but if you have to do it, move to the outside. That stroke takes up so much room. The turn at the buoy wasn’t as big of a cluster as I thought it was going to be. I had heard rumors that it gets jammed up and you end up hanging out treading water for a few minutes while everyone makes the turn but that was not the case at all. After the next turn towards shore, I felt started digging a little harder. Every few strokes I’d look up to make sure I was still swimming towards the turnaround. About 30 yards out from the shore, I stood up and started high stepping through the waves. I ran across the timing mat and saw 35:38 on my watch…I was killing the swim. I grabbed a cup of water and took back off into the surf. The hordes had thinned out on the second loop. You still got the occasional smack in the head or kick to the ribs but nowhere near what it was like on the first loop. I made the two turns without any major issues and started heading back into shore. I was out of the pack on the way back in. I’d catch the current every once and while pulling me off course. I stood up at about the same point again and took my time walking to the swim exit. It was jam packed full of swimmers. I crossed the timing mat and saw my time on my watch of around 1:18. I was shooting for around 1:15/1:20 so I was pretty pumped. [Swim Time 1:18:46; Overall 1374/2405; Div 144/204; Sex 1127/1832]

T1

As I exited the water, I unzipped my wetsuit and pulled it down to my waist. After I crossed the mat, I found a stripper to rip my wet suit off my waist & legs. I stood up, grabbed my wetsuit, and made my way to the change tent. I looked up to see all the in-laws up on the breezeway outside my room cheering me on. The change "tent" was about the biggest cluster that I have ever been a part of. Over 1800 guys trying to change clothes and not lose anything. I was hoping that I could get in and out of transition in about 7 minutes, but that just wasn’t going to happen considering it took 7 minutes for me to get to a spot where I could change. I decided I’d rather take my time and make sure I didn’t forget anything than rush through and forget something. I exited the change tent and ran by the SPF crew. My friend Kate was volunteering with the SPF crew. I got in front of her and was greeted with a scream and a hug. I got some put on my face and made my way around the parking lot to where my bike was racked. A volunteer had it waiting for me. I ran it to the exit, saw my awesome cheering section, mounted up and made my way out for 112 miles of fun. [T1 Time 19:08; Overall 2264/2405; Sex 1728/1832; Div 196/204]

The Bike (112 miles)

It was still pretty cold by the time we got out on the bike. I was wearing my bike shorts, tri jersey, arm warmers, long sleeve under armour shirt, and a large plastic bag under my outer layer to act as a wind breaker. The big “no no” when on the bike course is to draft. It seemed like there were a bunch of us that tried so hard not to draft and then everyone else just didn’t even care. On some of those roads, a string of 6-10 bikes would come humming along. It was a little irritating. The first 56 miles went by pretty fast. I was hammering along pretty good. I took it very easy the first 30 minutes. At this mark, I took in my first bit of nutrition since breakfast. I had a card attached to my aero bars that broke down what I was going to eat every hour and a reminder to keep drinking fluids. My goal was to take it around 370 cals every hour on the bike (1 mini clif bar, 1 Gu, 20oz of IM Perfomace (drink)). The aid stations were great. Just holler out what you want and they would run it up along next to you so you could grab it and be on your way. The wind didn’t feel too bad for the first 20-35 miles. Around mile 45 it seemed to pick up some. Then around mile 50, we hit the out and back section where our special needs bags were waiting for us. I couldn’t wait to chow down on that uncrustable. This was the roughest section of road on the course. Bottles & spare tubes littered the ground. I hit the turnaround and go to my bag in just over the 3hr mark. I felt great on the bike. I was averaging close to 18 on the first half which is pretty good for me. The second half of the bike is when it got a little more interesting. The packs had thinned out. There were 3 or 4 of us that seemed to play leap frog for the next 50 miles. For miles 60-85 the wind was killing us. I dropped out of my big chain ring up front because my knee just started throbbing. I tried to just spin when I could and coast down the hills…yes, that’s right, hills in Florida. Toward the end of this stretch, I saw 4 orange shirts at the next intersection. As I got a little closer, I could tell it was Aunt Debra, Uncle Rusty, Mamaw, & Papaw. Once I got close enough where they could see me, I threw a hand up and waived. The bike course got a little lonely, and seeing some of my family at that point gave me a new found energy to finish up these last 30 miles. As I got back into PCB and took the left off of Hwy 79, I saw more of my cheering section yelling for me. I didn’t catch who all was there. I know I saw Dave and Briana. Hearing people cheer you (specifically you) on is way too cool. The wind on Front Beach Road sucked. It was the longest 7 miles ever. I weaved back onto Thomas drive and rode down the chute that was lined with spectators yelling and cheering for everyone. I hit the dismount line and passed my bike off to volunteer. She treated me well today. I saw all my orange clad family and friends, waved, and made my way into transition to get suited up for the run. [Bike time 6:47:10; Overall 1925/2405; Sex 1560/1832; Div 179/204]

T2

I tried to run into the change tent, but my legs did not want to cooperate. My first thought was how in the hell am I going to run 26.2 miles with my legs feeling like this. I got into the change room and found a chair. T2 wasn’t nearly as packed and unorganized as T1. Again, I took my time so I wouldn’t forget anything. I stopped by the SPF crew again to get some on my face (thanks again Kate!) and made my way to the run exit. Leaving transition was a weird feeling, all that stood between me and becoming an Ironman was 26.2 long miles. [T2 time 13:57; Overall 2188/2405; Sex 1681/1832; Div 193/204]

The Run (26.2 miles)

As I started out on the run course, all my cheering section was out there yelling. I felt so energized at this point. I tried to keep an easy pace. After the first mile, my HR started going crazy, breathing was off, and stomach was cramping. I just had to start walking. After about 10 minutes, my HR and breathing were fine, but my stomach was not. Anytime I tried to pick it up and run, I got a shooting pain. I started sipping water thru the aid stations and chewing some pepto chewables like they were candy. Around mile 5, I felt a good bit better and decided to try and run through it. I started my watch and started my 4/1 run/walk. This put me out of the neighborhood and into the state park. Around mile 7, they have what is called the Ford Motivational Mile. Heather was able to type me a message that flashed on the screen as I passed it. “You can & You Will”. The park was the lonely part of the run. There is only 1 aid station and not much lighting. My buddy Carroll and his wife were on the course around mile 11. He jogged with me for a bit to see how I was doing. This helped a lot. He was very encouraging. I made the turn back onto Front Beach Road and could see the turnaround as well as the people that were finishing up their marathon and heading to the finish line. As I neared the turn around, my knee was aching. Uncle Rusty hopped out and ran with me a little ways to the turn around which helped me ignore the pain for a little bit. I saw all the rest of the fam at the turnaround. MH was there yelling how she was proud of me and that she loved me. I think I shouted back I love you, but I know I locked eyes with here and gave her a look like OMG I’m about to die. I grabbed my special needs bag and fished out my long sleeve Auburn shirt. It was pretty darn cold out there at this point. For the next 13.1 miles, I was greeted with War Eagles and did you hear that LSU beat bama. (It was turning out to be a great day!) Some people like looped courses…me, not so much. I hate know exactly how much I have left. But, hearing her words kept me going. There was no way I wasn’t going to finish this thing. I kept on with my 4/1 strategy up until mile 20. My stomach started cramping again and my knee was killing me. I tried to just keep sipping water at the aid stations. I was given a glow stick so that volunteers and traffic could see me better since it was night now. I munched on some grapes and pretzels and as the night carried on, I looked forward to the warm cups of chicken broth every mile. I hit mile 23 and tried to run again, but it just wasn’t going to happen. My stomach was fine…my knee was not. Every stride sent a sharp pain across the front of my knee. Even walking was hurting at this point. I wasn’t just plodding along, I was close to speed walking. I hit that last mile marker and just kept on repeating…I Can. I started running. I wasn’t running fast, but I was moving. Before you make a couple of turns to get out on Front Beach Road, you could see the lights from the finish line light of the sky and the announcers voice calling out racers as they crossed the finish line. I made my turn onto Front Beach Road and saw the finish line. I started running harder. I was gonna do it…I was gonna finish this thing. I passed Alvins Island and entered the finishers chute. I flung my glow stick to the side and laughed when spectators yelled that’s right you don’t need that thing anymore. As The last 100 yds came up, I start throwing my hands in the air getting the crowd pumped up. I could see the orange shirts in the bleachers, but all I could do was look straight ahead at that finish line. The last 10 yds I ran as hard as my legs would let me and heard the words I will never forget…”Eric O’Neal…You…are…an…Ironman!” [Run time 6:33:06; Overall Place 2129/2405; Sex 1648/1832; Div 194/204]

My final time was 15:12:05 [Overall 2053/2405; Sex 1612/1832; Div 191/204]. Overall I was pleased with my race. If I had to change anything, it would have been the run. I might have tried to run more or when I did run, run faster. It's easy to look back and see thing that you would do differently. While I was on that run, I wanted to go faster & I wanted to run more, but my knee just wouldn't let me.

After I crossed the finish line, got my hat and medal and made my way around to see the family. I know that they had to be frozen. I was on cloud 9 at this point. It was weird…on the course when I thought about finishing, I’d get a little teary eyed, yet when I crossed that line all I wanted to do was smile. When I got to see MH and little man I got a little choked up. Thinking of them is what helped get me thru this. Recovery wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Yes, I was sore, but I wasn’t immobile like some people were that next morning. Thanks to everyone for following me that day…for thinking about me that day…and for praying for me that day. It meant a lot to have so many people be a part of this weekend. And to those that don’t know…yes, I did get some ink.

We have a ton of pics and only a few that I’ve actually gotten to put online anywhere. Check out the two links below. One is for pics that MH took and the other is for the official pics from IMFL. I’ll post new links as I get them online.

Here is a slideshow of all the pics from MH's camera. A lot of duplicates and random ones...

Here is the link to the "official" photos from IMFL.

And Lucas…one day you’ll get to read this or hear about this I’m sure. I want you to know that you were a big reason I did this. You and your momma mean the world to me. Anytime in life, when things get tough, just remember to keep telling yourself these two words “I Can”.

No quote this week. Instead, I ask that you take just a few minutes to click the link below and read more about “People for bikes.” If you feel so inclined, sign the pledge. Thanks!

http://www.peopleforbikes.org/

test

testing for twitterfeed

The Time Is Now...

Well, here we are…6 days out from IRONMAN Florida. This has been an awesome journey. I’ve learned a lot about the sport and about myself over the past year. This year has been KU-RAY-ZEE. Throwing a little munchkin into the mix has definitely made it more exciting. I can’t believe that the day is almost here. The day where I’m gonna push myself harder than I ever have. I’m very anxious right now. It seems like no matter what I do, I can’t stop thinking about being out on that race course. I’m excited and nervous as hell at the same time. Did I train enough…what if I get my goggles kicked off in the swim…what if I wreck on the bike…what if I get on the run and just can’t go? I’ve always been a big self doubter . I’ve gotten better over this past year though. In all my races, I’m good on the swim…pretty good on the bike…and the run is hit or miss. The past couple of races, I have had some good runs which is very reassuring for IMFL.

Mantras…My buddy Jeff and I had a discussion a couple of weeks ago about race “mantras.” Those sayings you repeat to yourself when things start getting rough out there on the course to help push you through to the finish. One fellow triathlete has a couple that he goes through…the first is “Pura Vida” which means “Pure Life”. He picked it up in Costa Rica. They say it as a way of saying, “Hey, I’m just feelin groovy and I hope you are too.” Seems to me it is one of those to try and calm you down. When he starts getting tired, he turns to another…”Form Forward.” Don’t focus on anything but your form. Don’t worry about pace, the guy/girl that just passed you. Focus on your form and you’ll get more comfortable and inevitably, your pace picks up on its own. If these two don’t work, he digresses into despair and starts using his third mantra which like “Form Forward” starts with “F.” :-)

Jeff told me of a couple of other ones…his favorite is Philippians 3:12-14…”Not that I have already obtained this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” If you memorize it, it takes about 40 secs to say to yourself which is a good distraction in bad situations. A shorter one that I have caught myself saying is a take paraphrase of Hebrews 12:1 “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down,…and let us run with endurance that race that God has set before us.” This biggest weight for me when I start saying this is doubt. Another one that I really like now (thanks Jeff) is just the phrase “I Can.” Short, simple, and powerful. It will zap me back into focus when the doubts start creeping in my head. “I Can” can easily be translated into “I will” out on that race course. I will finish this. I will push hard and cross that finish line. I will do this for myself…for my family since they have sacrificed so much time and money for me to make this journey…for all of my friends who have always been there for me and listened to me talk about this for God knows how long…and for my little man, Lucas, so he will learn from his dad that no matter what…You Can.

Tracking me during the race…I’ll have my laptop with me down there, but I doubt that I will be doing much blogging once we get on the coast. For everyone that is coming down…I can’t wait to see you on the course. Having cheerleaders is such motivation when you are out on that run. For those of you not making the trip, there are several ways you can track my progress.
Directly on the website. www.ironman.com There will be a link to an athlete tracker starting that morning around 7central. My bib number is 372. This will update only as I cross timing mats. So you will only be able to see my swim time, transition times, bike times, and run times.
You can follow me on twitter @onealec Heather will be tweeting my progress throughout the day as she sees me. I’ll be sure she includes my name in the tweets so you will be able to see them.
Probably the best way to track me, is thru a website that I will have to post later this week. I’ll be carrying a GPS tracker on me starting at the bike that will allow you to track me in real time on a website either from your computer or handheld. I’ll pretty much show up as a blue dot on google earth. It will list a bunch of info like dist completed and dist to go; average speed; etc. I haven’t ever used this thing before, but I have heard good things. I’ll post the info up here and/or send out an email once I get the info on Thursday.

Well, I guess I’ll stop rambling now. Thanks to everyone for making this possible…All my friends, thanks for listening to me go on an on about triathlons. I would have exploded if I wasn’t able to talk about racing every day.
John (James), You were there when I attempted my first laps in the pool. I could barely make it one length without having to stop. Thanks for helping me with my form and being there all those mornings at Masters.
Sophia & Carrie, thanks for helping me get my knee straightened out. It’s not 100%, but I don’t think it ever will be.
John (Hanna), what can I say man? I would have been lost this past year without you as my coach. I know I wasn’t as consistent with my workout as I needed to be, but you were always there to motivate me and keep me focused.
Jeff, you talked me into doing my first half mary, so you pretty much started me off on my endurance event journey. Work wouldn’t be the same without you. I wish that I could be there to pace you on your Pinhoti 100 run. Stay focused out there. 1 aid station at a time. I know you’ll do great.
Carroll, if you had a buck for every question I asked you about triathlons the past two years, you could probably take a couple months off work. Thanks for always being there with an answer. Lots of emails and lunch conversations were had and they no doubt helped me get to where I am.
Mom, Dad, Mo, Keith, Keyes, and rest of family thanks for being there to cheer me on these past couple of years. Having so many people believe in me has definitely been a motivator when times have gotten bad. Thanks for always being there to help Heather and help with Lucas. Y’alls love and support has been one of the best weapons I’ve had.
MH & Lucas, how do I even begin to say thanks. MH, you rock. You have always been my strength and shoulder to lean on when I got down about my training. You have made it to pretty much all my races and cheered me on thru each one. I love you more than you will ever know. Thank you for being you! Lucas, thanks for making my day with that smile you have. Whether I was picking you up from school or walking in that front door at home, seeing you smile and starting crawling towards me has made everything awesome. As I said earlier, you are one of the big reasons I’m doing this. I want you to always be able to look back and know that “you can!”

Ok, now I’ll stop rambling. Y’all have an awesome week. I’ll try and touch base one last time before Saturday. Everyone stay safe and War Damn Eagle!

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “I Can”

See ya September

So, this month flew by. Life’s been busy this past month. Lucas turned 1, lots of training, busy at work, a bit more training, Auburn football (WDE)…not much time to just sit and relax let alone get an update put up on the blog. Where to begin?

Lucas rocks. It’s the easiest way to put it. I never thought that something could bring a smile to my face like he does. Everyday, I can’t wait to get home and see him and MH. He is starting at a new school on Monday. Say a prayer for the teachers…he’s been with grandparents for the past three weeks, and they did what great grandparent do…spoiled him rotten.

Here’s my little dude chillin in the cool car buggy at publix

Work has been going great. Getting to work on some cool and different projects from what I’m used to. I’m hoping that this is putting me on course to be a direct employee with Southern Company and not a leased worker soon. MH is still loving Alacare…who wouldn’t when you get to pimp around town in a sweet A PT cruiser.

Training has been pretty good this month. Running is starting to catch up a little bit with biking and swimming. I haven’t been able to get as much volume in on the bike or run as I have wanted/needed to, but some things are more important…see above. We have reached the 5 week mark for IMFL. It’s easy for me to get nervous. I’ve started trying to gather the items that I still need to make it through this race. A new wetsuit is still on the agenda. I reserved a set of race wheels for that entire week (Zipp 808’s). They pretty much rock. I got a new saddle too. It's lighter than the one that came with my bike and a little firmer. What better way to break it in than a sold 100 miler yesterday. This weekend helped a ton. I got in a solid century ride and worked on my nutrition on the bike. No GI issues on the bike or on a short run off the bike. I was a little sore towards the end of the ride, but that is to be expected (or at least that is what I’m telling myself). Just a couple more weeks of intense training and then I’ll dial it back a notch for my taper. For those of you planning on coming down for the race…thank you! It’s going to be seeing ya’ll on the course that keeps me focused and keeps the “icants” at bay. For those of you that aren’t/can’t make it down, I’ll have a like up here to the IM athlete tracker. I’ll also send out an email with my phone if you want MH to text you updates or you can follow her on twitter. I’m sure I’ll talk more about the race as these next few weeks go by…thanks for listening.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “A river cuts through rock not because of its power but because of its persistence” ~James Watkins

Callaway Gardens Race Report

Let me start off by saying that this entire weekend was crazy! Headed to Auburn Friday afternoon to mark off the tailgate spot and hit up the bookstores to get Lucas and me some new gameday garb. Then we headed over to Columbus where we all stayed with Keith & Mo for the weekend. Saturday morning I got to AU around 745 and got everything setup at the tailgate. Then tried to take it easy throughout the day. We watched the first half of the ball game (WDE!) and then headed back to Columbus so I could try and get a good night’s sleep before the race. Ending up not really happening. I didn’t get in bed until about 11:30 that night and head my alarm set for 4:30. I finished up the race and then headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway to watch the race Sunday night from the pit box (thanks Farley!). It was a very busy and tiring weekend. Everything was awesome…now onto the race report.

Pre-Race
Woke up around 430 and had a two waffles with PB & honey. After a quick shower, I got dressed and hit the road. Callaway Gardens was only about 30-45 mins up the road from Keith and Mo’s house. I went to where the info card said packet pick-up was. Turns out it was wrong. So after driving around for 10-15 minutes, I finally got to the registration tent. I stepped out of the car and whew! It was freakin cold out. The temp in the car said mid 50’s. I forgot what this was like. Need to be sure and have a long sleeve shirt for mornings like this. I headed over to transition which was a bit of a cluster. It is done by first come first served for spots. I got a spot on a rack as close to the bike out as I could so that I wouldn’t have to run far in my bike shoes. I got all set up and went back to the car to sit and warm up a little. Around 715 I headed down to the water to get a little warm-up swim in. Just got in a short 10 minute swim and headed over to the mandatory meeting on the beach. It was a little chilly out of the water. It was going to be even colder on the bike. The race was going to start in 5 waves 3 mins apart. The clydes were in the last wave with orange caps. We all hung in the water as other waves started. As the 4th group went we all made our way to the start buoy and waited. The director counted us down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…go

The Swim-1500m (Pretty sure that this swim course wasn’t 1500m seeing as though my swim time at the same distance at Chatty was 27:15. Probably closer to 1000m)
I started out a little fast. It took me the first 3-5 minutes to get my breathing under control and find a rhythm. Once I had my breathing down, I was able to focus on sighting and picking people off. This was probably the straightest that I have ever swam in open water. With each breath, I could see the orange swim caps falling back. Then I see some blue ones fall back followed by some grey ones. I felt really good in the water. After the last turn, I started to dig harder. I had to pull up a couple of times to find a way around people doing the back stroke and treading water. I got about 10yds from the shore and stood up and run my way to transition…(Swim Rank 12/23; Swim Time 16:17)

T1
Quick run to transition. I got to wave at MH and Jackson my nephew on the way up. Transition area was fairly large and unorganized. I got to my rack and got on my bike gear; took a swig of water; and headed out on the bike course… (I was pleased with my T1 time of 2:01)

The Bike-30k
I jumped on my bike and started hammering away. My bike cpu wasn’t working today so it was going to be different having to go on “feel” the entire ride. It was pretty cold with the wind hitting you. I figured the quickest way to warm up would be to start pushing hard. I passed a bunch of people before we got into the woods. The course was a double loop through Callaway Gardens. There weren’t any marshalls out on the course so it was up to each triathlete to police themselves. Seemed a bunch of folks didn’t know to stay right and pass on the left. You ended up just having to weave your way through the groups. The bike course was fun. The only bad part was that it wasn’t closed to traffic so cars would be creeping along and you’d have to pass them too. One guy got hit by a car closer to transition. I’m assuming he is OK. We never heard one way or the other. I finished up the first loop at just over 30mins. My goal was to negative slit this ride. I kicked it another gear and started the second loop. About 5 mins in I ate half of a clif bar and washed it down with some water. I kept on pedaling along and played leap frog with one dude for just about the entire second loop. About a quarter mile out, I slid my feet out of my shoes and spun to the dismount “area” and ran on into transition…(Bike Rank 8/23, Bike Time 59:20)

T2
The bike in area was at the opposite end from where my rack was. There were a couple of rock medians I had to cross so rather than roll my bike I just lifted it up and carried it as I ran to my spot. Once I found a spot for my bike, I dropped my helmet and reached for my socks and shoes. I got 1 sock and shoe on and reached for my other sock to find that it wasn’t there. I looked for a couple of secs and said screw it and slid on my shoe, grabbed my hat and headed out of transition to the run…(Happy with this time too T2 time 2:02 but it could have been better if I hadn’t looked for that sock)

The run-8k
Legs didn’t feel to bad off the bike. I started out slow. I walked for a little just to try and get my HR under control. Around mile 1 I was still feeling good. I hit the first water stop and took some Gatorade that was mixed waaaaaayyy too strong. All I wanted to do was make it to the next water stop to rinse my mouth out. The run was mostly flat. The first 2 miles went uphill, but it was down the rest of the way. A few folds passed me at first. Then on the way back down the hill, I told myself that I was going to run it all the way back in. I didn’t even stop at the water stops. I’d grab a cup of water and take in a little, splash my face with some and then toss the cup. I was determined to have a decent run. The last couple of miles seemed to take forever. I paced myself with another guy in front of me until we hit the final half mile. I started kicking a little harder. We break out of the woods and down a hill to the finish line. I push a little harder and cross the finish line. I check my watch and see my run time of 47:32 (Rank 14/23 Pace 9:31). I was pretty pumped about my run and the race overall.

Overall Results: Total Time 2:07:13 10/23 in Division and 200/440 overall.

Post Race: I hit up the post race food and went to meet up with the fam. It was a gorgeous day. Overall the race was pretty good. It wasn’t a Team Magic caliber race, but it was good. Now just one more race, a Half Iron AquaBike in Myrtle Beach, until IMFL (60days!!)

Eric’s Clip of the Week: This is video of one of Carl Edwards pit stops Sunday night. I was in the pits up in the pit box watching the race with the crew chief and Carl’s mom among other people. It’s totally the way to watch a race.

Emails Suck

Emails piss me off sometimes. Let me explain...So, last Thursday, I get back to my car after my ride and I’m checking in on 4square. I then check and see what emails I got and this little gem from USAT was sitting in my inbox

” Congratulations! The USA Triathlon Southeast Regional Council has preliminarily determined that you have qualified to compete in the 2010 Age Group National Championship on September 25, 2010 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama…
Congratulations again! We hope that you are able to represent the Southeast Region this year while we have the unique honor of hosting the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championship.Sincerely,USA Triathlon Southeast RegionRankings Committee”

Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. I didn’t think that I placed high enough in my races to qualify. I guess I tried calling MH to tell her. I was going to tweet it and tell my coach so we could adjust my training schedule as needed, but decided to wait until a little later. On the way home, I stopped by MH’s grandmother’s house to join them for a birthday dinner. When I got in my car to leave, I saw I had another email from USAT. Psyched, thinking that it was further instructions…race info…whatever…I click read and am greeted with this kick in the junk

Dear USA Triathlon Member,

You may have recently inadvertently received a notice informing you that you qualified for USA Triathlon's Age Group Nationals. This message was sent in error and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused…

Thanks for your continued support,
USA Triathlon

Thanks a lot USAT. might want to double check everything before you hit that send button next time.

Touching Base

Well, training has been going pretty good since Mt. Lakes. Gotten some good rides in...swimming has been consistent...and running is finally starting to come along. I'm sure that I should be a lot further along with running, but with the nagging knees this year, I haven't been able to get all the volume in. I did get a 13 miler in this AM which is the furthest that I've run since Mercedes back in February (holy crap, I do have some volume to make up).

Things are about to start getting crazy. Little man turns 1 this Friday! Can't believe that he has been in our world for a whole year already. He has definitely made life interesting, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Coming home to he and MH make the days worthwhile. We are having his party on the 11th (Surfin Safari!). We thought about inviting friends, but with family alone we are going to be pretty cramped in our quarters so if we started inviting friends, we'd have to rent out a hall. We are definitely blessed with large families and awesome friends. This weekend, marks the start of college football...hell yes! Auburn kicks off the season against Arkansas State. I'm pumped about seeing how our boys are going to be this season. WDE!

Sunday will by my second to last race before IMFL. Callaway Gardens hosts the longest running triathlon in the US. I hear it is lots of fun. They are also having a hot air balloon festival this weekend. It ought to be a pretty cool thing. Then Sunday night, Keith has hooked me up with some tickets to the NASCAR race in Atlanta. It's going to be a busy weekend, thank God we have Monday off.

I'll put up another post towards the end of the week. On a side note...I'm a hit with the Asians! Every post has at least 2 comments from them. Have a great week!

Eric's Quote of the Day: "Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve great success, and others have it thrust upon them" ~Shakespeare

Mt. Lakes Race Report

This race rocked. As usual, Team-Magic put on one heck of an event. It ran smoothly and the swag was top notch (who doesn’t love a tie-dyed t-shirt?). I felt great this entire race. My knee held up and HR & breathing was pretty much under control the entire race. I headed up to Guntersville Friday night to pick-up my packet. I got checked in and took a few minutes to check all of my gear and spin the bike in the parking lot for a few minutes to make sure it faired the drive ok. Then I took it easy for the rest of the night.

Pre-Race
Woke up around 5:00 and turned on the coffee pot. I hit up the continental breakfast and had a waffle for breakfast. I showered, got dressed, loaded up my bike and headed up the road to the rec center. Once there, I headed to transition to set up my area. I walked around a bit sipping on some Gatorade. I ran into a bunch of folks that I swim with and my coach. John and I talked for a bit about strategy. We both had the same idea that I was going to go moderately hard on the bike and then build to the turnaround on the run and kill it for the last 1.5 miles. I headed down to the water to get a warm-up swim in. The water was extremely warm. Luckily we swam in a hot @ss pool for a few weeks so all of us from the Mt. Brook Y were ready for it. The water was pretty merky, you’d get a handful or facefull of weeds every now and then. The swim area is very shallow too. You could stand up halfway out and be just over waist deep. As time ticked on by, everyone started to make their way to the water. The race director started getting everyone lined up. The “elder” triathletes were first into the water. I hope that I’m that able when I’m their age. The first 200 people were in the water and I started getting in my spot.

The Swim
241...go. I hit the timing mat and started running into the water. People were walking way too long. You can swim in the water so much faster. Once it was mid-thigh, I dove on in. I managed to stay on course this race. I had to look ahead and sight a bit more than I initially wanted, but hey, it’s better than having to get chased down by one of the kayakers. I felt pretty good in the water. I was passing a few people and managed to not get run over by anybody. I felt like I still had a little bit more in me so at the turn, I started digging harder. My breathing stayed under control as I passed a few more people. Once I was about 10 yds form shore, I stood up and ran it on in. I checked my watch as I crossed the timing mat and saw 9:37. All I could think was that this was going to be a great race. Time- 9:37 Rank 19/31

T1
The run to transition is short. I grabbed a cup of water from the volunteers as I entered transition. I slipped on my helmet, shoes, and race belt. Put on my glasses and jogged my bike out of transition. I hit the mount line…got on…and started hammering on out for a 16.4 mile ride. My T1 time was 2:12 which was about the norm for my division. I’d still love to be able to keep my shoes on my bike and do the awesome flying mounts and dismounts.

The Bike
The bike course is super flat. There are a couple of rollers, but nothing major. I started passing a good bit of people. The course was pretty crowded for the first 5-6 miles. The marshalls were out in full force dishing out penalties for “drafting.” The rules say you have to keep 3 bike lengths between you and the bike in front of you. It’s pretty ahrd to do that when you’re going 3 and 4 wide like at Talladega trying to pass people. Some people are so obivious when cheating. They get in a single file line not a foot off each other and start flying by everyone. If you can live with yourself have at it. I felt pretty good on the bike. I tried not to go too hard, but some of those straight-aways just asked to be hammered out. Around mile 13.5 you take a right and start riding on the causeway. The wind was pretty strong, but I still managed to hold a good cadence and speed. I made the last turn towards the rec center, slipped my feet out of my shoes, and spun to the dismount line. I crossed the timing mat and headed to my rack in transition. Time 47:17, Rank 13/31, AvgRate 20.6mph

T2
As I crossed the mat, I had to run around a few folks that were walking around in no hurry whatsoever. I tossed my bike on the rack, slipped on socks and shoes, swapped my helmet for my hat and took off. No T2 time posted.

The Run
So I hit the running trail and tried to take it easy for a little bit. Like I mentioned earlier, my plan was to start off easy and build to a good pace so at the turnaround I could kill it back to the finish. It started out ok. I walked once on the way out but that was mainly to get some water. I felt like I was keeping good form. I hit the turnaround and started running a little harder. Once again, I let doubt enter my head and started to slow down. I almost started walking but kept going. I looked at my watch and saw that I had a slight chance to hit my mark of sub 1:30. I picked up the pace. Everything felt great for a change. I heard John holler from the road to finish strong. I dug a little deeper and the last half mile I was going at a pretty good clip. I checked my watch again and saw it tick past 1:30…dangit. Oh well, I was still determined to not lose to myself by much. I bared down and crossed the finish line. Time 32:07 Rank 23/31 AvgRate 10:32 min/mi. Total time was 1:31:12.

Post-Race
I hit up the food line and tried to cool off in the pool for a little bit while we waited on results to be posted. Once I saw I wasn’t placing (I always have high hopes) I got my bike and headed to the car to start my journey home.

This was a great race. I felt great the entire time. I was curious how this year compared to last year. Last year, this was my final race, but I didn’t train much for it after competing at Chattanooga. So let’s see the rundown…

2009 2010
Swim 16:39 9:37
T1 4:15 2:12
Bike 55:46 (17.2mph) 47:17 (20.6mph)
Run 42:07 (14:03 min/mi) 32:07 (10:32 min/mi)
Total 2:00:55 1:31:12

So I feel like I’ve come a long way in the past year. I manage to shave off almost 30mins. Each repeat race I’ve done this year I have managed to post a much better time. But, with just 2 races left before D-Day on Nov 6th, I still have a good ways to go to be ready for 140.6 miles.

Click HERE to see the pics

Erics’ Quote of the Day: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” ~Thomas Edison

Just checkin in...

Training has been going pretty good since my last check in. Feeling strong in the pool…bike’s coming along…running…eehh. I’ve been trying to get in extra volume in the pool. John (coach) wants me to shoot for an extra 2000m each week so I’m not dead coming out of the water in November. Crazy to think that IMFL is only 85 days away. Today, I’m about to head out to a site visit and then make my way up to Guntersville for Mt. Lakes. This is a fun race. I wasn’t really ready to race last year. Last year after Chatty, I pretty much phoned it in. I barely swam or rode. Running was just a thought. I feel pretty good about this weekend. It’s a sprint (for those keeping track at home 600yd swim/16.2mi bike/3mi run). Everything is crazy flat and fast. I’m hoping to break 1:30 for this race. It’s gonna mean that my run will need to be one of the best runs I’ve had. We will see. There is a 50% chance of rain last time I checked. The high is only 89. It might actually be comfortable for the first little bit. I’m hoping to get up there and get a nice ride in after I grab my race packet and get checked into my room. I’ll be check in on twitter as the weekend progresses and I’ll try to get a race report up sometime on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Eric’s Quote of the Day: repeat, but one of my favorites “Your past is not your potential” ~Unknown

Happennings...

Random training comments...Well, training has been going pretty good. Getting some good days in along with missing some days I shouldn't. I'm definitely ready for it to cool off just a bit. I need to start picking up my running. I've started doing yoga two days a week as suggested by Sophia. Go ahead, laugh it up if you must. You get an awesome core workout doing this stuff. I got refitted on my bike last week. Lowered the seat and stem. Pushed the seat back and extended the stem a bit more. Making me flatter when I go aero and putting my legs more over the pedals to give me more power. Felt pretty strong on the couple of rides I've gotten in. My long ride this weekend (5hrs) will be the true test.
I ended up not racing this past weekend. I was sidelined with strep...booo. I was pretty bummed about not racing, but come to find out, the race was super-unorganized. No timing chips, no course marshalls, people cutting corners everywhere. Just a big ol' cluster! Up next is a "twofer" the weekend of 8/14. I'll have a sprint race on Saturday at Lake Guntersville (I did this one last year...awesome venue) followed by an Oly up the road in Pikeville, TN on Sunday. That is the plan at least. I don't have rooms booked yet and haven't registered for the Oly yet. I'm going to see how my training goes this rest of this week. This post has been a little random and rambling, so I'll end it here with a Lance quote.

Eric's Quote of the Day: " This is my body and I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it. Study it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?" ~ Lance Armstrong

Chattanooga Waterfront Race Report

I’m a little late posting this. I was waiting on the final splits to be posted and once they were, I just didn’t have the time to write everything out. So here we go…

Saturday
Got up to Chatty around 9am (Eastern). MH went to Target, and I got in about 50 minutes on the bike. We got checked into our room and got settled in for a couple of hours. Around lunchtime we headed down to transition for packet pick-up. It was burnin hot outside. I grabbed my race packet and swag bag and looked around the expo a little bit trying to find a pair of glasses since I ran off and left mine at home. I forgot how big transition was for this race. With 1200+ racers, it would have to be a good size. We grabbed a bit to eat at the Blue Plate Diner. Lucas was in rare form during lunch. He was jiberjabbering the entire time. I don’t think we stopped to take a breath while he was “talking” (gets that from the Keyes side). Then we headed to a local bike shop so I could get a pair of glasses. The rest of the afternoon was lazy. We hung out in the room and watched TV. I laid out all of my gear and went over the race in my head. Lucas finally went down for a nap. That evening we met up with a bunch of VulcanTri (local tri group here in b’ham) members to eat dinner at the Big River Grille. We got back to the room around 900 and I packed up all my gear, set the coffee maker, and tried to get some sleep.

Race Day
I slept pretty good for a night before a race. I woke up around 430 and went to the luxurious, spacious kitchenette. I poured a cup of coffee and started fixing me a toasted bagel w/ PB and some smoked turkey sausage. I turned on the TV and relaxed for a little bit while I ate. I showered, laid on the sunscreen, and hit the road on my bike to head down to transition. I thought that I was going to be pretty early and beat some of the crowd, but nope…seemed like everyone was already there. I headed to the registration tent to change my division from Clydesdale to Age Grouper. I was feeling pretty confident this morning. I went and got inked (#1192) and headed to transition to get set up. A buddy of mine from VulcanTri, Bob, was 1194 so we were on the same rack. I was ready to go by 620. First person didn’t get in the water until 730 so I had a good bit of time to kill. I found a spot to sit and just listened to some music until it was time to head to the swim start area about a mile away. They had busses shuttling triathletes to the start, but a good number of us walked. Now the waiting game. My age group was the last group to go before the relay teams. We had a very long time to wait. The first swimmer was in the water at 730…I didn’t hit the water until about 850. This year was nice since I knew so many people up there. We all hung out until it was time for our groups to go. Me and bob were the only ones left standing it seemed. Now don’t get me wrong, Team-Magic puts on a hell of a race, but they need to rethink the music the blast at the swim start. You would think something upbeat or classic rock, hell even some Salt n Peppa would have worked, but nope…the song blasting as we made our way down the gangplank to the dock was Melissa frickin Etheridge’s Come To My Window…what the hell? I digress…I finally got down the dock, lowered myself into the water and waited on the magic words….1192….go!

The Swim (27:15, div rank 66/110)
The swim started out a little slow it seemed. I don’t know if it was b/c I had to wait so long to start or what. I finally got in a good rhythm, but old habits started to kick in. I started breathing to just one side. When I do this, I tend to pull to the right so I spent a good amount of time having to correct my course. I passed a good bit of people in the water. That is always a good feeling when you go by someone. I didn’t feel bad in the water, but I didn’t feel great either. I finally passed under the 3rd bridge and started building and angling towards the exit. There was a large crowd of people in the water at the exit. I was swimming pretty hard for the last 100m or so. I hit the exit and started my way to T2.

T2 (3:07)
The only bad thing about the race is that you have to run up the amphitheater steps to get to transition. It takes a second to find your legs after you swim like that. I jogged into transition, grabbed a cup of Gatorade from the table, put on helmet, glasses, shoes and I was off. Felt like it was a pretty good transition. I wish that I could be more efficient by having my shoes already clipped into the pedals. Definitely something to work on.

The Bike (1:31:04, div rank 96/110)
This is a fun bike course. I hit the road and focused on spinning to get my HR under control. After the first mile, I started hitting it harder. We took the onramp to the highway and started out to the 13 mile turnaround. There are two pretty good climbs on this course. The first one is steep but short. You get a little reprieve on the backside of the hill before you hit the long steady climb. This one tends to wear on me. I tried to keep a high cadence, but as I reached the crest, I was only turning at about 65 and moving at 9mph. The rest of the course was great. I went pretty hard at it. John (coach) wanted me to build on the bike so I tried to hold back just a little so that I could go harder on the return trip. I hit the turn around and off I went. I tried to stay aero as best I could. The only time I would come out of my aero bars would be if there was a cluster of people I was trying to pass. That was the cool thing about starting at the rear of the field…you get to pass a good bit of people. Nutrition on the bike was only diluted Gatorade. Wished I would’ve had just water. The heat wasn’t too bad on the bike. The only time you really felt it was on the hills when your speed dropped. Coming down the last hill, I let the big dog eat. I kicked it into gear and started hammering down that hill. I looped down off the highway and towards the waterfront. I tried to spin the last little bit to give the legs a break. When transition was in sight, I slipped my feet out of my shoes and pedaled on to the dismount line. Off to T2

T2 (2:07)
I was a disappointed in this transition. There was a bit of a traffic jam in the chute after you dismount. I wasn’t able to jog my bike to its place. Once I got there, I slipped on my socks and shoes grabbed my hat and was off.

The Run (1:21:19, 101/110)
My plan for the run was to run/walk the first 5k and then run hard for the final 5k. I jogged out of transition and made my way up the only real hill. Halfway up, my HR was out of control and I never really could get it under control again. After I’d run for about a minute, I could feel my heart beating in my head. At each water stop, I took a water to sip and one to pour on my head. The heat was awful. I walked a lot more than I wanted. I was still making good time compared to last year. As I hit the turnaround, I tried to run. I made it about 1 mile to the next water stop and couldn’t keep going. Legs felt fine, just couldn’t get my HR or breathing under control. I looked at my watch and saw that I wasn’t going to hit my sub 3hr time….well crap. I broke down to a run/walk the rest of the way. With about ¾ of a mile to go, I started running and was determined to finish the race on the run. I trotted down the steps and up the final incline on my way to the homestretch. As I made my way down the hill, everyone starts cheering…talk about motivation. I saw MH and little man with about 100 yards to go. I crossed the finish line and immediately grabbed a water and went to find the fam.

Final time of 3:24:51, 104/110 in 30-34 AG , 742/839 males

One thing I would do differently is have something to eat closer to race time. By the time I started, it had been almost 4 hours since I ate. I would rather have that closer to 2 hours. I didn’t feel too bad right after the race. I was just hot! I looked at my final time and was disappointed, but ok with it. I beat my time from last year by 48 minutes. Not too shabby. I’ll take that any day! If only my run had been better. I could have come in at 3hrs. Hopefully I can start focusing on the run and get faster over these next couple of races. I’ve put the link to the event pics below. Why do cameras always catch you when you are making a face or grimacing?

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=61805&PWD=&BIB=1192

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “Marathons? Yeah, I do those as a cool down.” ~off a random triathlon webpage

Updated Race Calendar

I'm still waiting on official results to be posted for Chatty before I write up my race report. In the meantime, I decided to go ahead and update my race calendar.

I dropped the IM Augusta 70.3. Even though my knee is better, it still isn't up to where I (my coach & sports doc) feel that I can strike out a 13.1 mile run with no problems. So I'm doing 3 additional olympic distance race (Lake Point Tri in Eufala/ Tri Fall Creek Falls in Pikeville, TN/Callaway Gardens Tri in Georgia. The race in TN is the day after Mt Lakes Sprint in Guntersville. It's going to be a rough weekend. My sports doc recommended that I do a HIM distance race with an AquaBike division a month or two out from Florida. I looked around and the closest one I could find was the HalfMax Championship race in Myrtle Beach the first weekend of October. An AquaBike Division race is just as you would think...the swim and bike portions only. It is a half ironman distance race so I'll be swimming 1.2 miles and biking 56 miles.

It's time to get my nutrition dialed in. No more "1 last bad meals." I'd love to get down to 190 before November. I know I can do; I'm just going to have to be disciplined and "keep my eye on the prize."

Eric's Clip of the Day: This was a video I found. Chris "Macca" McCormack spent some time down on the plains training. Pretty cool. I couldn't get the embed so you'll have to hit the link.

http://video.competitor.com/2010/06/triathlon/training-day-chris-mccormack/

I’ve Said It Once and I’ll Say It Again…

I love race week! Chattanooga Waterfront is this weekend (1.5k swim/42k bike/10k run). Training has been pretty good. I’ve missed a couple of workouts, but I feel strong in the water and on the bike and somewhat strong on the run. I got my new tri top and shorts. I feel pretty fast in them. I haven’t swum in the top , but it fits a little snugger than my black top so it should be good in the water. The run is with the current so swim times tend to be a little skewed. The bike course is a bunch of hills but nothing too steep, just long inclines which tend to wear you out and test your legs on the run. The run course is crazy flat except for two flights of stairs (cruel aren’t they) you have to go up and down at mile 1 and 5. It should be a fun race as long as it’s not too hot. I’m afraid that the heat index is going to stay near 100 which is gonna suck come the run. Regardless of the weather, I should be able to beat last years time of 4:11:48 (sloowww). My goal is sub 3hr. I might have a chance to qualify for the USAT Nationals with this race. Spots are given to the top 5 or 33% (whichever is greater). We will see. I’ll try and get a post up after the race to let you know the results then a race report will follow next week. MH will probably tweet as the race goes on so if you’re curious as to how it’s going, give her a follow.

There’s so much to do before we head up there. Clean my bike, get all my gear together, pack our other stuff, cut the grass, and on and on. Have a great weekend!

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “Dadadadadada” ~Lucas

Good couple of weeks

Well, the past two weeks have been ok. I’m still struggling trying to fit all of my training in during the week. It’s funny…if it’s not something at home (broken A/C, broken garage door) it’s something at work. I keep on having to make up time at work because of stuff at home and doctor’s visits…oh well. I had my last OrthoVisc shot on Tuesday. No lie, this one hurt. Bending my knee right after the shot hurt like hell too. Sophia was a little concerned b/c the pain is suppose to be less as you do the second and third shots. I laid off the high impact running this week. I did manage to get a nice long ride in on Saturday. I headed out to Anniston to ride on the Ladiga Trail. I rode a few miles past the state line and back for a total of 81 miles. I felt pretty good. I was ready to be done by the time I hit mile 60 though.
I did go test ride my (ok so one day it will by mine) new tri-bike. The setup was super aggressive when compared to my road bike, but it was comfortable. It was also crazy fast. You drop onto the aero bars start hammering away and you are gone! Fingers are crossed that everything will work out so I can get it sometime in August. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much; taking it for a spin did not help one bit.
I’m looking at changing up my race schedule. I’ll have it posted sometime this week. I’m going to add a few more Olympic distance races maybe a century ride or two over July and August.
New Gear! Gonna be ordering a new tri-top and tri-shorts soon. Hopefully I’ll have them for Chattanooga. My black top isn’t very “stand out” in the field. I think that these will help MH and the fam spot me.


FYI…loving the World Cup. Big names getting beat and not advancing eehhmm..Italy. Dramatic finishes and controversies…refs are sucking. If the USA hosts the games in 2014, I told MH that I was going to take a month off to go watch the games. She didn’t respond…I think that means yes! It was a heartbreaker to lose on Saturday. Too many missed opportunities. It was a good tournament. They should hold their heads high.

Eric’s Clip of the Day: This is from a bar in Seattle. They are huge soccer fans/MLS supporters in that area. This was when Donovan struck the game winning shot against Algeria. USA! USA! USA!

Buster Britton Race Report

Well another race in the books. I didn’t meet my goal, but I still had an awesome time and I managed to shave some time off from last year (big plus is that last year’s swim course was shorter).

Pre-Race
Up at 415 to get the blood pumping. Drank some coffee, cooked some breakfast and ate (turkey sausage & watermelon). Got everything loaded up in the Acadia. Put on my race garb, kissed the wife and kid, and hit the road. I took an apple and a bottle of diluted gatorade with me to have between now and the race. I rolled into the park around 6:10 b/c there was a butt-ton of traffic heading into the park. I aired up my tires, and started on the walk to transition. One of my buddies from Masters was there helping out with body marking so we chatted it up as I got inked (#456). I headed back to my rack at the end of tranision. Since I lollygagged and didn’t register until the night before the race, I was stuck at the back of the pack. Up until the Wed before the race, your race number is assigned based on your estimated swim time. Turned out to be ok, several of my friends were procrastinators too so we were all in the last rack of transition. Everything was set up and all that was left was waiting. I hung out with some friends and then went to track down the fam. MH, Lucas, Mom, Mo, and Jackson had come out to cheer me on this morning. We talked for a bit and then I headed onto the beach to wait on my turn to start. The race started around 730, those of us at the back got to go about 30 minutes later.

The Swim (400yd)
The water was almost warm this morning. I ran until it was about mid thigh deep and then dove on in. It was way crowded in the water. I never was able to find any clean water for an extended amount of time. I was weaving in and out…getting kicked in the shoulder and leg by people doing the breast stroke and some sort of weird back/side stroke. I kept grabbing so much butt and leg it was crazy. I was pleased with this swim. It was one of my better open water swims. I sighted well and didn’t swim off course at all. I really tried to hug the inside and turn tight at the buoys. I made the last turn and tried to pull just a little harder. Once I could see the lake bottom clearly, I stood up and started on my jog to transition. 8:36 rank 5/16 (last year 7:04-shorter swim rank 11/14)

T1
It’s a good little jog into transition from the lake. Being on the last rack made it easy to find my bike. On with my helmet, shoes, & glasses, and off to the mount line to start the bike. I felt like this was a pretty decent transition time given the distance you have to cover. 3:09 (last year 4:17)

The Bike (13 miles)
The bike started out good. I was able to get in a big gear early and pass the about 7 people before we turned onto the main road. I kept on pedaling and keeping an eye on my cadence. I tried to take in fluids on any descents. I passed a few more people on the climbs. I only got passed by a couple of folks by the time we reached the turn around. The ride back in has only 1 bad climb so once you hit it, you can really hammer it out. I passed a guy that had been playing leap frog since the first turnaround and left him behind. I hit the second turnaround by the pro-shop and headed back towards the lake. Once I got to the paddle boat area, I slipped my feet out of my shoes and tried to spin the rest of the way to loosen up my legs. I hopped off and headed on into transition. 46:26 rank 8/16 (last year 51:00 8/14)

T2
This was a pretty good transition. I racked my bike and dropped the helmet and glasses and grabbed my hat. I struggled getting socks and shoes on but still managed to get out onto the run in 1:43 (last year 2:42)

The Run
By this time, it was brutally hot out there. The first (and last) half mile are on this hot asphalt with not really any cover. Once you hit the treeline, the hills start coming. There is really only one “bad” hill, but the heat just really took it out of me today. I walked a little and then would run. My HR was a little out of control at this point. I could feel/hear it beating in my ears. I took a sip of water at the aid stations and poured the rest over my head. It was good idea at the time until I hit the turnaround and my shoes started squishing. Not sure if it was due to the water or the sweat. Probably a combo of the two. Once I hit the “bad” hill on the return trip, I picked up the pace a little bit. I hit the treeline and started pounding that asphalt with the sun beaming down. I made the turn into the finishers shoot and crossed the final timing mat. 35:34 15/16 (last year 39:08 13/14)

Final time of 1:35:26 was good enough for 11/16. I improved in all aspects of the race. I was happy with my swim and bike. If I could just get my run upto par, I would be happy. It’s pretty easy to see when you look at my ranking in each discipline which one limits me the most. I’ve got two more injections and a couple of weeks of PT left. Then I have got to start getting faster on the run. Florida is creeping up. It’s the run that will determine if I’m going to meet/beat my time goal. 26.2 miles is tough enough let alone when you put it after 112 miles on the bike and 2.4 miles in the gulf. I don’t need to make it any harder.

Quick shoutouts to a few of my friends that tore it up at Buster Britton…(as though they actually read this)
Julie for finishing 3rd female overall and 1st alabama female for best of the USA Amateurs
Laurie for finishing 2nd in her age group
Amanda for finishing 1st in her age group after taking off from triathlon for 2 years

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat's been cut"~Dad

Race Week! (Buster Britton)

Race Weeks are awesome. Sometimes they drag. But as the weekend gets closer, I get so excited. Buster Britton is this weekend (400yd swim/13mi bike/3mi run) up at Oak Mountain. If today is any indication, it is going to be hot and muggy early on Saturday. This was a fun race last year. Here I am 365 days later, 35lbs lighter and a lot stronger in the water, on the bike and on the run. I haven’t ridden out at Oak Mountain yet this year. It isn’t the ideal place for triathletes to train (especially for IM FL) since it is so hilly. A flat course means you have to pedal the entire time…no coasting down hills to get a break. Not much has happened with training this week. Lucas is still having rough nights which keeps us up and that makes it hard to get up for a swim. The 1st round of shots went well. It definitely hurt and my knee was a little sore for the rest of the day, but it felt good on a short brick workout the next afternoon. I won’t drag on too long today. I’m pumped about this weekend. There is just something about racing that gets a fire burning. Who knows, maybe I can hit top 3 in my division again. If you’re bored, feel free to come out. The race starts at 7:30.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: ”If you’re not first, you’re last” ~Ricky Bobby

Last Week & Other Tidbits

I won’t bore anyone with the little bit of training I did last week. It’s funny…it’s so easy to find a reason to skip or cut training short, but I still get pissed at myself for skipping or cutting it short. I’ve got 152 days. Holy crap, I’ve only got 152 days to get in the best shape of my life. It’s pretty easy for me to get freaked out about that. It’s time to start buckling down and doing all my training and to stop hitting snooze in the AM. So, if anyone is looking to go for runs or rides with me let me know. It’s harder to skip when someone is there waiting on you.

Other news…
PT is going well. Knee is getting a little stronger. Some days they kick my butt. My D.O. has suggested I get a series of injections that will, in sense, lube up my knee. Apparently the cartilage is worn away in my knee joint. On the x-rays, the end of my tibia looks all pitted and the spacing between the bones in my knee joint is not consistent. I’ll go in the AM for the first of three injections. Good news is that I only have to take it easy for that day; bad news is that the needle is freakin huge and I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to feel nice.

Little dude is growing up so fast. I can’t believe that he is already 9 months old! He’s crawling around everywhere and loves to get into everything. When he was younger, we said he was curious…now he is just down right nosey! If you have a glass, plate, phone, remote, book, or anything in your hand, he wants it too. His laugh can brighten up my day no matter what. He cracks me up. I’ll get some good pics posted soon.

Buster Britton is this weekend. This was my first official sprint distance race last year. I came in with a time of 1:44. My goal this year is to come in under 1:22. I’ll give it my all. I’d love to place again. It was awesome being in the top 3. I’ll have to be sure to remember that feeling when I take off on the bike up over the mountain or start the run up towards Pevine Falls.

MH’s mom is still doing well with her chemo. Of course, some days are better than others. Her CA125 count is within the normal range. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Uncle Rusty’s cancer is gone. He has been doing great! He got his cancer survivor tattoo (pair of angel wings coming from a cross). It’s some awesome ink. Continue to keep him in your prayers as well.

We are slowly but surely getting our house ready to put on the market. Little dude makes it difficult sometimes. I’m hoping we can get the majority of things done and get a sign in the yard by the end of June.

If you know of anyone in the market for a 3 bedroom / 2.5 bath house in McCalla, send them my way. Same goes for anyone in the market for a 2008 GMC Acadia.

I’ll try and get one more post in before the race to update my training and let the 4 of you know how the injections went. Have a great week!

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “Come on ladies…dozens of people are here to watch us play” ~Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) in A League of Their Own

LJCC Super Sprint

Very fun race. Started the morning out calm and collected. I wasn’t too stressed out about this race. I’m usually pretty wound up the morning of a race, but this one was different. I had my HR monitor on at the start, but it started sliding down during the swim and when I tried to adjust it on the bike, the sensor popped off so I don’t have any HR info. These splits are by my watch so they might be off a couple seconds here and there to the official times.

Pre-Race
Up at 5 to eat (turkey smoked sausage) and drink some coffee to get everything going. I loaded up the car, showered, and headed to the LJCC at 6. Ate an apple and sipped on water during the drive. I went and took everything to transition and then got inked. I aired up my tires and set up my gear and just walked around and talked to John and some folks from masters & vulcantri. MH, Lucas, & my parents came up around 740. We headed on back to the pool and waited for the swim start. Only warm-up was some light stretching in the parking lot and 1 lap in the pool.

The Swim
Being #53 it was nice not having to wait long to get in the water. I pushed off the wall and quickly found a comfortable pace. I closed in on the girl in front of me after the first length and passed her at the end of the second. I pulled on through the next couple of lengths and passed another guy. I made my last push off the wall and headed towards the buoy and turned towards the steps. I sprinted a little faster to the end and climbed out of the water in 3:27. Not too bad of a swim time. Off to T1…

T1
I was very pleased with my transition time. I jogged from the pool, thru the building, and into transition. On with my helmet, cleats, glasses, and race belt before I jogged my bike to the mount line and then I was off in 1:39

The Bike
The bike was a good time. I started passing people right off the bat. I decided to just hammer it out since it was only 8 miles. I hit the first turn around and made my way down Montclair. We were riding in the inside lanes so auto traffic could use the outside lanes. As I passed Bruno’s a car pulled up next to me and yelled, “you’re going 25, keep it up.” I kept on hammering and hit the final turnaround. As I made my turn and hit the uphill, I tried to drop into my small chain ring and then my chain popped off. I stopped put it on and then had to try and repass several people I had already whizzed by. I felt strong on the bike today. I turned into the parking lot and hit the dismount line in 24:40 (avg 19.5 mph)

T2
Got to my rack and struggled getting socks and running shoes on. I might forgo socks on anything shorter than Olympic distance. I still managed to get out in under 2 minutes, but this should be closer to 1 minute (1:48)

The Run
My coach wanted me to pull a negative split on the run (faster on the second half). I started out nice and easy for the first mile (12:06 min/mile). When I hit the mile marker on the running trail, I kicked it up a notch. I passed a few people on Montclair. I kicked a little harder for the last 100yds and finished the last mile in 10:30. I felt good on the run, but I know it is my biggest limiter. (22:36)

My final time was 54:10 (54:08 by my watch). This put me 55/176 overall & 3rd in my division, I was pretty psyched about it. I know it wasn’t a huge race and there were lots of beginners, but a similar race last year took me 1:20. That’s a pretty good amount of time to shave off. Plus it was fun to “have to” hang around for the awards ceremony. As cheesy as it was, I loved getting to step up on that podium.

Next up is Buster Britton in two weeks. There is a lot of stuff going on that weekend out at Oak Mountain so come on out if you want. The forecast doesn’t look too promising for training this week. Hopefully the rain will hold off so that I can get my rides in.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: ”Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue"~Dilbert

Not the best but not the worst

This week's training wasn't too bad. The weather played a major role in the sessions that I missed.

Monday 5/24

WO#1 Masters Swim

90mins; 3500m

Felt good to be in the pool for the entire time

Tuesday 5/25

WO#1 Easy Bike

Put the bike on the trainer to get my time in. No distance since my bike cpu stopped working. I did get to watch three episodes of Arrested Development. This is by far one of my favorite shows.

60mins

Wednesday 5/26

WO#1 Masters Swim

Had to cut this one short since I have PT in the afternoon. Lots of drills and technique work

45mins; 1850m

WO#2 Physical Therapy

60mins; Strength & stretching

WO#3 Easy Run (5x10min walk w/ :45 recovery)

63mins; 5.1miles

Thursday 5/27

WO#1 Moderate Brick

I cut the run short tonight, but at least I did make it out for the run

1.5hr bike on the trainer w/ 22 minute run (2.2miles)

Friday 5/28

WO#1 Masters Swim

90minutes; 3800m

Good day in the pool. Short distance w/ high intensity.

WO#2 Physical Therapy

60 mins; Strength & Stretching

WO#3 Run; rained out

Saturday 5/29

Had a good 3 hr bike planned for today. The route was out to Pell City and back. Would have been new territory. Thanks to the rain I didn't get to go.

We did have a big cookout over at John's (my coach) house. It was an awesome time. It was fun to spend time with everyone when we aren't wearing spandex. We took little dude with us. he was perfect. He started to get tired around 2 so we had to duck on out. Wished we could have stayed longer.

Sunday 5/30

Tried to get my long run in today. I woke up with a sore throat and head/chest congestion. I drug myself out on the street and started running. The warm-up went well, but when tried to pick up the pace, I'd start coughing something fierce. I decided I would just try and take it easy today and drink a lot of fluids. I only got about 2.5 miles in today. Spending the early PM getting all my gear ready for the LJCC race tomorrow. It should be a good time. I'm number 53. There are 6 of us in the Clydesdales 0-39 division. I'll get up a race report tomorrow afternoon.

Eric's Clip of the Week: For those that don't know why people spend money on bikes...I've got one word...performance

Love at first sight?

So I walked into Bike Link yesterday evening to get my new bike cpu and took my obligatory stroll through all the bikes. There she was...just hanging out in the middle of the store…my dream tri-bike. Sure, I’ve seen pics on the internet, but seeing her up close was inspiring with her carbon frame, Dura-Ace shifters, & Ultegra crankset, all coming in at 19.62 lbs . I’m so going to go take it for a test ride this weekend. Here’s a pic off the Felt website.




Guess I’d better start saving my quarters!