5 REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO DO AN IRONMAN

After 16 years of marriage and as many years as my #1 fan, my wife did her first sprint triathlon. It was great time watching her doing the backstroke as she circled multiple times around buoys, being absorbed by multiple waves of swimmers. Her bike was much too large for her, and she was clearly a novice, having to stretch just to reach the handlebars. She managed to finish looking strong and showing off her smile despite the pain she was feeling. She was instantly hooked, and no longer just a spectator. Sure, I laughed a little, but was really proud of her getting out there and doing something I knew she found very intimidating.

Later that summer she was in a beginner swim clinic when somebody mentioned doing an Ironman. “I’ll never do an Ironman!” At the time I believed her. After all, my first Ironman was twenty years after my first triathlon.

Now that I’m getting ready to do my 10^th Ironman, and my wife will be doing her 2^nd, I’ve come to realize what Ironman represents. Below are five reasons why you should do an Ironman. If you aren’t a triathlete, maybe you should become one!

Reason #1: The Ironman is terrifying!

That may not sound like a reason to do an Ironman, but it certainly is! Doing an Ironman is a scary thing, every step of the way. The decision to go for it, dealing with self doubt through your training, and having the guts to get up to the starting line are just some of the challenges. What is keeping you from committing? Fear of swimming in a crowd? Thinking of starting a marathon with exhausted legs? Wondering if you have what it takes to finish? Your fears are valid, but they can all be conquered!

Reason #2: Celebrate your health

I always wanted to be in great shape going into an Ironman. Thinking I didn’t have time to train ideally held me back for many years. The fact is, you may already be in the best shape of your life and not realize it. You cannot take your health for granted, and training for and completing an Ironman will show you what you are currently capable of. If you choose to decide that you cannot do such an event, you might not be taking advantage of the health you have currently.

Reason #3: You’ll be a part of an elite tribe

It’s not necessary to shave your legs, get an M-dot tattoo or wear spandex on your commute if you finish an Ironman. Even if you prefer to be incognito, you will always wear that confidence of having completed an Ironman. The decision to go for it, the training in preparation, and the commitment to keep moving forward. It becomes a part of you. Even though there may be 3,000 athletes at any one Ironman event, they are from around the world. Very few will be from your neighborhood or office.

Reason #4: The atmosphere is intense

You aren’t the only one terrified at the start of the race. Everyone is anxious. The swim shakes off some of the nerves, and as you near the end of the bike you start to realize “I’m going to be an Ironman!” It’s a long race and there are tough moments, but then you see the most excited spectators that are absolutely amazed at your pursuit. Endorphins spike throughout the day, and then the finish is glorious. If you finish after dark, it is like coming out of a dark cave into blinding light with tons of spectators screaming and you find more energy than you started with. If you finish in the daylight, there are still a ton of racers behind you!

Reason #5: Ironman is epic

There are a lot of great events out there, but the Ironman creates intense memories from the moment that you register through the awards ceremony. Certainly there are other great events out there, and they are full of Ironman veterans. There is arguably no substitute for Ironman.

Maybe you’ve decided you’d never do an Ironman. Why not?! Post your comments about what is holding you back, or better yet, what you have overcome to do an Ironman.

Why Is Triathlon Training So Challenging

I began doing triathlons in 1986, and I figured I was pretty much good to go. I was competing in both cross-country running and swimming in high school. The triathlon excited me because it seemed like a sport I would naturally be able to do. Swimming and running seemed like to only challenge. Afterall, everyone know how to ride a bike, right?
I’ve always said that you learn the most from your first triathlon. That was my experience at least. I was surprised how the swim and run were much harder than I expected. Oh, and I was clueless about generating any speed on the bike! Through brute force and volume I learned to race in triathlons confidently. It was difficult because I made it difficult, and figured that was the correct way to train. Eventually though I realized my training strategy was not getting me any further.
I thought about this recently when I spoke to an athlete that had figured out what he needed to get better at triathlon. He wanted help with swim technique, but not with his training. He said he got in all the bricks and other workouts that he needed to do. In our conversation it dawned on me that he thinks he know what he needs to do, but probably doesn’t. It’s easy to have blinders on and not see what is missing from your training to take your performance to the next level. I’ve been there. Hitting a wall in performance, and realizing you’ve exhausted every effort you can think of to reach your goals is humbling. I look back now and think what could have been if I had a coach earlier instead of committing years to doing it my own way.
What is holding you back in your performance? Do you even know? You might want to consider how much disappointment you might be avoiding by hiring an experienced coach.
Have you had personal experiences with a coach in triathlon or other sports that brought you to a new level of fitness and performance? Post your comments below.

Ironman Cozumel 2014

I received an email recently from the Ironman Cozumel team that showed the following:

This is such a big deal I cannot pass up the opportunity to write about it. I’ve written a lot of posts of race reports, but those are all after the fact. This is something that anyone who is looking for an Ironman event to do and hasn’t done this race needs know about. I did this race in 2012 with three friends, and it was a spectacular race then. The change to the swim course will undoubtedly make it an even better event.

This race has sold out the past five years. It is definitely a destination race since it is on the island of Cozumel which is by far the best place I’ve visited in Mexico. The industry in Cozumel is tourism, and the island is committed to being a premier tourism destination. The race can be on the warm side, and there are winds on the bike course to battle, but overall it is a fast course with spectacular support from the community.

The swim is amazing, but the new design will make it even better. Previously the course began in a depth that required treading water, and it began in the opposite direction that is shown in the picture. The current is so strong it definitely gave an advantage to strong swimmers, but it was so strong that there were a lot of athletes that couldn’t even get across the start line, and more that couldn’t make it past the turn to start heading to the left as pictured above. Finally, the old course ended up coming back into the strong current for the finish.

The swim definitely makes the triathlon an interesting event, but it is such a small component of the race that having a challenging race ends up ruining a lot of athletes’ day. The strongest swimmers make great triathletes, not because they are strong swimmers, but because they are strong cyclists and runners too. There are plenty of marginal swimmers that end up finishing on the podium, or qualifying for Kona, because they are great on the bike and run. The swim is generally not the deciding factor for who is on the podium. It does affect the weakest swimmers that are not podium contenders and just need to get through the swim within the cutoff time so that they can spend the rest of the day on the bike and run to finish an epic event that may have been a lifelong goal. For athletes looking to qualify for Kona, this is a great race to do that. It is at the end of the year, when fitness is at its best, and then you get to roll into the winter months for a break. If you qualify, you have all year to prep for Kona since you’ll be racing in October 2015.

Besides the new point to point swim course, this course is amazing for any triathlete. The water is warm, so it is not wetsuit legal. The warm water is so comfortable though, and it is so clear that it truly is a joy to swim in. The bike course is just as amazing. It has some windy sections, but the views of the coast are incredible, and overall it is a flat and fast course. The run goes through the town and resort areas where there are so many local families out cheering for you as well as tourists cheering with a margarita in one hand and a cowbell in the other.

The race is on November 30, 2014, and Thanksgiving is on November 27, so it is a different but spectacular way to spend this holiday weekend. Check out the Ironman Cozumel website and register here. If you are interested in having a coach for this event, please contact me. I am familiar with this event, including the travel, the lodging, and exactly what you will need to do to have a great race whether that means qualifying for Kona, or finishing before midnight.

2012 Year in Review

December 1, 2012

Although there is still another month left of this year, I am at a point where I can say this year has ended, or maybe more importantly that next year is beginning. The relative silence on this blog isn’t because nothing was happening, but rather my focus hasn’t been so much on my own training and racing. In addition to working my first job out of residency with a lot of focus on how I want my clinics to function, I have been spending more effort on coaching. Coaching without coaching certification didn’t seem like a big deal to me before, but after I obtained my USA Cycling Level 3 Coach and USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach certifications I realize that these certifications are a beneficial part of developing a coaching business. Also this year I began a triathlon club, Med Fit Racing.

I can say that I’ve exercised fairly well this year, but haven’t really trained well for anything. Living in a new area I wanted to experience some local races, but still ended up traveling quite a bit to other events. Last Fall I did several running events such as a 10K, a 10 mile, and a marathon, but after cycling really dropped off due to the shock of the cold. In many ways I feel like I didn’t do much this year, but actually raced in a handful of criteriums, several 5K runs, a 10K, an 11 mile run, two Olympic distance triathlons (ITU San Diego, Big Foot), two Ironmans (Wisconsin, Cozumel), Leadville 100 MTB, a Gran Fondo (San Diego), two road races, and several cyclocross races. I didn’t write race reports for any of these, but I remember them all well and had great experiences with all of them.

The year began with a criterium series in Kenosha, WI. It was very cold, but these races were safe and a lot of fun. The Masters fields were generally very experienced and fairly quick, but smaller than most other criterium series races. I raced with Activator Cycle Club, and our club president Bob Ruggles managed to get a good showing for some of the events. Molly also decided to give criteriums a try and found out how much fun they can be. We did a couple other crits in the spring that were much larger and the courses were more technical, but it was still freezing cold. In the spring we also did the Leland Kermese, which was a road race with much of the roads being gravel roads. It was freezing, but at least dry this year, and I managed to have a great race despite losing the peloton early in the race.

The first triathlon of the year was ITU San Diego. The race was fun, and it was awesome watching the pro’s race for spots at the Olympics. In June we raced at Big Foot Triathlon in Lake Geneva, WI. This race was awesome. It was our first local race and we were impressed by how well it was run. There were a lot of clubs racing, but no single dominant team. I looked at these teams and how they market their triathlon club and felt that they were a bit too exclusive and that I could develop a team that was more welcoming to athletes of all abilities to provide camaraderie. I couldn’t find a club locally that was anything close to what the Tri Club of San Diego was like. So it was the beginning of Med Fit Racing, a club for newcomers to competitive athletes. Triathlon can be a lonely sport, but it doesn’t need to be and it is much more fulfilling when you become friends and train with people that have similar values and goals.

I added a new bike to my arsenal this year too. A 2013 Kona Jake the Snake. It is so cool. It rides similar to a road bike, but can ride over anything. I have fallen three times during races, but despite that don’t feel that I’ve really tested the limits of what this bike can do. Molly and I got a matching pair from Activator Cycles when they were first available, and since they have been selling a ton of those bikes. I’ve done several races, including a night time race, and they are a blast. I haven’t figured out how to race these fast, and even got beat by an 11 year old at one race. That’s alright, I still had a blast. The cross bike has also become my favorite bike to commute on because I can ride through grass, on and off sidewalks, and have no worries with it.

The biggest races this year was the Leadville 100 MTB, Ironman Wisconsin and Ironman Cozumel. Leadville was awesome. I don’t really know how to ride a mountain bike, and I didn’t do anything to prepare for this race. A friend of mine, Joe Mattingly, let me borrow his custom steel frame hard tail 29er. It was perfect. Last year I went to the race to help Strava promote their app, so I was provided an entry for my efforts. I had to do the race even though I had no idea what I was getting myself into because it is such a famous mountain bike race. They say that Leadville is not technical, but for a novice like me it seemed very technical. I had my eyes opened to what it is like riding on a course like this that is super crowded, and somehow managed to keep myself out of trouble. No falls, and a strong finish at around 10:35 to earn a belt buckle was pretty sweet. I don’t usually race by heart rate, but for this event it was perfect. I didn’t know how the elevation and terrain would affect my perceived exertion, so I just settled in on a heart rate that I was confident I wouldn’t burn out too quickly.

Ironman Wisconsin was only a month after Leadville. I had signed up 1 year before the event, and had ambitions of qualifying for Kona. Later that year I decided to sign up for Cozumel as a ‘back up’ race. This back fired a bit because I ended up backing off on my training for Wisconsin. Anyway, the race began with a decent swim and bike, but I never found my legs on the run. Despite not training well, my swim and bike were decent enough that if I had a fair run the Kona spot would have been mine. I immediately realized I need to get quick for Cozumel just 11 weeks later. Unfortunately it took me longer to recover than I had expected. Two weeks after the race I still felt like I couldn’t get my run pace up to where it had been. Then the weather started turning cold and everything became tougher. I went off to Ironman Cozumel having lost a lot of my fitness.

I am in the Cancun airport as I am writing this, having finished Ironman Cozumel just 6 days ago. This race was really amazing. Although some people complained about the heat and the wind, I though both were rather moderate and tolerable. The swim had a strong current, which unfortunately a lot of athletes couldn’t overcome to get across the start line. Most of these athletes were women. Although they had entered the water, the officials determined that they had not started the race because they didn’t cross the start line (some of them swam for an hour to never cross it before they were forced to get out of the water). It’s bad for those athletes that had invested a lot of time and money and hope into this race, but it was also bad for the females that were gunning for Kona spots. The Kona spots are allocated after the start of the race based on the numbers of athletes that started in each age group. With so many women marked as DNS instead of DNF, some spots previously expected to be given to women were given to men. This affected one of my athletes, Maurin Scheetz, who placed 4^th in her division, but the allocated spots were reduced from 4 to 2. One person’s bad day become another’s good day though because there were men that were not expecting to qualify that did.

The bike course was super flat and consisted of 3 loops. Some of the roads were rough, and some smooth, but they were all clean and free of hazards. Aid stations were plentiful and the crowds were out in full force. Kids were collecting Gatorade bottles and putting rocks in them, creating maracas. The roads were completely shut down for the race. Although there were few police out, not a lot like in US races. The island didn’t have any other business that day besides the race.

The run was also super flat and was 3 laps. The crowds and aid stations were incredible. My fitness was low, so I wasn’t too surprised my swim was slower, and that I felt very fatigued half way through the bike. I had no speed on the run, but overall had a blast out there.

So what’s next? I have decided it’s time to get my act together and qualify for Kona 2013. I have self-coached fairly well in the past, but this is a very tough way to perform well. It first involves having the knowledge of how to train and race, but also it requires a lot of effort to see what is and what is not being done right. In 2009 when I qualified for Kona I worked with Coach Jim Vance April-July, and learned a lot from him. It was a tough time for me to have a coach of that caliber because I was in residency and had a lot of other responsibilities. Now things in my life are more predictable, but since I am coaching I end up spending my efforts looking at my athletes and not at my own workouts. I contacted Coach Vance this week and he’s agreed to help me get back to Kona. It’s going to be a difficult but awesome year as I focus on my own goals and help my athletes achieve theirs.

It’s December now. What are your goals for the coming year?

Bull Valley Ride

Being new to the area, I don’t know anything about Bull Valley, or McHenry County, but Activator Cycle Club member, Omar, recommended this route. Molly and I headed out west on some familiar roads, but soon we were in new territory. Here we are about 30 miles into the ride, seeing the Fox River for the first time.

It was a beautiful day out here, after yesterday’s ‘scattered thunderstorms’. 

At the mid way point of the ride was a loop with some hills. That’s right, HILLS. They weren’t too bad because we only did one loop, but as Omar points out, doing repeats of this 5 mile loop provides some good hill training. The climbs were mostly 6-9%, with the steepest grade I saw on my Garmin being 17%.

We finished the 84.4 mile route in time for lunch while watching the Tour before I head out for a long run. Looking forward to the recovery at the Bluffinia Summer Concert tonight.

My ride on Strava is here.

Train of Pain VI, Day 1

5/20/2012

ToP is an annual 5 day club ride for the Canari-Navy cycling club. It is a race mostly because anytime you get two dozen “has-beens” that still want to prove something to themselves, or to their friends, it turns into a race. There are jerseys awarded, and there are teams, but both are quite arbitrary. Rules? Sure there are rules, but they frequently change depending on who you are talking too.

I did ToP last year for the first time, and it set me up well for my two key races of the year, Camp Pendleton Sprint Triathlon (3^rd Overall), and Superfrog Triathlon (6^th Overall). I wasn’t sure what to expect this year, but knew I wanted to do it because it’s a blast, but also because I knew the training camp part of it would pay off when by the time I get closer to my end of season races. Today’s route was from San Francisco to Santa Rosa. It was an awesome route with some sweet climbs with the first being up Mount Tamalpais and then several shorter climbs along the coast line, some with steep grades. The temperature was mostly mild, the highest being 82 degrees when we arrived in Santa Rosa. There were head winds that would rate as less than breezy by Chicago standards (~15 mph). Not a cloud in the sky all day long, and surprisingly mild traffic along the coast.

We started with a slow roll out, and we met at the base of the Golden Gate for a group photo. Then we were off for a leisurely roll across the bridge. The pace was very relaxed. It was going to be a long week. We had a long descent and I was near the back of the pack but even with a casual coast I managed to drift up to the front. Tod Neal and I were riding along, then Tod took a wrong turn. I yelled to him and he turned around, but at that point I looked back and no one was there. Hmmmm…. Where is everyone? Oh well, I started the climb up Mt. Tam, waiting for Tommy Brown to catch me. I kept it smooth, not knowing how my current fitness level would hold up. I summitted alone, and then on the descent I was again very cautious because I haven’t been doing any descents. I kept waiting for the bullet Andrew Lee to fly by, but he didn’t. It wasn’t until mile 45 when I was wrapped up by the Tommy and Mike Brown train, along with Kenny Rodriguez and Andrew. Hmmmm… Go figure. The four guys I went to dinner with. I was more spent than I wanted to be so I sat in, which fired up Andrew, so they punished me. The gap was significant, and it took me pushing 350+ watts for about 5 miles before I settled in. Then I got to hear their lectures about sitting in.

There was more painful climbs, but we ended up soft pedaling in together. Andrew is always up for a win though, so he let the rest of us take a wrong turn as he turned into the hotel parking lot first for the stage win.

Here is the Strava link of my ride. I highly recommend this route.

Tomorrow is more climbing, and steeper grades.

Jim Swarzman Memorial Brevet

Date: July 16, 2011

Distance: 200K

Route: San Diego to Dana Point and back

Today was the scheduled San Clemente 200K Brevet, put on by San Diego Randonneurs. Since Jim’s killer was found guilty this week, and the route went by where Jim was struck, it was very fitting to do this brevet in memory of Jim Swarzman. There was a good turnout for the early start ride (5:30 AM), and we were given memorial bracelets. I really think of Jim frequently, so I don’t need a bracelet to remind me that, but I still like the bracelet. I hope it provides me the opportunity to share Jim’s successes in life, and the tragedy that happened. It’s a message that people need to understand, whether they are cyclists of any variety and/or a motorist.

Molly has been back on the bike now for about a month now. After the accident in October (right after we got back from Kona) where she was run off the road into a parked car, she had a lot of knee and shoulder pain. Fortunately her knee is fine now, but her shoulder kept causing her a lot of pain so she took a long break from riding. Come to find out she has a labral tear, that will not heal with rest or rehab, so she is having surgery in a couple weeks. With that knowledge she decided to get back on the bike and in after last weekend’s ride she decided to give the 200K a shot. She did great, with a time just under 8 hours and 30 minutes!

I had already planned on doing the brevet on my time trial bike to get time in the aerobars, and to see if I could set a new PR for a 200K (currently 6:37). I figured I should be able to get under 6:30 at least, but ended up with an official time of 6:45. After reviewing my Garmin file though I noted that we actually started a little late, because my time was 6:40, total ride time was 6:17. The route was coastal which means there are a lot of lights and stop sign. I did opt to not ride on the I-5 though and went through Camp Pendleton in both directions, which definitely added time, and possibly a little distance. I ended up clocking 129 miles.

Time is an okay metric, but overall doesn’t mean that much when you can have power. I was hoping for a high power for the first three hours. I thought of comparing it to some of my best long rides.

Normalized Power for First 3 Hours (Rides were from 5-7+ hours in duration total)

Date	Event	Normalized Power
11/22/2009	Ironman Arizona	259
7/24/2010	Santa Cruz 200K Brevet	276
10/9/2010	Ironman Kona	269
1/15/2011	Rainbow 200K Brevet	269
7/16/2011	Swarzman 200K Brevet	259

I was hoping today to generate closer to 280 watts. One difference was that I didn’t really have anyone on my heels today as I did on the other rides. The aerobars felt good, and I am getting a good sense that I can hammer for 2+ hours in them pretty well at Superfrog on 9/11. There isn’t a lot of climbing along the coast, about 4200 feet of elevation gain today, but I tried to push fairly hard up the hills. There were many times that I wanted to give up the push before the summit, so I kept reminding myself of Jen Voigt:

Heat Training and Heat Injury, Part 2

In my previous post I left you with this chart:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

This chart is an estimation of the cardiac output distribution in four different scenarios. Cardiac output is the flow rate through the heart, which is the product of the heart rate and the stroke volume (CO=HR*SV). Heart rate, as you know, increases with exercise, but also increases with other stressors such as elevated core temperature. Stroke volume also increases with exercise (in a healthy individual such as an athlete). The height of each column in the chart depicts the cardiac output whether cool or hot, and whether at rest or exercising. When cool at rest, cardiac output is about 5 liters per minute, and the majority of that blood flow is sent to your organs that require a fairly consistent amount of blood flow to function. When hot at rest cardiac output increases to send more blood to the skin for cooling. The viscera and muscle blood flow does not change much. Exercise drastically increases cardiac output to near your physiologic maximum to meet the demand to the muscles, and also sends more blood to the skin for cooling. If you are hot while exercising, your body is forced to send even more blood to the skin for cooling, and must steal that blood from your muscles.

When you are hot you cannot exercise as effectively because you cannot deliver the amount of blood to your muscles as you can when you are cool. But what about acclimatization? Acclimatization is a progressively improving physiologic response to exercising in heat. An unacclimatized person can produce about 1 liter of sweat per hour whereas an acclimatized person initiates sweating earlier and can sweat 2-3 liters per hour. An acclimatized person also produces much more aldosterone which conserves sodium from the sweat. An unacclimatized person sweating profusely can lose 15-30 grams of sodium in a day. An acclimatized person on the other hand will only lose 3-5 grams of sodium in a day, even though they are sweating more!

There is still a lot of talk about high level of salt intake in our sport. Usually people are concerned about “cramping” from low sodium. This remains a controversial topic among coaches and athletes, but to contribute to the controversy I will give my opinion here (and in my next post). Unfortunately most of the opinions you read are stated as fact by people with no scientific background.

The typical logic goes like this: There is salt in my sweat. I sweat more when I exercise in the heat. I need to replace that salt. If I don’t replace that salt I will cramp. When that person experiences cramping they fall back on that they should have eaten more salt. The same logic happens when people feel tired and they assume they should have eaten more food. We like to look for the easy fix, in this case salt tabs. What about training?

Studies have been done on Ironman athletes comparing those that take in high levels of salt, and those that do not. Their plasma sodium levels are not appreciably different, and either are their cramping experiences. The difference is the amount of sodium in their sweat. The more salt they take in, the more they excrete in their sweat. An acclimatized person however should have a high plasma aldosterone and be retaining their sodium. What happens with a high salt diet? You could probably guess it. Plasma aldosterone levels are reduced. Your body is trying to get rid of that extra salt load in your sweat and urine. Doesn’t it make sense to utilize your training and acclimatization rather than fight it?

The unacclimatized individual will lose more salt, and when forcing fluids is at greater risk of having problems such as hyponatremia so may consider increasing salt intake during the acclimatization period if it is hot and the training or event is long (>3 hours). This is not your typical well trained athlete however. What about the 3-4 grams of sodium an acclimatized athlete loses? Well, a modest amount of sodium intake is fine, which occurs anyway when drinking sports drink and eating food.

And what about cramping? I will address that in the next part.

How do you go about becoming acclimatized? Simply by being aerobically fit you are ahead of the game. Especially if you have years of aerobic exercise experience, your heart is likely more efficient, and able to deliver a higher cardiac output (due to a larger stroke volume). Even when exercising in cool weather your body has to adapt to cooling, so just by being aerobically fit you are somewhat more acclimatized than an inactive individual. Larger people have more trouble cooling because of a lower surface area to body mass ratio, and fat in insulating. Losing excess body weight can also assist in cooling. The acclimatization that we are primarily looking for though occurs when the body is exercised in heat. This is best done progressively. Acclimatization actually begins early (the first week of heat training), but the full effect can take up to six weeks, and if done cautiously and progressively can actually take longer. During particularly hot periods (heat waves) there can be progressive sodium loss and progressive dehydration, so taking some easier days and avoiding exercising in the hottest part of the day for several consecutive days is prudent.

What is the fate of the athletes at Ironman St George? It is so early in the season that most of us have not had the opportunity to acclimatize well. There will still be people that race well, but I anticipate a large attrition from the heat.

In the next part I will address heat injuries.

Where’s Waldo

First of all, I apologize for my lack of blogging over the past couple weeks. I’m still around though, still training, and have some good thoughts to write about, so don’t stop checking back. Better yet, if you subscribe you’ll get email notice whenever I make a new post.

We are nearing the end of the month, and the end of the holidays. I’ve been reconsidering some of my training strategies, and will share those ideas soon.

In the current issue of LAVA magazine (the Kona edition) there is a picture of me. It’s much like finding Waldo though. I mentioned it to Jonathan Jefferson at the triclub meeting, and he found it pretty quick. If you happen to find it, post a comment. If not, I’ll mention the page number in a later post.

Hope everyone had a great December and has a great New Years!

2010 Season Recap

Since I am beginning my 2011 Season today (Base Period), I thought I would throw up the events I did in 2010. I decided to include races, and events that are not races such as brevets because they hold similar significance to me. My “A” races for the year ended up being Kona and Ironman California, but I had some other great races. If I wrote a report for the event, I included the link to that report.

Date	Race/Event
1/2	PCH Randonneurs Brevet Series, 200K
1/16	TCSD Duathlon
1/31	Dirt Devil Trail Race, 5K
2/13	TCSD Duathlon
2/15	Sunset Beach Safari Permanent, 227K
2/20	UCSD Tritonman, 500 yds, 12.5 mile, 3.1 mile
2/28	Dare to Race Grand Prix, Masters 40+
2/28	Dare to Race Grand Prix, Masters 30+
3/7	Desert International Triathlon, ¾ mile, 24 mile, 6 mile
3/12	MCRD St. Patricks Day, 5K
3/13	TCSD Duathlon
3/14	Tour de Murrieta Circuit, Masters 35+
3/15	Old Town to Warner Springs Permanent, 207K
3/16	Eldorado Park Twilight Series Criterium, Sr 4-5
3/20	TCSD Triathlon, ½ mile, 12.5 mile, 4 mile
3/27	Ironman California 70.3, 1.2 mile, 56 mile, 13.1 mile
4/3	TCSD Pine Valley Duathlon, 17 mile, 4 mile
4/11	SuperSeal Olympic Tri, 1.5K, 40K, 10K
4/15	Irvine Great Park Criterium, Sr 4-5
4/17	Mt Laguna Bike Classic, 101 mile
4/18	Lazy Lizard Lowdown Permanent, 213K
5/9	Coastal Cruise Permanent, 230K
5/12	TCSD Fiesta Island Time Trial, 20K
5/16	Encinitas Sprint Triathlon, 0.75K, 20K, 5K
5/22	TCSD Triathlon, ½ mile, 12.5 mile, 4 mile
6/5	Armed Forces Triathlon Championships, 1.5K, 40K, 10K
6/9	TCSD Fiesta Island Time Trial, 20K
6/13	Too Broke Olympic Race
6/19	San Diego Randonneurs Brevet Series, 300K
6/27	San Diego International Triathlon, 1K, 30K, 10K
7/5	Rainbow Prelude Permanent, 200K
7/7	San Diego Randonneurs Brevet Series, 200K
7/11	Carlsbad Triathlon
7/18	Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon, 13.1 mile
7/24	Santa Cruz Randonneurs Brevet Series, 200K
8/4	TCSD Fiesta Island Time Trial, 20K
8/7	Camp Pendleton Sprint Triathlon, 0.5K, 30K, 5K
8/8	Sunset Beach Safari Permanent, 227K
8/15	Boulevard/Kitchen Creek Figure of Eight Permanent, 101K
8/28	TCSD Triathlon, 1 mile, 38.3 mile, 8.4 mile
8/29	Rainbow Prelude Permanent, 200K
9/1	TCSD Fiesta Island Time Trial, 20K
9/5	Disneyland Half Marathon, 13.1 mile
9/9	TCSD Aquathlon, 1000 meter, 3 mile
9/11	PCH Randonneurs Brevet Series, 400K
9/18	San Diego Triathlon Classic, 1.5K, 40K, 10K
9/24	Boulevard/Kitchen Creek Figure of Eight Permanent, 101K
9/26	TCSD Triathlon, ½ mile, 12.5 mile, 4 mile
10/9	Ironman World Championships, 2.4 mile, 112 mile, 26.2 mile
10/24	Sunset Beach Safari Permanent, 227K