2011 Update: First Marathon, First Duathlon, First Draft Legal Triathlon, and a Few Other Races!

It's been quite some time since I've last updated the Blog. I guess school, training, work, and everything else that life throws at us makes it tough to stay on top of things like this sometimes. 2011 has started off great in terms of racing (and really everything else as well). I completed the Disney Marathon (my first marathon) and ran 2:56:40, which I was very pleased with for my first marathon.

Mom, Me, and Manda after the marathon


Finishing my first Marathon!

Then in February I competed in the Chilly Willy Duathlon which consisted of a 5k run, 10 mile bike, and 5k run. I came in 2nd place overall and it was a great way to get the feet wet into multi-sport racing so early in the season.

Peter, Javi, and Me after Chilly Willy

In March I went to Clermont, FL twice for races. The first race was the inaugural Draft Legal Challenge Sprint Triathlon. This was my first opportunity to participate in a draft legal triathlon and I loved it! It was a 3 lap bike course and I spent a good amount of the first lap going close to all-out in order to catch up with the 2nd bike pack but was able to relax (slightly) once I caught them. We kept working hard the rest of the way and made a little ground on the lead pack. I came into T2 in 4th place and felt really strong on the run, running with a couple other guys I had biking with. I ended up finishing 4th (and missing my elite card by one place) but a blast doing this race and definitely want to do more draft legal racing in the future.

Amanda and Lauren came to watch the race!

Peter, Javi, Tommy, and Me

The next race in Clermont a few weeks later was the Great Clermont Triathlon. This was intended to be a tune up for Collegiate Nationals which was 2 weeks away at the time. I came out of the water in first place but quickly got passed on the bike. I wasn't feeling it on the bike and just felt totally flat. I came into T2 in 3rd place and had some work to do on Thomas from U of Miami who through down a killer bike leg. The run was a 2 loop out-and-back and I was feeling good so I could tell I was closing in on him each time I saw him. It wasn't till about a mile or so to go that I passed him but then I was in first place and kicked it in and held onto first overall.

1st out of the water at Great Clermont

Next up was the first big "A" race of the season, Collegiate Nationals in Tuscaloosa, AL. I had pretty big goals going into this race, hoping for a top-5 finish (or at least a top 10 finish, something I had not done at this race). The swim was pretty standard, pretty rough start and took me a little while to get going and I came out in a decent position, on the bike, I rode pretty well, and the run was pretty tough with a couple of big hills over the first few miles. I finished in 2:00:41 (21:15 swim, 1:01:03 bike, and 36:59 run) which was good enough for 10th overall! It was a great weekend of racing and hanging with the FSU Tri Noles.

FSU Tri Noles after the race!

I ended up doing the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg last minute and it turned out to be a great race! (Thank you to Jennifer Hutchison on helping me get in last minute!) They had to shorten the swim due to major waves at the swim course but it turned out OK. The swim was 1000m with a long run (quarter-ish mile) to T1. I came out of the water feeling pretty good about my swim but not really sure where I was at. I passed a few people on the run over to T1 and headed out on the bike. It was a nice flat bike course and I didn't really get passed or do any passing of anyone else so I was still not really sure where I was at. Side note about the race: This guy was drafting on me (literally right on my wheel), I told him to stop but he continued to. He backed off when a few race officials came our way then got right back on me. I was so angry! We went around a turn and he crashed hard. I guess you get what you deserve....don't DRAFT!!! :) Back to the race. I came into T2 and saw that there were 3 bikes on the racks so I knew I was in 4th place. The run was an out and back and I was feeling pretty good. There were a bunch of pro women in front of me because they started a few minutes before we did so I just kept going after each of them and slowly made my way into 3rd place overall (age group). With about a quarter mile to go this guy tried to make a move on me, I sped up a bit, then slowed down knowing it was too soon to kick. He passed me, I sat on him for a few strides, then with just a couple hundred meters to go I took off and held him off. This was the hardest I have finished a race in a long time and it was a good experience knowing that theres almost always a little more to give. I finished 3rd overall Age Grouper and qualified for my Pro/Elite card! I'm not going to take it immedietly as I still have a lot more work to do to get to the ability where I can really race with other Pros out there but maybe at the end of this year. My times for the race were: 12:21 swim (1000m), 59:03 bike (40k PR), and 35:18 run (10k PR) with a finishing time of 1:51:11.

Javi, Me, Alexa, and Amanda after St. Anthonys

And my most recent race was the American Triple-T Ohio, 4 races over 3 days and over 140 miles of racing! I did it again this year with a teammate (Adam Brown, who with last year we won the team title). The race is a super sprint triathlon Friday night, 2 Olympic Distance triathlons on Saturday, and a half ironman triathlon on Sunday. We finished 2nd overall this year as a team and had a great weekend of racing.

Before the start of race number 3 (bike, swim, run)

I don't have any races planned for a while but am looking forward to the Hy-Vee Triathlon and the Best of the US triathlon Championship in September and then another draft legal triathlon at Myrtle Beach and the other Triple-T in North Carolina in October.

Shout out to PowerBar and Brooks for their continued support! Check out the Vanilla and Chocolate protein (not pictured) for an extra boost to your post workout recovery...the stuff tastes awesome too! And the oatmeal raisin energy bites are great pre, during, or post workout and taste awesome as well! I finally got the new Brooks T7 as well as a few pairs of shorts (HVAC and Infiniti) all of which are great products. The shorts are incredibly comfy...I would highly recomend them if your looking for some new running shorts!

Lemon energy blasts, oatmeal raisin energy bites, cookies and cream and vanilla performance bars, Ironman Restore and Ironman Perform!

Thanks to my Coach, Tim Edwards and North Coast Endurance Coaching (http://www.ncecoaching.com/) on a great start to this season!