Ironman Kona 2014

It was a great trip back to Kona for 2014.  My year off, getting married, starting a company, closing the company for a great opportunity with movecoach, and starting our family has been a whirlwind and nothing short of a miracle that it has all come together.  My wife deserves a lot of that credit;)  After Couer d'Alene, it was rough getting back into the swing of things.  Getting back into sales, little trip to Ireland and family time, but well worth it.  As with anything, my focus just wasn't there so Kona would be more of a "fun" experience for me to enjoy for a change.

Arriving Sunday it was the usual family fun heading through the week.  Coffee bar swims, rides on the Queen K, zip-line adventure (highly recommended by Kohala) and casual runs along Ali'i.  Nothing really compares to being around all the fit people around and it can get intimidating as well as easy to lose your cool leading to race day.  Luckily the family and Whitney did a great job of keeping me sane through the week.

Race morning arrives and I feel good.  Not expecting a breakthrough performance, but also trying to keep things respectable.  Wake up, normal breakfast and coffee and off to the start.  Head through body marking and do last minute tweaks to the bike.  My buddy One Hour Ironman/IronBob finds me and we find a good place to relax.  He has a great charity he supports and actually raced in 6 Ironman's on 6 continents over the span of 4 months.  Not an easy task, but it was to support Well Aware, a great charity that provides water wells and education to the people of Africa.  He always had great stories from his travels and it was great to pass the time.

Getting close to race start and I always need the last minute pottie break.  Funny run in with Lew Hollander and Sister Madonna in line.  Hopefully I get into the NBC broadcast as they wish each other luck.  Lew was slugging down a Red Bull at the time, I guess he has a good heart!

As we all trudge to the start line I catch up with my buddy Tim Smith who races for Everyman Jack (super stud, sub 9 hours).  He has been on a tear for the last few years and is always looking to push the envelope on a race.

Stepping into the water and everyone's focus sharpens.  Its a few hundred yards out to the start so I take it easy, not wanting to tread water for too long out there.  I think I see my family in their neon green gear which was great!  With the split AG Men and Women's starts, the crowd on the line wasn't too bad.  I line up about two thirds down the line from the pier and wait........

Cannon goes off and its a washing machine!  Surprised nobody was swimming over each other, but it takes a good 100 yards to get space to actually swim.  Settling into a good stroke, people played nice and were forming good groups to draft.  Visibility was perfect, and following feet and bubbles was easy.  Really no sighting required as if you veered right or left, someone was there to keep you going straight.  Cruising out to the turn was just amazing with the pack keeping things together.  Hitting the turn buoys things stayed mellow too!  We all made the turn and made our way back home.  No idea how long it was taking, felt long (time wise), but was hopeful to keep it under 1:10.  Little bit of water in the goggles I had to fix, no biggie, but then a cramp in my foot!  So painful, thankfully nothing to really keep me from going.  Just try to relax, pull the pace back slightly and stretch thing out in my stroke.  Luckily it goes away in a minute or so and it is back at it.  I'm veering a little bit now with the pack thinning out.  Staying on the buoy line, but getting close to the surfboards lining the inside.  Finally coming into the pier and the crowd is always just crazy!  Every breath you can see all the volunteers cheering and the rest of the water line is packed with people.  My hand hits sand, stand up and it is just overwhelming.  Make sure I stand up straight, get my bearings and up the stairs.  1:09!  Wahooo!

Cruise through T1 which is packed, and HOT!  Make sure I'm ready to head out on the road.  Jogging out with my bike and the little parade through town.  People are just hitting it hard already, but its a long day, no reason to win the first 20 miles.  Through "Hot Corner" and I catch my family cheering me on.  Out Kuakini and the road is lined with people cheering the whole way.  Flying back into town a few of us nearly run over some people running across the road.  I see my family again, but they weren't expecting me so soon, of course my personal photog Whitney was;)


Time for some TLC on the Queen K.  With the start staggered with the women, the road isn't as crowded as usual.  Maybe my faster swim helped too!  Rolling out there are still packs forming in the first 20 miles.  I end up fighting to get around packs that drop in front of me, and using up too many watts in the process.  Winds aren't as friendly as usual until after the airport, but then they switch to considerable cross winds at times.  Its really fun to watch the rider in front of you get hit and move a few feet sideways!  Ticking away the miles and rolling hills I'm trying to hold back for a good run.  Its a hard task as the bike is always my go-to.  In retrospect, I didn't do a good job at that.  I was out to have fun though!

Making the turn toward Hawi the winds weren't bad at first.  The road gradually turns East though and it just got worse and worse with just a defeating headwind.  Your mind can be decimated at this point as you watch time slip away while you approach the half way point.  Its a hard thing to keep in your head, but the way back is like a flash and makes it up.  Turn in Hawi is always fun.  The whole town must turn up to come cheer and the Special Needs group is a fun one too.  Load up with my frozen bottles, crest the hill and its a roller coaster down and out of Hawi.  Some nice tailwinds paired with cross blasts makes for tentative riders not letting loose.  I have a few extra pounds to stabilize and I'm good!  Cruising at 40 mph, spinning out my gears and loving it!  Making my way back to the Queen K I hit a dark spot though.

Around 35 miles left and my mind takes a bit of a turn with sore feet and the crazy winds picking up.  I really need to find a new cycling shoe for IM's as I get "hot spots" under the knuckles of my pinky toes.  Such a pain for a small part of the foot.  Watts and speed are down and I just need to get off my bike.  I figure the lower watts will do good for the run, but the damage was already done.  Trying to keep positive thoughts as I start to see the familiar landmarks and things get better.  Winds aren't as bad, and I'm going to hit my time of 5:10!  I should have figured it was a "slower" day out there for everyone.

Slowly through T2, trying to make sure my legs don't seize up like they normally do, I'm just excited to be off my bike and out of my shoes!  Sit down in the changing tent, get my gear together and out on the run.

Out on the first few miles I manage to keep my pace down, but at a good clip.  All smiles running through the crowds along Ali'i.  So much fun seeing the lead women runners heading the other way.  Rinny goes blowing by, looking like she will reel in the pack of women ahead.  I'm always worried about my abs seizing up, its a problem I've had in the past few IM's when I try to dig deep.  The rollers on Ali'i don't give much trouble and the pace is nice and consistent between 7:00 and 7:30 and feels easy.  Hitting the 2 mile mark and my family is just ahead.  They are great about giving me a good show when I go by.  The kids have some great chalk work done too.  Down to the turnaround is great and much better than last time with a bum knee where I was walking a good part of the marathon in 2012.  Coming back towards my family and I'm still full of energy.  Smiling and enjoying the day unfold.  Running back into town is great as usual.  Everyone is on the street cheering you on, it is such a sight.  There was nice overcast most of the time so far and heading up Palani to the Queen K has a monster crowd.  Making the turn and downhill and I was thinking my goal of 3:15 was in reach!

The Queen K has a tendency to bury you.  It's such a long stretch of road with nearly no end in sight.  With the sun coming out, and the heat rising, this was a bad place for me.  The energy just left me at this point.  Pace started to slow and everything turned south.

The biggest part of a race is that you know what you are racing for.  In the past it was completing my journey to lose weight and regain my health.  My last race here was about pushing as hard as I could, but injury didn't let that happen.  This time with so many other great things happening in my life, there really wasn't anything I was out to prove.  It's amazing how having that drive in your head can help you train and push your body to new limits.  That spark in my head just wasn't there for this race.  I knew it going in, but was somewhat ignorant to that fact.  Fitness and drive can take you to great places, my place was just to finish and be happy.

Grinding out the final ten miles was a chore.  Heading into the Energy Lab and I was beat.  Luckily its downhill first, unluckily it uphill out.  Down to the turnaround I see an old competitor from a duel at the end of the Pittsburgh Triathlon a few years ago.  It is one of my favorite tri experiences, chasing down people on the run in that race.  I got within 10 feet of him that day and we pretty much sprinted the final mile in.  He kept up the pace though and held me off.  He has had a great year this year on his run to Kona and it was great to see him.  I let off "don't let me catch you" as I saw him going the other way.  There was no chance of a heated finish this day though.  Heading back was a chore to say the least.  Trudging out of the lab took a big toll.  Walking aid stations, but still smiling at everyone trying to urge me along.  I can't believe how the volunteers are out there all day and still love to be there.  Turning back to the Queen K and I know its about an hour home!

About a mile back I see my Dad.  He rode out to cheer me on and make sure I was doing OK.  He know it was a rough day, but we always have the right things to say to each other.  He loves to see everyone out doing what they love, and if he can help anyone and be a part of it, that has become his purpose.  Putting some work in and my spirits lift for a mile then back to grinding.  My favorite aid station of the day came up and they are playing this goofy song "What does the fox say!" and it makes me run faster for a mile.  It was a fun mile though it nearly had my hamstrings seizing up!



The last miles are always a blur.  Trying to hold things together and make it in.  The final turn down Ali'i and into the shoot the family is back to see me in.  It was a rough day out there and emotions start to get me.  This is the last time for a while I'll be here and I know my family, especially my wife have all done so much for me to chase triathlon dreams.  I just hope there is something I can do to repay all the love they put my way.

Taking my time down the finish shoot and enjoying the crowd.  Crossing the line and the relief was amazing.  Done and done.  The last time doing that for a while!  It has been a great, but long eight years of my life that probably took over much of it for a good period.  Its time to mellow out for a few years and do some normal life things like have a baby, lol.  Not closing a door on Ironman, but a well deserved break.  You'll see me soon enough taking on the stroller division in a few road races next summer, and of course I have the Miller Family Florida Ironman next November, but that will really be for fun and cheering the next future Miller Ironmen, Ashley and Mom!

Aloha from Kona!

Athlete Performance Breakout - IM 70.3 - Oceanside

For many people, racing in triathlon is about "fun" and living a healthy lifestyle.  While performing well is a high priority, it is not the end all by any means.

While "fun" is a relative term, what I'll try to do today is attempt to explain proper pacing through the bike leg of a triathlon using Ironman 70.3 Oceanside as an example.  Oceanside is a perfect example of what can go well, and horribly wrong if the bike leg is not given its proper attention either through under-training, or overexertion.  With this course's widely varying terrain, all skills of the athlete are brought into play with steep climbs, rollers, and good flats.  One must be adept at knowing how hard to push, or not to push in all these areas to have a complete race and legs for the run.

The ride through Camp Pendleton enables a special view into how participants fared in the race since these roads are mostly closed to outside civilians.  With limited rides taking place on this course and stretches of road, pouring over Strava ride data gives a perfect set of sample data without the masses of rides on normal routes.

If you are unfamiliar with Strava, a short synopsis is it compares GPS rides and run against other athletes' uploaded routes, and ranks them according to determined "Segments" set up by users who think they would be useful tools for training.  From this a reward system shows you how your latest performance matches you previous ride/ride, as well as the rest of the Strava world.  For example, Oceanside 70.3 has various segments set up and the major climbs and full route are below:

Full Oceanside Bike Course - 54.8 miles - 2,500 feet of climbing
First Pendleton Climb - .5 miles - 300 feet of climbing
Basilone Climb - 4.1 miles - 460 feet of climbing
Basilone Final Climb - .6 miles - 210 feet of climbing
Pulgas Basilone Climb - .5 miles - 170 feet of climbing

Using these segments, along with each athlete's half marathon and historical race results, we'll show how proper and poor pacing can effect a full race.  None of the above climbs are that severe, but the body only has a limited capacity to absorb major damage that can be inflicted on some of these short and steep inclines.  Each time an athlete overexerts on a climb, they may not affect their overall bike time, but more than likely, their run will suffer.

"There is no such thing as a great bike followed by a poor run." - I've seen this quote used a lot and would love to figure out the first to coin it. 

So, we now come to our stable of 31 athletes who have uploaded their data to Strava and are easily found in all segments. I'll leave them nameless and review them in general as to not overly praise, or poke fun at.  As I said, each athlete does this for their own fun and it is not our place to chastise.  An objective view of this data is what we are bringing to the table for those who would like to learn from these athletes.

In my analysis, the above segments are taken into account, as well as their full bike time, run time, as well as heart rate and watts when available.  To make the data manageable, the results were ranked against the smaller pool of participants, as some results from previous years muddle the Strava rankings.  

The 20 mile preamble to the bike course lets athletes thoroughly warm up, and usually provides a false sense of how the race will unfold with a normal south tail wind providing a push up the coast.  This can add to athlete's need to push harder up the hills as well as their goals may have shifted to faster bike splits as they hit the halfway point ahead of schedule.  

Full athlete data can be found here.  Any input is welcome to further the analysis.  Let me know if you have any questions.

From the first climb, we can see  a wide thinning of the field through the rest of the course.  Of the top half (15) of our sample, a drastic re-shuffling occurs.  By the second climb, Basilone-4.1 miles, 5 athletes have dropped to the bottom half of the field.  At the top of Basilone, many of these athletes felt a resurgence when seeing the peak and pushed their way back to their peak power and only two were left lagging.  Reaching the final major climb of the bike course it was surprising that only three athletes who took the first hill in the top half had dropped to the bottom half of the field.  I was thinking the theory of overexertion may be wrong?  Nope, taking the full course into consideration you can see that 6 of the athletes who charged that first hill, and the rest of the climbs, had dropped to the bottom performers.  

A better distinction of how the race played out for people is ranking their Average climbing rank, against their time rank.  For example, Athlete K ranked 20th, 18th, 19th, and 13th respectively on the major climbs.  Nothing stellar in that aspect, and bringing his climbing rank average to 17.5, making him the 19th best climber in our field.  What is stellar is that even while giving up time on those climbs, his overall time for the course ranks him 12th in our field, a 7 spot improvement!  A great piece to his data as well is that he was using a powermeter so further analysis can be gained.  His entire ride averaged 232 watts, and none of the climbs exceeded a 20% margin.  Marked with a PR Half Ironman Run, this was a near perfect race for this athlete.

The next example will be overexerting climbs and a severe drop in overall bike rank.  Athlete C ranked 5th in the climbing portion of the bike course, with charging the 1st Climb in 2nd, tempering his pace for Basilone in 16th, surging the top of Basilone in 6th, then climbing Pulgas in 5th position.  These were great climbs, but in comparison to the 24th best bike time, not as much.  This athlete also finished the run 20 minutes slower than his Open Half Marathon PR.

A prime example of under-exertion comes from none other than me!  I think I got into my own head a bit too much in preparing for this race.  I am still a bigger guy, so I climbed conservatively.  In looking at my ride files, it was much to conservative.  Even as a bigger guy, I didn't increase my watts on the climbs enough and ended up with the 20th ranked climb average.  When you compare this to 8th ranked overall time in the pool, there was probably 4-5 minutes left out on the course.  The one bonus of under-exertion is that you guarantee legs for the run!  Even while coming off an injury through January, as well as running the new, convoluted run course, I managed a faster half marathon time than the previous year at 1:27:14.  This adds to the adage that pushing harder on the bike can exponentially slow your run time.  It was the choice to make sure my under-trained run had a chance, but looking back, the bike could have been better.

Back to the climbers once again to measure how their climbing rank, pairs up with their overall time.  I would say that a 4 spot margin would be acceptable change in climbing rank to overall time rank.  That equates to around a 5 minute change to overall time from the rankings.  Outside of this margin you can see many incredible climbing efforts.  From the field, you have the 3rd, 5th, 13th, and 17th ranked climbers.  Unfortunately, these athletes averaged a drop of over 10 spots in overall time rank.  All of these athletes were in our first group of climbers to charge the first climb as well.  You can see the destructive power of charging a hill from this group and the importance of proper pacing.

Hill climbing is only half of the equation.  Even if an athlete managed to ride a continuous effort through the bike course, it still may have been too much for them on that day anyways.  Unfortunately, since I can't interview each athlete to find their overall biking ability, we will have to assume that they are trained for the event, as well as research their best historical run times to help reveal overexertion on the bike.  The 70.3 distance is also a place where things can go wrong and effect finish times wildly.  Its hard to really pinpoint if someone just had a bad day, fueled improperly, or was just injured.  

I'll leave the run analysis to the reader now.  Unfortunately, without knowing the athlete, or speaking with them, it is extremely hard to tell if they under performed or not in the run.  The rudimentary data I can pull from other race results doesn't show a distinct trend either except for the severe over and under performing climbers.  The lesson I guess is finding the edge you can push on the bike and be able to hold it together for the run.  It seems simple, but watching people pass you on a hill can drive even the most disciplined athlete crazy.  Today's world also rewards cyclists for their efforts with KOM's.  If that is your motivation, have at it.  I'm going for a PR.

Winter Racing Budget Time!

Its that time of year again, time to clean house and earn back some of that well spent dough on old equipment.  Well, the first set of stuff was snagged from my parent's house after my Dad upgraded to Di2.  Lucky bastard.

SRAM Red Controls - Bid on ebay here!

Great condition with minimal wear and tear.

Here's the cheapest I could find online, so any lower on ebay is a steal:
SRAM RED DOUBLE TAP Shifter Lever Brake Pair 10 Speed X 2 Carbon

Ironman Canada Race Report

Heading up to Canada was a trip of many uncertainties.  The last month of training was filled with some serious intensity, but no real "long" workouts that leave you crushed.  My race/personal schedule over July limited my uber-training days, but I felt the consistency and full year buildup had me where I needed to be to either go hard in this race, or just have "fun".

There were two sets of goals for this race.  #1 would be to get another podium.  If something goes wrong or if its just not the day #2 Not get hurt and have fun.

Heading up to Penticton, BC on Wednesday was a great idea.  A group of friends and I rented a house within a mile of the start and it was just a perfect setup.  Easy runs to the Peach to swim in Lake Okananagan.  Mellow rides south to Lake Skaha.  It just made for a great atmosphere around the entire race and very relaxed because we could come and go as we pleased to take care of all the race things like packet pickup, bike check, etc.

Of course there was an Underpants Run, unofficially sponsored by Sanrio and Hello Kitty again.

A highlight of the week came when an SF friend, Brianna, decided to have a "Tweetup" to gather all the people from online that use twitter to form a bit of a social training circle around Ironman Canada.  The amazing thing was that @ironmancanada himself, Ron Zalko, the founder of IM Canada, showed up.  He was a great guy and really appreciated Brianna, and every one's support of the race online.  Every time we'd run into Ron around town he took a few minutes to talk with us which was awesome!

My parents showed up Friday and we hung out most of Saturday, just making sure all the last second ends were tied up.  Turns out my Joule 2.0 is missing/stolen from my luggage on the way.  Luckily my Garmin 310XT was a suitable replacement, but had to go find the quick release setup for my bike.  Bike Barn to the rescue!  Their mini-expo was probably better than Ironman's.  Dinner with my parents and Scottsdale friends up for the race and then try to go to sleep.

RACE MORNING!

Fellow Kona qualifier from Tri-Scottsdale, Erica

Up at 3:30 per my IM standard now.  Amusing to see M2 sleeping on the couch.  Our coach made a last minute decision to cheer us on where he's won two times.  Should have gotten a pic, damn.  Usual breakfast and off to the start by 5:30.  With just shy of 3,000 people showing up for this race, the crowds were spectacular.  Get into transition, check bike, load it up with last second nutrition and find my parents who are volunteering.  It was great to have them in there, behind the scenes.  Made for a calming and entertaining wait for the swim.


Wetsuit on, Steve King on the PA, and over to the swim start!

Lining up with Faith, well, a few rows back from Faith, she's WAY too fast, we take the inside line to the right of the buoys.  The countdown goes down and we're off!  Walking a few steps since its waist deep, and getting enough room to actually swim from the people in front of me.  Probably should have been a few more people deep because got hammered a few times.  Aside from some bunching and others stopping to freak out, wasn't too bad until I get hit in the goggles.  Took a minute to make sure everything was alright.  Breast stroked for about 30 seconds, then back at it.  About half way through the first straight and I make my way left to the buoy line and settle in with the crowd.  Not really pushing, but I keep losing feet in traffic.  Not good drafting on my part.  Someone kept smacking my feet though which was annoying, so a few times had to kick really big to get them to back off.  The one lap course was nice because only two turns and crowds, but got a bit boring.  Everyone behaved themselves at the turns too, then the long run back home.  Wasn't sighting very well, but had some feet to follow so I wasn't too worried.  Hopefully they were doing a good job, but my effort was much less as a result.  Coming into the finish you can see the bottom which was really fun because with all the bodies causing a current it looked like you were swimming fast as the lake floor went flying by.  Not a bad swim, but not a good one.  1:09 total, but some faster swimmers said it was slow overall which made me feel better after.

Swim: 1:09:43

On to the bike and the unveiling of Iron Kitty!  Was ready to go out and crush it on the bike after a lackluster swim.  Heading out of town was amazing with people lining the street for the first few miles.  A bit crowded as expected

Cruising through the first 40 miles was great.  Looking to find some partners to legally draft, but no luck as my slower swim left me chasing through traffic to make up time.  There were a lot of draft marshals out as well, so probably a good thing to stay completely clean riding.  Not pressing too hard and hitting a good 250 average watts, only spiking effort heading over the small speed bump hill at mile 10.  Getting to base of Richter and its a sight!  I didn't get a chance to recon this section, but everyone said its nothing to worry about, just keep your effort controlled and be ready for the 7 bitches (rollers) on the other side.  Watts were bouncing from 270 to 300 all the way up.  Getting passed by a few people, but then reeling them in when the hill flattened out.  So great having the power meter as it kept me honest and on a consistent effort even when the hill let up.

Cresting the climb and ready for some fun in a massive descent!  The race starts here is what everyone says and I'm ready for the rollers.  My approach (advice from M2) was to keep a steady effort, spinning up each roller, using all the gears I had to, and to resist mashing up and over.  This would keep enough energy to continue accelerating over the crest and keep my power consistent even during the short descents.  Worked out great!  I got passed by the same 4 people heading up each hill, then re-pass them either at the top, or through the next trough.  Finally when we got out of the rollers, all were left behind me as my legs were still intact, even while we finished the rollers in about the same amount of time.

Slight redesign necessary

On to the out and back and special needs.  Started passing the people I wanted to, and picking off Pro women at this point as well.  Getting to my Special Needs bag and they have it ready.  One problem though, my secret frozen weapon, was still frozen!  The towels around my frozen Perpetuum and Gatorade didn't thaw out in time, which left me slamming the bottles into the ground to break them apart.  Was a crazy sight!  Finally a volunteer came running up with their water that was nearly boiling from being out tin the sun and loosened up the towels so I could get the bottles out.  All in all, I lost 3 minutes.  Eh, not too big a deal since I wasn't racing for Kona, just personal goals, but that would come back to bite me.

Heading up Yellow Lake it was getting hot and the headwind was picking up too!  Much more sparse on the race course, and no more annoying draft marshals to worry about (was glad there were a lot out, but still puts you on edge that you inadvertently did something wrong).  The long slow climb was a great sight, lots of people made the trek out to watch and cheer you on.  Still controlling my effort, but losing time to my ideal bike split.  For the last push up the mountain I picked it up slightly, but not mashing.  I just wanted it to be over with.  Taking the top of the hill and looking down through the valley we would descend and you are in awe.  Such a beautiful sight.  Heading down the hill was not easy task though.  Headwind, downhill, and deep wheels makes high speeds interesting.  Over the next 12 miles there are some steeps and gradual descents.  The steeps get you up over 40 mph, and the rest, if you are brave, you can take in aero at around 35 mph.  Winds were playing tricks with my front wheel, so I played it a bit safe.  I got this far, no need for any heroics that could bring the rest of my season down for 30 seconds.  Coming down to Lake Skaha and the final 10 miles was a relief.  This wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done, but with over 5,000 feet of elevation, stiff headwinds, and rising temperatures, this course was a beast!  Letting up a bit once I got into town seemed like an eternity with a stiff headwind, but the crowd was alive cheering on the Pro's on their way out, and cyclist coming it.  Penticton rocks!

Bike: 5:13:11

Off the bike and legs are a bit jello-y.  Few steps and alright.  Mom is there in transition with my run bag, and Dad on the megaphone yelling at me!  For some reason I try to run to my bike rack like a normal triathlon and my Mom nearly tackles me and someone pushes me to the changing tent, lol.  Sitting down to change, I had memories of my legs seizing up come back from Texas, but nothing!  Sweet, run legs intact!

Out of the tent and onto the run course with my sweet singlet, er, halter top.  Michael McCormack, 2 time Canada Champion, gave me the honor of wearing his Espana/Bike Barn singlet from his 1995 race, and I loved it even while it really didn't cover much.

Heading around the mini-lap I look at my split and I've missed my personal cutoff of 6:20 swim/bike split to allow me to turn Canada into my "A" race by 3 minutes.  Crap!  Time to shut down the legs and not hurt myself.  Thinking this was just going to be a long 4 hours, I surprised myself at how fun run/spectating can be!

The crowds and aid stations gave off such great support like on the bike.  People cheering, encouraging and making everyone smile, or at least try to.  A lot of people were going to their pain cave as they passed me by.  Up front on the course people were fighting for the Kona spot available and I cheered on the AG guys I rode with as they went blowing by me!  I made sure they knew I had my spot while riding though;)  It was getting HOT along Lake Skaha and as everyone said, it was really tempting to just jump in.  To boot, there were people partying just 50 yards off the shore, blasting good music and having a few cold beverages that would be amazing at that point.  M2 rode past on my way out on the course.  He was following along with the leaders on his bike loving his own flashbacks from years ago.  It was great to see him, but he knew I was "mailing it in" at this point.  He tried to get under my skin a little to urge me on, yelling for me to "run with a purpose!", but the motivation to hurt myself was not there.  Just a fun jog through the countryside.

An amusing interaction came as I was running with one of the Pro Women, Maki Nishiuchi.  From my past blog post, I knew she was battling for a Kona spot, so I cheered for her any time I could to keep her going.  Trying to actually talk to her was another story as either she was ignoring me, or can't speak a lick of English.  I'm going with the later.  After the mid-way point she motioned for me to pick it up and go with her, but I couldn't/wouldn't and let her push on.

Cruising back I start getting people either slowing or actually running my speed and not passing me any more so I get to actually talk to some guys.  Great way to speed up time and we had some fun conversations about life and really kept off the subject of tri's except for mini histories.  Getting to see all my friends on the way back and cheer for them was a blast too.  Everyone looked so strong on the run and you can see how they improved throughout the year.  In the last few miles I was happy to see one training partner Peter get out on the run course.  He was so worried about the cut-offs and I was pumped he got off the bike.  Unfortunately he was one of the people caught out on the course when water ran out which seriously effected his run and he missed the finally cutoff by a few minutes.  In great form though, he finished, and Steve King stayed to cheer on the final few races out there.

The finish along the lake for me was fantastic.  Getting to soak it all in was a new thing for me and the finishing shoot was a lot of fun, giving high-fives and a big smile on my face.  Very happy to have finished and even more excited to have this new racing experience and really enjoying myself, cheering for everyone.  Penticton is a special place as everyone has said.  This is a must do race for all IM athletes with the beautiful location, and deep history. 

Run: 4:08:56
Total: 10:37:57


Now its time to prepare for Kona.  A lot of swimming in my future, along with a condensed block of training.  M2 and my run coach Tom from Focus-N-Fly are excited to help me recover and get real work in over the next month and I look to get my best effort in on the Big Island!