Pre Rev 3 Full Interview

Untitled from REVOLUTION3 Triathlon on Vimeo.

I had just found out of I was the series lead.er and pre race favorite from Heather Golnik who did the interview

2010 Revolution 3 Series Champion

By finishing 3rd at the Rev 3 Full on Sunday, I claimed the Rev 3 Series Championship, cash prize, and title of most versatile triathlete.  The series included 3 races.  All where different distances.  The Olympic distance race in Knoxville, TN started the series in May.  The Half in Middlebury, CT followed in June.  The Full in Sandusky, OH completed the series.  I probably wouldn't have done an ironman distance race is it wasn't for the series.

Riley and Lilly in front of their work.

Sophie was already sleeping.

Thank you to everyone who cheered me and supported me this season.  The Ingersoll girls were especially supportive this year.  Check out the picture of hand crafted decoration they crafted.  The Riley, Lilly and Sophie hung them up at my house to surprise me when I got home from Ohio.

Rev 3 Full Results

Rev 3 Website

Rev 3 Half Video

Rev 3 Full  DKT Pictures

Rev 3 Series

Rev3 Full

I'm generally happy and sore today after finishing my first iron distance race (2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike, 26.2 mi run).  I finished in 3rd place in 8:36:40.  Here's the breakdown of the race: 53:53 swim, 4:35:57 bike, 3:04:07 run.  Going into the race I didn't know exactly what to expect except that would be tired and sore whether it went well or not.  I figured the swim and bike would go well, but big question was the run.  Based on my experience with halfs, I wanted to run 2:40 something.  That would be a good day.  An average day would be 2:50 something.  Over 3 hours would be okay but disappointing.  I'm going to skip commentary on the swim and bike because running the marathon is what decide this race.  The only highlight on the bike was I ate a McDonald's McDouble and felt good at mile 90.

The run started off well.  I spent the first 6 miles working out some sore muscles from the bike.  Around mile 9, I started to feel good and decided to open up the throttle I little bit.  I had been running around 6:20-6:25 min/mi.  However, my knee that was slightly sore starting the run got suddenly worse in one or two strides at mile 11.  I was on pace to go through 13.1 miles in just over 1:20, but slowed to 1:22.  I thought I would have to drop out at 13.1 miles because I've had chondromalacia in my knee before, which is season ending.  This pain felt similar.  I decided to keep going to see how Bjorn was doing and to made sure I wouldn't regret a DNF.  He was 18 minutes ahead of me starting the run.  Halfway through I had made up 9 minutes on him.  By mile 14, I had to start walking.  However, Daniel Bretscher and Eric Limkemann, who were heading opposite way towards the turn-around, yelled to me that Bjorn was walking.  I did the math in my head and if I just finished the race I would get some series money.  If I just walked faster than Bjorn I might win the series.

After I started walking James Cunnama and Jason Shortis passed me moving me to 4th place.  After 5 minutes of walking I tried running again and was relieved to feel that the pain had dissipated.  I passed Bjorn who was still walking and moved back in to 3rd around mile 15.  The tendinitis wasn't completely gone. I had to keep run/walking as the race went on.  Around mile 21, it became clear that Keegan Williams from team TTB was going to pass me to.  However, during our brief conversation as he went by I learned that my next biggest treat the series title had dropped out.  Victor Zyemtsev had quit after the bike.  Now, the series title was almost a certainty, which made walking tolerable.  I wasn't that disappointed when Zach Ruble caught me, putting me in 5th.  I was happy to cheer him on and inform him that Keegan was only about two blocks ahead.  After walking through the next aid station, I started to run and got on Zach shoulder.  I thought to myself that if I can just put up with the pain for 3 miles I can out kick Zach for 4th.  At following aid station (mile 23), Zach went for extra drink, so I just decided to push the pace on my own.  I am familiar with running a 5k, and after having to walk so much I actually felt fresh.  At mile 24, an age-grouper heading the other direction yelled,"If you hold that pace you'll catch him."  Sure enough, I could see Keegan on the slight rise in front of me, but it was still going to be hard work to close about 60 seconds in two miles.  The catch was made with 1200m to go.  I'm guessing my pace for the last 3 miles was 5:40.   Keegan was probably slowing down too.  I didn't run 2:45 but it was a great way to finish the race.

Photos courtesy of Steve Stenzel

Duathlon World Championship Edinburgh, Scotland

This was one of the best World Championship I've been too.  The venue was great.  The race was held at Holyrood Park, which is located in Edinburgh.  There were plenty of accommodations close to the race site and transition.  Edinburgh was cheap and easy to get around.  There was no need for a rental car.  Hannah and I walked to anything we need or wanted to see.

Holyrood Park is beautiful green space in the heart of the city on the site of an old volcano.  There around three peaks the rise high above the city and are great for hiking, mountain biking, and just being out side.  The race course is on a park road the circumnavigates the peaks of the park.  The road climbs about 600 ft, which made for a challenging bike course because of the multiple laps.  Each lap had tough climb and technical descent.  The run course was on the same road and adjacent bike path or "cycle path," which also had a climb and descent.  The elite race as 4 laps for the first run, 7 laps for the bike, and 2 laps for the second run (10k, 39k, 5k).  For the elites, the race is draft legal which isn't my preferred format because I'm a stronger cyclist.

I was hoping to get a good effort out of this race in preparation for the Rev3 Full the following weekend.  I didn't except a great result because I've haven't been doing as much speed work to run a 30 minute 10k.  My run training has been more focused on long course running.  The first run I ran 31:50 and the majority of the group went around 30:10.  I did manage to bike passed half the field and come in to transition in 17th.  My second run was much better relative to my competition.  I caught one of the guys from the bike group ahead of me.