2012 by the #'s and Pics

31 Dec 12

So to keep this short and simple I am going to do it by pictures and graphs and numbers.  Hopefully some of you enjoy analyzing it all.

 Craziest Swim of the Year was SuperFrog

 Shocking Moment of the Year was finishing 8th at Armed Forces after coming out of the water 30th

 Biggest let down of the Year was Kona

 Biggest Sacrifice was not being able to race the whole TdK due to work, and riding domestique.  Sacrificing to ride for someone else was also the biggest reward of the year, WE as a TEAM accomplished our #1 GOAL!

  Closest Finish of the Year, probably the depth of my wheel is how close the sprint was.

Yearly Totals

Swim- 286,962 meters/103h30m- AVG 7,358 meters/wk (+26,000 meters from 2011)
Bike- 8,981 miles/479h5m-AVG 184.2 miles/wk (+1,288.5 miles from last year)
Run- 1,022.5 miles/134h4m-AVG 21.23 miles/wk (-225 miles from last year)
Total- 10,181.8 miles/716h39m- AVG 13h36mins a Week (+61 hours from last year)
Raced- 1 Sprint Tri, 2 Olympic Tris, 3 70.3's, 1 Full IM, and 34 Bike Races (went from CAT4 to CAT2) total = 41 races
12 Overall Wins, 3 Age Group Wins, and 18 Top 5's

62 Off Days/ Longest Streak 59 days straight /2 Countries Visited/Crossed the Pacific 6 times via plane

 

 Pie Chart Breakdown by % and Time

Swim Breakdown by Week

 Bike Breakdown by Week

Run Breakdown by Week

 Total Hour Breakdown by Week

Workout History Snapshot from Trainingpeaks

2012 Performance Management Chart from Trainingpeaks

 

 Biggest Win, 4th of July Crit in Davis, close 2nd would be SuperFrog

Best Photo, courtesy of Alex Chiu

Best Memory, TTT in Korea with my good friend Aaron Mundy and Team Watts!

Race with a majority of my family, Lodi Crit.  I am so thankful for all of my family and friends that continue to support me and 2012 was no different, so THANK YOU!

My Triplets: Cervelo R3, P3 and S5

25 Nov 12-

The title of this blog might surprise you, but a lot of people were interested in the process of the summer project.  This is a little over due, but now that it is the "off" season I actually have some time to write about it.  It all started with a crazy idea to make all of my bikes match.  I was heading home during the summer and luckily my dad paints for a living.  He paints cars at a body shop during the day and has occasionally taken on side projects of race cars, Harley's, and hot rods.  He had mentioned painting the bikes from time to time, so I figured this was a good time to take him up on it.

I was going to have all 3 bikes at home due to a huge race schedule.  I had Armed Forces Triathlon, 2 stage races, a few crits and a road race on the schedule so having the extra road bike around as a back up was a wise decision plus the TT bike for the stage races.  Also, to get all of them painted was the other reason to have them all at home.  I was talking about it with my buddy Elmer a few weeks before heading home while out in Korea.  We were talking about paint schemes and he came up with the idea of painting the R3 and P3 like my S5, it would mean only painting 2 bikes instead of 3.  I really like the S5's paint scheme so thought that it would work out.  I wasn't sure how well the lines would work on the other bikes, but I knew we would make it work.

I had a pretty tight schedule to get the bikes painted and didn't think it would be all that big of a project, little did I know.  I started out by taking the bikes completely apart.  I then took them to the local bike shop (Fun Sport Bikes, Modesto Ca) to use their Park Tools Bike scale.  I took the pre weight of just the frame, as I wanted to see how much weight was going to be added after the fresh paint.  I then removed all of the stickers on the frame, most of the stickers/decals are cleared over on the bikes however there were a few that were not.  Once those were removed I was told to take 800 grit sand paper to the frames, per my fathers instructions.  I used that for a while, but it didn't seem to be doing the job so I took some 600 grit and it worked a little bit better.

Here are the pre weights of the bikes:

 2008 Cervelo P3 56cm Frame, 1.3kg

 2009 Cervelo R3 58cm Frame, 0.96kg

He only wanted me to scuff the frames and not completely remove all of the paint, so I just did as I was told, other than using the rougher sand paper.  Eventually I thought I had the frames to where they should be.  The following day he looked them over and I told him what I did, all he could do was shake his head at me, needless to say he wasn't happy.  They were not completely done and we spent another hour or 2 getting them ready.  After they were completely prepped and cleaned we took them into the spray booth.  The first step was to put the base layer of white on, it took 3 to 4 coats of paint.

The R3 and P3 in pure white

After the base layer was applied we then taped out the red stripes, below are pictures:

 The R3 prepped for the red stripe

 The P3 prepped for the red stripe

Once the red stripes were sprayed we waited for it to dry and then removed all of the tape and paper.  We then laid out the black stripe over the red paint and sprayed it.  The taping process was the most time consuming and spraying 3 different colors made the process quite long.  But don't worry it was the middle of the summer and hot, so of course we stayed cool by having a few beers ;)

 The R3 with the black stripe painted

 The P3 prior to the decals being applied (With my grandma in the background who is a proud supporter of Team RWB :)  )

The R3 prior to the decals being applied

After all 3 colors were sprayed on we let everything dry over night by baking it in the booth.  I believe it was set on a slow bake for 60 minutes.  We then wet sanded them the following day to prep them for the clear coat.  Before the clear coat though we applied all of the decals.  I had the decals made at a local vinyl shop.  The guy did a great job, however it was fairly expensive (see complete cost for project at end of blog).  The decals went on pretty easy, however we had some problems with the front nose section of the P3 where the "e" design goes.  We couldn't get the decal to bend around the nose section like it does on the newer P3 model and how it is on the S5.  We had about 5 decals to mess with and just couldn't get it to work, so after 3 failed attempts we came up with the below.

 

 We put the decal on the right and left side of the frame, as you can see above where it is above the fork.

 Here it is located in the front of the fork on a newer P3 model.

 Here is a picture of the R3, P3, and S5 once they were completely painted

And the man behind the paint gun, my Dad

Now that the paint and decals are complete back to Fun Sport Bikes.  I wanted to get post weights, so below are the results.

 Cervelo R3 58cm Frame, post fresh paint job: 1.01kg = .05kg added, so 50 grams.... not too bad

Cervelo P3 56cm Frame: post fresh paint job: 1.35kg = .05kg added, so the same as the R3, 50 grams.

Technical Details:

Paint: Standox Stando Blue Water Based

Clear: Standox PFC30

Sand Paper Used: 3M 600 Grit / 3M 800 Grit

Scuff Pad Used: 3M

Paint Gun: Iwata Organge Cap

Clear Gun: Iwata W400

Masking Paper: 3M

Tape Used: 3M Fine Line 1/4", 1/8" Fine Line, 3/4" Masking Tape

Total Time Spent: 18 hours

Painter: My Dad, Rex Williams

Cost: $125 for Decals, 4 cases of beer for painter ;)

If you are interested in having your bike painted please email me at: airforcebadbrad@yahoo.com.  Estimate would depend on how many colors and how technical of a design.  You would be required to send any decals that you would want installed and cleared over, and you would be required to pay shipping round trip.  However, if you are local obviously that is not included, and by local I mean willing to drop off and pickup in Modesto, Ca.  Expect at a minimum $300 if just a single base color and no decals, sorry it is quite time consuming ;)

Overall I am extremely happy with how the bikes came out.  The whole process was very time consuming and I wouldn't say I had a great time doing the actual work, but being able to spend that time with my dad was great.  It is very rare that I am home and I am normally on the go while home, so being able to spend 18 hours with him just working was a great time.  Well we drank some beer as well, but for the most part we worked our rears off to get it done in a timely manner.

Below is pictures of all 3 bikes, including a picture of the S5 on the scale.  Sorry I did not get total weights of all 3 bikes, I did not have the scale available to use after putting together the P3 and R3.  The R3 was actually just built back up 2 weeks ago upon arriving to Texas.

 The R3 in race setup for the winter crit series here in DFW, the S5 is still in shipping from Korea :(

The P3 all setup for the TT at Cascade Cycling Classic

The S5 at the Lodi Crit

Austin 70.3: Vegas or Bust

28 Oct 12-

I arrived back "home" from Kona on the 16th of October from Kona.  I put home in quotations because I was moving back into a hotel, which is pretty much where I have resided over the past 30 days.  I had 8 days to find a place to live in the Ft. Worth area, which is now where I call home.  While sitting around in the hotel Tuesday night, I started pondering Austin 70.3.  Kona had gone alright, but falling apart on the run really didn't shatter my body.  I tend to recover quickly, so I thought what the heck.  I called my coach and spoke with him about it and had a brief conversation with Zach about the best way to recover in a short period of time.

My coach, Scott, gave me the rest a lot do whatever you want plan all the way till Saturday, 7 days after Kona.  At that point we picked things back up and put in a decent week leading into the race.  I think  I was at about 11 hours prior to the race which was a pretty solid week just a week after Kona.  I hit the track on Tuesday before the race and felt really good with my intervals.  I did some short intervals on the bike and felt alright but not great, the one thing I was worried about doing a half so soon after Kona.  I wasn't worried about the swim and I was thinking I could possibly have a solid run, but wasn't sure how it was going to go till I got out there.

I headed down to Austin Saturday morning, with the race being on Sunday.  I met up with a friend helped her put her bike together, she had got in on a red eye flight at 6am and needed some help putting it together.  After that I met up with Amy and Dave at registration and picked up my packet and then dropped off the bike.  The triathlon community is really a small world, while there I ran into Art Mattheson, a long time Army triathlete who was also in Korea while I was there, although I didn't know him then.  I had met him earlier this year at Armed Forces, and we have some mutual friends.  Chatted with him for a bit and then headed into town to look for some warmer cycling gear.  My stuff from Korea still hasn't showed up so I had a very limited selection of clothing.  I ended up purchasing gloves, a beanie and knee warmers.  I already had a vest and compression socks.  All of this was needed due to the cold temps predicted in the mid 40's in the morning not expected to get warmer than low 50's during the bike.

After the shopping spree I headed to an Italian place with Amy, who I was staying with.  Homestays are really awesome and I have been enjoying not having to fly to races and not have to pack and unpack the bike, Superfrog was great for that and now this worked out great as it was about a 3 hour drive from Ft Worth.  I had the usual pre-race beer(s) at dinner and a pizza which was awesome.  Then I topped it all off with some gelato.

Race morning came early and it was a split transition so we got to T2 and then took a bus to T1.  I started in one of the last waves at 8:25, when the pros had gone off at 7:30.  It was cool to stand around and cheer on some of the early starters out of the water, but just meant there would be a lot more people to have to navigate around on the bike.

Swim- 30:42

Was a little worried about how congested it was going to get with the amount of people starting ahead of us.  I got on the front row as it was an in water start and just tried to stay on the feet in front of me for as long as possible.  Probably around 10 minutes into the swim is when we started hitting the first patch of individuals and then at the turn buoy is when things got worse.  It just continued to get worse the rest of the swim, the most fearful thing is getting kicked by a breast stroker.  There were some points where I had people swim across me, he like over the top of me from the side.  I still felt like I was having a good swim and felt good in the water.  When I came out of the water and looked at the clock I knew I swam right around 30 minutes and was happy with that.

Bike- 2:38:50

After a long T1 getting all bundled up with a beanie, gloves, arm warmers, vest, knee warmers and compression socks I was off onto the bike.  I had carried my bike all the way out of T1 as there were thorns all in the grass.  I got on a little bit past the mount line as once again it was a cluster.  I find it easier to run by everyone to navigate around them and then do a quick flying mount and be on my way, rather than trying to do a flying mount with people not being able to mount their bikes and swerving all over the road.  The mount lines are the best place to go if spectating a triathlon for your daily comedy.

The first few seconds on the bike I heard something scraping my rear cutout and then it went away.  I got in a groove and was riding primarily to the left as I was constantly passing people.  The roads were really packed, a lot of people were moving all the way to the yellow line to pass which caused the road to be blocked.  It was a dangerous first few miles but it started to thin out.  Then at mile 5 I felt my rear tire going flat.  For those that are already thinking two flats in two races, yes that is correct, except Kona was a front, this was a rear.  I had it changed pretty quickly, had air in it then removed the CO2 adapter and all the air shot right back out of the valve.  I had a second tube but when I went to put it into my bento box I realized it had a hole in it, so I ended up only having one tube.

I stood on the side of the road waiting for tech support, I asked a race official to call for tech support, but no luck.  I took my flat tube and just held it up on the side of the road.  It was on a downhill so people were moving at speed, eventually a lady stopped.  She gave me her tube and CO2, and a few minutes later I was back on the road.  I just reminded myself that anything can happen so to just stay focused and to ride a solid ride.  I thought for a little bit about really hammering the bike but realized I had already lost too much time.  I just aimed to hit my goal wattage and stuck to that.  I came up with the plan of riding a smart bike and trying to just smash the run.

The remained of the bike was uneventful other than that riders that couldn't hold a straight line, the ones that insisted on staying to the left when they were not passing and then the cops that stopped 25+ riders for up to 2 minutes to let traffic go through, not at one intersection but 2!  I just pulled up as they then allowed us to go through.  Other than that it was a pretty horrible ride altogether, with the not so great roads and crowded course to navigate through.

Run- 1:23:20

I came off the bike feeling really really good.  I split a sub 6 mile for the first mile and then set into a more attainable pace of 6:10-6:20.  I just figured I would go hard and if I blew up so be it as the day was already over in terms of a podium due to the flat.  I just kept pushing along and making sure to take in a few calories and some water.  The run course was 3 loops and it was great because the collegiate nationals were taking place for 70.3 and the AF had quite a few cadets out there.  It was great to cheer them on and try and keep them motivated.  Some Team RWB athletes were also out there as well and that was some great motivation to see the eagle flying!

The run course had a portion of dirt/gravel road and then some rolling hills.  The crowd was great up towards the transition/finish area which made it easy to run fast when being cheered on.  I just kept pushing and was hoping to run down as many people in my AG as I could.  The more I ran down the less people that could take a roll down slot from me.  I had seen Amy on the first loop and she was quite a ways ahead of me.  The joke before the race was the only way we were finishing together is if she had a great day and I had a terrible day, those were her words not mine.  So on the course I would joke with her that she was my rabbit and I was going to catch her.  There were two female cadets running just ahead of her at the beginning that she passed and then on the last lap with about a mile and a half left I caught them.  I thought for a brief second that I was going to catch her but I ran out of room.  She was waiting at the finish line and had finished a few minutes before; she had a great day and ended up 4th in her AG.

Swim- 30:42 15th in AG
T1- 4:36
Bike- 2:38:50 24th in AG (Lost 15mins due to flat)
Strava Link: http://app.strava.com/activities/26373639
T2- 2:21
Run- 1:23:20 5th in AG
Strava Links: http://app.strava.com/activities/26373349
Overall- 4:39:49  11th in AG / 75th Overall / 45th Amateur

Overall I was happy with the outcome on the day.  I went to awards and stuck around for the roll down for the Vegas Slots.  I ended sitting with Amy, Brandon Marsh (who coaches Amy), and Amy Marsh.  We were all sitting there listening to roll down and then it got to my AG and it just kept going and going.  Then they paused once, and we all looked at each other and thought it might just happen.  There were 3 slots total and only one slot was taken.  It went down to 7th and that guy took a slot, long pause after him it keeps going down.  Then they pause for a while, and then they call my name.  I was pretty shocked it rolled down that far, but hey I stuck around and got the slot.  Keeps me from having to stress about doing a 70.3 early season to attempt to qualify.  Even with some bad luck the day still ended up being a good one.

This was a good way to finish out the 2012 season, which had a lot of highs and only a few lows.  I can't thank everyone enough for all of their support this season.  It was a great season and to close it out by qualifying for a 2013 World Championship, I couldn't think of a better way.  I will get around to doing a 2012 wrap up blog over the next few weeks, well that is the plan at least.  For now I am doing some inconsistent non structured training.  However, I plan on making that consistent non-structured training next week and then 1 December the training starts back up for the 2013 season :)  O and I start back to school on 16 November, 10 classes to go!

Kona 2012, Round 2 at the Big Dance

13 Oct 12-

If you missed the previous blogs leading into Kona below are the links:

A Look into the '12 Training Season Part 1

A Look into the '12 Training Season Part 2

Tis the Night Before Kona '12

It seemed like just yesterday I was treading water next to the Kona pier.  It does not seem like it has been a whole year since I was ready to start the biggest triathlon in the world, the one that put IRONMAN on the map.  I was in a unique situation this year not having to qualify to race Kona.  Being in the Air Force it gives me a unique opportunity to apply for the one male slot that we have as a military service branch.  Each branch gets one male and one female slot to send athletes to the big race. 

WTC has a military category for the military athletes to compete in for a male winner, female winner and combined service winner.  After last years race and finishing quite a ways behind the male winner but being the second military finisher I was aiming for the win this year.  I wanted to lay it all on the line and see what could happen, I put in the focus on my weak points and just wanted to lay it all on the line.

Swim- 1:03:17

I had a pretty solid swim at Superfrog and felt good in the water coming into Kona.  I knew I had put in more time in the pool and was happy with the times I was seeing in the pool and in my races.  I tried to start in a similar position to last year once I got out into the water which was a little left of the middle.  I had talked to my dad on the phone while I was in transition area prior to the race and they had got a spot on the pier.  He had explained where they were so I swam down the pier and found them and waved and smiled and then headed out to the starting area.  I ended up on the front row and was happy with where I was.  As it closed in on 7 the line kept moving forward and everyone was getting antsy.  Then all of the sudden something unusual happened, we were waiting for the cannon but instead we got a "GO GO GO".  Wasn't expecting that one but we all went, and the washing machine effect began.  I would have to say this year the swim was a lot worse than last year and I probably got hit in the face and goggles 5-6 times.  Things never really cleared up seemed to be in a group most of the time, but I didn't mind help me stay on peoples feet and not work near as hard.  When I came out of the water and saw the time on the clock I was happy to see that I was about a minute faster than last year.

T1- 2:23

Quick transition with no issues.  Everything went as planned, other than the mount line being extremely congested.  I have been running by everyone at the mount line the past couple of races and then mounting further down the road by about 15-30ft and that seems to work out a lot better and get me on the road faster and by all of the craziness.

Bike- 5:13:46

The focus of the off season was the bike, I was looking to bike 15-20 minutes faster than last year but that would not be the case.  The winds picked up and some other factors played into the 5:13 bike split.  I got out of town and got into a rhythm on the Queen K.  I was with a pretty big "group" of athletes and we were all trying to ride legal it was just hard with so many of us.  I was riding primarily on the left continuously passing people, I guess that is what happens when you come out of the water 380th.  At mile 9 my front tire went flat and off to the side of the road I went to repair the flat.  I had the front tire off and tube out pretty quickly.  By that time tech support was pulling up and I was getting out my spare tube and CO2.  They offered me a clincher training wheel, but with it being so early in the race I opted to change the flat.  They then offered me a Shimano Dura Ace C50 wheel, but I still figured the time savings over a FC808 would be a better value this early in the race.  The mechanic ended up putting the tube on and inflating it with CO2 and I was back on the road right around 3 minutes later.

I got back into a groove and stayed calm and under control.  There were race marshals everywhere on the course which was nice to see.  They were handing out penalties left and right and at mile 30 the penalty tent looked like there was a tailgate party going on.  I swore they had free hot dogs, hamburgers and beer because it looked like a party.  I caught up to my buddy Cam around mile 45-50 and we exchanged a few words and then I kept pushing along.  Coming back down from Hawi, Rob Hilton, the Marine came by me on the bike.  We exchanged a few words and honestly I was surprised to see him that early in the ride, but knew with my flat I would be seeing him.  Ideally I had planned on coming off the bike a few minutes ahead of him due to his slower swim time and then trying to run with him when he caught me on the run.  Well that didn't happen and off he went on the bike.  He ended up putting 4 minutes into me by the time we both left T2.  I caught the Coast Guard and Navy guys, towards the bottom of Hawi and we talked for a bit as well.  Scott Jones was the Navy rep and is a great guy, even better mentor, and great ambassador for the military triathlon program.  He is someone that I look up to and strive to be like. The Coast Guard guy and myself passed each other back and forth a few times and then he pulled away.  I was happy with where my power was and didn't try to go with him.

The Coast Guard guy steadily road away over the last 45 miles and he ended up about 1 minute 30 seconds ahead of me out of T2.  Big thanks to Ryan and Donna for giving me those splits as it was nice to know how much ground I had to make up trying to run the guys down in the military category.  Overall I was happy with my bike split and power, other than having to deal with the flat.  The conditions were much worse this year than last and that is something that was out of my control.

 Out on the Queen K smiling and having a good time.

The power #'s from this year and last year.  I used a wired SRM last year and a Quarq this year.

T2- 3:24

Uneventful and just tried to make it quick as possible.  Turned on my watch and out of T2 I headed.

Run-3:24:52

The one area that I was a little worried about going into the race when I looked back at my season.  I didn't have nearly as many run miles over the year but I was feeling confident after having a great run at Superfrog where I felt very comfortable holding 6:52 pace.  I ran Superfrog just a touch under where I planned on running here.  Well it is IRONMAN and anything can happen.  I came off the bike feeling great.  I started off and ran a first mile at 6:55 which was a touch to fast.  I was aiming to run 7:05 and once I got into a groove was sitting around that pace.  I felt great all the way to Palani, which is where my first drop in my mile time came, but that thing is a beast.  By mile 14-15 is where it really hit me.  I didn't expect to hit the "wall" this early, but sure enough that is where it happened.  I just kept plugging away and hoping the body would come back around after some cola, ice and sponges.  But it never did, I just felt hot, the legs weren't moving like they should have and I couldn't overcome it.

Coming out of the energy lab I was walking and Joneser (Scott Jones) saw me and told me to at least jog and walk the aid stations.  I went with that and that is what I did for the rest of the run.  Around mile 22-23 I was really hurting again.  A group of spectators were riding down the Queen K in the opposite direction of us and one of them gave me a "go Brad", and I looked up and it was Jason Patrick Lester.  The guy is an amazing inspiration and great motivator.  He turned around and rode next to me for a few seconds and was reminding me to try and cool down and take in some calories and I would come around.  It was great to have him encourage me and give me some great advice at that point in the race.

I just continued to put one foot in front of the other and just remembered that Ryan and Donna were waiting at the finish chute with Old Glory for me to take through the finish line.  Once I hit Ali'i it is one of the best feelings in the world.  The street is lined with people, everyone is going crazy and it is something that those of you dream of doing Kona can someday feel.  I can't really describe it other than I know I want to continue to experience it year after year.  I flew Old Glory proudly down the finishing chute and couldn't of asked for a better way to finish the race.
 

 Trying to stay cool with my crazy hat.  I think it worked great although it wasn't the greatest fashion statement.

 

Old Glory fly's high across the Kona finish line again.

Swim- 1:03:17
T1- 2:23
Bike- 5:13:46
Strava Link: http://app.strava.com/activities/25028554
T2- 3:24
Run- 3:24:53
Strava Links:
Mile 1-9: http://app.strava.com/activities/25434856
Mile 9-26: http://app.strava.com/activities/26690585
 Overall- 9:47:40

All the details about Kona, if you are a number person. (click to enlarge)

Overall I feel like I had another solid year at Kona but was a little disappointed with the outcome.  I thought I had a lot better fitness going into the race and felt like I was in better shape, which by the swim time and bike numbers I was, however I blew up on the run.  The conditions were a lot tougher this year than last and that is something that was out of my control.  I finished 11 spots back overall from last year which shows that everyone struggled this year.

Like I said last year I will not be doing another full IM unless it is Kona.  I am fortunate enough to have a way to get out there via the Air Force and until I am into my early 30's don't plan on doing any other full IM's other than Kona if I am still given the opportunity.  I am, in my opinion, still very young for long course and want to continue to focus on 70.3's and under to try and get faster.

I would like to thank everyone for their continued support as this year has been truly amazing.  I have such a great support network and some of the greatest people to train with.  I feel so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by not only a great family but an amazing group of friends.  I was also very fortunate over the past 2 years to have a great chain of command while stationed in Korea and they were very supportive with allowing me to travel to many races and represent the US Military and Air Force.  I would also have to say that this year has been a stepping stone in terms of reaching out to sponsors.  Kona was great for this and I made some great connections.  But more importantly the sponsorship and support that I received from Honey Stinger this year was great and they provided some amazing nutritional products to fuel me through the year.  Then in terms of support, HED Cycling was great and FRS Healthy Performance really stepped up and provided some awesome drinks and chews to keep me going when the going got rough.

Below is a picture of what keeps me going everyday.  I finally got a "umeke" bowl from Kona, it is not the one I want but it will suffice for now.  I want to get one of my own from my Age Group category one day, hopefully in the near future.  Myself and Jolene, who was my teammate both received "umeke's" for our combined military division win and then Jolene also won Overall Military Female, so she got two bowls.  It was amazing to have such a great teammate and to know that we won the title for not only ourselves but for the AF.

Well I guess that is it for the 2012, season.................or is it?

Tis the Night Before Kona '12

12 Oct-

I just went back and read my 2011 Pre Race Blog, and I am having all the same thoughts as last year.  We just had a great group of people over, Alessandra who is also from Modesto and her family attended.  I had no idea who she was until the Modesto Bee did the article on her and she had no idea who I was either.  I knew it was her first year out here and figured I would invite her and her family to our potluck dinner.  Cam Loos is staying here and also ate dinner with us, he will be flying the Navy colors tomorrow but is not the offical representative.  Ryan and Donna who are out here for Team RWB to support the athletes also attended.  And then my whole family, as well as some other people from the complex attended.  It was a relaxing night after a very hectic day.

The day started out good, went out with Rob Hilton (the Marine Rep out here) for an easy spin.  After we split off and I was about 2 miles from the hotel the morning decided to get a little stressful.  I broke a spoke on my rear wheel and was not happy.  It is the 2nd spoke in 3 weeks that has broke.  Luckily Cam had an extra set of wheels here, actually Zipp FC 808 Clinchers, not a bad back up set to have laying around.  So I threw those on the bike.  To add more stress my valve extenders weren't long enough and his would work on my tubes.  A quick hitch hike down to the expo area found me being picked up by Jordan Rapp's parents, small world to say the least.  Jordan in my opinion is one of the favorites going into the race and should be at a minimum in the top 5.  Between him and T.O. they are both of the American hopefuls for tomorrows race.  With the new valve extenders all was good and the bike checked out fine.

Once the bike was already and my bags were packed for tomorrow myself and Cam headed down to bike check.  It was a pretty  quick process but a little unorganized.  Macca showed up right as I was leaving and the crowd was all over him, so that was a sight to see.

Looking onto tomorrow here is my game plan in terms of times.  Just keep in mind that IM is a long day and anything can happen.

My 2011 Prediction times:

Swim: 1hour to 1h05m
Bike: 5h10m-5h15m
Run: 3h25m-3h40m
T1/T2 Total-6m
Finish Time: 9:41-10:06

Last year I went 9:36 (1:04/5:14/3:11)

This years Predicition times:

Swim: 1hour to 1h05m
Bike: 4h55m-5h10m
Run: 3h0m-3h15m
T1/T2 Total-8m
Finish Time: 9:03-9:38

I always set big goals, and I lay it all on the line.  Tomorrow is no different, I know you are looking at 9:03 and saying what is this guy thinking, you know what I am thinking tomorrow just may be the day that I finally have that perfect day and the stars align.  That is the kind of day it is going to take to win the military division.  It is STACKED this year, we have GREAT group of guys out here.  The defending champ Rob Hilton went 9:19 last year and is back to defend that title, and I know the guy is in top shape, when would a Marine not be.  Then you have Scott Jones in what he is calling the "best shape of his life", and no shit I saw the guy 2 days ago and he is looking like a lean mean fighting machine.  Then Cam Loos is out here racing but not "officially" in the military category, and I have been staying with him for the past 7 days.  He is in the zone and has everything dialed in, such a methodical guy and super smart.  I have just been soaking in a lot from what I consider a great mentor.  So no matter what happens out there tomorrow, I know one thing I will be surrounded by some great "competitors", but even better friends out there on the course.  And don't let me forget to mention Jolene Wilkinson, my Air Force Teammate who is going to crush it out there.  She is coming off a second place overall amateur finish at ITU Long Distance Worlds and she keeps me motivated knowing I have such a strong teammate.  So all the best to my fellow military athletes out there tomorrow.

The training is done and all that is left till that cannon goes off is 10 hours.  Time to get a little sleep and rest up for just another race.  That is all it is, just another race with 2,000 of the fittest athletes on earth.  BEST OF LUCK TO EVERYONE RACING!

If you missed the article in the Modesto Bee on Thursday, here is the link: http://www.modbee.com/2012/10/10/2409262/air-force-ironman.html

Also, I know a lot of you have been asking how to follow the race.  There are going to be 8 timing points on the bike and 12 points on the run, so you should be getting updates quite frequently on the site or app as long as it is running properly.

My BIB # is: 1925

Website Link: http://kona.ironman.com/tracker.html

iPhone App (only available on iPhone): IM Trac
(Will give you same information as website just in an easy format to access and track multiple athletes)

Here is the bike all set up in Race Prep:

A Look Into '12 Training Season Part 2

10 Oct-

For those of you that missed part 1 of this post here is the link: http://aftriathlonguy.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-look-into-12-training-season-part-1.html

In this part I will recap the training for the past 11 weeks, obviously this week is not complete but that is a minimal detail.  Coming back to Korea after the month of racing in the states I was a little worn out to say the least.  I think I had raced for 12 straight weeks, sometimes more than 1 race a week.  With only 11 weeks till Kona once I got back we had to get back after it.

I started with Scott the first day back and things started right back off where I left off.  Things were going great for the first couple weeks and I ended up racing a Half IM just 4 weeks back into it.  It was a tough course so my overall time didn't reflect a "great" race, but I had a big overall win in terms of winning overall and margin of victory.  It was a good indicator of where I was, and shed some light on what needed to be worked on.  After the Half IM I got back after it some more and ended up racing a sprint race on the same course that I had raced 4 times previously.  I PR'd by almost 3 minutes, since the last time I had raced that course back in September of 2011.

In my whole 2 years in Kore this tour I was never able to find anyone to run with.  I was lucky enough to have Traci to swim with and then for riding I had a great group of guys over my time there.  For a few months it was Zach and Aaron continually kicking my rear and then I was up in Seoul riding with the team quite a bit.  Couldn't of asked for a better group of guys to ride with.  Then out of the blue, my last 4-6 weeks in Korea I found 2 guys that were willing to run with me.  I would give them a heads up on what kind of runs I had and they would plan around that.  It was great to have guys chasing me around the track and keeping me company along the long runs, so thanks Bill and Brian for being there for that.

With my big move from Korea on the horizon and right before Kona it left some options in terms of what to do during the move.  I consulted with my coach and we came up with a plan to race SuperFrog Half IM in Southern California only 13 days prior to Kona.  It was a gutsy call but as of now I couldn't of asked for a better prep race.  It wasn't only about the physical gains in my opinion but also about the mental gains.  It gave me a huge boost in confidence in myself and where my fitness was at, and just confirmed all of the training I had done.

The past 3 weeks were quite hectic, for those of you that haven't been following here it goes.  I left Korea via a military commercial plan on September 25th via Misawa Japan to Seattle.  Landed in Seattle on the 25th, then flew to Sacramento.  My grand parents picked me up in Sacramento and we drove home to Modesto.  I stayed in town from the night of the 25th through the morning of the 28th.  I then proceeded to drive to San Diego for SuperFrog on the 30th.  After SuperFrog I left around 7pm and started my drive to Fort Worth, Texas.  3 days later I was in Texas on Tuesday evening.  I stayed in Texas until Friday where I boarded the plane to Kona.  So, yeah not the most ideal travel schedule.

Check back on Friday for a Pre Kona Race Report.  I will let you know what has been going on out here in Kona and how I am feeling going into the race.  I will also post all of the links to follow the race as well as what splits I am aiming for.

With all of that here is some more graphs and details on my training over the past 10 weeks, and the last column is this week which hasn't been completely uploaded yet obviously.

Total Hours Trained 10 weeks leading into Kona comparison from this year and last:

2012
10 weeks 175.3 hours = 17.5 hour average
2011
10 weeks 134.7 hours= 13.5 hour average

 (Click image to enlarge) From 7/30/12 - 10/10/12, Total Hours Trained per week

 

Swim:

 

 

(Click image to enlarge) From 7/30/12 - 10/10/12, Total Meters Swam per week

 

Bike:

(Click image to enlarge) From 7/30/12 - 10/10/12, Total Miles Bike per week

Run:

 

  (Click image to enlarge) From 7/30/12 - 10/10/12, Total Miles Ran per week

 

 

 

 

Pie Chart from 7/30/12 - 10/10/12

A Look Into '12 Training Season Part 1

6 Oct 2012-

Leading into Kona I like to take time and reflect back on the season and see where all the numbers fall.  Give those of you that take the time to read this blog a little insight to what I have done going into this race.  As some of you know this season was quite unique as I put in a big cycling block from end of November to the end of April.  I then proceeded to put in a 8 week training block for Armed Forces Triathlon which was the end of June.  After that I stayed home in California for the month of July and raced locally on the bike and then headed up to Cascade Cycling Classic for 3 days of racing.  Around this same time I was notified that I had been selected to represent the Air Force at Kona, for the one male slot that we have.  Each branch gets 1 male and 1 female slot.  Coming back to Korea from the states I started a 11 week triathlon block to focus on Kona.

During the first block from end of November to end of April I started with a cycling coach who mixed in some swimming and running through the off season, normally swimming 1-2x a week and running 2-3x a week.  Zach Garrett is a good friend and I was his guinea pig as his first athlete.  I used the same triathlon coach as last year going with Scott DeFilippis.  Before I decided to do the whole cycling focus and then switch back I had Zach and Scott talk with each other to make sure they both had the same goals in mind for me as an athlete.  I thought that was something that was important and I wanted to be open about switching coaches and make sure they were on the same page.  Zach coached me from end of November through end of April, Scott picked up from May to end of June and then Zach coached/mentored me again for all of July.  Then starting first week of August Scott had full control of the Kona focus.

The reason I wanted to put in a huge cycling focus is because I thought I was a strong cyclist and then last year in Kona I got a reality check.  I swam 455th out of 1855, biked 560th out of 1855 and ran 112 out of 1855.  By those numbers my bike was the worst in Kona last year and that was something that I wanted to improve upon, so I wanted to train like a cyclist and become a cyclist.  I set out a goal to upgrade from CAT4 to CAT2 through the year and I accomplished that, I felt by the end of that journey that I was a cyclist.  Now with all of that in the books it is time to see where I am, last week was a good indicator but more about that in the next blog.

For this blog I am going to focus on the first part of the season all the way up to the start of the 11 week Kona block.

First up we will take a look at overall hours trained (my training for the next season typically starts first week of December):

2011:

(Click image to enlarge) From 12/01/10-12/01/11, Total Hours Trained per week

 

2012:

 (Click image to enlarge) From 12/01/11-7/29/12, Total Hours Trained per week

 

Swim:

  (Click image to enlarge) From 12/01/11-7/29/12, Swim Meters per week

 

Bike:

 (Click image to enlarge) From 12/01/11-7/29/12, Miles Biked per week

 

 

Run:

 (Click image to enlarge) From 12/01/11-7/29/12, Miles Ran per week

 

Lastly, here is a pie chart of % spent with each sport from 12/01/11-7/29/12

 

As you can tell the bike was definitely the focus.

 

Looking at all of that information one would think that my swim and run would suffer, and that was something I was really worried about.  When I came back to Scott for the 8 week build into Armed Forces I was really concerned about my run and picking up an injury.  He kept me on track and within a few weeks I felt like my running was right back to where it was if not a little better.  My swim wasn't quite where I had hoped but things really started to come together right before Armed Forces and I had a decent swim there.

 

All in all I was really happy with how this portion of the season went.  I only raced 2 tri's but managed to get in 27 road races.  Out of those 27 road races I picked up 8 wins and 14 podiums and upgraded from a CAT4 to CAT2.  I couldn't of asked for a better cycling season in terms of results, and felt like I learned a lot along the way in terms of tactics and racing smarter, luckily the legs were there to make up for the lack of experience for the first few races.

 

I do not believe nor recommend switching back and forth between coaches like I did to anyone, I think it is a very tricky situation but I am lucky enough to have two great coaches that both know me very well.  We have a really open athlete/coaching relationship and that is why we were able to make it work.  They both have their pro's and con's and I would highly recommend either one of them depending on exactly what you are looking for.

 

Later on this week I will post about the 11 week block of training leading into Kona, in a similar fashion.  Hopefully this will give some people some insight on how my confusing season went and why I chose to do what I did.  Eric Reid a great mentor and friend of mine told me a few years ago to be a better cyclist you need to train with cyclist.  I went above and beyond what he told me and I became one of the cyclist, now we just have to wait and see how all of that pays off........................................